I'm excited to announce the release of my new historical thriller novel, BED OF THORNS.
In turn-of-the 20th-century Ohio, being pregnant, unwed, and, now, abandoned was the result of Rose Schirrack's bad choice. She compounds the mistake by agreeing to become the teenage madam of a brothel which leads to still more bad choices and hard times. After striking a hasty "deal-with-the-devil" with a virtual stranger, Rose is now isolated in frontier Montana. Caught between the increasingly bizarre behavior and violence of her partner and the questions of her teenage sons, Rose leaps at the chance to extricate herself through an idea from her new lover, cowboy artist Ev Marion. The idea proves catastrophic for all concerned.
BED OF THORNS plays out with undercurrents of desperation, obsession, sex, paranoia, and revenge. As the story plays out, it becomes painfully obvious that bad choices have consequences.
An excerpt from BED OF THORNS:
Groot had napped uncomfortably when the train left Stanford and awakened at each of the stops. He’d had the coach nearly to himself with only one couple seated in the front seats while he sat near the rear. When the conductor walked through on his final circuit and announced twenty minutes to Great Falls, Groot retrieved his grip from beneath the seat and placed it next to him. After checking on the couple in the front and looking over his shoulder, he opened the bag and withdrew the Colt, secure in its holster. He slipped into the shoulder holster, slid the gun in and out a few times to check the smoothness, and put on his suit coat. Although almost 10:00 p.m., it was still warm. He’d be uncomfortable with a coat, but he wanted to be ready upon arrival. He checked the Sharps pepperbox pistol from his vest pocket; each of the four chambers contained a cartridge.
When his earlier plans to ruin Marion’s reputation and buy up Rose’s mortgage to force her and the boys off the farm had gone awry, something in Groot’s brain changed. Somewhere between hearing she was back in the brothel business and finishing the bottle of J. W. Dant Kentucky bourbon, Groot’s desire for revenge descended into madness. All he could think about now was how many times Rose had played him for a fool; how she had cheated him at every turn; how Frank had tried to kill him; how Marion had been a part of everything. And Joseph was no better, hitting him when he wasn’t looking as Rose had been running him off the farm. Joseph was just as bad as Frank or Marion. Groot thought about how he should have shot that damned red Indian, Martin, as soon as he’d seen him at the Little Belt. That thief had been a thorn in his side from the first moment he’d laid eyes on him.
The only suitable revenge would be seeing all of them dead.
He slid the Colt out and checked the cylinder…it was loaded. So was the Sharps.
BED OF THORNS is available from amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle ebook.
Lee Mossel's Cortlandt Scott thrillers and mysteries are also available on amazon.com
In turn-of-the 20th-century Ohio, being pregnant, unwed, and, now, abandoned was the result of Rose Schirrack's bad choice. She compounds the mistake by agreeing to become the teenage madam of a brothel which leads to still more bad choices and hard times. After striking a hasty "deal-with-the-devil" with a virtual stranger, Rose is now isolated in frontier Montana. Caught between the increasingly bizarre behavior and violence of her partner and the questions of her teenage sons, Rose leaps at the chance to extricate herself through an idea from her new lover, cowboy artist Ev Marion. The idea proves catastrophic for all concerned.
BED OF THORNS plays out with undercurrents of desperation, obsession, sex, paranoia, and revenge. As the story plays out, it becomes painfully obvious that bad choices have consequences.
An excerpt from BED OF THORNS:
Groot had napped uncomfortably when the train left Stanford and awakened at each of the stops. He’d had the coach nearly to himself with only one couple seated in the front seats while he sat near the rear. When the conductor walked through on his final circuit and announced twenty minutes to Great Falls, Groot retrieved his grip from beneath the seat and placed it next to him. After checking on the couple in the front and looking over his shoulder, he opened the bag and withdrew the Colt, secure in its holster. He slipped into the shoulder holster, slid the gun in and out a few times to check the smoothness, and put on his suit coat. Although almost 10:00 p.m., it was still warm. He’d be uncomfortable with a coat, but he wanted to be ready upon arrival. He checked the Sharps pepperbox pistol from his vest pocket; each of the four chambers contained a cartridge.
When his earlier plans to ruin Marion’s reputation and buy up Rose’s mortgage to force her and the boys off the farm had gone awry, something in Groot’s brain changed. Somewhere between hearing she was back in the brothel business and finishing the bottle of J. W. Dant Kentucky bourbon, Groot’s desire for revenge descended into madness. All he could think about now was how many times Rose had played him for a fool; how she had cheated him at every turn; how Frank had tried to kill him; how Marion had been a part of everything. And Joseph was no better, hitting him when he wasn’t looking as Rose had been running him off the farm. Joseph was just as bad as Frank or Marion. Groot thought about how he should have shot that damned red Indian, Martin, as soon as he’d seen him at the Little Belt. That thief had been a thorn in his side from the first moment he’d laid eyes on him.
The only suitable revenge would be seeing all of them dead.
He slid the Colt out and checked the cylinder…it was loaded. So was the Sharps.
BED OF THORNS is available from amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle ebook.
Lee Mossel's Cortlandt Scott thrillers and mysteries are also available on amazon.com