UNDER MY FEET: A MURDER MYSTERY 

​This winter, while recovering from flu, sinus infection, and bronchitis, I decided to take a little break from serious historical fiction to write a short, fun little project. So, I wrote a murder mystery based on a real-life murder. 

The original article which sparked my interest was posted by Project-Flashback Centreville's Facebook Page, and was a special dispatch sent to the Baltimore Sun on August 26, 1911. I was intrigued by the details of a cold case which was never solved. My writer’s mind began asking questions and the next thing I knew, I realized I had the makings of a murder mystery novel. I simply let my imagination run away with me, and this is the result! I hope you enjoy.
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1911 – Julia Martin had hoped that a move to Centreville, Maryland, would mark the beginning of a new season for her and her family. But instead of the idyllic peace she expected to find, Julia becomes obsessed with solving a murder mystery.

She had always wanted a historic house in the country. But what seems like a dream come true quickly turns into a nightmare when skeletal remains are found buried beneath the old brick floor in the kitchen. The bones are small, belonging to a young child or a small woman, buried with hair combs and scraps of silk.

The Sheriff’s Department has no clues to follow and no missing persons which fit the description of the body, which might have been concealed under the floor for decades or longer. Without identification of the body, there is neither motive nor hope of finding the murderer—if he is even still alive.
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Julia is haunted by the knowledge that a woman disappeared without a trace and that her family never found closure; that someone committed a murder and got away with it. She is determined to do the impossible, to uncover the identity of the body and to find out who killed the young woman, and why.

DRIVEN BY THE PRAIRIE WIND
AMERICAN HERITAGE SERIES - BOOK TWO
A WESTWARD EXPANSION NOVEL

​1838 -- Two women journey west, for two very different reasons.

Lucy was raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. When her husband, Risdon Bloodsworth, Jr., discovers that the Republic of Texas is giving land away, he is eager to leave the familiar behind and travel west for new opportunities. Lured by the call of adventure, and cramped in a small farmhouse with her in-laws, Lucy agrees to take their young son and trek well over a thousand miles by covered wagon in search of a place to call their own.

Jane Bloodsworth knew when she married a Cherokee man that life with him would not be easy. The Indian Removal Act had been passed years prior, but the Cherokee Nation continued negotiations to stay on their tribal lands. Like many others, her husband’s family had built a flourishing plantation, and he was educated to read and write in English. Even so, they are forced to leave everything behind in Georgia and be marched across the country to Indian Territory.

As Lucy and Jane set out to build their new lives, their physical strength and emotional endurance will be tested by adversity and doubt. Their stories of the westward movement and the Trail of Tears intersect in a deeply personal way and shed new light on the era of Manifest Destiny.