Roger Kent, a recent college student, accepts an invitation to join his aunt Esterleen’s little colony of displaced persons at her mansion in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. She believes that her guests, if true to themselves, find their ‘true destiny’ at Seldom Go By. Roger is drawn to Valerie Wilson, who tips him to his aunt’s eccentricities. These include harboring an old beau, Dr. Clyde Oppian, a disgraced obstetrician. Oppian’s wife evicted him for cheating with Linda Schneider, a gorgeous, affected troublemaker. Esterleen tolerates Linda to keep Doctor Clyde around. But Linda won’t leave Roger alone. Their brief affair, which she advertises, upsets everyone. And the murders begin. Roger is accused of a ghoulish slaying and must prove his innocence. He is further caught up in Valerie’s peril as she becomes entangled in intrigue and commitment. They find that things are seldom what they seem at Seldom Go By. Events proceed along gothic lines, with mounting tension. You may want to skip the last two chapters lest they make an indelible impression.
Scientists at a research clinic in Baltimore study the aging process. Dr. George Buell, department head, has met a violent death. He and his much younger wife, Jill, collected children with progeria (premature old age) to study and treat. Jill and biologist Ray Lindsay (who tells the story) are secretly in love. Flash back a year. Ray and Buell agree to join forces, and Ray brings his research team to Buell’s lab. He and Jill meet. He isolates Senexin, a mutant protein that seems to cause the children’s progeria. Buell discovers, but doesn’t disclose, the budding love affair. Shift to Tarpon Springs, Florida, where a retired colleague donated his estate for studies on oldsters. Of special interest here is spring water that protects salamanders from x-ray. Buell thinks it might also retard aging and plans to test it on the children. He and Ray drink it to check for toxicity. Ray is deeply troubled about his love affair and Buell’s erratic, unethical behavior. They clash. Ray finds himself aging rapidly. As the year unfolds, horror and suspense mount through amazing discoveries, a vicious crime, and Buell’s shocking, tragic demise
Roger Kent, a recent college student, accepts an invitation to join his aunt Esterleen’s little colony of displaced persons at her mansion in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. She believes that her guests, if true to themselves, find their ‘true destiny’ at Seldom Go By. Roger is drawn to Valerie Wilson, who tips him to his aunt’s eccentricities. These include harboring an old beau, Dr. Clyde Oppian, a disgraced obstetrician. Oppian’s wife evicted him for cheating with Linda Schneider, a gorgeous, affected troublemaker. Esterleen tolerates Linda to keep Doctor Clyde around. But Linda won’t leave Roger alone. Their brief affair, which she advertises, upsets everyone. And the murders begin. Roger is accused of a ghoulish slaying and must prove his innocence. He is further caught up in Valerie’s peril as she becomes entangled in intrigue and commitment. They find that things are seldom what they seem at Seldom Go By. Events proceed along gothic lines, with mounting tension. You may want to skip the last two chapters lest they make an indelible impression.
Alan and Donna, in their early twenties, fall in love in Washington, D.C., as World War II draws to a close. Alan is compelled to write a novel exposing his stepfather as his father’s murderer. Donna hopes to marry him and escape her dysfunctional household. Despite Alan’s slow recovery from a war wound and conflicts arising from prior involvements, they pursue an intense affair.
Alan’s meager income as a musician strains the relationship. Though Donna’s longing to marry him intensifies, he cannot yet consider wedlock. She reaches a critical decision. Then Alan takes a more direct approach to avenging his father’s death . . . Unforeseen events, as well as latent depths of character, drive the surprising conclusion.
Vibrant with suspense and drama of the war years, this is a realistic, graphic story of two lovers’ worst and best days during a turbulent time in America.
The author, Bill Carrigan, had a rewarding career as a science writer and editor at medical research institutions in Maryland. Now retired, he lives in Sarasota, Florida, and writes fiction. Seven novels and a collection of short stories are available on Kindle and, as paperbacks, on Amazon’s Create Space.com.
Doc Martin, the sole physician in a depressed Oregon mill town, looks after women making parachutes in a local factory. One, under threat of losing her job, becomes pregnant and turns to the doctor for help. He knows that the father, a foreman, has a contagious disease. When more young women are menaced, Doc and his wife, Charlotte, attempt to intervene.
Sheriff Walker cooperates and seeks their aid in a sadistic murder case. Other murders, grizzly, baffling, also engage the couple. Suspects include the foreman’s wife, her lover, and a colorful drifter. Doc and Charlotte are distressed when Walker makes false arrests. Now they have a mission–to solve the crimes, free the innocents, and help bring the guilty to justice.
The more they discover, the greater the risk of falling prey to the killer. And the sheriff, holding out for solid evidence, compounds the hazard. Charlotte becomes the killer’s next target . . . Forensic medicine, strength of character, and heroic action drive the dramatic conclusion.
The author, Bill Carrigan, had a rewarding career as a science writer and editor at the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Now retired, he lives in Sarasota, Florida, and writes fiction.
In a Depression-struck country town, treachery, violence, and a murder trial mark the lives of a young doctor and his much younger love.
April 1927. A passenger train wrecks as it nears a mid-eastern U.S. farm town. Young Dr. Jim Martin, treating the injured, meets Annette, a French girl trained as a midwife, recently orphaned, and sent here to live with her uncle. When the uncle dominates and abuses her, Jim intervenes but is blocked in his efforts. Meanwhile, conflict with the county medical society drives him to practice in isolation, fully a ‘country’ doctor.
His failing but inescapable marriage stands in the way of freeing Annette from bondage. He contrives to send her to nursing school, where her studies are interrupted just short of graduation. Then Jim’s concern and love for her lead to fateful moves and a killing. Scandal and social conditions threaten the relationship. And Annette, when older and more independent, forces a crisis.
Spanning a crucial American decade, the narrative brings to life a physician’s practice in that era. One case in particular is critical to a defiant, impassioned love affair resolved in a distant land.