In this issue, we present two stories: one, the ghost of a man tries, from the other side, to clear his name of murder and performs good deeds when his real-life detectives are not at work. Our second story dramatizes the events of a young man who gets caught up in the early excitement of the Nazi Party but who eventually realizes things are not as they seem.
Sam Westmore killed several people before committing suicide. The story portrays him as a ghost, reliving events that led to his acts of violence, hoping to clear himself as an out-of-control human. He invisibly attends two investigators as they play a thumb drive retrieved from Sam’s cold fist to learn the truth behind the multiple deaths. When Sam is not reliving his life, he does good deeds mysteriously. Every night, he sees the same homeless man sleeping near a historic monument. Who is this man?
5-Star Review
Bleakness permeates the entire story, a darkness that haunts the human spirit, and the narrator captures it very beautifully. The prose is powerful, at times evocative, and readers will enjoy the colorful descriptions and the stream of consciousness that permeate the work.
Protect the Guilty raises powerful moral questions, features great social commentaries, and takes readers into the mind of a killer, exploring the depth of human nature in ways one could never have expected. By Romuald Dzemo for Reader’s Favorite
5-Star Reader Review
A modern ghost story riddled with twists and turns, based on the ghost protagonist’s real-life situations that prompted him to commit murders. The homeless man he always sees from a distance finally gives him an important message.
The Reluctant Nazi
In Adolf Hitler’s early rise to power, he stirred the souls of impressionable youth, including Hans Reinhard Richter who immersed himself in Hitler’s promises for a greater Germany. As an SS officer, Hans was charged with reconfiguring coal mines as gold depositories. He obeyed his superiors’ orders to steal from banks, museums, and concentration camp victims to build vast wealth for the Party.
Hans and his second wife, also an SS spy, became increasingly disillusioned with Hitler’s agenda. They siphoned off a portion of the stolen valuables and, using fictitious names, they secreted them in bank accounts across Europe. Once Hitler initiated the Final Solution, Hans broke with Nazi Germany and courageously joined, first, the OAS and then the CIA to investigate reported sightings of Hitler in South America.
5-Star Reader Review
This is a balanced, detailed, and heartrending work that I couldn’t put down once I started reading it. I felt the terror, cowardice, and immense brutality that the Nazis imposed on the people they conquered
IN MEMORIAM
George Searle Giffin, Susan’s beloved brother, “slipped the surly bonds of earth” on March 20, 2023, to become one with the stars.
George, who was one of the characters in Matson’s Case No. 4, and an inspiration for Animal Court, led an amazing life.
He devoted his life to peace and the Civil Rights Movement and was beloved and respected by many the world over.
You can read more about George’s amazing life here.
Autobiography, Biography, or Memoir?
What is the difference between these three approaches to life stories?
(1) An autobiography is a first-person, self-written life story in one of five types:
(a) traditional – the complete story from birth to present time
(b) memoir – a snapshot that focuses on one specific part of the author’s life – a horrible event or dangerous situation that stands out as a learning experience, perhaps a crushing defeat that takes the reader to the author’s moment of greatest failure, capturing personal experience, intimacy, and emotional truth
(c) psychological – a therapeutic writing that the author might find helpful to others
(d) confession – a way to make amends or to help others to avoid the same mistake
(e) spiritual – a focus on spiritual aspects of one’s life to inspire others
(f) overcoming adversity – an opportunity for a criminal, for example, to challenge others to choose a different path.
(2) A biography tells a life story written by someone other than the subject, perhaps because the subject lacks confidence to write it, but he or she is still considered the author due to providing the information. Reading an autobiography may be more interesting because the author and subject are the same, whereas a biography may reflect the author’s interpretations.
Author Quote
“One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or ten pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing – writing and tearing five pages would have me no further behind than if I took the day off.” – Lawrence Block
COMING SOON – BONGO!
“BONGO is based on a real person serving a life sentence without parole. A truly gifted musician – piano, percussion, and vocal – Bongo uses his music to transcend the chaos of a state penitentiary. But how does the rich black soil in a prison garden and a few tomatoes change a diehard racist? And how does that change lead to deserved recognition and respect for Bongo?
APRIL 99¢ EBOOK SPECIAL… ONE MONTH ONLY!!
Matson’s Case No. 2
Second in Pablo Zaragoza’s crime/detective series
Nazis walk among us, or so Detective Matson finds out when he delves into his second case. Three men, all bearing the same name, are murdered within a few blocks of each other in New York City in the 1950s. It takes the skills of a forensic scientist and the deductive reasoning of our able detective to unravel a web of deceit that Operation Paperclip and the Agency has created to keep the identity of these three men a secret.
5-Star Review
Matson’s Case No. 2, set in 1950s in New York City, is exciting and unique, with some very credible characters developed into likable, relatable and real people. Filled with action, the story is based on the deduction and investigation skills of one man, and this makes for fascinating reading. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a story they can get their teeth into, a story that will grip them from the start. By Anne-Marie Reynolds, Readers Favorite Book Awards
