THE IDENTITY OF MAX SLEDGE is a short novel about a middle-aged writer of mysteries who takes an ocean cruise to cure his writer's block but unexpectedly falls in love with a much younger woman. Together they take a European tour of Five-Star hotels and a few of the Continent's finer restaurants before she swindles him out of his money, passport and credit cards. Penniless and brokenhearted, he strives to regain his fortune and self-respect by writing the greatest mystery novel of his career. In this Romantic-Thriller, the action takes place aboard a luxury ocean liner, at a Venice palazzo,...

Fourteen-year-old Daniel Aiken has moved to Oregon, but his roots are in California. His mother marries Robin Stanley, a self-righteous man who wants nothing more than to be rid of his stepson. They move to a small Oregon town where Daniel tries to protect his younger brother, Jesse, who suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. At his new school, Daniel befriends the criminally-minded but good-hearted Hitch McDonough. Together they raise hell, steal beer from convenience stores and talk about the meaning of life in a graveyard. Illegal drugs are smoked and girlfriends end up pregnant. At every...