St. Clements Bluff – Book 1 in The Heart of St. Mary’s County Series

Raleigh Buckler’s perfect life in rural St. Mary’s County, Maryland, has just come to a shattering end.  Her naval test pilot husband, Grant, has been killed in a flight accident, and Raleigh is left to pick up the brittle shards of that life.  She prefers to stay hidden away in her grief but is unwillingly dragged out of it by the contents of her husband’s will.

Grant has left Raleigh St. Clements Bluff, a house she didn’t even know he’d owned.  The last known owner was a distant uncle of Grant’s, William “Junior” Buckler.  Junior was from the “other side” of the Buckler family.

Raleigh learns from an old family scrapbook that St. Clements Bluff is a river front estate with a history as a stop on Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad.  Given that Tubman lived on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, it is an exciting—but not necessarily surprising—revelation.

This seemingly noble background is darkened as Raleigh discovers that the house’s story as a safe house for escaping slaves is just the beginning of its dark and winding history.

Three Notch Safari – Book 2 in The Heart of St. Mary’s County Series

Becca Garvey’s life has just been burned to the ground by her husband’s announcement that he is abandoning her to pursue his “dream” of becoming a beach bum. Left solely responsible for not only their thirty-acre homestead in Hollywood, Maryland, but a free-spirited daughter and her increasingly dotty mother, Becca is determined to face an uncertain future with optimism.

She believes that her farm—which is really only Becca’s collection of tamed exotic animals like donkeys, llamas, and miniature horses—might be her ticket to financial solvency. Her plan is to create a unique place where children and adults alike are encouraged to not only interact freely with the animals but also to have weekend “experiences” with them. If she can create that, she just might find herself with a profitable venture.

However, animals are not always cooperative, and not all of Becca’s neighbors are enthused about her vision of a tourist attraction in their quiet, pastoral setting. She must buy new animals, learn how to care for them, train them, and create an experience for customers…all while balancing the concerns of her neighbors and the disruptions of jealous busybodies.

One of those busybodies will do anything to stop Becca.