Mark Lee Taylor
A PEBBLE TOSSED
Tim Raither knows he’s likely to die today. He just doesn’t know where he is or how he got there. Or that the ruthless criminal who left him for dead is still on the loose, roaming Tim's home town in search of little girls. As Tim hovers on the verge of death, clinging to the almost nonexistent hope of rescue, his mind takes him on a delirious hell-ride through pivotal moments in his past, bringing back memories of a boyhood friendship that changed his life.
Meanwhile, Tim's daughters, Lindsey and Amanda, are working on the clues of a treasure hunt that he prepared for them. When Tim fails to come home after leaving to hide the treasure, his wife Kate begins a frantic search of the local roads, while Lindsey and Amanda realize that if they follow the clues to the treasure hunt, they can find their father. To Kate’s chagrin, the girls then disappear into the countryside as well, unaware that they could be in even greater danger than Tim.
A Pebble Tossed is a suspenseful tale of relationships and redemption, a small town thriller revolving around compelling everyman characters. It takes place in a once-rural area of Maryland that is rapidly becoming suburban, and contrasts the simple innocence of growing up in a bygone era with the more complex and infinitely more dangerous world of today.
Before we start, I want you to check the top 10 fiction bestsellers on the New York Times list. Don't worry, I'll wait. Got them? Well, this book is better than at least half of them. Guaranteed.
Robert Broomall, author of Death's Head and Murder in the Seventh Cavalry
A complex tale that keeps you turning pages. An incredible effort for a first novel.
Paul Sekulich, author of The Omega Formula and Resort Isle
FOUL TERRITORY
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TWO BOYS AND A BOX OF BASEBALL CARDS, FOREVER LINKED --
BY A SECRET ONLY ONE OF THEM KNOWS
Damaged divorcee Keith Padgett receives an unexpected friend request from someone claiming to be Russell Kiske, an old baseball teammate with whom he’d lost contact forty-five years earlier. Overcoming his natural reclusiveness, Keith accepts the friend request and the two old comrades reconnect. But peculiar behavior and mysterious gaps in Russell’s memory make Keith begin to wonder about Russell’s true motives in reestablishing the friendship.
Is Russell really who he says he is? And if not, who is he and what is he doing in Keith’s life? Events get progressively more bizarre and sinister as Keith delves into these questions, and the answers may prove to be life-changing … or life-threatening.
FIRST LIGHT
Just released in paperback by Blue Stone Publishing -- First Light, a collection of 15 short stories by me and 10 other local authors. The stories run the gamut, from comedies to mysteries to ghost tales to dark family drama.
First Light was edited by my friend and mentor Robert Broomall. Cover photo and concept by Sharon Broomall and Alan Amrhine.