Chapter 22 – Girl talk

By the time we had finished work and closed up, the time was well into the small hours. I lingered over my final tasks to make sure that Connie and I would be the last to finish. Accordingly, when we got back to the dressing room to change out of our exotic costumes the others had already left.

Chapter 20 - Undercover

A few minutes later I was shown into Midas’s office. His lair was a plush affair strewn with furnishings as soft as the lighting.

Chapter 18 – False trail

The casino’s head honcho’s first words to me were more mundane than his air of dignity had led me to expect. “As I have heard, my dear, you have accumulated a nice little sum there.” Midas gestured towards my purse. “We always like to send our first-time customers away with smiles on their faces. What was your name again?”

“I hadn’t mentioned it, but it’s Jennifer… Jennifer Cartwright.”

Chapter 16 – The list

At the cursory glance which was all I had the opportunity to make I could see that there were no marks upon the dead woman’s face or arms and no sign of a struggle anywhere. She looked as peaceful as if she had indeed died naturally in her sleep, but there was no way anyone could be sure.

“How sad!” I exclaimed, and I meant it. In the brief interview I’d had with Flora her forthright personality had made a strong impression upon me. We would never continue that conversation now.

Chapter 13 – Horse country

I walked across to where my two-seater was parked and turned to wave goodbye, but the ex-agent had already disappeared inside the office.

Chapter 8

By the following morning, the questions swirling through the city had finally reached the clan’s doorstep, their urgency amplified by rumor, fear, and the relentless churn of public debate. Chief among them was one that threatened to divide the community more sharply than any other: Should hunters be allowed to attend school alongside normal children?

Chapter 11 - Magnetic attraction

Millie showed me upstairs and into an empty bedroom. It had its own adjoining bathroom and like the rest of the house was expensively furnished. “If you will wait here a moment, miss.”

More than a little embarrassed by my lapse in choice of attire I waited as requested. Minutes later she returned with a dress over her arm. “I think you will find this little frock acceptable.” It looked delightful and I took it from her eagerly, glad to be able to remedy my mistake.

Chapter 9 – A discovery

“I’ve seen his office building” I repeated.

“Then you should go and see him and find out what the son of a gun is up to? Give him my best when you do. First, some refreshments would be nice but hurry! Then you might catch him in.”

Chapter 7 – Under the radar

When I spoke into the telephone, my lackadaisical “Abacus Investigations. How can I help?” provoked a rebuke.

“Will you even want to? I can tell your heart isn’t in it. Try again!”

I was too dispirited to think of a riposte. “It hasn’t been a good day” I complained.

“I disagree.” Guy sounded jubilant. “My investigation here is all wrapped up except for one or two loose ends. I ought to be back by tomorrow evening.”

Winter had not been pleasant. I had expected the hot Summer, then the warm Autumn, not the miserable, wet, stormy, Winter. The Azores High had decided to move South dragging down the Jet Stream and giving us the succession of winds and weather fronts from the West that is normally experienced in the climatically challenged islands anchored off the Northwest corner of Europe. Up there we know how to deal with it; our houses are better, roads are designed to carry water away quickly from the surface, our shops even carry a better range of Winter clothing.

Chapter 3 – The ex-agent

The Ranch

A novel by Erin G

Chapter 1 - Prelude

Chapter Five: Reflection

Track Ban
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

If you really know your horses, on track betting is the way to win. People who treat horseracing as a game of chance are fools. Why not toss a coin? That is chance and probability, but if you know horses and courses and watch the animals and their riders and the track close up and in the flesh, then it is not a gamble, it is the exercise of special skills.

Chapter Two – To The Victor Go The Spoils

In 1957 Ashely Bellamy is held captive in her cabin deep in the woods. Both she and her captor have to face the consequences of their past whilst looking to the future after they discover a connection that helps them understand each other.

NOTE: This story was originally posted in single large chunk. But some readers have indicated that it was hard to navigate, so I've split it into two parts.

SYNOPSIS: In 1566 Constantinople, a Janissary is bitten by an ancient vampiress and awakens transformed; first into something between genders, then, through blood and hunger, into a woman. Across five centuries she moves through mercenary camps, European brothels, the court of Versailles, Victorian England, two World Wars, and the New World; feeding discreetly, loving unwisely, and burying everyone she touches. Her body is clay, shaped by desire and will. And the woman who made her has been watching all along,