Archive | Beyond The Covers RSS feed for this section

MacDill Entrance

MacDill: More Than An Air Force Base

If you follow Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa south, all the way along the water’s edge, you will pass the fictional entrance to Judge Willa Carson’s Plant Key home, and eventually run into the very real entrance to MacDill Air Force Base, which occupies the bottom section of the peninsula that makes up South Tampa. And […]

Continue Reading

The Nancy Kerrigan Case, 20 Years Later

Can you believe it was 20 years ago today that Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked? Such a bizarre sequence of events. Almost like something out of one of my suspense novels. With the Winter Olympics just one month away, I’ve been thinking more about this case. The events happened in Detroit, where I was […]

Continue Reading
Dangerous Women

Secret Lives of Walter Mitty, Dangerous Women and Us

What does Walter Mitty have to do with Dangerous Women or Us? Come along with me a moment. I’ll explain everything.  You’ll get a glimpse inside this writer’s mind and a glimpse of our futures. First, Walter Mitty. Walter Mitty was an ordinary man with a vivid fantasy life of personal triumph. His fantasy life […]

Continue Reading
Herend Tang Horse

2014: What Does The Year of the Horse Plan For You?

2013 is drawing to a close, but if you still want more time before mentally beginning a new chapter, you’re in luck! According to the Chinese Zodiac, we still have 30 days left to wind up 2013 and prepare for our future. The Year of the Snake ends on January 30, 2014. And then we begin […]

Continue Reading
Holiday Sale

Time Flies – Twisted Justice on Day Twelve – Don’t Miss This!!

For the past 12 days, I’ve been showcasing quotes from my mystery novel Twisted Justice on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Today is Day 12, and it feels appropriate to end with this excerpt from the book: There is a scientific explanation for why time seems to pass more rapidly as we age. According to this […]

Continue Reading
Plant Museum Exterior

Plant’s Palace and Tampa’s Christmas Past

One of my favorite things about the Tampa Bay Area (besides the beaches, of course…) is discovering the little nuggets of its unique history. That’s what a writer loves to do — we soak up everything. And in the process we’re able to see how the big picture developed and show it to you through […]

Continue Reading
Drinkable Holiday Cheer

Cheers! Try The Season’s Best Cocktails Yet?

Sometimes, especially this time of year, I like to imagine we could all get together — you, and me, and our friends and families, and just be merry together. I so want to meet each and every one of you, and this seems particularly like the right season to do that. Of course, such a […]

Continue Reading
Old Christmas

Washington Irving On Christmas

Did you know that your Christmas might be very different if not for Washington Irving? He came to my mind recently because of that TV drama on FOX, “Sleepy Hollow.” It is, of course, inspired by Irving’s story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” published in 1820. When Irving wrote “Sleepy Hollow,” I’m sure he had […]

Continue Reading
Abraham Shakespeare

Abraham Shakespeare Victim of Fortune

Today, a real-life mystery, solved. It’s about a lottery winner named Abraham Shakespeare, who became a victim of fortune’s nemesis: greed. Abraham Shakespeare was a simple man, by all accounts. He dropped out of school after seventh grade, still illiterate. He held a series of labor jobs over the years. He was convicted of a […]

Continue Reading
Coffee Beans

Coffee: Nectar of the Gods, Right?

Regular readers know I love coffee. My morning always starts with three mugs of black coffee and some days, more. Not surprisingly, coffee features prominently in my books, too. Willa Carson loves Coffee Con Leche. Carlos Gaspar likes coffee with loads of milk and sugar. Kim Otto drinks hers black, like me. In Get Back Jack alone, there […]

Continue Reading

Get Jack in the Green—Free!

Sign up FREE to my email list & start reading Jack in the Green in minutes...