Caged Canary

Beatrice Richards was 39 years-old on her last birthday. That may have been accurate, it might not have been. It mattered not to her friends—of which she had only a few—and it certainly didn’t matter to her husband, in large part because he simply didn’t care. Beatrice was wealthy, entitled, snobbish, unhappy and bored. That is until “it” came.

“It” was an old-fashioned chain-letter that came in the mail one day, which she instantly mocked and derided. Infuriated with the sender for wasting her time, she fired off another one anonymously to a rival—primarily to irritate her—and then was shocked, perhaps pleased, that ill-fortune befell the recipient for breaking the chain.

Realizing she now had power to enact vengeance on her enemies, Beatrice becomes proficient in the dark art of chain-letter writing. The power—if it was indeed real—begins to derail the woman’s sanity and launches a slow but certain descent into madness. But there is a price to pay for her odd obsession as she comes to believe that she holds the levers of control over the lives of others while, at the same time, it clearly is consuming her own life.

“The showdown at the end will leave readers breathless but more than satisfied!”

Each book in the “Tales of Suspense” Series is a standalone story and not connected to the others. Readers can jump in at any point.

Story 1 in the “Tales of Suspense” Series

Della Adderly was a twenty-something aspiring art director who was anxious to make her mark in the advertising world of the late 1960s. Tired of laboring behind men who took the credit for her work, she took a risk and strode into the office of Miss Veronica Landon—a sharp, no-nonsense Creative Director for one of the fastest-rising agencies in Manhattan—and demanded an interview.

After their meeting, Della strolled down Fifth Avenue—primarily to show off her new outfit—and then settled into a seat at a little sidewalk French Bistro. As she was noshing on a cheese sandwich, there was a scream from bystanders and seconds later a body fell at her feet from twenty stories above. It was Veronica Landon.

Accident? Suicide? Murder? The mystery weaves its way through a colorful cast of characters to a shocking, head-turning conclusion high above the Manhattan skyline.

Each book in the “Tales of Suspense” Series is a standalone story and not connected to the others. Readers can jump in at any point.

What lurks in the recesses of the mind of a child? Those angelic faces that bring holiday cheer to Christmas productions, that beam with pride in their Cub Scouts’ and Brownies’ uniforms, and dance across the stage in recitals or pound out ear-cringing trumpet solos.

Henry Allen Carruthers had just celebrated his sixth birthday eleven days after he started first grade in 1955 and for him life was simply grand. But his idyllic existence would inexplicably grow dark with an unexpected life turn and the impact would slowly begin to change the sweet and lovable child.

Feeling that his one-eyed teddy bear—a gift from his missing mother—was his only friend in an increasingly unfamiliar and frightening world, dark thoughts begin to enter his young mind when his father remarries. A heart-pounding, page-turning entry in the “Tales of Suspense” Series.

Each book in the “Tales of Suspense” Series is a standalone story and not connected to the others. Readers can jump in at any point.