Fast Times, Big City

Like most people, Bud Palmer felt this was just another day. Though the era was drawing to a close, he assumed his life as a sports columnist in the subtropics, in keeping with the benign fifties itself, would go on as predictable as ever. But that particular autumn morning he was thrust into a caper that was totally beyond him, forced him to leave Miami and take the train to Manhattan, and suddenly found everything in this restless "Big Apple" was up for grabs, on the brink, at a dicey turning point.

Shadow of The Gypsy

Josh Bartlett had changed his name, holed up as a small-town features writer in the Blue Ridge. Only a few weeks more and he'd begin anew, return to the hills of Connecticut and Molly and, at long last, live a normal life.
After all, it was a matter of record that Zharko had been deported well over a year ago. The shadowy form Josh had glimpsed at the lake was only that --- a hazy shadow. It stood to reason his old nemesis was still ensconced overseas well out of the way.
Surely he wouldn't travel thousands of miles to track Josh down. Not now, not after all this.

Miranda and The D-Day Caper

Small-town realtor Miranda Davis never expected to uncover a terrorist plot. But when her cousin Skip playfully broadcasts some intercepted code messages and his beloved cat Duffy is snatched, Miranda finds herself roped into a dangerous conspiracy plot. She must somehow decipher an old-timey WWII code before it’s too late.

Miranda and the D-Day Caper is a riveting mystery that mixes political intrigue, old-time heroes and values, and idyllic life in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Secluded Village Murders

Written in the style of a classic British Mystery with a contemporary young American woman as an unwitting amateur sleuth, the fallout keeps you guessing until the end.
From a small secluded village in Connecticut to the English Countryside, readers are taken on a roller coaster of events as tour guide Emily Ryder tries to solve a murder that’s mistaken for an accident.
It all began on a fateful early morning when Chris Cooper, Emily’s beloved mentor met an untimely death. For Emily, if Chris hadn't been the head of village planning and the only one standing in the way of a proposed sprawling development in her quaint historical village, none of this would have happened.
As Emily heads across the pond for a scheduled tour of sister village Lydfield-in-the-Moor, it soon becomes readily apparent that murder isn’t far behind.

Murder Run

A wealthy woman's death in a picturesque corner of Connecticut pulls her down-on-his-luck handyman into a sprawling criminal underworld . . .
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Awakened in the night by a mysterious and alarming call, handyman Jed Cooper rushes to the stately home of his employer, an emotionally fragile choreographer who has secluded herself in Connecticut's Litchfield Hills. But it's too late. She's dead and a shadowy figure has bolted into the darkness. Just in time for the cops to show up and find Jed standing over her body.

Tinseltown Riff

Tinseltown Riff centers on Ben Prine, a thirty-something hack screenwriter who, on a Labor Day weekend, finds himself in desperate straits. Latching on to a dubious last-minute opportunity, he unwittingly embarks on a collision course with a Montana tracker connected with a Vegas mob; an odyssey which culminates in a fateful showdown on an abandoned Western movie set.

"Tinseltown Riff is a kick -- a funny, well-told tale about the world's most insane business." – Peter Lefcourt, Emmy Award winner, screenwriter and best-selling novelist specializing in the Hollywood scene.

The Twinning Murders

The Twinning Murders is a modern day classic mystery centering on the ventures of Emily Ryder, a thirty-something rambler and tour guide. The story opens just before she embarks on this year's Twinning ritual exchange. It's between her historic New England home and its sister village deep in Dartmoor, a wild upland area in the west of the county of Devon, England. Emily becomes personally involved in a suspicious death.. A few days later, at the Twinning itself, her main client meets the same fate. As Emily's world continues to unravel, and though she has little help, she finds herself compelled to piece together the games being played on both sides of the Atlantic.

Twilight of The Drifter

"Twilight of the Drifter" is a crime story with southern gothic overtones. It centers on thirty-something Josh Devlin, a failed journalist who, after a year of wandering, winds up in a Kentucky homeless shelter on a wintry December.

Soon after the opening setup, the crosscurrents go into motion as Josh comes upon a runaway named Alice holed up in an abandoned boxcar. Taken with her plight and dejected over his own squandered life, he spirits her back to Memphis and his uncle's Blues Hall Cafe. From there he tries to get back on his feet while seeking a solution to Alice's troubles. As the story unfolds, a Delta bluesman's checkered past comes into play and, inevitably, Josh finds himself on a collision course with a backwoods tracker fixated on the Civil War and, by extension, the machinations of the governor-elect of Mississippi.

In a sense, this tale hinges on the vagaries of chance and human nature. At the same time, an underlying force appears to be driving the action as though seeking the truth and long awaited redemption. Or, to put it another way, past sins have finally come due in the present.

The Art and Craft of Screenwriting

This guide for screenwriters and those interested in the screenwriting process has important information on every facet of the screenwriter’s trade.
Introductory chapters discuss skills essential for all screenwriters. The second part covers various options available to screenwriters (such as different genres, indie films, adaptation) with important methods for each. Part Three is a collection of revealing interviews by the author with several established and seasoned professionals.
Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

The Actors Studio: A History

The Actors Studio, a secluded workshop in New York City that for decades has had a marked influence on the worlds of stage and screen, functions much like a secret society behind closed doors. Confusion about its essence and its activities abounds.
It all began when Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre brought its brand of "realism" to the United States in 1923. The legendary Group Theater followed. Then came the Studio, with the idiosycratic Lee Strasberg as its head following conflicts with Stella Alder and the Group. Studio followers Elia Kazan and Robert Lewis are fully discussed. Strasberg's background and the encounters between him and the actors he guided are presented in detail. The lives and careers of early icons like Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, the Studio's 1960s efforts to form a production company, and the way the Studio has changed for the 21st century are all covered.

Playwriting: A Complete Guide to Creating Theater

Fifteen chapters explain every aspect of playwriting, with excerpts from classic and prominent modern works, quotations from noted playwrights, and anecdotes from the author's personal experiences with such masters as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. Interviews with A.R. Gurney, Lloyd Richards, Connie Congdon, Alfred Uhry, and others are included. An appendix gives information about submitting playscripts, getting grants, entering contests, doing play festivals, securing an agent and other topics of interest to aspiring playwrights.
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