THE BOOKS
In THE PICKLE BOAT HOUSE a grieving mother struggles to maintain priceless bonds in a world where everything is a commodity. Death has quietly stalked and recruited Vanessa Hardy into the club no woman wants to join--mothers who have lost a child. Her life spins down into a vortex as maternal grief and corporate greed collide in a twisting tale about the human soul and what it means to love eternally.For over eighty years, the Chesapeake Bay community of Nevis has sat in obscurity after its heyday as a resort at the end of the rail line. Although the carousel is long gone, and the train depot boarded and peeling, Nevis silently screams location. When corporate forces recognize the town's value, Vanessa risks losing everything that she holds dear.As dreams and schemes unfold, the main characters begin a slow dance with all of their human frailties. Allegiances are tested, betrayal inevitable as womanizing Ryan Thomas fends off Hector Young, Jr., a jealous, sabotaging co-worker with daddy issues, and falls in love with a grieving Vanessa. Ryan and Vanessa's potentially redeeming love becomes complicated when they come to a shocking revelation
In BAYSIDE BLUES Ryan Thomas has a successful pub in the Chesapeake Bay town of Nevis, a girlfriend he adores, and a new life away from his criminal past. Everything is perfect until he discovers that second chances are not free, and what he owes is too steep a price to pay. In a case of mistaken identity, the pub owner fights for his soul against a job-weary immortal who believes the time has come to pay up for past roguish ways--including his own.
Hamelin Russell denies he is an angel, but will admit to being immortal. Ryan Thomas doesn’t care who he is. He just wants Hamelin to take his Damocles aurascope, stop tormenting him and disappear back into the ether. Instead, Ryan finds himself thrust into a cosmic game where the rules are stacked against him, and a poor showing will send him hurtling on an express train straight to hell.
“I get a little rogue when I’m bored—limits my career potential, but what can you do?”
---Hamelin Russell---
It’s 1901, and the fading bayside town of Nevis, Maryland is about to become home to a grand amusement park. As track foreman for the Chesapeake Railway Express, Irishman Patrick Byrne is doing his part, but what he really wants is a desk job with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. A promised bonus could make his dream a reality. He just needs to keep the rail line open so uppity Lawrence Carr and the Bayside Partnership can bring in freight, build their Bayland Park and beat the opening of the amusement park at Sandy Point. A seemingly straightforward task becomes complicated as unrelenting rain, maintenance of way issues, and an uneasy peace with the Germans in town threaten to keep Byrne permanently walking the rails.