Sidra Smart, rookie private eye, struggles to survive her own internal conflicts as she plunges into a surreal world of passion and murder. This mystery/suspense novel transports the reader to the exotic land where Texas and Louisiana meet in the middle of alligator-infested swamps, a land once inhabited by cannibalistic Indians, Jim Bowie, and Jean Lafitte, and where, today, Cajuns and cowboys are king and setting itself becomes character. Fifty-year-old Sidra Smart is not your ordinary rookie private eye. A recently divorced preacher's wife, she knows zip about running the private detective business she's just inherited from her brother. A lifetime spent up on a pedestal, inside a fishbowl before her husband's congregation has left Sid ill prepared to face the dark world of criminal investigation. But face it she does when her first client bursts in with vague flashbacks of a grisly thirty-year-old murder committed by the woman's father. Soon, Sid plunges into a surreal world of danger and intrigue where passion burns as hot as the memories of child abuse, arson and murder. The interaction between Sid, meddlesome Aunt Annie, and Cajun-speaking, rot-gut drinking mentor, George Léger, forms the core of this character-driven novel.
Rookie PI Sidra Smart thinks she knows where she's headed. She's divorced her preacher-husband, she's inherited a private detective business, and she's solved her first case. But then she moves into a ghost active house and discovers that the past holds the key not only to her future, but the to the lives of innocent people trapped in an unholy web of deception that spans decades. This mystery/suspense novel is set in a small Texas town where everyone knows everything about the other-or at least think they do-until the sins of the past catch up with the secrets of the present. Where yesterday's lighthouses, yellow fever, and Civil War skirmishes play a significant role in uncovering the sins of today. When Sid's second case requires she clear the name of a dead man, she finds herself confounded by clues that lead nowhere. She battles her own prejudice, a burned-out office, the disappearance of a local preacher's wife, and a midnight trip through a murky swamp before clues begin to fall in place. Then, with assistance from a seemingly unknown and perhaps ghostly force, Sid learns something about herself-when the cause is right she never retreats. The interaction between Sid and her client, a tobacco-spitting, chair-rocking old codger more interested in the shine on his shoes than the dust on his furniture, once again brings small-town America to life.
Sidra Smart's search for an elusive schooner stirs up ruthless smugglers and the spirits of Privateer Jean Lafitte and Pirate Queen Mary Anne Radcliff. Newly licensed private investigator Sidra Smart reluctantly takes on the pro-bono case of Boo Murphy, a poor, countrified woman accused of murder. When Boo tells her tale of stumbling on the Hotspur, half-buried in a Texas swamp, everyone is convinced she's found treasure worth millions. As Sidra searches for both the schooner and evidence to clear her client, she battles an unknown enemy, and soon discovers they know their business much better than she knows hers. After several close calls, not only does Sid question her own abilities, she discovers her trusted mentor George Léger is involved in illegal activities that threatens not only their friendship, but also their lives. Even Slider, her half-paranoid, half Chesapeake Bay retriever battles demons from his past as the investigation takes Sidra back to familiar small town territory. Complicated family histories dating back centuries and feuding family relationships muddy the clues and the truth seems as elusive as the spectral schooner. When all seems lost, eighteenth century spirits of infamous Jean Lafitte and voluptuous, swashbuckling pirate-queen Mary Anne Radcliff show up to offer Sid assistance.
In Sassy Southern - Classy Cajun, Sylvia Dickey Smith, author of the Sidra Smart Mystery Series, shares a mouthwatering assortment of Southern Recipes.
The term Sassy Southern - Classy Cajun may sound like an oxymoron to the average person, but in southeast Texas, where southerners and Cajuns all sleep under the same threat of hurricanes and where mosquitoes grow big as dragonflies, good food is the common denominator. Gregarious folks welcome any excuse to get together for fellowship, fun and lively music.
Book Details:
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 298 KB
Print Length: 104 pages
Publisher: L&L Dreamspell (November 30, 2009)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B002ZBZK8O
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Digital List Price: $3.99
Print List Price: $9.95
Kindle Price: $3.19
Autographed Copy Purchase Through The Author: $12.00
If you'd like an autographed copy you can email me. I will furnish signed bookplates to any person or group who purchases five or more copies of any of my books.Contact me and let me know how many signed bookplates you need and the personalization for each. My books can now be purchased as E-books, too!
“Never underestimate the resilient power of a woman.”
In A War of Her Own, a forthcoming novel from a Midwestern indie press, Austin–area
author Sylvia Dickey Smith spins a captivating tale of Bea Meade, lady riveter, and the challenges she faces on the home front working on the Texas/Louisiana border in a booming shipyard. The historical novel is set in the summer of 1943 in Orange, Texas, a sleepy little town overrun with tens of thousands of new workers. With jobs galore at the wartime shipyards, the workers are rich with cash, eager for excitement, and looking for a good time.
In the midst of this, Bea Meade, mother of an infant son, finds her life shattered when her philandering husband announces he is leaving her for another woman. To make ends meet, Bea takes a job at one of the shipyards as a riveter.
Life is good for ’most everyone in Orange—except Bea, who has to fight her battles against a no-good husband, the prejudice facing women in the workplace, and the shameful family secrets that keeps her awake at night.
A War of Her Own offers a story of wartime passions on the home front as Bea seeks to discover who she really is.
What will you do when life puts you to the ultimate test?
This slim volume contains 21 true stories of courage, love, endurance, and undying hope from people around the USA and UK. Follow each of our authors as they detail what it took to face impossible circumstances and powerfully transform them into forgiveness, understanding, and grace.
Are you...
* haunted by a past event?
* hoping to make a brand new start?
* unhappy with how your life turned out?
* searching for the secret to full self-esteem?
* blocked by unfinished business you can't resolve?
* wanting to explore or renew your relationship with God?
If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then this is the book for you to start (or re-start) your personal journal of transformation.
What one person achieves creates new possibilities for everyone in what it is to be human.
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Books In Sync 2011 Contracted On/Off Site Promotional Report
Books In Sync On Site PDF Author Spotlight Interview And Books In Sync Promotional Release
Books In Sync Recognizes Fiction Author Sylvia Dickey Smith For A Third Year
Books In Sync Author Spotlight Interview With Sylvia Dickey Smith
