Modern and Historical Fiction

Switching constantly between the long running tea party which, for some, was Victorian England, and the perilous landscapes of the American Southwest, Benarty, a prosperous young Englishman, is beset by the memory of his last weeks in London, during which he has step by step divested himself of fiancée, family, friends, servants and career. His protected life has been disturbed by the arrival on his doorstep of a mysterious young American, who sneers at Benarty’s conventional life. Bitterly jealous of Tam’s far-flung adventuring and enviable certainties, there is something in Benarty which welcomes this upheaval, without which, he suspects, he would have passed his days attempting to plaster over the mutinous cracks in his well-ordered existence. He uncovers Tam’s true identity in a startling conclusion.

Rather than check in at hotels or B&B’s on his travels round Scotland tending to plants in offices, Billy, akward in the company of his kind, secretly spends his nights on the very premises he has been servicing during the day. He tries his best not to be a loner, but his attempts at sociability always seem to go awry.

When he does eventually fall in love, it is with a house a the edge of the sea, which he has rescued from the encroaching sands. The two women who have managed to enter his life soon put paid to that however, and Billy discovers his life a loner is not so easily shed.

Imagine growing up in a place where people around you die on a regular basis, some from known and others from more mysterious causes. Such is the case for Anthony "Tony" Ervin, a young man with mental retardation who lives at the Oak Valley State Training Shcool and Hospital in East Tennessee. In 1978, when murders begin happening back to back and innocent victims experience no reprieve from the brutality that pervades their lives, Tony finds himself thrust into the role of amateur sleuth. Uncertain of whom to trust, with violence and deception escalating, and viewed by those who run the institution as incompetent, Tony nonetheless discovers clues that lead to multiple suspects and motives. As Tony plunges into a week that will change his life, his movements as the mail boy for Oak Valley begin to have a profound impact on all whose path he crosses.

"Protagonist Tony Ervin, a resident at Oak Valley State Training School, is a highly unconventional, yet deeply moving and believable sleuth, who manages to remain aware and kind in the worst of circumstances. You can't help but root for him as he defies the expectations of those in power while struggling to solve the crimes taking place at Oak Valley and attempting to restore order to the only world he's known..."
-- Judith Van Gieson, author of the Claire Reynier and Neil Hamel mysteries.

"As Beckwith pulls aside the veil that shrouds Oak Valley, we are threaded through all the intrigue and politics of this labyrinthine place in our search for a killer. She leads us through the many rooms, halls and grounds and allows us to listen to both the caretakers and residents -- each with their own brand of human frailties -- one can become strangely enlightened and satisfied at the same time."
-- Robert Perske, Author of Circles of Friends, Unequal Justice and Deadly Innocence.

Dallas adman Ben Shilling receives a mysterious email accusing him of being a murderer! On our way to discovering what that email is all about we enter Ben's world of crazy clients, offbeat creative people and a host of other memorable characters.