Books
New Release - Culligan's Way
Available now in ebook and print
In the Culligan clan, love and protection are served with a heaping side of treachery.
Desolate and alone after succumbing to severe Covid, Tim Culligan returns to his boyhood home at Culligan’s Way in Pawleys Island, South Carolina and faces the family he abandoned and forever swore off. Waiting for him is his powerful father, Judge Rudy Culligan, his loving but bi-polar mother Ruth, an abusive older brother, and two sisters — one hot-tempered, one rebellious. Although heartened by his warm welcome home, Tim soon finds himself embroiled in controversy, scandal, betrayal, and a murder that strikes at the heart of the Culligan household.
Suddenly, every Culligan is a suspect in the brutal killing which occurs on their property. As the case hurtles towards a culminating trial, all six Culligans face different crises, each of their own making. All cards are off the table as Tim struggles to find his new identity, while keeping pace with his family’s laundry list of lies, deceit, vengeance, and justice — all done Culligan’s way.
Behind the scenes of Culligan’s Way
In the summer of 2021, my grandniece Emma was involved in a traffic accident in Georgetown, South Carolina, and the young lady who hit her came from a wealthy but dysfunctional well-known family who lived on the beachside island in Pawleys Island. This turned out to be the germ seed for Culligan’s Way — a family saga about a rich, powerful, highly dysfunctional family who live in a mansion both on the beach and the marsh.
At its heart, Culligan’s Way is a murder mystery, but it is also a profile of the six family members, all of whom have contemptable qualities, but also, all, except Randy, have positive contributions as well. The fact that each of them work their way into different crises of their own making highlights these aspects of their personalities.
The setting is paramount to the story. It is an absolutely gorgeous place to live or visit. I often take bike rides down the length of Pawleys Island, exhilarating from the wide view of the marsh looking back to the mainland. At the south end of the island, where Culligan’s Way is located, the marsh narrows some. The cover art is based on a photo taken of one of the piers in this location, the actual Pawleys Creek in the background.
In Culligan’s Way, I continue the writing style I love so much. The chapters are short and crisp. The dialogue is sharp and pulls no punches. There’s plenty of twists and turns, and the plot never slows down. As my first true murder mystery, I thoroughly enjoyed setting up suspects for the reader to guess at whom the killer is. I hope you are not disappointed.
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A morbid conversation taints a blissful day at the beach. At the very end of their summer vacation, Beth Littleton’s high-school sweetheart Ben declares he would like to eventually die on his home beach in Pawley's Island, South Carolina. He has no idea he’ll be dead within the hour. Accidents can happen to careless teenagers. So can murder.
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Set against the backdrop of some of the greatest disasters of the 21st century, Boon’s dreams reveal dark secrets and phenomenal truths. As he grows from childhood to adolescence, and then into adulthood, Boon discovers how to harness his knowledge on some occasions to help those in
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The Broken Wire (2018)
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When April Matson takes a long needed break in Pawley's Island South Carolina, after
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