MAGPIE

Chain O''Lakes State Park

Spring Grove County

Illinois

Drop a rock into a still lake

and sit back to watch the ripples grow...

Set in contemporary America, this novel tracks the ripple effect of the arrival of a young couple in hiding from a religious cult on the quiet lives of the local people of ''Chain O''Lakes'' Illinois, exposing their pasts. Character driven and mainly set in dialogue, the story encompasses repression, humour, action, fatality and violence in somewhat equal measure.

78 years of age and at last finding a version of peace in an acerbic relationship with her neighbors, Maggie Gray is shaken awake by the arrival of a night-time opportunist thief.

Determined to expose them, whatever the danger, Maggie embarks on a vodka-fueled journey that takes her back through her work at Homeland Security to the very dangerous foundations of her lonely life.

''Kowalski he say... not all souls catch fire.

God made me not strong for to blow

spark... but you are strong woman...''