“Beside the Still Waters is a great read: Ms. Lynch has a thorough grasp of the historical back story, & the novel provides a fascinating narrative of the Quabbin Reservoir project. Ms. Lynch also has a firm grasp of the New England landscape, both historical & natural—her descriptions of the fields
& woodlands & towns are vivid & true.” - John Hayes, Robert Frost’s Banjo blog.
Four towns…dismantled as an entire valley is prepared to be flooded. The past is being wiped clean, the present threatens, the future belongs to the fearless.
Three generations weave a tapestry of isolation and stubborn independence, battling the forces of nature, the Commonwealth, and each other in this family saga. A courageous girl becomes the guardian of her family’s heritage, and ultimately, the one to determine what happens next.
Beside the Still Waters is based on actual events that displaced four entire towns in central Massachusetts in the 1920s and 1930s for the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir. Families are torn apart, divided between those who protest the construction, those who give up and leave while they can, and those who help to build the dam that will flood the towns.
Return to the Swift River Valley, its charm and its pain, its mysteries and its lessons—to a community, a family, and a young woman in a race against time.
& woodlands & towns are vivid & true.” - John Hayes, Robert Frost’s Banjo blog.
Four towns…dismantled as an entire valley is prepared to be flooded. The past is being wiped clean, the present threatens, the future belongs to the fearless.
Three generations weave a tapestry of isolation and stubborn independence, battling the forces of nature, the Commonwealth, and each other in this family saga. A courageous girl becomes the guardian of her family’s heritage, and ultimately, the one to determine what happens next.
Beside the Still Waters is based on actual events that displaced four entire towns in central Massachusetts in the 1920s and 1930s for the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir. Families are torn apart, divided between those who protest the construction, those who give up and leave while they can, and those who help to build the dam that will flood the towns.
Return to the Swift River Valley, its charm and its pain, its mysteries and its lessons—to a community, a family, and a young woman in a race against time.
A whimsical, poignant tale about a practical joke-turned publicity stunt that fires up the small town of Nuthatch, Massachusetts, in a desperate attempt to attract tourists.
Christmas tree farmer Everett Campbell proposes turning the clock back to 1904 and reviving the town’s cozy past, an idea he gets from watching his young daughter’s favorite classic movie, Meet Me in St. Louis. She is thrilled at being allowed to dress up and pretend, but not everyone in town is enchanted with the nostalgic promotion—including Everett’s moody teenage son.
The media, and the tourists, do come, but the scheme also attracts a large theme park corporation that wants to buy Nuthatch 1904.
Everett now stands to lose his town in a way he never imagined, and his neighbors are divided on which alternate future to choose.
A local drug dealer, Everett’s boyhood enemy, may hold the future of the entire town in his hands unless Everett can pull off one of his most spectacular, and dangerous, practical jokes.
“…a comforting, pleasant read that stays with you even after the last page is turned. After finishing the book, I found myself still musing about the relationships and how they'd changed and progressed. This book was a nice, hot chocolate sort of read.” Grace Krispy, MotherLode book review.
"...When I started reading this novel I couldn't put it down, the author's style of writing and descriptions used throughout had me hooked."
- Beck Valley Books book review.
"...I've always enjoyed Jacqueline's witty and playful style of writing in her blog, and I'm glad to state that it's also on display here. She knows New England well, and she brings Nuthatch to life with little details as well as larger ones. It sounds like the kind of small town you might encounter while on your way to or from Boston or Hartford or Providence..." Rich at Wide Screen World
Christmas tree farmer Everett Campbell proposes turning the clock back to 1904 and reviving the town’s cozy past, an idea he gets from watching his young daughter’s favorite classic movie, Meet Me in St. Louis. She is thrilled at being allowed to dress up and pretend, but not everyone in town is enchanted with the nostalgic promotion—including Everett’s moody teenage son.
The media, and the tourists, do come, but the scheme also attracts a large theme park corporation that wants to buy Nuthatch 1904.
Everett now stands to lose his town in a way he never imagined, and his neighbors are divided on which alternate future to choose.
A local drug dealer, Everett’s boyhood enemy, may hold the future of the entire town in his hands unless Everett can pull off one of his most spectacular, and dangerous, practical jokes.
“…a comforting, pleasant read that stays with you even after the last page is turned. After finishing the book, I found myself still musing about the relationships and how they'd changed and progressed. This book was a nice, hot chocolate sort of read.” Grace Krispy, MotherLode book review.
"...When I started reading this novel I couldn't put it down, the author's style of writing and descriptions used throughout had me hooked."
- Beck Valley Books book review.
"...I've always enjoyed Jacqueline's witty and playful style of writing in her blog, and I'm glad to state that it's also on display here. She knows New England well, and she brings Nuthatch to life with little details as well as larger ones. It sounds like the kind of small town you might encounter while on your way to or from Boston or Hartford or Providence..." Rich at Wide Screen World
The Current Rate of Exchange - Rose, a tall, bumbling American woman travels to New Zealand to re-establish ties with her late mother’s family and begins the adventure of her life. If she can survive it.
Armed with old family letters, she retraces her mother’s footsteps as a young woman during World War II as a government agricultural worker—or Land Girl—and a war bride when Rose’s father landed in New Zealand with the U.S. Marines.
The Current Rate of Exchange is a humorous, heartwarming, and poignant tale of what it means to reconnect, to discover, and to forgive.
Rose unexpectedly becomes involved in the family problems of her cousin Nora; her sudden romance with the handsome, troubled manager of the family farm wasn’t on the agenda, either.
If you like the romance of travel, the adventure of unexpected delights—and the delight of unexpected romance—pack up your dreams and follow Rose on her quest for closure. But will she be able to retrace her own steps home without repeating mistakes of the past?
Armed with old family letters, she retraces her mother’s footsteps as a young woman during World War II as a government agricultural worker—or Land Girl—and a war bride when Rose’s father landed in New Zealand with the U.S. Marines.
The Current Rate of Exchange is a humorous, heartwarming, and poignant tale of what it means to reconnect, to discover, and to forgive.
Rose unexpectedly becomes involved in the family problems of her cousin Nora; her sudden romance with the handsome, troubled manager of the family farm wasn’t on the agenda, either.
If you like the romance of travel, the adventure of unexpected delights—and the delight of unexpected romance—pack up your dreams and follow Rose on her quest for closure. But will she be able to retrace her own steps home without repeating mistakes of the past?
A late 21st century time traveler battles bards, druids, warrior queens, and Roman cohorts for survival during the Celtic rebellion against the Romans in Britannia, 60 AD.
Time traveler John Moore’s fate is determined by four women: the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca; Tailtu, a gentle slave purchased from another clan; Dr. Eleanor Roberts, a severe, jealous and brilliant woman who spearheads the time travel mission; and enigmatic Dr. Cheyenne L’esperance, herself a time traveler from an even more distant future when the ecological survival of Earth is doomed.
Myths of the Modern Man combines history with science fiction, where the savage past is prologue to a bleak future…unless John Moore can survive a whirlpool of revenge that echoes through the centuries, and from which only the women from the past, present, and future can save him.
Will he make it back in time?
Time traveler John Moore’s fate is determined by four women: the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca; Tailtu, a gentle slave purchased from another clan; Dr. Eleanor Roberts, a severe, jealous and brilliant woman who spearheads the time travel mission; and enigmatic Dr. Cheyenne L’esperance, herself a time traveler from an even more distant future when the ecological survival of Earth is doomed.
Myths of the Modern Man combines history with science fiction, where the savage past is prologue to a bleak future…unless John Moore can survive a whirlpool of revenge that echoes through the centuries, and from which only the women from the past, present, and future can save him.
Will he make it back in time?
The Iron Lung Mystery. (Book number 6 in the series)
In the summer of 1951, a polio victim treated at home in an iron lung is visited by his estranged brother. Both are found dead. Elmer and Juliet must determine who died first to settle the estate on their heirs, but a greater mystery involves wartime secrets and unsettled scores.
In the summer of 1951, a polio victim treated at home in an iron lung is visited by his estranged brother. Both are found dead. Elmer and Juliet must determine who died first to settle the estate on their heirs, but a greater mystery involves wartime secrets and unsettled scores.
Murder at the Summer Theater. (Book number 5 in the series)
Join Elmer and Juliet in a theatrical caper on the Connecticut shore in the summer of 1951.
Rehearsals grow tense at a summer theater on the Connecticut shore. The lead actress goes missing – or was she murdered?
Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian, the “Double V” duo, are called in on the case, but even with Juliet pretending to be an actress and newcomer to the cast, the players are guarding their secrets closely. There are spurned lovers, jealous wives, scene-stealers and heartbreakers, with enough spirit of vengeance to fill up the loge. Will the show go on? Even when a body is found?
If you like the charm of a classic film, this “cozy noir” will return you to an era of soft ocean breezes and a glamorous game of suspicion played between acts. The painted backdrop is the heyday of summer theatre, when greats from the New York stage and Hollywood performed in barns and tents on New England’s famed “straw hat circuit.” Passionate accusations light up the balcony, grim consequences lurk in the dressing room. Join the nervous producers on the veranda for a champagne cocktail.
It’s a seaside caper where murder is in the spotlight in the summer of 1951, and Juliet and Elmer are on the verge of a new professional – and personal - relationship!
Whitewash in the Berkshires --
An incident from Juliet’s past comes back to haunt her. A priceless work of art brings her to a secret bunker. An unidentified corpse is found in the river. As if this day weren’t bad enough…Juliet is kidnapped!
Juliet Van Allen, heiress, and ex-con Elmer Vartanian, casual partners in the business of ferreting out murderers, take us to the Berkshires of western Massachusetts in the bleak midwinter of 1951. What happens next is murder.
Whitewash in the Berkshires is the fourth book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s. If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this “cozy noir” will remind you of an era when character-driven stories were elegant—unless a car chase in a 1947 Cadillac touring sedan on a mountain road brings us close to the edge of doom.
It’s murder in the art world, where the paintings aren’t all that’s being framed.
Dismount and Murder-- third in the Double V Mysteries series is now available in eBook, and paperback. Elmer and Juliet continue their tentative relationship while investigating murder at a wealthy estate in Litchfield, Connecticut, in the summer of 1950, while a horse show on the grounds covers the tracks of a number of suspects. Elmer, an ex-convict, is now off parole, the Korean War has just started, and television antennas are starting to spring up on rooftops all over the place.
Then there's that missing corpse.
It's the dawn of a new, unsettling day.
Then there's that missing corpse.
It's the dawn of a new, unsettling day.
Speak Out Before You Die -
Guests arrive to attend a wedding in a snowbound mansion on New Year’s Eve. A discovered note warns of danger at midnight.
Juliet Van Allen’s wealthy widowed father is preparing to marry a much younger woman in the early hours of New Year’s Day, but when it appears that one of the guests might carry out a threat, she calls in her friend, ex-con Elmer Vartanian to post as a hired servant to help ferret out the clues and prevent a murder...but midnight is approaching, and time is running out.
Speak Out Before You Die is the second book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Enter a world where the second half of the Twentieth Century begins with a toast, a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, and a promise of revenge.
Guests arrive to attend a wedding in a snowbound mansion on New Year’s Eve. A discovered note warns of danger at midnight.
Juliet Van Allen’s wealthy widowed father is preparing to marry a much younger woman in the early hours of New Year’s Day, but when it appears that one of the guests might carry out a threat, she calls in her friend, ex-con Elmer Vartanian to post as a hired servant to help ferret out the clues and prevent a murder...but midnight is approaching, and time is running out.
Speak Out Before You Die is the second book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Enter a world where the second half of the Twentieth Century begins with a toast, a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, and a promise of revenge.
"A terrific mystery...how these two characters get thrown together by fate (the
initial 'meet' of these two is as inventive as anything I've read in a long
time) and manage to keep out of jail, solve a murder, catch a killer and
discover what has happened to Elmer's daughter is as good a way to spend a
couple of hours as I can think of." - Yvette, "In So Many Words..."
blog.
Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red is the first book in the Double V Mysteries series.
A museum heist, a missing child, a murder, a recent ex-con and an even more recent widow. How many times do we have to pay for our mistakes before life sends us a reprieve?
Juliet Van Allen, museum administrator, discovers that her artist husband is having an affair with another woman. Elmer Vartanian, recently released from prison for a museum robbery, is coerced into helping scout her museum for a heist by a gang that has kidnapped his daughter. Juliet’s husband is murdered. Did she kill him? She needs an alibi – so does the ex-con.
Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red is the first book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this “cozy noir” will remind you of an era when dramatic stories were elegant, subtle, and even a grim dark alley might lead to the glamour of evening dress and a champagne cocktail.
Enter a world where Modern Art meets old-fashioned murder and take a back seat in Juliet’s sleek 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan for a fast ride to outrun danger.
initial 'meet' of these two is as inventive as anything I've read in a long
time) and manage to keep out of jail, solve a murder, catch a killer and
discover what has happened to Elmer's daughter is as good a way to spend a
couple of hours as I can think of." - Yvette, "In So Many Words..."
blog.
Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red is the first book in the Double V Mysteries series.
A museum heist, a missing child, a murder, a recent ex-con and an even more recent widow. How many times do we have to pay for our mistakes before life sends us a reprieve?
Juliet Van Allen, museum administrator, discovers that her artist husband is having an affair with another woman. Elmer Vartanian, recently released from prison for a museum robbery, is coerced into helping scout her museum for a heist by a gang that has kidnapped his daughter. Juliet’s husband is murdered. Did she kill him? She needs an alibi – so does the ex-con.
Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red is the first book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this “cozy noir” will remind you of an era when dramatic stories were elegant, subtle, and even a grim dark alley might lead to the glamour of evening dress and a champagne cocktail.
Enter a world where Modern Art meets old-fashioned murder and take a back seat in Juliet’s sleek 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan for a fast ride to outrun danger.
DOUBLE V MYSTERIES - BOX SET, BOOKS 1 - 3.
A collection of the first three books in the Double V Mysteries series:
Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red
Speak Out Before You Die
Dismount and Murder
Available in eBook only.
A collection of the first three books in the Double V Mysteries series:
Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red
Speak Out Before You Die
Dismount and Murder
Available in eBook only.