True Stories at the Smoky View (April, 2016)

Although Vrai (short for Vraiment), an art history librarian in Baltimore, has not spoken to her friend Skip for over a year, after his sudden death she dutifully takes his ashes and his dog home to his mother in Knoxville, Tennessee. Vrai has no idea why Skip stepped into traffic in Baltimore with his hands over his eyes, or why he so abruptly ended their longtime friendship.

After Skip’s funeral, Vrai rescues ten-year-old Jonathan, who has been abandoned in the funeral home parking lot. The Blizzard of 1993 soon strands this unlikely duo at the Smoky View Motel, where Jonathan comes across clues pointing to a possible suspect in Skip’s death.

What ensues is a very personal search for justice, during which the lives of Vrai and Jonathan are changed forever.

Weather map from NOAA’s National Climate Data Center

Beginning with Cannonballs (May, 2020)

In segregated Knoxville, TN, Gail (white) and Hanna (black) shared a crib in Gail’s parents’ house, where Hanna’s mother, Sophie, was the live-in maid. When the girls were four, Sophie taught them to swim, and soon they were gleefully doing cannonballs off the diving board.

By the time they’re both in college, however, the two friends have lost touch with each other. A reunion in Washington, DC, sought by Gail but resented by Hanna, sets the tone for their relationship from then on. Careers, marriage, and a tragic death further strain the increasingly fragile bond. How much longer can the friendship last?

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Both books published by She Writes Press. Covers designed by Julie Metz.