A bastard by birth and orphaned at twelve, Charles has learnt to fend for himself in 1660s London. Homeless, he seeks shelter for the night in some canvas aboard a barge on the Thames. In the morning, he tumbles awake when the sail is hoisted, and t...
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Two reclusive people meet in a charity soup kitchen in a down-and-out area of London, and their mutual attraction tempts them to follow their hearts. Both know that breaking out of their social shells risks revisiting buried traumas, but it might relieve their loneliness.
Valerie has been celibate since she was drugged and raped, and she now concentrates on three things - running her corporate empire, maintaining a low profile and guiding her inquisitive daughter through puberty.
Lorne is still grieving a fiancée who died years before, but when he meets Valerie, his dormant desires waken. With little information beyond her first name, he takes a bold step and invites her to Valentine's Day dinner.
Their relationship escalates with blinding speed and all the comforts of a billionaire lifestyle, but the bliss is interrupted by a smear campaign on social media. Valerie's rapist is out of prison and looking for revenge. She wants to crawl back into her shell, but Lorne's love and acceptance continue drawing her out.
Though dark aspects are threaded through the story's background, the overbearing theme is a lighthearted and feel-good romance.
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The disappearance of a friend and millions of Francs worth of wine interrupts David's buying trip in France when he pauses to assist and comfort his friend's wife, Catherine. Their lives are threatened, the intensifying circumstances draw them closer together, and they uncover their buried traumas, insecurities and longings.
This is a tale of mounting tensions, realisations and passions woven through a gripping crime thriller set on the Burgundy canals and in the French wine business of the 1980s.
Although this is a work of fiction, most of the locations, adventures and characters are real or based on reality. The reminiscences, stories and timeline follow events from my own experiences, though sometimes they're slightly juggled to fit the crafting of this novel. Fortunately, the crimes and the criminals are fictional, and any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental.
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When Marissa's poodle, Thor is snatched, the police can do nothing, so she goes to a private investigator. Their initial encounter leaves her shaken and wondering whether it's time to review her decision to avoid men.
Graham gave up on women after a series of disastrous relationships, but something about Marissa stirs him. Dog? Oh, yes, there's a dognapping to solve.
Written for ONC 2024 in response to the prompt: Sometimes words speak louder than actions.
This story was named a Winner in both Round One and Round Two.
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Reviewing restaurants is normally a safe pursuit, but Kate and Lorne face torture and death when they try to unravel organised crime's infiltration of the fine dining scene.
Kate is a novelist and a dining columnist. Lorne is a lawyer, a prominent wine writer and an incognito restaurant reviewer who, since his teens, has believed he's asexual.
Playmates when they were toddlers and friends ever since, they are now thrown together by increasingly dangerous circumstances as the Mob targets them. The intensity and closeness trigger Lorne's deeply buried sexuality and Kate's long-suppressed desires. Will they be able to set their passions aside and focus on evading and entrapping the Mob?
