I chose Clinton, Georgia from a map for a good location to set my fictional Flatlands.  When I got the chance to visit the town, I found it eerily like what I had imagined.  This graveyard, however, was a bonus.  It was old and rundown, with family plots and war heroes and ivy growing wild.  I just had to incorporate it into the book!

This is Boots, the cat who inspired my book.  Through the gracious assistance of Marilyn Trabon, I was able to meet Janice Rudolph, the woman who had adopted Boots.  Check out Boots’ story. About Boots

Excerpt for Unforgivable:

As Katie emerged from the thicker part of the woods, she saw the house first, washed in light and rising out of the distance.  Music floated through the air, a rock and roll station that faded in and out.  She peered around the trunk of one of the oak trees that surrounded the old plantation home. 

A man walked out of the house carrying a length of wood.  Her heart reacted first, not a startled jump but a different kind of jolt.  He was tall and lean, his brown wavy hair reaching just past his collar.  A blue handkerchief worked as a headband.  He wore jeans and a long-sleeved plaid shirt that was left unbuttoned.  She glimpsed a hard chest and taut stomach as the shirt flapped opened with his movements.

Spooky Silas, the kids used to call him.

He stopped short of the circular saw and, amazingly, looked into the trees surrounding the house.  She hadn’t made a sound.  He set the wood against the sawhorses and turned down the radio.  And he kept searching.

She was able to do nothing more than press closer against the tree. 

Silas.

Could it be him, after all this time?  It seemed a dream, a crazy dream that spun her insides and made breathing difficult.  The last time she’d seen him had haunted her, Silas being taken away.  Even though he had been cleared of suspicion in his father’s death, he’d still been an orphaned minor.  He’d been relegated to state protective services, and Katie had never seen him again.

Spooky and mysterious, yet tender and compassionate.  He’d touched her little girl soul and left an imprint that hadn’t quite gone away.