Showing results by author "C. L. Bevill" in All Categories

A vivid waking dream of giant cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss haunts Anna St. Thais. The trees sit on a black lake that resembles a dark Louisiana bayou with an evocative aura. The dream includes the presence of a man who seems to know Anna all too well and a group of people with strange telepathic powers, sometimes called veiled eyes. An orphan from Texas, she is on her way east to help out a friend when she encounters two terrifying things.

Bubba Snoddy is a good old country boy with a big problem. Although he's personable, handsome, and lives in a historical Southern mansion in a small Texas town, he has just discovered the dead body of a woman to whom he was once engaged to marry. His ex-fiancée was responsible for Bubba being thrown out of the military, which in turn caused his shameful return to the tiny town of Pegramville, where everyone is a consummate gossip, and no one has any secrets.

Leonie Simoneaud was once one of the elusive Lake People - Acadian descendants in Louisiana with odd psychic powers. As a 13-year-old, she rescued an outsider child, Douglas Trent, from a maniacal pedophile named Monroe Whitechapel. Consequently, she was shunned by most of the Lake People for exposing them to the external world. As an adult, she lives elsewhere, an owner of an antique store in a quaint Texas town: Buffalo Creek.

Bubba Snoddy's got some problems. His family has descended for the Christmas holidays and not in a good way. His cousin wants to own the Snoddy Mansion, decrepit, falling down columns, termites, wood rot and all and isn't above using manipulative behavior to achieve his ends. Miz Demetrice is up to nefarious and illegal activities while trying to entertain relatives.

Quite naturally, Bubba's got another problem. The woman he likes is missing. Folks around Pegramville don't have an inkling whether Bubba done did anything this time. In fact, Bubba doesn't know what to think, but he is plumb dedicated on finding Willodean Gray, through fair means or foul. It will take a trip to the big city of Dallas, a run-in with an unstable superhero called The Purple Singapore Sling, a kidnapping by a Dallas crime lord, and a headlong hunt for a devious individual who snatched the fair sheriff's deputy to figure out which end is up.

Jane is a woman without a past. She wakes up in the back of a car with handcuffs on her wrists, with a man intent on doing her harm. She escapes, but into the murky underworld of New Orleans. A mysterious man shadows her, and strange memories tantalize her. People want to hurt her, and an unearthly creature stalks the night. Insanity might be a possibility, but everything is horrifyingly real. This sultry world is anything but ordinary.

Penelope Quick is a thief. Taught her skills by the best second-door man in the business, her father, she is a rarity in the field, a thief with honor. But Penelope breaks into the one house she should have left alone. The house is owned by a consortium and has shady objectives. There she finds Native American artifacts and a brilliant, egg-sized black diamond. She also makes the chilling discovery that Native American stories of things that go bump in the night are very much real. And the very real things are intent on retrieving the items she has stolen.

Brownie Snoddy is visiting the Snoddy mansion for spring break! Where Brownie goes, mayhem is sure to follow. He’s got his hands on a fedora and a stack of hard-boiled mystery novels, and he's ready to squirt metal at the nearest evil perpetrator, even though his reliable stun gun has been appropriated. When Janie, the niece of Willodean Gray, the beauteous sheriff’s deputy, shows up to participate, all heck breaks loose. Even Bubba and Miz Demetrice can’t stop the serious sleuthing of Brownie and the dame!

Brownie has returned to the Snoddy Estate. His mother is seven months pregnant, ordered to bed rest, and in desperate need of Brownie-free time. So off Brownie goes to visit the Texas Snoddys! It’s the middle of November, he’s 10 years old, and they’ve taken away his homemade Taser. How much trouble could there possibly be? Two men have decided to kidnap Brownie for the rumored Civil War gold the Snoddys reputedly have. And that was their mistake, because no one with a brain in their head kidnaps Brownie Snoddy. No one.

It's the day of Bubba and Willodean's wedding. The sun is shining. There isn't a cloud in the sky. The pergola is decorated in high style with baby's breath and ribbons streaming galore, and the preacher is ready. So what can possibly go wrong? Just about everything can go wrong. While 22 types of canapes are being served along with gallons of mimosas, Bubba finds the one thing that he well and truly did not want to find. There's a dead body in his house. Then the dead body disappears while Bubba goes for help. Then the body reappears.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Pegramville...Oh no! Bubba's got problems...again! For months, Pegramville and Pegram County have been relatively peaceful. But then there's the "attack" of the Pegramville Murder Mystery Festival, organized by none other than Miz Demetrice herself. Who knew people would make fun of the murders that happened in their own town? To add a spoonful of hot pepper to the mix, the local judge has just announced his run for the gubernatorial seat of Texas.

Even while avoiding all the wedding nonsense and coddling Willodean, Bubba feels the need to support a friend, be he a loony or not. There's folks disappearing, murder, and mayhem at the Dogley Institute for Mental Well-Being. Armed with Precious, his faithful Bassett hound, and Ol' Green, his faithful Chevy truck, Bubba aims to do what he does best, and amble on through the mystery before someone goes to jail, or worse, gets themselves murdered most foully.

It's trouble as usual for Bubba. His mother, Miz Demetrice, and her good friend, Miz Adelia, are up to no good with the DEA watching them for mysterious reasons. In addition, Bubba's also trying to get the beauteous sheriff's deputy, Willodean, alone for some quality time, when zombies invade in a cinematic manner. Further, the director of the movie is apparently murdered by persons unknown, and someone is pointing a finger directly at Bubba (again).

What does a gentlemen's club, mysterious men in black, a dead body, a broken down car with a lady in dire need, a heavily pregnant beauteous sheriff's deputy, and Miz Demetrice trying to unionize exotic dancers have in common? Why, it's Bubba Snoddy and the day things went south, yet again. Quite naturally, or unnaturally, there is a humdinger of a mystery, and Bubba is right in the middle of it.

The Flight of the Scarlet Tanager begins in Oregon with a young woman named Teddy spectacularly rescuing a child from drowning. The entire event is caught on videotape by a tourist and is heavily publicized. When Teddy wakes up in a hospital, she has no idea that she has just inadvertently put herself back into a very precarious limelight.