CrossReads Short Takes
The Letters
by C. Kevin Thompson
Rachel Hamar–a Manhattan bank teller–lives nothing close to a Manhattan lifestyle. Residing in Washington Heights, NY, the only thing keeping her in The Big Apple is her mother–a long-time patient in a local psychiatric hospital. It’s December 2014, and the twentieth anniversary of her high school sweetheart’s tragic death. She’s not sure how much more heartache she can endure, especially after being told earlier in the day she no longer has a job at the bank. A casualty of downsizing.
In the midst of spiraling depression, Rachel receives a mysterious letter in the mail. When she opens it, she becomes cautious and skeptical of its contents and discards it as a mistake, concluding it’s simply addressed incorrectly or a postal worker’s faux pas in the midst of a busy Christmas season. But another letter arrives the next day. And another the day after that. Before long, she is in possession of several letters. Each one more puzzling than the last.
Thinking that someone may be playing a cruel game, she contacts the police, and this propels Rachel and the two detectives into one of the most bizarre cases they’ve ever encountered. Is it a friend’s cruel joke? Is it some stalker’s perverse idea of manipulation? Or is it something more?
To Forever Keep My Heart
(Scottish Romance and Adventure)
by Peggy McGee
Following the death of their mother, Laird MacKinney, stepfather of twins Scott and Scotlyn Macroy hastily remarries with intent of maintaining his position. While sending Scott off on a rickety ship where he becomes lost at sea and negotiating a marriage of Scotlyn to the older roguish neighboring Laird Logan in exchange of land, he secures the keep under his control. On Scotlyn’s forced journey to her wedding, the carriage is raided spooking the horses and resulting in her ejection over a hill. A tinker finds her, taking her to a healer to treat her many injuries including amnesia. Inadvertently, she comes across her brother who whisks her to a Scottish town in America for safety while he plans a strategy to reclaim his family’s keep. Here, both of them come to know their long lost heritage through the tales of others. Making friends and even romantic interests, their goal remains to return to Scotland to obtain their birthright heritage. Join the many adventures of Scott and Scotlyn on their journey between continents, despite life-threatening obstacles, to unseal secrets and find their ultimate love.