Mostrando resultados por autor "J.E. Gessler" en Todas las categorías

The explosion came close to killing him, and as Rudy Blake lay on the ground feeling the rest of his life ebb away, he comprehended one of two things would happen. Either he would find Rose Theodore’s lifeless body and join her spirit in the afterworld, or the gods would spare her – and consequently him – because they were not yet done manipulating their favorite plaything. Proving one side stronger, or perhaps simply more willful than the other, it is Rose who saves Rudy. Realizing he has been badly burned and perhaps suffered broken bones from plummeting down the stairs in the ...

It couldn’t be true, could it? Surely, not in a sane, work-a-day world could a man billing himself as the “Mystic Seer predict the outcome of the stock market. Trends; ups and downs; which companies to buy and which to sell. And yet, over the course of nine years, Jason Holloway, d/b/a the Mystic Seer had done just that. My name is Kimbo: A. Kimbo, to be specific. People often shorten my first name to Andy. I’m a crime reporter for the Carry All News Service (CANS). At the present, my small corner of it is based in London. I got the crummy assignment to investigate how this phony ...

Although short-staffed, the Kamer/Jackson Institute continues to admit students that require all the time, skill and dedication Drs. Robert Kamer and Samuel Jackson can give them. Included among these newcomers are a boy diagnosed as suffering from “failure to thrive,” a man experiencing the devastating effects of drug withdrawal and a convicted arsonist described by a judge as “inveterate.” An interview with a psychiatrist applying for a job goes terribly wrong and “Mother” Mary Schaeffer must try and hold things together, while Sam’s therapy for Toby includes the services of...

“Target’d” Summary Never was a ship more aptly named. While on a routine mission to the outer quadrant of the galaxy, the star cruiser Target is struck by an unknown force, immediately killing two-thirds of the crew. Those remaining include Commander Joshua Terry, who assumes command after the death of the captain. Discovering only four of the bridge crew alive and two of those critically wounded, he begins a search of the ship for the remainder of the survivors. Along those few he finds Brian Hardy, the ship’s resident minister and unofficial guru, and Helen Fitzgerald, a language ...

“RamBlings”RB X The war fought on the battlefield had ended but the real fight was about to begin: that which might be described as, “To the winner belongs the spoils.” Federal agents had arrived in England to go through the bank accounts of those whose allegiance had sided with the late Confederacy – claiming their war profiteering as restitution. Realizing if they did not act quickly, Rudy Blake’s fortune, earned as a blockade-runner and entrepreneur, would be forfeit, Rose Theodore takes the wounded man to Liverpool where they begin the arduous and dangerous task of securing ...

The Conundrum of the Loveless Marriage This sixth book in the Hugh Kerr Mystery series, takes a dark turn to touch on some very sensitive topics, especially for the newlyweds. Hugh and Ellen are trying to start fresh following their recent marriage and several highly emotional personal and professional events. The first day back in the office they are confronted with an unscheduled client asking very real questions about her rights as a married woman with respect to boundaries of the marriage bed. The law with respect to marital relations falls strongly in the man's favor, and Hugh could ...

In the sequel to Target’d, this novel follows the crew of the crippled star cruiser Target six months after the initial disaster which had killed the majority of the 200 crewmembers aboard, leaving the survivors with only limited power and ineffectual defense mechanisms. With only minimal ability to grow plants in a makeshift hydroponics unit, their food supply consists of nothing more than nutritional tablets discovered aboard in an undelivered supply consignment for colonists on a distant planet. Originally determining these tablets would last the few remaining survivors for decades, ...

It was not the maiden voyage of the intergalactic prototype space vessel, merely a sixty-day test flight. The ship did not even have a name; she was merely called ONE, a designation without dignity. The skeleton crew participating her last “assignment” – that which would precede the actual mission – were derisively referred to as “crash dummies,” meaning they would be expected to step aside when the actual captain and crew assumed their rightful positions for the multi-year mission. Nothing was expected to go wrong. When the unexpected happened – when the ship lost the ability...

The expression "holy revenge" might seem a misnomer, as it is often believed that vengeance belongs to the Lord. When a race of people were cruelly and habitually enslaved, however, freedom meant more than emancipation: it offered the opportunity to redress wrongs in a more earthly court. The man called "Red" arrived in Hellhole with an aura of trouble surrounding him. Immediately sensing his presence meant bloodshed, Marshal Kiley ordered him out of town but not before allowing him to have his wounds treated by the doctor, Fiz Ward. Even more intuitive than the lawman, Dr. Ward is quick to...

“Blue Moon”Summary The Indian legend stated that a red-haired white boy, born of earthquake and comet in a month with two full moons, would save the tribes along the Mighty Mississippi from oppression by the white-skinned invaders from the east. As the first steamboat to navigate the western waters, under the charter of Robert Fulton, himself, made its appearance, the early pioneers were terrified by the noise and the smoke. Calling it the devil’s invention in superstitious awe, and perhaps more accurately, a “floating teakettle,” the magnificent boat traversed the unknown with a ...

Catman He was every man; he was no man. Or, was he a man, at all? The tall, straggly individual who came out of the pouring rain holding a dead kitten in his hand to accuse the Mercedes driver of running over his cat, had that odd look about him which made the driver think he was not quite right in the head. Abandoning man and beast along the roadside, he sped away, glad to be rid of the apparition. But was he? Although it couldn’t be possible, the driver saw the face of the man in his rear view mirror. Less probable, once returning home, he couldn’t shake the feeling the Catman had ...

“prioR Battles”After running the Federal blockade and returning to England, Rudy and Rose have three days to spend together before he is compelled to return across the Atlantic. To use that time together in a meaningful way, Rose requests Rudy tell her of his youth. Beginning with the tragic circumstances leading to his expulsion from VMI, his return to Charleston and subsequent disinheritance, he then details for her, in words so vivid she experiences his adventures alongside him, his voyage to San Francisco and foray into the gold fields as a ‘49er. The flashback, seen through the ...

“skull and cRossBones” Summary Escaping Civil War-torn Richmond, Captain Rudy Blake and Rose Theodore, the newest member of the blockage-runner Reprobate, sail for England. During the voyage Rudy and Rose’s relationship deepen as he has the opportunity of teaching her shipcraft, armament and the nuances of sailing. Working together to thwart a plot by the notorious Captain Janey, the pair begin a “conquest” of Victorian England that includes establishing Rose as his chandler, the purchase of the Blake House and a foray into high society where a spirited drinking contest proves ...

What is a dream but a fight against the odds? A struggle to rise above the ordinary and express a creativity that encapsulates the soul. When love is shared, that emotion becomes a dual consciousness. As a small child, Seth Ward had seen a valley filled with wild strawberry plants and imagined that one day he would own that land and cultivate those plants. Growing to adulthood and facing the harsh reality of raising two small children in Bloody Kansas of the 1850's, however, life was reduced to dreary survival and dreams were tucked away into the recesses of yesteryear.When love and ...

The Hugh Kerr Mystery Series “The Conundrum of the Two-Sided Lawyer” (Book IV in the Series) The “Kerr Gang” is back in Los Angeles where it falls to Ellen to try and reestablish Hugh’s shattered self-image so he can go back to practicing law. One of the first items on the agenda is to re-address the murder case Hugh lost before he fled to Canada on what could have been the final trip of his life. The case, as presented, was uncomplicated. Daniel Jenkins, Hugh’s client, was convicted of the murder of a man named Richard Green by bludgeoning him on the head with a rock. The D.A.,...

Hugh Kerr, famous Los Angles defense attorney, his new wife and longtime personal assistant Ellen, their "adopted" parents, Lt. Hank Wade and his wife Mary, Hugh's best friend and private investigator, Jack Merrick, along with the LA District Attorney, B.B. Bond all belong to the exclusive "Hugh Kerr Gang". Good times or bad, the gang members all support each other. The Conundrum of the Executed Defendant pushes the boundaries of both good times and bad. The Gang has some fun designing a fixed raffle, so one of their own will be the predetermined winner of a much-needed home improvement ...

The post-Civil War era in the American West was a troubled, turbulent time. With hatreds still seething, men often took it upon themselves to enforce their own brand of justice. When they did, it brought them in conflict with those few who attempted to apply a standardized set of rules and regulations to a rawboned civilization. Convincing men who did not fall into the category of outlaws but who were, rather, self-appointed vigilantes to follow the law was not a simple task, yet that was what Marshal Claw Kiley faced when he confronted a gang of mountain men from West Virginia, out to ...

Hellhole, Kansas, was no ordinary town. Like other places, it was comprised of desultory businesses, saloons, livery stable, bank, and clapboard homes, clinging to life by their figurative fingernails. What set this hider town apart from other post-Civil War outcroppings of civilization was that it also housed a United States Marshal's office. Hellhole was known to the authorities in Topeka as the place where lawmen went to die. Claw Kiley had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, being discharged, as he had entered, a private. That fact hardly qualified him for a Federal position,...

When Captain Robert Andrew, recently retired from forty years active service in the army, walks into the law office of Hugh Kerr and Associate, Ellen Kerr has grave misgivings about him. His legal quest is simple enough: is he legally responsible for his father if the elder Andrew could no longer care for himself? Offered his legal options, Robert states his belief his father, Ian Andrew, is in need of professional care. He asks Hugh to substantiate his opinion and after interviewing Ian, the Kerrs are reluctantly forced to agree. After obtaining a power of attorney for Robert, who promptly...

Atlanta has fallen and Rudy Blake has left the city, penniless and without hope. Following in the footsteps of the ragtag Confederate Army, he comes upon an officer and makes the startling announcement he wishes to join up. Proving his prowess with a rifle, he signs his name on the enlistment form and is assigned to the sharpshooters. Here, Private Blake gets his first taste of what war really means: deprivation, fear, loss, death and a despair deeper than any he has ever experienced. After a particularly dispiriting encounter with Federal forces, he is overheard commenting on the lack of ...