Showing results by author "Michael Paul Hurd" in All Categories

As a young man, Edward Smith was devoted to his mother, or so everyone thought. When she disappeared, Edward began a downward spiral into the dark abyss of mental illness. In spite of his illness, Edward was a genius with an eidetic memory, and he used those attributes to his own advantage many times throughout his relatively short adult life. He even fought heroically in World War I and earned the nation’s third-highest honor for gallantry in combat. He gets justice in the end for his wrongdoings, but from a very unexpected quarter.

A flip of a switch, a blink of an eye… death can come that quickly. As mortals, we all wish for that to be our case, blissfully devoid of our own suffering or the suffering of others who will painfully watch our final days. Death by electrocution is usually quick, but not necessarily painless. The muscles of the body contract in wracking spasms and control of bodily functions is lost. The smell of singed flesh and burning hair permeate the room – certainly unpleasant for those the deceased left behind. In the United States, the process of electrification took several decades. Its ...

In a setting devoid of modern technology or modern transportation a family story unfolds in the mid-18th century. Richard Harris served multiple capacities before family circumstances interfered. He served as a Presbyterian deacon, an attorney and a captain in the Connecticut militia before the French and Indian War. Though he was forced to resign from the militia service, he maintained a strong friendship with a Mohegan Indian sachem and his family. Their sons both went off to fight in the war and somehow survived, with one of them becoming an accomplished sharpshooter and the other a ...

Germans, either by nationality or ethnicity, made their mark on the United States in the late Ninteenth and early Twentieth Centuries in the two decades leading up to World War I. Taking up mostly agricultural pursuits, some settled in Southwestern Michigan, and Berrien County in particular. Where did they come from? How did they get to Michigan? What difficulties did they face? Emma Waldheimer and Freddie Fenstermacher were of the first generation born in the United States. They grew up in German farming families. A chance meeting at a fruit market near the beginning of the Great ...

The Haskins family moved from Virginia to Missouri in the 1830s. Virgil, the eventual patriarch, was a successful horse breeder. Despite his success and marrying the love of his life, Virgil had a dark side that proved to be his undoing in Virginia and almost cost him his life in Missouri. This book chronicles the family’s origins in Virginia, its unexpected move to Missouri, and the effects that the Civil War had on family dynamics. This book is the fourth in the author’s “Lineage” Series. Although it is a standalone novel, it has connections to both Books One and Three in the series.

Jonathan and Bethany Harris are retired naval officers. A twist of fate while on board Jonathan’s inherited yacht separates the couple. After an extensive search by the United States Coast Guard, Captain Jonathan Harris, USN (Retired) is pronounced missing and presumed dead. Shortly after Jonathan’s memorial service, Bethany unexpectedly finds herself pregnant despite her age. A visit to a medium not long after the birth of her son suggests that Jonathan may still be alive and an entry in his family tree prompts Bethany to dive deeper into Jonathan’s history. Assembling a team of ...

While on his deathbed, King Henry VII knighted Thomas Overby, son of Shropshire landowner Sir Edmund Overby. By the dying King's command, Sir Thomas was immediately thrust into service, becoming Royal Standardbearer to the new King Henry VIII. However, Sir Thomas's position, which gave him anonymity even with its constant visibility, was merely a cover for his emergence as one of Henry's most trusted spies. As time goes on, Sir Thomas becomes a close confidant and envoy of the Crown and is heavily involved in the construction of Henry's favorite ship, Mary Rose. Constant proximity to Henry ...