"The Cottage on the Bay".
​When I researched the history of the Civil War and the era of reconstruction I was amazed at the connection between the fiction of my novel and the real-life people who lived through it all. Ghosts, memories, the uncanny bonds between life and fiction, past and present.

       This could be the five Stewart sisters.            This could be the three Stewart Brothers.                           This could be Celeste.

This old photograph, circa 1860, is eerily the very image of what I envisioned a young Martha Stewart Thorpe would look like. There are a host of Civil War era photos that are uncannily similar to my fictional creations. All make you wonder if indeed, are my characters made up or are they the souls of the departed screaming out of the past so they and their lives will not be forgotten.

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Murder on Black Mountain
The Black Mountain Mystery Series
I sent a number of query letters out for Murder on Black Mountain. Of course, between the first query and the last that Prairie Rose Publications accepted, the manuscript changed quite a bit. Along the way I received some valuable feedback and of course in the years' time I also became a better writer. I was thrilled when Cheryl at Prairie Rose and Fire Star Press got back to me and said they wanted to publish my book, and they have proven to be very generous in support as well

Murder on Black Mountain is a work of fiction but like my previous book - "The Cottage on the Bay" - I rely on a great deal of local knowledge about the setting. Small Blue Ridge Mountain towns have grown over the years, begrudgingly in many cases, some kicking and screaming, but all forced to evolve from small town off the grid to informed towns with an online presence so important to today's citizen whether eager for a connected lifestyle or forced to accept the same in order to face a fast-changing world. Small towns with interesting people and the mysteries that bind them can be found in the mountains.

​There are two additional books in the Black Mountain series with the fourth coming in the summer of 2025.

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