Bitter Secrets
by
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Over the years I had stopped and stared at that pretty little lot just across the street a couple times as I came out of my office—well, more than a couple times, to be honest. But there was always somewhere I had to go. Someone I had to see. Something I had to do. For a long time it wasn’t hard to brush off those disembodied eyes. I don’t know what it was that finally forced me to look into them. But once I did, I’d never be able to look away again. …
It was after five and I was the last one to leave the office. Once again, I automatically avoided looking at the corner lot. It had been a long day. Well, I guess it just seemed like a long one. As I locked the door, I was thinking about driving the few miles home and heating up last night’s meatloaf, then maybe getting in a quick bike ride with Dutch—I had been neglecting the poor dog again—and a nice long soak in the tub …
What was that? I was sure something caught my eye. Just a wisp of smoke, a gossamer tendril among the lavender falling stars. And then there they were again. This time, though, was different.
Those familiar, distorted, opaque masks were back, but somehow more vivid. Almost glowing; flickering shards of light and shadow … almost alive?
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About the Book
Captivated by a 40-year-old mystery, hometown reporter Molly Martindale embarks on a quest for truth that plunges her into an icy nightmare of fear and uncertainty. A wheelchair-bound Viet Nam vet, cold and eerie faces from the past, a savvy old black man and a yellowed diary are her companions on a journey that threatens to wake sleeping ghosts from her own secret past.
Bitter Secrets is an intensely human story set in a small Florida town. Intriguing secrets push the reader along as the heroine makes a heart wrenching search for clues to a lost family. Pictures of the lush southern landscape and varied characters all but speak aloud, including Dutch, her devoted Labrador retriever. It’s a good read, richly blending plainly beautiful language from start to finish.
Barbara Oehlbeck, poet and author of Mama: Root, Hog, or Die, The Sabal Palm and For the Love of Roses.
Bitter Secrets by Patty Brant is a story of the old south with twists and turns, melancholy and ghosts from the past. In the vernacular of southern people through easy conversations over coffee, Patty spins a deepening mystery of violence and trauma that crosses generations. This is a mystery-lover’s mystery with a touch of the paranormal that keeps the excitement high.
D. K. Christi, Consultant, Speaker & Author of Arirang: The Bamboo Connection and The Ghost Orchid, www.dkchristi.com
Bitter Secrets was a finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Book Awards.About the Author
Patty Brant has been writing for a small community newspaper in south Central Florida since 1985 and served as editor since 1991. Bitter Secrets is her first book. She is a native of Canton, Ohio—think Football Hall of Fame—and has lived in south Florida since 1969.