Award Winning Novel: Mystery Thriller “Anonymous”

A young woman confronts the fear of inheriting mental illness when her husband moves her into a hundred-year-old farmhouse where neighbors insinuate it’s haunted. Her new friend confronts the fear of a stalker when perverse anonymous letters arrive in the mail. Their stories merge as their friendship grows and their fears escalate.

“The story was inspired by my 100-year-old farmhouse where the neighbors say it’s haunted. All the letters in the novel are actual letters from the man who stalked me. It’s been twenty-plus years and he remains anonymous to this day.”
-- Christine Benedict, author of Anonymous.

Awards:

• Winner of the 2016 Wishing Shelves Book Bronze Award
• Winner of the 2015 Clue Award (Chanticleer Reviews)
• Winner of the 2015 Eric Hoffer Book Award
• Nominated for the 2015 First Horizon Book Award
• Nominated for the 2015 IAN Book Of The Year
• Nominated for the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award

Excerpt:

“Debra’s hands were small, delicate, the kind of hands that could fit inside a mayonnaise jar. She had bitten her fingernails down to the quick; so she had picked at her cuticles and had bitten them, too, tearing fine strips of skin. She wanted so badly to stop. It was ugly. It hurt. But she would bite them any way.”

Debra Hamilton’s husband moves her into a hundred-year-old farmhouse on fifty-three acres of blacklisted real estate property. Floorboards creak when she’s all alone - her husband says it’s the wind outside. Objects appear and disappear - her husband says it’s her forgetfulness. Having to live here she is daunted by her genetic link to mental illness.

Julie, a neighbor who befriends her, realizes she has a stalker watching, waiting, when perverted anonymous letters arrive in the mail that cause a rift in Julie’s unstable marriage. Their plots merge as their friendship grows to create a rich and satisfying mystery thriller story.

What People are Saying:

“Intelligence, as well as emotion, drives this novel. A taut mystery thriller rich with lurid details yet also an evocation of vividly real and compelling characters.”
-- Mark Spencer, author of A Haunted Love Story, The Weary Motel, The Masked Demon, and Trespassers.

“VERY well-written, nice suspense, especially good female protagonists.”
-- Les Roberts, Cleveland author.

“A book full of drama and tension and at times quite a page-turner. Also with lovely passages, some fine writing. You have a great cast of characters, an excellent story. I look forward to reading your next novel.”
-- Clem Cairns, Fish Publishing, sponsor of The Fish Short Prize in Cork Ireland.

“Anonymous was one of the few books I read for hours without realizing just how much time had passed by. I would literally just sit down and read page after page until I just have to stop, take a deep breath, and carry on.”
-- Rola G., Book reviewer at Worn Out Pages.