The Baron of Clayhill

A 2010 Finalist in the Popular Fiction category of the National Indie Excellence Book Awards.

From Publisher's Weekly: Set in 1967 East Texas, this novel mixes a soupçon of the supernatural in with the mundane. Twenty-year old Paul Henry, just released from the Army physically healed from wounds he suffered in Vietnam, but still suffering from deep psychic wounds and a radically changed outlook.

Estranged from family and friends and not knowing what he's going to do with the rest of his life, decides to visit the grave of his father, a man he never knew who supposedly committed suicide on the day his son was born. Paul's impulsive decision to find out more about his father sets him on a journey among strangers in a strange land, where he will find happiness and horror, love, hate, the power of determined effort, and the force of capricious fate.

The author does an excellent job of keeping you enthralled, making you hope all will be well, yet causing you to fear that all will come crashing down. Like a skilled poker player, this story keeps its cards close to its vest until all the bets are in. The hand is called, and boom, the cards are laid on the table for all to see. After the emotions stirred up by the showdown abate, one thought is left. Wow! Deal another hand!