History! Mystery! Murder!
Looking for family among strangers, a woman finds that seeking out distant relatives can be deadly and that some Arizona mysteries are better left buried!
PILAR SAGASTA steps into a world of cunning deception when she travels to Arizona to connect with her late grandfather's sister, Virginia. Eager for details of their Mexican history before the family fled the political turbulence in 1916, Pilar realizes quickly that she made a mistake. Far from the loving relatives she envisioned, she finds a group of odious characters who doubt her motives and want nothing more than to drive her away.
When Virginia dies suddenly, Pilar takes that as her cue to leave. But when she agrees to investigate after another relative is murdered, she discovers her family has a dubious past enmeshed in unsolved Arizona robberies, foreign politics, missing loot, and murder.
Secrets buried deep in the past reach to the present generation and obscure motives in a family where no one is who they seem and everyone has a secret to hide.
Cathy Ann Rogers has a penchant for creating literary characters who imitate reality through their skewed sense of justice as well as their bittersweet victories.
Cathy attributes the shaping of her writer’s prowess to her solitary upbringing as an only child. Armed with a library card from her neighborhood branch in Cincinnati, she spent her childhood absorbed in suspenseful scenes depicted within the fiction of Christie and Conan-Doyle. Simultaneously, she built a mental library of potential plots while eavesdropping on the conversations of adults who discussed everything from Hollywood to History. The result of these blended influences is her fascination with plot twists and multi-generational storytelling in novels.
Following the dictates of her left-brain, Cathy pursued a degree and graduate certificate in accounting, establishing a tax and bookkeeping service for entrepreneurs.
Cathy weaves her tales from her Arizona desert townhome in the company of her Bichon Frises, Whitney and Sophie.
I will always remember the dread of walking through the basement door as a child. Apprehension that a scary man, no face, only the merest form of a human, hovered just around the next wall, prepared to grab at me when I passed. Every trip down those stairs set my nerves on edge, safe as I thought I'd be bykeeping my back against the wall as I descended. Even after I reached the light switch and saw the illuminated rooms, I'd complete my task and run back up the stairs, barely out of the monter's reach.
When I wrote this scene, I knew I had to show Pilar, now an adult, reverting back to that childhood fear just as I still do sometimes.
Book Excerpt
Here Lies Buried
Her childhood fear of the boogeyman kept her spooked enough all her life to avoid going into dark basements alone. She weighed her irrational fears against the logical process of elimination. After thinking about it, she decided to chance it. Face fears first. If there had ever been something to fear since coming to Arizona, it had been human beings rather than imaginary monsters.
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