Honor’s Banner Continues the History, Mystery, and Romance Set in Motion By Charlsie Russell's Camellia Creek
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Mississippi Author Brings Spanish Natchez to Life
Escape to 18th-century Spanish Natchez and a place that would become Mississippi. Charlsie Russell’s provocative Southern Gothic, The Devil’s Bastard, seduces the imagination and transports the reader to a time when Spain and the young United States vie for control of the Old Southwest, King Cotton is in its infancy, and evil is a self-anointed being.
Into this web of international intrigue, the wealthy and powerful Elizabeth Boswell welcomes her orphaned grandniece Angelique Veilleux and introduces the sheltered, but impoverished beauty to a world of privilege. But power has its enemies and wealth demands a price. Rumor has it that Elizabeth’s success stems from dalliance with a lustful demon that haunts her family farm of De Leau outside Natchez.
At the center of this ominous legend is Elizabeth’s grandson, the handsome and dangerous Mathias Douglas, who saves Angelique from degradation and death near the end of her journey to Natchez. Mathias is the son of the doomed Juliana, Elizabeth’s only daughter. Mathias’ father, locals whisper, is Elizabeth’s demon.
From Mathias’ gritty birth in the novel’s prologue to Elizabeth Boswell’s revelation at story’s end, The Devil’s Bastard is a compelling read. A sensual romance, it is also a haunting mystery with unforgettable characters, a plot rich in history, and the prerequisite happy ending.
The Devil’s Bastard is on sale now at Cover to Cover Books, Monmouth Plantation, Rosalie, and the Old South Trading Post in Natchez; Lemuria in Jackson; Yellow Dog Books in Madison; Barnes and Noble in Gulfport; Bay Books in Old Town Bay St. Louis; or you can order the book through Amazon.com, or Mississippi’s own online gift store, WWW.ABASKETCASE.US. For more information, visit www.loblollywritershouse.com.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy. She retired from the Navy in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. In addition to making a home for her husband and five children, Ms. Russell writes historical fiction set in Mississippi. Ms. Russell’s people are from the Braxton area of Simpson County. She and her family now live in Gulfport.
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Book Statistics
Title: The Devil’s Bastard
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 0-9769824-0-4 978-0-9769824-0-1
LCCN: 2005904850
Category: American Historical/Romance
Length: 306 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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Local Author’s Work Ranks With Best in the Nation Among Independent Publishers
Gulf Coast resident Charlsie Russell’s provocative Southern Gothic, The Devil’s Bastard has won a bronze medal in the romance division of this year’s prestigious Independent Publisher Book Awards.
The first title from Loblolly Writer’s House, a small press Ms. Russell established in 2005 following years seeking publication through traditional houses, The Devil’s Bastard, is a seductive escape to a time when Spain and the young United States vie for control of the Old Southwest, King Cotton is in its infancy, and evil is a self-anointed being.
Into this den of international intrigue, the wealthy and powerful Elizabeth Boswell welcomes her orphaned grandniece Angelique Veilleux and introduces the sheltered, but impoverished beauty to a world of privilege. But power has its enemies and wealth demands a price. Rumor has it Elizabeth’s success stems from dalliance with a lustful demon that haunts her family farm of De Leau outside Natchez.
At the center of this ominous legend is Elizabeth’s grandson, the handsome and dangerous Mathias Douglas, who saves Angelique from degradation and death near the end of her journey to Natchez. Mathias is the son of the doomed Juliana, Elizabeth’s only daughter. Mathias’ father, locals whisper, is Elizabeth’s demon.
From Mathias’ gritty birth in the mood-setting prologue to Elizabeth Boswell’s revelation at story’s end, The Devil’s Bastard is a compelling read. A sensual romance, it is also a haunting mystery with unforgettable characters, a plot rich in history, and the prerequisite happy ending against the backdrop of a place that would become Mississippi.
The Devil’s Bastard is on sale now at Cover to Cover Books, Monmouth Plantation, Rosalie, and the Old South Trading Post in Natchez; Lemuria in Jackson; Yellow Dog Books in Madison; Barnes and Noble in Gulfport; Bay Books in Old Town Bay St. Louis; or you can order the book through Amazon.com, or Mississippi’s own online gift store, WWW.ABASKETCASE.US. For more information, visit www.loblollywritershouse.com.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy. She retired from the Navy in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. In addition to writing historical fiction set in Mississippi, Ms. Russell is a homemaker for her husband and five children. Ms. Russell’s people are from the Braxton area of Simpson County, and she is the very proud great-great-granddaughter of a Confederate Veteran from Pontotoc County. She and her family live in Gulfport.
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Book Statistics
Title: The Devil’s Bastard
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 0-9769824-0-4 978-0-9769824-0-1
LCCN: 2005904850
Category: American Historical/Romance
Length: 306 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
# # #
Go to top of Press Release page
NEWS RELEASE
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Contact: Charlsie Russell
(228) 861-5662 (C)
E-mail: loblollywriter@aol.com
Charlsie Russell’s Wolf Dawson Delves into Dark Passions in the Years Following the War Between the States
Ten years after the Confederate Army reported him killed in action, dirt-poor Jeff Dawson returns to Natchez, Mississippi a wealthy man and purchases White Oak Glen, the once opulent home of the aristocratic family that years ago shattered his own.
Burdened with a drunken brother and besieged with needy relatives, Juliet Seaton struggles to hold on to what remains of her farm against the excesses of Federal tyranny. Now, she faces a new menace in the form of a marauding wolf, which slaughters stock and wreaks havoc in the mind of her alcoholic brother. Jeff Dawson died in combat, Tucker Seaton warns his sister. The man occupying White Oak Glen is a ghost, who in the form of that vicious wolf seeks to destroy what is left of the Seatons.
An infant when events occurred setting her family against the Dawsons, Juliet appears pitted against a neighbor hell-bent on avenging his sister, who died in childbirth after being violated by a Seaton male. Jeff’s grandfather was part Creek Indian. Local legend states he terrorized neighbors with tales of his ability to shape-shift into a deadly wolf. Persons unknown lynched the old man following the killing, apparently by a wolf, of the Seaton who raped Jeff Dawson’s sister.
But Juliet finds the handsome Jeff every inch a living, breathing man. His seductive touch weakens her resolve and blinds her to the danger he poses. Jeff, however, is no longer compelled to destroy the Seatons; they have destroyed themselves and left the vulnerable Juliet to his mercy.
Into this explosive mix of fear and distrust comes a sadistic killer, and what this fiend kills is not Seaton livestock but Natchez’ young prostitutes. Frightened neighbors whisper Jeff is the killer.
With the countryside ablaze with suspicion, Jeff and Juliet overcome mutual distrust and strip away a lost generation’s hatred. Old lies give way to new truths, lust to love, and together, Jeff and Juliet set out to identify not only a killer but also the role of the spectral beast haunting the countryside.
Wolf Dawson is on sale now at Cover to Cover Books, Monmouth Plantation, Rosalie, and the Old South Trading Post in Natchez; Lemuria in Jackson; Yellow Dog Books in Madison; Barnes and Noble in Gulfport; Bay Books in Old Town Bay St. Louis; or you can order the book through Amazon.com, or Mississippi’s own online gift store, WWW.ABASKETCASE.US. For more information, visit www.loblollywritershouse.com.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School and a 1972 graduate of the University of Mississippi. Following graduation from Ole Miss, she received a commission in the United States Navy, from which she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. She and her family live in Gulfport. Ms. Russell is a 2007 recipient of an Independent Publisher Book Awards bronze medal for her first title, The Devil’s Bastard. Wolf Dawson is her second book.
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Book Statistics
Title: Wolf Dawson
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9769824-1-8
LCCN: 2006908659
Category: American Historical/Romance
Length: 298 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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Mississippi Author Wins Double Gold in Independent Publishing Competitions
“Escape,” Charlsie Russell beckons her readers, “into Mississippi’s past.”
Rife with ‘blood, guts, and glory’; fortified with suspense; and sweetened with romance, her newest release, Wolf Dawson, accomplished that for judges of the 2008 Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY) and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (Indie). In both competitions, Ms. Russell’s second title garnered the gold for the Romance Category. Wolf Dawson also placed in the Historical Category of the Indie. Sweet victories for a writer who collected her share of rejections from traditional publishers before founding Loblolly Writer’s House in 2005 and publishing on her own. Ms. Russell is also typographer, cover designer, and sales representative for her company.
Publishing services company Jenkins Group Inc. hosts the IPPY, recognizing excellence in independent publishing. This year’s judges ferreted out 450 excellent books from almost 3200 entries in 64 national categories, 20 regional categories, and 10 “Outstanding Books of the Year.” Categories include fiction and non-fiction. Entries represented 49 states, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and 16 additional countries. “The quality of this year’s entries is totally amazing, and judging was difficult…,” said Jim Barnes of Jenkins Group when announcing the winners of the 12th annual contest, “we’ve tried to highlight the best of the best.”
The Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group annually presents the Next Generation Indie Book Awards to recognize the top independently published books in 70 categories across the literary spectrum. Participants include small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.
Wolf Dawson is both a passionate romance and a dark suspense pitting a one-time, dirt-poor Confederate soldier against the ragged remains of the aristocratic Seatons who shattered his family years before the War Between the States. No longer poor nor materially affected by the defeat that gutted the Seatons, Jeff Dawson returns to Adams County and purchases White Oak Glen, the Seaton’s ancestral home. In his shadow stalks the beastly spirit of Southern justice.
Burdened with a drunken brother and besieged with needy relatives, Juliet Seaton battles the excesses wrought by Federal tyranny for what remains of her family’s farm. Now, she faces a new menace in the form of a marauding wolf, which slaughters stock and wreaks havoc in the mind of her alcoholic brother. Jeff Dawson died in combat, Tucker Seaton warns his sister. The man occupying White Oak Glen is a ghost, who in the form of that vicious wolf seeks to destroy what is left of the Seatons.
But Juliet finds the handsome Jeff every inch a living, breathing man. His seductive touch weakens her resolve and blinds her to the danger he poses. Jeff, however, is no longer compelled to destroy the Seatons. They’ve destroyed themselves and left the vulnerable Juliet to his mercy.
Into this mix of fear and distrust comes a sadistic killer, and what this fiend kills is not Seaton livestock but Natchez’ young prostitutes. Neighbors whisper Jeff is the killer. With the countryside ablaze with suspicion, Jeff and Juliet overcome a lost generation’s hatred and set out to identify not only a killer but also the role of the spectral beast haunting White Oak Glen.
Wolf Dawson (ISBN: 978-0-9769824-1-8) is a 6X9 trade paperback retailing for $14.95. It is available now at Cover to Cover Books, Monmouth Plantation, Rosalie, and the Old South Trading Post in Natchez; Lemuria in Jackson; Yellow Dog Books in Madison; Barnes and Noble in Gulfport; Bay Books in Old Town Bay St. Louis; or you can order the book through Amazon.com, or Mississippi’s own online gift store, WWW.ABASKETCASE.US. For more information, visit www.loblollywritershouse.com.
Charlsie Russell is a proud descendent of generations of Southerners on both sides. She is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy. She retired from the Navy in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. She resides with her family in Gulfport, but she and her husband still own her granddaddy’s farm in Simpson County. Wolf Dawson is her second book. Her first novel, The Devil’s Bastard, is a 2007 IPPY Bronze Medal winner. To learn more about Charlsie Russell and Loblolly Writer’s House visit www.loblollywritershouse.com.
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Book Statistics
Title: Wolf Dawson
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9769824-1-8
LCCN: 2006908659
Category: American Historical/Romance
Length: 298 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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Contact: Charlsie Russell (228) 861-5662 (C)
e-mail: loblollywriter@aol.com
Mystery Brings 19th Century Mississippi Gulf Coast to Life
Charlsie Russell’s newest novel is a romantic mystery set against the founding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s premier port city, Gulfport, at the close of the 19th century.
In 1897, the grand old man of Handsboro, Mississippi, Lionel Augustus, dies and much to the chagrin of his greedy siblings, leaves the bulk of his significant estate to his illegitimate son and beloved step-daughter, with one stipulation: they wed. For reasons of their own, the two agree to marry, sight unseen, but only days after her marriage by proxy to Deputy Sheriff Clay Boudreaux of Galveston County, Texas, Olivia Lee learns her husband has died in a house fire and her extended family intends to contest the will. Exacerbating her situation, a stranger, claiming to be the dead Clay, but who her family warns is Clay’s older brother Troy, invades Olivia’s opulent home and accuses her of hiring Troy to kill Clay...and yet another henchman to eliminate Clay’s killer.
Olivia and the invader, whoever he might be, have sound reasons for confusing their roles in the plot to murder Clay Boudreaux, reasons dealing with duty, justice, and survival. Neither is sure of the role the other plays in the Machiavellian plan of Lionel’s siblings, nor is it clear that Lionel’s brother and sister are the only subversives working to sabotage the terms of Lionel’s will. So great is the present danger it overshadows the dark secret driving Lionel’s bizarre stipulation that Clay and Olivia wed in the first place.
Charlsie Russell’s third novel is both a romantic charade and a compelling mystery, pitting the wit and will of one wary lover against the honor and sheer determination of the other, even while the sinister machinations of dangerous foes force them into a grudging alliance. Though the tangled mystery sets this novel apart from her edgy Gothics, The Devil’s Bastard and Wolf Dawson, Ms. Russell’s Epico Bayou still features those tried and true elements of suspense, sensual romance, and historical setting that characterize her work. Pure escape. Don’t miss this journey!
Epico Bayou is available through Amazon.com or the Loblolly Writer’s House website, www.loblollywritershouse.com.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a Mississippian. Following graduation from the University of Mississippi in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy from which she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. In addition to writing and making a home for her husband and five children, she is the founder of her own independent publishing company, Loblolly Writer’s House. She and her family make their home in Gulfport, Mississippi.
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Book Statistics
Title: Epico Bayou
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9769824-2-5
LCCN: 2008910962
Category: American Historical/Mystery/Romance
Length: 310 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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Mystery, Suspense, Romance, and History from a Time When the Memory of the Old South Blossomed into Legend
Thirty years following the War Between the States, Rafe Stone comes to Mississippi seeking a house reputed to hold the secret to a fortune in Yankee gold. But the magnificent structure that began life as a one-room, French-Dominion log cabin and grew into an antebellum showcase south of Natchez has fallen into disrepair and into the hands of a savvy Mississippi City businessman by the name of Josephus Collander. The house is not for sale, Collander tells Rafe, but he can have it for nothing, if he will accept it as his niece’s dowry.
Rafe’s desperation, coupled with Delilah Graff’s beauty, makes the decision, albeit a reckless one, easy. But what secret in the siren’s past would cause a responsible kinsman to barter her to a stranger?
Tragedy has left Delilah jaundiced toward life and eager for independence, but the financial support her Uncle Joe promised is suddenly forfeit, and he compels her to wed a man she does not know. Worse, her new husband takes her to Natchez, a city where her name is synonymous with disgrace. There he moves her into a house rumored, over the course of its nearly two hundred years, to have hosted treason, robbery, adultery, and murder. A house reputed to harbor the specter of a vicious killer.
And who is this Rafe Stone to whom she has sworn her troth? A man, who claims to be a stranger to Mississippi, yet knows more about the majestic River’s Bend, and its past, than he should? What is his link to its dark legends and the ghost walking its rambling halls?
River’s Bend is on sale now at Bay Books in Old Town Bay St. Louis; Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian; All Wrapped Up gift store in D’Iberville; Cover to Cover Books in Natchez; or you can order the book through Amazon.com or directly from the Loblolly Writer’s House website, www.loblollywritershouse.com.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy from where she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. In addition to being a homemaker to her husband (for whom she bore and raised five children), Ms. Russell writes historical fiction set in Mississippi. She and her husband still own her granddaddy’s farm in Simpson County outside Braxton.
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Book Statistics
Title: River’s Bend
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9769824-3-2
LCCN: 201190223
Category: American Historical/Mystery/Romance
Length: 309 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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Charlsie Russell’s River’s Bend Accepted into the Global eBook Awards Competition
Officials for the Global eBook Awards recently nominated Mississippi author Charlsie Russell’s newest historical novel for inclusion in the contest’s annual competition. Purely escape fiction, River’s Bend offers readers a look back to the time when the tragic beauty of the Old South blossomed into legend.
Thirty years following the War Between the States, Rafe Stone comes to Mississippi seeking a house reputed to hold the secret to a fortune in Yankee gold. But the magnificent structure that began life as a one-room, French-Dominion log cabin and grew into an antebellum showcase south of Natchez has fallen into disrepair and into the hands of a savvy Mississippi City businessman by the name of Josephus Collander. The house is not for sale, Collander tells Rafe, but he can have it for nothing, if he will accept it as his niece’s dowry.
Rafe’s desperation, coupled with Delilah Graff’s beauty, makes the decision, albeit a reckless one, easy. But what secret in the siren’s past would cause a responsible kinsman to barter her to a stranger?
Tragedy has left Delilah jaundiced toward life and eager for independence, but the financial support her Uncle Joe promised is suddenly forfeit, and he compels her to wed a man she does not know. Worse, her new husband takes her to Natchez, a city where her name is synonymous with disgrace. There he moves her into a house rumored, over the course of its nearly two hundred years, to have hosted treason, robbery, adultery, and murder. A house reputed to harbor the specter of a vicious killer.
And who is Rafe Stone to whom she has sworn her troth? A man, who claims to be a stranger to Mississippi, yet knows more about the majestic River’s Bend, and its past, than he should? What is his link to its dark legends and the ghost walking its rambling halls?
Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy from where she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. In addition to being a homemaker to her husband (for whom she bore and raised five children), Ms. Russell writes historical fiction set in Mississippi. She and her husband still own her granddaddy’s farm in Simpson County outside Braxton.
Hosted by Dan Poynter’s Para Publishing, the Global eBook Awards competition brings attention to the future of book publishing: eBooks. Now in its second year, the Global eBook Awards honor ebooks in 72 specific categories. Competition is open to all publishers, large and small, in an effort to ensure the winner is the best in its catgory.
Interested readers can download River’s Bend from Smashwords in most digital formats. The book is also available at the Barnes and Noble (B&N) online store for reading on Nook and Apple devices and from Amazon’s Kindle Store for enjoying on the Kindle e-reader.
River’s Bend is available in print from Amazon.
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Book Statistics
Title: River’s Bend
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2011
ISBN (print only): 978-0-9769824-3-2
LCCN: 201190223
Category: American Historical/Mystery/Romance
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback (print format)
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Mississippi Author Wins 2012 Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group Next Generation Indie Book Award for Romance
“Escape,” Charlsie Russell beckons her readers, “into Mississippi’s past.”
Fortified with suspense, and sweetened with romance, Charlsie Russell’s newest release, River’s Bend, recently achieved that escape for judges of the Romance category in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (Indie). The Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group annually presents the Next Generation Indie Book Awards to recognize the top independently published books in 70 categories across the literary spectrum. Participants include small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors. This is the author’s fourth book to win a contest specifically designed for independently published books.
Thirty years following the War Between the States, Rafe Stone comes to Mississippi seeking a house reputed to hold the secret to a fortune in Yankee gold. But the magnificent structure that began life as a one-room, French-Dominion log cabin and grew into an antebellum showcase south of Natchez has fallen into disrepair and into the hands of a savvy Mississippi City businessman by the name of Josephus Collander. The house is not for sale, Collander tells Rafe, but he can have it for nothing, if he will accept it as his niece’s dowry.
Rafe’s desperation, coupled with Delilah Graff’s beauty, makes the decision, albeit a reckless one, easy. But what secret in the siren’s past would cause a responsible kinsman to barter her to a stranger?
Tragedy has left Delilah jaundiced toward life and eager for independence, but the financial support her Uncle Joe promised is suddenly forfeit, and he compels her to wed a man she does not know. Worse, her new husband takes her to Natchez, a city where her name is synonymous with disgrace. There he moves her into a house rumored, over the course of its nearly two hundred years, to have hosted treason, robbery, adultery, and murder. A house reputed to harbor the specter of a vicious killer.
And who is this Rafe Stone to whom she has sworn her troth? A man, who claims to be a stranger to Mississippi, yet knows more about the majestic River’s Bend, and its past, than he should? What is his link to its dark legends and the ghost walking its rambling halls?
River’s Bend is on sale now at Bay Books in Old Town Bay St. Louis; Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian; All Wrapped Up gift store in D’Iberville; Cover to Cover Books in Natchez; or you can order the book through Amazon.com or directly from the Loblolly Writer’s House website, www.loblollywritershouse.com.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy from where she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. In addition to being a homemaker to her husband (for whom she bore and raised five children), Ms. Russell writes historical fiction set in Mississippi. She and her husband still own her granddaddy’s farm in Simpson County outside Braxton.
__________________________
Book Statistics
Title: River’s Bend
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9769824-3-2
LCCN: 201190223
Category: American Historical/Mystery/Romance
Length: 309 pages
Retail price: $14.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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(228) 861-5662 (C)
E-mail: loblollywriter@aol.com
Historical Suspense against the Backdrop of the Devastated South
In September 1865 Eli Calhoon, Lieutenant Colonel, Confederate States Army, returns to his war-ravaged plantation, Camellia Creek, outside Port Gibson, Mississippi, resolved to begin again. But Mississippi, like the rest of the South, lies prostrate in the wake of a devastating conflict that wasted its population and destroyed what had been, four years earlier, the third strongest economy in the world. More troubling, the South’s recovery is now overseen by a victorious enemy determined that the Southern economy, as well as the South’s influence within the Union, will never revive. For Southerners, getting a spring crop in the field is as far out of reach as is the payment of five years’ back taxes Congress demands from the states in Rebellion to pay for the war it waged against them.
Orphaned Alice Shelton has come to Mississippi with her aunt and uncle, Betty and Peter Franklin. Peter, a veteran of the conquering army, knows opportunity exists in the defeated South. His preference for a home for his wife, daughter, and niece is Camellia Creek. In company with the Franklins are Peter’s widowed sister-in-law Eustacia and her son, Jonathan, who Peter believes is the perfect match for Alice, heiress to a fortune. Alice’s widowed father, Jacob Shelton, and his two sons were killed in action during the war, fighting for the Union. The losses have left Alice in despair so deep her aunt fears Alice might take her own life.
Seth Parker, Major, United States Marine Corps, has come to Mississippi on orders at the request of a military senior to investigate the murder of a U.S. Treasury agent, which may tie to cotton thefts rampant among the white Army officers stationed in the state. To investigate the death, Seth is given a troop of nine men, all Negro members of Mississippi’s Native Guard, for the most part ex-slaves recruited into the Union Army during the war.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in a lawless South, desperate measures are gambles that sometimes pay off. When an indiscretion not of her own making lands the lovely Alice into the hands of a determined Eli Calhoon, he blackmails her into marriage and brings her, and her fortune, to Camellia Creek, where she is haunted by Jocelyn LeBlanc, an ill-fated beauty who died under mysterious circumstances decades earlier. In addition to Jocelyn’s ghostly presence, war’s aftermath, murder, and jealous greed vex Alice, threatening her new-found desire to live, a desire ignited by the very man who could be plotting to snuff it out.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy from where she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. Ms. Russell writes historical fiction set in Mississippi. She resides in Gulfport.
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Book Statistics Title: Camellia Creek
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9769824-4-9
LCCN: 2013905463
Category: American Historical/Mystery/Romance
Length: 574 pages
Retail price: $16.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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Honor’s Banner Continues the History, Mystery, and Romance Set in Motion By Charlsie Russell's Camellia Creek
As of January 1866, marine corps major Seth Parker has been in war-ravaged Mississippi two months, investigating the October murder of Treasury operative Alan Guthrie. Guthrie had been in Mississippi only a short time when he was killed, and his reason for being in the area remains a mystery, both to authorities here and, if they’re to be believed, to his seniors in Washington. Discouraged by civilian usurpation of army’s intelligence assets, despite looming Southern intransigence, Parker’s seniors have doubts about Guthrie’s activities and sent Parker into the wilds of Mississippi for answers.
This is not Parker’s first foray into Mississippi’s hinterland. He was here in the spring of ’63, before Vicksburg fell, but his covert operations at that time had led to only fleeting success and a precipitous departure with a bullet in his chest and a battle for his life. Southern by blood and breeding, Seth Parker kept faith with his people, who believed Kentucky best served by remaining in the Union when most of the South opted out, but despite the duty binding him, the South has his empathy, and the beautiful woman who saved his life one fateful spring day back in ’63, his heart.
Widowed Rebecca Mackey lost not only her young husband and unborn son to the war, but her father, a brother, and a sister. Now her sole surviving sibling is fighting for his life, the victim of a lunatic’s bullet. But the attack on Eli Calhoon and his wealthy Northern bride soon proves only one clue to a mystery evolving from home-grown violence in Mississippi to a web of intrigue in the halls of the U. S. Treasury.
At a time when treason is synonymous with the South and her people convenient scapegoats to disguise the misdeeds of unprincipled men, Becky learns her brother is a suspect in Guthrie’s death. Worse, the man who set his sights on Eli Calhoon two months earlier is Major Seth Parker, the wounded enemy whose life she saved in 1863. Having already been a victim of ruthless agents serving a tyrannical government, Becky has no delusions as to the odds stacking up against her critically-wounded brother, who is at risk of being hanged for murder, and is loath to trust a self-proclaimed ally garbed in despicable blue.
As evidence mounts, Parker realizes it was Guthrie’s unexplained actions that first led him to suspect Calhoon. Now, the on-going investigation is leading unscrupulous men to accuse Rebecca Mackey of complicity in conspiring against the government. Anxious over her role in Guthrie’s mysterious death, Parker is willing to risk anything to prove her innocent. He needs answers, and the Widow Mackey is harboring some.
Honor’s Banner is a sequel to Charlsie Russell’s Camellia Creek published in 2013 and advances the mystery of murdered Treasury agent Alan Guthrie, the catalyst that brought Seth Parker into the lives of unreconstructed rebel Eli Calhoon and his reluctant bride. Rich in the history of the period, it explores the multi-faceted narrative of unwarranted war, state rights, federal violations of the Constitution, and the institutionalization of tyranny by a United States in the hands of fanatics and traitors, a focus largely ignored when discussing Reconstruction today. The author, herself a Southerner, is unapologetic for her pro-Southern treatment of issues that, with the South’s defeat, proved the demise of the Founder’s Republic.
About the Author: Charlsie Russell is a 1968 graduate of Rankin County’s Florence High School. Following graduation from Ole Miss in 1972, she received a commission in the United States Navy from where she retired in 1993 as a full commander in Naval Intelligence. Ms. Russell writes historical fiction set in Mississippi. She resides in Gulfport.
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Book Statistics Title: Honor's Banner
Author: Charlsie Russell
Publisher: Loblolly Writer’s House (www.loblollywritershouse.com)
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9894302-2-7
LCCN: 2015916475
Category: American Historical/Mystery/Romance
Length: 600 pages
Retail price: $16.95
Binding: 9X6 trade paperback
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