Young Cliff Mills could tell you about bad economic times as well as what could happen when a fellow puts a gun in your face. Cliff is sitting pretty. He works days as a highly-regarded auto mechanic to support his wife and son, and nights on a college degree.

But the big crash happens, and the fabric of the country, and his life unravels. His employer is forced to let him go, jobs become as scarce as dinosaur teeth, a bank failure robs him of his college tuition, and when he finds temporary work for a few days, his employer disappears with the money he needs to pay the rent and avoid eviction. To avoid life in the in the local Hooverville, takes refuge in a small town where his employment prospects are said to be even worse.

Before he can even try to get on his feet, his life is quickly complicated when he discovers he is the only one who seems to notice a series of strange and mysterious goings-on that may include murder.  He quickly finds himself ill-equipped to confront a couple of gangs of bootleggers, one of which is secretly facilitated by local law enforcement only slightly less corrupt than the vicious gang itself. Very quickly, he’s in their crosshairs and nobody wants to listen.

Everything is truly out of kilter.

A Cliff Mills Novel.

$4.99
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IN SEARCH OF A PERFECT CHRISTMAS contains four lighthearted, sometimes tongue-in-cheek novelettes, where events contrive to make Christmas not quite the perfect experience. At the same time, these stories remember with respect and reverence the events that are the origin of the celebration. They are set in more innocent times, but the search for The Perfect Christmas still travels a rocky road that hasn’t changed for two thousand years.

A Novella
$2.99

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A lot of things are going wrong in Lt. Blake’s war, especially as Christmas approaches. His hopes of glory in combat are dashed by a new job and a swift promotion. When he sets up his new headquarters in an empty building, dimly remembered as a former saloon, and the best gathering place in the North African city of Casablanca, he is haunted by the big blowup on his last evening with Lillian, his fiancé. And by Lucianne, a woman he glimpses in the streets of the city, who eerily reminds him of her.

It doesn’t help that he thinks he can sit on the sidelines as the French turn on their own heroes and charge them as traitors because they tried to help the American landings come off without bloodshed. On Christmas eve, Blake has a decision to make. Lucianne just needs a little help to arrange her husband’s escape to Lisbon.

A novella. $3.99—Get it for the Kindle