RHP—Scavengers!


I met Paul Hennrich a year or so ago, when I went to speak to the SEMO Writers’ Group in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He gave me a copy of his first novel, Definitions, and I was absolutely hooked on the story: a “retired” DEA agent, Kent Baker, is hanging around St. Louis and trouble just seems to find him—trouble as in murder and mayhem.

So when Paul mentioned that he’d like RHP to publish the next book in this suspense series, I jumped on it—and here it is, Scavengers, with the return of Kent Baker.

 Scavengers

Kent Baker once again finds himself chasing the criminal element and rescuing the good guys, this time heading into Illinois farm country. His buddy Kevin’s grandmother has met an untimely end in a pigsty, and Kent takes a road trip to check into the situation.

What he finds there leads to a classmate reunion of sorts, a couple of knife fights, and a trip to UMSL. Oh, and a few altercations here and there. All in a day’s work for a semi-retired, perhaps on a leave of absence, certainly almost washed up and burnt out DEA agent.

And here’s a little about Paul:

Paul Hennrich was born and raised in the rolling farmlands of Southern Illinois, the same as Kent Baker, the protagonist of his mystery/suspense novels. He eventually married and settled in Southeast Missouri, first in Cape Girardeau and then in Jackson where he now resides. He and his wife are the proud parents of a daughter and a son, and grandparents to three grandchildren, all of whom are puzzle pieces of a large, extended family. He wrote his first short story in the third grade and has been forever grateful to his young teacher who took the time to read it to the entire class, even the part about a head rolling down the stairs. That story and his classmates’ reactions to it started him on is love affair with writing.

By the way, we’re having a giveaway for Scavengers over on our Facebook page . . .

Prep Monday—A Very Hard Thing


Downsizing. We all talk about it, everyone seems to think it’s a good thing . . . But it’s NOT EASY.

 

Bookstore surplus aside, I’m cutting back from nine bookshelves to five. Heh. Nine to five. But which books??? Sure, the old textbooks can go—who was I kidding when I kept some of those? And most of the antique books will be sold anyway, some are already on Ebay.

 

I do have a lot of sentimental things laying around here, too. And those will have to come with us. They may be used, many are being used now, but some, yes, will have to be stored. Sorry, not getting rid of them—the kids may want them someday, or not. Won’t be MY problem, right?

 

Sadly, it’s my problem right now. There are tons of things in the garage that came from the family farm—some can be used, but some . . . I just don’t know. Might be a while before I can go through it all. Yikes. The kids have things here too, come and get ‘em!

 

Clothes are easy, even shoes—I’m not a shoe junkie. Oh, I see them and like them, in ads, in the stores, but I rarely buy them. Unless they’re boots. Okay, maybe I have a slight issue . . . But boots are USEFUL!

 

The kitchen is going to be real problem. Sure, I have things there that I don’t use often, but I DO use them. Sigh. I have a lot of cabinets. A lot. And the china cabinet and antique sideboard? This house won’t have a dining room . . . that means the Mexican pine dining room table and the chairs that Dennis made will have to go too. Unless—hey, wait a minute! Maybe we could enclose the patio for a dining room? Genius!

 

So, you see, this is a project. Huge. We’re already starting to sell off a few things, piecemeal, but have pretty much decided—gulp—that a garage sale is in order. Oh, dear. Last one was, um, about seven years ago. That’s about how long it takes me to recover from one. And I’ve never made more than a few dollars. Sigh.

 

Well, here goes: coming May 24, BIG SALE! And I hope you all come—okay, okay, some of you might find the trip a bit of a distance and all . . . Well, wish us luck! Two years’ planning isn’t too much, I’m thinking, although at this point I could be ready a lot sooner. A lot.