by Elaine OrrPublish: Jan 01, 2010Romantic Suspense
Book Overview
For Carolyn Williams, the ancient Roman Baths of England are why she became an archaeologist. At a conference there, she finds the infuriating Greg Porter, who is unable to shake feelings about the place and has traveled from his dig in Egypt.
Carolyn's theories about the long-buried Roman Temple come up against others who are looking for it, hoping to find the long-missing torso of the statue of Sulis Minerva. Her head is in the site's museum. The rough looking Robert Hill does maintenance work in the Baths so that the can look for the statue. Museum guide Gladys Rigsby thinks he will give the statue to her, and believes it will give her eternal life. More sinister than either of them is the meeting's host, Winston Reed, who will pay top dollar for the complete statue.
Carolyn believes the Celtic monks, a tolerant breed of early Christians, sealed the temple long ago. One clue was a symbol on a photograph in a British library. Will the symbol help her find the long-buried portions of the Baths? And if Carolyn, Greg, and professor friend Scotty find the statue, will they live to reunite it with its head?
BIOGRAPHY Elaine L. Orr writes four mystery series, the thirteen-book Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series, the three-book River's Edge series, the three-book Logland series, and the four-book Family History Mystery series.
The Jolie Gentil series is set at the Jersey shore. Behind the Walls was a finalist for the 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Awards.
The first book in Elaine's River's Edge cozy mystery series, From Newsprint to Footprints, debuted in late fall 2015, followed by Demise of a Devious Neighbor. The latter was a Chanticleer finalist in 2017. The fictional South County sits along the Des Moines River in Southeast Iowa.
In 2016, Elaine issued Tip a Hat to Murder, first in the Logland mystery series. Set in small-town Illinois, its protagonist is a police chief rather than an amateur sleuth. The third book, Final Cycle, was published in June 2019.
Finally, a series set in her native Maryland! The Family History series in the Western Maryland mountains examines crimes of the past with a sleuth in the present. Add a ghost only Digger can see, and you get a great mix of humor and insight of the region.
Nonfiction includes Writing When Time is Scares -- and Getting the Work Published, and many family history books. In 2019, she published Fitting in After Fifty -- to Your New Town. The guide to breaking into a community at a 'mature' age is practical and adds a touch of humor.
Elaine also writes plays and novellas, including Falling Into Place and In the Shadow of Light. Biding Time was one of five finalists in the National Press Club's first fiction contest, in 1993, and her play, Permission to Hope, was part of the Bethesda, MD Plays in Progress series in 1989. The one-act, Common Ground, is a story of three couples planning big moves -- with a twist.
Elaine conducts presentations on electronic publishing and other writing-related topics. Nonfiction includes Words to Write By: Getting Your Thoughts on Paper and Writing in Retirement: Putting New Year’s Resolutions to Work. She also conducts online courses on writing and publishing on the TabletWise and Teachable platforms.
Thought her degrees are in government, Elaine studied writing at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University School of Continuing Education, the Writer's Center of Bethesda, Maryland, and the University of Iowa's Summer Writing Festival. A member of Sisters in Crime and the Indiana Writers’ Center, Elaine grew up in Maryland and moved to the Midwest in 1994.
