Wigs, Mustaches and Other Disguises continues the story of Socrates Gray and Madeline Sterling as they flee determine killers and navigate secrets, lies, and murder using mechanical skunks and Hollywood disguises. But their past haunts their future. Gray's rage for revenge and Sterling's desperation for her lost family grows hotter until they are once again molded into the predators they were trained to be.
Next in the Sterling Brothers Southern thriller series
Wigs, Mustaches, and
Other Disguises
My Story
I'm a former reporter and Kentucky native, and I write historical crime, noir, Gothic, and suspense with Southern flair.
I've lived most of what I write. My Ashland High graduating class became the first to integrate, and I went to the University of Georgia in the time of white women/colored women restrooms, then graduated from the University of Kentucky the year Rev. Martin Luther King died in Memphis. Through it all, I leaned into the love, legends, and lore of my Appalachian roots passed on from my family.
The stories passed down from my family, especially my grandmother, and the events I've lived through feel true and relevant today. As a history lover, I suffer from déjà vu these days and I try to pass that feeling on to my readers.
The second book in my Sterling Brother Ltd series, The Price of a Future, won honorable mention in the 2025 Great Southeast Book Festival and was named the Claymore Silver Falchion Top Choice at Killer Nashville.
The Sterling Brothers
Southern Thriller Series
The Sterling Brothers series explores a world of buried truths, moral complexity, and people underestimated by those in power. Set in the 1960s South, these character-driven thrillers combine suspense, social history, and the enduring belief that justice may be delayed — but it cannot remain hidden forever.
Justice Tomorrow
A pretty 1965 Georgia town hides Civil War-era secrets and modern day murders. Sterling and Gray soon learn only the dead tell the truth in Crossville.
The Price of a Future
Sterling faces a heart-wrenching choice as she and Gray flee killers. Gray always said she'd be the death of him--this time he may be right.
Wigs, Mustaches and Other Disguises
The safest place for two hunted investigators hiding from assassins? A Kentucky beauty shop run by former Hollywood illusionists. Until a favorite customer is murdered.
The Lead Characters
Step inside the world of Sterling Brothers Ltd. Meet Madeline Sterling and Socrates Gray through two short character stories that reveal the wit, wounds, courage, and secrets they carry into the series.
Madeline Sterling
Socrates Gray
Other Stories
In addition to the Sterling Brothers Southern thriller series, I've published the novella The Yellow Fever Revenge and more than a dozen short stories in notable anthologies.
Set against richly drawn Southern landscapes, these character-driven tales blend suspense, humor, compassion, and justice with the same sharp observations of human nature found in my novels.
Some Kind of Magic
Madeline Sterling and Socrates Gray from the Sterling Brothers Ltd. series are coerced into helping the queen of Memphis, a descendant of the Black witch of Salem.
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Yellow Fever Revenge
Love and murder during the 1878 yellow fever epidemic
Lamentations
A choir member reaches a high C on finding a body in the music library
The Sawmill Salvation
A young girl’s friendship with an abused boy collide at her father’s sawmill where deadly secrets lie.
Two Widows
A girl fears her uncle is in the grip of a murderous black widow.
Useless Burdens
What’s done in the dark eventually comes into the light.
The First Barbecue in Memphis
An argument over who cooked the first Memphis barbecue turns deadly during a storm.
Two Dead, Two Wounded
Casting his first vote proves a dangerous proposition for a Kentucky man.
Threats and Bribes
A lawyer determined to hide from life can’t escape a blind man and a determined mayoral candidate.
The Narcissist
An abusive narcissist dies of poison from the Narcissus poeticus plant. An accident or murder?
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