Preston Chronicles

From the piedmont hills of Athens, Georgia to New York, Philadelphia, London and beyond, Murder and the Silent Coup follows young Laura Preston, the daughter of a wealthy landowner. Through her social and philanthropic training, she advances to New York's prestigious "Social 400" yet returns to her hometown to marry. When her battle-scarred husband decides to run for attorney general in state of Georgia, Laura finds herself and her family amid political turmoil following WWI. Will his aspirations to support FDR and her disregard for the Southern social norms push those with political clout to the point of murder?

After Laura Preston Fane's young sons find the dead bodies of a star quarterback and his girlfriend, the bumbling police quickly deem it a murder-suicide. Disbelief sparks an undercover investigation by Laura and unlikely collaborators: the town's financier, the new Presbyterian minister, and a Lloyd's of London detective. Together, they uncover connections between the murders, Wall Street visitors, weapons stashes, and a fiery nighttime visit by the Ku Klux Klan, while President Roosevelt recuperates close by and Hitler gains momentum across the pond. When the quartet discovers deceit within their families, will they become the next targets? Set in the volatile period between the great wars, Book Two of The Preston Chronicles illuminates the timeless tension between ethics and scarcity and raises the question: Can murder really be for the "greater good"?