Murderous Mobsters and Other Menacing Miscreants

(Number Two in the "Tangled Minds" series) Westview, North Carolina, is a typical, sleepy small town, full of charm, sweet-smelling peony-and off-kilter people. And no one is more off his kilter than the fearsome Bo Novak, Number Two man of the entire mid-Atlantic mafia. A darkness has descended upon the usually lighthearted and quirky Westview, and it has nothing to do with the icy weather of autumn, 1991. A series of tragedies, most of which can be traced back to Bo and his mob associates, befall the town's beloved residents. Shootings, explosions, and horrific assaults occur with alarming frequency, and Friendship Hospital (where the staff is anything but friendly) is kept busy as the injuries and bodies pile up. Hearty southerners that they are, though, Westview Gazette editor Matt Andrews and his friends know how to keep their chins raised and their upper lips stiff. Humor can be found even in the direst of circumstances. Author's note: "Tangled Minds" is a series patterned after the daytime and nighttime soap operas of my formative years. The books are presented in a modified script format, with searing, "what-will-happen-next" questions at the conclusion of each chapter, and each book culminates in a nail-biting cliffhanger.