When Leona comes home from working out of town, she discovers that her live-in boyfriend has harmed her young daughter. When she confronts him about it, his response is so lackadaisical and offensive that it propels her into an intense, violent attack against him. As a result, she drives herself into a catatonic state of mind--where she stays for thirteen years! When she does come out, though, she finds she has new issues to deal with, which sometimes seem just as upsetting--most pressing of which is the emotionally unstable romantic relationship her daughter is now in. Her daughter's love interest relates to the young woman in such an unacceptable way that it keeps Leona in angst about attacking him the way she did her own lover thirteen years ago. Will she? To keep readers on pins and needles until the end, three women in less-than-fulfilling relationships are presented. Any one of them could be Leona's daughter! Even though linitially "Laughter..." touches upon a very taboo subject, most readers, ironically, will find themselves laughing through some key parts of the story and by books' end will have a real feel-good feeling. That's because "Laughter Kills...Laughter Heals" is really about love and laughing, and men and women really caring about each other. Its multi-dimensional characters are strong and fragile and normal and weird all at the same time. And by the end of the book, you'll truly appreciate the time you spent delving into their experientially rich lives.
About the Author: When I first started writing seriously, I wrote short stories. Most of them had strange storylines, and the characters in them were sometimes even stranger, like a story I wrote about a teenage girl who had a tail. Some of these stories were published in anthologies that included works from assorted generes and a variety of writers. The first book I wrote is a nonfiction book that stemmed from having worked as a court reporter in Sacramento, California. I never really liked doing court reporting, but I made the best of it and left the profession with a published book-- "The Deposition Handbook: A Guide to Help You Give A Winning Deposition," which is in its fourth edition and is still selling. "Laughter Kills...Laughter Heals" is my first novel. It's a suspense-thriller-mystery story that will keep readers guessing until the very end. However, what I like most about the book is its subtext because it afforded me the opportunity to put forth so many of my ideals and thoughts about how wonderful life can be if people dealt with each other more honestly and caringly, and in a conscious way. Plus, like almost all writers, I'm a sucker for a good story. So--as my maternal grandmother would say--"She put her foot in this book to give us one of the best!" Groups I regularly interact with that enhance my writing efforts are N'Discussion (a book discussion group in Chicago); ASE: Chicago Association of Black Storytellers; ZICA Creative Arts and Literary Guild (a Sacramento, CA, writer's group), and the Create Space online writers' community.