Ruby Carmichael, a skinny thirteen-year-old, finds her stepfather leaning over her mother's deceased body. Protruding from Eleanor's chest was a pair of scissors plunged deep in her chest. Eleanor had been Jack Parade's ex-wife for more than five years. ... Jack turned and stared at Ruby, who was standing at the kitchen entrance. Ruby stared in disbelief. Her stepdad was leaning over her mother, and her mother was dead on the floor. Eleanor's face was white with fear, and her eyes were bulging out. Jack reached around Eleanor's body to check for a pulse. She was dead. She died after the one scream that was heard by Ruby, Jack, the two men that ran through the laundry room to the rear exit, and the two men who climbed through Eleanor's bedroom window. Ruby was numb with fear. ... ... "Ruby, what are you doing here?" ... ... "Dad, you were touching the scissors in Mom's chest. I saw you. Why?"... Jack Parade marries Maria Louisa Garcia-Stewart and becomes the stepfather of her twin eleven-year-old boys. Ruby instantly becomes a sister, daughter, granddaughter and niece. This is all overwhelming to a young, private girl who suffers with emotional problems, as well as, being eccentric with bouts of depression. She is considered a suspect in her mother's murder. Ruby's life is in danger along with her new family. Ruby has a secret that even Ruby doesn't know about. Her biological father, Lester Carmichael, who was just released from prison after a ten year sentence, wants Ruby. He wants her dead or alive. Eleanor's boyfriend, Boris also wants Ruby, but he wants Ruby alive.
About the Author: Annmarie H. Pearson, born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 1949 is a writer, poet, mother, grandmother, fiber artist and Reiki Master/Teacher. She has resided in New Mexico for the past forty years with her husband, William R. Pearson. She has earned an Associate Degree from the University of New Mexico, a Governor's Volunteer Service Award, and an Editor's Choice Award from the National Library of Poetry. She has been Chairperson for the Rio Grande Valencia Poets in New Mexico, the Los Lunas Distinguished Teacher of the Year Committee, and the Raymond Gabaldon Elementary Parent/Teacher Committee. She also served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Fiber-To-Finish Guild in Belen, NM. She was a Board Member of the New Mexico State Poetry Society (NMSPS), the Editor of the NMSPS newsletter "The Language of Enchantement", and the chair for the NMSPS Annual Poetry Contests. Her poems have appeared in the Valencia County News-Bulletin, the University of New Mexico's Valley Visions, The New Mexico Breeze magazine, Roswell's Small Canyon 4 Anthology, Poetry from the Other Side Anthology of the New Mexico State Poetry Society (Albuquerque Chapter), the Fixed and Free Poetry Anthology, 2012 World Healing World Peace Anthology, and in the Playboy Magazine. Her first mystery novel, The Fetish Ruby, was one of the top ten 2012 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards finalists. Nature Rhymes with Natural Impressions, a poetry/photograph book also was one of the top ten 2012 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards finalists. www.abpearson.com