Strange Sands Series

An antique cedar hope chest. A hidden panel. A century-spanning vendetta.   This unusual, faith-filled suspense and mystey novella series is about the unexpected adventures faced by an architectural historian when the unseen realm affects her clients' properties.   Mercedes Annalee Ellison held her Great-Great-Grand Aunt's fragile journal and a tattered manila envelope, puzzling about whether these items would change her life. Her intuition screamed that they would, and the way they had come into her possession would make any skeptic pause. She wanted to bolt, to flee what loomed ahead.   Distractions were not welcome in her life right now. She was an architectural historian with three great jobs lined up for the summer—and a problem with her boyfriend.   But before her first day with her new client, Mercedes finds herself entangled in a diabolical vendetta against her family over disputed land in England. She desperately searches for answers about why she is an unsustpecting target for something that happened back in the year 1900. A man murdered her ancestor, Claire Ellison, one night in an eerie storm, and only a miracle will save Mercedes from the same fate. Can she survive and accept her calling and destiny as part of the legendary Ellison family?   Reader note: This novella is for readers who enjoy moving quickly through mystery and suspense stories, and will have special appeal for readers who like elements of the supernatural and characters who live their Christian faith in all situations. It contains a sprinkling of Scriptural references from the CSB version of the Christian Bible..    

An antebellum house. A hidden hallway. A tale of passion and revenge.   This unusual, faith-filled thriller and suspense novella series is about the unexpected challenges faced by an architectural historian when the unseen realm affects her clients' properties.   As an architectural historian, Mercedes Ellison is hired by Tammy and Clayton Popplewell to guide them as they register and rennovate an antebellum house in the beautiful Southern city of Savannah, Georgia. But she knows this is not the boring job she hoped for when she arrives the first day to find the local police there. As Mercedes investigates the history of the property and neighbors seek her out with a strange Civil War Era tale of passion and revenge, she works to uncover a terrifying darkness and help the Popplewell couple make the house into the inn where they hope to share light - before the Popplewells give up and she loses the job.   Note: Readers who will most enjoy this novella like fast-paced mystery and suspense stories with supernatural elements and Christian characters who live their faith. 

An enduring Lowcountry plantation. A legendary patriot refuge. A last stand for freedom.   It thrilled Mercedes Ellison to be chosen to work as an architectural historian for Majestic Oaks, a plantation that endured and survived wars on American soil. The stately Georgian mansion features the Freedom Staircase, where legendary patriots stopped for refuge in their roles with the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Her client needs help to keep the plantation he inherited, which is steeped in the history of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, home of the Swamp Fox and four signers of the Declaration of Independence.   There are also some unsolved mysteries on the property. Bringing them to light will help her client, and she finds clues in a secret passage used by the patriots. But then her archenemy dies in jail and his son hunts her down. Can she make a last stand for freedom from the vengeful vendetta that began with the murder of her ancestor on a stormy night in England?   Reader Note: This novella is a complete story but is best appreciated when read as part of the series, and especially Book 1, The Old Cedar Chest. Readers who will enjoy this book like strong Christian characters who live their faith when encountering challenges and supernatural settings. Fans of Robert Whitlow's books should enjoy the Strange Sands Series.

A bizarre souvenir from far away. A painting of a pagan ritual. An evil presence unlimited by time and space.   This unusual, faith-filled novella series is about the challenges faced by an architectural historian when the unseen realm affects her clients' properties. In Dark Passage, an aging adventurer named Doran Marlowe once served as a guide for missionary teams to unreached people groups. His unusual travel souvenirs are kept in a shuttered passage from his rambling house to his art studio, where his paintings begin to take on a bizarre, unearthly character.   His sister, Mary Lou, has retired from the mission field, discouraged and questioning her life's work. She returns to Bluffton, SC to live with her brother. They hired Mercedes Ellison for paperwork to remodel the historic building.   Mercedes is spending the summer in a nearby cottage, still hoping for boring clients as she plans her upcoming wedding. When she hears Mary Lou screaming on the veranda of Marlowe House and runs to help her, she's plunged into another bizarre mystery. Did a menacing presence follow her from a dig site she worked in the past?   Reader Note: This novella series is clean and appropriate for all ages. The main characters are Christians who try to live by a Biblical Christian worldview as they encounter some spiritual warfare situations. Readers who enjoy Christian suspense authors like Robert Whitlow should enjoy this series.

Inspirational suspense. Supernatural destiny. Lowcountry ambiance.   Mercedes Annalee Ellison plans to escape the legacy of her family. Rumors are that their unusual experiences fueled the imaginations of horror writers in England in the 1800s. Whether those rumors are true, it is a well-documented fact that every generation in the Ellison family encounters things that defy a satisfying explanation.   Mercedes chooses what she sees as a boring career as an independent architectural historian on her home turf in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. She expects to spend most of her days researching archives of old documents and filling out mind-numbing paperwork to send through miles of red tape. She dates a young man with what she thinks is a dull future as an attorney. There should be no room in her life for the strange sands that slip relentlessly through the hourglass of time in her family.   But the stunning discovery of a journal and a deed in a hidden panel of an old cedar chest forces Mercedes to face an archenemy with a vendetta against the Ellisons from over a hundred and twenty years earlier. And her job plunges her into tales of passion, cold case crimes, unsolved mysteries, and a hunt for long-lost treasure.   The vendetta has come full circle. As a born-again Christian, Mercedes knows in her head that she lives in a spiritual realm. Now, she must decide in her heart whether she will accept her destiny as both a believer and an Ellison when forced to confront the supernatural in a deadly showdown.