Hard Angel

About the Book

Hard Angel opens with sexy five-foot Atlanta P.I. Charlotte Romanowski rousting Lewis Myer, her only connection to a mysterious cult run by Daniel Luther. The part-time stripper and former prostitute has been hired to find Luther´s son Joshua by the boy´s grandmother and guardian, Sandra Hawthorne. Myer reluctantly spills the location of the cult´s temple in the North Georgia mountains. Then frightfully begs Charlotte not to go there.

That night, after dispensing with a gang of libidinous rednecks on the beach, Charlotte goes casino hopping with her lesbian friend Elaine Castorena. She ends up sleeping with married Texas banker, Mason Turnbull.

Returning to Atlanta, she learns her estranged 13-year-old daughter Angie has run off to live with her father, Doug Ragazzo. Angie is unaware that months earlier a drunken Ragazzo raped Charlotte, threatening the girl unless her mother submitted. Bulling her way into Ragazzo´s home, Charlotte talks with Angie. Angry over her mother´s sordid past, the girl insists on remaining. Charlotte concedes, advising her daughter she should "trust completely no male." Back in Biloxi, Turnbull accuses Charlotte of having stolen an embezzled $60,000 in cash, now missing. Facing a bank audit, he convinces an underling to take the rap for the embezzlement and the one-night stand with the apparent thief. Unaware of Turnbull´s accusations, Charlotte arrives in Fannin County, Georgia, and locates the Brotherhood´s temple in a century-old mountain lodge. After scaling an alarmed barb-wired fence, she hikes to the top of the mountain, frustrated by snakes and rugged terrain. Surviving a minor fall, she finally approaches the lodge, overhearing a group of men discussing an upcoming "Purification" ceremony Charlotte bounds unseen onto the porch of the building and quickly, to her astonishment, locates Joshua. But it´s all a trap, which she discovers too late when she´s cornered inside by six men, led by the brutally intelligent and ruggedly handsome Reece McNolte. A brief stand off follows, Charlotte with her gun out, the seemingly unarmed men blocking her escape. But she´s taken by surprise when Joshua, age 12, brutally stabs her.

The time shifts to 1807 on the Georgia frontier. Torch-wielding nightriders led by Judge Joshua Luther call a farmer out, demanding he turn over his eldest daughter Bethany Beacham--accused of witchcraft.

Charlotte awakens blearily to find Daniel Luther preaching over her about Purification, realizing in horror that she is the one to be purified. The next morning, after a brief escape attempt that turns out to be another trap, Charlotte begins a torturous medieval ordeal at the hands of dozens of cult members. The scene alternating between Charlotte´s Purification and the parallel fate of Bethany Beacham 200 years before. Turnbull presses Biloxi Police about the missing $60,000. An APB is out for Charlotte, whom Sandra Hawthorne, her supposed client, denies ever having heard of. An Atlanta detective contacts the Fannin County Sheriff´s Department. Deputy Chris Carter--all the while vividly recalling sexy Charlotte´s recent jiggling visit to his office--tells the detective he "ain´t heard nothing about no female private eye in these parts."

The brotherhood brings in grizzled physician, Irving Mecklenburg, to assure Charlotte will survive. He administers lifesaving treatment, then, overcome with guilt and disgust, begins pleading for mercy on her behalf. As the physician rants, Charlotte watches the tip of a crossbow arrow suddenly protrude from his chest, killing her would-be savior.

In Biloxi, Lewis Myer worries Charlotte´s well-publicized disappearance might be linked to her interest in the Brotherhood. He investigates, his concern growing, along with his obsession for the voluptuous hooker-turned-PI.

Reece admits to Charlotte, now impr

About the Author

J. K. Stone is the pseudonym of a physician in Tennessee. He in a native of South Carolina and has lived in Texas and Mississippi as well. Writing credits include a medical textbook chapter, scientific articles and a short story. He received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of South Carolina, and served 11 years in the Air Force. He lives in Tennessee with Susan, his wife and collaborator.