Blue Lady

About the Book

Distraught by a suddenly overbearing fiance, Suzanne decides to take a vacation from Mark’s pressure and  flies to Miami Beach where she hopes to sort out her thoughts and reevaluate their relationship.  While there, she meets Rick Holmes who gives her the first taste of love outside of the relationship she had with Mark.  But Rick proves himself to be a disappointment after Suzanne’s cool-headed dexterity with a handgun saves him and a gas station attendant from becoming another crime statistic.

Deciding to move on, Suzanne meets Frank A. Mason, a “semi-retired” film editor whose charm and personality overwhelm her.  Because of him, she cuts short her Florida vacation to spend the remainder of it assisting him in making a documentary film in New England, across the river from where she lives.

While on location in the woods of Indian Well state park in Shelton, Connecticut, they witness a gang-land style execution and capture it on video tape.  As they are leaving the area, the hit men they filmed see them running toward their canoe and give chase, and they narrowly escape under a hail of bullets.

Now targets for the assassins, they are befriended by an old partner of Suzanne’s father, Detective Timothy Louden, who informs them of the FBI’s desire to get them on a witness stand to corroborate the scene on the video tape.  But knowing that if Suzanne’s identity was ever revealed in court, her days would certainly be numbered, Frank fears for her safety.  And they become lovers in hiding.

Sympathizing with the couple’s Catch-22 plight, Detective Louden keeps them informed of the suspected mob assassin’s whereabouts as well as the progress made by the FBI in their search for them.  But when he tells them that their cabin hideaway has been discovered, the message comes too late…

About the Author

William D. Beatrice was raised on the banks of the Housatonic River in Shelton, Connecticut. He was educated at the University of Miami and graduated magna cum laude in 1970. Mr. Beatrice is the author of the novel The Gentleman From Ocala and is an internationally published freelance photographer and technical writer. He lives with his wife, Suzanne, on their farm, The Hawk’s Nest, in Summerfield, Florida.