Heir of Deceit by Jan M. Martin

 When Lacey Roberts suspects she may have inherited a family trait that causes the women in her family to murder their husbands, she sets out to uncover the truth, even if it means that she must give up her dream of marrying her fiancé, Evs.

Back-of-Book Blurb: 

Shortly before her wedding, Lacey Roberts uncovers a problem too large for love to conquer:  a killer gene running through her family’s bloodline, which could put her fiancé, Evanston (Evs) Brighton, in danger.

Lacey vows to uncover the secrets of her lineage, even if it requires her ultimate sacrifice:  the loss of her marriage to her beloved Evs.

Her search leads from southern Arizona to the North Carolina Smoky Mountain backwoods, where the shotgun is more respected than the law, and the family may not be what is expected.

HEIR OF DECEIT is set in an area where, even today, hands of tobacco are used as currency and moonshine stills explode.

Lacey encounters a crass and stringy backwoods aunt; a moonshiner uncle; an alluring Cherokee firefighter; a sprinkling of North Carolina’s famous ghosts; and a deliciously horrible bad guy in her desperate quest to wed her tough-as-barbed-wire fiancé, Evs, a rancher from Tubac, Arizona.

About the Author:

Jan M. Martin has been writing since about age 12 when she wrote a monthly 4-H report for her local newspaper. She gained local notoriety when she was featured on the cover of her local newspaper for winning a national contest with her comedic poem about her messy kitchen. She still is fond of writing slapstick poetry on topics such as Black Friday, Mother’s Day and her kitchen timer. She has worked as a Nutrition Educator and Tobacco Prevention specialist. She has taught religious education to high school students for more than 29 years.

Jan and her husband researched in North Carolina for Heir of Deceit, where they met with local people, including famous moonshiner, the late Popcorn Sutton, whom she features briefly in her book. They visited the ancient Cherokee homeland, where they learned of the Cherokee culture, and a wealth of local traditions and folklore. Each place and tradition used in Heir of Deceit is as genuine as she could craft it.

Jan lives in southern Arizona with her husband, Brent, and a scaredy-cat named Boo. They are the parents of six children. She loves cactus flowers, saguaros, road runners and horned toads—oh, yes, and people. She enjoys cooking, teaching, and learning. She describes writing Heir of Deceit as the most fun she’s ever had. Although it is (mostly) not a comedy, she hopes readers can detect its tongue-in-cheek nature.


Heir of Deceit by Jan M. Martin is available in paperback ($16.23) or Kindle ($2.99) from Amazon.com, and from her web site at: http://janmar916.wix.com/janmmartin