Norma Jean's Mysteries Series

After a career of many years in the east, Norma Jean Clark returns to take over the old home place in Herpel, Arkansas expecting to find peace and quiet. Second day home she is met with a land dispute that leads into a personal mystery. What really happened to her mom? Did her dad hold secrets to his dying day? She heads down a pathway to find the truth. In the first of many Norma Jean's mysteries to come, Herpel Holler Homecoming begins with Norma Jean Clark returning to the old farm. The homestead and land belonged to the Clark family for generations, most recently willed to Norma when her father died. Jason Brahm, whom Norma had grown up with from a toddler, had taken over the farm duties when Dad Clark got too old to continue. Jason had been left with the Clark's when his parents moved on. He'd always been treated as a member of the Clark family and Norma's Dad had become his dad. Gentry Newsom enters in the story as a determined land developer who will not take no for an answer. Through Gentry, Norma finds a long lost cousin, Shelly McComb who is claiming part of the Clark land. Pauly Parks, a neighbor also abandoned and taken in by Danny Clark, is a man with a child's mind, but as the mystery unfolds, Norma realizes, though mentally challenged, Pauly is intelligent and knows more about the past than she was aware. “Pauly knows, soul’s in heaven,” Pauly put a finger to his lips. “Shhhhh, must not tell.” His voice changed to a whisper. “Shhhh, don’t tell preacher. Must not tell. . . ” Pauly puzzled and then nodded. “Not in the grave not in the well.” Pauly laughed with a personal glee. “It rhymes, rhymes, true not in the well, but rhymes.” With the country ways of Aunt Ida and Norma’s inquisitive mind, a story unfolds revealing secrets that lead her on a journey to find the truth about the past she thought she knew all too well. Set in the Arkansas Ozarks, the mystery is told from the Christian perspective of country folks, both good and bad traits, and works through questions and answers to a satisfying conclusion. .

A flickering light in a barn that has been vacant for over a century draws Norma Jean to investigate and pulls her into her third mystery. “Do you need some help?” Was I crazy? My heart began to pound and I realized how vulnerable I was. What did it matter what they were doing in the barn? Margaret was correct. It wasn’t my business. I felt myself freeze, wanting to get back into the truck and not able to move. With a great effort I lunged back and had just slammed the door when I saw a figure silhouetted on the passenger side of the truck. . . A young character, Julie Farnsworth, steps into the picture. She is in Herpel to fulfill a promise made to her dying uncle. In the midst of it all, the old ways, folklore and slower pace of the area wind their way into the story, with the same familiar country folks helping and hindering the investigation. The two ladies go a merry-go-round of mystery involving a civil war gold run through Arkansas. What seems to be obvious in the beginning turns upside down several times before Norma concludes this one.

Norma Jean is at it again. On a beautiful fall day, trees the color of the rainbow, she and good friend, Roy take a hike into the hills above her creek property. Norma Jean comes upon a skeleton jammed into a bluff crevice and the skeleton is clinging to a strange object. Norma Jean wants to find out who lived in those bones. The same characters from her first mystery, Jason Brahms, Aunt Ida, Pauly Parks, Margaret, Truman, the Sheriff and many hometown people help to bring a conclusion to the mystery of the body in the bluff. Set in the Arkansas Ozarks, Jo Ann paints wonderful word pictures of the area as well as the southern flavor of the people. She tells of the attitudes and traditions of the south, in subtle and not so subtle ways

Norma Jean goes on an innocent search to find a bass fiddle for joining a musical group that plays on the court square. In the big box, along with the bass fiddle, she finds a body. It seems pretty straight forward. The skeleton has a wallet, identification and the only thing missing is how he got into the box. Or is it that straight forward? Norma Jean’s curiosity is piqued with the new body she’s found. While researching, Norma encounters a loud, obnoxious, widow woman named Lorraine Gosset and is drawn back to events that happened in nineteen-seventy five involving a steel guitar player, Lester Shanks and a missing Shorty Gosset. This mystery takes a slightly different direction than Norma expected, with threats and guns and greed. Her same friends, Margaret, Aunt Ida, Pauly, Truman, Sheriff and the other locals are there to help out as needed. Derrick Lake also enters Norma Jean’s life again in a way she had not intended. Body in the Big Box is the fourth in the Norma Jean’s Mysteries series.

During a remodel Jason and Norma Jean discover a cellar under the house in the field that has been blocked off since the 1940s. When they break through the rock foundation they find some old fruit jars and three barrels. The first barrel contains nothing, but the second barrel Norma Jean opens throws her into her fifth mystery as she peers in and sees a body in the barrel. The people for which the remodel was being done, Julie Farnsworth and Sean Blank, return home as a married couple. Having worked with Norma Jean on the body in the barn case, Julie fits right into the intrigue revolving around the body in the barrel. Norma Jean Clark enlists the help of her mystery loving friend, Margaret, the Sheriff, and the newest member of the Holler, Coroner Derrick Lake in helping to find out how the body got into the barrel. Reaching back to a time when moonshine flowed freely and revenuers abounded in the area, a picture begins to unfold in Norma’s efforts to solve the mystery. Other familiar faces such as Aunt Ida, Pauly and Truman, are all on hand to round out the cast of helpers.