In 1870, after ceding millions of acres of land to the United States Government by treaties, the Osage Indians purchased a small parcel of ground as their "reservation," hoping to live in peace with the white man forevermore. At the turn of the 20th century, an enormous amount of petroleum was found on the land. As a result, all members of the Osage Nation became wealthy. Their descendants continue to reap financial benefits from oil companies to this day. However, in the 1920s, white men committed many murders to take the oil money from the Osage. It took the FBI years to capture and convict the criminals. Now, almost a hundred years later, the legacy of death is revived. . .

For college friends Jake Norris, Matthew Chatowski, Paul Palatka, and George Bowie, a visit to the tiny hamlet of Cedar Key, Florida, for a weekend of fishing and fun turns deadly after an innocent trip to the L and M Saloon. Jake gets in a fight with a drunken patron over an attractive blonde, and knocks the man out with a powerful but defensive punch. After being thrown out of the bar, he and his buddies make a hasty departure from the town. Unbeknownst to them, the man dies as a result of that one blow. Officer Steven Riles undertakes an investigation into the killing and seeks to arrest Jake for the murder but can't because neither he nor anyone at the bar knew who he was. Through credit card receipts and a license plate number, Officer Riles discovers the identity of the other three-but not Jake's. When Paul denies any knowledge of the incident, or that he was even in Cedar Key at the time, he, too, is charged with a crime because he helped Jake avoid detection and arrest. A family secret, known only to Jake's mother, provides the key to resolving the case.

Pete Collins, a 23 year old guide at the Great Northern Whitewater Rafting Company in Glacier, Montana, is seriously injured when he falls off a horse while on a trail ride with friends. He is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the accident and is hospitalized for many months as he learns to function without the use of his legs. A year after the incident, he learns that the outfitting company may have been negligent in causing the mishap or in failing to prevent it from happening in the first place. A legal issue arises as to whether or not the release he signed pre-ride is valid. This is a story about what could happen to anyone who engages in a dangerous activity and signs a release of all liability before doing so. It is also a story about what it is like to live in a wheelchair and the challenges one must face in coping with the unimaginable change in circumstance of going from a virile young man to a handicapped man in a wheelchair. It is a story of survival. It is based on a true story.

On one of the happiest occasions of his life, DAN BRENNAN, a high school football coach, has a few beers with friends to celebrate. On his way home, after consuming a few beers, his way home, he hits a man jogging alongside a dark and remote country road who he doesn't see because of being blinded by the lights of an oncoming tractor-trailer.

When a Breathalyzer test reveals that he is ever so slightly above the legal limit, he is charged with DUI Manslaughter after the man dies as a result of the injuries sustained in the collision.

DAN is suspended as a coach, pending the investigation and trial, and his job as a teacher is in jeopardy, if convicted. His wife files for divorce. The family of the deceased man sues him. His life literally hangs in the balance.

Dan decides to risk everything he has worked for his whole life in order to vindicate himself by way of a trial before a jury of six strangers. In the end, a fine line separates winning from losing, a guilty verdict from a verdict of not guilty a very fine line.

"This book takes a reader from arrest to verdict in language non-lawyers can easily understand. I heartily endorse it."

Robert E. Jagger, former Public Defender in and for Pinellas and Pasco Counties, Florida, 1961-1996.

" as realistic a portrayal of the human tragedy involved in a DUI Manslaughter case as I have read."

Patrick D. Doherty, Criminal Defense Lawyer, Clearwater, Florida.

"This story reads as true to the real thing as anything I have ever read. This is how it really is."

Eugene F. Zenobi, Criminal Defense Lawyer, Miami, Florida

Billy Starkey is sent to prison at age 18 when he refuses to provide testimony against reputed mobsters, after two of his friends who agree to cooperate with law enforcement authorities are found shot to death. Upon his release, he finds himself back in a world of crime. He and his girl friend flee to Cedar Key, Florida, take on new identities and hide. When they are discovered by an intrepid Federal agent, after being set-up by a confidential informant gone bad, Billy must infiltrate a gang of drug smugglers who steal clams off of Florida's Gulf coast to avoid being sent back to prison. Escaping to Bocas del Toro, a remote and sparsely inhabited island off of the northern coast of Panama in the Caribbean Sea, seems to be his only way out.

"Pierce Kelley's best work yet Readers will sympathize with Kevin Coffee's dilemma, even as they hope never to meet him in person. His story makes it clear how the handicaps of poverty and persecution are powerful inducements to amoral behavior. Kelley's attention to legal and technical details shines, as always."

-Jenna McKenna, Editor, Cedar Key Beacon

Kevin Coffee becomes a thief at a young age in order to survive after his father leaves him, his mother and three siblings to fend for themselves in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. As an adult, he moves to Miami Beach and becomes a drug smuggler. He meets members of the IRA and supplies them with guns. With their help, he finds his father, who is a Tinker in Ireland. He falls in love with Maeve Connelly, a member of a radical splinter group of the IRA. When Kevin is arrested and seems headed for prison, despite the best lawyering Siobhan O'Sullivan can provide, he decides to flee and hide out with Maeve on a remote island off the northwest coast of Ireland after a bank heist and one last gun deal.

Did you know that almost half the people in the United States admit to falling asleep behind the wheel of a vehicle at some time during their life? In this book, Craig Forest falls asleep while driving back to his home in Fernandina Beach after a weekend of fishing and fun in Cedar Key with his best friend, who dies as a result of the incident. Craig's life savings and financial security are in jeopardy. His insurance company doesn't think the claim is worth the amount of money demanded by the widow of his best friend. What happens when Craig, the insured, wants to settle the case but his insurance company refuses to do so for the amount demanded? A jury of six strangers must decide what is just and fair and what a life is worth.

"I don't think that anyone knows what he or she will do when faced with a life-threatening situation, as I did on the night when I was robbed at gunpoint I didn't. I just reacted to what had happened to me. I didn't plan for it to happen the way it did. I wish it had never happened.

This book, which is a fictionalized account of what happened to me, captures the emotional aspects of what I went through and what I am still going through. It also explains, in language I could understand, the legal aspects of what I went through. I hope some good comes out of it."

Lawrence Storer

Jeremy and Sally Thibodeaux are clammers from Cedar Key, Florida. After Jeremy suffers a herniated disc in his lumbar spine at work one day, while avoiding a menacing Bull Shark, his treating physician prescribes Roxy Contin to relieve the pain. It is an extremely effective pain killing medication. Sally begins taking the pills after she is injured as a result of a slip and fall incident at a local retail store.

When the medical treatment ends, and the the doctor refuses to continue to prescribe the pills, Jeremy begins buying the drug from a friend, at a much higher cost. They like the pills with the most Oxycodone in them, 30 milligrams, which provide the most immediate relief. Those pills are bluish in color and on the street they're called Roxy Blues.

Jeremy is incarcerated after buying drugs from an undercover police officer and his life spirals downward, as does Sally's. This story, though it is fictionalized, is based upon the lives of real people. It is a story about a problem that is killing people and ruining lives in epidemic proportions all over our country. It is a story about what could happen to any of us.