For this family, the lockdown came as a blessing. On 24 March 2020, with merely a four-hour notice, the Indian government declared a three-week lockdown as a containment measure for COVID-19. In terms of scale and severity, this lockdown was unparalleled worldwide. However, quite unexpectedly, for a family of four, cooped up in a plush […]

When tyrannical billionaire Thomas C. Whistler drowns in a Japanese soaking tub in his Chautauqua McMansion in July 2018, was it an accident? Don’t know, say the police. Don’t care, say his seven guilty-looking, glib and greedy children who include: a glamorous actor, a bullied contractor, a Shakespeare prof, a socialite, a kindly camp “bus […]

Franki’s back—with a bite! Halloween is looming large in New Orleans, and Private Investigator Franki Amato’s in a gloomy mood. Her boyfriend Bradley has to leave on an extended business trip, and her slacker brother is coming to town with her matchmaker nonna who’s determined to see a Sicilian lemon superstition bear fruit. Meanwhile, the […]

There are a lot of things people never told you about being forty-something. Sure, they mentioned the hot flashes and reading glasses and the need for Kegels, but they never talked about fireballs sprouting from your fingertips or your sudden ability to turn rat-bastards into, well, actual rats. Which is why it comes as something […]