Missouri’s Secret

In the heart of the United States, there are thousands of people just like Sarah Johnson - average, good-hearted intelligent citizens who enjoy their lives, their friends, their family and their careers. Sarah grew up an only child, eventually to have two children of her own and moderate success working for a hometown big business where she is adored. Somewhere in the middle of this somewhat mundane life, Sarah senses her marriage is faltering. Not so serious that she can't live with it, but she wants to understand why and when things seemed to have changed. Her husband, seemingly oblivious to any problems, enjoys the fruits of their hard work, often changing jobs and searching for real success in an area of Missouri that has produced many success stories. While a good father and a hard worker, he relishes his free time to golf, fish, and tinker with cars. Eventually, Sarah focuses in on the one thing that determines the outcome of her marriage and their lives. As she gets closer to discovering the real problem, she suddenly faces a difficult and unbelievable choice. Based on real incidents in southwest Missouri in the early 1990's. This book provides interesting real-life success stories of the American dream in middle America, at a time when real life and death American nightmares were occurring. The outcome is dramatic, suspenseful and surprising, one that fits with the real life cold cases that remain unsolved after more than twenty years.

Dennis G. Smith grew up in Iowa, served in the infantry in Vietnam and then returned to his native state to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Iowa State University. Following graduation, he spent his career reading, writing, editing and checking technical documents in the construction industry. Now retired, Dennis has the time to re-visit his love of creative writing. With this, his first novel, he writes about an area of the country where he spent several years working and remembers his astonishment when the crimes he describes took place. Dennis Smith lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife Carol and their siamese cats Dusty and Bo.