Richard Roach and Scattered Leaves

Today's guest blogger is Richard Roach, author of Scattered Leaves.

About the Book: When Ben McCord comes home from a business trip to find his young wife raped and murdered, he starts out on a journey of death and destruction.

Clues lead him to a dark world of drugs and violence in action that spans Texas, Colorado, and the Mexican border. McCord hooks up with a beautiful doctor, who was also victimized by members of the same drug cartel, and together they track down the killers, surviving bloody confrontations, and ending with a suspenseful climax in the Big Thicket of Texas.

About the Author: Suspense/Mystery author Richard Roach was born in 1931 in Galveston, Texas. Short stories of his have been published in Man’s Story 2, Happy 2007, Vol. 20 and Bibliophilos 2006, Vol. 42. His first novel, Scattered Leaves, hit the book stores on September 1, ’08, and his second novel, Scattered Money, will be published in 2009. You can visit his website at www.richarderoach.com.

Here's Richard's yarn--as he put it--about the research involved in putting this book together:

Most of the descriptions in SCATTERED LEAVES came from my imagination, however I have been to the spots mentioned that are adjacent to the Rio Grande, and in Colorado, and The Big Thicket. It was easy to describe them because they made deep impressions on my young mind. (That, of course, was many years ago.)

In my younger days my family and I did a lot of camping out. Naturally, we looked for exotic spots. Being in the U. S. Air Force for four years and working in the oil industry for thirty-one years added miles and miles of travel in all sorts of places, more than I care to remember. A few of them: Lake Calcasieu, Lake Maurepas, Vermilion Bay, offshore in the Gulf of Mexico out of Grand Isle, Louisiana, off shore out of Sabine Pass, Texas, and finally, The Atlantic Ocean out of Mateo, North Carolina.

Land locations in the oil field rarely lasted more than a few weeks. On exploratory wells (sometimes called wildcat wells--holes in the ground that are not in a field), unless the drill site comes in as a producer, you're here today and gone tomorrow.

The idea of commercializing pot and selling it packaged was my own idea. I don't know why it hasn't been done. It would be so easy, IF! you had a few trusted workers to run the machinery.

When I was in high school in Houston, some wet-heads were growing marijuana on the banks of Buffalo Bayou--within the city limits--and the site could have been seen from city hall if the trees had been removed. The pot plants were discovered when one ungodly shot another.

I have old friends in the Houston Police Department and in the Dallas Police Department and they didn't let me get too far off track. They also furnished some of the statistics, prices, and names the miscreants use. Too bad Jack Webb isn't still alive! (Dragnet) He could really rattle off facts and figures. Example: When you're in a head-on collision, your shoes are left on the floorboard!

I wish to thank all the readers of this site. I love you! Believe it or not: reading helps expand your mind and you will make more money, but you must save and invest. Trust me...you can make good money on these bridges I have to sell.

Quick Note: I don't always have a connection to any of the places that our guest bloggers write about, but I've been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina many times and we visit Manteo, NC whenever we're there. They have a wonderful Christmas shop on Route 64 in Manteo that is a must see if you visit.


The SCATTERED LEAVES VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 will officially begin on November 3 and end on November 26. You can visit Richard's blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in November to find out more about his latest book!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available. Pump Up Your Book Promotion will be announce the winner on November 30!