Local Author to Read at Blue Ridge Books

Local author Dee Shaw will read from her new novel for teenage girls on Saturday, July 21 at 3:00 pm at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.   Parents and grandparents who buy for teenage girls will be particularly interested in this event.

The Battered Black Briefcase is about Tess Blake, an average 17-year old teen, who while running late to catch a city bus discovers an old briefcase.  In a hurry she grabs it and takes it home certain she will be able to return it to the owner.  While she had good intentions, this was a huge mistake which Tess will soon regret because the case is filled with stolen money.  A thief has seen the entire innocent heist from his window, and enraged he will use deception and a clever disguise as he sets out to catch the girl and retrieve his money.  With the family’s tight budget, Tess decides she will attempt to keep the money.  She hides the truth about what she has found and begins telling bold lies.  Her music teacher’s life might be placed in danger, the police become involved, and not knowing who the thief is, Tess must face her fear of a man who is trying to find her.  Finally after struggling with what is the right thing to do and realizing who the true owners probably are, Tess will learn to trust her Christian faith, integrity and grit to help her do what is right.

Dee Shaw is a former high school biology and earth science teacher and later a hospital dietitian.  She was presented with the Service to Youth Award and was among a select group of finalists receiving a Certificate of Merit in the Deep River Books Writer’s Contest this year.  She also has helped produce a YMCA newsletter promoting the healthful benefits of running.  For 12 years she and her husband traveled the globe as the pastoral care couple to more than 600 missionaries and workers of the Presbyterian Church in America.  Dee is the mother of three children and grandmother to nine.  As a teacher, parent, dietitian and sometimes writer, she has always had a passion for the physical, intellectual and spiritual development of young adults.  She and her husband live in Haywood County, North Carolina.

Having always enjoyed realistic mysteries and suspenseful novels with many twists and turns, her aim has been to incorporate these themes into her writing.  Never intending to write an entire novel, but interested in writing stories appealing especially to teenage girls that target problems many face during their middle and high school years, she eventually began writing contemporary, fictional stories that were suspenseful and filled with many interesting and believable characters.  The Battered Black Briefcase was published in April this year and is priced at $10.95.  It is her second novel.    The 183-page book is available at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.    Run Ellie Run, her first book, is in its second edition and will be available within a few weeks.