Local author P.K. Norton has just released her seventh suspense novel in the Amy Lynch Investigations series. “The Back of Beyond” combines history, mystery, and an unlikely assortment of elements that challenge the reader to answer the simple question: Is the original death insurance claim justified or not?
The fun part of “The Back of Beyond” is weaving your way through bombs, shootings, more deaths, mysterious Indian burial grounds, motorcycle gangs with a mission, and an insurrection.
What bonds Norton’s seven novels is Amy Lynch, an insurance investigator and compelling protagonist who must frequently work her way through incongruous clues and hazardous situations. Lynch is modeled after author Paula Norton, who worked for 30 years as an insurance claims investigator.
Each of Norton’s books – “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Death,” “Dead Drop,” “Deep Secrets,” “Direct Elimination,” “Deadly Diamonds,” “Avenging Madonna,” and “The Back of Beyond” – take you to a different locale with which Norton is – or becomes – intimately familiar. Each unique story keeps you guessing.
Norton always wanted to be a writer, but like many of us, couldn’t quite put that first line to paper. She owes much to her late husband, Jack, who has since passed from Parkinson’s disease. Together, over cocktails and dinner, the couple would invent new ways to kill people!
Some time after Jack’s passing, Paula reconnected with her high school sweetheart, Tom (who she killed off in her third book!). Now, together over cocktails and dinner, they generate even more ways to kill people.
Norton is nationally acclaimed for several of her novels. Kirkus Reviews has said, “…Her work accomplishes the unlikely feat of making an insurance investigator enthralling.”
In Norton’s next novel, Lynch’s life is about to change. But that’s another story.
“The Back of Beyond” and Norton’s other books are available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
