Welcome to a garden of novels
At the heart of every crime there's a family, someone you love ...
The Ninth Step
Livie Saunders is fluent in the language of flowers; she taught the meanings to her fiancé, Cotton O’Dell, but then Cotton vanished without explanation on their wedding day forcing Livie to learn the language of desolation. Heartbroken, she buries her wedding gown beneath a garden pond and she resolves to move on, but there are nights when she slips . . . into a sequined red dress and a pair of stiletto heels, a stranger’s bed, a little anonymous oblivion that is not without consequence. Still, she recovers a semblance of ordinary life and imagines she is content. But then, six years later, Cotton returns and her carefully constructed world shatters. The old questions bite like flies. Questions that Cotton O’Dell prays he can answer. 
He prays that Livie, whom he has never stopped loving, will be moved to forgive him. But there is more than Livie to be concerned about. There is Cotton’s act of cowardice that caused him to become a fugitive in the first place . . . that crime he committed for which the legal clock is still ticking. That thing he did that will shock Livie to her core once she learns of it. Livie is desperate to trust Cotton, but then he goes missing again. Time telescopes, avenues of escape close, and as lives hang in the balance, choice dithers between mercy and revenge. And a decision that will take only a moment will carry the consequences of a lifetime.
The Ninth Step is a story of redemption, of being brought to your knees in the sober light of day to face a monstrous error and yet somehow finding the strength to stand up, to try and make it right. Even if that decision breaks your heart, endangers your freedom and ultimately threatens your life.
The Reviews
“Barbara Taylor Sissel crafts a sure-handed, beautiful garden of a novel on ground tilled by Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve. Firmly confronting issues of human frailty, redemption, and letting go, The Ninth Step is a story about what is, but it aches with the stories of what might have been as one man's quest for forgiveness leads him to the impossible task of forgiving himself, and the lives of the people he's wronged are drawn into a shattering spiral of events. Sissel's vibrant voice, rich characters, and deft plotting draw the reader in and keep pages turning to the gripping, unexpected end.” ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Crazy for Trying and Sugarland
“The Ninth Step is an unforgettable story of loss, forgiveness, and the true cost of redemption, as beautifully-written as it is compelling.” ~Bestselling author, Colleen Thompson
The Volunteer
In the fall of 1999, psychologist Sophia Beckman is compelled by the court to give testimony on behalf of a death row inmate that results in his sentence being overturned. Haunted by secrets from her past, she avoids the media spotlight as much as possible, but soon, other prisoners’ families come seeking her assistance. One family in particular, the wife, children, and brother of Jarrett Capshaw, is especially insistent. Forty-one days ago Jarrett’s request to die was granted by the State of Texas, and he became a dead man walking, a man they call a volunteer.
Jarrett’s crimes were unusual, involving the theft of precious Mayan antiquities. Murder was never part of the plan, but murder is what happened. He pulled the trigger, and as little as he feels prepared for it, as much as he struggles with matters of the soul, he’s ready to die. It is the only way his family and the families of his victims will be free to move on. While Jarrett labors to find the words to say good-bye to those he has loved, Sophia finds herself drawn into a relationship with his wife and oldest son. It is Jarrett’s family she can’t resist and there will be a price to pay. But not even Sophia could have foreseen the outcome when the brutal truth is exposed, the unalloyed facts that, incredibly, will deliver Jarrett’s fate straight into her hands.
The Volunteer is a story about families, how they are made, and how in one single, horrifying instant, they can be broken. It is a story about mothers and the lies they tell to protect their children, to keep them from being hurt. But what happens when the truth comes out anyway and nothing and no one is spared? Sometimes the truth has the power to break your heart, and in Sophia’s case it will also endanger her freedom and threaten everything she has ever believed about her life.
The Reviews:
"THE VOLUNTEER is a story of so many things that are not talked about -- you can only learn about them by noticing the empty shape that people talk around. It's exactly like negative space in art, when you depict the object by drawing the space around it." ~ Darla Tagrin, Artist
"Another richly told story from a wonderfully talented author. Barbara Taylor Sissel weaves beautiful novels from fine, unexpected threads. Characters are complex and thoughtful. Places are fragrant and real. Conversations ring true and meaningful. Plots unfold with startling but graceful turns. This is a terrific author I want everyone to discover. She does an amazing job of first making us care about these people, pinging curiosity just enough with the mystery surrounding the codex, then pretty much tearing our hearts out with the beautifully written final chapters.
THE VOLUNTEER is a satisfying read, and that's enough in itself, but I think book clubs will find a whole additional dimension for discussion. Beyond the big questions that gray the core topic of capital punishment, there's the complicated realm of family relationships, the definition of "the honorable thing" and whether or not it's even possible to redeem oneself by living or dying for a private cause.
This is the kind of indie fiction I'm thrilled to see: a beautifully crafted book by a creative, accomplished author." ~Joni Rodgers NYT best selling author of Crazy for Trying, Sugarland and Bald in the Land of Big Hair
The Last Innocent Hour
An act of murder caught in an explosion of lightning. A scream swallowed up by thunder. She pulls herself along the balcony railing hand-over-hand, peering down into the inky blackness. Too late, whispers a voice in her brain. Bang, bang you're next, taunts a voice before her. . . .
Something twisted is stalking the Cunningham family. It lurks at the periphery of Beth’s vision. Her husband Charlie can’t help, if she could even remember him; he’s doing time for a murder he didn’t commit. The small child Beth was found with, whom she doesn’t know either, was taken to foster care. There isn’t much time now. If Beth doesn’t recall the hideous events that stole her memory soon, the killer will strike again, and someone else will die.
The Reviews:
This is a plot worthy of Daphne du Maurier ... a compelling tale of innocence lost. ~Amy Rabinovitz, The Houston Chronicle
A circumstantial crime, a local conspiracy and no convenient Perry Mason. In The Last Innocent Hour, Sissel's writing is strong and the characters and their motivations clearly drawn. ~ Bev Vincent, author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award nominated companion to Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion
The Last Innocent Hour is a taut psychological suspense thriller, exciting and quite dark with no light in sight adding an almost gothic feel. ~ The Midwest Book Review
Sissel's first novel is a worthy achievement ... along the lines of Iris Johansen. Frightening ... poignant. Sissel's strength lies in her multi-dimensional characters ... that make the reader react--with fear, with relief, with anger, with tenderness. ~ Maureen O'Connor, Book Browser Review
The Last Innocent Hour will ensnare you in a web of family secrets and suspense, powerful crisp writing and characters so real you'll think you've met them. ~ bestselling romantic suspense author, Colleen Thompson
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe