White Rock Foundations

Free will is a terrible thing. But it’s better than the alternative.

Book 1 of Rae Crossmon’s White Rock Series begins a saga that mixes ancient legends with contemporary issues and characters. Combining elements of Eastern European mythology, Arthurian stories, Russian fables, and American pop culture, this twisted fairy tale brings an old conflict to life in 1990’s America.

Henri Helmsley sits in a mental hospital in the city of New Devin cradling an old scar on her abdomen. Her brother, Evan, lies in a hospital bed across town bearing a wound in the same place, one his sister made with a handgun. Henri’s attempt to kill Evan ignites a chain of events that threaten to destroy a carefully maintained balance between two powerful families.

Dr. Elizabeth Graves is summoned to the hospital in the middle of the night to provide counseling for Henri. Elizabeth arrives to find that her patient has hired Elizabeth’s estranged husband, Kiernan Porter, as her defense attorney. Though Kiernan and Elizabeth initially clash over Henri’s case, they quickly realize the young woman’s situation is somehow bound up with the secrets that destroyed their marriage.

As Elizabeth works with Henri, she hears details of a lifetime of physical and verbal abuse inflicted by Evan. Henri claims the abuse escalated after she became pregnant three years ago by her college boyfriend and Evan forced her to give the child up for adoption. Kiernan hears a different version from Henri’s brother, Evan making a disturbing implication that Henri’s pregnancy and the subsequent adoption are not what they seem.

Elizabeth and Kiernan must join together to solve the mystery of Henri’s child. They are confronted by ruthless opposing forces including Henri’s current lover and their old college friend, Governor Bryne McConsas. They must delve into the lies created by the father of Henri’s child, the only person besides Henri who knows what really happened three years ago.

As the Helmsley siblings battle each other to keep dark secrets buried, the Graves-Porter couple is drawn into an old myth from the past. Kiernan and Elizabeth must find the courage to keep searching until they find the inconvenient truth, a truth that contains the answer to why their marriage was destroyed so many years ago.

All the books in the White Rock series highlight an ancient Slavic legend wrapped in a modern suspense story. Each book builds toward a final conflict between ancient enemies while exploring themes such as free will vs. fate, family secrets, and the status of myth in contemporary American society.