Literary Las Vegas: Morgan St. James

Whether she's writing Silver Sister Mysteries under her own name or penning romantic suspense novels under the pen name Arliss Adams, Las Vegas author Morgan St. James is the picture of prolific. In addition to her fiction, St. James recently released "Writers' Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction," a how-to book designed to help others pursue the dream she realized at age 68 when her first novel, "A Corpse in the Soup," was published. For more on the author, visit morganstjames-author.com.

Excerpt from "The Devil's Due"

"Michael, I fought for my sanity in the hospital, while you and Darlene plotted to wipe me out mentally and financially."

I pointed my finger toward the grave, hand shaking. "Tell him you had no power to override Darlene." Then I screamed. "Tell him! Say every dreadful thing was only her doing, never yours. Convince him that in your heart, you can justify what you did. Justify it to your son. Here. Standing over his grave. Look right down at him. Say, I had no way to help Jen. No way to do what I knew was right."