A Secret Muse

HONORABLE MENTION FOR FICTION AT THE 2016 PARIS BOOK FESTIVAl, NEW YORK BOOK FESTIVAL AND HOLLYWOOD BOOK FESTIVAL. A Secret Muse: book 1 of a trilogy. "This is a tale about good and evil and the restorative role of the arts in our world." UCLA art professor Coco Rhodes knows little about her family's association with the ancient clandestine organization The Allegiance and wants to keep it that way. She dislikes secrets-they're a painful reminder of her childhood experiences that were erased as a result of her parents' tragic deaths when she was four years old. After a brutal attempt on her life, and the arrival of a birthday letter from her dead mother, Coco demands explanations from her brother, Christopher, a high-powered D.C. lawyer and member of the Allegiance. Christopher guides Coco to her birthplace, Italy, insisting she'll find her answers there. Enter the enigmatic Gabriel, a powerful warlock with a vampire father, and the ethereal Prudence, keeper of the Allegiance. When a close friend is murdered, Coco's life takes a dark turn. With only a faded portrait torn from a lost sketchbook, and one of her mother's unfinished paintings, Coco unravels clues from her past, in the hope of saving those she loves.