The Stage Mothers' Club

Johnny Jenkins was the child star of a controversial exorcism film, The Damned. After enduring the pain caused by a hovering stage mother, he escaped and enlisted in the Army. After being honorably discharged, Little Johnny Jenkins began to suffer from debilitating PTSD, and the only way he can keep his demons at bay is by writing. As the cloistered, highly successful writer of feel-good novels about loving mother-son relationships, he has created a comfort zone for himself. But he is soon brought back to the epicenter of his nightmares, his role in the movie; and along the way discovers the horrifying backstory of The Damned. Pulpy and darkly smart, Ron Capshaw is a compulsively readable genre unto himself. I devoured The Stage Mother's Club in a single sitting. Take two-measures of William Peter Blatty and add a dash of vintage James Ellroy. Season with the breakneck pace of 1980s-style adventure paperbacks and savor the wild banquet! -Craig McDonald, Edgar Award Finalist