Winter, Chicago, 1920: They planned to meet at midnight. They would run off together and marry. But something went wrong.

A story of two lovers . . .

For young Nathan Devlin and Julia Tharpe, that missed meeting cleaves their relationship and sunders their lives. Nathan goes to prison, bitter, blaming Julia for lack of resolve. Julia continues with her career, equally bitter, blaming him for unfaithfulness.

Years later, Julia learns the truth of that night's failed elopement, and of the deception behind it. She sets out to find Nathan, now an escaped fugitive. Her search leads her in 1955 to the small farm town of Windmill, Indiana. There Nathan, still bitter at Julia, at his luck and at the world at large, is avenging himself on the hapless townspeople in a peculiar way: With magic.

. . . And seven stories of supernatural mischief . . .

For Nathan owns a collection of powerful objects which he now, in a final act of malice, sells to unwary townsfolk. To his seven "customers," ranging from a grade-school girl to an aging charity-home couple, these ordinary-looking purchases quickly prove useful. Then things get out of hand . . .

. . . All unfold to a climax in quiet, out-of-the-way Windmill, Indiana.

Through these seven unfolding fantasy stories is woven, in flashbacks, the decades-long story of Julia and Nathan's complex love affair . . . Their cruel betrayal by others . . . Their years apart . . . Their final reconciliation . . . And a secret finally revealed that will bind them once more.

Windmill, Indiana. Where bad things happen to a good town.

Books in the Windmill, Indiana series

Welcome to Windmill Rabbit's Foot
Sweet Dreams Woman in the Rain

Contact the author at jvshepherd1@gmail.com

Cover photo by Judy Butz