Going for an early morning walk, Susan stops at the neighborhood bookshelf and picks up an old tattered book called the Scutari Legacy. She's immediately drawn into the fascinating history of an Italian family, the Scutaris, who'd been forced to escape from Milan to Portugal in 1745.
That night she starts dreaming about a handsome man, Albert Scutari, from modern times. Deciding this is a result of being lonely, she dismisses the dreams. Susan is a widowed grandmother, retired, and bored. Though she misses her husband, she's healthy and lonely. Every night she dreams again about Albert until she realizes she's falling for this fictitious man... but all she can say in her dreams is, "Scutari."
Albert Scutari, a retired highway patrolman, decides to research his genealogy. He quickly discovers that the Scutaris had come from Brazil. Suddenly he's confronted with an appearing and disappearing woman. Whenever he questions her, she simply says, "Scutari," like some parrot. Albert struggles with his growing feelings for this adorable little ghost. She seems to be everywhere. She even shows up in his home and befriends his finicky cat.
Finally in desperation, she writes a note giving him information from the book she's reading about his family. This sets off a series of discoveries resulting in being shot by the Italian Scutaris who stand to lose their inheritance and royal title.
Will these two widowers be able to connect across the globe?
Schussman, H.: -
Heidi Schussman Gilbert was born in a small Northern California coastal town to a police officer and a mother who gave up med school to raise a family. She was raised to think on her feet and view adventure as way of life. She starting shooting when she was five years old, and continues to practice her marksmanship. Schussman began working when she was eleven years old, starting her first business when she was thirteen selling flower arrangements at a flea market.
Now Schussman's favorite past-time is traveling with her husband of thirty-five years. Travel for H. Schussman is usually a cultural immersion, actually living with families in Spanish speaking countries or in Italy and Portugal. When in the tropics, they SCUBA dive every chance they get. The rest of Schussman's time is divided between gardening, exercise, and of course writing. She carefully researches weaponry and police/military intervention. Schussman believes research is a critical component of writing conspiracy theory. All good conspiracies are based on solid facts... that is what makes them believable.
H. Schussman has published five conspiracy novels. COUNTERPART is a complex Russian conspiracy. This is the introduction of the popular characters, Sean and Sport. These two captured the hearts of readers, so EL TIBURON brings them back by request. EL TIBURON is a conspiracy set in Central America, mostly Guatemala. A group of teens on a mission trip to Colombia find themselves in THE CROSSFIRE OF REVENGE. Then Schussman gives us SAVE THE GIRLS as the backstory on the beloved character, Sean McGee, as he rescues girls from human trafficking and prostitution. Her most recent book in this crime series, PIRATESSA, is a black-widow story set amongst the billionaire playboys in the yachting community of Costa Rica.
H. Schussman interviewed and wrote the biography for a rocket engineer legend, Clay Boyce-BRINGING APOLLO HOME. His life leading up to being a chief engineer on the Apollo Program and beyond are written in a fast-paced story-telling style.
Last year Schussman turned her hand to writing a romantic comedy with a criminal element, of course. THE TATTERED BOOK answers the question; What would happen if the main character in a book fell in love with the reader? She claims this was the most difficult book to write to date, however she is now writing the sequel; THE SECOND TATTERED BOOK.
H. Schussman also writes two blogs: A Dashing Bold A...
