Thistles and Thorns

Thistles and Thorns is the third collection of stories by Bobby A. Troutt. The stories take you through New Orleans, Charleston, South Carolina, to Windle, Missouri. Each story has its thistles with a pretty bloom along with the thorns of life. Life has its thorns dressed in pretty flowers. Even the prettiest roses have thorns.MASQUERADEWhen a wealthy retired businessman and his wife moved to New Orleans it opens a whole new world for them, some for the better and for the most the worse. From Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, and the encounters of a call girl turns the story into blackmail and murder. In this twisted and turnabout triangle of a love story and the surprises to come afterward can’t be taken back. As time passes, the story deepens with more secrets and that in the end unlocks the truth with the encounters of suspense that opens hearts unto hope.BAY POINT ISLANDWinfred Scott, a self-made millionaire living off the coast of Georgia, engages a secret of the family that in the end will bring happiness and sorrow to his daughter, Cheryl. The discussion he had made will intrigue another division of the family that will cost them dearly. His actions will lay dormant until the end and the final uncovering of the past of the long ago secret will bring a surprise ending that will unlock another secret from long ago. Secrets sometimes come out and may be deadly. They may get the best of you. WAGES OF SINA serial killer is on the prowl in Charleston, South Carolina. His victims are from the gay community. A driven rage drives the killer in this series of murder. Tormented and driven by his hurt from an abusive childhood he tries to share his pain with others by a killing spree. The gay community is haunted and terrorized by the killing. As the story unravels, the police started to move in. The twisted turns and the surprising new evidence bring the truth out that had been hidden for years. But, by the new awakening of the truth, then end is near with double trouble.THE CAW OF THE CROWBenjamin Morris is a young reporter who has been assigned to write a story on the Legend of the Caw of the Crows. The story takes place in Stonehollow, Tennessee in Carol County in 1953. The mystery opens when three roughneck men, troublemakers, rape and kill a gypsy women and her husband one night not far from town. The moon was full and a dark shadow now hung over the town. The men had been drinking and what started out to be a little fun turned into murder. But as the story unfolds the revenge is bittersweet as the will crows take the revenge for the gypsies on the town and the three murderers. The unexpected haunting of the birds drive the townspeople in fear and death and the death of the three men will be the only hope for a payday. The crows are driven by the scent of the blood of the gypsies and they will not stop until the three men have paid with their lives.WEEPING WATERSIn Windle, Missouri in 1927 in the community of Weeping Waters, Grady Pedigo has received his new mail order bride. He was the happiest man on the face of the earth. Things took off good for them. Everything was fine until his new bride takes up with a traveling salesman name Joseph, a nice looking young man with black wavy hair and dark eyes. The affair, you may say, drove Grady insane. Driving him with rag, fury, and not to mention the haunting of the weeping waters. Rose, his wife, became pregnant and this sort of dampened his fury because he thought it may be his. But, as the wild fire romance continued on, Grady came up with a full proof plan that would free him once and for all. But, his revenge was costly. However, he was willing to pay the price. To this day no one has ever seen Rose of Joseph again. Stories are told and people have talked that she left with Joseph, her lover, and disappeared somewhere. But, did she?