Susan’s current novel project, Left Is For Speeders

LEFT IS FOR SPEEDERS is HUGH and LORETTA’s darkly comic love story set in Reno. Hugh is a talented but cautious card player. Loretta works as a hotel head housekeeper with a freewheeling lost and found policy and a penchant for pink. They meet and fall in love when their slot machines simultaneously hit the jackpot.

Life is good for the mid-life newlyweds but Hugh is dogged by unexplained blackouts. He wakes from one whopper of a spell utterly transformed; he can now “feel” numbers and see auras – but he believes he is dying. This cruel twist convinces Hugh to secretly use his heightened poker skills to win big money and set his lovely Loretta up for life financially. For a man who has never been over 40 mph in his vintage Dodge Dart, merging into the fast lane is trickier than it seems.

Hugh’s uncharacteristic acceleration stirs up Loretta’s past as a drug dealer, pitching the couple into mortal conflict with Reno’s dark side. Aided by an unlikely ally, a mobster’s son with a secret life, Hugh and Loretta flee to Monaco. They anticipate a blissful respite only to find themselves ensnared by a nefarious crime syndicate that threatens both their devotion and their lives. Left is for Speeders is a tale of good intentions gone bad told at a clip that suits its serio-comic tone.