JANE SLOVEN
Sarah Green has come a long way from the traumatized attorney who jettisoned her life in Boston and fled to Maine after the murder of her friend Miriam Moss. With effective trauma treatment and a new graduate degree, Sarah has accepted her psychic skills, adjusted to ghostly conversations with Miriam, and settled into an enjoyable counseling practice. With good friends and a new romance, life is sweet—until the man in prison for murdering Miriam requests mediation.
When Sarah meets Reginald Harper, he not only denies murdering Miriam, he stuns Sarah with a wild tale of bioweapons experiments that turned ticks into carriers of virulent enhanced infections such as Lyme disease. Sarah can't get away from Lyme—it's disabling a friend and client. Before long, Sarah enlists her friends and her ex-husband, Ryan, in a dangerous search for answers: Is Harper delusional or telling the truth? Did Harper kill Miriam, and if not, who did? Despite misgivings, Sarah is soon tackling what may be the biggest threat to her life—a conspiracy of people willing to kill to keep dark secrets buried.
Fragment of Doubt is available for purchase through PayPal on this site and through maineauthorspublishing.com.
Good books offer readers the opportunity to immerse themselves in a story, but some books also teach. They convey information through their characters and plots so that readers come away enriched in various ways. I wrote Fragment of Doubt to create a riveting mystery that would also teach readers about Lyme disease—the myriad ways it manifests, the challenges facing those who struggle with these infections, and the sometimes long road to recovery. If you or someone you love is struggling with tick-borne illness, please see the Lyme Resources section of my website.
Police Detectives and Private Eyes aren’t the only professionals trained to follow clues and unravel mysteries. Counselors know that terrain, too—although the territory they traverse is intra-psychic. Counselors focus on the patterns of behavior that entrap us: choosing the wrong partner again and again; struggling with abusive family members, or experiencing terror at the sight of a spider.
In Termination of Benefits, counselor Sarah Green is highly skilled at helping her clients untangle their emotional dilemmas but she doesn’t do so well with her own—and she’s got big ones—frightening flashbacks of a close friend’s murder and a pesky psychic lineage she can no longer suppress.
When a psychopath starts stalking Maine’s counseling community, Sarah struggles to separate past trauma from present danger while juggling an ex-husband hot to reconcile and the tempting attentions of a sexy detective. She joins forces with a take-no-prisoners defense attorney, a top-notch private eye, and her office mate Louise to catch the killer before he strikes again.
When all her skills can’t save her from the clutches of a predator, Sarah discovers a wealth of courage, and gratefully accepts all the help she can get—from this world and the next.
Termination of Benefits is available for purchase through PayPal on this site, through maineauthorspublishing.com, and through indie bookstores in Maine. Both the Kindle and Print version are available on Amazon.
Watch the interview with Central Hall Commons:
Listen to Jane's interview on The Write Focus podcast
Maine Romance Writers Readers’ Choice Contemporary Category: First Place
GRAND PRIZE READERS’ CHOICE WINNER
2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist: Suspense
Foreword INDIES Finalist: Thriller & Suspense
“Termination of Benefits is a brilliant debut. I sat up until 2:30 reading the last hundred pages. It was impossible to put down. Good plotting is rare, and the final chapters brought me clever plot twists and surprises. I especially enjoyed the way Sloven blended her hero’s legal background and her career as a therapist, as well as her Jewish community and the Portland, Maine setting. The episode on Mackworth Island was very visual for me. I felt I could almost smell the water.
—Steve Steinbock, mystery writer and reviewer, “The Jury Box,” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
Women of Spirit, Transforming Lives is the second volume in this Matrika Press series. This book is a compilation of women sojourners, sages, mystics, witches, shaman, medicine women, philosophers, life coaches, ministers, storytellers, yogis, historians, and more.
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Their journeys. Their stories. Their teachings and practices. Poetry, Art, Rituals, and Prayers.
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This anthology is full of useful tools and powerful messages for everyone who is on a spiritual journey.
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Jane is the happy contributor of the essay titled "Musings on Mortality."
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Find out more information on the Matrika Press website here and purchase on Amazon here.
Five women writers enter their mothers’ worlds to tell their stories, and in the process unearth complex histories filled with love, laughter, trauma, courage, resilience, and determination. Their explorations lead the writers to a more compassionate acceptance of both their mothers and themselves. Written with heart and honesty, this anthology includes discussion questions along with a guide and writing prompts for others wishing to make a similar journey.
Drop me a line to purchase, by clicking the link below:
As featured in Maine Women Magazine:
If you took yourself out of the role of daughter and took a deep dive into your mother’s life story, where would you end up? If during your childhood she abandoned you, was cruel or just had unrealistic expectations, would her story and experiences evoke your empathy? Would you come to understand your mother as a woman in the context of her time? Read More
Listen here to the Maine Calling interview with Jennifer Rooks
Watch the WSCH 6 207 Interview:
2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist: Women’s Issues
Foreword INDIES Finalist: Family and Relationships
Book Fest INDIE Finalist: Non-Fiction Anthologies and Women’s Issues
Jane Sloven
Jane Sloven lives in Maine with her absolutely amazing husband, Joe. Jane graduated from American University with a BA in Literature, New England School of Law with a JD, and The University of Connecticut with an MSW—in that order. Practicing law wasn’t a good fit, but her psychotherapy practice was a joy. Jane has published clinical articles, short stories, and essays. Her first mystery, Termination of Benefits, was published in 2018. She co-authored the anthology Compassionate Journey: Honoring Our Mothers’ Stories, which was published the same year. Jane is entranced by mysticism and contemplative practices and has training in energy healing and nondual Kabbalistic healing. She’s created and co-led contemplative worship services, has learned to play ukulele, occasionally attempts to paint landscapes, finds sparkling dangling earrings irresistible, loves reading, swimming, cooking, baking, sipping herbal teas, walking on beaches, hanging out with friends, cuddling with dogs and cats, and wandering about in consignment and junk stores. You can contact her at https://www.janesloven.com.
