Dawn Meadows

Amanda Jones: A Sleuth

...but all the best mysteries remain unsolved.

Amanda Jones: A Girl

Not all the history books in the world could keep her from the real thing.

Amanda Jones: A Student

Before solving mysteries... she had to study for exams.

Spring Fever 4

...and so I hope you all enjoyed this cautionary tale. A little fever dream for all of you that suffer from the nightmare of allergies or simply spent a little too much time alone during the cold months of winter and feel the need to escape the monsters that were haunting you! Here's wishing you ...

Spring Fever 3

But be careful! Not all of those flowers are safe! Some of those inviting blooms can be quite perilous indeed. Beware the Spring Fever!

Spring Fever 2

The fragrances in the fresh air can go to your head, and Dawn is feeling the burdens of winter lifted from her slender shoulders.

Spring Fever

I think we are all doing a little dance like Dawn at the joy of Spring.

Rose Tribune: Crime Desk

Dawn Meadows sure isn't writing Op-Eds! Sunday is the perfect day to crack down on crime!

Nights & Weekends

Think your favorite blonde sleuth spends her Saturdays painting her nails and shopping? Think again. The Star Reporter for the Rose Tribune puts in overtime to catch the bad guys!

What would you like to see next?

Oh my! Talk about a cold edition of Winter Cabin this year! Dawn Meadows went from out of the hot shower... to into the icy water? We'll have to wait until the next installment to figure out how she gets out of this perilous predicament. But that's for another day. The big question is: What do yo...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (15 of 15)

SPLASH!

The frigid ice water of the lake hit Dawn with a hypothermic dose of reality. She tread the crystalline waters trying to ignore the system shock and rising panic of the thought of sinking. Had it truly come to this? Had Sinclair finally won? Dawn's breath came in labored breaths thr...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (14 of 15)

If Nigel's instructions had been to prepare Dawn... he had done a  pretty poor job of it. The blonde reporter found herself standing on the  frigid ice lake located just outside the Winter Cabin. Standing might  have been an incorrect description. She was hopping from one foot to t...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (13 of 15)

Suddenly the goon in the 90's pants was hands on again, pulling her up off the floor. And while the respite from the cloying fireplace was welcome, he could have been a little nicer about placing her on the couch. With hands behind her back, Dawn did the best she could about "sitting" her dress h...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (12 of 15)

Dawn sighed as she realized that her winter getaways had been perilous  more than she could count on a single hand. Looking up at her captors,  her mind raced. I need to figure out a way out of this before it's too  late!

Winter Cabin - Part VI (11 of 15)

"Nigel, you idiot!" scolded Sinclair as he cuffed his man on the  back of the head. "What do I even pay you for?" he continued berating  the contract muscle, who was smarting the stinging spot where Sinclair  had given him a piece of his mind.

Dawn looked  at her captors...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (10 of 15)

Click! Click! Click!

"Mmmmmmnnnmmmmgggggnnnnhhhh!!!" was all Dawn could manage as the thick tape was applied to her previously neatly glossed lips. The clicking sound was the metal cuffs binding her at her trim little wrists. Groggily she looked around from her placement on the floor. The f...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (9 of 15)

"Well done, Nigel" grimaced Gerald Sinclair. He sipped his scotch as his  man hoisted the unconscious blonde reporter over the shoulder.

"You  stock the good stuff, Miss Meadows. I should stop by for a drink more  often," chuckled Sinclair. Dawn's stocking bearing legs swayed...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (8 of 15)

Dawn writhed on the floor holding her gut. She gasped for air, having  had the wind knocked out of her. Her impractical for some occasions  cocktail dress draped quite impractically for this particular one.  Immodestly, her supple breasts were exposed during the tumble to the  ...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (7 of 15)

Dawn Meadows twisted around to face her surprise attacker and immediately wished she had not. He was a thug, a ruffian type, that immediately made her blood run cold. The kidney punch had been with his left hand. And Dawn had turned just in time to see his right hand, his dominant hand striking h...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (6 of 15)

KA-CHUNK!!!

The meaty fist slammed into Dawn's kidney with dreadful surprise.

"Nnnnnnngggggguuuuuuhhhh!!!" she groaned, as her back arched in agony, the baseball bat slipping from her reflexively twitching open palm.

The blonde reporter's porcelain face twisted in pain.

Sh...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (5 of 15)

"H-h-hello? ...Is... Is somebody down there?" Dawn's voice betrayed her own natural timidness heightened by the anxiety of being remote and alone. She padded down the hard wood stairs leading down from the loft into the den. "Hello?" she called again.

Nothing. Just the crackle of the firepl...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (4 of 15)

"I worry about you, Dawn. I know how he is. I've experienced it first hand. Twice! And I know how you are. You get withdrawn. You hide. You disappear. Nobody knows where you are. I know you've always been this way. I mean, I know at least, since your parents. I know... well, you know, I know you'...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (3 of 15)

"What are you even doing out there?"

"I just needed to---"

"---I should be there with you!"

"Becky..."

"Don't 'Becky' me!"

Dawn held the phone away from her ear as her cousin, Becky Carter quite literally gave her an ear full.

"Did you forget what happened last...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (2 of 15)

The bath had been hot. Good. The heat soaked into her bones, leaving her skin vibrant and pink. Dawn loved the solitude of a nice bath. She methodically shaved her legs, a ritual she had much experience in. Taking her time to lather up the soap, she made sure the blade was fresh, and her strokes ...

Winter Cabin - Part VI (1 of 15)

Somewhere up north...

The drive had not  been easy. They never plowed this far north. But she had to get away.  There was something about this time of year. When the snow is piled  high, and the wind is whipping with fury. We are driven indoors.  Fireplaces, hot cocoa, c...

The Shipping Yard Sleuth (8 of 8)

The first sensation you feel is movement, a slight swaying, as if you were playing from the monkey bars like when you were a kid.

Your normally clear gray eyes are hazy from the drugs. Now they are half open, as you try to make sense of your surroundings.

You try to move a lithe, quic...

The Shipping Yard Sleuth (7 of 8)

"She was a lot harder than the other one."

He grins. It's an evil grin, full of sadism at what his plans may be. "She's gonna pay for the extra trouble."

A single scratch on his cheek testifies of her feistiness.

The Shipping Yard Sleuth (6 of 8)

"Fuck," the man says, placing your unconscious body on the ground. He watches with appreciation as your long, luxurious blonde mane settles like a cape around your head.

The Shipping Yard Sleuth (5 of 8)

"Bbbbbbbbbaaaaassssssstttteeeerrrrrrrddddd" It takes a year to get the word out, and you notice he's taken the rag from your face. Good. Now you can sleep without worrying about suffocation. Or rolling in the ocean.

Somewhere in the back of your mind that sense of self preservation is screa...

The Shipping Yard Sleuth (4 of 8)

But now, unfortunately, your strength seems to be ebbing away from you. It's almost like you can see your body, feebly struggling against the powerful ass-hat holding you hostage.

Your eyes grow hazy, and the beautiful sky takes on a psychedelic glow, as the black spots add new, never befor...