As you look back at your own history and perhaps that of your family, you see the Hand at work which makes you possible, steers the paths and contents of legacies, writes and rewrites lives and destinies. Perhaps it’s the evolutionary character of life which makes novels so appealing.

And novels are often object lessons in print, helping us to explain ourselves by illustrating things we wish were true – and things we wish were not true – on balance making a pretty picture of the beautiful creations we truly are.

Merchant’s Mine began as a whim granted by the Holy Spirit, written by Him and dictated to me as a scribe. (Hence the Nom de Plume “Robert Scribe.”) He granted my lifelong and suppressed wish to be a writer and write a book, by causing me to write not one, but five books in one year. No book plan, no outline, we just sat and wrote it out. Then came books 6 and 7, delayed by life events as I pursued another lifelong dream (which had been more subconscious, a purpose stated by the Lord to Himself and eventually to me), to become a minister of an old white church on a hillside (see Book 7).

The fifth book, “Bloodline” (which is now Book 1 instead of book 5), told all the things in the background (from 1700s England to the present day), and brought into focus the causes and effects of the things in the original Books 1 through 4. It’s the product of stuff I wanted to say that needed to be said.

In 2025 I had a need to quickly produce a novel (it’s a short book but there’s a long story behind it). So, “quick, fast, and in a hurry” I wrote the Novella “Shalom,” which brings the Merchant’s Mine series to a close.

Mysteries of the dangerous kind bring us to turning pages and reading at a breathless pace. Reuben Temple and Shira Rosen, retired from the Mossad and living in Tennessee, are pulled from the peace of their retreat from the dangerous world of terrorism and spies, and thrust back into the dangerous and bloody war of good against evil.

This novel begins a new series in a new genre, with a progression in my style from mellow comfort to excitement. You’ll be in the minds and hearts of the main characters, getting to know them and sharing their pain, drawn into the story as it builds from a quiet luncheon to a heart-racing crescendo.