Book 1 of a cozy mystery series. Anne has returned to Westport, the quaint maritime village where she grew up, to do two things she loves–teach in its multi-cultural elementary school and race her small sailboat in the Westport regattas. Anne has never remarried after her husband died fifteen years ago in his twenties and she has lived quietly in the friendly village. But after an important women’s regatta that attracts a large number of sailors, a teacher from Anne’s school is found dead at her boat club.
“I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery. The story takes place at a boat club. As a sailor and a teacher myself I could relate to the main character. Kind of refreshing that the romance didn’t involve the detective as it so often does. I liked the characters.” —LibraryThing (poolays)
“A captivating and flowing mystery centering around the deaths of Ruth and Petra in Westport Maryland. The first question to be resolved is, were these deaths accidental or murder? Readers will feel involved in discovering and eliminating possible suspects as they also become a part of a community group led by Tim and Anne, an unofficial team alongside the official investigation led by the police and their support team. Enjoy not only the investigations, both the official and community-led, but also social life of the residents of Westport, including sailing, parades and social interactions in the coffee shop. Overall, an engaging and absorbing read with multiple connecting plot developments.” —Amazon (Carol Marlowe)
“Anne returned to Westport where she grew up, to teach and race her sailboat. After a women’s regatta, a teacher from her school is found dead. This was a really good book and kept you guessing on who the murderer was. Tim is a nice partner for Anne in helping solve the murder and they get to know each other better and grow closer. When you find out who the murderer is, it kind of makes you happy who did it. Definitely a “cozy boat club mystery.”—Goodreads (Lorie)
“Small towns have nosey neighbors, and they usually get things wrong. Anne has that problem after a woman is found dead following the Westport regatta. She is linked with the dead woman’s husband, who believes he is the most important person that no one can resist! Anne and the dockmaster are determined to aid the man charged with the murder and things get even murkier when a woman who thought she should win everything is found dead. Loved the short chapters and the storyline was well written.” —Goodreads (Linda)
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Also available as an audiobook
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Saint Sergey’s Head, a darkly humorous CIA farce with satirical undertones and an unconventional love story.
In 2024, Alexey, a young Russian of draftable age, is sent on a mission to Istanbul to retrieve the true head of Saint Sergey of Radonezh, the patron saint of Russia. At the same time, Angela, a young CIA officer, is sent to Istanbul to receive a secret device from a Russian defector.
Angela at first mistakes Alexey for the defector but soon realizes her mistake. Alexey and Angela, who has learned Russian from her grandmother, become close friends.
But a colonel in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, who has been assigned to work with Angela, continues to believe that Alexey is the defector, and his efforts to retrieve what is actually the head of Saint Sergey cause a ridiculous amount of trouble.
In this mysterious city plagued by Russian and Turkish intrigue over the war in Ukraine, Alexey has some absurd problems trying to get the saint’s head back to Russia, while Angela finds herself in danger as she continues trying to find the real defector and retrieve the secret device.
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Nebulous Enemies, a suspenseful. story of love and intrigue in Afghanistan as aid workers fear the looming withdrawal of American forces protecting them from the Taliban.
Roger’s wife suddenly disappears, and although their relationship was never normal, he pursues her in Afghanistan, suspecting she has run off with Lyle, a U.S. contractor working there. In Kabul he is shocked to find out what his wife and Lyle have done. Lyle threatens him, and he meets Sophie, a Belgian aid worker who teaches Afghan women. She is also in danger from Lyle, and Roger’s goal is now to save Sophie and himself.
“An idealistic teacher gets sucked into an unfamiliar world of war profiteering in this bracing thriller.
… Despite being out of their depth, Roger and Sophie attempt to right a raft of wrongs in a country at war…. Keech portrays Roger and Sophie as forces of good—moral but naive—and their journey toward finding each other amid danger is memorable. However, the true scene-stealer here is the country of Afghanistan, brought to life in this well-researched volume …. The chaos of war catalyzes key developments in the plot, and Afghanistan’s citizenry plays a strong supporting role.
This engaging, layered work proves to be both a love story and a cautionary tale.” — Kirkus Reviews
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Her mother has died and her father is missing. In despair, twenty-year-old Emiko abandons her factory job to go searching for her father in Tokyo.
It is 1969, and her father has helped with student protests against the war in Vietnam. This gives Emiko a lead to start her search.
To survive in Tokyo, she stays at a hostel in the seedy Sanya neighborhood and takes a job as hostess in a bar where she’s required to “talk cute,” which goes against her grain.
She’s previously refused an offer to become the second wife of the rich Genji, twice her age, who had been in love with her mother, but when she’s fired and out of money, in desperation she goes to Genji’s office, hoping for a loan. Genji has something else in mind.
Emiko nearly gives up the idea of finding her father. And then she meets Juan, an American soldier recovering from a battle injury. Now she’s in love with a soldier in the war she and her father have been denouncing for years.
“Keech writes confidently and evocatively, conjuring an authentic setting both rich with detail and a sense of atmosphere. This coming-of-age story set against 1969 Tokyo, which touches both upon Japan post-World War II, and the Vietnam War, proves fertile ground for emotional drama with hints of intrigue and romance.” —BookLife Prize
“Keech’s book presents a post–World War II Tokyo that is no longer in lockstep with America, with New Left, anti-war movements like the Beheiren offering readers a view of Japan in the 1970s many may not have considered. Emiko is a strong, independent, and clever protagonist, using her wits to try to find her father and outsmart the radicals and criminals on the edges of this new, harsher world outside Kitayama. … A vivid and unusual era and setting help this wartime love story stand out.” —Kirkus Reviews
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Uncertain Luck is also available in a Japanese translation by Fujita Iori.
Uncertain Luck is now available as an audiobook
read by the author himself.
Book 3 of The Shady Park Chronicles.
(Book 1 is First World Problems.
Book 2 is Shady Park Panic.)
Shady Park Secrets is the witty, compassionate, and suspenseful story of a woman seeking love and fighting small-town hypocrisy and corruption, by the prize-winning author of A Hundred Veils.
A teacher falls in love, then puts that love at risk when she begins a secret fight to expose a pedophile preying on her students.
Nicole is already in danger of being fired for objecting to the new alt-right textbooks required in her school. Now she steps up to defend a student who’s been receiving unwanted nude pictures on his phone from a girl he hardly knows. And then Nicole starts receiving nude pictures herself.
Nicole loses her job over this but meets Ralph, the editor of the Shady Park newspaper, who suspects that a member of the board of education has been confiscating nude pictures from students for his own pleasure and profit.
Nicole falls in love with Ralph, and their happiness seems secured, but the police call her in for questioning. She agrees to secretly wear a wire to try to entrap Rev. Blatchford, the board member, but the police insist that “the press,” meaning Ralph, not be told about it.
Without telling Ralph where she’s going , Nicole takes a flash drive the police have given her to a “soiree” at which Blatchford buys and sells child pornography. She doesn’t return to Ralph’s that night. And this is only the first of several secret missions she runs for the police, each more dangerous than the one before.
Keeping her undercover work for the police secret arouses Ralph’s suspicion, and Nicole knows she’s in danger of losing him, but she’s seen the harm Blatchford is causing her students and can’t refuse to help put him in jail.
Shady Park Secrets exposes problems in contemporary society, including political corruption and xenophobia, but the story is told with compassion and a wry sense of humor. It is a fast-paced, cleverly plotted, and satisfying conclusion to the Shady Park Chronicles series that began with First World Problems and Shady Park Panic.
“This third installment of a series maintains the author’s satirical take on modern American suburban life while dealing with some serious societal problems. …From ostentatious McMansions to crooked politicians and religious zealots, little escapes the author’s sharp eye for hypocrisy and amusing excess. … readers should find the story’s conclusion satisfying.” —Kirkus Reviews
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Book 2 of The Shady Park Chronicles.
(Book 1 is First World Problems.)
A school shooting and groundswell of demand to arm teachers challenges a young reporter for the Shady Park Ledger to find out and report what really happened.
Everyone is sure the shooter was a terrorist. A woman who wears a hejab is arrested, but Anthony believes she’s not guilty and works to find out who is. Luckily he has the help of the beautiful Pari, who encourages him to keep reporting the facts despite the publisher’s threats to fire both of them.
“Keech’s prose style is charmingly companionable, and he depicts the romantic entanglements of Anthony’s personal life, including an involvement with his boss’s daughter, with a tone of sweetness and humor.”
—Kirkus Reviews
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Book 1 of The Shady Park Chronicles.
Emma has lost her job but keeps her sense of humor as she struggles to keep her family going, even if they can’t match the pampered lifestyle of her friends from “the Estates.”
Her naïve, idealistic husband Charles is no help. His only concern is seeing that there are no preservatives, pesticides, or growth hormones in his food.
Their friend Andre, an unmarried, eccentric intellectual, is even less concerned with what he calls Emma’s first world problems. He’s content to live on pizza and donuts in his shack by the river. When Emma uncovers a conspiracy of real estate developers to get Charles away from her and get Andre’s property away from him, it is up to her to stop it.
“Keech (A Hundred Veils, 2015) takes on a literary classic in this novel, which follows the romantic and social trials and tribulations of Emma Bovant and her husband, Charles. . . . This tale should please readers who enjoy romantic drama, and may be of interest to fans of Flaubert.” — Kirkus Reviews
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A young Ameri
can teacher at the University of Tehran falls in love with a beautiful Iranian girl and gets caught up in the social, political, and religious turmoil of the times as forces opposing the Shah are gathering strength. This novel presents a heart-warming picture of the Iranian people who befriend, guide, love, and laugh at Marco, who naively assumes at first that U.S. help is wanted and appreciated by the Iranians, but soon comes to see himself–in the eyes of some–as an instrument of the West’s arrogant assertion of control.
“Set in the lead-up to the Iranian revolution, A Hundred Veils is a rich portrait of cultural and personal discovery and forbidden love. Keech uses both humor and drama, as well as finely chosen details and rich description, to bring the characters and their world to life.”
— Eleanor Brown, New York bestselling author of The Weird Sisters
A Hundred Veils was the finalist in the BookLife Prize General Fiction category 2017
BookLife Prize review:
Prose: The writing is as economical and succinct as a film script. The narrative moves along swiftly, and yet it’s studded with evocative detail.
Originality: This gripping book is a romance with humor and cultural insights that readers will find original and intriguing.
Character Development: The characters here are well developed and fully formed. Marco in particular feels vivid and real.
Also Winner of Best Literary/Mainstream Novel Award 2017 by the Maryland Writers’ Association.
Now available as an audiobook. Free review copy on NetGalley, Or request a link to listen free on Spotify.
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Prize-winning novel A Hundred Veils is now available as an audiobook
read by the author himself.