Now they were going to walk across the stage and get their High School Diplomas.  Amy had narrowly missed being Valedictorian but had been asked to give the Salutatorian Address by Harvey Garrett, the school’s Principal.  She was both excited and scared to death as she looked out upon the gathered parents and friends of the Graduating Class of 1983, filling the Hampton Coliseum. 

As Lori Rose was giving her Valedictory address, Amy went over her speech in her head one last time.  Lori was wrapping up and Amy’s nerves were multiplying.  She glanced over to the beginning of the first row of graduates.  Jonathan gave her a thumbs up and blew her a kiss.  He mouthed ‘I believe in you’ before she looked back out into the audience.  She wasn’t sure where her parents were, but she looked around to see if she could spot them.  She also knew that Gunny, Melody and their whole team were in attendance. 

Lori finished up and Mr. Garrett stepped up to the microphone and introduced her.  Her knees were weak as she made her way to the podium.  She looked out again at the arena.  It sat twelve thousand people, but this evening there were perhaps a quarter of that in the seats, with another four hundred students on the floor, as well as the teachers and other school staff. 

“It was the best of times,” she began, “it was the worst of times. 

“Charles Dickens wrote those words to begin A Tale of Two Cities, in 1859.  It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…

“I think that is an incredibly accurate picture of our high school experience.  Emotional highs and lows, as well as academic triumphs and defeats.”  Amy continued for a few more minutes, recounting the experiences of the Class of ’83.  “In conclusion, this has been the time, and these have been the people that will remain fundamental to shaping our various futures.“

As she finished, from the corner of her eye, she spied Jonathan Dixon walking across the stage.  She turned, not knowing why he was walking toward her.  His stride was purposeful.  The look on his face was both taut and serene. 

Behind him a couple of paces was Principal Garrett.  He was supposed to take over speaking as her speech concluded, but he seemed to be waiting for something. 

As Jonathan got within a couple of steps of her, Amy saw the school’s principal hand him something.  Mrs. Foster, the Cheerleading Coach also walked up behind Jack and handed him something else. 

Jack put the microphone from Principal Garrett up to his mouth.  “Amy Prince, look out into the crowd.”

As she scanned the front row, she saw the message…  AMY PRINCE, WILL YOU MARRY ME?  Then, when she looked up, there was a banner strung across the front of the balcony saying the same thing.  As she looked at the banner, she saw her father at one end, Ed Dixon at the other end, and in the middle were her mom and Jack’s mom, both giving her a thumbs up. 

All of the books have some common characters, however, two of the books are not tied as much to the series as the other current eight books. So, those can be read out of the order in which they were written. So, I’ll start with the written order:

• Planning Vengeance
• Dig Two Graves
• You Don’t Know Jack
• Who, What, When, Why?
• Triple Cross *
• Lies and Omissions *
• Unknown Caller
• Grafton

However, a couple of people have said they wanted to read them chronologically. That is a little tougher because Grafton and Who, What, When, Why? both have multiple stories that take place at different times. Grafton has the origin story on Melody, which is before everything but the flashbacks in the other books. Aside from that story, everything in Grafton is after You Don’t Know Jack and before Unknown Caller. Who, What, When, Why? has stories that are intertwined around the first three books.

So, chronologically by story date:

• Melody (from Grafton)
• Lies and Omissions
• Planning Vengeance
• Dig Two Graves
• Who, What, When, Why?
• You Don’t Know Jack
• Grafton
• Triple Cross
• Unknown Caller

One thing to keep in mind though, is that aside from Planning Vengeance/Dig Two Graves, I tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum. Lies and Omissions and Triple Cross are outside of the regular series anyway… which is why they are asterisked *.

I hope you enjoy the excerpts. I always love feedback, as well as reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Feel free to follow me and interact on those platforms. Thank you so much for reading my blog and my books.

Sorry for the double clicking on this… I had assembled all of the excerpts into one post previously, so this points to those posts. But, these are complete stories, not teasers. Enjoy.

The Proposal – Complete

The Hacker – Complete

And don’t forget, if you enjoy the stories you read here on the blog, you can pick up a FREE ebook, Escape, for signing up for the free newsletter. There are regular editions each week, highlighting the posts to the blog, as well as special mentions of sales, giveaways or new books coming out. The sign-up link is on the right side of the sidebar.

Next up will be some parts from the third book in the Dixon-Prince series, You Don’t Know Jack. In this book, Jack runs into an issue, and it drags the team in as well. Later in the book, Amy and Nicole have their own problem to solve.

It is set a few years later, and Jack has become a successful photographer, while Amy is rocking things as President of a video gaming company. Nicole has launched all out in to the world of catering.

There are lots of stories between the Broken Path and You Don’t Know Jack, and some of those are chronicled in Who, What, When, Why? I have previously published a couple of those here, as well, and i’ll link those below, too.

Planning Vengeance excerpts:

• Planning Vengeance excerpt 1
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 2
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 3
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 4
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 5
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 6
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 7
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 8
• Planning Vengeance excerpt 9

Links to stories in Who, What, Why, When?

• The Proposal 1
• The Proposal 2
• The Proposal 3
• The Proposal 4
• The Proposal 5
• The Hacker 1
• The Hacker 2
• The Hacker 3
• The Hacker 4
• The Hacker 5
• The Hacker 6
• The Hacker 7
• The Hacker 8

I’d love to hear what you think about them!