aunted by the drowning of his fiancée, NYU English professor Drew Osborne writes a book of Shakespearean sonnets in an attempt to assuage his feelings of loneliness and guilt. Still needing further separation from the reminders of his loss, he leaves the frenetic cadence of Manhattan behind and accepts a position at a small, private college in the hills of Georgia.

Initially, the young professor is the literary toast of the Smythville College community. But shortly after his arrival, a beautiful young woman is brutally murdered. A week later, one of Drew’s students is killed. When the police make a connection between the victims and two anonymous entries in a local poetry contest, they naturally focus their interest on the only published poet in their midst. Not only are the contest entries professionally written verse portending the death of each victim, they are a form of poetry rarely seen anymore. They are sonnets.

Everywhere he turns, Drew faces malicious accusations. Desperate to absolve himself, Drew uses his literary training to decipher the clues in an attempt to identify the killer’s next victims before they are murdered. Racing against time, Drew Osborne puts what is left of his life on the line as he pursues a demented master of metaphor, meter . . . and murder.

In the tradition of Amanda Cross’ Kate Fansler and other literary sleuths, Sonnets combines suspense and literary adventure.
 

It was while helping one of his daughters with a high school English assignment that Robert K. Brown was inspired with the idea for Sonnets.

After helping his daughter write one of the old-fashioned love poems made famous by the likes of William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert thought of writing a story in which a serial killer used sonnets to describe the deaths of beautiful young women, and then made them come true by committing the murders in a gruesome fashion.

The result is a mystery with heart-pounding suspense, clever plot twists, and a refreshing literary flair. "I wanted to write a novel that was both entertaining and informative—and I wanted it to evoke a multitude of emotions," Robert said. He has accomplished just that with Sonnets, a story that will keep the reader guessing (and hoping) until the very last page.

With his love of literature and writing talent, one might have expected Robert to become an English major in college. Instead, he pursued a career in medical science, taking English literature courses just for enjoyment. After majoring in chemistry at the University of South Alabama, he earned a Masters of Science degree in Pharmacology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham School of Medicine. He then embarked on a career in medical product sales and marketing.

Robert is a native of Mobile, Alabama. During the course of his business career, he has lived in Alabama, New Jersey, Georgia, and North Carolina. He and his wife currently live in Cary, North Carolina. He has completed a second suspense novel and is working on his third.