The Ghost Town Preservation Society

AJ Armstrong is a successful college professor who scuttles her career to pursue the truth about her birth, her adoption, and her birth mother. She drives her vintage Bel Air to the small Montana town where she was born. She finds her birth mother who refuses to see her, warning AJ to "leave the past alone." Undeterred, AJ continues to mine her origins while working for the town's weekly newspaper, a temporary job that introduces her to the town's eclectic characters. AJ's search is complicated by the unexpected arrival of her adoptive parents. Lives intersect and mysteries mount until a vagrant man's death in a suspicious fire leads to dramatic revelations--and the stirrings of reconciliations. This manuscript won the 2013 Utah Original Writing Competition. Its theme is family relationships, particularly mothers and daughters. It has humor, distinctive characters, and a satisfying conclusion. The author directed the Writing Center at Southern Utah University and was an award-winning reporter.