Children of the Orchid by R. Harris Harrison

About the book

Howard Buchstran, a retiring schoolmaster and orchid grower suspects he may be the father of one of his prize students. He's not proud of the notion, but when she displays exceptional equestrienne talents, he decides to sell his prize orchid to help pay her way to the Olympic trials. Before he can arrange the sale, the orchid disappears. A lawyer he knows suggests hiring B.A. "Wolfgang" Fenstemier, ex-courtroom sketch artist turned private investigator, to find the orchid.

Along the path to recovering the orchid, Wolfgang becomes involved with a murder, his first; a kidnapping, his girl; and the fringe of local politics, the Georgia Governors race.

Wolfgang discovers a connection between gubernatorial Candidate T. William Warren, and Lester Aaron, school caretaker. Desperate to hide the link, Warren has the young horsewoman and two companions kidnapped as bait to capture Wolfgang. It almost works. As Wolfgang finds himself deep in the dark recesses of a cold damp cave, he wonders if his first case might be his last.

He does save the day by rescuing the hostages, and reuniting the orchid with owner, father with daughter and mother with son.

About the author

After four years as a double art major at East Carolina University, R. Harris Harrison enjoyed a career in advertising. During this time he went from spending non-work weekends playing golf, to road racing with the Sports Car Club of America.

Harris not only designed and produced ads and commercials, he found himself writing them as well. Writing turned out to be as much fun as designing, and while not necessarily fiction, ad copy can come close.

Harris enjoyed the excitement and challenges of advertising but left the agency business to work for a manufacturing client designing and developing new products. One day while Harris was working on a mold, this character started pestering him. Everyday he would show up, demanding attention, and finally Harris gave in and started his first novel. The result is Children of the Orchid. The orchid influence came from an old agency client who was an avid orchid enthusiast.

These days for excitement he takes to the air with a friend in his open cockpit biplane to do loops, spins, rolls and hammerheads. Simple aerobatics. For relaxation, he flies the coast in his Mooney, taking family, friends and/or his golf clubs.

Harris is working on his second novel, National Poison. He resides in beautiful Savannah, Ga., with his herbalist wife Barbara. Their son Ray lives in Denver with his bride Sharon.