Welcome to these pages, reader. Here you will find descriptions and links to my novels. Posts, listed by date, share my non-fiction writing, most recently chapters from my memoir, The Resting Heart, so far unpublished in its entirety. A new page, About the Author, discusses my background as a writer.
My newest book, MacArthur High, is one of half a dozen novels set in Houston in the 1970’s-’80’s where I came of age and began my writing career. Another group of novels is set in southeastern Oklahoma where I grew up. These include Oklahoma Air and the Elinor & Dot Library Mysteries. We All Loved Karen is a suspense novel set in contemporary Houston and featuring a lesbian PI. Born On The Island stands alone as my only historical novel, set in Galveston, circa 1900.
I welcome your comments. Write me: linda@lindabingham.com
Available from Amazon books
MacArthur High, a novel
A new school year finds Principal Pettijohn braced for racial tensions. Vice principal Chase Sweeney hopes to find love among new faculty women. First year teacher Paige Fairchild staves off disillusionment with innovative lesson plans. And Darren Compton, a rising football star, struggles to adjust to his peers after a summer of grown-up love.
[In 1960, Houston schools were ordered by the court to deliberately integrate over the course of twelve years. I was a new teacher in an inner-city school the tenth of those years. MacArthur High is a fictional school and its inhabitants likewise imagined. The actual milieu was more chaotic and dangerous. I ended up resigning from HISD three times. Time and the magic of fiction have transformed my memories into MacArthur High.]
Can’t Buy Me Love: A Domestic Comedy
Available from Amazon books
Houston, 1989: It’s the height of the savings & loan debacle. A busy female executive hires an unemployed writer named Simon to housekeep. What could go right? Everything, it seems, until their fortunes are reversed.
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We All Loved Karen
After her breakup with Karen, Laine leaves a professorship to strike out in a new direction, but Karen’s shocking death in a drive-by shooting plunges her into grief and a reexamination of their past. “We all loved Karen,” Sydney Branco asserts at the memorial. But the key Karen slips into Laine’s bag moments before her death suggests that Karen wasn’t a random victim. This was murder.
Oklahoma Air
Cousins growing up in rural Oklahoma share a love for the old home place that survives the changes that come with adulthood, a long separation, and the passing of their mythic grandfather. Returning native Anna smells freedom and promise in the Oklahoma air, while her California-born daughter sees only a dying town and backward people. Over one long hot summer, the Worthings of Pushmataha County confront the past and their own assumptions about one another.
Click book cover for Amazon’s “Look Inside.” Also see author’s blogpost about the writing of this novel.
Available from Amazon books
Missing Mac
Friends and family advise Marcie Weber to get on with her life. But how can she with a sister and two kids living under her roof–a sister whose husband skipped out with stolen funds? Enter tall Paul who recently started a cyber security business. “Usually I look for zeroes and ones,” he tells Marcie. Together they employ Wizard, Paul’s killer app, to look for the missing Mac. And in the process fall in love. Enjoy a free sample from the Amazon store.
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Born On The Island, A Novel of Galveston
Your birthplace may be chosen for you, but where you remain is up to you. Galvestonians use a shorthand to describe their place of birth, BOI, or born on the island. Islanders love their city, despite its two-decade cycle of destruction. Every storm is an opportunity to rebuild, transform. Born On The Island is the story of three generations of one island family.
First published on the centennial of Galveston’s Great Storm (2000),
digital edition now available on Amazon. Download a free sample that includes
Meg Galloway’s survival story.
All Roads Lead Home
A sequel to Born On The Island, All Roads Lead Home picks up the story with Lisa, a young woman who befriends Emily Douglas on Galveston’s west beach. Lisa belongs to the Guidry clan of Trinity, Texas. Her mother and aunts, the three Guidry sisters, must decide what to do with the old homeplace when their mother unexpectedly remarries and divides the property among them.
Amazon Books
Hardy’s Hope, a John & Mary Bolt Mystery
The Sierra Nevada form a scenic backdrop to John & Mary Bolt’s most harrowing adventure, a case that will test the skills of the celebrated arson investigator as he tries to find his missing wife. What did Mary learn about her fellow guests at Hardy’s Hope B&B that put her at risk? Why was she so interested in the story of a jilted bride with a fondness for gardenias? And how does any of it relate to a trainload of priceless antiques missing from the Victoria and Albert Museum? John must follow Mary’s lead to reclaim his own bride.
Amazon Books
Skyscraper Caper, a John & Mary Bolt Mystery
While Mary is touring England, arson investigator John Bolt offers to help a deserving young property manager discover who or what is behind the petty mischief that takes place after-hours in a downtown Houston skyscraper. When mischief turns to murder, Bolt is forced to wonder if he was set up to be the stylish widow’s alibi. Or must he save her to unmask the real killer?
Available from Amazon Books.
Linda Bingham taught English, managed a skyscraper, and built a website design business. She lives in Austin.