Welcome! Free Monologues

Mystery novel, short stories for sale in pdf

My mystery novel, The Hounding, is available for download for only $5. You can read it on your Kindle, your computer, or you can print it off in hard copy.

In this homage to Sherlock Holmes, tall, thin, androgynous Shirley Combs considers herself the world’s greatest living detective because she uses the methods and casebook of Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes of the gentry of the American city most closely resembling London, England -- in terms of the weather, at least. Sidekick/narrator Dr. Mary Watson both delights in and is frustrated by her partner’s behavioral resemblance to Sherlock. Combs is unemotional, analytical, and given to pacing through the night in the streets of the almost perfectly livable city of Portland, Oregon. Her ability to observe details and understand their relationship to a case is unmatched; her demands on Watson’s time are too.

Shirley Combs bills herself as the world's greatest living detective, and why not? Taunted and teased as a child because her name sounded so much like Sherlock Holmes's, she developed an early obsession with the adventures and methods of Sherlock himself. She considered her fate sealed when she met up with Dr. Mary Watson. Shirley adds the technology of today to Holmes's 100-year-old casebook and solves the mysteries of her much-beloved hometown. Mary assists, and -- of course -- chronicles their exciting exploits.

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The twenty short stories range from 2 to 13 pages, but each one is two bucks. There is a wide range of genres as well. Check them out.

Much of my work is for the theater, with forays into other venues, such as the opera and radio. You’ll find comedies, dramas, musicals, and pieces from one minute to one-act to full length scripts. There are excerpts and complete manuscripts available right here on the web site for you to enjoy.*

Monologues and scenes for actors and directors to use as audition pieces and classroom pieces are readily available, and monologues are free.

NEWS and Coming Attractions

On July 5th, 2008 at 9:00PM EDT I will appear on the show In Stages on International Internet Radio. The show will be live, streaming, but also taped and archived. An interview will run from 9-9:30pm, to be followed by the broadcast of my monologue Auction Day read by Sandra Dempsey. Several more appearances are planned.

June 27 and 28th, I participated in Artist Reperatory Theatre's Spotlight Program here in Portland. I was one of the 10 playwrights who interviewed 10 middle schoolers and wrote plays for them. Mine was called The Thing Is and starred Alex Valle UC, a 6th grader who played a robot. His British Nanny was played by Mindy Dillard. They did a great job. I went both nights and so enjoyed all the plays and all the kids.

My play Blue Roses had a staged reading on January 15th, 2008 in Portland. It was accepted as part of the PlayLab series at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, but I wasn't able to attend after all. So someone else got to have their play staged instead.

Beauty Standards was staged in Phoenix, AZ on International Women's Day, March 8, 2008 as part of an event produced by an International Centre for Women Playwrights Team.

I've added a few sound files from some of my work. Playwright/Actor Sandra Dempsey of Toronto, Canada reads some of my monologues, and ten-minute plays. You'll know which ones because they have a sound file attached. Also available is the radio play, Christmas at the TNT Truck Stop, which was produced by Willamette Radio Workshop.

I was recently interviewed for Back Page with Jody Seay. That show ran on Cable Channel 29. Check www.opan.org for exact date of my interview, but always check out the show for Pacific Northwest authors. Jody Seay is an excellent host.