Pollyworm Books
Butaleon's Library
Former Carver City detective, Clyde Barryman, now acting as a private investigator, is hired by seven clients accused of bizarre crisscross murders. Distracted by ghosts of his past, Clyde is fooled into what chess players refer to as the ‘Sucker Punch’ trap. Who is the cat? Who is the mouse?
People have an assumption about killers: what a killer looks like, what makes them a killer, and why they kill. Clyde concludes a killer can be a parent, classmate, coworker, friend, family or a stranger. A killer can be a one-time offender or a serial-all that's needed is a reason. The murders Clyde is investigating are so simple they could have been committed by anyone.
And anyone can be hard to catch.
My passion is writing Mystery-Suspense novels and song lyrics with a touch of crazed poetry. Everyone that knows me is aware I have nothing to do with self-help or motivational books. I don’t believe a book can make me do anything I’m not in the mind to do. Especially something as difficult as weight loss, breast cancer, and torn rotator cuffs. I started writing this book as a journal to my journey back to who I was before depression set in. There were mornings in the spring of 2016 when I didn’t care if I lived or died. I didn’t see where it was that much of a difference. There were a lot of things I could have contributed my depression to – my lack of a romantic relationship, my children having lives of their own, my job slowing down to four days a week, crippled finances, boredom, etc. But I choose to blame all my problems on my weight. This led to a much bigger dilemma. What was I going to do about it?
Zaire Thompson is inquisitive by nature; born with a strong tenacity to finish what he starts. He is also Care Pastor at a church in Georgia. When he is asked by Hattie Stevenson, a member of the congregation, to probe into the death of her daughter, Zaire accepts the invitation and takes a Care Pastor position at Redemptive Grace in Carver City, North Carolina. Even though the murdered young girl dies suspiciously, her death was ruled accidental. Once settled into his new position, Zaire soon learns that Redemptive Grace feeds on pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, and sloth, and the southern megachurch has a huge appetite. Will Zaire’s clandestine investigation put him on the menu to be the church’s next meal?
Jedidiah Washington is an award-winning journalist for the Carver City Post. When he refuses to back away from a story on Libertore, a secret society of powerful individuals, he finds himself unemployed and unemployable. Jedidiah continues his mission to expose the influential and underground group, but when he is falsely accused of murdering a crime syndicate boss, he becomes a fugitive, searching for evidence to clear his name. There lies the great divide between what Jedidiah knows and what he can prove. Who framed him and why?
After the sudden death of his mother, Sophie, Benjamin Wade is reluctant to go forward. Trapped in a lukewarm existence, Sophie’s Secret is the tragic story of five close friends that for reasons specific for them have turned away from Jesus Christ. Circumstances compel them to choose between being saved and remaining unsaved. And sometimes you don’t get a choice.
The chosen leader is a man of color, Marshall Alexander Davis, a newcomer to politics, he’s intelligent, confident, and very much cares about the concerns of his constituents. Mix in his role as a husband and father, jealousy from his peers, unbridled racism, and a brutal attack to his person, environmental catastrophes, a slow economy, and an overabundance of black birds gathering in and around the city and now you have everyone questioning his ability to lead. Mayor Davis demonstrates resilience in light of everything taking place around him. Through his unquestionable faith in God’s Word, particularly Psalms 91, Davis steps forward to face his enemies.
Tears Of A Real Man
Hardcover
This lyric book is about me being real. I am not a perfect man but I do love Jesus as my Lord and Savior. These lyrics sum up my feelings of trials and joy experiences over the last three years.
Where Is God In All This Mess?
Currently unavailable. Being Rewritten...Sorry
Christian Praise and Poetry mixed together to give thanks to my mother Margie Louise Wallace Degree who taught me to write, draw, to color, and to read when I was four years old. My mama left a strong impression on me. That as a parent and role model, not only do I teach my children, but my children’s children, and their children’s children after that. Thank you mama. I will cherish your memory forever.
Harvey Butaleon Degree Sr. wrote Square River Circle to express his love for lyrics of all genres. “As far back as I can remember I would sit down next to the Hi-Fi in my parents living room and sing along with the artist, especially guys like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. I also loved groups like The Temptations, Smokey and the Miracles, The Four Tops, The Young Rascals, Dave Clark Five, and Jay and The Americans. I just loved lyrics and the awesome different ways lyrics could be twisted.”
“I think Square River Circle will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will give you pause as you reflect something personal you may be going through. My goal is to inspire you, the reader, to think about the relationship you are currently involved in and to ask yourself these four questions. Is this relationship right for me? Does my mate challenge me to strive forward? Does my mate respect me? Does my mate respect what I’m trying to be?”
For brilliant Detective Clyde Barryman, locking away the bad guys came before God and his wife and two children. Until a fatal church explosion erases his family thus altering his priorities. Now a widower and an alcoholic, Barryman must struggle with his inner demons having to choose between his career as a police officer and his new pursuit - Jack Daniels.
After a rich socialite is discovered murdered in the trunk of her burned out car, five members of the Crime Dogs street gang are accused and ordered to be picked up. One member of the Crime Dogs, a clever yet misguided youth named Erik West, decides this is the right time for him to leave Carver City and the gang life far behind.
Barryman has unanswered questions and believes the evidence points elsewhere. Why aren’t the arrested gang members requesting legal representation? Why are dead and tortured bodies of the Crime Dogs friends now turning up on the streets? Where was the victims husband at the time of her murder? Against the advice of his peers and his superiors at city hall telling him to track down only the gang members, Barryman will not be rushed to justice.
The Pedestal
Hardcover
Roberta Garcia has commissioned Jacob Ross to write an expose on her prominent employer, Rev. Alfonzo Small. The Rev. Small, a decorated Vietnam War hero and pastor of the largest African-American church in the state, retaliates by planning to have Roberta silenced. Small's plans are shattered when his hired assassins - a psychotic female and her two male accomplices - mistakenly murder Roberta's older sister, Shirley. Jacob exposes two other key players, lawyer Kenneth McBade and the state's governor, Warren Dell. Decorated heroes, Small, McBade and Dell served together in Vietnam. Jacob and Roberta go on the run for their lives to uncover information.
Paperman, Now, Then and Tomorrow
Hardcover $12.
Tory, Wallace, Degree, Williamson Family Histories