Novels

Published in May 2006

eBook on Amazon.com

Paperback on Amazonl.com.

Matt Tyler, an ex-special forces officer, arrives in Charleston, South Carolina to live wiith his uncle until his career as a sculptor blooms. Upon arrival, he discovers his uncle has just been killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from the university where he was a professor.

Matt soon learns his uncle was blackmailing Sophia Hallman, the woman expected to become the next U.S. president, with a video of an indiscretion from several years back.

Matt doesn't like politics but is assailed by those who want the Sophia video; some to expose her and knock her out of contention, and others who want to use the video to control her after she is elected. But where is the video? No one knows! And Matt's uncle threatened exposure of the video in the event of his sudden death!

Illegal searches, FBI raids, beatings, kidnappings, and murders follow, including what the media lables as Carnage in Charleston, which leads to a raid on Lina-Maria.

I pulled this book out of publication and sales for two reasons.

(1) I made the mistake of naming the political parties involved.

(2) Although sales were okay on Kindle, especially in Europe, the book was receiving negative reviews from some people who thought they were buying a book from their favorite author, Robert Goddard, an English writer who has written many books. I was totally unaware he existed. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble listed my book along with the other Goddard's books. Although I also had some good reviews posted, I was unable to cure this problem and pulled my book off both listings.

I am currently working on a revised edition, possibly with a new title.

It will be published under the pen name of

R.K. Berne.

A story of ambition, deceit, betrayal, violence, and revenge!

Published in January 2025

While pursuing a scandal story for his tabloid, Will O'Brien, a discredited former investigative reporter, discovers an aging senator's recent death by heart attack was an assassination. He makes that claim in his weekly article, which produces a mysterious informer who tells him of an incredible conspiracy to assassinate senators in order to control the outcome of midterm elections.

O'Brien and DC detective Zalva Martinez pursue the conspiracy through a trail of murdered participants and witnesses, discovering a cabal of political fanatics with ties to one of our oldest European allies. Desperate to save the only remaining witness, they fall into a trap set by the conspirators.

A trap from which escape seems hopeless.