Taking On Lucinda

The Kent Stephenson Thriller Series

The series centers around Doctor Kent Stephenson, a reclusive veterinarian in a small Upstate New York town. Despite his best efforts to avoid entanglements with his clients and patients, he is inevitably drawn into cases of murder and other mayhem that threaten the people around him and beyond. A reluctant hero, Kent is quiet, even somewhat bashful, but when cornered and the stakes are high, he fights like a rottweiler. He and his companion, a dog named Lucinda, risk their lives to unravel each crime, to which there is always more than initially appears, and bring justice. Currently there are three books in the series.

Taking on Lucinda Book #1 in the Kent Stephenson Series

While investigating the death of his mentor, Dr. Stephenson uncovers a plot against the animals he has sworn to protect. Hollywood starlet Aubrey Fairbanks and her entourage of activists descend on the picturesque upstate New York village of Jefferson to protest animal testing at the cosmetic company that is Jefferson's lifeblood. Kent Stephenson is the town's veterinarian and a lifelong resident. He is licking his wounds after a vicious divorce that took away his daughter and hiding from the world in his profession surrounded by animals that love unconditionally. But his brother, the police chief, has other plans for Kent and recruits him to defend their town. What seems to be a simple matter of negotiation soon escalates to arson, then murder. More strangers arrive in town and Kent's animal patients begin disappearing. Kent and Aubrey's relationship turns from blood enemies to respect and commitment as they risk their lives to protect Jefferson, find the murderers, and crush a cult that thrives on all that animal lovers despise.

Frank Martorana has been the "family doctor" for countless horses, cows, dogs, cats, and other creatures around Central New York. When he is not treating animals, he is hard at work readying the second and third books of the Kent Stephenson series for publication.