Two Novels
by Alice Miaolian Baskous
Category: Fiction

Two Novels includes The Marvelously Twisted Tale of Lucas Fico and Gato Pech and The Morning Lark. The first novel is a dark thriller set in Northern Germany about a promiscuous café waiter turned psycho killer. Lucas Fico heads down the path of murder after encountering an impish geezer with mysteriously magical and psychic qualities named Gato Pech. Pech promises Lucas all the luck in the world in return for a few criminal favors: the seduction of a local married woman with the intent of making her commit suicide, a massacre of stray cats, and the poisoning of some of the township’s homeless. Lucas agrees, hoping to gain the woman of his dreams as his mistress and become filthy rich through the unique enchantments of Gato Pech. He does, but his gains are short-lived. After several months, feeling he will be apprehended and brought to trial, the nerve-wracked waiter kills both his mistress and himself in a fiery murder-suicide. The Morning Lark is an urban drama set in New York about the decline of CEO William O’Henry’s marriage. His betrayal begins when he shows more affection for his sultry Swedish coworker, Arvid Jonasonn, than for his wife, Catherine, or their kids. After William comes home late from a night on the town, Catherine perceives the cheap perfume smell on her husband's lapels and opts to divorce him. However, Catherine’s cousin, Eric Jonson, who is also O’Henry’s underling, is already in love with Catherine. The two cousins manage to find love together in spite of O’Henry’s jealousy.