Jennifer Dwight worked as a litigation paralegal, trainer, and writer for 34 years in the San Francisco area while rearing her children as a single mother. During that time she wrote and published numerous articles, a sixty-segment fiction serial, short stories, and three nonfiction books, and presented seminars, speeches, and training programs in the legal community. She now concentrates on writing fiction and lives with her family in Northern California.

Recently widowed and adapting to the challenges of single motherhood, Mercedes Bell is a paralegal at Crenshaw, Slayne & McDonough when she meets Jack Soutane, a dashing San Francisco lawyer who has recently begun leasing office space from the firm. It’s the 1980s. The crack epidemic, homelessness, and AIDS explode on the scene, Jack’s law practice booms—and the Crenshaw firm eagerly shares his bounty. Meanwhile, despite all the warning signs, Mercedes falls under Jack’s spell.

When calamity strikes and Jack succumbs to his own dark surprise, Mercedes finds herself in a race to survive and to protect her daughter. In order to do so, she must make sense of wildly inconsistent information—and face the truths that emerge. Compelling and full of suspense, The Tolling of Mercedes Bell is a story about honesty in the face of deception, courage in the pursuit of happiness, and the unexpected places that quest can lead.