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The Nymph #1
The River Nymph
Delilah, a beautiful lady gambler, and Clint Daniels, a professional card shark, are rivals who become reluctant partners as they battle the river and ghosts from the past.
322 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 2008
About the author
Shirl Henke
63 books82 followersaka Alexa Hunt.
Working my way through college provided great life experiences for a novelist. One problem. I didn’t know I was destined to write books. Instead, I floundered around during and after receiving my B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Missouri. None of my wide variety of jobs satisfied me: cashier for a loan company, public welfare caseworker, assistant circulation manager for a small daily, editor for several “house organ” newspapers, administrator of a federal information program for the elderly.
Finally I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously.
Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times.
My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels.
After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats.
For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers
I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust
Working my way through college provided great life experiences for a novelist. One problem. I didn’t know I was destined to write books. Instead, I floundered around during and after receiving my B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Missouri. None of my wide variety of jobs satisfied me: cashier for a loan company, public welfare caseworker, assistant circulation manager for a small daily, editor for several “house organ” newspapers, administrator of a federal information program for the elderly.
Finally I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously.
Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times.
My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels.
After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats.
For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers
I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 25, 2014
A Riverboat Adventure!
Set in St. Louis and on the Missouri River in 1876, this is the story of Delilah Raymond, a Civil War widow and a formidable gambler who takes Clint Daniels, owner of the River Nymph sternwheeler, in his own game and comes away with his boat! Alas, when Delilah tries to change the gambling boat into a cargo transport, she finds she can’t hire a crew as no one will work for her because she left Clint buck naked (he lost the wager for his clothes). So, Delilah is forced to take the southern lothario (her word) on as a partner. Clint is intrigued by the chestnut-haired beauty with nerves like steel and bewitching green eyes and decides to accept her offer.
And so begins a riverboat adventure up the Missouri River through Indian country to the miners in the Dakotas. This is Henke at her best: wonderfully descriptive, witty dialog, well researched and a sexy. A story of two strong-willed people, both distrusting, but meant for each other. Clint is a southerner with ties to the Sioux Indians. Delilah hates the smug man because she is a northerner who still has scars from the war. But there is more to the sexy blond gambler than Delilah can see.
There is a fair amount of the Plains Indians’ viewpoint in this one, and though not shown, a reference to the folly of Custer. But most of the story is centered on the trade on the river and the hazards of taking a sternwheeler up north. The secondary characters are well drawn (I loved her Uncle Horace!). An entertaining read.
This is the first in the Nymph trilogy:
THE RIVER NYMPH
PALE MOON STALKER
CHOSEN WOMAN
Set in St. Louis and on the Missouri River in 1876, this is the story of Delilah Raymond, a Civil War widow and a formidable gambler who takes Clint Daniels, owner of the River Nymph sternwheeler, in his own game and comes away with his boat! Alas, when Delilah tries to change the gambling boat into a cargo transport, she finds she can’t hire a crew as no one will work for her because she left Clint buck naked (he lost the wager for his clothes). So, Delilah is forced to take the southern lothario (her word) on as a partner. Clint is intrigued by the chestnut-haired beauty with nerves like steel and bewitching green eyes and decides to accept her offer.
And so begins a riverboat adventure up the Missouri River through Indian country to the miners in the Dakotas. This is Henke at her best: wonderfully descriptive, witty dialog, well researched and a sexy. A story of two strong-willed people, both distrusting, but meant for each other. Clint is a southerner with ties to the Sioux Indians. Delilah hates the smug man because she is a northerner who still has scars from the war. But there is more to the sexy blond gambler than Delilah can see.
There is a fair amount of the Plains Indians’ viewpoint in this one, and though not shown, a reference to the folly of Custer. But most of the story is centered on the trade on the river and the hazards of taking a sternwheeler up north. The secondary characters are well drawn (I loved her Uncle Horace!). An entertaining read.
This is the first in the Nymph trilogy:
THE RIVER NYMPH
PALE MOON STALKER
CHOSEN WOMAN
March 8, 2012
I've long since given up on this genre but I thoroughly enjoyed Clint and Delilah's adventure on the river boat.
Clint Daniels is like all the men that Delilah Raymond despises - drinking, whoring, gambling. They have spectacular fights but the spark is there for both of them. It's fun to watch them fall in love, especially Delilah, who fights it every step of the way and then some. Excellent!
Clint Daniels is like all the men that Delilah Raymond despises - drinking, whoring, gambling. They have spectacular fights but the spark is there for both of them. It's fun to watch them fall in love, especially Delilah, who fights it every step of the way and then some. Excellent!
August 12, 2010
i was rolling with laughter at many points.
September 18, 2014
I like romance - as long as it doesn't move into what I call "women's porn". Which this novel did.
March 31, 2017
Very captivating.
Enjoyed the characters and the story also the way it developed.
Could not put it down, will read more by this author.
Enjoyed the characters and the story also the way it developed.
Could not put it down, will read more by this author.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews