After Decades of Crime, A Romance

Howard County lawyer and author, Preston Pairo III has been writing crime novels for nearly 30 years. His hard-edged writing style has undergone a heartfelt change with the release of his 11th novel, The Builder, a contemporary romance set on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Fifteen years in the making, The Builder began as a screenplay collaboration between Pairo and John Bensink, an established television writer. “It was a story we both believed in,” Pairo recounts, “but other projects always managed to push it aside.”

Ultimately, the two writers decided to expand the screenplay to a novel. Pairo transformed the storyline into the completed manuscript, while Bensink undertook the duties of editor, thereby returning the pair to the respective roles they each held when they met in New York City.

The Builder’s main character, Brette Kinney, is a young tech entrepreneur looking to build her dream house on Merveille Pointe, a fictional locale on the Choptank River. Brette believes Russell Birch, an Eastern Shore native, is the perfect builder for her home, only Russell isn’t interested, even when Brette tells him cost is no object.
Disappointed, but ever-determined, Brette sets out to change Russell’s mind.

Over a series of warm, spring weekends, Brette discovers Russell’s connection to Merveille Pointe, and as those threads of history spool into the present, every aspect of Brette’s life changes.

Pairo’s other recent titles include crime thrillers set in Baltimore (City Lies) and the Caribbean (Razor Moon Antigua), and a “beach mystery” set in Ocean City (Big Blow).

Available exclusively at Amazon.com, sample chapters of The Builder can be read at www.prestonpairo.com.