August 1, 2022, VERO BEACH – Richard J. Kerr and Stanford Erickson, two local authors and Vero Beach residents, have published a novel that they co-authored on July 26, 2022, entitled The Door: A Door that Opens to a Dark, Suspenseful Spiritual World.
The Door begins with Elsie McKenzie, an author living in Vero Beach. McKenzie was working on a critically investigative non-fiction book about a local spiritual camp known for conducting seances and psychic readings when she is suspiciously found dead. Her nephew, Robert, a retired local detective, begins to investigate. However, Abigale Cruz, the attractive director of the spiritual camp and head psychic, uses all her psychological and physical charms to convince Robert to end his investigation. What will Robert do when he realizes the people closest to Abigale usually end up dead?
Richard Kerr worked at the Central Intelligence Agency for over thirty years, reaching the position of Deputy Director and Acting Director. At one point in his career, Kerr provided the daily intelligence briefings of U.S. Presidents. Kerr and his wife, Jan, have lived in Vero Beach for fourteen years. Kerr previously authored a book of short stories and an autobiography.
His co-author, Stanford Erickson, was a journalist for over forty years working as reporter, assignments and features editor for newspapers and magazines, and editor in chief of a national newspaper. He also reported on U.S. Presidents as well as political and business leaders, both in the United States and aboard. Erickson and his wife, Nancy, have lived in Vero Beach also for fourteen years. Erickson has authored four non-fiction books, three involving U.S. Presidents.
“I was inspired to write The Door by a visit with my writing group to Cassadaga, the spiritual town in northern Florida,” says Kerr. “After a couple of chapters, I showed them to Stanford, who sort of mentored me on my first two books. Stanford asked me what I knew about spiritualism. I said, ‘nothing.’” Erickson confessed that he was raised with spiritualistic beliefs in San Francisco prior to becoming a Christian at age 33. “I asked him to write a chapter. I liked it.”, says Kerr. “Soon, he and I finished the book in about six months.”
“The Door combines the usual twists of a mystery novel with some insights into the world of Spiritualism of which I became somewhat adept,” says Erickson. “Richard is a certified world class expert in investigations and detective work. He also is used to fiction. In the CIA, it is called ‘disinformation’. I never was methodical enough to be a good detective or investigative journalist. But, because I have a knack where people tell me all sorts of things that they should not tell anyone, I many times broke major stories in magazines and newspapers. The key to having others share information with you is to be non-judgmental. There, for the grace of God, go I.”
“The Door” is fiction,” says Kerr, “but the town we write about is Vero Beach. I always assumed seances and psychic readings were for the gullible or at least served the purpose of easing the pain of death of loved ones. Stanford, on the other hand, had first-hand experience with those spiritual phenomena. So, he brought a lot of knowledge and verisimilitude to the story we end up telling.”
“I never thought of writing a novel,” Erickson says. “The real world I tend to write about is scary enough. But working with Richard is a lot of fun because his mind generally can easily slip into the macabre. Having lived among spies and double agents probably can tend to taint your sensibilities. Richard also has a wonderful sneaky sense of irony that the readers of The Door will experience. The Door is fiction, but spiritualism is real and nothing to dabble in.”
Hardcover copies of The Door are available at local book stores including Vero Beach Book Center, and hardcover copies and E-books are available on Amazon. For more information, contact Ginger Lagemann, Publicist, at (813) 389-5079 or ginger.lagemann@gmail.com.