Mark Matthiessen

Shelby's Creek Mark Matthiessen

Valentin Schmitz loves Shelby's Creek, a 160-acre Iowa farm that represents not only third-generation family posterity, but seems as close as he can get to being with his beloved late parents and grandparents, whose farm-life memories remain with him deeply every day. Then, one day, he receives a letter postmarked in "England" with no return address. He suspects whom it's from and suspects that its contents may call him away from Shelby's Creek, possibly forever... Days pass before he opens it. His worst fears are confirmed. He must go to France immediately. The only problem is that France is under enemy occupation. Upon contacting his former commanding army officer, he is offered a job with the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. His special skills get him a green light for immediate embarkation. He is to assist and support underground movements with a French resistance network with subversion, sabotage, intelligence and assassination, the latter being the problem. He won't kill, as he repeats time and again. Not wanting to kill has nothing to do with being a coward and everything to do with respecting life, he tells himself, a lesson learned and deeply ingrained at Shelby's Creek. The next day, as he leaves the farm, he wishes for just one more harvest; one more full spring season; one more winter night in the cabin next to the fireplace. But he realizes soon that there may be something even more endearing than Shelby's Creek.