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A Spurious Claim

A Brynn Bancroft Mystery

Inspired by an actual fraud case in Texas

Brynn Bancroft encounters kidnapping, murder, and deception to disprove claims to her beloved Hilltop Sunset winery.

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A disheveled woman presents Brynn Bancroft with a set of documents claiming that Brynn’s beloved Hilltop Sunset winery property belongs to her family. Brynn dismisses it as a spurious claim since she and her husband, Liam hold the deed to the property. However, she soon discovers that the same claims have been made to other wineries in the area, and they must work together to prove that the documents are false. In the search, she and her adopted college-age son, Josh, whose father is in prison for murder, and Liam encounter a connection to a family of squatters among the redwoods near the Oregon border, kidnappings, and murder in their search to prove that the documents are false, and that the winery really is theirs.

Joyce T Strand Mysteries

Joyce T. Strand writes contemporary and historical who-done-it mysteries that typically involve a murder or two, often a touch of romance, and always a few red herrings.

Jillian Hillcrest, a public relations executive at a Silicon Valley biotechnology company;  Brynn Bancroft, chief financial executive turned winemaker in the Sonoma valley; or, Emily Lazzaro, manager of a bread-and-breakfast in a small rural, equestrian California town (Ramona)—solve her contemporary mysteries.

Her novel, THE JUDGE’S STORY, is her first historical mystery. Set in a small California town (Ventura) in 1939, the novel features a California Superior Court Judge. In THE REPORTER’S STORY, set in 1912 San Francisco, a young woman confronts murder, intrigue, and smuggling on her way to becoming a world-known reporter.

Although fiction, the Jillian Hillcrest, Brynn Bancroft, and Emily Lazzaro mysteries are inspired by real California cases. She based THE JUDGE’S STORY, also fiction, on the memoir of a California Superior Court Judge (1941). THE REPORTER’S STORY is inspired by a front-page female reporter of the time.

Much like her protagonist Jillian Hillcrest, Strand headed corporate communications at biotech and high-tech companies in California’s Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Unlike Jillian, however, she did not encounter murder in her career. She focused on writing by-lined articles, press releases, white papers, and brochures.

An avid mystery fan, she has always enjoyed the challenge of following clues to solve the puzzle of a mystery before it is revealed. Therefore she relished the transition from writing marketing copy to creating fictional sleuths.

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