C.D. Payne's latest novels:
Summer of 1957 . . .
Handsome Yale grad Colm Moran wants to be a film producer. But his father has another idea: go dip his toe into the business world at a small company in rural California that makes bathing suits for women with problem figures. So Colm heads west and hilarity ensues. Return to 1957 when “nice girls” mostly didn’t, and an “itsy bitsy” bikini could start a riot. Here’s the perfect romantic and funny read for any beach!
Published August, 2014, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com and also for Kindle ($2.99). Read a free preview.
Handsome Yale grad Colm Moran wants to be a film producer. But his father has another idea: go dip his toe into the business world at a small company in rural California that makes bathing suits for women with problem figures. So Colm heads west and hilarity ensues. Return to 1957 when “nice girls” mostly didn’t, and an “itsy bitsy” bikini could start a riot. Here’s the perfect romantic and funny read for any beach!
Published August, 2014, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com and also for Kindle ($2.99). Read a free preview.
Investigate the mystery of a forgotten author
Suburban Cleveland housewife Helen Spall has three difficult kids and a tax-attorney husband who’s inclined to be brutally frank about her shortcomings. Then she inherits a rundown house in a blue-collar town on the shores of Lake Erie, and her life begins to blossom. She investigates a once-popular, now forgotten novelist and her mysterious connections to Helen’s family. With her marriage dissolving and a possible new love in her life, Helen encounters surprise after surprise as she uncovers the many secrets that lay buried in those seductive novels.
Published March, 2014. Available for Amazon Kindle ($2.99). Read a free preview.
Suburban Cleveland housewife Helen Spall has three difficult kids and a tax-attorney husband who’s inclined to be brutally frank about her shortcomings. Then she inherits a rundown house in a blue-collar town on the shores of Lake Erie, and her life begins to blossom. She investigates a once-popular, now forgotten novelist and her mysterious connections to Helen’s family. With her marriage dissolving and a possible new love in her life, Helen encounters surprise after surprise as she uncovers the many secrets that lay buried in those seductive novels.
Published March, 2014. Available for Amazon Kindle ($2.99). Read a free preview.
Exiled to Stockton. And things get worse.
Plain, overweight and friendless, 16-year-old Brenda Blatt is sent by her parents to a bleak school for troubled girls. Despised by her new roommates and scorned by the headmistress, Brenda suddenly finds her life turning around when she is befriended by the prettiest girl in the school. She experiments with dating and discovers she has a first-class singing voice. Brenda is becoming an admired leader at the school, when an apparent double betrayal sends her reeling. Amid the hilarity, this rollicking novel explores the nature and power of friendship.
Published March, 2014. Available for Amazon Kindle ($2.99). Free preview.
Plain, overweight and friendless, 16-year-old Brenda Blatt is sent by her parents to a bleak school for troubled girls. Despised by her new roommates and scorned by the headmistress, Brenda suddenly finds her life turning around when she is befriended by the prettiest girl in the school. She experiments with dating and discovers she has a first-class singing voice. Brenda is becoming an admired leader at the school, when an apparent double betrayal sends her reeling. Amid the hilarity, this rollicking novel explores the nature and power of friendship.
Published March, 2014. Available for Amazon Kindle ($2.99). Free preview.
Two novels in one book
Contains the full text of
Helen of Pepper Pike and
Brenda the Great (see above).
Published March, 2014. Trade paper.
Available from Amazon.com.
Website copyright 2025 by Aivia Press.
Contains the full text of
Helen of Pepper Pike and
Brenda the Great (see above).
Published March, 2014. Trade paper.
Available from Amazon.com.
Website copyright 2025 by Aivia Press.
C.D. Payne's newest
works:
works:
Down and out in poetry land . . .
This dark comic tale has it all: drinking, smoking, adultery, murder, suicide, cats, donuts, and lots of zany poetry. The man in charge is R. Daniel Nixon (first name Richard), a tall, bald poet who can't seem to get a break: not from life or from the women he pursues. Join Danny in his quest to prove that poetry (and poets) can be bold, sexy, and vastly entertaining.
Published April, 2017, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($2.99).
This dark comic tale has it all: drinking, smoking, adultery, murder, suicide, cats, donuts, and lots of zany poetry. The man in charge is R. Daniel Nixon (first name Richard), a tall, bald poet who can't seem to get a break: not from life or from the women he pursues. Join Danny in his quest to prove that poetry (and poets) can be bold, sexy, and vastly entertaining.
Published April, 2017, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($2.99).
A summer 1949 roadtrip begins . . .
The Cold War is heating up, TV is catching on, workers are striking, and the Army is looking for draftees. In Ohio recent high-school grad Wilder S. Flint hits the road in pursuit of a mystery salesman who promises miracles by the dozen. Come along as Wilder takes some hilarious detours and discovers that life rarely goes as planned. Also includes a bonus short story about the ultimate recycling project.
Published August, 2016, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($2.99).
Read a free preview.
The Cold War is heating up, TV is catching on, workers are striking, and the Army is looking for draftees. In Ohio recent high-school grad Wilder S. Flint hits the road in pursuit of a mystery salesman who promises miracles by the dozen. Come along as Wilder takes some hilarious detours and discovers that life rarely goes as planned. Also includes a bonus short story about the ultimate recycling project.
Published August, 2016, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($2.99).
Read a free preview.
Read all 7 Nick
Twisp II comic novels
Twisp II comic novels
Sample previews of all of C.D. Payne's novels are available at Amazon.com.
Join the tumultuous, ever-burgeoning Twisp clan as they face the bumps and pitfalls of life in Los Angeles. Romance blooms, enemies plot revenge, elephants rampage, and blazes ignite as the Twisps prove again that life and love can be a hilarious challenge.
Readers new to the Twisp saga can dive in at Book 8 or Book 1. As always, familiarity with the previous novels is not required.
Trade paper, Available from Amazon.com.
Book 8 Book 9. Book 10. Book 11
Book 12 Book 13 and the newest: Book 14
Also for Kindle ($2.99).
Readers new to the Twisp saga can dive in at Book 8 or Book 1. As always, familiarity with the previous novels is not required.
Trade paper, Available from Amazon.com.
Book 8 Book 9. Book 10. Book 11
Book 12 Book 13 and the newest: Book 14
Also for Kindle ($2.99).
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Meet Reno's famous "dancing bodyguard"
If you wanted a divorce in 1951, Reno was your destination. And handsome Army vet Philip Melford was there doing his best to keep wealthy but lonely divorce-seekers entertained. Then he falls for a lovely college instructor, who wants to divorce him from his work and make him rethink his goals in life. Or should he make a play for movie star Rita Hayworth in town for six weeks for the usual reason?
Published June, 2023, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($3.99).
If you wanted a divorce in 1951, Reno was your destination. And handsome Army vet Philip Melford was there doing his best to keep wealthy but lonely divorce-seekers entertained. Then he falls for a lovely college instructor, who wants to divorce him from his work and make him rethink his goals in life. Or should he make a play for movie star Rita Hayworth in town for six weeks for the usual reason?
Published June, 2023, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($3.99).
A fun look back to the zany 1950s
This new collection brings you five stories and two novellas--all set in the 1950s. These seven deranged tales explore such untimely and important topics as: Scooter Lust. Gas wars. Monumental knavery. Over-sexed surveyors. Future Fire Bugs of America. Sweethearts with tricks up their sleeves. Revenge Cleveland-style, and more!
Published February, 2024, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($3.99).
This new collection brings you five stories and two novellas--all set in the 1950s. These seven deranged tales explore such untimely and important topics as: Scooter Lust. Gas wars. Monumental knavery. Over-sexed surveyors. Future Fire Bugs of America. Sweethearts with tricks up their sleeves. Revenge Cleveland-style, and more!
Published February, 2024, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($3.99).
Just published:
New 'musical' novel set in 1955
After 24-year-old Boyd Lomax gets hired to drive
the bus of an all-girl band his life takes many
comical turns-some for the better and some not.
It’s the latest lively and witty C.D. Payne novel set
in the 1950s. Fame and fortune may await Boyd in
the entertainment world. Or should he stick it out
in a remote small town that’s hungry for
television?
Turn back the clock to the summer of 1955
and let the fun begin!
Published August, 2024, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle ($3.99).
Also available as an audiobook.
How many doors open wide
when you're this handsome?
In the summer of 1959 “outlandishly handsome”
San Francisco resident Ray Corber makes his
living moving pianos--all by himself. Put off by
women's “ulterior motives,” this 25-year-old
blue-eyed Adonis is inclined to avoid emotional
entanglements. Then he's recruited to star in a
new play: “The Handsomest Man in the World.”
Suddenly Ray finds himself the center of
attention by the press, his clamoring fans, and
even more enraptured females. Can Ray cope
with his new celebrity and the complications of
an actor's life?
Published April, 2025, trade paper
Available from Amazon.com. And also for Kindle
($3.99).
Also available as an audiobook.