Later, he became engrossed in his family’s history in America. The first relative to arrive in America came in 1621 on the Fortune. Because his family arrived on the second boat and has spent the last 300 years working for the families that arrived on the first boat (the Mayflower), Hollis has had to work for a living.

Having taken an early retirement package so that he could look at new challenges, Hollis now looks back at his diverse career in education and wonders why he was so lucky.

Hollis Palmer began writing almost by accident. While working on his family’s history, he came across the story of the trial of Jesse Billings for the murder of his wife Eliza Harris. The Billings story was classic. A very rich man was accused of murdering his wife. During the investigation it was revealed that when Billings was 18, he shot and killed his older brother. It also comes out that he may have had a mistress living in the apartment over his private bank. It was a story waiting to be written in the book To Spend Eternity Alone.

At this time, Hollis has five books in print: To Spend Eternity Alone, Crimes in Time Volume I, Maggie’s Revenge, Crimes in Times Vol. II: Victorian Rules, and Curse of the Veiled Murderess. Each book tells a story of a true crime. In most of the stories the guilty party was never convicted and the crime remains officially unsolved. All the books are based in the Victorian Era. 

The book Curse of the Veiled Murderess (Curse), exemplifies Hollis’s ability to find unique twisted tales. In the Curse there are a series of questions explored including who committed the crime, the woman’s sanity, the accused woman’s true identity. Add to those three elements how the women’s movement took on her case as a cause, saying she was not tried by a jury of her peers (the entire jury was male). As if these were not enough, a curse later sets in on the families of the eight lawyers involved in the case. 

The true crime book Leave it to the Ladies shows once again Hollis' ability to find truly interesting stories. This book contains the stories of six Victorian Era crimes where women were the ones to act out. From a wealthy wife who shoots a woman she thinks was her husband's lover, to the story of a woman's case that reached the Supreme Court, this book shows us one more time that women can be as dangerous as men.

Storyteller

A life-long educator, Hollis has always used stories as a way of conveying a message. As a teacher, he used stories to add relevance to the lesson.  Frequently a mentor, he used stories as a framework for addressing problems. 

Now, he has turned a lifetime of learning into an art form.

Hollis has taken the stories from his books and turned them into an entertaining event. For storytelling events he tells the stories much the same way your grandfather told you stories.