Review: The Mystery of Moutai (Back Bay Investigation #1)

The Mystery of Moutai (Back Bay Investigation #1) by G.X. Chen
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystey
Release Date: April 14, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

A teenager returns home from school to find a gruesome scene: the apartment he shares with his mother, Shao Mei, in Boston’s Chinatown has been ransacked and she is dead. There is a bottle of Moutai—the most exotic and expensive Chinese liquor—left at the scene and traces of rat poison in one of the two shot glasses on the kitchen counter. This was evidently a homicide, but who could possibly be the killer?

Ann Lee and Fang Chen, close friends of the victim, team up with the Boston police to solve this mystifying crime: why would anyone want to murder a harmless middle-aged woman, one who worked as an unassuming mailroom clerk, with no money, no connections, and presumably, no enemies?

Realizing that important clues behind the motive may be buried deep in the victim’s past, they travel to Beijing, where Shao Mei spent more than fifty years of her life. While there, surrounded by the antiquities of China’s rich and complex history, they stumble unwittingly into a cobweb of mystery and danger. Fearing for their lives but determined to press on, they end up unearthing a scandal more deceptive and far-reaching than either could have imagined.

♥ ♥ ♥

When I first started this book, I had reservations on whether I would like the writing style of this author. However, it didn’t take me long to get into this story and discover that I enjoyed G.X Chen’s way of writing this mystery. Feng Chen and Ann Lee are characters that I look forward to spending time with and getting to know better.

Review: Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music—the Incendio waltz—and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. 

Full of passion, torment, and chilling beauty, and seemingly unknown to the world, the waltz, its mournful minor key, its feverish arpeggios, appear to dance with a strange life of their own. Julia is determined to master the complex work and make its melody heard.

Back home in Boston, from the moment Julia’s bow moves across the strings, drawing the waltz’s fiery notes into the air, something strange is stirred—and Julia’s world comes under threat. The music has a terrifying and inexplicable effect on her young daughter, who seems violently transformed. Convinced that the hypnotic strains of Incendio are weaving a malevolent spell, Julia sets out to discover the man and the meaning behind the score.

Her quest beckons Julia to the ancient city of Venice, where she uncovers a dark, decades-old secret involving a dangerously powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

♥ ♥ ♥

If you are a fan of Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series, then this may not be the book for you. However, if you enjoy the writing style of this author and want something out of the box, then I suggest you check out this book.

Though technically a mystery with all the clues carefully filtered throughout the book, it certainly keeps you turning the pages to find out why things happened and what will happen next, but as a mystery reader I felt cheated at the resolution of the things that happened to Julia and her family.

Review: The Devious Dr. Jekyll

The Devious Dr. Jekyll by Viola Carr
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Steam Punk/Fantasy
Release Date: October 27th, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

Dr. Eliza Jekyll, heroine of the electrifying The Diabolical Miss Hyde—an edgy
steampunk retelling of the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—investigates a bizarre
murder case in an alternate Victorian London while battling her treacherous secret
half: Lizzie Hyde.

Solving the infamous Chopper case has helped crime scene physician Dr. Eliza
Jekyll establish her fledgling career in the chauvinistic world of Victorian law
enforcement. But the scrutiny that comes with her newfound fame is unwelcome
for a woman with a diabolical secret. And there is the mercurial Royal Society
agent and wolf man Remy Lafayette. Does he want to marry her, eat her, or burn
her at the stake? Though Eliza is uncertain about Remy, her dark and jealous
shadow self, Lizzie, wants to steal the magnetic and persistent agent, and usurp
Eliza’s life.

It’s impossible to push Remy away when he tempts her with the one thing she
can’t resist: a bizarre crime. The search for a bloodthirsty ritual torturer dubbed the
Pentacle Killer draws them into a terrifying world of spies, art thieves, and evil
alchemy, where the price of immortality is madness—or damnation—and only
Lizzie’s dark ingenuity can help Eliza survive.

As Eliza and Remy race to thwart a foul conspiracy involving the sorcerous
French, they must also overcome a sinister enemy who is all too close: the
vengeful Lizzie, determined to dispose of Eliza for good.

♥ ♥ ♥

"The Devious Dr. Jekyll" by Viola Carr was a bit of a different read for me. Although I'm familiar with the aspects of the Steam Punk genre, I've never actually read any before. It took me a bit to get familiar with the culture and language being used, but once I was properly acclimated I was able to enjoy Carr's story.

This is actually the second book in Carr's "Electric Empire" series. This is another series that I'm not starting at the beginning, but it was enough of a standalone book that I was able to read the second in the series and not feel completely lost. However, there were a lot of characters in this electric Victorian world that sometimes seemed to all run together for me. This is possibly something that would have been easier to keep track if I had read the previous book.

Review: Buy a Whisker (Second Chance Cat Mystery #2)

Buy a Whisker (Second Chance Cat Mystery #2) by Sofie Ryan
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Things have been quiet in the coastal town of North Harbor, Maine, since Sarah Grayson and her rescue cat, Elvis, solved their first murder. 

Sarah is happy running Second Chance, the shop where she sells lovingly refurbished and repurposed items. But then she gets dragged into a controversy over developing the waterfront. Most of the residents—including Sarah—are for it, but there is one holdout—baker Lily Carter.

So when Lily is found murdered in her bakery, it looks like somebody wanted to remove the only obstacle to the development. 

But Sarah soon discovers that nothing is as simple as it seems. Now, with the help of her cat’s uncanny ability to detect a lie, and her senior citizen sleuth friends, Sarah is narrowing down the suspects. But can she collar the culprit before the ruthless killer pounces again?

♥ ♥ ♥

This second book is the in the Second Chance Cat Mystery series. Fans of the first book in the series, “The Whole Cat and Caboodle, won’t be disappointed with this one. Cozy fans who haven’t yet discovered this delightful series by Sofie Ryan can easily enjoy this book without having read the first one.

Book Blitz: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #1)

Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #1) by J.L. Bryan
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Mystery
Release Date: August 27th, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Ellie Jordan’s job is to catch and remove unwanted ghosts. Part detective, part paranormal exterminator, Ellie operates out of Savannah, Georgia, one of the oldest and most haunted cities in North America.

When a family contacts her to deal with a disturbing presence in the old mansion they’ve recently purchased, Ellie first believes it to be a typical, by-the-book specter, a residual haunting by a restless spirit. 

Instead, she finds herself confronting an evil older and more powerful than she’d ever expected, rooted in the house’s long and sordid history of luxury, sin, and murder. The dangerous entity seems particularly interested in her clients’ ten-year-old daughter.

Soon her own life is in danger, and Ellie must find a way to exorcise the darkness of the house before it can kill her, her clients, or their frightened young child.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

The host of creeps closed in around us. I’d heard at least three distinct voices, but there could have been more specters than that. It felt like a dark cloud of them, a cluster of ghosts that had more or less lost their individual identities, their yearnings merging into a combined pool of hunger, anger, pain, or whatever emotions motivated them to stick around instead of moving on. A “cluster haunting” is Calvin’s term for this.

We pushed through the thick, dark air and passed through another doorway. We should have seen at least one of the glowing green arrows I had drawn, but we didn’t. The darkness was like heavy, cold smoke, crushing in to choke us while we walked blindly through it. Then the groan sounded again, followed by the other voices.

 They grabbed at us from every side, with hands that were invisible and insubstantial until they clawed into you. I felt icy fingers on my legs, another hand grabbing at my stomach, and another seized the back of my neck. That one made me scream.

Promotional Event: Easter Sunday (River Sunday #7)

Easter Sunday (River Sunday #7) by Thomas Hollyday
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Release Date: July 9, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

A father’s strange fear may kill his son.

Hank Green’s young son, Bobby, is trapped somewhere in a cave beneath the water-drenched swamp of the Chesapeake Bay. He was exploring an unsolved World War Two mystery. Even worse, a powerful Easter Sunday storm with its flood surge is coming up. Hank rushes to join the team of experienced local firemen and friends who will try to find and rescue his son.

Yet he feels once again his own numbing personal terror. He is overcome by a lifelong claustrophobic fear of entering closed spaces like caves. It’s a phobia he inherited from his immigrant father, a displaced person from the 1945 European war and his own Vietnam esperience. He knows if the others lose hope and fail, he will go on alone and risk his life to save his child. He must find a way to conquer his weakness and time is running out.

Easter Sunday, Book Seven of the River Sunday Romance Mysteries, is the latest of this acclaimed Chesapeake series by Thomas Hollyday. The author’s unique voice once again gives us an exciting read about the people, their beliefs and legends, and the grasping mud and black water wetlands of this mysterious American region.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

It was the day before Easter Sunday.

Bobby looked up from his grandfather’s letter. He folded the pages and stared angrily at his father, Hank Green, who was beside him. Since opening this long awaited letter, to be read only on his twelfth birthday, the boy’s face had changed from anticipation to disappointment. Bobby took another moment to examine a pointed black metal object attached to the last page. It looked like a small black crucifix. Bobby inserted all back in the envelope.

Hank watched with growing concern as Bobby crushed the letter into the pocket of his jeans. A white corner showed from under his oversize black and orange Brooks Robinson baseball shirt.

The boy, thin and tall from baseball practice, turned to leave. He said slowly to himself, “Not never.” “Not never,” he repeated with emphasis, scuffing the wood floor of his father’s store. He strode outside, knocking over one of the carefully arranged pots of Hank’s prized white daffodils. Bobby stopped for a moment, bent down and set the pot back on its shelf.

Blog Tour: The Botanist

The Botanist by AUTHOR
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

In the heat of the desert, Detective Cody Oliver inadvertently stumbles upon a strange garden adorned with exotic flowers. 

Upon closer inspection, he finds the garden is but a cover for the scores of bodies buried below. Soon, the small town of Mt. Dessicate plunges into chaos as journalists, reporters, and cameramen from across the nation descend upon the tiny, desert town to get a piece of the action.

Along with the media, a mysterious woman appears. She may be the only person who has come face to face with the killer, dubbed the Botanist, and lived to tell the tale. 

If Cody can't piece together a timeline of the land the crime scene is located on, decipher how the woman's mysterious past is connected to the killer, and bring the Botanist to justice, he may lose the people he values most.

♥ ♥ ♥

Creating Believable Character Relationships

By L.K.Hill

As writers, we often talk about creating believable characters, but creating believable character relationships is a whole new level of difficult.

You have to start by creating two (or more) believable characters, which means they need to be flawed, human, well-rounded, and captivating. That’s a whole other discussion, but once this is done, you have to get your characters to interact in a way that’s not only believable, but also compelling to your readers.

The short answer is that the relationships have to be gripping, real, and believable. But how do you go about making them so?

There are three things that allow characters to interact believably. If all of these elements are present, your character relationships will be nearly flawless. (There are many kinds of character relationships: romantic and platonic, friend and enemy, strangers and familial. I’ll try to apply to all types.)

Promotional Event: Found, Near Water

Found, Near Water by Katherine Hayton
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: July 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Rena Sutherland wakes from a coma to discover her daughter’s been missing for days. No one’s noticed, no one’s complained, no one’s searching.

The victim support officer assigned to her case, Christine Emmett puts aside her own problems as she tries to guide Rena through the maelstrom of her daughter’s disappearance.

A task made harder by an ex-husband desperate for control; a paedophile on early-release in the community; and a psychic who knows more than seems possible.

And flowing beneath everything is a crime – perpetrated across generations – pulling them into its wake.


♥ ♥ ♥

Book Blitz: Surfacing

Surfacing by Kristin Halbrook
Age Group: New
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: December 10, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Katie Sawyer has spent the past three and a half years cultivating the perfect UCLA experience. She has the perfect boyfriend: a football star. She has the perfect social life: she’s President of Delta Gamma. But her perfect best friend, Chelsea, just drowned. Worse, the body tumbled out of the closet in Professor Griffin’s chem lab.

Katie’s fairy-tale façade hides a past she would like to forget, but Chelsea’s death brings every old emotion to the surface. If she’s going to move on from her hurts, Katie has to pull her not-so-perfect self together and search out the identity of Chelsea’s killer, even if it means turning to Josh Hunter for help. It’s not easy. Josh infuriates her. Once upon a time, they were next door neighbors and best friends. They were confidants. They were even teenagers fumbling and exploring each other in the dark. He knew everything about her. He owned her heart. That was before things changed.

Now, secrets are surfacing. Chelsea was seeing someone. And she was pregnant when she died. Katie must come to terms with Chelsea’s other life…and face the fact that she has some secrets of her own. Even if it means letting the past–and Josh Hunter–back into her life.

A college Clueless meets Veronica Mars, Kristin Halbrook’s new adult mystery is full of sexy romance and twists that will keep you guessing until the end.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

I twirled my pencil and checked the clock, focusing on what students in the class were wearing, what they were doing, who they were looking at. Anything to keep my mind from drifting off into clouded corners of thought. Almost forty minutes had passed and Chelsea hadn’t shown up. I furrowed my brow.

Across the room, Terrell Watson and Murphy Klein flicked wadded balls of paper at each other like they were still in high school, not seniors in college. Science nerds. I stifled the giggle that bubbled up in my throat. Chelsea always called us science nerds.

We were the only science majors in DG and that had made us instant BFFs three years ago when we first met. If we could take a class together, we did. We helped each other with everything, but were highly competitive, too. Her grade in this class was slightly higher than mine right now, but I was owning Physical Biochem.

Review: Murder on Vacation (Mollyn Tinker Mystery)

Murder on Vacation (Mollyn Tinker Mystery) by Misty Reddington
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: July 15, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Molly Tinker and husband, Police Chief Eric Wade, go to a Florida paradise to visit an old college friend.

They soon encounter evil in paradise when Molly's friend goes missing. Molly and Eric spend their vacation tracking down a killer, or maybe two killers.

This is a light and entertaining mystery with the endearing Molly Tinker back as super sleuth.






♥ ♥ ♥

Murder on Vacation is a light read that I finished in one sitting. The characters are likable enough and the story is enjoyable if you are willing to not let its flaws distract you.

I felt that the story was rushed and needed to slow down just a bit and let the readers savor the heat of the Florida sun and the salty ocean waves, which could have been described in more detail, and let them get to know the characters better.

Book Review: Sendoff for a Snitch (A Jesse Damon Crime Novel)

Sendoff for a Snitch (A Jesse Damon Crime Novel) by KM Rockwood
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: August 22, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Everybody knows snitches get stitches. Or worse.

After years in prison on a murder conviction, Jesse's trying to make it on the street, but nothing comes easy. He's always broke and the police figure he's a natural suspect for almost anything, even without Aaron trying to set him up.

Jesse can't catch a break. His forklift at work is wrecked. His sometimes-girlfriend is furious with him. His basement apartment has a few feet of water in it. And it's still raining.

Wait until his parole officer finds out he's been caught driving Aaron's pickup truck. Without a license. That alone might violate his parole and send him back to prison. Then when Aaron's body is found floating in the flooded stairwell of his apartment, prison looks like a forgone conclusion, unless Jesse can manage to steer the police in another direction.

♥ ♥ ♥

There are many things that I like about this book.

The author’s use of the weather as a major element in this story is well done. Throughout the book, the author engaged all my senses with the vivid descriptions. Even though I read Send off for a Snitch during the hot days of summer, I still felt the need to wrap up in a soft quilt and sip on a cup of hot tea as I got caught up in the cold storm of this story and the aftermath it left.

I liked the fact that Jesse Damon isn’t someone with special skills or a bigger than life hero, but an ordinary person who made a bad decision when he was a teenager that sent him to prison for 20 years and left him on parole dealing with the issues that come with it.

Promotional Event: Powerboat Racer (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 4)

Powerboat Racer (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 4) by Thomas Hollyday
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Release Date: December 16, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Harry Jacobsen, disgraced failure of a foreign correspondent and fired from a respected New York City paper, takes refuge as editor for a small weekly in a quiet town on the Chesapeake. The most excitement he sees is when a trio of children comes across the sunken hulk of a racing boat, lost thirty years ago. The black captain, Walker John Douglas, had crashed his vessel after killing two women and burning down half the town in a period of racial unrest.

Hurry’s investigative reporter instincts kick in, and he begins to delve into the history of Walker and the infamous inferno. River Sunday, evenly split between black and white, roils in chaos at his front page headlines. Half the town welcomes the fresh exploration of the civil rights actions, while the other half would rather leave the past alone. The streets are also flooding with tourists as the largest event of the season – a nationally acclaimed powerboat race festival – swells the discussion with high profile personalities and racers who remember Walker’s racially charged legacy.

As Harry unravels the threads of time and reveals the truth of what happened during the racial clashes of the sixties, the heat levels rise in the once peaceful town. Passionate emotions threaten to spark a fresh wave of riots the likes of which River Sunday had not seen in decades. Harry races to discover the full story in time to save lives – and to save the town from burning anew.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Rounding a bend the boat almost slammed into a looming state police motorboat, the side of the bigger boat emblazoned with the black and orange Maryland seal, stark and high above the gunwales of Hurry’s boat. Up on its deck two heavy set officers in well fitting dark uniforms looked down at them. One took a megaphone in hand and began barking to them to turn back.

She stopped the boat, idled the engine and called out, “What’s the problem, officer. I’m the Ranger’s wife.”

“We’ve got orders, Ma’am,” he said. “No boats allowed up here.”

Harry said, looking up as he held the sides of the boat, “I’m from the newspaper.”

“Sorry, sir,” the policeman was adamant. He was slender, his face showing an arrogance that Harry had seen all too often in policemen. When he opened his mouth he showed a space for a missing front tooth, and Harry smiled, finding himself hoping that the broken tooth meant someone had once put a fist into the policeman’s too assured face.

Review: Divine Sanctuary (Divine Trilogy #3)

 

Divine Sanctuary (Divine Trilogy #3) by Cheryl Kaye Tardiff
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Release Date: June 15, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

In the Divine trilogy finale, the heat is tripled when CFBI Agent Jasi McLellan must rescue Emily, the ghost girl that haunts her dreams; expose her own mother's killer; and uncover a murderer that preys on the weak at Sanctuary, a controversial cult nestled in the woods near Mission, BC.

Something insidious lurks behind the safe haven of Sanctuary's wrought iron gates. Led by the charismatic Father Jeremiah, the cult's idyllic lifestyle seems perfect on the outside. But a lethal hunter is on the prowl, and in a carefully executed game of cat and mouse, the body count rises.

Along with Victim Empath Natassia Prushenko, Psychometric Empath Ben Roberts and Special Consultant Brandon Walsh, Jasi follows three trails of clues that lead to one terrifying conclusion: home is not always the safest place on earth.


♥ ♥ ♥

"Divine Sanctuary" is the third book in the "Divine Trilogy" by Cheryl Kaye Tardif. Normally I don't read books in a series unless I've read them from the start, but I was told that "Divine Sanctuary" would read as a standalone book, and I was pleasantly surprised that was true. While reading, I wasn't confused about anything and Tardif did a good job creating a story that works on its own as well as part of a series.

The story revolves around a CFBI Agent named Jasi McLellan, who is part of the PSI branch of the CFBI. The PSI branch is a secret one whose agents have paranormal abilities that help them solve their cases. Jasi, for example, is a Pyro-Psychic. That means that if someone is killed by fire, Jasi can gain more information from the scene by smelling the smoke from that fire.

The main mystery in this book comes when one of Jasi's friends gives her a call because a woman she knows has been missing for awhile after investigating the inner workings of a cult called Sanctuary. This woman is a reporter who went undercover in order to prove Sanctary and the man who runs it aren't all that they appear. However, once she stops checking in, her friend gets worried and wants Jasi to investigate. This all happens right before the remains of a body are found in the incinerator at Sanctuary, prompting the need for an investigation. Jasi and her team go in to Sanctuary to find answers, but what they find wasn't necessarily what they were expecting.

Review: Freakshow (Episode One: The Nighshade Cases)

Freakshow (Episode One: The Nightshade Cases) by Patti Larsen
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Release Date: June 13, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

When transsexual starlet Aisling is murdered, Detective Geraldine Meyers is assigned the case. With help from medical examiner Dr. Rachel Hunter, Gerri realizes this is no ordinary killing. 

While she might not want to call in over-eager anthropologist Dr. Kinsey DanAllart, the detective is forced to trust her friend’s expertise in symbology, even though doing so means admitting “weird” things might be happening in Silver City. 

As the three friends unravel the mystery of the dancer’s death, one thing is made absolutely apparent—something isn’t right in their new hometown. And someone is doing everything they can to make sure the truth doesn’t come out

In Silver City, sometimes friendship can be murder. Welcome to the first Nightshade Case, a series of twenty-one episodes in twenty-one weeks. Please note: this episodic series is based on the television show model, with screenwriting notations and shorter formats. There will be a complete mystery each week, with cliffhangers only occurring in the full season story line.

♥ ♥ ♥

"Freak Show" by Patti Larsen is the first ‘episode’ in the series, "The Nightshade Cases". I say ‘episode’, because Larsen has done something a little different with this series. Instead of modeling it like a normal book series, "The Nightshade Cases" is more like a TV show on the page.

"Freak Show" is the first of 21 episodes that are going to be released over 21 weeks, and each one will deal with a new mystery for the characters to solve, but there's also room for an overall arc that will span for the ‘season’. There are even notations like you would see in a screenplay, like the settings and if they're interior or exterior.

I was interested to read this story, because the whole TV show angle isn't something that I've seen in a book series before and I wanted to see how it would pan out. Thankfully, Larsen was able to make it all work. For the most part, "Freak Show" read just like any other book, except instead of being split up by chapter numbers or titles, it was split by the notations for where the scene was set.

Review: The Group

The Group by Kevin R. Doyle
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Release Date: January 12, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Professor Ron Green could only blame himself as his marriage teetered on a precipice. Even though the affair had been over for months, he felt accused by every icy stare his wife sent his way. What could be worse than this slow motion disaster? The murder of his ex-lover could be worse.

Becoming the prime suspect in her murder could be worse. Discovering another murder related to his lover's death, and making himself the scapegoat by telling the police about the connection could be worse.

Someone is killing harmless members of the focus group where he met his lover. What did the group do to cause this horrible vengeance? Who could feel hurt by anything Ron and the others had done in those two brief days?

Ron must answer those questions and find the killer before he ends up taking the fall. Or worse, before the killer finds him.

♥ ♥ ♥

I always love it when I find a new author who leaves me anxiously awaiting their next book. After reading The Group, I can add Kevin Doyle’s name to that list.

Promotional Event: Magnolia Gods (River Sunday #2)

Magnolia Gods (River Sunday #2) by Thomas Hollyday
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Release Date: December 31, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

River Sunday Romance Mysteries, series, Book 2: On July 4, 1946, Navy Captain Edward Lawson attempted to fly an experimental seaplane into the hands of the Soviet Union. The top-secret plane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean before he could succeed with his traitorous action. His body, and the wreck of the plane, were lost at sea.

Mike Howard runs a small aviation museum, and, several decades later, his war-hero family still feels the sting of Lawson's unpatriotic actions. When Mike is pressured by Lawson's grandson, Jesse, to mount a search for the traitor's corpse, his first instinct is to vehemently refuse. However, his scholarly instincts quickly get drawn into the hunt, and he soon realizes that there is much more to the story. As Mike's corporate sponsors passionately lobby for him to stop stirring up old issues, it is made clear to him just how tangled the web of espionage has become.

Soon bodies are dropping like flies and Mike is forced on the run. He desperately unravels the threads of deceit, scrambling for the truth before his own life - and the lives of those he loves - are brutally added to the list of sacrificed men of conscience.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Eight 50 caliber machine guns, barrels still intact inside corroded tubular cooling jackets, sat silent under salt water in large specially designed tanks. These old guns, once part of a powerful fighter bomber’s armament, still shimmered, even in their disrepair, with memories of terrifying power.

Near the guns, on the stained and cracked concrete floor of the converted hanger, were other tanks filled with parts of the P47 Thunderbolt that the team from the Museum of Historic Aviation had recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic in what was considered by their fellow historians as a triumph in marine archeology and World War Two historical research.

The tanks were arranged in the pattern of an aircraft and viewed from above, resembled a careful explosion, with each containing appropriately located parts of wings, rudder and fuselage. Then, the piece de resistance, the most important underwater recovery, was the great radial engine assembly, its four bent propeller blades still attached, in a tank in front.

On the wall was proudly hung the banner of Aviatrice Corporation, the venture capital firm which had provided special funding for the tanks and the instruments to restore the old plane. Other foundations and their posters were also in evidence, but the Aviatrice banner was the most prized, won by the young museum manager, Mike Howard, in his ceaseless search for funding.

Book Blitz: Not Quite Dead (A Lowcountry Ghost Story)

Not Quite Dead (A Lowcountry Ghost Story) by Lyla Payne
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Mystery, Paranormal
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

A broken engagement sends Graciela Harper crawling back to Heron Creek with her tail between her legs, but finds the sleepy little town too changed to set her life right. Not even her budding drinking problem can obscure her Gramps’s failing health, or erase the mental picture of her first love happily married to her childhood best friend. To top it all off, she’s having a heck of time convincing the town’s dashing young mayor of her unfit-for-dating status.

When the ghost of 18th century lady pirate Anne Bonny starts insisting on a near daily audience, Graciela has to confront something else she never expected—being certifiably nuts at twenty-five years old.

Her brand new “I don’t give a crap” attitude makes it easy to dismiss the mysterious threats that seem to be tied to her search for more information on the long dead pirate, but when her family becomes a target, Gracie knows she needs to find out why the ghost insists on being a constant, reeking companion.

If Graciela can put aside her prejudice against people without a pulse, she may discover that Anne Bonny’s problems are intricately linked with her own. The past harbors answers could help the cantankerous spirit find closure, but she is, after all, already dead. If Graciela doesn’t move fast, she might find herself doing the haunting, instead of the other way around.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:
No one notices me leave the sidewalk and traipse around to the rear of my place of employment. It’s darker back here, away from any street lamps and lit signs. The unlocked window slides up under the pressure of my palm with no resistance and, most importantly, no noise. I have to jump a few times before my hands hook the sill, and it’s clear that I need to do more than walk to work if I’m going to get back into shape.

My grunts don’t carry far, and after a few more minutes of trial and error, I manage to hoist my hips over the painted wooden lip. It digs in, scraping hard enough that it’ll leave a bruise, but there’s no time to worry about that while my body is dangling half in, half out. The chance that anyone will wander back here seems slim, but there’s no excuse in the world that will work if I get caught like this.

Book Blast: Hawthorne

Hawthorne by Sarah Ballance
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Mystery
Release Date: March 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

After a terrifying encounter with the unexplained, it takes ten years and the news of her grandmother’s passing for Emma Grace Hawthorne to return to her childhood home. 

She seeks peace in saying a proper goodbye, but what she finds is an old love, a sordid family history, and a wrong only she can right.

Living in the shadow of Hawthorne Manor, Noah Garrett has never forgotten about Emma Grace. In a house full of secrets, his search for missing documents reveals a truth that can cost him everything. 

What he finds gave Emma the freedom to walk away from the mansion, her heart free and clear, but at what price to Noah?

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:
Noah closed in on the convertible, giving the nearby grounds a cursory look. The lawn was meticulous, the beds overflowing with sprays of purple garden phlox which trailed around the bend in the road and disappeared. A riot of white and rust-red irises backed the smaller purple flowers, their leaves deep green and glossy.

Overhead, Spanish moss swayed only occasionally atop a maze of live oak, more likely a result of a passing swarm of insects than an actual air current. The land was still. If there were tourists snapping photos of the historic plantation — or doing anything else — he didn’t see them. But someone had been there. The car was certainly real, even if that too-familiar scream had been a figment of his imagination.

Promotional Event: China Jewel

China Jewel by Thomas Hollyday
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Release Date: November 13, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Book Depository

Book Description:

Media around the world cover an inspiring and beautiful ocean race as international tall ships once again sail the ancient tea trade route to China. Yet, beneath the bright sails hide evil and treachery as the competitors sabotage and even murder each other to win the billion dollar prize.

An American entry, the Peregrine, a replica of a famous Nineteenth Century clipper built in the same small Maryland shipyard, is tarnished by rumors. Claims are made that the original Peregrine was involved in criminal activities as well as the violent theft of a famous Chinese jewel and the brutal death of a young girl.

Jim Cutter, Peregrine race director and his friend professor Katy Marbury research the true story of the ship's past. They constantly risk their lives as they uncover a tale which may affect the future of modern China, all the time knowing they are targeted by an unseen enemy.

Then far at sea, the Peregrine mysteriously disappears. Cutter must find and rescue the ship against impossible odds. Tough former soldier that he is, he must still conquer his recurring personal demon. His only son is aboard. He deserted his son once before and he fears he will fail him again.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Out in the harbor more sails were let go from yardarms and dropped to fill with wind. The crew adjusted the staysails and jibs to the early southeast breeze. The square cloth slapped and grew taut with the braces and sheet lines. As they provided thrust, the Peregrine, towering over the spectator boats, sailed ahead. The outward tide added speed. The ship’s wake became a white curl sliced upward by the curved sharp bow. The water raced along the black planks of the hull and out from the sides of the deep canted rudder.

She moved towards the Chesapeake, past the town’s famous rock pile rising like a tiny island in the harbor. The monument, constructed to honor the freed local slaves after the Civil War, would normally have been the center of attraction for tourists, but not today. All eyes were on this classic replica ship as it passed on its port and starboard sides the sleek late Twentieth Century ocean yachts.

They were owned by observers from American, British, and French competitor teams, as well as many smaller weekend cruisers and sloops. Overhead, helicopters from Baltimore, photographing live video for the national and overseas news, droned like big searching bees looking over the strange white and black flower below.

Promotional Event: Terror at Mirror Lake

Terror at Mirror Lake by Hank Kellner
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: September 2013
Buy Links:

Samashwords

Book Description:

Two men stand at a lake in New Hampshire and watch a young woman drown herself. Just who the men are, what their connection with the woman is, why she committed suicide, and why the men didn't try to stop her form the basis for this psychological thriller. 

The small, sleepy town of Hamptonville seems the last place you would find illicit sex, drugs, blackmail, and murder. But that's exactly what Bruce Orum and his girlfriend Cindy Garvey encounter when they flee from New York City after having killed another girl.

In Hamptonville they meet Luke Downing, a psychopath who uses drugs to control Cindy and make her his sex slave. A cruel, vicious character, Downing showed all the classic symptoms of a cold-blooded killer from the time he was a boy growing up with an imaginary friend who encourages him in his perversions until he became an adult.

Having dominated Cindy, Downing uses her to seduce two fishermen, Pete Engstrom and Hal Bonnacker, when they visit Mirror Lake, after which he plans to blackmail them. Although Cindy seduces the men, she double crosses Downing, disappears, and the men get away.

For the next few months Engstrom and Bonnacker express guilt over what happened at the lake. They decide to return to the scene to find Cindy. Sensing a problem, their wives decide to accompany them.

At Mirror Lake Downing takes the two couples prisoner and plans to torture and humiliate them before killing them. But he does not know that Sheriff Jeff Parker and Molly Hutchison are on his trail and determined to stop him. From page one all the way to the breathtaking ending, you will find yourself on pins and needles waiting to see what happens on the next page.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:
Not long ago, Old Jonah had seen the girl descending toward the bottom of the lake, her long black hair trailing upward, her outstretched arms flailing wildly. The big fish had seen bubbles exploding from the girl’s mouth as her eyes bulged when she realized that her decision to commit suicide was irreversible.

She kicked her feet, clawed at the water, and struggled against the current that embraced her. Finally, her lungs exploding in her chest, she struck the silt at the bottom of the lake, jogged grotesquely in slow motion, and died.

Old Jonah had finned his way downward through the water and considered the impressions he received from the corpse. But he hadn’t nibbled at it. It wasn’t what he was accustomed to: it was too big, too ungainly, and too unappetizing. He flicked his tail and floated upward toward the light that became brighter as he neared the surface.