In a city plagued by hidden crime, Rachel Remington is a solitary investigator
haunted by her family’s tragic past—her mother’s murder and
her father’s assassination. At 26, her obsession with finding their
killers drives her into a dangerous confrontation with a shadowy underworld of
illicit drug trafficking.
Will Rachel Get Her Revenge?
As hope emerges through the enigmatic Detective Trent, Rachel’s life spirals
into chaos. As they join forces, she discovers hidden agendas and dark secrets
threatening to consume her.
Games, Betrayals, and Love
Caught in a perilous game of trust and betrayal, Rachel must uncover her
family’s past while evading those determined to silence her. In a
thrilling tale of revenge and unexpected alliances, will Rachel uncover the
truth, seize her chance for redemption, find love, or will the shadows of her
past cost her everything?
About the Author
It’s never too late to make my dreams come true. I was lucky to be
born on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, specifically in
Alexandria. My summers were spent on the beach, enjoying the sunshine, the
original surfboards/paddle boards, and the game of sand pickleball before it
even made it to the US.
Not having TVs, I read many books, especially wartime ones, Ian
Flemings’s early James Bond novels, John Le Carre, Agatha Christie,
Maurice LeBlanc (Arsene Lupin), and other detective/mystery-type books. For
school, we had to read all the French Classics. I was always intrigued by how
the characters always managed to resolve their problems.
At the Age of 19, I came to California as a foreign student. After graduating
with an engineering degree, I was able to obtain my permanent residency. I
never looked back. My mother was able to join me, but unfortunately, my father
passed away.
Once I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree, I joined an
International Engineering and Construction Company and spent all my working
time with them. What was great is that the company moved me to many work
projects around the world, where I spent an average of a couple of years on
each. My wife joined me on some of these assignments.
But my love for writing was always with me. During my stay abroad, I wrote a
philosophical book and many articles for local newspapers and the Laguna Beach
weekly issues, comparing life in Laguna Beach with life in Indonesia. I wrote
articles for the company’s monthly newsletter, as well as for other
publications.
I recently decided to use a “nom de plume”/pseudonym for my
writings. My real name is Jean-Pierre Zacaropoulos. Having a last name
starting with a “Z” had me called upon in classes either as one of
the last ones or one of the first one. It was always a guessing game. But
usually having an A or B will push you to the top (Ha! Ha!). So I decided to
choose a “B”
Now, I have a little bit more time, so I decided to make my long-time desire
come true. I wrote my mystery/romance novel, which will be followed shortly
after by a sequel.
Serena King has spent years burying her sins beneath designer heels and ruthless ambition. But no lie lasts forever. When a ghost from her past returns, armed with secrets that could destroy her, she’s forced into a game she can’t control.
The first move? A marriage forced upon her
To him—her brother’s ex-best friend. Her first mistake. The man who was her first… and then broke her heart.
Miles Whitmore.
He’s not the reckless charmer she remembers. He’s colder. Crueler. Hungrier.
Miles wants to salvage his scandal-ridden family’s legacy. He needs power. He needs redemption. But he’s got secrets that could destroy everything too.
Their marriage is a business deal, a show for the public. But behind closed doors?
It’s a war.
A war of lies. A war of seduction. A war of who will break first.
But the deeper they fall into their twisted game, the more hatred turns to heat. The more vengeance turns to obsession.
Because in a world where power is everything and love is the most dangerous game of all…
Tinia (TUH-NIA) Montford is a Pisces who’s a sap for romance, especially when there’s (tons of) kissing. Loves eighties sitcoms and will consume anything with chocolate. She graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in English and Graphic Design. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction.
“Morgan’s Landing is a fast-paced, unpredictable
mystery you’ll devour in a single sitting.”
~ Indies Today
In the small Maryland town of Morgan’s Landing,
fourteen-year-old Julie Morgan is living in comfort with her wealthy family.
She disappears on her way to school after a spat with her twin sister.
Detective Jim Brady, married and the father of two, has been on the Morgan’s
Landing police force for twelve years. He identifies a few suspects in the
girl’s disappearance—Is it the fired school janitor, a paroled sex offender,
Julie’s computer teacher…or his own teenage son? Jim can’t believe his son
could be involved, but his wife is convinced the boy is hiding something.
He needs to find Julie before the worst happens—and keep the peace at home.
I was born and raised in San Diego, California and earned a
BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I began my
career as a reference and collection development librarian in the Art and Music
Section of the San Diego Public Library and then transferred to the Literature
and Languages Section, where I had the pleasure of managing the Central
Library’s Fiction collection. Although I also enjoy reading biography, memoir,
and history, fiction remains my first love. In addition to the three
R’s—reading, writing, and research—I enjoy Scrabble, movies, and travel.
My earliest ambition was to be a “book maker” and I wrote my
first story, “Judy and the Fairies,” with a plot stolen from a comic book, at
the age of six. I broke into print in college with a story in the San Diego
State University literary journal, The Phoenix, but most of my magazine
publications came after I left the library to spend more time on my writing.
My stories have been published in numerous journals,
including Eclectica, Thema Literary Journal, Avalon Literary Review, The Nassau
Review, and Orbis, and in the anthologies Short Story America, Vol. 2, The
Captive and the Dead, Australia Burns, 2023 in a Flash, and Apocalypse.
Readers new to the Windflower mysteries and those returning will experience the joys of a close-knit community that thrives on the simpler things in life…
Author: Mike Martin
Pages: 318
Format: Paperback, eBook, Free on Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Mystery
As Winston Windflower, his police colleagues and their families gather in Marystown, Newfoundland, to celebrate those being promoted up the RCMP ranks, a sophisticated heist by international mobsters and local biker gangs unfolds in multiple cities and towns throughout the province, robbing banks and businesses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Mounties soon realize more than money is being lost.
In this, the sixteenth novel in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, author Mike Martin continues to craft intrigue in the cultural and geographical setting unique to Newfoundland and Labrador. Readers new to the Windflower mysteries and those returning will experience the joys of a close-knit community that thrives on the simpler things in life: por’ cakes, a lighthouse in serious need of a facelift, TV movie nights and the warmth of get-togethers with family and friends.
Sergeant Winston Windflower couldn’t be happier for his friend and colleague Eddie Tizzard. On Windflower’s recommendation and with the approval of the big boss, Superintendent Ron Quigley, Tizzard was being promoted to sergeant in the Mounties, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But in terms of being proud, Windflower might have to stand in line because in the crowd that was gathered at RCMP Headquarters in Marystown, Newfoundland, were Tizzard’s partner, Carrie Evanchuk, and his dad, Richard Tizzard. Both were beaming from ear to ear as they juggled Eddie and Carrie’s two children in their arms.
Carrie had the easier task as little Sophie had been fed and was now snoozing in milk heaven. Hughie, on the other hand, would try and make a break for it every now and then, so Richard had to hang on tightly. He finally gave in and handed the little boy over to his Aunt Brenda, who was sitting farther back in the audience with the rest of Tizzard’s extended family.
Eddie looked down over the assembled RCMP officers and his family and smiled when he saw Hughie trying to get up closer towards him. He could also hear Hughie yelling “Daddy, Daddy” whenever the little boy got pulled back into the crowd. He smiled again as his superintendent called him to the podium and asked him to take off his corporal’s uniform jacket. Ron Quigley then handed him his new jacket with three chevrons pointing down and a crown on top on the right sleeve of his dress uniform, the RCMP’s famous red serge.
There were no speeches. That wasn’t the RCMP’s style. So, the two men shook hands, and Tizzard walked back to his place to thunderous applause from his fellow officers and family. Next on the agenda was the promotion of Windflower’s assistant in Grand Bank, Constable Samira Gupta, to corporal. This time Windflower did the honours, and Gupta exchanged her old uniform for one with two chevrons pointing down that indicated her new rank. She didn’t have any family in the crowd but was very popular with the troops, given the nice round of applause that she also received.
Some of those were special cheers from Windflower’s wife, Sheila Hillier, and his daughters, Stella and Amelia Louise, who had come over from Grand Bank for the occasion. All three loved Sam Gupta. They loved Eddie Tizzard, too. But they all had also made a strong connection with Windflower’s new sidekick and now brand new corporal.
There was a small reception afterwards with coffee and a large cake with the RCMP insignia on it. Both girls had a large piece of cake while Windflower and Sheila visited with Richard Tizzard and Carrie. It was a great celebration day for the Force, as the members called it, and there was plenty of good cheer all around.
But while the Mounties and their families were celebrating, something far more sinister was happening a short distance from the hotel where they were eating their cake.
A group of men had ambushed an armoured truck, and two of them had managed to somehow get inside and now had both armed guards hostage. They ordered the guards to undress, took them to another vehicle, a large panel van, and shoved them inside. As someone else drove them off, the first two men stripped and put on the security guards’ uniforms.
As the reception continued at the hotel, the fake security guards resumed the route that the real guards had been on and made stops at a number of local businesses before making one last visit to the bank in the shopping mall. They looked like the real deal as they walked into the branch. But instead of making their usual stop at one of the tellers, they asked to speak to the manager. A few minutes later the manager was left tied and muffled in the safe, and the false security officers walked out through the bank’s main doors with bags of loot from their efforts.
By the time the alarms were sounded and the bank manager released from the safe, the robbers were long gone. Gone from the bank and gone from Marystown. The real security guards were found out on the highway where they had walked to after being dumped in a deserted area. The day after, when the police started looking for suspects, they were not only off the Burin Peninsula, but they were waiting for a flight at the airport in Gander to take them completely out of the province. Of course, none of that would be known for days as the investigation into the boldest crime in Marystown history began.
– Excerpted from Friends Are Forever by Mike Martin, Ottawa Press and Publishing, 2025. Reprinted with permission.
Guest Post
You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover, But it Does Give You a Peek Inside
With the publication of Friends are Forever there are now 16 books in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. I know that sounds like a lot, but the series started in 2012. The old writer’s joke is: How do you get to be an older, established writer? Keep writing and don’t die!
That means we have had to come up with 16 somewhat different covers that all fit within the general theme of what might be a Sgt. Windflower Mystery. And while you certainly can’t judge a book by its cover, it should give the reader a hint of what’s inside. Over that time we’ve done many different things. But everything we hope, has led readers back to Grand Bank and to that most beautiful corner of Canada. This has included ice bergs and boats and fishing stages and sheds. And lighthouses, of course. But the most touching covers, I believe have come from pictures. Particularly ones that we and our family have taken while visiting Newfoundland.
We are fortunate indeed to be able to visit Newfoundland every year for most of the month of August. That means we get to enjoy the people and the scenery that make this place so special. And of course, we get to eat. A lot. Homemade raisin bread toast almost every morning. Fish every meal we can. Jiggs Dinner at the wonderful Garnish Bakeapple Festival. Cheesecake of all types, including Sgt. Windflower’s favourite chocolate peanut butter at Sharon’s Nook and Tea Room aka the Mug-Up.
To try and compensate for this orgy of eating we walk when we are in Newfoundland. A lot. We do hikes in Gros Morne National Park, to the shipwreck site in St. Lawrence and up to the top of the hill at Cook’s Lookout in Burin. Of course, we do tons of walking in Grand Bank. On the hiking trail up to the lookout and up to the Cape on every fine day. But some of the best walks are after supper when we and the dog try and stroll off some of the extra calories that we’ve consumed during the day.
It is also a calm and peaceful way to end another glorious day in Grand Bank. That is exactly what we were trying to show you in the cover for Friends are Forever. Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean as the sun slides away into the horizon. Wouldn’t you like to be there? You may not be able to get there right away but you can get a taste of what it might be like by reading the book.
A great cover should invite you in and in the case of a series welcome you to take a peek inside. So come in, sit down. You’re among friends again. We’re happy to see you.
Mike Martin is the author of the Award-Winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. The latest book is Friends are Forever. Available from Amazon and where all fine books are sold.
About the Author
Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL
on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario.
He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have
appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in
the United States and New Zealand.
He is the award-winning author of the
best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand
Bank. There are now 16 books in this light mystery series with the
publication of Friends are Forever.
A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the year award.
Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest Darkest Before the Dawn was released as an audiobook in 2024. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.
Mike is Past Chair of the Board of
Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian
crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’
Guild and Capital Crime Writers.
A Dead Man Speaks Lisa Jones Gentry (The Clive January Mystery Series, #1) Publication date: November 29th 2024 Genres: Adult, Mystery, Paranormal, Thriller
Introducing the first in a new paranormal crime mystery series set in 1980s, New York City on Wall Street
Clive January is a driven, self-made Black man, a ruthless, wildly successful investment banker who had it all – until he is shot and killed from behind by an unknown assailant. As Clive lies in a pool of blood, his life slowly ebbing away, he hears voices, unearthly beings tormenting him, telling him that he will burn in hell, unless he finds out who killed him. Now before it’s too late, his ghost must solve the crime of his own murder and his only choice is to work with the white racist cop assigned to his case, Detective Bob Greene.
Their relationship begins in hate and distrust, but soon they each realize that they have more in common than they could ever believe. And in the wrenching ending, they discover the truth that frees them both.
Lisa will be at the LA Times Festival of Books on Saturday April 26th at 12 noon!
—
EXCERPT:
I slipped into my car, the creamy leather seats enfolding me as I whizzed down the expressway…the smell of the ocean filled the car…an aphrodisiac, teasing my senses. I thought about her waiting for me…opening the door…And then I saw her face, the light green eyes clouded against her golden, taffy-colored skin, the thick mop of dark, curly hair framing her face. How often had I held her, how often had I seen her lips part in that same half-teasing, half-defiant smile…
“Hi…”
I grabbed her, wanting to make love to her before I told her. But she smiled playfully, pushing me away. “Look what I got.”
She pulled out a gram of icy, white coke, licking the edge of the paper hungrily. “To celebrate.” Would she still want to celebrate when I told her that I’m leaving, but not with her? All the years between us, but I still can’t do it; I still can’t surrender my soul to her. Would she understand this time, too?
“Here, Clive. It’s good…” A sucking noise. The dull light glinted against the pipe, trembling ever so slightly. She must really be fucked up.
“Almost as good as the first time…remember…”
That’s what she always said. Ssssssssssssss, a nice long one. My eyes shut tightly, letting the feeling curl over me like a woman’s touch, soft, seductive, and always so deadly.
“I’m gonna get some champagne.” She leaned down over me, kissing me slowly. I could taste the coke on her lips. Her hand rubbed my cheek. Tiny, soft hands.
My eyes followed her small body weaving out of the room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. I closed my eyes again, going over every detail of my plan in my mind for the hundredth or maybe thousandth time; I’d lost track now. Every step sharpened by time and urgency. One more week, and I’d have the final payment and my freedom from a life that was no longer mine.
I was finally starting to relax; the blow was starting to kick in. It always took longer when I was tensed up, but now the tingly feeling was rushing through me. A sharp, searing pain was suddenly tearing through my back, ripping the breath out of me. I doubled over. It felt as if someone had taken a thousand knives and exploded them in me. And it was all a blur, except for blood everywhere: on my chest, covering my hands, the white carpet, and the room’s empty.
And I realize, I’d been fuckin’ shot…somebody’s…but now the room was spinning. I knew this was it. The dark curtains were enveloping me and then the light…like the light at home, soft…beckoning…taking me to the place I thought I’d forgotten. And then I smiled, I understood now, all the years, all the money…the lies, but you could never escape, it would always pull you back…
Author Bio:
People would consider Lisa Jones Gentry, the author of “Forbidden Love” a true renaissance woman, because the former entertainment attorney, became an artist, author, creative executive, and writer-producer for film, television and digital content…
Lisa discovered her passion for the creative side of the business while serving as broadcast counsel at CBS in New York City, where she was the lead attorney on deals ranging from multi-millions to billions, such as the Olympics and Major League Baseball deal. But her Hollywood calling changed from “behind-the-deal” to “behind-the-laptop”, and ultimately moved to LA to break into the business as a writer-producer. As luck would have it, the first film script that she and her writing partner wrote was optioned by Paramount.
For the next four years they had several screenplays and teleplays optioned and set up at networks and studios, including development deals. She then took that creative experience and brought it to her position as EVP of Development for the stalwart Western International Syndication, formerly a division of renowned Western International Media, once the largest media buying entity in the world. Charged with expanding the company’s traditional roster of syndicated programming into network and cable, she executive produced over 100 hours of television in various formats and genres, airing on broadcast and cable. She also structured a joint venture between French broadcasting giant TF-1, Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Western for the international distribution of a one hour dramatic series.
Though “behind-the-deal: again, she didn’t stop her work behind-the-laptop and during that time wrote her first novel, “A Dead Man Speaks.” It garnered her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Debut Author, followed by a Literary Critics Award nomination for best general fiction. And her creative roll continued with a First Look Deal for Lisa and her writing partner at Sony Pictures under their Screen Gems banner.
With the cataclysmic changes in the “business,” like many other writers and producers, it wasn’t long before Lisa expanded her focus to digital media and due to her writing and executive experience was recruited to be the CEO of Comedy Express, a start-up broadband network targeting the young adult male demo. Ultimately, Comedy Express was acquired by the famed National Lampoon.
Following the acquisition of Comedy Express, Lisa not only managed to write another book – this time as a co-author of the nonfiction, “So You Want to be A Lawyer,” now in its second printing –she continued her expansion into digital media and technology and worked as Co-CEO of another early stage start-up company that launched two 24/7 television networks on cable, IPTV and satellite networks outside the US in Europe and Asia. Today, Lisa is a frequent speaker on technology and digital media, at the Tribeca Film Festival, the FCC start up conference and many other venues.
As if all that she’s done isn’t enough, Lisa is also an accomplished artist, and has been exhibiting and selling her work for several years. She has had worked featured in television series and TV Movies and buyers of her work have included on air talent, Arthel Neville and television Executive Producer, Samm Art Williams.
And while she loves exploring her artistic side, Lisa has no intention of slowing down her writing, as she continues to flex her creative muscle with several TV and film projects that she’s developing as well as her current book, “Forbidden Love,” the true love story of a white nun and a black priest in the segregated fifties as told by their son Joe Steele.
Raising the Dead is the journey of a naive young woman who grows to maturity through the love and mentoring of friends, both living and dead…
Title: Raising the Dead
Author: Jayne Lisbeth
Pages: 330
Genre: Coming of Age/Ghost Fiction/Mystery/Supernatural/Women’s Friendship
Jayne Lisbeth’s second novel, Raising the Dead, is a coming of age book which delves into the importance of friendship between women and men, strangers and spirits.
Raising the Dead, bookmarked in the year 1979, is the exploration of a young bride’s struggle towards maturity and overcoming the depths of grief. Ms. Lisbeth’s beautiful, poetic prose weaves history, love, friendship, reading, culinary arts, crafts and the beauty of nature into the development of Emeline, the protagonist of this remarkable work.
Synopsis:
Emeline, a new bride, has been transported from her beloved home in the California Delta by her husband with their move to his mother’s home city, Charles Town, in Virginia. Marooned in grief after the deaths of her beloved parents. a mysterious elderly woman, Felicity, befriends her. Through Felicity Emeline learns to love reading, cooking. She also becomes confident enough to reach out to others and form new friendships. Felicity teaches Emeline the craft of chair caning, which becomes a lucrative enterprise which further assists Emeline in her search for independence and maturity. When Emeline is most dependent on Felicity her friend mysteriously disappears. With the assistance of her new-found friends Emeline searches and discovers for her lost friend. Through the love of friendship, her husband and her friends assist Emeline in her search for Felicity, Emeline’s mentor and “other mother,” Emeline discovers a frightening spiritual reality which uplifts her in unimaginable ways. Through friendship she learns the value of love and the enduring spirit of those who have touched her life, even if they are no longer among the living.
Raising the Dead is a mystery to be unearthed by the reader in these poetic pages. Loveable and quirky characters, both living and dead, entrance and entertain. Reviewers of Raising the Dead “can’t put this book down” until they discover how and where Emeline finds her dear friend. Emeline’s friendships, the development of her relationship with her husband and her search for Felicity help this young bride to move into her future. Emeline is a beloved heroine worthy of the most sophisticated and avid readers.
Em breathed in the scent of fresh towels. “Smells like the delta, doesn’t it? Remember how pretty our farm was?” The look that Randy dreaded returned to her eyes.
“It’s going to be alright, Em. I promise. This is a new life for us. This was a good move. We’ll be happy here, you’ll see.” He stepped over the cats and left the little bathroom to retrieve more boxes from the truck.
At the moment, the large obstacle in his mind was not just Em’s continuing sorrow and lack of enthusiasm, but her meeting with Margret. He knew his mother could be difficult and her overwhelming love of Randy could be territorial. Randy hoped his mom would see past Em’s timidity which could make her seem standoffish and cold. He hoped his mom wouldn’t take Em’s timidity the wrong way. On the other hand, he hoped Em wouldn’t blow up over some off-hand innocent remark his mom might make. He had a vague feeling of unease, knowing the two most important women in his life could change in a heartbeat from sweet to sour. He wanted everyone to see Em the way he did: his pretty little bride of two years, with blond curls, violet eyes, curvy body and sweet demeanor. He wished Em could see the good in herself, the essence of who she was, rather than the ignorant delta girl she believed herself to be.
This is a good move, definitely, he reminded himself with each box he unloaded. What could go wrong? They had everything they needed. They had each other. The future looked as bright as any dream he had hoped for in his life with Emeline.
– Excerpted from Raising the Dead by Jayne Lisbeth, Austin Macauley, London, UK, 2023. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author
Jayne Lisbeth was born in NYC and continued her life’s journey from Long Island, to New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, California and Tampa, all places featured prominently in her writing. Her first book, a memoir, Writing In Wet Cement has been published internationally by London based publisher, Austin Macauley. Jayne’s second book, Raising the Dead, a work of historical fiction, mystery, friendship and the supernatural, was published in 2023, also by Austin Macauley. Ms. Lisbeth publishes monthly “Food for Thought” blogs on her website, Jaynelisbeth.com. Her “Food for Thought” blogs are based on her reflections of life, friendship, love, and topical subjects of interest. Ms. Lisbeth’s non-fiction, poetry, and short stories have been published from Vermont to California to Tampa, Florida where she has received awards at the local level. She has been published locally in Pages of Our Life, volumes I and II which is currently part of the USF, Tampa, Geriartic Studies Programs. Ms. Lisbeth’s short stories have been published in the LEC Phoenix Anthologies, 2015-2023. Jayne’s interests include writing, reading, exploring, traveling, calligraphy, gravestone rubbing, entertaining and cooking. Jayne’s author’s website is Jaynelisbeth.com. Ms. Lisbeth and her artist husband, Tim Gibbons, are the owners and founders of Funky As A Monkey Art Studio, providing art in public places and launching new and emerging artists in exhibiting their art.
A public war between a governor and a theme park lights the fuse on a story of hate groups, murder, corruption, racism, and political espionage.
Ex-cop turned theme-park cab driver Lyle Deming finds the body of a park visitor during an LGBTQ event. The dead man catered gay weddings. Was it a hate crime?
Arizona governor Rod Gudgel, running for reelection, calls it a random shooting. He mocks Nostalgia City theme park for its inclusiveness, uses homophobic and racist slurs, and later challenges the safety of its rides.
Park CEO, “Max” Maxwell lambasts the governor’s prejudice and insensitivity, and the fight is on—in public and undercover. Maxwell drafts Lyle to investigate the murder while Kate Sorensen, his 6’-2½” public affairs VP, goes on the offensive in the media.
When an assault rifle attack kills and injures park employees demonstrating for gay rights at a Gudgel campaign office, Nostalgia City mourns, and Kate slams the governor’s unsympathetic response to the slaughter. While the FBI and sheriff’s deputies investigate the crime, the governor redoubles his efforts to regulate the park out of business.
Looking for a shooting suspect, Lyle gets a little too close to an armed hate group—with a possible connection to the governor. His lady friend Kate flies to Montana where she digs into the governor’s unseemly past uncovering a trail of malfeasance dating back two decades and arousing Gudgel allies who want to stop her at all cost.
With Lyle’s wry humor and Kate’s stick-to-itiveness the story moves quickly as mysteries and subplots multiply and loop together threatening the park, their relationship, and their lives.
Excerpt
April 5
Kate heard popping sounds and almost simultaneous screams. Bullets crashed through picket signs, crashed through windows, crashed through flesh.
Seconds before, she’d passed a line of gay rights demonstrators marching in front of Governor Gudgel’s new Polk campaign headquarters. When Kate walked into the office, the shooting began.
She dropped to the floor as the storefront picture window shattered and a coffee machine at the back of the room exploded. Somewhere in Kate’s mind, terror mixed with split-second knowledge that the prospect of being shot by a lunatic with an assault weapon had become part of American life. Would this be her final thought?
The shots continued rapidly, pop, pop, pop, one after another. Then stopped.
Kate stayed glued to the floor, along with the half dozen office workers. She listened. Sounds eerily similar to moans from the park’s zombie ride drifted in through the broken window. More than a minute without gunfire passed before she dared to raise up on hands and knees, keeping her head low. A man in the corner held his arm, attempting to staunch the blood that soaked his sleeve. Kate’s first impulse was to crawl over to him, but two other people, crouching low, inched to him with towels to stop the bleeding. After another frozen minute, a siren.
When a chorus of sirens sounded, Kate raised up enough to peer through the splintered window out to the street. A sheriff’s car skidded to a stop. Its doors flew open. Two deputies, one armed with a semi-automatic rifle, jumped out and scanned the surrounding buildings. Across the street more black and whites arrived. Uniformed officers dashed up and down the opposite sidewalk.
An ambulance braked to a stop. EMTs leaped out carrying gear. Kate stood up and took tentative steps to the door, her senses on hair-trigger alert.
She stepped outside, gagged, and turned away. Three of the LGBTQ picketers and a sheriff’s deputy lay on the ground, surrounded by blood.
About the Author
My first three mysteries were published by Black Opal Books with my debut novel earning recommendation from the American Library Association.
I started writing mysteries after a writing career in journalism and marketing. Prior to my novels, Ether Books of the UK published a collection of my flash fiction mysteries and many of my shorts have been published in online literary magazines. During my business career I wrote two books for John Wiley and Sons, one of which was a Library Journal Best Business Book of the Year. I have an MA in journalism and a golden retriever.
I write the kind of mysteries I like to read. I appreciate stories with twists, turns, and puzzles which appeal to the head. But I also like a mystery that appeals to the heart with a fast pace and challenges and threats that put the protagonists in peril.
She’s the first female police detective in Acapulco.
Barracuda Bay
Detective Emilia Cruz Book 9
by Carmen Amato
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Female Detective
Political
corruption turns Acapulco’s first female police detective into a fugitive on
the run . . . in Washington DC.
“A
thrilling series” — National Public Radio
In a derelict building for sale, Acapulco police detective Emilia Cruz stumbles
on the body of a woman brutally shot to death. Incredibly, the victim was the
sister of Acapulco’s ambitious mayor, who is running for re-election against an
opponent with deep pockets.
Emilia’s investigation is immediately under pressure for a fast result. The
victim’s ex-boyfriend has a suspiciously weak alibi but is the crime scene the
key to finding the murderer? The building was once used for a secret Mexican
government operation targeting a ruthless drug lord.
Meanwhile, there’s a conspiracy within the police department to force Emilia
out.
Before Emilia can save her job or arrest her prime suspect, she’s sent on an
errand of mercy to Washington, DC.
There she becomes a fugitive hunted by killers masquerading as cops. Alone,
desperate and on the run, Emilia turns for help to a man she once vowed to
murder.
He’s her only chance to survive a deadly game of political intrigue on the
wrong side of the border.
From Acapulco’s beaches to the streets of Washington, DC, the stakes couldn’t
be higher in this electrifying, page-turning thriller.
2019 and 2020 Poison Cup award, Outstanding Series – CrimeMasters of
America
“Emilia is a character who is close to my heart” –
MysterySequels
“Amato brings her characters to life with her vivid writing style
and sets them on the streets of a Mexico steeped in Catholicism and
corruption” – OnlineBookClub.org
With unflinching authenticity from the author’s own espionage and counterdrug
experience in Mexico and Central America, this is a female detective mystery
series like no other.
The Emilia Cruz series is for fans of international mystery and crime by Ian
Rankin, Jo Nesbo, Ann Cleeves, Donna Leon and Liza Marklund, plus the
Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Fans of Don Winslow’s cartel and
border thrillers set in Mexico love the plots torn from the headlines of the
Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco.
Now a mystery and thriller author, I was an intelligence officer for 30 years with the Central Intelligence Agency. Most of that time, I dealt with technical intelligence collection and counterdrug issues. I also spent a great deal of time overseas, finishing as the head of one of the US national intelligence schools.
I poured my experiences into the 9-book Detective Emilia Cruz series (BARRACUDA BAY, CLIFF DIVER, NARCO NOIR, etc.) Traveling at night through a strange country, with only my passport for protection? Check.
Getting stalked through a store by a thief? Check.
Being told by a colleague that he didn’t want to work with a woman? Check.
The Detective Emilia Cruz books are loaded with danger, deception, and authenticity. She’s the first female police detective in Acapulco, taking on official corruption, drug cartels, and Mexico’s social inequalities. The series won the 2019 and 2020 Poison Cup award for Outstanding Series from Crime Masters of America, the 2019 Silver Falchion from Killer Nashville, and was optioned for television.
One particular experience motivated me to begin the series when an armed drug addict came into our church in Mexico City during midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. No one was hurt, but it was a wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee moment. I turned to fiction to show what was happening not so very far from home.
Fiction doesn’t get more authentic than BARRACUDA BAY and the rest of the Detective Emilia Cruz series.
A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency,
Carmen Amato writes the contemporary Detective Emilia Cruz series pitting the
first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico’s cartels, corruption,
and social inequality. Beginning with Cliff Diver, it’s a 2-time winner
of the Outstanding Series award from CrimeMasters of America and a 4-time
finalist for the Silver Falchion award, lauded by Kirkus Reviews as “Danger and
betrayal never more than a few pages away.”
Carmen Amato is also the 2023 winner of the Silver
Falchion Award for Best Historical for Murder at the Galliano Club,
inspired by her grandfather’s experiences as a deputy sheriff during
Prohibition. Her standalone thrillers include The Hidden Light of Mexico
City, which was longlisted for the 2020 Millennium Book Award.
Carmen is a recipient of both the National Intelligence
Award and the Career Intelligence Medal. She has been a judge for the BookLife
Prize and Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award. Her work has appeared in Huffpost,
Criminal Element, Publishers Weekly, and other national publications.
Originally from upstate New York, after years of
globe-trotting she and her husband enjoy life in Tennessee.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a
giveaway!
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Pack with a signed copy of the book, a mini poster with a Frida Kahlo quote, a
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tote! (US only),
When former celebrity chef Laura Harris is accused of murdering her mentor, she must uncover the real killer amidst a web of small-town secrets and scandals.
Title: A Hush at Midnight
Author: Marlene M. Bell
Pages: 368
Genre: Mystery
Marlene M. Bell brings distant friends together in the rural South only to have one of them become the victim of a brutal crime of passion.
Once celebrated for her show-stopping pastries and irresistible desserts, former celebrity chef Laura Harris is now making headlines for a far darker reason.
Laura has been accused of murder.
How could this petite chef have brutally smothered the beloved small-town matriarch, World War II ferry pilot veteran, Hattie Stenburg? Hattie wasn’t just a pillar of the community; she was Laura’s confidant and mentor. The shocking twist? Hattie had made recent changes to her will, bypassing next-of kin and leaving her entire fortune and historic estate to Laura.
As Laura scrambles to clear her name, she uncovers sinister secrets lurking beneath the town’s idyllic surface. The real murderer is always one step ahead, leaving taunting clues and threatening Laura to leave Texas—or face deadly consequences. With time not a luxury, Laura must untangle the web of deceit before the killer makes her the next victim.
A killer sunset plunged toward the horizon, casting its tangerine glare on the Stenburg Estate’s green metal roof and aging bricks. Since her hasty arrival from the Los Angeles area last year, Laura Harris had sought out the renowned East Texas skyline for its towering thunderstorm clouds and the lemonade-pinks at twilight.
The colors gave her a sense of calm before the inaugural trip to see her elderly mentor and dearest pen pal, Hattie Stenburg. Laura last visited with her in California—over a decade ago.
As Laura skirted a large puddle in her Subaru and stopped along the shoulder of the roadway, she parked the car, turned off the engine, and exited the driver’s side. She breathed in air filled with pungent smells of wet pine needles and dampened leaves. Laura had passed through the April shower a few miles east of the Stenburg town limits sign. Leave it to the Stenburgs to live in a town named after themselves.
Snaggled grapevines across the road on Hattie’s property sat stoic and graying in long horizontal rows from the oil and gravel highway road to the classic red brick two-story at the top of the hill. The vines showed no signs of new growth even though T-posts held the outstretched limbs twisted within wire and sagging driplines. Gnarled stumps had been left behind from a time when the Stenburgs had added varietal grapes to their company’s wine processing vats prior to Warren Stenburg’s death nearly eight years ago—before Laura’s dad took over as the Texas corporation’s chief executive officer.
– Excerpted from A Hush at Midnight by Marlene Bell, Ewephoric Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with permission.
Marlene M. Bell has never met a sheep she didn’t like. As a personal touch, her fans often find these wooly creatures visiting her international romantic suspense, thriller, and cozy mystery books as characters or subject matter.
Marlene’s multi-award-winning Annalisse series boasts numerous Best Mystery honors for all installments including the newest IP Best Regional Australia/New Zealand, and Global Gold Award for the fourth cozy mystery from down under.
Her children’s picture book, Mia and Nattie: One Great Team! written for the younger crowd, is based on true events from the Bell’s Texas sheep ranch. Suitable reading for ages 3 – 7 years and beyond, a Mom’s Choice Gold Award winner, and Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Short List winner.
Officer Bella Streit’s abduction has yet to make headlines. Her captor once
again humiliates police by nabbing Captain Stark’s protective detail from
the precinct parking lot. Her predecessor, the third officer taken, adds to
the comedic nature of embarrassing the police. Taken from the scene of an
accident, Officer Tauron Sandoval’s handling reflects the lengths at which
Pin will go to feed his hunger. Now with Bella secured, Pin no longer
needing Tauron leaves her to a fast moving hourglass of life. Her minimal
sands flow as two other officers succumb.
Pin seeks revenge through torturing those he deems as old police.
Detectives Rix and Jain work the case. They find a roadmap offering clues to
the serial killer’s endgame. The roadmap given to them by informants.
However, unknown by the detectives is Pin also has informants feeding him
information. Double agent informants play their roles as if trained spies.
Both parties question the loyalties while traversing to the ultimate
showdown.
Surviving Karma will require finding the common ingredient to their
sandwiches of life.
Well, Mark’s just a guy who made a life-changing promise.
Mark prides himself on being a family man, entrepreneur and now, author.
Trained to be a certified logistics professional, Mark got a certificate in
video and television production. Script writing class helped expand a love
for transforming ideas into stories. One of those first scripts would become
a first novel, Challenging Karma.
The published author experience has always placed high on a list of
dreams.
Mark’s late mother would be the one to give the push needed to make
the dream a reality. After reading a first draft; she offered encouragement
toward finishing a yet to be named story. The self-published Karma series is
how he is keeping a promise to her.
