New Release— A Menacing Brew (A Kirkwood Clues Mystery) by Kate Fellowes

With the summer off, Amy is at loose ends.  Since her husband is busy with work and her son is at college, she reluctantly agrees to accompany her mom, Barbara, on a trip to visit an old college chum, Carl, who became a journalist.  Amy knows their long drive will be filled with too many of her mom’s stories about her personal Summer of Love, but she never expects they’ll find Carl dead in his basement practically the minute they arrive.  Things go from bad to worse when Barbara becomes the prime suspect in the crime, since she’ll inherit the dead man’s estate.

To clear Barbara’s name, she and Amy delve into Carl’s most recent assignment and discover a link to Kirkwood’s biggest employer, family-owned Stutger Brewery.  More than one skeleton lurks in the Stutger closet.  But are these old secrets still worth killing over? Or was Carl’s death motivated by an incident with more recent roots?

One thing’s for sure—Barbara and Amy are making few friends among locals with all their questions. As the brewery’s centennial celebration fast approaches, it’s time for Barbara and Amy to bring things to a head and unmask killers, past and present.

EXCERPT

     A crashing and banging came from the kitchen. Mom, moving around.

     "Didja find it?" she hollered. "I’ll bet a fuse blew, or a circuit tripped or somesuch."

     "I’ll bet," I muttered.

     Squeezing the flashlight, I headed down the shadowed hallway, like a modern-day gothic heroine, to find Mom.

     She wasn’t in the kitchen anymore.

     "Out here," she called from the enclosed back porch.

     "Would you please wait for me? If you wander around in the dark, you could fall and break something else," I said, joining her.

     "This must be the basement," she said, ignoring me to point at the dark open doorway leading into even more darkness. "Fuse box’ll be down there."

     I played the flashlight over the yawning pit and shuddered.

Amazon Ebook          Amazon Paperback

     

New Release -- Murder Most Fowl–Texas Style: A Texas Ranger James C. Blawcyzk Novel by James J Griffin

Texas Ranger Jim Blawcyzk is looking forward to an easy Monday, until he gets a call from the Llano County Sheriff. A woman has been murdered, the only clue a dead chicken hanging beside her. Before Jim can complete his investigation, another body—and another dead chicken—have been discovered in an abandoned truck. As the murders begin to stack up, so do the suspects, including a mysterious British couple who keep appearing at the scene of each unique killing. Is it mere coincidence, or something else? When cryptic notes begin arriving at the Llano newspaper office, they hint at more deaths to come. As Jim’s desperate search for the killer takes him from the back roads of Llano County to the dangerous club scene in downtown Austin, he races against time to stop the killings. But can he find the murderer before he or she strikes again? Or will the killer turn the tables and come after Jim for one last MURDER MOST FOWL—TEXAS STYLE…

EXCERPT

     The door to the chicken coop swung open, bathing its interior with rays of early morning sunlight.

     “Good morning, ladies. Isn’t it a lovely day?” the person who’d opened the door said to the hens, as he tossed feed on the coop’s dirt floor. “Who wants to be the first lucky lady to begin our new project?”

     Most of the hens jumped off their perches and out of their nest boxes to peck at the feed, cackling as they ate. One or two paused, cocked their heads, and looked at their owner. One of these was a Rhode Island Red, large and plump.

     “Ah, Camilla, yes. You are the perfect choice. Thank you. Come with me, my dear.”

     Camilla was scooped up, and tucked under her owner’s left arm. She pecked at the corn he held in his right hand, while he crossed the pen and latched its gate. Whistling, he stroked her head as he walked across the yard, then placed her in a crate in the back of his truck. Once certain the hen was secured, he got in the truck, started it, and drove off.

Trade paperback coming soon!

 

New Release — Deadly as the Driven Snow (A Calendar Clan Mystery Book 2) by Agnes Alexander

When a mortally wounded man turns up on the back porch of newlyweds June and Jason Striker, they know the honeymoon is definitely over. As Sheriff of Edison County, Jason can’t let a killer snowstorm stop him from trying to find the perpetrator of this crime—and June, a novice private investigator, is determined to help.

But the mystery deepens when other murdered victims are tossed out around the small North Carolina town, and a man tries to break in to the Striker household. What do these dead men have in common—or is some kind of message being sent? 

It all becomes dangerously personal when June and Jason’s home is attacked, and they must go into hiding to survive. Can they beat the clock to discover the killer’s motive before he strikes again? Or will their marriage end quickly, as DEADLY AS THE DRIVEN SNOW…

EXCERPT

     I turned from the window and let my mind come back to the present on this icy February day. I also let out a sigh of relief because the subject of Honduras had been dropped, at least for the time being. I busied myself putting the dirty breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. As I bent over to fill the slot on the door with liquid soap, Dingo came sauntering into the room. He stretched and twisted around my leg. I closed the dishwasher, then reached down and rubbed his long gray hair. He purred, and I knew he was asking for something to eat. The shower turned off, so I started the dishwasher and turned to the cat.

     “Come on, boy,” I said and headed for the laundry room which is connected to the mud room where our back door is located. Though we mostly come into the house from the side which leads into the garage, when Jason has muddy boots he comes in the back door, so he can deposit them there. This door leads to a glassed-in porch with another door and four steps down to the yard. I crossed this small room to get to the laundry room where I keep food for Dingo and Buzzy, Jason’s cat. After our marriage, we tried for a few weeks to make Buzzy an indoor cat, but he would have nothing to do with it. Jason ended up building him a fleece-lined house and we put a cat door in the garage, so he could come and go as he pleased. I’ve noticed that he’s staying in the garage more and more since the weather has turned cold.

     Dingo jumped in front of me and slid his body through his cat door into the laundry room. I had to wait until he wiggled his fat behind through the opening before I could open the big door and go inside. “I’ll get you fed then I’ll go feed Buzz,” I said. Though I know he ignores me, I talk to him anyway.

     Just as I took the can of food from the cabinet beside the washer, I heard a loud knock on the door leading outside. I left the laundry room door open and went to glance out the glass panels on the top half of the outside door. The blinds were closed, and I couldn’t see anything. I set the cat food down and moved to open the blinds, wondering who could be at our door so early on such a bad day.

I screamed and jumped back in horror as I looked at a man’s bloody face plastered against the glass. I think the man was trying to tell me something, but I wasn’t about to open the door.

      

New Release — Tough Month for a Ranger: A Texas Ranger James C. Blawcyzk Novel by James J. Griffin

It takes one tough man to make it as a Texas Ranger, and Jim Blawcyzk certainly qualifies. But surviving this particular month has been full of trials he never expected—and quitting never entered his mind.

After single-handedly arresting a ring of murderous cattle rustlers he caught red-handed, his next case is something that affects him for weeks. When a mentally-challenged young man is shot down right alongside him after Jim has guaranteed his safety, it sends the hardened Ranger into a downward spiral of self-doubt. Only a few days later, he barely escapes death again in a violent West Texas dust storm while transporting three felons.

Things finally come to a head in an all-out race riot when a Tejano deputy sheriff is gunned down, allegedly by a young black man. It’s up to Jim to find out what really happened, and what secrets the murdered deputy’s partner—who happens to be white—is keeping.

Can Ranger Jim Blawcyzk get to the bottom of what really took place that night, before an entire county explodes in violence? He will—or die trying—because no matter how dangerous a situation might be, it's no match for a Texas Ranger determined to uncover the truth. no matter the cost.

EXCERPT

     “All right, boys, you can stop right where you are,” Jim ordered. “Texas Ranger. Keep your hands where I can see ’em. Y’all are under arrest for cattle rustlin’.”
     One of the men eased his hand toward the pistol on his hip. Without even seeming to move, Jim shifted his rifle, so it was pointed directly at the man’s chest.
     “Uh-uh. I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jim said. “Unless you think you can keep on breathin’ with a big ol’ hole blown clean through your lungs.”
     Reluctantly, the man lifted his hand away from the weapon.
     “That’s better,” Jim said. “You two on the ground. Get in front of the others where I can see you.”
     The men did as ordered.
     “You can’t keep all of us covered, Ranger,” the man who’d started for his pistol said, with a scowl. “You just bit off a helluva lot more than you can chew.”
     “Maybe so,” Jim said, with a shrug. “But that’s not your worry, because if any of you or your partners try somethin’ stupid, you’ll be the first to take a bullet. I can guarantee I’ll take at least two or three of you with me before I go down. Any of you want to take that chance, that you’ll still be standin’ upright after I hit the ground?”

     

SHUT UP AND WRITE, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

Artwork: Mike Maihack

Christmas is coming! The emails for holiday book events are piling up in my inbox. Some of my best events are during the holidays, but it just adds more stress to an already stressful time.

When I get all balled up in promotion, I sometimes forget why I’m doing this in the first place. I long ago accepted my writing would never make me rich or famous, but a few bucks and a few fans mean a lot, so the promo must go on. What also must go on is the writing, itself. The story must continue, because that’s what it’s all about.

I love writing, though it isn’t terribly easy for me. After a stint at the computer, I feel like I’ve hauled a few truckloads of hay, then run a five-mile marathon. Carted a boulder up a steep hill. But I love that boulder and will do it again soon as my mind recovers enough to carry on. (The purring cat on my lap reminds me to mention that writing is a perfect opportunity to spend time with a favorite feline, as long as you don’t plan on moving too much.)

So even now I am being distracted from my stories. Blogs, announcements, posts, event pages, not to mention the daily living stuff like vacuuming and feeding the cats. All important, all reaching out to me like needy children vying for attention.

“Yes, kiddies, “ I say to the chorus of demanding cries. “All will be done in its own time.”

I press save, exit the program, turn away from the computer, and—tea in hand—move to my internet-less laptop which is where the stories happen.

The cat follows me, curling up for a quiet nap.

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

New Release -- The Case of the Lost Trophy Wife (A P.I. Berger Mystery Book 3) by Harol Marshall @prairierosepubs #mystery

 When prosperity gospel preacher Harvey Kow’s beautiful wife, Holly, goes missing in Tinseltown, P.I. Polly Berger’s investigative firm is hired to find her—and prove the Right Reverend Kow is innocent of any wrongdoing. 

But the wealthy preacher’s wife has some secrets of her own that come to light when one of Polly’s former clients, Cinda Mae Bradbury, divulges the past occupation of the missing woman. Did Holly Kow run away? Has she been kidnapped? Or, has something worse happened in Hollywood Hills?

With a killer on the loose, Polly is nearly murdered in a drive-by shooting, and the tarot card reader in Polly’s building mysteriously disappears after making a dire prediction for Polly’s ex-husband, Johnny’s future.

Can Polly, her assistant Bunny, and Johnny find Holly Kow before it’s too late? Their time is up, and their very survival depends on solving THE CASE OF THE LOST TROPHY WIFE…  

EXCERPT

     A minute or two after I’d informed Bunny of my decision to take the Kow case, I remembered the invoice I forgot to give him. I headed out to his desk with a copy of a statement from the L.A. Department of Power and Water.

     “One more bill to pay,” I said. “The best reason of all to work with a shyster like Bugsy.”

No sooner had the words left my mouth when all hell broke loose.

     “Holy sh—! Get down, Polly,” Bunny yelled, tackling me and dragging me behind his desk as a flurry of gunshots rang out.

     “What the—” I’d barely hit the floor when our building exploded in a fusillade of flying bullets and shattering glass and metal. The cannonade rivaled the Fourth of July at Dodger Stadium. I hoped our building’s earthquake fortifications were up to code, because there was a whole lot of shakin’ going on and not of the Jerry Lee Lewis variety. I listened for screams, wondering if anyone downstairs had been hit, but the only sounds reaching my ears were of the non-human variety.