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Marianne Harden loves a good laugh. So much so, she cannot stop humor from spilling into her books. Over the years she has backpacked through the wilds of Australia, explored the exotics of Asia, soaked up the sun in the Caribbean, and delighted in the historic riches of Europe. Her goals in life are simple: do more good than harm and someday master the do-not-mess-with-me look. She divides her time between Switzerland and Washington State where she lives with her husband and two children.
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Is it strange to have the unemployment office on speed dial? Not for twenty-four-year-old college dropout Rylie Keyes. However, her current job at a small retirement home is worlds more important than all her past gigs. Fact is, if she loses this one, she’ll fail to stop the forced sale of her grandfather’s home, a modest lakeside bungalow that has been in the family for ages. But to keep her job she needs to figure out the truth behind the death of a senior citizen found murdered in her care.
The victim was thought to be a penniless man with a silly grudge against Rylie. However, his enemies will do whatever it takes to keep their part in his murder secret.
Forced to dust off the PI training she must keep hidden from her ex-detective grandfather, Rylie has to juggle the attentions of two very sexy, very different cops who both arouse and fluster her at the same time. And as she trudges through the case, she has no idea that along the way she just might win, or lose, a little piece of her heart.
BOOK DETAILS:
Genre: Contemporary Romance (Mystery)
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Entangled Select
Publication Date: October 22nd, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62266-033-9PURCHASE LINKS:
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Kevin has worked in the IT industry since the 1970s. (Yes, there WERE computers around in the 70s!) He has worked and lived in England, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and has travelled extensively around the world.
For years he wrote reports, technical books and papers in the IT industry, but all that time there was a novelist waiting to get out.
He’d always enjoyed crime, mystery and political thriller novels, as well as more general stories – and even some science fiction!
Authors he long admired include (in no particular order) Frederick Forsyth, John Le Carre, Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter, Henning Mankell, John Braine, Stan Barstow, Fred Hoyle, Frank Herbert, Stieg Larsson, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley.
For years he wanted to write his own novel but work, family, inertia, fear all got in the way. Finally, after massive encouragement from his wife, he started. The end result, after more than a year’s work, is his first (and hopefully not last) novel The Andersen Plan.
This interesting mix of political and crime thriller is set in England and Australia, where he lived for many years.
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Writing and Reading:
Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
A bit of both. This novel is mostly drawn from reflections of current events but all the locations are places I know well.
Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
I had a rough outline and started writing different bits, in rough chronological order, but sometimes I would go back. Parts of the plot and some of the characters changed several times in the process
Your routine when writing? Any idiosyncrasies?
Much of the early work on the book was written sitting in my car in a car park. I guess that’s a bit odd. I prefer my first draft to be scribbled in a notebook rather than typed. I type it up later and do a bit of tidying up in the process. I did the final version and editing on my laptop. I don’t have a set time of day or a specific place to write. When I’m on holiday somewhere warm I like to mix writing with lying in the sun and swimming.
Is writing your full time job? If not, may I ask what you do by day?
When I wrote the first draft I was working full time as a freelance IT project manager. When the job ended I took some time off to finish off the book and edit and publish it. Although I am looking out for more freelance work I am currently writing full time. If I can achieve any success with it I would love to become a full time writer.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
That’s quite a long list for different reasons. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley for their predictions of where society was heading; science fiction writers like Isaac Asimov, Fred Hoyle, Frank Herbert and Arthur C Clarke; crime fiction – Stieg Larson Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter, Henning Mankell; philosophy / economics – John Gray, Daniel Kahneman; political thrillers – Frederick Forsythe
What are you reading now?
“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. It’s good but a bit heavy going. When I’ve finished I want to relax with the new Rebus novel.
Are you working on your next novel? Can you tell us a little about it?
I’m currently working on a sequel to The Andersen Plan, tentatively titled The Andersen Contract. It’s a totally new plot line but follows on from the first book and uses many of the characters. Like the first book it mixes politics with crime and ranges from London to South Australia.
Fun questions:
Your novel will be a movie. Who would you cast?
In my book the main “baddies” are Australian Brothers Greg and Tony Andersen. From the moment I wrote them I envisaged Javier Bardem playing both of them (if he can master a decent Australian accent), mainly because of his chilling character in “No country for old men”
Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
Scribble in a notebook while I am creating, then type / edit on my laptop.
Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
In warm sunny weather I love walking, swimming, cycling, eating out. In cold weather I tend to hibernate, watch TV, read and play my guitar and bass. I also love art galleries. I would have liked to have been a painter but I don’t think I have the talent for it.
Favorite meal?
I like most things but particularly really tasty dishes such as chilli, curry and possibly my favourite is a good paella.
When a young British man goes missing in Australia, his fiancée forms an unlikely partnership with an ambitious newspaper reporter; the pair travel to the Outback to investigate.
It’s 2022 and Britain’s economy has been in steady decline for the last decade. As a result of the ongoing employment crisis, thousands of young Brits travel to Australia each year, in search of work. But Australia’s economy has taken a turn for the worse too, and the government has tightened its immigration laws to curb the flow of migrant workers.
A pair of Australian brothers, Greg and Tony Andersen, devise an illicit scam to take advantage of the situation: Greg Andersen, the elder brother, is based in the UK where he entices young jobseekers by promising to help them find work; the unsuspecting Brits are then sent on a plane, having apparently had all the appropriate paperwork taken care of, only to be met on the other side by Tony Andersen who beats them up, takes their money and leaves them stranded in the Outback. When the bloodthirsty Tony gets carried away and one of their victims ends up dead, the police start to take notice – DI Brian Chambers launches an investigation into the mystery of the growing number of missing and robbed Brits, in this bizarre new form of people smuggling.
Alan Warner is a young Englishman who is enticed by The Andersens’ scheme, and sets off to Australia in hope of starting a new life there. When he arrives in Australia all communication with him stops. Then his fiancée Carol sees a newspaper article about Brits going missing in Australia and fears that Alan might be headed towards the same fate. Not knowing where else to turn, she contacts the journalist who wrote the piece, John Foster. The pair, now almost certain that Alan is a victim of the same series of robberies being investigated by the police, decide to travel to Australia to find him. When they arrive in the small South Australian town of Mannum, they join forces with DI Brian Chambers who confirms that Alan is missing, but warns them not to interfere with his investigations. Carol is devastated but John is distracted by his wild affair with their Australian guide, Debbie.
Will The Andersen’s be caught and Alan Warner saved, or will Carol, John and Debbie’s reckless vigilantism undermine any chance of finding him alive? Is Alan dead or kidnapped – and why?
BOOK DETAILS:
Genre: Crime Thriller
Published by: CreateSpace (paperback) and KDP (ebook)
Publication Date: 1st August 2013
Pages: 206
ISBN: 978-1491235560PURCHASE LINKS:
After some thirty years writing everything from political encyclopedias to software manuals, I retired from corporate life to write fiction, travel, and play on the beach. Since that time, I’ve traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world. I live most of the year in Hollywood, Florida, with my two doggie best friends, Mattie and Jakey, where I own and manage a vacation rental business.
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Things are not always what they seem in Liz Stauffer’s fast paced book of murder, mystery, and intrigue. When the “breakfast club” ladies of idyllic Mount Penn see bruises on Clare Ballard’s pretty face, they suspect her hot-headed husband of abusing her, but the truth is much more complicated. When violence disrupts this Appalachian village’s lazy routine, the ladies, led by the irascible Lillie Mae Harris, jump feet first into danger as bodies appear, neighbors disappear, and Clare is arrested for murder. Follow Lillie Mae and the other “breakfast club” ladies, who, armed with casseroles and pastries, help the police uncover the deep secrets this town hides beneath its perfect facade.
“Clare’s dead!”
When she spoke the words, her voice was so low it was barely above a whisper. The sturdy woman with short, curly red hair dropped the handset back into its cradle and began to pace, the phone still ringing on the other end of the line.
Lillie Mae Harris stopped at the front window, taking no notice of the white buds that were just opening on the two Bradford pear trees in her front yard, or the spring flowers peeping through the freshly hoed soil in the close- by flower bed. Her thoughts were of Clare.
She had the best view in Mount Penn from this window. On a winter’s morning she could see for some thirty miles out over the valley with the big blue sky as the backdrop. The night view was even more amazing, offering a shower of dancing lights in the distance competing only with the brightest stars.
It was now early spring and the vista had already begun to shrink even though the trees were just beginning to bud. Once the trees were filled out with big green leaves the view would pull in even more until fall when the colors exploded and the view once again took one’s breath away. But today the scenery did nothing to still Lillie Mae’s pounding heart or quell her shaking hands. She couldn’t stop worrying about Clare. Rushing back to the phone, she scooped it up, and punched in a familiar number.
“Hello.” Alice Portman answered in her sweet Southern drawl, after just one ring. Her Jack Russell terrier, Alfred, barked in the background.
“Clare’s not answering her phone this morning,” Lillie Mae said. “I’m so worried about her, Alice. I’m not sure what to do.”
“Settle down, Lillie Mae,” Alice said, shushing Alfred. “Why are you more concerned today?”
“You were at the water meeting last night,” Lillie Mae said. “You saw how Roger was acting. Yelling and screaming like an idiot. When he’s gotten that riled up in the past, Clare’s been his punching bag.”
“Well, yes,” Alice agreed, deliberately slowing the pace of the conversation. “But, Roger was just being Roger last night, dear. Just showing off. I didn’t see anything unusual in his behavior. Certainly nothing to make you so worried this morning.”
“He was acting worse than usual,” Lillie Mae insisted, still pacing the living room floor. “And I’m sure he drank himself crazy when the meeting was finally over. That’s the real reason I’m worried, Alice. You know how he is when he drinks. What he does to Clare.”
“Roger playacts, you know, when it suits him, Lillie Mae,” Alice said, her voice still soft and cool. “He knows he’s going to make a lot of money hooking people up to the public water in a few short months, but he wants to come across as the good guy to his neighbors, not the money grubbing fool that he is. He’ll use every wile that he has to seduce the community. If the project fails, which it won’t this time, he looks like he’s the man who stopped it. If it passes, he wins big time.”
“You’re probably right, Alice,” Lillie Mae said, calming a bit. “I know Roger is shrewd. If he wasn’t always out there trying to make a deal, he wouldn’t be Roger, I guess.”
“So, stop overreacting, Lillie Mae. What’s brought all this on anyway?”
“I’ve been calling Clare’s house all morning and nobody answers the phone,” Lillie Mae said. “It’s stupid, I know, but I picture Clare lying on her kitchen floor, needing my help. Dead, even.”
A sigh escaped Alice’s lips. “You’re way over dramatizing this morning, Lillie Mae,” she said. “Roger’s not even home. He drove by me in that stupid yellow Hummer of his while Alfred and I were out on our early morning walk.”
“That’s good to hear,” Lillie Mae said. “Stop imagining the worst, Lillie Mae. Clare’s probably out, too. It’s such a warm spring day. Doesn’t she usually go grocery shopping on Wednesday mornings?”
“Maybe,” Lillie Mae conceded. “Or she could be in her garden, I guess.”
“She’ll call you back when she gets to it,” Alice said, a hint of impatience in her voice.
“I doubt if she does.” Lillie Mae’s voice broke. “She rarely calls me anymore. We’ve been such good friends for so many years and I miss her, Alice. I wish I knew what I did wrong.”
“Clare’s changing, Lillie Mae. She’s getting stronger. Give the girl some space.”
“I’ve noticed a change, too,” Lillie Mae said, “since Billy went off to university. She does have more confidence, I’ll give you that.”
“Have you written your article on the water meeting for the Antioch Gazette, yet?” Alice asked. “I thought it was due today.”
“Not yet,” Lillie Mae confessed. “I’ve been too worried about Clare.”
“Maybe being busy will take your mind off things that are not really any of your business,” Alice said.
“I guess you’re right,” Lillie Mae said. “Clare’s a big girl and can take care of herself.”
“I know that well,” Lillie Mae said, then suddenly turned serious again when her thoughts returned to Clare. “I’m walking down to Clare’s to check things out before I start on the article. I need to make certain she’s all right, or I won’t be able to concentrate on my work. Do you want to come along?”
“No, you go on, if it’ll make you feel better,” Alice said. “You can fill me in on the details at dinner this evening.”
BOOK DETAILS:
Genre: Mystery & Detective – Women Sleuths
Publisher: Sartoris Literary Group
Publication Date: June 28, 2013
Number of Pages: 244 pages
ISBN-10: 0989318605
ISBN-13: 978-0989318600PURCHASE LINKS:
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“I grew up in rural Derbyshire, but my adult life has been spent mostly in London, with long intervals in Norfolk and Deal, all inspiring places. I was educated mostly in convent schools; then studied English and went on to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution Service, thus learning a bit about murder at second hand. Years later, writing became the real vocation, although the law and its ramifications still haunt me and inform many of my novels.
I’m a novelist, short story writer for magazines and radio, sometime Radio 4 contributor, (Front Row, Quote Unquote, Night Waves,) and presenter of Tales from the Stave. When I’m not working (which is as often as possible), I can be found in the nearest junk/charity shop or auction, looking for the kind of paintings which enhance my life. Otherwise, with a bit of luck, I’m relaxing by the sea with a bottle of wine and a friend or two.”-Frances Fyfield
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Marianne Shearer is at the height of her career, a dauntingly successful barrister, respected by her peers and revered by her clients. So why has she killed herself? Her latest case had again resulted in an acquittal, although the outcome was principally due to the death of the prime witness after Marianne’s forceful cross-examination. Had this wholly professional and unemotional lawyer been struck by guilt or uncertainty, or is there some secret to be discovered in her blandly comfortable private life? Her tenacious colleague Peter Friel is determined to find out of that last trial held the reason for her taking her own life. The transcript holds intriguing clues, but it is another witness at the trial who holds the key to the truth.
The trial had gone wrong on her, with the right result, certainly, one achieved through exploitation of weakness, legal argument, bullying, manipulation and luck. The suicide of the prime witness could only be called a misfortune. A thoroughly professional hatchet job on her part, in other words. It was for the prosecution to prove their case and for her to destroy it; she had done the latter but the result would not cover her with glory simply because it would be seen as an outrageous piece of cruel luck, rather than advocacy.
She would not want to say goodbye. She would never want to see him again, but he was fresh out of jail and for the first time he was leaving the court via the front door and not via the prison van. The prison van, he had told her, was an exquisitely uncomfortable mode of transport, like traveling on the inside of a human time bomb complete with molded plastic seats and manacles.
BOOK DETAILS:
Genre: Crime Thriller
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: 11/26/2013
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780062301864PURCHASE LINKS:
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