Guest Author LOUISE GAYLORD showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME LOUISE GAYLORD

AUTHOR NAME

Louise Gaylord is an acclaimed national award-winning author who established herself with her very
first book, a suspenseful murder mystery centering on a young, sharp female assistant district attorney.
This was the cornerstone of what has become her popular Allie Armington mystery series, the idea for
it sparked when Louise herself spent three months on a grand jury panel.

The series has grown to four novels, with stories ranging from the Southwest (“Anacacho” and “Spa Deadly”) to New York (“Xs”), to the most recent (“Dark Lake”) featuring her beloved Adirondacks.

In the middle of establishing her mystery writer credentials, she expanded out of the genre with an insightful character study novel, “Julia Fairchild,” and then the delightful “Recipes from Camp Trillium.” The cookbook features worldwide recipes from Louise’s family and guests during years they visited her in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

Her first Allie Armington Mystery, “Anacacho,” won the 2003 National Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery/Suspense sponsored by Publisher’s Marketing Association in Los Angeles. The San Francisco Book Festival awarded Louise with best audio book in 2010 for “Spa Deadly.” “Recipes from Camp Trillium” won the Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Awards, in which “Julia Fairchild” and “Spa Deadly” were also finalists. And most recently, “Dark Lake” was recognized in the General Fiction category of the Los Angeles Book Festival.

Louise’s newest book, “Sutton Place,” will be published August 27, 2013, by Little Moose Press,
Beverly Hills, California.

Louise lives in Houston, Texas, though she might be found writing almost anywhere in the world.
Connect with Ms. Gaylord at these sites:

WEBSITE TWITTER

Q&A with “Sutton Place” author Louise Gaylord

What will fans of “Julia Fairchild” like about your newest book, “Sutton Place?”
“Sutton Place” is the prequel to “Julia Fairchild”. The reader learns in detail about the incidents that drove Julia from New York to New Mexico.

Three months serving on a grand jury panel inspired your Allie Armington mystery series. How did you come up with Julia’s character?
Julia just “grew like Topsy” in my mind. She’s a composite of all the strong women I have known.  Lies, family secrets, obsessions – will Julia ever catch a break?  She catches her break in “Julia Fairchild”.

Your mystery novels are known for having very unexpected twists and surprise endings. How do you keep readers on their toes?
I don’t outline so sometimes I even surprise myself! I really write to amuse myself. One of my writing instructors said I should have fun when writing. I have a friend who writes a chapter here and then a chapter there. I can’t do that. I have to write in a linear fashion.

As a successful, award-winning mystery writer, you stepped out of the genre to work on a few other books, including Recipes from Camp Trillium. What’s your favorite dish to stir up in the kitchen?
Grandma Betsy’s Chicken. My mother put Lawry’s seasoning and Worchester sauce on everything. This made a nice, simple one-dish meal to serve all. To make it, you just need chicken, Worcestershire sauce and Lawry’s® Seasoned Salt. Then add any vegetable of your choice. Cut up potatoes, mushrooms, onions or red bell peppers, carrots, almost anything except greens. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Quarter the chicken or cut it into single-serving pieces. Place the chicken skin side up in an aluminum foil-lined pan. Throw the vegetables all around it. Douse it with Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Bake that for 25 to 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

You studied art history in college after your grade-school teachers encouraged you to do
something with your painting skills. How has painting helped you write?
I’m a very visual person. So I can imagine a scene as if I’m painting it and portray that in words on page. A lot of people who write also paint. I noticed though that I never had a problem dropping the paintbrush to go play tennis or golf.  But once I started writing I couldn’t leave my computer.

You’re churning out books left and right. What are you working on now?
An Allie Armington Mystery. The working title is: “A Cruise to Die For.” Stay tuned!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Just When Things Seem to be Going So Well…

…a horrific incident from Julia Fairchild’s past — one she thought had been buried long ago —comes
charging back into her life. Then a promising romantic weekend goes bad, which makes staying at Sutton Place more than Julia can handle. So she flees her home, her family…her life. But apparently, she can’t go far enough.

The Fairchilds were a happy family of wealthy New York stock, with two loving daughters. Until the
secrets started to surface.

The first secret was revealed when Julia was told the truth about her father. Her reaction to the
revelation sent her spinning out of control.

The second secret concerned the parentage of Julia’s sister, Ariel. How Ariel responded to the
revelation astounded the rest of the family.

Now Julia is building a superb reputation at one of New York’s finest hospitals. The future looks bright
until a romantic weekend turns into a disaster. Fleeing home and family, she moves to New Mexico
and starts to pull her life together.

Just when it looks like things are heading toward happily-ever-after, events in New York draw Julia
back to Sutton Place, where she learns of Ariel’s secret life and finds herself facing her worst
nightmare.

Sutton Place moves a mile a minute and never lets you see what’s coming around the next turn.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Suspense
Published by: Little Moose Press
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Number of Pages: 261
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9893988-1-7
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9893988-2-4
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9893988-3-1

PURCHASE LINKS:

              

THANKS TO SAMANTHA AT JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I
HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS
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ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author RAYMOND KHOURY showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME RAYMOND KHOURY

RAYMOND KHOURY

RAYMOND KHOURY is a New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Last Templar, The Templar Salvation and The Sanctuary. Born in Beirut, Khoury and his family fled to Rye, New York when he was 14 to escape Lebanon’s civil war. Khoury worked as an architect and investment banker before becoming a successful screenwriter and producer for networks such as BBC. Today, he focuses on his writing career. Rasputin’s Shadow is his sixth book.
Connect with Raymond at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

On a cold, bleak day in 1916, all hell breaks loose in a mining pit in the Ural Mountains. Overcome by a strange paranoia, the miners attack one another, savagely and ferociously. Minutes later, two men—a horrified scientist and Grigory Rasputin, trusted confidant of the tsar—hit a detonator, blowing up the mine to conceal all evidence of the carnage.

In the present day, FBI agent Sean Reilly’s search for Reed Corrigan, the CIA mindcontrol spook who brainwashed Reilly’s son, takes a backseat to a new, disturbing case. A Russian embassy attaché seems to have committed suicide by jumping out of a fourth-floor window in Queens. The apartment’s owners, a retired physics teacher from Russia and his wife, have gone missing, and further investigation reveals that the former may not be who the FBI believe him to be.

Joined by Russian Federal Security Service agent Larisa Tchoumitcheva, Reilly’s investigation of the old man’s identity will uncover a desperate search for a small, mysterious device, with consequences that reach back in time and which, in the wrong hands, could have a devastating impact on the modern world.

Packed with the twists, intrigue, and excitement that Khoury’s many fans have come to expect, Rasputin’s Shadow will keep readers turning pages long into the night.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Historical Thriller
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: October 8, 2013
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN-978-0-525-95313-5

PURCHASE LINKS:

            

THANKS TO ALISSA AT MEDIA MUSCLE,
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HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS
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ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author SHANNON RICHARD showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME SHANNON RICHARD

SHANNON RICHARD

Grace King knows two things for certain: she loves working at her grandmother’s café and she loves the hunky town sheriff. She always has. As she bakes him sweet treats, Grace fantasizes about helping him work up an appetite all night long. But whenever she thinks she’s finally getting somewhere, he whips out some excuse to escape. Growing up, he never looked twice at her. Now Grace won’t rest until she has Jax’s undivided attention.

Jaxson Anderson can’t deny that his best friend’s kid sister is the sexiest woman in Mirabelle, Florida. Unwilling to burden Grace with his painful past, Jax keeps the sassy blonde at arm’s length. Yet one heated kiss crumbles all of his carefully built defenses. But when a town secret surfaces, threatening to destroy everything they have believed in, can the man who defended Grace from bullies as a child protect her now?
Connect with Shannon at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Shannon Richard grew up in the Panhandle of Florida as the baby sister of two overly protective, but loving brothers. She was raised by a more than somewhat eccentric mother, a self-proclaimed vocabularist who showed her how to get lost in a book, and a father who passed on his love for coffee and really loud music. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s in English Literature, and still lives in Tallahassee where she battles everyday life with writing, reading, and a rant every once in a while. Okay, so the rants might happen on a regular basis. She’s still waiting for her Southern, scruffy, Mr. Darcy and in the meantime writes love stories to indulge her overactive imagination. Oh, and she’s a pretty big fan of the whimsy.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Romance – Contemporary
Print Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Forever
Publication: Date: October 1, 2013
ASIN: B00BAXFZTC

PURCHASE LINKS:

           

THANKS TO JULIE AT GCP/FOREVER,
I
HAVE ONE (1) EBOOK COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
VIA NETGALLEY.  MUST HAVE AN ACCOUNT
FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW
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ADDENDUM
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Mailbox Monday

October is being hosted by Gina @ Book Dragon’s Lair

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
Click on title for synopsis via IndieBound (I am an IndieBound affiliate)
Monday:  Flash And Dazzle by Lou Aronica from The Story Plant

Guest Author CHERYL RAINFIELD showcase & giveaway

WELCOME CHERYL RAINFIELD

CHERYL RAINFIELD

“I write the books I needed as a teen and couldn’t find.” – Cheryl Rainfield

Cheryl Rainfield is the author of the award-winning SCARS, a novel about Kendra, a queer teen sexual abuse survivor who uses self-harm to cope; STAINED (Oct 1) about Sarah, a teen with a port-wine stain and body image issues who is abducted and must rescue herself; the award-winning HUNTED, a novel about a teen telepath in a world where any paranormal power is illegal; and PARALLEL VISIONS, about a teen who sees visions of the future–but only when she has an asthma attack. She’s also the author of two hi-lo books for reluctant readers: The Last Dragon and Walking Both Sides. Cheryl Rainfield is an incest and ritual abuse survivor, a feminist, queer, and an avid reader and writer. She lives in Toronto with her little dog Petal.

Cheryl Rainfield has been said to write with “great empathy and compassion” (VOYA) and to write stories that “can, perhaps, save a life.” (CM Magazine) SLJ said of her work: “[readers] will be on the edge of their seats.”
Connect with Cheryl at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this heart-wrenching and suspenseful teen thriller, sixteen-year-old Sarah Meadows longs for “normal.” Born with a port-wine stain covering half her face, all her life she’s been plagued by stares, giggles, bullying, and disgust. But when she’s abducted on the way home from school, Sarah is forced to uncover the courage she never knew she had, become a hero rather than a victim, and learn to look beyond her face to find the beauty and strength she has inside. It’s that—or succumb to a killer.

BOOK DETAILS:

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 10/1/2013
Pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780547942087

PURCHASE LINKS:

       

THANKS TO AUTHOR CHERYL RAINFIELD & JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I
HAVE ONE (1) SET OF 3 PREVIOUS TITLES TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO ALL-EBOOKS
        
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ADDENDUM
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Guest Author JESSICA LEMMON showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME JESSICA LEMMON

JESSICA LEMMON

Jessica Lemmon has always been a dreamer. At some point, she decided head-in-the-clouds thinking was childish, went out, and got herself a job . . . and then she got another one because that one was lousy. And when that one stopped being fulfilling, she went out and got another . . . and another. Soon it became apparent she’d only be truly happy doing what she loved. And since “eating potato chips” isn’t a viable career, she opted to become a writer. With fire in her heart, she dusted off a book she’d started years prior, finished it, and submitted it. It may have been the worst book ever, but it didn’t stop her from writing another one. Now she has several books finished, several more started, and even more marinating in her brain (which currently resides in the clouds, thankyouverymuch), and she couldn’t be happier. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want. (While eating potato chips.)
Connect with Jessica at these sites:

WEBSITE TWITTER

 

Sadie Howard would never admit there’s such a thing as love at first sight, but she can’t deny the connection between her and sexy Adonis Aiden Downey. She also can’t deny she loves to kiss him-his mouth might be his most precious asset. Despite every promise to herself not to get involved any deeper than a first date, she can’t keep from seeing more of Aiden . . . in more ways than one.

Aiden Downey had no idea the hot blonde from the club would trigger his protective, gentle nature, but the moment she drops her guard and he sees the real Sadie Howard, he’s a goner. When a family crisis puts the brakes on their budding romance, can Aiden find a way to hold on to her? Or will he lose the best thing in his life just as quickly as he found her?

BOOK DETAILS:

Print Length: 89 pages
Publisher: Forever Yours
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
ASIN: B00DLC88C6

PURCHASE LINKS:

        

ONCE BURNED Sadie Howard never dates a guy more than once-but Fate has other plans for her when it comes to Aiden Downey, the one that got away. Aiden loved her, left her, and broke her heart. Yet suddenly she’s bumping into him at every turn, driven to distraction by his wicked grin and rock-hard body. Now she can’t resist finishing what they started-as long as she doesn’t let herself fall in love . . .

TWICE AS TEMPTING
Aiden Downey threw away the best thing he ever had when he let Sadie go, and now he’s determined to win back the woman he’s always wanted. Sadie agrees to let him into her life-and her bed-as long as there are no strings attached. But Aiden’s not about to make the same mistake again. Can he convince her to take a second chance on a once-in-a-lifetime love?

BOOK DETAILS:

Print Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
ASIN: B00AG0VMYM

PURCHASE LINKS:

           

THANKS TO JULIE AT GCP/FOREVER,
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HAVE ONE (1) EBOOK COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
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ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author KENNETH JOHN ATCHITY

WELCOME KENNETH JOHN ATCHITY

KENNETH JOHN ATCHITY

The author of The Messiah Matrix, Kenneth John Atchity, at the age of ten began instructions in the Latin language from a multi-lingual Jesuit mentor and went on to continue his study of Latin, and to begin Homeric Greek, and French at the Jesuit high school, Rockhurst, in Kansas City, Missouri. He won an Ignatian Scholarship to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated as an English/Classics major and won the University Honor Program’s prestigious Virgilian Academy Silver Medal for his nationally-tested knowledge of Virgil’s Aeneid.

At Georgetown, he added to his four years of high school Homeric Greek with studies of Attic and Koinaic Greek as well as further studies in Homer and four more years of Latin. He spent his junior year summer at King’s College, Cambridge.

Atchity received his Ph.D. from Yale in Comparative Literature, after adding Italian to his seven languages, focused on the study of Dante under Harvard’s Dante della Terza and Yale’s Thomas Bergin. His dissertation, Homer’s Iliad: The Shield of Memory, was awarded the Porter Prize, Yale Graduate School’s highest academic honor. His mentors at Yale included Thomas Bergin, Thomas Greene, A. Bartlett Giamatti, Richard Ellinger, Eric Segal, and Lowry Nelson, Jr.

He was professor of literature and classics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, 1970-87, served as chairman of the comparative literature department, and as Fulbright Professor to the University of Bologna. His academic career included books on Homer and Italian literature, and dozens of academic articles and reviews. During his years at Occidental, Atchity was a frequent columnist for The Los Angeles Times Book Review, where he reviewed the novels of Umberto Eco, Doris Lessing, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, and many others.

In a second career Atchity represented writers of both fiction and nonfiction, accounting for numerous bestsellers and movies for both television and big screen. In the tradition of Dominick Dunne, Sidney Sheldon, and Steven Cannell he has drawn on his professional experience with storytelling to write The Messiah Matrix.
Connect with Ken at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

Q&A with Ken Atchity

Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
As all novelists do, I draw from both. Oddly enough my novel unwittingly predicted the pope’s resignation and the election of an Argentine Jesuit. But it also reflects my adolescent experiences growing up Catholic and wondering if God would really send someone to hell for eating meat on Friday or stealing $5.00 worth of peas instead of $4.99 worth.

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
I do both. I start wherever the sharpest image begins and work backwards or forwards accordingly. That’s the beauty of this computer age—you can go either way. Write the scene you feel like writing today, and put it wherever it’s supposed to go later.

Your routine when writing? Any idiosyncrasies?
Although I’m a morning person, I write any time of day I can steal an hour or two from my editing, managing, coaching and producing. On an ideal day, I write from five to seven a.m. Over the years I’ve taught myself to write anywhere, and particularly love writing on the plane. I use a stopwatch to make sure I get my two hours in every day.

Is writing your full time job? If not, may I ask what you do by day?
I’ve never written full time. I write when I have something to say or have a story to tell, which has, I admit, gotten to be more and more often. My day job is coaching other storytellers on how to get their stories to their maximum audiences in today’s challenging and changing world—and editing, managing, representing, and producing stories.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
Aside from my own clients, my favorite authors go back to Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Sterne, Wallace Stevens, Thomas Hardy, Melville, Garcia-Marquez, and Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

What are you reading now?
Preparatory to writing The Hong Kong Reversion, I’m rereading Ian Fleming’s wonderful James Bond books as well as James Patterson, and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.  I read all day, for joy, for research, and because my dayjob is helping storytellers find their audiences.

Are you working on your next novel? Can you tell us a little about it?
I’m currently working on AFI, Inc., the first in a series of memoirs, prior to completing The Hong Kong Reversion, a thriller set in Hong Kong.

Your novel will be a movie. Who would you cast?
I’d die to have Claire Danes as Emily Scelba.

Would you rather read or watch TV/movie?
Yes.

Favorite food?
My grandmother’s Syrian beans.

Favorite beverage?
Vodka martini.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Messiah Matrix by Kenneth John Atchity is a fast-paced contemporary thriller in which a young Jesuit priest becomes romantically entwined with a vivacious archaeologist as they pursue the hidden history that links Jesus Christ with Augustus Caesar. A year before it occurred, the novel predicted the resignation of the pope and the election of an Argentine Jesuit to succeed him. In a story that will leave readers breathless and hungry for more, Atchity weaves a compelling tale about the foundations of today’s Roman Catholic Church lying deep in the religious rituals of the ancient Roman Empire.

From the first page to the last The Messiah Matrix takes the reader on a riveting adventure from the ancient city of Caesarea in Israel to Rome’s labyrinthine catacombs and beyond, and provides gripping evidence for all those who have ever wondered about the historical existence of the Christian Savior. The Messiah Matrix is a tour de force of modern drama and intrigue, classical scholarship, and early church history that will change the way you understand the birth of Christianity.

The Messiah Matrix may prove to be one of the most controversial novels ever written. Graeco-Roman scholar, professor, and producer Dr. Atchity is perhaps the only author alive today capable of creating this ground-breaking work.

READ AN EXCERPT

Prologue

The three-wheeled truck, having weathered World War II and every day after, carried its battle scars proudly as it hovered on the curb of Via del Plebiscito. Its V-shaped bumper was as jagged as a saw. Behind the wheel its latest owner, Zbysek Bailin, waited patiently, as though he were long accustomed to assassination on a rainy Wednesday evening.

A red umbrella rounded the corner from the Piazza del Gesù. Zbysek took in a breath and turned the ignition key. The engine coughed to an idle, purred raggedly awaiting further command from its driver. The silver-haired man ambled toward the intersection of Via degli Astalli that flanked the rear of the massive church. Purposely leaving his headlight off, Zbysek shifted into gear and bounced into the street. His foot pressed on the reluctant accelerator, the ancient vehicle climbing all too slowly up to speed.

The man had reached the intersection, and as he passed beneath the streetlight Zbysek thought he might well be deaf—he was so lost in thought he didn’t seem to hear the rumbling truck, even as it barreled toward him at full speed.

Clutching tight to the shaky steering wheel, Zbysek was hunched forward in the cab, eyes intent on his target. All he could see was the man’s bent back, crawling up Via Astalli like a praying mantis.

In seconds the truck had jumped the curb and was upon him.

The man swung around with his books and umbrella, a look of sudden shock on his face—the smile erased. His coat fell open.

For the first time, Zbysek saw his victim clearly in the light of the street lamp—the crisp white collar and the purple piping on his black vest.

His target was a monsignor!

Zbysek hauled at the wheel—but it was too late. His head struck the roof as the vehicle jerked over the body and slammed straight into the lamppost, thrusting Zbysek into the windshield and cracking his head on the glass. He climbed clumsily out of the cab and fell to his knees beside his victim. “Forgive me, father,” Zbysek finally choked out.

The old man’s face was twisted with pain. His narrowed eyes were glistening, blood trickling from his lips. He reached his hand toward his Angel of Death. He seemed to want to speak. Zbysek lowered his head to hear. The monsignor’s final whispered words confused and frightened him, and he leapt for the three-wheeler and fled from the scene.

I/1

Unholy Thursday

Father Ryan McKeown’s mood was less than reverential as he headed for the confessional where he was to perform his priestly duties. The lines of penitents in Gesù were short today. Perhaps because there’d been no major holidays recently or any coming soon, the “occasions of sin” were easier to avoid. Just as Ryan was about to step into the polished mahogany cubicle, a bedraggled man burst into the nave. The man headed for the first confessional, and knelt briefly. Moments later he unceremoniously leapt to his feet to join a short line at the next confessional booth, causing bowed heads to look up in curiosity. Ryan was bemused. Could a man’s sins be so grave he feels the need to come clean of them to several confessors?

Ryan settled himself behind the ivory baffle and listened, in turn, to an old man cursing God because his arthritis no longer allowed him to play bocce; to a teenager who abused himself fourteen times in the past seven days, using the image of his teacher, a nun, as inspiration—Father Ryan, doing his best to repress a smile, told him to say the rosary and promise never to sin again; and to a seminarian barely out of high school who asked if having concerns about his faith meant he should quit the seminary.

“Doubts are not in themselves a sin,” he told the young man. “Thomas, though he doubted, went on to become a great apostle and martyr. Not to mention Mother Teresa, whose troublesome doubts dogged at her heels even more persistently than Calcutta’s poor. I can tell you, it’s what you do with doubt that matters.” He questioned whether his comments had been of any service, or whether he should have simply referred the seminarian to a therapist. He’d often wondered where he’d be today if he himself hadn’t rejected psychotherapy as an option.

He was removing his stole to leave when a tardy penitent thumped down on the kneeler and activated the tiny red light. Ryan slid open the grate. In the obscure light he could see only enough to determine that his supplicant was a male. “Yes, my son?”

“Are you Father Ryan?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Ryan answered, before he could consider how the penitent could know his name.

“Thank God I’ve found you.”

Ryan realized he was speaking with the lost soul who’d been playing musical confessionals. “How long has it been since your last confession?”

“I killed a priest.” Ignoring the sacramental protocol, the man blurted it out in a coarse accent that Ryan had never heard before. Then, remembering the ritual formalities, the man added, “I don’t remember my last Confession. Many years ago, in Tirana.”

So the accent was Albanian. “What do you mean you killed a priest?”

“I hit him with my truck. He was a monsignor. I tried to help him. His eyes…oh my God! I got scared and drove away.”

Ryan’s heart went out to the man on the other side of the grate. The anguish in the man’s voice was dreadful. “An accident, no matter how grievous, is not a sin,” he said. “You simply have to—”

“It wasn’t an accident,” the immigrant interrupted. “I was paid to run him down.”

Ryan fell silent. What fate had led this man to his confessional today among so many hundreds in the Holy City?

“They didn’t tell me he was a monsignor.” Now the man was choking, the guttural sound poignantly wretched. “Oh, my God, I am damned to hell for all eternity.”

“Why would you accept payment for such an act?”

“I was desperate—I am desperate. My family has no money, my children need doctors—” The man’s explanations gave way to wrenching sobs. Then he regained control. “He looked at me. He told me words I didn’t understand. But I will hear them for the rest of my life.”

Reflexively Ryan slipped into his persona as an investigative scholar. “What were his words, my son?”

The poor man’s scream echoed in the hollowness of the empty church. “No!”

“It’s all right to tell me,” Ryan said. “You’re protected by the Seal of the Confessional, Holy Mother Church’s—”

“You don’t understand! It was Holy Mother Church…that paid me!”

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Romantic Thriller
Published by: Story Merchant Books
Publication Date: January 2013
Number of Pages: 353
ISBN: 978-095721-890-1

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