August is being hosted by Penelope @ The Reading Fever

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 & Amazon (I am an IndieBound affiliate)

Monday: Pork Chops & Applesauce by Cynthia Briggs from Author for a WOW! tour

Thursday: Just Add Spice by Carol E Wyer ARC from Author for a PBP tour

Thursday: So Help Me God by Larry Thompson personal pick

Thursday: The Hit by John Grisham (audio) win from Bookin’ With Bingo
Saturday: The Quest by Nelson DeMille ARC from Center Street (Hachette Book Group)

Guest Author, Partners In Crime Tours, Showcase

Partners In Crime Tours Presents: Guest Author J.M. LeDUC

CMash August 9, 2013 Leave a Comment

WELCOME J.M. LeDUC

J.M. LeDUC

Mark Adduci, writing as J. M. LeDuc is native Bostonian, who transplanted to South Florida in 1985. He shares his love and life with his wife, Sherri and his daughter, Chelsea.

Blessed to have had a mother who loved the written word, her passion was passed on to him. It is in her maiden name he writes. When he is not crafting the plot of his next thriller, his alter ego is busy working as a professor at The Academy of Nursing and Health Occupations, a nursing college in West Palm Beach, Florida.

J.M. LeDuc’s first novel, “Cursed Blessing” won a Royal Palm Literary Award in 2008 as an unpublished manuscript in the thriller category. It was published in 2010. He has subsequently written Cursed Presence and Cursed Days, books two and three of the Trilogy of The Chosen, as well as a novella, Phantom Squad. He is a proud member of the Florida Writers Association (FWA) and the prestigious International Thriller Writers (ITW).
Connect with J.M. LeDuc at these sites:

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the blink of an eye, a life begins and another ends.

In a blink of an eye, Brent Venturi falls into the chasm of despair.

What do you do when everything is lost? When the person you loved is gone and all you have left is guilt? These are the questions that face Brent, the leader of the Phantom Squad and the latest in Noah’s line of descendants. His answer—go back to the beginning, back to where it all began—Mount Ararat.

The last known resting place of Noah’s Ark.

In his travels, Brent will meet Rowtag Achak, a Cree brave and Special Forces sniper who is on a similar path of self-destruction. Together, they will trace their steps from Palm Cove to Washington D.C., all the way to Armenia and the Khor Virap Monastery which sits at the base of Mount Ararat. Their travels will eventually take them to Alpha Camp and the Hindu Kush Mountains on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

When President Dupree and the Phantom Squad get captured by the Brotherhood of Gaza, time for introspection is over and time for action begins. Brent must find a way to get back to the man he was in order to save the people still left in his life.

What begins as a sabbatical of self-awareness turns into a mission of survival. His own, that of the squad and more importantly, that of the president of the United States. What man and nature takes away, only God can restore. The restoration of the Cornerstone.

To find the beginning, one must walk through the past and be willing to step into the future.

READ AN EXCERPT

Prologue
One month agoIn one combustible moment, Brent’s life became a tumultuous cascade of happiness and horror. He had witnessed the birth of his daughter and the death of his wife.
Two weeks agoEight years ago, after his first encounter with the Omega Butcher, a sadistic serial killer, Brent Venturi lost his identity. Emotional and physical scars forced a sabbatical from the team he led: The Phantom Squad. It was only through the peace he had found in God and in his hometown of Palm Cove that he was able to recover from his physical and psychological injuries.He was once again sliding back down that slippery slope of despair into a deep, depressive abyss. The place he once ran to for tranquility no longer provided comfort. He spent his days alone and his nights wandering the streets.The nightmares that once plagued his life, the nightmares he thought were in his past, once again tore a path through his subconscious mind. It was terrifying enough when his dreams brought visions of his own torture, but now, the visions and images were different. More vivid, more personal, more terrifying. The tortured was now Chloe. His nightmares were made worse by the images of blood: so much blood, pools of blood, on her, on him . . . everywhere.When he did manage to fall asleep, Brent woke up in a pool of sweat and vomit, fearful that the wetness he felt was blood. Chloe’s blood.Agony was making him less of a man and more of a weapon of mass destruction.

Chapter 1

Present

Seven walked with a purposeful stride down the halls of SIA headquarters which made all other three letter intelligence agencies seem like child’s play. The sound of his footfalls as his heavy boots struck the tile floors reverberated in his ears like the base of a stereo. He heard it echo off the solid steel walls. As he walked deeper into the labyrinth, he looked up at the writing over the door that led to the inner sanctum.

We are called upon when others fail.

He placed his hand on the black glass panel next to the steel door. Like all others in HQ, it worked by palmer recognition. A faint red line slid under his hand. The door’s air lock disengaged. He repeated this maneuver multiple times as he descended further into the maze, finally arriving at his destination, the security office. Joan’s lair.

Joan, an eclectic blend of bohemian and punk was Maddie Smith’s personal assistant and a self taught computer genius. Her office was nestled in the midst of SIA’s security hub. A sea of computers and flat screen monitors filled every bit of desk and wall space. As he entered, she sat transfixed and stared at a video feed. The monitor she was glued to took up one entire wall and was embedded in three feet of concrete and steel.

“How long has he been there?” Seven asked.

Joan turned just long enough to acknowledge his arrival. “I arrived at o-eight hundred hours. The security clock shows he’s been there since…”

“O-five hundred.” Seven finished her sentence.

It had been the same pattern for the past ten days.

He stood behind her and watched Brent in the armory. Seven, like all of those close to Brent, was showing the signs of stress. In the past weeks, wrinkles from age crept into his face, like dried fissures on barren land.

He blinked the sleeplessness from his eyes. “Can you roll the tape back to when he arrived?”

“I can, but nothing has changed. Brent is still anal—a man of pattern.”

Seven reached into the back pocket of his jeans and took out his tobacco tin. Watching the screen, he tapped the lid, shook loose the tobacco, and placed it between his lower lip and gums.

Joan looked at him, rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Much like yourself.”

Seven smirked and spit in his empty coffee cup. “Oblige an old man,” he drawled, “and run the tape.”

“Yes, sir.” Joan reached over with her left hand, nimbly fingered the keyboard, and brought up the tape.

“Finally, a woman who will listen to me.”

“I hope that wasn’t meant for me.”

They both turned and saw Maddie standing in the doorway. Maddie Smith was the director of the SIA and Seven’s wife. As always, everyone’s eyes were glued to her—she was stunning. A voluptuous redhead who knew how to draw attention from both sexes. She embodied a 1950’s movie starlet.

“Good morning, Darlin,” Seven smiled.

“Good morning, Madam Director,” Joan said.

Her piecing emerald green eyes focused on Joan. “Why so formal this morning?”

Joan shrugged. “Everything seems so formal since, . . .” her eyes moistened, “you know.”

Maddie’s voice took on a saddened tone. She stood behind Joan, lightly rubbed her shoulders, and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I know, but I would feel better if you went back to calling me Maddie, or Mom, or the ‘B’ word that you mumble under your breath from time to time.”

Joan wiped her tears and sniffed. “And what word would that be?”

“Beautiful,” Maddie joked.

A partial smile surfaced on Joan’s lips. “Oh, that ‘B’ word. Right.”

“That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile in weeks. It feels good.” She looked at Seven expecting a sarcastic comeback, but he was glued to the screen. The look in her husband’s eyes made her shiver. “What is it?”

“It’s Brent’s eyes. They’re blank. Emotionless. It’s as if he were on a squad mission.”

“Is that so bad?” Joan said. “Isn’t that the way you all look when you’re engaged in training?”

Pointing to the monitor, Seven said, “This is different. Look at his jugular veins. His eyes may be expressionless, but the rest of him is about to snap.”

Maddie drew in a deep breath as she watched the monitor. Blowing it out, she knew what she had to do. “We can’t put the inevitable off any longer. Call the directorate and the Phantom Squad to a meeting at thirteen hundred hours and Seven,” she waited for him to acknowledge her.

“Get him there.”

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Christian Suspense
Published by: Suspense Publishing
Publication Date: 06/25/13
Number of Pages: 330
ISBN: 978-1484188682 // 1484188683

PURCHASE LINKS:

If you’d like to join in on an upcoming tour just stop by our sites and sign up today!

Follow the Tour:

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
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.

Uncategorized

Guest Author SUSAN MALLERY showcase & giveaway ENDED

CMash August 8, 2013 62 Comments

WELCOME BACK SUSAN MALLERY

SUSAN MALLERY

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author SUSAN MALLERY is known for emotionally complex stories told with charm and wit. With a keen eye for human nature, she breathes life into characters on the page and was recently honored with a prestigious National Readers’ Choice Award. Susan has lived all over the United States, including a childhood in the suburbs of Los Angeles, graduate school in the hills of Pennsylvania and several years in Texas. These days, she makes her home in Seattle, Washington. She’s there for the coffee, not the weather.
Connect with Susan at these sites:

ABOUT THE BOOK

After years of pining for her teenage crush, Isabel Beebe has finally moved on. But the commitment-phobic guy who has been the object of her affection can’t take his eyes or heart off the grown-up girl who used to worship him. USA Today bestselling author Susan Mallery returns to the land of happy endings with THREE LITTLE WORDS (Harlequin HQN, August 2013, $7.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN.), the third title in the new Fool’s Gold trilogy featuring three brave bodyguards—and the women who love them.

When she was fourteen, Isabel vowed she would love military-bound Ford Hendrix forever. But after endless unanswered letters to her former crush, and one disastrous marriage to a man who turned out to be gay, Isabel is finished with romance for good—at least until she fulfills her dream of moving to New York and taking the fashion world by storm. But when the former.

Navy Seal returns to town, more charming and sexy than ever, Isabel can’t help feeling like a crazy love-struck teenager all over again. Ford joined the Navy 14 years ago, suffering from a broken heart and determined to avoid all future emotional attachments. Now a bodyguard trainer and home for good, Ford has to deal with his persevering mother, who is just as determined to marry her bachelor son off as he is to stay single.

To keep his mother off his back, Ford convinces Isabel to pretend to be his girlfriend until she leaves for New York. Even though it’s hard for him to keep his hands off the formerly scrawny kid who’s grown up in all the right ways, Ford is determined to protect the emotionally fragile girl whose treasured letters kept him sane during his service.

Every kiss and touch, however, has Ford and Isabel wondering how pretend this fake relationship actually is. She’s stirring up emotions in Ford that no one ever has before, while Ford is making Isabel think twice about her plans to leave town. Despite their doubts, Ford and Isabel believe nothing can sway them—not even three little words….

BOOK DETAILS:

Published by: Harlequin
Publication Date: August 2013
Number of Pages: 384 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0-373-77778-5

PURCHASE LINKS:

THANKS TO ALISSA AT MEDIA MUSCLE/THE BOOK TRIB,
I HAVE ONE (1) FOOLPROOF BRIDAL KIT TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW

GIVEAWAY ENDS AUGUST 22nd AT 6PM EST

The Susan Mallery Foolproof Bridal Kit includes, valued @ $40.00+:

A wedding-themed bottle of OPI nail polish
Not Your Mother’s® Rise & Shine™ Silky Smooth Shine Mist
Manicure set (includes emery board, small and large nail clippers, tweezers, cuticle stick and nail polish remover pad)
Heart-shaped compact mirror
12-piece E.L.F. eye shadow kit
Travel makeup brush set
Makeup remover wipes
Lip gloss
Travel sewing kit
Kleenex®
Secret® deodorant
Razor and Gillette® Shave Gel
Nivea Creme
Wisps toothbrushes
TRESemmé® hairspray

Follow Susan’s Tour on The Book Trib, HERE, for more chances to win.

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

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.

Giveaway, Winners

And the winner is……

CMash August 7, 2013 1 Comment

**…….of The Family That Stays Together by Deborah Plummer Bussey**

CONGRATULATIONS!!

13 Anita Yancey Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’
An email has been sent and the winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to all that entered.

Giveaway, Winners

And the winner is……

CMash August 7, 2013 1 Comment

**….of Hearts In Exile by Mysti Parker**

CONGRATULATIONS!!

7 James Coyne Follow @CherylMash on Twitter
An email has been sent and the winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to all that entered.

Forever (Hachette Book Group), GCP/Forever, Giveaway, Guest Author, Showcase

Guest Author DEBRA WEBB showcase & giveaway ENDED

CMash August 6, 2013 1 Comment

WELCOME BACK DEBRA WEBB

DEBRA WEBB

Debra Webb, born in Alabama, wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn’t until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain—and a five-year stint with NASA—that she realized her true calling. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Since then she has penned nearly 100 novels, including her internationally bestselling Colby Agency series. Debra’s debut romantic thriller series, Faces of Evil, propelled her to the top of the bestselling charts for an unparalleled twenty-four weeks.
Connect with Debra at these sites:

Q&A with Debra Webb

On Writing and Reading:
-Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
A little of both. Since my husband was in the military we spent a lot of years living in different locations and meeting different folks. I spend a lot of time reading newspapers, magazines and online news feeds.

-Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
With the Faces of Evil the motive is key since the series explores the levels of evil. Once I have the motive in place I decide who the killer will be and then the victims. Once those elements are fleshed out the story begins!

-Your routine when writing? Any idiosyncrasies?
I have my coffee and wander to my office. First thing I do is turn on the music and get comfortable.

-Is writing your full time job? If not, may I ask what you do by day?
Writing has been my full time job for 15 years. Before that I worked on the Shuttle Project with NASA.

-Who are some of your favorite authors?
Too many to name! But I never miss anything by Regan Black,Allison Brennan, Robert Gregory Browne, Brett Battles, Kathy Carmichael, Cindy Gerard, Rita Herron, Vicki Hinze, CJ Lyons, VR Marks, Karen Rose, and Peggy Webb!

-What are you reading now?
I am really lucky! I’m reading an advance copy of a Lucy Guardino novella by CJ Lyons.

-Are you working on your next novel? Can you tell us a little about it?
I am! I’m working on Book 7, VICIOUS, of the Faces of Evil series and a Christmas novella that’s a prequel for the series.

Fun questions:
-Your novel will be a movie. Who would you cast?
I think I’d have to leave that up to the experts!

-Would you rather read or watch TV/movie?
Most of the time the answer would be read but I do love a great movie!

-Favorite food? Good bread.

-Favorite beverage? Coca Cola
Thank you for stopping by CMash Reads and spending time with us.

THE BOOKS

When her beloved high school teacher appears on her doorstep, Deputy Chief Jess Harris is flooded with fond memories—until the woman says she’s about to be charged with murder.

The victim was a member of Birmingham’s famed “Five.” Twelve years ago, the Five were rich, popular seniors who threw one last wild party. Two social outcasts were invited, and the next morning one of them was dead. Now Jess fears the invitation to an upcoming class reunion may have forced the Five to play a deadly new game. A vicious cycle of vengeance has begun, and the killer is far from finished…

Publisher: Forever Mass Market
Publication Date: July 30, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1-4555-2758-8

PURCHASE LINKS:

Three photos of three unknown women. Sent to Deputy Chief Jess Harris by the Player, one of the world’s most sadistic killers. The Player is taunting her, and Jess is more than ready to take on his challenge.

Only one thing could distract her from the Player’s deadly game: the appearance of a clue to long-unsolved cases. For years Birmingham’s children were vanishing—one per year, always on a full moon—until the disappearances stopped and the Man in the Moon case went cold. No leads on the children were ever found—until now.

Jess has no choice but to pursue the case. Someone is reaching out to her, sending her mementos of the missing children, and the citizens of Birmingham deserve justice. But after years of silence, has the Man in the Moon really resurfaced? Or is he just another pawn in the Player’s game?

Publisher: Forever Mass Market
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1-4555-2760-1

PURCHASE LINKS:

THANKS TO MARISSA AT GCP/FOREVER,
I HAVE TWO (2) SETS TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. and CANADA RESIDENTS

FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW

GIVEAWAY ENDS AUGUST 20th AT 6PM EST

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

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, Partners In Crime Tours, Showcase

Guest Author DARCY SCOTT

CMash August 5, 2013 Leave a Comment

WELCOME DARCY SCOTT

DARCY SCOTT

DARCY SCOTT is a live-aboard sailor and experienced ocean cruiser who’s sailed to Grenada and back on a whim, island-hopped through the Caribbean, and been struck by lightning in the middle of the Gulf Stream. Her favorite cruising ground remains the coast of Maine, however, and her appreciation of the history and rugged beauty of its sparsely populated out-islands serves as inspiration for her Maine Island Mystery Series, which includes 2012’s award-winning “Matinicus” and the newly released “Reese’s Leap.” Book three, “Ragged Island,” is currently in the works. Her debut novel, “Hunter Huntress,” was published in June, 2010 by Snowbooks, Ltd., UK.
Connect with Darcy at these sites:

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning “Matinicus,” five longtime friends—briefly freed from their complex lives for an annual, all-female retreat on Adria Jackman’s remote, 200-acre enclave of Mistake Island, Maine—are forced to put the partying on hold to host the hard-drinking, bachelor botanist, Gil Hodges, stranded there for what could be days.

A hopeless womanizer, Gil is secretly pleased at the layover, but soon finds Mistake’s deeply forested interior deceptively bucolic and the women a bit too intriguing for comfort, stirring both glorious memory and profound regret. When a diabolical stranger appears out of nowhere, insinuating himself into the fold to exact a twisted kind of revenge, it falls to Gil to keep the women safe, despite a dawning awareness that not everyone will make it off the island alive.

READ AN EXCERPT

I’m slow coming to in the early-morning stillness—arm slung over my eyes, something lumpy under my butt I only now realize has been digging in for some time. It seems I slept fully clothed, too—something I never do—but the damp chill beneath me makes even less sense, the fusty smell wafting from my bedclothes not quite the permeating fug of the hammock I’ve grown used to. I could crack my eyes and get a visual, I suppose, but that would involve prying the pasty things apart first—something that’s beyond me just now.

The shamelessly chipper bird sounding off just above me and the dry whisper of field grass are what tip me off. The meadow. I spent the night in the fucking meadow.

My groan is of the just-how-big-an-asshole-did-I-make-of-myself variety, chased by the kind of creeping, morning-after dread I’ve come to know so well. I vaguely recall a bottle of tawny Port, unearthed by Adria from some secret stash of her father’s after everyone else had gone to bed—which was earlier than usual, thanks to the pall Brit and Pete cast over the evening. Just the two of us, then—well, three, if you count the bottle. Pure liquid ambrosia, if memory serves. No doubt I went a bit overboard. But it wasn’t the booze or the thought of another night crammed onto that miserable hammock that got me out here, I recall now, but the fear of what I might do about Nora’s tempting proximity while I lay in such a weakened and vulnerable state. Still, I’ve no clue how I managed it. Could have walked, could have flown, could have been wheeled in a barrow. But however I did it, I slept like the proverbial rock.

No reason to get up now either, I figure—at least not ’til the mosquitoes find me. Another hour, I plead, rolling over, which is when I see Pete down on his haunches studying me, face not a foot from mine.

“Jesus!” I bark, adrenaline powering my scramble to clear the sleeping bag I apparently dragged out here with me. “Don’t do that!”

He cocks his head, rising to meet me as I stand. Not a good idea as it turns out, this standing business, considering the explosion of pain at the top of my head. At six-two, I’m five or six inches taller than this guy—something that would normally make me feel pretty good, only nothing feels good just now. My legs are so wobbly, it’s all I can do to remain vertical. I glance down at the cool breeze running over my left foot.

My sore, bare left foot.

Where the fuck is my shoe?

“Piece of advice,” Pete says, glancing toward the mountain, gaze flat and unreadable as he swings it back my way. Think Clint Eastwood’s slow burn, but with none of his style. “Right now we got no real beef, you and me. Keep out of this and it’ll stay that way.”

What this? There’s a this?

“Let me guess,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose against the vise slowly tightening at the top of my head, the forks carving out the backs of my eyeballs. The things I do to myself. “This is about your brother, right? What—you were too busy lobbing the n-word at Adria to hear her say she wasn’t around? That none of these chicks know anything about this?”

“They know,” he assures me. “Just not sayin’.”

“They—as in…”

“All of ’em, probably.”

Of course. Conspiracy among the conifers. I’ll have to remember to suggest this to Duggan for the title of whatever mystery or thriller he’s hoping to eke out of all this.

“Come on, man. You saw the looks on their faces—total fucking surprise.”

“Brit said they come out here every year—same women, same week in July.”

Good old Brit. “I wouldn’t know.” Nor do I care. Once around with this shit’s more than enough for me; besides, I desperately need to keep the sun from hitting my retinas just now. Shades, I think. I pat my pockets.

“Earl was killed the week they were here. July 21st.”

“July 21st what?”

“Day he died.”

“You can’t possibly know that,” I say, carefully lowering myself to rummage in my

rucksack for those miserable Maui Jims. Sliding them on makes things marginally better, but mincing my way back to my feet brings stabbing pains from the sole of the shoeless one. Man, it hurts. What the hell did I step on, anyway? Glass, rock—what?

“So, okay,” I say, cranking the foot up stork-like to peer at the dried brown goo stuck to the bottom. Mud? I wonder, hopping awkwardly to stay upright. Blood? “Say you’re right, and he was here. Doesn’t mean they knew he was here.” Gently probing the most tender places for lacerations, protruding foreign objects. “If Adria even suspected he was camping on the island, she’d have booted his ass off. You’ve seen the way she is about this place.”

“Earl don’t listen to nobody when his mind’s set. Kind of his trademark.”

More of that unremitting Eastwood gaze, which is frankly starting to piss me off. Out of nowhere, another piece of yesterday slips along the edge of my mind—something weird about the timing of all this. And then it hits me. If Earl died two years ago, why’s this guy just turning up now?

“You were in prison when it happened.” Pure hunch, of course, but it fits. Explains why he seemed so hinky from the start, that vague whiff of what I now recognize as recent and intimate acquaintance with Maine State Corrections. I do the mental math, take a stab. “You and Earl were sent up together; only he got out early. Drugs would be my bet. That or a juicy little B&E.”

“Fuck them bastards. Bullshit’s what it was. Lousy pot bust. My second time, so the judge bumped me a couple extra years.”

“So Earl gets out, comes here to revisit the old stomping grounds, and ends up dead.”

“I knew there’d be trouble, what with me not around to keep him in line. It was me always looked out for him.”

“Plus, you landed him in jail. What a bro. But hey, at least you knew where he was; there’s that.” Screwing with him like this probably isn’t smart, but I’m still kinda punchy, and I need to piss. Besides; I really, really, really don’t like this guy.

Pete cocks his head.

“This funny to you?”

Fucking hilarious, actually, only it’s fast becoming clear that leaving Adria et al alone while a deluded nut like this is wandering the island wouldn’t be smart. There’s my conscience to consider, what’s left of it anyway. “So you got sprung—what—a month ago? Two?”

“Sat in that shitty jail two years knowin’ he’d been murdered, countin’ the days ’til I got out.”

“Accidents happen, pal. You’ve seen the cliffs out here—dangerous as hell in the wrong conditions.”

“Earl never went near them cliffs. Hated heights. No, somethin’ happened out here. I’m gonna know what and I’m gonna know why. I owe him that. You bein’ here just complicates things.”

“Yeah, well, only person leaving the island is you,” I say, trying to sound all bad-ass as I fight the urge to toss my cookies. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He considers. “Your decision. Things been put in motion. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” A smirk as he nods toward the sleeping bag. “Nice.”

I glance down, following his gaze. A faded field of blue dotted with yellow and pink flowers, the darker hue of a minimally sullied ball gown and white-gloved hands—all this capped with the lemon yellow orb of Cinderella’s hair, her face lit with a saccharine smile. A little girl’s sleeping bag, I realize. Swell.

“So here’s what you do,” he says. “You and the other girls have a meetin’. You explain how things are gonna get really ugly, really fast, if I don’t find out what went down.”

With that he trots back into the brush like something out of The Last of the Mohicans—all that bouncy action enough to set my eyeballs aching. What the fuck was in that bottle, anyway?

Nothing for it but to head to the house and fill Adria in, come up with some kind of plan.

After I find that fucking shoe.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Maine Authors Publishing
Publication Date: March 23, 2013
Number of Pages: 216
ISBN: 978-1938883347
Series: Island Mystery Series #2

PURCHASE LINKS:

Awards

Recently, Matinicus (prequel to Reese’s Leap) has won both the “Best Mystery,” 2013 Indie Book Awards and the Bronze Prize for Regional Fiction from the 2013 IPPY Awards

If you’d like to join in on an upcoming tour just stop by our sites and sign up today!

Follow the Tour:

Giveaway, Winners

And the winner is……

CMash August 3, 2013 1 Comment

**…..of Saving Paradise by Mike Bond**

CONGRATULATIONS!!

41 Karen Gonyea Leave a Blog Post Comment
An email has been sent and the winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to all that entered.