Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Relentless by Michael Maloof

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for RELENTLESS (Kate Preacher Thriller Series Book #1) by Michael Maloof on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

On the eve of her five-year wedding anniversary, a devastating terrorist attack in Paris thrusts former CIA analyst Kate Preacher into a lethal cat-and-mouse game of kill or be killed…

Kate’s husband, retired Navy SEAL Jake Church, is the right man in the wrong place. Caught in the middle of the Paris attack, Jake’s actions spark an international media storm, drawing unwanted attention and awakening old enemies.

Refusing to let the suspicious attack go unquestioned…or the perpetrators go unpunished, Kate’s lured back into a world of deception and betrayal—a world she thought she had escaped. And as the pieces in a twisted puzzle reveal a shocking global conspiracy, the investigation paints a target on her back.

Is Kate just a pawn in a deadly international plot, or can she outplay a ruthless killer?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199581912-relentless?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=dwqoXt9hBL&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

RELENTLESS (Kate Preacher Thriller Series Book #1) by Michael Maloof is an explosive international crime thriller and first book in a series featuring a female former CIA agent that had me hooked immediately. I am so glad this is a series because I did not want this story to end.

Former CIA agent Kate Preacher is on the eve of her five-year wedding anniversary with her husband. Jake is a retired SEAL and now heads up a private security firm and is on assignment in Paris, France. Jake is on a Facetime call with Kate when he is suddenly in the middle of a terrorist attack. Jake’s actions cause unwanted media attention and questions of his real purpose at being in that place at that time.

Kate’s suspicion of the attack will not let her sit back and wait for answers. She wants all the perpetrators to pay. What she does not realize is her questions and actions are being followed by friends and foes alike and what she does not know is which is which.

This book pulled me in from page one and at every chapter end, I would say, “just one more”, until it was well into the night and I had finished the book. Kate Preacher is a brilliant, bad ass, and relentless protagonist that I was emotionally attached to the entire book, from her happiness to her depths of despair. (The funeral chapter had me in tears with tissues in full use.) The action is fast paced, realistic, and had me on the edge of my seat throughout. The secondary characters are as fully developed and fleshed out as Kate herself and kept me continually surprised by their actions and motives. The crime plot is intricately intertwined with action, misdirection, and believable situations.

This is an amazing female protagonist forward thriller that I highly recommend!

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Excerpt

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, THE PRESENT

6:15 AM EDT

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION

Nomad flexed his right wrist, and with the palm of his hand, eased the joystick forward. The motor on his wheelchair hummed, and he maneuvered toward the center of the workstation. This environment was his creation. The height set to accommodate his chair with room beneath to manipulate the joystick. With subtle right or left pressure on the stick, he could navigate the full semicircle desk and jump between clients and projects.

There were traditional keyboards and mice, but the layer of fine dust revealed little use. Nomad’s world was one of proprietary speech recognition technology and the pressure-sensitive controls he designed and added to his chair. His forearms, wrists, fingers, head and voice all served as system navigation and command-and-control interfaces.

A matrix of monitors, stacked three high and eight across, spanned the arc of the desk and formed his window on the outside world. As a C6 quadriplegic, what he lost in physical mobility he regained in the virtual world. He chose the name Nomad for the irony, and believed his world offered freedom, control, and safety.

Nomad scanned the monitors. His building’s security cameras, global news feeds, random engineering musings of a few MIT grads on Slack. Another monitor was hammering away on a client’s file with one of his decryption algorithms. No challengers yet on any of his virtual chess boards, and that brought him to the Frenchman, his favorite opponent.

The central monitor was a live, split-screen camera feed from the Frenchman’s Paris apartment. One feed came from the Frenchman’s laptop, and the other from the camera embedded in the smart TV. It was Nomad’s practice to plant malware on the systems of anyone in his inner circle. What began as a safety protocol became something more, and he watched and lived vicariously through his contact’s living rooms and their digital and social media lives.

Nomad glanced at the camera feed’s system clock. Twelve-fifteen. It was almost time. He hoped the apartment would be empty, but saw Francois scurrying about, preparing for the meeting. Nomad knew it was pointless, but he had to try one more time.

Francois’s laptop rang with Nomad’s encrypted call request. He watched the Frenchman approach the laptop and press cancel. Nomad tried again, and this time he watched Francois accept the call.

“I admire your determination,” Francois began, “but there’s nothing left to discuss.”

“Look, I know how it sounds, but I’m begging you to trust me,” Nomad said. “You need to leave.”

“You ask for trust, but hide in the shadows.”

“Who I am is not important. All you need to know is that your life is in danger.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “For one thing, I know who you are, but rest assured, your secret is safe with me. Why you’ve chosen this life, I will never understand, but that is your business and now you must leave me to mine.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No, no, my friend. You misunderstand,” Francois said. “This is just a promise that I will keep you out of the discussion, but Moore Industries needs to know what you found. They believe the device is impenetrable, exceeding even the capabilities of quantum computing, and with millions relying on this technology, I have no choice. There is no room for debate.” 

“You’re missing the point,” Nomad said. “Tens of millions of customers is exactly why Moore will do anything to protect the NanoVault’s reputation.”

“Again with the conspiracy theories,” Francois said. “You watch too much American TV. I am a respected academic meeting with a representative of a major corporation, not the KGB.”

“I pray I’m wrong,” Nomad said.

“Au revoir, my friend.”

“Wait,” Nomad said. “Before you hang up, what makes you think you know who I am?”

“I understand some hackers have a signature, patterns of behavior, code or techniques they use, that help identify the author.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“So do chess players.”

Nomad heard the knock at the Frenchman’s door. Francois called out to his visitor, and the call ended.

* * *

FRIDAY, APRIL 17

12:17 PM CEST (Central European Summer Time)

PARIS, FRANCE

Francois LeGrande imagined his meeting with the Moore Industries representative. They’ll want to see my research and review my findings. A lucrative offer for my work would be nice, but it would be an honor to receive one of Moore’s Distinguished Fellowships.

Francois rushed to answer the door. He never saw what the masked man pressed into his side, but the effect was immediate. His body convulsed, knees buckled, and his head struck the floor. Next came the duct tape over his mouth and around his wrists and ankles. He lay on the floor of his apartment, dazed and in pain, only half-aware of the large black boot that passed over his face.

Adrenaline surged. His heart raced. He fought to focus his thoughts. Blinked and squinted to clear his vision. He squirmed and wrestled against the restraints. Tried to call out, to scream. Nothing worked. In the futile struggle to free himself, his breathing was rapid and shallow. His vision blurred, and the room spun. Don’t pass out, he thought. Just breathe. Slow down. Listen. 

From the hallway, it was difficult to know what the stranger was doing. Was Nomad right? No. Can’t be. If he was here to kill me, I’d be dead already. Then what? What does he want? His head throbbed as he thought back to the fleeting image of opening the door and looking up at the face. There was no face. Just a blur of gray and white rectangles. The man’s ball cap and hoodie obscured any chance of street cameras catching his approach to the building, and the camouflage mask stretched tight from his forehead to his neck prevented facial recognition.

Francois tried to follow the sound of the stranger’s steps. The attic apartment, converted from an 18th-century mansion, was elegant but small. While it suited the Frenchman, it took only moments to explore. He heard the wheels of the office chair as they rolled across the hardwood floor. 

He’s in the bedroom. 

The bedroom served as his home office. Stacks of books and papers shared his bed, and most of the floor. He pictured the stranger seated at his laptop and cursed his decision to close the connection with Nomad. If he knew, if he saw, he would call the police. 

There was an odd sound. An electronic chirp beeping slowly at first, then faster and louder, then slow again. Finally, a solid tone for a moment, then silence.

Francois heard the tones of a cell phone. Too many digits, he thought. Not a local number.

“I have it,” the man said. “No, it has to be tonight. And count yourself lucky I could make this work on short notice.” There was another brief pause and then the call wrapped up. “Yes. Yes. I’ll keep it safe. Now, send me the drop site.”

American, Francois thought, and at that moment, all hope vanished. The businessman he thought might still arrive, might somehow intervene. The man he was expecting was already here. Despair wrapped him in an ice-cold blanket and he trembled. He stopped fighting back the tears and sobbed.

The American dragged Francois down the hallway and into the living room, and the tears gave way to terror when he surveyed the room. A chair from the small kitchen table was in the center. A rope stretched over the ancient oak beam that framed the ridge-line of the apartment’s ceiling, and a noose hung above the chair.

The duct tape muffled his attempts to cry out, and the masked man had little trouble setting the slight Frenchman on the chair. He slipped the noose over Francois’s head and pulled on the rope. Francois stiffened his back, lifted his chin, and gasped for air. The man kept one hand on the rope and the other drew a knife. With a flick and click, the blade locked into place, and in one sudden move he cut the tape binding Francois’s feet. He pulled the slack from the rope and Francois’s only escape from suffocation was to climb up on the chair.

The American tied the rope to the radiator, then stood directly in front of Francois and stared. The mask was disorienting, and Francois found it difficult to focus. He saw a black leather jacket and a gray hoodie. He saw dark blue jeans, and the boots. Large black boots. He could be anyone on the streets of Paris, even one of my students. What is he waiting for? What does he want? 

“Let’s talk.”

The words startled him and Francois wobbled atop the wooden kitchen chair. The noose made it difficult to breathe, much less answer questions. When he raised up on the balls of his feet, he could almost take a full breath, but the old chair flexed and creaked when he moved. He knew at any moment it might collapse and he would hang.

“I’m going to remove the duct tape,” the masked man said. “I suggest you remain still. And quiet,” and he gave the rope a slight tug. “Understand?”

Francois nodded, and the stranger ripped the duct tape off the old man’s face. The Frenchman scrunched his eyes, gritted his teeth, and wrinkled his nose. Tears and snot seeped into his mustache. The American balled up the tape and noticed the collection of gray hair.

“Trust me,” he said. “Faster is better.” And then he reached into his jacket, fished out the shiny black device, and held it out for the Frenchman to see.

“Did you crack it?”

Laying in the palm of his glove was a Moore Industries NanoVault. The polished black onyx device, about the size of a woman’s lipstick, was ringed with seven combination dials that controlled access to the device’s unique properties. For the first time since the masked man crashed through his door, Francois thought he understood what was happening. He thinks I’m after the bounty. He thinks I’ve cracked the encryption.

The offer of a bounty, paid in anonymous, untraceable, and tax-free Bitcoins, intrigued cryptographic researchers and enticed the hacker denizens in every corner of the Darknet. Crack the encryption on a Quantum NanoVault, known affectionately as a portable Swiss Bank account, and you’d learn the location of 1,000 Bitcoins. What started as a clever promotional stunt became a worldwide phenomenon when Bitcoin values rose exponentially, and the bounty, still unclaimed, grew to tens of millions of dollars.

“No. No, Monsieur. I assure you, this device is worthless.”

“My client insisted I retrieve this specific device,” he said. “And paid handsomely to recover it immediately. I’d like to know why. What makes this device so valuable?”

“Please. Just take it and go.”

Francois imagined his ordeal might soon be over. He has what he came for. He can just leave.

The American slipped the device back into his pocket and glanced at his watch.

“What’s the combination?”

“It’s not locked.”

“What’s on it?”

“Nothing. I assure you, it’s completely blank,” and Francois nodded toward the laptop. “Go. See for yourself. You will see. It’s empty.”

The American took the device back to the desk, and the NanoVault connected automatically. He returned moments later.

“You’re right, it’s blank,” he said. “But if you’re not using it, why have one?”

“Research,” and Francois nodded toward the back wall. The American turned to see a lifetime of achievement and accolades. Among the faded degrees hanging on the wall were journal clippings, edges curled and fraying, a small shelf of dusty mathematics awards, and a handful of student group photos. Missing was any semblance of a life outside of academia. No wife. No family.

“Then, tell me Professeur,” he said, exaggerating the Frenchman’s academic position. “What makes this device so special?”

“Oh, but it’s not. It’s like any other. Available at any—”

The slap caught him before he could finish.

***

Author Bio

Michael Maloof is the author of the Kate Preacher Thriller Series—Relentless, Unstoppable, and Defiant—known for its global scope, emotional intensity, and hard-won authenticity. His novels draw readers into high-stakes worlds where intelligence, courage, and consequence collide. A lifelong adventurer, Michael has traveled to more than forty countries across six continents, experiences that deeply inform his writing. His real-world pursuits have ranged from gold dredging in Honduras and artifact hunting in Guatemala to acquiring uncut diamonds in Liberia and surviving an elephant charge in Kenya. He has also trained alongside Navy SEALs, Marine Raiders, Army Rangers, Green Berets, and the CIA—firsthand insights that lend his fiction uncommon realism and respect for the craft of service.

Social Media Links

www.MichaelMaloof.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @MichaelGoWrite
BookBub – @MichaelMaloof
Instagram – @MichaelGoWrite
Facebook – @MichaelGoWrite
YouTube – @MichaelGoWrite

Purchase Links

Amazon – https://pictbooks.tours/JI3IyN17

Kindle Unlimited – https://pictbooks.tours/ahc4xhit

BN – https://pictbooks.tours/2VukQFqg

BookShop.org – https://pictbooks.tours/DSBQBKeO

Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/h9Ohl17R

BookBub – https://pictbooks.tours/r1uwUga4

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PICT GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/8u06eSFI

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: You Can Tell Me by Melinda Leigh

Book Description

On the three-year anniversary of true crime writer Olivia Cruz’s horrific kidnapping, she’s scheduled to walk her podcaster friend Zoe March through the crime scene, but Zoe fails to show. Olivia knows Zoe would never stand her up—not today.

Zoe’s husband, who claims she never came home the night before, has reported her missing. But marital conflicts make the police suspect she has left him. Olivia thinks otherwise. The police aren’t looking for Zoe, so Olivia begins her own investigation. Retracing her friend’s last steps, she finds Zoe’s phone and a text with one chilling word: Run.

It soon becomes apparent that Zoe has been keeping secrets, and with her true crime podcast, there’s no telling what she has unearthed. To find her, Olivia must dig into her friend’s past. Did Zoe vanish to escape a killer, and is Olivia walking into a deadly trap?

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Elise’s Thoughts

You Can Tell Me by Melinda Leigh features Olivia Cruz. Fans might remember her from the Morgan Dane series. This story plays off what happens to Olivia in Save Your Breath.

On the three-year anniversary of true crime writer Olivia Cruz’s horrific kidnapping, she’s scheduled to walk her podcaster friend Zoe March through the crime scene, but Zoe fails to show. Olivia knows Zoe would never stand her up, especially not on the day of that horrific event.

Zoe’s husband, who claims she never came home the night before, has reported her missing. But marital conflicts make the police suspect she has left him. Olivia thinks otherwise. The police aren’t looking for Zoe, so Olivia begins her own investigation. Retracing her friend’s last steps, she finds Zoe’s phone and a text with one chilling word: Run.

It soon becomes apparent that Zoe has been keeping secrets, and with her true crime podcast, there’s no telling what she has unearthed. To find her, Olivia must dig into her friend’s past.

While going to a coffee shop with her niece, Olivia is attacked. But with the help of her niece, Nicki, she thwarts the attacker. Now Nicki demands to join the search for Zoe. The two soon decide that the most likely suspects to have plotted an abduction are those close to Jennifer Hamilton or Evan Brown, the two long-dead victims Zoe had been researching as possible subjects for future seasons.

Olivia also get help from her PI boyfriend Sharp Lincoln, who insists on being involved in the case. Since he is the partner of Morgan Dane’s husband, Lance, they are also brought into the story to help find what happened to Zoe.

Readers will enjoy this first in the series and will yearn for the next book that is sure to have another heartbreaking drama, a suspenseful story, and gripping characters. The exploration of secrets and trust along with the pacing heightens the tension.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why this new series?

Melinda Leigh: It is refreshing for me. I have written police procedurals and law books for the last sixteen books, either Morgan Dane or Bree Taggert. I think with this series I went outside the box. My publisher asked me to write something new, and I immediately thought of Olivia from the Morgan Dane books. She is in books 4, 5, and in 6 plays a significant role.

Writing a series enables me to challenge my protagonists over a long period of time. They can adapt and grow.

EC: Idea for this story?

ML: I wanted to tie it with her experiences the last time she was on the page. Basing a series on a true crime writer, Olivia, gives me more flexibility.

EC: How would you describe Olivia?

ML: She is spunky, bold, and a little different from my other female characters. She is steady, methodical, competitive as the auntie, confident, very smart, and short in statue.

EC: Zoe was a true crime podcaster?

ML: A lot of true crime podcasts are cold cases. They take years of investigations and boil down into about six episodes. With fiction, people can get involved with the characters whereas true crime focuses on the crime. The way I write is to create the plot around the characters, deciding what the characters will experience to get the emotional hit. Most of my books take place over a short period of time, about four or five days. Zoe, one of the main characters, was a true crime podcaster. She was impulsive, punctual, not tidy, loyal, and someone who compartmentalizes.

EC: Did you speak with people who was traumatized?

ML: I have in the past talked to victims who were traumatized, although I did not do it for this story. I do read a lot of memoirs. They are great resources for what happens to someone and their emotional response to it.

EC: How would you describe Nicki, the niece of Olivia?

ML: She is a lot like Olivia. She is a typical Gen-Z. I drew her character from my youngest son and my nieces, although not all her personality. She is arrogant, can be self-centered, stubborn, improvising, independent, and tech savvy. She is very funny.

EC: How did you come up with the date rape drug scene that had Nicki replaying what Olivia told her?

ML: That really happened. I have read cases where even though women are vigilant about their drinks the bartenders or other people have doctored drinks before it gets to the table. I tell my nieces to order cans so they can open them. Go out with a friend and have them watch each other’s backs. It is sad that we must do this.

EC: Do you think Nicki is a lot like Olivia?

ML: They are both bold, outgoing, and fearless.

EC: How would you describe Sharp Lincoln, the male lead?

ML: He is Olivia’s boyfriend who is a PI. He has zero tolerance for people who commit crimes. He sees things black and white. He is tough, a mother hen, and protective.

ML: Morgan Dane has a cameo appearance?

EC: They are all part of the same world as Olivia. I do not see how I cannot have them show up. Lance is Sharp’s partner. They all work together. Morgan shares an office with Lance and Sharp. They will interact and run into each other. Morgan will be in more of the books but regarding how much will depend on the storyline. Lance will also probably be in more of the books.

EC: Of course, a Melinda Leigh novel must have a dog in the story. Correct?

ML: Yes-this one has Chewy, a border collie. I had that breed as a child, and I believe the border collie ate our basement door. She was a dog my parents found. This breed needs a lot of physical and mental exercise or they become destructive. I named Chewy because Olivia and Sharp are Star War fans, a play on the name.

EC: Next book(s)?

ML: I will be writing more Bree Taggert books. The eleventh in the series will come out next January. The title is Kill for Her. It is about a gruesome double murder that exposes the secrets of the dead. The next Olivia book is titled I Know Your Secret and will release in September in 2027. It will have secrets and probably someone will be dead. Nicki, Sharp, and Chewy will be in it. I will alternate the two books, writing one every eight months.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Feature Post and Book Review: Not Actually Yours by Sophie L. Henderson

Book Description

Nix’s heart is on permanent lockdown after her mom walked out on her, but she needs a date to her cousin’s engagement party. Anything to put an end to the relentless single-shaming. Can she find someone—preferably smokin’—willing to spend Thanksgiving weekend with her meddling family in a tiny seaside town in the middle of nowhere?

Brock got burned falling for the wrong girl. But his potential promotion to captain hinges on him having a date for the annual firefighters’ gala. Can he convince the entire community that his short fuse is a thing of the past, that he’s ready for a serious new role as a fire hall leader?

They’ve agreed: falling in love is not an option. And soon, they’re fooling everyone. Even themselves. When Brock utterly charms Nix’s hard-to-impress aunt over a cozy breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, and sparks fly at the fire department dance, the alarm bells start to ring…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/248216922-not-actually-yours?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VVX0fsQhGj&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

NOT ACTUALLY YOURS by Sophie L. Henderson is a contemporary romance with explosive sexual chemistry that returns the reader to Fire House 8 in Van City and this time it is elder Holt brother, Brock’s turn to fall, but it won’t be easy with the ever-evasive Nix. Each book in this connected series features one of three brothers and there is some overlapping of characters, but they are still easily read as standalone romances.

Elementary teacher Nix refuses to involve her heart in any relationship after being deserted by her mother as a small child. When her aunt, who helped raise her, tells her she needs to attend her cousin’s weekend long engagement party, she tells her she has a boyfriend to bring otherwise her aunt threatens to set her up. Now she must ask a favor of the man she is trying to be friends with since he is the brother of her best friend’s boyfriend. But after having had a hot sexual encounter with him three months ago and then ghosting him, she knows it is a big ask.

Firefighter Brock has had terrible luck in the romance department. He would like more than friendship with the hot Nix who he cannot seem to forget, even though she ghosted him. When she needs a date for an engagement party it coincides with his need for a date for an annual firefighters’ gala. They can fake this without involving their hearts, can’t they?

I enjoyed the first Van City book, Play with Fire, but I enjoyed this romance even more. Both Nix and Brock have emotional difficulties from their childhoods to deal with as they are trying to form a healthy relationship between them. Usually, I dislike romances with plots based on non-communication, but Ms. Henderson does a wonderful job of portraying both Nix and Brock as they get things wrong from fear or misunderstanding, have short intervals of running, but also how they decide it is better to talk and they have friends and family who also help. They both delve into their emotions honestly and have character growth throughout the story. This is a contemporary romance with several steamy and explicit sex scenes that I feel fit well with the characters’ personalities.

I highly recommend this steamy contemporary romance that pulled me right in and left me with a smile on my face and a satisfied romantic heart.

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About the Author

Author Sophie L. Henderson writes heartfelt small-town romance for readers who love slow-burn butterflies, blush-worthy heat, and characters you’ll fall for just as hard as they fall for each other. Her debut PLAY WITH FIRE is out now. NOT ACTUALLY YOURS is coming in May.

Originally from a tiny village in England, Sophie spent seventeen years wrangling jazz hands as a drama teacher before finally listening to the voice in her head (the one telling her to write, not the one asking for another snack). She now lives in Vancouver with her husband, where she’s embraced views of snowcapped mountains, has caught feelings for hockey, and talks to hummingbirds like they’re her best friends.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.sophielouisehenderson.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577919920777

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophenwrites/

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Where the Truth Lies by Katherine Greene

Book Description

Childhood sweethearts Rhett and Lucinda seem to have the perfect marriage, the child they always wanted, and even the white picket fence. But fifteen years ago, the couple came very close to losing everything. When outsider Jennifer Moore arrived in their tight-knit Kentucky town, a brief but explosive affair between the newcomer and the soon-to-be-married Rhett stirred up a violent storm of betrayal that ended with a dead body and a mystery riddled with corruption and deception.

Now, new evidence has surfaced—including an eyewitness who places Rhett at the scene of the brutal crime. Soon the carefully constructed life Rhett and Lucinda built starts to crumble—and the truth waiting beneath the surface could destroy them both.

In a town steeped in deadly Southern charm, secrets don’t fade—they fester.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Where The Truth Lies by Katherine Greene, the pen name of bestselling authors A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley, is a domestic suspense story. The small-town setting enhances the secrets, affairs, and deception made by each character, along with the alternating timelines and multiple POVs.

High school sweethearts Rhett Clark and Lucinda Herbaugh seem to have nothing in common. She is from a very powerful and rich family while he is being raised by a single mom who works very hard at her job. Yet, they appear to love each other and to be the picture-perfect couple with the perfect marriage.

But fifteen years ago, the couple came very close to losing everything, when outsider Jennifer Moore arrived in their tight-knit Kentucky town and had a brief but explosive affair with soon-to-be-married Rhett. Fast-forward to the present where new evidence has surfaced, including an eyewitness who places Rhett at the scene of the brutal murder of Jennifer.

Now the betrayal once again comes to the surface, and the mystery of Jenn’s death is riddled with corruption and deception. Everything Rhett and Lucinda strove for is crumbling as the “truth” begins to come out. Abuse plays a role in the story whether emotional, physical, or both. Lucinda’s father made sure everyone in the family and town sided with him. Jenn’s brother believes women should be dominated and intimidated, influencing Rhett in a bad way. With Jenn’s death at the center of the story each of the other character’s will have to answer to their own demons.

Other than Jenn, all the other characters are not likeable and very complex. This story has readers only rooting for Jenn to get justice as they turn the pages to find out the truth.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Abbi Meredith Walters: It is inspired by true events, a cold case, that happened in Virigina involving people in my family. I had this old scrapbook that was my grandmothers. I sent this to Claire, and we decided to write a book based on the information. There are personality traits like the people the characters were modeled after. We did make changes.

EC: How did you both decide to write together?

Claire C. Riley: Abbi and I have been friends for ten plus years. We met on Facebook in a writer’s group. We had both been writing separately for a very long time. During Covid Abbi had a bit of a writer’s block and I suggested we should write a book together. We both really, really liked doing it.

EC: Why the pen name Katherine Green?

CCR: My middle name is Catherine with a “C”, so I changed it to Katherine with a “K” and Abbi was stuck for a surname. She liked green and so did I, so we chose that as the last name.

EC: What was the role of Jenn in the story?

AMW: Claire and I agreed that the victim, Jenn, needed a voice. We wanted the reader to remember she was at the heart of the story and did not want her to get lost in it. She was meant to be the most likeable character in the story.

CCR: After writing about half the book, Abbi realized Jenn needed her own chapters. In the news the victim tends to be lost so we wanted to make her the forefront. We thought it was much more important for her to tell her story, more than anyone else. It helped to build the story around her.

EC: How would you describe Jenn?

Katherine Greene: She started innocent and finished innocent. She is vulnerable, fearful, a teaser, vulnerable, timid, and ran away from her life. Jenn was a prisoner in her family’s home. In some ways she is the other woman but unwillingly because she did not know.

EC: What was the relationship between Jenn and Rhett like?

AMW: He got something for this relationship that was lacking in his life. He was able to control her and felt he was in charge. I do not think he was capable of truly loving her and betrayed her. His entire relationship with her was what she could do to fill his needs.

EC: What about Rhett?

Katherine Greene: He was bullied into submission by this strong-willed family. He enters this dark world and is led astray by the other male character. We wanted to show how he was led down this different path that he meant not to go down. He started off as a lovely person who wants to please all the women in his life. We hope readers like him at first, and then at the end do not like him with the slow descent. At first, he is seen as trustworthy, honest, dependable, quiet, and charming. But then becomes obstinate, lacks common sense, and has rage.

EC: What do you want to say about Lucinda?

CCR: She just wants her parents’ approval and to be loved but must deal with overbearing parents. She has a slow descent into becoming an unlikeable person because of her striving for perfectionism. She is at times out of control, confident, from a privileged family, lonely, manipulator, and strong-willed.

EC: What about Lucinda and Rhett’s relationship?

Katherine Greene: They had secrets. She had old-fashioned values where she wants to get married and have children. He felt trapped in their relationship and felt emasculated by her and her family. She felt betrayed, deceived, and humiliated by him. They were bitter and combative toward each other. She stays with him out of spite because her parents never liked him. He creates a prison for her as much as she does for him. She was trapped by hoping he would love her.

EC: Do you think control plays an important role in the book?

Katherine Greene: The men in this book are all quite toxic in wanting control, while all the women felt they did not have control of their own lives. The continuity is that the characters felt all out of control over their own lives. The main characters each had to deal with overbearing people. Lucinda felt out of control because of her overbearing parents, Rhett felt overbearing by Lucinda, and Jenn ran away from home. No one was in control of their lives or actions. All were led astray by someone else’s actions.

EC: Do you agree that Marty, Jenn’s brother, was a character who did have toxic masculinity?

Katherine Greene: He passed it on to Rhett who latched on to him and had dark thoughts put in his head because he did not start out that way. He is domineering, wants things his way, unethical, intimidating, powerful, sadistic, arrogant, and wants to control the family dynamic. He has this book quote, “Women want to be tamed. They want to be controlled. They want to be put in their place.”

EC: How would you describe Bailey, Lucinda’s sister?

Katherine Greene: She is vulnerable, malleable, and family is most important to her. She has layers. She is also an attention-seeker, angry, possessive, and naïve.

EC: Next book?

Katherine Greene: We are writing two books. One is the sequel to The Lake of Lost Girls. The other book is Here We Lay Our Bones that has four simultaneous storylines, a mystery/thriller. The plot is based around the discovery of some bones.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Last Fatal Hour by Jan Matthews

THE LAST FATAL HOUR

by Jan Matthews

May 4 – 29, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE LAST FATAL HOUR by Jan Matthews on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

For Leona Gladney, former woman soldier of the Union Army, life goes on despite the echoes of the battlefield in her heart. Now a suffragist and budding socialite in Brooklyn Heights, she yearns for a literary life and family. But her husband’s business partner embezzles their money and disappears.

The society matrons of Brooklyn Heights turn a gimlet eye on Leona after the suspicious death of a wealthy friend. Leona will do anything to find justice for her friend and clear her own name, but she finds only secrets, seances and murder.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246335662-the-last-fatal-hour?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qBbDWbM73z&rank=1

The Last Fatal Hour

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Coffee&ink Press
Publication Date: April 7, 2026
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 9798232470982

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE LAST FATAL HOUR by Jan Matthews is an intriguing historical murder mystery and domestic suspense mash-up set post-Civil War in Brooklyn Heights, New York. This book features a female main character attempting to be an amateur sleuth to clear her name and due to blackmail. She was previously a fighting female soldier in disguise during the Civil War who is now struggling with severe PTSD. This is a standalone fictional historical story that is authentic to the era and society it portrays.

Socialite Leona Gladney has attempted to put her past as a soldier in the Union Army and death of her first husband behind her. Remarried and working on personal literary pursuits, she still has dreams and moments of anxiety over her time in the service. Her anxiety is exacerbated by her husband’s business partner disappearing with their company’s funds.

When the robbery and suspicious death of a wealthy friend and matriarch leaves Leona a suspect, she is determined to uncover the real culprit. What she is not prepared for is a tangled web of seances, lies, deception, and murder.

This is an enlightening as well as maddening story of the legal and political struggles women faced in the 19th century intertwined with the intricately plotted chase of a killer. Leona is a strong character that is more than just her heritage and social status, but even as she tries to fulfill her feminine societal duties, she has an entire previous life she has kept from everyone but her grandfather. While her time as a soldier makes her an unusual protagonist, her life is historically possible. The many uses of laudanum especially involving females throughout this story is not only historically accurate, but also sad. While I suspected the outcome, it is still satisfying and once again brings society’s treatment of women to the forefront.

I highly recommend this intriguing historical mystery and domestic suspense mash-up.

***

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

The blot of ink stuck to her finger, tacky like drying blood. Leona scrubbed at it with her handkerchief as the clock chimed two hours after midnight. She capped the inkwell, and while the ink dried on her most recent entry, she organized the copies with ribbons. Blue for Daphne and red for Ruth. With shaking hands, she slipped the copies into stiff cardboard folios and tied them closed. Sighing, she set them on the desk in front of her.

The flames in the hearth beckoned. This wasn’t the first night she’d yearned for obliteration. It wouldn’t come if she gave in to the urge to throw her labor into the fire. Only paper and ink would vanish, leaving the memories behind.

Pen and ink or back to the laudanum.

A grim thought, the grimmest of all.

The words had clawed their way out tonight. She’d begun the memoir of her time as a Union soldier months ago with the hope her drowning spirits would revive once the words dropped to the page. Yet the foreboding crept through her and tightened around her throat as the little study filled with familiar shadows. This old terror had become a second skin, like the tattered and dirty uniform she’d once worn.

Over the monotonous chatter of the rain, the clock ticked away the seconds until her husband came home. Leona moved to the window, pushed aside the heavy velvet curtains, and looked out at night-shrouded Cranberry Street. A lamp glowed in a window across the street. Homesickness for Boston, for life before the war, for herself before the war, settled on her. The wind threw a heavy splash of rain against the window, and she jumped back, letting go of the curtain.

Pacing the study, her restless thoughts rushed on without fatigue. To keep the memories inside only fed the persistent mental return to the battlefield, and the outpouring of words somewhat tamed her tormented soul. She stopped and touched the folio. Work would save her: work, family, friendship, and love. Maybe she’d write a story about two clocks. A natural clock which kept good time and a mad clock that twisted time out of true.

The street door below opened and closed. At last Gil, home safe. She couldn’t even bring herself to scold him for being so late. Leona listened for his footsteps as she crossed the room to tuck the folios into her desk drawer and locked it. She closed the gaslight apertures in the study and turned up the flame on the wall sconces in the drafty hallway so he could find his way. In the bedroom, she shed her dressing gown, stepped out of her slippers, and kicked them under the bed. Gil made his clumsy climb up the stairs. When he stumbled into the room, she pulled the covers back. He fell into bed fully clothed beside her, mumbling and fretful, the sharp ripe scent of whiskey lacing his breath.

She laid her hand on his shoulder. Beneath the cloth of his shirt, his skin was cold and damp. “Rest now, go to sleep,” she whispered.

***

At first light, Leona had dressed in a blue and cream day gown and made her way downstairs for breakfast. The creeping dread of the night before had waned. She rubbed her gritty eyes and yawned again. Mrs. McCarthy poured coffee from the silver pot, the familiar, civilized table a welcome sight. The scent of bacon made her stomach growl.

“Are you well, m’um?”

Leona glanced into the broad face of their cook and housekeeper, a sturdy and mature woman with a comforting Irish burr. She wore her fading blonde hair in a crown around her head.

“I didn’t sleep much.” Leona yawned again behind her fingers.

Gil’s heavy tread on the stairs made them both jump, and Mrs. McCarthy squeaked.

“I’ll bring more breakfast in a jiffy.” She fled through the side door to the kitchen just as Gil ducked through the hall entrance.

Leona rose and smiled at her husband. He’d made a great effort to come down early after returning so late. She accepted his peck on the cheek, poured him coffee and set it between them, wifely mask in place. He glared with bloodshot eyes at the letter in his hand, and her stomach clenched.

“It’s not all bad news, Gil.” She’d read the contents of the letter before leaving it on his desk in his study, as Grandfather had addressed it to both.

He raised his hazel eyes to her. “You recall Henry has absconded with all our funds?” he asked in a sarcastic tone, squinting at the letter, then back at her.

She no longer knew what to say about Gil’s former business partner, Henry Caldwell-Jones. The police were still looking for him. It put the devil in Gil’s eyes to speak of it, so she tried to let it be, not wanting to distress him even more.

“Of course, I remember, Gil. I—”

“And now your grandfather won’t give me a second loan. I’ll have to go back to the bank and ask them again.”

“He only wants to speak with you face to face about our situation,” she said, in her grandfather’s defense. “He’ll help us, Gil. He did offer to speak at the lyceum on his return from Ohio, to help raise funds. It isn’t as if—” Or was it? “We won’t lose the house, will we?”

The muscles in his lean face twitched as Gil fought to hide his disappointment, and her heart broke a little more to witness it. “Your grandfather does not bring in the interest he once did.”

It was true Leona’s grandfather, poet, abolitionist, and Transcendentalist, didn’t bring in the money he used to at readings in New York and Brooklyn, but he didn’t suffer for it.

Gil raked his fingers through his thick, brown hair and opened his mouth. Mrs. McCarthy entered with his breakfast, apparently stopping what he meant to say next. He reached inside the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small notebook and pencil. Laying them on the table, his frown deepened.

Once Mrs. McCarthy had bustled out again, Leona said, “I could write to Aunt Louisa.” Who was not truly an aunt, but a friend of her mother’s.

He opened the notebook and touched the tip of his tongue to the pencil. “We cannot afford to feed and house a man of Bronson Alcott’s caliber,” he replied with heaviness. He bent his head to the columns of numbers on the pages.

His confidence and spirits were usually high, and it hurt to see him laid so low. She did mean Louisa Alcott herself, not her father Bronson Alcott, as the speaker for the lyceum to draw a crowd. Her novel, Little Women, published two years before, had become hugely popular.

“I’ll sell the lyceum, that should help,” Gil murmured, eyes downcast.

Leona winced. It was where they’d met nearly a year before. At a loss again, she glanced down at her lapel watch—9 o’clock already. She stood and set cups and plates on the tray.

“Let Mrs. McCarthy do that.” His pencil went on calculating their precarious position.

“I don’t mind. I’m off to see Daphne this morning. I won’t be home until the late afternoon.” Taking a deep breath, she dared to ask, not expecting an answer. “How much do we owe?” She blew out her held breath, apprehension biting at her. “Why won’t you tell me how much Henry has stolen?”

“He’s made me a laughingstock.” His handsome lips formed a tight smile, but he didn’t look at her. “Don’t you worry, Leona, leave it to me. This will all be over by Christmas.”

***

On the street, she began to walk, then turned to observe the window where Gil labored, smoke curling from the chimney. The image stayed with her as she made her way to the newsstand around the corner and waited patiently for her turn to buy a paper. The sunny day, though cold, had driven people outdoors, well wrapped in fur-collared coats and wool scarves. Woodsmoke and the sharp tang of the river mingling with the scent of baking bread drifted on the breeze. She chewed on the frustration that he wouldn’t share their financial details with her. It made her more fearful not to know. Though she kept the memoir and chapter stories a secret from him, this was hardly the same.

Passing the newsstand, an article about the new bridge caught her eye so she bought the latest Brooklyn Eagle. The previous summer, the four of them, Henry, his wife Helen, herself, and Gil, had stood at the end of Noble Street to watch the construction of the giant caissons in the naval yard. Though approval of the bridge was a long-foregone conclusion, the article was typical of the Eagle’s awful anti-consolidation fear mongering. The article repeated the claim linking the boroughs would only bring the dregs of Manhattan’s Lower East Side into Brooklyn’s pure white Heights. The wrongness of such an attitude churned her stomach.

Leona folded the paper and tucked it under her arm with the folio, sighing. Who would save the poor of this world from the hatred of the rich? Her spirits drooped lower.

She breathed deep the November air on familiar, tree-lined Remsen Street, where she’d lived for two years before marrying Gil in August. The red door of the brownstone opened, welcoming her in. Timothy, the butler, took her hat and coat. Before he disappeared with them, his eyes met hers with a familiar blue twinkle.

“I’ll tell her you’re here,” he said.

“Thank you.” She inhaled the sweet smell of hothouse roses set in vases along the long hallway and waited for word of her arrival to reach Daphne and her nurse Audrey.

Audrey approached from the depths of the house. Her eyes, though hooded, were a pure delphinium blue, blonde hair pinned tight to her head. She wore a plain uniform of dark gray with long cuffed sleeves and a white apron.

“Mrs. Van Wyn is in the Lavender Room.” With a curt nod, she turned away.

When they first met, Leona and Audrey had often shared tea and conversation, but of late Leona felt nothing but a wall of smothered animosity between them. They hadn’t argued, as such, though she had an idea where the strained relations came from.

“Is she well?” Leona asked.

For a moment, she didn’t think Audrey would answer, but the woman turned toward her again. “She passed a quiet night. The laudanum helps.”

Leona frowned. Audrey flicked a dismissive hand and went on her way.

The introduction of laudanum in Daphne’s life began not long after Leona moved to Cranberry Street with Gil that summer. The spas and cures Daphne’s grandson Benedict and his wife arranged didn’t seem to help anymore. The family hired Audrey, who administered the laudanum, a common enough panacea. Laudanum’s presence always disturbed Leona, and she had protested to the family, but no one listened. Audrey had become cold after this discussion. Leona believed some of Daphne’s pain came from her daily battle with grief. Leona often feared her own grief and the overuse of laudanum, prescribed by a respected doctor in Boston, had killed the child from her previous marriage to Jack Davenport. Poor dead Jack.

***

Author Bio

Jan Matthews is an American expat living in the sunshine in Portugal.

She is (finally) retired from HIM and writes historical mysteries from the Middle Ages to World War I. When not writing or drinking coffee and wine in nearby cafes, she knits and crochets for charity and reviews books on her blog.

Social Media Links

coffeeandinkbooks.wordpress.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @coffeeink
BookBub – @coffeeandink1
Instagram – @coffeeandink197
BlueSky – @coffeeandink2.bsky.social

Purchase Links

Amazon – https://pictbooks.tours/54WPvubH

BN – https://pictbooks.tours/3AOgpGPn

BookShop.org – https://pictbooks.tours/34sUBx6S

Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/pFVXjbRQ

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PICT GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/NAUIwZ7q

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: 27 by Stewart Giles

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for 27 (A Jan Norge/Hilda Baker Thriller Book #2) by Stewart Giles on this blog tour.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Blurb

27 : A club you definitely do not want to be a member of.

What starts out as a series of seemingly unrelated murders, soon turns into something much darker.
A murderer is killing people, based on the causes of death of the members of the mythical 27 Club.

Detectives Jan Norge and Hilda Baker are baffled. Someone is going to a lot of trouble to get the details right, but none of the officers on the team are able to figure out why they’re doing it.

As the body count increases, Jan and Hilda make a breakthrough of sorts in the form of a tragic accident that happened sixteen years ago, But it soon becomes clear that there is more to it than a simple tragic event. The murderer the press is dubbing The 27 Club Killer has another agenda, and with the list of potential victims running into the dozens the pressure is on for Jan and Hilda to stop the most depraved killer either of them has ever come across.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249077265-27?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=tCqffvFA5Q&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

27 (A Jan Norge/Hilda Baker Thriller Book #2) by Stewart Giles is an exciting, fast-paced second book in the new Norge/Baker British police procedural crime thriller series. I have been looking forward to this book to get to know the main characters more intimately and I always know Mr. Giles will give me an intriguing new crime for his protagonists to work. This can be read as a standalone book since it is so early in the series, but the first book, Hakuna Matata is an excellent read, also.

Seemingly unrelated murders are piling up quickly until Detectives Jan Norge and Hilda Baker make the dark connection that the killer is imitating the historical deaths of members of the 27 Club. Discovering the link between the murders is good, but they continue without any indication of stopping as Jan and Hilda work to uncover the why.

I really enjoy this main cast of characters and how they work together. Jan is strait-laced, intelligent and has a strong sense of right and wrong, but he is softened by his backstory and his tripping occasionally over English slang. Hilda is an excellent detective, but she is abrasive and has little to no filter. (I could do with a little less of her bed hopping.) The two do somehow work well together though and make an impressive pair. The plot moves quickly and has several suspects, red-herrings and twists that keep you turning the pages. I was still second guessing the killer right up to the reveal. The integration of the 27 Club history also adds a layer that is very interesting.

As in every Stewart Giles book, you must read and be aware of every sentence right up to the end. While this book has a completed crime plot, the ending has me on pins and needles and I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

I highly recommend this second book in this British police procedural crime thriller.

***

Author Bio

After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.

In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later. 3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series. The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.

I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018. After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.

The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.

Social Media Links

Website: https://stewartgiles.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.giles.33

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Norge-Hilda-Baker-thriller-Book-ebook/dp/B0GQHT2CH3/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.j9y5eXysVhfDe8z9DJq2iYmhcLuaZQ22