Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BLACK FOX ONE (Project 613 Series Book #3) by Elyse Hoffman on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
Jonas Amsel and Avalina Keller, devoted Nazis and best friends, have a bright future in Hitler’s Third Reich. Ava, a talented gymnast, wants to serve Germany in the Olympics, and Jonas, who has loved Ava since they were children, wants nothing more than to marry her and start a family. When he is about to propose, however, Ava and her entire family vanish without a trace.
Jonas blames the Jews for Ava’s disappearance and throws himself into a career in the Nazi Party. He serves the Reich under the ruthless Chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich. Jonas becomes particularly good at capturing members of the Black Foxes, an anti-Nazi resistance group, earning Heydrich’s respect and the moniker of “the Fox Hunter.”
Impressed by Jonas’ skills, Heydrich gives him his most difficult task yet: capture the elusive Black Fox One, the Black Foxes’ most deadly and mysterious operative. No Nazi who has pursued Black Fox One has returned alive, but Jonas is determined and confident. Capturing Black Fox One might bring him one step closer to finding Ava.
But while he is hunting Black Fox One, Jonas makes a shocking discovery, forcing him to make an agonizing decision. He must choose between his love for the Reich and his heart, torn between the lies he has been taught all his life and the new truth before him.
Black Fox One is a thrilling World War II story of lost love, bravery, and the hard road to redemption.
BLACK FOX ONE (Project 613 Series Book #3) by Elyse Hoffman is a historical fiction/romance in the Project 613 series which features diverse stories of intrigue, love, and redemption during WWII. This story features a romance between childhood best friends to lovers with several life altering twists of fate. I feel these books are best read in order due to carry over characters and underlying themes.
Jonas Amsel and Avalina “Ava” Keller have grown up from childhood best friends to lovers in a changing Germany. Hitler is in power, and both believe in his vision. As they become young adults, Ava is set to represent her country in the Olympics as a gymnast and Jonas is going to follow his father into the ranks of the SS. When Ava returns, Jonas is ready to propose and start a family with the love of his life, but when he goes to Ava’s house, her entire family has disappeared.
Jonas throws himself into his SS career and becomes “The Fox Hunter” who is dedicated to capturing all the Black Foxes, who are members of a resistance group. He is especially determined to capture Black Fox One who is the most mysterious and deadly of their group. When he comes face to face with Black Fox One, he must make agonizing decisions.
This is a unique WWII historical romance. Both protagonists, Jonas and Ava, go through life altering events and emotional upheaval throughout their lives that kept me turning the pages. Their choices and decisions are the powerful pivotal points of the story. I also found the author’s depiction of the SS officers’ choices they made regarding their families and their loyalty to the Party throughout this series disturbing. This entire series has been fascinating so far due to the author’s character depictions and their moral choices.
I highly recommend this unique historical fiction/romance and I am anxiously waiting for the next book in this series.
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About the Author
Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. She loves to meld WWII and Jewish history with fantasy, folklore, and the paranormal. She has written six works of Holocaust historical fiction: the five books of The Barracks of the Holocaust and The Book of Uriel.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEATH IN DUTCH HARBOR by D. MacNeill Parker on this Authors Marketing Experts Blog Tour.
Below you will find an author Q&A, a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Author Q&A
How did you research your book?
Research was not required. Write what you know, right? As a longtime participant in the Alaska fishing industry, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use my experience as the backdrop to this book. What could be more intriguing than creating a world where commercial fishing and murder meet? However, I knew nothing about police dogs and so made an inquiry with the Seattle Police K9 Unit. They invited me to their training site. I was so appreciative, I named the dog in the book after the K9 Unit shepherd, CoCo.
Which was the hardest character to write?
The arch villain. It was difficult for me to navigate how to leave clues without giving away the identity of the culprit. The protagonist was a bit of a struggle, a learning experience really. Because the book is written in third person, I wrote many revisions trying out ways to best express what was inside her head.
Which was the easiest?
The police chief was the easiest character to write. I have no idea why.
Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
Aside from my own experience at sea as a fisherman that included surviving a boat that sank off the coast of Kodiak, I’ve heard many sea stories, most far more interesting than my own. There’s something about living on the edge of civilization where your life is at the mercy of Mother Nature and your survival may depend on the skill of your crew mates that is made for drama.
There are many crime mystery books out there. What makes yours different?
As a former fisherman married to a fishing boat captain, and with a career as a journalist, fisheries specialist for the State of Alaska and a seafood company executive, I’ve got the credentials to pull off authenticity. And along the way, the reader will learn a lot about Alaska and commercial fishing.
In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like?
Because I am a debut author, it was like stumbling around in a hailstorm, knocking on the doors of strangers in hopes of finding shelter.
What authors inspired you to write?
There were many authors that inspired me to write like Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving, Craig Johnson, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Martin Cruz Smith, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie and Dashell Hammett but the book that lit a writing fire under me as a teenager was John Barth’s book, The Sot-Weed Factor. It’s a wild ride of historical fiction that showed me there was no limit to using your imagination when crafting a yarn.
What is something you had to cut from your book that you wish you could have kept?
There was a scene between Dr. Mo and her pal, Patsy, in a restaurant that was painful to cut. Patsy, one of my favorite characters, used salt and pepper shakers, hot sauce and catsup bottles and a fork to make a point about the doc’s messed-up personal life. It was near the end of the book where the pace had escalated. The scene slowed things down and, gulp, had to go. I hope to find a place for it in the second book!
What’s your next project?
I’m currently writing the second book of the series. So if you like the characters that inhabit DEATH IN DUTCH HARBOR, you can revisit them.
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Book Synopsis
When two murders strain the police force of a remote Alaskan fishing port, veterinarian Maureen McMurtry is tapped by Dutch Harbor’s police chief for forensic assistance. The doctor’s got a past she’d rather not discuss, a gun in her closet, and a retired police dog that hasn’t lost her chops. All come in handy as she deciphers the cause and time of death of a local drug addict washed ashore with dead sea lions and an environmentalist found in a crab pot hauled from the sea in the net of a fishing vessel.
When her romantic relationship with a boat captain is swamped by mounting evidence that he’s the prime suspect in one of the murders, McMurtry struggles with her own doubts to prove his innocence. But can she? McMurtry’s pals, a manager of the Bering Sea crab fishery and another who tends Alaska’s most dangerous bar assist in unraveling the sinister truth.
DEATH IN DUTCH HARBOR by D. MacNeill Parker is a captivating murder mystery featuring a female veterinarian in a remote Alaskan fishing port who gets pulled into a dangerous murder investigation by the local chief of police. I was surprised when I learned this is written by a debut author because it has everything I look for in a complex crime mystery and what I would expect from much more seasoned favorite authors.
Dr. Maureen “Mo” McMurtry loves the remote Alaskan town of Dutch Harbor where she and her retired police dog, Coco live, but she is looking for more in both her personal and professional lives now that her contract has ended. When a local frug addict and two endangered sea lions are found washed ashore dead on the beach, the chief of police asks for Mo’s help with basic forensics before the bodies are sent to the State Police in Anchorage. Then a second body is found in a crab pot caught in a fishing net and brought back to port.
The investigation involves Mo in the world of Alaskan fisherman and oil companies vs. environmentalists, illegal drugs, money, and lies. Mo may be the next corpse to wash up on shore if she and her friends cannot figure out who is willing to kill to hide their secrets.
I could not put this book down! Dr. Mo is the type of realistic protagonist I love to meet in a new book. She loves a harsh environment, I would hate, but she loves it and through her eyes you see the beauty of the environment and the strength of her friends and other inhabitants. They are all independent and hard-working on land and on the sea. You can feel through the author’s vivid descriptions of landscapes and the perils of commercial fishing her love of Alaska. The mystery plot is perfectly paced with twists that kept Mo on her toes and kept me guessing.
I highly recommend this murder mystery from this debut author! I am very happy that this will be a series and I will be able to visit Dr. Mo and her friends in Dutch Harbor again.
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Excerpt
Eric took the blanket he’d laid on the ice bench and draped it over the guy’s shoulders; just a kid, really. He folded the kid’s hands so they lay on his lap and packed ice at his sides so he would remain secure for the rough ride back to port. Reaching into the chest pocket of his own jacket, he removed a pack of cigarettes. His hand shook as he lit two.
“We smoke the same brand,” he said, bending to wedge one in Guy’s gray lips. He smoked the other cigarette, all the while talking to the kid as if his spirit lingered nearby. “What a bummer,” he said, “dying so young.” He told the kid he would be missed by someone and promised to get him home. Hearing his voice crack, Eric turned away as if he didn’t want Guy to see him that way. Then he closed the freezer door.
Guy sat in the bait locker, the cigarette still hanging from his lips. The freezing temperature caused the saltwater on his eyelashes and beard to crystallize. He looked as if he were climbing Mt. Everest instead of sitting propped-up, dead in a fishing boat bait locker headed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
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Author Bio
D. MacNeill Parkerand her family are long time participants in the Alaska fishing industry. In addition to fishing for halibut, salmon, crab, and cod, she’s been a journalist, a fisheries specialist for the State of Alaska, and a seafood company executive. She’s travelled to most ports in Alaska, trekked mountains in the Chugach range, rafted the Chulitna River, worked in hunting camps, and survived a boat that went down off the coast of Kodiak. Parker’s been to Dutch Harbor many times experiencing her share of white knuckler airplane landings and beer at the Elbow Room, famed as Alaska’s most dangerous bar. While the characters in this book leapt from her imagination, they thrive in this authentic setting. She loves Alaska, the sea, a good yarn and her amazing family.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for MURDER UNDER THE MISTLETOE (Maybridge Murder Mysteries Book #2) by Liz Fielding on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Book Tour.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Abby Finch heads to the old church hall armed with mistletoe and holly ready to help decorate in time for the festive season. But she arrives in time to witness a horrifying sight. Edward Marsh reaches to test the antique star at the top of the tree. There’s a fizz and the lights go out.
Abby hears the sickening thud of a body hitting the ground. When the lights turn back on Edward is dead.
It soon becomes clear it was no accident.
The real victim should have been Gregory Tatton, a dapper silver fox, popular with the ladies of the seniors’ lunch club. And a known blackmailer . . .
Abby is desperate to know the truth, but putting herself in danger isn’t on her Christmas list. Who’s been naughty? Who’s been nice? Who’s hiding the fact they’re a murderer?
MEET THE DETECTIVE
Brilliant gardener and the busy mum of three, Abby Finch’s dreams of winning gold at Chelsea Flower Show were put on hold by an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. These days she’s kept on her toes looking after her beloved family, running her own business and dealing with her imminent divorce. In an effort to keep things cordial, she’s allowed her ex to bully her into restoring the garden of his family home. Thankfully she’s surrounded herself with a great group of friends to lean on.
THE SETTING
Pretty Maybridge is a charming village set in the sheep-dotted Cotswolds hills, with a long history stretching back to Tudor times. It’s the type of place where everyone knows each other, but there’s a wonderful bookshop on the corner of the bridge, a popular riverside café and a bustling market at Christmastime. And with Bristol nearby and a big supermarket round the corner.
MURDER UNDER THE MISTLETOE (Maybridge Murder Mysteries Book #2) by Liz Fielding is an entertaining trip back to the small English town of Maybridge for another murder mystery set at Christmas and once again featuring Abby Finch and all her friends. This second book in the series can be read as a standalone, but it is as wonderful as the first and I suggest reading both to get the introductions, interactions, and backgrounds of the main characters right from the start.
Abby Finch is asked to drop off some mistletoe and holly to decorate the church hall for the season. Abby is in time to reconnect with an old high school teacher before he climbs a ladder to place the star on the top of the tree, and with a pop, the lights go out. When the breaker is switched back on, Abby’s old teacher is dead on the floor.
Immediately after giving a statement to the police, Abby is confronted by another senior, Gregory Tatton. She feels threatened by him even though all the senior ladies seem to love him. Abby begins asking questions with the help of some close friends and discovers Tatton was blackmailing some members of the senior’s club as well as prospecting for a third wealthy wife. The electrocution was meant for him, but he does not get away. One of the ladies who cleans for him finds him dead in his home.
Abby is once again questioned by the police when they discover Tatton was killed with ricin from the seeds of the castor oil plants which she has in her garden . She is determined to find the real killer before she is implicated. The killer may have other plans though to eliminate Abby and any of her discoveries.
Even though this is only the second book in the series, I already feel at home in Maybridge and I love all the main characters. Abby is a wonderful protagonist and I love that she is so realistic as a businesswoman, single mother, and possibly on the verge of a new relationship with an old friend. The characters are fully drawn and believable and the descriptions of plants and gardens are vivid. The mystery itself has plenty of red herrings and plot twists that kept me guessing because even when I felt I knew the solution, I was wrong.
I highly recommend this cozy holiday murder mystery, the entire series, and this author.
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Author Bio
Award winning author Liz Fielding was born with itchy feet. She was working in Zambia before her twenty-first birthday and, gathering her own special hero and a couple of children on the way, has lived in Botswana, Kenya and the Middle East, all of which have provided rich inspiration for her writing.
She has written more than seventy books, several of which have won awards, and sold over 15 million copies. In 2019 she was honored with the Romantic Novelists’ Association Outstanding Career Award. She lives in West Sussex.
Inspired by true events, Naomi Ragen’s The Enemy Beside Me is a powerful, provocative novel about two people fighting for reconciliation over unforgivable crimes of the past.
Taking over from her father and grandfather as the head of the Survivor’s Campaign, an organization whose purpose is to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, Milia Gottstein has dedicated her life to making sure the voices of Holocaust victims will never be silenced. It is an overwhelming and heartbreaking mission that has often usurped her time and energy being a wife to busy surgeon Julius, and a mother and grandmother. But now, just as she is finally ready to pass on her work to others, making time for her personal life, an unexpected phone call suddenly explodes all she thought she knew about her present and her future.
In the midst of this personal turmoil, Milia receives an invitation to be the keynote speaker at a Holocaust conference in Lithuania from Dr. Darius Vidas, the free spirited, rebellious conference head. Despite suspecting his motives—she is, after all, viewed as a ‘public enemy’ in that country for her efforts to have them try war criminals and admit their historic responsibility for annihilating almost their entire Jewish community, including her own family—she nevertheless accepts, having developed a secret agenda of her own. But as Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy. However, this only ramps up the hostile forces facing them, threatening their families, livelihoods, and reputations, and forcing them into shocking choices that will betray all they have achieved and all that has grown between them.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen makes the Holocaust come alive again through the characters’ journeys. On the heels of the brutality of what Hamas did in Israel it is important to keep the Holocaust atrocities alive. Based on real facts, this book shows how some countries in Eastern Europe, specifically Lithuania, made their own horrible imprint on Holocaust history. The Lithuanians brutally persecuted the Jews who were also their fellow citizens.
The story begins with Milia, an Israeli Jew, whose organization’s purpose is bringing Nazi war criminals to judgement. Darius, a professor at a college in Lithuania invites Milia to speak at a conference in Lithuania. Her speech tells the story of families tortured, raped, and killed by their former neighbors. The Lithuanians had the audacity to claim that they were providing aid to the Jews, subsequently becoming heroes, a complete untruth.
This book is a must read for those who need to remember what happened. Ragan does a good job of showing through her characters the brutality. But she also allows readers to understand the characters through their personal stories. As Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?
Naomi Ragan: This story came to me when I was walking down a street in Jerusalem, minding my own business during Covid. I ran into an old friend, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, Efraim Zuroff. He tells me about a story that flabbergasted me. He co-authored a book titled Our People with Lithuania’s famous author, Ruta Vanagaite. She invited him to be a keynote speaker in Lithuania about Nazi War Criminals. This was the starting point for this story. I wrote a dialogue between the Nazi hunter, and the son of those living during World War II. This is a story about the here and now.
EC: The book is based on facts?
NR: Yes. Ruta and Efraim traveled around Lithuania to gain eyewitness testimony. Instead of her convincing him that Lithuania did not commit war crimes, the situation convinced her. They became very close on this trip and fell in love, just as in my book. I never thought Ruta, a child of a preparator and Efraim, a Nazi hunter could get close.
EC: There are many details about Lithuania and the Holocaust?
NR: Lithuanians killed over 96% of the Jewish community. It was neighbors, teachers, and doctors, self-appointed policemen who shot and murdered Jews. They killed as a percentage more of the Jewish community than any other country, including Germany. Today, they are one of the chief Holocaust distortionists. They are trying to falsify what happened to cover their tracks. They are attempting to use a Double Holocaust theory. They say everybody suffered, look at what Stalin did to us.
EC: The Lithuanian executioners were brutal?
NR: They killed with such sadism, ferocity, joy, and enthusiasm. They held public parties to give out the spoils after indiscriminately murdering men, women, and children. I based the facts from first person history and testimonies.
EC: The story speaks of acknowledgement. Can you explain?
NR: There can be reconciliation and forgiveness. But on what basis? First, there must be a recognition of the truth. There must be respect for the mass graves that are being treated like garbage dumps. The mass graves have not been marked in any way. They must stop painting over Jewish cemeteries and building shopping malls. This story is not going away because there has not been any justice and a final meeting of minds.
EC: Everyone has sympathy for what is going on in Ukraine. Do you agree many do not know how the cruel the Ukrainians were to the Jews during WWII?
NR: They joined mobile killing units. There were squads made up of Lithuanians and Ukrainians. I wrote the book now because people are being honored that were Holocaust perpetrators. Just look at what just happened in Canada where they tried honoring a Ukrainian who was in the Waffen SS unit of Hitler.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Dr. Darius Vidas?
NR: Unpredictable, impulsive, organized, and a novelist. He is someone who wants to seek justice. He starts out thinking justice would clear the Lithuanians of the terrible things they were accused of doing. As time goes on, he realizes his country was involved in such savage brutality. He becomes a true partner to the heroine, Milia, the Nazi hunter. He has guts as he became a true Lithuanian patriot. He has a lot to lose, everything he has accomplished, if he agrees with Milia.
EC: How would you describe the heroine, Milia Gottstein-Lasker?
NR: She has a dark view of the world, a cynic, with an endless quest for justice. She compartmentalizes because she is a Nazi hunter. She is based on my friend’s experiences, Efraim. She confronts the truth about what happened to her namesake. To make her character whole I had her deal with a lot of things: a marriage breaking down and someone who questions her own self-worth as a woman. She has a lot of insecurities and is losing her sense of purpose. She is trying to figure out where her life is going personally and professionally.
EC: How would describe their relationship?
NR: The two of them are in mid-life crisis. But more importantly, they are on a journey together. They want to accomplish something important in both their lives. They start out as enemies because he wants to prove everything she has said about the Lithuanian atrocities is false. But then he realizes she is speaking the truth. They learned to respect each other and to have compassion. They now trust each other. Their relationship was a symbol for the rest of the world. Both are honest enough to accept the truth.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of the book?
NR: I want them to understand what must be done to honor the victims and to expose all these bogus distortions by countries like Lithuania. They are putting forward Holocaust distortions to erase, cover-up, and rewrite history and silence the voices. I wrote this book quote, “It was not the Jews gripping the past, it was the past gripping the Jews. It will never let them go until there is some kind of reckoning.” This is exactly how I think and feel. These countries in Europe must tell what happened and return the spoils they took. The quote in the acknowledgement summarizes my feelings, “Milia and Darius are both fictional characters. Their spirits are real and live in all people whose histories have made them enemies. It is up to us, the living, to make peace with one another.” As Milia says in her speech, there are five things that must be done: mainly Lithuanians need to stop lying about their past, stop honoring the perpetrators, tell the truth to their children, compensate the victims, and make Holocaust education important.
EC: Next book?
NR: One never knows. At this point, we will see what happens.
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.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for GIRL AMONG CROWS by Brendon Vayo on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my mini book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway! Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
Beware the Brotherhood of the Raven
When two boys vanish from her hometown, Daphne Gauge notices uncanny parallels to her brother’s disappearance 30 years earlier. Symbols of an ancient Norse god. Rumors of a promise to reward the town’s faithful with wealth and power, for a price. She warns her husband that another sacrifice is imminent, but just like last time, no one believes her.
This leaves her with a desperate choice: investigate with limited resources, or give in to the FBI’s request for an interview. For years, they’ve wanted a member of the Gauge family to go on record about the tragedy back in 1988. If she agrees to a deposition now, Daphne must confess her family’s dark secrets. But she also might have one last chance to unmask the killer from back then . . . and now.
Genre: Horror, Suspense Published by: CamCat Books Publication Date: November 2023 Number of Pages: 416 ISBN: 9780744306552 (ISBN10: 0744306558)
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My Mini Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
GIRL AMONG CROWS by Brendon Vayo is an interestingly unique and atmospheric horror story with elements of suspense and mystery with Norse mythology influence.
This is a difficult book to review because I am afraid of giving away any important plot points. You have to give this book a chance to get going because at first a lot of information is given that did not make sense to me, but it is relevant later, and it will come together and move more quickly as the story progresses. The mystery unravels in two timelines, Daphne’s past and present, with the disappearance of young boys in both timelines and the Brotherhood of Crows playing an important part in both. Daphne is so complex because she wants to solve the disappearances, but at the same time she would be betraying those closest to her. One word that I did look up that helped in my understanding early on in the story was “blot” which is Old Norse for an exchange in which they did a blood sacrifice to the gods in order to get something in return.
I am very glad I gave this book a try because it did turn out to be an engrossing read. If you are into dark horror with suspense and mystery this is definitely the book for you.
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Excerpt
My husband Karl shakes hands with other doctors, a carousel of orthopedic surgeons in cummerbunds. I read his lips over the brass band: How’s the champagne, Ed? Since he grayed, Karl wears a light beard that, for the convention, he trimmed to nothing.
The ballroom they rented has long windows that run along Boston’s waterfront. Sapphire table settings burn in their reflections.
The food looks delicious. Rainbows of heirloom carrots. Vermont white cheddar in the macaroni. Some compliment the main course, baked cod drizzled with olive oil. My eyes are on the chocolate cherries. Unless Karl is right, and they’re soaked in brandy.
At some dramatic point in the evening, balloons will drop from nets. A banner sags, prematurely revealing its last line.
CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS!
Thirty years. How nice, though I try not to think that far back.
I miss something, another joke.
Everyone’s covering merlot-soaked teeth, and I wonder if they’re laughing at me. Is it my dress? I didn’t know if I should wear white like the other wives.
I redirect the conversation from my choice of a navy-blue one-shoulder, which I now see leaves me exposed, and ask so many questions about the latest in joint repair that I get lightheaded.
The chandelier spins. Double zeroes hit the roulette table. A break watching the ocean, then I’m back, resuming my duties as a spouse, suppressing a yawn for an older man my husband desperately wants to impress. A board member who could recommend Karl as the next director of clinical apps.
I’m thinking about moving up, our careers. I’m not thinking dark thoughts like people are laughing or staring at me. Not even when someone taps me on the shoulder.
“Are you Daphne?” asks a young man. A member of the wait staff. No one should know me here; I’m an ornament. Yet something’s familiar about the young man’s blue eyes. Heat trickles down my neck as I try to name the sensation in my stomach.
“And you are?” I say.
“Gerard,” he says. The glasses on his platter sway with caffeinated amber. “Gerard Gedney. You remember?”
I gag on my ginger ale.
“My gosh, I do,” I say. “Gerard. Wow.”
Thirty years ago, when this convention was still in its planning stages, Gerard Gedney was the little boy who had to stay in his room for almost his entire childhood. Beginning of every school year, each class made Get Well Soon cards and mailed them to his house.
We moved before I knew what happened to Gerard, but with everything else, I never thought of him until now. All the growing up he must’ve done, despite the odds, and now at least he got out, got away.
“I beat the leukemia,” he says.
“I’m so glad for you, Gerard.”
If that’s the appropriate response. The awkwardness that defined my childhood creeps over me. Of all the people to bump into, it has to be David Gedney’s brother. David, the Boy Never Found.
My eyes jump from Gerard to the other wait staff. They wear pleated dress pants. Gerard’s in a T-shirt, bowtie, and black jeans.
“I don’t really work here, Daphne,” says Gerard, sliding the platter onto a table. “I’ve been looking for you for a while.”
The centerpiece topples. Glass shatters. An old woman holds her throat.
“Gerard,” I say, my knees weak, “I understand you’re upset about David. Can we please not do this here?”
Gerard wouldn’t be the first to unload on what awful people we were. But to hear family gossip aired tonight, in front of my husband and his colleagues? I can’t even imagine what Karl would think.
“I’m not here about my brother,” says Gerard. “I’m here about yours.” His words twist.
“Paul,” I say.
“What about him?” “I’m so sorry,” says a waiter, bumping me. Another kneels to pick up green chunks of the vase. When I find Gerard again, he’s at the service exit, waiting for me to follow.
Before I do, I take one last look at the distinguished men and a few women. The shoulder claps. The dancing. Karl wants to be in that clique—I mean, I want that too. For him, I want it.
But I realize something else. They’re having a good time in a way I never could, even if I were able to let go of the memory of my brother, Paul.
The catering service has two vans in the alleyway. It’s a tunnel that feeds into the Boston skyline, the Prudential Center its shining peak.
Gerard beckons me to duck behind a stinky dumpster. Rain drizzles on cardboard boxes.
I never knew Gerard as a man. Maybe he has a knife or wants to strangle me, and all this news about my brother was bait to lure me out here. I’m vulnerable in high heels. But Gerard doesn’t pull a weapon.
He pulls out a postcard, its edges dusty with a white powder I can’t identify. The image is of three black crows inscribed on a glowing full moon.
“I found it in Dad’s things,” says Gerard. “Please take it. Look, David is gone. We’ve got to live with the messes our parents made. Mine sacrificed a lot for my treatment, but had they moved to Boston, I probably would’ve beat the cancer in months instead of years.”
“And this is about Paul?” I say.
“When the chemo was at its worst,” says Gerard, “I dreamed about a boy, my older self, telling me I would survive.”
I take my eyes off Gerard long enough to read the back of the postcard:
$ from Crusher. Keep yourself pure, Brother. For the sake of our children, the Door must remain open.
Crusher. Brother. Door. No salutation or signature, no return address. Other than Crusher, no names of any kind. The words run together with Gerard’s take on how treatment changed his perspective.
Something presses my stomach again. Dread. Soon as I saw this young man, I knew he was an omen of something. And when is an omen good?
“Your dad had this,” I say. “Did he say why? Or who sent it?”
An angry look crosses Gerard’s face. “My dad’s dead,” he says. “So’s Brother Dominic. Liver cancer stage 4B on Christmas Day. What’d they do to deserve that, huh?”
“They both died on Christmas? Gerard, I’m so sorry.” First David, now his dad and Dominic? He stiffens when I reach for him, and, of course, I’m the last person he wants to comfort him. “I know how hard it is. I lost my mom, as you know, and my dad ten years ago.”
The day Dad died, I thought I’d never get off the floor. I cried so hard I threw up, right in the kitchen. Karl was there, my future husband, visiting on the weekend from his residency. I didn’t even think we were serious, but there he was, talking me through it, the words lost now, but not the comfort of his voice.
I looked in his eyes, daring to hope that with this man I wouldn’t pass on to my children what Mom passed down to me.
“Mom’s half-there most days,” says Gerard. “But one thing.”
The rear entrance bangs open, spewing orange light. Two men dump oily garbage, chatting in Spanish.
“Check the postmark, Daphne,” says Gerard at the end of the alleyway. He was right beside me. Now it’s a black bird sidestepping on the dumpster, its talons clacking, wanting me to feed it. I flinch and catch Gerard shrugging under the icy rain before he disappears.
The postmark is from Los Angeles, sent October last year. Six months ago, George Gedney received this postcard. Two months later, he’s dead, and so is another son.
What does that mean? How does it fit in with Paul?
Though he’s gone, I keep calling for Gerard, my voice strangled. Someone has me by the elbow, my husband. Even in lifts, Karl’s three inches shorter than me.
“Daphne, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Colquitt. I need Sheriff Colquitt or . . .” Voices argue in my head, and I nod at the hail swirling past yellow streetlamps. “Thirty years ago, Bixbee was a young man. He might still be alive.”
“Daphne, did that man hurt you? Hey.”
Karl demands that someone call the police, but I shake him.
“It’s fine, Karl,” I say, dialing Berkshire County Sheriff ’s Office. “Gerard’s a boy I knew from my hometown.”
Karl’s calling someone too. “Some coincidence,” he says.
Though it wasn’t. Here I am trying not to think about the past, and it comes back to slap me in the face as though I summoned it. Paul. The little brother I vowed to protect.
The phone finally picks up. “Berkshire Sheriff’s Office.”
“Hello,” I say, “could I leave a message for Harold Bixbee to call me back as soon as possible? He is or was a deputy in your department.”
“Uh, ma’am, I don’t have anyone in our personnel records who matches that name. But if it’s an emergency, I’d be glad—” I hang up. Damn. I should’ve known at nine p.m., all I’d get is a desk sergeant. I’d spend half the night catching him up to speed.
“Daphne.” My husband lowers his phone, looking at me as though I’ve lost my mind. “I asked Ed to pull the hotel’s security feed. You’re the only one on tape.”
“What? No.”
“It shows that you walked out that door alone,” says Karl, gesturing, “and I come out a few minutes later.”
The Door must remain open.
Dread hardens, then the postcard’s corner jabs my thumb. I’m about to show Karl my proof when I realize that now there are only two crows in the moon.
“How’d he do that?” I keep flipping it, expecting the third one to return, before I sense my husband waiting. Distantly, I hear wings flap, but it could be the rain. “Gerard wanted me to have his dad’s postcard.”
“So this boy Gerard comes all the way from Springfield to hand you a postcard,” Karl says. “And he can magically avoid cameras?”
“I’m not from Springfield,” I say, shaking off a chill. Magically avoid cameras. And Gerard can turn pictures of crows into real ones too. How?
“You seem very agitated,” says Karl. “Want me to call Dr. Russell? Unless . . .” Karl’s listening, just not to me. “Ed says the camera angles aren’t the best here. There’s a few blind spots.”
“I said I’m not from Springfield, Karl. Any more than you’re from Boston.”
My husband nods, still wary. “Boston is more recognizable than Quincy. But how does your hometown account for why Gerard isn’t on the security footage?”
I lick my lips, my hand hovering over Karl’s phone.
When we first met, I wanted to keep things upbeat. Me? I’m a daddy’s girl, though (chuckling) certainly not to a fault. In the interest of a second date, I might’ve understated some things.
“Here,” I say, “it’s more like I’m from the Hilltowns. It’s a remote area.” My lips tremble, trying to force out the name of my hometown. “I was born and raised in New Minton, Karl.”
Somewhere between Cabbage Patch Kids and stickers hidden in a cereal box, the ones Paul demanded every time we opened a new Crøønchy Stars, is recognition. I can tell by the strange flicker on Karl’s face.
“The New Minton Boys,” he says. “All those missing kids, the ones never found.” Karl is stunned. “Daphne, you’re from there? Did you know those boys? God, you would’ve been a kid yourself.”
“I was eleven,” I say. And I was a kid, a selfish kid. I came from a large family. Brandy was seventeen, Courtney fifteen, Ellie nine, and Paul seven.
The day before my brother disappeared, I wasn’t thinking that this night was the last time we’d all be together. I wasn’t thinking about the pain Mom and Dad would go through, especially after the town gossip began.
No. I thought my biggest problems in the world were mean schoolboys. So I ruined dinner.
“Daphne?” Now Karl looks mad. “That’s a big secret not to tell your husband.”
If only he knew.
***
Author Bio
Brendon Vayo was born in Okinawa, Japan, and now lives in Austin, TX. He has a wonderful wife and three children. The kids keep him awake at night, so he hopes his books do the same to you.
Release day! Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BEFOREI’M GONE by Heidi McLaughlin on this Buoni Amici Press Release Blitz.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Palmer Sinclair has never needed anyone’s help. A successful loan officer, she’s all work and no play. But when splitting headaches and blurred vision begin to affect her job, she begrudgingly sees a doctor and receives a diagnosis that leaves her shaken to her core and with little time left. Facing an uncertain future, Palmer makes a bucket list, determined to do the things she’d only dreamed of before she goes.
Kent Wagner has dedicated his life to helping others. An army medic turned paramedic, he’s a regular at Palmer’s bank who makes his monthly car loan payments in person just to see her radiant smile. After responding to not one but two 911 calls involving Palmer, he learns about her bucket list. Touched by her circumstances—and needing a distraction from his own—Kent offers to take Palmer to the places on her list.
Neither is prepared for the emotional journey ahead…or how little time they have left together, but the friendship they find in that brief time might be the most lasting legacy of all.
BEFORE I’M GONE by Heidi McLaughlin is an emotional romance/women’s fiction that left me swinging between beautiful and heartfelt to devastated and ugly crying. This is a story that reminds everyone to live life to the fullest because you never know what tomorrow will bring. (When you sit down to read this make sure you have a full box of tissues close at hand.)
Palmer Sinclair has always taken care of herself, from aging out of the foster care system to working her way up the corporate ladder in a bank. She begins to have terrible migraines and blurred vision which she tries to take care of on her own until she falls at work. Taken to the hospital, she has a cat scan that reveals the worst possible outcome. Now, with a limited future, she makes a bucket list but feels hopeless to accomplish it on her own.
Kent Wagner was an Army medic who is now a paramedic with the local fire department and a regular at Palmer’s bank. He is the responder when Palmer falls at the bank and in her home. He discovers Palmer’s secret when he accidentally pockets Palmer’s bucket list. Kent is having personal problems of his own and decides helping Palmer with her bucket list will help keep him from focusing on his life.
The connection they find in their time and travels together is an emotional journey you will not be able to forget.
What a tear-jerker, and yet hauntingly beautiful story with characters that I will never forget. This is an emotional rollercoaster that feels so real and raw, but you do not want to get off the ride and there are moments of humor to occasionally give you a break from the tissues. Palmer is a heroine that you want to wrap in your arms and Kent was the perfect hero for her. How many of us continually put off what we want, our bucket list, until it is too late? Even if you do not do something on a bucket list, this friendship/love story reminds you to live every day to the fullest.
I highly recommend this emotional journey!
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About the Author
Heidi McLaughlin is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of The Beaumont Series, The Boys of Summer, and The Archers.
In 2012, Heidi turned her passion for reading into a full-fledged literary career, writing over twenty novels, including the acclaimed Forever My Girl.
Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, has been adapted into a motion picture with LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions, starring Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe, and opened in theaters on January 19, 2018, and is now available on DVD & Digital.
