Avonna

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Vice & Virtue by Justin M. Kiska

Vice & Virtue

by Justin M. Kiska

February 14 – March 11, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I will be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for VICE & VIRTUE (Parker City Mystery Book #2) by Justin M. Kiska.

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

***

Book Description

Parker City, 1984…

Three years after the Spring Strangler case rocked the historic Western Maryland city nestled at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, life has returned to normal for Detective Ben Winters and his partner, Tommy Mason. With a new chief now leading the department and the city slowly crawling out of its economic distress, everything seems to be moving in the right direction.

Until one sweltering summer day, a killer begins targeting police officers. Ben and Tommy find themselves once again leading an investigation the likes of which Parker City has never seen. The detectives quickly come to realize that until the shooter is found, everyone wearing a badge is in danger. To complicate matters even further, when a recently unearthed skeleton mysteriously connects to the string of police homicides, Ben and Tommy begin to think their current case may be tied to events twenty years earlier.

But how could a skeleton buried two decades ago hold the key to solving their current case?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59830246-vice-virtue?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Jg6QtFfnds&rank=1

VICE & VIRTUE

Parker City Mystery #2

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 288
ISBN: 978-1-68512-069-6
Series: Parker City Mysteries, #2 || Each book is a stand alone novel.

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

VICE & VIRTUE (A Parker City Mystery Book #2) by Justin M. Kiska is an engaging and gripping mystery/crime thriller/police procedural in the Parker City Mystery series. I am very surprised after reading the first book in this series, Now & Then that there is even a second book. (When and if you read the first book, which I highly recommend, you will understand my surprise.) This book is easily read as a standalone.

As Parker City begins to revitalize and rebuild, a skeleton is found under an old, condemned warehouse. Detective Sergeant Ben Winters and his partner Detective Tommy Mason are called to the scene.

Just as they begin to investigate the discovered skeleton, they are called to the murder scene of a fellow law enforcement officer. The old case goes on the back burner when a second and third officer are killed. As Parker City is just getting over the serial killer case from three years ago, Ben and Tommy now have a cop killer on the loose.

Ben and Tommy realize until they solve this case, all of their fellow officers are in danger But what they only come to realize as they work the current case is that the old skeleton from the warehouse may be tied to their present day murders.

I am as impressed with this second book as I was with the first. Mr. Kiska is very adept at plotting two timelines that intertwine with plenty of plot twists and are as equally important to the solution of the detectives’ current cases in the 1980’s as the older case from the 1950’s. Both main characters, Detective Sergeant Ben Winters and his partner, Detective Tommy Mason are fully fleshed, realistic, and likable. Their dialogue and banter is believable and enjoyable. A few of the secondary characters are a bit cliché, but not so much as to detract from my enjoyment of the story.

I highly recommend this mystery/crime thriller with two detectives I want to continue to follow in any decade in future books.

***

Excerpt

Tall and athletic, Tommy Mason always reminded Ben of Tom Selleck’s Magnum P.I. character from television. Tommy always had that whole ruggedly handsome thing going for him. Mixed with a little bit of a “bad boy” vibe and he drove the women wild.

Next to Ben’s clean-cut, buttoned-down appearance, their pairing caused many to do a doubletake. At first glance, they appeared to be complete opposites. But as one got to know them, they were very much alike. Each brought out the best in the other and at the end of the day, it was all about getting the job done. Sure, each had his own style, but that’s what made them such a formidable team.

Tommy’s apparent willingness to skirt the rules was always offset by Ben’s ability to find ways to use the rules to their benefit. Just as Ben’s refusal to play the internal politics game allowed Tommy to use his charm to keep too many feathers from getting ruffled amongst the powers-that-be. They each knew the other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to adapt them to their own, which is why they’d been so impressive in getting the PCPD’s Detective Squad off the ground.

“What are you doing here?” Ben asked, more than a little surprised to see his partner.

“Shirley from Dispatch called me. She thought I’d be interested,” Tommy explained. “And before you say anything about what I’m wearing, I just want to remind you, it is our day off, so I didn’t think I needed to get dressed up to come to a potential crime scene. Especially when we don’t actually know this is a crime scene yet.”

He was referring to the fact he had on a T-shirt and comfortable pair of jeans, as opposed to the full suit and tie Ben was wearing.

“Besides, now you don’t have to worry about getting your fancy suit muddy. I have no problems getting down there in the dirt,” Tommy smiled, pointing at the fresh mud stains on his knees. With that, he knelt back down to take another look at the exposed skeletal remains under the floorboards.

“So, tell me. What do we have?” Ben asked, crouching next to Tommy so he could get a better look.

“You can see there’s a pretty big cavity here under this part of the floor,” Tommy pointed out. “It’s got to be a good ten by ten area where the ground has been eaten away, even though it’s not too deep, less than a foot in some places. It’s definitely because of water…there’s a lot of mud down there. As the earth under the floor eroded, it uncovered the skeleton. Partway, at least. Of course, no one could see what was happening under here until our friend Mr. Haggarty had the unfortunate experience of stepping on a board that was rotted through and it snapped, sending him falling through the floor. You can see where he landed in the mud.

“And right there,” Tommy pointed, “you see the skull and top portion of the skeleton sticking out of the ground.”

“You came face-to-face with that thing, man?” Tommy looked over at the construction worker who was leaning against the wall. “Not a good way to start the day.”

“Yeah. You’re telling me,” Haggarty answered.

Turning back to the skeleton, Tommy said, “I’m no expert, but that hole in the skull right there…see it, it looks like it could be a GSW from a pretty heavy caliber gun.”

Leaning down and twisting his head so he could try and get a better look at the skull, Ben saw the hole and wondered if his partner was right. Finding a skeleton buried under the floor was one thing. Finding a skeleton buried under the floor with a bullet hole in its skull was something else. It took everything to a different level.

Standing and stretching their legs, Tommy said, “When Shirley first called me, I thought this was going to have been some kind of prank. Some kids snuck into the site on a dare and left a skeleton for the crew to find.”

“You thought kids somehow buried a skeleton under this building in the hopes someone would fall through the floor and find it?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow. “Not to mention having to figure out how to bury the thing under the floor?”

“In my defense,” Tommy started, raising a finger and shaking it at his partner, “I didn’t know the skeleton was buried under the warehouse. I just knew they’d found a skeleton at the warehouse.”

The first thing that needed to happen was to get the skeleton out of the ground. That would be up to the crime scene techs. Even though he could easily reach in and pull the skull out to get a better look, Ben didn’t want to disturb anything more than it already had been when Lance Haggarty crashed through the floor. Thankfully, he hadn’t actually landed on the skull itself.

“So much for our day off,” Ben said, looking at his watch, wondering where the crime scene guys were.

***

Author Bio

When not sitting in his library devising new and clever ways to kill people (for his mysteries), Justin can usually be found at The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, outside of Washington, DC, where he is one of the owners and producers. In addition to writing the Parker City Mysteries Series, he is also the mastermind behind Marquee Mysteries, a series of interactive mystery events he has been writing and producing for over fifteen years. Justin and his wife, Jessica, live along Lake Linganore outside of Frederick, Maryland.

Catch Up With Our Author

JustinKiska.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @JMKiska
Twitter – @JustinKiska
Facebook – @JMKiska

Purchase Links

Amazon

Goodreads

Feature Post and Book Review: The Doomsday Mother by John Glatt

Book Description

In The Doomsday Mother, bestselling true crime author John Glatt tells the twisted tale of Lori Vallow, accused of having her two children murdered to start a new life with her new husband, doomsday prepper Chad Daybell.

At first, the residents of Kauai Beach Resort took little notice of their new neighbors. The glamorous blonde and her tall husband fit the image of the ritzy gated community. The couple seemed to keep to themselves—until the police knocked on their door with a search warrant. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had fled to Hawaii in the midst of being investigated for the disappearance of Lori’s children back in Idaho—Tylee and JJ—who hadn’t been seen alive in five months.

For years, Lori Vallow had been devoted to her children and her Mormon faith. But when her path crossed with Chad Daybell, a religious zealot who taught his followers how to prepare for the end-times, the tumultuous relationship transformed her into someone unrecognizable. As authorities searched for Lori’s children, they uncovered more suspicious deaths with links to both Lori and Chad, including the death of Lori’s third and fourth husbands, her brother, and Chad’s wife.

In June 2020, the gruesome remains of JJ and Tylee were discovered on Chad’s property, and the newlyweds were arrested and charged with murder. And in a shocking development, horrifying statements revealed that the couple’s fanatical beliefs had convinced them the children had become zombies–a belief that may have led to their deaths.

Bestselling author and journalist John Glatt takes readers deeper into the devastating story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell in an attempt to unravel the lethal relationship of this doomsday couple.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693511-the-doomsday-mother?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JMT9MgkbKX&rank=1

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE DOOMSDAY MOTHER: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of the American Family by John Glatt is the true crime account of the lives of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell and their twisted religious beliefs that became the theological justification for the murder conspiracies which led to the deaths of their spouses and Lori’s two minor children.

Lori Vallow had a turbulent young life. Even being a devout Mormon, she was married several times and moved continually. Finally with her fourth husband, she begins to find stability and happiness for herself and her children. But it was not to last. Lori began to study and follow extreme preppers and doomsday zealots that preached the end days were upon us and one of these people was Chad Daybell.

Lori begins her extreme belief in everything Chad teaches. Both lose their spouses, who are at first deemed natural deaths, and within two weeks of Chad’s wife’s death they are married to each other with no children in sight.

In a multi-jurisdiction investigation, the authorities begin to uncover a web of deaths surrounding the couple and then the remains of Lori’s children are found buried on Chad’s land.

Mr. Glatt’s writing brings you into Lori and Chad’s lives and beliefs with even handed descriptions that let the reader make their own conclusions of the crimes. They both had many supporters until the day the children were found. Some felt Lori was brainwashed and this was all Chad’s doing while others believe that Lori was just as guilty and smart enough to manipulate her brother’s involvement in the deaths and set up financial gains from every death. There is no conclusion to this horrific story currently with Chad still awaiting trial and Lori in a mental health facility unable to contribute to her own defense at this time.

I feel this true crime book is full of interesting information that I did not get while the case was in all the headlines. It is also heartbreaking and scary in this case and many more the way religion can be twisted with cult-like beliefs and destroy so many lives.

***

Author Bio

English-born John Glatt is the author of Golden Boy Lost and Found, Secrets in the Cellar, Playing with Fire, and many other bestselling books of true crime. He has more than 30 years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. Glatt left school at 16 and worked a variety of jobs—including tea boy and messenger—before joining a small weekly newspaper. He freelanced at several English newspapers, then in 1981 moved to New York, where he joined the staff for News Limited and freelanced for publications including Newsweek and the New York Post. His first book, a biography of Bill Graham, was published in 1981, and he published For I Have Sinned, his first book of true crime, in 1998. He has appeared on television and radio programs all over the world, including ABC- 20/20Dateline NBC, Fox News, Current Affair, BBC World, and A&E Biography. He and his wife Gail divide their time between New York City, the Catskill Mountains and London.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/johnglatt

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Good Things Come Series by Linda Shantz

Elise’s Thoughts

Meet Linda Shantz, extraordinary artist and author of the Good Things Come series. All the books’ details are authentic with characters and events realistic and engaging. The author uses her own experiences to write captivating stories. She currently manages a small herd of retired racehorses, with enough time off to paint and write. She lives on a small farm in Southern Ontario with horses and her Border Collie. To view her artwork and all six books plus a novella, Merry Little Thing go to her website, www.lindashantz.com

The main characters Liv, Nate, Faye, Will, Emilie, Dean, and the horses Chique, Claire, and John Jay will tug at the readers’ hearts. They will fall in love with the characters, both horse and human. Schantz takes people on a journey throughout each story. It is not only a horse racing drama but also a story about family, friendship, and relationships. All the books will conjure up feelings from sadness to anger to laughter. People do not have to enjoy horses or horse racing to read this page-turner.

***

Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the series?

Linda Shantz: For me, it is somewhat embarrassing. When I was a child, my mother read to me The Black Stallion. At the age of eight I started to write my own book. I did not get the idea from the “Heartland” series about horses since I developed this series before Heartland ever happened.

EC: Were you ever involved with horses?

LS: Yes, most of my adult life. I started working with them at the age of thirteen. At eighteen I galloped them. I also spent some time on a farm. The last fifteen years I have my own farm where I have a breeding operation with clients and help raise the babies. I have delivered horses. It is a combination of excitement and stress.

EC: What if the breeding goes wrong?

LS: There is a lot of money involved with racing horses. In Book 3 of Good Things Come one of the young horses, Feste, died of heart problems during a race. I think it is less than 1%, but every now and then it does happen. A lot of times during post-mortem they cannot determine the cause of death. There is no pattern to figure out what causes it. There is no correlation between the way the horse is bred and the young ones dying. A dog has a litter with many puppies where a horse has one foal, once a year. It is harder to get feedback on the breeding than dogs.

EC: In your later books you discuss ovarian cancer and abuse. Why?

LS: Ovarian cancer is directly related to a friend of mine. She was diagnosed and has survived. Those scenes in the book are a tribute to her. With the abuse I wanted to explain why the female lead, Liv, is an introvert.

EC: How much of you are in your characters?

LS: I am an introvert like Liv. Part of me is Liv and part of me is Nate who has my humor. They are both horse people like me. I put in these characters some of my personality and some of my experiences. I am not so lucky to have found a new Nate yet.

EC: How would you describe Liv?

LS: Very serious and responsible. Horses is something she understands. She is reserved, aloof, prefers animals to people, sarcastic, guarded, compartmentalizes, sometimes lacks confidence, and has a sly sense of humor.

EC: How would you describe Nate?

LS: He feels too much. He tries to hold himself back. He has a case of imposter syndrome because he has lost his confidence and direction. He is a gentleman because he is willing to wait for Liv. Nate is also steady, reliable, friendly, and loyal.

EC: Interesting quote by Liv about women jockeys?

LS: You are referring to this one, “The constant security by the trainers, the owners, the horseplayers in the grandstand…all of them sure they could ride a horse better than her.” I wanted to be a jockey but at twelve years old I was 5’6 and 120 pounds. This option was not one for me. Everyone tends to be a Monday Morning quarterback. Women jockeys have it better in Canada than in the US. I just finished a biography about one of the very first women jockeys, Diane Crump, and the hell she went through in the sixties. It is better than it was but there is still attitude and push back.

EC: It is great how you put tidbits about horses in the books, blending the facts into the story.

Horse care versus the sport?

LS: It is sad because I have been involved with racehorses for forty years. There are still people out there who care more about the money. It is part of why I am not so involved anymore. Those directly involved with the horses are the ones who care versus the big trainers who want to win at all costs. Liv would put the horses before the sport.

EC: The horses Claire versus Chique?

LS: Claire is the horse that was not to be special, not well bred. Her personality is like my favorite horse. She is laid-back. She is Liv’s extra special horse. She is big and gentle. Physically Claire is like the horse a friend of mine trained and has the personality of a horse I raised. While Chique is a little bit C-C-Crazy, temperamental, unpredictable, a wild card, gutsy, brave, and erratic.

ES: Relationship between Liv and Nate?

LS: Liv is not aware of her physical attraction and spent a lot of time in denial. There is a long burn. They both spend a lot of time fighting the attraction. He comes to the realization a lot sooner than she does about their feelings. He is willing to give her space. She has a hard time expressing her feelings and trusting. They have this bond around horses, the common ground. They have the same passion for the horses. The starter point for their meeting in the first place was horses.

EC: How would you describe Faye, Liv’s best friend?

LS: She likes to protect her heart and comes across as a girl who just wants to have fun. She had a rough past when she lost her parents and brother. She appreciates a horse but is also afraid of them. She is little lost because everyone she knows are horse people including her older brother. She is bitter, resentful, outspoken, protective, direct, and has fears about tying down. She is pretty much the direct opposite of Liv. Faye might have found her soulmate in Will. They work together with a restaurant.

EC: How would you describe Will?

LS: A nice guy, reliable, funny, caring, and a music person.

EC: How would you describe Liv’s sister, Emilie?

LS: Liv is the one who runs the farm while Emilie is the entrepreneur. Her major is physiotherapy, and she applies it to the horses. She is more stable and had a clearer picture of life than Faye and Liv. She is direct, self-sufficient.

EC: Why the Labrador retriever in the novella?

LS: Emilie latched on to a rescued lab. There were characters in the first books who had labs. I think they are amazing dogs. I did train dogs. They are the best dogs. I have had border collies, but I do want to have a lab, a black lab. I guess I live vicariously through Emilie.

EC: You have a lot of songs in the book?

LS: Will and Nate have a band. I put in the songs I like and make song lists as I write. Here is the first one (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fVFw7Rf9ayf8vbjMxHPkL?si=60925a884e2240cd)

My music taste can be blamed on my brother. When I was about fifteen, I heard the songs he listened to. The music I like is now called Alternative. I have never been a country fan. Some of the groups I enjoy are Panic at the Disco, Counting Grows, and Killers.

EC: Painting versus writing?

LS: I do both. They are different and I use a different part of my brain. When I write I do not paint. I started painting when I was four. When I was eight, I started writing stories. Professionally painting is easier, and I have more confidence in doing it. I feel more vulnerable when I write. I operate a small thoroughbred lay-up time, and when I’m not busy with the kids in the barn, I’m in my studio painting them or writing about them. I like to use my artwork, when I can, to support the retirement group in my area: LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement. In my books and paintings, I hope to capture the part of the horses and dogs that touches our souls. My paintings are in oil, oil pastel and pencil, where I strive to capture not only accurate anatomy, but the spirit of the horse as well. When I write and paint, I want to show how horses are not the workhorses and war horses of the past, but are confidantes, teachers, comedians and much more. It is my goal to share these traits with the viewer.

EC: Next book?

LS: It will be more of Emilie’s story where she will get a romance of her own. Her passion is re-training horses, which will be in the plot. I am also thinking of writing a prequel to bring readers into the story, maybe late spring.

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: Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC by Jon Land

Murder at the CDC

by Jon Land

February 14 – March 11, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Margaret Truman’s MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land.

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

***

Book Description

2017: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace.

The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton’s grandson.

No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC. The connection between the mass shooting and Alexandra’s poisoning lies in that long-lost military transport that has been recovered by forces determined to change America forever. Those forces are led by radical separatist leader Deacon Frank Wilhyte, whose goal is nothing short of bringing on a second Civil War.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton, a former Baltimore homicide detective. She has her own reasons for wanting to find the truth behind the shooting on the Capitol steps, and is the only person with the direct knowledge Brixton needs. But chasing the truth places them in the cross-hairs of both Wilhyte’s legions and his Washington enablers.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693174-murder-at-the-cdc?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=65KXT5tqqv&rank=1

Murder at the CDC

Genre: Political Thriller
Published by: Forge
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-1250238894
Series: Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes, #32 | Each is a stand alone work.

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land is the latest political/crime thriller in this long running series started by Margaret Truman. This is the second book in the series that Jon Land has written, and he does a great job of giving the reader continuity with the previous books. It is an exciting crime/political thriller filled with “what-ifs” extrapolated from today’s headlines. These books can all be easily read as standalone novels.

Robert Brixton comes close once again to losing a loved one when his grandson in caught up in a mass shooting incident on the Capital’s steps. As he begins to investigate the motive for the shooting, he is also asked by his long-time friend to meet with his daughter who works for the CDC in their Washington office who he believes is in trouble. She ends up in the hospital fighting for her life from an unknown poison.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton who works for the Capital police and the two discover a scheme to change America forever with a bioweapon believed lost on a long-ago military transport.

I love these types of thrillers when they are well written as this one is. They are just plausible enough to be scarily believable and thank goodness there is always someone of principle to stand in the way of all the evil doers. Fast paced, action packed and full of twists, I could not put the book down. All the characters, good and bad, were well drawn. There are a very few times the pace slows down a bit, but the information given at these times is interesting and adds to the escalating consequences of the protagonists not saving the day.

I really enjoy reading Mr. Land’s additions to this series, and I am looking forward to reading many more in the future.

***

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

“The hand of God is upon You! He is my shepherd and I shall not want!”

Those were the last words high school sophomore Ben McDonald heard before the shooting started. He and the other students clustered around him from the Gilman School in Maryland were on a school field trip to the Capitol Building from their Baltimore prep school, the first such trip taken since academic life returned to a degree of normalcy following the endless coronavirus nightmare. Everyone had shown up in their school uniforms, the buses had left on schedule, and the students felt like pioneers, explorers blazing a trail back into the world beyond shutdowns and social distancing.

The reduction in Capitol tour group size was still in force and had necessitated the two bus-loads of students to be divided into five groups of fifteen, give or take, three chaperones allotted to each. Ben and his twin brother Robbie’s group had gone first and they had found themselves lingering on the Capitol steps, taking pictures and chatting away with their local congressman and senator who’d come out to greet and mingle with the students on the steps at the building’s east front.

“Why are you still wearing a mask?” one of them had asked the congressman, but Ben had already forgotten the answer.

He remembered checking the time on his phone just before he heard the first shots. Ben thought they were firecrackers at first, realizing the truth a breath later when the screams began and bodies started flying.

“I am doing the Lord’s work! I am a sacrifice to his word!”

Somehow Ben gleaned those words through the screams and incessant hail of fire. The shots were coming so fast he wasn’t sure if the shooter was firing on semi or full auto. The boy never actually saw him as more than a shape amid the blur before him, enveloping his vision like a dull haze. The thin sheer curtain drawn over his eyes didn’t keep him from recording bodies crumpling, keeling over, tumbling down the steps. The force of a bullet’s momentum slammed a classmate into him, sparing Ben the ensuing fusillade that turned the other boy’s back into a pin cushion.

My brother!

The panic and shock of those initial seconds had stolen thought of Robbie from him. He wheeled about, covered in the blood of boy who had dropped off the scene.

“Robbie!”

Did he cry out his name or only think it? The steps around him looked blanketed in khaki and blue, pants and blazers that made up his Gilman uniform. The sound of gunfire continued to resound in his ears, but he wasn’t sure the shooter was still firing because no more bodies seemed to be falling. People were running in all directions, crying and screaming, Ben remaining frozen out of fear for his brother.

“Robbie!”

He saw his brother’s sandy blond hair draped down from one of the marble steps onto another. Nothing else at first, just the hair. Maybe he had dove atop a friend who’d been wounded to spare that kid more fire—that was Robbie. But there was no one beneath Him, and . . . And . . .

He wasn’t moving, his arms stretched to the sides on angles that looked all wrong. Ben dropped to his knees next to Robbie, his pants sinking into pooling patches of blood which merged and thickened beneath him. He felt something pinching him along right side of his ribcage and saw his blue shirt darkening with a spreading wave of red in the last moment before he collapsed next to his brother.

***

Author Bio

JON LAND is the USA Today bestselling author of fifty-eight books, including eleven in the critically acclaimed Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong series, the most recent of which, Strong from the Heart, won the 2020 American Fiction Award for Best Thriller and the 2020 American Book Fest Award for Best Mystery/Suspense Novel. Additionally, he has teamed up with Heather Graham for a science fiction series that began with THE RISING (winner of the 2017 International Book Award for best Sci-fi Novel) and continues with BLOOD MOON, to be published in November of 2022. He has also written six books in the Murder, She Wrote series of mysteries and has more recently taken over Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes series, with his second effort, MURDER AT THE CDC, to be published in February of 2022. Jon is known as well for writing the film DIRTY DEEDS, a teen comedy starring Milo Ventimiglia and Zoe Saldana, which was released in 2005. A graduate of Brown University, he received the 2019 Rhode Island Authors Legacy Award for his lifetime of literary achievements.

Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

***

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/isv9i5/murder-at-the-cdc-by-jon-land

Feature Post and Book Review: Undercover K-9 Cowboy by Addison Fox

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Harlequin Romantic Suspense UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY by Addison Fox. (My apologies to Harlequin for not quite making the timeline for the Investigators Winter 2022 Blog Tour.)

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

***

Book Description

A by-the-book Fed…gone rogue for justice

To stop the drug epidemic ravaging Midnight Pass, FBI agent Ryder Durant reluctantly takes matters into his own hands. Poised to set a trap at Reynolds Station, he has to contend with Arden Reynolds—who prefers Ryder’s K-9 to the Fed protecting her family. As Ryder and Arden spar, embers spring into flame. And those flames are as dangerous as the crime ring lurking too close to home…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58602448-undercover-k-9-cowboy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=MU10D3NeH1&rank=1

Feel the excitement in these uplifting romances, part of the Midnight Pass, Texas series:

Book 1: The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission
Book 2: Special Ops Cowboy
Book 3: Under the Rancher’s Protection

***

My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY (Midnight Pass, Texas Book #4) by Addison Fox is the final romantic suspense in the Midnight Pass, Texas books and it was a good conclusion to the series. The youngest Reynolds family member meets the FBI agent and his K-9 companion who may finally be able to break down her wall of emotional self-protection while also ridding the Reynolds ranch of the cartel drug runners using their land.

FBI agent Ryder Durant and his canine companion have been working with the police force in Midnight Pass to stop the cartel’s from using the large tracts of land on the major ranches for drug running. To stop the drug epidemic, he wants to set a trap on Reynolds Station. He learns he must first get the cooperation of Arden Reynolds, who is not impressed with the agent, but he is very impressed with her.

Arden Reynolds has watched her three brothers find true love and now a handsome FBI agent wants to put them in danger with an operation on their land. She trusts the agent’s canine companion more than the agent or any other handsome, cocky man having been hurt in the past, but she wants the ranch to be safe for future Reynold generations.

As the sparks fly the danger is closer than they know.

I enjoyed this conclusion to the series. The romance is a little heavier than the suspense in this story, but I still felt the suspense portion of the plot was tied up nicely. Arden is a very strong female character, and the author does a good job of making her past grief believable and a reasonable excuse for her not moving on. Ryder is her perfect foil as he continually tries to get Arden to open up and let him in. He does not give up. I loved Murphy, Ryder’s K-9 companion and always enjoy a dog addition to a story. Even though this is the fourth and final book in the series, it can be read as a standalone.

An enjoyable romantic suspense read and final book in the Midnight Pass series.

***

Excerpt

“You want answers?”

“I do.” Arden said.

“Then I want a few of my own first.”

Although she didn’t say anything, anticipation lit her blue eyes. It surprised him how that struck somewhere low in his gut. Like he was enjoying getting a reaction—any reaction—from her.

“You don’t like me very much, and I’d like to know why.”

That small light winked out, fading away as if it had never been. “I have nothing against you.”

“I’d say you do. You have since the first time we met.” Ryder tilted his head toward the wide-open window beside them. “Right out there on Main Street.”

He remembered the moment well. It had been a pretty fall day and he’d tied Murphy up outside the coffee shop to bask in the sun for a few minutes while he ran in to snag a quick cup. The night before, he’d run his first op since coming to Midnight Pass and was pretty much subsisting on fumes. He’d come back out to find Arden, expectantly waiting for him, full of barely veiled insult and clear irritation that he’d left his dog outside.

“I wasn’t aware that Murphy was a working dog that day. I may have been a bit terse.”

“And the other night? At your place?”

“I—” She stopped, clearly considering her words. He was surprised to find that he had the patience to wait for whatever it was she had to say. “I don’t appreciate cocky arrogance.”

“You live on a ranch full of testosterone-fueled cowboys. And in a town full of the same. Surely you come up against a bit of cocky banter now and again?”

“That’s an excuse for it?”

“It’s a fact. I’d have thought you’d be used to it by now.”

“It doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Her tone was prim and her already strong, fit posture stiffened a few more degrees north.

Ryder was good at his job because he knew how to read people. It was also what made him a good K-9 handler. He paid attention and he read situations before reacting. And every instinct he possessed read this one as arising from something that had specifically happened to her.

With someone who had hurt her.

Someone, Ryder suspected, who had been cocky and arrogant and likely unkind to her.

***

About the Author

Addison Fox is a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happy-ever-afters. She loves writing about romance as much as reading it. Addison lives in New York with an apartment full of books, a laptop that’s rarely out of sight and a wily beagle who keeps her running.

Social Media Links

Author’s Website: https://www.addisonfox.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/addisonfoxauthor

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com@addisonfox

Purchase Links

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335759597

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Cowboy-Midnight-Pass-Texas-ebook/dp/B099ZYXL8K/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=UNDERCOVER+K-9+COWBOY+by+Addison+Fox&qid=1637001968&qsid=133-7575147-1798556&sr=8-1&sres=B099ZYXL8K%2C1335456260&srpt=ABIS_EBOOKS

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undercover-k-9-cowboy-addison-fox/1139886440?ean=9781335759597

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335759597_undercover-k-9-cowboy.html

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power.

Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section and the book’s purchase link. Enjoy!

***

About the Book

Trust no one. Especially your neighbors.

Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in the elevator. But her story doesn’t end there.

She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby. Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer. And then, her best friend shows up to investigate her murder.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57933772-the-ghosts-of-thorwald-place?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=kz9FTFkkBj&rank=1

The Ghosts of Thorwald Place

Genre: Paranormal thriller
Print length: 351 pages
Age range: This is an adult book but suitable for mature teens age 16+
Trigger warnings: Violent deaths, ghosts, domestic violence, brief reference to severe self harm by a child; pet death.
Formats available for the Tour: all standard electronic formats (sorry, no paperbacks)
Amazon Rating: 5 stars

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power is a superb paranormal thriller and debut book from this new-to-me author. I could not put it down!

Rachel Drake is her pseudonym as she lives in the security building her policewoman friend found for her as hides from the man she believes killed her husband. She works from home and discourages any neighborly overtures. But one night, she receives a call that sends her running straight into the man who kills her in her apartment building’s elevator.

She is now a ghost, tethered to the elevator she was murdered in. She is able to enter the apartments surrounding the elevator, but only to a point. As she rides the elevator, she begins to discover many of her fellow Thorwald Place residents are hiding terrible secrets and she is not the only ghost on the premises.

Rachel is now drawn to the neighbors she ignored while she was alive and wonders what she needs to do to or who she needs to help so that she can move on and possibly uncover her killer.

This paranormal thriller is perfectly plotted to continually keep the reader on the edge of their seat. The thriller plotline is full of surprising twists and misdirection that just keep coming and the paranormal plotline keeps the creepy factor at its height. I was captivated by all the neighbors lives and secrets and it makes you wonder how many secrets go on behind apartment doors in nonfictional buildings. I do not believe I have read another thriller like this. This is a clever paranormal thriller read with a great cast of fully developed characters and a perfectly paced plot.

I highly recommend this unique read!

***

About the Author

Helen Power is an academic librarian living in Saskatoon, Canada. In her spare time, she haunts deserted cemeteries, loses her heart to dashing thieves, and cracks tough cases, all from the comfort of her writing nook. She has several short story publications, including ones in Suspense Magazine, Hinnom Magazine, and Dark Helix Press’s Canada 150 anthology, “Futuristic Canada”. Her stories range from comedy to horror, with just a hint of dystopia in between. The Ghosts of Thorwald Place is her first novel.

Purchase Link

http://mybook.to/Amazon_GhostsThorwald