Today I am sharing my Feature Post for THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY (The Secret Detective Agency Book #1) by Helena Dixon on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour bog post.
Below you will find a book description and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Meet Miss Jane Treen – the coffee-drinking cat lover dressed head to toe in tweed, who just happens to be a secret super sleuth!
London, 1941: Miss Jane Treenis at her desk, strong black coffee in hand and fluffy ginger cat by her side, when her top-secret government work is interrupted by an urgent call to Devon. A woman has been found dead in a lake in a place where she shouldn’t have been. Jane needs to gather the clues and find the killer before someone else from the agency gets hurt…Shy and handsome code-breaker Arthur Cilento is bewildered by the arrival of the efficient Miss Treen and her cat Marmaduke. She bursts into his life unexpectedly, forcing him out of his comfort zone. The reluctant colleagues huddle near the warmth of a crackling fire in Arthur’s country home, working to piece together the murderous puzzle at hand.
In the sleepy Devon village,someone is hiding something: but is it the busybody vicar and his sister, the dutiful housekeeper and her secretive son, the stern librarian, or someone else altogether? And who were the people with the woman in the lake on the day she died?
No sooner have Arthur and Jane have drawn up a list of suspects, than a parcel reveals a clue that sends them in hot pursuit of a coded diary stashed in a village church. But as the heavy wooden door slams behind them and a key turns in the lock, one thing is sure: they need to unravel the truth and crack this code before the killer decides their number is up…
But if they can catch the culprit in time, might this unusual pair become the finest crime-solving partnership since Holmes and Watson hung up their hats…?
Helena Dixon is the author of the best-selling Miss Underhay murder mystery series and lives in Devon. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon.
With a newborn and two children, Molly Murphy Sullivan is tackling motherhood. Her husband, Daniel, is off to work in Washington as Easter break begins in New York. Her dear friend and writer, Ryan O’Hara, is shooting a movie, one of the first to involve a real plot and actors. He invites Molly and the children to visit the set and watch the excitement. When one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
The movie industry is still experimenting with ways to get the best shot, like pretending to tie Bridie to real train tracks. But soon, their special effects start to malfunction. After a few mishaps where no one is hurt, the special effects turn deadly. With rumors of a feud between studios, Molly believes these malfunctions are sabotage. She is invited to go undercover on set to investigate the burgeoning film war. Once again, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles deliver an engaging mystery full of vibrant historical details and thrilling escapades featuring one of mystery’s most beloved sleuths.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Silent as the Grave by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles is a suspenseful historical novel. The book opens with a bang where the prologue immediately draws readers in.
Molly is contending with raising her young son, a 5-month-old infant, and her 14-year-old adopted daughter, Bridie. Her good friend Ryan O’Hara invites Molly and the children to watch the film he is making. After one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
There are mishaps on the set, including a fire in the editing room and Bridie’s near escape with death while filming a difficult stunt. Molly believes that the mishaps are not just coincidences, but sabotage. She accepts the invitation to find out what happened, especially since Bridie almost died.
This is an engaging mystery with a bonus that readers learn more about the budding movie industry.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for Hollywood like filmmaking?
Rhys Bowen: This is a non-Hollywood movie because all the movies were made in New York in the beginning. The character Molly lives just off 6th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue, close to the Biograph Studios.
Clare Broyles: I had read some articles that the actual father of film disappeared suspiciously when he got on a train and never got off. He had been in an argument with Edison before that happened. There was an interesting intersection between the family of the father of film and Edison that included lawsuits and studio ownership.
EC: Do you agree Edison was not the nicest of people?
RB: He was a bully who used thugs, blackmail, and intimidation against his rivals.
CB: He did steal inventions from other people. He was good in getting patents in his own name. There is proof that there was another movie, a film made of children, before Edison supposedly invented a movie camera. This makes more of the backdrop for an interesting mystery.
EC: Was the scene with the body on the train tracks real?
RB: Clare is the brilliant researcher. In the early movies there were no stunt doubles, and the actors took enormous risks to get the perfect shot. When the Keystone Cops went around the bend in the moving truck as it swings around the corner, it was real. The train operator was never told there was a body on the tracks. People really did die.
EC: Why did you have Mary Pickford and DW Griffith in the story?
CB: She started in vaudeville, which is how we would locate the time frame. We started in April 1909 when she came to Biograph Studios, because that is when she started out in pictures. It also fit because of the practicality picture. Molly was a sleuth with a baby, and we wanted the baby to be old enough to be left with a nanny, at 5 months of age.
EC: How would you describe the differences between the Biograph Studio owners, Arthur and Harry Martin?
CB: They are based on real brothers where one brother was the studio head and the other had a junior position. The character brothers were purely fictional, that they were twins, dressed alike, and looked alike. Arthur is more volatile while Harry is more of a ladies’ man and controls the power. There was a jostling of power.
RB: It came about because of something that happened in my youth. I was staying in this Italian hotel where the owners had a charming son. The next day he was incredibly rude. Turns out they were twins. We thought it would be fun to be put in the book.
EC: Can you speak of the character Alice Mann?
RB: She is based on a real person, a French woman, Alice Guy. She is listed as a secretary or assistant, but she is the one who came up with a lot of the innovations for cinematography. She invented the fade in/fade out by putting a cigar box over the lens of the camera and slowly opening it and closing it. Women did not get the accolades. Even today, how many female directors are there, not many? Look at the current Oscars regarding editing, directing, and producing it was all men.
EC: Did you intentionally want to make the mystery surrounding all the “accidents?”
CB: There was a lamp falling, a fire, and the train scene. We had to figure out a way to get Molly involved in the mystery when she has a five-month-old baby. The accidents are a way to get her fully invested because someone has threatened her adopted daughter, Bridie’s life. The accidents happened to pull Molly in to solve the murder mystery.
RB: We did the prologue intentionally to grab the readers. We needed to have a lot of set up before something dramatic. It is a signal that said danger is coming.
EC: Next book(s)?
CB: In the next Molly book, we are moving closer to her achieving her goal of opening her own detective agency. The arc of the series has gone from her having a detective agency not in her own name, pretending to be a man, to stepping out in her own right for a Molly Murphy Detective Agency.
RB: The next Molly book has a working title, Vanished in the Crowd, coming out this time next year. It will be about women suffrage and scientists. She will be hired to find a woman, a scientist, who has vanished and what happened to her. Daniel, her husband, is coming around to more and more appreciates her skills.
RB: My historical novel comes out in August, titled Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure. It is about a middle-aged woman in England, the perfect wife, until at the age of fifty, her husband decides to get a divorce. She steals his Bentley and with three other women drives to the South of France. They forge a new female bond. I will also talk about how WWII is coming to France. She becomes part of a group helping Jewish men escape.
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.
As Lady Phoebe and her betrothed say their vows of holy matrimony, a killer has vowed unholy vengeance on the town’s chief inspector . . .
June 1922: The blessed day has finally arrived. Phoebe Renshaw and Owen Seabright are to be wed, and lady’s maid Eva Huntford could not be more delighted for her lady’s happiness. But she is disturbed by one notable absence from the ceremony—her beau, Police Constable Miles Brannock. When Miles finally does appear, breathlessly running into the reception at Foxwood Hall, he brings grim news: he’s found Chief Inspector Isaac Perkins murdered, shot in his home in his favorite parlor chair with his own gun.
A policeman naturally makes enemies, especially those of questionable character. In charge of finding his former boss’s killer, Miles reviews the details of the crime scene. The murder weapon has been wiped clean and left on the table next to the remnants of the chief inspector’s breakfast: sausage pasty and coffee reeking of a bit of whiskey. No sign of forced entry. A seemingly peaceful scene—other than the bullet hole in the victim.
Before Miles can make much progress in his investigation, a Scotland Yard detective arrives in Little Barlow to take over the case—and promptly focuses his suspicions on the constable himself, who he reasons had motive and opportunity. Coming to their maid’s defense, Phoebe and Owen postpone their honeymoon to join Eva in clearing her beau’s good name and unmasking the identity of the true killer.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Two Weddings and A Murder by Alyssa Maxwell is a great historical cozy mystery. Readers will be sad to learn this is the last book in the series.
The book opens with the wedding of Phoebe Renshaw and Owen Seabright. Her lady’s maid, Eva Huntford, is distraught and worried that her boyfriend, Police Constable Miles Brannock, is not in attendance. After he finally appears, he brings the bad news that Chief Inspector Isaac Perkins has been murdered, shot in his home in his favorite parlor chair with his own gun. Because of the conflict of interest, an outside detective has been brought in to investigate. A Scotland Yard detective, Mick Burridge, arrives in Little Barlow to take over the case. He promptly focuses his suspicions on the constable himself, who he reasons had motive and opportunity. Phoebe and Owen postpone their honeymoon to join Eva in clearing her beau’s good name and unmasking the identity of the true killer
This series goes out with a bang. Readers will be riveted to their seats as they turn the pages but will also be disappointed when coming to the last page knowing this will be the last book in the series.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is there a difference between your two series?
Alyssa Maxwell: Yes! The period and settings are different. The “Newport Series” takes place in the Gilded Age in the United States, specifically Rhode Island, while this book takes place right after WWI in England. There is a whole different social dynamic going on.
EC: How did you get the idea for this series?
AM:Downton Abbey influenced me. My editor came up with the basic idea of Downton Abbey with a mystery twist. I loved the idea of being out in the country.
EC: What historical events do you emphasize?
AM: After WWI, class lines started to change a bit, and women started in the work force. Some of the old ways of the landlord and the servant, the very strict class boundary was changing.
EC: Why did you start out with a wedding and end with a wedding in this story?
AM: In the prior book, A Fashionable Fatality, Phoebe the main character was engaged. Because this is the last book in the series, I wanted to tie up her life and the other main character, Eva. A happy ending for the series and a happy beginning into the readers’ imagination.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story’s murder?
AM: Chief Inspector Perkins has been a thorn in Phoebe and Eva’s life throughout the series. He does not do his job well and does not appreciate their interference to solve the murders. I thought this would make a good victim and who better to be accused than his partner, the person who potentially will take his over his job, Constable Miles Brannock. It also raised the stakes for Phoebe and Eva to solve it because he is Eva’s future fiancé.
EC: How would you describe Phoebe?
AM: She is a modern young woman for that period. She is forward thinking, independent, but not devoid of tradition. She believes people should be valued by how they live their lives and not what they were born into. Phoebe is caring, impulsive, and analytical. She lost her mother at an early age and Eva has filled that gap.
EC: How would you describe Eva?
AM: She is more traditional than Phoebe. She is set in her ways but realizes she can aspire to more. Eva is an older woman. She is honorable, loyal, faithful, and dutiful. She sees Phoebe as more of a daughter.
EC: How would you describe Miles?
AM: He is fiercely loyal, steady, and dependable. He can look at different sides of the same issue.
EC: How would you describe Owen?
AM: He is very honorable. He is cavalier because he has been raised with wealth and privilege. He is adventurous. He is completely devoted to Phoebe and accepts her forward thinking ideas.
EC: What role did Detective Burridge play in the story?
AM: Burridge comes from Scotland Yard. He has tunnel vision, focused on getting a suspect, bringing him in, and proving he did it to close the case.
EC: What did the gypsies in the story represent?
AM: The social changes happening and people set outside of their comfort zones. They had to be adaptable and willing to change to survive. They were not respected, and they followed their own traditions. They were seen as wild, uncivilized, and unscrupulous. I did envision that they felt trapped behind walls, rules, and closed in. They did not want to be regimented.
EC: Can you explain the quote referring to motive, opportunity, and means?
AM: These make up a mystery. Opportunity would be when someone could catch the victim off guard. Means is how the victim is killed.
EC: Next book(s)?
AM: There will be another Newport mystery titled Murder at Arleigh coming out in August. It is based on the real couple Harry and Elizabeth Lehr. Everybody thought they were a love match, and they are not at all. Elizabeth thinks her husband is trying to kill her.
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.
Housekeeper Phyllida Bright is quite in her element at Mallowan Hall, the charming English manor that she keeps in tip-top shape. By contrast, the bustling metropolis of London, where her famed employer Agatha Christie has temporarily relocated, leaves Phyllida a bit out of her depth. Not only must she grapple with a limited staff, but Phyllida also has to rein in a temperamental French cook who has the looks of Hercule Poirot, but none of the charm.
When a man named Archibald Allston is found dead in an armchair onstage at the Adelphia Theater, first impressions are that he died of natural causes. But the very next day, the unlucky actor playing Benvolio at the Belmont Theater is found with his head bashed in. And when a third victim turns up, this time with double-C initials, the fatal pattern is impossible to ignore.
With panic erupting among theater folk—a superstitious bunch at the best of times—Phyllida steps up to help with the investigation. The murderer’s M.O. may be easy to read, but can Phyllida uncover the killer’s identity before the final curtain falls on another victim?
MURDER TAKES THE STAGE (Phyllida Bright Mystery Book #4) by Colleen Cambridge is another wonderful addition to this addictive historical mystery series featuring Agatha Christie’s housekeeper, Phyllida Bright. I look forward to reading each new murder mystery and catching up with this memorable cast of characters. Each book can be read as a standalone mystery, but the characters continue to evolve so I have enjoyed and recommend reading them in order.
Phyllida Bright is the housekeeper of Mallowan Hall for her friend Agatha Christie, but Agatha and her husband are in London at the moment to see about a proposed production for one of her plays and she has asked Phyllida to follow to take care of their rented home in the city. Phyllida is anxious about being in London due to her past, which is still a mystery to everyone but Agatha and Phyllida.
Phyllida gets a call to come to the theater and discovers a dead actor on the stage. While it appears to be a death by natural causes, she can’t help being struck by the circumstances. The actor was Archie Allston asleep in an armchair at the Adelphia theater. The very next day, Trent Orkney who is playing Benvolio is found on a stage balcony with his head bashed in at the Belmont theater. When a third victim, Claudia Carmichael is catapulted from the catwalk at the Clapham theater, Phyllida is determined to uncover and stop the killer before they can murder their way through any more of the alphabet.
This is my favorite so far in the series. Besides the fun alliteration and the perfectly paced murder plot, this book finally reveals Phyllida’s secret and the reason she never likes to travel far from Mallowan Hall or be around law enforcement. This book also advances the budding attraction between Phyllida and Bradford, the Mallowan’s chauffeur, but we are still waiting for more of Bradford’s backstory which is only hinted at. Phyllida’s denouement was dramatically given on a theater stage and walked the cast of characters and the reader through all the possibilities, twists, and red herrings which led to the grand reveal of the killer. It was a surprise to me, and I love it when that is the case.
I highly recommend this historical crime mystery series! It is always a must-read for me.
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About the Author
Colleen Cambridge is the pen name for an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From a young age, Colleen has loved reading mysteries and now she couldn’t be happier that she is able to write them.
Under several pseudonyms, she has written more than 36 books in a variety of genres and is always plotting her next murder—er, book.
In Reconstruction-era Baltimore, members of the city’s elite keep turning up dead. Below the polished surface of high society, there are illicit affairs, jilted lovers, financial hardships, and countless motives for murder. When Jane Gray Wharton’s husband, Ned, dies unexpectedly while overnighting at his brother’s home, Jane has no reason to question the circumstances of his death. But on a visit to the same house a few weeks later, both Jane and her daughter fall gravely ill, and Jane begins to suspect foul play. Though a trained chemist and former nurse, Jane is haunted by a history of delusion, loss, and institutionalization. As the unexpected and devastating deaths begin to multiply, Jane’s grip on reality starts to slip. When a respected army officer falls terribly ill after visiting the Wharton’s Baltimore home, Jane’s greatest fears become all too real. The time has come to act—but who will believe her? And can she even trust her own mind? Inspired by true events involving one of Baltimore’s most powerful families, The Grays of Truth is the story of one woman’s quest for answers in her fight for redemption—and to save the man she loves.
THE GRAYS OF TRUTH by Sharon Virts is an intriguing historical fiction murder mystery set in Reconstruction era Baltimore and centered around multiple deaths in the wealthy Wharton family between 1867 to 1872. I enjoyed another of this author’s books, Veil ofDoubt, and was looking forward to reading this book.
Former Civil War nurse, Jane Gray Wharton is a highly intelligent woman who is confined by the laws and societal norms of her time. Her abusive husband dies unexpectedly while staying overnight in his brother’s home. When Jane and her daughter visit the home a few weeks later, both become ill. While Jane survives, her daughter dies. With Jane’s training, she begins to suspect her sister-in-law of murder but with her own history of delusion and institutionalization, and the wealth, power and social standing of her sister-in-law, no one believes her.
Several more deaths follow and when one is a respected Army officer, Jane is getting ready to marry. His superiors and friends finally listen to Jane’s suspicions. Jane is on a quest and determined to get answers, but it may not be the answers she expects.
This historical fiction is inspired by true events, but the author does state that liberties were taken with some of the facts and family members. Jane Gray is very intelligent and yet emotionally fragile. The period and marital laws were atrocious and the cause for many of Jane’s problems, but I still had a hard time connecting with her in this story. Some of the decisions she makes are emotionally immature and for me did not feel believable. I did like Jane more as the story progressed.
The murder mystery plot pulls you into this story and kept me turning the pages. The author does a great job of immersing the reader in the period and I loved the discussions of poisons and the beginning of medical investigations rather than medical guessing. The upper-class life of wealth and decadence is on full display with the corruption in politics and law enforcement enabling these deaths to occur.
I highly recommend this historical fiction murder mystery which delivers not only an intriguing murder mystery, but also a look at the darker side of upper class society in this period.
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About the Author
Sharon Virts is a successful entrepreneur and visionary who, after more than 25 years in business, followed her passion for storytelling into the world of historical fiction. She has received numerous awards for her work in historic preservation and has been recognized nationally for her business achievements and philanthropic contributions. She was recently included in Washington Life Magazine’s Philanthropic 50 of 2020 for her work with education, health, and cultural preservation.
Sharon’s passion truly lies in the creative. She is an accomplished visual artist and uses her gift for artistic expression along with her extraordinary storytelling to build complex characters and craft vivid images and sets that capture the heart and imagination. Sharon and her husband Scott live at Selma, a prominent historic residence that they saved from destruction and restored to its original stature. It is out of the love and preservation of Selma that the story of the life, times, and controversies of its original owner, Armistead Mason, has given root to her first novel Masque of Honor.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for RIVER OF LIES (A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery Book #2) by James L’Etoile on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
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 Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Detective Emily Hunter must be the voice for the voiceless
The homeless camps spread throughout the city of Sacramento are a topic of heated debate among residents. They’re considered undesirable—a nuisance—an eyesore. But when the camps fall victim to a string of devastating arson attacks, Detective Emily Hunter and her partner, Javier Medina, dive into the investigation and become acquainted with the real people whose lives have been destroyed.
The attacks only begin to draw attention when two of the victims are identified as the city’s former anti-homeless mayor and a camp social worker—but rather than strengthening the push for justice, the movement to completely abolish the camps intensifies.
The investigation becomes politically charged when Emily discovers who stands to gain from burning the homeless out of their shelters. She struggles to balance the high-stakes investigation with caring for her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother, whose condition is rapidly deteriorating. The investigation uncovers an unlikely suspect and a reluctant witness standing between Emily and the shocking truth. Can Emily overcome resistance and her personal obstacles to halt the attacks?
Genre: Police Procedural; Thriller Published by: Oceanview Publishing Publication Date: January 7, 2025 Number of Pages: 320 ISBN: 9781608095896 (ISBN10: 1608095894) Series: A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery, 2
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
RIVER OF LIES (A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery Book #2) by James L’Etoile is an intriguing, socially relevant, and twisted crime thriller/police procedural featuring a smart and determined female detective in Sacramento, California. This is the second book in the series which can easily be read as a standalone, but the first book, Face of Greed, is an excellent read that I highly recommend, also.
Homicide Detective Emily Hunter and her partner, Detective Javier “Javi” Medina are given the politically charged case where homeless encampments are being torched by men in black when a dead man is discovered to have been killed, and it turns out to be the ex-mayor. When another body is discovered at the scene of the next arson and it is once again not a homeless victim, Emily and Javi are caught between investigating the deaths and the new mayor’s office working to abolish the camps and disbursing the homeless while eliminating the crime scenes.
Emily discovers a homeless mother, and her young daughter are somehow tied to the deaths, but with the political interference and threats, the potential profits involved in the elimination of the homeless camps, and the public perceptions of the homeless population, she and Javi must work fast to unravel the motives behind these murders to catch the killer.
Emily and Javi are a great pair of detectives with the perfect blend of smart investigative skills, empathy for victims, and care for each other as partners. Their personal lives are blended seamlessly into the story and add moments of levity to the otherwise serious situations. Besides her high stress job, Emily is also dealing with a mother who has Alzheimer’s and is deteriorating rapidly. The crime plotline is intricately written and realistic with many twists throughout this fast-paced story. When I think I know what is going on and I have a solution in mind, Mr. L’Etoile always has another surprise in store for me and what I think is the ending, is not. These books always need to be read to the very last word and I love that.
I highly recommend this tremendous crime thriller/police procedural from Mr. L’Etoile. If you haven’t picked up any of his books yet, you are missing out.
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Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
It would be easy to float away in the darkness and let the current pull her under, too. She’d thought about it several times before—in her “dark times,” as her ex-husband used to call them.
Lisa’s life hadn’t turned out the way she’d hoped. Abusive parents, a failed marriage, the booze—so much booze—all swirled together to set her on this path. Losing her apartment finally put her out here. Now this. She thought she’d escaped, but running from her past hadn’t worked. The ghosts of years past had stripped everything away. Lisa had nothing left, not even hope.
The tug of the Sacramento River on her legs was temping, and the spring snow runoff numbed Lisa’s thighs as she waded out.
Lisa closed her eyes and pictured herself lying back and allowing the river to put an end to it.
“Momma?”
Lisa’s eyes shot open.
Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted the faint outline of her daughter standing on the riverbank. The eight-year-old wore a thin blue t-shirt with a unicorn on the front, a threadbare pair of jeans, holding a stuffed bunny with one ear missing. The girl’s face registered confusion.
“Baby, go on back to the tent,” Lisa said.
Lisa felt her daughter would be better off without her. The mother’s sins cast a damning shadow. But she couldn’t abandon Willow. Not like this. Lisa knew what it was like to be an orphan in an unfriendly world. The future of an eight-year-old alone in a homeless camp wasn’t the life Willow deserved.
“Momma, what are you doing?”
Lisa’s eyes welled. She didn’t need to tell her daughter the world was a hurtful place. She’d keep the secrets and not let her know there was nothing worth living for—for now.
“I’m coming, baby.”
Lisa turned and waded back toward the bank. Her daughter spent the last two years in one homeless camp or another. The tightly packed shelters made Lisa’s claustrophobia itch.
Lisa reached for her daughter and grabbed her, lifting the girl into a tight hug. Tears streamed down Lisa’s cheeks. Not because Lisa wanted to end her suffering. She’d considered that option before. The tears came from nearly making Willow an orphan and leaving the innocent girl behind in a homeless camp. Willow couldn’t fight off the predators who lurked in the darkness—like they did tonight.
From the river’s edge, the camp spread a quarter mile in either direction. There was never any official count because people came and went, died, were arrested, or simply disappeared from the camp. Lisa guessed there were over two hundred people living here in the city’s forgotten shadows.
It was time to move. When the camps get too big, bad things happen, and people talk.
Lights flickered from small campfires and lanterns throughout the settlement. Lisa thought they looked like fallen stars. She hugged Willow a little closer and followed the trail back into the camp.
She unzipped the fly on their tent and scooted inside. Their belongings—a change of clothes, a towel to share, and two children’s books lay on one end of the nylon dome tent. A pair of sleeping bags took up most of the space. Lisa knew they were lucky to have them—others didn’t.
“All right, sweetie, let’s get you settled in for the night.”
Willow wiggled into her sleeping bag with her stuffed rabbit. Lisa grabbed a book, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, one of her daughter’s favorites. The eight-year-old could recite most of the story by heart.
Lisa opened the book when a loud commotion erupted outside. It wasn’t uncommon in the camp. Fights over property, drugs, or imagined slights fed by drugs, alcohol, and glitchy mental health were a daily occurrence. Lisa learned the best thing to do was stay out of it and never get involved.
It sounded like the usual dust-up until the screams began.
“Stay here, Willow.”
Lisa crawled to the tent flap, zipped it open, and poked her head out.
Fire.
Flames erupted on the far side of the camp. It was always a risk in the cardboard condos and plastic tarp shelters along the riverbank. This was different. At least six structures were ablaze. People were running, backlit by the orange and yellow glow. The evening delta breeze fanned the flames, igniting another dozen tents.
The cheap nylon shelters went up like dried rice paper.
“Baby, get your shoes on.”
“What is it, Momma?”
“We need to—”
Lisa spotted two men in the chaos, both outlined by the flames behind them. They weren’t running. One set the next row of tents ablaze. The second man wielded a baseball bat and swung the aluminum cylinder at anyone who came near. A sickening tink sound echoed among the rows of tents when he bounced the bat off a man’s shoulder.
Lisa grabbed her daughter’s hand, pulling her from the tent. The girl’s eyes grew large when she spotted the fires.
Willow pulled away and ducked back into the tent.
“Willow Marie, don’t you pull away from me. Come here. We need to get away.”
Lisa felt the heat from the fire. It was spreading fast, and the flames jumped up into the trees within the camp.
Bending into the tent, Lisa found Willow gathering her stuffed animal and the books.
“Come now, we need to—”
Tink.
Lisa fell flat on the ground. The rounded end of the baseball bat shoved at her ribs. Dazed from a blow to the head, she didn’t move. Lisa registered a man’s boot stepping over her.
The flames grew closer.
Willow’s fear backed her into the far corner of the tent.
Lisa’s ragged voice called to her daughter. “Willow. Listen. I need—I need you to run. Hide. Go to the safe place—the rock where we hide things. Stay until I come for you.”
“I don’t want to go. I’m scared.”
“I know, baby. You have to be brave. Take Mr. Bunny and go, now.”
Willow clutched her stuffed animal, the book, and stepped through the tent flap.
“Momma, you have an owie.”
“I know, baby. I’ll be okay.”
It was a lie. Lisa knew she was far from okay. She could feel the pressure in her head building with each heartbeat.
“Go to the place we talked about, honey. Go quick.”
Willow’s eyes welled. She didn’t budge, frozen in fear before a scream from someone nearby broke her from the trance. Another row of tents went up in flames.
“Go.”
Willow hugged her bunny and trotted toward the river. Lisa lost sight of her through the smoke billowing through the camp.
She tried to get up and couldn’t move her legs. She crabbed forward using her arms, inching away from the burning camp.
Her tent flashed, and the flames consumed it in seconds. The melting fabric, plastic and nylon fibers fell on her. The molten material burned through her clothing and ate into the flesh on Lisa’s back.
The pain seared into her. Screams around her meant she wasn’t the only one. The two arsonists headed in the same direction Willow had fled.
“Stop them,” she cried. No one could hear over the chaos of the burning camp.
Lisa now wished the water had brought a calm end to everything. She didn’t expect this—the fire, searing flame, and torture. Part of her believed she deserved this fate for the pain she’d caused. Willow didn’t. The girl didn’t understand. Now, Lisa worried about what would happen to her sweet little girl. Mr. Bunny would not be enough.
The last thought before the flames ate at her pant legs. “I’ve failed you.”
***
Author Bio
James L’Etoile uses his twenty-nine years behind bars as an influence in his award-winning novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, and director of California’s state parole system. His novels have been shortlisted or awarded the Lefty, Anthony, Silver Falchion, and the Public Safety Writers Award. River of Lies is his most recent novel. Look for Sins of the Father and The Red List, coming soon. He is the host of Authors on the Air, served as a board member of his local Sister-in-Crime chapter, sits on the Mystery Writers of America national board, and serves as the Director of QueryFest at ThrillerFest for International Thriller Writers.
