Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for Carrie Stuart Parks new release – RELATIVE SILENCE. This book pulled me in right from the start and is very difficult to put down.

Below you will find a note from the author, a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveway. As always, good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!

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A Note From the Author

Drawing on the Art of Forensics

-Carrie Stuart Parks

When I first started writing fiction, in 2004, it never occurred to me to pen anything other than the career I was already in—forensic art. Although other authors had explored different aspects of this unique field, most notably Iris Johansen’s Eve Duncan series, I knew about it first hand. By definition, forensic art is any art used in law enforcement or legal proceedings. My entrance into this career came in 1981 at the North Idaho Regional Crime Lab in Coeur d’Alene. The crime lab handled physical evidence from the ten northern counties of Idaho, the Department of Fish and Game, ATF, and the FBI. My initial duties were to prepare the court exhibits for trial, measure and diagram crime scenes, and create storyboards for juries. In 1985, I was invited to attend the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, to study composite drawing and image enhancements. In those days, image enhancements meant painting or airbrushing inks or dyes onto photographs. Photoshop wouldn’t be released for another seven years!

I was bitten with the forensic art bug and searched all over for more training. I finally located a class on facial reconstruction taught by Betty Pat Gatliff at the University of South Alabama’s school of Forensic Science. After that I was on my own, finding other artists in the field and studying directly with them.

It was the lack of training in the field and requests from officers to learn about forensic art that made me decide to become a trainer of the subject in 1988. It’s now been over thirty-three years and, with my artist/forensic artist husband, we travel across the US and Canada as the premier courses in the world. What a ride!

Along the way, the cases we’ve worked have provided a rich source of inspiration for my plots. Relative Silence, the latest novel, introduces the reader to age progression when a young mother asks a forensic artist to show her what her long-deceased daughter would look like today. The location, a fictional island off South Carolina’s shore, was chosen because we teach classes in Mount Pleasant, SC, and love the area.

I love hearing from folks about my work and books and invite you to contact me through any of the below methods.

Best wishes,

Carrie

Email: carrie@stuartparks.com

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

Web page: http://www.carriestuartparks.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/395777.Carrie_Stuart_Parks

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Book Synopsis

A powerful family with lots of secrets. A forensic artist with his own tragedies. And a hurricane drawing bearing down on their private island.

Fifteen years ago Piper Boone’s only child died in a boating accident, and Piper’s almost perfect life came to an end too. After living through a divorce and losing her job, she retreats to Curlew Island and her childhood home—a secluded mansion for the politically powerful Boone family, who are practically American royalty.

But Piper’s desire to become a recluse is shattered when a mass shooter opens fire and kills three women at a café where Piper is having lunch. The crisis puts her family in the spotlight by dredging up rumors of the so-called Curlew Island Curse, which whispers say has taken the lives of several members of the Boone family, including Piper’s father and sister.

Forensic artist Tucker Landry also survives the shooting and is tasked with the job of sketching a portrait of the shooter with Piper. They forge a bond over their shared love of movies and tragic pasts. But when police discover a connection between the shooting and two more murders on Curlew Island, they face a more terrible lineup of suspects than they could have imagined: Piper’s family.

Unraveling the family’s true history will be the key to Piper’s survival—or her certain death.

Book Details

Genre: Suspense
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: July 14th 2020
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 0785226184 (ISBN13: 9780785226185)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

RELATIVE SILENCE by Carrie Stuart Parks is a mystery/Christian romantic suspense mash-up that pulls you in from the first page and is extremely difficult to put down. A powerful family that has known several tragic events over the years with the heroine from that family who finally decides to investigate those tragedies after she becomes a target.

Sandpiper “Piper” Boone has been told all her life she comes from the perfect family and tries to live up to that standard. When her young daughter is found dead, her marriage falls apart and she becomes a recluse on the family island compound.

Fifteen years later, forensic artist Tucker Landry is having lunch while waiting to begin his new assignment. A shooter opens fire and Tucker grabs the woman behind him and hits the patio floor. While Piper only receives a small injury, Tucker is shot protecting her as three other women are also killed. When the detective learns of Tucker’s skills, he asks Tucker and Piper to get together to produce a sketch of the shooter.

The authorities believe there is a connection between the shooting and two other murders that occur soon after. Piper and Tucker are in a race to find out who wants to kill Piper to hide long buried family secrets and a hurricane that threatens everyone.

This is a story that ticks off everything I am looking for in these genres; a mystery that keeps me guessing, action, unexpected twists, edge-of-your-seat suspense and a hero and heroine that are realistic and make me cheer for their relationship to have a HEA. Piper and Tucker are wonderful characters that have had terrible pasts that must be overcome as they struggle with the current race to reveal a murderer. I like that the injuries they received throughout the story were believable and they could overcome them or work around them without becoming fantastical super humans. Even with the small number of suspects, I was kept guessing and I always like when that happens. The religious beliefs and faith of the characters was not gratuitous or in your face.

This book is a compelling generational family mystery with a believable romantic suspense. I can highly recommend this story!

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Excerpt

Prologue

Curlew Island, South Carolina

Fifteen years ago

The piercing scream ripped up my spine. I dropped the spatula and spun.

My almost-three-year-old daughter, Dove, stood at the door to the kitchen and held out her favorite toy, a tattered stuffed bunny she’d named Piggy. Piggy’s ear was hanging by a thread with stuffing protruding from the opening.

“Mommy,” she sobbed. “P-P-Piggy’s hurt.”

I turned off the blender. I’d told Mildred, the housekeeper, I was going to make dessert and was elbow-deep in half-whipped meringue for the banana pudding now cooling next to me.

“Come here, Dove, and let Mommy see.”

Still crying, Dove launched herself at me.

I lifted her and checked my watch. No one was at the family’s Curlew Island home at the moment except my husband, Ashlee. He’d said he would look after Dove while I did some cooking. Yet here she was with a damaged toy and in need of comfort, while he, as usual, was absent.

“Sweetheart, Mommy will have to fix Piggy in a little bit. Where’s Daddy?”

She shook her head. Her sobbing settled into hiccups and loud sniffles.

Shifting her to my hip, I caught sight of movement in the foyer. “Ashlee?”

The front door clicked shut.

Still holding Dove, I charged through the house and opened the front door. Ashlee was just climbing into a golf cart, the only transportation on the island. “Just where did you think you were going? You’re supposed to be watching Dove.”

“Don’t give me a hard time, Piper.” His face was pale with beads of sweat on his forehead. “I have an errand to run on the mainland. Mildred can watch Dove.”

“Mildred’s getting groceries and I’m cooking. Take Dove with you. You don’t spend nearly enough time with your only child.”

“Look, Piper, this is important and I don’t—”

“So’s your daughter. Or maybe we should all go to the mainland together if something is that important. Better yet, you finish dessert and I’ll get to play with Dove.” I was heartily tired of Ashlee’s constant racing off to “something important.” His work as head of marketing at the family business, Boone Industries, was stressful and kept him busy, but this was getting ridiculous.

He took out a handkerchief and swabbed his sweaty brow. “N-no. I’ll take her.”

Dove had relaxed against my shoulder. “She’s overdue for her nap, and the boat always puts her fast asleep. Just be sure to put her life jacket on. There are snacks on the boat if she gets hungry.”

Ashlee opened his mouth, then shut it. A vein pounded in his forehead.

“Dove, sweetie,” I said. “Go for a boat ride with your daddy. I’ll take care of Piggy, okay?”

She nodded under my chin and allowed me to hand her over to Ashlee.

“Will you be long?”

“As long as I need to be.” Without another word he got into the cart and drove toward the dock. 

The late October day was pleasantly warm, and although Dove wore a white T-shirt and short skirt, she could always crawl under a blanket in the saloon if the boat ride was too cool.

I took poor Piggy back into the kitchen and placed her on the end of the counter, hoping the meringue was salvageable. I topped the banana pudding, stuck the dessert into the oven, set the timer, and moved to Dove’s room to change the sheets. Finishing just as the pudding was ready, I placed it on the counter to cool.

After washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, I still had laundry to do. How could I be washing more clothes than we’d packed?

Once a year the entire family would gather on the private island for a stockholders’ meeting and retreat, joining the year-round staff. I’d like to say that seeing my family together in this beautiful paradise was a special treat. Unfortunately, I was closer to the housekeeper than to my own mother. At least the beach was sandy, the ocean refreshing, and the house spectacular and spacious. Dove, of course, was perfect. And Ashlee? Back to the laundry.

After shifting a load from the washer to the dryer, I made my way past the workout and sewing room toward the kitchen. Could a rabbit ear be repaired on a sewing machine? Ha! I didn’t even know how to thread a bobbin. I found Mildred in the kitchen, checking a store receipt. “I didn’t know you’d returned. Do you need help with the groceries?”

“Already done.”

“Then I timed my offer perfectly. Do you know how to thread a bobbin?”

“Have you been out in the sun too long?”

“It’s a rabbit-ear question.”

“Next time wear a hat.”

I grinned at the older woman. “To thread a bobbin?”

“You are the oddest child,” she muttered, then nodded at my banana pudding. “But you do make the most beautiful desserts.” We busied ourselves preparing dinner. The stockholders’ meeting was tomorrow, and the remaining members of the family would arrive tonight.

“Strange,” Mildred said after the pot roast had been placed in the oven.

“What?”

“I’d have thought everyone would be here by now.”

I glanced at my watch. Ashlee and Dove had been gone for five hours. Dove would be starving. “I’m sure—”

The phone rang.

“That’s probably them now.” I picked up the receiver. “Boone residence.”

“Piper!” It was my older brother, Tern. “Oh, Piper, I’m . . . I’m at the hospital. It’s Ashlee.”

I squeezed the receiver tighter. “What’s going on? Is Dove okay?”

Tern groaned.

I reached for Mildred. She took my hand, then put her arm around me to keep my knees from buckling. “Tern? Tern!”

Tern didn’t answer. A male voice took over. “Mrs. Piper Yates? This is Officer Stan Gragg of the Marion Inlet Police. There’s been an incident involving your husband. He was attacked on the dock and your family’s yacht was stolen. He’ll be fine, but we’re having the doctor check him out—”

“What about my daughter, Dove?” I tried to keep my voice under control, but the words came out shrill.

“We believe she was still on the boat. I’m afraid she’s missing.”

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Author Bio

Carrie Stuart Parks is Christy, Carol, and Inspy award-winning author, an award-winning fine artist, and internationally known forensic artist. Along with her husband, Rick, she travels across the US and Canada teaching courses in forensic art to law enforcement as well as civilian participants. She has won numerous awards for career excellence. Carrie is a popular platform speaker, presenting a variety of topics from crime to creativity.

Social Media Links

CarrieStuartParks.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Instagram, & Facebook

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

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