Tag: #aboutauthor

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Her Cold Heart by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HER COLD HEART (Detective Delaney Pace Book #6) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.

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

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Book Description

As snow falls over the small town of Kearny, the body of a young woman lies on the frozen ground. Her unblinking eyes stare out across the mountain top, and a wave of crimson-red blood seeps into the white blanket where she rests.

When residents discover a body on the slopes of a popular ski resort, Detective Delaney Pace and Sheriff Leo Palmer are first to investigate. Delaney scans her surroundings, and among the panic-stricken crowd she spots a man fleeing through the trees.

Delaney and Leo race after the suspect, following the tracks he left in his wake. But when the pair are separated, Delaney makes a heart-stopping discovery: a make-shift graveyard at an abandoned lodge deep in the forest. Immediately she knows there are more victims—and Leo’s radio has gone dead…

With the sheriff missing and the risk of more lives being taken, Delaney works fast to capture the twisted killer. But her mission grinds to a halt when a ghost from her past sends her a chilling message: Do as I say, if you want to see Leo again.

Desperate to save the man she loves, Delaney faces the shocking realisation that this whole thing was planned. She knows who’s responsible—and how dangerous they are. If she follows the orders she could lose her life, but if she doesn’t, she could lose Leo. Will she catch the killer in time? Or will she pay the ultimate price?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237144617-her-cold-heart?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VA9g1ngce3&rank=1

Purchase link: https://geni.us/B0FFGW5LMPsocial

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HER COLD HEART (Detective Delaney Pace Book #6) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that is full of action and twists. This is the sixth book in the series, and I could not put it down. I would recommend reading this series in order because the characters’ personal lives, growth, and histories play a large part in each book.

Detective Delaney Pace and Sheriff Leo Palmer are out enjoying the slopes with their family. As they are getting off the ski lift at the top of the run, a shot rings out and the young women behind Delaney is shot and killed. Delaney and Leo race after the suspect described by a witness.

A snow mobile chase ensues, and Delaney and Leo separate. When Delaney returns for Leo’s help, she cannot find him anywhere. As she traces his tracks, she discovers he was in an accident and then taken by the suspects they were chasing. She is sent a proof of life video and is told she must follow all orders she receives to get Leo back alive.

Delaney must risk everything as she goes up against dangerous ghosts from her past who want both dead.

This is such a fast paced, thrill ride of a new book in this series. After six books, I care about all the characters and I just feel like I am catching up with old friends, and when they are in danger, I read as fast as I can and pray all ends well. The danger, mysteries, and plot twists come fast in this story as Delaney works to save Leo and herself.

I highly recommend this emotional, action-packed thriller/police procedural addition to this series and cannot wait for more!

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling and Silver Falchion Best Mystery winning mystery/thriller/suspense author (and recovering attorney and investigator) who splits time between an off-the-grid lodge on the face of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains and a rustic cabin on Maine’s Lake Mooselookmeguntic with her husband, kids and grandkids, rescue pets and sled dog, and draft cross horses.

Writes for Bookouture and independently.

Host of Crime & Wine: Novelist Chats with Pamela Fagan Hutchins.

Social Media Links

Website: https://pamelafaganhutchins.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamela.fagan.hutchins.author

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/her-cold-heart-an-absolutely-addictive-and-totally-gripping-crime-thriller-detective-delaney-pace-book-6-by-pamela-fagan-hutchins


Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SHATTERED PEACE: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander on this Black Coffee Book Tour.

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

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Book Description

A forgotten diary. A century-old secret. A town still haunted by its past.

When former Navy Seabee Colleen Holmes inherits an old house in Centralia, Washington, she sees it as a chance to escape her own ghosts and start anew. But as she peels back layers of history within the home’s walls, she unearths long-buried secrets tied to a dark chapter in the town’s history.

Hidden behind crumbling plaster, a faded diary and a bundle of love letters unveil the struggles of a soldier trapped in the trenches of France and the heartbreak of those left waiting at home. Yet the diary’s brittle pages hold more than just longing—they bear witness to the explosive events of November 11, 1919, when a parade meant to celebrate peace erupted into violence and bloodshed.

As Colleen pieces together the tragic choices that shattered lives and fractured a town, she realizes history is never truly buried. The wounds of yesterday still shape today, and the past is not done with her yet.

Inspired by true events, Shattered Peace is a gripping time-slip novel of love, loss, and the echoes of history that refuse to fade. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network and The Girl You Left Behind, this haunting tale of resilience, redemption, and the pursuit of truth will linger long after the final page.

Triggers: It contains references to date rape, war violence, post-traumatic stress disorder, and faith and redemption.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/230507958-shattered-peace?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IGcUCoBf0c&rank=5

Universal link for the book on Amazon

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SHATTERED PEACE: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander is an emotional dual timeline historical novel that is both compelling and action packed. The present-day timeline features an Iraq war veteran dealing with past trauma, a broken relationship, and PTSD from her service, while the historical timeline from 1918-19 follows two families as they deal with WWI, the Spanish flu pandemic, and a bloody clash between labor and returned WWI veterans called the Centralia Tragedy. This is a profound story by a new-to-me author that I could not stop reading.

Colleen Holmes is a former Navy Seabee who is gifted the family generational home in Centralia, Washington from her grandmother. She is grateful for the change of location and looks forward to the remodeling work to take her mind off her broken engagement and ghosts of her past. As she pulls down walls, she discovers a journal and letters hidden in the wall left there by her great grandmother that are exchanges with her fiancée fighting in France during WWI, and later her writing tells of his return and the terrible events between lumber workers, Wobblies, trying to unionize and the returned WWI veterans who believe they are communists which culminates with both sides hatred into the 1919 Centralia Tragedy on the anniversary of Armistice Day.

As Colleen is reading about the past, she discovers that the past is never truly buried, and it flows over into her present. Will discovering the facts in the past show her a way to her own redemption?

I was truly not expecting this historical fiction to move me as much as it did. The veterans of any war suffering PTSD have it manifest in their lives in so many ways and both Colleen and her distant relative, Michael, demonstrate this in their lives. This leads to so much trauma and hatred that this author dealt with from the beginning to the ultimate climax and resolution. The division and hatred between the Wobblies and the WWI veterans in this story mirror so many similar divisions in our history, even now, and it appears we just never seem to learn. There is also the trauma of Colleen losing her mother and brother in a car accident that she believes is her fault, and the date rape admissions in the story that demonstrate other forms of PTSD and the strength of forgiveness. This book is an emotional powerhouse.

I highly recommend this moving historical fiction.

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About the Author

Julie McDonald Zander, an award-winning journalist, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington before working two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 75 individual, family, and community histories. Her debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a Will Rogers Medallion and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest, where they raised their two children.

Social Media Links

Website: https://mczander2024.ag-sites.net/index.htm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563140294856

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliemcdonaldzander/?hl=en

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mczander.bsky.social

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/shattered-peace-a-century-of-silence-by-julie-mcdonald-zander

Feature Post and Book Review: Such Good People by Amy Blumenfeld

Book Description

It’s 10 p.m. on a Thursday in the spring of her freshman year of college, and April is standing at the back of a crowded Manhattan bar waiting for her friend, Rudy, to arrive. Their eyes lock the moment he enters the room, and in an instant, lives and legacies are altered forever.

Within hours, Rudy is arrested. Within days, April is expelled. Within weeks, he’s incarcerated. And within months, she meets Peter, a prodigious young attorney who makes her world recognizable again.

Nearly fifteen years later, April is happily living in Chicago married to Peter, a mother of three with a fulfilling career and standing yoga date with her girlfriends. On the eve of Peter’s election for local office, Rudy is up for parole. Headlines explode about April’s past, jeopardizing Peter’s campaign and everything they hold dear. Suddenly, April is faced with an impossible choice: protecting the life she created, or the person who sacrificed everything to make that life a possibility. Such Good People is a captivating portrait of blurred lines, divided loyalties, and what it means to love purely, steadfastly, and interminably.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220595434-such-good-people?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=nC4LCFhB9E&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

SUCH GOOD PEOPLE by Amy Blumenfeld is a character driven fiction novel featuring two friends who have their lives changed in an instant and the emotional ripple effects it has on their lives and their families’ lives. This is not the usual type of book I read, but I found the description so intriguing that I gave it a try and I am glad that I did. I will be thinking of these characters well past the closing of this book.

April and Rudy have been friends for their entire childhood and when you see one, you see the other. Their families are close and celebrate many milestones as one unit.

They are separated for the first time when April goes off to college and Rudy is left at home working with his father and at the local bagel store. It is a huge adjustment, but April asks Rudy to visit to include him in her new life. When Rudy meets her after an event in a Manhattan bar, both their lives are changed forever in an instant.

For thirteen years, one life moves forward while the other is on hold. There is so much heartache and guilt not just personally, but also in the connected families. How can April cling to her new life without sacrificing her lifelong friend?

This book looks at family and friendship in a way that pulls you into the main characters’ lives so completely and immerses the reader in their story. Life in this story is messy, but it is believable in its portrayal of friendship, love, family, and forgiveness that are all intertwined. The characters and their behaviors and reactions are the focus of this story, but I also found the legal system portrayed in this story realistic and disheartening.

I recommend this moving friendship fiction novel and if you are like me, you will be thinking of these characters and their choices well into the future.

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About the Author

Amy Blumenfeld grew up in Queens, New York. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she received the James A. Wechsler Award for national reporting. Her essays and articles have appeared on the cover of People, in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, as well in George where she worked as a staff editor and writer. Amy’s debut novel, The Cast, was selected as a New York Post Best Book of the Week and named Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award in Popular Fiction. She has also been a contributing author to a best-selling anthology and two non-fiction books. Amy lives in New York with her husband and daughter.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.amyblumenfeld.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amy.r.blumenfeld

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyblumenfeldauthor/?hl=en

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/such-good-people-by-amy-blumenfeld

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Murder Under Redwood Moon: A Witch Paranormal Murder Mystery by Sherri L. Dodd

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for MURDER UNDER REDWOOD MOON: A Witch Paranormal Murder Mystery (Murder, Tea & Crystals Book #1) by Sherri L. Dodd on this Black Tide Book Tour.

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

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Book Summary

At the age of eight, Arista Kelly was frantically swept up by her parents and whisked off to an isolated town in the California redwoods. Two days later, her parents were gone.

Now at the age of twenty-three, she has settled quite nicely into an eclectic lifestyle, much like her great aunt, and guardian since childhood, Bethie. She enjoys the use of herbs and crystals to help her commune with the energy and nature around her and finds pleasure in the company of her beloved pet, Royal. Usually quite satisfied with her mundane life high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, life becomes unsettling when a new recurring vision of an ominous tattoo as well as increased activity from the ghostly presence within her own cottage invade her once-harmonious existence.

But life in this mountain sanctuary takes an even darker turn when the body of Arista’s former classmate is found in the nearby river. As other young women fall prey to a suspected serial killer, Arista realizes that the terror is coming to her.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206022905-murder-under-redwood-moon?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JAtu619bzF&ra

Universal link for the book on Amazon

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

MURDER UNDER REDWOOD MOON: A Witch Paranormal Murder Mystery (Murder, Tea & Crystals Book #1) by Sherri L. Dodd is a paranormal romance/murder mystery and the first book in this trilogy. This is an interesting mix of a young adult white witch coming into her more advanced powers, finding love, and a serial killer crime mystery all intertwined.

Arista has grown up and learned of witchcraft since the age of eight with her father’s aunt. The family has a history of paranormal powers being passed down through the generations and they believe Arista will be the strongest of them all. When girls Arista knows are found murdered, she and her aunt take measures to protect themselves, but it may not be enough to turn back the attraction of a killer set on Arista.

This first book in the trilogy does have a complete solution to this murder mystery, but the overarching family plot with Arista’s dark magic uncle looking for her is only partially answered. This book was a mixed bag for me, but still strong enough for me to continue reading the trilogy. The beginning felt as though a lot of information and too many characters were being introduced to close together, but it begins to settle down and is easier to read about a quarter of the way through. Also, while the information about crystals, magic, spells, and nature were interesting for some reason the author keeps interjecting how all the young male characters are devout Catholics, which did not seem pertinent and makes Arista’s boyfriend, Shane, a bit of a stretch. The romance is mild and gave me the feeling that this trilogy is better targeted at a young adult readership than a more mature paranormal romance reader.

This is an entertaining, easy-to-read paranormal book and I will continue the trilogy to discover what happens to Arista in future books.

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About the Author

Sherri was raised in southeast Texas. Walking barefoot most days and catching crawdads as they swam the creek beds, she had a love for all things free and natural. Her childhood ran rampant with talk of ghosts, demons, and backcountry folklore. This inspired her first short story for sale about a poisonous flower that shot toxins onto children as they smelled it. Her classmate bought it for all the change in his pocket. It was not long after that her mother packed the two of them up and headed to the central coast of California. She has ping-ponged throughout the area ever since.

Her first real step into writing was the non-fiction fitness book, Mom Looks Great – The Fitness Program for Moms published in 2005, and maintaining its accompanying blog. Now, transmuting the grief of her father’s passing, she has branched into Fiction, specifically the genre of Paranormal Thriller with generous dashes of Magick Realism! Her Murder, Tea & Crystals Trilogy released book one – Murder Under Redwood Moon – in March 2024. Book two – Moonset on Desert Sands – released in March 2025, and the final book in the series will release October 2025!

Social Media Links

Website: https://sherridodd.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SolisRedhead/#

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/murder-under-redwood-moon-by-sherri-l-dodd

Feature Post and Book Review: Fire Mountain by Dana Mentink

Book Description

In the shadow of a threatening volcano, long-haul trucker Kit Garrido wakes up in her crashed big rig, unable to recall what happened or why she’s suddenly in possession of someone’s baby. Fiercely independent, she has to admit that perhaps this time she could use a little help.

As the threat of eruption grows, former cop Cullen Landry refuses to leave his cabin in the evacuation area, which is why he’s the only one left who can help Kit escape the crumpled cab of her truck. He doesn’t want to get tangled up in the mystery of the beautiful woman with an abandoned infant, but when he sees the bullet hole in the windshield and the bloody handprint on the interior, he realizes that he’s in this thing, like it or not.

When two armed men with ill intent approach, the race is on to stay alive, discover the truth, and find the baby’s missing mother–all while a deadly mountain rains fire from above.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220543424-fire-mountain?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=06uvLcupGA&rank=3

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My Book Review

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

FIRE MOUNTAIN (Elements of Danger Book #1) by Dana Mentink is a fast paced, edge-of-your-seat Christian romantic suspense/crime thriller with the protagonists and a baby running for their lives on a volcanic mountain getting ready to blow. This is the first book in this new series and a new-to-me author.

Self-employed long haul trucker Kit Garrido wakes up in her overturned big rig with no memory of the accident and bullet holes in her windshield on a mountain road in the evacuation zone on a mountain threatening to erupt at any time. She is hesitant to accept the help of a stranger who offers help, but there is nothing else she can do. As they gather supplies to leave the truck, they discover a baby in a car seat in Kit’s back living area. It is not Kit’s, and she has no idea how it got into her truck.

Former cop Cullen Landry has been putting off evacuating until the last minute. He comes across an overturned big rig and helps the woman inside even though she is reluctant for his help. When they discover the baby, he does not know what to think of the surly, but attractive trucker. When two-armed men approach, they are in for a race for their lives and do not know whether it will be the men chasing them or the volcano that will end their lives.

This is one of those books that keeps you turning the pages because you just need to know if Kit, Cullen, and baby, Tot, will escape the mountain with their lives. The author does a great job realistically describing all the dangers a volcanic mountain can throw at these characters. Both Kit and Cullen are having difficulty dealing with their individual pasts and their belief in God and the author by throwing them together in dangerous and life-threatening situations which have them working together to survive also brings them to a new understanding of their pasts and of their faith. This is a Christian romantic suspense so there are no sex scenes. There are few secondary characters but the crusty old Marine, turned librarian, Archie was amazing and of course baby, Tot. The antagonists were necessary to be the foil to the main characters in the story, and their continued chase was necessary to the suspense and plot, but not realistic. That said, some suspension of belief makes this a story you cannot put down.

I highly recommend this Christian romantic suspense/thriller and look forward to the next book in this new series.

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About the Author

Dana Mentink is a New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty novels for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, Revell, Poisoned Pen Press, and other publishers. She lives in sunny California with Papa Bear and close to her two cubs, affectionately nicknamed Yogi and Boo Boo.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.danamentink.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dana.mentink

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/fire-mountain-elements-of-danger-book-1-by-dana-mentink

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Trust No One by Roger Stelljes

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TRUST NO ONE (Agent Tori Hunter Book #8) by Roger Stelljes on this blog tour.

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

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Book Description

In a cabin by a lake, a mother and father tuck their little girl into bed and kiss her goodnight. But they can’t enjoy the evening summer breeze—because this is no ordinary family on vacation. This is a family with nowhere left to run… and no one left to trust.

When FBI Agent Tori Hunter and Detective Will Braddock are called to a crime scene at a remote hunting cabin, they find blood everywhere. A small pink suitcase has been left behind, filled with children’s clothes and medicine. Has a family been murdered on vacation, or did they run just in time?

The team quickly tracks down the details of the family renting the cabin. But Braddock freezes at the last name. He claims to have never heard it before… but Tori can always tell when her partner is lying.

Furious that Braddock might keep something from her when lives are at stake, when two New York City detectives show up in Minnesota with questions for Braddock her fears are proved right… because there’s a murder case in Braddock’s past he never told Tori about. It took over his life just after his wife died, and forced him out of the city for good. Why did he keep it secret?

Tori has no time for games. Tracking down suppliers of the medicine from the cabin is her one lead to find this family before it’s too late. But with fingers pointing at Braddock, and her own instincts screaming that he’d never betray her or the shield, Tori will have to put her own career on the line to defend the man she trusts above all else—and find the real killer with a deadly score to settle.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239555373-trust-no-one?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=uRTxVkJLtJ&rank=1

Purchase link: https://geni.us/B0FKNJBZX8social

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

TRUST NO ONE (Agent Tori Hunter Book #8) by Roger Stelljes is an action-packed thrilling tangled web of a crime plot that intertwines flashbacks in Detective Will Braddock’s past in the NYCPD which seems to jeopardize his present life with former FBI agent Tori Hunter in Minnesota. This is the eighth book in this great series and can be easily read as a standalone, but I read the books in order to follow the two main protagonist’s growing relationship.

Detective Will Braddock gets a call from a snitch from an old case in NYC who has come to Manchester Bay for help. The case involved one of his friends from the NYPD who was killed while he worked the case because his nephew was involved. At the time, Will’s wife was dying of cancer, and he just did not want to work on it as he normally would. He refuses to get involved, but the next day Tori and Will get called to a hunting cabin riddled with bullet holes and blood everywhere, but no bodies.

Two NYC cops from Will’s past show up at the police station and accuse Will of being dirty. After leaving the station, they are both nearly killed. Tori has had enough and decides with the help of their friends to turn this hunt around and go after the hunters by becoming the hunters themselves to keep those she loves safe.

This series is amazing, and this book even topped the rest for me. I could not put it down. The book is intricately plotted and full of surprises, so I was never sure what to believe so I had to keep turning the pages. Tori is smart, strong, and intelligent and so is Will, which makes for head butting along the way, but it also is what made them attracted to each other. The beautiful descriptions of the lake they live on and all the different types of weather and terrain in Minnesota brings it to life.

This is an overall well written and very strong police procedural/crime thriller series that I highly recommend to all lovers of the genre.

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About the Author

Roger Stelljes is the acclaimed New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of pulse-pounding murder mystery and suspense novels, including the Tori Hunter and McRyan Mystery Series. Roger’s crime thrillers are noted for their fast-paced, yet intricate plots filled with layered and complex characters.

Roger started his first novel in July 2002 while on vacation in Minnesota’s Brainerd Lakes area and has been writing ever since. His debut book, The St. Paul Conspiracy, was nominated in genre fiction for the Minnesota Book Awards along with finalists Brian Freeman and William Kent Krueger. With his follow-up, Deadly Stillwater, where Vince Flynn hailed Roger as a “powerful new thriller voice”, he won the Midwest Independent Book Publishers award for commercial fiction.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Roger still lives there with his family. In addition to his work as an author, Roger is a partner in his law firm. Roger is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys spending time outdoors boating, attending hockey games, and honing his golf game.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.rogerstelljes.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roger.stelljes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rogerstelljes/#

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rogerstelljes.bsky.social

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/trust-no-one-an-utterly-gripping-mystery-thriller-novel-agent-tori-hunter-book-8-by-roger-stelljes