Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for MURDER IN THE APPALACHIANS by Susan Furlong on this Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
On the run in the mountains… with a killer on their trail.
After unearthing secrets from her late brother’s police notebook, journalist Emma Hayes discovers his death was no accident—he was murdered. Only someone doesn’t want Emma to find out the connection to the cold case her brother was investigating…and they’ll kill to keep it that way. Now Emma must rely on local ER doctor Logan Greer to help her stay alive and follow a trail of elusive evidence. But as they unravel a conspiracy, they realize that the killer could be anyone hiding in the mountains…
Genre: Love Inspired Suspense – Romantic Suspense Published by: Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense Publication Date: April 1, 2025 Number of Pages: 206 ISBN: 9781335980533 (ISBN10: 1335980539)
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
MURDER IN THE APPALACHIANS by Susan Furlong is an edge-of-you-seat Christian romantic suspense/mystery with plenty of action, twists, and surprises. This standalone Love Inspired Suspense book is set in a small ex-mining town in the scenic West Virginian Appalachian Mountains.
Emma Hayes is an investigative journalist living in Washington, D.C. who returns to her twin brother’s mountain cabin after his death. He was a police officer, supposedly killed while handling a traffic stop, but after listening to a message left by him on her phone, Emma believes he was murdered while investigating a local cold case. In her search of his cabin, she finds his notebook but is then chased by a masked man and shot at. She escapes down the river.
On vacation and fly fishing on the river, Dr. Logan Greer discovers a woman on the riverbank freezing. He takes her to his free clinic and his sister, a physician’s assistant, takes care of her wounds, and they take her home. Emma does not know who to trust, but Logan gains her trust as he saves her life more than once. What Emma does not know is that the cold case she is looking into ties to the disappearance of Logan’s youngest sister.
Someone is determined to keep their secrets, and to stop the attempts on their lives, Emma and Logan must uncover the secrets of this cold case and find the killer.
This is one of those stories that pull you in and you just want to read it from start to finish. Emma and Logan are both dealing with trauma and loss and are at different places in their relationship with their faith. They are feeling many of the same things, but Emma’s feelings are fresh while Logan has had more years to deal with his feelings even though he continues to search for the truth of his sister’s disappearance. Their romance and faith journeys both felt realistic and believable. This is a Christian based romance, so there are a few kisses, but no sex scenes. The suspense plot is intense and kept me turning the pages and continually guessing who was involved and who was innocent. I was very satisfied with the resolutions in the suspense plot, the cold case mystery and the HEA.
I highly recommend this exciting Christian romantic suspense!
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Author Bio
Susan Furlong grew up in North Dakota where she spent long winters at her local library scouring the shelves for mysteries to read. Now, she lives in Illinois with her husband and children and writes mysteries of all types. She has over a dozen published novels and her work has earned a spot in the New York Times list of top crime fiction books of the year. When not writing, she volunteers at her church and spends time hiking and fishing.
Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.
After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.
She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young—the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.
Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case—and she’s willing to risk her life again if that’s what it takes to stop the horror.
HIDDEN NATURE by Nora Roberts is an intriguing mash-up of mystery, crime thriller, investigation, and romance with a bit of HGTV like home renovation going on throughout. The setting of this story is the beautiful Maryland mountains with a main character who is not only a member of the Natural Resources Police but is a genuine lover of nature and all its varied seasons. This is a standalone novel.
Sloan Cooper grew up knowing exactly what she wanted to do with her life. While her family runs a successful year-round vacation resort in the Heron’s Rest, she has her heart set on a career with the Natural Resources Police of Maryland. After closing a successful case, she and her partner stop at a small-town convenience store. Sloan walks into a robbery in progress and is shot in the chest.
After being shocked back to life, she has a long recuperation ahead. She returns to her childhood home, but even though she cannot return to work, she is bored. When she hears about the case of a missing woman which intrigues her. She decides to do a bit of online searching on her own and soon discovers there are more missing people in the tri-state area of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia that appear to have no connections other than their disappearances.
As the investigation continues with several jurisdictions on the case, Sloan realizes what the connection is between all the missing, but it is so bazaar, others find it hard to believe, but Sloan knows she is right. When a local friend goes missing, she is determined to find him and bring him home and stop the killer or killers because she may be on their list, too.
This is another great all-around, intriguing and satisfying book by Ms. Roberts. I opened this book and could not stop. Sloan is a strong, intelligent protagonist who is put through difficult physical and mental trials and doggedly continues forward. Her family and friends are all fully developed characters that are a strong support system and interesting in their own rights. The HGTV home renovations add a unique twist to the dialogue and focus when they are not discussing or chasing down the missing. I also loved the beautifully integrated descriptions of nature and wildlife in the area. The crime thriller plotline is woven throughout the book at an ever-increasing pace. The perpetrators are seriously scary and depraved and made the hair on my arms stand-up.
I highly recommend this amazing mash-up! Ms. Roberts is one of my all-time favorite authors and I always look forward to her books.
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About the Author
Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Shelter in Place, Year One, Come Sundown, and many more. She is also the author of the bestselling In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than five hundred million copies of her books in print.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HER BURNING LIES (Detective Delaney Pace Book #5) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins on this Bookouture Book-On-Tour blog tour.
Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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About the Book
As a blazing wildfire rages through Kearny County, homes are destroyed and the town is in turmoil. Amongst the debris, the body of a young woman lies totally still, her eyes looking to the sky, a silver sword pinning her to the ground.
When fire wardens search the scorched remains of an abandoned farmhouse, underneath the rubble, they make a shocking discovery—a young woman, stabbed and left to die in the middle of the fire zone. Detective Delaney Pace andSheriff Leo Palmer are called in to investigate.
Leo takes in the woman’s petite features, his voice shaking as he turns to Delaney. He knows the victim—they had met on an online dating site. How did she end up in the middle of the wildfires, and who would want to kill an innocent young woman?
As a second body is discovered at a remote ranch, also stabbed with a silver sword, Delaney is sure the victims are linked—both young mothers, both looking for love. Could Kearny County have a serial killer preying on single women?
Delaney’s heart pounds when she learns that her close friend, Clara Eckhardt, is missing, last seen driving towards the fires. She ignores the evacuation orders and races towards the inferno. But when shots are fired, she knows the murderer has her in their sight. Will she turn back and save herself or chase the killer further into the fire to save her friend’s life?
HER BURNING LIES (Detective Delaney Pace Book #5) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an edge-of-your-seat action packed crime thriller/police procedural featuring Detective Inspector Delaney Pace in Kearny County, Wyoming. This is the fifth book in the series and can be read as a standalone crime thriller, but the main characters’ personal relationships change and grow over the series. I have read them all in order and really enjoy the crime plots and the growing relationship between Delaney and Leo.
Detective Inspector Delaney Pace and Sheriff Leo Palmer have their hands full with a large wildfire raging through the county. When the fire wardens gather to set up a staging area at an abandoned farm, they discover the body of a young women in the stone farmhouse dead and pinned to the ground with a large sword.
A second body is discovered the next day in the burned-out barn. The body is as charred as the barn, and it also is pinned to the ground with a sword. As Delaney and Leo investigate the identities of their victims, they discover they have both given birth, but no babies are found in the apartment building that houses several young women.
When one of Delaney’s friends disappears, she and Leo are racing against the clock to find her and discover if there is a connection between her and the dead young women as the wildfire gets ever closer.
This is another fantastic addition to the Detective Delaney Pace series! I am never disappointed. The crime thriller plot always keeps me guessing to the climax with plenty of twists and surprises throughout. Delaney and Leo’s extended families add relatability and realism to the story. Their personal relationship is a rollercoaster ride that finally, after five books, has left me with good feelings for their future. This is a must-read series for me, and I am always excited to get the next book.
I highly recommend this addictive crime thriller/police procedural book and series.
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About the Author
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is a USA Today bestselling and Silver Falchion Best Mystery winning mystery/thriller/suspense author (and recovering attorney and investigator) who splits her 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.
England, 1787. Mary Wollstonecraft is an avowed spinster. At 28, she moves to London to live independently as a writer. With her publication of A Vindication for the Rights of Woman a few short years later, she emerges as a leading figure for women’s equality. But when a humiliating faux pas threatens her reputation, Mary travels to Paris to write about the French Revolution, where she unexpectedly falls in love with American adventurer Gilbert Imlay. Her ill-timed affair occurs just as the Reign of Terror begins, forcing Mary to decide whether to leave Paris—and Imlay. Her writing has branded her a revolutionary. If she stays, she is sure to face a trip to the guillotine. The choice Mary makes alters her life forever.
Readers of biographical fiction will embrace this carefully researched novel about the woman historians widely consider the world’s first feminist. Told against the backdrop of Wollstonecraft’s incredible rise as a writer, the French Revolution, and a solo journey along the remote shores of Scandinavia, Solitary Walker is the timeless story of women forging their own path.
SOLITARY WALKER: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft by N.J. Mastro is a captivating biographical historical fiction about a woman many consider one of the leading and most influential eighteenth-century writers on women’s rights and rational feminism. This book covers her life from 1787 when she was 28 and moved to London to attempt to make a living by her writing to her death only ten years later in 1797.
In this short number of years, she was a prolific author and reviewer in London, moved to Paris during the French Revolution, went on solo travels through Scandinavia, and returned to London for her final year before her death. While I knew of her philosophy of equality for all people, I did not know the more personal aspects of her life which are well researched and written into this engrossing tale. Her interactions with the men in her circle of society, who were also notable philosophers, writers, and artists of the time, led to triumphs and heartbreaks. This is a more personal look at her personal emotions and motivations. Also, the author’s writing made me feel like I was back in the late 1700s as I was reading with vivid descriptions of the buildings, clothes, economics and historical events of the time.
I highly recommend this biographical historical fiction.
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About the Author
N.J. Mastro is historical fiction writer and book blogger who publishes Herstory Revisited, a blog dedicated to biographical novels about audacious women from the past, Mastro has a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational leadership. Besides being an experienced public speaker, she is also an avid reader, master cook, and wine enthusiast.
Susan Morris is relishing the artificial cold of Ski Dubai, an indoor ski hill in the middle of the desert, with fellow ex-pat Pat Thornton when she sees the chairlift carrying Pat’s husband detach from its cable and plummet to the ground. After an attempt is made on Barry Thornton’s life while he’s in hospital, Susan begins to suspect the chairlift crash was no accident. Then the Thorntons’ home on the Palm Jumeirah is broken into and their Sri Lankan maid goes missing. Feeling the tell-tale prickling at the back of her neck, Susan is certain all these incidents are connected, but how?
In this second book in the Deep Mysteries series, the innate drive to help others puts ex-nurse Susan Morris in precarious positions. Her very life is threatened as she pokes her nose into places it doesn’t belong.
DEEP FREEZE (Deep Mysteries Book #2) by Anne Louise O’Connell is an engaging amateur sleuth mystery featuring an ex-nurse set in the exotic city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This is the second book and is easily read as a standalone story, but I enjoyed Deep Deceit, book one in the series as well.
Susan Morris worked as a psychiatric nurse for thirteen years in a New Jersey hospital. She is now living as an ex-pat in Dubai with her husband, Mitch, who is working as a pilot for Emirates. It has been a major personal adjustment to the cultural differences and the divide between the ex-pats lives and the native Emirati.
Susan is out with other ex-pat wives for lunch and to help her friend, Pat Thornton, learn to ski at Ski Dubai, an oasis of cold and snow in the desert. They witness Pat’s husband, surgeon Barry Thornton, plummet to the ground when his chairlift detaches from its cable. As Susan and Pat watch over him in the hospital, Susan begins to suspect this was no accident when there is a break in at the Thornton home and their Sri Lankan maid goes missing. There is an attempt on Barry’s life and questionable activity by hospital staff members, which has Susan determined to find out if the attempt on Barry’s life and their missing maid are tied to the secrets in a locked lab at the hospital.
This is such an interesting and captivating mystery in many ways. First, the author does a great job of putting me in Dubai with her vivid descriptions of not just the architecture, but also the culture and differences between those who are born there, ex-pats who have upper class jobs and those immigrants brought in for menial labor and jobs. I found it all fascinating, while also making me appreciate our freedoms, especially for females, more. I was sorry that Susan’s personal life took such a turn, but I know it was necessary to move her to a place that is more conducive for future books in the series for a female to solve mysteries on her own. Susan is an intelligent and inquisitive protagonist who must deal with the rules of another culture and country which made it necessary to bring in a male detective from the city to deal with the government and native males for a solution, which for some readers may feel like a cheat in the plot, but I felt it was necessary to remain true to the location. The medical crimes/mystery plot itself is well paced with plenty of red herrings and twists that surprised me throughout.
I highly recommend this captivating amateur sleuth mystery and I am looking forward to following Susan in future adventures.
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About the Author
Author, developmental book editor and partner publisher, Anne Louise O’Connell, was a long-time expat, returning to Canada in 2016 after enjoying the sun and sand of Florida, Dubai and Thailand over a span of 23 years. Anne worked in the PR field for 17 years and then decided it was time to just write. From 2007 to 2016, Anne was writing books while freelancing, editing, author mentoring and social media consulting, along with conducting writing retreats and workshops. In 2013, she began facilitating the annual Paradise Writers’ Retreat. In 2016, she founded OC Publishing and she continues to write her own books while mentoring other authors and providing developmental book editing, writing coaching and publishing services.
While living the expat life, she contributed regularly to the Wall St. Journal Expat Blog, Global Living Magazine and Expat Focus. She has a passion for travel and that adventurous spirit has taken her all over the world. Anne grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and has a bachelor of public relations and an early childhood education certificate, both from Mount St. Vincent University. She is the author of @Home in Dubai… Getting Connected Online and on the Ground; Mental Pause, her first novel, a 2013 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Award winner; and her latest novel, Deep Deceit, which launched March 8, 2015 and is the first in a planned mystery series. She has also contributed short stories to the Phuket Island Writers’ anthologies and has published a collection of travel and expat life stories called Swimming with the Elephants and Other Adventures. Blog: www.anne-writingjustbecause.blogspot.com.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE ORGAN BROKER by Deven Greene 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. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
A devoted wife and mother faces the unimaginable as her life crumbles.
Crystal Rigler seems to have a perfect marriage. Derek, her handsome and charismatic husband, and their adult daughter, Cordelia, are her whole world. In addition to her already busy life, Crystal supports the volunteer organization she and Derek started: STOP (Stop Transplants of Organs from Prisoners).
STOP aims to end a new government policy of harvesting organs from executed prisoners. They learn that these organs are not distributed by the national transplant list, established to allocate organs fairly. Instead, a shadowy figure known as Broker Al pulls the strings. He expedites the execution of young and healthy prisoners and sells their organs at a high price to the rich and well-connected.
After Crystal learns a disturbing secret, events are set in motion that will potentially dismantle STOP, change her life, and cost her everything. Unless she is willing to do the unthinkable.
Genre: Psychological Suspense Published by: Panthera Publishing Publication Date: April 2025 Number of Pages: 321 ISBN: 9781964620060 (ISBN10: 1964620066)
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
THE ORGAN BROKER by Deven Greene is a dark thriller which poses many ethical questions surrounding the morality of organ donation from death row prisoners. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those books that the readers either love or hate.
Crystal and Derek Rigler are a married couple with a grown daughter, Callie. They run the local office of a volunteer organization called STOP (Stop Transplants of Organs from Prisoners). Crystal does a lot of the work and writes all of Derek speeches, but Derek gets most of the attention due to his looks and magnetic personality. An investigative journalist, who helps with STOP, gets insider information about corruption in the distribution of the transplant organs from prisoners facilitated by a shadowy figure called Broker Al.
When Callie comes home from college ill and needs a liver transplant, this sets into motion very personal decisions and moral dilemmas that will change all their lives.
The questions are intriguing and made me interested in reading this book and I was not surprised by the morally bankrupt, money hungry evil antagonists but what I was not expecting was the main characters to be unlikable, also. Derek is a narcissist, and I did not like him from the start, so I was hoping Crystal would be a strong female character to balance his character out, but no, while not evil, I had difficulty with many of her decisions. Usually, this would put me off the book, but the author writes them into so many thought-provoking situations that I could not put it down. I do think the story has too much devoted to their marriage and its problems in the beginning of the book that could have been edited out.
The moral questions surrounding who gets donated organs and in what order have always interested me. You hear about corruption, but supposedly the system is set up for it not to happen, but this author takes you down the rabbit hole of “what if?” There are plenty of plot twists and surprises that do lead to a satisfactory ending even with the slower start.
I recommend this dark thriller for its ability to keep me engrossed with its intriguing concept.
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Excerpt
Chapter 1
The East Texas sun was hotter than usual for September, the few clouds high above providing no relief. A half-hour earlier, overcome by heat and exhaustion, Crystal had let her sign reading “Save Kwami” slip to the ground. Standing near the front of the crowd, Crystal pushed up the visor on her baseball cap to get a better look at her surroundings. She was pleased with the impressive turnout which she estimated to be close to one thousand people. It was the largest they’d ever had. Most of the other protestors continue to hold their placards high, displaying myriad slogans such as “Justice for Kwami,” “Let Kwami Live,” “Impeach Gov. Percy,” and the most popular, “STOP.” She took a deep breath and lifted her sign again, fighting the pain in her fingers as she held it as high as she could.
The crowd of protestors was comprised of a cross-section of the community— young, old, couples, families, Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian. A colorful array of baseball caps, bucket hats, visors, straw hats, and cowboy hats protected most of the heads from the constant flood of the sun’s rays.
The makeshift podium and public address system were rudimentary, and there was the usual milling around often seen in large gatherings, but the audience, for the most part, was paying attention to the pudgy young man with a man bun speaking to them. At times, the crowd burst out in synchronous claps and hoots of approval. The assembly was peaceful, with only a few skirmishes breaking out at the edges where police stood watch.
Still thirsty after having finished her bottle of water, Crystal let her mind wander as the speaker droned on about the immorality of what was about to take place. Her clothes clung to her sweaty body, and despite wearing sunglasses with polarized lenses, the bright sun hurt her eyes. Looking down, she swatted away a bug that landed on her arm. Uncomfortable and impatient, she was eagerly awaiting the next speaker.
Finally, the man at the podium looked up and announced, “And now, the man you’ve all been waiting to hear, the leader of our organization, Mr. Derek Rigler.”
The mood of the crowd changed, and participants started chanting “STOP” in unison as they raised and lowered their signs. A tall, muscular man with tan skin and wavy blond hair, took to the stage next to the previous speaker and scanned the crowd with his magnetic blue eyes. Crystal looked up and smiled. His handsome, chiseled features gave him the look of a confident leader. Although he was nearly fifty years old, he looked at least ten years younger. He hasn’t lost the ability to attract attention whenever he enters a room.
Derek took his place on the podium and held out his arms as if to give a benediction. After almost a full minute of roaring applause, he raised and lowered his hands several times to quiet the crowd.
Crystal looked around, energized by the enthusiasm bubbling over. She noted more press vans set up around the perimeter than in the previous protest. Their organization, STOP, was gaining traction.
She wondered if Derek had picked her out of the crowd. If she were taller, he’d probably see her—she wasn’t far from the front—but she imagined her five-foot two-inch frame made her visage difficult to identify in the sea of people. From what she could glean, Derek hadn’t spotted her. After all, she was just another brunette under a baseball cap, surrounded by many others. Even so, Crystal smiled widely, wondering if anyone nearby recognized her. After all, she was notable as Derek’s wife and the mother of his child, Cordelia.
As Derek started his familiar diatribe against the Texas death penalty laws, Crystal tried to lock eyes with him, but his eyes never found her. Instead, he focused on members of the audience near and far, concentrating his gaze on one person for several seconds before moving on to the next pair of waiting eyes.
Crystal recognized the usual arguments against the event that was scheduled to take place momentarily—the uneven death penalty sentencing, the ugliness of exacting revenge, and the irreversibility of the punishment once meted out. The speech was powerful, and she agreed with everything Derek said. She could recite the words by heart, not only because she had heard them during Derek’s practice sessions, but because she had written them herself. Every time the crowd reacted with hollers and claps, she felt taller, each breath a bit more satisfying. She’d been to over six of these rallies in the past year, each protesting the execution of a prisoner found guilty of a crime deemed fitting for capital punishment.
The death penalty had never sat well with Crystal, but over the past two years, the practice had escalated, with four more executions scheduled over the next six months in Texas alone. Not only was the ultimate punishment meted out more often, but the evidence leading to convictions was frequently less convincing. She’d made up her mind to do something to stop the injustice and had established STOP almost a year earlier. A small, grass-roots collection of like-minded people, it was taking hold, thanks to her speech writing, community outreach, and organizational skills, bolstered by her husband’s charisma. He was the face of the organization.
Derek’s address was interrupted by a loud commotion as the officers stationed around the perimeter began to forcefully clear a path through the protestors to the entryway of the large building looming behind the speaker. Despite shouting and resistance from the crowd, with the most passionate demonstrators being handcuffed and dragged away, the police were able to open a wide berth.
“We are nearing the time,” Derek shouted above the commotion, “the time when our brother Kwami will be taken from us in an act that can only be described as state-sponsored murder. Let all those who have participated in this mockery of justice one day pay for their crimes, and let all those who directly benefit from this violent act realize the wrong they have participated in.”
A police transport moved through the clearing in the crowd as demonstrators chanted “Kwami, Kwami” in unison. Although the windows of the vehicle were covered, all knew who was inside—Kwami McKinney, sentenced to be executed that day. The van didn’t stop until it was a mere five feet from the door to the building. A massive construction of cement and glass six stories high, the structure dwarfed the trees and other buildings nearby. Derek was silent as he turned to watch the Black prisoner, his head shaved, exit the van’s side door.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit accessorized with ankle and wrist shackles, Kwami was escorted by two armed guards, each holding onto one of his arms. Two more prison officers took up the rear. As the party of five walked towards the glass doors of the building, a Black woman around fifty years old ran towards them screaming. She was forcibly stopped by police, who grabbed onto her arms long before she could interfere.
Everyone there knew the woman was Sally McKinney, Kwami’s mother. She yelled and cried hysterically, flailing against those restraining her as her son was led through the automated doors that opened before him and the guards. They disappeared inside the structure as the glass doors shut.
People in the crowd yelled and cried, drowning out Ms. McKinney’s wails. Frustrated tears filled Crystal’s eyes; their protest had done nothing to dissuade the authorities from carrying out their sentence. She hadn’t expected the proceedings to be halted, but held onto a glimmer of hope until now, irrational as it was.
She looked to Derek for comfort, hoping they might finally lock gazes and convey their sadness to each other, but Crystal’s thoughts were interrupted by a female acquaintance. “Fantastic speech,” the woman said.
“I can’t disagree,” Crystal answered, buoyed momentarily by the woman’s words.
“You must be very proud, being his wife. He’s so handsome, and brilliant to boot. You two are the perfect couple. I’d sure like to be a fly on the wall at your dinner table to hear about all his great ideas.”
The words stung slightly, as Crystal chuckled politely. She was accustomed to being thought of as a mere appendage of her charismatic husband, but, she’d tried to convince herself that a successful protest, with Derek delivering a resounding speech, was all that was important. She didn’t need the admiration of others like he did. “Our dinners aren’t as interesting as you might think. Mostly, we talk about how we’re going to pay our bills.”
Members of the press, who until now had been scattered amongst the protestors while taking notes and silently recording videos, were now talking and interviewing people on camera. The crowd thinned, but Crystal didn’t want to leave. She’d have liked to remain until she knew Kwami had taken his last breath, but that moment was hours away.
She listened as a nearby male telecaster spoke into a camera. “Emotions are again high as another execution is about to take place. While many people feel that the crimes Kwami McKinney was convicted of, armed robbery and hostage-taking, justify the death sentence, some feel the punishment is too severe for the crimes the prisoner was convicted of. Still others believe he is innocent of the charges against him.”
The reporter turned to a middle-aged female bystander and asked, “What do you think of today’s events? Do you think justice is being carried out today?” After posing the question, he shoved the microphone close to the woman’s mouth.
“This is a travesty of justice,” she answered. “The real criminal was wearing a ski mask during the robbery, and escaped capture immediately following the crime. That was made clear during the trial. We also learned that Mr. McKinney was picked out in a lineup by two unreliable witnesses days later. There was a boatload of evidence that the so-called witnesses had drug charges against them dropped shortly after identifying Mr. McKinney. What kind of justice is that?”
The telecaster quickly turned to the camera and continued his reporting. “Despite the controversy, Kwami McKinney is still scheduled to be executed here and now at New Lake Hospital. While we are happy for the families of the six unnamed individuals who will be the recipients of much-needed organs, many are questioning the legality and morality of what is now becoming a common method of organ procurement. The objections are being led by the organization STOP, which stands for Stop Transplants of Organs from Prisoners.”
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Author Bio
Deven Greene lives in Northern California, where she enjoys writing fiction, most of which involves science or medicine. She has degrees in biochemistry (PhD) and medicine (MD), and practiced pathology for over twenty years.
She has previously published the The Erica Rosen MD Trilogy (Unnatural, Unwitting, and Unforeseen), and Ties That Kill, as well as several short stories.
