Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: In the Pale Light by Wesley Smith

IN THE PALE LIGHT

by Westley Smith

August 12 – September 6, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for IN THE PALE LIGHT by Wesley Smith 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

When Clay Graham and his family are found slain in the parking lot of his struggling business, the police suspect Clay’s troublemaker brother, Terry. Terry claims he was drunk the night of the murders and passed out at home. With little evidence against Terry to make an arrest, the case soon goes cold.

Shunned from the community, harassed by the locals who believe he’s a murderer, and suffering from an undiagnosed illness, Terry lives alone on his farm, punishing himself for his past indiscretions.

Then Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Henry Miller, who has ties to the town and the Graham murders, shows up with newly discovered evidence that kick-starts the case all over again.

Now, before his illness kills him, Terry sets out, battling against small-town secrets and old grudges, racing against time to stay one step ahead of both the State Police and his own impending death, to finally find out what really happened to his family and hopefully prove himself and innocent man –if he is one.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215503080-in-the-pale-light?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qomXBSvofB&rank=2

In the Pale Light

Genre: Crime Thriller
Published by: Watertower Hill Publishing
Publication Date: August 13, 2024

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

IN THE PALE LIGHT by Westley Smith is an intense vigilante cold case crime thriller with a man accused of killing his brother’s family racing against his terminal illness and law enforcement to discover the truth. Make sure you set aside a block of time to read this race-against-time thriller because if you are like me, you will not be able to put it down until the final revelation.

Terry Graham is known around town as a drunkard and troublemaker with a terrible temper. When his brother, brother’s wife, and daughter are found shot to death outside their business, everyone believes Terry is responsible, but there is no proof. Shunned in his small hometown for nine years, the case has gone cold until a pair of detectives from the State Police Major Crimes Unit take over this investigation and begin asking questions again.

Pennsylvania State Trooper Henry Miller is back in town with newly discovered evidence to investigate the Graham case that he was the first patrol officer on the scene on the day of the murder. Miller has always had questions about this murder case and now he hopes to find the truth, but Terry seems to have discovered something also and is beating him to people he wants to question.

With Terry barely ahead of the detectives, he is racing against time to discover the truth behind the murders and prove himself innocent.

This book has a protagonist that is not lovable, and has a terrible temper, but you end up cheering him on to find the truth before he succumbs to his illness. Every new discovery had me rethinking the crime; not only who but why. The crime thriller plot is fast-paced and full of twists and surprises. The tension builds to a crescendo that had me reading well past my bedtime.

I highly recommend this engrossing vigilante cold case crime thriller!

***

Excerpt

December 25th, 2015

The emergency lights from the Hickory Falls Sheriff’s Department Ford Interceptor flashed across the snow when it pulled into the Graham Video store parking lot. The sheet of white should have been untouched by tires at 6:45 a.m., and the snow-covered green Jetta, sitting in the far left-hand corner of the parking lot should not have been there. Two different sets of tire tracks cut through the pristine snow. One set belonged to the Jetta. The other set made a large circle in the snow before making its way back toward Main Street.

The officer brought the SUV to a stop about five feet from the Jetta; its headlights bathed the car in the frigid darkness. Unable to see past the Jetta’s frosted snow-covered windows, a building sense of unease began to crawl over him, tightening the flesh to his bones.

The officer’s shift had been easy that night. He had not responded to any emergency calls, nor had he had to pull anyone over. A Christmas miracle itself. But all that had changed fifteen minutes ago while he was patrolling Broke Run Road, when Sheriff Will Daniel’s voice came over the radio.

“Call just came in. We got a report of shots fired at the Graham Video store. Caller says they saw a man running across the parking lot, carrying what appeared to be a shotgun. The suspect reportedly got into the passenger side of a blue sedan before it took off with two others inside. Need you to check it out,” Daniel had said.

Why the hell is the sheriff in at this hour? the officer had wondered. Shouldn’t Susan be on the call desk? And what’s going on at the Graham Video store?

Now on scene, with the first cracks of gray sky beginning to materialize through the night horizon, he radioed back into the station.

“I’m at the Graham Video store. I’ve located a V-dub Jetta. It’s an early 2000s model. No sign of anyone else, including the reported blue sedan. Though there are two sets of tire tracks in the snow, indicating another vehicle was present.” He glanced at the video store’s entrance. There were no broken windows and no ajar door to indicate a robbery had occurred. The place appeared buttoned up tight. “No signs of a break-in, Sheriff. Getting out to inspect the vehicle.”

“Ten-four,” Sheriff Daniel’s voice came back over the line. “Proceed with caution.”

Again, the officer thought it was strange that the sheriff was in at that hour, and on Christmas morning. Where was Susan Green? She usually worked the overnight shift; she should still have been at the station, working the dispatch desk. Still, the officer knew, she could have gone home for any number of reasons—the holiday, the storm, or maybe a family member had fallen –ill—and the sheriff had filled in for her. Pushing the thought from his mind, the officer returned to the pressing matter at hand.

Stay focused. Stay sharp.

Stepping from the SUV, the blowing snow and driving wind bit at the officer’s exposed skin, penetrated his clothes. Zipping his jacket up to his chin, he started toward the car, trudging through the shin-deep snow.

As he neared the Jetta, pelted with snow and ice so hard it stung, he noticed a set of footprints leading away from the passenger-side door toward the second set of tire tracks before vanishing. The tracks were nearly filled in with fresh powder, but it was unmistakable what they were. He assumed this was where the person had gotten into the second car—an old blue sedan. Looking back to the Jetta, he saw something smeared along the top of the passenger-side door. Whatever it was had frozen to a hard, ruby-colored substance.

He eased in for a closer look.

Blood!

Frozen blood.

A strange tightness gripped the base of the officer’s neck as if Death had wrapped a cold, boney hand around him and begun to squeeze. His heart rate quickened. He placed his right hand on his sidearm and identified himself.

“This is the Hickory Falls Sheriff’s Department. If there’s anyone inside the vehicle, would you please step out?”

There was no reply. The car was dead still. The only sound across the parking lot was the howling wind and the ice pebbles hitting the closest metal lamp post.

Not wanting to disturb what he believed to be blood on the passenger-side door, the officer lumbered through the deepening snow, around the front of the Jetta, to the driver’s side. Reaching down, he took hold of the handle and pulled.

The driver’s side door was locked.

He took a deep breath of cold air, sending what felt like ice daggers into his lungs as he tried to steel himself for what he might find inside. His teeth began to chatter, and an internal shudder tremored in his core and quickly expanded to the rest of his body.

“I’m asking anyone inside to identify themselves and step out.” He waited, but when no one replied, he said, “If you do not comply, I will be forced to inspect the vehicle. Last warning.”

Silence.

No movement came from within. The car’s stillness bothered him—like it was dead. But that was impossible. Cars could not be deceased like humans or animals. So why was he getting the dreaded feeling that death emanated from it?

Placing his gloved hand on the window, he brushed the light dusting of snow away and bent down to look inside.

The officer recoiled at what he saw or who he saw staring back at him. His feet slipped out from under him, and he went down onto his backside, hard. Snow kicked up when he hit the ground, and for a moment he was cocooned in falling white powder, protected from what he had seen.

But when the snow settled, the officer was again gazing at the driver’s-side door of the Jetta. There, he saw a man’s pale face pressed against the glass, the muscles twisted and tightened in agony. His eyes were open and locked directly on the officer with a vacant, lifeless stare, pleading with him, even in death, to save him.

Too late. I’m too late to save you.

The officer shot to his feet; snow fell off his uniform in large patchy clumps. And though the temperature was in the teens, he felt sweat break out across his back and forehead.

Moving gingerly toward the Jetta again, the officer realized he knew the dead man looking back at him.

Clay Graham—the owner of the Graham Video store.

He removed his Maglite from his belt and turned it on. Bending, he shone the beam through the ice-crusted driver’s-side window and began to scan the car’s interior.

That’s when he saw them.

He pressed a gloved hand over his lips, suppressing the scream that wanted to leap from his throat at the horrific sight of carnage and death inside the Jetta.

It wasn’t just Clay Graham dead inside the car but also his wife, Claire, and their teenage daughter, Sidney.

***

Author Bio

Westley Smith had his first short story, Off to War, published when he was just sixteen.

He is, more recently, the author of two horror novels, Along Came the Tricksters and All Hallows Eve, as well as the thriller Some Kind of Truth. His short fiction has been published in various magazines and websites. Wes lives with his wife and two dogs in the beautiful woodlands of southern Pennsylvania–the perfect place to hide a body.

Catch Up With Westley Smith

WestleySmithBooks.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @wssmith100
Instagram – @wsmithbooks
Facebook – @westleysmith100

Purchase Links

Amazon | Goodreads | Watertower Hill Publishing

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KINGSUMO GIVEAWAY

The giveaway is for: a print edition of IN THE PALE LIGHT by Westley Smith AND a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card

https://kingsumo.com/g/10pd7q3/in-the-pale-light-by-westley-smith-print-book-gift-card

Book Tour/Feature Post and Mini Book Review: The Last Bird of Paradise by Clifford Garstang

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Mini Book Review for THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE by Clifford Garstang on this Black Coffee Book Tour.

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

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Book Description

Two women, nearly a century apart, seek to rebuild their lives when they reluctantly leave their homelands. Arriving in Singapore, they find romance in a tropical paradise, but also find they haven’t left behind the dangers that caused them to flee.

In the aftermath of 9/11 and haunted by the specter of terrorism, Aislinn Givens leaves her New York law practice and joins her husband in Southeast Asia when he takes a job there. Seeking to establish herself in a local law firm, Aislinn begins to understand the historic resentment of foreigners who have exploited the region for centuries. Learning about the turmoil of Singapore’s colonial period, she acquires several paintings done by an English artist during World War I that she believes are a warning to her. The artist, Elizabeth Pennington, tells her own tumultuous story through diary entries that come to an end when the war reaches the colony with catastrophic results. In the present, Aislinn and her husband learn tragically that terrorism takes many shapes when they are ensnared by local political upheaval and corruption.

In a lyrical blend of historical and contemporary drama, The Last Bird of Paradise explores the consequences of power imbalances-both domestic and geopolitical, against a lush, tropical backdrop. Clifford Garstang, author of the award-winning novel Oliver’s Travels, once again draws on his decades of experience in Asia to tell an unforgettable story of romantic intrigue.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200842763-the-last-bird-of-paradise?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_25

Universal link for the book on Amazon

***

My Mini Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE by Clifford Garstang is a captivating dual timeline mash-up of mystery, suspense, romance, and political thriller featuring two expat women, a century apart who end up in the tropical paradise of Singapore linked by compelling paintings produced by one of the women that appear to come to life. The story intricately weaves together the historical timelines of an artist, Elizabeth Pennington leaving 1915 England behind and a present-day corporate lawyer, Aislinn Givens leaving post 9/11 New York with her husband.

This is a sweeping, beautifully written book that kept me entranced from beginning to end. Both protagonists could walk right off the page, they are so fully developed and believable. Singapore comes to life in both past and present with not only its cultural history and lush beauty, but also its colonization and political upheavals. This story covers many difficult issues; personal, social, and political with a narrative prose that is both thought-provoking and riveting.

I highly recommend this spellbinding story.

***

About the Author

Clifford Garstang, a former international lawyer, is the author of two previous novels, The Shaman of Turtle Valley and Oliver’s Travels, and three short story collections, House of the Ancients and Other Stories, In an Uncharted Country, and What the Zhang Boys Know, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. He is the editor of the anthology series Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet, and the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine. He is the recipient of a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and an Indiana Emerging Author Award from the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. His work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and has received distinguish mention in the Best American series.

Social Media Links

https://twitter.com/cliffgarstang
https://www.facebook.com/CliffordGarstangAuthor
https://www.instagram.com/cliffgarstang/
https://www.tiktok.com/@cliffgarstang
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClVq-48UHlHX47Jn7ZXCPdw

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: A Cold, Cold World by Elena Taylor

A COLD, COLD WORLD

by Elena Taylor

July 29 – August 23, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A COLD, COLD WORLD (Sheriff Bet Rivers Book #2) by Elena Taylor on this Partners ‘n’ 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!

***

Book Description

A female sheriff tries to fill her late father’s boots and be the sheriff her small Washington State mountain town needs as a deadly snow storm engulfs the town, in this dark, twisty mystery.

The world felt pure. Nature made the location pristine again, hiding the scene from prying eyes. As if no one had died there at all.

In the months since Bet Rivers solved her first murder investigation and secured the sheriff’s seat in Collier, she’s remained determined to keep her town safe. With a massive snowstorm looming, it’s more important than ever that she stays vigilant.

When Bet gets a call that a family of tourists has stumbled across a teen injured in a snowmobile accident on a mountain ridge, she braves the storm to investigate. However, once she arrives at the scene of the accident it’s clear to Bet that the teen is not injured; he’s dead. And has been for some time . . .

Investigating a possible homicide is hard enough, but with the worst snowstorm the valley has seen in years threatening the safety of her town, not to mention the integrity of her crime scenes – as they seem to be mounting up as well – Bet has to move fast to uncover the complicated truth and prove that she’s worthy of keeping her father’s badge.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208707891-a-cold-cold-world?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=XW93OEwlHR&rank=1

A Cold, Cold World

Genre: Police Procedural, Mystery
Published by: Severn House
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Number of Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781448314065 (ISBN10: 1448314062)
Series: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery, Book 2 | Each is a Stand-Alone Mystery

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A COLD, COLD WORLD (Sheriff Bet Rivers Book #2) by Elena Taylor is an intricately plotted small town sheriff procedural crime thriller and the second book in the intriguing Sheriff Bet Rivers series. This book can be read as a standalone, but I felt both books are great reads, and I feel you would enjoy the first in the series, All We Buried, too.

Sheriff Bet Rivers is now the duly elected sheriff in place of her deceased father in her small hometown in Collier, a Cascade Mountain valley in Washington state. With a massive snowstorm looming, Bet receives a call that a family of tourists discovered a snowmobile accident with a teen victim. Bet finds the teen is not only dead but shows signs of having been dead for some time. As she investigates, she is called about a break-in at a summer cabin that appears to be a crime scene. Is it related to her dead teen even though the cabin is in a different area of the valley?

With a major storm over the valley and multiple crime scenes, Bet is stretched thin. She is doubting her ability to fill her father’s shoes as this complicated case has surprises with every piece of evidence uncovered.

Bet is a wonderful protagonist who is dogged in her pursuit of justice, but still worries that she is not up to the responsibility of being the sheriff her father was in her hometown. With this complicated case, she proves that she is. I was happy to reconnect with Alma, who runs the sheriff’s office and Bet’s deputy, Clayton. The team is great together and now with the addition of Deputy Kane, I will be looking forward to reading how they all work together in future stories. The crime plot is intricately twisted and kept me on the edge-of-my-seat. The blizzard adds to the threat level throughout, and Ms. Taylor’s descriptions of the wind and snow had me shivering even though it is the middle of summer as I read this.

I highly recommend this crime thriller and look forward to many more books in this series featuring Bet and her team in the future.

***

Excerpt

ONE

Bet Rivers sat in the sheriff’s station and watched the radar on her computer screen turn a darker and darker blue. Snow headed for the little town of Collier and keeping everyone safe was her responsibility. Bet’s advancement to sheriff had taken place less than a year ago, but the name Rivers had followed ‘Sheriff’ all the way back to the founding of the town. None of the previous Sheriff Rivers, her father included, ever failed the community, and she didn’t plan to be the first. With her father’s death last fall, Collier residents were the closest thing she had to family.

The valley Bet protected sat high in the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington State. Winter storms often dropped a couple inches of snow at once, a situation Collier could handle, and winter had been relatively mild so far. February, however, was shaping up into something else.

This morning, nearby Lake Collier – a dark and dangerous body of water the locals respected from a safe distance – started freezing completely over for the first time in years.

Bet couldn’t remember such a large storm ever bearing down on the valley. The weather was determined to test her in ways that patrolling the streets of Los Angeles and her short stint as sheriff had not yet done.

Clicking off the weather radar screen and opening another file, Bet read over her severe winter storm checklist. Snowplow – ready to go. Volunteers with tractors and trucks with snowplow attachments – set. The community center would be open twenty-four hours a day in case the town’s power went out and people needed a warm place to go. Donna, the elementary school nurse, was on hand for minor health emergencies. She would be staying at the center twenty-four seven until the storm passed.

Most residents owned generators and a lot of people used fireplaces for heat, but the community center provided a central location for anyone in trouble.

Nothing like living in an isolated mountain valley to make folks respect what Mother Nature hurled at them – and rely on each other, rather than the outside world. A lot of people would look to the sheriff as a leader. She couldn’t let them down.

Bet turned her attention to the pile of pink ‘while you were out’ notes that Alma still loved to use rather than sending information to Bet digitally. Alma was much more than an office manager, but she also fought certain modern conveniences.

Most of the notes were mundane issues that Alma could handle, but the last in the pile was a call from Jamie Garcia, a local reporter trying to get back into Bet’s good graces after an incident a few months ago had cost her Bet’s trust.

Wants to chat about the possibility of an increase in drug use in the area, the note read. Specifically – meth.

That would definitely have to wait. It crossed Bet’s mind that Jamie might exaggerate the situation just to have reason to touch base with her, but Bet taped it to the computer monitor to follow up on after the storm passed. Her valley didn’t have the kind of drug problems as many other communities, and Bet wanted to see it stay that way. If Jamie had any information on a rise in illegal activity, that could be useful.

The rest of the notes she would return to Alma to deal with. Right now, weathering the tempest would take all of Bet’s resources.

Bringing up the radar one more time, Bet’s stomach clenched as she tracked the monster storm. What if she made a decision during this event that hurt her entire community? Confidence didn’t make responsibility lighter to bear, and the hot, sunny streets of Los Angeles hadn’t prepared her for one thousand residents slowly buried under several feet of snow. They were a long way from the plowed highways and larger cities with fully functional hospitals.

Bet was the first line of defense against disaster.

She was also likely the last line of defense. Once they were snowed in, she couldn’t bring help in from the outside.

A year ago, she had been poised to take the detective’s exam in Los Angeles. Her goal was a long and successful career in the nation’s largest police force. But events outside her control got in the way, and now she was back in Collier, trying to fill her father’s large, all-too-recently vacated shoes.

She faced a once-in-a-century storm with her lone deputy, a septuagenarian secretary, and one very big dog.

Her first instinct was to talk to her father, but his death prevented her from ever gaining new insight into his expertise. Her second instinct was to contact Sergeant Magdalena Carrera. Maggie had mentored Bet during her time at the LAPD.

‘We chicas need to stick together,’ she’d said to Bet early on in her career, back when Bet still called her sergeant.

But as good as Maggie was at her job, Bet doubted she’d have much advice about facing a blizzard.

‘It’s up to us, Schweitzer,’ Bet said to the Anatolian shepherd sitting in her doorway. ‘As long as no one has a heart attack after the storm hits, we’ll be fine.’ Schweitzer had a look on his face like he knew what was coming. He always could read her mood, not to mention the weather, and he’d been edgy all morning.

She had learned to read his mood too, and right now it wasn’t good.

‘It’s going to be all right, Schweitz.’ It surprised her to realize she believed her own words. She could handle this.

Lakers – residents proudly took the nickname from their mysterious lake – could hunker down in their valley and survive on their own. Everyone in town knew that if snow blocked them in and a helicopter couldn’t fly, they had no access to a hospital. But Donna was good at her job too. Plus, it would only be for a couple of days.

The phone on her desk rang, jarring her from her thoughts.

As long as the ring didn’t herald an emergency, everything would be fine.

Bet rolled out in her black and white on the long teardrop of road that circled the valley. She didn’t turn on her siren; there wasn’t anyone on the loop to warn of her approach and the sound felt too loud, like a scream into the colorless void. The emergency lights on top of her SUV stained the white unmarked fields of snow on either side red, then blue, then red again, like blood streaking the ground. Her studded tires roared on the hard-packed snow, the surface easy to navigate – at least for now.

The drive to Jeb Pearson’s place took less than twenty minutes, even with the worsening conditions. Pearson’s Ranch sat at the end of the valley farthest from the lake and the town center. The ranch occupied an area the locals called the ‘Train Yard’, though that name didn’t show up on any official maps.

Long ago, the roundhouse for the Colliers’ private railway perched there at the end of the tracks. The roundhouse was a huge, wedge-shaped brick structure, like one third of a pie with the tips of the slices bitten off. It was built to house the big steam engines owned by the Colliers. The facility could hold five engines, each pulled inside through giant glass and iron doors. Engines could be parked and serviced inside the roundhouse, while an enormous turntable sat out front to spin the engines around, sending them down different tracks in order to pass each other in opposite directions.

It was unlikely the Colliers ever housed five engines up here all at once, but they owned other mines around the state and had used engines in other places. It must have been reassuring to know that if they ever needed to, they could bring their assets up here, protected in their high-elevation fiefdom.

Jeb used the property as a summer camp for boys who struggled with drug and alcohol addictions and guesthouses for snow adventure enthusiasts during the winter. Jeb lived there year-round, with a giant Newfoundland dog named Grizzly, a half a dozen horses, and one mini donkey named Dolly that helped him rehabilitate the boys.

Bet pulled up in front of the roundhouse. The cabins and other outbuildings stretched away from where she parked, with the barn the farthest from the road. The pastures were empty with the storm bearing down, the animals all safely tucked away in their stalls. Jeb stood out front with two bundled figures that must have been the father and son who were currently staying at his place. A third member of their party, the mother, was nowhere to be seen.

Bet got out of her vehicle and walked over to where two of Jeb’s snowmobiles were parked, running and ready to go. Layers of winter clothing padded Jeb’s wiry form, his face ruddy in the arctic wind.

‘What have we got, Jeb?’

‘Mark and Julia Crews and their son Jeremy came across what looks to be a solo wreck up on Iron Horse Ridge. They didn’t have any details about the driver’s condition, so I’m not sure what we’re looking at. The parents wanted to protect their son and got him out of there before he could see anything gruesome. These two came down to get me while Mrs Crews stayed with the injured rider.’

Bet nodded to the man standing a few feet away. Only part of his face was visible through the balaclava he wore. His eyes looked haunted.

‘You did the right thing,’ she said to him. ‘If the driver’s got a spinal injury, you could have done more damage than good trying to bring them down.’ She didn’t add that if the driver was dead there was nothing to be done except locate the next of kin.

‘Thanks, Sheriff,’ Mark Crews said, his voice shaky. ‘That was—’

Emotion cut off the man’s words. He reached for his son and pulled him close. The boy didn’t resist, but he also didn’t hug his father back. Bet considered checking the boy for shock, but guessed he was just a teen being a teen.

She gave Mark a nod and hoped the accident victim survived the wait – otherwise Mark Crews would always wonder if he should have made a different choice.

The father got his emotions under control and turned his attention back to Bet. ‘Please get my wife Julia down safely.’

Jeremy might be shocky, but the two people up on the ridge were her priority.

‘Always prioritize,’ Maggie said to Bet on a regular basis. ‘Don’t get caught up trying to fix everything at once. Fix the big things first.’

Her father would have agreed. His voice no longer took precedence in her mind, but his teachings never left her.

Bet promised to take care of Julia Crews and walked over to straddle the closest snowmobile. Pulling on the helmet she’d brought, she tucked her auburn curls out of the way before closing the face shield. Bet admired the Crews family for helping a stranger as the ominous storm bore down on the area. It must be terrifying to know Mrs Crews waited up on the ridge as the weather closed in. Bet was impressed the family put their own safety in jeopardy for someone they didn’t know. Not everyone would do that. It would have been easy enough to pretend they never found the accident, leaving the driver alone in the snow.

Jeb hopped on the other snowmobile, which was already set up to tow the Snowbulance – a small, enclosed trailer with a stretcher mounted inside. Bet made eye contact with Jeb to confirm she was ready, and they took off with him in the lead. Search-and-rescue was Jeb’s specialty, and he knew the terrain better than she did.

Her father Earle always said a good leader knew when to follow. Like most of her father’s advice, Bet knew it was true even if her instinct was never to admit someone else was the right person for a job she could do. In her defense, her father never faced life in law enforcement as a woman.

Maggie always said, ‘Never let a man think he’s got control. If you hand control over, he’ll never give it up.’

Bet wasn’t her father, but she wasn’t a patrol officer in LA, either. Sometimes neither Maggie’s nor her father’s advice was any help to her at all.

Not far from the ranch, Jeb turned off the main road and started up a forest service road that went west and north into the mountains. The turnoff wasn’t obvious, so it was interesting that the Crews had found that particular trail.

Snowmobiling was a popular sport in Collier and a lot of people used these forest service roads for trails, even the ones that were officially closed to traffic because there were no funds for maintenance. Without anyone to police the extensive system, the locals used them as their own private playground.

The roads connected in a complex web throughout the area. The injured teen could have arrived at the ridge from any direction. The forest was riddled with paths that the forest service no longer had the money or workforce to keep up, but people and animals kept cleared. In a lot of ways, the community benefited from the interlopers who cleared the roads, because that provided fire access into their local forest, which would otherwise become impassable through neglect.

If the brunt of the storm held off long enough for them to locate the scene of the accident and get the injured teen down the mountain before the conditions worsened, everything should still be all right.

Bet kept her focus on Jeb’s sled as they rode up the hill. The road turned dark as they got farther into the trees and the cloud cover grew almost black. She was glad for the headlight and someone she trusted to follow. At least in this moment, her father’s advice was right.

If only the injured rider survived the wait.

***

Author Bio

Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, written under the name Elena Hartwell, introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo.

With the Bet Rivers Mysteries, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers much more serious and atmospheric novels. The series introduces Collier, Washington, with its dark and mysterious lake, tough-as-nails residents, and newly appointed sheriff with her sidekick Schweitzer, an Anatolian Shepherd.

Elena is also a senior editor with Allegory Editing, a developmental editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish manuscripts, short stories, and plays. If you’d like to work with Elena, visit www.allegoryediting.com.

Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with their horses, dogs, and cats. Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

Social Media Links

www.ElenaTaylorAuthor.com
Elena’s Blog: The Mystery of Writing
Goodreads
BookBub – @elenataylorauthor
Instagram – @elenataylorauthor
Twitter/X – @Elena_TaylorAut
Facebook – @ElenaTaylorAuthor

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Severn House

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: A Is for Amish by Shelley Shepard Gray

Book Description

Siblings Martin, Kelsey, Beth, and Jonny are as different as can be, but they have one thing in common. They’re all longing to reinvent their lives. Raised by their divorced lapsed-Amish father and English mother, they only knew real stability and a sense of family when visiting their Old Order grandparents, Josiah and Sylvia Schrock, in peaceful small-town Millersburg, Ohio. Now the four want to try living with them and joining their faith—much to the Schrocks’ surprise . . .

Martin, the eldest, is reeling from a bad breakup, so he’s especially determined to make a fresh start. When he meets his grandparents’ neighbor, Patti Coblentz, he’s immediately drawn to her outgoing, helpful nature—but is so overwhelmed that he appears blunt and rude. Is there any way he can drop his defenses enough to admit she’s captured his heart?

Always self-conscious about the birthmark on her temple, Patti is resigned to never marrying and busying herself with the responsibilities of the large home and property she has inherited. Besides, Martin’s ill-mannered behavior and disconcerting directness make him the last man she’d ever want to wed—no matter how handsome he is.

Yet given time and patience—and adhering to their grandparents’ unexpectedly challenging rules—the whole family might just find what they’re looking for, even Martin and Patti.

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Elise’s Thoughts

A is for Amish by Shelley Shepard Gray has a premise where four English siblings with Amish grandparents are seriously thinking of becoming Amish. They are discontent with their lives and long for a change.

Beth, Jonny, Kelsey, and Martin Schrock had their father leave the Amish faith, marry an English woman, and then had their parents get divorced. The parents were pretty much doing their own thing, searching for their own happiness, and left the children to their own devices. They decide to try out the Amish lifestyle. It is not an easy choice as they would be leaving good jobs, homes, electricity, cars and all the English ways of life. They remember how wonderful the times were when they would visit their grandparents farm. The author explores that the fond times the grandchildren remember might have occurred only because it was a visit and now, they would have to abandon the life they knew forever.

The grandparents suggest that only one or two of them at the most, come at a time.
It is decided that Martin and Kelsey will be the first two to go. They are to live with their grandparents and try out the Amish lifestyle for one year.

Martin, the oldest, meets his grandparents’ neighbor, Patti Coblentz, and is immediately drawn to her outgoing, helpful nature, but he comes across as blunt and rude. Besides Martin’s ill-mannered behavior and disconcerting directness there is something that draws Patti to him. She cannot believe that he did not even react to the birthmark on her face. They eventually become very attracted and care for each other. The problem is that Martin was overly critical of himself and not completely happy in either the English world or the Amish world.

The other sibling, Kelsey, has completely taken to the Amish way of life. After meeting Preacher Richard, it becomes obvious that they are attracted to each other and want to spend their life together. Unfortunately, they must wait to get married until she is baptized.

This book shows the complexities of the Amish life and how it is not so easy for an Englisher to jump into the Amish faith. The author wrapped part of the story up with a beautiful happily ever after, while leaving a cliffhanger for the other relationship. Readers will take a journey with the characters seeing all the ups and downs of their feelings, questions, frustrations, and insecurities. Those who read book 1 will be waiting on pins and needles for book 2.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How much of the alphabet are you going to have?

Shelley Shepard Gray: If it was up to me, I would do the whole alphabet, but right now it is the first three letters. In this book I had two of the four siblings’ stories. I had originally thought that the hero, Martin, and the heroine, Patti, would have their own story. But it was not going to be that easy for him to go from being English to Amish. Because of that I knew that the readers would want as part of the story a happily ever after. His sister, Kelsey, does not have as many qualms of becoming Amish. Also, since it is a three-book contract for now, I wanted to make sure each of the four siblings had their story.

EC: Was Martin’s story a cliff-hanger?

SSG: I did not see it as a cliff-hanger, more of his and Patti’s story a continuation. I wanted to be realistic, and not every relationship is easy with these characters being very complex. Their story will not get resolved until book three, but they will be in book two. Mainly they must get over the fact that he does not think he wants to become Amish and she has been baptized.

EC: How would you describe Martin?

SSG: When he was in his English environment he was relaxed, confidant, outgoing, and attentive. He doubts himself and is searching for happiness. I think he is direct, thinks a lot of himself, and sometimes rude. He is like a lot of people I know; he needs a reset. He must stop looking for an easy solution.

EC: How would you describe Patti?

SSG: Vulnerable, sweet, kind, patient, audacious, has a sense of humor, self-conscious of her birthmark, and is lonely. She is desperate to want to belong.

EC: What about their relationship?

SSG: They are in love with each other. The reader knows they are meant to be together, but it will not happen overnight.

EC: Being Amish versus English?

SSG: In some of my stories the characters must navigate that if they become Amish it will be a difficult life and that the problems they are facing in the English world do not just go away. While writing the second series I ever wrote, Seasons of Sugar Creek in the third book I had an Amish hero and an English heroine. In this story, the characters allowed me to delve into some tough issues. One of my Mennonite friends told me how serious the solemn vow is to become baptized. But people do break it, yet it is not something that should be taken lightly. Being Amish is not easy considering they do not have electricity or a car. The daily parts of their life are difficult although they do embrace it.

EC: Is this Amish community liberal

SSG: Yes, they would have to be. I have them as New Order. I based the town on my knowledge of Holmes County, which is a progressive Amish community.

EC: What was the role of Connor, who thought of himself as Patti’s beau?

SSG: I put him in the story for Patti to have a reminder that this is the person she had settled for. Even though Martin presented a bunch of different challenges, he was always nice, kind, and respectful of her. Connor is territorial, possessive, not respectful of her, makes her feel unworthy, a chauvinist, self-centered, a bully, and egotistical. She will decline his advances.

EC: What about the other sibling Kelsey?

SSG: She is independent, easily frustrated, at times a troublemaker, prickly, feisty, blunt, and is looking for stability as well as peace. She also can be a drama queen. She was loving the life as a middle child.

EC: How would you describe her beau, Richard?

SSG: Confidant, personable, and an advisor as an Amish preacher. I modeled him after a Bishop I once had dinner with. They are both young and very charismatic.

EC: What about their relationship?

SSG: Kelsey’s relationship with Richard was a nice contrast to Martin and Patti. They liked each other and their love came naturally. Their relationship was a lot lighter than the others. I hope the readers enjoyed the scenes where she is fighting with the hen. They become captivated by each other. Richard was willing to wait and be patient with her until she made the decision to become Amish.

EC: Do you have another book coming out next month that is a compilation with other authors Lenora Worth and Rachel J. Good?

SSG: Yes, it is titled The Christmas Gathering. It again has an English person that falls in love with the sister of his Amish friend. The novellas I write usually has a story around Christmas. This one has a fun gathering, with everyone getting along, the English and Amish. In this story there is a scavenger hunt. The heroine did leave the faith but was not baptized yet. The theme was reunions.

EC: Next books?

SSG: The second book comes out in January with another sibling, Johnny as the hero. It is titled B is For Bonnet. He ends up working in a bicycle shop. But of his storyline he must make amends with his father. C is for Courtship; the third book comes out in November 2025.

But before these I will be writing the second book in another series, Unforgotten, out in November. It is a suspense story set in Kentucky.

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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Ambush in the Mountains by Mary Alford

Book Description

Innocent lives at stake…
Can a former soldier and his canine save them?

Helping a pregnant woman he comes across in a mountain storm puts Axel Sterling right into the path of ruthless human traffickers. Now it’s up to the ex-soldier and his dog to keep Summer and her unborn baby safe from the abductors she’s finally escaped. But between the icy wilderness and the armed gunmen following them at every turn, one wrong move could cost Axel and Summer their lives.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Ambush in the Mountains by Mary Alford a story of second chances, forgiveness, self-healing, compassion, unbridled trust, friendship, love, and redemption. As with most of her books she uses the weather as a character. Like the previous book, this book dealt with the dark subject of human trafficking in a compassionate and informative way.

The opening scene in the story has Elizabeth Wyse remembering her Amish roots when she enjoyed the snow. At 18 and during the last of her rumspringa, she let an English man, Ray, persuade her to leave her home, her family and everything she’d ever known, to be with him. Instead of having a happily ever after she was forced into human trafficking by threats to her family and physical abuse.

They changed her name to Summer and now eight years later, she aged out as being too old yet was allowed to “help” with the new girls and became Ray’s personal woman. After becoming pregnant with Ray’s child, he decided the baby could bring him big bucks. Although Summer had been and was still petrified at what Ray would do to her, to save herself and her baby she decided to escape. She also knew she had to try to bring Ray down to bring justice to the girls who were killed, save those still in bondage, and prevent any girls in the future falling victim to this monster. She’d save incriminating evidence from his computer onto a thumb drive. Fearful of him discovering the thumb drive, she hid it in the walls of the house they were living in.

It was during a moment of bravery and now 8 months pregnant she escapes. After running through the woods in the Tobacco Root Mountains during a heavy snowstorm, she ran into the path of a vehicle. Axel Sterling was with his dog Camo, driving home on an isolated road, barely missed hitting her. When he stopped to check on her and to find out why she was out walking in this storm they were fired upon. Survival mode kicked in, which meant getting this terrified, very pregnant woman, himself, and Camo to some place safe. Axel’s heroic dog Camo consistently throws himself into danger to protect those around him.

Now it’s up to the ex-soldier, Axel, and his dog, Camo, to keep Summer and her unborn baby safe from the abductors she’s finally escaped. But between the icy wilderness and the armed gunmen following them at every turn, one wrong move could cost Axel and Summer their lives.

This is an edgy, intense, and fast paced story with plenty of action. Readers will root for the characters and will fall in love with Camo.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Mary Alford: There is a human trafficking aspect to the story just like the previous book. When I read about it and saw survivor’s stories it touched my heart. I wanted to write in this book how the main character escapes human trafficking, to shine a little light on it. My forte is to include the weather and have the characters on the run from the bad guys. The weather is almost another villain in the story by giving a sense of urgency.

EC: How would you describe the female heroine, Summer?

MA: She was Amish and met this Englisher man during her Rumspringa. He said all the right things and convinced her to run away with him. Through her I touched on what those victims of human trafficking had to endure. She is strong-willed, fearful, has trust issues, vulnerable, damaged, guarded, terrified, and courageous. She tries to put being a mother-first because she is pregnant. She feels guilty about leaving her Amish family. She aged out but was kept around by Ray.

EC: How would you describe Axel, the hero?

MA: He feels he is on a mission, protective, patient, caring, and kind. Being a former soldier he is a bit of a wounded soul after he lost his best friend who was also a soldier. After he left the military he went to Montana, found a little cabin on top of a mountain. He enjoyed being isolated.

EC: How would you describe the bad guy, Ray?

MA: A predator who had Summer in this sex trafficking nightmare for eight years. He has killed before. Evil, manipulative, berating, and mean.

EC: What about the relationship between Summer and Axel?

MA: It takes her a long time to trust him. He helped her to overcome how she experienced darkness and to feel safe. Axel broke down Summer’s wall that she has up for self-preservation. As they try to escape the enemy they form a bond. Axel sees her courage and strength. He wants her to be happy.

EC: What was the role of the dog Camo?

MA: He was like the dog that helped those with PTSD: very comforting, loyal, former military dog, a Belgian Malinois, and protective.

EC: Abram and Lainey were in the previous book and are in this book also. Why?

MA: In the last book they just met. In this book, they are married. She is embracing the Amish lifestyle. They are both good friends to Axel.

EC: Next book?

MA: It comes out in April 2025. It is titled Amish Country Killer. The setting will be in an Amish community in Kentucky. The hero is now in law enforcement but is former Amish. The heroine is the new Chief of Police. The plot has several girls disappearing. The killer is targeting Amish women.

THANK YOU!!

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Feature Post and Book Review: Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh

Book Description

Daughter of two ruthless high-Gradient telepaths, Auden Scott is not the child her Psy parents wanted or expected, even before her brain injury. Her thoughts are scattered, her memories fuzzy—or just terrifyingly blank. The only thing she knows for certain is that she must protect her unborn baby . . . a baby she has no recollection of conceiving and who draws an unnerving depth of interest from her dead mother’s closest associates.

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is a man driven by the primal instinct to protect. Protect his pack, protect his allies . . . and protect the mysterious woman who has become a most unlikely neighbor. With eerie eyes that see too much and a scent that alters in ways disturbing and impossible, Auden Scott is the enemy . . . but nothing about this strange Psy is what it seems, and Remi’s feline heart is as fascinated by her as his human half.

Then Auden asks Remi to help her shatter the wall of secrets that is the Scott bloodline. What they unearth will reveal a nightmare beyond imagination. This time, the battle is to the death. . .

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200555243-primal-mirror?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Z31uZsKWXa&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

PRIMAL MIRROR (Psy-Changeling Trinity Book #8) by Nalini Singh is an exciting paranormal romantic suspense which had me on the edge-of-my- seat as the leopard changeling hero and the Psy heroine go against a frightening evil. While the romance can stand on its own, the suspense plot is ongoing from previous books and there are also several characters pulled from previous books. While you do not need to go back to the beginning of the entire paranormal series, I enjoyed reading this Trinity spinoff series in order.

Psy Auden Scott suffered a terrible brain injury in an accident. While her memories are scattered or even blank, her mother has a diabolical use for her daughter. As Auden’s mind heals, she realizes she is pregnant with a child she has no recollection of conceiving. When her mother dies, Auden does not understand her mother’s associates’ intense interest in the yet to be born baby, but she vows to protect her baby at all costs.

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is working on protecting and building his fledgling pack. As he is checking his lands perimeter, he discovers a new neighbor on the adjacent land. This Psy with the unique eyes is very pregnant and has a scent that changes in disturbing ways, and he is fascinated. His alpha will do anything to protect this woman and her to be born cub.

Auden and Remi work together to uncover what Auden mother’s plans were for her that seem to be continuing even after her death as they also protect Auden’s baby. They MS. discover a nightmare even as the entire Psy race is on the brink of mass destruction.

I loved this addition to the series. It is fast paced with tension that continues to ramp up to a discovery that is severely twisted. Auden is a great powerful female heroine that you cannot help but love, not only because of her fight to regain her mental self, but also how much she will do to protect her baby. I have been waiting for Remi to finally meet his mate and this is a great pairing. I also enjoyed how this book pulls in many characters from previous books in the series not only to assist Auden and Remi, but to save the PsyNet itself.

I highly recommend this addition to the series, and I am looking forward to seeing what is in store for this paranormal world in the next book!

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Author Bio

I was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I spent three years living and working in Japan, where I took the chance to travel around Asia. I’m back in New Zealand now, but I’m always plotting new trips. If you’d like to see some of my travel snapshots, have a look at the Travel Diary page.

I’ve worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher, but not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency, but I call it grist for the writer’s mill.

Social Media Links

Website: https://nalinisingh.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaliniSingh

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nalini-singh