Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: No One Saw by Beverly Long

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for NO ONE SAW by Beverly Long. This is the second police procedural crime thriller featuring Detective A.L. McKittridge.

Below you will find an author Q&A, a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Author Q&A

1. Do you have any favorite authors?

There are authors that I routinely check to see if they have new books available. They include Ann Patchett, Kristin Hannah, and Lee Child.

2. For readers who haven’t tried your books yet, how do you think your editor or loyal readers would describe your books?

The feedback I’ve received from readers is that they enjoy my books because there’s a nice balance between suspense and character development. In TEN DAYS GONE and NO ONE SAW, the focus is the investigation of the crime. But along the way, the reader gets to know the two detectives, A.L. McKittridge and his partner, Rena Morgan.

3. Do your books have to be read in order or can they be read as standalones?

Over the years, I’ve written a number of books that have been branded as a series. However, every book has been written so that it could be read as a standalone. I personally really like to read within a series. I like starting with book one in the series and moving forward. So, that would be my suggestion but it’s not absolutely necessary.

4. Where did the inspiration for this story come from?

I’m not sure inspiration is the right word but I am always interested in the concept of family. What makes a family? What will break a family? What secrets will family keep? How does a family change when new people are added to it? In NO ONE SAW, I wanted to write a story where a family is stretched to its very limits when a child is suddenly missing and family, the people you should lean upon the most in these circumstances, are all suspects.

5. Will there be another book in this series?

That’s the plan. I’m currently working on the third book in the A.L. McKittridge series.

6. How do you maintain continuity in a continuing series? Do you keep charts or anything like that to remember from book to book?

No charts but I keep a list of characters, their relationship to others, as well as any mentions of specific places. I keep too much in my head and I spend too much time rechecking things from previous books in an effort to maintain consistency. I am constantly looking for new ways to be better at this.

7. Do you prefer to extensively plot your stories, or do you write them as they come to you?

I wouldn’t say that I plot extensively, but I certainly have a general idea of where the story is going before I start writing. Because I write suspense and police procedurals, it’s important that my stories unfold in a logical manner. Otherwise, the reader can get frustrated. Thus, that part of the story is pretty well mapped out in advance. The character development is more organic and sometimes I surprise myself at the direction the story takes. For example, when I started writing TEN DAYS GONE, I knew that I needed to give Tess Lyons, the next potential victim, a persuasive reason not to care what happened to her. That was necessary for the storyline to work. I didn’t know what that persuasive reason was going to be until I was almost halfway through the first draft.

8. Which character do you most relate to and why?

I relate to both of the lead characters in different ways. For A.L., his trials with his teenage daughter are fun for me (and perhaps somewhat cathartic) because I’ve had teenage daughters. For Rena, she’s a woman trying to balance work, a husband, and an extended family. She wants to make good decisions about everything. Been there, done that.

9. What has been the defining moment in your career that made you think “Yes, I am now a writer!”?

Early in my career, I sold a couple books but then there was a period of years where I wasn’t able to sell. I didn’t give up. I kept writing. I finished four manuscripts during this time. That’s when I knew for sure. Ultimately, I started selling again and I was very glad I had built up an inventory of work because I was able to meet the demands of a publisher who was very interested in getting my stories into the hands of readers.

10. What advantages or challenges does a writer in your genre face in today’s fiction market?

When writing thrillers and specifically police procedurals, technology and our ever-increasing instant access to data can quickly derail a storyline. No longer can a character realistically remain in the dark too long without the reader impatiently thinking “why not just look that up on your phone?”

11. What can you tell us about your next project?

Detectives A.L. McKittridge and Rena Morgan are back at it. This time it’s personal for A.L. because the murder victim is someone he knows and his father and his Uncle Joe are both suspects.

12. Has quarantine been better or worse for your writing?

Early on during quarantine, I wasn’t writing as much as usual. I spent too much time watching and reading the news. But after a while, I was able to do less of that and get back into a routine of writing every day. I really do miss taking my laptop to a coffee shop and look so forward to the days when I can do that again.

13. What was your last 5 star read?

I had the pleasure of joining a book club several years ago and, as a result, have had the opportunity to read books that would likely not have otherwise made it to my bedside table. For example, I read, Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of HUGUETTE CLARK and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by authors Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr. The story was fascinating and so different than anything I normally read.

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Book Summary

Detective team A.L. McKittridge and Rena Morgan are back on their beat after solving the brutal Baywood serial killings, but crime doesn’t rest for long in their small Wisconsin town. In book two of Beverly Long’s electrifying A.L. McKittridge series, NO ONE SAW (MIRA Mass Market Paperback; June 30, 2020; $7.99), a child seemingly vanishes from a day care into thin air and A.L. and Rena must race to bring her home before time runs out.

Baywood police department detective A.L. McKittridge is no stranger to tough cases, but when five-year-old Emma Whitman disappears from her day care, there isn’t a single shred of evidence to go on. There are no witnesses, no trace of where she might have gone. There’s only one thing A.L. and his partner, Rena Morgan, are sure of—somebody is lying.

With the clock ticking, A.L. and Rena discover their instincts are correct: all is not as it seems. The Whitmans are a family with many secrets, and A.L. and Rena must untangle a growing web of lies if they’re going to find the thread that leads them to Emma… before it’s too late.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51797966-no-one-saw

NO ONE SAW

Author: Beverly Long

ISBN: 9780778309659

Publication Date: June 30, 2020

Publisher: MIRA Books

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

NO ONE SAW (A.L. McKittridge Book #2) by Beverly Long is the latest police procedural thriller featuring Det. A.L. McKittridge and his partner Det. Rena Morgan of the Baywood, Wisconsin. This book can be read as a standalone as far as the crime plot, but I found that I do want to go back to read the first book and catch-up with the main character’s relationships.

Det. A.L. McKittridge is just back from a long deserve vacation and immediately called in by his partner, Det. Rena Morgan about a missing 5-year-old child from her daycare. The grandmother who dropped her off and the daycare teacher of her class both are credible, but the child is still missing with no witnesses. As the town searches and the clock is ticking, A.L. and Rena start at the beginning with everyone involved and the one thing they are sure of is someone is lying.

I really enjoyed A.L. and Rena and all the characters in their lives. They are characters that I definitely want to follow into future books. (I am going back to read book #1 to fill in more of their personal lives that I missed.) The disappearance is every parents’ nightmare and I felt the emotions and revelations of secrets during the investigation is well done. I felt the final twist that solves the crime was deux ex machina which lowered the satisfaction for me. I did feel this was an easy to read thriller with memorable characters that I found entertaining.

I will be following A.L. and Rena on future adventures.

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Excerpt

One

With a week’s worth of mail in one hand, A.L. McKittridge unlocked his apartment door with the other. Then he dragged his carry-on suitcase inside, almost tripping over Felix, who had uncharacteristically left his spot by the window where the late afternoon sun poured in. He tossed the collection of envelopes and free weekly newspapers onto his kitchen table and bent down to scratch his cat. “You must have missed me,” he said. “Wasn’t Rena nice to you?”

His partner had sent a text every day. Always a picture. Felix eating. Felix taking a dump. Felix giving himself a bath. No messages. Just visual confirmation that all was well while he was off in sunny California, taking a vacation for the first time in four years.

I can take care of your damn cat, she’d insisted. And while he hadn’t wanted to bother her because she’d have plenty to do picking up the slack at work, she was the only one he felt he could ask. His ex-wife Jacqui would have said no. His just turned seventeen-year-old daughter, Traci, would have been willing but he hadn’t liked the idea of her coming round to an empty apartment on her own.

Baywood, Wisconsin—population fifty thousand and change—was generally pretty safe but he didn’t believe in taking chances. Not with Traci’s safety. She’d been back in school for just a week. Her senior year. How the hell was that even possible? College was less than a year away.

No wonder his knees ached. He was getting old.

Or maybe it was flying coach for four hours. But the trip had been worth it. Tess had wanted to see the ocean. Wanted to face her nemesis, she’d claimed. And she’d been a champ. Had stood on the beach where less than a year earlier, she’d almost died after a shark had ripped off a sizable portion of her left arm. Had lifted her pretty face to the wind and stared out into the vast Pacific.

She hadn’t surfed. Said she wasn’t ready for that yet. But he was pretty confident that she’d gotten the closure that she’d been looking for. She’d slept almost the entire flight home, her head resting on A.L.’s shoulder. On the hour-plus drive from Madison to Baywood, she’d been awake but quiet. When he’d dropped her off at her house, she hadn’t asked him in.

He wasn’t offended. He’d have said no anyway. After a week together, they could probably both benefit from a little space. Their relationship was just months old and while the sex was great and the conversation even better, neither of them wanted to screw it up by jumping in too fast or too deep.

Now he had groceries to buy and laundry to do. It was back to work tomorrow. He grabbed the handle of his suitcase and was halfway down the hall when his cell rang. He looked at the number. Rena. Probably wanted to make sure he was home and Felix-watch was over. “McKittridge,” he answered.

“Where are you?”

“Home.”

“Oh, thank God.”

He let go of his suitcase handle. Something was wrong. “What’s up?” he asked.

“We’ve got a missing kid. Five-year-old female. Lakeside Learning Center.”

Missing kid. Fuck. He glanced at his watch. Just after 6:00. That meant they had less than two hours of daylight left. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

The Lakeside Learning Center on Oak Avenue had a fancier name than building. It was a two-story building with brown clapboard siding on the first floor and tan vinyl siding on the second. There wasn’t a lake in sight.

The backyard was fenced with something a bit nicer than chain link but not much. Inside the fence was standard playground equipment: several small plastic playhouses, a sandbox on legs and a swing set. The building was located at the end of the block in a mixed-use zone. Across from the front door and on the left were single-person homes. To the right, directly across Wacker Avenue, was a sandwich shop, and kitty-corner was a psychic who could only see the future on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

A.L. took all this in as he beached his SUV in a no parking zone. Stepped over the yellow tape and made a quick stop to sign in with the cop who was at the door.

everybody who entered and exited the crime scene.

Once he was inside, his first impression was that the inside was much better than the outside. The interior had been gutted, erasing all signs that this had once been the downstairs of a 1960s two-story home. There was a large open space to his right. On the far wall hung a big-screen television and on the wall directly opposite the front door were rows of shelves, four high, stacked with books, games and small toys.

It was painted in a cheery yellow and white and the floor was a light gray tile. There was plenty of natural light coming through the front windows. The hallway he was standing in ran the entire length of the building and ended in a back door.

There was a small office area to his left. The door was open and there was a desk with a couple guest chairs. The space looked no bigger than ten feet by ten feet and was currently empty.

He sent Rena a text. Here.

A door at the far end of the hallway opened and Rena and a woman, middle-aged and white, dressed in khaki pants and a dark green button-down shirt, appeared. Rena waved at him and led the woman in his direction. “This is my partner, Detective McKittridge,” she said to the woman. She looked at A.L. “Alice Quest. Owner and director of Lakeside Learning Center.”

A.L. extended a hand to the woman. She shook it without saying anything.

“If you can excuse us,” Rena said to the woman. “I’d like to take a minute and bring Detective McKittridge up to speed.”

Alice nodded and stepped into the office. She pulled the door shut but not all the way. Rena motioned for A.L. to follow her. She crossed the big room and stopped under the television.

“What do we have?” he asked.

“Emma Whitman is a five-year-old female who has attended Lakeside Learning Center for the last two years. Her grandmother, Elaine Broadstreet, drops her off on Mondays and Wednesdays between 7:15 and 7:30.”

Today was Wednesday. “Did that happen today?”

“I have this secondhand, via her son-in-law who spoke to her minutes before I got here. It did.”

The hair on the back of A.L.’s neck stood up. When Traci had been little, she’d gone to day care. Not at Lakeside Learning Center. Her place had been bigger. “How many kids are here?” he asked.

“Forty. No one younger than three. No one older than five. They have two rooms, twenty kids to a room. Threes and early fours in one room. Older fours and fives in the other. Two staff members in each room. So four teachers. And a cook who works a few hours midday. And then there’s Alice. She fills in when a staff member needs a break or if someone is ill.”

Small operation. That didn’t mean bad. “Where are the other staff?”

“Majority of the kids get picked up by 5:30. According to Alice, she covers the center by herself from 5:30 to 6:00 most days to save on payroll costs. Emma Whitman is generally one of the last ones to be picked up. Everybody else was gone tonight and she’d already locked the outside door around 5:45 when the father pulled up and pounded on the door. At first, she assumed that somebody else had already picked up Emma. But once Troy called his wife and the grandmother, the only other people allowed to pick her up, she called Kara Wiese, one of Emma’s teachers, who said that Emma hadn’t been there all day. That was the first time Alice had thought about the fact that the parents had not reported an absence. She’d been covering for an ill staff member in the classroom that Emma is not assigned to.”

Perfect fucking storm.

Published by MIRA Books

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Author Bio

Beverly Long’s writing career has spanned more than two decades and twenty novels, including TEN DAYS GONE, the first book of her A.L. McKittridge series. She writes romantic suspense with sexy heroes and smart heroines. She can often be found with her laptop in a coffee shop with a cafe au lait and anything made with dark chocolate by her side.

Social Links

Author Website

Twitter: @BevLongBooks

Instagram: #BeverlyLongFacebook: @BeverlyLongAuthor

Facebook: @BeverlyLongAuthor

Buy Links

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Reviews: Utrecht Murders – Utrecht Snow and Utrecht Rain by Jonathan Wilkins

Utrecht Murders (Utrecht Snow & Utrecht Rain) by Jonathan Wilkins

#UtrechtSnow #UtrechtRain @WriterJWilkins @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Reviews on the Utrecht Murders two book blog tour. UTRECHT SNOW and UTRECHT RAIN by Jonathan Wilkins which introduce the reader to a police investigative team in the city of Utrecht in the central Netherlands.

Below you will find book blurbs, the main cast of characters, my book reviews, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Blurbs

UTRECHT SNOW:
Utrecht police inspector Caes Heda leads a team looking into the disappearance of young women. Meanwhile his daughter, Truus, bored with University takes up a job with disgraced former police office Thijs Orman at his Private Detective Agency and finds herself looking for yet another missing girl, this time it’s her bosses own daughter. are they all linked? At the Kroonstraat Police station the team Caes has put together look into the normal run of the mill cases and try to overcome the weather as much as the crime in the city as snow envelopes the streets of Utrecht. We meet twins Freddie and Maaike Meijer who patrol the streets together with colleagues Adrie and Danny. The team is made up by Madelon Verloet and man mountain Ernst Hougewood. Together they investigate car theft, street crime, assault and finally murder. We look at the everyday lives of the police involved, Caes still traumatised after his wifes early death and Truus falling for Maaike.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29454997-utrecht-snow

UTRECHT RAIN:
Maaike Meijer is attacked in a senseless outbreak of violence at the Dom Tower in Utrecht. Her brother, Freddie, fights off the assailants, but how is the brutality linked to a series of violent threats, cyber crime and the Dutch Secret Service? Truus Heda continues her work as a private investigator whilst caring for her lover before finding the missing link. As the nightmare unfolds we enter the world of Serbian gangsters and Utrecht Goths and see how Hoofdinspecteur Caes Heda and his overworked team tackle a crime that could consume the city.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54306472-utrecht-rain

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MAIN CAST OF CHARACTERS:

CAES HEDA – Hoofdinspecteur (Police Inspector) in charge of Kroonstraat Police Bureau in Utrecht

TRUUS HEDA – 19-year-old daughter of Caes Heda, student at Universiteit, apprentice to Private Investigator Thijs Orman

MADELON VERLOET – Hoofdagent (Detective)

ANDRE VOELMAN – Hoofdagent (Detective)

DANNY MEEUWEN – Surveillant

FREDERIK MEIJER (twin brother to Maaike) – Police Agent

MAAIKE MEIJER (twin sister to Frederik) -Police Agent

ERNST HOEWEGAN – Brigadier

THIJS ORMAN – Particulier Onderzoeks Bureau (Private Investigator), discharged from police force due to drug use, training Truus Heda

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My Book Review

UTRECHT SNOW by Jonathan Wilkins is a police procedural thriller set in Utrecht, Netherlands. I was attracted to the book by the cover and the unique setting. Utrecht is in the central Netherlands and was considered a religious center for centuries. It has a medieval old town, canals, gothic cathedral of St. Martin and a 14^th century bell tower. This series is set in present time.

Young women are missing from the Universiteit and Hoofdinspector Caes Heda and his team are on the case. All the girls appear to have nothing in common other than not having family or friends that would raise the alarm at their disappearance.

At the same time, Truus Heda, Caes’ daughter bored with Universiteit, has accepted an apprenticeship with Private Investigator Thijs Orman a disgraced ex-cop. One of the missing girls is Thijs’ daughter, Steer. Which brings the police, Truus and Thijs all together to solve the disappearances.

As capable as Truus believes herself to be, she unknowingly runs into the dangerous killer. Now Caes and his team have to find and save the girls, including his daughter. Will they find them alive?

I did have difficulty at first getting into this story, but I am glad I persevered. There are I feel too many Dutch words used throughout the book to pull in the average reader. I found it authentic and interesting, but I did have to work at accepting this was how it was written. The missing girls and the murders all were paced well, which lead to a good thriller plot.

I do wish this was written as an introductory novella rather than a full-length book because there was too much repetition of Caes dealing with the loss of his wife, Truus’ kickboxing, Maaike’s judo and Truus and Maaike’s relationship. One scene on each would have been enough, but it was repeated excessively. I felt there should have been more attention to the thriller plot and much less on their private lives.

I enjoyed this introduction to a new, unique location and way of policing. The characters are fully fleshed out and the thriller plot was good. I just feel there is too much emphasis on scenes not necessary to the plot and it should be edited down to a novella with more focus. (Check out my next review for Utrecht Rain because I believe it is a much more focused and polished thriller.)

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

UTRECHT RAIN by Jonathan Wilkins is the second police procedural thriller book in the Utrecht Murder series featuring Chief Inspector Caes Heda and his team. This book can easily be read as a standalone.

Maaike’s is attacked while on patrol with her twin by a group all in black and severely beaten before Frederik can get to her.

While she is recuperating with Truus looking after her, Truus is pulled off the street and taken to AIVD headquarters (AIVD is the General Intelligence and Security Service in the Netherlands) and asked to share information regarding a client that Thijs is surveilling.

At the same time Caes and the team are working not one, but two bank robberies pulled off simultaneously with all alarms and CCTV hacked. Each bank had five robbers all in black with bats and guns and they took the exact same amount of money.

All these investigations intertwine and converge with Maaike’s assault, Utrecht Goths, a computer genius and the Serbian mob. Will Caes and his team be able to solve everything in time to save the city?

I really enjoyed this unique look at criminal investigation, life and culture in the Netherlands. This second book in the series is much easier to read than the first with less Dutch, it is more reader friendly. The characters are fully-fleshed out and there is no confusion even if this is the first book you read. The fast pace and intersection of plot point revelations between Caes and his team’s investigation and Truus’ investigation leave you always with a reason to keep turning the pages.

A police procedural thriller from a unique place and culture with characters well worth following.

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About Jonathan Wilkins

Jonathan loves to write. He is a retired teacher, lapsed Waterstones’ bookseller and former Basketball Coach. He taught PE and English for 20 years and coached women’s basketball for over 30 years.

He regularly teaches creative writing workshops in and around Leicester.

Social Media

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WriterJWilkins

Website: www.jonathanwilkins.co.uk

Purchase Links

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2VnE1Xk

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3g0pKYz

Publishing Information:

Utrecht Snow published by lulu.com in paperback format on 6^th March 2020. Utrecht Rain published by lulu.com in paperback format on 17^th March 2020.

Feature Post and Book Review: Deadly Secrets by Ann Girdharry

Hi, everyone!

I am very excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Ann Girdharry’s new book – DEADLY SECRETS which is the second book featuring D.I. Grant and his team. It can be easily read as a standalone.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Blurb

How long can you get away with murder?

In an idyllic Sussex town, Mr Quinn whispers a secret on his death bed. Hours later the person who cared for Quinn is killed.

Mr Quinn’s secret sets off events unlike anything Detective Grant and Psychologist Ruby Silver have ever seen.
A series of deaths follow as a killer tries to cover their twenty-year trail of murder by drowning.

Grant, Silver and the team must track a killer who has been getting away with murder for years.

But when treachery, corruption and secrets from the past are used against Sergeant Tom Delaney, the killer turns their attention to one of Grant’s own…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54202874-deadly-secrets

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

DEADLY SECRETS by Ann Girdharry is a British police procedural thriller that I was very excited to receive from Bloodhound Books. I read the first book in this series, ‘Deadly Motives’ and loved it. This second book is an absolute edge-of-your-seat page turner and as electrifying as the first. It can be easily read as a standalone, but I know after you read this book and find out how much you love it, you will go back for the first.

This story has DI David Grant and the whole team returning for another investigation which begins with the stabbing death of a young nurse. Nurse Dixon was loved by everyone and yet she was brutally murdered and had her face cut out of a family picture. Criminal Psychologist Ruby Silver is helping the team once again and believes they may be chasing a serial killer as another death occurs which ties these deaths back to a twenty-year-old mystery.

DI Grant, Ruby and the team are tracking a killer who has eluded justice for many years even as they work the cold case of two boys who disappeared. The cold case also is connected to rumors from the past related to DS Tom Delaney father’s suicide.

The team is in a race to figure out how the past and present all tie together to find the killer before a person close to the team is targeted.

I read this book all in one sitting. I could not put it down. Ms. Girdharry has once again brought all her characters to life. They are all realistically heroic and evil. I felt Tom’s past trauma from finding his father’s body and the difficulty it caused in his work in the present was handled with empathy and it gives you more insight into his character. There are several POV ‘s between the past and present and yet I never lost track of who was speaking. The plot kept me glued to the page. There were several times I thought I knew who was responsible, but I was only partially correct because a plot twist or red herring would throw me back into questioning the killer’s identity.

I highly recommend this new intense and absolutely gripping thriller by Ms. Girdharry! I cannot wait to see where the characters go from here.

***

Author Bio and Social Media Links

Ann Girdharry is a British, crime thriller author.

She is a trained psychotherapist and worked as a manager in the not-for-profit sector.

Her debut novel, Good Girl Bad Girl, is an ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD Finalist 2017 and a READERS’ FAVOURITE Five Star Book.

Here are a few fun facts from Ann Girdharry –

I love to travel and visit different cultures. As an adult, I’ve lived in the USA, Norway, UK and France.

One of my passions is roller blading and another is gardening.

You can connect with me –

Via my website
http://www.girdharry.com

On Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/AnnGirdharry…

My Reader’s Group
Be the first to know about my new releases by joining my Reader’s Group.
(No spam, I promise! ) – details on my website.

Feature Post and Book Review: Running Out of Time by Cindi Myers

Hi, everyone!

I am excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for the fourth book in this Harlequin Intrigue multi-author series – RUNNING OUT OF TIME (Tactical Crime Division Book #4) by Cindi Myers.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section with book purchase links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Welcome to the Tactical Crime Division, a rapid-deployment joint team of FBI agents specializing in hostage negotiation, missing persons, IT, profiling, shootings and terrorism, with Director Jill Pembrook at the head.

When a terrorist is on the loose, the Tactical Crime Division is on the case.

To find out who poisoned medications, two of TCD’s agents are tapped to go undercover posing as a married couple and infiltrate the company. But as soon as Jace Cantrell and Laura Smith arrive at Stroud Pharmaceuticals, someone ups the ante by planting explosives in their midst. Turns out that the small-town family business is hiding a million secrets. Could they unknowingly be protecting a vengeful killer?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48920861-running-out-of-time?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=x26Tj13kEC&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

RUNNING OUT OF TIME (Tactical Crime Division Book #4) by Cindi Myers is the fourth book in this Harlequin Intrigue multi-author series featuring members of the FBIs Tactical Crime Division. This is a specialized unit of the FBI formed to handle the toughest cases at a moment’s notice anywhere in the country.

Family owned Stroud Pharmaceuticals is the major employer in the small town of Mayville. The TCD is called in to discover who tampered with the company’s best-selling herbal Stomach Soothers. The tampered bottles contained ricin and have so far killed six.

Jace Cantrell and Laura Smith are partnered undercover to portray a married couple working in the plant. The easy-going, rule-bending Jace is not sure how well this will work with the by-the-rules, uptight Laura. As they work to find the killer, they soon have even more to unravel as a bomb explodes by a plant door and kills an employee. They soon uncover that there were more bombs made.

The couple now needs to figure out if they have one killer or two and what is the motive before more people are killed. As the tension and suspense build to solve this case, so does the heat in their undercover marriage.

I enjoyed this addition to the series. It is a romantic suspense with a well written balance between the romance and the suspense. The ‘opposites attract’ romance is paced believably and both characters are fully fleshed for this shorter book. The sex scenes are short and just barely explicit. The suspense plot kept me guessing, not so much regarding who was guilty, but who was responsible for which criminal activity. I felt the romance was predictable, but I enjoyed the characters and the suspense kept me engrossed and turning the pages right up to ‘The End’.

I enjoyed this romantic suspense addition to the TCD series!

***

Excerpt

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Special Agent Laura “Smitty” Smith – A disciplined agent who never breaks the rules, Laura must go undercover as a newlywed to find the person responsible for a rash of poisonings and bombings in a small West Virginia town.

Special Agent Jace Cantrell – the military veteran and special ops expert has a reputation as a rebel and a rule breaker – exactly the kind of man to clash with Laura, yet the two must pose as husband and wife to solve a case that brings death to their very doorstep.

Donna Stroud – The head of Stroud Pharmaceuticals intends to keep her company going and her family together in the face of tragedy, but how far will she go to do so?

Parker Stroud – Donna’s son chafes at his parents’ unwillingness to put him in charge of the family business.

Merry Winger – Parker’s girlfriend has big plans to marry Parker, despite his parents’ disapproval of their relationship and Parker’s own reluctance to make their relationship public.

Leo Elgin – His mother was poisoned by tainted medication manufactured by Stroud. He holds a grudge against the Stroud family.

Tactical Crime Division – Rapid-deployment joint team of FBI agents specializing in hostage negotiation, missing persons, IT, profiling, shootings and terrorism with director Jill Pembrook at the head.

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“We’ve got another tough case on our hands.” Jill Pembroke, director of the FBI’s tactical crime division, surveyed her team from the head of the conference table in the Bureau’s Knoxville headquarters. “One that re-quires a great deal of discretion.”

Something in the director’s tone made Agent Laura Smith sharpen her focus. Pembroke, with her well-cut silver hair and feminine suit, might be mistaken for a high society grandmother, but she was as hard-nosed as they came, and not prone to exaggeration. That she reminded her team of the need for discretion pointed to something out of the ordinary.

The door to the conference room opened and a man slipped in. Tall and rangy, Agent Jace Cantrell moved with the grace of an athlete. He nodded to the director and eased into the empty seat next to Laura. No apology for being late. Typical. Laura slid her chair over a couple of inches. Cantrell was one of those men who always seemed to take up more than his share of the available space.

“We’re going to be investigating product tampering at Stroud Pharmaceuticals in Mayville, West Virginia.”

Director Pembroke stepped aside to reveal a slide showing a squat factory building set well back on landscaped grounds.

“The antacid poisonings.” Agent Ana Ramirez spoke from her seat directly across from Laura. She tucked a strand of dark hair into the twist at the nape of her neck, polished nails glinting in the overhead light. “That story has been all over the news.”

“Do the locals not want the FBI horning in?” Agent Davis Rogers—the only member of the team not wearing the regulation suit—sat back in his chair beside Ramirez, looking every bit the army ranger he had once been. “Is that why the extra discretion?”

“No, the local police are happy to turn this over to us,” Pembroke said. She advanced to the next slide, a listing of the deaths—six so far, with two additional people hospitalized—attributed to Stroud’s Stomach Soothers, a natural, organic remedy that claimed a significant share of the market as an alternative to traditional antacids. “This hasn’t been released to the public, but the poison in the contaminated tablets was ricin.”

Laura would have sworn the temperature in the air-conditioned room dropped five degrees. “Any suggestion of a link to terrorism?” Hostage negotiator Evan Duran, bearded and brooding, spoke from the end of the table. “Anybody claiming credit for the deaths?”

Pembroke shook her head. “At this point, we aren’t assuming anything. Obviously, we want to avoid panicking the public.”

“The public is already panicked,” Rowan Cooper, the team’s local liaison, said. “People have been organizing boycotts of all Stroud products.” She absently twisted a lock of her jet-black hair, brow furrowed. “We’ll need a strategy for managing the public’s response.”

“The facility where the Stomach Soothers were manufactured has been closed for the time being and the product is being pulled from store shelves,” Pembroke said. “But another facility in town, which manufactures other items, remains open, and the company has reduced hours and reassigned as many employees as possible to the single plant. The company, the town, even the state officials, are very anxious to downplay this tragedy and get Stroud up and running full-speed as soon as possible.”

“Why do that?” Kane Bradshaw, Agent-at-Large, said. Laura hadn’t noticed him until now, seated as he was behind her and apart from the rest, almost in the shadows. Kane always looked as if he’d just rushed in from an overnight surveillance, all wind-blown hair and shadowed eyes. The fact that he was here spoke to the gravity of this case. While always on hand when the team needed him, he wasn’t much on office decorum.

“Jobs.” Cantrell’s voice, deep and a little rough, like a man who smoked two packs a day, sent a shiver through Laura. He didn’t smoke, but maybe he once had. “Stroud Pharmaceuticals is one of the biggest employers in Boone County,” he continued. “The coal mines are shutting down, and there isn’t a lot of other industry. Stroud has been a savior to the community. They—and the officials they elected—are going to do everything in their power to keep the company running and redeem its reputation.”

“Even covering up murder?” Laura asked.

Cantrell turned to her, his gaze cool. “I doubt they want to cover it up, but they’ll definitely downplay it and keep it quiet.”

“They want us to help, but they don’t want us to be obvious.” The youngest member of the team, computer specialist Hendrick Maynard, jiggled his knee as he spoke. A genius who looked younger than his twenty-six years, Maynard never sat still.

“Precisely.” Director Pembroke advanced to another slide of a small town—tree-shaded streets lined with modest homes, some worse for wear. A water tower in the distance displayed the word Mayville in faded green paint. “Agents Smith and Cantrell, you are to pose as a married couple and take jobs at the Stroud factory. Investigations so far point to the poisonings having originated from within the plant itself, so your job is to identify possible suspects and investigate. Agent Rogers, you’ll be in town as well…”

Laura didn’t hear the rest of the director’s assignments. She was focused on trying to breathe and holding back her cry of protest. She and Cantrell? As a couple? The idea was ridiculous. He was rough, undisciplined, arrogant, scornful…

“You look like you just ate a bug.” Cantrell leaned to-ward her, bringing with him the disconcerting aroma of cinnamon. His gravelly voice abraded her nerves. “Don’t think I’m any more excited about this than you are.”

***

About the Author

Cindy Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote a torrid historical romance and passed the manuscript around among friends. Fame was short-lived, alas; the English teacher confiscated the manuscript. Since then, Cindy has written more than 50 published novels. Her historical and contemporary romances and women’s fiction have garnered praise from reviewers and readers alike.

Purchase Links

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335136589_running-out-of-time.html

Boxed Set Reviews: Underground Encounters Box Set (2 Book Series) by Lisa Carlisle

Hi, everyone!

I love getting a few box sets for my summer reading so there is no waiting on the next book in that series that I am engrossed in reading. A sizzling hot paranormal/urban fantasy series that I have previous reviewed now comes in three different box set groups right now.

Check out Lisa Carlisle’s – VAMPS: Underground Encounters Box Set 1 with gargoyle shifters, vampires, and witches; SHIFTERS: Underground Encounters Box Set 2 with shapeshifters, vampires, and rockstars, or you can get them both together in Underground Encounters Box Set (2 Book Series)!

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VAMPS: Underground Encounters Box Set 1 with gargoyle shifters, vampires, and witches

OVERALL RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

Book 1 – CURSED

CURSED (Underground Encounters Book #0) by Lisa Carlisle is the start of the paranormal/urban fantasy series featuring gargoyles, vampires, shifters, witches and demons. I have read other books in this series and have loved them all and this short story did not disappoint.

This story introduces the French gargoyle shifter brothers, Lucan, Danton and Mattias who are happily living with their clan. Lucan starts seeing a witch, who believes their relationship is more than just the fling Lucan believed it to be. When she comes across the brothers discussing her and Lucan, she believes they are speaking disrespectfully of her and she curses them with a black spell that locks them in their stone forms and clouds their memories of her.

As the brothers adapt to their cursed lives, they find that when they see someone in danger, they are released from their stone forms for 24 hours.

Are they to be cursed forever? Or will the brothers be able to find a way to break the curse?

This is an intriguing introduction to the gargoyle brothers, Michel their vampire boss and VAMPS the underground alternative goth nightclub. Ms. Carlisle has done a good job of worldbuilding in such a short book. I do not usually like cliffhangers, but since I read this book after the book that gives us Danton’s story, I was not upset and did not have to wait.

Once you start reading this series, you are going to be hooked!

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Book 2 – SMOLDER

SMOLDER by Lisa Carlisle is the revised novella start to her Underground Encounters paranormal romance series which was originally released in 2012 as Smoldering Nights. I love Ms. Carlisle’s various series, but this novella still lacks the depth of character and originality I look for in her books.

Nike is a firefighter who loves to let off steam with her best friend, Maya on the dance floor of Vamps, the local goth night club. On one of their nights at the club, she sees the man she has a crush on from her rock climbing gym. He has a French accent, a gorgeous body and beautiful eyes. She cannot believe her luck when Michel asks her up to accompany him to a private room upstairs, but she is about to get an education in other creatures that coexist with mortals.

Michel is a nightwalker. He does not know what draws him to Nike at the club or the gym and he knows he should not get involved with a mortal, but he finds her irresistible. When he gets Nike to agree to accompany up to the private rooms, they are attacked by an old enemy right when things begin to get interesting.

Michel and Nike go on the run. The attraction is too much to resist and they begin to explore their sexual attraction and also begin to wonder if it could become more. Can they have a future or will Michel’s enemy find them once again and destroy them both?

This novella was a very quick read and a good introduction to the Underground Encounters series. Nike is a strong heroine who can stand on her own which I loved. Michel is sexy and a dream, even with the fangs. There just was not enough depth to the characters due to the shortness of the story and it does end abruptly.

You have to start this series. It is a fun intro and the sex scenes are steamy, hot and well written.

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Book 3 – FIRE

FIRE (Underground Encounters Book 2) by Lisa Carlisle is HOT!

I am very glad I continued on in this paranormal romance series, even though the first novella in the series had a few problems for me. This story begins a year after the fire at Vamps and follows Maya. It can easily be read as a standalone, even though it does bring characters from the first novella back.

Maya Winters is missing her best friend and decides Halloween is the perfect time to return to Vamps and blow off some steam dancing after a long shift working as a firefighter. As she is dancing away to her favorite tunes, she suddenly feels eyes on her. When she sees the tall, dark and brooding bad boy staring at her she feels an instant attraction.

Tristan Stone is the new, mysterious owner of the rebuilt Vamps. Tristan is from a long line of Salem witches. He stays away from people due to what he considers his curse, because he has only ever been able to see darkness around people and it drains him. When he comes up from his underground lab beneath the club one day to check on things, he immediately spots a woman dancing because of the brilliant light surrounding her. This has never happened before and he has to find out why she is different.

Maya and Tristan combust when they are together. The two opposites are light to dark and outgoing to cautious. Tristan thinks Maya may be the answer to his curse, but he has never told anyone about it outside of his family. Maya is harboring a secret of her own that she has never shared. The sex is hot, but can a relationship with secrets last?

Maya and Tristan are main characters that are perfect together. Ms. Carlisle has given these characters depth that is as fun and entertaining as it is serious. The sex scenes bring the fire and heat.

With the return of Nike and Michel, I cannot wait to see what happens next in this series!

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SHIFTERS: Underground Encounters Box Set 2 with shapeshifters, vampires, and rockstars

OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Book 1 – IGNITE

IGNITE (Underground Encounters Book 3) by Lisa Carlisle is now my favorite of this series!

Vamps underground nightclub is the epicenter of each book in this paranormal romance series that are all easily read as standalone stories. Ms. Carlisle’s world of vampires, shifters, witches and gargoyles just keeps getting better and better.

Book 3 has Lily Everett celebrating a promotion with her friend at Vamps. Lily works hard at her job, works out hard at the gym and is an avid reader who has occasional sex with no commitments. Lily’s night out is interrupted by The Velvet Cocks lead singer and she is not thrilled until she hears him sing. He has a sensual voice that captivates her. Lily is interested, but very guarded and a loner because she has a furry secret that she never shares.

Nico Bedrosian aka Leggy Bones is a rock star by night and a computer geek by day. He is intrigued by the golden eyed beauty who does not seemed interested in him. He gets Lily to let him in enough to be a friend with benefits and those benefits are extremely hot!

Real feelings begin to grow on both sides, but Lily refuses to share why they can never be together. Nico wants to break down Lily’s walls and find out why she is so afraid to commit, but can he really handle the truth?

Lily and Nico are both well fleshed out characters that have many layers to their personalities that make them unique. You can feel for Lily having to grow up with her secret and being too afraid to share. Nico is just perfect with his rock star looks and voice, literary knowledge, geekiness and English accent. These two have explicit, steamy, smokin’ hot sex scenes throughout the story, but they are well placed and realistic to the building relationship.

Ms. Carlisle has built an intriguing paranormal world around Vamps and each book has increased my interest and love of the series. I cannot wait to see who will be introduced next!

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Book 2 – BURN

BURN (Underground Encounters Book 4) by Lisa Carlisle is another sizzling addition to the VAMPS paranormal romance series. When you sit down to read about Devon and Layla, clear your schedule because you are going to want read this one from start to finish.

Layla flees London for her immortal life. She has been framed for a theft from a master vampire, who does not believe in her innocence. She returns to America and reinvents herself as “Angelica”, the new lead singer for an 80’s heavy metal cover band.

Devon St. Clair has a reputation as one of the best bounty hunters for hire. Ruthless and relentless, he always gets his man or woman. Aided by his years in Royal Special Forces, he is also a shifter. He can shift into any animal form and every one of them hates vampires. When he catches up to Layla at VAMPS, he is entranced by her and her voice, but he cannot let that get in the way of his job, can he?

This series just keeps pulling me in and I have to say that I especially loved Layla and Devon! Layla is petite and yet mighty, in character and physical strength. Devon is all hot, tough shifter and yet has softer, vulnerable moments that appear for Layla. The sex scenes are smokin’ hot and steaming. The plot is not unique, but Ms. Carlisle puts some interesting twists into this world of paranormal creatures that makes them unique.

This book can easily be read as a standalone in this series, but I bet if you love paranormal romances as I do, you will want to read them all.

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Lisa Carlisle loves stories with dark, brooding heroes and independent heroines. She’s honored to be a multi-published author writing in different genres since she’s wanted to be a writer since the sixth grade. For much of her professional career, she’s written non-fiction — but she’s discovered writing romance is the most fun. Her romances have been named Top Picks at Night Owl Reviews and All Romance Ebooks.

When she was younger, she worked in a variety of jobs, moving to various countries. She backpacked alone through Europe, and lived in Paris before returning to the U.S. She owned a bookstore for a few years as she loves to read. She’s now married to a fantastic man, and they have two kids, a cat, and many fish.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6463824.Lisa_Carlisle

Book Review: The Lost Girls by Helen Pryke

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE LOST GIRLS by Helen Pryke is a thriller that is the first book in a new series featuring a female investigative journalist and it will keep you on the edge-of-your-seat. The author had me anxious and squirming with each revelation about the antagonist’s past.

Four years ago, a young boy is kidnapped and his dead body is discovered a few days later. The same week his family is grieving, one girl is abducted as she walks home from school and another is abducted just a week later in front of the same school. All three cases go cold with no resolution.

Michael and Chloe want resolution to their sister’s disappearances. They approach investigative journalist, Maggie Dupont for help. Maggie is willing to write a piece to bring the girl’s case back into the news, but as they uncover clues that the police missed they suddenly find themselves in a race against the clock to find the kidnapper before their sisters become replacements for his sisters who died sixteen years earlier in a house fire.

Maggie is a wonderfully complex protagonist. With a traumatic past and her present health issues, she is still willing to help Michael and Chloe. Her curiosity and search for justice will not let her take the easy way out. Maggie and the kidnapper in alternating chapters reveal their pasts and the events in present time. The plot was fast paced and built to an exciting climax, but I did have a problem with Maggie not notifying the police, especially when they uncovered important information from a witness and they found the house in which the girls were first hidden. Up to that point, I would have said this story was believable, but that changed my mind. I did think the author did a good job of demonstrating the rescued girls’ PTSD in the epilogue.

I enjoyed this start to the Maggie Dupont series and am interested in reading more.

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About the Author

Helen Pryke is a British author who has been living in the north of Italy for almost 30 years, learning everything about Italians, their culture, and their way of life. She now considers herself more Italian than British, even though she has never lost her British accent. Addicted to coffee and chocolate, she has also developed a passion for good food, having married an Italian who is a wonderful cook!

As well as writing suspense novels, Helen also writes emotional women’s fiction set in Italy that deals with the difficult subject of abuse in a sensitive way.
She also writes middle grade fiction under the pen name, Julia E. Clements. You can find her books here: author.to/JuliaEClements

When she’s not writing, she works as a proofreader for indie authors and a translator (from Italian to English). She loves reading, and will read anything and everything.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16066242.Helen_Pryke