Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Released Today "Little Boy Lost" a Racially Charged Thriller




Attorney Justin Glass is the scion of the first family of St. Louis politics, but depression and the death of his wife have reduced him to working for pennies in a ramshackle law office on the decaying North Side. Pennies are all that eight-year-old Tanisha Walker has to offer when she walks into Glass’s empty office one day, asking him to take up the case of her missing brother. Glass’s half-hearted inquiries turn up empty—until his contact at the St. Louis Police Department calls with the grisly news. Devon Walker’s murdered body has been found mangled in the woods—along with 12 other black teenagers, all discarded like trash in a mass grave. 

The timely thriller LITTLE BOY LOST (Thomas & Mercer; On-sale August 1st, 2017) tells the all-too-familiar story of a community in pain and a legal system that doesn’t work for them. When the police show indifference, the families of what the media is calling the “Lost Boys” have no one to turn to but their overwhelmed lawyer. But Glass has his hands full with his own family life, which is blowing up before him. His father, St. Louis’s long-serving congressman, returns home to announce that he is retiring—and wants Justin to succeed him, betraying the arrangement that had been long planned by his politically ambitious brother, Lincoln. Glass must sort out his feelings in his turbulent yet dispassionate extramarital affair with an old friend—who also happens to be the sitting mayor of St. Louis. And as he trains his attention elsewhere, Glass’s headstrong daughter, Sam, begins rebelling at school, in ways that threaten to become a political liability.

After years of standing still, Glass must now act in order to survive. As rumors about his political campaign spill out into the open, he finds that he has become a vessel for the pent-up grievances of St. Louis’s inner city. Clients pack into his previously empty office with stories of being wrongfully accused of crimes—their uncomfortable truths as ignored by the white establishment as the fate of the Lost Boys. As Glass maneuvers a justice system stacked against the black community, he grows increasingly distrustful of his allies of convenience in the city government. Is their plodding investigation into the Lost Boys murders the result of racial prejudice...or a cover-up of an inside job? As police violence descends upon his community—and even Glass himself—he takes the investigation into his own hands. With the help of an alluring, whip-cracking assistant and a shady computer programmer, Glass stares down the twin dangers of a vengeful political machine and a merciless killer who knows Glass is on his tail. Feeling the heat from all sides, Glass resorts to one last desperate gambit that could destroy his personal life, shatter his professional ambitions, and endanger the very people he is trying to save.


On Amazon

In a city divided and broken, this revelation will set it on fire…
Attorney Justin Glass’s practice, housed in a shabby office on the north side of Saint Louis, isn’t doing so well that he can afford to work for free. But when eight-year-old Tanisha Walker offers him a jar full of change to find her missing brother, he doesn’t have the heart to turn her away.
Justin had hoped to find the boy alive and well. But all that was found of Devon Walker was his brutally murdered body—and the bodies of twelve other African American teenagers, all discarded like trash in a mass grave. Each had been reported missing. And none had been investigated.

As simmering racial tensions explode into violence, Justin finds himself caught in the tide. And as he gives voice to the discontent plaguing the city’s forgotten and ignored, he vows to search for the killer who preys upon them.



J.D. Trafford on Goodreads

J.D. Trafford is an award-winning author whose books have topped numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including reaching #1 on the Legal Thrillers list. He has been named “a writer of merit” by Mystery Scene magazine, and IndieReader selected his debut novel, No Time to Run, as a bestselling pick. Trafford graduated with honors from a top-20 law school, and he has worked as a civil and criminal prosecutor and as a nonprofit attorney, where he handled issues of housing, education, and poverty.



J.D. Trafford is the author of the 'No Time' legal thrillers


These books are all free with Kindle Unlimited.
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Sunday, July 30, 2017

New Books of 2017 (Part 6)






New Books of 2017 (Part 6)



Check out these new books that have been released as of Jan. 2017.



Click on the book covers to find them on Amazon. #Ad




Paranormal, Fantasy, Historical Fiction: 





In turn-of-the-century England, sixteen year-old Christine Daniel learns her life-threatening illness stems from her paranormal visions. During the London Season, Allie, her beloved sister and the family heir, seeks a noble match while she searches the occult underground for answers. But the only witch who can help will not do so unless Allie marries her beau, an impoverished aristocrat, so that the illicit pair can share Allie's wealth.



Historical Fiction:



DARE TO DREAM IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 

1945. Rice fields seem endless in a quaint farming village of South Korea, yet Iseul and the villagers have been on the verge of starvation for as long as they can remember; the last of their Japanese colonizers have taken every last grain with them. In the newly independent Korea, Iseul dreams of what her future might bring. Yet, war is on the horizon, and the boy she has fallen for is an alleged North Korean communist spy.

Amidst war, Jung-Soo and Iseul embark on a comic journey of self-discovery across the mountainous peninsula, where they are aided by the occasional legendary ghost and animals. Music helps them pass the time, as does the radio and the crafty carpentry skills of Iseul who would eventually make history with her handcrafted hanji paper. Unexpected friendships are forged, love burgeons and betrayal taints their elusive dreams.

In the current international climate where North Korea takes center stage, “Forgotten Reflections” ponders on what the Korean War means to South Korea, spanning three generations as the nation rises from the ashes. 



Supernatural, Mystery:



"Witch, witch, you make me itch. I'd like to beat you with a switch."



Baylee Scott has the gift of touch. Except it’s not a gift. Seeing other people's memories doesn't make her very popular in Reed Hollow. It was one of the reasons she left the small town as soon as she was able. 



But after losing her ghost-hunting husband, Baylee returns home to help her brother run the family business: a defunct antique shop and tea house. It’s a dull existence that leaves her dreaming of adventures elsewhere.



Then, a mysterious jewelry case appears in her office, followed by a note detailing a connection between strange lights appearing in the sky and the disappearance of local women. Suddenly, Baylee’s life becomes more exciting.



Aided by her animal-loving brother, her tarot-card reading cousin, and the ghost of her dead mother, Baylee must unravel the clues to stop the strange lights from taking yet another victim.


LGBT, Coming of Age, Fantasy:


There are three kinds of magic in the world, and Corentine has the wrong one.

Long ago, the Restless King forced Corentine’s people into hiding as he scoured their blood for the SoulShifter. When Corentine learns she possesses some of the forbidden Shifter magic, she must hide her power or risk the same death her twin suffered.

Raised to trust no one, she rejects the General’s son Sy, until she realizes his family secrets might be the key to unlocking hers. When his brother turns against them, they are forced to fight family to save what’s left of their home, or accept banishment to find a new future.

If Coren and Sy can’t convince their people to accept the light of Shifter magic, the growing Shadow will ruin everyone’s chance of freedom.



Mystery, Fantasy:



Sam Watkins, an orphaned young teenager, possesses the ability to read the minds of almost everyone he meets.

Howard Lyons, the owner of the orphanage where Sam has lived since he was a baby, has been reluctant to let Sam leave the orphanage.

Unable to read the mind of Mr Lyons, he takes it upon himself to investigate the reasons behind the owner’s decisions and learn more about the origin of his ability, his parents and the potential of his power.

However, Sam’s investigation and mind-reading abilities reveal a power struggle at the top of a faltering orphanage between Mr. Lyons and his assistant Natalie.

Sam’s involvement in this conflict leads him to look for ways to save the orphanage and uncover the true motivations of both the owner and his assistant while trying to learn about his past.



Science Fiction, Fantasy:







Fifteen-year-old Josh Driscol lives in The Station, a city constructed one kilometer beneath the surface of a frozen, lifeless earth, its origins lost in the mists of time.

Josh comes to believe that the Black Heart, an ancient computer complex of unknown purpose buried in a sector critically damaged centuries ago, holds the key to the city's future survival. When the governing Council, of which his own father is a member, announce plans to demolish the Black Heart, Josh leads a desperate battle to stop the demolition.



Memoir with stunning photos:



A life spanning close to 100 years is noteworthy, if only because of its longevity. The rich life of a woman committed to a professional vision ahead of its time, filled with glamour, excitement and adventure, is truly remarkable. Narrated in her own words, this is the story of such a woman, Eva Maze, who, from the time she left Romania as a teenager in 1939, dreamed of being a ballet dancer, and through a series a circumstances, became instead one of the most successful theatrical impresarios in Europe – with a career spanning more than 40 years.


Now in her nineties, Maze looks back at the path and passion that led her from Bucharest to the United States as an immigrant, and then, as a married woman, back again to Europe and Asia, where she found her professional calling.


Set against key historical events of the 20th century, including the building of the Berlin Wall, the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, as well as the rise and fall of Pan American Airlines, Maze’s fascinating past is brought to life through a combination of serious commentary and amusing anecdotes about the risks and rewards of the business side of theater and dance, some of the personalities who were part of those worlds from the 1940s to the 1990s, her own motivation for being an impresario, and her personal life. Her narration is supported by more than 250 captivating historical and modern images going back to her birth in 1922.


Representing artists and companies abroad from a vast array of talent in the performing arts of the time – including The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, The Living Theatre, and The Swingle Singers – this unique woman became a prolific producer of close to 100 different types of theatrical programs from the world of dance, music, mime, cabaret, and drama.



Chick-lit, Romantic Comedy:



Jane's life on the face of it isn't really too bad...she has great friends like party girl Natasha who's always up for a laugh and her close pal Polly, always there for her and of course her loving parents, but things could still be better...

Most people she knows are either married or have kids and she has been single a while now and wonders if a good man is ever to be encountered again. The single life is far from a quiet one for Jane however, as she is constantly getting dragged to night clubs and bars by Natasha and the crew as well as enduring a particularly boozy weekend away at the seaside!

Jane loves a lot about her life, disregarding rude plumbers in her flat and dealing with annoying superiors and a smug sister, but as a certain someone takes her eye, is everything about to change and get a whole lot more serious or is the single life determined to keep her captive a while longer yet...



Suspense, Thriller:




It’s the bitter winter of 1948. The young driver for a Chicago gangster flees his boss’s retribution carrying a valise full of stolen mob money. Suffering from an infected bullet wound received during his escape, he leaves his California-bound train and takes refuge in a dying Nebraska railroad town where he encounters a corrupt sheriff and a crippled war veteran who has been traumatized both by his combat experience and a tragic event back home that took place while he was fighting in Europe.


This is a novel imagined as a sequel to Stephen Crane’s 1899 short story called “The Blue Hotel”

Monday, July 17, 2017

(REVIEW) A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot


A Merciful Death

(Mercy Kelpatrick Book 1)




Author: Kendra Elliot
Category: Mystery & Suspense
Suitable for: Adults
My Rating: 4 Stars
Format Read for Review: Kindle
Pages: 353


Description:  Mercy is an FBI agent that is sent on an assignment to investigate multiple murders. The town in which the murders occur just happens to be the town that Mercy grew up in. Mercy grew up in a small town with a family of disaster preppers. A tragic event happens and Mercy's father kicked her out of the home. Mercy struggles with keeping the secret of her past and seeing her family members for the first time since then, while also trying to solve the murders. Much to Mercy's shock she's not the only one keeping secrets.


In Short: This is a suspenseful murder mystery book that at times was a little scary.


Pros: This book was suspenseful and kept me wanting to find out what was going to happen next.


Cons: Although the main character (Mercy) was likable enough most of the characters were actually very unlikable. Some of the characters actions didn't make any sense and left me feeling frustrated.


Parent's Guide: This book contains violence/abduction/rape and swearing. This book is for adults only.


At the time of posting this book is free with Amazon Prime! If you don't have prime click here: to Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. I love prime because it comes with free music, books and I get to watch movies and TV shows for free!



Friday, June 30, 2017

New Books of 2017 (Part 5)


New Books of 2017 (Part 5)
Check out these new books that have been released as of Jan. 2017.

Click on the book covers to find them on Amazon.



Steampunk Epic:


Two knights track down a dangerous monster lurking beneath Pnarakon, the City of Masks.
As they prepare themselves to spring their ambush on the beast, little they know that they are about to be dragged in the middle of an insidious conspiracy which threatens to shake the entirety of the Structure.
In a claustrophobic world where food and space are precious commodities and sunlight is only a distant memory, a Warrior, a Scion, and a Scholar will struggle through the echoes of fear and desperation resonating in the rusted-out corridors of an endless labyrinth.
Pulled into a vortex of political machinations, war, and madness, these lost souls will attempt to find a way out of the dreaded maze of steel and paranoid delusions upon which the Structure is built, as their sanity is constantly tested by vile betrayals, twisted sorcery, and eldritch horrors of forgotten times...



Short Story Anthology:


Half a Reason to Die is a collection of eight original short stories based on real life events in the author’s life as a writer and documentary filmmaker. The stories span the globe, from a military doctor in Afghanistan to a homeless Vietnam vet. First person narratives supplied by storytellers with journalistic backgrounds provide a unifying thread that runs throughout the collection.

Chip Duncan is a writer and documentary filmmaker with a penchant for overseas assignments. His professional journeys have taken him to many extraordinary places including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Myanmar. His previous work includes Enough to Go Around: Searching for Hope in Afghanistan, Pakistan, & Darfur and The Magic Never Ends: The Life and Work of C. S. Lewis, as well as numerous films broadcast worldwide.



Sci-Fi Space Opera:


In a world where women are born to rule, love is the ultimate crime. 

Empress Nadira’s planet is governed by one unbreakable rule: women hold the reins of power and men exist to serve them. But Nadira is in love with her servant, Kiln, and it’s a secret that could tear her family apart.

After she’s accepted onto the High Council, the most powerful institution on Venus, her conformity to the way her world operates becomes more important than ever. When Nadira’s affair with Kiln is revealed, her love for him will have disastrous consequences, and she will have to choose between protecting her family or following her heart and saving Kiln.

Saving Kiln is a Clean Interracial Science Fiction Romance with a touch of fantasy. Fans of Octavia E. Butler and Orson Scott Card will enjoy this book. Fans of The Fifth Element, The Matrix, and Jupiter Rising will also enjoy this book.



New Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy:


Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be plunged into a dangerous fantasy world?

The Blackwood brothers from New Orleans are about to find out. Youngest brother Will dreams of escaping his mundane life as an apprentice contractor. Caleb is a bartender whose charm and good looks see him through life. Val, the eldest, is a high-powered attorney who hides the fact that he can perform parlor tricks with his mind.

The brothers’ lives are changed forever when they receive a belated inheritance from their father: a staff with a mysterious stone on top, a pair of rogue’s bracers, and a sword that Will can barely lift. Searching for an explanation, it is not until a strange key whisks the brothers across time and space, into a terrifying version of New Orleans ruled by wizards, that the brothers accept the truth and undergo a perilous journey home. With the help of an alluring but deadly adventuress, they must break into the keep of a sorcerer known for his love of diabolical games, find a trio of enchanted talismans, and somehow defeat an evil wizard who can raise legions of the undead to do his bidding.

It seems the brothers have found their adventure. But will they live to tell the tale?



Collection of Essays:


Follow one man as he chronicles his trials with life and love, work and women, luck and loss through this collection of stories and prose.

Composed of a collection of essays, A Boy from the Chesapeake delivers a raw and honest insight into the working of one man’s mind as he navigates his way through life, self discovery, and an all-encompassing instinct to love. As a boy on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, readers are given first hand accounts of the narrator’s awakening to the existence of love and lust. As he continues to grow and mature, men and women alike will relate to his desire for acceptance and companionship. Each account of his various relationships, with women, friends, family, and coworkers, give further insights into who this man is and just what it is that makes him tick. After reading these stories, perhaps women will know a little more about men - and men will know a little more about themselves.



Sci-Fi Thriller:


What if, as a child, you could move the world with your mind? Think of the possibilities. But what if you couldn’t control it, and buildings toppled in your sleep? Think of the consequences.

Ethan and Tilly Wolfe are special. It’s a cruel, devastating kind of special that causes death and destruction in equal measure. Nobody is safe. Not even those who love them.

Ethan is the older sibling, his telekinetic gift powerful but controllable. But Tilly is young, emotionally fragile and unable to stop the physical and mental damage she unleashes on other people with barely a thought.

And all it takes is a thought.

Pursued by the military, shunned by the authorities and running for their lives, this is the story of a medical experiment gone hideously wrong, and the lives of the two children trying to put it right.



Horror:


Alfred, a washed-up author plagued by failures can’t believe his luck when his father in-law Frank provides him with a chance that he direly craved for:

Seven days alone in an isolated Motel with the task of finishing his upcoming book!

But little does he know about the Motel’s unsavory history. Hidden in the corpse of trees and about 400 miles away from his home, it is a two-storey facade located in the dark forest of Skiddaw.With no WI-FI, poor signals and weird set of rules, the dark atmosphere soon turns his seemingly idyllic trip to a living nightmare. Apart from the usual creaks, groans and moans of the motel, he soon finds himself face to face with an entity. An urban legend that is lurking in the woods long before the motel found its existing foundations.

The Motel’s dark and haunting history quickly becomes tangled with Alfred’s life as he frantically searches for answers. Barry, the caretaker is hiding something. But what is it? Is there someone else living in the motel besides him? Or is caretaker not what he seemingly appears?

Alfred quickly begins to lose his tenuous grip on reality as he sinks further and further into an intricately designed game of deceit and lies that might put his life in danger! Or is he a threat to himself and everybody around him?

A gripping- intense psychological horror with a twist ending!



Paranormal Mystery:


In an attempt to find her missing brother, 22-year-old Lily goes undercover to a criminals’ lair. Every federal agent who went undercover to bring down Pharaoh – the criminal boss – has gone missing, and Lily’s big brother is one of them. The Director of the FBI knows possible reasons for that – Pharaoh and his closest friends have supernatural powers. He knows only their nicknames and a list of their abilities: telepathy, supermemory, healing, clairvoyance, etc. To be able to save her brother, Lily has to match extra-abilities with Pharaoh’s henchman, drag out their real names and, what’s harder, find out who Pharaoh is and what superpowers he has. The rumor is that he can kill with a simple glance, so if he learns who Lily is, a quick death would be the best option she would have…



Friday, May 12, 2017

Spotlight and Excerpt of YA Adventure Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold


Book Spotlight + Excerpt!



Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the thrilling first installment in a new young adult series of adventure mystery stories by Iain Reading. This first book of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series introduces Kitty Hawk, an intrepid teenage pilot with her own De Havilland Beaver seaplane and a nose for mystery and intrigue. A cross between Amelia Earhart, Nancy Drew and Pippi Longstocking, Kitty is a quirky young heroine with boundless curiosity and a knack for getting herself into all kinds of precarious situations. 

After leaving her home in the western Canadian fishing village of Tofino to spend the summer in Alaska studying humpback whales, Kitty finds herself caught up in an unforgettable adventure involving stolen gold, devious criminals, ghostly shipwrecks, and bone-chilling curses. Kitty's adventure begins with the lingering mystery of a sunken ship called the Clara Nevada. As the plot continues to unfold, this spirited story will have readers anxiously following every twist and turn as they are swept along through the history of the Klondike Gold Rush to a suspenseful final climatic chase across the rugged terrain of Canada's Yukon.

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is a perfect book to fire the imagination of readers of all ages. Filled with fascinating and highly Google-able locations and history this book will inspire anyone to learn and experience more for themselves. 

There are currently five books in the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series: Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold (book 1), Kitty Hawk and the Hunt for Hemingway's Ghost (book 2), Kitty Hawk and the Icelandic Intrigue (book 3), and Kitty Hawk and the Tragedy of the RMS Titanic (book 4), and Kitty Hawk and the Mystery of the Masterpieces (book 5). Each book can be read as a standalone.


“In the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series the heroine finds herself in a new geographic location in each book. The series will eventually have a total of 13 books in it (maybe more) and her flight around the world will be completed in the end,” says Iain. “The books are sequential but one could definitely read any of the later ones before reading the earlier ones.”


For more information, go to http://www.kittyhawkworld.com/


Check out the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxboPL0ge3Q





About the Author:


Iain Reading is passionate about Root Beer, music, and writing. He is Canadian, but currently resides in the Netherlands working for the United Nations.


Iain is the author of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series, The Wizards of Waterfire Series, and the dragon of the month club. To learn more, go to http://www.amazon.com/Iain-Reading/e/B00B0NGI6Q/

Readers can connect with Iain on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.











Now for your reading pleasure enjoy the following
Excerpt:



PROLOGUE - PART TWO


The Arctic Trails Have Their Secret Tales


By the dancing dim light of the campfire, the group of men surrounding me looked demonic—light and shadow played off their features and made their faces seem lopsided and horrifically deformed. In such light every scene appears monochromatic, with every detail rendered in shades of only black and orange. True colors are sucked away, and objects are repainted in a hellish tint that makes every face look like a jack-o-lantern and the world look like something out of Dante's Inferno.


"There you go again," the little voice inside my head nagged. "Always making comparisons to books that you've never read."


"Shut up," I told myself. "This is hardly the time to be criticizing my choice of literary references."


Besides, Dante was writing about hell, wasn't he? And the situation that I found myself in was surely the closest thing to hell that I could possibly imagine.


The tallest one of the group walked over to get a better look at me. As he leaned in close, some dark shadows flickered hideously across his face and eyes and caused me to pull away in terror. I tried to push myself backward away from him, but it was difficult, considering that I was sitting on the ground and my hands were bound tightly behind my back. Every move that I made only pulled the binding tighter and made my wrists scream in agony as the wire cut painfully into the skin.


"I never should have come out here," I told myself as the tall one stood up again and continued pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what to do with me. How could I have been so stupid? What had I been thinking, hiking around a deserted ghost town from the Yukon Gold Rush in the middle of the night?


What made me even stupider was the fact that ever since I had first set off on my foolish quest, I'd felt a heavy, dark blackness filling every pore of the landscape. But instead of turning back and going home, I had stubbornly dismissed it as merely the dark shadow of the suffering and death that had occurred here so long ago, when thousands of souls had passed through on their way to the empty dreams of the Klondike gold fields. How many of those greedy fools had died chasing after those empty dreams?


"I am no better than them," I thought. I was just as stubborn and foolish as they had been, and now I was paying the price for it.


"I hate to say that I told you so," the little voice in my head said.


"Yes, you did," I agreed. "But right now, that isn't helping. Right now we have to figure out how to get out of here, because these guys are a bunch of greedy fools just like the rest of them, and who knows how far they'll go to protect the secret of their gold."


"What are we going to do with her?" the man with dark blonde hair asked the tall one, who was apparently their leader.


The tall one thought about this for a moment, and there was a long silence, broken only by the crackle of the nearby campfire. My fear of his answer made my heart pound faster and faster.


"There's only one thing we can do with her," he said slowly and deliberately, his voice ice cold and emotionless.


I was terrified of what that meant, and as they continued to discuss my fate among themselves, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and my breathing becoming shallower and faster with every passing second.


"I promise not to tell anyone," I thought, feeling completely helpless and considering the option of begging them to let me go. "I will promise not to go to the police if you just let me go free."


"Don't be crazy," the little voice in my head scolded. "They aren't stupid. You discovered their secret! You know about their stolen gold!"


I remembered a line from a poem that I'd learned back in high school—a poem about the Klondike Gold Rush and the lengths that men were driven to by their greed and lust for gold.


"The Arctic trails have their secret tales," the poem had said. "That would make your blood run cold."


That was exactly how I felt at that moment—as though my blood was running cold. I had discovered the secret tale that these men had tried to keep hidden, and now they had no other choice. They couldn't just let me go. They couldn't trust me to keep their secret. And now they had to deal with it. And that was the part that terrified me.


The men continued their discussion, and a sudden outburst from the tall one broke my train of thought. The discussion had grown quite heated, and he'd finally put an end to it by holding up his palm and cutting off the blonde one in mid-sentence.


"There's no other way," the tall one said simply.