Mystery Reads

50 States by Richard R. Becker

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50 States by Richard R. Becker

An Idaho farmer who aches for absolution after a tragedy is given one more chance at redemption. Two runaways cross paths in a Tennessee bus station with only one ticket between them. A family sees looters racing toward their home as they escape an Oregon wildfire. A young couple takes a reckless turn off a state highway in Utah and find themselves in a nightmarish government biohazard area.

These and 46 more shorts make up an anthology that will surprise readers with each new thought-provoking story as they skip effortlessly across different genres, moods, and states of mind. Together, they provide a character-driven sampling of the American experience over the last 60 years — the kind and the cruel, the heroic and criminal — in unpredictable and exciting ways.

50 States is a debut collection of short stories that captures the human condition and reveals how perception shapes destiny. The book spans several literary genres with each short story set in a different state across America. It is soon to be released as an audiobook, narrated by a 5-time Emmy winner.

Dani and the Outcast by R.E. Hargrave

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Dani and the Outcast by R.E. Hargrave

NEW RELEASE FROM R.E. HARGRAVE!

A princess.
A tramp.
A hunger for revenge.

Danielle Olivier has never wanted for anything material—some labeled her spoiled, a princess—and yet, she has a heart of gold. Unlike her father. Of course, as the head of the Olivier Crime Famiglia in Louisiana, he can’t afford to be soft. Or kind. Her station in life also means Dani has grown up under an ever-watchful eye. From private tutors to a driver, not to mention two nutty nannies with a penchant for 70s classic rock, she’s rarely had a moment to herself. When her father’s watch dogs aren’t hovering, her mother is—fretting and nitpicking Dani’s appearance, posture, fashion… anything and everything are fair game to her mother, including choosing her friends. It should be a fairytale existence, but if Dani can’t chase butterflies and fall down her own rabbit holes, dire consequences and all, the next best thing is to lose herself in simmering sauces and aromatic spices. And getting all the doggy cuddles from her best friend Dame.

Antoine Desjardins was raised by his maman and auntie in the 15th Ward of New Orleans. With no father figure urging him “to be a man,” he spent a lot of time in their small kitchen, watching, learning, and dreaming of bigger things. Brighter kitchens. Fusion flavors bringing not only palates, but people of all walks, together. Maybe even finding love one day. Young and full of life, working the French Quarter lets Juan set his own hours and decide how he wants to bring home the pay. How much of it gets added to his cooking school savings fund, however, depends on how hard he hits the pavement, and how many trades he’s Jack of. Not every day in the Quarter is peachy keen, though. Not when seen as a panhandler, and prejudice steers customers away from his dark skin and unusual accent. And not when having an ear to the ground sometimes uncovers things he’d be safer not knowing.

Returning from boarding school in France to the house Dani grew up in the Garden District may prove to be the excitement Dani has been looking for. Or it may bring the hardest lesson she’s ever had to learn. Things are different with her parents, and all clues indicate her father is up to no good.

Love hurts, and knowing who to trust, when feelings and judgement run deep, is almost impossible to do.

Bleeding Souls Saved by Love! A Fabled Retelling of LADY AND THE TRAMP

Taken, A Detective Al Warner Novel by George A Bernstein

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Taken, A Detective Al Warner Novel by George A Bernstein

The corpse of a Miami hooker is discovered in the Everglades. As Detective Al Warner investigates, he learns other streetwalkers also have disappeared, and this homicide is now a case of human trafficking. Nicki, a female undercover cop, goes as a streetwalker, hoping to be taken so she can use a tracking device, but it’s stripped from her before she can activate it.
Meanwhile, Maggie is offered a lucrative deal as a birth surrogate for a secretive, wealthy couple. She’s living nine months in luxurious seclusion but begins to worry when another surrogate disappears a month before her term. Maggie discovers her fetus is a tool of extortion, and fears for her life. She attempts to flee the mansion, but her “hosts” refuse to let her go. Her life is trivial to them, but they need the child she carries.
Trapped at the bordello on a remote ’Glades island reached only by airboats, Nicki embarks on daring foray to find and activate the tracker. If she fails, she’ll become a sex slave like the other women imprisoned there, with little hope of rescue. Warner and his team eagerly await Nicki’s signal. Without that, there’s no clue to her location, and no idea of the deadly confrontation that awaits them. Warner is thrust into danger as he seeks to free the sex slaves and also rescue Maggie and a second infant before it’s too late. Lives are on the line, and only Al Warner can save them.

Angel Lost by F. M. Meredith

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Angel Lost by F. M. Meredith

Officer Stacey Wilbur and Detective Milligan are getting married. Stacey is trying to catch a pervert who exposes himself to female joggers. A reflection of an angel on a big window down town is causing traffic problems, and a serial killer is working his way south,

A Stand-in for Dying by Rick Moskovitz

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A Stand-in for Dying by Rick Moskovitz

In a near future world on the brink of environmental catastrophe, a mysterious woman brokers an anonymous pact between two men for the older man Ray to inhabit the younger man Marcus’s body when he dies in exchange for a fortune and access to vast knowledge. The consequences for both men evolve over the ensuing years. When Ray finds a way to exchange identities while still alive, both men struggle to navigate their new lives and relationships while under attack by Ganymede, the architect of the consciousness swapping technology, and the Tribe of 23, a human supremacist organization that has targeted Marcus because of his and his wife’s advocacy for AIs to have equal rights with carbon based humans.

Their moral and emotional development is informed by the resourceful women who love them, one an accomplished journalist, the other a teacher who guides AIs to perceive and feel human emotions.

Shared Madness by Rick Moskovitz

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Shared Madness by Rick Moskovitz

A psychiatrist treating a psychotic patient descends into madness and finds himself at the nexus of a deadly plot. Can he trust anyone in his struggle for survival and his quest to regain his sanity? Can you guess who murdered his patient and what drove him mad? Share his hallucinations and terror through his eyes and try to unravel the mystery.

The Creators by Rick Moskovitz

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The Creators by Rick Moskovitz

A teenaged Natasha Takana seeks to decode the remainder of the hidden DNA code that became the basis for a new religion reviving Creationism in A Stand-in for Dying. Her quest takes her on a voyage to a parallel dimension to learn the fate of the Creators’ civilization. In the course of successive visits to their watery world, she finds herself transformed, a bridge between our world and theirs.

The conflict between Ganymede and Mandala, the warring factions of Brink of Life is rekindled, sweeping Natasha into the middle of it in a pursuit that crosses the boundaries of worlds and time.

The Scare by Robert Shaw

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The Scare by Robert Shaw

Is a zombie bully committing murder in Emerald Bay? Are his victims coming back to life to do more killing? Ethan, Shay and their friends must solve the mystery to stay alive.

Haunted by the murder of his little brother, sixteen-year-old Ethan Harris finds a kindred spirit when Shay Cassidy moves to Emerald Bay. Like Ethan, Shay is the product of a guilt-ridden, broken past, and Ethan is drawn to her.

But town bully, Viktor Sols, harbors his own dark desire for Shay, and will stop at nothing to get her. When Sols is killed during his latest rampage, a series of grisly murders begins, and Ethan is convinced that Sols is coming after Shay from beyond the grave. His friends agree to help investigate, but mystery and death follow their every step.

After Shay vanishes, Ethan refuses to accept that she’s dead, believing instead that Sols has taken her. He and his friends must launch an attack on the dreaded Sols House to try and rescue Shay.

Can they save her before it’s too late, or will the horrifying secret of the Sols family kill them all?

Set in the stormy coastal town of Emerald Bay, The Scare is a contemporary Gothic horror story in which love and friendship triumph over bitter jealousy and brutal lust. It is not for the squeamish: there are nasty bits and mean bits; love, laughter and tears; good friends and deadly enemies. There is blood and there are screams… and a fight to the death

If you like Stranger Things and IT, you’ll love The Scare.

Angel of Mercy by Melina Druga

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Angel of Mercy by Melina Druga

She had her entire life planned until the Great War began and everything changed.

April 1914. Barrie, Ontario. Hettie Steward is feisty, educated, ambitious and stubborn. Her fiancé, Geoffrey Bartlette, the love of her life since childhood, has been a patient man. He waited while she attended nursing school and worked a year, but now it is time to wed. While Hettie is thrilled to be starting her life with Geoffrey, she laments that marriage means sacrificing her beloved nursing career, and domestic life brings her nothing but drudgery and boredom.

When the Great War begins a few months into their marriage, Geoffrey enlists and persuades Hettie to join the Canadian Army Nursing Service and follow him overseas. After all, everyone says the war will be short, and it will be their opportunity to have a proper honeymoon. Returning to work is exactly what Hettie was craving, and she eager accepts.

The war, however, does not end quickly. Soon tragedy strikes, proving true the old adage “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Geoffrey is killed at the Second Battle of Ypres, and Hettie is faced with a choice. Return home or stay in Europe and continue nursing? Moreover, will she discover the person she is meant to be now that her life has been steered onto a new path?

Angel of Mercy is the first in a trilogy following Hettie and her family as they navigate the challenges and heartbreak World War 1 brings. Each novel is a standalone story.

Also available: Those Left Behind, the home front story. Adjustment Year, the homecoming story.

Frayed Ends by Sally J. Ling

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Frayed Ends by Sally J. Ling

Leaving her hectic job as a news producer in Washington, D.C., was never part of Randi Brooks’ plan, but when she learns of her parents’ tragic deaths, she has no choice but to rush home to Boca Raton, Florida. When she finds out their deaths weren’t accidental, things take a turn toward the dangerous. Toss in a fire and theft at the family-owned fabric store and upholstery shop and an unscrupulous real estate developer willing to do whatever it takes to get her property, and things become deadly.

To complicate matters more, a mysterious but handsome man living in the guest house and an attractive detective harboring a high school crush are both vying for Randi’s affection.

While Randi struggles to make some difficult decisions regarding her parents’ business, her job in D.C., and her conflicting feelings toward both men, the three of them must find out who murdered Randi’s parents before the killer strikes again.