Mystery Reads

Grand Masquerade by Stephen C. Perkins

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Grand Masquerade by Stephen C. Perkins

Beware the terror lurking beneath a mask of smiles…
On an ancient ley line, deep within Vermont’s dark forests, lives a mysterious and frightening secret…
A forbidden door to a world beyond human perception.
And three hunters are about to become the hunted!
A high-tech executive and a US presidential candidate, who in public appear to be at odds, are covertly working together to flood a small Vermont town. The plan is to evacuate the townspeople to a federal camp where they will be implanted with a newly developed surveillance/mind control device called Minerva.
What they didn’t know, is that the town sits on an ancient ley line guarded by spiritual beings called the Others. There’s something going on in the Green Mountains of Vermont and it’s more than anyone can imagine.
Their visit to the small town, in the guise of a hunting expedition, quickly turns sour. They come face to face with their worst nightmares — coming back not just to haunt them, but coming alive to take revenge!
The executive’s playboy son and the town sheriff catches on to their fiendish plan and tries to stop them — and discover forces beyond comprehension!

Burning Bridges by Anne Krist

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Burning Bridges by Anne Krist

Consider the role of strangers in our lives. An unknown postman in Virginia hides a bag of mail one day. His simple action set in motion untold consequences for many others—strangers—all over the country. How many bridges were burned in that forgotten mail pouch?

Sara Richards’s world is rocked when three love letters from 1970 are delivered decades late. The letters were written by Paul Steinert, a young sailor who took her innocence with whispered words of love and promises of forever before leaving for Vietnam. Sara is left behind, broken hearted and secretly pregnant, yearning for letters she never received.

Then Paul died.

Now, years later, she discovers the betrayal wasn’t Paul’s, when her mother confesses to a sin that changed their lives forever. How can Sara reveal to Paul’s parents that they have a granddaughter they’ve missed the chance to know? Even worse, how will she find the words to tell her daughter that she’s lived her life in the shadow of a lie?

Picking her way through the minefields of secrets, distrust, and betrayal, Sara finds that putting her life together again while crossing burning bridges will be the hardest thing she’s ever done.

Burning Bridges is a love story begun in Virginia Beach as the Vietnam War is winding down—though no one knew that at the time—and ending in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where two soul mates find each other again. Do they stay together? I’ve already said it’s a love story, but sometimes, even true love has a way of not quite lasting.

Don’t Speak by J. L. Brown

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Don’t Speak by J. L. Brown

In the first book of the Jade Harrington series, FBI Agent Jade Harrington searches for the serial killer of conservative radio personalities, while Senator Whitney Fairchild is in a cutthroat campaign for the presidency. The lives of Jade, Whitney, and the killer are on a collision course, which might impact the future of the United States of America.

Cold Valley Nightmare by Anna Willett

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Cold Valley Nightmare by Anna Willett

A troubled past resurfaces when an investigative journalist agrees to help find a missing child.

The Australian bush is unforgiving, and there is not much hope when a four-year-old boy, Clem, apparently disappears into it without a trace. When the police begin to suspect the boy’s step-father, his lawyer hires Damon, a specialist private investigator, to help defend him.

No stranger to missing person cases, Damon agrees to let his partner, Lucy, interview the family. There she finds a strong connection to the boy’s mother, and determines to find Clem no matter the cost. Having lost her own parents young, and nearly lost her brother, she hopes it will help her to exorcise her own demons.

Refusing to believe that Clem is dead, Lucy begins a search that will take her into the seedier side of a rural community with many secrets. In so doing, she will stumble across criminal activity that will put her in serious danger.

But it will also stretch her fledgling relationship to Damon, the only person she has ever really trusted. Can she find Clem? Can she find an inner peace? Can she let Damon in?

If you enjoy suspense thrillers you are in for a treat with COLD VALLEY NIGHTMARE. It is a standalone, but you can also read about Lucy’s backstory in the bestseller SMALL TOWN NIGHTMARE, which is FREE with Kindle Unlimited and available in paperback.

Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander

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Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander

***Winner 2017 National Indie Excellence Award***Indie B.R.A.G. Award Honoree***Winner Chill with a Book Readers’ Award***Finalist 2017 Kindle Book Awards***Winner Readers’ Favorite Book Award***An IWIC Hall of Fame Novel***

Spanning thirteen years from 1940 to 1953 and set against the epic panorama of WWII, author Annette Oppenlander’s SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND is a sweeping saga of family, love, and betrayal that illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the children’s war.

Midnight Black – The Purge by R. J. Eastwood

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Midnight Black – The Purge by R. J. Eastwood

Ex DEA agent, Billy Russell, committed a heinous crime against a man who committed an unspeakable crime against him. Billy was sentenced to 20 years hard labor in total isolation from the outside world. Without explanation, he is suddenly paroled 5 years early. Returning to society, he learns that an isolated nuclear attack has spread primal fear of a nuclear holocaust, which allowed autocratic billionaires to seize control of the world. But the new world government’s faulty economic policies have led to poverty, crime, disease, and rampant drug addiction.

As a condition of his parole, the government assigns Billy to a secret government sanctioned assassination squad whose job it is to eliminate political dissenters. Their gaffe, however, was assuming Billy would do their bidding willingly. They were wrong. Billy is approached by a secret underground dissident group planning to overthrow the authoritarian world government. He joins them to end the government’s demonic reign of tyranny only to discover the shocking details of what is really taking place.

The first page and a half will grab you, the unexpected ending will spin you around.

Midnight Black is a fast-paced, action packed thriller/suspense novel in the tradition of author Lee Child. Available everywhere in Audiobook, e-book, and paperback formats.

The Takeover by Jonathan Dunne

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The Takeover by Jonathan Dunne

Ireland’s underworld is run by the barbaric Doherty family. The head of the clan, Malcolm Doherty, has infiltrated all levels of public office and rules the city’s criminal landscape without mercy or compassion.
Gerald O’Brien is the incorruptible cop on the Dohertys’ trail, obsessive and indefatigable, yet unable to bring them down.
Nathan Corbally is a horrifically abused child, cursed with a terrifying intelligence and raised by a monstrous father, he thieves to fend off starvation. When he steals a piece of clothing belonging to the Doherty family, he sets off a chain of events that will pit him against the rulers of Ireland’s underworld.
Three lives, steeped in violence, are about to clash in a violent grab for absolute power.

Buyer Beware by Colleen Charles

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Buyer Beware by Colleen Charles

I said I could do casual…and swore I’d never fall in love.

I lied.

I know all about her type.
Dirt poor. Check.
Gold digger. Check. Check.

Marcella’s hot as hell and just as intriguing. I live in a swanky Vegas penthouse on top of my equally posh boutique casino. She’s lived in a dilapidated seventies trailer far too long to have patience for billionaire playboys like me that can just snap their fingers and have women fall at their feet, begging to be dominated. She stands for everything I despise. Which is why my obsession with her makes zero sense.

She’s innocence incarnate…I’m the guy who steals it. I can have anything I want, whenever I want it.

And I want her.

Marcella Castillo needs to be taught a lesson. She thinks she’s not the kind of girl I can buy and sell. She’s wrong. But somewhere along the line, the boundaries blur. In my heart, I feel a newfound tenderness and vulnerability that I’ve never known. This woman pulls at my heart strings until my solid walls come tumbling down and I let her in. And I’m happy.

The happiest I’ve ever been since my dad took himself six feet under leaving me with four younger brothers to raise.

Until a vicious sociopath and a haunting secret from Marcella’s past threatens to destroy every single thing I’ve just sold my soul to possess.

Monarchs and Mendicants by Dan Groat

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Monarchs and Mendicants by Dan Groat

Beware of a man who has nothing to lose.

A Navy Seal returns to St. Louis from Afghanistan suffering from PTSD and loses everything. Homeless, he wants only to find work and be left alone, but he is drawn into a group of street people who are being hunted by a serial killer and used by the local mob boss. To save himself, he must fight his way from tragedy to triumph and lead his “friends” on a journey from despair to hope.

You will be reminded why no one makes eye contact with a beggar, but you will also discover that if you do it often enough, you may eventually stare into the soul of a king, for greatness is as often concealed by the robes of monarchs as it is by the rags of mendicants.

Travel the gritty streets and alleys of an urban area trying to find food and shelter and safety without losing your identity. Search for a meaningful future. Walk with Gifford Ulrich as he finds himself and the promise of tomorrow.

What readers are saying:
•“This page-turning intense drama will keep you questioning and wondering until the very end.”
•“A story of deep and tragic truths.”
•“Profound and moving prose that you won’t forget.”
•“Gifford is an intriguing and troubled character that makes for a fantastic read.”
•“Ulrich is better than Jack Reacher.”
•”An opening to the human soul.”
•”A novel you will long remember.”
•”I could not put it down.”
•“I wish I could give it 10 stars.”
•”You won’t know how to let go once the book ends.”

Raging Falcon by Stephen Perkins

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Raging Falcon by Stephen Perkins

He helped build an evil world.
He betrayed his only son.
But now in another life where nothing is what it seems and against great odds, he has a chance to make things right.
In the 21st century, wars are won in the mind rather than on battlefields. One man – sorcerer disguised as soldier – will forever alter American history with black magic! Major Stacey Truman Keogh is a specialist in psychological operations and a terrorist disguised in military uniform. Both ambitious and evil, he will do anything to further his interests whether sacrificing the operatives under his command, his family and even his only son. In the end, will he discover spiritual redemption and use his immense magical powers in the service of good? Can a grand technological miracle save the son he betrayed so long ago?