Mystery Reads

Featured Book: Heritage of Deceit by Graham Downs

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While surfing the Internet at work, Lloyd believes he’s found a relic from an old genocide. If he’s right, the artefact would be worth a ton of money, and it will give lots of people closure when they find out what really happened to their families.
But there’s one problem. The artifact–if it really exists–is in the possession of Carla, a shy woman in the company’s Accounts Department, and she never lets it out of her sight.

Lloyd seeks the help of his friend and fellow employee, Robert, whom Carla is desperately in love with. Will Robert agree to use Carla’s feelings for him to get information about the mysterious object?

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Featured Book: Bribing Saint Anthony by Rita Moreau

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About Bribing Saint Anthony by Rita Moreau

Bribing Saint Anthony will be featured on Kindle Countdown for 99 cents on August 15, 16, 17 and 18. Grab it while you can!

Bribing Saint Anthony is an entertaining and humorous mystery.
A missing husband.
A plot to blow up a national treasure.
Fortune telling aunts.

Mary Catherine, MC for short, didn’t move as the Queen of Boca Vista, Babbs La-Fleur, placed a pile of cash, which appeared out of a purse she knew cost more than her car, smack dab in the middle of her desk.

Word at all the cocktail parties was that MC had a skill that came in handy for an aging socialite going through a divorce. She was good at finding cash in hidden bank accounts. Cash to pay for a nip and tuck and a new identity: Cougar.

Hired that day by Queen Babbs to find her bad boy husband, Charlie, MC was back on familiar ground, tracking down bad guys through clues left in the DNA of their paper life.

Asking her Aunt Sophia to read the family fortune telling cards might have helped. Instead, the paper trail Charlie left takes MC from a murder in the world of rich socialites to working with covert government agents deep in the world of counter terrorism.

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Featured Book: The Devil’s Handshake by Michael Reagan

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About The Devil’s Handshake by Michael Reagan

“The Devil’s Handshake” is fast paced political thriller set in the global backdrop of natural resources. The protagonist, Sir Thomas Litchfield is an Anglo-Russian billionaire bound by Homeric code who tries to steer a pragmatic course in the new “Cold War” between USA and Russia.

The story unfolds in a fictional nation located in the Horn of Africa. Taking the reader on a journey through the intrigue and clashes as two contrasting worlds meet.
The key to this battle and what ultimately brings the countries to the brink of war is the new naval base that Russia is about to construct in the young African nation as part of Litchfield’s natural resources deal. To counter the re-emergence of the new look Russia, the new director of the CIA manipulates his President to effect a regime change in the country by backing an ambitious Interior Minister who is the chief antagonist in his coup attempt. To stop this Litchfield and his team broker a deal between the two powers “below the line” to stop them going to war. At the end of the book although he is successful as the two nations avoid going to war it is the loved ones of Thomas who ultimately pay the highest price.

Neither good nor evil; Litchfield is a survivor who adapts to the situation around him: The two key impact characters that influence the Litchfield character are: his true love a former beautiful young prostitute from Turkmenistan that he saves one night and his bodyguard who tries to act as the voice of reason in his life, but fails. The book’s overall premise is. “Blood is always thicker than water,” and despite trying what may Litchfield and the villain and those around them can never escape their pasts and with the underlying theme of “Life doesn’t always bring everybody who commits a crime to justice” and there always has to be a “Scapegoat” when the Bear meets the Eagle in the field of battle.

This is the first book in the series the second story “The Devil’s Playground” due out in August and is set in North Korea, Japan, Turkmenistan, China and Russia.

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Featured Book: Ruby Silver by Randall Reneau

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About Ruby Silver by Randall Reneau

Geologist Trace Brandon and his partner Will Coffee are just back from Liberia, West Africa. Cashed-up and looking for a new venture, they once again team up with Cyrus “The Virus” McSweeny. This time the quarry is the silver-rich ore of the old Ruby Mining District. And this time they’ll not only have the Pantelli crime family to deal with, but also lumberman Autry Ollinger—three hundred pounds of obnoxiousness whose preferred method of negotiation is a right hook. When the Pantellis unleash a bizarre extortion plot to seize control of Ruby Mining Company, Cyrus is forced to bring former clandestine operative Marion Thistlewaite out of retirement. Marion’s unique expertise may give them the edge they need to hold on to their company . . . and their lives.

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Unmarked Grave by Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson

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Ardis Cole travels to Scotland to do a facial reconstruction on a skull her friend Bruce McBrier has discovered in the woods outside his ancestral castle. Because of an ancient ax buried in the skull, Bruce presumes the skull to be a historical relic, possibly the remains of a medieval ancestor murdered in battle. When Ardis makes the shocking discovery that the remains are that of a more recent murder, Constable Mark Ridley asks her help in going ahead with the facial reconstruction in hopes the victim can be identified. But someone is willing to go to great lengths … even murder … to keep the skull’s deadly secret.

Targeted Age Group:: General Readership

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My sister and I took a trip to Scotland and we saw many interesting castles and heard intriguing stories about Scottish history. We just had to write a book set in Scotland, so we chose this setting for our second Ardis Cole mystery.

The Monster of Silver Creek by Belinda G. Buchanan

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Terror has come to this small town in Prairie County, Montana. A sinister killer is on the loose. A serial killer who feeds off of young women’s fear…and leaves a most unusual calling card. Police Chief Nathan Sommers is on the hunt, but every road leads to a dead end.

Nathan is battling his own demons as he tries to cope with the death of his wife. He feels her dying was a direct result of his actions and is consumed with guilt.

His personal life becomes more complicated when he meets Katie, the pretty new owner of the bakery. Nathan slowly builds a relationship with her, but still struggles with Jenny’s death.

As he draws nearer to the killer, everything in his life suddenly comes undone. He is forced to deal with his feelings for Katie, as well as his love for his dead wife.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My family and I had taken a day trip to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. They had recently found a new entrance, but you had to take a bus to get there. Okay, so we get on the bus. As I’m looking around, I happen to take notice of the driver. He looked as if driving the bus was his day job, and at night he went back to his prison cell.

So, with my imagination being what it is, I immediately began to think about a story involving a serial killer in a small town. We live by a lake, so I decided to center it around water.

Seven weeks later, The Monster of Silver Creek was created.

And as a side note – personal impressions aside, the bus driver was very nice. He actually pointed out a rattlesnake about fifteen feet away from me as I was getting back on the bus. Needless to say, I hurried. 🙂

A Deal on a Handshake by Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson

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What a deal! This short story book introduces Sheriff Jeff McQuede, the hero of the High County Mystery Series. In these seven mysteries Sheriff Jeff McQuede finds himself square in the middle of a deal made on a handshake—where the result is murder. Set in modern-day Wyoming, the stories take place at an old-time mountain man rendezvous, in a pawn shop where traders vie over rare Native American pottery, and after an engagement ceremony where two family patriarchs pretend to bridge a lifetime of feuding by the gift of a rare peace pipe. McQuede’s arch-enemy Ruger, is a suspect in many of these tales, and just manages to evade his traps. In each of these stories McQuede= relentlessly seeks out the dangerous men who have broken trust.

Full-length novels in the High Country Mystery Series include Murder in Black and White, Whispers of the Stones, Stealer of Horses, and The Executioner’s Hood.

Targeted Age Group:: General Readership

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The inspiration to write this book and all the books in the High Country Mystery Series arose from the Wyoming setting and the many stories we’ve heard, both past and present. Our background in antique dealing also led to the creation of many stories that deal with rare finds and artifacts discovered in unusual place such as swap meets. The High Country of Wyoming seemed a perfect place to tell our tales.

Red Dog Saloon by R.D. Sherrill

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Six men commit an unspeakable act during the foolishness of their youth while at a country bar. Twenty years later, long after the Red Dog Saloon has burned to the ground, someone has come back for revenge. Now they fear for their lives as the mysterious reaper takes them one at a time. Meanwhile the county sheriff is trying to unravel the mystery of why his normally quiet town has become a killing field.

Targeted Age Group:: 15 and up

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The inspiration came during a Sunday morning service. The minister was preaching about how you can be forgiven for your sins in Heaven but you still have to pay the price here on earth. That’s what gave me the idea of that for some acts there is no redemption.

Definitely Dead by Lois Winston

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When her career is outsourced to Asia, fledgling romance author and empty-nester Gracie Elliott wants a job that will allow her time to write. So she opens Relatively Speaking, becoming a wing woman to the senior set. Since her clients need several hours each morning to find their teeth, lube their creaky joints, and deal with lower GI necessities, and they always turn in after the early bird specials, she has plenty of time to pen her future bestsellers.

Gracie deliberately avoids mentioning her new business venture to husband Blake until after she signs her first client. Blake joins the company as a not-so-silent partner, tagging along to make sure Gracie doesn’t cause a septuagenarian uprising. When Client #13 is found murdered in the parking lot behind the Moose Lodge, Gracie knows, no matter how much Blake protests otherwise, she can’t wait around for the police to find the killer if she wants to save her livelihood.

Targeted Age Group:: adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I’ve always loved the old Thin Man movies from the 1940’s and wanted to create a modern day spin of them. With my husband and wife sleuthing team, the wife is the sleuth, and her husband tags along to try to keep her out of trouble.

Empty Places by Martin Roy Hill

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The year is 1987. Battle-scarred news service correspondent Peter Brandt
returns from covering the wars in Central America to bury his ex-wife, Palm
Springs TV reporter Robin Anderson, after her brutal murder. When Peter
discovers the local police refuse to investigate Robin’s murder, he sets out
with an old friend, retired cop Matt Banyon, to find her killer. They unearth
secrets old and new – a shadow world of sex and drugs, political corruption, and
a wealthy Cuban freedom fighter with a suspicious past. In a final,
cliff-hanging struggle, Peter faces his own demons – and death in a dark and
empty place.

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I am a former journalist, and covered many of the events described in this novel. I wanted to write a novel that explored the what the United States was truly like in the decade of the Eighties.