Monday, July 31, 2017

MYSTERY MONDAY: When a serial killer comes home looking to tie up loose ends, FBI agent Sable Quinn must remember her past to stop him. SABLE QUINN TRILOGY BOXED SET FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED



Title: Sable Quinn Trilogy Boxed Set
K. J. Dahlen

ISBN: 978-1-62420-255-1

Genre: Mystery/Crime
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level: 1

BLURBS

The Darkness Within

When a serial killer comes home looking to tie up loose ends, FBI agent Sable Quinn must remember her past to stop him. She alone holds the key to his identity and it’s been locked in her memory for twenty years. She survived being a victim once, can she save herself and an entire family by stopping the killer before he claims them all as his next victims?

Legacy of Murder

When Micah died Sable thought her troubles were over but she’s plunged back into her nightmare when another family member comes after her. He’s not only after what’s left of the Reardon family, but before he murders them he wants to bring down Gabriel’s empire. Sable has to fight to keep herself alive and the others. Will she survive the day of reckoning?

The Unknown Son

FBI agent Sable Quinn has survived several attempts on her life by members of the Reardon family, serial killers with a link to her own past. Now another family member has surfaced, an UNKNOWN SON determined to murder Sable where others have failed.

But Noah must let Sable live long enough to reclaim a fortune in stolen money, gold, and jewels. Unknowingly, Sable possesses the key to this fortune: an ivory handled knife taken as evidence in the murders of her family members.


EXCERPTS

The Darkness Within

I am just a simple man, living the American dream;
I might be just like you except for the fact that
I am also a serial killer. At first I hated that part of myself, I tried to deny the truth for a long time but I couldn’t deny the excitement that I felt when I began hunting an innocent woman only to end her life. The more I hunted the better I became at hiding from the world my dark secret. Over the years I began to crave the rush I got when the raging beast inside me reared its ugly head. The obsession grew until all I could think about was the next kill, the next young woman whose life I would cut short.

Sable’s hand gripped the pages of what she had just read as she looked up at her boss. “Nick,” she wet her parched lips with the tip of her tongue.

Nick glanced over at her and frowned. Sable’s face was pale and there was a quickness to her breathing that wasn’t normal. “What is it?”

Sable held out the pages to him and sat down at her desk carefully. She put her hands to either side of her head and slowly closed her eyes against the shock she felt. She rubbed her aching temples in an effort to calm her nerves. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the plain manila envelope lying on her desk. The envelope had her full first name Sabella scrawled in ink on the outside of it. This was the envelope she had opened moments ago. Sable frowned as she reread the name on the front of the envelope. It wasn’t a name she used and no one other than her mother ever called her by that name.

Sable opened her desk drawer and pulled out a large clear plastic bag and carefully tucked the envelope inside. Looking up she saw concern on the faces in front of her. Without saying a word she handed the envelope to her boss, Nicholas Ramer.

Nick glanced at the envelope and compared the writing to that of the letters. Sable’s name was written by the same hand as the pages. He was surprised to find there was no return address on the envelope, and it hadn’t been run through the post office. It had been hand delivered. “What the hell? How did this get in here undetected?”

Nick looked over at the other members of his team and handed the envelope to Quentin Parks. “Run this over to fingerprinting and see who besides us has handled it.” 

Nick glanced at Brandi Nichols. “Get a board in here and set it up with the pages. Let’s get a handle on what exactly we’re dealing with.”

He looked over at Max. “See if you can find anything on the surveillance tapes from last night. I don’t like the fact that this guy just walked into our offices without being stopped along the way. This is supposed to be a secure FBI office.”

Max nodded and left the room.

Nick pulled a chair up beside Sable and sat down. “Do you know anything about the pages? How they got into the office or who wrote them?”

“No,” Sable replied. “I found the envelope sitting on my desk and I opened it. I guess I really didn’t think about it.” She looked at Nick and had to ask, “What’s going on here?”

Nick shrugged. “That’s one of the things we need to find out. We also need to find out if this is real or a hoax; and if it is a hoax, we still need to find out who is responsible. I’m not sure I like the fact that someone can just walk in here off the streets and leave a package on one of our desks then walk out again undetected. If it's real, we need to find out who this killer is and how to stop him.” He stood up and held out his hand to her, “Let’s find out what this guy has to say. Let’s do our job and get him off the streets.”


Legacy of Murder

"I know you’re probably wondering what I’m doing here," Gabriel began. He had to pause for a moment then he continued as he laid the envelope on her desk. "I received this in the mail the other day. I’m not really sure what to do with it."

He pushed the envelope over to her then waited while she picked it up. Sable glanced at it, unable to recognize the writing. The letter was addressed to "The Honorable Gabriel Reardon."

Sable glanced over at him asking, "May I?"

He watched as she opened the envelope.

Shocked at the contents of the envelope, she pulled out a birth certificate, a photograph of a small child, and a note. Picking up the photo of the child, she looked it over carefully. The child appeared to be around four to six years old. His hair was a dark color although it was hard to tell. She couldn’t take her eyes off the child‘s face. What drew her gaze was the color of the boy’s eyes. Sable glanced at the birth certificate and quickly read the note. When she finished, she glanced at Gabriel. "Is this for real?"

"As far as I can make out it is," Gabriel said.

A sense of dread filled her as she reread the letter in the envelope. "You murdered my father. I’m here to even the score so watch your backs because you won’t see me coming until its too late. Vengeance shall be mine." The letter was signed Sam.

Sable picked up the birth certificate again and read it carefully. It said a son named Sam had been born to Abbey Larsen one year after Sable had been left for dead in the dry well. The certificate named Micah Reardon as the father of the baby. Doing some math Sable determined Sam was about twenty years old.

Nick and Max were in the office. She had forgotten Quentin and Brandi were out on another case. They would be gone for another three weeks.

"Nick," Sable called out. "We have a problem."

Nick glanced up from the papers he was looking at and frowned. His tall lanky frame barely fit the chair he was sitting in. His dark hair was cut short. Some days it stuck straight up but not today. He remembered the last time she’d said those very words. His frown deepened when he saw Gabriel Reardon sitting at her desk. Nick pushed his chair back away from his desk. He stood, walking toward her desk. "What kind of problem?"

"Oh you know, nothing big," Sable told him. "It seems I have a brother who wants to take over where my father left off and kill his entire family."

Nick stopped. The look on his face was priceless. He snapped his head toward Gabriel as he growled, "What is it with your family? Are they all nuts?"

"It seems they are."


The Unknown Son

With both her life and a fortune on the line, Sable fights her toughest battle yet. Will she survive the final showdown against the last serial killer of the Reardon family?
Sable glanced over at the empty desk in the office and wondered when Max would be back. The bullet he received from Shawn last week had done a number on him, but he survived. She had hoped the nightmare of her past was truly over now but even as she gazed at the open letter on her desk, she knew she might have one more battle to fight.

The letter was from Maggie Yost and it had come out of the blue. She hadn’t thought about Maggie since she’d left Chicago a few months ago. She’d disappeared from the hospital against medical advice after Micah died. Sable tried calling her in Cleveland but Maggie had never returned. Sable learned from Kyle Benson, Maggie’s landlord, she had called him and asked him to pack her things and put them in storage. She would deal with them later. That had happened a couple months ago. Since then he had not seen her or heard from her.

Sable was surprised by Maggie’s letter, but her surprise soon turned to dismay when she read what she had to say. The dismay turned to dread when she realized her nightmare wasn’t quite over yet.

This is the hardest letter I’ve ever had to write. I’ve never admitted this to anyone else, not even myself, but I made a very bad mistake twenty two years ago and now that mistake is going to kill me. I told you I fell in love with Richard at the same time your mother was with Micah, but that wasn’t the truth. Summer had been with Micah earlier, almost two or three years earlier. When Micah and Richard came back and Micah found out about you, that’s when I met Richard.

I fell in love with what I thought was his bad boy image. I didn’t realize what I thought was an image was the real deal until it was too late. He was a real bad person. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I knew if I left him Richard would track me down and kill me. He told me often enough when he noticed I didn’t want to be with him anymore. I thought he was becoming lost to his own reality then he was dead. When Micah killed Richard, I knew I had to run before he could find and murder me. I saw the fight they had that day and I was witness to the murder. I knew the only way he wouldn’t kill me is if he couldn’t locate me. I had to run away and that’s exactly what I did. I moved around a lot so Micah wouldn’t find me.

It wasn’t until weeks later I found out I was carrying Richard’s child. At first I didn’t know if I wanted to keep the baby or not, but in the end I couldn’t harm my baby. My baby was the only innocent one out of the bunch of us. It was hard to be alone and pregnant, but I knew I couldn’t go home. My family would never have understood my relationship with Richard, and I wanted to keep my baby. When my son Noah was born, I tried to forget his father. I had hopes he would become my son and not a reflection of Richard.

We struggled but we had each other. Noah was such a happy child and he became the love of my life. After awhile, I guess I had forgotten about Micah. I thought I dodged the worse but all that changed when my son was ten. He became secretive and sneaky and he began looking at me with mistrust. I tried to get him to talk to me but he wouldn’t tell me what I’d done wrong. It never dawned on me I could lose him; especially not to the one person I had learned to fear more than Richard. Noah spent a lot of time away from home but he wouldn’t tell me where he was or who he was with. Then when he was fourteen he ran away. It was several weeks before I realized he was running straight to Micah.

Micah sent me a postcard about three weeks after Noah disappeared. He told me not to worry about my son; Noah was with him and he would raise him to be a man, just like his father was. He told me he would be back to settle the score with me at a later date. Every day for the last nine years I’ve had to live with the fear that one day Micah would just show up at my front door. I moved from town to town hoping to avoid the confrontation I knew was coming.

When you found me, I was almost relieved. I’m only sorry I didn’t tell you the truth, the whole truth but I had to keep certain things from you. I still had to protect my son. I prayed Noah wasn’t with Micah and for a moment I thought he wasn’t. When Micah took me to the well, he told me Noah had become the man he had hoped. He said Noah took to the life better than Richard had and if by some chance Micah died in the final battle between the two of you, it would be Noah that would finish his work; Noah, Sam, or Shawn.

I’ve been running for awhile now but it hasn’t done any good. No matter where I go I can still feel him right behind me. I don’t know if he’s really there or not but someone has been watching me. Maybe it’s only my conscience making me feel this way, but the other day I saw someone standing on the corner staring at me. I came to La Crosse to get lost in the crowds but I think Noah has found me again. I know after all I’ve done to you, you have no reason to help me but I’m begging you to please help me. I don’t want to die by my son’s hand.

Even as I write this letter I can feel him getting closer. I received a call late last night. When I picked up the phone, I heard a voice I barely remembered. He told me he was in town and wanted to stop by and say hello. When I told him I didn’t believe him, he told me I shouldn’t. He said he was here to tie up loose ends. He said he had a job to finish and Micah was counting on him to finish it.


“Nick,” she called out.

Nick lifted his head from the report he was reading. When Sable held up the letter she received in the morning mail, he pushed back his chair. Walking over to her desk, he took the letter and began reading it. A moment later he lifted his eyes from the paper and looked at her. “Are you kidding?”

Sable shook her head. “Apparently this nightmare isn’t quite over yet.”






Sunday, July 30, 2017

ROMANCE SUNDAY: Fifteen years and many heart-wrenching experiences after their disastrous first meeting, a reformed rock star and the woman who idolized him as a teenager get a second chance to prove songs of the heart are the sweetest music of all. ROCK'N ROMANCE BOXED SET FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED



Title: Rock'n Romance Boxed Set
Author: Genie Gabriel
ISBN: 978-1-62420-261-2

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level: 2
Buy at: Amazon

BLURB

The Rockstar

Fifteen years and many heart-wrenching experiences after their disastrous first meeting, a reformed rock star and the woman who idolized him as a teenager get a second chance to prove songs of the heart are the sweetest music of all.

The Bodyguard

Psychiatrist Julia Cabot's life has always gone according to plan -- until her husband's charming affability explodes into violence. Terrified for her life and the safety of her children, Julia runs. She finds an unlikely haven with a man her children think is the angel they wished for after they find feathers on the floor. Former bodyguard Mitch Garrison is trained to protect, but something went fatally wrong five years ago when his wife was shot while helping an abused woman. Mitch's nightmares come to life when Julia appears, a jagged purple bruise marring her face. But when her ex-husband kidnaps her children, Julia and Mitch join forces in a journey that brings them face to face with their deepest fears and their most passionate desires.

The Leader of the Band

On stage, band leader Zach Zacata controls the emotions of thousands of fans, but he can't control his middle-aged body. When he has a heart attack, best friend and sometime lover Lauren Westover provides a place where Zach can heal. And Zach realizes he has one more chance to win Lauren's love--if a killer doesn't get to them first.

EXCERPT

Spotlights flashed in rainbows across the stage. Red. Green. Blue. Crisscrossing until they merged into one white-hot light on Geoff Chastain’s face, evoking memories of other times. The screams of thousands of teenaged girls washed through his memory as he pulled the microphone from its stand.

The first notes of his daughter's favorite song filled the auditorium and his breath caught, jagged, in his chest. Pain pulsed through Geoff's heart with each beat of the drum. He nearly dropped to his knees, longing to crawl back into the self-imposed exile where he had existed since his daughter died.

The faces of the kids in wheelchairs looked up at him with bright expectation. The whispers of the singers waiting in the stage wings curled around him in concern.

Daddy, promise you won’t let the music die. His daughter’s last request haunted Geoff. He never suspected life would become so desolate he would forget to eat and sleep, let alone lose touch with the music that had always flowed so easily from his soul.

A singer moved from the wings to stand beside him. Her presence drifted around him in silent encouragement. Her sweet contralto coaxed him to sing with her.

Focus, he ordered his brain, staring at the woman. Waves of auburn hair framed her face, then tumbled halfway down a lush body barely covered in spandex and sequins. A woman designed to stir a man to action.

Geoff's voice rasped with disuse on the first verse; the woman's harmony covered it. As he started the second verse, an image of his daughter swam before his eyes and Geoff's throat closed. The woman picked up the melody without missing a beat, as if they had planned this duet.

He grasped at her hand and drew a deep breath. Her soft scent filled his nostrils, drawing his attention away from the pain. Giving him the strength to dig deep inside where the music had lain in silent mourning.

Geoff's voice mingled with hers on the chorus, then soared as he soloed the third verse. Their voices chased each other through the final refrain, then their eyes met and held on the last triumphant note. Awed silence hung for a moment before applause erupted and the crowd was in motion.

A sea of well-wishers swarmed onto the stage. Not the frenzied near-riots of years ago, but the exuberant cheer of celebration. Smiles and congratulations wrapped warmly around Geoff as men pumped his hand and women kissed his cheek.

But the mysterious auburn-haired woman who saved his musical butt had disappeared.


Saturday, July 29, 2017

SCI/FI FANTASY SATURDAY: SPIRIT OF LOVE BY J.L. ADDICOAT FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED



Author: J. L. Addicoat
ISBN: 978-1-62420-067-0
Email: jladdicoat@gmail.com

Genre: Paranormal/Romance
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level:


Old buildings have an eerie haunting feeling, and the 17th Century Manor house in the Cornish countryside Julia intends to restore, is no exception. Originally her dead husband’s dream, she feels it’s up to her to complete it in his memory. When she arrives, she realizes it’ll take more than a quick clean to put the dilapidated old Manor to rights.
While exploring the house, she feels as someone, or something, is watching her. Darting shadows and movements, seen from the corner of her eyes, seem to confirm sinister happenings at the Manor in the past. The discovery of an old diary hidden in a chest of drawers and the story it tells, lead Julia in a different direction than she originally thought she would be taking.

EXCERPT

A sense of foreboding settled in Julia's stomach as she quickly returned to the car. She didn't know what it was about the manor, but each time she visited, the hair stood up on the back of her neck. It felt as if something or someone was watching her.
Starting the car's engine, she drove slowly down the weedy, rutted path, the car bouncing as its wheels sank into the potholes. Julia cringed at the jolts and scraping sounds coming from underneath the vehicle. "I should never have sold the Landcruiser. What was I thinking, bringing the Jag?" She knew what she had been thinking. She was the Mistress of the Manor now, and wanted to show off.
As she bumped along through the avenue of trees, the manor revealed itself. Grey stone blocks of the façade gave a haunting welcome. Julia swallowed a lump in her throat and tears pricked her eyes. It wasn't right. Richard should have been here with her. He'd wanted to restore the old mansion for a while. This was his dream house.
Instead, it had become his burial place.
She'd promised, while she knelt at his graveside, to restore the old manor in his memory. That had been two years ago. The memories of the time still haunted her. Grief and loneliness had held her back. Mentally, she felt stronger now, and able to accept having to carry on alone. "Get a grip on yourself Julia. It's an old house. It's bound to have a few creaks and groans."
Parking the Jag next to the front door, she unpacked, placing the bags in front of the massive wooden doors. The leering gargoyle face on the door knocker sent a shiver through her. Placing a hand over its face so she wouldn't have to look at it, Julia turned the door key in the lock and pushed the door open.
She'd never been inside the manor. Richard had gone inside, but she had stayed outside in the gardens. Just the look of the grey stone on the outside gave her an eerie feeling. The same feeling assailed her now. She glanced back. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something or someone was watching her. She was sure of it.
Get inside and shut the door. Then they won't be able to see you. Quickly picking up her bags she kicked a small bag forward with her foot, in an effort to get everything inside and shut the door. After closing it, she turned around and gasped. The entrance opened in front of her. Large marble tiles covered the floor, with the roof looming high above. A hand-carved wooden staircase in front of her wound its way to the first floor.
Oh, Richard. If you could only see this as I am now. I can see you running up the stairs, sliding your hands over the banisters and pulling up the carpet to see the wood underneath. I can see the delight in your eyes.
She ran her fingers over a nearby wall. Tracing the raised wallpaper patterns with her fingertips brought a sense of loss, a heaviness to her heart. She could feel the loneliness of the building. To her, it felt neglected, like it hadn't been loved for quite a while. Like her. Great, now you're associating yourself with a building. A moldy, musty stench emanated from the old, red, patterned carpet on the stairs, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell.
Once, people had walked up and down the rich, red-carpeted staircase. She could imagine children sliding down its curved railing, laughing as they reached the curled end, then running back up the stairs again for another trip. She smiled at the visualization it brought to her mind.
Now, the only footsteps it felt were from the mice chewing holes in its carpet, showing the bare wooden boards underneath. Yes, this is a very sad house indeed. As she turned left into what appeared to be the library, she caught a shadowy movement from the corner of her eye. She spun and glanced around, but nothing was there.
"Hello, is anyone there?" Silence was her answer. Maybe a bird had flown in through a broken window somewhere? She shook her head, chiding herself for being silly and so jumpy. She laughed to herself. I'll be seeing ghosts next. A cold shiver ran through her at the thought.
Turning back, she walked into the library. Stopping just inside the door, Julia closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She could smell the books. Even if she had been blind, the aroma of the old paper would have told her exactly which room she was in. Bookcases lined the walls from the floor to the ceiling. They were full of dusty tomes, maps, and leather clad books. Lifting the dust covers off chairs and furniture as she walked around the room, she couldn't believe so much was still here. With a flick of her hand on a cloth, she uncovered a beautiful walnut sideboard. The glass was intact, as well. It'd look wonderful after she had given it a polish, she thought to herself. Old oil paintings hung in spaces on the walls, created just for them.
She stood in the center of the room and slowly turned in a circle. It dawned on her how much work was actually needed. Cleaning she could do, but she wouldn't be able to do it all herself. Help would have to be brought in, especially for the wiring and plumbing. Julia lowered herself into one of the chairs, realizing finally, the enormity of the job ahead of her.