You can’t run from A Killer Past by Maris Soule

A Killer Past by Maris Soule

Can we run from the past? I don’t think so.

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY REVIEW

I was drawn to A Killer Past for numerous reasons, the title, the cover, the blurb and the location, Michigan. I love to read books that are in a location I an familiar with and I know a bit about Michigan. This is not your comfy, cozy mystery.

Sergeant Jack Rossini had been called to a scene where two gang members claimed to be beaten up by a little old woman. After they arrived at the hospital, they changed their story to ninjas, ending with they fell.

That little old lady is Mary Harrington, who is 74 and looked like easy prey. Boy were they wrong. She kicked their ass, but that created a big problem for her, exposure. Now, not only is she in danger, but also those close to her. How far would they go to keep the past buried?

I knew the premise of the story was a forgone conclusion, but I was looking forward to some twists and turns that would entertain me. The first one was Mary Harrington.

I mean…a 74 year old woman is the main character and her hidden past forces her to go on the offensive. Even though it had been years since she had used martial arts, actions were done by reflex. All her training had paid off.

Even after being warned, Jack does not let the mystery lie. He wants answers. Will he get them? Will he wish he had left well enough alone? We shall see.

Seeing I am no spring chicken myself, it was hard to buy into her kicking ass and taking a few kicks herself, then walking away. I know surprise was on her side, so I’ll give it to her. I don’t know what is missing in A Killer Past, but I did not feel a sense of urgency. I knew the gang members would retaliate, I mean, they are gang members, after all. Isn’t that what they do? It took me three days to read it. It lacks that something extra that makes it unputdownable. Nevertheless, A Killer Past was worth reading and I did enjoy it. I would recommend this as a not so cozy, easy reading mystery.

I received A Killer Past by Maris Soule in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos  3 Stars

SYNOPSIS

When two gang members choose Mary Harrington as their target, the quiet widow has a secret to share of her own

Most people in the town of Rivershore, Michigan view Mary Harrington as a quiet widow whose only oddity is that she spends a lot of time at the gym. Her son thinks it’s time for her to move into a retirement home. Two gang members think she’ll be an easy target. No one in Rivershore knows what Mary did in her younger years—really did—but the two gang members discover they’ve underestimated their victim . . . and Mary fears reverting to old habits may have jeopardized her future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Profile photoAward winning author of 25 romances, 2 mystery and 2 short stories, with 2 suspense novels coming out 2015. Maris Soule was born and raised in California but moved to the midwest two years after her marriage. She is a member of MWA, MMRWA, Sisters-in-Crime, RWA, FWA, and Authors’ Guild. Soule is still married to the same man, has two grown children, and two granddaughters. She is currently working on another mystery, this one set in Skagway, Alaska.”

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Teaser Tuesday #47 – A Killer Past by Maris Soule

TeaserTuesdays-ADailyRhythm3

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of adailyrhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read. Open to a random page. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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A Killer Past by Maris Soule

Can we run from the past? I don’t think so.

Add me to Goodreads now.

TEASER

“He’…How to explain? ‘I think he threatened me.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me to stop checking into Mary Harrington’s background. Said if I didn’t my actions could have consequences.”

(57% on Kindle)
SYNOPSIS
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When two gang members choose Mary Harrington as their target, the quiet widow has a secret to share of her own

Most people in the town of Rivershore, Michigan view Mary Harrington as a quiet widow whose only oddity is that she spends a lot of time at the gym. Her son thinks it’s time for her to move into a retirement home. Two gang members think she’ll be an easy target. No one in Rivershore knows what Mary did in her younger years—really did—but the two gang members discover they’ve underestimated their victim . . . and Mary fears reverting to old habits may have jeopardized her future.

Cover linked to Amazon. I am an affiliate.

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What are you reading?

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.
To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

animated smilies photo: animated animated.gifLook on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Haunted by Maris Soule Giveaway

Tour_Banner_-_Haunted

Halloween is the perfect time of year for Haunterd by Maris soule.

I love the creepy cover and can only imagine the creepiness inside.

Look for the synopsis and excerpt and be sure to enter the giveaway.

Hope your Halloween is spooktacular!

Haunted - 3D Book - 1500

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HAUNTED by Maris Soule

  • Genre: Romantic Suspense
  • Release Date: November 27, 2012
  • Length: 185 Pages

 

SYNOPSIS

It doesn’t matter to Valerie Wiggins that most people believe Jason McLain killed his wife. She needs the three-time Oscar winner’s expertise in special effects if they are going to turn their local charity’s annual haunted house into a money maker. Besides, every since she first saw his picture in the tabloids, she’s been attracted to him: his piercing dark brown eyes, unruly brown hair, and unsmiling mouth. And even though he’s come to this small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains to hide, she won’t take no for an answer. Except once he says yes, he fears he’s pulled her into the darkness that continues to haunt him.

EXCERPT

“Nowadays every town and city in the United States has a haunted house at Halloween time. If you want Slaterville’s to bring people from miles around, it’s going to have to be different. More spectacular, frightening, and mysterious than any other haunted house in Northern California.”

Valerie Wiggins parked her white Ford in front of a run-down, peak-roofed mountain cabin and cursed herself for standing up and giving that speech at the last WIN meeting. The squeaking door didn’t get oiled, it got volunteered. It was now her responsibility to create a “different” haunted house, and her job to make sure it was more spectacular, frightening, and mysterious than any other haunted house around.

Just what she needed, another job.

She didn’t have the time. She didn’t have the energy.

Cut the bull, she told herself as she stared at the cabin. The truth was, she did have the time. And the energy. And she didn’t mind being in charge of the project. What she didn’t want to do was talk to the man who lived in this house.

“We have just the person who can help us turn our haunted house into a success,” she’d said at the meeting that night. “Living right outside of town.”

As if every woman in the room didn’t know about Jason McLain.

So now, thanks to her big mouth, she was the one appointed to talk to Slaterville’s newest and most infamous resident. His reputation alone scared most of the other women.

His reputation scared Val.

Unless you knew, you’d never guess a man who’d won three Academy Awards for special effects lived in this house. If he was as rich as the papers had said, he sure wasn’t using his money to upgrade his property. In the six months since he’d moved to Slaterville, he’d done nothing to improve the exterior of the old Dalton place. The fence was broken in several places; beneath the snow, the small patch of lawn that had existed years before was no more than weeds; the bushes around the house were overgrown and dying; and the porch sagged. All of the wood needed a fresh coat of paint.

The only changes she could see from back when the place had stood abandoned for years were the broken windows had been replaced and heavy drapes and venetian blinds kept passersby from looking inside. There were certainly no signs of life. The snow hadn’t been shoveled from the walkway, no smoke curled from the chimney, and no lights showed behind the closed drapes and blinds. There was nothing to indicate anyone lived in the cabin except the tire tracks that led to the garage near the side door.

Or perhaps away from it.

Maybe he’s not home, Val thought as she opened her car door.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Picture - Maris Soule“Write what you love and know.”   That’s the advice given to writers.

I fell in love with the Rhodesian Ridgeback the first time I saw one at a dog show. I love their temperament, their intelligence, and their personalities. I’ve shown them, bred them, whelped them, cried when I sent a puppy off to a new owner, and been as proud as a motherwhen one won at a dog show.

I also love living in the country. I have childhood memories of catching pollywogs in the creek that ran by our two acres in Walnut Creek, California; being able to pick ripe peaches from the tree (also almonds, pears, English walnuts, apricots and more); and sitting in my “thinking” tree making up stories.

When I married my husband, we were living in Santa Barbara, but his father was ill and we decided to move to Michigan to be closer to him. It was supposed to be a short-term move (just a couple years, my husband said). I won’t tell you how many years we’ve now lived in Michigan, but we now have grown children and teenage granddaughters. I haven’t regretted the move. Michigan is a beautiful state, and for 27 years we lived in the rural community of Climax. What a perfect location for a romance writer, and what a neat place to plot a mystery with a lot of suspense. (Yes, there are some similarities between the real Climax and my imaginary Zenith in The Crows and As the Crow Flies, but the events and people in those books are definitely fictional.)

We’ve now moved close to Lake Michigan (so my husband is near his sailboat), and we spend our winters in Florida, not far from the Gulf Coast. Both locations feed my love of being near water (remember that creek I played in and Santa Barbara) and are ideal places to nurture my desire to write. Whether I’m writing a romance, a mystery, or a combination of the two, I’m probably going to include an animal or two and there’s a good chance the characters will live in the country, the mountains, or near water. I’ve often used Michigan and California as settings, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Florida shows up in a future book. I’m sometimes asked if the characters in my books are based on me or someone I know. My answer is: Maybe bits and pieces, but my protagonists are always braver and smarter than I am (along with younger) and the antagonists are always nastier than the people I’ve known.

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Click on the cover below to get your Amazon copy of Haunted, or learn more about Maris Soule.

GIVEAWAY

taiwan flag smiley animated gif Pictures, Images and PhotosMaris is offering a $5 Amazon gift card.

Giveaway ends October 31, 2014.

ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.
To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

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