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Hello fellow bloggers. It was a quiet New Year and that’s all right. I hope the holidays were good for you and I think 2021 is going to be better. I signed up for the Covid vaccine through the county and have my fingers crossed that it won’t be months before I am able to get it. Gives me hope, seeing I haven’t been to the hardware store (my favorite shopping destination) in almost a year. I haven’t done a lot of blogging, but I sure have been reading a lot, especially from my TBR.
I am still trying to figure out a blogging schedule, now that Mr Wonderful is home all the time. May have to buy another laptop. I am blogging, almost, day by day and I don’t like that. I haven’t been commenting around the blogosphere a lot and I hope to create some kind of schedule for myself that will enable me to fit everything in.
After a house fire hospitalizes his partner and forces him onto medical leave, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police detective Vic Lenoski starts a desperate search for the woman who set the blaze. She is the one person who knows what happened to his missing teenage daughter, but as a fugitive, she’s disappeared so thoroughly no one can find her.
Risking his job and the wrath of the district attorney, Vic resorts to bargaining with criminal suspects for new leads, many of which point to North Dakota. He flies there, only to discover he is far from everything he knows, and his long-cherished definitions of good and bad are fading as quickly as his leads. His only chance is one last audacious roll of the dice. Can he stay alive long enough to discover the whereabouts of his daughter and rebuild his life? Or is everything from his past lost forever?
“The mystery plot itself is riveting…a captivating and emotionally intelligent crime drama.” — Kirkus Reviews
Book Details:
Genre: Mystery: Police Procedural Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: August 1, 2020 Number of Pages: 294 ISBN: 978-1-947915-56-5 Series: A Vic Lenoski Mystery; Pittsburgh Trilogy #3 || Each is a Stand Alone Mystery Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
Chapter 1
Sometimes you walk into a room and what’s inside changes your life forever. That sense stopped Vic just inside the doorway. A woman with skin the color of dark amber lay on the only bed, her bandaged arms shockingly white among the shadows. She was reflected in a large window in the far wall, the outside sky as black and still as the inside of a tomb. He smelled disinfectant and blood. Numbers and graph lines flared on grey-eyed medical monitors. Somewhere in the vast empty spaces of the hospital a voice echoed.
He’d never visited a burn ward.
Never had a partner so close to death.
Never thought a room could seem as hollow as he felt inside.
The feeling was so disembodying that when he reached the bed and looked into the woman’s face, he half expected to see himself. But it was Liz, her forehead and knobby cheekbones smeared with ointment, eyebrows and eyelashes burned away. A bandage covered her left earlobe where her favorite earring, a small gold star, usually sat. It seemed like every breath she took pained her.
He wanted to take her hand but the bandages made it impossible. “Liz,” he said softly, her name almost lost among the beeps and clicks of the monitors. Liquid dripped into a tangle of IV tubes at the back of her fist.
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Liz. Doctor told me I could talk to you.”
Her eyes opened. He watched her pupils widen and narrow as they absorbed the distance to the ceiling and distinguished shadows from feeble light.
“Vic?” A hoarse whisper.
“I’m here.”
She turned her face to him. “You got me out.”
Relief rose in Vic’s throat. “Yeah. But the house didn’t make it.”
“Cora Stills?”
Vic squeezed his eyelids shut and rocked on his heels. He didn’t know where to start. Cora Stills. The one person who knew something—anything—about his missing teenage daughter. Liz on her way to arrest her. Instead, Liz, handcuffed to a radiator pipe as flames lathered and stormed through Cora’s house. Cora’s burned-out car found two days later on a crumbling stone dock next to a deserted warehouse, the Allegheny River emptying westward.
Cora, alive and moving through that tomb of darkness outside the window. Free.
“Vic…” Liz said something more but he couldn’t make it out.
He bent closer.
She forced her words from somewhere deep inside, and as she spoke, he knew this was what she saved through all the fear and pain to tell him. “Someone told Cora I was coming.”
***
Excerpt from The Things That Last Forever by Peter W. J. Hayes. Copyright 2020 by Peter W. J. Hayes. Reproduced with permission from Peter W. J. Hayes. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
Peter W. J. Hayes worked as a journalist, advertising copywriter and marketing executive before turning to mystery and crime writing. He is the author of the Silver Falchion-nominated Pittsburgh trilogy, a police procedural series, and is a Derringer-nominated author of more than a dozen short stories. His work has appeared in Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Pulp Modern and various anthologies, including two Malice Domestic collections and The Best New England Crime Stories. He is also a past nominee for the Crime Writers Association (CWA) Debut Dagger Award.
Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!
Giveaway!!:
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Peter W.J. Hayes. There will be 4 winners for this giveaway. Two (2) winners will each receive one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card and two (2) winners will each receive one (1) physical copy of The Things That Last Forever by Peter W.J. Hayes (US Only). The giveaway begins on January 1, 2021 and runs through March 2, 2021. Void where prohibited.
The Dead Meat series reads like current events…except for the walking dead.
The virus is spreading and, even though, I was immediately drawn to some of the new characters in Dead Meat 6 by Nick Clausen, I knew not all of them would survive. Everything happens over the course of one day. Each story in the series leads to the next, so I highly recommend reading in order.
As usual, Dead Meat grabbed me from the beginning and never let me go.
Gory, grisly horror, but amongst the dark some light shines in the people who sacrifice their lives to save others. Some wonderful characters are still alive, fighting for survival. All the good and bad humanity has to offer comes forth in this novel of terror and horror. Some show courage and grace, others show the despicable side of us humans.
Unputdownable. Want to be grossed out? Want to fret and worry about characters and have to know what happens next? This series is for you.
And Dan…he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’s just a boy, but quickly grows up to meet what fate has in store for him. He shows great courage.
WOW! The suspense level is off the charts, the characters fabulous, even the not so good ones. I love watching the rag tag groups grow, change and learn to do whatever must be done…against all odds.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Dead Meat 6 by Nick Clausen.
4 Stars
AMAZON SYNOPSIS
The dead have awakened. The world is ending. Can the disaster still be stopped?
The
group of survivors head for the Faroe Islands in the hopes of reaching
safety. But their journey won’t be easy, as the dead are following them
every step of the way, and not everyone is destined to make it.
This is Day 6 of the zombie apocalypse.
Fans
of Mark Tufo, TW Piperbrook, Bobby Adair and Camille Picott will devour
this action-packed zombie book. And if you liked The Orphans, Dead
State or The End of Everything, you’ll love Dead Meat.
What readers are saying about Dead Meat:
★★★★★ “like reading an episode of The Walking Dead” – Amazon review
★★★★★ “I’ve read a lot of zombie series, and this is the best” – Amazon review
★★★★★ “terrifying, nightmare-inducing, impossible to put down” – Amazon review
ABOUT NICK CLAUSEN
Born 1988 in North Jutland,
where I still live with my wife, who also happened to be my earliest
childhood girlfriend. From 2017 I have lived as a full-time writer. Up
until then, I had different jobs beside the writing. I have been
studying as a carpenter for three years, and have also read two years of
psychology at Aalborg University. It turned out that the writing had a
much more powerful pull on me.
I decided early on that I would be an author when I grew up. In
fact, the decision came to me already when I read my first book,
Snevampyren by Dennis Jürgensen. My first “real” stories I wrote at
14-15 years of age. They were rejected by the publisher, but still got
praise. There were some years when I was busy with being a teenager and
trying to get an education before I suddenly remembered that I should
be an author.
That day I made a promise
to write 1,000 words a day until I got a book published. I sat down and
started writing. I continued to write every single day for a year and a
half. I sent the finished manuscripts to different publishers, and the
rejections piled up. Twelve of them by the end. But each time I could
feel it was a little bit better. The criticism became more positive. The
thirteenth story was called Tidevandet, and it was adopted by the
publisher and came out a year later.
I have always enjoyed writing, although in the beginning I put a lot
of pressure on myself. My approach to the process has become much more
free over the years. For example, I no longer plan my stories. That
way, I feel that I’m experiencing the story while writing it and the
characters feel like real people. I do not know where the ideas come
from, but I’ve never had trouble finding them.
Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those
neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything
like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in
your stacks.
Lila Carmichael, outrageous, bawdy comedienne, is a rich and powerful woman in television. But, it’s not enough she has everything she desires; for fifteen years she has been obsessively orchestrating payback to five unsuspecting, former schoolmates—“friends” who played a nasty trick on her, and now it’s her turn for revenge.
Under the flattering auspices of a cozy college reunion, these unsuspecting classmates arIe invited to Lila’s private island for a weekend from hell where Lila forces them to play a vicious parlor game—a psychological “Ten Little Indians,” where one by one Lila’s guests are figuratively killed-off. Yet, revenge turns bittersweet when the weekend is over and one guest is dead.
A psychological spinoff of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” that Publisher’s Weekly calls “A page-turning thrill ride that will have readers holding their breaths the whole way through.”
I added Innocent Little Crimes by C S Lakin to my Goodreads TBR on 10.30.12. I must have won it and the author/publisher sent me an ebook. Amazon says the book is unavailable, but I see where she has a lot of books about writing, so she is still around. I will most likely read this because #1 the cover. Have to know….and I do love when a character takes care of a problem themselves. Psychological thrillers can have that little something extra we are all looking for. Ya know, a little bit of vigilante justice is sometimes in order. What do you think about taking the law into your own hands? Could you do it?
Tis the season and Seth is confirming Jessica’s role as Mrs Claus along with his as Santa. I am sure there will be a murder for the holiday.
Jessica is still at the Hill House Hotel since renovations on her burned out home at 698 Candlewood Lane has been met with setbacks. When she found out the septic system was not up to code and would have to be replaced, what do you think is going to happen? Isn’t it about time for a body to appear? Well, surprise, surprise, we have two…and a box…in the trench.
tad Hollenbeck, a tabloid reporter is there to report on Cabot Cove and why there seem to be in inordinate amount of murders taking place there. Jessica seems to draw them to her, like flies to honey and Tad ends up adding to the count. Why him, and who are the two found at Jessica’s home?
The town’s history comes to light and it’s not all peaches and cream.
When Sheila’s doorbell rang, I knew what was coming. I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, so it is pretty hard to surprise me…and I love when an author can.
Murder, treasure, greed, slavery…
What happened in the past? What secrets will be exposed? And…who the hell is doing all the killing? So many suspects and the clock ticks on.
As the story unfolds, my mind is at least able to keep up, using each new piece of the puzzle to put it together…slowly. It still takes Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land to get me there.
I did have a bit of a jolt, when Jessica walked into her house and someone grabbed her. After all, with all the bodies falling and Jessica on the investigation, someone could feel threatened by her. Hey…you can’t mess with Jessica. It’s just wrong!
Murder In Season by Jon Land is murder on the light side, seeing Jessica doesn’t like violence. And that’s just fine. It doesn’t always have to be violent and filled with blood and guts. And we do have many warm, wonderful moments for the holiday season, showing it is better to give than to receive, because family and friends give it back in spades.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Murder In Season by Jon Land.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
With work on the reconstruction of her beloved home almost complete, Jessica Fletcher is in high holiday spirits, spearheading the annual Christmas parade and preparing for her nephew Grady and his family to come to town. The only thing dampening the holiday cheer is the discovery of two sets of bones on Jessica’s property: one set ancient, the other only about a year old. It’s concluded that they were both placed there during the reconstruction, and Jessica suspects that, despite the centuries between them, the remains might be connected.
Soon tabloid reporter Tad Hollenbeck arrives in Cabot Cove to write a story about what he calls “the murder capital of the country.” But when Tad himself is murdered, Jessica speculates that his arrival, his death, and the discovery of the bones are all somehow linked.
As Jessica digs deeper to find the connection between the bones and Tad’s murder, everything seems to come back to a mystery that has long plagued Cabot Cove. If she wants to solve the case, she’ll need to delve into her beloved town’s dark history, or else this holiday season may be her last….
ABOUT JON LAND
Jon
Land is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of 36 books,
including the bestselling Caitlin Strong Texas Ranger series that
includes Strong Enough to Die, Strong Justice, Strong at the Break,
Strong Vengeance and, most recently, Strong Rain Falling. The Tenth
Circle marks the second return engagement of his longtime series hero
Blaine McCracken on the heels of last year’s Pandora’s Temple which was
nominated for a Thriller Award and received the 2013 International Book
Award for Best Adventure Thriller. Jon’s first nonfiction book,
Betrayal, meanwhile, was named Best True Crime Book of 2012 by Suspense
Magazine and won a 2012 International Book Award for Best True Crime
Book. He is currently working on Strong Darkness, the next entry in the
Caitlin Strong to be published in September of 2014. He graduated Phi
Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, where he continues
to maintain a strong volunteer presence, in 1979.
Jane Blythe writes some fabulous suspense/thrillers and I am always eager to read whatever she writes. So…buckle up, because I am sure this will be a bumpy ride.
Woo Hoo. Another romantic suspense novel for the Broken Gem series by Jane Blythe and I am super excited to share it with you.
Marigold was jealous of Emerald Hatcher, her cousin who is getting married, and she hates herself for it. Emerald deserves to be happy after all she has been through. Sure, love and life hasn’t worked out for Marigold…but Emerald and her sisters had been sold to traffickers and Marigold wants to be a part of their lives.
Of course, there is a hunkalicious piece of eye candy that catches her eye. I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to her for there to be a need to save her. Enter Jonah Jagger. He loves being a part of the Hatcher sister’s lives and wants a woman to love and cherish for himself. Jonah had filed for divorce because he was in love with the idea of love, not his wife, but she doesn’t accept it. How far will she go to TRY and get him back?
When the characters MEET…lips to lips…he cannot help himself. Nor could she. Marigold Vaile was there to change her life. Why not start with Mr Hottie? Seems all the girls want the cops that work with Sapphire, to her chagrin.
Marigold has a twin, Lavender. She had expected her to show up for the wedding. After all, she was the one that convinced Marigold to come in the first place. Marigold is the sensible one and Lavender has a devil may care attitude, but Marigold knows that something is very wrong when she doesn’t show up or answer her cell phone. A call to Sapphire and help is on the way. The sisters know what’s important in life and vow to make it happen.
WOW! That’s a direction I didn’t see going and the twists keep on coming, from one nightmare to another. AND, now, the suspense really ramps up. If you think you know where this romance suspense novel is going, you may be half right, because I know Jane Blythe will be adding a branch here and there on this family tree. I am waiting…for the other shoe to drop. How will it happen? When will it happen? I knew the moment was here when I wanted to take a two by four and smack Jonah up side the head. What a sap!
Jane Blythe’s writing is so wonderful and exciting with her happy ever afters that have me eagerly picking up each book with anticipation. She has never failed me, so I felt confident setting aside time. I know I won’t be putting the book down until the last page is read.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Salvaging Marigold by Jane Blythe.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
She’s been used by men her whole life what makes him any different?
Marigold Vaile has a bad track record when it comes to men, but she is determined to start the new year by making some changes. When her twin fails to show up for their cousin’s wedding she’s going to have to trust her one night stand to get her sister back alive. Is he different than all the others or will her heart be broken all over again?
Jonah Jagger moved to get away from his ex-wife after the disintegration of their marriage. When a stunning redhead catches his attention the two celebrate New Year’s Eve by tumbling into bed. What was only supposed to be one night quickly becomes more when he promises her cousin he’ll look after her as they hunt for her missing twin. Only a killer might not be all the couple has to contend with as his persistent ex circles closer.
ABOUT JANE BLYTHE
Jane
has loved reading and writing since she can remember. She writes dark
and disturbing crime/mystery/suspense with some romance thrown in
because, well, who doesn’t love romance? She has one completed series,
Detective Parker Bell, and one new series, Count to Ten.
When she’s not writing Jane loves to
read, bake, go to the beach, ski, horse ride, and watch Disney movies.
She has a black belt in Taekwondo, and a 200+ collection of teddy bears.
She has the world’s two most sweet and pretty Dalmatians, Ivory and
Pearl. Oh, and she also enjoys spending time with family and friends!
Barn burning in a sleepy farming community is a serious enough matter, but a grisly murder or two in a small midwest town is a showstopper. Throw in a serial blackmailer who has his claws in some of the town’s leading citizens and you have one big recipe for disaster.
Book Details:
Genre: Mystery Published by: Blue Shutter Publishing Publication Date: October 21st 2020 Number of Pages: 254 ISBN: 978-1-941611-16-6 Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
Blanche Gruman sprawled on the park bench in front of the Presbyterian Church Monday enjoying the afternoon sun, her long, tanned legs stretched out on the sidewalk in front of the bench. She looked serene, with her face turned sunward, eyes protected by aviator sunglasses. Her blonde hair was almost white, bleached by the sun, and she wore it long and loose.
“Afternoon, Blanche,” Charlie said as he made his way toward town hall.
Blanche turned her head to see who had spoken. “Well, hey, Charlie!” she replied. She quickly sat up, pulling her bare legs primly under the edge of the bench. It was a lady-like move; just what you would expect from Blanche. A broad smile, showing perfect pearl-white teeth lit up her face.
Blanche Gruman owned and operated a successful hair salon in town. For Shannon, it was an exclusive salon. Blanche was an excellent cutter and stylist, and her flamboyant but tasteful sense of style attracted the cream of Shannon’s women to her salon, as well as some of the more prominent men. She had expanded her business over the course of a decade, hiring additional staff, but she was the queen bee, and closely guarded her select clientele.
Blanche had never married, though she’d had a fairly constant parade of suitors. Rumor had it that when someone had once asked her why she had never married she had flippantly replied, “Why marry one man when I can make so many happy?” Whether or not this was true, it was generally agreed that Blanche had a less traditional approach to relationships with men than her female contemporaries, and it was speculated that many of her female devotees who religiously came to Blanche for hair treatment did so as a means of keeping an eye on her latest paramour, primarily to make sure it wasn’t a wayfaring husband.
“You look mighty pleased with yourself,” Charlie said. He stood in front of her, blocking the sun from her eyes. She removed her sunglasses, hooking one of the templates on the V-neck of a snug knit top that accented her generous curves.
“It’s a great day to celebrate life,” she told him, “and that’s just what I’m doing.” Clearly, she was enjoying herself.
Charlie changed the subject. “You hear about what happened to Otto Hilty the other night?”
His question soured Blanche’s mood noticeably. Her voice took on a hard edge when she responded. “That SOB …” she began. “I don’t truck with what happened to Otto,” she said, “but I’ll not shed any tears for him.” She put her sunglasses on and stood, facing Charlie. “Like I said … it’s a great day to celebrate.” She walked off leaving Charlie standing, literally, with his mouth agape.
***
Excerpt from Two Murders Too Many by Bluette Matthey. Copyright 2020 by Bluette Matthey. Reproduced with permission from Bluette Matthey. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
Bluette Matthey is a product of the melting pot of America’s settlers, with her ancestry rooted in the Swiss, German, and English cultures. She is a keen reader of mysteries who loves to travel and explore, especially in Europe. Bluette currently lives in Béziers, France, with her husband and band of loving cats. Other books by Bluette Matthey include the Hardy Durkin Travel Mystery series: Corsican Justice, Abruzzo Intrigue, Black Forest Reckoning, Dalmatian Traffick, and Engadine Aerie.
Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!
Giveaway!:
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Bluette Matthey. There will be five (5) winners for this tour. Each winner will receive an eBook of Two Murders Too Many by Bluette Matthey. The giveaway begins on December 1, 2020 and runs through January 2, 2021. Void where prohibited.
Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let’s share
some songs we’ve been enjoying lately! If you would like to play,
and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below HERE
Auld Lang Syne is a song that always brings a tear to my eye as we ring out the old year and welcome the new. Auld Lang Syne is a song that brings people together and gives us all a feeling of hope. Take care, be safe, and I hope the new year brings all your hopes and desires to light.
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup! and surely I’ll buy mine! And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
We two have run about the hills, and picked the daisies fine; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand o’ thine! And we’ll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
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Hello fellow bloggers. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. Not much new to report. Doing a lot of reading and watching TV. What have you been up to for the holidays?
