Vengeance in My Heart

L.C. Hayden's second installment in the Aimee Brent series is Vengeance in My Heart. Aimee paves a dangerous road for herself when she leaves Rich Cole and South Lake Tahoe to trace the man who murdered her mother.
The man she seeks is her biological father who today is rich and powerful with many employees who execute his commands with little regard to the consequences. He will stop at nothing to wipe his past clean when he is ready to move on the a new life under a different name. Aimee is at the top of Lee's list of expendables from his past.
Their purposes collide when Aimee's reporter skills bring her to Los Angeles to Disney World following the lead of a twenty-year old photograph of her father standing in the background of a picture that was taken at the famous theme park. The photo was taken months after he had supposedly drowned in a boating accident.
A master technician of voice, pace, place, and plot Hayden weaves a mystery of adventure and suspense.
Vengeance in My Heart should come with a warning label: Do Not Read in Bed. This title does not permit sleeping until after the reader reaches the final page. The bags under my eyes from lack of sleep are so puffy my glasses are resting on them.

 http://amzn.com//1505509157

Nash Black, author, Games of Death.

Slow Curve on the Coquihalla

R.E. Donald, a Canadian author, introduces a unique character in Hunter Rayne in Slow Curve on the Coquihalla. Hunter is a twenty-year veterin of the Mounties who had worked his way up through the ranks to detective when he made a major change in his life's work to become a long haul truck driver.
Randy Danyluk, a trucker/owner, is discovered dead at the foot of a ravine. His daughter is struggling to keep her father's business afloat and her marriage from going sour when her husband's brakes fail on the same wicked stretch of road that claimed her father.
Although Hunter intended to leave the investigating behind and seek a new life the daughter begs him to find the answers behind the mysterious accidents.

The series is set in British Columbia and western Washington as Hunter and crime crosses international boundaries with the spinning hum of eighteen wheels burning up the blacktop.

Ice on the Grapevine is the second offering in this new series that has been nominated for several awards and received outstanding reviews.
The second story finds two hard-luck individuals who have found each other and are making a new life for themselves. That is until they arrive in the US with a frozen corpse in their trailer. Arrested and held in separate seclusion they both clam up as they are afraid they will incriminate the other. They refuse to give the police any information and put their freedom at risk to save each other.
Ellie, Hunter's dispatcher, asks him to finish deliving their load and discover who left a man to freeze to death while the couple was on the road.
R.E. Donald is garning legions of fans with her new entry in traditional semi-amateur detective fiction with fast page turners, intricate ploting, and memorable characters. Her books are avilable as Kindle editions.
Nash Black, author of Sandprints of Death.

 

Dumpster Dying

Lesley A. Diehl's Dumpster Dying is a cozy/traditional mystery set in Florida's interior where cattle and cowboys are the treat of the day. No beach bikini bimbos or sand fleas, instead a fun mystery where the older generation must face their past to stop a killer and stay out of jail.
Emily Rhodes was all set to live out her golden years with Fred Costa, her long time companion when Fred went for a run from which he didn't return. Fred "the rat" never managed to write a new will and his ex-wife inherits their assets including a portion of Emily's down payment on their home.
To keep a roof over her head and pay the bills Emily acquires the skill of mixing drinks and takes a job at the local country club. She is taking out the trash when she discovers the body of Marcus Davey in the dumpster.
Snow bunnies are not welcome in rural Florida, their only value to the natives is what money they can be induced to part with before leaving.
Characters may be slightly stereotyped but they read like real people you'd meet in the grocery store or at the local watering hole.
Did I mention no psychics, no recovering drunks , no vampires, etc? Plain fun for a great read without of the quirks, but a well paced whodunit with a surprising twist. Maybe just a touch of romance, no bed of roses, but then no matter how sweet they smell roses have thorns.
Delight with Emily and her friends as they hunt for a killer before he finds them.
Nash Black, Sandprints of Death

Tide Water Talisman

Glynn Marsh Alam's current addition to the Luanne Fogarty series is Tide Water Talisman.

A rag-taggle group of survivors from Hurricane Katrina have settled in an abandoned motel near the coast of North Florida. They eek out a substance existence the best way they can to survive while they put their lives back together.
Dorian Pasquin inveigles Mama of Mama's Table and Luanne to visit the site where one woman is busy cleaning to open a cafe offering Cajun and coastal foods for fisherman. Pasquin wants his ladies to help the woman and her family get established.

After a trip down the river, when they land on shore Pasquin must identify the body of his old friend, Jimpson who was found lying in his store. His death was not an accident and other boatmen disappear to turn up underwater as Luanne and her lover, Vernon search the depths of the river for clues as to what happened to the dead and why.

The huddle of hurricane survivors was never a community, but the fine threads that bind them together begin to unravel as no one can connect the living with the dead. Death has been their constant companion since the winds and water destroyed their lives.

Glynn Marsh Alam devises a mystery of originality and suspense with the honed craftsmanship of one who has lived with both the rivers and the swamps of Northern Florida. The characters she has develped through eight novels come alive before your eyes and they have no peer in crime fiction. The ambiance she concocts is complete down to the sweat and the mosquitoes of the Gulf Coast.
Visit award winning Glynn Marsh Alam at http://www.glynnmarshalam.com. Her books are available in Florida at independent book stores and on Amazon.com.

Nash Black, author of the forthcoming Sandprints of Death.

Full Mortality

I literally read Sasscer Hill's Full Mortality from the first page to the end in one sitting. I could not put down this well pace mystery and go to bed.
Nikki Latrelle is a jockey who rides full out through every page of this deftly plotted mystery. Nikki is building a career against the odds in a sport dominated by men. An injury to another rider gives her the ride that can push her into the big leagues. A major case of nerves leads her to the stables in the middle of the night to check that all is well with Gilded Cage. A man coming out of the mare's stall knocks Nikki down, she runs to her horse and discovers 'Gildy' has been murdered.
Days later she is battered on the rail by jockey Dennis O'Brian, her horse stumbles, she is thrown, and her mount Flame Thrower is put-down.
Nikki, recognizing the potential of a rogue mare, Helen's Dream, bound for an auction which will consign the mare to the knackers, grabs all of her savings and rescues the mare. When she checks on the mare, which she has renamed Hellish, she discovers Dennis O'Brian and another horse have been murdered.
The connection of Nikki to the deaths of three horses and the murder of a rival jockey is too much for the racing community to endure. The rumors fly when Nikki is questioned, her reputation is destroyed, her 'friends' abandon her, and she is driven off the track.
Unable to find a job and a home for Hellish, Nikki accepts the invitation of an old drunk to the worst of stables. She begins to fight back to regain her reputation, find who is behind the deaths of the horses, and bring a killer to justice to clear her name.

From starting gate to finish line Full Mortality is non-stop action of the very best kind with vivid, believable characters from the world of championship horse racing.

Visit Sasscer Hill at sasscerhill.blogspot.com and on Facebook.
Full Mortality is available on Amazon.com and other locations.

Nash Black, author of Sins of the Fathers.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning

Nancy Pichard adds one more stunning mystery to a long line of successes. The Scent of Rain and Lightning sparks across the Kansas plains with storm flashes as Jody Linder prepares to enter the world of professional work as an English teacher.
Jody has been sheltered by her grandparents and uncles. They have love and protected her since the night her world was blown apart by Billy Crosby. Billy was tried and convicted of the murder of Jody's father and sentenced to life in prison.
The burning question for Laurie is what happened to her mother the night her father was killed. Laurie Linder disappeared; her body was never recovered; she was never seen again. Throughout her childhood Jody has been drawn to Testament Rocks and collected artifacts from the soil and sand to discover a connection to her mother.
Old vague memories rise out of the past to haunt Jody when she learns that Billy Crosby will be released from prison and return home for a new trail that was arranged by his attorney son, Colin.
The cadence of the novel pounds like the thud of hail on a tin roof as Jody relives her childhood images and discovers a new direction for her heart that leaves her head spinning with shock before justice is served.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning is available at bookstores everywhere and visit with the prolific author at http://nancypickardmysteries.com/.

Nash Black, author of Indie finalists Writing as a Small Business and Haints.

Broken

Karin Slaughter's Broken will be her next award winner. The complex story of depression, revenge, greed, disabilities, and hatred is told with the stunning brilliance of a master writer.
There is never any let-up in this fast-paced police procedural. A young woman is murdered and the young man who is arrested for her killing commits suicide in his cell.
Their deaths reunited some of Slaughter's most intriguing characters as Dr. Sara Linton calls the state crime division to report Detective Lena Adams for negligence and lying about the circumstances surrounding the arrest. Dr. Linton believes this previous behavior of evading responsibility caused the death of her husband and she wants Lena punished.

Special Agent Will Trent is sent to the scene to investigate and is thwarted at every turn by the members of the force to prevent him from doing his job. He must turn both to Sara and Lena for help after the boy friend of the murdered girl is also killed by the same methods. The conflict between the two woman is detrimental to his efforts to complete his investigation, but for both women an internal devotion to their respective jobs finally supersedes their hatred of each other.
Slaughter exhibits a fantastic talent for descriptive prose that will have you putting the book in your lap to savor her images. Her strength shows in the small ordinary experiences of life and vividness of the surroundings. She handles the raw scenes of death with the crisp flat style of a police report, never broaching sensationalism.

I had the privilege of sharing a head table at a writing workshop with Karin. One of the things we discussed was, "Why are women never taught to protect and respect themselves as children?" It is a question I've not forgotten and for which I still seek an answer.
Broken will be available in bookstores everywhere in late June, until then you can visit with Karin, who loves to get letters at http://karinslaughter.com/.

Nash Black, author of Writing as a Small Business and Haints.

Deadly Dues

Have you paid your dues? Lulu Malone's are paid-in-full, but that doesn't exempt her from greater hassles with Stan Pope, her repulsive union representative.

Linda Kupecek's new character in the annals of crime fiction will steal your heart from the first page of Deadly Dues. Clear space on your shelf for Lulu and her friends to reside when you want a break from the heavy noir/thrillers that are abundant in the current crime fiction scene.

This is a delightful caper filled with sly allusions to our current culture, which will have you laughing out loud. It is a world of label fashion where no actress can step out her door unless she is well shod, even if her shoes are bargain purchases from thrift and consignment shops. Lulu's condo (bought when she was in the money) is furnished in the same style, which now in her reduced circumstances she is slowly selling off to meet the cost of living until the next break comes along.

Lulu and four friends receive a call from Stan to meet to resolve their differences. When they reach his HAMS (Honourable Association of Minstrels and Singers) office, someone has been there before them and ended their controversy by knifing Stan in the back. Where he had planted his own invectives in theirs. This crew does not want to acknowledge they were near that office as they each had a motive for eliminating the decreased. They exit the scene, flee, and reconvene at Murphy's to plot their next next course of action.

For Lulu it gets worse as thugs and killers invade her home demanding "a key," but taking her dog. Bodies appear in Lulu's home, but Stan's body disappears. Who killed him and removed his body? Who is master minding the attacks on Lulu?

A girl can't even shop the mall without getting mauled.

Lulu Malone and her quirky actor friends are an excellent group to fill the shoes of the late Charlotte MacLeod and Donald E. Westlake in the realm of humorous mystery fiction. Lulu's next adventure is Trashing the Trailer.

Linda Kupecek is a Canadian author, a retired actress with a slew of credits to her name and she knows the world of which she writes.

Her books: Deadly Dues, Rebel Women: Achievements Beyond the Ordinary, Rebel Cook; Entertaining Advice for the Clueless and Fiction and Folly for the Festive Season are available on Amazon.

Deadly Dues is worth the purchase price of $9.95, it will last longer than Lulu's job at McDonald's.

Nash Black, author of Sins of the Fathers.