Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction

May 2012

In their own words with Nick Santora Eric Jerome Dickey M. William Phelps Kealan Patrick Burke Nancy Atherton

Meet Debut Authors Eleanor Kuhns Alexia Reed

The E-book Revolution, are you ready? Peek Inside Scott Nicholson "Wicked Eddies" LJ Sellers By Beth Vincent Zandri Groundwater

C r e di t s John Raab From the Editor President & Chairman

Shannon Raab Creative Director Riddle me this, riddle me that, what do you get when you pet a cat? Purrrrrrrrr. Now, you’re Romaine Reeves thinking what the heck does that have to do with CFO suspense? I don’t know, I just thought I would have Starr Gardinier Reina a little fun. But to the real point of this letter, if I Executive Editor even have one, I’m excited with what I’m seeing Terri Ann Armstrong coming out with all our favorite authors. Of course Executive Editor they have been writing great stories for years, but J.S. Chancellor with e-books becoming so popular, many authors Associate Editor are writing what I call “bridge stories.” Those are stories that are able to bridge a series together. Steve Berry, Lee Child and Lisa Gardner, Jim Thomsen Copy Editor along with others, have all written short bridge stories to connect their main characters between books, giving the reader a little more insight into the storylines as a whole. Contributors Donald Allen Kirch I received a Kindle Fire this past Christmas and couldn’t be more excited to search Mark P. Sadler through the Kindle store, to search out those types of books. Another great way to stay Susan Santangelo on top of what your favorite authors are doing is find them on Facebook. Many authors DJ Weaver CK Webb now have a fan page and update it on a regular basis. This is the best place, without having Kiki Howell to click on many websites, to see what is going on with them. I have to say, I’m not the Kaye George Weldon Burge biggest fan of social networking, thinking that young people today don’t have the ability Ashley Wintters to communicate with each other face-to-face, and that doing so seems to completely Scott Pearson D.P. Lyle M.D. eliminate their need for human contact. But it can be a very effective tool to stay updated. Claudia Mosley If you are an author and don’t have a fan page, have you been in Antarctica? It can be a Christopher Nadeau Kathleen Heady scary thing—especially if you have not explored the social networking world—because Stephen Brayton you are taking some of your private life and making it public, but this could be the thing Brian Blocker Andrew MacRae that launches your writing career on to that next level. Lisa McCourt Hollar Val Conrad We update our fan page at least once a week and give a lot of news, which is much Laura Alden better than spamming you all the time with a newsletter e-mail, letting you see everything Melissa Dalton Elliott Capon in one place. Nobody knows what the future holds for the publishing world, but I do J.M. LeDuc know one thing—the author marketing world is wide open right now. I wrote an article Holly Price Kari Wainwright in the magazine that offers tips from the pros in dealing with being an e-book author. L.J. David Ingram Sellers, Scott Nicholson, and Vincent Zandri are not only very accomplished authors, but Bill Craig savvy in how they market themselves to people and fans. You might find some of their Jodi Hanson Amy Lignor answers very interesting and giving you another perspective into this crazy world, and Susan May I’m not talking politics. J.S. McCormick Kestrel T. Andersen E-books are supposed to be a $4.5 billion business at the end of 2012, which is a huge Lynne Levandowski Cassandra McNeil jump. The time is now to get your books out there and market them correctly to take a Jenny Hilborne slice of that pie. Anyway, I’ve talked long enough, well at least to myself—which fell asleep Tanya Contois listening to me—and I’ll leave you to the May 2012 issue of Suspense Magazine. What Customer Service and time is it? Time to get your fiction on!! Enjoy! Subscriptions: For 24/7 service, please use our website, www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at John Raab 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 Calabasas, CA 91302 CEO/Publisher Suspense Magazine does not share our Suspense Magazine  magazine subscriber list to third-party companies. “Reviews within this magazine are the opinions of the individual reviewers and are provided solely to provide readers as- sistance in determining another's thoughts on the book under discussion and shall not be interpreted as professional advice Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscrip- tion) per year. All foreign subscrip- or the opinion of any other than the individual reviewer. The following reviewers who may appear in this magazine are also tions must be payable in U.S. funds. individual clients of Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine: Mark P. Sadler, Starr Gardinier Reina, Ashley Dawn (Wintters), DJ Weaver, CK Webb, Elliott Capon, J.M. LeDuc, and Terri Ann Armstrong.”

SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENT Su sp e n se M ag a z i n e May 2012/Vol. 034

Stranger Than Fiction: Roswell by Donald Allen Kirch...... 3

Sneak Peek Excerpt of Wicked Eddies by Beth Groundwater ...... 11

The Ghost Ship Nancy Kayby Big Jim Williams...... 15

To Catch a Criminal: Homicide School by Starr Gardinier Reina . . . . .19

Digging a Path Toward Success: Debut Author Alexia Reed...... 23

Unsolved: A Serial Killer in our Midst by CK Webb...... 26

Weaves Herself a Winner: Debut Author Eleanor Kuhns...... 28

Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews...... 30

Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews...... 40

Featured Artist: Luciana Lebel ...... 47

The Train is Pulling out of the Stationby John Raab...... 62

Athens Confidential by Joseph Giordano...... 71

Contributor's Corner: David Ingram ...... 74

Just for Fun...... 77 By Donald Allen Kirch The Roswell Incident: Invasion or Incompetence? On July 8, 1947 something invasion of the earth during the year have rolled up his sleeves and delivered extraordinary happened. Walter 1947, they would have been quite “The Big Stick.” Militarily speaking: Haut, public information officer for curious about Roswell, New Mexico. At stop Roswell and you could start a the Roswell Army Air Field, released that time, the RAAF hosted the 509th nuclear-free invasion of Earth. a press flash, stating that the United Bomb Group, the only atomic outfit in That is, if aliens were invading… States Army captured debris from “a operation upon the planet. It was here flying disc!” The question, “Are we where, if faced by “The Red Scare” or For almost three decades alone in the universe?” appeared to “Aliens from Space,” Uncle Sam would afterwards, the UFO crash at Roswell have been answered. That was, until the had been forgotten. Even the most next morning. dedicated researcher considered the whole affair a “governmental goof.” That’s when the commanding general of the Eighth Air Force, Roger In 1978 however, retired Major M. Ramey, clarified the statement made Jesse Marcel came forward. He just by Haut that the relic in question was couldn’t keep silent anymore… not an alien space craft, but fragments Marcel was interviewed by from a downed weather balloon. A physicist and UFOlogist Stanton T. press conference had been called, Friedman. Marcel had been involved reporters were allowed to inspect the with the original recovery of the debris fragments obtained, and all had a laugh and expressed his personal belief that out of the whole affair. the U.S. military had been involved The United States Army thought in a cover-up of their recovery of an the incident was over. extraterrestrial spacecraft. 1980 was Roswell’s zenith, when Marcel was They were wrong. interviewed by The National Enquirer Major Jesse Marcel . He claimed to have wit- If an alien were to consider an nessed the UFO debris recovered at Roswell. gaining both national and worldwide

SuspenseMagazine.com 3 Secret” program code-named Brazel approached Sheriff Wilcox and Project Mogul. It was a series of whispered to the legal authorities that balloon devices used to detect he “may have had a flying disk within atomic explosions in the Soviet his possession.” Union, via highly sophisticated Doing his duty, Sheriff Wilcox listening devices. This is what the informed the Army and he, Brazel, government said was recovered in Major Marcel and a “man in 1947. The second, in 1997, which plainclothes” went to the crash site. As suggested that stories of alien Marcel would later state for the record: bodies retrieved by the Army, was “We spent a couple of hours Monday investigated and deemed tragic afternoon looking for any more parts misunderstandings and memory of the weather device. We found a few transformations of test dummies, more patches of tinfoil and rubber.” fallen human pilots damaged in fires, and frauds created by the On Tuesday, the Roswell Army The front page of the Roswell Daily Record UFO-subculture. Air Field issued this news statement to recording the famous event on July 8, 1947 the press: Is this what really happened? Was attention on “The Roswell Incident.” the Roswell Incident nothing more Marcel had been featured in many UFO than a galactic misunderstanding? The many rumors documentaries and related books being regarding the flying disc written at the time. About thirty miles north of Roswell, New Mexico, on the Foster became a reality yesterday His story added new dimensions to Homestead, foreman William Ware when the intelligence the weather balloon story. th “Mack” or “Max” Brazel discovered a office of the 509 Bomb Along with Mr. Marcel, local field of debris he could not identify. He Group of the Eighth Air mortician Glenn Dennis stepped reported this “crash site” on June 14, Force, Roswell Army Air forward in 1989, stating that he had 1947. Interestingly enough, this original Field, was fortunate enough personally been told, by a nurse friend, encounter took place some three weeks to gain possession of a disc detailed accounts of alien autopsies before the July 8 announcement by through the cooperation of being performed at the base hours the RAAF. When the Roswell Army one of the local ranchers after the crash. Several witnesses added Air Field first reported this fantastic and the Sheriff’s Office of their own legacy to the event, telling of find, they stated Brazel discovered the Chaves County. The flying intimidation and strange visits from “flying disk debris” sometime within object landed on a ranch men “dressed in black.” Fear had been the previous week. This suggested that near Roswell sometime last used, as well as deadly force to keep he discovered the site in early July. week. Not having phone most of them in line. But after forty However, he went to his grave stating facilities, the rancher stored years of silence, and some reaching he found it all in June of that year. the disc until such time as the end of their own mortality, they he was able to contact the On July 4, Brazel had his wife and thought it best to let others know about sheriff’s office, who in daughter help him gather up all they the fantastic events they had all seen. turn notified Maj. Jessie A. could on the site, which consisted of Marcel of the 509th Bomb Could all of them just be trying rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough Group Intelligence Office. to rile up curiosity for a small New paper and sticks. Balled up, the entire Action was immediately Mexico town? Perhaps. But the stories discovery fit tightly within the back taken and the disc was are interesting and just too compelling of his working truck. There was even picked up at the rancher’s to ignore, or write off, simply as tactics talk that he hid most of it “somewhere” home. It was inspected at used for a “tourist trap.” within the desert brush. Within a couple the Roswell Army Air Field In response, the federal government nights, he heard stories of “flying discs” and subsequently loaned opened two separate investigations into in the sky and came to the conclusion by Major Marcel to higher this event. The first, in 1995, allowing that he may have discovered one upon headquarters. the public to know about a “Top the land he worked on! On July 7,

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 4 D. Randle soon joined Friedman in his It was after this announcement investigation. Conclusion: Something when General Ramey contacted Colonel did happen, and it wasn’t a “weather William H. Blanchard, commander of balloon” flap. the 509th, and ordered him to transfer Most UFOlogists have stated for the all materials to Fort Worth Army Air record that Roswell was this planet’s first Field. When the items arrived, Warrant “official” record of life outside the cradle Officer Irving Newton confirmed of our planet, that a wrecked spacecraft Ramey’s original assumption that the was retrieved by our government, alien flying disc was a “weather balloon” and beings were recovered, and some of its “kite.” A “kite” was nothing more them were possibly alive at the time of than the reflective material used to their capture. locate a Mogul balloon on radar. Numerous books were written, TV Several pictures were said to be specials produced, documentaries, and taken of the weather balloon at Fort fictional motion pictures made. In the Project Mogul weather balloon Worth, but, to this day, they have yet to early 1990s, CNN ran a nationwide surface. poll, discovering that a vast majority of site in Corona, New Mexico, which was geographically closer to Roswell. Roswell went on with its duties, Americans believed aliens have visited Some suggested the debris recovered days, and life. our planet, and that the Roswell story was real. They also believe that the by Marcel could have been remains federal government was aware of every from the Mogul weather balloon, and detail, covering up all. it was why the UFO craft crashed. A sort of alien/human collision in midair. As if Roswell itself wasn’t believable, Perhaps alien curiosity in what we in 1994, a new claim hit the tarmac: humans were doing got the better of There wasn’t one crash near Roswell, them? but two! The “Corona Encounter’s” timeline During his original Roswell is quite similar to the Roswell Incident, investigation, Friedman received, with one small exception: According anonymously, a set of “Above Top Max Brazel, the rancher foreman who discov- to certain records obtained at the time, ered the crash site. Secret” documents, which pointed to Brazel had been taken into custody a mysterious group of government by the Army and held for a week. The incident was forgotten in all agents that went by the code name Afterward, he had been escorted to the but local lore. “MAJESTIC 12.” What Friedman was office of the Roswell Daily Record and made aware of was that Roswell was Until 1978. told to offer the story he is now famous just the icing on the cake. Roswell was for. This, according to some, was to take Friedman interviewed Marcel just a “scattering” of debris. The Army attention away from the “main” crash and recorded his personal story of the discovered an intact UFO not far from site, and to focus national curiosity on retrieval, transport, and cataloging of the Foster homestead! the disc debris from Roswell to Fort Roswell. Once all learned that “it” was a Worth. As far as anyone knows, Marcel What the papers in question crashed weather balloon, people would was the only Army personnel who suggested were a series of documents, both laugh and forget. given to incoming President Dwight traveled with the Roswell material all And, for some time, the ruse D. Eisenhower, describing several the way to its final “known” destination. worked. In his investigation, Mr. Friedman was high-level programs ran by these “12,” This is where things start to turn to propel Roswell from a forgotten gathering information, technology, both complicated and “weird.” “mistaken identity” crash site to the and spearheading coverups, keeping Mecca of UFOlogists everywhere. the very real threat of alien influence After the crash at Corona, New from the American people. This led Mexico, certain new facts came into Such researchers as Donald R. Friedman to the discovery of the crash the limelight. There were reported Schmitt, William Moore, and Kevin

SuspenseMagazine.com 5 sightings of recovered alien bodies. A Roswell is also a town greatly facts, or have invented encounters to vast majority of the stories suggest two divided. help fill in the blanks. One in particular groups of three—six total. Of these six, There are those who “believe” and involved a team of five college five were dead on the scene. One, barely those who don’t. archaeologists who claimed to have alive, was believed recovered from the been digging in the New Mexican Roswell site and taken to the Army Air Even the UFO societies are at odds desert, and sighted the crash before the Force Base in Texas. as to what may have happened! military had gotten involved. Also, the date of the crash was The Center of UFO Studies Other witnesses were in fact third- changed. In the “new” report, it was (CUFOS) and the Mutual UFO party recipients of stories told to them theorized the alien craft crashed on Network (MUFON) seem to differ as over a series of years, and none could July 4, 1947. Also, there are be counted upon to testify subtle suggestions that the within a court of law. This is “MAJESTIC 12” program not to say they lied; it’s just had been in contact with human nature to believe in these alien craft before the what we have said. In point crash, and that the federal of fact, based on research, government had been of the ninety-five witnesses tracking them with the interviewed, only twenty- limited radar technology five testimonies have ever at the time. The crash was been fully heard. Of these a happenstance that the people, only seven actually Armed Forces could not saw the debris. And only pass on. Again, Brazel’s five handled the same. radio announcement of July Most testimonies were 9 was considered a “bait taken close to thirty years and switch” tactic used to after the fact. Some, likely, foil attention away from the had been contaminated by true nature of the event. years of folklore, suspicions, There was even a claim and soul searching. I do from then Lieutenant believe, sincerely, that Governor Joseph Montoya something extraordinary that he had seen alien happened outside of bodies recovered from the Roswell, New Mexico. Corona crash site. However, That particular this statement cannot be “something” was more than validated. likely just…human.  Needless to say, Roswell stood alone. To learn more about this People within the tiny author and his work go to: community still believe in One of many reports done by the government to help explain what happened at Roswell. www.donaldallenkirch.com. To leave what they have seen, felt, heard, and comments about “Stranger than Fiction: were told by friends. There were stories to how the facts are presented when it True Stories of the Paranormal,” go to: of military personnel threatening entire [email protected]. families to remain silent. Bizarre tales comes to the “crash” at Roswell. One of mysterious “Men in Black” driving of the paramount issues was where up and down the streets at night for no certain players in this legend were at other apparent reason than to be seen, the time the alien craft and bodies were perhaps, as a subtle reminder. first encountered. Some within each community have either ignored stories,

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 6 Kealan Patrick

BurLife’sk Intrusionse Don’t Keep him Down Interview by Weldon Burge

ealan Patrick Burke is a man of many talents. He’s a skilled and promising horror writer, editor, artist, and actor. Born and raised in Dungarvan, Ireland, he came to the United States in 2001 to find his fortune in writing. During the intervening years, his work has Kgarnered critical acclaim and awards, and he has been called “a newcomer worth watching” by Publishers Weekly and “one of the most original authors in contemporary horror” by Booklist. Kealan’s stories have appeared in many publications, including Cemetery Dance, Corpse Blossoms, Horror World, Grave Tales, and a number of anthologies. His work also includes novels (“KIN,” “Currency of Souls,” “Master of the Moors,” “The Hides”), novellas (“The Turtle Boy,” “Vessels,” “Midlisters,” “Thirty Miles South of Dry County”), and collections (“Ravenous Ghosts,” “Theater Macabre,” “The Number 121 to Pennsylvania”). The man truly is busy! Yet, when I asked Kealan to talk with us concerning his experiences, he kindly agreed to the following interview.

Weldon Burge (WB): Born in Ireland, coming to America: what was the hardest part, as a writer, of acclimating to the U.S.?

Kealan Patrick Burke (KPB): The hardest part of coming here, as a person, not solely as a writer, was leaving everything I knew behind: family, friends, the culture, and basically starting from scratch in a place I’d never seen outside of TV. It was a daunting task, and pretty terrifying for a guy who had scarcely been outside of his own country for twenty-one years. But that same task provided ample fodder for my writing, broadening my horizons and widening my perspective to an infinite degree. More importantly, relocating here afforded me the opportunity to write uninterrupted for two years, an opportunity I hadn’t had up to that point, and in that space of time, I wrote and sold my fiction like a madman. So if I hadn’t made the move, it’s quite likely I’d never have seen my work in print, or have ended up pursuing writing as a full-time career.

SuspenseMagazine.com 7 WB: Do you work from an outline, or do you pretty much improvise?

KPB: Generally I don’t work from an outline because I like to be surprised by where a story takes me, and plotting out every detail, every twist and turn, seems to suck all the fun out of it and runs the risk of sapping my enthusiasm for the project. Instead I’ll keep a notebook by the computer into which I’ll scribble plot points, twists and revelations, character traits and phrases I like as they come to me. The current novel, “Nemesis,” for example, while not fully outlined, has roughly fifty pages of notes that wouldn’t make much sense to anyone else if they looked at them. To me, those notes are like an extended movie trailer. There’s just enough to know what the story’s about, but not enough to spoil it. If I ever tackle a book as big as “Lonesome Dove,” or “The Stand,” however, it may become necessary to outline just to keep things on track. We’ll see.

WB: What is your biggest challenge when writing a novel?

KPB: Overcoming doubt. No matter how many novels I write, there always comes a point in the process where I wonder why I’m bothering with it, when the story whispers insidiously that it’s a pile of crap and we both know it, that I’m a fraud and should quit, that what I think is good will pale in comparison to the greats, that the idea has been written about before by better writers, that everyone will hate the book. It passes, of course, usually a day or so afterward, because the compulsion to write is stronger than the doubt, but it’s a bitch when it happens.

WB: You’re a prolific writer. What is—and how do you maintain—your working schedule?

KPB: My schedule is so all over the place, it’s a wonder I get anything done at all. Life and all its intrusions (like moving recently, which took the better part of two months) have left me with a schedule no more complicated than: Write when you can; mull over the story when you can’t. It can be frustrating, but ultimately I find that by the time I do get to the computer, the words are ready and waiting like a dam about to break and I may end up putting in sixteen-hour days for a few weeks. So even though it’s not as organized as I’d like, the work still gets done.

WB: What, in your opinion, is the best way to market your work?

KPB: If I had a definitive answer to that, I’d be a lot better known. Obviously in this day and age of social networking, that’s probably the most viable way to raise awareness of your work, but that, and all marketing really, will only be effective if the work itself is good. Write a solid novel and worry about the marketing later. If the book has legs, it’ll learn to walk eventually.

WB: In one sentence, what is the future of publishing?

KPB: Digital.

WB: If you could start your writing career over, what would you do differently?

KPB: I’d be a little less naïve about the publishing industry. When I first started writing for publication, if a publisher showed interest in my work that was enough for me. I didn’t do any research into their

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 8 track records, guidelines, reputation etc. and ended up being ripped off more than once. It was a good lesson to learn, but I’d rather have learned it some other way.

WB: If you could collaborate with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you write?

KPB: Stephen King, definitely. And I’d love to co-write a sequel to one of his classic works, like “Salem’s Lot.“

WB: You do far more than write. For example, you won Best Actor at the PollyGrind Film Festival for your role in Slime City Massacre. Is this something you’d do again? How has acting improved your writing?

KPB: I think writing is acting. Essentially you spend your days in the minds of your characters assuming their roles, so to me, the only difference between that and acting on film is that other people are watching you do it on a film set. I did Slime City Massacre just for kicks and it was an amazing experience. And yes I would do it again. I’m actually signed up for another film project this summer, even though I don’t consider myself a serious actor, and have no illusions of fame or fortune. I just find it hard to say no to creative pursuits, no matter how off the wall they might be.

WB: If I looked at your bookshelf at home, which authors would I find?

KPB: If I listed them here, the magazine would have to expand this issue to a three-volume hardcover set (I have more books than the public library), so instead I’ll just tell you the authors who take up the most space on my shelves here in the office: Stephen King, Larry McMurtry, Dean Koontz, Bentley Little, Robert R. McCammon, John Connolly, Dennis Lehane, Peter Straub, Charles L. Grant, Cormac McCarthy, Norman Partridge, Dan Simmons, Graham Masterton, F. Paul Wilson, Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Marshall Smith, and Jack Ketchum.

WB: What are you reading now?

KPB: “The Intruders” by Michael Marshall Smith.

WB: “Nemesis: The Death of Timmy Quinn” is coming out soon. What can you tell us about that?

KPB: “Nemesis” is the fifth and final book in the Timmy Quinn series, which started eight years ago with the publication of “The Turtle Boy” (available for free as a digital download on Amazon, B&N etc.). The books were previously only available as expensive hardcover limited editions on the secondary market, so I’m thrilled that they’re so widely available now.

In “Nemesis,” the veil that separates the realms of the living and the dead has come down and now the ghosts of murder victims are free to walk the earth without needing Timmy to facilitate their vengeance. With his girlfriend infected by something inhuman, and the world in chaos, Timmy must find the enigmatic and

SuspenseMagazine.com 9 THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE 911 ABDUCTON SERIES “A harrowing, edge of your seat thriller, the frightening premise sucks you in, while the twists and turns will keep you guessing to the last breathtaking word.” —Richard Doetsch, bestselling author of HALF-PAST DAWN )JHIXBZ
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elusive Peregrine, the man responsible for the sundering of The Curtain, and destroy him before the revenants destroy us all.

WB: What’s upcoming for Kealan Patrick Burke in the next year?

KPB: This year will see the release, in both hardcover (from Thunderstorm Books) and digital, of the aforementioned final volume in the Timmy Quinn saga, “Nemesis.” In addition, Cemetery Dance Publications will release my novella “Jack & Jill,” and I will be making it available digitally at the same time. Cemetery Dance will also be releasing a few anthologies featuring my work: “Smoke & Mirrors,” “The Crane House,” and “Shocklines: Fresh Voice in Terror.” And as always, there are deals in the pipeline I can’t discuss just yet!

WB: One last question, just for fun: Who is your favorite superhero and why?

KPB: I’ve always liked Batman’s struggles with his inner demons, and the villains they gave him as reflections of those demons. And I absolutely love Christopher Nolan’s treatment of the character in the two films so far (though I liked Tim Burton’s efforts too, for different reasons.) So, Batman. Or is it The Batman?

The Batman is probably correct, but The Batman and Robin sounds odd. Oh, well. Thanks for a great interview, Kealan. And we wish you all the best with your future work. For more on Kealan Patrick Burke, visit his Web site at www.kealanpatrickburke.com, his blog at http://kealanpatrick. wordpress.com/, and his Amazon.com Author Page at https://www.amazon.com/author/kealanpatrickburke. To sign up for his newsletter, just send an email to [email protected] with “Newsletter” in the subject line. 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 10 Special Preview from Beth Groundwater Wicked Eddies Since the campground was solely walk-in or boat-in one access, it had only sixteen primitive tent campsites partly shaded by four large peachtree willows. Even the pit toilets To paraphrase a deceased patriot, I regret that I have only were located at the day use area next to the road about a one life to give to my fly-fishing. hundred yards away. Vallie Bridge was the least used of the six campgrounds maintained by the AHRA. —Robert Traver “So you only assign yourself the easy ones?” Mandy flashed a teasing grin at Steve. A shiny black raven shot a raucous caw toward the blue Of course, as Steve’s partner on this end-of-the summer whitewater raft that nudged its nose into the Arkansas River trash pickup excursion, she benefited from the light bank. Disturbed, the bird flapped its wide wings and swooped assignment, too. Usually she got the worst grunt work and to another large peachleaf willow farther downstream, where shifts, this being her first season as a river ranger. That meant it scolded the two interlopers in the raft. a lot of sweaty tree and brush removal and busy weekend Ignoring the Native American’s keeper of secrets, Mandy river patrols dealing with clueless, and often inebriated, Tanner stowed her bow paddle and stepped out onto the tourists. muddy bank. She planted a sandaled foot against an exposed “Seniority has its privileges.” Steve unzipped his personal sandbar willow root to keep from slipping, then pulled on floatation device, shucked it, and tossed it into the raft. The the bow line to beach the raft. short sleeves of his dark green ranger shirt exposed well- The stern paddler, Steve Hadley, her boss and the chief tanned and muscled arms. river ranger of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, Heat waves shimmered off the parched ground. Mandy swept his paddle in the calm water of the eddy to give her an followed Steve’s lead, removing her PFD and lifting her assist. blonde ponytail off her damp neck. An early September Mandy secured the bow line to a nearby wooden post Monday in Chaffee County, this one was showing signs of sunk into the river’s shoreline at the Vallie Bridge campground being a record-breaking scorcher. While Steve took a long for just that purpose. Then she stretched and drank in the pull on his water bottle, Mandy shielded her eyes from the sight of the collegiate range of the Colorado Rockies to the sun’s glare and scanned the Vallie Bridge campground. All of east. The fourteen-thousand-foot-plus peaks of Mt. Harvard, the tent sites looked deserted. Mt. Oxford, Mt. Yale, Mt. Princeton, and Mt. Columbia knifed With the annoyed raven now quiet, the only sound was into the clear blue sky. Mandy reluctantly dragged her gaze the hot wind soughing through the nearby willow trees, down to the muddy earth and held the raft still for her boss. bringing with it the scent of baking dry vegetation, and

“This should be an easy clean-up,” Steve said while he something else… clambered out of the raft. Mandy wrinkled her nose. “Something smells rank.” Bent over the raft unlashing a dry bag of supplies, Steve

SuspenseMagazine.com 11 stopped, sat back on his haunches, and sniffed. “Probably a A sleeping bag? With a person on top? Maybe someone dead animal.” He pulled a shovel out from under one of the was sleeping off a late night of drinking. raft’s inflated gunnels and tossed it by Mandy’s feet. “You can Her suspicion was confirmed when she spied a couple have the pleasure of burying it.” of plastic six-pack rings by the nearest campfire ring. Mandy “Gee, thanks.” stooped to pick up the rings and stow them in her bag. The “Hey, I already pulled latrine duty.” death smell was stronger now, coming in nauseating waves as the hot wind shook the willow’s limbs and rustled the leaves. Mandy nodded. Steve was right. He’d buried the dog and She heard a low hum of buzzing flies. One flew past her human waste they’d found at the last stop. Some people were nose, startling her. She scanned the area, but couldn’t spot an truly animals. animal carcass. The two of them had worked their way down the That person on the sleeping bag must really be dead to the river from the Rincon Campground, cleaning up ad-hoc, world if he can’t smell this. She hollered, “Hello? Ranger here. undeveloped campsites along the shores. All AHRA campers Sorry to disturb you.” were supposed to carry out their trash, and campers outside of developed camping areas were Nothing. No movement from the bag. required to use a portable toilet and The hairs rose on the back fire pan. But not all of them followed of Mandy’s neck. Something was the rules. Thus the need for periodic wrong here. clean-ups along the river. She ducked under a low- Mandy helped Steve unload hanging branch and stepped into the their supplies, including work welcome shade. Her eyes adjusted gloves, heavy-duty trash bags, and to the dimmed lighting while she their lunches stowed in waterproof rounded the trunk, approaching the containers. After pulling on her gloves sleeping bag from the foot. With her and shouldering the shovel, she set next step, observations flooded her off toward the dead animal odor. It senses. seemed to be coming from the back The person was large and lying of the campground. on his back, wearing blue jeans and Steve headed upstream with a socks. A rotund stomach strained trash bag slung over his arm. against a blue-checked shirt. Pausing at the first campsite, A stick or something poked into Mandy stuffed some slimy the air near the head. baked bean cans and an empty The death stench grew marshmallow bag in her green overpowering. garbage bag. At the next site, she picked up cigarette butts and beer A dark stain spread out on the bottles crawling with ants. ground. Blood? Why do those two types of trash always seem to go Mandy’s heart thudded. Her ears together? She shook off the disgusted thought and sniffed buzzed along with the angry cloud of flies which, disturbed again. The smell of death was more distinct, overpowering by her approach, rose. the fresh fishy tang of river water. She looked down at the face, now no longer obscured Mandy swiped sweat off her forehead, drank a swig by flies. A middle-aged man’s face, it was bloated and gray, from her water bottle, and took off again. Her river sandals distorted, the lips open in a silent scream. crunched across sand, gravel, and sparse grass tufts. When At the neck, an angry red gash crawled with maggots. she neared the willow tree in front of the fence separating Embedded in the gash was the blade of a small camping the campground from private land, she saw a large lump on hatchet, the handle pointing straight at Mandy. the ground. It lay in a depression on the far side of the tree, She staggered back, dropped her shovel, tripped over a partially obscured by the wide, black-ridged trunk and some rock, thudded on her rump. Tearing her gaze from the horror, baby willows sprouting from the roots. The lump was dark she turned her head and heaved up her breakfast. and light blue, colors of cloth. _____

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 12 Sitting with her back against a willow tree and her knees a prior murder case, she knew he needed them. Quintana drawn up before her, Mandy stared out over the water, hoping stayed silent and took notes during her narrative. She ended, to release the grisly image burned on her retinas. She tried to red-faced, with, “Sorry about the puke.” force her thoughts to flow with the calming movement of the Quintana pshawed. “Doesn’t smell any worse than the water sparkling in the sunlight. The river’s story was that life body. We’re used to it at violent death scenes. Usually from goes on, regardless. Death, however, still stalked her mind. the first responder, who hasn’t had a chance to prepare Footsteps approached and someone cleared his throat himself—or herself.” He pointed at the work gloves lying beside her. She looked up. beside her. “You keep those on the whole time?” Steve leaned down to rest a hand on her shoulder, his “Yes,” Mandy replied. “Until I got here.” brow furrowed. “Feeling better?” “What about you?” he asked Steve. Mandy nodded, even though it wasn’t true. “Same thing.” Steve slapped the gloves stashed in one of his He squatted and joined her in contemplating the river. cargo shorts pockets. The last hour flashed through her synapses. After her “So neither one of you touched the body or anything stomach had stopped contracting, she’d hollered Steve’s name near the campsite?” over and over while she scrambled away on all fours, putting distance between herself and the dead man. “Right,” they answered in unison. When Steve came running, she’d warned him before “Good, don’t need to worry about prints from you two, he saw the body, so he could steel himself. Then he radioed then. That your trash bag, Mandy?” Quintana pointed to the headquarters, which dispatched calls to the fire department heavy-duty black trash bag next to where she’d thrown up. for an ambulance, the county coroner, and the Chaffee “Yes, and that shovel next to it.” County Sheriff’s Office. Mandy and Steve had waited for “What about that bag?” Quintana pointed to another the caravan to drive, with lights flashing, across the County trash bag, dark green and smaller, that sat farther away. Road 45 bridge to the day use area parking lot, then up the hundred-yard gravel walking path to the campground. The “No, that’s not ours.” Mandy stood and craned her neck vehicle occupants got out, to a cacophony of slamming doors, to get a better look at it. It was open and some of the contents and pulled out a stretcher and forensic equipment. were spilled out. So that’s where the beer cans had ended up. She sat back down. “Why would he pick up his beer cans and Detective Victor Quintana had quickly gone to work, not the plastic rings?” directing evidence collection and telling Mandy and Steve to stay put. By now, it was well past lunchtime, but Mandy Quintana shrugged. “Could be he was only interested in hadn’t the stomach to eat the PBJ sandwich baking in the recycling the cans. Could be he wasn’t the one who collected World War II relic waterproof ammo box that served as her the cans.” lunchbox. “You think the killer collected them?” Steve asked. She’d noticed Steve hadn’t touched his lunch either. “Maybe. Maybe someone else.” Quintana pointed his Quintana crunched up and lowered his stocky, middle- chin at a technician, who was carefully transferring a flowered aged frame onto a downed log across from Mandy and Steve. garden glove from the ground next to the bag of cans into an Sweat circles bloomed under the armpits of his dark blue evidence bag. “We’ll see if any prints are on that glove or the uniform. He swiped a handkerchief across his swarthy brow, cans and if they match the victim or not. We haven’t found then stowed it in his pants pocket. any direct evidence he had company at the campsite—yet.”  Stroking his black mustache, he peered at her. “Second Used with permission from Midnight Ink Books, death in your first season. Might be a record, Mandy.” Woodbury, MN “At least this one was already dead when I found him.” www.midnightinkbooks.com Mandy winced. “Sorry, that came out bad.” “I know what you mean,” Quintana said with a nod. He Also by Beth Groundwater took out a pen and his trusty notebook and opened it to a A Real Basket Case blank page. “Walk me through the discovery, starting with To Hell in a Handbasket getting out of the raft.” He waved his hand toward their raft, Deadly Currents still bobbing next to the river bank. http://bethgroundwater.com/Home.html Mandy pointed out where she’d walked and gave as many details as she could remember. From her past experience with

SuspenseMagazine.com 13

The Ghost Ship Nancy Kay

By Big Jim Williams aptain Fitzhugh spewed smoke from his weathered pipe like a belching smokestack. “Believe it or don’t,” he shrugged. “It’s no load off my barnacles one way or the other. But the ghost ship Nancy Kay still plies Nantucket Sound foggy nights. Done so for near twenty-five years. Regular as dancing ghostsC in a cemetery.” Curiosity is part of any newspaperman’s life, and I’m no exception. I’d found Fitzhugh in a old seaman’s retirement home, its windows open to soft ocean breezes, sounds of seabirds, and waves that foamed over rocks jutting into the sea. The old sailor moved his wheelchair closer to the window to taste the salty air. His craggy sun-weathered face was a mixture of age and memories. He insisted I call him Fitz. I smelled a good story, and as the newest reporter on the Boston Pilot-Banner, I needed to impress my editor. The year was 1946 and I was back from two years in uniform covering World War II for Stars & Stripes in the Pacific. “TheNancy Kay went down in a hurricane in 1922,” said the old sea Captain. “Lost all hands. Never found any wreckage or bodies.” Fitz stroked his gray beard, and smoothed a long blanket that covered his thin legs and feet. A wooden cane rested on his lap. “Two years later,” Fitzhugh said, “another hurricane hit on a foggy night. A coal freighter, bound for Cuba, sunk. A big liner heading for Europe foundered and went to Davy Jones Locker with over two hundred men, women and children. God save their souls.” He shook his head, rubbed his watery eyes, and adjusted his small Greek cap. “But one man on that freighter,” continued Fitzhugh, “somehow survived in a lifejacket in those freezing New England waters. The sailor screamed and pleaded for help when the schooner Nancy Kay came alongside. Her running lights were on, her sails in tatters. She was covered stem to stern with barnacles and seaweed like she had crawled off the bottom of the sea, back from the dead. Three men in the wheelhouse stared straight ahead, expressionless, blind like they couldn’t see or didn’t want to. Three others were on the fantail. All six stood stiff like corpses, their faces and bodies all white, like ghosts. “That drowning man said the damnedNancy Kay deliberately ran over him, that one foot got mangled in her propellers. He passed out from the pain. But somehow, by God’s grace he floated ashore hours later.” Fitz lifted the blanket off his left leg. His foot was missing. “Was that you?” I asked. “That damned ghost ship almost killed me.” “You really believe the Nancy Kay’s a wandering ghost ship?” 2012 Short Story Contest Submission

SuspenseMagazine.com 15 “That devil ship still haunts Nantucket Sound on stormy nights when the fog’s so thick you can walk on it.” “Next you’ll be telling me about sea monsters.” “You landlubbers always sneer at our sea stories. I’ve lived ‘em. And I seen and heard the Nancy Kay many times since, when me and my crutches used to be able to walk them same deadly shoals on stormy, fog-shrouded nights.” The old Captain tapped his left leg with his cane. “Ain’t somethin’ I do no more. Too old.” The oceans are filled with tales of ghost ships. Pirates, and lost treasures, legends brine sailors retell again and again in taverns, especially if fortified with a glass or two. But no rum was in sight. The nearest liquid was a cup of cold coffee Fitz had been drinking. I couldn’t tell if the old salt was pulling my leg. Maybe he was. But I wanted to hear more. I had nothing to lose, and maybe I’d gain a great sea story and finally make my editor happy. Fitz said the double-masted Nancy Kay was built about 1890. “A know-it-all young man, a Maine down-easterner with Daddy’s rum-running money and no sea experience bought her in ‘22,” snorted Fitz. “He overhauled her, and added twin inboard engines. He wanted ‘some adventure,’ he said. I think he’d read too many sea stories. “He renamed the Nancy Kay, Sea Spirit.” The old feller frowned, and re-lighted his battered pipe. “Every Gloucester fishermen told the lad it was bad luck to change a boat’s name, but he was arrogant and as dumb as a load of ballast. Would have been kinder if he’d just scuttled the Nancy Kay. He brought in five college friends as crew, a bunch of wet-nosed Ivy Leaguers who didn’t know port from starboard, or a hatch from a porthole. They spent most of their time drinking Daddy’s illegal booze. Knew more about popping corks than sailing a toy boat in a bathtub! Those six would have made a better sea anchor. “They was warned, but when they took her out the first time, that’s when the hurricane hit. They were goners. That storm came out of hell with waves forty feet high, and winds clocked at over a hundred miles an hour. They lost control of theNancy Kay and she ran into the shoals. That old schooner broke up, and went down faster than free drinks in a whorehouse. The nearby lighthouse keeper heard those pathetic lads screaming for help, but couldn’t do nothin’. They all drowned. No one ever found their bodies. But I’ve seem ‘em and know they’re still out there sailing that cursed ghost ship.” “Fitz,” I said, “that’s one hell of a story.” A dour-faced old man in a nearby wheelchair chuckled something, frowned, and rolled away. I tried not to laugh, too. “You think its bullshit, don’t you?” growled Fitz. “No, I—” “Young man, if you’ve got the nerve, go alone to them rocks on a stormy night where the Nancy Kay smashed up near the lighthouse. Around midnight if the wind comes up like a swirling she devil and the crashin’ sea churns with spittin’ foam, and the fog gets so thick you can’t see the sand you’re standin’ on, then you listen and wait, because coming though the fog you’ll soon be seein’ strange weavin’, runnin’ lights. Then a schooner helmed by white-faced young men will come scrapin’ and breakin’ up on them rocks, drownin’ lads all screamin’ for help, all comin’ from the ghost ship, Nancy Kay. I’ve seen it!” “Well, maybe I will.” I tried to sound brave. “Son, you won’t make it through the night,” laughed Fitz. “No one does. If you do see that ghost ship or hear her pleadin’ crew, you’ll skedaddle out of there faster than turkeys fleein’ Thanksgivin’!” I jotted down every word. Old Fitzhugh yarn, if true, would make one hell of a newspaper story. Fitzhugh paused, carefully refilled and lighted his smelly corncob pipe, and asked, “Son, you want to know somethin’ really ironic about all this?” “Sure. Everything.” “The damned hurricane that struck in 1922 was named, Nancy.” * * * stood alone on wet, cold sand, and listened to a forlorn foghorn bellow warnings to ships in New England’s waters. Distant bells from harbor buoys added to my loneliness. I waited near the craggy shoals nightly for almost two weeks for the sea to repeat the alleged disaster that sunk the Nancy Kay. Captain Fitzhugh was probably laughing, knowingI he had sent me on a snipe hunt. I decided to give it one last night. If I were being conned, that would also make a good but embarrassing story. Then the fog became so thick I couldn’t see the end of my cold nose. It didn’t come on little cat’s feet as Carl Sandburg had written in his famous poem, “The Fog.” It rushed in. The powerful beam from the nearby lighthouse failed to penetrate the wall of swirling white.

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 16 I was wrapped in two sweaters, a watch cap, wool scarf, and boots. One gloved hand was shoved deep in the pocket of my old Navy pea coat as I sipped hot coffee with the other. A thermos and food basket rested by a weathered log in sand dunes high above the waterline. I carried a powerful flashlight and a flash camera. If a mysterious ghost ship was out there, crammed with dead sailors, I wanted pictures. I waited for hours, smoking cigarette after cigarette. I had a girl back in Boston who would have made the night warmer and shorter. Katherine was a tall, slender brunette with a sleek hull that would have made any boat-builder proud. Old Fitzhugh would have liked the cut of her jib, her twin masts, and her graceful lines. She was Italian, a great cook, and taught elementary school in Boston. When my newspaper job was secure, I planned to ask her to marry me. It was midnight when the raging sea woke me from a half-sleep where I was curled in a blanket against the log on the dunes. The sea opened its bowels, creating an enormous wind and sending waves pounding against the nearby shoals. Icy spray hit my face, and clouded my glasses. Through a break in the fog I thought I saw some tiny lights flickering and bobbing at sea, and heard yelling. I strained to hear, but couldn’t tell where the voices came from. I stood by the water line, cold and wet, and asked myself: is this what I want? I could have been home in my warm bed, with thoughts of Katherine, and an easy life interviewing axe murderers, or writing obituaries for the Pilot-Banner. The mysterious lights came closer and the voices grew louder, but I could not understand the words. The storm muffled their cries. I turned on my flashlight and carefully climbed the high rocks that fronted the sea; the same jagged spires that Captain Fitzhugh claimed had destroyed the Nancy Kay. The massive stones were wet and slick. The beam poked at the clogged night. All I could see beyond the fog and foaming breakers were the same tiny lights that rolled and blinked far at sea. I thought I heard calls for help as the voices twisted in and out with the wind. Then they grew louder as a distant boat image came into focus and tried to emerge from the fog. I strained to see. The shadowy silhouette slowly became a battered twin-masted schooner. Its ripped and tattered sails whipped in the wind like white shrouds. Its running lights twisted and turned as the boat disappeared under gigantic waves, resurfaced, and headed toward me. Three white-faced figures stood at the helm in the small wheelhouse. Their blank eyes stared straight ahead. Pleading screams came from unseen others on the vessel. I kept my flashlight on the craft as its bow wildly dipped into the turbulent sea, then resurfaced, and revealed its hull. There in black letters was the name: Nancy Kay. I was so startled I failed to see a huge wave. I lost my flashlight and camera as it knocked me over and sucked me under for what seemed an eternity before I resurfaced gasping for air, weighted down by my waterlogged clothes. Choking and coughing, I yelled for help. The next wave forced me deeper, filled my lungs with choking seawater, and carried me farther from shore. Each time I struggled to the surface to breathe, my heavy clothing dragged me under again and again. I kicked off my boots, and somehow freed myself from the octopus-grip of my pea coat. I fought my way back to the surface as my hat and coat floated away. Then more huge waves and an undertow dragged me out to sea, and pulled me deeper and deeper. A forest of seaweed circled my arms and legs like vice grips. I fought for several minutes, but could not break free. Then, lungs bursting, and completely exhausted, I stopped struggling. They say one’s life flashes before one’s eyes when dying. Mine didn’t. All I thought of was Katherine. Lovely sweet Katherine, and the life we wouldn’t have together. Then the freezing cold left my body and I suddenly felt comfortable, warm, safe, and at peace. I saw fields of flowers, sparkling lakes, smiling and laughing people, and the most beautiful golden sunset and music I had ever seen or heard. I became one with all things. I felt content. Then unseen strong hands gripped my shoulders and lifted me from the sea with the kind of tenderness only a loving mother could do cradling her own child. My calm suddenly vanished as I found myself fighting for breath on a tossing boat deck, as three ghost-like figures gently freed me from the tangle of seaweed. The ship’s deck and rigging were covered with barnacles, seaweed, starfish, sea urchins, sand, and fish. I felt pain and freezing cold return to my limp body as I coughed up salt water and sucked in air. Water shot from my nose and mouth as kind, but strong hands, turned me over on the slick deck and rhythmically pressed my back. I coughed again, brought up more water, and began to breathe normally as they set me up against the stern. Three young men with expressionless faces, their heads and bodies wrapped in bright florescent shields of white, stood over me and stared into my pale face. The tallest one put his hands on my shoulder. “It’s not your time to die,” he said in a flat voice with a New England accent. “You’re going back.”

SuspenseMagazine.com 17 “I-I don’t understand,” I sputtered. “You will.” Three other men, also wrapped in shields of white, quietly stood by the boat’s wheelhouse. The helmsman wore a Captain’s hat and gripped the wheel with both hands. Their backs were turned toward me, so I couldn’t see their faces. The sailors on the fantail placed an old circular wooden life ring over my head and shoulders. Then as the boat peaked on a swell and settled back into a low trough, they eased me over the side into the foaming sea. The tall stone-faced figure said, “Don’t worry, you’re going to be all right.” Then he repeated: “It’s not your time to die.’” They watched me through dead sunken eyes as the schooner slowly turned, and drifted back out to sea. Its torn sails and blinking running lights soon vanished in the fog. As I floated away I couldn’t believe what had happened. Was it real or a nightmare? I must have passed out, because when I awoke, I was face down on the beach above the waterline. I had no memory of how I got there. The fog was gone, the sea was calm, and the sun was rising on a clear morning. I still had the life ring around my waist. “Are you all right?” A man carrying a fishing pole knelt at my side. I was soaked and shivering, but glad to be alive. “I almost...drowned,” I gasped. “If it hadn’t been for—” “What were you doing out in this weather?” interrupted the fisherman. “There was a big storm last night.” He took the life ring from under my shoulders, laid it by my side, and stared at my face and said, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” “I-I think I just saw a whole boat crew…of ghosts,” I said. The fisherman shook his head and uncorked a thermos and poured me some steaming coffee, the best I’d ever tasted. My hands were shaking as I gripped the hot metal cup, gulped that wonderful brew, and felt some life return to my shaking body. A second fisherman wrapped his warm coat around me. “You sound delirious,” he said. “We should get you to a hospital.” “No, I’ll be all right.” The first man refilled my coffee cup. “If you were out in that storm last night,” he said, “you’re damned lucky to be alive.” I pointed to the nearby shoals. “I was standing there at midnight when a big wave swept me out to sea. I was drowning when a boat picked me up.” “There weren’t no boats out on in that storm last night!” said the first man. “There was one,” I exclaimed, “and it took me aboard!” “How did you get on the beach?” “Don’t know. All I remember is someone on that ship slipping that life preserver over my shoulders. I must have passed out after they put me back in the water.” “They?” “Three men.” “What ship was it?” “You’re gonna think I’m crazy.” I pulled the warm coat tighter around my shoulders, and downed more coffee. “Try us.” “It-it was the Nancy Kay!” I said. The men chuckled. “Couldn’t be,” said the thermos man. “That’s just a legend. That old schooner went down with all hands in a hurricane back in ‘22. Everybody knows that sea story.” “TheNancy Kay is still out there,” I said. “But I can’t prove it.” Then I looked at the wooden life ring resting facedown on the sand. “Or, maybe I can.” “What?” “Flip it over,” I said. The first man put down his thermos and turned over the life ring. Faded letters on the backside bore the name: Nancy Kay. “Well, well I’ll be damned!” he said. An old bearded man in a wheelchair on the boardwalk above the rescue party nodded toward me and gave a knowing smile. He wore a small Greek cap. He adjusted his lap robe. His left foot was missing. Captain Fitzhugh had been right all along. I struggled to my feet and moved toward the old seadog. Readers may not believe what happened, but Fitzhugh does, and I’ve got one hell of a story to write. And I’m going to get it into print, no matter what anyone says. 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 18 TO CATCH A CRIMINAL

By Starr Gardinier Reina

Homicide School, Sgt. Derek Pacifico

JUNE 2 – 3, 2012 SANTA MONICA, CA

A man walks into a store and robs it, killing the innocent cashier. The criminal doesn’t leave behind any prints and his face has been concealed. There are plenty of witnesses, but not one of them tells the same story nor can they identify the robber/murderer. What are the detectives going to do? Can they solve this crime? Personally, I don’t know how, BUT I know someone who does! Come and meet Sgt. Derek Pacifico of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, detective and liaison between authors and cop schools. Anything you ever wanted to know about police procedurals will be revealed at Writers’ Homicide School on June 2 and 3 in Santa Monica, California. From what I hear, Pacifico will have an answer for everything. He is bringing with him his twenty-two-year career and two hundred murder investigations as evidence. But we’re going to have him tell you about himself and the two-day crash course. Read on:

Starr Gardinier Reina (SGR): Before we get to the main event, I wanted to ask a few questions about you. You began your career on patrol and worked your way up to detective in six years. What criteria did you have to meet or how did you prove your abilities in order to become detective?

Sgt. Derek Pacifico (DP):There is a testing process requiring a multiple choice test to make detective, which is then coupled with a station evaluation written collectively by the supervisors. If you receive a high station rating and write a decent test, then your name will fall higher on the list. The decision as to who gets promoted is then up to the sheriff’s executive staff. Name recognition helps, having a good reputation for working hard, being known for conducting thorough street investigations, and writing good reports are what help build a good reputation. Every time there was a murder investigation, I would make sure I involved myself to some extent to assist the homicide detectives, doing whatever I could to learn from them and pick their brains. The two primary skills they told me to hone were my interviewing skills and report writing. That’s what I did, and tried to conduct thorough investigations, in-depth interviews, and take extra care on writing my reports.

SuspenseMagazine.com 19 SGR: According to information I’ve been able to obtain, you have investigated around two hundred murders. I know you cannot reveal certain details, but in a broad sense, could you tell us what your most challenging case was?

DP: Overall, gang murders can be some of the toughest cases to solve. Nobody talks to the cops in fear of retribution. It can take as long to convince someone you believe to be an integral witness to tell you when she or he saw as it does to get a suspect to confess to the murder itself. But the most challenging case was the one I never solved. It involves millions of dollars of embezzlement, which in my theory is the partial reason the victims were killed. Many different people across the United States and in Europe were bamboozled into buying faulty products. Local, interstate, and international lawsuits were in progress and there were multiple victims with motive to want to kill the victims on the one hand, but their deaths would have not helped their litigation, so on the other hand, it didn’t make sense they were killed by those who might be suing them. One of the victims was a childhood friend of a famous actor in Hollywood whose “people” called the homicide bureau to lend more stress to the investigation. I read thousands of documents and wrote literally dozens of search warrants tracking money around the globe, only to come to a mysterious dead end. While investigating it, two separate potential suspects died from natural causes making it even more intriguing. That case is still not solved and who knows, may never be.

SGR: On June 2-3, you are hosting what seems to be a very promising event in Santa Monica, the Writers’ Homicide School. I am eagerly anticipating this. I know this is not the first one you have offered. How long have you been doing this? And what prompted you to start this rigorous class for writers?

DP: I got started with mystery writers almost by accident. I’ve been teaching law enforcement and lecturing to police and community service audiences for many years with the company I founded about eight years ago called Global Training Institute. So lecturing, writing courses, and teaching aren’t new. What happened with writers is that my sister-in-law wrote a mystery novel and she called me several times to ask about police procedures. During her writing and publishing, she joined the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime. I was invited to speak to them at one of their monthly meetings and we all had a great time. From that hour lecture, they invited me to speak at the state writer’s conference some months later. I gave a ninety-minute lecture on police interrogations and it was met with rave reviews. A small band of writers kept me from leaving at the end of the day and told me there was a need and market for me to bring my knowledge to the writing community. I put on a class and some folks from the class came to the course. So I put on another one and did a little bit of advertising and some more people came, even though it was in December and at a poor location. Somewhere along the line, I got invited to speak at the Screen Writer’s Network in February this year at the CBS studios in Burbank. Lots of people came to that and the response at the end was the same as the conference. A group of writers and movie professionals were enthusiastically asking me to bring about my homicide school in a two-day seminar as soon as possible. One of those folks was Genevieve Jolliffe from Filmmaker Junction, who in conjunction with her partners, wanted to join forces to promote the event, so here we are.

SGR: How has the reception for this homicide school been from writers and other detectives? That is, if other detectives participate or attend? I guess the latter would be a question all its own.

DP: Writers so far have been exceptionally supportive and excited about the class. From my first class I had one writer come to the second course. I told her it was the same course and case review, but she said it was so good the first time, she wanted to come again. That was very flattering. After each class, I usually get about a dozen e-mails from people who decide to write and express their enthusiastic appreciation for the course. It really makes me feel great. I love the material, my career, and talking with writers who are very excited to learn. There are lots of laughs and I’ve earned some true friendships in the writing community already, some who have convinced me to start my own novel.

Regarding cops, they don’t come to this class and shouldn’t; it’s not for them. Much of what I tell is very basic information for cops, but all very new for true detectives. But this class is rendered down from the eighty-hour/two-week class that I wrote and implemented for California law enforcement some eight years ago now. It’s still the only Advanced Homicide School of its kind in the country. That school has several instructors and is very intense. Eight to five every day for two weeks straight.

SGR: If an aspiring or even established author finds themselves in the middle of a murder in their story with no apparent way to move forward, do you offer yourself as a point of contact to writers, should they need it?

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 20 DP: Funny you should ask. That’s a new component many of the writers asked for. They want a consulting service. I’ve just created that service on my website, but honestly haven’t announced it until now, so I guess you are getting the scoop on the news! A Writers Homicide half-hour phone consultation is $55 and a whole hour is just $95. Once somebody has signed up for the service, we’ll set a phone appointment and the writer/producer can ask any police-related School Schedule question they want and I’ll answer it. If I don’t know the answer (subject to change) when they call, I’ll surely get them the answer from one of my resources at no additional cost, of course. SATURDAY SGR: Other than its uniqueness, what makes your homicide 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Overview - Basic Police Pro- school worth attending for writers? Can you give us a pre- cedures, Homicide Team. Composition / Military Time glimpse of what is to come in June’s seminar? / Phonetic Alphabet

DP: My presentation is entertaining and informative. There is a lot 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM: Initial Investigation & that I can’t do—I’m no mechanic, I couldn’t sail your boat, and you Legal don’t want me doing anything that requires high math, but keeping Issues - Call-Out / Organization / Investigating / an audience’s attention and making it entertaining is something I enjoy, and from all my reviews, do pretty well I guess. My class will Controlling Your Case Load & Yourself / Search take you from basic law enforcement information and dispel some Warrants, exigency, exceptions, Miranda (4th, 5th, myths and give the writer insight into how murder investigations are truly conducted. Writers will learn about police procedures, 6th, 14th) crime scene investigations, scientific tests we use, laws that apply 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Crime Scene Investigations - to interviews, and how cops really do interrogations. I dispel a Defining Evidence / Locard Principle / lot of myths from what people think they know from television and movies, especially regarding the FBI. Lastly, throughout the Photography / Evidence Collection / Bugs, Bones course as questions come up, there are usually some fresh topics of & Graves / Fingerprinting / Latents on Skin / discussion that create all kinds of fun buzz. DNA / Point of Origin / Glass Fracture / Point of I’m really looking forward to the June event. The first two Writer’s Origin & Trajectory Courses were very much in the testing phase to see if, a) anyone would actually come and like it, and b) to learn what writers were most interested about. I’ve learned my pace and timing as to how much I can present in two six-hour lectures. The first class I SUNDAY had WAY too much planned and didn’t get to half of it; but now, 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Blood Spatter Interpretation I feel great about the amount of material I have to present and - Blood Drop Characteristics / Blood in the chance to provide it to a larger audience and in a nice venue like Santa Monica. I promise you will like what you hear, see, and Motion / Contacts Stains, Swipes and learn, and I guarantee you’ll enjoy yourself. Spatters / DNA

Suspense Magazine will be covering this event live in Santa 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM: Interview & Interrogation - Monica on June 2 and 3. We look forward to bringing you more of Miranda Law and policies an in-depth investigation into the detective himself and evaluate 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM: Case Presentation - Marine just how good his expertise and knowledge really are. So, stay Murders tuned for our next on-location piece highlighting the course and Sgt. Pacifico. In the meantime, to find out more about this course 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Open Questions and Answer - and Pacifico and/or to sign up for this intense two-day seminar, Brainstorming!! please visit: http://www.filmmakerjunction.com/events/writers- homicide-school/. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 21 Killer, Gripping and Die Hard Mysteries and Thrillers The “The Wowzer is killer blues guitar meets Jim Wowzer Thompson in the drug-haunts of the Deep Frank South. Frank Wheeler is ‘Bad Like Jesse Wheeler JR. James’ and The Wowzer is pure Arkansas white-lightning.” - Scott Wolven Author of Controlled Burn

“…it is so gripping you don’t want to put it down… a dark and frightening story, exceptionally well told…” - Saskatoon StarPhoenix

“King City is Walking Tall, Die Hard, and Dirty Harry all rolled into one. Hard-driving action and all the satisfaction of a well-told story... You’ll love it.” - Jan Burke Bestselling author of Disturbance and Liar Start Reading Now Alexia Reed Digging a Path Toward Success Interview by Suspense Magazine

lexia Reed grew up on a farm on the outskirts Aof town. Being isolated and away from friends never bothered her much. She loved the quiet. It gave her plenty of time to daydream and come up with stories and characters. Single and living in Ontario, Alexia likes to say that she lives in her own little world. With an interest in forensic anthropology but not having the stomach to pursue it as a career, Alexia uses her books as a way to straddle the darker realms of suspense—and always with a healthy dose of romance thrown in. While in college, her favorite classes were paleopathology and forensic anthropology. She loved the lab and playing with bones to learn more about the person they came from and the way their disease affected the skeleton. She had joint majors in anthropology and biology, but as a postgrad she was in book and magazine publishing. Some things that stand out about Alexia: First, she’d like to go on an archaeological dig. She didn’t get a chance in school, so she’d like to go to someplace like Greece. Second, she’s always wanted a real skeleton, not one of those cheesy ones you see at Halloween that are made of plastic, but a real one. She’d hang it in her closet so she’d literally have a skeleton in her closet. She’d even get it a “pimping” hat for it to wear. “Hunting the Shadows” is Alexia’s first book and has an interesting premise: Amy has spent her entire life in isolation. Locked away in the Centre, a secret government facility where children with extraordinary abilities are raised as highly skilled fighters, she

SuspenseMagazine.com 23 longs for a normal life. A life where psychic abilities. I also knew, because I for walks to the lake. If I do have to being around people doesn’t overload was hooked on criminal profiling at the choose a favorite memory, it’d be when her sensitive telepathic mind, a life time, that I wanted a serial killer plot. my brother, cousin, and I made treasure where she can’t see through the eyes of Add all my ideas together and “Hunting chests out of boxes. My mom and aunt a murderer as he hunts his next victim. the Shadows” was created. hid them all over the farm and gave us J.C. Nikolaiev was a top researcher, hints to find our hidden treasure. but when his conscience got the better S. MAG.: Take us back to when you of him, he tried to destroy his work and found out your book was going to be S. MAG.: Does your family get to free his subjects. He was imprisoned as published. What was it like when you read your work before it goes to the a traitor. To save himself and prevent got the news? publisher? more people from dying, J.C. must catch the serial killer stalking the halls AR: I was in shock. I almost didn’t answer AR: I don’t tend to show them my work of the facility. But his only leads come the call because it was an unknown just because I’m constantly changing from a woman whose thoughts have number. I can honestly say I didn’t know things. I’m very much a nervous writer invaded his mind. what to say. I’m quiet to begin with and and having others see it before I think it’s Finally out of the psych ward, Amy when Angela told me that they wanted to ready doesn’t work well. But it’s not just joins forces with J.C. to find the killer publish my book, I stumbled out a “That’s that. I write romance. There are some before he closes in on them. Can their great!” when I really wanted to say “are things you just don’t want your parents growing attraction withstand the truths you sure you have the right person? You to read, you know? they uncover? want ME?” The whole day and even the When she’s not pricing pimping following ones, I just didn’t believe it was S. MAG.: What made you decide to hats, Alexia likes to cook, although really happening. It wasn’t until I got the teach science to the children once a she doesn’t cook as much as she’d like contract that I realized it was real and week? to because she can’t justify doing it just not a prank. for herself. Once a week, she teaches AR: I love science and I thought it’d be a science to kids ages five to eight. Her S. MAG.: If you could be any character good opportunity. When I was younger work as a review coordinator at an in fiction, who would you be? (in grade five or so), I used to hang out educational publisher keeps her busy with the kindergarten kids at lunch and during the day. AR: This is a hard question. I’m not help the teacher out. I always enjoyed She has a family that supports her quite sure what character, but I can tell that, so I figured I would really enjoy work. When not writing and reading, you what world. I’m really interested in doing it again. We’ve made tons of cool Alexia paints, and is the caretaker to Egyptology so the Amelia Peabody series goo, volcanoes, moon sand, snow-like two neurotic cats. by Elizabeth Peters is one of my favorites. stuff, etc. Suspense Magazine is honored to Ramses is one of my favorite characters have a few moments with romantic of all-time. He’s like Indiana Jones, but S. MAG.: What do you think are your suspense debut author Alexia Reed. more awesome. three best qualities? Worst?

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): Where S. MAG.: You say you were a bit isolated AR: Three best: stubborn, self- did the idea for “Hunting the Shadows” where you lived. Which is your most motivating, attention to detail. Three come from? cherished childhood memory? worst: perfectionist, stubborn, shy.

Alexia Reed (AR): The idea for AR: Where I grew up, we live in the When talking about what I consider to “Hunting the Shadows” is a complicated country between two towns that takes be three of my best qualities, I think that one. I was a teen at the time, obsessed thirty minutes to an hour to get to. So I consider my stubbornness as one of with video games when I first came I didn’t have tons of friends to hang out them. I can be very stubborn, but that, up with the characters. I love games with and I never went to the mall just for me, can be a good thing. I don’t like that don’t allow you to think about for fun. And I was fine with that. To be being told I can’t do something. When what you’re doing (strategize). For me, honest, I prefer living in the country. I am, I feel I have to prove them wrong I brainstorm during these moments. I loved all the fields and our chickens and do it anyway. I feel that way about Something about playing games helps to and the quiet. It gave me a chance to writing. I remember reading an article jog my imagination. At the time, I was daydream and to read. that said if you haven’t done something, hooked on Medal of Honor and Final you shouldn’t write about it. Obviously Fantasy—so military/war and fantasy. I’m not sure I have a most cherished a writer can’t do everything they write A plot came to me about a virus that is memory, but I loved the summers and about. There are some things you just created to give individual secret agents being able to read up in the tree or going can’t experience. I remember taking

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 24 offense to that because as a teen, I had S. MAG.: You’re so interested in never been in a relationship, but I wanted the human skeleton. Why not become to write romance. I became more and an anthropologist? b r i n g more determined to write romance and me her toy do it well. That said, I’m also very self- AR: I started to. I wanted to. The thing to throw). The male motivating. I have four jobs (counting with anthropology is that you can’t make tries to climb walls and do the science for kids and writing), so I’m a living just doing field work, which is ridiculous jumps. They’re always up also good at multi-tasking. My last one, what I love. Most anthropologists teach to no good—they love knocking all my though, is attention to detail, especially and for me, that’s out of the question. I books off my bookshelves or stampeding for my writing. I’m very much into the can teach kids, but that’s the extent of it. about the place. Nothing is safe because little details (which leads me down below I have a bit of a public speaking phobia they’ll be right there, nosey. to perfectionism) of my story (and the so my options are limited. details of future books). Suspense Magazine was honored S. MAG.: Tell us about your neurotic to have had the opportunity to speak The worst traits are always so easy cats. with romantic suspense author Alexia to figure out. For me, I tend to be Reed. If you would like to learn more a perfectionist. I don’t like showing AR: My cats are one word: crazy. I have about Alexia and her work, check out something subpar (or what I think is two Bengals and they are constantly her website at, http://www.alexiareed. subpar at that moment). Because of this, terrorizing my apartment. They are very com/.  I sometimes go overboard with what interactive (one plays fetch so she’ll often should have been a simple thing. The worst though, is re-reading something I’ve done and finding mistakes still in there or something I can’t change but want to. Although I have it listed as a Jodie Renner Editing positive, being stubborn for me is also a negative. I can take things too seriously and I don’t like conceding defeat or Fiction Editing and getting help (with some things) so I’ll be stubborn beyond the point of sanity. The Critiquing Services last is shy. I’m very shy. I easily fall into “hermit” mode so I have to force myself www.JodieRennerEditing.com to be more open and to interact (which is why the science for kids is good for me). Specializing in thrillers, romantic suspense, S. MAG.: A skeleton in the closet, huh? & other crime �iction What a great novel idea. What has been the reaction you’ve received when you tell people that?

AR: I don’t tend to tell a lot of people about Look for Jodie’s craft of �iction articles on these blogs: it, to be honest. There are some people Crime Fiction Collective, Blood-Red Pencil, The Thrill who wouldn’t get it. It started out as a Begins,“Jodie Writer’sRenner worked Forensics, with me and to transform Suspense my Magazine. thriller, joke with my roommate at the university. , from an exciting book to a tight, Somehow it came up and it just stuck. suspenseful, heart-pounding thrill ride.” I’ve always wanted to do it since, but The Lonely Mile haven’t found the perfect skeleton yet “Jodie edited my last three novels and - Allan did aLeverone (I’m picky because of my anthropology terri�ic job. … Highly recommended!” background). I always thought it would be fun to hide the skeleton in the closet “I rate Jodie 6 stars out of 5!” - LJNo Sellers Remorse and watch the expressions of people, or to take it out sometimes and set it up in - Ian Walkley, certain parts of the apartment (that said, Free sample edit for new clients my cats would probably destroy it).

SuspenseMagazine.com 25 A Serial Killer In Our Midst By CK Webb Most of us have heard the stories of diabolical serial killers and the dead they leave in their wake. Jack the Ripper, Aileen Wuornos, and Jeffery Dahmer are synonymous with the words “serial killer.” If you ask someone who Jeffrey Dahmer is, chances are they will tell you he was a serial killer who indulged himself by eating the organs of his victims. They could probably tell you about Jack the Ripper, surely the most famous serial killer of all, and of his numerous victims and sudden disappearance. But I wonder if they can tell you about the Daytona Beach Killer, The Frankfort Slasher, the Long Island Serial Killer, the West Mesa murders, the Honolulu Strangler, or the Elderly Serial Murders. For this next series, I am going to tackle some of the most horrific and less publicized serial murders that have taken place right in our back yards. From all across the U.S. and ending in my very own hometown, we will explore the facts of these cases, the faces of the victims and the reasons why these killers still roam free. All of these serial murders have taken place in the last twenty-five years. What does that tell us? That these murderers are most likely still living and could be anywhere. One could be that nice neighbor who just moved in, or the sweet clerk down at the pharmacy, or your child’s homeroom teacher. Welcome to UNSOLVED. The Honolulu Strangler Between 1985 and 1986, five women met a brutal and tragic end at the hands of a madman now known as the Honolulu Strangler. Hawaii’s first serial killer electrified the once peaceful vacation spot with fear and shock as the death toll rose. On May 29, 1985, the strangler claimed the life of his first victim, twenty-five-year old Vicki Gail Purdy. Vicki was married to a military pilot at the time and was heading out for a night of clubbing with some close friends. When Vicki did not show up at the meeting spot, worry set in and a search began. The last person to see Vicki alive was the taxi driver who had driven her to the Shorebird Hotel at approximately midnight. It was noted in the police report that Vicki intended to retrieve her car, which was later found in the hotel parking lot. The body of Vicki Purdy was found the next morning in an embankment at Keehi Lagoon. She was still wearing the yellow jumpsuit she was last seen in. Vicki’s hands were bound behind her back, and she had been savagely raped and then strangled. It was also noted in police reports and by media outlets that the husband of the victim, Mike Purdy, believed that his wife was killed because of her association with the pornography world. (Vicki worked at an adult bookstore that catered to, what some might consider a questionable clientele. The shop was located near the site where two other women had previously been murdered.) The headlines documenting the devastating murder soon died down and things went back to normal on the island as the case went cold. In January 1986, the unthinkable happened and the island was again rocked to its core when a second victim was found. Seventeen-year-old Regina Sakamoto, a high school student, became the second victim of the Honolulu Strangler. Regina missed her school bus on January 14, 1986 and was last heard from that morning when she called her boyfriend to let him know she would be late. She was not heard from again. The following day, her body was discovered at Keehi Lagoon wearing only a blue tank top and white sweatshirt. All other clothing had been stripped away.

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 26 As with the first victim, Regina’s hands were bound behind her back, and she had been sadistically raped and then strangled. It was during this time when authorities first began to suspect that there might be a single perpetrator in both cases. The suspicions of the local authorities that a serial killer was on the loose were confirmed when, just days later, the third victim was found by local fishermen. Denise Hughes, twenty-one, a secretary at a phone company, was reported missing when she failed to show up for work on January 30. Her decomposing body was later found in a Moanalua stream, partially clothed and wrapped in a blue tarp. Denise’s body was in the same condition as the other two victims. Her hands were tied behind her back and she had been sexually assaulted and then strangled to death. It was the discovery of the third victim which prompted local authorities to establish a twenty-seven-member serial- killer task force. It would not be enough to stop the Honolulu Strangler. Twenty-five-year-old Louise Medeiros lived in Waipahu. After the death of her mother, Louise flew to Kauai to be with family. She took a red-eye flight back to Oahu on March 26 and planned to take a bus from the airport. She would never make it back home alive… On April 2, after nearly a week of searching, the decomposing body of Louise Medeiros was found near Waikele stream by road workers. With most of her clothing gone, hands tied behind her back and clear signs of rape and strangulation, there was no doubt she had become the fourth victim of the Honolulu Strangler. Police scrambled to set up sting operations around Keehi Lagoon and the Honolulu International Airport and worked the case feverishly to bring the perpetrator to justice. As the case dragged on with very little in the way of leads, a strange twist in the case soon came. A forty-three-year- old Caucasian man contacted authorities with a most unusual story. According to the informant, a psychic told him the whereabouts of a victim during a reading. The man offered the police the information freely and even volunteered to go with authorities and point out the exact location as it was told to him. On May 3, 1986, the informant led the serial killer task force to a spot on Sand Island where he believed the latest victim to be. Fortunately, no body was found. The last known victim of the Honolulu Strangler was thirty-six-year-old Linda Pesce. She was reported missing by her roommate on April 30 after not showing up for work the previous evening. When Linda’s car was found abandoned near Sand Island, police searched the island and found Pesce’s body. She was partially clothed with her hands tied behind her back, and she too had been sexually assaulted then strangled to death. Following the discovery of Linda’s body, police arrested the informant as the primary suspect, citing too many coincidences in his story. The man who had come forward to help locate the body of a victim was brought in for questioning that lasted over eighteen hours. At one point authorities claim to have administered a polygraph test that the suspect allegedly failed. Police also took several incriminating statements from his ex-lovers that clearly pointed to a dark and sometimes disturbing sexual appetite. Despite all of that, the man was released and the charges dropped. No record of the man’s name or photo was ever released. Now here is where things get really interesting… Two months after the suspect’s release, a woman came forward and claimed to have seen the man on the night of the last murder. She viewed a police lineup and immediately picked out the suspect authorities believed was responsible for the heinous crimes. In a move that shocked them all, the witness refused to identify the man on paper or in court because she feared he had seen her also and that her cooperation in the case would only put her life in jeopardy. Police continued to follow the suspect and track his movements, but never found any evidence that could link him to the five murders. There were no more rape/strangulation murders in Honolulu. Some local business owners even went as far as to offer a $25,000 reward for information in the cases that would lead to an arrest. No one has ever come forward. The suspect eventually left the islands and the reward money continued to go unclaimed. In the end, police never charged the man or released any information about him, including his name or photo. The only known record of the suspect comes from the Honolulu authorities and states that the suspect relocated to the mainland and died in 2005 in either California or Tennessee… Or did he? Somewhere, someone is always getting away with murder. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 27 EleanorWeaves Kuhns Herself a Winner Interview by Suspense Magazine

leanor Kuhns is a career librarian and now the author of “A Simple Murder” and winner of this year’s Mystery Writers of America/Minotaur Books First Crime Novel competition, the first in a historical mystery series. E “A Simple Murder” is a captivating historical mystery and Kuhns’s atmospheric storytelling is purely exceptional. It’s been said that her writing is clear, crisp and swiftly paced, with just a hint of romance. “A Simple Murder” is set in a quaint Shaker village where a young Shaker woman, Sister Chastity, has been murdered. In an effort to reunite with a son who has taken refuge among the Shakers, traveling weaver Will Rees soon finds himself assigned to the task of finding the murderer, who likely lives amongst them. Rees is escorted by a lovely local woman acting as his guide, and he can’t help but become enchanted by her. Kuhns eloquently portrays the everyday particulars of Shaker life, revealing an intricate and somewhat obstructed community that can’t suitably deal with such a cataclysmic event. Each member is a suspect, and each motive is more surprising than the next. Eleanor Kuhns, a weaver herself, is also a public librarian and is well-versed in the book world from the other side of the bookshelf. To write her first novel, she spent a lot of time visiting Shaker villages in Maine and Massachusetts, and like any good librarian, her research is understated but crucial. She lives in upstate New York and her book, “A Simple Murder” goes on sale May 8. Suspense Magazine is honored to have the opportunity to speak to this debut author. Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What brought you into your career as a librarian, and your love of books? Eleanor Kuhns (EK): My mother was a librarian. One of my earliest memories is of being read to. By the age of ten, when I wrote my first story, I was already an avid reader. At sixteen I started working in a library as a page. So I think a love of reading and of books infused both my careers.

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 28 S. MAG.: Did you always gravitate toward weaving for homes that did not own looms A Simple Murder historical mysteries or is your taste eclectic? or for housewives who didn’t care for the job. By Eleanor Kuhns EK: My taste is eclectic. I read just about And, despite the fairly rigid gender roles, the every type of mystery there is, but my Shakers did believe in equality of the sexes. It is the year 1794, and Will Rees has returned home after getting particular favorite is the historical mystery. S. MAG.: If you could be any character in a call that his son has run away. Will S. MAG.: With the Shakers being so fiction, who would you be? knows he hasn’t been much of a reserved and “tucked away,” why place them EK: This is by far the most difficult question father to young David. After serving in the military and losing his wife, in a historical fiction novel surrounding a I’ve been asked. I really love tough female murder? Will had become a traveling weaver underdogs who win. Katniss Everdeen and left David in the care of his sister. EK: Because they are still people, and people springs to mind although I wouldn’t want to When he appears in Maine, are people with good traits and bad. The live her life. Charlotte Pitt is another favorite Will is told that David has run away Shakers really lived their altruism, but by and also Sister Fidelma. I love that they all to live with the Shakers, and Will taking in everyone I know they ended up fight for what they believe is right and yet finds him right away as he rides into with a few bad apples. Besides, when I was also display caring and tenderness. the strangely quiet community and researching this book, I read memoirs that meets Elder White. The Elder states alluded to Shakers who left to marry and S. MAG.: Do you have any superstitions that Will has no right to pull him other problems. that surround your writing process? Maybe away from the ‘family’ if he doesn’t certain music you must listen to or perhaps want to go. Uninvited by the slightly S. MAG.: In your research, did you find a lucky shirt you wear while writing, etc.? creepy clan, Will makes his way into you needed to speak with the Shakers and EK: No. I find that once I start a story, the the closest town to try and see his were they receptive to your inquiries? son and convince him to leave. What scenes come to me and demand release. he finds instead is murder. EK: I visited several Shaker Villages/ Once I sit down to obey, the house can burn A young woman is killed within Museums. The one in Southern Maine still down around me. the Shaker community, and her back has four living Shakers. They don’t speak S. MAG.: Is there something that a librarian story of wealth and the best friend to many people. But I was given access to does that might surprise the average person she’s made makes her demise even the library. And I spoke to a woman whose who comes into the library? more confusing. This doesn’t feel mother worked with the Shakers. Pretty like murder, it feels like revenge. amazing! EK: The sheer amount of work involved in Will finds himself the collection development: ordering, weeding ‘investigator’ that the sheriff sends S. MAG.: How exciting is the anticipation and so on. It’s like dusting; no one sees the to sit with the Shakers to find the of seeing your book on the library shelf importance of it until it isn’t done. murderer, but finds them to be someday? extremely protective and not happy S. MAG.: What’s next as far as writing EK: When I received the galleys, I ran with his intrusion. Teaming up with around the house screaming. I still can another book is concerned? Can you share? a woman who was kicked out of hardly believe it. And now my local libraries EK: I have a sequel, tentatively titled “Death the Shaker family because of a past are asking me to come and speak. I still can of a Dyer,” at Minotaur. It takes place right mistake, Will must do everything hardly believe it. after “A Simple Murder” and of course within his power to find and capture involves the relationship between Lydia and a cold-hearted murderer who is S. MAG.: As a writer, you know not all Rees. I also indulged my love of dyes and living in a community that claims stories that start out one way end up as dyeing and I tried to fill in some of Rees’s they are a peaceful Zion. what you thought they’d be. That being past. Although the murder plot is said, Shaker men and women had gender- very interesting, you may find the specific responsibilities. Did you find if The era between the Revolutionary War and tale can run a little long at times. difficult to keep your story within those the beginning of the Industrial Revolution The best character is a young Shaker woman by the name of Mouse. This guidelines? was such an interesting time; ferment on all fronts. And most of us know so little about it. girl, who listens to all the gossip EK: No I didn’t, primarily because at that I could probably write ten books about this and gets picked on by the others, is time everyone worked within assigned a source of truth for Will. And the time. gender roles. I chose the profession of extremely detailed Shaker world is traveling weaver for my character, Will Rees, We were honored to have the chance very well told. Readers will feel as partly because I weave as a hobby and partly to get to know Eleanor a little bit and bring if they are actually sitting down to because that was one of the few gender- her to you. If you’d like to learn a little more dinner with the rest of this extremely neutral jobs available. Both men and women about Eleanor and her work, check her private community. wove then, although women generally wove out at, http://us.macmillan.com/author/ Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of for the family. Men set up shops or traveled,  “Tallent & Lowery - 13” for Suspense eleanorkuhns. Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 29 Suspense Magazine Book Reviews

Spilled Blood InsideGetaway the Pages By Brian Freeman By Lisa Brackmann In picking up this book, I read the reviews written for Freeman and his work. There were some great In “Getaway” by Lisa reviews. So I said, ‘okay, let’s see what Freeman has to offer.’ I am so glad I read this book because Freeman can Brackmann, Michelle weave words that you’ll be thinking about long after you shut the book. Mason has arrived in Two towns in conflict end in utter chaos, all because of a scientific corporation in their midst. Barron sings Puerto Vallarta for a solo the praises of this company while St. Croix condemns them. Adults and kids alike rival one another. But the vacation after the death of thrilling ride gets bumpier by the minute when you throw in Aquarius, a violent individual threatening to spill her husband. She allows more blood than what’s already been shed. several margaritas to take Chris Hawk is a city attorney and father of a young girl, Olivia, accused of murdering one of Barron’s over her decision-making ability, and is citizens and daughter of the corporation’s president, Ashlynn. Hawk comes to town and to the aid of his family, about to spend the night with handsome whom he hasn’t seen in some time. He vows to get to the bottom of the quagmire and find out who really killed Daniel, whom she met on the beach. Ashlynn and why she was killed. This decision leads to an armed break- Freeman’s rapids aren’t just alive in this book, they’re downright dangerous as Aquarius makes himself in to her hotel room in which Daniel is known and all of the ugly truths are spilled out. injured by a gunshot. In the confusion, A gripping thriller that will keep you on the edge, turning page after page until you reach the ending. their cell phones are switched; Michelle Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “Deadly Decisions” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint ends up spending the night in jail and of  loses her passport. Suspense Magazine “Getaway” takes us in to the insular And She Was world of the expatriate community of By Alison Gaylin Puerto Vallarta, a world of foreigners Brenna is a P.I. and has a rare neurological disorder where she remembers everything. She who have chosen to live in a Mexican literally remembers every day of her life and every detail within that day. She remembers emotions, beach town and drink their days away. tastes, smells…tiny details others would never recall. It started when she was young and her sister Fortunately, some of these people have disappeared. The disorder makes parts of life terrible, but is an amazing asset to her investigations. the integrity to try to help Michelle out of her difficulties, because she is When she vanishes, Carol Wentz’s husband hires Brenna to find her. She is tied to a missing person’s case incredibly naïve for a wealthy woman that Brenna has worked for years and never solved. Carol was one of the last people to see young Iris before she (that is, she was wealthy until her late disappeared eleven years before. husband squandered their money in In the investigation, she meets up with Detective Nick Morasco…again. She first met him years ago when bad investments) in her forties who investigating Iris’ disappearance and now he is starting to put the pieces together with her. presumably has traveled some. Memories invade her at the worst possible times. Her daughter is a stressor, her assistant Trent is priceless, But Michelle has difficulty ex-husband is a torture to be around, and Detective Nick is a wonderful asset. Everything, including dead distinguishing the good guys from bodies, seems to conspire against her solving these connected cases, but Brenna is determined. the bad guys, and does not know who This book was riveting. The twists and turns in the plot will keep you glued to the pages. to trust. She is pulled into the nasty Reviewed by Ashley Wintters forSuspense Magazine  business of the drug trade and rival Mexican drug gangs, where people have Force of Nature no scruples except their own. By C.J. Box Occasionally, she think of throwing With the twelfth book in the Joe Pickett series, C. J. Box once again wows his readers with a herself at the mercy of the US Consulate, fast-paced thriller that proves to be the best in the series. at which times I found myself cheering Nate Romanowski is a man with a troubled past that has come back to haunt him. As part her on with “Go! Go!” But the bad guys of a team of Special Forces operatives, Nate becomes involved with a colleague and is party to who have her passport are paying off her something horrible, resulting in a turn of events that will change the United States as we know it. massive credit card debts, and that must Nate is the only person privy to what went down in Central Asia and now the man is looking to silence him by be worth something. any means. “Getaway” is fast-paced as Michelle Living off the grid in the foothills of the big horn mountains in southern Wyoming, Nate is ever on the goes from elaborate parties at the home watch for ambush and attempts on his life. During his time in Wyoming, Nate has become friends with Joe of drug kingpins, to the horrors of the Pickett and his wife Marybeth after he saved their lives. Nate has always kept his secret close to his chest never town dump, where she almost ends up telling his friends although they know he lived a troubled life before meeting them. Because of their involvement as part of the trash. It is a quick, easy with Nate, Pickett and his family have become targets in the vendetta to silence Nate, possibly resulting in their read, maybe for your next airplane trip, deaths amongst other acquaintances. but probably not on your way to Puerto Taking action, Nate sets out to put an end to the madman before he can wreak any more havoc. With a Vallarta! rogue agent and the backing of his friend, he eliminates the threat one at a time. Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of With “Force of Nature,” C.J. Box works with a cast of strong characters in a book that commands attention. “The Gate House” forSuspense Magazine With accolades from the likes of Lee Child and landing on the New York Times best-seller list, Box firmly plants  his place in the thriller genre. Reviewed by Jodi Ann Hanson for Suspense Magazine 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 30 Defending Jacob An Unfamiliar Murder By William Landay By Jane Isaac You know it is going to be a page-turner when in the first chapter a strange body turns up in the home On the stage of courtroom of the protagonist Anna Cottrell, who is not a spy but just your average school teacher. drama mysteries, a place needs to After the police accepts Anna is not the murderer and releases her, she then discovers that she and be reserved for William Landay. the murder victim are linked and that perhaps her past is not exactly as she is led to believe. What is even In his latest novel, he takes you more frightening is that those past secrets could quite possibly place her and her boyfriend Ross in extreme danger. through the months of a murder, When he goes missing, Anna determines she must uncover those secrets or she may never see Ross again. the investigation, the suspect’s “I am fascinated by what happens when extraordinary things happen to ordinary people,’’ says Author Jane arrest, and trial. However, there is Isaac. “Apart from the odd parking fine or speeding ticket, most of our lives are untouched by law enforcement. For so much more to this story. Landay “An Unfamiliar Murder,” I played with the idea of a perfectly normal person finding themselves out of the realms of shows you community reactions to normality. I wondered how Anna would feel and react to finding a dead body in her flat and spending a night in a cell.” an admired person and his family Also attempting to unravel the secrets is investigating officer, DCI Helen Lavery, an ambitious woman who under the gun. More importantly, juggles her very demanding job, life with that of a single Mom to teenage sons. When Anna Cottrell’s murder case you see a family full of love and lands on her desk, she soon realizes it is far more complicated than she first expected. After DNA evidence leads her happiness transformed into one on a chase through Anna’s family tree, she begins to fear that if she cannot find the killer soon there will be more striving against desperation and victims. doubt. Readers are certainly taken on a merry chase following DCI Lavery as she solves the murder. Isaac felt that very There are few clues in the early on in the writing of her debut novel she could do a lot more with Lavery’s character and is currently working on murder of a fourteen-year-old boy. a sequel to “An Unfamiliar Murder,” and there are also plans for a third book in the series. It would seem that for the Prosecutor Andy Barber, his office, new found fans of Helen Lavery, she will become very familiar to readers in the next few years. and investigators are stymied. The Reviewed by Susan May (http://susanmaywordadventures.blogspot.com.au/) for Suspense Magazine  situation soon changes when the evidence points to Andy’s son DarkRoom Jacob, a classmate of the victim. By Joshua Graham Andy is suspended from work but I have a serious problem reading Graham’s work. He writes so well, I find myself reading quickly to is nonetheless caught up in the get right into it and become immersed in the story, but then, I slow down when I come to a particularly case against Jacob. He watches as beautiful scene—of which there are many—that take my breath away. “Darkroom” isn’t the exact his family life changes, his friends caliber—magnificent—that I found with “Beyond Justice”, Graham’s debut novel…it’s better! disappear, and he becomes an Peter Carrick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and his daughter, Alexandra Phuong Carrick (Xandra), integral part (including bending travel back to Vietnam to spread her mother’s (Grace/Th’am Ai Le) ashes. Graham said it best when he penned a few rules) in his son’s defense. Xandra’s thought, I’ve never traveled so far, just to say good-bye. Simply stated, but filled with emotion when coupled As the trial approaches and takes with the surrounding context. And he continues on with his fabulous story telling ability throughout the entire novel. the spotlight, Andy’s own resolve So be prepared. about Jacob’s innocence begins to Graham travels back and forth between the Vietnam War and the present. Peter has unspeakable memories of erode. He is left with only hope that place. Xandra just wants her father to be proud of her. So with her father’s old Nikon Graflex in her hands, she that a justice system he knows all starts toward her goal of making dad proud. But this camera is not just any camera, it holds secrets. Secrets Xandra too well will work and that his son could never have imagined, but will come face-to-face with. will be found not guilty. There are many characters in this book and each one is intricately knotted into the next, which makes for an I don’t like to use trite and all amazing read. Graham has a talent that doesn’t come along every day, and you will be missing something spectacular too commonly used descriptions if you pass this book by. about books. I’m not comfortable The one constant in this story is Graham’s ability to draw an elaborate, complex picture with his words. It truly with ‘riveting’ or ‘powerful’. With is like nothing I’ve ever read. He spins his story in such a way that you are absolutely sated with completeness that this book however, I don’t think nothing else can give you. Even though I struggled with the “sad” and “terrorizing” parts, they were not just difficult, ‘excellent’ is an overstatement. but emphatically necessary in telling the whole story. If I had to pick one word to describe this book, although it I knew I couldn’t read it in one wouldn’t do it justice, it would have to be, extraordinary! round and I felt impatient until I Reviewed by Terri Ann Armstrong, author of “How to Plant a Body” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of could return to the story. Suspense Magazine  There is so much depth in these pages, so much emotion White Lies and resonance. This goes beyond By Jeremy Bates the normal lawyer-client murder When is it okay to tell a white lie? We’ve all done it and we mean well when we do it, but do we mystery. I felt a closeness to these think about the consequences? What if that innocuous little white lie takes on a life of its own and spins characters and their wide range out of control? “White Lies” by Jeremy Bates takes us on such a journey. of emotions, from love to disgust, The suspense begins immediately and plenty of drama unfolds in the first chapter. What I expected from hope to despair. A book as to happen didn’t, and I was pleasantly surprised. The story moves at a good pace, with a good sub-plot riveting and powerful (okay, so sue worked in, and takes quite a few unexpected turns. me) as “Defending Jacob” doesn’t With few characters, this is an uncluttered, easy read. The plot is clever, while not convoluted, and the author come my way very often and I am keeps things nicely structured, adding action, drama, and more suspense throughout the book. The characters are well glad I had the opportunity to read developed, interesting, and believable. Bates takes an ordinary situation and turns it into a nightmare. it. The story culminates in a tense situation and a surprising yet satisfying ending. My only criticism is that there are Reviewed by Stephen L. Brayton, a couple of clichés in the book, which I don’t care for, but it is well written and an exciting thriller. author of “Beta” for Suspense Reviewed by Jenny Hilborne, author of “No Alibi” for Suspense Magazine  Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 31 A Deeper Darkness Fallen Angel By J.T. Ellison By Connie Dial The intrigue begins from the word ‘go’ in this novel as an ex-Army Ranger, Eddie Donovan, begins his day by having a joyous time with his wife and two daughters on ‘The Mall’ in Washington. The third book in Dial’s Unfortunately, he is called away by his employer and ends up dead: a victim of a vicious carjacking. Now series about the LAPD following Eddie’s mother doesn’t believe that what the police report says is true. She is completely convinced that “Internal Affairs” and “The Broken the ‘carjacking’ was simply an excuse that his employers had given to the public. Blue Line,” Dial’s “Fallen Angel” Calling on an old girlfriend of her son’s, Samantha Owens, Eddie’s mother begs her to solve her son’s mysterious once more takes the reader into the death. Samantha is the Head Medical Examiner for the State of Tennessee, and Eddie’s mother wants nothing more inner circle of the LAPD. Having than for her to come to D.C. and perform a second autopsy to make sure that nothing was missed. spent almost thirty years on the Samantha has her own problems. She lost her husband and children to the Tennessee floods and has since force in various capacities, Dial turned into a workaholic. However, this one phone call from the past puts her on the road to recovery, as she heads writes from experience. to Washington to help her former friends. When teenage movie star Sam is a very sharp doctor, and although the carjacking story was the one ‘bought’ by the public, her autopsy Hillary Dennis is murdered in a Hollywood “party house,” Captain tells a whole different story: Eddie definitely was murdered, but not for his car. Josie Corsino and her homicide Soon Sam finds herself confronting another death of a person that once meant a great deal to her, and discovers team are tasked with finding her notes that lead her to Xander, an ex-soldier who’s returned from Afghanistan with information that could bring the killer. Hillary is a hard-partying ‘situations’ that happened in that country home to America. seventeen-year-old with a penchant This book is a definite one-day read that covers some truly horrendous facts that happened in the past. But for drugs and alcohol. Leaving following Samantha and Xander, along with Xander’s dog, Thor, is one of the best ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. the grasp of her overbearing, The writing in this book is ‘A-one,’ and hopefully this author is planning to gift the world with other Samantha Owens’ religious fanatic mother after stories for a long time to come. being discovered, the b-movie star Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “Tallent & Lowery - 13” for Suspense Magazine  surrounded herself with dubious characters. The Chessman As Corsino and her right- By Jeffrey B. Burton hand man Detective Red Behan Already an accomplished writer, Jeffrey Burton enters the arena of novelist as a huge victor. gather clues in the starlet’s murder, “The Chessman,” a serial killer whose calling card is a glass chess piece left inside the mortal wound the body of Misty Skylar—Hillary’s of each of his victims was thought to be dead. His victims were all power players in Washington D.C. The agent—is found in a back alley only person who wasn’t totally convinced of the Chessman’s death was the lead FBI agent on the case, with a gunshot through her mouth. Drew Cady. Agent Cady was left physically and psychologically injured at the conclusion of the case and Skylar was one of the attendees at hoped to spend the rest of his days in peaceful retirement. He finds out that we cannot always predict our own future. the party house and was one of Years later, a string of deaths begin to mount up with the same M.O.: a glass chess piece. the potential suspects on the ever- Is it a copycat killer or is the Chessman still alive? Drew Cady is called back into action to consult with his old growing list, which now includes employer. A true tapestry of writing draws us in and won’t let us go. Burton is a master of intrigue and suspense. You several police officers and the son will be gripped by this masterful story and be held captive by the Chessman himself. A strange partnership builds of a well-known city councilman between the true Chessman and Cady as they search for the killer. who happens to be her son David’s I wouldn’t suggest putting this on your reading list. I would beg you to put it on the very top. You will not be friend. disappointed. The more Corsino digs, she As a fellow author of suspense thrillers, I welcome Jeffery B. Burton to the elite of today’s new thriller writers. I realizes she has very few people for one can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. she can trust in the department as Reviewed by J.M. DeLuc author of “Cursed Presence” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense she connects the chief of police,  Magazine corrupt cops, and an organized Guilt by Degrees crime boss to the murders. It By Marcia Clark seems Hillary and Misty had a side The second Guilt book by author Marcia Clark reintroduces the tough D.A., Rachel Knight. And if business in prostitution and Hillary readers liked her in the first, they will like her evenbetter this time around. was keeping a diary with the names In this new novel, there is a very eerie person watching Rachel’s every move. Not only is the ‘stalker’ of her clients and was using it to determined, he is also brilliant, and seems to be filled with all different sorts of ideas that will cause blackmail people in high places. Rachel Knight severe pain. Connie Dial masterfully In essence, this prosecutor heads into the watcher’s path by mistake, becoming part of a case that is—quite writes a compelling thriller. She clearly—unsolvable. A homeless man is the victim of a homicide, and with no background or suspects available, it draws on personal experiences, seems that this one may go into the cold case file never to be seen again. But seeing how Rachel is a woman who never giving the reader a true glimpse gives up, she keeps right on investigating, uncovering secrets about her own ‘home’—the courthouse she works in. into the world of policing and the From fights to backstabbing, the faint clues start to add up as Rachel gets deeper and deeper into a crime that corruption that is unfortunately may just finish her off for good. With the help of an incredibly tough colleague by the name of Detective Bailey a part of the system. She keeps Keller, Rachel begins to uncover the secrets and lies of people who are facets of her daily life. When they unearth a her readers engaged connection to a murder that took place over a year ago, things get even worse for the dynamic duo. An LAPD cop was and guessing at the the victim of a vicious crime, and Bailey and Knight will not stop until they get the secret-keeper to talk. identity of the killer This second Guilt book offers a more in-depth exploration of crime and punishment, which is—of course— until the reveal. what Marcia Clark is good at. The suspects are beyond interesting, and the plot is extremely dark, allowing the Reviewed by Jodi Ann character of Rachel Knight to really shine through. A great thriller! Hanson for Suspense Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “Tallent & Lowery - 13” for Suspense Magazine  Magazine 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 32 Red on Red Breaking Beautiful By Edward Conlon By Jennifer Shaw Wolf Allie’s life completely changed when her boyfriend Tripp was killed in a car accident. This is one novel that She doesn’t remember the accident at all and it causes her immense pain. Tripp wasn’t a great will resonate with all fans boyfriend; in fact, he was abusive and controlling, but Allie never wanted anything to happen to of thriller, suspense, and him—no matter what his parents think. stories about the inner- Her twin brother Andrew has had cerebral palsy from birth, but they still share a strong workings of a human connection and bond. Andrew and her best friend, Blake, tried to get her to break up with him because of mind when it comes to the abuse, but she was ‘fine.’ The night of the accident, Blake found Allie and saved her life. Since she doesn’t loyalty, belief, and the remember anything, Tripp’s parents believe she killed their son and have brought a new detective in to prove it. need to be the absolute ‘best’ in their There is also someone following Allie’s every move. Her family is supportive and loving, her friends are chosen field. there for her, but she has a big blank spot in her memory. She wants answers as bad as Tripp’s parents do, but Although this is a complicated when she starts remembering, it isn’t what she or anyone else expected! tale, this author was the one who gifted The questions will keep you guessing and reading! The author has got an original cast of characters you’ll the world with the amazing memoir, love here! “Blue Blood,” and once again challenges Reviewed by Ashley Wintters forSuspense Magazine  the reader by offering up a clear vision of how tough, strong, and relentless one must be if they are living the life Hand Me Down as a member of the New York Police By Melanie Thorne Department’s finest. Picture yourself as a teenage girl left in the lurch by a mother who has chosen her convict Nick Meehan is a burn-out on husband over you and an alcoholic father who only wants you because of the extra money he’ll get the force. He has literally ‘had it’ in for child support. Imagine how alone you would feel being shuffled from one home to the next, all ways possible—from personal to each time being an inconvenience to the family you were staying with. Well that is exactly what professional—yet when he’s transferred Elizabeth and her sister Jaime are going through. to another squad and meets up with his The girl’s mother Linda has chosen her recently released from prison, sexual predator husband over her new partner, Esposito, a team develops girls. The stipulation of his parole is no contact with young females. Since he was released, he continuously that no one would have thought leered at Liz and took every opportunity to make sexual innuendos and touch her exposed skin—making it possible. Esposito is a man who does crawl. an admirable job as a policeman, but Liz finds herself in Colorado with her aunt Tammy who is her mother’s sister and a soft place for Liz to land. it’s the rules and regulations where She feels protected and loved with her aunt. Liz’s sister Jaime has found a home with her father’s sister Deborah he needs a little work. As the team of and her family, becoming fast friends with her cousin Ashley, even if it is a strict religious household. Thus begins Meehan and Esposito begin, they soon find they can only rely on each other as the tug of war the girls are stuck in, being pulled in every direction without a care to what they want. That is until they fall face-first into a vat of crime. Liz finds her voice and speaks her mind, finally taking what is hers. These polar opposites have many With “Hand Me Down,” Melanie Thorne tells such a believable story that leaves you feeling raw and uplifted mysteries on their plate that begin to all at the same time. Earning her MA in creative writing from University of California where she was awarded the unravel on a daily basis. From a serial Alva Englund Fellowship and the Maurice Prize in Fiction, she shows what a talented writer can do. rapist whose end is nowhere in sight, Reviewed by Jodi Ann Hanson for Suspense Magazine  to a human hanging that occurs in the park; from a gang war that’s brutal Rest in Pizza and goes far deeper than originally By Chris Cavender expected, to a young girl who dresses It’s not often you walk by your friendly neighborhood pizzeria and stare through the window to see a well- in the uniform of ‘God,’ yet may just be known chef sitting in a chair with a huge knife buried deep inside his chest, but that’s exactly what the scene is the victim of violent abuse. Esposito inside A Slice of Delight. and Meehan meet up with every dark The pizza parlor is owned by Eleanor Swift, and is located in the little town of Timber Ridge, North Carolina. and sinister human being that exists on Although it sounds and looks like the perfect little community to reside in, this is definitely not the first time that our planet. murder has been committed within town lines. Although the lies, deceit, trickery, Eleanor Swift is a young widow who works hard running the pizzeria with the help of her sister, Maddie. and pain are beyond interesting and These women are down to earth and neither give two ‘hoots’ about celebrities in their midst, so they are certainly will hold every reader’s attention, it is a duo that is very uninterested when a prima donna comes to town. When a close friend asks the girls to help the relationship that drives this novel open up a local bookstore, that’s when Maddie and Eleanor come in contact with ‘The Chef.’ home. The author, having worked A pompous man who’s the host of his own cooking show, Chef Benet truly believes he’s an expert on as a detective on the New York City everything. He seems to have ‘ridden’ into town at full boil, and begins to insult everyone in sight—including Police force, calls on his own real-life experiences to create this mesmerizing Eleanor and Maddie—so it really comes as no surprise that the victim who can be seen through that big window novel, so it can be safely said that of A Slice of Delight is the one man who wasn’t happy unless he was shooting off his mouth. there has never been a more truthful It seems that everyone is a suspect. And seeing how the weapon of choice was a knife from or poignant police drama written. The Eleanor and Maddie’s pizza kitchen and the scene of the crime is their establishment, the local interweaving of characters makes this a Sheriff is delving deep into each conversation that the sisters may have had with the victim. must-read, and a very definite ‘keeper.’ These ‘cozy’ pizza mysteries have been truly outstanding, and this particular one will leave Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of the reader once again wanting a whole lot more of the great writing and cool plots that Chris “Tallent & Lowery - 13” for Suspense Cavender continues to serve! Magazine  Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “Tallent & Lowery - 13” for Suspense Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 33 Midnight in Peking Buried in By Paul French Buttercream In January of 1937, newspapers around the world carried the shocking story of the brutal murder of a By G. A. McKevett young Englishwoman, Pamela Werner, the daughter of a renowned China scholar and retired diplomat, in Peking, China. The authorities, both Chinese and those with the British Legation, seek a quick resolution Savannah Reid’s to the crime but it has remained officially unsolved for seventy-five years. wedding day was nothing like The police uncover evidence of sordid activities within the walled foreign enclave involving respected she planned. Watching the members of the British expatriate community. Are they linked to Pamela’s murder? Considerable political pressure is building burn with her dress, applied to limit the scope of the investigation, combining with a quickly deteriorating political scene and results in a but thankfully no people in it, verdict of murder by persons unknown. was horrible. She and groom In 1937, the Japanese army, ostensibly in China to provide aid in case of civil unrest, is methodically encircling to be, Dirk, are able to take Peking. South of the city, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-schek is retreating to Chungking, while to the west a young their frustrations out on the communist revolutionary named Mao Tse Tung and his peasant army has taken refuge in caves. Those with the means to bad guys and plan for a new leave Peking are making plans to do so while those without fear for their future. day. Her wonderful friends E.T.C. Werner, the murdered girl’s father refuses to accept the official verdict and sets out to find the killer. He hire a wedding coordinator perseveres through Japanese invasion, internment camps, and deprivation. He brings a lifetime of experience acquired just for her. through gleaning information from ancient texts and a considerable fortune to the task with surprising results. Having her whole family In this lavishly detailed book, Paul French presents a convincing case as to who the murderer was and what really under her tiny roof is driving happened that night. The author uses letters, diaries, newspapers, official documents, and more in his effort to present to Savannah crazy but comforting the reader a description that is both factual and vivid, bringing to life a long-vanished world. at the same time. She wouldn’t Reviewed by Andrew MacRae author of “Murder Misdirected” (June 2012) for Suspense Magazine trade having Granny Reid and two of her siblings there Catch Me for anything. The rest of the By Lisa Gardner family as well, the price you Gardner’s long time readers will know that she doesn’t shy away from tough themes. And this is a pay for having those few there. tough one. My upfront warning is that this novel deals with pedophiles and their victims, as well as some Everyone—other than her graphic parental abuse. But I’ll immediately follow that with the opinion that this is an excellent read, a family—seems to be walking psychological thriller as well as a police procedural, done in Gardner’s usual excellent style. The prologue plunges the reader into the lives of two girls coping admirably with their mentally on eggshells around her since unhinged mother. Then we’re whisked into the future and the life of twenty-eight-year-old Charlie (Charlene Rosalind her near death experience only Carter Grant), whose best friend was murdered two years ago on the 21st of January. One year ago, on the same date, her months before and she hates it. other best friend was also murdered. The three girls were inseparable as children, after Charlie was sent to live with her When the new wedding Aunt Nancy as a young girl. Charlie figures that, since it’s now the 17th, she’ll be murdered, too. She doesn’t know why, or day finally arrives, Savannah how to prevent it, but wants the serial killer to at least be caught and punished. So she contacts the person she deems best and her whole Georgia family suited to catch the killer, Boston Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren. are there and loud. The D.D. is dealing with her new baby, Jack, who doesn’t sleep much, and with moving into Alex’s tiny suburban ranch wedding planner is calm if a house. Alex, a crime scene expert and the father of Jack, wants to marry D.D., but she’s not ready to make that commitment. bit stressed, but as they say, To add stress to her already precarious life, her parents are coming for a visit in two days. She’s also trying to track down ‘the show must go on.’ Only, the killer of a series of pedophiles. the show is stopped suddenly Charlie, a 911 operator, leads us, holding our breath, through some tense emergency calls. The police don’t discount when Savannah finds the body her weird request, to find her killer after she’s dead, since she’s on their team. of her wedding planner! The author admits to terrifying herself as well as her reader, but she lightens the sometimes-grim mood with flashes Now she and Dirk have of brilliant humor. I was terrified, breathless, and hanging on every word as I read this book. to solve this case if they are Reviewed by Kaye George, author of “Choke” for Suspense Magazine  ever going to have a chance of getting married! Her Ice Fire nightmares about the horrible By David Lyons man who tried to kill her are What do a twenty-year-old murder, a potentially new form of energy, and a bayou born and raised keeping her on edge and she federal judge have in common? The answers are in the first of a new series by David Lyons. This is not your needs to get it behind her typical courtroom setting with the prosecution and defense battling a case and pushing the limits of the law. so she can move on. How This adventure will take you from the heart of New Orleans French Quarter to the bottom of the ocean. long will it take to catch the Newly appointed federal Judge Jack Boucher is called in to handle some of the cases of Judge Epson, who suffered a heart attack. He hears a twenty-year-old contempt charge on a scientist who subsequently asks Boucher murderer? Will her scars ever for assistance. He claims he’s still seeking justice from a two decades’ old case involving a new form of energy and the heal? CEO of an energy production company. While trying to deal with a waning relationship with his girlfriend, Boucher Having the whole Reid starts investigating the case and almost immediately runs into murder, corruption, and bribery. With help from a New family under one roof is Orleans homicide and the scientist, Boucher concocts a scheme to exact long overdue justice. That is, if he can stay alive the biggest entertainment long enough. ever! Savannah is classically Quick scenes make for a fast read. No surprises about the good guys and the bad guys. The two sides are laid out southern with a big punch and for all to see with well-defined characters. I like that the protagonist isn’t a staid, law book-toting judge dominating from this is a wonderful addition to behind the bench. There’s action, budding romance, a bit of dry humor, and a plunge into New Orleans/Cajun culture. the series. High society to Zydeco icehouse bars, Lyons covers the gambit. This should be a series worth following. Reviewed by Ashley Wintters Reviewed by Stephen L. Brayton, author of “Beta” for Suspense Magazine  for Suspense Magazine 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 34 House of the Hunted Lehrter Station By Mark Mills By David Downing In this novel, Mark Mills skillfully transports us to the French Riviera in 1935. One can imagine Cole Porter or Noel Coward in the next room, wearing evening jackets and tossing off bon mots with “Lehrter Station” is David casual ease. The latest Benny Goodman record plays on a portable Victrola down at the beach and Downing’s fifth book in his John everyone naps in the afternoon. It’s a generation of people desperately seeking normality as they recover Russell series, all named after from war and depression, while ever mindful that another world war is marching inexorably toward them. railroad stations in Berlin which As an expatriate Englishman and retired spy for the British secret service, Tom earns a comfortable living each has a special significance to the story. writing travel books. He owns a villa in which he entertains friends and hosts stylish parties. His property overlooks Set against the devastation of a small bay where he keeps his sailing boat tethered and where volleyball games are played on the beach. It’s a quiet Berlin in 1945, “Lehrter Station” life and suits him well as he coasts into middle age. But our pasts have a way of catching up with us and Tom discovers is a spy story whose characters he is no exception when a hired assassin tries to kill him in the middle of the night. struggle to reclaim their lives after From what part of Tom’s violent past has this murderous attempt arisen? Who wants him dead and why? And World War II. The city has been which of his current friends and associates may be involved? The White Russian art dealer from Paris? The German divided into British, American, writer and his wife, fleeing the rise of Nazism? Or perhaps even Leonard, Tom’s former spymaster. No one is above French, and Soviet sectors, and suspicion, except perhaps Lucy, Tom’s now grown and bewitching goddaughter…or is she? it is becoming clear that the lines Tom must call upon dark and deadly skills grown dusty with disuse as he attempts to evade and counter each are being redrawn with the Soviet move his unknown adversary’s makes. Shadows from the past, some tangible, some existing only in his mind, serve Union as the new enemy for the to keep him wondering, worrying, and waiting. Western powers. Reviewed by Andrew MacRae author of “Murder Misdirected” (June 2012) for Suspense Magazine  John Russell is a double agent, spying for the Soviet Union Clobbered By Camembert and the United States, not because By Avery Aames he wants to, but because he owes “Clobbered by Camembert” is a fast-paced cozy with a heart-winning protagonist, and an interesting a debt to the Soviets for his son’s plot. Plus, Avery Aames sure knows a lot about cheese! As a cheese lover myself, I think cheese ought to life. When Soviet agent Yevgeny be its own food group. Now, now, I know it already falls into the dairy group, but since the members of Shchepkin “requests” that Russell my family can make a meal out of cheese (no rude remarks, please, about what this habit might cause); I move back to Berlin from London could eat cheese every day. Oh wait, I DO! Despite my love of cheese, I had no idea there were so many to spy for the Soviets, he has no kinds, and I love the way Avery describes the flavors, and tells whether the cheese comes from goats, sheep, or cow choice. milk. I immediately looked to see if there was a specialty cheese shop in my area and there wasn’t! Pooh! I would love Russell and his girlfriend to try some of these myself after Avery’s descriptions. Effie, a film actress, return to But, enough about cheese. Our protagonist Charlotte Bessette is cute, and lively, and very likable. And I loved Berlin and are witnesses to the her boyfriend, Jordan. His history was a nice twist to the story, although I won’t reveal it here. Read the book! I liked fragmented lives of the survivors this book so well, that I’m going to go back and get the others in the series that I haven’t read: “The Long Quiche of war. Human life is cheap Goodbye,” first in the series, and “Lost and Fondue,” the second. after the bombings, rapes, and I liked the way Avery built her suspense and the denouement was unexpected and satisfying. Go out and get mass exterminations of the “Clobbered by Camembert” by Avery Aames. I guaranteed you’ll enjoy it and you’ll end up hungry! concentration camps. Since Russell Reviewed by Holly Price, author of the soon to be released, “At Death’s Door” for Suspense Magazine  is a journalist by profession, he is on the lookout of a good story as Back in the Habit a cover for his espionage activities. By Alice Loweecey He finds a story in the exodus of The first ‘Falcone & Driscoll Investigation’ was so much fun and so thrilling at the same time, that it Jews from Europe to Palestine. But will be a surprise for all readers when they see that the second one is even better! on his return to Berlin, he finds In this new tale, readers are once again at the side of Giulia Falcone. Once a nun, Giulia fled that that Effie has been involved in particular life and joined with Frank Driscoll in the P.I. business a little over a year ago. Little does she some risky clandestine operations know, however, that just as she’s beginning to get used to ‘womanly life,’ with her ‘Good Girls Guide to Flirting’ and of her own. her Cosmo reads, she’s about to be thrown back inside. Author David Downing Looking up from her desk, Giulia faces her old ‘boss’—Superior General of the convent, Sister Fabian—who’s portrays an incomprehensibly there to hire the firm to look into a death at the convent. Apparently, a novice was found hanging in the basement. tragic time and place in history The police have ruled it a suicide, but the girl’s parents are threatening to take this to the courts and the media, in a manner that shows us the believing that there’s no way their child would have committed suicide. Therefore, the Sister needs a third party to humanity of each character, as well make the final decision, and preferably before St. Francis Day when the convent will be filled with guests and visitors. as pointing us in the direction of Giulia, much to her dismay, must once again don the habit and head back into the convent in order to find out the world political situation today. exactly what happened to the young girl. As the investigation commences, Giulia immediately feels as if she’s been He weaves history and fiction placed back in the ‘prison’ she once escaped from. She makes friends with some truly hysterical characters, such as: together in a way that entertains Sister Bart, who would ‘throw her mother under a bus for a Marlboro;’ an older Swedish Sister who doesn’t speak and makes the reader think at the English, but was a close friend of the girl who died; and, one Sister who cries constantly because, apparently, she’s same time. It is an intelligent and drinking the wine. Add in Mother Superior who is also referred to as “The Puppet Master,” and Father Ray, the priest powerful book. who seems more than happy to show the nuns the ropes, and you have a mystery that is both thrilling and laugh-out- Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, loud fantastic. author of “The Gate House” for Get this series right now because you will not want to miss the adventures of ‘Falcone & Driscoll,’ especially Suspense Magazine  seeing as that romance is most definitely headed the ex-Sister’s way. Stay tuned! Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “Tallent & Lowery – 13” for Suspense Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 35 Alpha Murder of the By Greg Rucka Bride Whiling away time in Skagway, Alaska, Master Sergeant Jonathan “Jad” Bell, a Delta Force By C. S. Challinor operative finds himself in a conversation with Colonel Daniel Ruiz and being offered a job. He’s The butler did it in back in action. An undercover operative has been murdered in the world’s largest theme park, the drawing room with a placed there after rumors surface of a possible action against the U. S. candlestick! Picture the Hired on as Deputy Director of Wilsonville Park Security, Jad has access to the technology tried and true who-dun-it required to keep an eye on the park and any hint of hinky behavior. He has a skeleton team of two other mystery and you have C.S. operatives to help with the task. All seems normal until an alarm is raised by the monitoring system indicating Challinor’s “Murder of the biochemical contamination spreading through the park. The team must take action to prevent the deaths of Bride.” In the fifth installment of herRex thousands of innocents. Graves Mystery Series, Challinor offers A sleeper agent from a Moscow faction has been working in Wilsonville placing dirty bombs in strategic up yet another entertaining and often locations around the park. After the bombs are detonated the rest of his cohorts descend upon the park, taking humorous adventure. hostages, two of which are Jad’s deaf daughter and ex-wife. The siege has now become personal. The faction has Barrister and amateur sleuth Rex placed its demand giving the government until midnight to produce. Graves and his fiancée Helen are off to Gathering intel, Jad and his team split up through the park looking for the hostages and gunning for the Derbyshire, England for the wedding of madmen before they can make good on their threats. Thus ensues a game of cat and mouse with bodies piling a former student. Almost immediately up and time running out. upon their arrival at the church, the “Alpha” comes out with a bang and this high-octane rollercoaster ride of a book sets the bar high for the comedy of errors begins. When the next installment. I can’t wait to see what Rucka comes up with next. bride Polly makes her entrance to walk Reviewed by Jodi Ann Hanson for Suspense Magazine  down the aisle she is preceded by a very prominent and very pregnant belly, Stay Close obviously this is a “shot-gun” wedding. By Harlan Coben She is quite the contrast to her scrawny, Not a surprise to lead off a review by saying this author has done it once again. A truly fascinating tale of sickly looking groom Timmy Thorpe suspense that delves into the lives of three people who thought they knew what they wanted. Alas, they just can’t leaving the guests wondering how the quite seem to find a way to forget the incredibly dark past they’ve left behind. two ended up a couple and on their way Ray Levine was once a talented documentary photographer, but upon reaching middle-age he finds himself to the altar. at a job posing as a paparazzo, chasing celebrity parents and kids around, taking pictures for their albums. Megan When they arrive at the afternoon Pierce was once a ‘playgirl’ who worked in Vegas, and now she’s a soccer mom with two children, a husband she reception in the bride’s childhood loves, and a perfect home with a picket fence. Yet even with all of this, she’s beginning to feel very dissatisfied home, it becomes apparent the families with her lot in life. Jack Broome is a detective who is just not able to let go of a ‘cold case’ regarding a man who of the newly married couple are highly disappeared seventeen years ago. Every year Jack spends the anniversary of the man’s death at a house that dysfunctional in their own ways. Polly’s resides in the past, where the missing man’s family is still waiting for him to come home…his shoes still left by father ran off when she was a teenager the recliner as if he will walk in the door at any moment. and hadn’t been seen since, and Timmy’s One awful night, eighteen years ago, the lives of these three people were changed for all time. Now living mother Mabel is an overbearing shrew lives they really don’t want, each one is hiding some very deep, dark secrets that even those closest to them of a woman. would never suspect. Led by a past that will never go away, the trio returns to the place of their trials to find The buffet over and the cake finally out the truth at long last. As each one faces their own private hell, they soon find a story that has been lurking cut and served, the bride becomes sick between the lines of their boring present and their dark, exciting past. and is rushed to the hospital where it is With Mr. Coben’s combination of thrills and intelligence, he leads readers into the ‘dark side’ of life and discovered she’s been poisoned at the delivers his trademark style of exhilarating and captivating writing in a true novel of suspense. reception. Instantly Rex Graves goes  Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “Tallent & Lowery - 13” for Suspense Magazine into sleuth mode to solve the murder. In Dark Magic the process of tracking the guilty party, By James Swain bodies start piling up as Aunt Gwen I enjoyed the different twists in the paranormal aspects: some unique spells, a dark magic takes a dive off the top of the castle and order trying to kill those with special powers, and the use of spirit guides, etc. As a paranormal Polly’s father is found dead on the train author and reader, I’m always looking for a novel to shock me with something new. I like the author tracks. to have a hold on the old mythologies, but to be able to add a few new elements to the mix as well. One by one the guests are cleared Mr. Swain definitely achieved this for me. of suspicion as Rex zeros in on the killer The relationships weren’t very complicated, which sometimes happens when the suspense is first and in a surprising twist the reader won’t see foremost in a story as they were in this one, and wasn’t a detriment to the story. But the characters and how they coming. interacted was believable. I like too, the mesh of the paranormal in a realistic world setting where there are the Challinor deftly writes a classic believers, the non-believers, as well as the “in the dark” characters whose eyes are opened. Speaking of realistic, English-style mystery in the class of the proper channels of law enforcement were typically unhelpful, creating a realistic fight to get help. Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen. With The greatness to this story for me was in the uniqueness of the plot, and the author continually giving you her words, you can almost see Rex in a bits of information while holding just enough back to keep you reading. What the main character saw and feared tweed jacket with a pipe between his in the mystical world of Swain’s creating was intriguing. The back story though, that was what had me, what kept teeth questioning all the attendees of me turning pages. I just had to know the answers the main character was seeking himself. the reception. Devoted readers of the And last, but not least, the writing was done well. The action moments were easy to follow. The details were mystery genre will love this offering not overwhelming, but enough to get you to see what was happening. It was in the paranormal parts that I was from Challinor. most impressed with sentences and phrases that seemed to simply say a whole lot. Let me leave you with one. Reviewed by Jodi Ann Hanson for “When a psychic died, there was a void felt on both sides of life, a tear in the fabric of existence…” Suspense Magazine  Reviewed by Kiki Howell, author of “Hidden Salem” for Suspense Magazine 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 36 The Next Stolen Prey One To Fall By John Sandford By Hilary Davidson The master is at it yet again… The location is Wayzata, Minnesota, where a family of four: mom, dad, two kids, as well as the Winner of the family pets, are killed in a most horrific way. On one of the walls in the house appears a message: “Were Anthony Award, Hilary coming.” (Nope, no apostrophe, which is the very first clue to a truly thrilling novel). Davidson writes a follow-up to her Lucas Davenport, a former police detective with the Minneapolis department who is now with the Minnesota debut novel “The Damage Done” Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is sent to the gruesome killing. Lucas has been witness to a myriad of murder with another great thriller. and mayhem—scenes he will never forget—but this one is more than even Lucas can take. Officials from the Lily Moore, unable to shake DEA seem to think the crime is the work of Los Criminales, a Mexican drug gang, although various officials and the guilt of her sister’s death and underlings do not believe that this particular crime fits the drug gang’s M.O. relentlessly badgered by her best The family lived in a wealthy area. The husband ran a company and the wife was running for a local political friend Jesse Robb, agrees to dust seat. Nothing seems to shout ‘drugs’ at the investigators. It’s not until money laundering becomes apparent that herself off and get back to her work people and suspects start coming to the forefront. as a travel writer. Jesse and Lily However, the author has changed ‘tone’ with this new novel, seeing as the ‘bad guys’ are made crystal clear. have worked together on several This will surprise longtime readers, as Lucas’s new crime joins in with a compelling story line, which began in assignments traveling to far off a previous book. As fans will remember, Lucas Davenport was held up at an ATM while he was out jogging by places: Lily writing and Jesse taking a couple of meth addicts. When this occurred, he called Virgil Flowers, a cohort in the police department, to photographs for freelance work and investigate this crime while Lucas was tied up in another murder case. Virgil gets surprising results, and as “Stolen tourist magazines. So now, Lily finds Prey” is linked with that previous story, crimes interweave and readers need to stay alert. herself hiking through the wet jungles For anyone who has lived in a cave for a few years (over a decade), this is the twenty-second installment in the of Peru in search of Machu Picchu Prey Mystery Series, a series where, if you haven’t read any of them, you need to ‘jump on board’ right this second. and wondering what on earth she’s Pure Sandford, the action never stops, and just when you think you’ve got it all figured out…surprise! You’re not gotten herself into this time. even close. Standing at the edge of the Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “Tallent & Lowery – 13” for Suspense Magazine  ancient city watching the sun rise, Lily and Jesse hear an ear-curdling The Thirteenth Sacrifice scream and immediately run toward By Debbie Viguié the sound only to find a woman’s Protagonist Samantha Ryan, along with her supporting characters will have you spellbound when you read body crumpled below the immense this novel. I swear I think Viguié cast a spell on me. I think I’m still under it as I write this review! stone staircase. While Jesse runs to Detective Samantha Ryan was born and raised a witch, but she won’t admit it. She vowed long ago never to find help, Lily stays to comfort the practice again, but when Caption Roberts—her boss and savior—needs her to go undercover to bring down a woman and ends up hearing the last coven of witches, she agrees, with great hesitation. It is her coven, the one she was raised in, that is wreaking havoc words of a dying woman, words that and creating hell on earth for the mere mortals. What else can she do? Ryan needs to stop them. incriminate her missing boyfriend. Temporarily moving back to Salem, Ryan uses her magical abilities to seek out the coven’s witches. She is The man that Lily witnesses running faced with battling witches while trying to remember exactly what powers she has and what happened to her as from the top of the stairs. a young girl. In Salem, she gets more than she bargains for. Amidst destruction and death, Ryan meets and falls After trying to get the local police for Anthony Charles, the one guy who for years was searching for her in order to destroy her. He wants his own to treat the fall as a murder rather revenge for the death of his mother, which was at the hands of this particular coven. He is bent on killing the last than the suicide of a drug addict, Lily sole survivor of her coven. Only Charles doesn’t realize Ryan is the actual target of his wrath. By the time Charles is determined to investigate by herself finds out it’s Ryan, he too has fallen for her. They both duel while trying to stay alive, each wanting to be a victor. to prove it’s murder. This is a decision And Ryan has more to fight for than just her life. She is battling the witches for the lives of many. both she and Jesse will soon regret as A heart-pounding novel that will keep you bewitched from beginning to end. A fantastic read. I recommend they find themselves the recipients of picking this one up. Viguié can weave an amazing story that will most definitely capture your attention. death threats and attempted murder Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “Deadly Decisions” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint in order to keep them from achieving of Suspense Magazine  their goal. Lily discovers the depths which The Murder of Gonzago a madman will go to protect his By R. T. Raichev family especially when one of them Murder is fun again! The latest effort by the Bulgarian is why we enjoy murder mysteries in the is a murderer…or maybe more than classical British style. A little whimsy, a quick pace, a logical deductive whodunit. Yes, it may start in one. the Caribbean, but you’ll be ensconced in jolly England in no time. With “The Next One to Fall” Lord Roderick Remnant was a nobleman who was not so noble. He enjoyed causing heartache, Hilary Davidson takes her readers on consorted with occultists, and threw wild parties on his private Caribbean island. Any wonder he a rollercoaster ride from one thrilling would be murdered? Those around him when he shuffled off this mortal coil are up to their eyeballs in conspiracy situation to the next. She deftly writes to keep the murder a secret. But when the new Lady Remnant receives a videotape of her brother in-law’s death, a story that will have you thinking she hires detective Major Payne to ferret out the truth. you’ve got it all figured out only to Along with his novelist wife Antonia, Payne is faced with a plethora of suspects. By using extraordinary throw you off into another direction deductive reasoning a’la Holmes, can Payne expose a murderer? You know he can. until her final reveal. Davidson is Each chapter parcels out just a bit more of the story, just enough, drawing open the curtain to reveal the definitely a writer to watch. picture behind. I liked the interview with Antonia and the way she describes her style of writing is how Raichev Reviewed by Jodi Ann Hanson for writes: A balance between setting, characterization, and plot. A mystery that harkens to the thirties or forties, but Suspense Magazine  pays respect to modernity. “The Murder of Gonzago” is definitely a keeper. Reviewed by Stephen L. Brayton, author of “Beta” for Suspense Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 37 The Lola Quartet If You Were Here By Emily St. John Mandel By Jen Lancaster There’s no going back. Once high school is over, just like Bruce Springsteen says, there’s nothing but ‘glory days,’ rehashing what might have been. The Lola Quartet gave their last performance of the This book had me year from the back of the truck and that too was when Gavin last saw his wannabe-girlfriend, Anna, actually laughing out as she stood in the outskirts of the woods. He looked for her but she was just gone. Rumors that she loud, as Jen Lancaster was pregnant where supposedly authenticated when his band mate and best friend Daniel disappeared entertains her reader about the same time. with the antics of her They all moved on but Gavin more than the others. He got the college degree that sent him to New York to protagonist Mia and her work as a high-powered journalist. Addicted to the infamy, he started glamorizing his stories with quotes that he hubby Mac. thought his boring subjects could have said ignoring their real world answers, until the inevitable happened and Mia is an author of a series of he had to leave, head hung low. “Amish Zombie” novels who—along The shame took him home to swampy steamy Florida from where he escaped to avoid the omnipresent heat. with her husband—lives in a rental His sister found him work with her firm, flipping homes going into foreclosure, and also showed him a photograph home with their menagerie of pets. she took of a ten-year-old girl, the spitting image of Gavin; no mistaking the Japanese ancestry. Daniel is now a The home is in a less than desirable small town cop, Anna’s sister Sasha works nights in the town diner, and the last member of the band, Jack is living section of town but the rent won out a drug-addled life in a tent in a friend’s back yard. Gavin uses the skills he learned as a top-notch reporter to put over their better judgment. Thus, together the big picture and track down what appears to be the daughter he never knew about. they find themselves in the middle The lives the four led since high school took them down paths no one could have imagined, and what Gavin of a throw down with a thug who learns shocks and scares him to the core. Be prepared to be surprised. tags everything in the neighborhood, Reviewed by Mark Sadler, author of “Blood on his Hands” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint of including a church across from their Suspense Magazine  home. Well-Offed in Vermont After the thug “ORNESTEGA” By Amy Patricia Meade retaliates against the couple by throwing a firebomb at the house, Nick and Stella Buckley decide it’s time to leave the big city and move to Vermont where they purchase an they finally throw in the towel and 1890 white clapboard farmhouse. Settling in doesn’t take long and the couple decide to christen their home, but start the search to buy a home in the are interrupted by a “well-meaning” nosey neighbor bringing cupcakes to welcome them to the neighborhood. outskirts of Chicago, Illinois. During After she leaves, Nick and Stella are ready to resume their earlier plans, after Stella washes her hands of the sticky the search for a new property, the stuff that was on the cupcake plate. Sounds kind of low-key, but in truth, it’s the beginning of a fun, fabulous story. owner of the rental house, Vienna The water flowing in the bathroom sink is bloody, very bloody. Checking the well outside their beautiful Hyatt has taken any opportunity home, the couple finds resident Allen Weston, dead. The local police come in quickly. Taking over, they kick the available to make the MacNamara’s couple out of their house—since the hotels are full of Fall foliage lovers—causing the couple to temporarily find lives miserable, threatening to sue residence in a deer camp. them for a window broken by the The Buckleys aren’t going to sit idly by and wait for the police to finish so they can have their home back. firebomb and the video leaked by a They drive all around town, questioning neighbors and residents to see what they can find out about Weston and team of packers who observed the his possible killer. They are determined to help Sheriff Mills hurry his investigation along. Even though there are celebrity go off on them. lots of possible suspects since businessman Weston has made a few enemies, the investigation was, to say the least, Eventually the MacNamaras difficult. Everyone they encounter seems to be introverted and reserved. find the perfect home and put an Watching the Buckleys conduct their personal investigation was fun and funny. Meade’s newest series, Pret’ offer on it. The place was featured in Near Perfect Mystery, “Well-Offed in Vermont” is a true winner. “The Breakfast Club” which happens Reviewed by Terri Ann Armstrong, author of “How to Plant a Body” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint to be the couple’s favorite movie. The of Suspense Magazine  house is in deplorable condition and The Hope Vendetta turns out to be a money pit. Through By Scott Mariani many failed attempts at DIY home Ben Hope, former major of the elite British Special Air Services, and recently retired from the business of renovations, the couple resorts to rescuing kidnap victims, is on the edge of despair after the murder of his wife. To combat the depression, he enrolls hiring a contractor, which proves to at Oxford to finish the theology degree he’d started almost twenty years before. be easier said than done. But just as he’s easing into his new life, the old life intrudes. A friend’s daughter, Zoë Bradbury, has disappeared. With her fifth book, Jen The young woman had been part of an archaeological team who’d made an amazing find in the Middle East, but Lancaster has created a hilarious romp she’d left the dig early, and then vanished. Her parents beg Ben to look for their daughter. Ben is firm in his refusal through the hazard stricken lives of to help. He’s just a student now, but gives them the name of a friend. Mia and Mac. Jen incorporates little Next thing Ben knows, his friend Charlie is calling from Greece, where Zoë disappeared. “I need backup,” he tidbits that are added commentary says, so Ben reluctantly goes to help. But Charlie was right when he said it wasn’t a simple job. What appeared to Mia adds in the telling of her story. be a straightforward case of a twenty-six-year-old woman having a little too good of a time, suddenly becomes a Her characters are definitely the deadly chase. “Laurel and Hardy” of the renovation From Greece to Savannah, Georgia to Montana, Hope traces the missing woman, leaving a trail of bodies in circuit, leaving the reader thinking of his wake. Soon he realizes the artifact Zoë found is significant far beyond the academic world, that the ‘End Times’ the mishaps they have experienced forecasted in the Book of Revelation are very real to millions, and that the secrecy involved indicates conspiracy at in their DIY foray. If you want to find the highest levels. Yet somehow, Zoë Bradbury is at the heart of it. To save Zoë, and to prevent World War III, all yourself laughing at the end of a long Hope has to do is find her. day this is the book you should be Scott Mariani has written a heart-pounding thrill ride of a book. From the first sentence (“It was night when picking up. they took her”) to the last, “The Hope Vendetta” is packed with the action and terse dialogue that makes it hard to Reviewed by Jodi Ann Hanson for stop turning pages. Suspense Magazine  Reviewed by Laura Alden, author of “Foul Play at the PTA” for Suspense Magazine 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 38 Triple Crossing The Solitary House By Sebastian Rotella By Lynn Shepherd “The Solitary House” is an engaging story with compelling characters and a rich portrayal As a journalist, Rotella of mid-nineteenth century London. Its successes however—and there are many—are achieved tells it the way it is, straight in spite of an unusual narrative form that often distracts the reader. Cast in first-person plural talk, all facts about life present tense, already an unfamiliar choice, the narrator tells the story from a modern perspective, south of the border. A including contemporary references, such as an allusion to P.D. James, which is a confusing nudge Pulitzer finalist, he found in the reader’s ribs. (The author acknowledges that this perspective was inspired by John Fowles’ “The French many stories he could Lieutenant’s Woman,” but there seems no reason for it beyond the literary exercise.) never fully substantiate, Fortunately, the authorial intrusions are infrequent enough to allow an immersion in the sooty, squalid tales all fascinating but unprintable for a environment of 1850 London, the home of Charles Maddox, a former police officer who now ekes out newspaper. Taking all these fables, gossip, a living as a private detective. As the novel opens, he has one case involving a long-missing girl in a city known for street urchins and prostitution. It’s bleak and takes its lead from Charles Dickens’s “Bleak House,” innuendo, and rumors, he works them borrowing characters and situations from that and other works of Dickens and his friend, Wilkie Collins. into a border story the likes of which you Such reinventions run the risk of self-indulgence on the part of the borrower, but Shepherd, for the most have never read and treats us to his debut part, seamlessly blends her creations and her borrowings into an intricate, and gruesome, mystery (although novel. referencing Dickens within a story featuring his characters seems odd). Valentine Pescatore, a wannabe Maddox’s luck seems on the upswing when he gets a new case from attorney-to-the-wealthy, Edward street punk from Chicago is given one last Tulkinghorn. It seems like an easy job that pays well, but Maddox suspects there are deeper secrets of the chance to straighten up his life and with upper class lurking beneath the surface, secrets he’s not meant to uncover. It’s not in his nature to take the the help of an uncle, has found his way to money and look the other way, and soon he feels threatened by his employer as well as an old foe on the the Border Patrol. In his personal life he Metropolitan Police force. But things are not always what they seem in this multilayered, complex story, and is a loose cannon; his supervisor’s a dirty there are many grim twists before the end. cop and life is an alcohol-fueled thrill-a- If you’re up for some work as a reader, this may be for you. minute. He receives a warning after he is Reviewed by Scott Pearson, author of “Star Trek: Honor in the Night” forSuspense Magazine  suspected of chasing a cholo into Mexico, but finds himself given a reprieve if he rats The Sunday Hangman out his supervisor. By James McClure Pescatore finds himself in a gunfight Bank robber Tollie Erasmus has been found hanging from a tree with a Bible in his hand. What looks at first like a suicide turns out to be a killing performed in the same manner as that used by the South African and ends up driving his wounded criminal justice system to execute criminals. It soon becomes clear that the murder of Erasmus is more than supervisor to the underworld bosses in an isolated crime, as a second victim turns up who was killed in a similar manner. Mexico, but once there, can’t leave. He Police detectives Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and his Bantu assistant Mickey Zondi pursue their goes undercover, joining in the illegal investigation amid the hate-filled atmosphere of South Africa under the apartheid system. This atmosphere is activities and reaching out to agents in so much a part of the story that it could not be told in any other time or place. The emphasis on the gradations the US—when able—to let them know of color of a person’s skin, and whether they are white, black, or colored are such an integral part of the dialog he is alive and working from deep inside and relationships among characters as to be frightening. the organization. McClure’s characters are as multi-layered as a writer can make them. He adds details of their personal As the story progresses, we lives that bring the reader into the minds of police, criminals, and peripheral characters, whether we are meant are introduced to the triple border, to like them or not. The differing cultures and ethnic backgrounds of the characters rub against each other in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, the a constant friction as Kramer and Zondi work their way toward the capture of the killer. heart of all smuggling, where Arabs and “The Sunday Hangman” was originally released in 1977, and is one of eight Kramer and Zondi novels. Chinese mix into the flow and money of This riveting story serves as a scathing indictment of the apartheid system, which was still fully in force in illegal activities as they move up through South Africa at the time the book was written. But primarily, McClure is telling a good tale, with plenty of Central America hitting the border we are satisfying twists and turns for the avid crime novel reader. The message, if there is one, is so woven into the all more familiar with. story as to be not so much part of the plot as part of the life of the characters. And it is this subtlety that is the With his life in jeopardy, Pescatore novel’s strength. does his best to keep the blurry lines Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of the re-released “The Gate House” forSuspense Magazine  between right and wrong straight as he Scoundrels: Tales of Greed, Murder, and Financial works to keep his cover. Suspecting he Crimes is playing the double-agent game, his Edited by Gary Phillips superiors make arrangements to setup This is a collection of books containing everything from a firefighter, two drunks and a raging fire to a the gangsters; everyone comes in guns ‘settlement seeker’ who is trying to get financial compensation for a friend who was wronged. Car salesmen blazing. The final scenes will drop your seek revenge while a coked-out trader is perhaps a stand up guy. A reformed banker seeking revenge and a jaw in amazement. conman whose con goes in a shocking direction and anther avenging a murdered wife. Rotella treats us to a wild ride into In a different story, a bank man whose life has gone down the toilet seeks revenge. A stock trader is left unfamiliar territory with the ferocity hanging. There are two guys, a van, and a dingus. Also, two greedy lawyers have a sex scam while a billionaire that the cartels hand out on the streets of does the dishes. A senile old man, beautiful daughter, and oil take a man for a ride, as a scammer gets scammed. Mexico; brutal, punishing, and final. Murder, violence, cheating, deceit, and lots more flow through these stories. Each one is different. Each Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author one is original and there are plenty of thrills and chills! Some leave you with questions, others with shock of “Blood on his Hands” published by and surprise. Suspense Publishing, an imprint of This book is a great collection of short stories that has tons of variety. Each one is a wonderful asset to Suspense Magazine  the whole! Reviewed by Ashley Wintters forSuspense Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 39 MOVIES Battleship 2012 Genre – Action/SciFi/Thriller (PG 13) Hollywood is casting its net everywhere for film ideas these days. Decades ago film studios only had books and imagination to draw upon when creating science fiction invasions of our planet. The 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, on our low-tech black and white TV without computer-animation technology, once created a frightening vision of an alien invasion with only a lone alien and his robot. The idea of creating a film from the unimaginative game of Battleship is intriguing and with modern technology visually exciting. Whilst clearly not aiming for a storyline, they certainly hit a few marks with the action. Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) is always in trouble, much to the consternation of his big brother and naval officer, Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård). When Alex meets Samantha (Brooklyn Decker) he again ends up in strife by breaking into a mini-mart in an attempt to get her a snack. The only answer, according to his brother, is to enlist in the Navy. By the time he has moved up the navy ranks, he and Samantha want to marry, but first he must ask the permission of her father, Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson). This permission asking is going to occur whilst on naval exercises off Hawaii. But two things go wrong, Alex is in trouble again and Aliens pick that moment to invade the Earth. The rest of the film is a version of ‘Transformer’s defending the Earth,’ except this time it is the U.S. and Japanese Navy, and Samantha and double amputee, Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales (Gregory Gadson), attempting to stop the aliens from signaling back to their home planet with directions to Earth for the invasion team. We get a good look at the aliens, clad in Iron Man type spacesuits, as they chase Alex’s personnel—which includes superstar Rhianna in her first film role—around their ship. The spaceships and aliens then play a battleship game of hit and miss in quite spectacular and watery action scenes. If you want a thoughtful film with wonderful acting and a plausible plot, do not target this movie. It misses practically every time the actors open their mouths. But if you want action, aliens and fun CGI destruction sequences, with no thinking in between, then Battleship scores a direct hit. Reviewed by Susan May for Suspense Magazine (http://susanmaywordadventures.blogspot.com/)  The Raven is the latest movie to star John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe. Set only days before Poe’s mysterious death in The Raven Baltimore, MD, a serial killer acts out the violent killings that 2012 Poe wrote about in his many short stories. Detective Fields, Genre – Mystery/Thriller (R) played by Luke Evans, suspects Poe at first, and then needs Poe to help catch the killer. When Poe’s fiancée, Emily Hamilton played by Alice Eve, is kidnapped by the killer, it becomes personal for Poe and is a race against time to rescue Emily before she is another victim. When the movie starts, Poe is a broken man that has run out of ideas. He is writing reviews, constantly bashing other authors, in the Patriot Newspaper, using the little bit of money he gets to drink his thoughts away. Cusack does an excellent job of playing Poe and was defiantly the stand out character of the movie. As was Poe’s writing at times, the movie has some gory murder scenes, which is probably why the movie is rated ‘R.’ The movie moves at a fast pace and has excellent flow, keeping the audience constantly on edge. While the movie is centered on Poe, Luke Evans playing Detective Fields is also a very strong character. He brings the old world detective with a hard ass attitude, and is a great compliment to Cusack. When Poe and Fields are together chasing after the killer, you can see the dynamic of two seasoned actors still in their prime. Alice Eve plays a decent character, but you can tell she is still new, this being her second major role in wide release film, but first in the thriller genre and doesn’t quite have the same rhythm that Cusack and Fields have. The costumes and settings are very refreshing and beautifully done. The biggest problem this movie will have is that Edgar Allen Poe was such a mysterious author. Many people don’t really understand him. His hardcore fans will love seeing him on screen, but the casual fan will probably stay away, thinking that this something other than a horror thriller. I recommend anyone to see this film, giving it a solid four out of five stars rating. Reviewed by John Raab, CEO/Publisher of Suspense Magazine 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 40 MOVIES The Avengers 2012 Genre – Action/Adventure/SciFi (PG 13) We’ve all waited four years, since that torturously tempting Nick Fury cameo at the end of Iron Man. The delicious taunts, that there may an Avengers film, were then continued in The Incredible Hulk a few months later. By the time the Captain America and Thor films released we knew it for a fact. The Avengers was coming and all sign posts pointed to something very special. The idea for The Avengers first surfaced during the production of Iron Man when producer Kevin Feige had a notion that S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division) could be part of both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Says Feige, “We started looking at the list of characters in the Marvel Universe that hadn’t been taken by other studios: Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow, and I thought, isn’t that interesting; all of these characters happen to form one of the most popular comic book series—The Avengers. “When the idea of a Nick Fury cameo started coming up, we called Sam Jackson and he thought it was a cool idea,” continues Feige. “It was his enthusiasm about it that led us to shoot that end credit scene and what he says to Tony Stark in the scene, ‘You’re part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it yet.’ The line was also Marvel telling that to the audience as well.” But it all came together when Joss Whedon (Director and screenplay) was assigned the task of bringing these huge franchises together. Says Whedon, “Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America don’t seem like they could co-exist and ultimately that is what intrigued me and made me go, ‘This can be done and this should be done,’” continues Whedon. “These people don’t belong together and wouldn’t get along, and as soon as that dynamic came into focus, I realized that I actually had something to say about these people.” And say he does it in one hundred forty-two minutes of action, laughs, and incredible special effects that will see no patrons wanting their money back. It is non-stop from the opening scene at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters when Loki, Thor’s brother, arrives through a portal created by the mysterious Tesseract power source with which S.H.I.E.L.D. has been experimenting. Loki has some serious ego problems and has decided that he’s going to subjugate Earth by bringing an army through a larger portal using the Tesseract. Apparently, we were made to be ruled. Loki sets off to orchestrate his master plan after turning Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and a couple of key S.H.I.E.L.D employees into his mindless minions using his groovy long sword weapon. Meanwhile, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), with the help of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), sets about assembling the superheroes we have come to know and love to create The Avengers. But Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) is only just coming to terms with the fact he has been asleep for seventy years and isn’t keen. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has returned to Asgard a hero having redeemed himself on Earth. Dr. Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), is not excited to return from an isolated, safer, life in India. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is busy working on his own green power project; and didn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. reject him from the program anyway? It seems Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the world’s greatest spy, is the only one taking all of this seriously. She also wants to rescue her ally, Clint Barton/Hawkeye from being super-evil thanks to Loki, because his skills as the world’s greatest archer would come in handy. But these guys all have super-egos and in the case of Banner, super alter-egos. “We’re not a team. We’re a time bomb,” says Banner. And, of course, Tony Stark freely admits, that he doesn’t play well with others. The real fun begins when this group of irreverent super-heroes are thrown together. Not only is the action fast and furious, the one-liners erupt from each character with such speed, you find yourself laughing and knuckle-clutching from the action almost simultaneously. The true skill of Whedon’s script and direction is the extension of each character’s story from their own previous films without interfering with the pace. Add to that convincing very WOW special effects, seamlessly choreographed with little navel gazing— and when there is, as Thor discovers you get that slapped out of you quick smart—and you have an unrivalled fun blast. Do you need to see the other films before The Avengers? No, but I warn you, that once you’ve enjoyed this film, you will want to see all the previous films and this one again. So, you will be busier than a hive full of Superheroes for the next few weeks but enjoying every minute. Superheroes rule. Reviewed by Susan May for Suspense Magazine (http://susanmaywordadventures.blogspot.com/) 

SuspenseMagazine.com 41 Prepare for heart-racing suspense by thirty of the best writers in the business!

Bodyguards, vigilantes, stalkers, serial killers, women (and men!) in jeopardy, cops, thieves, P.I.s, killers—these all-new stories will keep you thrilled and chilled late into the night.

Available May 29

12_141_Suspense_Thriller3.indd 1 12-03-29 11:28 AM Eric Jerome

And Dickthe Hits Just Keepe yon Coming Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Joseph Jones Photography

In 1983, Eric Jerome Dickey—born in Memphis— moved to Los Angeles to follow a career in engineering, but not before he attended the University of Memphis, where he earned a degree in computer system technology. Eric started a job in the aerospace industry as a software developer, but then found an artistic flair, which inspired him to become an actor and a stand-up comedian. He discovered writing was something he could do, and do well. From creative writing classes to avidly devouring the works of his favorite authors, Eric shaped a writing career of his own. Having written several scripts for his personal comedy act, he started writing poetry and short stories. Eric says, “The film work gave me insight into character development; the acting classes helped me understand motivation…all of it goes hand in hand.” He joined the IBWA (International Black Writers and Artists), took part in their development workshops, and became a beneficiary of the IBWA SEED Scholarship to attend UCLA’s Creative Writing classes. His first published short story, Thirteen, was published in 1994, in the IBWA’s “River Crossing: Voices of the Diaspora,” an Anthology of the International Black Experience. A second short story appeared in the magazine, A Place to Enter. With those successes behind him, Eric decided to fine-tune some of his earlier work. He created a screenplay called Cappuccino, which was directed and produced by Craig Ross, Jr. In February 1998, Cappuccino made its local unveiling during the Pan African Film Festival at the Magic Johnson Theater. Eric’s book signing tours for “Sister, Sister,” “Friends and Lovers,” “Milk in My Coffee,” “Cheaters,” and “Liar’s

SuspenseMagazine.com 43 Game” took him from coast to coast and helped push each of these novels to #1 on the Blackboard Bestsellers List. Eric celebrated the French publication of “Milk in My Coffee” (Cafe Noisette) by embarking on a book tour to Paris in June of 2000. “Milk in My Coffee” became a bestseller in France soon after that. Eric’s novels, “Chasing Destiny,” “Liar’s Game,” “Between Lovers,” “Thieves’ Paradise,” and a host of others have all earned him spots on The New York Times bestseller list. “Liar’s Game,” “Thieves’ Paradise,” “The Other Woman,” and “Genevieve” were nominated for NAACP Image Awards in the category of Outstanding Literary Work in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. In 2006, he was honored with the awards for Best Contemporary Fiction and Author of the Year (Male) at the 2006 African American Literary Award Show. In 2008, Eric was nominated for Storyteller of the Year at the first annualESSENCE Literary Awards. His books have held solid positions on regional bestseller lists and have been featured in many publications, including ESSENCE, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. Dickey’s last novel, “Pleasure,” held true to form and landed on bestseller lists for The New York Times, USA Today, and ESSENCE. Eric Jerome Dickey is also the author of a six-issue miniseries of comic books for Marvel Enterprises featuring Storm (X-Men) and the Black Panther. His novel “Naughty or Nice” has been optioned by Lionsgate Films. Eric’s awards go on and on, and the ride he’s been taking shows no signs of stopping. Suspense Magazine is honored to have this opportunity to speak with him to bring you this exclusive interview.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What drives Eric Jerome Dickey?

Eric Jerome Dickey (EJD): What drives me is not only the love of writing, but the fear of failure. I think that basic fear drives many. But like most writers, there is something inside of us, some energy that keeps us at the keyboard writing, rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. Writing is about rewriting. I’m one of the lucky ones who is able to do what he loves to do, do what he would still be doing as a hobby, and still be able to take care of food, clothing, and shelter. I get to make up people and tell lies and earn a living. I can’t ask for more than that.

S. MAG.: Your books tend to have a lot of heat in them. Was that your immediate intention when you started your novels or did your characters dictate what happened?

EJD: Writing heat and writing violence are the two hardest things. Both require action, a certain language, the creation of a certain mood, and to a certain degree, depending on the scene, either emotional or physical choreography. Characters never dictate the story. They don’t exist. Keep it real. I don’t hear voices inside of my head and I keep away from people who say they do. The writer is in control. Saying a character controls a book is like saying a house decorates itself. A writer might get into flow, or into that wonderful zone where time has no meaning and everything seems to be working like a well-oiled machine (pardon the cliché).You’re where you need to be, sans distractions.

Back to the heat. I put off writing heat when I did my first novel because I didn’t know how to write it without making it sound too mechanical. In “Sister, Sister” I chose to make it comical (for Inda) or fade to black (for Valerie). In “Friends and Lovers” I didn’t back away

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 44 with either couple (Leonard and Debra, Tyrel and Shelby), but I didn’t go full throttle either. Heat is emotion. Heat is personal. And everyone, behind closed doors, has a different personality, and craves a different level of heat. The heat, as I’ve said in other interviews, is more about the moments before and the moments after than the heat itself. I could fade to black, but at times I choose to keep the camera rolling, to keep the narration going. Having sex or making love, how the character sees that heat— before, during, and after—is truly a reveal.

S. MAG.: From Cappuccino and “Sister, Sister” to “An Accidental Affair,” how has your writing changed?

EJD: Outside of avoiding “ly” adverbs, avoiding the passive voice, not using exclamation points, and realizing that saying a character talked to himself is the mark of an amateur, it’s hard to say. I’m on the inside looking out. It’s still pretty much the same to me. Each book feels like a character study. And since writing is all about communicating, I think that I’ve become a little better at communicating layered plots and complex emotions. Hopefully, as I have bounced from genre to genre, I have made each character feel unique.

S. MAG.: What was the first book to hit the New York Times bestseller list? What was that like?

EJD: The first book was “Naughty or Nice.” Nothing changed at the Widget Factory, but I did get many more requests for a while. Flew first class once or twice. And oh yeah, when I went to the Essence Festival for the first time, the line was so long that I was terrified. That was pretty cool. We write in isolation and have no idea what our fan base looks like, for the most part. All we can do is go by numbers sold and hope the returns are low. And to balance that out, I did a book event at the B&N in Santa Monica and no one showed up. Keeps ya humble.

S. MAG.: Which award are you most proud of? What one did you hope would come your way the most?

EJD: All of them. If I point out one child, the rest will feel slighted, then they will defriend me on Facebook and post nasty things about me on Twitter along with a photoshopped photo of me and a goat. (Okay, I’m laughing.) When I first started writing, back in the early 1800s, I used to get nominated for an NAACP image award each year, but after a handful of losses I was starting to feel like the literary Susan Lucci. (And that is said with a huge laugh and a big smile. I wonder if Lucci ever felt like she was the EJD of soaps.)

S. MAG.: If you could go back in time and visit one special moment in history, what would it be and why?

EJD: In the history of time? The Big Bang. Because I would like to see the truth, to see what scientist don’t know, and maybe see what else is out there.

In the history of man? The Crucifixion. Because I would like to see the truth as it was before the authorized King James Version of history.

In my history? My birth. To see my mother as she carried me, to watch a moment where I existed in the womb but didn’t exist in this world, then witness the transition to when I took my first breath and cried and became a part of this world.

Yeah, I watch too much sci-fi.

S. MAG.: You’ve written so many unique characters; what makes James in “An Accidental Affair” special? What did you like best about writing his story?

EJD: Every aspect of James is unique. He was born abroad, so I imagined that he sees America differently then its native sons and daughters. He was born and lived dirt-poor when he was with his family in the UK, but worked once they moved across the pond to the land of the free and home of the brave, they worked hard. He’s successful in Hollywood, but being a screenwriter he is only known by people in “The Business,” and for the most part he still sees himself as a blue-collar man. James’s point of view closely considers the Hollywood machine and the lifestyles of the successful. This extends to the constellation of characters around James. His Montana-born wife, the actress Regina Baptiste, is James’s number-one fan at the start, his groupie, his stalker of sorts. I guess even the

SuspenseMagazine.com 45 famous admire others. She’s only as famous as her last movie, and the pressures that come with carrying a multi-million dollar project weigh on her. Her rise and fall and rise are the meat of the novel. The secondary characters residing in The Apartments are a contrasting foil for James. People from all walks of life, the residents of this rundown apartment complex—especially Mr. Chetwyn Holder—well, they were important to me because their lives are close to Tinseltown, but they live one hundred eighty degrees from the way the rich and famous (are perceived to) live. The peace at James’s estate versus the madness outside of his hideaway in Downey…I could feel the madness and smell the stench.

S. MAG.: What kind of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author(s)?

EJD: I’m all over the place. I loved Hugh Prather’s nonfiction “Notes to Myself.” I love Walter Mosley’s work. He’s a genius. I feel the same for Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due. Anais Nin’s works are on my desk. Next to that is a James Patterson novel from his Alex Cross series, and in another stack is the Hunger Games trilogy in hardback. Yeah, I even have a District 12 T-shirt. I’m a book slut, a literary whore. I go from book to book and genre to genre without shame. Maybe I have a fear of commitment. Will bring that up in therapy, if ever go. I really enjoyed, for the most part, the Hunger Games series. I’ve already seen the Swedish film adaptations of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” but I’m reading that series now. Love the writing. Some people find it long, but it tells me to take my time. Just because America is a fast-food, microwave culture, we don’t have to write that way. A great meal is worth waiting for as you smell it being prepared in the kitchen. But outside of those novels that are worthy of name-dropping, I mainly have stacks of books on the craft of writing. From business and creative perspective, those are the must haves. Writer’s Digest has an excellent series that covers everything from character creation to dialogue.

S. MAG.: What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring writer that you wish has been given to you when you started out?

EJD: It’s the same in all aspects of the arts. Find your own voice. Yes, learn from other writers, read their works and see what made that book work, read many genres and not just one, but read/study as many books on writing and the craft as you do novels, because it’s a career, it is an art form. An actor can watch movies and study other actors, but he has to understand what is going on. I’ve met too many who think of writing as either a quick money occupation or an idiot’s occupation, and it’s neither. But I think that writers need to approach this as one would any other degreed program. Start with the basics, workshop, take classes, learn the rules, develop your own voice.

But remember, just because you wrote it, that doesn’t mean that they will read it. Do it because you love it. Work hard at it. It’s a process. Baby steps. Do it because you can’t stop being creative. Don’t write because you need attention and want to be popular. Don’t write if you don’t read. Write a book because you like books.

S. MAG.: What’s on the horizon for Eric Jerome Dickey?

EJD: Book tour, writing, hope economy gets better, hope I don’t get attacked while wearing a hoodie, repeat.

My motto: Writers do.

It’s been an honor for us to have had this opportunity to speak with such an esteemed author like Eric Jerome Dickey. He has so much to look forward to and we hope you’ll ride along with him. Thank you, Eric. Check out his website at, http://www.ericjeromedickey. com/. 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 46 Featured Artist

L u c i a n a Lebel Just for the art of It

Dance with Crows Interview by Suspense Magazine SuspenseMagazine.com 47 Luciana Lebel a thirty-two-year old from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with experience in publicity and psychology, specializes in analytical psychology. But when Luciana is not busy helping someone with his or her life issues, she is an artist. As a child, she always liked drawing and comics. The world of images has always attracted her. She had some skill when it came to drawing, but wasn’t always able to reproduce on paper everything she imagined. Because she’s always had a vocation for the arts, she chose publicity. It was a way to have a formal profession and at the same time be using her potential for creative expression. The psychology came later, but she could not leave her artistic side. It was then she discovered Photoshop and some of its possibilities. In her job, it’s not enough to make images with the only goal of selling more shoes in mind. She’s always been charmed by fiction, mythology, cinema, and fairy tales. She wants to get more into the world of the popular fantasy and stories. Art started as a hobby for Luciana, but turned into a passion when she participated in challenges created in the Brazilian community in Orkut called Skull Island Desafio PS (PS Challenge). Through many experiments, Luciana discovered photomanipulation techniques. Then she found Deviantart. Many artists have served as an inspiration for her. Through trial and error, she mastered the techniques. It took many good hours of her life, but it was a pleasure for her especially when other people were enjoying it. It’s turned into a six-year love affair that she plans on continuing. Luciana likes the symbols and mysteries and feels Photoshop is a great channel for them. She made a few works of art for CDs and book covers, but at the same time, she says it’s a great pleasure for her to put ideas out that come from her mind, creating new images just for the art and not from someone else’s view. For her, creating art is a challenge and a blessing. Luciana’s nickname on Deviantart, as well as other places that showcase photomanipulation and allow the exchanging of ideas with artists for inspiration and new art, is Darkfitoplancta. Luciana has some feature publications in Photoshop magazines: Photoshop Creative and Photoshop Advanced. Luciana’s artwork is stunning and Suspense Magazine is so honored to have this opportunity to speak to her and we hope you enjoy the interview and her artwork.

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 48 Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): With It’s Time to Go, what was the inspiration for that piece?

Luciana Lebel (LL): I’d like to do something ethereal, which made mention of life after death, spirit, and soul. The other side of the veil. Sometimes I think about the end, so I decided to do something mysterious and spooky, thinking that maybe someone will give us a hand to make the cross over.

S. MAG.: How does an analytical psychologist become interested in art?

LL: I believe all things could be art if it is well done. Apparently, that type of thinking does not make sense to everyone. But a psychologist works all the time with images: the images and perceptions that people have in life. What they project onto others and in themselves. Dreams talk to us by symbols and images, and the mythologies, movies, etc. carry meanings that go beyond time and geographical I am With You distance. Art communicates feelings. Sometimes it is a provocation. Or the artist creates the art thinking about your own life and the public sees something totally different. Symbols and images are part of our mind and it’s very good to express, to create sensations. I think it is the real meaning of the arts, but actually we have more commercial interests that interfere with the essence of art.

S. MAG.: What does your family think about your creativity?

LL: My family has been more conservative; my parents always had formal jobs and probably wanted me to do something more bureaucratic and profitable. Usually they never took my tendencies toward art very seriously. Not only relative to photomanipulation, but I tend to like to draw, dance, and invent. I see no error to look for stability. We have to pay the bills, but I cannot pretend to be what I am not. So for them it remains—on my part—bohemian. My parents don’t like computers! (Giggling)

S. MAG.: Do you have plans to have your artwork shown in a gallery or museum? My Ocean Emotions

LL: I’m participating in a project where there is a possibility. But it is going slow. I like this image of the art exposure, but using digital art in my country, this is still not usual. My galleries and museums are usually the covers of books, CDs, and sharing with colleagues and art sites. Perhaps the change of print to digital make arts more transient and the easy access becomes commonplace. Having your art printed gives a different taste!

S. MAG.: Since you discovered and thoroughly enjoyed photomanipulation, do you ever find yourself going back to the other forms of art or do you feel like you’ve found your best in photomanipulation?

LL: I have painted some pictures, but certainly the most inexpensive and practical is photomanipulation. I do not think it is ideal; I still would like to learn more about illustration and painting. I believe the photomanipulators are the sculptors of photography. We make distortions in something that already exists: we color, cut out and paste, but it all hinges on stock photo material. I still think anyone who makes art with his brushes and his imagination is much freer. Kraken SuspenseMagazine.com 49 Resistence is Futile

Premonition Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 50 S. MAG.: What inspires you?

LL: Movies, comics, mythology, music, dreams, moods…the list goes on and on.

S. MAG.: Do you have somewhere that you can go to find those interested in being featured in your work? Or, do you have friends who are just willing to help you by being the feature in your pieces?

LL: Deviantart is a social network for artists and some of them support each other. There are also magazines about Photoshop that generally give support and highlight the artists they like. Friends also help.

S. MAG.: You’ve done artwork for CD and book covers. Is it hard to do a work of art with someone else’s vision in place of your own? The Guardian

LL: It requires real psychology! It is not easy. To tell the truth, it’s better when someone likes a final piece of art and wants to buy it. Realizing what is in the mind of others is a battle, especially for those who think that just pushing a button and printing the idea directly to Photoshop on the computer screen is all they need. In addition, many want to leave their mark, because we are serving as a vehicle to channel their ideas and feelings, and desire to leave something of themselves in it. So, this may generate some eternal requests for changes in the arts. Many people have no idea of the​​ time, energy, eye pain and back again to design a work of art. Undoubtedly, at the end when the client is satisfied is a great pleasure. But it is a work that deserves more value.

S. MAG.: What do you do when you’re not indulging in your artistic talent?

LL: Counseling and studying. And my free time is dedicated to Mirror Light martial arts and esoteric studies.

S. MAG.: What’s the biggest dream you have surrounding your pieces?

LL: I would like still to grow in my art, making it better and better. Doing what I like and be well-paid. (Giggling)

Suspense Magazine is honored to have had this time with Luciana. Her talent is quite evident and if you’d like to see even more, check out DeviantArt.com and search for the name Darkfitoplancta. 

To view stock, model, and photographer credits go to darkfitoplancta. deviantart.com.

Mirror Mirror SuspenseMagazine.com 51              

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         

      

         

 Nancy Atherton Grande Dame of Cozies

Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Greg Taylor

ancy Atherton—both the name and what she writes—may give you a mental picture of a proper Englishwoman who takes tea every afternoon promptly at four and lives in some cute little cottage. In actuality, she’s a run- of-the-mill author, living in Colorado Springs. So, if you are ever searching for her at a convention or even the groceryN store, don’t look for a refined, proper Grande Dame in a flowery dress. Look for a woman in jeans and sneakers who’s jumping around like an energetic gerbil who’d love to meet you. She’s fine with however you picture her. Having dreams is okay as far as she’s concerned. Atherton comes from a large, vocal, demonstrative family, with five brothers and two sisters. She enjoys being in the company of others as much as she enjoys her solitude. There are many layers to Atherton, but her home page has something that we think gives great insight to this amazing writer:

When I learned of Aunt Dimity’s death, I was stunned. Not because she was dead, but because I had never known she’d been alive. ~ from Aunt Dimity’s Death Below that statement, she goes on to say these words: “When I wrote those lines nearly twenty years ago I had no idea that they would take me on the most magical journey of my life, a journey filled with mystery and history, romance and fantasy, laughter and heartache, many, many surprises, and, oh, yes, yummy

SuspenseMagazine.com 53 recipes! I thank my characters every day for allowing me to tell their stories, for keeping me excited, entertained, perplexed, charmed, and eager to know what will happen next. They’ve proved to me, time and time again, that there’s more to mystery than murder. Needless to say, I’m delighted to share my magical journey with you. To my new friends: Welcome! To my old friends: Welcome back!” For Suspense Magazine, it’s obvious Nancy not only loves to tell a story, but she enjoys her readers getting into it and coming back for the next installment even more. So sit back and enjoy our exclusive interview with one of mystery’s most energetic authors, Nancy Atherton.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): From book one, “Aunt Dimity and the Duke” (1992) to book eighteen, “Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch” (April 26), did you always know Lori would be the vehicle with which all the stories are moved forward?

Nancy Atherton (NA): I’m afraid I’ll have to tinker with your question a bit before I answer it. My first book was “Aunt Dimity’s Death” (1992). “Aunt Dimity and the Duke” (1994) is book two. Also, “Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch” (April 26, 2012) is my seventeenth book, not my eighteenth. The numbering is thrown into confusion by “Introducing Aunt Dimity, Paranormal Detective” (2009), an omnibus edition that includes my first and second books. If you count the books without including the omnibus, which I do, they add up to seventeen books. All clear? Then let us proceed.

When I wrote my first book, I didn’t know there would be a second book, much less an ongoing series, so I had no idea that I would journey with Lori Shepherd through so many stories. I was so non-series-conscious that I had a completely different main character guide my second book.

Lori returned to her lead role in the third book, though, and she’s been there ever since. If another character wants to take the lead from her one day, I’ll be more than happy to oblige. Lori won’t mind and I’m nothing if not obedient to my characters.

S. MAG.: Anne Perry said, “A book I thoroughly enjoyed in the reading and which leaves me richer for having met charming people with the courage to care, and in places we all visit, at least in dreams,” about your very first book. That must have felt incredible. Did it make you feel like you had an obligation to live up to her words with future books that perhaps you hadn’t thought about prior to her words?

NA: I was and continue to be indescribably grateful to Anne for taking the time to write such lovely things about a strange little book by a first-time author. My late mother was utterly thrilled by it (Anne Perry was one of her very favorite authors!), but I felt no obligation to live up to Anne’s words. Oddly enough, I’ve never felt an obligation to live up to anyone’s expectations but my characters’. If my characters are happy with what I’m doing, I’m happy. If they’re not, I know I’m heading down the wrong path. It’s a very useful compass.

S. MAG.: Where did Aunt Dimity come from? It’s a great concept. What made you decide she would be a ghost and center stage?

NA: I wish I could devise a complicated answer involving careful planning and clever marketing decisions, but I’m as hopeless at planning as I am at marketing, so it wouldn’t be remotely true. The truth is: I discovered Aunt Dimity when Lori Shepherd discovered Aunt Dimity. In other words, I didn’t set out to write a story featuring a non-corporeal character. I just set out to tell a tale and Aunt Dimity decided to be in it (bless her!). I suppose my biggest contribution to the process was simply to let it unfold. Not that I could have stopped Aunt Dimity, even if I’d wanted to (which I most certainly did not). She’s a very determined sort of person.

S. MAG.: Were you big on bedtime stories as a child? Maybe that’s where your love of stories comes from?

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 54 NA: As a child, I was big on every kind of story. I loved bedtime stories. I loved family stories. I loved story time at the library. I just plain loved stories. (Still do!) I grew up in a large and extremely talkative family. I have no doubt whatsoever that my love of words began at birth if not sooner.

S. MAG.: How long did you play with the idea of becoming an author before you actually wrote your first book?

NA: I didn’t play with the idea of becoming an author at all before I wrote my first book. I never dreamt I’d be an author until I began to write my first book and even then I never thought my first book would be published. It all came as a huge—and wonderful—surprise to me. They say writing is a gift. Well, in my case, writing was the biggest and best surprise present I’ve ever received. I’ve never ceased being grateful.

S. MAG.: It’s obvious you get a real kick out of your stories and your characters. How does your family view them?

NA: My family has given my books good reviews. I know they’re proud of me for becoming a writer, though, like me, they still can’t quite believe it’s true.

S. MAG.: How much input or critique does your family get before you send it to the publisher? Do they get to put their two cents in?

NA: No one on earth, apart from me, reads my manuscripts before I send them to my agent and my editor. I don’t read them aloud to anyone and I don’t seek input or critique from anyone. For me, writing is a private journey. Except that it isn’t, really, because it’s a journey I take with my characters. Their opinions are the only opinions that matter to me. Which doesn’t mean that I ignore helpful comments from copy editors and editors. There’s nothing like a fresh set of eyes to see the silly mistakes my tired eyes have overlooked. When it comes to the big things, however, I listen only to my characters.

S. MAG.: When Aunt Dimity and Lori are not invading your psyche, what do you do for fun?

NA: I’m tempted to say that I enjoy chamber music and tenpin bowling (hello there, Harry Potter fans!), but I’ll resist the temptation. When I’m not at my keyboard, you’ll find me traveling, reading, hiking, snowshoeing, dining with friends, going to plays, watching figure skating, and exploring cemeteries, small towns, antique shops, museums, and bookstores.

S. MAG.: Where do you find ideas for so many Aunt Dimity stories? Have you ever considered writing a new cozy series?

NA: I don’t look for ideas. They just come to me. And they can come from anywhere: a sight, a sound, a stranger’s face, a mental image that piques my curiosity. Most of the time I don’t know where they come from and I’ve never felt a pressing need to find out. When it comes to writing, I belong to the “too much analysis leads to paralysis” school of thought.

When a new series wants to be written, I’ll write it. Until then, I live to serve Aunt Dimity and all who inhabit her world.

S. MAG.: Are we going to be blessed with book nineteen? If so, how far do you see your series going and can you share what’s up next? Inquiring minds want to know.

NA: First, please see my answer to question 1 re: numbering of the series. I’m sure you mean to ask if you’ll be blessed (thank you!) with book eighteen. To which I answer: yes, I’m already working on the next book in the series. I’ll share the title with you—“Aunt Dimity and the Silver Sleigh”—but that’s all I’ll share. I don’t talk about my books while I’m writing them, in part because I never know what’s going to happen next, but mainly because I don’t want to spoil the story for readers by giving too much away.

I didn’t know the Aunt Dimity series would go beyond book one, so I’m clearly the wrong person to ask about how far the series will go in the future. As long as enough readers buy my books, they’ll continue to be published. And as long as my characters want their stories to be told, I’ll tell them. Happily.

Suspense Magazine is honored to have had this wonderful opportunity to speak to Nancy. If you’d like to learn more about her, check out her site at http://www.aunt-dimity.com. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 55 Literature's New THRILLER MASTER NICK SANTORA

Interview by John Raab Nick Santora has an accomplished and successful TV career, as a writer for Prison Break, The Sopranos, Law and Order — and now, as the co-creator of his latest show, Breakout Kings. So it’s only natural that Nick would want to bring his talent to novels. He started five years ago with his first novel “Slip and Fall.” Now Nick is back with his latest thriller, “Fifteen Digits.” It is very difficult in today’s age of publishing for a new author to crack the field, and Nick’s success with screenwriting doesn’t automatically translate into success with novels. We all know that thriller readers are picky fans. Mess with them once and they will eat you alive. “Fifteen Digits,” which released April 25, is a book that should be on all thriller fans radar to read. Now, being in the entertainment field does have its advantages, however. We were able to go on the set of Nick’s “short,” which was basically a four-minute trailer for his book. However, unlike normal trailers, Nick decided to act out a scene in his book, giving the readers a chance to get to know a couple of the characters. This was a new experience to us, and yes, we ended up being extras in the trailer. I have to say that this opened my eyes to just how much work goes into making a four-minute trailer. We got on the set at 8 a.m. and stayed until the end at 3 p.m. The amount of work that went into this was incredible. There were around twenty people on set, all of them dedicating their time for free to Nick—not only because they are friends but because he has their respect. This is the type of dedication Nick puts into all his work. Want to know what “Fifteen Digits” is all about, this is the description:

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 56 Is it really insider trading if you’ve been an outsider your entire life?

Five men. Five walks of life. Every day they come together at the white-shoe law firm of Olmstead & Taft. But they’re not lawyers, they’re printers. Blue-collar guys consigned to the dark basement of the firm charged with copying, collating and delivering the mountains of paperwork that document millions of dollars of sensitive legal secrets.

Until the five are approached by an ambitious young attorney who teaches them about what they have—insider information. Together they make a plan: take the classified documents that pass through their hands every day and use them to get rich. They create a joint account to deposit the spoils. An account with a safeguard: each one only knows three digits of the fifteen-digit access code. Which means all five conspirators are bound together. But as too much money piles up to go unnoticed, the printers will discover there’s one thing even worse than being an outsider…being in too deep.

We were at Nick’s April 25 book launch party at The Grove in Los Angeles. Amid a scatter of Hollywood celebrities, Nick focused on his fans and stayed till 10 p.m. to make sure everybody had a signed book. It is refreshing to see an author not only write a wonderful novel but acknowledge his fans. Of course we were able to get an exclusive interview with Nick so you will be able to know the man beyond the pages.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): When you were writing “Fifteen Digits,” which of your main characters—out of the five— surprised you the most?

Nick Santora (NS): That’s a great question. I have to think about it. Well, I don’t want to say there were two, because that wouldn’t answer your question. The one who surprised me the most was Eddie. Special Ed. I don’t want to give away the reveal, but let’s just say that for a character who is mentally challenged, he’s not stupid. He’s a smart guy. He just has a brain that works differently than other people. I also like Ed because he kind of embodies the concept of this book that’s expressed in the prologue, which is the beauty of being invisible to society is that no one sees you when you’re robbing them blind or in Eddie’s case, no one sees you at all and as a result of that you can do things. I just can’t say what those things are.

S. MAG.: Now, as a follow up to that question, was there any inspiration for that character from the Ed Norton/Robert DeNiro movie where Ed Norton was acting like he was mentally challenged but he was actually really smart? Any correlation to that or no?

NS: I guess there’s correlation in that Ed Norton was playing someone mentally challenged, but Eddie is not pretending. He really is and Eddie never had any intention of getting involved in any crime. It kind of appears before him through the other people he knows and he does actually ask to be involved with it. If it hadn’t been presented to him, he wouldn’t have taken part in it or even thought of it.

S. MAG.: Do you find pacing a book more or less difficult than when you’re writing a television series?

NS: They’re both kind of difficult in their own way. When pacing a TV series you have to pace things up and keep things interesting so people don’t change the channel at the commercial break. However, you can’t have things happen so fast that you strain credibility in the sense that someone would say, “I don’t believe that that person would make that turn in their emotional state after just two meetings with that other character” or “I don’t believe that someone would come to that conclusion so easily.”

SuspenseMagazine.com 57 So in TV you have to keep it paced but still keep it believable that these things would happen at such an expedited clip. In books, you also have to keep the pacing going but at the same time you have to take the time to get to know the character. In TV it’s a little bit easier to get to know who the character is. In three seconds you’re going to know who the character is if they walk outside of a church and before they’ve even left the alcove of the church, they light a cigarette, exhale in the church and then put it out in the holy water. I just told you everything you need to know about that character in three seconds without a line of dialogue. Even just writing that scenario in a book is going to take a page or at least a paragraph. So you have to keep things paced up and interesting but that still takes some time and you have to be wary that you don’t lose your viewers. I don’t want people changing the channel on TV and I don’t want people putting the book down with my novels.

S. MAG.: How is the transition going from being behind the camera and writing a TV series to being in front of it as an author where you have to be marketing and promoting yourself as a person?

NS: It’s really uncomfortable. I’m being completely honest. I recently did a stint as an actor in a Breakout Kings episode and when I saw the dailies I sort of threw up in my mouth. I have a face made for behind the camera and I am just not comfortable with frankly begging people to please give me a chance. I think I’m a really good storyteller. I do have confidence in that aspect of my life. I do have confidence in my ability to spin a yarn, but what I’m not comfortable with yet is the constant Tweeting and Facebooking and e-mailing and really cajoling people to please give my book a shot. I want them to give my book a shot. I’m desperate for people to buy this book because I’m a relatively new author. It’s my second book. My first book was a best seller, but there’s no guarantee this one is going to be and I know if people give this book a chance, they’ll probably like it. But to do that, I have to be shameless and in television, I don’t have to be shameless. It’s the actors who go out there and do Letterman and do Kimmel and do all of those late night shows and put themselves in front of the camera. Now that I have to go do book signings, I find it preposterous that anyone would want to hear me read to them. Honestly, I think the concept’s crazy, but I’m doing it.

S. MAG.: What book do you wish you would have written?

NS: “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It begins and ends with “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It’s my favorite book of all time. It’s a thriller. It’s a courtroom drama. It’s a societal tale. It’s a father/daughter/son story. It’s a morality tale. To me, it’s the most perfect book ever written. I love it and it’s one of the few movies that does the book proud.

S. MAG.: What scares you?

NS: Not being able to write anymore. I was a lawyer for six years and my biggest fear is I’m going to have to do it for the rest of my life. Now that I’m a writer, my biggest fear is that I won’t be able to do this for the rest of my life. I want to die typing.

S. MAG.: How has your writing changed from “Slip and Fall” to your newest book, “Fifteen Digits”?

NS: “Fifteen Digits” is a more mature book. I just think I got better at it. The more you do something the better you get at it. Every episode of TV I write, I get better at it. Every episode of television that I edit, I get better at it. I feel like “Slip and Fall” was a really personal story for m e .

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 58 The main character was basically based on me and when you’re writing something that personal, sometimes it’s hard to be objective and so you might over write, you might under write. I still feel that “Slip and Fall” was a good book and people enjoyed it, but I think if they liked “Slip and Fall” they’ll really like “Fifteen Digits.” For lack of a better term, I just got better at it.

S. MAG.: Do you push yourself to the limits more on your book writing or screenwriting?

NS: In writing novels, you’re able to push yourself more. You don’t have the rules that come with writing for television. In television I have forty-two minutes and thirty seconds of film, when you take away the commercials to tell the story. I have $2.65 million per episode to make the story. So I can’t have a particular chase sequence or an explosion or five more characters because we can’t afford to pay the actors so it limits you in storytelling. You also have standards and practices regulations. You also have lots and lots of executives giving you their opinion of what they think your show should be.

S. MAG.: So you’re handcuffed a lot more in screenwriting than your novel writing, where you can be as open as you want?

NS: Yes, in novel writing, the handcuffs are off and it’s free-swinging. There are a couple of moments in “Fifteen Digits”; I can think of one particularly, and anyone who reads the book will know exactly what I’m talking about once they’ve read the book. There’s a moment that’s an act of vengeance that I’ve never seen done or heard done in any other story that I’ve read where I said to myself when I was writing the book, “Do I really want to go there and do this?” This might ostracize some people because they might feel that it was a bit too bold or out there. I felt that I have to make so many compromises in my art in television that when I’m writing a book, I just want to write what I want to write and hope people enjoy it. I believe and sincerely hope that people will respect me as a writer and all other artists when they take risks and hopefully that will be the case with “Fifteen Digits.”

S. MAG.: What is your least and what is your favorite word?

NS: My favorite word is “family.” I love my family. My wife and my kids, my parents and my sister and my nieces and my nephews and my aunts and my uncles, it’s a huge family. As I’m getting older the family is getting smaller, because all the patriarchs and matriarchs sadly have been passing away, but I’m blessed with the family that I grew up with.

The truth is that I hate the word “can’t” more than anything. I’ve been told a million times by a

SuspenseMagazine.com 59 million people that I ‘can’t’ do something—you can’t quit your legal career and move to L.A. from N.Y. and try to break into the entertainment business; you can’t write novels because you’re a TV and film writer; you can’t sell that idea, it isn’t commercial enough; etc., etc., etc. It’s only four letters and an apostrophe, for Pete’s sake, but it’s the most destructive word in the world. And when I was young I was too stupid to give it any credence—and thank goodness for that! And that doesn’t mean I succeed at everything I do—I don’t—but that “can’t”…it’s damn powerful. But agents, and executives, and producers, and whomever throw it around so casually, and it kills creativity in its tracks, just blindfolds it, pulls it into an alley, shoots it, and chucks it in a dumpster. I’ve sold two novels after being told, “You can’t write novels, you’re a TV writer.” I’ve sold two films where I was told, “Can’t be sold,” because one had a twelve-year-old black girl as the lead and the other was a sports film and sports films, “…have no foreign box office.” I could go on and on. Even when I fail, I don’t say “can’t,” I say “Not right now”—but maybe later!

S. MAG.: If you could interview any one person dead or alive, who would it be?

NS: I would say the easy answer is Jesus because he’s sold more books than anybody. But then you get into a whole theological debate of is he really dead or alive or is he everywhere? That’s probably not the right answer. If I could get some of my family members back, I’d say “hi” to some of the family who have passed away, but a more practical answer is Capote. One of the first questions I would ask him is ‘Was it you or Harper Lee who wrote ‘Mockingbird?’ That’s still debated and I want to know.

S. MAG.: If you could go back in time and witness one event, what would it be?

NS: My parents’ meeting. Because I’m a narcissist and I want to know what made me exist.

S. MAG.: You’d want to do a Back to the Future “Under The Sea” dance?

NS: You know what’s funny? I knew I was going to be a writer when I saw Back to the Future. I had always wanted to be a writer but I knew I could do it because I went to see that movie with my friends and I walked out. I was shocked for two reasons. One is that I didn’t know movies could be that good. I loved it. Two, I had written that movie a year earlier in seventh grade. I had written a short story for the school literary magazine or with the hopes of getting it in the school literary magazine and it was about a kid who had grown up in a miserable household with a dad who constantly complained and cast a black cloud over the family because he swore that if Hannerhan—the guard on the football team—had just made the block and let him score the state championship touchdown his whole life would have been different. Everything would have been better. This kid was living in this house of misery, had a friend who was native American, and one day at his house his uncle—a medicine man from this place in Arizona—heard his plight and gave him two vials that he wore around his neck. He said “Drink this one and you’ll have an opportunity to fix your problems and when it’s over drink this one and you can come home.” He said “Just do it,” and he takes it and passes out and he wakes up in the 1950s and he has to meet his father, who is a bully, who picks on him and tortures him, makes the football team, gives food poisoning to Hannerhan so he can take his place in the game, and then make the block. In the meantime, he’s interacting with his mom and everything. (I’ve always been fascinated with the 1950s. It’s one of my favorite periods ever.) And then he does and his dad scores the touchdown, and he and his dad have become friends. He takes the vial, passes out and just like in Back to the Future, he wakes up in his bedroom bed and he goes downstairs, there’s his dad and everyone is still miserable. His dad is eating his dinner, shoveling it up into his food-hole, and he goes “Man, if I had just gotten that promotion fifteen years ago, everything would be perfect.” And you just realize that miserable people are just going to be miserable. I remember the teacher who was in charge of the literary magazine gave me this short story back and it was like fifty pages, it was a big story, you had to write these big long things. And she wrote on it, “What’s the point? Nothing changed,” and I didn’t get to be in the literary magazine. And then a year or so later I see Back to the Future and I go “Oh, my gosh, I wrote this thing!” It gave me confidence that my instincts for what would make a good story were at least decent because if Zemeckis was making these films then they must be good films. That’s a true story, but I still didn’t get in the literary magazine.

We would like to thank Nick for giving his time to conduct this interview with us. We are certain that Nick will have a very successful novel writing career and have to be a little selfish that we hope he doesn’t wait five years for the next book. There is a new thriller master in the mix and his name is Santora, Nick Santora and the book is “Fifteen Digits.” Check out Nick on the Internet at www.nicksantora.com. 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 60 The Bestselling Detective Jackson Series

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Available as $0.99/$2.99 e-books and in print. “Her best one yet. Highly “Absolutely captivating!” recommended” — Crimespree — Author Judy Walter http://ljsellers.com

SUSPENSE-revised-APR2012.indd 1 4/13/2012 9:15:58 AM The Train is Pulling out of the Station By John Raab E-books: a common word number-one medium in which the professional editor edit your book. Not in the publishing field world reads books, and this will happen just for grammar and proper English, today. But what are they? How do in five years. Printed books will NEVER but to see if the book needs bigger help. they work? Can I make money doing go away, however. There will always be Pick an editor with a good reputation, this? These are just some of questions a place for them as long as they remain not a family member, because we I see every day. According to industry profitable for publishers. already know that your family thinks analysts, e-books are expected to you are the next Stephen King. This is But the world is going electronic; generate $6.5 billion by the end of 2012. the one major advantage a traditionally just ask the music and movie businesses This is an astounding figure, since back published author has; however, the cost about this. Maybe you are an author in 2010, e-books accounted for “just” of this service has eroded the quality of querying your book to agents and $656 million in sales. The question I editing work for many self published publishers and getting either rejections have to all the authors and fans is, are authors. But done right, this process or no answer. What are you waiting for? you in the e-book world? gives you that little edge when your Agents and publishers will buy books fans read it, because the book has gone Amazon.com and Barnes and from authors that have already been “through the process” to become a Noble, along with Apple to a small published by the author. In fact, if your professional product. degree, have all created a tablet or book is going well, you will have even a reader so you can quickly download better chance of selling it, if that is what Some people will not take you a book about thirty seconds after you want. But if your book is selling seriously because you are a “self- purchase. That is even quicker if you in e-book form, your profits alone will published” author, however. Don’t get a hardcover from the library or make you think twice about selling all worry about that stigma; I don’t think the bookstore. Both companies, aside your rights away and then having to John Locke does, selling over a million from Apple, have put a lot of money work for a publisher. books. This also goes hand in hand with behind the idea that e-books will be the people thinking that only “real” authors Almost everyone would like to be primary way people read books in the have printed books. Yeah, well, often his or her own boss, and self-publishing future. those are the same people that don’t e-books is doing just that. You decide have a cell phone or the Internet. The publishing industry is very on the cover, the publishing date, the volatile right now, with even the Big Six price, everything. This does not come Mediums change all the time in publishers not knowing what the future free, however. You still must invest in media. Newspapers are all online, losing holds. Well, I can predict the outcome an artist to create your book and please, money because it’s often given away for with confidence: e-books will be the I can’t stress this enough, pay to have a free, unlike the printed product. The

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 62 music industry goes from vinyl (for SN: Marketing and discovery are the S. MAG.: Anytime you start something the younger crowd that is an album, a biggest challenges at every level of the new there is always a trial by error black round disc that plays on a record arts. Luckily, I find it fun and rewarding period, what was the biggest thing you player), to 8-track cassettes (I’m not and I love to cook up new promotions or learned the hard way? explaining this one), to cassettes tapes try crazy stunts, but best of all I like to be SN: Covers. I had been dabbling in to CDs to digital downloads. It is this able to give stuff away in order to meet graphic design for a couple years but progressing in different industries that new people. soon found it was valuable to my overall goes through each generation. However S. MAG.: Where can you see the e-book brand or artistic vision. I like owning the time to get in on this $4.5 billion market going in the next two years? everything about my business and art. business is right now! But it took a lot of work. SN: Anyone who says they can is a liar. I’ve asked three of the best to help No one predicted this current era in S. MAG.: How much research did you me explain this further: Scott Nicholson, 2010. I thought widespread free books do before you decided to make the LJ Sellers and Vincent Zandri. Each are and lending libraries wouldn’t happen jump to e-books? successful indie e-book authors and I until 2015, so I was off by four years. So asked them to give some insight and SN: I sat on the sidelines for maybe I am not making any predictions except share some of their secrets to the new six months, because I was raised on to say no one will get it exactly right. comers. the old-school nonsense of “only hacks All you can do is keep jumping ahead, self-publish” and “self-publishing will because the digital era is sure not going kill your career.” If I had been unlucky to wait. enough to sign with a publisher at that S. MAG.: Now that anybody can time, I would have been stuck and publish an e-book, what do you do to probably missed the best thing that ever keep ahead of the game? happened to my writing. SN: All I can do is everything. I like all For more information on Scott of it, and I love that this digital era is an Nicholson, visit www.hauntedcomputer. out-of-control beast hurtling forward at com a thousand miles an hour. Ultimately, it Last words from Scott: is up to the readers to give me any career I might have. If I serve their wants and I’m grateful that readers have needs, they keep me in the game. allowed me to take chances by crossing genres as well as writing children’s books. S. MAG.: Whenever you do something Some books don’t work as well as others, on your own and don’t have a big and it’s wonderful to hear from readers First up, Scott Nicholson: publisher behind you, is that a tough when they are affected by an idea. Now hurdle to overcome when it comes to Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What there is a very thin wall between the fans? made you decide to publish your own reader and writer, work in e-book format? SN: Absolutely Scott Nicholson (SN): I’d dabbled not. I am so with e-books at Fictionwise about ten bored with years ago and came to the conclusion the whole that nobody would read a book on the “indie vs. trad” computer. So I was a little skeptical when debate, which the Kindle came along, but soon I saw it is nothing more was a great way to reach readers right than a handful now instead of hoping for a publisher to of authors yelling find my audience for me. at each other. Nobody else S. MAG.: Being your own publisher, cares. Readers besides actually writing the book, what certainly don’t. All are your biggest challenges on the they want is a good business side of publishing? book at a good price.

SuspenseMagazine.com 63 but I’ve always believed the reader had S. MAG.: Being your own publisher, prefer the text-only version, with maybe the toughest half of the job of bringing a besides actually writing the book, what a map or a couple of photos that add story to life. So when someone meets me are your biggest challenges on the value to the story. halfway in one of my stories and spends business side of publishing? I also believe Amazon will continue to their valuable time with me, I am deeply LJS: The fiction market is incredibly dominate the market, especially for indie humbled. competitive, and the biggest challenge is authors. As the company continues to to keep my books visible to readers. Now make more promotional tools available, that I’m exclusive to Amazon, that means more indie authors will become exclusive keeping my books on the genre bestseller to Amazon, making it harder for other lists. So I have to pay attention to sales e-book sellers to compete—unless they and rankings, and I have to respond if adopt Amazon’s strategy of leveling the anything starts to slide. I use a variety of playing field for all authors. promotional tools, including giveaways, S. MAG.: Now that anybody can publish social media, and online ads. an e-book on their own, what do you S. MAG.: Where can you see the e-book do to keep ahead of the game? market going in the next two years? LJS: As I mentioned, I do periodic LJS: I expect the e-book market to double, Amazon-sponsored giveaways for high as reading devices become cheaper and visibility, and I run online ads in a bookstores continue to vanish. I also think pulse-style promotion. I’ve also given Next, please welcome LJ print books will become more expensive, away hundreds of paperbacks at crime Sellers: driving even more readers to buy their fiction conferences, including one in the first device, which may be an inexpensive UK. And if a book is not selling as well S. MAG.: What made you decide to tablet. E-books will also become more as I think it could—based on positive publish your own work in e-book technologically sophisticated, with more reader reviews and ratings—I modify format? video, photos, interactive features, and the description or even change the LJ Sellers (LJS): In early 2010, two things other enhancements. In some genres, cover or title. I’ve done both with great happened that radically changed my they may become hybrids that have both results. I’m also expanding into foreign- focus. First, I was laid off my newspaper text and movie-type elements. language markets, starting with German and Spanish. But most important, I keep job, along with dozens of other reporters. I plan to eventually launch all of my writing. Publishing a new book that Soon after, I became aware that people thrillers as apps for smart phones to readers are looking forward to is the best like Joe Konrath were starting to make appeal to the younger generation. But way to stay viable in this market. serious money by self-publishing on even though more and more special Kindle, and I wanted in on it. Over features will become available, I believe S. MAG.: Whenever you do something the next few months, I self-published most readers over forty will continue to on your own and don’t have a big a couple of standalone thrillers, then publisher behind you, is that a tough finally worked up the hurdle to overcome courage to leave when it comes to my publisher fans? and get the rights back to my LJS: Most readers don’t Detective Jackson care who the publisher series. By October, is. The challenging part I had six books is getting the book in selling on Kindle front of readers when and by December, I you don’t have access was making a living to bookstore shelves or as an indie author. It national print reviews. was the best decision Social media sites such as I’ve ever made. Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari helped me reach readers at the

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 64 beginning of my publishing career. Giving violent-crimes detective Wade Jackson, assured me that not only were a whole away books has been a great tool as well. a family man who struggles with same lot of midlist authors and authors with But once readers know and love your issues we do: divorce, money problems, large backlists now publishing their novel, they become your best promotion family/work balance, health concerns, work via e-book, they were making and spread the word. and budget crises. Readers contact me spectacular royalties on them. Many every day, saying how much they like authors were even abandoning Big Six S. MAG.: Anytime you start something Jackson and how eagerly they await the and traditional publishing altogether. new there is always a trial by error next installment. This is back around April 2010. I had period. What was the biggest thing you obviously been living in a vacuum or, at learned the hard way? I also have several standalone the very least, asleep at the wheel. I woke thrillers, and Jackson has a cameo in LJS: The hardest thing for me has up fast to the new world of indie and each. Two thrillers have subtle medical always been a lack of patience. I want to e-book publishing. themes and were written while I was accomplish everything—right now. So I a senior editor on a pharmaceutical S. MAG.; Being your own publisher, rushed a book cover and settled for an magazine. “The Baby Thief” is set in besides actually writing the book, what image I didn’t really like because I grew the world of infertility treatments and are your biggest challenges on the impatient with the process. That was a isolated cults, and “The Suicide Effect” business side of publishing? mistake, and it cost me in several ways. is about corrupt research into an anti- I also once listened to my spouse about VZ: Well this is actually the big irony. I depressant. On the other hand, “The the title for a thriller—instead of trusting have yet to self-publish a book. All my Gauntlet Assassin” is a futuristic thriller my own commercial instincts—and that deals, including my new seven-book I wrote just for fun. proved to be costly. I spent a lot of money contract with Thomas & Mercer, are put promoting a title that simply didn’t work. Now I’m working a seventh Detective together by new agent, Chip MacGregor. Now that I’ve changed it to “The Gauntlet Jackson book and plotting a new series. I However, I most definitely plan on self- Assassin,” the book is selling five times as also get reader requests to write a follow- publishing some of my work. So, that in well and gaining momentum. up to “The Gauntlet Assassin,” and I may mind, I will answer the question in the do that next year too. future tense. I foresee the biggest challenge S. MAG.: How much research did you being the time it will take to organize do before you decided to make the the entire publication process, from jump to e-book? editing to cover design to conversions. LJS: I’d been reading about the e-book I’m guessing that the process is a lot like industry for more than a year before I murder, or even worse, divorce. Once you jumped in with a significant financial get through the first one, the second one investment. It was a risk, but I felt is easier and so on and so forth. I already confident the e-book market would have the marketing side of things down, continue to grow and that I had viable especially the social media outlets. But products. Once my books were uploaded becoming my own publisher will present and available, I read everything I could significant time consuming challenges. about marketing and implemented as After a while though, I will hopefully get many strategies as possible. I continue into a rhythm of writing and publishing. To finish this up and take to spend about an hour a day doing S. MAG.: Where can you see the e-book marketing research and competitive it home, Vincent Zandri: market going in the next two years? intelligence gathering. It’s essential to S. MAG.: What made you decide to running my publishing business. publish your own work in e-book VZ: This is a tough question since things seem to be changing every month. To find out more about LJ Sellers, format? Right now, pricing is all over the place. visit www.ljsellers.com Vincent Zandri (VZ): I didn’t decide Just a year ago you could price a book Last words from LJ: it. In fact, when my then-agent, Janet at a special cost of $.99 and it would Benrey, told me my new indie publisher make a rise up the charts, so long as I write the Detective Jackson StoneHouse/StoneGate Ink was going to it was a good book. But now you can mystery/thriller series, which has been publish “The Remains” in e-book before price a book at $.99, good or bad, and on Kindle’s bestseller list for police trade paper, and do so in a matter of it probably won’t move at all. In fact, procedurals since December 2010. Set three months from contract execution, sales might slow down. The most recent in Eugene, Oregon, the series features I told her to take another sip. But she trend has been for publishers and/or

SuspenseMagazine.com 65 lists. If anything, look VZ: None. Absolutely zero. When my for more of these agent at the time told me I got an offer Amazon-ranked from StoneHouse Ink and that they authors hitting the wanted to publish in e-book first, I latter two lists more thought she was high. I wasn’t even sure and more often as what an e-book was, or if, “GASP!” it time goes on. was to be considered a “real” book. S. MAG.: Whenever To find out more about Vincent you do something Zandri visit: www.vincentzandri.com on your own and Last words from Vincent: don’t have a big publisher behind you, Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 is that a tough hurdle to International Bestselling Amazon overcome when it comes author of “The Innocent,” “Godchild,” to fans? “The Remains,” “Moonlight Falls,” “Concrete Pearl,” “Moonlight Rises,” VZ: I wouldn’t know “Scream Catcher,” “Blue Moonlight,” and authors to give books away because I’ve never been “Murder by Moonlight.” He is also the for free for a weekend or a specified released onto the general public without author of the Amazon bestselling digital amount of time. I like this idea because a publisher behind me. I think that’s shorts, “Pathological,” “True Stories,” it’s a chance for an author to expand his why I’ve been putting off self-publishing and “Moonlight Mafia.” Harlan Coben audience without the reader having to for so long. Because I’m afraid I might has described “The Innocent” (formerly blow any money at all. But from what not make as big a splash without the “As Catch Can”) as “…gritty, fast-paced, I’m hearing, the “freebie” events might marketing power of a publisher, major lyrical and haunting,” while the New York become a thing of the past. So what’s or small press/indie, behind me, helping Post called it “Sensational…Masterful… next? Do authors start paying for people prop up my own blitzkrief marketing Brilliant!” Zandri’s list of publishers to read their books? Of course I’m joking efforts. However, all this being said, I do include Delacorte, Dell, StoneHouse Ink, here. At least, I don’t think that will think it’s easier for authors to self-publish StoneGate Ink and Thomas & Mercer. An happen anytime soon. But I do foresee an e-book successfully if they’ve already MFA in writing. A graduate of Vermont the e-book becoming the replacement for been published by a major or at present College, Zandri’s work is translated into the mass market paperback. I also see it are being published by one also. becoming a more and more sophisticated many languages including the Dutch, product with links, video, advertising S. MAG.: Anytime you start something Russian, and Japanese. An adventurer, (yup, advertising), video games, music, new there is always a trial-by-error foreign correspondent, and freelance outtakes, author interviews, and more period. What was the biggest thing you photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, becoming a part of the entire e-book learned the hard way? IBTimes and more, he lives in Albany, New York. package experience. VZ: I think that self-published books and S. MAG.: Now that anybody can publish some indie-published books could use I would like to first thank Scott an e-book on their own, what do you better editing. This is something we’re all Nicholson, LJ Sellers, and Vincent do to keep ahead of the game? learning the hard way and it’s the one Zandri for giving up some of their advantage the Big Six publishers (Big very valuable time to help us out. I VZ: Just keep writing my books like Seven if you count Amazon Publishing) hope you found the information in normal. I don’t think it matters how still have over most self-published this article helpful. Remember, e-books many e-books get published any more authors and their books. But it doesn’t are the wave of a future that started than it matters how many paperbacks have to be this way. In the end, it’s the two years ago. Don’t let time pass you are published. Only the good to great self-published author’s responsibility to by. Do some more research on how to ones will have staying power. It’s a hire the most professional editor he or dive into this every exciting adventure. matter of the cream rising to the top. she can find and to have their book go And don’t forget you are reading this in If you check out the Amazon bestseller through multiple edits. electronic form. Yes this is one of those lists consistently, you’ll notice that it’s AHA moments! You can send over S. MAG.: How much research did you predominantly the same writers always questions and comments to editor@ do before you decided to make the rising to the top. Same situation with the suspensemagazine.com.  USA Today, and the New York Times jump to e-book?

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 66 . . . a RIVETING ROLLER COASTER RIDE, complete with NON-STOP ACTION, intriguing characters, and an AMAZING PLOTLINE. I love a good “murder mystery, and “Three Keys to Murder” DOES NOT DISAPPOINT! —SHANA BENEDICT of A Book Vacation Reviews”

For decades, Juan Velarde Cortez obsessively hunted a legendary treasure, and his passing has le� unresolved feelings for his daughter, 36-year-old journalist, Fawn. Now, when a series of grisly killings rock the small island comcommunity—each victim’s face has a distinct signature—Fawn suspects a bizarre connection between the murders, her father’s quest, and the death ritual of an infamous Seminole Indian from the 1800s. A cigar box that once belonged tto her father appears to hold the key. As Fawn draws closer and closer to solving the 200-year-old puzzle and determining the killer’s identity, she will be forced to unravel historical clues that will lead her on a harrowing journey. TTime is quickly running out as a serial killer is watching and waiting in the shadows.

. . . a DELICIOUS, TWISTING JOURNEY unlike any I have read. “ —CK WEBB, co-author of “Collecting Innocents”” Hunting the Hunter M. William Phelps

Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Investigation Discovery/ David Johnson

M. William Phelps is a best-selling author, expert on serial killers, and investigative journalist who has published twenty non-fiction books ranging in subject from female murderers to America’s first spy. In 1996, he lost his sister-in-law, who was five months’ pregnant, to a suspected serial killer, fueling his passion to hunt for answers in other such cases. His latest platform is on the Investigation Discovery series Dark Minds. It features Phelps’s access to “13,” an imprisoned serial killer, through his partnership with one of today’s preeminent serial killer profilers, John Kelly. Author Phelps and criminal profiler Kelly revisit unsolved murders thought to be the work of serial killers. Joining in their hunt for answers is an unlikely and anonymous source: a convict serving multiple life sentences for a series of murders. Known only to audiences as “13,” this unique source offers his “proficient” opinion about the impulses that likely drive these horrible cold cases, using his personal experience to devise theories. Winner of 2008 New England Book Festival Award for “I’ll Be Watching You,” Phelps has appeared on over one hundred television shows as a crime expert, the USA Radio Network, Catholic Radio, Ava Maria Radio, ABC News Radio and Radio America, who calls him, “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer.” He frequently appears on the hit Investigation Discovery show Deadly Women. He’s written for the Providence Journal, Hartford Courant, the New London Day, and has been profiled in—but not limited to—such noted publications asWriter’s Digest, New York Daily News, Newsday, Albany Times-Union, Hartford Courant, and New York Post. He also conferred on the first season of the Showtime cable television seriesDexter . Beyond his non-fiction crime work, in 2008 Phelps published a highly acclaimed narrative nonfiction biography of Revolutionary War patriot Nathan Hale: “NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy,” which was optioned for film by Warner Bros. Phelps lives in a small Connecticut farming community near the Massachusetts border and can be reached at his author website, which will be listed at the end of our interview. Suspense Magazine is honored to have once again, bestselling author and crime expert, M. William Phelps gracing the pages of our publication. Enjoy. Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): The first episode of Dark Minds focused on the crimes of the Valley Killer and left audiences hanging as the show closed without the benefit of revealing the results of the DNA testing of a newfound possible suspect’s

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 68 family member. Can you tell us the results, or will there be a show that updates fans on open cases and the progress of your investigations? M. William Phelps (MWP): We don’t leave audiences hanging, nor did police conduct a DNA test in that episode. I understand why you’d ask this question, but it’s unfair to the purpose/objective of the series. Before that episode was researched or filmed, no one—including law enforcement—had ever heard of my secret source or his father—the “suspect’s family member” you refer to in the question. I brought this man to the police, thus moving the case forward. This is one of the main goals of the series: reigniting cold cases and moving them to the next level by developing new information. Law enforcement had given up on the Valley Killer case long ago. I can only hand off my sources and any new information I uncover to the police; what happens after that is out of my hands. We all know how long it takes for DNA testing. And remember, there has to be evidence available to test the DNA against. We will be publicizing updates to past and future episodes as they come in. A rerun of “The Woodsman” case just recently aired with an update to that case at the end of the episode. And the DARK MINDS/Investigation Discovery site (http://investigation. discovery.com/tv/dark-minds/) has a “Case Updates” link. S. MAG.: How do you choose your next subject? Are the episodes focused on cases that you’re familiar with or do you choose based on other criteria? MWP: The cases I choose for the series require research and footwork on my part long before they are considered for the series. Fans of the series write in ideas. My readers write in ideas. I have cases I am passionate about and have pursued for many years. All the cases that end up as DARK MINDS episodes are familiar to me on various levels. I wouldn’t get involved with a case I didn’t first research and get to know. I created DARK MINDS. I am inherently involved on every level of the series, from choosing cases to research, to fieldwork, production, etc. (It’s part of being a control freak, I guess.) I am an investigative journalist by trade. This is what I do. The series is my work on film. ID calls it “real life drama” and I think that is accurate. S. MAG.: How long does it take you and your team to plan, research, and film each new episode? MWP: This question is tough to answer. I spend weeks researching cases. Our researchers spend weeks researching cases. I spend weeks talking about each case with John Kelly, my criminal profiler, and our “men” in the box (if you’ve seen the Season One finale, you know that I have developed my own serial killer on the inside). Generally, I spend a week in a town filming interviews and conducting additional research. But that doesn’t account for my discussions with John Kelly and our serial killer sources. So it’s hard to say, actually, how long it takes to produce an episode. I’m comfortable saying hundreds of hours go into each episode. S. MAG.: You’ve been researching killers and their victims for several years and we would assume that a person would need to develop a thick skin to work in your field, but is there one specific case that shocks you even today? If so, how? MWP: The case of Lisa Montgomery from my book “Murder in the Heartland.” Mrs. Montgomery cut an eight-month-old unborn child from the womb of a pregnant stranger she met online, thus savagely and viciously murdering the mother-to-be in the process. Those crime scene photographs—I had seen thousands of different crime scene photos before that—still haunt me. Coming in a close second would be the crimes of BJ and Erika Sifrit from my book “Cruel Death.” Think about this: BJ and Erika murdered and dismembered two people—and that is not the most gruesome part of this story, the part that “shocks me even today.” It’s what happened after they dismembered this couple that I have a hard time forgetting. S. MAG.: Why not identify “13”? Was anonymity the only way to obtain his participation? Or was this a decision made by the department of corrections? MWP: Why would we ever want to give a serial killer, a man who’s done horrific things to human beings, any attention whatsoever? Why reward “13” with the spotlight and national exposure for murdering people? Wouldn’t that be a slap in the face to his victims and their families? I would never want to be a part of that. We don’t want to glorify “13” (or any serial killer) in any way. We want our man on the inside to be a voice on the phone that can offer us insight. S. MAG.: How has the show and its popularity affected your life? Your book sales? MWP: I receive a lot of e-mails from people with stories to tell. I always did, but that number has increased tenfold since the show started airing. When you’re a nonfiction writer/television personality and people want to tell you stories, that is a great thing. I have also learned not to pay much attention to negative Facebook and Twitter comments, for the most part. Social media criticism, suffice it to say done anonymously on Facebook and Twitter, is nothing more than destructive, disingenuous, deceitful, irritating noise in my life. I’ve found the need to cancel out that noise and focus on positive and constructive critique and the work I do on DARK MINDS. I respect anyone that wants to critique my series to my face or send me e-mail that is positive and productive; but I refuse to give haters (and the social media world is full of them!) any of my time anymore. People can be cruel and hurtful and vicious. I love all my readers dearly. I am grateful for every single one of them. And with the series being on once a week, I am picking up more and more readers every time an episode airs. I feel honored and lucky and very blessed.

SuspenseMagazine.com 69 S. MAG.: If you could solve one of the crimes shown in Dark Minds, which one would it be? MWP: That’s a loaded question—because my first thought is how many families I’d hurt and disappoint for not choosing their case. I know it’s a rhetorical, hypothetical question, but it seems unfair of me to choose one. I want them all solved … yesterday. If you held a gun to my head and made me choose, I would have to say the Michigan case, the Oakland County Child Killer. That case was horrific. It involved a lot more pedophilia (including a child porn ring committing unspeakable crimes that you would not believe if I told you) than we had time to present on air. It broke my heart and made me extremely angry that these scumbags are still out there abusing and victimizing children. To shut them down and lock them up forever would be a blessing. I would rejoice on that day. S. MAG.: Have you thought of expanding the show into other countries, to show the difference in how different countries approach the events shown on Dark Minds? MWP: This is being done as we speak. It’s really not my call. It’s up to my production company, Beyond Productions (based in Australia), to sell foreign rights. I have, I should note, received e-mail from viewers in Germany and Denmark, so the series is working its way around the world already. S. MAG.: You are throwing a once-in-a-lifetime party. Who would you want to perform live, which chef would you hire and where would it be held? (money is no object). MWP: Right now, at this moment, Texas singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe would be on stage. Chef Andreas Viestad would be behind the knife. (I am crazy for his series on Create TV, “New Scandinavian Cooking.”) I would have my party on the beach in a warm place, maybe somewhere in Hawaii or the Florida Keys. S. MAG.: What is left on your bucket list? MWP: To spit in the face of a serial killer that DARK MINDS had a hand in putting his/her behind bars for the rest of their miserable, wretched life…and then to knock on the door of his/her victim’s family and tell them it’s over. That ladies and gentlemen, is what M. William Phelps is all about. You have a small glimpse into the mind of a man who wants nothing more than to wipe out serial killers. What a magnificent thought. If you’d like to learn more about this amazing author, go to his website at, http://www.mwilliamphelps.com/. 

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 70 Athens

ConfidentialBy Joseph Giordano

I left New York to avoid Butchie, a brawny, ring in his ear, I left the club when my gig was finished and saw the connected crook whose math knowledge stopped at his ten Albanian leaning on a car outside the entrance. He came at fingers and toes. At our last poker game, Butchie drank cough me, and I surprised him with two sharp stabs in the gut with medicine for the codeine, and I cleaned him out with a full a sawed-off boat hook I’d hid under the crook of my arm. He house to his flush. He produced a switchblade and declared went down, and I took off. I didn’t go back to my pension, that he intended to carve off my balls. I upset the table, ran but checked into a cheap hotel. I’d avoided a beating that and didn’t stop until Athens. Now I work for boat sellers and would’ve put me in the hospital, but I ensured the Albanian deliver yachts to purchasers around the Mediterranean. would bury me somewhere in the Peloponnese at his next I’ve met a lot of entrepreneurs in ports and developed a opportunity. Later that week, Dimitra found me through the business moving cargo under the radar. That’s how Zatakis piano bar manager and came to my hotel. and I got connected. Zatakis was a silver-haired pudge who She said, “I need your help.” Dimitra sat in the hotel was never without his komboloi string of beads. I transported room’s gray armchair. She leaned forward like she was about cannabis for him, but then he approached me with a special to reveal a passage in her diary and said, “Peter, I want Zatakis assignment. He kidnapped a blonde tourist from Stockholm, dead, and I have no money to pay you.” and had a contract to deliver the woman to Beirut. I agreed I was sitting on the edge of the bed, close enough to smell to take the job, and then tipped the police where she was jasmine, and my pulse started to race. kept. I don’t think he knew it was me, or I’d be souvlaki, but Dimitra tired of my silence, stood and went to the hotel he hadn’t given me a job for months. window and looked out. She wore a white skirt, and the When I wasn’t sailing, I played at piano bars near streaming Athens sunlight revealed the silhouette outline of Syntagma Square or Piraeus. That’s where I first saw Dimitra. her inner thighs. I knew what I wanted in exchange for my Zatakis walked in with her on his arm. Dimitra had an exotic help, and I was thinking of a first course. My mouth got dry. face, curvy figure and dark hair down to her waist. She wore I said, “We need a plan. Korydallos prison doesn’t interest a plunging black dress that stopped at her thighs. Zatakis me.” ignored me, but I locked eyes with Dimitra as she walked Dimitra smiled and said, “Me either.” to the table. A wide-shouldered Albanian trailed the couple. She came to the bed and ran her fingers through my Zatakis ordered a bottle of top-shelf scotch, and the Albanian brown hair. I slid my hand up the back of her thigh; she threw some euro at a brown gypsy girl for a bunch of white wasn’t wearing underwear. flowers, which Zatakis gave Dimitra. She smelled the flowers, and brought her eyes up to meet mine. I was on my back in bed. Dimitra had her head on my I played Sophisticated Lady in Dimitra’s direction, and chest and her leg crossed over mine. Zatakis poked the bodyguard. The guy was over six-foot I said, “We need to make it look like a terrorist with fingers like sausages, and a scar around his neck like assassination. The newspapers will blame the usual groups, someone had garroted him. The Albanian came to the piano. and the police won’t look very hard because they don’t want He said, “Malakas, stop flirting with Mr. Zatakis’ girl. He to be targets. How well do you know Zatakis’ schedule?” doesn’t like fuck-ups hitting on Dimitra.” Dimitra twirled the hair on my chest. “I can find out.” The Albanian’s insults indicated he thought I had piano- “Does the Albanian drive him around?” soft hands and wasn’t a threat. I responded by directing She looked at my face, “Yes, what do you have in mind?” another love song toward Dimitra. She smiled, and Zatakis “We pick one of Zatakis’ destinations with a lot of escape exploded like the Santorini volcano, and walked out of routes. When they get out of the car, I come up to them on a the club pulling Dimitra along. The bodyguard stayed and motorcycle, clip them both, and take off.” smirked at me while he finished the bottle of scotch. Plotting murder had an aphrodisiac effect, and Dimitra

2012 Short Story Contest Submission

SuspenseMagazine.com 71 left the hotel after midnight. We agreed she’d let me know After a bit, she sat back in the chair and said, “He won’t Zatakis’ agenda for the next week, so I could scout out the let me go. He says he’ll kill me first, and that Albanian will options. I snuck into my pension and retrieved my Glock do it.” 17, 9-mm that I bought on the black market for protection “Yeah, okay,” I said, “But without Zatakis, you give up a against pirates on the Mediterranean. nice lifestyle. You haven’t managed to wrangle your way into Back in the hotel, I cleaned the pistol. The task gave me his will, have you?” time to think. What was I doing? Sure Zatakis pissed me off. Dimitra laughed, “Zatakis keeps cash and gold in safe Sure I didn’t want to face that Albanian again. But murder? deposit boxes, and buried on his estate in Ekali. I can get my And Dimitra, why should I trust her? How did I know she hands on enough of it for both of us.” wouldn’t turn me into the police? As a foreigner in Korydallos “I thought you didn’t have money to pay me?” prison, I’d be the target of every sexual deviant, and the guards Dimitra tilted her head and said, “You didn’t want would enjoy the show. I shook my head. money.” She raised her eyebrows, and her lips looked like she But I sealed the deal with Dimitra. If I told her I wasn’t would blow me a kiss. She said, “So, are you going to do it?” going ahead, she could tell Zatakis I planned to kill him. He I said, “Tell you what. Put that knife away, and I’ll tell you could get to me anywhere in the Mediterranean, even in New the new plan later.” York. I’d need to hide for the rest of my life. But every time I thought of Dimitra my heart quickened. Zatakis took my call: “Peter, you have balls contacting I needed a few days to work though my problem. I me. You put Tiko in the hospital and didn’t even pay him a decided to tell Dimitra that none of Zatakis’ appointments sympathy call. He probably won’t forgive you.” Zatakis’ laugh set up for the hit. was high-pitched. I said, “I want to buy my way out of trouble. I’m making Dimitra’s voice on the phone was calm. She said, “You’re a significant cocaine pick-up in Albania in a week and stalling.” transporting it for another client. Suppose I’m confronted “No, Dimitra. Hey, I’m the one taking the risk. The by law enforcement on the Adriatic and need to dump my location has to be right.” cargo, but by good fortune it floats to Athens and lands in “You’ve decided not to go through with it.” your lap. What sort of forgiveness would that buy me?” “Come to the hotel. Let’s talk.” “What’s the value of this good fortune?” “You, talk? Okay, I’ll come after ten.” “About a half-million euro.” * * * “Hmm, Tiko is very angry. I’m not sure I can keep him Dimitra breezed past me into the room. The scent of from ripping out your heart.” jasmine triggered memories of her last visit. She sat in the “Look, I can probably come up with a second shipment, gray armchair with a red purse on her lap. She reached into but I’ll need a couple of months. If I lose two cargos in a short the bag and came out with a six-inch knife. time, I’ll have some dangerous people after me.” She said, “I came to talk, that’s all. This is to convince you Zatakis said, “I understand. Look, give me the first I’m not kidding.” delivery. I’ll keep Tiko leashed for a while, and if you give me I sat on the bed and said, “Dimitra, I should’ve asked why a second gesture of respect, you can safely walk the streets of you want Zatakis dead.” Athens again. When do I get the goods?” “He’s a drug dealer. Drugs kill people. Isn’t that reason “A week from Friday. But I deliver to you personally. I enough?” don’t want to hear anything was lost before you received it.” I said, “Someone you loved died from his drugs?” “No problem. Call Tiko for instructions.” She looked out the window. He hung up. “My older sister. She took up with Zatakis and he gave her cocaine. When he tired of her, he pimped her as a ten- I went to the embassy to see the U.S. Ambassador, a rail- euro whore. She serviced twenty men a night on a street in thin guy from Texas with a down home drawl. I told him I Piraeus and died diseased and alone in the hall of a hospital was willing to set up a local drug trafficker, but only if he emergency room.” Her eyes turned back to me. There were knew someone in the Hellenic Police who wouldn’t sell me tears. She said, “Help me get revenge.” out. It turned out that the U.S. DEA had been cooperating I said, “What a sad story. Is it true?” with a Greek special task force trying to disrupt the “Balkan Dimitra pursed her lips. She let out a breath and said, Route” of drugs from the east into Western Europe. The “No.” Ambassador put me in touch with the head cop, Makis “Okay,” I said, “Try it again. Why do you want Zatakis Christodoulou, barrel chest, thin legs. He looked like a dead?” bearded Granny Smith apple on stilts. He knew Zatakis, and Her cheeks flushed, “He stinks. He smells of tzatziki he wanted his ass. garlic and he farts when he makes love.” Her voice calmed, “He’s small, not like you.” When I called, Tiko told me to meet him on a side street That comment kicked up my heart rate, but I stayed near Omonia Square with the drugs in my car. Buses and silent. cars rumbled and belched fumes amid the gray low rises that

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 72 surrounded me. Tiko squeezed into my Fiat. untied the line so the drugs tumbled onto deck. The sea was I said, “Where’s Zatakis?” calm. Tiko and I scrambled over a plank to the larger boat, Tiko’s face soured. He said, “Hands up, I’m going to and the first ship motored away. check you for a wire.” Zatakis said, “Peter, welcome aboard. What do you think I’d left my Glock under my hotel bed with the “Do Not of my ship? I call her the “White Lady.” Appropriate, don’t Disturb” sign on the door. A bulge told me Tiko had a pistol you think? Let’s move to the stern.” under his jacket. The crew wasn’t visible. Probably they’d been told not Tiko threw my mobile out the car window. When he put to be witnesses. Dimitra sat with her red purse at a teak his hand between my legs, I said, “Easy, poustos.” table with a cloudy glass of ouzo in front of her. The table Tiko’s face went red, and he drew his fist back but stopped had an array of small dishes of food, a basket of bread, ouzo, himself and smirked at me. I guessed Zatakis had told Tiko water, and ice. Tzatziki was included. Zatakis sat across from he could kill me, after the drugs were delivered. I said a short Dimitra. Tiko put his pistol away when we transferred ships. prayer that Makis could follow us on the GPS we planted Now he pulled it out and leaned against the bulkhead to under the hood. Makis was worried a tail on my car would steady himself. His smirk was not comforting. My mind said, be spotted, and a team of his men would rotate eyes on me. Makis, where are you? Maybe so, but I didn’t see anyone when I looked around. Zatakis said, “Peter, now that you’re here, I’ve decided Tiko ordered me to drive. We got on the National Road, to change plans, unfortunately for you. I took you for a North, and about fifteen kilometers later he ordered me smart guy. I’m surprised you thought me so forgiving. When off the Kifissia exit. We drove to the metro station parking you betrayed my Beirut contract, you cost me money and lot, and Tiko had me stop and turn off the engine. A few embarrassment.” I started to speak, but Zatakis put up his commuters trudged to their cars, and I wondered where hand. “You tipped the police. I know it was you.” Zatakis’ face Makis’ team could be hiding. twisted like he had indigestion. “And then you decided to fuck After a while I asked, “When is Zatakis coming?” my girlfriend.” Zatakis pointed his finger at Dimitra. “Don’t Tiko looked bored. deny it, I can see it on her face. That was a fatal mistake.” “You’ll see him soon enough. Get back on the National Throughout Zatakis’ soliloquy I was straining my ears Road, South.” hoping to hear the engine of another boat, but there was We exited near Piraeus, weaved our way toward the nothing. Tiko was ready. He wouldn’t miss at this range. My water, and headed toward the Flivnos docks. options had run out. There were no other cars on the road near the port. I Zatakis picked up a tall glass of ouzo and ice and drained hoped Makis’ surveillance could keep me in sight. We parked it. near the water, and it was pitch black. Stress sweat stuck the He said, “Tonight you will understand what I do to shirt to my back. Tiko told me to get the cocaine out of the people who cross me.” Zatakis gestured toward Tiko and trunk. I thought, he could just shoot me and take the drugs said, “Do it.” now. He pointed the pistol at me, and my gut sickened. I I looked at Tiko’s face, his eyes were very wide, and I saw thought maybe I could make a run and dive under the water. fear. Just then, a wooden-beamed, motor-sailer at the dock turned Dimitra’s shot from my Glock ripped through Tiko’s on its lights and lowered its gangplank. I thought, how the chest. The soft-nosed bullet tore into flesh and shattered hell is Makis going to track me on the water? We should have bone, and Tiko went down like a sack of shit. I turned my put the GPS in the drugs. I was regretting my plan to sting head. Zatakis stood, and backed toward the rail of the ship, Zatakis. face stretched, hands raised in defense. Dimitra took her Tiko waved his gun at me to get on the boat. It was time before she fired. I suppose she relished the tragic-mask a twenty-five-footer and at the end of the gangplank, I look on his face. The bullet exploded his skull. Zatakis’ back saw a beardless captain with wild eyes and a handlebar- slammed against the rail of the ship, and his ass slid to the mustachioed mate in a stripped shirt. Zatakis was not on deck. His silver head was replaced by a sopping red hole, and board. The mate untied the ropes and jumped on the ship the glint of a gold tooth from his lower jaw. as the captain motored away. The air was cool. The city I slipped the gun from Dimitra’s hand. She trembled and lights looked close as we moved into the Saronic Gulf in the hugged herself. I found the ship’s captain below deck and had direction of Aegina Island. I smelled diesel fumes and the him contact the police on the radio. Makis chased the first dank odor of my sweat-soaked shirt. Tiko’s gun was pointed boat and was looking for us. Eventually he arrived. Tiko’s at my belly, and I hoped Makis was close. gun proved self-defense, and there were no charges brought We sailed half an hour when another boat started to against Dimitra. approach us. It was a much larger motor-sailer, about thirty I had a contract to deliver a boat, and later that week meters. As they neared, lights revealed that both Zatakis and Dimitra and I sailed for Positano with a duffle bag full of what Dimitra sat aft. They looked like a wealthy couple enjoying we found at Zatakis’ compound. I kept the Glock locked in an evening sail and a Greek meze. We maneuvered along the ship’s safe.  side, and the mate put the drugs in a net and swung them to the other boat. Zatakis grabbed the net with a boat hook and

SuspenseMagazine.com 73 Contributor's Corner Elton John Meets Norman Mailer David Ingram

Interview by Suspense Magazine riting and David Ingram have city’s Writer’s Guild. He knew he needed training, so he Wtaken a long, strange, circular read books on writing and made exhaustive notes. He read trip. He caught the bug in high school. Sitting in his room mysteries by authors he respects, such as P.D. James, Michael with his mother’s old Remington typewriter on another chair Connelly, and Jeffrey Deaver, studying the structures of their facing him, he’d pound out short stories as well as one-act writing as well as their choice of words. plays and song lyrics. It was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, From there, David wrote short stories and plays, but also and every high school boy with a modicum of music talent his first novel-length crime fiction story, “The Sword of the was in a band. David was no exception. With piano, guitar Angel.” In a sense, the novel became his writing lab. Writing and vocalist, they aimed for “Elton John meets the Beatles.” in the mornings, he carried the daily drafts with him to the They only managed “forgettable.” Such is life. call center where he worked until midnight. He then became known for writing short stories in his In 2009, his first story was published, a non-mystery in a hometown in Ontario, Canada. He even won two awards, literary magazine. Deciding to focus on the mystery genre, in one of which was presented by the Premier (governor) of 2010 he wrote “A Good Man of Business,” which is a modern Ontario. twist on Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” He thought, what After high school, he veered in a different direction. He would happen if Scrooge didn’t repent? And the plot grew was active in the drama club and enjoyed performing. In his from there. senior year, he saw a performance by a drama ministry based He sent it to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and held his in Los Angeles. They performed in many places. Enjoying breath. In the summer, Janet Hutchings said that they wanted what he witnessed, he applied and was accepted. to publish the story in the magazine’s Christmastime issue, He stayed for approximately twenty years and learned which was actually the January 2011 edition. This surprise about dramatic pacing and dialogue. More importantly, he spurred him to write more. He produced the first draft of met his wife Dawn there. They drove all over the U.S. and the sequel to his novel along with more short stories. Having Canada. Their son Joshua was born and they spent two years been a movie lover from childhood, David created a blog: in England and lived in the East End of London, a half-block Omnivorous Cinephile (omnivorouscinephile.wordpress. from a plaque commemorating the place where the first com) where he reviews new movies along with some classics V-1 bomb exploded during World War II. They also lived and forgotten gems. in South Africa, arriving shortly after Nelson Mandela was In the fall of 2011, David saw a tweet that Suspense released from prison, and were witnesses to the dismantling Magazine wanted help reviewing books. He responded and of apartheid. Once he drove from Harare, Zimbabwe, to included a link to his blog for examples of his work. He Johannesburg. Here, there are signs for deer crossings; there started reviewing books in October. they have signs for elephant crossings. Obviously, they really David has been a book lover all his life, and is happiest paid attention to them. when surrounded by bookshelves. When he got married, In 2001, David found a position on the evening shift in an Dawn pointed out that they were traveling across country emergency road service call center for AAA, but he hungered with a couple of other people in a Dodge van, which already for a creative outlet and decided to return to his first love, had a lot of luggage in it. She said he should limit himself to writing. He lived in St. Louis and became a member of the three boxes of books. So he got bigger boxes.

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 74 The sale of “A Good Man of Business” allowed him to S. MAG.: For you, which is more exciting: getting your first become a full member of the Mystery Writers of America, as novel published or winning the Robert L. Fish and Hugh well as Sisters in Crime, Inc. In November, he submitted the Holton Scholarship Awards? first fifty pages of his manuscript to a mentoring program sponsored by the Midwest chapter of the MWA. He received DI: I haven’t gotten my novel published yet. That’s one reason some excellent feedback from his mentor, which he used I’m looking forward to attending the Edgars, so I can make when doing a final polish of the manuscript. The week after, contact with agents in New York City. Whenever I do get it he heard about winning the Robert L. Fish Award—which published, it will be one of the all-time most exciting moments will be awarded to him at this year’s Edgar Awards banquet— of my life. Winning the Hugh Holton Scholarship was special, and the president of the Midwest Chapter informed him that since it was the first time it was presented, but The Robert he also won the inaugural Hugh Holton Scholarship Award L. Fish meant a lot to me because it is a national award. It to help with getting the novel published. The mentors in underlined that yes, I am a writer. And going to New York City the program evaluated all of the work they received and felt to accept it keeps blowing my mind every time I think about it. his book was the closest to being ready to publish. He was presented with the award at the Love Is Murder conference S. MAG.: In your opinion, aside from being published, what in Chicago. is the most fulfilling part of the Last year saw another major change for David and his writing process itself? wife. Dawn entered the seminary in 2007. She graduated in 2010 and was ordained as a minister in the Christian Church DI: It’s great to envision (Disciples of Christ). After a year of chaplaincy training and a scene. Maybe it’s my working in hospitals, she received a call to pastor a church in love of movies, but when Arthur, Illinois, which is south of Champaign/Urbana in the I’m writing it’s like I’m a heart of the Illinois Amish country. The move to Arthur has movie camera recording allowed him to write full-time. the scene and the David wants to go the traditional route for publishing characters are acting crime fiction, so he’s looking for an agent. Now he has some their roles. I write exciting credits as a writer for his query. down a description Along with the Edgar Awards dinner, he’ll be attending of what I see as well the MWA Symposium and the Agents and Editors Party on as the dialogue the the day before the banquet. He’s hoping to establish contact characters say. with agents at the party. S. MAG.: Does your Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): At times, people romanticize wife get to edit or critique your work other countries like England. What was it like? What was before you send it out? your favorite and least favorite thing about living there? DI: My wife is incredible. She does edit much of my work, and I David Ingram (DI): I’m a history buff, so England was value her critiques. If I can write a story and surprise her, then already a place of wonder for me. Seeing sights I’d read about I know it’s good. The demands of her work as a pastor limits the for years was awe-inspiring: The Tower, Westminster Abbey, time she has available for my writing, but if she can manage to The National Gallery, and so much more. A favorite memory fit in an edit of what I’m working on, I’m always grateful for it. was watching my son, who was two at the time, chasing the pigeons in Trafalgar Square while squealing with delight. I did S. MAG.: Aside from what you put in your three larger boxes get spoiled with the London Underground and bus system. You when you moved, what would we find on your bookshelves could get anywhere in the city easily. We’d buy a two-pound now? Do you have a favorite? day pass and explore the city. The East End of London where we lived is a down-to-earth place where people accepted you DI: I do still have some of those books, even after multiple moves as you were. There were street markets where you’d find items and storing them while I was overseas. Now if you looked on for a tenth of the price in the Oxford Street stores. As you went the bookshelves in my house, you’d find shelves devoted to Sue further west in London, people became more restrained and Grafton, P.D. James, Michael Connelly and John Sandford. I’ve a bit judgmental. I was there in the mid-1980s, and I hope read all of their books. There are a couple of shelves dedicated Starbucks has made its way there. You couldn’t find a decent to movie books and magazines, along with a shelf of writing cup of coffee unless you went to the Continent. books and a salting of history and biography. One special book I have is protected in plastic. It’s an original paperback edition

SuspenseMagazine.com 75 of “Rage,” which was Stephen King’s first Bachman book. I party in the evening, and then the actual banquet on found it in a used bookstore, still in good shape. I don’t think Thursday. After the banquet, I talked with Martha Grimes, the store owner realized what it was—but I did! who received the Grand Master award for this year. She’s a delightfully irreverent person. The Robert L. Fish Award is S. MAG.: Is there still a rock star in you trying to get out? the first one given out each year. I prepared a speech, timing it so that it fit into the forty-five-to-sixty-seconds window that DI: No, Elvis has left the building. I still play the piano, and was recommended by the coordinators. After the program, I’ve collaborated with a music professor friend of mine on a MWA president Sandra Brown complimented me on the couple of Christmas musicals and an oratorio, but that’s it. speech, saying that it got the evening off to the right start. That said, if the Rock Bottom Remainders call and say they Immediately after the award, Doug Allyn (who presented need a pianist for a gig, I’m out the door and on my way. I don’t it) and I were at the back of the ballroom, heading back to want anyone to think I’d be running away from home! our table, when Doug told me to stop for a minute: “Take a moment to take this all in.” It was incredible that I had been David was honored with the Robert L. Fish Award during applauded by the approximately five hundred people in the this year’s Edgar Awards room, the cream of the MWA. It was both a humbling and celebration. exhilarating moment.” In his own words, Suspense Magazine Suspense Magazine was honored to have had this gives you David’s night opportunity to introduce you to David Ingram and we at the Edgar Awards: thank him for his continued contribution to our magazine. “The Edgars was a He is one of the reasons we can continue to bring you the wonderful experience, publication you enjoy each month. Check out David’s blog with the symposium at, omnivorouscinephile.wordpress.com and his website at, on Wednesday, the davidhingram.com.  agent and editor

Suspense Magazine May 2012/vol. 034 76 J U S T F O R F U N 1. James Patterson, “11th. Hour” 14. Nicci French, “Blue Monday” 2. Charlaine Harris, “Deadlocked” 15. Robert Louis Stevenson, “Dr. 3. John Sandford, “Stolen Prey” Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” 4. Peter F. Hamilton, “The Mandel Files” Vol. 2 The Nano 16. Julia Heaberlin, “Playing Dead” Flower 17. Ted Bell, “Phantom” 5. Alex Gray, “A Pound of Flesh” 18. David Downing, “Lehrter Station” A John Russell WWII 6. Qiu Xiaolong, “Don’t Cry, Tai Lake” Thriller 7. Ben Aaronovitch, “Whispers Under Ground” 19. Nick Harkaway, “Angelmaker” 8. Barbara Nadel, “Dead of Night” 20. Chris Pavone, “The Expats” 9. Greg Rucka, “Gotham Central Book 4: Corrigan” 21. Brad Thor, “Full Black” 10. Steve Berry, “The Columbus Affair” 22. Alex Dryden, “The Blind Spy” 11. Chuck Greaves, “Hush Money” 23. Clabe Taylor, “Mako” 12. Candace Calvert, “Trauma Plan” 24. Charles Cumming, “The Trinity Six” 13. Chad Harbach, “The Art of Fielding” 25. Joseph Kanon, “Istanbul Passage”

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