Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction MAY/JUNE 2017 Hot Days! Cool Reads! CATHERINE FINGER HARLEY MUZAK ENVY WENDY WEBB DENNIS PALUMBO KAREN DIONNE “Guilt Game” Sneak Peek ADAM MITZNER L.J. SELLERS JAMES HAYMAN All New Writer's Toolkit with KENNETH JOHNSON ALAN JACOBSON Franze & Lancet Talk Writing with NICCI FRENCH #1 BESTSELLER C. J. BOX LAURIE R. KING 䰀攀攀 䌀栀椀氀搀 䰀椀猀愀 䜀愀爀搀渀攀爀 ㈀ ㄀㜀 吀栀爀椀氀氀攀爀䴀愀猀琀攀爀 ㈀ ㄀㜀 匀椀氀瘀攀爀 䈀甀氀氀攀琀 䠀攀愀琀栀攀爀 䜀爀愀栀愀洀 䨀漀栀渀 䰀攀猀挀爀漀愀爀琀 ㈀ ㄀㘀 吀栀爀椀氀氀攀爀䴀愀猀琀攀爀 ㈀ ㄀㘀 匀椀氀瘀攀爀 䈀甀氀氀攀琀 䜀爀愀渀搀 䠀礀愀琀琀Ⰰ 一夀䌀 뜀 䨀甀氀礀 ㄀㄀ⴀ㄀㔀Ⰰ ㈀ ㄀㜀 吀䠀刀䤀䰀䰀䔀刀䘀䔀匀吀⸀䌀伀䴀 From the Editor One thing that’s very tough for most people to do is leave their comfort zone. In books, it’s the same thing. With so many books being CREDITS John Raab published every day, and more new authors President & Chairman releasing in digital formats, as a consumer of this product we tend to grab books that give Shannon Raab Creative Director us comfort. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing; hell, books aren’t exactly cheap, if you still get Romaine Reeves your books in hardcover. Spending upwards CFO of $35.00 for a book is expensive, but you want to grab an author or series that makes you Amy Lignor feel good. Editor My challenge is for you to jump out of that zone. Find an author or a genre that has Jim Thomsen piqued your curiosity, but you haven’t jumped into yet. Take a chance; just like that time Copy Editor you tried liver and onions. I know it looks scary, but don’t knock it till you try it. Contributors Let’s say that you’re a military thriller fan. You pick up Brad Thor, Brad Taylor, Dale Mark P. Sadler Brown and so on. You can’t get enough of those SEAL and Delta teams destroying the bad Susan Santangelo guys and saving the world. We know you love these stories and we get it, but why not try Kaye George Weldon Burge something with a supernatural twist? Maybe a cozy mystery where you can put your skills Ashley Wintters to the test and figure out who the killer is? You might just remember why stories drew you D.P. Lyle M.D. Kathleen Heady in in the first place. Andrew MacRae If you remember back to when you first started to read, you probably had to search Melissa Dalton Elliott Capon to find tales that gave you that warm and fuzzy feeling. But what you did back then was J.M. LeDuc explore—new lands, new characters, the library shelves. Remember the excitement when Holly Price you picked up an author for the first time? Maybe you grabbed a soda, kicked people out Kari Wainwright David Ingram of your space, and curled up for the night, flashlight at the ready. You didn’t know what to Jodi Hanson expect, you just knew that you’d be transported to a different place and a different time. Susan May Jenny Hilborne Now that feeling isn’t the same; it may get you close, but it’s simply different. You Anthony J. Franze know pretty much what you’re going to get when you pick up the tenth book in the same Kristin Centorcelli Jerry Zavada series. You’re in the same place with the same characters—maybe meeting a new one here Leslie Borghini and there, but still very much of the same. Mary Lignor Julie Whiteley Go on, remember that feeling that made you a reader in the first place. Try something Sara Guisti new. Or, at the very least, check to see what else your favorite may be writing. Your go-to Jeff Ayers Elise Cooper political thriller writer may have released a series of mysteries that are just as exciting. Joseph Badal The good news is that you Customer Service and don’t have to spend a lot of Subscriptions: money at all. Many e-books For 24/7 service, please use our website, www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: are under $5.00 and a lot are SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at free. 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LeDuc, Leslie Borghini, Susan Santangelo, Jeff Ayers, Joseph Badal, and Amy Lignor.” SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENT SUSPENSE MAGAZINE May / June 2017 / Vol. 076 Albuquerque By Sam Wiebe . 3 Paul By C .R . Berry . 6 Envy By Dennis Palumbo . .11 Delivering More Than “Faith”: Meet Catherine Finger . .13 The Cowboy Way: C . J . Box on Writing By Anthony Franze & Barry Lancet . .17 Harley Muzak: With a Modern-Day Nod to the Past . .20 Excerpt: “Guilt Game” By L .J . Sellers . .22 Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews . .26 Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews By Jeff Ayers . .41 Featured Artist: Elena Nizaeva Lives Life Through Different Lenses . 43 Wendy Webb on “The End of Temperance Dare” & More . .48 Karen Dionne: The Psychological Suspense Genre Has a New Name . .50 The Writer’s Toolkit By Alan Jacobson . .58 Facedown By Steve Vance . .73 ALBUQUERQUE By Sam Wiebe hen’s first inkling that Travis McCallum was bent came at the Peace Arch Crossing. The guard looked up from her Cmonitor long enough to ask when was the last time they’d crossed the border. “You mean ethically?” McCallum had asked. He’d held out their passports, flashed her his best good-old-boy smile. Chen told her no fruits or vegetables, no livestock. She looked at the two men, asked what business they were in. “My buddy’s a security consultant,” McCallum said. “Me, I’m retired, King County Sheriff’s, six years now.” Grinning again. “They let me off for good behavior.” “Nature and purpose of your trip?” she asked. “Flying out of SEA-TAC,” McCallum said. “New Mexico. See some old friends.” Once they were into Washington, McCallum whooped and fed one of his Alan Jackson CDs into the rental car’s sound system. He said to Chen, “You got to lighten up, Jeff. You’re not having fun, what’s the point of doing this job?” * * * heir contractor was a man named Marty Dunn. He stood by the coffee maker in the portable office, a silver-haired man Tin a concrete-gray dress shirt and dungarees. He presided over the half-dozen ex-cops, security experts and PIs, all large middle-aged white men with the exception of Chen. The others were eating donuts, going over the map and their photocopied list of objectives. The four farms were all about a half hour’s drive. Three-man teams, two farms per. The farms were owned by Carlos Chavez, Elaine Garcia, Jan Hinchell, and the Lucero brothers Co-Op. Mugshot-like photos flashed on the wall as the projector blinked. All four were guilty of violating, or encouraging others to violate, the seed patent on the Taurus Corporation’s genetically- modified corn seed. As Dunn explained, most farms in the area signed contracts with Taurus for seeds immune to Taurus’s industrial herbicide. A perfect system: buy the seeds, plant the seeds, spray Bush-Kill and watch everything but your corn wither and die. But some farmers would rather steal from Taurus. Seed pirates, Dunn called them. By not buying Taurus seeds, not signing a contract, they were reaping the benefits of a hundred million dollars’ worth of research. It didn’t matter if the seeds had blown onto their property. Stealing is stealing. Chen, neck aching from the flight, knew it was all bullshit. Why else hire PIs from out of town? They were here to intimidate. To frighten the underdogs. To break the last four holdouts. It didn’t sit well with him, but fifteen grand for a week’s work sat nicely. With Marie pregnant they could use the cash. He ended up on a team with McCallum and another jowly, heavy-shouldered man named Ross. They rode in a rented Econoline, Ross driving, the back seats clanking with tubs of Taurus seeds, axes, ammunition. The Co-Op was first. Taurus’s legitimate investigators had already served lawsuits, demanded access to the farm’s records and receipts. The Luceros had counter-sued. This would be phase two. Ross ran the van off the road, over a culvert and onto the edge of the farm. It was March, the dusty penistaja soil still barren. Ross drove over a thin mesh boundary and parked facing the farmhouse, his highbeams on. SuspenseMagazine.com 3 It was dusk. They waited. McCallum and Ross jawed fallen soldiers graffitied and lit by a neon Esso sign. Chen about cases they’d solved, about women. Chen watched the missed his wife. windows of the farmhouse. Lights went on and off. Ross On the road they passed an identical van and stopped, brought up Asian pussy, the old horizontal slit jokes.