Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction

JUNE 2015

HOT DAYS COOL SUMMER READS PATRICK KENDRICK C. J. BOX From Across the Pond: NELSON DEMILLE WILLIAM SHAW A Look Inside INGRID THOFT’S & Meet Debut Authors “BRUTALITY” & CHRISTINE CARBO NELSON DEMILLE’S NEAL GRIFFIN “RADIANT ANGEL” SIMON GERVAIS “A THOUGHT-PROVOKING TALE THAT WILL SURELY STAND WITH THE YEAR’S BEST THRILLERS.” —DAVID BALDACCI

A battle to the death— and only one will be left standing.

“The Assassins hooks you on page one, pulls you into the story on page two, and doesn’t let you go until the very last paragraph. This is a classic last-man-standing story of deceit and betrayal with enough new twists and turns to keep you up way past your bedtime.” —NELSON DEMILLE

“A furiously wild ride from Maryland to Marrakesh to Baghdad with rich vibrant characters and a surprise twist that will hit you between the eyes. I loved it!” —CATHERINE COULTER

“A master class in suspense, where plot twists abound and danger is always closer than you think!” —LISA GARDNER

“The Assassins is another masterwork of international suspense from Gayle Lynds, which starts with a killer premise—six ex-Cold War assassins pitted against each other—and ends with a violent and stunning surprise.” —DOUGLAS PRESTON

• gaylelynds.com • AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD. From the Editor

Sometimes when I sit and write the “Letter from the CREDITS Editor,” it depends on my mood as to what comes out on John Raab President & Chairman the page. If I’m happy, I tend to write in a more humorous style. If I’m on edge, I will write something a bit more Shannon Raab serious to bring me back from the proverbial ledge. Creative Director However, if I’m a little angry, well…then all bets are off. This is one of those times. I’m not really sure beyond this Romaine Reeves one sentence what is going to come out next, so here we CFO go on a suspenseful journey… Amy Lignor Someone asked me for help with their book. I agreed Editor because, quite simply, I love to help people and want to set them on the right path. This wasn’t a work of fiction, but regardless of the genre there are some things that you need to make sure Jim Thomsen you have included in order to see a polished work. I spent a good amount of time reading Copy Editor through it, giving many different pointers and advice, only to recently find out that they didn’t take any of that advice and published the book on their own. Well…what do you know? The Contributors book has been out for over a month and they haven’t sold one single copy. I was shocked, Mark P. Sadler since the book was written not by an expert in the field, but by someone who thinks they know Susan Santangelo DJ Weaver their subject matter. CK Webb Mistake number one. This is to all authors out there currently thinking about doing this. Kiki Howell I ask them this question: “You are writing in a genre that is already inundated and plastered Kaye George with experts, big companies and huge industry names, so…why should I buy your book?” Weldon Burge Ashley Wintters The ones I have already asked this question of didn’t really have an answer to give me, and I Scott Pearson replied, “See? That is why you don’t sell anything.” Not to mention, I said that at the very least D.P. Lyle M.D. they will need to market themselves heavily before the book comes out, at least two to three Kathleen Heady hours a day, finding places where their target audience is talking about only that particular Stephen Brayton Brian Blocker subject matter. I said, “If you are not willing to put in the tough—at times, grueling—work of Andrew MacRae marketing, you won’t sell anything.” Val Conrad I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but just in case, I will say it yet again. Melissa Dalton Writing the book is the EASY part; marketing it and getting people excited to buy it is the Elliott Capon J.M. LeDuc TOUGH part. That is where you need to spend a lot of research. I think it’s great that Amazon Holly Price has given us a platform to publish our own books without the need of an agent or publisher; Kari Wainwright however, what we now have in the marketplace is a bunch of books that, well…frankly, stink. David Ingram I went through this person’s book and did a first edit. There was no way the book was close Jodi Hanson Susan May to being ready to publish. But instead of putting in the hours to make it right, they uploaded Jenny Hilborne the work, put their picture on their newly formed Author Page (wearing a look of composure Anthony J. Franze with an air of brilliance, of course), and assumed that was enough to sell it. Kristin Centorcelli Wake up, authors! If you don’t have beta readers (that means readers you don’t know and Jerry Zavada S.L. Menear will actually give you the brutal truth), or go through a professional edit job then, yes, your Leslie Borghini success rate will be very, very low. I want everyone who writes a book to be very successful so Mary Lignor they will keep on writing and producing thoughtful, entertaining, and incredible works for Julie Whiteley the public. This person already had a second and third Sara Guisti Jeff Ayers book in mind, but will probably quit because the first Elise Cooper book didn’t sell. This is not easy; writing is very hard work. Like the Customer Service and old saying goes: If it were easy, everyone would do it. Subscriptions: For 24/7 service, please use our website, Don’t take the easy path. That path leads to the dark side. www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: Taking the time to put the effort into making sure you SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at have covered all your bases, marketed your book before 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 and after release, have beta readers on hand, and have Calabasas, CA 91302 Suspense Magazine does not share our had the work professionally edited, is the only path that magazine subscriber list with third-party will lead to eventual success. companies. John Raab CEO/Publisher Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscrip- Suspense Magazine ■ tion) per year. All foreign subscrip- tions must be payable in U.S. funds. “Reviews within this magazine are the opinions of the individual reviewers and are provided solely for the purpose of assisting readers in determining another's thoughts on the book under discussion and shall not be interpreted as professional advice or the opinion of any other than the individual reviewer. The following reviewers who may appear in this magazine are also individual clients of Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine: Mark P. Sadler, Ashley Dawn (Wintters), DJ Weaver, CK Webb, Elliott Capon, J.M. LeDuc, S.L. Menear, Leslie Borghini, Susan Santangelo, and Amy Lignor.”

SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENTSUSPENSE MAGAZINE June 2015 / Vol. 065

International Thriller Writers: Reader’s Corner By Steve P. Vincent . . . . . 3

Excerpt: “Brutality” By Ingrid Thoft...... 4

Forensic Files: Corpse Decay By D.P. Lyle...... 8

Take a Journey With Debut Author Christine Carbo ...... 10

In the Garden By Jill Hand...... 14

The Black Bird & the Chicago Kid By Thomas B. Sawyer...... 18

The Face at the Window By Samuel Poots...... 20

Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews...... 23

Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews...... 44

Featured Artist: Angeles Ruiz...... 45

Ripped From the Headlines: Meet Debut Author Neal Griffin...... 49

Copy Editor’s Corner: Editor, Heal Thyself By Jim Thomsen...... 52

Adds a Personal Touch: Meet Debut Author Simon Gervais ...... 54

Across the Pond with William Shaw By Chris Simms...... 60

At the End of my Rope By Nancy Sweetland...... 62

Excerpt: “Radiant Angel” By Nelson DeMille ...... 69

Antiques and Curiosities By A.R. Alan...... 73 INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS READER'SCorner Recommendations by Steve P. Vincent Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author

Every time I finish writing a book, like I just have, I make a concerted effort to smash the ‘to read’ pile that has built up next to my bed and on my Kindle while I’ve been hard at work. Unfortunately, my attempts are usually for nothing, because I find another bunch of great books to read. Here are a few I’m looking forward to reading in the next few months.

“AURORA: EDEN” Amanda Bridgeman, September 10: Not strictly a thriller, but definitely thrilling…in space! Amanda Bridgeman is a fellow Aussie writer who’s crafted a wonderful and chilling series centered on two great main characters and one particularly nasty villain. Her books are epic in size, scope, and impact.

“MAKE ME” Lee Child, August 27: Take all my money, Mr. Child, and be quick about it! I tend to drift in and out of the Jack Reacher series, but when I lock on I’ll gorge two or three at once. Looking forward to the 20th lap on this circuit. It should be as nail-biting as ever.

“WHAT LIES BEHIND” J.T. Ellison, May 26: Yeah, yeah, it’s already out. But I haven’t bought it or read it yet, so I’m listing it. The latest Samantha Owens thriller sounds like a cracking read, and it’ll find itself sneaking its way up the pile, I’m sure. It’ll probably also give me nightmares.

“RADIANT ANGEL” Nelson DeMille, May 26: Yep, another that’s already out. This one I have actually purchased! Not many authors can write espionage like DeMille. I’ve waited for this one for two or three years, since I was blown away by “The Panther.” Joel Corey is a kick ass dude.

“THE CARTEL” Don Winslow, June 25: I loved “The Power of the Dog” and I’m hoping Winslow’s newest effort hits the same high notes. If the cover is anything to go by, it should. ■

Steve P. Vincent is the author of the Jack Emery political thrillers: “Fireplay,” “The Foundation” and the recently published “State of Emergency.” If you’re a fan of suspense-packed political thrillers, you can’t go wrong with this series. You can pick them up as ebooks from any retailer (www.momentumbooks.com.au/authors/steve-p-vincent).

SuspenseMagazine.com 3 BRUTALITY By Ingrid Thoft Press Photo Credit: Doug Berrett

CHAPTER 1

“I CAN’T BELIEVE HALEY IS MISSING THIS,” Fina Ludlow said, crumpled in a ball in a snowbank. “You all right, buddy?” she asked her youngest nephew, Chandler, as he burrowed out from underneath her. “That was awesome! Let’s go again!” He grabbed her hand as she struggled to her feet. A chunk of snow had wormed its way up her parka and into the small of her back. Fina looped the rope attached to the toboggan around her free wrist and struggled to fish the snow out. Some had already melted and was making a cold, wet trail down her butt. She was having fun, moving into the hot and cold sweaty phase that marked any good sledding excursion.

SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM INGRID THOFT At the top of the hill, her brothers Scotty and Matthew were prepping for another run. Scotty had his middle son tucked between his legs. Matthew was lying chest down on the sled, head first. Scotty’s eldest son was lying on top of him in the same position. “You’re going to allow that?” Fina asked Scotty. “Patty would not approve.” Scotty’s wife had married into the Ludlow family, thereby rendering her the rare voice of reason. Patty had opted to stay home with their niece, Haley. “She won’t know,” Scotty said. “Not until you call her from the ER,” Fina commented. “Did you guys bring any business cards? There must be a market for sledding-related lawsuits.” Her brothers grinned. “Don’t spoil our fun,” Matthew said, pushing off, his nephew clinging to his back like a tortoise’s shell. It was the rare day that the Ludlows had a couple of free hours together, when the demands of the family firm, Ludlow and Associates, didn’t take priority. Winter had been a bitch so far, dumping snow and caking ice on every surface, prompting the governor to close down government offices and delay court business for days. Fina’s father, Carl, had grumbled about the loss of billable hours, but his children and grandchildren were happy to have a brief reprieve from the daily grind. Fina sat down behind Chandler and shoved off the icy surface and over the crest of the hill. Their ride was fast and bumpy, the boy hollering all the way down. As they approached the bottom of the hill, Fina tipped to the side; rather than let

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 4 the ride peter out, they rolled over and off the sled in a dramatic wipeout. Chandler was elated. Fina was cleaning snow out of her boot laces when her phone rang from the inner pocket of her parka. If she were in a different line of work she might ignore the call, but as a private investigator, she never knew who might be on the other end of the line. Fina had to welcome every potential job and every potential lead, even if nine times out of ten it was a telemarketer trying to sell her aluminum siding. “Fina Ludlow,” she said, wiping at her runny nose. She listened to the caller for a few moments before hanging up. The reprieve was over.

ALTHOUGH MOST OF FINA’S CASES CAME THROUGH LUDLOW AND ASSOCIATES, she didn’t have a dedicated space at the firm. She used conference rooms and empty offices on the premises as needed, but she preferred to meet clients—especially potential clients—on their own turf or at least a turf of their choosing. She learned a lot about people from their environments and how they interacted with them. That’s why she was happy to meet her caller from the day before at Mass General Hospital, despite her general dislike of hospitals. At the ICU reception desk, she encountered an administrator who could have blocked for the Patriots, so advanced were her skills. “Who are you here to see?” She peered at Fina. “Liz Barone.” That wasn’t strictly the truth, but, oh well. “Are you family?” “I’m her cousin.” The receptionist printed out an ID badge, which Fina affixed to her jacket. She gave Fina a stern lecture that cell phone use was not allowed and pointed her to a small waiting room. The space overlooked an inner courtyard, and although the windows promised natural light, it was nearly impossible to see the sky given the size of the building. Across the courtyard, hallways and rooms were brightly illuminated, offering a montage of hospital life. Fina took off her coat, stuffing her gloves and scarf into her pockets before taking a seat in a straight-backed chair. A woman of about forty was lying on a sofa wrapped in a thin blanket. She appeared to be sleeping, but every couple of minutes, she would toss and turn on the unforgiving couch. A Japanese family occupied the chairs opposite Fina. They were deep in conversation, their voices low but insistent. Rather than contemplate the personal disasters that had brought her roommates to this place, Fina scanned the landscape across the way. In one room, a man sat up in bed, eating off a tray, his eyes trained on the TV mounted on the wall. A woman sat in a chair next to him, flipping through a magazine. Another room held half a dozen people, their smiling faces amongst a sea of flowers and balloons. Fina pondered the vista offered by the waiting room. It seemed cruel to force devastated family members to gaze upon others’ more mundane, joyful recoveries. Fifteen minutes later, Fina was thoroughly engrossed in a CNN story about national tortilla chip day when a woman entered the room. She was dressed in street clothes rather than medical attire. “Ms. Ludlow?” Fina stood and offered her hand. “Yes. Are you Mrs. Barone?” “Call me Bobbi.” Her handshake was firm, but her skin felt dry. “There’s a meeting room that we can use.” Fina followed her down the hallway, trying not to stare at the occupants of the glass fronted rooms. In some cases, it was difficult to even see the patients amidst the medical equipment. Machines and endless tubes and cords snaked around the beds that seemed as large and as complicated as luxury sedans. Each room boasted a dedicated nursing station right outside its door. The level of care and attention was extraordinary. If you had to be in critical condition, this was the place to do it. In the hallway, a uniformed Boston Police officer sat on a chair, flipping through the Herald. Bobbi led her to a small nondescript room with a round table and four chairs. There was a poster on the wall about patients’ rights and another extolling the virtues of hand washing, but little attempt had been made to decorate or warm up the space. If you were sitting in this room meeting with doctors, the life of your loved one was in serious peril. No one was going to pretend otherwise. “Do you want some coffee? Water?” Bobbi asked. “No, thank you, but can I get you something?” Fina sat down across from her. “I should have offered to bring in some food. I know that hospital food can get old fast.” “I haven’t felt like eating. This is the most successful diet I’ve ever been on.” She gave a wan smile. Bobbi Barone looked to be in her sixties with short, dark brown hair, and a complexion that was more olive than fair. She was very attractive, with smooth skin and lovely teeth. Her face was round, but not chubby, and her features were delicate. Fina guessed she was about

SuspenseMagazine.com 5 five feet five inches and carried a bit of extra weight evenly throughout her body. A modest diamond ring and wedding band encircled her left ring finger. “Is Liz’s husband going to join us?” Fina asked. “He’s getting some coffee, but we can start without him.” Bobbi squeezed her hands together as if trying to warm them. The ICU was chilly, which brought to Fina’s mind a morgue. “So what can I do for you?” Fina asked, pulling a notebook out of her bag. She had a tablet computer with her, but she still liked pen and paper when conducting interviews. Bobbi took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’ve been reading the papers, but my daughter was attacked a couple of days a g o.” “I did see that.” Fina had only glanced at the item in Friday’s paper, but had gone back and read all the coverage after Bobbi called her. Liz Barone, a thirty-eight year old married mother of two, was attacked in her home in Hyde Park. She’d suffered a major head injury, and her prognosis was uncertain. “How is she?” “She’s in bad shape. She suffered a subdural hematoma,” Bobbi gestured toward her head, “and there’s a lot of bleeding in the brain.” “Is there anything they can do?” “They’re considering surgery to relieve the pressure, but we’ll have to see.” “I’m so sorry,” Fina said. “What can I do for you?” “Well,” Bobbi said. “I want to know who did it.” “Of course.” Fina paused. “I assume the police are investigating?” Bobbi nodded. “Which division is handling the case?” Fina asked. “Major Crimes.” Fina felt a mixture of relief and dread. Lieutenant Marcy Pitney was the head of major crimes and Fina’s sometime nemesis. Detective Cristian Menendez was also a member of the unit. He was Fina’s good friend and sometime date. “Lieutenant Pitney?” Fina asked. “Yes. Do you know her?” Bobbi looked searchingly at Fina. The woman was desperate for a shred of hope. “I do, and she’s an excellent detective, as are her colleagues. I’m not sure what I can do for you that they can’t.” “I don’t mean to question their skills, but there are only so many hours in the day, and they have so many cases. I want someone who’s focused only on Liz.” Fina had heard this before. Clients generally trusted the police, but they couldn’t accept their limited resources in terms of manpower. Like most things, if you were willing to throw money at a problem you got more—though not necessarily better—results. SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM INGRID THOFT “Okay. Well, tell me about your daughter.” “She’s married with two kids and works in a lab at New England University.” “Has anything unusual happened in her life recently? Has anyone threatened her or has she been engaged in any conflict you can think of?” Bobbi shook her head. “The only thing that’s different is the lawsuit, but I can’t imagine that has anything to do with it.” “What lawsuit?” Fina asked just as the door swung open. A man in faded jeans and a black pullover sweater walked in and dropped down into a chair. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “This is Liz’s husband,” Bobbi said. “Jamie Gottlieb.” Fina extended her hand. “Sorry to meet under such difficult circumstances.” “I was just telling Fina about the lawsuit,” Bobbi explained. Jamie made a gesture indicating she should continue. Fina listened and studied him at the same time. She’d done some preliminary research on Jamie in preparation for the meeting. He was a project manager at a local interactive firm, but most of the information Fina found online was related to his band. Jamie was the guitarist for the group, which had enjoyed modest success in the 90’s, but seemed largely inactive these days. They were called Wells Missionary, a name that made no sense to Fina, but was probably an ironic reference to art and the capitalist machinery. Jamie was trim with longish brown hair that dipped down toward his eyes. He wasn’t traditionally handsome, but with his square jaw and hazel eyes, he looked slightly tortured, which for some reason was often a draw to the opposite sex. Sitting across from him, Fina could imagine he attracted the ladies when armed with a guitar. “Liz was working with an attorney,” Bobbi continued. “She was going to sue New England University.” “Why?” Fina asked. Jamie studied his fingernails.

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 6 “She played soccer there when she was a student, and she’s developed health problems. She thinks they’re related to her time on the team.” “What kind of problems?” Fina thought she knew what was coming next, but she wanted to hear it from Bobbi. “Cognitive health issues. MCI to be exact.” MCI was mild cognitive impairment, the diagnosis most often given to athletes who suffered sports-related concussions. It was the affliction that so many NFL players were contending with, and although mild was part of the name, the impairment could be devastating. “I’m familiar with MCI. What sort of symptoms was she experiencing?” “I don’t see how this is relevant,” Jamie interjected. He bared his teeth in a look between a smile and a grimace. “This has nothing to do with her current situation.” “We don’t know that, Jamie,” his mother-in-law insisted. “This is a waste of time, Bobbi. No offense,” he said to Fina. “None taken. What do you think happened?” “I have no idea, but the world is full of crazy people. Liz didn’t have any enemies. This had to have been random. She probably opened the door to the wrong person.” “That doesn’t make any sense, Jamie,” Bobbi said. “I know you want to do whatever you can, but I don’t see how hiring her,” he gestured at Fina, “is going to help.” “I don’t expect you to pay for it,” Bobbi said, a touch of irritation creeping into her voice. “That’s not what I meant,” Jamie said. Fina knew that some people didn’t like the idea of an investigator snooping into their lives while some people were more private than others. Then there was the group that actually had something to hide. Fina wondered which category Jamie occupied. “I want to get back to Liz,” he said and rose from his seat. “Do what you think is best,” he said to his mother-in-law before leaving the room. The two women sat in silence for a moment. “I’m sorry,” Bobbi said. “We’re under a lot of stress, and clearly, he doesn’t want to hire you.” “Why is that, do you think?” Fina asked. Bobbi tipped her head back and studied the ceiling. “Jamie tends to take the path of least resistance in life. Right now he doesn’t have the energy or the emotional resources to do more than sit by Liz’s bedside.” “But you do? You still want me to investigate?” She met Fina’s gaze. “Absolutely. She’s my child. I’d do anything for her.” “What about Liz’s father? Is he in the picture?” “My husband died five years ago. Thank God for small favors; this would have killed him.” Fina stashed her notebook in her bag and pulled out her business card. “Do you have an email address?” Bobbi nodded. “I’ll send you my rate information, and I’ll get started as soon as you say the word,” Fina said. Bobbi folded her hand around the card, as if it were a talisman. “I’ll want to speak with you again—and Jamie. I’ll try not to irritate him too much.” “Good luck with that,” Bobbi murmured. “I’ll also need the contact info for the attorney Liz was working with. He’ll be a good place to start.” “He’s in Natick. Thatcher Kinney.” She laced her hands together. “You don’t think I’m wrong about the lawsuit being an issue?” Fina stood. “I don’t know, but it represents a change in your daughter’s routine and contacts. It would be foolish to dismiss it without taking a closer look.” “Thank you,” Bobbi stood and gave Fina a hug. It wasn’t the usual way her meetings ended, but this was an unusual circumstance. Bobbi Barone needed a hug, and Fina was happy to oblige. “Hang in there,” Fina said, after pulling away. “I am. By a thread.” In the hallway, Fina headed for the exit, and Bobbi went in the opposite direction, presumably toward her daughter’s room. Fina hit the button that unsealed the hermetically sealed unit and took a deep breath once the doors closed behind her. That medical purgatory gave her the creeps. ■

From “Brutality” by Ingrid Thoft, published on June 23, 2015 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright (2015) by Ingrid Thoft

SuspenseMagazine.com 7 Forensic Files Q&A: WILL A DECAYING CORPSE ACTUALLY PRODUCE ALCOHOL? By D.P. Lyle, MD Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author

Q: Is it possible or likely for blood-alcohol levels to increase or decrease in a decomposing body, and if so, during what stages of decomposition?

A: Alcohol is usually consumed in the decay process but may actually be produced and this might cloud any toxicological examinations on the corpse—make it look as if the victim consumed more alcohol than he actually did. I must point out that alcohol is not commonly produced but it does happen in rare cases. The alcohol is a byproduct of the action of some types of bacteria that are involved in the decay process. This means that alcohol can only appear during active decay. What is that time period? A little about putrefaction: The decomposition of the human body involves two distinct processes: autolysis and putrefaction. Autolysis is basically a process of self-digestion. After death, the enzymes within the body’s cells begin the chemical breakdown of the cells and tissues. As with most chemical reactions the process is hastened by heat and slowed by cold. Putrefaction is the bacterially mediated destruction of the body’s tissues. It is this decay that might cause some alcohol formation. Not always, but sometimes. The responsible bacteria mostly come for the intestinal tract of the deceased, though environmental bacteria and yeasts contribute in many situations. Bacteria thrive in warm, moist environments and become sluggish in colder climes. Freezing will stop their activities completely. A frozen body will not undergo putrefaction until it thaws. Under normal temperate conditions, putrefaction follows a known sequence. During the first twenty-four hours, the abdomen takes on a greenish discoloration which spreads to the neck, shoulders, and head. Bloating follows. This is due to the accumulation of gas, a byproduct of the action of bacteria, within the body’s cavities and skin. This swelling begins in the face where the features swell and the eyes and tongue protrude. The skin will then begin to “marble.” This is a web-like pattern of the blood vessels over the face, chest, abdomen, and extremities. This pattern is green-black in color and is due to the reaction of the blood’s hemoglobin with hydrogen sulfide. As gasses continue to accumulate, the abdomen swells and the skin begins to blister. Soon, skin and hair slippage occur and the fingernails begin to slough off. By this stage, the body has taken on a greenish-black color. The fluids of decomposition (purge fluid) will begin to drain from nose and mouth. This may look like bleeding from trauma, but is due to extensive breakdown of the body’s tissues. The rate at which this process occurs is almost never “normal” because conditions surrounding the body are almost never “normal.” Both environmental and internal body conditions alter this process greatly. Obesity, excess clothing, a hot and humid environment, and the presence of sepsis may speed this process so that twenty-four hours make it seem as if five or six days have passed. Sepsis is particularly destructive to the body. Not only would the body temperature be higher at

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 8 death, but also the septic process would have spread bacteria throughout the body. In this case, the decay process would begin quickly and in a widespread fashion. A septic body that is dead for only a few hours may appear as if it has been dead for several days. As opposed to the above situations, a thin, unclothed corpse lying on a cold surface with a cool breeze would follow a much slower decomposition process. Very cold climes may slow the process so much that even after several months, the body appears as if it has been dead only a day or two. Freezing will protect the body from putrefaction if the body is frozen before the process begins. Once putrefaction sets in, even freezing the body may not prevent its eventual decay. If frozen quickly enough, the body may be preserved for years. So, whether a particular corpse actually produces alcohol or not is totally unpredictable. How long it takes depends upon the conditions the corpse is exposed to. In a corpse in an enclosed garage in Houston in August, this process will be very rapid and the corpse will be severely decayed after forty-eight hours. If parked in a snow bank in Minnesota in February, the decay process might not even begin until April or May when the spring thaw occurs. The appearance of any alcohol would coincide with the time frame of the bacterial activity. So how does the ME get around this possibility? How can he determine the actual alcohol level that was present prior to the decay process kicking in? He can’t with any absolute accuracy, but he does have a tool that will help him make a best guess. He can extract the vitreous humor, the jelly-like fluid that fills the eyeballs. The alcohol level within this fluid matches that of the blood with about a two-hour delay. That is, the level within the vitreous at any given time reflects the blood alcohol level that was present approximately two hours earlier. And the vitreous is slow to decay so it might be intact even though the corpse is severely decayed. By measuring the vitreous level, the ME will know the blood-alcohol level two hours prior to death and he can then estimate the blood- alcohol level at the time of death. ■

D. P. Lyle is the Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Silver Award winning and Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Scribe, and USA Best Book Award nominated author of many non-fiction books as well as numerous works of fiction, including the Samantha Cody thriller series; the Dub Walker thriller series, and the Royal Pains media tie-in novels. To learn more about D.P., check out his websites at http://www.dplylemd.com, http:// writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com, or Crime and Science Radio at http://crimeandscienceradio.com.

SuspenseMagazine.com 9 Take a Journey With...

CHRISTINE Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author

Christine Carbo is a debut author that places her characters in CARBOa stunning locale. Her first book, “The Wild Inside” (June 2015/ Atria Books), is a haunting crime novel set in Glacier National Park, where one man finds himself on a collision course with the dark heart of the wild, and the even darker heart of human nature. From her background in aviation and travel to her love of writing, Christine is a fresh, creative mind that has offered up a thrilling read, and has started on a path that promises even more incredible stories in the future for all the crime fiction lovers out there.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): As a debut author, what has been the most exciting thing for you when it came to your writing being “discovered” so to speak?

Christine Carbo (C.C.): Putting one’s creative work out to the world can make one feel very vulnerable, and I always sensed that if and when I was signed, that it would be the boost of confidence that would be the most important and exciting for me. It turns out that is true to a large degree and, in fact, I was over the moon when my agent was selling “The Wild Inside” because I had offers from two major publishers, which was more than I ever imagined. But ultimately, as cliché as this may sound, the most exciting thing for me has been getting that first real reader—the reader not needed for edits or feedback or reviews, but the reader who simply writes a letter to you because they feel inspired to do so. Mine came from someone who received one of my galleys in a random give-away, and she

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 10 “I was able to write about the place I love the most: the evocative and commanding Glacier Park.” loved the story. The level of satisfaction and excitement to finally have that first real reader provide unsolicited comments was well worth all the hardships an aspiring author goes through to get that first work out there!

S. MAG.: You received your private pilot’s license and went on to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ. How and when did it come about that you turned your focus to writing?

C.C.: I was raised in a family with two aviation buffs: my father who flies as a hobby, and one of my older brothers who is a pilot for United Airlines. I earned my private pilot’s license and spent some time at Embry-Riddle, but realized that it was the humanities classes that I was enjoying more than the aeronautics and business aviation classes. I remember spending more time writing a paper on a Doris Lessing short story in one of my classes, than studying for a meteorology exam the next day. So although I enjoyed flying, I switched gears and pursued a degree in the humanities, ending up with a degree in Communication Arts with a Radio/TV emphasis, and later, a Master’s degree in Linguistics. Somewhere along the way I gave into my true passion: writing. My grandmother wrote and published seven novels, most of them YA, so I have that in my family history.

S. MAG.: How has your extensive travel background helped with putting together the plot of “The Wild Inside?”

C.C. I think the more global perspective one gains from traveling and seeing other people and places is always helpful for any type of writing, but I can’t say anything in particular helped me with the plot of “The Wild Inside.” So much of it came from my experience of living close to the stunning, and sometimes haunting, Glacier Park, and the research I did to understand how local law enforcement deals with land shared by a particular county and the federal government.

S. MAG.: Have you been a fan of the suspense genre for a long time? If so, are there any specific writers you follow?

C.C.: I came to crime fiction after reading a Dennis Lehane mystery in my early thirties. I remember being taken with his ability to write poignantly while still propelling the story forward through the ‘whodunit’ aspect. It was then I realized I was going to love crime fiction, and since then, I have. Most of my spare reading is in the genre. Although there is no one in particular that I am following at this point, I can say that some of my favorites, besides Lehane, have been Tana French, Tom Franklin, Donna Tartt, Daniel Woodrell, Mo Hayder, Michael Connolly, and William Kent Krueger. My tastes vary, but I do admit I possess a love of the lyrical and lean towards the darker side.

S. MAG: What comes next? Are there other genres you wish to explore in the future?

C.C.: I have already written and turned in the second novel to my editor and will soon be in the process of revising it, while simultaneously doing events for “The Wild Inside” and beginning work on a third novel. The second book will also feature Glacier National Park, and in some ways, readers will feel like it is a series, since Glacier–practically its own character–continues on, even though both novels can stand alone.

SuspenseMagazine.com 11 S. MAG.: Highlighting the National Park—the beauty and splendor of the location, and the tight-knit community— do you find this setting more exciting than the big city life?

C.C.: I don’t necessarily find it more exciting. In fact, when I originally set out to write a crime thriller, I was concerned that when it came to “writing what you know,” I didn’t live in a dynamic, bustling city that exposed me to enough interesting criminal elements to pull off crime fiction. But, when I really began to pay attention to the area I live in and love, I began to see that it was full of interesting contrasts in terms of economic and environmental issues. And as far as crime goes, well…there’s plenty of that no matter where you go, and my neck of the woods has no shortage. The rural setting turned out to be a perfect match for my characters. Not only was I able to use the natural conflict of communities plagued by unemployment and sometimes drugs, and of small towns nestled within the wonders and dangers the wilderness has to offer, I was able to write about the place I love the most: the evocative and commanding, Glacier Park. It became almost a living, breathing character, and in my protagonist’s mind, the park became his antagonist. In some ways, Glacier Park, both glorious and savage, is the “star” of the book.

S. MAG.: Are you a sit-down-and-write author, or a think it through/map it out before beginning, author?

C.C.: It can certainly be tricky for me, and sometimes I think I should enroll in acting classes to better help me find tools for getting into the minds of certain characters. But, at some point in the process, you begin to relinquish some control and let a creative energy or ‘muse’ channel through you. For me, this part happens when I find my stride, and has less to do with whether I outline or write from the seat of my pants and more to do with sitting my butt down to get it done. E.L. Doctorow claimed that: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” I find this an apt metaphor for my process. I am not a highly organized person, and do not produce clean and detailed outlines, but I do like to brainstorm a bit before beginning so that when I forge ahead, I have some idea of which direction I’m going in.

S. MAG.: What is the best advice you’ve received thus far in your burgeoning career?

C.C.: One time I told my sixteen-year-old son that I wondered if I would be able to pull off crime fiction since I’d never worked in the field, nor have I read a ton of it growing up. He said, “Mom, isn’t that what most people in all jobs, in all endeavors, do when they begin something they’re still new at? Don’t they just prepare themselves as much as they can, then dive in and do their best?” It was such a simple answer, and it made me feel much better about being a rookie in the crime fiction realm with still much to learn.

S. MAG: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

C.C.: I’m just getting started, and would love to continue writing in the crime fiction genre for years to come. The genre seems to allow for many different directions for authors to take. It’s wonderful that authors like Tess Gerritsen have written medical thrillers, romantic suspense, detective novels and stand-alone thrillers, such as “Gravity.” I find it refreshing that there are many ways to write suspense and that there aren’t as many rules as we sometimes think.

S. MAG.: If you could have lunch with one author, who would it be, and why?

C.C.: Oh my, tough question! There are so many to choose from, and even selecting between fiction and non-fiction writers would be tough. There are those who are fascinated with human sin and fallibility, like Nabokov, or even Nathaniel Hawthorne. I was always struck by how dark and disturbed some of Hawthorne’s characters were and how he was interested in motive and deep, psychological complexities. I bet his curiosity would lead him to write intriguing crime fiction if he were alive today. But lunch…? Maybe Steven King or JK Rowling would be more fun!

To learn more about Christine Carbo, please visit: www.ChristineCarbo.com. ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 12

In the Garden By Jill Hand

Kayleigh always came back. I told that to the two cops; the may also have informed her that it was at times like these that big, friendly one with the gap-toothed smile, his blond hair she reminded me of her mother, a dreadful harridan who shaved to a stubble, and the older, black one with acne scars chain-smoked Kools and had an uncanny resemblance to on his cheeks who constantly chewed spearmint gum and Hermann Göring, both in appearance and in temperament. didn’t say much. Sure, we sometimes fought like cats and The fight culminated in Kayleigh hurling the roll of dogs and she’d storm off, proclaiming that she was “done with toilet paper at the bathroom wall, where it rebounded and my lazy ass for good this time,” but she always came back. splashed into the toilet. Grabbing her backpack, she exited “I know how that is, son. Women love drama even more the premises. That was eight days ago. I hadn’t seen her since. than they love shopping,” the friendly one said, smiling his This was the third time the cops had asked me to come down gap-toothed grin. He pushed the can of soda that I’d asked to the station and go over her disappearance. I was getting for toward me across the metal table in the little room. It tired of telling the same story over and over. was good and cold, the sides of the can beaded with drops of “Where do you think she went?” asked the black cop, condensation. I popped the top and took a long drink. Woodhouse, exhaling spearmint fumes in my direction. The room had a mirror on one wall that I knew from I said, I didn’t know. When she hadn’t come home by watching crime shows wasn’t a mirror at all but a piece of Sunday night, I called around to all her friends asking if one-way glass, behind which someone (or more than one they’d seen her. They hadn’t. Next, I called the restaurant someone) was probably observing me. The big cop asked where she worked part-time and asked if anyone there had me to go over it again for him and Sargent Woodhouse, if seen her. No one had. Reluctantly, I then called her parents’ I didn’t mind, beginning with: “When was the last time you house. Her mother answered the phone and said Kayleigh saw her?” hadn’t been there. She seemed pleased when I told her we’d So I went over it again. had an argument. The fight we’d had that Friday night was over something “I’ll certainly tell her to call you if she turns up here,” she utterly ridiculous. Our fights were frequently over trivial said sweetly, leaving no doubt in my mind that she intended things, like who neglected to refill the water in the Keurig, or to do nothing of the sort. who left the banana peel on the kitchen sink. This one fight “She didn’t take her car. It’s still parked in front of your erupted over the burning issue of which way the toilet paper building,” the friendly cop observed. His name was Van Horn, should go in the wall holder in the bathroom of our cramped I now remembered, the same as my eighth-grade homeroom little apartment: facing out, toward the toilet and the person teacher. He asked if I thought she might have gotten a ride seated; or inward, toward the wall. I insisted that it should go from someone. facing out. Kayleigh had taken the opposing position in the Kayleigh wasn’t in the habit of accepting rides from “Great Toilet Paper Debate of 2015.” strangers, but she may have gone off with someone she knew, The argument had rapidly become heated and accusations possibly someone from school. She was in her senior year of flew. She called me a “lazy piece of shit who needed to get a college, studying to become a special education teacher. It real job.” I called her a “controlling bitch who wouldn’t be was where we’d met. I’d dropped out when I became bored by happy until I was chained to a desk, like her dad.” I believe I my political science classes and disenchanted with the idea of

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 14 furthering my education with another boring, grueling, and car started acting up. It did that sometimes. The thermostat expensive four years of law school. would gradually creep into the red and the car would start While trying to decide what to do next, I helped my bucking and sputtering. When that happened, I’d pull over Uncle Pete, who went around to estate sales, looking for and wait until the engine cooled down before continuing on valuable antiques that were being offered for sale at bargain my way. I meant to get it looked at, but I hadn’t gotten around basement prices by the unwitting relatives of the deceased. to it. He’d poke through a cluster of odds and ends laid out on a The place where I pulled over was on a narrow county picnic table in somebody’s garage and come up with a dusty lane overhung with large, old trees so that it was almost like china figurine of a grinning monkey wearing a sailor hat. driving through a leafy green tunnel. A disused canal ran He’d say, “My sister’s little girl would like this. How much along one side, the water brown and stagnant. There was no do you want for it?” The person running the sale would other traffic and it started to rain lightly. The sound of rain hesitantly ask for ten dollars, which Pete would bargain pattering on the car roof made me sleepy. I hadn’t gotten down to five, all the while knowing full well that the funny- much sleep the night before, having awakened several times looking monkey was eighteenth-century Meissen porcelain thinking I’d heard Kayleigh come in. I pushed the seat back, that would sell for about three thousand dollars in one of the closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. fancy antiques stores in the city. Uncle Pete was what was I awoke to the sound of someone tapping on my window. called a “picker”—a middleman who sold what he bought at It was a woman who looked to be a few years older than me, a fat profit to antiques dealers, who subsequently sold what her red hair tied up in a bright blue bandana, like the woman they bought from him at an even fatter profit. flexing her arm on the familiar World War II poster that I was learning a lot from Uncle Pete. I thought that maybe reads: “We Can Do It!” Rosie the Riveter, I think she’s called. someday I’d start an antiques business of my own. Kayleigh I have a thing for redheads. Kayleigh’s hair is sort of a thought that was a terrible idea. She hated my uncle, whom brownish-auburn, but this woman’s hair was fiery red. She she disdainfully called “Picker Pete,” and begrudged the time had big blue eyes and a cute smattering of freckles across the I spent with him. My lack of what she called a “real” job was bridge of her nose. Her denim overalls were caked with mud. a major source of friction between us. Her hands and arms were muddy, too. She smiled brightly at “What happened after she left?” Van Horn asked. me as I blinked drowsily at her, still half asleep. I rolled down I’d already told them that I watched TV and went to the window. bed, but I told them again that I watched an episode of a “I saw you parked out here. Do you need help?” she reality show called Carnies, about a feuding, dissolute family asked. of carnival workers. In that Friday’s episode, Jayde tries to I told her my car was acting up. make funnel cakes for the first time and breaks the funnel “Do you want to come in and use my phone to call a cake fryer. Then she and her brother, the one they call Full tow truck or something? I live right over there,” she said, Moon because he’s always dropping his pants and mooning pointing. people, go out to a bar where a guy hits on Jayde and he and The roof of a house was visible behind a high privet hedge Full Moon get into a fight. to our right. It was getting dark. There were no streetlights “I watch that show,” Van Horn said. “I like the one they and no sign of any other houses. I told her it wouldn’t be call Uncle Daddy. He’s a real piece of work.” He turned to necessary; the engine just needed to cool down. Woodhouse. “Do you ever watch Carnies, Al?” “It’s not very comfortable sitting out here. Why don’t Woodhouse shook his head. you come in and I’ll make us some ice tea or something. I Van Horn asked what happened the next morning. was working in the garden and I’m pretty thirsty. I could use I said I got up early, 6 a.m., and went to meet Uncle some company.” Pete. We took his van and went to a diner for breakfast, then The way she said it made me think there might be more started hitting yard sales, getting there early just as people than a glass of ice tea to the offer. She was pretty, and I was were setting up. We went to six or seven yard sales, and single (at least, temporarily) so why not take her up on her three estate sales that were advertised in the local paper. We invitation and see what developed? I said I’d love a cold drink. unloaded the stuff Pete bought at one of his storage lockers “Great! I’ve got some brandy and there’s ginger ale in the (he rented several) and then returned to his house at around fridge. If you want, I can make horse’s necks.” five. It might have been closer to six, I wasn’t sure. He counted I said that sounded fine. I got out of the car and followed off two hundred dollars from the thick roll of bills wrapped her through an opening in the hedge, up a flagstone walk that in a rubber band that he carries in his hip pocket, paid me, cut through a well-tended lawn with flowerbeds planted with and I took off for home. rose bushes to the front door of a cottage that had wooden Uncle Pete lives out in the country. As I drove home, my fish-scale shingles painted a buttery yellow. She opened the

SuspenseMagazine.com 15 door and ushered me into the living room. each another. At one point, she lightly touched my chest and “I’d shake hands, but I’m all muddy,” she said smiling. asked where I’d gotten the scratches. I hadn’t noticed them “I’m Milly, short for Mildred, by the way. And would you before. I suppose they came from helping Uncle Pete load an believe it? My last name is Pierce, isn’t that a riot?” unwieldy neoclassical Second Empire sideboard into his van. I must have looked confused because she added, “Like in (A sideboard that he assured the lady who was selling her the movie? With Joan Crawford?” dead grandmother’s possessions came from Sears.) Aha! The wire-hangar lady. I told her my name was “I’ll kiss them and make them all better,” said Milly, Sam Hurley. She said to have a seat on the divan while she bending down from where she sat astride me and doing freshened up; she’d only be a minute. I looked around while I exactly that. waited. She had some nice antiques, including a Biedermeier I awoke the next morning in the front seat of my car. bookcase and matching desk that Uncle Pete would love to The sun was coming up and I had a rotten headache. I dimly get his hands on. remembered Milly walking me to the car and giving me a She returned about ten minutes later bearing two lingering kiss. “Goodbye, lover. Drive safely,” she said. Did I tall glasses containing an amber liquid in which ice cubes feel guilty? A little, but Kayleigh didn’t need to know about clinked. Spirals of lemon peel were draped over the rims. this. And she had been pretty mean to me. It served her right Truth be told, I’d been hoping she’d be naked, or at the very that I’d spent the night in another woman’s bed. least wearing only a robe, but she had on a blue and white Van Horn spoke up. “What do you say we drive you out striped cotton sundress that set off her tan nicely. It had a there so we can talk to her in order to verify your whereabouts wide skirt that came down to her calves, which could best be that night? Would that be okay with you, Sam?” described as shapely. Her hair was down over her shoulders I said it would be okay, although I’d rather Kayleigh in loose waves and she wore dark red lipstick. She looked didn’t find out about it when she came back from wherever absolutely gorgeous, and I told her so. she’d taken herself off to. “Why, thank you, kind sir,” she said, handing me a glass Van Horn nodded his head and gave me a wink. “Gotcha. and raising hers in a toast. “Here’s to new friends.” We won’t tell her. We just need to cover all the bases, you “To new friends,” I echoed, and took a drink. It tasted know?” good. I asked her, “What’s this called?” I agreed, although I didn’t see how talking to Milly “I told you, it’s a horse’s neck. Haven’t you ever had one would help find Kayleigh, who was probably off sulking before?” somewhere, hoping to throw a scare into me. I was looking I said I hadn’t and drained my glass. I was thirstier than forward to seeing Milly again, even if it was in the company I’d realized. of the police. Who knows, if Kayleigh decided to call it quits, “Let me get you another,” she said, and went out of the maybe Milly and I could become a steady thing. Feeling room, presumably to the kitchen. In the approximately ten hopeful, I accompanied Woodhouse and Van Horn to a hours that I spent in her house I saw only two rooms: the patrol car and we set out toward her place. living room and the bedroom. She returned with another Van Horn drove and Woodhouse sat in the passenger drink and then another. After that, I lost count. seat. I was in the back, behind a screen of wire mesh. “How do “You slept with her,” Woodhouse said. He didn’t seem you like riding back there, Sam?” Van Horn asked, studying judgmental; he was just stating a fact. Just the facts, ma’am, me in the rearview mirror when we were stopped at a traffic I thought, suppressing a grin. Now that I thought of it, the light. “Do you feel like a bad guy?” solemn Woodhouse reminded me of Joe Friday in Dragnet, “I ain’t talking, copper,” I sneered, doing my best James as portrayed by the late, great Jack Webb. He even looked a Cagney imitation. little like a darker version of Jack Webb. I wondered if anyone Van Horne and Woodhouse laughed. “Look out, we got had ever told him that. us a badass on our hands,” Woodhouse remarked. I admitted that I’d slept with Milly Pierce. Kayleigh and I We found the road where Milly lived without too much weren’t engaged, although we were officially in a relationship trouble. It looked different in the bright daylight. The big according to our Facebook status, which I suppose is trees still formed a tunnel overhead and the canal ran along 21st century America’s version of the medieval custom of on the left, but now there were joggers and bicyclists on the handfasting. towpath. The last time I was here there hadn’t been a soul What can I say about my night with Milly? It was magical around. There were more houses than I’d noticed before. I and wonderful. Unlike a lot of redheads, her only freckles watched for the privet hedge in front of Milly’s house and were the ones scattered across the bridge of her nose and a almost missed it. It was a lot thicker and higher than I few cinnamon-colored ones on her tanned shoulders. She remembered. was long and lean and lovely, and we took our time savoring “Over here is where I parked,” I told the two cops. Van

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 16 Horne pulled the patrol car over to the shoulder. classes, but she says it’s okay; she wants to be with me. “This is it, huh? Let’s go in and talk to the lady,” he said. “I forgive you for squeezing my neck so hard,” she told Woodhouse opened the door and let me out. He me the first time she came. She seated herself next to me on stretched, looking around. He said, “Looks like it’s for sale.” the thin mattress of my bunk and gave me a hug. “I forgive There was a FOR SALE sign next to the road. I was fairly you for sleeping with that woman, too,” she added. certain it hadn’t been there before. We walked through a gap I said I was sorry we’d fought. I didn’t remember in the hedge and what I saw made me stop dead in my tracks. squeezing her neck. It was Milly’s house all right, but the yellow fish scale shingles “You did,” she said, staring up at me with serious hazel were gone, replaced by grey vinyl siding. The windows were eyes. “It was really scary but it doesn’t hurt anymore.” bare, the lawn was neglected and the house had a deserted I said I was glad. I asked, “You want to hear something look. weird, about Milly?” There was something else that Woodhouse spotted Kayleigh frowned and tucked a loose strand of hair at once: a pile of dirt covering what was unmistakably a behind her ear. She didn’t like me talking about Milly, but I freshly dug hole about six feet long. It’s a grave, I thought went on. “She killed her husband back in 1949, buried him wonderingly. in the garden, probably right around where they found you.” “Get him in the car,” Woodhouse barked. My lawyer told me all about it. He even brought me “Come with me, Mister Hurley,” Van Horne said, taking copies of the old newspaper articles that described Milly’s late me firmly by the arm. husband as a decorated war hero who had returned home, I was no longer Sam; I had become Mister Hurley. That blind and minus his right arm as a result of being blown up didn’t bode well. I didn’t understand what was happening. by a Japanese landmine on some island in the South Pacific. Was that really a grave? Had somebody killed Milly and According to the testimony at her trial, Milly got tired of buried her in her garden? Did the cops think I did it? They caring for him and hit him over the head with a heavy vase, surely couldn’t think that, could they? cracking his skull. She then dragged him out to the garden It turned out that’s not what they thought. It was a grave, and buried him. Unfortunately for the late second lieutenant but Milly wasn’t in it: Kayleigh was. Her backpack was in Roy Pierce, he was still alive when his wife tumbled him into there, too, containing her cell phone on which there were his hastily dug grave. He managed to claw himself out part several increasingly frenzied voicemails from me asking way with his remaining hand before finally succumbing to his where she was and when she was coming home. The police head injury. The milkman discovered him the next morning. found a shovel caked with dirt in the trunk of my car. The The news stories featured pictures of Milly in the dirt matched the dirt in the grave. Don’t ask me how they courtroom, looking downcast and dressed sedately in a black could tell. I guess they have ways of determining things like dress with a white lace collar. Even in the old black and white that. photos you could tell she was something to look at. They also found bits of skin under Kayleigh’s fingernails Her lawyer painted a picture of her husband being a that came from me. They said she’d clawed at my chest when mean-tempered alcoholic who’d attacked her, causing her I strangled her. I told them it wasn’t true. I’d never hurt to whack him over the head in self-defense, but the jury Kayleigh, but they didn’t believe me. didn’t buy it. She was convicted of second-degree murder Uncle Pete got me a lawyer, a buddy of a friend of his. and sentenced to forty years in the Scarborough Women’s I took two polygraph tests, both of which indicated that I Reformatory. She died there in 1976 of pancreatic cancer. had no memory of killing Kayleigh. The polygraphs weren’t “Humpf. She doesn’t sound very nice,” Kayleigh said. “If admissible in court, but that didn’t matter because I didn’t she died in 1976, how come you saw her?” have a trial. My lawyer worked it so a judge found me I said I had no idea. I didn’t believe in ghosts. Maybe I’d incompetent to stand trial on the grounds of insanity. somehow stepped back into 1949 when I was parked there That’s about it. I’m in a prison for the mentally ill. My on the side of the road outside her house. She was awfully lawyer said my stay here is “indeterminate,” which I take to muddy, and she said she’d been working in the garden. Maybe mean that I’ll probably be here for the rest of my life. I have she’d just finished burying her husband. a private cell, since my fellow inmates don’t take kindly to “I don’t believe in ghosts either,” Kayleigh said firmly. She guys who refuse to acknowledge that they murdered their rose and kissed me. “I’ve got to go. Somebody’s coming.” girlfriends. (It appears it’s perfectly acceptable to kill one’s I could hear jingling keys. It must be a C.O. coming to girlfriend, the reasoning being that she brought it on herself, check on me. I turned to tell Kayleigh goodbye, but she was but it’s not okay to deny having any knowledge of it.) I don’t gone. That was okay, though. mind. I’m not lonely. Kayleigh comes to visit whenever the …Kayleigh always came back. ■ C.O.s aren’t around. I told her she shouldn’t be missing her

SuspenseMagazine.com 17 The& The ChicagoBlack Bird Kid By Thomas B. Sawyer Press Photo Credit: Wylie Sawyer unny how stuff can sneak up on you. I was a youth when I first read Dashiell Hammett’s “The FMaltese Falcon,” and therefore didn’t really understand its significant place in American literature. Nor did I have any notion of how deeply and pervasively it would affect my life and my professional career. Only now, upon reflection, have I become fully aware of this last. On one level, I simply enjoyed the hell out of the book. But some things about the story grabbed me in a special way—not least Hammett’s account of the Black Bird’s history, part fact, part fiction, that greatly heightened the romance of the fictional story—the possibility that the McGuffin everyone in the book was pursuing still existed somewhere in the real world. The mixing of a dollop (or maybe more?) of fact with fiction. Exciting stuff for a thirteen-year-old, growing up in Chicago’s not-very-exciting South Side. How much was real, and how much was Hammett’s creation? That question, plus Hammett’s vivid cast of characters and his terse, unembellished style, hooked me enough that I re- read the novel. Over and over, at yearly or semi-yearly intervals. By age 20, I had read it at least eight times. And discovered something new each time. It never disappointed. Along the way, I read a lot of other books, including Hammett’s competition in the mystery genre, both old and new. And it gradually hit me that in many ways, Falcon differed from virtually all the mystery and detective fiction that had gone before—dramatically breaking the patterns set by Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and Agatha Christie (Miss Marple & Hercule Poirot, among others). It also became apparent that most of the mystery fiction written since was largely derivative-if-not-downright-imitative of “The Maltese Falcon,” with very little even close to equaling it. Of course there has been, and continues to be, some terrific writing done in the genre, but for me, while Raymond Chandler’s wonderful, literate Philip Marlowe novels came nearest, along with some newer contributions by Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake, Falcon has never been surpassed. One of the ways Hammett’s paradigm novel was so singular was that, while it contained a murder mystery—Who killed Sam Spade’s partner, Miles Archer? (three murders, actually, the others being those of Captain Jacoby of the SS La Paloma, and tough guy Floyd Thursby)—it was surprisingly, for its time—and even today, a detective story that was not about clues or suspects. Another difference was that the tale took the reader on such a fascinating, entertaining journey through rascal- and-double-cross country that one almost forgot the murder mystery part of it. In the end, Hammett delivered satisfying closure in the matter of Archer’s killer (and Jacoby’s and Thursby’s), but in truth we almost didn’t care, the rest of it being so thoroughly gripping, introducing us to such a variety of wonderful, skewed characters—especially his enigmatic hero, private eye Sam Spade, and the lying, seductive Brigid O’Shaughnessy, who was to

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 18 BARBARA PETTY A man plunges to his death, setting in motion a string of events that rips open the long-hidden secrets of the town’s most prominent family… The man is George Prentice, and the woman the police suspect of murdering him is his wife, Daphne. But Daphne has Alzheimer’s and has not been arrested. Daphne’s daughter, Thea Browne, is a trained investigative reporter, who is furious that the police haven’t bothered to look any further for a culprit other than her mother. She suspects her stepfather made enemies when meddling in local politics and, according to one of his cronies, George wrote a memoir threatening to “blow the lid off this town.” As Thea follows her own investigation, she discovers a widening circle of suspects, some much closer to home than she expected. Even her best friend from childhood, Annie Biggs, seems to be keeping a deep dark secret that she refuses to share with Thea. More murders push Thea to the point where protecting her mother forces her to put her own life on the line to track down a diabolical killer.

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES: THEA BROWNE MYSTERY

become the model female antagonist of novels and films noir for decades. The superb, classic movie version of The Maltese Falcon (Scr. & Dir. John Huston) is, by the way, almost scene-for-scene and word-for-word, Hammett’s book. When I was invited to write for the Murder, She Wrote TV series (Cr. William Link & Richard Levinson and Peter Fischer) before it went on the air, I was immediately thrilled by the prospect of writing for one of the world’s truly great actresses, Angela Lansbury. I asked Peter what kind of stories he planned to do. His response, delivered with a shrug: “I dunno—sort of, you know, Agatha Christie puzzle mysteries.” I pointed out to Peter that as a boy I had read a few Christies, plus a couple of locked-room mysteries by others, wherein the suspects were invariably gathered at the end in “the drawing room” or its equivalent, and they had bored the hell out of me. “I won’t write that kind of stuff.” “Okay—so what will you write?” “I’ll write “The Maltese Falcon.” ” Peter’s reply, without missing a beat, was, “That’ll be fine.” The cool thing—he knew exactly what I meant. And that’s what I wrote for the next twelve years, coming to realize that that approach was probably my signal contribution to the series—in effect a weekly play about a bunch of fascinating characters in conflict—in which a murder invariably happened. Without my becoming conscious of it for decades, Dashiell Hammett and “The Maltese Falcon” have profoundly influencedall of my writing, both pre-Murder, She Wrote, and since. Has my storytelling been shaped by other writers, other books? Of course. But I love having come to a fuller understanding of and appreciation for The Black Bird’s place in my life. It has always been for me, and still is, the Gold Standard. ■

Novelist, screenwriter, playwright, Thomas B. Sawyer was Showrunner/Head Writer of the classic CBS series, Murder, She Wrote, for which he wrote 24 episodes. He’s written TV movies, 9 network TV pilots, 100 episodes, on staff of 15 series. Edgar and Emmy- nominated, Tom wrote-directed-produced the cult feature Gosh Alice Goodbody. Co-librettist/lyricist of Jack, an opera about JFK, he’s taught writing at UCLA, now online at Screenwriters University, publishes Storybase software, and authored bestselling “Fiction Writing Demystified.” Tom’s latest thriller novel, “Cross Purposes,” (Suspense Publishing) is the first in a new series. Learn more at www. ThomasBSawyer.com.

Suspense Publishing author Thomas B. Sawyer (CROSS PURPOSES) will be hosting a panel at THRILLERFEST 2015 in Manhattan on July 11, titled BERETTAS, BOMBS, OR BALLOONS? Choose Your Weapons. Tom’s fellow-panelists will include bestselling authors Bruce DeSilva, Brandt Dodson, John Gilstrap, Chris Grall, Leo J. Maloney and Keith Raffel.

SuspenseMagazine.com 19 The FACE at the

WINDOW By Samuel Poots e always heard it before he saw it. The panting. The looked at anything else. The doctors were deaf, though. They Hdesperate, unceasing panting at the bathroom window. didn’t hear the panting and they didn’t hear him when he These days, he tried his best to ignore it. Tried not to look. said that the face had been there long before the night terrors If he pretended it wasn’t there, then it wouldn’t be. If he had begun. pretended it wasn’t there—got on with normal life and never ___ turned to face the window, then it wouldn’t be. He’d be like t seemed particularly loud that evening. He needed everyone else, ignorant of its presence. Ianother drink. He got up from his chair, ignoring the Except it was there, and every night he would turn and battle between good and evil on the television, and reached look into the mad, rabid eyes, the wild grin, the hairless pale for the decanter of alcohol. His hand knocked a framed photo skin framed by hair the color of grave dirt. The face at the and it fell to the carpeted floor with a thunk. He looked at it window. Its eyes never left him. It never looked anywhere for a moment, lying face down, before going back over to the else. And still it kept panting. Panting like a sick dog through chair. They had left him, after all. They hadn’t seen it either. teeth like marble headstones. He could remember the fight even now. “There’s nothing It was a second floor window. He had checked the outside there!” she had shouted, waving at the curtained bathroom wall during the day; it was smooth red brick. There was no window. way someone could climb up there. The only handhold was He hadn’t said anything. He’d been too drunk at the time. the lip of the windowsill, itself. Yet that never seemed to stop “We can’t stay here anymore,” she had said. He could it. remember tears standing out on her cheeks. “I can’t have It was back again that evening. He could hear the panting you…scaring the children anymore. Your drinking and your as he poured himself the first drink of the night. No matter bogeyman, it has to stop!” where he was in the house, he could always hear it. Though it She had said something else, but he couldn’t make out never turned up at any other window, he would always hear what it was. The panting had grown louder in his ears and it. He dropped an ice cube into the glass and turned up the he had begun fumbling for the hip flask he carried. Her eyes volume on the TV. It didn’t do anything to drown out the flew to the flask as he produced it and she let out a scream of panting but it did, at least, give him something else to focus pure rage. The flask was snatched and flung against the wall. on. Amber liquid dripping down onto porcelain tiles. He stared at the flickering screen. The Lord of the Rings. “There’s nothing there!” She grabbed the curtains in one Fantasy. As far away as possible. When he was a child he had handful and tore them away from the window. had dreams of going off on a grand adventure like that, of But…the face was there. Its eyes were on him, ignoring stepping out the front door, pack in hand, and setting off her entirely. He fled. He fled and hid and didn’t come out across the world. He would see the pyramids, the Great Wall, until the sun of the next day had appeared in the bedroom America—all the glories that were out there—far away from window. here, and where the face could not follow. Reality put a stop By the time he emerged, they had gone. He had looked to those dreams. Reality and alcohol. down at the Winnie the Pooh bed sheets and felt a gulf open Wouldn’t have mattered anyway. The face always followed, up inside him. This…thing had haunted him his entire life. no matter where he moved. He’d moved to countless houses, It had made his life a living hell. No one else could see it. No had gone all over the country and even changed continents on one else saw the horror of the face. Only him. one occasion. He’d tried hotels, hostels, top-floor apartments. ___ Yet every evening, as night came in, it would show up at the hat night, he sat in the bathroom and waited for night window. Tto fall. The curtain still lay on the floor, and he could He remembered trying to tell people about it when he see the sky darkening through the window. He waited for was a child. He had been diagnosed with night terrors, as he hours as the last rays of light faded. Only when the sky was woke each night screaming. He would lie down in bed and completely black and the first stars had begun to appear did see its eyes burned on the inside of his eyelids. They never he hear that familiar panting. A pale hand came up first, its

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 20 black-nailed fingers gripping the windowsill. Then the face blocked it out as best he could, defied it, shouted and tried to came into view, its eyes already on him. That was one of the fight it. It had never laid a finger on him, yet it still managed worst things about it, he thought. It never looked for him, to take, to corrupt, to spoil everything of value, to pervade never searched the room. It was always looking right at him. his very existence. The two looked at each other for a long time. Then he His hand shook as he reached for the light switch. A reached over and picked up the long handle of the broom. pair of yellow curtains, black mold beginning to speckle At one end he had taped the kitchen cleaver. He pushed the their floral design, hung opposite the door. Reaching out, he latch up on the window and swung it open. He thrust the took them in both hands. He pulled. The cloth tore and fell, make-shift halberd out the window, aiming right between the curtain rail clattering loudly as it came away from the the thing’s eyes. It dropped out of sight before he could make wall. He hadn’t expected that; the noise startled him and for contact. The broom was yanked from his grip with such a moment the fear grew stronger than the anger. Then…he force that it left burns on the palms of his hands. He rushed looked into the eyes. forward and slammed the window closed, just as the face It was watching him as it always did, eyes wide, skin pale, reappeared. It seemed unchanged, although the grin looked its mouth stretched into a death rictus grin. The sight of it a bit wider to him. He slumped down against the bathroom dropped ice down his spine. The breath froze in his lungs and wall, weighed down by utter defeat. he had to fight down the urge to look away, to run back to his He had tried to turn his life around then. He had started bed and his bottle. With arms like lead weights, he unlatched making an effort to go back to work. He had attended AA the window. meetings and managed to clear all the drink out of his house. The face’s eyes never left him, but he saw its hand reach He even tried to contest for the custody of his children, up and push flat against the glass pane. The window swung though without much hope. But he never dared look at the in, letting in a cold blast of night air. For the first time he face again, fitting heavier curtains and never looking in the could remember, it looked away from him. Its eyes darted window’s direction, even in daylight. around the room. Then they returned to him and it began It hadn’t lasted though. Eventually, the relentless panting, climbing in through the open portal. the unending reminder of its presence, had driven him back It was like watching a stop-motion nightmare. It pushed to the bottle. He never saw his children anymore. She had one lank arm in first, squeezing its shoulders through after. taken them far away. He’d learned a lot at AA, really he It oozed into the room, its limbs unnaturally long. Yet every had. But he’d never learned the most important lesson, the motion was precisely controlled. Then it was there, crouching serenity to accept what he couldn’t change. on the bathroom rug, grinning up at him as its chest heaved. ___ “No one believes me,” he whispered. he film had finished. So had the scotch. He’d meant to go The face cocked its head to the left like a bird of prey. Tout and buy more. He’d never sleep now, was nowhere “You. You have always been there,” he said, pointing a near drunk enough. Hadn’t had enough to drown out its quivering finger. “Always. You never let me have what I presence. He considered turning on another movie, but wanted from life. Nothing was mine. Well, now I’m letting couldn’t really face the idea of staring at the screen anymore. you have what you want.” Probably should try and sleep. Had work tomorrow. He’d He threw his arms wide. “Here I am. Come and get me.” managed to keep this job, at least. The creature didn’t move. He stood at the foot of the stairs. The landing light was “What are you waiting for? You have been at the window off, the darkness yawning above him. Each step up the stairs long enough, now you’re in. Come on!” was like walking into an open gullet, the empty dark ready Still nothing. Its panting grew louder in his ears, an to swallow him whole, finally tired of taking fragments out interminable heaving that would not stop. of him bite by bite. His hand trailed against the wall until it “Why?” he said as his voice became a wail. “Why aren’t encountered the light switch. Empty darkness fled, replaced you killing me? Why?” He slumped down to the ground, by empty light that stung his eyes. back sliding down the wall. The bedroom was the last door on the landing. Before He looked up to find the eyes just inches from his that was the kids’ bedroom. His eyes skipped over it quickly. own. It was crouching over him, balanced on all fours, its Then he found where the dark had fled to. Opposite that face pressed up close to his. He could feel its breath, a cold door was an opening, a patch of black where the landing clammy sensation with no smell at all. Then its chest shook. light didn’t reach. He was sure he’d closed the bathroom A wheezing, wrenching laugh bubbled up. The noise filled door. He stood there, foot still on the stair. He could go back the room, filled his world. He felt himself draining away, downstairs. Go back to the chair and his escapist films. He leaving nothing but cold despair. didn’t have to walk past that doorway. Didn’t have to walk “Please,” he whispered. past the face. The face wheezed its rattling laugh. Anger flared like cold, electric light. The face controlled Outside…the sky began to lighten. ■ him. It controlled him more than alcohol ever had. He had

SuspenseMagazine.com 21 Give Him the Summer’s Hottest Thriller forFather’s Day!

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/danieljamespalmer @danielpalmer ENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.—America’s Independent Publisher KENSINGTONBOOKS.COM/DANIELPALMER • DANIELPALMERBOOKS.COM Suspense Magazine Book Reviews INSIDE THE PAGES THE CORPSE IN THE PIRANHA CACTUS By Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison By Lonni Lees “Piranha” is the latest book released in Clive Cussler’s Oregon Files. This time Cussler changed course and brought in author Boyd Morrison to take the co-authoring reins. Morrison Police Detective Maggie is known for his Tyler Locke series and his writing fits perfectly into the Cussler setting. Reardon is alone again. Just Morrison brings a fresh, high-adrenaline approach to a series that started to show signs of when she thought she might wear and tear. Morrison’s writing is nothing short of an intense octane afterburner and this is have found Mr. Right her captain what fans will experience from the very first page of “Piranha.” called her in and put the kibosh The book starts off in 1902, when a volcano erupts, wiping out a city of thirty thousand people on the island on the whole kit-and-caboodle. of Martinique. Also caught in the blast was a ship carrying a German scientist on the verge of an incredible Rocco was, after all, a witness in breakthrough. Now, more than a century later, the crew of the Oregon, led by Juan Cabrillo, faces the challenge the murder of the proprietor of of dealing with the legacy the scientist left behind. Racing against time and an enemy that was able to finish the the Mosaic Gallery, the case that scientist’s work, the Oregon now needs to stop an attack from a villain who seems to be able to anticipate their she just solved. every move, armed with a weapon of unequaled power. Sure, she has blown her Not since Cussler’s first writing companion, Paul Kemprecos, with theNUMA Files, has an author been chance at romance, but Reardon able to keep up the same level of action and adventure seen in Cussler’s earlier work, until now. Fans will be was delighted to find out that excited to see the new direction Cussler and Morrison have taken the series. “Piranha” will take readers to the Rocco was willing to place a edge; at a pace so fast, you may find yourself needing oxygen. hiatus on their budding romance Reviewed by John Raab ■ until the case went to trial. CHARLIE MARTZ AND OTHER STORIES: THE UNPUBLISHED Buoyed with the notion that STORIES someone was willing to wait for By Elmore Leonard her, she set out on the next grisly The fifteen short stories in this anthology were written long ago by Elmore Leonard during discovery, the body of a man the early years of his writing career and cover a wide range of subjects and locations. No matter found in the javelina pit at the whether the characters inhabited stories about the Old West, vacationers in Torremolinos, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. mobsters in Detroit, revolutionaries in Malaysia, mid-western businessmen in an Arizona resort, Always determined to send a movie crew on location in Syria, Texans involved in the Civil War, a bull fighter turned migrant waves through the department, worker, and others, Leonard’s characters resonated true and stayed with me long after I finished reading about the newly minted female them. detective in the Tucson Police The author brilliantly portrayed humanity in all its forms and gave me deep insight into the souls of his Department challenged the characters. Best of all, every story had a surprise ending. After having read the first five, I learned to expect a findings of the senior officer on twist in each story, but I still couldn’t guess what it would be. I thought I had the endings figured out, but he duty, who wrote off the body as fooled me every time, and I loved it. an accidental fall. When her leads Elmore Leonard was a unique author and a treasure to the literary world and readers everywhere. This show they had a victim with no collection of his unpublished short stories is sure to please his fans as much as it pleased me. identification, multiple state tag Reviewed by S.L. Menear, author of “Deadstick Dawn” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of numbers in his trunk and no Suspense Magazine ■ witnesses, she has her work cut out for her. THE MISSING AND THE DEAD By the time she puts By Stuart MacBride together the unidentified body Everyone’s favorite DI, Logan McRae, is on a case against a serial killer. Something goes with an apparent runaway, horribly wrong, however, after Logan decides that the importance of saving a life over that of skulking in a cheap south-side following police procedure brings him swift and heavy punishment. Sent to the rural area of motel, she is able to help solve Aberdeenshire on the North Sea Coast, Logan is put in charge of a small local police force. not just a missing persons case While his days are spent chasing cows and small-time drug dealers, the Inspector still but prove the cold-blooded holds tight to his reputation of being a maverick, but the quiet time is driving him a bit mad. He killing of the corpse in the cactus. renovates the house that he lives in which is very close to the police station; it is also the perfect place to tend Lees’ fact-filled little to his significant other, Samantha, who is wheelchair bound due to an accident she suffered in a former case. novellas, featuring Detective McRae tries his best to keep himself busy with updating the home, and basically settling in for a long wait before Maggie Reardon, are fast he will be called back into the city. becoming a favorite read of But his quiet life is about to end, as a little girl’s body washes up on the shore. The Major Investigation mystery fans in the Old Pueblo Team from Aberdeen appears to take over the case and McRae is ordered not to interfere. But as luck would as she features Tucson, Arizona. have it, his former boss arrives in town and drags him into the investigation, tricking him into helping her Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, solve the murder so she can look good to her own boss. Her bosses are after her to solve the case and she is author of “Blood on His determined to get McRae back on her team; therefore, two birds, one stone. Hands” published by Suspense As always with this character, this is a real page-turner. There are many wacko’s in the woods of Aberdeenshire Publishing an imprint of Suspense so there are many, many things to watch out for as readers stay on the heels of DI Logan McRae. This is yet Magazine ■ another Stuart MacBride outing that will leave readers begging for the next to arrive as soon as possible. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 23 A VISION IN VELVET ENGAGED IN MURDER By Juliet Blackwell By Nancy J. Parra Pepper Pomeroy is presently an out of work event planner. Her sister’s boyfriend, Warren, This is the author’s sixth asks Pepper to help him plan the perfect way to propose to her sister. She can handle this one little Witchcraft Mystery featuring Lily thing, right? Ivory, a witch and owner of Aunt Warren plans to propose to Pepper’s sister, Felicity, on a swank private jet and then take her Cora’s Closet, a vintage clothing away on a romantic vacation. All he needs is for Pepper to decorate the jet. All goes so well that store located on Haight St. in boyfriend, Warren, suggests to Pepper that she should go into business for herself and not have to San Francisco. count on a boss for a paycheck. Lily comes upon an This sounds like a definite plan, but before she can get going on her new venture, Pepper finds what she antique trunk in Sebastian’s thinks is an inebriated guy in the ladies room of the jet hangar. Turns out, however, the guy with the bad GPS is Antiques, and she can almost not just drunk, he’s dead. Pepper is wondering if Warren knew about the corpse and really doesn’t want Felicity feel the remnants of the spirits to marry the man if he’s a murderer. Pepper doesn’t mention the dead guy until the couple are off on a romantic that once wore the old clothing getaway, but Warren becomes suspect number one. packed inside. The trunk is Pepper is on the hunt to solve the murder and, of course, while investigating she puts herself in danger actually calling her name for more than once. However, she does take Warren’s advice. With her parents help, she starts her own business that some unknown reason, and even takes off immediately. She is getting calls from men who want to use her talents to make a memory with their though the clothes are in bad girlfriends. So between setting up “nights to remember” for others, Pepper must also either stop her sister from shape, she wants the trunk and making a mistake or prove Warren’s innocence. its contents in her possession. This is a good book to start if you are in the mood for a great mystery. Pepper is certainly enjoyable and, She does attain the trunk thankfully, this is just the first in a new series,Perfect Proposals, so readers will definitely get more Pepper in the and takes it back to the store, future. where she and her helpers go Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ through it. At the very bottom she discovers a gold velvet cape, WHISPERS IN THE DARK and when Lily puts it on, she By Chace J. Jackson has a horrific vision of a woman Chace J. Jackson takes us on a ride into the paranormal in this new YA thriller, “Whispers in being burned at the stake. It the Dark.” seems the cape is capable of Adrian Ramirez has just landed the job of a lifetime as a teacher at the prestigious Finely taking its wearer back in time. Academy in rural Newnan, Georgia. Adrian and his girlfriend, Lea, have moved back to his It has unknown powers, and hometown and are living in the old, musty home that he grew up in. A home left to him by his some eerie things begin to late grandmother. Lea is not happy living in the large, empty home, and she swears that she hears happen because of it. Lily is footsteps and voices, yet she can find no one or nothing. Adrian shrugs it off as the ‘settling of the old home.’ not overly upset, considering As he starts his new job, it is anything but ideal. On his first day, he meets his students, all who appear to be her own powers, until she finds typical teenagers—except for two: a set of identical female twins. Both of whom are a bit Goth in appearance, and Sebastian Crowley, owner of both who change the dynamic of the class. What follows is a gripping novel of the supernatural and paranormal. Sebastian’s Antiques, shot to Terrifying instances begin to occur that seem to have no explanation, yet always seem to involve one or both of death in Golden Gate Park. Lily the twins. is then pulled into a murder With “Whispers in the Wind,” Jackson not only weaves a story that will keep you up late into the night, but mystery that is connected to more importantly, he reminds us that our pasts will always resurface and come back to haunt us. the cape somehow, and as she Reviewed by J.M. LeDuc, author of “Sin,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ hunts for answers the worst thing that could happen, does. THE PRESIDENT'S SHADOW Her familiar, Oscar (a potbellied By Brad Meltzer pig) disappears. Lily gets help In this latest book, Meltzer writes the next in the Culper Ring series featuring Beecher White, from her friends and her new an archivist working at the United States National Archives. love, Sailor, a physic; but with Beecher is privy to a strange event taking place on the grounds of the White House; a severed danger growing all around them, arm has been discovered buried in the Rose Garden. Beecher decides to investigate and soon Lily and her cohorts must find comes to find that the President, himself, may be in someone’s sights. Even worse, in the closed answers fast…and also save fist of the severed hand is a message…for Beecher. This message may just unveil the truth about Oscar before it’s too late. the death of his own father. A secret that could affect the nation. There are other books in While working at the National Archives by day, Beecher is keeping a secret 24/7. He belongs to the Culper this series, yet this one is a true Ring, a 200-year-old secret society that was begun by George Washington during the American Revolution. homerun. The author uses her The current President now needs the Culper Ring’s help to find out who buried an actual arm beside the White obvious extensive knowledge House…and who that arm belongs to. This is quite a mystery, considering whoever did this heinous crime got about antiques and the past the best security in the country, and perhaps the world. The investigation in the Rose Garden will bring paranormal for this plot. And Beecher back to an incident on Devil’s Island, a place in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that held the country’s although a standalone, readers greatest secrets. Among them, his father’s tale of death. should definitely meet Lily from This is book three in the series, and this amazing author has given readers another cool story that ranks right her very beginnings; a lonely up there with books one and two: “The Inner Circle” and “The Fifth Assassin.” Featured character, Beecher, has witch that has grown into a grown so much since he first came on to the literary scene. His shadow has expanded, and suspense and history strong woman with many friends buffs will be thrilled with this exciting, fast-paced, and extremely well-written narrative. It’s never nice to push to help her on her journey. an author so soon, but here’s one fan that will be waiting impatiently for Beecher to show his face again. (Go, Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Meltzer, Go!) Professional Librarian and Co- Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Owner of The Write Companion ■ Suspense Magazine ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 24 ROBERT B. PARKER'S KICKBACK HIGH STAKES By Ace Atkins By John McEvoy You can always tell if you’re reading a great Spencer novel because you start to read with a Boston accent. So it is with “Robert Parker’s Kickback” written in impeccable style by Ace “High Stakes” is the fifth Atkins mystery featuring Jack Doyle, a Atkins and Parker take us on an incredible trip down the road of greed and corruption man who has had a very colorful beginning in the blue-collar town of Blackburn, MA, extending into Mob-infested Boston and past. First a boxer, then an all the way down to the wealthy Gulf Coast of Florida. Atkins uses the backdrop of adolescent advertising representative and crime and tough love to introduce us to a judge who doesn’t believe in second chances. A judge who may publicity man, Jack is now a person or may not be playing by the book. He is sentencing teenage boys to a “private prison” on Fortune Island, a who finds himself tied up in the former refuse dump that sits off the shore of Massachusetts. The only thing crueler and more corrupt than the very action-packed and slightly judge are the people who are running Fortune Island. dark world of horseracing. The mother of one of the boys wrongly sentenced by Judge Scali reaches out to Spencer for help. A sucker Retired racehorses are for a sob story and the truth, Spencer agrees to look into the matter. being donated to vet schools for Robert B. Parker is smiling down on this brilliant Spencer adventure. It’s full of everything we’ve come research purposes. Jack is asked to expect from the Boston Private Investigator—action, smart-mouthed sarcasm, the assistance of Hawk and by a couple of FBI agents who most of all, justice. he has worked with in the past, In “Kickback,” we realize that law and justice don’t always coincide, but in the end, with Spencer’s to look into the fact that there is assistance, justice will win out. someone out there who is “mercy Reviewed by J.M. LeDuc, author of “Sin,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine killing” horses that are being used ■ for experimentation. With Jack’s INDEPENDENCE DAY knowledge about racing, he is the By Ben Coes perfect person to use his contacts A nuclear bomb has been sold by the Russian mob to renegade hacker, Cloud, who is out to find the killer. to avenge his parents’ death at the hands of the CIA two generations ago. Multiple paths of suspense The bomb is spirited out of Russia on an old freighter and sets course for America to arrive crop up, with Jack delving into on the Fourth of July to set off its own explosive light display on American soil, aiming to kill the very real fact that the lives of hundreds of thousands. thoroughbreds that have found With all seven American agents taken out in the field of combat on Russian soil by Cloud, acclaim and victory are being who has infiltrated the CIA databanks giving him an inside track on every move the American government ended in a very non-victorious makes, it is left to washed-up Secret Agent Dewey Andreas to handle the task even though the agency wants fashion. While Jack investigates, he him in a clinic in Sedona, Arizona to be treated for PTSD. also comes across the fact that he Operating blind, in the field of play, with only three days left to discover the whereabouts of the missing is in a killer’s path. A contract has bomb, Andreas sets the wheels in motion to locate Cloud by kidnapping his fiancée, the famous ballet dancer, been taken out to end Jack’s life, Katya Basaeyev, and torturing her until Cloud confesses, if he can find him. paid for by a wealthy man who sits Working hand-in-hand with the young and powerful head of the Russian mob, Alexi Malnikov, the two in jail courtesy of Jack’s work. The strange bedfellows flush out the terrorist and race to save America from a fate worse than what was served up man is behind bars for insurance on 9/11. fraud involving the killing of Coes keeps us guessing up until the last second as to whether or not they are successful. A novel you will racehorses, and he wants Jack to have a hard time putting down once you are engrossed in the chase. pay. A millionaire computer genius Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author of “Blood on His Hands” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint of is intimidating an old couple into Suspense Magazine ■ selling their horse, and last, but SOMEONE IS WATCHING certainly not least, Jack travels to By Joy Fielding Ireland more than once to check Bailey Carpenter is a woman living a privileged life in Miami, Florida. She also happens to work on a bookmaker friend who, as an investigator for a law firm. She and her brother, Heath, an actor, are heirs to their father’s according to his wife, has suffered Wall Street fortune. However, things are not always as lovely as they seem; in fact, they are being more than his share of near fatal sued by their five half-siblings who were left out of Dad’s Will. Bailey would much rather have accidents. her parents back than the money, but that can’t happen. She’s also in love with her married boss, All of these stories interweave which is definitely not a good idea. to create a highly action-packed On a stakeout one night, looking for a Deadbeat Dad, Bailey is attacked by a masked man. She can only and intriguing story. Professional recall the feel of his gloves and the glance she gets at his black Nike sneakers. His voice had whispered in her horseracing is portrayed with ear: “Tell me you love me,” which was the most frightening part of it all. The horror won’t go away. Bailey, on great accuracy, telling about the leave from work, has begun having panic attacks, losing weight, and suffering from dreams of her attacker. It’s life of the trainers, exercise boys a good thing her half-sister, Claire, who is a nurse, comes to her rescue, bringing along her daughter, Jade, who and girls, and others who hang is somewhat of a delinquent that practices lock picking in Bailey’s apartment. out at the track. Managing to keep Claire is part of the lawsuit, but doesn’t seem to have any ulterior motives. She recommends Bailey see himself alive through all of these a therapist, especially since Bailey has started observing a neighbor who has become violent against some plots, the reader can definitely look company. She can’t seem to stop his escalating behavior, but since no one else has seen the man, she’s not forward to more Jack Doyle stories believed by anyone, including Claire. As Bailey can’t convince anyone of this person’s habits, she hatches a plan in the future! with her niece to catch him unaware and prove to everyone that she’s not gone around the bend. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, This is an excellent book by an excellent wordsmith. Joy Fielding only offers page-turners, and she has Professional Librarian and Co- struck gold again. Readers and fans will be absolutely thrilled! Owner of The Write Companion ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 25 FILLET OF MURDER THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS By Linda Reilly By Nicole Baart At the start of this novel, Adrienne (Adri) Vogt and Harper Penny are two women who are This new cozy is the first in most definitely thick as thieves. During their college days they were always together and their a brand new series titled, Deep friendship was amazingly strong. But after an accident occurs, their lives are changed dramatically Fried Mysteries by Linda Reilly, for the next five years. featuring Talia Marby. To begin, the narration is a back and forth between the two girls. Adri is very much a country Talia has returned to her bumpkin, very quiet; your regular wallflower. Harper is a wild child but very intelligent, and not hometown in the Berkshires of at all like Adri. But opposites attract, and these two become sisterly. Adri always admired Harper, while Harper New England and taken a part loved Adri’s life. They liked each other for the things that they each lacked, as if feeding off one another to have time job with Bea Lambert at that full, perfect life. Harper became jealous of Adri’s family and home life and Adri just wished that she had the Lambert’s Fish & Chips. The ability to be a free spirit like her friend. And then, of course…there was a man. David was the man they both restaurant is located in a cute truly loved, and when he died in an accident, the two girls were torn apart. Adri went to Africa where she worked little shopping plaza that was as a nurse, attempting to find something good in such a nightmare. Harper just seemed to walk away from life, designed to look like an old choosing the hard, painful road to travel. English village. The two women But five years later, the girl’s lives have changed. Coming home to attend a funeral memorial, they are hit it off from the very start, reminded of the past. The familiar place they congregate is Piperhall, the Galloway estate. Here is where David’s forming a very loving mother/ presence is felt, memories become entangled, and a friendship attempts to find a way to heal and reinvent itself. daughter relationship. From lies and secrets to truths and romance, the flashbacks are plentiful, and readers will see the mystery One of the other store’s within as they try to work out if David’s death was actually an “accident.” A bit less suspenseful and more owners at the plaza, Phil emotional, but the tale woven is a nice one. Turnbull, is trying to get all the Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ owners to sign a petition banning the opening of a comic book DAY OF THE DRAGONKING: THE LAST AMERICAN WIZARD store: after all, it’s gauche, to say By Terry Irving the least. Bea doesn’t want to sign What if this world is just “magic” and somehow it is replaced by a stronger magic? In “The it and, after a blow-up, she shows Last American Wizard,” the world Steve Rowan has known ceases to exist. He can no longer rely Turnbull the door. She then on anything he thought was real and his life, as well as everyone else’s, is now being controlled by tells Talia to: “Fire up the deep a deck of tarot cards. A deck in which he plays ‘The Fool.’ The epicenter of this magical change? fryer…” because she’s going “to Washington D.C., of course. boil Phil Turnbull in oil.” A silly Steve Rowen has witnessed an airliner crash in front of his home, but he appears to be the threat she will live to regret. only one who can see it. He soon finds himself to be ‘The Fool’ from a deck of Tarot cards. He meets up with Talia decides to talk to Phil Ace, a SEAL, who in this new world is the Ace of Swords. Each person they encounter has taken on the persona herself, and the next morning she of another card. As they fight their way through the deck, they come to realize that computers and the Tarot finds him in his office…lying on cards now control the fate of the world. Everyone they encounter wants one thing, the death of The Fool. Steve the floor with a knife sticking out is attacked by Illuminati, Masons, elves, gnomes, and too many mythical creatures to mention. of his neck. Bea is immediately Steve and Ace are abetted by a smartphone named ‘Smart Money’ and the voice in the phone, Barnaby. looked at for the murder, Ultimately, it will be up to the brains of the “Fool” to secure the cutter of Washington D.C. especially seeing as there are fish Terry Irving has written a science fiction/fantasy thriller that will have you laughing one moment and scales on the weapon. But as time racing through adrenaline-pumping action the next. “The Last American Wizard” will twist you in knots while goes on, it seems that Phil had expanding your imagination. You will never look at magic the same again. many enemies who truly wanted Reviewed by J.M. LeDuc, author of “Sin,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ to see him gone. There are a great group of DANTE'S POISON shop owners in this plaza; Suzi By Lynne Raimondo Sato, who runs a bath and body Dr. Mark Angelotti is a psychiatrist. Blind, he has just enrolled in a drug trial that might be store; Jill Follansbee, who owns able to restore his sight. Unfortunately by doing this, he walks directly into a case that Chicago a tea shop; Jim Jepson, who legal eagles are wickedly fighting for and/or against. has a pottery store, and many Attorney Jane Barrett has just defended the manufacturer of a powerful antipsychotic drug, unforgettable others. Not toLucitrol, against product liability claims. Jane has become an expert on the drug. So, when her mention, just as you finish this very good friend and lover, investigative journalist Rory Gallagher, collapses from a fatal dose of incredible mystery, the author Lucitrol, it suddenly becomes the job of Hallie Sanchez, Jane’s oldest friend, to defend Jane on murder charges. offers up a couple of recipes Hallie is having some doubts about Jane’s innocence and recruits Mark Angelotti to help her discredit the that everyone will want to try testimony of a witness. Jane and Mark succeed in getting Barrett released, but not without some very serious out: one for “Bea’s Coleslaw” outcomes. Mark starts to investigate the killing of Rory Gallagher and his connections to the drug when Jane is and another for “Talia’s Deep- charged with the murder, but as he follows the clues, he finds himself the victim of an attack, while Hallie is put Fried Pickle Spears with Honey into a coma by the same villains. The drug company has many, many secrets and many, many shady sales reps, Mustard Sauce.” In other words, and when Mark starts to uncover the secrets, true powerhouses come out of the woodwork to stop him. mystery lovers get a great meal This storyline is a very unusual one that looks into the seedy side of prescription meds and medical ethics. with incredibly tasty leftovers. This is an interesting tale of a blind psychiatrist, and a sociopathic mind that will go to the ends of the earth to Reviewed by Mary Lignor, avenge the past. Plot changes galore will keep readers on their toes, and the author has produced characters that Professional Librarian and Co- have very strong backstories. One that you will remember is Mark Angelotti, who you would think would be in Owner of The Write Companion ■ an extreme bout of depression, but instead is truly inspiring as he moves forward instead of letting life drift away. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 26 THE FALL A WOMAN By John Lescroart UNKNOWN The newest John Lescroart mystery focuses on Attorney Rebecca Hardy, daughter of By Frances Brody Attorney Dismas Hardy, who’s working in her father’s law firm and taking on her very first case. San Francisco attorneys are taking it on the chin lately when it comes to homicide cases “A Woman Unknown” is that involve African-American victims. To make things worse, City Supervisor Liam Goodman set in England in the 1920s, that is acting like Big Brother, on the heels of the entire legal system. In the middle of this mayhem, a poignant “between the wars” young girl named Anlya Paulson falls from an overpass and lands on the hood of a car passing on period that is the setting for so the street below. Whether accident, suicide or murder, is anyone’s guess. many excellent novels, and this is Inspectors Eric Waverly and Ken Yamashiro work the case, and get a break when Greg Treadway, a no exception. schoolteacher and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Anlya’s twin brother, tells the police that Kate Shackleton is a private he had dinner with Anlya only a few hours before she died. But the police find some odd things in Greg’s investigator whose husband statement that just don’t ring true. was lost in the “Great War,” as The SFPD send Greg to jail on a murder charge. Rebecca, who just met Greg only a few minutes before World War I was called. Kate he gave the cops his statement, agrees to represent him. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence against Greg struggles to find her place in the and, even though Rebecca is ‘green’ in the courtroom, she makes several of the prosecution’s witnesses look male dominated field of criminal downright foolish. investigations, working with the There are a few extra characters who make things difficult for both sides and could very well have been in police when she can, and on her on the demise of Anlya: Royce Utlee, a pimp who works with Anlya’s friend; Honor Wilson, who manages a own, with the help of her assistant stable of ladies of the night; Leon Copes, a former live-in boyfriend of Anlya’s mother; and, Richard Salazar, a Mr. Sykes, a former policeman. killer who escaped from trial in California and then went on to kill in another state. Kate has been hired by Cyril This story is packed with action, suspense, and a plot that will leave you speechless. The ending is superb, Fitzpatrick, a low-level employee and John Lescroart should be commended for writing yet another great novel. of a newspaper in the city of Leeds, Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ who wants to know where his wife ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MENUS really goes when she claims she By Julie Hyzy is visiting her sick mother. She Executive Chef Olivia (Ollie) Paras has a lot to deal with in “All the President’s Menus,” the eighth in discovers that Deirdre Fitzpatrick Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef mystery series. Due to a government sequester, lavish dinners for visiting heads is telling the truth about her of state and other entertaining at the White House are on hold, and Ollie’s kitchen staff has been trimmed, as mother, but also discovers that well. However, plans are still on for the president to host an intimate dinner at Blair House for the first female Deirdre is leading a secret life. She presidential candidate from Saardisca. Ollie is determined that the dinner will be a success despite her small is working with a shady lawyer to staff, but her stress level ratchets up to high when four of Saardisca’s leading chefs are invited to become a provide grounds for divorce for temporary part of the White House kitchen to help with the dinner. They are generally a surly bunch of men, men who wish to appear to be all of whom speak fluent English. Each of them resents taking orders from a woman, and are not shy about caught in adultery to satisfy the showing it. legal requirements of the time. Things go from bad to worse when White House pastry chef Marcel collapses while leading the chefs When banker, Everett on a kitchen tour—and later confides to Ollie that he’s sure he was drugged. Then one of the visiting chiefs Runcie, is found murdered in a collapses and dies. Coincidence? Ollie doesn’t believe it. Rather, she’s convinced that one of the remaining hotel room, suspicion initially falls three visiting chefs is responsible, and fears that more deaths may follow. Is the U.S. President a target? The on his American wife, Philippa, visiting Saardiscan presidential candidate? But how to figure out what, if anything, the chefs are up to is who is divorcing him, but soon difficult, especially because they lapse into their native language so often. turns to a mystery woman who “All the President’s Menus” is another delightful tale from a real pro. And a sneak peek at life behind the was seen with Runcie the previous scenes at the White House. Yummy! night. Kate Shackleton skirts Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Funerals Can Be Murder,” published by Suspense Publishing, an the edges of the official police imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ investigation as she tries to find CORRUPTED MEMORY Deirdre Fitzpatrick, and look for By Ray Daniel Everett Runcie’s murderer at the Told in first person by Aloysius Tucker, a computer hacker from Boston, this story begins same time. and ends with a baseball game, but what happens in between will challenge all that Tucker has Brody has chosen a held dear in his life. fascinating period of British A man is killed right in front of Tucker’s home, and the dead man bears a striking resemblance history and created characters to Tucker’s dad; even his ID says he is John Tucker. The problem is, John Tucker is dead...so who whose difficulties are unique to is this man? Well, it turns out Tucker has a half brother he never knew existed and his death will the period, such as the husband open up a can of worms that will expose his father’s hidden life and uncover a plethora of family secrets and who must pretend to commit crimes that will lead to cover ups and double crosses, putting Tucker’s life in serious danger in the process. adultery to provide grounds for a While I was focused on the government secrets, the shootings, kidnappings, fires, and Tucker’s reaction divorce that they both want. Kate to all the dark secrets he discovers about his father, it occurred to me that he also discovered a few things about Shackleton is a character who his mother he didn’t know. And while she was a difficult character to understand and hard for him to deal with, navigates her fictional world and in the end he rediscovers the maternal side of his family he had subconsciously ignored most of his life, and as evokes the realities of a bygone they say, it’s better late than never. era. The suspenseful story never This is a fast-paced crime thriller with an engaging narrator, quirky characters, and explosive secrets. This lets up until the unexpected combination of action, suspense, mystery, and family drama kept the story interesting and held my attention conclusion. from beginning to end. There is a little something in this one for all mystery and suspense lovers. 4 stars. Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, Reviewed by Julie Whiteley ■ author of “Hotel Saint Clare” ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 27 A WEE MURDER IN DOWN DON'T BOTHER ME MY SHOP By Jason Miller By Fran Stewart Set in Southern Illinois, readers find themselves in coal mining country where the body of a reporter, Dwayne May, is found deep in the Knight Hawk mine. A mini-recorder is tied around his Yet another new series that neck and a note pad stuffed down his throat. May’s photographer, Guy Allen Beckett, is missing, will have cozy mystery lovers and it’s thought that they were in the mine on the trail of a hot new story…right before tragedy screaming for more. struck. Margaret “Peggy” Winn Turns out that Beckett is the son-in-law of the mine owner, Matthew Luster, and this crime lives in Hamelin, Vermont—a cannot be ignored. Matthew turns to Slim, who is a miner with the reputation of finding lost people, and asks small town in New England that Slim to find Beckett. Luster wants all the answers and does not want police or press looking over his shoulder reminds one of a lovely village while he gets them. At first, Slim turns down the owner’s plea, but when he’s offered a better job that comes that might be found in Scotland. with a pension and security for the rest of his life, he accepts. Slim is a single father without many options and Peggy certainly believes that, he needs to take care of his daughter. But, as the old saying goes, “When you make a deal with the Devil, you’ll considering she is the owner definitely get burned.” of “Scotshop,” a store that sells Slim must find out if Beckett ended up as a victim buried someplace else, or the killer of his friend. He also only Scottish items. needs to know exactly what motive there was to kill Dwayne May in the first place. Slim is led into a real mess as Peggy has given up on he looks for answers in the underworld of Little Egypt, Illinois—a place that houses all types of inhumanity. He her boyfriend and is on her has to look for clues in the underbelly of this area, attempting to avoid meth dealing gangs, and worse, in order way to Scotland to buy some to get out alive. new merchandise for her store. Readers will be shown some hard times that miners have to go through, along with some descriptions of But what she gets is not what the process of mining. The author has picked a perfect place to write about when wanting to create a story of she originally went for. By killings and betrayal. purchasing and wearing an old Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ tartan shawl, Peggy finds that HUNGER a six-hundred-year-old ghost By Jeremiah Knight named Dirk, is now a part of her In “Hunger,” Jeremiah Knight has written a stark look at GMO engineering. ExoGen Laboratories and its life. Dirk is a great guy who loves leading scientist, Dr. Ella Masse, have discovered a genetic godsend. Through their GMO project, they have to follow Peggy around in the found the elusive genetic secret that will allow crops to grow in almost any conditions. They are about to 21st Century, and has the time of eradicate world hunger. In their rush to save humankind, protocol was broken and they rushed to market. A rush his life studying all the changes that has dire consequences. that have occurred in the last six Eight years later, the ExoGen crops have taken over the world. They have grown wild and covered almost hundred years. Peggy is trying to carry the Earth’s entire surface. And the code implanted has mutated and developed a hunger of its own that is not on with her life, putting her ex- satisfied with the earth’s nutrients. A hunger that develops an intelligence, as well as a thirst for meat. Any meat boyfriend’s betrayal in the back . . . including humans. The only mode of survival is to live in an encapsulated biodome where one must grow of her mind, and learning to live their own ExoGen-free crops and remain hidden. with a ghost. However, her plan Ella and her daughter, Anne, have escaped from ExoGen headquarters in San Francisco and are trying to becomes a might harder as she make their way to a second lab in Boston, where Ella hopes to reverse the genetic code and stop the slaughter. finds the ex’s dead body on the In order to do so, they need the help of Ella’s old friend, Peter Crane. Ella explains that the ExoGen crops not floor of her shop and her cousin only pass their “genes” along to other plants, but to every species which consumes them, causing a rapid type of accused of his murder. This is de-evolution. She is humanity’s only chance. when the fun begins, as Dirk Peter and his son, Jakob, join Ella and Anne on a trip that is more suicide than adventure. They must not brings about all his knowledge only avoid and battle the genetically changing world around them, but also those who will do everything in their to aid Peggy in solving the first power to make sure Ella does not reach her destination. “Scotshop Mystery” by clearing Jeremiah Knight has written the beginning of an epic sojourn into the good and evil of science, and more her cousin’s name and finding importantly, of Man. “Hunger,” the first book of theHunger Trilogy, is a must read for all! the real killer. Reviewed by J.M. LeDuc, author of “Sin,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ The author has truly thrown herself into making the SHARK SKIN SUITE town of Hamelin as Scottish as By Tim Dorsey possible, even making sure that Featured player, Serge Storms, is a bit of a psycho killer who has very creative ways of offing or punishing kilts are being worn. Dirk is a people who really need to be gotten rid of or punished. Serge has a reputation in Florida for doing just that and great character, as everything doing it very well, which is why others call upon him. Looking out for the underdog, he knows everything about about the present time is a big the history of Florida and has a style for public relations. surprise to him. And when In this tale, Serge and friend, Coleman, go after a group of investors (AKA: con artists) who are taking Peggy tries to explain, it looks people’s houses away from them by whatever underhanded way they can. Serge and Colman team up with like she’s talking to air; after all, Attorney Brook Campanella, who has a yen for Serge, and the three of them set out to bring some justice to the he’s a ghost. This is a great story world or at least to their little corner of it; and if Serge has to pretend to be a lawyer, so be it! and readers will definitely look Of course, Serge doesn’t have a law degree but it makes no difference in this case. He is determined to fix forward to seeing Dirk again and this little glitch in his hometown. Serge and Coleman get involved in a class-action fraud case, looking out for watching the fun relationship evidence (or, making it up if need be) and, also looking for the bad guys who sometimes end up dying in creative grow between Peggy and her ways. Scottish spirit. There are other books by Tim Dorsey out there about Serge, but this is a definite standalone novel. Mr. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Dorsey takes the usual insanity of his lead character and gives the readers some “can you believe this?” incidents Professional Librarian and Co- that really make people both shy away and absolutely root for Serge at the same time. You will have a hard time Owner of The Write Companion figuring out what will happen next, but the plot, as always, is full of humor and truly great writing. ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 28 THE WOLF AND THE LAMB WICKED STITCH By Frederick Ramsay By Amanda Lee This is Frederick Ramsay’s third Jerusalem mystery that begins at the time of Jesus’s arrest. Pontius Pilate, the Emperor’s prefect, has been accused and arrested for murdering Aurelius The fantastically named Decimus, a rival of his. All evidence is against Pilate as he was nabbed red-handed, covered in blood business, The Seven-Year Stitch, at the scene of the crime, with his own dagger sticking out of Decimus’s body. As Pilate states he is located in the small town of was framed and doesn’t believe he’ll get justice from the Romans, he calls on Rabban Gamaliel, the Tallulah Falls. Marcy Singer, chief Rabbi of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel at the time, for help. Gamaliel has to accept the owner, has many great the case even though he hates Pilate. Though these two men are mortal enemies, Pilate insists that Gamaliel prove attributes—one of the biggest his innocence. being Angus, a beautiful Irish Trying to find their way through the crowds visiting for Passover, Gamaliel and his friend, Loukas, visit Wolfhound that is always there various places looking for clues to the killing. Gamaliel heads the investigation perfectly, looking for facts, to greet customers and help his consulting with learned, trustworthy people until there is no doubt about what Pilate’s future will be. As most will know who Pilate is, the story goes on with the events already stated to the masses. beloved owner when mysteries For those who have not read Aesop’s ‘Tale of the Wolf and the Lamb,’ the premise is that the two creatures pop up out of the blue…which meet with the wolf telling the lamb that he wanted to eat him and the many excuses that the lamb came up with they always do. to stay alive. The wolf feasts on the animal, with Aesop’s moral being: The tyrant will always find an excuse for his This time around, the cruelty. Which explains Pilate to a ‘T.’ Renaissance Faire will be The cast of characters is, of course, well known, but the intricacies of the investigation described are extremely held in town, and Marcy interesting. is so looking forward to it; Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ embroidering shirts and YOU CAN TRUST ME holding classes that teach the By Sophie McKenzie styles of that time period. What a twisted road we walk, and Sophie McKenzie knows just how to lay the bricks of a path Unfortunately, Marcy finds out that will have you wondering, gasping for air, thinking, and basically having a thrilling time. that her booth will be placed Livy Jackson is a woman about to attend a dinner party that she really doesn’t want to go to. smack dab in the middle of her But her friend, Julia, who is one of those “it’s all about me” people, expects Livy to come. What Livy two archenemies, Clara and doesn’t expect when she arrives is that the dinner party is canceled, seeing as that Julia is lying dead Nellie. For Marcy’s old foes, it’s in the apartment. Cops rule this a suicide but Livy thinks differently. After all, this was her best their greatest opportunity so friend in the world and she knows that Julia was an in-your-face, loud, free, and celebratory person who would far to finally put Marcy in her never take her own life. Problem is, Livy believes this so much that she decides to do a little personal investigation place and get rid of her, making of her own. sure The Seven-Year Stitch is Kara was Livy’s sister, a sibling that was murdered eighteen years previously. Livy wonders if there could be a put out of business finally. connection with the two untimely deaths, and clues start popping up that prove she’s right. Trouble is, this is not On the day of the Faire’s a stranger—if the clues are to be believed, Livy feels that the killer of both women is someone extremely close to opening, as she puts her booth her…and may want to take her out next. in order, Marcy decides to This author has created some truly emotional and complex characters for her list of suspects. The worst for give it one more college try to Livy would be Will, her own husband. But there are others that extend from Julia’s own boyfriend to Will’s boss. bury the hatchet. Not a good Which means no one can be trusted. metaphor, seeing as that when Sophie McKenzie is the writer of “Close My Eyes,” which summed up what it means to ride an emotional Marcy goes into Clara’s booth roller-coaster. With this, she has followed-up with an equally dark, riveting tale that will leave the fan needing a she finds the woman dead. nap after they’re through reading, because of the perfect symmetry of heart-racing and heart-wrenching scenes Now she’ll probably be suspect that don’t stop. number one, so she has to find Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ the real killers with the help of her boyfriend, Detective Ted ONE FOOT IN THE GRAPE Nash. By Carlene O’Neil The characters in Tallulah This is a first in a new series called,Cypress Cove mysteries, and will take readers on a journey that allows them Falls are a whole lot of fun a little taste (no pun intended) of the wine industry. (especially Angus). This is a Penny Lively has lost her job as a photojournalist and come home to Cypress Cove to take over ownership very well written cozy, with of a winery that she inherited from her Aunt Monique. Penny’s winery manager, Connor, and her niece, Hayley, the perfect combination of have been running the winery and it’s in good shape. But a few months after Penny arrives, the owner of the location, plot, people, and neighboring winery, Antonia Martinelli, comes to visit. She is sure that someone is trying to sabotage her winery background that make a great and its good reputation, and she even thinks it might be a member of her own family who’s doing it. Antonia has mystery. This is number eight always been a good neighbor to Penny’s aunt, so Penny decides to help her out. in the Embroidery Mystery That night, Penny, Hayley, and Connor head to the Martinelli’s for a Wine Growers Association meeting, where Penny sees the oldest of the Martinelli children, Francesca. She learns that Francesca is upset because her series, and all of them have mother gave her brother control of the winery. The mother is satisfied that her son is doing a good job, and as been exceptional. As soon as Francesca is a lawyer and can’t spend as much time at the winery, she’s satisfied with her decision. this is read, readers will be Penny is elected V.P. of the Association at the meeting, which puts Francesca into an even worse mood. And looking for the next chapter in as the members are leaving, Penny hears a scream from the fermentation building, where she finds Todd Ryan’s Marcy’s life. body—a worker at Martinelli’s—in the wine crusher. There are more suspects than can be imagined, and Penny Reviewed by Mary Lignor, finds herself on quite a hunt to discover who has committed murder. Professional Librarian and Co- This looks like a good series, with just the right amount of mystery to keep the reader coming back for more. Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 29 WRITTEN IN THE TAIL GAIT: A MRS. MURPHY MYSTERY BLOOD By Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown By Stephen Lloyd Jones Readers have been waiting patiently for this new collaboration between beloved author, Rita Mae Brown, and her equally intelligent and beloved cat, Sneaky Pie. Reason being, this This book is a thrilling sequel team knows how to dazzle mystery buffs with tales featuring Mary Minor (“Harry”) Haristeen, to the unforgettable tale, “The and her cat, Mrs. Murphy. String Diaries.” Spring is closing in fast on Crozet, Virginia as Harry, and her husband, Fair, attend a dinner In the first story, events party with the town’s citizens, which include Greg ‘Ginger’ McConnell and other members of were told that surrounded the the University of Virginia’s 1959 award-winning football team. This is a dinner to welcome the springtime and ‘shapeshifters’ and the attempts try to get over the winter. Unfortunately, this get-together brings out a story from the distant past that will put made to wipe them out and/or all their lives in danger. send them underground. It seems The very next day while on the golf course, Professor McConnell is found murdered. He was shot in that the shifters live very long lives, broad daylight by someone who was not seen, and no one can seem to come up with a motive or a suspect. but their number were gradually However, Harry and her helpful pets (AKA: felines, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter; and canine, Tucker) start wasting away; always in danger, nosing around. Before long, a homeless veteran who used to be a UVA football player confesses to the crime. they often don’t agree with each Thing is, no one believes him, and very soon Harry’s fabulous animals find another body. other which makes matters even In the midst of questions about Ginger’s death, information comes into play regarding soldiers during the worse for their kind. A monster Revolutionary War, starting with the year 1777, when the war was just about over and some of the prisoners named Jakab is the hunter. A were quartered near Crozet, Virginia. It seems that the professor was trying to unravel an old mystery that mother and daughter, Leah and may have been the reason for his unwanted death. As Harry and friends search for answers, stumbling across Hannah, are most definitely on an old prison’s past, they get closer to identifying the murderer. And the animals continue to watch out for his radar. And soul stealers were the humans they love. introduced whose job it is to kill… Yet again, the ‘Brown’ writing team of author and feline ‘Rock It!’ and leave sheer evil in their wake. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ Now, author Jones, takes readers to three separate places: WHAT LIES BEHIND 1878, Budapest; 1929, New York; By J.T. Ellison and present day. Leah is now a Another fast-paced thriller from Ellison! This novel involves the FBI and medical research young woman. Her world is still gone awry. threatened, and she is still being The story is centered in Washington D.C. One night, two drunk coeds in Georgetown hunted by the monster. The group decide to pay a surprise booty call to an old boyfriend, but encounter a basement apartment that Leah and her mother have full of blood and two bodies instead. always belonged to are called, The sirens accompanying the emergency vehicles to the scene awaken Dr. Samantha “Long Lives,” yet there are a scant Owens who lives nearby. Sam, who used to be involved with crimes like these as a medical examiner, is now few still among the living. The one out of that business, but helps the FBI when asked. Her pal, Detective Darren Fletcher, asks her now to look goal Leah has is to save as many as at the scene. What appears at first glance to be a murder/suicide gives her pause. Something is out of kilter. possible so that their group does When she finds out who the victims were, she knows that a lot is out of kilter. Tommy, one of the victims, not meet with ultimate extinction. was working on a mysterious project. If his data has fallen into the wrong hands, the situation could be very It is fifteen years later, after serious. the events that took Hannah and Join Sam Owens in her fourth case as she races to figure out who the players are, what the stakes are, and Leah to their first confrontation how to stop a catastrophe. with Jakab. This sequel keeps the Reviewed by Kaye George, author of “Eine Kleine Murder” ■ suspense of the hunt, as well as the damage and disagreements that THE WRONG MAN By Kate White the shapeshifters are bringing on This newest book by bestselling author Kate White is sure to become this summer’s themselves. The action expands as prominent “beach read.” the author moves to the ending, Featured player, Kit Finn, is an interior decorator from Manhattan on a business trip at a taking the reader from the U.S. to resort called, Islamorada, on the Florida Keys. She has finished her business and only has one Switzerland, London, Hungary, and day left, so she decides to have a good time. Kit runs into a good looking man, Matt Healy, at a Germany throughout various time periods. The author is extremely small island gift shop where they make a date to have dinner together, and a lovely evening is good at tying the storylines had. Heading back to New York, not expecting to see or hear from Matt again, Kit receives an unexpected call together, but reading the first book on her taxi ride to the airport: Matt asks her to have dinner at his apartment in New York later in the week. and meeting all the characters On the night of their reunion, Kit goes to Matt’s apartment, but the door is answered by a stranger will make this tale even better. who says that he is Matt Healy. Kit apologizes, thinking she wrote down the directions wrong, but the man Although both are extremely good convinces her that she has been played. That the man she met stole his wallet and is now using his identity. books, it is essential to have the He asks Kit to come to his firm and talk to the security department to give a description. That’s where the fun background story when it comes begins. to this monster and the incredible Kit decides to look for a reason why the man she met in Florida used a name not his own and why he history of the author’s characters. wanted her to go to Matt Healy’s apartment knowing that the real Matt would be there. Her hunt for answers Reviewed by Mary Lignor, brings her and her coworkers into some dangerous situations, with Kit not quite sure who can be trusted in Professional Librarian and Co- this odd and intriguing plot. Owner of The Write Companion ■ A great novel that builds to a superb ending, Kate White has scored an A+ once again. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 30 WHITE CROCODILE THE HARVEST MAN By K.T. Medina By Alex Grecian “White Crocodile” is a debut thriller by K.T. Medina, which is a very powerful story that is a bit different from the norm. The thrill of Jack the Ripper Tess Hardy is an ex-Army combat engineer and not the type of woman who will put up with has never died. In fact, it has a lot. She has an ex-husband, Luke, who is now working in Cambodia for a firm called the Mine grown stronger over the years; Clearance Trust. Luke calls her one day sounding extremely frightened; she hears later that he everyone in the world wants to has been killed while clearing a mine. The data doesn’t sit well with Tess who decides to go to solve what Scotland Yard never Cambodia and try to find out how he died. could. Alex Grecian unleashed A short time after arriving, Tess witnesses another “accident” at the White Crocodile minefield that results Jack and scared all of London in, in a serious injury. It seems in Cambodia, people put a white cloth containing a picture of a crocodile outside “The Devil’s Workshop.” But this their houses when someone dies or is hurt, and the White Crocodile minefield has become a deadly place to time out, the Ripper is not only work and live. Tess learns that because the land is so filled with mines, the locals cannot farm the land safely, still at large but he has found a with many people being injured or losing their lives. Soon, she realizes that all is not what it seems, and begins buddy, or some stiff competition. to believe that clearing minefields and asking leading questions might just lead to her own demise. And as Tess Walter Day is an inspector investigates Luke’s death and the accident even further, she uncovers the fact that many young women have also who earned an injury that has kept disappeared, with one turning up dead as far away as Manchester, England. him sitting at his desk, which is This book is sometimes difficult to read, seeing as that many horrible issues arise, but the narrative is so not what Day is good at. He is one interesting that readers will quickly find themselves immersed in Tess’s discoveries. For a debut, the novel is of those men who can sense things very well written; the Technicolor scenes truly have the damaged characters come across as very real people living lives of sheer pain, fear, and poverty. This is an unforgettable tale. and solve crimes, but with the Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ job being awful and his personal life being even worse, Day seems BAGMEN to be headed straight down the By William Lashner tubes. The only thing that could This novel comes in at number eight in this author’sAttorney Victor Carl series, and many readers will say, turn the man’s incredible mind in this case, eight is definitely not enough. back on is a diabolical criminal. Victor is a lawyer who’s down on his luck and hanging around the courthouse trying to scare up a new “The Harvest Man” takes on that client, or any client for that matter, when he bumps into an old law school friend. This friend tells him of a role and, unlike the Ripper, this profitable offer. Her employer needs a bagman (a person who follows along with a candidate running for office guy’s obsession is to hack peoples’ carrying a bag full of money that helps ‘grease the wheels’). The man running is Senator DeMathis, who is faces off their skulls. campaigning for the job yet again. To Victor it sounds like a bit of a dream job: it even comes with his own Nevil Hammersmith is the expense account that he’ll be able to use to buy a new tuxedo and some overpriced shoes he’s seen—the outfit ex-Sergeant who eats, sleeps, that will make him a solid citizen once again. and breathes the Ripper. He got Everything is going along fine until…a woman is found dead in an alley. Unfortunately, it’s a woman that kicked out of Scotland Yard, Victor had given a huge envelope of money to in exchange for her silence about the senator. Knowing that one, yet his obsession continues, Detective McDeiss, is now watching him, Victor continues to quickly make the senator’s followers very happy especially when the bodies of with the contents of his brown bag of money. As Victor gets deeper into the political arena though, he starts to prostitutes once again crop up. He notice secrets that bother him and bring back some of the integrity he used to have before becoming a bagman. continues to hunt down the most But will the integrity be enough to allow himself to hold his chin up once again? This book was so enjoyable; the quick-witted Victor is able to pull the reader in. Very memorable characters notorious killer ever seen…or is are introduced, for example: The Order of the Sazerac, very hard drinking and chain-smoking bagmen who he? The new bloke just may earn invite Victor to party and then stick him with the check. Entertaining and suspenseful to boot, this character the right to call himself the worst, just keeps getting better with each new creation. and may also prove smart enough Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ to never be found—just like dear, old Jack. VIRTUE FALLS Simply put, this author is By Christina Dodd brilliant. From the darkness of Virtue Falls is a tiny town located on the coast of Washington State. It is also the hometown of geologist, the plot and the evil that flows Elizabeth Banner. through every page, this book is It was Elizabeth’s scientist father, Charles, that was convicted of murdering and mutilating her mother with also energized with characters a pair of scissors when Elizabeth was only four. This traumatic part of Elizabeth’s past took her into herself and who have very real emotions. she did not speak for a year. Although she was in the house at the time of the crime, she does not remember You stand behind Walter Day what happened. But after twenty-three years of suffering much abuse in prison, Charles has been released into and want to see him rise up to a a care facility in Virtue Falls, now suffering from Alzheimer’s. challenge that is too much for his Elizabeth has come to Virtue Falls to try and bury the past, if possible, and also to study an area that is co-workers. And you will argue full of geological finds. In the middle of the day, the ground begins to roll and an earthquake reading ‘8’ on the between whether you want the Richter scale rocks the town. Devastation is everywhere. Elizabeth rushes without a thought or concern for her Ripper to stay a mystery, or if own safety to the cliffs to watch for and get footage of the tsunami which will certainly come through. Although Nevil should finally have his day. a true tragedy of Mother Nature has struck, Elizabeth wants to get on tape what will be a once-in-a-lifetime Another intelligent, unforgettable event. Meanwhile, Virtue Falls is without power, water or food; the town is disappearing under the weight of the aftershocks. But as the tale surges forward, the aftershocks of Elizabeth’s own life are far worse. Secrets are novel by Alex Grecian. unveiled and a killer who is firmly attached to the geologist’s past rises once again. Reviewed by Amy Lignor, This is an amazing story of people and their personalities, faults and all. Beginning with a story of horror author of “The Charlatan’s in San Francisco that seems to be completely unconnected to the town in Washington, a plot that is perfectly Crown,” published by Suspense intriguing comes together to scare and surprise the reader. Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ Magazine ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 31

VENGEANCE IS MINE THE DISMANTLING By Reavis Z. Wortham By Brian DeLeeuw This is the newest in theRed River Mystery series, and author Wortham is still going strong when it comes to his characters and crimes in Center Springs, Texas. With a truly eerie For a small Texas town in the middle of nowhere where nothing should be happening, there is overtone, “The Dismantling” a lot going on. For instance: a pack of dogs are killing domestic animals; a local is found in his truck is an interesting book where with a bullet in his head; a bank has been robbed by a man and a woman; a child has eaten lye and readers will certainly look at traffic is blocking the road to the hospital; one of the local cops is up to no good; and, the town is the narrative and feel more than soon to play host to mobsters. Center Springs is about to become a town that will never be called “small” again. creepy. It’s the fall of 1967, and a new couple comes to town. They look pretty normal; harmless, in fact. They met To begin, Simon Worth, up with newlyweds in Las Vegas who basically told them what an absolutely wonderful place Center Springs who is a medical school is to live. But with their presence, comes a whole lot of crime that will need to be stopped. People will turn to dropout, has descended to a constables Ned and Cody Parker, along with John Washington, a sheriff’s deputy, who are not getting along with world of sleaze that will make the county sheriff right now, for help. him a rich man. He is associated And when Top Parker, thirteen-years old, has another one of his crazy dreams, the town goes from bad to with Health Solutions, a worse. Everyone’s in trouble and the cases rise in number. For a little town where kids roam, doors don’t need company that brokers deals for to be locked, and neighbors look out for each other, Center Springs has more dishonesty, adultery, and high organ transplants. The company numbers of the criminal element than you would ever believe. is run by Peter DaSilva, who Readers will not be able to put this book down. As one plot seems to be solved, another mystery appears. is great at altering medical Fast-paced, with characters that are beyond imaginative and fun, this author’s Red River Mysteries never cease to records, laundering money, entertain. and letting Simon deal with all Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ the dirty work. All is going like THE DEVIL'S GAME a house afire when a former By Sean Chercover football player arrives on the “The Devil’s Game” picks up where “The Trinity Game” left off. After the murder of his uncle, scene and tries to arrange a liver Daniel Bryne, previously a Roman Catholic priest, has decided to join the clandestine organization transplant for an ex-athlete who known as the Fleur-de-Lis Foundation. His main purpose is to try to discover what or who is has been drinking for years and causing The Trinity Phenomenon, more broadly named, Anomalous Information Transfer or AIT. abusing his liver. Simon finds a AIT seemingly allows people to predict the future or know information they would never well-matched donor in Maria have been able to know otherwise. It was this “information transfer” that allowed his uncle, a Campos, a young lady who is televangelist and charlatan, to predict future happenings and why he was murdered by another organization broke and wants to start a new known as The Council. life. For her, the $150,000 for As a priest, Daniel investigated his uncle hoping to uncover his latest charade. But what if it wasn’t a charade donating seventy percent of her and his uncle really could predict the future, and what if there were more people like him: people across the liver will give her a fresh start. world who suffered from AIT? What would happen to the world’s economy if people could be used to predict But as easy as it seems, future events? All this seemed impossible to Daniel until he meets Dr. Kara Singh. Kara was once a well-respected nothing is perfect. And several physician who had been suffering from hearing voices she swore were being beamed into her head. Because of her days after the transplant is condition, she lost everything. completed at a hospital that But, what if everyone was wrong? What if AIT was real and could be manipulated? Daniel and Kara, with is recommended by Health help from the foundation, go about trying to discover the trigger to this menacing force. Solutions, the recipient Chercover has written a thriller that will leave you rethinking everything you thought you knew about secret commits suicide and the societies and clandestine organizations. “The Devil’s Game” will have you wondering if the next disease outbreak hospital starts an investigation is natural or a plan to manipulate society. But mostly, it will leave you wondering who the good guys are or if there into how he attained his new are any good guys at all. liver. Maria wants to keep her Chercover has rewritten the definition of secret societies, and “The Devil’s Game” is a must read for all! money. After all, she has done Reviewed by J.M. LeDuc, author of “Sin,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ her part, and she tells Simon SUSPENDERED SENTENCE that DaSilva may be planning By Laura Bradford to kill him to shut him up This is the fourth, wonderfully titled book, in theAmish Mystery series by Laura Bradford, and they just keep about this whole scam. She says getting better and better. that Simon might need to kill In the town of Heavenly, PA, lives Claire Weatherly, owner of Heavenly Treasures. Claire lives among the DaSilva before DaSilva can get Amish and English families in the town and loves the quiet life of the residents. Claire is not Amish, but most of to him, so it’s anyone’s guess as her suppliers and friends are. She is able to help Police Officer Jakob Fisher, aiding him in his communication with to who will come out the victor. the Amish. Jakob is a shunned, former Amish man, who has become very close to Claire and appreciates her aid. This is a novel that is sparse When the community comes together for a barn raising there is a bit of a crisis when human skeletal remains yet complex, telling of folks are found. Believed to be those of an Amish teen who ran away many years ago, Jakob is determined to understand who will do anything to make and solve this very cold case. Jakob is sure that the bones are those of Sadie Lehman, a girl who never returned a buck. Delving into a very home from Rumspringa, which is the time in a young Amish person’s life where they are able to live among the real business, the author shows English in order to decide whether they want to stay or go back home. how citizens can get swindled With Claire’s help, they find out about a young bride who was best friends with Sadie at the time of the by people who “claim” to be disappearance, and had a journal that she wrote in. Reading the journal helps Claire better understand the events in the medical business, and is that led up to the girl’s death, and allows her to put together the timeline of what may have happened. definitely one tale readers will This very well written book touches the reader’s heart. The emotions run rampant in these characters, and not forget very quickly. dealing with the negative and positive when it came to making decisions for their futures. This book is highly Reviewed by Mary Lignor, recommended to any reader interested in the Amish way of life, cozy mysteries, or those who just want a good Professional Librarian and Co- book to enjoy on a lazy afternoon. Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 33 SECRETS OF STATE THE FIXER By Matthew Palmer By Joseph Finder As each part of ex-investigative reporter, Rick Hoffman’s, life goes to the dogs (he’s lost A very intense thriller that his job, girlfriend, and apartment), his next option seems to be moving back into his childhood will bring readers to the edge of home and…fixing it up. a deadly conflict between the When Rick decides to start renovations, he makes a huge discovery. In the walls of the old, countries of India and Pakistan. falling down house, Rick finds a fortune—$3.4 million in cash which is quite enough money for Sam Trainor used to be the Rick to have the life he wants. Trouble is, he also wants to know where the money came from. best South Asia expert working in Rick’s father is now in a nursing home and not doing very well, so Rick starts to look into his father’s history. the State Department’s Bureau of A former lawyer, he is now suffering from dementia, unable to speak or communicate which is more than Intelligence and Research, but he unfortunate when Rick finds that dear old dad was knee-deep into a lot of mysteries, and made many enemies has now decided to work outside over time that are desperate enough to return in order to take the ‘found’ money off Rick’s hands. the government’s walls. Doing the Finding a safe place for his new treasure to stay while the dark past starts to creep out from the corners same ‘sort’ of work, Sam is now of literally everywhere, Rick moves out of the house. As he follows the trail, he first suffers a beating from bad an employee with Argus Systems, guys who want him to quit looking for trouble. It seems that the more Rick investigates, the further he opens a door on strip clubs, the job of a true money man, and the inner-workings of an activist lawyer working pro collecting twice the pay and bono for civil liberties causes. Cover-up after cover-up comes to light, leaving Rick a marked man. receiving far more freedom than So many surprises, this book is a definite page-turner and a whole lot of fun to read. A thriller that will the government would ever allow. keep you up late to find out what will happen next. 5 Stars for this one! Soon Sam begins to see the Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ negative differences between working in the public sector and PICKED TO DIE By Sheila Connolly the private. One issue comes along Its early fall—harvest time—in the small Massachusetts town of Granford. Newbie orchard owner, Meg with some intel Sam discovers that Corey, is focused on bringing in her apple crop with the help of her sometimes bossy, but always helpful could have a hand in maintaining orchard manager, Bree Stewart, and a team of experienced Caribbean migrant workers. Time is of the essence, or destroying the very fragile because winter in New England comes quickly with freezing temperatures, short days, and long nights. And if balance being held between India apple harvesting under a time crunch isn’t enough to occupy Meg, she’s also recently become engaged to local and Pakistan. But the more Sam contractor, Seth Chapin, so planning their wedding is an additional item on her To Do list. looks into the information, the Wanting to become more involved in the local happenings in her adopted town, as well as show an interest more dangerous things become. in her new fiancé’s work, Meg takes a quick break from apple picking when the Granford Historical Society The Intel speaks of a project hires Seth to oversee the adding of another level to its headquarters. The method chosen is ingenious—rather that has the sole purpose of than build up and destroy the original profile of the building, Seth and his crew are charged with digging out driving India and Pakistan into under the existing building and adding an additional story underneath. nuclear war. While looking into All is going well on the first morning of the dig until one of the project volunteers, a local high school the source, Sam realizes that this student, discovers a skeleton under the building. And in a true example of history repeating itself, a young man so-called ‘bomb’ is a chance to who’s related to one of Meg’s apple pickers is found dead behind the local feed store a few days later. It’s up to keep India and Pakistan busy Meg to uncover the truth about the young man’s death if she wants to keep harmony among her workers and attempting to slice each other’s see justice done. throats, while others work on “Picked to Die” is the latest in prolific author Sheila Connolly’s entertainingOrchard Mystery series. Pick something far more sinister under it up to read—you’ll be glad you did! the radar. And Sam’s new bosses Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Funerals Can Be Murder,” published by Suspense Publishing, an may be right in the middle of it all. imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ Making matters even more THE BREAKING POINT interesting is the fact that Sam By Jefferson Bass is secretly having an affair with a This is another exciting mystery featuring Dr. Bill Brockton and the Body Farm. If you married woman who works for haven’t read about this character yet, NOW is the time. the India Embassy in Washington, Ten years ago, Dr. Brockton created the “Body Farm” which was the first research facility and his new employer is sending dedicated to the science of forensics. Dr. Brockton is the go-to guy for anything that has to him to India to check out the do with any case, especially high-profile ones. The University of Tennessee’s anthropology fact that there is a small nuclear program is the most prominent in the world, and the doctor’s skills are always in demand. bomb out there just waiting to be In this story, the FBI wants to hire him to identify the remains of millionaire, Richard Janus, who was dropped. Given the nature of the killed in a plane crash on his way to a weekend in Las Vegas. Dr. Brockton does his job, which is to identify the problem, that a bomb could be set body, and believes that his job is done. But it seems not everyone takes his word for it. To make matters more off anywhere anytime, is making complicated, an undocumented Mexican trying to cross over into the U.S. was being stalked by a mountain all kinds of people extremely lion and killed by the plane crash, just before the mountain lion could pounce. Another unidentified body nervous. makes things even more confusing. After a fantastic read like But the strangeness doesn’t stop there. Brockton begins to receive messages from a serial killer who tried this one, let’s just hope author to murder him and his family a decade ago. It is just one calamity after another in Brockton’s personal and Matthew Palmer has his sequel at professional lives, when he also receives bad news from his wife, Kathleen. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able least half done. Because it will be to go on or if he’s reached the end of the line—his ‘breaking point’—as the terrible things that he has to deal really hard to wait for the next one. with increase. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Readers will be educated on Janus: The God of Two Faces in this particular story. One of Ancient Rome’s Professional Librarian and Co- most powerful deities. Add this touch of Modern Wisdom to an already intriguing and fast-paced story, and Owner of The Write Companion ■ the dual writing team of Jefferson Bass end up giving fans one of the best books of 2015! Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 34 THE ULTIMATUM FETA ATTRACTION By Dick Wolf By Susannah Hardy This the third incredible book by Dick Wolf featuring Detective Jeremy Fisk. And in this very intense and thrilling ride, a sniper is using a rifle carried by a drone that is randomly killing The Bonaparte House is a off NYC’s citizens. The sniper has promised to kill one person per day until a person that is lovely Greek restaurant located in leaking police intelligence materials is released from custody. upstate New York. The building, To begin, a person who worked in the system, Merritt Verlyn, has classified documents which is a historic home and pertaining to the NYPD Intelligence Division and has forwarded them to WikiLeaks. Verlyn is now sitting restaurant, is owned by the in jail courtesy of the cops. The information leaked reveals that the Police Intelligence Division is collecting Nikolopatos family. Georgie, wife information about law-abiding Muslims living in the city. To make matters worse, the information includes of Spiro, runs and manages the the unlisted home addresses of Intelligence Officers, including Fisk, which his enemies in the Mexican Cartel restaurant. There is also Sophie, are salivating over. In fact, they have already sent a hit squad to the detective’s home. Luckily, Fisk gets away Spiro’s mother and matriarch of the by the skin of his teeth, but finds out that his enemies also have his Social Security number and have cleaned family, who is a real hoot. out his bank account. Spiro has gone on one of Enter a mysterious person identifying himself as the “Yodeler.” This is the unknown sniper calling for his usual mini-vacations, leaving Verlyn’s release, and making his threat more than real. Detective Fisk is on the case and he teams up with Chay Georgie behind to run the place. Maryland, the reporter from the Times who is covering the story, who is also being stalked by an undercover Georgie is used to being left alone officer out to fulfill their own scheme. and doesn’t think anything of it, In magnificent Dick Wolf fashion (creator ofLaw & Order), there are shadows and corruption around until he is gone far longer than every corner. There are many situations and characters in this novel, and the readers will love it. The chase normal and she begins to worry. To scenes are unforgettable, and the use of drones show that lethal edge that is coming closer and closer to reality. make her life even more interesting, Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ she will have to deal with a reality DOGHOUSE TV program called Ghost Squad, By L.A. Kornetsky who is coming in to investigate Ginny isn’t a licensed investigator but that doesn’t stop her from investigating and helping paranormal activities happening in those she can. With her friend, Teddy, a bar manager, they are investigating a dog fighting ring. the house—invited there by Spiro, They got brought in by a friend of a friend who needs their help, and quickly. who has yet to show his face. Gin and Teddy’s animals help them in the investigation and bring out some good points. Georgie is about to take a boat While they search, the two don’t put themselves in unnecessarily risky situations, but instead ride with a friend when the two understand what they are doing is dangerous and take precautions. You can’t foresee every situation and as find the body of a rival restaurant they investigate that becomes clear. owner, Domenic DiTomasso, The outlook of the animals interspersed throughout the story does give a nice twist. The mystery slowly floating in the water. Georgie turns unfolds into answers and the duo, plus their furry friends, find that things aren’t as they seem. out to be suspect number one in the I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. Though it is the third in a series, I had no problems getting into it and man’s death, and goes on the hunt having fun. to find her missing husband, along Reviewed by Ashley Dawn, author of “Shadows of Pain” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint of with the killer of Domenic who has Suspense Magazine ■ ruined her life. LOVE IS RED There are twists galore in this By Sophie Jaff first book in a new mystery series, For anyone who likes the truly sick and horrific side of life, this is your book. We have a titled: A Greek to Me. Georgie and serial killer in NYC called “Sickle Man”—although considering the work he does, the ‘le’ could Sophie are wonderful characters, be dropped. Women are being murdered in ways that make Jack the Ripper look like the perfect along with the marriage of Georgie man to bring home to Mother. and Spiro, which will turn out to Killing women in ways that he feels are artistic, he’s basically practicing for when he gets be a big surprise. Readers will be the only one he really wants. He certainly has desires that must be fed, but with each kill, even though he can on the edge of their seats as there give himself a pat on the back because the cops are (as always) clueless, his desires fall flat because he has a is never a dull moment. And they goal set that he has not yet achieved. Although he does have an apartment loaded with trophies. will be looking for the next book to Katherine Emerson is the character for readers to cling to. Katherine has a gift, and the gift involves visions arrive soon in order to spend more that are not exactly hearts, flowers, and sunshine. Her love life is getting as confusing as the conversations time with this unforgettable family. in her own head. Not only does she have one man to choose from, but two. David and Sael have entered Add to that the fact that the author her world at basically the same juncture. Sael has a family name that can be found in museums on ancient was kind enough to offer up some manuscripts; David is one who thinks the other guy is nauseating and has no trouble telling him so. Katherine fantastic recipes that will make your has her own thoughts and desires, and her very own obsession with the “Sickle Man.” taste buds soar, and you will picture Readers of horror will be drawn to this tale. This is not Dr. Lecter, however: hardcore fear is the basic yourself on a Greek island with ingredient of this blood-soaked serial killer and not in-depth intelligence, even though he tries with the dry nothing but time, books, and food, sarcasm. It captures the attention, but the plot focuses on predator versus prey using the ingrained recipe of glorious food. lust and evil, which makes the ending expected. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint Professional Librarian and Co- of Suspense Magazine ■ Owner of The Write Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 35 THE READAHOLICS THE EUTHANIST AND THE FALCON By Alex Dolan FIASCO Rarely have I picked up a book that drew me so quickly into the tension of a story. As By Laura DiSilverio mating tarantulas scamper across the road in front of her rental car, “Kali,” in her role as the euthanist, arrives at the home of Leland Moon. Leland is dying of a painful lung disease, and This is the first book in a new Kali (not her real name) is there to assist his transition to whatever is next. series by Laura DiSilverio, and from But Leland is not who he says he is either. And he is not terminally ill, or ill at all. He is the looks of it, this is a series that a federal agent who offers Kali a bargain. To win back her freedom after he handcuffs her to the bed, she readers will delve right into. must euthanize a woman she has never met—his sister. Kali believes in what she does, and even refuses to A few good friends have decided take payment for her services. But to assist the suicide of someone she does not know is beyond her deeply to start a reading group. They meet held beliefs. at each other’s houses to discuss Author Dolan writes in a relentless and literate style, and does not shy away from the unpleasant and mystery books because when they difficult situations in life. He wants the reader to be frightened and maybe disturbed, but he also wants us first began they held meetings at the to think. He touches on one of the most sensitive issues of our time and society: Can we choose how to local library and made so much noise die, and should we? that they decided to go to private No matter what your personal beliefs about assisted suicide or existence after death, this novel will homes instead. Talk about voicing draw you in, and the questions it poses will stay with you long after you have reached the last page. Dolan opinions a bit loudly, aye? The group delves into a life situation that few of us are comfortable talking about, and who is to say what we might do calls themselves “The Readaholics,” if faced with a painful terminal illness in ourselves or a loved one. “The Euthanist” is not necessarily an easy and their latest selection is, “The book to read, but it’s beautifully written and thought-provoking. Maltese Falcon.” Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of “Hotel Saint Clare” ■ The group consists of Amy- SEVEN WONDERS Faye, and her best friend, Brooke; By Ben Mezrich Lola, who owns a greenhouse/flower Jack Grady is determined to find out why his brother Jeremy was murdered. The two of shop; Kerry, the mayor of the town them weren’t close but that doesn’t deter Jack from his quest. He teams up with Sloane Costa, called, yes, Heaven; Maud, the oldest a beautiful botanist, and together they follow the clues. of the group; and, Ivy, the victim of The spear used in the murder was the first clue, and as they discover more, they go all the crime. over the world finding clues and getting in and out of sticky situations. The evidence links the To begin, Amy-Faye is on her Seven Wonders of the World and leads to a conspiracy and an ancient secret. way to Ivy’s house for a meeting and Jack and Sloane have a connection and grow closer as they trot across the globe trying to solve Jeremy’s when she arrives, Ivy is not answering murder and the mystery around it. Their big problem is that someone, or maybe several people, wants the her door. Amy-Faye sees her on the mystery to remain just that. floor of the house and breaks in. Ivy I enjoyed the global travel and the history throughout this book. The author penned an easy, enjoyable is taken to the hospital but does not read. recover, and according to the police Reviewed by Ashley Dawn, author of “Shadows of Pain” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint of her death is ruled a suicide. Amy- Suspense Magazine ■ Faye does not believe this verdict and ALLURE OF DECEIT she works with the other members of By Susan Froetschel the club to solve the mystery of Ivy’s This is a mystery that evokes many emotions, from suspense to pain to fear. Readers death. Amy-Faye and friends find are taken into a world where many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) operating that there were a plentiful number outside the country of Afghanistan, are all competing with each other for contracts within of suspects and motives for murder, that nation, with some tossing money around and making promises they have no intentions eventually getting the police to agree. of keeping. As the story moves along, the crew A thirty-year-old inventor, extremely bright and rich, and his wife, are killed in a terrorist attack. discovers that Ivy was the bearer of The two left behind a will directing a new foundation to be organized, giving a fortune toward charities some pretty dark secrets that she in developing countries of the world. In Afghanistan, international charities vie for the attention of this shouldn’t have known about, which new foundation, bringing in the stories of two women living in the village of Laashekoh: a young mother is what may have triggered her early wrongly imprisoned for her role in aiding a child-trafficking ring; and an older, educated woman who is demise. providing healthcare, including abortions. The premise and the characters The villagers of Laashekoh don’t want Western charity and are surprised that they are regarded as in this book are extremely well recipients. As far as they’re concerned, they are able to take care of themselves and see no need for people to written. Readers will find it difficult come in and stick their noses into village business. When a group of orphanage workers goes missing from to come up with the reason for the village there is an immediate problem, as the villagers are accused of getting rid of them. Both sides the murder as there are many red want to discover the truth about the disappearances, and charity workers and beneficiaries are questioned. herrings in the plotline that are added The fear rises when the answers come to pass, as a story with shadows galore comes to life. perfectly to the mix. This is a very well written book, reminding one of the old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good Reviewed by Mary Lignor, intentions.” Although many innocent people run charities and are all about doing good things, there are Professional Librarian and Co- those who fall into a far different category. And the acceptance of help and support is not as easy as one Owner of The Write Companion ■ might think. This is a good read that causes people to truly think while enjoying a suspenseful tale. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 36 THE LADY FROM ZAGREB PLEASANTVILLE By Philip Kerr By Attica Locke This brand newBernie Gunther novel is a definite page-turner. For those who don’t know, Bernie Gunther was once a police detective in Germany, and was called back into police work “Pleasantville” is Attica in 1938, right before WWII. He is now a captain in the Nazi SD; the SS’s very much feared Locke’s third book featuring intelligence service. But Bernie is not a Nazi lover. When he entered the service, he was assigned Attorney Jay Porter, and readers to General Reinhard Heydrich before the Nazi was assassinated in May of 1942. Since that of this author will be extremely happened, he was sent to Berlin and is in the process of being pulled into a plan thought up by pleased to find out just what Jay is Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Truth and Propaganda. up to these days. Bernie will have to convince a beautiful film star, Dalia Dresner, to come back to Berlin moviemaking. Pleasantville sounds like Before she will consent, she demands that Goebbels find out what happened to her estranged father who was the perfect place to live—hearts, a priest in Yugoslavia. Bernie was always very good at his job, tracking down criminals, and his good works flowers, and happy days. But there have followed him into this special assignment for Goebbels. Bernie sets out to find this priest, even though he are many issues in this small town would love to refuse this assignment, but no one turns down Hitler’s minions. in Texas that are less than pleasant. Bernie is sent into some of the worst fighting in Croatia looking for Dalia’s father, and into places that are This was a planned community under siege as Communists and Royalists kill each other and any other person that gets in their way. When housing retired Army men, he thinks that he has a line on Dalia’s father, the rug is pulled out from under him and he’s sent back to Berlin. doctors, and lawyers, who settled Along the way…there is even romance. Bernie finds himself falling for Dalia, which may not be the worst thing there in the years following WWII. that could happen. But in wartime, a happy ending is rare. It is 1996, in Houston, Texas, This story is a good one, as are all theBernie Gunther tales that have come before it. Whether a suspense now home to Attorney Porter buff, history or war—this is one book that will keep you thrilled the whole way through. after the death of his wife, where Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ he is struggling to raise his two children alone. Unfortunately, he’s THE TAPESTRY still waiting for the money that he By Nancy Bilyeau should have received after winning In the court of Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves has just become Henry’s fourth wife. Joanna was a novice a huge case against an oil company. in the Dominican priory at Dartford, hoping to devote herself to a religious life, when the king ordered the The opening of the story dissolution and destruction of all monasteries and convents, and she was cast out to find her own way in the begins on election night, 1996, world. when a teenage girl, a campaign A talented weaver of tapestries, Joanna receives a summons to join the court of the king. When a second worker, disappears from summons arrives, Joanna has no choice but to obey, and is accompanied to London by her friends, Master Pleasantville. Her body is found, Gwynn, and his wife, Agatha, a former nun. Joanna almost immediately feels the danger of being part of a court and the crime brings comparisons rife with intrigue and ruthless ambition. Her friend, Catherine Howard, is one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, to two other unsolved murders. but it soon becomes clear that Catherine’s family has more lofty goals for the young girl’s future. The nephew of a prominent As Joanna navigates life at court, she has no choice but to follow the king’s orders and take on duties as candidate for Mayor, Neal Mistress of Tapestries, a daunting job for a woman not out of her twenties. Besides her encounters with the Hathorne, is arrested for the formidable Thomas Cromwell, advisor to King Henry, Joanna realizes that she has been followed on several murder and Jay agrees to represent occasions, and that her own life may be in danger. him as a favor to Neal’s family, “The Tapestry” is the third in author Nancy Bilyeau’s series set in Tudor England. Her attention to detail even though he doesn’t have and historical accuracy serve to make it much more than a novel to pass the time. Protagonist, Joanna, travels all that much criminal defense to Henry’s court at Hampton Court, back to her home in Dartford, and even to Germany as she searches for experience. Neal is the grandson the truth. As a former nun, she is now free to marry, but not to a former priest, oddly enough. How she sorts of Pleasantville’s powerhouse, out her relationships with friends and potential husbands increases the appeal of this book and brings this Sam Hathorne, who is facing a troubled period in English history to dazzling life. run-off mayoral election against Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of “Hotel Saint Clare” ■ the District Attorney whose office just happens to be prosecuting LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS Neal. Jay soon finds himself caught By Lori Roy up in a nightmare of political “Let Me Die in His Footsteps” by Lori Roy is a compelling tale of two women shrouded in corruption and family secrets that mystery and dark family secrets. will eventually bring the bad guys The story begins from daughter Annie’s perspective in 1952, as she prepares to ascend racing after him and his children. into womanhood, which occurs in backwater Kentucky at the tender age of fifteen and a half. This novel is very complex, Tradition involves looking down a well at midnight on that special day to see the face of her with many characters and sub- future husband. Annie inherited “the knowing” from her mother, and it may enable her to see plots to keep track of. In other far more than other girls when she peers into the well. words, it has everything: a case Annie’s mother’s story begins in 1936, in a poor farming community where superstition runs as deep as several years old in appeal; a new the fear of women with black eye color, like Annie and her mother. A lifelong feud between two families begins case waiting to be settled; a recent when Annie’s mother is the suspected force behind a terrible crime and an innocent man’s execution on the murder; and, an election campaign. gallows. Who could ask for anything more? Lori Roy tells the parallel stories of mother and daughter in alternating chapters, which deepened the Filled with intrigue, this is the mystery and kept me longing for answers. Eventually, the two storylines merge and expose unexpected secrets sequel to “Black Water Rising,” but that surprised and haunted me long after I turned the last page. is definitely a standalone book that The Edgar award-winning author wove her characters into my heart and made them unforgettable. “Let resonates with one and all. Me Die in His Footsteps” is an unusual book I couldn’t put down because I had to know what really happened Reviewed by Mary Lignor, in the mother’s past and what would happen to Annie. Professional Librarian and Co- Reviewed by S.L. Menear, author of “Deadstick Dawn” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Owner of The Write Companion ■ Suspense Magazine ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 37 ANY OTHER NAME BYE, BYE LOVE By Craig Johnson By K.J. Larsen Cat DeLuca, Private Investigator, stumbles over a body while running in a neighborhood Many readers will only park. But when she calls the police, she’s hit over the head by a man wearing a Rolex, and recognize the name Sheriff Walt when the police arrive…the body is gone. Longmire as a character on Cable’s Cat is a different breed of PI. She sometimes finds it hard to stay within the limits of the A&E. If so, they are missing the law. Her “Pants on Fire Detective Agency” is not only awesomely named, but has a history of really well written books featuring ending up in little scrapes with the law. Cat and her loyal dog, a beagle named Inga, have been Longmire by Craig Johnson. This in the business of catching liars and cheaters for a while now, and that morning they were just having a little is the newest mystery in the series run when they fell across the body wearing a face that had been shot beyond recognition. Looking into the about this sheriff from Wyoming, victim’s wallet, Cat identified the victim as Bernie Love, a number’s runner for the Provenza crime family, and they just keep getting better and and is not overly surprised that he was killed. To Cat, it’s not a stretch that the man who hit her wearing the better. Rolex was most definitely Bernie’s killer, and the reason for the death was mob-related. In this installment, Longmire Police Captain Bob, however, is not overjoyed to know that Cat is again hip-deep in trouble and at the is about to become a grandfather, center of a murder. He has a hard time believing her story, which he knows will mean that Cat will head and should be at his daughter’s side out on her own investigation…which she most definitely does. Along with Inga, her assistant, Cleo, and anticipating the birth of the baby. her large Italian family, Cat goes on the hunt to try to clear her name, stay away from police anger, and keep But, being the sheriff, he is with herself from being the next victim of a syndicate that doesn’t care who their next victim is. his former boss, Lucian Connally, This is a really fun read that is written by three siblings; K.J. Larsen, is also known as Kari, Julianne, and retired sheriff of the county. Walt Kristen Larsen. They have been churning outCat DeLuca mysteries, and continue to provide fast plots, great is a little bit out of his jurisdiction, characters, and a huge amount of humor. but is a friend and has asked him for Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ help. According to Lucian, a man by the name of Gerald Holman was LORDS OF THE SITH an investigator for the Campbell By Paul Kemp County Sheriff’s Department, and Author Paul Kemp is no stranger to the Star Wars universe, having penned several books looking into cold cases. Gerald in the past. Now he comes out with “Lords of the Sith,” a story set between Star Wars: Episode Holman committed suicide but III Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV A New Hope. For years there has been a void, with his widow doesn’t believe he killed missing details regarding some of the adventures of Darth Vader and the Emperor. This book himself, so Lucian and Longmire fills some of that void, now that Anakin Skywalker is dead and the legend that will be Darth are looking into it. According to Vader is just beginning. Lucian, when Longmire starts The Emperor is looking to take over the planet, Ryloth, by any means necessary. He and his newest investigating he will not quit, so apprentice, Darth Vader, will embark on a personal mission to ensure the success of the Emperor’s goal. The it is no surprise when Longmire relationship between the Emperor and Vader grows stronger when, during the mission, an ambush occurs uncovers something that Holman forcing the most powerful figures to fight their way out, using only their trusty lightsabers and the dark side was checking out: three cold cases of the force to help them stay alive. involving missing women. Walt Fans will agree that “Lords of the Sith” is the perfect book to include within the Star Wars universe. and company follow the trail of Kemp packs the pages with emotionally-charged action that reads as far more than just another “chapter” in these three women from a casino the overall series. Readers will long for another Paul Kemp book, since this should be considered the best in Deadwood and a lodge in South novel in this new era of everyone’s favorite sci-fi realm. (SorryStar Trek fans, but it’s true.) Dakota as they discover secrets that Reviewed by John Raab ■ just might take more lives very, very EENY MEENY soon. By M.J. Arlidge The story goes on with all This book, without a doubt, is a definite thrill that will set suspense lovers in their chairs the basics that fill Craig Johnson’s for as long as it takes them to read it from cover to cover. From the very first line that makes mysteries. Longmire has many the skin crawl, a plot is laid out with two hostages and one bullet between them. Who will characters around him; from Lucian live…and who will die? to Henry Standing Bear to Sheriff Two young people wake up together, extremely confused. They have no idea how they Vic Moretti. The good guys remain ended up this way or what’s about to happen. No food or water is in sight, only two things good as a criminal must be stopped, can be found in the room: a gun with a single bullet in the chamber, and a mobile phone with only enough all while Longmire must field calls power to send a very short message. Their captor has set the scene, and will watch and wait until one of them from his pregnant daughter. is dead. The recipient of the phone call (not yet knowing whether that person becomes the killer or the It remains true that Longmire victim), listens to the voice say: “Do you want to live? On the floor you will find a gun with one bullet for is a terrific hero, along with his little your companion…or yourself. That is the price of freedom. You must kill to live.” band of friends. Anyone who meets Detective Inspector Helen Grace knows that she and her team are after a predator that’s into some very up with this lawman on page or strange little games, such as pitting one person against another to see which will be able to call up the passion screen will not forget the meeting, required to kill. Unlike the ‘norm’ serial killer, this one is unique. They don’t particularly do the “dirty” work, and the fascinating stories are filled but they do have the power to drive their own captives to murder. The survivors of these games have to with that old-time, rugged, suspense endure the fact that they are turned into literal monsters. that is far too sparse in the industry. The action takes place in the city of Southampton, England; a location of darkness that truly fits the Reviewed by Mary Lignor, evil that seems to resonate from the pages. This is a look inside the mind of an ‘out-of-the-box’ killer, and the Professional Librarian and Co- ending will be one you’ll never forget. Owner of The Write Companion ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 38 DESPERATE MEASURES FATAL TRAUMA By Sandra Orchard By Richard L. Mabry, M.D. In this, the third book in Sandra Orchard’s amazing Port Aster series, we meet up with old friends, Detective Tom Parker, and Kate Adams, an herbal research scientist. This is the one that At the beginning of this all fans have been panting for, as it will tie up all the loose ends from the first two titles, and with book, Dr. Mark Baker, an ER the mystery beginning as chapter one takes off like a shot, readers will be lost right away. doctor, hears a loud voice behind Detective Parker and Kate are connected in a working and a romantic relationship that is him issuing the order: “Nobody moving along nicely. They always seem to be together, but there remains an undercurrent of Move.” Turning, he focuses on a secrets between the two. Kate is researching a plant called the amendoso and has finally discovered that the man pushing a wheelchair into the plant is an herbal medication that treats depression. Kate, and her former scientist partner, Daisy Leacock, Emergency Room, brandishing were on the brink of a breakthrough concerning this remedy when Daisy was found dead. After Daisy’s death, a gun. The man in the chair is Kate is more determined than ever to finish the work they began together. bleeding, and the man pushing it Kate will do anything she has to in order to solve the killing of her friend and will risk anything to find the from behind is screaming for the truth behind the murder, even if it means putting her romance with Detective Parker on the line. But now… doctor to take care of the patient someone is after the plant, and if she chooses to continue to hide her quest and work alone, it may just be the while he holds the weapon to the end of her. nurse’s head. No one seems to This author has done a beautiful job bringing three books together and not letting the research of the know who the person is, but the plant ever detract from the story. It is a perfect balance between research, science, and a mystery that holds a doctor and ER nurse go through great deal of action. This is the perfect end to thePort Aster trilogy. And this series goes out as having given the motions to buy time for the readers everything they hope for from a series: hero and heroine, lots of excitement, and a need for this author police to get there, since they both to create a brand new series ASAP. already know that the patient in Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ the wheelchair has succumbed to THE SILVER CORD his wounds. By Alison Caiola Police Officer Ed Purvis In this, the second of her Lily Lockwood series, Caiola has presented us with enough backstory from the comes through the door and initial offering, “The Seeds of a Daisy,” to make the follow-up novel very much a standalone. We catch up with shoots the man holding the actress, Lily, as she is being presented with her first Tony Award. Her fame brings her back into the arms of her ER crew at gunpoint but, former actor flame, Jamie Fleming, with whom she has parented her daughter, Daisy Rose. unfortunately, Officer Purvis also Her soulmate and past lover, physician Robbie Rosen, has been off in Africa on a medical mission and gets shot and is rushed to the not been in close contact for a long while, and while Lily knows Jamie is really nothing more than a flame, OR. Yet another casualty from a she has gotten lonely. Reality is brought back with a jolt when Robbie’s family receives a ransom note after moment in time that cannot be it is discovered that he and two other physicians have been kidnapped by Al-Shabaab, a faction of Al Qaeda. taken back. The bodies of the others have been located. Lily agrees to fund a mission to rescue him at all costs, including After a great deal of putting her own life on the line by flying to Somalia, while the former CIA agent running the show plans the questioning, Dr. Mark Baker and operation. Caiola takes us on a journey through the viewpoint of Robbie, showing how he is being beaten by his Nurse Kelly Atkinson are allowed captors and forced to harvest AIDS infested organs to donate to American donors as an act of terrorism. Not to leave. They are told by the knowing help is on the way, Robbie is planning his suicide rather than help the terrorists. When two CIA police the next day that the two wanted terrorists are seen by drone at the site of the rescue, the government steps in and deploys the SEALS, victims were part of the Zeta Drug but will the cavalry arrive in time to rescue Robbie and reunite Lily with her true love? Cartel that has moved into Texas Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author of “Blood on His Hands” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint of from Mexico. The two are told Suspense Magazine ■ that this is a gang that always seeks revenge when one of their number ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST is killed, and now that Mark and By Chris Marie Green Kelly did not save them, they have This cozy is the second in a series based on the life of “Jensen Murphy, Ghost for Hire.” become automatic targets of the Yes, the main protagonist just happens to have the gift of being dead. Jensen Murphy was cartel. They learn later that two an ordinary California girl who was murdered in the woods by a serial killer back in the 1980’s. members of the OR staff were She’s back now, however, pulled out of her wretched “time loop” where she was reliving her also murdered, so Mark and Kelly death by a psychic named, Amanda Lee. Jensen, along with other ghostly friends, and Amanda, must team up in order to try and combine to put their many interesting talents to good use by helping catch bad guys and solve stay alive. mysteries. And this particular installment is a whole lot of suspense as the ghostly parade deals with a case that The author of this book, Dr. involves a woman and her hotheaded boyfriend who has a very short fuse; a man who is close to taking his Richard L. Mabry, is a retired girlfriend’s life. physician and writer of medical How the ghostly parade gets involved is quite simple. Heidi has concern for her friend Nichelle, who is suspense, and doing an excellent dating a so-called loose cannon, Tim. Heidi has asked Amanda Lee for help in trying to convince Nichelle to leave Tim before he does something stupid, but Nichelle is sure that she can handle his rages. First step, Jensen job. This is yet another page- needs to understand if Tim is really dangerous or simply a loud mouth, as she and her friends use everything turner where the reader is brought possible from the afterlife to discover how to handle this problem. It’s difficult to understand why Nichelle is in immediately. Extremely well- staying with him and readers will find that Tim is able to make everyone uneasy as it gets harder and harder to written, this plot has just the right figure out what he’s capable of. amount of trauma, fear, and thrills This book will bring readers into Amanda’s life/Jensen’s afterlife, through humor and emotion. Readers to make it impossible to put down. will know that they are in the middle of a very touching story that will bring out their own feelings about Reviewed by Mary Lignor, helping abused women so they can get better, get away, and live happier lives. This is a very readable cozy. Professional Librarian and Co- Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ Owner of The Write Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 39 PLAGUED BY QUILT BONE TO BE WILD By Molly MacRae By Carolyn Haines In the beginning of this great cozy, Sarah Booth Delaney needs something to do. Her This is the fourthHaunted Yarn fiancé, Graf Milieu, has suddenly broken off their engagement and gone home to Los Angeles, Shop mystery, and readers will be leaving her alone and more than a bit angry and confused. very pleased to have Kath and her As fate would have it, an old boyfriend, a guitarist by the name of Scott Hampton, has needlework buddies, TGIF, back in asked her to track down the person who has threatened him and his band. Scott is about their lives. to open up a new blues club and it’s obvious that someone out there does not want that to Yarn shop owner, Kath happen. The authorities are not too upset…until the bartender at the club is killed. As Sarah is trying to Rutledge, is volunteering at a forget Graf, she and her partner are hauled into an investigation bringing in a couple more of her old flames. historic farm located in Blue Plum, But danger signs begin to pop up for them as well, just like anyone else who will be involved in the new blues TN. She’s helping the local high club soon to open. Sarah had decided that she would not let a little thing like a break-up stop her from having a ball at the school program, Hands on History, Halloween Ball. She is in need of a little relaxation, but after the bartender is murdered, she finds just what yet her volunteering turns to a bit of she needed all along. Her passion is to investigate the murder; throw herself headfirst into the case and not madness when a long ago murder stop until she uncovers who did this and why it happened. is uncovered on the property. Kath The authorities are going slowly, but Scott and Sarah soon work to untangle the mystery, and readers are needs immediate help from Geneva, offered up a full plate of twists and turns that will keep ‘older’ lovers of this series intrigued and new readers the familiar ghost who haunts Kath’s thrilled. Yet another treasure that Carolyn Haines set in the south with blues history that’s a whole lot of fun shop. to learn. Geneva is not the only ‘person’ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ in Kath’s life. Her needlework group, Thank Goodness It’s Fiber TACONIC MURDA By Uriel E. Gribetz (AKA: TGIF), is also on hand. The Detective Sam Free, and his partner, Frank Cortez, have worked their way up from narcotics to homicide. group is asked to teach a workshop Cortez was preparing for an early retirement, fueled by monies he had absconded with from crime scenes at the Holston Homeplace Living he’d worked over the years—him, and many other cops in the Fort Apache section of the South Bronx History Farm, but the crazy quilt precinct. Free had always stayed away from the temptation of the extra income, and often caught hell from lesson they are planning to teach his workmates for his lifestyle; just a small apartment shared with his wife and son in the inner city. is no match for the antics of the When raiding a suspected murderer’s home, a gun, suspected of being used at a recent triple murder, assistant director, Philip Bell. Philip is seized in the garbage can in the alley behind the house. Free is being pressured into fibbing on the stand is going on about history, in his by up and coming DA, Celeste Santiago; she wants him to tell jurors that the evidence was found on the usual histrionic fashion, as he leads suspect’s property. But when Free refuses, he is ostracized by the people he has to work with. So one day he an archaeological dig of the farm’s takes a ride up the Taconic Highway to a nearby town out in the country, where there is a chance to work for old dumpsite. It is then that one of the local sheriff and get out from under the constant stress of his job. the students uncovers the human The prices of homes here are too much for his budget; however, an opportunity is dropped at his feet bones. When the whole skeleton when, in a random traffic altercation, he has a run-in with a local ‘made man’ and finds his rent collections in is excavated, Kath comes across a a large, black plastic bag—enough to buy the house and move his family out to the country. Deciding to take strange connection, and believes the plunge, just this one time, Free unknowingly sets in motion circumstances that will find him charged for the body is somehow connected to murder, and being pursued by his former colleagues with only revenge on their minds. Geneva. Gribetz, a New York lawyer, drawing on his work experiences, knocks his debut police procedural out It is engaging that in this of the park. novel, Geneva’s background and Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author of “Blood on His Hands” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint “real story” come to life as the old- of Suspense Magazine ■ time skeletons that crop up are DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS investigated. This special ghost By Lucy Burdette that has appeared in all the books The fifthKey West Food Critic mystery, offers even more mayhem in the beauty of Key is finally set in the spotlight, with West, as well as more recipes that will make the palette sing. a story that all readers will find Although there is no ‘snow white covering’ during Christmas in Key West, there is extremely intriguing. definitely murder. And this Christmas, Hayley Snow, the food critic for a local magazine called As far as the mystery goes, it is Key Zest, has gotten herself involved with yet another local mystery, much to the dismay of her a true whodunit until the very end, friends, family and, most of all, the local police. which is always a big plus from this Haley’s newest assignment is to cover the opening night of Bistro on the Bight, a new restaurant owned writer, who has a way of making sure by Chef Edel Waugh, who made a huge name for herself back in New York City running a restaurant with her that no reader is ever disappointed. husband. Edel is newly divorced, however, and has moved from the Big Apple to Key West to begin again. Although standalone, it is far more She is certain she can run a restaurant, be her own chef, and be an overnight success all at the same time. Edel fun when beginning with book one does ask Hayley for help; she wants her to try to find out who is attempting to wreck her chances at having and learning to love Kath, the TGIF a great opening night. Little things keep happening; there’s too much salt in the sauce, too much peanut oil crew, and Geneva, who always adds found in the dressing… But then things get far worse, when the shed behind the restaurant is burned down the edge-of-your-seat flair to this and a body is found inside. excellent series. The characters are very enjoyable, especially Hayley, and the investigation will keep readers intrigued. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, One of the best things continues in this series which is the delicious recipes found in the back of the book. Professional Librarian and Co- From “Lucy’s Scarlett O’Hara Cupcakes” to “Janet Snow’s Spaghetti Bolognese” the writer offers not only a fun Christmas jaunt through Key West, but also a menu that leaves readers panting for more. Owner of The Write Companion ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 40 DONE IN ONE LIFE OR DEATH By Grant Jerkins and Jan Thomas By Michael Robotham In a majority of the police forces in this country, there is a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team included within the building. This particular branch includes a sniper, who is The criminals in this action- probably a guy that you all know and admire, who goes about his day job normally, only pulling packed novel have what you out the ‘special talent’ when it’s called for. This man is a kidnapped hostage’s last hope for staying would call “money problems.” So alive; not to mention, a criminal’s silent nightmare. what should they do? Steal some, In this story, Jake Denton is that SWAT sniper. He saves his bullet casings as depressing of course. reminders of his kills and these casings are beginning to mount up. Jake’s wife and department psychiatrist are When this gang robs an beginning to see just how much these kills are affecting his mental health. Lee Staley is the man who was Jake’s armored truck and takes away $7 partner and teacher at one time; on permanent psychiatric leave, he becomes a suspect in a series of killings that million, the robbery leaves four take place in Northern California. It seems that a shooter has been killing cops, and the strain gets to Jake. Lee people dead, one robber shot was a sniper that retired after he missed his last shot and couldn’t seem to get beyond it. Jake doesn’t believe that but captured alive, and one gang Lee is the culprit, but knows that they have both been taught to kill, and how easy it would be to cross the line member who gets away and is to become a murderer for hire. never seen again. But he’s not the As this novel unfolds, readers will liken this story to American Sniper, the movie that talks about military only one; the $7 million payday snipers who are deployed, usually for thirty months, but the police sniper is on duty for some thirty-plus years, can’t be found either. truly a big difference. Snipers have that one bullet that equals one kill, and if the job is not “Done in One” even Audie Palmer was the more nightmares can occur. survivor who didn’t get away. The team of mystery writer, Jerkins and Jan Thomas, who has worked as a paramedic, is intriguing. And the Captured, he had to fight for his fact that Jan’s husband is a retired police sniper makes the book all the more realistic. life every day of the ten years Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ he was incarcerated as everyone THE DEAD ASSASSIN (inmate or not) wanted a piece By Vaughn Entwistle of the action. Moss Webster, a A truly nasty murder is discovered that has Scotland Yard completely baffled. It is the year convicted killer, has seen the 1895, and when this murder case shows up so does one, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to investigate. boy stabbed, strangled, beaten And Doyle subsequently finds himself up against a case that is far different from any other he has and burned, by guards and worked on. inmates alike, trying to make Scotland Yard’s Detective Blenkinsop calls Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde to the home of Audie give up the information the Secretary for War Lord Montague Howell. Howell has been found dead in his parlor, dressed of what became of the money, in his evening clothes, with his killer lying just a few feet away…shot dead. It seems that Lord Howell was the and where Carl, Audie’s brother, victim of a revolutionary plot threatening the royal family, and Queen Victoria, herself, has asked Doyle to look disappeared to. As Audie’s into it. release date nears, the attacks A constable recognizes the assassin as Charlie Higginbotham, a petty thief and pickpocket but nothing as get worse. But on the morning substantial as a murderer. Something even more difficult to explain? It seems to be completea impossibility that of his discharge from prison, he he is the killer, seeing as how he was hung at Newgate Prison just two weeks ago. disappears. Doyle and the crew are flummoxed, to say the least, as other murders are committed by someone who Special Agent Desiree is already dead. As the killings continue, a strange group of madmen appear. Doyle is soon left wondering if Furness of the FBI is on the odd someone actually has the ability to bring a body back to life—bodies of executed criminals—and program them case that makes absolutely no to murder. sense. After all, what moron after On the cover of this truly amazing and excellent read are the words: “The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir serving ten years would plan and Arthur Conan Doyle.” Paranormal is the magic word here, and the writing is outstanding. Best advice that can be given: Do not miss this one! execute an escape when it’s time Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of for him to get out? Let’s just say, Suspense Magazine ■ Audie has his reasons. And on the other side of the very same coin FINDING SKY sit some very unsavory mobsters By Susan O’Brien who pledge to arrange a little Nicki Valentine is a widow with two pre-school-aged children. She is a very good mom, but would like to vacation for Moss Webster— have an identity all her own. So (why not?) she decides to become a private investigator. promising his freedom if he finds Nicki is taking P.I. classes while her kids are in pre-school. Her mother, and her friend, Kenna, are helping Audie before the FBI can track with babysitting duties. Kenna and her husband are awaiting the birth of a baby that they are planning to adopt. him down. The teenage mother of the baby, Beth, wants to give the baby up for adoption but her parents want to keep it. While reading this terrific, Worse yet, the baby’s father doesn’t want the baby to be born at all, and he has threatened Beth. Now…she has non-stop thriller, both the present gone missing. and the decade-old robbery are Kenna seems to think that she is just hiding until after the baby is born, but she asks Nicki to help her locate explored. A masterful piece of Beth. The police have been called in on the case but have had no luck finding her, so Nicki attempts to track fiction, Audie’s journey is sheer the girl down by getting advice from her P.I. class instructor—a man who is seriously good looking and adds perfection for the person who an extra bit of spice to her life. But Beth is more important at the moment, and seeing as that a baby is going to absolutely dotes on suspense and be born, Nicki must learn her new craft as quickly as possible to make sure that everything and everyone turns is always looking for that next out all right. thrill ride that never ends. This Living in suburbia with babysitters, a minivan stacked with all sorts of stuff, and her woman’s intuition, story leaves you breathless from Nicki has her first taste of what private investigation will be like. beginning to end. This book is a very cleverly written introduction to a brand new series that takes a fun shot at motherhood Reviewed by Mary Lignor, and PI’s in training. Fast-paced with a terrific story line, I have a feeling readers will be waiting impatiently for Professional Librarian and Co- the next installment. Owner of The Write Companion ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 41 NIGHT WORK MURDER AT HONEYCHURCH HALL By Steve Hamilton By Hannah Dennison This book is the first in a brand new series by Hannah Dennison, which means the extremely entertaining Joe Trumbull is a Juvenile world of “Honeychurch Hall” is just beginning. Probation Officer in Kingston, Set in the quiet, peaceful Devon countryside of England, an old house sits in need of a lot of repairs, holds New York. He’s a nice guy who some secrets, some stuffed animals and, lo and behold, a murder. Kat Stanford has given up her job as the host of Fakes & Treasures, a British TV show, and is hoping to open has been through a very hard an antique business with her newly widowed mother, Iris. Kat finds that her mother has moved from London to time in the past. Two years ago, a carriage house located on an estate in Devon called, Honeychurch Hall. She also learns about this move via a his fiancée was killed just a few telephone call informing Kat that Iris has broken her hand. Kat offers to help, and sets out to visit her mom to days before their wedding. check on her. The family that owns the Hall are struggling to keep the estate together so they do not have to sell It is two years later and it to developers. But what Iris’s part is in all this, is a puzzle to Kat. She soon discovers that she doesn’t know her he’s finally decided to go on a mother as well as she thought, and the idea of opening an antique shop may have to be put aside for the time being. date for the first time since the But as Kat becomes more ingrained in the estate, she realizes that Devon is anything but boring and out-of-the- tragedy happened. Joe wants way. to get his life back, and is going Honeychurch Hall is clandestine in its own way, and Iris has purchased the carriage house at the Hall with to take the plunge by going some very interesting folks in the area, including; lords, ladies, butlers, and cooks that all seem to have something on a blind date with Marlene they’re hiding. And when the bodies begin to pile up, it’s Kat who has to figure out the truth behind the veil of Frost, a lovely woman who he secrecy that hangs over Honeychurch Hall. This is the perfect read for an afternoon where mystery and fun is all you’re looking for. It will be interesting hits it off with pretty well, even to see how this already great series continues. spending some time at her Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ place after their date. Leaving around one a.m., Joe looks PALACE OF TREASON By Jason Matthews forward to a second date. This is the sequel to the truly thrilling, “Red Sparrow.” In this installment, Captain Dominika Somehow, for some sick, Egorova of the Russian Intelligence Service (SVR), is now one of the CIA’s highest placed moles fateful reason, his evening working in the Kremlin. Dominika is also in love with her CIA handler, Nate Nash, which makes with Marlene begins a brand her even more than just a little crazy as she has to keep their relationship a secret while the Kremlin new nightmare for Joe that biggies are constantly checking up on everyone. draws him back to his past. But The villains in the group are really villains, especially Alexei Zyuganov, who is a psychopath the worst is yet to come. Sadly, and torturer of the highest order, along with his student, Eva Buchina, who is right up there with him when it Marlene is found murdered; comes to sick. When it seems that a promotion is coming, due to being a true ‘patriot of the state,’ by the time the her body left near the railroad person is in they realize that they’ve sold their heart and soul to the party, and Dominika makes it clear that she tracks. Joe does everything he is out for revenge. can to help until two other She has been taken in by the CIA to start a new mission called Project Diva, featuring Dominika as the women who are associated show’s leading lady. She heads back to Russia to infiltrate the SVR and gain the trust of the men in charge. As she is working her way inside, Nate and his crew are working on a mission in Washington to mess with a plan of Iran’s with Joe are also found dead, to get nuclear weapons capability in only a year’s time. and Joe ends up being accused Dominika is a smart cookie and is able to keep her head on straight while getting the job done. Nate is the of murdering them all. Not perfect foil for Dominika, and the relationship they share is just as thrilling as the missions they head. This is a only them, however, Joe also great book written by author Jason Matthews, who just happens to be a former CIA operative and certainly knows finds himself accused of killing the background and intricacies of what he’s talking about. First rate writing with an unforgettable storyline, this his former fiancée, Laurel, one is not to be missed. whose case has remained open Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ all this time. Joe certainly POSITIVE knows he hasn’t killed anyone, By David Wellington and won’t stop looking until Not a zombie fan? Me neither. I enjoy The Walking Dead, but then, it isn’t really about the he finds the psycho who zombies. It’s about people surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. The zombie killings are for the fun apparently hates him enough of it, right? So I wasn’t thinking: Yay, David Wellington’s “Positive” is the book for me. It has zombies to want to destroy any chance in the blurb. Joe will ever have for a life. However, it was the book for me. Wellington has cleverly put a new spin on an overstuffed genre. This is a very interesting There’s heart in “Positive,” solid characters, and a storyline that doesn’t dawdle along examining all story with good characters and the minutiae which bogs down some of these post-apocalyptic stories. a great plot line. At times, you “Positive” drops us into Manhattan, where society is almost normal now that the zombie apocalypse is in its may want to smack Joe for his second generation of survivors. This younger generation knows nothing except struggle. Within Manhattan, they are safe, although this zombie virus can gestate for up to twenty-one years. If you’re unfortunate enough to be born naïveté, but you will stick with to someone who suddenly turns zombie, like our protagonist, Finn, whose mother goes zombie, you are tattooed him and enjoy the mystery, with a positive sign and segregated from the population until the incubation period expires at age twenty-one. while having a few laughs at Finn is meant to be delivered to a camp in another state to wait out his time, but his transport is ambushed. the humor found throughout He’s left alone to survive in the treacherous territory outside Manhattan. In order to stay alive, he joins with the tale. scavengers and various characters who’ve adapted to the constant threat of death. It’s a road trip of epic adventure Reviewed by Mary Lignor, and drama, and Finn realizes zombies are not the worst enemies he faces. Professional Librarian and Wellington tells a great story in the ilk of “The Passage,” “The Road,” and even Stephen King’s “The Stand.” Co-Owner of The WriteFor all the zombie snobs, you might find you enjoy the genre when in the hands of a talented writer. I’m not a Companion ■ zombie fan, but am now firmly a David Wellington fan. Reviewed by Susan May www.susanmaywriter.com ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 42 Kensington Publishing Corp.

The Hayley Powell Food and The Local Foods Mystery Series Cocktails Mystery Series

The Big Mystery This Summer? Which One You’re On Sale Now On Sale Now “There are plenty of farming- Reading First… “This funny and quick-paced based cozies on the market series keeps getting better.” today, but this one stands out.” —RT Book Reviews —Booklist

The Mystery with Recipes Series The Bookstore Cafe Mystery Series The Jaine Austen Mystery Series The Melanie Travis Canine Mystery Series

On Sale Now On Sale Now On Sale Now On Sale Now “The perfect mix A brand new series about a “Mystery lovers will not “If you like dogs, you’ll love of crime, family dynamics small-town coffee and book shop want to pass it up.” Laurien Berenson’s Melanie and good food.” named “Death by Coffee” —New York Journal of Books Travis mysteries!” —RT Book Reviews, #### that lives up to its name. on Death of a Trophy Wife —Joanne Fluke

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. America’s Independent Publisher Find more cozy mysteries and your summer hobby inspiration at www.HobbyReads.com! Movies INSIDE OUT 2015 Genre – Animation/Comedy/Drama (PG)

Disney’s Pixar has gone where most parents fear to tread; they’ve taken us into the brain of a child bordering on teenage-hood. Yikes! Despite Inside Out being an animated fantasy, they’ve done their homework. You can almost hear the filmmakers brainstorming the idea:emotions control us. Director/screenwriter Pete Docter, has brought us some of the greatest animated films to date, including; Up, Monsters Inc., and Toy Story, and he doesn’t miss the mark here either. Inside Out has some refreshingly original ideas, exploring the concept that if emotions and memory were run as an organization, how would everything work? We first meet Joy (Amy Poehler) who arrives inside the control room of baby girl, Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), just moments after her birth. She is soon joined by Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). Talk about picking the perfect voices to match the emotion. They run Riley’s reactions to life in a democratic manner, with Joy mostly running the show, meaning, for the most part, Riley has a happy disposition. That is…until Riley’s family moves from the Midwest to San Francisco. It’s a difficult transition for the whole family, and Riley remains positive, even rallying the family, until Joy and Sadness are accidentally sucked into the vault of long term memories. Without Joy in control, the rest of the emotions make poor decisions and Riley’s life spirals out of control. Joy and Sadness must find their way back to the control room by navigating through Riley’s subconscious, travelling through the Dream Factory, hitching a ride on the Train of Thought, navigating the maze of long-term memories, and even teaming up with Riley’s childhood imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind). The voice actors do a wonderful job, the animation is colorful and imaginative, and despite its complex themes, children will still easily relate. Another finely scripted, beautifully imagined film from Docter, who clearly has the ability to tap into his inner child. This time, literally. Reviewed by Susan May www.susanmaywriter.com ■ JURASSIC WORLD 2015 Genre – Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi (PG-13)

In 1993, Steven Spielberg realized Michael Crichton’s imaginative novel “Jurassic Park” on the big screen, employing CGI technology that had us slobbering over our movie tickets and standing in extremely long lines just to see the film. In the lead up to it’s release, countless news features, with accompanying video, on the amazing imagery from the upcoming film played on our small screens endlessly. Even last year the re-released Jurassic Park, re-engineered in 3D, was just as entertaining, withstanding the test of time. Twenty-two years later, with our advances in technology, you would imagine a rebooted Jurassic Park would be edge-of-the-seat thrilling and fantastic entertainment. Seems scriptwriting has not evolved at the same pace as technology. You can’t dress up a poor script in CGI. Second-time director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed), seems unable to bring his characters any further than clichés of the originals. Introducing (or let’s say re-introducing), the billionaire park owner (Irrfan Khan) who hasn’t got a clue—how did he get to be so rich, when he’s so dopey? The manager of the park (Bryce Dallas Howard) who won’t shut down the place no matter what—for the love of Jimmy Choo shoes, how does she run through the jungle and from a T-Rex while wearing high heels most couldn’t even walk in? The bad guy (Vincent D’Onofrio) who wants to use the dinosaurs for military purposes—Really? Oh, so original. Hero (Chris Pratt)—who nobody listens to, even though he makes the most sense—who can wrangle raptors and is all about the people eating, dangerous animals. The two kids—therealways has to be two kids—whose mother allows them to go to an island for the weekend to visit their aunt—alone!—who she hasn’t seen for six years, and she knows is self-centered and unreliable. Not bringing anything new to the franchise, it’s almost a parody of the original. If you can get past all the dumbness, it does have some saving graces. There’s no swearing and the posters are awesome. There are a few cool nods to the original, and we get to see what happened to the old park and hotel. Kids from around ten to fourteen will probably love it. If you are a fan of the Transformer style film where giant, long-winded, over-the- top battles matter more than solid character and plot development, then you will enjoy. If you are not in these categories, might I suggest a night at home with popcorn and the original Jurassic Park (or you could even read the book). At least that way, you won’t be left wondering how Bryce Dallas Howard managed to sprint in heels. My vote is they’re some new shoes Nike is testing out. Reviewed by Susan May www.susanmaywriter.com ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 44 Featured Artist

LEARNINGANGELES LIFE LESSONS RUIZ Interview by Suspense Magazine

SuspenseMagazine.com ALIVE45 e happily bring to you our June featured artist Angeles THUNDERSTORM WRuiz, who is known as La Boheme on DeviantArt. Angeles is from Spain and happily defines herself with a known phrase from her country: “student of everything and teacher of nothing.” Angeles has tried her hand at several majors over ten years at University, studying law, psychology, social education and more. She left the classroom environment when she realized she was unhappy with dedicating so many hours to things that she found herself uninterested in. Angeles believes in doing things with passion or feels it’s better not to do them at all. After leaving the classroom, she jumped around until she decided to take a few courses on makeup artistry. It was through working with fashion photographers that she learned about Photoshop. She found that tool that would allow her to express her feelings, and as a self-taught artist, she’s constantly striving to learn. Rewarded by her direction, Angeles has also been featured in art exhibits. She continues to work to capture emotion from viewers and finds herself the happiest when someone says, “this has made me tremble,” or “this has made me dream.”

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): Where did your love of art itself come from? A teacher, a parent, a friend, etc.?

Angeles Ruiz (A.R.): My love of art itself comes from my parents. They taught me to appreciate the beauty of art in all its forms I LOVE YOU MY ANGEL (performing arts, music, dance, museums, architecture, etc). S. MAG.: How would you describe your process? Do you work on one piece at a time or do you have several projects in various stages?

A.R.: I become obsessed with single pieces, once I start working on one, and I work solely on that until it’s finished. I depend I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER on my inspiration completely. Though Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working,” I do recognize that I cannot force myself to work. If I want to finalize a job to my satisfaction, I need to express an emotion and have an idea on how to do it.

S. MAG.: If you had to choose just one piece of your work to showcase, which would it be and why?

A.R.: I would choose Alive without hesitation. The idea that we can create characters and new worlds and give them life, or try to, is something that I love. The barrier separating reality from fantasy is not clear. I think there is real magic in the creation of art.

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 46 S. MAG.: Do you have an emotional connection to your pieces?

A.R.: Yes, with each and every one of them, I have an emotional connection. For me, it’s always a means of expressing emotions, fears, fantasies, dreams, and even views on social issues or life in general.

S. MAG.: What memorable responses have you had to your work?

A.R.: I’m really impressed when I’m able to touch the hearts of people. I remember a comment where someone told me that the scene had brought her many fond memories of life years ago, and she was moved. The fact that someone stops to observe and “feel” makes me very happy and touches me deeply.

S. MAG.: Who is your favorite artist?

A.R.: I know many wonderful artists and I really love the work of many of them, but my favorite artist is Kurtzan (http://kurtzan. deviantart.com). He’s a real artist and the passion that he invents in his work is clearly visible. He’s able to create impressive sceneries full of details and new worlds full of life. If you care to observe, it’s even easy to imagine the sounds in each of his pieces. And his dark images are just brilliant. A Strange Encounter is, to me, the best dark work that I have ever seen (http://kurtzan. deviantart.com/art/A-Strange-Encounter-440742906). I’ve paused to view it more than a hundred times and the atmosphere is chilling—really amazing.

S. MAG.: If you could write a message to future aspiring artists and place it in a time capsule for them to read years from now, what would you write?

A.R.: I would write: “Well, I’m not here anymore, and you can see that life is short, so try to live your dream and if you feel happy doing artwork, just do it!”

S. MAG.: Describe a day in your life.

A.R.: All of my days are similar; I have a simple life with not much to tell. I try to enjoy every day with people I love and my pets. I try to fulfill my duties as best as I can and I like going to bed every night with a clear conscience and wake up every morning giving thanks for the good things I have in my life with a smile.

S. MAG.: Finish this sentence: If I wasn’t an artist, I would be ______.

A.R.: A literature teacher! There are many books from sixteenth- to eighteenth centuries that I want to read, and I love poetry.

S. MAG.: Tell us something about your home country/home town that we wouldn’t find in a travel brochure.

A.R.: Oh, Spain is a country with so much history. There are hundreds of castles, palaces, medieval villages, historic museums, and impressive cathedrals that you can see, but if you don’t want to spend the whole day visiting places, you’ll also find a lot of sun, music, and parties. We’ve got good wine, wonderful food, beautiful beaches and very friendly and welcoming people.

We thank Angeles for spending time with us. You can find out more about this talented artist at http://la--boheme.deviantart.com. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 47

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES MEET NEAL GRIFFIN Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author Debut author, Neal Griffin, has worked as a patrol cop, field training officer, member of SWAT, Hostage Negotiator, Narcotics Investigator, Gang Enforcement Specialist, and Supervisor of a Homicide Unit. He has been named as Officer of the Year on two occasions during his career and he currently holds the rank of Detective Lieutenant. Neal holds a Bachelor’s Degree from California State University, San Marcos and is a graduate of the prestigious FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The son of a Philosophy Professor, Neal was taught early on to question authority. It is a trait that has not always made him popular with his bosses, but one he has put to use as an author. In his first novel, “Benefit of the Doubt,” Neal has created police characters who challenge the status quo. Cops who are good at what they do in spite of the fact they may not be as dutiful and obedient as most chiefs would like. Neal also pulls no punches in creating cops who have no business wearing a badge or a gun. In his book, Neal has tackled one of the most controversial topics in law enforcement: false conviction born of police malfeasance. We were able to interview Neal about the book and you can check out that interview below. But first let’s take a quick peek inside “Benefit of the Doubt.”

Convicted killer Harlan Lee is out of prison and determined to exact revenge against the system that locked him away for seventeen years. Halfway across the country, Police Sergeant Ben Sawyer is fired after committing an act of abusive force so outrageous, he’s America’s new poster boy for police brutality. “Benefit of the Doubt” is the story of these two men and the bloody road that leads to their inevitable confrontation.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): Give us the inside look into “Benefit of the Doubt” that’s not on the back cover.

Neal Griffin (N.G.): The story is incredibly current. Even though the book has been working its way through the editorial process for the past year, “Benefit of the Doubt,” has that ‘ripped from the headlines’ feeling. Ben Sawyer’s cell phone captured fall from grace and Tia Suarez’ exposure, and use of clandestine government surveillance assets are just two examples. A few weeks before the book was released, my editor sent me a clipping of an actual incident of police misconduct that was uncanny to say the least; one could go so far to say eerily familiar. It even occurred in the Midwest! I

SuspenseMagazine.com 49 think “Benefit of the Doubt” will strike the reader as relevant ignored. At one point, I’d say she nearly takes over the story. to current affairs. Her character came out so strong that in the sequel to “Benefit of the Doubt,” Tia Suarez is the lead protagonist and I know S. MAG.: When creating a character, are there certain things everyone is going to love her. you make sure they all have? S. MAG.: Was there a certain author or book that turned the N.G.: Staying Power. As a writer, I want to create characters light on in your head to make you want to write in this genre? that stay in the mind of the reader long after the book has gone on the shelf. So, if somehow a character came to life and stopped N.G.: I grew up on Wambaugh and that had a lot to do with you on the street, it would be like seeing an old friend or, in my becoming a cop, but becoming a writer was a different story. the case of a few others, like confronting your worst enemy. I I remember picking up a book titled, “A World of Thieves,” think the characters in “Benefit of the Doubt” have that sort of from a discount pile. I bought it for $2.00. I read it in two days impact. and since that time I’ve read everything ever written by James Ben Sawyer is a cop who comes off as a bit cocky at first, Carlos Blake. He is a master of literary crime fiction. I call but he’s pretty good at what he does so maybe that’s okay. In his style “irreverent Americana.” His plots are true to life but the case of Tia Suarez, she’s one of the best cops I’ve ever been absolutely uncompromising in their realistic portrayal of crime around and I know readers will be drawn to her moxie. And fighting in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was once Harlan Lee? He’s the sort of crook that has always intrigued quoted as saying, “violence is the most elemental truth of life.” I me. Smart, organized and focused. Harlan has an agenda and think you’ll see more than a little of that sentiment in “Benefit he’s not the least bit concerned with society’s ‘silly little rules’ of the Doubt.” that govern moral behavior. So for me, a good character—no, check that—a great S. MAG.: Being a new author, what have you learned along character is developed with such depth that they stay in the the way regarding the whole publishing/marketing process? head of a reader long after the book goes on the shelf. N.G.: So many things, but probably most important, trust S. MAG.: Plot vs. Character driven stories: which side do you the experts and be patient. That was hard for me because I’m fall on? not by nature a patient guy. My agent, Jill Marr, worked with me for a year before we took the manuscript to market. She N.G.: I don’t think you can compromise in either area, but I knew we would only get one shot to catch the eye of a publisher do start with characters. Strong multi-dimensional characters and she wanted the manuscript to make the strongest possible drive plot. impression. My editor, Melissa Singer with Tor/Forge, has been in the business for thirty years and she taught me a great deal S. MAG.: In “Benefit of the Doubt” did you have a character along the way about how you roll out a crime novel. You can’t that surprised you by having a larger voice than you thought rush it. And obviously both Jill and Melissa knew how to get it they would? done, because two weeks after release, “Benefit of the Doubt” hit #8 on the L.A. Times bestseller list. N.G.: From the start, Having professionals like Jill and Melissa in my corner “Benefit of the Doubt” was throughout the entire process has made all the difference. all about Ben Sawyer. His fall from grace as well as his S. MAG.: Even though you are a Packer Fan (Suspense road to redemption. Then, Magazine is all Viking Country, I guess I’ll ask another as I started to venture out question), what one piece of advice did you receive early that with beta-readers and has stuck with you? agents, everyone started commenting on the N.G.: Great segue! Even though Viking fans have had no real character of Tia Suarez. cause for excitement in thirty years, they don’t give up! It’s the Even Tess Gerritsen, who same in publishing. If you want to write and eventually publish, sampled just a bit, said you just have to stay with it. You can’t stop trying to improve “Oh, I like Tia.” on your skills. I’m not sure there is another endeavor that has I found the character more rejection built into it than publishing a novel. It’s a rite Tia Suarez to be just like of passage that everyone has to endure. You simply can’t give the Tia’s I’ve known in up; and, you can’t stop learning throughout the process. There real life; she refused to be will be nuggets of knowledge along the way; experts willing to

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 50 share a tidbit here and there. And you must have thick skin. I remember when bestselling author Andrew Gross read a few pages from an early manuscript. His advice was unvarnished but incredibly helpful.

S. MAG.: Normally with your military background we would have expected you to write a military thriller, why did you not take that path?

N.G.: I guess I fell into that pattern of writing what I know, and there is nothing I know better than police work. I loved my years in the marines, but that seems like a lifetime ago. (Probably because it was.) I think the stories I can write with the most authenticity are always going to be cop stories. After twenty-six years, I’ve got plenty of material.

S. MAG.: Why did you choose Police Sgt. Ben Sawyer to be the character that would lead your book. Who is he?

N.G.: Ben is a great cop, until the moment he’s not. He’s the cop you want at 2:00 AM, when you’re home, asleep with your family and you hear the glass break downstairs. You stir awake to realize not only is someone in your house but now they’re coming up your stairs. And, if you’re the type of person who never really thought you’d need a gun, all you’re going to have is a phone. So you’ll dial 911 and Ben Sawyer is the cop you want. But the day comes when the stars align against Ben. On a hot summer day in deep east Oakland when he is taking a wanna-be cop killer into custody, he snaps. In a big way. Now, branded as the poster boy for police brutality, Ben has to try and recover not only some sort of a career, but his life and family. Ben is flawed but you can’t help but pull for him. You want him to find his way back to being the cop, husband and father he once was. His journey is the story of “Benefit of the Doubt.”

S. MAG.: What can fans expect to see from you in the future?

N.G.: The sequel to “Benefit of the Doubt,” is complete and features Tia Suarez as the lead character. The book is titled “A Voice From the Field” and will be released by Forge in the spring of 2016. Now I’m working on another thriller featuring both Ben Sawyer and Tia Suarez, along with some new characters, both heroic and scandalous. And, I would also like to write a standalone book that is set in Southern California where I’ve spent my career as a cop. I already have some ideas in mind. But for sure, more to come!

We would like to thank Neal for taking the time to talk with us. For more information on Neal please visit his website at www.nealgriffin.com. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 51 COPY EDITOR’S CORNER

Editor, Heal Thyself By Jim Thomsen LAST MONTH I TALKED ABOUT TAKING SOME TIME OFF TO WRITE MY OWN NOVEL. How’s that going, you ask? Welllllllllll…good and not so good. The story behind the story is its own three-act tale. Act I: I got off to a blazing start, shoring up some holes in an extended synopsis I wrote before I arrived at a friend’s guest cottage in north-central Florida. I remain convinced as much now as then that my plot and structure are solid. And then I roared out of the gate with more than 33,000 words in the first nine days. But… well, in the trade, a first draft is known as a “vomit draft,” and, well, my vomit draft was particularly odiferous and runny. For those who think that editing novels for a living means that I’d have a firm grasp of what to do—and what not to do—as a writer, well…that might be logical, but we’re talking about writing here. In letting the story “flow” for this first draft, and not getting caught up in the nearly irresistible need to edit as I went, I made many of the mistakes I routinely red-flag in the work of my clients. I may have learned craft, but my bad impulses still wield wicked power over my streamed consciousness. Staying in flow is one thing but, to coin an indelicate metaphor, if there’s enough fecal matter in your flow, things will get plugged up and backed up. IT TOOK A WEEK AWAY TO COME BACK WITH EYES FRESH ENOUGH TO SPOT MY SCREW-UPS:

1. From almost the beginning, I put the story on “pause” to explain things. The background of every character. The history of the setting. What everything and everybody looks like. What people feel. I had to check myself by recalling a note I wrote to a client who had the same problem: “Would you want to watch a movie that froze the action ten seconds and followed with ten minutes of voice-over narration?” Well, no, I wouldn’t. Highlight, delete, lather, rinse, repeat. And then I recalled another piece of advice I gave to another similarly afflicted client: “If your story depends to an extreme degree on the events that precede it, then your story is probably starting in the wrong place.” Yep, that’s just what happened. I spent a few hours soul-searching the question: “Where does my story really begin?” And eventually I found it, by turning backstory into front story.

2. My dialogue and descriptions were too “on the nose.” I preach show-don’t-tell with the fervor of a tent- revival preacher, and here I was using adverbs and writing things like “Her eyes were cornflower blue.” I was

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 52 describing action in linear fashion, and it felt like I was writing the instructions to IKEA furniture assembly: “He swung his fist. I ducked and rolled at his legs. He jumped but a beat too late, and tumbled onto the pavement. I leaped to my feet….”

Ugh! Who is this person using my fingers to type these horrible words? This was a tougher problem to get around for me, because I not only wanted to fix my words but fix the thinking that created them. During that one-week timeout, I contracted with an online literary site to write an appreciation of crime author Peter Abrahams, and read one Abrahams novel a day. Abrahams, it turns out, is a master at writing “off the nose.” Almost every exchange of dialogue involves one person speaking cryptically and another person trying, and usually failing, to get more information. And in his action scenes, he has a way of delivering critical information right behind the beat, sly but pleasurable rabbit punches.

An example from Abrahams’s 2006 suspense thriller, “End of Story”:

I feel his hard muzzle at the back of my head. Am I expecting company? No. That explains my overreaction and I don’t even recognize Ferdie till he’s down. Course he has backup—procedure is how they get control of the wild boys—and they work me over for a bit, completely understandable, no problem. Then Ferdie’s back in the picture, a little different with missing teeth. One of them’s in my hand; I’ve been clinging to it during the working-me-over part for some reason. Ferdie asks the big question, the one about where the money is. I can only laugh.

Man, that’s neat. So when I came back to my manuscript, I revisited my on-the-nose description of a street-hustler character. In my vomit draft, I wrote four or five blah sentences about his body size and his aquiline face and his gel- slicked hair. Yawn. Instead, I thought about Abrahams’s technique, and my fingers typed this: “Romeo Hendershot looked like the sort of guy who was genetically engineered to wear track suits and carry bricks of cash in black canvas bags.”

My fingers hovered for a moment, quivering, itchy to describe him. Then I realized I just had.

3. Let the reader do most of the heavy lifting. That relates directly to #2, in which I was over-anticipating what my reader might be. But here’s the thing: If I paint a complete picture of what Romeo Hendershot looks like to me, what’s left for the reader to do? How can they participate in the story? If I give them less to engage with, then doesn’t it stand to reason that they’d eventually disengage? So: tease them with what you’re not telling them.

4. Take it easy on the figurative language. There are a million similes and metaphors out there, especially in crime fiction, and it’s tough to find ones that a) work on their own; and b) don’t sound like knockoff Raymond Chandler. Instinctively, I want to compare everything to something, and rationally, I know for the most part that it’s not necessary.

Case in point: I was describing a narrows between two bodies of water, and I wrote: “The water churned and turned like the agitation cycle of a washing machine in slow motion.” Man, that’s just awful. In my second pass, I just wrote: “The water churned and turned as the two inlets sprawled into one another.”

Why would I want readers thinking about something else when I’m trying to get them to think about what’s actually happening? ■

Jim Thomsen is on hiatus as the copy editor of Suspense Magazine. He can be found on Facebook, on Twitter at @jimthomsen, and by email at [email protected].

SuspenseMagazine.com 53 SIMON GERVAIS ADDS A PERSONAL TOUCH Interview by Jeff Ayers for Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author

Would you go against everything you stand for to avenge your family? That intriguing question propels Simon Gervais’s first thriller featuring federal agent Mike Walton in “The Thin Black Line.” Gervais utilizes his background working for various federal agencies and security in his native country of Canada to create a tantalizing and insightful read. Gervais chatted with Suspense Magazine.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What made you decide you wanted to write fiction?

Simon Gervais (S.G.): From 2004 to 2008, I was assigned to one of the counterterrorism units of my organization. Plane rides were frequent and often very long, especially the ones to the Middle East. I read a lot to help pass the time. It wasn’t rare for me to go through a whole book before the plane touched down on the other side of the Atlantic. After a while, I started to be frustrated at how unrealistic some of these books were. The tactics and techniques employed by the protagonists weren’t correct, weren’t realistic. I talked to a few colleagues of mine who were reading the same big-name authors that I was and I could feel they were irritated, too. This is when I realized that I could do better, that I could use my experience and training to write a novel that would connect not only with these big-name authors’ fans but also to my military and law enforcement colleagues.

S. MAG.: What sparked the idea for “The Thin Black Line”?

S.G.: The idea that sparked it all came to me on a transatlantic flight. The night prior to my flight back home, I had dinner with colleagues from one of the British intelligence services and they were fuming about a busted raid they had conducted the week before. Red tape and bureaucracy had caused them to miss the terrorist they were looking for by less than an hour. They were frustrated, to say the least. The next day, while eating stale airline food, I said to myself: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have an organization that would have no red tape, no bureaucracy, in which agents were free to do whatever they needed to do to apprehend criminals or terrorists without fear of being burned by some politically-correct careerists?” And my answer to my own question was: “Yes, it would.” That’s how I came up with the idea for the IMSI (International Market Stabilization Institute). IMSI is a privately funded organization operating outside the official channels whose mission is to protect the financial markets.

S. MAG.: Who’s Mike Walton?

S.G.: Mike Walton is a federal agent specialized in counterterrorism and protective operations. He’s a real straight arrow. Happily married, he has one daughter and his wife is expecting another one. He thinks he has everything figured out. But when terrorism hits too close to home, he loses it completely, quits his job and joins the IMSI in an attempt to regain control over his life.

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 54 His father is a former ambassador who when I’m not at home… was kidnapped two years prior by Sheik S. MAG.: Did you see this book as the Al-Assad, the same terrorist mastermind S. MAG.: Tell your ThrillerFest story. first in a series? behind the most recent attacks to hit the country. With the IMSI resources backing S.G.: ThrillerFest kind of changed my S.G.: Absolutely! “The Thin Black Line” him, and with the help of his wife, Mike life. I know it’s a bit much, but it’s true. is indeed the first in the series. Book #2 will gradually become a hunter-killer This is where I met my agent, Eric Myers “A Red Dotted Line” will come out in who wants payback for what he believes of the Dystel & Goderich agency. We met March 2016. My intention is to write a was wrongfully taken away from him. during PitchFest and we connected right new book out every ten months or so. I’d say he’s a mix between Ludlum’s Jason away. Looking at my name tag, Eric asked Bourne and Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp. me if I spoke French. I told him I did and S. MAG.: Why did you decide to publish that this was the language we used at with a smaller press instead of the “big S. MAG.: How personal is this novel? home. Eric then told me that not only houses”? did he speak French, but that he actually S.G.: My main protagonist and I share a studied at l’Université Paris-Sorbonne. S.G.: During the first submission round, similar background. Like Mike Walton, We chatted a little longer about Paris as we came close to a deal with one of the I’m a former infantry officer and ex- my wife and I had just come back from a major houses. Unfortunately, it didn’t federal agent. I served in some of the long weekend in the French capital with work out in the end. My agent told me most secretive units of my organization our two kids. When it was time to pitch he still had other “big-five publishers” and was deployed numerous times him my book, I started to talk about to submit to but was wondering if I’d be overseas. Even though I worked on many my background as a federal agent. Eric okay if he sent my manuscript to smaller international drug cases, my expertise interrupted me to ask if I was speaking publishing houses. I didn’t. In fact, I resides in counterterrorism and protective about my novel’s main protagonist or if had one in mind: The Story Plant. A operations. I protected the families of it was really my background. At the end friend of mine, international bestselling three different Canadian prime ministers of my pitch, I could see he was really author Ethan Cross, was published by and served on the protective details of interested. As a matter of fact, later that them. The publisher of The Story Plant Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II night, while I was having dinner with is Lou Aronica. Lou is well known in while they were visiting Canada. At the a few friends, Eric sent me an email to the publishing world as he used to be time of my retirement in September 2014, let me know he had already visited my the Publisher of the Berkley Publishing I was assigned to the protection detail of website and read the first few chapters Group and Senior Vice-President of the Israeli ambassador to Canada. One of my book. He wanted to meet with me Avon Books. The Story Plant may be a more thing that Mike Walton and I have the next day. Even though I had over small publisher but about 33% of the in common is that I met my wife while thirteen agents who had requested my books they publish end up being on the we were both serving in the military. manuscript at PitchFest, I had a gut bestselling list, including many reaching Even though “The Thin Black feeling that Eric Myers was the one. We the #1 spot. So when The Story Plant Line” is fiction, I used my training and met at the Grand Hyatt lobby bar the offered me a two-book deal, I jumped at experience to write a thriller that is as next day to discuss the book and my it. So far, I’m not regretting my decision. close to reality as you’ll ever read. I know expectations. By the end of the meeting, The sales team at The Story Plant is inside out the subjects I’m writing about we had a deal. And I had an agent. I was absolutely amazing and the marketing and I think this is why the readers are told later that week that I had broken folks are doing a great job promoting “The connecting so well with the book. the record for the fastest agent deal in Thin Black Line.” When the book came ThrillerFest history. out, it was the #1 Spy Thriller in Canada S. MAG.: What is your writing process? and the #1 on the Canadian Fiction list. S. MAG.: What elements of security We’re now focusing our efforts in the S.G.: When I started writing “The Thin would people find surprising? United States and the book is presently Black Line,” I had a 50-page outline. I #68 on the Amazon bestselling list for thought I knew exactly where I was going. S.G.: The complexity of the threats facing Political Thrillers. But it didn’t last. After a week or so, I was the people we protect. There are so many going in another direction and never things going on in our heads while we We would like to thank Simon for looked at my outline again. I usually walk next to our protectees that it would taking the time to talk with us. For write five to six hours a day, four to five drive most people crazy. But that’s the more information on Simon please visit days a week. I write from my home office fun part. There is also a lot of downtime his website at www.simongervaisbooks. but sometimes go to my wife’s practice. and the work isn’t as glamorous as it com. ■ For some reason, I’m more productive appears on television.

SuspenseMagazine.com 55

PATRICK KENDRICK Breaking Boundaries Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author

ATRICK KENDRICK IS AN AUTHOR WHO CERTAINLY HAS PSEEN THE DARKER REALITIES LIFE HAS TO OFFER. Being in the fire service and paramedic fields, he has born witness to life’s most frightening moments. His catharsis, however, is one that engages, captivates and entertains readers, offering up amazing works that cannot be forgotten. Variety is something Patrick Kendrick knows all about. From meeting a serial killer to driving his 1958 Chevy Apache down the beach in Florida to chasing after his kids, this is one man who knows nothing of the word “boring.”

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): The tales you create usually lie on the “darker” side of the suspense genre. When did you first focus on that particular realm of fiction?

Patrick Kendrick (P.K.): My “side job” from when I worked in the fire service was working as a freelance journalist. That eventually brought me to meet an imprisoned serial killer. Digging into his story and reading his “journals,” with detailed descriptions of his murders, gave me an insight into the mind of a real killer that few other authors get. I spent years researching his story and then dealing with him in court for years after that until, he, too, was finally murdered in jail. I read a lot of thrillers and mysteries and when I began to write my first book, I knew I wanted to write in those genres. But, after my experiences with a real killer, I found it difficult to write following a formula that, in some ways, I thought, trivialized murder. There is no more heinous act than to take a life and I try to capture that darkness within my writing, though I know that realism can be a turn off to the average reader.

S. MAG.: Fire service, paramedics; you have received meritorious accolades for your work within some truly difficult jobs. These particular careers can bring horrific sights along with them. Do your past experiences ‘crop up’ in your books? If so, can it be an aid, in a way, to be able to get it out on paper?

P.K.: Yes, you’re right about those horrific sights and I have used some of my own experiences in my work. In fact, when I first began to get published, it was because I wrote about those experiences from the fire service. Editors couldn’t get enough of them and I wrote for numerous newspapers locally, in Florida, and national magazines, before I turned to fiction. I used a great

SuspenseMagazine.com 57 “I think I saw so many terrible things that by fictionalizing them, writing has acted as a cathartic release for me.” many of those experiences in my last book, “Extended Family,” where the protagonist was a state fire marshal. Specifically, there is a scene where a pawn shop owner is doused with gasoline and set afire; I actually went to that call when I was just eight months on the job and it changed my life dramatically. The event began my affliction with insomnia that I still battle today. Witnessing shootings, stabbings, sexual assaults, victims burned to death, you name it; I think I saw so many terrible things that by fictionalizing them, writing has acted as a cathartic release for me.

S. MAG.: What turned your focus to writing? Was it always something you had a craving to do?

P.K.: I had a great English teacher in my junior year of high school. (Of course, it helped that she was gorgeous and I had a terrible crush on her). She gave us an assignment to do a short story that had to be five pages long. My tale turned out to be 35 pages, and my teacher loved it. She read the whole thing in front of the class and I was mortified because there were some pretty adult scenes in the story. But the class enjoyed it, too. So, I got the writing bug then, but I never thought I was smart enough to be a writer. I was doing a lot of art, thought of myself as an artist, but English was tough for me. There was so much to learn, so many rules: how to write dialogue, how to plot, set scenes, describe sights, sounds, smells. There were clauses, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and on and on. It was overwhelming but I couldn’t put it down.

S. MAG.: Are there any specific mentors who have helped you along the path? And those you like to read and enjoy?

P.K.: I studied Fine Art in college but I always chose literature classes when I had to choose electives. I was taking a class in popular genres—specifically, successful mystery books. The professor was friends with John D. MacDonald, who I read extensively back then, and he came to do a lecture at the university. I managed to stay in touch with him for a few years after that. He was prolific, wrote some 85 books, most of which ended up on the NY Times bestseller list. I loved his Travis McGee books, but McDonald had a dark side, too. I think most people are surprised to learn he wrote “Cape Fear,” though it was originally titled “The Executioners.”

S. MAG: You excel so beautifully at what you’ve chosen, genre-wise, are there other genres you wish to explore in the future?

P.K.: I am exploring other genres. Some would say I change genres every book and I could not argue with that. My first book, “Papa’s Problem,” was a historical mystery. “Extended Family” was a dark thriller that bordered on horror. My newest book, “Acoustic Shadows,” is a crime thriller that begins with a school shooting, but (spoiler alert) everything is not what it seems. And I am very excited about my next book, “The Savants,” which is my first YA, with sci-fi as well as spiritual elements. After that, I’ll be doing my first suspense novel with ghosts, so I suppose it will be classified as horror. I’d like to get a series going and I’m hoping “Acoustic Shadows” will turn into one, but for now I am totally satisfied exploring various genres. I never get bored!

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 58 S. MAG.: Earning awards from the Beverly Hills Film Festival, Hollywood Film Festival, and more, could you speak a bit about that aspect of your work?

P.K.: I got involved with Hollywood before I had my first book published. In fact, it was because of Hollywood that I got my first book published. I had written “Papa’s Problem” as a manuscript 15 years ago, but I wanted to learn how to write screenplays, so I went to a class in L.A. Part of the class included admittance to the Hollywood Film Festival. They had a writing competition and I wanted to enter it but did not have a screenplay. The organizers said they would accept any form of work as long as it was completed. I gave them “Papa’s Problem,” and it won the “Discovery Opus Magnum Award.” The prize was getting to work with a professional editor who helped me hone the manuscript until it was good enough to publish. I was also invited back to attend the Hollywood Film Festival where I was able to meet a number of celebrities. I loved it, though I knew my heart was really into writing books. When I finally completed a screenplay, I submitted it to the Beverly Hills Film Festival and it was accepted as an official entry and nominated for an award. The screenplay was “The Savants” and I’ve since rewritten that story as a novel that will be published later this year. Hollywood and the publishing world, in spite of what many may believe, are two very separate entities.

S. MAG.: What gives you that next idea; can it hit out of nowhere, on the street, something you hear or read about?

P.K.: I like to put my characters in those dark places to see what comes out the other side. I enjoy writing incongruent situations, placing characters in situations in which they may not, necessarily, be comfortable or able to adapt. It creates a level of suspense that we’ve all felt at one time or another and, I hope, takes the reader to an uncomfortable place that makes them forget they’re reading and begin to experience what the characters are going through. My ideas often come from real life events, so I never run out of ideas. But making them into full-length novels…that’s the challenge.

S. MAG.: Is there a particular sport/activity that you truly love doing when taking a break—something to clear out that mind for a while?

P.K.: I love to snow ski and scuba dive but those are activities that take a lot of planning and preparation. For day to day activities, I enjoy cycling, time at the gym, yoga and, of course, trying to keep up with my kids. A few times a week, I take my 1958 Chevy Apache out and drive by the beach to listen to music and think about the next story. Maybe meet some old fire department pals for a “Happy Hour.”

S. MAG: Can you speak about the next project coming up that readers need to keep an eye out for?

P.K.: “Acoustic Shadows” is out this month; first as an e-book, then a physical book in July. “The Savants” is still in the editing process but will be out this year, too, and I am very excited about finally doing a book that young people can read.

S. MAG.: If you could have lunch with one author, who would it be, and why?

P.K.: That’s as tough as having to choose your “top ten” favorite books of all time! But, because I attend many literary conferences and festivals, I have had the opportunity to meet many of the authors I admire and have befriended some of them. I have not met, and would enjoy meeting Stephen King, whom I admire greatly as someone who transcends the genre. So many people think of him strictly as a horror writer, but he has done so many other things. I recently read “Mr. Mercedes” and it was a wonderfully crafted detective novel. I also recently read his book, “On Writing,” and wish I would’ve read it ten years ago. His insights on the craft seem so simple but they are essential to success in this business. I feel I could learn a lot from him.

To learn more about Patrick, please visit: www.talesofpatrickkendrick.com. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 59 FROM ACROSS THE POND With WILLIAM SHAWBy Chris Simms Press Photo Credit: Provided by Author I’m delighted to bring readers of Suspense Magazine a feature from the UK’s Crime Readers’ Association. In it, an author from over here will write about crime writing from a UK perspective.

LESSONS FROM INVESTIGATIONS INTO MURDERS I was never an investigative journalist—not in any proper sense—but on several occasions I wrote about investigations into murders. They taught me a few stark lessons which have stayed with me, and that, I hope, have crept into my crime books in some way. The one that really stayed with me is that when someone is murdered, the ripples of grief, bewilderment and fury are almost too hard for most people to bear. In turn, they create their own catastrophes. Violence distorts reality. It is incredibly easy to obliterate the normal safe world of civil society. In 1997-98, I worked in Los Angeles, writing about young African American men who lived in the South Central ghetto; I don’t know what it’s like now, but at the time it was a long, slowly unfolding calamity. In the years following the LA riots, the neighborhood sped downhill. Violence and drug crime were endemic. With a huge proportion of fathers incarcerated, teenage boys struggled to avoid getting caught up in gang culture. I’d met the rapper Tupac Shakur on a couple of occasions, an intense, erudite young man who hadn’t known his father and who had been raised by his Black Panther mother. But in his 20s he became engulfed by a need to prove himself as a man; to affiliate himself with ever harder, more macho society. “Right now,” he told me once, “I know I’m not going to live forever. Nobody is. But I know about it. I know I’m going to die in violence.” It wasn’t clairvoyance. Even though he’d been raised in New York and Baltimore, when he moved to Los Angeles, Tupac affiliated himself with one of the most notoriously hardcore Compton Gangs, the Piru Bloods. He, himself, had been born out of the violence of the 60s civil rights movement. His mother was a Black Panther heroine who’d had her dreams crushed, becoming a struggling single parent who’d turned to drugs. In a bizarre effort to prove himself to the world, Tupac had taken to hanging around with some of the most thuggish men Los Angeles had to offer. In fact, the recording studio he was talking to me in was effectively a modern take on a medieval fortress, guarded by a double layer of locked doors with heavily armed men in what was effectively the keep. Rumors of brutal beatings at the studio, carried out by henchmen of Tupac’s gang-affiliated label boss Suge Knight, were starting to circulate. This was a violent and paranoid environment. At root, the problem was gang violence. Tupac’s death, a few months after our last meeting, was almost certainly that. He was assassinated on a visit to Las Vegas, following a scuffle with a young man called Orlando Anderson, who was rumored to be affiliated with a rival gang, the South Side Crips; their territory lay just a short walk to the southeast of the Pirus’. A full scale gang war broke out in Compton, Los Angeles, in the next days. Three people were killed. There were rumors that Pirus were offering $10,000 for every South Side Crip killed. But the police never found who killed Tupac.

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 60 Suspicion immediately fell on the young Crip affiliate, Orlando Anderson, but police were unable to conclusively prove a link. Orlando denied it, vehemently. Yet in books and articles he became known as the man who killed Tupac. As a result he, too, knew his days were numbered. And eighteen months later Orlando was killed in a gunfight in a petrol station not far from where he lived in Compton. This seemed to seal his reputation as a gang banger and a killer. But when I started interviewing Orlando’s friends, family and attorney, a totally different picture emerged. Orlando had been a successful student—not the typical path for a gang member. I got to know his brother, an actor, who consistently and very plausibly countered each of the rumors that had flown about his brother with a plausible, simple explanation. According to his grief- stricken brother, all of Orlando’s reputation as a gang member had derived from the kind of paranoid rumor that circulated constantly in South Central in those dark days. He was killed because people assumed he was a killer, Orlando’s brother insisted. I remember calling his brother to tell him the news that the prosecution now claimed they had forensic and eyewitness evidence that Orlando had indeed fired the first shot in the gunfight in which he’d died. The brother was distraught. “That’s impossible.” As I spoke to him on the phone he began to cry; he believed that the whole world had conspired to make his brother look guilty, and now that Orlando was dead he couldn’t even argue back. The only thing I began to know for sure was that in such fearful, rumor- driven places where murder happens is that the truth becomes harder and harder to mine. The force of fear undermines the few facts there are. In the time I spent there I got to know dozens of people who had had close friends and loved ones murdered. The worst of it was that in almost every case these friends and lovers never really knew what happened to the victim. You could see it eating away at them. Violence creates a fog. It distorts the truth. It corrodes. In Britain we live in a very peaceable society. It’s not like that here. But there are still corners of our world that remind me of what I saw happening in Los Angeles. I’ve heard the same story over and over from young people: this sense they are living in a different world ruled by that fear. Ten years ago, I was writing about the murder of a clever young musician called Leon Forbes. Police and family were baffled by his shooting. There was no plausible motive other than possible jealousy over Leon’s success. But as I spoke to a couple of his friends, they began to confess how very scared they had been in the days after Leon’s killing. Because they didn’t understand why it had happened to Leon, they couldn’t find a reason why the same wouldn’t happen to them. So, they admitted, they had bought kevlar jackets to protect themselves. And they hinted that other friends— not them, obviously, they said—had started to carry knives, and some had even thought about carrying guns. Incredibly, even Leon’s mother, a probation officer, admitted to me it had at some point crossed her mind: “Why don’t I get a gun to protect myself?” Instead, she became a brave and vociferous campaigner against guns—but she acknowledged the power of fear to make her do things that she would normally consider unthinkable. One of the reasons why we enjoy crime writing and TV so much is that, for most of us, our lives in modern Britain are so safe. We need to peek behind that curtain. Earlier this year I was watching the actor Ashley Walters play a Detective Inspector in Silent Witness; the irony was that a decade ago, he was one of the young men I’d spoken to. At the height of his fame as a rapper in So Solid Crew, he had had guns held to his head by jealous rivals, so he’d got himself a modified replica pistol and ended up in juvenile detention. Stupid? Yes, he knew that now. We almost certainly live in the safest society there has ever been, but that reality is fragile. It can so easily be destroyed. ■

Before creating crime fiction, William Shaw worked as a journalist, during which time he wrote “Westsiders: Stories of the Boys in the Hood.” In it, he chronicles the attempts of a group of Los Angelenos to become successful hip-hop artists. Find out more at www. williamshaw.com.

Chris Simms is the editor of Case Files, the Crime Readers’ Association’s online magazine. You can subscribe to Case Files for free at www.thecra.co.uk. Along with nominations for the Crime Writer’s Association Daggers (for his novels and short stories) and the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year award, Chris was selected by Waterstone’s as one of their ‘25 Authors For The Future’. He continues to feverishly scribble away in a small hut behind his house. Discover more at www.chrissimms.info or at www.facebook.com/AuthorChrisSimms.

SuspenseMagazine.com 61 AT THE END OF MY ROPE By Nancy Sweetland MY NAME’S JAKE. Just Jake. You’d think the Big Guy would have at least given me a surname? But, no. All ego, that’s what he is, and a real pain to all of us in the troupe. At least I think so. Have, ever since he picked me up in that bad production in Cleveland. But that’s another story. Take a look at the character hanging around next to me here; that’s Marta. Gypsy blood, I’d say, from the paint on her, and the dark tangled hair, and all. She gets most of the fun parts, flirty-like. Good costumes, too, made to show off ample cleavage that seems to be pretty interesting to the men in the audience, though I’m sure they’d never have anything to do with a woman like her in real life. Flopped over there on the couch is Blue-Eyed Billy. He’s a straight guy, kinda cute but not smart. Plays everything real sober down the line. The kind of looks you want to root for, pure All-American Boy. Just the right touch of blond hair falling carelessly over his forehead—you know the type. “Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth,” as the saying goes. And then there’s Ma, or Aunt Nora (interchangeable, depending on which wig she’s wearing for the day). Ma can play the heavy, or the sweet, old lady; or, as Aunt Nora, the next-door nosy one. Once in a while she even gets a musical part, but that’s not the greatest since somebody behind the scenes actually does the singing and she just mouths the words. So far, she’s not been brought back for an encore. None of these others have surnames, either, though I’ve never heard them complain about it. When we all came on, the Big Guy dubbed us whatever he wanted to—just one name, never even with a title. I wouldn’t mind being called “Mister” Jake once in a while, or having the others get a little respect when it’s due. Probably gives him a feeling of superiority. He likes being in control, able to pull strings and make things happen. It isn’t like we have a choice. Every day, every play challenges me to keep my cool, but yesterday was the final straw. I made up my mind to do something about my situation. The part I was given once again made me the buffoon, the guy who just doesn’t have a clue, always bumbling around, knocking things over, doing whatever I’m told and somehow just barely finishing up with all my body parts intact. Well, I’m smarter than that and I deserve better. Not that the Big Guy knows or even thinks to find out. I could be a hero, a detective, a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. If he’d let me, just once. Take the time I was cast as a cowboy in a western called, “Laredo Lode.” Kind of a dumb name, when I think about it, because there wasn’t anything about gold in it. But now there was a chance to be a hero, shoot the bad guys, get the girl, ride off into the sunset. You know, Gene Autry type. But what part did I get? I was the goof that fell off my horse while it was still in the corral and Billy, blond-haired, blue-eyed Billy, rode off with Marta while I was dusting off my britches. Oh, there’s more. In the love story where I climbed the lattice up to the fair maiden’s second-story window to serenade her, what happened? You guessed it. The lattice let go and I landed on my rump in the rose bushes. Did I complain? Sure. But did the Big Guy hear me? Here’s the story that drove the final nail into the coffin lid. (Pun intended, you’ll see why). Aunt Nora (blonde beehive

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 62 wig today, this play must be set back in the fifties), was going to be real foresighted, pick out the casket for her own funeral. She had it all figured out, wanted to pay in advance, have the whole thing taken care of “so nobody else has to worry about making a decision at a sad time like that,” she said, hanging her head to show just how sad it would be. Sad time, huh! I’d be glad to see her go. ‘Course I couldn’t say so—that wasn’t how things were supposed to play out. “Keep your mouth shut, Jake, and do as you’re told and we’ll get along just fine.” That’s the Big Guy’s attitude, always. But I keep remembering pretty Adele, the cheerleader- type redhead whose neck was broken when the Big Guy had a hissy-fit one night after a poor performance and threw her against the wall. She lay there looking for all the world like a broken doll. I don’t know what happened to her after that, she was just gone. Back to the story. Billy, Marta and I, were to go along with Aunt Nora to the funeral home, just to make sure everything was done right. “I don’t want any questions raised at the time of my demise then,” says Aunt Nora. “Just so you all know what I want and agree to carry it out. Is that clear?” Billy nods, his carefully studied blond bangs falling just right over his forehead. “Sure thing, Aunt Nora. It’s your funeral.” Funny, I’d heard that said a hundred times and this was the first where it had a literal meaning. Got a few laughs from the audience.

I FORGOT TO TELL YOU, the Big Guy writes all the scripts. Hollywood, he ain’t. But you play with what’s dealt you, as they say at the poker table. Marta flaps her arms and tosses her tresses, almost, but not quite, flopping her bosoms out of her blouse. My line is, “I think this is just crazy. It’s not like you ever really die, Aunt Nora. You just stop. All the world’s a stage. Your part just gets written out.” That got a few titters from savvy people in the theater. I didn’t say anything then. My part was to keep quiet (like always) until we got to Carson’s Casket Emporium—and how dumb is that for a name on a business? I thought an emporium was just a big junk store. Which this turned out to be, by the way. Those caskets weren’t the Rolls Royce’s of the funeral industry. So the Big Guy finally gives me a line. “Okay, Carson,” I say, like I’m the one gonna make the decision. (Best line I’ve had for a while. Tried to make it sound like John Wayne in True Grit). “Flip open those lids and show us your best.” Then the four of us follow Carson—a tall, skinny, weasel- type character—through his casket warehouse. I’m not kidding, there must have been two hundred photographs of coffins pasted up like wallpaper all around the room, showing different models to choose for your final resting pleasure.

SuspenseMagazine.com 63 Everything from cheap pine to shiny platinum lookalikes. Carson stops here and there, pointing out the best features of this wood, this satin, that hardware. He stops about halfway down one of the rows. “Now this one,” he says, flinging open the lid on a deep mahogany box with a flourish, and stepping back so we can all crowd up close, “is not our top of the line, but it’s waterproof. Of course, if you pay a little more you’ll get a better product and won’t feel the damp on your face when it rains.” He grins as though he’s made a damn joke. Then he goes on about how, of course, they’ll all last longer in the poured cement vaults he certainly recommends. “Then there’s no question of damp. Not ever.” “Good,” says Aunt Nora, bobbing her beehive. “I like that. But I don’t like the color.” I’m thinking this is supposed to be a comedy, but who could tell? I don’t want to, but the Big Guy makes me mosey over to the next box—a shiny lavender with brilliant silver clasps. It was pretty fancy, cream-colored satin inside, and all. I say, “Take a look at this one, Aunt Nora. So what if it gets damp? You’re dead.” She shook all over, like this was really happening, like the thought of being dead was just hitting her. “That’s easy for you to say, Jake. You’ll still be hanging around.” She’s quick with the repartee, and the audience picked up on that retort. I like it better when she plays Ma. Ma doesn’t come off with those good lines that make me look dumb. Anyhow, we keep moving through the Carson’s Casket Emporium, all of us, especially Nora, checking out this one, that one. She finds one she likes, asks us, “Do you like this color? Think I’ll look good in this one? Jake, you try it out.” I’m thinking, not on your life. But suddenly, I’m sailing through the air and find myself sinking into plush, peach-colored satin in a casket big enough for a linebacker in the NFL. “Ah, don’t he look good!” chortles Bill, nodding like people do when they don’t know what to say at a funeral. Marta giggles, her bosoms straining against her blouse. “Trying it on for size, Jake? It’s a little big. I don’t think peach is your color. Ha. Ha.” I hate this kind of stuff. But I have no choice. I lie there and take it, while Carson haggles with Nora about price and whatever else goes with the casket. Flowers, a room, a preacher or somebody to say a few words. You know. There’s more to the story, including some other laughs at my expense before I was allowed out of the box and we left. By that time I was damn tired of being the buffoon once again. But this time I felt different. I was determined to do something about it. But how? I thought about it all the way through the rest of the stupid play. I thought about it after the audience left and the five of us were back in the dressing room. The Big Guy put Bill and Marta down for the night. He tossed Aunt Nora’s wig back on the fake head on the counter, and she was also down. She really looks bad bald, but who’s to see? Everyone else but the Big Guy had left the building and the whole place was dark and deserted. Just as I expected, he intended to put me down last. He usually makes some comment about what he’s got planned for me next, and it’s never anything I’d have a part of, if I had my say. “Hang on there, Jake,” he said, carelessly tossing me up on a wall shelf with a bunch of props and weights while he messes around taking the lid off a garbage can below me. When I saw what had happened to my strings, I almost laughed. Here was my how! This was going to be great! “I got a swell idea for you in our next play,” said the Big Guy. “See, pretend this is a manhole without a cover. You’re walking Marta home after a date, see? And you’re busy looking into her eyes, kinda moonstruck, like, and oops! You fall right into the manhole!” He nearly doubles up, laughing. “See? What a surprise! The audience will love it!” But I wouldn’t. His head was right below me when he reached up for me, not noticing my strings were wound around the rope of a heavy curtain weight. He pulled me down. My strings dragged the weight off the shelf and tangled with the weight rope, wrapping tight around the Big Guy’s neck on the way down before he even knew what happened. Oh, he thrashed around a lot and we got pretty tangled up. Messed up the dressing room, overturned the chairs. Bill and Marta and Ma saw what happened but I didn’t worry about them. I knew they wouldn’t talk. They’d just sit around with their blank, painted-on expressions. Puppets without a puppeteer. It was perfect. Couldn’t have worked out better if I’d really done it myself. Worst part was I couldn’t get untangled, had to stay wrapped around his neck until the janitor came through and called nine-one-one. Too late. “Jesus!” The cop on the case stood back to take in the mess we’d made of the dressing room. “I’ve never seen a garroting like this. Who ever heard of a puppet making a kill? I swear, it’s almost like it had a grudge against the guy.” He left the crime scene shaking his head. The four of us were sold to another showman, one with a little more smarts, and things are just fine now. I don’t have to play the buffoon any longer. ■

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Trade Paperback and Multiple eBook Formats Wholesale Customers Contact Ingram, Baker & Taylor, or [email protected]. C. J. BOX “ENDANGERED" A PARENT'S WORST NIGHTMARE? Interview by Elise Cooper for Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Michael Smith

“Endangered,” the latest Joe Pickett novel by C. J. Box is the best yet of the series. There are all the right ingredients: a realistic plot, well developed characters, a vivid setting, clear prose and ratcheting tension. Box merges vivid descriptions of Wyoming’s landscape, western culture, and the personal drama regarding Pickett’s family into a thrilling, action packed novel.

Elise Cooper (E.C.): In the beginning of the book, there are some very potent scenes regarding April. You refer to it as ‘a parent’s worst nightmare.” Please Explain.

C. J. Box (C.J.B.): This is the first time in the series where one of Joe’s daughters is severely injured in a very violent way. I wanted parents to understand the tension Joe must go through when receiving the phone call. I know what my reaction would be.

E.C.: There are a number of sub-plots in the book. One deals with Joe’s stepdaughter having a brain injury. Did you do any research on this issue?

C.J.B.: Like Gabby Giffords, April had a medically induced coma. I had a doctor give me their opinion on how to write these scenes. People are put in a coma until the brain swelling goes down. Sometimes they fully recover and other times they could have brain damage. Readers will find out what happens by the end of the book.

E.C.: You refer to things “getting western” including a discussion of rodeos. Are rodeos a favorite sport of yours?

C.J.B.: I have been involved with the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo for twenty-five years. It’s the largest outdoor rodeo. I got to know rodeos, rodeo riders, and their code. I wanted to work into my plot a rodeo since I first started the series. Some of the scenes were based on the rodeo champion Ty Murray when he was almost arrested for bull dogging elk. Since my book has a western atmosphere, I put in rodeos because they are to Western states what Nascar is to Southern states.

E.C.: Another of your plots involves the endangered species, the sage grouse bird. Did you want to make a point about endangered species?

C.J.B.: It is a big deal for Wyoming because if the bird is declared an endangered species there will be an impact on the state’s economy. It is very much on the mind of those who live in the Western states. The largest population of the species exists in Wyoming. If the declaration comes down it will put a grinding halt to energy, including private lands. All the parts of the book discussing the federal pressure and the states versus the feds are true. I hope readers understand the controversy of the studies regarding this bird, since it is not a black and white issue. The decline in their population can be attributed to the energy development, hunting,

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 66 and the impact on their territory while other studies say the decline is due to cyclical history. It appears that any decision is based on political and not scientific or biological reasons.

E.C.: You have written in the past about states rights versus the federal government. Please explain.

C.J.B.: This controversy fuels many of myPickett novels. Think about how much of the western states lands are controlled by the federal government. For example, 50% of Wyoming is federal land so this state really does not have autonomy. There is a movement going on that has started in Utah where the state legislatures are demanding the federal government sell their land back.

E.C.: There are a number of quotes in this book about the dangers of big government. Is that your feeling?

C.J.B.: I’ve met some government employees with the attitude that they can do anything and never have to worry about losing their job. They start to think of themselves as officials instead of what they truly are, servants of the people. This attitude runs amuck now. I wanted to show how a bad egg, maybe someone with a chip on their shoulder, who works for the federal government can make life hell for someone else.

E.C.: The Cates Family is very dysfunctional led by the mother, Brenda. She is logical in a psychotic kind of way. Do you agree?

C.J.B.: I think she makes the novel sing because she is such an unorthodox bad person. She is manipulative and off her rocker in a pragmatic way. There is some deranged logic to what she says. She has her reasons for what she does, which makes her a terrifying character.

E.C.: Can you give a heads up about the next Joe Pickett book?

C.J.B.: It is tentatively called “Off the Grid.” It will be centered on Nate. The book starts off with Nate hiding out, off the grid. He is found by a clandestine federal agency, which guarantees the charges against him will be dropped if he helps them out with this one off-the-books controversial assignment. I try to make each Joe Pickett book focus on a different character. “Endangered” has a lot about Joe and his family while the next book will concentrate on Nate.

E.C.: Can you describe Nate?

C.J.B.: Nate has his own sense of justice. He is willing to do some things Joe would not do. His feelings on right and wrong are based on the Falconer’s code and the mindset that goes with it. So far I think he makes the right choices.

E.C.: What about the book coming out this summer?

C.J.B.: It is called “Badlands,” a sequel to “The Highway.” It takes place in the North Dakota oil fields where Teddy Roosevelt had his ranch. It is based on a true story of how gangs fight each other to control the drug trade in that area.

To learn more about C. J., check out his website at www.cjbox.net. ■

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It was late afternoon, a Wednesday in September, and Colonel Vasily Petrov of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service sat in his New York office and stared at the red envelope on his mahogany desk. On the envelope’s flap was a wax seal, also red. The envelope had arrived from Moscow an hour before on the Aeroflot flight that carried the daily diplomatic pouch

to the Russian Federation Mission to the United Nations on SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM NELSON DEMILLE East 67th Street. Handwritten on the front of the envelope was his code number, 013575, and beneath that the identification number of the message: 82343. A cipher clerk stood patiently in front of Colonel Petrov’s desk, then cleared his throat. “Sir?” Petrov picked up a pen and signed the logbook, acknowledging receipt of the envelope and also receipt of a sealed satchel from Moscow that the clerk had placed on his desk. The clerk retrieved the logbook, then gave Petrov another sealed envelope, saluted, and left. Petrov sliced open the red envelope and flattened the sheet of paper on his blotter. The communication from Moscow was typed on flash paper, encoded in four-​letter groupings that appeared to be

SuspenseMagazine.com 69 meaningless. Eye charts, they were called. Petrov opened the second envelope that the cipher clerk had given him and laid the printed paper next to his encrypted message. On the cipher paper was the daily one-​time-​only code that would decipher his message. If this message had been sent electronically, the cipher office on the tenth floor would have seen it and decoded it. And this message was not for their eyes. More importantly, electronic messages were routinely intercepted by the American National Security Agency, whose deciphering capabilities were a worry. Thus the message came in the diplomatic pouch, in a red envelope, which meant it was not for the diplomats; it was for the Foreign Intelligence Service—the SVR—which operated out of the Russian U.N. Mission. This was, in fact, a message for Colonel Petrov’s eyes only, and it was of critical importance. And Petrov knew it said one of two things: the operation was on, or the operation was off. He picked up his pen and began to decipher. It was a short communication, though like many such brief messages, the brevity was in inverse proportion to its importance. It took him only a few minutes to decipher the communication, and when he was done he put down his pen and looked at the words. Greetings: You will commence Operation Zero on Sunday. He read it again. Like all men from the beginning of time who await their orders and their fates, he was relieved that the wait was over, and he felt a mixture of calm and confidence, along with a sense of anxiety. It was not death that he feared; it was failure and disgrace—a fate far worse than death. He took a deep breath and thought of his father, a former KGB general who had been awarded the Order of Lenin and who had been named a Hero of the Soviet Union. On the day that Colonel Petrov boarded the Aeroflot flight for New York, his father had seen him off at the airport and said to him, “The future of Russia has been placed in your hands, Vasily. The history of this century will be rewritten by you. Come home in glory. Or do not come home.” Petrov looked back at the paper. The next two lines were written in a cryptic style to further obscure the meaning of his orders in the unlikely event this message was seen by someone else. He read: Happiness will be at planned time and place. The third line read: The fish is swimming, the horse waits, and the bird will fly. The final line advised: No further communication to or from you after Sunday. Good luck. The message was not signed, nor did it ask for a reply. Or even an assurance that he was ready at his end. In fact, after a year of planning, there was nothing more to say. The time had come. Petrov fed both sheets of paper into his cross-cut​ shredder, then stood and drew the large ballistic nylon satchel toward him. He broke the seal and unlocked the satchel with the key he had brought with him from Moscow. Petrov opened the satchel and saw three 9mm Makarov pistols. He checked that they were the PB model, developed for the KGB with an integral silencer. He also counted ten extra magazines of ammunition, which, he thought, should be sufficient for the number of people to be killed. At the bottom of the satchel were two objects wrapped in blue gift paper that he knew were the two MP5 submachine guns he had requested and also about twenty extra magazines. And finally, there was an aluminum box—a tool kit, made for only one purpose. He closed the satchel, then locked it. Petrov went to his window and stared down into the street. He hadn’t liked New York City when he’d first arrived four months before. It was too hot and there were too many Africans, Asians, Arabs, and Jews in this city. But now, in September, the weather had cooled. As for the chernokozhii—the blackasses—they didn’t seem to bother him as much. What still bothered him, however, was being followed every minute of every day. The American security services knew who he was, of course, and they gave him little opportunity to do his job outside of his office. Well, they could follow him all they wanted. On Sunday he would lose them and they would not even know they had lost him. And then he could do his job. Operation Zero. He was officially assigned to the United Nations for two years, and he could have tolerated that. But in fact, his posting was coming to an end on Monday. As was the City of New York. ■

From the book “RADIANT ANGEL” by Nelson DeMille. Copyright © 2015 by Nelson DeMille. Reprinted by permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 70 Nelson

ThrowsDeMille a Fastball Down the Middle With “Radiant Angel” Interview by Elise Cooper for Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Sandy DeMille “Radiant Angel” by Nelson DeMille is the seventh novel in the John Corey series. Mr. DeMille has been writing political thrillers for approximately thirty-five years, but like a fine wine he has gotten better with age. With this new novel he has pivoted from the antagonists of Arab terrorists to the new dangers, or a newly resurgent Russia. John Corey has left the Anti-Terrorist Task Force and returned home to New York City, taking a job with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Corey must follow Vasily Petrov, a colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, who poses as a diplomat with the Russian U.N. Mission. After he mysteriously disappears from a Russian oligarch’s party in Southampton, it’s up to Corey to track him down before he endangers America.

Elise Cooper (E.C.): This book seems out of character with its length. Agree?

Nelson DeMille (N.D.): I purposely made it short. I could have put more about the ex-Soviet Union and the re-emergence of Russia. But I just wanted to get into the action. I decided to throw a fastball down the middle.

E.C.: What inspired you for this plot?

N.D.: A number of things. I regret not writing more on the Cold War. I did write “The Talbot Odyssey” and “The Charm School,” but by the time the paperback of “The Charm School” came out the Soviet Union was imploding. I also was tired of writing about Arab terrorists, which is why I gave John Corey a new job. Finally, I thought the events of this book could happen. In the real world, the Russians are being aggressive in their area of influence in Europe and, to some extent, in Asia, but also they’re hacking into our computers. I took resurgent Russia to an extreme.

E.C.: Why the Long Island setting?

N.D.: A lot of my books are set on Long Island because it’s diverse culturally, ethnically, socioeconomically and geographically.

SuspenseMagazine.com 71 “I understand the readers are comfortable with the books and the characters. But after awhile the author gets bored and it shows within the books.” For a small land area there’s a lot going on here. I’ve written four books about Long Island and I could write another five or six. I’ve yet to set a book specifically in the Hamptons, but that’s something I’m thinking about.

E.C.: You had three women protagonists in this story. Can you explain?

N.D.: I got tired of Kate. I might have broken the rules of series characters, but I think it worked, the implication of her having an affair. I had to make John’s new partner a female to make it interesting. Tess, a State Department official, is a viable character. But the one who definitely knows how to handle John is detective Beth Penrose. Kate will not be a part of the next book, but Beth will be John’s lady. It was time to bring her back, which I did in this novel. I think readers will enjoy Beth’s line to John, “All my friends call me Detective Penrose. Why don’t you do the same?” But a little later when she wanted to find out what was happening she reminded John that he used to confide in her and he responded, “I also used to call you Beth.” She concurred and told him to “please call me Beth,” and to see her before he leaves.

E.C.: What do you want readers to get out of this book?

N.D.: This quote from the book emphasizes the point, “the Cold War was back and no one was paying attention.” The Russian story is still unfolding. It is a huge country. Let’s not forget that during the Cold War they were our military equivalent and that can happen again.

E.C.: Rumor has it you are thinking of shelving John for the next book. True?

N.D.: The setting will be in Cuba and Florida. I am hoping to travel to Cuba sometime this fall. This stand-alone book will probably be released a year from October. I am not sure in which direction the plot will go. There are a number of possibilities including having the protagonists searching for millions of dollars of treasure buried by the Batista government; finding six nuclear warheads left behind by the 1962 Russian pullout; and/or finding a convicted police killer, the Black Liberation Army militant. The main character, Mac, is a US veteran who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. After being severely wounded he decides to start a fishing and tour boat business. Because of his expertise a Cuban exile group hires him. The leading lady is a “hot” Cuban female fluent in Spanish. Having a character in the heart of darkness allows for a lot of adventure and suspense. I will definitely weave the backstory of the Cuban Missile Crisis into the plot.

E.C.: Are you writing about a new setting and character to get out of your comfort zone?

N.D.: I understand the readers are comfortable with the books and the characters. But after awhile the author gets bored and it shows within the books. The problem with a long running series is how much of the backstory must be told. Old readers might be bored and new readers don’t know the background. Authors have to ponder where to begin, what to tell, and if people really remember the first book’s details, something that fades from my mind. With this next book, I am definitely excited about the Cuban plot. It is such a part of our history and is so close geographically I think Americans can relate.

To learn more about Nelson and keep informed about his upcoming releases, go to www.nelsondemille.net. ■

Suspense Magazine June 2015 / Vol. 065 72 By A.R. Alan standing in the large cluttered room, My fingers shook when I picked the ain Street in Nyack, New York staring at stuff that I didn’t like or even picture up again. She was still staring at was quaintAntiques and rather historic looking. care about. and Curiositiesme, but now her arm was outstretched The buildings lining the seven blocks “Can I be of help,” a man asked, as if she were somehow trying to reach wereM a mix of old gingerbread-trimmed stepping out from behind a curtain on me. Victorians and three story flat- the far side of the room. He was tall and “How much do you want for this faced buildings, all of which boasted lean, dressed in a gray suit, and had a picture?” I asked the man who hadn’t handmade crafted items or antiques. shock of gray hair that covered one moved from where he stood. More interesting than the area, or I eye. But it was his face that drew in my “One twenty-five.” should say intriguing, was why I felt so breath. It was ashen and wrinkled, like “Excuse me?” compelled after waking up this morning an unripe, dehydrated apple. “One hundred and twenty-five to take a bus ride from Manhattan to “Just looking,” I finally said. dollars,” he said in a hushed tone. Rockland County to visit this small He nodded and just stood there, “I’ll give you a hundred. It’s only town. I disliked antiques. My apartment hands clasped before him. a small painting, and it’s not signed.” I is furnished in ultra-modern, yet here looked down at the painting and saw I was peering into windows of musty wanted to walk out, but for some glistening tears trickling down the shops as though I were being drawn unknown reason I didn’t. Instead, I woman’s face. there by an invisible force. tookI two steps to my left and looked “All right. Cash only.” It was midway down the second down at a table. Sitting on top of the “I put the painting back on the table street where I noticed the store with the cherry wood was a small easel holding a and rummaged through my purse. “I tattered lace-covered window. I stopped miniature painting. I lifted the painting only have ninety-five in cash. I’ll have before it and peered inside, but couldn’t and held it in the palm of my hand. to give you my Visa card.” make anything out. On the wall above The colors looked fresh and He shook his head. “That’ll do. the window there was a sign that read: vibrant, not dull and crinkled with Leave the bills on the table.” Antiques and Curiosities. On the paint- age. The scene was of a forest, tall trees “Thank you,” I said. I placed flaked door was a small, hand-printed with beams of sunlight streaming down the bills on the table, picked up the sign with the scrawled words: Come In. from above. I brought the painting up painting, and left the store as quickly as I hesitated for a few moments, staring closer to get a better look. On the far I could. I was so unnerved, that I didn’t at the door, wondering why I was in this left, at the bottom, there was a figure of release my breath until I was out in the particular town, and why I had stopped a young woman huddled beside a tree, street and the shop’s door tinkled when at this particular shop. her arms wrapped about it, her head it closed behind me. I hesitated before A bell tinkled when I opened the lifted as though she were looking up at walking away, then looked down at the door and entered the dimly lit room. the beams of light. painting again so I could examine what The smell of dying flowers, or was it A moment later my heart skipped I’d bought in the sunlight. incense, wafted in the hot, stuffy space. a beat, and my fingers curled around I couldn’t believe my eyes. It had to The center of the room was filled with the edges of the picture so I wouldn’t have been the lighting in the store. Once old Victorian furniture that was covered drop it. The woman’s head had turned, again, the woman’s head was facing the in dust and spider webs. The old, wood- and she was now staring at me with beams of light streaming through the framed sofas needed reupholstering; pleading, blue eyes. I set the picture trees. There were no pleading eyes, the marble-topped tables were covered back on the table, straightened, and no glistening tears running down her with knick-knacks, none of which tried to compose myself. This was an cheeks, and her arms were once again appealed to me. Lined up on both sides illusion, I told myself, trembling. It’s wound around the painted tree. of the room were china closets, their the flickering light from the antique When I turned back to the store, shelves filled with old crystal stemware, fixtures, or the haphazard rays coming I almost collapsed. There were no lace vases, chipped antique dolls, and items through the lace curtains. curtains on the window, and the sign I knew nothing about. Yet here I was, It’s not real. on the door now read: Vacant. ■

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