Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction

AUGUST 2014

Down Home & Beyond With CRAIG JOHNSON MARCUS SAKEY CAMILLA LÄCKBERG AMANDA KYLE WILLIAMS MAEGAN BEAUMONT Anthony J. Franze & & Meet Debut Author Another Writing CHRISTIAN A. LARSEN INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS FACEOFF Reader’s Corner Steve Berry vs. James Rollins WITH MEG GARDINER WE PUBLISH THE BEST CRIME NOVELS IN EXISTENCE. A BRASH CLAIM? YOU BET IT IS. BOOKS But our award-winning, critically acclaimed authors prove it with each and every one of their amazing books.

TREASURE COAST TOM KAKONIS In this wild new thriller, ‘Get Shorty’ meets “No Country for Old Men” on a sunny Florida coast that’s teeming with conmen and killers –and where violent death is just a heartbeat away.

THE OWL LOVER MAN DEATH IS FOREVER THE JUAN DOE MURDERS PIECES OF DEATH BOB FORWARD DALLAS MURPHY MAXINE O’CALLAGHAN NOREEN AYRES JACK LYNCH EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER TWO-TIME SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEE

THE LOW END OF NOWHERE OUTRAGE AT BLANCO BLANCHE ON THE LAM DUNN’S CONUNDRUM SLEEPING DOG MICHAEL STONE BILL CRIDER BARBARA NEELY STAN LEE DICK LOCHTE SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEE EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE, SHAMUS AGATHA, MACAVITY, AND ANTHONY EDGAR, SHAMUS & ANTHONY NOMINEE, A TWO-TIME ANTHONY AWARD WINNER AWARD NOMINEE, A NEW YORK AWARD WINNER, DERRINGER TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR, NERO AWARD WINNER WOLFE AWARD WINNER

And that’s just for starters. You’ll find many more exciting books at www.Brash-books.com Visit our site to download a FREE book! From the Editor CREDITS John Raab President & Chairman When someone asks you what you did the week of the Fourth of July, can you tell them you Shannon Raab spent it with the top authors in the suspense/ Creative Director mystery/thriller/horror genre? If you can’t, Romaine Reeves then you didn’t attend ThrillerFest 2014 in CFO New York City, hosted by the International Starr Gardinier Reina Thriller Writers Organization. Executive Editor This was the tenth ThrillerFest, with the Amy Lignor Thriller Master Award going to bestselling Editor author Scott Turow. Fellow author Brenda Novak won the Silver Bullet Award, for her work outside of writing in raising over $2.5 million for diabetes research. Jim Thomsen Copy Editor Now if you are asking yourself “What is ThrillerFest?” you might want to go outside and get hit over the head with a hammer, because if you read or write in the genre, Contributors you have to climb aboard the ThrillerFest train. ThrillerFest is where the industry’s top Donald Allen Kirch Mark P. Sadler authors get together and for four days, split into two parts, and teach classes, talk on Susan Santangelo panels about certain topics, autograph their books, and generally hang around talking to DJ Weaver fans and other authors. CK Webb Kiki Howell The first half of the week was dubbed CraftFest. This year, some of the highlights Kaye George included: Steve Berry putting on two classes called “The Six C’s of Story Structure” Weldon Burge Ashley Wintters and “Who’s Telling the Story and What are They Saying.” John Gilstrap taught “Broken Scott Pearson Bones, Ballistics, and Backdrafts.” David Morrell led the “Should the First Person be Your D.P. Lyle M.D. Kathleen Heady Choice?” workshop, along with D.P. Lyle, Steven James, Gayle Lynds, Peter James, Lee Stephen Brayton Child, Joseph Finder, and many more. Brian Blocker Andrew MacRae The second half is ThrillerFest. It’s two days in which your favorite authors sit on Val Conrad panels and talk about different subjects. Some of the highlights included: “The AHA Melissa Dalton Elliott Capon Moment: How Important is High Concept and Where do you Find it?” On that panel J.M. LeDuc was Jon Land with Steve Berry, Boyd Morrison, Douglas Preston, Ian Rankin, and John Holly Price Kari Wainwright Sandford. We could go on and on, but check out the website for a full list of the events, David Ingram so you know what to expect when you go Jodi Hanson Susan May next year. Jenny Hilborne For authors, writing is a business. The Sharon Salonen only way to have a successful business is Anthony J. Franze Jeanine Elizalde to invest in it. If you don’t take the time Kristin Centorcelli and money to invest in your writing to Jerry Zavada S.L. Menear make it better, stick to writing blogs. But Sherri Nemick if you’d like to write novels and make a Leslie Borghini Mary Lignor little money while entertaining people, Julie Whiteley attend ThrillerFest. You won’t find a more

Customer Service and professional organization in the world. Subscriptions: For more information, check out www. For 24/7 service, please use our website, www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: thrillerfest.com and www.thrillerwriters. SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at org. 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 Calabasas, CA 91302 Suspense Magazine does not share our John Raab magazine subscriber list to third-party companies. CEO/Publisher Suspense Magazine ■ Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscrip- “Reviews within this magazine are the opinions of the individual reviewers and are provided solely to provide readers assistance tion) per year. All foreign subscrip- tions must be payable in U.S. funds. in determining another's thoughts on the book under discussion and shall not be interpreted as professional advice or the opin- ion of any other than the individual reviewer. The following reviewers who may appear in this magazine are also individual cli- ents of Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine: Mark P. Sadler, Starr Gardinier Reina, Ashley Dawn (Wintters), DJ Weaver, CK Webb, Elliott Capon, J.M. LeDuc, S.L. Menear, Leslie Borghini, and Amy Lignor.”

SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENT SUSPENSE MAGAZINE August 2014 / Vol. 058 Relentless Love By Bill Butler ...... 3 Special Excerpt: “Stay With Me” By Alison Gaylin...... 4 From Across the Pond: Meet AJ Waines...... 6 Meet Debut Horror/Sci-Fi Novelist: Christian A . Larsen...... 8 Special Excerpt: “Secrets of Hallstead House” By Amy M . Reade . . . . . 12 International Thriller Writers: Reader’s Corner By Meg Gardiner. . . . . 16 Hunter Mountain By Bruce Olivas...... 17 America’s Favorite Suspense Authors: FaceOffBy Anthony J . Franze. . . 20 Special Excerpt: “The Perfect Stranger” By Wendy Corsi Staub...... 22 Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews...... 24 Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews...... 41 Featured Artist: Milos Karanovis...... 45 Stranger Than Fiction: Haunted Stalingrad By Donald Allen Kirch...... 50 Special Excerpt: “The Zodiac Deception” By Gary Kriss...... 52 Forensic Files: Delayed Death and Bleeding By D .P . Lyle...... 57 Special Excerpt: “A Better World” By Marcus Sakey...... 63 From Poe to King By Sheila Lowe ...... 66 Special Excerpt: “The Hidden Child” By Camilla Läckberg...... 72 Copy Editor's Corner: Trust Your Dialogue! By Jim Thomsen...... 78

Awaiting: An Interview With the Cast...... 79 LOVE By Bill Butler A KNOCK ON THERelentless DOOR. I put down my bowl of oatmeal. Through the glass I saw my neighbor, Cam Farley. “Come on in, Cam, get out of the cold.” It was an unusually chilly February morning. The bright sunlight didn’t put a dent on the ground frost. The frozen scrub grass didn’t move in the breeze. “Mornan, Zak,” said Cam. I took a blue cup from the cupboard. It was one of those porcelain metal ones. Part of a set that Martha got through the mail order store. I handed the hot coffee-filled cup to Cam. “What brings you over this morning?” It was good to see Cam. Our apple orchards bordered. We shared a well and sometimes pasture land. He was the closest thing to being a friend that I had, excepting Martha, of course, and maybe Puck, my yellow dog. “Same thing as last time, Zak. We need to talk about Martha.” “I thought we settled that last week. I got it handled. We’ll be all right.” Cam took a sip of coffee. “You sure make good brew.” He set the cup down. “For right now, it’s settled. But later.” “Come March,” I said, “I’ll go to Smithsburg and get something to sort it out.” Cam smiled. He did that a lot. “You’re going to have to travel farther than that for what you need.” “Then I’ll use one of Martha’s catalogs.” Cam laughed out loud. “What you going to tell them when you make the order? Look buddy, this thing you have going with Martha, it’s not good.” I didn’t take umbrage to Cam. He couldn’t help himself. The guy had few expressions and they were mostly smiling or laughing. Anyway, he meant well. “Cam, my old friend, never question what goes on between a couple in love. Just because it isn’t your way, or you can’t fathom it, doesn’t mean it isn’t suitable for Martha and me. Have I ever asked what goes on between your wife and you?” “That’s different.” “That’s exactly my point, Cam. You’re a different couple. You have a different relationship. Martha and me get along well. We’re happy. Why would that bother you.” “Is she still keeping in the barn?” “I visit her lots,” I said. “It’s almost like when she was in the house. Come out with me now to say hello.” I stood and pulled on my heavy jacket, then walked to the door. Without a word, Cam followed. The frozen grass crunched under our feet. The yellow dog followed us halfway to the barn then turned back. He and Martha never got along. I slid back the faded red door. Just inside was Martha, sitting pretty as a picture on her favorite easy chair that she mail ordered from Baltimore two years ago. “Martha,” I said. “Brought Cam to visit. Say hi to her, Cam, she doesn’t talk much since the accident.” Cam put his hands in his pockets. “Hi, Martha.” He turned his back to her and faced me. “Zak, what are you going to do come the spring?” “It’s ok, Cam. You can talk in front of her, we have no secrets.” Cam faced her. “What is Zak to do with you, Martha?” That’s another reason folks like Cam, he worries about the welfare of his neighbors. I said, “I’m ordering up a walk in freezer. I’ll say it’s for a meat locker. This way Martha and me will be together.” “Relentless.” I knew what Cam meant. I never gave up on this orchard when everyone said it couldn’t support anyone. They were wrong. Martha and I worked twenty years, day and night, and it paid off well. Just because, a week ago, her heart stopped in a stupid accident, doesn’t mean that she and I should give up on our relationship. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 3 By Alison Gaylin Press Photo : Provided by Publicist Stay“Where is my daughter?” With Brenna barely got the wordsMe out, winded as she was from running and panic. The phone had been pinged to a clearing in the woods behind the White Plains reservoir, and so she’d had to park her car at the bottom of a hill and run to it, following the smell of smoke, the cluster of emergency vehicles, the black cloud that still hovered in the dull white winter sky. She said it to the group of uniformed cops who stood in front of the crime scene tape, apart from the firefighters and EMS guarding the smoldering black heap that was still recognizable as Sophia Castillo’s 1996 Lexus ES300. They looked at each other, but none answered. She zeroed in on one of them—a muscular bald guy she’d met briefly at a sleazy Mount Temple nightclub called Heavenly Pleasures on September 12, 2004, when she’d been investigating the disappearance of a stripper who called herself Clarity. He’d been working security at the time and dressed to fit his job and the surroundings, his thinning hair gelled and sculpted, sunglasses at night, a glossy black goatee that matched the shiny shirt, but she didn’t flash back to it. She couldn’t get lost in a memory when the present felt like this. The air smelled of burning rubber and gasoline and smoke. Like the end of the world. Her gaze went to the crime scene techs milling around SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM ALISON GAYLIN the car wreckage in fireproof white suits, two of them prying open the trunk with a crowbar, her heart pounding. Please, please, please . . . No, not Maya. Not Maya in the car . . . She made herself look away, into the eyes of the ex-security guard. “Where is she, Daryl?” she said. “Do I know you?” “My daughter is a thirteen-year-old girl—five-foot-eight-and-a-half-inches. She was with the woman who was driving this car.” “We haven’t seen anyone, ma’am.” “What was found in the car?” “I’m going to have to ask you to step back, please.” Brenna took a breath, tried to keep her voice in check, but still it came out tight, manic. “I’m a private investigator, Daryl,” she said. “I bought you a twenty-dollar pack of Corps Diplomatique cigarettes and a thirty-seven-dollar glass of wine on September 12, 2004. I sat at the bar of the crappy strip club where you worked, listening to you complain about your cheating girlfriend Rolanda for half an hour, while you gave me absolutely no worthwhile information about Clarity and tried to get me into the back room, which you referred to as the VIP lounge.” Her voice broke. She blinked away tears. Daryl stared at her, his face coloring. The cop next to him raised his eyebrows at him. “She knows you, all right.” “Shut up.” “I’m looking for my daughter, Daryl. It’s the least you can do.” He exhaled. “Okay,” he said. “Firefighters managed to put out the blaze pretty quickly. Backseat of the car, we recovered some articles of clothing and what looked like a laptop case. No sign of the driver or any passengers. They’re still working

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 4 on the trunk.” She nodded slowly. STAY WITH ME “That’s all I got.” By Alison Gaylin “ Th an k y ou .” He stared straight ahead, his face still red. She moved away, focused on the Brenna Spector has had to deal with a crime scene techs, working on the trunk. She thought she could make out the lot of pain and agony over her lifetime. As charred remains of the honor roll sticker, still clinging to the bumper. a P.I., she’s helped people on some pretty Brenna’s cell phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen, saw her mother’s tough cases, and she’s raising a daughter number, hit decline. When the call went to voice mail, she texted Jim, Faith, who’s at that lovely age of ‘thirteen,’ when all and Nick: Here. No sign of anyone. Just the car. she wants to do is everything Brenna tells The phone vibrated again: Her mother, again. her not to. Brenna turned off the phone, moved around the periphery to a cluster of Her daughter Maya certainly has valid trees to the left of the wreckage and got a clear view. She saw Sykes on the complaints. Not only has she recently been passenger side of the car, talking to another uniformed officer, scribbling on his held at knifepoint by a whacko that was notepad as more techs photographed the car. She waved to him, tried to meet after her mother but Maya has also been his gaze, but he wouldn’t look at her. Maybe it was on purpose. dealt a blow from the head ‘mean’ girl at Her phone vibrated SOS. She flipped it open. A text from Morasco: OK. On school who set her up to be completely and my way to Tarry Ridge; getting q’ed by IA for the rest of the day. Internal Affairs. utterly embarrassed. It’s difficult enough to Could they waste any more time with him? have divorced parents, but Maya also has to Another text came in, from Trent: Important info re: Sophia Castillo. Call deal with the fact that Brenna spends more when U can. time thinking about her sister Clea, who She started to call him, but then she heard a creaking noise, someone disappeared decades ago, than she does her shouting, “Got it,” and she saw the trunk sprung open, a cloud of black dust daughter or anything in her present reality. rising out of it, hanging in the air. She held her breath. Brenna is weighed down by the past. The techs stepped back, covering their faces. “Okay, okay,” one was saying. She has a mind that remembers every The other shouted, “We have something!” and Sykes moved around to the minute detail, and most of the time her back of the car. He backed away, shaking his head . . . mind is wrapped up in what possibly could No . . . have happened to her sister. She even carries “Ma’am!” someone said, because she was running to the wrecked car, legs around Clea’s journal, trying to come to pumping, breath cutting through her lungs. terms with where she went and who she “Please step back!” someone said, as she reached the car. She got a glimpse went with so long ago. Out of the blue, of it—fists clenched, knees bent . . . a man appears with a bag of the clothing She screamed, and lost her footing and felt arms around her, holding her Clea was wearing the last time Brenna had back. “Nooo . . .” seen her. He’s confused that Brenna shows The officer pulled her away. She heard, “Looks to be a female . . .” surprise by his arrival; after all, as far as he’s SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM ALISON GAYLIN She heard, “Need some identification . . .” concerned he and Brenna have been talking Brenna couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. She heard Faith in her head. She’s for weeks…or someone who’s pretending happy now. That could mean so many things. So many terrible, unthinkable to be the P.I. is setting her up for the biggest things . . . nightmare of her life. Her knees gave out and she felt arms around her. When Maya is suddenly kidnapped, She saw Sykes talking to one of the techs, his face a deep red. She focused clues begin to fall into place and Brenna on his fists, Sykes’s meaty fists clenched like the ones in the trunk. And then must join up with her ex-husband and his blackness crowded her eyes and her head swam and for a second, she heard wife in order to bring Maya home safely only the sound of her beating heart. ■ and figure out just who the predator is that wants to destroy Brenna’s life and perhaps Alison Gaylin’s debut book “Hide Your Eyes,” was nominated for an Edgar Award murder her beloved daughter. in the Best First Novel category. Her critically acclaimed suspense novels have been Although not really a surprise at the published in such countries as the UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, end, Gaylin is masterful at setting things up and Japan. She has been nominated for the ITW Thriller, Anthony, and RT Awards for the reader and allowing them to ride the and won the Shamus Award for “And She Was,” the first book in the Brenna Spector rollercoaster right alongside Brenna. series. Her books have been on bestseller lists in the US and Germany. She is currently Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional at work on her ninth book, a standalone suspense novel entitled “What Remains of Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Me.” It will be released in 2015 from HarperCollins. Companion ■ Used by permission of the publisher. Not for reprint.

SuspenseMagazine.com 5 FROM ACROSS THE WithPOND AJ WAINES By Chris Simms The Crime Writers’ Association of Britain was founded in 1953. Its prestigious annual awards are known as The Daggers and past winners include Ian Rankin, Frederick Forsyth, Elmore Leonard, and Gillian Flynn. More recently, we set up a sister organisation specifically for readers of crime—the Crime Readers’ Association (CRA). I’m delighted to bring readers of Suspense Magazine a new feature from the CRA. In it, a CWA member will write from a British perspective on an aspect of crime writing. This issue is AJ Waines.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING One of the major appeals for UK readers of Nordic Noir and Scandi-Crime novels has to be the settings. In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland, the climate is perfect for grisly murders to take place. Conditions are harsh with heavy winters and prolonged periods of deep snow. Furthermore, crime’s “best friend”—darkness—can last a full twenty-four hours during parts of the winter, couching areas in permanent night. There’s a brooding quality about the stark light and atmosphere, so the resulting settings are perfect for sinister goings-on. The conditions of Northern Europe are sufficiently familiar for us in the UK to imagine, but are just off our radar in terms of actual experience, which gives them their appeal. As a nation preoccupied with complaining about the weather, it’s a vicarious pleasure for us to visit a more challenging landscape in our minds, but to keep it at a distance in reality. But how important is setting? Enigmatically, I’d say “very” and “not at all.” In the UK, there are certain writers we always associate with place: Ian Rankin and Edinburgh; Ann Cleeves with The Shetlands; Colin Dexter and Oxford. There are also plenty of crime novels that are not particularly place-dependent and barely mention a specific location at all. I’m not sure “Until Your Mine” by Samantha Hayes needs to be tied to a specific locality and “Into the Darkest Corner” by Elizabeth Haynes isn’t location-dependent (although the authors might disagree with me!) Any crime needs to be rooted in its historical, geographical, and physical context, but sometimes this can be Anytime, Anytown, Anyclimate, because the real focus is on the relationships and interactions between people. There is also the question of whether a chosen location is real or imaginary. A fictional city, for example, needs work to convey an unknown map of landmarks to the reader and an existing city also needs care in order to print the writer’s own atmospheric stamp on it. Some stories cannot be separated from their location. The original idea for my novel “The Evil Beneath” came ready-made in its own setting—The Thames. I pictured the corpse of a woman in the river under a bridge—Hammersmith Bridge, to be exact— and the rest of the story is based on more bodies appearing under different London bridges. It had to be the Thames—the story needed bridges galore in a very public place and the

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 6 river needed to be tidal, an aspect that becomes clear further into the book. The bridges also needed to be distinctive and with undergrowth or details, such as ramps or steps. I couldn’t imagine “research” in London, my former home and favourite city! It’s hard to imagine Morse solving crimes based on a small town Polytechnic—he needed the gravitas of Oxford, and to be up against the snobbery, elitism, and sense of entitlement inherent in many of the crimes in Dexter’s fictional world. And try shifting Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano from Sicily to Southend-on-Sea. Part of the charm is the lush scenery, crumbling old stone buildings, classical architecture, the vibrant harbour, the blue sea just outside Montalbano’s window. The storylines are steeped in Italian culture, too; melodramatic, full of men in leading roles (no tough Jane Tennison types here) and crimes solved the old-fashioned way using instinct and informants with barely any forensics in sight. What is wonderful is that writers and readers can choose. Writers can set their story in a confined space (“Room” by Emma Donoghue) or on the Alps (such as “When Nights were Cold” by Susanna Jones). Readers can decide whether they want to escape to a village-green mystery in St. Mary Mead or be chilled and thrilled in a dark cellar. In which case, what we’re really talking about is the universal importance of atmosphere. Tiny pockmarks on the surface of the water… Icicles forming like dried glue on the inside of the window… Settings can be “in here” or “out there”—but atmosphere in a crime novel is essential, wherever it takes place.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A BOOK’S TITLE The title of a book is undoubtedly the first thing we see about it, backed up by the image on the cover. Those two or three seconds when a reader’s eyes fall on a novel are crucial—the title needs to grab their attention, generate intrigue, and compel them to take a closer look. “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding was initially entitled “Strangers from Within” and was rejected by at least ten publishers before it was finally accepted for publication in 1953, by the young editor Charles Monteith at Faber and Faber. He spotted the potential of the novel and initiated the change of title, and in my opinion, I think the new one is a stroke of genius; it’s instantly visual, striking, and sinister to boot. It is said to be a reference to the Hebrew name Beelzebub, literally meaning “Lord of Flies,” a name often used as a synonym for Satan. It may also be a reference to a line from King Lear—“As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods—they kill us for their sport.” (King Lear, Act IV, Scene 1). As a writer, finding a title early in the writing process gives me an instant focus. Strangely, it makes me feel that the book already exists on some level and merely needs to be brought out into the light. My titles are often changed later and that’s fine by me—at times the words may have personal meaning for me, but insufficient global resonance. Penny Hancock, author of the psychological thriller, “Tideline,” told me the title came via her husband. ‘He’s an artist and quite poetic and thinks in terms of images, so he took the idea of the Thames tide coming in and out and the lines that are crossed in the book and came up with ‘Tidemark,’ which sounded a bit grubby somehow! Another friend suggested ‘Tideline.’” Paula Daly, author of “Just What Kind of Mother Are You?” considered “Stripped Bare” and “No Milk Today” for her book. In my view, the title she chose has much more direct impact. Titles often change considerably in translations: My debut psychological thriller, “The Evil Beneath,” became “Ressac Mortel” (“Deadly Undertow”) at the French bookclub France Loisirs, then “Les Noyees de la Tamise” (The Drowned Women of the Thames) with the French publisher Editions les Escales. In Germany, Random House chose “Todesdunkel,” which translates as “The Darkness of Death.” I think they all give strong, but slightly different, visual impressions. Titles can change even between English-speaking countries, reflecting cultural differences. This is often a pitfall for the reader who can be fooled into thinking a different title is a new book. Agatha Christie’s “Sparkling Cyanide” in the UK is published as “Remembered Death” in the U.S., for example. “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” in the UK was turned into “The Patriotic Murders” (U.S.)—which sounds poles apart. Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” originally had the Swedish title “Män som hatar kvinnor,”—literally meaning, Men Who Hate Women. I think changing it to the one we all know was a good move! ■

AJ Waines specialises in psychological thrillers. Her first two novels, “The Evil Beneath” and “Girl on a Train,” reached No 1 in “Murder” on the UK Kindle Charts. For further information, visit AJ Waines’s website: www.ajwaines.co.uk.

Chris Simms is the editor of Case Files, the CRA’s online magazine. You can subscribe to it 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 7 Meet Debut Horror/Sci-Fi Novelist CHRISTIAN A. LARSEN Interview by Weldon Burge Press Photo: Provided by Author Since it was published last year, Chris Larsen’s first novel, “Losing Touch,” won several awards and rave reviews. The horror/sci-fi novel focuses on a typical beleaguered husband/father, Morgan Dunsmore, who is not only watching his life dissolve around him, but is also losing physical tangibility. Being able to “phase” through solid matter sounds like a superhuman ability, but for Morgan it proves to be more horrific than heroic. Chris has also written numerous short stories for anthologies and other publications. I had the pleasure of working with him on his story “The Little Things” for the “Zippered Flesh 2” anthology. I recently managed to catch up with Chris and used the opportunity to talk with him about his book, his writing, and his future.

Weldon Burge (W.B.): “Losing Touch,” won the Preditors & Editors Award for Best Horror Novel of 2013. To what do you attribute your success?

Chris Larsen (C.L.): I really don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much, but if you would have told me five years ago that I would have a novel published with a foreword by Piers Anthony—and won an award for it to boot— I’d have told you that you were shitting me. I think what I mean by that is that “success” is a relative term, kind of like “old” or “rich.” It’s not the sales or the accolades that make me feel successful—it’s the positive comments and reviews. When I know that I’ve reached a reader, that’s success, and it’s measured one reader at a time.

I just wrote a novel that I wanted to read. Or I tried to, anyway. There were times (many times) that I finished writing for the day and I thought that what I put on paper (read: “the screen”) was absolute crap. But a writer writes. You just keep pushing forward until people starting reading and liking what you’ve written. And it took me a while. I mean, I started “writing” when I was ten, finished my first novel at twenty-seven (don’t look for it on Amazon—it’s safely locked in a trunk where it will stay, forever and always), and published a couple of dozen short stories before I even took a crack at novel writing.

W.B.: What does your family think of all this?

C.L.: My wife Maureen and my boys are big reasons why I’ve achieved the success that I have. They let me do this. I take time away from them every day to put in time writing. They give me

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 8 that time, and they really don’t have to. I’m even tempted to argue that they shouldn’t. But they do.

W.B.: Morgan Dunsmore, the lead character of the novel, seems like an “everyman” who is forced to deal with a bizarre affliction that changes his life. Despite his superhuman ability, he comes off as human and flawed. How much of Morgan Dunsmore would you say is Chris Larsen?

C.L.: When I started writing “Losing Touch,” I just wrote what I knew. I figured that I would change the “too autobiographical” stuff later, but I never did. So I must shamefacedly admit that quite a bit of Morgan Dunsmore is me, and vice versa—not that I can walk through walls, but I’ve made bad decisions, had unhealthy relationships, and, with the great recession of 2008, a fair bit of financial stress. I went from being a radio rock jock to an English teacher to a novelist in the space of three years. It gave my bank account whiplash.

The part about Morgan being a frustrated Chicago Bears fan? I wrote that from the heart.

W.B.: What was your biggest challenge when writing the novel?

C.L.: Not giving up. I wanted to give up after almost every writing session. I just thought what I was writing was terrible. And lest you think that I’m one of those low-self-esteem types, I’m not. I was really just unable to read “Losing Touch” without thinking I took a metaphorical shit on my computer. It wasn’t until Piers Anthony wrote the foreword that I thought I might actually have something here, and it took me four months to work up the guts to even ask him.

The other challenge I dealt with was putting words to page every day. I don’t know how it is with other writers, but you give me any excuse not to write, and I’ll probably take it. And here’s the weird part: I love writing! Maybe this is part of the I-hate- everything-I-write challenge. But you know, when you are a writer, it’s your job. A police officer doesn’t feel like policing—that’s a problem. Same goes for me. So I roll up my sleeves and write every day (or most days), and let other people tell me if what I created was any good.

W.B.: Do you work from an outline, or pretty much improvise?

C.L.: I never work from an outline, and 99 percent of the editing I do is in-line, meaning I do it while I’m writing. At least, that’s how it went down with “Losing Touch,” which started out as an unfinished short story. It didn’t have any traction and I left it sitting there on my hard drive. When I was batting around ideas for a novel, a friend of mine suggested I revisit the-guy-who-can-walk-through-walls story, which isn’t really all that surprising, because this friend was always a big comic book/superhero kind of guy, even though that’s not quite how the book plays out. I changed the main character’s backstory and life situation, and voila, the story had legs. Morgan is out-of-work husband and father in the Chicago suburbs who loves the Bears. In the aborted short story version, he started out as a senior citizen living in rural Wisconsin who cheered for the Packers. Write what you know.

W.B.: You’ve been an English teacher, radio personality, newspaper reporter, and I suspect you’ve held a number of other jobs over the years. How have these diverse experiences made you a better writer?

C.L.: Life experience is the writer’s notebook. It’s true that I’ve worked in a bunch of different industries and met a bunch of people with a fairly wide spectrum of life experiences that I suspect have crept into my writing, but the most important thing is to observe your surroundings, whatever they might be. Sure, a police detective like Joe McKinney lives a pretty interesting life and that informs his

SuspenseMagazine.com 9 writing in some fairly obvious ways, but I’d say a receptionist at a doctor’s office could also draw on his or her life experiences to write a damned interesting story. The important thing is to make it real, or seem real, even when it’s fantastic. The life experience that I drew on the most when I was writing “Losing Touch” was being unemployed. Not very exciting stuff, on the face of it, but I think the realism, the stark desperation of the situation, gave it something that my readers can identify with.

W.B.: What (or who) inspires you?

C.L.: Everything. Every little thing can be the cornerstone around which you construct a story. “Losing Touch” really had its beginnings way, way back when I was in junior high, when my seventh-grade science teacher said that you could walk through walls if you lined up your molecules just right. It was a throwaway statement in the middle of a larger lesson, but I held onto it for twenty-five years until it turned into the beginnings of “Losing Touch.” I even reference the science teacher’s statement in the story, but I changed his name. Slightly.

W.B.: Do you have any rituals/habits you must do when you sit down to write?

C.L.: I do most of my writing in the afternoon on my laptop, while lying in bed. I need the door closed because my kids’ idea of quiet and mine are two totally different things. I also screw around a lot on the internet while I’m writing. A lot. I used to write for a set amount of time, but found that the screwing around ate up most of that, so now I write at least five hundred words a day, which isn’t much, but it adds up. I wrote “Losing Touch” in four months using that regimen.

When I’m done with a novel, I find that I take a lot of time off from writing, sometimes as much as six months, which makes me feel really, really guilty. I mean, I’m a writer, right? If a writer isn’t writing, he’s nothing. But I’m pretty good at convincing myself that I earned that time off, mostly because once I’m done with a big project, I’m pretty empty. I don’t know—thinking about my answer just feels like a bag full of excuses. Maybe I should just cut it out and write every day. Yes. I should do that.

W.B.: Your short stories have been published in numerous anthologies, including “Chiral Mad,” “Zippered Flesh 2,” “The Best of The Horror Society 2013,” “A Feast of Frights,” “What Fears Become,” and many others. Any advice for novice writers trying to crack the antho market?

C.L.: I started out by writing a bunch of stories, polishing them to a fine sheen, and then sending them everywhere. When I was brand-new to the biz, I didn’t know the good publishers from the bad, but I learned. In fact, I found Post Mortem Press (the publisher of “Losing Touch”) when I submitted for their anthology, “The Ghost IS the Machine.” So submitting to a bunch of places gives you a good feel for what the publishing houses are, and how they do business.

I got a lot of rejections, like everybody, so you new writers out there (newer than me, anyway—and I’m still pretty green), keep at it. I’ve had some stories rejected a ton of times, but I just kept at it with them until they find a home. It’s like dating in some ways. Most find their mate, eventually. And the good rejections give you pointers about how the story might be improved. Even if you don’t make the changes to that story, you pick up on the lesson for the next. It makes you a better writer.

The other great thing about appearing in anthologies is that you (virtually) get to meet a lot of other writers, and I’ve found that the writing community is one of the most supportive, collegial communities out there. I absolutely love appearing at conventions and events with other writers, because they are genuinely fun people—people who think like you—and you can pick their brains about the writing process or the publishing business. You don’t have to talk to Stephen King to learn something. Just the other guy, doing the same thing you are. There’s so much collective experience out there.

W.B.: Let’s talk for a minute about editors. What do you find most frustrating about working with editors? The most rewarding?

C.L.: I’ve had the good luck of working with some terrific editors. I’ve been frustrated once or twice with requests for rewrites, but it was mostly a communication issue. I’m glad I kept my cool, because I was happy with the end result, as published, and I think the editors were, too.

The most rewarding thing about working with editors, especially anthology editors, is the beautiful, finished product, of which I am only a small part. It’s so incredibly cool to be part of something bigger than yourself, put together and packaged in a way you

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 10 would never have the patience or talent to do yourself. Getting into an anthology is like boarding a party bus, and a good editor is the driver. There are rules, and as long as you follow them, everybody gets funky!

W.B.: One thing I’ve noticed is that you are quite savvy when it comes to social media, and you seem to be a perpetual blogger. Do you think, from a marketing perspective, that these technical skills are now prerequisites for success for the modern writer?

C.L.: You’ve got to be able to promote yourself, however you can. I blog, Tweet, post to Facebook, and do as many events as I possibly can. On average, I do a signing or reading (or both) about once a month. And it’s one of the things that’s convinced me that I’m in the right line of work, because I love it. But technology—it’s not like I’m a computer programmer or anything. Anybody can sign up for a free blog, or Twitter, or Facebook. You just got to get out there and do it.

W.B.: What’s next on your writing agenda? Another novel in the works?

C.L.: I finished a novel in 2013 called “The Afterwalkers” about a kind of vampire. He’s sort of like a nachzehrer, which is a kind of German vampire that doesn’t suck blood. He wakes up once a generation and feeds on the life force of people, but doesn’t really remember anything about who he is…not what he is, he knows that, but he has to make up aliases and back stories every time he wakes up, because it’s a blank slate. It’s in the editing process right now.

For more on Christian A. Larsen, visit his blog at exlibrislarsen.com. ■

Weldon Burge, a native of Delaware, is a full-time editor, freelance writer, and creator of Web content. His fiction has appeared in Suspense Magazine, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, Grim Graffiti, The Edge: Tales of Suspense, Alienskin, Glassfire Magazine, and Out & About (a Delaware magazine). His stories have also been adapted for podcast presentation by Drabblecast, and have appeared in the anthologies “Pellucid Lunacy: An Anthology of Psychological Horror,” “Don’t Tread on Me: Tales of Revenge and Retribution,” “Ghosts and Demons,” and “Something at the Door: A Haunted Anthology.” He has a number of projects under way, including a police procedural novel and an illustrated book for children. Starting in 2012, Weldon and his wife, Cindy, founded Smart Rhino Publications, an indie publisher focusing primarily on horror and suspense/​ thriller books. To learn more, check out his website at: www. weldonburge.com. SECRETS OF HALLSTEAD HOUSE By Amy M. Reade Press Photo: John A. Reade, Jr. CHAPTER 1 My journey was almost over. It was raining, and I looked out through the drizzle across the blue-gray water of the Saint Lawrence River. Only a few boats were out on such a raw and rainy day. From the bench where I sat on the Cape Cartier public dock, I could see several islands. Each was covered with trees—dark green pine trees and leafy maples, oaks, birches, and weeping willows. In the chilly late September air, the leaves were already tinged with the colors of fall: yellows, reds, oranges, browns. I could glimpse homes on the islands, but I didn’t see any people. It was beautiful here—so different from the city I had just left behind. Even though twenty years have come and gone since that day, I can still remember the calm that settled around me as I waited for my ride to Hallstead House in the middle of the Thousand Islands. My nerves were still ragged, but the river had an immediate and peaceful effect on me. I was only twenty then, but I had been through so much. Though I had been traveling for just a few hours, my journey to this place had begun six long weeks earlier. As I listened to the raindrops plunk into the river, the sound of the motor from an approaching boat cut into my reverie. SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM AMY M. READE It was an older boat of gleaming mahogany with a large white awning covering most of it, protecting the cabin and the pilot from the rain. It puttered up to the dock slowly and in a few moments had pulled alongside, close to where I sat. The pilot moved to the stern and climbed out quickly, securing the boat to the dock with a thick rope. He turned to me with a questioning look and said, “Macy Stoddard?” “Yes.” He shook my hand curtly. “I’m Pete McHale. I work for Alexandria Hallstead. She sent me here to pick you up. That all the luggage you brought?” “Yes, that’s it.” He shot me a disapproving look and said, “I hope you brought some warm stuff to wear. It starts getting cold up here pretty early in the fall. It’s colder here than it is in the big city, you know.” He smirked. Determined to stay positive, I ignored his look of reproach and replied that I had plenty of warm clothes. Once he’d stowed my two large suitcases in the boat under the awning, he helped me on board, where I chose a seat in the front so I could see where we were going and stay dry. I had been in a boat once as a child when a furious storm blew up, and I had hated boats ever since. Still, though I was unhappy and nervous to be riding in one, there was absolutely no other way to get to my island destination. Pete untied the boat and we slowly pulled away from the dock. As he scanned the river and began turning the boat to the north, I glanced at his profile. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties—medium height, with light-brown, windblown hair, and green eyes with creases in the corners that made it look like he squinted a lot. He wore faded jeans and a Windbreaker. When he had steered the boat out of the small, sheltered bay at Cape Cartier and into the more open channel, he glanced at me and said, “We’ll be at Summerplace in about ten minutes.” “Summerplace?” “That’s the name of the house on Hallstead Island.” “Oh. I thought it was called Hallstead House.”

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 12 “Its official name is Hallstead House. The people who live on the island just call it Summerplace.” We sat in silence for several moments, and finally I asked, “Why is it called Summerplace?” Pete sighed. Evidently he didn’t relish playing the role of tour guide. “It’s called Summerplace because it used to be a summer retreat for the Hallstead family. Now Miss Hallstead stays there for as much of the year as she can. In early to mid- October she moves the household over to Pine Island and spends the winter there.” To keep my mind off my abject fear of being on the water, I turned my attention to the islands we were passing. Each one had a home on it, and all of the homes were beautiful. Some looked empty, since their occupants had probably left after the summer ended, but some still had boats tied to docks or housed in quaint boathouses. The homes themselves, most of which were huge and had large, welcoming porches, were surrounded by the ever-present trees. Several had bright awnings over the windows. In the face of Pete’s apparent ambivalence, I had determined not to ask any more questions. But as I sat looking around me I forgot my self-imposed rule. “Are there really a thousand islands in this area?” I blurted out. “There are actually over eighteen hundred islands in the Thousand Islands,” he replied. To my surprise, he seemed to warm to this subject and continued. “In order to be included in the count, an island has to be above water three hundred and sixty-five days a year and support at least two living trees.” I continued to draw him out, asking, “What do you do for Mrs. Hallstead?” His attitude changed again, becoming colder. “It’s Miss Hallstead. She never took her husband’s name. But to answer your question, I’m one of the handymen. I’m also the boat captain—I maintain and pilot this and one other boat. I don’t do a lot of chauffeuring. The people who live on Hallstead Island don’t get out much. I just ferry the visitors.” “Who else lives on the island besides Miss Hallstead?” “Just another handyman and a housekeeper. They’re an older married couple. Leland and Valentina Byrd. They have quarters next to the main residence. “How did you get the job as Miss Hallstead’s private nurse?” Pete asked. “My agency got a request for a private nurse for an elderly woman who had broken a hip. They knew I was looking for a change, so they offered it to me.” “Oh. Aren’t you a little young for a job like that?” “I’m almost twenty-one,” I said a little indignantly. “I’ve been working for over a year at a hospital.” “Oh. I beg your pardon.” I turned to observe my new surroundings. Each island that we passed seemed to have its own unique personality. Some seemed dominated by magnificent homes; others were more notable for their stunning natural beauty. I prattled on with my usual tact. “Who can afford to live in these places?” “A lot of these islands used to be owned by big businessmen. Nowadays they’re mostly owned by regular people, but some of the bigger ones are still owned by the families of the original owners.” “How long have the Hallsteads been coming here?” “Three generations now. The Hallsteads are an old oil family. They own HSH Oil Company—the ‘HSH’ stands for Henry S. Hallstead, the company founder

and Miss Hallstead’s grandfather. He bought the island originally.” SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM AMY M. READE “Do the Hallsteads still run the oil company?” It was none of my business and I regretted the question immediately. Pete shot me a look confirming my thoughts, but he answered my question nonetheless. “Yes, they do. They run the day-to-day operations.” “How do you know all this?” “I’ve been around for quite a while,” he said dryly. “Does Miss Hallstead get many visitors?” Pete smirked. “Hardly. The only two people who ever stay at the house with her are her adviser and her nephew. They each have rooms in the house.” “Do you live on the island?” “You ask a lot of questions.” “I’m just curious.” And nervous. “I can see that. I usually stay on the island. I have rooms over the boathouse. My family lives on Heather Island, which is not too far from Hallstead Island. I stay there every so often. Hallstead Island can get a little gloomy.” “Gloomy? What’s gloomy about it?” Pete didn’t answer. He steered the boat slightly to the right and pointed to an island looming up ahead. “That’s Hallstead Island. The boathouse is just around the other side, right off the channel. I’ll drive you around back so you can see the island before we dock.” As the boat slowly approached, I got my first glimpse of the place that would be my new home. It was stunning. Where the island rose out of the

SuspenseMagazine.com 13 river, a stone wall was visible above the surface of the water. The wall was about five feet high and appeared to stretch around the entire island. It had been built of gray stones of varying thickness, stacked on top of one another, and it had the effect of making the island look almost fortress-like. On the wall were long striations of colors ranging from white to dark gray to mossy green. I asked Pete what they were and he informed me that they marked past high-water levels of the river. Rising from the stone wall were gently sloping expanses of rock, some covered with moss, some bare of any vegetation, looking dark and slick from the rain. Still other areas of the rocky surface contained large crevices choked with shaggy shrubs and wild grasses. As we continued around the considerable perimeter of the island, I saw several neighboring islands. One or two of them seemed rather large, like Hallstead Island, and one of them was tiny, with no more than a cottage and a few trees rising from the surface of the water. The boat moved slowly, barely creating a wake, and we rounded the northern end of the island. A leafy red maple tree leaned far out over the water. It was an unusual tree and looked as if a ceaseless wind had caused it to grow sideways. As we passed under, it was so near the boat that I could have reached up to touch the dancing leaves on its gently curving branches. Trying to forget my churning nerves, I turned my attention toward the center of the island. The trees there grew in a dense stand. Some were leafy, but mostly they were evergreens, tall and dark and sturdy looking, moving in unison as the wind gently blew through their long, graceful branches. They grew thickly, reminding me of a peaceful, primeval forest. I closed my eyes and listened to the soft, low song of the wind in the trees and the tapping of the raindrops on the boat’s canopy. For a moment I was even able to shut out the quiet hum of the boat’s motor. “It’s beautiful,” I breathed, almost afraid that talking aloud would break the spell of silence and beauty around me. “It is,” Pete agreed quietly. I glanced over at him and saw that he, too, was gazing appreciatively at the island. “Where’s the house?” I asked. Pete looked surprised. “Don’t you see it?” He pointed into the dark cluster of trees, nodding toward the middle of the island. “Summerplace—Hallstead House—is right in the middle of those trees.” I looked more closely, and this time I spied a dark-green structure rising from the forest floor. I couldn’t see it very well, but as I scanned the woods I saw several dark-green turrets, each with a rich chocolate-brown roof. I would have to wait until I was closer to see the rest of Summerplace. “The house certainly blends in well with its surroundings. I can hardly see it.” Pete nodded, saying, “Miss Hallstead likes it that way.” His comment about Summerplace being gloomy came to mind, and I had to admit that the home did conjure up an image of darkness and gloom, at least from what little I could see of it. But I wasn’t ready to make any judgments yet. After all, this was to be my new job and my new home, at least for now. I forced myself to be cheerful, and asked Pete, “The boathouse is around the back of the island?” “Yeah—it’ll just take a minute.” He steered the boat slowly around the side of the island facing away from the channel. The back side was just like the front: a low stone wall, rocks, grasses, wild shrubs, and lots of trees. In another moment we pulled up to the boathouse, a large, square, two-story structure painted the same shade of green as the main residence. It had a dark-brown roof, and above the roofline at each corner rose a small turret with several tall windows marching around it. A long balcony stretched around the structure’s entire second story. A large cupola in the center of the peaked boathouse roof held a verdigris weathervane in the shape of a ship. In front, three large boat bays stood open, and I could see two boats

SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM AMY M. READE moored inside. “I love it!” I cried spontaneously. “It’s a pretty fair reproduction of Summerplace, only on a much smaller scale,” Pete noted proudly. “Of course, it’s not exactly like Summerplace because the front is all taken up by boat bays, but you get the idea. We keep this boat in there, plus a smaller one, plus my own boat. My rooms are upstairs, and the rest of the second story is used as storage and for maintenance equipment for the house and boats.” I nodded, absorbed in taking in the details of the boathouse and watching Pete maneuver our boat into its bay and up against the dock. He turned off the engine, jumped up onto the dock, and secured the boat with thick, heavy ropes. He hopped into the boat again to get my suitcases, and then, carrying both, he led the way out of the boathouse. I was very grateful to get onto land again. It had started to rain a little harder, and I followed Pete away from the boathouse toward Summerplace. We made our way from a slippery, rocky surface to a well-worn path that entered the trees through a graceful arch of branches. Our shoes made almost no sound on the carpet of wet leaves and pine needles, and the trees created their own darkness, especially on this dreary day. A chill blew through me with the wind. Neither of us spoke in the hush of the trees until Pete turned back to me and said, “Here’s Summerplace.” ■

Amy M. Reade grew up in northern New York, just south of the Canadian border, and spent her weekends and summers on the St. Lawrence River. She attended Cornell University and then went on to law school at Indiana University in Bloomington. She practiced law in New York City before moving to southern New Jersey, where, in addition to writing, she is a wife, a full-time mom and a volunteer in school, church and community groups. She lives just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean with her husband and three children as well as a dog and two cats. She loves cooking and all things Hawaii and is currently at work on her next novel. Visit her on the web at www.amymreade.com or at www.amreade.wordpress.com.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 14

INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS READER'SCorner Recommendations by Meg Gardiner “Phantom Instinct,” my twelfth thriller, is out now. When I finish writing a book, all I want to do is read for pleasure. Okay, first I want to run down the street yelling, “Finished! I’m finished!” Then I want to read for pleasure. I emerge from the story I’ve been immersed in—and throw myself straight into as many terrific novels as I can grab. Such as these.

“THE FEVER” Megan Abbott. Abbott could scribble a grocery list and it would be lyrical and frightening. In “The Fever,” a mysterious contagion sweeps through a suburban high school, sending girls into seizures. What’s causing it? What secrets will it force into the daylight, with awful consequences?

“THE KINGS OF COOL” Don Winslow. A prequel to his searing novel “Savages,” this book tells the story of how Chon, Ben, and O get into the weed business. It took me way too long to get around to reading this. It’s full of danger and darkness—and can be scathingly funny. Just the way I like my thrillers.

“INSIDE MAN” Jeff Abbott. When you open a Jeff Abbott book you’d better have your seat belt buckled, because he buries the pedal and never lets up. What keeps you reading are his vivid, compelling characters, especially former CIA agent Sam Capra. O magazine calls this book “Homeland meets Miami Vice.” That makes it my perfect weekend read.

“DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS” Amanda Kyle Williams. The latest Keye Street novel provides a twisting trip deep into the underbelly of a small Georgia town. Gripping, suspenseful, and told with wit and humanity. (Where else will you hear a lycra-clad cyclist described as looking like a giant Tylenol capsule?)

“DAYS OF RAGE” Brad Taylor. When I need a hot dose of geopolitical action, I turn to the Pike Logan novels. “Days of Rage” features tough good guys, devious Russians, Boko Haram, a weapon of mass destruction, and some wild heroics from Logan and the counterterror Taskforce. Hold the coffee—this is all I need.

“Wayfaring Stranger,” James Lee Burke. Give me Burke, give it to me now, let me dive in deep. Don’t pull me out till I’m finished. This standalone novel features an encounter with Bonnie and Clyde, the Battle of the Bulge, and cut-throat doings in the Texas oilfields. Think Burke couldn’t get any better? Read this book. ■

Meg Gardiner is the author of twelve acclaimed thrillers. Her award-winning novels have been bestsellers in the U.S. and internationally and have been translated into more than 20 languages. “China Lake” won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. “The Nightmare Thief” won the 2012 Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense audiobook of the year. Meg’s new standalone thriller “Phantom Instinct,” was chosen one of O, The Oprah Magazine’s “Best Books of Summer.” Meg was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Santa Barbara, California. Before writing novels, she practiced law in Los Angeles and taught writing at the University of California Santa Barbara. She lives in Austin, Texas. To connect with Meg, go to: www. MegGardiner.com, Facebook.com/MegGardinerBooks, or Twitter: @MegGardiner1.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 16 By Bruce Olivas

THE TWO-WAY RADIO IN RICK BOWEN’S SUV crackled with static as the voice of Sheriff Kendall broke through, “Goddamn it, Rick, I know you can hear me, answer.” Rick picked up the microphone as he sped up the winding mountain road narrowly missing a deer, “I hear you, John.” “Look, Rick, I know you want this bastard, we all do, but not like this. Let’s work as a team for once.” “You threw me off the team, John. This battle got personal when he killed my Sally. I know this guy, know all about him and I’m the one who has to take him down. I’m sorry I’m a screw up, John, but this is my chance to make it right. Whether it’s him or me I’ll be just as dead, no one can change that. Sally’s gone, I screwed up my job, pissed off my friends. I’m going down fast, but I got one last shot at the target and then I don’t care anymore.” “Just wait for us, Rick, ETA 45 minutes, 55 tops and then we’ll do this together, a clean bust.” “What if he’s not willing to cooperate?” “In that case, Rick, it will be a clean kill, but let the law do its job.” “Yeah, John, just like the Goddamn mental health system. If only they’d listened to me this wouldn’t have been a problem. Just like those pricks in the military, no one listened and oh what the hell, I’m going to finish this guy off tonight, so we can all sleep well.” Rick tossed the microphone onto the seat and focused on the road, treacherous at the best of times, but with the cold of winter closing in, snow was already coming down gently covering the mountain. Rick hit the gas and slid around a curve, his lights illuminating the gravel still showing through the snow. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and then remembered his flask in the glove box. “Good old number 7, well one for the road and a second for the look on that bastard’s face when I put a gun to his head and finish his reign of terror.” Rick saw it coming, but nobody else did. This creep was mean, sadistic, and totally gone in the head; still, before he crashed, nobody seemed worried and then the night of the town’s centennial, he snapped. The first body turned up two days later. Simple killing yet in a small town, murder was rare. Everything pointed to a transient, but they never found any outsiders and the leads grew cold. One month later, the waitress from the bar was found raped and murdered. Two weeks later, old man Jones was bludgeoned to death. Each case showed signs of escalating cruelty. That’s when things went missing: clothing, jewelry, and body parts. Surgically at first and then almost animal-like and always the right hand was removed. The FBI profilers painted the usual picture. Male twenty-five to forty years, strong, aggressive, and a loner. That last one they were wrong about and Rick was as misled by the profile as anyone, but then he noticed something. He knew this guy, knew him like family; if Rick’s hunch was right, then this was going to be a blood match. He drove on heading for the top of Hunter Mountain and the one confrontation he dreaded. Rick brought his SUV to a stop at the turnout near the top of the mountain, the lights shone in the falling snow. From here on he would have to travel by foot to reach the isolated old cabin. The chase was near an end, tonight the killer would be stopped once and for all and Rick would do it himself. He would avenge the victims, both friends and strangers, but mostly for Sally. The one person who really knew and loved him despite all his faults, finally he had started thinking about

SuspenseMagazine.com 17 a home and a family. Maybe she could have curbed his drinking and erratic behavior, maybe he would have been more like his brother, the one person he loved and yet hated for all his perfection and overachieving. If only, but now it was all gone, gone because this creep had cracked. He had been tracking the killer for months both as a deputy sheriff and now as a civilian. A distinction he now held because of his tenacity and less than legal methods. His last night on the job resulted in him decking Sheriff Kendall and throwing two members of the posse through a station window. Rick was strong, well-built, and good looking, but he was also a hot head, which was only exacerbated by a stint in the Marines during the war. He would not give up and he would not follow orders and that made for a dangerous time for those who had to work with him. Still, here he was hot on the killer’s trail and armed to the teeth. He could not give up, this was personal. He got out of his vehicle and went to the back retrieving his weapons and protective vest. The cold air made him shiver as he strapped on his side arm, he put a hunting knife in his belt, and slung a shotgun over his shoulder. This was it, the final mission for the enemy and possibly for him. One more drink from his flask, a final puff on his cigarette, and then it was time. It all came down to this, a cold night in the mountains and his determination to kill this psycho, he knew this guy would be ready and he must not let his guard down, but he expected nothing less from his brother. Big brother James, quite a guy and a hell of a Marine till he cracked under fire and was sent home. They let him out of the psych ward in time, but he never really healed, just kept it all to himself. Rick couldn’t believe it at first and then just didn’t want to, but with the death of Sally, he knew without a doubt. That’s what caused the fight in the Sheriff’s office. That’s why he attacked the only other family he could claim, the department was small, but you felt like part of a group and part of something special, now all that was gone. He went back to the front of the vehicle and picked up the microphone. “John.” “Yes, Rick.” “I’m going in, John, just wanted to say I’m sorry, you know for everything.” “I know, buddy, I wished I could have figured it out sooner, maybe I could have helped.” “He’s family, John, I have to do this.” “I know, Rick, one more mission.” Rick tossed down the microphone and headed along the trail. The snow was coming down harder now and he knew it would slow his progress. He felt a chill through his body almost like an icy hand on his shoulder. It was about a quarter of a mile of narrow twisting path and knowing his brother, it was probably booby trapped. He’d have to do this blind and silent if he wanted an advantage, he left his flashlight on his belt. Still, if there were any trip wire they might be more visible from the snow hanging on them. He worked his way along, almost hitting a trip wire attached to some cans for noise. He carefully stepped over the wire one leg at a time, just missing it when his foot slipped in the snow. “Nice try,” he muttered moving slowly down the trail. There was moss on the rocks from the recent rains and the cold was turning the moisture on the leaves to ice. Rick was startled when an owl took flight from a pine branch causing snow to land on the back of his neck going inside his shirt. The owl circled above as if it was warning someone of Rick’s arrival. He shook it off and continued on, slipping once or twice as he worked his way down. He wasn’t really worried about surprising his foe for he knew he’d be expected, he just didn’t want to be ambushed on the hillside and he knew the cabin was in a small clearing that was mostly level ground. He had made this trip on many occasions with family and friends. He recalled the time James tripped him when they were kids. He cried, but then brightened when James let him hold his hunting knife. They swore an oath that day, “brothers to the death.” Now that prophesy was coming true. James would have made it all right, but that thought only brought the repressed hostility to the surface. He had lived in his older brother’s shadow all his life, throughout school and at home. Even in the Marines, he couldn’t match James’s reputation. James was smart, clever, and the brother that excelled in everything. Their dad bought James an old Chevy for his sixteenth birthday and by the time he was legal to drive alone, he had fixed it up and painted it with the help of friends. He packed his personal items in the trunk, locked it, and gave the keys to their mother the day he left for the service. He left it to Rick if anything should happen, but the car was never driven again, this was one hand-me-down Rick didn’t want. Sally was the one thing Rick beat James out of fair and square and Rick quit competing with his brother after that, but Sally loved them both and tried to keep watch over the two of them. Now Rick would have to the finish that task and make it all okay. He was glad his parents and Sally would not have to see this, but there was no choice, too many lives had been destroyed; a couple more wouldn’t matter. As he approached the end of the trail, he went up and around looking to bypass a frontal assault. Just like in basic training, he thought. But then his brother was trained in the art of combat so Rick would have to be careful. There was a pungent odor as he approached the cabin; he recognized it as decaying flesh. The cabin had no power, so any body parts would not last long even with colder weather, but for now he had to put that out of his mind and concentrate. It was a big cabin for its location and he had come here as a boy with his family. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t place the connection before, but after Sally’s death he had to face facts. Two brothers in love with the same girl, they had grown up together yet after his brother’s breakdown, it was he whom she sought comfort with, not James. Man, how he loved her and now she was gone and he was about to confront the reason. The stench made his eyes water, he wiped his eyes and then moved forward. There was a light inside and he started up the steps when the boards creaked, he froze. No sound, so he stepped onto the porch and there was the cabin door. He could see blood on the handle in the dim light. He just stood there thinking about what he had to do and who his adversary was. He heard sirens in the distance as two vehicles reached the top of the mountain. The sheriff was near, he had to do it now. He knew they would be coming down the trail as fast as they could with no thought of stealth. He fell back on his training, raised his flashlight and revolver, and kicked the door open. He froze as he stared at an individual across the room, but it was just his reflection in the mirror. He moved in cautiously, shining his light all around. There were parts of bodies and trash everywhere and Rick remembered that line from the Bible, “if thy right hand offend thee cast it off.” Rick was nervous now as he could hear the sheriff and his deputies moving toward the cabin. He had at best ten to fifteen minutes before they got there and Rick wanted it over; legal or not, family or not, he wanted it over. “Now or never,” he told himself. He moved into a side room and saw what he thought was a wig, but it was a bloody scalp. It was Sally’s. He turned and threw up in the sink. Splashing cold water on his face, he wiped the remaining vomit from his mouth. “Damn you, brother, damn you.” He heard a noise in the other room and went in to investigate, working his way to the back through the debris, his gun cocked and his finger on the trigger. There was the mirror he saw in the entrance. He tried to summon his nerve. The voices outside were getting closer. There was no time for stealth and the element of surprise gave way to the necessity of haste. He looked at the reflection in the mirror and there stood the killer. Rick smiled slowly, raising his revolver as he turned firing a single shot. There was a commotion outside, but quiet inside the cabin as the killer lay dead. Rick had a sad smile on his face. Sheriff Kendall entered first followed by three deputies. There was no need to speak, the scene said it all. It was morning by the time they removed the evidence and Rick’s body. As the Coroner took him away everyone just kept silent. Finally one deputy came over to Sheriff Kendall. “I’ll put out an APB for Rick’s brother.” “Don’t bother,” Kendall sighed, “the killer is dead, the Coroner just took him away.” “What?” asked the deputy. “Rick was on patrol one night when his company came upon what they thought was the enemy. Killed them to a man, it was Rick’s brother and his patrol, they’d gotten lost. Rick lost it after that, they finally discharged him when they found him cutting the right hand off an enemy dead. When Sally found out about him, she wanted nothing to do with him and that’s when he snapped. I just found out yesterday when the military sent me the details of his discharge.” Hat in hand, the sheriff and his deputies started back along the path. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 19 By Anthony J. Franze Photo Credit: Provided by Publicist In this series, author Anthony J. Franze interviews other suspense writers about their views on “the rules” of fiction. For the January through August editions, Anthony will profile the authors of “FaceOff,” an anthology of eleven short stories co-authored by some of the biggest names in suspense. Each month, two FaceOff authors will “face off” over the rules of writing.

Two names are synonymous with edge-of-your-seat adventure thrillers: Steve Berry and James Rollins. These powerhouse bestselling authors recently joined forces to write a short story in the New York Times bestselling anthology, “FaceOff.” This month, in our own “face off” of sorts, Berry and Rollins agreed to go head-to-head over one of Elmore Leonard’s famous rules of writing.

COTTON MALONE VERSUS GRAY PIERCE Steve Berry wore two hats for the “FaceOff” anthology, a book in which bestselling writers co-authored stories pairing up their series characters. First, Berry was the managing editor, or, as the anthology’s editor David Baldacci called him, “the glue

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 20 that held this project together.” Second, Berry was a contributor, working with James Rollins on something fans have long been clamoring for: a story featuring Berry’s Cotton Malone and Rollins’s Gray Pierce. “We got paired up because we’ve been friends for a long time and have a common fan base,” Rollins said. “But also, I once made a veiled reference to Cotton Malone in one of my books.” In his 2006 thriller “Black Order,” Rollins dispatched Gray Pierce to Denmark, where he spent time at a Copenhagen bookshop owned “by an ex-lawyer from Georgia.” Rollins said that he “thought no one would notice” the unnamed reference to Malone. But notice they did, sending Rollins and Berry thousands of e-mails. Berry then added fuel to the fire when he made an indirect reference to Pierce in one of his novels (mentioning Sigma Force, the clandestine agency where Pierce works), and the authors then continued the practice for several more books. Readers kept asking: When will you pair up Malone and Pierce? “So when ‘FaceOff’ came along,” Rollins said, “it was an ideal opportunity.” That opportunity led to “The Devil’s Bones,” a riveting tale in which Malone and Pierce meet up on a riverboat heading down the Amazon. You’ll have to pick up “FaceOff” to learn more, but suffice it to say, fans who pined to see Malone and Pierce together have not been disappointed. The “FaceOff” collection of stories in fact has hit theNew York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. But let’s get to the writing face off.

¡BERRY VERSUS ROLLINS! One of the late Elmore Leonard’s rules of writing was “Keep your exclamation points under control.” Leonard explained that writers “are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.” Steve Berry disagrees—he wouldn’t permit even two or three exclamation points. “I’m not a proponent of the exclamation point; I actually despise it. I think the mark should be eliminated from the English language.” The New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including his latest blockbuster, “The Lincoln Myth,” said that he shuns the exclamation point because “if the writer does his or her job, they can convey excitement without it.” But Berry’s real beef with the mark goes much deeper: “The exclamation point tends to become a crutch, which can lead to lazy writing.” James Rollins took issue with his old friend’s view. “Steve makes valid points,” he said, “but he’s wrong.” The author of “The Kill Switch” and countless other hits said that the exclamation point is a punctuation mark and thus a tool in the writer’s toolbox. “When I teach writing, I say that it’s up to the writer to make the best use of the tools available. And I think there are times when the exclamation point is a useful tool. For instance, take dialogue where a character says ‘No.’ The word followed by a period conveys something much different than when followed by an exclamation point. ‘No!’ is a more dramatic response. I suppose you could say, ‘No, he shouted,’ but that’s just adding words.” Berry was not convinced. “If we lived in Spain where they put the exclamation point at the beginning and end of sentences, I’d agree. You come into the sentence knowing the emotion or tone. But we don’t do that. We put it at the end. So by the time you get to the mark, the writer—through the sentence or context—should have already showed the excitement the mark is meant to convey. So I stand by not using them. I don’t use them in books, in e-mails, or in any of my writing.” Berry also noted that writers rarely stop at two or three. “They’re like potato chips—you can never seem to use just one. If I see an exclamation point at the beginning of a book, I tend to see many more later, and I just cringe.” “Steve is right that some writers can get lazy and lean too heavily on the exclamation point,” Rollins acknowledged, “but that’s no reason to throw them out entirely. Writers get lazy and misuse adverbs, but we wouldn’t get rid of them from the language.” Like adverbs, Rollins said, the key is to use exclamation points “carefully and sparingly.” Rollins said a good test for writers is to ask themselves whether there is another way to write the sentence without the mark. If there is—get rid of it. “But if the writer can find no way to change the sentence without adding needless words or otherwise having to jump through hoops, then I say use the exclamation point.” Though Berry and Rollins differ on the degree of usage, it is safe to say that neither would suggest the regular use of the exclamation point. And even Berry might forgive the use of a stray exclamation point if the writer pulls it off. As he advised writers in a past edition of this series, “Do whatever you want—as long as it works.” (See Steve Berry’s Eleven Rules of Writing, Suspense, June 2012). So writers out there, the best advice? Use caution!! ■

Anthony J. Franze is the author of the debut novel, “The Last Justice,” a tale of murder and ambition set in the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to his writing, Anthony is a lawyer in the Appellate and Supreme Court practice of a major Washington, D.C. law firm where he has represented clients in more than thirty cases in the Supreme Court. Anthony also is an adjunct professor of law, a frequent commentator for several news outlets, and the managing editor of the International Thriller Writers association’sThe Big Thrill magazine. Anthony is currently at work on his next high court thriller. Learn more at http://www.anthonyfranzebooks.com.

SuspenseMagazine.com 21 The Perfect STRANGER By Wendy Corsi Staub Press Photo: Provided by Publicist The turtle that started it all had meandered—as turtles have a way of doing—out of a pond on a hot summer’s day. It looked like a scum-slicked rock, lying there in the sun in the mucky high grass at the edge of the green water. Like a rock that just begged a romping kid to pick it up and throw it into the water, providing a welcome disruption to the late afternoon torpor and making a nice big splash that would cool things off. That was the plan, anyway. When you’re five or maybe six years old and you pick up a rock, and a reptile head pokes out at you, hissing like a snake and gnashing teeth strong enough to sever bone and tendon … The power wielded by that snapping turtle was somehow simultaneously terrible and wonderful. I thought it was some kind of monster. In a way, it was. The most frightening monsters of childhood imagination lurk in places you’d never expect: beneath the bed, behind the door, inside the closet … It was an important lesson learned, early on: monsters really can cross the threshold of your safe haven and jump out at you when you least expect it, so you’d better keep your guard up and develop some coping mechanisms. I was lucky that day. Lucky I didn’t lose a finger… Lucky for a lot of reasons. Turtles, as it turned out, are viewed in many cultures as harbingers of good fortune. The incident spurred a lifelong fascination with the fabled creatures, which led, eventually, to Terrapin Times. That was the name of the first blog, the one launched years ago, before many people even knew what a blog was. Terrapin Terry was the perfect screen name to use for that one. Terry—or T2, as online followers like to say—is an expert on all things turtle-related, comfortably ensconced in a world populated by people who are equally fascinated by the creatures, some to the point of being addicts. It was positively intoxicating to find so many kindred spirits. But the best was yet to come. Other blogs. Other screen names. Other identities, really, if one chooses to look at it that way: each a fully formed character with a separate circle of friends. Online, you can be anyone you want to be. I have been so many different people … Eventually, it became too exhausting, too complicated, to keep up with them all. SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM WENDY CORSI STAUB Now, the only blogs that are still active are the turtle one and the breast cancer one … And never the twain shall meet. It’s safe to imagine that the circle of breast cancer bloggers have never heard of Terrapin Terry, and that the turtle fans have never heard of— Then again, you never know. Maybe somewhere out there a fellow cancer blogger is following the turtle blog, posting comments under another screen name. Probably not. But anything is possible on the Internet. That’s the beauty of it. The beauty … and the danger. ■

New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of more than seventy novels. Wendy now lives in the New York City suburbs with her husband and their two children. Learn more about Wendy at www. wendycorsistaub.com.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 22 They’ve Got You Surrounded “…SCARY AND INTRIGUING.” —LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW)

George Brookes is a brilliant but reclusive plant biologist living on a remote Canadian island. After his mysterious death, the heirs to George's estate arrive on the island, including his daughter, her teenage children and Jules Beecher, a friend and pioneer in plant neurobiology. As Jules begins investigating the laboratory and scientific papers left by George, he comes to realize that his mentor may have achieved a monumental scientific breakthrough: communication between plants and humans. Wiitthiin days, the island begins to have strange and violent effects on the group, especially Jules who becomes obsessed with George's journal, a strange fungus covering the island, and the horrible secrets that lay buried in the woods.

A.JW. WCW.AOJCOLLUCUCI.COCM CI Suspense Magazine Book Reviews INSIDE THE PAGES THE CATCH THE CURSED By Taylor Stevens By Heather Graham Hannah grew up in the house in Key West she now runs as a B&B. She knows every crook Vanessa Michael Monroe is and cranny of the house...or so she thought. When a couple of guests wake up screaming in the known as a bit of a chameleon. She night swearing they saw a ghost on the lawn, Hannah is terrified to learn it was no ghost they is a definite hunter who has built saw. An FBI agent is dead and now Hannah’s B&B is a crime scene. To top it all off, the FBI her reputation on getting things agent that’s taking over the investigation, Dallas Samson, is trying to blame Hannah for the done, whether it be dangerous agent’s death. The two get off to a very rocky start until Dallas discovers that Hannah’s home is things, or shady deals in the legal haunted and they can both see the ghost. realm, Vanessa knows what it takes A complex murder mystery begins to unravel when it appears gangs and a valuable but cursed artifact is to succeed. believed to be on Hannah’s property. Hannah’s cousin, Kelsey arrives with her partner, Logan to help Hannah Usually on the go and traveling and the investigation. It’s hard to believe there are twelve installments in this series. My only complaint with near and far, Vanessa behaves much this one is there were perhaps too many ghosts and too many people could see and communicate with them, like a man, especially when she making it confusing sometimes who was alive and who wasn’t. Other than that, this is a light paranormal heads into countries that don’t mystery/romance and a very enjoyable read. This one gets 4 stars. exactly hold women in the highest Reviewed by Julie Whiteley ■ esteem. She is not your regular KEEPING MUM ‘information getter’ and has learned By Alyse Carlson her list of survival skills the hard You have to imagine a C, as in Chrysanthemum, so that Carlson’s third novel can be set as way, then uses those skills to get part of the A, B, C series featuring flowers…darn publishers! What you don’t have to imagine information out of terrorists and though is a story as Carlson has done that for you. Three books into the set and she has really kidnappers. found her stride. In this Book four, featuring Once again, Cam Harris and her best friend Annie, with their reporter and cop boyfriends Vanessa, she shows up in Africa to in tow, stick their noses into places they didn’t need to be and end up finding a body. Roanake, keep away from the man she loves. Virginia’s Hunting Hills Country Club, is once again at the center of murder and mayhem She is frightened that the violence when local millionaire, Derek Windermere, ends up dead at none other than a murder-mystery themed silent she gets into will eventually cause auction. him harm. Joining a security team A look into his past shows Windermere had a few foes, all of who could want him dead; however, the aboard a ship traveling through main suspect is missing, who also happens to be one of the series reoccurring characters, Annie’s father. We the waters of Somalia, the home of know what a loveable old coot he is, so to the reader half the mystery is solved. We know he didn’t do it, so many pirates, Vanessa is faced with who did? Like a walk down the garden path, Carlson keeps us guessing with so many characters that you need an actual pirate attack and is called a 3x5 card to plot out all the people and their relationships, but after having had the pleasure of reading all into action. three in the series, so far her style is becoming catchy and the maturity in her craft is peeking out from behind Most of the action is told the azaleas. within the confines of Monroe’s Keeping the society’s reputation intact and averting a scandal are becoming Cam’s full time job; so what’s head as, early on, she’s injured next, daisies or dahlias? in a fight. Needing to out-think Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author of “Blood on His Hands” published by Suspense Publishing an imprint several groups, including Russians, of Suspense Magazine ■ Somalians, and Kenyans, her ACT OF WAR intelligence is almost on the level By Brad Thor of ‘X-Men’ superpowers. Speaking The twists begin as the CIA sends an Agency ‘NOC’ (nonofficial cover) into China to check into some more than a dozen languages, and intelligence collected regarding a horrible terrorist attack that’s being planned on the United States in the very being able to learn new ones in only near future. An agent dies overseas and someone who was working with the victim informs the CIA that no a matter of weeks, Vanessa can play one can be trusted, and that the U.S. is most definitely in jeopardy. people and entire countries against The President turns to counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath and his team to look into what could be each other while never being more another Twin Towers’ disaster. As Scot gets into gear, six exchange students come up missing and two airline than one step away from the action passengers change places; these are only two factors that prove a horrible set of events is about to happen. at all times. Two special ops are a ‘go’—coded-named “Gold Dust” and “Blackbird”—operations so secret that if anyone This writer is fabulous and were to find out about them and what Scot is really up to, they could be deemed an ‘Act of War’ by the U.S. the characterizations are thrilling. against the rest of the globe. Although a true suspense novel— This time around, the terrorist ‘bad guys’ are culturally different than usual, with China setting up where nothing should be revealed terrorist groups to take the blame so that when this all happens, they will come out of it smelling like a rose; in a review—let us just say that until, of course, they decide to take over the U.S. there is nothing sentimental or The main plot centers around a small, eclectic, and extremely interesting group of flowery going on here. You get agency forces that are being sent into enemy territory, with some added extras of crime and what you see, and that includes the drug trafficking thrown into the mix for fun. With an abundance of action and scenes that cleverness, the grit, and the pain. A include everything from biological, chemical, and nuclear attacks by the FBI, CIA, and other definite keeper! undercover teams, the scheming takes on a whole new level. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, From Hong Kong to America to China and North Korea, with Navy SEALS and Al Qaeda Professional Librarian & Co- on board, the reader will never be able to take a breath while enjoying Brad Thor’s wild ride! Owner of The Write Companion ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 24 SUPREME JUSTICE THE DETECTIVE & By Max Allan Collins THE PIPE GIRL Settle back in your airplane seat, fasten your seatbelt, and get ready for a great ride in By Michael Craven “Supreme Justice,” Max Allan Collins’s latest novel. This story is set in Washington, D.C. twenty or so years in the future. A conservative Supreme This is the type of mystery Court justice has been shot and killed in a bar near the Capitol Building in what might have been that fans will cheer for; bringing a robbery gone wrong, or he may have been assassinated. He and the other conservative Justices back the true detective from were responsible for the reversal of Roe vs. Wade and could possibly be targeted by angry liberals. decades ago who knows exactly Joseph Reeder, a former Secret Service agent who saved the life of a president he despised, is what they’re doing with no called in as a consultant on the case by FBI Agent Gabe Sloan, Reeder’s oldest friend, and partnered with Agent technological toys necessary. Patti Rogers. Reeder is an unpopular man in Washington law enforcement circles because of his politics, but he John Darvelle is a humorous is an undeniable expert at reading body language. man whose office is in a The killers seem to have successfully covered their tracks until Reeder spots an anomaly in the video warehouse. With a cat named footage of the killing. From that point on, the story moves forward at a dizzying pace as more Justices appear to Toast that comes to visit John be targets of a killer who stays one step ahead of the FBI. frequently, this is a spellbinding The setting of the Supreme Court Building, where “history hung in the air like smoke,” provides insight detective with very particular into the lives of some of the most powerful men and women in the country. At the same time, the politics of the tastes, including a certain way of future appear not to have changed much since the present time. It is still as vicious as ever. investigating crime, being in the Written in a smooth style, the suspense builds relentlessly throughout the story. Neither Reeder nor his company of very smart women, new partner knows who to trust, and begins to harbor doubts about each other as the novel draws to a close. and the love of American beer, Reeder nearly loses what is most precious to him, his daughter, before he discovers the truth. which is extremely hard to find in Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of “Hotel Saint Clare” ■ Los Angeles. In other words, he’s a man’s man who never gives up! THE OLD MAN IN THE CLUB John is hired by Arthur By Curtis Bunn Vonz, one of the brightest bulbs In this novel, readers are introduced to a sixty-one-year-old man by the name of Elliott in the movie director business, to Thomas. Nice but a bit odd, Elliott is living with more than a little bit of bitterness in his throat, find his former mistress, Suzanne feeling a bit cheated by the fact that he is in his golden years. The bitter taste comes from the fact Neal. Vonz hasn’t seen her in a that Elliott did not really have a chance to enjoy his youth the way others did, and the reasons while and wants John to locate why he feels cheated are known only to himself. and deliver a letter to her. Very much a soul who does not want to go ‘gently into that good night,’ Elliott wants nothing While looking for Suzanne, more than to live while he’s alive and not have to waste away in some home for senior citizens. John stumbles over a very His answer for this? Nightclubs. Elliott begins to hang out at local night spots and turn to women who are the complex prostitution ring that same age as his youngest child for comfort. It is easy to see that Elliott is completely out of place in the hot spots involves “pipe girls.” Prostitutes he sits in, and many people begin to wonder exactly what the reasons are as to why he frequents the nightclubs. for very wealthy clientele who The author leads readers through Elliott’s life—good and bad—and weaves a plot that shows Elliott’s need expect complete secrecy in their to be among the younger crowd. Little by little, doors open and Elliott’s craving to find that life he missed when famous lives, and if they don’t get he was in his youth, and the reasons behind why he missed it, come to the surface. And depending on who the it, these girls can pay severely in character is that passes Elliott by, the ‘old man in the club’ can be seen as anything from a true charmer to a order to save reputations. slightly creepy man who makes the skin crawl. John meets up with some Not a token ‘suspense/mystery,’ there are a few interesting surprises here and there. In the end, readers will very odd characters, including a basically find themselves taking a journey to understanding Elliott and uncovering his need to regain his youth. very powerful actor and a former Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ mob boss, and goes on the hunt for the meaning of a strange A POSSIBILITY OF VIOLENCE tattoo depicting what looks to be By D.A. Mishani a pyramid. And although John This is the second in a series that features Inspector Avraham Avraham, by this Israeli author. does his job and finds Suzanne, The books are written in Hebrew and translated. I’m sorry that I couldn’t find the name of the murder is right around the translator, because it was an excellent job. corner…and the hunt for a killer Even in translation, the lovely writing drew me in from the first chilling section. Avraham is begins. dealing with a crime that touches the lives of two young boys. The echoes of the botched job he Readers who miss the real, did in the previous book haunt him and color his perception of his findings throughout the case. gritty, ‘Elmore Leonard’-type He’s also getting less than positive feelings about the beautiful Belgian woman he just spent three detectives with gut instincts will months with. He’s expecting her arrival any day to resume their relationship. love this one. If anyone needed a The author has a curious style that took me a chapter or so to get used to. He presents a short passage, then private investigator, hiring John backtracks and elaborates on what led up to it. We know, sort of, what the crimes were, but we must read more Darvelle would definitely be the deeply to learn why and what led up to them. way to go. He knows his abilities Inspector Avraham is not only haunted by his previous case, he is attempting to redeem himself with this and talents, he has the power to one. He sees striking similarities. read people, and he owns a list a His mentor and superior, Ilana Lis, wants the case wrapped up before Rosh Hashanah, so the deadline mile long of resources that help looms as the case threatens to falter and fall apart. In fact, because of the holiday, Avraham was one of the few him solve a case. The only thing people around and caught this case, in spite of not quite being finished with his leave. Benny Saban, the new to say here is: Mr. Craven, bring commander, is more of a hindrance than a help, being new to everything in the department. John Darvelle back! Other viewpoints are used to enhance and heighten the tension as we follow the case from a suitcase bomb Reviewed by Mary Lignor, to a missing mother, to a daycare, to a food vendor, to possible terrorism. This all takes place in Tel Aviv and the Professional Librarian & Co- atmosphere is wonderful. Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of “Eine Kleine Murder” ■ ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 25 CASTLE ROCK ANGELICA'S SMILE By Carolyn Hart By Andrea Camilleri This is the next super-fun tale in the long-running mystery series featuring Inspector Salvo This is one book that proves Montalbano. And the simple fact is that this story, at number seventeen, continues to prove that amazing things can come in small no matter how many tales Camilleri spins, he never disappoints. packages. Carolyn Hart has been The Inspector loves his work, but his love for food goes far deeper, especially when it a writer for some time and luckily, comes to antipasto. As he revels in one ‘love,’ Montalbano finds himself investigating a slew of her older novels are now being re- burglaries commencing in the village of Vigata. The burglar’s victims seem to have been chosen released for fan enjoyment, and as because they have two homes, making it easier to create the perfect crime. The burglars go into a gift to new fans everywhere just one home and steal the keys to the second in order to hit both. Pretty slick, right? waiting to become ‘Hart’ lovers. One victim of these burglaries is Angelica Cosulich; a woman who is movie-star beautiful, which causes Serena Mallory came to the Inspector to have a bit of trouble talking to her. He would rather drink in her beauty and remain silent, but Castle Rock Ranch when she the investigation must go on. was only twelve, as the ward of Montalbano begins to suspect that the burglar is a master of his trade and is actually challenging the rancher Dan McIntire. Growing Inspector to catch him. And when Montalbano receives letters from the leader of the villains, signed Mr. Z, he up in the large, quiet New knows that his feelings were dead on. Mexico territory, she’s now part Smitten with Angelica, Montalbano begins to imagine himself a knight in medieval lore looking after his of running the ranch side-by-side lady. Unfortunately, when one of the burglars turns up dead, he has to leave fantasy behind and stop his sudden with Dan. rivals in their tracks. Although a bit tired of the game, beginning to think of crime as nothing but a big bother, Although she’s had a happy the trusty Inspector still goes on. And when the case seems absolutely unsolvable, a surprising death opens a existence, the reason Dan took door that Montalbano must walk through. Serena in came from tragedy. Readers will love this humorous series. The character of Inspector Montalbano is completely hysterical It was after her parents were and absolutely charming. Hopefully, no matter how old this justice-seeker gets, his work will continue far into killed that Serena landed in the the future. Southwest, growing up with Dan’s Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ niece and nephew, Julie and Will. JAILHOUSE GLOCK Right now, they are all gearing By Lizbeth Lipperman up for a fabulous summer at the As you can tell by the title, this is a light-hearted mystery. It’s the sequel to “Heard it Through the Grapevine” ranch and many guests, including to carry through with the rock and roll titles. These are the first two in theDead Sister Talking Mystery series. Julie and her new husband, Peter, The dead sister is Tessa, naughty and hilarious, but helpful for solving crimes as she can go where others can’t who are coming to join in the fun. and hear things they don’t. Sadly, things begin to go Tessa has four sisters who are still alive. Maddy, the main character in this novel, is a sheriff’s deputy, but wrong. Overhearing an argument, this isn’t a serious role, as no one can ever imagine her shooting anyone. She is widowed and the mother of things come to a sudden halt at Jessie, the daughter she loves fiercely. the ranch when Dan is killed in an ‘accident.’ But as even more Another sister, Lainey, is married to Sheriff Colt Winslow, a man to whom Tessa used to be hitched. Some accidents start to occur, Serena cute complications arise from this. begins to think something far The sisters, especially the ghost Tessa who appears randomly, provide laughs along the way. The interactions darker is happening. Believing between Maddy and the other law officers are well developed and fun to follow. Dan was actually murdered, Maddy is being framed and it’s an elaborate setup, one that will be hard for Colt, who firmly believes in her Serena decides to investigate. innocence, to expose. It appears that she killed a prisoner in her care. She was the only one in the jailhouse and As the story moves forward, her own gun was used. There’s even video of Maddy shooting the prisoners, one of whom dies. the suspense grows stronger, even The stakes get higher as the plot gets deeper. Maddy fears that not only herself but also her daughter is adding a little bit of romance to in danger from some hardened criminals if she can’t figure out how to clear herself and figure out just what is the mix. But as the new ranch happening. hand, Jed, becomes a spark in Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of “Death in the Time of Ice” ■ Serena’s heart, she also begins PLASTER CITY to take a good, long look at him By Johnny Shaw as being the ‘hand’ behind these Jimmy Veeder leaves his past behind and decides to go straight. Unfortunately, even the supposed accidents. And when best-laid plans go up in flames, and the past is about to descend on Jimmy…hard. one of Dan’s inheritors suddenly Once living a life getting into fights and owning more than a few problems in the world of comes up missing during a alcohol and drugs, Jimmy is doing a fairly good job at turning his future around. Until an old storm, Serena becomes bound ‘alcoholic’ pal named Bobby Maves appears, asking Jimmy for help. Jimmy feels a debt is owed to and determined to uncover what the man; after all, it was Bobby who helped him to avoid the bumps and bruises of a fighter’s life. exactly is going on at Castle Rock Bobby tells Jimmy that his teenage daughter, Julie, has gone missing, and Bobby is frantic to find his little and, no matter the risk, discover girl. It’s soon discovered that Julie’s only real ‘friend’—a young artist named Angel, who is a good man—is not who’s bringing evil into her actually the man Julie calls friend. It’s Angel’s criminal brother, Gabe, who plays a part in Julie’s life. Once this beloved home. fact is uncovered, Jimmy holds Bobby back to keep him calm, as he finds out that Julie isn’t the delicate little An ‘A-One’ storyteller, this flower her father thought she was. author deserves all the accolades The one upside of Jimmy’s ‘bad’ living is that he knows his share of bums living on both sides of the border, she has gathered over the years. and uses his old contacts to find Julie. As the two men move forward in their search, they eventually learn Julie’s New readers will definitely race to location, but getting her back will involve a rescue from a world of dangerous Mexican crime lords and a host of get every amazing tale she’s ever other criminals who will give no thought to taking them out. penned. With an arsenal of guns, beer, and cigarettes, Jimmy and Bobby travel miles of desert that, as the book Reviewed by Mary Lignor, states, “is nothing but walking on a graveyard,” to fix Bobby’s life and lead a father and daughter to rebuild a Professional Librarian & Co- relationship that has been torn apart. Owner of The Write Companion Although tough and gritty, readers who truly enjoy Elmore Leonard, will be thrilled with this one. ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 26 THE BUTCHER CROSS MY HEART By Jennifer Hillier By James Patterson Sam and Matt have been together for three years, but Matt is still reluctant to move past the status quo. He is really busy with his new food truck, he’s about to star in a cooking show, Believe it or not, it has been and he has his grandfather’s house to renovate. Sam is a true crime writer that is obsessed with ‘twenty years of Alex Cross,’ the “Beacon Hill Butcher” because she thinks he is the man that killed her mother. The problem and this new title will have with this theory is that “The Butcher” was already dead when her mother was murdered. readers wondering how that Matt’s grandfather, the former chief of police, was the one that brought “The Butcher” could possibly be, considering down. To suggest he failed to bring the real killer to justice would be a major insult to “The how fresh and exciting the tales Chief.” So, Sam doesn’t talk about her research much to Matt or his grandfather. Instead, she surfs the internet continue to be. and finally she gets a break. But is it safe to meet this person that claims to know who the real “Butcher” is? A bit off the beaten track for I must inform the readers that the killer’s identity is revealed not long into the story. For some knowing this Alex Cross, in this new tale, his from the start might ruin the suspense element. HOWEVER...the story is written in such a clever way. What family is threatened by a serial makes it so suspenseful is that you know who the killer is, but the characters do not. I have always found this to killer, who wants nothing more be very effective. My heart was galloping as I sat by helplessly watching a victim walk into a dangerous situation than to destroy Alex because or perhaps as someone was saved at the last minute from becoming a victim. Once I got started I couldn’t stop Alex has the nerve to ignore him. reading, and I confess to having sweaty palms a few times. A thrill ride that will have your attention from start In order to garner the attention to finish! This one is 4.5 stars. he craves from the detective Reviewed by Julie Whiteley ■ he craves it from, the killer BADLANDS directs his violent aim at Alex’s By Jill Sorenson wife, children, and his beloved It’s been a little while since I’ve read a great romantic suspense. I’m glad I picked this one up. “Badlands” grandma. has it all: suspense, danger, and definitely romance. It’s no surprise that Alex Penny Sandoval is the daughter of a presidential candidate and has a young son. She is kidnapped Cross is a diehard family man, and unfortunately, her son Cruz is taken as well. Her friend and bodyguard Owen Jackson tries to stop the considering all he does for them, kidnapping and ends up getting involved. And...it’s Owen’s own brother Shane who’s responsible. and the killer definitely knows this The three of them are at the mercy of Shane and his cohorts. They want money in exchange for Penny and may be the detective’s Achilles Cruz’s lives. But what about Owen? Both Shane and Owen are ex-convicts, hardened by a harsh upbringing, but heel…the only part of Alex’s Owen has retained his ability to still care. Shane on the other hand, is too cynical to overcome his past. life that could cause him to be Penny witnesses Owen’s beating and believes he’s dead. The first chance she gets, she escapes with Cruz. overemotional and miss a step at But they’re in the Badlands, an austere, unforgiving desert, and they have very little water and no food. the worst possible moment. Alex Owen isn’t dead and manages to escape and find Penny and Cruz. He must keep them alive, but at what works with all his intelligence, cost? Will he have to kill his own despicable brother, who despite everything he’s done, he still loves? Will experience, and strength to stop Owen have to make a choice: a woman and son that he loves or his own blood? this deranged killer, knowing that If they all survive, will Penny want him, an ex-convict with seemingly nothing to offer? Penny is unaware of just one mistake will cost the lives Owen’s true past. While she knows of his prison stint, she has no idea what he endured while there or anything of the only people he cares about. about his cruel father’s unrelenting punishment. Things that can break a man and turn him sour to some of life’s The mystery intensifies as wonderful things, such as love. If Penny sees him for who he truly is, will she want him? Alex finds that this particular Sorenson tells a story of unconditional love, sacrifice, peril, and heartache. You won’t want to miss this threat is unafraid of anything. romantic suspense. In fact, he announces his plans Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “The Other Side: Melinda’s Story,” published by Suspense to kill loud and clear, despite Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ Alex’s reputation of closing cases and always getting his man. The ROBERT LUDLUM'S: THE JANSON OPTION villain proves he has the brains By Paul Garrison to win. Known as ‘The Writer,’ This is Garrison’s second book featuring Paul Janson, an ex-government agent who has the he is a supposed genius out to reputation of wanting to save all the people of the world, whether they want to be saved or let the world know there’s a new not. Action-packed, the novel is plotted magnificently, with a handful of subplots that will keep menace in town, and even the readers on their toes. greatest detective won’t be able Paul is known as “The Machine” because of his accuracy with a gun and/or any other means to halt the greatest criminal mind he chooses to take care of business. Paul is partnered up with Jessica Kincaid, a sharpshooter history has ever seen. Alex finds who never misses and only takes on assignments that are difficult and bring aid to others. himself buried in a brutal game of With this new adventure, Paul is asked by Kingsman Helms, the president of a division of American cat-and-mouse with high stakes; a Synergy, to rescue his wife, Allegra, from some Somali pirates who’ve taken over a fancy yacht in the Indian game he cannot afford to lose. Ocean. Janson and Jessica agree to look the situation over and see what they can do. Of course, Mr. Helms wants Vintage Patterson, short them to go in with guns blazing to get his wife, even though they explain that most of the time pirates just want chapters filled with incredible money and don’t actually hurt hostages. action, knowledge, blood, But there’s more…another mission that Paul has set for himself includes rehabilitating ex-agents and and gore, are the names of the helping them start their lives over after being immersed in violence for many years, adding to the drama. It also game here. The ending will be a seems that American Synergy is up to no good, and Paul and Jessica see yet another curve in the path that makes surprise, so pick up this ‘twenty- the pirates the least of their worries. first’ Alex Cross novel, and get As the heroic tale progresses, the subplots come out of the woodwork and the team must decide whether ready for a one-day event you will this is a kidnapping or a way for Helms to gain control over his wife, company, or both. never forget. Although many books have been written lately concerning pirates taking hostages, this writer has extended Reviewed by Mary Lignor, the boundaries and brought forward a new, thrilling way of presenting it to the public. Extremely well written, Professional Librarian & Co- readers will look forward anxiously to the next installment. Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 27 WHITEY ON TRIAL DANGEROUS MINDS By Margaret McLean and John By Xander Weaver Leiberman Xander Weaver’s debut novel will have you screaming for the next installment of his Cyrus Cooper series. In this first installment, we are taken into a world of secret governmental agencies and science in a way Corrupt men and crooked that is fresh and exciting. law enforcement battle in the Cyrus, an operative for a group known as the Coalition, is asked to infiltrate the life of Gertrude Waterford, courtroom. It is fact that James an elderly, crotchety woman, who besides making everyone around her miserable, is also a neuroscientist Bulger (Whitey) is a violent, power- running a classified project. His mission—keep her alive. Cyrus soon finds out that not everything is as it hungry, cold and calculated man. seems; in fact, this entire assignment is twisted. Twisted like a double helix. And unfortunately, it is fact that An op that should be straightforward becomes convoluted when Cyrus meets Gertrude’s grandchildren— representatives of our government Ashley and William—both of whom have special genetic abilities. aided this man and many other We have all fantasized about having the ability to read people’s minds or being able to control others’ gangsters to get what they wanted. actions, but what if you really could? Would it be an asset or would it become disabling? What if you couldn’t Forget that innocent people leave your own home without hearing voices and all the vile things they thought about? What then? were killed in the crossfire, these Xander Weaver takes us into a world of genetic engineering that is too real to dismiss. The atrocities and gangsters and law enforcement scientific breakthroughs found within this thriller will leave you gasping for air and thankful for your “short personnel—such as John Connolly, comings.” FBI agent, who now sits in federal How far will someone go in the pursuit of “science,” and how far will the government go to acquire such prison, John Morris, FBI agent, knowledge? and many others—looked out for “Dangerous Minds” is a riveting thriller with so many twists that you won’t be sure who the good guys themselves. Their personal agenda are until the last page, and then you still may wonder. meant more to them than human I have just added Xander Weaver to my ‘authors not to miss’ file, and I eagerly await the next Cyrus beings. Cooper thriller. And it wasn’t just murder—as if Reviewed by J.M. LeDuc, author of “Sin,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ that wasn’t bad enough—it was also bribery, blackmail, and a multitude DEFINITELY DEAD of other crimes that some of us By Lois Winston cannot even imagine, that spurred Gracie Elliott has a big problem. Like that other Jersey girl, Stephanie Whatshername, these despicable people to continue she’s lost her job and has to come up with a new way to make some cash. A true right-brain on a path of others’ destruction. thinker—the perfect partner to her less imaginative husband, college professor Blake Elliott— Anything to gain wealth and power Gracie decides to start her own business, “Relatively Speaking” an introduction (not dating!) for themselves. service for the senior set. “Whitey on Trial” is a non- Which leads her to another big problem. One of her clients, Sidney Mandelbaum, goes fiction accounting of what went on out to grab a quick smoke during one of Gracie’s senior “match-ups.” Concerned that Sid’s at Whitey’s trial. But it also examines smoke break is taking too long, Gracie and Blake check on him and discover that Sid won’t be coming back. our own government’s actions as Ever. He’s been murdered. well. Some say the representatives Being good citizens of the Garden State, the Elliotts immediately call the police. The investigation is of our government were just as evil ratcheted up a few more notches when two men, flashing badges identifying themselves as federal agents, as Whitey’s reign of terror. Witness show up the next morning to question Gracie and scare her out of her wits. Who the heck was Sid, anyway? after witness and bereaving family The case garners notice in the local press, definitely not the publicity a start-up business needs. So an members, one after the other, spoke imaginative Gracie and a very reluctant Blake, decide to investigate on their own. With hilarious results. of the brutal conduct of Whitey, “Definitely Dead,” the first in award-winning author Lois Winston’sEmpty Nest series, is a real hoot with Stephen Flemmi, and the Winter likeable characters and imaginative plotting that’s sure to resonate with people of a “certain age.” I can’t wait Hill gang’s accomplices. to see what trouble Gracie (and Blake) gets into in book two! Judge Casper said during Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Class Reunions Can Be Murder” ■ Whitey’s sentencing, “…I wished COP TOWN that we were watching a movie, By Karin Slaughter that what we were hearing was It’s 1974, and the Atlanta Police Department is stuck between the Civil Rights War and not real…,” but unfortunately, the age of acceptance. The new mayor tries to change things, yet the city remains divided “…we were hearing about the between black and white. There’s a cop killer roaming the streets—an African-American real inhumane things that human male—called ‘The Shooter’—who is supposedly responsible for killing cop ‘duos’ in sleazy beings did to other human beings, areas of the city. Every cop is working overtime to save their partners and take out their own seemingly without remorse and brand of justice on the one responsible. without regret.” Yes, it’s sad that The Lawsons are a cop family. Jimmy Lawson is the ‘golden boy’ who everyone loved what went on was not that of fiction, when he was making them proud in his football uniform. One night, he and his partner are called to investigate but real life horror. It turned my a fake break-in; what happens next, only Jimmy knows. His partner is shot, taken down by the supposed man stomach to see the abuse of power who’s after the cops in town. But Jimmy gets away, running to the nearest hospital to try and save his friend’s and the corruption that can occur to life. Unfortunately, another cop meets death causing Jimmy and the rest of the department to go haywire. But those who swore to protect citizens. when Jimmy’s sister, Maggie, discovers that her brother is lying about what happened, enemies are spawned. I commend authors McLean Kate Murphy is just starting her life with the Atlanta PD. She’s being teased by the men (who still believe and Leiberman for an unbiased a woman in the department is ridiculous), being ordered around by the females, frightened by the street accounting and one that is well- vermin, and is dealing with Jimmy who seems to want nothing more than to watch her run away from the job written. on her first day. But as days move forward, Kate ends up side-by-side with Maggie, tracking down the truth Reviewed by Starr Gardinier and going against the entire department to unveil the surprise killer. Reina, author of “The Other Side: A gritty read showing women who use their intelligence and courage to rise above the walls put in their Melinda’s Story,” published by way by men and a harsh look at how race relations were back in the 70s and unfortunately, the reality that still Suspense Publishing, an imprint of exists today of ‘color versus color.’ Suspense Magazine ■ Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 28 EVERYTHING TO LOSE YOU'RE NOT SAFE By Andrew Gross By Mary Burton Hilary Cantor is a young mom with a handicapped son. Hard-working, Hilary is a wonderful woman who has not been able to get out of debt since her husband left her behind to get remarried. Mary Burton… ‘Nuff said. One evening, on her way home from work, she witnesses an accident. The driver in front of her, while texting, Yes, it really is that easy veers off the road and loses control of his car. Hilary, being a good samaritan, slides down the hillside to see if she with this author. Yet again, the can help the driver, but it’s too late. Looking into a bag located in the vehicle, Hilary tries to find out the victim’s suspense maven has brought name, but instead discovers a huge amount of cash. This is a true struggle between doing the right thing and another title to the masses that absolute desperation about how Hilary will get out of debt. will leave an imprint in the Making up her mind, she takes the bag and tosses it into the woods so the emergency personnel won’t see it, mind long after the book has and decides to go back at a later time to get the money she needs to turn her life around. But when Hilary finds out been read. she’s looking at half-a-million dollars, her guilt goes away. After all, this is money that will allow her son to stay in Opening in the summer the special school he truly needs. in Hill Country, Texas, a Unfortunately…nothing is free. Instead of the money being a gift of fate, Hilary finds herself in peril as the man by the name of Rory cash turns out to be part of a violent scheme involving a twenty-year-old killing and a powerful figure who, if this Edwards (a local with alcoholic murder was ever to see the light of day, would destroy him. tendencies), has been found Choosing to unveil her ‘discovery,’ Hilary partners with a policeman who has his own connection to the cash. hanging near a vineyard owned Not only is he dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy but he now finds himself teamed up with Hilary, by Greer Templeton, a former fighting to take down a person who will stop at nothing to keep them silent. girlfriend of the victim. Rory As always with Andrew Gross, this is a first-class read. A true thriller that will attract and keep the reader met Greer at a clinic that completely engaged! was there to help troubled Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ teenagers. He had been trying to clean up his life, while Greer WENDELL BLACK, MD had been taken in by a relative By Gerald Imber who left the vineyard to Greer Gerald Imber’s newest thriller, “Wendell Black, MD,” begins with a frightening incident when when she died. an airliner encounters turbulence on a flight from London to New York. New York police surgeon In comes Texas Ranger Wendell Black is called on to treat a young woman on the flight who has gone into cardiac arrest. Tec Bragg, who’s investigating His attempt to saves the woman’s life draws him into a high priority drug smuggling investigation, the hanging and suspects Greer which he wants nothing to do with. As a physician for the New York Police Department, Black is either a part of the brutal believes he has done his duty for the young woman, but now the case is out of his hands. When a murder, or at least indirectly short time later Black’s girl friend Alice, also a surgeon, goes missing, it seems there may be some connected to Rory’s demise. connection between the two incidents. But when another person The story returns to the incident on the plane when forensic examination makes it clear that the woman Black who’d been in the clinic also treated is not who she seems to be. After the murder of one of Alice’s colleagues, and then the reappearance of Alice, meets a fatal end, Tec switches the NYPD along with Wendell Black, are suddenly in the thick of the international investigation. As someone who opinions and begins to believe wants to do nothing more than live day-to-day in his mundane job as an employee of the police department, Black that Greer is in actual danger. is often in over his head. He was more used to dealing with police officers with the flu than multiple murders, but As Greer does her best to with Alice’s help, he keeps his head above water. When Alice, or rather Alison, returns to Black’s life, he finds out work hard for the new vineyard, more than he wanted to know about British and American intelligence and threats to security around the world. she finds herself falling for The FBI, DEA, and Homeland Security all become involved, as well as British Intelligence. the Texas Ranger; add on to Author Gerald Imber, himself a plastic surgeon, does a masterful job combining the medical, legal, and that the fact that Greer feels international law enforcement aspects of this case, which turns out to be much more than a drug smuggling the killer has something to do operation involving millions of dollars. The tension builds as the story progresses to the heart-pounding conclusion. with the clinic, and will not Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of “Hotel Saint Clare” ■ stop until he tracks down every I REMEMBER YOU one of his victim—past and By Yrsa Sigurdardottir present—to finish the horror This is one ghost story that will have you thinking twice when it comes to ever living in or even visiting the he’s started. frozen tundra of Iceland. Although a bit slow Two separate stories combine into one suspenseful ‘force’ that will leave every reader breathless. First, we are in bringing the characters introduced to three people; a married couple has placed money into a house on an isolated island where no one together at the beginning, the dwells, in order to renovate it and bring the home back to life. Gardar and Katrin are those people, and they have pace jumps into high gear when brought Lif along with them. Her husband has just passed away and Katrin does not want her to be alone. So…Lif the influx of killings mixes with has come to help. But when the creaks and moans of the old house turn into the voices of an angry ghost who has the passion. As always with Burton, the visuals are what reason to be upset, what was supposed to be a fun project takes on a nightmarish bent. really sink in with her writing, In another town, a doctor who specializes in psychiatry, by the name of Freyr, falls into his own darkness. so saying this is a good read is First meeting up with a detective, who is investigating vandalism at the local school, Freyr soon finds out from a just fine. But reality is, this is an patient that vandalism, just like this one, happened many decades ago. From that one door opening, a wealth of afternoon movie packed with information floods through. Soon a mystery unfolds about a school class whose members met sticky ends later in suspense, romance, a super- life, supposedly because of a missing child from that class who was never found. Freyr is interested, considering tough man who is a beloved his own son’s disappearance. character to many, and all those With absolute precision, this author takes the reader by the hand and creates visually enticing tales, with clues juicy tidbits that allow you to and secrets that come to life on almost every page; then combines them into an incredible ending worthy of the enjoy a great ending! masters of horror. And when it comes to those things that ‘go bump in the night,’ this author has made sure that Reviewed by Mary Lignor, each one will have you jumping out of your chair and turning on just one more light before continuing to the next Professional Librarian and page. Bravo Iceland! Co-Owner of The Write Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Companion ■ Suspense Magazine ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 29 FLIGHT OF THE CLOUDS OF WITNESS SPARROW By Dorothy L. Sayers By Amy Belding Brown For mystery lovers who haven’t had the opportunity to read the fantastic novels written by this author who passed away back in 1957, it’s time to enjoy yourselves! The character of Mary Rowlandson, wife Lord Peter Wimsey hit the literary scene back in 1923, and ended up becoming one of the most of a minister of the Gospel, popular detectives ever written. lives in 1676 in the village of In this story, Wimsey returns from a holiday and finds that Captain Cathcart, his sister Lancaster, Massachusetts BayMary’s fiancé, was found dead outside the Wimsey’s hunting/shooting lodge. Even more of a Colony. Here, most people are shock is that Wimsey’s brother, Gerald, is arrested for the killing. unhappy, especially the women The unfortunate victim was killed by a bullet from Gerald’s gun and the suspect’s alibi is anything but rock who take care of home, hearth, solid. It also doesn’t help that Gerald and Cathcart quarreled that night after Gerald received a letter regarding and children, while at all times Cathcart’s gambling. keeping their mouths shut. Wimsey and Inspector Charles Parker come together to unearth the truth of what really happened to the The men, especially Reverend unfortunate captain. Looking over the grounds, they discover several clues: from footprints belonging to a Rowlandson, are the ‘keepers stranger to motorcycle tracks to a lucky charm in the shape of a cat. And with each find, the men realize there’s of the flame’ and they take their more to this mystery than meets the eye. The two men have a hard time believing that Gerald and Mary are jobs very seriously, making sure telling them everything they know. that everyone agrees with them Discoveries bring to light a Socialist named Goyles; a man who just happens to be Mary’s secret fiancé. on every matter. News comes to the colony Considered by the family to be an unsuitable match, Mary and Goyles had plans for a secret elopement. When that one of the nearby villages the police catch up to Goyles, he has his own alibi for the time of the murder, and Mary must deal with the has been attacked by Indians, and aftermath. In addition, it seems Cathcart had more than gambling in his vault of secrets…he also had a mistress. Reverend Rowlandson decides As weird coincidences and events bring the puzzle together, Wimsey pulls out all the stops to solve the to ride to Boston and seek the confusing case. Governor’s help. While he’s gone, Highly recommended for mystery readers, Sayers was a wonderful author. And thankfully, her imagination the absolute worst happens, and aristocratic detective live on. and the village of Lancaster is Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ attacked. Mary is one of the HOME FOR THE HOMICIDE prisoners spared from death By Jennie Bentley and sold into the service of a This is the first book that I’ve read in thisDo-It-Yourself Mystery series and I enjoyed it tribal leader instead. She is made immensely. I though the story of Avery and her husband Derek, who buy and renovate old a hostage by sheer brutality, homes, to be very interesting and very engaging. yet tries to help the Native In the seventh book in this series, the couple purchases an old Craftsman house to renovate Americans and the English find a way to live together in peace. and update. There is much about the old home that is original, which is a coup for the couple so Even with all the bloodshed, they don’t have to un-do unfortunate updates that robbed the house of all its character. Mary is drawn to some of the However, in the attic, Avery finds an antique crate which holds a clue to a decades-old missing persons captors who aren’t as violent. case. As she and Derek work to get the house ready for resale, she investigates clues to the old case and it soon One such man, James Printer, becomes apparent that someone wants the story to stay hidden…no matter what! is very protective of Mary, and I am so happy to find that this is the seventh in the series and I fully intend to seek out the first six and it becomes difficult for her to read them at my earliest opportunity. Curl up with this some rainy night and sleuth with Avery and Derek as continue to follow her husband’s they find out more than they wanted to know about the old house and an old scandal haunting the town of teachings and to detest Indians Waterfield, Maine. with the way Printer acts. But Reviewed by Holly Price, author of “At Death’s Door” ■ after living with the tribe for some BLUR time, she begins to question all By Steven James the things that she has been told, In this first book of a new YA trilogy, readers will have to figure out where the ‘real’ world and her struggle for eventual ends and the ‘crazy’ begins. freedom becomes muddied. Old Daniel Byers is a sixteen-year-old high school athlete who is beginning to believe that he’s English society versus the actual slowly losing his grip on reality. What most people would call bad images, Daniel refers to his wilderness is confusing to the strange episodes as ‘blurs.’ lady, and her faith will be tested As we begin, Daniel is attending a funeral of a teenage girl who has died a week before. Emily as she attempts to figure out for herself who’s right and who’s Jackson’s body was found in Lake Algonquin and the townspeople, along with the authorities, wrong. are calling her tragic death an accident. While at the funeral, as Daniel pays his respects to the departed, Emily’s The emotions rage in this eyes suddenly pop open; she sits up and takes hold of his arm. A bit reminiscent of The Sixth Sense, a few words particular plot. In addition, are spoken to Daniel from Emily’s lips before he faints dead away. Upon waking, Daniel’s father states that Emily readers needs to understand up was most definitely deceased and he had simply taken his distressed son home. However, Daniel is quite sure front that the sometimes brutal, that Emily was murdered, and he goes on the hunt to find out exactly what happened with the help of some horrific scenes that bring to life friends. To Daniel, this ‘blur’ is an absolute fact. the hideous crimes that occurred But this is not the only episode Daniel will face along the way, as he tries to solve a mystery of murder. In to people long ago, especially fact, as the hunt continues and more and more secrets are unearthed, Daniel’s ‘blurs’ come full force, and the when children are the subject, creepiness of the visual images grow far more powerful. will be extremely hard to forget This story is definitely guaranteed to keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. And the when the book comes to an end. style of writing, as well as having a character that is both sweet and unassuming, will have audiences rooting for Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Daniel to be free of the horror he certainly didn’t ask for. This first novel will have readers waiting impatiently Professional Librarian and Co- for number two! Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of ■ Suspense Magazine ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 30 CITY OF GHOSTS THE ALPINE By Kelli Stanley YEOMAN It’s June, 1940. America is a year and a half away from entering WWII, and the atmosphere By Mary Daheim of the world is dark and dangerous. Miranda Corbie can feel the anxiety in the air. Once a nurse in battle, she’s now working Set in the village of Alpine, as a licensed private investigator. Having bills to pay and not a lot of money to pay them with, in the Cascade Mountains, this Miranda has a ‘lucky day’ when she runs into James MacLeod, a man from the U.S. State is a witty and wonderful story Department who previously helped her obtain her PI license. MacLeod asks her to do a job: that will keep readers glued to find a University of California chemistry professor who he believes is a Nazi spy. the pages for a full afternoon of The money from the job comes at the perfect time. Miranda has recently discovered that her mother, who reading. abandoned her as a child, is stuck in England. And when this job is complete, the funds given to her might buy Well-known main characters, her a ticket to war-torn England where she can locate her mother and get answers to questions she’s had for a Emma Lord—the editor and long time. publisher of a newspaper in The suspense builds as Miranda finds herself on two amazing adventures: to locate this missing professor, this small town—and Sheriff and the journey to track down her kin. Miranda travels everywhere from seedy back alleys of San Francisco Milo Dodge, have been recently streets to art galleries, nightclubs, and a Nazi costume party. She also heads to the ‘Biggest Little City in the married, but unable to actually World’ where she’s framed for murder and forced to hide from Reno authorities. enjoy their new wedded bliss. The government is (surprise, surprise) using her to do a job they definitely don’t want to do. But this brave The small town has been turned woman doesn’t miss a beat as her determination grows stronger. To uncover a murderer, unveil a Nazi spy, and topsy-turvy with new incidents, get answers she needs regarding her life, Miranda doesn’t stop. and Emma and Milo are shoved A fantastic book where the action never slows down; this author has done a great job. Miranda really holds right in the middle of it all. her own among the other female PIs out there, and it will be a whole lot of fun to hopefully see her ‘sleuth’ again! Emma is always looking for Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ a story, and she has a few very SHOTS FIRED: STORIES FROM JOE PICKETT COUNTRY colorful employees who help her By C.J. Box keep the paper out of the red. Her This is a glorious ‘gift’ for readers featuring short stories galore written by an incredible author. These all ‘House and Home’ editor, Vida good, difficult to find tales, have appeared in various anthologies, and now they are presented in one volume Runkel, is a town newspaper all that is a true ‘find’ for suspense lovers across the country. Ten stories in all, this review will give one teaser to by herself; she knows every local savor until getting the whole book in hand for a variety of adventures. and what they are up to on any Pronghorns of the Third Reich is not only a fascinating short story but also one heck of an alluring title. given day. Vida’s great-grandson Beginning at the home of lawyer, Paul Parker, it is a snowy, bleak morning with a wallop of a snowstorm just has come into her life after she gearing up. took him away from his mother, Parker finds himself accosted at his home by two young men and kidnapped. The men force the lawyer the town hooker. But Vida is to come with them to the estate of a rancher who has passed on; however, the lawyer is told that this deceased extremely upset when the mother millionaire actually stole from one of the kidnapper’s grandfathers way back when. He feels Parker—the old makes bail and is set free. man’s lawyer—should have done something about the past when he had represented him. With all this small-town The amazing read goes back to the year 1936, when a bankrupt rancher did anything he could to pay off action, there seems to be a a ranch. Delving into a book collection, the story also presents a deal that was struck with Hitler once upon a stranglehold on the newlyweds time. when a dead body is soon found This is but one out of ten short stories offered to the reader by C.J. Box. Wyoming is the scenery that this at the fish hatchery and identified author knows best, and each tale gives a new look, a new secret, and a new mystery all rolled up in the beauty of as a person who could be a federal Wyoming scenery. Each one has an amazing plot and memorable characters that build the suspense; each title agent…or a thief; some missing proving to be a ‘cut above the rest.’ teens; and a detective who goes Enjoy! This collection is absolutely super! off on his own. With all of these Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ many distractions that take up many different plotlines, Emma SIGHT UNSEEN and Milo seem to be knee-deep By Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen in drama. Kendra Michaels is back in this new tale delivered by the most talented mother and son in the business! The answer about what’s Kendra Michaels was blind for most of her life until a miracle surgery gave her back her sight. And if there’s happening in Alpine is: If Milo anything good that can be said about being blind once upon a time, it’s the fact that Kendra has uncanny talents knows, he’s not telling anyone. because her other senses were sharpened during her unseeing days. And Emma is being her usually In this new book, Kendra loves her job, using music therapy techniques to help children with developmental nosy self by pressing everyone issues. Her best friend is fine, and her mother is setting her up on a blind date, which actually turns out to be a to find solutions. The gossiping good one considering the man is super-intelligent and extremely handsome. But Kendra’s life soon changes, and tongues are wagging, and the she once again finds herself working with the FBI to track down a killer that has become absolutely obsessed newlyweds are just trying to keep with…her. up. While on her blind date, Kendra sees a news bulletin of a car accident. Tragic, yes, but Kendra is actually A fascinating book with more frightened that the police will clean up all evidence and walk away. She can see things on the TV screen twists you won’t believe. This that make her know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is all about murder. Soon, other horrific crimes author should be given a pat on commence—each a mirror image of cases that Kendra worked on over her lifetime. A copycat killer has been the back considering this is the born, and this is one person who can change accents, alter facial features, and even stay two steps ahead of the twenty-fifth novel in theEmma brilliant woman as they team up with a death row inmate to set Kendra up to be the final victim in an extremely Lord series…and each one just grand finale. keeps getting better and better! The killer is unknown until the very end; the plot is one that every mystery reader will believe they know, Reviewed by Mary Lignor, and they won’t; and the heat between Kendra and her friend, bodyguard, and rival, Kyle Adams, is still scorching Professional Librarian and Co- hot. Readers will be salivating for the tale to continue ASAP! Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of ■ Suspense Magazine ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 31 CUT AND THRUST CRIMES OF MEMORY By Stuart Woods By L.J. Sellers This is a true gift for audiences who like that ‘tough-talking’ detective who gets the job done Get ready for a story but also owns that soft heart where responsibility and love meet. grabbed straight from the Detective Jackson is extremely clever; he has the ultimate gift for being able to sniff out a headlines…almost! criminal and put them behind bars. Unfortunately, he’s also a man with a departed wife who is Who could be the very first now the sole parent to a daughter named Katie. This is a young girl devastated by her mother’s ‘Lady of the Land,’ Katherine death, and Jackson must find ways to dispense justice while trying to give his daughter as much Rule Lee, is hoping to be the attention, comfort, and love as he possibly can. Democratic nominee at the However, in just one night, Jackson’s attention is hit full-force. When a body is found in a storage locker, he Democratic Convention to be hopes for an open-and-shut case, but as always, there is no way this one’s going to be easy. Just as he begins his held in Los Angeles. The man who is currently President of the investigation, an explosion shakes the very foundation of his town when a bottled water factory is firebombed. United States is her husband, With personal and work issues escalating, Jackson begins following clues, while barely able to see the light at Will Lee. Their very good friend the end of the proverbial tunnel. Yet when the homicide and bombing incidents begin to interweave, an activist just happens to be the famous group called ‘Love the Earth’ rise to the surface and become suspect number one in both crimes. and infamous Stone Barrington; There are a slew of people involved in these investigations, including the FBI, and the character list that’s ‘as ex-cop, attorney, and ‘man about long as his arm,’ which makes Detective Jackson even more determined to see the cases through to the very end. town’ in New York City. Unlike your usual hard-boiled detective, Jackson shows an emotional side that appeals to audiences. Fast- Stone travels to Los Angeles moving, the mystery comes together with a great ending that offers a bit of surprise to the reader. Being the with his latest love interest, eighth Detective Jackson novel, each mystery may be a standalone story, but for readers who want the full Ann, who is the First Lady’s emotional impact, it would be wise to begin at the very beginning. ‘Girl Friday.’ Dino Bacchetti, Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Stone’s old partner in the police Suspense Magazine ■ department, and his wife, Viv, also tag along for the big event. POISONED PROSE Putting most of the folks up By Ellery Adams in his hotel in L.A., including the The Bayside Book Writers are a group of five authors in Oyster Bay, North Carolina, a fishing village which Presidential couple, Stone finds has been around for a couple hundred years. Olivia Limoges, local girl made good, and community philanthropist, himself suddenly involved in a has sponsored a visit from Appalachian storytellers. The main attraction, Miss Violetta Devereaux, is nationally mess of wealth and intrigue that known as a riveting and awe-inspiring tale weaver, holding her audiences speechless with her haunting stories. can only come from the rich and Her visit to the local library is well attended and everyone enjoys the event. Olivia is able to spend a bit powerful. of private time with Violetta and is amazed at her abilities and her theatrical makeup. Another member of the The First Lady has had writer’s group, Laurel, who is a reporter for the local newspaper, schedules an interview with the private and her problems, making enemies reclusive Violetta, to take place after the storytelling event. when she was the Director of the After being asked to chauffeur Violetta to her interview, Olivia waits for her in the parking lot of the library. CIA, and it comes as no surprise When Violetta doesn’t show up, Olivia returns inside the library to find her and discovers her lifeless body that two particular senators are instead. ready to kick her off her pedestal Local police chief, and member of the Book Writers, Sawyer Rawlings, is on the scene and is able to in order to nab the nomination. immediately begin his search for the murderer. A Secret Service agent is on tap The clues are convoluted and hard to decipher, but Olivia perseveres with help from the other writers, to to show Stone a death threat find the truth of Violetta’s mysterious life, and equally mysterious death. The clues bring Olivia to a threat on her against the First Lady that has own life...but will she be able to find the truth before the killer ends her own story before her time? just been received and, wait… This is the fifth book in theBooks by the Bay series and I have found it so compelling that I have ordered there’s more. the rest of the series and look forward to reading them as well. The book is well-crafted and attention-grabbing. A movie star named Ellery Adams has a real winner in this series and I believe that she has a universal appeal to all mystery Charlene Joiner has just lost readers. a very important role to rival, Reviewed by Holly Price author of “At Death’s Door” (released soon) ■ Susannah Wilde. This does not sit very well with Charlene MISS DIMPLE PICKS A PECK OF TROUBLE and her mind begins making By Mignon F. Ballard some interesting plans. And During the summer of 1944, the citizens of the town of Elderberry, Georgia are beginning to believe that Susannah’s husband, Ed Eagle, is the War will go on forever. Their thoughts are put aside, however, when a murder occurs much closer to home. a New Mexican delegate to the The one upside to small towns is that everyone knows everyone else, and in Elderberry, Miss Dimple Convention who just happens Kilpatrick lives and works as a teacher and, thankfully to her neighbors, a part-time detective. On this particular day, Miss Dimple is picking peaches with a couple of friends when she hears a scream. to have an ex-wife who has been They soon find out that Prentice Blair has vanished from her job at the Peach Shed where she was selling produce gunning for him…and she’s not with her friend Delia, while Delia was away for a moment getting a cold soda. When her body is found, Clay done yet. Jarrett is immediately suspected of her murder. Clay’s family owns the peach farm and he and Prentice recently As always, there are a slew broke off their romance, with Prentice wanting to attend college instead of walking down the aisle with Clay. of characters in this new tale. But…there is more. From political hopefuls to movie Miss Dimple knows them both and believes in her heart that Clay did not have a hand in the murder, mavens richer than Midas, there even though Prentice had told him she was not exactly faithful. In addition to her gut feeling, Miss Dimple also are honest and dishonest people discovers a woman living nearby who states she actually saw the killer, and it was not Clay. Very soon, the woman galore that Woods’s fans will who holds the truth is found dead and Miss Dimple goes on the hunt, vowing that she will not rest until the real definitely sink their teeth into. culprit is caught. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, As the setting of this book is during wartime, many of the main characters are women anxious for their Professional Librarian & menfolk to come home, and each use this particular tragedy to deal with their absence. This is a novel with Co-Owner of The Writeexcellent characters and a plot filled with kindness, wisdom, and intrigue, with the charm that only a small Companion ■ southern town could give. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 32 BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR CLOSE TO THE By Dawn Eastman BROKEN HEARTED This is another fun book that takes readers into the small community of Crystal Haven, By Michael Hiebert Michigan, where weird things continue to happen…most likely because some of the residents of the hamlet have psychic powers. This is the second title in theFamily Fortune Mystery series, Set in a small Alabama following Clyde Fortune (Clytemnestra), who has returned to Crystal Haven after leaving town, this in-depth mystery behind a police career in another location. shows the American South in a Clyde comes home in the middle of the Fall Fun Fest, and anyone who lives in a small town whole new light. can attest that these Fests are usually the biggest social events of the season. Diana, Clyde’s best Sylvie Carson, at only friend, is running the festival this year, which includes a Wiccan Samhain Ceremony, along with other events. twenty-two years old, is the (And, no, that’s usually NOT an event in most small hamlets). owner of some seriously rough With a bonfire in place and a witch’s cauldron hanging over the flames, Diana is poised to lead a ritual that troubles, and even rougher will supposedly tell the future. As the fire burns and the cauldron bubbles, Clyde thinks she sees something in memories. Her baby brother the smoke. But what she witnesses is not supernatural; instead, it is one of the circle members, Rafe Godwin, an was shot and killed right in front old friend of her father’s, collapsing and dying right there before her. The cause? An allergic reaction. But because of her when she was just a child his EpiPen doesn’t work, the townspeople soon believe that Diana and her magical event is what actually killed by a man called Preacher Eli. the poor man. An orphan, Sylvie is completely The characters in this book are a bit eccentric, including Clyde’s kin. And the romance brewing between alone with the exception of Clyde and handsome detective, Mac, begins to bubble over like the steaming cauldron. Another coven member her child. The only friend she will be attacked before Clyde suspects there is a witch hunt coming in the very near future, and Clyde will have seems to trust is Leah Teal, the to use all her mysterious skills to help Diana prove her innocence and help Mac catch a killer. This is one town where even spiritualistic folk are not fond of Wiccans. And everything from humor to one police detective that Alvin, distrust are offered up in this memorable witches’ brew. Enjoy! Alabama can claim. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ Calling the police station on almost a daily basis, Sylvie speaks NO SAFE HOUSE with Leah, and the detective By Linwood Barclay treats her with kindness, caring The minute the reader gets into this story, they will be looking for their own safety about her because of Sylvie’s past precautions; from turning all the lights on to looking under the furniture to perhaps buying that horror and present problems. But big dog they’ve always wanted. In other words, Barclay has delivered the thrills and chills once now, the worst has happened; again. Preacher Eli is out of prison and This is the story of Terry Archer, his wife, Cynthia, and Grace, their teenage daughter. It was moving back to town. seven years ago that this family went through an experience that still haunts them and the result Leah definitely has her own is that Terry and Cynthia are now living apart. Cynthia is beset by demons from the past, and issues to deal with. Very serious Grace has entered her rebellious stage. While Terry, a teacher by trade, is trying his absolute best to keep his about her job, she must balance family together. But even with all his hard work, fate creeps in once again. her passion for work with being Into their small town comes a murder of a retired couple, and no one quite knows why anything like this a single mom of a twelve-year- could happen. Grace decides, against her better judgment, to run off with her delinquent boyfriend one night old boy. Her son has recently and have a little fun, stealing a car and heading into a fancy part of town to break into a house. Grace knows become curious about the father enough to run and call her father to pick her up, and the Archers end up joining forces once again to protect he barely remembers, and Leah themselves. is at a loss as to what to tell him. Being drawn into a shadowy part of town with some very shady residents, everyone from hit men to other And Preacher Eli coming back to undesirables working both sides of the street, will become a part of the Archer world, and Terry will have to town enrages her son; he does work hard to get his family out of this new murderous situation, fighting people who value other things far more not want the evil man to walk than money. free. A fast-paced, busy novel that delivers 100% for the thriller/suspense fan. When it comes to this author, he Leah knows that having a has provided his readers once again with a tale that will have them begging to see the Archers (or anyone else he killer filled with anger prowling has in mind) again…very, very soon! the streets of Alvin once again Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ ups the ante. ‘Keeping an eye’ on Sylvie quickly turns into a MURDER MISCALCULATED nightmare, as Preacher Eli is By Andrew MacRae nowhere near done, and the past Gregory Smith has a street name; in his ‘past’ pickpocketing days he was referred to as is not forgotten. ‘The Kid.’ Of course, time moves on and people grow up. Now Gregory Smith is a married man, having settled down with his former girlfriend, Lynn. He’s also wearing the hat of a businessman, With all the characters and operating a bookstore out of an (unfortunately) old, decrepit, falling-down building that’s in dire plots set in the long, hot summer need of some tender loving care. of this small town, a reader could Life takes a turn when Gregory is asked (or, more to the point, blackmailed), by an FBI get confused. But the scenes are agent to go back to his old line of work and pick the pocket of someone who has important so well written that the reader information that the agent wants. Returning to a life of crime is not what the bookshop keeper wants, but if he will feel the sun beating on the does this one thing, he will be able to save the business he loves. sidewalks of Alvin, and shake Agreeing to help the FBI, Gregory soon butts up against quite a few complications; from what appears to be in their boots when the past an international money laundering scheme to a gang of pickpockets who are protecting their territory. A hit man collides with the present. is also offered up to destroy Gregory’s deal, and to top it all off, the woman who owns the bookstore building is Don’t expect Mayberry, about to be served with an arrest warrant that would definitely end Gregory’s business for good. people; this is a very good, This book is all about the characters that are a sheer delight for the reader, and a whole assortment of folks sometimes emotional, mystery popping up from all different backgrounds. The sequel to “Murder Misdirected” by MacRae, this plot takes the that will stay with you long after old pickpocket who has discarded his criminal tendencies and places him back on the mean streets as a very it’s over. reluctant crook. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Absolutely entertaining, audiences will literally sit down and enjoy the cast of characters and watch as Professional Librarian & Co- things turn from good to worse before Gregory ever sees the light of day! Enjoy! Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 33 HERBIE'S GAME QUEEN OF HEARTS By Timothy Hallinan By Rhys Bowen It’s no surprise that the reliable Bowen does it again. Junior Bender is a crook Lady Georgiana Rannoch, is thirty-fifth in line to rule Britain; she’s the cousin to the reigning (a memorable and fun crook), monarch, King George. This fact doesn’t change her personality at all from the fun-loving Georgie. who is the person other crooks Georgie is on her way to America with her glamorous mother, stage actress Claire Daniels. The hire when they need extra help duo are on an important mission; they are headed to Reno so Claire can get a divorce from her latest with certain situations. Junior husband so she can, of course, marry again. has known Herbie Mott As the two cross the Atlantic, their adventures begin. The ship is stocked with wealthy men, for a long time. Herbie just and Claire seems to forget her fiancé, Max, and their upcoming wedding fairly quickly. Meeting movie producer, Cy happens to be the burglar who Goldman, on their journey, Cy asks Claire to be in his next big extravaganza focusing on the famous and infamous taught Junior how to be a first Tudors of England. In the meantime, Georgie finds herself entwined with an investigation of a jewel thief who is class crook long ago, initiating stealing expensive jewelry from passengers as fast as her mother is stealing men’s hearts. Her partner in this caper him into ‘Herbie’s Game.’ is her beau, Darcy. (No, not ‘the’ Mr. Darcy, but almost just as handsome.) Junior is hired by a man All of them are invited to stay at the Hollywood home of Cy Goldman; an invitation they accept. But poor Cy named Wattles; this is the is faced with a whole mess of trouble when his estranged wife shows up while his mistress is in residence. Before person people refer to as anyone can even lay their heads down on pillows, Cy turns up dead, and the mystery explodes. the ‘executive crook.’ What This book is an absolute gem, with interesting sub-plots and many unforgettable characters. From royalty to he needs is for Junior to movie stars to stage stars; from people with money dripping from their pockets to folks who’re poorer than church locate a missing list of all the mice, but have the ability to be sly as foxes—they’re all here. Even a fabulous lady’s maid named Queenie, appears ‘disconnects’ (AKA shadyas the ultimate voice of the servant letting the hoity-toity know they are not so great after all. The fun never stops! characters), that he hired to Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ pull off a hit. Junior goes to see Herbie thinking that his REMAINS OF INNOCENCE old instructor would be the By J.A. Jance only burglar smart enough Two stories link together to create a fascinating novel that will be extremely difficult to erase to have stolen the list. But from the mind. unfortunately, when he Liza Manchett is your troubled girl living in a small town. Her brother was able to flee the arrives at the house, he finds a mundane world, racing as fast as he could to get away from the mean and angry mother they had tortured Herbie who is stone to deal with. This is a woman who not only became a hoarder but also made sure that Liza and her cold dead. brother were teased incessantly through school by taking everything away from them—including This list needs to be a way to wash themselves and their clothing. Liza stands and stares at the now decrepit home she found as the bodies begin once lived in, ordered there by the mean woman who is now in the hospital. She is sent to pick up a cookbook, yet piling up. Junior certainly when Liza discovers wads of cash hidden in various books and magazines inside the disgusting home, a very odd wants to stop the killings, but adventure begins. he is also on a mission to find Stumped by her discovery, readers are taken from Liza in Massachusetts to the desert southwest where Sheriff the killer of his mentor and Joanna Brady and her K-9 unit are called in to help find a mentally troubled citizen who wandered off in the middle destroy him. As things move of the night. What they don’t expect to find is his body at the bottom of a cave in one of the many canyons dotting forward, Junior soon begins the Arizona landscape. The horrible sight quickly turns from tragic accident into murder when animals are found to discover things in Herbie’s around and underneath the body, torn up and tortured in many evil ways. past that he didn’t know When Liza begins her hunt to track down where the mysterious money came from, she finds herself landing about…and doesn’t want to in Cochise County, side-by-side with Brady who is stuck in a murder puzzle that just may have a link to a hoarder’s know now. With Herbie out of unearthed fortune. the picture and Junior lacking With Jance, as always, the twists and turns never stop. And although some scenes may be a little on the any sort of back-up, finding violently visual side, the plot is a great one! the ‘disconnects’ begin with Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of a search among the living; Suspense Magazine ■ people who may or may not want Junior to meet the same RECKLESS DISREGARD horrific end as the man who By Robert Rotstein first taught him the ‘game.’ The debut novel by this incredible new ‘voice’ on the thriller scene was a wild ride that readers are still talking This book is an absolute about. This new character, Parker Stern, gives suspense audiences a well-rounded attorney who brings to the table joy to read. Junior has intelligence, wit, talent, and a tad bit of anxiety, to say the least. wisecracking wit and readers Parker had some problems in his past, but now that he has survived the pain of his previous case, he’s ready will like the guy from the to begin anew. And he must now face the more-than-confusing world of cyber-age electronics and the gaming moment the tale begins. community. The narrative is sharp, the Hired to defend a client in a libel suit, Parker dives in; the odd thing is that he can only communicate with his plot is harsh in spots but client on the computer screen because the man refuses to show his face or reveal his identity to the public. thrilling, and the characters William H. Bishop, (AKA: “William the Conqueror”), owns newspapers, television stations, and a wealth of are unforgettable. ‘The Clown media. Used to getting his own way, he is the one suing Parker’s client, Poniard—a video game designer whose Prince of Crime Fiction’ latest brain child, ‘Abduction!,’ features the kidnapping of an actress by Bishop’s hired hands. (Junior) is back, and readers Poniard is able to get Parker to work for him even though Parker has, more or less, given up criminal will love the rollercoaster as cases. Against his better judgment, Parker takes the case on his shoulders, realizing a bit too late that the gamer he hunts for a killer while is convinced Bishop actually had this actress killed. If true, the game will not be considered libelous; it will be watching his own back for the considered an all-out murder. predators that never seem to There are more than a few authors who write legal thrillers, but Rotstein has certainly risen above the pack in stop coming. a very short time. This story never stops and the subplots change in an instant. Parker Stern has an odd past being Reviewed by Mary Lignor, a child star, and his mother is even involved in a Hollywood cult, which means ‘mother-of-the-year’ awards are out. Professional Librarian and Delivering a one-two punch with his first two books, readers will want to see a great deal more of Parker Stern. Co-Owner of The WriteSo, Mr. Rotstein, let’s get busy on number three! Companion ■ Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown,” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 34 THE COMPETITION THE AMERICAN By Marcia Clark MISSION Not only is the author well known in this particular case but those fans that have found By Matthew Palmer the character of Rachel Knight before, will be excited that this Special Trials Prosecutor is back! Right along with her best friend, Bailey Keller, LAPD Detective. “Death came on horseback.” A story that is both horrible and fascinating; two gunmen shoot up a high school during a But in this amazing suspense pep rally. This duo, after being identified as the most likely killers, is soon found dead by their thriller, it’s not the familiar Four own hands; apparently, theirs was a planned suicide to take place in the high school library. Horsemen you need to worry Rachel and Bailey are called in to investigate and are flabbergasted by the amount of about. victims, the horrific loss of life, and the anxious parents who are waiting with fear in their hearts to find their The novel opens on the child/children alive. But as the women investigate the carnage, they find that this is not a ‘closed case’ scenario. world of Darfur in 2006. Main After many interviews and attempts to piece together evidence, it seems that the real killers are still out there character, Alex Baines, is a and still in business. diplomat who (unlike some), Shocked, the two seekers of justice may just find out that the killers were actually trying to create a blood is the owner of very high ideals bath that would go down in history as being even more horrible than any that have come before. And when when it comes to his life as well working with the forensic expert, evidence comes to light that one or both of the murderers has escaped. as his work. Because of this, he Keeping this information on the QT, the two women do their best to hunt the killer(s) down without actually loses his job in Darfur as letting any news out to the public. Fear cannot be magnified after such a horrible incident, so they set out to see he attempts to stop a massacre. what they can discover to solve the case before another massacre occurs. When he loses his place in A real page-turner by Marcia Clark that will stay with the reader for many years to come. There’s Darfur, Alex also says goodbye so much of this particular crime occurring in the real world, unfortunately, that readers will not to his security clearance. Now only be frightened by the plot but they will also wish this specific subject could remain only fiction. he must make up his mind about Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ whether he wants to embark on a new career as a civilian or POWER PLAY spend countless hours, as he By Catherine Coulter states, ‘stamping visas’ for the Yes, Sherlock and Savich are back and, as always, have brought many friends along with State Department. A friend of them to join the famous ‘Coulter’ stable of intelligent (and sexy) special agents. his comes along and makes the When it comes to the beloved duo, it is a ‘ghost’ from Sherlock’s past that has escaped from decision for him, offering Alex his ‘crazy house’ in order to make short work of her. The name is Blessed Backman, and he’s a a job in the Congo, which just man with a natural ability that allows him to take over minds for brief periods to get exactly what happens to be almost as corrupt he wants. as Darfur. But this friend will In another plot, politicos take the place of psychopathic killers—although, frankly, the also reinstate Alex’s security difference between the two is slim. Natalie Black is a woman with major wisdom, superior strength, a daughter clearance, which means visa who seems to want to be Chuck Norris, and friends in extremely high places. Ambassador to the Court of St. stamping disappears. James, she was revered by many until her fiancé’s ‘accident’ begins to be touted as an actual suicide that Natalie is At this time, almost responsible for. Of course, Natalie knows none of this is true, but she soon finds herself the subject of a massive everyone wants to use the smear and ridicule campaign. Congo’s vast mineral deposits Not only has she lost her love but Natalie is also targeted in an attack that doesn’t work. The people do not to make their own fortune and believe her story, but when Natalie returns to the U.S., yet another ‘botched’ attack on her life occurs. glory. And a company by the FBI Special Agent Davis Sullivan becomes a huge part of the Black’s lives. Protection details galore, he’s name of Consolidated Mining part of Sherlock and Savich’s crew who needs to save the ambassador’s life, and make sure the truth is revealed is right up there at the front of and the villain is caught. the line. The residents of a small As always with Coulter, the story is fast-paced with new characters joining in to bring more danger, thrills, village, Busu-Mouli, have a small and romance to the world. And with an ending you will not believe, the reader will also be given a clear look as mine situated near the Congo to who the next ‘handsome’ agent will be taking center spotlight. Enjoy! River, but Consolidated wants Reviewed by Amy Lignor, author of “The Charlatan’s Crown” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of to strip the mountain of minerals Suspense Magazine ■ and basically turn the town into rubble. The company has a great SKIN OF THE WOLF deal of political support behind By Sam Cabot them, but the man with the In “Skin of the Wolf,” Sam Cabot, the pseudonym for writers Carlos Dews and S.J. Rozan, ideals joins Busu-Mouli’s Chief combines two myths, one from the Old World and one from the New World, into a terrifying Tsiolo and his daughter, Marie, story of gruesome murder, greed, and a deep secret known only to a few members of the Catholic to stand strong and oppose the Church. Livia Pietro and Spencer George, both respected professionals in their chosen fields, mining company, even after the are also members of the Noantri, a centuries old community of vampires. And Spencer’s partner, corporation announces that Michael Bonnard, is a Native American shape shifter. When a one-of-kind Iroquois mask goes they have ‘ways’ of exercising up for sale at Sotheby’s in New York, Livia, an art historian, senses that it is a fake, although she their rights in eastern Congo by has no proof other than the heightened sensory awareness she possesses. When a young Sotheby’s employee is bringing out their ammunition. brutally murdered in the same room where the mask is being stored, the police become involved, led by a smart Readers will find this a New York City detective named Charlotte Hamilton, who also happens to be Native American, but she grew up fascinating story. The author, city tough and does not admit to belief in old tales. being a veteran of the U.S. “Skin of the Wolf” is an old story with a refreshingly modern twist. The vampires do not sink their fangs Foreign Services, has definite into the necks of the victims; they are remarkably normal in their everyday lives. And while the search for the knowledge of the inner-workings real mask goes on alongside the daily business of New York City, a battle plays out as the Noantri and shape of diplomacy. And his ability to shifters struggle to prevent the Ohtahyohnee, the proper name for the mask, from being used for nefarious create both villains and heroes is purposes. absolutely incredible. This is the first vampire novel I have read, and I found it riveting. Any story that stretches the imagination Reviewed by Mary Lignor, just enough that the reader can think, “It could be true,” is a book that succeeds. “Skin of the Wolf” allows the Professional Librarian and Co- reader to suspend belief in the normal just enough to provide a great read. Owner of The Write Companion Reviewed by Kathleen Heady, author of “Hotel Saint Clare” ■ ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 35 FRAGILE SPIRITS BLOOD WINE By Mary Lindsey By John Moss Partners Detective Miranda Quin of Toronto homicide and Detective David Morgan are back Entering a world of in this fourth book of the popular mystery series, and Quin and Morgan are aging like a fine wine. spirits and fantasy is always This is one story that begins with a ‘bang!’ as Miranda wakes up from sleep and finds her a rush when it comes to the significant other by her side…shot dead. Not only is this harrowing and frightening but what’s worse YA mind. The imagination is is that Miranda has no clue as to how he got there and remembers nothing that happened from the sparked and the plot is never night before. Worse yet, evidence shows that the murder was committed in the very same bed where forgotten by the young;the body was found, throwing an immediate veil of guilt over the confused detective. it simply becomes a part As the investigation moves forward, things get even worse for Miranda as the identity of the man she has known of their own dreams and for only two months turns out to be complete and utter fiction. The police state that according to everything they wishes. found, the man Miranda called ‘boyfriend’ never actually existed. According to some, it The partners are unable to ‘officially’ work the case because of Miranda’s involvement with the victim and the would be best and easier crime scene, but David joins with her to work ‘off the books’ while the powers that be question what possible motive if the author’s previous there could have been for the murder. Could Miranda have killed this man without remembering it? Or is there a books are read in order to very clever frame-up in the works? better understand this one; Readers will be pulled into this story immediately. Whether already Quin and Morgan fans or not, this is one however, they can be read as plot that offers a ton of backstory for the characters, and a thrilling case that mystery lovers will sink their teeth separate tales, even though into. Moving from Toronto to New York to London, everything from murder to fraud to a drug-smuggling ring any person new to this covering up a terrorist plot is unleashed. And with characters that are extremely likeable, it is no wonder that Quin author will most definitely and Morgan are holding suspense readers in their grip with each new story that comes along. want to read more when this Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ magical book comes to a conclusion. WEAPON OF VENGEANCE Paul has always known By Mukul Deva that he was a ‘Protector.’ He is Mukul Deva infuses his thriller “Weapon of Vengeance” with authenticity, gained from his slated to serve a ‘Speaker’— experience as an Indian Army officer, an international counterterrorism agent, and a private security one who can hear voices provider. He also fills the novel with emotional resonance that makes the characters memorable. of spirits that linger after Ravinder Singh Gill, the head of the Indian Police Anti-Terrorism Task Force, already has his death and help souls find hands full because of the Commonwealth Games taking place in Delhi and the usual terrorist threats, peace. Vivienne is the one some that have targeted him personally. Then the Indian Government springs a new challenge on who hears these voices of him to be handled at the same time—providing security for a new Middle East peace conference. the dead; unfortunately, The conference was spurred by a horrific multi-pronged terrorist attack that had recently shaken both Israelis she decides to ignore them. and Palestinians. Rumors have surfaced that the attack was masterminded by a woman, but the Western Intelligence Paul has always followed Agencies are unaware that she is one of their own—MI6 agent Ruby Gill, Ravinder’s lost daughter. When Ruby was his Protector’s rulebook to three, her Palestinian mother had abandoned Ravinder to focus on fighting against Israel. After her mother is killed the letter, so working with in protests against the Israelis, Ruby uses the skills she’s learn in preventing terrorism to raise the level of violence. someone who does the opposite of what anyone Now, she’s on her way to Delhi to destroy the peace summit—and for a reunion with her father. tells her to do is anything The reunion has a profound effect on Ruby, awakening feelings she thought she’d walled off. Ravinder is but easy. surprised but pleased when Ruby shows up unannounced at his office, and takes her into the family he built after he Whether it ends up lost Ruby’s mother. Slowly, though, his suspicions grow that the timing of Ruby’s arrival is not accidental. good or bad, the complete Deva blends the family drama with the terrorist thriller seamlessly, giving the story a depth that’s unusual for opposites are matched up the genre, and he handles the action scenes with the skill of Robert Ludlum. While “Weapon of Vengeance” is a and the games, as they say, slimmer volume than most thrillers, each of its 288 pages crackle with energy. After its original Indian publishing, begin. But Fate takes a hand; now a wider audience can enjoy Deva’s superb thriller. a spirit shows up who is not Reviewed by David Ingram ■ about to play their game, and TERMINAL CITY has a power that is so strong By Linda Fairstein they have no choice but to For those who think they know everything about Grand Central Station, Linda Fairstein work together. unearths incredible historical facts while bringing fans on a seriously thrilling ride! For those who covet this Assistant DA Alex Cooper is back, embroiled in one of the toughest cases of her career. A blood- type of fantasy tale, they will soaked body is discovered in one of the most posh hotels in the world—the Waldorf Astoria—and eat this one up. The ending the only clue to follow is some odd markings on the poor girl’s body that resemble train tracks. is amazing and very creative, With the help of the entertaining ‘team’ of detectives, Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, intriguing the audience for Alex faces everything from an innovative new piece of forensic equipment to the sudden return of the next time around. Paul Mike, whose whereabouts have been unknown. Even worse, these enforcers of justice must find the criminal ASAP, is, of course, a sweetheart. considering the corpse just happens to have been slain in the same hotel where the President of the United States is And Vivienne can really be annoying without trying to, scheduled to arrive. as she is completely unable Soon, a street derelict is found dead, sending the detectives walking through tunnels under New York City to make up her mind and where they meet up with some odd people, trying to uncover who the man was and why he, too, had the same stick to it. But don’t give up strange markings on his body. Add to that another girl found dead inside a historic train buried underneath the city on her! This suspenseful tale that only the President of the United States once used, and the crimes mount up so fast that Alex’s head begins to of secrets, beauty, and power spin. make for many happy hours The Tiffany Clock; the information desk; the constellations on the high ceilings that were actually put in the of reading. Enjoy! wrong place long ago—everything about Grand Central comes to life in this amazing mystery. The historical facts Reviewed by Mary Lignor, are outstanding, and the depth of the author’s passion for NYC comes through loud and clear, as always. Add in Professional Librarian & romance that Alex is still trying to come to terms with, and a killer on the loose who is terrorizing her whenever he Co-Owner of The Write can, and you have yet another Fairstein suspense that deserves an A+! Companion ■ Reviewed by Amy Lignor, Author of “The Charlatan’s Crown” published by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 36 NINE LIVES TO DIE IN THE BLOOD By Rita Mae Brown By Lisa Unger Mrs. Murphy, and the mysteries she gets into with her tiger cat that owns the most beautiful green eyes ever seen, are wonderful tales that not only teach life lessons but cover many social Dark and extremely issues of the day, appealing to the reader as well as all of their furry little friends. And once again, haunting, this is one of those this author has knocked it out of the park. thrillers that do not appear as Christmas is fast approaching in Crozet, Virginia, and the long months ahead filled with often as they should, with a snowstorms have already begun. Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and her husband, Fair, are plot so well-written that it will basically oozing the Christmas spirit, making sure that all their friends and neighbors are taken stop readers in their tracks. care of, as well as all the churches in the area by gathering food, clothing, and holiday packages for the masses. The twists and turns that draw Coming along with all this yuletide fun are the upcoming annual fundraising galas, especially the Silver people into Lisa Unger’s realm Linings Youth Sports Organization that has always been a deserving recipient of Crozet’s charity drives. But are so much fun to read because amongst the holiday cheer comes a far more mystifying occurrence as bodies begin piling up. It truly does spoil you will literally never see what’s the eggnog happiness when several severed fingers appear in odd places; two in a pencil jar in a bookkeeper’s coming until its right there on office, and two more hung like Christmas ornaments. top of you. A new animal joins the fun in tracking down a killer this time around; Odin, the coyote who is friends with Lana Granger is a college Harry’s house animals (loving Harry’s place because they leave food out for him during the winter months), student in freezing-cold, snow- becomes a key player in finding this murderer. covered upper New York State. Not only is the tale fun, mysterious, and so well written (as always) that you feel like you’re part of the animal She is desperately looking conversations but there are also beautiful pencil illustrations of the cast that are a true wonder to behold. Before forward to graduation and this is finished a really ‘cold’ case will be solved, and an old love triangle will be exposed. planning what she will do for Best description: ‘The weather outside is frightful, but Ms. Brown’s writing remains truly delightful!’ the rest of her life. Thus far, Lana Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ has not had the best of times. Her father is serving a stint in THE EDGE OF NORMAL prison, convicted of murdering By Carla Norton her mother, and Lana has had Pay it forward. A term many of us have come to know and have done, I’m sure, at least once. to live with the nightmare— That’s what Reeve LeClaire is doing in “The Edge of Normal.” Reeve is a past victim trying to remembering parts of the awful overcome her kidnapping and torture as a teenager. Now in her early twenties, she’s still seeing killing and choosing to forget Dr. Lerner on a weekly basis. But he leaves town in order to counsel another young girl, whose others. Now a senior in college, situation is eerily similar to Reeve’s nightmare from ten years prior. she is about to take a job looking Reeve gets a call from Dr. Lerner while he’s away. The family of the newest victim wants her after Luke, an eleven-year-old to come and speak to their daughter Tilly. Since Reeve has been through the acclimation back boy who is attending a school for into society after a brutal assault, they think her strength may help Tilly. Albeit hesitantly, Reeve agrees to try and troubled children where Lana assist the young girl. is working as an intern. Luke Helping Tilly is more than an emotional trial for Reeve. She has to relive what the monster did to her in order is a little odd, suffering from for Tilly to come to terms with what’s happened. But then Tilly reveals to Reeve things about two other young fits of anger, but he is also an missing girls, Hannah and Abby. Reeve is bound to keep Tilly’s secret, but knows she needs to do something. She extremely clever and confident goes out on her own and tries to find evidence that the police haven’t located. She makes headway, but now it’s child. Lana and Luke get along her life that hangs, once again, in the hands of another. well. Being ardent chess players, An absolute thrill from page one to the end. I must admit that just before the end, I thought, “Oh, no. Norton they usually spend their time is going to disappoint me. She can’t do this.” For just a second, I wanted to put the book down. Boy, am I glad I together thinking about how didn’t! Wow! Norton blew me away! You will not believe the ending; just when I thought it was over and I don’t they can ‘best’ their opponent. get…never mind. I can’t say anymore without giving it away. Suffice to say, you have to read this book! Even during their matches Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “The Other Side: Melinda’s Story,” published by Suspense goose bumps occur. And Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ when Lana’s best friend, Beck, THE 6TH EXTINCTION goes missing, the fear arrives By James Rollins ten-fold. Police begin an The Sigma Force that readers have fallen in love with and cheer for as if they were the poster investigation that delves into the children for the red, white, and blue, is back! And oddly enough, the lesson taught this time relationship of Lana and Beck. around is that life…always finds a way. And as facts are unearthed that From a distant military research station located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern are disturbing, a wider realm of California comes a frantic call, broadcasting the fact that there has been a breach at the facility. chills and panic commences. Failsafe has been initiated, and no matter the outcome, says the voice, ‘kill us all.’ This is a fast-moving The site in question belongs to the U.S. Army Test Command. When help arrives, the team book with so much incredible sent discovers that all in the lab are dead. But the massacre doesn’t stop there; everything for fifty miles is gone— information that nothing should from people to insects—due to an explosion. Because of the tragedy, all diseases that were being studied in that appear in a review that will give lab are now spreading across the country. away the unforgettable plot. As The Sigma Team, run by Commander Gray Pierce, is called on to handle this new mission. The dead scientists Unger’s tale races to a climax of were working on a project researching different forms of life that could alter both biology and humanity forever. incredible proportions, readers Now, Sigma must stop the horrible aftermath of these projects and figure out if the explosion was an accident, or are taken on an adrenaline-filled an enemy plan executed to perfection. ride that can, and may, cause Going on the hunt, Sigma begins to unearth a future threat that is based on the distant past. Following nightmares. This awesome story some fascinating clues buried in an ancient map taken from the lost Library of Alexandria, Sigma Force makes a never lets up, so make sure to discovery that involves a prehistoric continent and a new form of life that has been buried for a long, long time. purchase it ASAP! Pierce and his team must travel across distant continents to unearth secrets resting in the now frozen lands and Reviewed by Mary Lignor, twisted jungles in order to stop what will be the 6th extinction of all mankind. Professional Librarian and Adventure, history, science, and technology—sheer perfection from an author who is used to giving exactly Co-Owner of The Write that every time he tells a tale! Companion ■ Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 37 THE DEVIL'S THE DEAD WILL TELL WORKSHOP By Linda Castillo By Alex Grecian Although already jaded to the fact that the ‘mean’ streets of places like Chicago, L.A., and NYC are filled with crime and vengeance, this time around, it is the peaceful world of Amish county that Alex Grecian’s latest takes the brunt of mystery and horror. Scotland Yard Murder All the folks who live in Painters Mill have been told, or have actually witnessed, the fact that Squad novel sends Detective the abandoned Hochstetler farm is haunted. There are even a few left in the community who still Inspector Walter Day and remember the night when an Amish dad and his four kids perished in a robbery that went wrong. Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith His wife went missing at the time, and only a fourteen-year-old boy survived the incident. on a hunt for four escaped The Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, has pulled a late-night shift and is called out to investigate a suicide. murderers who are considered Heading to the scene, Kate finds an old man hanging from the rafters in his falling down barn. According to the the worst of the worst. evidence, Kate believes that murder, not suicide, is the order of the day, and that somehow she must dive into the A secret organization of tragedy that happened thirty-five years ago in order to find a killer. prominent men in London Soon after, a second body is found dead. Also declared a suicide, Kate finds a link in the case that sends her has decided to ensure justice investigation toward a true revelation of what actually happened at the Hochstetler farm so long ago. is served by meting out unique Vengeance may just be the name of the game, especially considering the creepy little wooden Amish dolls that punishments designed for are being placed by each victim that bring back messages from the past. Working to stop the killer before another the most heinous criminals. person is taken out, Kate has to jump many hurdles as the people in town begin to get antsy and her personal The men prepare special cells relationship becomes threatened. hidden in the warren of tunnels This title is truly a keeper. Definitely a one-day read, this plot is extremely fast-paced with a frightening beneath the city. The next step atmosphere that will have you shaking in your chair. And you will definitely be craving the next book featuring Kate Burkholder, Chief of Police, to arrive as soon as possible. is to gain custody of London’s Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■ most extreme offenders. A jail break is planned IF YOU WERE HERE using an inside man who By Alafair Burke will lead the prisoners to the This novel is yet another in a long line of first-class stories that not only offer suspense and underground cells under the thrills but also provides readers with characters they remember long after the story is over. guise of helping them gain Life moves forward at a brisk pace; events that occur in youth usually never ‘crop’ up when freedom. The plan goes terribly adulthood dons. But for McKenna Wright, the past is about to take over her present with a wrong when the convicts vengeance. scatter, and the inside man McKenna is a former prosecutor, now magazine writer, who finds herself on the job checking is killed by the lone prisoner out a midtown subway rescue, and in one quick moment, she’s transported to a part of her past that who followed him into the has haunted her dreams for years. tunnels. The killer discovers a No paranormal or sci-fi events are involved. In fact, McKenna is slammed into the past by viewing a picture, man chained in a dark cell with and not a very good one, taken by a cell phone that shows the rescue she’s covering. The badly lit angle of the photo a hood covering his head. leads to serious shock because the more McKenna looks at the pic, the more the rescuer in the photo looks like a The man in chains is classmate of her husband’s who she met years before; a man who vanished without a trace. no ordinary man. He is evil McKenna has always had that unexplainable feeling that the disappearance of this man from West Point was personified. His silver tongue not what the police said it was. She finds herself on the trail of the person in the photo, but as things begin to unfold convinces the killer to set him and witnesses and information begin to disappear, McKenna soon finds herself alone in her quest for answers. No free and become his servant. one seems to believe what she’s seen, not even her husband, and McKenna eventually second guesses what she Jack the Ripper is once again thinks she saw. As the past is conjured up, it may be too late for McKenna to escape. loose and eager to wreak havoc A terrific tale of suspense and revenge. With McKenna’s reputation at stake, readers will be pulled into the upon London. His new servant story immediately where a wealth of murder and mayhem awaits. From the first page to the last gasp, this author has created a fantastic plot! wants revenge against the man ■ who arrested him, and he Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion knows where Walter Day lives. THE LOST ISLAND Walter’s pregnant wife By Preston & Child is due to deliver soon, but his When it comes to novels by this famous duo, the things all readers can expect are excitement, urgent assignment may prevent intrigue, and a story that will not soon be forgotten. This is the next novel featuring Gideon Crew, him from being present at the a character that is his own brand of captivating, right up there with the magnificent Aloysius birth of his first child. He prays Pendergast, yet another perfectly unforgettable Preston & Child creation. the young police officer posted In this new novel, Gideon is asked by Eli Glinn of Effective Engineering Solutions (EES) to at his home will be able to steal a page from the “Book of Kells,” which apparently is the ‘finest illuminated book in existence.’ protect his wife if the monsters He must retrieve it from The Morgan Library in NYC, where it is being displayed on loan from the come. Irish government. Alex Grecian set in Checking out the exhibit, Gideon finds a very sophisticated security system that will not be very easy to motion a terrifying sequence of breach. Eventually, Gideon obtains the pages he seeks, but soon realizes that his mission is about to change events that left me breathless. drastically. I felt like I was right there in A treasure map, which links to various events in Greek history, sends Gideon and Amy, another employee of the London of 1890, being EES, to the Caribbean. There, a boat awaits them that they use to search for a small island that is mentioned in the stalked by an insane genius. ancient map. Not after a fortune in gold or gems, Gideon’s search involves a much more precious commodity that The ending was brilliant and could save lives. impossible to predict. Following some truly strange clues, the duo finally discovers the mysterious island where they stumble onto Reviewed by S.L. Menear, a lost civilization. Facing impossible odds and dangerous threats from both treasure hunters and the forces of author of “Deadstick Dawn” nature, they must fight to survive. And not trusting each other one iota, Gideon and Amy come across a startling published by Suspense revelation they never saw coming. Publishing, an imprint of Always hungry to see what Pendergast is up to, fans should also be reveling in these thrilling adventures of Suspense Magazine ■ Gideon Crew. A true adventurer, the ‘Crew’ stories move at a super-fast pace and never leave the reader wanting. Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian & Co-Owner of The Write Companion ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 38 THE HEIST THAT NIGHT By Daniel Silva By Chevy Stevens Silva has definitely proven that he owns the ‘Midas Touch’ when it comes to writing novels that have readers chomping at the bit waiting for the next to be released. Main character, Gabriel In her latest novel, this Allon, was introduced to readers as the spy/assassin working for Israel’s ‘super’ spy shop thirteen author brings us into the world novels ago, and he will now soon take over as Director of ‘The Office.’ of high school sweethearts, Toni Being a part-time art restorer, Gabriel is working in Venice on a restoration project. One and Ryan, who between falling afternoon he is paid a visit by General Ferrari, a policeman who tracks down art thieves. He is in love, go straight to prison for asked by the General to go to Lake Como and find an English diplomat named Bradshaw, who the murder. General suspects is, or was, in possession of a painting that has been missing for years. Yet a friend of Gabriel’s, The victim is Toni’s Julian Isherwood, is asked by a different art dealer to do the same, only to find Bradshaw very much dead upon younger sister, Nicole; a girl arrival. with many, many secrets. And Gabriel takes the case and discovers that stolen art is being used to hide cash for a Syrian dictator, and the the testimony that puts them piece of missing art in question is what Gabriel needs to find—this is the masterpiece that he must bring home behind bars come from the to the General, and by using his wits and talents for thievery, the fun ensues. With computer hackers, art geeks, lips of Shauna McKinney, a rulers of various countries, and, in Israel, many of Gabriel’s old cohorts who are not at all happy that he is about classmate of Toni’s, and other to be their boss, a host of characters is introduced to keep the mind swirling. friends who gained happiness A non-stop romp, this new thriller allows Silva to remain at the forefront of literary spymasters. And although from tormenting Toni in school. this novel is the fourteenth for Gabriel Allon, it is a gem. But for those who have not partaken of Silva’s genius as Shooting ahead fifteen of yet (which there may be one or two still out there), his first tales “The Unlikely Spy,” “Mark of the Assassin,” years, Toni and Ryan are granted and “The Marching Season” remain the most unforgettable. ■ parole and return to their home Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write Companion on Vancouver Island. Prohibited SHADOWS OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN from having any contact with By Graham Brown and Spencer J. Andrews each other, Ryan still asks Toni The Fallen, souls cursed to a life of vampirism, have been around for millennia, hiding in for her help in finding the real the shadows, and killing at will. A Holy order, The Righteous Fire, has been around, too, seeking killer and bringing them to to destroy the Fallen ones, but what is their secret connection to the Nosferatu? And how are justice. Shauna, however, is both groups connected to an ancient prophecy of doom? Christian, a one-thousand-year-old soul still there, and is determined to turned by Drakos himself, is looking for the truth about his own existence and that of others like send them directly back to their him. cells. Although everyone thinks Then FBI agent, Kate Pfeiffer, searching for clues to her husband’s murder and the the duo is guilty—including disappearance of several others, runs across a truth she cannot believe. She is drawn into Christian’s Toni’s own mother—Shauna’s horrific world, but will she survive? daughter, Ashley, actually Graham Brown and Spencer Andrews have created a new kind of scary with “Shadows of the Midnight Sun,” believes that Toni and Ryan are and it is more frightening with each turn of the page. This story takes the reader on a fearfully fascinating search innocent of the crime. for knowledge and redemption by one who is doomed to an eternity of soulless damnation. Through the streets Jumping back and forth of New York City, Cologne, Germany, and New Orleans, the authors have created a new kind of terror and set the through time, the details of the story around him and his battle for forgiveness. murder are shown, as well as The writing is flawless and surges along, effectively putting the reader on the raw edge of chaos as the the true character of Toni’s little characters fight to save themselves from an ancient evil that threatens them all. The story is a fresh take on an old sister. Up to mischief most of theme and is bound to be a crowd-pleaser, with all the dark, ominous horror that one would expect from this very the time, Nicole did everything awesome writing team. Brown and Andrews have penned the beginning salvo of a series that will take your breath from smoking to drinking to away and have you stalking the local book store for the next installment. sneaking out to meet her own Put this tale at the top of your reading list and get ready to be very afraid… sister’s boyfriend. And to top Reviewed by DJ Weaver (WebbWeaver Reviews) co-author of “Collecting Innocents” published by Suspense it all off, Nicole also hung Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine ■ around with Shauna, who kept SORROW BOUND a grudge against Toni for a long By David Mark time. Although the sisters were This is the third outing for Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy of the Serious and Organized close, there was a rift occurring Crime Unit of Hull, Yorkshire. As the novel opens, McAvoy is in a mandatory therapy session with because of Nicole’s wild ways, a psychologist, a great way to introduce series newcomers to the big, conflicted Scotsman. He’s a and even though Shauna and nice guy in an ugly job, a gentle giant given to violent outbursts under threatening circumstances, friends were the only ones who a private man who works for the public, a devoted husband and father who has an overtly ‘said’ what happened, there is sexual boss. It’s impossible not to like McAvoy as he pushes forward, overcoming his generally still no proof whatsoever that uncomfortable nature as he pursues his suspects. Toni and Ryan were guilty. Mark shows an attention for detail that gives readers both a sense of place and sharp insights into the Are the ones who paid complex, layered characters of the story. It’s oppressively muggy in Hull in East Yorkshire; in the sweltering heat, for the crime really to blame? even veteran police officers are shocked by the level of violence involved in the murder of a woman who had been When a murderer is accused, outspoken about drugs in her neighborhood. It’s easy to assume drug dealers wanted to shut her up, but as more readers will be interested to bodies appear with unusual causes of death, it becomes clear there’s something deeper going on. see whether the high school This main mystery, linked to a gruesome crime of the past, is an effective and complicated story with some sweethearts were out for good twists and turns, and it reaches an exciting conclusion. A subplot involving McAvoy’s personal life is a bit blood…or if someone else set uneven, however. It’s related to changes in the illegal drug trade established in “Original Sin,” the previous McAvoy them up for life. novel, and raises the stakes as McAvoy’s wife, Roisin, ends up in the crosshairs of a violent dealer. Unfortunately, A surprise ending is offered its development relies on a couple of hard-to-believe decisions by McAvoy and Roisin and ends with a cliffhanger and readers will have a great that will challenge the patience of readers forced to wait for the next book to find out exactly what happened. time getting there! That said, “Sorrow Bound” is an engrossing read sure to draw in both series fans and newcomers alike (but Reviewed by Mary Lignor, be prepared to shout “Oh, no, you didn’t,” at the author in the final pages). Professional Librarian and Reviewed by Scott Pearson, author of “Star Trek: The More Things Change” and cohost of theGenerations Geek Co-Owner of The Write podcast ■ Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 39 NEW FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR ROBERT K. TANENBAUM “ONE HELL OF A WRITER.” —New York Post

A CIA chief dies under suspicious circumstances before he is about to testify about a controversial government cover-up involving a terrorist attack on the US mission in Chechnya. Butch Karp is on the case in this exciting installment to Robert K. Tanenbaum’s bestselling series.

AND NOW IN PAPERBACK:

/GalleryBooks @GalleryBooks /RobertKTanenbaum @RobertKTanenbaum SimonandSchuster.com TIME LAPSE Movies 2014 Genre – SciFi/Thriller

Time slip is one of the toughest genres to pull off. There are so many tropes around this sci-fi sub-genre that writers can easily fall into a plot-hole black hole from which their story cannot return, and they will be criticized for its implausibility. Time travel is implausible, but it holds so much opportunity if written right that we are happy to go along for the ride. Usually though, the studios worry little about these issues when it comes to the latest science fiction offerings, casting mega-stars, spending a fortune on special effects, and little on the script. Then they blitz with a twelve-month pre-launch marketing campaign, and we go along expecting “wow” and, instead, receive “woe” for our box-office dollar. So you wouldn’t expect that a small indie release would blow you away with its script and originality, but that is exactly what happened at the Revelation Film Festival in Perth, Australia when viewing Time Lapse, a film directed by Bradley King and produced by BP Cooper, both of whom wrote the script. Think classics like Memento, Triangle, and Donnie Darko, where the story twists your mind with its complexity, and the minute you’ve finished you want to rewatch to spot the clues. Time Lapse is currently doing the rounds of film festivals and winning awards at them. It may not be at your local cinema yet, but keep looking and asking for it. Three friends (Danielle Panabaker, George Finn, Matt O’Leary), living in and managing an apartment complex, stumble upon a strange machine in a mysterious neighbor’s home. It’s pointed at their large living room window, and they realize that, somehow, it takes photos twenty-four hours into the future exactly at eight pm. Posted around the machine’s room are hundreds of photos of them. Initially, the machine provides a prosperous opportunity as they send messages, to their twenty- four hour earlier selves, on horse race winners. However, things turn dark and sinister quickly when they start to believe that they need to perfectly recreate the scene in the photograph the following day or face dangerous consequences and possibly death. It’s one of those films that you wish would go on forever. With each new photograph revealed, you’re thinking—just like the characters—what’s the story behind the photo? What’s going to happen in twenty-four hours to make it come true? First time director, King, and Cooper have produced a well-imagined film and worked wonders with a small set and budget. Keep an eye on these two. Something tells me we will be seeing big things from them in the future. Do not miss this film when it comes to your local theatre. It’s a science fiction classic gem. Reviewed by Susan May, an Adventure in Film Blogspot http://anadventureinfilm.blogspot. com.au ■ THE CONGRESS 2014 Genre – SciFi/Drama

The Congress is a fascinating science-fiction idea, and it’s not inconceivable when it comes to the future of Hollywood and actors. Robin Wright, playing a version of herself, is an aging actress who receives a lucrative offer to be digitized for future work in films. After this, she can no longer work as an actress and must retire, allowing her digitized self to continue on in any role the studio chooses. Her longtime agent (Harvey Keitel) urges her to take the deal, and eventually she agrees to the deal with the head of Miramount Studios (Danny Huston). Twenty years later, the story reveals what that decision has meant and the changes this technology has created in the world. In this segment of the story, the audience is immersed into an animated world created by Miramount Studios. Inspired by The Futurological Congress, a 1971 dark humor science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem, this fifty-five minute segment of the film doesn’t work as well. After this, the storyline emerges from the animation into another fascinating vista of a future world, which could be a whole other film in itself. The Congress is an interesting, experimental, blended film. By the end, you do feel as if you have taken quite a journey involving rather strange substances. It’s a must for cinephiles, and a film you won’t quickly forget. Reviewed by Susan May, an Adventure in Film Blogspot http://anadventureinfilm.blogspot.com.au ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 41 CARVING OUT A MEET MAEGAN BEAUMONT NICHE OF HER OWN

Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo: Provided by Author “Sacrificial Muse” is the second book in a series that began with “Carved in Darkness,” which introduced fans to Sabrina Vaughn. Beaumont’s website lists it the best way: Her stories are meant to make you wonder what the guy in front of you in the Starbucks line has locked in his basement. We named “Carved in Darkness” as one of the best debut books of 2013, which probably put a lot of pressure on Maegan when she was writing “Sacrificial Muse.” Let’s take a sneak peek inside her latest book.

Sabrina opened the red envelope and saw one word… Mox. Soon. San Francisco Detective Sabrina Vaughn is able to shrug off the nine red roses being delivered to her office every day. But when only eight roses arrive on the same day a Berkeley student’s mutilated body is found, Sabrina fears that the killer is taunting her. Forced into a partnership with a deceitful reporter who somehow remains one step ahead of her, Sabrina discovers that she’s the object of a psychopath’s twisted delusion...and there may be no escape.

You didn’t think we would leave you hanging, did you? Here’s our interview with Maegan:

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What can you tell us about “Sacrificial Muse” that’s not on the back cover?

Maegan Beaumont (M.B.): “Sacrificial Muse” takes place eight months after the conclusion of “Carved in Darkness” and it becomes obvious, almost from the beginning that Sabrina isn’t as up to the task of tracking another serial killer as we’d like to believe. Physically or emotionally.

S. MAG.: You put Sabrina Vaughn in a very emotional situation. How were you able to get your mind into a place so dark to write about it?

M.B.: You know…I don’t know. From a very young age, I’ve found myself intrigued by the darkness that can be found in others.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 42 While other little girls wanted to be ballerinas and take care of babies, I wanted to understand what it was that made people do the horrible things that they do. I’ve always had a love of psychology and I know where my own dark places are. Tapping into them has never been difficult for me and neither has finding my way back. I’m not sure what that says about me as a person and quite frankly, I’m not sure I want to.

S. MAG.: What will fans notice, if anything, that is different in your writing style from your first novel to your second?

M.B.: Right off the bat, “Sacrificial Muse” isn’t as graphic as “Carved in Darkness.” That wasn’t intentional. The antagonist in “Carved in Darkness” is very different from the one in “Sacrificial Muse”—his motives, his mindset. Both are killers but their reasons for killing, are very different.

S. MAG.: What has surprised you about your main character from one novel to the next?

M.B.: That finding and killing the man who raped and tortured her didn’t “fix” her. If anything, it caused more damage.

S. MAG.: The hero or the villain? Which do you feel has more impact to the reader, but is tougher to create for the author?

M.B.: I think that even though everyone is rooting for the hero, people always remember the villain…who tends to “speak to me” more clearly. I’ve developed relationships with my other characters that have helped me understand who they are and where I’m supposed to take them in my stories. With my villains, it’s different. They flow differently—there’s no “meet and greet.” They’re just there and it’s my job to write it down. That makes them easier to write, but the ease from which they’re created can be frightening at times.

S. MAG.: In “Sacrificial Muse,” which character had a bigger voice than you originally thought they would?

M.B.: The reporter, Jaxon Croft, caught me off guard. I initially meant for him to be a sort of uneasy ally for Sabrina—someone she knew she shouldn’t trust but had to, due to circumstances beyond her control. As it turned out, Jaxon has his own story to tell and his own motivations for pursuing Sabrina and her story, which took me completely by surprise.

S. MAG.: Is there one sentence or one scene in the book that you feel captures the essence of your writing?

M.B.: There is a scene where Sabrina, when confronted with yet another dead body that she feels she’s responsible for, has a panic attack. While she’s hyperventilating, Mandy Black, the medical examiner assigned to the case, makes her breathe into a paper bag, while she and Sabrina’s partner argue about what to do with her—like she’s a problem to be dealt with instead of a person.

Sabrina, finally able to breathe again, fills the paper bag with air and BANG! She pops it, scaring the crap out of both of them. That scene, for me, captures who Sabrina is and in a way, the essence of who I am as a writer. She’s tenacious. No matter how much shit is thrown at her, Sabrina keeps coming. She’s a fighter and even though she might lose, she’ll go down swinging. Those are a few traits that Sabrina and I share that I think come through in my work.

SuspenseMagazine.com 43 S. MAG.: What group or song is on your iPod that would make your friends laugh at you if they knew you secretly loved it?

M.B.: Oh…there are so, so many, but I think the biggest head-scratcher is Ke$ha. I listen to Ke$ha. There, I said it. Out loud.

S. MAG.: What one piece of advice have you received that you think has helped you through this process?

M.B.: If you ever get to a place where you think you know everything there is about writing and that your craft can’t get any better than it is right now—you’re wrong. At its core, writing is about exploration and expression. It never stops moving and it never stops growing.

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

M.B.: Hopefully, more books. I’m closing in on the last 10,000 words in book #3 in the Sabrina Vaughn series. This book is Michael’s story, how he got where he is, and how he fights his way out. It’s a different kind of book than the others. No serial killers, but not to worry—there’s plenty of suspense. After that’s wrapped, I plan on taking the summer to finish up re-writes for the prequel novella to “Carved in Darkness.” I’m also working on a crime novel set in south Boston when I have time.

We would like to thank Maegan for taking the time to talk with us. You can find more information on Maegan by visiting her website: www.maeganbeaumont.com. ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 44 Featured Artist MILOS KARANOVIS The Next Generation Interview by Suspense Magazine FUTURISTIC GIRL LOST IN SPACE

WONDERFUL WORLD

DEEP OCEAN COME WITH ME “...FRIENDS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT IN MY LIFE, [AND] EVERYTHING ELSE IS SECONDARY...”

ilos Karanovic was born in BiH. For those who may not know where or what BiH is (we had to look this up, too, so don’t feel bad), BiH is an abbreviation for Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was born during the Bosnian war, which had its impact on him. MHis family had to leave their house for about a year and a half, but luckily, they suffered no lingering consequences from the war. Even though his “…friends are the most important in my life, [and] everything else is secondary,” in Milos’s view, design is his passion, regardless of his summer job. And he seems to be the only one in his family with the creative gene. He is a self-taught artist. “I never went to school for design,” he tells us. What helped him were tutorials and, of course, his will. Every beginning—including design—is difficult, Milos tells us, but he is persistent. He started working in photomanipulation a few years ago, but was unable then to find the time to continue with it. But in mid-2012, he tried again. He “…started to study and work in 3D programs like Cinema 4D…” Here, he started to create 3D models and other animations. Photomanipulation is one of his specialties, as can be seen by his depictions in this magazine’s issue. We were able to chat briefly with Milos about his passion. Here is what he had to say:

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What started you on the artistic path?

Milos Karanovic (M.K.): What started me was the knowledge of what’s possible in the world of design; simplicity, and what I want to create with my own imagination.

S. MAG.: What is more important to you: content or technique? Why?

M.K.: Both are important because if there is no content, then there’s no point nor technique. Everything is connected.

S. MAG.: Do you have a specific process that you follow when you begin a new piece? Can you describe your creative process? How long does it typically take you to create from start to finish?

SuspenseMagazine.com 47 M.K.: I have a procedure that I follow, and that is that the first initial stock colors do affect how I imagine what the finished work will look like. Of course, in the end I may do the same shades of color and there may be some glitches, but I focus on the details—how much time is needed to complete the work depends on the type of work I want to do.

S. MAG.: We’re fascinated by the speed art on your DeviantArt account. Can you tell us a little bit about the process and how you decided to get involved?

M.K.: This process is very interesting to me because I have idols who do it professionally, like Alexander Koshelkov and many others. From this process, I learned a lot very quickly, but I find it very helpful in furthering my work. After a while I decided to record my doing the work and upload it to YouTube.

S. MAG.: You may be the youngest artist featured within Suspense Magazine. As a young artist, what is your biggest challenge? Do you feel that your age benefits you in any way?

M.K.: It’s good that I will be the youngest artist and I am very proud of it. The biggest challenge would be to take part in some big and serious project. Of course, I feel its benefits, because I hope that in the future, this will be my constant interest.

S. MAG.: If you could spend one entire day doing whatever you wanted to do that didn’t include art, what would it be?

M.K.: Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very poor country and is very demanding for life. It’s not perfect for life, from my point of view. I spend most of my time in nature where I am looking for a nice place to take pictures to use in my manipulations.

S. MAG.: What do you think are your three best qualities? Your worst?

M.K.: The best I can tell my friends, but I will say some, which are: I am very honest and sincere. And the worst, I really do not know, maybe I do not like talking too much, haha.

S. MAG.: What are your long-term dreams? Gallery opening? Owning your own design firm?

M.K.: My long-term dreams are related to design and succeeding at it, regardless of whether it was in a company or for a very popular website.

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

M.K.: I hope to be working in a design and print company.

We want to thank Milos for taking the time to speak with us and his fans. Clearly, he is an up-and-comer in the photomanipulation and creative world. To find out more about Milos, check out his sites at plavidemon.deviantart. com or www.plavidemon.com. ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 48 GIRL IN NATURE

GLOWING OWL

MUSIC GIRL REBECCA DIFFERENT WORLD By Donald Allen Kirch Press Photos: Provided by Author Haunted STALINGRAD Of all the nations who fought against the Axis Powers in the before the invasion it is now famous for, the Supreme Soviet Second World War, it can be said—quite correctly—that did...nothing. No evacuation. No alarm. Stalin’s reasoning: no country suffered more than Russia. With Adolf Hitler “Soldiers will fight harder for an occupied city than an empty trying to erase their race from the world map on one side, one.” From this whim of a politician, over three quarters of and being ruled with an iron fist by their leader Joseph Stalin a million civilians suffered or died! There were stories after on the other, their victory was indeed hard won. Like other the battle of people so hungry that they ate from the mounds battlefields around the world, Russia has her fair share of of dead soldiers. Of husbands eating the arms off their dead honored dead. wives. Of pregnant mothers, so deprived of nourishment, And like her counterparts, sometimes the dead do not that they miscarried, serving their unborn fetuses in a hellish stay buried. stew. The most famous of all the Soviet battlefields was All this hell because a politician wanted to hold the party Stalingrad. After the death of Joseph Stalin and the fall of line. the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the city was renamed There are a few ghosts that wander around the former Volgograd. In Europe and America, veterans put on dusty battlefield. Some are Russian soldiers, still sacrificing and uniforms and allow old memories to air out as they celebrate doing their best to defend a city that has long-since been the seventieth anniversary of D-Day. History lists this pivotal secure. Dark stories of the ghost of a German soldier, an battle as the turning point of the war. Although the Allied officer, smoking a cigarette on the corner of the city’s main Invasion of Western Europe was supremely important in the square. No one can explain who this soldier was, or why he ultimate defeat of the Third Reich, let us not forget the Battle chooses to remain within a part of the city where they still are of Stalingrad—Adolf Hitler’s first defeat—the first turning digging up the dead, but he is there, and he has been seen for point for a shared Allied victory. over half a century. He is usually spotted smoking near the From August 1942 to February 1943, over a 200-day street called The Square of Men Fallen in Battle, where a tree clash between national armies and will, the Third Reich and grows that survived the Nazi invasion. Some have ventured the Soviet Union did battle. More than one million Russian to guess that he either awaits the discovery of his remains, soldiers were killed. Over eight hundred thousand German, or is held there by guilt, waiting for his soldiers’ bodies to be Italian, and Axis powers soldiers were listed as killed or discovered. In any case, schoolchildren avoid The Smoking missing. Nazi—to spot him is considered terrible luck. Where the historical crime comes into play here, The dead are still uncovered within the city limits, almost lands solely upon the shoulders of Stalin. As the town of on a daily basis. When fixing leaky water pipes, or digging Stalingrad was first showing signs of Nazi interest, well out a new sewer system, city officials from Volgograd find on

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 50 an average sixty bodies. They are all painstakingly preserved, hungry Russians within his Stalingrad, hoping above all hope investigated, and when they are discovered to be Russian, that his family is still waiting for him. He is forever caught in are given an honorary ceremony and finally put to rest. If that moment of death, when the melting ice gave way and his they are the remains of Germans, they are placed within a truck sank deep into the icy waters below. military cemetery on the outskirts of the city. Volgograd needs no scary movies or ghost stories to Once Stalin realized his mistake and tried to evacuate the righteously tell her past. There are stories for both the timid civilian population, it was too late. Within one single day of and those who crave gore. Of Soviet soldiers and how they battle, over forty thousand people were killed by the enemy. used their fallen comrades’ bodies as sandbags against the One ghost within the city doesn’t even have a spectral Nazi artillery. Often, to shield themselves from the bitter body, but is simply known as The Shooter. It was known that cold, soldiers would create flesh igloos and hide within the both Russian and German sharpshooters did their best to bodies of soldiers who weren’t so lucky. overcome the other in battle. Nothing helped a fighting force Imagine trying to eat what precious food you were able more than the systematic killing of top officers and skilled to steal, discover, or kill for within walls of dead eyes looking soldiers. Snipers were used by both sides during the Battle at you blankly. Blood—the sticky-thick blood of your fellow of Stalingrad. soldiers slowly drip-drip-dripping...down the walls of rotting The Shooter is often heard in the early morning hours, flesh. Lovecraft, Poe, nor King could ever have created such just before dawn, trying his best to kill targets unknown. horrors and still make it believable. Such macabre episodes No one knows if he was once Russian or German, but he were a daily event for the average Russian infantryman. continues with his dark duties, unaware that the war is over. One of the most horrific days on the battle was August Some theorize that this ghost is that of a German soldier, 23, 1942. On this day, the German Luftwaffe sent hundreds who was involved with the dreadful killing of thousands of of Nazi bombers to flatten the city. Russian soldiers who were women and children who tried to escape the city via ferry wounded enough to be taken from the field of battle chose to boats before the dreadful Russian winter had started. Most stay and offer assistance to both women and children trying of these evacuees were shot in the back by snipers. Could their best to flee the city via the mentioned ferry boats. These this Shooter be an evil spirit still having sport with the slow boats were prime targets for the machine gunners on modern-day Russians? board the Nazi bombers. There are ghost stories of hundreds Of all the ghosts, the most horrific is simply known as The of bodies floating to the top of the Volga River. These are the Moaning. This ghost, or ghosts, can be heard for blocks and tortured spirits of the brave soldiers who placed themselves is explained by frightened citizens as nothing more than over the bodies of the terrified children, and allowed the sounds of soldiers moaning, crying for lovers or their themselves to become a target of war, saving the children mothers, and those who simply wished to die. A cryptic below them. sound right out of Dante’s Inferno! Millions of dismembered Russia, after the attack, told stories of horrific images voices forever trapped in that agony before their mortal of the backs of these brave few, torn open and apart by deaths. It is believed that if you hear The Moaning, there will German air raid bullets. After this horrific episode, in order be a death in the family. to continue with the traumatized children, the ferry captains There are other stories of zombie-like Nazi soldiers had to toss the dead bodies of the soldiers over the side. walking the deserted streets at night, a vampire Russian Seventy-plus years later, their spirits wait to be picked up soldier who refuses to die, and a ghostly truck driver rushing and honored. The ghosts of these sacrificial soldiers still across the Volga River nearby, who tries desperately to reach continue to sacrifice in the name of Mother Russia. On the outskirts of town, there stands a manmade hill of gigantic proportions. It is the mortar, concrete, and steel left over from the battle. Stalin had the entire main city gathered up and buried. In his eyes, the whole tragedy NEVER HAPPENED. On the top of this hill there is a statue of a woman wielding a sword over her head, meant to personify the motherland. It is a silent testament to the bravery, sacrifice, and suffering people go through when both politicians and nations hold life cheap. An old Soviet soldier once said, ‘War is not a game, it’s the most horrible thing. That’s the thing youngsters should always know.’ Words to live by. ■

Soviet soldier waving the Red Banner over the central plaza of Stalingrad To learn more about this author’s works go to: www. in 1943 ("Bundesarchiv Bild 183-W0506-316, Russland, Kampf um Stal- donaldallenkirch.com. ingrad, Siegesflagge" by Georgii Zelma [1])

SuspenseMagazine.com 51 THE ZODIAC DECEPTION By Gary Kriss Press Photo: Provided by Publicist “PLEASE SIT, DR. WALKER.” “No thanks. I don’t plan on staying.” “As you wish. Do you know who I am?” “Let me guess. You’re the general.” “General William Donovan, retired. Late of Wall Street by way of the Fighting 69th and now Director of the United States Office of Information Coordination.” “I’m impressed, general. Now why am I here?” “You tell me.” Donovan, who had been fiddling with a capped black fountain pen, pushed it into a thatch of closely cropped white hair, tapping it a couple times against his scalp as if trying to dislodge a thought. “I understand you’re quite a good mind reader.” “I’m afraid you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” Walker didn’t like the way this was going. SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM GARY KRISS “Really?” Donovan dropped the pen, took a manila folder from the top desk drawer and began reading its contents aloud. “David Walker. Exceptional college record at Dartmouth. Full graduate scholarship to Harvard. Doctorate with highest honors. Youngest full professor in the history of Princeton’s psychology department.” Donovan closed the folder. “You are that David Walker, aren’t you?” Walker definitely didn’t like the way this was going. He had to keep his cool and get out of there as quickly as he could. “And do you know what makes your accomplishments all the more amazing?” Donovan continued. “You’ve been dead for the past six years.” Damn! Walker sat down in one of the folding chairs. “Perhaps I should qualify that. David Walker’s been dead for the last six years. Now if we’re talking about . . .” Donovan paused and opened the folder again. “John Matthews. Wasn’t that the name you used when you were arrested in Duluth?” Definitely damn! Walker saw his carefully fabricated life flash before his eyes, crash and roll down the slightly slanted rough pine floor, through a small crack at the bottom of the wall behind Donovan and out into oblivion. “Or was it Mark Adams? No, I think Mark Adams was Beloit, but does it really matter?” Donovan thumbed through a few more pages in the folder. “Of course we could use your given name.” “I have no given name.” It was an instantaneous, angry reaction and Walker, who prided himself on never tipping his

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 52 emotions, knew Donovan would jump on it. “I meant the name the nuns at St. Raphael’s Home gave an abandoned baby they took in.” “I have no given name.” This time he spoke slowly and emphatically, signaling his determination to take back the advantage Donovan had gained over him. “I see. Well, then, why don’t we stick with Dr. David Walker, in recognition of your being awarded a Ph.D. for completing the sixth grade. Isn’t that the extent of your formal schooling?” “Fourth grade, actually.” It was a small strategic retreat from denial, although Walker was sure Donovan would regard it as surrender. How would the general react to his victory? Would he gloat like Paris, when he dragged Hector’s mangled body seven times around the gates of Troy, or be gracious like Grant when he refused to accept Lee’s sword at Appomattox? “We’re a young organization. Our information gathering isn’t perfect.” So, he was more like Grant. Walker was relieved. “In any event. . . .” Donovan riffled through the papers in the folder. “You ran away from the Home when you were eight, rode the rails, eventually took refuge with a carnival family and became quite a good little con artist. Now here’s the part that fascinates me. You persuaded Houdini to take you as a helper when you were what, eleven? Twelve?” Donovan leaned back in the cracked black leather chair, which emitted a loud unoiled creak of protest. “That must have been something, working with Houdini. I assume he gave you expert advice on astrology, tarot and all the other forms of fortune telling that you’re so skilled at. Ironic, isn’t it? Houdini used his knowledge to debunk that hokum, but after he died, you used it to swindle people. Seems you had quite a following on the carnival circuit, followed by a colorful career as a revival show preacher. ” “I like to think I helped people.” “Helped them out of a lot of money, you mean. Then, suddenly you just disappeared for years, only to re-emerge teaching college with someone else’s credentials.” What had prompted Donovan to dredge up all this information? And was he really ignorant about the period between the tent shows and the college teaching? Walker pointed to the folder. “You should have everything there.” “As I said, we’re not perfect.” Donovan closed the folder and sat up straight again. “There are gaps here and there.” As Donovan spoke, Walker focused on his pupils, measuring them in his mind and watching for even the slightest dilation, which, as Houdini had taught him, was a sure sign of lying. They didn’t budge. No, the missing years were still missing, at least from Donovan’s dossier. “However, I’m pretty good at surmising,” Donovan said. “Although I doubt I could hold a candle to someone who spent quite a bit of time with the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as well as Houdini. What an excellent education you must have had, Dr. Walker, even if it wasn’t the one you claim.” Godamn it, only a select few people could have told Donovan that, most of whom Walker ruled out immediately. “Then, somewhere along the line, maybe when you were with one of the carnivals, you found yourself in Nebank, Minnesota where you saw an obituary for David Walker, a promising young scholar who drowned on vacation in Greece. Since he had no family, it was a perfect opportunity for you to adopt a new life. How are my surmising skills so far, Dr. Walker?” Well, he had part of it right. “Go ahead.” “You made your way back east and got a job as a night cleaner at Harvard. Once there, it wasn’t hard for a man of your unique abilities to change Walker’s records from deceased to active, forge a few new recommendations and create a full profile, which you used to apply for a university teaching position. Princeton snapped you up in an instant and here we are. How did I do?” It was time to go on the offensive. Walker put his palms on the desk and leaned forward so that his face was only inches from Donovan’s. “General, just what is it you want? Surely you’ve got more important things to do than exposing me.” “Exposing you? I have no intention of exposing you. Your department head not only thinks you’re a superb teacher, but a genius. He’d hate to lose you, especially after he risked his own professional reputation to hide your past.” “You know Professor Goddard?” Of all the surprises Walker had been hit with, this was the biggest. “John? I’ve known him for years. And that’s why I know about you.” “I told Dr. Goddard certain things in confidence. I can’t believe he would share them with you.” Walker was starting to feel decidedly vulnerable. “He never would have if it wasn’t a matter of national urgency and then only because he trusted me. You’ll find I’m good at keeping secrets. No, I won’t expose you.” Donovan’s words didn’t put him at ease, but they did open the way for an exit. “Then you won’t mind if I leave.” He pressed down on his palms and raised himself up. “You’re not even curious about why you’re here?”

SuspenseMagazine.com 53 Of course he was, but every part of him was screaming Get out! ”Write me a letter, General,” he said as he turned toward the door. “Should I address it to Leavenworth?” That stopped him. He swirled back around. “I’m sorry?” Donovan walked over to Walker and handed him a piece of paper. “Go ahead. Read it.” He scanned the paper and looked up. “A warrant for the arrest of Jack Kilian.” “Not just any warrant.” Donovan took the paper back from him and pointed to some wording. “A federal warrant. I believe Jack Kilian was the name you used in Talbot, Iowa back in 1936 when you were caught passing counterfeit bills.” “I’m no counterfeiter. I won that money in a poker game.” “Yes, I heard you’re good at poker, although there’s some question about what skills you use.” “I didn’t have to cheat that bunch. They were lousy players.” “Whatever the circumstances, this warrant is still active for your arrest and for the unnamed accomplices that busted you out of jail.” “Accomplices? There were no accomplices.” “That’s not what the sheriff said.” Walker couldn’t help chuckling. “Want to let me in on the joke?” Donovan asked. Why not? With all Donovan already knew one more piece didn’t matter. Besides, this was too good not to share. So as a captivated Donovan listened, Walker recounted the story of a small Midwestern jail, of a bloody bible that levitated and of a man who could walk through steel bars. He provided the details, but not the explanations, leaving Donovan to speculate. “Since I know who your mentor was, the escape part was hard to figure out. But it appears Houdini taught you more than fortune-telling techniques.” “A belt buckle makes an excellent lock pick, especially if someone’s foolish enough to handcuff you through jail bars facing forward so it’s within easy reach.” “I assume the blood was yours.” Walker flopped back down on the bridge chair, pulled off one of his scuffed black loafers and removed a sock. “A slight cut to the fleshy part of the toe, where there are a lot of capillaries, so the blood flows like ink in a pen. The evidence is absorbed by your sock and hidden by your shoe.” He dangled the sock in front of Donovan. “The sock also plays another role. If you carefully unravel the thread, you can use it to levitate things like a bible.” Donovan looked puzzled. “One of the cell’s previous occupants stuck a piece of gum under the bunk,” Walker said as he slid his sock back on and forced his foot into his shoe. “A little saliva and it came back to life. I used it to anchor one end of the thread to the wall, draped the bible over it and controlled the movement by wrapping the other end around my thumb. The lighting was dim enough to make the thread invisible, and the sheriff was distracted.” “By what?” Before he could answer, a high-pitched voice came from the other side of the room. “Daddy, it’s all right.” Donovan’s ashen face left no doubt that he had recognized what he heard. It was the voice of his dead daughter. “Patty?” Visibly unnerved, Donovan swung around in his chair. “I love you, daddy and I miss you.” This time the voice came from the window. Donovan swirled around. Sweat started to bead on his forehead. “No, daddy, I’m up here.” The voice trickled down from the ceiling. “And now I’m here.” The voice, slightly muffled, rose from the wooden floor. “Patty. . . .” “She’s not here, General.” Walker pressed the tips of his left thumb and forefinger into a pair of lips. “Look, daddy.” And as he flexed his thumb back and forth, the voice came from the makeshift mouth. “I can make her be anywhere you want, but I can’t bring her back.” “Ventriloquism! You son of a bitch! You bastard! How dare you make a mockery of my daughter’s death!” “You told me to read your mind, which is constantly on your daughter. You can’t forget her, and you can’t forgive yourself.” Donovan was radiating anger, the veins in his patrician Irish face and his muscular arms so charged by adrenaline that they looked like they might burst through his skin. In response, Walker braced himself for a physical attack by a man who, though older, obviously could still inflict great harm.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 54 “Goddamn you!” Then the man who had won the Medal of Honor for valor in The Great War slumped back into his chair and bowed his head in defeat. It was a moment before he composed himself to speak. The words came haltingly. “Patty was a student at Georgetown. She was returning to Washington from a weekend away with friends. I was coming in for a business meeting and she wanted to spend some time with me. The weather was bad. Her car skidded and . . .” Donovan stopped, then slowly raised his head and looked at him. “How did you know about Patty? Did you read about it? I know you have a total photographic memory. John Goddard said that’s extremely rare and was a major reason you were able to pass yourself off as a Ph.D. You forget nothing. So you must have read about the car crash.” He shook his head. “No, you told me.” “If this is a joke I don’t find it funny.” Though Donovan was collected, Walker could sense his lingering rage. “Remember the sheriff? He had fallen into a fitful sleep and kept uttering the name, ‘Betty.’ I didn’t care who Betty was or what happened. I just needed that snippet to trigger some uncomfortable memories. The sheriff did all the rest. The same thing here. Your reaction to an innocent phrase told me what I needed to know.” Seeing Donovan was still confused, Walker simplified his explanation. “I looked for something that might have relevance for you. There aren’t many personal items in this office, so the few things on display stand out.” He made a slow visual sweep around the room. “Like the pictures of a girl at different ages, some with you, some without. It made sense she was your daughter. But why would you carry so many pictures of her around with you? That’s behavior usually associated with either a recent or a lingering loss.” “It wasn’t recent, but the pain is still there. It’s always there.” “Also, this isn’t your office.” “We’re allies with Canada. We’re fighting the same war and we sometimes share personnel. It’s my office when I’m here.” So this is Canada. Donovan’s first major slip-up! “No matter.” He swept his right index finger across the desk, and then held it in front of Donovan’s face. “See? Dust. The whole room’s dusty.” He picked up one of the pictures on the desk and wiped it with his left forefinger, which he also showed Donovan. “Nothing. The picture’s clean. You don’t strike me as a man who would leave things half done, General. This isn’t your office, but all these pictures are yours and you take them everywhere with you.” Donovan lifted the picture Walker had put down and stared at it for a few seconds before setting it back in place. “You could have been wrong.” “So what? I only said ‘Daddy, it’s all right.’ But your reaction to that statement told me something had happened and, in some way, you felt responsible. I used that information to my advantage. So-called mind readers do it all the time. They toss out some generalities and then trick you into giving them specifics. It’s called cold reading and it can be a very effective tool.” For the first time since their conversation began, Donovan actually smiled. “John Goddard was right. You’re perfect.” “Perfect for what?” Donovan got up and gazed out the window “What do you think would happen to Germany if Hitler were removed from the helm?” “I really haven’t given it much thought.” “Well, I have,” Donovan said, his back still to Walker. “And I’m not alone. With Hitler gone, Germany and its war effort would be thrown into chaos. ” The certainty in Donovan’s voice belonged to the focused battlefield commander, not the Washington desk jockey. “Are you saying you intend to get rid of Hitler?” “No, not me, but somebody very much like me. You.” There was a long, quiet stretch as Walker tried to grasp what he had just heard. “You want me to kill Hitler?” “Of course not,” Donovan eased back into his chair, reached for another folder that was already lying on his desk, took a picture from it and handed it to him. It was an official Reich portrait of a thin-faced man with a high brow, small mustache and an almost nonexistent chin. He was wearing oval glasses and his military cap, too large for his head, made him look comical. “Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and probably the most feared man in Germany.” “You want me to kill Himmler?” “That wouldn’t help either.” “Then what do you want me to do?” “I want you to convince Himmler to kill Hitler.” ■

Gary Kriss, an award-winning reporter for the New York Times, was born in Brooklyn and raised in a small town in Eastern Tennessee. He and his wife live in a northern suburb of New York City. “The Zodiac Deception" is his first novel. Learn more at: www.garykriss.com.

SuspenseMagazine.com 55

Forensic Files

Q&A: COULD DEATH FROM BLEEDING BE DELAYED FOR SEVERAL

DAYS AFTER A FRONTIER WAGON WHEEL ACCIDENT?By DP Lyle, MD Photo Credit: Provided by Author Q: My story takes place in a wagon train in the late 1800s. My character is dragged by a horse while crossing a river. He hits rocks and is bounced off the back wheel of a wagon. Of course, the horse’s hooves do damage as well. Three days later, he dies from massive bleeding from his internal injuries. This three-day delay followed by the sudden loss of blood is important to the story’s timing, but is it realistic? A: Yes. This type of accident could, as you can imagine, result in all types of injuries. Broken bones, skull fractures, neck fractures, cracked ribs, punctured lungs, and intra-abdominal injuries (injuries inside the abdominal cavity). This last type of injury might serve you well. A ruptured spleen or lacerated liver or fractured kidney would bleed into the abdominal cavity. Death could be quick or take days if the bleed was slow. There would be great pain, especially with movement or breathing, and the abdomen would swell. Also a bluish, bruise-like discoloration could appear around the umbilicus (belly button) and along the flanks. This usually takes 24 to 48 hours or more to appear. This occurs as the blood seeps between the “fascial planes.” The fascia are the tough white tissues that separate muscles from one another. The blood seeps along these divisions and reaches the deeper layers of the skin, causing the discoloration. But these injuries wouldn’t lead to external bleeding since the blood has no exit from the abdominal cavity. However, if the injury was to the bowel, then external bleeding could occur. For blood to pass from the bowel, the bleeding would have to be within the bowel itself and not just in the abdomen somewhere. If the bowel were ruptured or torn so that bleeding occurred within the bowel, the blood would flow out rectally. But blood in the bowel acts like a laxative so the bleeding would likely occur almost immediately and continue off and on until death, which in this situation would be minutes to hours to a day, two at the most. It would be less realistic for the bleeding to wait three days before appearing in this case. With one exception. The bowel could be bruised and not ruptured or torn, and a hematoma (blood mass or clot) could form in the bowel wall. As the hematoma expanded, it could compromise the blood supply to that section of the bowel. Over a day or two, the bowel segment might die. We call this an “ischemic bowel.” Ischemia is a term that means interruption of blood flow to an organ. If the bowel segment dies, bleeding would follow. This could allow a three-day delay in the appearance of blood. In your scenario, the injuries would likely be multiple and so abdominal swelling, the discolorations I described, great pain, fevers, chills, even delirium toward the end, and finally bleeding could all occur. Not a pleasant way to die, but I would imagine this happened not infrequently in frontier days. The victim would be placed in the bed of one of the wagons and comforted. He might be sponged with water to ease his fevers, offered water or soup, which he would likely vomit, and prayers would be said. They could have tincture of opium (a liquid) available and give him some. This would lessen the pain since it is a narcotic and would also slow the motility (movement) of the bowel, and thus lessen the pain and maybe the bleeding. Of course, during the time period of your story, your characters wouldn’t know any of the internal workings of the injury as I have described. They would only know that he was severely injured and in danger of dying. Some members of the wagon train may have seen similar injuries in the past and may know just how serious the victim’s condition is, but they wouldn’t understand the physiology behind it. They might even believe that after he survived the first two days that he was going to live and then be very shocked when he eventually bleeds to death. Or they might understand that the bouncing of the wagon over the rough terrain was not only painful but also dangerous for someone in his condition. The train may be halted for the three days he lived. Or several wagons might stay behind to tend to him while the rest of the column moved on. ■

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://www.dplylemd.com/ DPLyleMD/Crime_%26_Science_Radio.html.

SuspenseMagazine.com 57 PHOENIX RISING An Interview with Amanda Kyle Williams Interview by Mark P. Sadler Press Photo Credit: Kaylinn Gilstrap Photography

A sixteen-year-old high school dropout with dyslexia, a recovering addict, dealing with identity theft and assisting the IRS in a two-year audit in its wake would have been, individually, enough to push even the sanest of us over the brink. Amanda Kyle Williams let the experiences wash over her, for about twenty years, allowing the rhythm of life help her find a voice, an inner dialogue, and she listened through the chaos to the whispers in her head as they chose for her a new path and anointed her as a writer. These days she is crafting a fine series featuring private investigator Keye Street. I had the pleasure of reading the third in a trilogy, “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” and to review it for Suspense Magazine. I knew from the original voice that she truly was writing what she knew. The caustic sense of humor, the simplicity of a single life, reveals Street and Williams as similar people— obsessively neat, with something to prove. The Asian protagonist Street is a feisty, former FBI profiler with a taste for Krispy Kreme and booze. Her addiction for alcohol got her fired from her Bureau position, and this novel finds her chasing a child killer around the back woods of Georgia and creating sparks with the local sheriff. Williams does a fine job of making the location—Decatur, Georgia—another character in the book. Writing can be hard on the best of days, but when you have a disease that hinders your ability to read or write, every word is a challenge. Williams recently wrote on her Facebook page: I wrote Chapter Four today. I don’t mean the chapter. I mean I wrote the words Chapter Four. Sometimes that’s a good as it gets, especially these days. Along with having to rise above all the above-mentioned life-altering battles Williams was

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 58 recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer. Although her treatment has been as successful as one hopes for, the current rounds of chemo are brutal, and one DON'T TALK TO of the side effects of the drugs she needs to use is the flare-up of her dyslexia. STRANGERS That makes her regular 10 a.m. writing ritual more difficult to handle. By Amanda Kyle Williams When she does write, she concentrates more on the current scene she is working on than on word count, and she nails it, whether it’s a 900-word In a combination of suspense and paragraph or a 10,000-word chapter. With coffee close by, she sits in the sun mystery, the latest Keye Street novel finds lounge in the back of her charming brick cottage and pounds the words straight the former FBI super-star profiler trekking into her laptop. Writing an outline won’t happen for her. She writes a brief through the backwater of Georgia where beginning and an end, a goal to shoot for and fills in the gap, relying on her the bodies of two twelve-year-old girls were wonderful editor at Random House, Kate Medina, who has been a cheerleader discovered, one who had been missing for at her side since reading her first twenty-five pages back when her debut novel, the last decade. “The Stranger You Seek,” was being A timely release, only a year after Ariel peddled to publishers. Castro was discovered hording teenage Williams’s affliction slows the girls in his urban home in Ohio, the subject pace of her output, and so over matter is so repulsive yet one that we find a year went by before “Stranger ourselves pulled into despite the banal evil it in the Room” was released. Now represents, probably in the sense of rooting that the Stranger series has been for the survivors, and Williams taps into that launched, Williams is happy to vein. permit me to let you all know While Street is assisting the sheriff with that the next release, the one she his investigation, she becomes aware that, at is four chapters into, will be titled least for other members of the department, “A Complete Stranger.” she is stepping on toes, an unwilling recruit Few of our writer idols in a small town world. are as forthright and open, A third girl goes missing during the original and genuine as I found investigation, a pattern is broken, and the Williams to be. She has a large killer shows his hand. A door-to-door search following at her Facebook page, is carried on in the county, scouring all the https://www.facebook.com/ sex-offenders until one by one, an alibi is AmandaKyleWilliams, and produced, but can they be believed? Someone is happy to discuss her is telling lies, hiding secrets. For the local private life, as it is, with people, it was enough knowing that one of her Facebook fans and their own has committed these crimes. That family. This life, outside of her writing, seems to mainly someone in the community is responsible comprise her three dogs and about sixty feral cats in her hometown for the heinous crimes perpetrated on these of Decatur. She is one of the founding directors at Lifeline Animal middle school girls. Is it the teacher, the Project, a nonprofit, no-kill animal welfare organization that spays stray cats. grocery store clerk, the pastor, or perhaps Her affinity to animals and the routine they help bring to her daily life stem even someone closer to the girls, a family from her life as a child on a Colorado ranch. member? No one is afforded the luxury of a Her battle with cancer has caused Williams to have to postpone many of pass, they all come under scrutiny. her personal appearances, as it’s not been possible for her to travel. It has been As time runs out, Williams weaves an a challenge to promote her new novel without touring. Along with that, her electrically charged plot, sinister and evil, one appearance has changed dramatically. Gone is the wavy mop of graying curls jolt after another, keeping the reader amped. her fans are accustomed to seeing, as chemotherapy has left her with a bald In the end, the shock is a charge hard to dome. I imagine she will look fabulous in a turban. accept. If real-life events have you wondering Her goal is to be able to make an appearance at the Decatur Book Festival, how well you know your neighbors, then this which takes place August 29 to 31. The Festival is the largest independent book read will be a chart-topper for you. event in the country, and one she is determined to not miss. So seek out a copy Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author of of “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and bring it with you to be autographed. Your “Blood on his Hands,” published by favorite author needs your help to overcome the hurdle she is facing as she Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense heals. Magazine ■ Let’s give back to one who so willingly has given of herself. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 59 MORE “BRILLIANCE” FROM MARCUS SAKEY Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Jay Franco

“A Better World” is the second book in Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance Saga series, with his newest character Nick Cooper. Marcus was born in Flint, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan. He mentions that he had two majors, both promptly ignored. He spent ten years in advertising and marketing, which gives him the perfect experience to write about thieves and killers. He is the writer and host of Hidden City, which can be seen on the Travel Channel. Other books by Marcus include “Brilliance,” the first book in the new series, as well as “The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes,” “The Blade Itself,” “Accelerant,” “The Good People,” and “The Amateurs.” But this article is about “A Better World,” so let’s take a closer look inside:

Since 1980, 1 percent of the world has been born with gifts we’d only dreamed of. The ability to sense a person’s most intimate secrets, or predict the stock market, or move virtually unseen. For thirty years the world has struggled with a growing divide between the exceptional…and the rest of us.

Now a terrorist network led by brilliants has crippled three cities. Supermarket shelves stand empty. 911 calls go unanswered. Fanatics are burning people alive.

Nick Cooper has always fought to make the world better for his children. As both a brilliant and an advisor to the President of the United States, he’s against everything the terrorists represent. But as America slides toward a devastating civil war, Cooper is forced to play a game he dares not lose—because his opponents have their own vision of a better world.

And to reach it, they’re willing to burn this one down.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 60 We were lucky enough to catch up to Marcus and ask him some questions, A BETTER WORLD so check out the interview below. By Marcus Sakey

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What can you tell us about “A Better World” that Beginning in the early 1980s, children is not on the back cover? were born with special powers. In the western United States, a little girl can look Marcus Sakey (M.S.): The Brilliance Saga is the story of an alternate present, at someone folding their arms and read their a world very much like ours with one fundamental difference: since 1980, one darkest secrets. In the east, a man has been percent of the population has been born with exceptional abilities, akin to savants. able to sense patterns in the stock market Many of them aren’t much more than curiosities—able to instantly multiply huge and ends up earning 300 billion dollars. And numbers, or play perfectly a song heard only once. But some of them are world- in the middle of the country, a woman can changing, capable of spotting patterns in the stock market, or reading your darkest become invisible just by going where no thoughts from body language. one is looking. Although this synopsis may seem like a look at the X-Men, these people But this isn’t a superhero novel; to me, the brilliants aren’t the point. The point is are actually referred to as Brilliants, and one how the world reacts to them. What would happen if one percent of the population percent of the people born in this era have was objectively better than the rest of us? How would society adapt, or fail to special powers. adapt? Would we become dependent on them? Would we enslave them? Would Federal Agent Nick Cooper is one of they, in fear for their own safety, work against us? these Brilliants because he is able to find terrorists wherever they may be hiding. Now S. MAG.: What makes Nick Cooper so perfect as your series hero? the gifted ones have been able to do all of the above and for many years, the world has M.S.: Cooper is a fun character with a lot of contradictions. He’s a brilliant hunting been in a struggle between the exceptional his own kind. At various times he’s been a government agent and an outlaw and Brilliants, and the rest of the ‘normal’ an advisor to the President. But what holds it all together is that throughout, his citizens. goal is to make a better world for his children. It’s something I think we can all New terrorist cells are being led by relate to. Anybody who has kept a job they hate because it provides health care for Brilliants that have been the cause of three their family would understand Cooper perfectly. major U.S. cities ceasing to function. All the supermarkets are empty of goods, S. MAG.: Your Brilliance Saga has brought a new light to the dark side of the all emergency calls to 911 have gone world. How did your fans react to you after your first book? unanswered, and the cities are basically under siege—as is Nick Cooper. Although M.S.: You know, before the first book was released I worried about that. It’s still he is special, Nick has forsaken many of his very much a thriller, but it’s also a work of speculative fiction, and I wasn’t sure if ideas to create a better world for his family. my fans wanted that from me. But my existing readers seem delighted with it, and As an advisor to the current President, he I’ve been able to reach a much larger audience. is going against the horrific actions of these terrorists, and trying his best to stop his I think that so long as you’re writing your ass off, telling the story you really want beloved country from falling back into a to tell, no one is all that concerned about where it will be shelved. Civil War. Penned by an extremely imaginative S. MAG.: With a topic that can hit so close to home, where do you need to place storyteller, Nick Cooper and a few cohorts bring suspense, mystery, and fear to the reader as the last novel looms in the distance. On occasion, the middle book in a trilogy “I tell stories. That’s my job, can be somewhat slow in action leading up to create the product. Who to the grand finale. But this is definitely an exception to that theory. This story never sells it, and how, and in what stops, offering thrills for readers on every page. Bring on Book Three! format, that’s just not what I’m Reviewed by Mary Lignor, Professional Librarian and Co-Owner of The Write interested in.” Companion ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 61 your mind as an author to get the words right on the page?

M.S.: Putting the words together has never been the part that frustrates me. I love language, and I’ve developed a style and a voice that feels right to me, that echoes the one in my head.

What is more challenging by far is planning the thing. I can’t write if I don’t know what I’m writing, and I don’t know what I’m writing until I monkey with it for awhile, turn the idea over in my hands like a bauble, looking at it this way and that. It requires a certain narrative flexibility; I have to allow contradictory possibilities to coexist until one of them gathers enough mass that it starts to have its own gravity. At the same time, I can’t over-plan, can’t detail too much, or I’ll lose interest.

S. MAG.: What is your biggest challenge when you first sit down to write a new book?

M.S.: The page count indicator in the bottom left corner of Microsoft Word. In the first days and weeks, it’s so depressingly tiny— one digit, then two. I tend not to really relax into the thing until I break a hundred. After that, I stop looking, and just write.

S. MAG.: When you started this saga, did you have a certain number of books in mind?

M.S.: I grew up on Star Wars, and that idea of a trilogy of stories serving as three acts in one journey is deeply rooted in my subconscious. I’ve got nothing against a continuing series, but what fires me up is a saga—three books that tell one larger story.

S. MAG.: What scares Marcus Sakey?

M.S.: Meetings. I worked in advertising for a decade, and I will consider my life a success if I make it the rest of the way without sitting in a conference room.

S. MAG.: With social media being at the forefront of how people communicate now, do you let the instant reaction from readers affect the way you write your next book?

M.S.: I love it. The line between author and reader is blurring in fascinating ways. I reach out to my fans all the time, looking for research connections, getting them to weigh in on titles, and asking for help with things. For example, in “A Better World,” I wanted to include a hand-drawn insert that looked like a photocopied flyer. I tried doing it myself, but I’ve got as much talent with a marker as an epileptic squirrel. So I posted what I was looking for, and asked if any readers wanted to give it a shot.

I got dozens of submissions, one of which is in the book. That just makes me happy.

At the end of the day, a novel is written by a single author. But I think of myself as an entertainer as much as an artist, and it’s a poor entertainer who doesn’t gauge the audience.

S. MAG.: The journey in the publishing world can be both exciting and frustrating. How do you handle the changes that seem to come everyday?

M.S.: I tell stories. That’s my job, to create the product. Who sells it, and how, and in what format, that’s just not what I’m interested in. Obviously, it’s wise to be aware of what’s happening in the industry. But don’t mistake that for writing a novel.

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

M.S.: I keep pretty busy. I just finished a screenplay adaptation of one of my previous novels, “The Amateurs,” which gave me a chance to revisit a favorite villain. If things move forward—always an if in Hollywood—I’ll likely end up helping to produce that film. I’ve co-written a television pilot with an author friend of mine that is on submission now. Right now, I’m hands-dirty in the third book in the Brilliance Saga. And I’ve got a stack of ideas waiting.

We would like to thank Marcus for taking the time to talk with us. For more information, check out Marcus’s website at www.marcussakey.com. ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 62 A BETTER

WORLDBy Marcus Sakey ON THE MONITOR, CLEVELAND WAS BURNING. Cooper watched the president watch it. Lionel Clay’s face was drawn, his shoulders tight beneath his dress shirt. He stood like a man caught in a spotlight. “The situation’s getting worse.” Owen Leahy pressed a button and the image shifted, an overhead view of a government building. Cold stone and columns, it was a grey island encircled by a sea of people, thousands of them, a mass of rough cur- rents that formed no pattern. The secretary of defense continued, “City hall is surrounded. The National Guardsmen that were already on scene have secured the building, but they’re having trouble getting reinforcements in. Cleveland PD has a riot team enroute, but the mob is making it slow going.” “Where did the fire start?” The president spoke without looking from the screen. “The east side, 55th and Scoville. A tenement building, but it’s spreading fast. There are twelve square blocks burning, another twenty at risk in the next hour.” “Fire crews?” “They’re spread thin and they’re tired. There have been multiple fires every day for the last two weeks. This is the first that’s gotten out of control. Crews are focusing on containment, with every station sending men, but the mob is—” “Making it slow going.” “Yes sir.” “Get the mayor on the phone.” “We’ve been trying.” Leahy left the rest unsaid. “The Children of Darwin are behind this?” “The COD is certainly involved. But there are thousands of rioters. It’s out of control.” Leahy pressed another button, and the angle shifted, zoom- SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM MARCUS SAKEY ing in. A camera drone, Cooper figured, unmanned and circling a mile above the scene. The video showed the front line of a pitched battle, men and wom- en screaming at each other, whirling, spinning. A man in a leather jacket swung a baseball bat. A teenage girl, her face a bloody mess, leaned between two people pushing to get out of the fray. A white guy stood over a black man, kicking him savagely. A group rocked a car, bouncing and shoving and bouncing until it tilted up on one side, held for a moment, and toppled. “The whole city is like this?” “A lot of people are out protecting their property, others are just watch- ing. But everything within half a mile of Public Square is a mess. Intelli- gence estimates there are as many as ten thousand rioters in the downtown area. And the power is still out. It will get worse when night falls.” “Why didn’t the mayor call in more police right away?” “We don’t know, sir. But at this point, even if riot squads make it to city hall, they won’t be able do much more than protect the staff. The mob is just too big.” “The Democrats are going to have a field day with this,” Marla Keevers said. The chief of staff had a way of turning the word Democrats into an

SuspenseMagazine.com 63 obscenity. “You’re going to take a huge—” “I don’t care about politics right now, Marla. One of my cities is on fire. Is this part of a larger attack?” “We don’t know, sir.” “Why not?” “It’s chaos down there, Mr. President.” The secretary of defense paused, then said, “Sir, it’s time to take aggressive action. We should assume that this is the first step in an attack, maybe a national one.” The president said nothing. “Sir, we need to act.” Clay stared at the screen. “Mr. President?” And as Nick Cooper stood beside a glowing Christmas tree in the Oval Office of the White House, watching the world begin to fall apart, he found himself thinking of something his old boss had said just before Cooper threw him off a twelve- story building. “Sir? What do you want us to do?” His one-time mentor had said, If you do this, the world will burn. “Mr. President?” The monitor had shifted back to a wide aerial view. The fire had spread, and thick smoke blotted out half the city. “Sir?” President Clay just stared at the monitor. Cooper could sense the tension in him, the fear. The man was staring like everything was a dream and if he concentrated hard enough he might wake up. “All right.” Owen Leahy turned to Marla Keevers. “The National Guard isn’t enough. I’m ordering all military forces to active alert, and pulling secondary divisions from overseas to reinforce positions across the country. We need to be prepared to apply overwhelming force.” Keevers nodded. “We should immediately arrest John Smith, Erik Epstein, and any other known leaders. Also, detain all tier-one abnorms that are under surveillance by the DAR—” “I’m all for arresting Smith,” Cooper said. “But you’re talking about thousands of people.” “There are protocols in place to establish regional internment camps.” Leahy turned back to Keevers. “In addition, ef- fective immediately, we’re activating the Monitoring Oversight Initiative. We can’t wait until next summer. If we had done it when the measure passed, these cities might not be under attack. Begin with tier ones and move down the ladder. I want a tracker in the neck of every abnorm by Christmas.” Cooper couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not just the content, but the fact that Leahy was making these decisions on his own. “You can’t do that.” “It’s already law, Mr. Cooper. We’re just moving up the timetable.” SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM MARCUS SAKEY “No, I mean you can’t do that.” Cooper stepped forward, purposefully too close. “Unless you’re launching a coup d’état.” The secretary bristled. “Watch your tone.” “Watch your own.” He stared the man down. Knew he was being insubordinate and offensive and didn’t give a shit. Some moments a person had to stand up. “I haven’t heard the president give any of these orders.” “This nation needs strong leadership right now. Any more delay and things are going to get worse.” “I agree. But you’re not the president.” He turned to Clay. “Sir, if you think things are bad now, just wait. Rounding up citizens and activating the MOI means declaring war on our own people.” “We’re already at war,” Leahy gestured to the screen. “That’s a riot, not a war. And you can’t save America by imprisoning all the Americans.” He wanted to yell, to slap the desk, to grab them by the shoulders and shake them and make them wake up. “This will galvanize the terrorist cause. It will turn everyone against each other. This is what will lead to war.” Leahy said, “I’ve had enough. We appreciate your service, Mr. Cooper, but it’s no longer necessary. You can go.” “I don’t work for you.” As if on cue, Clay coughed, and stirred to life. He tore himself from the monitor. His eyes darted back and forth between them. “Nick—” Cooper cut him off. “Sir, this is a bad idea, and I think you know it, and I think that’s why you recruited me in the first place. You knew that someone would be standing here telling you to start a civil war. And you weren’t sure you’d be strong enough to say no.” “Cooper!” Keevers’s voice cracked like a whip. “Enough.”

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 64 “It’s okay, Marla.” Clay’s voice was weak. “Go ahead. Say what’s on your mind.” “Sir, we all agree something has to be done. But not this. I’m not being idealistic, I’m being practical. We’ll lose. We’ll lose everything.” “So what do you suggest?” “We shift our focus. Instead of dealing with the terrorists, we deal with the gifted.” He’d been wrestling with the problem ever since he and Quinn left John Smith in the burnout. If he couldn’t just kill Smith—and he was starting to regret that he hadn’t—they needed a way to cut him off at the knees. To change the game so that it wasn’t Smith against the repressive government, but Smith against Americans. That meant bringing in another player. Someone with clout and influence and money. “We go to Erik Epstein.” Marla Keevers scoffed. Leahy said, “Are you serious? The man doesn’t even exist. He’s just an actor. John Smith and the Children of Darwin might be pulling his strings. There is no Erik Epstein.” “Yes,” Cooper said. “There is. I’ve met him.” All of a sudden, the room was very quiet. Clay and Leahy and Keevers all stared. Cooper said, “In the New Canaan Holdfast in Wyoming three months ago. Erik Epstein is very real, and very much in charge. He’s just private. The man you called an actor is actually his brother Jakob. The two of them faked Jakob’s death a decade ago so that he could become Erik’s public face.” President Clay sat down on the edge of his desk. He rubbed at his chin. “Well, Nick. You are full of surprises.” “He trusts me.” That was a lie of epic proportions; he’d betrayed Epstein. Cooper had agreed to kill John Smith, and instead he’d not only spared him, he’d unwittingly served Smith’s agenda. Because of Cooper’s decisions, the New Canaan Holdfast was in greater danger than ever before, and there was nothing in the world that Epstein cared about more than his little realm in the desert. Still, not much mileage in them knowing the world’s richest man is pissed at you. “Let’s reach out to him. Ask him to join us in calming the nation.” Leahy said, “What possible good would that—” “It would reframe the discussion. In the 1960’s, the government legitimized Dr. King’s movement by bringing him into the discussion. That put radicals like Malcolm X and Huey Newton on the outside. Suddenly it wasn’t blacks against whites, it was pacifism against violence. You were a history professor, sir. You know that this has to be the way.” Clay stared at the Christmas tree, a Victorian mess of bows and baubles. Marla Keevers said, “Something else it does.” She turned to the president. “It gives us a target.” Cooper said, “What?” “We don’t have any way to reach the Children of Darwin. But if we were to work with Epstein and the NCH, to offer them support on the condition that terrorism cease…” She shrugged. “It’s a win-win. Either they get the situation under control, or we have legitimate reason to strike the stronghold of abnorm power.” “Wait, that’s not what I—” Clay stood up. “All right. Nick, pack your bags. You’re going to New Canaan as our ambassador. Convince Epstein to SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM MARCUS SAKEY join us, help stop these attacks, and return our cities to us.” “Sir, I’m not a diplomat, I don’t know the first thing—” “You know Erik Epstein. He trusts you.” “I. Yes sir.” Cooper felt dizzy. Clay moved around the other side of the desk. “Meanwhile, Owen, make the troop deployments. Bring nonessential military home, and reinforce all domestic bases. And just in case, prepare a plan for concerted military action against New Canaan Holdfast.” “Sir, what about the Monitoring Oversight Initiative? We should still move that—” “We’re going to try this way first.” Leahy started to argue, caught himself, swallowed the words with a visible effort. He shot a look of purest poison in Coo- per’s direction. “Yes sir.” Clay turned to him. “It’s on you now, Nick. You had better succeed.” The president was too gentle a man to add the unspoken next sentence, but in Cooper’s head, Drew Peter’s voice finished it for him. Because if you do not, the world will burn. ■

Excerpted from “A Better World” by Marcus Sakey. Copyright 2014. Published By Thomas & Mercer. Used by permission of the publisher. Not for reprint without permission.

SuspenseMagazine.com 65 FromUNCOVERING Poe THE MYSTERIESto King IN THEIR HANDWRITING

By Sheila Lowe

Edgar Allan Poe, the man whose “Murders in the Rue Morgue” earned him the title “father of the modern mystery,” was himself something of an enigma. His parents, who died when he was two, were traveling stage actors; he married a thirteen-year-old cousin, made an enemy of Rufus Griswold, (an editor who defamed Poe after his too-early death), and died in as strange a manner as you might expect from one of his stories. But what about the man himself? Griswold wrote that few would be grieved by Poe’s death, yet his mother-in-law described him as “great and good.” Others infer personality traits from his various literary works, but those of us who make stuff up for a living, as Poe did, don’t necessarily reflect our true character in the pages we write. So what is the truth about who Poe was as a person? Fortunately, we don’t have to rely on guesswork, as samples of his handwriting can reveal far more about him than his storyteller’s voice does. Handwriting analysis has been around for a long time, and I was surprised and delighted to learn that Poe himself was interested in it. He analyzed the handwriting of some literary greats of his day, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Greenleaf Whittier, among many others. In “Chapter on Autography,”1 which he published in 1841, he wrote: ...the mental features are indicated (with certain exceptions) by the hand-writing; ... Next to the person of a distinguished man-of-letters, we desire to see his portrait—next to his portrait, his autograph. In the latter, especially, there is something which seems to bring him before us in his true idiosyncrasy—in his character of scribe. What followed was a series of autographs and Poe’s analysis of each writer’s handwriting. He praised Whittier’s2 ability in verse, while comparing his chirography (penmanship) to “an ordinary clerk’s hand.” Of Longfellow3 he says, “...The man who writes thus may not accomplish much, but what he does, will always be thoroughly done.” He calls Emerson’s handwriting4 “bad, sprawling, illegible and irregular— although sufficiently bold.” Given those remarks, it seems fitting that we take a peek at Poe’s own handwriting using two of the many samples available for viewing on the Internet5.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 66 In Fig. 1, the handwriting in one of his poems, To Zante (1837), shows a controlled, formal style, while an 1846 letter to his wife (fig. 2) has a more natural flow and reveals the sensitive, emotionally driven man that he became. He adopts simpler forms than the copybook of the time—a sign of his creativity. The handwriting has good rhythm and a sense of movement, but also a hastiness that suggests impulsive behavior. Well- formed upper loops and interesting ligatures connecting one letter to another reveal his ability to get a quick, intuitive grasp of ideas. An interesting and odd phenomenon in the letter Poe wrote to his wife is the way he sometimes formed the personal pronoun “I,” which looks more like a wobbly capital O (e.g: “until I see you”). The personal pronoun represents the way the writer feels, not only about himself, but about his relationship to his parents or early caretakers. Poe was orphaned at two years of age, then adopted by John Allan, who later disinherited him, so this weak personal pronoun may indicate that the strength of Poe’s self-image was undermined by the loss of his parents. The tall, straight strokes at the beginnings of the letter “p” are known as the “argumentative p.” As a literary critic, Poe needed that trait to get his points across with strength. Looking further through my collection of mystery authors’ handwritings, I found Anne Perry’s (fig. 3), a small, modest printed style with fairly wide spaces between words. The wide spaces indicate a desire for personal distance. Thus, while she projects social sophistication and charm, she takes her time before trusting someone new. The rounded printing suggests a particular need for security and the extra-large capitals in her signature say that her “ideal image” of herself is quite a bit bigger than what she sees as her “real self.” With the flourishes on the capital letters, (especially the “M” in “Martha”) Martha Grimes’ writing (fig. 4) has a lively, fun-loving feel to it. She has no trouble being in the spotlight. The clever “th” combination reveals an ability to make leaps of logic, jumping intuitively from one thing to another without having to stop and reason things out before coming to a conclusion. The baseline goes uphill and downhill, which could represent adaptability and/or quick changes of mood—we don’t know for sure without additional handwriting for analysis. Michael Connelly’s (fig. 5) spare, stripped down printing reflects his prose style, which is like reading a newspaper—little surprise, given his reporter’s background. A lightning-fast thinker, he gets a rapid grasp of a situation—you don’t need to give him all the details for his mind to take off and start figuring out what comes next. He’s picky about who he hangs out with, and most of the time would probably rather be alone or with one or two close friends. The many abrupt breaks in the writing tell us that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, so it’s a good idea to have something to say before approaching him. John Sandford’s (fig. 6) handwriting bears some similarity to Connelly’s in its overall simplification—that ability to strip away the non-essentials and get down to basics. There’s a bit more curve in Sandford’s handwriting, making him more outwardly sociable. The tall, wide loops in the word “thriller” demonstrate his imagination and attraction to looking ahead and seeing all the possibilities. A scrawly signature like this one could be the result of signing many books, but it’s just as likely to signify high privacy needs. Dean Koontz (fig. 7) is reputed to receive about 20,000 letters a year, all of

SuspenseMagazine.com 67 which he reads, a few he answers. When I wrote to him about his book, “Odd Thomas,” my letter was one of the lucky ones that produced a handwritten response. The warm, colorful stroke, clear lettering and close spatial arrangement tell us that he’s a people person who can’t not communicate. He spends less time thinking about the past or looking very far ahead than he does living in the moment, focusing on what is going on in the here-and-now. His need to be productive is seen in the sheer volume of handwriting on the page—he keeps the words and lines close to make the best use of his resources. And he’s in close touch with nature, can’t bear anything (or anyone) artificial. Gender is something that cannot be determined from handwriting with any certainty, and Tess Gerritsen’s (fig. 8) has an androgynous quality (though the lady herself is definitely not androgynous). If we didn’t know it was written by a “she,” guessing her gender would be a tough call. There’s dynamic energy overall, and seen especially in the large looped “y.” There’s also social adeptness—the sort of person who appears comfortable talking to just about anyone, from the janitor to the CEO. “Appears” because in reality, the narrow letters suggest that she’s rather shy and has to push herself forward in social situations. Her signature, too, is illegible. Having a long last name might factor in, as well as signing many books, but chances are, as with some other authors, it’s an unconscious way to maintain some personal distance and privacy. Finally, we come to Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master of 2007, Stephen King (fig. 9). Unfortunately, all I could find was a signature, which impacts to some degree the ability to see into his personality. A signature on its own is like the cover on a book—it provides limited information, mostly what the writer wants you to see. To know how true that picture is, it would be important to examine some additional writing. A signature that’s very different from the text, for example, indicates that the writer shows a rather different self to the world than the way he sees himself inside. In Stephen King’s case, his signature is quite legible, so it probably matches his handwriting in style. Perhaps surprisingly, his signature is conservative—many of the letter forms are close to copybook style. That is, except for the odd way in which the “g” in “King” is formed. Handwriting analysts call this a counterstroke because it moves opposite to the direction it “should” go. Considering King’s unique body of work, that is hardly surprising. He’s always gone his own direction. The clever way he loops the last stroke of his first name into a lasso that crosses the “t” portrays someone who plays his cards close to his chest. Tall capitals are often made by those who are larger than life, and the extremely tall “t” and “h” indicate someone who may have had strict (or otherwise religious) parenting in their early years and as a result seeks a familiar framework of rules and principles to live by. I must confess, my graphologist’s eye continues to return to that intriguing idiosyncratic “g” at the end of his name. I’d dearly love to question Mr. King about that form, but there are some things in handwriting that are meant to stay private. To that end, my opinion about its meaning shall remain a mystery. ■

1 http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/2/1975_2_98.shtml 2 http://www.haverford.edu/library/special/aids/hartshorne/hartshorne95.jpg 3 http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/exhibits/longfellow/weltliteratur/68.html 4 http://www.historyvortex.org/TheEmersonLetters.html 5 Several of Poe’s handwritten letters appear here: http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/library/source.asp

Sheila Lowe is a court-qualified handwriting expert and the author of the Forensic Handwriting Mysteries featuring forensic handwriting expert Claudia Rose (www.claudiaroseseries.com). Her non-fiction works include “Handwriting of the Famous and Infamous” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis” (www.sheilalowe.com). Article originally published in Crimespree Magazine.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 68 SuspenseMagazine.com 69 FROM SWEDEN TO THE STATES Meet Camilla Läckberg

Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Provided by Publicist “THE HIDDEN CHILD” IS THE LATEST NOVEL FROM SWEDISH sensation Camilla Läckberg to come to the United States. Camilla has authored eight best-sellers set in her hometown of Fjallbacka on the west coast of Sweden. American readers are just starting to catch up. Camilla is an economist who changed careers and became Europe’s Queen of Crime. She is now working on her ninth book in the Fjallbacka series, and this year also sees the publication of the fourth children’s book featuring series hero Super-Charlie. Her first week in publishing was memorable: Her son Wille was a week old when she was told “The Ice Princess” was accepted for publication. Now her books are available in over fifty countries, and she is now the sixth most read author in Europe. Aside from her crime novels, Camilla also writes children books, cookery books, and film. She has written two cookbooks with her childhood friend, celebrity chef Christian Hellberg. In 2007, the first film adaptations of her novels were shown on SVT. In 2012, TV viewers in Sweden were treated to The Fjallbacka Murders, which was shown at Christmas. The Hidden Child, the fifth novel in the series, was a major film in the summer of 2013. Let’s see what “The Hidden Child” is all about.

In a chest in the attic, Erika Falck finds an old Nazi medal that her mother had kept hidden away. She can’t stop thinking about the discovery, and goes to see an elderly history teacher, hoping that he can answer her questions about the medal and about wartime. Two days later he is found beaten to death. Patrik Hedström is on paternity leave; will he be able to stay away from the case, which has links to Erika’s family history?

Here’s our interview with Camilla:

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): Can you give us some insight about “The Hidden Child” that’s not on the back cover?

Camilla Läckberg (C.L.): The idea of “The Hidden Child” came to me one day when I passed a gravestone, marked with the inscriptions “The German Child.” Despite the short phrase, it revealed so much about the consequences of the Second World War and the scars that live on even today. “The Hidden Child” also provides another perspective from the Nordics during the World War.

S. MAG.: What is one big difference you see between European fans and United States fans of your work?

C.L.: Difficult to say, since I feel that my all my readers are very generous to me, regardless of whether they are from Spain or the

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 70 U.S. They like sharing their thoughts on the stories and comment on the characters. I feel that I have a very close relationship with my readers, perhaps because I share a lot about myself when portraying Erica, Patrick, and Fjällbacka, as well as my hometown, in my novel. I’m incredibly grateful for all the support and love I get from my readers!

S. MAG.: Crime writing involves many nights of putting yourself into situations you would never want to be in. How do you handle that mentally?

C.L.: Dealing with heavy subjects such as domestic violence and the death of a child can be very hard to go through emotionally. Once you start writing you are forced to process many new feelings and, although this sometimes might be very difficult, I have learned a lot about myself in the process.

S. MAG.: Character or plot is becoming more of a debate on what drives a book. Do you pick one to be a focus of your work when you start?

C.L.: I always write the last scene first, including the plot and the murderer. This creates the base for the rest of the story. Then everything leads up to this—from the very first sentence to the last.

S. MAG.: Which book of yours would be a good place for them to start?

C.L.: Though my novels feature separate crime investigations, they are all based on my main characters. In each novel, the reader can follow the characters getting older, progressing in life and developing. Hence, my recommendation would be to start with my first novel, “The Ice Princess.”

S. MAG.: You write in so many different genres. How big of a challenge do you face when having to switch your mental focus when writing in a different genre?

C.L.: Of course it does not come without practice, but over the years I have learned how to switch genres fairly easily. I like the challenge of writing for a different target group and exploring situations from a different perspective. I love writing and changing format has made me more creative.

S. MAG.: With the publishing world changing every day, how do you stay a top of everything and make sure that your fans continue to stay in touch with you?

C.L.: Social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has provided me with vital possibilities to stay in contact with my readers and to be present. The relationship with my readers has been very important to me since I started writing.

S. MAG.: What one piece of advice did you receive early on that you still pass along to young authors today?

C.L.: I believe that everything is possible if you are willing to work for it. If there is one thing that I have learned over the years it is that there is no shortcut to becoming a writer: be devoted, stay focused and set up concrete goals for yourself. These things are vital to staying motivated.

S. MAG.: What is the biggest compliment a fan can give you?

C.L.: That I have inspired someone in some way. That’s a true motivation boost that gives me energy to continue writing.

S. MAG.: What will fans in the United States see from you in the future?

C.L.: More crime fiction and domestic drama presented by Erica and Patrick! There are three more novels waiting to be translated for the American market, and as we speak, I’m writing on my ninth crime fiction novel, “The Lion Tamer.” A dream would also be to launch my children’s novel about Super-Charlie in the U.S.

We would like to thank Camilla for taking the time to talk with us. You can find out a lot more about Camilla and her books by going to her website: www.camillalackberg.com. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 71 THE

CAMILLA LÄCKBERG HIDDEN CHILD

By Camilla Läckberg All summer Erica had tiptoed around the issue that constantly occupied her thoughts. She had weighed the pros and cons, decided to go up to the attic, but she had never gotten any farther than the stairs. She could blame it on the fact that there had been a lot to do over the past few months. The aftermath of the wedding, the chaos at home while Anna and the children were still living with them. But that was only part of the truth. She was quite simply afraid. Afraid of what she might find. Afraid of rooting around in something that might bring things to the surface that she would rather not know about. Erica knew that Patrik had been on the verge of asking her several times. She could see that he was wondering why she didn’t want to read the books they had found in the attic. But he hadn’t asked. And she wouldn’t have had an answer to give him. What

SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM frightened her most was the idea that she might have to revise her picture of reality. The picture she had of her mother, who her mother was and how she had treated her daughter, was less than positive. But it belonged to her. It was familiar. It was a picture that had stood the test of time, like an irrefutable truth, a part of her life. Perhaps it would be confirmed. Perhaps it would even be reinforced. But what if it was turned upside down? What if she had to come to terms with an entirely new reality? Until now, she had lacked the courage to take that step. Erica placed her foot on the first stair. From downstairs in the living room she could hear Maja’s joyous laughter as Patrik teased her. The sound was reassuring, and she placed her foot on the next stair.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 72 Five more and she had reached the top. The dust whirled around in the air as she pushed open the hatch and climbed into the attic. She and Patrik had talked about remodeling it at some point in the future, perhaps as a den for Maja when she was older and wanted her own space. But at the moment it was just a storage area, with wide wooden planks on the floor and a sloping roof with exposed beams. It was half full of clutter: Christmas decorations, clothes Maja had already outgrown, various boxes crammed with things that were too ugly to put on display but too valuable or too imprinted with memories to be thrown away. The chest was right at the far end. It was old, made of wood and metal. Erica had an idea that this kind of thing was called an American trunk. She went over and sat down on the floor. Ran her hand over the chest. She took a deep breath, then lifted the lid. A musty smell rushed toward her, and she wrinkled her nose. She wondered what it was that created that characteristic, heavy smell of age. Probably mold, she thought, and immediately her scalp began to itch. She could still remember the feeling when she and Patrik had discovered the chest and gone through the contents. Slowly she had lifted out one object after another. Drawings she and Anna had done. Small trinkets they had made in craft lessons at school. Saved by their mother, Elsy, the mother who had never shown any interest when they came rushing up to give her the things into which they had put so much effort. Erica carefully took out one item after another and placed them on the floor beside her. The thing she really wanted was right at the bottom. She could feel the fabric with her fingers, and she gently picked it up. The child’s dress had once been white, but now, when she held it up in the light, she could see that it was yellow with age. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the brown marks. At first she had mistaken them for rust, but then she had realized CAMILLA LÄCKBERG they had to be dried blood. There was something heartrending about the contrast between the tiny dress and the spots of blood all over it. How had the dress ended up here? Who did it belong to? And why had her mother kept it? Erica gently laid the dress down on the floor beside her. The object that had been concealed in the dress when she and Patrik first found it was no longer in the chest. It was the only thing she had removed. The soiled fabric of the child’s dress had been wrapped around a Nazi medal. The feelings aroused within her when she first saw the medal had surprised her. Her heart had begun to pound, her mouth had gone dry, and images from all the newsreels and documentaries she had seen of the Second World War had flickered past her mind’s eye. What was a Nazi medal doing here in Fjällbacka? In her home? Among her mother’s possessions? The whole thing had seemed bizarre. She had wanted to put the medal back in the chest and close the lid, but Patrik had insisted that they should hand it over to an expert to see if they could find out more about it. Reluctantly she had agreed. It was as if she could hear whispering voices inside her, ominous, warning voices. Something told her that she ought to hide the medal away and forget about it. But curiosity won the day, and at the beginning of June she had taken the medal to an expert on the history of the Second World War; with a bit of luck they would soon find out more about its origins. However, the most interesting things that Erica had discovered in the chest were four blue notebooks right at the bottom. She recognized her mother’s handwriting on the covers. That elegant, right-slanted handwriting, but in a younger, more rounded version. Erica took them out and ran a finger over the top one. “Diary” was written on each book. The word aroused mixed feelings for Erica. Curiosity, excitement, eagerness. But also fear, hesitation, and a strong sense of invading someone’s private life. Did she have the right to read the diaries? Did she have the right to share her mother’s innermost thoughts and

feelings? By its very nature, a diary is not intended for anyone else’s eyes. Her mother hadn’t written them so that someone SPECIAL PREVIEW FROM else could read the contents. Perhaps she wouldn’t have wanted her daughter to see them. But Elsy was dead, and Erica couldn’t ask her what she thought. She would have to make her own decision, decide what she was going to do with them. “Erica?” Patrik’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she shouted back, “Yes?” “Our guests are arriving!” Erica glanced at her watch. Goodness, it was three o’clock already! Maja was celebrating her first birthday today, and their closest friends and family were coming over. Patrik must have thought she had fallen asleep up here. “Coming!” She brushed off the dust, and after a moment’s hesitation she took the notebooks and the child’s dress with her as she clambered down the steep staircase. She could hear the hum of voices from below. ■

Excerpted from “The Hidden Child” by Camilla Läckberg. Copyright 2014 by Camilla Läckberg. Reprinted by arrangement with Pegasus Books. All rights reserved.

SuspenseMagazine.com 73 SHERIFF WALT LONGMIRE ISN’T JUST “ANY OTHER NAME” An Interview With Craig Johnson

“TONY HILLERMAN ONCE TOLD ME THAT YOU CAN’T HELP THE PEOPLE FURTHER UP THE LADDER, BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS REACH A HAND DOWN AND HELP THOSE COMING UP AFTER YOU .” Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: From Author Website

“Any Other Name” is the latest Walt Longmire novel from best-selling mystery novelist Craig Johnson. Craig’s books are the settings for the very successful TV show Longmire on A&E. “Any Other Name” is the eleventh book in the Longmire series, which began with “The Cold Dish” in 2004. Craig is from Ucross, Wyoming (population 25). A number of the books in the series have been nominated and won several different awards (“Hell is Empty,” was selected by Library Journal as the best mystery of the year.) Longmire debuted as A&E’s top original-series premiere of all time, with 4.1 million viewers. The show, now in its third season, stars Robert Taylor as Sheriff Walt Longmire, Cassidy Freeman as his daughter Cady, Katee Sackhoff as Deputy Vic Moretti and Lou Diamond Phillips as his best friend Henry Standing Bear. Here’s a look at the story of “Any Other Name”:

Sheriff Walt Longmire is sinking into a high- plains winter discontent when his former boss, Lucian Connally, asks him to take on a mercy case outside his jurisdiction. Detective Gerald Holman of neighboring Campbell County is dead, and Lucian wants to know what drove his old friend, a by-the-book lawman with a wife and daughter, to take his own life. With the clock ticking on the birth of Walt’s first grandchild in Philadelphia, he enlists the help of undersheriff Vic Moretti, Henry Standing Bear, and Gillette policeman Corbin Dougherty and, looking for answers, reopens Holman’s last case.

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 74 It was great to be able to catch up with Craig and have him answer a few questions:

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What can you tell us about “Any Other Name” that is not on the back cover?

Craig Johnson (C.J.): Well, I guess the juiciest backstory is that the actual sheriff of Campbell County does have a brother who owns a strip club at the edge of the county in Wyoming. I was talking to a deputy who said they do raids now and again on the place for appearance’s sake and bring the dancers up to the jail, but then allow them to post bail, which they do with one-dollar bills. He said the funniest part is watching the little old ladies at the courthouse counting the ones with rubber gloves. I’m afraid that’s the way it is here on the high plains—truth is stranger than fiction, and funnier, too.

S. MAG.: Now that Walt Longmire is basically a member of your family, do you feel bad putting him, Henry, and Vic in situations that test their resolve?

C.J.: I get two kinds of emails after every book. The first complain that there was not enough of the reader’s favorite character, whether it be Henry, Vic, Lucian, or Dog. The second is people pleading with me to take it easy on Walt. I don’t mind either one. The characters tend to ebb and flow within the novels, some coming to the fore and others receding into support roles. People often ask why I don’t write a book with Henry or Vic as the main protagonist, but I think those characters would lose the impact they have by carrying the weight of the narrative. As to the physical danger in the stories, I think it’s just the stock and trade of the genre. I’d be happy to write a book where Walt plays pinochle on his desk, but I don’t think it would be much of a good read. Actually, the short stories, the collection of which is being released by Viking on October 21, are vignettes where Walt is pretty much safe.

S. MAG.: The TV show Longmire is based on your books. How much do you have to do with the writing and direction of the series?

C.J.: I’m a creative consultant for the show, and I read the scripts in order to give the writers and producers feedback on the individual episodes. Some stuff I agree with and some I don’t, but we’re about 50/50 on the deal—one of the nice things is that they’re open to my opinions and they keep me in the loop as to why it is they do what they do. I still remember when they told me they wanted to make Walt and Henry about ten years younger than they are in the books and I asked them why? They said it was because they hoped that Longmire would run for ten years and that they’d rather not have the two of them on walkers by the time the show ended. I had a hard time arguing with that one.

S. MAG.: For fans new to the series, how would you suggest they start and make the Longmire series one they have to read?

C.J.: I pride myself on writing books I think the reader can just jump in and start reading at any point in the series, but the best place to start is at the beginning with “The Cold Dish.” I think you can indulge the expository and environmental elements of a series more at the onset than you can in subsequent outings. So I’d tell them to start at the beginning and work their way forward—most people can read faster than I can write; then they can write me angry emails when they catch up with me and give me a hard time about only putting out about a book and a half a year.

SuspenseMagazine.com 75 S. MAG.: Having to write about the Indian way, a way of life that most Americans will never know, what challenges do you face in “getting it right”?

C.J.: The Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations are just to the north of my ranch, so these magnificent people are my neighbors, my friends, and some whom I consider family. There are the usual challenges of representing a group in which you don’t belong, but I think the real task is in respecting the society, culture, history, and spirituality that make the Northern Plains Indians who they are. The books are very popular up on the rez, and I think that’s one of the things in which I take the greatest pride. I was asked to write a commencement speech for the Lame Deer High School graduation, but then realized that I was going to be on tour when it needed to be given. I was on the set for Longmire and told Lou Diamond Phillips about it, and he flew up and delivered the speech for me. What an amazing guy.

S. MAG.: Walt Longmire is sitting in front of you. What would you like to ask him?

C.J.: Really, Walt, Rainier beer?

S. MAG.: How surprised/happy were you when you found out that your books had been picked up for a TV show and have so much success?

C.J.: Stunned. We’re the highest-rated, scripted drama in A&E’s network history and now showing in over two hundred countries— not bad for a procedural that takes place in the least populated county and state in America. We’d been in negotiations with Shephard/Robin about producing a pilot with Warner Brothers, but you can’t really get that done until you get the go-ahead from a network. There was a very prominent network that was interested, but then dropped Longmire, and I was devastated. It didn’t seem like there was much hope, but then A&E stepped up and green-lighted the whole deal. I was talking to the guy that does transport for both networks and he asked me if I wanted to know what the other network execs talked about whenever they were driving them around—that they had really messed up by not grabbing Longmire.

S. MAG.: Is there a piece of advice you received early on from another author that you carry with you and pass on to other young authors?

C.J.: Tony Hillerman once told me that you can’t help the people further up the ladder, but you can always reach a hand down and help those coming up after you.

S. MAG.: Have you ever thought of a “spinoff” series with one of the other characters?

C.J.: Not really, I’m pretty satisfied with the series as it is, and Walt’s a good narrator. I’ve got other projects—a psychological thriller, an historic mystery, a literary fiction piece, and a period western. It’s just a question of getting to them all.

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

C.J.: As I mentioned, there’s a collection of the short stories that’ll be out in October. I’ve been giving away stories for ten years, and then there are the e-specials that Viking/Penguin has been putting out, so there will finally be a definitive, printed, hardback version, which is called “Wait for Signs.” Then there’s the next Walt Longmire novel, “Dry Bones,” which will be out sometime in May 2015 in which the largest T-Rex fossil is found in Absaroka County by the High Plains Dinosaur Museum on a rancher’s land. The rancher demands it back, but then it turns out he’s an Indian rancher and the tribe claims it, then the federal government claims it… Well, you get the idea.

We would like to thank Craig for taking the time to speak with us about his latest book and much more. For more information, check out his website at www.craigallenjohnson.com. ■

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 76 In this action-packed, multi-layered third book, Renegade Cajun Federal Judge Jock Boucher averts a nuclear holocaust.

1 ST in the Jock Boucher Series!...

Available in Hard Cover, Paperback, E-book and Audiobook

2ND in the Jock Boucher Series!...

Available in Paperback and E-book

Coming Soon! 3Rd in the Series!... “Jock Boucher, Cajun federal judge turned - unlikely - action hero....a protagonist cut from a different cloth.” ~ KIRKUS REVIEWS

Publication Updates & Purchase Information at DavidLyonsAuthor.com COPY EDITOR’S CORNER Trust Your Dialogue! He Said Vehemently

By Jim Thomsen This is the debut column of Jim Thomsen, Suspense Magazine copy editor. Jim has been a full-time copy and developmental editor for authors since 2010. Each month, he’ll diagnose and discuss problems that crop up in his work with his clients. Can you identify what’s wrong with the following paragraph? “I just don’t know what to believe anymore when it comes to Kenneth. I never believed he’d cheat on me. I just don’t know what to do,” Linda said with a moan and a sigh, her voice quivering with upset as she contemplated the widening fissure in her marriage. She shook her head, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, wondering if her husband would leave her. Her hands trembled, twisting at the coverlet, her pain radiating throughout the bedroom. This is what I call unnecessary dialogue framing. Don’t you think that the dialogue conveys the emotion on its own? I do. Do we need to know everything that follows “Linda said” to know that she’s upset about the state of her marriage? I don’t. One physical-reaction beat, at most, gets the job done. This is something I see, often, in the work of my clients—especially first-time authors. They’re not sure about their grasp of writing craft, so they’re constantly hedging, constantly explaining, constantly backfilling, fussing about covering all the bases. They don’t trust their dialogue to convey not only information, but tone and nuance. So they restate the dialogue, and pound it home with physical reactions that parallel the emotion of the dialogue, and then pound some more. Not only is it not necessary, but it acts as a drag on the flow of your story. The reader’s eyes will skip over the rest of paragraphs like that because they already know how she feels. How? She’s told them. This is not only a problem of craft, but of mindset. If you recognize this as a problem you struggle with, ask yourself why you aren’t trusting your characters’ words to convey your character’s intent and emotional state. The dialogue in this example is fine, but you have to believe it. Restudy the craft behind good dialogue—especially good weaving of dialogue with narrative. (I recommend the Writer’s Digest guide “Write Great Fiction: Dialogue” by Gloria Kempton, but there’s a number of worthy reference books that are readily available.) And reach out to your critique partners or beta readers—you have those, right?—for honest and hopefully positive reinforcement. The key is to keep this issue in the back of your mind without letting it consciously govern the flow of your writing. As Kempton put it: “Try not to feel overwhelmed. I learned about the mistakes I was making one by one as I grew as a fiction writer. You can’t possibly think about all of this while you’re doing the actual writing or you’ll drive yourself nuts trying to do it perfectly. This is left-brain stuff and thinking about it while creating will paralyze your creativity. When learning a new skill, you can’t be constantly thinking about what you might be doing wrong.” In other words, this is something to think about at revision time. But once you assimilate this knowledge, hopefully your future first drafts will reflect your growing confidence in your dialogue craft. “Thanks for listening,” Jim said gratefully. ■

Jim Thomsen is the owner of Desolation Island Editing Services. He lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington and can be reached at [email protected].

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 78 MEETAwaiting THE CAST By Mara Lubieniecki, Solar Productions and Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Provided by Solar Productions It’s always great when a company looking to promote something approaches our magazine. Most of the time we either don’t have the space or the subject matter is just not that entertaining. Well the interview you will see below is one of those articles that caught our eye. Mara Lubieniecki of Solar Productions conducted an interview with cast members of the upcoming movie Awaiting. Green Screen Productions, in co-production with Solar Productions, is in production on Mark Murphy’s second feature. Awaiting is a psychological/thriller starring Tony Curran (Underworld: Evolution, Gladiator) and X Factor’s finalist Diana Vickers (Little Voice, Give Out Girls). Awaiting is a journey of introspection into the depths of human nature and the capabilities of twisted minds. The plot follows Morris (Curran), a recluse with psychotic tendencies, whose life changes when his innocent daughter (Vickers) rescues one of his victims and befriends him. Jake (Rupert Hill, Coronation Street) an ordinary businessman soon realizes that he is stranded and his presence in the house gradually reveals unexpected and dark mysteries from the past. Below you will see the interview with Tony Curran, Diana Vickers, and Rupert Hill giving you the inside scoop behind the scenes.

Mara Lubieniecki (M.L.): What can audiences expect from Awaiting?

Diana Vickers (D.V.): It’s a psychological thriller, so audiences should expect that there is going to be a lot of mind games happening, unexpected twists and turns in the story, and also strong performances, especially from Tony and Rupert who are such great actors and who I really enjoy working with. And the audience should also expect to see some blood.

M.L.: What will they take away from it? Will they be scared?

D.V.: I think the audience will be quite jumpy, because there are a lot of moments in the film when people are creeping up on each other as well as some frustrating moments, when you’re feeling overwhelmed with questions, like “Oh my God, why did you do that, you should’ve done this.” All this builds up to a strong climax. Also, the atmosphere of the film is quite dark and even gory at times; the prosthetics are impressive and the locations are absolutely spooky. But on the other hand, I also think the audience will feel touched by the emotional side, because the film encapsulates a small world, with only a few characters, so you get attached to them, see inside them and sink into their world. So overall, I think the story has a rollercoaster effect, and the audience will probably feel emotionally exhausted and thrilled.

M.L.: How did you relate to the character?

D.V.: Lauren is actually quite a hard character to relate to in terms of life experience, because she is around my age and has lived a very isolated life; she doesn’t have a telephone or

SuspenseMagazine.com 79 hasn’t spoken to a boy in her life, whereas I’m a social butterfly. So comparing our lives, we are complete opposites, but I tried to put myself in her space and understand her character and motivations. For Lauren, her dad is her best friend; she really looks up to him, and when Jake comes along, it obviously has a strong impact on her. I think I connect to that feeling somehow, because when I was young I went to a girls’ school and every time I’d meet a boy outside the school I’d think, “Oh my God, a boy!” They were alien to me, so I guess I can kind of get that experience from then. Also, I relate to the Little Voice character, which I played years ago in the West End. She was very isolated, her father had died, and her mother was an alcoholic, so she would take herself away and play records to herself, secluded in her own little world. So I just guess the place I go to in understanding Lauren’s character is trying to find that calmness and vulnerability and timidness that we all have in us.

M.L.: What’s the atmosphere like on set?

D.V.: It’s bizarre, because everyone on the set is actually very jolly, and we’re all very fun characters in real life, but when we shoot, we have to get into this dark mindset of the story. For example, there was this funny moment when we were shooting the finale of the film and it’s a really intense scene, with axes and guns and blood and a massive set-up. And Tony had to pick up an axe, a fake one obviously, and the axe just broke in half in the middle of the action. We were all laughing hysterically—it was like a comedy ending to a horror movie. But also, it’s great that one of my closing scenes is really emotional, I am looking into Tony’s eyes, there’s blood around us and we’re in the woods, it was quite a haunting experience that takes you to another world. And the sets are just incredible and it really feels that you’re living and breathing the life of the character and this is such a great experience.

M.L.: Are you a fan of the psychological thriller genre? Is it something you wanted to do or did it just happen?

D.V.: I’m actually a massive fan of psychological thrillers, I love trying to work out the games of the story and thinking “Oh no, it’s gonna be that way!” or “Oh no, they did it, what’s gonna happen?” I love feeling that kind of adrenaline pumping. Also, I remember when we were shooting “Give Out Girls” with Kerry Howard; she told me “You need to do a horror because you’re so expressive, you always pull these mad faces.” I like exploring these emotional peaks, which is good for the soul.

M.L.: What do you think an audience is going to get from Awaiting?

Tony Curran (T.C.): Awaiting is a film with very complex characters and there’s a dark edginess to it. I think that what I most enjoyed about the script was the relationships between the characters and how they bounce off each other. And there are some very dark moments in the story, very relatable to human events that are happening as we speak, unfortunately. And also to be frank, today I shot one of the darkest scenes I’ve ever shot. So I think if people like to be scared, than this is also a film that could appeal to them, but not in a bogeyman way, but in a sort of a psychological, human psychosis manner.

M.L.: So what are the elements of the film that are going to scare? How willAwaiting scare the audience in ways that other films haven’t?

T.C.: I think what stands out most in this film are the characters, because you can meet some of these people anywhere. Morris is not based on a real person, but it’s a story of someone who goes missing and that happens every day, it’s something very relatable. So what I think is gonna haunt the people most is that terrifying atmosphere of thinking “it’s not gonna happen to me” and then one day your friend is gone, your wife is gone, your husband is gone, your child is gone. There’s something very human about that and very terrifying about that and very real and gritty. It is something very visceral and it certainly hurts some nerves. And I think the story is not gratuitous. There are moments in this, which definitely are, but I think they are chosen wisely.

M.L.: What was your first impression when you read the script? Did it scare you?

T.C.: When my agent told me to read the script, I first read half of it and I said, “There’s pretty intense moments in this.” And she said, “Wait until you read the second act.” So I read the second act and I was like “Oh my God.” But what I liked about it is the

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 80 characters. Because Morris is a very damaged individual, but a lot of people who are unfortunately damaged in some ways go on to damage others, which is a vicious circle. There’s a real need for control in Morris, he doesn’t want to be that kid who gets picked on and beaten up and abused. Society creates monsters and unfortunately, they come back to haunt us. But with him, I think there’s a sympathetic side to him, because there also was a little child inside this man, there was a child, but the child has now become a monster.

M.L.: So it’s a fairly dark film to work on. What’s the atmosphere like on the set? What do you do to keep yourself away from going crazy, from going too dark?

T.C.: I always thought that when you do films like this it’s important to have a good laugh on set, to keep the atmosphere fun. And actually the director is very energetic and he always manages to set a relaxed, fun mood on the set. There is a good energy I get from being on the set and this definitely balances the dark side of the story.

M.L.: What can audiences expect from Awaiting?

Rupert Hill (R.H.): It’s a great psychological thriller, which racks up the tension and climaxes into a very gruesome finale. It’s also a very interesting character study of a, shall we say, an “unbalanced” individual. It’s got echoes of Misery, Wolf Creek, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre whilst remaining quintessentially British, too. It’s a happy marriage and I don’t remember ever seeing anything like this produced in this country before. It’s very exciting.

M.L.: What will they take away from it? Will they be scared?

R.H.: I think people will be very scared, but not primarily at the violence. For me the buildup is the really eerie part. You know my character (Jake) is in danger from the beginning and it’s the little hints that really unnerve. Hopefully. I hope the audiences leave feeling like they’ve been through a real ordeal. That’s a horrible thing to wish, but this is the point after all. I also hope that people don’t just feel like they’ve been through a generic horror film experience. I think Awaiting is a great drama and we’re desperately trying to bring that out, too. It should feel authentic if we all do our jobs properly.

M.L: How did you relate to the character?

R.H.: Jake is confident, a little arrogant, and maybe a bit whiny, but I also hope he plays the role of the audience, too. The more he tries to escape from the mayhem, the more the audience should want him to. As he sees the lunacy unfold, the audience should relate to Jake’s predicament and sympathize.

There is a lot to play with in Awaiting—Jake is a happily engaged man who loves his fiancé, but when he’s thrown into this strange house with these strange people, it isn’t just a case of escaping. Lauren finds Jake attractive and turns on the Lolita-esque seduction, which Jake has to try and not be susceptible to. So there are these more tender and sexually charged moments mixed in with the horrible moments when he realizes that he is indeed in trouble and needs to escape. It’s wonderful as an actor when you’re given lots to play with.

M.L.: It’s a very dark story. What’s the atmosphere like on set?

R.H.: It’s very friendly and fun and exactly how you wouldn’t imagine it would be for a piece of work as dark as this. There’s a lot of prosthetics involved, so there tends to be quite a bit of tomfoolery on set with severed limbs and the like. Mark is a great director and he never lets things get too serious. People are working long hours with not much sleep sometimes, so morale needs to be kept up. When you’re dealing with subject material as uncomfortable as this, you need to be able to switch off when the camera isn’t running. It’s a great crew we’re working with and everyone is doing a grand job of keeping spirits up. Diana and Tony are a joy to work with, too. We’ve been having fun.

We would like to thank everyone at Solar Productions—Mara Lubieniecki, Tony, Diana, and Rupert—for sharing this to all of you. ■

SuspenseMagazine.com 81 Subscribe Today! BENEFITS TO SUBSCRIBING • Reviews and ratings of new releases • Discover new authors • Short stories • Author interviews including many of your favorites • Much, Much More! Available at: AMAZON BARNES & NOBLE or Subscribe to the ELECTRONIC VERSION AT www.SuspenseMagazine.com RATES (Electronic): 1 Year: $24.00/ 2 Years: $48.00

“Suspense Magazine nicely fills a long-vacant niche for readers of this popular genre. If you like a good old-fashioned who- dunit, grab a copy and get the latest scoop on all your favorite authors, current books, and upcoming projects.” ~Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times Bestselling Author “Suspense Magazine is chock full of stunning artwork, intriguing fiction, and interviews It's a winner!” ~Tess Gerritsen, International Bestselling Author

Suspense Magazine August 2014 / Vol. 058 82