Tag Archives: mystery

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | November 27, 2020 · 5:00 am

My Brother’s Keeper Blitz

A Pale Woods Mystery: Book One

Mystery

Date Published: June 26, 2020

Publisher: Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.

Seventeen-year-old Jerrod has struggled with the guilt of his actions for an event that took place almost a year ago. His friends have abandoned him, his family ignores him, and he lost his best friend. To make matters worse, he was unable to access records that may have revealed his father’s whereabouts. His sister, Ella, guides Jerrod as he tries to learn and accept secrets his family has tried to hide. However, a sinister spirit may be influencing Ella’s actions, and it has an agenda of its own.

About the Author

Courtnee Turner Hoyle was raised in Unicoi County, surrounded by the traditions and dialect of the area. She embraced the regional stories, mountain views, and culture -except sweet tea and unannounced visits – and sought to correct the misconceptions about the local people and the town stories that turned into rumors. Despite the challenges that face a young mother, she graduated East Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English, with an emphasis in technical writing, and a Bachelor of Business. She received a Master of Arts in Teaching from the same university, and began writing novels. She volunteers with community organizations, and she has been involved with Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians for several years as a Troop Administrator. She also volunteers with the Girl Scout Service Unit in her area. Her responsibilities include planning events, organizing social media releases for the service unit, and writing articles about the activities and accomplishments of all the troops in her county. She resides in Erwin, Tennessee, with her children and husband. She has hiked the section of the Appalachian Trail near her home, has visited many of the caves and other mountain trails in the area, and is fascinated by their enigmatic appeal. She likes reading, writing, and any reasonable music. Most of all, she enjoys sharing adventures with her children and making memories through their experiences.

Contact Links

Purchase Links

Comments Off on My Brother’s Keeper Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Courtnee Turner Hoyle, My Brother's Keeper, mystery

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | November 21, 2020 · 5:00 am

Blood Land Blitz

A James Pruett Mystery, Book 1

Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Wind River Press

Blood Land, the award-winning, must-read first book in series!

Crime’s an ugly constant in the big cities. L.A. Chicago. New York. But when a savage murder brutalizes a small town and neighbor turns on neighbor, a tough-as-nails cop is essential to restoring order. Blood Land is a gritty, emotional saga set in the contemporary Wyoming badlands with both greed and vengeance at its core.

When billions of dollars in 21st century natural gas rights hang in the balance, and the town’s top law officer’s wife is slain by her own brother, a reluctant hero is forced to battle his own demons and ultimately choose between justice, revenge, and duty.

An award-winning, page-turner, in the tradition of Dennis Lehane, Tony Hillerman and James Lee Burke, Guthrie’s sparse, haunting storytelling compliments his talent for creating richly-drawn, unflinching law officers with human frailties, a code of honor, and a profound sense of justice.

Don’t miss out on the Award-Winning series!

Gold Medal & 2 Best in Categories in Wise Bear Book Awards!

Voted a must-read Page-Turner by Shelf magazine!

An author whose writing will grab you and not let go!

R.S. Guthrie was voted by The Author Show as one of “Fifty Great Writers You Should Be Reading”.

Other Books in the James Pruett Mystery Series:

Money Land

A James Pruett Mystery, Book 2

Money Land, sequel to the award-winning Mystery/Thriller series, Blood Land, the book that introduced the popular Sheriff James Pruett.

In this exciting second book, big crime has literally come crashing down on the small town of Wind River, Wyoming. When a small plane bound for the Canadian border carrying money for the Sustantivo Cartel smashes into the remote, glacial Wind River Mountains, the event brings a heartless evil presence to one of the more unknown places on earth.

The tail of the plane is eventually discovered, empty. No drugs. No money. Shortly afterward, people involved in the events begin dying in unconvential, brutal ways. Clearly a new criminal element has come to town. Sheriff James Pruett is not the kind of lawman to back down when his town is in the crossfire, and he will do anything to save the neighbors and friends under his protection, the land of Wind River and the surrounding winderness itself, and most importantly, his family.

Anything.

Again, in the sparse, gritty, poetic styling of James Lee Burke, Tony Hillerman, Dennis Lehane, and John D. MacDonald, R.S. Guthrie brings you his revered hero, a good man ready to battle the merciless cartel, as well as the local branch of a federal agency that has betrayed the patriotic honor of its own sworn duties.

Amazon

Honor Land

A James Pruett Mystery, Book 3

Honor Land, the third book in the outstandingly-reviewed series!

In this third James Pruett Mystery, the hero is faced with the biggest challenge of his life: saving the life of an even larger hero. Honor Land is a gritty, emotional story of patriotism, multiple murders, a hero Delta Force veteran, Kyle Yoder, who doesn’t understand himself any longer, much less whether or not he is capable of the brutal crimes for which he is charged.

James Pruett and his team will have to uncover the answers if they are to keep Yoder from a guilty verdict and a mandatory execution by lethal injection.

In the tradition of Dennis Lehane, Tony Hillerman and James Lee Burke, Guthrie’s sparse, haunting storytelling compliments his talent for creating richly-drawn, unflinching law officers with human frailties, a code of honor, and a profound sense of justice.

Amazon

About the Author

R.S. Guthrie grew up in Iowa and Wyoming. He has been writing fiction, essays, short stories, and lyrics since college.

Guthrie’s “Blood Land” is the first in the Sheriff James Pruett Mystery/Thriller series and represents a project that is close to his heart: it is set in a fictional town in the same county where he spent much of his childhood and lives.

Guthrie lives in Wyoming with his wife, Amy, a One-year-old Redbone Coonhound, an Australian Shepherd, and a Chihuahua who thinks she’s bigger than both!

“Black Beast: A Clan of MacAulay Novel” marked Guthrie’s first major release and it heralded the first in a series of Detective Bobby Macaulay (Bobby Mac) books. The second in the series (Lost) hit the Kindle shelves December of 2011.

Readers can catch up with what’s new with R.S. Guthrie at his official site, rsguthrie.com , or discussions related to writing at his blog, Rob on Writing (robonwriting.com).

Contact Links

Purchase Links

Comments Off on Blood Land Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Blood Land, mystery, R.S. Guthrie, thriller

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | November 2, 2020 · 5:00 am

The Adults in the Room Blitz

Tim Hall and Mary Ann Wilson, Book 1

Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: The Good as Gone Group

The Adults in the Room is the first book in the high octane Tim Hall Mystery series. If you like stunning revelations, deep state conspiracies, and a touch of romance, then you’ll love Jeffrey Mechling’s mind-bending thriller!

A CIA officer is still suffering partial amnesia from the car crash that stole his wife from him.

Now the memories he has forgotten, might be the only things that can keep him alive. Can he fill in the blanks of his fractured memory?

Relieved by the familiar face of his biker girlfriend, he’s shocked to learn her true identity and the devastating secrets about his accident. And soon he’s swept up in a deadly that could decimate American politics.

The Adults in the Room is a standalone book.

Other books in the Tim Hall and Mary Ann Wilson Mystery Series:

The Safe House

Tim Hall and Mary Ann Wilson, Book 2

Publisher: The Good as Gone Group

A spy under pressure. A secret below the sea. Can he blow the lid off a treacherous conspiracy?

CIA Case Officer Tim Hall will go to any lengths to protect his safe house. And with his FBI agent girlfriend now under the same roof, he’s confident everything is locked down. So when a Soviet-era submarine lurks off the Florida coast, he’s sure they’ll send someone else to assess the threat.

Headstrong Bureau operative Mary Ann Wilson isn’t about to take orders from her lover. When she pulls the assignment to investigate the mysterious submersible, she accepts without hesitation. But an unfortunate misstep sends her in over her head and snares Agent Hall in her wake…

As duty tears the lovers apart, they sink deeper into a dangerous web of lies, secrets, and betrayals. And when they find themselves trapped aboard the underwater menace, it may doom both their love and their missions.

Can they force justice to the surface before they’re both sent to a watery grave?

Amazon

The Decoys

Tim Hall and Mary Ann Wilson, Book 3

Publisher: The Good as Gone Group

After an attempt is made on Tim and Mary Ann lives, they travel to San Francisco seeking answers from Ex-CIA Agent Bernard Haskell. However they soon discover that there are many more questions than answers. Now married, CIA Agent Tim Hall continues to butt heads with his wife, FBI Special Agent Mary Ann Wilson-Hall. Although their investigative methods may differ, the couple still enjoys a meeting of the minds in the bedroom but will that be enough to keep these two together?

This is the third novel in the Tim and Mary Ann Hall mystery series and Jeffrey Mechling does not disappoint. In San Francisco Tim and Mary Ann face the homeless issue, the real estate industry, and local political corruption. There are also murders that appear unconnected but are they? Are Tim and Mary Ann investigating rampant corruptions or are they simply being used as decoy?

Amazon

About the Author

Jeffrey Mechling was born in Alexandria Virginia to a family full of secrets. His maternal grandfather was thought to be an original member of the OSS [The Office of Strategic Services].

Other members of the Mechling and Emerson families, as well as family friends, lived within the shadowy world of espionage and would only revealed that they “worked for the government”.

Mr. Mechling himself has worked as a Financial Economist and Operations Research Analyst with a not too secret government agency.

Jeff has written three novels – The Adults in the Room, The Safe House and The Decoys. All three feature super spy couple Tim Hall and Mary Ann Wilson.

Contact Links

Purchase Links

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Jeffrey Mechling, mystery, The Adults in the Room, thriller

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 30, 2020 · 5:00 am

The Best Doctor in Town Tour

A Tall Tales from the Hills Novel: Book 1

Mystery

Date Published: November 7, 2019

Publisher: Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.

photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

Set in Southwest Virginia and inspired by actual events and the story of
the small town’s most revered doctor, who may just be a serial killer. A
local police officer with a tarnished reputation, a reporter who manipulated
facts, and the doctor’s chief intern, who may be a thief, have pieces of the
puzzle. Yet no one in authority believes the great doctor could be
responsible. All the while, patients are dying.

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 1

Patient Love

Lying among the crumpled sheets on a hospital bed, the dying man gasped for air. Stretching a trembling hand into the air above him, Joe Blevins struggled to focus his clouded eyes on the familiar face of the smiling, be-speckled doctor peering down toward him. The words came hard, pushing through gasps of air.

“Please. Doc Briggs. Help. Me. I. Have. Never. Been. Sick. I am only 63 years old.” His chest heaved, and with each exhale, the haggard face deflated.

With a consoling pat on Joe’s shoulder, Dr. Nicholas “Briggs”

Oxenbriggs slowly increased the drip on the IV that traced down to the man’s withered arm.

“Joe, I love you. You are my favorite patient. I will take good care of you, my friend, good care.”

Dr. Oxenbriggs pulled a slender syringe from the breast pocket of his crisp, white hospital jacket, and in one calming move, he pushed the clear contents of the cylinder into a port on the IV line. He carefully lowered Joe’s extended arm to his side. “It’s okay, Joe. This will help. I assure you. I love you.”

Briggs stepped back, cocked his head from side to side, watching like a cat waiting for a trapped mouse to move.

Joe struggled, gasped, shuddered, then finally convulsed and fell backward. Silent. Dr. Oxenbriggs leaned over his now dead patient, raised Joe’s left hand, and removed the diamond-studded ring from his limp pinky finger. Studying it for a moment, Dr. Oxenbriggs dropped the glittering hoop into the breast pocket on his lab coat. For a moment, the tall, muscular doctor with greying salt and pepper hair rubbed his patient’s placid face, and then with a sigh, he said, “I loved you, Joe, and you are much better off now.”

Dr. Oxenbriggs patted the ring resting in his jacket pocket. “I will always have you with me,” he whispered.

Leisurely, he pulled the emergency call button, then yelled urgently into the speaker.

“Code Black. Code Black. This is Dr. Oxenbriggs. Code Black. STAT!”

Almost instantaneously, the emergency team of nurses, assistants, and medical residents shoved into the room at the Lone Mountain Medical Center in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. They found Dr. Briggs frantically pressing his hands into the dead man’s chest, performing CPR on the lifeless body of Joe Blevins.

“Hurry! I’m losing him. Joe! Joe! Stay with me!” Dr. Oxenbriggs ordered the bevy of nurses, medical residents, and assistants who quickly moved into action. No seemed to notice that the heart monitors had long-since stopped beeping.

After a while, Briggs said softly, “Call it.” Another voice responded, “Time of death, o-eight-hundred.”

Briggs stood, staring at the body of the man who had been very much alive just a few moments before. He rushed forward and gathered Joe’s body into his strong arms. He wept. “Joe, you cannot be gone.”

Several members of the team tried to pull the doctor back, but he jerked away. Soon, he reluctantly and gently laid the body onto the bed. Briggs shook his head, wiped his face, straightened his lab coat, and wiped a single tear from his cheek.

“I’ve done all I could, all I could. He was my favorite patient. Can someone call the family, please?” …

About the Author

Shadowed and protected by the mountains of her native southwest Virginia,
Amelia Townsend has lived hither, thither, and yon – mostly between
Virginia and North Carolina. She has worked as a newspaper and TV reporter,
freelance producer and director, writer, and now PR hack. She is a
proud graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She has no claim to fame. Further, she is most often bewildered when people
say they are impressed by her work. Her first novel, Keepsakes for the
Heart, was nominated by the N.C. Historical Association for the prestigious
Ragan Old North State Award for non-fiction.

Her favorite avocation is listening to and writing down other
people’s stories, for truth surely is stranger and more beautiful than
fiction. This is where Townsend has found fodder for the stories of the
hills that she wrote with her late writing buddy. Several have come to life
in the form of a novel and a couple of plays in production. The names have
been changed to protect the guilty.

Townsend’s most impressive accomplishments are her children – a
son and daughter – who managed to turn in to fine young adults,
despite her attempts to raise them.

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Twitter: @townsendart

Goodreads

Instagram: @ameliatownsendauthor

Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Comments Off on The Best Doctor in Town Tour

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Amelia Townsend, mystery, The Best Doctor in Town

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 17, 2020 · 5:00 am

Perchance to Dream Blitz

Perchance to Dream cover

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 8

Crime Mystery, Mystery, Private Investigator Mystery

Release Date: October 13, 2020

Publisher: Fedora Press

A simple missing persons case gets complicated for an L. A. private investigator.

When two young Kardashian-like sisters, Brentwood debutantes, go missing, their father calls in Malone to find them. The client, the ultra-wealthy owner of Los Angeles’ largest luxury car dealership and a candidate for the L. A. city council with a trophy wife half his age, can’t imagine where his daughters have gone. Malone embarks on what he expects to be a routine missing persons gig, a simple bread and butter case for a gumshoe, but things get complicated. After Malone interviews one of the missing girl’s close friends, she inexplicably commits suicide. Next, there’s a mysterious murder. He uncovers hints of blackmail. Once again, Malone must descend into the seedy underbelly of the City of Angeles in his quest to find the missing young women and get the answers to some very pressing questions.

The Malone Mystery Novels Series

Other Books in the The Malone Mystery Novels Series

Amazon

Come What May

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 1

Fair Is Foul and Foul Is Fair

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 2

Cold Comfort

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 3

Foregone Conclusion

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 4

Live Long Day

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 5

Foul Play

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 6

Black Deeds

The Malone Mystery Novels, Book 7

Perchance to Dream tablet

About the Author

LARRY DARTER is an American crime fiction writer. His Malone novels include Cold Comfort, Live Long Day, Foul Play, and Black Deeds, and he is the author of the T. J. O’Sullivan crime thriller novels.

Contact Links

Purchase Links