Madman by M.F. Gross – Spotlight

August 18, 2025 By Leave a Comment

 

In 1949, a brutal murder shattered the quiet of Crystal Beach, Florida, launching a dramatic manhunt through swamps and orange groves as lawmen and armed locals pursued drifter John “Rastus” Russell. But the crime was just the beginning. As secrets unraveled and a hurricane closed in, the case spiraled into a tale of deception, vengeance, and a shocking ending that stunned the nation. This is the forgotten true crime saga that turned paradise into a legend.

 

 

 

About the Author:

M.F. Gross is a writer and storyteller drawn to the hidden histories that shape our communities. A former financial journalist turned true crime detective, he spent a year uncovering the long-forgotten 1949 Crystal Beach murder at the heart of MADMAN. A longtime Florida Gulf Coast resident, Gross blends deep local insight with vivid, cinematic prose to resurrect real-life terror—and remind us it could happen again. When he’s not digging through dusty archives or retracing the steps of history, he’s exploring Florida’s wild coastlines, chasing his next untold story.
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The Spirit of Vanderlaan by Susan Harris Howell

August 6, 2025 By 8 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Susan Harris Howell will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When beloved professor, Samantha Hayes, learns that her favorite four students live in as many of her old dorm rooms, she wonders how it happened and for what purpose. As she and her student entourage explore the possibilities, they uncover a death years ago and what appears to be the ghost of the dearly departed. All of this stirs up Samantha’s long-held fear that she was responsible for that death, challenging all she thought she knew about herself and the work she holds dear. They must figure out what happened before Samantha gets fired for “dabbling in the paranormal.”

Enjoy an Excerpt

As she walked to her first class of the day, Samantha congratulated herself that for the first time this semester she would arrive at her own class on time. A glance at her watch revealed she even had five minutes to spare. With Douglas Hall in sight and her classroom on its main floor, she was sure to make it on time—

“Samantha!”

Grrr! So close. Although showing up late for class frustrated her, she was mostly annoyed by the person who was about to detain her. If I ignore him, maybe he’ll go away.

“Samantha!” This time he was more insistent.

Samantha released a breath of resignation. She should have known better. He wasn’t the kind to be ignored. Samantha turned to face him as she reached the door of the building. She hadn’t been at Vanderlaan long enough to flout someone who carried the weight around here that he did. “What can I do for you, Len?”

Dr. Len Titus stood before her, dressed as always, in a suit with a starched white shirt and tie which he would loosen by afternoon. His graying hair with a precise part on the side had become his hallmark, along with his hands-on-hips pose and gravelly voice. Levi’s imitation of each was spot on, although professional decorum required that Samantha refrain from the encouragement her laughter would ensure. Since Len Titus was of slight frame, someone unfamiliar with this man might assume passivity or weakness. Not Samantha.

“I see we’re both teaching in Douglas Hall this semester,” he said. “Hope I won’t be in your way.” He peered over his wire-rimmed glasses. “Or you in mine.”

Samantha took a breath, gritted her teeth, and walked through the door. She would use the back entrance next time.

About the AuthorI am a psychologist, speaker, and author of The Spirit of Vanderlaan, my debut novel released in December of 2024. This book is a fun, cozy, ghost story featuring a professor, Samantha Hayes, and her lively band of students who get caught up in solving a campus mystery. This book draws on my teaching career of over thirty years to capture the camaraderie and warmth between a professor and the assortment of personalities which inhabit her office.

I have also published extensively on equality between women and men. My first book, Buried Talents, explores the subtle ways women are discouraged from entering male-dominated occupations. Buried Talents was named a winner in InterVarsity Press’s 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards.

My husband and I have two grown children, a daughter-in-law, one adorable grandson, and an incorrigible beagle named Doc. While Doc doesn’t understand a word I say, he fully supports my books and their content.

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Blood in the Shadows by Hawk MacKinney – Spotlight and Giveaway

August 5, 2025 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When marine buddy, Gulfport, Mississippi Sheriff asks Craige Ingram for help, Ingram and Buckingham Parish patrolman ‘Badger’ Thomas Boback find themselves in the summertime dogdays of the humid Gulf Coast. With crowded beaches and an undermanned staff, a routine investigation soon becomes anything but routine when indescribable body parts start showing up along the surf, in beachfront cabins, half-buried in bayou wetlands, stashed under freeway bridges, and across county lines. Craige’s search for answers to identifying victims and killer among the crowds of tourists and skin-and-sun partygoers soon makes it obvious the victims have no connection with one another—until conflicting DNA results and haunting premonitions resembling the warnings Craige’s grannie often had become part of the investigation. The jigsaw of abandoned cross-kin offspring begin a horrifying Gordian Knot tangle that threatens anyone who approaches the shadowy ancient wreck of an old mansion – an asylum from a lost time.

Enjoy an Excerpt

During the long haint-ridden nights the craving had become scalding, nearly uncontrollable. The green-yellow eyes withdrew into darker corners of windowless rooms, as flickers of Cajun Grandmère Nana’s weathered face swirled in the mist. Everybody around knew ageless Kreyòl Cajun Grandmère Nana. Some of them truly were believers. They knew what they had seen with their own eyes, and no one was going to convince them otherwise. They’d call to her by her dead half-sister’s spook-name, Momby Bocor. In the shadows of full-moon nights, they’d mumble in a breathless cadence, “Momby Bocor. Momby Bocor. Momby Bocor,” that became more chant than phantom witch-worker. Nana’s soft Acadia dialect in her New Orleans patois gave a pleasing lilt to the dapples of moonlight, her outline sauntering the back yard beneath the sprawling sheen of the swamp magnolia’s thick leaves. Not a hair was out of place in the golden red crown circled atop her head. Her frayed sweet gum twig swizzled back and forth in toothless twitches. Time-wrinkled eyes looked, mesmerized, toward the full silvery orb. She could almost see ancient Luna rising out of the gentle watery laps of the Gulf, reflected in the ripples and washing the sandy beaches. Nana often warned her gran’chil’ Ramona about the waxing madness that came from the blinding dazzle of the full moon. Lots of folks shrugged her off as a tiddly old crone passing her unnumbered days and nights inside her own world. Yet Nana’s houseplants never got frost burned, and her early flower beds and vegetable gardens were never planted before the last freeze. Ramona didn’t shrug off her Gran’mere Nana who was sharpened by the clean brisk air spilling among the haints and steamy haunts of bayous that would stay warm until spring. Then would come the days of warm Gulf air piling into big dark thunderheads, and the offshore waters would froth into elegant capped grey plumes. He could hardly wait. Sharp mangled grubby teeth chewed the lower lip pulling it raw. Blood oozed. The wet tongue did a quick taste, fed the perpetual lust. The craving hunger was always there. With the cloudy moon it would make for a cozy night to roam so long as Richard didn’t find out. It would make for good hunting.

About the Author: Hawk MacKinney has authored several award-winning works of fiction that include THE MOCCASIN HOLLOW MYSTERY SERIES and THE CAIRNS OF SAINCTUARIE SCIENCE FICTION SERIES. His historical romance MOCCASIN TRACE was nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award.

Cross-genre character-driven plots reflect Hawk MacKinney’s southwest upbringing along the Texas and Oklahoma borders. With postgraduate faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem.

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The Story Behind the Story by Karla Brandenburg – Guest Blog and Giveaway

July 23, 2025 By 11 Comments

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Karla Brandenburg who is visiting with us today to celebrate today’s release of THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER. Enter the Rafflecopter at the end of the post for a chance to win a free copy of the book.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Today is release day. I’m giving away a paperback version of the new book to one lucky winner, so be sure to enter!

I have a romantic soul, but I also love a good ghost story. My books tend to combine those two elements. While casting about for ideas to write my upcoming release, I got caught up in a local cold case.

I followed along on the local police podcast as they attempted to solve the case of a missing woman in real time. I imagined the ghost of the missing woman throwing a monkey wrench into my characters’ budding romance (my ghosts tend to do that). Listening to the investigation, step by step, was fascinating. The woman disappeared. Poof. Vanished into the ether. She disappeared with her car, so the original conclusion was that she chose to disappear. Got in her car and left. But where did she go?

The inclination is to blame a spouse or lover. She had a boyfriend, the man who reported her missing. They looked at him, suspecting him of foul play, but there was no evidence to support that theory. The case went cold, unsolved, but never closed.

Interestingly, a serial killer had rented the missing person’s apartment before she did. Was it possible he’d returned? Then there was the possibility that the woman, who’d been at a bar immediately prior to her disappearance, might have been harassed/abducted/disappeared by a biker gang who had been hanging around in the parking lot that night. The police had lots of suspects and had to consider whether her disappearance had been orchestrated.

Forty years later, a witness came forward who said they’d seen this woman leave in her car. Alone. So what happened to her if she left of her own volition? The police turned their attention to what routes she might have taken and a new theory began to form. One of those routes runs beside a river. During their historical investigations, they found the river had been at record flood stage when she disappeared. If she’d been drinking at the bar, she might have been impaired. The road ran through a wooded area where deer (or other animals) might have darted in front of her. Could she have lost control and ended up in the river?

The police called in a dive team to check the river. With the assistance of more modern techniques, including sonar, they found three targets and went into the murky water to check. The diver came up with a license plate from a vehicle submerged upside down—the license plate from the missing woman’s car.
The podcast highlighted the entire investigation from following leads to recovering the car, which all happened in a surprisingly short period of time. The recovery was fascinating to follow, as evidenced by the multiple media outlets visible in the video the divers produced. Even after the recovery, the police investigation continued. Was it an accident? Suicide? Foul play? The podcast followed the case beyond the recovery of the missing woman into the remainder of the investigation. They were able to determine the emergency brake had been engaged. The woman had tried to stop the car in a hurry. There was no other visible damage to the car to indicate a collision of any sort. Whether the river carried her in (it was a smaller vehicle, low to the ground) or she encountered something on the road that sent her into the river is a question they might never be able to answer. We’ll probably never know exactly what happened that night. The end result is they brought the missing woman home and gave her family closure after forty-plus years.

Inspiration is where you find it.

The family tour business Shyan Hogan inherited as the pandemic hit is on the verge of closing. Unaware of the state of things, her mother commissions brochures, leaving Shyan no choice but to tell her parents she’s failed.

Nate McGill found magic when he photographed the aurora borealis, prompting him to pursue a career in photography. In the years since, he hasn’t found anything remotely close to that same sense of magic. When he’s hired to do brochures for a tour company, his photo of the tour guide fascinates him in much the same way as the aurora. Her photo could be the key to the photography exhibit that will launch his career if he can convince her to let him use it.

Someone attempts to sabotage her company van after a chartered tour hits a sour note, but Shyan doesn’t want to believe it’s personal. When the vandalism escalates to include her home, she has to consider who is out to get her. Nate vows to protect her, but the threats didn’t start until he showed up. How does he figure into all of this? On top of that, he claims to have seen the local ghost in the river through his “magic” camera, and now he wants Shyan to help him give the restless spirit its peace. He doesn’t really believe in ghosts, does he?

About the Author: Karla Brandenburg is an award-winning author of contemporary romance novels which include paranormal elements, as well as ghost stories and witches. Now that her children have settled into lives of their own, she loves to go out into the world on adventures with her husband, from Milwaukee to the French Riviera, but the Chicago suburbs have always been “home.” She is an avid reader across multiple genres and is a card-carrying cookie-holic (we all have our vices).

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How I Handled Research for this Book by B.T. Polcari – Guest Blog and Giveaway

June 18, 2025 By 13 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. B.T. Polcari will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

How I Handled Research for this Book
I will start this post with stating my greatest fear about writing books. I mean, by far, my absolutely biggest, baddest, most terrifying, fear. And it has nothing to do with getting a bad review. Although, gotta admit, that’s right up there. But it isn’t my biggest fear. What gives me nightmares and leaves me in a cold sweat after one of my books is released?

Someone coming up to me or leaving a comment that something I wrote isn’t correct or possible or even remotely feasible.

Terrifying.

So, prior to writing a story, as part of my very involved plotting process, I research everything. And I mean—everything. No detail is too small. As an example, in my last book, Fire and Ice, I even researched pre-1600s Atlantic hurricane seasons.

I know.

It’s bad.

Now that I’ve bared my author’s soul, I’ll give a little insight into the painstaking amount of research I conducted before ever writing the first words of Lucky Secrets. Speaking of which, as a little reward for reading this post, here is the first sentence of the book:

“I recently overheard my golf-crazy dad go on and on about some of his golfing buddies insisting on taking something he disparagingly called a “mulligan” when they hit a crappy shot.”

How’s that for a hook, pun intended. I could go on and explain what a hook is in golf, but there is an adage to trust the reader, so I won’t.

And no, the story has nothing to do with golf. Go figure.

Back to my book research psychosis. When I begin the plotting process for a book, I create a “Research” folder for all the articles, photos, scans, and similar that I come across as I build the plot out in a document I call my “blueprint.” A typical blueprint for one of my books runs around fifty pages. For Lucky Secrets, my research folder contains 169MB of data (97 files) plus there is a second folder containing 60MB of photos I used to help visualize and build out various rooms of the El Sueño mansion where the story is set.

Keeping in mind that a lot of what I research never makes it into the plot, I thought it would be fun to list some of the subjects and articles I researched for Lucky Secrets. Just remember, this is not even close to being the full list of topics, and what I have listed below might not have been woven into the plot. But this will give a taste of where I’ve been during the plotting of the story, and where Lucky Secrets might go.

• Best Instant Cameras
• Cook Islands Trusts and How to Use Them Properly
• The Cook Islands
• The Best Offshore Trust Jurisdictions for Asset Protection
• The Count of St. Germain
• The Man Who Will Not Die
• Casanova and The Marquise D’Urfe
• The First National of Chicago Robbery
• The Bangladesh National Bank Robbery
• The 2014 Moldovan Bank Fraud Scandal
• How to Steal $1 Billion in Three Days
• Chopin’s Etude, Opus 10 Number 4
• Stan Swamy
• The Theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity
• How Dogs Can Smell Deception and Sense Lying
• Professor Khaw Kim Sun
• Italian Olive Oil and the Mafia
• Eddie Tipton
• Swimming Pool Maintenance
• Numerology
• Truly Random Numbers
• Numbers in Egyptian Mythology
• License Plates
• Fortune Cookies
• Mortgage Fraud Schemes
• Insider Trading
• Arbitrage
• Plane Autopilot Basics
• Money Laundering Through Casino Gambling
• The Dark Web
• The Bhima-Koregaon Case
• The Steve Fossett Plane Crash

If you can figure out the Lucky Secrets plot from the above list, then you shouldn’t be reading this post but instead be writing mysteries!

A big thank you to Long and Short Reviews and Goddess Fish Promotions for letting me share my book and give a little insight into my author psyche (yikes) and the types of topics I research as I prepare to write a book. Which is pretty much everything, as is evident from the above.

And if anybody finds something in Lucky Secrets that is inaccurate—keep it to yourself. Wink.

College student Sara Donovan is in the homestretch of graduating when a mysterious package arrives with an invitation to an exclusive contest. One that will drastically change the winner’s life. Included are unsettling photographs from forgettable chapters in her life and a threatening note strongly suggesting she participate.

With no good options, Sara enters the contest and finds herself at a fabulous mansion up against eight formidable opponents, each with a dark secret and all racing to solve seven levels of riddles and puzzles.

After a contestant’s body is discovered, Sara contemplates dropping out when another package arrives, its chilling contents making clear she’s at the center of a dangerous game with deadly consequences if she quits. But what it doesn’t say is—what happens if she wins?

Enjoy an Excerpt

I spent the first two hours of every workday by myself while Finn was off with Bertie drinking his lunch, presumably trying to forget his ex-wife. On my first day way back on the fifth of August, I enthusiastically reported to work. I was stoked, ready to assist the unrenowned yet Majelski-recommended, and sorta sober, Melvin “Finn” Finnegan, with taking down perps, crooks, and degenerates. Instead, I spent that day and most of the last seven months digging up dirt on two-timing husbands, boyfriends, and insurance fraudsters, and tracking down the last location on the Internet for delinquent debtors and the occasional bond jumper. Truth be told, the only time I spent out of the office was walking from my car to the dang building and then back again for the trip home to Sketchville. But working the streets on a high-profile case? Any case?

Not a chance.

A typical weekday for me consisted of business and criminology classes in the morning, then grabbing a quick lunch of fifty-cent noodles and a cola before jumping in my traumatized hatchback more the color of gray primer than its original black and flying up I-59 to one of the more questionable areas of Birmingham for a scintillating five hours as a part-time receptionist and researcher for Finn. And if that wasn’t enough to light up my life each and every fricking day, my drive home was a daily battle-royale with crazed Birmingham commuters reminding this soon-to-be college graduate, hopefully, that I was no match for their unparalleled skill at breaking every traffic law in the book while exhibiting quite the fluency in sign language.

About the Author: B.T. Polcari is a graduate of Rutgers College of Rutgers University, an award-winning mystery author, and a proud father of two wonderful children. He’s a champion of rescue pups (Mauzzy is a rescue), craves watching football and basketball, and, of course, loves reading mysteries. Among his favorite authors are Richard Osman, D.P. Lyle, Frederick Forsyth, and Michael Connelly. He is also an unapologetic fantasy football addict. He lives with his wife in scenic Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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The Search for Sasha Lockwood by Thomas Grant Bruso – Spotlight and Giveaway

March 26, 2025 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Thomas Grant Bruso will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Something is stalking the campgrounds at Pine Hill Creek.

Rumor has it that local folklore about the notorious Bigfoot is responsible for the mystery of a missing young woman.

When eighteen-year-old high school senior Sasha Lockwood vanishes without a trace while camping with her friends, fear and horror sequester a small community. Local and federal law enforcement officers begin an exhausting twenty-four-hour investigation of seventy acres of vast forest, looking for the victim.

The tight-knit community is in an uproar, horrified by these unexpected events. An unrelenting sheriff’s department and a media-savage system doggedly interrogate Sasha’s parents and close friends.

What happened the night Sasha Lockwood disappeared? Is it real or part of a cruel joke? Is Bigfoot responsible, or is something sinister at play in the deep, dark woods?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Journal thoughts

I’ve got a secret.

I can’t stop thinking about my best friend, Annie Monroe. We’ve been friends since forever. I don’t know what I’d do without Annie. She’s not only a friend, but a decent, caring person. She is beautiful, artistic, and somebody I don’t ever want to lose.

We went swimming in her parents’ inground pool today. We ordered pizza and had a few beers. Her parents were out of town. So, it was refreshing to be alone with Annie. Finally. Usually, we see each other at school, while passing in the hallways or after ninth period study hall, or by our cars in the parking lot. Rarely are we alone, which I’d prefer. I love hanging out with her. She makes me feel good. We laugh and smile when we’re around each other. She makes me feel safe. I admire her self-deprecating personality and wise-cracking jokes.

It’s as if time stops when we’re together. Annie introduced me to her shoe collection and the new painting she’s been working on since the beginning of the school year.

She’s so talented, and everything she creates shines like the gorgeous high heels and charm bracelets and that great big smile she wears every day.

Her new pastel and watercolor painting is of Lake Champlain where we used to sit every weekend by the water’s rocky edge. She unveiled the final product to me last weekend when she invited me for a picnic by the lake.

She also told me she loved me more than a friend.

Hearing the words over egg salad sandwiches and potato leek soup (her signature dish) hit me like a hot skillet on the back of the head.

I was floored, speechless, and thrilled—all at the same time. I knew how I felt about Annie. And being around a person for so long only heightens those emotions. But I never knew how Annie felt about us. We’d never done anything sexual together, not even kiss, obviously.

Years ago, I struggled with my sexuality and my feelings for girls, especially Annie. I wanted to make a move and kiss her or hold her hand and tell her I loved her. But I was naïve and scared because I was unaware of her thoughts—whether she liked me the way I liked her or not.

What if Annie wasn’t sympathetic? What if she wasn’t a lesbian? What if my open-hearted discussion about love and romance spiraled out of control and left egg on my face? I didn’t want to ruin a good thing with Annie. Our friendship meant everything to me, like life or death.

I always wondered or worried that she’d notice how I looked at her when we were together, sitting by the lake, or walking by each other in the hallways at school, or during one of our sleepovers.

Annie Monroe is a stunning beauty, an eye catcher for both sexes. I almost drown staring at her peaches and cream complexion and losing myself in her illuminating blue eyes.

There is a sunset glow about her when you’re in her company. Life feels less lonely, unhinged. At least, for me. Reality blurs and all my problems vanish when Annie opens her mouth to talk, or smile. The way she curls the feathery locks of her hair around her earlobe weakens my soul in a wonderful way.

So, when she told me she loved me, more than a friend, I cried happy tears.

We held hands for the first time in public, by the lapping water, in the gathering dusk.

It was magical. Our relationship was more than just…friends.

Love is a powerful thing.

The way Annie and I love is unmatched by all the other romantics walking around: fighting, cheating, and living a lie.

We are happy together.

Our secret is safe with us.

About the Author: Thomas Grant Bruso knew he wanted to be a writer at an early age. He has been a voracious reader of genre fiction since childhood.

His literary inspirations are Ray Bradbury, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Jim Grimsley, Karin Fossum, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Bruso loves animals, reading books, and writing fiction, and prefers Sudoku to crossword puzzles.

In another life, he was a freelance writer and wrote for magazines and newspapers. In college, he won the Hermon H. Doh Sonnet Competition. Now, he writes and publishes fiction and reviews books for his hometown newspaper, The Press-Republican.

He lives in upstate New York.

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Mean Cuisine by Wendy W. Webb – Spotlight and Giveaway

March 18, 2025 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Wendy will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Beluga Stein is taking a cooking class and it’s a real killer. This time she’s traded her signature loud muumuus for ill-fitting chef attire, including a toque the size of her ego.

A well-liked chef is found dead and it’s up to Beluga and her feline familiar, Planchette, to investigate. There’s no recipe to follow, only the hope that her erratic psychic ability will hit the spot. Is a supernatural entity stirring up trouble, or something far more dangerous?

Beluga and Planchette can’t stand the heat, but there’s no way out of this kitchen while murder is the main dish.

 

Enjoy an Excerpt

Beluga Stein’s Diary

The evil smell lingers.

Even with all the windows in the house open, the doors cracked a notch, the attic fan going full blast, and Planchette’s tail fanning his face like he was Egyptian royalty preparing for personal delivery of a peeled grape, the odor of exploded eggs clings to everything like a sock stuck to the back of a shirt by static cling.

Alas, there is no magic laundry cloth to separate one thing from another. So for now I’ll have to live with sulfuric fumes and pretend I like them. Or at least pretend they weren’t there even after the water long since boiled out of the pot and left the eggs all alone. My choices are severely limited.

Not that I didn’t consider Tanya’s suggestion to move into a hotel room for the night. I did. Briefly. But my reputation in this small town precedes me, so the various housing entrepreneurs said. In rather unkind tones, I should add.

So what if my reservation for three included a surly goat, a cat with an attitude, and myself? Emerson, while a gifted goat in many ways, has not yet mastered opening a mini bar. Planchette has little interest in watching expensive in-room movies unless there’s a female cat in the leading role, and I’ve been housebroken for months now. So why not take us for the night?

Honestly, people can be so rigid.

To: Food-Co
From: Culinary Program
Re: Weekly Purchase Order

—Wheat flour, 100 lbs.
—All purpose flour, 100 lbs.
—Sugar, 50 lbs.
—Butter, 50 lbs.
—Eggs, 4 cases
—Body bag, 1

About the Author:Wendy W Webb (aka one of the many Wendy Webbs) has published dark fantasy short stories and novels, co-edited anthologies, and has had productions of stage and radio plays. After a hiatus as a doctoral student of emergency management and as a disaster responder, she welcomed the return to fiction with The Wild Rose Press writing the gothic Widow’s Walk, and two updated books in the Beluga Stein supernatural-humor-murder mystery series, Bee Movie and Mean Cuisine. Sunbury Press under the Milford House imprint published the paranormal, travel, “memoir,” Eye of the Gargoyle. She adores her husband; two dogs, one of which turns on iTunes whenever Wendy leaves her office; dry red wine; theatre; and travel as long as she doesn’t see any more ghosts!

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A Killer Whisky by Susan Calder – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 26, 2025 By 8 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Susan Calder will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The 1918 influenza pandemic strikes Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Great War rages overseas. While her husband fights in Europe, Katharine works in a doctor’s office to support her children and her brother, a wounded veteran. One night their neighbour suddenly takes sick and dies. The attending doctor concludes the man died from influenza, but Katharine suspects someone laced his whisky with a drug that mimics the deadly flu’s symptoms.

Katharine convinces the police to investigate. Worried about her brother’s involvement with a suspect, she delves into his secrets and comes to fear he’s connected to the murder. She grows disturbingly attracted to the investigating detective who returns her affections. He’s convinced her brother or someone else close to her is a killer and risks his career to pursue the crime. Katharine must discover the truth so she can move forward in a world that has changed forever.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Katharine’s fingers slid over the piano keys. Her daughter strummed a toy banjo, and her son banged pots and pans. They drowned out her brother, John, on the alto saxophone. “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” blared through the living room. Katharine turned to the next page of her sheet music. She struck a wrong note then a sour chord. The song stumbled to a merciful end.

She swivelled the piano stool to face John. “I haven’t played that since before the war.” She remembered the merry evening in this room with her husband and their friends. By the following month, all the men who had been there had enlisted. One had since died in the mud of Passchendaele.

“With a little practice, we’ll be playing the dance halls,” John said.

“Really, Uncle John?” Lillian’s eyes lit up.

“Absolutely.” John raised his saxophone. “What’s our next tune?”

“Bedtime for Henry and Lillian,” Katharine said.

“Why?” Henry bolted up from the floor. “We don’t have school tomorrow.”

“Uncle John will teach you.”

John smirked at Henry. “I’m sharpening my ruler for when you misbehave.”

Henry jumped onto the davenport and clapped his wooden spoon “drumsticks.”

“You go change,” Katharine told him. “Lillian and I will clean up.”

He pointed the spoons at his sister. “There’s a Hun. Pow.”

“I’m not a Hun,” Lillian said. “I’m an Ally.”

“A dirty Hun. Pow, pow.”

“An Ally.” Lillian held her banjo to her chest in defence. “Tell him, Mama.”

“We’re all Allies,” Katharine said. “Canadians.”

“Huns. Pow, pow.” Henry aimed a spoon at them both.

Lillian squealed and ducked between the davenport and piano.

“Pow.”

“Stop it, Henry,” Katharine said, firming up her tone. “If you don’t get into your nightshirt now, Lillian and I will walk in while you’re getting dressed.”

About the Author Susan Calder lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is the author of five novels published by BWL Publishing Inc. A Deadly Fall, Ten Days in Summer, Winter’s Rage and Spring Into Danger are part of her Paula Savard Mystery Series. The books follow the adventures of Paula, a Calgary insurance adjuster who works with the police to solve insurance-related crimes. Susan’s standalone suspense novel, To Catch a Fox takes a troubled Calgary woman to Southern California on a quest to find her missing mother. In December 2024, BWL will release Susan’s first historical novel, A Killer Whisky. The story is set in 1918 Calgary and will be the 12th and final book of the BWL Canadian Historical Mystery Series. Susan has also published non-fiction articles. Her short stories and poems have won contests and appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.

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Inn the Dead of Winter by Rhonda Blackhurst – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 12, 2025 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rhonda Blackhurst will be awarding a free e-book of Inn the Dead of Winter or book one, Inn the Spirit of Murder to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to Spirit Lake in the dead of a Minnesota winter, where the brutally cold temp isn’t the only thing to fear.

Andie Rose Kaczmarek, a six-year sober life coach and owner of the haunted Spirit Lake Inn, has learned the hard way that the living are far more dangerous than anything in the spirit world.

When a controversial guest fails to return to her room on the same night a body is discovered in a fish house on Big Spirit Lake, Andie Rose teams up with her sponsor and sidekick, Sister Alice, and her emotional support red retriever, Aspen, to solve the case.

After Andie Rose discovers illegal activity on the inn’s property that ties to the murder, the investigation shifts into high gear. As she uncovers shocking secrets of those she thought she knew, someone is intent on keeping her quiet at any cost.

Can the inn’s resident ghost save her from impending harm when it seems the ones closest to her pose the greatest threat?

Enjoy an Excerpt

We were in the dead of winter in Spirit Lake, Minnesota, a town dubbed the paranormal capital of the nation. I gazed through the frosted windowpane at the ominous fog that hung low over Whisper Lake.

I crossed my arms in front of me, briskly rubbed my biceps, and shivered. It was a brutal cold that seeped deep into the bones and seemed to even send the inn’s resident ghost into hibernation.

The library’s gas fireplace clicked off by itself, the dancing flames disappearing. I guess I wasn’t in the room alone after all. I shuddered and glanced down at my feet where Aspen, my red retriever emotional support animal, stretched lazily on his side, eyes half closed, unfazed.

Since the 1940s, guests of the Spirit Lake Inn, home to the famous apparition, have heard a woman’s whispers on the lake, earning its name, Whisper Lake, the fireplace in the library turned off and on by itself, the espresso machine in the coffee bar hummed to life, and many other unexplainable incidents, all while no one else was present.

The old grandfather clock in the corner of the room ticked methodically as the pendulum swayed back and forth. When the clock’s St. Michael chime announced the top of the hour—and fifteen minutes until teatime downstairs—Aspen rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up onto all fours.

“Come on, boy,” I said, ruffling the fur on his neck. “Snack time.”

Abut the Author: Rhonda is an avid reader, writer, coffee and dark chocolate connoisseur, and certified life coach. She has 10 independently published novels: The Inheritance, a contemporary fiction novel; seven books in the Melanie Hogan Mysteries; and Finding Abby and Abby’s Redemption in the Whispering Pines Romantic Suspense duology. She was awarded the 2022 Master of Literary Arts Award from the Brighton Chamber.

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Bad Guy by Ana Diamond – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 10, 2025 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Luke Daniels has done his fair share of bad things. But when the FBI offers him a deal in exchange for infiltrating the local Mafia’s infamous Costa Crew, Luke has no choice but to accept the challenge.

Beautiful, smart and tough, Sophia Costa wants out of the Crew. Appointed boss by her brother after he’s sent to prison, she wants no part in the murder, deceit and secrecy typical of Mafia life.

Just as things heat up between Luke and Sophia, a mysterious hitman targets Sophia, and Luke’s handler starts to wonder if Luke is up for the task.

As the lovers face the possibility of losing everything in order to be together, the line between loyalty and betrayal blur.

Enjoy an Excerpt

At the entrance, a burly guy with a pug nose and dressed in a long black trench coat scanned the bar, like he was looking for someone. Kid turned toward the other end of the bar, signaling to a guy wearing a black fedora, who then promptly disappeared into the back room.

Pug Nose took notice of Kid’s intervention and barreled toward him with gritted teeth. But before he could get his hands on Kid, Luke elbowed him right in the center of his face. He fell back, clutching his bloody nose, while Luke continued the onslaught until he sensed surrender. Then he jumped off him while the others in the crowd lifted Pug Nose off the floor. Blood ran down his face and soaked his shirt. The room fell quiet as the sound of stilettos clicking on the floor became louder by the second.

Luke shook off the pain in his knuckles as he watched the dark-haired beauty approach.

She stopped and stared at Pug Nose’s injuries, quickly glanced at Luke, then back at Pug Nose. “Take this message back to your boss. We’re not afraid of you and if you come back, we’ll kill you one by one.” She nodded at her crew to take Pug Nose away, then turned to Luke.

A nervous tickle made him clear his throat as she stared up at him with deep sapphire-colored eyes. He couldn’t imagine what role she played in this dirty game full of thugs and thieves.

“I have to personally thank you for stepping in for Kid. What’s your name, Fighter?” she asked with a tiny smirk on her full red lips.

“Luke Daniels. May I ask who you are?”

“My name is Sophia Costa. I’m the boss.”

About the Author: When Ana Diamond isn’t writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

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