Sale of Murder Mystery Novel

On June 5 through June 9, Murder Among Friends, the 7th novel in the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery series, will be on sale. For the first two days the price will be discounted to $0.99 and for the last two days the price will be $1.99. The normal price is $3.99. If you like strong female main characters, small town mysteries, private investigators and strong plots, this is the book for you.

The book description is as follows:

A secret, known only to a group of seven, rocks a nursing home with murder. It's a secret the members tell no one. Except someone does know. That someone is ruthless enough to kill frail, suffering, defenseless people, preying on their vulnerabilities to get the secret. 

When the Sheriff of Stone City asks private detective Rachel Christie to find his mother-in-law, who has been missing for three weeks, Rachel fears the worse. Her partner Cody has a friend connected to the murders and wants the agency to help his friend. Rachel only hopes that she can unravel the crime and save the others before all end up dead. 

A stand-alone murder mystery, this is number 7 in the Rachel Christie Mystery detective series.

Please feel free to send me a comment at this blog.

Murder Mystery Novel Sale - 5 Days Only

Murder One Too Many, the fifth in the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery Series is on sale beginning today for 5 days, half the time at $0.99 and then $1.99. The normal price is $3.99. The book has been re-edited and, although it is No. 5 in the series, it is a standalone mystery. The description is as follows:

The CEO of a hospital dies and her body is found in a shallow grave. Her husband kills himself from an apparent suicide. Or was it? Rachel Christie was in a room fifty feet away and heard no shot. Yet she heard a woman scream. Rachel's investigation gets her too close to the answers and a dismissed employee attempts to kill her. 

What secret does the hospital hold? Is someone killing hospital executives and relatives out of revenge? Rachel must unlock the answers before anyone else dies.

The book has a 4.3 out of 5 star rating on Amazon out of 23 customer reviews. I hope you enjoy reading this full-length murder mystery that has many twists and turns and that you will leave a review on Amazon.

Bargain eBook - Murder Along the Blue Ridge

Murder Along the Blue Ridge is available today through Thursday at the bargain price of $0.99. This is 75 percent off the normal price of the Rachel Christie murder mystery that takes place along the Blue Ridge Parkway in which two people die from cyanide poisoning--a runaway bridegroom and an informant for narcotics officer Deputy Skyler of the Stone City police. When a bag of cyanide crystals is found in Skyler's home, the state police arrest him, saying they have more than enough evidence to put a noose around his neck for the crime.

Skyler claims he was framed by one of his many enemies and begs private detective Rachel Christie for help. Rachel dislikes Skyler because of their history and refuses the case even though she doesn't believe he's guilty.

Skyler says he has no motive and no connection to the runaway groom. Or does he? An indiscretion and cover-up fifteen years ago may be at the bottom of it all, but no one is willing to talk. With the dead bodies mounting, Rachel still refuses the case. Finally, Skyler's eleven-year-old daughter steps in and Rachel can't say no.

Although this is the sixth in the series, it can be read as a stand alone mystery.

Happy Reading!

Release of "Murder Haunts Myrtle Beach" on Amazon

The latest murder mystery, "Myrtle Haunts Myrtle Beach," in the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery series is now going through final edit and will be for sale next week on Amazon. For some reason, this book took twice as long to write as the others and was much more difficult. Possibly, it was because I put even more of myself into the book than usual and parts were quite emotional for me to write.
     
Over the last seven books, I have found that seeing the story in a different format helps find typos and spelling errors, as well as some plot problems. I suppose that seeing it over and over in the same format, I tend to skip over things. So, I sent a copy to my Kindle and reviewed it there. As the another step in editing, I have just printed the book in paperback form on CreateSpace. Both of these methods help spot errors which I wouldn't have found if I had only reviewed it on the PC, even using spelling and style checkers. I also cooperate with another author and we review each other's books. That puts another set of eyes on the book and helps to find areas where the wording does not flow well or where the facts were obvious to me but not to someone not so familiar with the plot. The last thing is the final edit by an outside source.
     
Following is a brief synopsis of "Murder Haunts Myrtle Beach."

Private Investigator Rachel Christie is thrown into a case where her emotions rage out of control. She has solved difficult crimes in the past, but this time it's different. This time it's her lifelong best friend who is stabbed and is sent to the ICU. Her reasoning ability is clouded and her moral compass is smashed. Her emotions, more than ever, control her actions. The clues lead her from Myrtle Beach, a thousand miles away, to a seedy gentlemen's club in Houston and to her buried and forgotten past. A past that's not what she remembers. A past full of drugs, human trafficking and murder. Can she control her emotions enough to uncover the assailant of her friend or will she, too, become another victim?

I want to thank my readers for their loyalty and for their patience.

November Markdown

For five days beginning November 7, I am running a promotion of the Rachel Christie Mysteries, which will be $2.99. That's a 50 percent markdown on the original cost of the collection. In essence, the reader gets 3 mysteries for $0.99 each. This promotion only lasts for 5 days on Amazon.

Rachel Christie is a strong female private investigator operating in a small community along the base of the Appalachians. This series is full of mystery and action, and is meticulously plotted with many twists and turns. Rachel Christie is determined to solve murders at the expense of her own life. Thwarted by the bad guys and good guys alike, she keeps going until the murder or murderers are brought to justice.

Where Do Characters in Books Come From?

Where Do Characters in Books Come From?

I have been asked by several readers about where I get my inspiration for the characters in my Rachel Christie Mystery Series. One went so far as to say, "I know someone like that. I'm sure you don't know that person. You live nowhere near me."

I have to say that the characters in my books have exaggerated characteristics of people I have known. For example, the sheriff from Newtonville in my second book, "Murder in Emerald Hills," is based on a dear relative who cannot speak five words without two of them being a curse word. I love her dearly, but to me it's like fingers on a chalkboard every time I hear her talk. She is the gentlest of people and fair in every other way. I don't know where she picked up her vocabulary, but she would have been a good sheriff, so I made her into one.

I think that the heroine in my book, Rachel Christie, is obviously some version of me. Whether she is really me or the me I'd like to be or a combination of the two, I'm not sure. She portrays strength, doesn't take any crap and, yet, contains a soft spot for the underprivileged and those in need of saving or those who cannot protect themselves. Maybe, she's the person we'd all like to be: rough and tough when necessary, but tender and caring when needed. Most of us, however, don't have the gumption to be that person.

We all know people like the ones in my books and admire different characteristics in each of them. As one of my friends once said, "You cannot get all of your friends together in one place. All of them have aspects of ourselves that we admire in them and wish we were more like them. But they all have aspects of ourselves we don't like as well. Each one would clash with everyone of our other friends." I'm glad to say that I admire and accept each and every one of my friends for who and what they are. They are, indeed, an inspiration.

For those of you who have seen yourselves or your friends in my characters, send me an email and let me know what you liked and why and what you didn't and why. Also, if you have a good friend who is different from any of my characters, describe them to me in an email and maybe I'll be able to put them into a future book. That's something I like about eBooks. They can be interactive with input from the readers. And I do appreciate each and every one of you, my readers, and thankful for all the comments I have received from you.

Writing, Squirrels and Chestnuts

I have been writing my next book, No. 8 in the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery Series. It has been difficult since the heroine Rachel Christie faces a crisis in her life and it's hard to write bad things about my characters. Good things are easy to write.  My characters are like my children. You never want anything bad to happen to your children, even though, sometimes, it makes them stronger. So today I collected chestnuts. I cannot believe that it is that time of year again.

The nuts are falling and the squirrels are trying desperately to keep us from collecting them. Lots of husks were on the ground, but the nuts were gone. To keep the squirrels from scavenging all of the nuts, we shook the tree limbs until the nuts that were ready to fall fell to the ground. The reason I know it was squirrels is there was nothing left behind but the husks. If it were deer, they would have left their hoof prints in the soft soil (we've had an abundance of rain) and the outer coatings of the nuts would have been left behind. Also, I saw two squirrels scurrying to the field and disappearing near the trees. A good sign.

I never really thought about how chestnuts were made or how they were collected prior to planting our trees. However, I have a much greater respect for the people who collect them. If you will notice the spines around the nut covering in the picture, you will see they are long and pointed and very sharp. I had on heavy duty leather gloves, but I still have pricks in my fingers from recovering the nuts from their pods. I enjoy chestnuts with dressing around Thanksgiving, but the pain in collecting them make me appreciate the nut much more.

Labor Day Sale!

Murder Among Friends, the 7th book in the Rachel Christie Murder Mysteries, has been discounted to $0.99 for the Labor Day Weekend. Normally, the price is $3.95, nearly a seventy-five percent discount. Rachel Christie is a private detective in a small town. She has many flaws and seems to clash with every police officer, but good detective work and a need to succeed to avoid returning to a former life make her good at solving her cases.

The synopsis is as follows:

A secret, known only to a group of seven, rocks a nursing home with murder. It's a secret the members tell no one. Except somehow, someone does know. But who? That someone is ruthless enough to kill frail, suffering, defenseless people, preying on their vulnerabilities to get the secret.

When the Sheriff of Stone City asks private detective Rachel Christie to find his mother-in-law, who has been missing for three weeks, Rachel fears the worse. Her partner Cody has a friend connected to the murders and wants the agency to help his friend. Rachel only hopes that she can unravel the crime and save the others before all end up dead. But, as time goes by, that seems unlikely.

Pick up your copy while it is heftily discounted.

Bargain on Rachel Christie Mystery Series - Three-Box Set

I have just published a three-book set of the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery novels. The second, third and fourth novels are bundled together in one book, but are still available individually. The set, Rachel Christie Murder Mysteries, is priced at $5.98 for the eBook and $15.19 for the paperback from Amazon. This is a price reduction of one third for the eBooks and about half off for the paperbacks. All the books are standalone novels, but some of the same people show up in each, including Rachel's lanky, easy-going assistant Cody, her by-the-book friend Ron and boisterous Sheriff Farrell. The plots are all different, but the murderers are all cleverly plotted and Rachel is pushed to her intellectual and emotional limits. The reader has all the clues Rachel has and no rabbits are ever pulled out of a hat at the last minute.

Note that the first book in the series, Murder by the Clock, about a murder during a small town Autumn Festival is available as an eBook for $0.99 from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple and Smashwords.

The second book, Murder in Emerald Hills, takes place in the Emerald mining area of Western North Carolina. While working on a land fraud case, Rachel uncovers a murder of which the body has been buried for six months.

In the third book, Murder by Lion, the murder takes place at the North Carolina Zoo in front of a crowd. The police think it's suicide, but Rachel believes it's not.

The fourth book, Murder of the Innocent tells the story of how Rachel Christie solves the murder of a young girl whose parents are separated, but trying to get back together. It's a case she doesn't want, but her partner Cody accepts it readily.

The last three mysteries are Murder One Too Many, Murder Along the Blue Ridge and Murder Among Friends. These thee are available from Amazon for $3.99.

New Book on Amazon Kindle

New Book on Amazon Kindle

Today, "Murder Among Friends," the seventh in the Rachel Christie Murder mystery series was published on Amazon. Although it is number seven in the series, it is a standalone private detective story. Rachel takes on more and more dangerous cases since moving to Stone City at the base of the Appalachians.

In this new novel, a secret, known only to a group of seven, rocks a nursing home with murder. It's a secret the members tell no one, except someone does know. That someone is ruthless enough to kill frail, suffering, defenseless people, preying on their vulnerabilities to get the secret.

When the Sheriff of Stone City asks private detective Rachel Christie to find his mother-in-law, who has been missing for three weeks, Rachel fears the worse. Her partner Cody has a friend connected to the murders and wants the agency to help his friend. Rachel only hopes that she can unravel the crime and save the others before all end up dead.

A Rare Find, Indeed!

A Rare Find, Indeed!

It is not often that I review a book on my blog. I'd say I never have, but I read a book this past week which I had to blog about. If any of you have read my Rachel Christie private detective mystery novels, you know that the main character loves old movies. My novels are modern day, but I love to read unusual and imaginative books. This book, "Hell's First Whisper," the first of the Percy Nickels private detective series set in the 1940s, is one such unusual and imaginative read.

After reading several books set in the 1930s and 1940s, I was expecting the same old, same old. The tired clichés. The same detective talk. However, the author Knuckles Rothchild did not do this and you could still tell it was set in the 1940s. It's the story of a police officer turned detective. I know, it sounds like the same routine, but that's where it ends. Percy Nickels has been led on a wild goose chase while someone deposits a naked dead body in his apartment. He falls for a lady evangelist, whose sermon is on the radio when he finds the dead girl. The wit and easy flow of the story line had me mesmerized from the moment I opened the book.

I am not plugging a friend of mine because I have never met or communicated with this person. However, if you enjoy the 1940s private detective, you will doubly enjoy this book. I highly recommend it.