A Merry and Blessed
Christmas to All
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December 2021 Highlights and Merry Christmas
Greetings. Well, we made it to the holidays. Whew! Wherever you are in the world, I hope your plans include spending time with family and friends. So much has happened this year—not all of it good. In case you’re feeling anxious, here are a couple of stories to brighten your day.
Giving Machines allows Americans to make charitable donations using the vending machine concept. Read more here.
In London, a couple in their 30s launched a walking tour initiative to help others fight loneliness. Read more here.
Book News
Just in time for the holidays, the ebook version of my romantic comedy, Chainsaw Honeymoon, is on sale for 99 cents until December 31, 2021.
Book Blurb
Can Ruby save her parents’ marriage? Maybe, with a little help.
A year ago, Alan and Stacey Navarro separated, leaving their daughter, Ruby, to live with her mom and an over-caffeinated Shih Tzu. People split up all the time, and most kids might learn to deal. Not Ruby.
A bright, funny fourteen-year-old who loves shoes and horror movies, Ruby is on an insane mission to get her parents back together. But she can’t do it alone.
She needs her two best friends, a dog named Ed Wood, an arrogant filmmaker, a bizarre collection of actors–and a chainsaw-wielding movie killer. Yeah, it’ll be fine.
Recommended Reading
If you enjoy gripping police procedurals, check out Hey You, Pretty Face by Linda Coles. The story is moving and the protagonist kind. Honestly, I expected the typical tortured cop with a broken marriage and a drinking problem. DC Jack Rutherford will surprise you. Read my review here.
Book Blurb
An abandoned baby. Three girls stolen in the night. Two connected cases?
London, Winter, 1999. When an abandoned newborn baby is discovered, DC Jack Rutherford becomes involved.
Covering the holiday period almost singlehandedly, resources are at breaking point and he’s pushed to his limit.
While searching for the young mother, evidence of an organized crime ring almost breaks his heart leaving Jack wondering how he can put so many wrongs, right. Welcome to the human race…
Can he solve the case before the girls are lost forever?
Where to Buy
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Books to Enjoy
Ready for some new mysteries and thrillers? Check out the Escape to Action, Mystery, Magic, and Adventure promotion going on now until December 31, 2021.
Recommended Viewing
If you’re an Amazon Prime member and like comedy with your zombies, check out Zombie for Sale, a recent Korean film. The story is hilarious, and everyone in it is excellent.
Logline. When a pharmaceutical company’s illegal experiments inadvertently create a zombie, the strange Park family finds it and tries to profit from it.
Okay, time to go. See you next month. I wish you a safe and blessed holiday season. Peace and love.
Book Review—Hey You, Pretty Face
I’ve read loads of police procedurals over the years and have always found the protagonist to be gruff, sad, broken—or all three. But in Hey You, Pretty Face, he is kind.
For a cop, DC Jack Rutherford is an odd bird. He has a happy marriage and enjoys his work. That’s not to say he doesn’t have challenges. For one thing, his boss is a lazy ass (or should I say arse?). He’d rather hang out at the pub than solve crimes. Thank goodness for Jack.
The case that the detective is assigned occurs during the holidays, making the circumstances of the crime bittersweet. And being the mensch he is, Jack is determined to bring about a happy ending for all—especially the abandoned baby. She’s touched his heart more than he realized.
If you like a crime thriller with a heart, I suggest checking out Hey You, Pretty Face. In DC Jack Rutherford, Linda Coles has created a stellar character. And we all wish existed to solve even the most heinous crimes and bring about sweet justice.
Book Description
An abandoned baby. Three girls stolen in the night. Two connected cases?
London, Winter, 1999. When an abandoned newborn baby is discovered, DC Jack Rutherford becomes involved.
Covering the holiday period almost singlehandedly, resources are at breaking point and he’s pushed to his limit.
While searching for the young mother, evidence of an organized crime ring almost breaks his heart leaving Jack wondering how he can put so many wrongs, right. Welcome to the human race…
Can he solve the case before the girls are lost forever?
Hey You, Pretty Face is the fifth brilliant and captivating novel featuring DC Jack Rutherford by master storyteller Linda Coles. “Move over Agatha Christie, there’s a new dame in town.†Amazon reviewer.
Where to Buy
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
More Reviews
Did you enjoy this review? Check out my other reviews here. And don’t forget to follow me at BookBub.
2021 Happy Thanksgiving
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE
DON’T FORGET THE FRANK-N-FURTERS.
November 2021 Highlights and Free Fiction
Greetings. So, here’s a fun fact to amaze your friends and colleagues on your next Zoom call. Apparently, spiders can suffer from arachnophobia, too. Researchers did a study using jumping spiders and found they had an innate ability to avoid other predator spiders—even if they’ve never encountered them before. The original Spidey-Sense, I guess.
How do you deal with spiders? I trap them and escort them outside. So far, I haven’t run into anything like this.
Free Fiction
In honor of Thanksgiving here in the US, I thought I’d share with you a food-related short story. If you’re thinking there’s some horror angle, forget it. There is, however, some sweet revenge. Enjoy.
THE FINAL SOUP
Marta Gutiérrez de Alma had been cooking soup for days. She told her friend Teresa that this was going to be the best soup she ever made. What she didn’t say is that it would be her last.
To be honest, she hadn’t been right since her husband Cinto went off with “that woman.†Making soup, people felt, was her way of keeping herself occupied. And they had approved at first.
Marta’s mother Juanita became alarmed when she discovered that the children hadn’t been bathed in days. The house was filthy, and there was no food in the kitchen—except for the damned soup ingredients.
Something needed to be done.
So Juanita moved in with Marta, explaining to her own husband that it was the only way to save her grandchildren from turning into criminals. They were five and seven.
Juanita cleaned the house, bathed the children, and did the dishes while Marta went out shopping for only the freshest ingredients to make her amazing soup.
Marta bought ranch-fresh chickens and slaughtered them for their necks and gizzards. She chopped, diced, peeled, minced, and sautéed until her hands were swollen and bloody. The town felt that, even if Marta was well on her way to the loony bin, she would leave behind a soup never to be forgotten.
Finally, after seven days Marta said, “Está lista, mamá.â€
With tears in her eyes, Juanita watched her poor daughter go off to the bathroom to have a bath. As soon as she heard the sound of water running and Marta singing a lively canción, she found a spoon and tasted the soup. It was magnificent.
Books to Enjoy
Ready for some new mysteries and thrillers? Check out the Twisted Mysteries & Fast-Paced Thrillers promotion going on until November 21, 2021.
And don’t forget to try these Fall/Winter Thriller Freebies, available until November 23, 2021.
Recommended Viewing
If you’re an Amazon Prime member and need a horror fix, check out Exorcist: The Beginning, starring the talented Stellan Skarsgård and directed by Renny Harlin. This is Father Merrin’s origin story—and wow.
Logline. Years before Father Lankester Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil’s soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa. This is the tale of Father Merrin’s initial battle with Pazuzu and the rediscovery of his faith.
Okay, I’m outta here. See you next month when I see how much Christmas candy I can stuff into my gob. Peace and love.
Book Review—Sins of the Father
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Sins of the Father is a crime thriller worthy of Walter White. There, I said it. I’ll also add that Evan Buckley is not the sharpest tool in the shed. He’s tone-deaf when it comes to women. And often, the investigator lets his emotions get in the way instead of doing the sensible thing. Good thing he has that cop, Kate Guillory, to keep him in line.
Despite his shortcomings, Evan is dogged when it comes to solving a mystery. And he has a big heart. Sure, he takes risks. But isn’t that what literary PIs are supposed to do? Sometimes, though, I wish he’d think first before leaping into the festering maw of the unknown. I mean, seriously. You could poke your eye out.
All of the characters in this book are well defined. And their motives are clear. But, though the story’s driving force is a direct path, there’s nothing straight about it when it comes to the twists and turns Evan must navigate to get to the truth. And as they say, the truth ain’t pretty.
If you enjoy edge-of-your-seat thrillers with an outstanding cast of characters, check out Sins of the Father. You won’t be sorry.
Book Description
Fifty years ago, pharmaceuticals magnate Frank Hanna got a girl pregnant. Then she disappeared. Now he’s dying with nobody to inherit his fortune – apart from his weak-willed daughter and her bullying lover, a gambler in over his head with the Russian mob, willing to do anything to save his own skin. Desperate to atone for his sins, Hanna hires maverick PI Evan Buckley to investigate, to find answers to the questions that haunt him. Did she have the baby? And if so, what happened to it?
As Evan searches for somebody who might never have existed, peeling back fifty years of lies and betrayal to uncover the tragic story hidden underneath, he faces a terrible dilemma: the closer he gets to the truth, the more he puts his quarry in danger. How can he stop himself from becoming an unwilling pawn, his dogged tenacity turned against him as he leads the ruthless mobsters to the one person who stands between them and Hanna’s fortune?
To make matters worse, Evan’s own troubled past is back with a vengeance as his nemesis, the degenerate child-killer Carl Hendricks, feeds his festering hatred from his prison cell, sending a killer intent on Old Testament-style retribution after Evan and his family.
Where to Buy
More Reviews
Did you enjoy this review? Check out my other reviews here. And don’t forget to follow me at BookBub.
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