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Mystery / Thriller – Guilty Until Proven Innocent

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Mystery/Thriller

Date Published: July 17, 2020

Publisher: Blue Fortune Enterprises LLC, Cactus Mystery Press

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When Sherry and Beth discover what their boyfriends have been up to, they want in on the action. Working as vigilantes and providing justice for wrongs committed is a noble thing to do, but the women decide the stakes need to change.

Once again, the conflict is personal.

This follow-up to Roundabout Revenge follows former Professor Phil Philemon as he and his friends continue to seek elusive justice for victims who may not have been able to speak for themselves. Lurking in chat rooms, the group finds a large number of women who have been sexually harassed on the job. Sexually harassed in horrible ways. Harassed until their jobs, their reputations, and their sanity is on the line. And what they find is that the story of he said-she said is not always one that ends well.

But not everything goes as planned, and soon the four friends need to come to terms with a larger reality, including a crime of arson and an FBI investigation.

About the Author

Robert Archibald was born in New Jersey and grew up in Oklahoma and Arizona. After receiving a BA from the University of Arizona, he was drafted and served in Viet Nam. He then earned a M.S. and Ph.D in economics from Purdue University. Bob had a 41-year career at the College of William & Mary. While he had several stints as an administrator, department chair, director of the public policy program, and interim dean of the faculty, Bob was always proud to be promoted back to the faculty. He lives with his wife of 47 years, Nancy, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

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Mystery, Thriller – Tokyo Traffic

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Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series, Book 3

Mystery, Thriller

Released: June 20, 2020

Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

Running from a life she didn’t choose, in a city she doesn’t know, Sukanya,
a young Thai girl, loses herself in Tokyo. With her Bangkok street smarts,
and some stolen money, she stays ahead of her former captors willing to do
anything to recover the computer she took. After befriending Chiho, a
Japanese girl living in an internet café, Sukanya makes plans to rid herself
of her pursuers, and her past, forever.

Meanwhile, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu leaves the safe confines of his office
to investigate a porn studio where a brutal triple murder took place. The
studio’s accounts point him in multiple directions at once. Together with
ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi and old-school Takamatsu, Hiroshi tracks the
killers through Tokyo’s teen hangouts, bayside docks and crowded squares,
straight into the underbelly of the global economy.

As bodies wash up from Tokyo Bay, Hiroshi tries to find the Thai girl at
the center of it all, whose name he doesn’t even know. He uncovers a human
trafficking ring and cryptocurrency scammers whose connections extend to the
highest levels of Tokyo’s power elite.

Other Books in the Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series:

The Last Train

Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series, Book One

Published: May 2017

Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

In Tokyo, murder’s easy to hide.

Detective Hiroshi Shimizu investigates white collar crime in Tokyo. When an
American businessman turns up dead, his mentor Takamatsu calls him out to
the site of a grisly murder. A glimpse from a security camera video suggests
the killer might be a woman. Hiroshi quickly learns how close homicide and
suicide can appear in a city full of high-speed trains just a step–or a
push–away.

How do you find one woman in the biggest city in the world?

Takamatsu drags Hiroshi out to the hostess clubs and skyscraper offices of
Tokyo in search of the killer. Hiroshi goes deeper and deeper into Tokyo’s
intricate, perilous market for buying and selling the most expensive land in
the world. He teams up with ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi to scour Tokyo’s
sacred temples, corporate offices and industrial wastelands to find out why
one woman was driven to murder.

Available on Amazon

The Moving Blade

Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series, Book Two

Published: September 2018

Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

In Tokyo, the past is present. And deadly.

When the top American diplomat in Tokyo, Bernard Mattson, is killed, he
leaves more than a lifetime of successful Japan-American negotiations. He
leaves a missing manuscript, boxes of research, a lost keynote speech and a
tangled web of relations.

When his alluring daughter, Jamie, returns from America wanting answers,
finding only threats, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is dragged from the safe
confines of his office into the street-level realities of Pacific Rim
politics.

A moving blade is hidden in the blur of motion, felt but not
perceived.

With help from ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi, Hiroshi searches for the killer
from Tokyo’s back alley bars to government offices, through anti-nuke
protests to the gates of an American naval base. When two more bodies turn
up, Hiroshi must choose between desire and duty, violence or procedure,
before the killer silences his next victim.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

Michael Pronko is a Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir and music. His
writing about Tokyo life and his character-driven mysteries have won awards
and five-star reviews. Kirkus Reviews selected his second novel, The Moving
Blade for their Best Books of 2018. The Last Train won the Shelf Unbound
Competition for Best Independently Published Book.

Michael also runs the website, Jazz in Japan, which covers the vibrant jazz
scene in Tokyo and Yokohama. During his 20 years in Japan, he has written
about Japanese culture, art, society and politics for Newsweek Japan, The
Japan Times, and Artscape Japan. He has read his essays on NHK TV and done
programs for Nippon Television based on his writings.

A philosophy major, Michael traveled for years, ducking in and out of
graduate schools, before finishing his PhD on Charles Dickens and film. He
finally settled in Tokyo as a professor of American Literature at Meiji
Gakuin University. His seminars focus on contemporary novels, short stories
and film adaptations.

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Mystery Thriller – Fallerman’s Grove Omerta

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Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Publisher: Page Publishing

Fallerman’s Grove Road was the idyllic escape Lewis Fogarty
envisioned when he moved here with his wife, Donna. It was his opportunity
to leave behind a somewhat troubled past. Everything he wanted was here,
including a lot of privacy from distant yet friendly neighbors.

All was perfect until a cancer was brought into the peaceful community in
the form of Kara, Old Man Fallerman’s young bride. With her came
discord, distrust, and turmoil among the residents. She even drove a wedge
between Old Man Fallerman and his son, Ronnie.

Trouble, like a cancer, can only be allowed to get so far before it totally
destroys its host, but if removed in time, the host can be saved. Kara was
removed, but was Fallerman’s Grove Road saved?

#FallermansGroveOmerta #suspense #mystery #bookbuzz

About the Author

Daniel Gibson has written numerous short stories, but this is his initial
offering in novel form. He was born near Pittsburgh, PA, but is living in
rural upstate South Carolina with his wife Donna.

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Mystery, Thriller – Lake Effect

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A Jordan Reed Mystery

Mystery, Thriller

Release Date: May 26, 2020

Publisher: Chesterfield Press

Mysterious marina accidents. Destroyed evidence. Can a tenacious reporter decipher the twisted clues at a small-town lake?

Jordan Reed is burned out from all the attention on her previous high-profile story. But when a new lead lands in her lap, she reluctantly postpones her vacation to investigate a classic New England marina. With hundreds of dead fish washing up on Copper Lake’s otherwise pristine shores, Jordan suspects a sinister cover-up.

But by the time she arrives on the scene, she’s surprised to discover the police chief eliminated every last carcass and seems hellbent on blocking her inquiries. And her search for the culprit takes a perilous turn when gambling kingpins descend on the city and a string of unexplained calamities plague the docks.

Can Jordan expose the corruption, or will she be the next to go belly-up?

Lake Effect is the second book in the fast-paced Jordan Reed mystery series. If you like steely female sleuths, gripping action, and clever twists that’ll keep you guessing, then you’ll love K.C. Gillis’s page-turning mystery.

Buy Lake Effect to dive into dangerous waters today!

Other Books in the Jordan Reed Mystery series:

A Jordan Reed Mystery

Publisher: Chesterfield Press

Published: February 2020

Strange symptoms. Bloody secrets. Can one reporter solve a medical mystery before she ends up in a body bag?

Jordan Reed put her world on hold to hunt down corruption. So when the gutsy journalist gets tipped off about blood money changing hands at a pharmaceutical factory, she dives into the story. With an otherwise healthy worker dropping dead of multiple organ failure, Jordan suspects something far more sinister than a simple accident…

Daring to go up against big pharma, she gains an ally on the inside and recruits two friends to join the investigation. But after a string of false leads and tight-lipped witnesses, she ties her case to disturbingly similar evidence in a medical trial on the other side of the globe. And if she doesn’t expose the lethal conspiracy soon, Jordan is terrified she and her team could be the next victims of the lethal cover-up.

Can Jordan take down a greedy corporation before they sacrifice more lives in the drive for profit?

Toxic Deception is the first book in the gripping Jordan Reed thriller series. If you like tenacious heroines, underdog stories, and edge-of-your-seat action, then you’ll love K.C. Gillis’s page-turning tale.

Buy Toxic Deception to unravel a contagious mystery today HERE!

About the Author

K.C. (Kevin) Gillis is the author of the Jordan Reed mystery series. Despite being a lifelong lover of stories and books, writing took a distant back seat as his professional career travelled through the Canadian Air Force, a decade as a chemist, followed by a long and continuing run in corporate America. With writing no longer in the back seat (but not quite yet in the front seat), Kevin now has the Jordan Reed series well underway. His personal interests focus on endurance and water sports. Having grown up in the Canadian Maritimes, he now lives in the US northeast.

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Mystery – Murder Knows No Boundaries

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JD Pickens Mysteries, Book 3

Mystery, Murder Mystery

Published: December 2019

Publisher: Gatekeeper Press

Sometimes routine wasn’t always routine as Sheriff JD Pickens, and his deputies learned. What was supposed to be a routine 911 call ended up costing Pickens a deputy and turned out to be a double homicide. One that was outside the realm of humanity. Pickens was forced to divide his team and call for help from two retired homicide detectives. Not since a psychopath went on the warpath with a shotgun had there been such bloodshed in the county leaving scars that would last a long time.

Other Books in the JD Pickens Mystery Series:

Descent Into Hell

JD Pickens Mysteries, Book 1

Published: July 2017

With a population of just twelve thousand, Creek City is a sleepy rural town in Central Florida. Folks live there because life is simple and peaceful; but once dead bodies start turning up, Creek City is anything but.

Underprepared and undermanned, the county sheriff’s office scrambles to stop the bloodshed, but the killer is always one step ahead. Sheriff J. D. Pickens, usually a steady hand, loses patience as clue after clue results in a dead end and another corpse turns up. When Pickens gets close to the truth, the killer threatens Pickens’s own family, making this murder investigation personal. Anger, terror, and tenacious police work clash in a surprise ending that will leave readers breathless.

Descent into Hell is a thriller that will make you lock your doors and bar your windows. Big cities may be filled with crime, but it’s easier to get away with murder in rural areas. The silence of the countryside is not always comforting; it can also be a reminder of how alone you are—and how unlikely it is that anyone will hear you scream.

Buy it On Amazon

Murder on Grange Road

JD Pickens Mysteries, Book 2

Published: May 2019

Quail hunting in Central Florida was supposed to be an exciting experience. But lately, for Bo Tatum, the owner of Tatum’s Hunting Resort off Grange Road near Lake Azur, it had been a disaster. Instead of his dogs flushing out birds, they’d been digging up human bodies.

Sheriff JD Pickens and County Medical Examiner, Dr. Marge Davids, were planning a festive holiday season. But their plans were put on hold thanks to Tatum’s discoveries. Undermanned and ill-equipped in a city and county where such things rarely happened, Pickens and Davids will need to muster all the ingenuity they can to solve the mysteries of the bodies, including getting help from an expert in forensic science.

With clues scarce and few leads, Pickens and Davids had to rely on unconventional methods as a last resort. When tempers started to flare during the investigations, Pickens had to use every ounce of patience he could muster to stay calm and in control.

Buy it on Amazon

About the Author

George Encizo is an award-winning author and has written seven novels. Murder Knows No Boundaries is his latest. Encizo is a retired banker and lives in Tallahassee, Florida. When not writing, he enjoys a cup of coffee on the back porch with his wife surveying their gardens.

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Mystery – Venom!

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Mystery

Publisher: Tekrighter, LLC

Date Published: 1 March, 2020

A spooky mansion in the Georgia mountains with an outrageous cast of characters. Spiders, snakes, meth-heads and serial killers, oh my! Venom! ain’t your average gothic mystery, folks.

But who would expect it to be when Natalie McMasters is involved? She’s fallen madly in love with two people—her wife, Lupe, and Danny, her partner at the 3M Detective Agency. Rather than choose one of them as her life partner, she’s decided to have them both, and roped them into a relationship retreat in rural Georgia to learn how to live as a polyamorous family.

But Nattie finds more than she bargained for in the sleepy town of Greypeak. A methamphetamine operation. A snake-handling preacher. A retired FBI agent hunting a serial killer. And a charismatic psychologist who just might have his own agenda for his clients.

Nattie ultimately finds herself in the most dangerous situation she’s ever faced, which may well solve her relationship problems by costing her life. Is this really the last book in the Natalie McMasters series?

About the Author

Thomas A. Burns, Jr. is the author of the Natalie McMasters Mysteries. He was born and grew up in New Jersey, attended Xavier High School in Manhattan, earned B.S degrees in Zoology and Microbiology at Michigan State University and a M.S. in Microbiology at North Carolina State University. He currently resides in Wendell, North Carolina. As a kid, Tom started reading mysteries with the Hardy Boys, Ken Holt and Rick Brant, and graduated to the classic stories by authors such as A. Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Erle Stanley Gardner and Rex Stout, to name a few. Tom has written fiction as a hobby all of his life, starting with Man from U.N.C.L.E. stories in marble-backed copybooks in grade school. He built a career as technical, science and medical writer and editor for nearly thirty years in industry and government. Now that he’s truly on his own as a novelist, he’s excited to publish his own mystery series, as well as to contribute stories about his second most favorite detective to the MX anthology of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.

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Murder Mystery – Coyote Alibi

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A Public Library Association 2019 regional award winner

No-nonsense rookie paralegal Naomi Manymules pauses on a lakeside clifftop to enjoy a moonlit moment and hears someone swimming far below. When something loudly shatters the quiet – firecrackers, maybe? – she heads for home. The next day she learns that a lifelong friend is now a prime murder suspect, because her sleazy, abusive husband has turned up naked and dead in a boat on the lake. When her friend can offer only a coyote as her alibi, the police aren’t inclined to look much further. Undaunted, Naomi and her new boss, Grant Carson, launch an investigation of their own. With wicked humor and a big helping of snark, they navigate through a colorful assortment of petty criminals, surly teenagers, prominent locals, likable polygamists, and a big-city mobster or two. It’s only a matter of time before they become targets themselves.

Reader Reviews

“An enjoyably twisty mystery with appealing characters and a vivid setting” Kirkus Reviews

“The writing here is clever, crisp, and consistent.” Critic’s Report, Book Life

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About the Authors:

J. & D. Burges are an award-winning husband-and-wife writing team. Having lived for many years on the edge of the Navajo Nation, they write with cheerful authority about open spaces, big lakes, and the unique mix of cultures captured in their Sage Landing stories. Coyote Alibi is a Public Library Association 2019 regional winner in fiction.

Their mysteries are now hatched in a cottage in the woods near a lake. It’s a great place to plot light-hearted homicides, capers, scams, and other fictional mischief. When they’re not doing that or working out, they might be dancing a foxtrot or tango. There’s also some knitting and woodworking going on.

Find J. & D. Burges Online: