Captivating Books to Read

Following are books for your reading pleasure, written by best-selling and award winning authors, featuring crime, mysteries, international espionage, suspense with a touch of romance and all those in between.

The Unkind Hours by Dwayne Alexander Smith - The child of a prominent couple is abducted.

Peak Democracy: Data is Power by G. D. Leon - A futuristic thriller where nothing is sacred.

The Women on Retford Drive by Alretha Thomas - The soon to be ex-husband of a past sitcom star is missing.

Psycho Ex: Revealed & Exposed by Bebe Callini - A woman sets out to destroy her ex-husband’s relationship with his new girlfriend.

Murder with Fried Chicken and Waffles (A Mahalia Watkins Mystery) by A. L. Herbert - A shady businessman is found murdered in the kitchen of a popular restaurant he co-owns.

In Service to the Senator by Shakir Rashaan - The wife of a vice-presidential candidate is abducted.

Bullets (Book l) by Elijah Drive - A professional poker player sets out to prove a Mexican day laborer, who is accused of murder, is innocent.

Big Slick (Book 2) by Elijah Drive - An ethical contract killer is hired to kill a rapper.

Vengeance by John Ling - An operative goes after the person who killed her father.

Double Illusion by Deborah Shlian - A young reporter investigates the abduction of infants three years apart in three different cities.

A Vision A Day Keeps the Killer Away by Kelly Hashway - A private investigator with physic abilities is given the assignment to locate the missing daughter of a wealthy businessman.

Never Again by Angela Sanders - A detective apprehends a serial killer who nearly made her his ninth prey.

Qualified Immunity (A Casey Cort Novel) by Aime Austin - The daughter of the first African American woman elected to a federal bench discloses a family secret that threatens her mother’s position.

Sharpe Note: Sour Grapes of Wrath by Lisa B. Thomas - A crime reporter and her husband are drawn into solving a suicide, which may end up being a murder case.

Mine (A Kate Hamilton Mystery) by Fiona Quinn - A CSI intern uses her skills to collect evidence when two teenagers die from a drug overdose.

Double Blind by Dan Alatorre - Two detectives pursue a vile serial killer.

Death’s Shadow by Dariel Raye and Muffy Wilson - A woman sets out to find the killer of her fraternal twin sister.

The Missing by Terry Keys - A PI assists the police in catching a methodical serial killer.

Grayout by Bill Hargenrader - A boy bullied in school creates an unreal ally that has horrible repercussions.

Beach Traffic by Judith Lucci - Two federal agents are investigating a vicious murder on the beach and the disappearance of five women.

Love Thy Sister by Maria Grazia Swan - A woman comes upon a family secret that turns her life topsy-turvy.

Widows | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

From Academy Award®-winning director Steve McQueen ("12 Years a Slave") and co-writer and bestselling author Gillian Flynn ("Gone Girl") comes a blistering, modern-day thriller set against the backdrop of crime, passion, and corruption. "Widows" is the story of four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities. Set in contemporary Chicago, amid a time of turmoil, tensions build when Veronica (Oscar® winner Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo) take their fate into their own hands and conspire to forge a future on their own terms. "Widows" also stars Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya, Lukas Haas and Brian Tyree Henry. 

In Theaters November 16, 2018

New York State Senate Passes Bill Outlawing "Revenge Porn"

The New York Senate recently passed legislation criminalizing “revenge porn.” The bill sponsored by Senator Joseph Griffo (R-C-I, Rome), would establish the crime of non-consensual dissemination of sexually explicit images, also known as “revenge porn.”

Senator Griffo said, “In an era of increased text messaging, social networking, and emailing, people in intimate relationships sometimes share pictures with each other, some of which may be sexually explicit in nature. However, recipients of these images do not always keep the images private and have the ability to widely disseminate the photos on the Internet. Posting these photographs online should be a crime because it damages the reputations and potentially the wellbeing of the victims, who are routinely threatened with sexual assault, harassed, or fired from jobs.”

Revenge porn is often committed via the internet, sometimes with disparaging descriptions and identifying details, and in an effort to maximize damage against victims. New York’s current distribution of unlawful surveillance only governs photographs taken without the subject’s consent. This bill would make it a class A misdemeanor to disseminate photographs that are captured consensually, oftentimes as part of an intimate, private relationship which are later disclosed by an individual without the consent of the individual photographed.

In addition to this measure, the Senate passed a variety of measures to safeguard individuals and families by creating new crimes, increasing penalties, and giving law enforcement necessary tools to combat abuse and exploitation.

For additional information on protecting children and individuals from exploitation, click here.

Books That Make Wonderful Last Minute Gifts

With the holidays upon us, we thought we would list some great novels, memoirs, and short stories representing a myriad of authors and genres. And if you are looking for some last-minute gift ideas, you may want to consider giving one or more of these memorable reads to the special people in your life. To purchase any of these books on Amazon, just click on the title. Enjoy and happy reading.

My Heart in Seoul and its sequel, Meet Me Under The Lavender Sky by Sydney Arrison - Touching romance stories.

The Racketeer by John Grisham - A page-turning plot with a blend of murder, suspense, and righteousness.

Hold Me in Contempt by Wendy Williams - An engaging and compelling interracial romance novel.

Cross My Heart by James Patterson (The Alex Cross Series) - A page-turning psychological thriller.

Little Green by Walter Mosley (The Easy Rollins Collection) - Urban fiction at its best.

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup - A must read memoir.

In Strict Confidence by Dwayne Joseph - A cat and mouse crime novel.

Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith - An intriguing suspense tale.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin - A realistic crime story.

A Daughter’s Rage by Ronald Gordon - A spellbinding paranormal tale.

Dead on Arrival by Dorothy Simpson - A whodunit murder mystery.

66 Million $ Fiction by Brenny Foster - A well written short story with a powerful message.

Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman - A murder mystery bringing together two Navajo detectives.

NeuroLoveology: The Power To Mindful Love & Sex by Dr. Ava Cadell - A great reference to Understanding Love, Sex and Intimacy.

The Screen Conspiracy by Maxwell Black - A crime story linking politics, law enforcement and the tech world.

The Black Count by Tom Reiss - A well written biography on Thomas-Alex Dumas, who The Count of Monte Cristo written by his son, Alexandre Dumas, is based on.

Deception in Plain Sight by Vivienne Diane Neal - A crime story with a twist.

Virtual Book Tour - Ultimate Fear by Kristine Mason

Kristine will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to 5 randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter during the tour.

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

BLURB: 

When a deranged mother's grief drives her to replace her dead son over and over, obsession leads to murder...

Chicago detective Jessica Donavan will never stop looking for her missing daughter. Her obsession has destroyed her marriage, but the search is the only thing that helps keep her sane and her mind off of everything she’s lost—her husband and her baby girl. When she uncovers a string of unsolved disappearances and reappearances of a number of baby boys, Jessica turns to her soon to be ex, Dante Russo, a former Navy SEAL turned investigator for the private agency, CORE, to help her fit together the pieces in this perplexing puzzle. But as Dante helps her, she realizes just how much she still craves his support—and his touch.

Dante is still in love with his wife and would do anything to have her back in his life again. He’s been miserable since she left him to deal with the grief over their daughter’s abduction, never understanding how much he grieves as well. When Jessica tells him about the case she’s working, he jumps at the chance to take part in her investigation. He's hoping not only to save their marriage and ease his personal pain over the loss of their daughter, but to stop a serial kidnapper from taking another victim.

As Jessica and Dante work side by side, pregnant women begin to turn up missing or dead, and they start to uncover the consequences of another woman's unfathomable grief. The childless mother doesn’t just want a baby. She wants a newborn straight from the womb.

And when forced to confront the dark and twisted perversion of a mother's obsession, can Jessica and Dante find their lives again…or merely more death?

EXCERPT:

(Hero’s POV)

As Dante entered the six-story brick apartment building, he thought back to the day he’d first met Jessica. He’d been twenty-three, in his fourth year with the Navy and on a two-week leave. His dad had owned a used car dealership just outside of Chicago, and he’d gone there that day to hang out and check out the new inventory. Jessica had stopped by looking for something inexpensive and reliable. Before his dad or any of the other salesmen could pounce on her, he had. Growing up around the dealership he knew cars, so pretending to be a salesman hadn’t been difficult. The thing was, he couldn’t have cared less if she’d bought a car from his dad, he’d been more interested in acquiring her phone number. Man, she’d been something else. Those eyes of hers had had him tongue-tied. They’d reminded him of an Olive Matuka fishing fly, dark brown with flecks of olive green. Her long and wavy dark blond hair had emphasized her eyes and that smile…

He reached her apartment door. Damn, he missed that smile. He missed everything about her. The press of her naked body against his. Kissing her, holding her, loving her. He shoved the memories he’d been clinging to aside. Their marriage shouldn’t have to end. They were stronger than that, and after knowing and loving her for nearly seventeen years, he couldn’t picture not having her in his life. But he had no choice. Self-preservation demanded that he give up the fight and let her go before they ended up hating each other.

With that last thought in mind, he knocked on her door. After giving her a few minutes to answer, he called her cell. Before he broke into her apartment, he wanted to make sure she was indeed MIA. Otherwise she’d probably raise holy hell for invading her space uninvited. Since she’d never asked him inside before, he suspected there were things she didn’t want him to know about. Like how much her search for their daughter had escalated into a full-blown obsession.

When she didn’t answer his call, he opened up his lock pick kit and went to work. Twenty years ago, he’d never thought he’d be adept at picking a lock. Who knew it would take working as a criminal investigator to master breaking and entering.

The lock gave. He pocketed his tools, then turned the knob. His stomach tightened again. If Jessica was keeping secrets, now was his chance to discover them.

He inched his way into the small apartment, then froze. “Is that thing loaded?” he asked Jessica and eyed the .38 Special she pointed at his head.

* * * *

AUTHOR BIO:

Kristine Mason, Author

I didn’t pick up my first romance novel until I was in my late twenties. Immediately hooked, I read a bazillion books before deciding to write one of my own. After the birth of my first son I needed something to keep my mind from turning to mush, and Sesame Street wasn’t cutting it. While that first book will never see the light of day, something good came from writing it. I realized my passion and found a career I love.

When I’m not writing contemporary romances and dark, romantic suspense novels (or reading them!) I’m chasing after my four kids and two neurotic dogs.

JOIN THE AUTHOR’S NEWSLETTER AND HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO WIN A $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD AT www.kristinemason.net

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Coming Soon: Deception in Plain Sight, A Novel by Vivienne Diane Neal

Author: Vivienne Diane Neal

Genre: Crime, Hoaxes and Scandal

Release Date: Fall 2014

Synopsis:

What happens when Christine Bailey, a young woman from an affluent family, believes she has met the man of her dreams, only to discover she has been living in a fool’s paradise? The handsome, charming, and cunning Awesome Petté will not only awaken her sexual inhibitions but will draw her into his sinister plot, which will ruin her financially and obliterate her parents’ billion dollar empire that has been in the family for four generations.

Prologue:

Alone in her majestic manor, Christine Petté knew something was wrong when she came home to an empty house and found a beautiful small chest on her husband’s desk. The wooden box, with its intricate handcraft patterns and sparkling gems, reminded her of a piece that one would find at an auction house or in a museum. 

She never questioned her husband’s business affairs, but some strange occurrences got her wondering about him, his business, and his inner circle of friends.

There were bizarre phone calls all hours of the night, secret meetings with individuals she never knew or met and packages delivered to the house by scary looking messengers. Then, someone broke into the house while she and her husband were dining at a restaurant in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

Her husband’s office was the only room ransacked. Furnishings, papers, and DVDs were scattered all over the place, but the intruder, as far as she knew, took nothing. Two thousand dollars in cash, a Cartier watch, and gold coins worth over five thousand dollars were in his top desk drawer, which were all visible to the naked eye. 

“Honey, what were they looking for, and how could they have missed those items, which were in plain sight?” she asked, reaching for her cell phone.

As she was getting ready to dial 911, her husband grabbed the phone out of her hand. “There is no need to call the police. It is Halloween; it was probably some kids playing a practical joke. Instead of adorning the house with raw eggs and toilet paper, they decided to remove the spare key from under the doormat, let themselves in and rummage through my office.  Nothing is missing. There is no need to get the police involved.”

A spare key under the doormat; this is news to me, Christine thought.

Some neighbors did leave their doors unlocked and would place an extra key under the mat or hide it in a flower bin. There were occasional break-ins, but major crimes rarely occurred on the quiet block.

She decided not to pursue the matter.  Her husband’s tone, body language and demeanor made it quite clear. 

Leave well enough alone. Let sleeping dogs lie dead.

The kind of business her husband was into might have been the reason for the break-in.

Maybe the prowler thought there were pieces worth stealing, she told herself.

He owned a shop, which sold second-hand junk. Often he would bring items home to restore before offering them to customers.

Since the Great Depression, the economy was in the pits. At the same time, gentrification was spreading throughout the borough like locusts circling cornfields, and high-end shops and restaurants were replacing mom-pop establishments. If three customers came into her husband’s shop, it was considered a good day.

Why someone would come into a home just to poke around and not steal a timepiece, coins, and cash, all worth over eight thousand dollars, did not make any sense to her.

But if Mrs. Petté thought these events were out of the ordinary, she would soon receive a wake up call that will send her into a hellish tailspin, leaving her asking: How could I have missed the deception my husband was exhibiting in plain sight?

Excerpts and purchase link will be coming soon.

In the meantime, check out her other books at the following links:

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Introducing Eliza Daly, Author of Identity Crisis

Eliza Daly, Author

Eliza Daly’s first attempt at creative writing was in fourth grade. She and her friends were huge Charlie’s Angels fans and she would sit in her bedroom at night writing scripts for them to act out at recess the following day. She was Kelly Garrett. Fast forward to the present, she’s still writing stories about beautiful women who always get their men. The journey from fourth grade scriptwriter to published author wasn’t an easy one, but it was always an adventure and the final destination was well worth it.

When Eliza isn’t traveling for her job as an event planner, or tracing her ancestry roots through Ireland, she’s at home in Milwaukee working on her next novel, bouncing ideas off her husband Mark, and her cats Quigley, Frankie, and Sammy.

Blur:

When Olivia Doyle’s father dies under suspicious circumstances, rather than inheriting a family fortune, she inherits a new identity. She learns they were placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program when she was five years old. Her father was involved in an art forgery ring and testified against the mob. Brought up not to trust anyone, Olivia has a difficult time relying on U.S. Marshal Ethan Ryder to protect her, and to keep her secret. She fears her father may have continued his life of crime through her art gallery. She has little choice but to depend on Ethan when she realizes someone is now after her. Olivia’s search for the truth leads her and Ethan across country to a family and past she doesn’t remember.

At the age of ten, Ethan witnessed a brutal murder. He vowed when he grew up, he’d protect people in danger. Protecting Olivia is difficult when she won’t trust him. He soon realizes his desire to protect her goes beyond doing his job, but if his judgment becomes clouded by emotions, her safety could be jeopardized.

Can Ethan and Olivia learn to trust each other when they uncover secrets that will change their lives forever?

* * *

Excerpt:

The footsteps drew closer. Her breathing quickened. The intruder paused outside the door and she held her breath, a death grip on the pepper spray. The barrel of a gun appeared through the doorway, followed by a man. In that split second, she blasted him with a steady stream. 

“Shit!” he yelled, snapping his head away from the line of fire.

Unsure if she’d made a direct hit, she flew past him, still spraying the air behind her. Although it wasn’t a blanket mist, she couldn’t help but inhale some of the toxic vapors in the air. Her eyes burned slightly and she coughed, racing down the hallway and across the open foyer.

She was almost to the door when the guy yelled out in a raspy voice, “Touch that door handle and I’ll shoot it off.”

She came to a screeching halt, unsure if he planned on aiming for the handle or her hand. The blood pulsating in her ears muffled the roar of the lawn mower as it passed by near a window. Nobody would hear her scream. She eyed the security alarm keypad on the wall by the door. Two quick steps and she could hit the panic button. Two quick steps and she might get shot. She slowly turned around, her gaze locking on the gun pointed at her from the opposite side of the foyer. Sheer panic pressed against her chest, and she sucked in a deep breath. 

The guy cleared his throat. “I’m not gonna hurt you.” He cautiously lowered the gun, but didn’t holster it. “Unless you spray that crap again.” He blinked rapidly and ran a hand up over the top of his head, sweeping back a clump of wet hair. Her aim had obviously been off. It was impossible to spray straight when her body was shaking uncontrollably.

The guy’s dark hair was just shy of touching his shoulders and he had a five o’clock shadow. A black T-shirt covered his broad chest and faded, relaxed fitting jeans contradicted his rigid stance. A scar across his cheekbone, and a thin one slashing his eyebrow, added to his don’t mess with me look.

“I’m Ethan Ryder with the U.S. Marshals.” The man flashed a badge, then slipped it back in his pants’ pocket.

If the mob had hunted down her dad, who was to say it hadn’t been through a U.S. Marshal snitch? He’d trusted Roy Howard, not Ethan Ryder. Maybe he wasn’t even with the U.S. Marshals. Rather coincidental that he showed up right after a robbery.

“I assume you’re Olivia Doyle?”

At the back of her mind she heard her dad’s voice. Don’t trust him, Livvy. Be leery of people you know and certainly don’t trust someone you don’t know.

* * *

Eliza will be awarding a one $20 Amazon or B & N Gift Certificates to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or B & N Gift Certificate, winner's choice, to four (4) randomly drawn commenters during the tour. A $10 Amazon or B & N Gift Certificate, winner's choice, will be awarded to a randomly drawn host.

* * *

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Identity Crisis is available at

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Meet Stacy-Deanne, an Award-winning Mystery & Suspense Novelist

Stacy-Deanne (Dee-Anne) is an award-winning crime/mystery and interracial romance novelist. Her work has appeared in magazines such as Billboard Magazine, Blackbeat Magazine and Disilgold Soul Magazine. In 2006, she was profiled in Heather Covington's "Literary Divas: The Top 100+ African-American Women in Writing". The book was nominated for an NAACP award.

Check out her other two page-turning novels:

Everlasting (Simon and Schuster 2007) centers on two intelligent and worldly Latino teens who fight to be together despite the fact that there families are connected to rival street gangs.

Melody (Simon and Schuster 2008) is a crime/mystery & interracial romance story about a young woman who fights to prove that her sister's new boyfriend is not who he seems to be while protecting her best friend from becoming the latest victim of a serial rapist. Melody was voted one of MyShelf.com's Top Ten Reads of 2008.

Stacy will release her fourth book, "Giving Up the Ghost", the first installment of her crime/mystery and interracial romance series in 2011 with Peace in the Storm Publishing.

Sites to Visit:

Everlasting 

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