Saturday, June 28, 2025

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Echoes on the Wind (Maggie O'Shea Suspense, #4) by Helaine Mario

Echoes on the Wind by Helaine Mario Banner

ECHOES ON THE WIND

by Helaine Mario

June 23 - August 1, 2025 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Echoes on the Wind by Helaine Mario

THE MAGGIE O'SHEA SUSPENSE SERIES

 

TWO STRONG WOMEN, GENERATIONS APART, CONNECTED BY MUSIC...

In 1943 war-torn France, a young woman on the Night Train to Paris has a chance meeting with two very different men who will change her life, setting in motion a Dual Timeline story that will resonate like ripples on water for generations to come.

Many years later, classical pianist Maggie O’Shea is drawn to Brittany by a long-lost letter from her French grandmother and the stirring music of Chopin, whispering like echoes across the years. But as Maggie discovers the secrets of her past, her life spirals out of control, threatening her upcoming wedding and those she loves.

Set against the backdrop of World War II France, Maggie learns her grandmother’s story, chord by chord, through Chopin’s emotional Preludes. And, in one shocking moment, Maggie’s love story will take a heart-breaking turn that will change her life and echo into her future.

Past and present converge in this haunting tale of loss and sacrifice, friendship and family, courage and survival – and the transcendent power of hope, music and love.

Praise for Echoes on the Wind:

"History, mystery and music. I love this series."
~ Ellen Kirschman, Author of the award-winning Dot Meyerhoff mysteries

"I am loving it. Your lovely words are my path back to reading. Thank you."
~ Book Reviewer, The Reading Frenzy

"Echoes on the Wind stands alone as a beautiful story… Beyond this is layered a second story of enduring love, of commitment. This story is set in another time and place. A story of family. The two stories are linked by family through time… healing, forgiveness and resolution are finally able to happen. Through all of this, the thread that held it together is the music, the art, and the poetry of the heart that poured forth."
~ Karen Laird, Reviewer, Shade Tree Book Reviews

"Echoes on the Wind presents two love stories – one in the present day and one during World War II. It’s easy to root for Maggie and Michael as the main couple (and Clair and Charles in the past). This book is exemplary in its choice of topic or theme of the story. It is unique but still has strong appeal for most readers in its intended genre."
~ Writers’ Digest Reviewer

"In this book, readers embark on a poignant journey through the past and the present. Maggie’s story is a careful examination of how one’s ancestral past can influence their present. Most of all, it is a story of female fortitude. Both Maggie and Clair find a strength within themselves that neither of them knew they possessed. Additionally, the incorporation of classical music in the novel is refreshing. This focus is a reminder of the unifying and healing power of the arts, music, and literature. The poetic writing makes this book even more gripping, as readers are completely swept up in Maggie and Clair’s experiences."
~ RECOMMENDED by the US Review

"Once again, Maggie O’Shea, is the central character, but this entry in the series features a dual timeline that will captivate the reader. Both the contemporary, present-day storyline and the historical thread set in World War II France are so authentically depicted that readers will struggle to determine which setting they enjoy more. Watching how these two plots weave and intermingle continues to surprise, with echoes being the perfect symbolic image. Light the fireplace, put Chopin’s Preludes on the stereo, and settle in for a gripping read you won’t soon forget."
~ Kristopher Zgorski, BOLOBooks.COM

Book Details:

Genre: Romantic Suspense
Published by: Suncoast Publishing
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Number of Pages: 364
ISBN: 9781735184975 (ISBN10: 1735184977)
Series: A Maggie O'Shea Romantic Suspense, Book 4
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads

The Maggie O'Shea Romantic Suspense Series:

The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario
THE LOST CONCERTO
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Dark Rhapsody by Helaine Mario
DARK RHAPSODY
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Shadow Music by Helaine Mario
SHADOW MUSIC
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Read an excerpt:

OVERTURE

“Like so many things that matter, it began with an accident.”
David Ignatius, 12/28/98

NOVEMBER, 1943. THE NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS

Light and dark.

The bleak November landscape rushed past the train’s window. Black tree branches against the dark night sky, then a sudden flash of light. Then blackness again.

The blackout had claimed the streetlamps and cottage windows. Clair Rousseau stared out the rain-streaked glass, waiting for the next glimpse of light. A lone lantern. Car headlights tilted down, a sliver of gold beyond a cracked curtain. Sheet lightning over distant hills, a glimmer of light on water. But all she saw was the blurred, pale oval of her reflection staring back at her. Dark hair scraped back, framing huge eyes beneath winged brows, sharp cheekbones, the too-wide mouth.

No hint of the emotions flowing through her, except for the deep purple shadows beneath her eyes.

The dim, four-person compartment was cold, and she pulled her coat more tightly around her body. The seat beside her was still empty, thank God. Across from her, two German officers. One asleep, snoring loudly, his hands slack between thick gray-green uniformed knees. The other awake, a Gauloises cigarette clamped between thin lips, a jagged line of white scars marring his left cheek. The narrow fox-like face stared at her through thick round glasses and wreathes of curling blue smoke. His jacket was heavy with insignia, oak leaves, medals. Military Intelligence, she thought with a sudden chill. A high rank, SD or Abwehr. What was he thinking?

The watchful, unblinking eyes made her afraid. Like a snake’s eyes, waiting to strike. She looked away, forcing herself not to reach for her satchel, touch her identity papers for reassurance.

The carriage’s glassed door slid back and forth with an unnerving rattle as the train rocked around a bend. From the hallway came the sharp scent of burning coal, wafting back from the old steam engine several cars ahead. A cloud of steam billowed past the window like sudden fog.

She could feel the vibration beneath her, hear the rumble of the train’s wheels speeding along the tracks. The lonely call of a train whistle, echoing in the night. A quick flare of light, illuminating the rain like silver threads streaming down the window.

Light and dark. Light and dark.

Movement at the edge of her vision. A tall figure appeared in the hallway, beyond the door. Her chest tightened. Would she ever feel safe again?

A sharp crack of thunder, a sudden bright flash lighting her face.

“Mademoiselle Clair?”

Startled, her head came up. The stranger had stopped, was staring into the compartment. Across from her, the watchful German stiffened and slid pale eyes toward the voice.

Be careful.

There was something familiar about the gaunt face, the faint, questioning smile just visible above a thick woolen scarf. She stood quickly, stepping between the German and the carriage door to block the officer’s view.

Oui,” she said softly, peering into the dim hallway. The man nodded and moved closer. Something about those gentle eyes, the arch of silver brows. Memory surged. Father Jean-Luc.

She flashed him a warning glance for silence and stepped into the train’s narrow corridor, closing the door firmly behind her. “Mon Père, is it really you?”

Oui, ma petite, c’est moi.” The priest pulled the scarf down to offer a glimpse of his white Roman collar, then lost his smile as he gazed over her shoulder and saw the Germans. “But we cannot talk here. Come with me.”

He slipped a hand beneath her elbow and guided her to the end of the dark passageway, where an open exit door led across shifting metal plates to the train’s next car. She felt the sudden bite of night wind on her face, cold and wet with mist. Here the clatter of the train wheels was loud enough to hide their conversation.

They sheltered just inside the doorway, in the shadows, away from the rain. Outside, the countryside of France rushed by, then disappeared in a billow of black smoke. In the dim corridor, the planes of the priest’s face were lit by a tiny, flickering overhead bulb.

Light and dark. Light and dark.

The priest looked down at her, shook his head. “Little Clair Rousseau,” he murmured. “Now such a beautiful young woman. It’s been – what? – four years since we met? You were just thirteen, I think. Playing the piano in your parents’ apartment. Bach, yes? It was so beautiful, so stirring. I hope you are still playing?”

She shook her head. “You need hope to create music, Père.” She looked back toward her carriage compartment. The hallway was empty. “But I remember that day. The war was coming. You asked us to help you remove the stained-glass windows from Sainte-Chapelle. To save them from the bombing.”

“You were fearless, Clair. I remember watching you, swaying at the top of that impossibly high ladder. The morning light was coming through the stained glass, spilling over you like shimmering jewels. I’ll never forget it. I told myself, Clair means light, she is perfectly named.”

He leaned down. “And I can still see your sister, Elle – too young to help us, bien sûr – dancing around the altar.”

Her expression softened. “Elle loved to dance. It was the last happy day I can remember.” She lifted her eyes to his, took a breath. “Paris was another lifetime, Père.”

“You cannot lose hope,” he told her. “The glass pieces are in a safe place. Beauty and goodness cannot be destroyed. You will see the stained-glass windows back in Sainte-Chapelle when the war is over. I know it.”

She shook her head. “I wish I had your faith.”

“God has his plans. There is a reason we’ve met by chance on the night train to Paris.” Concern flashed in his eyes. “But you’ve been in Brittany? Dangerous times for a young woman to be traveling alone, Clair.”

She looked out at the black trees rushing past the doorway, and felt the blackness deep in her heart. “I am alone now, Père.”

Mon Dieu. What happened?”

“My father knew that war was inevitable. Not long after we saved the glass my parents moved us from Paris to the coast near Saint-Malo to be safe. Such irony. They had no idea how dangerous Brittany would become. And then…”

She could not stop the sudden rush of tears that filled her eyes. “The Gestapo shot my father last year, in a retaliation roundup for an act of sabotage by the Resistance. He was with the Liberty Network, they had bombed a train track. He stepped forward, admitted it, hoping to save the others. But still they took thirty innocent people from our village, murdered them in the square.”

“Oh no, Clair.” The priest made a quick sign of the cross. “I am so sorry. And your mother, your sister?”

“I don’t know, Père. I was studying in Paris, I begged them to come stay with me. But Maman refused. When I returned last month to see them, the house was empty. They were just… gone. The neighbors said the Germans took them, in the night. The mayor was told they were being relocated to Poland.”

The priest paled. “Désolé. I will pray for their souls.”

Anger erupted, spilled out. “Prayers did not help my family! I have no time for prayer now. Or sorrow. Even avenging my father will have to wait. I need all my energy now to find my mother and my sister.”

He bent toward her. “I am afraid you are still too fearless for your own good. Tell me what you’re doing, little one.”

She turned once more to scan the dark hallway, then leaned closer. “I excelled in languages in my lycée studies these last years,” she whispered. “I am fluent in several languages, including German and English. I hope to find a new job, in the Hotel Majestic in Paris, where the German High Command is quartered. Then I will join the Resistance, find a way to get news of Maman and Elle. I must find them!”

He gazed down at her for a long moment, then put a hand on her shoulder.

“Perhaps I know of another way,” he murmured.

The sound of a door opening. Wavering shadows spilled into the train’s corridor. Then the red glow of a cigarette, a spiral of smoke. She froze as the German officer turned toward them.

“Find me at Èglise Saint-Gervais, in the Marais,” the priest whispered quickly. “I am with the Resistance there. You could work with me, we need someone like you to –”

A sudden terrifying screech of metal wheels. Clair felt herself thrown to the floor as the train braked, slammed to a shuddering stop. Stunned, Clair reached out, felt the still body of the priest beside her. “Mon Père…

Shouts in German in the darkness, the clatter of heavy boots. When she raised her head she saw flashing blue lights against the night sky.

Light and dark. Light and dark.

PART 1

“An echo of the past…”
Victor Hugo

CHAPTER 1

THE PRESENT
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, MARTHA’S VINEYARD

Light and dark.

The stage was shadowed, lit only by a handful of overhead lights. One of the lights began to flicker, a bright flash illuminating Maggie O’Shea’s face for a brief moment, then casting her into darkness.

Maggie sat at the Bechstein grand piano, marveling at the power, the responsive touch, the unique tone of the beautiful instrument. Prokofiev deserves no less, she thought.

The score propped above the keyboard was marked by penciled notations, heavy lines, arrows and slashes. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was the ultimate challenge for a pianist, but Maggie had chosen it because it was so emotional, so personal. So incredibly beautiful.

It has the most to say, she thought.

And, oh, she had so much she wanted to say. Always, since she’d been a young child whose bare feet did not yet reach the pedals, she had spoken through her music. Told the piano her secrets long before she told anyone else.

Her earliest memory was of being curled beneath the grand piano, listening to her mother play, surrounded – cradled – by music. Then later, sitting on the piano bench by her mother’s side. The smoothness of the keys beneath tiny fingers, the sound that seemed to magically flow from her shoulders to her fingertips. Seeing the colors, making the piano sing. Making the rest of the world disappear.

But this piece – face it, every piece lately – was giving her trouble. Something, some emotion, was just out of reach. Her mentor, the legendary pianist Gigi Donati, would say she was taking the easy way out by mastering technique but not the emotion. She could hear Gigi’s smoky, exasperated voice in the shadows. No, no, no! You are not growing, Maggie, your music is lifeless. Imagine you are kissing your lover goodbye for the last time. What do you feel? Now, again!

Maggie sighed. She had been playing the first movement for an hour, with nary a lover in sight. Without Espressivo, as Gigi would demand. She would say, You don’t know the music yet. Take the time. Grow with the music. Illuminate its secrets. Make it yours.

The light high above the stage flickered again, slipping her out of the light into darkness.

Light and dark, thought Maggie. The story of my music. The story of my life.

She closed her eyes, took a deep, shaky breath, and began to play the next phrase of music.

Look into the heart of the music, whispered Gigi from behind her. Find its light. Find its soul.

A few more chords, and suddenly Maggie’s fingers stiffened, locked, slipped off the keys. Shaking her head, she gathered the sheet music and dropped it to the bench.

I just can’t, Gigi. I know what’s wrong, why I can’t play. I just don’t know how to fix it.

But deep down, she did know. What she needed was to feel. But once again, part of her was frozen.

You will not give up, she told herself. You have so much joy waiting for you. Raising her left hand to stretch tensed tendons, the engagement ring on her finger flashed emerald in the theater lights.

The flash of emerald green in a shadowed cabin. The memory washed over her and once again she was back in the moment. She saw Michael’s face, as craggy and strong as the mountains he loved, his granite eyes locked on hers.

What are you doing, Michael?

It’s called offering you a ring, Maggie. The color of your eyes, the color of the mountains. It’s been hidden in my sock drawer for months.

I know it’s a ring. I mean… What are you doing?

Jumping off a cliff, it seems. Don’t make me get down on one knee, darlin’. I’ll never get back up.

Silver eyes blazing like a torch. Marry me, Maggie.

I… You… Oh, Love.

I’ll take that as a yes, ma’am.

She smiled. Colonel Michael Jefferson Beckett. A man who had fallen in love with her when he didn’t want to, a man she hadn’t wanted to love back.

And yet.

It just was. Like music. And right this minute he was back in those beloved mountains of his, at his cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge. Working on a secret project, he’d told her, with Dov, the Russian teenager in his care.

She pictured the battered, rugged face she knew so well. The quirk of his mouth, the spiky silver brows, eyes like river stones locked on her. His stillness, as if he was carved from the mountains he loved. The way he listened…

Michael, standing behind her, wrapping her naked body in a woven blanket.

Michael, beneath her in the shadowed bedroom, whispering her name against her lips while her hair fell like dark rain around his face.

She breathed out in a long sigh. It had been an emotional several months but now, finally, she was letting go of the past. Moving on. Ready to marry again. To spend the rest of her life with the Colonel, Dov and their rescue Golden, Shiloh. She had never expected this gift, this second chance at love.

She shook her head, barely recognizing the woman she’d become. For so long she’d thought of herself as a city-girl. But the small cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains was becoming her center. Her home. She heard music differently in the quiet of the mountains. Listened better.

Suddenly wanting to hear Michael’s voice, she dialed his cell. Message.

“Hey you, it’s me,” she whispered. “Call me tonight, I’ll wait up. I have so much to tell you.”

If only…

If only she didn’t have to tell Michael the secret she’d been keeping from him these past few weeks. That once again, a vicious murderer was threatening all she held dear. Dane, with his scarred, wolf-like face and mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes. The one nightmare she could not put behind her.

Because now Dane was back in her life.

+ + +

Over 4,500 miles to the East, the man who called himself Dane could not sleep. Still hours before dawn, shadows lay sharp across the tiles of the villa’s bedroom, angling from the terrace doors. Dane sat in a cushioned chair, crutches propped beside him, staring out the glass at the black Aegean far below – waiting for the sun’s light to spill over the horizon and fill the dark water with gold.

A sudden shift of the moon, and he caught his breath at his reflection in the window. All the mirrors in the villa had been shattered years ago, by his own hand. As shattered as his life. Now, caught off guard, he stared at the disfigured face of the stranger wavering in the glass.

Without warning his mind flung him back several years. He had been standing in the Kennedy Center’s Grand Foyer, his French knife secure under his tuxedo jacket, when he had caught a glimpse of himself in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Tall and god-like, he’d had muscles that rippled beneath the silk, a strong carved face, flowing hair the color of wheat, streaked by the Provençal sun. A diamond in his left ear, mirrored aviator glasses that hid tiger-colored eyes. His stride had been long, fast and as powerful as the Jaguar he drove.

And then he had crossed paths with Magdalena O’Shea.

First, the badly burned hand, thanks to an encounter with Magdalena’s Colonel at a Provençal abbey. He held up his right hand, now encased in a tight black glove. Then the botched plastic surgery in Italy after being forced into hiding. The scarred, distorted face, the loss of an eye. And then, months later… He looked down at his withered legs. The fall. The sickening feeling of spinning into the void. The excruciating pain that followed. The months of unbearable physical therapy.

All because of one woman. Magdalena O’Shea.

He glanced at his Rolex. Early evening in the states. Firas should have arrived in Martha’s Vineyard by now. He smiled. Until the time came, Firas would be his legs.

The image in the glass wavered, dissolved, and Dane turned away. “For death remembered should be like a mirror,” he whispered. “Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it error.”

***

Excerpt from Echoes on the Wind by Helaine Mario. Copyright 2020 by Helaine Mario. Reproduced with permission from Helaine Mario. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Helaine Mario

Best-selling author Helaine Mario grew up in NYC and is a graduate of Boston University. Now living in Arlington, VA, this mother of two, grandmother of five, and passionate advocate for women's and children's issues came to writing later in life. Her first novel, The Lost Concerto, won the Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Medal. Echoes on the Wind is her fifth novel and the fourth in her Maggie O'Shea Classical Music Suspense Series. Royalties from her books go to children's music and reading programs. Helaine recently lost her husband, Ron, after 57 years together. Her new book echoes with loss, grief, and, ultimately, the healing power of love.

Catch Up With Helaine Mario:

HelaineMario.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub - @helainemario
Instagram - @helainemario.author
Facebook - @helaine.mario

 

 

Review of The Lost Concerto, Book One of the Maggie O'Shea Romantic Suspense series:


5 stars!

Thrilling mystery featuring a missing child and a classical music theme! 

The Lost Concerto is the first book in author Helaine Mario’s thrilling Maggie O’Shea Romantic Suspense series, and features Maggie, a grieving classical pianist, searching for her godson, Tommy, the child of her best friend, who went missing at the time of her murder. With its compelling plot, immersive settings, and well-drawn characters, I couldn’t put this book down. 

Life has often dealt Maggie O’Shea a tough hand, but the past year has been devastating with the murder of her best friend, former US diplomat Sofie Orsini on a remote island off the coast of France and the disappearance of Sofie’s young son, followed by the accidental death of her husband in a boating accident as he searched for clues to the child’s location. But when Special Agent Simon Sugarman approaches her with a clue to the child’s whereabouts out of Maggie’s own past, she knows she must go to France and follow it up herself even if it means reuniting with her first love and the father of her only son who’s been MIA/Presumed Dead for over 30 years. 

Maggie is an engaging and sympathetic heroine who, as the story opens, is barely keeping it together after the events of the previous year. She’s sunk deeply into her depression over her beloved husband’s death, steeped in guilt for having involved Jimmy, an experienced investigative reporter, in the search for Tommy and Sofie’s murderer. Due to her grief, Maggie, an acclaimed concert pianist, no longer has the will to play, but she’s determined to do anything she can to find Tommy, including traveling to France under the guise of performing at their upcoming musical events. She’s convinced the boy’s father, a man suspected of heading up and financing a deadly international terror organization, is responsible for his mother’s death. Sugarman teams her up with a retired government operative who’s facing his own demons, and their initial meeting is anything but positive. I loved watching their combative relationship turn into something completely different. 

Told from multiple points of view as our protagonists follow their meager clues and travel across the pond to France. The descriptions of the various settings are vivid and authentic, making you feel you are viewing the action from inside the scenes themselves. Throughout the book, the questions of who they can trust and what clues will bring them the answers they need to rescue the missing boy from his own father remain key to their success. 

I recommend THE LOST CONCERTO to readers of mysteries and thrillers, especially those with an interest in classical music.



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Friday, June 27, 2025

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Burying Ben (Dot Meyerhoff Mystery, #1) by Ellen Kirschman

https://partnersincrimetours.com/burying-ben-by-ellen-kirschman/ Banner

BURYING BEN

by Ellen Kirschman

June 23-29, 2025 Book Blast

Synopsis:

Burying Ben by Ellen Kirschman

The Dot Meyerhoff Mystery Series

 

As her police department’s newest hire, police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff has much to prove. No one on the force sees any reason to have a shrink on staff. When a rookie cop commits suicide, everyone blames Dot—even Dot herself. How had she missed the signs that he was at the end of his rope?

With her reputation on the line, Dot searches for answers. What she discovers is the dark underbelly of a police force that has no patience for a woman who asks too many questions. Determined to get to the truth behind the young officer’s tragic death, Dot risks losing both her job and her life. . .


Burying Ben is on Sale, June 23-29! 

Click Here and Start Reading the Series Today!



Praise for Burying Ben:

"A deftly crafted novel of compelling complexity," this first book in the mystery series featuring cop therapist Dr. Dot Meyerhoff is "absorbing".
~ Midwest Book Review

"Riveting, compelling and authentic! Ellen Kirschman’s been-there done-that experience makes this a real standout."
~ Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today-bestselling author of The House Guest

"Psychological thriller writing at its finest."
~ D.P. Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly series

"Highly satisfying . . . Perceptively treats complex racial, feminist, personal, and political issues while providing intimate knowledge of cops’ shop procedure."
~ Publishers Weekly

"Gutsy and emotionally anchored in real life."
~ Hallie Ephron, New York Times–bestselling author of Careful What You Wish For

"Ellen Kirschman is one to watch."
~ Bookreporter.com

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery, Psychological Suspense, Domestic Suspense, Amateur Sleuth, Woman Sleuth, Police Procedural
Published by: Open Road Media
Publication Date: April 23, 2024
Number of Pages: 280
ISBN: 9781504094160 (ISBN10: 1504094166)
Series: The Dot Meyerhoff Mystery Series, Book 1
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | BookBub | Open Road

The Rest of The Dot Meyerhoff Mystery Series

The Right Wrong Thing
The Right Wrong Thing, #2
The Fifth Reflection
The Fifth Reflection, #3
The Answer to His Prayers
The Answer to His Prayers, #4
Call Me Carmela
Call Me Carmela, #5


Read an excerpt:

From Chapter 1

It is a day of firsts. My first day on the job and my first dead body. Chief Baxter wants me to see it. His whole face is concentrated with the effort to make his point, as though he were explaining blood spatter analysis or the biomechanics of tasers. He is wearing gold cufflinks shaped like barbells. Short and barrel chested, he looks like a well-dressed fireplug. I can imagine him as a street cop, pugnacious and badge heavy.

“Don’t sit around your office and wait for cops to come to you. That’s why I’m giving you a car and a scanner. Get out in the field.”

He speaks in short staccato bursts as though he is transmitting over the radio, dropping any unessential words. A slight spray of saliva leaves shiny droplets on his desktop. He walks around the desk and stands close to me. I smell his pine-scented aftershave and mouthwash.

“This is why I have credibility. I make it my business to suit up and get out on the street once a month. I stay in shape. And I always carry.” He opens his jacket and shows me his shoulder holster. He is wearing “a custom fitted dress shirt that shows off the inverted triangle made by his broad shoulders and narrow waist. “Street cops are the lifeblood of this organization. The street is where I started. I’ve never forgotten that and I don’t want anyone else to.”

He leans against the edge of his desk, his arms folded over his chest. “I have a rookie on scene at a suicide. Ben Gomez. He’s been having trouble. Talk to his field training officer. See what you can do to help him. I’ve met the kid. Not my best hire, but I think he’s salvageable.” He lifts his index finger. “I’m putting a lot of faith in you, Dot. I’ve had a lot of trouble in my organization since I took over as chief. Some days I feel like Typhoid Mary. I’ve got four officers on stress leave and three on admin leave under investigation. No telling when any of them will come back to work. I have a small organization—seventy-five officers. I can’t afford to lose this rookie, too. It’s bad for morale plus my overtime budget is off the charts.”

He extends his hand to me. “It’s one thing to study us and write books about us. It’s another thing to hit the streets with us. You come highly recommended by Mark Edison. That says a lot. Most men don’t have much good to say about their former wives.”

He laughs a little too loudly. I wonder if he has an ex and, if he does, what she was like.

“So, welcome aboard. I know this is a tall order, but Dr. Edison said you’re the one for the job. Don’t disappoint me or him. Now, get in your car and get out in the field.” He opens the door to his office and shows me out.

As the new department psychologist, I am in no position to protest or to tell him that I’m scared to death because I’ve never seen a dead body before. Not even my father’s. What if I embarrass myself, faint or, God forbid, get sick to my stomach? I wonder how he expects me to suit up. Maybe I should put wheels on my “couch and tow it behind my car?

The radio traffic on my scanner crackles briskly, drowning out my thumping heart. Listening to it is a guilty pleasure, like eavesdropping. This is the best of two possible worlds, close to the action but at a safe remove– the unobserved observer listening to the breathlessness of the chase, the escalating octaves that betray fear, the barked commands, the unnatural calm of the dispatcher, and the final “Code 4” signaling that the short reign of terror has given way to hours of report writing and investigation.

I drive under a cool green canopy of old oaks. Light filters through the leaves dappling the street. Fifty years ago this old northern California neighborhood was considered the ultimate in affordable, architect-designed family houses. Now the current selling prices are beyond my reach and the reach of any Kenilworth cop, firefighter or schoolteacher. Neighbors are congregating in small worried clusters on the sidewalk in front of a uniquely shabby one story home. They watch as I park my car. I take ten slow deep breaths and step to the sidewalk. Spindly trees flank the walk that leads to the front door. The grass on either side of the cracked concrete path is brown and freckled with splotches of hard, dry dirt. The front door is open. I grit my teeth and walk in.

***

Excerpt from Burying Ben by Ellen Kirschman. Copyright 2013 & 2024 by Ellen Kirschman. Reproduced with permission from Ellen Kirschman. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Ellen Kirschman

Ellen Kirschman, Ph.D. is a police psychologist. and clinician at the First Responders Support Network. She is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, The American Psychological Association, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Public Safety Writers Association. She is the recipient of the California Psychological Association’s award for distinguished contribution to psychology as well as the American Psychological Association’s award for outstanding contribution to the practice of police and public safety psychology. Ellen brings her expertise and decades-long experience to both fiction and non-fiction. She is the author of three non-fiction books and a five-book mystery series featuring police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff.

Catch Up With Ellen Kirschman:

EllenKirschman.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub - @EllenKirschman
Instagram - @ellen.kirschman.copdoc
Facebook - @ellen.kirschman

 

 



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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Book Review: The Last Train Out of Hell by Julie Price Carpenter

The Last Train Out of HellThe Last Train Out of Hell by Julie Price Carpenter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An atmospheric setting, engaging characters, fun dialogue, and a puzzling mystery combine to create an entertaining and memorable story.

When a distracted Liz Martin stepped off a curb into the path of a bus, she never expected to find herself on a one-way train trip to Hell, but there she was. And Hell wasn’t at all what she had been led to envision; it was more of an overcrowded, soot-showered, demon-infested version of “Up Top,” all run by the overwhelmed, under-budgeted Manager of Hell named Brian.

Readers are thrust immediately into the confusion and chaos of the setting as the latest train disgorges Hell’s newest arrivals to the afterlife at Perdition City Station. The freshly disembodied are met with the nightmare of Hell’s woefully inadequate infrastructure and rigid, red-tape-ridden governmental bureaucracy comprised of endless queues and stacks of incomprehensible forms, where the smallest mistake sends the bearer to the back of the line. I love the full spectrum of creatures found there (ranked demons, devils, succubi, etc.) and their demonic names, as well as the inclusion of biblically well-known figures such as Beelzebub and Lilith, and the well-known adjacent entities like “Sam” Azrael. The cute yet hellish business and brand names were also fun (i.e., Dante’s Café, Taco Torchiere, and Ghoulies breakfast cereal).

A rule-follower by nature, Liz passively accepts her adjudication to Hell but lies awake nights searching her memories of her past for just cause and still coming up clueless. She shares her eternal life in damnation with a personally assigned demon, a catlike creature named Dennis, who upchucks or otherwise evacuates everything he ingests onto her shoes, bed, or underwear drawer. Joining her in perdition (and Perdition City) are two other recent arrivals and neighbors in her apartment building, Ellie and Theo, along with their own tiny tormentors, the little dragon, Greg, who sleeps a good 20 hours per day, and Theo’s troublesome companion, Alberta, a manic marmoset. They, too, are genuinely puzzled that their former lives merited their current situation, and together they question the more Purgatory-like nature of their existence in Perdition City. Their confusion is accompanied by the mystery of the boarded-up ticket counters at Perdition City Station, and the appearance that it wasn’t always the terminus of this Stygian railway.

On her arrival in Hell, an accidental meeting with the Manager of Hell and a sympathetic comment garners Liz, a former librarian in life, the least coveted position of Brian’s administrative assistant. However, their shared struggles to control the chaos lead to a slow-burn attraction between the two, which was a delight to watch and raised the stakes in Liz’s and her friend’s covert investigation into the history of Hell, the railway, and Satan’s contractual responsibilities. With the implied additional train routes from the station, maybe Perdition City isn’t the final destination for everyone.

With its vivid, atmospheric setting, well-drawn, engaging, and sympathetic characters, sparkling dialogue, and hopeful ramifications of the mystery of the train, I recommend THE LAST TRAIN OUT OF HELL to readers of humorous fiction and mystery.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: My Bully, My Aunt, & Her Final Gift by Harold Phifer

 

MY BULLY, MY AUNT, AND HER FINAL GIFT
by
Harold Phifer

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by
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Memoir
Publisher: BookBaby
Publication Date: February 2, 2025
Page count: 139 pages

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SYNOPSIS:


Aunt Kathy made his childhood miserable—now her funeral might just set him free. 

In this wickedly funny and deeply honest memoir, Harold Phifer revisits the chaos of growing up under the thumb of a domineering aunt who ruled with twisted wisdom and unpredictable wrath. As he plans her awkward memorial, Hal finds healing in the most unexpected place: her absence. My Bully, My Aunt, and Her Final Gift is a heartfelt journey through trauma, truth, and the strange gifts we inherit from those who hurt us most.




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READ AN EXCERPT:

Very few parishioners had vehicles, so she was an easy choice. However, accepting a ride from Aunt Kathy came at a heavy price. Passengers had to endure constant verbal assaults while present in her car. Even Jerry got involved in those character assassinations.
 
On one occasion, with both Jerry and me crammed in the back seat of Aunt Kathy’s Crown Victoria, along with a big basket of food, which we were forbidden to touch, Aunt Kathy set out to pick up Deacon Hunter.
 
As soon as the old man settled in, Jerry wasted no time repeating what he had gathered from Aunt Kathy prior to the lift. “You need to get your own car!”
 
Of course, Aunt Kathy tried to laugh it off and then replied, “Kids say the darndest things. I don’t know where my baby boy got that.”


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Harold Phifer was born in the rebellious South of Columbus, Mississippi. As a kid, he worked the streets, hustled the neighbors, and bused tables at bars he didn’t belong in. After graduating from Caldwell High School, he went on to earn degrees from Mississippi State and Jackson State Universities. He became an Air Traffic Controller in Memphis, Tennessee, but after 23 years, he sought purpose elsewhere—working as an international contractor alongside soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. After narrowly escaping the Taliban takeover in 2021, he took refuge at Guantanamo Bay and resumed his writing while continuing his work as a controller. In 2024, he returned to the Middle East, where he continues to write about life, love, and the human spirit.


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Harold Phifer will be awarding a $15 Starbucks gift card to a randomly drawn winner.


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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

NBtM Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: The Variant Conspiracy Trilogy by Christine Hart


THE VARIANT CONSPIRACY TRILOGY
by
Christine Hart

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by
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SciFi romance


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SYNOPSES:

What if the men destroying our world were doing it on purpose? The Variant Conspiracy trilogy follows 19-year-old Irina Proffer as she connects the dots between her cryptic employer's work and an international plot to transform Earth. All while she navigates love and grief, both for the first time. 

As Irina comes of age within a subculture of human mutation, she and her friends hunt a group of corporate eco-saboteurs. They discover a singular ancient evil that wants nothing more than to wipe out all life and remake our planet. As Irina pieces together visions of the future, she must figure out a way to change an outcome that seems ‌inevitable


Book 1: In Irina's Cards

Irina Proffer leaves mundane small-town life behind when she experiences visions inspired by a strange deck of tarot cards. To get answers, she travels from her northern British Columbia home to the province’s coastal capital. She quickly discovers a world of fringe genetic science and supernatural mystery.
 
Working for Innoviro Industries, Irina is drawn in by a powerful first love and compelling, yet dangerous questions about the nature of the company’s business. Meeting other ‘variants’ brings Irina closer and closer to the dark truth about her origins. She finds herself at the heart of two overlapping love triangles as she scrambles to escape her employer’s grip.
 
Before she leaves the city, Irina realizes she has merely scratched the surface of a frightening conspiracy on a global scale.

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Book 2: The Compendium

Irina and her renegade variant friends are scrambling to pick up the trail of their former employer, Ivan, and his globally catastrophic scheme. After strategically sharing their story with the media, the group heads south from Vancouver to Seattle hoping to recruit more experienced - and lethal - variants to their cause.
 
Their attention develops a laser focus on an engineered disaster mere days ahead of them. Ivan is using what staff and resources remain of Innoviro Industries to set off a violent earthquake in San Francisco. While they fight to stop the earthquake, Irina pushes the love of her life Jonah as far away as she can, trying to keep his unstable genetic degradation in check.
 
Irina's friends think they've seen the worst that Innoviro could bring forth by the time they reach a secret facility in the Mojave Desert. As they near the property, the group uncovers a horror none of them had ever imagined.

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Book 3: Terra Nova

The end of humanity and an unrecognizable future Earth are now days away. After their first glimpse of the Terra Nova virus, Irina and her variant friends know their former employer’s plans are almost at hand. Their failed attempt to publicize Ivan and Innoviro Industries’ horrific activities has left them utterly reliant on their own wits and weapons.
 
After surviving a catastrophic earthquake in San Francisco and destroying a secret viral testing facility, Irina’s crew has traveled by a variant portal to London. On the other side of the world, they begin tracking when and where Terra Nova will be unleashed on the world. They know stopping Terra Nova is only the beginning of unraveling Ivan’s plans to reinvent the planet, but if they can’t stop this virus, there will be no one left to save.

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ENJOY AN EXCERPT:

from In Irina's Cards:

 
We walked a bit farther in silence. I had assumed Jonah would find something, at least a mention of the drug, within the files at Innoviro. How could something either guarded or fresh out of the lab, be a trustworthy substance I should let them inject into my veins? Even if Ivan showed me charts and research findings, what insight could I gain from them?
 
Jonah and I rounded a corner. The path diverged around a ring of shrubs and a large arbutus tree. On the one side, the path jutted out to a viewpoint looking over to the Inner Harbour. On the other, a bench sat tucked into a semicircle of overgrown juniper bushes. The sun had nearly dropped behind the hills in Esquimalt, casting vivid yellow-orange light onto downtown. Bright pink clouds floated like cotton candy in the sky. If we kept going the Harbour would greet us in its gown of twinkling lights. My sunroom balcony had that view at every sunset. I turned towards the bench. I suddenly felt like I needed a break.
 
Jonah sat down next to me. He touched the side of my mouth and I jumped.
 
“Sorry; you had some ice cream …” he said sheepishly.
 
I wished I was the kind of girl who carried a mirror in my purse, but I knew better than to bother searching. I looked out at the ocean and the pink pieces of light floating on the water.
 
“You look tense.”
 
His arm slipped behind my back as I kept staring ahead. I turned to answer and found myself nose-to-nose with him.

EXPLORE A PLAYLIST:

For The Compendium, Book Two of 
THE VARIANT CONSPIRACY TRILOGY

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Christine Hart is a writer of speculative fiction for youth and adults. She also runs an online metalsmithing shop, Hart Fabrications. 
 
Christine’s backlist includes YA, NA, and MG titles. Her first collection of adult fiction, Weird Stories of Strange Women, is coming in 2026.
 
When not writing, she creates wearable art from recycled metals, vintage glass, and unusual gemstones. She shares her eclectic home with her husband and two children.
 
To learn more about Christine and her work, visit the following.


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Christine Hart will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.



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Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Book Review: Homemaker by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare

Homemaker (Prairie Nightingale, #1)Homemaker by Ruthie Knox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Green Bay housewife becomes involved in the investigation of a missing woman from her former mothers' group.

Homemaker is the first book in authors Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare amazing new series, Prairie Nightingale Mysteries, and is one of the most entertaining books I've read this year. Prairie Nightingale notices things, and she knows something is off in the elementary school moms' group she used to be a part of, even before the news that Lisa Ratcliffe was missing. As she talks to the missing woman's closest friends, many of whom were involved in the same multilevel marketing business, Kitty Blue, she starts gathering important pieces of information that, when combined, could be critical to law enforcement in solving the baffling disappearance. Of course, the local FBI agent on the case wants her to back off and leave the investigation to the professionals while showing her a more personal side that could work out to something interesting for her Thursday night date nights. However, they both have access to resources that the other does not, with her having insider knowledge about the missing woman and an uncanny ability to see connections in the clues that others don't.

Prairie Nightingale is a fun and relatable yet complex character with a unique backstory and an unusual post-divorce, co-parenting situation with her ex-husband. She's smart and witty, and her interactions with Special Agent Foster Rosemare are delightful as long as they are not discussing "his" case. I enjoyed how she developed some remarkably intricate theories about what happened to Lisa based on her observations and interviews with the woman's friends.

The plot leaps off to a good start with the mystery introduced early in the story. The story unfolds from Prairie's point of view, so readers have full access to her thought processes and motives as he pursues her private inquiries. There are plenty of relatable moments with Prairie, the mother, and Prairie, the newly single woman, to enjoy as she slowly makes her way to the truth behind what happened to Lisa Ratcliffe.

I recommend HOMEMAKER to readers who enjoy mysteries, cozies, and domestic thrillers.

View all my reviews

Monday, June 23, 2025

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Strike the Death Note (Octavia Fields Mystery, #2) by Rebecca McKinnon

Strike the Death Note
An Octavia Fields Mystery
by
Rebecca McKinnon

About Strike the Death Note

 


Strike the Death Note (Octavia Fields Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting - Rocky Mountains
Independently Published (June 26, 2025)
Number of Pages — 250 Digital
ASIN: B0F336797V

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With just two weeks left of the summer at Aerie Pines, music shop owner Octavia Fields should be getting ready to head back to the nomadic life she lives most of the year—but the season is set to end in a minor key for her little shop.

Octavia’s determined to do everything she can to increase sales so her employees won’t have to bow out for the next season. If she’d known it would involve coming across a body with a conductor’s baton sticking out of its chest, she might not have been so eager.

While Octavia is trying to focus on her shop’s problem, music students who know she played a part in catching the last killer keep telling her what they know about the victim. She wants to pass the information on to the detective, but when one of her employees becomes a suspect, Octavia has no choice but to become the conductor of her own investigation.

Trying to save her shop, solve a murder, handle threats, and deal with her growing feelings for the lead detective is keeping Octavia’s score full—but she needs to find the sour note before someone else plays their finale!

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Preorder Bonus!
Readers who preorder
Strike the Death Note
can get a free story HERE!

About Rebecca McKinnon

Rebecca McKinnon enjoys playing with her imaginary friends and introducing them to others through her writing. She dreams of living in the middle of nowhere, but has been unable to find an acceptable location that wouldn’t require crossing an ocean.

| Website |



Review

5 stars!

A summer violin shop owner looking to revitalize her slowing business finds a dead body instead. 

Pursuing a possible answer to the continuing future of her summer music camp violin shop, Octavia Fields is strolling near the grounds of the university’s administration building, killing time before she meets with the director when she comes across a man kneeling over the body of a dead woman with a conductor’s baton sticking out of her chest. Immediately calling in the police, she is reunited with the same team who investigated an earlier death at the music camp, including Detective Jack Price. Although determined to avoid getting involved in the investigation, Octavia is nevertheless drawn in as people seek her out for information and to share their thoughts. Strike the Death Note is the second book in author Rebecca McKinnon’s fresh and fun Octavia Fields Mystery series. With its quirky main character, fun music-themed setting, and slow-burn romance, I was all in for this well-paced, cozy mystery. 

The heart of this series is the main character, Octavia Fields, a woman who definitely marches to the sound of a different drummer. Sans shoes and cellphone, she’s a woman more in tune with simpler living and the natural world. Since their last meeting, she and Jack have drifted apart, but there is still a spark between the two, and it is a joy to watch it slowly gain in intensity as they are, once again, thrown together. 

The plot gets underway immediately with Octavia’s accountant’s concerns about her violin shop’s financial future. With more going out than coming in this summer. He suggests that Octavia will need to make some cuts and hard choices to remain viable next summer. Soon after, she discovers the body of the dead cellist, and the case is immediately opened. Throughout the book, I enjoyed Octavia’s relationships with her friends involved in the orchestra or camp, as well as her staff members who took complete charge of the store despite her well-meaning ideas for displays. The musical theme is delightful, and I enjoyed the many musical references and activities. With a number of people to cross off the list of suspects and red herrings to eliminate, there is a lot of interesting detecting to follow on the way to a plausible resolution to the case. 

I recommend STRIKE THE DEATH NOTE to cozy mystery readers, especially those who enjoy stories with a musical theme, a Rocky Mountains setting, or a free-spirited protagonist.


Tour Participants


June 17 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
June 17 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
June 18 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 18 – Sarandipity's – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 19 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW
June 19 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
June 19 – Infinite House of Books – SPOTLIGHT
June 20 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
June 21 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT
June 21 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 22 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW
June 23 – Jane Reads – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 23 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read - REVIEW
June 24 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 26 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

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