Empty Places by Roy Martin Hill

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Author Martin Roy Hill's Latest Mystery Thriller!

Award-winning author Martin Roy Hill’s latest mystery thriller, EMPTY PLACES, is now available in both print and Kindle ebook from Amazon.com.

Hill’s latest entry into the thriller genre takes the reader back to the mid-1980s as the United States clawed its way out of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, scandal after scandal plagued the national political scene, and the White House waged two illegal and unpopular wars in Central America.

News service reporter Peter Brandt returns from covering those wars to the wealthy California desert playground of Palm Springs to bury his ex-wife, TV journalist Robin Anderson, with whom he is still in love. When Peter learns Robin was brutally murdered and the local police are doing nothing to uncover her killer, he sets out with his friend, retired cop Matt Banyon, to discover her killer.

Peter and Matt’s investigation uncovers a cabal of corrupt politicians, anti-communist Nicaraguan Contra supporters, and drug smugglers. Before it’s over, Peter will face his own death in a dark and empty place.

1800 word EXCERPT coming tomorrow!!

Find Empty Places at Amazon.



Hill’s first book, DUTY: Suspense and Mystery Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, was named the 2013 Best Short Story Collection/Anthology by the San Diego Book Awards Association. His first novel, the military mystery thriller, THE KILLING DEPTHS, was a finalist for the SDBAA’s 2013 Sisters In Crime Best Mystery Novel award and is a top rated seller on Amazon. Both are available from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Hill is a former national award-winning investigative reporter with more than 20 years of experience in newspapers and magazines.  He worked as an investigative reporter for San Diego Magazine in the 1980s then as editor of the San Diego Business Journal in the 1990s. He now works as a military analyst in expeditionary medical capabilities.

Hill’s freelance articles have  been seen in such publications as  Reader's Digest, LIFE, Newsweek, Omni, American History, Mother Jones, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Opinion Section, and many more. Much of his freelance work involves historical topics, especially military history. He was a lead contributor to the 1995 WWII anthology, "From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki: America at War," published by the Retired Officer Association. He was also a contributor to the recent 2013 Civil War anthology, “Gettysburg: Three Days that Saved the United States” published by I-5 Publishing.

Hill's short stories have appeared in such publications as Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, San Diego Magazine, San Diego Writer's Monthly, and the Plan B Mystery Anthology and webzine.

Find Duty by Martin Roy Hill at Amazon

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Rocky Road by Josi S. Kilpack - Excerpt!

It was supposed to be a girls’ weekend in scenic St. George, Utah that would include shopping, trying out the local cuisine, and participating in a breast cancer fundraiser. The fact that one of the organizers of the fundraising event, a local doctor, disappeared two months ago was not supposed to be Sadie’s problem. In fact, she refuses to participate in the grassroots investigation her friend Caro, and Caro’s cousin, Tess, have put together prior to her arrival. But then she meets the ex-wife of the missing doctor.

How could she not ask a few questions . . . that lead to a few more questions . . . that lead to a small town and yet even more questions. Before she knows it, Sadie is in the middle of yet another murder investigation and trying to piece together a convoluted trail of good intentions, hidden motivations, and philanthropy turned big business.

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Excerpt!

As soon as she stepped outside, the heat was forgotten due to the amazing smells coming from the two Dutch ovens. One had chicken and the other a potato type casserole. Sadie had to swallow in order to keep her enthusiasm in check. Really, her food obsessions were a bit out of hand.

“This is wonderful,” Sadie said after Paul slid into his seat at the head of the table. She’d already enjoyed a few bites of both the chicken and the potatoes. They were both delicious.

Paul grinned his appreciation for the compliment but said nothing, probably because his mouth was full. She waited for him to finish before asking about the recipe, which he said he’d be happy to share. Sadie would have to buy a Dutch oven and make it for Pete sometime. Maybe after they were married. Zing.

“Oh, I forgot the rolls.” Tess jumped up and headed for the kitchen, returning seconds later with a basket of rolls that completed the meal perfectly. Tess also put a small bowl of what looked like strawberry cream cheese in the center of the table.

“When we got married Paul’s mom gave me a whole cook book full of her families favorite recipes including this one,” Tess explained as she returned to her seat. “It’s from a restaurant called Maddox in Northern Utah—that’s where Paul’s from. They’re especially good with raspberry butter.”

Raspberry butter, not strawberry cream cheese.

Sadie was happy to give the rolls a sampling and spread both halves with a generous helping of the raspberry butter. “These are delicious,” Sadie said one bite later. “Is it a batter roll?” The roll was so light it couldn’t possibly be from a traditional kneaded dough.

“It is a batter roll. They’re my go-to roll recipe—so easy to whip up and so good. I’m glad you like them.”

Stranded (Alaskan Courage #3) by Dani Pettrey - Excerpt!

When her friend vanishes from a cruise ship, reporter Darcy St. James isn't satisfied with their explanation that she simply left her job of her own accord. Something isn't lining up, and Darcy believes the only way to find the truth is to put herself in Abby's position. Within days, Darcy learns her friend wasn't the only person to disappear mysteriously. Last summer, a woman vanished under almost identical circumstances.

Gage McKenna has taken a summer-long stint leading adventure excursions for the passengers of various cruise lines that dock for a few days of sightseeing. He's surprised to find Darcy working aboard one of the ships, investigating a troubling report. Something sinister is going on and the deeper they dig the more Gage fears they've only discovered the tip of the iceberg.

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Excerpt!

Abby’s head swam, her vision narrowing as she stumbled into her cabin. What had they slipped her and when? Nausea rum- bled in her stomach, magnified by the surging waves created by the brewing storm. How could she have been so foolish?

They must have figured out who she was and that she was close to exposing them. They were trying to silence her— though if it came down to it, she preferred death to the alternative.

She lifted the receiver and dialed Darcy’s cabin.

Please be there. Darcy had said she’d wait in her room, but the phone kept ringing until it rolled over into voice mail. This wasn’t a message for voice mail. Not if they knew who she was. Not if it could lead them to Darcy. She had to find a better way, a safer way to leave a message only Darcy would understand.

She scribbled a quick note. Now . . . where to put it? She grabbed the Gideon Bible from the nightstand, slipped the message inside, set the Bible on her bed, and headed for the door. Only Darcy would know Abby would have no reason to have a Bible on her bed. Turning, she spotted her purse next to the nightstand, grabbed it, and placed it atop the Bible. Never hurt to have a little added protection. Darcy would still recognize the significance.

As she walked around her bed, the ship heaved and she stumbled. She needed help. Wobbling with each step, she managed to grasp the doorknob, the metal cool inside her clammy palm. Her breath quickened. Cracking the door, she peered into the corridor, thankful to find it empty. Stepping into the hall, she moved toward the elevator.

Shadows arched around the bend halfway down the hall, where another corridor intersected it. She halted. Her breath hitched.

A man spoke, his words angry and heated. A second man responded. Her heart seized in her chest. It was them. They were coming.

Rocky Road by Josi S. Kilpack

It was supposed to be a girls’ weekend in scenic St. George, Utah that would include shopping, trying out the local cuisine, and participating in a breast cancer fundraiser. The fact that one of the organizers of the fundraising event, a local doctor, disappeared two months ago was not supposed to be Sadie’s problem. In fact, she refuses to participate in the grassroots investigation her friend Caro, and Caro’s cousin, Tess, have put together prior to her arrival. But then she meets the ex-wife of the missing doctor.

How could she not ask a few questions . . . that lead to a few more questions . . . that lead to a small town and yet even more questions.

Before she knows it, Sadie is in the middle of yet another murder investigation and trying to piece together a convoluted trail of good intentions, hidden motivations, and philanthropy turned big business.

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Author Josi S. Kilpack

Born and raised in Salt Lake City Utah, I met my husband in high-school--well, he wasn't my husband then, just the cute guy in weight training with the permed mullet--and we married in 1993. I wrote my first book while on bed rest with my third child and have gone on to publish 20 novels, the most recent being part of The Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series.

I currently live in Willard, Utah with my husband, children, and cat.

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DiSemblance by Shanae Branham - Excerpt!

Jason Tanner’s life has always been different from the ordinary citizen’s. It started when he was an infant and his parents were only teenagers. A computer science prodigy, Lloyd attended MIT but left a pariah in the eyes of the school’s dean—but a computer physics genius in the eyes of his primary investor. Then his theories and ideas created a holographic machine and their world shrunk as contact with the outside world became less and less frequent. A computer prodigy now himself, Jason is about to learn that the world never waits for you if you have the ability to change it: it will come for you.


Detective Bruce Durante has been handed the case of the Comfort Killer, a serial killer so named because he appears to abduct terminally ill patients before returning their corpses to their families in refrigerated coffins. When he picks up the trail, it leads straight to the home of Lloyd Tanner.

Jason has been living life through the world of Lloyd’s invention and wishing he could carry on a relationship with Boston, the beautiful girl next door. When his father is murdered and framed as the Comfort Killer, he is brought back to reality in a hurry. He is forced to destroy all of the planted evidence—and finds he is being targeted as the killer’s new fall guy. But the secrets of his father’s invention run deep and Jason, his brother Isaac,Boston, the Comfort Killer, and Detective Durante hurtle towards one another on a deadly collision course that leaves everyone’s life hanging in the balance.

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Excerpt!

Jason lunged, grasping the barrel of the gun with both hands. The large man countered, wrenching it back. Jason yanked, but his attacker would not let go. The gun jerked violently between the two aggressors, twisting back and forth as they struggled for control until—bang!

Jason released his grip. The large man gulped hard and stepped back. Jason felt his knees buckle, and he dropped to the ground. His shirt sagged with blood, his head light. He glanced at Boston. She was screaming and struggling to get free of the ropes that bound her so she could get to him.

“Riggs! What’d you do?” the small man yelled angrily as he sat up rubbing his head. “Paden’s gonna kill you.”

Midnight Masquerade by Marcia Lynn McClure

Stavos Voronin was not as blind-eyed as many nobles and royals. Evony’s physical gestures—even the simplest movement of her hands—revealed that she had not always been destitute. The same was true of the children—of their polished manners and the boy’s knowledge of horses and tendency to be bold and fearless of strangers.

Ah yes, Stavos enjoyed a good mystery. After all, interest in the inexplicable circumstances surrounding the royals of Abawyth was the very thing that had lured him to the kingdom—the enigma of Abawyth’s twelve sleepy princesses. And yet now—now his mind was all the more intrigued. Not only was the obscurity of what had caused the profound and baffling torpidity of Abawyth’s princesses laid out before him, but also he found his curiosity intensely piqued over the riddle surrounding the very lovely Evony and her siblings.

As Stavos strode through the village resting on the outskirts of Abawyth Castle, his mind reeled with possibilities. His musings were drawn back to why he had come to Abawyth at all—to solve the conundrum surrounding the twelve beautiful princesses of Abawyth kingdom—to solve the seemingly impenetrable crux and thereby win the hand of one of Abawyth’s princesses, as his father, King Letholdus of Ethiarien, had commanded.

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Author Marcia Lynn McClure

Marcia Lynn McClure’s intoxicating succession of novels, novellas, and e-books, has established her as one of the most favored and engaging authors of true romance. Her unprecedented forte in weaving captivating stories of western, medieval, regency, and contemporary amour void of brusque intimacy has earned her the title “The Queen of Kissing.”

Just This Once by Diana X. Dunn

FREE at Amazon >> Today to Aug. 10th!!!

Adopted by an international multi-governmental agency that doesn't officially exist, her only genuine identity is "F6" - the sixth female baby adopted into the program. Now she changes identities as often as other women change their shoes, moving through the world completing top-secret missions and keeping her distance.


A chance meeting with a handsome stranger tempts her to lower her guard. A second encounter turns up the heat until he finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation being conducted by one of F6's former lovers. Now F6 finds herself using her skills, training and multiple identities to help a friend in trouble. Something she has never done before; something she's prepared to do just this once.

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Excerpt!
___________________________

April 2120

Spring in the rebuilt city of New York felt just as magical as spring in New York should feel.  Older residents often grumbled about the city; many argued that the city had still not yet recovered properly from the fall of the Twin Towers that marked the very earliest stirrings of the Wars that would eventually follow.  But most modern day New Yorkers loved the city just the way it was.

The skyline had been forever altered by the Wars and the years of terrorist activity.  For a while most of the city had been too dangerous for all but the very bravest or desperate to venture into.  As the skyscrapers had tumbled or been abandoned, jobs and people had deserted the city and left most of it empty and forsaken.

Now the city was experiencing a rebirth as people and companies flooded back.  Property prices were suddenly racing upwards and abandoned buildings were being converted into luxury apartments at an astonishing rate.  For older residents, those that had chosen to make the city their home even during the worst times, the rebirth was a mixed blessing.

But today, as the birds sang in the replanted and newly budding trees and the traffic flowed smoothly with no hint of the jams that were sure to be a problem in the very near future, the city looked amazing.  The sidewalks teemed with young, healthy looking men and women in business suits, carrying MPPCs and briefcases presumably bulging with important papers.  Everyone seemed to be striding purposefully through the city.

As day turned to dusk, clothes designed for other pursuits replaced the business suits.   The beautiful people of the city were out in force once more, this time in short skirts and tight jeans, hair and makeup as extreme as they dared, now looking for love or romance rather than the next deal.

Of course a reborn and growing city also has to deal with growing pains, and New York was no exception.  Strictly enforced rules on identity cards, registered addresses, and required employment had cut down on the problems of homelessness and petty crime, but any big city would always have some level of street crime, no matter how hard the police and the government worked to prevent it.

At eight o’clock on a Friday evening a high-security door opened at a large apartment complex in the heart of the rebuilt city.  Three people stepped out from the door and made their way down the sidewalk.  They were clearly dressed for clubbing and it seemed likely, from their staggering walks and hysterical laughter that they had already started drinking or drug taking before they left home.

The two girls and one boy laughed and teased and flirted with one another as they made their way towards the bright lights of the club district.  Anyone watching would assume that they had all worked hard during the week and were determined to enjoy their weekend.  They wouldn’t have been far wrong.  The trio drew nearly everyone’s eyes as they made their way towards their favorite establishment.

All three were strikingly beautiful, but in very different ways.  They seemed to radiate youthful energy and an abundance of enthusiasm for living life to the fullest.

Blood and Bone by Don Hoesel

 

More Archaeological Adventures from Popular Suspense Writer Don Hoesel.

A decade after Serpent of Moses, Jack is married to Espy and back teaching at Evanston University. They have two sons, one of whom has cystic fibrosis. Despite this challenge, life is comfortable. But that all changes when the CIA, while combing through the papers of the late Gordon Reese, uncovers the secret of Elisha's bones. Jack's world is then turned upside down by an urgent call from his old friend Duckey, who's been alerted to the CIA's probing by one of his former contacts. Jack and his family escape from their home just ahead of the CIA, and he decides to do what he should have done long ago: recover the bones and destroy them. Except the bones aren't where he left them.

So now Jack is in a race, for the last time, to find the bones. And he's not the only one. Pitted against both the CIA and an organization that will kill to protect their secrets, Jack and Espy follow hard-to-decipher clues across the globe before arriving in the catacombs of Paris for a final showdown that will either save their family--or tear apart everything they hold dear forever.

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The Shard of Palrinah: Book 2 of The Remus Rothwyn Chronicles by T.P. Grish

After saving High Peaks from a devastating war between Humankind and Fey, Remus and Elaina head to the grand city of Yondern to continue their adventures, yearning for excitement and the chance to do good.

However, the long-brewing political conflict between the Steelwielders and Paragonites has erupted into open war, and try as they might, the travelers cannot escape the eye of suspicious factions. Once-friendly factions have turned wary, and they find themselves allying with those who they would least expect.

An old friend, the bard Perfidian, confronts them with troubling information, hinting at a deeper objective to the brewing war, and possibly to an object of power that could wreak devastation upon the land in the hands of the power-hungry.

The three friends must discover what the Steelwielder technocrats and Paragonite monks are truly seeking in a remote corner of Glenryth, in a deadly game of cat and mouse involving dark and sinister forces, both Human and otherwise.

This is the sequel to Book 1, Steel, Magick and Faith!

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Excerpt!

 'A dead end, but in the right wall there was a small, rough-hewn crevice. Resting in it was a small chest, old and dusty, but bedecked in timeless jewels and the intricate designs their proud ancestors had mastered. A chill went down Renaldin’s spine as he considered the weight of this event, and the worthy ancient hands that had crafted the chest, and this place.

Whatever Boon lay in the chest, it had been placed there by the first Disciples of the faith, back when the Paragonites were stronger and purer. He did not feel worthy. Fingers trembling, he opened the chest.

It was not locked, but groaned under the weight of rust and dust. As it opened, a cloud of dust blinded Renaldin and choked him. Coughing, he waved the dust from his face and stared into the chest.

It was a simple scroll, nothing more. Gently picking it up and unfurling it, he started to read the calligraphed script. It seemed to be a riddle.

‘In The Aerie Of The Long-Dead Eagle, Lies The Nest Of Gold.
Atop The Shrouded Plateau, Rests The Warrior Of Old.

Between The Two Lies A Gully Deep, Locked Away In The Icy Reaches.

Within Lies Treasure Of Virtue Untold, Waiting For A Worthy Hand.

To Bring Its Thunder Upon The World,
And Rally The Hopes Of Man’

Renaldin stood in awe, his mind spinning. This simple scroll was greater than any gift they could have prayed for. It was clear that it gave instructions as to the location of the Shard of Palrinah, the most holy artifact in the history of the Temple, and wielded by St. Palrinah herself in battle! The scroll gave its directions in a riddle, but gave clear ideas which landmarks they should be looking for to find it. Renaldin thought it obvious that the Icy Reaches referred to the Aysalk Ranges, an arctic mountain range which ancient Paragonites had, at times, traversed.

Riddle or not, they were being given the chance to find and acquire the Shard of Palrinah, one of the few remaining artefacts in existence! It made sense that they would be required to search for it. Palrinah did not favour the weak or hesitant, and simply placing the Shard in the catacombs for future generations to use would have been unworthy of it.'