Mystery-suspense
novels have always intrigued me. I can curl up for hours with
my favorite authors—Linda Barnes, Nelson DeMille, Jonathan
Kellerman, Ed McBain, Dick Francis, Minette Walters. I also
like romance, science-fiction, horror and fantasy, as well
as the occasional mainstream novel by such wonderful authors
as Annie Proulx.
I tried my hand at romance and didn’t
fare so well. My niche is darker, grittier. Nevertheless, Romantic
Times Magazine gave Bitch Factor 4-1/2 stars,
and the other Dixie Flannigan novels also earned high marks for romance. So if
you like a smidgeon of romance with your hard-edged suspense, you’ll like
these novels.
You can sample them all here free.
|
Student
Bill Chalmers took Bitch Factor when he
sailed
in the Havana Cup
Sailboat Race
from
Tampa to
Havana, Cuba. To quote
Bill, "The
book
was
a lot
more exciting than the race." |
Death
Edge Tales: 7 Nail-Biting Stories of Suspense
Book Cover:
Death Edge Tales |
In
this first volume of short mysteries from novelist Chris Rogers,
you'll travel inside the minds of unpredictable characters
from both sides of death's bony grasp: a young photographer
stumbling in the footsteps of a serial killer; a 911 dispatcher
working the lunatic shift; a blood-soaked lover whose cries
of innocence go unheard; a writer who would kill for a great
story; a cop facing the damned-foolest case of his career;
a confectioner who sugarcoats bites of murder; a desirable
woman of strangely insatiable appetites. In the spirit of Rod
Serling, Edgar Allen Poe and Alfred Hitchcock, these narratives
take you down a path filled with thorny surprises, often frightful,
sometimes amusing and always gripping. A lover of people, language,
irony, and mad speculation, Rogers has a unique view of humanity,
especially from the dark side. Enjoy the read with one caution:
once having sampled Rogers' shorts you will be hooked.
Order this book in paperback or Kindle version at Amazon.com. |
Stand
at the Cross Roads: A True Story of an Imperfect Woman,
An Uncertain
Future, and A Mission That Would Change Lives Forever
By Hilda Hellums Baker with Chris Rogers
Stand
at the Cross Roads unfolds in suburban Houston; a small, rural
Texas town; and a remote, rugged wilderness. A twisting, turning
gripping true-life adventure that will take you along on the
trip of a lifetime! In 1996, Hilda Baker travelled into some
of the last remaining wilderness in Texas. For years, as her
life spun increasingly out of control, she was plagued by a
series of painful divorces, financial setbacks, and the struggles
of single motherhood. Now, she tells the true story of her
quest to turn her life around and find true meaning in her
work and personal life. One sultry morning, at a retreat in
south Texas, Hilda sensed a voice whose message catapulted
her from cosmopolitan Houston to Chriesman, Texas, population
seventy. She finally knew what she was supposed to do, but
had no idea how to do it. The task - to carve a sanctuary out
of a dense forest - was daunting, but she was determined to
succeed. Finally she had found purpose in her life. Hitching
up a U-Haul trailer crammed with her wordly belongings, and
with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Nina, in tow, she set out
for her new life.
Order this book at Amazon.com. |
Book Cover:
Stand at
the Cross Roads
|
Bitch Factor
Book Cover: Bitch Factor |
If
Betsy Keyes had known about the car waiting at the curb that
morning, waiting for the moment she stepped into the intersection,
she would have worn the purple shirt. Purple was for special
days, days she marked with stars in her diary. The most important
days got the purple shirt and three stars.
Hopping over a jagged
hump in the sidewalk, she shoved a hand in her pocket and pressed
a thumb-sized metallic noisemaker: Click! Released it. Click!
Sometimes
the dark secret Betsy held inside made her feel exactly like
a teakettle about to boil over. Squeezing her toy clicker allowed
tiny bits of worry to escape,
like steam from a teakettle’s whistle. The shiny black cricket painted
on top had worn thin from rubbing against her finger. Crickets were supposed
to be lucky, weren’t they?
Click, click.
Click here for more. |
Rage Factor
February
14
Cold.
Bone-piercing cold needled Sissy’s muscles.
A vile stench
invaded her nose. The back of her head throbbed, each pulsating
beat ringing like steel on an anvil. Her mind, muggy with something deeper
than sleep, faltered at the rustling near her face.
Somewhere, a motor whined.
Were her eyes open? Darkness wrapped her so completely
she couldn’t be
sure. She tightened them, opened—
Ohh! One eye stayed shut, hurt when
she tried to force it. The other opened only halfway. She reached to touch
her face—
Pain ripped through her arm into her chest. She couldn’t
breathe—
Ah…there, subsiding now. She swallowed carefully, barely
moving, didn’t
want the pain again…then sipped a shallow, tentative breath—
Click here for more. |
Book Cover: Rage Factor |
Chill Factor
Book Cover: Chill Factor |
Monday,
3:00 P.M.
Lucy Ames, a plump fifty-five-year-old divorcée,
swept into the Texas Citizens Branch Bank on a crisp May afternoon
and waited her turn in silence, not chatting with other patrons
as was her custom. Instead, she hummed “Bad Moon Rising” and
spent the brief wait noticing the rich viridian carpet, rose
marble counter, and Ms. Darlene Flores pecking away at her
computer. Lucy didn’t usually bank at the Webster branch.
Nevertheless, she’d come to make a withdrawal.
When the
woman ahead of her, wearing an outrageously short, poppy-print
dress, turned from the counter to exit through the glass doors,
Lucy laid an empty
book tote in the window and smiled at the teller. The tote was empty now because
Lucy had removed the only item it carried, a .38 Police Special.
Click here for more. |
Create Your Own Magic
for CLNC® Success by Vickie
L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
With
illustrations by Chris Rogers
Inside
each of us lies a desire to do something spectacular—to
fly, to write, to sculpt, to climb mountains or perhaps to
step off into the unknown and create a business where none
existed. That space between vision and creation is a magical
land filled with wondrous adventure but also with treacherous
pathways and fierce, fire-breathing dragons.
Maneuvering in
such a land requires that we suspend fear and embrace valor.
Yet courage alone is not enough A courageous fool is no less
a fool.
With the tools, skills and knowledge to conquer the
unknown, we shape our own destiny, we forge a new reality.
We reach to the stars and grasp handfuls of
wonder.
When I stepped out for my own adventure in 1982, I had no guidebook. I
pioneered the field of legal nurse consulting, carving a new
industry in an uncharted land,
conquering the dragons and narrowly skirting the pitfalls. What I did have was
vision, persistence, and the voices of my favorite inspirational coaches urging
me onward and upward.
Click here for more. |
Book Cover: Create Your Own
Magic
for CLNC® Success |
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