It’s Mystery & Thriller Week over at Goodreads!
What an exciting time. You can count on fun-filled days of interaction with you favorite mystery authors. Well, me at least. Check out my Goodreads page and follow me for updates.
It’s day one so let’s get started.
Here’s an excerpt from Still Life, book 1 in my Randi Lassiter series. I have yet to hear from anyone who’s solved the mystery before the ending. (Not that I’m making it a throw down or anything!) This is near the beginning of the book, when our lead detective arrives on scene. I was aiming for realism and grit. Meh, what can I say? Hopefully, I don’t fall too short of the mark.
Jon drove his Jeep with the window unzipped and let the crisp air slap him in the face as he made his way to the bypass. Within minutes his Wrangler bumped to a stop against the concrete curb in front of Hometown Café. He turned off the ignition and sat. Sipping black coffee he’d picked up on the way, he popped a couple of ibuprofen, followed by three breath mints, and waited for the caffeine and painkiller combo to hit his bloodstream. He surveyed the bustling scene behind him in his side-view mirror.
EMS, local cops and sheriff deputies all on hand to offer assistance to the city jurisdiction dotted the area with a rainbow of uniform colors. Detectives employed by Mt. Ouisco, all three of them, were no doubt inside the official perimeter. Overkill in the number of personnel it took to cover a homicide and a potential contamination issue if they were wandering the crime scene. Jon knew it was bad when he saw the chief of police among the throng. There was an aura of frenzy as everyone vied to be part of the nightmare— everyone, that is, but him. He noted a remarkable absence of reporters. If this were Milwaukee, they’d have arrived alongside the first responders. Soon there would be an onslaught of news people, each sparring for a morsel like vultures over carrion.
Greg Stanton stood off to one side of the crowd nervously shifting foot to foot. Young and lanky with straight russet hair and flat, pale face, the rookie officer was just finishing his probationary period. He fidgeted with his duty belt and a government-issued Beretta and looked ill. A smile edged onto Jon’s face. When he worked homicide in Milwaukee, he’d dealt with more than his fair share of bloody murders. The worst were the gang killings where innocent children ended up as turf-war collateral damage. That kind of inhumane crap that was impossible to forget. This kid had it easy and didn’t even know it. The rookie looked his way; recognition crossed his face, and he waved spastically, desperate for help.
“Shit.” Jon did not wave back. He swallowed the dregs in the cup and tossed it onto the passenger side where it bounced off of several others on the floor. He got out and took his sweet time crossing the parking lot.
Unable to wait for the mountain to come to Muhammad, Stanton rushed up to meet Jon. “Hey, Detective. How are you doing? It’s a good thing we got you here to handle this… with your experience and all.” He trailed behind Jon like a puppy tripping over his own feet. Jon shot him an aggravated look that went unnoticed. “Guess you got lucky, huh?” the rookie added.
Jon pulled up short and turned to face the young officer. “Yeah. Lucky. You might want to redo your button job there, kid.” He pointed at the rookie’s shirt, which was a mess even by three a.m. standards. The kid blanched and turned his back to the crowd to fix it. Jon fought to keep from smiling. “At my first murder, I puked my guts out in the bushes not far from the corpse. The squad never let me live it down.” He patted the kid on the shoulder. “You puke yet?”
Stanton shook his head.
“Then you’re ahead of the curve.” Stanton blushed so deeply his freckles almost disappeared. A rural town with no major crime, Mt. Ouisco didn’t need— nor could they afford— a CSI team, so it fell to regular staff to conduct investigations. The local detectives typically dealt with things like B& E, vandalism, drug violations and theft. Jon knew full well their homicide skills would be academic at best. It was pretty much a given that he would be handed the investigation.
(DB Kennison. Still Life: The Randi Lassiter Series (Kindle Locations 264-291). W.R. Publishing.)
Everyone who leaves a comment will be put in a drawing for an ebook of Still Life or The Dark Side (your choice). Tune in every day for more tidbits, contests, games, and all things mystery!
And there’s more…
Today, I have a fun surprise that I’d like to share with you. I’ve teamed up with more than 50 crime fiction and crime thriller authors to give away a huge collection of novels to 2 lucky winners, PLUS a Kindle Fire to the Grand Prize winner! You can win my novel STILL LIFE, plus books from authors like J.T. ELLISON and MICHAEL LISTER.
Enter the giveaway by clicking here: bit.ly/crime-fic-may-17 Good luck, and enjoy!
Whispers in the air 