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A Vous Me Lie—I am Bound to You. (An early motto found in a book of Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III.) I, Richard Plantagenet: the Prequel Part Two: A Vous Me Me Lie: I, Richard Plantagenet Prequel Book 2 by J.P. Reedman
A Vous Me Lie—I am Bound to You. (An early motto found in a book of Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III.) I, Richard Plantagenet: the Prequel Part Two: A Vous Me Me Lie: I, Richard Plantagenet Prequel Book 2 by J.P. Reedman
Does every first love deserve a second chance? Falling for My Second Chance: A Small Town Single Dad Romance (Falling Hard Book 2) by Dakota Davies
Does every first love deserve a second chance? Falling for My Second Chance: A Small Town Single Dad Romance (Falling Hard Book 2) by Dakota Davies
Save $17 off the original price on this matchless 865-page historical epic: FALL OF GIANTS: Book One of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett
Save $17 off the original price on this matchless 865-page historical epic: FALL OF GIANTS: Book One of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard
He is blamed for a crime he did not commit while serving in Vietnam, and his country considers him a traitor… Running With The Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse
He is blamed for a crime he did not commit while serving in Vietnam, and his country considers him a traitor… Running With The Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse
“So, tell me, Detective. Do you kiss all your murder suspects?” MY BEST AND LAST: A Romantic Suspense by Jill Rice
“So, tell me, Detective. Do you kiss all your murder suspects?” MY BEST AND LAST: A Romantic Suspense by Jill Rice
A killer without a conscience who knows no bounds… Can the Roadside Cross Killer be stopped? Crime Victims by Chuck Morgan
A killer without a conscience who knows no bounds… Can the Roadside Cross Killer be stopped? Crime Victims by Chuck Morgan
Think The West Wing done as an episode of The Twilight Zone… IMP: A Political Fantasia (Revised Edition) by Steven Paul Leiva
Think The West Wing done as an episode of The Twilight Zone… IMP: A Political Fantasia (Revised Edition) by Steven Paul Leiva
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Magic Hour: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Magic Hour: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
Charlie Magus enters a fantastical world hidden deep in the forest… Do You Believe in Monsters? (Dark Circles Trilogy Book 2) by award-winning author Jim Melvin
Charlie Magus enters a fantastical world hidden deep in the forest… Do You Believe in Monsters? (Dark Circles Trilogy Book 2) by award-winning author Jim Melvin
A heart-wrenching story of a family torn apart because of a moment in time… The Ones We Leave Behind by Deanna Lynn Sletten
A heart-wrenching story of a family torn apart because of a moment in time… The Ones We Leave Behind by Deanna Lynn Sletten
Dark family secrets have a way of finding their way to the light… She’s My Sister Complete Series Box Set, Books 1-10 by Jacie Middlemann
Dark family secrets have a way of finding their way to the light… She’s My Sister Complete Series Box Set, Books 1-10 by Jacie Middlemann
The sensational Amazon.com bestseller. #1 Science Fiction and Horror bestseller.
Civilization as we know it ended more than fifteen years ago, leaving as it’s legacy barren wastelands called the Deadland and a new terror for the humans who survived- hordes of undead Biters.
Fifteen year-old Alice has spent her entire life in the Deadland, her education consisting of how best to use guns and knives in the ongoing war for survival against the Biters. One day, Alice spots a Biter disappearing into a hole in the ground and follows it, in search of fabled underground Biter bases.
What Alice discovers there propels her into an action-packed adventure that changes her life and that of all humans in the Deadland forever. An adventure where she learns the terrible conspiracy behind the ruin of humanity, the truth behind the origin of the Biters, and the prophecy the mysterious Biter Queen believes Alice is destined to fulfill.
A prophecy based on the charred remains of the last book in the Deadland- a book called Alice in Wonderland.
If you enjoy Alice in Deadland, also check out Zombiestan by Mainak Dhar for another action packed thriller with a unique twist on the zombie genre and Vimana the Amazon.com sci-fi bestseller by Mainak Dhar.
Learn more about the world of Alice in Deadland and engage with the author and other readers at the new Alice in Deadland Facebook Group. Go to facebook.com/groups/345795412099089.
Reviews
“Alice in Deadland may be a ‘zombie-like’ story, but it is a metaphorical tale of how we tend to demonize that which we do not understand. It is obvious that there are socio-economic and geopolitical undercurrents in the story line and shadows of colonialism, post-colonialism, jingoism, and intolerance. If you can read between the lines and see the deeper meaning to the story, Alice in Deadland is a wonderfully entertaining ebook.” – eNovel Reviews
“Words to live by: Eat all your vegetables. Exercise like a fiend. Sleep a solid seven to eight hours a day. Never, ever read Alice in Deadland before you sleep. Ever. Because if you do make the mistake of idly perusing the first page, you’re going to want to finish the last and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a foul surprise to learn on a work day. An unusual blend of the zombie mythos, conspiracy theories and Lewis Caroll, Alice in Deadland is self-proclaimed ‘cubicle worker by day, author by night’ Mainak Dhar’s most recent offering and one of the best reinterpretations of the childhood fable yet.” – Kindlefu.com
About the Author
Mainak Dhar is a cubicle dweller by day and writer by night. He is the author of eleven books including the Amazon.com science fiction bestseller Vimana. Learn more about him and his writing at mainakdhar.com.
With hundreds of new books turning up free each day now in the Kindle Store, it can be tough to hone in on books that you will actually want to read. And most of the new free books will be free for just a day or two at a time, so we are working hard to make sure that you do not miss the ones you want!
Here are a few books that have just gone free by authors who have already proven to be favorites with Kindle Nation readers. Please grab them now if they looks interesting to you, because they probably won’t stay free for long!
Important Note: This post is dated Thursday, May 10, 2012, and the titles mentioned here may remain free only until midnight PST tonight.
Please note: References to prices on this website refer to prices on the main Amazon.com website for US customers. Prices will vary for readers located outside the US, and even for US customers, prices may change at any time. Always check the price on Amazon before making a purchase.
“A dead-on thriller for the decade…I can’t imagine anyone reading this and not wanting more.” –Thomas F. Monteleone, author of the NY Times bestseller, The Blood of the Lamb and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel
If you could hear the thoughts of every person for three blocks around-the regrets, rationalizations, commercial jingles, the lies that hide what they can’t bear to think–how could you ever trust anyone? And if you could make them believe anything you wanted, how could you ever trust yourself?
Max Renn is a legend of the Soviet mind control program, a genetic experiment, the product of three generations of psychics bred by the state for their power. Before his first mission, the Soviet Union collapses and he disappears.
We meet him twenty years later in the Everglades, keeping as far from people as he can get, until his best friend-his only friend-is murdered and he is forced to assemble a team of people like him to fight the international conspiracy behind the murder.
The second Carol Golden mystery. Carol Golden has recovered her identity if not her memory (lost in FORGET TO REMEMBER) and she would like to find more relatives. She discovers cousins with the last name of Boyd and finds they are apparently being targeted for murder. In addition, her grandmother is developing Alzheimer’s Disease and has been a victim of the “Grandparent Scam,” losing a lot of money to someone in Los Angeles who is impersonating Carol’s dead brother.
Carol travels to Los Angeles from her home in North Carolina to attend a memorial service for one murdered cousin and to try and determine whether the scammer and the murderer are the same person. However, she finds out soon after her arrival in L.A. that somone doesn’t want her sticking her nose into any of this.
A group calling itself The Syndicate is promoting what looks suspiciously like a Ponzi scheme, and at least one of her cousins could be involved, bilking people out of their money. Is there a connection to the murderer here? Will Carol become disillusioned about her relatives? Maybe she would have been better off not finding them.
Farmer’s Ham from Germany, French Toast from the Bahamas, Beef Kebab from Vietnam, Potato Salad from Brazil, Purple Corn from Bolivia and more. This book offers an insight to much loved breakfasts, brunches and snacks from around the world.
Victoria Danann is one of the hottest new talents in paranormal romance, emphasis on romance. Think Anne Rice meets Kresley Cole. -The Paranormal Romantic
A Secret Society. Hot Guys. Vampires.
Minutes ahead of inevitable assassination, Elora is accidentally transported to an alternate dimension similar, but not identical to her own…
Of course a girl could suffer worse problems than having gorgeous guys in love with her. Perhaps more importantly, in the midst of an epidemic of vampire related abductions, can she stay alive long enough to choose between the devotion of the noble and stalwart knight who has saved her life twice, the charm and sexual magnetism of the fun loving elf who wants to claim her as his mate, or the passion of the intensely seductive, six-hundred-year-old vampire?
My Familiar Stranger is a full length, stand alone, Paranormal Romance novel that also sets up the foundation for the series. It will appeal to lovers of paranormal romance, fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal mystery.
Getting a man is one thing…keeping him is a whole different story!
Recently wed to her hot boss, CEO Evan Fletcher, Emma Wiggins-Fletcher thinks her sizzling hubby is avoiding spending quality time with her…that is until Emma discovers that her pregnancy test is positive.
A baby changes everything. Jetsetter Evan discovers his new wife is pregnant and cancels an important business trip and prepares to rearrange his workaholic life to pamper his newlywed princess. Emma is over the moon about the new special affection from her spouse and her ill grandfather. Gramps has been given six more months to live, and he is so delighted about the baby news, he plans a surprise for the couple.
Too bad her world is turned upside down when she discovers the pregnancy test was false. Emma has been enjoying Evan’s renewed attention and he’s already shifted his life around to be daddy to their unborn. How could she possibly break the news to her husband and to her ailing grandfather without breaking their hearts? Still, pretending to be pregnant is a whole different story and can only last so long before they find out the truth.
What does every young girl wish for on her sixteenth birthday? Not to be told she’s a witch, that’s for sure!
But what if it comes with powers, a hot romance, and exciting adventure?
Of Witches and Warlocks Series Book One, The Trouble with Spells
With hundreds of new books turning up free each day now in the Kindle Store, it can be tough to hone in on books that you will actually want to read. And most of the new free books will be free for just a day or two at a time, so we are working hard to make sure that you do not miss the ones you want!
Here are a few books that have just gone free by authors who have already proven to be favorites with Kindle Nation readers. Please grab them now if they looks interesting to you, because they probably won’t stay free for long!
Important Note: This post is dated Thursday, May 10, 2012, and the titles mentioned here may remain free only until midnight PST tonight.
Please note: References to prices on this website refer to prices on the main Amazon.com website for US customers. Prices will vary for readers located outside the US, and even for US customers, prices may change at any time. Always check the price on Amazon before making a purchase.
From award winning author Brett Battles comes the second Logan Harper thriller.
It was supposed to be a fun weekend, a celebration of a marriage and growing family. Alan Lindley couldn’t have been happier…until his wife Sara disappeared.Asked by a mutual friend to help look for her, Logan Harper is sure he’d discover a wife who simply wants out of the marriage.
What he finds instead is a woman who didn’t exist, a diabolical plan, and people who would do anything to keep it a secret, including taking the life of the person most important to him.
“Truly a brilliant novel, this book would appeal to both the historical fiction lover as well as the reader that just wants a good story about a flawed hero.” – Just One More Paragraph (September, 2011)
You’ve heard of the Knights Templar, you’ve heard of Richard the Lionheart—now learn the story that started it all with the adventures of the First Crusade.
Haunted by guilt from the past and nightmares of the future, a young Norman named Tancred takes the cross and vows to be the first to free Jerusalem from the infidels. As he journeys to the Holy Land, he braves vast deserts, mortal famine, and the ever-present ambushes of the enemy Turks—but the greatest danger of all is deciding which of the Crusader lords to trust. A mysterious seer prophesies that Tancred will find great love and great sorrow on his journey, but the second seems intent on claiming him before he can find the first. Intrigues and passions grow as every battle brings the Crusaders one step closer to Jerusalem. Not all are destined to survive the perilous road from the West.
Reviews
“a worthy start to a fantastic new series” – Reviews by Molly (October, 2011)
“a novel rich in historical detail that will leave you wanting to know more about this time” – Peeking between the Pages (October, 2011)
“a well-researched and captivating account” – The True Book Addict (October, 2011)
“Ms. Lortz has a way with words and most definitely has a way with writing about this era in history.” – Broken Teepee (September, 2011)
About The Author
Rosanne E. Lortz “Rose” is a medieval enthusiast, a book addict, a mom to two twin boys, and a native of Portland, Oregon. She graduated from New St. Andrews College in 2005 with a B. A. in Liberal Arts and Culture and worked as a high school teacher for several years teaching classes in English, history, literature, and music. She and her husband David Spears were blessed with twin boys, Adam and Oliver, in November of 2010, and “Boy Number Three” Marcus in January of 2012.
Rose’s latest book, Road from the West: Book I of the Chronicles of Tancred, was released on September 2, 2011. She is currently at work on the next two titles in that series and enjoys immersing herself in the eleventh century world of the First Crusade. You can find more information about Rose and her writing at http://rosannelortz.blogspot.com.
With hundreds of new books turning up free each day now in the Kindle Store, it can be tough to hone in on books that you will actually want to read. And most of the new free books will be free for just a day or two at a time, so we are working hard to make sure that you do not miss the ones you want!
Here are a few books that have just gone free by authors who have already proven to be favorites with Kindle Nation readers. Please grab them now if they looks interesting to you, because they probably won’t stay free for long!
Important Note: This post is dated Thursday, May 10, 2012, and the titles mentioned here may remain free only until midnight PST tonight.
Please note: References to prices on this website refer to prices on the main Amazon.com website for US customers. Prices will vary for readers located outside the US, and even for US customers, prices may change at any time. Always check the price on Amazon before making a purchase.
As the Roaring Twenties crumble into the Great Depression, Virginia Kingsley, New York’s toughest and most successful speakeasy owner, is doing just fine; with the whole world falling apart for so many, bootlegging is a flourishing business.
But when a former lover, Rudy, attempts to coerce his way into her business, Virginia sends him packing and her entire family pays the price: Her niece, Laura, is devastated when her infant son vanishes without a trace. Speculation and rumors abound in the media circus that follows the abduction, and the police have few leads, most of which point straight back at Virginia and her fellow bootleggers.
Suspicious of Rudy but unable to go to the police, Virginia pursues her own investigation, shaking down, threatening, and killing one petty crook after another as she races against time to find her missing great-nephew. In the mean time, Laura’s lover and Herald Tribune reporter, Erich, tries to convince Laura that Virginia knows more than she is telling… and may be behind the boy’s disappearance.
With time flying past and hope thinning, Virginia, Laura, and Erich must set aside their differences and work together in one last, desperate bid to find the missing child and whoever really abducted him.
When Princess Amelie of Amborix is murdered by magical means, Annie Pearce and Bobby “Cham” Chamsky of the Wizard’s Guard are called in by the FBI. Their job is to help solve the crime while keeping the non-magical world from discovering the existence of the Wizard Council.
During their investigation, Annie and Cham discover that Princess Amelie’s death is connected to a series of other crimes in the Chicago area. A larger plot involving, a vampire, a rogue wizard and an army of soul-less zombies is revealed, but can Annie and Cham discover who is responsible before The Day of First Sun?
A contemporary romance set in rural Ontario, Falling for Rain is a story about homecomings and forgiveness. When Emily was eighteen, her mother died in a farm accident. Devastated, Emily vowed never to suffer the loss of love again. She fled to Toronto and transformed herself from a farm girl into a sophisticated businesswoman. Now, ten years later, Emily is back to sell the family farm and put her past behind her forever. However, she didn’t count on finding Ray Storm, the farmhand she had nicknamed Rain as a child, more attractive than ever. But as Emily struggles to come to terms with the tragedy of her mother’s untimely death and learns to trust again, Rain harbours a secret that he fears will keep them apart forever.
A string of brutal murders has bodies piling up in Brooklyn, and Detective Frankie Donovan knows what is going on. Clues left at the crime scenes point to someone from the old neighborhood, and that isn’t good. Frankie has taken two oaths in his life–the one he took to uphold the law when he became a cop, and the one he took with his two best friends when they were eight years old and inseparable.
Those relationships have forced Frankie into many tough decisions, but now he faces the toughest one of his life; he has five murders to solve and one of those two friends is responsible. If Frankie lets him go, he breaks the oath he took as a cop and risks losing his job. But if he tries to bring him in, he breaks the oath he kept for twenty-five years–and risks losing his life. In the neighborhood where Frankie Donovan grew up, you never broke an oath.
Two months after dying, Gray wakes up in Charlene’s body. As a witch, can anyone
blame her mother for attempting to bring her daughter back to life? Only now
Gray’s stuck sharing her sister’s body 50/50 in twenty-four hour shifts. The
race is on for Gray to find a way back inside her own body before Charlene
purges her from existence. Raj McKenna is rumored to meddle in the black arts,
not to mention he’s after Gray’s invisibility spell and worse – her heart. But
Raj might be the only one powerful enough to save Gray from fading awa
This is the story of Katy Pacheco, a bright, funny girl who gets crazy ideas every year on her birthday. On her eighth birthday she decides she wants big hair—bigger than any hair in the history of hair. And she talks the hair stylist into giving it to her. Unfortunately a determined wind takes her in a whole new direction.
Today’s 10,200-word Free Kindle Nation Short lands you in
Pushamataha County, Oklahoma. A black teen and his white girl friend have
disappeared.
After an altercation with white ruffians, a Choctaw Indian turns
up missing as well. It’s not a good time for a Jewish boy from Boston to spend
time in this place
The mystical warnings of a Choctaw holy man are ignored until it’s
too late to save citizens from the terror of good intentions gone awry.
Terrible things are happening in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. A
black teen and his white girl friend have disappeared. After an altercation
with white ruffians, a Choctaw Indian turns up missing as well. It’s not a
good time for a Jewish boy from Boston to spend time in this place where it
seems minorities are suddenly unwelcome.
Sheriff Burl Hansen has his hands full even before fate forces
him to bond with the boy from Boston. Hansen, though, will not heed the
mystical warnings of a Choctaw holy man until it’s too late to save citizens
from the terror of good intentions gone awry.
In a Godly community where honorable men have strayed, only a
force beyond human comprehension can intervene from The Hiding Place of
Thunder.
From the reviewers:
“No writer has grabbed my attention since I read my first
John Grisham novel. If The Hiding Place of Thunder is an example of Keith
Remer’s novels to come, America and the world have discovered a great new
author. I am hooked, and a Remer fan for life.” -Steve Bender, producer,
director and author, 68 at 40 Retrospective and If I Can Dream
“Keith Remer is truly one of the most gifted storytellers
of our time. The Hiding Place of Thunder is a haunting and provocative
masterpiece, which leaves the reader no choice but to keep turning its pages.
It’s one of those books that will keep you thinking about it long after
you’ve finished reading it.” -Stacy D. Shelton, author, Me, the Crazy
Woman and Breast Cancer
Keith Remer knows his craft and weaves compelling stories taken
from real life. His novels present those kinds of reflective moments we need
to take pause with in our own lives. He has inspired and taught me. -Chris
Querry, author, Alat Farad, Eden’s Keys, and A Love Made Real, reviewer,
Myshelf.com
“Put
the bat down, Herman, and stop calling me a son of a bitch.”
“This here is my bat, and you are standing on my land. So don’t go tellin’
me what to do, Burl. Besides, if I was to put this here baseball bat down, it’d
be kind of hard to knock yer head off with it…You goofy son of a bitch!”
Burl Hansen leaned back against the fender of his car and crossed two beefy
arms over a barrel chest. “Herman, don’t make me come over there and take
that damn thing away from you.”
Herman Grambs puckered his crusty lips and deposited a glob of thick black tobacco
juice between Hansen’s cowboy boots. “Some says you the biggest and
baddest son of a bitch in this county Burl. But you ain’t near big enough or
bad enough to take away my bat!”
Hansen unfolded his arms and pointed a thick index finger at the feisty little
welfare recipient. “It’s hard to make me angry Herman, but you’re about to
do it. You got about three seconds to throw that…”
A sudden beeping sound from within his car interrupted Hansen’s threat.
“What is that noise?” Grambs piped.
“It’s my cell phone,” Hansen grumbled as he pushed away from the
car’s fender. “You don’t move. I gotta see who’s calling.”
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere. Hell, I live here…you son of a bitch!”
Hansen grabbed the phone, pushed the talk button and barked, “This is
Burl.”
“Hi, honey.”
Hansen grimaced at the sound of his wife’s voice. She seemed to have a knack
for calling at the most inconvenient times.
“Who is it?” Grambs asked.
“It’s my wife.”
Grambs cupped a hand around one side of his mouth and hollered, “Howdy,
Vicki!”
“Herman Grambs says ‘Hello,'” Hansen relayed, then grumbled back to
Grambs, “Vicki says ‘Hi.'”
Turning his attention back to his wife, Hansen asked in his typically gruff
manner, “Whatcha need, Vicki?”
“Do you know what a bar mitzvah is?” The sweet voice
sounded distressed.
“A what?” Hansen countered.
“A bar mitzvah. I just watched one on T.V. It was on the Discovery
Channel.”
“A bar mitzvah? Yeah, yeah, it’s some kind of Jewish ceremony,”
Hansen said, doing nothing to conceal his agitation. Before Vicki gained a
chance to respond, Burl covered the phone with his hand and hissed at Grambs,
“You better throw that bat down!”
“You better kiss my ass!” Grambs hissed back.
“It’s a ceremony,” Vicki continued, “performed when a Jewish boy
turns thirteen that…”
“Oh, hell, not this again!” Hansen bellowed, and immediately wished
he hadn’t. Vicki hung up without another word. Despite his renowned terse
disposition, Burl Hansen didn’t relish hurting his darling wife’s feelings. He
felt really rotten, and feeling rotten did nothing to improve his already
tweaked temperament.
Hansen crammed the small phone into the rear pocket of his jeans and stomped
around to the back of his car. He popped the trunk and pulled out a
twelve-gauge pump shotgun, violently jerked the slide forward and back to
chamber a shell and whirled to level the barrel at Herman Grambs’ midsection.
“Drop that bat Herman, or I’m going to drop you.”
The bat hit the ground and both of Grambs’ hands went high into the air over
his head. “Goddammit Burl,” he whined, “I used to like you back
when we was in high school.”
“Everybody liked me back in high school Herman. I was a star
linebacker.”
“Yeah, you was a hell of a football player and a real nice feller, too.
Now that you’re the county sheriff though, you’ve become a sure enough
asshole!”
“Is that right? Well let me tell you something Herman. I liked you a whole
lot better before you started exposing yourself to young girls!”
“Young?” Herman squealed. “Hell Burl, she was fifteen if she was
a day!”
At the moment, Hansen needed no more than a simple spark to ignite his anger.
Vicki’s feelings were hurt, and the mere mentioning of a bar mitzvah had
turned Hansen’s thoughts to a fourteen-year-old boy way back east in Boston,
Massachusetts. Anytime and every time Hansen thought about this boy, his mood
darkened.
“Herman, I want you to get in the car, and I want you to shut up. If I
have to listen to one more word from your hillbilly mouth, I’ll probably pull
out your nasty tongue and beat you to death with it.”
Herman Grambs never seemed real smart, but he now proved to be no idiot. He
crawled into the car and managed to keep his mouth shut.
****
Darrell Baker prepared to
cross the street in front of the Pushmataha County Courthouse when Sheriff
Hansen pulled up in his cruiser. Newly implanted in the town of Antlers,
Oklahoma, the high school junior knew few adults other than his teachers, but
he knew of the sheriff. Although Burl Hansen presently served as a small time
cop in a God-forsaken land of hicks and rednecks, he’d once been phenomenally
famous in Darrell’s home town of Chicago, Illinois.
Darrell’s grandparents lived in this out-back country nearly all their lives.
Long before Darrell wound up here with his next of kin, he’d known Antlers to
be Burl Hansen’s home town and where the famed hero chose to return after he
retired from the National Football League.
This once awesome linebacker and a few other standouts from the Chicago Bears
had attracted Darrell Baker to football. Universities across the nation already
vied for Darrell’s tremendous passing arm. His grandparents and others assured
him the recent tragic change in his life and the subsequent move to this
backwoods dive would not hamper his lifelong dream of being a professional
quarterback. Darrell only hoped in the next four to five years, there would be
a greater presence of African-American quarterbacks in the professional ranks.
Because Hansen pulled his car into a parking space just feet away from him,
Darrell stopped in his tracks. He’d never been this close to a sports legend.
Darrell measured six-three and weighed two hundred and ten pounds. However, the
man unfolding from the driver’s seat of the muddy cruiser made him feel small.
Darrell guessed Hansen to be at least six-six and real close to three hundred
pounds. The former Bear sported a significant belly, but the rest of him still
looked capable of running down quarterbacks and crushing them at will.
****
Once he’d performed the arduous task of getting out from beneath the steering
wheel, Hansen adjusted the ball cap on his head and tucked his flannel shirt
into his jeans. Preoccupied with a boy in Boston he’d never even laid eyes on,
Hansen failed to notice the young man standing on the curb just a few feet
away.
“You’re Burl Hansen.”
The sheriff’s hand grasped the rear door handle to let Herman Grambs out of the
back seat. Instead, he dropped his hand and turned to face the big teenager.
“Yeah, I am. Who are you?”
“My name is Darrell Baker. I’m from Chicago, and I grew up watching you
play football.”
The athletic looking young
black kid named Baker set off bells in Hansen’s mind. Then he remembered.
“You’re Teddy and Martha Hallum’s grandson.”
“That’s me,” the boy nodded.
Hansen offered Darrell his right hand. “I heard what happened to your
mama. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” Darrell replied as he shook hands with Hansen.
“I also hear you are one heck of a quarterback.”
“I do what I can,” Darrell grinned.
“That’s what they say. I’m anxious to watch you play. When I got a few
spare minutes, we need to sit down and swap game stories.”
“Cool,” Darrell nodded, his grin widening.
Hansen turned back to the rear door of his car wondering if the boy in Boston
possessed any athletic abilities.
****
Darrell
Baker stepped out of the way as Sheriff Hansen opened the passenger’s door. The
man in the back with the tangled mess of thinning hair and scraggly beard did
not look at all happy. But neither did Hansen.
“Come on Herman, I don’t have all day,” the sheriff barked.
“Don’t rush me, you son of a bitch. I’m a by-god tax-payin’ citizen and I
pay your goddamned salary! So you got just as long as I want to take to
get…”
Hansen grabbed his prisoner by the scruff of the neck to interrupt the
declaration and jerk him from the back seat. The sheriff took several steps
before lowering the man enough so his feet touched the ground.
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, my neck! You have done broke my fuckin’ neck!” the
stained and crusty man bellowed.
The sheriff maintained his grip, shaking the much smaller man like a rag doll.
“Shut up, you ignorant bastard or I will break your neck, both your arms
and your legs, too! Just shut the hell up!”
“Okay! Okay!” the prisoner managed through chattering teeth.
As Hansen shoved his captive in the direction of the courthouse, the man’s eyes
made contact with Darrell. “What the hell you lookin’ at, tar baby?”
Darrell thought the entire state of Oklahoma would be flat and bare, but he was
wrong. The Kiamichi Mountains, with thick forests of pines, surrounded the
southeastern county of Pushmataha. He heard the state referred to as the
Heartland and the Bible Belt. He thought the people from such a place would be
less hateful, hostile, and color conscious than the people of Chicago, but he
was wrong about that, too.
“He’s looking at an idiot, Herman,” Sheriff Hansen said before
kicking the man in the butt with the side of his boot. “Now get your ass
moving.”
The grungy man in Hansen’s custody had been the first person in Antlers ever to
verbally assault Darrell. He wasn’t, however, the first racist the newcomer
encountered. Mannerisms, looks, and subtle attitudes of some classmates had
Darrell believing that Antlers High housed more than its fair share of bigots.
It didn’t help that Darrell was one of only six blacks in the junior class of
ninety-eight students. Still, the majority seemed to have no problems with him
being a minority. Most had been cordial, and one in particular had been
downright friendly. Darrell’s reaction to this particular person had no doubt
prompted most of the racist attitudes.
Shelly Rafell had gorgeous blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She introduced
herself to Darrell during the second hour of his first Monday in the new
school. Her approach had been blatantly flirtatious, and what started as
friendly banter culminated in a date the following Friday. At Antlers’ one and
only movie theater, Darrell Baker and Shelly Rafell kissed and cuddled. Later,
in Shelly’s new Camaro, Darrell went where other boys had quite obviously
already been. Darrell and Shelly’s hand-holding the next week at school raised
more than one set of eyebrows.
The fact that some didn’t approve of the relationship didn’t bother Darrell one
little bit. He approved of it very much, and no matter what anybody else said
or thought about it, Darrell intended to take just as long as Shelly agreed to
give.
Darrell didn’t move from his place on the curb until his hero and the cracker
disappeared into the courthouse. Then he set out on his after school trek home.
Darrell didn’t intend to walk much longer. Having to walk in his old
neighborhood in inner-city Chicago was one thing. Practically everybody there
walked or took the subway. Walking in Antlers, though, proved altogether
another thing. No self-respecting high school junior in Antlers walked anywhere.
They drove. As soon as Granddaddy finished teaching him how, Darrell would be
driving as well.
In less than ten minutes, Darrell made it to the outskirts of town. With only a
few blocks left between him and his grandparents’ place, a white car pulled
alongside and slowed to a near stop. Darrell stooped to peer into the front
passenger window and immediately felt relieved to find an attractive red-head
smiling at him.
“You wouldn’t by any chance be our new football star now would you?”
The woman’s smile broadened as she brought the late model Ford to a complete
stop.
Darrell stepped up to the car and leaned in for a closer look. The contrast
between the woman’s very white skin and her long red hair appealed to him. The
tight and very short skirt riding high on bare, shapely legs practically took
his breath away. “I’m Darrell Baker, and I do play a little
football.”
“You are a tease, Darrell Baker. The word around town is you play a lot of
football, and play it very well.”
Darrell shrugged his broad shoulders and offered his best smile. A large set of
very dark sunglasses covered much of the woman’s pretty face, making it hard to
determine her age. If Darrell had to guess, though, he would put the woman in
her early thirties. Her smile really turned him on.
“Word gets around fast in this place,” Darrell chuckled.
“Oh honey, you got that right,” she giggled, “and if the word
was to ever get out that I saw our new football hero walking and didn’t offer
him a ride, well, I’d probably be thrown out of the football booster club! You
climb in this car, Darrell Baker, and let me give you a ride,” she said,
patting the seat beside her.
Darrell didn’t argue and wasted no time squeezing in next to her.
“My goodness, you are such a huge young man,” the woman cooed as she
blatantly scanned every inch of his body. “Your arms are as big around as
my legs,” she exclaimed before leaning toward Darrell to pat his left
bicep. “and hard as a rock!”
Her blouse gaped as she leaned, and Darrell zeroed in on more than a fair
amount of cleavage. Only after nearly swallowing his tongue did he manage to
mumble, “I work out quite a bit.”
“I guess you do,” the woman sighed, as her hand went from patting to
caressing his arm. “Tell me, Darrell Baker,” she continued as she
picked up his left hand and placed it on her cream-colored thigh, “have
you got time for a little ride before I take you wherever it is you’re
going?”
“Uh, yeah, sure, I got some time.”
The woman slammed the Ford into gear and gunned away from the curb as Darrell
stroked her soft thigh. Being on foot in Antlers, Oklahoma, wasn’t such a bad
thing after all.
****
“Oh, by
the way, my name is Shannon,” the woman in the red wig lied.
The Baker boy moved his hand only a few inches under her hiked up skirt and
started working to get a finger into her panties. “Nice to meet you,
Shannon,” the teen beamed.
Knowing she had several miles to drive, Shannon spread her legs just enough to
keep the boy occupied, then she pushed down harder on the gas pedal.
It became quickly apparent that Baker wasn’t going to be content just probing
and poking around her panties. When he started trying to work the undergarments
down her thighs, she faked a giggle. “I do like what you got in mind,
Darrell, but not while I’m flying down the road at seventy miles an hour. You
just wait ’til we get stopped and I’ll help you get those panties out of the
way!”
“I hear that,” Baker grinned as he moved his hands from beneath her
skirt to the buttons of her blouse.
Before he could free her breast for the whole passing world to see, the woman
hiding behind the sunglasses thought of something that might slow him down.
“Tell me, Darrell, why in the world would anyone leave a big, glamorous
city like Chicago to come to our little wide spot in the road?”
It worked. Baker let go of the buttons and straightened in his seat. “Oh,
uh, well, I stayed there with my mama, and she, uh, died.”
The woman acted surprised and faked a look of pity. “Oh, no, honey! That’s
terrible. How did she die?”
“Cancer,” Darrell sighed, turning his head to look out the window.
Realizing how quickly the memory of the loss extinguished the boy’s burning
desire, the woman fought back a smile. She now only needed to keep Baker’s mind
on his dead mother and off her tits just a couple of more miles. She didn’t
want the black bastard pawing at her when she parked the car under the dense
clump of trees next to the Kiamichi River.
NEW ORLEANS, 1919. For nearly a decade, a ruthless killer has prowled the streets of this city, breaking into homes and hacking people to death with an ax. His victims have included men, women, even a child. He leaves few clues, and no one can stop him. Even his motives are unclear. The police seem baffled. Is he a vendetta agent or a bloodthirsty maniac? Echoing Jack the Ripper from three decades earlier, the killer even writes a letter to a local newspaper and refers to himself as a “demon from hottest hell.”
But Detective Colin Fitzgerald, a wounded Army veteran who recently returned from The Great War, is prepared to do whatever it takes to catch the Axman. What Fitzgerald is not prepared for are the shocking secrets his investigation will uncover, secrets that stretch to the top levels of the Police Department and City Hall, and reach back decades to the assassination of a legendary police chief and even to the murder of Fitzgerald’s own father.
From the reviewers:
“Chuck Hustmyre is one of the last of the true authentic storytellers who create magic on every page!” –Sheldon Bowles, bestselling author of GUNG HO!
“Chuck Hustmyre writes with a gritty realism that makes turning each page an act of bravery. This guy can do no wrong when it comes to suspense thrillers.” –Edgar Award winner Burl Barer
“Hustmyre brings to life the dark underworld of The Big Easy reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles. Detective fiction doesn’t get any better than this!” –Gary C. King, author of RAGE and AN ALMOST PERFECT MURDER
“Bloody murder and mayhem at the turn of the century–the 20th century. THE AXMAN OF NEW ORLEANS is a chilling walk through a horrible nightmare.” –O’Neil De Noux, Shamus and Derringer Award winning author of BATTLE KISS
“Hustmyre is as gritty and in-your-face as can be, making readers feel like they’re poring over a real-life crime scene.” –Anne Barringer, The Best Reviews
“Chuck Hustmyre’s THE AXMAN OF NEW ORLEANS is one of the best historical novels ever written.” –Kevin M. Sullivan, author of THE BUNDY MURDERS
“THE AXMAN OF NEW ORLEANS picks you up at the first page and doesn’t let you down until the last. I could never see what was coming until it was too late, which is the way a great book should work.” –Harry MacLean, Edgar-Award winning author of IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and THE PAST IS NEVER DEAD
CHUCK HUSTMYRE is a bestselling author and screenwriter. He wrote the LIONSGATE movie “House of the Rising Sun” and the upcoming LIONSGATE film “End of a Gun.” His books include “A Killer Like Me,” “The Axman of New Orleans,” “Killer with a Badge,” and “Unspeakable Violence.”
Chuck is a retired federal agent and an award-winning journalist. For more information visit www.chuckhustmyre.com
And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample of THE AXMAN OF NEW ORLEANS by Chuck Hust,yre:
