Murder, Mystery and Misdirection Pamela McCord (An Erin Baily in Franklin Paranormal Mystery, #3) Publication date: August 21st 2025 Genres: Adult, Cozy Mystery, Paranormal
Hold onto your coffee and get ready to dive into the charmingly quirky world of Franklin, Tennessee. Erin Bailey never expected her new Southern estate to come with a talking cat named Peekaboo and a parade of ghostly visitors, giving her life a supernatural twist beyond even her wildest imaginings.
In “Murder, Mystery and Misdirection,” Erin becomes embroiled in yet another haunting mystery when her neighbor, Derek, vanishes under suspicious circumstances. As she delves into the secrets surrounding Derek’s disappearance, Erin must navigate the demands of an irate spirit who wishes she’d mind her own business, and the wife he left behind who would prefer that Erin not meddle in her personal life. Despite her initial distaste for Derek, an admittedly abusive husband, Erin is determined to help his pesky ghost cross over—all with her signature wit and relatable charm.
With the assistance of her best friend Susie, a podcast-loving sidekick, Detective Ryan Cahill, the handsome detective who has captured Erin’s heart, and DC, a private investigator and Susie’s boyfriend, Erin faces breathtaking revelations and dangerous discoveries. Add in an unexpected visit from Susie’s all-knowing Italian mother, bringing her own mix of culinary talents and psychic insight, and Erin’s world becomes as dizzyingly delightful as it is unpredictable.
Immerse yourself in a tale where cozy meets paranormal, filled with laughter and suspense. When your closest advisor is a snarky orange cat and your sleuthing targets the world of the dead, nothing is off-limits.
Perfect for fans of mystery interwoven with humor, “Murder, Mystery and Misdirection” promises a journey that’s both heartwarming and hilariously unpredictable—because unraveling a murder mystery is just another day in the life when your companions are as spectral and sassy as the enigmatic Peekaboo.
Join Erin as she dances through danger, one ghostly encounter at a time!
I burst through the front door, Ryan in my wake. I stopped in the hallway and looked for any sign of the orange cat who was currently on my sugar (I don’t like to swear) list. It only took a moment before the little creature stepped primly into the hall.
“I was napping,” the grumpy feline said, shooting me a gold-eyed glare. She waited for me to continue.
“I acknowledged them,” I said, deadpan. Just what my cat warned me not to do.
“Oh.” Peekaboo’s snooty manner fell away, and she lowered those gold eyes.
“That’s all you have to say?” I stood, arms crossed, my eyes shooting daggers. Ryan, my boyfriend, stood mutely watching. He couldn’t hear Peekaboo.
But I could. Oh, boy, could I. My sweet little inherited orange cat bestowed on me, by way of tripping me on my way down the front porch steps, the “gift” of being able to communicate with her. Oh, and see ghosts. To be fair, her motives were pure. She needed me to have a near-death experience so I’d wake up and be able to listen to her.
Maybe I should back up, so you know what I’m talking about.
I used to live in Los Angeles. When I was twenty-one, I broke up a mugging and saved a dear little old lady. She was so grateful that seven years later she left me her estate in her will.
In addition to a house, an SUV and a large amount of money, I inherited Peekaboo, the talking cat. Of course, I didn’t know she was a talking cat at the time. After glaring at me for a few days, she apparently thought I was hopeless and pushed me down the stairs. So, I woke up in the hospital and saw a doctor with a clipboard walk through a wall. But that’s really immaterial to my story. My neighbor, who found me splayed out on the porch steps, called 911. When I was released from the hospital, Elsie, the neighbor, told me I’d flatlined and it took ten minutes of the paddles to bring me back to life.
As I hobbled into my house after Elsie brought me home from the hospital and made sure I was all right to be left alone, subject cat started talking to me. I thought I must have a brain tumor…somebody get me back to the hospital! I grabbed the fireplace poker and used it to keep her at bay. I think she may have rolled her eyes at me.
Then, before I was comfortable that she was talking…and I could understand her…she trotted out the ghost of Alice, the sweet little old lady who’d left me her house. Apparently, this whole episode was so I could see Alice and solve her murder.
Author Bio:
A Mom’s Choice Awards® Recipient, Pam started writing later in life when an author friend challenged her to create a book from his story idea. Being a never-say-never person, she met the challenge and managed to finish an entire novel, much to her surprise. Since that beginning, she’s written several books, in several genres. Romance, middle grade and paranormal comprise most of her work. Her first published book, The Haunting of Elmwood Manor, A Pekin Dewlap Mystery, is a Mom's Choice Award Winner! Several of her books have also earned that award. Pam lives in Tennessee, where she shares a home with her My Cat From Hell TV star, Allie, who manages to exude just enough affection to make her scary feral ways tolerable.
A single mom with a troubled past finds hope and peace when she discovers God’s love.…
Title: FROM TURMOIL TO PEACE
Author: Delia E. Hayward
Publisher: Emery Press Books
Pages: 206
Genre: Christian Memoir
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Delia Hayward, one of eight children,
grew up during the Hippie Era in a dysfunctional family, for whom
emotional and physical abuse was a normal occurrence of her childhood.
Her marriage further deteriorated what little self-esteem she retained
from her childhood.
Perhaps these torments are what made her desperately seek God and a personal relationship with Him.
When her marriage fell apart, she rose
to the challenge of raising three sons alone. With the help of God and
sheer determination, Delia managed to instill positive self-esteem and a
love for God into the hearts of the next generation.
As you read this book, may you also find hope in the midst of your storm, and may God bring you from turmoil to peace.
I continued attending Al-Anon meetings to improve my life. One day, my sponsor advised me to make a God Box; I needed to learn how to trust God. I was to put all the things I could not handle, could not afford, or could not change down on strips of paper. Then I was to put those strips of paper into the box and give them all to Him. Then I was to wait to see how many of those things were taken care of by Him.
As I put each strip of paper into my God Box, I wept with relief. With every folded piece of paper, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I was giving my worries to God and would trust Him to take care of them. A calm and peace came over me and I knew God was with me. I remembered many years ago when I had screamed at God in desperation, and He told me I didn’t trust him. Finally, I was learning how to trust Him.
One day, I didn’t have enough money to buy food for the week, but I knew that God would take care of us. When I walked to the mailbox, there was a check for $70, just for switching telephone companies. That check paid for food for that week. Other times, I would find money in my pockets just when I was out of cash. God was taking care of me.
In Al-Anon, I learned more about God, life, reactions, and forgiveness. It was now time for me to forgive the man I hated; the man who had done so many terrible things to me and our boys. How was I supposed to forgive the man who tried to kill me? I was told that I had to pray for John every day, ask God to bless him, and give him everything he needed.
I didn’t want to pray for John. I wished he was dead. I hated him. He continued to harass me by telephone. However, I prayed for John as I was told. This was supposed to help me get rid of the hate inside me. Soon after I began praying for him, I could feel my anger and hatred towards him fade away. They were replaced by compassion for the man who had lost a beautiful, loving family, and didn’t know God. The harassing phone calls suddenly stopped. God was awesome!
Father, thank you for your grace and mercy. Give me the strength and power to extend that same mercy and grace to those in my life who have hurt me.
– Excerpted from From Turmoil to Peace by Delia Hayward, Emery Press Books, 2025. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author
Delia Hayward is a proud mother of
three wonderful sons, a beautiful granddaughter and a precious grandson.
God put it on her heart to write this book “From Turmoil to Peace” so
that people could benefit from her life experiences. She has been
blessed and hopes her book blesses others.
USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Perfect for fans of Alice Feeney,
Megan Miranda, and Tana French, R. K. Jackson’s lyrical, twisty
psychological thriller follows an aspiring journalist as she uncovers
dark truths in a seaswept Southern town—aided by a mysterious outcast
and pursued by a ruthless killer.
Now available for the first time as an audiobook, this lyrical novel
comes alive in a tour de force performance by narrator Hillary Huber.
When Martha Covington moves to Amberleen, Georgia, after her release
from a psychiatric ward, she thinks her breakdown is behind her. A small
town with a rich history, Amberleen feels like a fresh start. Taking a
summer internship with the local historical society, Martha is tasked
with gathering the stories of the Geechee residents of nearby Shell Heap
Island, the descendants of slaves who have lived by their own
traditions for the last three hundred years.
As Martha delves into her work, the voices she thought she left
behind start whispering again, and she begins to doubt her recovery.
When a grisly murder occurs, Martha finds herself at the center of a
perfect storm—and she’s the perfect suspect. Without a soul to vouch for
her innocence or her sanity, Martha disappears into the wilderness,
battling the pull of madness and struggling to piece together a
supernatural puzzle of age-old resentments, broken promises, and
cold-blooded murder. She finds an unexpected ally in a handsome young
man fighting his own battles. With his help, Martha journeys through a
terrifying labyrinth—to find the truth and clear her name, if she can
survive to tell the tale.
Audio clip from The Girl in the Maze a psychological thriller narrated by Hillary Huber:
Book Details:
Genre: Psychological Thriller Published by: Audiobook: Paradise Press in Association with Fright Night Audio; Print & eBook: Penguin Random House Audiobook Publication Date: August 5, 2025 Number of Print Pages: 300 Audiobook ISBN: 979-8-218-70529-9 eBook Links:Kindle | Goodreads | BN | Apple | Penguin Audiobook Links:Audible | BN | Apple | LibroFM | Chirp | AudiobooksNow | Spotify
GUEST POST:
Wait … I Wrote This? What It’s Like to Be Read by a Top-Tier Narrator
By R. K. Jackson
When I first wrote The Girl in the Maze, I never imagined I’d one day get to hear it performed by a narrator of Hillary Huber’s caliber. Just named one of AudioFile Magazine’s “Golden Voices” of 2025, Huber is one of the best in the industry. Her vocal performances have given life to hundreds of audiobooks, spanning thrillers, memoirs, literary fiction, and bestselling authors like Lisa Gardner and Nora Roberts. And now, lil’ ol’ me.
But what makes her truly remarkable, in my view, is her ability to inhabit character.
Her range is uncanny and her mastery of regional dialects was a particular asset for the novel, which is set on a barrier island off the coast of Georgia. Beyond her technical skills, she brings nuance, warmth, menace, and humor in all the right places. Listening to her narration felt like being reintroduced to my own book … and to the characters I thought I knew.
In the years since I wrote The Girl in the Maze, I haven’t spent much time rereading it—partly out of superstition, partly because I’m always working on the next thing. So, when I sat down to listen to the audiobook, it was with relatively fresh ears.
Some passages felt instantly familiar: ones I’d revised multiple times or read aloud at promotional events. But others? It was like someone else had written them. A stranger who happened to share my name. I found myself surprised—sometimes pleasantly, occasionally with a wince. (My inner editor remains armed and dangerous.)
Gummy Bears and Plot Twists
Even though The Girl in the Maze is an intense psychological thriller, I always knew it had flashes of humor—especially in the interactions between Martha, my high-functioning but deeply vulnerable protagonist, and her hallucinatory companion Lenny. But what I didn’t anticipate was how funny some of those moments would land when delivered by Huber.
One of my favorite examples comes during a particularly tense sequence. Martha has been shot in the leg. She’s lost in a Georgia marsh, dehydrated and delirious, when she encounters a fisherman named Loren Call, who’s clearly somewhere on the spectrum. What does he offer her? Not help. Not water.
Gummy bears.
When I wrote that scene, I was aiming for something creepy and absurd. But hearing Huber perform it, I couldn’t stop laughing. The whole Loren sequence plays out like a slapstick black comedy—Hitchcock by way of Flannery O’Connor.
I Got Emotional, Too
There’s a vulnerability to Martha that’s always been close to my heart. She’s brave and smart, yes, but she’s also haunted, fragile, and misjudged. Listening to Hillary voice her, I felt an almost parental protectiveness rise up in me. I knew exactly what was going to happen—I wrote it—but even so, I found myself sometimes holding my breath, worrying for her, rooting for her.
It reminded me of that famous story (perhaps apocryphal) about Stephen King watching the film adaptation of Misery. As the climactic scene unfolded, he supposedly yelled at the screen, “Watch out—she’s got a gun!”
Now I get it. When a great actor brings your characters to life, you don’t just remember what happens. You feel it again.
I Enjoyed the Book. Maybe for the First Time.
Writing a novel is a bit like building a ship in a bottle. You're so close to the glass, so focused on the fine (and sometimes tedious) details, that you rarely step back and just sail the thing. But listening to the audiobook gave me that rare chance to experience the book not as its creator, but as a member of the audience.
And to be honest, I enjoyed it a lot.
That’s not always a given for authors. We tend to be our own harshest critics. And don’t get me wrong, there were several moments when I cringed and wished I could go back and tweak certain passages. But for a few golden hours, I got swept up in the story. The mystery. The voices. The weird charm of a fictional island where the past and present collide.
I hope listeners will have a similar experience. Huber’s performance is truly something special, and I’m incredibly proud of the audiobook we’ve created together.
And hey—if you ever get lost in a marsh and someone offers you gummy bears? Maybe just keep walking.
Read an excerpt:
Prologue
She wants to kill you.
Martha’s fingers tightened onto the Pentel No. 2 pencil, clutched in
her lap like a secret talisman. Dr. Ellijay picked up the stack of test
booklets, squared them on her desk with soft raps, and began handing
them out. She walked slowly down the aisle, her heels popping on the
linoleum.
Not today, Martha thought. Please, Lenny, not today.
Outside the casement windows, the campus was awash in gray, a silent
movie, as it had been for days, suspended between fog and drizzle, the
dull light suppressing shadows, flattening the neo-Gothic buildings of
Ponce de Leon College like a plywood set. Only two o’clock, but outside
looked more like dusk.
The quad was empty, except for a lone figure seated on a bench, a man
in a tweed blazer taking notes in a composition book. He looked up in
Martha’s direction, then down at the notebook, then toward her again. To
escape his gaze, she looked elsewhere, beyond the campus buildings,
above the crenellated rooflines.
It was there again. She had seen it before, on bad days, and now it
stretched across the buildings, high above the spires and turrets,
gelatinous and nearly invisible except for a network of threadlike
capillaries. It pulsed and it heaved, breathing, alive.
Don’t look at it, Lovie. Lenny murmured in her ear, his voice moist and intimate. You know they don’t want you to see that, right? Just pretend you don’t see it.
Today Lenny was only a voice, but on some days she could see him. He
was tall and gaunt, his skin white and mottled, like the belly of a
toad. Spiked hair. Blue jeans shiny with stains. Canvas sneakers, gray
and frayed.
Martha felt a touch on her shoulder, jerked around.
“Relax, Martha.” Wade leaned forward in the desk behind her. “You look as tight as a piano wire. You’ll do great.”
You won’t do great. You’ll die. Lenny hissed. S’truth. You’ll die if you even touch the paper.
This was the first time Wade had spoken to her in months. In the
early weeks of the semester, he had flirted with her, singled her out
for special attention. For a while, the attraction had been mutual. She
liked his pug nose, his subversive sense of humor. But that was before.
Dr. Ellijay walked to the end of the next aisle, Martha’s aisle.
Have a look out, Lovie. ’Ere it comes.
Martha tried to concentrate, to review her mental notes. This was the final. Her grades had been floundering—that’s all part of the plan, innit?—but Martha had decided she would overcome the plan. She wouldn’t let them win.
Don’t touch the paper, Lenny rasped. It’s printed with
poison ink. It’s like them colorful frogs in Ecuador. We learned about
that in Biology 101, remember? Beautiful, but lethal. If you touch the
ink, you’ll die.
Dr. Ellijay returned to her desk at the front of the room and glanced
at her wristwatch. “All right, you have forty-five minutes,” she told
the class. “You may begin now. Good luck.”
Look at ’er. She’s watchin’ you. She wants to see you fail. Touch
the frog poison, and you’ll die. Look out the window. The man on the
bench, he’s watchin’, too. They’re all watchin’. They’ve all been
waitin’ for this moment, doncha see?
Martha stared at the page, paralyzed. She felt a drop of perspiration
release from her armpit and crawl down her side. Around her, she heard
the frantic scratching of her fellow students’ pens. They mingled with
the sounds of the rats in the walls, the ones that chewed at the masonry
with their sharp teeth, like yellow rice grains. The other students
acted as if the rats weren’t there.
She glanced at the clock. Six minutes gone already. She looked down
at the paper and tried to focus, to form the answers in her mind.
If you fall for it—don’t say I din’t warn you, Lovie.
She wanted to cry, or to scream, but she was motionless except for the pounding of her heart.
Don’t react. Don’t let ’em know. Don’t let ’em on to you, right? That’s the worst thing.
She heard Dr. Ellijay’s footsteps approach and stop next to her desk. She didn’t look up.
“Martha? It’s been ten minutes, and you haven’t even started. Are you all right?”
A swarm of ghostly, amoeba shapes floated in front of Martha’s eyes, and she felt as if her head would explode.
“Martha?” Dr. Ellijay placed a hand on her shoulder.
Martha screamed and lunged out of her seat, pushing the desk over, causing books to tumble out.
Run. It’s yer only chance—run like hellfire.
She bounded up the aisle, reached the door, and flung it open with a bang.
Run, Lovie.
In the hallway, Martha collided with a student on his cellphone,
texting. She turned the corner onto another hallway and spotted the door
to the custodial closet. She tried the knob. It opened. She slipped
inside, squeezed next to a plastic mop bucket with rubber wheels, pulled
the door closed, and slid to the floor.
In the darkness, she could smell ammonia. She heard the rats scurry
around her. One brushed against her ankle, another along the back of her
neck. Out in the hallway, footsteps approaching.
Voices calling her name. But Martha remained silent, invisible.
This is one thing we’re good at, hey, Lovie? Lenny said. We know how to vanish.
Chapter 1
Ten months later
Martha sat on an iron bench in front of the Wash-and-Fold and watched
a column of ants as they marched away carrying crumbs from the smashed
corner of a ham sandwich.
She had made the walk from the Pritchett House to Tobias Avenue in
only fifteen minutes, strolling past dew-damp lawns and sprinklers,
reaching the business district early. Nothing to do now but wait and
watch the town slowly wake up. The morning was hazy, already humid. The
rising sun painted sharp, expanding triangles of yellow on the buildings
and storefronts.
Martha opened her leather satchel and unfolded the advertisement, the
one Vince found on the bulletin board at the Gateway Center. She reread
it for the hundredth time.
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
The Historical Society of Amberleen, Georgia, seeks a full-time intern
to assist with book project. Must be bright, organized, and
detail-oriented, able to hit the ground running. Will transcribe/edit
interviews, write introductions, assist with research. Three-month term
with stipend. Assist with book project. Must be bright, organized, and
detail-oriented, able to hit the ground running. Will transcribe/edit
interviews, write introductions, assist with research. Three-month term
with stipend.
She felt restless, considered moving to the local diner for a cup of
coffee, then scrapped the idea. Like so many things, caffeine was no
longer admissible.
She wished she’d brought a book to read, or maybe a newspaper.
Anything to take her mind off the fluttery feeling in her gut, a
sensation that took hold yesterday when the Trailways bus crossed the
Intracoastal Waterway and rolled past that sign in the grass median:
Welcome to Amberleen. Spacious Oaks, Friendly Folks.
Martha held the leather satchel close to her face and sniffed. The
smell calmed her. It reminded her of her father, who kept it bulging
with papers as he shuttled between their house and the university. She
tilted the satchel and heard a faint rattle from within, a secret sound.
The part of herself she would keep hidden.
A Lincoln Continental pulled up in front of the brick building across
the street and parked. A tall woman with white hair and an
old-fashioned, collared dress got out, unlocked the glass door to the
building, and entered. Martha checked her watch—eight fifteen. She took
out a mirror, freshened her lip gloss, and brushed a few strands of
loose hair from her face. It was time.
***
Excerpt from THE GIRL IN THE MAZE by R. K. Jackson. Copyright 2025 by R. K. Jackson. Reproduced with permission from R. K. Jackson. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
R.K. Jackson is a former CNN journalist who now works at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. He is the author of two novels of psychological
suspense: the USA Today bestseller The Girl in the Maze and its sequel, Kiss of the Sun, both originally published by Penguin Random House.
Offside and Off-Limits Kate O’Keeffe (Love in Maple Falls) Publication date: August 20th 2025 Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance, Sports
I survived chronic illness and a cheating ex. Surely I can resist one charming hockey player…right?
Clara
Working as the social media manager for a pro hockey team is all fun and games—until you trip into the arms of their biggest flirt during a livestream. Now the fans are shipping us, my boss is thrilled with the engagement, and I’m stuck dodging feelings for Cade Lennox, aka the certified charmer. The problem? My contract says he’s off-limits. My heart, unfortunately, didn’t get the memo.
Cade
I came to this small town to turn over a new leaf. But you know what they say about the best laid plans. All bets are off the second Clara Johnson literally stumbles into my arms and straight into my heart. She’s focused, loyal, and the most beautiful challenge I’ve ever met. All I have to do is prove I’m worth the risk.
Offside and Off-Limits is part of the Love in Maple Falls sweet hockey romcom multi-author series. It’s a forbidden love story between one flirty hockey player and the team’s social media manager in this small town romance with all the sizzle and chemistry, but none of the spice.
Welcome back to Maple Falls—the small town where hockey players fall in love! This is a multi-author series of seven full-length books that could be read as standalones, but we think you’ll enjoy them best in order.
“Oh, man, this is awesome!” Joel declares, holding my phone in his hands. “You guys look sick! Even you, Clara.”
I let out a surprised laugh at Joel’s comment when Asher calls, “And now turn!” and as I do my legs fly from underneath me, and my breath wooshes out as I scrunch my eyes shut, bracing for the impact of cold, hard ice against my poor, under-protected butt.
But the ice-cold contact fails to happen, and when my eyes spring open I see Cade, his eyes wide with alarm as large, strong arms pull me against his firm body.
He grins down at me as my heart beats out of my chest.
I tell myself it’s because I almost fell, but being in Cade’s arms feels…well, it feels pretty dang amazing.
Not that I’m going to tell him that.
“Thanks,” I mumble, the heat rising in my cheeks as I gaze up at him, at total odds with the cold of the arena.
“My pleasure,” he replies, and the way he says those two words sends a flash of something hot through me that I’ve got to work hard at resisting.
But resist it I must, no matter how good this feels.
I haven’t been held by a man since Dwayne left me for my friend. And that was years ago.
I heave out a breath as I drag my gaze from his. I need to remember that this guy is a total player, and I don’t mean just on the ice. He probably catches falling women in his big, strong arms every day of the week—and I bet most of them don’t even bother to resist the heat this feeling elicits.
But I’m not one of those women, and I refuse to act on my physical attraction for this man. There are so many reasons, the non-fraternization clause in my employment contract being right at the top of that list.
Throwing away my new job because I’m attracted to one of the players? Not going to happen.
“You guys, I’m getting so many likes on this!” Joel calls out.
Wait. Likes?
I snap my attention to Joel, who’s still holding up my phone, pointing it straight at Cade and me. “Cade, would you mind putting me down? Like now.”
“I’ll do you one better,” he replies as he glides me smoothly back toward the bench, still holding me close in his arms. Holding me in one arm, he pulls open the door, and returns me to my feet—which I note are now trembling.
Author Bio:
Kate O’Keeffe is a USA Today bestselling author known for her fun, feel-good romantic comedies brimming with humor, heart, and happily ever afters. A native of New Zealand, Kate has crafted numerous popular series, garnering a devoted international readership.
With a flair for witty banter and irresistible heroines navigating the ups and downs of modern dating, Kate’s novels showcase strong friendships, comedic entanglements, and the of course sometimes bumpy but always hopeful road to love.
When she’s not writing, Kate can often be found reading romcoms, binging her favourite shows, or spending time with her friends and family in the beautiful Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand.
Protopia John Calia Publication date: May 15th 2025 Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Thriller
America’s cultural divide turns deadly.
When lifelong friends Olivia and Alexandra find themselves in opposing camps, the bonds of their friendship are tested like never before.
Olivia seeks solace in a socialist utopia that promises protection and belonging, but at what cost?
Meanwhile, Alexandra chases freedom. But can she survive in a community with few, if any, rules?
As their worlds collide and tensions escalate, secrets and lies threaten to destroy the foundation of their relationship.
Can they bridge the gap between them, or will their differences tear them apart forever?
In this gripping tale of loyalty, adventure, and human connection, the stakes are higher than ever. Protopia is a thought-provoking thrill ride that explores the power of friendship in a world on the brink.
If you devour the complex characters of Emily St. John Mandel or the visionary world-building of Octavia Butler, you’ll be captivated by this latest masterpiece by the author of the Amazon best-seller The Awakening of Artemis.
As she gazed out at the ravaged landscape, Olivia Fletcher felt the weight of her exhaustion like a physical force dragging her down into the dusty earth. Five years of constant strife—of strategizing and problem-solving, of rising and failing—had all taken its toll. She longed for a life of quiet contemplation, of peaceful days spent in a garden or a library, free from the constant din of conflict. But that life seemed as distant as a dream. The struggle between Cygnus and Elyria showed no signs of abating, and Olivia’s skills as a mediator and leader were still desperately needed. She felt like a worn-out tool, perpetually called upon to fix the unfixable, to bridge the unbridgeable gaps between sworn enemies.
And yet, despite her fatigue, Olivia couldn’t shake the feeling of inadequacy that had haunted her for so long. Was she truly making a difference, or was she just a band-aid on a bullet wound? Did she have the strength and wisdom to bring peace to this shattered world, or was she just a fraud waiting to be exposed? The doubts swirled in her mind like a toxic fog, threatening to consume her at any moment.
As the war drums beat louder, Olivia knew she couldn’t afford to indulge in her uncertainty. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and stepped forward into the fray once more.
But the questions lingered, echoing in her mind like a whispered mantra: What if I’m not enough? What if I fail? What if…?
Author Bio:
A Brooklyn-born, recovering businessman, John Calia has been a naval officer, banker, entrepreneur and consultant. He began writing his blog “Who Will Lead?” in 2010 attracting more than 115,000 readers. The five-star rating of his first book – a business fable titled “The Reluctant CEO: Succeeding Without Losing Your Soul” – inspired him to keep writing. His fascination with artificial intelligence and its impact on society inspired him to write “The Awakening of Artemis.”
Stranger Still George Ochoa Publication date: August 19th 2025 Genres: Adult, Literary Fiction, Thriller
Paul Inster, a brilliant, insane Columbia college student majoring in English with an undisclosed minor in knives, is in love with graduate student, Tracy Iridio. Seeing her in the library every day, he mistakenly believes she is in love with him and that she is a goddess, Teresa. In fact, the two have never met, and she does not know who he is. When, for the first time, he sees her with her boyfriend, classical history professor Larry Post, Paul sets out to destroy Larry via a campaign of terror. As the campaign mounts, Larry, mystified, tries to figure out who is attacking him and why. Through a series of surprises and confusions, the campaign escalates to murder.
Stranger Still is both a thriller and a literary novel, combining suspense and violence with rich language, webs of cultural allusions, and themes of love and madness.
Teresa and I often made love, though never in the flesh. To this day the psychiatrists will scrutinize such a statement as if it meant something other than what it plainly says, as if it were the telltale boil of some rare mental pox that might explain the blood spills photographed by the police. But these doctors do not understand love, optics, metaphysics, error, or even good taste. As far as flesh went, I never touched or even talked to Teresa, not until our moral decline had already begun. Before then, seeing the chaste tables that divided us in the Columbia library less than a decade ago, in the middle years of the 1990s, you might have thought Teresa and I were strangers, that she didn’t know I was alive.
I first saw her early in my junior year, a new female sitting several tables away in the Burgess-Carpenter reading room on the fourth floor of Butler Library. She seemed at first like any other of the pretty women on campus whom I liked to ogle and who regarded me as if I were invisible. But the more I stared at her, the more she particularly interested me. A pile of books rested near her elbow on the blond pine table, her head bent with rapt attention over her open book. Hazy September sunlight from the tall windows bathed her small breasts in her magenta top, made the white skin of her forearms glow. Her dark-brown hair was long and luxuriant, her neck long, her face shaped like that of a Raphael Madonna. But what captured me
most were her eyes—large, sad eyes, ringed with mauve circles as if she hadn’t slept well. Why was she sad? Was there something I could do to make her happier?
We sat like that for a long time, she near the east end of a table in the back, never noticing me, while I shot frequent glances at her from near the west end of the second table from the door. About twenty feet diagonally divided us, too far for me to discern her eye color, though I tried. Finally, she got up, gathering her books into a white canvas tote bag and walking toward the door. As her gangly frame passed me, I gave her eyes a good look and saw they were hazel, flickering elusively under their long lashes from green to brown to gold.
The thought of her big, sad, long-lashed hazel eyes kept me happy for the rest of my day at Columbia. Even when I boarded the downtown Number One train, the first of the three trains that every evening buried me back in Jamaica, Queens, I was still thinking of those eyes. But an hour and fifteen minutes in the subways will discourage anyone. By the time I left the second leg, the D train, for the final and longest leg, the F, my thoughts were turning dark. The train was crowded with smelly, loam-colored laborers imported from faraway continents, and me just one of the horde.
Most students at Columbia boarded, but because my family was poorer than that of the standard Ivy Leaguer, I was a commuter. Combined with my natural tendency toward solitude, this meant I had no friends either on campus or anywhere else. I longed to make contact with someone, anyone, but did not know how. Sometimes I just wanted to pet them—the young secretary sitting before me on the subway in vinyl jacket and glittery eyeliner—to touch her shoulder, her pulsing throat, and say, “I am here. I am lonely. Help me.” Sometimes I wanted to hit them—the goon in the Yankees cap. When I felt particularly desperate, I wanted to stab them. I had knives that would have fit that purpose, but I never took them out of the house.
Author Bio:
George Ochoa’s first novel is the thriller Stranger Still. In addition, he has written or cowritten thirty-five nonfiction books, including The Book of Answers, The Writer’s Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe, The American Film Institute Desk Reference, and Deformed and Destructive Beings: The Purpose of Horror Films. His short fiction has been published in North American Review, Eureka Literary Magazine, Eunoia Review, Bangalore Review, and elsewhere. He is also the author of published poems and essays.
I want to welcome Lou Berney to Books R Us. Lou is the author of "Crooks." Check out my review of the novel. I want to thank William Morrow for providing me with a galley of the book. To be published on Sept 9th.
About the Book:
You’ve never met a family like the Mercurios.
They say the
American dream is going farther in life than your parents ever did. But
how does that work if your parents are criminals?
For Buddy, a low-level mob wise guy, and Lillian,
a charming pickpocket, the criminal underworld is the only life they’ve
ever known. When they’re forced to flee the glittering Babylon of Las
Vegas, they end up opening a club in Oklahoma City—a town that quickly
feels like a gold mine of fresh marks and easy new money. Along for the
ride are their five children, all of them raised into the family
business of crime—until the day comes when they each have a chance to
make their own way in the world, even if they can never completely
escape the family’s long, dark shadow.
Jeremy, the family’s Golden Boy, will throw himself into the glittering excesses of a drug-fueled Hollywood in the roaring 1980s.
Tallulah, the daredevil, will find herself in the deadly Wild West of post-communist Moscow.
Ray, the
dope, the dumb muscle since he was a kid, wants nothing more than to
put down his gun, but following orders is all he’s ever known.
Alice, the
genius who renounced her life of crime long ago, now sees her
white-shoe law firm being blackmailed and must tap into old skills to
save both the company and her own life.
And Piggy, a civilian always on the outside looking in on his crime family, desperate to be part of the gang.
Crooks is
an epic novel about a truly unforgettable family–forty years of peril
as each Mercurio has to grapple, in their own way, with the family’s
powerful criminal legacy.
My Thoughts:
"Crooks" is an excellent novel. Each section of the book is written like a novella, following the lives of the Mercurio family as they navigate life's challenges. The novel is fast-paced, descriptive, engaging, and well-developed. Each member of the family's life is explored in depth, showcasing their individual experiences and struggles. The ending was rushed but enjoyable. I look forward to reading the other books that the author has written. 5/5 stars.
Hold onto your coffee and get ready to dive into the charmingly quirky world of Franklin, Tennessee. Erin Bailey never expected her new Southern estate to come with a talking cat named Peekaboo and a parade of ghostly visitors, giving her life a supernatural twist beyond even her wildest imaginings.
A Mom’s Choice Awards® Recipient, Pam started writing later in life when an author friend challenged her to create a book from his story idea. Being a never-say-never person, she met the challenge and managed to finish an entire novel, much to her surprise. Since that beginning, she’s written several books, in several genres. Romance, middle grade and paranormal comprise most of her work. Her first published book, The Haunting of Elmwood Manor, A Pekin Dewlap Mystery, is a Mom's Choice Award Winner! Several of her books have also earned that award. Pam lives in Tennessee, where she shares a home with her My Cat From Hell TV star, Allie, who manages to exude just enough affection to make her scary feral ways tolerable.
Clara
