New Mystery Novels

Novels Hot Off The Press

Just want to update our readers on new releases by authors who’ve been interviewed here on Hook’em and Book’em. Every few months, this blog will post an update on the status of these novels: books just hitting the shelves, books almost on the shelves, and a few books that hit the shelves before we learned of them.

So here goes for a summer of continuous great reading …

Deceit by Brandilyn Collins
Some evil shouts from rooftops; some scuttles in the dark. The worst evil tips its face toward light with shining innocence. Baxter Jackson shone with the worst of them.

Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed Linda—his second wife and Joanne's best friend—six years ago. But Jackson, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man. Joanne is determined to bring Jackson down, no matter what the police say. Using her skills as a professional skip tracer, she sets out to locate the only person who can put Jackson behind bars.

Melissa Harkoff was a traumatized sixteen-year-old foster child in the Jackson household when Linda disappeared. At the time Melissa claimed to know nothing of Linda's whereabouts ... but was she lying? In relentless style, Deceit careens between Joanne's pursuit of the truth and the events of six years past, when Melissa came to live with the Jacksons. What really happened in that household? Beneath the veneer of perfection lies a story of shakable faith, choices, and the lure of deceit. Released: July 2010

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen 

(You may want to watch the new TNT show RIZZOLI and ISLES, an exciting murder mystery series that is getting great reviews. It is based upon the characters from Tess’s Rizzoli and Isles series, Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles.).

In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness—someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless—and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate. Release Date: June 29th, 2010

Predator by Terri Blackstock

The murder of Krista Carmichael’s fourteen-year-old sister by an online predator has shaken her faith and made her question God’s justice and protection. Desperate to find the killer, she creates an online persona to bait the predator. But when the stalker turns his sights on her, will Krista be able to control the outcome?

Ryan Adkins started the social network GrapeVyne in his college dorm and has grown it into a billion-dollar corporation. But he never expected it to become a stalking ground for online predators. One of them lives in his town and has killed two girls and attacked a third.

When Ryan meets Krista, the murders become more than a news story to him, and everything is on the line. Joining forces, he and Krista set out to stop the killer. But when hunters pursue a hunter, the tables can easily turn. Only God can protect them now. Released: May 2010

Fresh Kills by James Scott Bell

(This shortstory eBook release escaped my attention until after the interview with James Scott Bell last January. My apologies, Jim and the other six bestselling writers in this collecton of short stories.).

Fresh Kills is a collection of short stories by seven bestselling writers who are the authors of the popular literary blog The Kill Zone (http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/). These tales vary from the paranormal to the chilling to the just plain scary. Contributors include James Scott Bell, John Gilstrap, Michelle Gagnon, Kathryn Lilley, John Ramsey Miller, Clare Langley-Hawthorne, and Joe Moore. Released: January 2010

Tomorrow We Die by Shawn Grady

Paramedic Jonathan Trestle has had a week of death. Every call seems to end up with someone flatlining until finally he is able to revive a disheveled patient long enough for the man to hand him a crumpled piece of paper and say, “Give this to Martin.” With the simple decision to honor a dying man’s last wish, Trestle soon finds himself snared in a mystery of murder and danger. His only clue is a scrap of paper covered with indecipherable dashes, but with his future, freedom, and life on the line, he must race for the truth before the Angel of Death comes calling for him. Released: July 2010

Medical Error by Richard L Mabry

Dr. Anna McIntyre's life is going along just fine—until someone else starts living it! Her patient dies because of an identity mix-up; forged prescriptions jeopardize her career; her credit is in ruins—and "she" has tested positive for HIV. Is trying to clear her name a terminal diagnosis with no hope for a cure? To be released: September 2010

Back on Murder by J. Mark Bertrand

Houston homicide detective Roland March was once one of the best. Now he's disillusioned, cynical, and on his way out. His superiors farm him out on a variety of punishment details•until an unexpected break gives March one last chance to save his career. And his humanity.

All he has to do? Find the missing teenage daughter of a Houston evangelist that every cop in town is already looking for. But March has an inside track, a multiple murder nobody else thinks is connected. Battling a new partner, an old nemesis, and the demons of his past, getting to the truth could cost March everything. Even his life. Released: June 2010

Shawn Grady

Author Interview: Shawn Grady

Most people try to avoid the Angel of Death. In novelist Shawn Grady’s latest—Tomorrow We Die—protagonist Jonathan Trestle chases this death angel from one paramedic call to another.  Set in Reno, Nevada’s high-stakes gaming town, Shawn takes readers from one crisis-driven scene to another. And if that’s not enough tension, Shawn draws Trestle into a twisted, shadowland where everything becomes upside down with life-threatening consequences.

Shawn’s real-life experiences as a Reno firefighter and EMT for over a decade helps create this thrilling and realistic novel. Tomorrow We Die will be released this month.

This author’s debut novel—Through the Fire—hit the shelves last year on the tail of Shawn being selected as the “Most Promising Writer” at the Mt. Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference in 2008. It appears Shawn’s life will be divided between his day job—saving lives, putting out fires—and  pushing ahead on a burgeoning writing career. Readers can learn more about this exciting new writer at Shawn’s web site, shawngradybooks.com.

MARK: Now that readers have a clue about your latest novel, Shawn, give us more about this quick-paced story. Tell us about Trestle and his dance with the Angel of Death.

SHAWN: Jonathan Trestle is chasing the Angel of Death in Tomorrow We Die both in reality, through responding to an increasing series of cardiac arrests, and figuratively, in a misconceived connection between intimacy and death. In honoring a dying patient’s last wish to pass on a simple notepaper covered in indecipherable dashes, he soon finds himself racing for his life through a maze of mystery and murder.

MARK: Visually sketch out for us the geography where Tomorrow we Die takes place for those who might not be familiar with Reno, Lake Tahoe, or the surrounding Sierra Mountains.

SHAWN: The city of Reno and the greater Washoe Valley are home to about 400,000 people and sits in a valley that at its lowest point is about 4,500 feet in elevation and is surrounded on the west by the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which reaches heights over ten thousand feet, and a variety of other mountain ranges on every other side. It is considered a high desert climate that interfaces on the west with an alpine environment. Lake Tahoe, pristine blue and surrounded by snow-capped peaks, is within twenty minutes from the southern end of the city. The downtown area has a mix of casino/hotels and other residential and business towers.

MARK: Both your novels spring from experiences gained as a firefighter and EMT. It takes a special person to handle these kinds of medical emergency calls. Share a little about your background as a life saver, fire fighter, and first responder. What drew you to this line of work?

SHAWN: It really is a team effort. My initial major going into college was Theology, but I soon discovered that I wanted to do something a bit more hands-on and outside oriented and still help others in the process. I had an interest in medicine and so the combination of firefighter/paramedic was the perfect choice.

MARK:  It appears you live and work in Reno, Nevada? Are you a native Nevadan? What drew you to this city?

SHAWN: I’m not a native Nevadan, but we’ve lived here for over a decade. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. My parents’ jobs got transferred up to Reno my first year in college so I came to stay with them while I obtained my fire science degree and paramedic certificate.

MARK: Trestle seems to be struggling with personal relationship issues—okay, many guys struggle over this one— as well as spiritual issues. What makes him tick? What kind of issues does he face?

SHAWN: Death took something of dear value to Jonathan Trestle when he was very young. He’s committed his life to the vain effort of overcoming death through medicine. He aspires to be an ER doctor and has scored in the 98^th percentile on his MCATs, but he knows inside that even achieving that won’t change the past. Flight Nurse Naomi Foster is key in helping Trestle to overcome his fear of intimacy that is related to the tragic event he experienced.

MARK: Trestle’s EMT partner—Thaddeus “Bones” McCoy—adds a lighter side to the main character’s crisis-ridden life. For example, Bones falls in love with a female dispatcher as he and his partner get dispatched to another call. He tries to draw this dispatcher out in conversation over the radio so he can listen to her alluring voice just one more time. Is there a real-life “Bones” that comes to mind? Is this character created from a composite of several people you’ve known?

SHAWN: Though Bones is not meant to be a representation of anyone, he is largely inspired by a former partner of mine— one of the best medics I’ve worked with and definitely a lot of fun. Bones was a blast to write.

MARK: It must be very exciting to watch your second book about to be released. How did you get to this point in your writing career? How did you move from wanting to write a novel to actually seeing it become a printed reality?

SHAWN: This second novel is the culmination of an eight-year journey.  I wrote the opening of this novel and created the characters of Jonathan Trestle and Naomi Foster before I’d penned a word of my first novel, Through the Fire. So seeing Tomorrow We Die come into print is a very gratifying experience. It took a lot of patience and hard work and submissions and rejections and ultimately the blessing of favor from the right editors at the right publishing house at the right time. Bethany House Publishers signed me to a three-book deal in 2008 and they’ve been a fantastic house to work with.

MARK: What came easiest to you as a writer? What presented more of a challenge? Plot, characterization, voice, dialogue, description, etc.

SHAWN: The plot is the hardest part to me. The challenge is being able to unfold “something bigger” in the protagonist’s life in a way that is cohesive, believable, suspenseful and entertaining.

MARK:  Your schedule must be very hectic at times since you must balance a fulltime day job as well as an expanding writing career. How do you structure your writing time? What does an average writing day look like in Shawn’s life?

SHAWN: I couldn’t do it without my wife. Running a lot of calls after midnight at the firehouse and then coming home on my day off and endeavoring to make a word count can be trying. Right now I am averaging 75-hour work weeks. We constantly evaluate our schedule and the tasks that need to be accomplished and then prioritize things in a way that keeps the Lord first in our lives, and then our marriage and our kids. We make sure to have a Sabbath from writing every week and focus on each other and our family.

MARK: There are a lot of changes and challenges in the current publishing industry. Digital technology and e-book market expansion, for example, seems to be changing the paradigm of traditional publishing. What are your thoughts on these changes? What have you found most interesting as you continue to develop a writing career and try keeping pace with these changes?