Mâtowak Woman Who Cries by Joylene Nowell Butler will be released by Dancing Lemur Press L.L.C. You can pre-order now at here
Author Joylene Nowell Butler is on tour this month with MC Book Tours featuring her new novel, Mâtowak Woman Who Cries, being released Nov. 1 by Dancing Lemur Press L.L.C.
You can follow Joylene's tour schedule HERE for excerpts, Q&As, chances to win copies of her book and more.
A murder enveloped in pain and mystery...
When Canada's retired Minister of National Defense, Leland Warner, is murdered in his home, the case is handed to Corporal Danny Killian, an aboriginal man tortured by his wife's unsolved murder.
The suspect, 60-year-old Sally Warner, still grieves for the loss of her two sons, dead in a suicide/murder eighteen months earlier. Confused and damaged, she sees in Corporal Killian a friend sympathetic to her grief and suffering and wants more than anything to trust him.
Danny finds himself with a difficult choice—indict his prime suspect, the dead minister's horribly abused wife or find a way to protect her and risk demotion. Or worse, transfer away from the scene of his wife’s murder and the guilt that haunts him...
Mâtowak Woman Who Cries is available in eBook at the following sites:
The print copy is available at:
It's now available to purchase at
Amazon
Chapter 24
The phone rings. The call display shows Dr. Meshango. I let the phone ring three times before reaching for it. The thought of irritating her fills me with glee. Sometimes it's difficult being a good Christian. “Hello.”
“Mrs. Warner, it's Brendell. How are you?”
“The same as I was two hours ago.”
“You haven't changed your mind.”
“Why would I change my mind? Oh, you must think I'm one of those flighty, hysterical types.”
There is a pause on the other end of the line. The fine professor seems to be at a loss for words. Finally, she says, “Do you still want to do this?”
“I said I would.” I hear a thump in the background and wonder if I've caused her to drop something. I don't like who I am right now, but I can't seem to stop myself. This woman was the last person to see my sons alive. I need to hear what she has to say.
“Where would you like to meet?”
“Up on the hill.”
“The University?”
I'm a little surprised myself. Because Declan liked it up there? “Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Unless, of course, you've changed your mind. I wouldn't want to force you.” The sarcasm in my voice is thick, and I have to admit to myself that I'm shocked at my sharp tongue. I sound like Bronson. “Aren't you going to ask me when?”
The expected pause. “When?”
I glance at my wristwatch. It's fifteen after ten. I don't want to put this off now that I've made up my mind. I don't want to appear anxious, either. “One o'clock in the recital area near the circular fireplace.”
“I'll be there.”
“Yes, I'm sure you will be.” I hang up.
My palms are wet. I wash my hands at the kitchen sink. Dry them. Now they're shaking. Instead of sitting or going to my room to rest, I stand there. I'm plagued by a weird thought. Did Declan choose this woman because he loved her? Or hated her?
I can't remember the moment when I stopped loving Leland. Or when I started hating him. Maybe my love died over time and not in one precise instant.
One morning, I looked at him while he read the newspaper at the kitchen table, the boys ate breakfast—wolfing it down—and I felt like a stranger in my own home.
They were discussing the Canucks' win the night before in the series against Calgary. Leland said something about the Vancouver Canucks being bums, and Declan retaliated by insisting their new line-up was as good as they come. They were short on defence. To which Bronson remarked that they were a bunch of cocksuckers, and New York was going to wipe their asses all over the ice.
I stopped sipping my tea and glared across the table at my husband, who still had his head in the paper. I waited for him to scold his son for speaking in such a vulgar manner in front of me.
Leland didn't look up. “The Rangers are going to kick their butts.”
Bronson laughed.
I'm trying to remember how old they were.
Declan was…fifteen. He stopped laughing shortly after that. I don't know why. Though, considering how his life ended, I should have tried to find out.
That particular morning, I looked across at Leland and saw a man I knew I couldn't trust. I don't mean faithfully; I knew he'd been sleeping around for years. I couldn't trust him to protect me, to defend me, or to think enough of me to recognize my virtue. I felt betrayed. Yet, not surprised. I looked at him as one might look at a co-worker who has no respect for what you bring to the job. That was a revelation; I equated my participation in this family as a job. Worse, as I studied Bronson—subtly, because I'd learned to heed his temper—I had a harder fact to acknowledge. I didn't like him.
What kind of mother doesn't like her twelve-year-old?
The story starts out with the murder of Minister of National Defense, Leland Warner. His wife become a suspect but the Corporal Danny Killian, an aboriginal police officer, is tasked with figuring out how she was able to not leave any clues. All fingers point to her, especially as the reader learns about her marriage and life as a mother of two son's. These son's were involved in a murder, suicide prior to the start of this story.
What kind of a family were the Warner's, what kind of secrets were there to this obviously dysfunctional family? The reader slowly makes the way through the quagmire that this murder has left behind. I really did not care for Sally Warner at the beginning of the book, I felt that she was definitely a weak woman, but as the story went on, I changed my mind about her because she actually surprised me. Not that she was a suspect in her husbands murder but that her character seemed to get stronger as the story moved along. Even though this is the sequel to Broken but not Dead, which tells the story of the murder, suicide of the Warner son's, this book was very readable.
The reader also learns about Corporal Killian's past, which includes the murder of his wife. So the two storylines are intertwined to tell a very interesting cultural tale of suspense. A definite pageturner. I really enjoyed it.
This review is voluntary
When Joylene's father died in 1983, she wrote her first full–length manuscript to channel her grief. The seven-year process left her hooked and she began Dead Witness within a few weeks of finishing Always Father's Child. Today Joylene is the author of three suspense novels: Dead Witness, Broken But Not Dead, and the steampunk collaboration Break Time. While she'll admit being published didn't fix all the wrongs in her life, she wishes her parents had lived to see her success. Dead Witness was a finalist in the 2012 Global eBook Awards. Broken But Not Dead won the 2012 IPPY Silver Medal and its sequel Mâtowak Woman Who Cries is due for release November 1, 2016.
Joylene lives with her husband and their two cats Marbles and Shasta on beautiful Cluculz Lake in central British Columbia. They spend their winters in Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico.
For more on Joylene and her writing, visit her website and blog then connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and her Amazon Author Page.
Tour-wide giveaway (US and INTL)
*This giveaway is for three (3) print copies that are available to those living in the U.S. only and one (1) eBook copy available international.
Excerpts are a great way to grab your attention. Kathleen, thanks for sharing and for being a part of Joylene's tour.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for participating in my book tour, Kathleen. I am honoured to be on your blog. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joylene, I just finished the book this morning and will be adding the review this weekend! Loved the book!!
ReplyDeleteKathleen, I had to come back to read your thoughts on this book. Great review. I think you captured the emotions of the book very well and how the characters evolve as the story unfolds.
ReplyDeleteThoughts in Progress
and MC Book Tours
Thanks Mason, I really did enjoy this story....!!
ReplyDelete