Description Song Girl by Keith Hirshland
Detective Marc Allen is ready to leave the Raleigh, North Carolina, Police Department. Two murders that happened on his watch have apparently been solved thanks to a suicide note confession written by a distraught father. But Allen isn’t buying it. He’s convinced that the man’s adopted daughter, Teri Hickox, is the one responsible for the heinous crimes. With his personal life a muddle and his professional career unsettled he decides the best thing for him is a change of scenery.
The detective, now in Colorado Springs, is working new cases and making new friends. One of those friends is Hannah Hunt who, after suffering a freak accident, finds herself only able to speak in song titles. Another is a mysterious drifter who lives out of an old Dodge van and goes by “the champ”. But as Allen builds a new future, events unfold showing him that he can’t escape his past.
Song Girl is…
Part sequel to The Flower Girl Murder
Part stand-alone mystery
All entertaining
Guest Review by Laura Lee
'Song Girl: A Mystery in Two Verses,' by Keith
Hirshland is one heck of a reading experience!
Hirshland's writing is unique in the sense that he
introduces a lot of different strands of the story and then expertly twists
them all together for an ending that the reader can't possibly see coming.
'Song Girl,' is basically about four different
characters, all living in Colorado Springs. First is Reg Byrd, a former biker
who ended up in hot water with the local police after an altercation with a
police officer that led to shots being fired. Reg killed the officer and, soon
afterward, fled town, finally returning many years later in order to reconnect
with his family.
Next there is Detective Marc Allen, formerly of
Raleigh, North Carolina, who decided to move to the police department in
Colorado Springs for a change of scenery. Back in Raleigh, Allen worked a
murder case that was apparently solved by the suicidal confession of an elderly
man. However, Allen feels that the confession was false and that the man's
daughter Teri Hickox, was actually guilty of the crimes.
This leads to our third character, Teri, who follows
Allen to Colorado in order to further torment him. Before discovering Teri's
presence in town, Allen is introduced to our fourth character, Rampart Haynes,
a former boxing champion who begins caring for his adopted sister, Hannah after
she is involved in an accident that leaves her only able to speak in song
titles.
Collectively, the four different perspectives combine
to create a very interesting and varied mystery that makes the book impossible
to put down.
I could not believe the depths that Teri would sink to
in order to make her presence known and the different strategies that Allen
used to solve crimes. A one-of-a-kind mystery in many ways, 'Song Girl,' is
worth picking up for the musical nostalgia alone!
Excerpt Song Girl by Keith Hirshland
Teri
waited in the parking lot until she believed she wouldn’t run into Hannah and
her brother. Inside the building she noticed dozens of people lacing up skates
and getting ready to hit the ice. Others had clearly just finished and were
putting on their street shoes and getting ready to leave. There was a sign in
desk but Teri walked right by it, telling a young lady she was just there to
watch. She was craning her neck trying to catch a glimpse of Hannah and walked
right into a boy who barely came up to her waist.
“Oh
geez,” she said, “sorry.”
“It’s
okay,” the boy said putting on his helmet. “I’m little.”
“But
I bet you’re fast,” Teri looked at him and smiled. The boy nodded. “How fast?”
she asked him.
“Really,
really fast.”
“Show
me,” she suggested.
“Okay,”
he smiled from ear to ear. “Come on.”
Rampart
watched as his sister gracefully moved from place to place. He knew she could
sense every bump, groove and imperfection in the rink and was able to make the
needed minute adjustments with the blades. Her spins, turns and glides seemed
effortless even though he knew that wasn’t the case. His technique, on the
other hand, was much less nuanced. He loved to attack the ice and gather as
much speed as he could muster while taking care to observe proper etiquette.
They went back and forth and forth and back meeting several times in the middle
to share a story or a laugh. Rampart noticed he was working up a sweat while he
thought Hannah looked as fresh as the second she first entered the oval. That’s
why it surprised him a little when she suggested they skate over to the side
and take a break.
“I’m
gonna be sore tomorrow,” she confessed.
“Me
too. And you’re full of it, by the way.”
“What?”
“I
believe your exact words were ‘I haven’t laced the ol’ skates up in a while’.
After watching you out there I’m calling BS.”
“I
guess it’s like riding a bike,” she said with a shrug.
“Well
whatever it is you looked great.”
“Why
thank you, my brother,” she curtsied.
They
both leaned against the boards and watched their fellow citizens of Colorado
Springs skate. The group was made up of all shapes, sizes, and skill levels.
Some as good or better than Hannah, others clearly on skates for the first time
or at least for the first time in a long, long, time. A smattering of parents,
siblings and friends hung out in the seats and watched too. They noticed
several young kids, both boys and girls, in hockey jerseys and helmets speeding
around the ice.
“Mighty
Mites,” Ramp said pointing at a couple of them.
“Was
that you when you were a kid?”
“Sure
was,” he nodded, “but I’m not sure I was ever that confident.”
“Or
reckless,” she added.
“Or
that.”
“Ready
for a few more spins?” She asked as she pushed herself away from the boards. At
that moment one of the youngest, smallest skaters came rocketing toward them.
Rampart noticed and thought the kid couldn’t be more than five or six. He was
hauling with his head down, eyes on the ice.
“Hannah!”
he yelled a warning. Startled by the sound she turned awkwardly and had to wave
her arms a little to regain her balance. The kid, a boy for sure, had looked up
when Rampart screamed but he hadn’t slowed. He saw Hannah leaning one way so he
went the other. But when she righted herself she slid a little further out than
the kid anticipated and his right skate clipped her left sending her off
balance again. This time there was no time for correction. She fell. Hard. The
first thing that hit the ice was her head.
Teri
watched it all from her perch in the arena. She grabbed her purse and left.
Rampart
had watched in horror. He tried to warn his sister about the speeding bullet on
skates but he acknowledged that his outburst may have made everything worse. He
saw the skates make contact and the boy continue on as if nothing had happened.
That’s because everything happened to Hannah. Her left leg went out from under
her and her right was ill prepared to compensate. Everything appeared to Ramp
in slow motion as he watched his sister’s arms flail in an effort to help her
body find purchase. They failed and she went down. The trance he found himself
in was broken by the sickening sound of her head hitting the ice.
“Hannah!”
he screamed again. Her body lay motionless. Thankfully, he thought, there
was no blood. “Somebody call 9-1-1!” he yelled as he fell to his knees next
to her. “Call 9-1-1!” he cried. “Please!”
Awards and Recognition for Keith Hirshland
Book Talk Radio Club Book of the Year 2020 (Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis)
Top Shelf Award First Place (mystery) for Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis
New Apple Awards Solo Medalist True Crime Category (Big Flies)
Shelf Abound Award Winner Indie Book Competition (Big Flies)
About Keith Hirshland
Keith Hirshland is an Emmy Award–winning sports television producer with more than three decades of experience producing live and pre-recorded programs that aired on ESPN and ESPN2. Among the first forty people to be hired by the Golf Channel in 1994, Hirshland was in the middle of the action when that network debuted in 1995. He provided his talents for Golf Channel, as its live tournament producer, for two decades.
Cover Me Boys, I’m Going In: Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat is a memoir about his experiences in the television industry. Published by Beacon Publishing Group, Cover Me Boys was recognized as the Book Talk Radio Club Memoir of the Year. Hirshland’s second book, and first work of fiction, Big Flies, was published in 2016 and is the recipient of the New Apple Awards “Solo Medalist” in the True Crime Category. Hirshland followed that success with his third book, The Flower Girl Murder. In 2020 Beacon Publishing Group released Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis, Hirshland’s third mystery novel. It was a Top Shelf Magazine First Place award winner and was named the Book Talk Radio Club Book of the Year for 2020.
Song Girl Hirshland’s fifth book is the sequel to The Flower Girl Murder and was released in January of 2022. All five books are available at www.keithhirshland.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other bookstores.
Keith Hirshland lives in Colorado with his wife and their Pyredoodle Mac.
Website: https://www.keithhirshland.com/
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Giveaway Song Girl by Keith Hirshland
This giveaway is for 3 print copies One for each of 3 winners. This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on June 1, 2022 midnight, pacific time. Entries accepted via Rafflecopter only.
