Overdue by Jo A Hiestand Review Tour!

 

GENRE:   British mystery

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A spate of three murders in as many months has Derbyshire’s local police and populace in near panic. And there will most likely be a fourth killing in two weeks unless something happens to stop the cycle. Former police detective Michael McLaren is that “something” that his best mate, Jamie Kydd, is counting on to end the alarming deaths. He enlists McLaren’s help to look into the events, hoping his friend can solve what, so far, has confounded the Constabulary.

Each of the three crime scenes is the same, yet different: the same types of things but not the same specific things left with each body. As McLaren becomes enmeshed in the hunt for the killer, his friend Melanie arrives for a planned visit. Can his days become more complicated than simultaneously playing host and unmasking a killer? They can when he’s aware that each tick of the clock brings them closer to the next planned murder. And perhaps an unplanned one...thrown in for fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

McLaren tapped the tip of the pen on the pertinent item as he read his list. “One victim lived in Staffordshire, one in Derbyshire, and one in Nottinghamshire. And yet their bodies were all found in Derbyshire?”

“And, oddly, a distance away from where they lived, be it Derbyshire or Staffordshire or Nottinghamshire. As you know, Pleasley is nearly straight southwest of Hilton, where Dylan’s was found.”

“What is that?”

“Nearly forty-one miles. Clive Sheridan lived in Callow but was found in Hanging Bridge. That’s an hour’s journey. Twenty-six and a half miles.”

“A long drive, yes.”

“And Emma, who lived in Longnor, Staffordshire, was found nearly as far north as you can get in Derbyshire. In the wood near the Derwent Water Reservoir.”

“Unbelievable. That’s what...? An hour drive from her place?”

“Close. The lads clocked it at fifty minutes. Just under twenty-four miles.” Jamie folded the paper but placed it on the table. “All three people are like that, Mike. Their bodies were discovered miles from where they lived.”

“How, then, did they get to the crime scenes? And why did they go?”

My Thoughts

Overdue is part of the McLaren Mysteries has the protagonist, Mike McLaren off the police force and investigating cold cases on his own. Jamie Kydd, along with the local constabulary are investigating three murders that have happened. Each body was found near water and items left on their chests along with abbreviated parts of names. Jamie enlists the help of Mike in investigating the murders before another one occurs.

In the meantime his hopefully "significant other' Melanie is coming for a visit and Jamie's phone call happens right when Mike is preparing for her visit. While all of this is going on, Mike goes on a mission to speak to the people involved with the three deceased people, families, parents, coworkers, etc. Mike soon finds a lot of clues that are not easy to figure out. He perseveres and finally comes to a few conclusions as to who the killer is and why he/she has killed these three people.

This book was a fast-paced, character-driven, mystery novel that I really enjoy. I read it in two sittings and was surprised to find that it is the latest in a series. Reads like a stand-alone novel, but I think if you want to learn more about the characters, starting at the beginning will be beneficial. I love a good British mystery and this one is right up there with the best. It held my attention and got pretty intense towards the end of the book.

I give the book 5 stars.

I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.

Jo A. Hiestand grew up on regular doses of music, books, and Girl Scout camping. She gravitated toward writing in her post-high school years and finally did something sensible about it, graduating from Webster University with a BA degree in English and departmental honors.

She writes a British mystery series (the McLaren Mysteries)—of which three books have garnered the prestigious N.N. Light’s Book Heaven ‘Best Mystery Novel’ three years straight. She also writes a Missouri-based cozy mystery series (The Cookies & Kilts Mysteries, of which "A Trifling Murder" is the second book) grounded in places associated with her camping haunts.

The camping is a thing of the past, for the most part, but the music stayed with her in the form of playing guitar and harpsichord and singing in a folk group. Jo carves jack o’ lanterns badly and sings loudly. She loves barbecue sauce and ice cream (separately, not together), kilts (especially if men wear them), clouds and stormy skies, and the music of G.F. Handel. You can usually find her pulling mystery plots out of scenery—whether from photographs or the real thing.

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jo-a-hiestand

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jo.hiestand.3 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/AnglophileJo

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joahiestand

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/JoHiestand

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoHiestand

Website: http://www.johiestand.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MysteryAuthorinSTL

Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Overdue-McLaren-Mysteries-Book-17-ebook/dp/B0BSVMJVM8/

The book will be on sale for $0.99. 

GIVEAWAY RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

Jo A Hiestand will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC, to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Eggs for the Ageless by Kyle A. Massa Book Tour!

 

Eggs For the Ageless

by Kyle A. Massa

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy 

Religion is a funny thing. Especially when you accidentally create your own.

Eccentric young writer Zeggara “Egg” East has done just that, much to the chagrin of her devout mother. Egg’s new religion is called “Penguinism” and it’s proving far more popular than anyone—even the immortal Ageless—could’ve imagined. And the thing about deities is, they don’t appreciate a rival dogma.

Now everyone’s choosing sides in the coming conflict, including a tea-slurping tyrant, a guy with 12 gifts, and the God of Waste Management. So when Egg and her mother pick opposing factions, Egg has to wonder…can they reconcile, or will religion keep them apart forever?

Perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, and Douglas Adams, Eggs for the Ageless is a comic fantasy novel about family, faith, and waddling—not necessarily in that order.

What readers are saying:

“A fantasy comedy that swims in similarly madcap waters as works by Terry Pratchett and Christopher Moore, Massa’s novel coolly and deftly introduces a farcical setting that reflects the absurdity of today’s world, brimming with commentary on religion, capitalism, and writing.” – Kirkus Reviews

“A riot of a book where the characters amuse while offering cutting critiques of human nature (and god nature?). Light as well as insightful. A triumph.” – Kate Tailor, Benjamin Franklin Award Winning Author

“Hilarious, quirky, and sharply satirical. Kyle A. Massa has crafted a work of comedic genius that will make you laugh until you cry, while simultaneously exploring the hypocrisy of some of humanity’s deepest-held beliefs. A read for anyone who delights in absurdity.” – Laura Lauda, Author

“Eggs for the Ageless is a hoot. It’s fun and easy to read, but leaves you with lots to think about, and endless chuckles. It’s filled with delightful characters, both good and bad. Kyle A. Massa weaves together a bundle of hilarious plot threads so expertly that you never quite know where they’re going, but can’t wait to get there.” – Geoff Jones, Author of The Dinosaur Four

“Fun, funny, and wildly creative.” – Nathan Pieplow, Author

“Interesting character development and a fast-clip storyline tells a very funny tale. Highly recommend.” – AJM, Amazon Reviewer

Author's Site * Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads

Kyle A. Massa is a comic fantasy author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife, their daughter, and three wild animals. His published works include three books and several short stories. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading, running, and drinking coffee.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Raised by Wolves Series: Surviving Vihaan, Book Two by Elaine White New Release Blitz! @ninestarpress @indigomarketingdesign #LGBTQIA+

 

Title:  Raised by Wolves

Series: Surviving Vihaan, Book Two

Author: Elaine White

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 05/16/2023

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 137800

Genre: Paranormal, MM romance, action/adventure, Alpha males, bonded, wolf shifters, disability

Add to Goodreads

Bad news always comes in threes.

As do the hits that knock Keon's perfectly laid plans into chaos. His no-good brother conducted a hostile takeover of their pack, became Alpha, and got killed in the space of a year. Grief has crippled their father, leaving Beta Weston desperate for Keon's return, as Simeon's last act as Alpha was to name Keon his successor.

Leaving his friends is heartbreaking. Arriving home to a hostile pack is unsurprising. But finding a rival pack hovering on the boundaries of his land, vying for blood, could be a problem. With Simeon dead, they don't seem to care which Alpha bleeds for the crimes.

With no other choice, Keon shoulders the burden of being Alpha. Fighting, bleeding, and sacrificing.

As a new Alpha, he needs to prove himself to get the respect needed for them to accept change…like dragging Vihaan into the 21st century. On the top of the list is finding a mate. But who would want to mate an Alpha whose own pack doesn't respect him?

Raised by Wolves

Elaine White © 2023

All Rights Reserved

Milo

Seven Months Ago

Alpha Thatcher’s Pack

E’Boolou Region, Vihaan

He always knew this day would come. Thatcher was too old and selfish to fight his own challenges, but part of Milo had naïvely presumed it would be Usher standing in his place. Or one of his many other brothers, who were better fighters.

But Milo supposed that was the point. This wasn’t about the challenge. This was about punishing Milo, because the Fates had given him a male true mate. This was a reminder of his place in the pack, in the world.

Every challenge was to the death, and if Milo died, he doubted his father, Thatcher, would spare a second thought. The loss of Milo’s gift would be a small price if he could give the pack this important lesson―there would be no gaoj tolerated in Thatcher’s pack or his family.

It didn’t matter that Milo hadn’t asked to be born gaoj―someone attracted to the same sex. The fact he was would be enough of an insult to Thatcher’s opinion on what made a man a man.

Beating each other bloody counted, apparently. With not even the Meskli to preside, as was usually the case.

Alpha Farley was a m’weko, but as the Meskli, he was a neutral party who governed within Vihaan. Settling disputes and resolving problems between packs, villages, and species of foame―those half-human who could call forth a beast form. He wasn’t a man to disobey and held tight to tradition.

No, waiting for the Meskli would mean prying eyes and someone willing to―and with the power to―interfere on Milo’s behalf.

He didn’t recognise his opponent, and Thatcher hadn’t bothered to tell Milo what this challenge was about. What dispute or grievance required the shedding of blood. A secret part of him wondered if the problem had been fabricated purely to punish him. Milo would put nothing past his father.

The moment the challenger stepped forward―a brute of a man, made of muscle―Milo’s nerves shook. He tried to hide it, summoning long buried memories of his most hated brothers, bullying and goading him, from his childhood. The only way he’d survive this was to remember one important thing―he’d rather spend an eternity in reedav than let his father win. An afterlife in Vihaan’s version of hell would be worth the chance to make his father suffer.

As long as Milo remained breathing by the end of the fight, it would be enough. He’d drag himself to his home, with his insides hanging out, if it meant denying Thatcher the satisfaction of seeing him fail.

*

Milo was down, beaten bloody and could barely feel his legs, but not dead. He could only see out of one eye, but his reflexes remained quick enough to roll away from the foot aimed at his head.

It had been a long, excruciating fight, with his opponent employing every dirty trick possible, and Thatcher didn’t object once.

At some point, Usher had arrived to watch horror-stricken, as Milo fought for his life. At least neither his mother nor his sister, Haley, had been dragged from their beds to witness his humiliation.

After five minutes of struggling to make his legs move, Milo froze at the first sign of rain. Dismay filled his heart, but he fought to stand and dodged through another ten minutes of attacks, too bone-weary to do anything but defend and protect himself. His opponent showed signs of fatigue, and it was satisfying to see bleeding wounds where Milo had left his mark.

Then the opponent backed away to shift into his m’weko form―a giant beast, all fur and fangs, and far scarier than the Dnaran tales of wolf beasts. Something Milo was too weak to do.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and he feared his fate was to die here.

As a massive paw swiped at his head, Milo ducked, rearing back to avoid it gutting his stomach on the way up. Too late to see the other hand lowering over his bent body in time to counter-strike.

He saw the claw descend, knew he had neither the time nor energy to avoid it, and felt the skin tear as it made contact. Milo screamed, a sound he’d never made before, and crumpled to the ground to an angry shout,

“No!”

In the haze of his vision, he made out Usher shifting to tackle the m’weko challenger, tearing at his throat. Milo lasted long enough for Usher to kill the man, then shift to human.

“I won’t let you kill him,” he snapped at their father, crossing to where Milo lay. Usher lifted his broken body from the ground, and such pain flooded through him that Milo passed into a brief, but peaceful, oblivion.

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Elaine White is the author of multi-genre MM romance, celebrating ‘love is love’ and offering diversity in both genre and character within her stories.

Growing up in a small town and fighting cancer in her early teens taught her that life is short and dreams should be pursued. She lives vicariously through her independent, and often hellion characters, exploring all possibilities within the romantic universe.

The Winner of two Watty Awards – Collector’s Dream (An Unpredictable Life) and Hidden Gem (Faithfully) – and an Honourable Mention in 2016’s Rainbow Awards (A Royal Craving) Elaine is a self-professed geek, reading addict, and a romantic at heart.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Giveaway

$50.00 NineStar Press Gift Code!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Raw Flesh Flash by Donovan Hufnagle Book Tour! #RawFleshFlash

 

Advance Praise:

In poetry that draws on memoir, interviews, customer questionnaires, Havelock Ellis, descriptions of prison tats, and local legal codes, Donovan Hufnagle shows us how tattoos are life stories in the flesh. Using language that is always interesting, even astounding, he demonstrates the ways tattoos function as metaphors and metonym: we want to make our plans indelible, later to find them in need of revision, deletion, or acceptance.    -Joseph Harrington, author of Of Some Sky and Things Come On (an amneoir)

Donovan Hufnagle has assembled a careful poetic ethnography of tattooed bodies and the stories that they tell. Just as the tattoo inscribes meaning on the body, this book elegantly reveals the stories that only the body can tell. It is a book that connects tattoo adorned bodies to a profound human truth: we are each other’s mirrors, and the artful inscriptions of our bodies connect us to each other in ways that transcend political and social divides. This is an urgent book that does what only the best poetry can do; it opens spaces for conversation, connection, and healing.           -Kristin Prevallet, author of I, Afterlife: Essay in Mourning Time

There is nothing more intimate than skin. In this way, Donovan Hufnagle’s latest poetry collection is staggeringly intimate. In it we find ourselves rifling through the back-office desk in the tattoo parlor, uncovering the story of skin in the artifacts, scraps, and half-thoughts we find there. Raw is a mythic space of tattoos, artists, and their stories. A tattoo-artist narrator in one poem tells us the secret he’s keeping from the girl considering the dragonfly tattoo, that “ink cuts away your flesh. I cut and burn you.” In this strikingly intimate space, we discover a truth only poetry can tell. The truth is that this will fuck us up, it will hurt, and we will be scarred for life. Like ink that tunnels through flesh, Hufnagle’s poems leave channels in the mind. Rivers of truth that allow us to consider the nature of skin, and pain, and the desire 

Guest Post

“Can I see your tattoos?” He asks.

I hold my left arm out as a stranger intensely admires the ink that swims within my skin. 

“What do they mean?”

“Each fish represents a different blues musician.” I reply. “The Blow Fish with glasses is Blind Lemon Jefferson. The Angler is Lead Belly….” I hold out my right arm. “The superheroes represent my children.” 

And so on. 

This interaction showcases a typical conversation I might have once a week with a stranger. I am a walking gallery with tattoos as the showpieces. And the uniqueness of this art, being able to tell my own story and how tattoos tell many stories was one of the catalysts into writing my book of poetry. 

So, what stories do your tattoos tell? 

Raw Flesh Flash: The Incomplete, Unfinished Documenting Of is a poetic scrapbook investigating the universal narratives of tattoos. Through the voice of artist or canvas, survivor or prisoner, you or I—the collection captures the personal and shared accounts of the people part of the tattoo ethos. As poet Kristen Prevallet says, the book is “a careful poetic ethnography of tattooed bodies and the stories that they tell.” 

The poems are inspired by interviews, found materials, notes, and personal anecdotes. The poems also include and are juxtaposed with some of those same materials. The beauty of documentary poetry is that it is not only inspired by actuality, but it also integrates it. Raw Flesh Flash is not just a piece of art, part of the poetic world, but also an archive, documenting glimpses of the tattoo world, a world that is ever increasing, moving, and expanding. 

The book, as the title suggests, breathes in the rawness and unfinished evolution of tattoos and its culture, like the healing of a new tattoo as well as with the idea that poetry is never complete. And like tattoo flash, the poetry in this collection is glimpses, flashes of connections, baring “tattoo adorned bodies to a profound human truth: we are each other’s mirrors, and the artful inscriptions of our bodies connect us to each other in ways that transcend political and social divides.”

And how tattoos express stories through image, how they elicit an emotional response, the poems similarly tell stories though image, provoking an emotional reply. Each poem evokes a poetic energy while telling a tale, a tale that only skin or poetry can express. Author Susan Norman says, “there is nothing more intimate than skin. In this way, …[the] collection is staggeringly intimate.” She continues by stating, “we discover a truth only poetry can tell. To wet the beak, the first poem, “I Tell Them Ink is Mightier Than Pen and Sword,” explores pain. Pain is a necessary ritual when it comes to tattoos. We could possibly argue all art requires some ritual of pain, some sacrifice. If you have ever been inked with a tattoo, the truth is, they hurt. If you are thinking about having a tattoo adorned on your body, know that the pain is an essential part of the process, a necessity. The poem, then discusses this public ritualistic stipulation but, also, taps into the personal journey connected to pain. Here is a line from the poem:

I want to say it hurts everywhere:

The pulse from the vibrating gun in my hand; 

the Hydrocodone I take each morning just to hunch over 

another thigh for five hours; 

The disappointment in my mother’s eyes. 

Other poems paint pictures of tattoo artists, and tattoo clients, prisoners, Holocaust survivors, personal and so on. Each tattoo as with each poem paints a personal journey, journeys, I think, we all can resonate with whether we have tattoos or not. I think, as Prevallet states, Raw Flesh Flash “opens spaces for conversation, connection, and healing.”

donovanhufnagle.com @donovanhufnagle

Donovan Hufnagle is a husband, a father of three, and a professor of English and Humanities. He moved from Southern California to Prescott, Arizona to Fort Worth, Texas. His new poetry collection, Raw Flesh Flash: The Incomplete, Unfinished Of, is a poetic scrapbook of interviews, poetry, and documents about the universal narrative of tattoos He also has three other poetry collections: The Sunshine Special, a “part personal narrative, epic poem, and historical artifact;” Shoebox, an epistolary, poetic narrative about Juliana’s “past and present, love and lack, in language that startles;” and 30 Days of 19, inverted Haiku poems juxtaposed to Trump tweets, capturing the first thirty days of the Covid-19 quarantine. Other recent writings have appeared in The Closed Eye Open, Tempered Runes Press, Solum Literary Press, Poetry Box, Beyond Words, Wingless Dreamer, Subprimal Poetry Art, Americana Popular Culture Magazine, Shufpoetry, Kitty Litter Press, Carbon Culture, Amarillo Bay, Borderlands, Tattoo Highway, The New York Quarterly, Rougarou, and others.

Add to GoodReads:

Available on Amazon.

Blog Tour Schedule:

 

May 6: the bookworm (review)

May 11:Pages For Sanity (review)

May 16: Review Tales by Jeyran Main (interview)

May 18: The Book Lover’s Boudoir (review)

May 22: CelticLady’s Reviews (Guest Post)

June 2: Anthony Avina’s blog (Guest Post)

June 6: Anthony Avina’s blog (review)

Opal (Gem Series, #1) by Freya Barker New Release!

 

Title: Opal (Gem Series, #1) 

Author: Freya Barker 

Genre: Romantic Suspense-Slow Burn Romance 

Release Date: May 22, 2023 

Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

GEM: A PRIVATELY-FUNDED ORGANIZATION OPERATING INDEPENDENTLY IN THE SEARCH FOR—AND THE RESCUE AND RECOVERY OF—MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN. ALTHOUGH, AT TIMES WORKING IN CONJUNCTION WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT, GEM AIMS TO ENSURE THE VICTIMS RECEIVE JUSTICE…BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY. ____

GEM Operator Opal; multifaceted, versatile, a chameleon. She hides in plain sight, adapts, and infiltrates. When Opal goes undercover in a youth center several teenagers have disappeared from, she’s shocked to find a ghost of her own traumatic past at the helm. However, her worry for the missing kids is greater than her concern being recognized and she risks her own safety to discover the truth. To complicate matters, a familiar FBI agent shows up conducting his own investigation and almost blows the whistle on her. It takes some doing to convince him to join forces with her but as it turns out, they work well together. In the course of uncovering an organized group of child molesters, they find themselves falling—for each other.

AMAZON | APPLE BOOKS | NOOK | KOBO |

    

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories. With forty-plus books already published, she continues to create characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy. Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We've Read All Year Award for "Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

  

  Pre Order the Rest of the Series!

GEM: a privately-funded organization operating independently in the search for—and the rescue and recovery of—missing and exploited children. Although, at times working in conjunction with law enforcement, GEM aims to ensure the victims receive justice…by whatever means necessary.

Operator Pearl; layered, mysterious, a protector.

She masks as delicate, analyzes, and moves stealthily.

Hot on the trail of a young accomplice in a child exploitation ring, Pearl finds herself posing as a teenager to get close. Unfortunately, joining a group of kids on a wilderness quest means stepping out of her comfort zone and into uncertainty. But with the target in her sights her focus stays razor-sharp.

The last thing she needs is the dogged journalist who’s been close on her heels catching up and rattling her cage. When he inserts himself into her investigation, she has no choice but to go along.

Thrown together in a mutual pursuit of justice, the negative energy between them sparks up in a new way.

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: August 25, 2023

AMAZON | APPLE BOOKS | NOOK | KOBO |

GEM: a privately-funded organization operating independently in the search for—and the rescue and recovery of—missing and exploited children. Although, at times working in conjunction with law enforcement, GEM aims to ensure the victims receive justice…by whatever means necessary.

Onyx; balanced, strong, a guardian

She’s the voice of reason, advocates, and strategizes.

Supporting the team from the background, Onyx rarely goes out in the field. However, when a widespread child exploitation ring is discovered, her particular skill set is needed to get close.

Unfortunately, her boss—a man she’s never laid eyes on before—is dead set against her taking the lead. Outvoted, he finds a way to keep her in his sights, risking his own exposure.

It’s only a matter of time before the final truth is revealed, and they’re forced to face the past and secure their future.

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: November 6, 2023

AMAZON | APPLE BOOKS | NOOK | KOBO |