Cathy Spencer's Blog, page 2
October 15, 2021
Halloween E-book on Sale
I'm very pleased that the e-book retailer, Smashwords, is including my Halloween mystery thriller, Town Haunts, in their special Horror/Thriller promotion! To show my appreciation, I'll be discounting the e-book to just $1.99 from October 15 - 31, 2021. Customers will enter the coupon code XT28P (not case-sensitive) to obtain the discount prior to completing their checkout.
Town Haunts is the 2nd book in the award-winning Anna Nolan mystery series. Haven't read the 1st book, Framed for Murder? No problem. It's available on Smashwords for free!
Have a spooky Halloween, everyone!
Here's an excerpt from Town Haunts:
Chapter OneIt was the middle of the night, but Sherman couldn’t sleep. Too many old demons whirling around his brain and pricking at his conscience. Frustrated, he threw back the covers and sat up on the edge of the bed, the soles of his feet chilled by the bare floor boards. Running his hands through his clipped, grizzled hair, he pushed himself up off the bed, jammed his feet into slippers, and limped downstairs in his shorts and undershirt.
The kitchen was dark, but Sherman didn’t bother with the lights. He fumbled for a water glass from the cupboard and took the vodka bottle out of the freezer. The blue light from the stove’s digital clock was enough to see by as he poured two fingers of Stoli into the glass and put the bottle back. Leaning against the counter by the kitchen sink, he took his first sip. Ahh. The alcohol was cold and smooth going down the back of his throat.
Meaning to count to twenty before taking a second sip, he rested the glass on the sink and looked out the window past the dingy curtains. The house was set up high on a hill next to the Crane municipal cemetery, allowing him to see over the wall into the grounds. For a moment, he thought he caught a flicker of light through the trees. He rubbed his eyes and stared, straining to see it again, but the wind was up and the trees were thrashing. There! He saw the light again, briefly. Maybe it was one of those damned kids up to no good. They had no respect for the dead, knocking over tombstones, spray painting ugly messages on the walls, and leaving empty beer cans right on top of the graves. He’d better take a look, or else he might have a mess to clean up tomorrow.
Forgetting to savour his drink, Sherman downed the rest and hurried upstairs to put on his pants and a warm jacket. It was mid-October in the Alberta Foothills, and the nights were getting frosty. He grabbed his cemetery keys and hobbled down the stairs as fast as his sore knee would allow. Letting himself out of the house, he slid down the damp grass heading for the gate in the cemetery wall. The door screeched as he opened it, and he cursed himself for not keeping the hinges oiled. Easing the door shut behind him, he paused in the flat orange light beneath a security lamp on the ring road.
Everything was still except for the gusting wind. He could see his breath coming out in excited puffs and smelled the sharp wood smoke from the houses on the far side of the church. He shivered as the wind penetrated his clothes. It was too cold to stand still for long, so Sherman crossed the road and set off across the frosty grass. The sky was enshrouded in thick, grey cloud, and it was inky black among the plots. He got his bearings from the familiar tombstones, running his hands over their chilled, smooth surfaces as he hobbled past them. Pausing by a stone angel, Sherman peered to the left, toward the older part of the cemetery. That was the direction the light had been coming from when he had seen it from the kitchen window.
There it was, blinking through a stand of twisting evergreens. He crept toward the trees, taking his time so as not to snap a twig along the way. Was that whispering he heard? He paused to listen, but the branches were creaking too much to be sure, so he kept on. Reaching the evergreens, he edged around them carefully, trailing his hands over their rough bark.
He knew exactly where he was. There was a bench on the other side of the trees with a plot directly in front of it. The words inscribed on the black tombstone read, “Evelyn Mason, Beloved Wife and Mother, November 2, 1954 – March 10, 2012.” Evie’s grave. He rounded the trees and burst out of hiding.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” he hollered. But there was no one there, just the dim outline of the tombstone. He hesitated, sure that this was where he had seen the light.
“Sherman . . .” a voice sighed plaintively on the wind. He jerked his head sideways, trying to follow the sound, but it was impossible to tell where it came from. His hands clutched the bench for support, the metal cold and hard beneath his fingers.
“Who’s there?” he yelled, straining to see in the dark.
“Sherman . . .” the voice moaned, emanating from the heart of the plot deep in front of him. His breath came in short gasps, and his legs were shaking.
“Sherman!” the voice shrieked, piercing his ears and squeezing the breath from his lungs. He turned to run and tripped. Clawing at the ground, he staggered to his feet, terrified of skeletal fingers clutching at his shoulder. He tore across the grass and ran between the plots, barking his shins on more than one tombstone. He found the ring road and pushed himself down it, running and hopping as fast as he could. Reaching the door in the wall, he flung it open and staggered up the slope for home.
Thank God he had left the front door unlocked. Once inside, he shot the bolt home and ran upstairs to cower in bed with the ceiling light on. He lay there, his heart thumping erratically in his chest, and willed it to calm down. Mental imaging the people at the hospital had called it after his heart attack five years ago. He swallowed hard and tried to think. Was he crazy, or had his wife just called to him from the other side of the grave?
Her photograph was on his bedside table in a polished silver frame, the only valuable thing still left. Staring at the beautiful young woman with shining blue eyes smiling into the camera, a snort of laughter burst from his lips. He laughed and laughed until his eyes ran, and he was gasping for breath. The laughter subsided, and he picked up the picture and clutched it to his chest.
“I’m sorry, Evie,” he said, his voice cracking.
December 29, 2020
E-book 50% off Holiday Sale
Need some post-Christmas entertainment? My e-books are 50% off in the Smashword's sale, but only until January 1st!
Take care of yourselves, and happy 2021.
July 1, 2020
July Smashwords Sale on All My Books!
March 22, 2020
COVID-19 Book Sale Until April 20, 2020!
Of course, Framed for Murder, the first book in the Anna Nolan series, continues to be offered for free.
Please take care of yourselves.
Cheers!
Cathy
July 20, 2019
Robert B. Parker's Tales of Obsessive Love
I just finished rereading Robert B. Parker's novel, Potshot. In case you're not familiar with Mr. Parker's novels, he wrote 3 different series featuring private investigators Spenser (no first name) and Sunny Randall, and small-town police chief Jesse Stone.
The wise-cracking Spenser was his first creation, and my personal favourite. He's a maverick, with overtones of an old-time frontier sheriff and private eye Sam Spade - guys who go it alone, more concerned with upholding their own sense of justice than the letter of the law. They have their own code of conduct and are true to themselves.
Spenser has given his heart - passionately, totally and forever - to psychologist Susan Silverman, and she to him. Neither of them love blindly. Spenser knows Susan's strengths and faults, including the little peccadilloes he must overlook, but every time he sets eyes on Susan, he still thinks "Wow." Also, Susan has to live with the fear of Spenser being murdered one day, and it isn't easy for her.
But the unusual thing is, that for all of their love, Spenser and Susan know they can't marry each other. They can't even live together. They experimented with it once, but decided to maintain separate residences. Their unconventional relationship works for them, and they're wise enough to leave it alone.
Female P.I. Sunny Randall's love life is a variation of this theme, albeit a slightly darker one. She was once married to the love of her life, Richie, and although they're divorced now, that doesn't mean that she can let go of him, or he of her. Sunny and Richie love each other, so even if he marries again or she has a relationship with a guy with real potential, they can't stop seeing each other. In Sunny's case, marriage to Ritchie doesn't work because it somehow diminishes and smothers her. She's seeing psychologist Susan Silverman (surprise!) about it, but so far, Sunny hasn't worked it out.
Parker takes the obsessive love theme another step further with police chief Jesse Stone. Jesse used to be a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, but he developed a drinking problem after his divorce from Jennifer, and is asked to resign from the LAPD. Jesse's even drunk when he shows up for an interview for the chief of police job with the town of Paradise, but he's hired anyway. He's seeing a psychologist to understand his problems. Of course, Jesse's greatest problem is that his wife won't stop calling him whenever she needs him, and he can't stop helping her. Jennifer is the most unlikeable of the significant others in these series, a beautiful but self-absorbed, weak woman who sleeps around to promote her career. She uses Jesse as her safety-net. He knows it, but he can't stop himself.
So, getting back to Potshot. (Spoiler alert: The story ending is revealed here.) Mary Lou Buckman hires Spenser to find out who killed her husband. Mary Lou is a pretty, desirable young woman who moved with her husband from Los Angeles to Potshot, Montana to open a tourist horse-back riding business into the nearby Saw Tooth Mountains. She thinks that a gang of extortionists who plague the small town are responsible for her husband's death, but since she can't get the local sheriff to act on her beliefs, she comes to Spenser for help.
Mary Lou is not only good-looking, but strong, earnest, and still capable of blushing at sexual innuendo. But all is not as it seems. Turns out that Mary Lou is a key player in a real-estate swindle. She's sleeping with the mob boss funding the swindle, and either killed her husband herself, or arranged for one of 2 lovestruck men who followed her to Potshot to kill him.
One of them is Sheriff Dean Walker. His affair with Mary Lou ended his marriage. His morality is a little shaky, but he saves Spenser from being killed and is pretty good at trading quips, so he's still likeable. Plus, we feel sorry for him because Mary Lou is lying to him.
In the end, even when he finds out that the woman he's maybe killed for has been "making love" with the mobster and is using him, Dean can't help himself from saving Mary Lou from Spenser and retribution. And we like Dean a little more because he doesn't use his gun to do it. He's willing to be shot to save the woman he loves, no matter how bad she is.
Sigh. Whether we're on the highest plane with Spenser and Susan, or rolling in the mud with Mary Lou and Dean, romantic, even obsessive love is a motivating force in Parker's stories. The crazy romantic.
If you want some insight into Parker's own relationship with his wife, Joan H. Parker - to whom all of his books are dedicated - have a look at her New York Times obituary, as well as Parker's, who pre-deceased his wife by 3 years.
Robert and Joan Parker
March 3, 2019
50% off my Mystery Series and Romances!
I'm participating in Smashwords "Read an EBook Week," which starts today. Framed for Murder," the award-winning 1st novel in the Anna Nolan mystery series, is FREE, the rest of my novels are 50% off, and the short story collections are free! The sale only lasts until March 9th, so check it out!https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
July 12, 2018
Mystery Novels 50% Off Sale!
during the Smashwords July sale!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
July 6, 2018
50% Off Sale!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Elementary school teacher Viv Nowak has a sympathetic heart and abominable taste in men. She expects an engagement ring when her live-in lover of six years lands a terrific job in a new city. Instead, she gets dumped . . . on Valentine’s Day! Her friends insist on a dating do-over to fix her life, but no one expects the choice she makes when Viv finally knows what her heart wants.
November 25, 2017
"The Big Sick" and "Lab Girl"
I haven't blogged for awhile, but I wanted to share a book and a movie that I've recently enjoyed. When you find something good, you want to share.
The first is The big sick (that's how it was capitalized on the DVD cover), subtitle An Awkward True Story. I was under the false impression that it was a Netflix television series, so I sat down to watch one episode with breakfast this morning. After an hour, I discovered it was a movie, and I watched the whole thing instead of cleaning my house. It's the true-life story of taxi driver, part-time stand-up comic Kumail Nanjiani, who falls in love with a "white girl" even though his family is from Pakistan. This is a big deal because he lies to all of his loved ones about it - his family, who invites a parade of eligible young Pakistani women to their weekly family dinners in hope of arranging a marriage for Kumail - and to Emily, the young woman he's falling in love with. I've seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding and am familiar with the "I can't fall in love with you because you're not the same ethnic background as I am" stories, but hey, it's still true. The twist to the story is that Emily finds out he hasn't told his family about her, breaks up with Kumail, and then becomes deathly ill and is put into a medically-induced coma. Kumail meets her parents for the first time at the hospital, and they're not feeling very friendly toward him. The characters are realistic, touching, and funny, the romance is bumpy, and we're given a peek into the difficult journey of becoming a successful stand-up comic. There's great casting in the movie, including the quirky pairing of Holly Hunter and Ray Romano as Emily's parents. Just so you know, there's a liberal sprinkling of the "f" word in the dialogue, so if that still offends you, skip it. Otherwise, I recommend you check out The big sick.
My second find, also from the library, is Lab Girl. I haven't read anything like it before. It's written by American geochemist and geobiologist Hope Jahren, who grew up around her father's university science lab. The story is a combination of how she becomes a university scientist, a wife, and a mom, the difficulty of finding funding for non-commercial scientific research in the States (I'm sure this translates to many countries), and the science of how plants grow, particularly trees. Do you like trees? Do you know anything about them? Well, they're fascinating, and you'll learn something while being entertained. It's also the story of Hope's struggle with mental illness. Ever been pregnant? Did you have morning sickness, swollen ankles, back ache? What would it be like if you had to go off your meds until the third trimester because the medication could hurt the baby? Let me tell you, your pregnancy problems fade in comparison. I really liked Hope and the people who populate her story, and couldn't help reading sections aloud to my patient husband, who enjoyed Hope's turn of phrase. The lady writes well. So, if you enjoy The Big Bang Theory and Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, I think you'll like Lab Girl.
Bye for now!
March 4, 2017
Reduced and Free Books with Smashwords Sale!
Smashwords is having a Read an Ebook Week promotion from Sunday, March 5 to Saturday, March 11, 2017. For one week only, thousands of Smashwords authors and publishers will provide readers deep discounts on ebooks with coupon code levels for 25%-off, 50%-off, 75%-off and FREE.
You'll be able to purchase Framed for Murder, book one in the award-winning mystery series, for free.
Plus, you'll find deep discounts on my historical romance,The Affairs of Harriet Walters, Spinster (75% off for just $1), and my modern romance, The Dating Do-Over (50% off for just $.99).
Follow the links to great reading at terrific prices!
Framed for Murder , Book One in the Anna Nolan Mystery SeriesThe Affairs of Harriet Walters, Spinster The Dating Do-Over
