Debra Webb's Blog, page 2

WHEN YOU COME BACK

At last, the book of my heart is out now! WHEN YOU COME BACK is a story I have wanted to write for a very long time. The twists and turns of the plot will satisfy the most avid mystery/suspense reader. The powerful emotions of the characters will tug at your heart strings and have you at once laughing and crying. It is without doubt, my very best novel yet. I am so proud to make it available to you at Amazon in both trade paperback and Kindle. Kindle readers can enjoy WHEN YOU COME BACK for free on Kindle Unlimited. Just click on the cover to go to Amazon for ordering. I promise you won’t be disappointed! There are already dozens of 5-Star reviews!

 

For all you dog lovers, you will adore Sam, the Lab who is as much a character as 
any human in the book! Sam was modeled after my younger daughter’s Lab, Samson–one of the most lovable, loyal animals on the planet. Writing Sam into this novel gave the story an extra punch of real life and, I believe, a personality that you will not soon forget. Each time I typed him onto the pages, my heart beat faster and emotion rose in my throat.

 

As always, I hope you are well and wish you an amazing summer! My husband and I have planted a lovely raised bed garden and are busy working on a garden shed! Such fun! When you read the book, please post a review on Amazon. I truly love hearing from you!

 

Cheers!

Debra

 

 

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Happy Spring and News!

Can you believe it’s April already? Time is moving far too fast! My garden is in full swing with many colorful blooms. We’re in the process of building a garden shed and planting raised vegetable garden boxes. More to come on that!

I have lots of news on the book front. The first full length novel in my new Undertaker’s Daughter series releases on April 30! THE SECRETS WE BURY is set in Winchester, Tennessee. My family and I lived near Winchester for fifteen years. We love the area. I believe you will enjoy meeting Rowan DuPont and all the folks in her life. There will be 3 full length novels in the series, THE SECRETS WE BURY (April 30, 2019); THE LIES WE TELL (Sept 17, 2019); and THE DARKNESS WE HIDE (April 2020). Also, you won’t want to miss the prequel, THE UNDERTAKER’S DAUGHTER out now! The prequel is ebook only but it will be included as a bonus in the back of the paperback version of THE SECRETS WE BURY. If you don’t want to wait, you can read it on my Extras page now!

You might also enjoy my spin off series, Winchester, Tennessee Thrillers, I’m publishing with Harlequin Intrigue. The first two books are already available, IN SELF DEFENSE and THE DARK WOODS. Coming in August and September are THE STRANGER NEXT DOOR and THE SAFEST LIES. These are romantic suspense and folks are loving them. THE DARK WOODS made the Publishers Weekly Bestseller list!

Also coming this summer is a book that is very close to my heart, WHEN YOU COME BACK. I hope you’ll preorder it as well.

Finally, I have some really big news! Starting in July 2020, I will be publishing big thrillers with Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer. I am so excited! These will be my biggest, most thrilling books yet! Stay tuned for more on this new journey!

Until next time, have a great spring!

Deb

Visit me at Amazon to order any of my books in paperback or ebook by clicking here! Be sure to follow me and you’ll receive notification anytime I have a new book!

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THE SECRETS WE BURY

Enjoy this excerpt of the first book in the Undertaker’s Daughter series, THE SECRETS WE BURY!

THE SECRETS WE BURY
Debra Webb
RIP
Geneva Phillips
Beloved Wife and Mother
June 2, 1946–May 5, 2019

Geneva Phillips was born in Winchester, Tennessee, on June 2, 1946. She was a loving wife and mother, a consummate homemaker and a treasured member of the Ladies Civic Club as well as a talented musician and a member of the choir at the Second Avenue Methodist Church. She died at home on Sunday, May 5, 2019. Geneva was predeceased by her beloved husband, Howard, and her only sibling, a brother, Gerald. She is survived by two daughters, Patricia Patterson of Winchester and Jennifer Brinkley of Louisville, Kentucky, and three grandchildren.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, May 7, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., at the DuPont Funeral Home.

Chapter One

Winchester, Tennessee

Monday, May 6, 7:15 a.m.

Mothers shouldn’t die this close to Mother’s Day.

Especially mothers whose daughters, despite being grown and having families of their own, still considered Mom to be their best friend. Rowan DuPont had spent the better part of last night consoling the daughters of Geneva Phillips. Geneva had failed to show at church on Sunday morning, and later that same afternoon she wasn’t answering her cell. Her younger daughter entered her mother’s home to check on her and found Geneva deceased in the bathtub.

Now the seventy-two-year-old woman’s body waited in refrigeration for Rowan to begin the preparations for her final journey. The viewing wasn’t until tomorrow evening, so there was no particular rush. The husband of one of the daughters was away on business in London and wouldn’t arrive back home until late today. There was time for a short break, which turned into a morning drive that had taken Rowan across town and to a place she hadn’t visited in better than two decades.

Like death, some things were inevitable. Coming back to this place was one of those things. Perhaps it was the hours spent with the sisters last night that had prompted memories of Rowan’s own sister. She and her twin had once been inseparable. Wasn’t that generally the way with identical twins?

The breeze shifted, lifting a wisp of hair across her face. Rowan swiped it away and stared out over Tims Ford Lake. The dark, murky waters spread like sprawling arms some thirty-odd miles upstream from the nearby dam, enveloping the treacherous Elk River in its embrace. The water was deep and unforgiving. Even standing on the bank, at least ten feet from the edge, a chill crept up Rowan’s spine. She hated this place. Hated the water. The ripples that broke the shadowy surface…the smell of fish and rotting plant life. She hated every little thing about it.

This was the spot where her sister’s body had been found.

July 6, twenty-seven years ago. Rowan and Raven had turned twelve years old that spring. Rowan’s gaze lingered on the decaying tree trunk and the cluster of newer branches and overgrowth stretching from the bank into the hungry water where her sister’s lifeless body had snagged. The current had dragged her pale, thin body a good distance before depositing her at this spot. It had taken eight hours and twenty-three minutes for the search teams to find her.

Rowan had known her sister was dead before the call had come that Raven had gone missing. Her parents had rushed to help with the search, leaving a neighbor with Rowan. She had stood at her bedroom window watching for their return. The house had felt completely empty and Rowan had understood that her life would never be the same after that day.

No matter that nearly three decades has passed since that sultry summer day, she could still recall the horrifying feel of the final tug, and then the ominous release of her sister’s physical presence.

She shifted her gaze from the water to the sky. Last night the temperature had taken an unseasonable plunge. Blackberry winter, the locals called it. Whether it held some glimmer of basis in botany or was merely rooted in folklore, blackberry bushes all over the county were in full bloom. Rowan pulled her sweater tight around her. Though today was the first time she had come to this place since returning home from Nashville, the dark water was never far from her thoughts. How could it be? The lake swelled and withdrew around Winchester like the rhythmic breath of a sleeping giant, at once harmless and menacing.

Rowan had sneaked away to this spot dozens of times after her sister was buried. Other times she had ridden her bike to the cemetery and visited her there or simply sat in Raven’s room and stared at the bed where she had once laid her head. But Rowan felt closest to her sister here, near the water that had snatched her life away like the merciless talons of a hawk descending on a fleeing field mouse.

“You should have stayed home,” Rowan murmured to herself. The ache, no matter the many years that had passed, twisted in her chest.

She had begged Raven not to go to the party. Her sister had been convinced that Rowan’s behavior was nothing more than jealousy since she hadn’t been invited. The suggestion hadn’t been entirely unjustified, but mostly Rowan had felt a smothering dread, a panic that had bordered on hysteria. She had needed her sister to stay home. Every adolescent instinct she possessed had been screaming and restless with that looming sense of trepidation.

But Raven had ignored her sister’s pleas and attended the big barbecue and swim party with her best friend, Tessa Cardwell. Raven DuPont died that day, and Rowan had spent all the years since wondering what she could have done differently to change that outcome.

Nothing. She could not rewrite history any more than she was able to change her sister’s mind.

Rowan exhaled a beleaguered breath. At moments like this she felt exactly as if her life was moving backward. She’d enjoyed a fulfilling career with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department as an advisor for the Special Crimes Unit. As a psychiatrist, she had found her work immensely satisfying, and she had helped to solve numerous homicide cases. But then, not quite two months ago, everything had changed. The one case that Rowan didn’t recognize had been happening right in front of her, shattering her life…and sending everything spiraling out of control.

The life she had built in Nashville had been comfortable, with enough intellectual challenge in her career to make it uniquely interesting. Though she had not possessed a gold shield, the detectives in the Special Crimes Unit had valued her opinion and treated her as if she was as much a member of the team as any of them. But that was before…before the man she admired and trusted proved to be a serial killer—a killer who murdered her father and an MNPD officer as well as more than a hundred other victims over the past several decades.

A mere one month, twenty-two days and about fourteen hours ago, esteemed psychiatrist Dr. Julian Addington emerged from his cloak of secrecy and changed the way the world viewed serial killers. He was the first of his kind: incredibly prolific, cognitively brilliant and innately chameleon-like—able to change his MO at will. Far too clever to hunt among his own patients or social set, he had chosen his victims carefully, always ensuring he or she could never be traced back to him or his life.

Julian had fooled Rowan for the past two decades and then he’d taken her father, her only remaining family, from her. He’d devastated and humiliated her both personally and professionally.

Anger and loathing churned inside her. He wanted her to suffer. He wanted her to be defeated…to give up. But she would not. Determination solidified inside her. She would not allow him that victory or that level of control over her.

Her gaze drifted out over the water once more. Since her father’s death and moving back to Winchester, people had asked her dozens of times why she’d returned to take over the funeral home after all these years. She always gave the same answer: I’m a DuPont, it’s what we do.

Her father, of course, had always hoped Rowan would do so. It was the DuPont way. The funeral home had been in the family for a hundred fifty years. The legacy had been passed from one generation to the next time and time again. When she’d graduated from college and chosen to go to medical school and become a psychiatrist rather than to return home and take over the family business, Edward DuPont had been devastated. For more than a year after that decision, she and her father had been estranged. Now she mourned that lost year with an ache that was soul-deep.

They had reconciled, she reminded herself, and other than the perpetual guilt she felt over not visiting often enough, things had been good between her and her father. Like all else in her life until recently, their relationship had been comfortable. They’d spoken by phone regularly. She missed those chats. He kept her up to speed on who married or moved or passed, and she would tell him as much as she could about her latest case. He had loved hearing about her work with Metro. As much as he’d wanted her to take over the family legacy, he had wanted her to be happy more than anything else.

“I miss you, Daddy,” she murmured.

Looking back, Rowan deeply regretted having allowed Julian to become a part of her life all those years ago. She had shared her deepest, darkest secrets with him, including her previously strained relationship with her father. She had purged years of pent-up frustrations and anxieties to the bastard, first as his patient and then, later, as a colleague and friend.

Though logic told her otherwise, a part of her would always feel the weight of responsibility for her father’s murder.

Due to her inability to see what Julian was, she could not possibly return to Metro, though they had assured her there would always be a place for her in the department. How could she dare to pretend some knowledge or insight the detectives themselves did not possess when she had unknowingly been a close friend to one of the most prolific serial killers the world had ever known?

She could not. This was her life now.

Would taking over the family business completely assuage the guilt she felt for letting her father down all those years ago? Certainly not. Never. But it was what she had to do. It was her destiny. In truth, she had started to regret her career decision well before her father’s murder. Perhaps it was the approaching age milestone of forty or simply a midlife crisis. She had found herself pondering what might have been different if she’d made that choice and regretting, frankly, that she hadn’t.

Since she and Raven were old enough to follow the simplest directions, they had been trained to prepare a body for its final journey. By the time they were twelve, they could carry out the necessary steps nearly as well as their father with little or no direction.

Growing up surrounded by death had, of course, left its mark. Her hyperawareness of death and all its ripples and aftershocks made putting so much stock into a relationship with another human being a less than attractive proposal. Why go out of her way to risk that level of pain in the event that person was lost? And with life came loss. To that end, she would likely never marry or have children. But she had her work and, like her father, she intended to do her very best. Both of them had always been workaholics. Taking care of the dead was a somber albeit important task, particularly for those left behind. The families of the loved ones who passed through the DuPont doors looked to her for support and guidance during their time of sorrow and emotional turmoil.

Speaking of which, she pulled her cell from her pocket and checked the time. She should get back to the funeral home. Mrs. Phillips was waiting. Rowan turned away from the part of her past that still felt fresh despite the passage of time.

Along this part of the shore, the landscape was thickly wooded and dense with undergrowth, which was the reason she’d worn her rubber boots and was slowly picking her way back to the road. As she attempted to slide her phone back into her hip pocket, a limb snagged her hair. Instinctively she reached up to pull it loose, dropping her cell phone in the process.

“Damn it.” Rowan reached down and felt through the thatch beneath the underbrush. More of her long blond strands caught in the brush. She should have taken the time to pull her hair back in a ponytail as she usually did. She tugged the hair loose, bundled the thick mass into her left hand and then crouched down to dig around with her right in search of her phone. Like most people, she felt utterly lost without the damn thing.

Where the hell had it fallen?

She would have left it in the car except that she never wanted a family member to call the funeral home and reach a machine. With that in mind, she forwarded calls to her cell when she was away. Eventually she hoped to trust her father’s new assistant director enough to allow him to handle all incoming calls. Wouldn’t have helped this morning, though, since he was on vacation.

New assistant director? She almost laughed at the idea. Woody Holder had been with her father for two years, but Herman Carter had been with him a lifetime before that. She supposed in comparison, new was a reasonable way of looking at Woody’s tenure thus far. Her father had still referred to him as the new guy. Maybe it was his lackadaisical attitude. At forty-five, Woody appeared to possess absolutely no ambition and very little motivation. Rowan really should consider finding a new, more dependable assistant director and letting Woody go.

Her fingers raked through the leaves and decaying groundcover until she encountered something cool and hard but not metal or plastic. Definitely not her phone. She stilled, frowned in concentration as her sense of touch attempted to identify the object she couldn’t see without sticking her head into the bushes. Not happening. She might have chalked the object up to being a limb or a rock if not for the familiar, tingling sensation rushing along every single nerve ending in her body. Her instincts were humming fiercely.

Assuredly not a rock.

Holding her breath, she reached back to the same spot and touched the object again. Her fingers dug into the soft earth around the object and curled instinctively.

Long. Narrow. Cylindrical.

She pulled it from the rich, soft dirt, the thriving moss and the tangle of rotting leaves.

Bone.

She frowned, studied it closely. Human bone.

Her pulse tripped into a faster rhythm. She placed the bone aside, reached back in with both hands and carefully scratched away more of the leaves.

Another bone…and then another. Bones that, judging by their condition, had been here for a very long time.

Meticulously sifting through the layers of leaves and plant life, she discovered that her cell phone had fallen into the rib cage. The human rib cage. Her mind racing with questions and conclusions, she cautiously fished out the phone. She took a breath, hit her contacts list and tapped the name of Winchester’s chief of police.

When he picked up, rather than hello, she said, “I’m at the lake. There’s something here you need to see and it can’t wait. Better call Burt and send him in this direction as well.” Burt Johnston was a local veterinarian who had served as the county coroner for as long as Rowan could remember.

Chief of Police William “Billy” Brannigan’s first response was, “Are you okay?”

Billy and Rowan had been friends since grade school. He had made her transition back to life in Winchester so much more bearable. And there was Herman. He was more like an uncle than a mere friend of the family. Eventually she hoped the two of them would stop worrying so about her. She wasn’t that fragile young girl who had left Winchester twenty-odd years ago. Recent events had rocked her, that was true, but she was completely capable of taking care of herself. She would never again allow herself to be vulnerable to anyone.

“I’m fine, but someone’s not. You should stop worrying about me and get over here, Billy.”

“I’m on my way.”

She ended the call. There had been no need for her to tell him precisely where she was at the lake. He would know. Rowan DuPont didn’t swim, she never came near the lake unless it was to visit her sister, and she hadn’t done that in a very, very long time.

Strange, all those times Rowan had come to visit Raven, she’d never realized there was someone else here, too.

 

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A New Year And A New Series from Debra Webb

As 2018 comes to a close, we can’t help looking back and analyzing the months that have passed. This has been a wonderful year in many ways and not so wonderful in others. In the end, the good has far outweighed the not so good. And now I’m looking forward to 2019!

Just this week the prequel for next year’s new hometown thriller series released in ebook exclusively on Amazon. I hope you’ll have a look at THE UNDERTAKER’S DAUGHTER. Titled after the series it launches, this story will set the stage for what’s coming. You can get your copy of the prequel at Amazon by clicking here. The story starts in Nashville but eventually lands in Winchester, Tennessee, a small town near the state line between Alabama and Tennessee where I lived for fifteen years. You’ll meet Dr. Rowan DuPont who grew up in the funeral home that has been in her family for more than a hundred years. Growing up in a funeral home makes for a very different childhood. Rowan learned at a young age that the bodies of the dead tell a story about the lives lived. I hope you’ll follow Rowan on her journey in this series.

Coming in April is the first full length novel in the series. This one is called THE SECRETS WE BURY and you can preorder it now in ebook, paperback and audio wherever books are sold. Want to order now? Just click here to go to the Amazon page. You can read an excerpt from this story on my Extras Page. October 2019 brings book two, THE LIES WE TELL. You can order book two in ebook, paperback or audio, also wherever books are sold. Click here to order from Amazon. I’m sure you will enjoy this series as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I loved writing about Winchester so much that I created another series called WINCHESTER, TENNESSEE THRILLERS to write for Harlequin Intrigue. The first two books will be out in February and March. IN SELF DEFENSE and THE DARK WOODS can be ordered in paperback or ebook wherever books are sold. To order from Amazon click here! Lots of books are coming in 2019!

Never miss one of my releases! You can sign up for my newsletter right here on my website and you can follow me on Amazon by clicking here and then selecting follow! Watch this site, you’ll be hearing from me again soon! Have a safe and happy 2019!

Deb

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Happy Thanksgiving and New Releases!

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s hard to believe that it’s almost that time. Around Thanksgiving I have an extra reason to celebrate, my birthday comes this month as well. This November I have a third reason to celebrate! I’m releasing the three books–one every other Friday–in my Dark and Dangerous Romantic Suspense series! Starting with CLINT, available now exclusively at Amazon. Next will be RYAN, and then comes CARSON. If you’re a romantic suspense lover you will enjoy these thrilling novels!

My next newsletter will be coming at Christmas. I hope you and yours will enjoy a wonderful and safe holiday! Click here to order your copy of CLINT and the other Dark and Dangerous Romantic Suspense novels! If you’re not already following me on AMAZON, please follow me there so you’ll never miss one of my new releases! Just click here to follow me!

 

Enjoy!

Debra

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The BREAKDOWN Begins!

Hello friends

 

I am so excited to kick off this spellbinding new suspense series! Starting today, there will be a new book released in the series each Thursday throughout the month of October. My book, THE DEAD GIRL, is the first! I know you’ll love the series. Advance reviewers are calling it GONE GIRL meets BIG LITTLE LIES. Read a new book in ebook or paperback each Thursday exclusively from Amazon! You can order THE DEAD GIRL by clicking here!

 

To celebrate the release of THE DEAD GIRL, the prequel short story, NO LOOKING BACK, is free for the next few days. Grab your copy now by clicking here!

 

Have a great weekend and enjoy my latest release!

 

Deb

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Happy Spring! THE LONGEST SILENCE is finally here!

March is here and I am so ready for planting flowers! My tulips are popping up all over the place. 2018 is shaping up to be a fabulous year! My first hardcover novel, THE LONGEST SILENCE, is out now! I am so thrilled to see my work in hardcover. It’s such an honor. New York Times Bestselling author Sandra Brown called the book “A gripping read!” What a compliment coming from a true legend! I hope you’ll grab your copy of THE LONGEST SILENCE. It’s available in hardcover wherever books are sold. You can order the ebook or the audio version online from Amazon! Ebooks are also available at Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and KOBO!

 

If you haven’t read the Shades of Death series, NO DARKER PLACE is on sale for $3.99 for the entire month of March. Be sure to check out my interview in The Big Thrill magazine by clicking here!

I have lots more exciting news! I have written a book that ripped the heart right out of my chest. I hope you’ll check out THERE ONCE WAS A CHILD. You can preorder it in ebook or paperback exclusively at Amazon! It is an amazing story. Also, look for a new Colby Agency trilogy coming from me and Harlequin Intrigue in May, June and July. FINDING THE EDGE, SIN AND BONE, and BODY OF EVIDENCE is a very sexy trilogy! If you love the Colbys and red hot romance, you won’t want to miss those three stories!

 

As always, please leave a review at Amazon or your preferred bookseller for any of my books that you read. Reviews are so important! Have a fabulous March and I’ll talk to you in April!

 

Cheers!

Deb

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Holiday Season

Wow it’s almost Thanksgiving! Where did the time go? We’re already going through Christmas decorations! I hope you’ve had a good year! It’s been a pretty good year around here. We have a new granddaughter and we’re expecting a new grandson in a few weeks. We’re so excited!

This year my new Shades of Death series has done well. If you haven’t read the series yet, start with the prequel, The Blackest Crimson. The books include: No Darker Place, A Deeper Grave, and The Coldest Fear. All the books are in paperback, ebook and audio! Right now you can purchase the Shades of Death Collection featuring The Blackest Crimson, No Darker Place and A Deeper Grave in ebook for a special price. I hope you’ll have a look.

Coming next March is my first hardcover! I am so thrilled about THE LONGEST SILENCE! I hope you will be as well. I’ve posted the cover here and and if you click on it you will be taken to Amazon where you can preorder! It’s also available for preorder wherever books are sold!

Until next time!

Deb

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Fall is Almost Here and My New Book is on the Shelves!

Hey y’all!

Fall is almost here and boy has it been a busy summer! First, I spent an entire week in New York for the annual Thillerfest. One whole day was devoted to a class taught by the FBI learning the right way to use FBI agents in my books. I saw great friends like Allison Brennan, Lisa Gardner and Heather Graham and played fangirl with Sandra Brown, Steve Berry and Lee Child, to name a few! Also, I brought my baby brother and his oldest son along since they’d never visited the Big Apple. What a time we had! You can see photos on my Facebook page here! My next stop was Orlando for the Romance Writers of America conference where I signed books and visited with dear friends like Rita Herron, B.J. Daniels, Julie Miller, and Regan Black! Finally, I spent five days at the Writers Police Academy in Wisconsin. Wow, talk about an intense training session! It was exhausting and exhilarating and I learned so much. But now I’m home, readying the house and yard for fall and working on my next book!

I’ve read some great books recently, too! INTO THE WATER by Paula Hawkins and EVERY LAST LIE by Mary Kubica and so many others! Today, I want to tell you about my latest book release, THE COLDEST FEAR. It’s the third novel in the Shades of Death series and reviewers are raving about it. I am so pleased. Seeing those fabulous reviews makes my heart glad. You know, one of the greatest gifts a reader can give an author is to post a review. I sincerely appreciate your support. Please tell your friends about my new book. Here’s a little preview:

THE COLDEST FEAR

Savannah, Georgia

Tuesday, October 25, 5:20 p.m.

Life had been difficult for Allison Cortland, particularly the past thirty-two years.

She stepped, one by one, out of her shoes. The grass was cold even with the setting sun doing all within its power to extend a little lingering warmth and light as it dropped behind the trees on this late October day. The task was an impossible one. There would never be enough light to chase away the cold, cold darkness encompassing Allison’s small world.

Shouldering out of her jacket, she let it fall to the ground as she stared out over the still water. Her father-in-law had given Allison and her husband this lake house forty years ago as a wedding present. He claimed he had lost the desire to visit this special place after his wife died. Allison hadn’t understood at the time. The water, the dense woods and the lovely cottage-style home were so peaceful, how could anyone not feel happy and serene here?

In time she had learned the harsh, painful truth that some losses could not be healed by anything in this big wide world.

The crisp breeze sent goose bumps spilling over her skin as she tossed her elegant silk blouse to the ground and reached for the side zipper of her trousers. Her husband often teased her about her obsession with beautiful clothes. Edward showered her with exquisite jewelry and she had always appreciated his generosity, yet there was something cold about jewels. Give her silk and cashmere any day.

But nothing—absolutely nothing—took that deep chill from her bones. Not once in these past thirty-two years had she felt truly warm. She lifted first one foot and then the other from the legs of her pants, leaving the light gray wool twisted on the grass. Reaching behind her, she unfastened her bra and let it fall. Her panties followed that same path. Her nipples stiffened in the cold air. Not even the many lovers she had discreetly taken over the years had been able to warm her.

On this night thirty-two years ago Allison Hall Cortland’s life had drained from her body, no matter that her traitorous heart had continued to beat. She dipped a toe into the icy water. Closing her eyes she put one foot in front of the other, stepping into the water.

All these years, no matter how much alcohol she consumed, no matter the various prescription medications she tried, nothing ever expelled the aching nothingness that had invaded her very soul. For any parent there existed no greater agony, no more devastating blow than losing a child. It was unquestionably the coldest fear that haunted every mother’s heart.

The chilly water rose above her chest, washed over her shoulders and lapped at her chin. All these years she had muddled through this cold, empty life for him. Her husband needed her. They had faced the horror, as best they could, together. They had survived together. Despite the ways in which each of them had privately struggled to conquer their pain, they had slogged through the months and years…together.

As if Fate was determined to land one last, shocking blow, two weeks ago the handsome young man to whom she had said “I do” forty years ago was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The numerous specialists could do nothing more. Her husband had a month to live, possibly more, probably less.

Allison sucked in one last breath of crisp night air before the water engulfed her face. If only the bastard had possessed the courage to take his vile secret with him to his grave.

But no. He’d had to confess his sins…he’d had to plead for her forgiveness.

She wasn’t like the others. She couldn’t go on knowing this awful thing and she damned sure could not forgive him. The idea of muddling through another single day with this new weight on her heart was unimaginable.

He had stolen the only reason she had bothered to go on at all.

Allison stopped holding her breath and welcomed the rush of death.

End of Excerpt

I loved writing this book! I hope you’ll pick up your copy today! THE COLDEST FEAR is available wherever books and ebooks are sold. If you prefer to order online, you can do so by selecting one of these links:

Amazon     BN      iBooks      IndieBound     Kobo      Walmart     Target     Books-A-Million

One more exciting announcement: My next novel, THE LONGEST SILENCE, is coming in March of 2018 and it will be in hardcover! I am so excited! Good wishes and good health to all!

 

Best!

Deb

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Hello Summer and My New Book – A DEEPER GRAVE!

Hello friends!

I’m so excited that summer is here! Yes, technically, I know there area a few more days until it’s officially summer but for me it begins today with the release of my new novel, A DEEPER GRAVE! Before I tell you what I’ve been up to, here’s a little something to whet your appetite for A DEEPER GRAVE:

When the hunter becomes the hunted…

Serial-killer hunter Nick Shade built his legendary career chasing monsters—sadistic criminals with a gruesome thirst for death. When he rescued Montgomery detective Bobbie Gentry from horrific captivity and helped her reclaim her life, he didn’t intend to be a hero. Or a target. But now a copycat murderer haunts him, and reuniting with Bobbie is his best chance at neutralizing the threat.

Bobbie can’t forget the nightmares of her trauma—or the man who saved her. Working with Nick to outmaneuver the person behind a deadly vendetta feeds her hope that there’s more to her world than ghosts and destruction. Maybe joining Nick’s search for a killer is about gratitude. Maybe it’s nothing more than cold revenge. But the only way they can protect themselves is to trust each other.

A DEEPER GRAVE is now available in paperback, ebook and audio wherever books are sold. Check your favorite local bookstore! Also, for your convenience, I have listed some of the links where you can order your copy online.

I hope you’re ready for summer! I’m looking forward to spending lots of time with my grand children! My husband and I have planted lots of flowers and shrubs around our new home. We’re really enjoying living all on one level. We have wonderful neighbors and we’re just down the road from the kids! I’ll be in New York in July signing books at the International Thriller Writers conference and in Orlando with the Romance Writers of America! If you live in the area please drop by! What’re you doing this summer?

Here are those links to order A DEEPER GRAVE I mentioned!

For Amazon click here!

For Indie Bound click here!

For Walmart click here!

For Target click here!

For iBooks click here!

For Barnes&Noble click here!

For Kobo click here!

Cheers!

Deb

PS: Look for THE COLDEST FEAR coming September 1!

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