P.D. Workman's Blog, page 58
December 15, 2020
Virgil Flowers is back in Bloody Genius
I wrote last week about what’s coming out next. Hop on over for a look at what’s coming out in the Zachary Goldman Mysteries series. And there’s a freebie!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
Today I am reading Bloody Genius by John Sandford, twelfth book in the Virgil Flowers series. Flowers is being brought in on a case involving the murder of a university professor. A good solid police procedural with lots of avenues of investigation to follow. I am about 3/4 of the way through, and they appear to be closing in on the killer, but I’m still not sure whether they have the right guy and that we’ve gotten to the bottom of the motive.
Warnings: language and mature content
The DreamBook Power P87 made an excellent weapon, not because of its Intel Xeon i7 processor, or its 64 gigs of RAM, or its high-definition display, but because it weighed more than twelve pounds and had sharp corners.
John Sandford, Bloody Genius
At the local state university, two feuding departments have faced off on the battleground of science and medicine. Each carries their views to extremes that may seem absurd, but highly educated people of sound mind and good intentions can reasonably disagree, right?
Then a renowned and confrontational scholar winds up dead, and Virgil Flowers is brought in to investigate . . . and as he probes the recent ideological unrest, he soon comes to realize he’s dealing with people who, on this one particular issue, are functionally crazy. Among this group of wildly impassioned, diametrically opposed zealots lurks a killer, and it will be up to Virgil to sort the murderer from the mere maniacs.
December 10, 2020
What’s Coming Next?
I have a little break here between various releases and promotions, before having to come up with a really awesome Christmas post, and thought I would just give a few details on what is coming down the pipe from P.D. Workman.
The next three books from the Zachary Goldman Mysteries series are currently available for preorder. For those of you who are not familiar with Zachary Goldman, he is not your gun-toting, beat-em-up, break-the-law type of private investigator that you see so often in books and on the silver screen.
He is good at what he does, but he has had to claw his way up from a less-than-optimal beginning to get where he is today, and deals with a lot of demons; some horrific experiences in his past, relationship problems, mental illness, and learning disability. But he fights to overcome all of these barriers and to bring his clients some level of peace or resolution. Zachary is one of my favourite characters. He’s vulnerable, but determined enough to tough it out and make it through the hard times.
Grittier topics than my cozy mysteries, some tough social issues, but they are still clean. If you don’t want foul language, gore, and explicit sex, you don’t need to worry. You won’t find them here.
Here are the next three cases coming up for Zachary:
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-38fc0be .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}She Told a Lie
A missing girl.
Her confused family and friends don’t know what to think about her disappearance.
The police will only put so many resources into the search for a missing teen. They don’t have time and money to spend on runaways and voluntaries. But that doesn’t mean no one cares.
Zachary Goldman is on the case, and he is determined to find out what happened to Madison Miller and to bring her home safely.
If she’s still alive, he’s going to find her.
No matter what danger he might face personally.
AUTHOR DIRECT PREORDER SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-b1182f6 .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}He Never Forgot
When Ben Burton hired Zachary Goldman to help him to find the house he lived in before he was adopted, Zachary had no idea it would turn into a murder case.
But as Ben’s fragmented memories start to fall into place, Zachary is driven to right past wrongs and bring the perpetrator to justice.
But Ben is not the only one who remembers what happened.
AUTHOR DIRECT PREORDER BOOKBUB GOODREADS
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-a252f8f .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}She Was At Risk
Zachary has done his very best to let go of ex-wife Bridget and relegate their relationship to the past. So when her current partner comes to him for help, he is understandably hesitant to help.
But Gordon has always been a stand-up guy and done right by Zachary, so he reluctantly lets himself be talked once more into helping Bridget and Gordon.
Zachary struggles with obsessions and self-doubt at the best of times, and this is a case that could break him.
His investigations lead him from one dark revelation to another until Zachary has no idea how he’s going to find his way back into the light.
AUTHOR DIRECT BUY NOW BOOKBUB GOODREADS
Want to read the first case? Get She Wore Mourning for free!
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-217651e .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}She Wore Mourning
A dead child.
A mother deep in mourning.
Private Investigator Zachary Goldman’s life isn’t all roses, but he tries to put his own shattered life behind him to investigate the death of five-year-old Declan Bond.
Declan’s death has been ruled an accident, but his grandmother thinks there is more to it. She fears Declan’s mother will not be able to find peace until Zachary can give them an answer once and for all.
But as Zachary digs into the circumstances surrounding Declan’s death, he finds that all is not as it seems, and somebody doesn’t want him to find the truth.
AUTHOR DIRECT BUY NOW SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
December 8, 2020
Follow the Twists in Eight Perfect Murders
I hope you had a chance to pick up Pain, Medical Kidnap Files #5 and some other freebies this weekend! If you didn’t, you might find some of them still on sale.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
Today I started on Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson. This is a different kind of murder mystery. You may see some of the twists and turns coming. But there are a lot of them (so far). Keep your mind open and pay attention, because the clues are there. Don’t believe everything you read!
She unzipped her leather bag and removed a single sheet of paper. “Do you remember a list you wrote for this store’s blog, back in 2004? A list called ‘Eight Perfect Murders’?”
Peter Swanson, Eight Perfect Murders
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Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne’s Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox’s Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald’s The Drowner, and Donna Tartt’s A Secret History.
But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.
December 3, 2020
Pain, Medical Kidnap Files #5 and Other Freebies
Ready for another freebie roundup?
This weekend only, you can get Pain, book #5 of the Medical Kidnap files for free at ebook retailers.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-9764854 .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}Pain, Medical Kidnap Files #5
When your child is in pain, everything else takes a backseat.
Fae Glover has put everything else on hold while she tries to help her daughter to get a diagnosis and effective treatment. Unfortunately, DFS has other ideas and in short order has apprehended Hannah. And they have no intention of ever giving her back.
Gabriel and Renata are in a race against the clock to keep the family together and reunite Hannah with her mother before the court severs all of Fae’s rights permanently.
AUTHOR DIRECT BUY NOW SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
Author Direct allows you to download directly from the author
Download format options are Kindle or ePub (iBooks, Nook, etc.) format
“Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start. Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable. Great suspense and action with wonderful world building that adds so much to the story. Such a thrilling read that I couldn’t put it down.”
Billie, Goodreads reviewer
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-17dbdb0 .ugb-img{width:332px;height:auto !important}}Mito, Medical Kidnap Files #1
You can also get Mito, book #1 in the series for free right now. Find out how it all started!
Gabriel has dealt with mysterious medical issues his whole life. Just when he finally thought that they had all of the answers and he was on the road to good health, he is apprehended by DFS on the grounds of medical neglect.
At first, he thought that he would be back home in a few days, once the misunderstanding was cleared up. But when Renata tells Gabriel her crazy conspiracy theories, Gabriel feels the first pangs of doubt. Is there really a conspiracy?
Will he ever be able to get well and go back to his mother, or is he doomed to be another guinea pig for Doctor De Klerk?
AUTHOR DIRECT BUY NOW SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
More freebies
I have searched out more freebies for your enjoyment!
You can add all of the freebies available in the Kindle store with one click, or pick which books or which stores you want individually. As always, check prices before you check out, as prices may change without warning or not be free all days or in all markets.
.ugb-0219a29 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-0219a29 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-0219a29 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-0219a29 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-0219a29 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Shock
Katie Boles finds her life turned upside when she finds a dead body on her driveway. The mysterious death is reminiscent of the work of a serial killer who terrorized Katie’s hometown five years ago. The police arrested Katie’s brother for the murders, but the trial and her brother’s behavior left her with plenty of questions.
After a second killing nearby, Katie is afraid that the Shock Killer, the man who had forced her into hiding, was back to involve her in a second round of murders. Even more frightening is the fact that Katie might have to come face-to-face with her brother and learn the truth of the murders.
.ugb-51246c2 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-51246c2 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-51246c2 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-51246c2 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-51246c2 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Gone
Macy Mercer only wants a little independence. Eager to prove herself grown up, she goes to a dark, secluded park. She’s supposed to meet the boy of her dreams who she met online. But the cute fifteen year old was a fantasy, his pictures fake. She finds herself face to face with Chester Woodran, a man capable of murder.
Distraught over his own missing daughter, Chester insists that Macy replace his lost girl. He locks Macy up, withholds food, and roughs her up, demanding that she call him dad. Under duress from his constant threats and mind games, her hold on reality starts to slip. Clinging to her memories is the only way of holding onto her true identity, not believing that she is Chester’s daughter. Otherwise she may never see her family again.
.ugb-4475b38 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-4475b38 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-4475b38 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-4475b38 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-4475b38 .ugb-img{width:324px;height:auto !important}}Fatgirl Origins
A girl, her grandmother, and half a dozen radioactive doughnuts…
There’s nothing that seventeen-year-old Kallie Grande-White hungers for more than to be a famous model like her mother — except maybe actually food. But that’s a small inconvenience, especially with the Model Middle America reality show holding auditions for the Next Top Heartland Teen Heartthrob Model right in Kallie’s hometown.
Now that she has a chance to make her dream come true, Kallie is determined not to let anything stand in her way — not her best frenemy, Amory Franklin, not her lacrosse-playing crush, Blake Turner, and especially not the new, awkward fat kid in her computer class.
And while the sudden appearance of her PhD-in-nuclear-nanotechnologist grandmother definitely throws Kallie off, the rest of the world will soon find out that it’s not over until the fat lady sings — or in this case, it’s not over until Fatgirl sits on a terrorist’s face.
.ugb-ddd3f73 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-ddd3f73 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-ddd3f73 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-ddd3f73 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-ddd3f73 .ugb-img{width:347px;height:auto !important}}Madhouse, Don’t Talk to Strangers
Faced with his parents’ divorce, eleven-year-old Lucas runs away from home in the hope that his family will get back together to find him. While walking through the empty streets, he is picked up by a mysterious woman, who offers to take care of him and provide him with a loving family.
The boy then wakes up in shackles, confined to a bed in a decrepit house in the middle of nowhere and will have to face his deepest fears in order to survive in his new home.
.ugb-dd83503 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-dd83503 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-dd83503 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-dd83503 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-dd83503 .ugb-img{width:323px;height:auto !important}}Cornerstone
Nalena Maxwell is The Waste. At least, that’s what she’s been tagged as at school, due to her mother’s obsession with hoarding truckloads of paper, each one scrawled with lines of what appears to be single-sentence stories. The insane volume of paper has forced them out of their house and now threatens to push them out of their apartment, but Nalena’s mother, Evangeline, refuses to part with a single sheet.
Evangeline’s papers are so much more than just a hoarder’s obsession.
They are the reason behind the Maxwell’s tumultuous family past.
And they are the reason why the future is calling upon Nalena as its champion.
Kept in the dark, in order to protect her from the past and future that no mother wants her child to endure, the life she’s presently living is illegible to Nalena. She believes her fate is to be only The Waste, until one night, when Garrett Reese–possibly the school’s most handsome and popular Senior–seeks her out in the back corner of the library with answers and questions that reveal the true ink on Nalena’s destiny.
.ugb-9aaaa75 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-9aaaa75 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-9aaaa75 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-9aaaa75 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-9aaaa75 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}The Runaway Train
The only thing Detective Kathryn Lincoln has to go on is a name. When another child vanishes into the creeping fog around a bus station, Kathryn and her partner, Selena Marrenger, embark on a mission to find the truth behind the disappearances. What they uncover is a hidden secret far more sinister than they could have imagined.
As suspects begin to pile up, Selena is forced to leave the case for the FBI. Alone, and desperate for answers, can Kathryn find who’s responsible before it’s too late?
.ugb-c3dd3f4 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-c3dd3f4 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-c3dd3f4 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-c3dd3f4 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-c3dd3f4 .ugb-img{width:324px;height:auto !important}}Girl in Trouble
He gave up his daughter years ago, but now he’ll risk his life to save hers.
Alex Mercer is no stranger to kidnappings. The emotional scars still run deep from his sister’s disappearance years earlier. His daughter Ariana remains safe long after her adoption, and he cherishes the few times a year he gets to see her. The joy is palpable when he takes her on their first one-on-one outing. At least until he pauses to answer a text and Ariana disappears…
Wracked with guilt and determined to find answers, Alex teams up with an unlikely ally at the police department. As the clues reveal a pattern of missing girls, the kidnapping case becomes a race against time to save Ariana. What cost is Alex willing to pay to keep his daughter alive?
December 1, 2020
Cormoran Strikes Back in The Silkworm
If you didn’t have a chance to pick up my Thanksgiving deals yet, it isn’t too late. Take a look at last week’s blog post.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
This week I am into Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm, second book in the Cormoran Strike series. (Yes, that Robert Galbraith, one of the pen names of J.K. Rowling.) Private Investigator Cormoran Strike is looking for a missing writer, who was trying to get his tell-all book published. Lots of people are not happy to be included in the book, so you can bet there will be a lot of suspects in his disappearance and (spoiler) death. Sorry, I haven’t gotten to that part yet, the Amazon blurb gives it away.
Strike is doing a bit better in this installment than in the first in the series. He now has a home, some paying clients, and his erstwhile assistant. The Silkworm has been engaging so far and includes plenty of colourful characters.
“His book, his latest. Liz—that’s his agent—tells him it’s the best thing he’s ever done, and then, like, a day later, she takes him out to dinner and says it’s unpublishable.”
Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm
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When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days — as he has done before — and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.
But as Strike investigates, he discovers that Quine’s disappearance is no coincidence. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published, it would ruin lives — meaning that almost everyone in his life would have motives to silence him.
When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, Strike must race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before…
November 26, 2020
Thanks for Books and Readers
I probably don’t have to tell you it’s American Thanksgiving! There have been lots of #givethanks posts on my Facebook timeline this week, and I have been buoyed up by everyone’s words of thanks. During challenging times, it is easy to get swamped by negative feelings and influences, and counting your blessings can provide a much-needed boost. Even hearing about others’ blessings seems to be helping me.
One of the things that I am grateful for is my readers. Especially those of you who are dedicated readers of one or more series and who send me feedback (aka love letters) to let me know what you are enjoying and how much you look forward to the next book in the series.
You know I’m always trying to give you some good deals, and today is no exception. Here is what is going on during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday!
First in series free:
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Multi-Author Sales
November 24, 2020
Stay up tonight and read The Late Show
I released Pain, Book #5 of Medical Kidnap Files on Friday, have you picked up your copy yet? You can also get Mito, the first book in the series for free right now.
I’ll have a number of Thanksgiving/Black Friday deals coming up this week, so be sure to come back or sign up for my newsletter so that you will be informed of them.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I am reading The Late Show by Michael Connelly, the second book in the Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch series. I have actually read book number two, Dark Sacred Night before this. It is a good series. I think that the main character, Renée Ballard is a little more non-conforming in this book than she is in book 2. She breaks quite a few police procedure rules, in fact. If that’s the kind of thing that drives you crazy as a reader, you might want to give this one a pass!
No Harry Bosch in this book yet, I’m not sure whether he will show up later on in the story, right now I think it is just going to be a Renée Ballard book.
He made a move to leave but Ballard didn’t follow. He spun and came back to her.
“What?” he demanded.
“Whoever did this is big evil, Jenks,” she said. “You know that.”
Michael Connelly, The Late Show
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Renee Ballard works the midnight shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing few, as each morning she turns everything over to the daytime units. It’s a frustrating job for a once up-and-coming detective, but it’s no accident. She’s been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
But one night Ballard catches two assignments she doesn’t want to part with. First, a prostitute is brutally beaten and left for dead in a parking lot. All signs point to a crime of premeditation, not passion, by someone with big evil on his mind. Then she sees a young waitress breathe her last after being caught up in a nightclub shooting. Though dubbed a peripheral victim, the waitress buys Ballard a way in, and this time she is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her partner’s wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night.
As the investigations intertwine, Ballard is forced to face her own demons and confront a danger she could never have imagined. To find justice for these victims who can’t speak for themselves, she must put not only her career but her life on the line.
November 19, 2020
Stay home and read new releases
I know, the Black Friday sales have already started and you should be getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner, and this year is just weird. Wouldn’t you rather curl up with a good book and let everyone else do the shopping?
Today is the release of Pain, book #5 in my Medical Kidnap Files series. As with all of my books, Pain can be read as a standalone or together with the rest of the series. If you want to start with book #1, you can pick up Mito for free.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-55fe19d .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}Pain, Medical Kidnap Files #5
When your child is in pain, everything else takes a backseat.
Fae Glover has put everything else on hold while she tries to help her daughter to get a diagnosis and effective treatment. Unfortunately, DFS has other ideas and in short order has apprehended Hannah. And they have no intention of ever giving her back.
Gabriel and Renata are in a race against the clock to keep the family together and reunite Hannah with her mother before the court severs all of Fae’s rights permanently.
AUTHOR DIRECT BUY NOW SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
Clicking the Author Direct button allows you to purchase directly from the author using your PayPal account (blue button) or a credit card (grey button). Download format options are Kindle or ePub (iBooks, Nook, etc.) format
More New Releases
Looking for more? Of course you are. Take a look at these new releases.
.ugb-6effa7c .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-6effa7c .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-6effa7c .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-6effa7c .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-6effa7c .ugb-img{width:324px;height:auto !important}}A Breath Too Late
Seventeen-year-old Ellie had no hope left. Yet the day after she dies by suicide, she finds herself in the midst of an out-of-body experience. She is a spectator, swaying between past and present, retracing the events that unfolded prior to her death.
But there are gaps in her memory, fractured pieces Ellie is desperate to re-assemble. There’s her mother, a songbird who wanted to break free from her oppressive cage. The boy made of brushstrokes and goofy smiles who brought color into a gray world. Her brooding father, with his sad puppy eyes and clenched fists. And Ellie’s determined to find out why a piece of her was left behind.
.ugb-e60c82e .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-e60c82e .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-e60c82e .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-e60c82e .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-e60c82e .ugb-img{width:324px;height:auto !important}}Dead Girl Walking
The beautiful young woman on the stretcher could be on her honeymoon. Chestnut hair tumbles around a pretty face, rose petals tangled in the loose strands. But the bandage around her forehead tells a different tale, as Emergency Room Nurse Jessie Novak desperately battles to keep her alive. Jessie’s thoughts are racing-who shot this beautiful young woman and more importantly, why?
Ann Hart’s life hangs by a thread, and Jessie cannot bear to see this beautiful young woman die without justice being done. Being a nurse is like hunting for clues, and Jessie is sure she can find the person who hurt Ann. She also asks her friend Detective Sam Dallas for help digging into Ann’s past. But then Jessie receives a gift that sends shivers up her spine: a huge bouquet of blood-red roses, just like the ones in Ann’s hair…
.ugb-58e22ed .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-58e22ed .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-58e22ed .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-58e22ed .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-58e22ed .ugb-img{width:340px;height:auto !important}}Secrets of Redemption
None of this was supposed to happen.
It all started so innocently. Charlie only stopped in Redemption, Wisconsin, because she was lost.
She never meant to stay.
She never meant to fall in love.
She never meant to bring the danger she was running from into this wholesome midwestern town.
Except Redemption had some secrets of its own … and they were even more deadly than what she was trying to escape.
.ugb-0783946 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-0783946 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-0783946 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-0783946 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-0783946 .ugb-img{width:324px;height:auto !important}}Swallow the Rainbow
The worst part about the tornado isn’t the car on Savannah Young’s roof. It’s not her missing mom or her missing cat. It’s not the news that the power might not be restored for ten days or the fact that she’s stranded with the neighbors.
She’s out of pain pills. And she doesn’t have any way to reach Toby to get more.
And when withdrawal sets in, she’s going to get very, very sick.
As residents in Savannah’s subdivision come together in the aftermath of this historic severe weather event, Savannah wrestles with her opioid addiction, her grief for surviving the car crash that killed her brother, and her guilt for being The One Who Survived—twice.
.ugb-4716c50 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-4716c50 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-4716c50 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-4716c50 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-4716c50 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Unexpected Opportunity
Would you be willing to chance dying to come out of a coma? Would you do the same if it was your son’s life?
Mary and Senator Tad Williams pushed their son Justin to go on a date that went horribly wrong.
Now, they try to figure out a way to help their son out of a coma. At almost $5,000 a day for ICU expenses, their insurance options are running out.
Amber, Nick, and Jacob built a new immersive game system for the future. The only problem is, at $800 a day, no one can afford it.
Dr. Dubois wrote a paper about how you might help a person out of a coma, but it was crushed under the might of the medical lobbyists on Capitol Hill.
Now, the three groups need each other to save a life, fight the establishment, and help a young man in need.
The only challenge is, Justin can die in real life if he dies in the game.
.ugb-5e3e595 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-5e3e595 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-5e3e595 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-5e3e595 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-5e3e595 .ugb-img{width:328px;height:auto !important}}Remedy
It’s a mystery – why is Cara so sick? It feels like she’s been sick all her life . . . but she and her mom have never stayed in one place long enough for doctors to really understand what’s happening to her. Now, at fourteen, Cara is tired of being tired, and sick of being sick. She’s trying to get better . . . but it’s only getting worse.
Unable to afford the care she needs, Cara’s mom starts a Caring for Cara campaign online. The money starts pouring in. But something’s not right to Cara. And the harder she looks, the less she understands.
.ugb-b4e9bf6 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-b4e9bf6 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-b4e9bf6 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-b4e9bf6 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-b4e9bf6 .ugb-img{width:312px;height:auto !important}}Bridging the Gap
Eric Walters isn’t exactly living his best life. He works in the IT department of a hospital, where he begrudgingly interacts with his coworkers while counting the minutes until his next break. He’s stuck in a rut and oblivious to nearly everything around him, which frustrates no one more than his best friend, Sara.
Eric’s routine is interrupted by a mysterious, silent little boy, triggering a chain of events that force Eric out of his bubble. He soon realizes nothing is as he believed: not his job, not his boss, and certainly not his relationship with Sara. When Sara draws away from him, he worries his realization has come too late and struggles to find a way to make things right.
As he pieces together his plan for redemption, he learns Sara is in the path of a devastating tragedy that could take her away from him forever.
.ugb-47fd5c9 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-47fd5c9 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-47fd5c9 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-47fd5c9 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-47fd5c9 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}The Rage Colony
Behind the protective walls of the Colony…
Layla grows restless. The Colony is filled with secrets, and James keeps her in the dark. So when a woman from her youth opens a crack into her past, Layla discovers everything she believed about the Colony has been a lie—even the baby she carries.
Burdened with an unnerving pregnancy and tormented by terrifying hallucinations and blackouts, she sets out to uncover the unspeakable truths inside the Colony’s walls.
.ugb-97c7499 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-97c7499 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-97c7499 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-97c7499 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-97c7499 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}A Shot at Normal
Dr. Villapando told me to get a good attorney. He wasn’t serious. But I am. I’m going to sue my parents.
Juniper Jade’s parents are hippies. They didn’t attend the first Woodstock, but they were there for the second one. The Jade family lives an all-organic homeschool lifestyle that means no plastics, no cell phones, and no vaccines. It isn’t exactly normal, but it’s the only thing Juniper has ever known. She doesn’t agree with her parents on everything, but she knows that to be in this family, you’ve got to stick to the rules. That is, until the unthinkable happens.
Juniper contracts the measles and unknowingly passes the disease along, with tragic consequences. She is shell-shocked. Juniper knows she is responsible and feels simultaneously helpless and furious at her parents, and herself.
Now, with the help of Nico, the boy who works at the library and loves movies and may just be more than a friend, Juniper comes to a decision: she is going to get vaccinated. Her parents refuse so Juniper arms herself with a lawyer and prepares for battle. But is waging war for her autonomy worth losing her family? How much is Juniper willing to risk for a shot at normal?
.ugb-1caaec5 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-1caaec5 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-1caaec5 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-1caaec5 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-1caaec5 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Kona
As a childhood cancer survivor, Melanie has seen a few good years with no evidence of disease, but in the back of her mind, she is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Being a normal teen is what she has always wanted, so when she’s offered a dream job at the Oasis Aquarium, she jumps at the chance.
No one has told Melanie about the gorgeous Chase MaKenzie she is paired to be working with, nor the new best friend she’ll find in the watery depths. Melanie’s world is about to change forever.
.ugb-481dd49 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-481dd49 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-481dd49 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-481dd49 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-481dd49 .ugb-img{width:338px;height:auto !important}}The No Dill Zone
A murder right before election day might decide the vote!
A vacancy on the Spicetown City Council sends Mayor Cora Mae Bingham scrambling to control the squabbles between two grown men sliding into election day in fisticuffs, one trying to disqualify the other.
Amidst the election day antics, Cora Mae helps mitigate merchants’ concerns, soothe homeowner association hostilities, welcome new residents to Spicetown, and solve a murder that could create another City Hall vacancy.
.ugb-7651ed6 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:24px !important}.ugb-7651ed6 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-7651ed6 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-7651ed6 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:24px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-7651ed6 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Women of a Certain Rage
After her son leaves for college, Leah Glaser is left at loose ends. Then her BFF’s son is accused of murdering a resident at the nursing home where she works.
She knows he’s innocent and jumps in to protect him. She’ll need everything she learned as a mom – and the help of her friends – to clear his name and protect the vulnerable seniors in her care. As she gets closer to the answers, will one of the innocents she must protect be herself?
It’s a mistake to underestimate the power of a mother. It’s a huge mistake to underestimate a quartet of them.
November 17, 2020
Humour in a police procedural? Read A Bad Day for Sunshine
I published a blog last week on Books with Racially Diverse Main Characters. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t seen it yet!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
It isn’t often that you come across a police procedural infused with humour. Not just occasional, subtle humour, but full of laugh-out-loud tongue in cheek humour.
I have really been enjoying Darynda Jone’s A Bad Day for Sunshine. Sunshine is the name of the police chief in this small town police procedural featuring the kidnapping of a teenager who is friends with her own daughter.
If you’ve seen Gilmore Girls and enjoyed the verbal repartee between the mother and daughter in that show, you will love A Bad Day for Sunshine. Lightning quick jokes, tones of sarcasm, and a voice similar to that of Stephanie Plum in Janet Evanovich’s books.
Just a warning for sensitive readers that it does have some colourful language in it and one particularly graphic romantic scene.
I am getting close to the end and I want to finish it to find out who the kidnapper is and how the kidnapping was planned and executed—oh, and the mystery in Sunshine’s past—but I also don’t want to get to the end because I have enjoyed it so much.
Auri shook her head, tsking as she headed for the side door. “I swear, Mom. You’d lose your head if that nice Dr. Frankenstein hadn’t bolted it onto your body.”
Darynda Jones, A Bad Day for Sunshine
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Sheriff Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o’ joe more than half full when the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national attention for a kidnapper on the loose.
Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, strong cups of coffee—and, now, a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff—thanks to her adorably meddlesome parents who nominated her—and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of this is reminding Sunshine why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that the trouble at her daughter’s new school, plus and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and, well, the forecast looks anything but sunny.
But even clouds have their silver linings. This one’s got Levi, Sunshine’s sexy, almost-old-flame, and a fiery-hot US Marshal. With temperatures rising everywhere she turns, Del Sol’s normally cool-minded sheriff is finding herself knee-deep in drama and danger. Can Sunshine face the call of duty—and find the kidnapper who’s terrorizing her beloved hometown—without falling head over high heels in love…or worse?
November 12, 2020
Auntie Clem’s Bakery 1-12
Bundle/Collection, Coming Soon!
Series: Auntie Clem's Bakery
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Author DirectSample
eBook Price: $29.99 ($60 value!) Clicking the Author Direct button allows you to purchase directly from the author using your PayPal account (blue button) or a credit card (grey button)
Download format options are Kindle or ePub (iBooks, Nook, etc.) format
These cozy mysteries by P.D. Workman have more twists and turns than a woodland path! They are well-plotted and the characters are believable. These three books are the beginning of a great series.
Sandy, Amazon reader
+ About Auntie Clem's Bakery 1-12
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Save $30 by getting 12 books bundled!
Two bonus short stories!
Erin Price is a baker, not a sleuth. It’s really not her fault that mysteries keep landing in her lap while she’s trying to run Auntie Clem’s Bakery and make a living from baking gluten-free and specialty goods.
Sink your teeth into these sweet mysteries!
This ebook includes books 1-12 in this series:
1. Gluten-Free Murder
2. Dairy-Free Death
3. Allergen-Free Assignation
4. Stirring Up Murder
5. Brewing Death
6. Coup de Glace
7. Sour Cherry Turnover
8. Apple-achian Treasure
9. Vegan Baked Alaska
10. Muffins Masks Murder
11. Tai Chi and Chai Tea
12. Santa Shortbread
Bonus: You also get two holiday shorts, Witch-Free Halloween and Dog-Free Dinner
Goodreads reviews
Reviews from Goodreads.com
+ Praise for the Series
—This lady knows how to write!! I read this during hurricane Irma on my Kindle so I didn’t care the power was out!
—It was very good! But made me hungry!
—Oh my goodness I loved it! The murder mystery was so awesome… I couldn’t put this book down. Props to you again for another amazing read!
—I really enjoyed this book … Would make a great Hallmark movie.
—This very enjoyable story with uncomplicated characters and a sweet and easy storyline was well done.
+ Book Club Resources
Gluten-Free Pinterest Board
Disease and Disorder Pinterest Board
Food families reference
+ Praise for P.D. Workman
“Every single one of [P.D. Workman’s] books has spoken to me in ways no one or almost anything else has. And I have found strength in the books I’ve read.”
“The way that P.D. Workman writes just flows amazingly and allows the reader to get really invested in a book.”
“This is one author I certainly will be looking out for, I can’t recommend her enough.”
“I’ll read anything by P. D. Workman that I can get my hands on.”
“Every book by PD Workman that I’ve read has been a gripping one, however different the genres are, going from lighter mysteries to really dark ones… this is one of my favourite, most dependable authors.”
“P.D. Workman is an incredibly versatile writer. No matter which of her books I read I am drawn into a great story and honestly, I don’t think I’ve followed another author that could go from cozy mystery to YA to a PI series dealing with mental health issues. Really enjoy her books!”
+ Gluten-Free Murder on my Blog
About P. D. Workman
P.D. (Pamela) Workman writes riveting mystery/suspense and young adult books dealing with mental illness, addiction, abuse, and other real-life issues. For as long as she can remember, the blank page has held an incredible allure and from a very young age she was trying to write her own books.
Workman wrote her first complete novel at the age of twelve and continued to write as a hobby for many years. She started publishing in 2013. She has won several literary awards from Library Services for Youth in Custody for her young adult fiction. She made the USA Today Bestseller list in 2019. She currently has over 50 published titles and can be found at pdworkman.com.
Born and raised in Alberta, Workman has been married for over 25 years and has one son.
