#Excerpt: THE SOUND OF RUNNING HORSES by Donna Ball

 <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.yiv6954206111msonormal, li.yiv6954206111msonormal, div.yiv6954206111msonormal {mso-style-name:yiv6954206111msonormal; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -</style><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Excerpt:</span></b></div><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Aggie dropped the phone into her pocket and shouted,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>“Flash!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While she was on the phone Jack had cast off and started the engine, but he hadn’t yet moved away from the dock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Aggie dived for the rope just as Flash reached the rail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>She stripped the rope off the cleat and tossed it to Flash, who made one circuit around the rail support before leaping onto the dock with the end of the rope in his mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The boat began to edge away from the dock, taking up the slack in the rope, as Aggie snatched the rope from Flash and started to wind it around the cleat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>She was tying the knot when she heard the gear lock in and felt a strong tug that almost pulled her off balance and into the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Panic leapt to her throat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>She finished tying the knot, praying it would hold, and shouted, “Jack Saunders, cut your engines!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Cut your engines and disembark!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>That’s an order!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The line stretched taut but the knot held. The boat rocked in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Saunders called back, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You can’t give orders to a captain on his own boat!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Aggie pulled her gun and got down on one knee in a shooter’s stance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>“Cut your engines this minute or I swear I’ll fill this boat with so many holes she’ll never float again!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>Do it now!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The boat railing began to creak as it strained against the pull of the engines and the opposing pull of the rope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Aggie held her breath, but she also held her aim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">    </span>In a moment the engines throttled down. “Return to dock!” she shouted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>“Disembark with your hands above your head!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flash jumped on board as soon as the boat was close enough, and kept Saunders in the pine-scented wheelhouse until Aggie had securely tied off again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>He had done take-downs before, but never on water and never, he had to admit, one that was this much fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Captain Jack snarled at him but Flash had bigger teeth, and after he demonstrated as much the captain gave him no more trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Saunders climbed sullenly onto the dock and raised his hands in the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Flash kept a wary eye on him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>After all, people, as he well knew, were unpredictable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Aggie holstered her gun and snatched Jack’s hands behind his back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>She was breathing so hard she was practically wheezing, and she was soaked in sweat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>“You are under arrest,” she said, with difficulty, “for evading a police officer, interfering with an investigation, withholding evidence, and disobeying an order from an officer of the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Damn it,” she said angrily as she snapped the cuffs closed, “I told you not to make me do this the hard way.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWEqIhPtqK..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWEqIhPtqK..." width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">BLURB:</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Still recovering from the traumatic events of the past year, newlyweds Aggie Malone, police chief of Dogleg Island, and Deputy Sheriff Ryan Grady are looking forward to a carefree day of picnics, pirates and buried treasure with their precocious—and uncannily perceptive-- border collie, Flash. But when Flash discovers a body in a shallow grave on the deserted Wild Horse Island Nature Preserve, a tangled knot of conspiracy, murder and deception begins to unfold, revealing that the things that are buried are often the most dangerous and the only pirates you have to fear are the ones that live next door. <br /><br />Fifteen hundred miles away, an ex-con and a fifteen year old girl embark upon a crime spree that will earn them the nicknames “Bonnie and Clyde”. As they make their way inexorably south, Aggie, Grady and Flash are thrust into the middle of a murder investigation that leads to the arrest of one of their neighbors and the attempted suicide of another. When a search of the dead girl’s belongings reveals a priceless emerald bracelet and two of the islands most popular residents go missing, the puzzle becomes even more complicated. Grady and Aggie struggle to put all the pieces into place while Flash, ever obsessed with understanding the human condition, wrestles with a more painful dilemma: how do you tell the good guys from the bad guys when they are so often the same person?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Amazon buy link here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GOLP4FE&... style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ihYD-QDWW..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ihYD-QDWW..." width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Donna Ball is the author of over a hundred novels under several different pseudonyms in a variety of genres that include romance, mystery, suspense, paranormal, western adventure, historical and women’s fiction. Recent popular series include the Ladybug Farm series by Berkley Books and the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery series. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Donna is an avid dog lover and her dogs have won numerous titles for agility, obedience and canine musical freestyle. She divides her time between the Blue Ridge mountains<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>and the east coast of Florida, where she lives with a variety of four-footed companions. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can contact her at <a href="http://www.donnaball.net/">ht... </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Sound of Running Horses, </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Book Two in the Dogleg Island Mystery series, is available July 15 2016 in paperback, and for Kindle and Nook. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="yiv6954206111msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning. 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