My #MFRWHooks for The Mad Monk’s Treasure - #Romance and #Suspense in New Mexico

Last week I shared part of the opening chapter of The Mad Monk’s Treasure, a romantic adventure. Here’s the end of chapter 1:
 Erin wheeled the bike around the front of her house and mounted. At the corner, she paused and looked both ways. The long frontage road was dangerously narrow, with a cement wall on one side and a ditch on the other. Fortunately, traffic was normally light, and at this time of day the road lay empty. Erin pushed off, still grinning from her find. She rode on the right side, by the ditch, instead of facing traffic, because it was just too frightening to ride alongside the wall when a car passed.
 She’d gone a block when she heard the hum of a car engine as it pulled out from a side street behind her. She rode along the very edge of the pavement, even though the car would have plenty of room to pass her without oncoming traffic.
 Erin glanced over her shoulder. The black SUV 20 feet behind her hadn’t bothered to pull out into the road at all. Jerk. When would drivers learn to share the road with bicyclists? Erin pulled onto the two-foot wide gravel strip between the pavement and the ditch. She couldn’t stop without risking a skid, but she slowed so the SUV could pass.
 The engine roared. Erin glanced back again.
 Black metal bore down on her. Her heart lurched and the bike wobbled. This guy was crazy! She whipped her gaze forward, rose up in the seat, and pumped the pedals with all her power, skimming along inches from the ditch. He was just trying to scare her. She’d get his license plate and—
 She felt the bumper hit her back tire. The bike seemed to leap into the air, and she went flying. The dried mud and weeds of the ditch seemed to rise up to meet her.
 She didn’t even have time to scream.
The Mad Monk’s Treasure , a Romantic Adventure by Kris Bock:
The lost Victorio Peak treasure is the stuff of legends – a heretic Spanish priest’s gold mine, made richer by the spoils of bandits and an Apache raider. When Erin, a quiet history professor, uncovers a clue that may pinpoint the lost treasure cave, she prepares for adventure. But when a hit and run driver nearly kills her, she realizes she’s not the only one after the treasure. And is Drew, the handsome helicopter pilot who found her bleeding in a ditch, really a hero, or one of the enemy?
Erin isn’t sure she can trust Drew with her heart, but she’ll need his help to track down the treasure. She heads into the New Mexico wilderness with her brainy best friend Camie and a feisty orange cat. The wilderness holds its own dangers, from wild animals to sudden storms. Plus, the sinister men hunting Erin are determined to follow her all the way to the treasure, no matter where the twisted trail leads. Erin won’t give up an important historical find without a fight, but is she ready to risk her life – and her heart?
“The story has it all - action, romance, danger, intrigue, lost treasure, not to mention a sizzling relationship....”
“Great balance of history, romance, and adventure. Smart romance with an ‘Indiana Jones’ feel. Well-written with an attention to detail that allowed me to picture exactly in my head how a scene looked and played out.”
Genre: Romantic SuspenseBook heat level (based on movie ratings): PG13

Kris Bock writes romantic suspense novels set in dramatic Southwestern landscapes. Whispers in the Dark brings a gothic drama to an archaeology dig at ancient Southwest ruins. In What We Found, a young woman’s life swiftly changes when she finds a murder victim in the woods. In Counterfeits, an artist heads back to the children’s art camp she once knew well – but danger awaits.
The Mad Monk’s Treasure follows the hunt for a legendary treasure in the New Mexico desert. In The Dead Man’s Treasure, estranged relatives must follow a series of complex clues in a competition to locate a buried treasure. In The Skeleton Canyon Treasure, reader favorites Camie and Tiger the cat help a mysterious man track down his missing uncle. Each book stands alone, with no cliffhangers.

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