Crescent City Carnage: An Alex Boyd Thriller
Crescent City Carnage by Mel Harrison
Book and Author Info + An Excerpt!
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Crescent City Carnage
“Crescent City Carnage” (October 22, 2024) by Mel Harrison, takes special agent Alex Boyd and his wife Rachel Smith on another thrilling hunt after only a day into their long-awaited vacation to New Orleans. When the couple goes to join their good friend and colleague, Simone Ardoin, they discover she was brutally murdered. Simone’s well-connected parents, longtime residents of New Orleans, are devastated by the tragedy and implore both Alex and Rachel to work with the New Orleans police to find her killer.
The city is infamous for its laissez-faire attitude, as well as its corruption. Nevertheless, Alex must work with the city’s cops to break the case. He draws immense support from the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Office in New Orleans. Identifying the killer is one thing, but locating him proves more complicated than anticipated. Is the killer just lucky? Or does he have an inside source who is helping him stay one step ahead of the cops?
The more Alex and Rachel delve deeply into the case, the more they discover that New Orleans is a unique city full of its own traditions, family ties, and way of life. But the clock is ticking. They need to capture the killer before he disappears forever.
To purchase Crescent City Carnage, click on the following link: Amazon.
Read an excerpt of Crescent City Carnage:
Crescent City Carnage
Death arrives in many ways. Sometimes, it’s slow and agonizing. Other times, it’s violent and without warning, a shock to the senses, inflicting painful sorrow upon family . . . and friends.
All too familiar with the latter, Alex Boyd and Rachel Smith hadn’t expected it to happen again, so soon. Certain losses were sad. Other losses called for revenge. This was one of those times. Rachel bent over to tie her shoe, showing an impressive length of leg from behind; her tiny shorts topped an extension of shapely thighs that ran down to curved, well-muscled calves sharply honed from years of running.
Alex was muscular, tall, ruggedly handsome, a compliment to Rachel. He rocked back and forth slightly, warming his muscles while waiting for her. Well-matched, they made a striking pair.
The warm August sun crept above the city skyline a little before 6:30 a.m. and cast a pale glow over the French Quarter, slow to waken; it brought the possibility of a new day of excitement and exploration. Street-cleaning vehicles scattered sprays of soapy water from swirling brushes toward the concrete, wiping accumulated detritus from the previous evening. Shopkeepers began coming out using garden hoses to wash away debris from sidewalks in front of their establishments.
More than a decade after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was still a city on the mend, a city where lifelong residents and business owners still took pride living there. Most were determined to maintain the culture, hospitality, and vitality of their beloved city.
Yet, a dark, criminal element also inhabited the city, one that didn’t give a damn about anyone’s welfare, including tourists. Such easy targets to rob, perhaps even kill.
**Excerpt from Crescent City Carnage by Mel Harrison. Copyright 2024 by Mel Harrison. Reproduced with permission from Mel Harrison. All rights reserved.
Mel Harrison — Author of Crescent City Carnage
After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in Economics, Mel Harrison joined the US Department of State Foreign Service, spending the majority of his career in the Diplomatic Security Service.
Over the next 28 years, he served in American embassies as either a Special Agent/Regional Security officer or Economic Officer in Saigon, Quito, Rome, London (twice), Islamabad, and Seoul. While in Islamabad, as the Senior Regional Security Officer, he won both the State Department Award for Valor, and its worldwide Regional Security Officer of the Year Award.
Following government retirement, Mel spent ten years in corporate security and consulting work with assignments often taking him throughout Latin America and the Middle East. Mel met his wife, Irene, while both served in Quito. Irene, a Foreign Service Management Specialist, and Mel married in Rome, beginning their lifelong love of travel and all things Italian. They now reside in Florida.
To learn more about Mel, click on either of the following links: Facebook & Goodreads.
Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell
Header image from Pixabay
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