Showing posts with label Cheever. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheever. Show all posts

Friday, September 23, 2022

Deadly Traditions - A Guest Post, Review, & Giveaway

I'm happy to allow MayBell Ferth to take over Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find MayBell in the pages of "Killing the Carol" by Sam Cheever. This is just one of the stories found in DEADLY TRADITIONS: A COZY MYSTERY CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY.

My name is MayBell Ferth, and the cute little ball of fluff and attitude sitting on my lap is Shakespeare… Shakes for short. Shakes is a Pomeranian, a.k.a. the Pomeranian Devil. He’s also my best friend and my accomplice in crime-fighting and other things.

I come from a family of cops. My dad, the Lieutenant, is a fearsome creature with a soft spot for Shakes that he tries to hide. My brother Argh is a detective. Argh got his nickname as a kid when he had to wear an eyepatch due to reoccurring eye infections. Argh and I have an older brother and sister who are also cops.

I’m pretty sure that the very first Ferth to step off a ship onto terra firma in the New World was a cop of some sort. The Ferths have worn the impetus for protecting and serving as a badge of honor through countless generations.

Until me.

I’m not a cop. And, I’ll bet you an entire box of caramel-filled chocolates that you’ve never heard of my job before.

I started out as a Community Theatre actor. I gave that gig up because I couldn’t take the diva drama. I know, irony. But in my current career I’m a Professional Mourner. Yep, that’s a real thing. I actually get paid to cry at funerals and play whatever role the client wishes me to play. Bereaved girlfriend, gloating college rival, conniving ex-partner. I’ve played them all.

I love my job, even though it’s gotten me into a few “situations” since I started. One time, I was targeted by a killer while playing a grieving girlfriend and nearly got myself gacked before my PI boyfriend and I managed to stop the murderer.

Another time, an old rival of mine was killed and I was blamed for her death. It took some tricky maneuvering casket-side to suss that one out.

But the situation I’m currently in isn’t due to my Professional Mourning job. I signed up for Caroling in the Square, an event my theatre group holds every year around the holidays to entertain and promote our productions. From my perspective, there was only one way that was going to end.

Badly. Very badly.

Full disclosure, my singing voice sounds like a cross between a preschool brass band and cats mating in an alley. I didn’t want to join the event, but I succumbed to pressure from the group. Although I was pretty sure my singing would be the thing that ruined everybody’s Christmas, I hadn’t counted on the corpse in the alley.

Carol Ling wasn’t just the unlucky owner of a terrible name. She’d apparently also done something to annoy a killer. She’d met a terrible end in a stinky, garbage-infused alleyway. Long story short, it would be up to me, my dog, and my PI boyfriend to find her killer.

Admittedly, my police detective brother, Argh, was on the case. But I won’t lie. I plan to stick my nose into his investigation. I just can’t seem to help myself.

I’ll take my licks from my bossy older brother. We’ll all need to work together to figure out who killed the woman named after a fun Christmas activity. With the help of a certain adorable Pom, potential assistance from my monosyllabic dread-headed neighbor who lives in a medically-approved cannabis cloud, and the invaluable expertise of my PI boyfriend, Eddie, I fully intend to catch a killer.

I might not be a cop like the rest of my family, but I’ve got more detective than diva coursing through my veins.

Detective DNA wins out every time.

***

USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes mystery and suspense, creating stories that draw you in and keep you eagerly turning pages. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 100+ books.

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Review


DEADLY TRADITIONS: A COZY MYSTERY CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY

Christmas cookie contests, kidnapped Santas, gingerbread crises, and more await you in the stories of this new Christmas themed anthology. A professional mourner, retired opera singer, and wedding planner are just a few of the careers from which our protagonists hail and locations are just as varied including a retirement community in Minnesota and a yacht on the North Carolina coast.

I really enjoyed the stories, each of which is a quick read, easily finished before bed...or on a lunch break. I wasn't familiar with many of the authors, but I'll definitely be looking some up! Most of the stories seem to be inhabited by characters from full length books in mystery series. Being unfamiliar with the background wasn't confusing and I didn't have a problem being thrown into their world, though some authors made it easier than others. I'm sure readers who follow the series will appreciate these stories even more. 
 
DEADLY TRADITIONS: A COZY MYSTERY CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY is filled with fun, quick reads to get you into the holiday spirit.

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 Deadly Traditions: A Cozy Mystery Christmas Anthology by Justine Maxwell, Gayle Leeson, Estelle Richards, Erin Scoggins, Sage So, Dianne Ascroft, Ellie Ballard, Melicity Pope, Mollie Cox Bryan, and Sam Cheever

About Deadly Traditions

Deadly Traditions: A Cozy Mystery Christmas Anthology
Cozy Mysteries
Grace Abraham Publishing (September 27, 2022)


Have yourself a DEADLY little Christmas.

Celebrate the holidays with mistletoe, mayhem, and murder. Join your favorite authors as they cozy up by the fire with twelve festive short mysteries that feature treasured holiday traditions. Serve up a slice of fatal fruitcake and deck the halls with danger, because the holiday season has never been so much fun.

This original collection is available for a limited time only, so grab your copy today.

Includes: A Pickle in a Pear Tree by Erin Scoggins Mistletoe and Murder by Dianne Ascroft O Deadly Night by Estelle Richards Larceny and Gingerbread Lattes by Justine Maxwell Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas by Gayle Leeson

About the Authors

About Gayle Leeson

Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. Gayle has also written as Amanda Lee. She is currently writing the Kinsey Falls chick-lit/women's fiction series, the Down South Cafe cozy mystery series, and the Ghostly Fashionista cozy mystery series. Her book KILLER WEDDING CAKE won the Bronze Medal in the 20th Anniversary IPPY Awards. Gayle lives in Southwest Virginia with her family and enjoys hearing from readers.

About Mollie Cox Bryan

Mollie Cox Bryan writes cozy mysteries with edge. She's the author of several bestselling mystery series, also writing under the pen name Maggie Blackburn. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman's World. She has also been short-listed for the Virginia Library People's Choice Award. She's also penned a historical fiction: MEMORY OF LIGHT: AN AFTERMATH OF GETTYSBURG. She's the mother of two nearly perfect daughters, each pursuing careers in music.

About Erin Scoggins

USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Scoggins is a long-time Southerner with a fondness for offbeat humor and fresh fried chicken. After fifteen years in marketing with a Fortune 500 company, she traded her MBA for fictional crime scenes and feisty small-town families. She writes fun, flirty mysteries that are celebrations of food, family, and the killer South.

Visit her at www.erinscoggins.com for book news and shenanigans.

About Estelle Richards

Thursday, September 27, 2018

When Old is New - A Guest Post & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Sam Cheever back to the blog today. Sam writes the Yesterday's Mysteries. Yesterday's Tears is the fifth book in the series and will be released tomorrow.


When Old is New

I’m going to tell you a guilty secret…I love HGTV. Shhhhh! Don’t tell anybody. *grin* My favorite show is Fixer Upper because I absolutely love the way Joanna Gaines decorates a home. She uses a pleasing mix of old and new that speaks to my soul.

Antiques and retro pieces mixed with spankin’ new furnishings. I love this mix. It’s like today and yesterday holding hands.

That’s kind of how I decorate my house. Not, of course, with Joanna’s flare. But my taste runs the same. I intersperse shabby chic and well-worn antiques with a new(ish) leather couch and contemporary tables. Am I confused? LOL Maybe. In fact, it’s very likely. But that’s not why I do it.

I truly believe that antiques carry with them an energy from the times they lived through. There’s a special magic infused in their aged cells…a history that makes me want to take them under my wing and treat them with care.

At the same time, I love clean, contemporary lines and modern amenities. And I think it’s okay to meld the two. I think it works. Yin and Yang, happy Feng shui and all that.

This is the thinking that spawned my Yesterday’s Mysteries series. Anna Yesterday’s antiques shop is ground zero for so much from the past. But the shop has its feet firmly planted in the present. Anna and her employee Pratt Davies find and solve mysteries tucked within the antiques, and they use an entertaining mix of spirits from the past to help them. These mysteries might be straight out of the pages of history, but like Yesterday’s Antiques, they also exist in the present.

Yesterday and today holding hands. Maybe smacking each other around a little

Now doesn’t that sound like a recipe for pure entertainment!

xx

Sam

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Yesterday's Tears (Yesterday's Paranormal Mysteries) by Sam Cheever

About the Book


Paranormal Mystery/Women Sleuths  
5th in Series 
Electric Prose Publications (September 28, 2018)  
Print Length - Approximately 200 pages 
It might be a murder from decades ago, but it still has its claws in the present…and someone seems determined to drag Anna into it.
It’s way too soon to be returning to a haunted mansion, and Anna’s favorite cowboy ghost does his best to talk her out of it. But the opportunity to pick from the beautiful antiques left to her in a Crocker resident’s will is just too tempting for Anna and Pratt to pass up. So they’re going in…
They’re prepared to deal with a few cold spots. Maybe the occasional flickering light. But what Anna and the boys weren’t counting on was bumping up against the ghost of Josiah Bumgartner, a contemporary of Joss’ from the 1800s. And when Josiah claims the old woman who lived in the house hid his bones around the place, Anna agrees to help him find them. But something much darker is at work there. And, unfortunately for our happy little gang of antique hunters…Anna seems to have unwittingly stepped right into the middle of it.

About the Author



Let’s face it, nobody really cares that Sam Cheever is a USA Today Bestselling Author. Nobody cares that she’s written a whole ton of fun and snappy books. Let’s face it, the most interesting thing about Sam is the fact that she’s a dogaholic. Yeah, there’s no Dogaholic’s Anonymous chapter that can help her. Believe me, she’s looked. So Sam deals with her problem the best way she knows how. She digs into the mountains of personal experiences (mostly involving dog poo) to write GREAT dog characters.

Oh, and there are some people in her books too. She’s also pretty good at those.
Want to ask Sam about her dogs…erm…books? You can connect with her at one of the following places. Just don’t ask her why she has 15 dogs. Nobody in the whole wide world can answer that.

NEWSLETTER: Join Sam's Monthly newsletter and get a FREE book! You can also keep up with her appearances, enjoy monthly contests, and get previews of her upcoming work! http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html

TEXT NEWS ALERTS: Or if you'd rather not receive a monthly newsletter, you can sign up for text alerts and just receive a brief text when Sam's launching a new release or appearing somewhere fun. Just text SAMNEWS to 781-728-9542 to be added!  

ONLINE HOT SPOTS: To find out more about Sam and her work, please pay her a visit at any one of the following online hot spots: Her blog: http://www.samcheever.com/blog; Twitter: http://twitter.com/samcheever; and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor. She looks forward to chatting with you! She has a technique for scooping poop that she knows you’re just DYING to learn about.  

Author Links:
Newsletter: http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html 
Subscribe to Sam’s newsletter and win a free copy of the fun mystery novella from Sam’s popular Silver Hills Cozy Mysteries Text News Alerts: https://mobile-text-alerts.com/samnews Website: http://www.SamCheever.com  
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/samcheever  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcheever 
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sam-cheever  

Purchase Links: Amazon.com: Amazon.ca: Amazon.uk: Amazon.au: B&N: iBooks: kobo:

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Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Summer Snoops and Cozy Crimes - A Spotlight & Giveaway

As the days get hotter and hotter it will be the perfect time to celebrate the dog days of summer. Today on the blog I'm featuring a compilation that does just that!

 

Summer Snoops and Cozy Crimes: 

Cozy Mysteries for the Dog Days of Summer

By Judith Lucci, Cindy Bell, Colleen Mooney, Amy Vansant, Colleen Helme, Kim Hunt Harris, Anna Celeste Burke, Ava Mallory, Sandi Scott, Susan Boles, Sam Cheever & Anne R. Tan

About the Books

Summer Snoops and Cozy Crimes: Cozy Mysteries for the Dog Days of Summer 
 Genre: Cozy Mystery  
Release Date: July 24th, 2018 Publisher: Bluestone Valley Publishing

WSJ Bestselling Author Judith Lucci - Gawd Almighty & the Corn
WSJ Bestselling Author Cindy Bell - Murder at Pawprint Creek
WSJ Bestselling Author Colleen Mooney -Dog Gone and Dead
USA Today and WSJ Bestselling Author Amy Vansant - Summer Teeth
WSJ Bestselling Author Colleen Helme - A Midsummer Night's Murder
WSJ Bestselling Author Kim Hunt Harris - The Murder of Bandera Bandito
USA Today Bestselling Author Anna Celeste Burke - A Body on Fitzgerald's Bluff
Ava Mallory - A Dream Stray-Cation
Sandi Scott - Croquembouche Murder
Susan Boles - Death on the Beach
USA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever - Toxic Tech
Anne R. Tan - Just Lost and Found

Bonus recipes from the authors are included!

Website - http://www.summersnoops.com/  
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/summersnoopsandcozycrimes/  

Purchase and GoodReads Links - 
Apple: http://smarturl.it/SummerSnoopsApple  
Kobo: http://smarturl.it/SummerSnoopsKobo  
Nook: http://smarturl.it/SummerSnoopsNook

Purchase Link - Amazon

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About the Authors

Judith Lucci

Dr. Judith Lucci is a Wall Street Journal and best-selling Amazon. She is an award-winning author of the Alexandra Destephano Medical Thriller and the Michaela McPherson "Two Sleuth's and a Dog" Crime fiction series. Her newest series, Artzy Chicks, releases next month and features a group of , eccentric, talented but zany artists in their Art Gallery at a Mountain Resort.
In 2017, 'Viral Intent' (Book 3) Alexandra Destephano Series) was awarded a Gold Medal by Readers' Favorites for 'Best Political Thriller'. as was her crime thriller 'The Case of Dr. Dude' (Michaela McPherson #1) for a Gold Medal for 'Best Amateur Sleuth for 2017. 'The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year' won an additional gold medal for 'Best Holiday Read' of 2017.
Her favorite things are reading, writing art and animals. In her spare time she teaches painting, loves up on animals and raises money for needy causes. Judith lives with her 4 dog family in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She loves to connect with her readers and is available at judithlucciwrites@gmail.com. Check our her website at judithlucci.com. and sign-up for a free copy of Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center.

Cindy Bell

Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Cindy Bell, has always loved reading, but it is only recently that she has discovered her passion for writing romantic cozy mysteries. When she is not reading or writing she loves baking (and eating) sweet treats or walking along the beach with her energetic cocker spaniel, thinking of the next adventure her characters can embark on. Cindy is the author of the Chocolate Centered, Donut Truck, Dune House, Sage Gardens, Nuts about Nuts, Bekki the Beautician, Wendy the Wedding Planner, Heavenly Highland Inn and the Macaron Patisserie Cozy Mystery Series.

Colleen Mooney

Colleen Mooney was born and raised in New Orleans along with everyone else in her family. She is a Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author and writes a cozy mystery series set in New Orleans called The New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles and the fourth book, Death By Rum Balls was released in December 2017.
Since January 2017 Colleen organized a Sisters In Crime chapter in New Orleans, has been elected President and has a planned a Mystery Writers’ Conference for June. She is currently working on her 5th book in the Brandy Alexander series.
In New Orleans, she’s been a member and active in many Mardi Gras Krewes, Super Krewes, and organizations. Colleen says she has never met a parade she didn’t like.
She’s an ardent animal lover and the Director for a breed rescue, Schnauzer Rescue of Louisiana for the last fifteen years. She has rescued and placed over 350 abandoned or surrendered Schnauzers. She loves to write and writes about what she loves. Colleen says, “New Orleans is where it all happens for me.”

Amy Vansant

Amy Vansant

Amy Vansant is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author specializing in fun, comedic reads about accident prone, easily distracted women with questionable taste in men. So, autobiographies, mostly. Ha! But seriously: She writes happy romantic comedies, mysteries, and urban fantasies. Amy is the former East Coast Editor of SURFER Magazine but the urge to drive up and down the coast interviewing surfers has long since left her. She's a dog-lover who works at home with her goofy husband and loves interacting with fans, so stop by her blog or Twitter and say hi!

Colleen Helme

Colleen Helme is the author of the bestselling Shelby Nichols Adventure Series, a wildly entertaining and highly humorous series about Shelby Nichols, a woman with the ability to read minds. When asked if reading minds is something Colleen wishes she could do she says, "No way! It gets Shelby into so much trouble that I would never want that ability." Known for her laugh since she was a kid, Colleen has always tried to find the humor in every situation and continues to enjoy writing about Shelby's adventures. Besides writing, she loves reading, biking, hiking, and playing board and card games with family and friends. She loves to connect with readers and admits that fans of the series keep her writing.

Kim Hunt Harris

Kim knew she wanted to be a writer before she even knew how to write. When her parents read bedtime stories to her, she knew she wanted to be a part of the story world. She started out writing children’s stories, and her stories grew as she did. She discovered a gift for humor and a love for making people laugh with her tales, and the Trailer Park Princess series was born.
Kim loves to not only make her readers laugh and entertain them with a good mystery, but also to examine the issues the everyday people face…well, every day. Issues like faith and forgiveness, perseverance and tolerance. Set in Lubbock, Texas, the fun books feature a cast of quirky characters, outrageous situations, a drama queen of a dog, and from time to time, a tear or two.
Kim lives with her husband of more than thirty years and two teenage kids in Texas.

Anna Celeste Burke

Anna Celeste Burke is an award-winning, USA Today Bestselling Author!
Welcome! Join me to get a free eBook--just copy & paste the link: http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com
Life is an extravaganza! figuring out how to hang tough and make the most of the wild ride is the challenge.
On my way to Oahu to join the rock musician and high school drop-out I had met in San Diego and married in Tijuana, I was nabbed by the police as a runaway. When the police let me go and the rock band broke up, my husband and I had to find another way to survive. Our next stop: Disney World where we trained to be chefs, courtesy of the Walt Disney World University. A GED for my husband and many more years of education landed us in academia at The Ohio State University. Retired now from my role as a professor of social work and behavioral science, I have picked up a long-time interest in writing fiction. I'm still married to the same sweet guy and live with him in the Palm Springs area. In addition to reading and writing fiction, I enjoy painting, hiking, hanging out with my handsome husband and tending to my Siamese kitties.
An award-winning and bestselling author I enjoy snooping into life's mysteries with fun, fiction, & food—California style! My books include the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series set in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, the Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery series set on California’s Central Coast, and The Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery series set in Orange County, California--the OC. Coming soon: The Misadventures of Betsy Stark also set here in the Coachella Valley. Find out more at http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com.

AVA MALLORY

AVA MALLORY has been a grade school teacher, a psychiatric technician, a dementia unit nurse manager, and a Hospice nurse. She has embarrassed herself in front of handsome celebrities, won vocal contests much to the chagrin of her children, survived a major earthquake, and nearly drowned when she mistakenly thought a YMCA lifeguard asked her to dive into the deep end on her first day of swim lessons. She and her eternally annoyed children share their home with a massive collection of books and a never-ending supply of new book ideas.

Sandi Scott

Sandi Scott is a cozy mystery reader who finally found the courage to write the stories in her head and share them with others. She fell in love with mystery books when she first started reading Agatha Christie eons ago, although her favorite female sleuth will always be Harriet the Spy. She loves dogs, her family, her readers, and sweet treats -- not necessarily in that order.
  __________________________________________________________________________________________

Susan Boles

Susan Boles is the award-winning author of the Lily Gayle Lambert Mystery Series and also writes romantic suspense in the Brotherhood Protectors series. A lifelong long love of all things mysterious led Susan to write cozy mysteries. Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden were the first to show her that girls can be crime solvers. Agatha Christie showed her that even small towns have big secrets. And Phryne Fisher showed her lady detectives can be outrageously individual. She lives in Mississippi with her rescue mini dachshund, Lucy, and her rescue cat of no particular breed, Zimba. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  

Sam Cheever

USA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes mystery and suspense, creating stories that draw you in and keep you eagerly turning pages. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books.

   

Anne R. Tan

Anne R. Tan fell in love with storytelling in elementary school, but decided to study engineering so she could get a “real job.” Her day job is her vacation from home and she moonlights as a writer to keep the voices inside her head under control. She is a toddler wrangler and a part-time short-order cook for her family. She is married to her version of Bob Vila who believes everything needs to be fixed, even if it’s already working. The koi fish in her pond are the only sane members of her household.


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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Revealing Nicola - Book Blast

Revealing Nicola

by Sam Cheever

February 21, 2017 Book Blast



Synopsis:

She has to overcome a lifetime of secrets…the shock of discovery.

He must protect a treasure that has turned passion to hate… reason to incoherence.
Poisoned by danger, intrigue, lust, and greed…their very survival is in the balance.
Can they endure the conspiracy and find love? And if they do…will it be enough?

Book Details:

Genre:Romantic Suspense, Thriller
Published by: Electric Prose Publications
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Number of Pages: 183
ISBN: 978-1-63587-971-1
Series: La Fortuna DeVitis #1
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | iTunes  | Goodreads 

Read an excerpt:

A coughing sound engaged Franco’s training and he had her on the ground beneath him before the second shot was fired.
The roast chicken exploded, sending shredded meat across the table and raining over them.
Nici’s eyes were wide with fear. “What?”
“Stay down. Don’t move.”
He crawled off her, reaching for his piece as he positioned himself between the car and the table. From the trajectory of the shots, Franco figured the shooter had gone high, probably sitting in a tree to the south of their position. If Nic stayed down on the ground between the table and the Jeep she should be out of his range. But he had no intention of leaving her there.
He needed to get her into the car and out of that park as fast as he could.
Another shot sighed past, hitting the side of the car. Behind him, Nic yelped and he was afraid she’d been hit. “You all right?”
“Other than peeing myself? I’m just dandy. You need to get down, Franco. You’re going to get shot.”
He couldn’t help smiling as his gaze slid slowly along the perimeter. “I’m the bodyguard, remember? I’m the one who’s supposed to get shot.”
“Don’t even joke about that.”
There! A dark form shifted between the branches of a tree, seventy-five yards away. Franco dived to the ground as three rounds peppered the table, spewing food in a messy arc around them. “Damn! This guy’s good.”
“Well yeah, I can see he’s really pissed off at that potato salad.”
Franco barked out a laugh. “Keep it down back there. I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Well can you hurry? I really do have to pee and I’m thinking you don’t want me to squat right here.”
The words were light but her voice quavered with fear. He nodded. “You’re right. Let’s quit screwing around with these jerks. When I say ‘go’, I want you to roll over to the car and slide underneath it. Move as quickly as you can to the other side and climb in. Keep your head down.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“Okay.”
Franco lifted his head so he could see the guy in the tree. He hadn’t moved. He scanned the roads around the park and saw they were empty. Then he checked his magazine and found it half full. Hopefully it would be enough because his spare ammo was in the canvas bag in the back of the Jeep. He’d beat himself up for his carelessness later. At the moment he had bigger problems.
The SUV he’d seen driving past had pulled into position on the opposite side of the park, pinning them in.
“Franco?”
He slid back down, assessing his options. “No good. They’ve got the other side of the car covered now.”
She sighed so long and hard he glanced her way. She was glaring at him. “I told you I needed my gun.”
He shook his head, thinking fast. There had to be some way… Franco shoved at the picnic table but it was bolted down. Too bad, he thought, it would have made a good shield while they climbed into the car. His gaze caught on the trash can beside the table. It was metal, hopefully filled with a nice depth of neutralizing trash. It wasn’t much but it was the best chance they had. “Okay, new plan. I’m going to lay down cover fire while you climb into the Jeep on this side. Lie down on the floor in the back.”
“Then how are you going to get in?”
“I’m going to use that trash can as a shield.”
Silence met his statement. “While shooting, opening the car door, and driving away?”
“I didn’t say it was a good plan.”
“Here’s a better one. Give me the gun. I’ll provide cover while you grab the can and we can both use it to get into the car.”
“Not a chance.”
“Dammit, Franco! What’s the point in my having all this self-defense training if nobody will let me use it?”
“That’s a last ditch plan.”
“This is about as last ditch as it gets, homey.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I just gained new respect for your brother. If I was him I’d have introduced you to the nuclear wedgie at an early age.”
“Give me the gun, Franco.”
He would have liked to blow a hole in her plan. Unfortunately it was better than his. Dammit! “Okay. But try not to shoot me with it.”
She took the gun, ejected the mag like an expert, checked the rounds and slammed it back home. Then she sat up and slid across the grass to the table, peering over it. “That’s the shooter up there?”
“Yeah. You won’t be able to hit him but…”
Nic settled the muzzle of the gun onto the table and closed one eye.
“You shouldn’t close your eye…”
“Shut up, this works for me.”
“Okay, whatever, shoot the bad guy in the tree. Not the good guy sprinting toward the can. Got it?”
“Shoot the mouthy bodynapper with the can and gain myself some peace and quiet. Got it.”
“Lord help me.”
“Just go already, before these guys get restless.”
Right on cue, the Jeep jerked under a fresh round of bullets from the SUV. Franco glanced over the hood and saw that they were on the move. “The SUV’s coming on. We’ve got to do this now.”
“That’s what I said,” Nic murmured. She fired into the tree and Franco took off running.
Several more rounds sizzled through the air as he threw himself to the ground behind the can, some of them heading for him.
The can jerked under a couple of rounds, one of which went in high and passed straight through. There was a yelp behind him. Panic flared. “Nic?”
“I’m fine. He just stomped on my last nerve.”
Franco grabbed the can and hunkered behind it as a fresh round of bullets slammed through the air toward the shooter in the tree. There was a yelp and a rifle pinwheeled through the air to the ground, followed by the darkly clad shooter.
“Well, damn.”
“Lose the can, Martin. Here come the bad guys.”
She opened the door and threw herself inside as the SUV barreled toward them, a gun sticking out of the front passenger side window. Franco flung himself into the Jeep, trying to keep low as he clambered into the driver’s seat, and turned the key, gunning it forward as soon as the engine caught. Bullets continued to ping off the metal sides and back. A back window shattered and glass sprayed over them.
Franco headed for a copse of massive evergreens, figuring the guys in the SUV would have a harder time hitting them with a bunch of trees around. They slipped under the drooping branches and the shower of bullets stopped as they barreled across a thick carpet of dried needles. The sharp tang of evergreen filled the car as he took a turn on two wheels and headed toward the back of the park, keeping sight of the SUV driving alongside the thicket. The big car was managing to stay even with them and the occasional tree trunk exploded under a wayward bullet.
Nici’s head popped up.
“Stay down.”
“Hit the street, there’s a delivery truck backing out of that driveway there.”
She was right. If they could tuck in behind the truck…
“Hold on!” He jerked the wheel hard right and the passenger side door squealed as it scraped along a row of trunks with prickly branches. They emerged from the evergreen copse and hit a sidewalk, heading straight for a hydrant.
“Franco!”
He jumped as she squealed. “Stop that! You scared the crap out of me.” He jerked the wheel and the car missed the hydrant by inches, heading for a fat gray squirrel holding an acorn, its shiny brown eyes wide.
“Franco!”
“Oh for god sakes!” He jerked the wheel again, barely missing the stupid rodent, and they dropped with a bang of tortured suspension into the street just as the boxy white truck started toward the intersection. Franco tucked the Jeep in on the opposite side of it, blocking them from the SUV’s view, and took the first turn into a large subdivision as the truck lumbered on down the street.
A few quick turns later brought them out of the subdivision and Franco headed for the highway, the SUV nowhere in sight.

Excerpt from Revealing Nicola by Sam Cheever. Copyright © 2017 by Sam Cheever. Reproduced with permission from Sam Cheever. All rights reserved.

Author Bio:

USA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes romantic paranormal/fantasy and mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books and has been writing for over a decade under several noms de plume.

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