Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Download from Apple iTunes (eBook) Download from Smashwords (eBook) Kobo OmniLit Category:  Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Patmay Press Pages: 250 Copyright: Apr 28, 2010 Ten years after two juries fail to convict a stockbroker of the murder of his missing wife, retrenched journalist Jacinta Deller befriends the stockbroker’s new wife, the victim’s sister. Craig Edmonds, a successful stockbroker, reports the disappearance of his wife, Kirsty. What starts as a typical missing person's case soon evolves into a full-blown homicide investigation when forensics uncover blood traces and dark-blonde hairs in the boot of the missing woman's car. Added to this, is Craig's adulterous affair with the victim's younger sister, Narelle Croswell, compounded further by a recently acquired $1,000,000 insurance policy on his wife's life. He is charged with murder but, with no body and only circumstantial evidence, he walks free when two trials resulting in hung juries fail to convict him. Ten years later, Jacinta Deller, a newspaper journalist is retrenched. Working on a freelance story about missing persons, she comes across the all but forgotten Edmonds case. When she discovers her boyfriend, Brett Rhodes, works with Narelle Croswell, who is not only the victim's sister but is now married to the prime suspect, her sister's husband, she thinks she has found the perfect angle for her article. Instead, her life is turned upside down, as befriending the woman, she becomes embroiled in a warped game of delusion and murder.       Excerpt Craig Edmonds stared at hands sticky with darkening blood. His hands. He held them away from his body and looked down at his chest in horror. Large, dirty-red blotches marred the once pristine white shirt. Forgetting the blood on his hands, he tore at the buttons, ripping the shirt open. Breathing in short, sharp gasps, he frantically examined his torso, looking for the wound. No cuts. No injuries. No holes where there shouldn’t be any. His chest heaved in relief. He wasn’t dying, after all. But then, mid-sigh, it struck him: if it wasn’t his blood, whose was it? His head whipped around, his eyes scanning the room like radar on overdrive. Even in the half-light, he quickly saw all was not as it should be. The glass shade from one of the bedside lamps lay in shattered fragments on the floor. The curtain rail over the bedroom’s bay window hung at a precarious angle. Usually a black-and-white photo of a nude, tattooed woman hung above the bed; now the frame lay in pieces in the doorway. He focused on the queen-sized bed. His stomach clenched as he took in the twisted and dishevelled bedclothes. Instinctively, he knew the dark patches on the sheets weren’t shadows that would disappear once the curtains were opened. He swallowed, the acrid morning-after taste of whisky harsh in his parched mouth. “Kirsty?” he croaked. Clearing his throat, he called again, hesitant but louder. In the crushing silence, time stood still. “Kirsty!” he screamed, as he dashed into the master bedroom’s compact, white-tiled en suite. He stumbled, clutching at the doorframe. He took in the bloodied handprints adorning the vanity unit and walls like some sort of macabre finger-painting. Fighting an intense wave of nausea, he looked down at the blood-smeared floor. Trying desperately to rein in his growing panic, he raced to the main bathroom. His wife wasn’t there either. Next room. Out of breath, heart hammering, he reached the internal door that led to the double garage and opened it. The external roller door was down and his red Alfa Romeo and Kirsty’s silver Lexus were parked next to each other. Gripping the door handle, he sagged against the door. He took a deep breath. Fought for control of his adrenaline-charged body. He lurched into the kitchen, heading for the sink. Hands shaking violently, he somehow managed to turn on the cold water tap. He watched, mesmerized, as the blood from his hands, diluted by water, swirled in a pink eddy in the bottom of the sink before disappearing down the plughole. Oblivious to the water dripping from his hands, he dropped onto the pine storage-box-cum-bench beneath the window at the end of the kitchen. Elbows on knees, he dropped his forehead into his hands. If only the infernal pounding would let up, he could think straight. His memory of the previous evening was patchy, to say the least. He had a vague recollection of arriving home stressed after a late-night meeting at the office and, bypassing the dried-out dinner Kirsty had kept warm for him, heading for the bottle of Chivas Regal. After that, it was anyone’s guess as to what had happened. A series of short clips flashed through his mind. In one, he saw himself shouting at Kirsty, her throwing up her hands and yelling back. What had they been arguing about? In another, he was picking up his car keys, and… Damn it! Why can’t I remember? he thought, glancing towards the door leading into the garage. It was then he saw the set of four smudged, rust-brown streaks low on the doorframe. He closed his eyes, praying for the nightmare to end. Except he had a feeling the nightmare was only beginning…

Suspense Magazine
Every once in awhile a reader comes across a book that takes over their life, captures their thoughts and forces them to contemplate nothing else but the characters and actions occurring upon a page. “Thin Blood”, the debut novel by Vicki Tyley is one of those incredible,
thrilling reads. I came across this book almost by accident and I am so thankful for chance circumstance.

Discovering Ms. Tyley on www.goodreads.com, I looked at her website and took a quick glance at her book. The prologue was captivating; I couldn’t wait to read more. I turned the pages (online, because it’s an e-book) quicker than I have turned pages in quite some time.

Obsessed with an old murder case, the book’s main character Jacinta is clueless, yet incredibly smart. She is intriguing and simply put, good. She is a character I can imagine an entire series created around because she is that great. As a journalist, Jacinta finds herself jobless due to company cutbacks. Determined to do freelance work, she digs into crimes of the past and finds herself absorbed in the murder of Kirsty Edmonds. The young wife had gone missing, many years ago and her husband was the only plausible suspect. Her dead body had never been found and two juries failed to find Craig Edmonds guilty therefore leaving the case cold. Jacinta’s sudden interest however, seemed to change it all.

Page after page of twists make this novel a smashing success. The characters are multi-faceted and complex and the reader never knows whom to trust. It wasn’t until I read the very last page of “Thin Blood” that I exhaled. I was stunned and you will be too.

Ebook Alchemy
Summary: “A stockbroker’s wife disappears. Blood on his hands and an adulterous affair with the missing woman’s younger sister sees him charged with murder. With no body and only circumstantial evidence he walks free. Ten years later, journalist Jacinta Deller decides to investigate, only to become embroiled in a warped game of delusion and murder.”

Story score: 4.5/5. This is one novel I grudged putting down, even to sleep or get on with household chores. The characters are believable, especially the protagonist, Jacinta Deller. She’s a woman whose drive to succeed in the workplace sometimes overshadows her personal relationships, but through her struggles she’s never trite or helpless. It would be fabulous if this were a series, so we could find out more about how things turn out with Jacinta and her stepbrother.

Editing score: 5/5. Thin Blood looks great and reads great. Word choice is varied and sentence and paragraph structures are interesting. Nothing to complain about!

Style score: 5/5. It’s written in a style that makes you forget you’re reading at all. The story flows so easily that before you know what’s happened, fifty pages are gone. It practically reads itself.

The author is brilliant at giving exactly enough detail, for example: time drags when Jacinta is home alone at night and hearing noises outside (as it should), but the details of Jacinta’s work day that don’t have much of a bearing on the story are finished in one paragraph. Overall Thin Blood moves at a nice canter from person to person and incident to incident.

The Big Picture: This comes highly recommended from me. If you like murder mysteries, female sleuths, or both, this is a must-read. I thought I had the mystery solved until the very end, but I was wrong.

I will definitely be telling my friends about this book.

Confessions of a Reader
I was drawn into this story from the very beginning and totally engrossed throughout. The plot twists and characters are woven into this story in such a fashion that I had a hard time putting this book down.

Greg’s sister is missing and his only lead is a singles meeting event sponsored by Dinner for Twelve. Megan and Brenda attend a couple of Dinner for Twelve events and when Brenda goes missing Megan has reason to suspect someone in the group. Greg and Megan eventually form an allegiance to search for the truth.

This is a fast paced story that is fluid and effortless and coupled with the mystery and suspense I was hooked. The twists and turns are endless and the character development was an essential and compassionate part of the story. The character dialogue flowed with ease and believability and I found that I could relate to the characters of Greg and Megan in a realistic way. The descriptive writing paints a clear picture of what’s going on and made me feel part of the story.

I really enjoyed Vicky Tyley’s writing style and her ability to keep me guessing while keeping me absorbed in the story. Her presentation of characters and events throughout the story combined with the elements of suspense succeed in making this a great read.

To me this is also a story of family, friendship and loyalty. It is a story that shows how strong family and friendships are and what lengths a person would go to protect and save the ones they love.

I recommend this book to all readers who love mystery/suspense and drama that will propel you forward and keep you guessing until the end.