Violent Visions of Murder is a psychic thriller that is one of my most enjoyable writes. Spiced with many suspenseful scenes and subplots and with romance and passion, it will keep you guessing at whodunit.
Brianna Taylor was born with what she labels a curse—psychic ability. When she touches or is close to people bearing strong thoughts or emotions, or in the midst of where an emotional event has occurred, visions come through her mind in explosive and electrical bursts.
Although Brianna’s mind acts as a television screen sucking in the energy of people’s emotional experiences, her gift fails her miserably when she longs to discover the secret behind the mystery of her brother’s dead twin. Her mother’s supposition that the dead twin was switched by someone at birth and isn’t her baby, is an unresolved issue haunting the entire family.
When Brianna sets out to discover the truth, her efforts draw her into a murder investigation of three brothers, one whom she falls in love with, and the other two, twins, who were born on the same date in the same clinic as her own twin brothers.
Brianna’s life becomes a puzzle of disconnected pieces, which upsets her world and leaves her determined to find a killer and discover the truth about her twin brother.
Excerpt
Excerpt
“What do you want Investigator Sherman?” Brianna asked, directing her statement to him, since Tom Harrison appeared to be just an observer. Brianna blocked the door with her body when Sherman looked ready to walk over or around her.
She suspected this was about the letter she had mailed, although she couldn’t figure out how they traced it to her. Discussing its contents was the last thing she wanted to do. If her psychic abilities became public, her life would become a circus.
Sherman reached inside an inner jacket pocket and extracted a letter Brianna recognized instantly. She held a pose of indifference, trying to pretend she never saw the letter before.
“Are you familiar with this letter?” he asked. Before she could answer, he sounded off. “Don’t deny it. We’ve put considerable time in tracing it back to this address. I know you sent the letter.”
The silent partner shifted his feet and looked ill at ease. He knew David had transferred recently from a big city police department where he was a detective dealing with street hoodlums, gangsters and criminals of every caliber. It was a tough job and easily produced calloused detectives; however, he would soon learn this wasn’t the big city, and being a tough guy wouldn’t work so well with most Oakwood people who lived decent lives with nothing to fear from the law.
Brianna sniffed defensively. If he wanted answers, he wasn’t taking the right approach with her. “Is my name on the letter?” she snapped, offended by such an aggressive manner.
“No…”
“Then I didn’t write it,” she asserted boldly, her chin tilted upward with daring.
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “…but the mail carrier saw the return address was left off, so she jotted your address on the envelope.”
“Isn’t there a law against tampering with someone’s mail? What if someone else put it in my box to be mailed?” she demanded querulously.
“But we know no one else did, don’t we?” he mimicked with a smirk. “Anyway, with the Anthrax scares we’ve had, the postal department likes to know the letter sender’s name, so that’s why the mail carrier jotted your address on it. She could have refused to accept it.”
Brianna’s heart rate increased with rising defenses. At that moment, her best defense was an offense. “What difference does it make who sent it? The idea was for the Sheriff’s Department to do their job and investigate the man who killed his best friend, rather than wasting time investigating the source of a letter.”
Frowning, he pushed past her and stepped inside. His silent partner followed up the rear. The front door opened directly into the living room, and he moved over to stand in front of a stuffed chair. The silent partner stood by the door, his arms wrapped across his chest and his legs slightly parted, looking a little like a genie who just floated out of his bottle. All he needed was a turban to complete the effect.
“May I?” Investigator Sherman asked, indicating the chair.
“By all means make your self comfortable,” Brianna retorted ungraciously.
Despite the intended insult, Sherman smiled. “Miss Taylor, I’m not here to waste your time or mine, so if you’ll just answer a few questions I can let you go back to what you were doing.”
Brianna glanced through the wide doorway to the dining table where her computer set. The article she was working on was nearly finished and ready for submitting to the magazine where she sold her seasonal articles about the river.
Wanting to get the interview over with, she took a seat on the sofa, all the while feeling anxiety take over. She had to fight for control to keep from squirming in her seat. She was picking up vibes from Investigator Sherman, a tough guy who liked to use tough tactics to get what he wanted.
Brianna was nervous with good reason. If word got out how she knew who murdered that man described in her letter she feared the consequences could be treacherous. People probably wouldn’t believe her, and would likely make her the laughing stock of everyone who knew her. On the other hand, curiosity seekers could invade her privacy and make her life miserable.
Professional Reviews
Review from Amazon
A Captivating and Suspenseful Read, September 17, 2007
By Geraldine Floyd -
Violent Visions of Murder is a riveting thriller with grizzly scenes of rape and murder, as seen through the visions of a psychic. If you like to read mystery and suspense this story that takes you into the mind of a killer will keep you spellbound. It also will warm your heart with romance that sustains unquestionable loyalty when things are darkest for one of the suspected murderers.
Brianna Taylor is a beautiful young woman who has lived her life in near isolation to avoid psychic stimulus, which her brain soaks up like a sponge when she gets close to or touches someone with strong emotions.
When she sets out to discover the mystery behind a suspected baby-switch, involving her dead baby brother, her investigation draws her into the lives of three brothers, all under suspicion of murder. After Brianna falls in love with the eldest brother, attempting to eliminate him as a suspect, she volunteers her psychic ability to help Investigator David Sherman find the killer. What she discovers will draw you into a captivating drama in a strange twisted tale of human depravity that nearly destroys three families' lives.
The author gives you conflicts, drama, romance and suspense galore in Violent Visions of Murder. By the middle of the first chapter, I was hooked on the story and didn't want to put the book down.
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