When retired family doctor Sam Moore’s old girlfriend shows up dead in a local hotel, the police suspect his involvement. The coroner, a former med school colleague whose husband is about to desert her, reveals that she had a crush on Sam in med school. When she turns up dead the next day in her own morgue, Sam is once again in the hot seat.
Sam’s world falls apart when finds a family member dead in the laundry room, stabbed with his own garden shears. Rocketed into a world of denial and temporary insanity, he faces his worst fear, and is locked up in the very same psych ward he was in when his brother Billy died fifty years ago. Sam seeks help from the spirit of Billy, who has the ability to propel him through time.
Sam’s plan: to change time, and bring his loved one back to life.
Excerpt
Chapter One
“Murdered?” Sam juggled four pots of yellow daylilies in his arms, squeezing the cell phone between his shoulder and ear. “Where? And why in world do you need me?”
Lou sighed. “I told you. The Twin Sisters Inn. And I can’t say over the phone, I just need your…expertise.”
My expertise? Sam had practiced family medicine in East Goodland, New York for over thirty years, but couldn’t imagine how treating runny noses and chicken pox qualified him to help with a murder. And why was Lou being so damned secretive about the whole thing?
“Hold on a sec, Lou.” He dropped the flowerpots on the counter and barely caught them before they toppled. Flashing the clerk an apologetic smile, he swept the spilled dirt into a pile and mumbled into the phone. “I’m at Palmiter’s. Just checking out.”
Lou groaned. “Why am I not surprised? Since you retired, that’s all you’ve done. Flowers and more flowers. Holy Mother Mary. Don’t you get sick of it? Or are you trying to get your place on the Home and Garden network?”
Sam slid the plants toward the clerk. “You’re just jealous.”
“Damn right I am. I can’t retire for another coupla years. Remember, I was two years behind you in med school.”
“Just because I’m retired doesn’t mean I’ve lost my marbles. Of course I remember.” Sam thought back to the coroner when she was a student at the University of Rochester. Short strawberry blond hair, willowy figure, high cheekbones, and a ready smile. Aside from her gray hair, Louise Reardon hadn’t changed much after forty years and five kids. Except she was a hell of a lot pushier.
The freckled teen behind the counter looked bored. “That’ll be fourteen ninety-two.”
Sam dug out fifteen bucks and paid her. “Thanks. Keep the change.”
She raised her eyebrows as if she couldn’t believe he’d actually try to tip her with eight lousy cents. “Gee. Thanks, mister.”
He shrugged, loaded his plants into a green wagon, and pulled it toward the Highlander. He’d bought enough plants here to put all their kids through college. Anyway, who tipped sales clerks? “Lou? You still there? I’m almost at the car.”
“I’m here.” She let loose another frustrated sigh. “How long ‘til you get here?”
Sam loaded his plants in the back, got in, and turned the key. The SUV purred to life. “Not long. I’m putting you on speaker. Just a sec.” He slid the phone into his breast pocket and backed out of the parking spot. None of those new-fangled blue tooth gadgets for him. It was hard enough to keep up with cell phones, laptops, iPods, and every new device that came out each year. “On my way.”
“Geez. Finally. Watch out for the news vultures when you get here, though. They’re everywhere.”
“Will do. Be there in a few.”
He hung up and pushed his silver forelock back from his forehead. Shouldering his way through a pack of hungry journalists to view a dead body had not been in today’s plans. Today was supposed to be devoted to gardening, to feeding his insatiable need to dig in rich loam while the sun warmed his back. If Lou weren’t such a good friend, he’d have blown her off.
Turning south on Route 39, he imagined the ribbing he’d get if she knew about his aversion to cadavers. A doctor? Afraid of bodies?
He’d dealt with dead people before, but not a great deal. Med school, of course. He’d barfed his way through that ordeal. And when Mrs. Tupple had died in her bed ten years ago, he’d gone to the house at Mr. Tupple’s request. Reluctantly. But he’d gone. The most recent experience had been last fall, at his brother’s funeral.
Well, it hadn’t really been a body…it was Billy’s bones, bones pinned underwater for fifty years. Submerged with heavy stones deposited by Sam’s three best friends. Billy’s disappearance had remained a mystery, until it was finally revealed last year. When things happened. Things he couldn’t explain to anyone, except Rachel. He couldn’t even tell her the whole story. But Billy connecting with him from beyond and helped him get to the truth.
A familiar sadness took hold, and as if in response, Billy’s green marble hummed and warmed in his pocket. His brother’s face floated across his mind’s eye. Freckles. Clear hazel eyes. Sandy hair. Impish smile.
Billy wanted to talk.
Not now. I can’t. Later, buddy. He thought the words in his head, knowing Billy could hear him if he said them out loud or imagined them.
Sam turned left at the Mobil Station on the corner of Main Street and Route 20A and headed for the historic brick building housing The Twin Sisters Inn. Willing the marble to be quiet, he forced himself to think of what lay ahead.
A murder victim? Why the heck did Lou need his help? It didn’t make any sense, but in spite of his reservations, a trickle of excitement ran down his spine.
News vans and squad cars jammed the lot. He parked on the side of the road and headed toward the building. The marble pulsed twice, then grew cold.
Was it a warning?
The green glass talisman had linked Sam to Billy since he unearthed it in his garden last year. He’d learned to respect it, and through it, Billy’s interventions had helped with a number of sticky situations. He’d saved the life of his friend, Senator Bruce McDonald, after the sudden collapse of Healey’s Cave. And more important, he’d found his daughter, Beth, after she’d been kidnapped.
He locked his car and headed toward the building, skirting around vehicles and people. He brushed against the back of a policeman when several news reporters pushed past him. The officer swung his head around and stared.
“Er. Sorry.” He smiled at the patrolman and kept going.
If they had any idea. If they knew I talked to Billy, traveled back in time with him… A lace dragged from his shoe, threatening to trip him. He stopped to tie it. If they knew, they’d put me back in the asylum, just like they did when I was twelve.
A chill stole over him. Memories of the day Billy disappeared assaulted him. Billy, on his brand new bicycle, driving down the road, never to return. Guilt coiled in his stomach. He’d answered a phone call from a damned girl, instead of following his brother on the bike ride like he’d promised. He’d never forgive himself for that.
That moment had been the end of life as he knew it, and the beginning of his tortured life to come. The insane asylum had been the worst, though. He hated to remember the way they talked to him, the stupid pills they’d made him take that doped him up, and the disgusting smell of antiseptic that had followed him everywhere, even seeped onto his pillowcase at night. He shuddered and tried to put it out of his mind. Best to forget it and see what the hell Lou wanted.
Professional Reviews
For Keeps
For Keeps is a unique addition to the Sam Moore mystery series written by Aaron Lazar. For those unfamiliar with the series, Sam Moore is a retired doctor who is a reluctant participant in unraveling mysteries tied to his family. A mysterious green marble, found in his garden years before, is a conduit to the afterlife where he can commune with his long dead brother, Billy. In For Keeps, Sam faces the most important and demanding murder investigations: the violent death of an ex-lover, inexplicable execution of a dear friend, and the demise of a beloved family member.
The pace of the novel is a rollercoaster ride with so many thrilling dips and climbs, you read the book on the edge of your seat, biting your fingernails. The "who-done-it" part is actually resolved within the first fifty pages. Even the motive is known. The book then revolves around Sam's futile attempts to use the mysterious properties of the marble to go back in time and tweak events so he can still save three lives so important to him. Sam learns that even slight changes in the past can have dramatic changes in the present. Each subsequent `present' turns into a nightmare for Sam. With Billy's help he manages to invoke one possible future which can fix some problems, but adds new parts to his `present' life which are confusing.
The tension Aaron Lazar establishes in the first part of the book is physically exhausting, especially after the final murder occurs. Each trip to the past will have the reader praying for some miraculous resolution. Be warned, once you start reading this book, it is nearly impossible to put it down.
I suggest starting it on a Saturday morning so you might have a chance to get your weekend responsibilities completed on Sunday.
I highly recommend this novel for young and old adults.
Robert Sells
Author of the Return of the White Deer
Robertsells.org
A beautifully written novel suitable for readers of all genres
For mystery lovers, For Keeps won't disappoint. There are plenty of deliciously gruesome twists and a fast-paced narrative that makes this book perfect for any reader looking for an engaging and quick read. The story includes a number of thread, including life-after-death, Satanism, the paranormal, domestic violence, and mental illness. Although Lazar pulls no punches with the plot - there is plenty of blood, cadavers, and no shortage of bad guys, somehow he manages to keep the work warm, leaving the reader energised, rather than drained by it all. Part of that is due to the exceptional characterisation of Sam Moore, who drives the action through his integrity and family orientation. He's just such so nice! This becomes obvious early on in the story as Sam sees to one of his former patients whose blood sugar is low. At times, the supernatural elements do stretch credulity, but because of the strength of the characterisation and the clean, rapid progression of the plot line, even a stoical, naturalistic type reader like me is willing to suspend judgement and just go with it. After all, it feels good. For Keeps is a beautifully written novel that will delight existing Sam Moore (and Aaron Lazar) fans, while drawing in new readers looking for a truly enjoyable mystery experience.
For Keeps is a Keeper
Sam Moore is a retired doctor with a wife that has MS, one daughter and one son, and 3 grandchildren. He is enjoying his retirement with his family, friends, and his beloved garden. One day while out buying more plants he receives a phone call from his friend/former colleague, medical examiner Lou. She asks him to come to the local Inn; she has a murder victim she needs his help/opinion with. Upon arrival and looking over the victim he realizes that he knows her. Back during his med school days while on spring break in Miami he had a brief fling with her. The murder of this woman, one he knew briefly in his younger years really bothers him...a lot. Within a few days another person he knows is murdered followed by a loved one.
Sam has in his possession a green marble that he carries in his pocket; one that allows him contact with his murdered brother. With this marble and the help of his brother, it allows him to do some remote viewing and sometimes even interact with the past. He decides that he will use this marble along with the help of his brother Billy to go back in time to try to prevent these murders and get his beloved back. Unfortunately things are not that simple and every time he changes something in the past the future is impacted in ways he never anticipated and not for the good.
This is a story about the `what if' question we all have thought about one time or another. What if we could go back and make different choices? We all have at one time said to ourselves `if I only knew then what I know now'.
This is the 1st book in the series that I have read and I must say "wow". Mr. Lazar is such a gifted writer that even though I started with book 3, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and could barely put it down until the last page was turned.
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