|
|
|  | | A Scent of Almond
A serial killer at large on St. Joseph Island !
Detective Andy Blake’s life couldn’t have been better. Her love life with Grant Stacey is on track, and she is happy in her new job with the Ontario Provincial Police. But her tranquil life on beautiful St. Joseph Island is interrupted with a simple request to take over the investigation of a two year old poisoning death.
The routine case turns complicated when curiously similar unsolved deaths are discovered over a period of several years, and cyanide is a common thread. Adding to the turmoil is Dan Graves, a renaissance man if there ever was one, and a contender for Andy’s affections. She finds herself pulled in all directions before coming to grips with A Scent of Almond.
p class="MsoNormal">When Ontario Detective Andrea Blake investigates the newly discovered corpse of a man missing for two years, she gets way more than she bargains for: serial poisonings!o:p>/o:p>
| |  | | Bad Medicine
Windsor, Ontario Inspector Andy Blake finds herself with time on her hands, thanks to a stab wound that lands her in the hospital and an ensuing two month R&R. She reluctantly uses the time to return to her home in Northern Ontario, where she left for college, twenty-five years ago.
Things have changed on St. Joseph Island, but not everything. Grant Stacey, the boy she left behind, is still there, still in love with her. They begin rekindling their feelings, until a murder is committed on his property.
Counterfeit drugs being smuggled into the nearby state of Michigan through its porous border with the Island soon becomes evident as the motive.
The customer for the bogus drugs is a white supremacist commune using the enormous resale profits to fund the establishment of other, similar communes. They promote their skewed vision of the Lebensborn program, a remnant of Nazi Germany, to encourage a pure Aryan population.
Andy becomes involved with the local police in her quest to counter suspicion of Stacey, until her own doubts arise. Her efforts to solve the murder become enmeshed with finding the Island’s mastermind of the smuggling ring.
The beauty and culture of St. Joseph Island, Ontario, is the backdrop of this topical novel.
!--[if gte mso 9]>xml>
o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
o:TargetScreenSize>800x600/o:TargetScreenSize>
/o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
/xml>![endif]-->!--[if gte mso 9]>xml>
w:WordDocument>
w:View>Normal/w:View>
w:Zoom>0/w:Zoom>
w:TrackMoves />
w:TrackFormatting />
w:PunctuationKerning />
w:ValidateAgainstSchemas />
w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
w:IgnoreMixedContent>false/w:IgnoreMixedContent>
w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
w:DoNotPromoteQF />
w:LidThemeOther>EN-US/w:LidThemeOther>
w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE/w:Lid | |  | | Brink
The Story opens with the murder of the new CEO of Entrec Systems, of San Jose.
Now, jump back nine months. Dr. Ben Posner is a respected scientist in his field of energy systems. He and his team at Entrec have developed a high energy lithium battery system that promises to revolutionize the electric automobile. His life takes a turn for the worse when Entrec’s founder dies, leaving the firm to the founder’s son, to be sold to a group of investors. The new CEO, Reineke, makes life pure hell for Posner.
A speech at a prestigious conference—one that Posner makes at Reineke’s insistence—goes terribly wrong, and Posner is humiliated. This, combined with egregious financial problems, impel him into an alcoholic dependency that ultimately costs him his job.
Loyal friends from the company try to stay in touch with Posner, but he becomes increasingly secluded until mounting debt forces the impending foreclosure of his house. A late night drive north to Oakland for a place to buy a drink, results in Posner being mugged, and left to die. He is saved by a group of homeless vagrants who nurse him to health, and introduce him to Steve Arnesen, the director of The Oakland Men’s Shelter.
Thus, in a matter of a few months, Dr. Benjamin Posner goes from a man at the top of his game to a homeless, shattered, alcoholic. The work at the shelter, and his association with Arnesen have a healing affect, and Posner takes steps to return to San Jose, and sort out his life, only to find his house already in foreclosure, the locks changed. He can’t handle this new setback, and goes on a drunk using the little money he has left in his savings.
Simultaneously, Angela Bell, an executive at Entrec, and Arnesen meet while delving into Ben’s whereabouts. They find him after a week’s binge, sprawled on the floor of a train depot’s toilet. Angela volunteers to take him home to dry out. He does. They fall in love, a love that has been latent for years.
Arnesen gives Ben a temporary job at the Oakland Shelter. On a day shortly before the Christmas holidays, Angela telephones Ben to say that Reineke would like to see him. A night of the week after Christmas is agreed upon—at the company’s headquarters. Ben shows up on time to find the man’s car there, but not the man himself. After pounding in vain on the door, he leaves.
Here, the story begins to follow Sergeants Kaut and Vasquez, of the San Jose police, in their investigation of Reineke’s death, which occurred in his office on the night of their scheduled meeting. After running down several leads, they are able to place Ben Posner at the scene from his finger prints on the freshly cleaned glass door. Ben is ultimately arrested.
Angela is frantic, and contacts Ben’s son, Michael, who is a first year U.S Attorney in Baltimore. They are convinced that the police are overlooking evidence that could exonerate Ben, and set out to prove their case. Together with Arnesen and Ben’s protégé, Charles Yang, they follow their only clue: A white van Ben remembers leaving the Entrec’s premises on the night of the murder.
Their efforts pay off to the extent that they are able to narrow down the van’s source to only one or two U-Haul agents in the Oakland area. This information is enough for the police to close in on one of the two perpetrators. These turn out to be the men who mugged Ben that night, months ago, in Oakland. Fearing the police closing in on him, one of the killers murders his unreliable partner, then zeros in on killing Ben, before he can identify him.
Ben, now released from jail, and Angela, thinking the case is solved are cornered by the killer in Ben’s house. A broken liquor bottle—from Ben’s earlier life style—is the ironic instrument that saves them both from death.
The story ends, months later, at a back yard party, celebrating Ben’s, Angela’s and Charles’ successful launching of their new company. The next day, Ben receives an early morning phone call from an industry peer that puts the finishing touch on his total recovery.
input type="hidden" id="gwProxy">!--Session data-->/input>input type="hidden" id="jsProxy" onclick="jsCall();" />
div id="refHTML"> /div>
!--[if gte mso 9]>xml>
o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
o:TargetScreenSize>800x600/o:TargetScreenSize>
/o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
/xml>![endif]-->!--[if gte mso 9]>xml>
w:WordDocument>
w:View>Normal/w:View>
w:Zoom>0/w:Zoom>
w:TrackMoves />
w:TrackFormatting />
w:PunctuationKerning />
w:ValidateAgainstSchemas />
w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
w:IgnoreMixedContent>false/w:IgnoreMixedCont | |  | | Forgotten Roots
A tragedy from the War of 1812 emerges from the Canadian soil. Two hundred years later, Detective Andrea Blake finds the mystery thrust upon her to untangle…Forgotten Roots.
span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It is 1801 when two lives begin a journey that will intersect thirteen years later at the explosive conclusion of America’s war with Britain./span>
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">o:p>/o:p>
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">A young bride sets out from Scotland to a Canadian fur trading outpost only to find her life entwined with an intriguing Voyageur. A runaway thug from the streets of Baltimore finds himself in the Ohio Militia, bound for a final showdown with the British in Northern Canada. o:p>/o:p>/ | |  | | Luzon
America has broken Japan’s “Purple” code, and a captured US Navy officer knows the secret. Someone has to make sure the Japanese don’t get it from him, even if he has to kill him.
It’s 1941, and Riza Manceda, a beautiful American intelligence officer, needs someone to impersonate a Japanese officer for a dangerous mission to her homeland of the Philippines. Her search uncovers the ideal man in Daniel Suhiro, a first generation i>Nisei/i> with perfect credentials for the job…but maybe not so perfect.
p class="MsoNormal">o:p>/o:p>
p class="MsoNormal">The mission is to prevent the Japanese from discovering the Allies have broken their “unbreakable” i>Purple/i> code. This secret could shorten – or lengthen &nda | |  | | Medallion
MEDALLION is the story of two young lovers, and the treachery of occupied Norway. A story you won’t forget.
n April 1940 Nazi Germany makes a surprise attack on the major ports and airfields of Norway for control of the North Sea and the precious ore deposits of northern Sweden.
div>The attack is a stunning success, except for the Capitol city. The defense of Oslo stalls the Germans for 24 hours--enough time for the Royal Family, members of the cabinet, and the entire treasury to escape, ultimately to England./div>
div>Subsequently, Nazi aggression overruns most of Europe, looting its treasuries and treasures./div>
div>Karin Hansen, a young American fresh from a summer of barnst | |  | | Steel Town
Police procedural.
Small City dealing with Fentanyl drug dealer.
Without warning, Detective Andy Blake’s personal life seems to be spinning out of control. She already has enough on her plate dealing with the opioid crisis that has crippled her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. Adding to that are her efforts to balance it all with an admitted infatuation with the charming Dr. Campbell who is on special assignment advising the health responders dealing with a new threat: a pure form of the drug fentanyl that has added to the crisis.
div>Meanwhile, a young boy with special needs and a young couple become integral to the intriguing outcome of | |  | | The Corydon Snow
In the summer of 1943, the Liberty Ship SS Corydon C. Snow is ordered on a dangerous voyage to transfer 400,000 gallons of highly explosive aviation gasoline from Midway Atoll to Port Moresby, New Guinea. En route, it becomes clear that the ship is plagued with a cantankerous engine. These pressures educe the best and worst from the crew. Notable among them is Victor Brenz, a misfit who somehow seems to be in the center of one conflict after another.
Lieutenant (JG) Robert Stark has reluctantly signed on as officer in command of the US Navy Armed Guard, a unit of fifteen men charged with defending the ship. His training does not prepare him for the diversity of the crew and events, particularly, the dangerous mission of the ship. He finds on board a solitary, troubled Captain, a First Mate with thoughts of suicide, a discredited Navy Chief, and Henry Baldwin, a young seaman he sees as a hick from Indiana.
On the other side of the Pacific a young student, Naoki Tamoro, is entering the Imperial Japanese Navy as a flight cadet. His training coincides with that of the Snow’s fifteen month cruise through the Southern Pacific until the two stories inevitably come together.
On the way to New Guinea, the Snow is attacked and badly damaged, just one of a long series of snafus preventing the off-loading of the volatile cargo. Subsequent events lead the ship into some of the most historic battle sites of World War II: New Britain, The Admiralties, The Marianas, Leyte and more. While in New Caledonia, Brenz is involved in the murder of a prostitute, the blame for which he successfully foists off on a shipmate. Rumors among the crew about his involvement grow.
That peril comes soon after the famous battles of Leyte Gulf, where the first of many suicide air attacks on US and Australian ships occur. Naoki Tamoro has graduated as a carrier pilot. Pride in his country and honor to his ancestors have induced him to volunteer for Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, or Tokkō, later to be known in the West as Kamimaze. But, Tamoro has now dishonored his country by pulling out of a dive on a US Navy convoy. Angry with himself, he sees the Corydon Snow, alone, steaming to catch up with the convoy and determines to atone for his inaction.
A courtroom in Honolulu is the backdrop for denouement. Charges of Brenz’ murder are heard by a judge in a preliminary hearing. Details of that last night in the Philippine Sea are given under oath after which Stark and Baldwin share the real truth.
img alt="" src="file:///C:/Users/Richard%20W.%20Barnes/Pictures/Writing%20Photos/The%20Corydon%20Snow-WEB.jpg" />img alt="" src="file:///C:/Users/Richard%20W.%20Barnes/Pictures/Writing%20Photos/The%20Corydon%20Snow-WEB.jpg" />img alt="" src="file:///C:/Users/Richard%20W.%20Barnes/Pictures/Writing%20Photos/The%20Corydon%20Snow-WEB.jpg" />
img alt="" src="file:///C:/Users/Richard%20W.%20Barnes/Pictures/Writing%20Photos/The%20Corydon%20Snow-WEB.jpg" />
div id="refHTML"> /div>
input type="hidden" id="gwProxy" />!--Session data-->input ty | |  | | The Faircloth Reaction
Kidnapping, murder, and international oil cartels all set the stage for the engrossing fiction The Faircloth Reaction by Richard Whitten Barnes. Just how far will the world’s energy leaders go to protect their considerable interests?
Delano Justice thought he had it made. He’d escaped the tough neighborhoods of Flint, Mich., on a basketball scholarship, worked his way through college and six years as an officer in the Army Special Forces, and was just finishing his doctorate in chemical engineering at North Carolina State University. But he wasn’t prepared for Hinson Faircloth—a young MIT grad student with tortured motives.
When Del reluctantly agrees to help Faircloth with commercializing a new process for synthesizing petroleum, his attitude quickly changes after discovering that the process is unbelievably efficient, producing synthetic oil at unheard of purity and economy. Having no experience in dealing with the high-powered world of international energy deals, the two seek the help of an expert. But when Faircloth gets skittish, he decides to go it alone. The decision proves fatal.
After dealing with Faircloth, a faction of the Russian mafia attempts to silence anyone who might know Faircloth’s formula in an effort to stifle anything that might disrupt their source of oil income. This puts Del and those close to him, including his pregnant fiancée Grace, in very real danger. When Grace is kidnapped, Del recruits some friends and family who begin tying together bits and scraps of clues from various sources, only to find that their search takes them in a direction none of them could have imagined.
input type="hidden" id="gwProxy" />!--Session data-->input type="hidden" id="jsProxy" onclick="jsCall();" />
div id="refHTML"> /div>
input type="hidden" id="gwProxy" />!--Session data-->input type="hidden" onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" />
div id="refHTML"> /div>
input type="hidden" id="gwProxy" />!--Session data-->input type="hidden" id="jsProxy" onclick="jsCall();" />
div id="refHTML"> /div>
|
|
|
|
