Please join me in welcoming K.T. Roberts as our guest blogger today. She giving away two digital copies of her book so please read to the end and leave a comment. Good luck!
First, I’d like to thank you for inviting me to
spend the day at The Roses of Prose
blog. I’m always flattered when someone invites me to participate and it’s an
honor to be here.
So today, I’m going to talk about the release of Deadly Obsessions, the third in my
Kensington-Gerard Detective series. This, however, is more of a thriller than a
mystery, so if you like the Lizzie Gardner series by Teresa Ragan, you’re going
to love this one too.
Deadly Obsessions is
based on a true crime that happened here in Arizona in 2009. For those of you
who followed this story in the news, it took place in the Hillside Ranch area
of Glendale, Arizona when Cynthia Langrall was murdered during her morning jog
on December 21, 2009.
My story has some similarities, but I’ve mostly embellished
the story to make it my own, hence the thriller aspect.
BASED ON A TRUE CRIME EVENT
Three bodies and counting . . . a manifesto with a long list of names . . . an abducted child, and the killer is using a familiar MO that was the trademark of a serial killer still at large. Is it possible this so-called copycat spurred the Red Reaper into a jealous rage and he’s doing what he does best . . . killing? Or is this someone who’s having too much fun impersonating him and killing everyone on his list?
When two unrelated killings take place, it sends the detectives into a tailspin . . . and now it’s a race against the clock before he kills the next person on his list . . . Detective Jesse Kensington! http://amzn.com/B00KO42MU8
Three bodies and counting . . . a manifesto with a long list of names . . . an abducted child, and the killer is using a familiar MO that was the trademark of a serial killer still at large. Is it possible this so-called copycat spurred the Red Reaper into a jealous rage and he’s doing what he does best . . . killing? Or is this someone who’s having too much fun impersonating him and killing everyone on his list?
When two unrelated killings take place, it sends the detectives into a tailspin . . . and now it’s a race against the clock before he kills the next person on his list . . . Detective Jesse Kensington! http://amzn.com/B00KO42MU8
I’m extremely proud of
this story. It’s the story that landed me a contract with Montlake Romance two
weeks ago. To whet your appetite, I’m including an excerpt.
This excerpt is about Jennifer Smith who has been abducted
by a cab driver while on her way to the NYPD to answer questions. The abductor
has her chained in the basement.
She jerked back trying
to move away, but the shortened chains held her captive. And then she
remembered the cab driver. He was creepy. She knew the minute she’d slid across
the backseat, something told her to get out. She’d even glanced back at her
aunt, but it was too late. He’d taken off like a shot and her aunt had already
entered the hotel. She remembered pulling on the door handle, when the locks
clicked into place…and then that smell. What was that horrible smell coming
through the heater? That’s when she knew she was being abducted. But why? She’d
even banged on the window that separated them but the cabbie paid no attention.
He’d just stared at her in the mirror.
The sudden awareness of someone close to her
made Jennifer shudder. His foul smelling breath made her gag, and when he
starting licking her face, she thought she might throw up. “Get away from me,
you pervert,” she screamed, trying to wiggle free from the constraints. “Let me
go, dammit!” No answer, just his heavy breathing. And then, the touch of his
tongue, sticky and slimy, gliding across her face caused her to shake her head
vigorously hoping he’d miss her. But he wasn’t putting up with that. He grabbed
her head and held it in place while he continued his deed and forced his tongue
into her mouth. She bit down with all her might. He released an angry growl and
shoved her against the cinderblock wall. Shooting pains flooded through her
shoulder. She refused to cry out in pain but she managed to spit out his
disgusting saliva hoping he was close enough that she’d hit him in the process.
That angered him even more and the impact from his hard punch to her gut made
her scream.
He finally spoke. “You shouldn’t have done
that. Now, I have to punish you. She felt the coldness of steel prick her leg
as it slid across her thigh. She felt a trickle of liquid slide down the sides
of her leg and she knew she’d been cut. She jerked and released a loud scream.
“I love it when they scream,” The roughness
of his voice irritated her as much as the blade of that knife. “You can scream
all you want. There’s no one here but us.”
“Please mister, please don’t hurt me. I’ll
give you anything you want. I’ve got lots of money coming to me.”
“I don’t want your money,” he sneered. “What
I want is for you to understand what it’s like to have someone you love hurt
you.”
“I never hurt anyone. Why are you doing this
to me?”
“You use people, Jennifer. You use everyone
in your life until you tire of them, then you toss them aside like that rag
doll you had when you were a child. You did that to your mother when she
married dear old Harlan.”
“How do you know so much about me?”
“Oh, because I do.”
“Do I know you?” He didn’t answer. “I begged
her not to marry him, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
“Were you paying her bills?”
“No.”
“Oh, that’s right. She was paying yours.” He
slid the knife across her other thigh and this time she screamed out.
She wondered how long she’d been there;
wondered if the detectives would be able to track her? Find her before this
maniac killed her? “Who are you?” she demanded.
He laughed. “You are in no position to
demand anything from me or anyone else. And it was you who talked your mother
into taking out that insurance policy because you wanted to be sure your meal
ticket would always be there. Is that why you killed her?”
“No,” Jennifer said, “I didn’t kill my
mother,” she shouted. “I loved my mother. She was wonderful to me.” Anger
seeped into her chest and she fired back. “Did you kill my mother?”
He smacked her hard across the face and she
began to cry. “That’s it. Cry,” he said. “You’ll get no sympathy from me.” He
pulled Jennifer to her feet and removed the heavy chains, his voice suddenly
changing from harsh to sympathetic. “Don’t cry,” he said and patted her
shoulder as if trying to comfort her.
His sudden kindness confused her into
thinking maybe he wasn’t going to hurt her after all. Maybe he just wanted to
scare her into being a better person. She would do whatever he asked. “Thank
you,” she said.
“You’re welcome. Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “I am.”
“Okay. Then open your mouth. I made a
chocolate sundae for you and it’s melting.”
“If you’ll free my hands, I could eat it
myself.”
“Nice try. I wasn’t around when you were a
baby and I want to know what it feels like to feed one.”
Jennifer wasn’t sure she believed him, but
he left her no choice. Maybe he thought he’d scared her enough. She opened her
mouth and felt him fill it with something from an aerosol can.
“You’re going to love the taste of this
whipped cream.”
Whipped cream wouldn’t have been her choice
of food being this hungry, but just knowing she was going to have something to
eat made her happy and she stopped caring what it was. Having ice cream was a
child’s dream, wasn’t it? Jennifer tried to swallow but quickly realized
whatever he’d shot into her mouth expanded. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t
swallow. She was gasping for air. She started crying again, but quickly
realized what little passageway she had left didn’t leave room for doing
anything except breathing through her nose, and even that was bordering on
impossible. Jennifer drew in a deep intake of air and filled her lungs, but
that only made her lightheaded. The fumes from whatever he’d shot into her
mouth was making her nauseous and she wondered if she’d choke on her own vomit?
He seemed pleased by the noises she was making.
“You are such a fool, Jennifer. This is for
your mother.” She jerked wondering how he knew her name—how he knew her mother.
“Come with me,” he said pulling on her arm. He was leading her somewhere. When
a rush of wind whipped around her she knew they were outside. Jennifer hated being
cold, but the circulation of air was helping her breath better. All hope of
getting away had now vanished. She tripped and his grip tightened helping her
to remain upright. For some reason, the cold snow felt good on her bare feet,
and for the first time, being cold no longer mattered. Nothing mattered.
I will be giving away digital copies of Deadly
Obsessions to two lucky winners. Winners will be selected at random. All you
have to do is comment on this excerpt. Winners to be announced at the end of the
day.
Thank you for inviting me. I look forward to your
questions.
Connect with me here:
Connect with me here:
Website: www.carolynhughey.com
Twitter: http://bitly.com/1w1z3u8
Blog: http://bitly.com/1w1z3u8
8 comments:
Really creepy--which is a good thing! Congrats on the contract. Wishing you many sales.
Welcome, K.T, and congratulations on the contract with Montlake! What a creepy excerpt! (I swear I didn't read Jannine's comment first!) :-) I felt myself pushing back in my seat (to escape the guy) as I was reading! Wishing you much continued success. :-)
Love it! Nice and creepy, just my style. :) Huge congrats on the contract. That's very exciting! I love that this was based on a true story. Makes it more chilling. So glad you came by to visit us today!
Thanks so much for commenting Jannine. I'm glad you liked the excerpt.
Leah, Thanks so much for the kudos. I'm super excited about my contract.
Thanks for stopping by to comment.
Alicia, awesome that my writing is just your style, and it's a good thing because you just won a copy of Deadly Obsessions! Please send me the email address that you use on Amazon so I can gift you a copy.
Send you information to htmmah@gmail.com
Thanks for stopping by to read my blog post and for commenting.
And the second winner is Leah St. James. Please contact me at htmmah@gmail.com with the email address you use on Amazon.
Late getting here, but wanted to offer my congratulations too. Best of luck.
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