Not long ago, I wrote “the end” on the final chapter of the Home Found Suspense series. After all the work ended, the book went into production and then came Release Day!
Revelations Can Kill . . .
Lisa has spent her entire life hiding, on the run. She didn’t know anything different until Jake entered the picture. Now, he and his family give her a yearning for . . . home. Something she would never have because of the secrets she’d only recently learned about.
Jake is convinced that learning the truth about Lisa’s parents will release her to a new life. A life with him. But when he finds a body near his office – a man that he knows and has fought with before – Jake himself is on the run. From the authorities.
No place is safe. Lisa travels across the country, but she is still certain that she’s being followed, hunted. Even changing her name doesn’t seem to make a difference. And the closer Jake gets to finding answers, the more danger he thrusts upon them both.
Will the answers come at a price too high to pay in this thrilling conclusion to the Home Found Suspense series?
My pulse rate quickened. Adrenaline surged through my veins. I pressed myself against the side of the bank building at the corner of Patton and Coxe. Turned my head toward the direction of the sound.
Not much happening at five thirty in the morning. Streetlights cast eerie shadows against the buildings. A traffic light changed from red to green. Only a couple of cars passed beneath it. In front of the newspaper office, movement caught my attention. . .
The phone rang. I reached for it, but Alex grabbed it first.
“Hello?… No, ma’am, he left early this morning.”
When Alex turned his back to me, I rose and stepped in front of him. I didn’t care for the serious expression of his face. “What is it?”
He ignored me, speaking into the phone. “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. Yes. Yes, ma’am, I will. And ma’am, if he shows up there, will you ask him to call us, please? Thank you.”
I gripped his arm as he set the receiver down. “Alex, what is it?” His muscles flexed beneath my fingers.
“That was the editor’s secretary. Greta, I think?” His chair scraped against the vinyl floor as he stood.
“What did she say?”
“Someone found a body in the parking lot, so police have the entire area cordoned off. She was hoping to catch Jake before he left—to let him know.”
I sucked in a breath. “He should already be there. Ages ago. Unless…” It was Jake’s body? I couldn’t say the words aloud. That might make them true.
Open Water, Home Found Suspense Book 2 released yesterday but you can still download the Kindle version for only $2.99. Book One, Still Water, is also available for only $2.99.
Get yours before the price goes up! 🙂
I can’t wait to hear what my readers think of this second installment of my first suspense series. When you’ve read it, please take a moment to review it on Amazon. Short reviews are great. You don’t have to write a book report. The truth is, more reviews help our books get noticed.
My publisher has romance novels on sale for Valentine’s Day–beginning today. I’m excited about this sale. If you have never read Annabelle’s Ruth or Rebecca’s Legacy, now is a great time to do that. Click on the meme for direct links to purchase the books.
We are just four and a half weeks from the release of Open Water, book 2 of the Home Found series. I’m on pins and needles about this book. I had so much fun writing it, but let me tell you, there were tears along the way. Maybe a trail of tears. And danger.
Make a “date” to join Lisa and Jake on this second installment of the Home Found Suspense series!
Release Date: March 12, 2024
So many secrets whirl around in this second chronicle of the Home Found series. Lisa and Jake learn more about her past, and about each other, in this dramatic suspense.
Winner! Thank you, everyone who entered on last week’s blog post to win a $5 Amazon gift card. The winner is author, Terri Wangard! And it just so happens, Terri also has a book releasing on March 12. So, as a bonus, here’s a link to her new release, Seashells in My Pocket. Congratulations, Terri!
What’s up next for The Visitor, Connie B. Wright? She runs into a bit of challenge with her sister Kimberly, lakeside in Michigan. In a “snap” – she’s off again, to help her favorite brother’s daughter, Teagan out of a tough situation. Connie doesn’t look for trouble, it just kind of…follows her.
The Visitor – Contemporary Mystery & Light Suspense
What do an unmanned boat, a gardener’s secrets, and ghostly crying have to do with murder?
Kimberly McConil loves the old house she just bought, even if her twins seem to think she has no idea what she’s doing with the renovations. She doesn’t need her baby sister’s help either, but Connie is only there to organize a fundraiser for the Wright Foundation. At least, that’s what she says.
Still, Kimberly is rather pleased to have her sister with her when the sounds of the house move from common to creepy. And then there is the man who tries to break in . . .
Match wits with The Visitor as she unravels this knot of lies and the drama that it causes.
A quirky, old house…odd, unexplained noises… The locals say it’s haunted. Kimberly McConil bought it via the internet and intends to make it her forever home. With the help of her little sister–head of the family business, mystery and mayhem magnet–Connie Wright, she pursues the truth about the old house by the lake. This one will keep you guessing and might produce a chuckle or two along the way.
How do a Yellow Mustang, a missing dog, and a game of Clue set up a murder?
Connie B. Wright must unravel this mystery.
Teagan Wright is determined to impress Aunt Connie. Her fondest hope is to work with her for the Wright Foundation, and organizing a small part of this elaborate fundraiser is a great opportunity to show off what she can do.
But when her best friend is the victim of a hit and run, and her least favorite person winds up missing, Teagan becomes more focused on proving that she herself isn’t the one to blame.
Then there’s the body that she finds . . .
Match wits with The Visitor as she weaves through a treacherous route to uncover a game master.
The Visitor Plays a Game is a fun read and one you won’t want to put down until you find out whodunnit! Like a certain mystery solving board game, this story provides clues along the way. Teagan and her Aunt Connie B. Wright have to work hard to try to solve the mystery and prove a friend’s innocence before it’s too late. I couldn’t put it down until I’d read the oh, so satisfying ending. If you love a mystery, this is a must-read.
Nike Chillemi is very good at slapping my writing wrist. She’s a long-time critique partner who asks the probing questions and tells it to me straight. I try to do the same for her, though on this latest release, I didn’t have to work so hard. Besides her “deadly” wrist-rapping ability, she’s pretty skilled at suspense.
I enjoyed working on Deadly Designs. For one thing, I loved the characters. Since this is the second novel featuring Ronnie Ingles and Dawson Hughes, they felt like family, and I was happy to be along for the ride. I posed a few questions for Nike, just so I could feature her second book in the series on my blog. Here’s how it went:
For those readers who may not know, how did Veronica “Ronnie” Ingles first meet Dawson Hughes?
Ronnie and Dawson met in the first novel in the series, HARMFUL INTENT. Ronnie’s husband has been cheating on her in Abilene, Texas. Immediately after this sassy Brooklyn, NY private investigator arrives in west Texas and confronts him, he’s murdered. Handsome Deputy Hughes isn’t convinced this heavily-armed city gal didn’t kill her husband.
How did you come up with your idea for this series?
The series has been writing itself. The concept keeps enlarging. It started out quite small, as a writing challenge for a short story, of all things. The objective was to take a character and place them somewhere uncomfortable to them and then stress them even more. I took city gal Ronnie Ingels, plopped her in west Texas and then have her virtually accused of killing her cheating husband. The short story grew to 55,000 words, then to a full-length novel at 81,000 words.
Tell us about your favorite place to write.
Writing Space!
As far as a favorite place to write…I have my computer desk. We live in a two-floor, three bedroom, brick, attached-house in Brooklyn. A three bedroom house in the city isn’t as large as one in the suburbs or in a rural area, and our lot is tiny. I’m a NYC gal, just like my heroine Ronnie. My writing space is my desk…that’s it. A great deal has come out of this little ‘creative’ space.
Tell us a bit about Deadly Designs.
Private investigator Veronica “Ronnie” Ingels teams up with Deputy Dawson Hughes to find a geeky radio broadcaster’s missing wife and young daughter. They fear the woman and child were taken by Islamic terrorists as revenge against the husband’s pro-Israel, conspiracy theory broadcasts. The investigation takes Ronnie and Hughes from a manicured Connecticut estate, to interviews with an elitist A-List society crowd, and run-ins with cranky local police detectives. Then they plunge deep into the seamy, drug-riddled underbelly of the fashion world, with the specter of international terrorism hovering.
Hughes has recently been promoted to lieutenant in the Taylor County, Texas Sheriff’s Department. He’s on leave on a special assignment with Authorized Operations (AO), a clandestine, quasi-government agency operating out of a sea-side mansion in Hither Hills, NY. The only thing is, many powerful politicians, and government big-wigs claim Authorized Operations doesn’t exist.
Ronnie is furious at both Hughes and the broadcaster for waiting thirty-six hours to start the search. She knows the longer it takes, the less chance there is of finding the child alive. The problem is, radio talk-show host Ed Harper has been hoping-against-hope that his pot-smoking, model wife is on one of her ‘esoteric experiences’ and has simply taken the child while she romps for a few days. He doesn’t want to seriously consider the other, more hazardous possibility… that his radio broadcasts have angered some very dangerous people.
What’s up next for Ronnie and Dawson? Are you stopping at a trilogy?*
The third novel in the series is BLOOD SPEAKS. Ronnie and Dawson have become engaged to be married. Ronnie and her two gal-pals (from the first two books in the series) are on a bridal shopping spree. Ronnie thinks she’s finally arrives at a threshold in her life where nothing will spoil things. Hmm, then there’s a murder. And naturally the killer begins stalking Ronnie and her bridesmaids. This one has a political spin on it. *See next question for answer to second part.
Do you have any other works (or ideas) in process you can tell us about?
In DEADLY DESIGNS, I introduce all the heroes in this extended series. One of them is Dr. Dimitri Garmonin, forensics psychologist for the NYPD. He is the hero in book four. There will be three novels with this charming profiler and the lovely lady cop he can’t get off his mind. This will be a ‘law enforcement couples’ series. At this time I’m planning for twelve novels in all. Main characters from one trilogy may turn up in another trilogy as secondary or minor characters.
More about Nike Chillemi
Like so many writers, Nike Chillemi started writing at a very young age. She still has the Crayola, fully illustrated book she penned (colored might be more accurate) as a little girl about her then off-the-chart love of horses. Today, you might call her a crime fictionista. Her passion is crime fiction. She likes her bad guys really bad and her good guys smarter and better.
Nike is the founding board member of the Grace Awards and is its Chair, a reader’s choice awards for excellence in Christian fiction. She has been a judge in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories; and an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. Her four novel Sanctuary Point series, set in the mid-1940s has finaled, won an award, and garnered critical acclaim. HARMFUL INTENT released under the auspices of her own publishing company, Crime Fictionista Press, won in the Grace Awards 2014 Mystery/Thriller/Romantic Suspense/Historic Suspense category. Her new release is DEADLY DESIGNS. She has written book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and John 3:16 Marketing Network. http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/
Betty Thomason Owens 