I've released my first full-length eBook novel through Amazon's Kindle Select, an exclusive program I've wanted to try. My indie book is called BLOOD SCORE and I've included a synopsis and an excerpt below. I'll be offering it for $2.99 through the end of August, in appreciation for the readers who have supported me and my publishers. I'm also doing a special promotion through Indie Book Promo on Aug 3rd for this launch. Details to follow.
Croco Designs did the stunning cover and here is a LINK to their portfolio on DeviantArt. I love working with the designer, Frauke Spanuth, out of Germany. She's amazing.
My dear Okie friends and fellow authors/editors, Alicia Dean and Kathy Wheeler helped with formatting and editing. They made that effort painless and fun.
This book was a long haul for me with plenty of soul searching. I worked on it between my YA contracts. I believed in it from the start and loved the voice of my two detectives, especially Gabe Cronan. My kind of guy. My agent and I got an offer to buy it from a major publisher, but I decided that self-publishing might be a better fit for me. I'm hoping to build my virtual shelf of offerings in between contracts through traditional publishers, but with this being my first self-published full novel, I'll be feeling my way through the promotion efforts.
I am updating a Self-Pub Resources tab on my blog at this LINK as I learn new things. Check it out and stay tuned for more.
Synopsis
A dangerous
liaison ignites the blood lust of a merciless killer
When a
beautiful socialite is savagely murdered in Chicago’s Oz Park, Detectives
Gabriel Cronan and Angel Ramirez find her last hours have a sinister tie to two
lovers. One is a mystery and the other is a famous violin virtuoso.
A child
prodigy turned world class musician, Ethan Chandler is young, handsome—and
blind. He’s surrounded by admirers with insatiable appetites for his undeniable
talent and guileless charm. From doting society women to fanatical stalkers and
brazen gold diggers, the reclusive violinist’s life is filled with an inner
circle of mesmerized sycophants who are skilled at keeping secrets.
After Cronan
and Ramirez expose a shadowy connection between Ethan and the victim with a private
elite sex club, they discover intimate desires and dark passions aren’t the
only things worth hiding at all cost. A vicious killer will stop at nothing to settle
a blood score.
BLOOD SCORE Excerpt:
When Angel Ramirez’s iPod changed
tracks and another song started, her cell phone rang and made her heart jump. A
call this time of night for a homicide cop was never a good thing, but when she
looked at the display screen, she recognized the phone number.
She answered the call as her
face flushed with heat.
“Hello?” Her voice cracked.
“Angel?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Caller ID told her who was
on the other end of the line, but she wanted to hear him say his name.
“This is Ethan.” His voice
was soft and low. When he breathed into the phone, she heard the rustle of his
bed sheets. “I couldn’t sleep…and I didn’t know who else to call. I hope I
didn’t wake you.”
Angel shut her eyes and
swallowed, hard. Ethan Chandler was a famous world-renowned violinist. With all
the people in his life, she found it sad that he had to reach out to a virtual
stranger when he needed to talk.
Had his dead girlfriend
been that person for him? She didn’t feel like questioning Ethan’s motives for
calling her at this hour, because she’d spent far too much time gazing into
death’s never ending black mirror. She understood what it felt like to be lost
and floundering in grief.
“No, you didn’t wake me. I
couldn’t sleep either.” She pulled her blanket over her breasts and nestled
into her pillows.
“Is that my music?” he asked.
Ethan had a smile in his
voice and the intimacy of that made it feel as if he were lying next to her.
She’d left her iPod playing. He must’ve heard it.
“Yes.”
Angel knew she should have asked why he’d called her
cell this time of night. He was still a suspect in his girlfriend’s murder. She
should have insisted he stop reaching out to her like this, but the truth
was…she liked it.
