Complicating the investigation is a local politician who’s afraid the Wrens will uncover his financial transgressions, while a female reporter, with her own agenda, is suggesting that Wrens be replaced.

As the investigation moves to a climax, Wrens is drawn to a twenty five year old murder and the convicted murderer, who’s just been released from prison.

FAVORITE QUOTE FROM FIRST CHAPTER:
 
"I don't have an enemy in the world."

BOOK COVER:

I am intrigued by the woman on the cover. Was that the girl he had words with in the first chapter?

FIRST CHAPTER REVIEW:

One of the things I loved about this first chapter was how the author showed the many sides of the protagonist, Clay Wrens. He's obviously afraid of commitment toward marriage but is totally committed to his job. I mean totally. Seriously I think his heart is trying to be in the right place, but his job is #1. Sometimes one can't be in two places at the same time without one of them overriding the other no matter how you try. So we open this chapter with him sitting in a restaurant and he's remembering a little spat between him and his girlfriend which I take it it was more than a little spat; she doesn't want to see him again. He's sitting there and there's an accident out front of which he flies out there (the detective in him) to find out what happened and this is mostly the gist of the first chapter. But it is in this chapter we get to know Clay Wrens. He's not  good in the romance department but great in the career department.

KEEP READING?

Sure, I'd keep reading. I want to know if he and his girlfriend ever make up? And the hit and run - is this a hint as to what the rest of the book is going to be about or was it one of many things the detective goes through? Guess I'll have to read more!

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3cS2I4b

A man wakes up in present-day Alaskan wilderness with no idea who he is, nothing on him save an empty journal with the date 1898 and a mirror. He sees another man hunting nearby, astounded that they look exactly alike. After following this other man home, he witnesses a wife and child that brings forth a rush of memories of his own wife and child, except he’s certain they do not exist in modern times—but from his life in the late 1800s. After recalling his name is Wyatt, he worms his way into his doppelganger Travis Barlow’s life. Memories become unearthed the more time he spends, making him believe that he’d been frozen after coming to Alaska during the Gold Rush and that Travis is his great-great grandson. Wyatt is certain gold still exists in the area and finding it with Travis will ingratiate himself to the family, especially with Travis’s wife Callie, once Wyatt falls in love. This turns into a dangerous obsession affecting the Barlows and everyone in their small town, since Wyatt can’t be tamed until he also discovers the meaning of why he was able to be preserved on ice for over a century.

A meditation on love lost and unfulfilled dreams, The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner in present day Alaska and a historical adventure about the perilous Gold Rush expeditions where prospectors left behind their lives for the promise of hope and a better future. The question remains whether it was all worth the sacrifice….

Praise for THE ANCESTOR:

“Lee Matthew Goldberg is an animal—there is no other way to say it. His prose is heavyweight ambitious, as visceral as a sweaty-toothed dog at your throat. He evokes Robert Louis Stevenson as much as he does a modern thriller novelist. And I’ll be honest: I expected a crime novel, but I got a spell-binding epic, an epistolary revelation, a tale as rich as a paying gold mine. The Ancestor is more than a novel. It’s an ode to the rich tradition of adventure storytelling…seasoned with ample spice of love and violence and greed.” —Matt Phillips, author of Countdown and Know Me from Smoke

“In The Ancestor, Lee Matthew Goldberg masterfully weaves together a story involving family and violence set against the backdrop of an unforgiving Alaska of both past and present.” —Andrew Davie, author of Pavement and Ouroboros

“From the icy opening battle of man vs. wolf, you feel yourself in the hands of a master storyteller and that feeling never lets up.” —SJ Rozan, bestselling author of Paper Son

“This thrilling novel is rich in descriptions of the vast, snowy, and deadly wilderness of Alaska; it ably captures the type of person who chases gold.” —Foreword Reviews

“A story that blends the familiar and the supernatural in a manner that calls Stephen King’s work to mind. That said, Goldberg’s book possesses a flavor all its own—a distinctive mélange of the sincere and the strange.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Beautifully written, and capturing the unforgiving grit of Gold Rush Alaska, Lee Matthew Goldberg’s The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner with an ache in its heart. I’m a huge fan.” —Roz Nay, author of Hurry Home and Our Little Secret

“A suspenseful historical thriller.” —Indie Reader

“One of the year’s best thrillers. Blake Crouch fans will love Goldberg’s Alaskan opus.” —BestThrillers

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/31Oays9

Down and Out Books → https://downandoutbooks.com/bookstore/goldberg-ancestor/

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels THE DESIRE CARD, THE MENTOR, and SLOW DOWN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. The second book in the Desire Card series, PREY NO MORE, is forthcoming, along with his Alaskan Gold Rush novel THE ANCESTOR. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fringe, dedicated to publishing fiction that’s outside-of-the-box. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press, Monologging and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City. Follow him at leematthewgoldberg.com.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://www.leematthewgoldberg.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LeeMatthewG

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leemgol

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53472461-the-ancestor

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

5 Things You Should Know About Lord Shallow

1.      One early plot element may be a dealbreaker for many romance writers. I’ll keep it secret here, but it’s key to Sebastian’s character. This hero is complicated—but honorable—which makes a romance between him and my heroine, Gwynna, seemingly impossible. (Not to worry!)

2.      The Welsh island of Anglesey is the backdrop for much of this book. It’s an enchanting place. I stood at the edge of a cliff jutting out into the sea, mesmerized by the fluffy white clouds reflecting off sun-dappled waves as far as I could see. The photo I took that day is the background of the Lord Shallow cover.

3.      Sebastian and Gwynna spend a rainy night on the island in a Neolithic tomb. It’s a real place, similar to Newgrange in Ireland, only not overrun by tourists. I was surprised to find that getting to this historical treasure was a simple matter of walking up a country road, through a grove of trees and onto farmland, where the ancient barrow takes shape like a sleeping giant awakening.

4.      I got a little carried away with this book. The themes grew bigger and the chapters longer. Perhaps it was because much about the people who built those tombs and mysterious stone circles remains lost to prehistory. That, and the fascinating Welsh legends and tales, made it hard to stop writing. But I forced myself to cut 12,000 words from my original draft—thank goodness.

5.      There’s an older couple romance! I’ve been playing with this theme in a few of my books, but in Lord Shallow their romance is integral. Angus, 55, is the stoic Scot who raised Sebastian after his parents died. Hannah, eight years younger, possesses a steely disposition born of a challenging life. Angus must turn his long-futile hopes into action, and Hannah must find a way to let him in past that hard shell.

Title: LORD SHALLOW (Maitland’s Rogues Book 2)
Author: Eileen Putman
Publisher: Anglesey Press
Pages: 364
Genre: Regency Historical Romance

BOOK BLURB:

To all of London, Sebastian Traherne is a pretentious fop who prizes his tailor over his dukedom. In truth, he’s an obsessively rational fellow protecting a secret marriage. When a prickly Welsh miss arrives at his crumbling castle one gloomy night, she upends his world—and every principle he holds dear. Worse, she believes in a silly fairy tale known as True Love.

Gwynna Owen might be the last true Princess of Wales, but she needs this very English duke to claim her legacy and vanquish a tyrant. When Sebastian quickly sees through her boy’s disguise, she must plead her case with only a rusty dagger—and sapphire eyes that conjure what he most wishes to avoid.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: One early surprise may be a deal breaker for some romance fans. If you’re looking for classic Regency historical that fits a formula, Lord Shallow may not be your cup of tea. Yet character will out. Here you’ll find a man who is so much more than he seems and a woman who’s finding her voice after years of having it suppressed. Their struggle as they make their way to one another is this story’s truth.

About Maitland’s Rogues: Andrew Maitland’s group of daring English rogues risk all for their country. Hardened and deadly, they have no use for love—until it ensnares them…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53327233-lord-shallow

ORDER YOUR COPY

 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087NTVNNR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lord-shallow-eileen-putman/1137041462?ean=2940164395476
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1513740067
Google play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Eileen_Putman_Lord_Shallow?id=J9_kDwAAQBAJ

_____________________

Winter 1820

“That damned swindler.”

From the office door of Calder and Company, Lena Frost could see the key, left precisely in the middle of the empty desktop. Everything else was gone: Horatio’s inkwell, his penknife, his little toys, even the carved bird he’d been toying with for the last several weeks. She knew what it meant: Horatio had left. For good.

But did he take the money? She snatched up the key as she rounded the desk. Perhaps he’d left it—or at least enough to pay the remaining craftsmen and open the ex- hibition. Perhaps: the word felt hollow.

Five of the six desk drawers stuck out several inches. Horatio had left in haste. She looked through the drawers, now a jumble. Unused correspondence paper in a variety of sizes. An assortment of bills, paid—because she had paid them—to the end of the quarter. A handful of artist’s crayons, almost used up. She picked up the sanguine pencil, its tip a ruddy red against her hand, then tossed it back into the drawer. Horatio was a talented artist, but his real skill was with words, most of them lies.

Nothing in the drawers was of any importance.

Only the drawer where she kept the money box was still shut. If the money was gone, her only hope would be to keep it quiet until she could open the exhibition. Subscribers had paid in advance to see what everyone was calling the most important art exhibition of the year. If she didn’t open, she’d have to refund their money. If she could make it two more weeks . . .

She hesitated before turning the key, torn between needing to know and dreading the knowledge.

No. Whatever is here—or isn’t—I will face it, as I always have. She turned the key. The drawer opened about four inches, then stuck. Hope bloomed for a moment. Perhaps the money box was still there, wedging the drawer in place, its banknotes and coin all still neatly arranged in di- vided trays. She pushed the drawer in, then tugged it out. But nothing would make it open wider.

She slid her hand in flat; there wasn’t room to make a fist. Then she inched her fingers forward. She felt nothing but the wooden bottom of the drawer. When she reached the halfway point, her stomach turned sour. The box was gone. But she kept reaching, needing to know the drawer was empty before she let herself sink into the despair already pooling inside her.

At the very back of the drawer, almost past her reach, her fingertips felt the edge of a thick piece of paper. A banknote? Perhaps he had left her enough to open the exhibition? Or at least to pay her rent? Pressing the tips of her fingers against the paper, she dragged it forward and out. The note was folded over twice, and she hesitated a moment, afraid of what it might tell her.

The paper was fine, well made, one of the sheets she used to correspond with wealthy patrons and subscribers. That in itself was strange: Horatio normally wrote on paper with a large watermark of Britannia in the middle of the page. He’d play a game with the ghost image, positioning his salutation so that Britannia would look at the name of the addressee or so that her spear would intersect with his period to make an invisible exclamation at the end of his sentences. Lena had shaken her head at his games, finding it hard to remain angry or frustrated with him. But if he’d endangered the exhibition, she might remain angry with him forever.

Tightening her jaw, she unfolded the page. In the center, Horatio had lettered a single word: “RUN.”

The despair in her stomach turned instantly to an unreasoning fear. Every creak, every groan of the old building sounded like a warning. Run.

She pushed the drawer closed, locked it, and replaced the key in the center of the desktop.

Surveying the room, she tried to imagine where Hora- tio might have hidden the money box. But, other than the desk, two chairs, and the old engravings stuck with pins to the walls, the room was almost empty. Everything was just as it had been for the last two years, except the money was gone, and Horatio with it.

All he’d left her was the note. She held it out, examin- ing the way Horatio’s R curved oddly beneath the bottom of the U, and the final stroke of the N trailed upward. An extra blotch of ink widened the line slightly before the tip, like the hand of a clock. She held the page up to the light. No watermark, no secret design that played with the letters.

She stood, her arms wrapped around her chest, the note limp in one hand. She’d never expected him to betray her, to leave her with no way out but to run. All her energy, her passion, drained out onto the wooden floor and seeped away between the boards. The exhibition would fail. She would fail. And this time she had nowhere to . . . run.

She traced the malformed letters of the note once more, then she crushed it against her palm and shoved it in her pocket.

From the outer office, the hallway door creaked open. When Horatio’d said run, she had no idea he meant so soon. Suddenly afraid, she scanned the room. The inner office door was partly open. The drop from the window to the street was three stories. She had nowhere to hide, and only seconds to make a decision.

Heavy footfalls approached. Though the crew and the ticket seller had left soon after she’d returned, the office door remained open to prospective subscribers until she or Horatio left for the evening. But should the intruder be dangerous, she would have no help. She looked down at her clothes, her best dress and coat worn to meet a pub- lisher who’d agreed to sell engraved prints of the panorama. With only a moment to imagine a plan, she flung herself into a chair before the desk. Her only hope was to pretend to be someone else.

A tall man, strongly built, pushed the door open. Stand- ing in the doorway, he seemed like one of the statues from the Loggia dei Lanzi come to life. And he was beautiful. His clothes caressed his form, revealing powerful shoul- ders, narrow waist, and firmly muscled thighs. His black hair curled in thick waves like Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus. In Florence, she’d marveled at the sculptures of the classical gods, their muscles detailed in marble or bronze. But she’d never realized how breathtaking it would be for those ancient heroes to come to life.

He examined the room slowly before he turned his attention to her. And when his eyes met hers, it was both exhilarating—and terrifying.

“Are you Mr. Calder? I wanted to subscribe to the ex- hibition in your Rotunda.” She kept her tone breathless and a little naive. “I saw a panorama once when I was a child—the Temples of Greece—and I’ve never forgotten it, how you could stand in the middle and feel as if you had been transported to a different place and time.” She spoke quickly, letting her words jumble together in a rush of enthusiasm. “I’m looking forward to seeing your painting. I’ve read all the clues you’ve advertised for de- ciphering the topic. I think it must be Waterloo. What else could be painted in such a grand scale? How hard must it be to paint all those figures—the horses, the flags, our men marching valiantly into battle? It must be such a glorious scene!”

“Don’t forget the carrion birds and the jackals ripping apart the bodies of the dead.” His voice was stern, but the sound of it resonated down the line of her spine. “Or the bodies broken apart by the cannon or the bayonet.”

“Well, sir!” She rose, feigning offense. “If you treat a prospective subscriber so rudely, I will spend my sixpence elsewhere.” She walked briskly toward the door. When he didn’t move out of her way, she stopped just out of his reach.

He was considering her carefully, examining her clothes and her figure beneath them. Under the focused attention, Lena felt exposed, like a rabbit who’d encountered a hungry hawk.

Refusing to be intimidated, she examined him in turn. His eyes were a cold green, his chin firm. His cravat, tied loosely around his neck, made her wish it was tied even more loosely. Her fingers itched for her sketchbook and pencil. Oh, that he would be just another would-be subscriber! Then—perhaps—she could convince him to sit for her. She pushed the thoughts away. He might be handsome, even devastatingly so, but if he were Horatio’s enemy, he would likely be hers as well.

He remained in the doorway, and his stare intensified. She felt the heat of it along her neck and cheeks. Her stomach twisted, but whether in attraction or fear, she couldn’t be certain. The silence between them grew, and Horatio’s message echoed in her ears: Run.

“Will you at least be a gentleman and remove yourself from the doorway?” She pulled her shoulders back, as she did with suppliers who wished to take their fee from Horatio instead of from her.

For a moment, he looked abashed, as if he hadn’t considered that his behavior was ungentlemanly.

“It appears we both have business with Calder, and we are both disappointed.” He stepped away from the door- way, giving her ample room to escape.

Then, as she passed, he offered her a low bow, as if she were a princess or queen. She felt his stare on her back as she walked purposefully, but not too quickly, to the outer office door. She refused to look back at him, afraid to reveal her fear—or her interest.

When she reached the outer door, she allowed herself one last look at her Greek-god-come-to-life, but he had already moved into the office and out of sight. She stepped into the hall, listening. A subscriber likely wouldn’t wait too long for Horatio to return.

She heard the desk drawers open and close, and papers rustle. Not a subscriber then, and her disappointment felt like a rock in the pit of her belly. She waited another minute, but when she heard him wrestling with the stuck drawer, she finally took Horatio’s advice. 

She ran.

_____________________

____________________

 

Rachael Miles writes ‘cozily scrumptious’ historical romances set in the British Regency. Her books have been positively reviewed by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, which praised her ‘impeccably researched and beautifully crafted’ novels, comparing her works to those of Jo Beverly and Mary Jo Putney. Her novel, Reckless in Red, won first place in adult fiction: novels in the National Federation of Press Women’s writing contest. A native Texan, Miles is a former professor of book history and nineteenth-century literature. She lives in upstate New York with her indulgent husband, three rescued dogs, and all the squirrels, chipmunks, and deer who eat at her bird feeders.

Website: rachaelmiles.com

Twitter Address: http://www.twitter.com/rachael_miles1

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rachaelmilesauthor

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

5 Things You Should Know AboutThe Sex Dare: A Married Couples’ 21 Day Guide to Great Sex

1: The sexist organ of the human body lies between your EARS. The Sex Dare will guide you in utilizing this organ to create intimacy and hotter sex in your marriage.

2: Your sexual performance and satisfaction are tied up in what you THINK about sex. The entire reason this book exists is because today’s society has trained couples to think incorrectly about the meaning and purpose of sex.

3: If your marriage is in trouble or you feel embarrassed to ask your spouse to read this with you, you can read the book alone to enhance your marriage.

4: I also recommend this book to singles who are getting themselves ready for marriage and couples who are engaged or thinking about pursuing marriage.

5: Even if your marriage is good, you can use this book to make it great! Marriages need continual watering to flourish for years.

About the Book

Title: THE SEX DARE: A MARRIED COUPLES’ 21 DAY GUIDE TO GREAT SEX
Author: Tenisha Collins
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 82
Genre: Christian Nonfiction

BOOK BLURB:

  Sex is great and feels real, real good! Societal trends advocate doing whatever feels good, including having sexual intercourse with someone you are not married to. The limelight shining on sex isn’t a good one. It’s almost impossible to find positive models of sex while married, in any medium, today. Television sitcoms, movies, magazines, romance novels, gossip radio, and talk shows all highlight marriages consumed with infidelity, trust issues, dehumanizing sex or a lack of sexual intimacy. Most mediums imply that singles are the ones having the best sex of their lives and, if they do marry, great sex ends after the honeymoon. But the truth is, God has reserved great sex for a husband and his own wife — period! This guide removes all the defective propaganda surrounding sex so that a husband and wife BOTH enjoy sex without any issues. In just 21 days, married couples could be having the best, bed-breaking, intoxicatingly addictive sex with one another. Go ahead and read it…I dare you!

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Amazon → https://bit.ly/SEXDARE