Friday, April 27, 2018

New Release MURDER TAKES THE HIGH ROAD

In print, audio, and ebook!

MURDER TAKES THE HIGH ROAD 

Librarian Carter Matheson is determined to enjoy himself on a Scottish bus tour for fans of mystery author Dame Vanessa Rayburn. Sure, his ex, Trevor, will also be on the trip with his new boyfriend, leaving Carter to share a room with a stranger, but he can't pass up a chance to meet his favorite author.

Carter's roommate turns out to be John Knight, a figure as mysterious as any character from Vanessa's books. His strange affect and nighttime wanderings make Carter suspicious. When a fellow traveler's death sparks rumors of foul play, Carter is left wondering if there's anyone on the tour he can trust.

(His strange affect... (Not something you hear every day) ;-) 


EXCERPT

“Hey, you’re back,” I said.

“Hey, you’re sneaking out of Rose’s room,” he returned.

I looked around, making frantic shushing motions. His eyebrows rose.
“Rhymes with gurgleyme?” he suggested.

“No! Of course not.” I was both charmed that he played charades and irritated that he thought I was the world’s worst burglar. “Can we discuss this elsewhere?”

He turned the doorknob to our room and made an after you gesture. I slipped inside our room and turned to face him. “Sally told me Rose’s journal wasn’t found among her personal effects. She suggested I have a look for it just in case Rose might have hidden it.”

“If Sally suggested you jump off a bridge, would y—”

“Funny. No. I wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t have done this either except…”

“You read too many mysteries?”

“That’s not possible. And no.” I admitted grudgingly, “I know it’s a crazy thing to have done. I’m not sure why I gave in to temptation.”

He looked taken aback. “This is your idea of temptation?”

“The opportunity arose, that’s a lot of it.”

“Other opportunities have arisen. I didn’t see you jump at those.”

At first, I didn’t understand what he meant, but as I gazed into his solemn—too solemn?—brown eyes, I remembered the night before and that very casual suggestion we strip naked and share a sleeping bag. Not even a suggestion. A joke.

Or maybe not.

Judging by the faint twinkle in the back of his eyes, it seemed not.

I felt a totally unexpected—and probably inappropriate—rush of elation. I’d figured after he’d blown me off that morning, I’d misread John’s invitation of the night before. I’d been, well, disappointed. And now I was…not.

I did my best to tamp down my revived, um, interest. “Ben confirmed at lunch that there was a mysterious death on the last tour. A woman drowned in the bath.”

The twinkle in John’s eyes pinched out. He scowled. “There’s hardly anything mysterious about it. It might interest you to know that deaths from drowning in bathtubs have gone up seventy percent in the last decade. Someone in the US drowns in a bathtub, hot tub or spa Every Single Day.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. I’m not kidding.”

“But surely most of those are little kids?”

He said severely, “The point is, drowning in a bathtub is not as mysterious or suspicious as you seem to think. Bathtub drownings are one of the most common causes of accidental death.”

It seemed he really did work for an insurance company. Not that I had actively doubted it, but I had started to wonder after the morning’s cloak-and-daggery.

Did you find the journal?” he asked.

“No.”

He studied me for a moment. His disapproving expression relaxed. He seemed amused. “Do you really think Rose found some incriminating piece of evidence, and that piece of evidence got her killed?”

“No. Not exactly. I was curious though. The weird coincidences seem to be piling up. I feel like something is going on. I can’t put my finger on it, but… If I may say so, your own behavior is a little sketchy.”

“Mine?” There it was again. The wary look. “How so?”

“Let’s start with the midnight rambles. Insomnia or not, that’s not normal behavior. Most people read a book or have a glass of warm milk. I take half a sleeping pill when I can’t sleep.”

His face took on a bland look. “I do have a preferred method of dealing with it. However, you weren’t interested last night.”

I guess he’d given up on innuendo.

I’m too old to blush, but there’s something undeniably warming about flattery. I studied his face. Yeah, I did find him attractive. No question. I liked him. I wasn’t sure if I trusted him, but I didn’t have to trust him. This was the equivalent of a summer romance. Minus the romance.

I flipped the lock on our door, and said, “That was last night.”




You can buy this book at:


Amazon (print, audio, paperback)





17 comments:

  1. I’m completely new to the world of e-books, so excuse my confusion, but I recently discovered I could buy and read through iBooks and and consequently bought everything you had available in the Finnish store, but it turns out it’s not everything. Like this book, for example, is not available there, only in the US. And trying to change stores leads me to iTunes...? I’d assume that would work maybe for audiobooks, but I’m not trying to buy those. Any advice you could give me? These region issues are confusing as heck...

    Meri

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    1. Hi Meri!

      My first question is what device you're reading on? If you're using a device that reads epub, you can purchase through Kobo and iBooks -- but those would be in English. I only had a couple of books translated into Finnish.

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    2. Oh no, I prefer to read in the original language if I can, so English is completely fine. I use my Apple iPad and phone to buy and read through iBooks, but apparently there are some regional limitations, because Murder takes the high road is clearly listed as being on iBooks, but when I try to purchase it, I get notified that it’s not available in the Finnish store, would I like to switch to the U.S. store? And when I click yes, it takes me to iTunes Store. Why iTunes? And still can’t find any books. Never used iTunes for anything, so don’t know a thing about it. Got frustrated and tried Kobo, but it uses credit card payment, and I don’t have that option available (other bank cards work just fine for the rest of my life, so it hasn’t been worth the cost to get one). So, what I tried to ask is ‘are more of your books available in the U.S. version of iBooks store? Is it possible to make them available to the Finnish store as well? Magician murders was immediately available, and I pre-ordered the coming books too, didn’t have any trouble at that. It does seem like a regional issue with the others...?

      Just learning to use this, but it’s still fun ;) got to read some of your stories I never before managed to get my fingers on, so I’m not complaining :)

      And to your latest blog post, health and speedy recovery to you all involved. Best wishes,

      Meri

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  2. I absolutely loved this book. I hope we get a coda with Carter and John. I'm curious as to how they're doing.

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    1. <3 <3 <3

      They would make good candidates for a coda.

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  3. Will this book be available at Smashwords? I'll go for Kobo if not. I don't want to buy from Amazon.

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    1. Carina Press doesn't use Smashwords for distribution, but the book is available through iBooks, Kobo and B&N too!

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  4. I loved how Carter and John came together and would love another book continuing their story.

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  5. Loved the book - and the audiobook!

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    1. I'm so glad. The narrator was new to me, but he seems to have been a hit. :-)

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  6. I wish more of your work was available on Google Play. I don't use Apple, tried Kobo and B&N but I have no idea what format the ebook comes in. And Amazon doesn't sell epubs. Sigh.

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    1. Everyone but Amazon uses epub. I've heard good and bad things about Google Play, so it's still on my list for further investigation.

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    2. Oh, really? Thanks for the info re Kobo and B&N. I'll get a copy from one of them, then.

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  7. I ran into this on YouTube and I think it would be perfect for your next Parting Glass coda :D.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hMdoGet2A8

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    1. Gorgeous. Possibly one of my all time favorite versions of it. <3

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  8. Finally found some time to actually sit down and read this. And thoroughly enjoyed it! As a tour director myself, who was in fact reading it in the few spare minutes in the evenings while I was shepherding my own flock of 51, it tickled me completely! Carter and John were adorable, and the whole cast of crazy characters were so fun ^^

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