Sunday, September 21, 2014

Mystery in history - New Release: Guns of the Texas Ranger


When Texas Ranger Ygnacio (“Nacho”) Ybarra slips across the border into Mexico, he is surprised by bandits and taken to confront an old acquaintance, Pancho Villa. The revolutionary leader charges Nacho to assist in corralling a rogue outlaw, Chulo Valdez. But that bandit lures Nacho into an attack on his own Ranger Company.

Guns of the Texas Ranger, volume one in the Border Trilogy, is a tale of Rangers Whitey Wilson and Red Regan and the girl they both love. And their search justice during the border wars, when only a small Ranger Company stands in the way of bandit raids. And how Ranger Nacho Ybarra prevented a war.
  
From the author: 
My novel started out as a mystery but it got carried away into action. Indeed there is a mystery - who shot the lieutenant that Nacho's son-in-law is accused of shooting? Nacho must find the real killer to save his son-in-law from the firing squad. But that all takes a back seat to Nacho's run-in with Pancho Villa and the bandit Chulo Valdez and plans to invade Texas.
Buy my western novels from the publisher (Oak Tree Press) or from Amazon. Or from me directly, for autographed copies.
www.daccrossley.typepad.com or dacxley@gmail.com.


 Dac Crossley

I grew up on a lonely road outside the lonely little town of Kingsville, Texas. I roamed the brush country and enjoyed the seasonal changes in scrub and animals, horned toads and red ants. Learned to hunt and fish with friends from the King Ranch, where I enjoyed Hispanic culture. I’m steeped in Texas history and traditions from my old pioneer family.

My genre is historic fiction set in South Texas, where the old west persisted into the 1920’s with undeclared border wars and Mexican bandits.  My grandfather fought bandits, his father fought Indians.  I grew up with sons of Texas Rangers and spent hours listening to their fathers.  I am well versed in South Texas history and culture.  I enjoy bringing that history and background to life in my fiction.  My settings are real and my characters drawn from experience.

I write about tales from my childhood, of Texas Rangers and Mexican bandits, fast horses and quick pistols, sheriffs and posses, lost trails and trains, and señoritas and Buffalo Gals. Of that arid land between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, where trees and women have thorns, and water is good to find.

Dac is offering a copy of his novel to one lucky person who leaves a comment! 
And the winner is Nancy LiParti! Congratulations, Nancy! Dac will be getting in touch with you for your mailing address.


Sunday, September 14, 2014

New Release: Once Upon A Crime



Love isn’t always a fairy tale…and Charlotte Ross has kissed her share of frogs, but that’s all behind her. Fleeing her life for a short break, Charlotte, along with her best friend Jane Marshall, find themselves at her aunt’s home in the sleepy town of Raven’s Caw, Michigan. Charlotte hopes to recover from another breakup with her fiancé, and her friend Jane, a new mystery writer, is looking forward to somewhere relaxing. But life has different plans for the two friends and they find themselves swept up in a whirlwind of romance, mystery and murder. 

Sparks fly between Jane and Charlotte’s attractive, Machiavellian cousin, Kenny. But is the attraction too good to be true or just a diversion from a mystery that has piqued her interest? Charlotte is pulled along on this roller-coaster of emotion when she meets up with her first love, as she and Jane discover links between a murder that happened twelve years earlier and a recent crime. Risking their lives and hearts, the friends race against the past in an effort to solve the crimes before one of them becomes the next victim.


Once Upon a Crime is available at:
Barnes and Noblehttp://tinyurl.com/lcpl5d9
Wings ePress: http://www.wings-press.com/
Other links: 
Website and bloghttp://evelyncullet.com/


Evelyn Cullet has been an aspiring author since high school when she wrote short stories. She began her first novel while attending college later in life, and while working in the offices of a major soft drink company. After college, she continued taking writing classes. Now, with an early retirement, she finally has the chance to do what she loves best: write full time. As a life-long mystery buff, she was a former member of the Agatha Christie Society, and is a current member of Sisters In Crime. When she's not writing mysteries, reading them or reviewing them, she hosts other authors and their works on her writers blog. She also plays the piano, is an amateur lapidary, and an organic gardener. Evelyn and her husband live in a suburb of Chicago.


We'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a free print copy of Once Upon a Crime.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Mystery of the Month: Murder in RV Paradise

From the author:
My Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series came about after I had written what I hoped was a humorous mystery novel originally titled Shirl Lock & Holmes. My protagonists, Shirley Lock and Dora Holmes are two 59-year old widows living in a retirement village in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Shirl is a private investigator’s widow and Dora a mystery novel buff who decide to put their investigative knowledge to work when their friends begin dropping dead alphabetically. I had lived in the valley for a dozen years and experienced the dense tule fog, thinking what a great place for a serial killer to hide after he kills his victims. There’s nothing humorous about that but I inserted some quirky characters into the plot to make it more interesting. The first book in the series was then published.

When my publisher died and the business closed, I changed the names of my characters to Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty and sold the series to another company.  Dana and Sarah had both aged to 60 and the plots took on social issues for them to deal with as well as the murders. In A Village Shattered the two women discover the identity of the serial killer when the newbie sheriff bungles the murder case. In Diary of Murder, they prove that Dana’s womanizing brother-in-law is responsible for her sister’s death and the amateur sleuths are nearly killed by his involvement in a drug ring. In Murder on the Interstate they unwittingly get involved in homegrown terrorist activities while vacationing in their motorhome in Arizona. 

After they move into Dana’s sister’s mansion in Wyoming, an old man comes to their rescue on Gray Wolf Mountain when someone shoots at their car, causing it to overturn. They soon learn that someone is killing wolves as well as humans and the old man is attempting to save the animals. Dana and Sarah not only help the man but aid in the capture of the killer.

My latest book in the series is Murder in RV Paradise. My senior sleuths are vacationing in an exclusive RV report in Texas where they find the body of a woman in one of the lakes. They soon learn that the victim had a shady past and that any one of hundreds of resort residents may have killed her. Narrowing down the suspects is a problem and they discover secrets that no one wants revealed. A little romance makes the plot more interesting as both women not only solve the crime but capture their soul mates as well.

Buy link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=murder+in+rv+paradise
 
Jean Henry Mead has published 20 books, half of them novels. She not only writes the Logan & Cafferty series, but the Hamilton Kids’ mysteries, Wyoming historicals and nonfiction books. She began her writing career as a news reporter in California, and later worked for Wyoming’s statewide newspaper. Mead also freelanced for the Denver Post’s Empire Magazine and has been published domestically as well as abroad. Among her other positions, she served as a magazine, news and small press editor.

Comment for a chance to win "Murder in RV Paradise."