Promised Lies - A Detective Blanchette Mystery Book 1 by Marguerite Ashton Book Tour and Giveaway :)
Promised Lies
A
Detective Blanchette Mystery Book 1
by
Marguerite Ashton
Genre:
Mystery, Thriller
Detective
Lily Blanchette has a lot on her plate…
Her
sister Celine has recently been murdered and her parents are on the
brink of divorce. Now she’s lead on a multiple murder
investigation.
Six
months after Lily’s sister’s death, the bodies of two young women
are discovered. One look at the way the bodies have been posed and
Lily knows her sister’s killer is back.
And
she’s determined to get him.
When
Lily visits the family of victim Tanya O’Neal, she learns the woman
had arranged to meet a man going by the handle CtryGeek23 on the
social networking site Scatter.
Lily
thinks finding the man behind the account is key to solving the
case.
But
CtryGeek23 is very clever, and Lily has her work cut out for her. As
she digs around, clues point her to a local brewery where she
discovers the body of another young woman.
The
more Lily digs, the more she thinks there is more than one murderer
at work, and CtryGeek23 is the mastermind.
But
who is he?
And
how will they catch him?
As
the investigation comes to life, death hits closer to home, and Lily
discovers she may not be who she thinks she is at all.
Filled
with plot turns, suspense and mystery, Promised Lies will leave you
wondering how well anybody knows anyone…
**On
sale for .99 cents!**
Lily leaned on the steering wheel
and squinted at the tall figure in her headlights. She eased her foot
off the gas pedal and watched as the figure dragged something off the
road. “Did you see that?”
“It could’ve been road kill,”
Morgan said.
Lily slowed down. She pulled the
truck off to the side where she peered at an object lying on the
pavement. “It’s a cellphone.” Throwing the gear into park, she
hopped out.
“Wait a second. Let me call it
in.”
Lily squatted down next to the
cellphone.
Morgan came up next to her.
“They’re sending out a car.”
Lily put her hand up.
“Backlight’s going out. Phone was just used.” She stood and
scanned the cornfield. “Someone’s out there and most likely in
trouble.”
Lily’s heart raced as she ran
back to her truck, collecting her gun and badge from underneath the
seat. She placed her gun in her hip holster and clipped her badge on
the opposite side onto her belt. “That wasn’t an animal.”
“You’re not going out there,”
Morgan said.
Lily grabbed the flashlight from
the side pocket on the door and sprinted over to spot where the
figure had disappeared.
She turned on the flashlight and
drew a circle using the light rays near her feet. “It looks like
drag marks.”
“Back-up is coming. It’s
dark. No way we’re going hunting in some damn cornfield.”
Lily sighed. Morgan was right,
but whoever had been hauled off was in trouble and running out of
time.
A piercing scream erupted in the
distance. Lily took off toward the sound, using her flashlight and
the dull glow from the city lights to guide her.
In a matter of seconds, her feet
pounded the soft soil leading away from the safety of her truck.
She glanced over her shoulder and
saw her partner running parallel with her, but staying closer to the
road.
On the other side of the fence
row, footsteps matched hers in beat as they trampled the pile of
fallen leaves scattered among the field. Lily picked up her pace,
running hard and fast, tussling with buck thorn branches as they
swatted her face and throat.
Strings of hanging barb wire
nipped at her clothes as she dodged several leaning fence posts. The
chilling wind penetrated her torn clothing and lapped at the slits in
the fabric on her thigh and calf.
A few seconds later, a prickly
burn in her leg forced Lily to stop. It felt like thin shards of
glass sliced into her raw flesh, imbedding themselves into the jagged
gashes. She hiked up her pants leg and shined the light on the
wounds. Those damn branches.
Lily’s chest heaved with
exertion as disappointment overwhelmed her. The footsteps tapered off
into the darkness. He was getting away.
She fell to her knees and clutched her injured leg in agony.
Lily glanced over at the road. It
was silent. And she was alone. Where did Morgan go? The terror that
lay beneath her bold judgment to rescue someone had surfaced.
Then, several yards away, Lily
saw an outline walking towards her. Instinctively, she reached back,
gripping her nine millimeter, giving her the reassurance she still
had control. “Stop! Police!”
The outline continued toward her.
Lily unfastened the holster and
the person stopped, sheltered by the trees. She could tell by the
masculine build it wasn’t Morgan.
“Get down on the ground and put
your hands behind your head,” Lily demanded.
“Lily?” Morgan shouted,
coming up from the rear.
Relieved to hear the voice of her
best friend, Lily exhaled, but kept her eyes front, ready to pull her
firearm and shoot if he dared to make one move in her direction.
As Morgan approached, the
unidentified man turned and fled in the other direction.
“Are you all right?” Morgan
offered her hand.
“Terrified.”
As Lily and Morgan made their way
out to the road, they heard movement near the fence. Lily stopped,
aimed her light and followed the beams over a pile of clothing, then
upon a woman’s face.
The victim moaned and threw up
her arm to shield her eyes from the light.
Morgan jogged over to the young
lady and stooped next to her to ask a few questions.
Exhausted, Lily limped to a
grassy patch and sat down. She could still see Morgan. For the
moment, that was all that mattered.
Lily looked at the stretch of
road she’d traveled on several occasions; one of those occasions
jabbed at her memory like nails being pounded into hard recycled
wood.
Celine’s funeral.
A snapping sound brought Lily out
of her thoughts. She looked toward the hazard lights flashing on her
truck and saw a yellow strip flapping in the wind a few feet away
from her.
She rose, took a couple more
steps, and squinted at the bold black
lettering printed on the tape, which kickstarted her heart.
County Road K.
She was near the crime scene.
Her
Final Watch
A
Detective Blanchett Mystery Book 2
Speaking
second-hand truths can be deadly …
Detective
Lily Blanchette will stop at nothing to solve a murder. Her current
case involves the killing of an undercover cop working to bring down
the mob for prostitution and drugs.
But
Lily's usual laser-like focus on the case has been disrupted.
Two
weeks earlier, she learned she was pregnant by her murderous husband
whom she'd killed in self-defense. Unsure whether to keep her baby or
place the child of this cruel man up for adoption, Lily keeps the
pregnancy a secret from her colleagues.
Under
mounting pressure to solve the case, Lily arranges a sit-down with a
local mob boss only to find out her suspect is also wanted by them.
But before Lily can warn her team, she and her new partner, Jeremiah,
are shot at, and another body is found.
When
she discovers Jeremiah has a connection with the underworld, she is
pulled into a conflict that swirls around the boss's son who's
hell-bent on revenge.
To
add to the complexity of the situation, Lily learns that her victim
might still be alive if it wasn't for opportunistic Assistant
District Attorney, Ibee Walters, who has a twisted vision of
justice.
As
Lily gets closer to finding the killer, she unravels ugly secrets
that point to Ibee and Jeremiah - placing Lily's life and her unborn
child in danger.
**On
sale for .99 cents!**
Chapter 1
December
10, 2015 4:13 p.m.
Detective
Ariel Weeks stabbed at the small block of ice until it split into
several pieces across the counter. She tossed the jagged cubes into
the glass and made her client a drink.
In less than
twenty-four hours, Ariel would no longer have to use the name Jasmine
and keep men company to protect her cover. All she needed to do was
make it through this last night, and she’d be allowed to be who she
was; a mom just doing her job.
After gathering
evidence and recording all the data she had, it would be hard to
detach. Towards the end, she’d learned things she’d wished
weren’t true, leaving her stomach in tattered knots.
Back at home, there
were two reasons Ariel would never take on another undercover
assignment.
Click.
Ariel ground her
teeth as the door to Cabin D opened and closed. She could feel Mikey
Surace, the mob boss’s son, staring at the backless white dress she
wore at his request.
The man who smiled
at the sight of blood was standing behind her, breathing heavily.
She turned and
handed Mikey his drink. “Your gin and grapefruit.”
Mikey took the drink
and pulled Ariel down on the bed next to him. His hand, smooth like
velvet, traced over her dark brown skin, along the length of her arm
and rested on her thigh. “I had a shitty day.” He loosened his
tie, removed his gun and put it on the ottoman.
Ariel stole a glance
at the weapon, thinking of ways to grab it before he did. Just in
case. “Wanna talk about it?”
“I had my talk
with Pop. He wants me to get married and have kids so I can take over
as head of the family soon. He wants our family to be seen as more
law-abiding than the other three families.”
“Nowadays, no one
gets married to have a family. Would he accept a long engagement?”
“No way. My old
man still believes in marrying now, ask questions later.” Mikey
took a sip of his drink and sat it down on the nightstand table. “My
father asked my mother to marry him on her seventeenth birthday.”
“I’m sure you’ll
find a woman who’ll accept you for who you are, who won’t care
about the lifestyle you lead, and who knows when not to ask questions
about your business.”
“You always say
the right things. Why won’t you let me take care of you?” he
asked, planting a kiss on Ariel’s full lips. “This is my third
time asking you to be with me.”
Ariel wanted to wipe
off the lingering citrus taste from her mouth but didn’t out of
fear. She had already been spotted by one of Surace’s men and
couldn’t believe that she was still alive. Probably because Ariel,
at any moment, could tell the boss things that the other person was
doing, clearing herself from any suspicion and allowing her to keep
her cover. Even that wasn’t a guarantee.
Drops of rain
peppered the window facing out at the bare branches of a willow tree.
Wind hissed against the cabin.
Ariel stared into
Mikey’s almond-shaped eyes. The olive tint of his skin masked his
fiery temper. Things were getting heavy and out of control for a
first time U.C. like herself.
She undid the strap
on her stilettos and let them drop to the floor. “Because your
ex-girlfriend is in charge of my money and I need every penny. I
wanna make my money and maybe one day get out. It’s a dream of mine
to stop escorting and waiting tables at the club.”
“If you get with
me, you won’t need money.” Mikey cupped Ariel’s chin and
squeezed. “Why do you keep turning me down?”
“I’m not turning
you down.” She pulled out of his grip and rubbed her chin. “I
don’t want to ruin my friendship with your ex. She’s my bestie
and the only one I can trust in this business.”
“You don’t trust
me?”
“You’re a
dangerous man.”
“I’m only
dangerous to those who cross me.”
Ariel wanted to ask
Mikey if he’d kill her but decided against it. It was best to
redirect the conversation and talk about what he enjoyed the most.
Him. “What’s it like to kill someone?”
Mikey pulled Ariel
back on the bed and laid on top of her. “When I put my finger on
the trigger, it’s like foreplay. With each pull of the trigger,
that’s the build-up. Once my target is dead, I’m satisfied. For
me, it’s a lot like sex.”
“Has anyone told
you you’re crazy?”
“Yeah. They never
lived to say it again.”
When Marguerite Ashton was in her twenties, she took up acting but realized she preferred to work behind the camera, writing crime fiction. A few years later, she married an IT Geek and settled down with her role as wife, mom, and writer. Five kids later, she founded the Crime Writer’s Panel and began working with former law enforcement investigators to create; Criminal Lines Blog, an online library for crime writers who need help with their book research.
She’s
a workaholic who hides in her writer’s attic, plotting out her next
book and stalking Pinterest for the next avocado recipe.
A
member of Sisters in Crime, Marguerite grew up in Colorado, but is
now happily living in Wisconsin and playing as much golf as possible.
She can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Website
* Newsletter
* Facebook *
Twitter * Pinterest
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
Thank you for hosting me on your blog!
ReplyDelete