Monday, March 25, 2013

Mental Health Mind Bender FREE Mar 25-27

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Take a break with a mental health mess amid alien abductors -- In Roswell, Re-abducted, #4 in the New Mexico mystery thriller series.

"Escape is impossible -- imposible," Ernesto whispered that in her left ear three years ago. Ernesto was 56, a small mustache on his brown face. He charmed her when she met him that first week in Mexico. She thought Ernesto vulnerable, a boy looking for a mother.  Not after three years, though.  By then she was in his embrace, more like a trap with no release.  Chili wanted to leave Mexico and the sick life she had with Ernesto, but it was hard.  He controlled her every move, and she had no money of her own.  The only money came from Ernestos brother, who belonged to one of the cartels, sold cocaine, and hired Ernesto to kill people, like the dead guy with his head severed and his headless body on the black pavement.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Cool and Curious in the Caverns -- FREE Mar 11-13

Hidden romance, revenge, jealousy and murder.  Follow Cinnamon and Burro as they figure out the killer in this crazy mysterious journey that begins in the depth of Carlsbad Caverns.   Quirky characters dominate this New Mexico top mystery short story series. 

UK http://amzn.to/RiCgF5  US http://amzn.to/WOQKPu

A skinny man, about 5’2”, all in black, dropped to the ground and grabbed Emma by the knees.  Long, slick brown hair fell in front of his face, and he started a desperate monologue.
“Your sister was a wonderful woman.  Nobody alive was as good as her, as kind, as generous, as giving.  She taught me in 9th grade, you know that?  She treated me like a son.  Nobody could hurt an angel like her.  Nobody, not even that custodian, Jam.  She loved him, too, she did.”
Emma readjusted her body, throwing the man off her knees.  He fell on the pavement, looking up at her now, his hair off his face. I saw a scar running from his left lip to his ear.  His eyes were cat-green, and a sour smell fumed off his clothes.
 “Don’t be so dramatic, Zookie.”  Emma put her hand up to hold the man away.  “You know Magda didn’t like that sort of display.  Think of her, for goodness sake.  Maybe she caught somebody robbing the lunchroom and they attacked her. We don’t know if it was Jam yet. Stop guessing.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Emma,” Zookie stood up.  “There’s no reason for our Magda to be down at the bottom of the caverns at night unless Jam asked her to come.”           
Zookie’s green eyes were showing red around the edges, and I realized he was drunk or stoned, or both.  Emma followed my look, and explained Zookie.
“He was one of Magda’s students,” Emma flipped a hand in his direction, “when she taught high school here in Carlsbad.  Magda helped her students out when they…they had problems.”
Zookie took offense at this.  “She saved my life over and over again, is what she did. She said so herself.  I’d be dead without her.”
“Zookie,” Emma stood up now, looking the skinny man in the face. “You can’t save someone’s life over and over again.  The truth is you manipulated…”

And boy did he....find out the rest of the story for FREE March 11-13, 2012.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

In Dulce, Disturbed and FREE and waiting

It all started with a boy beaten to death on the Jicarilla Apache Nation.  Now Cinnamon and Burro are becoming characters in a series of mystery NOVELS INSTEAD OF SHORT STORIES!

This freebie is still a short story, but my next installment, In Gallup, Greed is taking shape as a novel of passion and, yes, greed.  The reader will find out much more about Cinnamon and Burro, where and how they live, who their friends and lovers are and how they interact when they solve a crime.

Then, I will RE-Write In Dulce, Disturbed as a novel.  In a way, I hate to do it, as this has been the most popular of my little stories, but I figure it's best to begin at the beginning.  If the plot takes a different twist, maybe I'll leave the short story up and have the novel as a separate purchase.

For now, please download In Dulce, Disturbed for free and tell me what you think in a fair minded review.  Or, tell me what you'd like to see in a novel with these characters.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Zero in on Zany Southwest Mystery -- FREE

Cinnamon and Burro zero in on a killer on the Zuni Reservation -- and find all kinds of quirky characters lurking in the shadows, practicing new age and old age mysticism.  A very big surprise in in store for Cinnamon regarding Momma.

This southwestern tour is FREE February 12 and 13.  Download here:  UK http://amzn.to/Pz7Aec  US http://amzn.to/KvVfsl

Join the fun.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Another FREE Caverns Tour: Jan 26-27, 2013


In Carlsbad, Cavernous follows Cinnamon and Burro on a search for the killer on one their client's sister, Magda, whose head was bashed in the caverns Underground Lunch Room.  And, of course, they find new, enticing clues to Momma.  A new character promises to lead Cinnamon right to her long lost parent.

Quirky characters, plot twists and mesmerizing motives...download for FREE on January 26 and 27, 2013.

Tower

In Gallup, Greed, the Novel -- the subplot begins...

My latest novel length story and #6 in the New Mexico mystery thriller series has to have a subplot, so here's the beginning...
Mesh curtains, beige-pink, fell against the adobe walls, sliding effortlessly across the edge of the bed where Jake lay on his side, a white cotton sheet over his narrow hips, his chest glowing in the deep afternoon light.  I felt luckier than I’d felt only yesterday, when the rainy season coated Santa Fe in mud.  Jake surprised me, and the dim light reminded me of hope, a hazy feeling from the past.
            An electronic version of “The Magic Flute” alerted me that Burro wanted me on the phone, likely about work.  That seemed unfair on a subdued Sunday afternoon, but Burro called for important things, so I stirred, grabbed my brown fleece robe and took the phone around the corner in my small adobe townhouse.
            “What’s up?”
            “It’s Alice.  She says we need to take off for Gallup immediately.  There’s been a murder.”
            “At the middle school?”
            “No.  We have an appointment there on Wednesday to see about the Individual Education Plan for Joseph – his parents want the school to let him into regular ed classes.  But this is about Alice’s Native friend, Mirage -- the one who took in Momma.  Mirage thinks she killed her brother last night.  Alice wants our help.”
            “She ‘thinks she killed him?”
            “She blacked out. Doesn’t remember.”
            “Are we attracting bizarre crimes?”
            “Seems like it.  Alice wants to leave for Gallup tonight.”
            I peeked around the corner at Jake’s reclined figure behind the thin curtains. “Do we have to go now?”
            “A couple of hours.”
            “I’ll meet you at your place.”  I held the sigh until after I hit the end button.  Jake would be in Santa Fe when I returned.  He was starting a business after all.
            Burro lives off St. Michael’s Drive, on property once owned by the Christian Brothers, in barracks built during World War II.  After the war, the barracks were used as classrooms at The College of Santa Fe, run by the Brothers.  The school closed a few years back, and the property was sold off to Johnny Chrysler, who rents out the barracks.  The buildings are covered in asbestos siding, so tearing them down is impractical, and Johnny rents to tenants who aren’t particular about details. 
            Burro makes a decent living working for the state as my assistant Civil Rights Investigator, but he’s got hospital bills from before he had medical insurance, so he rents the cheapest place in town. Burro has treatable schizophrenia, which causes hallucinations.  When he’s treated with medication, Burro believes the hallucinations reveal the unseen, detalis that his mind turns to visions.  The visions are clues to crimes we get involved in when we travel around New Mexico investigating civil rights claims.  I want to be skeptical but the visions are often wild and true.
            “Money and scrambled brains,” he murmured as the door to the barracks creaked open. 
            “Tell me that’s not your vision,” I whined.
            “It’s a kitchen, and the trash and all the bowls and pans and every surface is filled or covered with twenty dollar bills – except the frying pan.  There’s this woman standing there, frying brains.
            “Please. That’s sound more like a bad dream.”
            Burro gave me a look, picked up put out his hand for the Corolla keys.  “Let’s get Alice.”
            On the drive, Alice gave us a few more details. 
            “Mirage found Bliss – her brother – with stab wounds in his stomach.  They didn’t look fatal, but I guess he passed out and bled to death.”
            “He a heroin addict?”
            “Nah…maybe an alcoholic.  Whole family parties a lot.”
            “Why does Mirage think she killed him?”
            “Guilt or something.  She was sobbing on the phone, hysterical.  My view – he got in some drunken knife fight with one of the artists from his gallery, passed out, and bled to death.  Mirage wasn’t even there.”
            “Where was she?”
            “Says she woke up in the alley, went to the house, found him.  She wasn’t covered in blood or anything like that.  Guilt trip, I guess.”
            Four hours later, the beautiful dark-eyed beauty who took in Momma sat across from us at Earl’s in Gallup.  Earl’s is where you can eat diner food and buy fine to funky jewelry right from the artist.  Burro loves the place because they’ve got great fresh food, and he loves the buttermilk fried chicken. 
            “I’m ordering,” he announced. 
            “As long as it’s not scrambled brains.”
            Burro frowned in my direction and ordered the fried chicken.  “The money in the vision is what bothers me most.  Is there a lot of money somewhere in the Mirage and Lonnie artist scene?
             “The new gallery cost a ton of money.  Mirage told me Bliss hooked up with a wealthy L.A. investor.”

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

FREE Murderous Caverns Tour Jan 9-11, 2013


Magda is dead and Cinnamon and Burro are dragged into the murder by a client in Carlsbad and by the search for Momma.  Watch out for the quirky Zookie, Magda's ex-lover, a missing deaf employee, and a caste of shady and confusing characters. ... #5 in the New Mexico mystery thriller series.

“Crap!” He stumbled over a crack in the decrepit sidewalk.  For a minute the streetlight and the dying Chinese elm tree swirled like stirred soup and he almost threw up.  Then his balance righted, and he stared at the chocolate-covered doughnuts painted on the window glass.
            “Sarina will help me out,” he mumbled at the glass.  “Not like that old dried up witch, Magda.  Piece of dung, she was, turning him away to help that god-awful Julian, spoiled little brat.  Thank god that turkey balls left town.”
            “Zookie?”  A short, round woman, about 45, leaned out the glass door, pushing her head into the hot air.  Dios mío, it’s already hot here in May.  Come on in.  I got some day old jalapeño Pigs in a Blanket.  You love those, mijo.  Come on.”
            Zookie followed her into the shop, breathing the cool, sugary air, not daring to say much.  Zookie knew his mouth got away from him, like his thoughts, like his actions, like everything these days. Zookie laughed.
            “What’s funny, boy?” Sarina asked.

Download FREE January 9-11 on amazon.com 
http://www.amazon.com/In-Carlsbad-Cavernous-Cinnamon-ebook/dp/B009ZOWE74/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1357150610&sr=1-1&keywords=In+Carlsbad%2C+Cavernous