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In late 1944 a failed German actor, Max Kaspar, is forced to join an absurdly desperate secret mission in which he must impersonate an enemy American officer. So Max cooks up his own fanatical plan — he’ll use his false identity to escape tyranny and war and flee to the America he’d once abandoned.
Max the performer is hardly a soldier let alone a double-crossing commando, yet in the deadly Battle of the Bulge he has to fool battle-shocked American GIs as well as dodge discovery by his reckless German comrades. Belgium’s Ardennes forest becomes a snowbound hell and the magical America he’d loved is lost to him, replaced by a somber invading juggernaut. In the end, Max’s gambles will lead him to a grim but honest payoff.
Part WWII espionage thriller, part expatriate noir, The Losing Role is based on an actual German false flag operation that’s been made infamous in legend but in reality was a doomed farce. In all the tragic details and with some dark humor, this is the story of an aspiring talent who got in over his head and tried to break free.
Author Website
$1.99 for a limited time
181 pages
(10 votes, average: 6.50 out of 10)
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A hotshot, Martha’s Vineyard, Deputy D.A. becomes embroiled in a web of lies, murder, and puritan New England politics when he’s assigned to prosecute two modern day witches accused of ritual sacrifice.
J.T. Cummins is a thriller author and screenwriter. His fiction includes Cobblestones, Minus Four, The Jitters, and Weaker Sex (co-written with Douglas Nabors a producer of the Emmy winning TV series Monk). J.T. is also the screenwriter-director of the horror movie classic The Boneyard. A former Hollywood FX artist, J.T.’s work appears in The Thing, House, Strange Invaders, Enemy Mine, and many others. J.T.’s e-fiction is available for download at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Smashwords, or at http://www.jtcummins.com.
Reviews:
With lean writing and cinematic style, J.T. Cummins has created a fast-moving, suspenseful story that makes compulsive reading, right up to its climactic finish.
—Debbi Mack, Author of Identity Crisis
The characters are intriguing and keep you hooked as the various plot twists untwine. Cummins is a writer to watch and brings that visual, fast-paced ‘screenwriter’ feel to his fiction.
—Scott Nicholson, Author of The Skull Ring and The Red Church
The plot and storyline were excellent. This was an entertaining mystery. The writing style was also very good with excellent descriptions. Overall: An entertaining, quick read.
—Red Adept, Amazon Review
As a certified CSI/Cold Case/crime drama nut, this novella was right up my alley. It was a fast, easy, and fun read. You simply must check it out. You will not regret it. It had me at ‘cord wood.’
—Kelley Sweet-Jensen, Reader
(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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A serial killer lurks in the Northern California fog, and young women are disappearing. Sarah is 16, pretty and naive. Her beloved mother now dead, Sarah must run away from her hated aunt to search for the father she barely knows. Right into the serpent’s den. What she finds horrifies her. Is the strange boy she meets there the real killer? Is her father involved? Can she escape before it’s too late?
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Valentina Maltseva is the head of the Arts and Literature Section of a Communist Youth Newspaper in the old Soviet Union. When her boss and lover showed her a KGB directory of agents she had no idea her view of it would cause her to be blackmailed into a KGB project in Argentina by none other than Yuri Andropov himself.
Nothing seems to go right and Valentina’s curiosity plunges her deeper into the sordid and dangerous world of espionage and murder.
As the body count mounts and spies from 3 agencies chase her, Valentina wonders if she will survive.
A best seller (600,000 copies) in Russia and Israel! Made into a popular 4-part mini series!
Translated into colloquial English from the original Russian.
Rated PG
(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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Set in a near-future Chicago, QUEEN MAB COURTESY is part adventure, part mystery, part science, and all fun.
Tito, the main character, is a “Denver Dwarf”–victim of a birth defect caused by a biological terrorist attack while he was in the womb. It certainly didn’t affect his mind or his spirit, though.
He meets up with Charlie Sleazer,
a hot chestnut vendor who quotes Shakespeare and has a few interesting sidelines (like helping people out of jams). They are trying to unravel what happened to Tito’s father, who disappeared years ago. The C.O.P.S.–huge mechanical machines with biological ‘chips’ in control of their actions–seem to be engaged in a huge cover-up, adding to their already repressive nature as they try to protect people from everything including themselves.
Queen Mab Courtesy is a fast-paced novel that’s fun and easy to read, yet it makes the reader think about lots of things, not least of which is the value of being true to oneself and one’s family.
Rated PG for intense scenes.
80,000 words. 356 pages in Adobe version.
(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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Have you ever wondered how a trial lawyer can sleep at night after helping a client he/she knows is guilty, beat the legal system? I have. Have you ever wondered how an attorney would feel if that same recently acquitted client kills a second time? Again, I have, and these very questions prompted me to write a dark mystery/thriller about just such an attorney–I call it Defending Evil.
Travis Knight is an extraordinary Criminal Defense Attorney wining high profile cases in Atlanta. One of his recently acquitted clients kills again, which has Travis and his wife Julie, questioning what he does for a living. Travis is shaken to his core, but being a consummate lawyer, he is able to move past his feeling of guilt; Julie isn’t.
In a bizarre twist, a mysterious vigilante begins executing Travis’ clients after he wins them an acquittal. This righteous vigilante decides that the clients Travis is helping to put back into society are guilty, and don’t deserve to live–the vigilante delivers ultimate justice.
The police only half-heartedly search for the vigilante-off the record, they are glad someone is cleaning-up after the hot-shot attorney.
The vigilante’s attention turns to the source, and sends Travis an ultimatum–stop defending guilty clients or he will be the next to be executed. Risking his life, and his marriage, Travis refuses to be intimidated, and continues to defend clients accused of murder.
This story chronicles the labyrinth of high-speed twists and turns of a deadly cat-and-mouse game–a game that can end with only one winner.
Buckle-up and enjoy the ride!
Regards,
Charles
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David Larson is well on his way to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated novelists. What neither David nor anyone else knows, is that he is no ordinary best-selling author. Each new book he writes portrays the world as an increasingly volatile place dominated by fanaticism, social chaos and addiction to technology. With an uncanny resemblance to the stories he writes, the real world follows David’s vision into a dark and perilous future.
Elijah and Violet, an unlikely duo recruited for their unique talents, must stop this cataclysmic process before it reaches a point of no return. Armed with just the barest information, they will learn to understand their task as they learn to understand one another. Finding the doomsday author is only the first step. To succeed, they will need to face the brotherhood that has kept the world in balance since the dawn of civilization and learn the true nature of The Book of Books.
(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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A young Irishwoman goes to Sweden to find out about her late mother’s past. She discovers not only a whole new family but also unearths some family skeletons and the shocking truth about her own identity. The mysterious Lukas is linked both to Eleonore and Maud’s grandmother Julia. Set in Ireland, Sweden and Australia, this is a moving family saga that deals with identity, grief and loss.
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Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, is a techno-thriller about a Space Shuttle disaster that turns out to be no accident. As the true scope of the conspiracy is gradually uncovered by the principal investigators, “Crash” Murphy and Dr. Mike Anders, they find themselves running for their lives, as lovers, friends and coworkers involved in the investigation perish around them. What happened to the Shuttle? Who is responsible for the disaster and why? Why is the government calling it an accident? Why is someone willing to kill to keep it a secret? And how big is the conspiracy? An exciting action techno-thriller, Burnout will leave you on the edge of your seat, not wanting to put it down. Burnout has been in Fictionwise’s SF Top 25. To date, it has been nominated for eight awards in four separate genres (e-book, science fiction, mystery, and thriller). It is an International Thriller Writers’ Best First Thriller finalist.
Excerpt:
Crash did a double take and looked carefully at the blazing spark as it shot through the black velvet sky, then gave an equally quick glance at Hamilton Carter. “Ham, have they got a re-entry DTO on this flight?”
“No, Crash–I see it, too,” Ham replied tightly, forehead creasing with worry. “Listen… can I use–”
“Cell phone right here,” Crash scooped the instrument off the corner of the picnic table and shoved it into Carter’s hands as he looked back up. “Damn, Jet, get it in gear, old buddy!” he exclaimed with increasing concern.
“What’s wrong, Crash? What’s happening?” Jimmy asked his suddenly worried brother, as the flaming speck, growing larger and larger, flew almost directly overhead. Smaller sparks could now be seen peeling off the main object.
“Dammit! Jet, flare out, man! Shit! Break it out! NOW!!” Crash began shouting into the sky. Tracy, the “fourth team” relief FAO, was frozen, staring upward in shock, and Ham stood stiffly, head tilted back, listening silently to the cell phone he held to his ear. They all watched dumbly as the white-hot streak shot by overhead and disappeared behind the house, trailing flaming sparks in its wake.
Crash ran around the house to the front, trying to keep the airborne conflagration in view, and the others followed. “Damn, Jimmy, she’s comin’ in hot,” he belatedly answered his little brother. “Jet’s not bleeding off velocity in the roll reversals like he’s supposed to…” Crash paused, horrified. “Not that it looks like it would do much good, anyway…”
The gathered celebrants watched in stunned disbelief as the fireball plunged toward the southeastern horizon, flickered, and burned out.
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Lawyer Chambers Elliot didn’t trust the supposed priest in his office but he had to listen to the story. According to the priest, the cops had caught the wrong man in a thirty-year-old murder. Which wouldn’t have bothered Elliot so much if he hadn’t been the lawyer defending that wrong man. When the priest turns up dead, Elliot is up to his neck in trouble, especially when the Portello Crime family involves themselves.
Author Michael Paulson launches a new mystery series with this hard-boiled page-turner.
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Charlotte Rowe has been cast in the role of medium from childhood, and studied under a clever fraud. But does she have a real vision?
Divination from the spirit world. Con artistry. Cats and mirrors. The implications of Freudian psychology. Death. Life. Birth. Murder.
And ice cream.
“If you like intelligent, complex stories of paranormal horror and disturbed psyches, you might want to take on Ice Cream Memories. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Web Fiction Guide
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 10)
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Giles, my sibling, my Mephistophilis. You lie whenever it suits you, but when you lie to me, surely you can take the trouble to make it convincing?
Simon Coltraine is a professional songwriter and musician. His brother Giles – trader, rogue and amiable bully – is a crook. When Giles is killed in a car accident Simon returns to their childhood home to confront his memories and his own complicity in his brother’s schemes.
The Devil has all the best tunes.
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 10)
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Craig Edmonds, a successful stockbroker, reports the disappearance of his wife, Kirsty. What starts as a typical missing person’s case soon evolves into a full-blown homicide investigation when forensics uncover blood traces and dark-blonde hairs in the boot of the missing woman’s car. Added to this, is Craig’s adulterous affair with the victim’s younger sister, Narelle Croswell, compounded further by a recently acquired $1,000,000 insurance policy on his wife’s life. He is charged with murder but, with no body and only circumstantial evidence, he walks free when two trials resulting in hung juries fail to convict him.
Ten years later, Jacinta Deller, a newspaper journalist is retrenched. Working on a freelance story about missing persons, she comes across the all but forgotten Edmonds case. When she discovers her boyfriend, Brett Rhodes, works with Narelle Croswell, who is not only the victim’s sister but is now married to the prime suspect, her sister’s husband, she thinks she has found the perfect angle for her article. Instead, her life is turned upside down, as befriending the woman, she becomes embroiled in a warped game of delusion and murder.
THIN BLOOD is a suspense-filled mystery in a contemporary Australian setting. The novel also touches on deeper themes, like family and trust: protagonist Jacinta Deller discovers that blood is not always thicker than water, and sometimes the people you should count on are not the ones who are tied to you by blood or by marriage.
Vicki Tyley author website
$3.97 (FREE until 15 Nov ’09 – enter code BV68V after adding book to cart.)
237 pages
(4 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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Craig Edmonds, a successful stockbroker, reports the disappearance of his wife, Kirsty. What starts as a typical missing person’s case soon evolves into a full-blown homicide investigation when forensics uncover blood traces and dark-blonde hairs in the boot of the missing woman’s car. Added to this, is Craig’s adulterous affair with the victim’s younger sister, Narelle Croswell, compounded further by a recently acquired $1,000,000 insurance policy on his wife’s life. He is charged with murder but, with no body and only circumstantial evidence, he walks free when two trials resulting in hung juries fail to convict him.
Ten years later, Jacinta Deller, a newspaper journalist is retrenched. Working on a freelance story about missing persons, she comes across the all but forgotten Edmonds case. When she discovers her boyfriend, Brett Rhodes, works with Narelle Croswell, who is not only the victim’s sister but is now married to the prime suspect, her sister’s husband, she thinks she has found the perfect angle for her article. Instead, her life is turned upside down, as befriending the woman, she becomes embroiled in a warped game of delusion and murder.
THIN BLOOD is a suspense-filled mystery in a contemporary Australian setting. The novel also touches on deeper themes, like family and trust: protagonist Jacinta Deller discovers that blood is not always thicker than water, and sometimes the people you should count on are not the ones who are tied to you by blood or by marriage.
Vicki Tyley author website
$3.97 (FREE until 15 Nov ’09 – enter code BV68V after adding book to cart.)
237 pages
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Personal Injury attorney Paul Newton likes his cases easy and obvious. Judith Hoople’s situation is anything but easy. Abused as a child, she developed Multiple Personality Disorder to protect her from her reality. Now, an unscrupulous counselor has broken the barriers that protected her, using her for a sex toy before cutting her loose. Newton doesn’t like this kind of case, but he can’t walk away, either.
Author Paul Nelson is, himself, an attorney and this courtroom drama/legal thriller rings true. Newton pushes the case forward despite insurance problems, an opposing council with a personal agenda, and a significant financial investment on his part. It would be worth it to get the win, though…unless Judith really is lying about everything.
$3.99 ($1.00 ’til Sept. 25, 2009)
247 pages
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To the outside world she was just Leena Duncan, a quiet woman who worked a normal job and lived a quiet life.
A few times a year she could openly use her magical gifts at celebrations within a small community of people she called friends.
Having lived through the horrors that can come from the hands of someone you thought loved you; she decided never loving again would prevent more emotional scarring.
It took one man at a rainy Beltane celebration to change everything with which she was comfortable and one killer to change her safe world.
He created worlds on and put them on paper to entertain others. After years of using his imagination he finds out his friends can do things he thought only his mind created.
For his entire adult life Owen Grey had always played it safe and kept to his own world of writing, never getting too close to anyone.
Having lived a nightmare growing up he would never take the chance of repeating history. He may write about happily-ever-after, but he knew it was pure fantasy and didn’t exist.
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Author Website
(1 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
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