Please
welcome guest author Kris Bock!
People
have mixed feelings about autumn – that "back to school"
anxiety can last well into adulthood – but it's my favorite time of
year in New Mexico. The temperatures are finally dropping, and the
smell of roasting green chile fills the air. (Stop by my blog for
information on the
New Mexico chile and some Southwestern
recipes.) It's the perfect time to curl up with a good book. Of
course, ANY time is the right time for a good book! I hope you're
staying safe, warm, and dry, with plenty of good books to read. ~
Kris
Counterfeits
Jenny
returns to her grandparents’ art camp in a remote New Mexico town
after her grandmother’s sudden death. That night she wakes to the
noise of intruders. What do the strangers want? As more bizarre
events unfold, Jenny realizes the people she thought she knew are not
what they seem – least of all Rob, an old friend whose past may be
coming back to haunt them all.
Counterfeits
is romantic suspense in the Southwest that will interest fans of Mary
Stewart, Lillian Stewart Carl, and Barbara Michaels.
“Counterfeits
is the kind of romantic suspense novel I have enjoyed since I first
read Mary Stewart’s Moonspinners…. 5 Stars” – Roberta
at Sensuous Reviews blog
Chapter 1
Jenny’s rolling suitcase bumped up the porch steps. Once, twice,
three times, like a knock that would never be answered. Tears stung
her eyes in the cold night air. How many times had she rushed to this
door with a sense of coming home? Growing up, she had spent every
summer at her grandparents’ art camp. She hadn’t been back as
often in the last ten years, but it still felt more like home than
any place else in the world.
She took a shuddering breath and turned away to gaze up at the dark
sky. Stars splashed across the moonless night, so many stars she
could hardly pick out the constellations. The band of the Milky Way
sparkled like a streak of glitter paint on velvet paper. She had
gazed up at that sky a million times, and yet it filled her with awe.
After a decade living among the lights of New York City, it was easy
to forget that nature had her own Great White Way.
She shivered. During her summers in the northwestern New Mexico
mountains, nights had typically been mild, even at over 6000 feet
elevation. Now the temperature had to be dropping toward freezing.
Maybe that was why the vast, chilled sky seemed so distant and
lonely.
Jenny leaned back against the door and closed her eyes. She was so
tired. Maybe she’d take a few extra days and rest. But she couldn’t
bring herself to enter her grandparents’ house and go to bed,
knowing she’d be alone. When her grandfather had died two years
before, her heart had broken. Now her grandmother was gone as well.
Jenny tried not to imagine her grandmother’s last moments, when the
car she was driving had skidded off the twisty mountain road two days
before. She tried to blank out all thoughts, all grief. She took a
ragged breath, the frigid air searing her lungs, and released it
slowly, hoping to empty her mind as well.
Her thoughts refused to quiet, while her heart ached with emptiness,
a dark hole as vast and cold as the night sky.
***
Jenny rose from sleep slowly, her body resisting. She could see
nothing in the pitch black. Where was she? She blinked, trying to
make sure her eyes were really open.
Memories broke through the fog. The phone call, the rush across
country, the late arrival. Crawling into bed in her grandparents’
upstairs guest room. She groaned and pulled up the blanket. Morning
must be hours away, given the darkness.
The old house creaked, but no sounds drifted in from outside. Maybe
that’s what woke her; she was used to the murmur of city sounds all
night long. Who’d have thought that would become normal?
Her head pounded. Probably dehydration from the high elevation and
dry air. She should get up, drink a glass of water, take a couple of
aspirin. Her head would thank her in the morning. If only she could
make herself move.
The house creaked again, followed by a rhythmic sound – like
footsteps. Jenny jerked upright, her ears straining. Had she heard a
voice?
She shook her head. She must still be half asleep, dreaming.
Imagining her grandparents were still here. Wishful thinking.
Downstairs, a door closed. Jenny clutched the blanket. Imagination be
damned. She was not alone.
Kris
Bock writes novels of suspense and romance with outdoor
adventures and Southwestern landscapes. The Mad Monk’s Treasure
follows the hunt for a long-lost treasure in the New Mexico desert.
In The Dead Man’s Treasure, estranged relatives compete to
reach a buried treasure by following a series of complex clues. In
The Skeleton Canyon Treasure, sparks fly when reader favorites
Camie and Tiger help a mysterious man track down his missing uncle.
Whispers in the Dark features archaeology and intrigue among
ancient Southwest ruins. What We Found is a mystery with
strong romantic elements about a young woman who finds a murder
victim in the woods.
Read
excerpts at www.krisbock.com
or visit her Amazon
page. Sign up for the Kris Bock
newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more.
The
Mad Monk's Treasure, “Smart romance with an 'Indiana Jones'
feel,” is currently free
at all e-book retailers.
Thanks for sharing, Kris,
Tina
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