In 1948, Charley Hall resents giving up her job as city reporter for the Kingston Tribune to a returning soldier. But her demotion to the women’s pages is the least of her worries since Gran is organizing a surprise birthday party for Charley’s older brother, Freddie. Trouble is, Freddie hasn’t come back from his latest bender. When Charley goes looking for him, she discovers the dead body of a woman, last seen with her brother. Beside the murdered woman is a torn newspaper article about local politician Dan Cannon, who also happens to be Charley’s best friend. To make matters worse, a police detective from Toronto shows up and begins nosing around. Charley is not about to stand by and let her brother nor her friend take a fall for a murder based on circumstantial evidence. Not by a long shot.
“Don’t scream,” he whispered against her ear. “I’m going to remove my hand now. I want you to be calm.”
Calm? Was he kidding? He’d just kidnapped her. Dragged her into an alley for who knows what nefarious purpose. And he expected her to be calm?
“Okay, now. Just take it easy.” Slowly, he lowered his hand from her face and released his grip on her waist.
Charley turned to face him, fists ready to pummel him, feet ready to kick him where it would really hurt. The scream she’d been about to issue froze in her throat as she found herself staring down the barrel of a .38 Special.
“Mrs. Hall, please. Just calm down.” His voice, no doubt meant to be soothing, was rough, like sandpaper across her ears—almost as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
He knows who I am!
Her heart was racing. In all the years she’d worked for the Trib, she’d gotten herself into her fair share of jams with people who’d been angry about something she’d written, but never had she faced anything like this. Never had she been so afraid in her life.
The clouds had cleared, and the just-past-full moon provided considerable light. He wasn’t all that tall—maybe five-ten. But he was broad. Powerful. He was wearing a dark overcoat and a dark felt hat with its brim pulled low to cover the top part of his face. She couldn’t see his eyes, but his nose looked slightly off-centre and his mouth was set in a stern line. She lowered her gaze to the gun. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“First things first. I need your word you’re not going to start screaming your fool head off if I lower my gun.”
Her was brain trying to figure out if she could make it out of the alley before he had time to raise it again, take aim and fire. Her legs felt like lead and she could barely catch her breath. Escape was unlikely. “Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
Really, he was going to make her say it? No point crossing her fingers this time. She knew she was going to keep to her word. “Fine, I won’t scream if you lower your gun.”
My Review:
Charley loves her job as a city reporter with the Kingston Tribune. When soldiers started returning from the war Charley had to give up her job; to a man. Charley had to take a demotion to the women’s pages of the tribune. The only choice that is given to her if she wanted to keep her job with the Kingston Tribune. Charley decides to stay of course. She thought she could hopefully get her job as a city reporter back if she stayed. Or at least have a better shot at it.
Being demoted was not her top priority at the moment not with her brother Freddie missing. Freddie hasn’t returned from one of his binges. Charley and her brother Freddie live with their grandmother and Charley has not told her grandmother that Freddie is missing as she doesn’t want her to worry.
Charley gets a lead on Freddie. The lead takes her to the apartment of a woman who Freddie was last seen with. Upon arriving at the apartment Charley finds the woman dead on the floor surrounded by her own blood. At the crime scene Charley finds a clue involving her best friend.
Charley knows that neither of the guys could have killed this woman. They are just not the kind of person that would or could do something like this. She is not about to let her brother or her best friend be framed for murder. Can she prove their innocence? Are they innocent? Are they guilty of murder? Who killed the lady? What is their connection to the crime?
A Shot of Murder is a great introduction into the world of Charley Hall. A Shot of Murder is a brilliantly written story leaving one clue after another sending Charley in all different directions in her search for her brother. It kept me guessing right along with Charley from beginning to end. The suspense was non-stop from the first page. I can’t wait to read more of Charley’s crime-solving adventures in the next book Rigged for Murder.
If you are looking for a murder, suspense-filled, crime-solving read then you are in luck as A Shot of Murder has it all and more. So one-click your copy today to begin this suspenseful adventure with a wonderful cast of characters!
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
You could say writing is in my genes. My paternal grandmother was a formidable diarist; my father was a journalist and poet; my sister and cousin are both published authors; even my son has shown a talent for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to tell awesome stories. So, it came as no surprise to anyone when I returned to my love of fiction after more than 20 years in the world of corporate communications–although some might argue there was plenty of opportunity for fiction-writing there, too.
A fan of many genres, I find it hard to stay within the publishing industry’s prescribed boxes. Whether it’s mystery, romantic suspense or women’s fiction—my greatest joy is creating deeply emotional books with memorable characters and compelling stories.
7 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
I appreciate getting to hear about a new book. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
Thanks so much for hosting me and for your lovely review of A Shot of Murder. This was a really fun story to write--a lot of twists and turns that kept me up at night trying to plot--and I'm so glad you liked Charley.
Sounds like a very good book.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the book. I haven't seen or heard about this book before. I definitely have to check it out.
Thanks for stopping by James, Victoria, Sherry & Kim. I hope you check out A Shot of Murder.
I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by to check out my new book, A Shot of Murder. And many thanks to The Avid Reader, too. Stay safe & all the best. <3
Post a Comment