Blind Overlook

Blind Overlook (FULL VERSION): A beautiful, enigmatic young woman who owns an art gallery in New Orleans hires Jay Leicester (pronounced "Lester") to travel to Maine where a body has been found fitting the description of her brother. Delving into this situation leads Leicester straight into a confrontation with the most powerful Mafia figure in the United States and many suspicious locals.Jay Leicester (pronounced "Lester") is a retired airline pilot, retired because he could not stand the bureaucratic web the government spun over the aviation industry, and partly because anyone with the price of a bus ticket could fly on the airlines which resulted in overbooking, overcrowding, and near chaos on every route. Raised in a family of Judges and police officers, the only thing he knew to fall back on was the law. Opening his own private investigation business was a natural evolution, especially since he had trouble with authority, and could work outside the constraints of legalese. Handling mostly aviation related cases, recovery of stolen aircraft, investigating drug-hauling pilots, and helping set up corporate aviation departments kept him busy.In Blind Overlook we find Leicester doing a favor for an attorney friend and taking a case far removed from aviation. It involves something he knows nothing about, the art world. A beautiful, but enigmatic young woman who owns an art gallery in New Orleans hires him to travel to Maine where a body has been found fitting the description of her brother and partner in the gallery. He has not been heard from and the young lady grows concerned as he was traveling with four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash with which to buy a collection of work by an artist named, Rockwell Kent. Delving into this situation leads Leicester straight into a confrontation with the most powerful Mafia figure in the United States, a local detective, a police sergeant, local fishermen, and a friendly, but suspicious waitress at a local caf . The entire populace of the small community seems involved in the murder, the missing brother and his money. Maine coastal locals and offshore islands provide a unique setting for a powerful work reminiscent of Ross MacDonald or John D. McDonald. Character driven and plot oriented, this is a must read for the serious Mystery/Thriller 'aficionado.'There are a total of 10 ebooks in the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series by JC Simmons:Blood on the VineBlind OverlookSome People Die QuickIcy Blue DescentThe Electra FilePopping the ShineFour Nines FineThe Underground LadyAkel DamaThe Candela of Cancri
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We Were Killers Once

"Former FBI agent Brigid Quinn, with her trademark toughness, raw humor, and human frailty, is back and better than ever in Masterman's latest novel. As Quinn is drawn into an infamous cold case with a possible link to the two killers immortalized by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, she finds danger closing in. A gripping premise, brilliantly executed—you won't be able to put this one down!"—Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOORIn 1959, a family of four were brutally murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were convicted and executed for the crime, and the murders and their investigation and solution became the subject of Truman Capote's masterpiece, IN COLD BLOOD. But what if there was a third killer, who remained unknown? What if there was another family, also murdered, who crossed paths with this band of killers, though their murder remains unsolved? And what if Dick Hickok left a...
Views: 700

They Do It With Mirrors

E-book exclusive extras:1) Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on They Do It with Mirrors;2) "The Marples": the complete guide to all the cases of crime literature's foremost female detective.A sense of danger pervades the rambling Victorian mansion in which Jane Marple’s friend Carrie Louise lives—and not only because the building doubles as a rehabilitation centre for criminal youths. One inmate attempts, and fails, to shoot dead the administrator. But simultaneously, in another part of the building, a mysterious visitor is less lucky. Miss Marple must employ all her cunning to solve the riddle of the stranger’s visit, and his murder—while protecting her friend from a similarly dreadful fate.The New York Times: ‘No one on either side of the Atlantic does it better.’
Views: 698

Gazza's Lament

A theatre short - very short at barely 2000 words, so don't expect War & Peace! Gazza is Head of Lighting at a small provincial theatre and just wants to be left alone to do his job, not drawn into touchy-feely socialising by a visiting director who forbids swearing. This short is to lure you into the Regent Theatre where you can meet the characters and feel at home in the setting. Come on in!This brief humorous story is to give a flavour of the Theatre Mystery series so you can see if you'd enjoy the books Murder in the Second Row and Body on the Stage. Gazza features in both these and is a character who really took over as soon as I started writing him. There really was a theatre director who attempted to ban swearing during a production, and the result was much the same as in this story.
Views: 698

One Breath After Another (The After Another Trilogy Book 2)

Book 2 in The After Another Trilogy ...  The past never stays where it belongs--why would it? It's the only thing left to warn about the future.  * Note: One Breath After Another is book 2 in the After Another trilogy. 
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A Day in a Life In After World: Sugar

This is the first in a series of short stories based in the same world as the book series A Life in After World. Instead of telling the life story of one character, these stories tell the story of one day in the life of a person in After World.Sugar is sweet. Sugar is pretty. Sugar is a mouse.Eek! A mouse!Mice are the bane of every city as they live in the cracks and hovels and steal any food they can. You can try to poison them but they tend to be immune. As if they did not have short enough natural lives, they rarely get to live out their years because to normal humans mice are considered less than worthless.Sugar dreams of a better life. She is doing everything she can to try to get past the stigma of being a mouse.
Views: 694

4:50 From Paddington

Elspeth McGillicuddy is not given to hallucinations. Until she witnesses a murder at Paddington Station. But did she? No victim, no suspect, no other witnesses. In fact no one believes it really happened at all. Except her friend Miss Jane Marple, and she's returning to the scene of the crime to discover just exactly what Mrs. McGillicuddy saw. Also published as: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw
Views: 693