Audio Spotlight & Excerpt: Scarlet Oaks and the Serial Caller by Michaela James

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Series: Scarlet Oaks Cozy Mystery Series, Book 1

Release date: Nov. 9, 2019

Synopsis: Is it possible Scarlet Oaks, the reluctant new host of a men’s call-in show, inspired the first serial killer San Francisco’s seen in some 40 years?

Struggling to pay the rent after her boyfriend’s sudden departure, continue her role as mediator in an unconventional family, and feed a micro pig who appears less micro by the day, Scarlet’s life is far from perfect. But when an eerie sounding caller is identified as the bay area’s latest serial killer, it appears her life will never be the same.

With the killer continually calling into Scarlet’s show, while managing to stay one step ahead of the San Francisco police, Scarlet begins to fear she’s his next victim. Enlisting best friends Niles and Tom and their often-hilarious help, Scarlet sets out to find the elusive Serial Caller...before he finds her.

Root for Scarlet during this heart-pounding and alternately humorous mystery thriller. Fall in love with unforgettable characters, recognize familiar family members, and hold on tight for an adrenaline-filled ride.

If you’re a Stephanie Plum fan, make room for Scarlet Oaks!

This is the first book in the Scarlet Oaks series.

Excerpt

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About the Author: Michaela James

Michaela lives near Reno, Nevada, where there are lovely walking trails and lots of sun. She was born and grew up in Hampshire, England, where there is less sun, but better chocolate! A professional voice over artist and the voice of a local radio station, Michaela enjoys watching great movies with her husband and grown sons, playing tennis and  and drinking lots of tea.

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About the Narrator: Kimberly M. Wetherell

A bright, versatile, broad-next-door type, Kimberly M. Wetherell is rapidly becoming a sought-after talent in the voiceover market, specializing in audiobooks, commercials, and animation.

Kimberly has worn multiple hats in the entertainment industry for over 30 years. A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, Kimberly has been an actor, a singer of musical theatre, director of both opera and film, and producer of opera, film, and most recently, commercials.

She speaks French, Italian, and German (all thanks to her 15-year career in opera), and, as a lifelong lover of language, has a large catalogue of dialects and accents from around the world at the tip of her tongue.

Equally active in the literary world, Kimberly is a published essayist and contributing editor of The Nervous Breakdown. She founded and hosted DISH, a monthly food & drink reading series at SoHo’s Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, as well as having hosted other reading series around NYC, such as NPR’s Dime Stories at Brooklyn’s Barbès and TNB’s Literary Experience at Chinatown’s Happy Endings.

Voiceover artistry is the perfect marriage of her life’s two passions, and she couldn’t be happier with this new career pursuit.

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Spotlight: The Final Deception by Heather Graham

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Witness the thrilling conclusion to the beloved New York Confidential series, in THE FINAL DECEPTION . Kieran and Craig are about to take on their most chilling case yet as they hunt for a deranged serial killer who has escaped from prison to satisfy his need to kill again.

When criminal psychologist Kieran Finnegan was released from her responsibility of counseling the brutal serial killer known as The Fireman, once he was incarcerated, she was relieved to escape the tendrils of his twisted inner world. The chill she received from her sessions with him has stayed with her despite trying to leave him in the past. However, some demons refuse to remain behind bars. When her FBI agent boyfriend Craig is called to a gruesome crime scene that matches The Fireman’s MO, news begins to spread that he’s escaped from prison.

And he remembers Kieran...

Amid a citywide manhunt, Kieran and Craig need to untangle a web of deceit, privilege, and greed. They suspect that those closest to the killer have been drawn into his evil, or else someone is using another man’s madness and cruelty to disguise their crimes. When their investigation brings the danger right to the doorstep to the once safe haven of Finnegan’s Pub, Kieran and Craig will have to be smarter and bolder than ever before, because this time it’s personal, and they have everything to lose.

Excerpt

PROLOGUE

CRAIG FRASIER BREATHED IT IN BEFORE HE COULD STOP himself; the bloodcurdling scent of burning flesh.

Human flesh.

Flames still skittered over the body—an accelerant had been used. As he stood there in the small dark alley, he heard others rushing in: Mike Dalton, his partner, and patrol officers. He heard the sirens; the fire department was coming.

But there was no saving this victim.

Craig was already tamping the fire out; an extinguisher would make the work of the medical examiner more difficult.

But he knew what the medical examiner would find.

The victim had been strangled, then the tongue had been cut out. And then the eyes had been gouged out. Death had occurred, mercifully, before the fire had been set.

The corpses haunted his dreams. Burned shells, some flesh and soft tissue remaining, charred and clinging to the bones, mummy-like. The mouth in the blackened skull was agape, and those empty, soulless eye sockets seemed to be staring up, as if they could still see, as if they stared at him in reproach…

Why hadn’t they caught the killer sooner?

He heard a rustling sound. Looking across the alley, Craig saw a shadow moving. Leaving the corpse to others, he took off like a bullet. He pursued the moving shadow at a run…running and running for blocks. The city was a blur around him.

He reached apartments on Madison, with a coffee shop and a dress store on the first floor, just as the gate at the street entry to the residential units above was closing. He caught the gate, and he reached the elevator in time to see what floor it stopped on. He followed.

And again, as he arrived, a door was just closing; he didn’t let it close.

And there he was: the Fireman, still smelling faintly of gasoline, ready to sit down to a lovely dinner with his family. About to say a prayer before the meal…just a husband and a father, and a man who looked at Craig and calmly said, “So, my work is over. But I have obeyed the commandments given me, and I will go with you.”

Why did you take so long? The corpse again! In Craig’s dreams, the corpse was back, animated, flying at him like a ghostly banshee, issuing a silent scream.

Craig opened his eyes.

He didn’t awake screaming or startled—he didn’t jerk up. It was almost as if he always knew it was a dream, reliving the day the Fireman had gone down.

He’d had the dream several times before. But, now, it seemed as though it had been a long time. Weeks. He’d thought he’d ceased experiencing it altogether. He’d been doing all the right things: quietly seeing a Bureau shrink a few times, following their advice. He hadn’t told Kieran Finnegan, his fiancée, about his recurring nightmare, and while she was a criminal psychologist working with two of the city’s finest criminal psychiatrists, he’d made a point of not telling her or her bosses.

He’d thought he’d settled it on his own. It was a little strange and sometimes intimidating being in love with someone who studied the human psyche, and he hadn’t wanted Kieran worried about him or trying to analyze him.

Why the hell had the dream come back?

He felt Kieran shift against him. He pulled her into his arms and she rolled, crystal eyes opening wide when she realized that he was awake.

And aroused. Kieran’s tangle of auburn hair was a wild mass around her face, emphasizing her eyes and the quick smile that came to her lips.

“Ah!” she murmured, feeling his arousal against her.

“Your fault,” he accused.

“Well, thankfully. What time is it?” she asked with a soft whisper.

He laughed. “Quickie time, or time for a quickie,” he said.

Her smile deepened, and there was something so sensual about it that it never failed to increase whatever he had begun to feel.

In her arms, in the liquid burn of kisses here and there strategically placed, in the swift—and intense—blaze of arching and writhing and thrusting, all else faded.

After, Craig headed for the shower. He was an FBI agent in the Criminal Division of New York City’s branch of the FBI. He could be satisfied in having brought down several killers. But there would be more; a sad fact of the world and humanity. He was blessed to have his job, his vocation, and it was time to go to work.

He shoved the dream into the back of his mind.

Whatever his day held, he’d already seen the worst that this world could offer.

Little did he know.

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About the Author

Heather Graham is The New York Times and USA Today best-selling author sold her first book, When Next We Love, in 1982 and since then, she has written over two hundred novels and novellas with about 60 million books in print in categories of romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. Graham earned high praise for her New York Confidential series, including a starred review from Library Journal which called it, “Intricate, fast-paced, and intense, this riveting thriller blends romance and suspense in perfect combination and keeps readers guessing and the tension taut until the very end.” For more information, visit her at TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com.

Connect:

Author Website

Twitter: @HeatherGraham

Instagram: @TheOriginalHeatherGraham

Facebook: @HeatherGrahamAuthor

Goodreads

Spotlight: Across Eternity by Elizabeth O'Roark

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The exciting conclusion to Across Time!

Separated from Henri by 20 years,  Amelie discovers that what she thought was a weakness may be her greatest strength, and that nothing about her family and her gift  is what it seemed. 

Now, with war on the horizon and a challenge she never saw coming, Amelie will learn what the prophecy really means for them - herself most of all.

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2UDNngx

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/32fZRhD

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2uhKAAk

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2HFUVJD

About the Author

Hi and thanks for visiting! I'm a former medical writer (unsurprisingly, writing romance is much more fun than writing about pediatric heart surgery) and therapist (I was terrible at it). I have a couple of degrees that have proven completely useless, and I now live in Washington, DC with my three kids. I drink an embarrassing amount of Diet Mountain Dew, and would exist entirely off of candy corn were it socially acceptable to do so. 

For rights inquiries, please contact Brower Literary & Management 

Connect:

Newsletter: https://www.elizabethoroark.com

Website: https://www.elizabethoroark.com/buy

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-o-roark

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7233016.Elizabeth_O_Roark

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethoroark/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizabethORoark

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethoroarkbooks

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2O8k16r

Spotlight: Double Blind by Sara Winokur

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A young boy disappears in the chill of North Iceland. Twenty years later, a mysterious poem lands on the desk of his twin sister Brynja, a forensic geneticist, and rekindles her hopes that her brother might be alive. As Brynja unravels the clues, more poems arrive, each bearing dire consequences for those who receive them: the guard of the medieval manuscript of Icelandic sagas that possibly has the answer to her burning question, the prime minister’s secretary, the local pastor.

Is the poet out to stop Brynja from finding her brother and shut down her access to the DNA database? Or is the verse maker simply a psychopath copycat killer?

Fighting the visual auras that have plagued her since childhood and now threaten everything she holds dear, Brynja must summon the strength to navigate the twisted labyrinth of the poet’s mind and confront the dark secret buried in her family’s past.

DOUBLE BLIND is a wild ride through the cultural landscape of Iceland, from rural farmsteads to icy fjords to the high-tech world of DNA forensics. This crime thriller packed with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Sara Winkour is a geneticist and researcher who reinvented herself as an author. She writes historical fiction and informed cultural thrillers hoping to educate readers while they’re being entertained.     

Sara has a Masters in Psytogenetics for cancer diagnosis and a Ph.D. for her work on Muscular Dystrophy, identifying mutations that cause disease. She is also a consultant at the University of California and an Associate Researcher at Biological Chemistry School of Medicine at UCI, Irvine. She was part of the team that found the gene that causes Dwarfism and Huntington’s Disease.  

Sara is an avid reader of historical fiction, mystery-thrillers, and Scandinavian Noir. She also loves to travel and has already visited over 60 countries.  

Being an ovarian cancer survivor gives Sara a sense of gratitude, strength, and perspective that she extends to family, friends, work, and her writing.  A mother of three, she resides with her husband of 37 years in Southern California.  

Connect:

Website: sarawinokur.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarawinokurauthor/

Instagram: sara_winokur

Spotlight: Cowboy for Hire by Victoria James

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When a shy woman inherits a ranch, she’ll have to find an inner strength to succeed—and open herself up to love—in this heartwarming novel from New York Times bestselling author Victoria James.

Sarah Turner has led a very sheltered life. So when her parents pass away tragically, suddenly she’s left in charge of the family ranch with little know-how but plenty of will to keep it afloat. Determined not to lose her parents’ legacy or her newfound independence, she needs a hero fast—not to save her, but to show her how to save herself. But she’s unprepared for the ruggedly handsome cowboy who answers her ad.

“Cowboy for Hire,” the ad said, and Cade Walker is quick to respond. Betrayed as ranch manager by his former boss, he’s looking for a new place to put down roots—without the pressure to prove himself again. Except when he meets his new boss, it’s clear he’s not only there to run a ranch but to also teach Miss Independent how to run it. But as they struggle to make the ranch flourish, they’ll both need courage if they hope to find a family…together.

Excerpt

Her hand clutched his shoulder, and he was shocked because they didn’t usually touch. Or, aslittle as possible, anyway. The feel of her hand on him reminded him of why he shouldn’t put himself in positions where it was just the two of them. It would only fuel the attraction he felt for her, especially with these conversations that told him more and more about her. “Don’t take me home. I don’t want to go back,” she said, her voice whisper-thin, her eyes glued to the road. Cade gripped the steering wheel tightly, and she dropped her hand. Hell. He kept tellinghimself he couldn’t get involved with Sarah, but the more time he spent with her, the more hewanted to know her. “Why don’t you want to go back home?”

“I’ve never been anywhere or done anything in the last fifteen years. I haven’t lived. All thosepeople at that party had real lives. I’m the same age, and I felt like an outsider tonight. I didn’tknow what to say, what to do. I was more comfortable on the sidelines.  I… Don’t drive me home. Take me anywhere but there. Please, Cade.”

He clenched his teeth and knew he couldn’t take her home. It couldn’t be him to take her backthere. Things he’d suspected about her, all those pieces were coming together. Her desperationclung to her words like fresh dew on the grass at dawn. “Okay. So where are we going?”

She turned to him and gave him a smile as though she’d just won the lottery. Her green eyessparkled, and damn if her happiness didn’t punch him in the gut. “Anywhere! The city! Billings.Where do people my age go? Where did you go when you were my age?”

His brows snapped together. “Oh, well, back in my day, we rode our horses to the saloon andmade sure we were home before dark, since there was no electricity.”

She burst out laughing, and he found himself smiling despite the fact that she thought he wasfrom a different era. “I didn’t mean it like that. So where should we go?”

“All right, let’s head into the city.”

“Road trip!”

He had no idea who the woman beside him was. Layer by layer, she was coming alive. The night she’d taken out that horse, it was as though something had snapped, shifted, and now she wastrying to become someone new. Or maybe she was just trying to be the person she always wanted to be. “When are you planning on going back?”

“Well, you have the weekend off. It’s only Friday. So how about tomorrow? That way youstill have Sunday to relax and do whatever.”

He ran a hand over his jaw. “I’m not sure that’s going to look great,” he said, trying to choose hiswords carefully.

“Who cares? I don’t. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me anymore. I have spent my entire lifeliving by rules made up by well-meaning but horribly flawed people.  They are gone now. I’m the only living person in my family. Do you care what people think of you?”

He cleared his throat. “Not particularly, no. But I wasn’t thinking of me. I was thinking of youand the guys at the ranch.” He was also thinking Edna was going to hang him on her wash line if he stayed away overnight with Sarah.

“No one is paying attention to what I’m doing, and everyone knows you aren’t working. They’llassume you went away. I’ll text Edna and tell her that I’m going away for the weekend with a friend and that I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Sweetheart, you have no friends.” Dammit, he hadn’t meant to use that endearment. That wasreserved for…well, it wasn’t something you said to a woman you were trying to keep your distance from, certainly not one you worked for. Then again, going on a road trip with that person wasn’t exactly his smartest move, either.

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

Victoria James is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance.

Victoria always knew she wanted to be a writer and in grade five, she penned her first story, bound it (with staples and a cardboard cover) and did all the illustrations herself. Luckily, this book will never see the light of day again.

In high school she fell in love with historical romance and then contemporary romance. After graduating University with an English Literature degree, Victoria pursued a degree in Interior Design and then opened her own business. After her first child, Victoria knew it was time to fulfill her dream of writing romantic fiction.

Victoria is a hopeless romantic who is living her dream, penning happily-ever-after’s for her characters in between managing kids and the family business. Writing on a laptop in the middle of the country in a rambling old Victorian house would be ideal, but she’s quite content living in suburbia with her husband, their two young children, and very bad cat.

Sign up for Victoria’s Newsletter to stay up to date on upcoming releases and exclusive giveaways, follow her blog for daily antics and insight into her daily life, and get to know her on twitter and Facebook. She loves hearing from readers!

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Bookbub | Goodreads | Newsletter | Amazon Author Profile

Audio Spotlight: Mistletoe & Cocoa Kisses by Stacy Eaton

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Mistletoe & Cocoa Kisses 
Heart of the Family Series Book 1 
by Stacy Eaton 
Narrated by Lisa Beacom 
Genre: Contemporary Romance 


Robin Cove has had enough of her boss, is over her boyfriend, and makes a split-second decision to leave it all behind. Too bad she didn’t check the weather forecast before she left. Stranded on the side of the road when her old car breaks down, Robin fears her impulsive action will be the death of her as her body temperature steadily lowers to dangerous levels.

Matt Landry is slowly making his way home in the storm when he finds an unconscious woman on the side of the road and rushes her home to his father Chris to save her.

When Robin wakes up, she finds herself in the kind of home that she has always dreamed of having, except for the handsome man with the surly attitude. As much as Robin wants to stay, she knows she’ll never win him over and needs to find the right future for herself.

Will Robin’s future bring her back to Chris and his kids, or will Chris lose the chance to have the love of a woman who will never leave him and the family he has always wanted? 




AUDIO SAMPLE 







Stacy Eaton is a USA Today Bestselling author and began her writing career in October of 2010. Stacy took an early retirement from law enforcement after over fifteen years of service in 2016, with her last three years in investigations and crime scene investigation to write full time.

Stacy resides in southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, who works in law enforcement, and her teen daughter. She also has a son who is currently serving in the United States Navy, and two grandchildren. 

When Stacy is not writing, she enjoys photography and relaxing on the beach. 









My voice is my passion.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Arts from the University of Nebraska, I've worked as an actor on stage and on the radio over the last 20 years. During this time, I studied voice extensively, and I sing jazz and other styles of music professionally. I am the featured vocalist on the album “The Road” by the band Under the Bus. 
To keep developing my acting skills, I studied improv at The Second City, Annoyance
and Comedy Sports Theaters among others. Most recently, I graduated from the ACX Master Class for audiobook narrators and am now focused on my work as a professional voice actor.
As an audiobook narrator, I’ve recorded dozens  of books that are now available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. I discovered that narration provides the perfect outlet for my unique skills and talents.



$20 Amazon 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!