Spotlight: Double Takedown by Kevin G. Chapman

Genre: Mystery, Thriller 

What if everything you thought you knew was wrong?

The glittering lights of Broadway are just a cover for the dark secrets hidden behind the curtains. NYPD homicide detectives Mike Stoneman and Jason Dickson are about to find out how many layers one story can have in their latest case. As they prepare to testify in a high-profile murder trial, they begin to question if they got it wrong. The Broadway director claims evidence was planted to frame him and that Mike and Jason developed tunnel vision. If they did, can they live with themselves, knowing that an innocent man might be convicted . . . and that someone else got away with the perfect crime?

With orders to stay away from the closed case, Mike and Jason are plagued by doubts and can't let it go. When new evidence leads to even more questions, the detectives race to put the pieces together and uncover the whole truth. But their unauthorized investigation could lead to catastrophic collateral damage, could cost them their badges, and the director may still be guilty.

For fans of intense crime thrillers and complex characters, Double Takedown is a must-read.

Excerpt

FORTY-FIVE MINUTES INTO THE FIRST ACT of the ballet, Rachel pulled down her sparkling purple facemask and whispered into Jason’s ear, “What’s going on down there?”

They were seated in the next-to-last row of the orchestra level. At the front of the house, partially illuminated by the stage lights, someone was standing. Rachel could not see who it was, but could hear the buzz of people talking. Then, a woman’s scream attracted everyone’s attention. Necks strained to see. More people stood.

The music stopped in the middle of the piece. The performers continued dancing for several seconds on a silent stage. The conductor, standing on a raised podium so she could see the stage and the orchestra pit, turned toward the audience. She was talking into her headset microphone. There was another scream. Then the conductor’s voice boomed over the sound system.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats. We have a medical emergency in the front row. If there are any doctors in the house, we need assistance right away.”

Rachel’s EMT training kicked in before the conductor finished saying “emergency.” She leapt over Jason’s lap, then kicked off her heels as she sprinted barefoot down the long, sloping path toward the stage. Dozens of people began filming on their phones. Despite the conductor’s instruction, half the house seemed to be standing.

Mike jumped up as soon as he saw Rachel leave her seat. He grabbed Jason’s sleeve. “Let’s go, we need to work crowd control down there. Michelle, call 9-1-1.”

Jason and Mike were forty feet behind Rachel. When they reached the front of the theater, a small group of gawkers had already gathered in the aisle. 

“NYPD! Please take your seats and keep this aisle clear for emergency services!” Jason shouted, his baritone carrying throughout the auditorium. 

Mike gently eased several men in formalwear away from the space between the front row and the orchestra pit. Jason did the same. The two detectives took up positions on either side of the aisle, casting authoritative glares at anyone who seemed interested in venturing toward the commotion in front of the stage.

Jason glanced down the front row and saw Rachel’s bare back hunched over someone lying on the floor. The straps of her purple dress flashed in the house lights, which had come on. Rachel and two men worked together to drag a figure on the floor toward more open space. Jason saw black shoes and pants, but could not see the man’s face. An usher ran down the aisle, holding a small red case that Mike assumed was an automated external defibrillator. He dashed past the two cops and handed the device to Rachel, who had taken charge of the emergency situation.

Rachel barked instructions while prepping the AED, then administered an electric charge to the victim’s now-bare chest. On the elevated stage, twenty dancers leaned over the edge to watch.

One minute later, an actual EMT team barreled down the aisle with a gurney on wheels carrying their own equipment. Rachel remained on her knees, working on the supine man, while the two tuxedoed doctors stepped back. The public address system announced that there would be an intermission in the performance due to the medical emergency and asked everyone to calmly return to the lobby. As the crowd slowly rose and meandered to the exit, those still filming remained standing until Mike, Jason, and several ushers shouted them into submission and herded them toward the doors. 

On the floor, the EMT crew loaded the unconscious man onto their gurney, then hustled out an emergency exit door at the left corner of the stage. As soon as the crew passed them, Jason and Mike rushed toward Rachel. Jason gently pulled her to a standing position. She hugged Jason in her bare feet as Mike stood back. Before Jason and Rachel disengaged, a tap on Mike’s back caused him to spin around. Michelle held out Rachel’s sparkling heels with a concerned expression. 

“Don’t like following instructions, huh?” Mike said.

Michelle flashed a tiny smile. “I told the usher I’m a doctor and he let me stay.”

“Thanks,” Rachel said, slumping into a front-row seat and working to slide back into her shoes.

“Do you know who that was on the floor?” Michelle asked.

Rachel stood. “Oh my God. You couldn’t see, could you? It was Alex Bishop.”

“The lead in Godfather? He was just nominated for a Tony!” Michelle grabbed Mike’s sleeve.

“He was,” Rachel said, “but unless the EMT crew works a miracle, he won’t be there to win it.”

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About the Author

Kevin G. Chapman is an attorney specializing in labor and employment law. In 2021, Kevin finished the first five books in the Mike Stoneman Thriller series: Righteous Assassin (Kindle Book Award semi-finalist), Deadly Enterprise (Kindle Book Award semi-finalist), Lethal Voyage, (Winner of the 2021 Kindle Book Award, CLUE finalist, RONE finalist), Fatal Infraction (Best Police Procedural of the year – CLUE Award), and Perilous Gambit. In late 2022, Kevin published a stand-alone mystery/thriller titled Dead Winner (CLUE Award - Best Suspense/Thriller of the year). Then, in 2024 came The Other Murder, winner of the CLUE Award Grand Prize (best suspense/thriller of the year) and finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award. Now, in 2025, Mike Stoneman is back in book #6, Double Takedown. Kevin is a resident of Central New Jersey and is a graduate of Columbia College and Boston University School of Law. Readers can contact Kevin via his website at www.KevinGChapman.com.

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Spotlight: American Still Life by Jim Naremore

We are all drowning, and we are all saviors.

Wresting with addiction, guilt, and self-loathing, gifted photojournalist Skade Felsdottir finds herself trapped in a web of her own creation when she is forced by circumstances to return to her hometown—the place that holds her crippling secrets. After screwing up her “big break”, a photo essay book about descansos—roadside memorials to people who have died tragically, Skade tries to salvage the project against a tight deadline. While simultaneously working and keeping her darkest demons at bay, Skade reconnects with an old boyfriend and befriends a unique but broken young woman named Kit. Their burgeoning friendship begins a process of healing for them both, until a devastating sequence of events plunges Skade into darkness, leaving her to decide between redemption and running away; between life and death. Set against a backdrop of the back roads of a forgotten America, American Still Life explores the crossroads of grief and artistic expression, of loneliness and atonement. A journey familiar.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback | Bookshop.org

About the Author

With roots in the American deep south and the Midwest grounding his sense of place, Jim Naremore has published an array of short fiction and the award-winning novel The Arts of Legerdemain as Taught by Ghosts (Belle Lutte, 2016). He holds an MFA from the Solstice program at Lasell University in Boston and currently lives with his partner and cat in New York’s Hudson River Valley.

You can follow the author at:

Instagram: @jim_naremore   

https://www.instagram.com/jim_naremore/

Website: https://www.jim-naremore.com/

Spotlight: Farm Family by Jane Lee Rankin

The story of a “solo” mom’s pursuit of a dream to start an alpaca farm in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

At 37, Jane Lee Rankin receives news that upends her life: she’s pregnant. Lee is a cancer survivor eighteen months in remission. Her boyfriend won’t commit, and her father is unsupportive. When she decides to raise the baby by herself, Lee feels the scornful glances and judgmental whispers of her conservative hometown.

Armed only with a dream and a toddler, Lee marches into Banner Elk, North Carolina, a place where she knows no one, to start an alpaca farm. As a novice first-generation farmer, Lee faces nature’s most potent setbacks, from disastrous weather events to attacks from predators. And yet, she forges on. 

With vivid storytelling, Farm Family features a cast of memorable animal characters-including alpacas, Millie, Celeste, Frosty, and Wildcard-and immerses readers into the not-always-pretty world of farming. 

At Apple Hill Farm, Lee trades fear for freedom. She trades disdain for dignity. She learns that her connection to animals is more vital than she knew, and with bravery and persistence, she creates a home—a farm family.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback

About the Author

Jane Lee Rankin is a farmer and the founder of Apple Hill Farm, an award-winning first-generation farm in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Lee is an advocate for farmers through her leadership and involvement in the North Carolina Agritourism Networking Association. She frequently speaks about farm tourism and the benefits of diversifying farm portfolios at conferences locally and nationally. In 2021, Lee won runner-up for North Carolina Small Farmer of the Year.

Cover Reveal: Lost and Found Cowboy by Jennie Marts

(Lassiter Ranch. #4)

Publication date: March 11th 2025

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

He came to find a family. He never expected to find love.

After meeting the three half-brothers he never knew existed, cowboy Mack Lassiter decides to stay and try to build a new life in the small Colorado mountain town of Woodland Hills. But he didn’t expect to find another family in Lorna Gibbs, the sweet single mom and local coffee shop owner, whose strength and warmth instantly captivated him.

Lorna’s not looking for love—her heart had been trampled by the snake who’d walked out on her and their two kids, and now her only focus is on giving her son and infant daughter the stable life they all deserve. The last thing she needs is a man breezing into town and stirring up feelings she’s locked away for years. But Mack isn’t just any man—he’s steady, kind, and a little broken, just like her.

Mack didn’t come to town expecting to fall in love, but Lorna and her kids stir something deep inside him. As he starts to find a place in their lives, both Mack and Lorna must confront the scars of their past. As Mack grapples with fitting into a new family, Lorna must decide if she’s ready to open her heart and find the courage to let a new kind of love into her life.

If you haven't fallen in love with the men of Lassiter Ranch yet, you can get SAVE THE DATE FOR A COWBOY, the prequel novella that starts it all, for FREE when you sign up for Jennie's newsletter. 

See what happens when a reluctant cowboy agrees to get set up at a wedding, but then he and his dog fall for the wrong bridesmaid. Grab yours from Bookfunnel now: https://BookHip.com/HZFKARX 

Or check out the whole Lassiter Ranch series HERE to make sure you're caught up before LOST AND FOUND COWBOY arrives. 

SAVE THE DATE FOR A COWBOY is the prequel novella to the Lassiter Ranch series in which three abandoned cowboys, born in heartbreak and bonded by brotherhood, are brought together by the fierce love of the grandparents who took them in and the ranch that's the only home they've ever known...
 
**Each book in the Lassiter Ranch series can be read as a standalone—a boots-knockin' hot cowboy HEA guaranteed in every one!**

The Lassiter Ranch Series

Save the Date For a Cowboy: Prequel Novella
Love at First Cowboy: Book 1
Overdue for a Cowboy: Book 2
Second Chance with a Cowboy: Book 3

Lost and Found Cowboy: Book 4

You will love this small town, western romance series filled with wounded cowboys, curvy wallflower heroines, second chances, friends to lovers, fake relationships, unrequited love, forced proximity, and grumpy versus sunshine stories.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”

She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet who loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.

Her books range from western romance to cozy mysteries but they all have the charm and appeal of quirky small town life. She loves genre-mashups like adding romance to her Page Turners cozy mysteries and creating the hockey-playing cowboys in the Cowboys of Creedence. The same small town community comes to life with more animal antics in her latest Creedence Horse Rescue series. And her sassy heroines and hunky heroes carry over in her heartwarming, feel good romances from Hallmark Publishing. Take the Honey and Run is her newest cozy mystery in the A Bee Keeping Mystery series. 

Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, Twitter at @JennieMarts, and at jenniemartswriter on Instagram. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.

Connect:

https://jenniemarts.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JennieMartsBooks/

https://www.instagram.com/jenniemartswriter/

https://x.com/JennieMarts

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6876233.Jennie_Marts

Spotlight: Vanity Project by André Spiteri

Publisher: Maverick Words

Publication Date: November 27, 2024

Genre: Crime/Police Procedural

How far would you go to protect yourself if the truth is too hard to swallow?

DI Brian Brandon's first murder investigation after a forced leave of absence seems open and shut. A love triangle gone horribly wrong.

But, the more he digs into the life of the victim — freelance cybersecurity consultant Ray Higgins — the deeper he's drawn into a complex web of greed and betrayal.

With bodies piling up and the press baying for blood, Brian faces a race against the clock. What he hasn't planned on is that his own demons are also hot on his heels.

Can he uncover the killer's true identity before they catch up with him, or is he doomed to pay the ultimate price?

Excerpt

Detective Inspector Brian Brandon stared into the bathroom mirror, but a stranger stared back at him.


Three weeks of forced leave, and he didn’t recognise himself anymore. His wavy salt-and-pepper hair was frizzy, thinning on top, and appeared far heavier on the salt than it had been that morning when he’d checked himself in the hallway before leaving for East Strathburgh Police Station to plead his case. His face was pasty and puffy. Careworn. The face of a man who has had too much time on his hands and far too little to fill it with for much longer than is healthy. The knot of his blue paisley tie constricted his fleshy neck, which was spilling over the collar of his white poplin shirt. A shirt with a tailored fit that, through some process he vaguely understood but couldn’t quite fathom, had become too tailored in all the wrong places.


He closed his eyes and held onto the sink with both hands, a captain steering his ship through a thicket of fog.


‘I’m fine, sir. I assure you,’ he’d told – practically begged – DCI Lowe five minutes earlier. ‘Champing at the bit. Raring to go.’


What he hadn’t told Lowe was that he wasn’t sure how much longer he could trust himself to keep his head without work to occupy him. His thoughts were racing at breakneck pace, taking him places he’d rather not visit for fear he’d want to remain there. Permanently.


Lowe had given him a long, appraising look from beneath his legendarily bushy black eyebrows and leaned forward in his faux-leather office chair. Brian, standing in front of Lowe’s cluttered glass and brushed-aluminium desk, had shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other, like he needed to go to the lavvy.


‘It’s too soon, Brian,’ Lowe had said, steepling his fingers under his non-existent chin.


‘It’s been long enough,’ Brian had insisted. ‘I’m polis. It’s what I do. This kind of thing… it’s…’ He’d waved his hand around, looking for the right words. ‘It’s par for the course in our line of work,’ he’d ended flatly.


Lowe had raised his eyebrows. One of the hairs was sticking out at an obtuse angle, giving him an oddly comical look.


‘Have you spoken to somebody?’ Lowe had asked. His tone was gentle. Fatherly. But there was steel in his eyes. ‘It helps. What you’ve been through—’


‘I’m fine,’ Brian repeated, a tad more forcefully than he’d intended.


He’d stopped, then. Taken a breath. Held Lowe’s eyes with an earnest gaze.


‘Look,’ Brian had said. ‘Try me. That’s all I’m asking. If I can’t hack it, I’ll be the first to tell you. No need to worry about that. We’re understaffed as it is. So what do you have to lose?’


Lowe had sighed then. A deep, heavy sound that Brian hadn’t been sure what to make of. Was Lowe about to relent? Had he managed to wear him down?


‘Let me think about it,’ he’d said at last, weighing every word.


‘But—’


‘I said, let me think about it,’ Lowe snapped. ‘Take the win.’


Brian had pushed down several smart retorts and nodded deferentially.


‘Thank you, sir,’ he’d said finally, trying not to grit his teeth.


Now, standing in front of a rust-spotted mirror in the lads’ lavvy across the hall from Lowe’s office, a grey shadow toyed with the edges of his field of vision, and he opened his eyes before it could take on a more substantial form. His thoughts turned to home. To the bottle of Monkey Shoulder in the cupboard under the sink. He pushed them away. Opened the cold tap. Splashed his face. The freezing water jolted him.


Aye, that was better. Once he got back to his flat and peeled off this ill-fitting suit, maybe he’d go for a run. Clear the cobwebs. Put himself on the road to well-being and prove to Lowe he was walking the talk.


He turned the tap off, pulled a bunch of paper towels from the dispenser and patted his face dry. Then he took a deep breath. Steeled himself. Walked out of the lavvy, through the corridor, toward the carpeted stairs that led to the station’s entrance, and the parking area outside.


‘DI Brandon!’


Lowe’s voice, calling him from his office doorway, stopped him mid-stride. Brian’s heart skipped a beat.


‘Come back here, will you?’ his senior officer added and strode back into his office without waiting for a reply.


Brian followed, his stomach clenching. ‘Sir?’ he asked from the doorway.


Lowe gave him another one of his appraising looks. His unblinking stare made him feel vulnerable. Naked.


‘Fine,’ he said, after a pause that felt like it had gone on for hours. ‘You’re right. We’re stretched thin and I can’t spare one of my more experienced DIs.’


Brian’s knees almost buckled with relief. His lips curved into a smile.


‘Does that mean—?’


Lowe lifted a hand, palm outward, in a silencing gesture.


‘Just so we’re clear,’ Lowe continued, ‘I’ll be watching you like a hawk. The second I sense you’re not up to the job, I’m putting you back on forced leave, you hear?’


‘Loud and clear,’ Brian said, with feeling.


A brief memory flashed. 3 a.m. Two days earlier. A half-empty bottle of Monkey Shoulder standing on the coffee table. Hunched on the sofa in a frayed terry-cloth robe, counting out how many Nytol one-a-day tablets he’d managed to scrounge from his medicine cabinet and wondering what would happen if he took them all. Washed them down with long gulps of the water of life.


Something prickled behind Brian’s eyes.


‘I won’t let you down, sir,’ he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as shaky as he felt.


‘Let’s hope so, Brian,’ Lowe said, turning his gaze to his laptop – a sign Brian was being dismissed. ‘Let’s hope so.’


– Excerpted from Vanity Project byAndré Spiteri, Maverick Words, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback | Bookshop.org

About the Author

André Spiteri is the author of award-nominated crime thriller Back From The Dead and other novels featuring struggling characters with troubled pasts. He was born on the sunny island of Malta in 1982 and lives in Edinburgh with his wife, their two daughters, and two cats. 

Connect:

Website ➜ www.andrespiteri.com 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555188546340 

Instagram/Threads ➜ https://www.instagram.com/andrespiteri_   

Spotlight: The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L Daut

The essential biography of the controversial rebel, traitor, and only king of Haiti. Henry Christophe is one of the most richly complex figures in the history of the Americas, and was, in his time, popular and famous the world over: in The First and Last King of Haiti, a brilliant, award-winning Yale scholar unravels the still controversial enigma that he was.

Slave, revolutionary, traitor, king, and suicide, Henry Christophe was, in his time, popular and famous the world over. Born in 1767 to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before helping his fellow enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then called, to gain their freedom from France. Yet in an incredible twist of fate, Christophe ended up fighting with Napoleon’s forces against the very enslaved men and women he had once fought alongside. Later, reuniting with those he had betrayed, he offered to lead them and made himself their king. But it all came to a sudden and tragic end when Christophe—after nine years of his rule as King Henry I—shot himself in the heart, some say with a silver bullet.

Why did Christophe turn his back on Toussaint Louverture and the very revolution with which his name is so indelibly associated? How did it come to pass that Christophe found himself accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Haiti’s first ruler, Dessalines? What caused Haiti to eventually split into two countries, one ruled by Christophe in the north, who made himself king, the other led by President Pétion in the south?

The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Audible | Hardcover | Bookshop.org

About the Author

Marlene L. Daut is Professor of French, African American Studies, and History at Yale University. She is the author of the award-winning Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution (UNC Press, 2023); Baron de Vastey and the Origins of Black Atlantic Humanism (Palgrave, 2017); and Tropics of Haiti: Race and the Literary History of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World (Liverpool, 2015).