STILETTO BOOKS: CRIME & MYSTERY, AUTHORS i-z

GOING ALL THE WAY BACK TO EDGAR ALLEN POE, LOVERS OF LITERATURE HAVE HAD A SPECIAL, ENDURING FASCINATION WITH THE MYSTERY. THRILLS, SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE ABOUND IN THE WORKS OF THIS ACCOMPLISHED GROUP of authors. 

she had to know

After the deaths of her adopted parents, Arran discovers her long-lost sister's name and, despite a terrifying premonitory dream, embarks on a quest to find Sheena. After reuniting in Scotland, the sisters search for the reason their birth father and his housekeeper mysteriously died and why Sheena's life is being threatened. Led to a cryptic rhyme rumored to map the way to an ancient hidden treasure buried deep in the bowels of Wraithmoor Castle, the sisters follow the clues. A murderer follows the sisters. Will the secret passages lead them to discovery and triumph, or death and eternal entombment? 

COCO IHLE

Coco, a product of foster care and adoption, spent over fifty years searching for her sister, whom she found in 1994. Thus the idea for her book She Had to Know was born. She discovered Scottish roots and plays harp and bagpipes, along with piano and cello. The Florida Writers Association published a short story of hers in 2009 in their first anthology. Coco is a member of the MWA, SinC, FWA, The Alma Society that aids in family searches, the Dorothyl Digest and the Scottish St. Andrew’s Society. Above and beyond all that, her literary gifts thrill.

Available now at $14.95 plus tax.

A.J. MCCARTHY

A.J. McCarthy is an accountant by profession and works as the Vice-President of Finance for a manufacturing company in Quebec City, Canada. She is married and the mother of two beautiful daughters. On a whim, she decided to try her hand at writing and discovered a new passion. This marvelous thriller is her first published novel with Indigo.

betrayal

Victoria Anderson is a woman on a mission. That mission takes her from her home state of Florida to Quebec City, Canada in the middle of winter. Unfortunately, Danny Wilcox, the person she wants to find and return home with happens to be one of the most wanted criminals in the Province of Quebec.

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

BILL LONG

Bill Long has spent much of his life in law enforcement.  A graduate of Cal State, Sacramento, and the National FBI Academy, he served in the US Submarine Service. Soon after completing his military enlistment, he spent twenty-six years in law enforcement.  After retiring 1989, he worked as an investigator for the next fourteen years.  He has many experiences to draw from, including once assisting the United States Secret Service in 1984 with the protection of President Ronald Reagan.  He has authored thirteen short stories and two non-fiction articles.  He now makes his home in Hawaii.

Coming soon, Twist Again

twist

Twist is a police-procedural thriller about three criminal factions dealing with narcotic investigation, ultimately brought together by character Shawna Quinn, a twenty-three year-old rookie taken from the Sacramento Sheriff's Training Academy. It happens in 1985, when Quinn is assigned to work undercover in a local high school. Things get complicated by Quinn's love relationship with a narcotic detective, then even more complex when she stumbles upon a major drug operation directed in part by a local attorney, who happens to be the father of a popular high-school student who has become infatuated with her. 

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

twist again

Twist Again is a sequel to Twist. It is a story of revenge, beginning almost two years after Deputy Sheriff Shawna Quinn shot and killed Mickey Bauer, the man who had murdered Detective Rick Mason, Quinn's fiancé at the time. Having gone through the stages of denial and blame, Quinn seems forever imprisoned within the confines of grief, unable to enter the final stage of acceptance. Her suppressed rage is perhaps for good reasons. In years past, her father, a narcotic detective, had also been murdered. The person or persons responsible were never identified. Now she has fallen in love with a young patrol officer, Tommy Winfield, son of the late Thomas Winfield, an attorney who had stepped over to the other side of the law and was also murdered by some of the same people within the same circle of drug dealers associated with Bauer when he was alive. Quinn vowed to herself to take them all down, though she had no idea how she would go about it, until one day when Rita Garcia showed up as an inmate in the Women's Detention Facility at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center.

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

the curious case of the chinese chest

The Curious Case of the Chinese Chest by Samantha McDermott is a romantic novel wrapped in a crime mystery sprinkled with sarcastic humor and family secrets. When Cindy, the star of the book's ensemble cast, happens across a burglar in her home, she finds herself suddenly sucked into a treasure hunt for her aunt Daphne's prized possessions. This story can jump from funny to deadly serious in a turn of a page.

Available now at $10.95 plus tax.

the curious confusion of kate

Kate slowly comes to the realization that her strange fuzziness may not be the result of her recent trauma. The man she planned to marry has been murdered in front of her and she thought it might be normal to go through the ensuing days in a sort of fog. When she begins to wonder if his brother, who claims to be befriending her, is giving her some sort of drugs, she panics, scrambles to her car and escapes. She drives herself to an airport and boards a plane, anything to get away, before she succumbs to haziness and falls asleep. 

Available now at $10.95 plus tax.

the curious creature caper

Early on a spring morning, Genny laces up her new skates, determined to test her speed on a deserted pathway in the park. She is skating as fast as she has ever gone when she tops a hill, and there is a mounted policeman directly in her way. To avoid a collision, she steers to one side and crashes into the bracken. Hurt and furious, she accuses the policeman of causing her fall. He retaliates that he can arrest her for speeding in the park and endangering the life of a valuable member of the police force -- his horse. 
This is, of course, the beginning of a rocky relationship between two people who have nothing in common -- except their burgeoning interest in a very large and illusive dog. 

Available now at $10.95 plus tax.

samantha mcdermott

Samantha McDermott was born in Geneva, Illinois on November 4 in the year of the rabbit.  She has also lived in Arizona, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, D.C., California, Oregon, France and North Carolina--in that order.  She hates cold weather and has always wanted to live on an island off the coast of Maine.  Her various jobs and occupations were not interesting even to her and she was there.  She is now settled in North Carolina with a husband she adores, three peculiar cats, a bullfrog and an elusive box turtle. Her best friends include an astrologer, an artist, a Sicilian waif, and a 124-lb German bodybuilder. Samantha offers readers simple escapism. “My goal is to steer clear of social relevancy,” she says. “I hope my books' appeal is lighthearted wit and charm.”

a curious flurry of snow

Amanda Snow, whose father is a retired policeman, is well-schooled in the dangers of picking up hitchhikers. It is something she would never do. But when she is driving through a fierce blizzard and almost runs a man down, it seems the least she can do is give him a lift. The storm worsens and they pull off the road into the parking lot of a seemingly deserted restaurant. She is slowly drawn into a world she has known nothing about. Increasingly flustered, she questions her own perceptions. He lies, but he is charming. He makes a fool of her, but he is entertaining. Everyone seems to adore him, and she is afraid she is falling under his spell. Is he a murderer or was he an intended victim? 

Available now at $10.95 plus tax.

coming soon from Samantha Bailey and indigo sea press

the curious caves of honey cove
murder is a drag

Henry Santiago resigned from the Bureau of Detectives when it cost him his family—the wife who divorced him; the missing daughter he failed to protect. Now transient, he comes to a bar in Carvel Ohio to indulge in two of his passions: 1960’s soul music and the comfort of dressing in women’s clothing. When a local teenager dies in his arms, however, Santiago will be dragged into a conspiracy of murder, kidnapping, and small town political corruption.
Former nationally-renowned demonologist and Carvel native, Everett Sturm, blames the crime on a satanic cult. The girl’s family suspects her boyfriend, who himself has been missing for nearly a year. When the mayor’s daughter disappears Santiago has reason to suspect her political rival as the killer.
However, none of these theories are correct.

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

M.C. Schmidt

M.C. Schmidt is the published author of several children’s poems and short stories.  In 2005, he placed second in the Half Priced Book Say Goodnight to Illiteracy children’s writing competition.  He is a married father of three.  Murder Is a Drag is his second novel.

PAUL STAM

At age 13, Paul Stam hunted big game in Africa with his father, not as a sport but to provide food for the station. He’s had a leopard’s face six inches from his own in the middle of the night where the only thing protecting him was the mosquito net. He has single handedly sailed a 38 foot ketch from Tahiti to Hawaii. Another time with only his wife and 13 year old son on board sailed their 42 foot cutter through a hurricane. Born the son of missionary parents in the Congo, Paul has always loved to write and no matter where he was or what he was doing tended to scribble down the things that came to mind. Among other things Paul has been a construction worker, university teacher and administrator and a sailboat skipper. Now at 81 Paul is retired and lives in Hawaii where he spends a lot of time on the potter’s wheel making bowls and mugs and at the computer writing.

Coming soon, a third Stiletto title, Fruit Unto Death

body on the church steps

She was young, exceptionally beautiful, and except for her sheer lace panties, completely naked and very dead. She lay at the top of the steps that led up to the front of the church. A body on the church steps. How in the world did she come to be there? She didn’t just collapse there with a heart attack or something like that. Somebody put her there, but who?  

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

the telephone killer

Who will he kill next? A local television station is the link between a murderer and his victims. When the unknown killer calls the station, misleading clues cannot help his intended targets. But why is he killing seemingly random people? An insurance salesman, a police officer and a hitchhiker; the police cannot connect the victims to each other much less to the killer. 

Available now at $14.95 plus tax.

MIKE WALSH

Mike Walsh spent many years working in New York City as an “advertising art director/design consultant” (one of the original, real-life “madmen”). He began writing years ago, but his advertising and painting agendas kept him from pursuing this avocation. His venture into writing has produced the novel, “Alpha Male,” an adventure about hunting wolves in Alaska, and the Trilogy of Evil, a three volume series.

Coming soon, Slain and Dreams

Seance

Aspiring artist, Laura Whitney, blinded by a lightning strike, receives a dual cornea transplant from a “medium” who died during a séance she was conducting. Although her sight was restored, Laura’s life becomes fraught with mysterious incidents and untimely deaths of people in her life. Her struggle to combat an evil “spirit” from biblical times, brought forth at that same séance, make an intriguing and thrilling tale. 

Available now at $13.95 plus tax.

Susan williamson

Susan Williamson is a lifelong horse person, writer and educator. She is the former editor of a weekly newspaper and currently a freelance writer for the Weekly Independent. Williamson is a graduate of the University of Kentucky with an MS from the University of California, Davis. She is an active board member of the Winston-Salem Writers. She has worked as an extension agent, adjunct professor, riding instructor, horse trainer and manager of a local food coop. She lives outside Winston-Salem with her husband Wallace, her Labradoodle Remi and two horses. Ride into her world.

Available now at $10.95 plus tax.

Dead on the Trail

Molly and John Lewis were living their dream, working as professional horse trainers on a beautiful farm. When John left to judge a horse show and her help called in sick, Molly had her hands full. That was before she discovered a body in the woods…. 

Turkmen captives

Madelaine Jones is still reeling from her husband’s death in Afghanistan when her house explodes and a mysterious letter indicates that her husband might not have been a war casualty. Her desire to know the truth puts Madelaine and her loved ones in danger as she searches three continents for answers. 

Available now at $11.95 plus tax.