Three New Releases

Hi, folks.

One of the things we MB4 hosts allow ourselves occasionally is to post announcements when our new books are released. I realized this week that I've been pretty remiss this spring letting you all know about my newest books. We've got three of the seven new releases out in the stores now, with several more coming soon. I thought the best way to introduce these would be by giving you a short synopsis of each, and a link to an excerpt in case you'd like to read a bit.

Remember, if you love to write, write like the wind!

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

TERROR COMES KNOCKING (book 2 in Moore Mysteries, sequel to Healey's Cave)

FEB 2012

Sam’s daughter Beth has been unreachable for days. No ransom note arrives, no kidnappers call. When Beth’s roommate Zafina Azziz arrives on their doorstep worried about Beth, Sam realizes it’s time to call the FBI.

In the midst of the investigation, Zafina’s larger-than-life personality wows Sam’s wife, Rachel, and when brother Hashim Azziz arrives on the scene, she welcomes them with open arms. But Sam thinks there’s something fishy about the woman who slinks around like an Egyptian temptress and her brother with the deadpan eyes.

While the Moores unravel with worry, the green marble—a talisman connected to Sam’s missing little brother—whisks Sam between past and present to reveal the truth about his daughter. Meanwhile, the town goes wild preparing a welcome for the U.S. President who will attend the Arts Center opening gala.

But all is not well in the small village. A bomb explodes in the back of Yasir Khoury's Dry Cleaners, escalating fears of terrorism and anti-Iraqi bigotry. Events grow out of control as the gala grows closer. That’s when Sam learns the awful truth: someone in his hometown plans to blow up the President, along with most of the residents of Conaroga, NY.

Sam fights the tide that threatens to sweep his daughter away, digging deeper into local secrets. When he discovers an unsettling link between his daughter and Zafina Azziz, too many questions arise. Is Zafina friend, or foe? Can Sam unravel the lies in time to save his daughter and the President?

TERROR COMES KNOCKING, Chapter One:

Sam stood over his brother’s grave. A curious combination of sorrow and liberation flitted through him. Like a tapestry of death, its weave created patterns of loss and love that gutted his soul, twisting him inside.

The agony of grieving again for his little brother had hit him hard. Although he’d mourned in stages since Billy disappeared fifty years ago, he’d never had closure. Until now. A week ago, his three best childhood friends admitted to burying Billy’s body in the pool near Healey’s cave. When the boy had slipped from the crossing log and slammed his head in a lethal fall, they’d panicked, afraid of being charged with murder. Their childish fears escalated, and they’d pinned Billy beneath heavy stones, his eyes wide open and dulled, hair waving in the water, skin wrinkled like prunes.

Sam shook himself.

Stop it. Stop torturing yourself.

He glanced at his SUV sitting under the shade a hundred yards away, its four doors gaped open to provide relief from the heat. With her motorized scooter parked alongside, his wife of forty years, Rachel, perched sideways on the passenger seat, a cell phone clamped to her ear. Their grandson Evan rhythmically tossed and caught a softball nearby. They’d accompanied him to the gravesite and had left after his request for a few minutes alone.

To think. To stare at the earth. To remember that the physical markers of Billy’s young life were just that. Placeholders. Reminders. Cold ground and stone.  (read more here)

ESSENTIALLY YOURS (book 2 in Tall Pines Mysteries, sequel to FOR THE BIRDS)

MARCH 2012

 

Marcella Hollister’s first love has been MIA for eighteen years, with no confirmation of his death or military desertion. Callie, her quirky best friend and Sky’s sister, flips out when a mysterious package from Sky arrives on her doorstep containing his old backpack. Are these his final effects? Or is he alive?

Marcella and Callie look for clues in the little brown bottles with the colorful labels holding precious essential oils. And what’s with the password-encoded memory stick? Stranger yet, where did Sky get a musty velvet bag filled with emeralds?

When Marcella’s half-Seneca Indian husband Quinn hears about this package from Sky, his jealousy spikes. He and Marcella have been married for seven years, and he’s not about to let some punk from the past mess that up.

When Callie is kidnapped and her older sister is found murdered, a high stakes chase through the Adirondack Mountains begins, where Marcella, Quinn, and Callie’s Bernese Mountain Dog find Sky in the woods, guarding the secrets of an essential oil cancer cure from the goons at MedicuR_x a drug company that will lose all if the oil makes it to market. They use every weapon in their arsenal to locate the secret medical records Sky hid on the memory stick.

The foursome search for Callie in the wilderness of the Adirondacks while trying to avoid  struggle to keep the data safe and bring Callie home alive.

ESSENTIALLY YOURS, Chapter One:

Callie waved a yellow scarf from her pontoon boat and headed erratically toward my dock. The girl who’d been like a sister to me since I was thirteen had never mastered the art of steering. Matter of fact, she’d avoided getting her driver’s license for the past twenty years, and would probably never drive that old Buick her dotty mother left moldering in the garage.

Shocked to see her outside, I waved back, then swam to the dock and scrambled up the ladder to avoid getting crushed by her two-ton vessel. I grabbed my towel, blotted water from my face and hair, and wrapped it around my new bright pink one-piece suit. I’d been nervous to wear it—I thought it made my thighs look big. But now I’d been caught, and I couldn’t get that towel around me fast enough.

I watched the boat drift closer, shocked at my friend’s appearance. Her face twisted in despair. Her coal black hair hung limp on her shoulders, and her eyes puffed red. Instantly, my brain ran through the possibilities.

What got her out of the house? (read more here)

 DOUBLE FORTE', author's preferred edition. (Book 1 in LeGarde Mysteries)

FEB 2012

Gus LeGarde is mourning the loss of his wife Elsbeth, who leapt from the Letchworth Gorge cliffs four years ago. He plays endless Chopin etudes on his antique piano and lavishes love on his family and dog, but nothing buries the pain or answers the burning questions.

Why didn’t she say goodbye? What prompted her to jump? And how will he be able to live life without her?

Harold, Gus’s arrogant son-in-law, is caught in several love affairs, and begins to verbally abuse Freddie, Gus’s daughter. With a two-year-old grandson in the mix, Gus worries it’s escalating and warns Harold that he’ll be out of the house the next time he messes up.

When Harold’s law partner goes missing, a police search in the Gus’s woods reveals a shocking find. The mystery deepens, the plot twists and turns, and Gus’s innocent friend is set up to take the fall. In the deep cold of winter, threats erupt from the dark woods, spinning events out of hand, and Gus braces for the fight of his life.

DOUBLE FORTE', Chapter One:

We’d been skiing across the snow-covered field for twenty minutes when I heard the howl. The sound echoed over the frozen landscape, sending chills down my spine. Was it a coyote? A wolf?

I turned to Siegfried, my best friend and brother to my deceased wife. “Did you hear that, Sig?”

He slid to my side in a white spray of snow, courtesy of the fresh powder that coated the two-foot base. It had been swirling white since we started out in the murky dawn, hoping to get some exercise before we started our busy Saturday.

He slowly shook his massive head. “No, Professor. Was hörten Sie?”

At six-eight, Sig was taller than me. With broad shoulders, huge hands, and tree trunk legs, this man who’d stood by my side since childhood appeared a gladiator among normal men. But I knew his secret. He was an angel on earth, put here for the animals and children, sent to teach us how to be better people. I loved him fiercely, and he’d been my friend since I was five.

We listened at the crest of the hill. I pulled back my hood, but the biting cold of the January gusts sliced into my face and neck, numbing my skin. This windy ridge, which overlooked the east side of the gently rolling Genesee Valley, boasted the most beautiful view for miles. Today I was almost too cold to notice.

“I’m not sure, buddy. It was a—”

The cry came again. This time it was louder, more plaintive. (read more here)

***

Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. An award-winning, bestselling Kindle author of three addictive mystery series, Aaron enjoys the Genesee Valley countryside in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his website at http://www.lazarbooks.com and watch for his upcoming Twilight Times Books releases, FOR KEEPS (MAY 2012), DON’T LET THE WIND CATCH YOU (APRIL 2012), and the author’s preferred edition of UPSTAGED (JUNE 2012).