Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

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Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

"Oh, Frankie," Selma moaned, clutching her chest as Frankie walked her to the front of the tree. "How can a human being do that to another human being? What would possess someone to do something so horrifying?" 

"I don’t know, Mom," Frankie answered quietly. "I just don’t know." 

"If this is like some of the crimes you and Johanna had to respond to on the police force I don’t know how you stayed sane." She peered at Frankie. "How did you stomach it?" 

Frankie saw the tears glistening in her mother’s eyes. Her tender heart could never bear some of what they had witnessed. "Sometimes I don’t know how we did either, Mom." She looked toward the group. She never thought she’d see such a brutal murder in Charlestown.

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Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

 "Be careful, Mom. What did you trip over?" Frankie’s eyes scanned the spot where Selma had tripped. "Looks like a broken branch," she said, bending down to pick it up to move it out of the way to prevent someone else from tripping. Her eye caught sight of something that looked like a boot lying in the snow. She moved to the back of the tree and squatted down to get a better look. She brushed the snow off the boot and discovered that it was a dark brown work style boot. As she continued brushing off the snow, she stopped suddenly. A chill ran up her spine. The boot was attached to a body. She immediately thought someone had suffered a heart attack while tree hunting. Surely if it were busy at the lot no one may have noticed especially since they had moved further down the lot beyond the usual assortment of trees.

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Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

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Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

"Be careful, Mom. What did you trip over?" Frankie’s eyes scanned the spot where Selma had tripped. "Looks like a broken branch," she said, bending down to pick it up to move it out of the way to prevent someone else from tripping. Her eye caught sight of something that looked like a boot lying in the snow. She moved to the back of the tree and squatted down to get a better look. She brushed the snow off the boot and discovered that it was a dark brown work style boot. As she continued brushing off the snow, she stopped suddenly. A chill ran up her spine. The boot was attached to a body. She immediately thought someone had suffered a heart attack while tree hunting. Surely if it were busy at the lot no one may have noticed especially since they had moved further down the lot beyond the usual assortment of trees.

Amazon

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Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

 Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

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Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

 After Sheriff Ryker finished giving the detectives the details of the corpse’s identity, he shifted his large body on a stool at the island. He held a steaming cup of coffee in his large hands. After taking a sip, he set the cup down then thoughtfully ran a hand over his chin. "I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something doesn’t smell right about this case." 

"You don’t think it’s a drug deal gone wrong?" Frankie asked. 

"It’s the way he was killed." He frowned. "I’ve never seen anything like that. There was so much rage behind the attack. What could that kid have possibly done to invoke such a violent attack?" 

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Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

 Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

Amazon

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Simon & Schuster

Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

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BAM

Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Johanna shuddered. "I'll give you everything you want, baby." She helped Frankie out of her clothes and then stood back admiring her lover's body.

Frankie guided her to their large bed. "You know what I'd like to do? Something we haven't done in a long time."

"What's that?"

"Let's take a bubble bath together. A nice long relaxing bubble bath."

Johanna's eyes lit up. "I'll get the CD player and you start the bath."

Frankie ran the bath water while Johanna found a CD filled with romantic songs and then lit some candles and placed them on the bathroom counters. As the music played softly in the background Frankie stepped into the bathtub and then took Johanna's hand and helped her in. The light lilac fragrance of the bubbles and the flickering lights from the candles Johanna had placed on the counter cast the room in an inviting sexy ambiance.

Frankie leaned back and held Johanna against her. "This is nice," she murmured. "So relaxing." She sighed contentedly as she stroked Johanna's cheek with the back of her hand.

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BAM

Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

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Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

The couple stopped. "What?" the man asked in a surly voice turning in Johanna's direction. He was unshaven and his eyes were bloodshot. His companion clinging tightly to his side looked timidly at them. She was mousy looking, thin and probably not much past her teens.

"We're looking for someone who lives on this street and we were wondering if you could give us directions."

"Who?" the man asked in an unfriendly tone of voice.

Johanna kept her foot near the gas pedal as she chatted. "We want to pay our condolences to Brenda and Clyde Burrows."

The timid woman who'd been silently observing them finally spoke. "They're probably down at Micki's Tavern. That's where they usually are."

"But their son—"

"It don't matter," the man broke in. "They didn't give a damn about that kid." He leaned in the window. Johanna could smell the stale whiskey on his breath. She recoiled. "I hope they're not close friends of yours or you'll be insulted by what I'm going to say. This neighborhood was bad enough before that trash moved in here." He scratched his stubbly chin. "They live in the apartment across from ours. The beatings that kid took would make your skin crawl."

"Did you ever call the sheriff or police?" Frankie asked.

The man threw his head back and laughed revealing two missing bottom teeth. "Now that's a good one."

"Well, thank you for your help. We'll check the bar," Johanna said.

The man shrugged as he took the woman's arm and resumed walking.

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Saturday's Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

"You can speak freely in front of Mom, George. After what's she's witnessed tonight I don't think anything will shock her now."

George rubbed his tired eyes. "I ran a quick background check, but nothing turned up to verify anything the parents said about their son. I'm going to run a more in-depth check as soon as I get back to the office."

"What about the parents…anything on them?" Frankie asked.

"The Burrows' moved here about two months ago from Alabama. They've lived in four different states in the past five years."

Johanna frowned. "That's quite a lot of moving around the country. Is Burrows in the military?"

He shook his head as he picked his coffee cup back up. "No. I have a gut feeling about him. Something doesn't smell right."

"Where does he work?" Johanna asked as she sipped at her coffee.

"Clyde Burrows picks up odd jobs wherever he can find them. Now his background check brought up many arrests…mostly for shoplifting, theft and petty crimes, but he did serve time for a home invasion a few years ago in Arkansas. He claimed he didn't know the family was home, panicked, and pulled a gun on them. Through some legal loophole he was released early and moved his family to Alabama."

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BAM

Saturday Blurbs – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously.

Torrid Books 
Simon and Schuster 
Amazon 
Barnes & Noble 
Google Play 
Kobo 
BAM 

Saturday's New Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Johanna shuddered. "I'll give you everything you want, baby." She helped Frankie out of her clothes and then stood back admiring her lover's body.

Frankie guided her to their large bed. "You know what I'd like to do? Something we haven't done in a long time."

"What's that?"

"Let's take a bubble bath together. A nice long relaxing bubble bath."

Johanna's eyes lit up. "I'll get the CD player and you start the bath."

Frankie ran the bath water while Johanna found a CD filled with romantic songs and then lit some candles and placed them on the bathroom counters. As the music played softly in the background Frankie stepped into the bathtub and then took Johanna's hand and helped her in. The light lilac fragrance of the bubbles and the flickering lights from the candles Johanna had placed on the counter cast the room in an inviting sexy ambiance.

Frankie leaned back and held Johanna against her. "This is nice," she murmured. "So relaxing." She sighed contentedly as she stroked Johanna's cheek with the back of her hand.

Torrid Books
Simon and Schuster  
Amazon 
Barnes & Noble
Google Play 
Kobo

Saturday's New Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

The couple stopped. "What?" the man asked in a surly voice turning in Johanna's direction. He was unshaven and his eyes were bloodshot. His companion clinging tightly to his side looked timidly at them. She was mousy looking, thin and probably not much past her teens.

"We're looking for someone who lives on this street and we were wondering if you could give us directions."

"Who?" the man asked in an unfriendly tone of voice.

Johanna kept her foot near the gas pedal as she chatted. "We want to pay our condolences to Brenda and Clyde Burrows."

The timid woman who'd been silently observing them finally spoke. "They're probably down at Micki's Tavern. That's where they usually are."

"But their son—"

"It don't matter," the man broke in. "They didn't give a damn about that kid." He leaned in the window. Johanna could smell the stale whiskey on his breath. She recoiled. "I hope they're not close friends of yours or you'll be insulted by what I'm going to say. This neighborhood was bad enough before that trash moved in here." He scratched his stubbly chin. "They live in the apartment across from ours. The beatings that kid took would make your skin crawl."

"Did you ever call the sheriff or police?" Frankie asked.

The man threw his head back and laughed revealing two missing bottom teeth. "Now that's a good one."

"Well, thank you for your help. We'll check the bar," Johanna said.

The man shrugged as he took the woman's arm and resumed walking.

Torrid Books 
Simon and Schuster 
Amazon 
Barnes & Noble
Google Play 
Kobo 

Saturday's New Excerpt – Partners: Blinded By The Trees

"You can speak freely in front of Mom, George. After what's she's witnessed tonight I don't think anything will shock her now."

George rubbed his tired eyes. "I ran a quick background check, but nothing turned up to verify anything the parents said about their son. I'm going to run a more in-depth check as soon as I get back to the office."

"What about the parents…anything on them?" Frankie asked.

"The Burrows' moved here about two months ago from Alabama. They've lived in four different states in the past five years."

Johanna frowned. "That's quite a lot of moving around the country. Is Burrows in the military?"

He shook his head as he picked his coffee cup back up. "No. I have a gut feeling about him. Something doesn't smell right."

"Where does he work?" Johanna asked as she sipped at her coffee.

"Clyde Burrows picks up odd jobs wherever he can find them. Now his background check brought up many arrests…mostly for shoplifting, theft and petty crimes, but he did serve time for a home invasion a few years ago in Arkansas. He claimed he didn't know the family was home, panicked, and pulled a gun on them. Through some legal loophole he was released early and moved his family to Alabama."

Torrid Books

Amazon

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Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. When they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree, their relaxing holiday is put on hold.

When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously.

Excerpt

Johanna smiled. "But those are memories you'll always have and treasure."

She nodded. "And traditions I'll always keep alive."

"I'm glad," Johanna said. She looked toward the stove. "I see you've got your pot of famous chili cooking." She sniffed appreciatively.

Frankie wiped her hands on her apron. "And my homemade cornbread is ready for the oven tomorrow. All I need to do now is wait for Mom to get here." She walked over to the counter where the coffee maker sat. She poured two cups of coffee and carried them to the breakfast nook where they ate most of their meals. Johanna joined her and they gazed out of the window at the fat snowflakes beginning to fall.

"It's snowing. I didn't hear anything about snow on the weather forecast. I hope your mom doesn't have any trouble with the weather."

"Nah, she'll be okay. She's used to driving in the snow. We're not due for any major accumulations as far as I know. I worry more about the rain turning to ice."

"I forgot you grew up in worse weather than we ever get here." She stirred some cream and sugar into her coffee. "I can't wait to see what our artificial tree is going to look like."

Frankie's eyes sparkled. "We'll fix it up and no one will ever know that it's not real. I'm going to make some homemade eggnog, or Mom will, and we'll play Christmas songs. It'll be so much fun!"

Johanna reached across the table, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it. "I love the way your face lights up this time of year. You're like a little kid waiting for Santa."

"I suppose I still believe in Christmas miracles just like when I was a kid." She pulled a small notebook with attached pen from her apron pocket.

Johanna lifted an eyebrow. "What's that?" 

"This is my list of everything we need to get finished before Christmas. I think we've got most of it done. We just need to drag out the tree decorations."

"I can't believe it's almost Christmas. It seems like yesterday it was Thanksgiving."

"Me either. This month has flown by."

The gate intercom buzzed startling them. They looked quizzically at each other. "I don't know who that could be," Johanna said, rushing to the security panel, which was unobtrusively located on the wall outside of the breakfast nook. She pushed the intercom button.

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Sizzling Sunday Excerpts Partners: Blinded By The Trees

Private Investigators Frankie Barker and Johanna Obrien are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with Frankie's mother, Selma. Then they stumble upon a body behind some trees while picking out their perfect Christmas tree and their relaxing holiday is put on hold. 

When Sheriff George Ryker asks for their help on an unrelated case, they soon realize that the two cases are connected. They uncover some disturbing details about the victim's life, but can't understand why anyone would want him dead, and especially what he could have done to cause someone to attack him so viciously. 

Excerpt

"Something smells good," Johanna said walking into the kitchen.

"I was going to send out a posse for you if you hadn't returned pretty soon."

Johanna laughed. "The stores were more crowded than I expected." 

"Well, I'm relieved that you're home," Frankie turned from the counter with spatula in hand where she'd been removing cookies from a baking sheet and placing them on a cooling rack. "I've got the gingerbread cookies made. Tomorrow we can decorate them. I thought we'd wait for Mom." 

Partners: Blinded By The Trees

I am excited to announce the third book in my Partners Series, Partners: Blinded By The Trees, is now available. Please visit http://www.kirachase.com for details.