Publication – 29th September 2020 – Light Messages Publishing
Travel to London and retrieve Abigail Fletcher, a 17-year-old in a study abroad program at the prestigious King’s College in London. The assignment sounds simple enough.
But Abigail’s return is put on indefinite hold when she’s charged with the murder of her boyfriend, a former student at King’s. Nicole believes Abigail has been framed, but the victim’s tight-knit circle of friends and relatives are most unwilling to talk to an American detective. Further complicating the case, is Abigail’s defiant and uncooperative demeanor.
As evidence stacks up against Abigail, Nicole discovers that she herself has become the next target. Nicole’s first solo case abroad as a private detective has just turned a lot more deadly than she ever anticipated.
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Excerpt
A picture of herself and Reinhardt popped up in Nicole’s head—the two of them walking along, enjoying the art, sampling the food, and joking about the more bizarre items for sale at the Brick Lane street market. She thought of all the good times they’d had together and how it had ended. If only things could go back to the way they were. But she couldn’t unlearn the lesson the experience had taught her—a long-distance romance rarely worked out, and never with a spy.
She was getting tired, and her new boots were beginning to hurt. She knew better than to wear new shoes without breaking them in first, but she had been so taken with the purchase that she couldn’t help herself. Rather than risk blistered feet, she decided to change back into her trusty old sneakers. The market was so crowded it was impossible to find a place to sit. So she turned the corner and walked a long block to a house with steep staircase leading up to the front door.
Before sitting on the steps, she looked around to make sure the street was safe. That’s when she spotted the same man who’d been following her before. He was approaching from the market. She walked faster, half-jogging, and turned another corner. Only after she entered did she realize it wasn’t a street but an alley, dead-ended by a brick apartment house.
She looked around for a place to hide, but there wasn’t any. She headed for the only building in sight that had a door leading to the alley. She tried to open it, but it was locked. She scrunched herself into the shallow recess in which the door was set and fumbled in her purse for her pepper spray.
A moment later the man rounded the corner into the alley and headed straight toward her.
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Author’s bio
Nancy’s award-winning Nicole Graves Mysteries have been compared to Mary Higgins Clark and are praised for contributing to the “women-driven mystery field with panache” (Foreword Reviews) as well as for their “hold-onto-the-bar roller coaster” plots (RT Book Reviews).
Nancy has been a writer and editor for her entire working career. She coauthored Backroom Politics, a New York Times notable book, with her husband Bill Boyarsky. She has written several textbooks on the justice system as well as written articles for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, and McCall’s. She also contributed to political anthologies, including In the Running, about women’s political campaigns, and The Challenge of California by the late Eugene Lee. In addition to her writing career, she was communications director for political affairs for ARCO. Her debut novel The Swap—book one of the Nicole Graves Mysteries—won the prestigious Eric Hoffer award for Best Micro Press Book of the Year.
Nancy is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a major in English literature. She lives in Los Angeles. Readers can connect with her online at her website nancyboyarsky.com.
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