The Page 69 Test: *Jury Duty is Murder* by Kate Damon #page69

 

 

 

They say if you want to really find a good book, go to page 69 (the middle and meat of the book) and you like what's there, it's definitely worth reading the whole book. For today's feature, I'm zooming in on page 69 of Kate Damon's new cozy mystery, Jury Duty is Murder. 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The verdict is in; a famed athlete is headed for prison. The jurors have done their job and are free to go back to their lives. But after being sequestered for four months, life as some knew it no longer exists.

HAROLD ASHMAN’s house is almost destroyed by a careless driver. Exotic dancer, CEECEE LAINE, discovers that her boyfriend is two-timing her, and she no longer has a job. Actor ALEX MANNING learns his career is down the tubes, and 72-year-old, HELEN RYDER, discovers her family is plotting to put her in an old folks home.

Then things take a turn for the worse. When former jurors start dropping like flies, CeeCee, Helen, Harold and Alex are convinced there’s a killer on the loose. Now the feuding foursome must find him before he kills them—or before they save him the trouble by killing each other.

Readers love Jury Duty is Murder:

“Hilarious and great cast!” AV_Therearenobadbooks, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"JURY DUTY IS MURDER kept me engaged.." Nancy Allen (The Avid Reader) ,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Not quite a cozy but cozy for a standard mystery" Cozy Reader Lady, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Kate Damon’s Jury Duty Murder is a fun, fast paced, riddled with humor who-dun-it, told through the eyes of four ordinary, yet distinct folks who are so incredibly relatable, you’ll feel like you know them as soon as they are introduced.” Barbara Newhart, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 Jury Duty is Murder is available at Amazon.

“So are you going to conduct an investigation or not?” CeeCee asked.
“I’ll make some phone calls,” Detective Kinkwell said, his gaze seeming to be stuck on CeeCee’s naval.
“Talk to the coroner.” Achoo! “But if these deaths have been ruled accidents, there’s not much I can do unless evidence to the contrary turns up.”
“Turns up?” I was mad and I didn’t care who knew it. “In other words, unless evidence of foul play waltzes
in here and introduces itself, you refuse to get off your big fat butt.”
He shot me a penetrating look. “We have to be careful about jumping to conclusions. Palm Valley is on
the FBI’s list of top ten safest cities in the nation.”
Alex, who had been pacing back and forth, stopped in front of the detective’s desk. “So?”
The corner of Kinkwell’s mouth twisted with annoyance. “The mayor and police chief will hit the roof
if we lose our ranking. Their noses—” Achoo. “—are already bent out of shape because some of the
surrounding cities rank higher than we do.”
I was confused. “But not all of the deaths occurred here in town. Only one.”
The detective shrugged. “Even that can spoil our ranking.”
“So what does that mean?” Alex retorted with open frustration. “We ignore the fact that a serial killer is on
the loose?”  

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

When Kate Damon is not writing, she and her husband enjoy RVing, spending time with family and friends, raising Monarch butterflies, and playing a wicked game of bridge.

Writing as Margaret Brownley, she has published more than 40 novels and is a New York Times bestselling author. Known for her memorable characters and humor, she is a two-time Romance Writers of America Rita finalist.

Not counting the book she wrote in sixth grade, and the puzzle of the missing socks, this is her first mystery.

Website ➜http://margaret-brownley.com/

Twitter ➜https://www.x.com/katejuryduty

Facebook ➜https://www.facebook.com/MargaretBrownleyAuthor/ and https://www.facebook.com/p/Kate-Damon-61565155275435/

Instagram ➜https://www.instagram.com/katedamonbooks

BookBub➜https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kate-damon

Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4072660.Kate_Damon and https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/163681.Margaret_Brownley

The Page 69 Test: *Find My Daughter* by Jennifer Chase #page69

 

 

 

They say if you want to really find a good book, go to page 69 (the middle and meat of the book) and you like what's there, it's definitely worth reading the whole book. For today's feature, I'm zooming in on page 69 of Jennifer Chase's new crime thriller, Find My Daughter.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

She hears footsteps approaching, then the clunk of a heavy lock. Her body is numb in the cold but she stands, determined to fight. A blinding light overpowers her, and the world goes black…

When Detective Katie Scott finds a woman dying in the carpark, blood pooling around her, she reaches her just in time to hear her utter the words: find my daughter.

Katie doesn’t waste a second gathering her team and pulling the casefile for the missing child, Anna Braxton, a teen with sparkling blue-eyes and an even brighter future. Staring at the blank investigation board, Katie won’t rest until she fulfils Anna’s mother’s dying wish.

Searching the Braxton’s impeccable family home, Katie finds Anna’s journal, filled with teenage secrets. Buried among the pages, she thinks she finds a lead—a strange man reached out to Anna, just days before she went missing…

But the case takes a terrifying turn when Anna’s best friend also vanishes. Hours later, a girl’s body is found in the embers of a housefire, her yellow satin dress devastatingly beautiful amongst the ashes. Is it Anna, her best friend, or another girl?

One thing is certain: a monster has the closeknit community of Pine Valley in a chokehold, and Katie must get one step ahead of the killer before any more precious young lives are taken. But at what cost?

A jaw-dropping and absolutely gripping thriller for fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh that will have you racing through pages all night long. Prepare to start sleeping with the lights on after tearing through this gripping thriller from USA Today and Amazon bestseller, Jennifer Chase!

Readers love Find My Daughter:

“Wow! What a burst of excitement!... Loved the pace and hunt!” Bookreviewsandfun, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“This book had me breaking out in a cold sweat as a I breathlessly awaited the conclusion… Knocked my socks off.” Escapetobooks1503,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Gripped me right from the get go, and man, that last 20% was wild!” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Page-turning… an addictive thriller… I could not put this book down… Heart-stopping.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Had me hooked from page one… Gripping… kept me flipping the pages… Perfect.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Gripping… an incredible rollercoaster… Nail-biting.” Netgalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Wow wow wow. This was so good… Impossible to put down.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Readers love Jennifer Chase:

“Everything else had to go on hold until I've finished, and I mean EVERYTHING… Right from the very first chapter, I was hooked… before you know it you're 2 hours in and haven't moved a muscle!… definitely one of the best… Completely unputdownable, breathtaking and with an amazing ending!” Bookreviewercakemaker, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS PUTTING THIS BOOK DOWN!!!!!… I was literally holding my breath… I HAD TO KNOW!!!!! As for the explosive ending: WOW definitely not what, or who I was expecting.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Five stars all the way… I'm 100% hooked. This book had me sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time… There was so many twists and turns.” Spookysmazeofbooks, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Find My Daughter is available at Amazon. 

Thursday 2030 hours
Katie finally pulled into her driveway after an extremely long day. She parked, turned off the engine, and then stayed in the Jeep, sitting behind the wheel staring out the windshield. She recalled everything that had happened that day. It seemed more like a week rather than one work shift. Her body ached, and her
energy was dangerously low and close to crashing.
She opened her car door, still reeling from events. Vivid images flowed through her mind of the bodies, the burned-down house, the attack at the mall, and seeing Anna alive on video in the food court. The thought of Evan Daniels working alongside her also wasn’t too far from her mind. All these mental pictures flipped through her brain, over and over, making her anxious and unsure of what was going to happen next.
Katie stepped out of the Jeep. She leaned in and grabbed her briefcase, laptop, and jacket. And that’s when she heard the deep baritone bark coming from inside the house. She hadreceived a text message earlier from her uncle, letting her know he had come by to feed Cisco. He loved the dog almost as much
as she did. They always worked out ways of making sure Cisco was taken care of, no matter what Katie’s work schedule was.
Sometimes she would even bring Cisco to work and have him stay in the police K9 kennels.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and USA Today Best Selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling.  

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ https://authorjenniferchase.com/ 

X ➜ https://x.com/jchasenovelist 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferChase 

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/jenchaseauthor/ 

Goodreads ➜ www.goodreads.com/author/show/2780337.Jennifer_Chase

🏰 {BOOK TRAILER} JURY DUTY IS MURDER BY KATE DAMON #COZYMYSTERY

 

 

BOOK DETAILS

 

Title: Jury Duty is Murder

Author: Kate Damon

PUBLICATION DATE: January 8, 2025

Pages: 275

Genre: Cozy Mystery

The verdict is in; a famed athlete is headed for prison. The jurors have done their job and are free to go back to their lives. But after being sequestered for four months, life as some knew it no longer exists.

HAROLD ASHMAN’s house is almost destroyed by a careless driver. Exotic dancer, CEECEE LAINE, discovers that her boyfriend is two-timing her, and she no longer has a job. Actor ALEX MANNING learns his career is down the tubes, and 72-year-old, HELEN RYDER, discovers her family is plotting to put her in an old folks home.

Then things take a turn for the worse. When former jurors start dropping like flies, CeeCee, Helen, Harold and Alex are convinced there’s a killer on the loose. Now the feuding foursome must find him before he kills them—or before they save him the trouble by killing each other.

Jury Duty is Murder is available at Amazon.

 

 

 

About Kate Damon

 

When Kate Damon is not writing, she and her husband enjoy RVing, spending time with family and friends, raising Monarch butterflies, and playing a wicked game of bridge.

Writing as Margaret Brownley, she has published more than 40 novels and is a New York Times bestselling author. Known for her memorable characters and humor, she is a two-time Romance Writers of America Rita finalist.

Not counting the book she wrote in sixth grade, and the puzzle of the missing socks, this is her first mystery.

Website ➜http://margaret-brownley.com/

Twitter ➜https://www.x.com/katejuryduty

Facebook ➜https://www.facebook.com/MargaretBrownleyAuthor/ and https://www.facebook.com/p/Kate-Damon-61565155275435/

Instagram ➜https://www.instagram.com/katedamonbooks

BookBub➜https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kate-damon

Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4072660.Kate_Damon and https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/163681.Margaret_Brownley

 

 

 

The Page 69 Test: *Friends Are Forever* by Mike Martin #page69

 

 

 

They say if you want to really find a good book, go to page 69 (the middle and meat of the book) and you like what's there, it's definitely worth reading the whole book. For today's feature, I'm zooming in on page 69 of Mike Martin's new mystery, Friends Are Forever: A Sgt. Windflower Mystery.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

As Winston Windflower, his police colleagues and their families gather in Marystown, Newfoundland, to celebrate those being promoted up the RCMP ranks, a sophisticated heist by international mobsters and local biker gangs unfolds in multiple cities and towns throughout the province, robbing banks and businesses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Mounties soon realize more than money is being lost.

In this, the sixteenth novel in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, author Mike Martin continues to craft intrigue in the cultural and geographical setting unique to Newfoundland and Labrador. Readers new to the Windflower mysteries and those returning will experience the joys of a close-knit community that thrives on the simpler things in life: por’ cakes, a lighthouse in serious need of a facelift, TV movie nights and the warmth of get-togethers with family and friends. 

Friends are Forever is available at Amazon.

I’ll be back,” said Windflower as he followed Terri Pilgrim to the boardroom where the media event would be held. Mayor Ducey was standing outside the door, greeting everyone as they arrived. He looked like the perfect retail politician, thought Windflower as he approached and shook his hand.
“Got a big crowd this morning,” said Mayor Ducey, pointing inside the room. “They’ve been asking me questions, but I told them I don’t know anything. I hope you do.”
“We’ll do our best,” said Windflower. “I’ll make an opening statement and see what happens after that. Would you like to say something?”
“Well,” said Mayor Ducey, demurring for a moment and then nodding. “I guess I could try to reassure the public a little.”
“That would be very helpful,” said Windflower. He indicated to Pilgrim that they were ready. She got the media in position to capture the pair walking in, and Windflower and Mayor Ducey walked to the front of the room.
“Thank you for coming this morning,” said Windflower. “I am Acting Inspector Winston Windflower, and with me today is Marystown Mayor Mike Ducey. I have an opening statement, and Mayor Ducey will have some comments as well. After that, we will respond to questions.”

 

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 16 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Friends are Forever. 

A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the year award.

Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest Darkest Before the Dawn was released as an audiobook in 2024. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜  https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com/ 

Twitter ➜ https://www.x.com/mike54martin 

Facebook ➜  https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore

The Page 69 Test: *Tales of the Ocean City* by Christopher Kaufman #page69

 

 

 

 

They say if you want to really find a good book, go to page 69 (the middle and meat of the book) and you like what's there, it's definitely worth reading the whole book. For today's feature, I'm zooming in on page 10 instead of Christopher Kaufman's classic epic fantasy novel, Battle in the Sky which is Book 1 of the Tales of the Ocean City series. We are focusing on page 10 of this book because it is image intensive. Page 10 is almost the middle of the book.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Battle In The Sky is the first of five books which comprise the opening series of this epic tale. Here, Harl’ut and Vispushin and The Princess Bryn’lynn, engage in desperate battle over the southern plain with savage Vorm warriors. You will be uplifted by the passionate and thrilling conclusion of the first installment of this fantasy adventure.

Blood-red streaks rent the air as three giant warriors  riding massive red and black perianths shot past,  heading directly towards the Princess! A mind-numbing keening sound followed by a venomous sweet  acrid miasma sliced through Harl’ut’s senses.  

All went dark.

 

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

Christopher Kaufman is an author, composer, presenter, illustrative artist and performer. He started imaginative fantasy books with illustrative art at the age of nine. During high school years he found music and attended The New Orleans Center for The Creative Arts and went on to major in music composition in college. He finished his schooling – earning his DMA in music composition at Cornell University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize Winning composers who prize his abilities as a composer.

Christopher is the type of person who needs imaginative fantasy scenarios to get to sleep. Therefore, he emerged from Cornell, not only with his degrees in music, but with the full event structure for his classic epic fantasy series Tales Of The Ocean City in his mind.

He began writing the story down in the early 2000’s, but it did not really come to life until he developed his home music ‘laboratory’ and started creating the music and text at the same time. Thus books one and two of TOC came about simultaneously as both graphically illustrated pages and effulgent audio albums filled with cinematic epic symphonic music.

They exist now as physical books and audio albums (that go together) and the new Video Book version.  He performs live tours with the music pouring through speakers, live narration and the colorful pages streaming on screen – a true immersive multi-media experience.

He also maintains his career as a composer for the concert stage with a full body of work, from solo works thru orchestral. He specializes as well in ‘environmental works’ which feature soundscapes crafted from hundreds of natural sounds, live musicians (from soloists, chamber groups and to full orchestra), videos filled with both natural and artistic images and readings from the works of John Muir and others.

His home page is – soundartus.com. 

His author page is talesoftheoceancity.com.

His you-tube channel is SOUNDARTUS.

Visit him at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/talesoftheoceancity.

Christopher believes in the transformative power of imagination.

“Live with imagination!”