James Moushon - Black Mountain Secrets is featured in the HBS Author's Spotlight Showcase

FREE from Amazon - 2 Days ONLY - May 23-24, 2013 Black Mountain Secrets

Black Mountain Secrets

A Jonathon Stone Mystery

Author: James Moushon

Book Trailer: Black Mountain Secrets

AVAILABLE
Amazon

CIA Agent Jonathon Stone goes undercover to help in an FBI investigation after a fellow agent is murdered on the Colorado River.

Stone continues the agent’s investigation of suspects who are stealing top-secret documents from a secret Army base in the middle of the Mohave Desert. The trail leads him from the rugged Black Mountains of Nevada to Laughlin, a gambling oasis on the Colorado.

As things heat up in this desert paradise, Stone dodges bullets and attempts on his life until he reaches the ultimate showdown. Jonathon Stone truly needs lady luck on his side to catch the spies and get through this ordeal alive.

Mystery Writer James Moushon brings to life Jonathon Stone, an undercover CIA agent assigned to the off the books CIA division – DOT.

He throws Stone right into the middle of action. As the mystery unfolds, Stone uses his wealth of knowledge and keen analytical mind to complete his dangerous assignments, while at the same time battling his love for gambling and drinking and the ladies.

Excerpt:
Chapter One

Set in the rugged mountains of Nevada and the surrounding desolate sagebrush covered desert, lies an oasis. This is a place of intense heat in the summer and mild, clear days in the winter. In this area, the Colorado River runs through a gorge of man-made hills with a small fishing village on one side and a gambling playground on the other.

During the day, the river is a recreational haven. At night, it is a dark, eerie mass of water moving south. It is sprinkled with shuttle boats with their headlights guiding the way, ferrying people from one side of the river to the other.

This winter night started as a typical one for the tourists and gamblers alike. A shuttle boat had just left one of the casino’s docks and was headed to the Arizona side, flowing with the rapid current.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and a deadening scream and all was silent. Only the sounds of the water rushing down the river and the glow of lights from the casinos were left. It seemed that the moon and the stars were the only witnesses as the tragedy of the night tumbled like a rolling stone down the river, along with the information that could threaten a nation.

I browsed through the email I’d received from my boss, Russ Evans.

From: Eagle
To: Jonathon Stone
Date: Mon, Dec 4, 2006 at 9:18 AM

Subject: URGENT – NEW ASSIGNMENT

MEET ME IN LAS VEGAS - ARRIVAL DECEMBER 8 – GET TICKETS FROM DEBBIE– MEET AT DENNY’S ON STRIP 9 AM - PREPARE FOR LONG STAY – INVOLVES THE THEFT OF TOP SECRET INFORMATION – SIMILAR TO BLACKSTONE OP - AL HOUSTON WAS KILLED IN LAUGHLIN, NV TWO WEEKS AGO WHILE ON ASSIGNMENT - TIME IS IMPORTANT

EAGLE

See Attachment

Russ always wrote his emails in an abbreviated style. I guess it was a carryover from the old days when all our notes were handwritten.

I opened the attachment. It was more revealing than his email. It was an article from the Bullhead City, Arizona newspaper:

Laughlin, NV
Date: 11/25/2006
BOATING ACCIDENT MARS GAMBLER’S WEEKEND FUN
An Oasis Casino shuttle boat overturned last night on the Colorado near a Bullhead City dock with no apparent survivors. The Bullhead Search and Rescue Squad were on the scene this morning. Up to press time, only one body had been recovered from the river. An unidentified man in his mid-forties washed ashore near Riviera. The search will continue through today according to the BSRS leader, Jack Finn.

Agent Al Houston must have been the unidentified man in the boating accident. I had briefly worked with him several years ago in Europe. Now I am working stateside doing special assignments.

I have been with the CIA’s special unit DOT for several years now. Originally we had been set up as an undercover operation in Long Beach but that had been compromised two years ago and all the staff had scattered to other assignments. I had been lucky enough to be able to stay at my same home in Belmont Shore, California, in the Long Beach area. On the other side, now with all my down time, I was drinking and gambling almost every night. Hopefully this assignment would let me get back in the grove. I didn’t need to be in a dangerous situation and be fighting the drinking demons at the same time.

I was still using the same cover story. I was billed as a writer for the Real Sportsman Magazine. At least that’s what my business card said. This cover allowed me to ask more direct questions when I was gathering information.

If someone would challenge the cover, I would say that I was a freelance writer and our main office was in San Francisco.

We actually had a special line at headquarters that Debbie, Russ’s secretary, would answer. If she couldn’t answer the question, we had an agent briefed on the assignment that could field the inquiry. When the group was in Long Beach, we actually produced a magazine but not anymore.

I turned and looked out the oval window of the 747, watching the tall, jagged mountains slowly move below me. A past adventure moved before my eyes. The Blackstone Project that Russ had referenced had been one of my special assignments when I was young and full of adventure. I’d replaced an agent who had been killed by a suspect’s bullet. It had involved a spy that was stealing information from NATO in Algiers.

The last time I’d seen Russ had been in Las Vegas. I had been on vacation and we had met for dinner. It seemed like I was in Vegas more than at my home in California. My life style had changed and as Russ had put it, “Jon Stone, you must decide whether you want to be a gambler or serve your country.” The decision had been a difficult one. I had enjoyed my work, the action, the danger. But I also enjoyed the gambling and the drinking. Just then, the captain of the plane spoke over the intercom, “Please fasten your seat belts. We are starting our descent into the Las Vegas airport. We will be arriving in approximately ten minutes. Thank you for flying with us today. Good luck.”

I grabbed my bags, picked up the rental car and headed for downtown. Las Vegas in the morning is always a leisurely time. The pace is slow and calm. In contrast, the nights are filled with bright lights and there is an excitement in the air. The noises and sounds aren’t duplicated anywhere else in the world.

Long gone were the sounds of coins striking the metal slot trays and the older ladies carrying buckets of nickels but the sounds and the flashing lights of a jackpot still were there. Gambling had indeed embraced the digital age.

It had been a month since I’d been in Vegas and I had missed the gambling and the surroundings there. I’d arrived a day early to get a feel for the cards. I had tried to keep in shape at the Casino Queen in Long Beach but they dealt from a shoe and it just wasn’t the same. Besides I could never get enough time to have an extended period of play. There is nothing like Vegas. Practice makes perfect as they say. Counting cards takes practice and nothing can match the speed of the dealer.

Actually I had done better than I expected for the layoff.

I played until dinner, winning some and losing some and drinking a lot. I had a nice steak, a few more cocktails and headed back to the tables. Unlike the casino in Long Beach, the drinks were free as long as I was playing Blackjack and I was taking full advantage of that. I got on a small winning streak and the drinks kept coming. Finally the pit boss had had enough and changed the cards. I had to stay around long enough to fulfill a personal tradition that I had started several years ago. After a winning session, I would finish the night off with a shot of Jack Daniels.

Unfortunately this had to be an early night and my room was right upstairs. As a backup plan, I called the front desk and asked for a wakeup call. If I was late tomorrow, I surely would get another lecture from Russ about my gambling and drinking. I had been going astray since our offices in Long Beach were closed because I had a lot of free time on my hands, I guess.

The morning came quickly and after a cold shower, it was time to start the day. I was glad I had asked for the wakeup call. I would have slept right through my meeting. My head was pounding but a hand full of aspirins would take care of that.

My first task was to meet Russ. He was always watching his budget, so I was directed to meet him at a Denny’s near the strip. I would have rather met him at the MGM or the Flamingo but he is the boss.

We met for breakfast and exchanged small talk.

“Good to see you. It’s been awhile.”

“Jon, it looks like you are getting a little gray in the temples?”

I smiled. “Yes, but I still have all my hair, besides the gray hair is from doing all your assignments.”

I took pride in my salt and pepper look. It made me look more distinguished.

Russ was in his late fifties now, balding and overweight. Back in the day he could keep up with any agent, physically and mentally. Now the desk job was getting to him physically.

Russ Evans and I go way back. He was my first boss when I joined the CIA right out of the service. We were in Europe then, stationed in Algiers. He was an excellent leader. At one time he had been in charge of the CIA Western European operations. He had moved rapidly up the CIA’s organizational ladder, now holding the title, Far East Section Chief. He is based in our San Francisco offices.

Several years ago, after the Department of Homeland Security was formed, Russ had contacted me to head up a new unit in Long Beach. It would be an off the books group called DOT. That stood for Domestic Operations – Terrorism. Our direction was to take care of any open assignments in the US that had originated out of the country. The CIA wanted to make sure there were no loose ends left by DHS.

After several years our Long Beach cover was compromised. We always had to do the mission and get out clean with no questions asked. Being an asset for the CIA had its advantages and disadvantages.

Russ finally broke the silence. “Let’s go. I need to talk to you about your new assignment and it can only be discussed in private.” I had never seen him this quiet and reserved.

As the rental car sped along Boulder Highway, going south out of Vegas, I glanced at Russ seated next to me. He had been my boss for a long time and his urgent summons had been a surprise. He never did things this way. This whole thing appeared to be off the cuff which was not his style. As we approached Henderson, just outside of Vegas, Russ directed, “Turn left at the next road.”

I turned the car into an area that appeared to be an old rundown frontier town. We drove down an isolated road to a large stand of trees and sagebrush. I backed the car into the small wooded area until only the windshield was visible. I had done this maneuver many times, setting up surveillance and lookout stations. I stopped the car and Russ got into the backseat.

Russ finally broke his long silence. “I think we are secure here. I need to brief you on your new assignment. You don’t need to write anything down. It will be available online from my office. If you have a problem, contact Wiley. He will be your point man on this one.”

Wiley had been my tech support guy in the Long Beach office so it would be good to be working with him again.

“For the last six months we have been working with the FBI on a top secret project called Desert Rat. We are only in a support role but two weeks ago it got personal. Al Houston was killed. He was a very good agent and a friend. He was one of my top men. I am the one who recruited him out of the Academy and picked him for this assignment. So I am taking a special interest.”

“I ran into Al in Europe about six years ago. We had met, exchanged information and then we were gone,” I said.

Russ continued, “Anyway, Al had been in what we thought was a deep cover assignment. From his last communication, we think he was close to some real input. He had signaled for an important meet but it never happened. When he didn’t communicate, we brought in the reserves.”

“He was found dead in the Colorado River from an apparent boating accident but no other bodies were found. Jon, there was no reason for him to be on that boat alone. He had no ID, papers or car keys on him. We found his car in the parking lot of the Oasis Casino across the river. The only thing he had on him was $24 worth of casino chips with the Oasis Casino logo.”

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

Website: James Moushon - Mystery Writer
Author's Blog: eBook Author’s Corner
Blog: HBS Author's Spotlight
Twitter: @jimhbs
E-Mail: jim@jamesmoushon.com
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Facebook: Check Out Facebook
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Author Description: Born in Illinois, James Moushon is a published writer in the electronic document field. Moushon is a graduate of Bradley University in Peoria, IL.

He published his first Mystery Novel, 'Call Off The Dogs' in 2010. He is continuing to create Jonathon Stone Mystery Novels with recently published 'Black Mountain Secrets'.

Starting over 15 years ago, he helped lead the startup of the electronic forms industry in the creation, conversion and usage of electronic forms by supplying that industry with a continuing source of published literature, software products and training seminars.

In 2003, Moushon changed his focus to ebooks and their development.

He is currently wearing Three Hats. He is a mystery writer, a book industry blogger and a computer consultant. He has spent the majority of his adult life developing computer systems and thinking about writing.




Author's Book List
Call Off The Dogs - A Jonathon Stone Mystery
KENNEDY ASSASSINATION - Another shooter in the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy is uncovered by Jonathon Stone.

CIA Agent Jonathon Stone’s purchase of an old rifle from a gun dealer leads him on a search for the owner of the gun. When he finds the owner, a Cajun gun for hire, he discovers that he was one of the shooters in Dealey Plaza in Dallas the day President Kennedy was assassinated.

The rifle purchase leads to a chain of events that threaten Stone’s cover, his life and puts the CIA Long Beach undercover operation in jeopardy.


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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the following blogs:
eBook Author’s Corner and HBS Mystery Reader’s Circle

Dave Folsom - Big Sky Dead is featured on the HBS Author's Spotlight Showcase

The Showcase is a special feature of the Author's Spotlight. It is designed to highlight Spotlight author's NEW releases and their soon to be released novels.

The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Dave Folsom New Book: Big Sky Dead.

New Release: May 10, 2013

Big Sky Dead

Author: Dave Folsom

Book Trailer: Big Sky Dead

AVAILABLE
Amazon

Charlie Draper takes on what seems like a simple assignment. Check on a missing DEA agent. He does not expect to find him dead; dead on the floor of a drug manufacturing house. Frustrating weeks of digging into the lives of a small town in Montana uncovers drug trafficking, human trafficking and murder for hire leaves the local Sheriff gunned down and Draper with a major headache. Then he begins to suspect all the mayhem is a ruse for the real objective. Charlie receives help from his friend DEA agent Alejandro Jones and together they uncover a diabolical plan to destroy the United States.

Excerpt:
Chapter One

Eastern Montana

The man on the floor was dead; very dead, if there was such a condition. Dead was dead; nothing he could do about it. Sheriff Roscoe Hornsby’s twenty-year-long law enforcement career exposed him to a cornucopia of recently deceased individuals of all ages and sexes. It told him a medical degree and a flock of health professionals would not get this one up. Three large caliber wounds to the upper chest made that fact clear as spring fed water; a bit of overkill though, Hornsby thought, wasted ammunition for sure and suggesting a elevated level of anger on the part of the shooter.

“Is he dead, Ross?” The voice came from the front door and belonged to Randall Ruskin, owner of the house and several other rentals in town. “I told you something wasn’t right.”

“Randy, stay the hell outside like I told you,” Hornsby said, stepping through the debris-covered floor while drawing his weapon. He had been Sheriff twelve years and he had drawn his Glock not more than a dozen times. There had never been a need outside of sapping a belligerent drunk. Of those, he had plenty; cowboys, itinerant farm hands, and sheepherders all with a craving for the bottle during those rare winter times when there was little else to do. Sore-headed, hung-over, and sheepish, Hornsby crowded them into his single twelve by twelve drunk tank/jail cell and let them sleep. On a busy Saturday night and a full tank, he handcuffed the overflow to the oak railing across the front of the office and let them snore on the hardwood floor.

The man’s body lay sprawled on his back, arms outstretched in a slowly expanding pool of dark blood in the middle of a furniture-void living room. The holes in his chest marred a much-washed red Carhartt t-shirt worn over faded tan Dickies. The Sheriff guessed the man’s age at about forty to forty-five with light brown thinning hair and streaks of pre-mature gray; a stranger though, not a local. No hint of recognition rose in Hornsby’s mind to block the vision of hours of paperwork.

The room was far from empty; it contained the makings of a sophisticated chemistry lab and dozens of plastic-wrapped and mailing tape secured packages. Hornsby guessed cocaine, which he knew cooked crack or sold as an inhalable powder. Hornsby had seen a lot of coke and knew this pile represented over a million dollars in potential revenue; definitely enough to kill for. A nearby table sat covered with a variety of chemicals, most of which had potential to lift the roof off the house if miss-used. He recognized the ingredients for cooking meth. In Chicago, they were as plentiful as household cooking oil. In Montana, anhydrous ammonia, used everywhere as a soil enhancement during farming, also provided a plentiful ingredient for meth manufacturing.

The house itself showed unremarkable, plain construction, ranch-style, three-bedroom rambler with the third bedroom the size of a large walk-in closet. Several years beyond needing a complete remodel, the dated structure classified as either a low-rent income producer or a bargain-priced fixer-upper. Hornsby cleared the rest of the house following his Model 23 Glock .40 through each room. The two larger bedrooms contained expensive grow lights and a sophisticated watering system nurturing a robust crop of multi-aged marijuana. Behind the grow tables the sheetrock walls were water-stained and speckled with dark spots of black and green mold. Careful not to touch anything, Hornsby surveyed each room with a cop’s eye without finding anything of interest. Back in the living room, Hornsby searched the man’s pockets for identification and found zip. Unlike current television programs, he lacked a fully staffed forensics lab. Anything that was not obvious would require the Tri-county Medical Examiner’s office touch, a minimum of two hours away.

Sheriff Hornsby, an Undersheriff and three deputies, represented the law enforcement presence in one of Montana’s larger counties area wise, but with the least amount of population. The nearest city of any size sat sixty miles east in another county. Antelope County sat in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, with the eastern half in the Great Plains and the western half dominated by the Crazy’s, a heavily forested, steep-sided mountain range scraping tall into the state’s famous Big Sky. Covering over five thousand square miles, the county could count a scattered population of twelve hundred, a quarter of which were over sixty-five. Primary income came from large ranches where cattle and sheep outnumbered the fiercely conservative inhabitants ten to one. In years past the crime rate hovered near zero, but recent statistics mirrored most big population centers.

Hornsby surveyed the front room again and it reminded him of his long career as a Los Angeles police detective. Only the surrounding prairie and lack of water felt different. The home sat a half mile south of town on a wind-swept, ten-acre plot of scattered prairie grass, sagebrush, and barking prairie dogs. Over recent years, the renters had been mostly transient workers, single cowhands and an occasional older retired couple. The rent barely covered the upkeep but Ruskin advertised it as valuable income property while looking for a cash-flush stranger seeking a bargain. So far, none had appeared. Hornsby stepped onto the porch, closed the door, sealed it with crime scene tape, and prodded Ruskin down the stairs onto the driveway.

“I need to get in there. It’s my place,” Ruskin complained.

“No you don’t, Randy, it’s a goddamn crime scene. Nobody goes in there until the ME gets here from Lewistown.”

A black Lincoln, raising clouds of prairie dust skidded to a stop in of front of the driveway. The car had tinted windows causing the Sheriff to draw again and put both hands on his county-issue Glock while he stepped behind his patrol car. He held the gun at his side waiting. When the Lincoln’s door opened, he lifted it up and pointed it at the car. A black Lincoln and a dead body behind him in the house, demanded caution and he growled, “Randy, step behind me, Goddamn it. Do it now.” When Ruskin did not move, he shouted, “Now!” Ruskin moved.

The man in the Lincoln stepped out following raised hands, slow, as if he knew the Sheriff would shoot if he made a wrong move. “Sheriff Hornsby?” the man said, “your office said you’d be out here somewhere.”

“And who the hell are you?” Hornsby said, his Glock not wavering and still pointed at the stranger’s chest.

“Appreciate it if you’d lower that cannon, Sheriff, I’m on your side. My name’s Draper, Charlie Draper. I believe you were told I was coming.”

“Got some ID, Mister? You’d better, because I’ve never heard of you. If you don’t I might be inclined to shoot your ass right here and now. So, reach for it nice and slow and if you get anywhere close to that piece under your left shoulder I will kill you where you stand.”

The stranger stared at first and Hornsby tensed, ready to shoot. The man had hard eyes, dark, displaying no fear and appeared to be analyzing the situation. He stood tall; Hornsby guessed well over six feet, enough weight to make him difficult to handle when it came to a street fight and a sense about him that hinted at a good deal of hand-to-hand combat training. He had on faded jeans, black cowboy boots, and a dark blue sport coat that hung loose from wide shoulders. His face deeply tanned, the beginnings of age lines at his eyes indicated he would never see forty again. Hornsby decided he was not going to take any chances; a single false move and he would shoot. Any mess he would clean up afterward.

“Sheriff, I’d really hate it if you shot me, so let me tell you I am armed; I’m Federal and here to help you. I’m going to pull back my coat and show you my gun. I will pull out my ID with two fingers of my left hand and lay it on the roof of your car where you can reach it. Okay with you?”

“Okay, but do it slowly. Just so you know, you won’t be the first asshole I’ve shot; and I won’t hesitate to shoot you,” Hornsby said.

“I believe you, Sheriff. I was told you were a no nonsense son-of-a-bitch.”

Hornsby watched close as the stranger pulled back his sport coat and exposed a leather shoulder rig with a quick-draw holster holding a black handled Glock. He could not be sure but guessed a .40 or .45 caliber. He looked like someone who would carry a serious weapon. With two fingers, the man picked a leather ID case out of his shirt pocket and laid it carefully on the roof of the Sheriff’s car.

Hornsby reached for the case without taking his eyes off the stranger, opened it and glanced at it. It looked legit, with a federal seal, identifying a Charles Draper as a federal NSA agent (retired).

“Says here you are retired,” Hornsby said.

“I still do occasional contract work,” Draper said.

“So, what’s so goddamn important in my little county that it brings a fancy federal spook clear out here in the boonies?”

“We have an undercover DEA agent that has been here a couple of months and hasn’t reported in when he should have. My job is to find him and extract him.”

“You got someone I can call to confirm what you say? This is rural Montana; we’re particular about feds snooping around without letting us know what’s up.” Hornsby’s Glock had not moved off the center of Draper’s chest. With dead body only yards away, his cop’s instinct would not allow him to lapse into carelessness.

“They were supposed to notify you that I was coming, but it appears somebody dropped the ball,” Draper said, “so who would you believe if they called you in the next few minutes?”

“Here’s my problem, friend; I’ve got you armed to the teeth, a dead body behind me in a house full of drug manufacturing equipment and no backup within thirty miles, so I’m not sure I’d believe the fucking Governor, if he called, which I doubt he would. So this is how this is going to go down; I’m going to come around the car with my .40 Glock pointed at your chest and I’m going to ask you nice and polite to put your hands behind your neck so I can handcuff you. You make even a twitch the wrong way and I will shoot you dead. Then we’ll see if your story checks out and if…”

Hornsby felt a searing pain though his chest in the instant before everything went dark. He did not feel the gun drop out of his hand nor the impact of the ground as it smacked him in the face.

Randall Ruskin who stood silent behind the Sheriff during the conversation with the stranger, screamed when a second shot rang the prairie air and dropped him to the ground in the instant following the Sheriff’s collapse.

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

Website: Dave Folsom's Books
Author's Blog: Dave Folsom - All About This and That
Blog: The Independent Author's Network
Twitter: @davefolsombooks
E-Mail: dave@davefolsombooks.com
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Author Description: Born and raised in Montana, Dave Folsom graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in Forestry and spent the first decade of his career working in and around the logging industry. This experience led to his first published short story entitled “Scaling Rexford” which won honorable mention in the 1992 Edition of the University of Oregon’s West Wind Review. This work eventually led to his first novel, Scaling Tall Timber.

Dave’s published works include Scaling Tall Timber, Finding Jennifer, The Dynameos Conspiracy, The Zeitgeist Project, and a collection of short stories and essays published under the title Running with Moose.

He resides in South Dakota with his wife, has three grown daughters and two grandchildren and winters in Arizona where there isn’t any snow.


Author's Book List
Sonoran Justice
The killer stood behind granite boulders high above the surrounding landscape. His custom-built M98B Super Magnum sniper rifle, chambered for .338 Lapua, rested on a wool blanket cushion spread carefully over the granite table. The finely-crafted rifle cost just under five thousand dollars, had a two and half pound trigger pull, a customize barrel with a muzzle brake, a 4x16 power high optic scope, a built-in biped in front and desert camouflage. The two things Damián Sanchez learned during his years of contract killing included: use a precision weapon and be patient. His specialty, killing at distance, ranked as his only employment. Demanding complete anonymity, and working only through a broker of such things, he required fifty percent payment up front. The drug cartels kept him busy and made him rich….


- Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
Finding Jennifer
Charlie Draper only took the job of finding the missing girl as favor. He approached it convinced that the hot desert sun had likely eliminated another unprepared hiker rather than a part of the Border Wars. It didn’t take long to realize his error.

Then it became complicated. In less than a day he discovers that drug cartel members shot her and threw her into a volcano vent. The resulting trail leads into Mexico where his actions bring on the wrath of the cartel. The bodies start to pile up with a vengeance as he and his helicopter-flying Apache friend attempt to rescue the young women and prevent the revenge determined drug alliance from killing them all.


Book Trailer: Finding Jennifer
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Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
The Dynameos Conspiracy
Former government operative Lee Trainer, living quietly in Montana, finds a dead man on his doorstep with mysterious computer chip in his pocket. The killers, desperate to retrieve the chip make several attempts on his life and open a trail of deception and murder.

Following leads from Montana to the Cayman Islands, Trainer and a couple of old friends hunt down an elusive killer with a deadly agenda. While electrical blackouts plague the country, Trainer's best friend is ambushed by hired assassins entangling him in a widespread conspiracy to destroy the national power grid.


Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
Scaling Tall Timber
Recently injured in a vehicular crash that killed his girlfriend, a young forester is assigned to a new job in a remote area of northwestern Montana. He is befriended by an alcoholic logging truck driver, whose efforts to help enable both to grow into recovery helped in no small way by two women who guide them into recovery.

Centered on the western logging industry, the story focuses on events that bring sudden change to an ideologically resistant area and men's unwilling involvement. Upon arriving, he confronts his hard-driving boss rebelliously, but soon learns that finding what he's looking for will require a major effort on his part. The locals, a hard-working, hard-living, idiosyncratic lot take on the task of educating their new co-worker in ways he could never have imagined. Learning lessons that teach him about surviving the horrific, he finds himself melding into the eclectic area when changing times force the locals to rely on his assistance. Just as he becomes attached to his new surroundings and the quirky inhabitants, new technology threatens his job followed by news of a hydroelectric dam construction effort planned a short way downstream that will destroy the entire valley.


Book Trailer: Scaling Tall Timber
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Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
The Zeitgeist Project
Their planet slowly dying, ravaged by two hundred years of environmental carelessness and governmental greed, a select group of elitists plot to send unwitting crews on what will be a suicide mission. A young Command Pilot and one of her crew survive and find themselves in a strange world in which they are unprepared to cope. Two more missions follow before help comes from an unexpected source.


Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
Running With Moose and Other Stories
This book is all about people and how different we are, especially about life and how we deal with its mysteries. The stories include a little about death and an occasional encounter with animals and a lot about some of the colorful and interesting characters I've met told with a touch of humor, some adventure, and a little pathos. These fictional accounts are sometimes based on real people with the places and names changed to protect especially the moose


Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the following blogs:
eBook Author’s Corner
Mystery Reader’s Circle

Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.

Michael O'Gara - HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Michael O'Gara. Michael is a Mystery & Thriller Writer. He is noted for his Millie Mystery Series and the Cassandra Crossing Assignment thriller series.

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Historical Fiction

Website: Michael O'Gara Author
Author's Blog: Michael O'Gara - Books that Entertain
Blog: Book Blogs
Twitter: @ogarabooks
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Author Description:
I'm a full time novelist and I write mainly mysteries, thrillers and historical action adventure fiction. I think I must be a bit of a romantic because my stories all contain some romance. I live in Missouri with my wife Ronda; no I didn't spell her name wrong that's the way it's spelled. We are graduates of Fontbonne University in St. Louis and have degrees in fine arts. We have that "creativity thing" going on. Ronda took most of the photographs used on my book covers.

Before I met my wife I lived in the Canadian sub-arctic and even went to the arctic circle. There aren't a lot of people who can claim that. I now prefer more moderate climates; that is warmer ones. What was I thinking living in the far north? Hey a story idea just came to me; perhaps one day I'll write a novel set in the sub arctic about the Mounties (Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police). Maybe not. We writers are a fickle lot.

Anyway, good reading and enjoy.

To contact Michael direct follow this LINK.


SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Let’s start with what’s next. Rumor has it that you have several books on the horizon. Can you tell us the timeline for their release and give us a little tease?

I have four new books finished that I expect to release in 2013. One is “The Caring Sheriff” which is the 7 county is facing an invasion of binge drinking riotous college students. As bad as this is, what comes next is much worse. The naked body of a young woman is found beside a rural road. Millie’s team soon finds the crime is one of a string of serial murders no one has yet connected. The investigation points to a larger evil of the worst kind. Events in Millie’s own life are causing her to take the case personally. She knows this is a case only her team will solve because she is the one who cares the most.

“Generational Sin” is a mystery in which Ken Jerome is the main character. Ken leads a normal and somewhat mundane life until he faces a crisis which does not come suddenly as most do. It comes rather as a slow uncovering of the realities of his life to which he has been blind or has blocked from memory. Ken uncovers family skeletons which have not only psychologically and emotionally damaged him, but are mortally dangerous. Ken learns about his family’s generational sin and that leads him to a dark mystery that he must solve to survive. Little do his enemies know that Ken has secrets too and what they don’t know can hurt them?

“Sinister Intent” is a thriller mystery. Assistant District Attorney Vince Jerome is at the top of his game; a game which is about to change. He is assigned to a case which seems relatively routine. It is anything but and will set in motion events that will push him into life he thought he had left behind. The safety of his country, friends and family are threatened as events spiral out of control. Vince will end up being the one that will have to solve the mystery and put the lid on the imminent threat or more people will die; a lot more. By the time Vince has figured out the extent of the danger the clock is ticking down and time is short. Vince has no choice but to turn to his contacts from his past life; one he had rather forget. He needs them and with no choice Vince is drawn back into his previous life and that makes him a very dangerous opponent. The perpetrators will regret the day they crossed paths with Vince.

I have also finished my first romance novel. I haven’t decided on a title yet, so I haven’t sent it to the U.S. Copyright Office for registration nor do I yet have the cover designed. I expect it will also be published later this year.

How important have your social media relationships been? How much has it changed your book launch process?

I think social media relationships are very important to an author. It is an ongoing process for me and it is a challenge to strike a balance between the time spent writing and interacting with others. I didn’t start publishing until about two years ago so social media has always been a part of my book launch process and I’m still working at finding the optimal blend. One positive of the process is that I’ve been able to interact with people from all over the world that in an earlier time would not have been possible.

Do you do book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? If so, when and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?

If you mean public book signings and appearances, I haven’t done any. For me it’s a business decision based on cost vs. benefit. I have concentrated on internet or newspaper interviews.

You have great covers. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?

Thank you for the compliment. It’s all hands-on. For better or worse I have to take full responsibility for the covers. I have designed them all with some help from my wife. I am satisfied with all but one of them that I would change if I had it to do over again. I use mainly photos my wife has taken then use two software packages to create the covers. One of the photos was donated by a “daughter”.

What kinds of writer support groups do you belong too? Do they help with the writing, marketing and the publishing process?

I attended a local authors’ group but I didn’t continue. Time is so precious and I tend to be very pragmatic about how much an activity contributes to my goals. I now stay in contact with other authors and do research using the internet and social media.

Between your book writing, blogging, marketing, family and all the other things that can get in your way, how do you manage your time? Do you have a set schedule or do your sort of play it by ear?

I do most of my work Monday through Thursday though I sometimes work weekends and evenings. How I spend my work time depends on my mood. On an annual basis I probably average forty hours a week on the writing business including book writing, blogging and marketing. Often I write in large blocks of time because I’m “on a roll.” This year I plan to work less hours.

Has the advent of ebooks changed anything in your writing, your marketing and the relationship with your readers and fans?

No. I sell a lot more eBooks than print books though.

What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?

I don’t give my work away to the public because I believe it has value. If you follow the shared experiences of authors it seems to me the practice of mass giveaways is relatively fruitless. It seems a lot of indie authors are using eBook giveaways of their work in the hope of building an audience. I think this is a big mistake. Indie authors should be smart about eBook giveaways using them only as promotional tools that are part of a marketing plan. This means only sending free copies to reviewers / bloggers etc. They should be used to expand visibility.

I do send “freebies” to reviewers and bloggers for their honest feedback. I also run contests for print copies on Goodreads because that exposes my book to a lot of readers without devaluing my brand. In reality though it is a form of promotion that has a real cost; the printing of the book and the shipping. That is using giveaways as marketing tools. According to blogger feedback I've received, contests for eBooks gain little interest. I think it's because there are so many eBook giveaways available. This indicates the value of eBooks is perceived as lower.

I’ve written a blog article on this and the full article posted May 5 read at http://www.michael-ogara.com/blog/


Along with that, when do you start the marketing process for a new book? Give a brief outline of the steps you go through to get your book to market.

I’ll start the process weeks before the release. The process is: broadcast the upcoming release, post it on all my sites, twitter about it, do interviews, advertise, and run contests.

You have a great blog. You do a great job keeping readers informed, marketing your books and providing useful information to other writers. What is your primary goal?

The purpose of my blog is to establish relationships and expand my brand visibility. My website focus is on my books.

I have to ask this question being from the Midwest myself. How big a Cardinal fan are you?

How embarrassing !!!! I don’t follow baseball. Football is another matter though. I don’t believe in being a fair weather fan so no Rams jokes please.



Author's Book List
The Persistent Sheriff - The Millie Mystery Series
Millie’s Life Lesson #3 - Just when you think you’ve got in made in the shade, life will throw you a curve ball so you might as well hit it out of the park. It is election time in the beautiful resort area of Mountain County but it seems no one is willing to run against Sheriff Millie Boyd as she stands for re-election as county sheriff. It is no surprise to the residents. Sheriff Millie is after all a modern folk hero who is generally respected and loved by the voters of Mountain County. She is two time state Police Chief of the Year because of her knack for solving mysteries and her ability to build and manage outstanding law enforcement teams. Just when Millie thinks that a few Friday night rowdy tourists at the local bars will be her biggest problem an unidentified murder victim’s body is found floating in the lake. In order to get to the bottom of the crime Millie must find out who the victim is. To complicate matters a notorious motor cycle gang shows up in Mountain County and Millie must deal with that threat while balancing a new romantic interest as well as her real estate development business. Millie certainly has her hands full and her continued success will depend on how many things she can juggle at the same time without dropping something. She has no idea the challenges she will face are more far reaching and more dangerous than it would first appear.
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Ambassador Death - The Cassandra Crossing Assignments
Cassandra Crossing is beginning to feel like the bishop on the President’s chess board. She is moved around to keep the country’s enemies at bay. Cassandra is no longer an unknown intelligence operative. Now she's a celebrity and hero after a very public assignment protecting the southern border. This time Cassandra is being assigned to foreign soil and to a very dangerous job. She will be a very public target for those who would sabotage her vital mission to help keep a continent at peace. It is a job she is uniquely qualified for by heritage, experience and training. To complete her mission the first order of business will be survival. She will also unexpectedly have to deal with something new; a serious romantic interest. It is an assignment that will require the balance of a tight rope walker, the Wisdom of Solomon, the courage of a hero, and unusual diplomacy. It is a unique challenge for an unusual woman. Formats Amazon Price New from Used from Kindle Edition $2.99 -- -- Paperback $12.95 $12.95 -- Image Looking for the Audiobook Edition? Tell us that you'd like this title to be produced as an audiobook, and we'll alert our colleagues at Audible.com. If you are the author or rights holder, let Audible help you produce the audiobook: Learn more at ACX.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Book Description Publication Date: February 21, 2013 | Series: The Cassandra Crossing Assignments Cassandra Crossing is beginning to feel like the bishop on the President’s chess board. She is moved around to keep the country’s enemies at bay. Cassandra is no longer an unknown intelligence operative. Now she's a celebrity and hero after a very public assignment protecting the southern border. This time Cassandra is being assigned to foreign soil and to a very dangerous job. She will be a very public target for those who would sabotage her vital mission to help keep a continent at peace. It is a job she is uniquely qualified for by heritage, experience and training. To complete her mission the first order of business will be survival. She will also unexpectedly have to deal with something new; a serious romantic interest. It is an assignment that will require the balance of a tight rope walker, the Wisdom of Solomon, the courage of a hero, and unusual diplomacy. It is a unique challenge for an unusual woman.
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The Deliberate Sheriff - The Millie Mystery Series - Volume 2
Millie's Life Lesson #2 - Success can sometimes channel you in a direction you don?t want to go but where you are needed. City Marshal Millie’s status as a folk hero is pushing her in a direction she doesn’t really want to go; running for election as County Sheriff. The County sure could use some help from Millie because the Sheriff's Department is an awful mess and about as useful as mud-flaps on a turtle. Millie realizes the challenges of rebuilding the Department but not the mystery, murder, danger, and conspiracy that await her if she’s elected.
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Crossing Cassandra - The Cassandra Crossing Assignments
BORDER CRISIS! TERRORISM! ASSASSINS! What is an outed spy with political connections to do? Cassandra Crossing did not expect it to happen so suddenly; her days as an undercover operative have ended. Cassandra expected her career would come to an end because of her father seeking higher political office. That would have certainly brought her into the public eye; a career ending event. Before this can happen, Cassandra kills the head of an international crime organization during an operation. This results in her cover being blown and her photo released. She is now known to intelligence services throughout South America and who knows where else. Cassandra returns home as events along the border with Mexico approach crisis stage. These are the kinds of dangerous events she had predicted in her reports. Mexico is on the verge of civil war and terrorists are entering the U.S. from the south. They are causing chaos. As the ferocity and number of attacks increase, the President chooses Cassandra to deal with the threat. The attacks create a political will to act and Cassandra faces a very dangerous situation. The fate of the country, her life, and her father’s long term political ambitions may depend on her success. She must protect the border. Now the nation’s enemies have become her enemies and her new public assignment makes her a very visible target. The stakes are high as her enemies offer a large bounty for her murder. They will find out there is a price to pay for Crossing Cassandra.
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The Happenstance Marshal - The Millie Miystery Series
Millie’s Life Lesson #1 - When life gives you lemons set out to save a town and get the badge and a gun you’ve always wanted. Millie’s life presently sucks but she has not let things beat her down and they are about to change. It’s bad enough Millie is subjected to prejudice but then she loses her job and her best friend. Given the economic problems of the City of Safe Haven Harbor, Millie’s prospects don’t look good. The City is broke, business is bad, and everyone’s struggling but a new reform Council has been elected to get to the bottom of the mess. They’ve hired a real hunk as the new city manager and if Millie thinks her life is complicated now she has no idea what’s around the corner. Millie will be thrown into the midst of mystery, sexual temptation, adventure and misadventure, as well as life threatening danger. Through it all she will learn she has a natural talent that will change her life and open the door to her dreams.
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The Mentor Sheriff - The Millie Mystery Series
Sheriff Millie has been awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor by the President of the United States. Now she will need the bravery she displayed in winning the nation’s highest police valor medal.

Millie has to meet her fiancée’s family and that will just be one of the challenges she will face. She returns home to find a new scourge has come to Mountain County. The person behind the criminal enterprise is sheltered in neighboring River County where the Sheriff is either inept or corrupt and Millie thinks it’s the latter. The Sheriff there is feared by everyone in that County and there has been no one brave enough to challenge him. Millie finds an unlikely candidate whom she must mentor in order to challenge the corruption spilling over into her County. Not only must the current Sheriff of River County be unseated but the mystery of who is pulling the Sheriff’s strings and running the criminal enterprise must be solved. All the while Millie must continue to direct her successful business interests and balance her unusual personal life.
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Sword, Cross and Crown
Aelle at thirteen is already considering how to avoid death at sixteen. He is heir to his maternal grandfather's realm and the only legitimate heir to his father's land. When he turns sixteen his half brothers may challenge him to mortal combat. His father is using that threat from his older bastard warrior half brothers to intimidate him into the priesthood of his mother's Christian religion.

If Aelle enters the priesthood to stay alive he will have to take a vow of poverty and yield his maternal inheritance to this father. His father is working to ensure Aelle does not know how to fight.

Aelle however is not your typical thirteen year old. He has a brilliant mind which he keeps secret and is creative enough he may just have figured out a way to thwart his father's ambitions. It is dangerous and there will be hardships as well as intrigue but his plan just might work. Well it will work in theory if he can stay alive long enough.

There are two things Aelle needs to make his plan work. He must find a warrior to train him in secret and a way to accumulate warrior allies. Achieving either of these will be no small feat but Aelle has no choice. For him the priesthood is a fate worse than death and he is smart enough to know neither is it a guarantee against assassination.
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The Windfall Sheriff - The Millie Mysteries
Millie Boyd is up for re-election as Sheriff of the beautiful resort area Mountain County. It seems there will be some shuffling in the leadership of the small City police departments come election time and Millie is deeply involved. At the same time, it seems her re-election is a near certain thing. She is after all a folk hero, two times State Police Chief of the Year, and is known and respected by everyone in the County. Yes, she seems a shoe in. Then just before the election, a series of murders of well known residents occur.

The murders seem to be random, brutal and without motive. The murders are big news and questions are raised as to whether the Sheriff still has what it takes to solve these serial murder cases. The talk has resulted in a challenger stepping forward to run against Millie. The question becomes will Millie solve the murders in time to save her re-election. Millie as she always has faces the challenges both political and investigative head on. She does it with the tenacity of a political bulldog and the nose of an investigative blood hound. The mystery of the murders must be solved and fast.

Little does Millie know that is the least of the challenges she will face. There is a foul wind coming her way.
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The Mogul Sheriff - The Millie Mysteries
Mountain County Sheriff Millie is working through many personal, professional, and business challenges in the aftermath of the tornadoes that ravaged the area. One of the Tornadoes ripped a band of destruction through the lakefront community of Save Haven Harbor where Millie lives. It caused the death of fifty three people including some people Millie loved dearly.

Millie hardly has time to grieve when she is faced with more difficulty. She is suddenly confronted by a dangerous and evil enemy from her past. It's a chance and violent encounter with the one fugitive who ever escaped Millie's reach. Millie must now find out why having successfully escaped the wanted felon is back in Mountain County.

While in pursuit of capturing the elusive criminal, Millie uncovers a sinister plot that reaches far beyond Mountain County. Now Millie has a mystery on her hands she must solve. At the same time she must put her life back together.

As if her life is not complicated enough, an old romantic interest comes back to town. Will he be a blessing or a curse? Will Millie be up to dealing with all of opportunities and challenges she is facing? Millie's life has never been boring and that seems to be the one thing that will not change.
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Author Recommended by: Amy Metz
Amy Metz is a Author of Mystery & Thrillers as well as a blogger and book editor.
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