The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Teresa Burrell's New Book: Mason's Missing.
Author Teresa Burrell is an author, lawyer and Child Abuse advocate who writes who writes The Advocate Series and the Tuper Mystery series.
Mason's Missing
A Tuper Mystery Book 1
Author: Teresa Burrell
AVAILABLE
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Tuper is helping find five-year-old Mason, who was presumedly taken by his father, but when Mason's father is found unconscious, Mason has disappeared again. In an impossible search during a bitterly cold Montana blizzard, old cowboy Tuper and his hacker friend Lana's quest blurs into one of insanity and murder. As wounded Tuper fights to stay alive in the bitter cold, Lana searches cyberspace and finds someone is working hard to ensure certain secrets remain secret--especially Mason's true identity.
Excerpt from Mason's Missing
A tall, rugged man with a thin face and a gray mustache sat at the bar in Nickels Gaming Parlour in Helena, Montana. Only when he turned to the left could you see the scar that ran down the right side of his cheek, starting at the corner of his eye and ending just under his chin. He was wearing a very old cowboy hat, a disheveled plaid shirt, jeans, a big silver belt buckle, and cowboy boots. A bottle of orange soda pop sat on the bar in front of him.
After perusing the crowd, an attractive blonde woman in her late thirties, dressed in a simple blue dress and a light jacket, began walking toward him.
“How do you do it?” the bartender, a long-time acquaintance of Tuper’s, asked.
“Do what?” Tuper said.
“How do you get all those beautiful women?” He nodded toward the blonde woman. “You gotta be more than twice that woman’s age.”
“Don’t even know who she is.”
“I’m sure you’ll find out,” the bartender said, as the blonde strode up.
“Mr. Tuper?” the woman asked.
“Just Tuper.”
“Denise Jenkins,” she said, looking around the crowded bar. “Can we talk somewhere a little more private?”
Tuper looked at the bartender and raised one of the prominent eyebrows that sat over his deep-set eyes.
The bartender shook his head, paused, and then nodded toward the door off to his right. “You can use the office. And, Toop, no hanky panky.”
“Humph,” Tuper muttered.
Tuper stood up and moved toward the closed door, opened it, and went inside. Denise followed him. The office contained a small computer desk with a padded chair, a loveseat, and an overstuffed armchair. The walls were bare except for one large, black-velvet picture of dogs playing poker and smoking cigars. Tuper sat in the overstuffed chair and nodded toward the loveseat for Denise. She sat down. Tuper didn’t speak; he waited for her to explain what she needed.
After a moment or two of awkward silence, she said, “A friend of a friend told me I might be able to find you here.”
“You found me.”
Denise rubbed her hands together in a nervous gesture. “My son is missing and I need you to find him.”
“What do ya mean, missing?”
“He was abducted at school on Monday.”
“How old is he?”
“He’s five. He’ll be six next month.”
“Have there been any requests for ransom?”
“No.”
“Has anyone contacted you?”
“No. I think his father took him, but I can’t prove it. Randy swears he didn’t, but I don’t believe him.”
“I take it you’re not together.”
“No, we’ve been separated for a while. I just got full custody of Mason. It’s a temporary order, but I’ve been told that unless something drastic changes, it will become the permanent order. Randy was real angry about it.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I dropped Mason off for his first day of school since before Christmas. He started kindergarten in September. Randy was supposed to pick him up, but he arrived about five minutes late. By then, Mason was already gone. The teacher told him that some man had picked him up in a dark blue RAV4. She guessed it to be about a 2000.”
“Have you been to the police?”
“Of course. That’s the first thing I did. They’re looking for him, and the Amber Alert is still in effect, but I know they think he’s dead by now. They said the first forty-eight hours were critical and it’s already been three days.”
“What do ya think I can do that the police can’t?”
“My friend says you’re the best, that if anyone can find him, you can.”
“Wish you’d come sooner,” Tuper mumbled.
Denise’s eyes filled with tears. “Please help me.”
“Don’t know how much help I can be.”
“I’ll pay you. I don’t have much, but I have a hundred dollars with me and a few hundred more in my checking account, and I’ll get more. Please. I’ll do whatever it takes to get what you need. I’ll steal it if I have to.”
Tuper brushed each side of his mustache with his thumb, two strokes on each side. He looked at Denise. After about ten seconds of silence, he said, “Got a picture of him?”
She took a deep breath and opened an envelope. She pulled half a dozen photos and handed the first one to Tuper. It depicted a young boy with curly, blond hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing khaki shorts, a blue knit shirt, and new sneakers and was holding a mint-green backpack. “This is Mason. The photo was taken Monday morning before he left for school. Those are the clothes he was wearing to school.”
Tuper nodded but didn’t speak.
She handed him a second one. “This is him a few months back.”
Tuper nodded again but said nothing.
With the third and fourth photos, she said, “That’s Randy, Mason’s father. He’s five-foot-eleven but claims to be six-foot. He has curly, light brown hair and eyes the same color as Mason’s. He wears a cap most of the time to cover his quickly receding hairline.” The photo showed a man standing next to a shiny tan car.
“Dodge Daytona?” Tuper asked.
“Yes, 1988.”
“Is that what he drives now?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me ’bout Mason’s father.”
“He’s a jerk. That’s why I’m divorcing him.”
“We’re all jerks. Could you be more specific?”
“He gets real angry and mean. Always threatening me.”
“Threatening to hurt you?”
“Whenever he would get mad, he would threaten to take Mason away from me.”
“Ever hit ya?”
“Just once. He got angry because I let Mason watch a Disney movie that gave him nightmares. His screams woke Randy up and he couldn’t get back to sleep so he started drinking. Then he woke me up and we got into a big fight.”
“Does he work?”
“Yes, for Big Johnson Tire. He’s been there about a year.”
“Ever been in trouble?”
“Not since he was a kid. He stole a car when he was a teenager, but it was more of a joy ride. He’s thirty-eight now.”
“Where’s Randy now?”
“I don’t know. He says he’s looking for Mason.”
“Ya don’t believe him?”
“I think he ran off with him.”
“Where’s he living?”
“He was in Leisure Village Mobile Park on Herrin, but I don’t think he’s there now.”
“I know the place.” Tuper tried to remember which one of his past lady friends had lived there, but he couldn’t think of who it was. Perhaps when he went there it would ring a bell. “What space number?”
“Number 34 on Riviera Drive. It’s the street on the far left of the village.”
“Lives alone?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I think he might be having an affair. But I don’t know for sure, just some things that I’ve noticed.”
“Any idea who with?”
“None. I could be wrong.”
“What else can you tell me about Mason?”
“I just need you to find him. I can’t live without my son.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
Denise opened her purse and removed five twenty-dollar bills from her wallet. She handed them to Tuper. “This is all I have on me. How much more do you need to start looking?”
“What kind of car are you driving?”
“A 2003 Chevy Aveo.”
“Really? And it’s still running?”
“Just barely.”
“I charge what folks can afford.” Tuper removed one twenty-dollar bill and handed the rest back to her. “I’m guessing that’s about what you can afford.”
“That can’t be enough money.”
“I don’t do it for the money,” Tuper said.
Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Thriller, Suspense
Website: Teresa Burrell
Author's Blog: Teresa Burrell
Twitter: @teresaburrell
E-Mail: teresa@teresaburrell.com
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Author Description: Teresa Burrell has dedicated her life to helping children and their families in both the courtroom and the classroom.
As an attorney in San Diego, Burrell maintained a private law practice for twelve years, which specialized in domestic, criminal, and civil cases. Her work in juvenile court focused on representing abused minors and juvenile delinquents. Burrell has received several awards and special recognition from the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers for her countless hours of pro bono work with children and their families.
Burrell has also enjoyed a satisfying career as a teacher. She has taught children of all ages with diverse backgrounds and special needs. After creating an after-school program that kept kids off the street, she received a community service award.
Now in semi-retirement in California, Burrell continues to educate groups about social issues impacting children and write novels, many of which are inspired by actual legal cases. She is the author of The Advocate Series which now contains eight novels: The Advocate, The Advocate's Betrayal, The Advocate's Conviction, The Advocate's Dilemma, The Advocate's Ex Parte, The Advocate's Felony, The Advocate's Geocache, and most recently, The Advocate's Homicides.
Burrell also has two children's books that are fun for the whole family--Gaspar, the Flatulating Ghost, and Gaspar Meets a Bully.
Author's Book List
The Advocate's Homicides
- The Advocate Series Book 8Attorney Sabre O. Brown is called upon to defend an abused fourteen-year-old boy of murder after a body is discovered in a shallow grave with the word GOOF scrawled across his forehead.
Years later when more bodies are unearthed baring the same GOOF signature, two more abused juveniles are accused of the gruesome slayings. In order to convince a jury of her client's innocence, Sabre must either find a copycat killer; prove the murderer was a trusted friend of the three boys; or realize her worst fear—that her teenage clients carried out their own brand of vigilante justice to the men who abused them.
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The Advocate's Geocache
- The Advocate Series Book 7Attorney Sabre Brown is having a great time geocaching, the Internet’s version of a treasure hunt. The fun ceases when she “caches” a container with an official death certificate citing “Murder by Poison” as the cause of death. Even more disturbing is that the date of death is ten days in the future.
Sabre is forced to search cache after cache, each revealing more clues, until they take an unexpected twist and shockingly point to one of her court cases. Is the murderer a rejected child, a well-known plastic surgeon, a scorned ex, a crooked lab technician, or a politician in line for the highest office in the land? Or is someone playing Sabre in an ugly geocache of life and death?
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The Advocate's Felony
- The Advocate Series Book 6When Attorney Sabre Brown’s phone rings at 2 a.m. she’s shocked to hear from her brother, Ron, who has been in Witness Protection for the past seven years. Someone has discovered his whereabouts and is trying to kill him—and possibly Sabre as well. Sabre and her private investigator, JP, leave sunny San Diego to find her brother who has gone underground. Based on a single clue, they begin their search in the cold, wintry Pacific Northwest. They soon discover that the six felons whom Ron testified against have been released from prison. One by one, they are being murdered. Sabre and JP race to find Ron and stop the next bullet. As the clues unfold, they’re unsure if someone is trying to kill Ron or protect him. Or is Ron the killer? Could Sabre's beloved brother have changed during his long absence and is he now seeking vengeance? Sabre risks her relationships, her career, and her life to seek the undeniable truth. Is Sabre’s love for her brother overriding her sound judgment and if so, is there a final bullet with Sabre’s name on it?
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The Advocate's Ex Parte
- The Advocate Series Book 5Attorney Sabre Brown is summoned into Judge Lawrence Mitchell chambers for an ex parte hearing. When the judge attempts to discuss one of her cases, she refuses to listen without proper counsel present.
Later that evening, Judge Mitchell is murdered.
Sabre’s shock at his death is only surpassed by an attempt on the life of Dr. Carolina Heller, a psychologist she employs on a regular basis. Sabre now fears for her own life.
Sabre enlists her private eye JP, and they begin to comb and scrutinize her cases, searching for connections between the two crimes. But Sabre’s life is in danger from someone much closer to her.
Sabre and JP’s roads diverge. While JP infiltrates a twisted world of greed and corruption, Sabre is caught up in a domestic crisis fueled by obsession. As each is forced to fight their own battles, the question soon becomes, can they find a way to save one another?
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The Advocate's Dilemma
- The Advocate Series Book 4Attorney Sabre Brown’s day is going well until she walks into her office and finds a dead man sprawled across her desk. When, Bob, her best friend and colleague is suspected of the murder, and Sabre’s minor client has information that might clear him, Sabre has a dilemma. How does she help her best friend without betraying the confidence of the child she is sworn to protect?
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The Advocate's Conviction
- The Advocate Series Book 3Sabre Orin Brown's clients keep disappearing. With seemingly no connection between the cases, Sabre enlists the help of her southern PI friend, JP, and her best friend, Bob, to find each of them--before it's too late. In her race against the clock, Sabre must determine whether contemporary horrors are being buried in the shadow of dark traditions--or if it's something else at work. A conspiracy years in the making, secrets hidden for decades, and the twisted work of a mysterious society have all come together in the ultimate test of the strength of Sabre's conviction.
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The Advocate's Betrayal
- The Advocate Series Book 2The Killer left nothing behind but a rosary, a kitchen knife, and a dead man. but the dead man is a friend of Sabre Orin Brown. When his unsuspecting wife is accused of the murder, Sabre will stop at nothing to uncover the truth, even if it means unearthing chilling secrets.
From a San Diego jail to the shady Chicago nightlife, Sabre's search for the true killer forces her to face the question: What do you do when the ones you trust the most are the ones with the most to hide?
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The Advocate
- The Advocate Series Book 1The Advocate, a legal suspense murder mystery, is the first book in The Advocate Series. Three characters continue throughout the series, Sabre Orin Brown, defense attorney, her investigator, JP Torn, and her colleague, Bob Clark.
The Advocate is followed by The Advocate's Betrayal, The Advocate's Conviction, The Advocate's Dilemma, and The Advocate's Ex Parte.
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Gaspar, the Flatulating Ghost
Gaspar is a lonely, little ghost who is lactose intolerant and his favorite thing in the whole world is ice cream. The other ghosts tease him and call him names. Gaspar lives in a vacant house. When the house is sold and Mr. and Mrs. Stone move in, with their two young boys, he is thrilled to have a new family, until he discovers no one can see him. After several attempts to get their attention, he finally gives up and goes to bed only to discover that sometimes wishes come true.
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Thank you so much for participating in Teresa's MASON'S MISSING Book Blitz today, James - The post is AWESOME!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, James. You're the best!
ReplyDelete