Leslie Wolfe - Las Vegas Girl is featured in 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 Leslie Wolfe's New Book: Las Vegas Girl.

Bestselling Author Leslie Wolfe writes Thriller and Suspense novels.

Las Vegas Girl

A Gripping, Suspenseful Crime Novel

Author: Leslie Wolfe


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A GRIPPING, SUSPENSEFUL CRIME NOVEL

Detectives Laura Baxter and Jack Holt are members of the elite: Las Vegas Metro PD, one of the toughest and most respected law enforcement agencies in the United States. In the middle of a city with two million residents and 43 million annual visitors, they’re hunting for a killer.

The crime: audacious

In a glamorous Las Vegas hotel, in front of hundreds of witnesses and under the lenses of countless video surveillance cameras, a young girl is brutally murdered. What promises to be a quick and easy investigation soon becomes a nightmare. The most recorded crime in Vegas is missing one key protagonist, the killer.

The forensics: stupefying

A crime-scene fingerprint unleashes dozens of unsettling questions instead of providing answers. Was this a murder for hire? In the politically-charged case, the scenario seems plausible; the victim’s secret life could’ve been the obstacle in an ambitious politician’s path. As the investigation unspools the well-concealed secrets surrounding the girl’s life, Baxter and Holt attract the attention of someone desperate to keep history’s terrible secrets buried.

The truth: shocking

A testimony from beyond the grave turns into a death warrant for the two unrelenting detectives. While they expose a connection with the victim’s distant past that could hold the key to catching her killer, they must learn to rely on each other to survive.

Two mavericks make an intriguing team. Baxter and Holt trust each other with their lives, only not with their darkest secrets.

Excerpt from Las Vegas Girl

Chapter 1

Elevator Ride

Her smile waned when the elevator doors slid open and her gaze met the scrutiny of the stranger. She hesitated before stepping in, looked left and right uneasily, hoping there’d be other hotel guests to ride in the elevator so she wouldn’t have to share it alone with that man. No one came.

Her step faltered and her hand grabbed the door frame, afraid to let go, still unsure what to do. The hotel lobby sizzled with life and excitement, and sparkled in a million colors as only in Vegas can happen. Clusters of gaming tables and slot machines were surrounded by tourists and cheers erupted every now and then, almost covering the ringing of bells and the sound of quarters overflowing in silver trays. That was Las Vegas: alive, filled with adrenaline, forever young at heart. Her town.

The elevator had a glass wall, overlooking the sumptuous lobby as the cage climbed higher and higher, making riders feel the whole world was at their feet. She was at home there, amid scores of rowdy tourists and intoxicated hollers, among beautiful young women dressed provocatively, even if only for a weekend.

She loved riding in those elevators. Nothing wrong was going to happen, not with so many people watching.

She forced some air into her lungs and stepped in, still hesitant. The doors whooshed to a close, and the elevator set in motion. She willed herself to look through the glass at the effervescent lobby, as the ruckus grew more distant with each floor. She didn’t want to look at the man, but felt his gaze burn into her flesh. She shot a brief glance in his direction, as if she casually let her eyes wander toward the elevator’s floor display.

The man was tall and well-built, strong, even if a bit hunchbacked. He wore a dark grey hoodie all zipped up and faded jeans. He’d pulled his hood up on top of a baseball cap bearing the colors of the New York Mets. A pair of reflective sunglasses completed his attire, and despite the dim lights in the elevator cabin, he didn’t remove them. The rest of his face was covered by the raised collar of his hoodie, leaving just an inch of his face visible, not more.

She registered all the details, and as she did, she desperately tried to ignore the alarm bells going off in her mind. Who was this man, and why was he staring at her? He was as anonymous as someone could be, and even if she’d studied him for a full minute instead of just shooting him a passing glance, she wouldn’t be able to describe him to anyone. Just a ghost in a hoodie and a baseball cap.

Then she noticed the command panel near the doors. Only her floor number was lit, eighteen. She remembered pressing the button herself, as soon as she’d climbed inside the cabin. Where was he going? Maybe she should get off that elevator already. Maybe she should’ve listened to her gut and waited for the next ride up.

A familiar chime, and the elevator stopped on the fifth floor, and a young couple entered the cabin giggling and holding hands, oblivious to anyone else but each other. She breathed, and noticed the stranger withdrew a little more toward the side wall. The young girl pressed the number eleven, and the elevator slowly set in motion.

That was fate giving her another chance, she thought as she decided to get off the elevator with those two, on the eleventh floor. Then she’d go back downstairs, wait for the stranger to get lost somewhere, and not get back upstairs until she found Dan. She’d call him to apologize, invent something that would explain why she’d stood him up. Anything, only not to go back to her room alone, when the creepy stranger knew what floor she was on.

A chime and the elevator came to a gentle stop on the eleventh floor. The young couple, entangled in a breathless kiss, almost missed it but eventually proceeded out of the cabin, and she took one step toward the door.

“This isn’t your stop, Miss,” the stranger said, and the sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine.

Instead of bursting through that door, she froze in place, stunned, then turned to look at him. “Do I know you?”

The stranger shook his head and pointed toward the command panel that showed the number eighteen lit up. Just then, before she could will herself to make it through those doors, they closed and the cabin started climbing again.

Her breath caught and she withdrew toward the side wall, putting as much distance between herself and the stranger as she possibly could. She risked throwing the man another glance and thought she saw a hint of a grin, a flicker of tension tugging at the corner of his mouth.

With an abrupt move, she reached out and pressed the lobby button, then resumed leaning against the wall, staring at the floor display.

“I forgot something,” she said, trying to sound as casual as possible, “I need to go back down.”

On the eighteenth floor, the doors opened with the same light chime and quiet whoosh. The stranger walked past her, then stopped in the doorway and checked the landing hall with quick glances.

She was just about to breathe with ease when he turned around and grabbed her arm with a steeled grip, yanking her out of the cabin.

“No, you don’t,” he mumbled, “you’re not going anywhere.”

She screamed, a split second of blood-curdling shrill that echoed in the vast open-ceiling lobby that extended all the way to the top floor. No one paid attention; lost in the general noise coming from downstairs, her scream didn’t draw any concern. It didn’t last long, either. As soon as the man pulled her out of the elevator, he covered her mouth with his other hand and her cry for help died, stifled.

He shoved her forcefully against the wall next to the elevator call buttons and let go of her arm, pinning her in place under the weight of his body. Then his hands found her throat and started squeezing. She stared at him with wide-open eyes, trying to see anything beyond the reflective lenses of his sunglasses, while her lungs screamed for another gasp of air. She kicked and writhed, desperately clawing at his hands to free herself from his deathly grip.

With each passing second, her strength faded and her world turned darker, unable to move, to fight anymore. The man finally let go. Her lifeless body fell into a heap at his feet, and he stood there for a brief moment, panting, not taking his eyes off her.

Then he picked her up with ease, and carried her to the edge of the corridor that opened to an eighteen-floor drop, all the way down to the crowded lobby downstairs. Effortlessly, he threw her body over the rail, and watched it fall without a sound.

The noises downstairs continued unabated for a few seconds more, then they stopped for a split moment, when her lifeless body crashed against the luxurious, pearl marble floor. Then the crowd parted, forming a circle around her body, while screams erupted everywhere, filling the vast lobby with waves of horror.

His cue to disappear.

Author: Leslie Wolfe

Author Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Fiction

Website: Leslie Wolfe
Author's Blog: Leslie Wolfe Contact Link
Twitter: @WolfeNovels
E-Mail: LW@WolfeNovels.com
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Facebook: Check Out Facebook

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Amazon Author Profile



Author Description: Bestselling author Leslie Wolfe is passionate about writing fiction, despite spending a significant number of years climbing the corporate ladder. Leaving the coveted world of boardrooms for the blissful peace of the Florida-based "Wolves’ den," Leslie answers one true calling: writing.

Leslie’s novels break the mold of traditional thrillers. Fascinated by technology and psychology, Leslie brings extensive background and research in these fields, that empower and add texture to a signature, multi-dimensional, engaging writing style.

Leslie released the first novel, Executive, in October 2011. It was very well received, including inquiries from Hollywood. Since then, Leslie published numerous novels and enjoyed growing success and recognition in the marketplace. Among Leslie’s most notable works, The Watson Girl (2017) was recognized for offering a unique insight into the mind of a serial killer and a rarely seen first person account of his actions, in a dramatic and intense procedural thriller.

Leslie enjoys engaging with readers every day and would love to hear from you.



Author's Book List
Stories Untold - A Gripping Psychological Thriller
Something terrible happened sixteen years ago; many lives were lost. Who was responsible? As long as the truth remains buried, his life is in danger. She will help him find it; she’s the only one who can.

They’re both strong and fearless, determined, relentless.
He’s a decorated war veteran and he wants to die.
She’s a prominent psychologist and she won’t give up on him.

When a suicidal client seeks her help, Dr. Angela Blackwell cannot turn him away, despite the fact that he isn’t seeking the kind of help she normally provides her clients. The man, who won’t fully identify himself, wants the distinguished psychologist to stand witness after his planned death in six months’ time, ensuring his wife will not be charged as an accessory or be hindered from collecting the death benefit he carefully provisioned for her. He calls himself DJ and won’t willingly share anything about his past.

As Dr. Blackwell is struggling to reconstruct her own life after the loss of her husband, she recognizes his unusual request as a subconscious cry for help and embarks on a relentless effort to guide the reluctant stranger in uncovering the trauma that has permanently altered the course of his existence. Playing a deck of cards stacked high against her and rushing against time, she has no other option but to intervene, searching for the truth herself, refusing to give up.


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Audible



Glimpse of Death - A Riveting Serial Killer Thriller
Her beautiful face, serene and immobile, resting on her folded arm. Her long, luscious hair, undulating gently in the evening breeze. Her eyes half-closed, a hint of a smile on her pale lips, as if to welcome an unseen lover.

When the body of a young woman is found in her own backyard, a week after her disappearance, evidence leads investigators to a chilling conclusion. She is not the first victim of a serial killer no one knew existed. She most definitely is not the last.

FBI Special Agent Tess Winnett joins the local detectives assigned to the case and searches for answers in the intriguing investigation that offers a plethora of forensic evidence, yet no viable leads. When another body is found, the search intensifies, and details about the killer’s unusual signature emerge. He likes to stalk his victims before abducting them. He likes to show them a flash of what’s coming, a foreboding warning of their grim future.

At first, she caught a glimpse of a man, standing in the shadows, watching her.

She thought she saw his eyes, and the sight of them chilled her to the bone. She saw his hands, and they were the hands of a killer.

She caught a Glimpse of Death.

Join smart, relentless Tess Winnett and her seasoned team on a heart-stopping hunt for a serial killer, who mercilessly takes lives, preying on young, unsuspecting mothers. Resourceful, creative, and uncompromising, Tess will stop at nothing to catch the killer before he shatters another innocent life, taking readers on a memorable, white-knuckled journey in this masterful, riveting, serial killer thriller.


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The Watson Girl - A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller
A GRIPPING SERIAL KILLER THRILLER

An entire family is murdered and, by a quirk, a young girl is left unharmed. For fifteen years, she believed the killer had been caught, and he’s now on death row, awaiting execution. While trying to be content with her adoptive family, she’s living in relentless uncertainty and the fear of remembering what really happened that night when she was five years old. She’s The Watson Girl.

A therapist has asked her to participate in regression session treatments to attempt to bring back those lost memories. The closer she gets to the truth, however, the less time she has to remain alive. Now, the real killer is going to silence her, before she can remember the details of that horrifying night, when she was an innocent witness.

Laura Watson is young, she’s beautiful, and she’s a serial killer's loose end.

Join the smart, relentless, and short-fused FBI Special Agent Tess Winnett and her team in a heart-stopping search for the serial killer who has managed to stay hidden for many years. Explore the inner workings of the murderer’s mind, and find out what motivates such predatory, blood-lusting behavior, while following every twist and turn of an existence spent taking lives.

Laura Watson’s family was murdered fifteen years ago.
That was only the beginning. His beginning.
If you’re the apple of his eye, you’re already dead.

Special Agent Tess Winnett will hold nothing back to stop the killer before he takes another innocent life. She never fails, no matter what’s at stake. Even her own life.


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Dawn Girl - A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller
A GRIPPING SERIAL KILLER THRILLER

Her blue eyes wide open, glossed over. A few specks of sand clung to her long, dark lashes. Her beautiful face, immobile, covered in sparkling flecks of sand. Her lips slightly parted as if to let a last breath escape.

Who is the beautiful girl found at dawn, on a deserted stretch of golden sand beach? What is her secret?

FBI Special Agent Tess Winnett searches for answers relentlessly. With each step, each new finding, she uncovers unsettling facts leading to a single possible conclusion: Dawn Girl is not the only victim. Her killer has killed before.

Hiding a terrible secret of her own, Special Agent Tess Winnett faces her inmost fears, in a heart-stopping race to catch a killer who’s getting ready to end yet another life. Will she find the killer in time? Will she be able to stop him? At what cost?

The rules of the game have changed.

So has the textbook definition of a serial killer.

Special Agent Tess Winnett is the bold, direct, and short-fused heroine of Dawn Girl. Putting her life on the line, she doesn’t pull any punches, searching only for the truth, and for the man who takes lives on her watch. Intelligent, resourceful, and uncompromising, Tess will take readers on a memorable, white-knuckled journey in this suspenseful, gripping serial killer thriller.


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Operation Sunset - A Thriller
NUCLEAR TERRORISM THRILLER

Private investigator Alex Hoffmann has a clear mission: to identify and eliminate the deadliest terrorist mastermind in history. She doesn’t know his name. She doesn’t know what he looks like. She only knows he’s Russian. The moment she learns more, it’s already too late. The timers are counting down.

This Russian’s plan doesn’t target a building, a person, or a city. His plan is targeting the future of the United States and its entire people, for decades to come.

She calls it the inconceivable scenario. Will she be able to stop him in time?

Terrorism has a new dimension. We’re under an unprecedented attack. There’s nowhere to run.

Alex Hoffmann returns as the heroine of Operation Sunset. Putting her life on the line and risking it all to hunt down the man who is threatening everything she cares about, Alex is uncompromising and resourceful, taking readers on a breathtaking roller coaster ride in this gripping, engrossing nuclear terrorism thriller.


Book Trailer: Operation Sunset



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The Ghost Pattern - A Thriller
MEDICAL TERRORISM THRILLER

It’s the new age of terrorism, where enemy interests employ the use of modern tools, weapons, tactics, and theories to achieve goals that have destructive, bone-chilling, and disturbing physical and emotional effects. Today’s terrorists are tech-savvy, manipulative, powerful, well-funded, and supported by entire networks of global experts.

A Scottish offshore drilling platform in the North Sea becomes unresponsive to all communication attempts.

In Moscow, the Russian president and his top advisors seek the best, fastest strategies to defeat and ruin the United States. More recently, that includes government-sanctioned terrorism.

A commercial flight, carrying 423 passengers and 18 crew from Tokyo to San Francisco, disappears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Why?

In the new age of terrorism, nothing is what it seems.

No one is safe. There's no willpower, no intelligence, and no spirit that won't succumb to the right mix of drugs.

A captivating and unsettling page-turner, The Ghost Pattern explores a new dimension of terrorism, one that happens around the world on a daily basis without making any headlines. Or without making the right headlines. That’s really going on behind the scenes?

Alex Hoffmann returns as the heroine of The Ghost Pattern. She embarks on a breathtaking expedition to stop a brilliant terrorist in his tracks. Risking her life and challenging everyone’s beliefs, she is relentless to find the truth and the man who threatens the core of human existence.

Join Alex on an explosive mission as she ventures behind enemy lines in a heart-stopping race against time and against all odds, in this fast-paced, riveting medical terrorism thriller.


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The Backup Asset
ESPIONAGE TECHNOLOGICAL THRILLER

Cold War II has started with a vengeance. Or, as the American president calls it, Cold War 2.0, reflecting the impact technology has in the new age of espionage. Our country is now in the crosshairs of a renewed, unstoppable enemy intelligence operation.

At Langley, a report causes turbulence, as it predicts Russia’s inconceivable plans based on apparently random incursions into other countries’ territorial space.

In Moscow, the relentless Russian president and his key military leader are planning retaliation for the Crimea sanctions.

America’s newest weapons system, the laser cannon, is ready to be installed on a Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer. This weapon has the ability to change the balance of power in the world, and give America and its allies the upper hand in any military conflict.

But there’s a problem. Someone stole the weapon’s plans and is ready to hand them to our country’s enemies.

Espionage has a new dimension. Everyone is gettable.


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Amazon



Devil's Move - Political Terrorism Technothriller
It is a presidential election year and things are changing. America is overhauling its voting system, making room for modern processes and innovative technologies, but also for conspiracies and murder.

The US presidential election system overhaul comes under fire.

A heart transplant is denied.

An accident claims the life of a consulting executive.

Here, at home, terrorism has a new target.
We know the day of the attack, Election Day.
We know very little else.

An unsettling page-turner, Devil’s Move dives into an intricate world of economic and political influences, and global conspiracies. Battling shadows in a game against covert players, Alex Hoffmann returns as the heroine of Devil’s Move. She embarks on a captivating adventure, riddled with danger and spiced with technology and science, in a breathtaking, exquisite political terrorism technothriller.


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Amazon



Executive - A Thriller
A friendly fire incident in Afghanistan takes a serious toll. A drone, out of control, brings death and wreaks havoc on a Florida highway. An apparently successful corporation comes under scrutiny.

A memorable incursion behind corporate closed doors, led by an up-and-coming executive on a mission to find the truth about the lives lost to the very technology that was mandated to protect them.

Our skies aren't safe anymore.


Book Trailer: Executive



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eBook Author’s Corner
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