With a turn of the cards, a Stone Giant breaks loose from the Granite Mountains, leaving a path of destruction through the Regency of the Stands. The fabled guard towers of Safrasco are destroyed by a sorcerous griffin, the threat of war rising in its wake. Captain Ferriman turns to a blind herb trader named Cerra Meadows in the hopes she can help him navigate the sorcerous paths that threaten the peace of the Empire.
The Cards are drawn, the cast put into play. The Deck is ruled by the majics that created it. Events take on a life of their own, reliant on the strengths and motivations of the players whose avatars are determined by the draw. The Queen of Quills represents qualities that Cerra must embrace in order to discover the identity of the Seer and locate the Cards before her world runs out of Time.
Greg Scherzinger spent the bulk of his career as a TV Producer and Director, and skiing as much as possible in the Western mountains and the Alps, before leaving the broadcast business and spending the next 13 years living on a 41′ yawl in NW Washington. He has sailed the Inside Passage, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas. The author’s newest book, “The Henna Witch”, along with “The Wizard of Grimmer’s Wharf”, was written after he moved to a small farm in the coastal hills of his native Oregon. “The House on Chambers Court” was penned while living in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur in Mexico. He wrote his first book, “Demon of the Black Gate” while residing in the San Juan Islands.
Frankie Shep is still mourning the deaths of her husband and young son when
she finds a bone in the far corner of her Wyoming cattle ranch.
Excited to think she may have discovered an ancient Native American
village, she takes the bone to a lifelong friend who is now a forensic
anthropologist on contract with her county.
After a cursory inspection, he turns a blood-chilling stare at Frankie. The
bone isn’t ancient. Worse, the victim could be the remains of
Frankie’s mother. She disappeared from her own bed more than a decade
ago.
And now her retired father is missing.
As Frankie digs deeper, she discovers the terrifying truth that a serial
killer is using her land to bury his victims, all members of her family and
inner circle.
And now he’s watching her.
Mystery Bones Murders is a story of love, heart-wrenching deception, and
finding redemption.
Available exclusively in the Notorious Minds box set!
What does it take to commit the perfect crime?
Delve into these dark and twisted tales by twenty USA Today and
International Bestselling Authors.
No matter what kind of crime story typically catches your imagination,
there’s sure to be something for everyone.
Conspiracies, political plots, and yes, even murder, are just a few of the
crimes waiting inside this box set.
Discover a narcissistic grandmother running an underground syndicate, or a
support group bent on murder…and even a serial killer who turns his
victims into fairytale creatures.
Uncover the passion, jealousy, and fear lingering in every tale.
This box set is packed with thousands of pages that will hold you on the
edge of your seat, crying for answers.
Excerpt
Frankie set the rifle next to her knee and avoided thorns as she reached in to untangle Diesel. The calf was too panicked. He struggled against her, causing a bruise and a muscle cramp in her forearm. As she pulled back, barbs tore the skin on her wrist. She sucked on the deepest wound while returning to Concho to retrieve a rope and a utility knife from the saddlebag.
Back at Diesel, she wrestled with the calf to loop the rope around his neck. She cut the branches that pinned him to the bush and pulled on the rope. Diesel kicked and fell, then bawled and tried to run. When he realized he was freed from the bush, he stood still, panting and shivering.
Frankie wiped water from her eyes while inspecting a cut in the calf’s left hind leg. It wasn’t so serious to keep him from walking home before she doctored it. With a grunt, she pulled on the rope and led Diesel toward Concho.
As they approached, the horse pranced and snorted like crazy. Frankie caught Concho’s reins and rubbed his nose. “What’s wrong with you?” He stood still long enough for her to secure Diesel’s rope to the saddle horn, then returned to his dance.
His hoof clicked against the thing she had seen sticking up from the ground earlier.
“What did you find?” She knelt and dug dirt and mud away from a bone.
“Concho, did we find an ancient guy’s campsite? Is that what has you so spooked?”
As kids, Frankie and her friends had often daydreamed about finding a nomadic Native American tribe’s village on the ranch. But where they sledded every winter?
“Cool.” She moved more dirt until she could pull the bone from the ground and examine it.
The bone seemed small for a man. Her former friend, Harbin Williams, now a professor in the anthropology department at the University of Wyoming, could confirm her exciting suspicions. But…
She couldn’t force herself to attend his son’s funeral five years ago. Their kids died together in the accident her husband caused. She had isolated herself in her struggle to heal her grief, and she couldn’t face helping her best friends with their recovery.
A growl jolted her attention from the bone to the bared teeth of a gray wolf—ten feet from her.
The rifle lay six feet away, behind the fallen log.
She hopped over the log and took a fighting stance between her animals and the wolf, and then rushed to pull the repellent from under her rain poncho.
The predator stepped closer. Saliva dripped from its huge teeth.
About the Author
Karen Randau authors fast-paced stories with intricate plots and lots of
actione. Her debut novel, Deadly Deceit, was the first in her four-book Rim
Country Mysteries and has twice reached the #1 slot in Amazon’s amateur
sleuth category. The fourth book in the series, Deadly Payload, was a
finalist in the 2019 Book Excellence Awards and the 2018 Beverly Hills Book
Awards®. She was one of seven authors in the Tawnee Mountain Mystery
Series with Deadly Reception and now is joining 19 other others in the
Notorious Minds Crime Mystery/Thriller boxset.
A native of the southwestern U.S., Karen has traveled internationally and
witnessed famines, violence, and hopeful people working to overcome abject
poverty. She draws on both her creativity and personal experience to weave
together an interesting cast of characters with rollercoaster-like twists
and turns.
