New Romance Novel: Trash Course

stevenharper · 01-19-2010, 05:29 PM

TRASH COURSE

Hawk Enterprises has no phone listing, no Internet presence, no public address. But it gets business. Quietly. And only from women. A wife who needs to flee her abusive husband. A businesswoman who’s being harrassed at work. A desperate mother who seeks her runaway child. And every case receives the personal care of the mysterious and talented Diana Hawk.

Terry Faye started as one of Ms. Hawk’s cases and ended as her chief assistant. She now lives a very odd life with an extremely satisfying, if lonely, career. And then a client blows into the office with the strangest request Terry has ever encountered: search a house filled with fifty years of hoarded junk to find her elderly uncles—and a treasure that’s been missing for over two hundred years.

Inside the house, Terry and Ms. Hawk find five decades of trash and a sexy photographer named Zack Archer, who’s intent on finding a treasure of his own. They also find deadly traps, a pair of dead bodies, and a pile of secrets that certain people will kill to keep...

Available through Carina Press http://ebooks.carinapress.com/9D216E...A-50F591D5475C

stevenharper · 10-18-2010, 06:26 PM

Carina Press (Harlequin) launched my book today! TRASH COURSE is available at Amazon or at Carina Press: http://tinyurl.com/2w6okt8 .

Terry Faye loves traveling the world while working as a private investigator. But this latest case is a doozy—and it's right here in Ann Arbor.

Two elderly recluses, Howard and Lawrence Peale, have stopped communicating with the outside world, and Terry and her boss have been put on the case. The catch: the Peales are hoarders. A clean sweep isn't going to be easy, even with cute photographer Zack Archer lending a hand.

The more digging Terry does in the Peale mansion, the more dirt she uncovers. And after she discovers two dead bodies, it's going to take a lot more than just elbow grease and a nice guy sidekick to find out what's happened...

EXCERPT:

The children shuffled across the warehouse floor in shackles and chains. There were a dozen of them—nine girls and three boys. They ranged in age from five to twelve and wore ragged, filthy clothes I watched them through the mesh floor of a catwalk, feeling like a mother bear separated from her cubs, even though the kids weren't mine.

One of the thugs riding herd on the little group gave a girl a shove to make her move faster. She stumbled and nearly fell. I started to growl, then shut myself up. No way I could take on six guys unless I had serious surprise on my side, and most crooks get over their surprise real fast when they hear snarling noises from the shadows above them.

A sixth man was with the kids and the guards: Stanislav Yerin, the Pakhan himself. Yerin reminded me of a pile of alphabet blocks—sturdy, square and cornered. A knife scar split his right eyebrow which, like his hair, was the medium brown of a wooden horse. I'd learned a lot about the Russian Mafia in the last few days, and knew the Pakhan—bosses—don't usually get involved in day-to-day doings on the street. Yerin's presence meant something special was going down.

The corner of my eye twitched. Special always meant complicated, and complicated always meant injury or pain—probably mine. Blood tanged my mouth with copper, and I realized I was biting the inside of my cheek. I wondered if Batgirl ever felt this way.

My catwalk was a full story above the main floor. The guards were herding the kids toward a set of loading doors. Some of the kids shuffled along in a stupor, but most looked terrified. Their chains made them clink like baby ghosts. I felt sick to my stomach, and angry. I wanted to break those damned chains with my bare hands and rip the hearts out of those gorillas with my bare teeth. Mama Bear tried to growl again and I had to clamp my lips hard to keep her quiet.

One of the boys had straw-blond hair, brown eyes and a little Matt Damon nose that would get the girls' blood racing when he got older. If he got older. He was chained in the exact center of the line, and while the others stared straight ahead, he darted frightened glances around the warehouse. I recognized him from the picture his mother had given Ms. Hawk. His name was Andy Maine. The Maines had been visiting Russia on vacation and were shopping in a street market when Andy had disappeared. The St. Petersburg police hadn't had any luck in finding him, which was how Ms. Hawk and I got involved.

Four days with almost no sleep and a hell of a lot of footwork had produced a trail that led us to this warehouse. We eventually decided Andy had been taken by mistake—most of the children kidnapped into underground slavery are orphans and street kids. But hey, once you've got the kid, you may as well finish the job and sell him, right? He'd be worth the same to a pimp, no matter what language he spoke.

MaMiller · 10-21-2010, 10:11 PM

Congratulations from a fellow Carina author! It looks fantastic and I love the cover.

01-19-2010, 05:29 PM	#1
stevenharper Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 530142 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Southeast Michigan Device: Kindle 2	New Romance Novel: Trash Course TRASH COURSE Hawk Enterprises has no phone listing, no Internet presence, no public address. But it gets business. Quietly. And only from women. A wife who needs to flee her abusive husband. A businesswoman who’s being harrassed at work. A desperate mother who seeks her runaway child. And every case receives the personal care of the mysterious and talented Diana Hawk. Terry Faye started as one of Ms. Hawk’s cases and ended as her chief assistant. She now lives a very odd life with an extremely satisfying, if lonely, career. And then a client blows into the office with the strangest request Terry has ever encountered: search a house filled with fifty years of hoarded junk to find her elderly uncles—and a treasure that’s been missing for over two hundred years. Inside the house, Terry and Ms. Hawk find five decades of trash and a sexy photographer named Zack Archer, who’s intent on finding a treasure of his own. They also find deadly traps, a pair of dead bodies, and a pile of secrets that certain people will kill to keep... Available through Carina Press http://ebooks.carinapress.com/9D216E...A-50F591D5475C Last edited by stevenharper; 09-26-2010 at 01:50 PM.

10-18-2010, 06:26 PM	#2
stevenharper Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 530142 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Southeast Michigan Device: Kindle 2	TRASH COURSE: Romantic Suspense Carina Press (Harlequin) launched my book today! TRASH COURSE is available at Amazon or at Carina Press: http://tinyurl.com/2w6okt8 . Terry Faye loves traveling the world while working as a private investigator. But this latest case is a doozy—and it's right here in Ann Arbor. Two elderly recluses, Howard and Lawrence Peale, have stopped communicating with the outside world, and Terry and her boss have been put on the case. The catch: the Peales are hoarders. A clean sweep isn't going to be easy, even with cute photographer Zack Archer lending a hand. The more digging Terry does in the Peale mansion, the more dirt she uncovers. And after she discovers two dead bodies, it's going to take a lot more than just elbow grease and a nice guy sidekick to find out what's happened... EXCERPT: The children shuffled across the warehouse floor in shackles and chains. There were a dozen of them—nine girls and three boys. They ranged in age from five to twelve and wore ragged, filthy clothes I watched them through the mesh floor of a catwalk, feeling like a mother bear separated from her cubs, even though the kids weren't mine. One of the thugs riding herd on the little group gave a girl a shove to make her move faster. She stumbled and nearly fell. I started to growl, then shut myself up. No way I could take on six guys unless I had serious surprise on my side, and most crooks get over their surprise real fast when they hear snarling noises from the shadows above them. A sixth man was with the kids and the guards: Stanislav Yerin, the Pakhan himself. Yerin reminded me of a pile of alphabet blocks—sturdy, square and cornered. A knife scar split his right eyebrow which, like his hair, was the medium brown of a wooden horse. I'd learned a lot about the Russian Mafia in the last few days, and knew the Pakhan—bosses—don't usually get involved in day-to-day doings on the street. Yerin's presence meant something special was going down. The corner of my eye twitched. Special always meant complicated, and complicated always meant injury or pain—probably mine. Blood tanged my mouth with copper, and I realized I was biting the inside of my cheek. I wondered if Batgirl ever felt this way. My catwalk was a full story above the main floor. The guards were herding the kids toward a set of loading doors. Some of the kids shuffled along in a stupor, but most looked terrified. Their chains made them clink like baby ghosts. I felt sick to my stomach, and angry. I wanted to break those damned chains with my bare hands and rip the hearts out of those gorillas with my bare teeth. Mama Bear tried to growl again and I had to clamp my lips hard to keep her quiet. One of the boys had straw-blond hair, brown eyes and a little Matt Damon nose that would get the girls' blood racing when he got older. If he got older. He was chained in the exact center of the line, and while the others stared straight ahead, he darted frightened glances around the warehouse. I recognized him from the picture his mother had given Ms. Hawk. His name was Andy Maine. The Maines had been visiting Russia on vacation and were shopping in a street market when Andy had disappeared. The St. Petersburg police hadn't had any luck in finding him, which was how Ms. Hawk and I got involved. Four days with almost no sleep and a hell of a lot of footwork had produced a trail that led us to this warehouse. We eventually decided Andy had been taken by mistake—most of the children kidnapped into underground slavery are orphans and street kids. But hey, once you've got the kid, you may as well finish the job and sell him, right? He'd be worth the same to a pimp, no matter what language he spoke.

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10-21-2010, 10:11 PM	#3
MaMiller Author Posts: 179 Karma: 300002 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: North Carolina Device: none	Congratulations from a fellow Carina author! It looks fantastic and I love the cover.