Big Sick Heart

[mmarkel]

Dear MobileReaders:

My mystery, Big Sick Heart, has just been published by BooksForABuck.com. It's a police procedural featuring two detectives. Karen Seagate, the Chief's least favorite detective, is currently imploding. Her marriage has fallen apart, and she is drinking way too much. Her young new Mormon partner, Ryan Miner, has just arrived from another century and another planet. Their latest crappy assignment is to provide security to a couple of guys debating stem cell research. But when one of the debaters, Arlen Hagerty, is murdered that night, what had been a boring job becomes a high-profile case.

There are plenty of reasons why someone would want to kill Hagerty. His wife and his mistress each had motive, means, and opportunity, as did his debate opponent. So did the man whom Hagerty pushed from his job as he clawed his way to the top, as well as the local politician whom Hagerty had been blackmailing.

One reviewer wrote the following on Amazon: "It's not only a well written mystery story, it is a study of characters that stands proudly for itself. The leading characters, detectives Ryan Miner and Karen Seagate, are so well and realistically described that they begin to live in your mind and your soul, that you feel you can touch their emotions and affections. You feel that you have been there and met people just like them. It's always so great when you meet characters that seem to breathe and live a life all of their own. Sometimes I felt compelled to get inside, to prevent one character from doing something or help someone to accomplish something else.

"The 'simple' murder case that develops into something far more threatening and dangerous is well grounded and is controlled all the time, steadily rising the tension and the apprehension. I can't wait to see more of this author and this series. Great one!"

My publisher has authorized me to make this offer to MobileReaders: If you buy an e-version of Big Sick Heart from BooksForABuck.com this month for $3.99, they will refund $2.99. In other words, it really will be a book for a buck. You'll need to supply the code mobi-markel-1 when you buy the book, or you can e-mail the publisher directly within 24 hours of the
purchase.

Offer number 2: I'm calling this "$100 for 100 readers." If you are among the first 100 customers to buy Big Sick Heart directly from BooksForABuck.com and write them indicating which character in this book has a big sick heart (other than the one diagnosed with heart disease), you'll be eligible for a drawing for $100.

Offer number 3: If you buy the book from the publisher for $3.99 (and then get back $2.99 from the publisher) and you don't like the book, I'll personally send you two dollars. So, basically, if you don't like this book, you can make a small profit. (Plus, you could win the $100.)

Although I never went to business school, I'm pretty sure this is the worst business plan that any fool has devised. But here's my thinking. I bet you will like Big Sick Heart, as does my publisher, and we're both willing to risk a loss on that bet.

I'm in this for the long haul, and I'm already working on Karen and Ryan's further adventures. If you're interested in reading about what I'm up to, please see Fears of a First-time Novelist at http://mikemarkel.blogspot.com.

Anyway, thanks for making it to the end of this hello. I'm glad to have this opportunity to talk with you here on MobileRead. I hope you'll take me up on my offer(s)--and visit my blog.

Regards,

Mike Markel