2016 EPIC eBook Awards Winner in Mystery!

I learned yesterday that my debut novel, JAMES 516, was named the 2016 EPIC eBook Awards Winner in the category of Mystery. I can’t express enough how excited and honored I am to receive this award, which has been handed out for nearly two decades, and I’m grateful to all the folks who made it possible.

James516

When I wrote JAMES 516, I wrote what I wanted to read: a mystery novel pitting a police sniper against an evil sniper that involved a deep, dark secret, keen investigative work, and a surprise ending. To date, it was probably the most fun I’ve had writing a book, and it was in large part due to the fact that sniping is one of the activities about which I’m truly passionate–I even have the tattoo to prove it.

Blurb: The Magnolia Parish Sheriff’s Office is on high alert after a deadly sniper begins executing high-ranking cops. Sheriff Burke puts his best sniper, London Carter, and his internal affairs officer, Bethany Riggs, on the case. Pressure mounts and panic sets in as the body count rises and the killer becomes more embolden. London and Bethany find themselves sifting through evidence, lies, and feelings for each other in their quest to stop the deadly attacks. A mysterious note at the crime scenes might offer a clue to the killer’s motive, but will they decipher it before the sheriff’s entire staff is wiped out?

A little history about JAMES 516: I began writing it on August 16, 2010 under the working title, MISTAKE OF FACT, and I wrote 174 words that first day. I completed the first draft, which weighed in at 84,186 words, on November 2, 2010. I worked on the book for a total of sixty days, averaging a little over 1400 words per day. I shopped it to dozens of agents and one publisher until I finally landed a contract with Amber Quill Press, LLC, which was a publisher listed on Mystery Writers of America’s Approved Publisher List. JAMES 516 was originally published on December 7, 2014, but went out of print through AQP on March 30, 2016 when the publisher folded. As soon as the rights reverted to me on March 31, 2016, I re-released JAMES 516 in print and e-book with a new cover and at a much lower price.

Cover for James 516 eBook

An interesting fact about JAMES 516: Several years after I wrote it, a horrible incident occurred in law enforcement that was eerily similar to an event that takes place in JAMES 516. The incident made national news and the freakish similarities between the incident and my book were pretty amazing. I can’t provide any details surrounding the incident, because that would reveal a major plot twist in the book. However, if you read the book and think you’ve figured it out, email me at bjbourg[at]bjbourg[dot]com and share your thoughts. If you’ve read it and didn’t figure it out, email me and I’ll point it out.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

4 thoughts on “2016 EPIC eBook Awards Winner in Mystery!

  1. I recently finished reading James 516, thanks so much for such an exciting, well researched and well written novel! I sure hope that you are planning more London Carter novels…are you?! I’m just beginning the Clint Wolf books, along with O’Reilly’s latest two, so it’ll be at least a week or two before I’m looking for more about London Carter! 😀

    Thanks again, Rick

  2. Rick,

    Thanks for reading JAMES 516 and for your comment.

    Yes, I am planning more London Carter novels. I’m currently working on the final book in the Clint Wolf Trilogy, and then it’s off to the next London Carter novel–hopefully by October.

    A week or two? Ahhhhhhh!!!! 🙂 I wish I could write as fast as you can read, lol.

    bjb

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