Monthly Archives: March 2016

Re-Release of Mystery Novels

In just fifteen short days, on March 31, 2016, I’ll be re-releasing my three novels that were previously published by the soon-to-be defunct Amber Quill Press, LLC. That means they will once again be available on Amazon in Kindle format, as well as in print format. The stories are the same, but the covers are new and (hopefully) improved, and the prices will be more reasonable.

Here are the cover images and blurbs:

Cover for James 516 eBook

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?

“…compelling and intense from start to finish…one heck of a read.”
   –Kevin R. Tipple, Reviewer at Kevin’s Corner

Seventh Taking eBook Cover

THE SEVENTH TAKING is the chilling tale of a young man’s journey through harsh mountain country in his search for the girl he loves, and the two friends who dare to brave the dangerous elements—both human and natural—to support a friend.

When Joy Vincent disappears in the Blue Summit Mountains of Tennessee while vacationing with her family, park rangers begin an intensive search for the Louisiana high school junior. Seven weeks later, the search is abandoned and authorities conclude that Joy voluntarily ran away because of a fight with her father.

Unwilling to believe it, Abraham Wilson makes the long drive to the mountains and sets off on a journey that will change his life–and the lives of his friends, Brett Lester and Charlie Rickman–forever. Will they discover the secret behind Joy’s disappearance, or will they meet with the same fate?

Cover for Amazon Kindle

Two years after Clint Wolf’s life has been disrupted forever, he’s asked to serve as police chief for a quiet little town deep in the swamps of Louisiana. But the tranquility of the town is shattered when a severed arm is found in the jowls of an alligator.

With the aid of Sergeant Susan Wilson, Clint investigates and it isn’t long before they realize someone has been murdered. As the investigation ensues, Clint battles secret demons from his past as he befriends a local reporter named Chloe, who proves to be an asset to the case when she shares information from a source who says the murder was part of a larger plot.

Will Clint and Susan unveil and foil the larger plot before it’s too late, or will the citizens of Louisiana awaken to a horror worse than any in their state’s history?

“Great imagery, bigger than life characters, and true sounding law enforcement scenes made this a romp of a read. It was fast moving and kept me guessing up to the very end.”
   –Cheryl Stout, an Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer

“This author has a real talent for keeping me gripped and wanting to know what was going to happen next.”
   –Liz H, Through The Booking Glass

Hanging with the Bayou Writers’ Group

We stay busy as a family, but Amanda and I have remained true to taking at least one date night each month. Sometimes it’s planned and sometimes it’s spontaneous, but we always manage to squeeze some alone time into our hectic schedule. When I write “squeeze”, I mean just that–we oftentimes only have an hour, or so, to squeeze between responsibilities. However, we were able to spoil ourselves these past two weekends with a couple of “date-aways” in a row.

FEBRUARY 27th DATE-AWAY

It started in New Orleans last Saturday when we rolled into town for the Rock ‘n’ Roll 10K. We checked into the Marriott on Canal Street, picked up our race packets at the Convention Center, and then ordered some dinner from a little restaurant next door to the hotel. We then retired to our room for a picnic that consisted of shrimp poboys, French fries, and Great American double-stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

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Early Sunday morning we ate (more) cookies and milk for breakfast and walked to the starting line of the Rock ‘n’ Roll 10K, which was a few blocks away. The weather was great and the crowd large. We ran the 6.2 miles through the city–enjoying some great views along the way–and finished at City Park. After collecting our medals and eating everything we could find at the finish line, we took the shuttle back to the hotel and relaxed before heading back home. We both had things to do later on Sunday, so it was back to our busy schedule.

I have to give a shout-out to my grandfather, who turned 94 that Sunday. A man of few words and a hard worker, he’s the most honorable man I know. Here’s to many more birthdays!

Andrew Verdin 94

MARCH 4th DATE-AWAY

This weekend found us in Lake Charles visiting with members of the Bayou Writers’ Group. The group’s vice president, David Chang, invited me to speak at their monthly meeting and I readily accepted. I last visited with the BWG back in September of 2007 and I was looking very much forward to seeing the members I already knew again, meeting some new members, and introducing them to Amanda.

(Before giving me credit for having such a great memory, you should know that I had to look up the pictures from the last time I was there to figure out the date.)

We checked into the SpringHill Suites on West Prien Lake Road Friday night, took a scenic drive downtown and along the lake, and then grabbed dinner. As is our custom on date-aways, we picked up some take-out and retired to our room for a picnic. This picnic consisted of a pile of food from Ichiban Japanese Grill and Yeung’s Lotus Express, along with–of course–some Great American double-stuffed chocolate chip cookies and a half gallon of milk.

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The real treat was Saturday morning when we met with the BWG at the Carnegie Memorial Library on Pujo Street. It was immediately apparent to me how much the rectangle of tables had grown, and it was great to see that the group was expanding.

Here’s a photograph showing the size of the rectangle of tables in 2007:

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And here’s present day:

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After Cliff Seiber, the group’s president, held the official meeting, I gave the little speech I’d prepared. (It actually went much longer than I’d anticipated–oops!) I talked about mysteries, explained why I couldn’t write erotic romances, offered some ideas on researching, and provided a list of resources I thought might be helpful to all writers who needed a cop, a gun, or a law in their stories. The members were engaging and asked some great questions.

They then treated Amanda and me to lunch and we got to visit with them a little longer. I can’t say enough how welcoming they are and how much of a great time we had with them. I look forward to going back to Lake Charles and visiting with them again in the future. It was definitely a very rewarding experience and just being around them energized me.

Unfortunately, Amanda and I had to leave the restaurant at about 1:15 PM to quickly return to our room and check out before 1:30 PM. As it turned out, the hotel had already deactivated our room keys and we couldn’t get in to grab our stuff. Thankfully, a nice lady who was cleaning rooms down the hall let us in and we reclaimed our clothes and–most importantly–the rest of the Great American cookies.

In closing, I want to say how saddened I was to hear about the passing of Harvey Honsinger. It was almost exactly four years ago that he passed away, but I just found out yesterday. The few times I got to visit with Harvey, I had a great time talking about writing, my all-time favorite genre, westerns, and guns. Like my all-time favorite author, Louis L’Amour, Harvey was a western writer and a really interesting man. I’m really sorry he’s gone.

Here I am with Harvey at the Bayou Writers’ Group Conference in November of 2007:

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