A New Aubrey Greigh Mystery For You
Hey, y’all. It’s been 14 months in the crafting, but the Kindle edition of my 4th Aubrey Greigh Mystery, Plundered Innocence: No More Secrets is available for pre-order. If you’re not yet a fan of these perplexing but endearing mysteries, what are you waiting for?
The Kindle edition costs just five bucks. Order it HERE now for automatic delivery to your devices on September 11th. Soon to be on all digital stores worldwide if you’d prefer to patronize a store other than Amazon. Why order now? It helps Amazon discover the book on its delivery date and will help me boost sales. Thanks in advance!
For those of you who prefer real paper, the print edition (376 pages) will be available on or before September 20th for $15. I plan to also make it available for pre-order soon.
Are you curious what my beta (pre-publication) readers are saying about Plundered Innocence: No More Secrets?
- I’m hooked!
- Nine-year-old Shane adds a wonderful family dynamic to the Greigh household.
- I love how the sub-plots converge on the surprise ending.
- Your best mystery yet!
- Some of the scenes shocked me. The gritty reality of human trafficking hit me hard. At the same time, I found the story utterly heartwarming.
- Shane Greigh is one complex kid. Scary smart, but vulnerable, too! And he’s a heck of a detective, even at nine. You make him so believable!
- Quirky. Hook-worthy!
The team also offered me several wonderful recommendations to make this book even better. Many thanks, everyone! It takes a village….
I can’t wait to introduce you guys to nine-year-old Shane Greigh, a Romany boy who’s traveled with a troupe of “gypsies” across Eastern Europe his entire young life before being adopted by the Greighs in Chicago’s near future.
He is unique in all the world. Born with a condition called hyperthymesia, this is also known as HSAM, or Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory. There are less than a hundred people in the world diagnosed with this condition. Plus, his complex heritage threatens to lead him toward a dubious future due to what he calls dark genetics.
As an aside, remember the actress Mary Lou Henner? She co-starred on the TV show Taxi. She also plays the mother of Aurora Teagarden on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. She has been rather famously diagnosed with HSAM, and consults on a TV series called “Unforgettable.” Yeah, it’s a very real thing!
Let’s take a peek at how HSAM affects this child when he thinks and acts like someone beyond his years and emotional maturity:
The more Shane learned of his heritage and his new family, the more he threw himself into diverse curiosities, out of necessity. Every conversation he’d ever had, every memory, every… thing… ran on an ever-expanding loop in his head, like an exploding swarm of angry hornets. The adrenaline rush from each new experience helped settle down the swarm. The more intense the experience, the better. And if he helped others, it settled his anxiety over Nonna Sasha’s fear of a dark future, at least a little.
At other times, he’s just a little boy:
Q rolled her eyes, raised both hands, and dropped them onto the tabletop with a soft thwack. “Okay. Shane, even though you’re not of legal age to get a comms implant—”
“Oh! I love it! When?”
Greigh belly-laughed loud enough for both Shane and Q to jump. “Well, now that that’s settled, let’s eat!”
Q shook her head and snickered while Shane got up to offer her a little hug. Then it was Greigh’s turn. After that round of hugs, even though Greigh sat and Shane stood, he still looked down at his son. He offered his hand. “This occasion dictates a manly handshake, don’t you agree, son?”
Few events could surprise Shane. This one did. He beamed, but then puckered his lips, wrinkled his brow, and with all solemnity, punctuated by an artificial pout, shook his father’s hand, massive by comparison. Shane left his breakfast untouched and scampered off to his room to finish getting dressed for school. He cried, “Yippee!”
Q gasped at this unexpected and utterly childlike reaction before tears ran down both cheeks. “Oh, Greigh….” He reached across the table to squeeze the hand that wasn’t wiping tears. But he didn’t give a voice to his fears—that this one-of-a-kind boy experienced mercurial highs and lows.
Help out a starving author by pre-ordering NOW! I truly appreciate your patronage! And after you read Plundered Innocence: No More Secrets, do let me know what you think!
Until next time….
Gene
P.S. I’ve chosen to include a bit of my original artwork (grayscale versions), humble as it is, as page backgrounds for the initial pages of this book’s print edition. Crazy, huh?
I envisioned this first image representing intense internal conflict only partially attenuated through a creative outlet (think of me and my new little buddy, Shane):
And this might be what the encampment of Shane’s kumpania in Hungary, Croatia, or Northeastern Italy looks like. You may also notice this image on the print edition’s back cover:
The print edition’s cover with the image above in the background of the rear cover, and my vision for Hotel Literati in the subtle background of the front cover. Such are the sort of things a restless creative conjures in the early hours before morning twilight:
