(Revamping the blog. Please excuse the odd headings. Working on it!)

Writing History & Mysteries

When I'm not delving into historical research, I'm planning a character's demise.

The blog of Cindy Amrhein

Historian - Author - Abstractor

Silver Lake, NY at Sunset

Photo by Zach Amrhein

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Saturday, October 25, 2014

Milk Carton Murders 42


 Weekend Writing Warriors Snippet time!

SETUP:We are still in the county sheriff's office where Dave is looking at files and photos pulled from his attic kept from when his mother and father were foster parents to several children. Last week Pepper and Dave come across two group photos of the missing girls taken during a Friends of Foster Families picnic at a local farm, from when Dave was a kid. Pepper leaves the room to make a photocopy of the group shots.


AND NOW THE SNIPPET:

Dave continued  his rummage through the box. He was almost done, and still no baby pictures of himself. He pulled out more from over the years that he could match up with the photos from the foster files, a few of Samantha--but none of Lisa and Rachael except for in the two candid group photos from the picnic of 1987.

Pepper came back in the room. “Okay, a copy for you and a copy for me. Now let’s see what we can figure out.” She sat down next to him and put both of the photographs in front of them on the desk above their photocopies.
 

“I recognize Samantha," Dave said, "she’s the girl on the cow."


***

The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone. Thank you for any comments you leave me. Much appreciated!

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Saturday, October 18, 2014

Milk Carton Murders 41


It's Weekend Writing Warriors time! When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.(Photo from collection of the Wyoming County Historian)

SETUP:We are still in the county sheriff's office where Dave is looking at files and photos pulled from his attic kept from when his mother and father were foster parents to several children. Last week Pepper and Dave come across a group photo of the girls from when Dave's was a kid.


AND NOW THE SNIPPET:
Pepper picked it up and studied it for a moment. “Shit, all three of the girls  are in this one. Where was this taken?”
   
“It was one of the foster family picnics," said Dave. James Donley’s grandfather, Patrick Donley, was very supportive of the Friend’s of Foster Families group. He donated a lot of money to it in fact. That’s why he jumped on board when the missing children’s milk carton program started. His son Albert was pissed about it—thought it was a waste of space that should have been used for advertising.”





The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone. Thank you for any comments you leave me. Much appreciated!

 AND MY BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK....
If you're connected with me on Facebook or Twitter you already know. :) I signed a contract with The History Press to publish my non-fiction book on Indian land title in New York State. Due out sometime after May in 2015 (based on my deadlines. I'll know when as it gets closer.) Their focus is regional history, so a good choice for this particular book.
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Friday, October 17, 2014

Dystopian Thriller Gene Cards

Congrats to my friend Elena Giorgi on the release of her new thriller Gene Cards!


 To celebrate the release you can purchase Gene Cards on Amazon for 99¢ for a limited time. Quick! October 21st is your last day!

Gene Cards is a dystopian, near-future thriller set in the fictional city of Liasis: When the cure for some means death for others, how far will you go to save your own?


Yulia Szymanski is a murderer and one of the best hackers of the century. Her mission: break her brother out of a high security jail before he dies of a rare genetic condition. On her trail is Biothreat Agent Skyler Donohue, a decorated Muay Thai fighter with a strange fascination for corpses. The obstacle to overcome: an invisible, deadly disease that strikes at random and has the city of Liasis locked in a bioterrorism siege.

When the latest to fall ill is Skyler's best friend's daughter, Skyler wants to drop the Szymanski case to chase the baffling pathogen that nobody is able to isolate. What she doesn't know is that finding Yulia is the only way to stop the epidemic and save the child's life.

In a world where identities are based on gene cards, and privacy no longer exists, survival is only granted to the rich, the healthy, and those who've learned to become invisible to the system.

 ***
You can't ask for more in a thriller about genetics than one written by a DNA scientist like Elena. I beta read this story and I have to say, the way it was woven together, it kept me guessing who the real bad guy was in an imperfect world. To tell you who I ultimately routed for would spoil the story. Action packed, yes, but the whole genetics thing really makes one wonder what is possible, it makes for some scary realistic sci-fi.

You can find Elena and her other great stories over at her blog CHIMERAS
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Saturday, October 04, 2014

Milk Carton Murders 40

Another Weekend Writing Warriors. This photo is one of my inspirations for my Milk Carton Murders World-Silver Lake
SETUP: We are still in the county sheriff's office where Dave is looking at files and photos pulled from his attic kept from when his mother and father were foster parents to several children. Last week Dave answered the voice in his head out loud, and Pepper heard him. The voice pointed out it was weird there were no baby pictures of "Davy," as the voice calls him. What can't Dave remember?


 

AND NOW THE SNIPPET:

She heard him. He focused back on the collection of dog-eared prints then stopped at a pile of familiar faces.

“Yes,” Dave said, "it's weird." Agreeing was the easiest way out of his latest faux pas.  He paused a moment and took a closer look at a group photo. “Pepper, can you put the Center for Missing Children's photos of Samantha, Lisa, and Rachael on the table?”
   
Pepper pulled them out from one of her files and laid them out in a row above where Dave had placed several old photographs.“I see we have some matches here, Dave.”


 
 


The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone. Thank you for any comments you leave me. Much appreciated!

*** 
BLURB:
When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.


 ***
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Available in paperback and eBook formats

Available in paperback and eBook formats

Now Available At:

Barnes & Noble
Amazon
The History Press
Walmart

Carried by over 40 college/university libraries across the county, according to daily updates by worldcat.org, including Columbia University, Oklahoma State, Texas A & M, and Yale University Law Library.

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Weekend Writing Warriors

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Bread & Butter the Murders of Polly Frisch

Bread & Butter the Murders of Polly Frisch
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Cindy's bookshelf: read

Waiting for Harvey
4 of 5 stars
Alone, in a cabin in the woods, with a ghost. Who could ask for more in a ghost story? Harvey starts right out with a hint of foreboding in a conversation between brothers John and Erik. Already my curiosity is roused as to what happened...
tagged: books-i-read-to-me
James Potter and the Curse of the Gate Keeper
3 of 5 stars
I randomly downloaded this on my iPad when I hit the wrong button being a bumble fingers, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I've never read fanfic before. It was pretty good. But like many other people, it still can't compare to J. K. Row...
CHIMERAS
5 of 5 stars
I beta read a few chapters of a different book by this author (one that isn't out yet) so when this one was out I had to read it as it was the same character in the one a betaed a bit of--the character of Track. I have a fondness for thi...
tagged: books-i-read-to-me

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