Mystery Bones Murders (Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas)
Mystery – Thriller
1st in Series
Independently Published (November 30, 2020)
Print length: 131 pages

Synopsis

Frankie Shep is still mourning the deaths of her husband and young son when she finds a bone in the far corner of her Wyoming cattle ranch.

Excited to think she may have discovered an ancient Native American village, she takes the bone to a lifelong friend who is now a forensic anthropologist on contract with her county.

After a cursory inspection, he turns a blood-chilling stare at Frankie. The bone isn’t ancient. Worse, the victim could be the remains of Frankie’s mother. She disappeared from her own bed more than a decade ago.

And now her retired father is missing.

As Frankie digs deeper, she discovers the terrifying truth that a serial killer is using her land to bury his victims, all members of her family and inner circle.

And now he’s watching her.

Mystery Bones Murders is a story of love, heart-wrenching deception, and finding redemption.

Guest Post

Writing in a Pandemic

by Karen Randau

Writing has been a way of life for me since childhood, but this COVID-19 pandemic has upended everything for a lot of people, including me. I’m a grandmother who was called on to homeschool a kindergartener while his single father was an “essential worker.” That extended into the first grade, and I’ve barely been out of the house since February. At the same time, several of my son’s co-workers came down with the virus.

You’d think staying home would be ideal for an introvert writer germophobe, right? It gives us time to think and fantasize all kinds of sticky situations for our characters, right? Nope.

Inspiration was caput when I watched scary news reports, my son was exposed to the killer virus at work, and I was trying to teach a first grader fractions. (I took the history of math in college, if that gives you a clue as to how enjoyable was our math class.)

Writers are told to write every day even if they don’t feel like it, so I tried. Some days, I could manage a paragraph or three. Other times, I’d go a week or two without writing a word. Many Facebook memes declared extroverts and huggers weren’t okay after so much time hunkering down, so I reached out to my extrovert friends and family. But we non-complaining quiet types—we may not even realize how blah we feel. Our blah might go unnoticed because we’re always quiet, but we—and our minds—just slow down…a lot.

Believe it or not, my blah and isolation were the inspiration for writing my novella, Mystery Bones Murders. It’s about a widow who has isolated herself after the deaths of her husband and young son. When she finds a bone on a far corner of her property, she’s excited about the potential of it being the remains of an ancient Native American village.

Her first trip to town in a very long time takes her to a forensic anthropology friend at the University of Wyoming who reveals the bone isn’t ancient. In fact, she discovers that a serial killer has been using her land to bury his victims, and now he’s watching her.

It’s a story of love, deceit, and redemption with a dash of romance. It launches a new novella series featuring a feisty red head with dyslexia who runs a ranch in Wyoming and considers her animals her best friends. She sure doesn’t want to fall for the hot guy who bought the ranch next to hers! But she can’t deny the electricity that courses between them.

The serial killer discovers Frankie is no one to mess with, and writing her recovery from grief and self-imposed isolation helped me to pull myself out of my own funk. I had to dig deep down to get in touch with Frankie’s emotions and create such a strong and determined woman. Doing that helped me realize I needed to force myself to stop watching the news, go outside every day, and enjoy the only life I’m going to have. When I did, the words for Mystery Bones Murders flowed.

Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Review

This novella was the perfect length for this story. There is a smaller cast of characters so the suspects are limited, there is tension to keep you on the edge of your seat, and perhaps even a little romance to make life a little sweeter.

Frankie has had a rough few years, losing her husband and son to a tragic accident. She has shut herself off from most of the world dealing with her grief. While out one night, she discovers a bone and is hoping that it might be from an ancient Indian tribe that used to live in the area. She is in for the surprise of her life when all is said and done from the answer to the bones and other revelations.

I have to admit I had strong suspicions about a certain character being the “evil” one and I was correct. There are a few clues along the way that you might decipher but there are no blatant obvious answers until the end. And I did suspect other characters from different conversations between the characters.

The pace of the story is perfect, with just enough suspense from page to page that you don’t want to put the book down. I liked that Frankie searched for clues but was smart enough to call in the police when things were out of her depth.

We give this book 4 paws up and if you need a shorter book to read, then pick this one up.

About the Author

Karen Randau authors fast-paced stories with intricate plots, lots of action, and a dash of romance told from the point of view of a female amateur sleuth. Mystery Bones Murders is her sixth book and the first book in a new series of novellas. She lives in the mountains of Arizona with her multi-generational family.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * BookBub

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway