Synopsis

Award-winning novelist Verlin Darrow delivers a standout thrill ride in his newest mystery, Murder for Liar, an engaging, enlightening, and entertaining novel of psychological suspense.

About Murder for Liar: Private investigator-turned-psychotherapist Tom Dashiel doesn’t know it yet, but he’s hurtling towards discovering where his threshold lies—the point of no return for his sanity. So begins a surreal spiral when George Arundel enters Tom’s Santa Cruz office on a Tuesday afternoon in April.

To say George Arundel is a puzzle is an understatement: the local psychiatrist who referred Arundel to Tom described him—rather astutely—as “a substantial challenge.” Working to treat the enigmatic Arundel, Tom soon realizes he has been tasked to treat a client unlike any he’s ever encountered.

But how is George Arundel related to the uncanny coincidences Tom begins to encounter? Are these mere coincidences…or something else? Could a young woman named Zig-Zag really be an angel? How could a dog—a rather cute one at that—reveal one of the most important clues? What’s the deal with that alluring, albeit mercurial, woman named Dizzy? And what’s Arundel’s connection to the escalating spate of unsolved murders plaguing the typically calm but always colorful Santa Cruz community?

Swept up in a perilous world where nothing is as it seems, Tom struggles to make sense of the decidedly dangerous, downright deadly scheme in which he has somehow unwittingly become a key player. Tom is about to discover that in this treacherous reality, the truth is far, far stranger than fiction…but the real danger is not knowing which is which.

Verlin Darrow has crafted an exhilarating, briskly paced page turner with a to-die-for plot in his latest novel. An extraordinary read that is alternately dark and lighthearted, tragic and comic, wildly entertaining and highly enlightening, Murder for Liar is one of those books destined to stay with readers after the final page is turned. Meticulously plotted, populated with a charismatic cast of unforgettable characters and bustling with twists and turns, Murder for Liar is a true standout.

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Praise

“The story has great pace, fun characters who you care about, plenty of twists, and narrative ‘personality’, especially with all of the psychology and spiritual references. Many good zingers, taut scenes, and punchy, believable dialogue. The mixture of a hard-boiled story line with a soft-boiled private investigator works well and the psychology–spiritualism element grabbed and held my interest.”-C.I. Dennis, author of the Vince Tanzi series. For Blood and Wisdom

“Verlin Darrow has a sense of plot and style that carries the reader forward into that special place of anxious expectation, the place where putting the book down is unthinkable.

Verlin gets us into the minds of people you wouldn’t want to invite for dinner. Fascinating.”-Richard House MD, author of Between Now and When. For Blood and Wisdom

“A kooky spiritual version of the Da Vinci Code. A good laugh with bad guys and good guys searching for Buddha’s reincarnation. There is a whooper of a surprise ending!”- Lee Kaiser, author of Towers of the Hungry Ghosts. For Coattail Karma

Guest Post

Verlin Darrow’s Aphoristic Advice for Writers (And Others)

1)  Yield gracefully to what is.

We have a choice to either hunker down and resist being changed by what comes our way, or grow and evolve even as the ground underneath us shifts. Trying to maintain our historical sense of ourselves through thick and thin can be subtle, using psychological defenses, or it can be obvious, arguing away others’ point of view or freezing our development by drinking. If the world around us stayed the same, perhaps trying to limit its ability to influence us would work better. As it is, these attempts to make ourselves feel safe and secure are doomed. Impermanence prevails.

For writers, this means we have to surf the randomness and capriciousness of the publishing world, especially in regards to the end result of our efforts. It’s easy to adopt a subtle adversarial stance toward the folks who hold the fate of our careers in their hands. Why won’t they accept our query/submission of such a wonderful manuscript? What’s wrong with these people? The reality we sometimes need to accept is that our work may not be wonderful, after all. Even if it is, it may not be marketable in the eyes of people more expert than us about such matters. We may be doomed to never find an agent or a publisher. We may find ourselves disappointed, bitter, or in despair.

If we can yield gracefully—without a fight—to all of this, including our feelings and thoughts about it all, we can proceed in whatever is the best way possible. This might include fighting against the way things are. After all, pushing for social justice is often called for, and the publishing world could certainly operate in a more sensible way. But to be effective in endeavors such as these, we have to stop playing games in our head about the way things currently are. We can’t try to arm wrestle life into submission. It’s way bigger than us. It will win.

2) We are like complex, completed origami. Our task is to unfold ourselves and return to the simple, blank sheets of paper that we once were before we were us.

By this, I mean that writers need to find a way to step away from ego-based concerns, overthinking, biases, conditioning, and whatever else stands between us and our deeper selves. Our work will be more valuable to the world if we can invoke the universally shared part of ourselves—that which lies beneath our supposed individual selves.

In fiction, which I write, we need characters who readers can identify with—who seem real. We don’t need simulacrums of ourselves—projections of our personal agendas and issues. It’s one thing to explore a problematic aspect of a character that we share, but this needs to be guided by awareness. If we’re lost in the drama ourselves—if it simply represents us and not some universal aspect of personhood—why would it mean much to a reader?

3) Our thoughts are science fiction stories written by drunk monkeys.

Okay, maybe I should’ve said my thoughts are like that.

But I think all writers need to be suspicious of their thoughts. Just because I have the idea that my protagonist ought to be six-foot five doesn’t mean it’s going to work out for the best down the line. If we simply hold our thoughts as truth without paying attention to what our experience tells us later—without adapting or altering our original take on something, we’re selling ourselves short.

Thoughts aren’t real. They form, pass through us, and dissipate—if we let them. That’s their nature if we don’t do something to keep them rolling along.

There are other clues we can use to make the choices embedded in our writing. Writing doesn’t need to be a purely mental exercise. What about emotions—what seems like the right call based on our feelings about it? What about intuition? If we can get out of our own way enough, sometimes things bubble up from God knows where. Putting thoughts in their place—labeling them as mere thoughts—can keep us from being a slave to them.

4) We’re prepared by the journey to meet the challenges that await us at the destination.

The process of writing can be instructive on many levels—even transformative. By learning from the process—the journey from the first word to the last (edited) word—we give ourselves the opportunity to meet what comes next as an improved version of ourselves.

If there were a way to leapfrog over all the hard work of gaining skills and finishing projects, we’d find ourselves in a frontier landscape with no preparation for how to handle things. Having early manuscripts torn apart by editors, having to cope with our egos, having to rewrite incessantly until we’re so sick of our characters that we want to write a scene where they all jumped off an especially high bridge—these are why we write better now—with more peace of mind about how things turn out.

There are no shortcuts worth seeking. If serendipity comes our way and our task becomes a need for a sudden assimilation of success, so be it. It’s a gold-plated problem in many respects. But think about people who win the lottery—who are vaulted into a very different circumstance. There’s a much higher rate of suicide in this demographic, and on average, they’re broke after six years. They didn’t trudge their way into wealth, gaining insights and skills about it.

There’s a great deal of value in the journey—the process—as long as we’re willing to grow and learn from it.

© Verlin Darrow

Guest Review by Nora

Tom Dashiel has a problem. That problem is named George Arundel. George is a therapy patient that Tom has only recently started seeing, and already their sessions have gotten off to a rough start.

George is difficult to talk to. He’s laconic and refuses to give his new therapist any information about his past. Obviously, this is frustrating for Tom, who prides himself on his ability to get into any patient’s head, even the most difficult cases. However, when Tom finally does begin to make headway in these conversations he quickly begins to regret trying, as George soon reveals that the depth of his delusions are not only shocking, but that they have more to do with Tom, himself than the therapist would appreciate.

See, George believes that he has a destiny beyond what a normal human could comprehend. He thinks that he was put on this earth to find Biblical angels that have been reincarnated as humans, and awaken them to their own destiny. And that is why George is talking to Tom. He believes that the therapist is one of these angels.

At first, although Tom is surprised by this revelation, he is obviously not interested in taking it seriously. After all, George is only seeing him because he is severely mentally ill. But soon, Tom begins seeing things in his own life that make him question what he thinks of his own destiny, and soon he begins to wonder if George might be telling the truth.

Almost immediately when I started reading this, I knew that I was going to enjoy it but I didn’t know that by the end, it would end up being one of my favorite reads of the year, so far!

I loved the narration in this novel. Tom Dashiel’s character was so funny and easy to root for. I found myself really wanting him to unravel the mystery at the center of this novel and somehow manage to get out alive.

I highly recommend this stunning read!

About the Author

Award-winning novelist, Verlin Darrow is a psychotherapist who lives with his psychotherapist wife in the woods near the Monterey Bay in northern California. They diagnose each other as necessary.

Verlin is a former professional volleyball player (in Italy), unsuccessful country-western singer/songwriter, import store owner, and assistant guru in a small, benign spiritual organization.

Website

Giveaway

This giveaway is for 3 print copies and is open to the U.S. only.

This giveaway ends on July 28, 2023 midnight, pacific time.

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