I hope everyone is well? During these (continued) tough times that we all face. My only real distraction right now from the news, and reality, are reading and writing. I’ve just finished reading a wonderful book of poetry, I’m now about to work on the next one of my babies and write a few words.

Before I get cracking, I’d love to sharing with you, and the world, the first three of my Unsolved Mysteries series! I did a over share on FB a few weeks back, here’s the blurbs with them. Yeah! Each one is a stand-alone story. ‘The Note’, ‘The Red Light Girls’ and ‘Till Death Do Us part’.

They should go up on pre-sale pretty soon, some time after Sacrifices my historical romantic suspense, which will be released on the 30th September. I’m waiting for the world from my publisher about the mysteries. Me, I’m just happy to have knocked out a few more projects, and be inspired during this pandemic.

Book #1 The Note:

The Note is book one of the Unsolved Mysteries series of stand-alone, novella length, mystery, and psychological thriller stories. Set in different locations around the world.

Tony Patel, one of London’s wealthy entrepreneurs was diagnosed with cancer, and became estranged from his wife of thirty years Manisha. During their separation, his mistress Chelsea Jackson, became Tony’s carer while his cancer progressed. Unexpectedly Tony’s mutilated  body is found dumped in a park. Detective Dunne and his partner McDonald investigated his murder. Everyone had a motive especially when money was on the table, and his wife Manisha, and their adult children were cut out of his will then replaced by his mistress Chelsea. Was this an act of kindness from Tony, toward his carer and mistress? Or was there foul play and pressure to change his will by Chelsea? What about his murderer? The case was left unsolved, with lack of evidence.

Tony’s unsolved murder file is reopened when Detective Dunne receives a mystery note, three months later. For the second time once more mystery notes are sent by an anonymous tip off, Detective Dunne and McDonald re-investigate and piece together the mystery that surrounded the entrepreneur’s death, and what led him to change his Last Will in Testament.  

The note is a fast paced crime thriller, with a touch of mystery novella story. Dunne and McDonald have only one more chance to close this case and find Tony’s murderer, with the help of the mystery notes.

Book #2 The Red Light Girls

The Red Light Girls is book two of the Unsolved Mysteries series of stand-alone, novella length, mystery, and psychological thriller stories. Set in different locations around the world.

Amsterdam a fun and exciting city is set on edge, when women linked to the Red Light District turn up dead  on Amsterdamse Bose woodland area, or reported missing. Madeline Sloane a ballsy journalist for one of London’s tabloid papers is bored with her job and surroundings, she finds herself in Amsterdam working for the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Her new job becomes her obsession and determination to help Detective Janssen close in on the person responsible for fates of the Red Light Girls. She reports on the city’s events, and forms a plan of action of her own once her intuition guides her to a suspect. There’s only one person standing in her way of finding Amsterdam’s serial killer, not everything is as it seems in Madeline’s world.

The Red Light girls is a novella length mystery, with a strong headed female on a mission to cover areas that the local police have failed to, and close an unsolved mystery.

Book #3 Till Death Do Us Part

What happens when a convicted murderer confesses to a crime committed, and unsolved mystery from almost thirty years ago, but something seems ‘off’ about him, the crime, and the confession? Would you believe them? ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ is book #3 of the Unsolved Mysteries Series!

I’m currently working up my final draft with my publisher for blurb for this one, so I won’t say too much LOL. But the paragraph above that’s what’s in store!

Stay tuned for more details on books #4-#6. Three will be released at a time! These three towards the end of 2020.

Kim’s Review: 3 Stars!

Thank you to Silver Dagger Tours for my free copy, in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own. I was so excited to sign up to read this book, the blurb pulled me in, because I thought this could be a very cool read. As I read I felt the story came across as a typical’ street lit genre read, and by this I mean yes, there’s organised crime, guns, death, revenge, and money as the main plot drivers. The only difference was the characters are not petty street criminals, or drug lords, they’are best-selling authors who have a past of organised crime.

The characters to me were mainly pure entertainment, the plot for me was also pure entertainment. I don’t like to give spoilers on the plot for those who may read it, but the plot is mainly focused on adultery and revenge once this comes to light. Some parts I questioned the reality or likely-hood of it happening in the real world. One: the main characters are best-selling authors, and a surgeon, therefore they would be either well known and/or have lot to lose! Two: just generally things that happened in the plot, I wondered about reality BUT the plot was entertaining if you look past reality. However in the context of the street lit genre, it would make sense and be reality! If that makes sense. I did also find one plot gap very early on in the story. But even though I noticed, I read on because of the entertainment factor I found from the story-line. It ends on a cliff-hanger there’s no conclusion, which I found a little disappointing I do like a conclusion personally as a reader! But great for those who may wish to read a part two, the way the author left it, it seems like there could be follow up.

Overall, for me as a first time reader of this author’s work I’d give Blended Families three stars out of five, an okay read, but a highly entertaining read due to the nature of the plot, even if at times I questioned reality. For me it felt like reading street lit with a slight difference due to the character line up. I would read another book by the author possibly with a different focus, and I recommend Blended Families to those who really do dig the street lit genre.

I thank the author and Silver Dagger Tours again for sharing this book with me.

COMFORT ZONE BY STEPHEN BENTLEY

BLURB

There’s a killer lurking in all of us. Sometimes you just don’t know it.
Take Phil Mercer, for example, what dark secret from his past changes a decent man, and respected professional into a man with murder on his mind?
Down to earth Northerner, Phil Mercer, begins to question why so-called university friends failed to help him establish a practice at London’s Criminal Bar.
Despite that and colleagues’ professional jealousy, he goes on to achieve success as a fearless defender of society’s less fortunate until his career is threatened by events triggered by something completely out of his control.
Figuring his life and career are about to change forever, Mercer strives to find a way to right wrongs by inventing a new parlour game called ‘Comfort Zone.’
At a dinner party surrounded by colleagues he insists they all play the game. He introduces it after dinner as a ‘storytelling game.’
He adds – “the easy choice is not an option at all. What terrifies you? What scares you shitless? Be brave. Be reckless. You are among friends. What can possibly go wrong? It’s just a parlour game, right?”
Get this dark suspense noir crime novella now.

EXCERPT FROM COMFORT ZONE

PROLOGUE

2017

She heard the footsteps and guessed the guy was about ten yards behind her. It must be a man. They are too heavy for a woman. Another few hundred yards and she would reach safety – her garden flat home. I swear, no more drug runs for Ben Turner, she thought. This is too risky. Her heart pounded faster. She could hear it thumping in her chest until the sound of her panting blocked it out. She could smell aftershave. It wasn’t her cologne, nor was it her breathlessness she could now hear. Before the lights went out, she thought, Fuck you, Ben!

When she regained consciousness her first sensation was movement.  I’m in the boot of a car.  She was unable to see anything. I must be blindfolded. She tried to check for a blindfold but trying to move her arms was futile. Her hands were tied behind her back and she couldn’t move her legs as they too were bound. Then she felt a searing pain in the back of her head and lost consciousness once more.

Clueless as to time, she knew she was in a strange room. It stunk of urine. In the distance she heard the low rumble of motorway traffic. Her head still hurt, her eyes unable to pierce the gloom, but she could see shadows. The blindfold’s gone.  On trying to move, she heard a scuffling noise and knew she was tied to a chair. She heard a door open but was unable to see in the dark. Then she heard footsteps walking away and heard a second door open. A few moments later, a car engine started and the headlamp beams flooded both doorways and the room with bright light, penetrating the darkness. She was forced to shield her eyes from the light by tilting her head to the side, averting her gaze. Curiosity taking over, she scrunched her eyes and made out the figure of a man in front of her. A man dressed in black, wearing a ski-mask. He held a long knife in front of him. He cut the tape across her mouth before running the blade down her cheek. She felt the blood as it ran to the corner of her mouth, giving her the metallic taste of her own blood.

“Who are you?” she asked in panic. “Is this about the drugs? Here, have them.”

Removing his mask, the man in black said nothing.

AUTHOR BIO

Stephen Bentley is a former police Detective Sergeant and barrister (trial attorney) from the UK. He is now a freelance writer and occasional HuffPost UK contributor on undercover policing.

His memoir Undercover: Operation Julie – The Inside Story is a frank account of his pioneering undercover detective experiences during Operation Julie – an elite group of detectives who successfully investigated one of the world’s largest drugs rings.

His memoir became a UK bestseller and now translated into Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. It is available in English in these formats: eBook, hard cover, paperback, and audiobook.

He also writes crime fiction in his Steve Regan Undercover Cop Thrillers and Detective Matt Deal Thriller series. He has also written an award-winning short story, The Rose Slayer, which has now been published in an anthology of murder mystery short stories titled Death Among Us​​​​​​​, along with over twenty short stories from ten authors.

When he isn’t writing, Stephen relaxes on the beaches of the Philippines with his family where he now lives often with a cold beer in one hand and a book in the other.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/stephen-bentley

HuffPost UK Blogger https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/stephen-bentley/spycops-is-there-such-a-t_b_12857408.html

Website https://www.stephenbentley.info/

Books2Read https://books2read.com/ap/n6Pgrx/Stephen-Bentley

Amazon Author page https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Bentley/e/B01CNPG7K6/

All Author https://allauthor.com/author/stephenbentley/

AI Sheets for trade booksellers may be found here at hendrypublishing.com

Twitter @StephenBentley8

Instagram @author_stephen_bentley

BOOK LINKS

UNIVERSAL LINK

https://books2read.com/b/4Dygjr

Amazon Universal Link

http://getbook.at/ComfortZone

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51000899-comfort-zone

When Autumn Blackwood shows up at Windhaven Academy for the Witching Stick Orientation, she hopes to find out what dormant powers she could possibly possess to have been accepted to the elite supernatural school. Instead, the academy is in chaos as everyone frantically hunts for two missing girls.

But as school begins with Autumn no closer to figuring out her powers, strange occurrences start to follow her everywhere. Even at home, Blackwood Manor keeps many secrets, and Autumn can’t escape its haunting past.

New friends urge her to learn more about her family’s history in order to unlock her powers and make sense of what’s happening at Blackwood Manor, but Autumn’s not so sure. Once an accident brings Autumn face-to-face with death, however, she realizes her gifts are tied to a legacy that can either save or doom them all…

Turns out being the town’s only necromancer could pose some problems when the dead won’t stay dead.

Being haunted by ghosts isn’t unusual for Autumn, but this time it’s someone she didn’t think was dead.

Damn, my face as I read this book. I was so gripped. I came across this author’s work on Facebook and decided to give it a try not really knowing what to expect, I’m a new reader of her work. The first thing I will say is that this book has a very strong psychological thriller feel to it with the plot. The author has it listed as African- American and family drama fiction but wow! It’s a ride!!

About the book:

A liar and a cheater, those words are sitting on Annette Rhone’s heart. Her woman’s intuition has been rocking her world and causing her to doubt her husband’s faithfulness. Like most women, they have one person to turn to and for Annette, it’s her mother. After bringing her assumptions to the table, Annette soon realizes that she may have come to the wrong person for advice.
Jeremiah loves his wife Annette more than anything in life, but an ugly temptation is making it hard for him to stay on the straight and narrow. The woman living two houses down is every grown man’s weakness, a woman with a pretty face and a small waist. Jeremiah now must lean on a higher power to help him remain on such a faithful path. However, like most temptations, Jeremiah’s will stop at nothing to gain his attention and throw him off of his path.
In this highly anticipated novel, you will find out if Annette’s intuition is right or will Jeremiah stay faithful and true to his one true love.

Kim’s Review 5 Gripping Stars

Like I said I’m new to this author’s work, however, I was really  gripped from the opening chapters. I read it very quickly, and at times did not really want to stop reading. What I really enjoyed as I read was how the author weaved a number of plot lines related to each character into the story. There was much more than what meets the eye, Annette and Jeremiah’s stories are central of course, but the lady who Jeremiah crosses paths with and her best friend are central. I was very intrigued by the sub-plot of Chauncey the male best friend. I won’t give any spoilers but his own ‘issues’ really made me want to read part two, as well as how part one ended for the main characters.

I found the female lead who Jeremiah crosses paths with very well developed, her drive, motivations, and what she was after are really what gave this book a ‘psychological thriller’ feel for me as a reader. Often I read books that are placed in this genre, but sadly the author has not developed the ‘crazy’, ‘mystery’ , or ‘drama’ around their characters, they’re too soft to be believable.  Or there are no challenges, given what the characters are after.  Not this author she did a great job.

The plot moved quickly, and is told in a first person account of each character, I enjoyed this style of story telling. Overall, this is a complex plot based on what happens when one man steps out on his wife, the dangers that can follow, and one woman’s intuition about her husband. As well as a woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants along the way! And another man who wants her crazy ass LOL. No spoilers from me. I recommend this book to all those who enjoy urban fiction, that’s not stereotypical with drug dealers and gangsters there’s none of that here. This is real life  relationship drama! Also, those who love fast paced psychological thrillers, family dramas and sagas, that are diverse with a dash of urban life! It was a five star read for me I will read part two. The book does end on a cliff-hanger and normally I hate this, I like some kind of conclusion, but with this book it was the perfect way to end to send readers straight to book #2. I would and will read more from this author as from my reading experience her work crosses over well, into genres I personally love such as thriller, but the beauty is also the ‘urban’ fiction side to it. At the time of writing this review it’s free to read on Kindle Unlimited too. Check it out if you like the sound of it.