Dark, sexy, and believable - Northwest novelist keeps it real.

 

The first Ezra Hooten novel, Troubleshooter, chronicled Deputy US Marshal Ezra (Hooten’s career-spanning pursuit of his childhood best friend. Not the sort of man to take retirement too seriously, the sequel, Skyshooter, finds Hoot working for the TSA as an undercover air marshal…just his bad luck that he’d become the first air marshal ever to shoot an assassin on a commercial airliner while in flight, earning himself a new nickname in the bargain.

 

Romantically handicapped his entire adult life thus far, Skyshooter finds Hoot in the arms of a cold-blooded killer while simultaneously holding a down-to-earth, sensible, and potentially serious relationship at bay…all while stuck in the middle of a high-stakes smuggling game with terrorists intent on sneaking a dirty bomb onto American soil. Much more than the simple double-dipper gig he had expected it to be, this air marshal business was turning out to be some serious business, and Hoot doesn’t know if he’s up to it. But he has to be – the smugglers have taken his grandson hostage…

 Now available at http://amzn.to/19lYwIH for Kindle and in trade paperback. Reviews welcome!



Free for Kindle during Crimelandia - Left Coast Crime 2015!

 

Celebrating the premier of Skyshooter at Crimelandia, Troubleshooter is absolutely free for Kindle during the convention, March 12-15. If you haven't read it, you're missing something worthwhile...



http://amzn.to/1BhbEtK

Same race - new finish line.

 

 

I'll be attending the Crimelandia - Left Coast Crime convention in Portland next week, and I'm looking forward to it. I've attended writer's conferences many times during my 30-plus-year rise to the top (riotous laughter and hooting), but never before a convention - maybe I'll know the difference soon. The interesting thing to me is that I'm attending as a proudly self-published independent author. This is significant because, until recently, self-published indies were considered losers...period. Nowadays quite the contrary is true. Out here on the new perimeter where the self-pub indies roam is where astute readers are finding today's good stuff. The trick is connecting.

 

I hope Crimelandia will prove to be a place where writers and readers can mingle. This sense of author/reader connection is one of the things I treasure about being self-published. Another, of course, is an altruistic lack of monetary motivation (more laughter...with stomping).







The new Ezra Hooten crime thriller, Skyshooter, is now available at Amazon.com in print and Kindle versions for eager readers, and will be available in select independent bookstores after Crimelandia - Left Coast Crime 2015.

Troubleshooter ended with Deputy US Marshal Ezra (Hooten seriously wounded, but relieved that his lifelong nemesis was dead at last. 

In Skyshooter: Not one to take forced early retirement too seriously, Hoot has taken a job with the TSA as an undercover air marshal…just his bad luck that he’d become the first air marshal ever to shoot an assassin on a commercial airliner in flight. Skyshooter finds Hoot in the arms of a cold-blooded killer while simultaneously stuck in the middle of a high-stakes smuggling game with terrorists intent on sneaking a dirty bomb onto American soil. This is serious business, not exactly the stopgap job that he’d expected, and Hoot doesn’t know if he’s up to it; but he has no choice – the smugglers have taken his grandson hostage…

 

I sincerely hope that fans of Troubleshooter will enjoy the latest from Hoot!



 

Relax...it's only coffee at Floyd's!

 



It's official...coffee and conversation with Rod Lindsey at Crimelandia! See the Crimelandia program, Author/Reader Connections http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/2015/, for details. Go ahead...torture me with acid reflux - I dare ya!

 

Bringing Skyshooter to a close, checking every detail, looking forward to Crimelandia in March

From Skyshooter: Jesse had little experience with cocaine compared to other drugs. She was on the cusp of disappointment and still waiting for the kick when her purpose suddenly became crystal-clear as her head filled with light. Her ears deaf with the vacuumy sound of silence and her fingers itching with renewed purpose, she pushed open the door…

 

FUTURE STORYTELLER

(A GUILTY LOOK IF I EVER SAW ONE!)

 

 

From SKYSHOOTER:

 

 

Hoot awoke at 4:00 AM just as he had every other morning of his life for as long as he could remember, always reasoning to himself that it was 4:00 AM somewhere in the world twenty-four times a day and the best he could do was get his own personal ass out of bed on time to take care of his own shift; let others worry about the rest. This morning he woke up to discover he was lying next to Jesse in what he presumed was her bed at the resort. He had only the dimmest memory of tumbling into a bed that he couldn’t even be certain was this same bed, Jesse all over him, and he all over her. Never a good thing, waking-up in a place you don’t recognize, he told himself as if needing a cryptic reminder of the obvious.

 

It was warm, and a ceiling fan was stirring a breath of air. He reached above his aching head to move aside a heavy window curtain and peek outside. Dawn had yet to break, but the horizon was starting to take on a hint of color, the sky above clear and starry, the nearly-full moon hung low in the west like a beacon reflecting off wave tops.  He remembered it was around 2:00 AM when he met Jesse at the clubhouse last night, so wherever he was, he figured he either hadn’t been here very long or entirely too damned long. Probably both.