Tag Archives: 7) Mystery

How to Trap a Soul by Tamrie Foxtail ~ A Friday the 13th Story Series ~ #Fridaythe13th

Please help me welcome Tamrie Foxtail with the next story in the Friday the 13th Series,  How to Trap a Soul...

Interesting Fact:

 

Growing up I had a friend named Mary. We lived one street apart from the time I was seven.

My Junior year of high school I was walking down the hall when another friend ran up to me and said, “Did you hear about Mary? She was murdered last night!” Kids on their way to school had found her body in a field.

That was the year I began to think about murder. I couldn’t help wondering what went through the mind of both the killer and their victim. I’ve often wondered at what point my friend realized the person she was with intended to strangle her to death. What were her thoughts? Did her life flash before her eyes? Was she filled with thoughts of her family? Her infant daughter? Was there time to regret the things she would never have a chance to do?

What goes through the mind of the killer? Is there a moment when they think “I could stop. I don’t have to do this.”

I married a Federal Police Officer, so talk of murder was common in our house. Even so, all these years later, I’m still haunted by the memory of my childhood friend who had her life and her future stolen from her.

 

Blurb:

He only kills women who have thirteen letters in their name; so why is he after Melissa Richardson?

After Lissa’s roommate is murdered, she becomes convinced the killer is after her. The police are quick to point out that Lissa doesn’t quite fit the profile of the Number Thirteen Killer’s victims, but she can feel him watching her.

He collects the souls of beautiful young women. He knows something special about Lissa—something that makes her soul more precious than most. All the others have been leading up to her. Her soul will be the jewel of his collection.

Lissa’s right to be frightened. The killer is someone close to her—and he’s moving closer.

Excerpt:

“You’re very beautiful,” he said as his hands tightened around her throat.

She clawed at him as he knew she would, but the gloves and flannel protected his skin.

One bright red fingernail popped off.

He kept up the pressure. Her hands fell away. She began sinking to her knees. He followed her down, letting up on the pressure—just a little—enough to allow some small amount of oxygen to reach her brain. He pulled the mirror from his pocket and set it on the ground.

Again, his fingers dug into her neck, cutting off blood flow and oxygen, this time for good.

Her breath ceased; her body slumped.

He let go of her and picked up the compact, turning it this way and that until he caught a thin, smoky wisp darting to one side.

Ah, there it was. Her soul.

About the Author…

 

Tamrie Foxtail was raised in the sunshine state. She married the best man she ever met, an Okie who brought her to the Sooner State. As soon as she recovered from a rather serious case of culture shock, she fell in love with Oklahoma and its people.

She loves books, carousels, scrapbooking, and coffee. She works with the special education program in her local school district.

Tamrie is published with The Wild Rose Press and is a member of Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. and Central Region Oklahoma Writers.

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A Gentleman from the Darkness by Mark Edward Jones ~ A Friday the 13th Story Series ~ #Fridaythe13th

Please help me welcome Mark Edward Jones with the next story in the Friday the 13th Series,  A Gentleman from the Darkness...

Fun Fact:

I had been outlining a prequel series to my current Detective Henry Ike Pierce series. It included the origin stories of several of the protagonists and antagonists. I adapted that idea with a thin layer of paranormal activity from the main antagonist for a Friday the 13th

Blurb:

It is 1968, and the secretive Group of Thirty has resisted the new Czech regime installed after the Prague Spring. Professor Valentýn Hrubý leads this campus group, fighting for the reforms crushed by Russian tanks. Hrubý keeps lists to help his forgetfulness, and the authorities discover one of these lists, one that shows the names of his associates. The new government hires an assassin to track and dispose of the group’s members. Dressed in a three-piece suit and topped by his ever-present black fedora, Karanosz Tasev stalks his prey.

It is Friday, twelve days before Christmas, and the wolf has arrived.

Excerpt:

Dominika let her kitchen door drift open, pushed by a frigid gust. All appeared as they had left it—no power, but the moon glowed in the clearing skies, shafts of light flashing through the shabby curtains. Still shivering, she slunk into the living room. All seemed quiet.

She sucked a deep breath, knowing it was time. The creepy, moldy basement waited with its archaic circuit breaker box hung from a wooden stud near the last step. The door squealed as they all did in this residence, and she instinctively reached to the left, flipping the light switch as if it would do any good. Moonlight filtered through the half window at the basement’s ceiling, offering a sliver of white flowing into the dungeon-like space. She slid her hand gently down the splintery rail and counted the seven steps to the bottom.

Dominika had never had the strength to snap open the latch to the circuit box’s cover. Valentýn had always been the one to take care of this, including replacing dead fuses. But had he not shut the lid the last time? The latch dangled, and spider webs hung fragmented below the box, dancing in the stirred air. She spewed an icy breath, guessing this was not her husband’s doing.

She yanked open the cold metal cover. The individual breakers were on, but the master switch had flipped. She used both hands to pull the switch up. A flash over the stairs, and a yellow glow flooded the dusty space. Dominika exhaled, at once proud she had fixed the issue but wondering how many lights she had left on while running about the house that evening.

She clutched her stomach, consciously slowing her breaths … the sounds, though. Her chest movements slowed, but the breaths grew faster and heavier. She sucked in and held, but the breathing continued. She touched the rail and took a step.

A round object ground into the middle of her back. A man’s snicker blew against her neck, followed by a whiff of cigarettes and body odor.

“Surprise,” a voice mumbled with a heavy Russian accent.

A silhouette emerged from under the stairs. It bumped into the staircase, knocking a fedora cockeyed as the man came into the light. She shivered while she mouthed his name—Tasev.

About the Author…

Mark retired from higher education finance in 2017 and started writing as a new career. The first of the Detective Henry Ike Pierce series, Peculiar Activities, was published in October 2021. The second in the series, Shadowed Souls, is in the editing phase will a publication later in 2022. A Gentleman from the Darkness is his first short story, and his first in a Friday the 13th

Website: mejbooksllc.com     Email: mejbookllc@gmail.com    Buy Links: Books2Read

Facebook: mejbooksllc       Twitter: @mejbooksllc          Instagram: @markjones_author

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