Black Diamond Death

Book 1: Sloane Monroe

by Cheryl Bradshaw

Genres: Mystery; Pulp Thrillers

Synopsis

Charlotte Halliwell has a secret.

Before she has the chance to reveal it to her sister, Audrey, she's found dead. At first glance, it appears to be nothing more than an accident, until poison is found coursing through Charlotte's body.

Audrey hires Sloane Monroe, a sassy, headstrong private investigator. As Sloane works to solve the case, a second body is found. With the killer aware that Sloane will stop at nothing to find him, he tracks her every move. Will Sloane uncover the truth before he strikes again?

If you're a fan of Sue Grafton and Mary Higgins Clark, you'll enjoy this fast-paced, page-turning mystery. A New York Times and USA Today bestselling series.

Release date: December 16, 2013

Publisher: Pixie Publishing

Print pages: 241

Sample

CHAPTER 1

 

 

 

 

 

The air was calm, but Charlotte Halliwell was restless. She had a decision to make so she did what she always did when push came to shove—she shoved back. Skiing had always been her release, her go-to when the anxieties and demons of life became too difficult to bear. There was something about being surrounded by fresh powder and clean air that reminded her of what it felt like to be alive again. She could stand on a mountaintop with a world of trouble on her mind, but it didn’t matter. Every care dissolved just like the snow soon would, leaving tiny patches of white, mere remnants of a ski slope that once provided the town’s entertainment for the season.

Today was important.

Today was the day Charlotte would have lunch with Audrey, her sister, and reveal a grave secret she’d kept to herself … until today.

Rounding the last narrow pass on the ski slope, Charlotte traveled downhill through the trees. But something was wrong. Something didn’t feel right.

Her tongue had gone numb. When her teeth brushed against it, she felt nothing, like it wasn’t even there, and her throat was inflamed with an intense burning, like a strand of lit matches was pressed hard against it.

Charlotte wondered if she was getting sick. The flu had been making its way around town. But if it was the flu, why had she lost all feeling in her face? And why were her eyes so blurry?

She ran a gloved hand across her goggles, but it didn’t help. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, but the trail in front of her was still too hazy to make out. With what little force she had left, she jammed her poles into the snow, trying to stop, but the slope was too steep, and her fingers had turned to frail shards of ice.

What is happening to me?

In a panic, she gasped for air, but there wasn’t any.

She tried to cry out, but she was alone, and in her hysteria she realized she’d felt a similar feeling once before, and she knew what it meant.

She was dying.