GIVE-AWAY, Excerpt, and Update!

So hard to believe that January is almost at an end! Almost as hard to believe that it has now been 3 months since the release of Murder at Cold Creek College!!!

To celebrate, I'm having a GIVE-AWAY! From 1/26-1/31, anyone who comments on this blog will be entered into a random drawing for a copy of Murder at Cold Creek College - 5 copies (kindle or print) will be gifted through Amazon (so I will need your email and preferred format, please!)! Your comment can be on this post or the review being posted on 1/29 of Murder in the Neighborhood (Janis Lane) --- but it must be posted by 1/31/2014 - winners will be notified and posted on 2/1. Sorry US only!

Please remember that whenever you read a book it is helpful if you take the time to post an honest review on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, Booklikes, or anywhere else.

Synopsis:

Sheridan Hendley is a professor and psychologist, not a sleuth. As the person charged with handling crises on campus, though, she gets pulled into the investigation when her colleague, Adam, is murdered. Her department head gives her the chore of helping the State Police Detective, Brett McMann, find faculty members and generally help him get the information he needs. Unfortunately, her good friend, Kim, had just renewed her relationship with Adam and was in the Rec Center working out when his body was found. As a result, she becomes the prime suspect and Sheridan is further motivated to help solve the case and prove Kim isn’t guilty. That she finds the Detective rather attractive is an added bonus. Sheridan’s curiosity and logical mind, along with her love of mysteries have her putting pieces together. The Detective’s questions lead her to ask more questions. In fact, as Sheridan tries to connect all the people in Adam’s life, she finds that many women have a motive for Adam’s murder.

Here is a brief excerpt (Chapter 1):

I nodded and then checked the next open door. Unfortunately, it was Max’s office. I knocked. He swiveled around, his black hair somewhat uncontrolled and in need of a cut. I must have startled him.  His brown eyes opened wide.

“Sheridan, you wouldn’t believe. I ‘m trying to get this experiment going, and somehow the materials I ordered haven’t come in. Terra told me I didn’t have enough money in my account, and that’s not right! I don’t know what her problem is,” was his opening tirade. Max was the other experimental psychologist and the most interested in research of the faculty in the department.

“Yeah, well, Terra and Ali do the books. They would know. Maybe you didn’t figure right what you had in your lab account. I bet they can give you a full accounting,” I suggested. Max tended to have these tantrums a lot. He was relatively young and had come to Cold Creek straight from graduation the year after me. He had big dreams of doing enough research to get to a better university.

“You doing okay otherwise – you know with the rec center and all,” I asked.

“Oh, I gave up on the rec center last year. Too crowded. I joined a private club where I don’t have to deal with the students. At the rec center, they always tried to talk to me. Are you looking for a place to work out?” he asked, oblivious to the excitement on campus. But that was not unusual for Max. Unless it was going to directly affect him, he didn’t seem to know about it. Now, if he had wanted to work out today, he might have been more interested.

“Uh, Max, someone died at the rec center this morning,” I offered as gently as I could.

Jumping out of his seat, he proclaimed, “I knew it, I knew there were safety problems. I knew those students would wreck something! See what I mean?”

“Max, someone was murdered. It wasn’t an accident,” I added. I wondered that he hadn’t asked the obvious question of who?  It was certainly the question I wanted answered.

“Oh. Well, it better not get in the way of my lab work. I’d love to chat with you Sheridan, but I have work to do,” he responded. With that, he sat back down and turned back to his computer. Good thing or he would have seen me shake my head in disbelief. 

Update
Max is one of my favorite characters with his own unique perspective on work, life, and people. Max, Mitch, Brett, and Kim continue to have prominent roles in the second in the series - yes, there is a second!  Almost 7 chapters are now drafted and I am working on fleshing out the "villain".  In his guest post earlier this month (1/13/2014), R. Michael Phillips talked about the importance of names...  Any suggestions for a name for the villain?  

Remember to leave a comment between 1/26 and 1/31 for the Give-Away!!!  Don't want to wait for the Give-Away?  Amazon