Nominated for Best Mystery/Thriller on Goodreads! And Now at Joseph-Beth!

The Road of Regret has been nominated as best mystery/thriller novel of the year at Goodreads.  Okay, it was a write in nominee by one person, but it isn't a person that I know, so that makes it pretty special.  Here is what she said in the email letting me know:

Hi there. 

Just wanted you to know that I cast a write-in vote for The Road of Regret in the best mystery/thriller category in the 2013 goodreads book awards competition. I edit books and stories for a living, so I'm constantly reading. However, when I got to that category in the voting, I had to be honest and admit that I hadn't enjoyed any of the pre-selected books in the category as much as I had enjoyed yours. I know that it would be extremely unlikely for your book to win up against such huge names in the category, but I felt that you should at least know that someone liked your book enough to nominate it over Dan Brown and James Patterson.

Best wishes,

Annie

 How very, very kind of Annie!

Also, got to see my book on the shelves at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington this week!  It is quite surreal to see your book on the shelves of a bookstore.  Apparently I was so excited that I couldn't hold my phone steady for the picture. Now, hopefully, they will sell out and order more.

Random Thoughts and Shots

Candle and cigar from the Middle Creek Civil War Battle Re-enactment

Ann had her first round of chemotherapy on Thursday.  I've learned several things since her diagnosis of breast cancer on June 28.  First, the cancer treatment industry is a-boomin'.  Good for those in the industry.  Bad for the rest of us.

The good folks in the cancer treatment business told us it was fine if people visited while Ann was getting chemo.  There was no limit, they said.  At one point, around lunch time, there were nine people visiting.  So now they tell us we can only have two people at a time visiting.  The second thing I've learned is this - people in the cancer treatment industry can't be trusted to be consistent.  They also don't like it if you want to take anti-oxidants.  That's the third thing I've learned.

One good thing I've learned is just how beloved my wife is by so many people!

Another thing I've learned, thanks to our daughter, Lauren, making a board of fun facts to go in the bedroom she made for us for when we are in Lexington for treatment, is that turtles can breathe through their butts.

Another thing I've learned, thanks to our daughter's husband, Jesse, is that a byte isn't necessarily 8 bits.  It is actually hardware dependent and there are systems with different numbers of bits.

Something I've learned from my son, Jordan, is that employers seem to struggle with the concept that full time college students carrying 17 hours of classes can't really work 30+ hours per week.

But really, that turtle thing, that's amazing.  Isn't it?

Route 3 to Inez

The Road of Regret is Now Available as a Paperback

For those who don't want or don't like ebooks, or who just prefer the feel of a real book in their hands,  a paperback version of  The Road of Regret is now available through the Amazon link in the right column beside this blog.

Book Update: The Reviews are in!

Well, maybe not "the" reviews, but ten reviews so far have been posted on Amazon.  Thank you to the readers who took time to do that!  What do they say?  Here's a sampling:

"Road of Regret" reminded me (in a great way!) of the police procedurals that I enjoy watching on TV, but I think that fans of FX's "Justified" (which is also largely set in Eastern Kentucky) will REALLY enjoy this murder mystery.

Emily Northcutt

I literally read it in one day and an evening. Because it's that good! Don't miss out. If you love a good crime mystery or even you don't, you will love this book. The twists and turns in the story kept me wanting more.

LizaN

I loved this book ! It was full of twist and turns and a few surprises.

pattylynn

You can see more reviews here.

Haven't reviewed it yet?  Please consider posting one at Amazon or Goodreads.  Or both - I don't want to impose limits.

Miss the big End of August/Beginning of Labor Day Weekend Giveaway?  If you are an Amazon Prime member you can borrow a copy for free - just follow the Amazon link above or on the right hand side of this blog.

Free Book!!!!

It's Labor Day weekend and what better time for a book to read?  The wait is over and today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday), the End of August Giveaway is officially on!  You can download the Kindle version of my novel, The Road of Regret, for free.  Gratis.  Why am I giving away complimentary copies of my hard work?  Because I'm a kind and generous guy.  Okay, so there is also the fact that Amazon counts the number of downloads to determine sales position, so each download pushes my book a little further up the bestseller list.  It's currently number 137,587 on the list, so yes, please, help me move it up there so that it appears on the radar for others to see and perhaps buy for money after the two day sale is over.  Also needed on that front are reviews of the book.  So if you like it, please post a review on Amazon.  But yeah, mostly it's because I'm a kind and generous guy.  Also, I'm a lawyer, so here's you chance to live that dream of taking advantage of one.

You can download my book here.  Come on, mess me over.

FREE in 3! But...

...actually available now!  The upload and review and approval at Amazon went quicker, and smoother, than I expected, so The Road of Regret is available now.  You can see it here.  But it will still be available for free this Friday and Saturday for your Labor Day weekend reading.  Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can borrow it at any time for free (and I still get paid on that!).

A couple of tidbits until then.  First, here is the original picture before it was worked up to become the dark and brooding cover of the novel.

And here is the description of the book on Amazon:

Detective Leander Justice has been toiling long on his personal road of regret. It is a highway paved with stones of actions and inactions, large and small; choices made, fraught with consequences foreseeable yet unforeseen. He thought he could find an exit on his road, and escape his tragic past. He thought he could return to the innocent, small Appalachian town of his youth. But it was Lee that had been innocent, not the town. Now the killing has begun. And no one can be trusted. Not his Captain. Not the Coal Baron in residence. Not the Judge. Definitely not the Judge. But even the road of regret forks on occasion. Lee ultimately finds himself at a crossroad. He must choose: The way of Law? Or the way of Justice? As the crimes hit ever closer to his home and heart, he alone must decide how far will he go to protect those he loves.