Just one week into its release, HER PERFECT SECRET hits the #1 spot for new releases in Psychological Fiction for Amazon Kindle in the US!
Santa has come early!
Tom Lange Books Now Available on Audio!
I’m thrilled to announce that the Tom Lange books — Dead Gone, Truth or Dead, and Dead or Alive — are now available as audiobooks. Narrator Joe Hempel tells the stories of Special Agent Tom Lange with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as Tom squares off against drug traffickers, serial killers, and organized criminals.
Click on any of the books below to visit its page on Authors Direct!
TOM LANGE #1
TOM LANGE #2
TOM LANGE #3
Shannon Ames gets a makeover
Hindsight is 20/20. While I loved the original covers and titles of the Shannon Ames series, I had a conversation with the publisher — Inkubator Books — who agreed a makeover was in order.
The reason: covers and titles should clearly indicate the type of story inside, so that readers have a better idea what they’re looking at. Call it a rebranding.
Shannon Ames is an FBI agent working out of New York City. She squares off against serial killers, chase fugitives cross-country, and works undercover. She deals with criminals wherever she finds them — like a remote mountain town snowed in by an icy blizzard.
These stories fall into a subcategory of mysteries & thrillers called “police procedurals.” And books with a strong female main character typically have a certain look to them. So we came up with what’s below.
INTO DARKNESS becomes THE KILLING TIME. Eerie moonlit night becomes kick-ass FBI agent walking into the sunset.
What do you think? I’m excited! I feel like the new look is on-point and sure to attract even more Shannon Ames fans.
This is the first book in the series, originally released April 2020. The new cover and title will hit the shelves in early 2022, with the rest of the series to follow.
To take a look at the series as it is now, click here.
Stay safe and warm, and happy reading!
Lisa Regan once wrote 29000 words in a single day
In a feverish 24-hour period, crime thriller author Lisa Regan cranked out 29,000 words.
My jaw was on the floor.
“That’s like… a third of a novel,” I managed.
“Yeah,” she said casually. “About a third of a novel.”
Lisa is the author of the best-selling Josie Quinn series, the Thomas & Mercer published Finding Claire Fletcher, and a stack of other riveting, top-selling crime thrillers. But at one point, she was a woman with a day job, and someone who’d endured heartbreaking tragedy in her family. When she picked up a true crime book, suddenly she felt less alone. Others had gone through similar harrowing events.
From true crime, Lisa turned to reading crime fiction… and then to writing it.
Available now for pre-order!
I’m absolutely thrilled to tell you that Her Perfect Secret is now available for pre-order.
This psychological thriller is something I’ve been working on in… well, secret… and now I can’t wait for you to read it!
(No joke — I’m am wiggling my legs and grinning like a goofy kid as I type this…)
Season Two: Episode One of Stories We Tell - Charlie Gallagher
We're kicking off Season 2 of the Stories We Tell podcast with crime fiction author Charlie Gallagher! Discover how Charlie went from being a police office to a full time writer, why he compares writing to running naked down the street, and how he feels about movies released to both theaters and HBO:
Season one of the Stories We Tell podcast available now on Spotify!
Stories We Tell is, first and foremost, a show about friends TJ Brearton and Dave Press, both writers and family men. Dave is a former teacher living in Indiana with his wife and two kids, coming to grips with his adult diagnoses of ADD and Asperger’s. TJ (Tim) Brearton is a recovering addict living in upstate New York with a wife and three kids, writing crime fiction for (currently) three different publishers. In Season One, Tim and Dave discuss the different types of publishing, writing in multiple genres, and the role addiction plays in art.
In Season Two, the boys will interview guests, starting with Charlie Gallagher (The Friend). More than a simple Q&A, the interviewed writers bring their perspectives to bear on questions facing most writers today: How do you work around a family schedule? What’s up with literary agents? Where is modern publishing headed?
This is a show for writers; it’s also a show for readers — readers interested in a peek behind the curtain at the writing process, and at the men and women bringing them the stories they love. What brought them to writing in the first place? How do they come up with their ideas?
This show is about the stories we tell — the books we write, but also the stories we tell about our lives, about one other, and about the world around us.
Dave and Tim in 2017
First Day Back to School !
I have much to be grateful for.
Pictured above, my family — today returning to school after a (long) wonderful summer. Fourth grade, first grade, and my son is a senior. These kids are healthy, happy, and I couldn’t ask for more.
…Except maybe a little extra time to get some work done. Which I now have! So, game on…
Currently I’m working on book 5 of the Shannon Ames series. After that, all bets are off. I’ve been delaying work on other writing projects, stories in different genres, ideas to attract even bigger audiences. The delay is over. I can’t wait for you to see what’s in store.
Until then, have a wonderful late summer / early autumn. I’m off to do some writing!
TJ
I was interviewed by Pamela Fagan Hutchins
I was honored to be interviewed by Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Today Bestselling author, on her podcast “Wine, Women & Writing” for the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. Pamela has interviewed everyone from J.A. Jance to Jeff Carson. We discuss the origin of my Shannon Ames series, reader expectations, writing for a living, and more.
To see a list of all of Pamela’s great guests and interviews, click HERE.
For my interview, click below.
OUT TODAY! NOWHERE TO HIDE
She went looking for a vacation. She found a body.
FBI Agent Shannon Ames is headed to the north country for some much-needed R&R when a sudden ice storm traps her in the small hamlet of Long Lake, NY. But the storm isn’t her only problem – as she rolls into town she finds a body by the side of the road.
As Shannon begins to investigate, she realizes she’s not the only person trapped here – there are two vicious killers stalking the town. With no way in or out, it’s up to Shannon to stop them before they hurt someone else.
“This series just keeps getting better!” — Amazon reviewer
EBOOK and PAPERBACK
NOWHERE TO HIDE NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
SHE WENT LOOKING FOR A VACATION. SHE FOUND A DEAD BODY…
FBI Agent Shannon Ames is headed to the north country for some much-needed R&R when a sudden ice storm traps her in the small hamlet of Long Lake, NY. But the storm isn’t her only problem – as she rolls into town she finds a body by the side of the road.
As Shannon begins to investigate, she realises she’s not the only person trapped here - there are two vicious killers stalking the town. And with no way in or out, it’s up to Shannon to stop them before they hurt someone else.
And so begins a deadly game of cat and mouse with Shannon relentlessly closing in on the two criminals.
But what she doesn’t realise is this little town has secrets that must stay hidden at all costs. And when Shannon gets a little too close to the terrible truth, she goes from hunter to hunted.
And in her moment of greatest danger she finds she has…
Shannon Ames is “one of the most resilient female protagonists I’ve read in ages”
-Goodreads reviewer
Early Summer Garden
As you may know, when I’m not writing novels, I’m gardening!
This year, I started a nursery indoors. Everything I transplanted to the garden this spring and early summer came from seeds I sowed, from Indigo Apple tomatoes to various brassicas and herbs. As a result, my plants are coming to fruition far earlier than ever before!
I started a video channel called Mountain Town Garden. So far there are videos on starting my indoor garden, up-potting tomatoes and vegetables, transplanting lettuce (and also building our predator-proof chicken coop!)
I also write about gardening, food, and diet. My article on plant-based eating was recently published with Food Love Stories on Medium.com.
If you ever want to talk gardening, drop me a line! I hope yours brings you as much peace and joy as mine brings me. Studies show gardens are great stress-reducers (which is perfect when you’re revising your novel for the tenth time!) :)
Indigo Apple tomatoes… and in mid-June, no less!!
Kale that has bolted and flowered
Did you know that gardening is considered the #1 hobby in America? Give it a Google, and you’ll find it’s not a recent statistic; despite the “pandemic garden” boom, it’s been the country’s favorite pastime for quite a while.
Zucchini!
I think I can see why people love gardening so much…
Happy sowing, transplanting, and harvesting!
Best wishes,
TJ
NOWHERE TO HIDE (Shannon Ames #4) Now Available on Booksprout
Shannon Ames Series Book 4 Cover Reveal!
I’m thrilled with this new cover from the publisher, Inkubator Books, and I can’t wait for you to see what’s inside! NOWHERE TO HIDE will release in early July — I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready!
A brutal winter storm traps residents of a small Adirondack town with two vicious killers. But they didn't count on Shannon Ames…
Road to Mercy Audiobook Now Available
A brutal abduction. Two scared kids. One desperate fugitive.
Struggling with the guilt she feels for shooting and killing a drug dealer during her freshman case, Special Agent Shannon Ames is thrown back in the deep end when former federal prosecutor Lucy Donato goes missing.
The case takes a surprising turn when Lucy’s bookish husband Bob is caught on camera fleeing the state with his two small children. Has he done something to his wife? Is he a danger to the kids?
Desperate to protect them, Shannon pursues Bob cross-country, following a trail of stolen cars, brutal bar fights, and dangerous drug dealers. But something isn’t sitting right with her - why would a meek office worker suddenly blaze a trail of chaos across several states? What does he want? Where is he going?
The answers to those questions are truly shocking, and put Shannon at the heart of a case she’ll never forget.
FREE with a subscription to amazon audible!
Talk is Cheap: a Tom Lange teaser short story
Talk is cheap.
“You pluck your eyebrows, man?”
Talk doesn’t cost you anything. You can make all the promises in the world.
“Because it looks like you pluck your eyebrows.”
Tom stares into the barrel of the gun, then focuses on the face behind it. A strung out, desperate junkie.
The guy behind him looks even worse. “All right, all right. Let’s go.”
The first guy, holding the gun, steels himself by swiping his runny nose with the back of his hand and then widening his eyes, like he’s trying to look crazier. He’s in a dirty tank top that says “Saints” on it. Both of them in tank tops, actually; shorts, beat-up sneakers.
“Give it to me,” the guy with gun says.
Tom asks, “What?” He’s sitting in his truck, window down. It’s the damn air conditioning, man. He needs to get it fixed. Otherwise he wouldn’t be in this neighborhood at this time of day in a nice shiny truck with the windows down, practically begging to be jacked. Welcome to Fort Myers.
“Your wallet, man – what do you think? Come on, man. Give it to me. Now.”
The guy is definitely twitchy – but it’s not crystal meth. It’s opioids, for sure. By now it’s probably beyond Oxy or hydrocodone. These guys have the heroin look. Like a fentanyl overdose chased by a shot of Narcan is just around the corner for them. After this one last score.
Because there’s always one last score.
“Okay,” Tom says. He’s had his hands up where they can see him. The light has just turned from red to green but no one is behind him, not back here, not on these streets at two a.m. on a Tuesday. If these two boys weren’t so strung out, they might be asking themselves why a guy, looking like Tom with a good build, all his teeth, and a fresh haircut from Supercuts, is driving his nice shiny pickup truck through the area at this hour.
With his hands up, he says, “I’m going to reach for it, all right?”
“No funny shit, man.”
Yeah, that first guy is twitchy, but it’s the guy behind him, the one without the gun, Tom is most worried about. The guy back there tugging up his loose shorts to keep them from falling around his ankles – he looks homicidal.
A trickle of sweat rolls down Tom’s spine. Maybe this isn’t funny.
He gets his wallet out, and lifts it into the air like a cheeseburger on a spatula, and slowly hands it over to the guy with the gun who snatches it. Then they run, both of them are running, and around a corner into an alleyway and gone.
Maybe they’ll try to pawn the badge.
Otherwise, Tom calculates, they just got themselves thirteen dollars cash and a debit card they can’t use.
He puts the truck in drive. The light has changed back to red, but he rolls through the intersection anyway. Nothing like getting carjacked to start your heart pumping.
***
Maybe the badge could fetch them something, he thinks a little later. He’s pulled over on the interstate about a mile from where the thugs robbed him. If they find a pawn shop with a brazen broker, they might get thirty dollars. Forty, tops. Picked up eventually by someone looking to impersonate a cop, perhaps.
How the world turns.
It’s been two years since Nick died, and this is where it happened. Right here on the side of I-75. Presently, the vehicles on the Southbound side rush past like they’re all in a hurry to get somewhere. Tom walks to the white cross staked into the ground just past the asphalt. Instead of a flower, like a rose or something, he has a cigar. Corny, maybe, but Nick liked to smoke.
“Here you go, buddy,” Tom says, and sets it down.
The cigar is Nicaraguan. Get it, Nicky? Nic-a-raguan.
Nick would have thought it was funny. He’d had that goofy kind of humor. He’d been a troubled soul, but he was the only big brother Tom ever had. Tom’s only family at all, really, and now he was gone.
Tom walks back to the truck and gets in, his shirt sticking to his back. It’s hot. A northerner at heart, he’s never quite gotten acclimated to the tropics. Maybe it will take another couple years. Maybe not.
He gets behind the wheel and uses his phone to call the ROC. He works for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the regional operations center where he keeps an office is just a couple of miles away. After he gets through the automated system and talks to the desk cop, he tells his supervisor about the stolen badge, and how it happened.
“Huh,” Turnbull says. “You want to run them through the system?”
Turnbull’s not the most compassionate guy in the world. “I’m fine, thanks,” Tom says.
“I know you’re fine, or you wouldn’t be calling.”
Right.
“No need to get involved,” Tom says. "I just had to report the stolen badge.” He checks his mirrors and starts getting up to speed. He’s got to really floor it to merge with traffic.
Turnbull probably overhears the engine. “You going to go get it back?”
Tom’s already slowing for the next exit. With in a couple of turns and two intersections he’ll be back where two guys rolled him. “Yeah” he says to Turnbull. “I’ll go get it.”
He rings off, tossing his phone onto the seat beside him.
Talk is cheap. Nick was a talker, but he was good on his word. He was a man of action. No, he wasn’t always the best role model. But about some things, Tom followed Nick’s lead.
Like right now, chasing after two guys unfortunate enough to get strung up on heroin. Lost their sanity to the point they’d steal from a state cop. He didn’t care about them, so much. You couldn’t do much more with junkies but give them a mulligan; the drugs had typically fried their common sense, taken them over.
It was the principle of the thing.
It was his badge.
It was what he had left.
Tom hit the gas, took the next right, putting the ocean and the setting sun to his back.
Nick, he thought as he drove, I love you, brother.
Audiobook for Road to Mercy Available for Pre-order!
A brutal abduction. Two scared kids. One desperate fugitive.
Struggling with the guilt she feels for shooting and killing a drug dealer during her freshman case, Special Agent Shannon Ames is thrown back in the deep end when former federal prosecutor Lucy Donato goes missing.
The case takes a surprising turn when Lucy’s bookish husband Bob is caught on camera fleeing the state with his two small children. Has he done something to his wife? Is he a danger to the kids?
The answers to those questions are truly shocking, and put Shannon at the heart of a case she’ll never forget.
Road to Mercy is a gripping mystery thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat as it races towards its electrifying finish. Perfect for fans of David Baldacci, Robert Dugoni and Lisa Regan.
Special Valentine's Day Freebie!
For a limited time (Feb 11 through Feb 15) get the hot new thriller BREATHING FIRE for FREE!
After surviving a public shooting and saving someone in the process, Alex Baines's life is forever altered. Video of the event is spilling across social media, major newspapers are interested, and movie deals are in the offing. This could be a career boost for the neuroscientist and meditation guru.
But Alex’s marriage is hanging on by a thread. Evidence is piling up that the attack was not random. And while police hunt down the gunman and Alex recovers from life-saving surgery, his wife Corrine is stuck in this strange post-shooting world with their two children, where it seems that someone is after her, too.
State Investigator Raquel Roth has never seen a case like this: a criminal who makes major mistakes, yet seems to have a master plan. And is someone pulling his strings? As Roth and her partner Harlan race to figure out the gunman's motive, signs point to an even more sinister plan in the works. If only they can untangle the mystery and stop the disaster in time...
AUDIOBOOK for INTO DARKNESS now available for pre-order!
I’m thrilled to announce that Into Darkness (Shannon Ames Book 1) is now available as an audiobook! Not only that, but the talented Bailey Carr is narrating for producer Podium Audio!
Below are the links to the book on Audible and on Amazon, as well as a scintillating teaser— check it out!
~TJ
DARK COUNTRY: new boxed set!
DARK COUNTRY, a collection of five best-selling North Country novels, has just been released!
Amazon has ranked it the #1 New Release in Mystery Anthologies.
Get it today for only $.99!
That’s right — five mind-bending novels, full of psychological thrills and chills, for only 99 cents!
“I bought the five-book set and read them straight through! Each book is a standalone mystery — dark, fascinating, well-written plots with edge-of-your-seat endings. Although the setting is the same area in upstate New York, the main characters are different in each book. Excellent crime thriller series.” — Amazon review