Title: A Hush at Midnight
Author: Marlene M. Bell
Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Pages: 368
Genre: Mystery
Marlene M. Bell brings
distant friends together in the rural South only to have one of them become the
victim of a brutal crime of passion.
Once celebrated for her show-stopping pastries and irresistible desserts,
former celebrity chef Laura Harris is now making headlines for a far darker
reason.
Laura has been accused of murder.
How could this petite chef have brutally smothered the beloved small-town
matriarch, World War II ferry pilot veteran, Hattie Stenburg? Hattie wasn't
just a pillar of the community; she was Laura's confidant and mentor. The
shocking twist? Hattie had made recent changes to her will, bypassing next-of
kin and leaving her entire fortune and historic estate to Laura.
As Laura scrambles to clear her name, she uncovers sinister secrets lurking
beneath the town’s idyllic surface. The real murderer is always one step ahead,
leaving taunting clues and threatening Laura to leave Texas—or face deadly
consequences. With time not a luxury, Laura must untangle the web of deceit
before the killer makes her the next victim.
A
Hush at Midnight is available at Amazon.
Book Excerpt:
Stenburg, Texas – Friday evening
A killer sunset plunged toward the horizon,
casting its tangerine glare on the Stenburg Estate’s green metal roof and aging
bricks. Since her hasty arrival from the Los Angeles area last year, Laura
Harris had sought out the renowned East Texas skyline for its towering
thunderstorm clouds and the lemonade-pinks at twilight.
The colors gave her a sense of calm before the
inaugural trip to see her elderly mentor and dearest pen pal, Hattie Stenburg.
Laura last visited with her in California—over a decade ago.
As Laura skirted a large puddle in her Subaru
and stopped along the shoulder of the roadway, she parked the car, turned off
the engine, and exited the driver’s side. She breathed in air filled with
pungent smells of wet pine needles and dampened leaves. Laura had passed
through the April shower a few miles east of the Stenburg town limits sign.
Leave it to the Stenburgs to live in a town named after themselves.
Snaggled grapevines
across the road on Hattie’s property sat stoic and graying in long horizontal
rows from the oil and gravel highway road to the classic red brick two-story at
the top of the hill. The vines showed no signs of new growth even though T-posts
held the outstretched limbs twisted within wire and sagging driplines. Gnarled
stumps had been left behind from a time when the Stenburgs had added varietal
grapes to their company’s wine processing vats prior to Warren Stenburg’s death
nearly eight years ago—before Laura’s dad took over as the Texas corporation’s
chief executive officer.
– Excerpted from A Hush
at Midnight by Marlene Bell, Ewephoric Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with
permission.
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About
the Author
Marlene M. Bell has
never met a sheep she didn’t like. As a personal touch, her fans often find
these wooly creatures visiting her international romantic suspense, thriller,
and cozy mystery books as characters or subject matter.
Marlene’s
multi-award-winning Annalisse series boasts numerous Best Mystery honors for
all installments including the newest IP Best Regional Australia/New Zealand,
and Global Gold Award for the fourth cozy mystery from down under.
Her children's picture
book, Mia and Nattie: One Great Team! written for the younger crowd, is based
on true events from the Bell’s Texas sheep ranch. Suitable reading for ages 3 -
7 years and beyond, a Mom's Choice Gold Award winner, and Eric Hoffer Award
Grand Prize Short List winner.
Website
& Social Media:
Website ➜ https://www.marlenembell.com
Twitter ➜ https://twitter.com/ewephoric
Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/marlenembell
Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17642396.Marlene_M_Bell
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