Title: Jingle Jingle KILL
Author: C. Quince
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 12/09/2025
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 32300
Genre: Contemporary Holiday, MM romance, intercultural, spies, secret agents, covert missions, mystery, British humour, holidays, contemporary, action-adventure, action comedy.
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Description
Arthur is a Romeo agent for British Intelligence, a gentleman spy. His ex-lover, Harun, a former assassin for the terror cell Al-Qaum, is now a foreign diplomat.
They haven’t seen each other in over twenty years, ever since they stopped an assassination attempt during a Millennium celebration in London. No one has been able to get close to Al-Qaum during that time, either, until now when they resurface with a new assassination plot set for this Christmas Eve, bearing a remarkable similarity to the Millennium event.
Arthur and Harun reunite to take down their old enemy, Al-Quam, but not all is as it seems with either the new plot or their estranged relationship, and the two men find that the danger to their hearts is as real as the danger to their lives.
Step into a world of career spies, shadowy allies, secret orders, and killer holiday jingles.
Excerpt
Jingle Jingle KILL
C. Quince © 2025
All Rights Reserved
Present day
Istanbul, Türkiye
Arthur was enjoying a peaceful Tuesday morning, sipping chai from a tulip-shaped glass cup and reading the BirGün newspaper, as he sat on a terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus.
The sun was out, and the air felt surprisingly mild, considering it was December.
Arthur made sure to check the weather forecast daily for England and smugly noted that this week was cold and drizzly back in London.
He smiled to himself as he turned a page of his paper. Arthur preferred the paper to devices and the internet; a paper was more peaceful. He’d turned forty-nine earlier this year and found himself wanting to slow down more to enjoy the simple things.
Arthur picked up his cup to take a sip of chai.
A perfect morning.
Coşkun, the butler, emerged from the house, walking briskly down the neatly swept stone paving. He held the house’s cordless phone in one hand, carried at chest level which meant someone was on the line.
Arthur set his paper aside. “Coşkun,” he greeted. “Is Demir late again?”
Demir owned the house. His family was well connected in Istanbul. Arthur was an occasional house guest.
“Pardon, sir,” Coşkun said in English. “It is a woman for you.”
“Oh?” Arthur said with mild surprise. He hadn’t been expecting any calls. He extended his hand to reach for the phone.
“She said her name is Shepherd,” Coşkun added, handing over the phone.
Arthur tried to contain his wince. The boss had tracked him down once again.
“Thank you, Coşkun,” he said, as the young butler inclined his head politely, then left.
Arthur glanced at the phone, noting the Mute button was activated. This gave him a moment to inhale and bolster himself
He pressed to un-mute and put the phone to his ear.
“Hello. Arthur speaking,” he said cheerily.
“Arthur,” Valerie replied tartly. “I’ve been on hold for the last six minutes.”
No matter how long it had been between calls, the mere sound of her voice was enough to make Arthur tense.
“My deepest apologies, ma’am,” he said, laying on the charm. “It’s a rather large house here. The young man answering the phone sprinted straight to me, I assure you.”
Stony silence was his answer.
Shepherd, aka Valerie Jones from MI6, was only a couple of years younger than Arthur. They’d worked together early on in their careers, and once upon a time his charms had worked better to smooth things over.
“I trust everything is all right?” Arthur asked. A call out of the blue from the Deputy Director of British Intelligence was never a good thing.
“I still have a few weeks left on this little sightseeing trip,” Arthur hastened to add.
Sightseeing was their code word for counter-espionage. Officially, Arthur was the British cultural attaché in Istanbul. Unofficially, he also did some spying for MI6.
Valerie drew in a breath to speak, paused, then spoke with a gentleness he rarely heard from her.
“This is regarding home turf,” she explained. “Something just cropped up, and I want you here to take a look at it in person.”
“Oh, I see,” Arthur said. “Anything in particular?”
“Firefly,” she said.
Now it was Arthur’s turn to pause.
This was unexpected.
“It’s not…?” he asked, unable to say his name out loud.
Harun.
“No,” she confirmed. “It’s a new one. And I need you to bring in the original one to help us gather Intel.”
Arthur was afraid she’d say that.
“I’m not all that positive he’ll want to play ball, ma’am.”
“It’s not a request, Arthur,” Valerie said. “If you don’t want to break the news personally, I’ll send someone else to fetch him.”
“No, no,” Arthur replied. “It’ll be better coming from me, ma’am. I’ll go.”
“Good,” she said. “I’ve taken the liberty of booking you on the ten o’clock flight to Berlin. My agent will meet you there on the ground and bring you up to speed.”
Arthur would’ve preferred to do this without a babysitter, but he could always shake them off later.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said politely. “I shall leave right away.”
“See that you do,” she said. “Oh, and Arthur? Try not to balls it up this time.”
She ended the call before Arthur could gather himself enough to form a comeback.
“I’ll try not to,” he said to himself.
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Meet the Author
Quince is a MENA-British author who lives in England, enjoys sci-fi and fantasy, history, and Halloween.Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky
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