TYPORAMA
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PRAISE FOR COLD BLOODED LIAR:
“Riveting. Emotional. Karen Rose at her best.”—New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan
“High-wire suspense that keeps you riveted.”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner
“A high-octane thrill ride that kept me on the edge of my seat and up far too late at night!”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson
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EXCERPT OF COLD BLOODED LIAR:
COLD-BLOODED LIAR by Karen Rose
Berkley Hardcover
On sale February 28, 2023
Longview Park, San Diego, California
Monday, April 4, 5:30 p.m.
Kit pulled the handkerchief across her nose and mouth as she watched the two CSU techs meticulously uncovering what was, indeed, a grave. Based on the odor, the body had been there awhile.
They'd arrived at the mystery caller's coordinates to find that the ground had settled somewhat, creating a slight depression that measured five and a half by two and a half feet. Ground-penetrating radar had shown a body.
The victim had been small. Kit slipped her hand into her pocket, finding the little cat-bird figurine.
Stroking it with her thumb. Please don't be a child. "I hope it's not a kid," Baz murmured, echoing her thoughts. All homicides were difficult. Even drug dealers murdered on the street had been loved by someone. Were missed by someone.
But the child homicides were a completely different level of hell. She looked away from the grave to where Sergeant Ryland, the CSU leader, was making a plaster cast of the only footprint they'd found in the area.
It was a man's shoe, size eleven. "You got anything for us, Ryland?" she called. "I just might." She and Baz walked from the grave site to where someone had stepped off the asphalt path, leaving the single footprint in the strip of ground between the path and the field of grass. Ryland finished pouring the plaster over the footprint, smoothed it out, then set the timer on his phone. "Thirty minutes for the plaster to set.
Come see the photos I took of the print while I wait." He retrieved his camera and beckoned them closer. "There was lettering on the sole of the shoe-likely a brand name. I can't quite make it out in the photo, but I'm hoping to get detail from the plaster cast." "So it'll be seventy-two hours or so," Baz said and Ryland nodded.
Kit leaned closer to the screen. "Can you zoom in on it?" Ryland did, handing the camera to Kit. "I can make out what looks like a Y at the end of the brand name, but-" "Sperry," Kit said. "Sorry to interrupt, Sergeant. I recognize the logo.
They're Sperry Top-Siders." She gave him back his camera. "My sister runs a charter fishing business and sometimes I first mate for her on my days off. A lot of her customers wear them." Ryland studied the photo. "You could be right." She was, Kit was certain. "Trouble is, that's a popular shoe. I've even got a pair." "So do I," Baz said. "Tracking those will be nearly impossible." Kit shrugged. "But when we find the guy who owns these shoes, we can put him at the scene.
Any way to get a weight estimate on the wearer?" Ryland shook his head. "Ground's too hard. Barely enough sinkage to get the plaster cast. I'll let you know when I have something definite." "Detectives?" one of the techs at the grave called, his tone urgent. "Something over here you need to see." "Thank you, Sergeant," Kit said, then approached the grave alongside Baz, schooling her expression.
If it was a child's grave, she would maintain her professionalism. She'd let herself react later, when she was alone. "Victim's a postpubescent female," the tech said when they were graveside. "The ME will be able to give you a better age than I can, but I'm guessing somewhere between fourteen and eighteen." Feeling Baz's eyes on her, Kit reassured him with a quick glance.
She was fine.
He always worried about her reaction when the victim was the same age that Wren had been when she'd been murdered, but after four years as a homicide detective, Kit had seen far too many victims who'd been Wren's age. It never got easier.
She hoped that it never would.
Excerpted from Cold-Blooded Liar by Karen Rose Copyright © 2023 by Karen Rose. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved.
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ABOUT COLD BLOODED LIAR:
Sam Reeves is a kindhearted psychologist who treats court-ordered clients. After one of his patients—a pathological liar—starts
revealing plausible new details from a long-unsolved serial
murder case, he’s compelled to report anonymously to the SDPD tip line,
though his attempts to respect patient confidentiality land him
facedown and cuffed by the aggressive (and cute) Detective McKittrick.
San Diego homicide detective Kit McKittrick loves the water. She lives
on a boat, and when she’s not solving crimes with the SDPD, she’s
assisting her foster sister with her charter fishing business or playing
with her poodle. But there’s nothing that intrigues
Kit more than a cold case, so when an anonymous caller leads her on the path of a wanted killer, she’s determined to end the decade-long manhunt.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Karen Rose is the award-winning, #1 international bestselling author of more than twenty-five novels, including the bestselling Baltimore and Cincinnati series.
Internationally bestselling, RITA-award winning, author Karen Rose was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC.
She met her husband, Martin, on a blind date when they were seventeen and after they both graduated from the University of Maryland, (Karen with a degree in Chemical Engineering) they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Karen worked as an engineer for a large consumer goods company, earning two patents, but as Karen says, “scenes were roiling in my head and I couldn't concentrate on my job so I started writing them down.
I started out writing for fun, and soon found I was hooked.”
Her debut suspense novel, DON'T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Since then, she has published more than twenty-five novels and two novellas. Her twenty-sixth novel, QUARTER TO MIDNIGHT, will be released in 2022.
Karen's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, London's Sunday Times, and Germany's der Spiegel (#1), and the Irish Times, as well as lists in South Africa (#1) and Australia!
To date, her books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of more than thirty years.She has been translated into twenty-three languages, and her books have placed on the New York Times, the Sunday Times (UK), and Germany’s der Spiegel bestseller lists.
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Adding to your TBR?
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping.
Karen Rose is a great writer. I really like her books but they can be pretty full on in terms of horrible murder and murderers. I may or may not read this one. I am thinking I need to let her books eventually go!
ReplyDeleteThe title sounds like brutal things are inside. :)
DeleteThanks for your comment, Kathryn.