Month: February 2017

The Pink Mask

adult fiction, Uncategorized

Taster:

Crystal quivered as another sob escaped her swollen lips. How could such a simple plan go so wrong?  She had followed her sister’s commands to the letter.  Yet, somehow, somewhere along the line, what was supposed to be a silly prank had become real.  Her sister was dead.  Tangled, wild hair fell unchecked across her face as she turned to watch the paramedics load Harold’s unconscious body into the back of an awaiting ambulance.

She sighed.  All this for revenge.  Had she had the nerve, she would have stopped her sister in time; hindsight was a beautiful thing. After giving her statement to the police, she would be free to go, whereas poor Harold would be arrested for Melanie’s murder.  Crystal gulped down a nervous giggle.  Well, from another perspective, Melanie plan had worked!

With the body of her sister wrapped in black and tucked away in the back of another ambulance, the sirens wailed their despair as they pulled away from the crime scene.

The body of Melanie Kent wrapped in black, most becoming for any beautiful corpse, mused Crystal.  The heavy footfall of a very large man dressed in a heavy trenchcoat caught her attention.  His determined walk in her direction wiped the lingering smile off her pretty face.

“Detective Bob Jones, miss. I’d like to ask you a few questions about what occurred tonight.”  Heavy brows and the hooded, focused stare scared her. She wrapped the patchwork blanket tighter around her body.

“I already answered the officer’s questions detective.  What more do you want from me?”

Jones watched her. She was as slinky as a cat’s tail, curling her feline body into a protective stance at his scrutiny.

“Do you know the woman who was found in the bathtub?”

“N-no detective. As I told Officer Campbell, Harold and I were in the bedroom.  I got up to go freshen up and found her there. I tried to pull her out but…” A lonely tear wet her cheek. “The blood.  It was too much and my mind snapped. I screamed. Harold, he tried to help me but I knocked him aside and ran.” Her hand quivered as she cleared stray strands of hair from her eyes. “The next thing I remember is being wrapped up in this blanket and the police arriving.”

The detective watched Crystal picking at the blanket, as though trying to remove the lies woven within. He sighed. Life would be so simple if people told the truth the first time round.

Tapestry of a Killer

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That beautiful moment when your serial killer finds a reason for being! I’ve been pandering with the idea of poison, but due to the common occurrence of poisons as a medium for murder, I’ve decided to change things up a bit. 

Given the nature of my killer and realising the catalyst needed to activate his natural instincts, I have a clearer direction as to why he creates mayhem in Bagley town. My two detectives have their work cut out for them once he goes on a rampage and what could have been a clean cut case of suicide turns into  a bigger mess.

Looking at the behavioural patterns of certain individuals and the stimulus pushing them to violence gives a model for my character to morph into and perform the dastardly tasks that normal functioning humans could never achieve. 

Perspective can be frightening when it comes to cold blooded killers. I do hope I can capture the essence whilst throwing breadcrumbs through the story for my detectives to find.

Catch up with Detectives Perkins and Jones in The Iron Pendulum. Click on the pic to download your copy. 

The Iron Pendulum

Book Tuesday

Uncategorized

Welcome.
Product DetailsFor today’s book review, I am taking a look at Stephen King’s Thinner. This is an exciting book for me because it harks back to my childhood when my older brother and I used to voraciously read anything my dad put in front of us. From westerns to love stories, adventure to mystery and suspense, we were exposed to worlds away from our mundane home in Zimbabwe.

Thinner was one of the first books I read by Stephen King. I’m not sure how old I was at the time, but after reading Pet Sematary, I was looking for my next horror fix. My father had banned me from reading Cujo, he thought it was too frightening and violent for me at such a young age. I don’t think he knew that I had already read Pet Sematary!

My brother handed me a copy of Thinner and I was struck by its plot: Billy Halleck, an arrogant lawyer who runs over an old gypsy woman whilst driving, due to his wife distracting him, escapes murder charges thanks to his ties with the judge and police involved. Angered by the lack of justice, an old gypsy relative of the murdered woman curses the lawyer and those involved. Billy curse is one word…”Thinner!”. His disbelief at first and then his ineffectual attempts to stop the process leads him back to the gypsies and finding a cure.

The old gypsy man tells Billy that he should bear his own punishment but, if he wanted to be rid of it, he would have to give a slice of a special pie baked with his blood to the next victim of his choice. Choosing to give it to his wife, whom he blames for distracting him whilst driving, he awakes to find that his daughter and wife have eaten slices from the pie. In the end, Billy takes his slice and eats it, joining his family in their doom, thanks to him.

The story, written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman and inspired by his own weight loss, leaves no sympathy for the main character, Billy Halleck. He is the epitome of our population; overweight, unapologetic and greedy for a quick fix. Though published in 1984, this book is just as relevant now as it was in the 80’s. With the politics and popular opinions flying this way and that in this world, we should be careful in case we become Billy Halleck. Who knows, there might be a gypsy out there ready to teach us a lesson on not facing up to consequences!

If you would like to read Thinner by Stephen King, please click on the pic below.

I do hope you have enjoyed this week’s Book Tuesday. Join me again next week for more of the same.

Have a great week.