The Spring Thriller 2103

The Spring Thriller 2013

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Welcome to the SPRING THRILLER Blog Tour, 2013 – a collection of blogs, books and authors who specialize in writing novels about murders, mysteries, espionage and terrorism which contain those crucial elements of character, tension, suspense, adventure, pace, action, realism and plot.

You’re invited to take part in ‘the thriller writers’ adventure by visiting and supporting the websites of authors involved in the tour and who are dedicated to turning out some of the best thrillers available today.

Each author named at the bottom of the page has asked been asked the same questions but the answers will obviously all be different. You merely click on the author’s name at the bottom of the page to see how they have answered the same question.

So, without further ado, here are the questions from THE THRILLER WRITER:

To Kenneth Hoss:

Q. How long have you been writing and what life skills do you bring to your work?

A. I started writing when I was in High School, mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy. My biggest influences were the masters, Heinlein and Bradbury, whose books launched me into other worlds. In my later years, I continued with the Fantasy writing, mostly short stories, which were still popular at the time. Now I write Crime Fiction. So why the switch? While on active duty in the Navy, I had the opportunity to work as both a Shore Patrolman and a Master-at-Arms, basically a Navy cop. After I left the Navy, and after drifting from one job to the next for a while, a Detective friend of told me I'd make a good cop. I joined a small department outside of San Diego and loved it, though being a rookie had it's good and bad points, it was all worth it in the end.

Q. Do you research content for your work and if so where from?

A. With book one, Storm Rising, I did a lot of research, and I got lucky and found a former NYPD Police Detective willing to be my technical advisor, and he was a Godsend. I met him on Police forum and he guided me through the ins and outs of the NYPD. If not for him, I may still be working on the first book. Of course, even with that, I still had to research other elements of the book. One example would be locations. Since Kelli doesn’t spend her life in the Squad Room, I had to know what places look like outside of the Precinct. All I can say is that if it weren’t for Google maps or Google Earth, I would have no idea what some areas looked like or how Kelli would get there.

Q. Tell us about one of your previous publications?

A. My first published work was Storm Rising – A Kelli Storm Novel, and is the first book in the Kelli Storm series. It is about a female NYPD Detective who not only has to deal with the day to day life of a New York City Police Officer, she also has to deal with being a recovering alcoholic, a mother in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, an ex-husband she is still in love with and finding her father’s killers. When I first approached the idea of writing a strong female character, I was hesitant, being told that it was not something a man could do, at least not well. I’m glad now that I did not listen to these naysayers, as Kelli and I have since become a good team and as such, work well together.

Q. What are you currently writing?

A. I am currently working on the third book in the Kelli Storm series, Eye of the Storm. It is the continuation of the first two and finds Kelli getting in deeper with the Colombian Cartel as well as the Russian Mob in Brighton Beach, NY.  Whether this will be the final book in the series is really up to Kelli, though I do know that she isn’t ready to retire.

Q. What is so special to you about the ‘thriller’ genre?

A. The twist and turns, never knowing what the outcome will be until the end of the book.

Q. How do you spend your leisure time?

A. I sleep in, when I can, hang out with friends, enjoy a beer or two at my favorite pub and meet new friends, or just go for a walk when it’s nice outside.

Q. What is the most thrilling thing that has ever happened to you?

A. Well, that’s a hard one to pin down. Having travelled extensively with the US Army and Navy, I’ve had some odd experiences, some of which I dare not divulge.

Q. Can you provide links to your work?

A. Of course, here they are.

Storm Rising - A Kelli Storm Novel - Kindle US

Storm Warning - A Kelli Storm Novel - Kindle US

Storm Rising - A Kelli Storm Novel - Kindle UK

Storm Warning - A Kelli Storm Novel - Kindle UK

To see how our other authors responded, click on an author’s name below.

1. Paul Anthony
2. Joseph Badal 
3. John Betcher 
4. Phillip Catshill 
5. Jeannie Walker
6. Jennifer Chase 
7. Charles G. Irion 
8. Mike McNeff 
9. Faith Mortimer
10. James J Murray 

Kenneth Hoss is also a member of the Independent Authors Network

Seven Lines from the WIP - Blog Tag

I was recently tagged by friend and fellow author, Lucie Smoker to present 7 lines from page 77 of my current work in progress. Additionally, I am to tag 7 other authors to do the same.

  Not wanting to seem impolite, she nodded her acknowledgement and kept walking, keeping her eyes on Greg.

  As she approached, Greg stood and greeted her. “Why the covert meeting?”

  She sat and looked up at him. “I almost lost my job today,” she said and waited for him to sit down.

  He looked at her, sat down, closed his eyes and sighed. “I didn’t think they’d take it that far. Look, I’m sorry, but when I approached my boss with this, he was ready to have my ass in a sling. I told him that it was my idea, but he didn’t believe me. I didn’t know that he’d call your Chief.”

  “Well he did, and now I’ve been kicked off the case,” she said and looked around for a waitress. “I really should have thought this out, because right now I really need a drink.”

  He reached across the table, took her hands in his and looked at her. “You don’t want to do that, Kelli,” he said and looked into her eyes. “There may be a way around this, but I can’t guarantee anything. Give me a few days, maybe I can work something out, like we did with Garcia.”

  She looked at him, then down at his hands holding hers and pulled away. “You’ve already done more than enough,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush. “If you get fired over this, and it is possible, then neither of us will have a chance to do anything about that son of a bitch.”

And now for the other lucky seven:

Carolyn Arnold

Everett Powers

Alan McDermott

Peggy Edelheit

Reggie Ridgway

Jennifer Chase

Derek Graystone

Be sure to stop by and check out Lucie's blog, Reverse Perspective.

Featured Author coming this weekend!

Check back here on Saturday for a look at "Devil's Nightmare" by friend, author, and fellow Texan, Rob "Sharky" Pruneda!

Check it out here!

Taking a Break!

I won't be posting any thing new until after the first of the year, so I would like to wish everyone a joyous holiday season.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa!


I will be giving away Storm Rising - A Kelli Storm Novel and Storm Warning - A Kelli Storm Novel on Christmas Eve.* Be sure to mark your calendars to get your Free Kindle copies.

*Due to a glitch on Amazon, the 15th was not available. Since I had to change it, I thought it better to offer both Kelli Storm books free.

Serial Killer of the Week - Ted Bundy - Conclusion

In February of 1978, Bundy kidnapped 12 year old Kimberly Leach, who he brutally mutilated. A week after her disappearance, Police arrested Bundy in Pensacola, Florida while driving a stolen vehicle. They had witnesses at both the dorm and Kimberly's school identify Bundy. Additionally, they had evidence that linked Bundy to the three murders, including a mold of the bite marks found on one of the sorority victims.
 
Believing he could beat the guilty verdict, Bundy turned down a plea bargain, where he would plead guilty in the deaths of the two sorority women and Kimberly Leach, in exchange for three 25 year sentences.

On June 25th, 1979, Bundy was put on trial in the deaths of the sorority women. As the trial was televised, Bundy played up to the media, often acting as his own attorney. It did him little good, and he was found guilty on both murder charges and sentenced to death by electrocution.

Bundy went on trial for the death of Kimberly Leach on January 7th, 1980, this time allowing his attorney's to represent him. His attorney's mounted an insanity defense, the only defense possible with the evidence the State had stacked against him. Bundys' behavior was much different this time. During the trial, he was given to fits of anger, he slouched in his chair, and at times would glare at the jury. He was once again found guilty and received his third death sentence.

At his sentencing, Bundy called Carol Boone as a character witness and married her while she was on the witness stand. She was, at the time, convinced of his innocence. After the birth of their daughter, and sometime later, she divorced him, realizing that he was in fact guilty of the crimes he was accused of.

Bundy exhausted his appeals for a stay of execution in January 1989. Before he was put to death, he gave investigators detailed information on more than fifty women that he had murdered. He also confessed that at times he had kept several heads of his victims.

At approximately 7:13 a.m. on January 24, 1989, Theodore "Ted" Bundy was put to death while crowds gathered outside the prison walls cheering.

Serial Killer of the Week Part Two - Ted Bundy

  In January of 1975, while on vacation in Colorado with her fiance, Caryn Campbell disappeared. A month later, her naked body was discovered a short distance from a road. The autopsy revealed that she had received several blows to her skull. Over the next few months, five other women disappeared from the same area their skulls crushed, the possible weapon being a crowbar.

  Later that year, in August, Bundy aroused Police suspicion when he attempted to evade them during a routine traffic stop. When he was finally stopped, they discovered handcuffs, an ice pick, a crowbar, a pair of panty hose with eye holes cut out, and several other suspicious items. He was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

  After his arrest, Police compared the items found in his car to those that DeRonch had described seeing in her attackers car, the handcuffs being the same brand. Once she picked him out of a lineup, he was arrested for kidnapping. They were now certain that they had the person responsible for the Tri-State murder spree.

  In February of 1976, Bundy went on trial for the attempted kidnapping, and after waiving his rights to a jury trial, was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years. Meanwhile, Police continued to investigate the murders in Colorado, and in October, Bundy was charged with the murder of Caryn Campbell.

  After being extradited from Utah to Colorado for trial, Bundy decided to serve as his own attorney, which allowed him to appear in court with no restraints. It also allowed him the freedom to move between the court room and the law library unimpeded. This was what he had intended and in June of 1977, during a pre-trial hearing, Bundy escaped by jumping out of a window in the law library. He was captured a week later.

  In December of 1977, Bundy escaped again, this time making it to Tallahassee, Florida.There he rented an apartment under an assumed name near the Florida State University. He supported himself by using stolen credit cards.

  In January 1978, Bundy broke into the Chi Omega sorority house and bludgeoned and strangled two coeds. He raped one of them, brutally biting her on one buttock and nipple. He also beat two others over the head with a log. Investigators believe that the only reason these two survived was that another roommate returned unexpectedly. Nita Neary came home at approximately 3 a.m. and noticed that the front door to the house was slightly open. Hiding in a doorway, she saw a man wearing a blue cap come down the stairs holding a log and leave the house. She found her roommates upstairs, two dead and two brutally beaten. That same night, another woman was attacked and Police recovered a mask identical to one they would later recover from Bundy's car.


TO BE CONTINUED.......  The trial and execution of Ted Bundy

Serial Killer of the Week Part One - Ted Bundy

 Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy

Ted Bundy, born Theodore Robert Cowell to Louise Cowell in November 1946, grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents, and that his mother was his sister. In 1951, he and his mother moved from his grandparents home in Burlington, Vermont to Tacoma, Washington where Louise married Johnnie Bundy, a military cook. 

It wasn't until his college years and a bad breakup that he discovered the truth about his grandparents and mother. Whether it was the this revelation or the breakup that caused his sudden change, only Bundy knows, but he changed after that, exhibiting a false bravado. He went back to Stamford, excelled in his major and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Soon after college, Bundy became involved with Elizabeth Kendall*, a divorcee with a young daughter. She fell in love with Bundy, and despite the fact that she suspected he was seeing other women, she stayed with him. Bundy was not open to marriage, though he allowed the relationship to continue even after reuniting with his first love.

Bundy began his killing spree in 1974. Young women began disappearing from college campuses around Washington and Oregon. His first victim, 21 year old Lynda Ann Healy was a college radio announcer. In July 1974, Bundy approached two coeds and asked if they would help with his sailboat, however they refused. Later that day, two young women were seen leaving with him and were never seen alive again.

In the fall of the same year, Bundy moved to Utah and enrolled in the law school at the University of Utah. In November, Bundy, dressed as a police officer attacked Carol DaRonch at a Salt Lake City mall. She managed to escape and provided police with a description of her attacker, as well as the car he was driving. She was also able to provide them with a blood sample that had gotten on her jacket during the struggle. Within a few hours of the attack on DeRonch, 17 year old Debbie Kent disappeared.

While Bundy was on his killing spree in Utah, in the mountains of Washington State, hikers stumbled across a grisly burial ground of bones. These would later be identified as the bones from women missing from both Washington and Oregon. Working in conjunction, detectives from both States put together a profile, as well as a composite sketch of the man named "Ted", a man who would at times approach women appearing helpless by using crutches or wearing a fake cast. In addition to this, they also had a blood sample and the description of his vehicle.

After authorities in Washington and Oregon were informed about the murders in Utah, they put together a profile of Bundy's victims. They were all white, thin, single and wore their hair long, parted in the middle. They were also all abducted during the evening hours. The bodies found in Utah all exhibited blunt force trauma to the back of the head, and all had been raped and sodomized. It was at this point that authorities knew that they were dealing with a serial killer.

TO BE CONTINUED....

*The pseudonym she used when she wrote "The Phantom Prince: My Life With Ted Bundy"