Hello lovelies! It gives
me great pleasure today to host Hawk MacKinney and his new book, “Westobou
Gold”! For other stops on his Goddess
Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the
images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card. Also, come back daily to interact with Hawk
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
exciting giveaway!
Westobou Gold
by Hawk MacKinney
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GENRE: Mystery/Suspense
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BLURB:
The
Indian Queen would risk torture and worse to keep her secrets from these
barbarians in suits of metal and their search for cities of gold. They never
found the gold. Empires rose; empires fell, the centuries passed. Legend became
fireside myths, but no treasure was ever found. Yet, among the grey-green
drapes of wisteria and wild jasmine along the misty shrouded lowlands of bayous
and marshes of the Westo River, the folktales persisted.
In
the lazed creep of a near-tropical dawnlit the pungent Turkish coffee permeated
Moccasin Hollow. Beyond the kitchen door Lucky, Craige Ingram’s German shepherd
gnawed a favorite bone. Looted burial mounds seemed a world away until
plundered mounds on Moccasin Hollow land brings amateur archeologist PI Craige
Ingram into the crosshairs of kidnapping. Stealthy hideaways are concealed in
old colonial brick-lined river grottos beneath the big house of Ardochy
plantation. Sex-tape underage blackmail and thrill killings on federal land
spur a medical examiner’s preliminary postmortem to more than a hired cleaner’s
quickie cover-up passed off as drug deals gone sour. Greed tangles a witch’s
pigswill of illicit affairs and murder-to-hide-murder. Shady investigators and
shadier politics stir an unexpected concoction that threatens the lives of
those at Moccasin Hollow in a spiteful plot against ex-SEAL Craige Ingram and
the woman he loves.
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EXCERPT TWO:
She
hadn't noticed the figure carrying a fishing pole walk into the yard until
Lucky’s ears perked, and he bounded off the porch to greet Billy and his
stringer of Blue Gills.
At
first Terri was startled, “Who're you?” She’d had enough surprises for one day.
Billy
hadn't seen Terri. “Oh... hi. I'm Billy, Mister Ingram an’ me are friends. I just
caught me a mess of fish for supper. Clean ‘em soon as I get home. You must be
his girlfriend. The one he likes so much.” Lucky nuzzled at Billy's hand.
“You’ve
certainly got the dog’s approval. That's something not just anyone can do.
Craige doesn't invite many to fish on his place.”
Billy
grinned, pleased at having such a special invite. “Mister Craige told me I
could come fish anytime. He sure has been to lots of places. Done things I'd
like to do some day.” He sat down on the bottom step and laid his cane fishing
pole next to the steps. “I thought you were awful pretty the day I saw pictures
of you on the shelves next to those of that old woman.”
Terri
said, “The elderly woman is his grandmother.”
The
growl of a pickup truck coming down the drive interrupted them; Lucky bounded
out to meet it, as Sam Crawforde swung into the yard. Crawforde turned off the
engine, and climbed out dressed in faded coveralls and a pair of well-worn,
second hand army boots that were Crawforde’s version of snake boots. “Well now,
Terri, you’re a sight for sore eyes. It’s been a spell since I’ve had the
pleasure of seeing you.”
“It
has been a while.” Terri gave a nod toward Billy, “This is Billy, an
acquaintance of Craige’s who fishes here.”
Crawforde
asked, “Craige here?”
Terri
said, “He’s inside asleep right now. He had a long night.”
Crawforde
propped one foot on the bottom step, “I’d like to sit a spell, but I have
several things to take care of before heading back to my office. Tell him I
dropped by. He might want to come down to the dig and see some of the things
we've uncovered.”
Billy,
excited, “Find any arrowheads?”
“There’s
lots of them,” Crawforde said. “Lot of Indian sites around these parts.”
“My
dad had some. All kinds of things, one axe head. Got two bowls. They're broken
but we have the pieces.”
Crawforde
said, “You know where they come from?”
“My
dad said some come from Edisto Island near the shell hills back in the marshes.
My uncle has a farm up near Aiken. Sometimes when he plows, he’ll turn
arrowheads all over the place.”
“If
the broken pottery hasn’t been meddled with, the shards can help date
artifacts. Once a site is dug through, it’s spoiled for dating. If you like to
know how people used to live, you might want to give some thought to studying
it beyond high school.”
“I
guess,” Billy sort-of replied.
“You
could study all about the Indians.”
“That
what you do?”
Crawforde
said, “Been doing it longer than you are old,” to him his work as fresh as
ever. “You can tell what tribes lived where; where they moved; who they traded
with; how they reused every-day things. How their pottery designs changed,
different axe heads like you found. They didn't throw away much. Recycled most
of what they had. Couldn't run down to the nearest hardware store and buy a new
one.”
“We
just finished studying about the Cherokees.”
“Sad,
the way they were treated.”
Billy
said, “Cherokees had newspapers.”
“That
kind of stuff interest you?”
“Sometimes.”
“What
year are you in school?”
“Senior.”
Crawforde
said, “Keep your grades up. College is your next step.”
“USC
Columbia. My Dad went there.”
“What's
your GPA?”
“Little
above a three point.”
“SATs?”
“English
550, math 600”
Crawforde
smiled, “Sports?”
“Football,
but I like baseball best.”
“You
going for a scholarship? Either football or baseball?”
Billy
sighed, “Probably not. You got to be a spotlight quarterback or pitcher to get
that.”
“What
you got to lose by trying?”
Billy
thought for a moment. “Nothing I guess.”
“Don’t
say no to yourself. Go after what you want. I've served on several university
admissions’ boards. When other folks say no to you, treat it as a roadblock to
be overcome.”
“Or
go around,” Billy said.
“You
might be surprised how most people want to help. You won't have problems with
USC. If you’d want, maybe one of these days you could come in the field with
me. Look at some of the mounds discovered last month by one of the grad
students from our department. We covered it back up to protect it.”
Billy's
eyes lit up, “I’d like that.”
“Hope
nobody dug it up since then.”
“That
happen much?”
Crawforde
said, “It’s a big problem. What's really sad is how some museums pay big money
for cultural artifacts with no questions asked.” Glanced at the sky, time of
day was moving on, “Got to get going. Use what daylight's left.” Gave a nod to
Terri, “Nice seeing you again.”
Terri
watched the pickup disappear through the trees and down the curved drive toward
the highway. Summer’s darker green leaves were already tinged yellow-green
around the edges along the drive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Growing
up in the open spaces of hill-country southwest with horses and dogs and every
critter that could crawl, climb, fly and snarl, Hawk MacKinney is an
internationally acclaimed author and public speaker. A retired U.S. Navy
officer, Hawk was on the postdoctoral faculties in the states, as well as the
Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, and put down “Southron” roots in
deep-south Dixie to begin a love affair with characters and places roundabout
that was just beggin’ to be writ about.
Hawk
writes across several mix-genres that include his mystery/thriller series—The
Craige Ingram Mystery Series, and his science fiction series, The Cairns of
Sainctuarie, Volume 1 - The Bleikovat Event and Volume 2 - The Missing Planets.
His historical romance, Moccasin Trace, was nominated for the prestigious
Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes
Book Award, and is a historical cross-genre prequel love story of the family
bloodlines of his protagonist, Craige Ingram, a retired Navy SEAL/part-time
private investigator, in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series.
ABOUT WESTOBOU GOLD:
The
double-double-crosses and greed in Westobou Gold takes Craige Ingram from his
South Carolina ancestral home of Moccasin Hollow to the underbelly of dirty
backrooms. The violence against loved ones, written as “fiction” is often more
gruesome fact than fiction. The treacherous psychotic lives among us. They live
by their own rules, and if they perceive a threat, paranoid or real, they become
a most deadly predator, leaving one with a sense of naked prey, a John/Jane
Doe-on-the-street run to ground…sometimes as close as the head on the pillow
next to us. The twists in tales of Westobou Gold, Book 2 of the Moccasin Hollow
Mystery Series, is the night-horse haints-and-specters of
fear-come-into-daylight, and sucks the reader into the unexpected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Internationally
acclaimed author and public speaker, Hawk MacKinney began writing mysteries for
his school newspapers. He served in the US Navy Reserve for over 20 years, and
was a tenured faculty member at several state medical facilities, teaching
postgraduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem, Israel. Since
retiring Hawk has authored several novels that have received national and
international recognition. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel, was nominated
for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction
and the Writers Notes Book Award. The Cairns of Sainctuarie, his science fiction
series, includes The Bleikovat Event and The Missing Planets, with a third book
in the works. Hawk’s latest project focuses on The Moccasin Hollow Mystery
Series. Book 1 in the series, Hidden Chamber of Death, was released early 2016.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH
HAWK:
Website:
Facebook:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
Amazon Author Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY
LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble:
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GIVEAWAY
INFO:
Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $25 Amazon or
Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the
tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLisa BROWN – Thank U for the ‘congrats’, & good luck on the raffle to win. Thanks for following & stopping by -
ReplyDeleteHawk MacK
Fabulous & Brunette/Ally SWANSON - Thank you for hosting Westobou Gold, Book 2 in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. Book 3 in the mystery series as well as the next sci-fi title, are in edit. An earlier title, Moccasin Trace, a prequel historical romance establishes the bloodline(s) of serial protagonists Craige Ingram in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series…
ReplyDeleteBe safe on the holidays -
Hawk MacKinney
www.hawkmackinney.net
Interesting and intriguing blurb. Thanks for the excerpt
ReplyDeleteLAURA’s Reading - Marketing team did a great blurb. More than interesting & intriguing, the Moccasin Hollow videos are solid hooks for interested readers Thanks for following & stopping by -
DeleteHawk MacK
Great post - I enjoyed reading the excerpt! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Victoria ALEXANDER – Nice seeing you’ve stopped by again. Goddess Fish always makes sure their posts are well done, & the marketing editor team is topnotch. Hope U enjoy the read as much as the U do the excerpt. Thanx for the post -
DeleteHawk MacK
Enjoyable blog!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting!
ReplyDelete