Hey lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Carolyn
Arnold and her new book, “On the Count of Three”! For other stops on her 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 paperback copy of Carolyn Arnold’s book, “Remnants,”
which is Book #6 in the Brandon Fisher FBI Book Series!! Also, come back daily to interact with Carolyn
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
On the Count of Three
by Carolyn Arnold
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GENRE: Thriller
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BLURB:
And they thought prison was hell…
When
a woman’s disappearance ticks off all the same boxes as two unsolved murders,
Miami homicide detective Kelly Marsh is convinced there’s about to be a third.
If she’s right and the killer sticks to their previous MO, she only has three
days before Jenna Kelter’s decapitated head will show up somewhere in the city.
With no time to waste, Kelly reaches out to the one person she knows can help:
her former mentor and family friend Jack Harper, who just happens to lead a
team with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.
BAU
special agent and profiler Brandon Fisher easily sees the similarities between
Detective Marsh’s missing person case and the two cold cases: all three victims
served time for DUI vehicular homicide and disappeared three days after being
released from prison. But is that enough to assume Kelter has been abducted by
a serial killer? Brandon’s not so sure and fears his boss may have let his
personal connection to Marsh cloud his judgment. Surely there isn’t any other
explanation for why they jumped into an investigation less than twenty-four
hours after Kelter was reported missing. Then again, maybe Brandon is letting
his own differences with the detective affect his perspective. He’ll need to
move past it, though—and quickly.
After
all, this killer has evaded capture for the past six years, and they may be
looking at a lot more victims than originally suspected. This serial killer is
calling the shots and pulling them into a macabre game of cat and mouse. While
the team has no choice but to play, if they don’t make the right moves, one of
them may not make it out of Miami alive.
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ABOUT THE
BRANDON FISHER FBI SERIES:
Profilers. Serial killers. The hunt is
on.
Do serial killers and the FBI fascinate you? Do you like getting inside the
minds of killers, love being creeped out, sleeping with your eyes open, and
feeling like you’re involved in murder investigations? Then join FBI agent and
profiler Brandon Fisher and his team with the Behavioral Analysis Unit in their
hunt for serial killers.
This
is the perfect book series for fans of JT Ellison, Catherine Coulter, Allison
Brennan, and Blake Pierce. This series is also bound to entertain those who
enjoy Criminal Minds, NCIS, Silence of the Lambs, Seven,
Dexter, Luther, and True Crime.
Read in any order or follow
the series from the beginning: Eleven,
Silent Graves, The Defenseless, Blue Baby,
Violated, Remnants, On the Count of
Three.
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EXCERPT TWO:
The
coffee in my gut was a churning, acidic whirlpool. The victims had been alive
when their heads were severed. Now give me bloody murder scenes any day of the
week. But decapitations? No thank you. Maybe it all started with that “neck
bone connected to the head bone” song as a kid? Even kids know a head should
always be attached to the body! I ran a hand through my hair, basking in the
fact that my head was still there.
My
repulsion wasn’t because I was still wet behind the ears. I’d seen my fair
share of serial killers’ handiwork since I’d come on board with the BAU about
three years ago: Some who tortured, some who raped, some who mutilated bodies.
Even one who wore his victims’ skin, but the latter desecration had been done
postmortem.
And
here I was, not even in Florida yet, and my pops’s voice was in my mind. He’d
have no sympathy for what I faced every day on this job. He’d never been a fan
of the BAU; he would have been happier if I’d enrolled and served in the Navy
as he had. To him, serving God and Country was more in line with patriotic
duty. That was all fine and good, and I had no doubt it was because of him that
I’d hoped for an assignment in counterterrorism when I finished at Quantico.
But that wasn’t meant to be. And I’d adjusted. The work I did with the Bureau
made a difference regardless of Pops’s opinion. We brought closure to
devastated loved ones, got justice for innocent victims, and on the best days,
even saved lives.
My
gaze fell to a photo of Jenna Kelter, and I stared into her eyes. She was the
image of a thirtysomething girl next door. She was a brunette with hazel eyes
and a cute smile. We needed to save her, and the fastest path there was to
figure out what sort of killer we were dealing with. I considered this killer’s
actions thus far and drew a preliminary conclusion. “Our unsub is intelligent,
organized, yet adaptive,” I posited. “They have the patience to wait until
circumstances fit their needs.”
Paige
nodded. “That could also indicate they’d watched their targets beforehand.”
“Even
if they were familiar with all the victims’ routines before prison, what’s to
say their schedules resumed that within three days of release,” I opined.
“Well,
they obviously knew where to strike to get them alone. None of the families or
their friends saw the abductions.” Paige pressed her lips, a little smugness
coming from her.
I
flipped through the pages, looking for details on their bail hearings. “I’m
assuming Kelter got out on bail?” I’d read enough of the file to know that she
didn’t have any prior DUI offenses, so the bail amount would likely have been
set low.
“She
did. And her trial came quickly because she didn’t dispute the charges,” Zach
said. “According to the file, she’d expressed remorse.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
Q&A with Author Carolyn Arnold About Her FBI Thriller On the
Count of Three
Carolyn
Arnold has stopped by today to answer some questions about her FBI thriller On the Count of Three.
Carolyn
is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker,
teacher, and inspirational mentor. She writes in diverse genres offering
readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action
adventures. She also has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison
Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor
Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books.
So without further ado…
Good morning Carolyn!
Welcome to Fabulous and Brunette!
We are thrilled to have you here and can’t wait to learn more about you
and your new book, “On the Count of Three.”
What inspired you to write On the Count of Three?
I wanted to write something
complex and that stated something on a social level. I probably do this more
often than I realize, but my Detective Madison Knight novel, In the Line of Duty comes to mind. In
that book, I essentially stood up for law enforcement in a world that so often
shows them so little appreciation. In On
the Count of Three, I take a clear stand against drinking and driving.
What would you say is the driving theme of On the Count of
Three?
Our actions have
consequences, and sometimes these may not be easy to see and can be far more
reaching than we anticipate. At the end of the day, I hope we all realize that
what we do affects other people—even those we’ve never met.
How long did the writing and editing process take for this book?
It might have felt like
forever… I do several editing passes on my books and this one took about a
year.
Now I understand that On the Count of Three is the seventh book
in the Brandon Fisher FBI series. Do readers need to read the preceding books
in the series before reading this one?
It’s not necessary. Every
book in the Brandon Fisher series has been written to stand alone.
For those of us who have already been introduced to Brandon
Fisher, can you walk us through some pivotal moments for Brandon Fisher that
are present in the book? How does he grow personally and professionally? What
challenges does he face?
Brandon Fisher is a fairly
new with the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit and is on a team led by Jack Harper.
Jack’s a tough old dog who expects excellence and perfection from his agents.
Brandon is driven to not only be a good agent but to impress Jack.
In On the Count of Three, Brandon feels envious of the local detective
who seems to easily garner Jack’s praise. The personal history that the
detective has with Jack doesn’t help Brandon at all and he feels the scales are
tilted. Regardless, though, Brandon needs to keep his head in the game and
learn how to play well with others if they’re going to catch a killer. Along
the way, Brandon may even learn that he doesn’t need Jack’s approval at every
turn.
It also seems that Brandon
may be projecting the issues he has with his father onto Jack. Brandon and his
father don’t see eye-to-eye most of the time and Brandon just might need to
learn to stop trying to change his old man and be more accepting himself.
The book description mentions a detective named Kelly Marsh. Is
Kelly going to become a part of the series?
No spoilers here. I guess
you’ll have to read the book and continue reading the series to find out.
What’s something readers can expect from On the Count of Three?
It’s an FBI thriller that
will make you think and put you right into the investigation alongside law
enforcement. There are also chapters from the killer’s point of view so you’ll
be privy to their thoughts—what motivates them, what makes them tick—and their
actions.
What proved the most challenging about writing this book?
As an author, it’s only
natural that your personal viewpoints are inserted in your work. With this
book, I scaled back some intense feelings (and judgments) I have against
drinking and driving. The characters and the plot were to drive the story.
In this book, it seems the serial killer is targeting people who
have served prison sentences for DUI vehicular homicide. What prompted you to
write that?
So often motive for murder
results when someone isn’t found guilty or they’re given a slap on the hand. I
wanted to go down a different route with On
the Count of Three.
The matter of drinking and
driving is a very sensitive topic any day. Fortunately, I’ve never been
personally affected by a DUI accident, but my heart aches for those who have. I
would think the what-ifs would drive a person crazy. I’d always wonder if that
person hadn’t gotten behind the wheel intoxicated, would my loved one still be
around or would my loved one still be healthy?
There’s such a delicate
balance between acceptance and true forgiveness, too, I believe. It’s one thing
to accept that life has been forever changed and another to pardon someone
their mistake, transgression, oversight. Certainly, it’s never anyone’s
intention to get behind the wheel drunk and kill someone or get into an
accident. (Or at least I wouldn’t think so!) But when you go out for drinks
with friends, do you make sure that you have a designated driver? Do you make a
commitment to yourself and others not to drink if you’re going to drive? Or if
you plan on drinking, have you made clear arrangements ahead of time to get yourself
and friends safely home?
Thank you so much for spending time with Fabulous and Brunette
readers and sharing your exciting new book with us! We wish you all the best on your book tour!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
CAROLYN ARNOLD is an
international best-selling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker,
teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction
series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and
Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre
diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and
thrillers to action adventures.
Both
her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law
enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the
trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Carolyn
was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves
the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her
overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to
touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and
empower.
She
currently lives in London, Ontario with her husband and beagle and is a member
of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Carolyn will be awarding a paperback copy of “Remnants,”
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.
