We may not get snow here on the gulf coast, but we do get some dang cold weather.
What better way to spend a few hours, than to grab a good mystery and roast your toes before a roaring fire. The crackle of the flames as they devour the sweet-smelling teak wood lulls you and frees your mind, allowing you to lose yourself in Tainted Waters.
Pull up a chair, sip some hot cider, and let me tell you about this exciting mystery.
While you’re here, enjoy the character bios and enter the giveaway!
Title- Tainted Waters
By Maggie Thom
Publication Date- April 30th, 2013
Synopsis
He didn’t commit suicide but who’s going to believe her…
Frustrated at being fired from her latest job and overwhelmed by her consolatory family, Sam decides to move to the family’s cabin at the lake. A place she hasn’t been since her dad committed suicide there twenty years before. Or did he? Snooping is something she’s good at but someone seems to be taking offense to her looking too closely at what has been happening at the lake. What she discovers is shocking. Now she must uncover what’s real and what’s not. All that she learned growing up, may be false. Keegan who has recently moved to the area to finish his latest book is also trying to find out if his grandfather, who’d passed away ten years before, died of natural causes or was murdered? The descendants of the four families who own the land around the lagoon are dying off. Since Sam and Keegan are the only ones questioning the deaths, they find themselves working together to seek the truth. Are people being murdered? Who would benefit from their deaths? Why would there be barricades and armed guards at the north end of the lake? To stay alive, Sam and Keegan must find the answers and convince others, before more people are killed… including them.
“This is a book that will have you on the edge of your seat. Just when you think the story is over, think again.” Read Your Writes Book Reviews
Buy Links
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords
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My Review
Samantha, Sam for short, was only seven when her father killed himself. Now, 20 years later, she’s no closer to figuring out what her place in life is.
Flitting from job to job, about fifteen of them, she’s fired from her latest and retreats to the family lake house to lick her wounds and be alone. While there, she begins to question whether her father’s death was a suicide or murder.
Also visiting the lake is Keegan. He’s come to his grandfather’s cabin to get away from everything and try to get some writing done. He’s pulled into the mystery of whether his grandfather truly died of a heart attack or was he murdered. He begins to suspect the latter.
It figures. Sam may have finally found her calling. She’s good at ferreting out information and asking the right questions. Maybe too good as someone tries to kidnap her.
Thrown together, Sam and Keegan continue to dig into their mysteries. They know their getting closer to some answers as more attempts are made to kill them. The race is on to get their answers before someone gets them.
I felt a close connection to Sam. I too flitted from job to job, never really sure what I wanted to do. Some people are lucky and know what they want to do or be. Not me and not Sam.
What endeared me to Keegan was his need to protect Sam. He would be a great older brother and an even better beau.
You’d be right if you thought these two would become romantically entangled. But the romance is just budding and the story is powered more by the danger and intrigue.
I love a good mystery thriller. Each time I thought I had it figured out, I was way off, and back to the drawing board I’d go.
One of the biggest mysteries was what was going on at the end of the lake. I didn’t have a clue and was surprised when I found out.
There are a few mysteries going on in this book but you’ll never lose track of the story. The writing is down to earth and easy to follow and the story flies. Before you know it, you’ve reached the end and gotten your answers. Some of them will set you back on your heels wondering, “How did I not see that coming?”
Tainted Waters has murder, suspense, intrigue, and some well written misdirection that keeps you engrossed and guessing. A really good who, what, where, when, and why.
4 Stars
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Character Bios
Samantha gets fired from her latest job as a reporter. She’s not too happy as she was enjoying it and finally felt like she’d found her calling. She’s never been good at holding down a job mainly because she didn’t like the work or those who she had to work with. She’s struggled her whole life with figuring out who she is and what she wants. She’s never been one to back down from a challenge or been someone who takes any guff from others. She’s an in-your-face kind of person and has no problem telling others who she feels or what she thinks of them. As you can imagine this has gotten her into trouble more than once. She`s the middle child of five kids and has a pretty good relationship with her siblings and her mom but since she`s the only one who doesn`t have a profession or a steady job they are a little over the top protective of her and on her case about it. To get away from her consolatory family, Sam decides to move out to the family cabin that hasn’t been used since her dad had committed suicide when she was seven. She never understood how he could do that, how he could leave her. Especially when they were best buds. She’s just starting to realize how much that has colored her life when she discovers someone wants her dead.
Keegan is an author and has moved out to his great grandfather’s cabin at the lake for quiet so he can write his latest book. He grew up in a professional household, both his parents had phd’s and expected him to follow suit. He tried but realized that University wasn’t for him. So he followed his dream and started to write nonfiction books. He`s the youngest of three – an older brother and older sister, who have both run their own professional businesses. He`s never told his family that he had met his great grandfather at the age of twelve and had spent time getting to know him. He had left the cabin to Keegan along with a lot of boxes. When Keegan finally goes through them he learns that his grandfather may not have died of natural causes. He’s always wanted a close knit family so when he meets Sam and her family, he’s more than willing to help her figure out what’s going on.
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Author Maggie Thom
Maggie Thom took the challenge and leapt off, leaving a full time twenty year career in management, to write full time. After her initial panic that she might need a straight jacket,
she published her first book Captured Lies, October 2012. And now is excited to release her
second novel, Tainted Waters, April, 2013. Her third book, Deceitful Truths (sequel to Captured
Lies) available fall of 2013. An avid reader and writer her whole life, she decided to break the
monotony of wishing to be an author by making it happen. Married to her best friend, she is
learning that humor, love and patience help her navigate her way through her twins’ teen years.
Her motto: Escape to read and Read to escape. “Maggie Thom writes a fast paced thriller laced
with romance that keeps the reader interested and on edge!” InDtale Magazine
Author Links
Goodreads / Amazon Author Page / Facebook
Twitter / Website / Pinterest / google +
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Grand prize giveaway
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$15 Gift Card
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Winners Choice ~ Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Smashwords
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Click on the rafflecopter below to enter.
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*****
Jeni’s ring is the one described in book two of Love Me? I have made the rings look like they are coming out of the water as a symbol of Aiden and Jeni rising up against all the odds and making their way out of the deep water they were wading through.
