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The Dead of Autumn!

Sheriff Piper Blackwell is plunged into the dark heart of “idyllic” Spencer County, Indiana...

About the book:
A teenager dressed as Tinker Bell never made it to the Halloween party.
Her murders sends a ripple of fear through Piper Blackwell's rural jurisdiction.
Investigating the crime, the young sheriff and her detective are drawn into an underworld they didn't know existed. Can the pair survive the trip into the dark heart of once idyllic Spencer County?
Can they find the killer before more lives are are destroyed and he strikes again?

Publisher: ‎Boone Street Press (May 15, 2022)
Publication date: ‎May 15, 2022
Language: English
Print length:‎ 319 pages
Buy link: mybook.to/DeadofAutmn

Dead of Autumn is book five of the Piper Blackwell Series. Want to read the series in order? Check it out here: http://mybook.to/PiperBlackwellSeries.
Prefer audio? The Piper Blackwell series is in audio, read by Catherine Wenglowski. Start with book one of the series: mybook.to/DeadofWinterAudio

Sign-up for her newsletter: https://jeanrabe.com/sign-up-for-my-newsletter/ and follow her on Amazon: http://author.to/JeanRabe to keep up with her latest works!
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About the Author:
USA Today best-seller, Jean Rabe's impressive writing career spans decades, starting as a newspaper reporter and bureau chief.
From there she went on to become the director of RPGA, a co-editor with Martin H. Greenberg for DAW books, and, most notably, Rabe is an award-winning author of more than forty science fiction/fantasy and murder mystery thrillers.
She writes mysteries and fantasies, because life is too short to be limited to one genre--and she does it with dogs tangled at her feet, because life is too short not to be covered in fur.
Find out more about her at www.jeanrabe.com

Excerpt:
Dead.
Too damn pretty and way too young to be dead, Teegan thought as she looked at the photo Sheriff Piper Blackwell had emailed her. The makeup, hair, sequins, so well decorated for the night. Teegan wondered if the coroner could conduct the autopsy without ruining all the sparkles. The girl had gone to a lot of effort to look like that.
Too much work to be washed away on a stainless-steel table in the basement of a hospital. She should be buried in all her glittery glory.
“You would’ve won all the costume contests for certain.”
Teegan had taken Rodney Rhimer’s 9-1-1 call. “Somebody’s dead, in a ditch,” he’d said. “It’s horrible. Come quick.”
She’d hoped it had been a prank. Teegan answered a lot of prank calls on Halloween, and most of them had a fun element.
Way too young.
Creepy.
Evil.
Teegan shivered and glanced away from the screen. She’d heard the sheriff call the girl Steampunkerbell. Teegan liked steampunk styles, almost as much as goth. Teegan would have loved a Halloween costume like that in her earlier, skinnier years.
“I’m supposed to help find out who you are … were … pretty girl.”
No active missing person reports in the county fit. But the girl probably hadn’t been missing long enough for someone to have noticed. She wouldn’t go unidentified long, Teegan knew. A girl like that had people, friends and relatives, and they would be looking for her when the night ended and she didn’t come home.
But Piper wanted her identified ASAP and had tasked Teegan with checking high school yearbooks and online sources trying to put a name to the face, as no ID was found at the scene.
No hits on fingerprints so far. The girl looked too innocent to have gotten in trouble with the law, too young for the military.
Teegan guessed the girl was fourteen, fifteen … somewhere in there.
She could use some help.
“It’s an odd night.” Teegan called Zeke, the first-shift dispatcher. “Peculiar stuff. Weird 9-1-1s. Always strange calls on Halloween, which is why I like to work it. And—” she paused for dramatic effect. “Tonight, we have a murder.”
“Murder? You sure it’s a murder?”
“Well, I heard them mention it might be a hunting accident, but it sounds like Sheriff Blackwell thinks it’s a murder.”
“Who got killed?”
Zeke sounded out of breath, and Teegan was curious why. “I don’t know. We don’t know. You busy, Zeke? Got company? Did I interrupt something? Sounds like you’re—”
“I’m on my bike, riding home. I was at Nang’s garage working on my car.”
“How about you detour over to the department? I’ll order Chinese from the delivery service. My treat. I could use an extra pair of eyes on this maybe-a-hunting-accident-but-more-likely-a-murder-thing. High school yearbooks.”
“Yearbooks? Someone young?”
“Yeah, Zeke. Too young.”

Admin 29 May 2022 / 03:00AM

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