The Secrets on Forest Bend by Susan Muller

I'm thrilled to have Susan Muller on my blog this week. I love paranormal books and since this one had a ghost in it I was immediately interested it. Welcome Susan!!

Teresa, thanks for inviting me to visit your blog and talk about my book. The Secrets on Forest Bend.

  

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 The Secrets on Forest Bend

Tell us what inspired your story.

The story started with a small idea. What would happen if you traced the life of a gun? What misery had it caused in the past, what pain would it cause in the future? How had it influenced the lives of those it touched?

Describe your hero and tell us a little about him.

My hero, Adam Campbell, is a cop. He’s been a bad judge of women in the past and wonders why sexy and crazy always seem to come in the same package. He vows to be more careful in the future. He’ll run at the first sign of Datezilla.

Describe your heroine and tell us a little about her.

Jillian owns a gun store and firing range. People who get close to her have a bad habit of turning up dead. The first was her sister who was accidently shot while playing with their father’s gun.  But she didn’t die, well, not exactly. Now she lives vicariously through Jillian. And she doesn’t like Adam at all.

What brings the two together and what threatens to keep them apart?

Adam and Jillian meet while he is tracing a gun used in two homicides. Jillian is unlike any woman he’s ever met, and Adam is immediately intrigued. As their relationship develops, Jillian feels that she has to tell him about the ghost of her sister who follows her everywhere. Adam immediately decides she’s the biggest nut case he’s ever encountered.

If you’re writing a series, have you kept the same characters throughout?

And what through line or theme have you used to tie it together?

I am now writing the story of my hero’s partner, Ruben. It will include many of the same characters, but a new case to solve.  This case will be very close and personal for Ruben as it involves his own mother. There will be a paranormal element, which Ruben resists believing.

What books have most influenced your life? 

To Kill a Mocking Bird, and The Yearling both moved me deeply and began my lifelong love affair with books.  I found it amazing that someone could weave a story that transported the reader to another time and place, that characters on a page could feel so alive and real.

Blurb for The Secrets on Forest Bend

Another day. . . another dead body.
When Detective Adam Campbell learns that a WWII gun is connected to several murders he's investigating, he hopes that tracking down the killer will be as easy as tracing the gun's history. When he meets Jillian Whitmeyer, the last known owner of the weapon, the case becomes anything but simple.

Adam soon learns that people who get close to Jillian have a bad habit of turning up dead. Jillian claims that the spirit of her sister, accidentally killed with that same gun, is responsible for the deaths. She warns Adam that he is likely to become the next victim. Adam's been a lousy judge of women in the past, and this one's obviously a nut case. Or is she? How does a just-the-facts detective deal with a ghostly serial killer and the sexy-as-hell sister she won't set free?

In The Secrets on Forest Bend, a detective discovers a crooked cop, an intriguing woman, and a vengeful ghost.  Can he stay alive long enough to bring down the cop, win over the woman, and destroy the ghost?

 In this excerpt, Detective Adam Campbell is tracing a gun used in two homicides. He has just pulled up in front of J. R.’s Guns and Firing Range, address of the last known owner of the weapon.

 Excerpt from The Secrets on Forest Bend: 

  How could someone who took so much care with a building be negligent enough to lose a dangerous weapon? Where were the owner’s priorities? His good mood began to turn sour and a growl built up in his throat.

He strolled in slowly, not wishing to announce himself until he had time to look around. The sales room was large, with well placed glass cabinets and wall displays. A hint of gun oil and Windex lingered in the air. Not a smudge or fingerprint was visible on any cabinet. The merchandise was easy to view and arranged in logical groupings. Definitely the nicest gun store he’d ever seen.

When a display of SIG-Sauers caught his eye, he stopped to study them.

A woman’s voice called from the back of the room. “I hope you’re here to replace that shoulder holster. It makes your jacket bunch up on one side. Not a good idea if you ever want to go undercover.”

Shit. Barely in the door and he was already made. His cop mode took over as he studied her. Early thirties, tall and slim, dark hair worn in some type of spiky arrangement, not a speck of makeup­­­­——why should she with that skin——and eyes like melted chocolate.

“Besides,” she went on, those eyes measuring him, “it has to be uncomfortable after a long day. You’re rather large through the chest, but I’ve got a Falco double magazine that would be a perfect fit for you.

“No, thanks, that’s not why I’m here.” She was rather large through the chest herself, he noticed. A dark brown tank top revealed arms that were toned and strong. She certainly looked tough enough to belong in a gun store. He wouldn’t be surprised to find she could chew nails and spit out thumbtacks.

She nodded toward the case he’d been studying. “You’re not planning to switch to a SIG, are you?”     

“No, I’m happy with my Glock.” This conversation was not going the way he planned. Maybe I should go outside and start over.

     

“Good. I know the Coast Guard and Homeland Security are going with the SIG, and it has a certain sex appeal, but in my opinion you can’t beat the dependability of the Glock for someone in your profession. 

Time to get this interview under control, although any woman who described a firearm as sexy had a definite appeal of her own.

He held up his badge. “I’m Detective Adam Campbell, Homicide. I need to speak to J. R. Whitmeyer.”

“I’m J. R. Whitmeyer.”

“I’m looking for James Robert Whitmeyer, owner of this establishment. He’s listed in my records as a fifty-nine year old white male.”

“That’s my father. He passed away about eighteen months ago.” A shadow crossed her face but she blinked twice and it was gone. 

Adam knew instinctively she wouldn’t appreciate condolences.

“I’m Jillian Rose Whitmeyer, the new owner.” She spread her arms indicating the shop and merchandise. “What can I do to help you?”

 

Plenty, but not while I’m on duty.

The Secret on Forest Bend is Available at  Amazon  and Barnes and Noble 

Other books by Susan

 Available at Smashwords

December 23, 1927. When a man disguised as Santa robs the local Savings and Loan, he takes seven-year-old Wilber Jenkins as a hostage. Using all his wiles and drawing on his last ounce of courage, Wilber manages to escape after three days on the run. Eighty-seven years later, can Wilber overcome his hatred of all things Christmas for the sake of his grandchildren?This novella is a work of fiction inspired by Texas’ most notorious bank robbery.

This novella is a work of fiction inspired by Texas' most infamous bank robbery.