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An edge-of-your seat murder mystery set in a forgotten, ocean-facing town on Vancouver Island!
A body washes up on the shores of Lake Templeton, a small town on the coast of Vancouver Island. Sharon Reese, the victim, was a dedicated government employee. Everyone liked her, but no one knew much about her. Was she hiding something? Maybe a questionable past riddled with scandal. And did it lead to her plunge to death, in a drunken stupor, off the dock outside her secluded lakefront lodge?
Was it an accident? A suicide? Or cold-blooded murder? Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, is determined to find out.
Fati arrives in Lake Templeton to find secrets that run as deep as the City’s sewers. Everyone is hiding something and nothing is as it seems. A cult escapee. A corrupt politician. A struggling airline. A multi-million dollar public-private project to revitalize the Lake Templeton waterfront. How are they all connected?
As Fati valiantly unravels the knots, another body is found on the shore. Is it the same killer? And can Fati stop them before they strike again?
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Extract
The footsteps are advancing left – towards the staircase.
Crap!
Whoever it is, they’re coming down. In seconds, they will be at the top of the stairs. And then a few steps and voila – eye level with the sprawling living room where I stand – a juvenile delinquent with my hand in the cookie jar.
My body awakens from its trance. Instinct takes over. In this soulless museum-like home, there are no cozy nooks to make myself disappear. The back door is too far and the path towards it crosses ground zero, the spiral staircase that is about to blow my cover. The study is unseen territory, a potential landmine. The only option is the front door, looking out on the garden which opens up into mountain views and blue water.
I slide towards the door like a mako shark on high alert. I push down the lock and the door swings open, all movement and no sound as if freshly greased on the hinges. I slip out and push the door shut. I cower behind it, stuck between the two picture windows, yawning open like wide-awake eyes, on either side of the front door.
I can’t move. I hope Alena’s mysterious guest doesn’t decide to take in some sun on the front lawn. I crouch, ear pressed to the door, quiet as a jewel thief sneaking up behind a security guard. Footsteps are now descending the stairs.
The front door features a hammered silver mail slot. My dexterous fingers find it, grab its edge and push up the flap. It moves up dutifully, and I bend down, bringing my eyes level with the small opening.
A man. Disheveled and gray-haired. Wearing a housecoat loosely wrapped around his paunchy waist. His feet drag in black-and-white striped shower slides. A five o’clock shadow topped with an overgrown buzz cut completes the look.
Who is this man? Is he the reason Alena didn’t accompany Sharon to the investor meetings in Vancouver? Is it because of him Alena didn’t host her birthday party at her home, a beachfront palace designed for entertaining? Or is he an intruder? But an intruder wouldn’t lounge around so comfortably, moving at the pace of a seal caught in quicksand. I’m an intruder – we move fast.
The man shuffles about in the living room, his movements sludgy, as if he has just woken up after a ten-hour slumber. He looks this way and that as if trying to figure out where to go.
Please don’t come to the front. Please don’t come to the front. The last thing I need is for the police to be called to arrest me for trespassing. Alena would hire the most vicious attorney to skewer me in court.
Another five seconds heavy with tension, then the man clearly realizes that the kitchen is where the coffee is kept – which he obviously needs. He turns around and heads towards it, receding from my view.
Relief floods me. But there’s no time to waste. The man may come back.
Thank you, HS Burney and Zooloo’s Book Tours
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About the author
HS Burney writes fast-moving, action-packed mysteries set against the backdrop of majestic mountains and crystalline ocean in West Coast Canada. She loves creating characters that keep you on your toes. A corporate executive by day and a novelist by night, HS Burney received her Bachelors’ in Creative Writing from Lafayette College. A proud Canadian immigrant, she takes her readers into worlds populated by diverse characters with unique cultural backgrounds. When not writing, she is out hiking, waiting for the next story idea to strike, and pull her into a new world.
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Author Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HS-Burney-Author-113028981189771
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hsburneyauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hsburneyauthor
Website : http://www.hsburney.com
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Book Links
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lake-Templeton-Murders-Private-Investigator-ebook/dp/B09KMDQBQ1
Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/Lake-Templeton-Murders-Private-Investigator-ebook/dp/B09KMDQBQ1
B for Bookreview 
Thank you so much for taking part in the tour today and sharing this extract x
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A pleasure 🙂
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