WANNABE MOMS, BIG PHARMA, AND THE FBI

Posted on by Diana Deverell

Wannabe moms at risk of their pregnancies ending too early will do almost anything to stop preterm labor. FBI Special Agent Dawna Shepherd won’t allow a shady medical equipment manufacturer to profit from their dedication.

Dallas Hoedown

In this month’s ebook release, FBI Special Agent Dawna Shepherd works undercover as a new sales rep for the manufacturer.

The company’s premier infusion pump tested safe for home care of asthma patients. Not for women with histories of preterm labor. Though anecdotal evidence suggests it may help them.

Dawna has more anecdotes. About wannabe moms whose hearts are damaged forever by the infusions.

She fakes a passion for selling. Closes in on the smooth-talker who gulls unwitting staff into marketing the device illegally. A profit-driven practice that fails to warn pregnant woman they’re risking their own lives.

Dawna has only one more training session to catch the company’s wily marketing czar. But her cover is wearing thin.

Can she outsmart her prime suspect?

Or should she try to out-dumb him?

You’ll find the answer in a suspenseful tale about moms, big pharma, and the FBI, all happening under wintry sunshine in Dallas, Texas.

“Dallas Hoedown: A Dawna Shepherd Short Story” was originally published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and is now available as a standalone ebook short story.

To buy your copy, follow this universal link to your favorite online bookseller.

INSPIRED!

Posted on by Diana Deverell
Announcing the September 2020 release of "Dubstep: A Dawna Shepherd Short Story" as a standalone ebook.

Inspired by John Mortimer’s “Rumpole of the Bailey”, in this month’s ebook release, I send Dawna after a colorful clan of auto-accident-insurance scammers.

Fighting crime as a family affair is a new challenge for Dawna.

Can she outwit charming Clayton D. Cooper, the aging ringleader of a Northern Virginia gang made up exclusively of his close relatives?

Spoiler alert: A Waffle House breakfast is part of the story—virtual and non-fattening!

“Dubstep: A Dawna Shepherd Short Story” was originally published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and is now available as a standalone ebook short story.

To buy your copy, follow this universal link to your favorite online bookseller.

NEW SHORT MYSTERIES WAITING FOR YOU!

Posted on by Diana Deverell

I’m excited to be in a Syndicate of award-winning mystery writers contributing brand-new stories to MCM – Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem – the new themed mystery magazine started by writer Leah Cutter.

For this first year, you can find the first THREE issues already available. And I have stories in two of them!

I wrote both before the end of February 2020. I set them in the contemporary Pacific Northwest and none of my characters have a clue of what lies ahead for the country.

In “Lonesome Whistle”, FBI Special Agent Dawna Shepherd makes the trip I wanted to take but couldn’t after COVID-19 forced me to cancel.

Dawna travels via Amtrak from Seattle to Eugene to check out the University of Oregon women’s basketball team. She’s sure the Lady Ducks are headed to the Big Dance and will triumph at the NCAA finals in March. Dawna doesn’t know the season will be canceled because of the pandemic.

Still, she’s distracted from all thoughts of basketball when she spots the FBI’s Number One Most Wanted on the same train. Which is how she and her adventure end up in THE CHASE BEGINS, Issue #3. You’ll love Dawna’s action in this one. You can buy your copy from your favorite online retailer by following this universal link.

In “Gone Gold”, Washington State Trooper Kent Harper tackles a minor Spokane heist as a learning experience. The fictional theft is loosely based on the robbery of a friend of mine. From the real-life victim, I learned that though the law may call a theft petty, the victim may still feel she’s lost everything that matters most to her. The story appears in THIEVES, Issue #2. You’ll enjoy learning what Kent actually learns from this case. You can buy your copy from your favorite online retailer by following this universal link.

You may also want to check out PRIVATE EYES, Issue #1: Leah sweet-talked forensics expert Geoff Symon into writing an essay for the inaugural issue.

Leah already has stories on hand for SINS OF THE FATHER, Issue #4, which will come out mid-November.

Leah’d love to send you a free ebook anthology of short stories from eight of us. All you have to do is come to her website and join her Syndicate of readers. You’ll never miss an issue of Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem. So criminal it’s good!