Accidental Death
B.E. Sanderson
Author Bio
Since 2004, I’ve written 14 other novels to completion, and have several others in varying states of ‘finished’. I gave up on the romance idea, though, and my novels can best be classified by the genres: Suspense/Mystery, Urban Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction.
Basically, I went from being the Executive Secretary to the President (try fitting that on a business card) of a private regional school system and a single mom to being a housewife, stay at home mom, writer person who worked whenever she found the time and the inclination. From then to now, I wrote, edited, polished, submitted, queried, and found myself rejected so many times I lost the will to keep track. Now my daughter is grown, my husband is retired, and I am doing my damnedest to turn this writing thing into a business by moving into self-publishing.
So here I sit, hermit-like, in my cabin in the woods with the Hubs and our two cats, banging away at the keyboard, teaching myself the business, hanging out on the internet, and generally enjoying myself. I hope you’ll join me on this journey and that you enjoy yourself, too.
*There’s never really a final draft to any book until it’s published, and even then, it’s iffy.
Description
Murder doesn’t happen here.
Serenity is the safest town in Colorado. So what if the residents are dying at a quicker rate than usual? Accidents happen. Scott had a heart attack. Jimmy had a stroke. Carrie slipped and fell. Nothing to see here. Certainly nothing to be concerned over. Nothing bad ever happens in Serenity.
Except people are dropping like flies.
Detective Dennis Haggarty is committed to catching bad guys with the Denver PD, but he’s in Serenity to comfort his widowed sister, not to fight crime. After finding a fresh corpse, though, he can’t help himself—especially when the local authorities refuse to admit the woman was murdered.
As Dennis digs deeper, he discovers a string of deadly mishaps that might not be so accidental after all. A serial killer could be hunting the quiet streets where his baby sister lives, and no one seems to care. Now Dennis has to fight an epidemic of determined ignorance in order to save the townsfolk of Serenity. But battling against his attraction for the only rational person in town might break him.
Because she’s at the top of his suspect list.
5.0 stars: “Murder doesn’t happen here.” Murder *never* happens in a small town. Ha! I grew up in a small town and life there is a condensed version of living in a big city, with everything much more “up close and personal.” Enter big-city police detective Dennis Haggerty. He comes to Serenity, Colorado to comfort his sister after losing her husband. Homicide is the last thing on his mind, until he stumbles across a corpse. And things just get curiouser and curiouser. *waggles brows*
B.E. Sanderson is an exciting and entertaining new voice in the mystery and suspense landscape. The suspense is tight, the mystery compelling, and the characters are just who they need to be.
-Amazon Reviewer
5.0 stars: This was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I had no idea whodunnit until the end. It had a good mix of characters, a good dash of darkness, snappy dialogue and enough twists & turns to satisfy the most exacting reader. There was romance but it didn’t intrude on the story, just ran smoothly alongside it – oh and the body count! B E doesn’t exaggerate when she uses the tag line “dropping like flies”. I’ll be recommending this one to all my friends and family who enjoy a good mystery.
– Goodreads Reviewer
Book excerpt
“Denny? I need you. Jimmy’s dead!”
His sister’s drawn out wail echoed through Detective Dennis Haggarty’s head as he stared at his mountain of work. He’d sworn on his badge to close those cases, but they’d have to wait. There was no refusing the trapped animal sound of his only sibling.
After ten years apart, he almost hadn’t recognized Kimmy’s voice. The urge to maintain their silence for another ten years almost overwhelmed him, but not before the guilt over his part in their estrangement took hold. Before he could find a way around it, he promised he’d help her through this.
“What time do you have to be in Serenity?”
His partner’s gravelly accent broke into his mental playback loop. Dennis raised his eyes to the icy-blue stare of Pat Talsma. “The memorial starts at six.”
“Then you’d better get your ass on the road, eh? Fashionably late ain’t fashionable at the undertaker’s.” The other detective slid out of his sport coat and tapped his watch. “Unless you wanna get caught in the snow they’re predicting.”
Dennis cursed under his breath. He wanted to blame his reluctance to leave on the mountain of unclosed cases, but they were a fact of life. If he had to be honest with himself, he didn’t want to go to Serenity, Colorado—even to keep a promise to his sister. Twenty years before, he’d dragged himself out of a tiny town like it and vowed he’d never go back. Still, if his dislike of the backwoods had been his only objection to this trip, he could’ve gotten over it.
“Come on, kid. You shoulda left an hour ago.”
Pushing himself slowly from his chair, he cast a longing glance at his work. “Finish the paperwork on those last two cases for me, okay?”
“Not on your life.”
“I’ve got an idea,” he said. “I’ll stay here and work on tracking down that vehicular homicide while you go east. Take your wife. After twenty years with you, she knows how to talk to strange people.” He laughed to underscore the joke, but he hadn’t been kidding about wanting someone else to take his place. If only it were possible.
“Lila would have my hide. Or at least have me sleeping on the couch for the next month. No sirree. I’d rather spend the weekend lookin’ for that car that’s been described ten different ways by twelve different people than spend even one day in Kansas-lite.” Pat pointed toward the exit. “Now quit draggin’ your feet and get outta here. All of this glamour’ll be waiting for you when you get back. And that includes your piles of paperwork.”
“Thanks for nuttin’,” he said, trying to match his partner’s wry tone and his Yooper accent. Pat was probably the only person in the world who understood that Dennis actually preferred work to most any other pursuit. It sure beat sitting in his condo listening to the neighbors fight, wondering when their domicile would be the next murder/suicide to cross his desk.
Author Website
http://besanderson.blogspot.com/