Book Tour--Lethal Impulse

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Steve Rush will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

He’s riddled with guilt. She’s annoyed with the status quo.

The death of a crime boss’s daughter forces Detective Neil Caldera to leave NYC. He seeks refuge in the tranquil embrace of a small town, where he finds himself entangled in the labyrinth of a teenage girl’s murder.

Tess Fleishman’s pale skin and extreme weight loss portrays a disease she wants others to see. While inside, a compulsion for Neil fuels her passion to have him or destroy him.

As Neil delves into the heart of the town's secrets, will truth deliver solace? Or will Tess prevail?

Read an Excerpt

Tess set the camera on the rear seat. She pictured the murder scene planned at the barn. “You can thank me when it’s over. I need your help with this next part because the doctor told me I’m not to lift anything over twenty pounds. This leukemia drains me.” She popped open the trunk.

“I heard about your diagnosis.” Vanessa embraced Tess. “I thought about going into oncology once I complete medical school. If I get accepted. That is a long way off. What has the doctor said about your prognosis?”

“We view my future differently. I’m hoping for remission.” Tess gestured to the trunk. “Climb in.”

Vanessa glanced inside the trunk. She retreated two strides. “Do I have to get in there? It looks grimy. Why did you not bring your car?”

“We’re documenting an abduction and murder, Vanessa. We can’t let anybody see my car or you with me. It will ruin the surprise. It’s only until we get to the barn.”

Vanessa clambered into the trunk. Tess swathed towels around Vanessa’s wrists and ankles before she bound them with paracord. Vanessa thanked Tess for the use of towels to prevent ligature marks on her skin.

Tess grinned. “A killer must focus on details, Vanessa.”

About the Author:

Steve Rush is an award-winning author whose experience includes tenure as homicide detective and chief forensic investigator for a national consulting firm. He worked with the late Joseph L. Burton, M.D, under whom he mastered his skills, and investigated many deaths alongside Dr. Jan Garavaglia of Dr. G: Medical Examiner fame. His specialties include crime scene reconstruction, injury causation, blood spatter analysis, occupant kinematics, and recovery of human skeletal remains.

Steve’s book Kill Your Characters; Crime Scene Tips for Writers was named finalist in the 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction and Honorable Mention in the 2023 Readers’ Favorite Awards. Lethal Impulse won the 2022 Public Safety Writing Association’s Writing Competition for an unpublished novel, longlisted in the 2022 Page Turner Awards and joint first prize in the 2020 Chillzee KiMo T-E-N Contest.

Publishing credits:

Kill Your Characters; Crime Scene Tips for Writers, Genius Books, June 2022
Blood Red Deceit, Wings ePress, (thriller) September 2023
After Her Deceit, Wings ePress, (thriller) October 2024
Lethal Impulse, The Wild Rose Press, (romantic suspense/crime thriller) October 2024
Upcoming 2025 releases:
The Shocking Truth (crime thriller) presale 02/15/25, and Deadline 4:59 (crime thriller), Wings ePress

Purchase links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCC8KC8Y/ref=sr_1_1
The Wild Rose Press: https://wildrosepress.com/product/lethal-impulse/
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Lethal%20Impulse-
ITunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781509258130
BooksAMillion: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509258123

Website and social media links:

Website: https://www.steverush.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-rush-a20302149/
Substack: https://steverush.substack.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5217876
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/steve_rush

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Blurb Blitz--Proven Innocence

 

A Blurb for You

Cynthia Evans wakes up in the trunk of a car, no idea how she got there, only to discover she’s wanted for the murder of her husband and children. With no memory of life prior, Cynthia is sure she did not commit the crime.

Only problem is-how does she convince anyone she’s not a murderer when she is not sure who she is?

With the help of a downtrodden diner waitress, Gabrielle, Cynthia fights to prove her innocence.

One thing is clear: Rick Evans is dead. But who is the real killer?

Another Taste

My eyes are open, but there is no sight to see. Darkness remains. It is black—pitch black. I squint and shut my eyes to adjust to the darkness faster, but it does not help. No shadows lurk in the night for me to redirect my corneas upon. The darkness encloses me, encasing my body in its depth. My body is not upright. It is stretched horizontally across the ground. I am lying down. I try to stand, but my weak body forbids me. My left hand falls upon the surface I am lying on. The ground feels furry, almost carpet-like. I am not outside.

Where am I?

My best deduction indicates I am trapped in a restrictive box. My head has only four inches to move before hitting the top, and my legs are bent at the knees with my toes resting upon the opposite wall from my head. I look up and find a wall of darkness just inches above—pure darkness with no stars or moonlight.

Am I buried alive?

Every human’s worst nightmare is to be mistaken for dead and lowered six feet underground where no one can hear the perilous cries for help. I try to scream, but no sound escapes from my vocal cords. Thoughts of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart filter into my brain.

What if the people walking above can hear the faint beating of my heart from the depths below?

Get a hold of yourself!

I raise my right hand slowly to dislodge the top of my coffin. My arm shakes as it rises off the ground above my head. I am limp and exhausted. A sharp pain pulsates throughout my entire right side as I try to move. Electric shock waves run from my toes to the left side of my brain. It is not a comforting sensation, and I would rather not move ever again in my life than experience such agony once more. The only options are, however, shift my body to experience discomfort for a slight moment or lay still awaiting death.

My head is pounding from an obtrusive headache. It is as if a jackhammer is chiseling through the right side of my outer cranium. I wince in pain as I raise my hand to the right side of my head. An overbearing shockwave shoots out of my brain when I touch that area. The hair follicles are mushy, raw, and tender where they meet my skull. The hair is matted to my brain. A huge, painful lump has started to protrude underneath the skin. I am not sure how it got there. I am not sure how I got into the situation I am in at the present moment.

My fingers are sticky from whatever substance has glued my hair to my head. I try to smell them by placing my fingers underneath my nose, but I cannot ascertain the odor. I bring my index finger to my mouth to utilize one of my other senses. It is the last one available to unveil the mysterious substance. My saliva moistens my tongue to activate my taste buds. I recognize a fluid taste mixed with a hint of salt. It is blood––my own blood.

Why am I bleeding? How did this happen? 

Who Wrote the Book?

I have dreamed of being an author since the age of ten. I have been writing and crafting stories for the

last twenty years, mostly because, well you know, life… and I got in my own way. After finishing law school, graduate school, travelling the world, getting married and starting a family I figured now was the time.

I was born and raised on Long Island, New York and spent ten years in my early adulthood living carefree in New York City. I currently reside with my husband and two beautiful children in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, where I am a practicing attorney.

I hope to continue to publish many more novels that entertain and thrill readers.

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mary-J.-Rocco/author/B0CX13KN4Y

And, yes, there is a giveaway.

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