Hi, all—
As I mentioned in your May Mid-Month SitRep, I'm headed to Nebraska this week to celebrate my father's life with family at his memorial. As you can imagine, my dad's been on my mind a lot lately. As I sat down this morning to write your June Reader Crew newsletter & share the cover for Kate's next book, it hit me: the premise for Beneath the Bones wouldn't even exist but for my father & my eldest child.
A few years ago, my daughter & I were driving to Arkansas to visit my dad. It was long trip, and somehow, we lit on the topic of the Arkansas River. My daughter found it interesting that the sandbars within can shift from season to season—sometimes disappearing altogether and reappearing years later. During our conversation, an image popped into my head—and, yep, it was a grisly one.
I could see the partially unearthed remains of a skeleton on one of those reappearing sandbars. I even knew to whom those bones belonged. Back home, I took a few moments to scratch out the premise for the book, then tucked the notes inside Kate's series file and returned my attention to the project I was writing at the time.
Fast forward to this past fall. As I finished writing In the Name Of, those old bones began to rattle their way to the forefront of my brain—which was odd. At the time, I had another idea in mind for Kate's next case. But the impression of those bones was so strong that the characters & main plot points had begun to fall into place—along with the realization that I needed to move the resulting bones case forward.
So I did.
From there, I sent the premise of the book to my brilliant cover artist, Ivan Zanchetta, along with a few more-detailed notes on a pivotal scene—and voila! Check out the awesomely creepy cover Ivan created for Kate coming case:
For those who aren't familiar with Kate's geographical area of the Deep South, Spanish moss does grow in Arkansas—but near the bottom of the state, roughly two hours south of Kate's jurisdiction...
Yep—that's another hint for the plot. 🤫
I'll be loading Beneath the Bones for preorder in a few months. Check your future newsletters for coming details. Until then, here's the blurb for the book:
Beneath the Bones
Some secrets should stay buried...
With a second serial killer case under her belt, Deputy Kate Holland is finally making headway with her PTSD. But when skeletal remains are unearthed on a sandbar amid the Arkansas River, Kate's world is rocked again.
The decaying bones belong to a soldier once stationed at a nearby National Guard post, and their DNA links to a ten-year-old unsolved missing person's investigation headed up by the very cop who spent his life undermining Kate's personal and professional confidence.
The more Kate digs into the murdered soldier's life, the more connections she discovers between the victim, an old family friend…and her own father.
Fresh bodies have begun to turn up as well, and these new murders appear to be connected to the original soldier's death—and a sinister plot years in the making.
Will the clues her father missed all those years ago lead to the deaths of every current officer on the Braxton police force—including Kate's?
Beneath the Bones is Book 3 in the Hidden Valor Military Veteran Psychological Suspense Series & features Ruger—Kate's 3 yr old German Shepherd and self-appointed therapy dog.
—Candace