The Dead of Sled Run by Jean Rabe
The Dead of Sled Run by Jean Rabe is here! Jean Rabe has been a guest on this blog before and she’s always welcome back. See below for a summary of the book, buy links, and an excerpt.
What’s this new book about?
It is almost Christmas and yards glow with twinkling lights.
But more than chestnuts are roasting.
A raging fire sweeps through the decorated landscape of Sled Run, destroying the home of Chief Deputy Oren Rosenberg and killing two.
An accident? Or did something toxic fuel the flames?
Sheriff Piper Blackwell and Detective Basil Meredith believe Oren was targeted and are tasked with finding motive and means before more than the holiday burns bright.
With many clues reduced to ashes, can Piper and Basil catch the culprits before they strike again? Or is this blaze just the start of the most murder-filled time of the year?
Publisher: Boone Street Press (November 13, 2023)
Publication date: November 13, 2023
Language: English
Print length: 316 pages
Buy link: https://mybook.to/DeadSledRun
Excerpt from The Dead of Sled Run
Basil watched as the burned Volkswagen Rabbit was towed away from the Laubensteins’. Production on those cars stopped almost forty years ago, 1984; he’d checked with a Google search.
He radioed Diego: “When it arrives, go through every inch of that car, video it, see what you can get from the VIN and the plates.”
“Can’t be too many vintage Rabbits on the road. Shouldn’t take long to pin down the owner,” Diego replied. “Doc says autopsies are scheduled back to back Monday afternoon. Then we can get dentals. DNA will take awhile if we have to go that route. But I’m betting between the old car and the teeth, we’ll put names to the dead people.”
Basil wished he’d worn his heavy winter coat over his uniform rather than his department jacket: while looking official, it wasn’t enough to keep out the cold. His breath puffed away in miniature clouds as he moved to the next house on his list, Vernon Madsen’s. Faintly, he heard Christmas music coming from it, sounded like Mannheim Steamroller or Transiberian Orchestra … techy-pop stirred with traditional. Esme played stuff like that. He preferred light jazz.
“Nobody around here has a problem with Rosey or Eldad.” Vernon Madsen lived across the street from the Laubensteins. Madsen was a robust man with a ring of black hair that made his bald spot stand out like an intended tonsure. He stepped onto his porch and glared across the street. “They’re great neighbors. Long time on the block. Some people gripe about their lack of decorations, the only bare houses on the Run. But nobody around here gives a rat’s ass that they’re Jewish. I give a rat’s ass about that.” He gestured at the ruins. “Just look. Awful. Bet they bulldoze and sell and go somewhere else. Shame. Just a shame.”
Only a few of the decorations along Sled Run were lit. People typically turned them on at dusk. That’s when Basil did, brighten up the night. He’d strung lights on two pines in his yard and on rose bushes, stretched some icicle lights across the top of the garage, wanting to fit in. Rare to see a house in Christmas Lake Village without some sort of outdoor holiday décor. He and Esme walked with the kids almost every night to take it all in. Esme said she missed Marshall Fields’ Christmas window displays and the elegant Walnut Room tree, but the Village after dark was almost an adequate substitute.
Where to Find Piper Blackwell
Dead of Autumn is book five of the Piper Blackwell Series. Want to read the series in order? Check it out here: http://mybook.to/PiperBlackwellSeries.
Prefer audio? The Piper Blackwell series is in audio, read by Catherine Wenglowski. Start with book one of the series: mybook.to/DeadofWinterAudio
About the Author
USA Today best-seller, Jean Rabe’s impressive writing career spans decades, starting as a newspaper reporter and bureau chief.
From there she went on to become the director of RPGA, a co-editor with Martin H. Greenberg for DAW books, and, most notably, Rabe is an award-winning author of more than forty science fiction/fantasy and murder mystery thrillers.
She writes mysteries and fantasies, because life is too short to be limited to one genre–and she does it with dogs tangled at her feet, because life is too short not to be covered in fur.
Find out more about her at www.jeanrabe.com
