Book Blast, Giveaway & Interview: Silent Partner by @stanschatt @RoxanneRhoads

 

 

 

Silent Partner

Stan Schatt

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Publisher: Pen-L Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-940222-45-4

Number of pages: 239

Word Count: 60,000

Cover Artist: Kelsey Rice

Book Trailer: None

Book Description:

Detective “Frankie” Ryan tracks a sadistic killer while the press attacks her as a feminist vigilante who takes the law into her own hands. The only one who can help her is a tabloid reporter who can’t decide if he’s a psychic who sees ghosts or is just going insane.

As they search for the killer in a sunny seacoast city’s seamy S&M underside, they begin to question everything they know about sexual identity. How can they find the killer before he strikes again when he defies any description?

Silent Partner is a paranormal mystery, a police procedure novel with a female detective that will remind you of Harry Bosch, a ghost story that suggests what lies beyond death, and a comic look at a tabloid where the “truth” is whatever sells.

Frankie glared at Landry. His neck turned red, but he didn’t say anything. “How could I live without her? I was addicted to her. Once you had her in your system, you never wanted her to leave. When I was away from her, I thought of her constantly. It wasn’t just the sex. She was the smartest, wittiest woman I’ve ever known. She was the most interesting and exciting woman I’ve ever met. She was also the most manipulative woman I’ve ever met. I hated myself for not throwing her out, but I just couldn’t. Love is a horrible thing, and not the wonderful things

poets say.”

“Did she leave a note?” Frankie was trying to develop a timeline.

“I came home around five-thirty, and she didn’t leave a note. I never believed her notes anyway. You have to understand something about Lorna. She never admitted she was wrong about anything, and she never apologized. She could convince herself in a minute that anything she said was true. Lorna once left me a note that she was going shopping with a girl friend. That friend called later and didn’t know anything about the shopping. I told my wife I knew she lied to me, and she became furious that I didn’t believe her. I’m sure she totally believed that she was right and I was wrong. I think the shrinks call someone like that a sociopath.” “We’ll need your statement. Does your wife have any enemies?”

Frankie said.

Marco looked up. His eyes glistened from his tears. “It’s probably a long list. As I told you, Detective, she didn’t play by the same rules as everyone else.”

“Let’s start with the names of people you know had reason to dislike her,” Frankie said.

 

 

Character Name: Josh Harrell

Character Bio: Josh’s mother raised him. His father drank heavily and threw a full glass of whiskey at a wall during his son’s 10^th birthday party before storming out of the house, never to return. When Josh reluctantly visited his father’s bedside when the old man was dying of cancer, he confided to his son that he left to protect the family because he couldn’t control what he saw. Josh played high school football and then joined the Army and became a Ranger. He was shot and would certainly have been killed but felt someone push him out of the way.

Josh has been married and divorced twice, once because he married much too young and the second time because he tried to save a woman who didn’t want to abandon her lifestyle. Josh left the Rangers and attended college before becoming a reporter for a New York newspaper. He left for the Midnight Whisperer even though the latter was a sensationalist tabloid because of the huge salary. He inherited the responsibility to write the Miss Myrna psychic column and suddenly found he had psychic abilities. In fact, he learned that Harrell men’s latent psychic abilities come to fruition when the reach 30. In Josh’s case, that means being able to see Andy, his sexy guardian angel.

 

Describe yourself what is your worst and best quality?

I’m just not good with women. When they learn about my psychic abilities, they freak out. I guess my best quality is that I care about people, maybe a bit too much. I tried to “rescue” a woman and wound up in a bad marriage before we divorced.

What is the one thing you wish other people knew about you?

I’m ready for a committed relationship. I just can’t seem to find the right woman.

What is your biggest secret something no one knows about?

That’s the easiest question of all. I can see Andy, my guardian angel. Also, I’m psychic and see things others don’t see. People think I’m faking it.

What are you most afraid of?

Sometimes I’m very much afraid that I’m going crazy and that the voices I hear and the spirit I see are just more evidence that I’m as crazy as some other Harrell men who wound up locked up in loony bins.

What do you want more than anything?

I want to be taken seriously as a writer and not just known as the psychic reporter. How would you like to be a guy who goes through his life known as “Miss Myrna”?

What is your relationship status?

I’m single. I’ve been married and divorced twice, but that doesn’t make me a bad candidate for a serious relationship. I keep looking, but in the wrong places.

How would you describe your sense of fashion?

My guardian angel just shakes her head at my choices and advises me on what to wear. I’m hopeless.

How much of a rebel are you?

I’m probably not as much a rebel as I should be. After all, I stay at the Midnight Whisperer even though my boss brow-beats me and threatens to fire me. I wish I had the guts to just quit the job and become a full-time novelist.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

I wrote Midnight Taliban right after returning from Afghanistan. It’s my first novel!

What is your idea of happiness?

I’m not much of a party person. If only I could find the right girl this time, I know I could be happy.

What is your current state of mind?

I’m worried that I might be going crazy. How can I prove I’m sane when no one else sees what I see?

What is your most treasured possession?

That’s easy. I have a very special watch that I’ve had since my time with the Rangers. It reminds me of my friends I lost over in Afghanistan.

What is your most marked characteristic?

I’m kind of an understated guy, the type you might not notice in a room. I’m tenacious. Once I go after a story, I don’t give up even if that means risking my life.

What is it that you, most dislike?

I’m not sure what you are asking. If you’re asking what it is that I most dislike about myself, then the answer probably is my lack of willingness to quit the Midnight Whisperer. I guess part of me is afraid I’d fail as a novelist. If you’re asking who I dislike the most, I’d say it would be Jacob Robinson, my editor. He’s a bully.

Why did both your marriages fail?

Well, that’s a real personal question. My first marriage failed because I married right after high school and just before I joined the Army. Being away most of the time didn’t help our relationship. We wound up getting divorced, but I think of her often and wonder if it would have worked if we married when we both were a little older. My second marriage to a girl named Sue was a huge mistake. I was so dumb that I didn’t realize she was a junky. When she realized I didn’t have any money, she agreed to a divorce.

What is your greatest regret?

I regret I married so young. Maybe later, we could have clicked.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

I like a good sense of humor. I think I have one, so I enjoy it in others.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Intelligence. The women I’m attracted to are bright. Unfortunately, lately they also seem to have a problem with psychic men.

How did you wind up working with a female detective?

I had a vision and saw through the killer’s eyes. Detective “Frankie” Ryan was handling the case, and we hit if off. She’s the most dedicated cop I’ve ever met. Did you know her dad spent 30 years on the job?

How can you write about some of the weird subjects found in the Midnight Whisperer?

It’s true that many of the people I interview are strange. Still, many are convinced what they’re telling me is the truth. I know it sounds strange, but they believe the saw Big Foot or aliens. Given my personal history, who is to say that they’re not telling the truth?

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

I’d take it really slow when I meet a woman I like. I tend to move too quickly and then everything falls apart. When I say I move too quickly, I don’t mean physically. I mean that I reveal too much of myself, including my psychic abilities.

What is your motto?

I guess it should be “trust your gut.” That’s what my guardian angel tells me. Every time she’s given me that advice and I’ve followed it, good things have happened. Sometimes I think it’s easy to over-analyze everything instead of just trusting your gut to make the right decision.

What do you think happens after you die?

Boy that’s a dark question. Based on a certain supernatural spirit I know, I believe that life is not the end. We’re on a learning journey that takes more than one lifetime; relationships are so intertwined in the fabric of our lives and destinies that it’s impossible to figure them out. I’m glad someone else is keeping track of them.

 

 

 

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Stan Schatt grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and now resides in Carlsbad, California. He has written thirty-five books on a wide variety of subjects ranging from fiction to technology. He is co-author of Journey to a Different Dimension, an Amazon bestseller. He also authored Egypt Rising, a YA novel focusing on a teen’s experience in Egypt at the time of the Egyptian revolution of 2011. This novel contains paranormal elements including a secret buried under the Sphinx. The paranormal mystery Silent Partner is Schatt’s latest novel.

He has led several careers including futurist and executive for many of the world’s leading technology market research firms, police department administrator, autopsy assistant, software trainer, Telecommunications Department Chairman, and English professor. He taught at Tokyo University as a Fulbright exchange professor. His non-fiction includes books on such diverse topics as strategies for changing careers for a green industry job, studies of Michael Connelly and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., network and data communications technology, telecommunications, computer programming.

www.stanschatt.com

http://www.pen-l.com/SilentPartner.html

@stanschatt