Curse of the Ancients
by Hawk MacKinney
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
GENRE: Mystery/Suspense
As Craige Ingram climbed the stairs of the derelict building, that peculiar stench of a dead body hit him. It was the same smell no matter where—SpecOps SEAL encounter gone sour, or in a vacant, roach-infested apartment. Inside, his SEAL buddy-turned head of Buckingham Parish Homicide’s Investigative Support Division, Grayson MacGerald, was huddled with the coroner next to a swollen decaying corpse that was days old and hardly more than oozing dead meat. The PI inside Craige had a gut feeling that there was more to this than a dead body, and Craige’s Grannie always told him, “Trust your feelin’s.” But that was before Mihály Keaulescu set down two of his Black Falcon choppers on Craige’s Moccasin Hollow private airstrip in an uninvited stopover. It got worse. From his airstrip to Israel, to Turkey and a nightmare-dream of one-of-a-kind ancient artifacts that not only threatened the serene life Craige knew and loved at Moccasin Hollow, it would destroy the world.
Read an Excerpt:
The smell got worse as Craige made his way up the stairs. Like the smell of burning human flesh, a fermenting corpse gave off one of those distinctive odors one never forgot. Craige thought of the adage about it taking a strong stomach to work with a body that had been dead for a while. One never got used to it. Some memories weren’t pleasant—time on storm-swept beaches, digging for supplies buried in the sand, hidden under piles of rubbish, in dark alleys or trashed rat-ridden warehouses; huddled in black dark caves or stinking tunnels. Their Special Mission CTU team cocked and loaded for anything; prepared to deal out any necessary parcel of maimed, butchered and dismembered—or running for their lives the few times their cover was blown.
As Craige climbed to the second-floor landing, the smell went from bad to a sour-worse. He spotted familiar faces from the department’s forensic team; intent and focused around the pulpy lump with swollen pumpkin dimples where eyes should have been in one very bloated dead body. The corpse was well beyond the initial stages of being recycled. It no longer looked human after cooking several days in the sweltering oven of a Dixie mid-August scorching summer in this dreary one-flight walkup of apartments with no AC and painted-shut windows. The dreary apartment was busier than it’d been in years with lab and forensic techs bustling and sorting the pitiful pieces of the when and how of abandoned death. Near the peeling paint archway into a worse kitchenette he spotted Gray huddled with just over five feet plus, roly-poly Coroner-Medical Examiner Fred Dinkins.
As Craige climbed to the second-floor landing, the smell went from bad to a sour-worse. He spotted familiar faces from the department’s forensic team; intent and focused around the pulpy lump with swollen pumpkin dimples where eyes should have been in one very bloated dead body. The corpse was well beyond the initial stages of being recycled. It no longer looked human after cooking several days in the sweltering oven of a Dixie mid-August scorching summer in this dreary one-flight walkup of apartments with no AC and painted-shut windows. The dreary apartment was busier than it’d been in years with lab and forensic techs bustling and sorting the pitiful pieces of the when and how of abandoned death. Near the peeling paint archway into a worse kitchenette he spotted Gray huddled with just over five feet plus, roly-poly Coroner-Medical Examiner Fred Dinkins.
About the Author:
With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions at several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to his work in classrooms and laboratories, he has written numerous professional articles on chordate neuroembryology and authored several novels that reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his protagonist in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. Hidden Vault of Secrets and Westobou Gold, Books 1 and 2 in the series, have received national and international attention. Hawk is also writing a science fiction series, The Cairns of Sainctuarie.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiAGlgQQsMQ&feature=youtu.be
Website: http://hawkmackinney.net
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Ancents-Moccasin-Hollow-Mystery/dp/0997096268/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteT’s Stuff/Teresa NOEL – Nice seeing you again. Thank U for following & thank you for hosting Curse of the Ancients, Book 3 in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. Book 4 in the mystery series as well as the next sci-fi title are in galley-edit. An earlier title, Moccasin Trace, a prequel historical romance establishes the bloodline(s) of serial protagonists Craige Ingram in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series…
ReplyDeleteHawk MacKinney
www.hawkmackinney.net
Hi Teresa/Noel! Thank you for bringing what looks to be another goodie from Mr. MacKinney to my attention.
ReplyDeleteKate SARSFIELD - Thanx to Teresa/Noel - it is much appreciated -
DeleteHawk MacKinney
www.hawkmackinney.net
Sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteRita WRAY - Hope U enjoy it - thanx for the comment -
DeleteHawk MacK
Good luck on the tour and thanks for the awesome giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a good book. It definitely has my attention!
Ellen LEVICKIS - Hope U enjoy the read - I enjoyed crafting the hook. Thank U for stopping by & commenting -
DeleteHawk MacKinney
I hope everyone's having a good week so far?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an exciting page turner!
ReplyDeleteEllen LEVICKIS - I luv hooking my readers - thanx for stopping by -
DeleteHawk MacK
Can you give us some hints as to the plotlines of The Cairns of Sainctuarie?
ReplyDeleteKate SARSFIELD - Hadn't expect The Cairns to pop up on this tour BUT I don't mind at all that you asked - Vol III of The Ciarns of Saincturarie is in galley proof. Let me reply to the comments for this tour & I promise - - if T's Stuff keeps Curse up for the rest of 2day, I WILL get back to U here...TODAY! Downside-up, I enjoy your asking about Cairns...the HOME page of my website pops the covers, blurbs & videos [these aren't trailers] - some of the most beautiful video-summaries, background sound I've ever seen/heard. Links to them are beneath the covers - also on the HOME page -
DeleteHope to see this still here later today -
Hawk MacKinney
www.hawkmackinney.net
Kate SARSFIELD - Getting back to U....The Cairns of Siainctuarie Series...Vol I The Bleikovat Event, Vol II The Missing Planets, Vol III is in final edits. The volumes stand alone, i.e. the volumes aren't a have-to read first to last. BUT we sci-fi readers like things in order - even disorder. Plotlines...archeology, across galaxies, advanced & primitive cultures crossed & crisscrossed - old ways passing - new tomorrows coming at breakneck speeds with all the emotions that stirs. If U have more questions - - give a heads-up -
DeleteHawk MacK
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! Much appreciated.
DeleteKate SARSFIELD - readers are always welcome -
DeleteHawk MacK
Congratulations!! It is one heck of a plot.
ReplyDeleteEllen LEVICKIS - It was one heck of a scrambled outline by the time I figured who was going to what to whom & how - ain't it fun!
DeleteHawk MacK
I would love to read your book.
ReplyDeleteBridgett WILBUR...& I hope you'll enjoy reading as much as I did the write - thanx for stopping by -
DeleteHawk MacK
www.hawkmackinney.net
Good luck everyone!
ReplyDelete