Blind Chess
by Cristelle Comby
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GENRE: Mystery & Detectives
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BLURB:
It
is supposed to be Neve and Egan. Two partners, a team. What happens when a
member of this team of Private Investigators is shot, prognosis unknown?
As Alexandra Neve lays
comatose and defenceless, Ashford Egan must take on their enemy alone, and find
the cagiest criminal Scotland Yard has seen in decades. Determined to succeed,
Egan will stop at nothing. He’ll hit on married women, plant bugs, hire hitmen.
And he’ll do it all blind, which makes things ten times as difficult.
Double-crossed by
friends, convinced there is corruption in those sworn to uphold the law, Egan
is forced to form unlikely alliances as he moves forward in a game that
requires skills, nerves of steel, and a willingness to play against all odds.
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Excerpt :
A gentle wind is blowing, but it is too cold for the leaves
to carry any scent. Seconds tick away, as I wait.
A few minutes before the half hour, I hear the whining of
the Lantesks’ garage door and soon after the rumble of a car engine coming to
life. Mrs Lantesk is on time to go to work.
Ten
feet long the old woman had said of the gravel lane. It isn’t much
and I count the seconds after I first hear the crunching of gravel under the
car’s tyres. On three, I take a large step forward, bracing myself for the
impact I know is coming.
An instant later, the front of Mrs Lantesk’s car hits me on
my right side and I fly to the ground, instantly losing all sense of direction.
Up is down, down is left and I am only certain of one thing.
I hurt.
Turns out, no matter how ready you are for it, no matter how
much planning is involved, or how carefully you give in to the motion and roll
to the floor to absorb as much of the momentum as possible... getting hit by a
moving vehicle hurts.
The car comes to an abrupt halt an instant later, tyres
screeching against the gravel. The engine dies and I hear the car door open. It
is followed by a steady stream of feminine and high-pitched, ‘Oh my God, oh my
God, oh my God.’
Monica Lantesk must be wearing heels for I hear her feet
tapping the pavement as she hurries towards where I lie sprawled.
‘Are you all right?’ she asks in between another chortle of
oh-my-Gods.
I am, for the most part. I’m not seeing stars or anything
and I take quick stock of the situation. Nothing seems broken; my glasses are
missing, but I still have my cane in hand. I push myself up on one elbow and
make a show of moving the cane about in what I hope is a dazed and confused
manner. There is another wave of oh-my-Gods, as the woman realises I am blind
and she starts to pat me awkwardly on the shoulder.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Cristelle Comby
was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater
Geneva, where she still resides.
Thanks to her
insatiable thirst for American and British action films and television dramas,
her English is fluent.
She attributes
to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She
has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.
Blind Chess is
her fourth new-adult novel in the Neve & Egan series.
Links :
Interview with Cristelle Comby
What was the inspiration for your book?
Blind Chess is the direct continuation of the previous
book, Danse Macabre, and the
conclusion of a grand story-arc that begun in book one.
After being
shot at the end of Danse Macabre,
Neve lays in the hospital, comatose — prognosis unknown. It’s up to Egan to
pick up the torch and go after the man who ordered the hit on his partner,
alone. That’s a big step up for a man who, just a year ago was nothing more
than a blind middle-aged History professor with a the most mundane and boring
of lives.
Egan really
shines in this book. He was a hollowed man before Neve came along. He had his
uncomplicated life, with a carefully planned routine. Neve broke the walls he
had built around himself and shook his life up-side-down. She gave him a chance
to become someone better, something more. Everything led to this moment — Egan’s
final trial. Blind Chess is the story
I’ve been dying to tell since the beginning of the series.
What is your writing schedule?
I used to
write on the weekends, but lately I haven’t done much of that. I had to clock
in a lot of extra hours at work and that left me too drained to do much of
anything when I got back home. Hopefully things will get back to normal in
2016. Aside from the weekends, I write a lot when I’m on Holidays… Nearly
full-time.
What is your favorite spot to write?
In bed. I
have this special folding tiny table on which I can place my laptop, and a
folding thingy to lay my back against. I stuff it with cushions, slip in
underneath the covers and get to work. I like being warm and cozy to write. I
also need a quiet space to think.
What advice would you give budding writers?
Never give
up. Write for yourself, first and foremost, and do it the way you like it. I
promise there is someone, somewhere who’ll enjoy your story.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Cristelle
Comby will be awarding all four books of the series, signed by the author
(International Giveaway) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the
tour.
