It’s my honor to be introducing Carole’s last book. Carole (as Carole Bugge) was an early mentor when I was taking Creative/Fiction/Mystery writing at Gotham Writers a few years back. If you’re looking for a great mystery/suspense/thriller instructor, check her out! 

Author Name: Carole Lawrence

Book Title: Edinburgh Twilight

Book Genre: Historical Thriller

Release Date: September 5, 2017

Synopsis: As a new century approaches, Edinburgh is a city divided. The wealthy residents of New Town live in comfort, while Old Town’s cobblestone streets are clotted with criminals, prostitution, and poverty.

Detective Inspector Ian Hamilton is no stranger to Edinburgh’s darkest crimes. Scarred by the mysterious fire that killed his parents, he faces his toughest case yet when a young man is found strangled in Holyrood Park.

With little evidence aside from a strange playing card found on the body, Hamilton engages the help of his aunt, a gifted photographer, and George Pearson, a librarian with a shared interest in the criminal mind. But the body count is rising. As newspapers spin tales of the “Holyrood Strangler,” panic sets in across the city. And with each victim, the murderer is getting closer to Hamilton, the one man who dares to stop him.

Excerpt:

Edinburgh, 1881

As he trudged up the steep incline to the top of Arthur’s Seat on a wretched afternoon in late winter, Stephen Wycherly could not stop shivering. The sky was spitting rain, and a chill breeze blew in from the Firth of Forth, cutting through his already damp overcoat. But the fit of trembling that seized him as he reached the summit was more from dread than the biting February wind. Clutching the note summoning him to this godforsaken spot, he shielded his eyes from the rain and gazed around. He had not seen another soul on his lonely trek up the hill, which was hardly surprising—who in their right mind would venture out in this weather? And why did his tormentor insist they meet on this jagged outgrowth of rock on such a day?

Stephen fingered the money in his pocket. It was all he had—he hoped it was enough. He never imagined he would be a victim of blackmail; it was like a bad dream. He looked at his watch—already ten minutes past the appointed meeting time. His heart leapt at the prospect of having arrived too late for the assignation. The ruin of his reputation suddenly seemed a small price to pay to escape the creeping terror overtaking him as he gazed down at the city of Edinburgh. He was just about to leave when he became aware of a figure approaching him from the steeper trail that ascended the summit from the east. The man smiled when he saw Stephen, but there was no friendliness in his face, no warmth in those icy eyes.

“You came,” the man said. “I did not think you would.”

“Of course I came,” Stephen said, projecting confidence he did not have. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Very well,” his companion agreed. “Wait—what’s that?” His gaze was fixed on a point over Stephen’s shoulder, and, his instinct for self-preservation overcome by curiosity, Wycherly turned to look.

That was all the distraction the other man needed. Stephen felt the garrote around his neck before he could turn around to face his opponent. Flailing, he staggered backward, hands clawing vainly at his throat, as his attacker tightened the ligature. The last thing he heard before consciousness slipped away was a soft voice in his ear.

“There, there, now—it will all be over soon. Sweet dreams.”

About the author: Carole Lawrence (Carole Buggé) is a New York-based suspense writer, performer, composer and prize-winning playwright and poet whose previous books have been praised as “lively. . .” (Publishers Weekly); “constantly absorbing. . .” (starred Kirkus Review); and “superbly crafted prose” (Boston Herald). Titan Press recently reissued her two Sherlock Holmes novels, The Star of India and The Haunting of Torre Abbey. Her Lee Campbell thrillers, under the name C.E. Lawrence, include Silent Screams and its sequels, are about a criminal profiler pursuing serial killers in New York City. Find her at  http://celawrence.com/

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