Author Guest Post
Time To Upgrade My iPhone
By: David Burnsworth
Regardless of the title, this really isn’t about my iPhone. It’s about me not being able to part with things easily. Especially things that have been good to me. Like my last car, a Mazda Protégé. It was obvious to everyone but me that it needed to be replaced six months before I finally gave in. Instead, I bought a fresh set of tires and ignored the smoking exhaust and various squeaks and rattles down the highway. And then I bought another Mazda, and the “new” one’s now paid for and got a few more years on it, I hope, because I’m not quite ready to accept that I need a new one.
I once had a job that had started to go south. The signs, again, were there. But I toughed it out a few years too many before making the change. Glad I did and things worked out, but I might have been better served looking earlier.
The laptop I’m writing this on is ten years old. It still works fine now on its second keyboard and battery. And it has been the vehicle I used to write four books, a novella, various short stories and blog submissions, and also hosts my current work in progress. But I get the feeling that I need to back things up more often and have some money set aside for its replacement.
Confession time. I can’t wait to get my new iPhone. And I’m thinking about what I might replace my current wheels with. A nice sports car for my fiftieth birthday sounds about right. That’s more than a few years away so I would still have time to spend with my Mazda.
Is there anything you tend to hold onto?
About The Author
David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Southern Heat is his first mystery. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife along with their dog call South Carolina home.
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Big City Heat by David Burnsworth
Book 3: Brack Pelton / Heat Mystery Series
Publisher: Henery Press
Publication Date: PB - March 6, 2017 / eBook - April 25, 2017
Format: Paperback - 294 pages
Kindle - 754 KB
Nook - 473 KB
ISBN: 978-1635111996
ASIN: B01N6UQHTG
BNID: 2940157525187
Genre: Mystery / Suspense / Thriller
Buy The Book:
Buy The Series:
Book 1: Southern Heat
Book 2: Burning Heat
Book 3: Big City Heat
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.
Book Description:
Lowcountry bar owner and ex-Marine Brack Pelton heads to Atlanta in the wake of a panicked 3 AM phone call. A woman is missing and Brack’s friend Mutt is in danger. Brack’s old flame, investigative news correspondent Darcy Wells, now lives there and is set to marry another man. If Brack was honest with himself, and he usually wasn’t, he’d realize that the missing woman isn’t the reason for his visit. His Semper Fi buddy Mutt can handle himself just fine.
When Brack and Mutt team up to find the woman, the Atlanta underworld revolts, the two biggest players target them, and people start dying. Most people would size up the situation, call it impossible, and walk away. But most people are not Brack Pelton. Impossible situations are his specialty. He made it through Afghanistan and when the military commanders mistook suicidal tendencies for leadership qualities they promoted him. Can Brack succeed at finding the woman, protecting his friend, and winning the girl without destroying the Capital of the South? Not since Sherman’s march across Georgia has the city of Atlanta been in this much danger.
Book Excerpt:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me...
Psalm 23:4
Atlanta, Georgia, Wednesday night, Mid-MayBrack Pelton waited in his Porsche by a no-parking zone in a very bad part of the city and watched someone he thought he knew well climb out of an old Eldorado convertible. The man entered a ramshackle building with a neon beer mug shining through its one dirty window.
Easing away from the red-marked bus stop, Brack found a better location down the block and pulled in. Before getting out of the Porsche, he woke Shelby, his tan mixed-breed dog slumbering in the backseat, and pulled a forty-five from the glovebox. He verified a round was chambered.
Shelby licked his lips and gave a quick bark as Brack slid the pistol down the back waistband of his cargo shorts.
Patting his dog on the head, Brack asked, “Ready?” A needless question. Another bark affirmed Shelby’s stand on things.
“When we get inside, your job is to find Mutt. Okay?” Shelby licked his face. Brack knew that as long as their target hadn’t escaped out some back door, Shelby would find him. Mutt was one of his favorite people. Brack’s too. That was why tracking him like this went against everything he believed in doing.
Mutt was the one who often rode shotgun with Brack as they’d right Charleston’s wrongs. Now Mutt was the one in the crosshairs. Thanks to an early morning phone call from Cassie, Mutt’s girlfriend, a life depended on answers his friend would give. The forty-five wouldn’t come out unless trouble came up.
The barroom’s rusty screen door screeched open. Shelby darted ahead, already focused on his objective. Brack entered a time warp. Uncanny how even the sour bar wash fragrance and cigarette smoke were the same. Through the old familiar haze, he imagined Mutt standing behind a peeling Formica counter pouring drinks to patrons who could barely afford their rent. Somehow, Mutt had managed to replicate his termite-infested watering hole three hundred miles west of where his original joint stood before some spoiled neighborhood brat burned it down.
“You lost?” A very large African-American man wearing a soiled wife-beater chalking a pool cue confronted the white newcomer.
Meeting his gaze, Brack said, “No. I’m looking for a loudmouth Marine named Mutt. If he’s here drinking, the rounds are on me. If he owns this place, I’m going to beat the life out of him.”
“Big talk coming from someone in yo’ shoes,” he said. Four other men flanked him, two on each side, all with arms folded across their meaty chests. Five soiled wife-beaters in a row. A worn-out AC unit clicked and sputtered, failing to condition the polluted air in the establishment.
Shelby seemed to take longer than usual to find Mutt. Only one thing could sidetrack him. But no women had ever been present in the original Mutt’s Bar in Charleston. They’d been afraid to enter the place.
Maybe Atlanta women were different. Casually Brack removed the half-smoked cigar he’d been saving in his pocket and lit it. The only faithful friend he had left at the moment was his own adrenaline. Brack was angry at Mutt and wouldn’t mind working it out of his system on these five gentlemen facing him.
Three more joined them. Okay, these eight gentlemen.
Brack felt more gather behind him. His wayward dog better have a real good excuse for not warning him.
Taking a drag on the stogie, he exhaled a cloud of smoke to add to the carcinogenic fog. “It’s going to be a bad day for some of you.”
Chuckles echoed around the room, undoubtedly at his expense.
Mutt pushed his way through the gathering mob. A few inches over six feet, he’d replaced his boxed Afro with a close trim since the last time Brack had seen him. His clothes were of a more recent vintage, another change, and to Brack’s untrained eye, quite stylish.
“Opie, you always got to do things the hard way, don’t ’cha?” Brack couldn’t decide if he wanted to punch him or shake his hand. The fact that his friend sported a bridge that replaced his missing front teeth also caught him off guard.
Shelby was not with Mutt. From behind, Brack heard the gruff words, “You want us to take this cracker out back, Mutt?”
Mutt knew as well as Brack did that they were greatly outnumbered. But Brack figured Mutt also knew that a few of his patrons would spend the next few weeks in the hospital if things went south.
Before either of them could say anything, a husky female voice came from somewhere in the crowd. “You got the prettiest dog.”
All the men turned in the direction of the voice. Through a break in the undershirt line, Brack observed a heavyset black woman in a way-too-tight purple body suit. Clearly she’d fallen in love with his dog. Her extra-long orange day-glo fingernails scratched behind his ears.
Sitting on his haunches with closed eyes, Shelby flapped his tongue and panted in what Brack recognized as pure bliss. Two other women wearing similar attire also gave Shelby their full attention. Brack was about to get pummeled by eight or more hulks itching to right the wrongs of their world, yet his dog had managed to pick up what looked like all the women in the establishment.
The spokesman for the wife-beater ensemble said, “We ain’t finished wit you, white boy.”
Brack turned back to him. Mutt got between them. “Easy, Charlie. He’s my brother.” The men looked at each other as if Mutt and Brack could possibly be related. Of course, they weren’t in the traditional sense.
“Summertime” by Billy Stewart began to play somewhere in the room. A real classic.
Circling Shelby, the women moved their ample hips to the beat. The dog, in plus-sized heaven, spun around, not sure which lady to kiss first.
A fourth woman Brack hadn’t noticed until now came from behind the bar to stand beside Mutt. Almost as tall as Brack, with dark brown skin, a buzzed haircut, and toned figure bordering on muscular. Her inked-up arms momentarily distracted Brack.
The man Mutt called Charlie said, “I don’t care who you think he is. He ain’t got the juice to come in here talking about beatin’ you up.”
Mutt turned to his old friend. “You said you was gonna beat me up?”
“Something like that.” Brack cocked his head. “I get a call begging me to drive here from Charleston. It’s Cassie. She’s scared half to death because some men threatened her, and she doesn’t know what you do when you leave her house late at night. Put yourself in her shoes.”
The woman bartender looked at him. “You must be Brack.” Mutt interrupted. “Opie, I’ma tell you like I tol’ Cassie. What I do is my bidness. She ain’t got no right to ask.”
Charlie moved in like he was about to throw a punch. Before Brack could react, the toned female bartender grabbed Charlie by the shirt collar and said, “You really don’t want to do that.”
Mutt said, “Easy there, Tara. We all friends here.” She didn’t let go. Charlie backed off. Brack dropped what was left of his cigar on the floor, crushed it with his foot, and turned back to Mutt. “You better tell me what’s going on, or I will beat the ever-living daylights out of you.”
***
Excerpt from Big City Heat: A Brack Pelton Mystery by David Burnsworth.
Copyright © 2017 by David Burnsworth.
Reproduced with permission from David Burnsworth. All rights reserved.
My Book Review:
In the third book of the Brack Pelton / Heat Mystery Series, Big City Heat, author David Burnsworth transports the reader back to the lowcountry setting of Charleston, SC for another intriguing Brack Pelton Southern noir / mystery adventure.
Brack Pelton is an Afghanistan war veteran and owner of the Pirate's Cove bar on the Isle of Palm. When he gets a call that his friend Mutt is in danger and needs his help finding his girlfriend Cassie's missing little sister Regan, Brack leaves his sultry lowcountry home of Charleston, SC for Atlanta. Brack and Mutt team up to find the missing woman while playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the seedy players in the Atlanta underworld. And if you think that isn't enough action for Brack, add in the reunion with his old-flame, investigative news correspondent Darcy Wells, and the heat level jacks up in ol' Hotlanta!
Author David Burnsworth weaves a fast-paced and suspenseful tale that follows Brack's investigative journey as it takes him all over Atlanta.The reader is easily drawn into this well written story with its richly descriptive plot and setting, it is filled with enough action and unsuspecting twists and turns that takes the reader on one hell of a thrilling roller coaster ride.
As a fan of Southern fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thrilling mystery. I was intrigued by Brack and Mutt's adventure. I loved Brack's gritty nature and sarcastic attitude, and I found myself cheering for him and Mutt as they embarked on another dangerous adventure.
With an intriguing cast of characters; witty dialogue and dramatic interactions; and a richly descriptive Southern setting, Big City Heat is a classic Southern noir mystery novel that is a must read!
RATING: 4 STARS
Contest Giveaway
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for David Burnsworth and Henery Press.
There will be 1 winner of one (1) $15 Amazon.com Gift Card and 5 winners of one (1) eBook copy of Big City Heat by David Burnsworth.
The giveaway begins on April 22, 2017 and runs through May 29, 2017.
This giveaway is for US residents only. Void where prohibited by law.
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Virtual Book Tour
Tour Schedule:
4/24 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader
4/25 Review @ CMash Reads
4/25 Showcase @ Sapphyrias Book Reviews
4/26 Interview/showcase @ CMash Reads
4/26 Showcase @ Books, Dreams, Life
4/27 Showcase @ BooksChatter
5/02 Showcase @ A Bookworms Journal
5/03 Review/Interview @ Rockin Book Reviews - GIVEAWAY
5/04 Interview @ Deal Sharing Aunt
5/05 Showcase @ A Bookaholic Swede
5/08 Review @ BookLove
5/09 Review @ just reviews
5/10 Showcase/Guest post @ Suspense Magazine
5/11 Review @ Blogging with A
5/15 Review/Guest post @ Brooke Blogs
5/16 Showcase @ The Pulp and Mystery Shelf
5/17 Showcase @ Celticladys Reviews
5/18 Review @ Inside of a Dog
5/23 Review @ Bunnys Review
5/25 Blog Talk Radio w/Fran Lewis
5/26 Review/Guest post @ Jersey Girl Book Reviews
I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the other books in this series. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl! This is an awesome series to read, thank you for your kind comment. :)
DeleteLove this book and the whole series!
ReplyDeleteHi Rowena! Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate it. I love this series too! :)
Delete