Book Title: Finding Ruby Draker, Shadows in the Aftermath, Reinhardt, and Underneath the Fireflies by Marianne Scott
Category: Adult Fiction (18+)
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Crowe Creations
Release dates: Re-release 2023
Content Rating: PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader/s.
Book Title: Finding Ruby Draker by Marianne Scott
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 388 pages
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Crowe Creations
Release date: May 29, 2023
Content Rating: PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader/s.
"It all ended with the fire that took away my parents, my little brother, and everything I was or ever knew. That part of me is gone.”
On a day that was supposed to end in celebration, Kathleen Jones finds that her home has been torched and her family killed. In the chaos and terror of the moment, two men grab and drug her unconscious. As she awakes in a clinic with her face in bandages, more men with guns storm in and try to kill her but her abductors save her life, whisking her away on a private jet to France.
Now that everyone is calling her Ruby—Ruby Draker, she knows that her life will never be the same.
Book Title: Shadows in the Aftermath by Marianne Scott
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 346 pages
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Crowe Creations
Release date: June 2023
Content Rating: PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader/s.
He’s alive!
At the safehouse in Southern France, Ruby Draker is stunned as she monitors the security system, when a photograph appears on the screen. Presumed dead, the photograph shows Robert Draker in a wheel chair at the Portland, Maine physio clinic. The Draker family immediately jump into action and fly to the US to save Robert. But they no sooner land when they realize that not only is Robert harder to find than they anticipated, there is a much larger situation of concern. Now they have to chose between saving their beloved family member or defending national security.
.jpg)
Book Title: Reinhardt (a thriller) by Marianne Scott
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 224 pages
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Crowe Creations
Release date: October 2022
Content Rating: PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader/s.
He's a Cold War spy hiding from one of his own. His real identity is tied to a treacherous past associated with American intelligence operations closed down after the end of the Cold War, and his enemy is relentless. All he has to do is change his name. Right? Wrong. Very wrong. Felix has eyes and ears everywhere.
Book Title: Underneath the Fireflies by Marianne Scott
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 496 pages
Genre: Murder Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Crowe Creations
Release date: January 2023
Content Rating: PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader/s.
No matter where Grace Walker goes, her extra sensory power goes with her. She's an empath and she sees things -- terrible things. After a tragic accident at the place where she works, she decides to take a mental-health break on a remote West Coast island. But she no sooner gets to Galliano Island when a vision of the murder of an Indigenous woman draws her into a disturbing and threatening dilemma.
Amazon.ca ~ Amazon.com
B&N~ BAM ~ Bookbub
add to goodreads
Marianne Scott is the Canadian author of four mystery thrillers and is currently working on her fifth novel, a sci-fi/thriller. She is a graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University. She studied creative writing through Conestoga and Humber College. She has been the president of the Cambridge Writer’s Collective. She constantly works to improve her craft by engaging with other writing organizations and is a standing member of One Lit Place, a writers’ hub by creator/editor Jenna Kalinsky. She has an author’s website and blog. She is a full-time writer who lives in Hespeler Ontario.
connect with the author:
website ~ twitter ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads ~ bookbub
Underneath the Fireflies follows a woman with supernatural abilities who tries to take a relaxing vacation only to have a disturbing vision that puts her in danger. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I think that many authors find inspiration from people they meet and events that happen around them. For me, inspiration usually comes from a place, particularly a location. Underneath the Fireflies was inspired when I visited a West Coast Island located between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia. The mountains, the ocean, and the old growth forest are so beautiful and almost spiritual in its serenity. When I learned about the west coast sea wolves, I was hooked. I knew they had to be part of my story. Somehow, the story called out for a spirit wolf and his connection to Indigenous Ancestors.
I had a family connection to the island as well. My sister lived there with her second husband in a timber framed home that overlooked the ocean. It was truly a piece of heaven. It seemed fitting that I have a protagonist who had a similar connection, a reason to go there for a respite, to recharge and regain her equilibrium as she healed from the traumatic incident that caused her mental break down. My sister and her husband called their property Abalone Hideaway, a name I found so enticing I used it Fireflies.
Location was also the inspiration for my first three novels, spy thrillers whose safehouse was located in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in Southern France. The villa was the Ephrussi de Rothchild estate now owned by the state. I visited there in 2015 and was captivated by its grandeur and immediately knew that the place had a story. The third book in series, a prequel, titled Reinhardt, explains how the main character acquires the place as well as all the wealth associated with its possession. Finding Ruby Draker starts the series in New York, where a psychopath is on a killing rampage that targets and kills her family. Shadows in the Aftermath, continues the saga with more locational anchors as this pseudo family tries to stop this killer.
I suppose that a writer always has a story on their mind. I found that as I dwelled on these exotic places, the perfect characters emerged, finding their way in to a story filled with conflict, characters who found refuge in the peace and beauty of a so-called paradise while a villain tried to destroy them and all they held dear.
Grace is an empath in need of a mental health break but must struggle through challenges to stop a killer. What was the inspiration for the main character's traits and dialogue?
A story isn’t a story unless your main character has a problem. It’s easy and typical to have a protagonist who has an enemy trying to kill them. But, given that we all have problems that interfere with our lives, I wanted my main character to have a struggle with herself. Grace is conflicted because she has to keep her ability a secret or be considered insane if she reveals that she has visions of a two-year-old murder. In Toronto, Grace has a vision of sinister technology that enslaves the minds of the Danton workers. Trying to stop the evil plan led to the death of the perpetrator, Evelyn, the CEO of the company.
Yet Grace’s ability of visions that reveal bad actions, isn’t actually that far fetched. I think we all have a bit of empathic ability. Haven’t you at some point, felt that something is amiss? I get that feeling in churches, especially the old European churches that inter their dead in crypts below the floor. So creepy, it makes my skin crawl. That sense of the dead lurking underfoot overpowers the awe of the beautiful sculptures and mosaics that adore the architecture of these magnificent buildings. I think that’s what makes it believable. Some places and things just make us uncomfortable and we can’t explain why. A reader can relate to the feeling of what’s about to happen. It’s why we so often say, “I just had a feeling.”
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The theme of good verses evil is always present in a thriller. But, because the murder is that of an Indigenous woman, and the island is the home of the Island Nation Band (a fictitious tribe), it allowed for sub-themes like injustice resulting from murdered and missing Indigenous women in Canada. I also hint at racism as some of the islanders resent their presence. Yet Grace’s parents, Leo and Maria, actually have an endearing friendship with Rebecca and Joseph who are Indigenous. There is also a generational gap theme with characters Elias, Holly, and Hugo, young people who are trying to find their place on the island.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?
I find it interesting that some readers wonder if there was a story that takes place before this one. The truth is that I actually started a novel, titled The Walker Trait, that introduces Grace and her struggle with her empathic ability. It features the illegal activities taking place at the Danton Electronics company, but also hints that Grace’s biological parents are also both empaths who gave her up at birth to protect her from people who wanted to know about and exploit their abilities. Maria is actually her aunt who together with her husband Leo rescue the infant Grace immediately after birth. Hmm… it sounds like a good story but for some reason I abandoned it 100 pages into the manuscript. Sometime a story has to marinate giving it time to come into the world.
I’m currently working on novel that explores life from other planets. It takes place (it’s always place – first) in my home town of Hespeler which I rename Jacobs Landing. My main character is immortal who discovers a portal where alien humanoids find their way to my sleepy little village.
These look like great books!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading these.
ReplyDeleteThese sounds like great books! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete