P. J. Tracy

Nov 15, 2024 | criminalelement.com | Crime HQ |Olivia Blacke |P. J. Tracy

Chapter OneCORDELIAI didn’t know how long I sat cross-legged in the snow, waiting for the dead man crumpled on the ground in front of my building to wake up. Might have been five minutes. Might have been five hours. As I watched, pellets of snow accumulated on his flannel pajama-clad legs and fuzzy-sock-covered feet. The dead man wasn’t dressed for the weather, that much was certain. Boston in the winter was harsh and unforgiving, but he hadn’t died from exposure.

Nov 11, 2024 | criminalelement.com | Crime HQ |Deborah Benoit |Janet Webb |P. J. Tracy

Today's featured excerpt is from The Gardener's Plot by Deborah Benoit. The premise is about a woman helps set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a body in one of the plots on opening day. In bookstores now! Chapter FourSilence in the garden. I gaped at the pale foot and the ankle beneath it, then the boot in my hand and the sock hanging limply from it. I looked back at the foot. The freshly turned soil enveloped whatever was beneath it. “Oh my god,” someone gasped.

Oct 24, 2024 | criminalelement.com | Crime HQ |John Valeri |Doreen Sheridan |P. J. Tracy

Head Cases by John McMahon follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying series debut. Read on for this featured excerpt. Riddles. Those are my specialty. That is, when I am not studying patterns. Or decoding enigmas. Some might say that solving puzzles is all I’m good for. That leaving my desk in the Jacksonville office of the FBI to interact with real people is not the best use of my time or talent. And I would agree with them.

Sep 18, 2024 | criminalelement.com | Doreen Sheridan |P. J. Tracy

The first few pages of this arresting novel paint a picture of the heroine as a quiet young academic who uses the act of sentence diagramming as a centering exercise and basks when her untrumpeted genius is finally recognized by another. In fact, the adult Maggie Moore at the beginning of this book is so austere and focused on words that I was honestly a little worried that I’d be stuck reading about a joyless, bloodless pedant until it becomes vibrantly clear that she’s anything but.

Sep 13, 2024 | criminalelement.com | P. J. Tracy |Janet Webb |Crime HQ

Chapter OneWHEN BRUCE MESSANE’S PHONE WOKE HIM at half past midnight, he knew it couldn’t possibly be good news— good news never came this late. He tried to guess what calamity was waiting for him on the other end of the line. Best-case scenario was more supply chain issues and shipping delays, a constant scourge since COVID. Worst-case scenario was a bad quarterly projection that could blow up the deal with Wilder Foods. Please, God, not that. Not now. They were so close.