When millionaire oilman Ralph Sampson goes missing, his worried wife hires a private detective to track him down. Lew Archer soon discovers, though that what initially seemed a matter of a man on a bender may in fact be a case of kidnapping. As he investigates further, he encounters an eclectic group of individuals connected to Sampson, all of whom are possibly involved in Sampson's disappearance. With the likelihood of finding Sampson alive diminishing with each passing second, Archer races to discover everyone's secrets, even if doing so comes at the cost of his life.

 

Though The Moving Target was Ross Macdonald's first novel featuring his signature detective Lew Archer, it is the sixth one in the series that I have read. Because of this, it serves as an interesting contrast with the others. Though in some ways a prototype of the future volumes in the series, many of the elements that characterize Macdonald's Archer novels — such as the long-held secrets and connections with seemingly unrelated crimes decades beforehand — are absent from this book. Instead what Macdonald provides is a more straightforward mystery involving a grief-ridden family and the dangerous characters orbiting around them. In this respect it's a refreshing change of pace from the regular patterns that would come to characterize the series, which can grow a little tiresome when read back-to-back. This may explain why I enjoyed the novel as much as I did, even if the book did not possess the virtuosic plotting and character development that would become a hallmark of Macdonald's writing in subsequent years. Once again, variety proves to be the spice of life, even with works of such rare quality as Macdonald's.

 

 

They're trying to kill her, and she doesn't know why...

 

Kathryn Burke knows only that she has to get far away as fast as she can. In a frantic, cross-country odyssey, she transforms from pliable Kathryn to feisty, determined Kate Griffin, staying one step ahead of the killers on her trail. Then Fate delivers her into the hands of a dark knight with a tortured past. The safety he offers is as tempting as he is.

 

After having his perfect life ripped apart, recluse Quinn sees protecting Kate as his chance for redemption. He never plans on wanting the guarded beauty, never mind falling for her. Denying the explosive chemistry between them is useless, and as danger closes in, he must fight to expose the killer or risk history repeating itself.

 

 

Kathryn Burke is on the run from killers and she has no idea why. Kate Griffin has landed into the hands of a dark knight with a tortured past. Seeing his chance for redemption, Quinn must fight to expose the killer or risk history repeating itself.

 

The first book in the Guardian Security series is a thrilling story and Kate and Quinn are strong characters that easily draw readers in and hold them captive.

The relationship is full of sizzling chemistry but also of dangerous obstacles which keep readers glued to the pages as they join Kathryn on her frantic cross-country transformation into Kate while on the run from killers and readers can’t help but fall for her the sexy and tortured knight that certainly didn’t count on falling for the girl.

Emotional turmoil has this couple fighting their attraction throughout which along with all the excitement of trying to stay alive and discovering just who the bad guys are guarantees that there is never a dull moment in this fast paced plot full of thrilling suspense, adrenaline pumping action and surprising twist that keeps readers guessing and wondering just who can they trust and who will come out on top.

 

Once again, Desiree Holt provides readers with a stirring romance that kept me on the edge of my seat and I can’t wait to read to read the next book in this exhilarating series.

 

 

Moving Target

 

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35298433-moving-target

 

BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/books/moving-target-by-desiree-holt

 

Author - https://desireeholt.com/books/moving-target/

 

is the 1st book in the Guardian Security

 

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/series/215970-guardian-security

 

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B073PWRVNR/ref=dp_st_1509215956

 

 

which includes

 

1 Moving Target
2 Silencing Memories
3 The Bargain / Killing Lies
4 Running Scared

 

 

Oath of a Warrior is available in print or ebook

 

WRP - https://wildcatalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-erotic/5157-moving-target.html

 

Amazon - http://amzn.to/2ya0nS8

 

B&N - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/moving-target-desiree-holt/1126482224?ean=2940157226428

 

Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/moving-target-28

 

iBooks - https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/moving-target/id1252492434?mt=11

 

GPlay - https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Desiree_Holt_Moving_Target?id=O4gpDwAAQBAJ

 

BookStrand - https://www.bookstrand.com/moving-target-2

 

 

For more purchase options - visit the author's book page.

 

Known to the world as the oldest author of erotic romance, Desiree Holt proves every day that she is more than the sum of her years. She is a winner of the EPIC E-Book Award, an Authors After Dark Author of the Year and winner of the Holt Medallion. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The London Daily Mail and numerous other national and international publications. She enjoys football and reading and her three cats, who are her constant writing companions.

Website - http://www.desireeholt.com/

 

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1270681.Desiree_Holt

 

BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/profile/desiree-holt?list=author_books

 

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/desireeholtauthor

 

Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/desireeholt

 

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Desiree-Holt/e/B003LD2Q3M/

 

Pintrest - http://pinterest.com/desiree02holt/

 

G+ https://plus.google.com/113212301982441064210

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing this card for the known suspect Arthur Conan Doyle (author's first name begins with C).

There should have been some sort of warning.

- First Sentence

 

"Everything is part of the same painting," as my dad liked to say. "But we are each the artist of our own life. We choose what colors to use."

- Chapter 1

 

 

Cassie is an eighth grader living with her father in Rome, having an ordinary, boring life (except for the fact that she is an American girl living in Rome). One day, Cassie's father comes to school and yanks her into the car, speeding through the city, blabbering about how much he loves her, how he is going to fix things, and how he should have told her when she was younger. He finally tells Cassie that the Hastati are after her. Cassie has no idea what that means and she thinks he might be crazy, but then a motorcycle pulls up and the rider starts shooting at them. When her dad gets shot, Cassie takes him to the hospital, but he insists she must run to find Brother Gregorio for help. Cassie is terrified and runs to the only place she thinks might be safe, her friend Simone's house. But when the danger follows her even there, Cassie and Simone must find Brother Gregorio and find out what all of this means.

 

 In her dad's notebook, Cassie finds this message:

The Guardian will be bound for life once the spearhead is used.

It turns out the Hastati are a two thousand year old organization entrusted with one important duty - protect the spear (The Spear of Destiny). The spear can shape destiny, but only certain people can use the power - and Cassie is the last of that bloodline.

I was just an average girl. Things like this were not supposed to happen to people like me. The palette of my life's painting was gray or maybe a boring variety of beige, not psychedelic neon.

 

Well, this book starts off running and doesn't slow down. Cassie is constantly trying to figure out who to trust and how to keep Simone and herself safe. They are racing to find the spear, but they aren't the only ones. They must figure out baffling clues at every turn and stay ahead of the two factions fighting each other for control of the spear.

 

This is an edge of your seat adventure that will keep readers guessing until the end. I highly recommend it to kids in grades 4-8 who enjoy mysterious adventure stories with strong female heroines.

 

After having read that Ross Macdonald was alleged to write hard-boiled, noir, detective fiction as well as Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett, I had to check him out. The first book was indeed good, but my kindle access to Ross Macdonald was limited. No copies in my own library and only a couple at the Boston Public Library. But, it seems that the Woburn Public Library has a much larger selection of Macdonald titles. So, of course, I had to get me a library card to the Woburn Public Library. I could easily do that on my way home from a visit to my friendly audiologist. And so I did. This is the first of the Macdonald titles I checked out from them.

This is, naturally, a convoluted tale. An oil tycoon, Ralph Sampson, goes missing. His wife is worried about his drinking, gambling, and womanizing, but wants him back, if only to make sure she outlives him before his fortune disappears. She calls in Lew Archer to find the man. On his way in to meet with the woman, to get more details, Archer first meets Alan Taggert, the family pilot, and Sampson's delectable daughter, Miranda. Miranda, it seems has designs on Taggert. Sometimes, Taggert plays along, but other times he makes it clear he is uninterested.

So, it seems that Taggert flew Sampson from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, or environs. Sampson was drunk as a lord by the time they got to the airport. By the time Taggert had put the plane to bed, Sampson had disappeared. The limousine called to pick him up got a later call telling them not to bother. So who had picked up Sampson, and where did he go? That's Archer's problem in a nut shell. Well, a few days later, they get a ransom note, written in Sampson's handwriting. That rather escalates the problem, how to pay the ransom, while still getting Sampson back alive?

So, we wander into The Wild Piano, a bar which Sampson sometimes frequented. He'd been seen there recently with an over-the-hill Hollywood actress, Fay Estabrook. The bar features a torch singer, Betty Fraley, who also seems to have palled with Sampson. We run into a "religious mystic" who has a mountain top refuge, donated, it seems by Sampson, but the guy is pretty clearly a fraud and is doing something not-so-kosher on the side. Then there's Archer's old pal from his days working for the DA, Albert Graves, who left the DA office to become the family lawyer. Graves has a mad crush on Miranda, which means he has no love for Taggert.

I dunno, there's lots of other stuff going on, floozies and mashers, gun men and dead bodies, all the good stuff of noir fiction. It's quite well written. Based on my limited sample of two, I'd say Ross Macdonald is close to Raymond Chandler in the quality of his writing, a quality well above that of Dashiell Hammett (not difficult, Hammett had great plot lines, but wooden prose). I foresee much more Macdonald in my future, thanks to my new library card. Who knew there was anything good one could say about Woburn?