About the Book:
Publication Date: November 4, 2024
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Genre: Mystery. A hardboiled PI novel with a fallen angel protagonist
Following the death of Kris Kringle, the operation of Christmas is taken over by a shadowy organization known as the Company who shutter the toy line at the North Pole and reestablish their base in the newly minted city of Yule Tide. Suspecting their motives, the Archangelic Council recalls its liaison to Christmas—an angel named Harold. When Harold refuses to return to Heaven, he is stripped of his wings and is grounded on Earth. His influence gone, Harold is fired by the Company and becomes a none-too-successful private investigator. But when he is hired by the beautiful wife of a Company executive to locate her missing husband, Harold sees a chance at redemption.
Searching for the missing man, Harold uncovers secrets that the Company will protect at all costs. He must also balance his growing attraction to his client with a renewed hope of regaining his wings.
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Excerpt:
“I have come to understand more than I once did about the nature of truth. Truth is, dare I say it, ‘fungible.’ Different versions are traded like tchotchkes as if none have any meaning except to distract… I’ve also found that people believe most ardently in what they wish were the truth. Whereas the actual truth, like the cry of a trapped miner, is but a muffled echo sounding from a cavern of the damned.”
Billy shuddered. “Anyway, you ain’t told me how the meeting with Elvin went.”
“You mean Santa?”
Billy wrinkled his nose. “I remember him as Elvin. And I told you, I can’t believe they couldn’t have come up with a better candidate for Claus than him.”
“You sound jealous.”
Billy’s eyes went wide with innocence. “Who me? Nah. You kidding? I mean, I do remember some years back when Elvin and I was both up for a promotion to line foreman. So, he plays the corporate game better than me. I got pride is what I got.”
“You definitely have something,” Angel agreed.
Billy ignored him. “That Elvin? Always so smart, so perfect. Always working out. Always in tip-top shape. What’s with that anyhow? And his wife. She’s the same. All defined muscles, long legs, and those shoulders? Yowsa! I’ll bet she could clean and jerk a Buick.”
“Careful, Billy.”
“I mean, what’s it do to Kringle’s memory to have his successor and his wife on the cover of Shape magazine?”
“I think they are a very attractive couple.”
“The real Santa and Mrs. Claus was an attractive couple. They had natural beauty.”
“Kringle was morbidly obese and had a perpetually red nose.”
“Yeah, but he did it with class. Didn’t have to work out every day to impress everyone.”
“I don’t think the new Santa works out to impress everyone,” Angel said. “I think he does it for his health. Could be if Kringle had taken better care of himself, we’d still have him with us.”
Billy shook his head sadly. “I miss him, Boss. I really do. I mean, he fired me and all. But I miss him.”
“I do too, Billy.”
“The truth,” Angel answered, “does not depend on whether one believes it. The truth is the truth.”
Scratch chuckled. “You continue to surprise me, Angel. The truth is this. When presented with facts that are unsettling, most people prefer to believe in a comforting lie. Events of the last several years have proven that. The real truth is that believing in alternative, unsubstantiated facts is empowering. To claim without doubt that a lie is the truth both sets a person apart from the conforming crowd and binds them with others that profess to believe likewise. The lie makes them tribal. Powerful. It produces a kind of gleeful association. Believing in lies is a sort of alchemy—changing something, or someone, base into gold.”
About the Author:
Brian Anderson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota whose Dinkytown neighborhood provides the setting for his mystery series featuring private investigator Lyle Dahms. The Dahms novels spring from his lifelong love of mystery fiction, especially the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, as well as more contemporary masters like Robert B. Parker and G.M. Ford. He is a three-time finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association mystery and suspense contest.
Brian spent much of his professional career working to alleviate domestic hunger serving as the operations director of the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County as well as the manager of the Pike Market Food Bank in downtown Seattle. Married with three beautiful daughters, he now lives and writes in Ocean Shores, a small city on the Washington coast.
Contact Links:
Website: www.brianandersonmysteries.com
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/brianandersonmysteries
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22749823.Brian_Anderson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/brianandersonmysteries
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brianandersonmysteries
Giveaway:
The author is offering an eBook copy of Yule Tide to one lucky winner.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/30806ff53/
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