Giveaways and New Releases

Hello from Heart Beat Books!

Ambition can be murder in SILHOUETTE, a new release I'm excited to announce that may be the start of a series.

Newly-widowed single father Ben Harper is a small-town prosecutor investigating a murder in his rural Louisiana parish.

All the evidence points to nearby New Orleans, where Ben's former mentor, charismatic Black mayor Jarman Martrell, is in the political fight of his career.

Armed with an ambitious plan to transform the city, Martrell faces challenges on all sides: a cagey opponent who's expert at playing voters' emotions; high-powered donors and handlers with hidden agendas; an impatient lover; a suspicious wife; and a racially-explosive secret that looks like a motive for murder.

With a deadly adversary beckoning, Ben must uncover a terrible truth before more people die on the altar of ambition.

What early readers have said:

"A fascinating read, clear and suspenseful, all the way until the end. Keeps the reader guessing and turning the page. This is a complex tale with lots of characters."

"The author does a wonderful job expressing the intricacies and nuances of race in America."

"Ben Harper is smart, anchored, educated, and cares about his people."

"I was very pulled in by the writing, culture, setting, and characters. The prose works to help the pacing move along in a very commercial way, but has a literary feel about it."

"Martin explores character, history, race, and politics. I loved learning about the post-Katrina political landscape. Really, really good!"

"Loved the writing. It's streamlined and economical, but still has a lot of texture and layering."

Silhouette is FREE in Kindle Unlimited, $3.99 otherwise, and will be out in paperback soon. Pick up your copy at Amazon:

Silhouette: A Ben Harper Mystery. FREE in Kindle Unlimited.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FH6DR48

I'M GIVING AWAY early beta copies of CRIMSY and for some lucky readers, will include either The Martian (Andy Weir); The Smallest Lights in the Universe (Sara Seager); or The Sirens of Mars (Sarah Stewart Johnson).

(The beta copies are uncorrected proofs and I do recommend reading the final version, which I think is a much better reader experience. Just reply to this message if you'd like to be entered in the giveaway.)

"This much was clear: We had to determine whether the most phenomenal discovery in the history of science was nothing more than a fluke."

That's Jennifer, Crimsy's narrator and a grad student at the University of Washington whose tight-knit research team becomes her second family as she faces losing her first.

Their discovery has huge implications for life on Earth, and as its importance becomes clear, everyone wants a piece of the action.

World governments clamor for ownership; intellectual property lawyers squabble over patent rights; scientists fight over who gets credit for what; the FBI steps in to enforce an obscure law to make the discovery top secret, and therefore, not patentable; and at least one of two trillionaires who funded the research never wants the discovery to see the light of day.

All the fighting keeps the discovery locked away, like the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders, going against the nature of science and prompting one of my taglines: The greatest discovery in human history -- if only the humans would get out of the way.

Forced into the fray against overwhelming personal and professional odds, Jennifer and her team must solve key mysteries about their own lives as they lead a charge to solve the mystery of life itself.

-- Mike

CLICK for CRIMSY. FREE in Kindle Unlimited.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MXY3PK6/

WE HAVE BOOKS!

The Fires of Lilliput back in stock

After Covid-related delays, we got a shipment of The Fires of Lilliput in paperback. For quality reasons, I've had the books printed at a small Mass. press. I'll probably have to change that, as people are way less likely to buy from a small online retail store like ours, but for now . . .

Order The Fires of Lilliput in paperback here:
https://heartbeatbookstore.com/product/the-fires-of-lilliput/

Thanks so much for the ratings and reviews! They are much appreciated, and do more to sell books at first encounter than any other single factor (word of mouth is bigger, but only kicks in after enough people have read the book).

-- Mike

Some Fires of Lilliput reviews.

"I have read many books about the Holocaust and WWII, but this one surpassed all others. It was riveting!

I couldn’t put it down! It was so detailed, as if the author had lived through this in person. I had never experienced such detail in other books about Poland and WWII. The story itself was so good and so real. A great read…informative and captivating!"

____________________________

This is a book that needs to be read. So hard to review this book. Harrowing, heartbreaking, powerful. I can't find the words. It was truly a struggle to read and to continue reading to the end. But it needs to be read. The true horror of war and the inhumanity that war brings is horribly clear in this moving work. It's a book I will never forget.

The Fires of Lilliput. FREE in Kindle Unlimited.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PZDFMWY

Thanks for reading, and for those who celebrate the holiday,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Michael Martin

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