Kingsmuir Press is very excited and proud to announce that Jean Marie Stanberry’s newest novel, a murder mystery, will soon be available for purchase as a paperback and on all major e-readers.  Jean’s newest work, “Heartless-A Star is Dead” will be available on February 14, 2015 at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and select, privately owned bookstores in the US, Canada and GB, with expanded distribution in bookstores throughout Europe on March 1.  As always, our books are available worldwide through Amazon.com and it’s affiliates.

I am naturally quite excited that Jean has tried her hand in the murder-mystery genre, as it is one of my personal favorites and Jean is quite the seasoned professional with character development and that last minute twist no one expected.  Below I have attached an except from her first chapter, just to get you in the spirit.  Then on Valentines day, you can finally find out who is responsible for Sabine’s fate.

Chapter 1

It was going to be a hot one. It was barely eleven, yet it was already ninety-two degrees.  All three major network meteorologists, with their virtual reality doppler weather maps touted the news that today would be the hottest day of the summer. Temperatures were slated to climb to just over one hundred degrees. Add to that the record high humidity and it was not much of a stretch of the imagination, to realize that the residents of the city of Chicago were going to be baking in their own huge, concrete and asphalt oven.

    Unfortunately, it was going to be one of those days. It would be much too hot to play tennis. Hell, it was going to be so hot, it might even be too hot to lounge by the pool. Sabine felt a cold chill run down the length of her spine. Her racing mind was trying to focus but the only thought she could focus on, was a saying that her own father had told her many years ago. The sun, it seems so welcoming, beaming down on you from it’s place in the sky, but sometimes the intense heat can change people, it can make them crazy, especially when extreme discomfort leads to desperation…

Sabine drew in a deep, shaky, breath and took a tiny, almost imperceptible step backwards. She was shaking her head slowly, her face was a mask of uncertainty. She had never been a religious person, but in the back of her mind she was vaguely realizing that she was silently repeating a prayer inside her head. “Please Lord, tell me that this is all just a bad dream.”

Her heart was thudding loudly in her ears, like a deep base in rock concert that was way too loud. She was trying to stay calm but in moments she is fighting hysteria, it seems a struggle to merely breathe. Sabine realizes as she stands there, in moment of embarrassment, that she is still primly holding her teacup and saucer. This recent realization has caused her hands to begin to shaking uncontrollably. She had already been rattled enough, the clattering of the teacup on it’s little saucer was intensely annoying and suddenly she couldn’t stand the sound another second. She nervously tried to set the teacup and it’s saucer on the little table next to her, but being distracted like she was, she had misjudged the distance. The fine bone china teacup, with it’s delicate pattern of violets, crashed to the floor.

Sabine looked down disjointedly at the teacup and her spilled tea. It seemed eerily irrational, but she couldn’t help but smile to herself. She was actually relieved to see that the teacup was unharmed. It had landed on the thick wool oriental rug, though her mired brain reprimanded her briefly. At this point, why did she even care?

Perhaps it was because her beloved tea set had once belonged to her mother. Her mother had brought it from Europe herself in the early 1920’s. She had packed it carefully in the steamer trunk that crossed the Atlantic by ship. She had cherished the set all those years without so much as a chip in any of the pieces.

Sabine jumped a little bit as she was snapped abruptly back to reality by the angry voice of Karma. Apparently, a day of reckoning had arrived. Her dear departed mother had been a beautiful person, both inside and out. She had raised Sabine to be a kind and gentle person and she had been, for a while. Sabine couldn’t help but wonder when she had changed. When had she become this horrible person?

Sabine sighed with regret. It was true, she had not conducted herself as elegantly as she had led on to everyone all these years. In her young adult years, she had been completely out of control. None of that had been elegant at all. The drinking, the sex, the drugs. Her mother wouldn’t have allowed any of it. No way, her mother was as classy as they came, she wouldn’t have liked young Sabine one bit.

Now it seems that Karma had finally come to settle the score and Sabine would pay for all the pain that she had inflicted on others over the years, or so that is what Karma had told her was going to happen. Sabine tried to swallow, but her throat was dry, like sandpaper. She was fighting panic, this could not possibly be happening, she thought to herself. Her mind was racing in a hundred different directions. Was this what people meant, when they felt as if their life had flashed before their eyes? It seemed as if every joyous, and every dark, forgotten memory had somehow fought it’s way to the forefront of her brain.

This was utter madness! She giggled a nervous giggle, the kind of laugh that comes out when you sincerely hope someone is joking with you, but deep down in the pit of your stomach, you know that they’re not. Sabine was realizing as the seconds ticked by, that this was not a joke, and it was not a nightmare she could simply wake up from. This was real, this was the end. Sabine struggled to compose herself as she took another uncertain step backwards. Her body was slowly succumbing to the panic and she was feeling strangely lightheaded. Her heart rate had suddenly doubled in the last thirty seconds and she could feel beads of sweat coursing their way slowly down her back. The adrenaline surging through her body was commanding her to run away, but there was nowhere to go, she was trapped. It was just like her life and the culmination of her lies, there was no way out.

Sabine felt remarkably naive, she had deliberately placed her chair there in the corner of the room because this was her domain, she had felt comfortable, not threatened. She hadn’t planned to entertain Karma long, a cup of tea, a lame apology and she would thrust this inconvenient guest out. Unfortunately, this encounter hadn’t gone as she had planned. She had felt safe here, this was her own home. She had never sensed the danger, she had trusted Karma, but that had been foolish and proud. Now there was no escape.

Sabine struggled to draw in a breath, she could feel her body succumbing to the apprehensive shaking. Her legs were getting weaker by the second and they threatened to buckle and give out underneath her. Her overloaded mind was racing back through the years of her life, she was painfully aware, this was the end…

She cleared her throat to speak, but there was nothing she could say that would undo the past. Sabine had lived her life exactly as she had pleased, never caring who she had hurt as she pushed her way up the ladder to stardom. Now it was too late, feelings had been hurt, lives had been irreparably damaged, her ruthlessness had taken it’s toll, now Karma seemed to be laughing in her face, taunting her. She couldn’t deny it, she had been selfish, she had left a trail of carnage in her wake, but surely…surely it wasn’t so bad that she deserved to die. She was a star for Pete’s sake, she had thousands of fans. Did it really have to end this way?

Of course, Sabine was in denial. She had always believed she was immune to the horrors of the outside world. She was a goddess, people worshipped her. She was the great Sabine Rousseau, people stood in line for hours just to get her autograph. Why would one person believe that they had the power to end it all?

“Wait!” cried Sabine, her voice shaking in fear. “My checkbook is in the bureau drawer, I can write you a check, just tell me how much you want. I can help you…please, just tell me what you want.”

Karma just shook it’s head slowly. Karma had no need for money. Of course, money cannot buy back a lifetime of selfish and foolish deeds. Karma was now done talking, Karma was approaching her now. Sabine was consumed with panic, tears were coursing down her cheeks and she was struggling to breathe as her blind, angry, justice approached her swiftly. She felt the rapid blow of the knife, but there was no pain as Karma plunged it deeply into her chest. This must be a dream, a nightmare really, because it couldn’t possibly be real…there was no pain…

The knife plunged into her chest infused with a mixture of passion and hatred. It seemed surreal as the knife plunged into her chest again and again, Sabine didn’t even try to count the blows or attempt to absorb the pain and hatred in the eyes of her attacker. Sabine searched for an emotion, but felt none. As the moments ticked by, she began to feel the pain that she had so carelessly inflicted on others for so many years. The room seemed to tilt and bend crazily. The moments seemed to be passing in slow motion, it was as if she had been drugged.

Sabine was suddenly angry as she watched the spray of blood arcing across the wall of her study. She wanted to shout and curse at her assailant, but nothing would come out of her mouth. Her words were consumed by the sucking chest wounds her assailant had already inflicted on her.

She wanted to shout at Karma what a mess it had made. It was horrible, the wall of the study, the expensive oriental rug, her designer silk blouse. Who would pay for all this? Sabine let her body slide slowly down the wall, her legs could not hold her body weight any longer. Her eyes were narrowed in anger. Karma had made a terrible mess! Sabine could feel her head swimming, her vision was getting blurrier, she realized that for some reason, she was now sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. The walls were curving inward and the room seemed to be enveloped in a thick fog. Sabine squeezed her eyes closed in an attempt to shake off her stupor. She looked up in awe, at her assailant’s face, which was now smiling. Inexplicably, the room seemed to be growing dimmer with each passing moment.

Suddenly, Harvey is standing there in front of her, holding his hand out to her. Sabine manages to give him a surprised smile. Harvey was the one person who had truly adored her. Sabine struggles to reach out and take Harvey’s hand. She stretches, but she cannot quite reach his hand. The room seems to be rolling and tilting and she suddenly has the overwhelming urge to lay down. Why do I feel so weak? She asks herself. Harvey is right there.

In moments, her mind clears and she realizes with complete clarity what has happened. She has been stabbed. Her wounds are fatal, blood is pumping relentlessly out of her chest. Sabine decides this must be a dream…why else would Harvey be there, offering his hand to her? That’s it, this is nothing but a terrible nightmare, a surreal dream that Karma has come to her and exacted it’s revenge. It cannot possibly be true that her life is draining slowly from her body. Harvey is frowning, he shakes his head slowly. Sabine inches her elegantly manicured hand up her body to clutch her chest wound. With each beat of her heart, she can feel the warm stickiness of her own blood, surging out of her chest and ruining her six hundred dollar, designer silk blouse. She shakes her head weakly in disgust, a six hundred dollar blouse!

Her mind is growing foggy, but still she clings to her theory that this most certainly is a nightmare, this could not possibly be happening to her. Sabine’s entire body is shaking uselessly, she is struggling in vain to keep her head, which seems to be getting heavier by the moment, off the floor. She was a star, it wouldn’t be respectable to be found laying on the floor.

Karma is standing over her, smiling. Sabine struggles to say something, anything, to make this madness stop, but her chest wounds will not allow her to draw in enough breath to say anything at all. She is suddenly aware that Harvey has arrived to bring her home with him. She is not afraid any more, she is going to join him, they will be together again. Sabine reaches out to take Harvey’s hand as she sputters out her last breath. She finally rests her head on the soft wool of the antique, oriental rug. Her consciousness fades away slowly, she feels herself drifting into a cool mist, sounds around her fading, the light is fading. All is now peaceful and quiet…

Vaughn Thompson-Kingsmuir Press

Heartless-A Star is Dead, available February 14, 2015.  You can find out more about Kingsmuir Press author Jean Marie Stanberry and her other books on her website jeanstanberry.com and you can follow her on twitter @jeanstanberry

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