Authors on Tour: Athol Dickson — January Justice

with Athol Dickson

We are delighted to be a host site for novelist Athol Dickson, who is currently on tour with Partners in Crime Book Tours. We encourage you to visit all the host sites on the tour; you can find his schedule here.

Athol's first book in a new mystery series — The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs — is January Justice (Author Author, November 2012 trade paperback and ebook formats).

Today we are pleased to feature an excerpt from the book as well as give you an opportunity to win a copy; details below.

— ♦ —

ONE OF THE STRANGEST THINGS ABOUT THE city was the sudden way it disappeared around the edges. One minute you were down on Sunset Boulevard surrounded by glass and concrete, and the next thing you knew you were up on Mulholland Drive, alone in the rough country. From a high window or a rooftop almost anywhere in Los Angeles you could see the mountains, and there was always something ravenous up there looking down.
 I was up among the hungry creatures, standing at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness. Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles's edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really was no separation between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders. Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control.
 I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me?
 Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I shouldn't take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal who would drive someone to do what my wife had done. Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city. If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. But I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be my turn to see if I could fly.
 I stepped back from the edge.

— ♦ —

Photo provided courtesy of
Athol Dickson

Athol Dickson's mystery, suspense, and literary novels have won three Christy Awards and an Audie Award. January Justice, the first installment in a new mystery series called The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs, was published in late 2012. The second and third novels in the series, Free Fall in February, and A March Murder, are coming in 2013.

Athol lives with his wife in southern California. For more information about the author and his books, please visit his website at AtholDickson.com or find him on Facebook.

— ♦ —

January Justice
Athol Dickson
The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs (1st in series)

Reeling from his wife's unsolved murder, Malcolm Cutter is just going through the motions as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Hollywood's rich and famous.

Then a pair of Guatemalan tough guys offer him a job. It's an open question whether they're patriotic revolutionaries or vicious terrorists. Either way, Cutter doesn't much care until he gets a bomb through his window, a gangland beating on the streets of L.A., and three bullets in the chest.

Now there's another murder on Cutter's Mind. His own.

  

— ♦ —

Enter To Win a Copy of January Justice!
If you cannot see the entry form; use this link to enter.

— ♦ —