We are delighted to welcome author Radine Trees Nehring to Omnimystery News today.
Last week we had the pleasure of spending some time with Radine talking about her new mystery A Portrait To Die For (Dark Oak Mysteries; April 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and today we're pleased to share an excerpt from it with you.
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AT 8:20 THE NEXT MORNING CATHERINE sat in her car outside the workshop at Fred's and wondered who was inside the building. There were two trucks parked in the lot. She supposed the newer pickup with the business name and logo on the door was Freda's.
The other truck was unmarked. Maybe it was the older pickup she had seen here yesterday. She hadn't paid much attention to it then, and wasn't good at identifying trucks unless an automaker had displayed their company name and vehicle style prominently on the tailgate.
8:25.
Well, nothing ventured. Daddy had said that. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Zero hour. Catherine opened her car door and slid out, putting her cell phone in her pocket.
Twenty steps to the open shop door, and then Catherine was inside. It was very quiet. Should she say something? No, not yet at least.
Two steps. Lots of stuff, but no person, no sound, no movement but her own.
Two more steps.
Something on the concrete floor caught her attention. Blobs of oil? She stopped to stare, bent over to look more closely.
Drops of blood. Fresh enough to be red. Oh, dear God, NO.
Catherine started to turn back toward her car and run. Panic had her breathing like a steam engine though she was trying to be quiet, to give no sign she was there. She must get to her car and hurry to safety, to be with Carrie and Henry. Get away, Get away! Get to Carrie and Henry, get them to come back here with her.
A groan stopped her, freezing her steps as she started toward the door.
Her mind tried to work sensibly. Someone groaning probably wasn't going to attack her. Someone was hurt and needed help.
She turned around again and took two more steps into the building, avoiding the drops.
Step. Step.
A weapon! She should have a weapon in case something horrible and dangerous faced her on the other side of those boxes. The workbench next to her offered a huge hammer. She started to lift it, found it too heavy for one arm, re-enforced her grasp with her other hand and, hammer raised, moved forward again.
End of the row of boxes. With the hammer held as high as she could lift it, she went around the stack.
A shriek. Oh! That was her voice.
A choked laugh came from someone propped up against the back of the box stack. Another person faced her — Freda, with a raised hammer.
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Photo provided courtesy of
Radine Trees Nehring
For more than twenty years, Radine Trees Nehring's magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have shared colorful stories about the people, places, events, and natural world near her Arkansas home.
In 2002, Radine's first mystery novel, A Valley To Die For, was published and, in 2003 became a Macavity Award Nominee. Since that time she has continued to earn writing awards as she enthralls her original fans and attracts new ones with her signature blend of down-home Arkansas sightseeing and cozy amateur sleuthing by active retirees Henry King and Carrie McCrite King.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at RadinesBooks.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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A Portrait To Die For by Radine Trees Nehring
The To Die For Series
Publisher: Dark Oak Mysteries
Carrie discovers two versions of a supposedly original portrait in a loan exhibition at Crystal Bridges of American Art, where she does volunteer work.
When the reporter who interviewed Carrie at the museum is abducted, Carrie must choose between honoring her promise to stop crime-solving — or work to find the woman who was her son's college friend.
— A Portrait To Die For by Radine Trees Nehring
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