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Author: Maegan Beaumont
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Release Date: July 8th 2014
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Release Date: July 8th 2014
BLURB supplied by Book Chatter Cath
Sabrina opened the red envelope and saw one word...
Sabrina opened the red envelope and saw one word...
Mox. Soon.
After learning the identity of the serial killer behind her 83 horrific days of rape and torture, Sabrina Vaughn has suffered more physical and emotional wounds than she can handle. Despite reeling with pain both old and new, Sabrina is given a second chance as a San Francisco homicide detective. But as reporters dog her every step and hordes of mail pour into her office -- from supporters and nutjobs alike--Sabrina falls deeper into a pit of humiliation and anxiety. When nine red roses repeatedly show up on her desk, followed by an ominous red envelope addressed to Calliope, Sabrina realizes that a new killer is targeting her. She is his chosen muse, and the Fates require sacrifice.
After learning the identity of the serial killer behind her 83 horrific days of rape and torture, Sabrina Vaughn has suffered more physical and emotional wounds than she can handle. Despite reeling with pain both old and new, Sabrina is given a second chance as a San Francisco homicide detective. But as reporters dog her every step and hordes of mail pour into her office -- from supporters and nutjobs alike--Sabrina falls deeper into a pit of humiliation and anxiety. When nine red roses repeatedly show up on her desk, followed by an ominous red envelope addressed to Calliope, Sabrina realizes that a new killer is targeting her. She is his chosen muse, and the Fates require sacrifice.
BOOK TRAILER
EXCERPT
Croft smiled and came forward. She skirted around the
hood of the car, throwing the uniforms and crowd a curt wave, “Thanks for the
help, guys.”
“You
sure—”
“I’m
sure. You two have better things to do than schlep my mess around,” she said,
softening her refusal with a quick smile. Waiting for a break in traffic, she
opened her door to see Croft leaning over the driver’s seat, his blood-stained
hand hovering over the envelope that waited there.
“Don’t
touch it.” She kept her voice low but his head snapped up and he moved back in
his seat. The uniforms weren’t going to leave until she did, and neither was
the impromptu film crew gathered on the sidewalk. Shit, even Little was still
standing at The Sentinel’s window,
waiting to see what she’d do next.
She looked down at the red
square resting on her seat and weighed her options. The envelope that showed up
at the station had been handled and shuffled from counter to bag to box by
multiple people before it reached her. Even if there had been prints or trace
evidence on it, she’d had little to no hope of gathering any of it. This one
was different. It was in her car. The only person who’d touched it so far was
responsible for leaving it there. She needed to bag it, but there was no way
she could preserve the evidence without doing so in full view of everyone
watching her.
She
dug a glove out of her back pocket and pulled it on. “Get a paper bag out of my
glove box,” she said to Croft. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t ask—just opened the
compartment in front of him and pulled out a bag. She snapped it open and
dropped the envelope inside it before folding the top of the bag over. Sliding
behind the wheel, she twisted around and placed the bag on the backseat before
she started the car and pulled into traffic.
“That
envelope. Does it have anything to do with what you asked your roommate last
night about the word mox?” Croft
finally said.
She
shot him a look. “Why would you think that?”
He
didn’t answer. “It does, doesn’t it?”
Sabrina
pulled into the first parking lot she found and slammed on the brakes before
throwing the car into park. “Did you put it in my car?”
“No.”
Croft looked her in the eye when he said it. He was either telling the truth or
he was a fabulous liar—God knew she’d been fooled before.
“But
you’ve been following me all morning.” It wasn’t a question and Croft was smart
enough to know he’d been caught.
He
shrugged. “Just like any other day, right?”
“So,
if you didn’t leave it, you saw who did.”
His
eyes narrowed before he took a quick look at the bag behind him. “No, I didn’t.
I figured out where you were going before you got there so I parked and made a
few phone calls before I followed on foot. By the time I got there, you were
already at your car.”
Truth
or fabulous liar—she still couldn’t tell, but it didn’t matter. “Fine. You
don’t know anything useful? Get out of my car.”
Croft settled deeper into
his seat. “Maybe you just aren’t asking the right questions.”
Mox… it’s Latin. It means soon. For some reason, Croft had drawn an
immediate connection between that word and the envelope left on her seat.
“The word—name—written on the front of that
envelope. Is it Latin?” she said, every word sticking in her throat. Asking
Croft for help was a painful thing.
“No,
but you’re right, it’s a name. What do you know about Greek mythology?” he
said, the corners of his mouth hugged tightly against the words as if he didn’t
want to let them go.
“Zeus. Thunderbolts. Mount
Olympus…” she said, trailing off impatiently. He just sat there, looking at
her. “Look, Croft. Playing with me—not a good idea for anyone. For you, even
less.”
He fixed her with a defiant
glare. “I want to know what really
happened that day in the woods.”
She’d known it was coming,
but hearing him say it made her want to break his nose all over again. They
stared at each other for a few seconds. “Forget it,” she said, reaching across
his lap and opened his car door.
He shut the door. “You just
beat me up. Me—the reporter who took
your very private and very painful story national—in front of a newspaper
office, not to mention several outraged citizens with camera phones.”
“What does it matter? You
don’t even write for The Sentinel
anymore.” Her voice sounded whiny and complaintive. It made her nauseous.
He ignored her. “Answers, Sabrina. Not just one. I want
as many as I ask for, and I want the honest truth to every question I ask,” he
said, his eyes burrowing into hers.
She sat back, glaring at
him. “Or you’ll write a story about how I attacked you, unprovoked in the
middle of the street. That I’m unhinged and should be locked up, is that it?”
After what’d happened to Sanford—found dead in his truck, face caved in with a
baseball bat—and the connection she had to his death, it would be as easy as
breathing to convince the public that she was an unbalanced threat to society.
“That’s exactly it. I may
not write for The Sentinel anymore
but I’ve got plenty of freelance contacts.” His tone was hard. “A story about
you finally losing your shit would be an easy sell.”
She’d be lucky if they let
her write parking tickets after Croft was through with her—and he’d do it, even
if he didn’t want to. She’d just had her career in homicide yanked out from
under her. That was more loss than she could stomach for one day.
“Okay.”
Croft’s mouth flopped open
but he recovered quickly. “Yes? You’ll talk to me. Just like that?”
“You just successfully
blackmailed me, Croft. Try not to sound so surprised.” She didn’t look at him,
instead staring through the windshield, her hands wrapped around the steering
wheel. He was quiet for a few moments. Sabrina wanted to believe that his guilt
was getting to him but she knew better. Croft had been waiting months for an
opportunity like this. Exclusive interviews from her far outweighed any regret
he might feel over how he got her to cooperate. She finally looked at him. “The
envelope—”
“Calliope is the name of one
of the nine daughters Zeus fathered with the Titaness, Mnemosyne. They were given to a nymph, Eufime
and Zeus’ son, Apollo, to be raised,” Croft said. “They grew to be known as the
Nine Muses. Calliope was the superior muse. Protector of justice. Said to be
the lover of both Apollo and his brother Ares, god of war. Conflicting stories
had her bearing both of them sons.”
She reached back and plucked
the evidence bag off the backseat, putting on a fresh pair of gloves before
opening it. Removing the envelope, Sabrina paused for a moment.
Wait. Take it back to the
station. Have it processed properly.
She pulled the wax seal from
the paper, slipping the card from its sheath before flipping it open. Inside,
in the same beautiful lettering, was another message:
In mortem, et est soror
tua.
Sabrina turned the card in
Croft’s direction. “What does it say?”
He glanced down at the card,
his mouth going flat for a second before it turned downward. He looked at her.
“My Latin is way rusty. I can’t be sure that—”
“Tell me,” she almost
shouted, her voice bouncing off the windows.
He sighed, his hands still wrapped around the shirt
she’d given him. “In mortem, et est soror
tua... as best I can tell… it means, in death, she is your sister.
From Sacrificial Muse by Maegan Beaumont. © 2014 by Maegan Beaumont. Used by permission from Midnight Ink Books, www.midnightinkbooks.com.
From Sacrificial Muse by Maegan Beaumont. © 2014 by Maegan Beaumont. Used by permission from Midnight Ink Books, www.midnightinkbooks.com.
CARVED IN DARKNESS
Past horrors bleed into a present day nightmare
Fifteen years ago, a psychotic killer abducted seventeen year old Melissa Walker. For 83 days she was raped and tortured before being left for dead in a deserted church yard... But she was still alive.
Melissa begins a new life as homicide inspector, Sabrina Vaughn. With a new face and a new name, it's her job to hunt down murderers and it's a job she does very well.
When Michael O'Shea, a childhood acquaintance with a suspicious past, suddenly finds her, he brings to life the nightmare Sabrina has long since buried.
Believing that his sister was recently murdered by the same monster who attacked Sabrina, Michael is dead set on getting his revenge--using Sabrina as bait.
BOOK TRAILER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maegan Beaumont is the author of CARVED IN DARKNESS, the first book in
the Sabrina Vaughn thriller series (Available through Midnight Ink,
spring 2013). A native Phoenician, Maegan’s stories are meant to make
you wonder what the guy standing in front of you in the Starbucks line
has locked in his basement, and feel a strong desire to sleep with the
light on.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What is
your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
My name is Maegan Beaumont. I was born and raised
in Arizona which is where I still live.
Did you
always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
I’ve always had a passion for writing but never
really believed that I could do it professionally. I’ve always had a love of
psychology. When other little girls wanted to be ballerinas.
When did
you first consider yourself as a "writer"?
This was a tough one for me… I still have a hard
time saying “I’m a writer” when people ask me what I do professionally. I think I started to believe it when my agent
(the fantastic Chip MacGregor) sold my first book, CARVED IN DARKNESS. When I
got the call, I had a momentary flash of “wait! I am a writer!”
Did it
take a long time to get your first book published?
I finished CARVED in January, 2012. I signed with
my agent in April of 2012 and he’d sold it to Midnight Ink (my publisher) by
August, 2012… so no, not long at all.
Do you
work another job as well as your writing work?
Yes, if you consider kid wrangler/mom a profession.
What is
the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarise it in less than 20
words what would you say?
SACRIFICIAL MUSE: Sabrina returns home to find
another serial killer on the loose and is the only person who can stop him.
Who is
your publisher? or do you self publish?
Llewellyn Worldwide’s mystery imprint, Midnight Ink.
Do you
have a "lucky charm" or "lucky routine" you follow when waiting
for your book to be accepted by a publisher?
I cry a lot and obsessively clean. Just kidding…
I’m not much of a crier.
How long
does it usually take you to write a book, from the original idea to finishing
writing it?
A year. That gives me a few months to mull over the
plot and form it in my head and a few months to write it, plus clean up.
Inevitably, things gel in ways that I didn’t quite expect so I always have a
lot to re-write and clarify.
Which of
your books were easier/harder to write than the others?
My latest, SACRIFIICAL MUSE was easier than CARVED
IN DARKNESS because I’d worked so hard to find my voice and writing style with
CARVED. With SM, those things were already established so it was a much
smoother ride.
What can
we expect from you in the future? ie More books of the same genre? Books
of a different genre?
I’ve got several more books planned in the Sabrina
Vaughn series, included the prequel to CARVED IN DARKNESS that I’ll write this
summer. I’m also working on an unrelated crime thriller set in South Boston
about a bartender who becomes a pet of sorts to the local crime boss.
Do you
have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
I do. SACRIFICIAL MUSE is the second book in the
Sabrina Vaughn series and I’m currently wrapping up #3. I’ve got plans for at
least 2 more, plus the prequel.
What
genre would you place your books into?
Thriller/suspense.
What made
you decide to write that genre of book?
I’m not sure… probably my love of psychology and
figuring out what makes people tic.
Do you
have a favourite out of the books you have written? If so why is it your
favourite?
I love them both but I think my favorite is going
to be the one I’m working on now. It’s written from Michael’s perspective—it’s
very much his story. How he got where
he is. The events leading up to his meeting Sabrina and how it all comes
together. I’ve always had a soft spot for him.
Do you
have a favourite character from your books? and why are they your favourite?
Ben, without a doubt… He’s a smartass.
How long
have you been writing?, and who or what inspired you to write?
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. My
brain was always so full of stories and people that no one else could see or
hear that putting them on paper made sense.
Do you
have a certain routine you have for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a
certain chair?
I have an office that go to every day. I take my
dogs and head over, plug in my headphones, turn on the ipod and just start
writing. I’ll start by reviewing what I wrote the day before and edit if
necessary and then I’ll start forward progress. My goal is a chapter a day
(minimum) which is about 5-6 pages.
Do you
have anybody read your books and give you reviews before you officially release
them? ie. Your partner, children, friends, reviewers you know?
I have an awesome critique group that I couldn’t
live without. They are some of the smartest, savviest, honest people I have
ever known and I would be lost without them.
Do you
read all the reviews of your book/books?
I do… which I probably shouldn’t because some of
them aren’t every nice but, yes—I do.
What was
the toughest/best review you have ever had?
The ones that start out with, “I hated this
book—it’s nothing like what I normally read. I don’t usually like thrillers.”
are the toughest. My question is this: if you don’t normally read thrillers
then are you really a fair judge on what actually makes a good thriller? Aren’t you being a bit unfair?
The best reviews come from readers who really
connect with my characters and can’t wait for more.
Would you
ever ask a reviewer to change their review if it was not all positive about
your book/books?
No. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Even
if I don’t like it.
How do
you come up with the Title and Cover Designs for your book/books? Who designed
the Cover of your books?
I don’t. My publisher, Midnight Ink, takes care of
those things for me.
How do
you come up with characters names and place names in your books?
Sabrina’s name just kind of dropped into my head
one day... Michael’s name comes with a back story. He was named after the
archangel. Jessup, the small east Texas town they grew up in went through a few
names before I finally settled on it.
Are
character names and place names decided after there creation? or do you pick a
character/place name and then invent them?
I’m not sure how it works for other writers but it
all depends. Sabrina dn Michael were named after the fact while other
characters in other stories have been names even before I created them.
Do you
decide on character traits (ie shy, quiet, tomboy girl) before writing the
whole book or as you go along?
I write with a fully formed character in mind.
Sabrina’s personality was set before I started to write her story.
Do you
basic plot/plan for your book, before you actually begin writing it out? Or do
you let the writing flow and see where it takes the story?
It’s a hybrid approach with me. I use a 20-30 word
outline to set my inciting incident and to cover my major plot points but after
that I just... write. Whatever comes, come and I’ve been surprised more than
once.
What do
you think makes a book a really good/bestseller ?
I think a really good book and a bestseller are two
completely different things. There are a lot of bestselling authors out there
who phone it in while there are some struggling unknowns who deliver stellar
work but for me, a great book connects on an emotionally visceral level with
its reader.
Have you
ever suffered from a "writer's block"? What did you do to get past
the "block"?
Sometimes, transitioning between plot points can be
hard for me. The only way to get past it is to just write it out. Even if it’s
crap, you have to push through... once I get over that rough patch and move on,
inevitably, my brain figures out a way to smooth it out and make it better.
Some of my best work is done that way.
Have you
ever based characters on people you know or based events on things that have
happened to you?
I’d say that all of my characters share traits with
people I’ve met or know but In SACRIFICIAL MUSE, Sabrina enlists the help of a
florist named Nolan and he is a real, live actual person. The real Nolan isn’t
a florist (I was actually a florist, once upon a time) but he is a friend and I
adore him.
Which
format of book do you prefer, ebook,hardback, or paperback?
I love the smell and feel of “real” books and there
are some authors I will always buy in hardback because I consider them a
collector’s item (even if they aren’t) but I also like the convenience and options that my e-reader gives me... but
if I had to choose... hardbacks.
What are
you currently reading? Are you enjoying it? What format is it?(ebook, hardback
or paperback)
Right now, I’m reading COVER OF SNOW by Jenny
Milchman (ebook) and I just finished TRYPTICH by Karin Slaughter (ebook) and
TEN TINY BREATHS by K.A. Tucker (trade paperback).
Do you
think ebooks will ever totally replace printed books?
I hope not. Even though I own a reader and can see
their value, I love real books. Always have. Always will.
Do you
think children at schools these days are encouraged enough to read? and/or do
Imaginative writing?
My kids
have never attended public schools so I can’t really say but for us, their
school is very encouraging about daily reading and in our house, it’s mandatory
if they want to play video games and use the internet.
Did you
read a lot at school and write lots of stories or is being a writer something
newer in your life?
My love affair with writing began when I was in the
1st grade. My school hosted a Young Author’s contest where we were
to write and illustrate a picture book. The winner was taken to the local
college for the day and got to meet authors and professors. I lost (my cousin
actually won!) but I was hooked from then on out. My love of reading was a
natural progression from that.
Did you
have a favourite author as a child?
I had more than a few. Lloyd Alexander, Robin
McKinley, Cynthia Voight, Margret Mitchell, Judy Blume...
Do you
have a treasured book from your childhood? If yes, what is it?
THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein
Do you
have a favourite genre of book?
I read mostly mysteries and thrillers but I’ll read
anything that captures my interest.
Is there
a book you know you will never read? Or one you tried to read but just couldn't
finish?
I’m probably going to get booed for this but...
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. I was curious to see what the fuss was all about so I
found the first chapter online and to be honest, I couldn’t make it through the
first five pages. The writing was pretty bad.
[To be totally honest I don't think I'd ever read it. I don't mind a little "steam" in a book as lond as it's in context and not just for the sake of it]
What do
you think about book trailers?
I love them! I have one for each of my books and I
think they’re fantastic! I’m a very visual person so seeing my book in “action”
is a wonderful thing.
What
piece of advice would you give to a new writer?
Don’t be afraid. Writing is a painful
business—you’re going to get knocked down. All you can do is brush yourself off
and keep going... and listen. Don’t be so cock-sure of yourself that you ignore
great advice from other, more seasoned writers. If there is another writer out
there, willing to share their knowledge with you—that’s not something you
should turn down.
Do you or
would you ever use a pen name?
I don’t presently, but I’ve kicked the idea around
in the past and wouldn’t be opposed to it in the future. I think a pen name is
a great way for a writer who is established in their genre to make another name
for themselves somewhere else. They offer the freedom of anonymity which gives
us the courage to try new things.
If you
could invite three favourite writers to dinner, who would you invite and enjoy
chatting with?
Stephen King, Chelsea Cain and Dr. Seuss.
AUTHOR LINKS
Blog
Goodreads
Website
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