New Release Book Blitz! Buried Too Deep by Karen Rose ~ Excerpt #BuriedTooDeep @KarenRoseBooks @BerkleyPub

Congrats Karen

on the recent release of

Buried Too Deep!

Buried Too Deep by Karen Rose

(Romantic Suspense Series #30)

(New Orleans Series #3)

Mystery Thriller, Romance, 525 pages

Published August 13, 2024 by Berkley

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose comes another explosive novel in the New Orleans series, where some secrets are worth dying for—or killing to keep.

Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.

Employed as the nighttime security guard of Broussard Private Investigations, Phineas Bishop has been working through overwhelming PTSD episodes from his Army service while still utilizing his military skills. But when a violent break-in occurs at the office, the accusatory eyes of the NOPD glance to Phin, and he resolves to track down the intruder and clear his name.

Phin’s only lead and witness is Cora Winslow, a spirited librarian who also needs answers. Her father’s body has been discovered under a recently demolished building, murdered twenty-three years ago. So, who has been sending her the handwritten letters—written and signed by him—every year since she was five? Someone wants to keep Cora in the dark. And now, they’re coming for her.

As Cora’s bodyguard, Phin is surprised by his fondness for the woman’s fierce determination and research prowess. But New Orleans’s Garden District holds secrets as old as the streets themselves. With help from the entire Broussard P.I. team, Phin and Cora enter a labyrinth of fraud and homicide that threatens to bury them all.

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Excerpt

Phin Bishop stumbled to a stop, staring up at the building that was as close to a home as he'd known in a long time. It wasn't the building itself, of course, although it was beautiful with its cast iron balconies and its shutters thrown wide in welcome.

Even to me. He hoped.

Because the magic of the building wasn't in its bricks or balconies. It was in the people who worked within its walls. Burke Broussard and his people had become Phin's family.

But I deserted them. I ran.

No. He could hear the voice of his therapist in his mind. You didn't "run." You have PTSD. You left to get better.

But was he better?

Am I ready to be back?

A hand closed over his shoulder, warm and reassuring. "Phin?" Stone O'Bannion murmured. "We can come back tomorrow. Or we can get SodaPop. This is exactly what she's trained for. Helping you through situations just like this."

Swallowing hard, Phin turned to meet his best friend's eyes and saw understanding and compassion that Phin didn't think he deserved. Stone was right. Phin should have brought his new service dog. But he hadn't, wanting to stand on his own two feet.

Which had been wrong thinking. He knew that. Knew that there was no shame in needing a service dog. No shame in having PTSD. He'd accepted that. Accepted that he'd have episodes. That he'd sometimes relapse.

SodaPop made it easier to stave off his episodes. Helped him recover faster when he did relapse.

And you deserve that help. Those words were again in his therapist's voice. Phin could accept that there was no shame in needing his dog. But he hadn't been able to accept that he deserved the assistance. And that was the real reason he'd left SodaPop behind this morning.

"That we could come back tomorrow is what you said yesterday," Phin said. And yesterday, he'd jumped at the chance to turn tail and run.

He'd been running most of his life.

"And I'll say it tomorrow and the next day." Stone gave his shoulder a squeeze. Anchoring him. "What are you afraid of? Be honest with me."

Phin forced the words out. "That they won't want me back."

"If they don't, it'll hurt," Stone acknowledged, and Phin was grateful that Stone hadn't brushed his concerns away. "But I read their texts." Phin had given Stone permission to read all the communication from his New Orleans friends. "These people care about you. They will want you back."

"What if I flake again?" He hated losing control of his own mind, hated the spiral that tugged him under.

Stone shrugged. "Then you leave, you heal, and you try again."

Phin's chest hurt. "I'm so tired of leaving."

"Then stay. Take a step. Right now. There you go. Now another. That's the way."

Phin forced his feet to move closer to the building that housed Broussard Investigations. "I should have stopped for beignets."

Stone chuckled, clearly not fooled by the lame procrastination attempt. "I'll get some for you. Once you're inside and talking to your friends."

The building grew closer and Phin's chest grew tighter. "Why are you still here? Babysitting me?" He was grateful. He was. But he didn't entirely understand why Stone put up with him. "You have better things to do."

"No, I don't. Right now, I'm exactly where I need to be, doing what I need to do. Because you need me. And because I've been where you are. Someone stuck by my side until I could walk alone." Phin knew Stone's story. His friend had been an addict, sober for years now. "So I'm paying it forward, doing it for you. Keep walking, Phin."

They were nearly at the front door. Just another fifteen feet.

Then the door burst open, banging into the wall behind it. Startled at the sound, Phin lurched back, once again grateful for Stone's steadying hand. When he'd righted himself, he got a glimpse of the woman who'd thrown the door open. She wore a gray hooded cloak that hid her face, but a wisp of black hair escaped the hood to whip in the wind. For a moment, Phin stood stock-still, staring as she rushed away, heading toward the center of the Quarter.

The only part of her body that was visible was her legs.

They were very nice legs. Her calves were perfectly defined, thanks to the three-inch heels she wore. How she was able to walk in heels that high-much less run-was a mystery.

She took an abrupt left at the next intersection and disappeared from view.

"Who was that?" Stone asked.

"I don't know." He'd never seen her before. He'd remember legs like that.

Importantly, her appearance had stopped the mental spiral of his anxiety. Sometimes a distraction was exactly what he needed to get his head on straight.

That's what SodaPop's supposed to do, you idiot.

Fine. Next time he'd bring her along.

"Did she come from your office?" Stone pressed. "From Broussard Investigations?"

Phin stilled. She hadn't been a woman with nice legs. She'd been a fleeing woman with nice legs. "Shit."

The sound of two gunshots, one right after the other, shoved his body into motion, and he started to run.

"Joy." She'll be alone. Because she was always the first in the office.

"Joy's the office manager?" Stone asked, running beside him. "The lady who uses a wheelchair?"

"Yes." Phin bypassed the ancient elevator and took the stairs. He'd told Stone about everyone in Burke's office. He cared about them all, but Joy was special. She'd accepted him from the beginning. Taken him under her wing. Mothered him. Trusted him. "Ex-cop. Got shot on the job. Paralyzed from the waist down. Tougher than she looks."

She'd be okay. Joy could take care of herself, he told himself, propelling himself up the last few stairs in a single leap.

They rushed from the stairwell into Burke's lobby. It was an open space with large windows along one wall that faced the street below. Joy's desk would be in the dead center of the room and she'd be sitting behind her computer, doing whatever it was she did every morning. She'd give him a look that was both chiding and welcoming.

Just like all the other times he'd returned from having run.

Except . . . she wasn't behind her desk.

"Oh no." Phin's heart went from a gallop to a dead stop.

Because Joy lay on the floor next to her desk, her wheelchair on its side. Her white blouse was rapidly becoming red with blood and she wasn't moving.

Excerpted from Buried Too Deep by Karen Rose Copyright © 2024 by Karen Rose. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved.

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Praise for Karen Rose

“Effortlessly balances romance and crime…an excellent example of how far-reaching and varied romance can be. The plot is complex, the characterization sound and the boundaries of the genre pushed.”—The New York Times

“The kind of high-wire suspense that keeps you riveted.”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner

“Karen Rose owns this genre-she combines an accurate, vivid sense of place with believable, sympathetic characters.”—Criminal Element on Cold-Blooded Liar

About the author

Karen Rose is the award-winning, #1 international bestselling author of more than 25 novels, including the bestselling Baltimore and Cincinnati series. She has been translated into twenty-three languages, and her books have placed on the New York Times, the Sunday Times (UK), and Germany's der Spiegel bestseller lists.

Connect with Karen

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Instagran

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New Release Spotlight! Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose ~ An Excerpt #BeneathDarkWaters @KarenRoseBooks

Congrats Karen

on the recent release of

Beneath Dark Waters! 

Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose

(A New Orleans Novel #2)

Mystery Thriller, Romantic Suspense, 592 pages

Published August 15, 2023 by Berkley

Deadly secrets lie beneath the murky waters of the Louisiana bayou in this pulse-pounding new romantic suspense novel from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose.

There's no safe place for a child to hide when danger comes from every direction.

Public prosecutor J.P. "Kaj" Cardozo has only lived in New Orleans for six months, and he's already working on a high-profile celebrity sexual assault case that's made headlines all over the country. But when his son becomes the target of a kidnapping attempt as a threat to Kaj, he is desperate to keep him safe and turns to a private investigative firm famous for their protection services.

A veteran Marine, Val Sorensen is glad to have found a new career with Broussard Investigations. Her latest assignment as the bodyguard to ten-year-old Elijah Cardozo reminds her why--Val is a kick ass guardian with a tender heart. Through her duties, Val grows fond of the boy--and his handsome father.

But when the high-stakes investigation reveals an explosive network of crime through a revived drug gang, lingering deep-seated corruption in the NOPD, and a group of murderers-for-hire targeting Kaj, Elijah, and his star client, they're all left scrambling for safety.

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Excerpt

"Morning, Val," Burke rumbled in that deep Cajun drawl of his. "You have a new client. Bring a cupcake for him."

Okaaaay. Holding the two cupcakes, Val walked to Burke's office door, hearing the whir of Joy's motorized wheelchair as the older woman followed her, unabashedly curious. A shiver of trepidation raced down Val's spine.

A moment later, she knew why. Assistant District Attorney Jean-Pierre Cardozo was coming to his feet, having been seated in one of the chairs in front of Burke's desk. She'd first met him at a party back in the summer. Burke and his staff had been celebrating with some clients after closing an all-hands-on-deck case when Cardozo had arrived, dressed in an expensive black suit that made him look like a Fortune 500 CEO.

He'd been charming as hell and impossible to ignore, despite her best efforts-that day and later. Unable to resist, she'd found herself googling him later that evening, learning surprisingly little personal information. Other than a few of the cases he'd tried up in the New York City courts, the man had no real internet presence, which took a lot of talent. Burke's IT guy, Antoine, would surely have been able to dig up a lot more, but she'd been unwilling to ask. Unwilling to voice aloud that the man had fascinated her.

She knew only that he'd recently moved from New York and that his first name was spelled K-a-j, but pronounced Kai, rhyming with pie. And she only knew those tidbits because she'd overheard Burke telling someone else in the firm.

After that day, she'd seen Cardozo twice. Once a couple weeks ago at another party at a friend's restaurant, Le Petit Choux. He hadn't stayed long, and she'd managed to avoid him. Their most recent crossing of paths had been in a courtroom the week before, a plea hearing for one of the criminals whose crimes Burke's group had exposed. No words had been exchanged between them either time, but Val had noticed the man's every movement.

He moved so very nicely. And he was a good guy, prosecuting bad guys, but that smile he'd worn . . . He could get her to trust that smile. Which meant he was dangerous.

He didn't look anything like that now. He was as handsome as before, his dark brown hair neatly combed, his face freshly shaven. His khakis were unwrinkled, the sleeves of his casual button-up shirt rolled up, exposing tanned forearms. He even wore a tie printed with whimsical dinosaurs. But his expression appeared haggard, as if he hadn't slept at all.

And his dark eyes were full of fear.

Val glanced to the corner of the room, revealing the source of his fear. A boy of about nine or ten sat at Burke's little meeting table. His hair was white-blond, unlike Cardozo's. But their faces were too much alike for them not to be related. Father and son, she thought.

She hadn't realized that Cardozo had a child, and she didn't want to think about why that disappointed her. It didn't matter that the child had a mother, that Cardozo had a significant other. It didn't matter because she was not interested in ADA Cardozo, first name Kaj that rhymed with pie.

The child, however, had captured her attention. He clutched a tablet in his hands, staring down at it with a vacant look that Val recognized all too well.

She'd seen it in the mirror plenty of times.

He'd been traumatized. He didn't look up, so Val turned back to his father.

"Hey," Val said quietly, because the mood in the room was brittle. "It's good to see you again, ADA Cardozo."

The man's throat worked as he swallowed. "Likewise. This is my son, Elijah. Elijah, this is Miss Sorensen."

My new client? Val wondered. She looked at Burke, who inclined his head toward the boy, gesturing her to engage.

"Hi, Elijah," she said, approaching the table. "I'm Val."

The boy didn't look up until Val put the cupcake in front of him. "Hi," he whispered.

It was one tiny word, but said with a determination that won her respect. She pointed at the cupcake. "That's yours."

"And that one, too?" Elijah asked, pointing at the cupcake still in her hand.

"Pfft. No," she said, using her best duh tone. "This one is mine. You're a greedy one, aren't you?" She smiled so that he would know she was teasing.

The boy's lips quirked up before returning to a grim line. "Was worth a try."

"It's always worth a try when cupcakes are on the line. Are you my new client?"

Elijah pushed Harry Potter-style glasses up on his nose. "I guess so."

"May I sit down?" She waited until Elijah nodded before taking the seat beside him. From this vantage point she could see the boy's face as well as that of his father.

Cardozo lowered himself back into his chair in front of Burke's desk, his face still frozen in a rictus of fear.

Whatever had happened, it had been bad.

Excerpted from Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose Copyright © 2023 by Karen Rose. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. 

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Praise for the novels of New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose

“Riveting. Emotional. Karen Rose at her best.”—New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan

“High-wire suspense that keeps you riveted.”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner

“A high-octane thrill ride that kept me on the edge of my seat and up far too late at night!”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson

About the author

Internationally bestselling, RITA-award winning, author Karen Rose was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. She met her husband, Martin, on a blind date when they were seventeen and after they both graduated from the University of Maryland, (Karen with a degree in Chemical Engineering) they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Karen worked as an engineer for a large consumer goods company, earning two patents, but as Karen says, “scenes were roiling in my head and I couldn't concentrate on my job so I started writing them down. I started out writing for fun, and soon found I was hooked.”

Her debut suspense novel, DON'T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Since then, she has published fifteen more novels and two novellas. Her seventeenth novel, ALONE IN THE DARK, will be released in 2016.

Karen's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, London's Sunday Times, and Germany's der Spiegel (#1), and the Irish Times, as well as lists in South Africa (#1) and Australia!

Her novels, I'M WATCHING YOU and SILENT SCREAM, received the Romance Writers of America's RITA award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005 and 2011. Five of her other books have been RITA finalists. To date, her books have been translated into twenty-four languages.

A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of more than twenty years, her two daughters, two dogs, and a cat. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Karen

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Twitter

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Release Day Book Blitz! Cold-Blooded Liar by Karen Rose ~ Excerpt #ColdBloodedLiar @KarenRoseBooks @penguinrandom

Cold-Blooded Liar by Karen Rose

(San Diego #1)

(Romantic Suspense #27)

Mystery, Thriller, Romantic Suspense
Publication date: February 28, 2023 by Berkley Books

Brace yourself for a scorching new series from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose, where San Diego means sun, surf, sand…and serial killers.

Sam Reeves is a kindhearted psychologist who treats court-ordered clients. After one of his patients—a pathological liar—starts revealing plausible new details from a long-unsolved serial murder case, he’s compelled to report anonymously to the SDPD tip line, though his attempts to respect patient confidentiality land him facedown and cuffed by the aggressive (and cute) Detective McKittrick.

San Diego homicide detective Kit McKittrick loves the water. She lives on a boat, and when she’s not solving crimes with the SDPD, she’s assisting her foster sister with her charter fishing business or playing with her poodle. But there’s nothing that intrigues Kit more than a cold case, so when an anonymous caller leads her on the path of a wanted killer, she’s determined to end the decade-long manhunt.

Sam is soon released but goes home with both a newfound distaste for the SDPD and a resolve—not unlike Kit’s—to uncover the truth. Kit and Sam repeatedly butt heads in their separate investigations but are forced to work together to find one of the deadliest serial killers the city has faced in years.

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EXCERPT:

Longview Park, San Diego, California

Monday, April 4, 5:30 p.m.

Kit pulled the handkerchief across her nose and mouth as she watched the two CSU techs meticulously uncovering what was, indeed, a grave. Based on the odor, the body had been there awhile.

They'd arrived at the mystery caller's coordinates to find that the ground had settled somewhat, creating a slight depression that measured five and a half by two and a half feet.

Ground-penetrating radar had shown a body.

The victim had been small.

Kit slipped her hand into her pocket, finding the little cat-bird figurine. Stroking it with her thumb. Please don't be a child.

"I hope it's not a kid," Baz murmured, echoing her thoughts.

All homicides were difficult. Even drug dealers murdered on the street had been loved by someone. Were missed by someone.

But the child homicides were a completely different level of hell.

She looked away from the grave to where Sergeant Ryland, the CSU leader, was making a plaster cast of the only footprint they'd found in the area. It was a man's shoe, size eleven.

"You got anything for us, Ryland?" she called.

"I just might."

She and Baz walked from the grave site to where someone had stepped off the asphalt path, leaving the single footprint in the strip of ground between the path and the field of grass.

Ryland finished pouring the plaster over the footprint, smoothed it out, then set the timer on his phone. "Thirty minutes for the plaster to set. Come see the photos I took of the print while I wait." He retrieved his camera and beckoned them closer. "There was lettering on the sole of the shoe-likely a brand name. I can't quite make it out in the photo, but I'm hoping to get detail from the plaster cast."

"So it'll be seventy-two hours or so," Baz said and Ryland nodded.

Kit leaned closer to the screen. "Can you zoom in on it?"

Ryland did, handing the camera to Kit. "I can make out what looks like a Y at the end of the brand name, but-"

"Sperry," Kit said. "Sorry to interrupt, Sergeant. I recognize the logo. They're Sperry Top-Siders." She gave him back his camera. "My sister runs a charter fishing business and sometimes I first mate for her on my days off. A lot of her customers wear them."

Ryland studied the photo. "You could be right."

She was, Kit was certain. "Trouble is, that's a popular shoe. I've even got a pair."

"So do I," Baz said. "Tracking those will be nearly impossible."

Kit shrugged. "But when we find the guy who owns these shoes, we can put him at the scene. Any way to get a weight estimate on the wearer?"

Ryland shook his head. "Ground's too hard. Barely enough sinkage to get the plaster cast. I'll let you know when I have something definite."

"Detectives?" one of the techs at the grave called, his tone urgent. "Something over here you need to see."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Kit said, then approached the grave alongside Baz, schooling her expression. If it was a child's grave, she would maintain her professionalism. She'd let herself react later, when she was alone.

"Victim's a postpubescent female," the tech said when they were graveside. "The ME will be able to give you a better age than I can, but I'm guessing somewhere between fourteen and eighteen."

Feeling Baz's eyes on her, Kit reassured him with a quick glance. She was fine.

He always worried about her reaction when the victim was the same age that Wren had been when she'd been murdered, but after four years as a homicide detective, Kit had seen far too many victims who'd been Wren's age. It never got easier.

She hoped that it never would.

Excerpted from Cold-Blooded Liar by Karen Rose Copyright © 2023 by Karen Rose. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. 

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Praise for the novels of New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose

“Riveting. Emotional. Karen Rose at her best.”—New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan

“High-wire suspense that keeps you riveted.”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner

“A high-octane thrill ride that kept me on the edge of my seat and up far too late at night!”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson

About the author

Karen Rose is the award-winning, #1 international bestselling author of more than twenty-five novels, including the bestselling Baltimore and Cincinnati series. She has been translated into twenty-three languages, and her books have placed on the New York Times, the Sunday Times (UK), and Germany’s der Spiegel bestseller lists.

Connect with Karen

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!