This year, 1968, looked so promising at first. I married my college boyfriend David. He’s kind, smart, handsome…and taller than me. That’s a real plus.
Unfortunately, today I can’t see him because he’s in jail. And if that’s not bad enough already, he’s in jail in a foreign country.
OK, OK, so we’ve only moved to Canada…but we Americans aren’t supposed to feel any culture shock up here in Canada. Ha! Not true. I’ve got news for you. Canada is not the 51st state.
Now, please, don’t get the wrong idea about me. Just because the man I married became a draft resister, don’t think I’m a hippie, or anything like that. Really, I’m just a good Texas girl from a small town who followed my mother’s advice—to get married and settle down, do what your husband tells you. Mother simply never dreamed I’d end up living in such a cold climate, in a strange place. Canada.
I’m so homesick. I miss my family and friends back in Texas. And I’m scared. So very scared. They say the Mounties always get their man…and the Mounties now have got my husband.
They’re sure David murdered another draft resister. But I know he didn’t do it. After all, we came to Canada because David was against killing—against all killing—even in the war in Vietnam.
Today I’m setting out to prove my husband isn’t the killer. I’m nosey, curious, and had some training from the CIA. My handler, “Mr. Smith,” was sorry to see me leave the program. He warned I might not be happy and said he’d keep the door open for me, in case I ever wanted to return. Smith says the Agency needs my Russian language skills.
Shhh, please don’t tell David. He doesn’t know about this part of my life. I don’t think he would approve.
Here’s the strangest thing about this murder case. I was the one who found the body—literally fell over it, in a church basement. Yes, me. And it turns out the corpse was the draft-resisting son of a United States Senator. That’s why the Mounties moved so fast to jail my poor David. The senator called the prime minister of Canada and demanded the killer be caught, fast.
Now everyone is satisfied the murderer is in jail—everyone but me, that is.
So now I’m on a mission…even though I’m alone, homesick, scared…and only 22 years old…I have to prove David’s innocence. I’m his only hope.
I’m Austin Starr, and I’m hunting for a brutal killer. Wish me luck.
Austin Starr appears in the mystery Desolation Row by Kay Kendall which is published by Stairway Press of Seattle.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 6 p.m. eastern on September 1 for the chance to win a copy of DESOLATION ROW. Two lucky winners will win either an e book or a trade paperback. The giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.
Meet the author
Kay Kendall set her debut novel, Desolation Row—An Austin Starr Mystery, in 1968. The Vietnam War backdrop illuminates reluctant courage and desperate love when a world teeters on chaos. Kay’s next mystery, Rainy Day Women (2015) finds amateur sleuth Austin Starr trying to prove a friend didn’t murder women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Kay is an award-winning international PR executive living in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. Kay was a 2014 Silver Falchion Award Finalists for Attending Authors at this year Killer Nashville.
Sounds like a good start to the series. Plus I like books with song titles…and using Dylan songs, you’ll never run out of titles. 🙂
This sounds like a series I want to start at the beginning. Thanks for telling us about it. 🙂
Sounds like a great new series for me, thank you
A different read from the usual. Would love to read it
This sounds like an interesting mystery, one I’d enjoy curling up with a paper copy of.
What an intriguing story line. A little off the cozy mysteries I usually read but still one I would love to check out. Thanks for the chance.
Thanks to everyone who commented! I’m glad some of you are groovin’ on the Dylan title, and indeed there are SO MANY to choose from. My next book, due next summer, is RAINY DAY WOMEN, another super song from Mr. Dylan. And for you cozy fans, DESOLATION ROW is straight down the middle…not too much gore, and no raw violence. Well the end is….hmmm, just wait and see, but I don’t go into Jo Nesbo territory, shall we say…a current very violent author from Scandinavia. I stay far, far away from that….not that there’s anything wrong with that, if you like it.
Looks like a different style of mystery and now I have those tunes running through my head. Thanks
Dear Bookwoman, I hope you are indeed enjoying those Dylan tunes in your head….Hope that “thanks” is not ironic! One can tell so little in our short online comments. Anyway, fingers crossed~!
I am enthralled with the setting of this book. 1968 I was in high school and the whole school and friends were torn about Vietnam. I do know some people who moved and made Canada their home (thankfully didn’t get arrested for murder like the person in your book). Dylan songs going through my head now too I recently read The City by Dean Koontz which takes place around the same time (starts out in 67) and it was great reading another view on that time period in a kind of mystery. Keeping fingers crossed on winning a copy of Desolation Row.
I wish you all the best of luck in winning one of the two copies available in this giveaway for DESOLATION ROW. If you don’t win, however, and if you do read E books, my mystery is available on all the various platforms for less than $6. BN.com has their price 50 cents less than Amazon.
Sounds real good.
Thank you, Karen!
I’m a fan of Nordic Noir, but do need to clean my palate and read something lighter. Being a huge fan of Bob Dylan, Canada (lived in Toronto for 20 years and had friends who were draft dodgers) and the 60’s, this sounds like the perfect way to start a new series. I have a Kindle which I use when I can’t find a book at the library. Unfortunately, we don’t have a bookstore in our small towns, they’ve closed. But I checked the library website and they have your books! Thank goodness for libraries…
Wow, this sounds fantastic. Hope I can win.
Great intro to a new series. Hope I win. I love the voice. I love first person and it’s my POV of choice when I write. Congrats on a great book.
Sounds a bit more edgy than my safe cozy read which is okay for a change of pace. Couldn’t do a steady diet of Jo Nesbo or Lisa Jackson that write the more graphic violence mysteries. Thanks for the introduction and giveaway chance.
Time to relive the years of my youth.
Thank you all for your kind and warm comments. I knew the subject area would be a bit of a hard sell, but I’ve been surprised at the boomers who have said…”I NEVER read about the sixties…I lived through them, it was too tough, and once was enough.” Since I love history in all eras, even the really tough stuff of WWI & WWII, then this attitude surprised me! Glad you all seem willing to give my little book a try. Heart-warming!!
I would love to read about the sixties! Lots of memories!
Exactly, Carol. Some boomers aren’t happy thinking of that era as HISTORY, but really, that is what it is. Recent history, as compared, say, to the Renaissance. My amateur sleuth Austin Starr runs around looking for a pay phone. When she finds one, she looks for a dime! If she misses a phone call at home, she has no idea someone was trying to reach her. A different world in oh so many ways. I just love getting immersed in it and bringing back that world, and showing how some things back then led to some things right now.
Definitely sounds like my type of book.
This sounds like a really interesting book. I would love to win it, but I may need to check it out even if I don’t. Once I save up more money for books, lol. Thanks for the giveaway.
This sounds like a promising new series—I’d love to win this book. Growing up in Alaska I always have felt a special kinship for Canada.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Good luck to all of you! Thank you so much for your interest. And Happy Labor Day weekend!
Thanks Kay for interacting with my readers.
Contest is closed.
Now THAT sounds intriguing! I look forward to reading it.