Reporter: Thanks for agreeing to share 24 hours of your life with my readers. How about starting with your Miata breaking down in the desert near that billboard?
Lauren Beck: That was rotten luck, but I had been driving hard all the way from Maryland.
R: You were a cop back east. You must have plenty of difficult memories. Why did a fading billboard of a missing girl affect you so strongly?
LB: (rustling in her chair) It reminded me of the child I was too late to save.
R: Can you please speak a little louder? I’m not sure my recorder got that.
LB: It reminded me of a child I was too late to save.
R: Is that why you left the police force?
LB: No. I left for personal reasons.
R: You were diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease.
LB: You’ve done your homework. Yes.
R: I know you fully recovered, and you’re still young. Is there some other reason you haven’t gone back?
LB: If there is, it’s not for publication.
R. Understood. So, what then? A tow truck took you and your convertible to a used car lot?
LB: Yes, I traded the Miata for the manager’s orange Jeep. At the last minute the mechanic drove off with it to pick up a prescription. For about twenty minutes I thought he’d stolen the car. A dumb-ass impulse on his part, but I’m not immune. Since I was the one who got surprised, I should have warned my dad I was coming.
R: You were mugged on your parents’ doorstep.
LB: My father and Ana’s doorstep. Ana’s my new stepmother. Cop instinct. Nobody answered my knock, so I was looking for a way to make sure they were okay.
R: It must have been dark by then. Could you even see your attacker? Were you hurt?
LB. Couple of bruises. I was tackled from behind, so I fell against the front door and set off a crazy-loud alarm. The thug’s vehicle took off so fast, somebody’s foot must have already been on the gas.
I ended up being a quasi-guest of the Albuquerque police. I say “quasi” because a neighbor had called 9-1-1 to report that a strange woman was trying to break into my father’s house.
R: Nice neighbor.
LB: She wasn’t wrong. Thank goodness Jack, the police chief, trusted me. Before he left, he offered me his office sofa for the night, which—unfortunately—stirred up some unwarranted, water-cooler gossip. It didn’t sit too well with his wife either. He was relieved when my father’s car was spotted back home the next morning.
R: You call him “Jack.” I take it you’ve had dealings with him since?
LB: Of a professional nature, yes.
R: How did the reunion with your father go?
LB: Nothing like I hoped, that’s for sure. When he opened the door, he staggered back and clutched his chest as if he was having a heart attack. I asked who he was hoping to see, because it certainly wasn’t me.
“Ana’s gone,” he said. “I can’t find her, Beanie. I’ve looked everywhere.”
(Lauren rises, gathers her things…)
R: Wait. Wait! Then what?
Stranger Danger, A Lauren Beck Crime Mystery Book #3
Genre: Thriller
Release: May 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
Will chasing a killer put this determined fighter on the wrong end of a bullet?
Lauren Beck never stopped caring despite her relinquished badge. Still flat broke after a criminal wiped her out, the cancer survivor visits her beloved dad only to be mugged on his doorstep. Then learning her stepmother has mysteriously vanished, the former cop suspects her attack foreshadows a deeper threat.
Following the trail of money transfers, Lauren’s search for the missing woman triggers painful memories of her last abduction case—when she arrived too late. As she closes in on the truth, the ex-officer discovers another disturbing mystery of abducted girls that points to a depraved predator on the loose.
Can she connect the dots before more innocent blood is shed?
Stranger Danger is the edgy third book in the Writer’s Digest-awarded Lauren Beck crime thriller series. If you like scrappy heroines, nail-biting suspense, and twisted mysteries, then you’ll love Donna Huston Murray’s white-knuckle manhunt.
About the author
Donna Huston Murray’s 8th cozy For Better Or Worse was a Finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award in mysteries, and the first two Lauren Beck mystery/crime/thrillers were awarded Honorable Mention in genre fiction by Writer’s Digest. Donna thinks she can fix anything until proven wrong, calls trash-picking recycling, and adores Irish setters. She and husband “Hench” live in Gwynedd, PA.
All comments are welcomed.