I named myself Tanzania to honor my mother, who came from Africa. Grey? That comes from having one black and one white parent.

I’d give anything to go back to my old life and my birth name. Years ago, my parents were murdered, and as I watched, the masked killers captured my brother. I barely managed to escape. The next day, I discovered my family had been completely erased—our house was cleaned out and sold and everyone who knew us was notified that my family had been transferred out of the country. The cops thought it was a joke when I tried to report the murders; they kept asking me who I was and where I was. For all I know, they were in on the plan to eradicate the Robinsons.

Only a powerful organization could pull off that sort of complex operation.

So at fourteen, I had to reinvent myself. Not only have I become an expert liar, I’ve also become a champion runner. I compete in extreme cross-country endurance races in exotic countries and in all sorts of treacherous terrain—forests and jungles and mountains where wild animals are more common than people. I wish I could just race my way around the planet, win every competition, and live off my prize money.

Yeah, right. In the real world, I lose as often as I win, the annoying sportscasters call me Zany instead of Tana, and when a race is over, I go back to my regular life as a Habitat Maintenance Technician at the zoo. In other words, I shovel crap for a living. And I had to pass my GED at sixteen to get that job. Still, it’s a big step up from picking crops, which is what I did when I lived with Marisela Santos, the amazing woman who taught me how to survive under the radar of the authorities.

Only one person knows that I am really Amelia Robinson—my excellent friend Sebastian Callendro. Bash, I call him. He and I couldn’t help but bond after being partners in the Verde Island Race and nearly losing our lives there. Bash knows all about keeping secrets. He wishes he’d been able to keep more of his.

So I spend my days cleaning animal habitats, training for my next race, and trying to educate myself with online apps. Every day I wonder if my brother Aaron is still alive, and I am always, always looking over my shoulder to make sure my parents’ killers haven’t tracked me down.

Every day I get stronger and smarter and more determined to turn the tables and track them down. I have to know why my parents were murdered and what happened to my brother. I will expose the killers, whoever they may be, even if it costs me my life.

The character of Tanzania Grey is introduced in Race With Danger, the first book in the Run For Your Life series.

Champion runner Tanzania Grey, 17, has to win the Verde Island Endurance Race’s million-dollar prize to save the life of her friend Bailey. The treacherous five-day race traverses a remote volcanic island that’s home to beasts that slither, fly, swim, and slink through the jungle. But the wildlife turns out to be the least of Tana’s problems when she draws the name of Sebastian Callendro as her partner. Sebastian’s personal life has put him in the national spotlight, and his nosy followers are the kind Tana can’t afford.

Her name isn’t really Tanzania, and everything else in her biography is invented, too. She’s been running for three years—from the men who murdered her parents. If her cover is blown, she could be next.

Race To Truth is the second book in the Run For Your Life young adult suspense series, published by WildWing Press, May 2016.

When champion endurance racer Tanzania Grey accepts a mysterious invitation to the Ski to Sea Relay Race in Bellingham, Washington, she knows she may be risking her new life and identity. Born Amelia Robinson, she’s been living on the run for four years after masked “ninjas” killed her family. By returning to her hometown, Tana hopes to find clues to the murders. But will discovering the motives behind an apparent conspiracy help her find justice, or lead the killers to her doorstep to threaten her patched-together new “family”–a rescued elephant, five goats, a former street child, and a wounded veteran? Can she stop the assassins from completing the job of erasing the last Robinson?

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About the author
Pamela Beason works as a licensed private investigator and escapes into the wilderness as often as she can. She constantly juggles book projects between her Summer “Sam” Westin wilderness mysteries, her Neema (the signing gorilla) mysteries, and her Run for Your Life young adult series. As well as numerous blue ribbons and First Place doodads, she has won a Chanticleer Grand Prize Award, a Library Journal award, a Mystery & Mayhem Grand Prize, and the Daphne du Maurier Award. Her author website is pamelabeason.com.

Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a Kindle copy of Race To Truth. The giveaway will end June 9, 2016 at 12 AM (midnight) EST. Good luck everyone!

All comments are welcomed.