The plane landed in Albuquerque and taxied to the terminal. The moment the engines fell silent, Aria stood to remove her carry-on from the overhead bin. It was wedged between two suitcases and a large duffel. “C’mon,” she muttered, giving it another tug.
An arm reached over her shoulder, grabbed her bag and lowered it to the aisle.
She turned, smiled, and said “Thank you.”
The teenage boy returned the smile. He had tattoos running up his neck. That he looked more like a mass murderer than a good Samaritan was not lost on her.
She thanked him again, extended the handle of her suitcase and rolled it toward the exit.
In their last conversation, Noah had said he’d be at the gate. What if his credentials didn’t get him through Security? Being a chief homicide inspector in Paris might be golden at Aeroport Charles de Gaulle, but did it have any muscle in Albuquerque?
Noah was teaching a few courses at this international conference, where law enforcement and science had merged to exchange ideas about the role of forensics in criminal justice systems worldwide. Forensics. That was the word of the day, of the decade. She was looking forward to hearing Noah talk about France’s newest and most technologically advanced tools designed to catch the bad guys and bring them to justice. And all those other lectures? She would imagine them while having that massage!
Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice reminding her that long-distance relationships were challenging. What if he changed his mind and he wasn’t there? She took a deep breath and marched forward.
And there he was, smiling. No, not smiling, beaming. Which meant that she, too, could beam. Like two idiots.
Before she could speak, he was holding her, and then kissing her. A scene from a goofy movie. The kind that made her roll her eyes… and then watch it a second time.
Their suite was larger than she had expected. A small kitchen offered an espresso machine, tea kettle, toaster oven and microwave. Tucked under the counter was a refrigerator. A bottle of cabernet sat on the table, a welcome card propped against it.
French doors opened to a garden surrounded by walls covered with purple bougainvillea and pale lilacs, flowers common to this high-desert region.
“And now, moving along,” he said, walking backward while using the voice of a tour guide, “we come to our love nest.”
With the bedroom door ajar, Aria saw a large chest of drawers and the corner of a bed.
“You must be tired,” he said, checking his watch. “Cocktails at three. That gives us a few hours to rest. Or would you rather walk?”
They hadn’t seen each other for months; the last thing on her mind was walking.
He gave the bedroom door a little shove and continued talking.
Aria was no longer listening. On the king-sized bed was a man, naked and spread-eagled. The hole in his forehead left no doubt. Definitely… dead.
MURDER AT HOTEL GLORIOSA
Series: An Aria Nevins and Noah Roche Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: September 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
In the second of the Aria Nevins/Noah Roche mystery series, readers are transported to the high desert of New Mexico, near the Navajo Nation, and a remote hotel hosting an international conference for homicide investigators and forensic experts.
Aria arrives to spend the weekend with Noah, who’s scheduled to teach a few courses, sit on a few panels. When they enter their suite and find the universally disliked Chicago detective Creighton Thornberry on their bed, naked and with a bullet hole in his forehead, the local police immediately zero in on Noah, who had argued with Thornberry the night before. Police Chief Dot Clearwater and her sidekick, Marty Palacios arrest Noah.
Aria is frantic to find the real killer. Her hopes are buoyed when she discovers an old friend living in Santa Fe is married to an attorney, and buoyed even more with the unexpected arrival of Noah’s Paris team, Anuj Kumar and Tenna Berglof, and the appearance of Susan Wellber, an esteemed forensics expert who also happens to be Noah’s old flame. Together, the team sets out to find someone who hates Noah enough to frame him for murder. There’s a second arrest, but what possible link could there be between this new suspect, the dead cop from Chicago, and Noah, our homicide detective from Paris? Before the pieces of this puzzle are in place, another violent crime takes place, forcing the team to shift into high gear to uncover the identity of the killer before he kills again.
Meet the author
Victoria Zackheim (www.victoriazackheim.com) wrote The Curtain Falls in Paris, Murder at Hotel Gloriosa, The Bone Weaver, Death Times Seven, and edited seven anthologies. She wrote the documentary Where Birds Never Sang: The Story of Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps (PBS). A freelance editor, Victoria teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.