I was thrilled to be invited to participate in an extra special blog tour–a Glasgow set serial killer thrillers. Talk about your twists! This unique tour started a new chapter with each new book blogger in Claire’s prequel to the “Darkness” series as well as give you the opportunity to discover a new book blogger. The tour extended across two weeks and fourteen exclusive and independent bloggers.
The Dark of Night trilogy by CS Duffy are fast-paced thrillers! Each day you can read an excerpt in a serialized version of the prequel at a different blog. If you missed the start of the blog tour, take a look at the blog schedule (below) and begin with Chapter One at Chapter in My Life.
About the Books:
Last paragraph from Chapter 13 – A Knight’s Reads
Lorna opened her laptop and drummed her fingers on it, her heart hammering as she tried to think of the right search terms. Half an hour later, she had found the connection between Stuart Henderson and the murdered nurse. She just didn’t understand why the old lady had lied to her.
Chapter 14:
‘I don’t resent any of the things that have been done to me,’ said Stuart Henderson with a deep, melancholic sigh. He peered at the camera from behind those odd wee glasses. For a moment, his bemused expression put her in mind of the time when answering machines first became common and her Granny would leave messages consisting of her bellowing at the top of her voice WILL YOU JUST TELL MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW THAT GRANNY STEWART PHONED. BYYEEEE!
Then Lorna remembered that he’d only been in prison for seven years, and had been some kind of a wonderkid developer before that. Stuart Henderson knew fine what a webcam was. But he wanted her to see him as a doddery wee man, she thought. Interesting.
‘You mean things that the police did to you?’ she asked.
‘The police, the courts, my lawyers. A lot of the papers said they were out to get me but I don’t think that was the case. I think they did their jobs as best they knew how. True, they could have done better.’ He shrugged, smiled at the camera, an endearing, don’t-you-worry-about-little-old-me smile that made Lorna’s skin crawl.
‘What do you think they could have done better?’ she asked.
Stuart laughed, a thin, reedy laugh that jangled Lorna’s nerves. Though she knew he was thousands of miles away under lock and key, an uneasy feeling kept prickling at the back of her neck. It took a superhuman effort not to run and double check that her doors were locked and that Stuart Henderson wasn’t hiding under her bed.
‘Well they could have caught the guy who actually did these reprehensible things,’ he sing-songed, as though talking to a baby. ‘Just an idea.’
‘What do you think he is like?’
‘Who?’
But a flicker of interest sparked into Stuart’s eyes.
‘The guy who actually did these reprehensible things.’
‘Oh aye, him. How should I know what he’s like?’
‘You told me earlier that nobody knows more about this case than you do. So you should have an idea of what the real killer is like.’
‘So I should,’ Stuart muttered, staring up at the ceiling. He had been brought in to some kind of interview room. Lorna could just about see the dark grey walls around the edges of the shot, and every time Stuart moved his hands she heard his shackles clink and clank. After months of emails back and forth with the prison authorities and Henderson’s legal team, Lorna had been thrilled to finally secure the interview. It had just been a few minutes, and she was fighting the urge not to slap her laptop shut so he couldn’t see her anymore.
He wasn’t what she had expected. Though she had seen plenty of pictures of him beforehand, it was still disconcerting to come face-to-face with someone who looked like any wee Glasgow guy, yet was also a monster. Lorna could have sat opposite Stuart Henderson on the subway, been cornered by him in a pub slurring rubbish chat up lines, bantered with him in a late night café as they waited for their kebabs, and she would never have known she was staring into void of humanity. He kept sniffing and she wanted to snap at him to get a hankie, then she remembered that he was chained to his chair so that he didn’t rip the face off any of the guards supervising him.
‘Maybe I was mistaken,’ she said lightly. ‘Thinking you knew all about it.’
‘What do you want to know about him?’ Stuart snapped, and Lorna jumped.
‘Where did he start?’
Stuart rolled his eyes like a sullen teenager. ‘All this is a matter of record.’
‘I don’t think so.’
Stuart stared at the camera. Though Lorna knew it wasn’t actual eye contact, that he couldn’t in fact even see her, she shivered.
‘I think he must have started before the crimes we know about,’ Lorna said softly. ‘Long before. Killers like him, the ones who are precise and exacting and get away with it for years like he did, they don’t just spring into being fully-formed. They’ve practiced, they’ve trained. They’ve worked their way up to it.’
Stuart nodded slowly. ‘You just might be onto something there.’
‘Tell me about his first crime.’
Stuart thought a long while. Lorna hardly dared breathe. Then he smiled.
‘He was only a wee boy,’ he grinned, as though about to spill a delicious secret.
If you want to read the entire Chapter 13, check out yesterday’s installment on A Knight’s Reads or read all chapters beginning with Sharon’s post at Chapter in My Life!
THE DARKNESS BUY LINKS:
UK Store:
Dark of Night: Episode One: http://amzn.eu/d/62DeGhx
US Store:
Dark of Night: Episode Three
Published in September, 2018, Claire continues the suspense thriller storyline in Just Before Dawn Episode One, Darkness Book 4.
About The Author:
C.S. Duffy writes psychological suspense thrillers with a healthy dose of black humour. Her background is in film and TV. She has several projects in development in Sweden and the UK and her other writing has appeared in Elle Canada and The Guardian. She is the author of Life is Swede, a thriller that was originally written as a blog – leading several readers to contact Swedish news agencies asking them why they hadn’t reported the murder that features in the blog. She is the author of Dark of Night and Just Before Dawn, a thriller series set in Glasgow which was selected for a Spotlight slot at this year’s Bloody Scotland.
What a brilliant and fun way to get to know and read her series and enjoy our fellow bloggers. This was engaging and entertaining, Claire, thank you!
©2018 V Williams 
Title: Treading the Uneven Road by L. M. Brown
Highest Rated on Goodreads – Yes, same book!
Here is hoping all who read and support my blog have a happy and healthy New Year! And, as always, thank you! I appreciate your participation and comments! ©2018 (signing out) V Williams 
The books wend their way over a broad range of genre’s and once again, I’ve found some amazing books in a genre that stretched the reading chops. Among my favorites are psychological thrillers, literary fiction, humorous novels, cozy mysteries, and (what you say??) doggie stories! (Well, I guess no surprise there.) These are books that feed your soul, provide food for thought or chuckles that are share-worthy. I found so many delightful little passages, I began to share them in my Quick Quotes.
5 stars
4.5 stars
The challenge runs from January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. There is no deadline to signup.
Rosepoint Publishing 