The third book in my Traces of Treasure series is coming out this October and I’m looking for new reviewers of this book and the other books in the series.
Why would anyone be interested in these books?
The answer is: I seriously don’t know.
I just write them and hope people find them entertaining.
But what I do know is this: the people who’ve read the first two books in the series really like them. But hey, not enough people have read them yet. I also know that although the subject matter seems a bit male-oriented, seriously, these books appeal to women as well as men. Check out the current reviews on Amazon if you don’t believe me.
These are mysteries centered on a sense of adventure, with a good dose of obsession. The hero of the series (so far) is Sam Milton. He’s a bit of a loner and loser in the first book, The Fever. He’s obsessed and he can’t help it. He got arrested at nineteen and while in jail he helped a sick and dying wino who rewarded him with the riddle. It, the broken little man said, would help Sam find a long lost gold mine out in west Texas.
The Fever is a bit of a what-if scenario. What if this happened to you? Well, you’d think about it, first dismissing it has hogwash. Then you might wonder to yourself late at night … what if? This is where the title comes in. Eventually, you can’t help it. You catch the FEVER, gold fever. When the book opens, a very tired and frustrated Sam is hiking out of the wilderness after yet another fruitless search. It’s dangerous terrain, the home of rattlesnakes and mountain lions. He’s trespassing. He sneaks in and out and drives the eight to ten hours back to his regular life, only to plot and plan his next trip. He’s careful. He has a set routine of procedures designed to keep him safe.
Then, after this latest trip, he stumbles upon the solution to the first clue in the riddle. It’s something he missed for years. It was so simple. Yet, he’s at the end of his hiking season; or is he? The book is about his rush to get back into the field to check out his hunch, throwing out many of the safeguards he had built into his past searches. Love? Family? Job? Who cares … this is gold we’re talking about.
A riddle and an obsession … what could possibly go wrong?
The second book, A Curse That Bites Deep, follows closely on the heels of The Fever. Sam has relocated to the area, relieving himself of the strain of those long drives. I’m trying not to add spoilers here, but suffice it to say, he’s much happier than he’s been in a long time. He’s in love with a cafe owner who befriended him in the first book. Things are finally looking up for him, well, that is until people start dying. One-by-one, people close to Sam seem to pass away. Some deaths can be explained as accidents, but others are obviously murder. As the situation continues to get even more complicated, he must take the initiative to confront the killer before the circle of death tightens around the love of his life. Is it just a random homicidal maniac or is it the curse he had earlier been warned about?
The third book, Lucky Strike, due out in October, definitely proves that Sam’s lost gold mine is not the only treasure-oriented mystery in this small west Texas town. But our friends have a problem: something is definitely wrong but the details are not obvious. They must claw and scratch their way through a bunch of muddled clues to put the pieces together. All the while they are facing a ruthless villain who seems to be everywhere at once. It is a top-notch mystery, sure to entertain. This story is as much about Sam’s girlfriend Smidgeon Toll, as it is about him. See that image on the cover? That’s not blatant sensationalism–she does that more than once in this story.
I need reviews, so I am willing to provide PDF review copies of all three books to people who are willing to read and review them. Books 2 and 3 do have a bit of exposition so they could probably be read standalone. Of course, any review for Lucky Strike would be an advance review but if I get good taglines from an early review I can use that in the book. I have an early August cutoff for that.
I’m wanting to sell books, of course, so if there is a massive rush to the box office I might need to be selective.
So if you are looking for something to read, like to leave reviews on Amazon or even better … are a book blogger — help a guy out and drop me a line. You can get more information on the books at http://thefensk.com — My email info is there as well.
If we were having coffee today I’d tell you something of my experience with the toughest challenge about being an author. Writing a novel or any book is really hard and revision is even harder … but marketing kicks me in the proverbial rear end every time.
“Turn right.”
We took a left on what we were assured was a state road, State Road 814.
And what a road it was … we went up and down and around, and up and down and around. We traversed a couple of mountains with long stretches of steep drop-offs with no rail. This was ear-popping, white-knuckle driving.
It’s been a while since I shook things up a bit so I decided to change the title of the blog … I liked “A Smidgeon’s Toll” okay as a blog title but it never seemed to catch hold. So for the new year, I guess I’ll try a new one on for size. Scratching The Surface. It more fits what I’m doing with my blog, and with my writing.
My publisher, 
Like the riddle in the Sam’s life, the idea for this story smoldered in my soul for thirty years.
Scratching the Surface 