Author Guest Post with Dan Padavona: Grave Girl

Every mind holds a secret. Some are more deadly than others.

Welcome to the October 26th stop on the blog tour for Grave Girl by Dan Padavona with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

When I wrote the Wolf Lake mystery series, I never dreamed so many people would read the books and fall in love with the characters. Prior to Wolf Lake, I’d experienced success with my Darkwater Cove psychological thrillers and the Scarlett Bell FBI serial killer books, but nothing on the magnitude of Wolf Lake.

After I released the tenth book in the series and didn’t immediately announce an eleventh, readers became concerned that I was killing the proverbial golden goose and giving up on the characters and stories that made Wolf Lake so special.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I recognized that the series needed a reboot. A literary kick in the backside. That’s when I conceived of the Thomas Shepherd mystery series, which picks up where Wolf Lake left off, yet stands on its own and doesn’t require anyone to have read the first series.

Grave Girl is the first entry in the Thomas Shepherd mysteries, a dark combination of whodunnit, police procedural, and serial killer thriller. All of your favorite characters return, including:

• Sheriff Thomas Shepherd, a decorated law officer with Asperger’s syndrome
• Scout, a teenage outcast girl and amateur sleuth who recently regained the ability to walk after spinal surgery
• LeVar Hopkins, a former gang member who turned his life around as a part-time private investigator and college student studying criminal justice
• And so many more

But don’t mistake the Thomas Shepherd mysteries as feel-good stories. The demented killers the heroes track will remind you of Buffalo Bill, Hannibal Lecter, and other infamous bone-chilling murderers from the world of dark thrillers.

This new series will bring even more readers into the world of Wolf Lake, and I can’t wait to share the first book with you.

Save the date. Grave Girl hits Amazon on December 27, 2022, and the sequel will quickly follow in late January 2023.

About the Book

Grave Girl
Thomas Shepherd Mystery Book One
by Dan Padavona

Publishing 27 December 2022

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Every mind holds a secret. Some are more deadly than others.

Nightshade County Sheriff Thomas Shepherd is a successful model for every law enforcement officer with autism. He leads an idyllic life in his uncle’s old home along Wolf Lake and is planning to marry private investigator Chelsey Byrd.

But when a star athlete’s girlfriend disappears while camping, everyone blames the boyfriend. He’s volatile and dangerous. Did he murder the girl and bury her in the woods?

The sheriff’s gut tells him there’s more to the story than the boyfriend is willing to admit. The more he digs into the case, the more he worries someone is hiding a dark secret.

Is the boy a killer? Or is he the next victim?

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

Excerpt

He waited until the woman’s Honda Civic rounded the bend and disappeared down the road. Behind a stand of trees, he remained hidden and formless, an invisible predator.

The day hadn’t gone as planned. McKenzie had torn up his note and slid it into the hallway. He needed that money. Without her username and password, his only choice was to put her up for ransom, and that would increase the risk of getting caught.

A downstairs light shone inside the sheriff’s A-frame, but nobody was home. Nobody except a cat and that damn beast of a dog. More lights illuminated the guest house along the lake. There was movement inside, though the drawn curtains made it difficult to tell who it was. He stepped toward the side window, crouching low so his shadow didn’t pass over the glass and forewarn the tiny house’s occupant. His hand moved to the gun in his pocket.

Without making a sound, he rose and stood beside the window, one eye peering through the opening between the curtain and the sill. Oh, how he hoped it was LeVar Hopkins, now a sheriff’s deputy. A bullet to the head would take LeVar out of this world.

A chair swung around, and the man edged away from the glass, hoping no one had spotted him. He slid along the wall and looked again through the opening. Right in front of him, a teenage girl with a brunette ponytail filled a glass at the sink. Where was LeVar, and why was this girl inside his house?

About the Author

Dan Padavona is the author of The Wolf Lake series, The Logan and Scarlett series, Darkwater Cove, The Scarlett Bell thriller series, and The Thomas Shepherd Mysteries. Many of his novels rank in the top-10 in Amazon’s thriller and mystery categories. He is a husband, a parent, and proud member of the International Thriller Writers Organization.

When he’s not writing, Dan enjoys photography, biking, weightlifting, and storm chasing. Dan has videotaped tornadoes from New York to Oklahoma and Texas and was nearly swept up by a strong twister outside Sweetwater, Texas. A self-proclaimed ice cream and gelato lover, Dan admits to spending too much time in the gym, compensating for his questionable nutritional decisions.

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Giveaway Alert!

Dan Padavona will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.