Today I am so pleased to welcome Elle Keaton to Joyfully Jay. Elle has come to talk to us about her West Coast Forensics series. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Exclusive Excerpt
Book 1, Real Trouble
Two couples had packed up their cars and left since Birdy and Soren had arrived. Maybe they’d planned early checkouts, but Soren suspected not.
Standing there on a misty morning with smoke drifting upward from the remains of a historic building, he couldn’t help but worry. The fires he’d been told about when he’d arrived on the island had largely stopped after Sheriff Dempsey had apprehended Franjo Petyr last summer, and most people had assumed they’d been his doing, either directly or via an associate. Could this be related, or was it the work of someone new?
Franjo Petyr was in federal prison now. Regrettably, he wasn’t the last of the Petyr crime family; there were still more of them out there, although they seemed to be lying low for now. Was Petyr orchestrating something from afar? Was this payback? It seemed far-fetched to Soren. If it was revenge of some kind, wouldn’t the perpetrator have set fire to the main building, not just this smaller outlier?
It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, he supposed. The Petyrs were like human black mold, almost impossible to get rid of and deadly to those who came into contact with them—repulsive beings who specialized in human trafficking and dabbled in everything else, driven solely by avarice. Soren hated every last one of them.
They were despicable beings who preyed on the weak and less fortunate. Hate wasn’t a strong enough word for how he felt about that family. Soren lifted his hand, rubbing his chest through his fleece jacket. The wound was fully healed, but sometimes he had phantom pain. He had twinges there today. Maybe it was the cold, but he couldn’t shake the odd ache.
The fire chief tromped over to where Soren and Birdy waited.
“Can you tell us anything?” Birdy asked.
Devon Flynn was likely a few years older than Soren, maybe midthirties. Soren knew from Birdy that Devon was the only paid member of the fire crew; the rest of the team consisted of volunteers. It was difficult to tell what Devon looked like underneath the fire gear and the soot smeared on his face, but he was a few inches shorter than Soren, with dark hair and eyes.
Devon pulled his headgear off and ran a hand through his sweat-damp hair, making it stand up in all directions. “I’m almost 100 percent sure the fire was purposely set, but what was used to start it I’m not sure about. I have some ideas, though. We may have to beg the county to send off some samples to be analyzed.”
“We’ll definitely need to talk to the owner,” Soren said.
Chief Flynn nodded. “Quite honestly, I doubt it’s Prescott. He’s young and only just inherited this place. It needs a lot of work and is probably costing him an arm and a leg to keep afloat, but I don’t see him burning it down.”
Soren pursed his lips. “Mm.” Money pressure could change people’s minds about things; he’d seen it happen more than once.
Blurb
West Coast Forensics, Book 1
Two men on opposite sides of the law: will they be able to set aside their differences and trust love?
Danylo Peters has issues, lots of them. He’s not on Piedras Island by accident, he’s not a nice guy, and Peters isn’t his real name. Dany’s hiding, trying to escape his family’s influence and start a new life. But he must have been born under a bad sign because the very man he’s really running from is one of the first he runs into.
A new life in a new town seemed like the right decision for Soren Jorgenson, especially after a difficult case left him recovering from a gunshot wound and lonely as he’d ever been. Finding Dany living on Piedras brings back all the feelings he’d tried to lock away. He’s angry and bitter and Dany is not going to continue to get away with his old tricks. Too bad Dany is just as compelling as he ever was.
The two men find themselves on opposite sides of Soren’s first case on Piedras, but neither is able to deny the attraction between them. They keep finding themselves in compromising situations; if they’re found out there will be Real Trouble.
Real Trouble is set in the Veiled Intentions world, while familiar characters appear Real Trouble can be read as a standalone. Real Trouble is a dual POV following Soren Jorgenson and Danylo Peters as they fight their way to their HEA and is the first in the new West Coast Forensics series. These characters originally appeared in the Shielded Hearts series (formally Accidental Roots).
Bio
Elle Keaton writes MM romantic suspense set in the Pacific Northwest with some contemporary romance thrown in. She’s passionate about writing inclusive romances with complex characters and a unique sense of place. Her characters start out broken, and maybe they’re still banged up by the end, but they find the other half of their hearts and ALWAYS get their happily ever after. In 2017 Elle hit the publish button for the first time and hasn’t looked back. Being an author is the best job Elle has ever had and now she has over thirty books available for you to read or listen to! She loves cats and dogs, Star Wars and Star Trek, pineapple on pizza, and has a cribbage habit her husband encourages.
Connect with Elle:
https://ellekeaton.com/
https://ellekeaton.com/join-the-highway-to-elle-newsletter/
https://www.facebook.com/ellekeatonauthor (my page)
https://www.instagram.com/ellekeatonauthor/
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Elle-Keaton/author/B06XJWJRLK
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elle-keaton
https://www.goodreads.com/ellekeaton_author
Giveaway
To celebrate the series tour, Elle is giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
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