A HIGHER COURT -John Betcher

A HIGHER COURT

by John L. Betcher

My name is William Kensey. I have a wife and two great kids. Until very recently, I was a well-respected and financially successful trial attorney.

I was also a man who was comfortable with his religion. I preferred it served at arm's length from the pulpit on Sunday morning. And would rather not discuss it the rest of the week.

The circumstances that led me to write A HIGHER COURT changed all that. The entire experience was both bizarre and unavoidable. You see, I was summoned to serve as a juror in an improbable trial -- a trial to determine whether God exists.

I know.

You think that sounds ludicrous. I did, too . . . until the trial began.

Witnesses buried me under mountains of scientific evidence. My own eyes forced me to confront
the reality of extreme human suffering. God seemed less and less relevant -- even absent -- as the trial progressed.

At the close of the trial, I had to render my verdict -- "God" or "No God." Affirm a new and
deeper faith in a Creator, or confess the triumph of science.

A HIGHER COURT is the story of how I discovered the ultimate truth. I invite you to join me in
this revelation. You won't be sorry.


BIOGRAPHY
John Betcher holds a Bachelor’s Degree, cum laude, in English from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. He has practiced law for more than twenty-five years in the Mississippi River community of Red Wing, Minnesota. He has also been a long-time supporter and coach of youth volleyball there.

Mr. Betcher has published three feature articles in COACHING VOLLEYBALL, the Journal of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. His most recent article was the cover story for the April/May, 2009 Issue. His book on volleyball coaching philosophies entitled THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF VOLLEYBALL COACHING, Insights From the Trenches, has been selling nationwide and is currently available at Amazon.com.

His thriller, The 19th Element, and its companion, a mystery/suspense novel, The Missing
Element, have both been featured in multiple print media and have been met with widespread
critical acclaim.

His blog at Self-Publishing Central has been selected to receive the 2010 Top Publishing Blog
Award from Online English Degree.

CONTACT
betcherjl@q.com

WEBSITE
http://www.johnbetcher.com/

BLOOD ORCHID - S. D. Hintz

BLOOD ORCHARD

by S. D. Hintz

Coren Raines has relocated to hell.

Six-month-old triplets vanish a block from his house. His backyard sprouts the dead like a cursed cemetery. His panic room is a haunted tomb. And the more secrets he unearths, the more evidence there is to hide from a sheriff hell-bent on framing him.

Summer 1993

Francine Heller fantasizes about prom dresses and romantic dances. Three bullies butcher her dreams into nightmares. When she is beaten and left for dead, vengeance bleeds from the town orchard to a barn of bottled screams. They say good things come in threes. They lied.

BIOGRAPHY
S.D. Hintz is a horror author and CEO of KHP Publishers. His recent publications include Blood Orchard, Death in Common: Poems from Unlikely Victims, The 4th Book of Terror Tales, and A Sea of Alone: Poems for Alfred Hitchcock.

He currently resides in Minnesota with his beautiful wife and two children.

WEBSITE
www.sdhintz.com

PUBLISHER
Black Bed Sheet Books
www.downwarden.com/blackbedsheet.htm

Blue Bells of Scotland - Laura Vosika

Blue Bells of Scotland

By Laura Vosika

Shawn Kleiner has it all: money, fame, a skyrocketing career as an international musical phenomenon, his beautiful girlfriend Amy, and all the women he wants, until the night Amy has enough and leaves him stranded in a Scottish castle tower.

He wakes up to find he is mistaken for Niall Campbell, medieval Highland warrior. Soon after, he is sent shimmying down a wind-torn castle wall into a dangerous cross-country trek with Niall's tempting, but knife-wielding fiancee. They are pursued by English soldiers and a Scottish traitor who want Niall dead.

Thrown forward in time, Niall learns history’s horrifying account of his own death, and of the Scots’ slaughter at Bannockburn. Undaunted, he navigates the roiled waters of Shawn’s life—pregnant girlfriend, amorous fans, enemies, and gambling debts—seeking a way to leap back across time to save his people, especially his beloved Allene. His growing fondness for Shawn’s life brings him face to face with his own weakness and teaches him the true meaning of faith.

Blue Bells of Scotland is both a historical adventure and a tale of redemption that will be remembered long after the last page has been turned.

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Vosika is the author of the Blue Bells Trilogy. In addition to the Trilogy, she is working on several other novels and a non-fiction book on raising a large family. Laura grew up in the military, visiting castles in England, pig fests in Germany, and the historic sites of America's east coast.

She earned a bachelor's degree in music, and worked for many years as a freelance musician, playing trombone for pit orchestras, ballets, and symphonies, and flute and harp for other venues. She spent three years as a member of the Buz Whiteley Big Band and Farragut Brass Band in Bremerton, WA.

After earning a masters degree in education, she took a job as a music teacher and band director. She has also taught private lessons on wind instruments, piano, and harp, for twenty years.

In her spare time, Laura likes to play piano, harp, and flute, do sudokus, and learn Gaelic. She currently lives in Minnesota with her nine children, and assorted menagerie.

WEBSITE
www.bluebellstrilogy.com

BLOG
http://bluebellstrilogy.blogspot.com

PUBLISHER
Gabriel’s Horn Publishing

Bedeviled Eggs - Laura Childs

Bedeviled Eggs

by New York Times
Bestselling Author Laura Childs
Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 970-0-425-23155-5
$7.99 Paperback

Cozy up with the latest “thillzy”
in this Minnesota-based
Cackleberry Club Mystery series.

Laura Childs has filled Bedeviled Eggs, the third book in her bestselling Cackleberry Club Mystery series, with a raft of small-town Minnesota characters that make you yearn for simpler times. At the top of the list are Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, the wise-cracking (and egg cracking) entrepreneurial ladies of the Cackleberry Club café. Mornings they whip up Egg Strata and Slumbering Volcanoes, then work a double shift as amateur sleuths. Because in this go round, a “read dating” event ends badly when a mayoral candidate is lobotomized with a crossbow!

Two days later, a sheriff’s deputy is found murdered on the historical society’s Quilt Trail. Now Suzanne, the Cackleberry Club’s founder, along with Sheriff Doogie, must struggle to unravel clues even as they contend with rescued fighting dogs, a prison break, and some very dirty politics.

Spirituality abounds, too, along with pulse-pounding action and tasty recipes for breakfast egg pizza, crabby omelets, pumpkin pancakes, and hazelnut scones. And for readers on the lookout for stocking stuffers this holiday, there’s a $7.99 mass market price.

“A delicious platter of thrilling whodunit, with a side of friendship and humor for dessert.”Las Vegas Review-Journal

"Childs excels at creating comforting settings in which to place her characters and the Cackleberry Club is a place you’d like to visit."St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Rich details . . . another great series by the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries and Scrapbook Mysteries.”Romantic Times Book Reviews

“Another Grade A, fresh and yummy installment to this fantastic series.”Richmond Times-Dispatch

BIOGRAPHYLaura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club. She is a former Cleo Award-winning advertising writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing. She is currently co-executive producer of two reality television shows.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITEwww.laurachilds.com

BOOK SIGNINGOnce Upon a Crime – Saturday, December 11, 2010

A Bedeviled Eggs publication party and holiday cookie party will be held on Saturday, December 11, from Noon to 2:00 at Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore. The store is located at 604 West 26th St., Mpls., MN 55405, phone is 612-870-3785.