The next installment of The New Pioneers: Needs, Wants and Other Weaknesses (Book 6)

I am so excited to finally be able to share a preview of my latest novel. This will be released on October 3rd. A big thanks to Mia Darien and Erin Cawood for helping me pull this together, and another shout out to Caroline Fardig for helping me nail down the synopsis.

This is still the universe of The New Pioneers, and you may remember Detective Robert Teague from The China Doll and Let's Move On, but otherwise this is a huge departure for me. I felt pretty comfortable talking about politics in The Golden Boy Returns, but I squirmed as much as anyone would talking about the dark places and people in this book. This isn't about human trafficking as much as it is the banal human exploitation that goes on every day...and one person who decided to do something about it.

I hope you like it.

Boston Police Detective Robert Teague risked his professional reputation to close the case that ruined his father. He burned a lot of people to do that, and after six years the captain who saved his job hasn’t forgotten how much Robert screwed up. A detective of his experience should have something better to do than chasing down a complaint against a paroled convict, but maybe that's why his gut is telling him something doesn’t make sense. Why did this boyfriend pimp get such a light sentence in the first place, and why did one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms represent him? And what is it about the complaining witness that makes her less reliable every time he talks to her? (The fact that she’s using an alias isn’t helping.)

Even a hard-boiled cop would be shocked by the world Hannah Bruges has been slipping in and out of since she was a young teenager. Counterfeiting, child prostitution and slave labor in all its forms make the world a miserable place, and Hannah knows better than most how evil it can be when no one cares. When anyone can get what they want at every level of a dark market, nothing’s as cheap as a human life. Robert would be happy to close the case if Hannah didn’t keep walking into trouble and dragging him into it with her. And if he’s honest, the detective in him wants to know what she’s really after: the people the law can’t find, or the person no one bothered to look for?

There’s always someone who can give you what you want and what you need, but nothing comes without a price. How much are you willing to pay when it’s someone you love?

Buy it on Amazon

Vincent Mallory Edgerton (Semya Slotin Mystery Book 4) (Review) by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba

Semya Slotin is brilliant, loyal and brave (or is it reckless?). Hyper-competent and self-sufficient, she'd get through life just fine with her best friend/partner-in-crime Polliannah Koch. But she doesn't have to; the perfect man for her is out there, and his name is Vincent Mallory Edgerton.

Vincent is also smart, loyal and brave, but just as cocky (being born into a loving, uber-privileged family can do that to a guy). But his family does try to give back, hence the creation of FREGG, a secret crime fighting organization that doesn't answer to any government but occasionally gets tapped on the shoulder by one. Vincent is the second generation and one of their best assets...so it takes something as serious as an attempted hit on him to make his superiors (including his father) put him on a deep undercover assignment. Vincent is pretty sure the next two years are going to be hell- until tying up some loose ends puts him directly into a beautiful detective's path. Just one problem: the gorgeous woman who's seemingly made for him is related to the people who put the hit on him. Make that two problems: she doesn't know. One more: he can't tell her.

Think I just gave away the plot of the book? That's just the sideshow; the real work is tracking down a missing person, and that investigation quickly reveals something much more nefarious. Good thing Vincent is so experienced...so how come Semya keeps getting the scoop first?

I loved this; fast-paced, international reach, and a case that had personal meaning for the detectives (and an issue that's shockingly prevalent across the world). Semya shows real vulnerability for the first time in this series; she's earned the right. (But even at her most vulnerable, she still manages to do some damage...) But I still have questions: Why is Semya's adoptive mother sniping at Vincent's father, and why did Semya's biological mother go to him before Semya was born? How come her biological father was never told about her? What isn't Vincent's father telling us? Finally, where is Vincent now? I am waiting impatiently for the next book to answer those questions!

Recommended for lovers of mystery and romantic suspense.

Vincent Mallory Edgerton (Sémya Slotin Mystery Series #4) by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba (Romantic Suspense/International Thriller) (New Release, Excerpt)

DNK says: I am going to brag here and tell you that I received an advanced copy; it's AWESOME! Vincent and Semya are now one of my favorite fictional couples, period.

Book Info-

Title- Vincent Mallory Edgerton

Series- Sémya Slotin Mystery Series #4

By- Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba

Length- 78,000 / 280 pages

Genre- Romantic suspense / international thriller

Release Date- July 16th, 2014

Blurb-

+18 mature content

The pursuit of peace is not always pacific.

Vincent Mallory Edgerton had always been an efficient FREGG operative. It was his family legacy and his pride. He had always loved his job, even when he had to leave everything behind for his safety and become Josh Heinz.

Every love story has a beginning.

Sémya Slotin had been coasting through life solving one mystery after another. While in Hawaii, her young protégée disappeared. When Sémya met Josh Heinz, her mind kept telling her to stay away from the handsome stranger with the hypnotic light brown eyes but she found herself inexplicably drawn to him. He awakened something in her and she was unable to resist him. It never happened to her before. Who was that man?

In Hawaii, Vincent had to work covertly with the sexy bold sleuth. Sémya’s beauty and intellect completely enthralled him, but his passion and growing love for her also changed him. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to finally win her trust and keep her safe, causing him to unleash events that would shape the rest of their lives. From the moment their gazes locked, Sémya and Vincent sealed their fate.

Note: This book is part of the series and is not a standalone. You might be able

to enjoy without reading Bird of Prey and The Plot Thickens first BUT I really advise to read Polliannah Got Married! first.

 

  

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LS7M0L6

Amazon Canada-http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00LS7M0L6

Polliannah Got Married! (Sémya Slotin Mystery, #3) by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba (Cover Reveal)

Title: Polliannah Got Married! (Sémya Slotin Mystery, #3)

Author: Danielle - Claude Ngontang Mba

Release Date: June 16, 2014

Series: Sémya Slotin Mystery series

Genre: Romantic suspense/ international thriller

   

Synopsis

The truth this time, and nothing but the truth…

Polliannah Koch Guryev is in trouble and her boyfriend is dead.

It's not the first time amateur sleuth Sémya Slotin finds herself on the first plane to rescue her best friend, but nothing's prepared her for what she finds in Toronto. Polliannah is a widow and her late husband John Allen was a hit man for the powerful Dovos family. What did they want from her? Why is this happening? One thing they do know: their carefree life back in London is officially over.

Sémya’s long-time boyfriend Josh Heinz knows more than he lets on, but as usual he’s not telling her anything. In fact, everyone knows more, but nobody’s talking. But that never stops Sémya Slotin, Detective Extraordinaire, from finding out the truth beneath the lies…

But at what cost? Old conspiracies and secrets resurface that put them all in peril. Sémya’s worst fears about her relationship with Josh and his past are confirmed, and the rift between them may never heal.

Sémya and Polliannah’s world is falling apart. Will they be able to come out of this stronger?

Oh, and did I mention that Polliannah got married?

Note: This book is part of the series and is not a complete standalone. However, it could be enjoyed without reading Bird of Prey and The Plot Thickens first.  

***

 

Excerpt

Sémya stretched out her body long enough to get Josh’s attention. “Don’t you even think about it…” she said when she noticed his eyes glittering. “Thank you for the business class seats, very private.” He caressed her cheek and leaned down, “That was the whole point.” The third seat next to their pod was empty. “It feels like we’re alone here.” She stopped him only mere inches from her mouth. No distraction, even if this one was the sexiest of them all. She got distracted with the Cartier case and she didn’t pay enough attention to Polliannah and her mysterious John. She should have insisted on meeting him, a photo or even a fucking last name! Now she was on her way to Canada again after some many years. She should be packing for Cuba! A well-deserved vacation for the three of them, it would have been their reward for closing that Cartier case. “We need to talk, Heinz.” He looked at her, but said nothing. “Are you in any ways linked to this case?” He’s going to lie to me… “I don’t know, Sémya. I honestly don’t know,” he told her. “Okay, let’s rewind. Does this have anything to do with your reason for being in London?” she asked then. “Sémya…” he started to say. “Don’t Sémya me! You’re obviously one bad bodyguard if you couldn’t catch the fact that Polli and I had a stalker for more than two months,” she told him. She saw the anger flashing through his eye. Well, he did let her down! She had secretly always thought that he was this man who had been there to protect her from… herself and the big bad world even though she didn’t need it. “Are you done, Slotin?” he said. “Not by a long shot if you have anything to do with all this,” she said and picked her laptop and the file Ally gave her. She made sure that the other file stayed hidden. “I’m not your bodyguard, Sémya. I never was,” he told her. “Whatever you say, Heinz,” she mumbled back. She opened her John Smith file and added what she knew about him. John Allen, Irish or Northern Irish, works for the Dovos family. She didn’t know a lot about the Dovos family, but she knew enough to discern that if they wanted Dmitri Guryev it wasn’t a good thing. She kept typing in silence for another hour, sending a few side-glances to Josh from time to time. He was reading… a book without a care in the world. “I think he targeted her because she was the single one,” she told him and closed her laptop. Polliannah was the one with the answers, all she could do now was try to relax and get some sleep. Another glass of champagne would be nice right now. “I rarely come to the store. How would he know?” he asked her, closing his book. “I bitch about you all the time to Manuel. That lad deserves a raise for all the things he’s heard his bosses say,” she told him. “I see…” Josh said. He took her by the chin, “He approached her the day you went to Paris, Sémya.” Polliannah told her about John the night she came back from visiting her mother in Paris. It was supposed to have been an easy case of stolen sketches from one fashion house to another, but it became the Johanna Cartier’s murder. “He kept taking her to her favourite restaurants and plays.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, “I do love the way you think, Heinz.” She really did… He kissed her, “We’ll talk after we land, I promise.” He slowly ran his hand through her hair. Sémya tried to think about all her new rules about distraction, “Come here…” “But how about Sergey? We didn’t discuss it in the store at all,” she moaned, pushing him away a little. They went to Maska for information on the Cartier case. Gary Finch, Johanna’s accomplice, was living in London under an assumed name and Maska was the place in London for fake papers. The truth was that they were completely isolated with a lot of free time until they landed in a few hours.  

***

Sémya Slotin Mystery series

Bird of Prey (Sémya Slotin Mystery, #1)

99¢ Sale May 26 - 27th Only at Amazon!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N

 

The Plot Thickens (Sémya Slotin Mystery, #2)

Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N

***

 

About the Author

Meet Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba The Author, The Blogger, The Cheeky Reviewer “My life journey is like my playlist, amazingly unique but full of contradictions with surprising joys with every song...” In the past two years, while living in Canada, England and France I wrote four novels: This Could Have Been Our Song! A coulda woulda shoulda ballad... (Book one) currently available on amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes and Nobles and Smashwords. The sequel This Would Have Been Our Song! Catchy tune and dancers’ tales has been in January 2014. Bird Of Prey, my first mystery romance novel has been released in October 7th, 2013 and its first sequel The Plot Thickens (a novella) in December. The second one Polliannah Got Married! will be released in June 2014 and the final one in July 2014. It won’t be the last book of the series.

Author website | Blogger website Danielle-Claude Indie Book Reviews | Twitter

Facebook Author Page | Danielle-Claude Indie Book Reviews Facebook page | Goodreads

 

   

The Plot Thickens by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba- on sale for 99 cents!

The Plot Thickens (a novella) – Book Two

Lengh: 100 pages

Release date: December 27^th, 2013

Blurb:

18+ adult content

What happened while Semya Slotin and Josh Heinz were busy solving Johanna Cartier's murder in Bird Of Prey?

Polliannah's story... When Polliannah Koch Guryev meets John Allen, she thinks that she's finally found her Prince Charming a tall, blond and handsome banker. What could go wrong?
John Allen has a job to do and getting closer to the beautiful Miss Koch Guryev is supposed to be a means to an end. But then they fall in love. He's a hit man on a mission, she's the sister of his targets. What possible future could they have? Now he and his Russian Princess have to leave London for their safety. But it may already be too late for them...

 Only 99 cents until April 22nd!

Smashwords || Amazon || B&N || Ibookstore || Goodreads

Excerpt

“It looks like someone vomited the nineties in here. Is that man smoking?” Polliannah exclaimed as they were entering the club. “Or a regular Eastern European club,” she added.

“I thought you might like it,” John teased back. She gently knocked his ribcage.

“I love it.” She looked a little out of the place. She was wearing jeans and not a flashy dress and dangerously high heels. Sémya would have been proud. Sémya would have loved it here. Maybe she should ask her to come with Josh? She caressed John’s grin. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” he said back.

Wow! “Just tell me that you’re not one of those men who just stared at women dancing in the shadows. Creeps!” She moved her head and hips to the music.

“I would have let you know that I’m an excellent dancer… after a few drinks,” he joked back leading her to dance floor. “So two bottles of wine and a couple of vodka shots…”

She just laughed, happy to be out with him. He wasn’t lying, he was good. He seemed more relaxed tonight that he had been for the past four weeks. The DJ was going Daft Punk crazy. Sémya would have really loved it here. They used to be Daft Punk diehard fans. Daft Punk and absinth… the nineties!

 She looked at him completely letting loose when One More Time started. “It’s been a very long day!” he said over the music.

“I am not judging! I’ve had a very long year,” Polliannah said and asked for a cigarette. She lit it and laughed when Roses by Outkast came on. “Not that I don’t enjoy the music but the DJ knows it’s 2013?” Always the same shit with Eastern European style club. But they usually have the best absinth… “I’m thirsty,” she whispered in his ear while she was dancing against him.

“What do you want to drink Princess?” he groaned back.

Polliannah played with his soft blond hair before diving into his deep blue eyes, “Absinth please, straight up,” she said against his lips. She saw the admiration in his eyes, “I have my vices too.”

He kissed her and pressed her tighter against him, “I see…,” he mumbled taking a drag from her cigarette.  California Love started, “…after this song!”

“Oh you were on these white lads!” she said rolling her eyes. He eagerly nodded as he sung. She just laughed and kept on dancing. Can this night be more perfect?

Bird Of Prey – Book one is available everywhere at $2.99!

Length: 200 pages

Release date: October 7^th 2013

18+ adult content

Blurb:

Who killed the infamous Johanna Cartier? Sémya Slotin is thrown back in the business of solving mysteries when she found her body. With the help of her best friend Polliannah Koch, DCI Ally Gibbons and the mysterious but extremely sexy Josh Heinz, she vows to see this through.

This was supposed to be an easy case... 

Sémya Slotin had spent the last three years living in London with her best friend Polliannah Koch staying away from solving cases. After Hawaii, she was taking a break from puzzles, cases and mysteries that could potentially get her killed. Instead, she had been doing her second and third favorite things, drinking and selling expensive vintage wines and having earth-shattering sex with the mysterious, sexy, beautiful but ever so secretive Josh Heinz. Life in London was good....until her funds ran out. Too much wine drinking, not enough wine selling!

 When fashion designer and adoptive mother, Annika Slotin, summoned her back to Paris to hire her for what Sémya considered being the easiest case of her amateur sleuth career, all she could think of and see was money signs and a well-deserved Cuban holiday once it was solved. 

What Sémya didn't see was her stumbling on the fresh corpse of supermodel Johanna Cartier. She didn't think that male model turned fashion designer Julian Marais-Caldwin, who also happened to be Sémya's ex, would be suspected of brutally murdering her. Johanna was his girlfriend, his muse and he loved her. Sémya didn't see the dead bodies piling up or the conspiracy theories. 

Sémya was a little rusty. But then again, it was supposed to be an easy case and she was going to solve it. One vintage wine at a time... Sémya Slotin was officially back in business!

Smashwords ||  Amazon || B&N || Ibookstore || Goodreads

About the author

Meet Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba The Author, The Blogger, The Cheeky Reviewer

“My life journey is like my playlist, amazingly unique but full of contradictions with surprising joys with every song...”

In the past two years, while living in Canada, England and France I wrote four novels: This Could Have Been Our Song! A coulda woulda shoulda ballad... (Book one) currently available on amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes and Nobles and Smashwords. The sequel This Would Have Been Our Song! Catchy tune and dancers’ tales has been in January 2014. Bird Of Prey, my first mystery romance novel has been released in October 7th, 2013 and its first sequel The Plot Thickens (a novella) in December. The second one Polliannah Got Married! will be released in June 2014. I’m currently residing in Paris, France.

Author website: http://danielle-claude.wix.com/author-blogger

Blogger website Danielle-Claude Indie Book Reviews: http://danielle-claude.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter: @weissdaughter

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/DannyAuthorPage

Danielle-Claude Indie Book Reviews facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DannyIndieBooksReviews

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6920424.Danielle_Claude_Ngontang

At long last and finally...The China Doll is live! (Book Three of The New Pioneers)

BOOK THREE

The China Doll

By Deborah Nam-Krane

Genre: Mystery/suspense

Hypocrisy, half truths and lies... 
 

Sick of being treated like she's going to break, Jessie Bartolome is back to her old ways and calling everyone on their hypocrisy. Sheesh! One little breakdown and even easygoing Martin Shepard thinks she's too fragile to handle their age difference. Good thing her older and equally yummy teaching assistant Robert Lester thinks otherwise…right? 
 

After spending so long cleaning up after everyone else, Jessie's cousin Richard has never had the time to start a life of his own. However had he managed to find his girlfriend Zainab? So what is Richard going to do now that everyone else has grown up? Marry Zainab and start a family? Things have never been that easy for a Hendrickson…just ask his cousin Michael.
 

Richard's mother, Lucy, is one of the most powerful women in Boston... so when is she going to put a stop to the blackmail ruthless Alex Sheldon has been holding over her for years? And if Richard knows more than he's letting on, why hasn't he gone after Alex himself? The question is, how much does he- or anyone else- really know? 

 

Welcome to the Bartolome/Hendrickson family. 

 

The China Doll is Book Three in The New Pioneers Series
 

GOODREADS 
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EXCERPT
 

“My dad drowned. My mom died in her sleep.”

“How old was she?”

“About twenty-six.” Jessie shuddered just a little bit. “Just a little older than Miranda is now.”

“That’s awfully young to die in your sleep.”

“Heart condition, they said.”

“Who’s they?”

“Richard and Lucy.” Jessie shook her head. “No. Just Richard.”

“What did your aunt say?”

“Nothing,” Jessie said quietly. “She just let Richard do all the talking.”

“How old was he?”

Jessie sighed. “Thirteen, I think.”

“And how old were you?”

“Four.”

“So how do you know you remember it correctly?”

Jessie looked at him square in the eye. “Because you know when you’re that age. When you’re a little kid, you don’t have to go through the apologetic BS you do when you’re older. When you’re eight, even. You just get it. And people think you’re crazy or in the way or rude because you get it and then you say it. So then no one wants to talk to you or they send you to your room. Then you start making up excuses for why they must be right and you must be wrong. Then you grow up, and you realize that you had it right back then, and if your world seems messed up, it’s because you bought into someone else’s lies. So don’t lie anymore, and everything will be just fine.”

“And when did you come to that nugget of wisdom?”

“When I was fifteen,” Jessie said quietly. “And I’ve been very happy ever since.”
 

BOOK ONE

The Smartest Girl in the Room

Genre: Coming of Age

Nineteen year old Emily wants her college diploma fast, and she's going to get it. But when the perfect night with perfect Mitch leads her to a broken heart, Emily is blind to her vulnerability. When the person she cares about the most is hurt as a result, Emily's ambition gives way to more than a little ruthlessness. She's going to use her smarts to take care of herself and protect the people she loves, and everyone else had better stay out of her way. But shouldn't the smartest girl everyone knows realize that the ones she'd cross the line for would do the same for her?

GOODREADS

AMAZON

BARNES AND NOBLE 

SMASHWORDS 

KOBO

SONY

BOOK TWO

The Family You Choose

Genre: Family Saga

Miranda Harel has been in love with her guardian Alex Sheldon since she was five years old, and Michael Abbot has despised them both for just as long. When Miranda finds out why she wants both men out of her life for good and questions everything she believed about where and who she came from. Finding out the truth will break her heart. Without family or true love, will her friends be enough to bring her back?
 

GOODREADS

AMAZON

BARNES AND NOBLE 

SMASHWORDS 

KOBO

ITUNES

SONY

BOOK TWO AND A HALF

An Engagement: A New Pioneers Short Story

Genre: Family Saga

Annabelle Hendrickson always knew Alex Sheldon couldn't be trusted, but even she couldn't have guessed how far he was willing to go to get what he wanted. 

No one was as decent as her brother Jim, but Stephen Abbot had a kind soul behind his mischief. She could accept his reprobate father- he'd be dead soon anyway- but she would never accept his longtime friendship with Alex, her father Gerald's ambitious employee. Annabelle knew it was just a matter of time before he stepped on someone she cared about. 

What a pity she didn't realize who that person would be- and who was going to give him the opportunity. 

An Engagement is Book 2.5 in The New Pioneers series. What happened to Michael Abbot and Richard Hendrickson's parents in 1980 is going to affect everyone three decades later.

ONLY 99CENTS!

AMAZON

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AUTHOR INFO

Deborah Nam-Krane is a writer living in Boston proper who has been storytelling since she was a little girl and writing those stories down since she was eight. Any given day will find her reading, writing, reviewing, editing and, just for fun, homeschooling her three school-aged children (she’s very grateful the fourth is now college-aged).
 

The China Doll is the third installment of the New Pioneers series, the sequel to The Smartest Girl in the Room (March 2013) and The Family You Choose (September 2013). While her long-suffering editor works her magic on the fourth installment Let’s Move On, Deborah is working on the fifth. That book will be set in the world of Boston and Massachusetts politics, and her job will be to tone down the true stories she’s heard so they seem believable.
 

Deborah is all over the place on the internet- no, really- but the best way to keep in touch is to follow her blog Written By Deb and subscribe to her newsletter (only publishing news, never spam).

FACEBOOK PAGE

GOODREADS PROFILE

@dnkboston

 

A big, huge thanks to Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba for making this happen!
 

GIVEAWAY

$10 Amazon gift card

5 copies of both The Smartest Girl in the Room and The Family You Choose

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