THE DUTY BOUND DUET - Sydney Jamesson Book Blast
GENRE:
Mystery/Suspense (Psychological)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB: DUTY OF CARE:
On her death bed Emily Derbyshire’s mother made her promise to take good care of her little sister. Keeping her promise, twelve-year-old Emily did exactly that and became five-year-old Rita’s benefactor and bodyguard.
After eighteen years of sisterly devotion Emily receives some shocking news! Rita has committed suicide. When disturbing details start to surface, Emily puts her highflying career on hold to seek out those responsible. She hires an American private investigator Robert Blackmoor; a motorbike riding, no-frills, computer hacker who will use any means necessary to unearth the truth.
Not surprisingly, Robert uncovers secrets from Emily’s troubled childhood and chips away at the glossy veneer of deceit which masks the truth behind, not only Rita’s life, but Emily’s imperfect life too.
Together they assemble the pieces of a sinister puzzle, revealing a cruel and corrupt world of exploitation and murder: a Dark Web into which Rita has become entangled.
As dark forces encircling Emily tighten their grip, and with everything to lose, she must make a life and death decision that she may live to regret.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB: DUTY OF CARE:
On her death bed Emily Derbyshire’s mother made her promise to take good care of her little sister. Keeping her promise, twelve-year-old Emily did exactly that and became five-year-old Rita’s benefactor and bodyguard.
After eighteen years of sisterly devotion Emily receives some shocking news! Rita has committed suicide. When disturbing details start to surface, Emily puts her highflying career on hold to seek out those responsible. She hires an American private investigator Robert Blackmoor; a motorbike riding, no-frills, computer hacker who will use any means necessary to unearth the truth.
Not surprisingly, Robert uncovers secrets from Emily’s troubled childhood and chips away at the glossy veneer of deceit which masks the truth behind, not only Rita’s life, but Emily’s imperfect life too.
Together they assemble the pieces of a sinister puzzle, revealing a cruel and corrupt world of exploitation and murder: a Dark Web into which Rita has become entangled.
As dark forces encircling Emily tighten their grip, and with everything to lose, she must make a life and death decision that she may live to regret.
THE
CARETAKERS:
Emily
Parsons is a product of a difficult childhood: self-reliant, fiercely
protective and willing to do whatever it takes to safeguard the wellbeing of
those in her care. She has even slayed a monster, or two … or three in the name
of poetic justice, and yet she is haunted by the image of a beautiful blond
girl.
Sixteen-year-old
Louise Travis has been abducted.
Louise’ fate
rested in Emily’s hands, but she let her slip through her fingers like gold
dust, only to be swept away by a malevolent band of brothers.
By once
again enlisting the help of computer hacker, Robert Blackmoor, Emily must find
Louise before she is lost forever in a Dark Web of heinous crimes, cruelty and
corruption. The clock is ticking, and Emily’s investigation is drawing the
wrong kind of attention, but she will not back down. She is duty bound to
protect those she loves.
With
skeletons from her past being unearthed, who can she turn to, and who can she
trust with her own sinister secrets?
For the next two days Emily stayed
at Rita’s bed side. She read to her during the day and prayed for her at night,
making God all kinds of promises if he just let her live.
After a forty-eight hour vigil,
Emily woke to the sound of a little voice. “Where am I, Em?”
Emily raised her weary head to see
two bright blue eyes; eyes she feared she might never get to gaze upon again.
She yawned and stretched away the stiffness in her arms and legs. “You’re in
hospital.”
“Why? Did I fall over?” Rita wiggled
her toes.
Emily reached for her hand and shook
her head. “No. You had a cough.”
Rita forced a cough. “I don’t have a
cough now, just a tickle.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you feel better.”
Emily’s eyes watered and she smiled.
Rita followed the line of the intravenous
drip attached by a cannula into her hand. “I’ve got a tube in my hand.”
“It’s to make you better. It’s got
medicine in it. Don’t touch.”
Rita removed her fingers from the
cannula. “Is it dinner time?” she asked noticing the darkening sky outside.
Emily shook her head. “I don’t know
what time it is. I’ll go and find out.” She poured Rita a glass of water. “Sip
this slowly and I’ll go find you something to eat. What do you feel like?”
Rita thought hard. “A big cake with
sprinkles.”
“Little Miss Sprinkles really is
back,” Emily announced tearfully. Given half a chance, she would have begged,
borrowed or stolen such a cake for her sister. Having her back was cause for
celebration. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Em?” Rita called. “Guess what?”
Emily turned to face her. “What?”
“I saw Mummy last night.” Rita
smiled innocently and pushed back her hair from her face.
Emily took an unsteady step back in
Rita’s direction. Maintaining an even tone, she asked, “You did? What did she
look like?” She slid onto the side of the bed.
“She looked like Mummy. She had a
pretty white dress and no shoes!”
Emily wanted to laugh at the
startled intonation. “No shoes?”
Rita nodded. “She talked to me and
said, ‘Don’t be scared, I’m with you.’”
The muscles in Emily’s throat
tightened. “That was nice of her.”
“But I wasn’t scared. I’m never
scared.” Emily stood to leave. “Because I have you. You always take care of me,
Em.” She blew Emily a kiss the way she used to when she barely had a vocabulary
of twenty words.
Emily pretended to catch it and blew
one back. “I always try to, Reet, but maybe Mum was saying not to be scared of
being in hospital…”
Rita appeared stunned. “I’m not
scared of being in hospital.” She patted the sheets. “These feel nice and I’m
not cold.”
Those innocuous remarks almost brought
Emily to her knees—two stark reminders of what their lives had become; a series
a bitterly cold nights with them wrapped in blankets, coats and starched
sheets. She caught a tear before it fell from her eye and sniffed. “You’ll be
all right then while I go and fetch some food?”
Rita nodded. “Love you, Em.”
“Love you too, Sprinkles. I won’t be
long.”
To the sounds of a girlish chuckle,
Emily closed the door quietly behind her and leaned against it. She bowed her
head and cried for the mother they had lost and for the sister she had come so
close to losing. Drawing on her twelve years of experience, she dried her eyes
on a shredded tissue, brushed out some of the creases on her T-shirt, and
approached the nurses’ counter with a hopeful smile.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and awesome giveaway :)
ReplyDeleteI appreciate hearing about your book, thanks and for the giveaway also. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking part in THE DUTY BOUND DUET book tour and for your lovely comments. Regards, Sydney Jamesson.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt, sounds like a fantastic duet to read, thanks for sharing with me!
ReplyDeleteI really love the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt sucked me right in! I cannot wait to read more!
ReplyDelete