Excerpt from the Book
Kelly stepped into the foyer. A smooth, buttery blue covered the walls and wrapped around her like a breezy summer sky. Snow-white molding lined the ceilings and entrances and encased everything in clean lines. Large black-and-white squares, polished to a high shine, spread out like a gigantic checkerboard beneath her feet. She resisted the urge to slide from one square to the next like a chess piece.
“My name is Donna.” The woman flashed her a warm smile and led her up a broad staircase. “If you need anything during your visit, please let me know. I’ll have you wait in the sage room. Mr. Zucker will join you shortly.”
As she climbed the stairs behind Donna, Kelly studied the black-and-white photographs lining the walls. Several showed men in uniform—circa World War II?
The other photos exhibited landscapes and old buildings. When she noticed a photo of a lone oak tree, she paused. My tree. The oak resembled one she’d danced around with imaginary friends and played make-believe beneath as a child. She blinked. A coincidence?
“Miss Landon?” Donna stopped a few steps ahead of her. “Is something the matter?”
“This picture looks familiar.”
“Mr. Zucker dabbled as an amateur photographer for years. I’m sure he’d be glad to give you the history behind the photo.”
Kelly stole one more glance at the massive tree, whose bushy branches mirrored a tangle of outstretched arms.
I’m a fairy princess, Father. I’ll climb the branches of my magical tree and hide from the ogres roaming the countryside. She shoved the memory away. Even as a child, she’d let her imagination run rampant with tales of faraway lands and unexplored galaxies.
“I’ll fight your ogres, and your mother, the queen, will live with you in your magical tree.”
A pang of sadness gripped her heart as the provincial farmhouse her family lived in on the outskirts of London flashed across her mind. Before Mom left. Before my world turned upside down.
After her mother left, she and her father relocated to the city, where he quit playing make-believe with her. In London, Father only believed in ogres and monsters and not in magical trees.
Want to know more about the book?
She’s written a best seller. Now there’s a target on her back.
Crime fiction novelist Kelly Landon is used to creating danger on the page, not living it.
When her literary agent persuades her to write a memoir for Abram Zucker, an eccentric elderly gentleman with a family history wrapped in riddles, Kelly reluctantly steps away from fiction. But Abram’s story is more than a memoir. Hidden within its pages are clues to a rare collection of religious relics known as the Twelve Story Stones, precious jewels tied to World War II and a legacy powerful enough to stir a decades-old vendetta.
After the memoir climbs the best-seller list, Kelly’s quiet life turns deadly.
A chilling encounter at a writer’s convention. A break-in at her home. Warnings she doesn’t understand. Soon Kelly is pulled into a dangerous treasure hunt where the past refuses to stay buried and everyone around her seems to be guarding secrets.
As Kelly struggles to untangle the clues Abram left behind, she must decide who she can trust: Declan McNeary, her charming literary agent, or Nathaniel James, the vigilant bodyguard determined to keep her safe.
But in a mystery built on deception, the line between hero and villain is dangerously thin.
With danger closing in and the Twelve Story Stones still hidden, Kelly must solve the puzzle of the best seller before the truth costs her everything.
Step into Best Seller, a page-turning romantic suspense filled with hidden clues, dangerous secrets, and a mystery that refuses to stay buried.
Get your copy here!
About the Author
Christina Rost is an award-winning author, mother to three amazing children, and is married to her high school sweetheart. While she currently lives in Oklahoma City, she’s lived all over the US, a few years in the UK, and loves to travel. When she isn’t spending time with her family or writing, you’ll find her chatting over coffee and perusing antique stores for tattered books.
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