Today we have a sneak peek of author Mary L. Ball’s novel: Escape to Big Fork Lake.
Bad luck follows Sam Blacker until an unexpected inheritance gives her a chance for a new beginning. Sam makes a decision that will forever change her life, when she relocates to the small town of Big Fork Lake, and finds herself in the arms of Noah Frye.
A relationship with Noah sparks buried desires, even if he is a Christian, surely, she can get around that little problem. Sam’s bad luck returns as she stumbles upon a murder. Will she go to prison and lose Noah?
Escape to Big Fork Lake is available through Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Smashwords, and other online booksellers.
Here is an excerpt from Escape to Big Fork Lake…
Sam walked into the cabin with a seven painted on the front. As she went inside, she glanced at the number. She’d always considered seven lucky.
Changing the bed, Sam’s spirits lifted. She was determined to stay in a positive mood. She would make the best of things—after all, she had the inn.
Sam added clean sheets and stored the dirty ones in her pushcart. Grabbing clean towels, she pushed the dirty linens outside and went back in the room, heading into the bathroom for the soiled towels.
Stumbling over something, she threw out her hand and grabbed the wall to catch her fall.
Scanning the dim room, she hesitated as her eyes fell on a large shape lying still on the floor. Her sight followed the massive lump balled in the doorway.
She realized what she was seeing and screamed. Her hand flew to her throat as she choked back nausea.
Sam shivered at the sight of a man curled on the floor; his body lay stiff, just inside the entry. In horror, she stared at the guest she’d checked in the day before.
Biting into her lip, she forced her jittery finger to punch the numbers for help.
***
“Now Sam, I need you to tell me one more time what happened.”
“Sheriff, I’ve already told you twice.”
Sheriff Gruver wrote in his tablet as he shot her a doubtful look. “Things don’t add up.
You’re the only one who goes into the cabins. The place is covered with your fingerprints.”
She glanced back at the room with a huff of frustration. “Of course my fingerprints are in the room. I clean all those rooms.”
The sheriff reached for his cuffs. “I have no choice but to arrest you, Sam. It appears that man has been poisoned and until the autopsy comes in, I’m considering this a homicide.”
Shock registered on her face. “Sheriff, if I did anything wrong why would I call 9-1-1?”
Snapping on the handcuffs, he eyed her. He had never thought much of her. He’d seen women like her before, the kind that found it easy to take advantage of people, but he couldn’t help but wonder. Murder didn’t fit her somehow.
“I have to take you in, Sam. We’ll know more in a couple of hours.”
***
At the sheriff’s office, the deputy led her to a cell. She paced the small area and snarled her nose at the awful odor.
Sam surveyed the room in disgust. A thin bunk with a yellowed sheet thrown across the end was only furniture in the small area. How in the world did anyone use the toilet when it sat in the corner without walls? Even the little sink was too ghastly to wash in.
Everything that’d happened raced through her mind while she battled a sick stomach and tried to control her trembling insides.
She looked at the ceiling and tossed questions to God. “Why is this happening, Lord? I thought I was doing right. I believed in you!”
This is a great book! The suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat I am looking for more from Mary L Ball
Thanks Vicki, hope we get started on the editing on my next novel soon.