New independent novel: Deadly Storm — an excerpt

Independent author Kenneth Hoss does a lot to promote independent authors. His website features independent bloggers, interviews with authors, excerpts of work by independent writers, spotlight features — when does he find time to write his own books?
But he does. Deadly Storm, his third detective thriller featuring Kelli Storm launched  launched July 1 — a fitting day in a stormy summer!

What's it about?

Detective Kelli Storm and her partner, Eric Ryder, are called to the scene of an apparent suicide only to discover that the victim was a Russian hit man and Kelli was to be his next target.

The trail from the body leads the two Detectives to the underbelly of Brighton Beach, and the Russian Brotherhood that rule there. During the course of their investigation, Kelli discovers a link between them and a powerful Colombian Cartel, the same Cartel she thought had been shut down with the death of its leader.

When the FBI and DEA take an interest in the case, they forge a plan to break up the international drug ring. As they delve deeper, the Cartel and Brotherhood become bolder and they both want Kelli dead. To make matters worse, after an ill-conceived tryst, it’s all she can do to keep her professional and personal lives separate. 

Of course, you want more. 

An excerpt:

Chapter 1:
Monday February 6^th – 8:48 A.M. – Washington Heights
Highbridge Park

As Detective Kelli Storm approached the yellow crime tape, the fresh snow crunching under her shoes, she waved at her partner, Eric Ryder, and wondered how he had managed to beat her to the scene. She ducked under the tape, surveyed the area and walked over to him.

The park was covered in a white blanket of pristine snow, undisturbed except for the ground at her feet, where several sets of footprints led up to and away from the Cadillac CTS. She nodded and smiled at Eric, who was standing on the passenger side, and he smiled back. “I’ll take the driver’s side,” she said as she retrieved a pair of gloves from her pocket.

The victim was sitting behind the wheel, the back of his head blown out and a Ruger 9mm lying in the seat next to him. It had all the markings of a suicide, with one problem. Where there should have been blood spatter, there was a void. The passenger seat was clean except for a few stray drops along the inside edge. 

“Pretty messy in there,” Eric said as he bent down and looked inside. “Christ, is that brain matter on the headliner?” 

She leaned in to see what he was talking about and nodded. “Yeah, and it looks like some of his skull too,” she said and winced as she pulled on the second glove. “Come on, let’s get this over with.” 

She reached in and pulled the man’s coat back, found the inside pocket and pulled his wallet out. She stood back up, opened the wallet and removed the man’s driver’s license. 

“Alexi Polachev, Brighton Beach address. Wonder what he was doing up here in Washington Heights, besides getting a bullet through his brain.” 

Eric popped up on the passenger side, holding a small scrap of paper, an odd look on his face. “Uh, Kelli,” he said stretching his arm out across the roof. “Why would this guy have your name and address?” 

“What are you talking about?” She took the paper from him, looked at it and then looked at the corpse, shaking her head. “No idea. I’ve never seen this guy before today.” 

“That’s weird. This guy comes over here, kills himself and has your name and address on him. What the hell is going on, Kelli?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine. You saw the back of his head, right? Did you check the passenger seat or the back seat?” 

Eric shook his head, bent down and looked inside, then back at Kelli. “They’re clean."

“There should be blood spatter on the seats. Instead, we have voids. No, this guy had company.” 

“Crap, why didn’t I see that?” 

“Don’t worry about it. The question is, why was this guy looking for me and what did he want? Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this look like a suicide. He’s got my name and home address with him, and he’s found dead in Washington Heights. So what the fuck is going on?” 

“A hit maybe? You know, this guy could have been sent by anyone, even the Colombians. What do you think?” 

Kelli shrugged. “Right now it’s anyone’s guess. Could be the Russians, could be the Colombians. God knows I’ve pissed a lot of people off in the past few years. The question remains though, was he the target,” she said, pointing at the corpse, “or do I need to start looking over my shoulder again?” 

“Well, you know I’ve got your back, except that this time I’m going to shoot before I yell for the son of a bitch to drop his weapon.” 

“Yeah, and end up trading that beautiful wife for a prison cell. I don’t think so, Eric. Let’s just get back to the Squad and run this guy,” she said as she looked back down at the body. “At least his troubles are over.”

Kenneth Hoss was born at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas and served a combined total of fourteen years on active duty  to 1987 in  the US Army and US Navy. His tour in the Army took him to Frankfurt, Germany where he had the opportunity to travel Europe. While in the Navy, Kenneth spent most of his time stationed in San Diego and Long Beach. His Navy travels took him to Hawaii, Guam, The Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Okinawa, the Middle East and Pakistan. He has lived in several states, including South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Washington and California.

Storm Rising - A Kelli Storm novel is a police procedural and is the first book in a three-book series. Book two in the series, Storm Warning, is now available on Amazon. Deadly Storm, is book three.


You can find Deadly Storm on Amazon in the US and UK, in both paperback and electronic versions.

You can find Ken on the Independent Authors Network: http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/kenneth-hoss.html

Check out Ken's blog and his work, too.  And send him a tweet to @Kennhoss!