Jump
Cut
by
Libby Fischer Hellmann
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
Mystery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Hired
to produce a candyfloss profile of Chicago-based aviation giant,
Delcroft, Ellie is dismayed when company VP Charlotte Hollander, the
architect of a new anti-drone system for Delcroft, trashes the
production and cancels the project. Ellie believes Hollander was
spooked by shots of a specific man in the video footage. But when
Ellie arranges to meet the man to find out why, he’s killed by a
subway train.In the confusion, she finds a seemingly abandoned pack
of cigarettes with a flash drive inside that belonged to the now dead
man.
Ellie has the drive’s contents decrypted, but before long she discovers she’s under surveillance and thrown into the middle of a situation filled with drones, hacking, and Chinese spies that put her life and those she loves in mortal danger.
Ellie has the drive’s contents decrypted, but before long she discovers she’s under surveillance and thrown into the middle of a situation filled with drones, hacking, and Chinese spies that put her life and those she loves in mortal danger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
The sun
winked off the frozen surface of Lake Michigan the next morning as I
drove south to McCormick Place. During one of the most brutal Chicago
winters in decades, the smudge of purple clouds tinged with pink and
gold hinted that the fury of winter might—just might—have peaked.
I parked in the overpriced lot, bought half a dozen cups of
overpriced coffee, and carried them into the massive exhibit hall.
The crew
was setting up lights and shades, and Mac was behind the camera
framing shots. MacArthur J. Kendall III owns a production studio in
Northbrook. He started out shooting sweet sixteens, bar mitzvahs, and
weddings, but parlayed that into corporate videos. We’ve worked
together for nearly twenty years, from the days of two-inch video, to
one-inch, three-quarter, and now digital.
Mac’s
name, salt-and-pepper hair, button-down shirts, and penny loafers
scream WASP, but the nasty scar running down his left cheek saves him
from total Episcopalian infamy. He tells people he was attacked by a
Mexican drug lord and made me swear never to reveal it was from a car
accident.
I went
up to him. “What do you need me to do?”
“You
have the shot list?”
I nodded
and pulled it out of the canvas bag that doubles as my purse. We went
over it. He gestured to the main area of the Delcroft booth, which
featured a large projection screen with the company logo on both
sides, and about twenty chairs arranged theater-style.
“What
time’s the first presentation?”
Teresa
Basso Gold, our client contact, had told us to be prepared for a
series of short remarks by Delcroft executives touting the company’s
latest innovations.
I
checked my watch. Barely six thirty. “The doors don’t open until
nine, and Teresa said not to expect anyone until ten. But you can get
some establishing shots, if you want.”
“Sounds
like a plan,” Mac said and strolled over to confer with the crew.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Libby
Fischer Hellmann left a career in broadcast news in Washington, DC
and moved to Chicago 35 years ago, where she, naturally, began to
write gritty crime fiction. Twelve novels and twenty short stories
later, she claims they’ll take her out of the Windy City feet
first. She has been nominated for many awards in the mystery and
crime writing community and has even won a few. *
With the
addition of Jump Cut in 2016, her novels include the now five-volume
Ellie Foreman series, which she describes as a cross between
“Desperate Housewives” and “24;” the hard-boiled 4-volume
Georgia Davis PI series, and three stand-alone historical thrillers
that Libby calls her “Revolution Trilogy.” Her latest release,
The Incidental Spy, is a historical novella set during the early
years of the Manhattan Project at the U of Chicago. Her short stories
have been published in a dozen anthologies, the Saturday Evening
Post, and Ed Gorman’s “25 Criminally Good Short Stories”
collection.
More at
http://libbyhellmann.com.
* She
has been a finalist twice for the Anthony, twice for Foreword
Magazines Book of the Year, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Daphne and
has won the Lovey multiple times.
http://www.libbyhellmann.com/
Author
of Compulsively Readable Thrillers
The
Incidental Spy, Sept. 2015:
http://www.amazon.com/Incidental-Spy-Libby-Fischer-Hellmann/dp/1938733843/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439437050&sr=1-1&keywords=the+incidental+spy+hellmann
Facebook:
facebook.com:authorlibbyfischerhellmann
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/libbyhellmann
Google+:
google.com:+libbyhellmann
BUY
LINK:
Do you work on several books at a time or do you concentrate on one? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good book !! Thanks for a great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting Jump Cut! You can read a lengthier excerpt here: http://libbyhellmann.com/my-books/jump-cut. Happy to answer questions like Ree Dee's.
ReplyDeleteRee Dee: I work on one at a time. I used to be able to write a novel, and if I hit a snag, I could turn on a short story at the same time. But I can't do that anymore. I think it's because social media has become so much more important...I'd rather interact with people like you, anyway. Writing can be awfully solitary.
Happy to answer any questions. And thanks again.
Thank you for informing me about this book.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the excerpt, sounds like a great book, thanks for sharing and Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou all are very kind. It was my pleasure!
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds great! I'm curious what you read for pleasure. Is it only crime/suspense?
ReplyDeleteLoved the excerpt! This book sounds like such an interesting and intriguing read! I love a good mystery and this book sounds like it fits the bill! Totally can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank you for all of your great writings. I appreciate a good book all the time.
ReplyDeleteLoved the excerpt! Will be buying this!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great thriller! I definitely want to check it out!
ReplyDeleteI used to work in television so I like stories that work in a television or film production setting.
ReplyDelete