The Playing Card Killer - A novel and guest blog by Russell James

Russell James has a new novel out, The Playing Card Killer, and it's deadly fun!
I've had the opportunity to read it, and it's filled with twists, turns, and action right to the end.
I recommend it highly, enough so that I'm letting Russell take over today's blog so he can talk about the book and his reasons for setting it in Tampa.

Ruining a Nice City

I love Tampa. You’d never know it by my novel.

I’ve been on relaxing evening dinner cruises in the bay, walked the great riverfront trail, done several convention signings where I've met wonderful readers. There’s a great little library in Safety Harbor, and Big Cat Rescue is chock full of rescued bobcats, cougars, lions and tigers. The water is beautiful, the weather sublime.

So what do I do to it in my new novel? Terrorize it with a serial killer. There goes my Key to the City Award.

 

In The Playing Card Killer, someone is killing women around Tampa Bay. The locations are always different, the women share no commonalities, the timing is irregular. All that ties them together is the method of execution, a velvet rope, and a playing card left with the corpse.

Why pick Tampa as the location? It’s big enough for the killer to blend into, and all the city’s varying locations are vivid backdrops for each scene, which makes the writing more fun. Anyone familiar with the city will recognize plenty of the spots the killer frequents, or a location just like them.

So don’t let this scary thriller keep you out of Tampa. Let it draw you in. Because the beautiful bay really doesn’t have bodies floating in it, and there’s no one waiting in a dark corner, velvet rope at the ready to end your life. But there are Busch Gardens and sugar-white beaches.

Summary:
In my new novel, The Playing Card Killer, a serial killer stalks Tampa Bay, Florida. Brian Sheridan is plagued by dreams of women strangled with a red velvet rope, their corpses left with a signature playing card. And while awake, he’s hallucinating a strange man who appears to be stalking him. Brian hopes all this is driven by his sudden withdrawal from a lifetime of anti-anxiety medications.

Then the victim from one of his nightmares shows up on the news. She’s been murdered and Brian immediately fears he may be the unwitting killer. Detective Eric Weissbard thinks the same thing, and starts to build a case to get Brian behind bars and stop the string of horrific murders by the man the press have dubbed The Playing Card Killer.

Can being proven innocent be worse than being found guilty? That may be the case as the truth about The Playing Card Killer sucks Brian into a whirlpool of kidnapping, torture, and death.

The Playing Card Killer is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other fine retailers in hardcover, softcover, and ebook formats.

About the Author

Russell James grew up on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching late night horror. After flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, he now spins twisted tales, including horror thrillers Dark Inspiration, Q Island, and The Playing Card Killer. His Grant Coleman adventure series covers Cavern of the Damned, Monsters in the Clouds, and Curse of the Viper King. He resides in sunny Florida. His wife reads his work, rolls her eyes, and says "There is something seriously wrong with you."

Visit his website at http://www.russellrjames.com, follow on Twitter @RRJames14, or say hello at rrj@russellrjames.com.