New release 3/25: A historical mystery, available in eBook and print edition!

Marshall Goldberg releases his debut novel The New Colossus, a historical mystery set in 1880 New York, amidst greed, corruption, and murder.

Nellie Bly arrives at age 24 in Manhattan, lacking connections and money, but blessed with an abundance of courage and a skill for reportage. Within ten months she lands two front-page stories on the country’s most widely-read newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. 

The pugnacious and voluble Pulitzer is so impressed that he assigns her to get to the bottom of a murder that has confounded the police—the untimely death of his friend Emma Lazarus, the controversial poet and activist. Her investigation leads to tense encounters with some of the most powerful and ruthless men of the time, in an era where elected officials are bought and sold, and where greed runs rampant on an unregulated Wall Street. Outgunned and ignoring her contemptuous all-male colleagues, Bly has only two real allies: a doctor who uses scientific techniques to establish criminal behavior, and a theater critic with unlimited access to underground New York. As the pieces fall into place Bly uncovers layer after layer of corruption, getting closer to a dangerous core—and to the truth.

Download your copy of The New Colossus today on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the iBookstore.

Also available today: Seasons in Hell by Mike Shropshire. Get your specially priced copy EXCLUSIVELY from Uni Watch!


You think your team is bad?  In this landmark work on one of the most tortured franchises in baseball, one reporter discovers that nine innings can feel like an eternity.

In early 1973, gonzo sportswriter Mike Shropshire agreed to cover the Texas Rangers for the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, not realizing that the Rangers were arguably the worst team in baseball history. Seasons in Hell is a riotous, candid, irreverent behind-the-scenes account in the tradition of The Bronx Zoo and Ball Four, following the Texas Rangers from Whitey Herzog’s reign in 1973 through Billy Martin’s tumultuous tenure. Offering wonderful perspectives on dozens of unique (and likely never-to-be-seen-again) baseball personalities, Seasons in Hell recounts some of the most extreme characters ever to play the game and brings to life the no-holds-barred culture of major league baseball in the mid-seventies. 



And this week, we also have something for your chick-lit lovers! Bulk up your #readmore2014 lists with Eileen Palma's hilarious debut novel, Worth the Weight, now available for pre-order.

How much weight is too much for one romance to bear?

When Kate Richards, the effervescent host of television's KidFit and the author of kid-friendly diet cookbooks, runs into Jack Moskowitz at a dog park, sparks fly. He's attractive, charming, and single. She has no idea that he's also the one man who could cost Kate her career--the CEO of Considerable Carriages, a company that profits from childhood obesity. 

Jack knows exactly who Kate is, though. She tore his company apart on television only the day before! Seeing an opportunity, Jack starts digging up dirt on his nemesis, to put her crusade on ice once and for all. But the more time the two spend together, the more his lie—and his feelings for Kate—spiral out of control. 

When Jack and Kate try to tip the scales of romance it brings chaos, heartbreak and hilarity and more than a few laps around love’s track. 

Pre-order your copy on Amazon, Kobo, or the iBookstore!

Gary Grossman pays tribute to Michael Palmer

The publishing industry and readers around the world lost remarkable talent in the past few months. 

Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Elmore Leonard, and Michael Palmer.

Each had a unique voice and an amazing presence.  They captivated and entertained millions of fans, and inspired thousands of writers.  I am one of them.

While a great deal has been written about Clancy, Flynn and Leonard, I’d like to honor Michael Palmer.

Michael was the first author to notice me.  Actually, notice isn’t even the proper term.  Recognize is better.  Launch is even stronger.  

Thanks to an introduction through our mutual friend in Boston, Sandi Goldfarb, Michael wrote an incredible endorsement for my first political thriller, Executive Actions.   His quote remains on my Diversion Books cover.  Through his words we became friends.

Michael Palmer encouraged me to keep writing.  After Executive Actions he helped me focus my objectives and goals.   He gave me professional tips and other introductions.  He also told me I had to participate in one of his favorite events –ThrillerFest, the annual conference of The International Thriller Writers , Inc.   

Michael was right about that as he was everything else. 

I also realized that Michael Palmer was willing to nurture others in the same manner.  Nowhere was that better seen than at the 2013 ThrillerFest where he was celebrated morning, noon and night by his fellow writers and the legions of ITW members who couldn’t wait he see him.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to repay Michael’s kindness.  Two years ago, as I helped in the production of the Emmy-winning PBS book series “Between the Lines with Barry Kibrick,”

I brought Michael to Puerto Rico for a special taping.  Michael and Barry discussed A Heartbeat Away.  The show can be viewed through:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vHyxsyRRAI.   

As Michael talks about his novel, it’s easy to grasp his own commitment to story and character; his understanding of structure; and his desire to entertain readers through suspense close enough to touch.

Michael Palmer introduced us to evil doers and took us to perilous places.  He raised decidedly scary “What If” scenarios.  He asked us to think.   

He noted in the TV interview that he wrote fiction the way the world is.  And yet, he remained personally optimistic. 

Host Barry Kibrick underscored that point by reading a quote from Michael’s novel, drilling down into his underlying optimism; his belief in the human spirit.   “..we as a people,” he wrote, “can master any difficulty and achieve unparalleled peace... .“

Rest in peace, Michael Palmer.  Your creativity and thoughtfulness will continue to inspire us. 

Gary Grossman is the author of the thrilling Executive series.

Executive Actions

An assassin’s bullet changes the course of the Presidential election— not by killing Democratic candidate Teddy Lodge, but his wife. Riding a wave of popular sympathy, Lodge surges forward as the man to beat for incumbent President Morgan Taylor. Secret Service Agent Scott Roarke is ordered by President Taylor to investigate the assassination, and unravels a deadly Soviet plot that has incubated for more than 30 years. Now in the hands of a power hungry Middle Eastern heir to the throne, Agent Roarke must stop a sleeper agent poised to change the course of American policy in the Middle East. Executive Actions is a tense political thriller, where both the Presidency and the Constitution are at stake.

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the iBookstore, & Audible.

Executive Treason

The secret terrorist organization that came within a heartbeat of installing its agent as President of the United States in Executive Actions is back with a new—and deadlier—plot to destabilize the U.S. government. It all begins with what appears to be a simple mugging and murder of a female White House staffer. Secret Service agent Scott Roarke discovers the truth: that the murder was committed by his secret nemesis, the mysterious assassin who had managed to always stay one step ahead of him during the presidential campaign. This time Roarke has found clues about the assassin's past that give him the tools he needs to hunt the hunter, but the clues can only go so far. Roarke needs all his skill, and a huge amount of luck as well, if he's going to catch his quarry.

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the iBookstore, & Audible.

Executive Command

The clock is ticking down to an attack on America’s most vulnerable natural resource: Water.  Our nation’s water resources are high on terrorist target lists, but low on America’s consciousness.  Water sources are largely unprotected, providing open access to any enemy with chemicals and biotoxins. 

So far we’ve been lucky.  But that luck won’t last.

This is the all-too-real-and-present danger facing President Morgan Taylor and Secret Service Agent Scott Roarke as they desperately try to prevent hell-bent terrorists from destroying America and its infrastructure city by city, and state by state.

Fact-based in frightening detail, Executive Command is a political thriller that will leave you pondering its strong possibility the next time you pour a glass of water.

Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, the iBookstore, & Audible.

New release 3/04: The fourth installment of a gripping thriller series.

Martin J. Smith is back with the fourth installment of his thrilling Memory series, The Disappeared Girl. Add this gripping tale of suspense and intrigue to your #readmore2014 list today.

Jim Christensen’s daughter, Melissa, has been troubled of late. She has dreams that feel like memories, unsettling images percolate to the surface. She remembers a terrifying past, possibly her own, from a time before she was adopted by her father. Christensen’s work as an expert in memory makes him the ideal person to help unlock his daughter’s fragile grasp on her own history. But will he want to learn the truth of where Melissa came from? Who she was before? Who might still be looking for her?

This dizzying novel of suspense takes the reader back into a dirty war and its human costs, into the fevered mind of one of its survivors, and through the crosshairs of a man desperate to keep his own history vanished.

Order your copy of The Disappeared Girl on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and the iBookstore. 

And if you haven't read the compelling first book of the Memory series, Time Release it's also available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the iBookstore, and Kobo.

Time Release takes place in a city gripped in a panic as a maniac slips poison onto pharmacy shelves. All of the evidence has pointed to Ron Corbett, but shoddy policework let Corbett off the hook, left the crime unsolved.

Ten years later, it’s happening again. This time, for the most personal of reasons, Detective Downing has made it his mission to see Corbett behind bars. He enlists the help of Jim Christensen, a psychologist who specializes in memory, to interview Corbett’s son, now a young man with a painful past and problems of his own. Does the boy remember his father poisoning pill containers? Has he blocked memories of a horrific crime spree enacted in his own house? As Christensen explores the boy’s memory and Downing grows more obsessive investigating the case, both men fear that the killings now may not be as random as they once thought, and that unlocking memories may draw them too close to a vicious predator. 

New release 2/11: A thrilling historical romance, now available in eBook

The third installment in her series about Queen Victoria's five daughters, Mary Hart Perry delivers a dazzling historical romance, both thrilling and luminous.

The Shadow Princess follows one of history’s most notorious killers, and the princess who risks losing her family, her life—and her heart…

London, 1888: A year after Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee terror mounts in the city's slums.  A killer has butchered two prostitutes, the crimes brutal even by London’s hardened standards.  Rumors of the murders reach Princess Vicky, daughter of Queen Victoria and grieving widow of the German Emperor Frederick III.  When her niece Princess Maud visits, she brings with her even worse news—the Metropolitan Police have a suspect. It’s Vicky’s nephew, Crown Prince Eddy. Desperate to clear her family's name, Vicky rushes back to England.

Detective Inspector Thomas Edmondson believes there is a royal cover-up behind the killings. He will stop at nothing to expose the truth and bring a murderer to justice before he can kill again.  But when Vicky joins him in searching for the man who will become known as Jack the Ripper, neither of them foresee the overpowering attraction that will draw together the royal and the commoner—or the danger their love puts them in. 

Order your copy today on Amazon, the iBookstore, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble. And for a limited time, download the second book in the series, Seducing the Princess, FREE!


Also, available for pre-order:  The Disappeared Girl by Martin J. Smith.

Two men stand out in a crowd overlooking the Ohio River. A plane is being taken from the water where it crashed decades before. Both men helped put it there. 

Jim Christensen’s daughter, Melissa, has been troubled of late. She has dreams that feel like memories, unsettling images percolate to the surface. She remembers a terrifying past, possibly her own, from a time before she was adopted by her father. Christensen’s work as an expert in memory makes him the ideal person to help unlock his daughter’s fragile grasp on her own history. But will he want to learn the truth of where Melissa came from? Who she was before? Who might still be looking for her?

This dizzying novel of suspense takes the reader back into a dirty war and its human costs, into the fevered mind of one of its survivors, and through the crosshairs of a man desperate to keep his own history vanished.

Due to release March 4, you can pre-order your copy of The Disappeared Girl now from Amazon, Kobo, and the iBookstore today!

New Releases 2/04: Updated backlist non-fiction, re-released as eBooks

This week at Diversion is all about sports, health, and fitness. From authors Kathrine Switzer and Skip Bayless, we have two backlist non-fiction titles, re-released as eBooks with all new updates.

Kathrine Switzer's Running & Walking For Women Over 40 is an indispensable and encouraging guide for every woman looking for a fun, easy and economical route to fitness & health.

Women’s fitness pioneer Kathrine Switzer has been on her feet for 53 years. She knows how running or walking is the fastest, easiest, and least expensive road to fitness for women of any age. For women over forty in particular, it’s vital to fit an exercise regimen into their busy lives, and ensure they can stay active and healthy for many years to come.

No matter how inexperienced or old you are, Switzer will guide and ease you into a new exercise schedule, showing how this time you give yourself will be the best part of your day...and your future life. Recommendations for shoes, clothing, injury prevention, nutrition, motivation and finding the time in your life will keep you exercising safely and comfortably. For women over forty, Kathrine Switzer's expert running and walking programs are specifically designed for you, enabling you to keep healthy and enjoying life to the fullest for decades to come. 

Purchase your copy of Running & Walking For Women Over 40 today on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore, & Kobo, or download it for FREE at Diversion.

Just last week, Diversion also released Skip Bayless's unforgettable expose that tears the metallic blue shine off the legendary star, revealing the truth about 'America's Team' and its beloved head coach, Tom Landry.

From the hangover that led Jerry Jones to buy the team, to the wild ride of the Staubach era, in God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys, Bayless strips away the image of the team created by the most powerful PR machine in sports, revealed by insiders willing to break their silence. 

Packed with unparalleled insight into one of the most storied franchises in the history of sports, God's Coach is a compelling revelation about a corrupt football franchise that dared call itself America’s Team.

Skip Bayless appears daily as the host of ESPN’s First Take; his commentary appears regularly on ESPN.com. A former columnist for the Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times Herald, Chicago Tribune, and San Jose Mercury News, and sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald. In addition to God’s Coach, he is the author of The Boys and Hell-Bent.

Don't miss Skip's feature article on ESPN.com this Friday! And get your copy of God's Coach on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore, and Kobo today.

Also, for all you thriller buffs, keep an eye out for Martin J. Smith's up-and-coming title The Disappeared Girl, due to release March 4. 

Memory expert Jim Christensen returns in the fourth installment of Martin J. Smith's gripping series.

 When Christiensen's adopted daughter, Melissa, starts having dreams that feel more like memories, his work as an expert on memory makes him the ideal candidate to help her sort through the mysteries of her past. But will he really want to learn the truth about her history?

This dizzying novel of suspense takes the reader back into a dirty war and its human costs, into the fevered mind of one of its survivors, and through the crosshairs of a man desperate to keep his own history vanished.   

Pre-order your copy of The Disappeared Girl today from Amazon, Kobo, & the iBookstore!

New Releases 01/28: Backlist thriller series, re-released as eBooks

This week is going to be BAD-- Anthony Bruno's backlist Bad series is now available as eBooks. Check out all six off these humorous thriller titles.

Bad Guys: A Gibbons & Tozzi Novel (Book 1) introduces FBI agents Mike Tozzi and Cuthbert Gibbons, odd-couple partners and dedicated mob-busters. 

Hot-headed Tozzi goes renegade, and Gibbons is pulled out of retirement to stop him. Together they uncover a secret crime family headed by Richie Varga, a convicted mobster pulling the strings from the safety of the witness protection program. When Tozzi gets involved with Varga’s sexy ex, the fur really starts to fly.

Download Bad Guys now for FREE on Amazon, Kobo, and the iBookstore!



Also available for download are Bad Blood,  Bad Luck, Bad Business, Bad Moon, and Bad Apple, all on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and the iBookstore.

     

                                

Skip Bayless's backlist sport's title about the truth behind God's Coach and the American Team is out this week, as well. God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys will be available for download tomorrow!






And for those looking to add to their #readmore2014 list, Mary Hart Perry's up-and-coming historical romance The Shadow Princess is now available for pre-order on Amazon, Kobo, and the iBookstore. Pre-order your copy today or enter the Goodreads giveaway to win a free copy! Giveaway open until February 11th.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Shadow Princess

by Mary Hart Perry

Giveaway ends February 11, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

New eBook Release 1/20: Six historical romances, re-released as eBooks

With a new week comes six backlist re-release historical romances from Lisa Bingham.

For all you romance lovers, these new Lisa Bingham titles are for you. Silken Dreams, Silken Promises, Temptation's Kiss, Eden Creek, The Bengal Rubies, and Distant Thunder are all fiery and romantic, filled with characters as complex as they are passionate. Silken Dreams is currently available to download for FREE on Amazon, Kobo, and in the iBookstore.



Silken Dreams  follows Lettie Grey, a young girl who's in love with a man who only exists in her mind-- in her deepest thoughts and most wanton fantasies. He's dark and dangerous, a highwayman, and every night he waits for her in her dreams.

Then Ethan McGuire shows up in her town. A bank robber and a fugitive on the run from the law and a band of ruthless vigilantes, Lettie soon realizes that the sensual stranger from her thoughts is more than just a figment of her imagination.

Hiding out from the dangerous men pursuing him, Ethan seeks shelter in he safety of Lettie’s small attic bedroom, and in the heat of her embrace. But can a man who trusts no one give away his heart in the midst of a fight for his life? 

If you're a sucker for romance, indulge in all six of these stunning historical romances, available today on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, & in the iBookstore

Also, be on the lookout for another backlist series, due to make a comeback next week. Anthony Bruno's Gibbons & Tozzi series will be available as eBooks January 28th.

The first book in the Gibbons and Tozzi thriller series introduces FBI agents Mike Tozzi and Cuthbert Gibbons, odd-couple partners and dedicated mob-busters. 

Hot-headed Tozzi goes renegade, and Gibbons is pulled out of retirement to stop him. Together they uncover a secret crime family headed by Richie Varga, a convicted mobster pulling the strings from the safety of the witness protection program. When Tozzi gets involved with Varga’s sexy ex, the fur really starts to fly.

Bad Guys, Bad Blood, Bad Luck, Bad Business, Bad Moon, and Bad Apple will all be perfect mystery/thriller additions to your 2014 reading list. Request Bad Guys: A Gibbons & Tozzi novel for early review on NetGalley today!

Ten years ago, a poison left one city gripped in panic. Ten years later, it's happening again. An excerpt from TIME RELEASE by Martin J. Smith

Check out this excerpt from Time Release, Martin J. Smith's thrilling suspense about a murderous poison, and the crime one detective is determined not to let go unsolved once again.

A low hiss: the electronic crackle and hum of a 9-1-1 tape recorded from a television speaker. Then:

“Greene County Fire. Is this an emergency?”

“Yeah, uh, it’s my mom.” Young kid, early teens, voice cracking. “She was just putting the groceries away and, oh God, she’s really having trouble breathing. I’m the only one home.”

It was a Wednesday, late afternoon, early November, the temperature dropping fast. Downing knew that much from other news reports and the week-old Waynesburg Courier clipping that was folded into the envelope with the cassette. He imagined the rest: A bored dispatcher, a woman, expecting another space-heater fire out there among western Pennsylvania’s shivering rural poor. She’d have swept the mouthpiece of her headset down to her lips and jabbed the pickup button on the Automated Location Identifier, and the caller’s phone number and address would have flashed onto her video screen.

Downing checked the newspaper story. 29 Ruff Creek Lane, Waynesburg.

“What’s your name?”

“JoAnn Cuddy.”

“That’s your mom’s name, right? What’s your name?”

“Mark.”

Downing closed his eyes. The dispatcher would have typed in the name and poked another console button, channeling that information through the county’s Computer-Aided Dispatch System. An electronic form would have blinked onto her screen, listing the nearest major cross streets to 29 Ruff Creek Lane and a code signifying which local ambulance company covers that area.

“Okay, Mark. Can your mom talk?”

“No. No. I don’t think so. She’s really—”

“How old’s your mom?”

“Thirty-eight. No, thirty-nine.”

“Is she conscious?”

“Yeah, but, oh God. Can you send somebody really quick?”

She should have typed “conscious” into the form and transmitted it to—Downing opened his eyes and checked the newspaper story—Weaver Ambulance and Rescue in Waynesburg.

“They’re on their way. So your mom’s still breathing then?”

“Trying.”

Something glass shattered in the background, followed by the crunch of splitting wood and the heavy, sickening thump of flesh on floor. The phone banged again and again, hollow and sharp, like it was hitting a wall.

“Sir? Are you there? Sir?” Downing checked his watch. The digital timer raced through ten, fifteen, twenty seconds.

“She fell, then she threw up.” Kid’s voice panicky now.

“Is she still conscious?”

“Don’t think so.”

“What did she throw up?”

“Just some yogurt. She was eating it a couple minutes ago when she started, like, choking.”

The dispatcher probably went for her allergic reactions key-question cards. The prearrival instructions are printed on the back of them. Downing winced at the thought. So logical, but so useless.

“If she’s unconscious and still vomiting, I want you to turn her onto her side and make sure her airway is clear so she doesn’t choke. Can you do that?”

“Just a minute.” Panicked whimpers as the kid worked. Downing checked his watch again. Sounds of desperation filled his head.

“Okay. She’s on her side, but she’s hardly breathing. Oh God. Jesus! How long until they get here?”

“Stay with me now. Your mom have allergies? She wearing any sort of medical-alert bracelet?”

“This is really bad. No. No. She wasn’t allergic to anything, I don’t think.” Kid sobbing now.

“How’s her skin feel? Is it pale, cool, moist?”

“Hang on.” Downing flinched at the dropped handset’s hollow report “Skin’s cold, and really, really white.”

“Okay, listen. She’s going into shock. I want you to put her feet and legs up on something. If she’s on the floor, grab a kitchen chair and put her legs up on it. Got that?”

Silence, then the rhythmic cadence of convulsion, as unmistakable as the sound of lovers. Downing put his head down on the desk. So goddamned useless.

“Sir? Are you there?”

“She’s having a seizure or something. She’s—where the fuck are they?”

“Listen. This is important. Your mom is having convulsions. You need to move everything away from her, anything she could hurt herself on.”

“She’s—”

“Pots, pans, kitchen utensils, furniture. Make sure it’s all out of her reach. If she’s wearing a collar, loosen it if you can. And don’t try to restrain her. She’ll be all right.”

“Now?”

“Now. And don’t put anything in her mouth, especially your fingers.”

Downing’s head filled with more sounds—chairs tipping, a table being shoved aside.

“Oh God, she’s dying!” Kid screaming now. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Stay calm. She needs you. Is your mom pregnant?”

“No. No. What else should I be doing?”

Downing could almost see her struggle. The body overwhelmed, the eyes uncomprehending, reaching, clutching, dying.

“She stopped shaking, but I don’t think she’s breathing. Not breathing at all. Mom. Mom! What should I do?”

Downing could hear the dispatcher fumbling through her key-question cards. One choice left: CPR. But there was a commotion as she started her instructions.

“In here!” the caller shouted to the arriving paramedics, and the line went dead.

Want to read more? Time Release is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and in the iBookstore. 

Stay tuned for the next installment by Martin J. Smith, The Disappeared Girl, due to release in March.

New eBook release 1/07: A historical romance thriller series, now available as eBooks

It’s a new year and we’re excited to start it off with the re-release of a thrilling historical romance series!

The Stargazer is book #1 in the Arborotti series, and it follows Bianca Salva, a woman whose passion for science drives her to secretly practice medicine among the poor of Venice. But her cover is blown when she is discovered standing over a lifeless body by notorious womanizer, Ian Foscari. Convinced she is the murderer, Ian gives Bianca two options: turn herself into authorities, or prove her innocence.

Soon, Bianca finds herself in a race against the clock to clear her name and catch a killer, all while struggling to subdue her growing feelings for Ian that are becoming impossible to deny.

Add The Stargazer to your 2014 reading list and download it for FREE on Amazon, Kobo, and in the iBookstore. If you love it, check out the rest of the Arboretti series, The Water Nymph, Lady Killer, and Secret Admirer as well, available now!

Also, as just a reminder to all you YA lovers, The Moment Before will be released next week!



Though Brady and Sabine Wilson are only 11 months apart, the sisters couldn't be more different. While popular Sabine spends most of her time in the limelight, artsy Brady remains in her shadow, content in her position on the sideline.

But when Sabine is killed in a tragic cheerleading accident, Brady's whole world is shaken. As the life she's known crumbles around her, she struggles to keep herself together with the unlikely help of the same boy everyone blames for Sabine's accident.

In her search for answers in the wake of her sister's death, Brady learns more about Sabine, and love, than she bargained for.


Pre-order your copy now from Amazon, Kobo, or the iBookstore! Available 1/14.