True Target by Austin S. Camacho

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Austin S. Camacho will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. If someone were writing a story about you, what would your blurb say?

After writing a successful series of detective novels, local author Austin S. Camacho decided to launch a series focused on a professional assassin. His new protagonist is an African American woman in Washington DC. He has poured his heart and soul into exploring this character’s damaged psyche but will his efforts result in a slew of new readers, or just turn off his existing fans?

Would you tell us a little about your newest release that isn't in the blurb?

In the new book, Skye is the consummate professional but she knows there’s something wrong with the fact that she can kill without feeling anything. So she begins therapy. The conversations between Skye and her therapist reveal much about this character, but also about the world she, lives in. Skye isn’t always forthcoming and hates it when she explains something that happened in her life and the therapist asks, “How did that make you feel?” Which of course, she always does.

What was your favorite scene to write in this story?

Without giving too much away, my favorite scene to write was the scene in which Skye finally comes face-to-face with the master villain. This is where the villain reveals his true plot, And Skye seems unable to stop him. There is a lot of emotional conflict and tension in that scene, which is why it’s my favorite. I love being able to have a lot going on in a book and then pull it all together in a big climactic scene.

If you could trade places with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

I would love to trade places with Morris, the man who drives for Skye. Trying to stay off the grid she doesn’t own a car herself, but Uber driver Morris takes her where she needs to be to ply her trade. He is in the enviable position to know Skye very well and take her to and from her dangerous assignments, but he is in no danger himself. Skye protects him by not giving details about the work she does but he’s close enough to know it’s something secret and highly dangerous.

Skye Maddox is a contract assassin driven by both personal demons and professional discipline. Hired by grieving father Milo Williams to hunt down the chain of men responsible for his son’s death, Skye takes on a mission that escalates into a war with Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous underworld figures led by a man known only as Hetman. As she climbs Milo’s ladder of revenge, Skye uncovers a web of corruption that links drug dealers, judges, mobsters, and even international crime syndicates.

The story escalates through brutal shootouts, betrayals, and psychological games, as Skye pushes deeper into Hetman’s empire. Each success makes her a bigger target. In the end, she must weigh the cost of finishing Milo’s revenge against the danger of becoming just another expendable weapon in someone else’s war.

Read an Excerpt

When Jayla stood, Skye raised a palm to stop her. “Yes. Yes, all right. I just finished an assignment, but it was part of a larger contract so I’m feeling like both the situations you mentioned. I’m on the job, and I just took a player off the board.”

Jayla jotted in her notebook. She always collected the euphemisms Skye used for her profession. “So, tell me about this latest assignment. How do you feel about this player you’ve taken off the board? Was it, in your mind, a just action?”

“You always want to go there,” Skye said, shaking her head. “What did I tell you? The first rule of the assassin’s doctrine. The target has got to deserve it.”

“Oh, yes,” Jayla said with a half-smile. “Your job, while criminal, does have rules

“I misspoke earlier,” Skye said, sliding a slim dagger out of her boot. “It’s not a job. It’s a profession. All professions have their rules. For doctors, rule number one is ‘do no harm’, right? For an assassin, it’s that the target has got to deserve it.” Skye began to absently flip the dagger in the air, catching it by its tip each time. “In this case, this bastard kidnapped my client’s son. I don’t know how they got him. My client kept his family totally under the radar. But once he got the ransom demand, the client agreed to pay, and the ransom money was in transit but not fast enough to suit the kidnappers. They killed the boy, I think just to make a point. Just to be snotty. The action took place overseas and no way the police would ever have gotten close to the killer.”

Jayla nodded. “I think I understand. So, you were hired to…”

“Correct the balance,” Skye said, standing.

About the Author:

Austin S. Camacho is the author of eight novels about Washington DC-based private eye Hannibal Jones, five in the Stark and O’Brien international adventure-thriller series, and the detective novel Beyond Blue. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies and he is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey. He is a past president of the Maryland Writers Association, past Vice President of the Virginia Writers Club, and one of the creators of the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity literary conference.

Website: https://ascamacho.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572508767550
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ascamacho135
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-camacho-1a5a622/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FV6FYVZK
B & N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/true-target-austin-s-camacho/1148461145?ean=9798988533351/br>

The Wrong Kind by Austin S. Camacho

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Austin S. Camacho will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books! Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

First, I am a lifelong mystery fan. I love solving the puzzles, but I’ve learned it’s even more fun to build the puzzles, drop the clues and challenge readers to figure it out. Beyond that, mysteries are about human motivations and I enjoy exploring those motives.

What research is required?

Much of my research is to establish the location of events. I need to set my stories in a solid, three dimensional world. Beyond that I research murder methods (I’ve come frighteningly familiar with firearms and poisons) and police operations so I can represent them correctly. Mystery readers are very knowledgeable in those areas and they will let you know if you get it wrong.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

I've learned that solving a mystery is a metaphor for life. In both cases you can’t wait for perfect conditions. You have to start where you are, use what you've got, and do what you can.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

It’s almost impossible for me to create without music playing, and I do best with a random mix of performers and genres. I do my best with lots of classic rock mixed with R&B, dance and the occasional classical piece thrown in.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I am absolutely a plotter. A typical outline for a novel is ten or 12 pages, the entire series of events. I have to know where I’m going before I begin. Then I can write a scene and just move to the next one. Of course, things change as characters develop, so the outline can be seen as a living document.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

On my desk: a big mug of coffee, a large cylinder full of pens and another of pencils. In the corner sits a chair that nobody ever sits on. On that wall, a display sword on a plaque (a gift from my lovely wife Dee) and a framed print honoring soldiers lost in Desert Storm from an original painting by a past love.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

My next novel is an action thriller called The Hetman Contract, featuring a new character, a African-American female assassin named Skye.

Do you have a question for our readers?

You can’t judge a book by its cover, and you don’t really know how good a book is until you’ve read it. So, what is it that makes you decide to pick up a novel and read it? What’s the most important factor?

A distraught woman hires private investigator Hannibal Jones to track down her daughter who has run away, trying to escape the homeless shelter life her mother has come to accept. When Hannibal finds Connie Blanco she is entwined in a gang war and somehow connected to a murder. The corpse is barely cold before a second murder follows and Hannibal finds himself entangled in a complex plot revolving around stolen drugs…but who is the mastermind of this twisted scheme?

Read an Excerpt

Hannibal stepped inside and closed the door behind himself. A quick scan showed Sands to be a good housekeeper for a bachelor. There was a place for everything. The blinds were set to let the maximum amount of sunlight into the front room. Small knickknacks and figurines stood on display on bookcases and the end tables bracketing the leather sofa. A scattering of tiny roses made the wallpaper seem feminine, but the framed paintings of Civil War combat scenes counterbalanced that. The neatness was almost jarring under the circumstances. The only thing out of place in the front room was Quentin himself. He lay spread eagled on the hardwood floor. And with no carpet to absorb liquid, the pool of blood beneath him had spread quite a distance.

Lying face up, Quentin looked more startled than pained. Hannibal stepped as close to the body as he could without touching the blood pool. There was no need to check for a pulse. The pencil-sized hole just above his left eyebrow was pretty definitive. Hannibal knew the picture would not be nearly as neat on the other side, and he had no desire to see it. Powder burns and stippling on the man’s forehead told Hannibal that this shooting was done up close. Despite Quentin’s final facial expression, he had to have seen it coming.

So, what was your crime, Hannibal silently asked the corpse. Did you get too close to Connie for some other man’s comfort?

About the Author:

Austin S. Camacho is the author of seven novels about Washington DC-based private eye Hannibal Jones, five in the Stark and O’Brien international adventure-thriller series, and the detective novel, Beyond Blue. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies including Dying in a Winter Wonderland – an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Top Ten Bestseller for 2008. He is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey. Camacho is also editorial director for Intrigue Publishing, a Maryland small press.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austin.camacho.author/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Kind-Hannibal-Jones-Mystery/dp/1940758971/

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