Kira Brightwell might not wear a badge. But she still enjoys the challenge when she unravels a difficult case.
The case of Taylor Christie proves no exception. The social media starlet prepares to shoot a video, when things go wrong. Horribly wrong. With an entire crowd in attendance.
And more than Kira knows stands between her and the truth about what happened.
A twisting, stand-alone story from the Kira Brightwell mystery series by Jacquelyn Smith. If you love a clever detective, who plays by her own rules, grab this book.
Now, you can read it for free on this site for one month only. This short story also comes in ebook and paperback format–both on its own, and as part of the Third Round Kira Brightwell Collection.
I’m not going to lie. 2021 started off rough for me. (Like it did for so many people.) Insomnia, mental health issues, jackhammers… It was not a good time.
But now it’s June somehow, and things have turned around. The jackhammers have left the building, and I’m finally sleeping again. (Yay!) More importantly, I’m finally getting some work done.
It’s a little early to talk about, but I do have a new mystery project in the works… And I’ve been hard at work designing and formatting the paperback versions of the latest Kira Brightwell collections that came out late 2020/early 2021. The sticking point has been the cover design, which I’ve had to completely re-think on the collection front, but it’s finally coming together:
I’ve also been enjoying some mystery-based lockdown entertainment, which I can happily recommend. Continue reading →
So roughly a year ago, I started posting one of my short stories for free each month, over on my multi-genre website. Each story was available for one month only, before it was taken down, and another one was posted in its place. (Inspired by insanely prolific author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Free Fiction Mondays feature.)
These stories were a mix of my mystery and fantasy work. (Mostly fantasy, since I’ve written a lot more of it at this point.) After some thought, I’ve decided it makes more sense to break these stories out onto my genre-specific websites instead.
What does this mean? Well, this site now has a blog feature, which it didn’t have before, so I’ll probably be posting updates on my mystery writing here going forward, with my multi-genre site acting more as a roundup for all my writing news. More importantly, it means this feature will only include mystery stories. As I said, I don’t have as many mystery stories as I do fantasy. So to keep this feature running for a decent amount of time, I’m going to post a free mystery story for one month of each quarter (which is roughly the same, if not somewhat better than the rate I was posting them on my multi-genre site before). Bottom line, there will be one mystery story available for free during the months of April, July, October, and January.
(Side Note: If you also happen to enjoy reading fantasy, you can check out my Free Fantasy Feature. And yes, this means that during those months listed above I’ll have two free stories available–one mystery and one fantasy.)
Make sense? Let’s kick things off with some birthday hijinks!
Kira Brightwell needs to pay.
A problem solver for hire and local hero in her own right, Kira never sought any acclaim for her actions. She only wants to track down the man who abducted her three years ago. And maybe celebrate her birthday with some ice cream cake.
But even an unintentional path to prominence comes with collateral damage.
Now, you can read it for free on this site for one month only. This short story also comes in ebook and paperback format–both on its own, and as part of the Second Warning Kira Brightwell Collection.
Kira Brightwell might not wear a badge. But she still enjoys the challenge when she unravels a difficult case.
Kira Brightwell needs to pay.