CODE FOR MURDER ABOUT THE AUTHOR. A new thriller from West Virginia author Eliot Parker

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1 CODE FOR MURDER A new thriller from West Virginia author Eliot Parker An overzealous decision by Cleveland Police Lieutenant Stacy Tavitt leads to a botched undercover investigation, leading to Stacy being attacked and her unconscious body dumped into the frigid Cuyahoga River. Six months later, Stacy s first case back from medical leave involves the murder of Cleveland Browns football player Devon Baker. With little forensic evidence connecting anyone to the crime, Stacy sets out to find the killer who may be more familiar to Stacy than she realizes. Eliot Parker has unleashed a character with skill, tenacity, and a whole lot of heart. Max Everhart, Shamus Award finalist for Split to Splinters series From the title onward it s one heck of a story. Maggie Toussaint, author of the Dreamwalker mystery series FORMAT: Print OTHER FORMATS: Kindle, Nook, ibooks PAGES: 314 ISBN: PUBLICATION DATE: September 2017 PRICE: $18.95 STOCKISTS: Ingram, Baker and Taylor ABOUT THE AUTHOR Eliot Parker is the author of three other thriller novels. He is a recipient of the West Virginia Literary Merit Award and named a finalist for the Lords of Discipline Thriller Prize. Visit eliotparker.com to learn more.

2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reagan Rothe, Creator P.O. Box 1510 Castroville, Texas Date: September 5, 2017 AWARD-WINNING OHIO AUTHOR RELEASES LATEST THRILLER Parker begins new thriller series featuring Stacy Tavitt Castroville, Texas- Award-winning author Eliot Parker has released his latest book, Code for Murder, a thriller set in Cleveland, Ohio involving homicide detective Lieutenant Stacy Tavitt. The novel takes place following a botched undercover investigation that leaves Stacy mortally wounded and looking to regain her reputation. Her first case back from medical leave involves the highprofile brutal murder of Cleveland Browns football player Devon Baker. We feel strongly that this book is a successful addition to our publishing house and I am excited about adding an author with such high potential to the Black Rose Writing family, said owner and publisher of Black Rose Writing, Reagan Rothe. The novel is available at the Black Rose Writing website: The book is also available anywhere books are sold for $ An EBook format is also available. The book is distributed globally by Ingram Content Group. Review copies are available by contacting creator@blackrosewriting.com More information about author Eliot Parker can be accessed at ###

3 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Eliot Parker is the author of three novels: Breakdown at Clear River (Mid-Atlantic Highlands Press), Making Arrangements (Sunstone Press) and Fragile Brilliance (Roundfire Books). His second novel, Making Arrangements, was selected as a Best Book of 2014 by USA BookNews. His latest novel, Fragile Brilliance, was a finalist for the Lords of Discipline Thriller Prize (part of the Southern Book Prize) in Thriller Writing. In 2016, the National Literary Habitat Organization awarded Eliot with the Bronze Award for mystery/thriller writing. His short fiction has appeared in One Story Magazine, Apex Books, Evil Jester Press, and others. In October 2016, Eliot was awarded the Literary Merit Award from the West Virginia Library Association for his books and stories. Eliot is Professor of English at Mountwest Community and Technical College in Huntington, West Virginia. He received the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award in 2015 and was honored by the West Virginia Community College Association (WVCCA) for Outstanding Contributions to Community College Education. Eliot also hosts the television show Chapters across the Armstrong Television Network, which profiles authors, editors, and publishers in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. Episodes of the show can be found at youtube.com/armstrongonewire/chapters. He is currently the president of the West Virginia Writers Organization. Eliot is currently busy working a sequel to Fragile Brilliance, titled A Knife s Edge.

4 AUTHOR Q & A (conducted by Taylor Williams, publicist for Black Rose Writing) 1. Why did you decide to write this book? My family has had a long association with the city of Cleveland. Many relatives on my dad s side of the family worked in the coal mines of southern and eastern West Virginia for years. When the mines closed down in the late 1960s and 1970s, those family members went north searching for work and ended up working in the steel mills and the factories in Cleveland. We would go and visit them growing up, so I was familiar with the city. Also, my parents were huge Cleveland Browns fans and our family had season tickets for over 35 years before my dad s death in When I decided to write a new thriller, the logical location for the story was Cleveland. 2. Give us a brief summary of the book. An overzealous decision by Cleveland Police Lieutenant Stacy Tavitt leads to a botched undercover investigation, leading to Stacy being attacked and her unconscious body dumped into the frigid Cuyahoga River. Six months later, Stacy s first case back from medical leave involves the murder of Cleveland Browns football player Devon Baker. With little forensic evidence connecting anyone to the crime, Stacy sets out to find the killer who may be more familiar to Stacy than she realizes. 3. What makes Cleveland an appealing setting for a book? Cleveland, like many rust-belt towns has gone through many economic upswings and downturns. The city has reinvented itself and now is really a cultural hub with places like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center located to the north of the city near Lake Erie. Plus, it is a sports town with the Browns, Indians, and Caviliers all playing there. What I like about Cleveland is the diversity of its people, its architectually rich downtown landscape, and the suburbs and burrows that surround the city. Like all major cities, Cleveland has an urban gritiness that is great for setting up crimes, especially when the victim and the suspects all come from the diverse neighborhoods that make up the city.

5 4. How did you become a writer? I became a writer almost by accident. I have always enjoyed reading and writing, but it wasn t until college that I began to pursue it seriously. I was a Journalism major at Marshall and I joined a creative writing club during my junior year. One of the goals our group established was to create a piece and submit it for publication. The idea of submitting something for publication frightened me. In the end, I submitted a short story I had written and a literary journal at Mary Washington College in Virginia accepted it for publication. At that point I thought, Well, maybe someone does want to read something I ve written. 5. Tell us a little bit about Stacy Tavitt. Stacy is a Cleveland Homicide detective and she is smart, persistent, and tough. Her disability (thoracic outlet syndrome) really adds, I think, a great, believable, and different weakness for her to manage. She is estranged from her mother, Melinda, who basically left her and her brother, Chance alone in Cleveland while she chased after a man. Chance has been living with Stacy for several months during her recovery, but he has worn out his welcome, which leads to tension in Stacy s personal life. 6. What makes her unique from other female detectives/private investigators? That is a good question and one I struggled with answering as I was developing Stacy as a character. I wanted Stacy to be tough and smart, but also human. I think what makes Stacy unique is her disability (which very few people suffer from) and also the fact that she makes mistakes and gets things wrong sometimes. She follows her gut instinct and sometimes that puts her and the people around her in trouble. I think the fact that she makes mistakes and gets things wrong makes her more human and more relatable as a character. 7. You received wide-acclaim for another tough and smart character, Ronan McCullough, who is a police sergeant in Charleston, West Virginia, where you grew up. How are those two characters alike and different? I think both of them are driven to speak on behalf of victims and give those victims a voice when nobody can speak for them any longer. I also think the instincts of Stacy and Ronan make them so fascinating. They notice the small details in every scene and with every person they meet. However, Ronan is much more of a loner as a cop. He doesn t mind working alone and following a

6 lead if he thinks it will help with a case. Ronan is also stubborn and often in conflict with his colleagues and superiors. Stacy, on the other hand, is much more collaborative. She wants to work with her partner, Austin Cerrera, and she values the opinions of other in police investigations. I think that is the biggest difference between them. 8. What was challenging in writing this book? This is the first time I wrote a thriller story where the protagonist is a female. I found that aspect of the book fascinating and challenging. With each book I write, I try to challenge myself as a writer and step outside the boundaries of what makes me comfortable. Thinking about how a strong woman would handle the brutal violence in the book and cope with strained relations with her brother and mother was a challenge. In creating Stacy, I focused on her emotional and psychological reactions to what was going on her around her. There is a scene in the book where the strain of the investigation leads to a moment where Stacy loses control. That is something that I never addressed much with male protagonists, so having Stacy experience that was a refreshing change for me as a writer. 9. What writers influence your work? There are many. I think that John Steinbeck and Pat Conroy are two of the greatest writers to have ever lived. Both of them had an ability to create multi-layered, diverse characters that were so flawed that you sympathized with them and couldn t wait to see what they d do next. I find myself going back to their books over and over when I need inspiration or guidance on how to solve a writing problem or how to write myself out of a corner. 10.What are you working on next? I finished the sequel to Fragile Brilliance, titled A Knife s Edge and I am going through the editing and rewriting write now. I have the plot for the second Stacy Tavitt novel completed and I am currently working on a stand-alone novel about an animal enforcement officer, Dakota Ross, who is blinded and becomes a person with ultra-perceptive sensory functions. Dakota works with a stoic, serious detective, Ian Linder, to find out who blinded him and also solve a horrific crime in the fictional town of Alleghany, Pennsylvania.

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