Anthropologist Olivia West is determined to find her missing best friend. As children, she and Emma Martin wandered into Heaven’s Bottom, an isolated Kentucky community cut off by the Ohio River and mountainous terrain. The two women share strange memories of the traumatic experience. Emma is convinced they witnessed a blood sacrifice and moon magic, surrounded by zombies. As a scientist, Olivia believes there’s a logical explanation.
Detective Steven Lewis pursues his own investigation of the mysterious town. A social worker, his wife fought her way into The Bottom to investigate suspected child abuse. She didn’t make it out alive. Haunted by grief and regret, Steven is obsessed with finding her killer. He’s convinced the murderer is hiding in the wild forest, camouflaged by the swirling mist.
Olivia and Steven enter into an uneasy partnership to find Emma and solve his wife’s brutal murder. They contact Sheriff Noah McCracken, who holds the local law enforcement role that’s been passed down through his family for centuries. Like his ancestors, the sheriff ignores the chilling events in Heaven’s Bottom.
Can Olivia and Steven convince Noah to “release the McCracken” in time to save their lives?
SPECIAL BONUS: As a reader appreciation gift, “The Hand of Karma” mystery/horror short story is included FREE at the end of the book.
 Multiple Mysteries and Fascinating Characters, February 18, 2015
This review is from: A Pink Zombie, with a Mist: A Shaken, Not Stirred, Mystery/Horror Story (Shaken, Not Stirred, Mystery/Horror Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
A Pink Zombie, with a Mist: A Shaken, Not Stirred, Mystery/Horror Story
This novel hits the floor running. In the very first sentence, Molly Courte cries out, “Gunshots! There’s a shooter in the building!” Her outburst disrupts Dr. Olivia West’s class and ignites a twisty, tangled plot featuring stalkers, attempted murder, incipient romance, a dollop or five of the creepy supernatural, and above all, the question of whether or not there are actually zombies in Heaven’s Bottom, “a remote area in rural Kentucky.” At least two women have disappeared in this dark region, and Olivia West, her soon-to-be boyfriend Detective Steven Lewis, and a likable group of oddball characters are thrown together to investigate and solve matters.
Two things I really like are this group and the humor with which they are portrayed. The characters are sharply individualized, and Ryker takes the time to develop them fully so you care about what happens to them. I get a kick out of the aging, nosy busybody who is a cougar pursuing a younger man, and the young man himself who acts like an excited child about zombies and is capable of hacking into anything, starting with your e-mail.
A Pink Zombie, with a Mist is indeed a Mystery/Horror Story. On second thought, make that Mysteries. There is more than one here, and they all come with surprises. Just when you think they’ve all been solved, another Reveal smacks you. We read fiction largely to find out what happens next, and this suspenseful novel excels in doing just that.
This novel comes with a bonus free story, “The Hand of Karma,” and it’s terrific. When she was a child, Jada Ryker got lost at a county fair. Her experience was the impetus for this tale, which begins with the heroine meeting the funeral director in a funeral home. I won’t tell you more, but the horror is delicious.
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