Hello readers. Today we have something thrilling and suspenseful, thanks to Gary Kassay. His new book: Murder in Silence, is on its way and here to tell us more about it is Gary himself. Dig into the excerpt, the bio and the lowdown from the man himself. Oh, and please welcome him in the comments area too. 
The Book
Title: Murder in Silence (Murder, Book 1)
Author: Gary Kassay
Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing
Length: 100,000 words
Genres: Mystery/Thrillers/Suspense (Non-Romance)
Available at: Sapphire Star Publishing (Coming Soon)
Blurb:
Two police officers have been brutally killed by having their throats ripped out, but the wound appears to have been done with surgical precision. With no witnesses, no forensic evidence, and two bizarre clues to follow, the case falls to Inspector Duke Becker, head of the high profile Special Investigations Unit, Homicide.
Becker and his squad must find the killer before more cops are murdered. The case will lead Becker on a wild chase through the streets of New York City, back over 15 years into the past and to a cover-up that will rock City Hall.
Along with his brash, wildly dressed young partner, Jimmy Nova, the beautiful Michelle Goldman, Augie “Doggie” Rivera, and the Mutt and Jeff team of Bobby Green and Joe Robinson, Becker will need to enlist his boyhood friend in charge of CSU, Manny Velez.
Add a ruthless newswoman known to the NYPD as “”Wicked Witch Wilson” and a new love interest for Becker in the gorgeous and brilliant Dr. Elizabeth Cunningham, Becker is about to embark on the most difficult and dangerous case in his 20 plus years. Will Becker and his squad be able to catch the killer before more cops die or will the killer have the last laugh?
Excerpt:
Monday morning.
Walking into One Police Plaza, I had a smile on my face and a snap in my walk. I even stopped to tell Chuck a joke. As I rode up in the elevator, I felt that things would start to break soon. Then Liz and I could maybe take some time off together and really get to know each other.
I opened the door to the conference room. Jimmy and Augie were on the phone. They were hitting redial over and over again, slamming the receivers down and then picking them up again. Joe, Bobby, and Harry were yelling out orders to a couple of uniforms that just kept nodding and then ran from the room. Harry’s hair was all mussed. All of them were pale, as if they had just seen a ghost. I tried to hear what had happened, but I couldn’t get the jist of it from all the commotion. Something bad had happened, and I finally had had enough of trying to figure it out by just standing there.
“Hey, guys, what’s going on?” I asked, but no one stopped to answer me. I tried again, but it was as if I wasn’t even there. Getting a bit peeved, I put two fingers in my mouth and let loose with a long, loud whistle. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at me as if I had just entered the room.
“Maybe someone would like to tell me just what the hell is going on around here?” I asked loudly.
“There was another murder, Duke, Saturday night,” Harry said.
“Saturday?” I asked incredulously. “Why wasn’t I told about it immediately?”
“With everything going on with the funeral, I never even checked in here as I usually do. . I never even turned on the news all day Sunday. I, uh, was nursing a hangover. I also spoke to the detectives who caught it, they had been of town, training, so they hadn’t heard about the cops being killed. They notified me a little while ago I guess I fucked up.”
Thinking back to the day I had spent with Liz, I realized that I hadn’t checked in or looked at the news either.
“So no one in the squad knew about this murder until this morning?” I asked.
“It looks that way, and I promise it will never happen again.”
Looking around the room at the others, I said, “Okay, everyone, seems we all fucked up. Brief me on what we have, Harry, and…where the hell is Michelle?”
Harry looked down and then slowly raised his eyes. “Uh, we’ve been trying to reach her. She’s not answering her cell or home phone…and um…we just dispatched a car to her house and her mom’s.”
The whole team had the saddest look on their faces that I could imagine.
I felt my stomach do flip-flops as I asked Harry, “What exactly is going on here, Sergeant. Who was killed?”
“All we know right now is that a young woman, mid-thirties, blonde, athletic build, with no identification was killed, her throat and face destroyed. Her body was discovered outside the Ultimate Gym. Michelle belonged to that gym.”
My mind began whirling, thinking a million thoughts at one time. A blonde woman, athletic, killed outside the gym where Michelle worked out. I remembered Augie saying that Michelle was going to work out on Saturday, after the funeral. I couldn’t help but picture her lying in the street, the blood flowing from her throat. My heart was racing, but I needed to stay in control, so I took a deep breath and began. “Augie, Jimmy, who are you on the phone with?”
“I keep trying her cell, Duke,” Augie answered.
“I’ve been trying the home phone,” Jimmy said.
“Hang up now,” I said. “Jimmy, get on the phone with the M.E.’s office. I want a full description of that victim and I want it now! They should be able to get prints, and have them sent over to Manny to see if they match…Michelle’s. Augie, get in touch with the gym, see if they have video surveillance and if anyone there can ID the victim. Harry, see if that squad car is at Michelle’s mom’s yet, and if not, find out why the hell not!”
Nothing was going to prevent me from catching this psycho before, but if Michelle was dead and it became personal, this asshole had no fucking idea who he was about to deal with.
For the next ten minutes, I paced around the room, feeling helpless while my guys made their calls.
Augie hung up. “The gym has surveillance, but not at the front door where the attack took place. There are two detectives from Midtown North there right now, taking statements and getting the video ready. The victim was wearing one of those sport tops and shorts. The only thing on her was a key.”
Jimmy hung up right after. “The M.E. has no ID on her yet, but he’s 100 percent certain it is our guy’s handiwork. He found more steel slivers and sent those, the fingerprints, and some samples over to Manny. The description that he gave me, as poor as it is…it matches Michelle.”
A hush fell over the room, everyone stopping what they were doing and looking down.
“Snap out of it, guys!” I yelled. “We don’t know that it was Michelle yet, and until we do, we need to stay focused and find out. Jimmy, you and I are going up to that gym to look at those tapes. Everyone else, keep cracking.”
Jimmy jumped up, and I opened the door, running directly into Michelle, who happened to be carrying a cup of coffee that she spilled all over me. I ignored the hot coffee burning my chest, grabbed her, and hugged her, pulling her into the room.
“Wow, Duke,” she said, “if I knew being late would get me a reception like that, I’d make it a habit.”
The Guest Post
I would like to thank Shah Wharton’s WordsinSync for inviting me to her blog. It is an honor to be included here and I thank you for posting my guest blog.
The first of the Duke Becker series, Murder in Silence, is being released on 07-05-12. Let me give you a little background on myself and the inspiration for Inspector Duke Becker. Back in 1982 I was in training with the New York Transit Police Department for the Canine Unit. The training was intense and probably the best time I ever had. One day an event occurred and I immediately thought to myself what a great plot for a book! (No, I am not going to tell you what that event was…it would spoil everything.) In any case, I thought about that book till 2004, 22 years of developing the plot, characters and dialogue. The result is Murder in Silence and the sequels that will follow.
Here is a small sample from Murder in Silence…I hope you enjoy it!
One-Ear Louie, so called due to his losing his left ear in a knife fight in his youth, had a nice middle-aged wife, four sons, and a daughter. All had been living in his home at the time of the murder. Louie had thought that for business reasons his four sons should have non-Italian sounding names, so he gave them nice Anglo-Saxon names instead. The same could not be said for his daughter, who was never going to be brought into the family business. Her name was Belladonna.
The preliminary notes from the first detectives and the medical examiner said that One-Ear had been found in his study, sitting behind his desk with his glasses on his face. While alive, One-Ear had always needed to hold his glasses up with one hand because of the loss of his ear. There had been no need for Louie to hold them this time, because a six-inch, gold-handled ice pick had been driven into his brain through what was once his left ear. The glasses had been resting very nicely on the ice pick when he was discovered. The medical examiner had reported that it had taken quite a bit of strength to drive it that deep into One-Ear’s head.
INTERVIEW
The Personal Questions
What’s your idea of total happiness? Total happiness could only come about for me if my wife and children were totally happy too.
Which trait do you most deplore about yourself? I tend to see things in black and white, not much gray area.
What do you consider to be the most overrated virtue? Being a “people person”.
What’s your worse vice? Probably watching too much television…but growing up I watched a lot more than I do now.
What do you most value in your friends? The most important thing is being there for each other no matter what or where.
Do you have a mantra or motto? “It’s the stuff dreams are made of”. (Bogart in Casablanca)
Which living, and which dead person, do you most admire and why? Living would be my Father for everything he has ever taught me about life. Dead would be Frank Sinatra…he did it his way.
What is your favourite (song) and why? It is called “Though it’s Only Been One Year” because I wrote the lyrics and music for my wife for our one year anniversary. ( I was smart enough to have someone else sing it.)
What is your favourite cuisine? I can eat pasta every day of the year.
Have your personal experiences (or situations) influenced you, creatively? Give us an example. Well, the inspiration for the first book in the Duke Becker series, Murder by Death was a direct result of an incident that occurred while I was training for the K-9 unit in NY City. But I can’t tell you what it was because it would spoil the book!
What are you reading now? Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files and Lee Child, Jack Reacher stories.
What other interests do you have? I love photography and golf and my three dogs.
What was the last movie you went to see? Snow White and the Huntsman( not bad)
Do you have a favourite genre? Definitely mysteries come first,(I love Sherlock Holmes) but I read a great deal of horror and science fiction.
The Writer Specific Questions.
What got you into writing? I had thought about the book for 22 years and when my first wife passed away suddenly, I was just moping around until my daughter told me to, and I quote, “Write that stupid book!”
What is your new book about and what inspired you to write it? The book is centered around a group of NYPD detectives, led by Inspector Duke Becker. This squad handles any high profile or unusual murders. The book begins with the killing of two Police Officers, their throats brutally torn open but…the wound is surgically clean. No witnesses, no connection between the two and only two clues that make no sense at all. The inspiration came from a incident at the Brooklyn Navy Yards where I trained for K-9.
What are the challenges to being a writer? And what are the benefits? Have things changed lately? I personally found that the hardest thing was trying to keep the time frames correct and not leaving any loose ends…I hate loose ends! The benefits are you can write about anything you choose…totally out of this world, or about things you might know. The only thing holding back your imagination is your desire to put pen to paper. It was easier to write the first three books in the Duke Becker series. Book 4 and 5 are tougher because I have to remember what all of my characters have done.
What advice can you offer to struggling writers? Never give up on your dreams and write, write, write. I recently had a 13 year old girl give me the first few chapters of a book she was writing. It needed editing, (All writers need editing!) but besides that I thought it was great. Some people might not like your work but who cares…write it anyway!
Where do you see book-publishing in the future? Unfortunately I see the hardcover and paperback books slowly dying out. I understand how easy E-books are but personally I like to hold a book in my hand, feel the pages, smell the ink.
Are you an indie or traditional author? I started out as self publishing which was not a great experience and now I am thankful to Amy and Katie at Sapphire Star Publishing for taking me on.
Did you publish the first book you wrote? At first yes but it is being released as a brand new book by Sapphire Star Publishing.
Why do you write in that genre? I love crime thrillers and being a retired NY cop it came very naturally.
What is your biggest problem with the writing process? How do you tackle it? So far, (Knock on wood!) I haven’t had any real trouble writing. But when the words are not flowing I take a day or two break and let my creative juices renew. I never try to push it.
Do you feel writing is something you need to do or want to do? A little of both. The very first story I wrote to just get it out of my head. After a few hundred read it and they all wanted a sequel, then another and another I figured besides liking writing I had to write.
Whose writing inspires you most and why? I would have to say those authors who are so prolific…King, Koontz, Child,and Sanford. I know how it can be hard to come up with great plots and characters so those authors inspire me.
The Bio
Gary Kassay, author of the Duke Becker Series, is a former member of the NYPD Transit K-9 Unit. Besides a career as a Police Officer, he has been the owner of a commercial photo company, an X-ray tech for humans and animals, and a TSA employee. He now resides in Casper, Wyoming with his wife Raella, three dogs, and one black cat.
When Gary is not working on the next installment of his Duke Becker series, he enjoys spending quiet times with his wife, writing the Duke Becker series, reading, and when there isn’t snow on the ground, a good round of golf.
SSP Author Page: http://www.sapphirestarpublishing.com/garykassay
Author Website: http://www.garykassay.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Kassay/213580462002084
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/GaryKassay