The Christmas Club

By Russ Crossley

For the past two years there have three bloody murders of members of rich and powerful families on December 22, 23 and 24. Then the murders stop. 

On December 22nd this year it starts again. Detective Sarah Bascombe must stop a killer before the trail once again goes cold.

She soon discovers a terrible secret. A christmas club dedicated to murder. A club targeting her own family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 53rd Street Publishing
• Release date: Aug 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386451884

Russ Crossley

International selling author, Russ Crossley writes science fiction and fantasy, and mystery/suspense under the name R.G. Crossley. His latest science fiction satire set in the far future, Revenge of the Lushites, is a sequel to Attack of the Lushites released in 2011. The latest title in the series was released in the fall of 2013. Both titles are available in e-book and trade paperback. He has sold several short stories that have appeared in anthologies from various publishers including; WMG Publishing, Pocket Books, and St. Martins Press. He is a member of SF Canada and is past president of the Greater Vancouver Chapter of Romance Writers of America. He is also an alumni of the Oregon Coast Professional Fiction Writers Master Class taught by award winning author/editors, Kristine Katherine Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. Feel free to contact him on Facebook, Twitter, or his website http:www.russcrossley.com.  He loves to hear from readers  

Book preview

The Christmas Club

The

Christmas

Club

Russ Crossley

53rd Street Publishing

The

Christmas

Club

Russ Crossley

Published by 53rd Street Publishing

Copyright 2013 Russ Crossley

All rights reserved

Cover art copyright © Zsolnai Gergely/Fotolia

Cover designed by R. Edgewood

Cover design and layout copyright 2017 by 53rd Street Publishing

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53rd Street Publishing

Head office: Gibsons B.C. Canada

www.53rdstreetpublishing.com

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This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.

Contents

The Christmas Club

About the Author

Other books by the Author

Also available from 53rd Street Publishing.

The

Christmas

Club

0012 hours

December

22

In an alley off Hastings Street

Vancouver, Canada

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The smooth bone-handle of the knife slipped between his fingers to fall useless to the wet pavement. Twisted shapes formed from inky shadows, surrounded him and mocked his imminent death. Intermittent illumination of headlights from passing cars at both ends of the dark tunnel of brick and mortar was the only light in his failing vision.

As it fell, the knife clattered into the pool of blood that had formed around his mottled gray snakeskin boots.

I love my boots. Funny, there’s no pain…can’t breathe….

He dropped to his knees. The stench of damp garbage, mingled with his own blood, would be the last thing he would ever smell. Arms, now too weak to stop him, hung limp at his sides when he fell forward. With a sickening smack his face hit the pavement. The rain soaked asphalt felt cool on

his

skin

.

The echo of leather boots against wet pavement receeded into the distance … he thought of his mother ...

0128 hours

December

22

,

2004

Hastings Street

Vancouver, Canada

The strobe of flashing lights lit the darkened alley in a swirling mass of white, blue, and red. Other than the low murmur of crime scene technicians securing the area around the body, the only other sounds were the rush of wet tires from passing cars. Their headlights cut the darkness like strobes at the edges of the dank alley. A lone street lamp sitting atop a sagging wooden pole, leaning away from the soot-coated stone wall, was dark. The light in the glass cage burnt out

long

ago

.

City never pays for anything at this end of town, thought Sarah sadly.

Detective Sarah Bascombe stood near the shrouded body, her dusky features a mask of concentration. Her dark eyes flitted momentarily to her partner, Sam Wong, who was squatted on his haunches, his left hand having lifted the gray blanket the first-on-the-scene uniforms had laid over the

corpse

away

.

What do ya think, Sam? said Sarah her husky