Cross Word

By Shirley Spain

A serial killer sends Detective Driver a note with a challenge: solve the clue before another woman is murdered. A 15-minute-read thriller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shirley Spain
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215778050

Shirley Spain

An animal lover, fitness instructor, and author of dark and chilling thrillers...Shirley strives for what she calls, "plausible realism" in her books and garners critical details from her "police ride along" experiences as well as educating herself by attending and graduating from the West Jordan Citizen's Police Academy and receiving training as a CERT member (Community Emergency Response Team). She is currently a West Jordan Police Department VIPS (Volunteer In Police Service).​When researching Ultimate Trust (book 2 in the Jewels Trust M.U.R.D.E.R. series) her antagonist built a bomb and consequently blew up a house. To ensure the scene was "plausible" she met with the fire chief and a SWAT arson investigator who helped her "build a better bomb" for her story!"Thinking up and plotting the dastardly deeds of demented killers is a challenge," Shirley says. "However the real fun begins when figuring out how my heroine--and her studly hero, of course--will turn the tables, outsmart the twisted murderer, and survive."In real life, Shirley has been a victim of human predators more than once, yet lives by the motto: No matter what horrible circumstance life hurls at you, choose to survive and become stronger because of it. She uses that maxim as a guide when writing her novels.Shirley often wrangles friends into "role playing" when researching scenes and admits she "experiments" on herself and has done so with some of the tools her bad guys use, including duct tape, a variety of rope, and handcuffs. She even locked herself in the trunk of her car and attempted to escape. Hmmm. Knowing this, you may wonder how many of the stunts described in her books she tried on herself ... but she'll never tell!

Book preview

CROSS WORD

Copyright © 2023 Shirley Spain

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All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction.

The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

Dedication

To my husband, Curtis, for suggesting the writing prompt for this short story:

I’ve always been good at crossword puzzles.

Love ya, Curt!

Just as dogs love to chew bones, the mind loves to get its teeth into problems. That’s why it does crossword puzzles and builds atom bombs.

~ Eckhart Tolle

Cross Word

I’ve always been good at crossword puzzles. A Grinch-like grin crawled across his face.