Title: The Alibi
Author: Marilyn Baron
Genre: Romantic Suspense/Crime Fiction/Women’s Fiction
Book Blurb:
In The Alibi, Merritt Saxe, newly hired public relations specialist with the Florida prison system, answers an urgent plea from their division’s director, Willard Ware Baintree. Following his orders, she finds him in the apartment of his mistress, his bloody T-shirt and the mistress’s dead body convincing her the criminal justice superstar is himself a criminal. The director claims he didn’t kill the woman and coerces Merritt into being his alibi.
Meanwhile, as the director pulls her farther into his web of lies, Merritt breaks with her longstanding boyfriend and begins a steamy relationship with hunky attorney Israel Goodspeed, whose brother works for the director. Yet how can she trust Israel with her secret or her heart when she suspects the director has been orchestrating their relationship to keep her in line? Speaking out about the cover-up could cost her more than time in jail…it could cost her life.
Here’s the video trailer for The Alibi: https://youtu.be/rjBEogGZmiE
Excerpt:
Tear tracks stained his face. Blood stained his white T-shirt. His eyes were glazed over. He appeared to be in shock. He looked like hell.
“Director, are you all right?”
He didn’t answer.
“Director Baintree,” I shouted, “are you hurt?” My raised voice blew him out of his stupor and back into battle mode.
“What the hell does it look like? No, I’m not all right. I need you to take me home.”
“Where’s Miss Braddock? Does she need a ride somewhere?”
“Miss Braddock?” The director appeared confused.
“Savannah Braddock. The woman who lives here.”
“She’s gone,” he said simply, deflated, his face crumpling.
I don’t know what prompted me to do this, but I walked around him and ran from room to room. There weren’t many places to look in that tiny apartment. Apparently, all it needed were the basic necessities—a kitchenette, a bathroom, and of course, a bedroom. That’s where I found her, half naked, sprawled out on the bedspread, a pool of blood soaking the white eyelet duvet cover. And the handle of an oversized kitchen knife sticking out of her abdomen.
I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. I began hyperventilating. I was going to be sick—I knew I wouldn’t make it into the bathroom.
“For God’s sake, stop.” The director walked into the bedroom. He rounded on me, and my breathing calmed, but I continued to stand there, immobilized, staring at the once perfect, now bloody and lifeless body of Savannah Braddock.
I thrust the robe toward him. “Here, put this on.” He obeyed. And that was the first of many steps I took in aiding and abetting a murderer. Apparently, protecting a killer was part of my job description now. I wondered how many crimes my bosss, Peggy, had covered up for him.
I helped the director slip into the front passenger seat, his hands folded as if he were already strapped into a straightjacket or the electric chair. I wondered how long he would last in the general prison population. Not even a day. Would he eventually go to Florida State Prison for a date with Old Sparky? And how would he feel to be incarcerated in his own prison system?
I emptied my stomach on the grass next to my new car and wiped off the vomit with my shirtsleeve. I started the engine. “Are you sure you want to go home? What about your wife?”
I was talking to him like I was in his inner circle, which I wasn’t. I hardly knew him. I was talking to him like I was calm and collected, but I was definitely not.
A day ago, kudos from the director might have had me walking on air. Today, I didn’t know how to feel. Did he expect me to tell Peggy? Did he want me to? I had to tell someone. How could I keep a secret like this?
“Is there anything you want to ask me?”
I gave him a sidelong glance. Yeah, there were a million questions going through my head. I had my opening, but I couldn’t form the words.
“If you want to know if I killed her, I didn’t. I loved her.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
The Wild Rose Press https://www.thewildrosepress.com/books/the-alibi
Why is your featured book a must-read?
The Alibi is a story about the consequences of a big-city girl who moves to a small town and goes to work for the largest good old boy network in the state. In The Alibi, a criminal justice superstar is himself a criminal. She’s his alibi. The cover-up could cost her more than time in jail…it could cost her life. The novel was inspired by my year in the Florida prison system, doing PR, not time.
The Alibi was The Finalist in the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year Award in the Romance Category.
Giveaway –
Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 23 books featured in the Super Reads Bookish Event:
Open Internationally.
Runs September 22 – 27, 2020.
Winner will be drawn on October 5, 2020.
Author Biography:
Marilyn Baron writes in a variety of genres, from women’s fiction to historical romantic thrillers and romantic suspense to paranormal/fantasy. She’s received writing awards in Single Title, Suspense Romance, Novel with Strong Romantic Elements, and Paranormal/Fantasy Romance. She was also The Finalist in the 2017 Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) in the Romance Category for her novel, Stumble Stones, and The Finalist for the 2018 GAYA Awards in the Romance category for her novel, The Alibi. Her short story, Stracciatella Gelato: Melting Time, which was released April 20, 2020, by The Wild Rose Press, is her 26th work of fiction. A public relations consultant in Atlanta, she is a member of Atlanta Writers Club, Georgia Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America. She’s immediate past chair of the Roswell Reads Steering Committee and serves on the Atlanta Authors Series Committee. Website: www.marilynbaron.com/
Social Media Links:
Website: www.marilynbaron.com
Author Facebook:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarilynBaron