Title: The Keeper’s Secret
Author: Penelope Marzec
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Prism Lux, an imprint of Pelican Book Group
Book Blurb:
Shucker' s Point, New Jersey never had a murder until now. Jack St. Marie, a well-known research scientist is missing, and Trooper Bryce Johnson believes the worst of Jack' s wife, Evie.
In high school, Bryce loved Evie--enough to want to marry her, but that was before he witnessed her phone in a bogus bomb scare. And only two months before Jack disappeared, Bryce saw Evie aiming a gun at her husband. Can Bryce believe in Evie's innocence when her husband' s body is found in a fishing dredge twenty miles out at sea? Could the most beautiful woman in Shucker' s Point be capable of such a heinous crime? He doesn't want to believe it.
Bryce refuses to let his heart guide the investigation...until someone shoots at Evie. Then he must protect her. But can he protect his heart?
Excerpt:
Bryce Johnson stood at the back of the church and searched through the pews for any sign of Evie St. Marie. When he didn’t see her, he breathed a sigh of relief. Sliding into the last row on the right side of the middle aisle, he nodded back to the other congregants who turned and smiled. Then he tried to relax. Being a state trooper caused him to be hyper-vigilant all the time, but once a week in church he struggled to let his guard down. It used to help him let God in, though lately God seemed more distant than ever and focusing on faith became almost impossible. He blamed much of it on Evie St. Marie. One month ago, she claimed her husband Jack vanished after taking a walk on the beach at night. Bryce didn’t believe her.
Colored rays of light streamed through the stained-glass windows. The cool air inside was a blessing as the heat of the June day outside in the small bayside town of Shucker’s Point, New Jersey, became unbearable.
Closing his eyes, Bryce considered offering up a brief prayer, but it would do no good. He needed answers about the disappearance of Jack St. Marie and he wouldn’t get any from the Lord. The scientist may have drowned if he walked out into the bay, suffered a heart attack, and went under. But Jack St. Marie’s doctor doubted that.
Bryce rubbed his forehead as a dull ache wove through it. Until now, Shucker’s Point never had a murder on the record. It seemed the small town’s perfect record ended. Two months before Jack St. Marie’s disappearance, Bryce answered a call and found Evie holding a gun aimed at her husband.
The gun in her hands was registered to Jack St. Marie, but it had no ammunition in it. Jack took the whole episode lightly, refusing to press charges against his wife. Still, the incident stuck in Bryce’s mind. His natural impulse was to draw his own gun that day. He might have killed the girl he wanted to marry in high school. The pain in his head intensified.
Opening his eyes, he shrugged his shoulders and loosened up some of the tight nerves in his neck. Evie St. Marie slipped in the side door, and all Bryce’s efforts to unwind vanished.
What was she doing here? Evie didn’t belong in church. In high school she seemed determined to break every rule for the fun of it. How dark had her soul become?
A sudden spark of anger flared up when Bryce remembered the time he’d tried to stop her from driving around the flagpole in front of the school in one of her friend’s cars. She’d nearly ran him over, but she’d apologized to him after the incident. He’d stared into her blue eyes and nearly melted on the spot. He’d drawn his hands into fists to control his surging emotions. Yes, once Evie St. Marie could tie him around her little finger. He’d kept her secret all these years, but lately it weighed on his conscience.
Bryce clenched his jaw. He would never let his heart rule his head again. Especially since he’d seen the blind fury in her eyes when she’d held the gun level with her husband’s heart.
The hymn started and everyone stood up.
Bryce fumbled with the hymnbook. Evie’s presence rattled him so much he couldn’t find the page, though he knew the hymn by heart. It was an old one. He enjoyed those the most. The hymns sung in church stayed with him all week long. He would catch himself humming the melodies of the songs at odd moments. While he didn’t pray anymore, the hymns still comforted him.
...though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see...
Sinful! Evie could be the worst of sinners. The service continued but Bryce didn’t hear a word. His thoughts continued to circle around Evie. She sat seven rows ahead of him. He only caught a glimpse of her brown hair, caught up in a clasp that kept her curly tresses anchored at the base of her neck. Bryce knew each strand would be fighting to break free because everything about Evie could never be restrained.
Maybe she assumed showing up in church would help to remove any doubt from her, but she would be wrong on that account. The data Bryce already gathered should be enough to convince the grand jury this case needed a trial despite the absence of a body.
The last hymn happened to be one of the newer praise songs, which jubilantly welcomed everyone in the church. Bryce disagreed with that idea. He grew warmer as he seethed inside.
The service ended. Bryce opted to skip the doughnuts and coffee in the basement. He hurried out the side door. The majority of the parishioners would rush downstairs to see if they could snag a jelly doughnut before anyone else.
The bright sunlight nearly blinded him when he stepped outside. He reached into his pocket for his sunglasses. Thanks to his job, he could count on getting cataracts before he hit forty. Even so, until Evie’s husband vanished, he felt satisfied with his work.
“Bryce!”
He stiffened when he heard her coming up behind him. She was the last person he wanted to see, but it would be impossible to avoid her. A few other church members also decided to skip the calories in the basement and were strolling out to their cars. In a small town, nobody missed anything. If he ignored Evie the news would spread everywhere.
He turned around, but the shock of seeing her up close hit him like a blow to the gut. He barely caught himself before he sucked in his breath with surprise.
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Author Biography:
Penelope Marzec grew up along the Jersey shore, heard stories about Captain Kidd, and dug for his buried treasure. Her adventure resulted in a bad case of poison ivy. She decided books were better than buried treasure and discovered romance novels. After becoming an early childhood educator, she found her own hero in an electrical engineer who grew up in Brooklyn, played the accordion, and was immune to poison ivy.
After raising three daughters, Penelope retired. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she picked up her crochet hook and started a prayer shawl ministry at her church to provide others with hope, comfort, and most of all faith facilitated by the prayers offered as the shawls are made.
Penelope was first published in 2001 with Sea of Hope, which won the 2002 EPIC Award for Best Inspirational Novel. That was followed by Heaven’s Blue, which won EPIC's Award for Best Inspirational in 2005. Patriot’s Courage, published in 2020, won the 2021 National Excellence in Story Telling contest.
Besides writing and crocheting, she paints seascapes—another activity far better than searching for buried treasure. Sometimes she sings when her husband plays the accordion.
You can find Penelope online at: www.penelopemarzec.com
Social Media Links:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marzecpenelope/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/penelopemarzec