Vale Investigation (book #1)
Urban Fantasy
Date Published: August 1, 2018
When a mysterious beast savagely mauls random residents of Cold City, the police assume that these are the killings of a rogue wolf. But experienced private investigator, Bellamy Vale, is unconvinced.
Ordered by Death herself to investigate, Vale has no choice but to obey for his boss is not someone to disappoint—if he wants to keep breathing, that is.
With friend and computer hacker Zian, interfering journalist Candice Kennedy, and homicide sergeant Melanie Ramirez by his side, Vale has no choice but to end the killings or face the wrath of the demon who literally holds his life in her hands.
Hostile Takeover is a fast-paced, edge-of-your seat paranormal mystery that will leave your heart racing, and have you looking over your shoulder.
Excerpt 01 :
I was having a bad day.
The ugly thug facing me readied himself for the next swing. “What did
you say, bastard?” His red-splattered knuckles were ready for the next round;
my body wasn’t.
“I’m haffin a fah fay,” I managed to repeat through a mouthful of saliva
and blood.
That made Julian Ragazzo, former welterweight boxing champ and top
bodyguard to the city’s prime Italian Mafia family, smile. His wet beard
glistened with sweat beads around stained teeth. Glad one of us was happy.
I took stock of the damage Ragazzo had already done. Broken nose, check.
Split
I caught a reflection of myself in the glossy surface of a cabinet door.
My messy mop of brown locks was matted with blood on one side and the five
o’clock shadow had a hard time concealing a fast-bruising chin. One eye was
swollen shut and the other had a pale blue, haunted orb dancing amidst a sea of
red veins. I was a mess, and not a hot one.
I closed my good eye and waited for the next blow. The bodyguard didn’t
disappoint. A second later, he delivered a power punch and I saw stars. It
didn’t help that I was tied to a chair and my already sore shoulders screamed
in protest at the added strain. In a noise that only I could hear, my body
cried out, ‘How in all the hells was this part of the plan?’ Fair question—it
wasn’t.
In truth, there may have been a few glitches here and there. Like those
two extra guards at the office building’s back entrance, plus that wrong turn I
took on the fourteenth floor. Yeah, okay … the plan was just as screwed as I
was.
Ragazzo followed up his haymaker with another kick in the guts. It would
have ripped a scream out of me if I’d had any breath left for it. Instead, my lungs just took in short, choppy gasps I
couldn’t control.
“Well, well, well … look what the cat dragged in,” taunted an
Italian-lilted voice.
I recognized the lazy drawl and opened my good eye to confirm my
suspicions. Sure enough, Alonzo Vitorini, Cold City
Vitorini sauntered into the room, smiling as he noticed my stare. “Like
the suit?” he asked, doing a little pirouette to show off this walking insult
to fashion.
I wasn’t going to reply, but the second my eye caught sight of the
finishing touch, a pair of black-and-white spectator shoes, my mouth kicked
into gear on its own.
“Al Capone called,” I wheezed out. “He wants his brogues back.”
Vitorini laughed, the corners of his
muddy-green eyes wrinkling. Not sure if he was laughing at the crack or the
fact that he was going to kill me for it in another minute or two.
About the Author
Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.
She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.
She is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor, and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.
Currently, she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the fictitious town of Cold City, USA.
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