Please join me in welcoming Sedonia Guillone and her suspense-filled crime novel, His Beautiful Samurai, in a tale that explores cultural and social boundaries when two men are brought together to investigate a series of horrendous murders that will require more than just logic and solid police procedures to solve.
The Book Blog Tour is brought to you by GGR-PromoGroup.
We’ll have an excerpt from the book and a review to share, along with a chance to win some fabulous prizes:
A Signed Copy of His Beautiful Samurai (Worldwide)
An Ebook of any Sedonia Guillone Title
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**********About HIS BEAUTIFUL SAMURAI**********
Book Title: His Beautiful Samurai
Author: Sedonia Guillone
Publisher: Ai Press; 2 edition (May 14, 2013)
Book Length: 216 pages
Genre: M/M; Mystery; Romantic Suspense
Sex and murder don’t mix but Detective Toshiro Genjin and psychic John Holmes do…
John Holmes comes to Tokyo to help stop a killer. Through the use of his psychic abilities, he can help find out things that no one else sees. Toshi is a policeman who reluctantly accepts John’s help, but from their first touch, John knows he wants more than that. He wants all Toshi can give him, and the heat between them surprises, and delights him.
The modern killer, a historical murder of two samurai, and Toshi’s need to honor other commitments combine to make the blooming love between John and Toshi difficult. And dangerous. The more deeply they delve into the past, the more unsure the future looks. Could the heat between them be the only thing that can solve the mystery, despite all of the difficulties that stand in their way? Can they find a way to keep what is most precious to them?
Haunting and powerful, His Beautiful Samurai is a murder mystery, a romance, and a study in the supernatural.
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Here’s an EXCERPT for His Beautiful Samurai
Boston, Massachusetts
“In other world news tonight, in Tokyo, Japan, a serial killer has been terrorizing the eastern portion of the city for the last six months.”
John reached out to switch off the set, but something held him back.
“The Ronin Killer, has been dubbed so by Tokyo Metropolitan Police because of the use of a samurai sword to spear his victims.”
John sat at full attention, uncertain whether it was the military man in him, or the empathic psychic. Old habits didn’t just die hard, they went kicking and screaming. He stared at the screen. Police were loading sheet-covered corpses, apparently two bodies together, into the medical van outside of what appeared to be a fancy hotel. The top of the sheet protruded upward, attesting to the sword. It was obvious the killer had skewered his victims together. Christ…
“The Ronin Killer, so named after the masterless samurai warriors of Japan,” the anchorwoman went on, “refers to the manner in which the killer chooses his victims, seemingly at random, and then murders them with a samurai weapon. Police have been frustrated in the efforts to capture the Ronin Killer before his next strike. Their only clue is the manner in which two victims are killed at once, either in an embrace or during sexual intercourse.”
“Damn,” John murmured, a sick feeling rising in his gut. He continued to watch the footage.
“Police Inspectors Natsuka Yamamoto and Toshiro Genjin of the Criminal Investigation Bureau have been on the case since the first victims appeared nearly six months ago. They refused to comment on the string of murders.”
The cameras zoomed in on the two men. They were leaving the building. A middle-aged, shorter man walked in front of the other detective, seeming to shield him, but the cameras managed to catch glimpses of the second detective. A few seconds sufficed for John to see that the younger man was slim and handsome. John’s heart sped up slightly. The detective’s ebony hair framed an angular face in sexy layers that curled over his collar.
John watched the screen, his gaze glued on the taller figure of the young detective until he was no longer visible. The segment ended and John switched off the set. He shook his head. There was a time when he would have immediately booked a flight to Tokyo and turned up at the police station, offering his services to catch the killer. Hell, that Japanese detective was almost good-looking enough to pull him from his rest cure. However, his nerves were still shot from the series of cases he’d worked on with police over the last few years. Four months hadn’t proved to be enough of a vacation. His hands had only stopped shaking in the last week.
He pushed the image of that guy from his mind, fighting back the nagging spirals of heat whispering about in his long-neglected groin area. John Holmes filled his days with walks in the park, counseling at the VA, and whatever leisure and athletic activities would keep him fit between reading trashy detective novels and staring into space. No antique stores for him, nor any other place where the lives of the dead could crash in on him. No touching other people so he could experience all their grief and anguish and learn their deepest secrets. He didn’t even take his reading material from the library or get it at used bookstores because he’d sense the lives of the people who’d touched the book before him. He was resting until his own soul told him he was ready again.
MY REVIEW FOR HIS BEAUTIFUL SAMURAI
His Beautiful Samurai is an interesting journey into the life of two men, each tasked with dealing with the worst aspects of the human condition: murder and the extraordinary motivations that lead to loss of life, as well as their own cultural preconceptions and empathies.
Toshi is a homicide detective faced with a series of seemingly unrelated crimes which he and his partner have yet to solve, let alone understand. John Holmes is a psychic who might provide insights into the why behind the gruesome murders.
It is not a match made in heaven. Toshi is not exactly a believer, even in the face of his own spirituality, yet he is willing to try anything. John was initially reluctant to answer the call. His gift is not an easy one to bear but he realizes his help might be the last defense against more killings.
Part murder mystery, part suspense, this story is told from two perspectives that eventually intertwine with historical antecedents and introduce a peculiar paranormal element as this new team comes to terms with the chain of events. Entwined with the mechanics of the investigation is a developing attraction between Toshi and John, and it’s a dance with steps complicated by cultural expectations and the bonds a man forges in pursuit of a life’s work.
His Beautiful Samurai is interesting because it explores cultural differences that shape a character’s perceptions: his sense of honor, of duty, of the rightness of who he is and who he wants to be. There are no easy answers, and the ending leaves on the sigh of a promise to explore without a concrete conclusion, aka ‘stay tuned for the next episode’ vibe.
The mystery/suspense/paranormal elements don’t always work in a logical, believable fashion. The world building seems tacked on as an afterthought, as if to provide a counterpoint to the initial premise of an investigator with psychic abilities. The characters themselves don’t always ‘fit’ and that might be due to the sketchiness of one man’s backstory over the other. That said, this reader is curious enough to read further in this series to see what happens next.
For those of you looking for something a little different, you will find this a quick and satisfying read.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Multi-published, award-nominated author, Sedonia Guillone is the owner-operator of Ai Press, publisher of erotic romances in all genres. Please come and visit!
She lives on the water in Florida with a Renaissance man who paints, writes poetry and tells her she’s the sweetest nymph he’s ever met. When she’s not writing erotic romance, she loves watching spaghetti westerns, Jet Li and samurai flicks, cuddling, and eating chocolate. She writes both man/man and man/woman erotic romances and hopes you’ll find something you like!
Author Contact Links:
Email: [email protected]
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GIVEAWAYS
A Signed Copy of His Beautiful Samurai (Worldwide)
An Ebook of any Sedonia Guillone Title
**********a Rafflecopter giveaway**********
