Press Kit
Blurb
Karen Cappelletti, a gritty, battle-tested, battle-scarred middle-aged detective in a small town outside of Philadelphia, finds herself immersed in another dysfunctional relationship. While she has an issue persevering in unhealthy relationships, bigger problems loom. She learns the man she arrested for a brutal felony assault, imprisoned ten years ago, is scheduled to be released on parole the next day. To make matters worse, the ex-con’s daughter, Tam, is publicly expressing her attraction to Karen.
When the ex-con’s daughter reports a dead body on her driveway, a week after her father’s release, things take a bizarre turn. As the lonely detective professionally dives into an investigation with few clues, she struggles to understand the unexpected twists and emotional turns in her empty personal life.
With the town’s safety and her love life on the brink of disaster, Karen finds herself entangled in both a personal betrayal and the cunning brilliance of a sociopath. She must sift through a tangled web of lies to save her town from a heartless killer and save herself from becoming the next victim.
Bio.s
Short Bio
Beth Strauss is an educator, freelance journalist, and novelist. She first found her love for writing at 12 years old while in a children’s creative writing class. Now, after careers in academia and the health sciences, she is pursuing her first love: writing. A native Californian, Beth now resides outside Philadelphia and bounces between both coasts. When she is not writing, she enjoys pottery, photography, and taking hikes with her rescue pup, Maddie.
Longer Bio.
Beth Strauss is an educator, freelance journalist, and novelist. After a career in academia and the health sciences, she pursued her first love: writing. Beth completed her Master’s degree in journalism at Harvard and published stories in local papers and academic journals. Following this, she realized she preferred the freedom of creative writing over the regimented styles of academia and journalism. A native Californian, Beth eventually headed east to Philadelphia and now bounces between both coasts. When she is not writing, she enjoys pottery and photography, as well as taking hikes with her rescue pup, Maddie.
Longest Bio.
Beth is an educator, freelance journalist, and novelist. Prior to embarking on a writing career, she worked as an oncology nurse and learned very quickly the fragility of life and the authentic humanness we all possess. And it is these aspects she works to incorporate into her writing. Not that her work is always heavy, deep, or serious ... but it will always have an authentic flavor and dive into contemporary socio-political issues and questions.
Beth originally found her love for writing when she was 12 years old and her parents enrolled her in a creative writing class—Quills for Kids. She even won first place for her mystery “novel” ... approximately 20 handwritten pages. She continued writing in various arenas throughout her career and recently completed her Master’s degree in Journalism at Harvard. She published numerous stories in Philadelphia publications and is also published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing. While at Harvard, her interest in creative writing was reignited. It was then that she realized she preferred the freedom of creative writing over the regimented styles of academia and journalism.
Drawing from her experience and rich background in research, Beth is dedicated to creating authentic storylines for her police procedural mysteries. But don’t be surprised if you see a historical nonfiction piece of work or memoir mixed in at some point. While she will always strive to present meaningful themes that ignite and provoke thought, the one thing she won’t ever do—allow herself to be pigeonholed to a single style or approach. Expect the unexpected. Expect experimentation. The writing world is her oyster and she is ready to dive in and explore.
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Whether she is in her office in Pennsylvania, her backyard in southern California, or her deck overlooking the San Francisco Bay in northern California, she is always crafting her next story and plot. When she is not writing, Beth enjoys doing pottery and photography. She also enjoys spending time with her amazing rescue pup, Maddie, and Pippin, the annoyingly affectionate rescue cat.
Synopsis
The story begins with Karen immersed in another dysfunctional heterosexual relationship. While she has an issue persevering in unhealthy relationships, bigger problems loom. That morning, the lonely, middle-aged detective learns the man she personally arrested for felony assault is scheduled to be released from prison. To make matters worse, the ex-con's daughter, Tam, is publicly expressing an attraction to her.
When Tam reports a dead body on her driveway, a week after her father’s release, things take a bizarre turn. Karen and her county colleague Camille Riley have six possible suspects, each with their own potential motive, and none that she can tie to the crime scene. As Karen professionally dives into a homicide investigation with few clues, she struggles to understand the unexpected twists and emotional turns in her empty personal life.
Karen fights to keep things professional with Tam—after all, Tam is the lone informant for the investigation. But the charming, charismatic, thirty-something-year-old has a different idea for their relationship. Over time, Tam pushes Karen to relax her professional boundaries and spend an off-duty Sunday together at the town’s art studio. This leads to a serendipitous encounter with a local artist named Ali. Ali is kind, caring, and compassionate...and has stunning blue eyes.
Karen feels an unexpected draw to Ali that she struggles to understand after living her entire life as a straight woman. Recalling her previous attractions to women, Karen also revisits her struggles with societal norms and restrictions. While the homicide case appears to be flat-lining with dead end after dead end, Karen’s personal life is ascending at a mind-boggling pace.
Karen and Ali get closer leading to Karen’s first intimate experience with a woman—an experience that leads to feeling content for the first time in her life. At the same time, she battles with accepting her sexuality. Ali is patient and understanding, but that does little to remedy Karen’s fears. Unsure whether following social norms is more important than following her heart, Karen pushes Ali away, asking for time to figure out her feelings. For the devastated Ali, their feelings for one another seem crystal clear.
Professionally, the case sputters and eventually goes cold. With the town’s safety and her love life on the brink of disaster, Karen must sift through a tangled web of lies to save her town from a heartless killer and save herself from becoming the next victim.
With her personal life in shambles, Karen brings the killer to justice. The town is rejoicing, but her feat is tempered by the realization that she allowed herself to get caught in a sociopath’s web of lies, becoming blind to reality and almost allowing a cold-hearted killer to go free. Her success is also tempered by her regretful decision to push away the only true love she had ever experienced.
In her solitude following the investigation, she grasps the enormity of her actions. Can she embrace her authenticity.
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