Sneaky Peek: Today's Sneaky Peek is from I Am Quinn by debut novelist McGarvey Black (release Date 22nd May 2019)

I Am Quinn Blurb 

My name is Quinn Roberts. I was murdered and I don’t know why.

Quinn Roberts is dead and she wants to know how it happened. She’s angry, confused and disappointed that her life is over. Most of her friends have moved on and it seems like no one cares who was responsible. Her adult children are in shock but their mother’s death is too painful, so they do nothing.

Soon after her death, Quinn’s husband, Alec, has acquired a new wife and Quinn becomes a distant memory. Only her sister, Erin, and Detective John McQuillan, who leads the investigation, continue to search for answers.

But as the case stalls, the formal investigation is moved to the Cold Case division and Quinn’s family loses hope that there will ever be an arrest.

Can Quinn get the justice she deserves? And, is discovering the truth always worth it?

Author Bio

I was a theatre major in college and pursued an acting career for a few years. Eventually, I moved into advertising sales in the magazine publishing business where I sold print and digital advertising and managed sales teams for companies like Conde Nast and WebMD. Ten years ago, I left media to become an executive recruiter for large and small internet companies. But, no matter how I earned a living, I always wrote…for me, for my friends and family. Two years ago, I left recruiting to pursue a full-time career as a writer. I’ve written three novels thus far and working simultaneously on the fourth and fifth. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to put pen to paper (okay — fingers to keyboard) when I get an idea. Since I usually write mystery/thrillers, my process is to know the beginning and the end before I start and then fill in the middle as I go. I am a big advocate of outlining. If I do my prep right and develop my characters fully, the story kind of writes itself. 

You can connect with McGarvey here:

mcgarveyblack@gmail.com

Facebook: McGarveyBlack

Twitter: @mcgarveyblack

www.mcgarveyblack.com

Sneaky peek

I am Quinn
One thing I know is true, you find out who your real friends are after you’re dead.

 My name is Quinn Delaney Roberts. Friends called me Quinnie except on the days I was a little full of myself, then I was known as the ‘Quinntessa’. The part that gets me is that everyone moved on with their lives practically the day after I was buried. That was almost a bigger a surprise than dying. Almost.

 Attending my own funeral was strange. Over the years, I’d been to plenty of wakes – car accidents, drugs, and cancer: lots of cancer. But when it’s yours, it’s a whole different story. It’s not sad exactly, it’s fascinating and kind of bizarre. Questions that haunted me when I was alive disappeared. A therapist once told me ‘with healing comes clarity’. I guess that’s true. Suddenly, I know everything in the universe, except for how and why I’m dead. Did I slip in the shower and crack my skull open on the porcelain soap dish in my tub? Did I choke to death on a chicken bone because I was alone and no one was there to save me? Every other day of my life is crystal clear except for the last one. Things are upside down and make no sense. 

 I always figured I’d live to be a hundred. My grandparents on my mother’s side lived into their nineties. Dying at age forty-four was unexpected and, if I might add, incredibly unfair. I wasn’t done with my life or ready to leave my husband, Alec and my two children. My kids both tower over me, which isn’t hard to do since I’m just over five feet tall. No matter what, they’ll always be my babies. My daughter Hannah is only twenty and Jack, just twenty-one. They weren’t ready to lose their mother. Not yet.

 Growing up, my friends dreamed of big careers or traveling by train through Europe. All I wanted was to be a mother and have lots of kids. Even when I was little, I’d pretend my Barbie was a housewife and mother cooking dinner and playing with her children. My doll was always dressed like a suburban soccer mom acting out storylines that involved family picnics and Girl Scouts. I suppose it was odd, but it’s who I am – who I was.

 Leaving my kids before they were fully formed bothers me the most. There were still things I wanted to teach them, like making fresh pesto from a basil plant or how to play the ukulele. Except for the B chord, I was pretty good on the uke. Sure, I sang off-key sometimes, but always with confidence. Enthusiasm makes up for a lot of sour notes. I wanted my kids to learn that, too.

 My life didn’t turn out the way I expected. It was supposed to be amazing. Everyone had such high expectations, including me. Now, there’s one question that keeps reverberating in my head, did I do something to myself?