Three gripping mystery novels invite readers into stories of hidden conspiracies, dangerous secrets, survival, and the extraordinary courage of ordinary people determined to uncover the truth.
Nationwide — Mystery readers looking for compelling stories featuring African American characters, complex secrets, and high-stakes suspense have three winning novels from author Denise Turney to add to their must-read list: Spiral, Whooten State Forest Mystery: Ties That Bind, and Escaping Toward Freedom. These page-turning mysteries published by Chistell Publishing span different time periods and uncommon circumstances. Each places ordinary people in extraordinary danger and asks what happens when buried secrets refuse to remain hidden.
“These stories are about more than solving mysteries,” says Turney. “They are about people confronting secrets, protecting one another, surviving circumstances they never expected, and finding the courage to keep searching for the truth when everything seems to be working against them.”
Spiral: A Historical Mystery Where the Dead Have Stories to Tell
Set in Memphis, Tennessee, during the 1940s, Spiral begins with the disappearance of a young girl. What initially appears to be a single missing child case soon points toward a disturbing pattern of disappearances that powerful people have worked for years to conceal. At the center of the investigation is an extraordinary African American girl with a rare and unsettling gift: the ability to communicate with the dead.
As whispers from the past begin exposing connections among Memphis’s most influential families, the search for one missing girl becomes a race to uncover a conspiracy with far more victims than anyone imagined. Blending historical suspense with supernatural mystery, Spiral offers shocking revelations, unforgettable characters, and twists that continue long after the final page.
Whooten State Forest Mystery: Ties That Bind: When Escape Becomes Impossible
Petula knows something is wrong. A mysterious stranger has begun appearing around her RV, and what others dismiss as her overactive imagination quickly becomes a terrifying game of cat and mouse. Determined to discover what is happening, Petula begins investigating what’s haunting her. She learns that real danger may be much closer than she realized as a storm traps her inside Whooten State Forest.
Her RV fails. Escape routes disappear, and Petula realizes someone is stalking her. Worse, someone knows her secrets and may have been waiting for her to arrive at the state forest. Whooten State Forest Mystery: Ties That Bind delivers relentless suspense, unexpected revelations, and twists that keep readers questioning who can be trusted.
Escaping Toward Freedom: Four Girls, One Dangerous Secret
Retired Navy specialist Clarissa heads to a remote mountain cabin hoping to find the solitude necessary to complete the manuscript that could define her career. But that’s not what happens. Instead, four terrified girls emerge from the wilderness. Exhausted and frightened, the girls cannot, or will not, tell Clarissa what has happened to them. But when danger closes in, Clarissa discovers that the girls are at the center of something much darker than she had initially suspected.
Someone is hunting the girls. Someone has the power to make people vanish without a trace. Drawing on instincts developed during her Navy career, Clarissa must protect the girls while navigating a deadly conspiracy in which every decision carries consequences. With the hunters closing in, she must determine whom she can trust, and how far she is willing to go to save four vulnerable young lives.
An Opportunity for Champions of African American Literature
These three novels provide champions of African American literature and African American media outlets with compelling literary content to absorb and share. Media managers can introduce these mystery novels to their audiences who love reading fiction and who are seeking new titles by featuring the books in entertainment, culture, community, and book-review sections and by conducting author interviews. Each book’s foundation showcases the strength of African American storytelling and the enduring power of triumph.
For review copies, free book excerpts, interviews, author information, or additional media materials, please contact Chistell Publishing at Chistell.com
About the author
Denise Turney is an award-winning author and advocate for storytelling that inspires empowerment, growth, transformation, and entertainment, as offered through her works of fiction. With a career spanning more than 40 years, she writes across multiple genres and continues to champion meaningful literature.