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Deadly Gamble
When attractive Kristi Andrews is hired as Assistant Marketing Director at the Parthenon hotel/casino in Las Vegas, she’s focused on succeeding at her new job. But from the very first day, strange events occur: a deadly escalator accident—the strange death of a candle shop owner—a psychic’s warning that the Parthenon is doomed AND IT’S ALL KRISTI’S FAULT.
Shocked and baffled, Kristi must determine if she could be responsible for the mysterious, evil presence that seems to haunt the hotel. She’s aided by a man she’s just met—famous western historical author, Mike Garvey. Attracted to Kristi, Mike goes one hundred fifty years back in time to draw upon his knowledge of old Las Vegas and the Santa Fe Trail. They are the key to a puzzling mystery which Kristi must solve if she wants to save not only the Parthenon but the entire Las Vegas Strip from total disaster.
Shocked and baffled, Kristi must determine if she could be responsible for the mysterious, evil presence that seems to haunt the hotel. She’s aided by a man she’s just met—famous western historical author, Mike Garvey. Attracted to Kristi, Mike goes one hundred fifty years back in time to draw upon his knowledge of old Las Vegas and the Santa Fe Trail. They are the key to a puzzling mystery which Kristi must solve if she wants to save not only the Parthenon but the entire Las Vegas Strip from total disaster.
- GenresRomanceParanormalMystery
ebook
First published June 12, 2013
12 people want to read
About the author
Shirley Kennedy
37 books223 followersFirst place (GOLD) winner in the Romance category of the 2013 Independent Publisher (IPPY) awards for THE LAST OF LADY LANSDOWN.
I was born and raised in Fresno, California, where I graduated from Fresno High School. I lived in Canada for many years, enjoying skiing and riding horses, and am a graduate of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a B.S. in Computer Science.
I've had many jobs in my lifetime, including working for several years as a computer programmer/analyst. However, my true passion has always been writing, so I quit my day job (something you're never supposed to do) and started writing Regency romances. After publishing several Regencies with Ballantine, Signet, and Camel Press, I switched genres.
Now I'm writing western romances for Kensington Lyrical Press, all taking place in the Gold Rush days of the 1850's. I love this period of time. There's so much to write about! With my shelves full of research books, I doubt I'll change genres again.
I have two daughters and am forever proud of their accomplishments--and grateful, too, that both are the kind of loving, supportive daughters every mother hopes she'll have. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, where I belong to the Las Vegas chapter of Romance Writers of America.
I love hearing from my readers and can be reached at mailto:shirleyken360@gmail.com
I was born and raised in Fresno, California, where I graduated from Fresno High School. I lived in Canada for many years, enjoying skiing and riding horses, and am a graduate of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a B.S. in Computer Science.
I've had many jobs in my lifetime, including working for several years as a computer programmer/analyst. However, my true passion has always been writing, so I quit my day job (something you're never supposed to do) and started writing Regency romances. After publishing several Regencies with Ballantine, Signet, and Camel Press, I switched genres.
Now I'm writing western romances for Kensington Lyrical Press, all taking place in the Gold Rush days of the 1850's. I love this period of time. There's so much to write about! With my shelves full of research books, I doubt I'll change genres again.
I have two daughters and am forever proud of their accomplishments--and grateful, too, that both are the kind of loving, supportive daughters every mother hopes she'll have. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, where I belong to the Las Vegas chapter of Romance Writers of America.
I love hearing from my readers and can be reached at mailto:shirleyken360@gmail.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 31, 2013
Cross-posted at Book Reviews With the Blogmonstar
Deadly Gamble was a nice, easy read to spend a few hours with. The historical elements were very well-interwoven and worked well with the story.
Kristi is a fairly well-rounded and flesh out character. She’s very logical and has a hard time believing, for most of the book, that the accidents that keep happening are anything other than coincidences. Unfortunately for her she is rather wrong about that. Her true biological father was a nasty man who came from a line of nasty men, which is one of the reasons the spirit haunting the Parthenon hotel doesn’t like her. She is unaware of this until she helps her mother sorts out some papers and finds a letter, with some life-changing news in it.
Mike is a nice guy, and I was thankful he didn’t want to jump her bones the minute he laid eyes on Kristi, because it immediately made him a more likeable character. His first love is the history of the Old West (something which Shirley Kennedy has researched beautifully) but he has more recently resorted to writing a fairly trashy, relatively unhistorical series that has been a real moneymaker. His attitude to this particular series of books and the reasons why he started writing it were interesting and gave him a nice touch of realism.
One part of Deadly Gamble that I really enjoyed was learning about the history of Las Vegas, well before it became Sin City, and learning about it’s natural springs where the name Las Vegas comes from. (It means three springs, apparently.) This was quite well interwoven with the rest of the plot, particularly in the form of diary entries from two mule traders. The somewhat gruesome tragedy that occurred all those years ago, and the reason the spirit of Silas Pratt can’t rest, is lead up to in the diary entries, and we eventually find out what happens. It’s rather sad, and allows you to feel sorry for Silas’ once you realise he is the spirit.
I had a few issues with Deadly Gamble. It took me a while to warm up to Kristi, although I’m not really sure why – I think she just seemed a bit abrasive and at the same time a little bit ‘silly’ until we got to now her better.. I also felt the story was quite slow to start. Once it got going (after the second ‘incident’ I feel) it started to move along at a really nice pace, but it just took a while to really find it’s feet.
Overall, a great one to pick up if you like a bit of mystery with your romance and a bit of well-researched and well-intertwined history as well. It’s a great weekend, or travel read because it’s not that big, but still takes up a few hours.
Deadly Gamble was a nice, easy read to spend a few hours with. The historical elements were very well-interwoven and worked well with the story.
Kristi is a fairly well-rounded and flesh out character. She’s very logical and has a hard time believing, for most of the book, that the accidents that keep happening are anything other than coincidences. Unfortunately for her she is rather wrong about that. Her true biological father was a nasty man who came from a line of nasty men, which is one of the reasons the spirit haunting the Parthenon hotel doesn’t like her. She is unaware of this until she helps her mother sorts out some papers and finds a letter, with some life-changing news in it.
Mike is a nice guy, and I was thankful he didn’t want to jump her bones the minute he laid eyes on Kristi, because it immediately made him a more likeable character. His first love is the history of the Old West (something which Shirley Kennedy has researched beautifully) but he has more recently resorted to writing a fairly trashy, relatively unhistorical series that has been a real moneymaker. His attitude to this particular series of books and the reasons why he started writing it were interesting and gave him a nice touch of realism.
One part of Deadly Gamble that I really enjoyed was learning about the history of Las Vegas, well before it became Sin City, and learning about it’s natural springs where the name Las Vegas comes from. (It means three springs, apparently.) This was quite well interwoven with the rest of the plot, particularly in the form of diary entries from two mule traders. The somewhat gruesome tragedy that occurred all those years ago, and the reason the spirit of Silas Pratt can’t rest, is lead up to in the diary entries, and we eventually find out what happens. It’s rather sad, and allows you to feel sorry for Silas’ once you realise he is the spirit.
I had a few issues with Deadly Gamble. It took me a while to warm up to Kristi, although I’m not really sure why – I think she just seemed a bit abrasive and at the same time a little bit ‘silly’ until we got to now her better.. I also felt the story was quite slow to start. Once it got going (after the second ‘incident’ I feel) it started to move along at a really nice pace, but it just took a while to really find it’s feet.
Overall, a great one to pick up if you like a bit of mystery with your romance and a bit of well-researched and well-intertwined history as well. It’s a great weekend, or travel read because it’s not that big, but still takes up a few hours.
August 12, 2013
Deadly Gamble reminded me that it doesn't really matter to me if the book was written from 1st or 3rd person POV. 1st person POV is always my first choice because I want to see things from the main character's POV. But there are actually books which not need to be seen from the main character's perspective. It just has to be written in such a nice way. This book falls in that category.
Kristi was the career-driven woman who doesn't give a damn about anything other than work. She didn't care about her love life. She also didn't care about her family since she felt left out especially by her Mom's lack of care and concern for her when she was growing up. She was basically an anti-social person! When she started working at Parthenon, such weird things started to happen. One of the store owners believed that there was an evil lurking around that place. But Kristi didn't believe such things. Until she was actually forced to.
While Kristi was busy trying to figure out what was happening, she met Mike Garvey. Since she was all so focused on her work, she didn't want to give them a chance. I actually want to slap her because she totally was missing something important in her life and she cannot see that! Well, fate had different plans for her anyway. I was so glad Mike was there because he really was an angel for her.
This one started out really good with such great pacing. It was never dragging or fast forward. The mystery behind the accidents in the casino was really interesting. The clues given really kept me reading and guessing as to what really was happening on that place. There was even a point that I didn't know what to believe in anymore. I must say that Shirley did a nice job in giving readers the suspense.
I really enjoyed the journey finding out why Parthenon was experiencing such things. But the ending made me feel weird in some way. I don't know. I guessed I expected some big action! But really, the ending was so funny. I kept laughing to myself just imagining Kristi in that outfit. Also, I felt like there should have been an epilogue that says that the deal was actually done. I'm not doubting Kristi and Mike but I just want to know that they actually did it!
Deadly Gamble is a great paranormal read with a touch of history. The past will really keep on haunting you. So beware! Mystery, paranormal and suspense lovers will definitely enjoy this one! And oh, don't worry! It also has a touch of romance.
Originally posted at The Bookish Confections
Kristi was the career-driven woman who doesn't give a damn about anything other than work. She didn't care about her love life. She also didn't care about her family since she felt left out especially by her Mom's lack of care and concern for her when she was growing up. She was basically an anti-social person! When she started working at Parthenon, such weird things started to happen. One of the store owners believed that there was an evil lurking around that place. But Kristi didn't believe such things. Until she was actually forced to.
While Kristi was busy trying to figure out what was happening, she met Mike Garvey. Since she was all so focused on her work, she didn't want to give them a chance. I actually want to slap her because she totally was missing something important in her life and she cannot see that! Well, fate had different plans for her anyway. I was so glad Mike was there because he really was an angel for her.
This one started out really good with such great pacing. It was never dragging or fast forward. The mystery behind the accidents in the casino was really interesting. The clues given really kept me reading and guessing as to what really was happening on that place. There was even a point that I didn't know what to believe in anymore. I must say that Shirley did a nice job in giving readers the suspense.
I really enjoyed the journey finding out why Parthenon was experiencing such things. But the ending made me feel weird in some way. I don't know. I guessed I expected some big action! But really, the ending was so funny. I kept laughing to myself just imagining Kristi in that outfit. Also, I felt like there should have been an epilogue that says that the deal was actually done. I'm not doubting Kristi and Mike but I just want to know that they actually did it!
Deadly Gamble is a great paranormal read with a touch of history. The past will really keep on haunting you. So beware! Mystery, paranormal and suspense lovers will definitely enjoy this one! And oh, don't worry! It also has a touch of romance.
Originally posted at The Bookish Confections
August 14, 2013
What an enjoyable read. Author has talent to convey in words action taking place. Liked concept & Kennedy delivered more than expected. Be prepared for a non stop reading.
August 14, 2013
One author who knows skills involved in creating enjoyable reading experience. Shift in genre more than success hope to see more in this genre.
June 16, 2014
Loved this game.. cant wait for more
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews