ROSENTHALL: Bête Maléfique des Bois

by Sidney St. James

Black Rock Cove on the coastline of Oregon has a unique and sinister charm. By day, it is a quaint fishing village and charming resort for summer visitors, but by night…well, that’s a different story. The murder of Oliver Bateman was purely the strangest of all murders. After the gunshot, and falling dead in the courtyard, bullet holes were missing from his body. Three deep knife wounds, however, covered his chest.

Even stranger, Elizabeth Knight, daughter of famed Nobel Prize winner William Knight, discovered in her locked bedroom on the brink of death after hysterical screaming and two gunshots fired, was alone…no assassin present. As the life fluid of Lizzie Knight drained out of her in its garish red, her skin had begun to take on the pallor of a corpse. The only problem is there was no one in the room when her father finally knocked the door off its frame.

Find the motive of the assassin, and you locate the criminal. Nevertheless, several people have reasons, which may have led them to the deed. Which one did it? Why did the murderer leave a bloody cow bone in the room? Why was there only one bullet found in the chamber after witnesses heard two shots and two were expended in the golden 22 caliber revolver found in the room? Also, most of all how was the crime committed in a sealed room? How did the assassin escape?

“A hair-raising debut, both unsettling and addictive...A chilling thriller that will keep you reading long into the night.” – Tilly Slaton

What an outstanding way for the first novel of James’ three-part murder trilogy to begin? Who was killed? That’s what the readers want to know and why was he or she killed? How did the assassin escape? These questions run through the readers’ minds as one of the most hideous crimes ever, was committed on the estate of two-time Nobel Prize winning physicist, William Knight. The mystery continues as a diabolical scheme to frame an innocent man was set in motion.

Wait! Did the wrong person lose their life? What will that do? Create more questions? Result in more murders? Will there be other murders? Who’s the mastermind behind them? These questions become the catalyst for a sequence of events that will rivet the readers to their seats.

This first novel debuts Vincent Gideon, a young detective making a name for himself solving cold cases. A best-selling author, Abigail Guerin, who adds a twist of romance, assists him. They must solve the case before the mystery man catches the six o’clock train departing Black Rock Cove. However, no other than the Great Shane Murdock comes to town. He is Gideon’s mentor and has solved more cold cases in America than anyone else. Some have called him in headline news, the Sherlock Holmes of America. He is a household name from his successful endeavors at solving crimes the local authorities can’t.
This murder mystery trilogy descends into a quagmire filled with intrigue and death.

Black Rock Cove, the setting in James’ thriller series, The Storm Lord Trilogy, is still his canvas in his Gideon Detective Series. James unveils a labyrinth of evil constructed by people at the highest levels of power. More secrets are revealed. Is the Bête Maléfique des Bois, the beast, responsible for so many deaths? More people continue to lose their lives. You don’t know who can be trusted. Martin DuBois? Terrence McGyver? Chris Darnay? Mother Althena? Could Gideon be the mastermind of the crimes?

“ROSENTHALL – Bête Maléfique des Bois” is a page-turner that will keep readers riveted as they try to put the pieces of an enigmatic puzzle together. Some of the same characters return from the Storm Lord Trilogy Series. Angelica Knight, the award-winning author, and Drew Johnson, a journalist for the Black Rock Cove Headlight, are some of the same characters returning. In this debut novel, James has created a new collage of characters who will cause you to hold your breath hoping to find the killer or killers before more murders occur.

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2017

About the author

Sidney St. James is a Texas native and a social channel sensation, dominating the writing community with his straightforward and exciting mysteries and suspense.

James is a lifelong storyteller specializing in crafting thrilling adventures and crime fiction with heaping does of contemporary and paranormal romances.

When he's not writing or creating new youtube additions, he enjoys hunting and fishing in Alaska, Canada, Montana, Colorado, and Texas. Each year he tries to outdo himself by catching a larger yellow catfish on the Pedernales River or collecting one more bird band from goose and duck hunting on the Rock Island prairies.

James enjoys classic country music and dancing in the old western bars in New Braunfels, Luckenbach and the Broken Spoke in downtown Austin, Texas.