New Beginnings

by Hazel B. West

Jack has made a new life for himself as a budding homicide detective in a small town in New Mexico, but it’s harder to let go of the past than he realized. Faced with a friendly new partner and an apparent vigilante murder case the first week on the job, Jack tries to put his past behind him and focus on the future. After all, there’s no going back to his old life now, so maybe it’s time to look for a little redemption.

33 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2022

About the author

Hazel B. West is the author of several novels including historical titles like On a Foreign Field, By Blood or By Bond; Wolfsblood, a book about werewolves in Roman Britain and the Modern Tales of Na Fianna series, which feature modern Irish warriors with swords and fast sports cars and lots of faeries.

Hailing from Purgatory (aka, Florida) Hazel is an indie author, book wyrm, and coffee connoisseur. She typically enjoys writing books with an unconventional flair, probably with a bit of folklore and mythology, most definitely with a lot of siblings or brothers-in-arms. When she’s not writing, she manages an Etsy shop, drinks a lot of coffee, listens to music, haunts conventions, or just holes up like an eldritch horror and binges her favorite shows—for inspiration. If you meet this rare creature on the street, she has been known to respond to the offer of coffee and old bookstores. But it’s probably best you try to contact her online first.

Reviews

[deborah o'carroll (offline during 2026) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story is a great look at the start of Jack's job as a cop in futuristic New Mexico, before the novel Sweet Vendetta Blues (which I'm very excited to read!). I loved The New Emperor's Concerto which is set in this same world (just in futuristic London instead), so I was super excited for this book--and reading some short stories leading up to SVB is just making me more excited! Jack is a great character and I loved getting to follow him at the start of his new job. He and David Cortez make an excellent detective team and I just loved the mystery and hints at Jack's shadowy past and just ALL OF IT! *applauds* Another excellent short story.