The Clown Forest Murders: A #Mystery #Novel by R.R. Brooks

Bob Brooks (writing as R.R. Brooks) spent his career doing pharmaceutical research and development. Now living in western North Carolina with two oversized cats, a resistant beagle, and a supportive spouse, he’s published fiction and nonfiction, including science fiction and fantasy short stories exploring strange encounters and issues of doubt and belief. He also writes novels, including the epic fantasy novel Justi the Gifted, released in 2015 by Leo Publishing and a psychological mystery novel The Clown Forest Murders, co-written with A.C. Brooks, released in November 2017 by Black Opal Publishing. He is a member of the Blue Ridge Writers Group, the Appalachian Round Table, International Thriller Writers, Inc., and the N.C. Writers Network. He maintains author’s pages on Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads, All Author, and Hometown Reads. His website is www.brooks-authors.com.

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About the Book

Did clown-colored mushrooms spark the gruesome murders? Will his memories of the murders save him or kill him?

At age eight, Dave Austin witnesses his brother’s savage murder in rural Norwich, New York, but amnesia suppresses the memory, and the killer escapes. Locals suspect an itinerant, a pedophile, or a disturbed friend maddened by psychedelic mushrooms. When Dave starts college, pressures at Princeton and alcohol elicit dreams, each one revealing a bit of memory. Then come visions as Dave senses the killer return. Images of teenagers killed where his brother died precipitate a crisis, and David returns to Norwich to find his dead brother’s friend, a disturbed witness who knows something. Dave’s appearance alarms his psychiatrist, the officers who hadn’t solved the case, and especially the killer, who knows he should not have let the young Dave escape. Now the killer must correct his mistake. When a crazy farmer invites Dave to learn the killer’s name in the Clown Forest at midnight, how can he resist? He may learn what he needs to identify the murderer—if he gets the truth, and survives.

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Keep reading for a guest post by the author:

The first draft of part of this book was written in the late 90s by Andrew Brooks. That part was the “nature attack” segment. The “mystery” segment came ten years later and was written by Robert Brooks.

The key writing impetus for Andrew was the suicide death of his brother in his junior year at Princeton. The central New York setting is where our kids grew up. It includes the Clown Forest, a mysterious, scary place for roaming youngsters, a place where mushrooms thrive. Psychedelic mushrooms that affect the brain and cause death underlie the variety of mental issues portrayed in many characters. This plot theme can be viewed as a rationalization of suicide. Thus environmental rather than the individual becomes responsible for behaviors ranging from odd to lethal. The individual is excused. Suicide may or may not be “painless” but it’s blameless.

I was actively pursuing fiction writing in retirement and had the chance to read Andrew’s completed draft, with a working title of “The Clown Forest,” around 2002. I loved the Stephen King elements and suggested revisions. But Andrew had to deal with life and shelved the manuscript. He naively allowed me to try revisions five years later. I made it into a mystery, adding a plot line and characters to support that expansion. The theme of nature causing mental aberration and evil behavior was kept intact. I added the challenge to the reader of figuring out which human was responsible for the ultimate evil of murder.

The result is a mystery in which the environmental factor and mental aberration play the crucial role of cause. These themes unfold in the life of one boy over a ten-year period, the time it takes for the mental state of amnesia to lift and reveal the truth.

The Clown Forest Murders: A #Mystery Novel by A.C. Brooks & R.R. Brooks

Robert R. Brooks (R.R. Brooks) spent his career doing pharmaceutical research and development. Now living in western North Carolina, he has published both fiction and nonfiction, including science fiction and fantasy stories exploring strange encounters and issues of doubt and belief. Leo Publishing released his epic fantasy novel Justi the Gifted in 2015. A science fiction tale and second fantasy novel are in the works. He is a member of the Blue Ridge Writers Group, the Appalachian Round Table, the Brevard Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, Inc., and the N.C. Writers’ Network. He maintains author’s pages on Facebook, Amazon, and Goodreads.

Andrew C. Brooks (A.C. Brooks) works in internet technology in California. When he’s not training for an Ironman competition, he writes. He has published a short story, extensive blog materials (www.andhesays.com), and technical writings (www.smartthings.com). His college-connected psychological mystery with R.R. Brooks is one of several novels of humor and adventure he has written.

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About the Book

At age eight, Dave Austin witnesses his brother’s savage murder in rural Norwich, New York, but amnesia suppresses the memory, and the killer escapes. Locals suspect an itinerant, a pedophile, or a disturbed friend maddened by psychedelic mushrooms.

When Dave starts college, pressures at Princeton and alcohol elicit dreams, each one revealing a bit of memory. Then come visions as Dave senses the killer return. Images of teenagers killed where his brother died precipitate a crisis, and David returns to Norwich to find his dead brother’s friend, a disturbed witness who knows something. Dave’s appearance alarms his psychiatrist, the officers who hadn’t solved the case, and especially the killer, who knows he should not have let the young Dave escape.

Now the killer must correct his mistake. When a crazy farmer invites Dave to learn the killer’s name in the Clown Forest at midnight, how can he resist? He may learn what he needs to identify the murderer—if he gets the truth, and survives.

Get it Today!

Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Black Opal Books

Keep reading for an excerpt:

As if it wasn’t enough to have nightmares, he suddenly realized these were more than just bad dreams…

Dave read the story twice, feeling dread. He should feel distant, uninvolved. The crime didn’t happen on campus or in the town of Princeton. Not even in Norwich. He didn’t know the victim. It was unfortunate and heinous, but what did that have to do with him?

Dave jerked, his body shaking. Two puzzle pieces fit together—his fear and the carnival killing. He feared the carnival murder because it was like his brother’s and Carter’s—the same modus operandi. Repeat criminals tended to do things the same way, picking the same types of victims, the same locations, the same way of entering. Didn’t Ted Bundy pick similar girls?

Didn’t Son of Sam, Dave Berkowitz, choose the same locations where lovers parked? Didn’t Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, prefer strangulation? If it was the same MO, could it be the same killer?

Dave re-read the paragraph on how the carnival worker had died. The phrasing about repeated blows to the face, even after the victim was surely dead, was exactly what had been written about his brother’s death.

One other detail finally hit him. Shocked, he realized he’d dreamed about the carnival murder on the same night it happened.

He’d gone to sleep before midnight and the kid was killed just after midnight. It wasn’t precognition he was afflicted with. It was co-cognition.

Justi the Gifted by R.R. Brooks

Robert R. Brooks, a native of New Jersey, writes fantasy, mystery, and science fiction novels and short stories as R.R. Brooks. He has fiction training from several schools, including The Great Smokies Writing Program of the University of North Carolina. His publications include a dozen short stories, a novel, and other pieces. Bob is a member of the Blue Ridge Writers Group, the Appalachian Round Table, and the Brevard Authors Guild, has served as a judge for the Brevard Little Theater Annual Play Competition, and as a reader for the Eric M. Hoffer Award for self-published and small press books.

Retired from the pharmaceutical industry, he lives with a wife and two cats outside Brevard. A science fiction-thriller novel is being revised. He has co-authored with A.C. Brooks a mystery with a paranormal and psychological-twist (hunting publisher). A sequel to Justi the Gifted is in the works.

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This epic fantasy tells of a simple peasant boy with a damaged gift from the old god Li. Justi has nothing to do with the conflict between Tantrocan barbarians and the Kingdom of the Zell. And his gift, the Sense of Justice, is hardly a threat to the invaders who’d killed Justi’s father. It becomes so when Dar, god of Chaos, sunders the gift, sends a part to another human, and leaves Justi with a killing power. This power could defeat the barbarians if he could control it. To do that he must find the missing part—and survive.

Dar’s spirit servants engage animals to kill Justi. The Tantrocan high priest Aduk dispatches his assassin to do the same. The Tantrocan king sends soldiers to finish the job, driving the boy to the very person he must meet. Mercerio, daughter of exiled Queen Melsin and heir to the Zellish throne, has the mercy component of the gift. The teens are attracted and repulsed as teens will be. To thwart the prophesized liaison of the children of the gift, Dar has the prostitute Provani seduce Justi. In shame, Justi shuns Mercerio and refuses to help drive the Tantrocans from the Zell. Only when Mercerio is kidnapped can he use his untempered power and confront his great fear—killing an innocent. But his greater task is to resolve the rift with the princess and unite their gifts.

Justi the Gifted is a fast-paced adventure tale of enchanted animals, befuddled seers, and struggle to do what’s right to save a kingdom and a young love.

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Keep reading for an excerpt:

Clearly Stren didn’t want to talk about it, so Justi stretched, breathed in the woody mossy scents, and joined his friend in the warm pool. They were still swimming when Tirea arrived. She posed on the sand with her hands on her hips and surveyed the pool, smiling.

Justi noticed her first. “What are you doing here? This is our spot.”

“Really?” Tirea studied the spread-out clothes and then the two bathers. “Who gave it to you?”

A gurgle of falling water was the answer. The boys backed away from the shore.

“Well, I see that you think it’s yours.” Tirea picked up an undergarment, holding it at arm’s length in two fingers. “We girls will try to remember that when we use it.”

“Fine,” Justi said. “Now put that back and go.”

“I have something to tell you, Justi—”

“Can’t this wait until later?” Stren said.

“You mean when you have some clothes on? Don’t be concerned. I’ve seen you boys swimming here before.”

“What?” Stren said, sinking down until only his head was above the water. “You shouldn’t be snooping around where you don’t belong.”

“Walking in the woods is not snooping.” Tirea gathered up the clothes and walked to the edge of to pool, grinning. “Don’t you want these?”

Stren stepped into a hole and his head disappeared under water. He came up sputtering. “We’re not coming out until you leave. We’ll get them ourselves.”

Tirea dumped the clothes on the boulder. “All right. Quit fussing like cows who want to be milked. Goren wants you to visit him, Justi. Sooner rather than later. He asked me how you were doing.”

“Doing what?”

“You’ll have to ask him about that.”

Justi came half way out of the water. “This makes no sense. What aren’t you telling?”

Tirea sighed. “All right. I was visiting Goren and the thing about Morul just sort of came out. Goren was really interested.”

“Why did you say anything to the seer?” Justi, more than miffed that she was stirring things up again, fought an impulse to grab Tirea and shake her.

“He asked about you. I told him the most important thing I knew.”

“You’re making such a fuss over nothing,” Justi said, feeling as trapped as a pig in a butcher’s pen.

“Goren thinks what happened is important—”

“Maybe you think too much. Now go.”

“I’m going. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.” Tirea patted the garments and went into the woods.

Justi and Stren waited, listening to footsteps climb the path. When the sound disappeared, they emerged from the pool.

“We should dry off before we get dressed.” Stren stepped over sand and pebbles to a bright patch of sunshine and stood with his arms spread. “So you’ll see Goren, right?”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

A rustle from the woods sent them both to crouch behind the boulder.

“Very cute. Both of you.” Tirea’s laughter faded as she ran off. Still damp, the boys scrambled into their clothes.

Justi the Gifted by R.R. Brooks

Justi the Gifted, an epic fantasy tale by R.R. Brooks has been published by LeoPublishing L.L.C. and can be ordered from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local bookstore (they’d love for you to visit).

A gift from a god can be good. But what if it is damaged?

Our reporter tracked down the Justi’s stepfather in his home in the coastal town of Ortun. Rocley spoke to us as he prepared to hunt.

How did you become Justi’s stepfather?

I encountered Justi’s mother Arturi on the Fathom trail. Saved her from getting gored by a boar. I was just behind the big-tusked brute when it charged into Arturi’s campsite. She put a small fire between herself and the beast, but it jumped the flames. I put a bolt in it, and it fell dead at Arturi’s feet. I think the creature was possessed.

What did Arturi do?

She fainted, but woke to enjoy roasted pork.

Was it love at first sight?

Maybe.

Why was Arturi alone in the forest?

She had gone in search of her husband, Valego, Justi’s father. Unfortunately, he had been killed by a Tantrocan party. She claimed to have escaped the Tantrocan’s. That couldn’t have happened without her using a power like Justi’s. She killed an attacker with a bolt of flame, but that came out only when Justi first experienced his own power and wanted to know where it came from. He wanted me to confirm it.

Did you see Arturi’s power?

I guess I did. Two Tantrocans accosted us as we neared Ortun. One got past me, and Arturi grabbed his arm. He screamed. His arm was blackened with scorched flesh.

Did you see Justi’s power as he was growing up?

Never. He was a normal, rambunctious kid. It wasn’t until we were fleeing from Ortun when he was eighteen. Then he defended us against four Tantrocans. He took one down with a pale beam that stilled the man’s heart. The second man fared worse. The bright blast evaporated the knife he threw. The thunderous boom and bright light left a smoking crater in the man’s chest.

How do you feel now about your stepson’s power?

I believe he is the Child of Power mentioned in prophecy. My role was to protect him until he could use his power. He also needed a good dose of discipline, which I was happy to provide.