My latest book, Secret Witness, is now available!

It is shameless plug time!  My newest book, Secret Witness, is now available for sale.  I am given to understand that the Kindle version is coming shortly (any day now).  Secret Witness is my first true crime book about a bombing murder in my hometown in 1967 and the incredible investigation that apprehended the killer.  

Here’s what the experts say:  "Secret Witness reads like a Jim Thompson noir novel, burrowing into the dark crevices of the rural American landscape. But this is no fictional work of fevered imagination; it's the real thing. Blaine Pardoe nimbly explores his story of murder, sex, and psychopaths in what makes for a crackling good read. This is a real 'can't put it down' page turner!" —This from Arnie Bernstein, author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing  

I even got a great review from Publisher’s Weekly – compared to Hitchcock and Grace Metalious (author of Peyton Place.)  They said the book is compelling…and it’s hard to top compelling.    http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-472-11823-6

The story of Secret Witness is compelling and terrifying.  Here’s the typical press kit stuff:  Every small town has a moment when the real world abruptly intrudes, shattering the town's notions of itself and its people. For citizens of Marshall, Michigan, that moment came August 18, 1967. Nola Puyear was working downtown at the Tasty Cafe that morning when she received a package. She opened it and was instantly killed in a fiery explosion.

In the months that followed, law enforcement and prosecutors wrestled with a crime that to all appearances was senseless. Evidence recovered from the blown-up restaurant, including a bottle of pills that had been tainted with lye, suggested a concerted plot to murder Mrs. Puyear. But why had someone wanted to kill the well-liked woman, by all accounts a pillar of her close-knit community? For that matter, was Marshall really the quaint paradise it seemed to be?

Secret Witness brings to light startling new evidence and freshly uncovered facts to address these and other questions that, to this day, surround one of Michigan's most brutal murders. Based on extensive interviews with surviving prosecutors, police, and witnesses, Blaine Pardoe re-creates the investigation that pried into Marshall's dark underbelly and uncovered the seamy private lives led by some of the town's citizenry but led to only tenuous theories about the bombing. The book also examines the pivotal role played by the Secret Witness program, an initiative by the Detroit News that offered rewards for anonymous tips related to violent crimes. What's ultimately revealed is the true depth of evil that occurred in Marshall that day. Every small town has dirty little secrets. This time, they were deadly.

Included in the book are notes for book clubs.  If you have a book club, I’m more than willing to join you virtually and take your questions about the story or the writing of the book. 

I will be in Michigan the first week of June do to some speaking and book signing events and I encourage you to come and visit if you are in the area.  Here’s the current scheduled events:

Monday June 4:

Be Scene On the Air TV Interview (Battle Creek) (noon)
The Marshall District Library (lecture about the book) 7:00pm

Tuesday June 5:

Battle Creek Historical Society (lecture),6:00pm Kimball House Museum

Wednesday June 6:

WBCK Radio – 8:45am
Albion Public Library – (discussion) 12:15pm

Friday June8:

The Marshall District Library (lecture about the book) 1:00pm  (tentative)
Kazoo Books in Kalamazoo (book signing) 7:00pm

Saturday June 9:

Barnes and Noble Books, Battle Creek, (book signing) noon

And yes, I will be happy to autograph previous books I’ve written! I have some events planned in Virginia as well…more on those as they get closer.  I hope some of my friends still in the area can drop by and say hello. 

Oh, and it goes without saying, please go out and buy this book!  Yes Amazon.com and B&N have it!