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Press Release:

BEST SELLING AUTHOR MARY BURTON’S DYING SCREAM IS A “COMPELLING AND PERFECTLY PLOTTED PAGE-TURNER*”

DYING SCREAM is Published as a Zebra Books Mass Market
Paperback Original on Sale November 248th

““A twisted tale…I couldn’t put it down!”
—Lisa Jackson

“A compelling and perfectly plotted page-turner…Burton skillfully
layers her characters’ storylines and motivations.”
—Romantic Times Book Reviews

PRAISE FOR MARY BURTON’S NOVELS—

“A taut race … enhanced with a dash of sexual tension plus generous handfuls of emotional baggage…with a gift for artful obfuscation, Burton juggles a budding romance and two very plausible might-be perpetrators right up to the tense conclusion.”
—Publishers Weekly on Dead Ringer

“Compelling, compulsive reading.”
—Charlottesville Daily Progress (VA) on Dead Ringer

“I’m Watching You gives readers plenty of action and intrigue.”
—The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)

MARY BURTON once again keeps the murder rate soaring in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.  On November 3rd homicide statistics climb by seven when her new suspense novel DYING SCREAM joins Dead Ringer and I’m Watching You on book shelves.  This time, she challenges the Richmond police to uncover a trail of death going back a generation as she places Adrianna Barrington and Homicide Detective Gage Hudson at the center of a case involving a family legacy, multiple killings, unmarked graves, and a missing baby’s unexplained death.   

To do so, Burton takes readers to the now-familiar milieu of her Richmond PD homicide unit. There, in the tradition of genre notables such as Lisa Gardner, Michael Connelly, Iris Johansen and Lisa Jackson, she continues characters from earlier books, giving them “cameo” appearances or supporting roles as she elevates previously minor players to main protagonists.  Familiar faces include Detectives Zack Kier, Nick Vega, and C. C. Ricker, Sergeant David Ayden and forensics specialist Tess Kier. Also on the scene are former news anchor and Adrianna’s sister Kendall Shaw, Medical Examiner Dr. Alex Butler and Brett Newington the television station manager readers love to hate.

In DYING SCREAM, Adrianna wants nothing more than to close the book on the heartbreak and financial pain that followed the accident leading to her husband, Craig Thornton’s, two-year coma and death.  That’s why, despite dissension, threats of bodily harm, and unsettling missives and gifts from a mysterious “Craig,” she’s facing down protestors and preservationists who believe she should honor her late husband’s prestigious family by preserving the Thornton estate.  Medical bills and upkeep demand otherwise and Adrianna’s been counting the days until she could relocate the family gravesites that are the last barrier to the sale of the house and land.  She needs to move on with her life. Then, the unexpected emerges as workers discover unmarked graves cradling remains the police suspect are those of long sought missing women.

As the graves are excavated and forensics works to identify the bodies, seemingly linked murders begin anew. Adrianna and Gage struggle to unravel the tangled threads connecting the dead women, Adrianna’s late husband, and an unrelenting stalker to the Thorntons. Despite protests from Gage and his colleagues, Adrianna refuses to step away from the investigation.  Her home has been invaded, her well-being threatened and both her heritage and her marriage are in question.  Soon, evidence begins to fall into place, much of it pointing to Adrianna.  Now she’s both suspect and potential target. As the stakes continue to climb, Gage and Adrianna are more determined than ever to discover who is murdering and why—even when it means confronting the memories and emotions of their own brief, passionate affair.

Once again, Mary Burton has created a story of crime and relationships destined to keep readers guessing as to who among her suspects is guilty and why as she leads them toward the surprising denouement.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A Virginia native whose family’s Richmond roots run as deep as the nation’s, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary Burton graduated from that state’s Hollins University and began a career in marketing.  After a decade she left her job and began writing.  Her first manuscript, a romance novel, was published in 2000.

Following that book, Burton wrote several more books for Harlequin and Silhouette before entering the dark world of multiple murderers and their motives with DYING SCREAM, Dead Ringer and I’m Watching You, published by Zebra Books.  She even brought danger and a hint of murder to her novella Christmas Past, which appears in the 2008 New York Times best selling holiday anthology Silver Bells along with stories from Fern Michaels, Joann Ross and Judy Duarte.  Previously her story Snow Maiden was featured in the USA Today best selling anthology A Hero’s Kiss.

Her commitment to realism has led to eye-opening interviews with local law enforcement, to forensic seminars and to the firing range. She is a graduate of the Henrico County Citizens Police Academy and the Richmond FBI Citizen’s Academy, and attended Sisters in Crime’s three day Forensic University program.

Mary Burton is an avid baker and an accomplished cook, and even volunteered as a kitchen assistant at a local culinary school to hone her skills.  She’s discovered that the creativity of baking entwines with her professional routine in a way she hadn’t anticipated.  For her the act of baking is soothing, the kitchen the place she turns to when her writing hits a rough spot or she simply needs distance from her work. Once there, she’s working out dialogue, untangling plot lines and figuring out how to outsmart killers before the oven even finishes preheating. 

When not writing, researching or baking, Mary can be found hiking, practicing yoga and playing with her miniature dachshunds Buddy and Bella.  She is at work on her next novel.

*Romantic Times Book Reviews

DYING SCREAM
Mary Burton
Zebra Books/Mass Market Original/Fiction
December 2009/On Sale: 11-24-09/$6.99 ($8.99 Canada)
978-1-4201-0028-0/1-4201-0028-9

For more information visit Mary Burton at www.maryburton.com or go to www.kensingtonbooks.com

CONTACT: Joan Schulhafer, Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting,
973-338-7428, jschulhafer@verizon.net

Maureen Cuddy, Kensington Books, 212-407-1573,
            mcuddy@kensingtonbooks.com

Photos:

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Book List:

Click for Printable Book List or to view List of Mary Burton's Novels....

Contact:

Mary Burton welcomes participating in bookstore events, including autographings or speaking to book groups or writers' conferences.

If you're a reviewer or reporter interested in arranging an interiew, please contact Mary through her personal publicist:

Joan Schulhafer
Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting
P. O. Box 1224
Clifton, N.J. 07003
973-338-7428 or jschulhafer@verizon.net