What Happened to Vicki Straus?
TALL, DARK and DEADLY has been out for just over a month and I’m excited to announce its going to a second printing! Thanks to all of you who have bought my book, and enjoyed it.
With some books, especially the ones I’ve written that are a bit more controversial, I’ve received e-mails, and reviews, letting me know they didn’t like the book. Some of these e-mails were constructive and polite, others not so polite. In the case of TALL, DARK and DEADLY the e-mails that came in announcing they didn’t like the book all listed the same reason. Enough in fact to make me wonder.
When more than a handful of readers e-mail me asking “What happened to Vicki Straus?” I can’t help but think something might be wrong.
Ladies and gents, Vicki Straus didn’t just disappear from the story line and get forgotten by the hero, heroine, her parents, and this humble author!
If you own a copy of TALL, DARK and DEADLY right now, a first edition, please refer to page 87. A couple paragraphs were left out of the final printing, enough to give the impression my hero and heroine weren’t as attentive as they should have been. I brought this to the attention of my publisher and have been asked to let all of you know what my final edited copy shows, and how it will read in the second printing, which should be in bookstores soon. For all of you with a first edition of TALL, DARK and DEADLY, below are the paragraphs missing from your book.
(Missing) Excerpt from TALL, DARK and DEADLY:
“Two firemen poked through the inside of a charcoaled vehicle as they walked up to the scene. Pulling on latex gloves, she held them over her nose, inhaling the plastic scent. It wasn’t strong enough to block out the hideous odors surrounding her.
The car was black, with all windows busted out. Burnt rubber mixed with another foul smell. The smell of burnt flesh, hair sizzled to nonexistence, clothes burned until they were dust in the air. She pinched her nose shut, breathing through her mouth as she stood next to the driver’s side and saw the remains of what was once a body. Flesh had melted from the bones, warping the position the person had been in while alive. Hair was singed to the scalp where large red holes oozed putrid smelling blood and tissue. The jaw hung open, obviously from the final screams of the victim and offering a hollow abyss where a tongue should be.
“Vicki Straus?” Grace choked out the question as she stepped backwards awkwardly. Her stomach lunged toward her throat more than once before she regained control of her professional persona.
“It’s hard to say at this point.” A man some ten years her senior, with a receding hairline, glanced up. He then stood up, and gave Grace his full attention. “Dental records should confirm or deny that.”
She glanced once more at the burnt figure behind the wheel, and then slowly walked around the car, breathing only as necessary to avoid the gut-wrenching stench. Justin leaned against his car talking on his police radio. She glanced up, and saw him watching her, but his expression didn’t change. She reached the other side and studied the ground, the road, the grass underneath the car, trying to replay what possibly could have happened.
The firemen doused the fire before she arrived. And their efforts left flattened grass, and soaked ground after being sprayed to stop the fire. She avoided large puddles although her shoes were obviously not waterproof. Water sloshed between her toes in her socks as she hunched over on soggy ground and peered into the back seat, or what was left of it. Any evidence on the ground around them, or the field off the side of the highway was washed away. An unfortunate necessity to keep the fire from spreading.”
And there you have it. So for all of you who noticed the “forgotten” character in TALL, DARK and DEADLY, I promise, she wasn’t forgotten. Those of you who have a first edition of TALL, DARK and DEADLY, hold on to your copies. Maybe someday after I’m dead they’ll be worth a lot of money. *grin* I appreciate those of you who brought it to my attention, or I wouldn’t have thought to compare the paperback to my final edited word doc. Mistakes happen. We keep moving on and learn what we can from each event. I promise though, poor Vicki Straus will remain in a special place in my heart, and as well in the second and third printings of TALL, DARK and DEADLY.
Look for new copies of the book at your favorite bookstore soon, it will be a few paragraphs longer.