All The Write Stuff: Every Silent Thing

What you can't hear can be deadly.

Every Silent Thing

The Claire Deveraux Series Book 1

By Alan Brenham

Genre: Crime Fiction

Shy and deaf, twenty-three-year-old Claire Deveraux has worked hard to land her dream job as a foreign service officer at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Yet her idyllic life is shattered when she finds a woman lying on the restroom floor dying from a gunshot wound. The dying woman utters three words to Claire and conceals a thumb drive in Claire’s pocket. The items are keys to the location of proceeds from a bank robbery. The killer, certain Claire now has sole possession of those items, must find her, recover the code words and the drive, then kill her before she can solve the puzzle and recover the money. Knowing he is determined to find and kill her, Claire must do whatever she can to keep her heart beating.

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Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Every-Silent-Thing-Claire-Deveraux-ebook/dp/B0CJLT7G9C

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/every-silent-thing/id6467806594

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/every-silent-thing-alan-brenham/1144111443?ean=2940186067610

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/every-silent-thing-2

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1453516

Audible: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMWBV9YK

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/every-silent-thing-the-claire-deveraux-series-book-1-by-alan-brenham

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199118665-every-silent-thing

Never Say a Word

The Claire Deveraux Series Book 2

A political storm erupts when Claire Deveraux, a deaf employee of the U.S. Embassy in France, is abducted at a conference in Rome. The kidnapper, Franco Lazzari, is a wealthy pharmacist who has been scouring Italy for the perfect wife. Unable to hear, and with time against her, Claire must use all of her wits to escape Lazzari’s remote home in the Italian countryside. Yet neither Claire nor the police know the actual danger she is in. Lazzari is in league with a senior official at the U.S. embassy—a man who is willing to leverage all of his clout to stop Claire being found.

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Audible* Bookbub * Goodreads

Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CJLYPN4R

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/never-say-a-word/id6467806040

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/never-say-a-word-brenham/1144111533?ean=2940186067665

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/never-say-a-word-1

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1453518

Audible: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQN3FDS3

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/never-say-a-word-the-claire-deveraux-series-book-2-by-alan-brenham

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199224887-never-say-a-word

Breaking Silence

The Claire Deveraux Series Book 3

Silence is like trust: easily broken.

The first time Claire and Megan Deveraux receive a cryptic text from the anonymous “AMZ”, they decide it’s a sophisticated scam. But when further evidence of a long-lost sibling starts to add up, Claire begins to wonder whether there is merit to AMZ’s wild claims...or just photoshop and dumb luck?

As the sisters weigh up the risks of pursuing a ruthless blackmailer’s trail, another victim is scrambling to keep his secret safe, whatever the cost. Because no amount of money can make a man bulletproof...

From the streets of Paris to Texan suburbia, Breaking Silence cracks open a nail-biting mystery that spans decades — and the globe.

GUEST POST

Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

During an informal get-together with some friends, we began telling about bad events which had happened to us and shaped how we saw life. I mentioned two such events which had happened to me. The first was when I lived in occupied Germany - a Russian soldier aimed his AK47 at me and was screaming at me in Russian. There was no place to hide, assuming I even had enough time to do that. All I could think of doing was to shrug. One of the other soldiers made him stand down.

The second incident came when I was a police officer. To make a long story short, we were worried about whether a resident in a house that had been shot up by his estranged wife was still alive. It fell on me to crawl through a kitchen window. Halfway in, he aimed a shot gun at me then backed away when I identified myself.

My friends told me that I should write a story about all that so, following retirement, I began writing crime fictions stories, using some of the events I had witnessed.

Do you have a favorite movie?

My favorite movie, if it can be called such, is a TV series titled Lost. Of all the movies and TV series I have ever watched, this was unquestionably the best. The actors fit their roles perfectly and the story flowed from episode to episode without having to wonder what happened in the previous episode. If you haven’t seen Lost, you’re really missing out.

What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?

My writing process begins with the selection of a setting for the story. I love Europe, having lived there for a few years. So, do I want it to take place in Paris or some other city which I’ve visited? For Every Silent Thing, I chose Paris, having been there when I was on a protection detail as a deputy US Marshal.

With a setting in mind, I create a main character then decide on a main deficiency for her. In the Claire Deveraux series, I chose deafness which was tied to my right-side loss of hearing. Next is her character attributes. For Claire, she became a never-give-up young woman no matter what she was faced with. To make her life situation a bit on the unique side, I paired her with an identical twin sister and a fraternal twin brother. I modeled both of them after my identical twin nieces. With the protagonists in place, I developed my antagonist and fitted him/her with suitable positive and negative attributes.

With the characters set, being what they call a pantsy (one who writes by the seat of his pants), I began drafting the chapters. Despite what the writing experts say, I don’t do an outline. I tried

that once and it turned out to be useless. Once I have finished the first draft, I go back through and revise. There may be as many as four revisions before I submit it to my editor for her verdict and suggestions

Amazon * B&N * Kobo * Audible* Bookbub * Goodreads

Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D8G3T6YD

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breaking-silence-alan-brenham/1146347115?ean=9798330450350

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/breaking-silence-15

Audible: https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Silence-Claire-Deveraux-Book/dp/B0DFDTT2J6

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/breaking-silence-the-claire-deveraux-series-book-3-by-alan-brenham

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215615447-breaking-silence

About the Author

Alan Brenham is the pen name of Alan Behr. He worked as a Texas law enforcement officer for over twenty years and as a criminal prosecutor and later criminal defense attorney for over twenty-five years. Today he lives in Texas with his wife, Lillian, where he's working on his eleventh novel.

His first crime novel, Price of Justice, won several awards including best in police/crime fiction. It also became a top 100 international bestseller. A second novel, Cornered, was released on July 13, 2014. Rampage, a sequel to Price of Justice, was released on July 4, 2015. His fourth book, Game Piece, was released in October 2018. A fifth novel, Hidden Intentions, was released on December 3, 2020. His sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth novels have now been published.

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