Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

But his enemies don’t believe him dead. They think he escaped the plunge into the icy river that killed Nicola and has now decided to come back for the money. If he’s alive, they believe he’ll contact Billie. It doesn’t take long for the bad guys to arrive at her remote farmhouse. Soon she and Hunter are fugitives. Dead or alive, Richard’s fate means nothing to Hunter, but he promises to do everything in his power to protect the grieving mother. Even if it means taking a bullet for her, it’s a price he’ll pay. It’s a price he will come to regret.

Publication of the Hunter series in the USA is a little behind the UK, and to date six novels have been published by William Morrow and Company (Harper Collins), with book 7 recently published by Down and Out Books. This June also sees the publication by Down and Out Books of book 8 called Rules of Honor.

When Rink’s father is murdered, Joe Hunter vows to help his friend avenge his brutal death. Rink’s mother Yukiko isn’t talking, her silence governed by the Bushido tradition of giri, or moral obligation. But other people known to Yukiko are also dying, all due to a shameful secret from their past that Hunter must uncover if he hopes to end the murders. To do that rules must be broken, and Hunter doesn’t care what he must break to stop the killer.

Here’s a brief excerpt from Rules of Honor:

My friend Jared Rington moved along the carriage with an easy pace, but even from this end I could see the muscles working in his jaw, an old knife scar standing out as a white slash against his tawny skin. Rink hadn’t gone to the trouble I had. He wasn’t disguised, and didn’t see the need. He wanted Chaney to know who was coming for him, and who his executioner was going to be. The only compromise to his usual colourful attire was a pair of black leather gloves. Chaney had his back to Rink, but my friend isn’t the type to do a hit from behind. Rink’s voice was muffled, but I still heard his sharp command: ‘Stand up you piece of shit.’
Chaney dropped his phone and went for his gun, already turning as he rose.
Rink struck him with the edge of his hand, a chop to the side of the big man’s neck. Uncontrolled the blow could kill, but Rink had tempered the force. It was still enough to stagger Chaney and while he was weakened, Rink took the gun from him with a practiced twist of the wrist. Chaney grunted something, continued his turn and tried to grapple for the gun. Rink hit him again, a sweeping elbow strike that contacted with Chaney’s face and knocked him back a few steps. Rink followed him, bringing up the Glock he’d liberated to point it directly at Chaney’s forehead.
Time I did something.
I hit the button and the door swept open.
As I entered the carriage my view of Rink was slightly obscured by Chaney’s thick body. I had a horrible feeling that Rink would shoot, and the bullet would go directly through Chaney’s skull and hit me. I sidestepped, placing myself in the open next to the exit doors. Rink was taller than Chaney, and I knew he’d seen me from the slight narrowing of his eyes. That was all the notice he gave me, though, because his attention was on the man he was about to kill.
I brought up my SIG Sauer P226 and pointed it at Chaney’s back. My other hand I held open to Rink. ‘Don’t do this, brother,’ I said to him. ‘Chaney’s a piece of shit, but he doesn’t deserve this.’
Rink didn’t even look at me. Nausea squirmed a passage through my gut.
‘Don’t,’ I said again.
‘What’re you going to do, Hunter?’ Rink’s eyes never left Chaney. ‘Shoot me?’
‘I don’t want to,’ I said.
‘That’s something, at least.’ Rink ignored me then and took a step nearer Chaney.
The enforcer reared back on his heels, bringing up his hands in a placating motion. ‘Whoa! What’s this all about?’
‘I’m about to kill you,’ my friend snarled.
‘Rink. Don’t do it.’ I hurried towards him. ‘Don’t cross the line, brother.’
‘It’s too late for that, Joe.’
I knew then that there was less than a heartbeat to spare.
I fired.

The short story I have upcoming is called After the Red Rain Fell and is a complete left-turn from my Joe Hunter output. I was chuffed to bits when Geoff Brown, editor in chief at Cohesion Press asked me to contribute to their SNAFU anthology series, and I jumped at the chance to exercise my horror-writing muscles again. Anyone who has been following me will probably know that I also write horror and supernatural tales and have published various novels in these genres as well. I was also the creator of the webzine Thrillers, Killers ‘n’ Chillers and you can probably tell from the name that I’m comfortable writing in the various genres it encompasses, and love nothing more than mixing the genres up when I’m allowed. After the Red Rain Fell is probably best described as a military-horror with a Spec-Ops team coming up against a nightmarish extraterrestrial terror loosely inspired by ‘The Blob’, ‘The Thing’ and ‘Aliens’. It is also firmly based on a true event from a few years ago where Indian scientists discovered bacterial life forms living in our outer atmosphere where I’ve pondered the age old question: What if? My tale will feature in SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest.