Welcome to the first Sample Saturday of 2012! (No Mayan jokes, please).

This week we have a sample from the talented  writer, Rachel Howzell. She is featuring the first chapter from her mystery, No One Knows You’re Here.

Rachel Howzell was born and raised in South Los Angeles. An avid reader and lover of books, she received her B.A. in English and American Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 2002, Rachel’s first novel, A Quiet Storm, was published by Scriber to great notice, including reviews from O Magazine and Publishers Weekly, with a starred review from Library Journal. A Quiet Storm was also a featured selection for Borders’ Original Voices program, as well as an alternate selection for Black Expressions book club. She published her second novel, The View from Here, in November 2010.

No One Knows You’re Here -Rachel Howzell

“Three weeks out of cancer surgery, crime reporter Syeeda McKay is in the pursuit of Los Angeles’s most active serial killer. Over the last twenty years, the Phantom Slayer has hunted African-American prostitutes working in one of the worst parts of South Los Angeles, killing eight victims in the alleys off Western Avenue, and then disappearing into the shadows. But Syeeda doesn’t know that the killer has turned his sights on her.
Detective Adam Sherwood, a hotshot investigator with the Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD, has been handed the Phantom Slayer cases, and together, he and Syeeda must figure out who is doing the killing . . . before Syeeda becomes his next victim.”

And don’t forget that if you are a writer and want to get involved with Sample Saturday just check out the original post HERE.