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Women In Law Enforcement

Early Fall Book Tour Dates and RAVE Reviews!!

August 22, 2018 by Faith Phillips

Now I Lay Me Down

We are pleased to announce the first dates of the Autumn Book Tour to kick off the release of Oklahoma true crime novel Now I Lay Me Down. Also, please enjoy an article from the Cherokee Phoenix by Will Chavez and the first few RAVE reviews rolling in from readers all over the country! Want your own signed copy now? Order at http://ReadBooksBy.Faith and the book will ship direct to you within 24 hours.

BOOK TOUR DATES

  • AUGUST 23 – The book tour kicks off in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on Thursday, August 23rd with a book signing at Jacob Studios from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  • AUGUST 31 thru SEPTEMBER 2nd – The author will be signing books in a booth at the Cherokee National Holiday at the Cherokee Heritage Center, August 31st – Sep 2nd, with a special Cherokee authors book signing event, including Brad Wagnon, in the CHC atrium on Saturday, September 1 from 10a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • SEPTEMBER 7 – Interview on KUSH radio, alongside Judge Maxey Parker Reilly, 9 a.m. www.1600kush.com/
  • SEPTEMBER 7 – THE OFFICIAL BOOK RELEASE EVENT in Okemah, Oklahoma, featuring a discussion with author Faith Phillips, former Assistant District Attorney Maxey Parker Reilly and a special musical performance by Wink Burcham. The Hen House, Okemah, OK from 6 to 8 p.m.
  • SEPTEMBER 27 – Stilwell Book Club meeting, open to the public, Stilwell Public Library at 2 p.m.
  • Stay tuned for many more dates in the coming months, including Tulsa, OKC, Dallas and Fayetteville!
  • Want to schedule a book tour stop in your town or at your own book club? The author will come to you with books! Contact fthphillips@gmail.com for more information. Dates are filling up now!

 

PRESS RELEASE

A behind the scenes look at how the riveting story came about, check out this story by reporter Will Chavez in the Cherokee Phoenix:

https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/index/62472

RAVE REVIEWS

Here are a few of the earliest reviews coming in from generous readers like you. Don’t take my word for it!

“I could not put this book down…the best read of something you should never have to read but makes you feel glad you did.” BJ L.

“I got my copy yesterday and finished it last night! It was such a page turner. Faith is such an excellent writer. I smiled, I gasped, I was so wrapped up in it! I highly recommend it!!” ~Morgan H.

“Read Now I Lay Me Down in one day. Couldn’t put it down. I don’t read much because we stay so busy, but I think you got me started again.” ~Molly A.

“It’s hard to be so excited about such a truly terrible story, but Faith has used her words in the most respectful and informative manner, with descriptions that are as chilling as the crime itself. It’s a page turner of the most tragic topic.” ~Lara B.

“I ripped into the envelope, and behold! There was a magnificent block of carefully designed and cut paper with fabulous words all over the paper. On the inside was writing of the most transformational kind, written in the hand of a goddess.” ~Linda P.

“I just finished this book and I just got it yesterday…you don’t know me from Adam but I thought you did an amazing job.” ~ Dana B.

“Duvall is reading the new Phillips crime expose’ as I paint lazy circles in the sky at the little art gallery that could. We read the first 40 pages and were just slayed.” ~Murv J.

“So far I’ve said Awe, I’ve had chills, and shed a few tears. Wow!” ~Julie S.

“Got mine today. Read to page 50 and forced myself to stop … if not I will be up all night finishing it!” ~Cherri B.

“I loved it. Excellent work and a story that can ONLY be about Central Oklahoma, only as told by an Okie…” ~Joe B.

“Order your copy today! I read it cover to cover in one sitting … I couldn’t put it down! Now I Lay Me Down is a true crime novel about the tragic murders of three young girls from my rural community in Oklahoma. The book chronicles the girls’ deaths, the intense investigation that ensued and which spanned a period of almost six years and the eventual prosecution…” ~Marlene L.

Many thanks for the good words and generous support from so many readers. The response is overwhelming. I am most grateful for your generosity. For those of you who haven’t read the book yet, I invite you to find out what all the fuss is about. I hope the next review comes from you.

Shine on,

Faith Phillips

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Murder Cases, Murder Mystery, Oklahoma History, True Crime, Women In Law Enforcement

Your Exclusive First Look At the True Crime Novel ‘Now I Lay Me Down’

June 30, 2018 by Faith Phillips

Original book cover design by Oklahoma artist Kalyn Fay Barnoski.

This is your exclusive first look at the true crime novel Now I Lay Me Down, the third book from author Faith Phillips. Sign up with your email at http://readbooksby.faith/ to be notified when the book becomes available for purchase. You can be the first to order your copy of this riveting summertime page turner!

 

 

Chapter 1

The Prosecutor

 

The prosecutor stood in the road. She surveyed the scene and said not a word. A denim blouse hung loose on her slender frame. She stared at the ditch, one hand shoved deep in her back pocket. She remembered.

This particular stretch of County Line Road had once been an obscure place in an obscure county, familiar only to the few locals who made their homes on the back road. Obscurity is just another way of saying concealed, and the town of Weleetka meets that definition. Interstate 40 runs just a few miles north as the crow flies, ferrying interlopers past long-forgotten Oklahoma towns. It is very much concealed and out of view, hidden by stands of trees in rural Okfuskee County. An outsider would never expect to come across a town in this pastoral location. Out of sight, out of mind.

The quiet lane that runs through Okfuskee County’s back country is populated by trees, underbrush and an occasional family home. The lawns often hold collections of defunct automobiles and plastic toys left out to fade in the weather. Maxey Parker Reilly hadn’t been sure she could find her way back again without some sort of navigation. It had been such a long time since she last visited. She careened her S.U.V. along the blacktop and slowed at each turnoff, eyeing the road signs. But when she came to County Line Road the physical reaction was instant. Total recall took hold and she cut a sharp right. She didn’t need to look for signs now. She remembered.

The topography along the road was flat and tree-lined, strewn with thick underbrush. Stationary oil wells provided a gaudy juxtaposition to the otherwise quiet countryside. After a couple of miles hints of color appeared in the ditch like a mirage. Glints of sunlight reflected from multiple points of glass and metal. At first glance it appeared as though flowers had managed to spring up and out of the drab undergrowth. But then a fraction of light angled down from a tree limb, and a plastic whirligig spun in the wind. Then came the teddy bears at the heart of the place, long worn by exposure. Wind chimes played a hollow tune and a light bulb hung from a tree.

The dusty white crosses finally identified the place as a roadside memorial. They are a familiar sight along Oklahoma’s highways; a family’s way of marking the mournful spot where a loved one drew their final breath in a violent clash of glass and steel. But this roadside memorial was atypical. Small details indicated something very different from a car crash. An American Girl doll with long dark hair and platform heels lay smiling in the dirt. It was the first hint that something might have happened to a little girl here. In the midst of all the odd memorial objects an angel arose. She stood, once gleaming white, now covered in layers of dust thrown up by passing vehicles.

The statue as it stood that day was four feet in height; an elegant effigy with shoulders proud and tall; folds in the long ceramic robe revealed a bent knee. The delicate wingtips of the angel nearly touched the ground. At her bare feet a ceramic puppy and a smiling bear sat on guard next to a basketful of plastic lilies and sparkling beads. The angel cradled a great bouquet of field daisies across her chest. The statue’s presence represented a statement to onlookers. Someone had cherished the person who was lost in this place. The angel was carefully chosen to memorialize a child. It was meant to solemnize and express community grief. They placed her at the center of all the other tokens of loss left behind.

But then someone came along, pointed a shotgun at the angel’s head and blasted it clean away. It was not the first time the memorial had been violated. Maxey was filled with emotion and anger at the sight of it.  Snapshots flashed in her mind from a hot summer evening ten years previous. That night she had been called away from her newborn child to this place on County Line Road.  It was one of her very first jobs as the new Okfuskee County Assistant District Attorney. Fresh out of law school, she had imagined that her first case might be a drug prosecution or perhaps domestic violence. But the pretty young woman was afforded no chance to ease herself into the prosecutor’s role. She had been thrown in the deep end by the brutal execution of two little girls on County Line Road, just a few miles outside of Weleetka, and she had no other choice but to swim.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Murder Cases, Murder Mystery, Oklahoma, Oklahoma History, True Crime, Women In Law Enforcement

Copyright © 2021 — Faith Phillips • All rights reserved.