Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction | Non-fiction: Adventure with a Purpose

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    • Held Hostage: Search for the Juncal
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    • Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage
    • Heart of the Maya: Murder for the Gods
    • Wreck of the Huron: Cuban Secrets
    • Guardians’ Keep: Mystery below the Adriatic
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    • For Cheap Lobster
    • Heart Survivor: Recovery After Heart Surgery
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      • Batter Up!
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      • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
      • Capturing Memories: How to Record Oral Histories
    • Dive-abled: The Leo Morales Story
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You are here: Home / Archives for New Releases

Cayman Cowboys is now an Audiobook!

November 24, 2020 By Eric Douglas

The audiobook version of Cayman Cowboys is now available on Amazon and Audible.

Listen to the story that started it all.

Description:

Diving in Grand Cayman, magazine photographer Mike Scott notices a series of unusual occurrences including the death of a girl, a protest of new development and the systematic destruction of coral reefs. It all comes together when armed men warn him away from a dive site. Investigating, he witnesses a specially-equipped submarine destroying the reef. Before he is able to report the destruction to the authorities, he and his dive buddy, Kelly, are kidnapped – along with Kelly’s girlfriend Tanya. Friends rescue Mike and Tanya, but the assassin gets away with Kelly, taking him to die. They must race against time to save Kelly and bring down the greedy developer putting his own wealth before the beauty of the island and the welfare of the people.

Action, adventure, intrigue and the environment all come into play in this thriller by author Eric Douglas. Set at the beautiful dive resort Sunset House on Grand Cayman, a must-visit, this book highlights the beautiful locations and touches on the potential for abuse as the environment and development fall into conflict.

Hear narrator CJ Goodearl in the studio.

Get your copy today!

Listen to an audio sample. 

https://www.booksbyeric.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/CC-RETAIL-SAMPLE.mp3

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Filed Under: Adventure, Books, Diving, New Releases

Halloween 2020 – as if reality wasn’t scary enough

October 30, 2020 By Eric Douglas

Horror is not really my genre, but it’s good to step outside your comfort zone from time to time and see what you can come up with. For several years now, I’ve asked writer friends to join me in writing Halloween short stories. These range from 100-word flash fiction to longer stories.

Each writer posts their stories to their individual websites and then I link from one location. So, be prepared to visit a number of places. Do yourself a favor and look around and see what else they have to offer while you are there.

Exclusive Interview by Patrick Newman

Shift Change by Jon Byrne

Selachimorpha by Loren Eaton

Julie by Connie Kinsey  

A Real Trick and What Noise? By Eric Douglas

 

Check back later as there are a couple more stories on the way!

You can read previous collections of Halloween short stories here.

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Filed Under: Free Fiction, New Releases

Online Serial Story About Sea Turtles – For Free!

May 22, 2020 By Eric Douglas

I’ve joined forces with Scuba Diving Magazine to present a free online short story told as a serial. One chapter a week for four weeks.

This is a Mike Scott thriller short story.

Read the complete story now!

Poached: Fighting For Sea Turtles!

Story Description: When international photojournalist Mike Scott stumbles across a man stealing sea turtle eggs for the illegal wildlife trade, he jumps into action to protect the endangered animals, unraveling a network of smugglers.

The story includes tips to help you protect sea turtles, too.

Get started with Chapter 1 now!

Listen to Eric discuss the story on ScubaRadio with Greg Holt and the ScubaCrew.

The turtle drawing is by Ashlin Douglas

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Filed Under: Adventure, Books, Diving, New Releases

Author Eric Douglas Releases New FBI Thriller Novel

November 5, 2019 By Eric Douglas

The latest novel from author Eric Douglas involves a mysterious murder cult brought to the United States to sow discord and terror.

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against time to make sure no one else goes missing and stop the killer, or killers, before there is a nationwide panic.

Douglas explained that he became interested in this story while reading an out-of-print book by Mark Twain. Twain took an around-the-world speaking tour and told the story of the Thuggee, a group of thieves who traveled India killing and stealing. The group was wiped out by the British during the period of colonial rule.

“They killed their victims by strangulation using scarves they tied around their waists,” Douglas said.

From there, Douglas read “Confessions of a Thug” by Captain Philip Meadows Taylor. That book purports to be an interview with a Thuggee leader in prison. The book was written in the mid-1800s.

At that point, Douglas knew he wanted to use the Thuggee in a new book. He just needed a protagonist. Enter FBI Special Agent AJ West.

“I created AJ for my novel Water Crisis: Day Zero last year. That was the most recent of the Mike Scott thriller series. I enjoyed her character so much, I decided to spin her off into her own book,” Douglas said.

Douglas has been writing fiction since his first novel, Cayman Cowboys, was published in 2004. This is his 19th book, including a combination of fiction and nonfiction.

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder is available on Amazon Kindle and in softcover wherever books are sold. For more information on Real Thugs, or any of Douglas’ other books, visit his website at BooksByEric.com.

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Filed Under: Adventure, Books, New Releases

Real Thugs — Chapter Seven

September 25, 2019 By Eric Douglas

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder is coming soon. Visit the book page for more information.

AJ donned her FBI windbreaker and hung her ID from a lanyard around her neck before approaching the scene. Dwayne knew the drill and followed right behind her. While he knew she could take out anyone there, his jaw was still sore from their morning workout, he also realized sometimes having a male presence as backup helped with the locals. They had discussed it many times. Not that he would supersede her authority but having him standing there ready to follow her orders smoothed the way for the others.

As soon as the local officers saw AJ and Dwayne approach, they turned to look at the chief of police who stood facing the scene with his back to them. When he realized that his men were looking at him, he turned to see what had their attention.

“Boy, am I glad to see you two,” the man said without any preamble.

AJ smiled. That was the other option for this discussion. Sometimes, the locals wanted nothing to do with a scene like this and were only too happy to turn it over to someone else.

“We got here as quickly as we could, sir. I’m Special Agent AJ West and this Special Agent Dwayne Charles.”

“I’m Phil Newsome, the sheriff in Prince William County. The park police and rangers called me in. We work with them closely when there is an accident in the park. They don’t have the resources to deal with this sort of thing. But I took one look at this mess and knew it was over my head, too.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you’ve found. Since this is on national park land and considering how close we are to the Marine base at Quantico, this is definitely federal jurisdiction.”

“I didn’t know if I should call NCIS or you guys,” Newsome said.

“I’ll alert NCIS if the situation warrants.” AJ preferred to keep her comments in situations like this to the basics. It was her basic interrogation technique, not giving away too much information and letting others fill in the gaps.

“That sounds good. So, here’s what we’re looking at.”

Newsome turned and faced the crime scene. Two men in Tyvek suits were uncovering a hole in the ground and AJ could see at least three bodies.

“A hiker found this. At least part of it. An arm was sticking out of the ground where an animal had gotten to it.”

Eight officers stood around the scene. They were 50 yards away from the road, down an embankment. AJ noted the soil seemed soft where runoff had collected the leaves and sediment from the hills. She could just hear a small stream behind some tall shrubs.

The local police had strung police tape around a 30-foot square covering the shallow graves.

“Our report said there were two bodies here. But that looks like three to me.”

“We just uncovered the third one. When I called FBI headquarters, we only saw two. The third body was buried below the second one.

“All right. We’ll arrange to have all three bodies sent to our lab for autopsy and further identification. Can I rely on your people to continue what you’re doing until our crime scene people get here? Don’t move the bodies, but keep this area secure?”

“Sure, that’s no problem. I’ll have my people clear the area. We’ve set up a perimeter.”

“Have you found any evidence in the area?”

“No, nothing that jumps out at us. We’ve canvassed the area, but other than some trash left behind it looks like the area has been undisturbed for a while.”

“Were all three bodies discovered together?” AJ asked.

“No, the first body was a few feet away – over there.” He pointed at one open pit where the police had dug the body out of the ground. “That’s the one the animal dug up. When we got out here to examine it, we discovered the other grave. That’s when we identified the clothes as being from the missing couple in the missing persons report. We keep a close eye on those. But then found the third body underneath him. Those two bodies were wrapped in sheets, too. The first body, the one by itself, wasn’t cut or wrapped.”

“Anything else?” Dwayne asked. “Anything unusual?”

“You now, I’ve seen my fair share of bodies. Two of them, the pair in the same grave, look like they were cut up, but I’m guessing it was post-mortem.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s just a guess, but the stomachs were sliced into and there are punctures in the rib cage. That isn’t how you would kill someone unless you were torturing them or some sort of ritualistic killing. Like I said, though, the other body we found separately was completely different.”

“All right, sir. Thank you. It sounds like you have done a thorough job. I appreciate your hard work, but our people will take over now,” AJ said.

An FBI crime scene van had just arrived, and two technicians were approaching the scene. Dwayne went over to brief the newcomers and AJ moved closer to the scene to look at the three bodies. Something just didn’t make sense.

Would the killer change their MO completely like that? Anything was possible. Maybe the killer did some research and decided to up his game? But he didn’t get any more creative than dumping the bodies that close together?

There wasn’t any point in speculating about this right now. She wanted IDs on the three bodies and then they would begin the investigation. Run down the usual leads, check to see what the people might have had in common. Determine where they might have crossed each other, or some other intersection that lead them to the killer.

AJ was a thorough investigator and she wouldn’t color her own findings by trying to create a narrative before she had more information. This scene just made her itch.

Dwayne approached with the crime scene technicians. “Any instructions?”

“No, just do it by the book. Ask the sheriff to have his people hang close. Let’s do a quick interview with them to see if they noticed anything. They’ll send us all of their initial notes, but you know everything doesn’t make it into the written reports.”

Dwayne started to walk away, but AJ had another thought.

“Hold on a second. I want to check this whole area out. I’ll make the call, but I want to get some more help on this one. It sure feels like we have two different crime scenes. There might be more right under our feet. We’ll get some more technicians to bring in ground penetrating radar to search the area and see if there are more bodies than just these.”

Searching the area took the rest of the afternoon and late into the evening. They brought in lights to allow them to continue working, but finally called off the search around midnight. They had to be thorough and explore every possibility but didn’t find anything else suspicious outside of the two graves.

The medical technicians removed the three bodies from the scene quickly, but AJ noted just how differently they had been treated prior to burial. Other than the cuts to the abdomen and chest wall, the bodies of the couple were surprisingly intact and undamaged.

The body of the lone victim showed signs of being beaten with severe trauma to his head. His clothes were crusted with what was likely dried blood. There was no wrapping of cutting or the body, either.

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Filed Under: Books, Free Fiction, New Releases

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https://youtu.be/gKhw-4tORAM

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against […]

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  • Going to the circus! February 20, 2023
  • Cayman Cowboys is now an Audiobook! November 24, 2020
  • Halloween 2020 – as if reality wasn’t scary enough October 30, 2020
  • Real Trick and What Noise? October 30, 2020
  • Local Diving — Summersville Lake September 21, 2020

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