AN AMAZING AND TOUCHING BOOK!!!

Amazon Editorial Reviews of: "DEFYING DEATH IN HAGERSTOWN" *Review: "John Paul Carinci delivers yet another top-notch thriller! Defying Death in Hagerstown is a compelling and authentic exposition of the classic murder mystery. It has everything--shocking crime, compelling characters and a clever, clever plot. Get ready to stay up all night!" ~Brien Jones, author of The New Manuscript and Mammoth Hunt. "A Masterful Book. John Paul Carinci writes with beauty and elegance of one man's journey from hopelessness to the miracle of life. An amazing read you'll remember for its mystery and wonder long after its ending!" Ellen Marie George, author of Flutterby, and the upcoming book, THIRST “I am blown away! This was a great read. You have a special gift with creating characters that live and breathe.” Carol Rehman author, entrepreneur *Book Description: Louis Gerhani is a hard drinking, heartbroken, newspaper reporter for the Washington Gazette. He is disinterested in life after his fiancé left him for a doctor, and his final assignment in order to retain his job is to write a full story on Lolita Croome, an 110 year old, philosophical woman, and the oldest living person in the country, who resides in a nursing home in Hagerstown Maryland. As he reluctantly begins the assignment, he uncovers a 90 year old unsolved triple murder of three young women, that Lolita lived through, and a full diary from Lolita from 1923, the year of the murders. Consumed with solving the murders, turning out the story of a lifetime, and using the diary, Lou begins to wake a sleeping giant that someone is clearly trying to keep unsolved at all costs. Major violence erupts in this quiet town as Lou tries desperately to stay alive, finish the story, solve the murders, fall in love, and learn from a very wise, old woman. Defying Death In Hagerstown is the page turner on the century. *About the Author: John Paul Carinci has been a successful insurance executive and president of Carinci Insurance Agency, Inc., for over 35 years. John is also an author, songwriter, poet, and CEO of Better Off Dead Productions. Some of John’s books include: "An All-Consuming Desire To Succeed," "The Power of Being Different," "In Exchange of Life," "Share Your Mission #5," "A Second Chance," "The Psychic Boy Detective," "Better Off Dead," "Better Off Dead In Paradise," "Defying Death In Hagerstown," and "A Gift from Above." John has given over 100 radio and television interviews over the past 15 years. *Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. “Sergeant, who is this Billy Blaine character?” I asked. “Blaine is a young career criminal. All small stuff—assault and battery, larceny, harassment, and stalking. But never any killing. There are no ties between him and Hagerstown at all. He’s been in and out of prison since age seventeen, never holds down a job, but never shot up a gas station and police officer before. So, he’s now graduated to a new level of threat and is armed and now extremely dangerous. “Why me?” “Well, he clearly thinks you have leads on the murders of 1923, and he is either protecting someone connected somehow to the murders, or someone hired him to take you out. Keep in mind that he isn’t trying to spook you; rather, he wants you six feet under. And remember, Felicia may also be a target, and anyone else you chum up with until you come to your senses and leave us all alone in our normally boring little town. Either you are very stupid or you want to be a front-page martyr in your own newspaper. But stop risking other people’s lives in Hagerstown!” “I’ll be gone soon, Sarge.” “Maybe in a body bag,” he laughed coldly. “Well, I want to get on the road to the farm, if it’s all right with you.” “Not so fast, bubba. We have to look that car of yours over real well before you take off in it.” "What?” “You heard me right. To a killer, that car could be an extended weapon. A way for them to murder you without touching you directly.” “I see.” “I don’t think you really do, but I’ll explain on the way.” The sergeant explained that killers can rig a car to blow up when the ignition switch is activated. “Okay, my car is right in back of the hotel, in the parking lot. It’s the red Malibu late model with some damage on the bumper.” “Oh, you’re a drunk driver, too?” “Not exactly, though I do drink a little too much. No, I got rear-ended by a Lincoln Navigator the other day.” “Oh, so you’re one of those heavy-footed brake drivers?” “You think I stopped short and caused my own accident? What, are you crazy?” I yelled, now frustrated. The sergeant made his way over to my car and started to get under it and look around. He walked all around the car, noticing the damage from the accident, then looked me up and down, sizing me up. “Okay, it was my fault, the accident,” I laughed. He squinted at me, then moved on. For a solid five minutes he inspected my car, opening the doors, looking inside and under the seats. He popped the hood and looked at everything inside. “See, I told you everything is fine, Sergeant,” I said. “Who wants to screw around with a Chevy Malibu?” The sergeant promptly radioed in a request for a tow truck to pick up the car. “Oh, hold on there, Sergeant Pawler. You can’t do that!” “Oh, please excuse me, Mr. Gerhani,” he said sarcastically. “Listen here, Gerhani, I am ordered by Captain Krolm to keep your ass safe. It’s not something I want to do, but I must. So, until you take your sorry ass out of my town and go back to the most corrupt city in the world, you’re stuck with me. Get it?” he snarled. “Oh, I got it, all right!” In five minutes the tow truck pulled up. I realized it was Wally from Wally’s, the station he owns, and where Brian was hurt by Billy Blaine. “Are you in trouble again?” Wally joked. “What, are you stuck?” Pawler took control of the conversation, and Wally quickly attached my car to the lift on the tow truck. “Sergeant, I’ll give it a good going-over back at the shop. We’ll see if anything is out of whack,” Wally said. We drove behind Wally back to the station, where he had my car up on the lift within a few minutes. The station was relatively empty except for the occasional gas customer passing through. It was nice to see that Brian Fawlta, the gas station attendant, had returned to work. He told me that he was back to normal except for a large bump on the back of his head that was taking its time to go away. “How’s the story going?” he asked excitedly. I told him very little, mostly just about Lolita and the nursing home. “I never went in that nursing home yet,” he said. All I could do was be happy for Brian because a nursing home can be a very depressing place to visit. The residents are making the best of the hand they have been dealt in life, but being exposed to all that sickness, I feel, can be deflating to young people who are always so gung-ho about life. On the other hand, some people feel that young people should be exposed to the sick and elderly in order to be awakened to the brevity of life and encouraged to make the most of their time. Isn’t it great that there are always at least two points of view for any scenario? Strong arguments for any side you may be taking. Wally worked at inspecting my car as if the president were going to be riding in it, while Pawler looked on and Brian bent my ear. “So, how long you staying? Oh, and I heard there was a shooting at the police station by that Billy Blaine creep.” “Yeah, Brian, you believe that hard-on, Blaine, shooting an officer in the station house? That’s real big balls!” “It’s all been in the papers, you know. Shame you didn’t write the stories. They even wrote about someone trying to run you down. Think it was Blaine, Lou?” We spoke for a few minutes more. I found out that Brian was going to night school. He wanted to be an architect. I commended him on his choice, telling him to stick it out and that it is far better to choose a career that uses your brain rather than your body, as a body will break down and become less reliable as one ages; eventually it’ll get hard to continue with merely muscle instead of brains. He listened intently, again putting me on a pedestal, as many in his town had done. Except, of course, for Billy Blaine and the town’s law enforcement. Wally had motioned for Pawler and me to come closer, underneath the car raised on the lift. I looked first at the lift, then at my car, and then I slowly made my way under the middle of the raised vehicle. I was always paranoid about extremely heavy objects raised right above my head. I hoped Wally would talk fast. I couldn’t take another hit in the head, I thought. “Lou,” Wally began, “someone clearly wants you dead. I’ve seen many instances of someone putting the fear of God in someone by modifying and rigging something on a person’s vehicle, but here someone wanted to do you in for sure!” “So, Sergeant Pawler was correct,” I said, as I looked apologetically at Pawler, then at Wally, and waited. “Oh, he was right on!” Wally smiled. “Gerhani, I thought back at the hotel parking lot I saw a drop of brake fluid on a rear brake line, so as a precaution I had the vehicle pulled in without anyone starting it up,” Pawler said." ****FREE PAPERBACK TO THE FIRST FIVE PEOPLE THAT EMAIL JOHN CARINCI****