Shooters!: The Natalie McMasters Mysteries Book 8
Award-winning author Thomas A. Burns Jr. spins another mind-blowing tale about twentysomething detective Natalie McMasters and her unlikely family that’s torn from today’s headlines This time Nattie 
is preggers (?!) and unsure of the father. The candidates? Her husband Danny, the love of her life, or her biological father, who cruelly had his way with her. Complicating the situation, her Uncle Amos’s 3M Detective Agency is hemorrhaging money, and even the estate that houses Nattie, the agency and the fam is at risk.
Her quakeworthy solution? An infamous social media influencer and unapologetic misogynist is bringing his totally unwoke nude beauty pageant to Capital City and wants to hire 3M to provide security for its million-dollar prize. Her hormones raging, Nattie gets it that a cool mil would make all her money troubles vanish. But she doesn’t know that a malevolent enemy from her past is back and gunning for her…
Meanwhile, her foster son Eduardo has his own problems. Humiliated at school, he falls under a deadly influence that sends him racing toward an unimaginable act of violence that will change his young life forever. The astonishing ending is like nothing you’ve ever seen in contemporary crime fiction and will totally leave you reeling.
You’ll truly get why Natalie McMasters is “a detective for the new millennium”.
Purchase Shooters!
Book Excerpt
The vibe in the house is trés cringy Wednesday morning. Lupe, Danny and M.B. are in the kitch when I come down to breakfast. As usual, the morning news is on the TV in the cabinet above the microwave. Lupe bolts before I can even get out a “Good morning.” I’m totally tempted to chase her down and try to patch things up, but M.B. shoots me a shady glare, stopping me cold. She’s right. It’s totally too soon.
Maybe I can talk to Lupe when she gets home from school this afternoon. Lupe was the primary cook in the house before M.B. moved in, but the older lady has taken over most of that now that Lupe’s got a real job. “You want eggs?” she asks me as I reach for the coffee pot, and I shake my head. “You sure? You’re eating for two now, you know?”
Christ! I don’t know how much of this I can take… “I’m sorry. My stomach is kinda flippy this morning.”
“That happens,” M.B. says. “You might notice more gas and cramps, too. The secret is to eat less, more often. Let me get you an egg and an English muffin.”
WTF ya gonna do? “I’ll take an egg McMuffin like Danny’s got.”
As she gets up to fix it for me, I turn my attention to the TV.
“…Capital City has had a hard time of it since the sexual assault and police corruption scandal revolving around the rogue billionaire Jerome Ellis a few months ago,” a male anchor’s voice intones. “Many events have been cancelled because the parties involved are fearful of guilt by association with the heinous activities that occurred on the Ellis Estate. But now, things may have changed. YouTube influencer Adam Tymko, aka A.T., is bringing his beauty pageant, America’s First Sexy Lady, to Capital City’s Rutledge Convention Center, starting on September 19. As of right now, thirty-five women from all over the U.S.A. will be competing.” A helicopter shot of the downtown convention center serves to illustrate the commentary.
A female anchor’s voice breaks in. “Tim, some folks are saying that this pageant may be a curse rather than a blessing for the city’s status. Mr. Tymko has a less-than stellar reputation—some people call him a misogynist and he’s had multiple sexual harassment allegations lodged against him. Furthermore, there are rumors that the contestants in this pageant are expected to compete in the nude in lieu of swimsuits.”
“I’ve heard those rumors as well, Jill. Mr. Tymko has promised a major announcement about the pageant that might well address that
“I’ve listened to A.T.’s podcast a time or two,” says Danny. “He’s an interesting guy. He’s got traditional ideas about men’s and women’s roles, not too different than what it was like in the Corps.” He picks up a shooter of OJ and chugs it.
“He’s a total MCP,” I say. “He thinks women are good for nothing but keeping house and fucking.” M.B. tosses me a shady glare at that last—she’s trying to get me to clean up my language, but there’s totally no other way to talk about A.T.
“It’s no wonder a bunch of social media sites are banning him,” I go on.
“I didn’t think you were woke,” says Danny.
“I ain’t. But A.T. is totally the CEO of misogyny and homophobia.”
Danny’s face is like he’s modeling for a Marine Corps poster. Don’t tell me he’s getting salty over this shit!
He replies, “While he might be a little off-base on some things, he just thinks that some of the old ideas about relationships aren’t wrong. So do I.” He raises his McMuffin to take a bite.
“Funny that, coming from one-third of a throuple,” I counter. “Of course, you are the only guy. Maybe you think of me and Lupe as your harem.”
The McMuffin stops in mid-air, then Danny puts it back on his plate. Without another word, he gets up and stalks out of the kitchen.
“You are just batting a thousand these days, aren’t you, Nattie. First you alienate Lupe and now Danny,” M.B. says from the stove.
I turn to look at her—she’s wearing a smug look. “What? I’m right about A.T. and you know it,” I tell her.
“And you can keep right on being right and push away your whole family.” A pause. “I was going to tell you to apologize to Lupe for last night after she gets home from school today. Now you can add Danny to the list.”
I can feel the redness blooming on my face. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Somebody sure needs to.” The toaster pops, and she plucks two halves of an English muffin on to a plate, then steps to the stove to add Canadian bacon, egg and cheese. She brings it over and sets it in front of me with an expectant look.
“Thanks,” I say grudgingly.
“You’re welcome.” She goes to the coffee maker, pours a cup and brings it to me, then replenishes her own. “Look. I know the pregnancy has got you stressed out. Raging hormones are a real thing. And I also have a feeling that a lot of this has to do with something that happened when you were held by Jerome Ellis. Am I right?”
Now I know my face is like a stoplight. You can’t keep much from someone that’s spent nearly forty years in the FBI. I look at my plate and nod.
“You need to come clean with your spouses,” she says. “They love you and will honor your decisions. Don’t drive everyone away because you’re ashamed of yourself. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”
Tears are welling in my eyes, but I resolutely shut them down. I will not cry in front of her!
About the Author, Thomas A. Burns Jr.
Thomas A. Burns Jr. writes the Natalie McMasters Mysteries from the small town of Wendell, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and son, four cats and a Cardigan Welsh Corgi. He was born and grew up in New Jersey, attended Xavier High School in Manhattan, earned B.S degrees in Zoology and Microbiology at Michigan State University and a M.S. in Microbiology at North Carolina State 
University. As a kid, Tom started reading boys’ mystery series such as the Hardy Boys, Ken Holt and Rick Brant, then graduated to the classics by authors such as A. Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Erle Stanley Gardner and Rex Stout, to name a few. Tom has written fiction as a hobby all of his life, beginning with Man from U.N.C.L.E. stories in marble-backed copybooks in grade school. He built a career as technical, science and medical writer and editor for nearly thirty years in industry and government. Currently a full-time novelist, he’s excited to publish his own mystery series, as well as writing stories about his second most favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes. Tom’s Holmes story, The Camberwell Poisoner, appeared in the March–June issue of The Strand Magazine in 2021, and many of his other Holmes stories have been published by MX Books and Belanger Books. The sixth book in the Natalie McMasters Mysteries, Killers!, was released in September, 2021, and won the Silver Falchion award for best action/adventure book of 2021 at the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference. His latest Natalie McMasters Mystery, Sister!, was published on December 5, 2022, and was chosen as a finalist for the Silver Falchion award in 2023. Tom has also written a Lovecraftian horror novel, The Legacy of the Unborn, under the pen name of Silas K. Henderson‒a sequel to H.P. Lovecraft’s masterpiece At the Mountains of Madness. Tom also published his first volume of Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: Ten Steps from Baker Street, on March 1, 2023.
