Two Truths And A Lie by Mark Stevens (EXCERPT)

Hello, dear readers! Today I have an intriguing excerpt from the second book in the Flynn Martin series, Two Truths And A Lie.

After being instrumental in helping to catch the notorious PDQ killer who terrorized Denver, investigative reporter Flynn Martin is thrilled that her career is flying high. Juggling her professional responsibilities with motherhood is a continuing challenge, but one she finds worthwhile if it means putting the guilty behind bars.

Serial killer Harry Kugel isn’t ready to let their relationship go, however, even as he’s facing a long prison sentence for the crimes he’s committed. Four months after his sentencing, an upstanding family of four mysteriously disappears. As Flynn investigates, she begins receiving cryptic messages from someone who has no qualms about targeting not only her sources but those nearest and dearest to her as well. Is Harry somehow involved in this case too? Or has yet another copycat killer come out of the woodwork to prey on the innocent of Colorado?

Read on for a scene-setting excerpt, as Harry faces a judge and leaves Flynn with a clear message:

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From Chapter 1

The room, as it was for trial, is elbow to elbow. Court TV waits. The podcast people from Dateline: True Crime Weekly wait. The assistant DA waits. The defense table waits. A cough. Low chatter.

Flynn keeps her eyes on the side door. She might need help with a transition to her Harry-free world. And the best people she can think of to help her process the approaching transition are the two men in her life—her father, Michael, and her son, Wyatt. Between them, they’ll have good suggestions. Ex-husband Max would simply advise that she stop thinking about Harry Kugel. But ex-husband Max is the kind of guy who thinks you tell an overweight person, Start putting less food in your mouth. Simple, case closed, you’ll be skinnier tomorrow and skinnier next week. What’s the issue?

As tender and sympathetic as Max was during the days and weeks after Harry’s arrest, Flynn has realized that she is never going back to his black-and-white view of the world. Max told her once that he saw his role as a cop as no different from that of a garbageman, “Except there’s no set route and some days it’s ordinary trash and other days you’re dealing with toxic waste.”

And here comes Harry in through the side door.

Same clueless bearing.

Black suit, black shirt, red tie.

The first splash of red. Flynn doesn’t need to check back in her notes to know that fact.

Red . . . danger.

Red . . . passion.

Ugh, thinks Flynn, you are seriously paying way too much attention to this evil creep. Stop it.

Harry sits. The judge enters. Everybody rises, everybody sits. It’s kind of like church, but Flynn’s only experience there has been as a reporter covering funerals and memorial services. Raised by two agnostics, who rubbed off beautifully.

The judge gives Harry one last chance to speak. The moment is theater. The judge is obliged to give Harry his time. It’s in the script, even if the whole room knows Harry’s heels remain on the plank and even if he is looking straight past his toes and the water is churning with starving, short-tempered sharks.

“I rehabilitated myself,” says Harry. Voice calm. Clinical. “I was an upstanding, hardworking, tax-paying citizen. I killed my monsters. I left the old me way behind. I’m reborn. There was then and there is now. The state can save itself a lot of money by keeping another cell empty and letting me go. My track record at work is exemplary. I am a good neighbor. I care about fine and refined music. I ask the court to see me as who I am today and let me walk out the front door of this courthouse a free man.”

The judge replies as if Harry Kugel never said a word, emphasizing that Harry Kugel was convicted by a jury of his peers and that he has not once demonstrated an ounce of remorse or once uttered any words to indicate he is willing to take responsibility for his actions.

“And as a result, I sentence you today to three consecutive life terms,” says Judge Washington. “Plus another twenty-four years for the conviction on the charge of attempted murder.”

Harry’s body doesn’t flinch. Soldier erect, statute still. He’s got his back to Flynn.

Two cops move to the defense table, handcuffs ready.

He turns. He leans over the oak rail that separates the well of the courtroom from the pews. Harry Kugel’s lawyer utters something like “Whoa,” and Flynn hears a quick collective gasp flash through the room as if the tiger has discovered that the zookeeper’s failed to lock the cage.

Harry’s eyes switch from bouncy to dull. He delivers his message in a voice intended only so Flynn can hear.

But barely.

A voice of wrath.

“This is not over. No way. No how.”

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From Two Truths And A Lie by Mark Stevens. Copyright © 2026 by the author and reprinted by permission.

Two Truths And A Lie by Mark Stevens was published today April 7 2026 by Thomas & Mercer and is available from all good booksellers, including