Spotlight & Giveaway: Double-Edged Reckoning by Nicole Helm

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Nicole Helm to HJ!

Hi Nicole and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Double-Edged Reckoning!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Fifteen
years ago, a woman was murdered. Samantha Price’s father was arrested and then
convicted, but all these years, Sam has maintained her father’s innocence—even
becoming a private investigator once she became an adult. But she’s never succeeded in
proving her theory in this one case…until another murder happens on The Bennet Ranch.
Sam has always thought Benjamin Bennet was the actual killer of his wife, but once
again her father is taking the blame. Sam won’t let it happen a second time…even if it
means finally tracking down the long-lost Bennet brother to prove Benjamin Bennet is
nothing that he seems.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

The world was ugly and cruel and full of evil, but good existed in the signs. In birdsong
and sunlight.

What inspired this book?

One of my biggest inspirations was not for the subject matter of the book so much as the
style. Ever since I read Three Fates by Nora Roberts, I wanted to tackle a book with more
than one or two main characters, and POV for all of them. So in all the Western Edge
Mystery books you’ll find six main characters with POV (along with the occasional other
POV thrown in as needed).

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

There are six ‘main’ characters in the series, all intertwined by family and community
ties, along with a murder that happened fifteen years ago. Writing any book is a
discovery of character, and particularly with the three brothers in this series, it was
interesting to explore that despite the same upbringing—they all turned out and
experienced things very differently.

What was your favorite scene to write?

There’s
a scene early on in the book where private investigator Sam Price finds Nate Bennet after
years of searching. It was just one of those scenes that came to me very visually—which
is not common for me! An isolated cabin, with a thunderstorm brewing in the distance,
and two characters with a past interacting for the first time in fifteen years.
He glanced out the window at a storm brewing in the west, and that prickling sensation
of dread that had been brewing inside of him since long before Samantha had showed up
here seemed to thunder and lightning in anticipation of it.
Storms came, and storms went. They damaged, but they were a necessary part of the
cycle. Maybe it was time to step into the storm.
Samantha stepped out of her car, but she didn’t make a move for his cabin. She looked at
the storm clouds gathering, a mix of concern and anticipation in her expression.
A ray of sun pricked through the gathering clouds and landed in a glowing ray across her
face. She lifted her head to it as if basking in that last moment of brightness before the
storm descended.
Something in Nate’s chest kicked, a feeling he wasn’t sure he’d ever had, or would
recognize even if someone named it for him, but he’d learned to believe in signs. The
world was ugly and cruel and full of evil, but good existed in the signs. In birdsong and
sunlight.
Sometimes you had to wade through a few storms first.

What was the most difficult scene to write?

Honestly, I can’t think of a particularly difficult scene to write. This book was one of
those rare times when things really seemed to click together. The trickiest part was
organizing the POVs/locations into sensible breaks/chapters.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

While the subgenre itself is a little bit of a departure (very heavy on mystery and very
light on romance, with a multi-character POV approach) the style and subject matter is
pretty similar to the westerns and suspense books I’ve been writing for years—a heavy
dose of complicated family dynamics, characters dealing with complex trauma with
emotion and a hint of humor, and no matter how bad things get—always a hopeful
ending.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I hope readers come away being interested in Sam Price and the Bennet brothers and want to see more of them, as there will be four more books in this series.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

There are two more books coming this year in the Western Edge Mystery series—Dark Mountain Ambush in August, and Long Lost Winter in December—then two more coming in 2026.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An ebook copy of DOUBLE-EDGED RECKONING + one additional Tule ebook of the winner’s choice

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: The old adage that no two children has the same parents is a big part of the Bennet brothers journey in this book—have you seen that be the case in your own life as a sibling or parent?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Double-Edged Reckoning:

Chapter One

Marietta, Montana

Samantha Price knew what it felt like when something bad was on the horizon. It had been a skill honed as a child, brought into a home where her mother’s constant health battles had been a roller coaster of maybe she’ll make it, until she hadn’t.

Sam had been ten.

At fifteen, her world had been rocked again, when her father had been arrested and then convicted of murder.

She preferred to think of it in those simple terms, instead of all the complications that year had started. Domino effects that still knocked over her life to this day.

Because she’d spent the fifteen years since trying to get him out of jail, trying to clear his name.

She knew her father didn’t kill Marie Bennet. She also knew who absolutely had.

Evidence, though, was a hell of a thing. That was why she’d made it her life. Honor’s Edge Investigations, headquartered in the pretty, picturesque Montana town of Marietta, was her entire focus. Not much went on in Marietta, but she didn’t mind tracking down a cheating spouse, a deadbeat dad, or a kid who’d taken off with the family heirlooms.

Her latest case had taken her to Bozeman, gathering proof on a cheating bastard of a husband. She drove back into Marietta with plenty of evidence to offer the woman who’d hired her. There was nothing to celebrate there, but at least her client had the facts, with the evidence to back it up however she needed, and that was Sam’s job.

Her next case wouldn’t be quite as satisfactory. She’d somehow gotten roped into investigating a neighborly spat over some damaged petunias.

Still, Sam would take any case, and anyone’s payment, if it helped her with her end goal. Prove to the police and whatever legal entities necessary that Benjamin Bennet had killed his wife. And her father was innocent.

Even with his release from prison last month, Sam was determined. She would clear his name. And Benjamin Bennet, great paragon of ranching goodness in these parts of Montana, would finally pay for what he’d done.

Fifteen years and her father making it out of jail on parole hadn’t dulled her determination on that front.

That was what she should be feeling right now. Determination. Some relief her father was home. But that old familiar dread danced along her nerve endings today no matter how she tried to focus on other things.

Like getting home. Her childhood house had been sold a long time ago, and Dad had declined her offer to let him stay with her in the apartment above her office building upon his release. It was a relief that he’d declined. She might not have a social life—what with a fifteen-year penchant for truth and answers in a community that wanted to saint her sworn enemy—but what thirty-year-old wanted to bunk in a one-room apartment with their dad?

He’d moved into a rental cabin at his sister’s ranch instead. Aunt Lisa had taken over custody of Sam when Dad had gone to jail. She was a tough widow of a ranch woman, who now left almost all the ranch work up to her hands while she managed a small number of rental cabins on her property and helped Sam out part-time with administrative duties at Honor’s Edge Investigations. Dad helped out with the cabins and acted as a kind of custodian for Honor’s Edge as well.

It was a family affair, all born out of the same belief that Gene Price hadn’t killed a damn soul.

As it usually did, the sight of her little office with her apartment on the floor above soothed her. Maybe she hadn’t righted the wrongs against her father yet, but this was a symbol that she would.

That she could.

Both Dad and Lisa would probably be inside. Lisa doing some paperwork, Dad keeping himself busy with some sort of renovation project since the building was old and historical.

Instead, when she walked into the office, she felt that same prickling dread she always felt when something bad was going to happen.

Lisa was in fact there, sitting behind the front desk, but she jumped to her feet the minute Sam opened the door.

“Sam. Thank God you’re back. I didn’t want to call while you were driving.” Aunt Lisa stood up and began to move for Sam. “The police were here.”

That nagging something bad is coming feeling intensified. “For what?”

Lisa’s expression was grim. She reached out, put her hand on Sam’s shoulder, just as she’d done when Dad’s first two parole hearings hadn’t gone their way. “Sam, I know I should have told you…”

Shit.

“You know that young woman Benjamin Bennet’s been seeing that everyone’s been gossiping about?”

Anything that involved Bennet was bad news, that Sam did know. “I’ve heard bits and pieces.”

“They found her dead. The day you left for Bozeman.”

It was hard to hear Lisa over the buzzing in her head, but Sam reminded herself to breathe. To deal. This wasn’t fifteen years ago. It was now. “Where?”

“Bennet property. Somewhere along the creek.”

“Why would the police come here then?”

“To talk to your father.”

“What does any of this have to do with Dad? It proves Benjamin Bennet is the problem.”

Lisa sighed, shaking her head. She wasn’t a woman who cried, but the worry etched into the lines on her face was close enough. “Maybe if it had happened when your dad was in jail.”

“What are you saying?”

“Sam. Your father is a convicted murderer. Whether we believe that or not, the law sees it that way. Recently released, now there’s another murder near where the first murder happened? He didn’t do it, but we know what happens.”

Sam did indeed know. Too well. It twisted her stomach into knots. This couldn’t be happening again. She wouldn’t let it happen again.

“Not this time.”

“They took him down to the station, Sam.”

“Then that’s where I’ll be.”

It didn’t go well. Maybe she’d known it wouldn’t. Everything about the past fifteen years should have prepared herself for this.

And still, she couldn’t believe it was happening again.

They were keeping Dad in a holding cell. They could, for a few more hours yet, while they tried to get a warrant.

Sam wanted to believe they wouldn’t, but she’d been through this. She understood the sheriff’s department and the law too well now.

Still, they let her see him. She didn’t know if it was procedure or a professional courtesy. Some of the deputies didn’t mind her work as a private investigator, they even worked with her on occasion. Some rolled their eyes at her and thought she was a joke.

But what really grated in this moment of being led to a room she could talk to Dad in was the fact she could tell everyone involved felt sorry for her. Not in an empathetic way, but in a Sam is pathetic kind of way.

Dad was handcuffed to a table in an interrogation room when the deputy brought her in. His hair was all gray now, cut short. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and he was still far too skinny from his fifteen years in prison. Her heart twisted, but she had to remain steadfast.

For him.

She knew the drill. She would sit opposite him. The deputy would watch, listen.

“Sammy,” Dad said. He tried to smile but it faltered at the edges. “You shouldn’t have come.”

She didn’t know how he could say that, but there was no point arguing with him about it. “Explain how they could possibly arrest you on this, Dad. You didn’t even know her.”

Dad shook his head. “Of her, though. And we’d had a few interactions, just in the way Marietta neighbors do.”

“That’s not knowing someone.”

“No. But I know Ben, and that’s what they’re going after, all the stuff the last trial was about. Ben and I hate each other. They asked me some questions, didn’t like the answers. I imagine they’re filing charges right now.” He sighed heavily, looking old and beat down, even if his next words were optimistic. “It’s all right.”

“It isn’t,” Sam insisted, ignoring the lump in her throat. “You didn’t kill anyone. Then or now.”

“They wanted an alibi. I live alone at Lisa’s ranch. I don’t have any alibi, and I’ve got a history. I’m the easy answer. They’ve got to do their due diligence.”

“Why are you defending them?” Sam demanded, temper straining. It was hardly his fault fifteen years of being imprisoned despite his innocence had beat him down. Had made him this resigned to it all happening again.

But she couldn’t be.

Dad sighed. “Let the police do their work, Sam. And you can do yours.”

She wouldn’t cry. Not after all these years. Not under the weight of this. “My job hasn’t cleared you yet.”

Dad smiled. How he could, she didn’t know.

“Yet being the operative word.” He tried to move, reach out and touch her hand no doubt, but his hands were handcuffed to the table.

Dad looked down at his lap. “I spent fifteen years in prison. If I go back, I can handle it. I know you’ll fight for me, and even if it never clears my name, it keeps me going.” He looked up, that sad smile still in place. “You don’t have to worry about me making it through, Sammy. I do, because I know you’re fighting for me.”

She swallowed at the expanding, bitter lump in her throat. Then she nodded. “Always,” she managed to say around the pressure in her lungs.

Another deputy stuck their head in the door. “Sam? Sheriff wants to talk to you.”

Sam swallowed again, managed a smile for her dad. “Have you called your lawyer?”

He nodded. “Bert will be on it. You don’t worry about my end of things, all right? If I need anything, Bert will be in touch with you or Lisa.”

“All right,” she agreed, even though she didn’t really agree, but she didn’t want Dad to worry. She’d handle everything. “You take care of yourself.”

“You too.”

She desperately wanted to hug him, whisper words of love and assurance, but she was pretty sure it would break them both. So she got up and followed the deputy out into the hall and then over to the sheriff’s office.

He waved her in, pointed to the seat opposite his desk. She sat.

She assumed it would be some kind of warning. The sheriff had always been kind to her, even when she’d been young and brash and blamed his shoddy police work for her father’s conviction.

“Sam, I know this is upsetting. And I know you’re going to want to raise a stink, but he doesn’t have an alibi.”

“And Benjamin Bennet does?”

“You know I can’t tell you that,” he replied calmly. “It’d be best for all involved if you stopped harassing my deputies. I know you’re going to look into this on your own, and that’s all well and good, but you cannot interfere with my investigation. You have laws to follow, just like we do.”

Sam said nothing to that. Best not to say anything that might get her into trouble.

The sheriff sighed. “You’ve got to stay away from Bennet.”

Sam remained resolutely silent. The sheriff started to show some of his frustration. He leaned over his desk.

“You want it said plain? Fine, I’ll say it plain. Your father has a history of violent acts. Benjamin Bennet does not.”

But that wasn’t exactly true. She knew there was violence deep inside of Bennet. The kind that would make it obvious he could murder.

And had. Twice now.

She hadn’t been able to track down the evidence in all these years, and she’d tried off and on, never quite sure how to approach it. But now she would.

She had to.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

She seeks the truth, not revenge…

As a teenager, Samantha Price helped bruised and bloody classmate Nate Bennet disappear after his father’s violent attack. Fifteen years later and now a private investigator, she hunts Nate down in Tennessee, needing his help. Her father’s been unjustly accused of a murder that looks tied to a past murder on the Bennet ranch. Sam’s convinced Nate is the key to prove her father’s innocence.

After an injury ended his army career in Special Forces, Nate’s life is at a crossroads. Going home to Marietta, Montana, was never an option until Sam finds him. He’s not convinced his mercurial father is the real murderer, but maybe it’s time to finally unearth the truth. He knows the prodigal son role will rip open bitter wounds, but it’s long past time to face all he left. Including his brothers. Will they protect their father or face the past when he and Sam come asking difficult questions?

As new evidence is unearthed, both Sam and the Bennets are forced to question their long-held beliefs and discover that nothing is what it seems.

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Meet the Author:

Nicole Helm writes down-to-earth contemporary romance—from farmers to cowboys, midwest to the west, she writes stories about people finding themselves and finding love in the process. She lives in Missouri with her husband and two sons, surrounded by light sabers, video games, and a shared dream of someday owning a farm.
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