Stephen L Brayton - A Cold New Year

"The river always wins, Sebastian, and so do I.”

Sabastian Habeck, divorcee, miserable drunk, compulsive smoker, staunch enemy of technology, and private investigator, ushers in the new year with a new case, a young woman has gone missing, and no one seems to care.
While Sabastian begins his search for Annabelle Lansing, a shopkeeper also begs him to help her nephew.

But as he stumbles through the gloomy city of Des Moines, Iowa, he begins to realize that more sinister forces are at play. From drug fronts to corporate politics, everyone he encounters appears to have a secret to hide. He begins to wonder, does Annabelle even want to be found?

Previously published as New Year Gone, revisit this story by Stephen L. Brayton, featuring a new book cover, a fresh edit, and a new ending that may surprise you. Fans of the original story will have much to discover while still enjoying Brayton’s compelling writing and Sabastian’s sharp wit.

Stephen L. Brayton is a Sixth Degree Black Belt in the American Taekwondo Association and a Marketing Associate for a software company. His current publications include Alpha, the first of his Mallory Petersen action mystery series, and Night Shadows, the first in a supernatural series featuring a homicide detective and an FBI agent. He is the editor and contributing author of The Peace Tree Mystery, a story set in the Knoxville, Iowa/Lake Red Rock area. He has also been published in numerous anthologies of fiction, poems in Lyrical Iowa 2018-2025, and articles in issues of Plant Engineering.