Local Rockland Realtor Authors/Promotes Erotic Psychological Thriller Set in Hudson Valley

From D.M. Barr Punctuated Publishing:

NEW CITY, NY — D.M. Barr’s compelling debut novel, Expired Listings, a kinky and satiric fictional peek into both the inner workings of the real estate community and the world of BDSM and set against the scenic backdrop of the Hudson Valley and New York City, will be published by Punctuated Publishing of New City, NY on September 16, 2016. Think Glengarry Glen Ross meets Fifty Shades of Grey, but with a body count.

A book launch/signing party will be held at Growler & Gill (148 Route 59, Nanuet, http://www.growlerandgill.com) on Sunday, October 9th from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. It will include free food and giveaways as well as discounted beer, wine and soft drinks. The event is being sponsored by Barry J. Dorfman of Liberty Mutual Insurance and Amanda Casey of Residential Home Funding.

In Expired Listings, someone is ‘deactivating’ the Realtors in Rock Canyon and almost no one seems to care. Not the surviving brokers, who consider the serial killings a competitive boon. Not the town’s residents, who see the murders as a public service. In fact, the only person who’s even somewhat alarmed is Dana Black, a kinky, sharp-witted yet emotionally skittish Realtor who has no alibi for the crimes because during each, she was using her empty listings for games like Bondage Bingo with her sadistic lover, Dare. And yet, mysteriously, all clues are pointing her way.

Along with clearing her name and avoiding certain death at the hands of the ‘Realtor Retaliator,’ Dana has an even bigger problem: she’s inadvertently become a person of interest in more ways than one to Aidan Cummings, the sexy albeit vanilla detective investigating the case. While his attentions are tempting, Dana is torn—does she continue her ironically ‘safe’ but sterile BDSM relationship with Dare, or risk real intimacy with Aidan?

Expired Listings, the title taken from a real estate term describing homes that remain unsold because they are not as they might first appear in their marketing materials (overpriced, etc.), is at its heart, an exploration of the universal need for validation and the toxic nature of revenge. The mystery of who is killing the unethical agents in their small town is only one of the questions the novel raises. The book revolves around the dysfunctional history of Dana’s family and the humor she uses to shield herself from her dark past. Why did her mother abandon her at age six? What tragedy occurred that separated Dana from her first love? Did those incidents lead to Dana’s masochistic sexual tendencies and her recurrent blackouts, the ones that leave her unsure of whether she herself could be the Realtor Retaliator?

The satirical jabs at the real estate industry and Dana’s incessant and witty punning add a light touch to the novel’s dark subject matter.

"Nothing in life is ever as it first appears, a constant theme of the novel,” says the Rockland-based novelist, who, like her protagonist, is a real estate broker and former journalist. Barr says her writing style was influenced by other popular psychological thrillers, such as Chevy Stevens’ Still Missing and Laura Reese’s Topping from Below.

D.M. Barr is the pseudonym for Dawn M. Barclay, a former magazine writer/editor who received a first prize award from the Society of Professional Journalists for her nonfiction work at a travel trade magazine, as well as accolades from the real estate community for her sales figures. A member of the HVRWA and the NJRWA, she lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, two adult children and two extremely spoiled senior rescue dogs. She is currently hard at work at her second novel, Slashing Mona Lisa.

D.M. Barr reminds readers that she is nothing like the protagonist of her novel. “As a real estate broker, I've never played Bondage Bingo in one of my empty listings or offed one of my problem clients. But that's not to say I haven't wanted to...”

Image via D.M. Barr Punctuated Publishing.