Cover Reveal: Leap Into the Knight

About the book:

Sir Darius Lee is a Knight of the High Order.

But when Darius discovers a stranger in his room in the middle of the night, and the intruder turns out to be a beautiful woman, he begins to question how he is meant to live his life.

Princess Megan of Bethyea is being held captive.

But when two knights help her to escape and bring her back to her home planet, she finds the home she knew no longer exists.

When The Council of Twelve questions Darius about his relationship with Maggie, she tries to flee from The Academy of the High Order to prevent him from losing his knighthood.

Will Darius and Orion find Maggie before she leaves Albion? And if they do, how can they face the decision of The Council? And what about the feelings Orion has developed for the princess?

From the author:

I was born in Overland Park, Kansas, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, went to school at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and moved to Bloomington, Illinois fresh out of college.  I worked as a high school/junior college teacher, personnel recruiter, office manager of a jewelry store, and, for the past ten years, as a lunch lady. I  like to karaoke and attend rock concerts. I’m also actively involved at church and spend too much time on Facebook. I am  the mother of a seventeen-year-old, fifteen-year-old triplets, and have been married to my husband, Don, for over twenty-four years.

I have been a writer all my life. My first book, which was co-written with Mary Ellen Murphey in second grade, was titled The Black Cat, and was written on blue hotel stationary, hole-punched, and bound by white yarn.  I believe it is currently out of circulation.

When I turned forty, I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized those bigwig publishing houses in New York were now probably run by people younger than me, so I shouldn’t be intimidated by them. At about the same time, I was watching one of those award shows, and Jaclyn Smith got up to give a posthumous award to Aaron Spelling. She credited him for encouraging her to go into acting, saying something brilliant like, “Reach for your dreams.” Nothing new.  Almost even seems a little Jiminy Cricketish.  But, for some reason, it struck me that night.  When Aaron Spelling was thirteen, he was probably just like any other acned thirteen-year-old. But he worked to achieve his dreams, and became a household name. So, I  began to write. Once I finished my first book,I wasn’t able to stop. I would rather write than do just about anything else. After all, I get to make people (characters) do what I want, and design their happy endings. What power! And what a  privilege.


Connect with M.J.:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Preorder 

Conditions by Christoph Fischer

Would your grandmother like this book?


I’d like to think so. There is one scene where characters talk about sex, but my grandmother was quite liberal and very supportive of her grandchildren. I think the book can appeal to all age groups. We all have family and we all know people who are different.

What is your elevator pitch?

A book about two estranged brothers and an inheritance dispute set at their mother’s funeral. The book features a variety of odd and colourful characters, all with their own problems. The funeral and the wake serve as catalyst for some of them, group dynamics and individual qualities show a range of options how to deal with difficult situations and human conditions.

How did you come up with the plot for Conditions?

The book is inspired by one specific funeral that I attended and my speculations as to why family relations had broken down so dramatically. The UK has a different legal and underlying moral system to that of Germany when it comes to inheritance and that gave me further ideas for the plot. 

How is this book different from other books in this genre?
I have scole here today to introduke my newbold booklode. I am assureme that all peoplode will amusit and appreciho this fine piece of worklode which is the resulty of manifold hours of thorcus on my partylode with a fewbold modes taken off for the tilty elbow and drinkit down the throacus.
With kindi regardibolds, huggi-huggis and, of horselode - deep joy.       
Goodly byelode

Why is your book cool?
Because I kept it in the freezer for the last four years.

About the book:

When Charles and Tony's mother dies the estranged brothers must struggle to pick up the pieces, particularly so given that one of them is mentally challenged and the other bitter about his place within the family. 
The conflict is drawn out over materialistic issues, but there are other underlying problems which go to the heart of what it means to be part of a family which, in one way or another. has cast one aside.


Prejudice, misconceptions and the human condition in all forms feature in this contemporary drama revolving around a group of people who attend the subsequent funeral at the British South Coast. 
Meet flamboyant gardener Charles, loner Simon, selfless psychic Elaine, narcissistic body-builder Edgar, Martha and her version of unconditional love and many others as they try to deal with the event and its aftermath.

About the author:

Christoph Fischer was born in Germany, near the Austrian border, as the son of a Sudeten-German father and a Bavarian mother. Not a full local in the eyes and ears of his peers he developed an ambiguous sense of belonging and home in Bavaria. He moved to Hamburg in pursuit of his studies and to lead a life of literary indulgence. After a few years he moved on to the UK where he now lives in a small hamlet, not far from Bath. He and his partner have three Labradoodles to complete their family.

Christoph worked for the British Film Institute, in Libraries, Museums and for an airline. The Luck of The Weissensteiners was published in November 2012; Sebastian in May 2013 and The Black Eagle Inn in October 2013. In May 2014 he published his first contemporary novel Time To Let Go. He has written several other novels which are in the later stages of editing and finalization.


Connect with Christoph:
Website | Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+ | Linkedin | Amazon author page

Buy his books:
Conditions | The Luck of the Weissensteiners | The Black Eagle Inn |  
Time to let Go

Guest Post by Julie Anne Lindsey

"Copyright © 2014 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited
® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its
affiliated companies, used under license."

About the book:

With the chaos of summer tourists and fall birders out of town, counselor Patience Price is looking forward to the quiet life she remembers. She longs for some peace. And an apple fritter. But the calm is cut short when a reality show sets up camp to film a special about ghosts on her little island. Now fans, reporters and crew have flocked to sleepy Chincoteague. Who knew ghost hunters had an entourage?

When two cast members are killed in a room at the local B&B—a room usually occupied by Patience's FBI agent boyfriend, Sebastian—she finds herself on the case. Sebastian doesn't want Patience ruffling any feathers but, as always, she can't help herself.

Patience promises to let Sebastian handle the investigation—he is FBI, after all—but after a drive-by shooting, her wicked curiosity gets the best of her. And with the TV show forging ahead with filming, the list of suspects (and the line of food trucks) only grows. But has the shooter already flown the coop? And how do you find a killer when you don't know who the target is?

An Island of Inspiration

by Julie Anne Lindsey

In 2008 I visited Chincoteague, Virginia. Until that year, I didn’t even know Virginia had an island. I’d lived on the East Coast my entire life, clueless. There was an island? I had to see that! So, my family vacationed there for a week and the place has courted my soul ever since. I knew before we arrived. I wouldn’t want to leave. I didn’t. I can remember how it sounded and smelled and buzzed in my system. It was like going home. Except I live in Ohio.

If you’ve never been to Chincoteague, it’s a quintessential coastal town surrounded by harbors and the Atlantic. An old fashioned drawbridge separates the island from the world. The drawbridge might as well be a cone of silence because mainland worries seem to splinter and stop before reaching the tiny community.

The town library is in a quaint little building across the street from a Misty of Chincoteague statue. The local ice cream parlor has a wall of faces who’ve finished the biggest sundae in town. The theatre is one of those small town, two show wonders. Life moves slower. People are kinder. The island measures 3x7 miles small. It bustles with fishermen, craftsmen and people who crave the sea. If that isn’t enough to get you packing your bags (or in my place firing up my laptop) did you know Chincoteague is attached to a sister island, Assateague? Assateague is even smaller than Chincoteague, united by a bridge over a marsh, and home to wildlife. Assateague is a national forest and shoreline. The beaches are pristine. The forest has wild ponies. Did you stop and reread that? Wild. Ponies. There are trails and nature centers and historical lighthouses. I mean. *jaw drop* Where has this place been my whole life? And why can’t I move immediately?

I visited Chincoteague four years before it occurred to me I could write anything longer than a grocery list, but the town burrowed into my heart and has since occupied my daydreams. Chincoteague is now home to my heroine, Patience Price, and The Patience Price Mysteries series I wrote for Carina Press. Patience adores her hometown as much as I do. Writing the series on this island has been a real gift. I’ve loved telling readers about the unfathomably gorgeous sunrises over the harbor and the bleating tug boats already busy at work. I need to tell other in-landers how hilarious and borderline dangerous it is to grill out because gulls line the roofs waiting for dinner to be served. Oh, and I’m terrified of horses, so rounding a corner and coming nose to nose with a wandering pony was a real heart stopping concern for me because I walked everywhere. Who needs a car when nothing is more than a few blocks away? For me, the island was magical. Perfection.

Book one in my mystery series, Murder by the Seaside, flowed easily from vivid memories of that trip. I could literally envision every detail. But then I needed a sequel. I needed a new problem for my heroine. I love the island so much, it was tough to think of a problem and then I wondered, “What kind of things could cause a ruckus on such a peaceful island.” Guess what? I watched a movie that night with Steve Martin and Jack Black. Do you know it? The Big Year? It’s a movie about birders who travel the globe hoping to see the greatest number of different species of birds. You know what island has a ton of awesome birds? *nods* Yep. *steeples fingertips* If a few busloads of birders all rushed to the island to see the same rare bird, it could get kind of full out there. *taps chin* Birders seemed like a great addition to the problems my amateur sleuth already had on her plate, what with work, a new boyfriend, an ex who won’t go away (and he has a dimple). Life. Work. Family. Oh, and a murder. Birders were exactly what she needed to lose her tenuous cool.
So, I sent them.

This time around, I needed something bigger to push my heroine to her limits. You know what drives me batty? Reality television. What if a reality show set up shop on her island? What if one of the “celebrities” was murdered? Ohhhh, I loved that idea. Fans and reporters and gawkers galore would come from everywhere to get a look at the cast and crew, leave a memento at the crime scene or bask in the unfolding drama. You know what else would come along? Food trucks. I love food trucks. We don’t have any in my town, so when I travel and they’re lined up somewhere, I make a quick detour to take advantage of the gourmet delights. Food trucks would make my heroine’s eye twitch. So, I sent a herd her way. I’m ornery like that. 

For me, The Patience Price Mysteries are all about taking the bland and making it grand. I twist and stretch the mundane we all relate to and make it a source of endless frustration for my heroine. Her friends are the best. Her parents are nutty. Her love interests are handsome, fearless and sweet. Everything’s better on the island and hopefully, the murders have enough twists to keep readers guessing. If you’re ready for a reprieve from the everyday, I hope you’ll consider one of my mysteries. More than that, I hope they will make you smile.

About Julie:

Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Today, she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.

Murder in Real Time is the conclusion to The Patience Price Mysteries series, from Carina Press.
  


Connect with Julie:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Carina Press

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Featured Author: Denise Moncrief

About the book:

Tess Copeland lives a quiet life in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Thanks to the government’s witness protection program, she enjoys the freedom of never having to glance over her shoulder to see if someone is following her. Life has become safe, serene...and boring. Her heart longs for something more than just existing...until a ghost from her past shatters her serenity.



Once upon a time, Tess was caught between the FBI and the men the feds were trying to take down. Jake Coleman is the U.S. Marshal who extracted her from the jam she was in with the FBI, a man she could have fallen for...hard...if she had let herself. It’s been a year since she last saw Jake, and in all the months that have passed, he’s never tried to find her. The longer he keeps his distance, the more she wonders why his absence hurts so much.



When a stranger comes to town searching for her, all of Tess’ old fears are resurrected. Asking Jake for help with her current crisis might lure him into a dangerous trap involving murder, kidnapping, and revenge. When Jake and Tess come face-to-face with the past, they will have to use all their wits to survive.

Interview with Denise Moncrief


Denise, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?
I’ve been writing off and on since I was in my late teens. That’s a lot of years ago. My first “novel” was only seventeen handwritten pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last Harlequin romance I’d read. I didn’t start writing with the goal of publication until about ten or eleven years ago. I have a very active imagination, and I could imagine myself other places, with other people, living a different life. Well, as you can imagine that might not be very healthy. One day I realized I could channel all that creativity into a much healthier activity by writing instead of daydreaming.

Do you have another job outside of writing?
I graduated from LSU with a degree in accounting. This has given me some nice skills to earn a little money to support my writing habit. My so-called day job is as an accountant with a local CPA firm. Accounting is NOT my passion. Honestly, I don’t understand anyone whose passion IS accounting. If I can’t write, I might as well not breathe.

How did you create the plot for this book?
Crisis of Serenity is the second book in the two-part Crisis series. The book picks up about a year or so after Crisis of Identity leaves off. I’d left pour Tess with a lot of dangling loose ends in her life, and I felt she needed some resolution to some of the many crises she had faced in Identity. In Crisis of Identity, she rode off into the sunset with Trevor, and deep down in my heart, I knew that relationship would never work, so I had to finish her story, give her some closure, and get her with the right man.

What’s your favorite line from a book?
I love the opening line from Gone With the Wind. “Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.” It summed up her character with the first few words of the book.

How do you get to know your characters?
I live with them. No, seriously. I talk about them as if they are real. When I’m in the store, I’ll tell my daughter that is something one of my characters would wear. Or when I hear something one of them would say I comment on it. I picture them eating across the table from me. Riding in the car with me. Sometimes, they follow me to my day job. That is never a good thing. I wonder what they would do if someone said this or that to them. When one of them is in the middle of a situation and I don’t know what to do with them, I close my eyes and imagine I’m that character. Maybe it’s sort of like method acting. Would you call that method writing?

Which character did you most enjoy writing?
All of the characters I’ve ever written, I’ve enjoyed Tess the most. She says things I wouldn’t have the guts to say and does things I would never try. She has more spunk and sass than anyone I’ve ever known. I’ll never have the adventures she has had.

What song would you pick to go with your book?
There are actually two songs that resonate with me when I think about this book and Crisis of Identity, the first book in the two-part series. “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane and “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins.

Who are your favorite authors?

Right now, I’m really into paranormal romantic suspense. I’m reading through Heather Graham’s Krewe Of Hunters series. I’ve become a fan very quickly. For a fast-paced, delicious romantic suspense novel, I love indie author Chantel Rhondeau, especially her Agents in Love series.

There are some writing techniques (or mistakes) that stand out to me when I read (e.g. when an author switches POV mid-scene). What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?
I’m with you on the head hopping. Nothing bugs me more, and I think it’s because one of my first rejections from a publisher mentioned my horrendous head hopping. It glitches the smooth flow of the narrative and slows the pace of the story if the reader has to figure out whose head she’s in every time the POV switches. I’ve worked hard to break that habit. So I’m very conscious of it when I find it in someone else’s writing. The hardest thing about being a writer and an editor when I read other people’s work is to avoid the impulse to edit while I read.

I totally agree. 
Do you have a routine for writing?
I am a certified pantser. I know where the story begins, and I know where I want it to end. I probably have the first mushy love scene in my head already, but in the middle, I usually let my characters decide where they want to go and what they want to do. I’ll write a few chapters and then go back and reread them, making revisions as I read through it again. Some writers call that procrastination and strongly discourage it, but I’ve found this method works for me. It helps me keep the characters in character and the plot line consistent, but mostly it grounds me for the next spurt of writing.

You’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving?
Tex-Mex without a doubt. I could eat it three times a day, seven days a week, but of course I cannot. Too many carbs for a diabetic, not to mention the amount of pounds I’d put on. I’ve found that even when I travel in the United States, no other place does Tex-Mex quite like we do here at home. I’d miss my favorite local Tex-Mex restaurant. When I returned, that would be the first place I went.

You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?
I love to go shopping in Dallas with my daughter. Not so much for the buying but for the time we spend together. It’s something we both like to do and it gives us some mother-daughter time. One of the best experiences I’ve had lately was shopping with her for her wedding gown. I know we won’t get as many chances to do things like this once she’s married, so I’m treasuring every single moment of it now.

What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!
Who doesn’t have a favorite candy bar? I can’t decide between Snickers and Baby Ruth. In fact, one of the characters in my Haunted Hearts series is so fond of Baby Ruth bars that she’ll trade information for a King Size bar.

That's hilarious. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Colorado. My mom used to show me picture albums of a trip she and my father took before I was born. We went through those pictures a lot, dreaming of taking a trip to the mountains. When our family finally did take a road trip to Colorado, the Rockies did not let me down. I’ve been back many, many times since I’ve grown up. I’d move right now if my husband and I weren’t tied to our jobs here. I love it so much I set my Colorado series in southwestern Colorado.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the second book in my paranormal romantic suspense series, Haunted Hearts. Victoria House is set in the same fictional county in Arkansas as the first book in the series, Laurel Heights. And of course, there is a ghost, a cop, and a woman who wants the ghost in her house to settle down and let her live in peace...with the cop.

Excerpt from  Crisis of Serenity

The late afternoon sun warmed my face as I trudged down the street toward the trolley stop. The atmosphere held the pleasant promise of fall and color. I arrived in Tennessee last year just as the trees were turning gold, crimson, orange, and yellow, a gorgeous autumn. I hadn’t yet had the chance to indulge in a trip into the mountains, something I longed to do, but I didn’t own a car. That’s why I had to bum a ride to work every morning. The trolley didn’t start running until eight, sometimes ten, depending on what time of year it was.

Autumn had turned to a hard winter last year. The necessities of settling into a new life had consumed my waking moments until the first hard freeze. The ground had frozen and so had my heart. That’s when my thoughts had turned toward Trevor again. Snowbound landscapes always reminded me of him. His memory heated my core, and I wished with all my heart he hadn’t left me cold.

I missed him, missed him like crazy. As good as I was at running, he was even better at leaving. The last time was more than I could take, and I’d asked my handler to move me out of Arizona. No, more like begged him to send me somewhere else—anywhere Trevor would have a hard time finding me.

We were no good for each other.

I’d had too many men in my life tell me they cared only to take what they wanted and then leave me with nothing but loneliness and pain. My relationship with Trevor had developed so fast, and I had assumed he was no different than any other man.

I was wrong.

He was different, but his differences were not enough to keep him by my side when he had the urge to indulge in adventure wherever he could find it. He was a private investigator, a bounty hunter, and a solver of mysteries, and he couldn’t be tied to one spot too long. When I first went into witness protection, he stayed three months with me in Tucson and then one night he left without saying goodbye. I ranted and raved, then settled down into being a single, pseudo-mother for Joyce, my sister’s child. When Trevor had showed up at my front door four months later, I let him in, hoping he was back to stay.
I was wrong again.

I pulled my mind back to the present. With the advent of spring, my heart had thawed a bit. Then right before tourist season kicked in, I took the job at Sadie’s. Summer kept me hopping from one Hiker’s Breakfast Plate to the next with no time to dwell on what pained me. Autumn had made an appearance after the last cold snap. My favorite season. This year, the expectation of crisp days and cold nights failed to cheer me. All the vibrancy drained from me when I recalled the police officer at the stoplight and the icy cold stare as his eyes met mine across the roadway.

What was Iverson doing here? How had he gotten another job in law enforcement?

I glanced over my shoulder. No one trailed me down the street. At least, I didn’t think so. Was that man staring at me? Did that car slow as it passed? Was there a hint of malice in the air?

About the author:

Want to know a little bit more about Denise? She's a Southern girl who has lived in Louisiana all her life, and yes, she has a drawl. She has a wonderful husband and two incredible children, who not only endure her writing moods, but also encourage her to indulge her writing passion. Besides writing romantic suspense, she enjoys traveling, reading, and scrapbooking.

Accounting is a skill she has learned to earn a little money to support her writing habit. She wrote her first story when she was a teen, seventeen handwritten pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she had read. She's been writing off and on ever since, and with more than a few full-length manuscripts already completed, she has no desire to slow down.

Connect with Denise:
Website | Facebook | Twitter 

Buy the book:
Amazon | Amazon author page

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Cover reveal: Mobsters, Monsters & Nazis

Author Dan O'Brien has teamed up with artist Steve Ferchaud for a one-of-a-kind reading experience that will span six short books. Blending noir, hardboiled detective stories, and pulp comics, Mobsters, Monsters & Nazis follows private investigator Derrick Diamond as he searches for an elusive object: a strange device that the Nazis need for their nefarious experiments. Aided by Ava Harpy, a lounge singer at the Yellow Monarch, they dive deep into the underbelly of the city, uncovering a sordid plot that is much larger than they could have possibly imagined.

If you love illustrated works, pulp comics, and a little bit of Lovecraft in your stories, then what are you waiting for?

It is available for pre-order starting today, so be sure to grab and let everyone know about it! You can pre-order it for only $2.99 by clicking on the button below.

I'm starting a new feature on A Blue Million Books, called...Cool Book of the Week. Every Saturday there will be a new cool book on the block. Today's cool book is by Ellen Mansoor Collier's Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play, the first book in the Jazz Age Mystery trilogy. What's so cool about it? Read on...

FLAPPERS, FLASKS AND FOUL PLAY

Would your grandmother like this book?

Yes, my grandmother was a feisty flapper who attended college and taught school before she married my grandfather. She was outspoken, independent and a rebel in her own right. One of my favorite photos shows her leaning against a 1930s car looking very chic in a wonderful period dress and hat. I display one of her slinky black satin gowns on my closet door—it’s the cat’s meow! 


What is your elevator pitch for this book?

Young society reporter Jasmine Cross feels caught between two clashing cultures in 1920s Galveston: the seedy underworld of booze and bars and the snooty social circles she covers in the Galveston Gazette.


How did you come up with the plot?

We took a “Mobsters Tour” in Chicago, and I was fascinated to learn that Galveston had its own rival gangs and Al Capone-clones, namely the Beach Gang and Downtown Gang. 


How is this book different from other books in this genre?

Seems that most 1920s-30s flapper mysteries feature rich debutantes, heiresses or independently wealthy women or wives, while Jazz is a young middle-class journalist trying to make her mark in a man’s world. While my novels tend to be classified as cozy mysteries, I do include some hard-boiled elements, so I’d call them soft-boiled. I’m delighted that many men like to read my novels as well!

Why is your book cool?
I think readers are interested in learning about the Prohibition period, a very dangerous and decadent time in American history. Gangsters fought for power and control over their turf, and could be as ruthless and reckless as the drug cartels of today. I base my novels on actual crime families and events, but the plots and main characters are totally fictitious. As a journalist, I enjoyed doing the necessary research to make sure I got my facts right. In all my novels, I incorporated real Galveston locations and landmarks, and used period slang and expressions to add authenticity and atmosphere.

About the book:

Boardwalk Empire meets The Great Gatsby in this soft-boiled historical mystery, inspired by actual events. Named one of the "Best Beach Reads of 2013" on Goodreads.

Rival gangs fight over booze and bars during Prohibition in 1920s Galveston: the "Sin City of the Southwest." Jazz Cross, a 21-year-old society reporter, suspects foul play when a bank VP collapses at her half-brother Sammy's speakeasy. Was it an accident or a mob hit?

Soon handsome young Prohibition Agent James Burton raids the Oasis, threatening to shut it down if Sammy doesn't talk. Suspicious, he pursues Jazz, but despite her attraction, she refuses to rat on Sammy. As turf wars escalate between two real-life rival gangs, Sammy is accused of murder. To find the killer, Jazz must risk her life and career, exposing the dark side of Galveston's glittering society.

Check out the two sequels in Collier's Jazz Age Mystery series: Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets, and Gold Diggers, Gamblers and Guns.

About the author:

Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance magazine writer and editor whose articles, essays and short stories have been published in a variety of national magazines. During college summers, she worked as a reporter (intern) for a Houston community newspaper and as a cocktail waitress, both jobs providing background experience for her Jazz Age mysteries.

A flapper at heart, she's worked as a magazine editor/writer, and in advertising and public relations (plus endured a hectic semester as a substitute teacher). She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism and served on UTmost, the college magazine, and was active in WICI (Women in Communications), acting as president her senior year.

Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play is her first novel, published in 2012, followed by the sequel, Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets, released in May 2013. Gold Diggers, Gamblers and Guns is the last novel in her Jazz Age Mystery series, published in May, 2014. She lives in Houston with her husband and Chow mutts, and visits Galveston whenever possible.
 

Connect with Ellen:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads |

Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

Why reviewers think Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play is cool:

"An elegant and hugely entertaining mystery set during Prohibition times in Galveston. Great style and a fantastic sense of authenticity....Well-written, cleverly plotted and very enjoyable."   –Christoph Fischer, Top 500 Amazon Reviewer (June 2014) Author, Time To Let Go, Sebastian, etc.

"Collier’s new series, set in 1927 Galveston, Texas, hit the spot for me, and is an entertaining bit of snappy summertime escapism. I was completely charmed by Jazz Cross, the spunky, intrepid flapper-reporter. Collier combines historical trivia with a cozy mystery beautifully, and I’m falling in love with her 1920s Galveston." 
–Audra Friend, Unabridged Chick Blog (June 2013)

"A wonderful mystery set in Prohibition-era Texas. This is fast becoming one of my favourite new series of mysteries." –Rachel Cotterill (Book Reviews Blog, U.K ), (May 2013) Author of Rebellion and Revolution

"Fantastic! FLAPPERS really brings to life Galveston’s glamorous past in a way that feels authentic and realistic. The mystery sucks you in immediately and leaves you fretting for the characters until the very end!"  –Lauren George, Reader/Reviewer, Amazon (5 Stars) (September 2012)

In honor of Cool Book Week, Flappers is $2.99 until October 18. How cool is that?

Character Interview: Police Chief O'Callaghan

A Blue Million Books is very happy to feature Lauren Carr's newest book, A Wedding and a Killing, a Mac Faraday Mystery Book 8. Lauren's a little busy, what with the new release and all, and Amy's busy getting the second book in the Goose Pimple Junction series ready to publish, so GPJ's Tess Tremaine sits down with the chief of police of Spencer, Maryland, David Patrick O’Callaghan, to get the lowdown on Lauren and her mystery series.

About the book:

When Mac Faraday decides to do something, there’s no stopping him ... even murder!

Not wanting to wait until their big day to start their life of wedded bliss, Mac Faraday and his lady love, Archie Monday, decide to elope to the little church where his ancestors had all married — along the tranquil shore of Deep Creek Lake. However, before they can say, “I do,” the sanctuary erupts into chaos when Gnarly finds a body in the church office.

“Of course Mac Faraday can’t get married without a killer making an appearance,” author Lauren Carr says about A Wedding and a Killing, the eighth installment in her best-selling mystery series.

Readers will find that Lauren’s latest whodunit reveals just a touch of sibling rivalry between Mac Faraday and his half-brother, Police Chief David O’Callaghan. When the Deep Creek Lake murder unviels a cold case in New York, Mac Faraday rushes off to clear the name of a local citizen, while David O’Callaghan focuses on the homicide at Spencer Church.

“Characters take on a life of their own, if you let them,” Lauren says. “Readers, and the author, become bored if the character is allowed to stagnate. David O’Callghan has really grown since It’s Murder, My Son. When I first introduced David, he was young. What he lacked in confidence, he made up for in determination. In A Wedding and a Killing, David feels compelled to solve his case on his own when Mac starts making headway in New York — if only to prove to himself that he can.” 

In A Wedding and a Killing, Mac and his team discover more questions than answers. What kind of person walks into a church and shoots a man for no apparent reason? How do you solve the murder of a man who has no enemies in the world? Which of the seemingly kind-hearted church members is really a cold-blooded killer?

Then, there is the all-important question, how long do Mac Faraday and his lady love have to wait to get married?

About Police Chief O'Callaghan:

In his early thirties, David Patrick O’Callaghan is the son of Patrick O’Callaghan and his wife Violet.

Patrick O’Callaghan was the legendary police chief of Spencer, located on the uptown side of Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. He had a reputation of being one of the most clever and courageous police chiefs in the area. Since his death after a long illness, David has taken over his father’s position. While he’s got big shoes to fill, he does manage to hold his own.

Being the son of the police chief in a resort town in which most of the residents are listed in Who’s Who is a mixed blessing. On the downside, David did not enjoy the luxuries of his school friends. However, being the police chief’s son did give him a certain social standing.

Handsome and charming, David was, and is, popular with the ladies. This proved to be a curse as well as a blessing when David’s relationship with his first love ended due to his own infidelity.

Unfortunately, David’s childhood did have some dark periods. As he grew up, David came to realize that his father, while faithful to his mother, was in love with another woman — the world famous mystery author Robin Spencer, whose ancestors had founded the town of Spencer.

A loyal and honorable man, Patrick O’Callaghan remained faithful and committed to David’s mother. But jealousy and bitterness would often drive her to emotional breakdowns, which would mean long commitments to a mental institution. Unable to care for David on his own, Patrick would send David to live at Spencer Manor with Robin Spencer, who David had come to love like a second mother.

As an adult, Patrick O’Callaghan revealed a family secret to his son. As teenagers, Patrick and Robin had a baby out-of-wedlock. Her parents had sent her away to have the baby and had the boy put up for adoption. Eventually, Robin’s parents had broken the young couple up. By the time Robin returned to Spencer, Patrick had already married David’s mother.

David had an older half-brother. No one knew his name or where he was.

After Patrick O’Callaghan’s and Robin Spencer’s death, their son, Mac Faraday, arrives at Spencer Manor, which he had inherited from his birth mother. During Patrick’s terminal illness, she hunted Mac down in order to tell Patrick about what had become of their son.
Intrigued, and determined to fulfill his father’s wish, David embarks on a brotherly friendship with the retired homicide detective. In no time, Mac Faraday becomes not only David’s brother, but his best friend as well.

Tess Talks with Police Chief David Patrick O’Callaghan

Hey, Chief. I heard you were a handsome man, and I must say I heard right. Tell me, how did you first meet Lauren?
I met Lauren Carr while she was writing the first Mac Faraday Mystery, It’s Murder, My Son. It was so much fun that she invited me back for each book after that. It isn’t like she could do a Mac Faraday mystery without me. After all, I am now the police chief of Spencer, Maryland.

Want to dish about her?
She has a weakness for ice cream slathered in Magic Shell.

I wonder if Slick serves that at the diner. Anyway...tell us about your favorite scene in A Wedding and a Killing.
The motel scene. Don’t get excited. In A Wedding and a Killing, a murder is committed in a church office. This murder reveals a cold case in New York. So, Mac goes off to New York to investigate that, while I investigated my case in Spencer. I believe this is the first time Lauren allowed me to work a case alone without Mac’s help.

We were tracking a missing suspect’s credit card charges when we got a hit that her card was used to book a motel room in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, a town off the turnpike. My deputy chief and I rushed to the motel to nab our suspect. We had an army of Pennsylvania state troopers, and Bogie (my deputy chief) and me ready to break in and take our suspect into custody.

Well, I don’t want to give away the plot. Let’s just say we were in for quite a surprise.

Sounds exciting! Do you have a hard time convincing Lauren to write any particular type of scenes for you?
Love scenes. I don’t know what it is with Lauren, but she keeps closing the door on me. Up until The Murders at Astaire Castle, I had quite an extensive love life. I admit it. I’m a sucker for a lovely lady. I’ve had my heart broken more than its fair share.

But now, I am in a committed relationship with Chelsea Adams. But Lauren refuses to give me any love scenes. Oh, yeah, we get to kiss and hug and what-not, but when the clothes start coming off, Lauren slams the door and keeps the reader out.

What’s with that, Lauren?

Yeah, what's with that, Lauren? Give the man some love. Okay, Chief. Tell the truth. What do you think of your fellow characters?
They’re my family. Growing up as an only child, with my mother being away sometimes, and Dad working all the time with such an important job, I guess I would wish that I had a brother or someone who I could lean on sometimes.

Robin Spencer was cool, but sometimes I felt in the middle because my mother hated her so much. I’d feel like I was betraying Mom when I liked Robin. It wasn’t until I was grown up that I put everything together about what was going on.

I’m still shocked at how quickly Mac and I clicked to become not just brothers, but best friends. I look at him and I see Dad.

Then, there’s Archie Monday. She used to be Robin Spencer’s editor and research assistant. She’s gorgeous. She’s also like the sister I never had.

Mac and she are getting married. Well, that’s why the book is called A Wedding and a Killing. They were trying to elope when Gnarly found a dead body in the church.

As for Gnarly, the German shepherd Mac inherited from Robin: Well, Gnarly was the only K-9 to receive a dishonorable discharge from the United States Army. They refuse to talk about it — saying that it’s classified. Having seen how smart and conniving Gnarly can be, I have to wonder why.

Gnarly is pretty much his namesake—he’s gnarly in every meaning of the word.

I wonder if he would like Ezzie. We should get them together. If you had a free day with no responsibilities and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do?
Go fishing. My father and I used to go fishing all the time – usually when he wanted to talk to me man-to-man. It grew to the point that I would cringe when he would suggest we go fishing. Now what does he want to talk to me about, I would ask.

Now that he’s not here, I miss those trips and talks.



What impression do you make on people when they first meet you? How about after they've known you for a while?
First Impression: That I’m quite young to be the police chief. I’m in my early thirties, but I’ve had a lot of experience in my young life.

After knowing me for a while, I hope that they come to realize that it’s not smart to underestimate what’s behind my piercing blue eyes.



What's the worst thing that's happened in your life?
Without a doubt, it would have to be when my mother stabbed me in the chest with a fork.

Yikes!

I was, and am, a major in the marines—Special Forces. I’m now in the reserves. I did two tours overseas and fought terrorists. I’ve been in gunfights. But, emotionally, I was never prepared last year when my own mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia stabbed me in the chest with a fork. It went in pretty far, too. I had to go to the emergency room. Of course, I’m the chief of police and word did spread.

Bogie, who happens to be my deputy chief and godfather, took my mother to the nursing home. She’s been there ever since.

I try to visit her, but when she sees me, she thinks I’m my father and becomes agitated. The doctors have even told me not to visit her alone, but to take someone with me. Me — chief of police — and I can’t visit my own mother by myself for fear that she’ll attack me.

That must be just awful. What have you learned from that experience?
Well, as an adult, looking back at what I saw in my parents’ marriage — I can see that jealousy can literally make you sick. My father was in love with another woman. Yes, he loved my mother, but he was in love with Robin. He swore, and I believed him, he kept true to his marriage vows. He and Robin never cheated on my mother. But there’s no denying that they had an affair of the heart.

Those can be tough to deal with – for all parties involved.

Still, Mom refused to believe that my father was faithful. And, even when she knew that his heart was someplace else, she refused to let him go. It was like she was punishing him — and I was an innocent victim in all of it.

That is just dreadful. I'm so sorry.

But, when I go to see her at the nursing home, I see that she is the one who really paid the price. Her jealousy ravaged her mind and body like a cancer.

Jealousy can eat you up, it can.

I refuse to live my life like that.

Describe the town where you live.
Spencer is the Martha’s Vineyard or Hamptons of western Maryland.

Located in the corner of Deep Creek Lake, Spencer consists of Spencer Mountain. The Spencer Inn, another part of Mac Faraday’s inheritance, rests on the very top of the mountain.

Most of Spencer’s wealthy residents are seasonal. They flood into their summer homes from May through September, or even into October after the fall foliage. Then, they will come back for skiing at the Spencer Inn.

We do have a few year-round residents. Mac Faraday, who lives in Spencer Manor at the end of Spencer Point, is one.

Describe an average day in your life.
There’s no such thing.

Ha! I hear you. Well, it's been a pleasure getting to know you, Chief. You'll have to come over for tea sometime. Promise?

About the Author

Lauren Carr is the best-selling author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. A Wedding and a Killing is the eight installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series.

The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.

She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, West Virgina.


Connect with Lauren:
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Visit Lauren's author page on Amazon.com to purchase her other published works.