FEATURED AUTHOR: KATE COLLINS


ABOUT THE BOOK


After her divorce, Athena has returned to coastal Michigan to work in her family’s garden center and raise her son, while also caring for a mischievous wild raccoon and fending off her family’s annoying talent for nagging. Working alone at the garden center one night, Athena is startled by a handsome stranger who claims to be the rightful owner of a valuable statue her grandfather purchased at a recent estate sale.



But she has even bigger problems on her plate. The powerful Talbot family from whom her pappoús bought the statue is threatening to raze the shops on Greene Street’s “Little Greece” to make way for a condo. The recent death of the family’s patriarch already seemed suspicious, but now it’s clear that a murderer is in their midst. Athena will have to live up to her warrior goddess namesake to protect her family from a killer and save their community from ruin . . . 

Book Details:

Title: Statue of Limitations

Author: Kate Collins

Genre: cozy mystery


Series: Goddess of Greene St. Mysteries, book 1


Publisher: Kensington (January 28, 2020)


Print length: 336 pages


On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH KATE COLLINS


IFs


If you could talk to someone (living), who would it be and what would you ask them? 

Author Barbara Kingsolver. I’d ask her about her writing process and where she finds inspiration.

If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?

I would talk to my grandparents and ask them about their lives growing up, their history.

If you could live in any time period which would it be?

Right now. I love the technology.

If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?

I would go back to when I was five years old to experience life as I lived it then.

If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?

An interior designer or a florist.

If you had to do community service, what would you choose?

I’d work at an animal shelter or animal rescue center.


ANDs


5 things you need in order to write: 
    •    a wide open view from my window
    •    a quiet room
    •    a cup of hot tea
    •    a reporter’s notebook
and
    •    an ergonomic chair

5 things you love about writing: 
    •    I get to live vicariously through a brave, bold heroine
    •    I get to be as imaginative as I like
    •    I can work in my pjs if I want
    •    I can take apart a plot idea and put it together as a puzzle
and 
    •    I love entertaining readers

5 things you love about where you live: 
    •    it’s a cozy, friendly college town
    •    it’s beautiful May through October
    •    there’s a charming town square
    •    it has many walking and biking paths
and
    •    it’s beautifully decorated at Christmas

5 things you never want to run out of:
    •    plots
    •    coffee
    •    chocolate
    •    wine
and
    •    friends

5 things about you or 5 words to describe you:
    •    kind
    •    loving
    •    good mom
    •    great sense of humor
and
    •    good writer

5 favorite foods: 
    •    chocolate
    •    pizza
    •    white bean turkey chili
    •    chicken cordon blue
and
    •    Culver’s turtle sundae

5 things you always put in your books: 
    •    a quirky character
    •    suspense
    •    humor
    •    cliff-hangars
and   
    •    a page-turner ending

5 favorite places you’ve been: 
    •    Santorini
    •    any Greek island
    •    Rome
    •    Ireland
and
    •    Paris

5 favorite authors:
    •    Barbara Kingsolver
    •    Kate Atkinson
    •    Liane Moriarty
    •    Erik Larson
and
    •    Kristin Hannah

5 favorite things to do: 
    •    read
    •    walk
    •    yoga
    •    cook
and
    •    write

5 things that drive you crazy:
    •    slow people
    •    rudeness
    •    close-minded people
    •    airport delays
and   
    •    rain

WHATs

What’s your all-time favorite place?
Santorini, Greece.

What’s your all-time favorite memory?
Getting married at sunset on the Gulf in Key West, Florida.

What’s your all-time favorite movie?
Gone With The Wind.

What’s your all-time favorite author?  
Barbara Kingsolver.

What’s your all-time favorite city?
Key West, Florida.

What’s your all-time favorite library?
A little library I used to practically live in as a child, now closed.

What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
I was a carhop.


What’s your biggest pet peeve?
People who talk on cell phones in a restaurant.

What’s the loveliest sight you’ve ever seen?
The first sight of my children.

What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve heard?
A first laugh.

What’s your favorite/most visited Internet site?
Amazon.


What’s your favorite time of day?
Nine p.m. when I get into my pjs and settle in for a good TV show.

What’s your favorite meal?
PIzza.

What’s your favorite vacation spot?
Santorini, Greece.

What’s your favorite snack?
Dark chocolate.

What’s your favorite dessert?
Warm fudgy brownie.

What’s your favorite beverage?
It’s a tie between coffee and a glass of cabernet.

What’s your favorite ice cream? 
Chocolate.

What’s your favorite hobby or past-time?
Yoga.

What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do? 
Read.

What’s your favorite quote?
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

What’s your favorite movie snack?
Buttery popcorn.

What’s your favorite social media site?
Facebook.

What’s your favorite color?
Tie between coral and aqua
.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
My cell phone.

What drives you crazy?
People texting while driving.


What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
Sunset in Key West
.

What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
When you’re happy, enjoy each moment because it may never come again.


What movie genre do you prefer: drama, comedy, action, adventure, thriller, or horror? 
Comedy.

What would you rather watch: MSNBC, CNN, or Fox?
CNN.

What is your obsession?
Being neat
.

What is a pet peeve?
People who talk on their phones at dinner.


What smells remind you of your childhood?
Freshly mown grass, chlorine at a pool
.

What author would you most like to review one of your books?
Liane Moriarty
.

What book are you currently working on?
The third book in my new Goddess of Greene St. mysteries.


What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: A good, hot cheesy pizza.
Music:Anything by the Beatles, John Legend, or Andy Grammer.
Movie: Knives Out.
Book: The House We Grew Up In.
TV: New Amsterdam
Miscellaneous: Exercise—yoga,

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kate Collins is the New York Times bestselling author of the Flower Shop Mystery series. After publishing numerous historical romances, Kate penned the long-running mystery series, three books of which were made into Hallmark movies starring Brooke Shields. An Indiana native, Kate graduated from Purdue University with a master’s degree in education. When not growing roots at her computer, Kate loves to garden. Other passions include yoga, reading, spending time with family and friends, sampling great wines and fine dark chocolate, and enjoying every moment of life. Kate lives in Northwest Indiana and Key West, Florida.


Connect with Kate:
Website  |  Facebook

Buy the book:
Amazon

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FEATURED AUTHOR: TOM LUTZ

ABOUT THE BOOK

A provocative, globe-trotting, time-shifting novel about the seductions of—and resistance to—toxic masculinity.



"Frank knew as well as anyone how stories start and how they end. This fiery mess, or something like it, was bound to happen. He had been expecting it for years."



Frank Baltimore is a bit of a loser, struggling by as a carpenter and handyman in rural New England when he gets his big break, building a mansion in the executive suburbs of Hartford. One of his workers is a charismatic eighteen-year-old kid from Liverpool, Dmitry, in the US in the summer before university. Dmitry is a charming sociopath, who develops a fascination with his autodidactic philosopher boss, perhaps thinking that, if he could figure out what made Frank tick, he could be less of a pig. Dmitry heads to Asia and makes a neo-imperialist fortune, with a trail of corpses in his wake. When Dmitry's office building in Taipei explodes in an enormous fireball, Frank heads to Asia, falls in love with Dmitry's wife, and things go from bad to worse.



Combining the best elements of literary thriller, noir and political satire, Born Slippy is a darkly comic and honest meditation on modern life under global capitalism.

Book Details:


Title: Born Slippy: A Novel


Author: Tom Lutz


Genre: noir, thriller


Publisher: Repeater/Penguin Random House (January 14, 2020)


Print length: 296 pages

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH TOM LUTZ

A few of your favorite things: my thousands of books.
Things you need to throw out: hundreds of books.


Things you need in order to write: my laptop.
Things that hamper your writing: my job (teaching at the University of California, Riverside), my avocation (running Los Angeles Review of Books, and my bad habits (binge-watching global TV on Netflix).


Things you love about writing: doing it, being in the flow.
Things you hate about writing: not much, really.

Easiest thing about being a writer: doing it.

Hardest thing about being a writer: doing it.


Things you love about where you live: my neighborhood in Los Angeles has the upside of urban life combined with the best of suburban life.
Things that make you want to move: I don’t want to move, I just want to travel.


Things you never want to run out of: time, money, and love.
Things you wish you’d never bought: a video camera.


Favorite foods: paella, duck, porcetta, handmade pasta.
Things that make you want to throw up:  ketchup on eggs; chicken feet; Southern Comfort (had a run-in with it as a teen . . . )

Favorite music or song: funk.
Music that make your ears bleed: noise metal.

Something you’re really good at: diving in.

Something you’re really bad at: patience.


Something you wish you could do: play the saxophone.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: feel resentment.


People you consider as heroes: empaths.

People with a big L on their foreheads: narcissists.

Things you’d walk a mile for: my children.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: people talking about their children.


Things to say to an author: “I love your books!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I didn’t care for this new one . . .”

Favorite places you’ve been: all but a handful of the 140 countries I’ve visited.

Places you never want to go to again: Djibouti, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Moldova.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: the Obamas.

People you’d cancel dinner on: the Trumps (just kidding, I couldn’t pass up that opportunity).

Favorite things to do: travel, work, love.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: clothes shopping.

Things that make you happy: intimacy, gastronomy, art.

Things that drive you crazy: self-promotion.

Most embarrassing moment: there are way too many to choose from.

Proudest moment: seeing my children happily in love.

Best thing you’ve ever done: getting married.

Biggest mistake: getting married (the other time).

The last thing you did for the first time: skydiving.

Something you’ll never do again: skydiving.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Tom Lutz is an award-winning author of books, articles, reviews, screenplays, and radio programs. After a decade as a musician, cook, and carpenter, he started going to school and never left. After a PhD at Stanford University, he taught at University of Iowa, University of Copenhagen, and CalArts before joining the faculty at UC Riverside in 2006, where he is Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing.

Lutz is the author of Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers and Bums (Farrar Strauss Giroux; American Book Award, NY Times and LA Times Bestseller), Cosmopolitan Vistas (Cornell University Press; Choice Outstanding Academic Book), Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears  (Norton; NY Times Bestseller and NY Times Notable Book), American Nervousness, 1903: An Anecdotal History (Cornell University Press; NY Times Notable Book), two books of travel narrative:  And the Monkey Learned Nothing: Dispatches from a Life in Transit (Iowa University Press) and Drinking Mare’s Milk on the Roof of the World: Wandering the Globe from Azerbaijan to Zanzibar (OR Books), and a novel, Born Slippy (Repeater/Penguin Random House). These books have been translated into 12 languages and published in dozens of countries. He has published in scores newspapers, magazines, literary and academic journals, and in many edited collections.

He also works as a screenwriter for film and television, and is the founding Editor in Chief and Publisher of The Los Angeles Review of Books (including The LARB Radio Hour, the LARB Quarterly Journal, LARB Books, and the LARB Publishing Workshop). He lives in Los Angeles.

Connect with Tom:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

FEATURED AUTHOR: LYNN STEIGLEDER

ABOUT THE BOOK

Aon, a solid core planet made from the priceless and most dense element in the galaxy (caladium) is under silent attack. Plans are made by off-worlders to dissolve the unbreakable core using crude oil obtained from 19th century earth. Once the oil is refined the byproduct, gasoline will soften the caladium, allowing it to be collected. It is soon discovered the core is made from living beings created from caladium itself. The off-worlders employ a band of corrupt inhabitant’s to carry on this work. They find themselves in a constant struggle with a small coalition of Aonians bent on saving their home world. Both factions clash with the indestructible core creatures. With horrendous beast’s one step behind and deadly pitfalls ahead, the coalition struggle to finish their journey insuring their races survival.      

Book Details:


Title: Terminal Core


Author’s name: Lynn Steigleder


Genre: science fiction, action-adventure



Publisher: Soul Fire Press, an imprint of Christopher Matthews, (April 18, 2016)


Print length: 347 pages


LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH LYNN STEIGLEDER


A few of your favorite things: family, friends, writing, and most importantly God.
Things you need to throw out: being as I’m bit of a pack rat, they’re too numerous to name.


Things you love about writing: creating new worlds, new creatures, and never before seen circumstances.
Things you hate about writing: grammar.

Easiest thing about being a writer: reaching a stride as your story flows with ease through your manuscript. 

Hardest thing about being a writer: marketing the book after all is said and done.


Things you love about where you live: a nice quiet rural area.
Things that make you want to move: none so far.

Words that describe you: outgoing, honest, trustworthy.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: a procrastinator that likes to be in control.

Favorite foods: seafood and beef.
Things that make you want to throw up: banner sausage in a can.

Favorite song: Rush’s “Red Barchetta.”
Music that makes your ears bleed: opera.

Favorite beverage: root beer.

Something that gives you a pickle face: pure cranberry juice.

Things you always put in your books: twists, turns, action, and unique creatures.

Things you never put in your books: offensive language and sexual situations.

Favorite places you’ve been: surf fishing in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Places you never want to go to again: Las Vegas.

Favorite things to do: write and spend time with my wife.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: going to Walmart.

Things that make you happy: gathering together with friends and family.

Things that drive you crazy: man’s inhumanity to man.

Proudest moment: watching my son grow into a man.

Most embarrassing moment: standing on a platform with cameramen, lighting technicians, various other people and my interviewer promoting my first book, when my pants hit the floor.

Best thing you’ve ever done: accept Jesus as my Savior.

Biggest mistake: taking too long to do it.

The last thing you did for the first time: ate lobster Tomalley (liver).

Something you’ll never do again: eat lobster Tomalley.

OTHER BOOKS BY LYNN STEIGLEDER

The Rising Tide Series:

Rising Tide

Eden’s Wake

Deadly Reign

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Lynn Steigleder was born in Richmond, Virginia. He spent most of his adult life as a supervisor in the field of construction and fabrication. In 2006, Lynn received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Lynn realized the need to transition into a new career path due to his energy and mobility challenges.

His son suggested he consider writing as a career; having enjoyed his father’s short stories. Lynn agreed to the challenge and his first novel, Rising Tide, in the series of the same name was released for publication in 2009. The second, Eden’s Wake, and the third, Deadly Reign soon followed. Terminal Core, a standalone was released  in 2016. Dalon Con (The Essence of Time) is in the editing process, and a fourth book for the Rising Tide series is nearing completion.



Lynn writes science fiction, fantasy, and action adventure.



Lynn’s ideas are often driven by daily events, things he sees in nature or any path his imagination decides to lead him down. He loves to write and enjoys the challenges of bringing a novel from conception, working with his publisher through the editing process, rewrites, and reading the book many times before it goes to print.



Connect with Lynn:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble




FEATURED AUTHOR: KELLY BRAKENHOFF

ABOUT THE BOOK

Will Dead Week kill Cassandra's career?

VP of Student Affairs Cassandra Sato has a desk full of problems and it's not even Thanksgiving break.

Cassandra's new boss talks to her dead husband. Cassandra's mentor thinks he's a superhero in a senior citizen's body. And Cassandra, recently moved from Hawai'i, can't crack the code of what to wear during November in Nebraska.

Cassandra faces end of semester pranks, stray dogs, winter storms, and viral news stories in her fight for justice for a group of student activists. But that's nothing compared to the wrath of a Helicopter Mom!

If you like academic cozy mysteries with funny BFFs, hilarious student shenanigans, and small town drama, you'll like this series.

Book Details:

Title: Dead Week   

Author: Kelly Brakenhoff

Genre: cozy mystery

Series: Cassandra Sato Mystery Series, book 2

Publisher: Emerald Prairie Press (December 11, 2019)

Print length: 322 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours





IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH KELLY BRAKENHOFF

Ifs
 

If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
I’ve waited my whole life to become an author and finally did it last year when I published three books I’d worked on forever. I still work at my day job as an American Sign Language Interpreter. I love working with deaf and hard of hearing people and helping people understand each other. If I were to quit my day job someday, I’d start a tour company because it would give me an excuse to travel with people and see more of the world.

If you were on the Amazon bestseller list, who would you choose to be one before and one below you?
Janet Evanovich and Michael Connelly.


If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
Frankie Bow. My favorite series of hers is the Professor Molly Mysteries. She can make everyday scenes like arriving at work funny, so our lunch would be full of laughter. And of course, we’d have to eat lunch in Hawai’i. I’d order a yummy kalua pork plate lunch. Plus, she’s kind of secretive about her real name and her day job at a college in Hawai’i. I’m super curious how she juggles writing and being a real-life professor.

If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?
Hogwarts. But I doubt they’d give me a job there since I’m a Muggle. So maybe Hogsmeade? I’d own a bar, drink lots of Butterbeer, and hang out with all the smart wizards who stopped by. 


If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?

Hawai’i. When my husband and I were first married, we lived on Oahu for five years, and two of our children were born there. Although it’s been great having our extended family near us while the kids all grew up, I miss sunshine. And the beach, and Portugese malasadas, and our friends, and the music, and—oh no! Can you tell winter is settling in here in Nebraska? It’s going to be a long few months!



ANDs

5 things you love about where you live: 
    •    Husker football
    •    the sunsets 
    •    friendly people
    •    local craft beer
and
    •    Runza sandwiches and Frings!

5 favorite places you’ve been:  
    •    Kauai 
    •    Vatican City 
    •    Florence, Italy
    •    Oxford, England
    and
    •    Ireland

5 favorite authors:  
    •    Janet Evanovich
    •    John Grisham
    •    David Baldacci
    •    JRR Tolkien
and 
    •    CS Lewis
(That’s too hard. I have too many to choose from!)

5 living people you’d like to invite to dinner:  
    •    Pope Francis
    •    Prince William and Kate
    •    Emma Watson
    •    Ron Howard
and
    •    Fr. Mike Schmitz
I’d serve steak and we would have a very lively discussion.

5 favorite things to do:  
    •    hiking
    •    camping
    •    traveling
    •    reading
and
    •    cooking

WHATs

What’s your all-time favorite library? 

Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.


What’s your favorite dessert?

Chocolate Mousse.


What’s your favorite beverage? 

Red wine (with my chocolate mousse).


What’s one of your favorite quotes?

Every year I choose at least one guiding quote that I post in a prominent place and think about. This year it’s: "Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”  —Mother Teresa


What’s your all-time favorite quote?
My all-time favorite quote is this: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.” —Erma Bombeck


What author would you most like to review one of your books? 

Hank Phillippi Ryan.



What books are you currently working on?
Dead of Winter Break, next in the Cassandra Sato series, and Farts Make Noise, next in the Duke the Deaf Dog Series.

What’s your all-time favorite author?  

JRR Tolkien.

What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: I’m on a New Year’s diet so pretty much anything with sugar or refined carbs sounds delicious. If I were to splurge, it would be on a big, sloppy Reuben Sandwich.
Music: "This is Me" by Keala Settle from The Greatest Showman. I actually made a Spotify playlist while I was writing Dead Week.
Movie: Knives Out.
Book: Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich.
Audiobook:Anna Castle’s Moriarty Meets His Match series. The narrator is awesome!!
TV: The Blacklist.
Amazon Prime: I’m switching between Mrs. Maisel and Jack Ryan.
Miscellaneous: My word of the year for 2020 is Build.

OTHER BOOKS BY KELLY BRAKENHOFF


Death by Dissertation

Dead Week

Never Mind


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelly Brakenhoff is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. Her first novel, Death by Dissertation, kicked off the Cassandra Sato Mystery Series, followed by Dead Week. She also wrote Never Mind, first in a children’s picture book series featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. She serves on the Board of Editors for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf publication, VIEWs. The mother of four young adults and two dogs, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.



Connect with Kelly:
Website  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Instagram  |  Amazon  |  Bookbub

Buy the book:
Amazon

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FEATURED AUTHOR: CHARLOTTE STUART

ABOUT THE BOOK

When single mom and recent widow Cameron Chandler takes a much-needed job at Penny-wise Investigations, a detective agency conveniently located in a suburban shopping mall, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Her first case is to locate a runaway girl, something her predecessor had been pursuing before he disappeared. Following in his footsteps, the trail leads to a survivalist camp on a remote island in northern Puget Sound. Armed with only a Swiss Army Knife and her quirky on-the-job training as a suburban sleuth, Cameron uncovers more than she bargained for. She soon finds herself in a fight for her own survival in this lighthearted mystery set in Seattle and the San Juan Islands to the north.

Book Details:

Title: Survival Can Be Deadly

Author: Charlotte Stuart

Genre: amateur sleuth

Series: Discount Detective Mysteries, book 1
Publisher: Walrus Publishing, an imprint of Amphorae Publishing Group, 9/10/19

Print length: 308 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours


IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH CHARLOTTE STUART

IFs


If you could live in any time period which would it be?
It would all depend on my circumstances. I wouldn’t want to be a servant in Downton Abby for example. In fact, looking back, I can think of too many drawbacks for each era. So, I choose 50 years in the future with a secure income and a home on a lovely lake. And, did I mention that the neighbors are part of a community of mystery writers? Except for one neighbor who raises fresh fruits and vegetables for the rest of us. Oh, and the air is fresh and clean, the water pure, and the deer only eat grass and leave our vegetables alone.

If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
My fantasy is to be a research scientist with a specialty in allergies. I, of course, would discover cures and eliminate allergy symptoms. No more runny noses and itchy eyes. No more foods you have to avoid, pets you can’t tolerate, or plants that make you sneeze and wheeze. I suppose I could have aimed higher on the disease food chain, but you have to start somewhere.

If you had to do community service, what would you choose?
I love the pro bono work I do with strategic planning for boards of small nonprofits. It’s inspirational to engage with people dedicated to solving problems on a local level, everything from environmental issues to helping immigrants to providing quality cellos to talented musicians. Nonprofit employees do so much good for low pay and long hours. Kudos to them.

If you were on the Amazon bestseller list, who would you choose to be one before and one below you?
Look out, Tana French, you were just surpassed! Okay, Michael Connolly, you can outsell me.

If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?
Instead of a town, I choose a fictional utopian country created by Austin Tappan Wright in his book Islandia. There are days when escaping from technology and sailing on quiet waters is very appealing. That’s what I remember best from Islandia, the feeling of being one with nature in a place and time that encouraged reflection. Although some of the political and cultural themes in the book aren’t necessarily appealing…but in my town in Wright’s country, things are run my way . . .


ANDs


5 things you love about where you live:
There are so many things about the island that I love. My top five include:
•    my view of the water from my office. I enjoy the sunsets, birds and seals in particular. But seeing kayakers and boats pass by is also fun.
•    I’m grateful for all of the hiking trails and beach walks within minutes of my home.
•    For the most part, the vehicle traffic is light to non-existent. Moving here from the chaos that is Seattle traffic was both a relief and a joy.
•    Great neighbors who enjoy the island for the same reasons I do.
and
•    So many trees . . . lovely, tall, abundant.

5 things you never want to run out of:
    •    popcorn
    •    toilet paper
    •    time
    •    love of life
and
    •    laughter

5 favorite foods:  
    •    wild blackberry pie
    •    prawns
    •    homemade bread
    •    tomatoes
and
    •    cucumbers

5 favorite books:
    •    A Gentleman from Moscow by Amor Towles
    •    The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
    •    The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
    •    The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
and
    •    The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell

5 things that drive you crazy: 
    •    going to the movies and ending up seated behind a tall person with broad shoulders and big hair
    •    trying to drive through downtown Seattle
    •    unfounded conspiracy theories
    •    deer eating my roses
and
    •    too many dreary gray days in a row

WHATs

What’s your all-time favorite picture of yourself?
It’s 2010, and I’m in the cockpit of a hydroplane with Wil Muncey sitting on the side deck. I felt so cool!

What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
It’s a view of our dock at our lake cabin, surrounded by trees and wetland reeds. Just a few steps to a refreshing swim in a lovely lake.


What smells remind you of your childhood?
Polish sausage straight from the smokehouse, pine needles in the woods on a warm day, and fresh sheets dried outside in the sun.


What’s your all-time favorite place you’ve visited?
The Corycian Cave in central Greece, a place of worship for Pan. It doesn’t look like much in this picture, but the entire day was an adventure. The cave wasn’t on any of the maps we had, but we knew where it should be given the history of the area. The occasional signs were in Greek and the handful of people we met along the way didn’t speak English. When we came to a dirt road that seemed like a possibility, it became so narrow that we were forced to get out and walk. The good news - we made it!


What’s your all-time favorite place in your town?
I like all of the many trails in the woods. This is a path on one of my favorite walks just minutes from where I live.

What book are you currently working on?
I’m working on the third in my discount detective series because I came up with what I think is a gripping opening scene. Hopefully the rest of the story will flow from there.

What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: no-knead whole wheat bread – I can almost smell it baking.
Music: Paul Simon – like him, I’m still crazy after all these years.
Movie: Backstabbing for Beginners with Ben Kingsley and two documentaries: The Biggest Little Farm and Finding Home in Boomtown.
Book: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish; The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson.
TV: Madame Secretary (almost too real); All Rise (great characters).
Netflix: The Detectorists on Netflix.
Miscellaneous: Do one thing for yourself each day, even if it’s only taking time to read while having a cuppa.

OTHER BOOKS BY CHARLOTTE STUART

Survival Can Be Deadly
Disastrous Interviews: the Comic, Tragic and Just Plain Ugly 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 In a world filled with uncertainty and too little chocolate, Charlotte Stuart, PhD, has taught college courses in communication, gone commercial fishing in Alaska, and survived being the VP of HR and Training for a large credit union. Her current passion is for writing lighthearted mysteries with a pinch of adventure and a dollop of humor. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching herons, eagles, seals and other sea life from her Vashon Island home office.


Connect with Charlotte:Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble  |  IndieBound  |  Kobo




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FEATURED AUTHOR: BARBARA SILKSTONE

ABOUT THE BOOK

New release — Book 5 — Cold Cream Murders series.

Someone dear to Olive is found dead—toes up and barefooted—in Digby’s Bees lavender field. Olive and Lizzy team up with WonderDog to find the killer. Digby’s hives are home to the wondrous Soprano bees. The little buzzers are the source of the secret ingredient that powers their Nonna’s Cold Cream—a fountain of youth in a jar.

Finding the killer turns out to be more of a challenge as the gals protect Digby’s bees from a determined land developer who wants the beekeeper’s farm. The clock ticks as saving the honeybees becomes every bit as important as finding the murderer.

While Olive and Lizzy buzz about, Grams, nonagenarian ace reporter for the Silverfish Gazette, takes on the story of a diamond heist in nearby Sarasota. Can the gals protect Grams from another near catastrophe or can the feisty lady handle it alone? 

Help the Cold Cream gals solve the mystery of the Lavender Toes while once again bailing Grams out of trouble. And what about those bees?

Every book comes with a recipe for a homemade beauty product.

Book Details:

Title: Lavender Toes   

Author: Barbara Silkstone

Genre: cozy

Series: Cold Cream Murders, book 5

Published: December 1, 2019

Print length: 174 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA SILKSTONE

IFs


If you could talk to someone (living), who would it be and what would you ask them?
John Cleese. I would ask him to talk to me in his lovely British accent for as long as he wants. Being extremely funny would be a plus.

If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
Oscar Wilde. He would probably chat away without being asked. I believe he did more with fewer words than anyone in the history of the English language. I might ask him what he thinks of the internet, Twitter, Facebook, contemporary fiction, and movies. Oops . . . also I’d ask if I could record him as no one would believe I’d actually chatted with him.

If you could live in any time period which would it be?
The Roaring Twenties! I would have a wardrobe like Miss Fisher’s—especially the hats. Oh, and her figure and athletic prowess. I can’t walk and chew gum without stumbling.

If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
There is a cottage in Upper Slaughter (Cotswolds) that has an eerie effect on me. I have visited it many times over the years but can’t walk in front of it—my body freezes. I CAN walk behind it through an old churchyard. (Cue the music from Twilight Zone.) I would like to go back in time to understand the how or why of my feelings. I think I’d want to watch it from a distance, just in case.


If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
The Cotswolds!




ANDs

5 things you need in order to write:  
    •    total quiet
    •    no interruptions
    •    identifying with the protagonist
    •    my screwball sense of humor
and
    •    my computer (my handwriting has become illegible).

5 things you love about writing:
    •    I am able to revisit funny incidents in my past
    •    I love the many thankful messages I receive from readers who have been lifted up and lightened from my writings
    •    I love doing the research required to set my protagonists in a pickle and see them get out
    •    I enjoy getting up early every morning and surprising myself with ideas that weren’t there the night before
and
    •    I love the sense of giving birth to each new book. I’ve done it over forty times and each time is like the first time.

5 words to describe you:
    •    always smiling
    •    sometimes caring too much
    •    the queen of leaping before looking
    •    dental floss addict
and
    •    cat lover.


5 things you always put in your books:
    •    humor
    •    feel-goods
    •    optimism
    •    double entendres
and
    •    hidden references that make readers think twice.


5 favorite books:
    •    Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    •    Illusions by Richard Bach
    •    H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
    •    Ghosts by Marsha Parker
and
    •    The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.


5 living people you’d like to invite to dinner:
    •    John Cleese
    •    Walton Goggins
    •    Andrew Scott
    •    Ryan Gosling
and
    •    Jude Law.

WHATs

What’s your all-time favorite place?
Upper Slaughter in the Cotswolds.

What’s your all-time favorite memory?
Being the new kid in a Catholic school. I was forced to stand in front of the class while the 5th grade nun introduced me. Every student was dressed in navy blue uniforms with black and white saddle shoes. We were poor and my mother dressed me in a second-hand light green, organdy dress and scuffed red oxford shoes. I wanted to disappear through the floor. After class Pat came up to me and said, “I’d like to be your friend.” That was eons ago and we remain lifetime best friends.
Pat: “When I saw you standing in front of the class I knew I had to be your friend.”

What’s your all-time favorite movie? 
Rob Roy with Liam Neeson.

What’s your all-time favorite city?
London.

What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
I can’t bear holes in fabric. I’m really phobic about it.


What’s your biggest pet peeve?
People who have lost their compassion. It’s more than a peeve with me.

What’s the loveliest sight you’ve ever seen?
The Scottish Highlands.


What’s your favorite time of day? 
Early morning when the world is still.

What’s your favorite song?
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang “ and  “A Sleepin’ Bee.”

What’s your favorite ice cream? 
Butter Pecan.

What’s your favorite quote?
Sometimes the journey you set out on is not the one you return from.
The quote is from my book Wendy and the Lost Boys – Book 1 in my Wendy Darlin series.

What’s your favorite color?
Green.


What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
Cell phone and my shoes. I think I have a shoe-thing going on. References to shoes show up in most of my novels. Maybe it has to do with those ugly red oxford shoes in 5th grade?

What drives you crazy? 
People who hurt other people. There is never a reason to be cruel or unkind.


What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
Sky and clouds.


What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
I wish I knew that not every wrong decision can be corrected and that there is no do-over button in life. I was naïve about many of the choices I made.


What movie genre do you prefer?
Cozy and Victorian mysteries.

What is your obsession? 

French Market Coffee with chicory, and dental floss.


What are your idiosyncrasies?
I can’t stand getting my face wet, and I am horrified by holes in fabric.


What author would you most like to review one of your books?
Neil Gaiman.


What book are you currently working on? 
Book 6 in my Cold Cream Murders series.

What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: it used to be Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken but I ate it too often. Now I’m not allowed.
Music: anything by Queen – it’s timeless.
Movie: Rob Roy with Liam Neeson. It’s old but it’s still a favorite flick for my kitty and me.
Book: The Invention of Wings.
Audiobook: Where the Crawdads Sing.
Amazon Prime: Spirited (love this show).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barbara Silkstone is the author of the Cold Cream Murders cozies, also the Florence Nightingale Comedy Mystery Series, light-hearted Victorian capers.

Silkstone is also the author of the best selling Mister Darcy series of comedic mysteries ~ 9 books~ plus an additional 10 Regency novels and novellas, all with a light, humorous touch.

Please check out her Wendy Darlin Comedy Mysteries – 5 Cozy Capers.



Connect with Barbara:
Facebook  |  Facebook  |  Facebook  |  Amazon  |  Twitter  |   Newsletter   |

Buy the book:

Amazon




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FEATURED AUTHOR: ELIZABETH PENNEY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Welcome to the first in the Apron Shop mystery series by Elizabeth Penney, set in the quaint village of Blueberry Cove, Maine where an expert seamstress turned amateur sleuth is getting measured for murder . . .

Iris Buckley is sew ready for a change. After the death of her beloved grandfather, Iris decides to stay in her Maine hometown to help out her widowed grandmother, Anne—and bring her online hand-made apron designs to real-time retail life. Her and Anne’s shop, Ruffles & Bows, is set to include all the latest and vintage linen fashions, a studio for sewing groups and classes, and a friendly orange cat. The only thing that they were not planning to have on the property? A skeleton in the basement

Anne recognizes the remains of an old friend, and when a second body shows up in the apron shop—this time their corrupt landlord, whom Anne had been feuding with for decades—she becomes a prime suspect. Now, it’s up to Iris to help clear her name. Enlisting the help of her old high-school crush Ian Stewart who, like certain fabrics, has only gotten better-looking with age and her plucky BFF Madison Morris, Iris must piece together an investigation to find out who the real killer is. . .and find a way to keep her brand-new business from being scrapped in the process.

Book Details:


Title: Hems And Homicide


Author’s name: Elizabeth Penney


Genre: cozy mystery; amateur sleuth, traditional mystery


Series: The Apron Shop Series, book 1


Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, December 31, 2019


Page count: 288
 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours


LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH ELIZABETH PENNEY

A few of your favorite things: my favorite things include my library of books, most of which are research volumes I use while writing. I also collect old children’s books I love, and vintage New Hampshire memorabilia, including publications. Then there’s the kitchen, where I have the old KitchenAid mixer my mother gave me. It still works and I use it to bake bread.  But what would I grab in case of fire? The Mother’s Day artwork my daughters made, residing in a glass cabinet along with more “valuable” items, and paintings by my late father.
Things you need to throw out: my list is very short, since we basically purged during our move back home to New Hampshire. I do have a crate full of printed pages from drafts. It’s threatening to take over the office so I’d better empty it soon.

Things you love about writing: I’m in creative heaven while noodling new plot ideas and also while drafting a book. I love being immersed in my story-world when everything flows.
Things you hate about writing: it’s the left-brain activities I chafe at doing. Outlining, incredibly useful when writing a mystery, is very painful for me. Editing, too, I regard as a chore. That’s why I strive to write pretty clean first drafts.

Things you love about where you live: we’re back in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, which is remote, rural and gorgeous. I love that we have family here, that we live in a small town where help is only a phone call away.
Things that make you want to move: the same things that led me to move to Georgia in 2008 (we returned in 2016): bad winter weather and icy roads, the lack of music venues, restaurant variety, and bookstores.

Favorite music: as in my reading, I’m pretty eclectic in my tastes. I like classical, baroque, swing, jazz, blues, rock and roll, and some country.
Music that make your ears bleed: heavy metal rock is more of an assault than music, in my opinion.

Favorite beverage: coffee, especially the brand we brew, special ordered (yes we’re picky) from Louisiana. Rich, dark, and smooth. I think I’ll go make another pot, using the commercial Bunn coffeemaker we found second-hand. It makes the best coffee.
Something that gives you a pickle face: any herb tea that tastes like sticks brewed in tepid hot water. 


Things you always put in your books: my passions include history, especially domestic history, art, antiques, architecture, gardening, and literature, and often these elements appear in my books. For example, the Apron Shop Series is the perfect showcase for domestic history related to vintage aprons. Maine has a lot of beautiful old homes, and I like to include those too. 

Things you never put in your books: violence against children or animals or kidnapped girls who are abused. I don’t read about those things and I won’t write about them.

Favorite places you’ve been: besides Maine, which is where I grew up and a setting I love writing about, I would say Barga, Italy, in Tuscany. My artisan great-grandfather emigrated from there in the late 1800s, and once I saw how picturesque it is, I wanted to visit. Barga is a medieval village perched on top of a mountain, with narrow cobblestone streets and red-tiled rooftops. I’d love to go back sometime. 

Places you never want to go to again: I’m not a fan of gritty urban areas. I need green space and fresh air and room to move.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Penney is an author, entrepreneur, and local food advocate living in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In addition to writing full-time, she operates a small farm. Elements that often appear in her novels include vintage summer cottages, past/present mysteries, and the arts. She is represented by the fabulous Elizabeth Bewley at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Elizabeth's writing credits include over twenty mysteries, short stories, and hundreds of business articles. A former consultant and nonprofit executive, she holds a BS and an MBA. She's also written screenplays with her musician husband.

She loves walking in the woods, kayaking on quiet ponds, trying new recipes, and feeding family and friends.



Connect with Elizabeth:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads


Buy the book:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

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