GUEST POST BY DARYL WOOD GERBER

ABOUT THE BOOK

The buoyant mood at Bistro Rousseau deflates when Chef Camille’s sister, Renee, turns up dead in the chef’s kitchen, and Mimi Rousseau must tease the real killer out of a mélange of menacing characters.

Crush Week in Nouvelle Vie is a madhouse—in a good way. Tourists pour into town for the pressing of the Napa Valley’s world-renowned grapes and all the town’s businesses get a nice lift, including Bistro and Maison Rousseau. Mimi is raising the ante this year with a Sweet Treats Festival, a wonderland of croissants, cakes, tarts, and soufflés crafted with expert care by the area’s top talents.

Chef Camille’s sister Renee is managing the festival with a cast-iron fist, upsetting everyone, including her sister. Which is bad for Camille when Renee turns up dead in the chef’s kitchen. Mimi is still building her business, so her first course of action is to whip up answers and catch the unsavory perpetrator before Camille takes a dusting and gets burned.

Book Details:

Title: A Soufflé of Suspicion

Author: Daryl Wood Gerber

Genre: Cozy mystery

Series: A French Bistro Mystery, book 2

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (July 10, 2018)

Print length: 296 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

A RECIPE FROM DARYL WOOD GERBER

This is one of the simplest dishes I know how to make and is packed with flavor. It’s a bit messy because of the pork and oil, but it’s so worth it. By the way, I adore white pepper. It makes the dish just a tad spicier than if you use regular pepper.

Cote de porc

(Serves 6)
6 (6-ounce) pork chops (about ½ inch thick) (*you may use bone-in chops)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1/2 cup diced shallots
2/3 cup vegetable or chicken broth
2/3 cup white wine (I used Trader Joe’s)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup thinly sliced cornichons
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Sprinkle the pork chops with ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon white pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork chops. Cover! This mixture will spit. Cook 8 minutes, turning after 4 minutes, until the chops are golden brown. Remove pork from the pan and set on a plate; keep warm by covering with foil.

Meanwhile, add 1 more teaspoon of oil and shallots to the pan. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Stir in the broth and wine, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Bring the onions to a boil. Cook until the liquid is reduced (about 8 minutes). Stir in ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, and Dijon mustard. Remove the pan from heat. Stir in the cornichons.

Arrange the pork on individual plates. Pour the sauce over the pork, distributing the cornichons evenly. Sprinkle with chopped fresh chives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Agatha Award-winning Daryl Wood Gerber is best known for her nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries and Cheese Shop Mysteries, which she pens as Avery Aames. She will soon debut the new French Bistro Mysteries. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense: Days of Secrets and Girl on the Run. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in Murder, She Wrote. She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!

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

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo  |  BookBub

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FEATURED AUTHOR: MARK ZASLOVE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Death and Taxes follows Mark Douglas, an ex-Marine turned IRS agent, who, along with auditing the weird and the profane, also spearheads weekend raids with his locked-and-loaded gang of government-sanctioned revenuers, merrily gathering back taxes in the form of cash, money order, or more often than not, the debtor's most prized possessions. Things turn ugly when Mark's much-loved boss and dear friend Lila is tortured and killed over what she finds in a routine set of 1040 forms. Enlisting his IRS pals - Harry Salt, a 30-year vet with a quantum physical ability to drink more than humanly possible; Wooly Bob, who's egg-bald on top with shaved eyebrows to match; Miguel, an inexperienced newbie with a company-issued bullhorn and a penchant for getting kicked in the jumblies - Mark hunts down the eunuch hit man Juju Klondike and the deadly Mongolian mob that hired him as only an angry IRS agent can. There will be no refunds for any of them when April 15th comes around. There will only be Death and Taxes.




Book Details:


Title: Death and Taxes: Tales of a Badass IRS Agent


Author: Mark Zaslove

Genre: Thriller/Suspense

Publisher: Aperient Press (June 12, 2018)

Page count: 228

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH MARK ZASLOVE

A few of your favorite things: Astrophotography, scuba diving, fishing, my kid.
Things you need to throw out: The various bottles of Russian vodka in the freezer
.

Things you need in order to write: A keyboard.
Things that hamper your writing: Neither rain, nor sleet, nor noise, nor phone calls can stop me
.

Things you love about writing: It’s pattern-solving versus gestalt, so it uses both parts of my tiny brain.
Things you hate about writing: Payments: everyone thinks writers don’t need to be paid on time, like we don’t eat or something.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Finding how to write truthfully.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Everything else is simple
.

Things you love about where you live: Born and bred in SoCal . . . the sun, the beach, the ocean breeze.
Things that make you want to move:
Kona, Hawaii calls to me.


Things you never want to run out of: Patience and electricity.
Things you wish you’d never bought: Too many to list, but the 5-string neck-thru Warwick bass I got in Iceland; now I want another one
.

Words that describe you: Epigrammatic, physical, idiosyncratic.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Gullible, hopeful, spendy.

Favorite foods: Anything except . . .
Things that make you want to throw up:  . . . Brussels sprouts

Favorite music:
Anything from old R&B to Punk, Blues to Gospel.
Music that make your ears bleed: Swedish Death Metal (although Kaamos and Dismember have their moments).

Favorite beverage: Soda water with lemon juice in it
.
Something that gives you a pickle face: Anything super-sweet.

Favorite smell: Channel No5
.
Something that makes you hold your nose: Passing by the stockyards on I-5 near Coalinga, California.

Something you’re really good at: Pattern solving.

Something you’re really bad at: French
.

Something you wish you could do: Speak French.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Professional Magic.

Something you like to do: Read.
Something you wish you’d never done: Too many to count.

People you consider as heroes: My father, truly good-hearted people.
People with a big L on their foreheads: People who won’t correct their ignorance or misconceptions – I consider that a sin.



Last best thing you ate: Sashimi at a restaurant in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Last thing you regret eating: An ice tea that was supposed to be unsweetened but wasn’t.

Things you’d walk a mile for: A good book, a good friend, exercise.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Hypocrites.

Things you always put in your books: Strong funny characters.

Things you never put in your books: Stupid main characters – another sin.

Things to say to an author: I really liked your book.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I really didn’t like your book.

Favorite places you’ve been: Iceland, Barcelona, the Bay Area, Kona, Hawaii
.
Places you never want to go to again: Coalinga, California.

Favorite books: All of them, but as I get older I get stupider, so I stick with thrillers/suspense, fantasy/scifi and then a good literary book every-so-often.

Books you would ban: Celebrity-written children’s books.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Warren Buffet (I’ve talked with him before and he’s a hoot), Chrissie Hynde, Persi Diaconis, Ice Cube, Jane Goodall, Lynn Margulis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Margot Benacerraf.
People you’d cancel dinner on: Any Kardashian or their relations or anyone they’ve ever slept with or supported them.

Favorite things to do: Read, be at the beach, astrophotography, hangin’ with my son.
Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: PR, raves, PR, hobnobbing with nobs, PR, and . . . PR.

Things that make you happy: My son, a good single malt scotch, grocery shopping and stocking up the cabinets, reading
.
Things that drive you crazy: Filling out forms; doesn’t matter, I’ll find a way to make a mistake on the first try.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Who is this Mark Zaslove fellow and why did he write this book?

Seriously, one can’t be too careful in researching authors in this age of false pretenses and fake appellations. So here goes…a long-standing writer/director/producer, Mark is a live-action and animation entertainment industry veteran, working in both movies and television. He’s done time – scratch that – created content for all the major studios, including Disney, Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros. A two-time Emmy Award winner for writing/producing, Mark also won the Humanitas Prize (for writing uplifting human values in television and movies – go figure). He also writes short fiction and right after college (where he studied astrophysics), he served as senior editor on various magazines including a couple for the notorious LFP, Inc.—Google it—but from there he went to “Winnie the Pooh,” so his karma is still cool.

Finally, one day, he got fed up with the rigorous structure of scriptwriting and everyone giving him notes and decided: “WTH! Time to stretch my legs, step on the gas and write a novel for the sheer fun of it!” And voila, almost before you could say “Death and Taxes,” the book was done. What’s more, it’s just the first in a series of fast-paced thrillers following the escapades of IRS agent Mark Douglas and his band of merry revenuers as they bring justice to those in great need of same, while collecting your Federal dollars along the way. Hey, for both Marks, it’s a living.


Connect with Mark:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads 


Buy the book:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

FEATURED AUTHOR: TJ O'CONNOR

ABOUT THE BOOK

When a rogue CIA consultant goes AWOL from his Middle Eastern post in response to his brother’s plea for help, he arrives just in time to witness his brother’s murder. For years, Jonathan Hunter and his brother Kevin Mallory had not spoken―until Kevin’s final words, “… Khalifah … Not Them … Maya.”

Pursuing his brother’s killer, Hunter stumbles into a nest of horrifying terrorist activity by Middle Eastern refugees, which sparks a backlash across America. In the shadows, Hunter’s mentor, the omnipotent Oscar LaRue, is playing a dangerous game with Russian Intelligence. Neither Hunter nor LaRue realizes that a new threat―the Iranian threat―has entered the game. Stakes rise as two shadowy players are one step ahead of Hunter and LaRue―Khalifah, a terrorist mastermind, and Caine, a nomadic assassin who dances with the highest bidder.

As attacks escalate and the country drifts toward another Middle East conflict, innocent refugees become trapped between the terrorists and the terrorized. Prejudice, hate, and fear vent everywhere. Is this who we’ve become? Before the country explodes, Hunter must find Khalifah, learn the next terror target, and pray he’s in time to stop further annihilation.

Book Details:

Title: The Consultant

Author’s name: Tj O’Connor

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Oceanview Publishing (May 15, 2018)

Page count: 432

On tour with: Partners in Crime Book Tours

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH TJ O’CONNOR

A few of your favorite things: Harley Davidson, Labrador Retrievers, Jack Daniels.
Things you need to throw out: Taxes, politicians, and constantly-whining-Facebook people.


Things you need in order to write: Time. Sleep. Time.
Things that hamper your writing: Time. Sleep. Time. 


Things you love about writing: I love storytelling and my characters. I love meeting the fans and readers and talking books. I love everything about it.
Things you hate about writing: Overwriting my stories and having to kill characters and subplots. It’s painful. Utterly painful.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Sitting down and writing. I have never struggled to just sit and work on my book. 

Hardest thing about being a writer: Having to work for a living when I’d rather be writing.


Things you love about where you live: It’s a small, historic town. I love everything about it!
Things that make you want to move: The urban sprawl from Washington DC over 90 miles away creeping toward us!


Things you never want to run out of: Time. Labrador Retrievers. Money.
Things you wish you’d never bought: A few dozen car cell phone stands that don’t last or work. Tom Cruise’s The Mummy. 


Favorite foods: Steak, seafood, land food. Anything I love to cook like Greek Food, Italian Food, Asian Food … food.
Things that make you want to throw up:  Liver and onions. Politicians. Politicians who eat liver and onions. Facebook people who constantly rant about politicians.

Favorite beverage: Iced tea. Bourbon. Too many varieties of wine!

Something that gives you a pickle face: Liver and onions. Politicians. Politicians who eat liver and onions. Facebook people who constantly rant about politicians.

Favorite smell: Late nights after a thunderstorm. 

Something that makes you hold your nose: Politicians.

Something you’re really good at: Being a smartass. (For proof, read above.)

Something you’re really bad at: Home fix-its. I start many projects. The local handymen make a bundle off me fixing them. 


Something you wish you could do:  Home fix-it projects.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Any home fix-it project. Even if I know how to do it, I’ll screw it up and make it worse.

Something you like to do: Cruise on my Harley.  Listen to Swing music.

Something you wish you’d never done: First marriage.

People you consider as heroes: Wally F. – My mentor. Former OSS Operative and Former Deputy Director of the CIA. James Grady - Author and muckraker.

People with a big L on their foreheads: Politicians who lie. Politicians who say they don’t lie. Politicians who speak. 



Things you’d walk a mile for: A gas station when I ignore my Harley warning lights.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Facebook people who constantly rant about politics.

Things you always put in your books: Humor and real people.

Things you never put in your books: Superhero characters.

Things to say to an author: I gave you a 10-star rating on Amazon!

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I have you ten, one-star ratings on Facebook.

Favorite places you’ve been: Greece, Turkey, all over the Med.

Places you never want to go to again: Divorce court.

Favorite genre: Thrillers—anything James Grady, Christopher Reich, or Nelson DeMille.
Books you would ban: None. That is a sick thought. Ban people, not books.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: James Grady, Christopher Reich, or Nelson DeMille.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Politicians, car repair guys who cheat me.

Things that make you happy: Harleys, good food and drink, my kids and grandkids, my Labs!

Things that drive you crazy: See above: Politicians, Facebook crazies, tax season.

Biggest lie you’ve ever told: The End.
A lie you wish you’d told: My first, "I Do."

Best thing you’ve ever done: Have my kids. Become an OSI agent. Publish my books.

Biggest mistake: Some people I’ve trusted. Speaking my mind too often. Answering some of these questions too honestly.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Some “can’t talk about it” adventures as an anti-terrorism agent and military OSI Agent. Loved all the moments of them!
Something you chickened out from doing: Ah … can’t think of anything. Oh, wait, repairing my own back deck. My wife wanted the rest of my house to remain standing.

EXCERPT FROM THE CONSULTANT

CHAPTER 1

Day 1: May 15, 2130 Hours, Daylight Saving Time

East Bank of the Shenandoah River, Clarke County, Virginia

The gunshots took me by surprise and, without luck, might have killed me. The first shot splayed a spiderweb across my windshield before it whistled past my head, peppering glass needles into my face. The second smashed my driver’s-side mirror. An amateur might have panic-braked and skidded to a stop—a fatal mistake. The shooter hesitated, anticipating that decision, and readied for my failure. Training. Muscle memory. Response.
I gunned the engine, wrenched the car to the left to put more steel between me and the shooter, and sped forward, looking for cover. My headlights exploded and flashed dark. Bullets breached the windshield. The rearview mirror and rear window were gone. Had I not flinched, one shot would have found my right eye but shredded my headrest instead.
I careened to a stop at the bottom of the boat launch— vulnerable. The shooter was ahead in the darkness, likely maneuvering for another shot. A closer shot. The kill shot. He’d be closing the distance and finding a new advantage.
Luck had its limits, so I dove from the car and rolled to cover behind it. I fought to control the adrenaline and bridle my thoughts.
Easy, Hunter, steady. Listen—watch—survive.
I stayed low and crept along the side of the car, looking for better cover. Spring rain made the darkness murky and dense. The Shenandoah River was to my left some fifty feet. A blind guess. Overhead, two dark spans of the Route 7 bridge blocked what little light there was but provided some cover from the rain. The six substructure supports in front of me might afford me cover. They also afforded the shooter cover. He was hidden and waiting. Still, Kevin Mallory was nowhere to be seen. Under normal conditions—and normal is relative with me—I might have judged the shots’ origins. Driving headlong into an ambush on terrain I’d long ago forgotten, in darkness and rain, I was all but defeated.
Silence.
Easy, Hunter, easy. Count your breaths. One, two, three.
Out there, somewhere, someone wanted me dead.
Worse. I was unarmed and alone.
Jesus. Where was Kevin?
The boat launch was just a small gravel lot tucked beneath the expanse of the Route 7 Bridge across the Shenandoah. At night it should have been empty. It was nearing ten p.m. and I hadn’t expected to find anyone but Kevin. Yet, while we’d been estranged for years, under bad circumstances, I doubted he was hunting me.
Although, I do tend to bring out the worst in people.
Ahead, perhaps seventy-five feet, a dark four-door SUV faced an old pickup. The vehicles were nose to nose like two dogs sniffing each other.
No movement. No sound.
One, two, three. I ran to the nearest bridge support, stopped, listened, and bolted to the rear of the SUV.
Silence. Safety. But something else—a dangerous odor. The pungent scent of gasoline. A lot of gasoline.
I got down on one knee and looked around. The dome light was on and the driver’s door was ajar. Something lay on the ground near the left front fender. A large, bulky something that washed an angry tide of flashbacks over me.
I’d seen silhouettes like that before.
A body.
Bodies look the same in any country, under any dark sky. It didn’t matter if it were the rocky Afghan terrain or along a quiet country river. Their lifeless, empty shells were all hopeless. All forsaken. All discards of violence. The silhouette three yards away was no different. Except this wasn’t Afghanistan or Iraq. It was home.
I made ready.
No muzzle flash. No assassin’s bullet. I crept to the SUV’s rear tire, crouched low, and slithered to the front fender.
The body was a man. He lay three feet in front of the fender and precariously vulnerable beneath the spell of the SUV’s dome light. He was tall and bulky. Not fat, but strong and muscled.
No. No. God, no!
After fifteen years of silence and thousands of miles, I knew the body—the man. His hair had grayed and his face was creased with age and strain. The years had been hard on him. Years he was here while I was forever there. Always elsewhere. He’d built a life from our loss while I’d escaped—run away. He once warned me that my life’s choice would leave me as I found him now, alone and dead. The irony churned bile inside me.
Kevin Mallory.
“Kevin,” I blurted without thinking. “Kevin, it’s me. It’s Jon.”
My mouth was a desert and the familiar brew of adrenaline and danger coursed through me. In one quick move, I leaped from the SUV’s shadow, grabbed his shoulders, and tried to drag him back to safety.
No sooner had I reached him when a figure charged from the darkness toward us. His arm leveled—one, two, three shots on the run—all hitting earth nearby. I threw myself over Kevin. Another shot sent stone fragments into my cheeks and neck. The figure reached the rear of the pickup, tossed something in the bed, fired another wild shot, and retreated at a dead run.
Lightning. A brilliant flash of light, a violent percussion, then a whoosh of fire erupted from the pickup. The flames belched up and over the side panels. They spat light and heat. The truck swelled into an inferno.
The heat singed my face. I gripped Kevin’s shoulders and dragged him the remaining feet behind the SUV. He was limp and heavy. The raging fire bathed us in light, and I finally saw him clearly. His eyes were dull and vacant. His face pale—a death mask. If life was inside, it was hidden well.
The truck was engulfed in flames, and the heat was tremendous. It reached us and felt oddly comforting amidst the spring dampness and dark.
“Kevin, hold on. Hold on.” I looked for an escape.
I saw the next shot before I heard it—a flash of light where none should be—uphill near River Road. Seasoned instincts threw me atop Kevin again. Glass crackled overhead and rained down. I grabbed for the familiar weight behind my back, but my fingers closed on nothing.
Dammit.
I hastily searched him. No weapon. All I found was an empty holster where his handgun should have been. Where was it? In a desperate move, I rolled off and snaked forward beneath the truck’s firelight and groped around where he’d been. It took several long, vulnerable seconds. I dared not breathe or even look for the shooter, fearing I’d see the shot that would end me. Finally, my fingers closed on a wet, gritty semiautomatic.
As I retreated to the SUV, something moved in the darkness. I pivoted and fired two rapid shots, spacing them three feet apart.
Response. A shot dug into the gravel inches away to my left.
Rule one of mortal combat—incoming fire has the right of way.
Retreat. The flash was a hundred feet away. The shooter had withdrawn and angled south down River Road.
Should I take him? Could I?
One, two, three. Reason, Hunter, reason.
The shooter had fired at least fifteen rounds. Fourteen at me and at least one into Kevin. Had Kevin returned fire? How many rounds did his semiautomatic have left? I was on turf all but forgotten, armed with a handgun that was perhaps near-empty. The shooter must have a high-capacity magazine with plenty of ammo to cut me to pieces. He’d already proven willing and capable of killing. He knew my location. I knew nothing.
Revenge would wait.
I sat back against the SUV’s tire and pulled Kevin close, keeping one arm around him and the other holding the handgun ready. The truck fire raged but was easing. The gasoline that had been splashed over it was consumed and only the paint and rubber were burning.
Soon, though, the fire might breach the gas tank.
I pulled Kevin close and braced myself.
“Kevin, wake up. It’s me—Jon. I’m here.”
“Jon?” His eyes fluttered and half-opened. “I . . . so sorry . . . Khalifah . . . he’s . . . find G. Find G . . .” He gasped for breath. “Khalifah . . . G . . . Baltimore . . . it’s not them. Khalifah . . . so sorry . . .”
“Sorry for what? Who’s Khalifah? Did he shoot you?”
“Tomorrow . . . not them. G . . . Khalifah is . . .” His body went limp.
I shook him easily. “Kevin, I don’t understand. Tell me again.”
“Find G . . .” His eyes fluttered again, and he clutched my arm with limp, sleepy fingers. “Find . . . Hunter . . .”
“Tell me who did this.”
“G . . . Jon . . . tell no one. Maya . . . Maya . . . Maya in Baltimore . . .” He fumbled with something from his pants pocket. He gasped for breath and pressed that something into my hand. “So sorry . . .”
I opened my hand. He’d given me a small, ripped piece of heavy folded paper with handwriting scrawled on it. I couldn’t make out the writing and stuffed it into my pocket. “Kevin, what are you saying? Hold on. Dammit, hold on.”
“Go . . . please . . . not them . . . it’s not . . .” He tried to breathe but mustered only a raspy gag.
“Kevin!”
Silence.
His body shuddered. A long, shallow sigh.
No. No. No . . .
My fingers found warm, sticky ooze soaking his shirt. The rain had slowed to a faint mist and, except for the river’s passing and the grumble of fire, there was only silence. Then, somewhere along the highway miles in the distance, sirens wailed.
“Hold on, Kevin. They’re coming. My God, hold on.”
I checked his pulse and wounds. Both were draining away life.
I pressed my hands into the ooze but couldn’t force its retreat. For a few seconds, I was fourteen again. The dull sickness invaded me as my parents were lowered side by side into the earth. The ache started in my gut and swelled until I spat bile and rage.
It was happening again.
The man who raised me—the man I’d abandoned—slipped away. The emptiness and loss attacked. I had to fight or it would destroy me again. This time, there was nowhere to run.
I closed my eyes and willed the anger in, commanding it to take hold and fill me.
I remember, Kevin. I made you a promise. I’m late, but I’m here.
He was limp, and I clutched him. A rush of words filled me that I’d wanted to say for so many years. But before I could speak just one, my brother was gone.

***

Excerpt from The Consultant by Tj O'Connor.  Copyright © 2018 by Tj O'Connor. Reproduced with permission from Tj O'Connor. All rights reserved.

THE CONSULTANT TRAILER

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tj is an international security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism, investigations, and threat analysis—life experiences that drive his novels. With his former life as a government agent and years as a consultant, he has lived and worked around the world in places like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and throughout the Americas—among others. He was raised in New York's Hudson Valley and lives with his wife and Labrador companions in Virginia where they raised five children.

Dying to Know, Tj’s first published novel, won the 2015 Gold Medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY) for mysteries and was a Finalist for both a 2015 Silver Falchion Award and the 2014 Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Mystery Book of the Year.




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

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Books-A-Million  |  Indibound

The Consultant has been chosen by Amazon to be a July Kindle Monthly Deal for $.99.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


FEATURED AUTHOR: LENA GREGORY

ABOUT THE BOOK

To save her cozy Florida diner, Gia Morelli must choke down a heaping helping of murder . . .

New York native Gia Morelli is just getting used to life in Florida when she gets word that the town government wants to shut down her pride and joy: the charming little diner known as the All-Day Breakfast Café. A forgotten zoning regulation means that the café was opened illegally, and hardboiled council president Marcia Steers refuses to budge. Gia is considering hanging up her apron and going back to New York, but before she gives up on her dream, she discovers something shocking in the local swamp: Marcia Steers, dead in the water. There’s a secret buried in the books at town hall, and someone killed to keep it hidden. To save her café and bring a killer to justice, Gia and her friends will have to figure out a killer’s recipe for murder . . .



Book Details:


Title: Murder Made to Order

Author: Lena Gregory

Genre: Cozy mystery

Series: All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery, book 2

Publisher: Lyrical Press (June 19, 2018)

Page count: 257 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH LENA GREGORY

A few of your favorite things: Chocolate, soft blankets, big dogs.
Things you need to throw out: Old notes and paperwork.


Things you need in order to write: Quiet, Diet Coke, chocolate.
Things that hamper your writing: Chaos, noise, having things on my mind.


Things you love about writing: Creating new characters and bringing them to life.
Things you hate about writing: Writing a first rough draft.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Waiting! I’m not a patient person, and waiting on submissions is tough.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Chatting with other authors and readers.


Things you love about where you live: Family, friends, beaches.
Things that make you want to move: Winter.


Things you never want to run out of: Diet Coke and chocolate!
Things you wish you’d never bought: Nothing. I’m pretty careful about purchases.


Words that describe you: Happy, content, honest, hard-working.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Impatient, insomniac.

Favorite foods: Beef Stew, pork roast, meatballs with sauce.
Things that make you want to throw up: Wet food in the sink, wet hair in the drain.

Favorite music: Soft rock.
Music that make your ears bleed: Opera.

Favorite beverage: Diet Coke.

Something that gives you a pickle face: Sour gummy worms.

Favorite smell: Baby powder, Tate’s cookies baking from the cookie factory.
Something that makes you hold your nose: Fritos!

Something you’re really good at: Dancing.

Something you’re really bad at: Singing.


Something you wish you could do: Sing.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Wash dishes.

Something you like to do: Play with my kids.

Something you wish you’d never done: Ridden a roller coaster.

Last best thing you ate: Chicken salad sandwich on whole grain bread.

Last thing you regret eating: An ice cream cone.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Anything; I enjoy walking.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Spiders and snakes.

Things you always put in your books: Big dogs.

Things you never put in your books: Real life people.

Things to say to an author: I enjoy your books.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Writing books sounds easy.

Favorite places you’ve been: Disney World.

Places you never want to go to again: Out in a boat on the ocean.

Favorite books: Lord of the Rings, Gone With the Wind.

Books you would ban: None.

Favorite things to do: Hang out with my husband and kids, read, watch superhero shows and movies.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: Going to the dentist.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Getting married, having my kids.

Biggest mistake: Not going to school to be a teacher.

The last thing you did for the first time: Binge watched a series.

Something you’ll never do again: Ride a roller coaster.

OTHER BOOKS BY LENA GREGORY

Cold Brew Killing
Scone Cold Killer
Death at First Sight
Occult and Battery
Clairvoyant and Present Danger 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lena Gregory is the author of the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series, Death at First Sight, Occult and Battery, and Clairvoyant and Present Danger, which take place on a small island between the north and south forks of Long Island, New York, and the All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series, Scone Cold Killer, Murder Made to Order, and Cold Brew Killing, which are set on the outskirts of Florida’s Ocala National Forest.

Lena Grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, where she still lives with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and five dogs.

Connect with Lena:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads


Buy the book:

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FEATURED AUTHOR: BARBARA BARRETT

ABOUT THE BOOK

Essential oils distributor Dorcas Wiley is the boss everyone loves to hate. So when she turns up dead, killed by her own trophy, disgruntled saleswoman Cathy Broderick is the obvious suspect in her murder. Despite opportunity, motive and incriminating evidence, Cathy declares her innocence and enlists her mah jongg pals—Sydney Bonner and her cronies Marianne, Micki and Kat—to help save her from the death penalty.

Hot off a recent and nearly deadly investigation, the women are cautious about putting themselves in peril again. Syd’s spouse isn’t thrilled about another mystery in their lives, either, but he can’t resist the plea of Cathy’s husband. Soon, Syd is leading the way as they tangle with grumpy salespeople, the victim’s estranged husband and boyfriend, a mysterious housekeeper, a litigious customer, an annoyed sheriff and Cathy’s own arrogant lawyer.

The women have their own issues to deal with in their central Florida town of Serendipity Springs. Kat faces a health challenge, Micki fields a mysterious inquiry from her ex, Marianne has a chaotic anniversary and Syd wrestles with her husband over who’s really in charge. But nothing puts everyday life into perspective like the moment when their investigation brings them face to face with danger.

Book Details:

Title: Bamboozled

Author: Barbara Barrett       

Genre: Cozy Mystery


Series: Mah Jongg Mystery, book 2
Publisher: self-published (April 3, 2018)

Page count: 268

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA BARRETT

Barbara, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
The Mah Jongg Mystery series features four retired female sleuths who play mah jongg. There are three suits of tiles in mah jongg: craks, dots, and bamboos. Each title of this series will feature a different mah jongg term, in this case, the bamboos. I started with the title and then found a plot that centered on someone who was “bamboozled.”

Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?
This is a standalone with background information about the four main characters in each book. 

Where’s home for you?
I currently reside in central Florida seven months of the year and central Iowa the other five. This mah jongg series is set in central Florida.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in southeast Iowa in the Mississippi River town of Burlington. It serves as the locale for my first contemporary romance series, The Matchmaking Motor Coach, about three brothers who customize luxury coaches. 

What do you love about where you live?
I love the sense of community. My husband and I decided to live in an intergenerational town rather than a gated, over-55 establishment so that we could be near families and enjoy a wide variety of things to do. When I first moved there, I knew no one except our real estate agent; I joined a mah jongg group to be more social and it has served as one of my favorite pastimes since. 



What is the most daring thing you've done?
More about the community in which I live in central Florida. My husband continued to work for five more years after I retired and was only able to visit me in Florida every few weeks. Since I didn’t know anyone, I had to push myself out of my sometimes introvert self and meet new people. I did this by joining several community activities. I already mentioned mah jongg. I also took part in forming a book club, a knitting group, and participated in numerous events and excursions. 


What’s one thing you wish your younger writer self knew?
To eat better and take better care of my body.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
When I was in high school, I played the violin and served as the orchestra’s concertmistress. My director pushed me to play a solo in the state contest. I wasn’t very good at memorizing music but attempted it just the same. A friend of mine accompanied me on the piano. I was so nervous, I had to stop and start three times. Finally, I was able to proceed by looking over her shoulder at her music. Although it was humiliating, the experience also taught me how to survive in the midst of adversity and terrible embarrassment.


What makes you scared?
The unknown. Deep down, I have enough confidence in my intelligence and ability to react to unexpected situations that I could probably survive and maybe even thrive responding to unknown situations, but I still worry. It’s probably my writer’s brain that imagines so many different possibilities that makes me uneasy.

How did you meet your spouse?
My spouse and I met during floor counselor training our senior year of college. Back then, “sensitivity” training was very popular. One of the exercises in which all the new counselors participated was non-verbal communication. Everyone was tasked with circulating through the room and letting others know who they were without saying anything. My husband stood out to me because he was freaking at the idea of not talking and wound up making goofy faces and hand gestures. Love at first sight? Not exactly. Shortly thereafter, our two residence hall floors had a mixer and we were chaperones. On the sidelines, since neither of us was into dancing, we got to talking and that led to his taking me home and asking for a date the next week. That was in the fall; not quite eleven months later, he proposed. 

What brings you sheer delight?
Hugs from my grandchildren.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
Romans 12:6 “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” I like to believe that every one of us has a special talent; the challenge is to discover it and then not be afraid to use it.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
I live in Paradise (central Florida) the way it is and Iowa to stay grounded. But if I could live anywhere else, it would be Paris. I’ve been there three times and still haven’t seen enough. But living in and visiting are two different things. I have visited England, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and soon, Canada, and all have been amazing experiences. I have also enjoyed seeing different parts of the United States, especially the Grand Canyon and Pacific Coast.

What’s your favorite line from a book?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” Why does this appeal to me? I guess because it sort of says it all.

Are you like any of your characters?
I like to think there is a little bit of me in each of my four senior sleuths. I gave Sydney my leadership skills, Marianne, my analytical ability, Kat, my optimism and Micki, my inquisitiveness.

What book are you currently reading and in what format?
Kristen Hannah’s The Great Alone on my iPad. Trying to finish it before our Alaskan cruise.


What are you working on now?
Book 3 in this series, Connect the Dots. This time, the main protagonist is Micki Demetrius, and her attempt to help a fellow mah jongg player fight the developer that left so many items unfinished in her new condo and discover how her son really died.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barbara Barrett started reading mysteries when she was pregnant with her first child to keep her mind off things like her changing body and food cravings. When she’d devoured as many Agatha Christies as she could find, she branched out to English village cozies and Ellery Queen.

Later, to avoid a midlife crisis, she began writing fiction at night when she wasn’t at her day job as a human resources analyst for Iowa State Government. After releasing eleven full-length romance novels and one novella, she returned to the cozy mystery genre, using one of her retirement pastimes, the game of mah jongg, as her inspiration. Not only has it been a great social outlet, it has also helped keep her mind active when not writing.

Bamboozled, the second book in her “Mah Jongg Mystery” series, features four friends who play mah jongg together and share otherwise in each other’s lives. None of the four is based on an actual person. Each is an amalgamation of several mah jongg friends with a lot of Barbara’s imagination thrown in for good measure. The four will continue to appear in future books in the series.

Anticipating the day when she would write her first mystery, she has been a member of the Mystery/Romantic Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America for over a decade. She credits them with helping her hone her craft. 

Barbara is married to the man she met her senior year of college. They have two grown children and eight grandchildren.




Connect with Barbara:
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Buy the book:
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FEATURED AUTHOR: SIMON MAREE

ABOUT THE BOOK

He’s just a soul whose intentions are good . . . Oh Lord, please don’t let him be misunderstood . . .



Joe has a problem. He is falling in love with his new housemate. Nothing unusual there, except for Joe is a poltergeist and this sort of thing just shouldn’t happen. Joe is suffering an existential crisis of no small proportion.



The object of his misguided affections - a feisty and self-assured teenager named Harriet. Will he be able to save her from something much darker than himself that lurks in the shadows of the Brighton house they share? Will she be able to help him on his newfound quest for redemption?


Book Details:

Title: The Mischief Maker

Author: Simon Maree

Genre: Paranormal

Publisher: The Famous Seamus  (February 1, 2017)

Page count: 217 pages

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON MAREE

Simon, where’s home for you?
Hove in East Sussex, UK.

Where did you grow up?
I spent half my childhood trying to be a punk in South Africa (which was a tad scary under the apartheid regime) and the other half succeeding at being a punk in London. It wasn’t that difficult once I got the hang of it and had a few local role models.

What’s your favorite memory?
The day I met my wife. It was a baking hot summer’s day, and we met on the south bank of the Thames. She was almost an hour late, and her punctuality hasn’t improved one jot.


If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
DVDs probably. I love cinema and have a frighteningly large collection specializing in classic horror. I also buy new releases that look promising, but more in hope than expectation. Most commercial modern horror leaves me cold. There’s some great indie stuff out there, especially from Scandinavia, France and the far east, but you really have to hunt them down.


What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned?
Not to be a self serving, oblivious, hedonistic tosspot. It took me long enough.

Who would you pick to write your biography?
It might be a bit tricky logistically speaking, but Oscar Wilde.

What do you love about where you live?
Pretty much everything. I love being able to see the ocean from my front room window, and I love the free, Bohemian atmosphere down here. I think that, for the first time in my life, I might actually have a sense of community. Now if only we could get rid of all the damn hipsters.



Have you been in any natural disasters?
I once saw Bucks Fizz live. Does that count?

Hmm, not sure, but it may be the answer to this next question. Or maybe the next . . . What is the most daring thing you've done?
I’m a witch and a healer, and sometimes I have to deal with some pretty gnarly energies. I don’t know if counts as ‘daring’ as such, but it’s not easy to keep your shit together sometimes.


What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
Most of it.

What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
That I was one very good looking teenager. Actually no, that would just have made me even more of an arrogant little prick than I was.


What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
The ones where people got hurt. I’ve never been a malicious person, but I’ve been selfish and thoughtless about the consequences of my actions on others more times than I care to remember.


What makes you happy?
My wife. True friends. Finding a really good film I’ve never seen before (the last one was The Transfiguration. I was expecting cheese and I got a gourmet four course cinematic feast).

What makes you scared?
Nothing I can’t breathe my way through.

Who are you?
A better person than I was five years ago, and isn’t that really all that matters?

Absolutely. What are your most cherished mementoes?
After my misspent youth; my fully functioning internal organs. I know many who’ve not been so lucky.

What brings you sheer delight?
Laughing and making others laugh.

Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
How about a misanthropic hack? Can I be one of those? Oops, too late.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“When you’re going through hell; keep going” –Winston Churchill. I’m not a huge fan of the guy (Hitler bashing aside), but that’s one awesome f#*king quote.

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

What would you like people to say about you after you die?
I’d like to be remembered fondly on the whole, but I do hope there are rumours and scandals too. Just enough to keep ‘em talking for a while.

What’s your favorite line from a book?

“Death played the empty chord” from Soul Music by Terry Pratchett.

How did you create the plot for this book?
There are so many books and movies about hauntings where everything is ultra OTT and incredible, whereas most real poltergeist cases are mundane, banal and really pretty pointless. I wanted to write something about a ‘smaller’ case, if you will. My eureka moment was deciding to make the actual entity both protagonist and narrator, and then giving him his own spiritual quest, as well as a sense of humour. That’s what made the book. Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost, Clive Barker’s The Yattering of Jack and C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters are all also partially to blame.

Is your book based on real events?
There are several references to historic poltergeist hauntings and possessions that Joe (my beasty) seems to have a suspicious level of knowledge on, and Harriet (the object of Joe’s dubious affections) is pretty much a composite of everything you’d want in a real life DIY poltergeist attracting kit.

Are you like any of your characters?
Joe is, to an extent, my id. Thankfully, I don’t share his obsession with teenage girls, but hey, he’s a poltergeist. Cut the guy some slack. He’s just doing his job.

One of your characters has just found out you’re about to kill him off. He/she decides to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?
Strangely enough, that’s one thing poltergeists struggle to do. Despite immense shows of strength and power, you could count the number of historical cases that have resulted in fatalities on your fingers (unless you were Jaime Lannister).

Who are your favorite authors?
Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Oscar Wilde, Terry Pratchett, James Elroy, James Lee Burke, Henry Rider Haggard, H.G. Wells, Clive Barker, Herman Charles Bosman. Oh God, I could go on all day here.


What book are you currently reading and in what format ?
I’m actually listening to an audiobook of The Hunger Games, and I’d forgotten how good it was. The films sanitized the books completely. So much great social satire ignored at the expense of special effects and Jennifer Lawrence pouting a lot.
And the balls it took to write in the present tense! She pulled it off really well, made is very visceral.

What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?
I’m a fast paced writer, so I don’t have a lot of time for long, flowery descriptions and overuse of adjectives. That Lovecraft features as one of my favourite writers is, I’ll admit, anomalous.


Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
I write whenever my chain smoking harridan of a muse decides to pop by. I write in bed. In fact, my wife has started calling the bed ‘my desk’.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
The speech I made at my father’s funeral.

You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?
God.

What are you working on now?
I have anthology of paranormal short stories (They Also Serve) coming out for Halloween, and they’re not quite ready yet. I think one of them in particular might just be the best thing I’ve ever written though. It’s called ‘Silver Alice’ and it’s about a witch hunt. I’m very excited about it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Simon Maree is half Irish / half South African, so he only ever had three options really: Rugby, Alcoholism or Witchcraft. And he has dabbled in all three.

He is a veteran of the punk rock wars and still has flash backs. You weren’t there man; you can’t understand.

In his time, he has been a care worker, a DJ, a security guard, and a record dealer, but he has ALWAYS been a writer.

He writes predominantly paranormal fiction. He tries to write horror. but he always ends up falling for his monsters, so he is basically constantly rewriting ‘Frankenstein’. Either that or his sense of humour takes over and it turns into a full-blown comedy.

Maree’s previous work, The Music the Machines Make is a steampunk parody set in an alternative reality (largely so that he wouldn’t have to do any research and could easily answer awkward questions). Simon new novel The Mischief Maker is a ghost story with a difference. Its protagonist and narrator is a witty, urbane and misunderstood poltergeist, who is falling hard for his latest focus.

Simon Maree does not enjoy talking about himself in the third person.


Connect with Simon:
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Buy the book:
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FEATURED AUTHOR: CONNIE DI MARCO

ABOUT THE BOOK


San Francisco astrologer Julia Bonatti never thought murder would be part of her practice, but when her former boss and current client asks for help she agrees to go undercover at his law firm. Three people have received death threats and the only common denominator between them is a case long settled–the infamous Bank of San Francisco fire. Julia’s astrological expertise provides clues but no one wants to listen. Before she can solve the mystery, two people are dead and her own life is in danger. Julia must unmask the killer before he, or she, takes another life.



BOOK DETAILS:

Title: Tail of the Dragon 


Author: Connie di Marco

Genre: Cozy mystery


Series: A Zodiac Mystery, book 3


Publisher: Midnight Ink (August 8, 2018)


Paperback: 336 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

GUEST POST BY CONNIE DI MARCO

Let’s call it what it is . . .

It’s murder. That’s what we love to read and that’s what crime fiction writers write. But have you ever wondered about all the euphemisms we have for murder and death? There’s a whole bunch. 

There are the obvious ones – Uncle Herbert passed on or maybe Uncle Herbert passed over.
And then of course we have these–
He bought the farm
He’s pushing up daisies
He met his maker
He kicked the bucket
He’s gone to his heavenly reward and if Uncle Herbert was a complete scoundrel then we can assume he’s now roasting in hell! 

So that led me to wondering why we’re all so fascinated with crime fiction, no matter the genre, whether we read it or whether we write it. 

Is it the puzzle itself? How many people in the mansion had access to the elderberry wine? The whodunit? Any one of the sewing circle could have skewered the victim when no one was looking. Is it the scary thrills and chills of suspense? Is my husband really who he says he is?  Is it the determined hunt we find in forensics and police procedurals? Or is it all of these? 

I know why I find it so fascinating. It’s the psychology of the act. The burning thing that drives an ordinary person to commit murder. The exploration of the mind of an absolutely normal, everyday person who finds himself or herself in dire straits and doesn’t see any other way out. I’m not talking about serial killers here. They’re just completely nuts. They need to be locked up forever so they won’t hurt anyone. But the fascinating thing for me is the inner workings of the mind of an average human being pushed beyond the pale. 

What about you? Why do you read crime fiction – whatever the genre? I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Connie di Marco is the author of the Zodiac Mysteries from Midnight Ink, featuring San Francisco astrologer, Julia Bonatti. Tail of the Dragon, third in the series, will be released on August 8, 2018.

Writing as Connie Archer, she is also the national bestselling author of the Soup Lover’s Mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime. Some of her favorite recipes can be found in The Cozy Cookbook and The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. Connie is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

Connect with Connie:
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Buy the book:
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