FEATURED AUTHOR: VICKI DELANY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Residents of Rudolph keep the spirit of Christmas alive year-round—but their joy is threatened when a group of grinches visits the town, in the charming fourth installment of the Year-Round Christmas series.



It's the week before Thanksgiving, and Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus's Treasures, is preparing for a weekend reunion of her mother's college friends. But when the group of women comes into Merry's shop, Merry is met with frosty attitudes and cold hearts. 



The women argue amongst themselves constantly, and the bickering only intensifies after one of the friends is poisoned. With her father's role as Santa in danger due to his proximity to the crime, Merry will need to use all of her investigative gifts to wrap this mystery up and save Santa and her favorite holiday.

Book Details:
Title: Silent Night Deadly Night
Author: Vicki Delany
Genre: Cozy mystery


Series: Year Round Christmas mystery, book 4


Publisher: Berkley (August 27, 2019)


Print length: 304 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours




IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH VICKI DELANY

Ifs


Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be?
A: Now. Never anything but right now. We have peace, we have democracy, we have laws, we have respect for human rights, we have antibiotics and pain-killers. History has no appeal to me, outside of the pages of a book.

Q: If you could time travel for an infinite period of time, where would you go?
A: I’d love to visit Pharaonic Egypt. See the building of the pyramids, watch the creating of hieroglyphics, observe their ceremonies, see a King or Queen’s burial. Of course, wherever I went, I’d hope to be immune to disease or being mistaken for a poor local. Almost anywhere in the pre-industrial world would be marvelous to see the night sky.

Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: I think I’d like to be an opera singer. Now, that will never happen because I’m genuinely tone deaf, but I like the idea of standing on stage in an overly dramatic costume and hitting the high notes while the orchestra swells in the background.

Q: If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?

A: I’d probably like West London, Massachusetts from my Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series. I could hang out at the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium and have afternoon tea at Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room next door.  I don’t think I’d like to live in Rudolph, New York, the setting of my Year Round Christmas mysteries. I love Christmas, but not all the time.

Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
A: Pretty hard to beat Prince Edward County, Ontario, where I live now. But I sometimes get tired of the winter. I could live in the Turks and Caicos or on the beach in Mozambique. 



Ands


5 things you love about where you live:
    •    farms
    •    wineries
    •    bookstore
    •    friends
 and
    •    not in the city
  
5 things you never want to run out of:
    •    imagination
    •    love
    •    peace
    •    quiet 
and
    •    wine   

5 things you always put in your books: 
    •    food
    •    clothing
    •    scenery  
    •    laughs  
and
    •    mystery  

5 favorite places you’ve been: 
    •    Tofo Mozambique
    •    Hoi An Vietnam
    •    Malacca, Malaysia
    •    Masi Mara, Kenya
and
    •    Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

Whats

Q: What’s your all-time favorite place?
A: 
I’ve been to a lot of marvelous places in my life, but other than home and where family live, it has to be Wildwaters Lodge near Jinja, Uganda. 

Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: Lord of the RingsQ: What’s your all-time favorite picture of yourself?

A: This is me with my Canadian writer friends Anthony Bidulka, Barbara Fradkin, Robin Harlick, and Mary Jane Maffini at Bouchercon in Indianapolis. I love this picture, because it’s a fun picture of good friends being silly.

Q: What’s your all-time favorite city?
A: Amsterdam.

Q: What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
A: I am an extreme introvert. Really. Remember that introvert doesn’t mean shy. (I’m not shy)

What’s your biggest pet peeve?
People or places who call afternoon tea, high tea.

Q: What’s your favorite vacation spot?
A: Far too many to mention. I rarely go back to the same place. Earlier this year I was in Mozambique. Later in the year I’m going to Russia. Although, I do love Muskoka, in Ontario., where I’ve been quite a bit.

Q: What’s your favorite beverage?
A: I’ve been known to enjoy a glass of white wine or two.

Q: Would you rather tweet or post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest?
A: I have a presence on all those things, but I find I use Facebook the most. Come over and say hi. I run lots of contests and give book news.

Q: What’s your all-time favorite place you’ve visited?

A: Nile River Camp in Jinja, Uganda.

Q: What’s one thing you never leave the house without? A: My iPhone. Not because I’m obsessed with it, but if I’m in an accident, I want to be able to notify my family.

Q: What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
A: My three daughters at my second daughter’s wedding. On my phone, it’s my grandson. On my iPad, it’s the beach at nightfall Tofo, Mozambique
.

Q: What author would you most like to review one of your books?
A: Louise Penny. And she did!


Q: What book are you currently working on?
A: The fifth in the Year Round Christmas series, still untitled. I’m also finishing up the seventh in the Lighthouse Library series by me as Eva Gates. Also still untitled. 


Q: What’s your all-time favorite place in your town?

A: The bookstore, Books and Company. This picture shows stpre the window advertising the festival I am co-founder and co-organizer of Women Killing it. You can find out more here. 

Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Why not check out what’s happening at Mystery Lovers Kitchen. Ten cozy writers talk food and books, with recipes that suit every level of cook. 
Music: I love Gin Wigmore, a New Zealand singer. A much grittier, raspier Adele.
Book: The Lost Man by Jane Harper. Wow. The sense of place is overwhelming.
Audiobook: Can I say Something Read Something Dead by Eva Gates?  That’s the latest one I listened to. I like to listen to all my books once on audio. It’s a different experience.
Netflix: The best thing I’ve seen on Netflix is Happy Valley with Sarah Lancashire. 
Miscellaneous: If at all possible, get your vegetables from a small-scale, local farmer. Heirloom tomatoes in particular are a whole other thing than that what you buy at the grocery store.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Year Round Christmas mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane Books, and the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington.
Vicki lives and writes in bucolic Prince Edward County, Ontario. She is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada.  Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing.


Social media links:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |   Instragram
Buy the book:
Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: DAVE CRAVENS

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dave Cravens’ debut mystery about a hard-nosed journalist turned PTA mom is a surprising thriller exposing the cutthroat and comical world of school politics!



Parker Monroe is a tough-talking investigative reporter used to writing headlines, not being the subject of them. When a key source vanishes on a politically toxic story, this single mother of three finds herself at the center of a media storm and out of a job. Ready to reset, Parker moves her family back to the rural town where she grew up. But a gossip-filled PTA, a tyrannical school principal and a gruesome murder make adjusting to the "simple life" anything but. Parker Monroe is about to chase the story of her lifetime...



Surprising, fun and packed with a ton of heart. Mayhem Murder and the PTA is just the book you need to rekindle your school spirit!

Book Details:


Title: Mayhem, Murder and the PTA


Author’s name: Dave Cravens


Genre: Mystery


Series: First of a new series


Publisher: Amazon (May 20, 2019)


Page count: 374 Kindle Pages

On tour with: iRead Book Tours

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH DAVE CRAVENS

A few of your favorite things: my wife and kids, action movies, traveling and the color red on women (it’s not the same on guys.)
Things you need to throw out: just about everything in the garage including old cables, boxes, clothes that don’t fit anyone in the house, DVD’s and CD’s we bought again digitally. Also, paint we’ll never use again.


Things you need in order to write: a laptop, a chair to put my feet up, time and silence.
Things that hamper your writing: noise, and constant interruptions.


Things you love about writing: creating something -- a world, a moment a character in its purest form.
Things you hate about writing: rereading my fifth draft for the tenth time and still not finding all the mistakes.

Easiest thing about being a writer: loving what I do.

Hardest thing about being a writer: marketing, advertising and PR.


Things you love about where you live: it’s gorgeous pretty much every day in Southern California.
Things that make you want to move: too many people; taxes; traffic.


Things you never want to run out of: ideas and time to implement them.
Things you wish you’d never bought: Facebook advertising.

Words that describe you: optimistic; creative; kind.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: “Fat Thor.”

Favorite foods: burgers; pasta. hot dogs; pretty much everything bad for me.
Things that make you want to throw up: snails.

Favorite music or song: I love all kinds of music. from Mozart to Metallica.
Music that make your ears bleed: rap about cop-killing is a bit hard to digest.

Favorite beverage: iced tea, no sweetener.

Something that gives you a pickle face: kale juice.

Favorite smell: a cool fall day in the country.

Something that makes you hold your nose: every ounce of kid vomit I’ve ever had to clean up.

Something you’re really good at: telling stories.

Something you’re really bad at: telling stories.


Something you wish you could do: fly under my own power.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: I don’t regret learning to do anything.


Last best thing you ate: my own grilled hamburger.

Last thing you regret eating: those red onions off that Subway Salad.

Things you’d walk a mile for: I’d walk a mile to meet someone interesting for a good lunch.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: any reality show on TLC.

Things you always put in your books: inside jokes that only a handful of people might pick up on.

Things you never put in your books: anything that doesn’t serve the overall story.

Things to say to an author: “Hi! I hear you write stuff too.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Have I read your stuff? No. But that guy over there told me it was horses—t. And he looks super trustworthy, so I believe him. So, do you write horses—t?”

Favorite places you’ve been: Paris. Stonehenge. Glowworm caves in New Zealand.

Places you never want to go to again: that Wendy’s off of Alicia Parkway.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: I’d have it be a weekly thing with different people each time. But to start I’d want to sit down with Sylvester Stallone, Elon Musk, JK Rowling, and Vera Wang.

People you’d cancel dinner on: anyone from Antifa.

Favorite things to do: spend time with my family; write; nap.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: go back to that Wendy’s off Alicia.

Things that make you happy: succeeding at something; anything; family.

Things that drive you crazy: politics.

Proudest moment: walking into our renovated home for the first time. And something with my kids. You know, family stuff. Just choose one.
Most embarrassing moment: I don’t even know that I’ve experienced it yet. It’s still out there – waiting to ambush me.


Biggest lie you’ve ever told: “Yeah, I can totally do that!”

A lie you wish you’d told: “Nope. I have no idea how to do that.”

Best thing you’ve ever done: cold call the young woman who would become my wife to ask her out on a date.

Biggest mistake: not buying a condo in Socal for 50K.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: skydiving.

Something you chickened out from doing: it probably involved dancing.

The last thing you did for the first time: write an erotic novel under a fake name to complete a dare.

Something you’ll never do again: repeat my horrid performance at the work meeting I just had last Friday. Yowza.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Dave Cravens wanted to grow up to be a superhero, capture Bigfoot, fly experimental aircraft out of Area 51, develop cold fusion and star and direct in his own blockbuster movies.

That didn’t work out.

Instead, Dave got a degree in journalism, which he hasn't used at all other than to justify his incredibly insightful and valid complaints about the state of journalism. During his twenty-two years in the video game business, he's written for award winning franchises, directed TV commercials and movies, sprained his ankles numerous times in ultimate Frisbee games and published three original novels.

He also married the love of his life and is raising three amazing children who may one day capture Bigfoot, Nessie or a Yeti.

No pressure.

Connect with Dave:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon

MODERN ROYALS AUDIOBOOK SERIES

ABOUT THE BOOK
(#1): A Royal Shade of Blue

When art-history student Clementine Jones receives a message complimenting her latest internship project, she doesn't hesitate to answer it. She never dreamed this decision would not only change her life, but the future of the British monarchy as well.  

Her response leads Clementine to the mysterious CP Chadwick, a British man studying history at Cambridge. Clementine finds CP charming, smart, and unlike any man she's ever met. Most of all, when she confides her medical past to CP, his perception of her doesn't change. He doesn't treat her as fragile like her parents do. CP sees her as normal, which is something she cherishes.  

Clementine, however, has no idea CP is actually Prince Christian of Wales, who has never had a "normal" life. Christian is at a crossroad. His destiny is to be a working royal, but he is desperate to fill that role in his own way. Wary of others, he's kept himself closed off from the world - until he lets Clementine in.

A royal romance is never a fairy tale, but Clementine and Christian are determined to write their own version. Can they overcome their own fears - as well as the constraints of a royal life - to reach their own happily ever after?



Book Details:


Author: Aven Ellis


Narrator: Andrea Emmes


Length: 10 hours 1 minute


Publisher: Tantor Audio (Aug. 14, 2018)


Genre: Romantic Comedy


Series: Modern Royals, Book 1

Buy the book:

Amazon  |  Audible

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH AVEN ELLIS

Things you need in order to write: laptop, notebook, pen and a highlighter.
Things that hamper your writing: Facebook, Instagram, and episodes of Say Yes to the Dress. I can get so distracted. 


Things you love about writing: I love creating romantic stories and diving deep into another world. 
Things you hate about writing: really, I love the whole process.


Easiest thing about being a writer: writing is a joy. I’m always excited to sit down and write. 
Hardest thing about being a writer: the business side and learning how to run your own business.

Things you love about where you live: Dallas has great shopping, professional sports, and wonderful restaurants.
Things that make you want to move: triple digit heat in the summer-but that’s a trade off for mostly mild winters!

Favorite foods: steak and red wine (not a food but I’m saying it anyway.) Chocolate.
Things that make you want to throw up: anything main dish with a cream sauce.

Favorite beverage: red wine, coffee.

Something that gives you a pickle face: hard liquor.

Favorite smell: brewing coffee. 

Something that makes you hold your nose: clams.

Something you’re really good at: talking. I can pretty much talk to anyone. 

Something you’re really bad at: math! 


Things you always put in your books: good boy heroes, comedy, and a happily ever after. 
Things you never put in your books: lots of drama and angst. 

Things that make you happy: going to Dallas Stars games, going out to eat, talking to people.

Things that drive you crazy: big parties with lots of people. My introvert side gets overwhelmed with that!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Aven Ellis

Aven began her publishing career in 2013 with her debut release, Connectivity. She currently writes hockey and baseball romances as well as a modern royal romance series. Her books are designed to make readers laugh out loud and fall in love. Happily-ever-after endings and good-boy heroes are guaranteed. Aven lives in the Dallas area with her family. She is a huge fan of both the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Aven loves shopping and fashion and can spend hours playing with fragrances in any department store. She can be found chatting it up on social media, eating specialty M&Ms, and crushing on the latest outfit the Duchess of Cambridge is wearing.
Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Goodreads⎮Instagram⎮Pinterest

ABOUT THE NARRATOR: Andrea Emmes

Best selling, award winning audiobook narrator, Andrea Emmes was born in Hollywood, Florida, grew up in both Tennessee and Rhode Island and started her career in musical theatre. She’s enjoyed an eclectic career as a singer, dancer, Vegas Headliner, Magician’s Assistant, a Recording Artist and a Video Game Designer. A total book nerd, Andrea, now enjoys narrating all genres of audiobooks, especially YA, LitRPG, Mystery, Romance, and NonFiction at her professional home studio in San Jose, California. Her wide range of character voices and dynamic/emotionally invested performances has reviewers and listeners alike commenting on how she effortlessly pulls listeners in and has versatility and charisma. Fun Facts: Andrea has a Bachelor of Science in Game Art and Design; was a game designer for Disney Interactive; and gets her gamer-geek on playing games of all kinds!
Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram

CLICK HERE FOR AN AUDIO EXCERPT FROM A ROYAL SHADE OF BLUE

 Modern Royals Giveaway: $25 Amazon Gift Card

FEATURED AUTHOR: WARREN C. EMBREE

ABOUT THE BOOK

When itinerant ranch hand Buck Ellison took a job with Sarah Watkins at her ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska, he thought he had found the place where he could park his pickup, leave the past behind, and never move again.

On a rainy July night, a dead body at the south end of Sarah’s ranch forces him to become a reluctant detective, digging into the business of cattle breeding for rodeos and digging up events from his past that are linked to the circumstances surrounding the murder of Sam Danielson.

Working with his boss Sarah, her nephew Travis Martin, and the cook Diane Gibbons, Buck unmasks the murderer, but at the cost of learning the reality of past events that he chooses to keep to himself.

Book Details:


Title: The Ornery Gene


Author: Warren C. Embree


Genre: Mystery, Amateur Sleuth


Publisher: Down & Out Books (April 27, 2019)


Print length: 216 pages

On tour with: Partners in Crime Book Tours

   


LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH WARREN C. EMBREE

A few of your favorite things:  books, old clothes, family pictures, old farm equipment, cats.
Things you need to throw out: Mom & Dad's college notes, old CDs, computer hardware from 1990
.

Things you need in order to write: pens, music, time (if that's a thing), paper, fizzy water, the internet.
Things that hamper your writing: cats, the internet, day job
.

Things you love about writing: research, learning new things.
Things you hate about writing: the mechanics of it, first draft, cutting out portions of a novel I love but don't belong.

Easiest thing about being a writer: ideas.
Hardest thing about being a writer: discipline
.

Things you love about where you live: local food, changing seasons, football.
Things that make you want to move: too many people.


Things you never want to run out of:  gout medicine.
Things you wish you’d never bought:  bowflex.

Words that describe you: taciturn.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: impatient.

Favorite foods: Philly cheese steak sandwiches, but only when I'm in Philly, sweet corn, shrimp, ice cream sandwiches and, believe or not, Spam. Spam was a treat when I was a kid.
Things that make you want to throw up: Anything with beef kidney.

Favorite music or song: anything by Bach or Handel.
Music that make your ears bleed: if I try hard enough, I can listen to anything, but I have a hard time with anything that drones on without any direction.

Favorite beverage: Klarbrum black cherry sparkling water
.
Something that gives you a pickle face: indeed, pickle juice or tannic elderberry wine.

Favorite smell: vanilla.

Something that makes you hold your nose: beef kidney cooking.

Something you’re really good at: report writing.
Something you’re really bad at: keeping workspace neat
.

Something you wish you could do: play the piano.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: paint houses.

Something you like to do: read a book and listen to music
.
Something you wish you’d never done: paint houses.



Last best thing you ate: homemade cherry cake (with cherries from our backyard).

Last thing you regret eating: chicken fried steak at Village Inn.

Things you always put in your books: humor.

Things you never put in your books: foul language.

Things to say to an author: well written
.
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: trivial.

Favorite places you’ve been: Rocky Mountains, Philadelphia, Black Hills.

Places you never want to go to again: Toledo, Ohio.

Favorite books: mysteries, theologies.

Books you would ban: romances.

Favorite things to do: reading, yard work, eating out, writing.

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

Most embarrassing moment: split the back out of my blue jeans during a softball game.

Proudest moment: actually, having a publisher agree to publish my book.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: work on the girders building an airplane hanger
.
Something you chickened out from doing: snow skiing.

The last thing you did for the first time: make a post on Facebook
.
Something you’ll never do again: paint houses

.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  


Warren Embree and his wife grew up in the Sandhills of Nebraska. He did both farm work and ranch work during those years, and he still keeps track of what goes on in the hills. After leaving the area, he pursued an academic career in English, Classical Languages,  and Divinity. He lectured at a couple of institutions and preached at a few churches, and he now works in Lincoln as a data analyst for the University of Nebraska. His knowledge and love of the unique culture of the Sandhills, his education in languages and literature, and his analytical skills contribute to his story telling. He and his wife currently live in Nebraska and have 3 grown children.



Connect with Warren:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads


Buy the book:

Amazon 

FEATURED AUTHOR: ROBIN LAMONT




ABOUT THE BOOK

A rookie investigator working undercover for an animal protection group suddenly vanishes. But when his handler Jude Brannock goes searching for him, she discovers that he might not be who she thought he was. Determined to find the truth, Jude unearths a drug company’s deadly secret and is forced to confront some dark secrets of her own.

Book Details:


Title: The Experiment


Author: Robin Lamont


Genre: Suspense


Series: The Kinship Series, book 3


Publisher: Grayling Press
 (May 16, 2019)

Print length: 288 pages

On tour with: Partners In Crime Book Tours

  

   


LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH ROBIN LAMONT

Things you need in order to write: a clear idea of where the scene is going.
Things that hamper your writing: becoming too focused on details (like tiny pieces o dialogue) and losing sight of what’s at stake.


Easiest thing about being a writer: falling in love with my characters.

Hardest thing about being a writer: forming the overall arc of a book.


Things you love about where you live: walks in the park with my dog; the birds in the morning; being able to grow apple trees in the yard.
Things that make you want to move: the trip into New York City; not having take-out restaurants nearby; snow.


Things you never want to run out of: coffee; soy sauce; ideas
Things you wish you’d never bought: the last 3 items I bought online from China; an electronic food mixer; a can of stuffed grape leaves (in the cabinet now for 3 years). 


Favorite beverage: a nice glass of Chardonnay.

Something that gives you a pickle face: tomato juice.

Something you’re really good at: taking naps.

Something you’re really bad at: making doctor’s appointments.


Something you wish you could do: play the banjo.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: nothing comes to mind.

People you consider as heroes: people who save wild animals from poachers (actually, anyone who tries to save animals from being hurt).

People with a big L on their foreheads: The big L belongs on those who remain quiet in the face of cruelty and intolerance.



Last best thing you ate: a chocolate hazelnut cookie from Trader Joe’s.

Last thing you regret eating: some pineapple that had gone bad.

Things you always put in your books: human drama.

Things you never put in your books: gratuitous violence.

Things to say to an author: “Congratulations on getting that book/article/blog post out.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Where do you get your ideas?”

Favorite places you’ve been: Sicily; Edinburgh; London
.
Places you never want to go to again: an emergency room, Las Vegas, Chicago in the dead of winter.

Favorite books: dark, psychological suspense, Scottish fiction.

Books you would ban: paleo cookbooks, books that really ought to be just magazine articles.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Martina Navratilova; Megan Rapinoe; Ricky Gervais. 
People you’d cancel dinner on: they shall go nameless.

Favorite things to do: play tennis; watch tennis; play tennis with my kids, play tennis with my husband, did I say, “play tennis?”

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: vacuum; wash floors; dust.




EXCERPT FROM THE EXPERIMENT

John Harbolt wasn’t easily shaken. With over forty years of medicine under his belt, there was hardly an injury, disease, or fatality he hadn’t seen, and he’d treated just about everyone in the small town of Half Moon at some time or other. But on that late summer day, young Tori Lacey showed him something that baffled him. Her symptoms were inexplicable and downright scary.
She was his first patient of the day, a young woman who had battled her weight for years. In between the earaches and the sore throats, Harbolt had gently counseled her about diet and exercise. He hoped she wasn’t here to ask him about diet pills again, because as far as he was concerned, they were off the table.
After removing her file from the plastic holder bolted to the outside of the examination room, he adjusted his wire rim glasses and straightened his lab coat. The younger doctors often wore khakis and a short-sleeved shirt at work, and maybe it put the kids more at ease. But Dr. Harbolt stuck with a freshly starched white coat, believing that it made his patients feel more confident in his abilities. And confidence in one’s doctor was important to the healing process.
“Tori Ann Lacey,” he announced jovially as he shambled into the room.
“Hi, Dr. Harbolt.” The morose girl before him sat on the table. She had taken off her running shoes but left her sweatshirt and shorts on.
“I haven’t seen you for a while,” he said, noting with some surprise that she had slimmed considerably, her round face now leaner and more mature. “How is college life treating you?”
“Ok, I guess.” Her voice and posture belied this.
“What brings you here today, my dear.”
“I don’t really know. But we thought you should look at these.” She pushed back the sleeve of her sweatshirt and held out her arm for inspection.
There were several bruises that vandalized the translucent skin of her inner arm. Dr. Harbolt held her wrist and peering over his glasses, looked closely at the red and purple marks.
He pressed lightly on one of them. “Does that hurt?”
She shook her head no.
“What happened?”
“That’s the thing. Nothing happened. They just appeared.” She showed him another set of bruises on her other arm.
“Did you fall?”
“No.”
“Knocked into something?”
“No,” she exclaimed, as though he didn’t believe her. “My mom thinks it’s my diet. That I should be eating meat.”
“And you’re not?”
“No. I needed to lose five more pounds for the track team, which I was having a hard time doing, so I switched over to a raw food diet. And it really helped because I made my goal.”
“And you were selected for the team?”
She nodded, anxiously chewing on a nail.
“Congratulations. You getting enough protein?” he asked, studying the bruising and letting her answer drift past him. This wasn’t because of her diet.
She rambled for a moment about nuts and spinach, then peeled off her socks and lifted her bare feet to the end of the examination table. “And then yesterday after a run, I found this,” she said. “I didn’t even show my mom ’cause she’d freak out.”
Dr. Harbolt caught his breath. It looked as though someone had taken a baseball bat to the soles of the girl’s feet. Fiery maroon blotches screamed out some kind of violence. Three of her toes had turned a dark purple.
“Good Lord!” he blurted out. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing! I’m telling you nothing happened,” wailed Tori. “They just … showed up.”
***
Excerpt from The Experiment by Robin Lamont. Copyright © 2019 by Robin Lamont. Reproduced with permission from Robin Lamont. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  



Author Robin Lamont’s diverse careers include Broadway actress, private investigator, and criminal prosecutor. Her novel If Thy Right Hand was named a Best Book by Suspense Magazine and awarded the Gold Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards. Her book The Chain, the first in The Kinship Series, was a Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalist. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and beloved Golden Retriever, Kaley.



Connect with Robin:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads



Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

FEATURED AUTHOR: MAGGIE TOUSSAINT

ABOUT THE BOOK

Justice for the dead and solace for the living is Baxley Powell’s creed, but she faces uncharted territory in this sixth book of the Dreamwalker Mystery Series. The Suitcase Killer has struck again, only this big city menace is now a problem for Baxley’s hometown. As that investigation heats up, a local woman is reported missing. The sheriff orders Baxley to work the missing person’s case.

Listening to the dead is familiar ground for Baxley but finding a missing young lady isn’t in her skill set. Besides, her dreams rarely follow a timeline. With the clock ticking, can this crime consultant discover a way to reach the living?

Her main source of help in the afterlife, a mentor named Rose, is unavailable. Instead, Baxley must rely on her wits and her Native American boyfriend, Deputy Sam Mayes, to find leads. Each shared dreamwalk and energy transfer binds them closer together, creating another issue. Mayes wants to marry Baxley but it isn’t that easy. They’re hampered by their community roles in opposite ends of the state.

Baxley juggles the pressure of two high-profile cases, a determined suitor, and expanding her limits. One thing is certain. Without her extrasensory sleuthing, the missing woman will die.


Book Details:

Title: Dreamed It

Author: Maggie Toussaint

Genre: Paranormal cozy mystery

Series: Dreamwalker Mystery Series, book 6

Publisher: Camel Press (August 13, 2019)
Print length: 248 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours


IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH MAGGIE TOUSSAINT

Ifs


Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be?
A: I live in a small town in coastal Georgia and have been working on my ancestry. My research has been hampered by fires. Our town of Darien was torched during the Civil War (illustrated in the movie Glory) and our County Courthouse has been torched three times. That means a lot of records were destroyed. Consequently, we can only go back so far until the lineage becomes anecdotal and different factions of our family favor this ancestor or another. What a mess. I’d like to go back to the early 1800s and see for myself! One ancestress lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1834. How’d she do that in that timeframe? Why didn’t I inherit her bone structure or immune system?

Q: If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
A: I would like to revisit my childhood and spend more time with my dad. His life was cut short by a heart attack and I barely got to know him as an adult. He made and repaired many of his fishing nets, cooked like a dream, and is the only person I know who read the entire World Book Encyclopedia set from cover to cover. I also remember him doing the crossword puzzles in the newspaper, and I think of him often as I work my crossword puzzles.

Q: If you could time travel for an infinite period of time, where would you go?
A: First, I hope time traveling doesn’t involve motion sickness! I’d do it if it were smooth like an express elevator ride. I would like to watch Alexander Graham Bell make the first telephone call on March 10, 1876. Did you know some people started using the word “ahoy” as the first word of their phone greeting at first, until Thomas Edison suggested in 1877 using the word “hello” and it caught on?

Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
A: I volunteer monthly at the Old Jail Art Center, which is also a satellite location for our Visitor Center. I enjoy doing this as I am often asked to share information about our current attractions and about our past.

Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
A: I’d want a tropical island with lots of fresh vegetables, few bugs, and no hurricanes. I’d also need a doctor on that island for emergencies.




Ands


5 things you need in order to write:  
    •    peace and quiet
    •    computer
    •    iced tea
    •    chocolate
and
    •    electricity

5 things you love about writing:
    •    creating twists and turns
    •    allowing the characters to stretch and grow
    •    holding the finished product in my hand
    •    getting to meet amazing readers
and
    •    sharing my experience with beginning writers

5 things you love about where you live: 
    •    it is home and generations of my family have lived in this remote coastal area
    •    I can’t go anywhere without bumping into someone who knows me or is related to me
    •    We have fresh from the ocean seafood
    •    It doesn’t get very cold in the winter
and 
    •    I am close enough to see my sister regularly

5 things you never want to run out of:
    •    toilet paper!
    •    fleece clothing!
    •    clean underwear!
    •    hats!
and
    •    sunscreen lotion!   

5 things about you or 5 words to describe you:  
    •    amateur photographer
    •    yoga enthusiast
    •    classic rock and roll fan
    •    arts and crafts addict
and
    •    flower garden admirer

Whats

Q: What’s your biggest pet peeve?
A: People driving inappropriately. What part of sharing the road don’t they understand?

Q: What’s the loveliest sight you’ve ever seen?
A: The smile of a child.

Q: What’s your favorite time of day?
A: I love mornings. The day is fresh like a blank sheet of paper, just waiting to be filled with explorations, visits, and great meals.

Q: What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
A: Sunglasses! It’s really bright here in coastal Georgia. You’d think that my aging vision would make everything dim, but that’s not the case. I have really dark sunglasses.

Q: 
What book are you currently working on?
A: I’m polishing book 2 of my next series and going through the final edits of book 1, Seas the Day, which releases in April 2020. The Seafood Caper Mysteries is a culinary cozy set on a coastal island.

Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: cauliflower pizza
Music: anything by Dean Evenson (soft and soothing music)
Movie: Men in Black, International
TV: I’ve enjoyed every show and movie Nathan Fillion has been in. If you haven’t seen The Rookie, it’s good and entertaining
Netflix/Amazon Prime: a zany choice, but compelling: The Santa Clarita Diet
Miscellaneous: I love writing with Gel pens

Q: What books do you currently have published?
A: I have 20 books out now, but for brevity’s sake will include only the Dreamwalker Mystery Series in order of their publication.
Gone and Done It
Bubba Done It
Doggone It 
Dadgummit 
Confound It 
Dreamed It 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes cozy and paranormal mysteries. Dreamed It, book six in her Dreamwalker series just released. She has another Dreamwalker novel (All Done with It) coming in 2019 as well as a new culinary cozy series, Seas the Day, coming in April 2020 from Henery Press. Her work won two Silver Falchions, the Readers’ Choice, and the EPIC Awards. She’s finaled three times for Georgia Author of the Year. Maggie also writes romantic suspense and science fiction. She’s past president of Southeast chapter of Mystery Writers of America and a board member of LowCountry Sisters In Crime. She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows.

Connect with Maggie:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Linkedin  |  Pinterest  |  Bookbub  |  Amazon


Buy the book:
Amazon

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FEATURED AUTHOR: ANNABELLE HUNTER

ABOUT THE BOOK

Peace and quiet is underrated.

After her last brush with murder, Larklyn Davis is relieved to be spending her time with the talented new horse at her stables instead of tripping over body parts. While she’s trying to figure out why her newest horse has lost his mojo, she’s also puzzling over her relationship with the brooding, uncommunicative Detective Brecken Wilson.

But then, disaster strikes, and both Lark’s reputation and business are on the line. Once again she finds herself pulled into a murder case and in close proximity to the handsome detective. Throw in a dashing veterinarian plus a matchmaking town, and Lark’s life spins out of control. As clues pile up and all evidence leads back to her barn, Lark gets saddled up to solve another mystery.

Who knew life in Barrow Bay would stir up so much trouble?


Book Details:


Title: Stir Up


Author’s name: Annabelle Hunter


Genre: Cozy mystery

Series: Lark Davis Mysteries, book 2


Publisher: Independent (July 1st, 2019)


Print length: 258 pages


On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

   

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH ANNABELLE HUNTER

A few of your favorite things: read, ride, write. Oh, and eat.
Things you need to throw out: all the shoes that I love, but are too worn out to wear anymore. 


Things you need in order to write: no one asking me to do something for them.
Things that hamper your writing: children, but they are a really cute hamper, so I don’t mind.


Things you love about writing: creating stories.
Things you hate about writing: the characters not listening to my direction and making me go rewrite the outline. Again.

Hardest thing about being a writer: editing.

Easiest thing about being a writer: talking about books for hours and dissecting other people’s writing so I can learn to be better. 


Things you love about where you live: constant sunny weather.
Things that make you want to move: constant sunny weather (picture vampire here).


Things you never want to run out of: coffee.
Things you wish you’d never bought: coffee
.

Words that describe you: awkward.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: awkward. I’m starting to worry about my answers to these questions.

Favorite foods: crepes, BBQ pork buns, BBQ, chocolate, creme brulee, bread pudding, ice cream, pho, hummus, kabobs, baba ganoush, sushi… you get the picture. I like food.
Things that make you want to throw up: broccoli. It’s evil.

Favorite smell: orange blossoms.

Something that makes you hold your nose: skunk.

Something you’re really good at: reading.

Something you’re really bad at: riding horses, not that it stops me.


Something you wish you could do: get my tense right when I write. Oh! Or spell.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: make brownies. It’s evil. And so good.

Something you like to do: sleep in.

Something you wish you’d never done: frequently that answer is ‘open my mouth and comment on something’ but I’m out of examples right now. But very rarely am I witty in person and that tends to be on the top of my regrets list.


Last best thing you ate: dumplings. 

Last thing you regret eating: dumplings … I’m still too full.

Things you’d walk a mile for: food. Friends. The band Queen . . .
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: horror movies.

Things you always put in your books: romance. I can’t help myself. 

Things you never put in your books: horror.

Things to say to an author: I love your work. 

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: ‘You know, your work would be better if…’ Although, I would change your name. And probably write down the comment for further rumination.

Favorite places you’ve been: England.

Places you never want to go to again: downtown LA. I hate the parking. And the drive. Did I mention the parking? Oh, and I should mention the parking.

Favorite things to do: Writing.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: Editing. FYI - it doesn’t work. My brain makes me go back and finish it anyways.

Things that make you happy: My friends and family
.
Things that drive you crazy: See above. I’m seeing a trend.

Most embarrassing moment: Too many to mention. I’m an all-star on being mortified of the things that come out of my mouth. 

Proudest moment: My first review. Five stars. I cried for like a half hour I was so happy.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Made sure I listened to other people and really heard what they’re saying.

Biggest mistake: Taking their opinions as fact or getting angry instead of listening and trying to find out why they thought that.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: published a book. 

Something you chickened out from doing: Horse shows. I’m such a wuss. I told you I was never ready. 



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Annabelle Hunter is a stay-at-home mother who writes in whatever time her children give her. She is the author of Leg Up and Number’s Up. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children, and various pets. 



Connect with Annabelle:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads


Buy the book:

Amazon