>>>Enter to win a print copy of Putting on the Witch<<< In the latest mystery from the bestselling authors of Looking for Mr. Good Witch, the retired witches of Wilmington, North Carolina, are ready to kick up their heels…
With their coven’s spell book still missing, Molly and Elsie—along with their ghostly friend Olivia, her daughter Dorothy, and her boyfriend Brian—are all on edge, especially now that Dorothy’s infamously wicked father is back in the picture. So when they receive an invitation to an exclusive Witches Ball, the ladies jump at the chance to dress up and have some fun.
The castle locale is spectacular and the party is hopping, but the festivities come to a swift end when a member of the Grand Council of Witches is murdered. With the whole place on lock down, the coven is determined to find the cunning killer, even with an angry council and a real Spanish Inquisitor breathing down their necks…
About The Authors Joyce and Jim are together in heaven but their stories live on.
Joyce and Jim Lavene wrote award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. They wrote and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon, and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They were married for 44 years, and lived in rural North Carolina with their family. Joyce died on October 20, 2015. Jim passed less than a year later, on May 5, 2016. www.joyceandjimlavene.com www.facebook.com/joyceandjimlavene
For thirty-something blogger Cora Chevalier, small-town Indigo Gap, North Carolina, seems like the perfect place to reinvent her life.
Shedding a stressful past as a counselor for a women’s shelter, Cora is pouring all her talents—and most of her savings—into a craft retreat business, with help from close pal and resident potter Jane Starr. Between transforming her Victorian estate into a crafter’s paradise and babysitting Jane’s daughter, the new entrepreneur has no time for distractions. Especially rumors about the murder of a local school librarian . . .
But when Jane’s fingerprints match those found at the grisly crime scene, Cora not only worries about her friend, but her own reputation. With angry townsfolk eager for justice and both Jane’s innocence and the retreat at risk, she must rely on her creative chops to unlace the truth behind the beloved librarian’s disturbing demise. Because if the killer’s patterns aren’t pinned, Cora’s handiwork could end up in stitches . . .
About The Author Mollie Cox Bryan is the author of the Cumberland Creek Scrapbooking mystery series. She is also author of two cookbooks, the regional bestseller Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies and Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley . An award-winning journalist and poet, she currently blogs, cooks, and scrapbooks in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband and two daughters. Scrapbook of Secrets was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.
Kim and Brien’s excellent adventure at the swanky Sanctuary Resort & Spa continues when an unwelcome visitor drops in on New Year’s Eve.
An elusive marine GPS device found and lost again, unleashes another wave of murder and mayhem in Corsario Cove! What is it about that thing? Will the secret be revealed when they visit the chamber of heinousness? Stooges, Krugerrands, and monks—oh my! Is it going to be a Gnarly New Year for Kim and Brien? Character Guest Post: Truth or Chore?
Brien and Kim are back from their honeymoon. They’re not in Corsario Cove but out in the California desert where they met. It’s a balmy evening in January on the patio of the condo they rent. The moon is shining, the palm trees are swaying, and they’re lingering over a cold beer and a platter of nachos. ~~~~~
Brien: “These are awesome nachos, even without the beef.”
Kim: “Gracias, Dude. I’ve been getting tips from St. Bernadette so I can better perform my wifely cooking chores.”
Brien: “Too bad you don’t cook every night. You’re way better at it than I am, even without Bernadette’s tips. Maybe I should ask her for help, too.”
Kim: “Sure, you could do that. Nachos aren’t that hard to fix. Heck, it’s hardly even cooking. Especially if you leave out the barbacoa or carne asada you carnivores love so much.”
Brien: “Like the ones we had that night we met. Those were epic nachos.”
Kim: “That’s what you remember about the night we met—the nachos?”
Brien: “Not just the nachos. It’s my turn to ask you questions, though. Truth or chore: what do you remember?”
Kim: “It was an evening a lot like this one—gorgeous lounging on the Huntington’s patio overlooking the swimming pool and golf course. I remember being nearly knocked out by that house Jessica’s dad had designed and built. It’s a work of art. When I worked for Mr. P, he had an enormous house up in the Hollywood Hills. That one was dark and sinister—like a holdover from a gothic horror movie set. He was so impressed that it had once been owned by a dead monster movie mogul. Complete with secret rooms and passage ways. Creepy. How did I get on this topic?”
Brien: “Uh, you were talking about meeting me for the first time. My memories of nachos are way better than your memories of creeps!”
Kim: “Jessica’s house triggered those memories, not you. Give me a break. It’s still a little hard for me to open up about mushy stuff like feelings, Brien. You must know that about me.”
Brien: “I do.”
Kim: “So, truth—no chore. I wasn’t just knocked about by that house. You wowed me, too, Moondoggie.”
Brien: “I thought you were a knockout, too. I tried not to stare at you in front of the Cat Pack but whoa, that tattoo of yours was so hot!”
Kim: “My tattoo? That’s what grabbed you about me—my Saraswati tattoo?”
Brien: “I didn’t know she was Saraswati, or that she was a goddess. She was beautiful, like you. Your face and that smokin’ hot body of yours. What did you like about me? Truth or chore.”
Kim: “Okay, truth. You do have a bodacious body, as you surfer dudes like to say. I was totally in awe. I’m not even sure I could hear what you were saying, Brien. You didn’t say much did you?”
Brien: “Nah, I was tongue-twisted.”
Kim: “Tongue-tied is what you mean, right?”
Brien: “Probably. You were quiet that night, too.”
Kim: “I still am, but not like then. I didn’t like being around a lot of people. All those awful parties I had to go to working for Mr. P. At least I didn’t run off to a corner and hide that night at Jessica’s house.”
Bien: “I wouldn’t have let you go off by yourself, Kim. Truth or chore: was it love at first sight?”
Kim: “Truth. I don’t believe in love at first sight. Let’s just say I felt a strong attraction to you.”
Brien: “That’s fair. I’d have to say it was hard to figure out if it was love or not with all that animal magnetism between us.”
Kim: “Yes, that’s a perfect way of putting it. You also made me nervous—maybe because I was fighting off that attraction. Besides, I didn’t want to get involved with anyone.”
Brien: “Yeah, I could tell that, Kim. That’s why I didn’t push it. From what you and Jessica went through with Mr. P and the Doc, it couldn’t have been good hanging with those bogus guys—and you did that for years. I felt bad for you. Sometimes, though, I thought it was me you didn’t like.”
Kim: “You irritated me. I didn’t understand that when you’re nervous instead of hiding in a corner or clamming up like me, you talk. The more anxious you get the more you say, and that’s when you make mistakes. Truth: that drove me up the wall at first.”
Brien: “Malapropisms—you told me all about that. What changed?”
Kim: “Later one night when you drove me home. We were alone and you were quiet, except for a question or two. Something simple, like how are you doing? The way you said it—the way you often say things—was so sincere. I remember feeling safe answering you honestly. That surprised me.”
Brien: “That night changed things for me, too, Kim. We were friends after that.”
Kim: “Yes, friends. And I wanted to see you again. Just you, without that crowd around. That’s why I said yes right away when you asked me to go with you to the 60’s beach movie film festival.”
Brien: “Truth or chore: when did you realize it was love?”
Kim: “Soon. You became my dream date—my very own Moondoggie. Was that ever a shock. It took me a while longer to deal with it. Then one night you called me Gidget. That’s when I knew you were on to me.”
Brien: “I was—at least I hoped I was since I was in deep by then.”
Kim: “Me too, even though I still couldn’t say I love you.”
Brien: “You had to hear it from me first. Not quite love at first sight, huh?”
Kim: “Close enough, Moondoggie.”
Brien: “One more question. Truth or chore: Do you want me to take that job and move with me to Corsario Cove or not?”
Kim: “Um, it’s going to have to be a chore.”
Brien: “You won’t tell me the truth?”
Kim: “I can’t, because I haven’t figured what that the truth is yet. Maybe we should take that second honeymoon, then make a decision.” ~~~~~ Will Kim & Brien leave Palm Springs, their friends and their jobs behind? Stay tuned for their next adventure to find out.
About The Author
Anna Celeste Burke is an award-winning and bestselling author who enjoys snooping into life’s mysteries with fun, fiction, & food—California style! Her books include the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series set in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, the Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery series set on California’s Central Coast, and The Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery series set in Orange County, California–the OC. Coming soon: The Misadventures of Betsy Stark that take place in the Coachella Valley. Find out more at http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com.
“I was fourteen when I fell in love with a goddess…”
So begins the testimony of Noah Calaway, an ex-lawyer with a sideline in armchair criminal psychology. Now living an aimless life in an inherited cottage in the English countryside, Noah is haunted by the memory of the beguiling young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years earlier. Then one day he receives a troubling phone call. April, the woman he once loved, lies in a coma, the victim of an apparent overdose—and the lead suspect in the brutal murder of her stepfather. Deep in his bones, Noah believes that April is innocent. Then again, he also believed they would spend the rest of their lives together.
While Noah searches for evidence that will clear April’s name, a teenager named Ella begins to sift through the secrets of her own painful family history. The same age as April was when Noah first met her, Ella harbors a revelation that could be the key to solving the murder. As the two stories converge, there are shocking consequences when at last, the truth emerges.
Or so everyone believes…
Set in a borderland where the past casts its shadow on the present, with a time-shifting narrative that will mesmerize and surprise, The Beauty of the End is both a masterpiece of suspense and a powerful rumination on lost love.
About The Author
Debbie Howells is the author of THE BONES OF YOU, her debut thriller which sold internationally for six-figures in several countries. While in the past she has been a flying instructor, the owner of a flower shop, and a student of psychology, she currently writes full-time. Debbie lives in West Sussex with her family. Visit her online at DebbieHowells.com.
The tide has turned for Dodie O’Dell since a hurricane upended her life on the Jersey Shore.
Now she’s further up the coast in sleepy Etonville, managing a restaurant that dishes dinners themed around the community theater’s latest productions. But Dodie just never imagined she’d land the starring role in a case of bloody homicide . . .
Intrigued by rumors of vanishing box office money, Dodie has agreed to help oversee the casting of Romeo and Juliet at the modest Etonville Little Theater. If nothing else, it’s a welcome escape from the thirty-something’s usual going-to-bed-with-a-mystery-novel routine. But when Jerome Angleton, a well-respected member of the theater company, is inexplicably found murdered on the loading dock, deadly drama transcends the stage-and the page. As a crime wave crashes over the small town, the spotlight is on Dodie to orchestrate her own investigation behind the scenes . . . before someone has a chance at a killer encore.
About The Author Suzanne Trauth is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and a former university theatre professor. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Dramatists Guild. When she is not writing, Suzanne coaches actors and serves as a celebrant performing wedding ceremonies. She lives in Woodland Park, New Jersey. Readers can visit her website at www.suzannetrauth.com.
Laura Pauling writes about spies, murder and mystery. She’s the author of the young adult Circle of Spies Series, the Prom Impossible Series, the time travel mysteries, Heist and A Royal Heist, and the Holly Hart Cozy Mystery Series: Footprints in the Frosting and Deadly Independence with more coming.
She lives the cover of a suburban mom/author perfectly, from the minivan to the home-baked snickerdoodles, while hiding her secret missions and covert operations. But shh. Don’t tell anyone. And she may or may not actually bake cookies. You decide.
Laura Pauling
Laura stopped by to chat about cheesecake, love, and other mysteries.
cheesecake, love, & other mysteries
I wanted to write a cozy mystery. That much I knew. All I needed was inspiration in the form of an amateur sleuth. As I waited for the creative winds to blow my way, I happened to chat with a friend.
I found my inspiration.
My friend was branching out and starting her own business–selling cheesecakes! I loved it. I loved that with an already established career, kids, a husband, and two dogs, she was getting creative with her life. Pursuing a dream. Putting in the hard work and long hours it takes to launch a business. Making herself vulnerable.
Love, love, loved it. And I found my amateur sleuth. The facts that my sleuth, Holly Hart, bakes cheesecake and has red hair are the only similarities between her and the real-life inspiration.
How could I not be inspired? How could anyone not be inspired? If only in that it proves that we can do anything we put our mind to. It’s never to late to start a business or write that novel or attempt to combine what we love with what we do, whether it be for money or love.
After I found my sleuth, I dove into writing the mysteries. I have four written and two already published. Footprints in the Frosting came out in May, and Deadly Independence went live early June. If you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll receive a free mystery, Murder with a Slice of Cheesecake, which will release in July.
If you could branch out and try something new or follow a dream, what would it be?
Visit Laura at http://laurapauling.com to sign up for her newsletter and receive a free Holly Hart cozy mystery novella.
In high school, Joanne Guidoccio dabbled in poetry, but it would be over three decades before she entertained the idea of writing as a career. In 2008, she took an early retirement from teaching and decided to launch a second career that would tap into her creative side and utilize her well-honed organizational skills. Before long, Joanne was a working writer; her articles and book reviews were published in newspapers, magazines, and online. Eventually she progressed to fiction, where she finds that reinvention is a recurring theme in her novels and short stories.
Author Joanne Guidoccio
Today, Joanne came by to chat about having the right kind of skin. Rhino skin.
Writers especially will appreciate this:
It behooves you to develop a thicker skin.
Toastmaster Rosalind Scantlebury did not mince words at a recent Table Topics Contest. Responding to the prompt—Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me—she focused on an individual’s responsibility not to take things so personally. She peppered her impromptu talk with provocative comments, among them, “What other people think of you is none of your business.”
Definitely inspiring, especially for writers.
Thirty-one years of teaching adolescents thickened my skin considerably, but I faced different challenges when I embarked on a writing career. I had to learn how to deal effectively with critiques and rejection letters from agents and publishers and, most important of all, acquire that coveted rhino skin.
These are some of the strategies in my toolbox:
Get the Back Story
Whenever I attend readings, I pay special attention to the author’s back story. I like hearing the details about his or her writing journey and the challenges encountered along the way. Occasionally, I pick up valuable nuggets of advice that help me along my own journey. For example, Guelph writer Nicholas Ruddock (The Parabolist) established his platform by entering and placing in short story contests. When New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny couldn’t find a Canadian or American agent, she crossed the pond and approached a British agent.
Read Bad Reviews
If I have enjoyed reading a book, I look up the one-star reviews on Amazon. That’s right, I gravitate toward the negative. While shaking my head at the nitpicking and negative comments, I realize that no author is immune from criticism. Not even authors of best-selling novels can please everyone.
Eliminate the Negative
Some writers file and keep all their rejection letters. I suspect they refer to these letters often and get discouraged all over again. It is important to keep accurate records, but it is not necessary to keep these negative reminders around for future reference. After reading a rejection letter, I update the information on a spreadsheet and delete the file.
Throw More Irons Into the Fire
We’ve all heard the advice. Send out the manuscript and then immediately start on another one. Easier said than done. After writing 70K words and looking at multiple drafts of that manuscript, the thought of starting all over again can be daunting. Instead, I like to work on shorter pieces: book reviews, short stories, articles, more blog posts. Entering contests and taking online writing courses also keep my skills sharp. It is important not to sit around waiting for a response. Some action—any action—is needed.
Get Support
I belong to Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, Guppies, and Romance Writers of America. I also participate in discussion boards for The Wild Rose Press and Soul Mate Publishing Authors. I try to attend writing workshops, panels and readings offered within a fifty-mile radius. While interacting with these authors, I get valuable advice and feedback about my work. I appreciate all the help I have received, especially from good friend and fellow writer Patricia Anderson. I had only request: “Let it rip!” And she did, but in a constructive way.
From Toronto based freelancer Ian Harvey… “Rejections are part of the game, but this is the only game in which rejection doesn’t mean no. It means not now, or not for me, or not for me right now. It doesn’t mean no forever.”
Get Joanne’s latest, A Season for Killing Blondes.
Historian by training, globe-trotting university project manager by necessity, and fiction writer by the skin of her teeth, Mindy Quigley has had a colorful career.
She has won a number of awards for her short stories, including the 2013 Bloody Scotland prize. Her non-fiction writing includes an academic article co-authored with the researcher who created Dolly the Sheep. More recently, she was project manager of the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, a research clinic founded in Scotland by the author J.K. Rowling. Her work as the coordinator of a pastoral services program at the Duke University Medical Center provided the inspiration for her bestselling Reverend Lindsay Harding mystery series.
Author Mindy Quigley
Mindy’s stopped by to talk about how she uses the Cocktail Party Test to guide her writing.
Intrigued? I thought so! Read on:
The Worst Possible Cocktail Party
My husband, Paul, dreads cocktail parties. He’s a mild-mannered, polite British man—a combination of traits that seems to make him easy prey for cocktail-party nutcases. You know the type. The high-strung lady who asks rhetorical questions only to give herself the opportunity to launch into what seem to be well-rehearsed, and incredibly inane, monologues. “Do you like cats? Well, I love them. When I was growing up, we had a cat named Feather who would pee on anything plastic…”
Another type of nutcase who often ends up cornering Paul, usually next to the alcohol table, are those with nutcasia temporaria (a short-term case of the disease). People who’ve recently been divorced or endured a breakup fall into this category. British men like Paul aren’t known for their ability to share their inner lives, nor are they equipped with the skills to deal with people who spew out their tales of failed romance in large, undigested chunks. When confronted with this type of nutcase, Paul often ends up staring uncomfortably into the middle distance, as if trying to endure a particularly thorough dental cleaning.
The worst offenders are the nutcases who take advantage of Paul’s soft-spokenness and good manners to “enlighten” him with their views on politics or religion. “America isn’t what it used to be. I mean look at the state of the economy/the environment/local schools/boy bands.
Those Democrats/Republicans/Hippies/Rednecks/guys from One Direction have flushed this country down the toilet.”
I cast my readers in the role of Paul at that cocktail party and myself as a stranger, approaching him near the snack table. With each chapter, I ask myself, am I being a cocktail party nutcase? Here’s what I mean. Say I’ve written a bit of dialogue that’s outrageously clever, full of nimble-minded wordplay and athletic leaps of language. I’ve peppered each sentence with ten-dollar words and Oscar Wilde-esque wit. But when I examine this brilliant bit of dialogue using the cocktail party nutcase test, I may realize that, it is a clear example of the high-strung woman cornering the unsuspecting partygoer. The dialogue probably doesn’t sound very natural, and all those big words probably impose too much unnecessary work on my readers. I’m just talking to hear the sound of my own voice.
Because my books all incorporate true historical elements, I must be careful to avoid nutcasia temporaria, too. In my case, this might manifest itself in my desire to tell my readers every detail of the blow-by-blow, honest-to-gosh true background historical events. After all, I put a lot of research into understanding those events and I want my book learnin’ to show! But the truth is, just like the gory details of some stranger’s marital breakup, the research a writer puts into her books should blend subtly into the background. If I am disgorging chunks of my research like a drunken frat boy in a Wendy’s parking lot, I’m probably suffering from nutcasia temporaria.
The last one, which is probably even more prevalent at family Thanksgiving dinners than at cocktail parties, is the know-it-all jerk, trying to ram his beliefs down your throat. Since my books have a liberal, female hospital chaplain as the main character, this can be an especially delicate dance. I’ve got to be careful to include enough informative little tidbits about her beliefs to reveal her character, but avoid any kind of posturing, proselytizing, or punditry. I want my characters’ views to feel like a finely woven part of who they are, sitting respectfully in the background of their personalities, never demanding center stage. Unless my character is a know-it-all jerk at a cocktail party. Then it’s kosher.
So that’s the cocktail party test. If I can read what I’ve written and think, yeah, Paul would like this cocktail party, I know I’ve succeeded!
Mindy lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, with her Civil War history professor husband, their daughter, and their miniature Schnauzer. You can follow her at
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