Sunday, March 29, 2015

Violent Departures Blog Tour Schedule


College student, Veronica Randall, disappears from her car in her own driveway, everyone in the Rocky Bluff P.D. is looking for her. Detective Milligan and family move into a house that may be haunted. Officer Butler is assigned to train a new hire and faces several major challenges.

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

What’s Happening with Gordon Butler?

            Introduction to the Rocky Bluff P.D. Mystery Series

            My Writing Process

            Research

 What’s Up Next?

The Importance of Place

            Coming Up With New Ideas for an Ongoing Series

Where Do My Characters Come From?

            What About the Dialogue?

  Interview

            How I Keep Up With my Characters and What’s Happened

            After So Many Books, How Do You Get Fresh Ideas?

            When to Think About Promotion

The Good and Bad of Writing a Series

            Ghosts and Why I Write About Them

            Reading Reviews of my Books

            Stacey Milligan’s Dilemma

            The Inspiration for Violent Departures

            Who Do I Write For?

            What Makes the Rocky Bluff Mystery Series Unique?

Final Interview


F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, is the author of over thirty published novels. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Besides having family members in law enforcement, she lived in a town much like Rocky Bluff with many police families as neighbors.

Links:
Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/ (Check out the contest she is running during the tour!)

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Kindle Freebie: The Reinvention of Rudd Carter by R.L. Davis


South of the border, everyone is for sale. Everyone but Rudd Carter.

Carter is a rarity: A martial arts expert and hired gun born to an aristocratic English family. He worked undercover for the British in China, helping put down the Boxer Rebellion.

Now, in 1922, in the lawless Mexican desert, a conspiracy is brewing. Ben Mosier is a cigar-chomping American who runs hotels, casinos, bootlegging and brothels. He’s plenty rich, but he lusts for more, even if it means corrupting local authorities and seizing a foreign country.

Maybe Rudd Carter has something to prove to his family — for banishing him, when he fell in love with his 16-year-old cousin and got her pregnant. He’s picked up a useful but unstable lieutenant, who enjoys watching people drown in their own blood. Now at Mosier’s hotel he meets stunning Kathryn. She just plays the violin — so cool and aloof, as if she’s not tainted, too.

Carter is a genius at war for hire. Eleven years ago his Devil’s Squadron — 50 ruthless killers — struck the fateful blow in the Battle of Juarez, deciding the Mexican revolution. Now Mosier and his cronies hire Carter to raise a new cadre of fighters. Why? To provoke another Mexican uprising. But the last thing they have in mind is revolution of, by or for the people.

Carter’s always chosen the right battle at the right time. In Kathryn, he’s finally found the woman he wants to spend his life with. Here’s Mosier, promising to make him rich. Just this one more job, and he can kiss killing goodbye forever. But something about this plan is beginning to smell. Something Carter can’t see and isn’t being told is making him queasy. Is it the truth behind Mosier’s harebrained scheme — or the fear that his own luck and cunning are about to run out?

File Size: 849 KB
Print Length: 158 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Wyman & Brewster Inc. (February 15, 2015)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00TOMWKDA

Purchase here!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Kindle Freebie: Death of a Dapper Snowman by Angela Pepper


Gift shop owner Stormy Day is settling into her new life until she comes across a frozen body, hidden inside a well-dressed snowman.

When her own father is implicated in the murder, Stormy must chase down clues and uncover the town's secrets herself.

As she draws closer to identifying the killer, Stormy's own life may be in danger. That is unless Jeffrey, the mischievous Russian Blue cat who led her to the icy body in the first place, can flick his sleek gray tail at the final piece in the puzzle.


“A great mystery with clever clues, plus plenty of fun characters to make you smile!”

“Stormy ranks right at the top with the mysteries I've read, laughed at and loved.” - Barb S.

“If you like good clean mysteries with lots of twists and fun along the way, this is the perfect series for you.” - Sewanee K.

“Stormy Day is a breath of fresh air! Mystery, humor, drama while being a fun read!” - Bonny

“If you like the Stephanie Plum series, you can't help but like Stormy Day!” - Kristie A.

“Engaging characters to love.” - Vi Marie S.

“Refreshing and new... I love the cat and all other characters.” - Aqsa K.

File Size: 663 KB
Print Length: 358 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00O3TTKFK


Purchase here!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Kindle Freebie: Hushabye (A Kate Redman Mystery: Book 1) by Celina Grace


A missing baby. A murdered girl. A case where everyone has something to hide...

On the first day of her new job in the West Country, Detective Sergeant Kate Redman finds herself investigating the kidnapping of Charlie Fullman, the newborn son of a wealthy entrepreneur and his trophy wife. It seems a straightforward case... but as Kate and her fellow officer Mark Olbeck delve deeper, they uncover murky secrets and multiple motives for the crime.

Kate finds the case bringing up painful memories of her own past secrets. As she confronts the truth about herself, her increasing emotional instability threatens both her hard-won career success and the possibility that they will ever find Charlie Fullman alive...

Hushabye (A Kate Redman mystery) is the the first novel in the best selling Kate Redman Mystery series from crime writer Celina Grace, author of Lost Girls and The House on Fever Street.

File Size: 1395 KB
Print Length: 268 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00C0JHYR6


Purchase here!

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Coming Soon!: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear


Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns, only to find herself in a dangerous place . . .

In Jacqueline Winspear‘s powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy, a brutal murder in the British garrison town of Gibraltar leads Maisie into a web of lies, deceit, and peril.

Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability—and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father Frankie Dobbs is not getting any younger.

But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn’t ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, “You will be alone in a most dangerous place,” she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.

Yet the danger is very real. Days after Maisie’s arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar’s Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on “the Rock”—arguably Britain’s most important strategic territory—and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different way.

Series: Maisie Dobbs (Book 11)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper (March 17, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062220551
ISBN-13: 978-0062220554

Pre-order at Amazon!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Interview with D. J. Adamson, Author of Admit to Mayhem

D. J. Adamson is an award-winning author. Her family roots grow deep in the Midwest and it is here she sets much of her work. She juggles her time between her own desk and teaching writing to others at two Los Angeles area colleges. Along with her husband and two Welsh Terriers, she makes her home in Southern California.

Her latest book is the mystery, amateur sleuth, Admit to Mayhem.

For More Information


Did you like mysteries when you were growing up?

Like most mystery writers, I liked mysteries and thrillers. Everything from Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie to Edgar Allen Poe to Elizabeth George to Laurie Stevens to Cindy Sample. However, my tastes and enthusiasm are not held to genre. In fact, I believe in order to write genre well, you need to understand all literature. So, I eagerly read Saramago, Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Uris, Poe, King, Faulkner, Goyen, Atwood, etc.

What was the first story in that genre that you wrote?

It is too far back to remember. The first novel I tried, I believe, I titled Murder Times Two. It still sits on the shelf. I believe an author needs to write ten novels before they can fully implement their first published. I may have needed to write more than ten, but then, I’m getting old. Better now than never. However, I published short stories in literary magazines before launching my first novel, Admit to Mayhem, a Lillian Dove Mystery.

What is your favorite part of writing in this genre?

My favorite part in this genre is the same as any other I would write in, I enjoy the characters. I know the characters in the Lillian Dove series as if they were family. They sit waiting for me in my den.

What do you find most difficult about writing in this genre?

Plotting is always difficult for me. I tangent off into areas not needed. In order to keep the plot moving in a line of conflict to climax, I outline after the first draft is written.

Is there an author in this genre that you admire most?

I admire all writers who brave putting themselves out there to be read and work hard to tell the truth of how they see life. Writing is a lonely career. No one sits in front of that computer but me. No one reads the manuscripts as many times as me. What I write, to me, is never good enough. I am sure these feelings are felt by most readers. You have to admire people who go about the long hours and tedious edits to put something out for someone else to enjoy.

What is up next for you?

I have a mystery-science fiction trilogy Deviation coming out in April. Suppose There Was A Crime, the second of the Lillian Dove series is due out this fall.

Do you have anything to add?

To your readers who don’t write, don’t hesitate to let the author know how much you enjoyed their work. That is the treasure found in writing, your words. And if you write, write every day, write without expectation, write because you have to, you need to, you can’t stop. Whether you publish or journal, if that is who you are, don’t deny the voice that tells you to: write.


Monday, March 9, 2015

Book Spotlight: Admit to Mayhem by D. J. Adamson

Title: Admit to Mayhem
Author: D.J. Adamson
Publisher: Horatio Press
Pages: 286
Genre: Mystery/Amateur Sleuth

Purchase at AMAZON

With a contrary attitude and an addiction for independence, Lillian Dove admits she has not been a success in life. In fact, she considers failing as one of her addictions. Yet, when she comes across a suspicious house fire with a history of arson and murder, she instinctively attempts to help someone trapped. Lillian becomes the only possible eyewitness to criminal arson, and her life begins to spiral out of control.

Lillian Dove is an endearing “everywoman” struggling with life issues, emotional complexities and a habit of doing just the opposite of what she’s told to do. These qualities in a heroine give the reader an ability to vicariously struggle along with the protagonist in this intriguing Midwest Noir mystery.

Book Excerpt:

My name is Lillian Dove. I am a recovering alcoholic, five years sober.
    
 Five long years, yet the clink of ice in a glass still sets me on edge.
     
There is no graduation from alcoholism. Or life, for that matter. I am also addicted to Pepsi, chocolate, men, being afraid, being afraid of not being afraid, men—again--and my independence, co-dependence and unsettling ability to fail no matter my attempt. There are other compulsions and bad habits, but I can’t think of them right now. Memory loss, see? And I obsess on how much I forget, if I remember. Giving up alcohol turned out to be easier than changing some of my other behaviors.
     
Especially my bad judgment when it comes to men. The type of man I’m most attracted to is like a tall, Tom Collins on a sweltering, summer day:  gin, a little lemon--but not too sour—with sweet syrup and bubbly soda.  It’s hard to resist, even if I know it’s not good for me.
     
 I’ve pledged a Tom-Collins-abstinence.
     
Yet, Chief Charles Kaefring began offering me his attention. I thought my sobriety realigned my sexual magnetism. I was attracting a different type.
      
He started coming to my desk to tell me he was leaving and instructed me to send all his calls to his assistant. At first I couldn’t figure out why he thought I needed this instruction. I already transferred his calls as a manner of routine. Then a week after making sure I was aware of his whereabouts, I bumped into him lakeside at Louise’s Italian Kitchen.
      
Louise’s is my Friday night routine. I celebrate making it through another week.  One spaghetti dinner at a time.
    
After that Friday night, I saw him at Louise’s every week. If he got there before me, I’d see him glancing toward the entry as if waiting for me to arrive. If I got there first, I’d pretend I never expected him to show up--which was the truth. Each and every time he arrived, I was flabbergasted.

I wasn’t sure what was starting up between the two of us or who started it. I mean, how could a man like him seriously be interested in me?

And even after weeks came and went, I still didn’t trust him. At each dinner he’d ask if I’d like wine with my meal. “Of course,” I’d say, letting my glass set without drinking it. If he worried the wine wasn’t good, I’d bring the glass to my lips, without sipping. I figured if he knew I had a drinking problem, he’d beat the hell out of there. Eventually though, he stopped asking if I wanted wine and only ordered one glass instead of two.

Still, he kept showing up.

I knew I was starting to slip into a situation that could toss my sobriety into the toilet, but meeting for dinner didn’t seem like backsliding into emotional drunkenness. Although, it never feels like slipping until you find yourself in a ragged heap of discontent.


Our routine altered when on a Sunday afternoon he telephoned giving me a weather report. He said the day was hot and getting hotter. He said he was putting a steak on the barbecue, and he just happened to have two.  Are you hungry?



D. J. Adamson is an award-winning author. Her family roots grow deep in the Midwest and it is here she sets much of her work. She juggles her time between her own desk and teaching writing to others at two Los Angeles area colleges. Along with her husband and two Welsh Terriers, she makes her home in Southern California.

Her latest book is the mystery, amateur sleuth, Admit to Mayhem.

For More Information

    Kindle Freebie through March 12: 52 Steps to Murder by Steve Demaree




    An elderly woman is found poisoned in the upstairs bedroom of her home whose from door stands 52 steps above the street in an old-fashioned whodunit that blends clues, red herrings, suspects, and humor.

    File Size: 847 KB
    Print Length: 221 pages
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
    Language: English
    ASIN: B00CJK8LIW


    Purchase at Amazon!

    Steve Demaree's third grade teacher wired him in his desk. In his sophomore year of high school, he climbed out the window to escape detention. Today, he sits in front of his computer murdering people, while his wife of forty-three years tries to raise him without much success. His daughter repeated her mother's mistake and is currently trying to raise another mother's son and two dogs.

    Like Steve on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-Demaree-Author/129613757227774

    Thursday, March 5, 2015

    New Release: Paper Doll (Jana Lane Mystery Book 1) by Joe Cosentino


    Jana Lane was America’s most famous child star until she was attacked on the studio lot at eighteen years old. Now a thirty-eight-year-old beauty and mother of two living in a mansion in picturesque Hudson Valley, New York, Jana’s flashbacks from her past turn into murder attempts in her present. Forced to summon up the lost courage she had as a child, Jana visits the California movie studio she once called home. This sends her on a whirlwind of visits with former and current movie studio personnel. It also leads to a romance with the son of her old producer—Rocco Cavoto—the devilishly handsome filmmaker who is planning Jana’s comeback both professionally and personally. With Rocco’s help, Jana uncovers a web of secrets about everyone she loves, including the person who destroyed her past and threatens to snuff out her future.

    Purchase at:

    Amazon
    Barnes and Noble

    Joe Cosentino is the author of An Infatuation (Dreamspinner Press). He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote a musical theatre adaptation of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals), and The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers). Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. He is currently writing a new mystery humor novel, Drama Queen, and a sequel to Paper Doll entitled Porcelain Doll.

    Monday, March 2, 2015

    Bargain Kindle Book: Sequence by Wearmouth & Barnes

    Sorry for the short, unexpected hiatus. I had surgery a little over a week ago. Thanks to some complications, I haven't blogged too much lately. Hopefully I will be back on track now.


    An evolution is coming…
    One man's dream will be forced on to the world…
    Unless another can prevent a global conspiracy.


    On the hunt to explain the disappearance of his childhood friend, journalist Jacob Miller discovers a shocking atrocity. He suspects Dr. Gray, a radical scientist, of experimenting with human clones in a covert Alaskan research facility.

    Unable to convince the police of the threat, Jacob infiltrates the facility to find proof. To his horror, he discovers world-changing plans that go far beyond cloning. Now he’s on the run, the target of the very organization he needs to expose. The danger grows as he gets closer to the core of a conspiracy that reaches deep inside the U.S. government.

    Armed with little more than his investigative skills and a will to survive, Jacob must risk everything to stop THE SEQUENCE. Failure will see his friend’s fate remain a mystery, the loss of many lives, and the fall of the U.S. to a terrorist attack, the likes of which have never been seen before.

    "SEQUENCE is a thrilling story of high tech and fast action. I found it impossible to put down and can highly recommend it." -- Matthew Mather, best-selling author of CYBERSTORM.

    "If you want to read one of the best tech thrillers around, check out SEQUENCE. It'll have you turning the pages and staying up late!" -- Nick Smith, best-selling author of EXTINCTION HORIZON.

    File Size: 661 KB
    Print Length: 258 pages
    Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
    Publisher: Vast Frontiers (February 18, 2015)
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
    Language: English
    ASIN: B00TSKWZ42


    Purchase at Amazon for only 99 cents!