This month, I’m thrilled to welcome the debut author of TRESSED TO KILL: The Southern Beauty Shop Mysteries, Lila Dare. Tapping into the sassy and brassy attributes of the southern belles of St. Elizabeth, Georgia, Dare introduces readers to a lively cast of gals who don’t let a little thing like murder keep them from looking good! Life in a small Southern town like St. Elizabeth, Georgia can be slow and lazy as a summer breeze, but it can also be as hot and exciting as a summer storm when a murderer is on the loose! Grace Tenhune has returned home to work in her mother’s beauty shop, just when the town diva Constance Dubois is threatening to close Violetta’s down. All over a tiny little thing like bright orange highlights. But when Constance is found stabbed to death, the police seem to think Grace’s momma is the culprit. Well, Grace ain’t having none of that, and with the help of her co-workers at the salon, and handsome Georgia Bureau of Investigation detective John Dillon, she soon begins to trim the list of suspects like a good shag haircut. Lila Dare’s TRESSED TO KILL is a full of Southern charm…

make your voice heard

Small towns are always a popular setting in fiction, especially in contemporary romance. The Virgin River series by Robyn Carr is a reader favorite, for example, as are the contemporary romances by Toni Blake set in the charming town of Destiny, Ohio. Perhaps we’re drawn to these settings because they promise something that can seem elusive in our fast-paced, over-burdened lives. Although most of us have dozens, even hundreds of “friends” on various social media sites, face-to-face contact with people who really know us in a personal way can seem like a quaint relic of bygone days. My latest book, SEX AND THE SINGLE EARL, takes place in smaller town, but in a historical rather than a contemporary setting. Many if not most Regency-set historical romances take place in London, especially the London of the haute ton. On occasion, the ton probably felt like a small town to those who moved in its exclusive circles. Everybody knew everybody else, and gossip reigned supreme. But London was still a big city, and one could easily get lost in the crowds. Not so in Bath, the setting for SEX AND THE SINGLE EARL. Bath was and still is one of the most…

Right now I’m visiting my parents at their home in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m on my way to the Southern Kentucky Book Festival and my dad suggested that since Nashville is between my home in Atlanta and the Festival in Bowling Green, I might want to stop and stay a day or two. I’ve just emerged from their basement with three suitcases stuffed with about five decades of photographs that will find their way to my car trunk before I leave. Now I know why he wanted me to stop by and “visit.” I’m a self-proclaimed “scrapbooker.” I love pouring over old photographs, peering at the younger faces of my grandparents, parents and siblings, recognizing a favorite sweater or toy, plate, a piece of furniture, and even expressions on those faces. These photographs are like a piece of history I can hold in my hand, and can even relish the hours and hours it will take to sort through them, organize them, put them into albums. Hours I don’t really have right now (ack-two book deadlines this year plus the release of two other books!), but hours I look forward to. My maternal grandmother died this past February at the age…

January 2010 On Sale: December 29, 2009 Featuring: Sydney Fitzpatrick 400 pages ISBN: 0061122297 EAN: 9780061122293 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Thriller Arcane Buy at Amazon.com The Bone Chamber by Robin Burcell FBI forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick into an investigation of the Freemasons and their connection to a map that may lead to the lsot Templar Treasure — and worldwide catastrophe if a mysterious item from this trove falls into the wrong hands. Mysteriously summoned to Quantico to help re-create the face of a murdered, mutilated young woman, FBI forensic artist Special Agent Sydney Fitzpatrick knows immediately this is no ordinary crime. The hit-and-run death of the forensic anthropologist assisting her—a close friend—and Sydney’s abrupt dismissal from the case by covert government investigators only strengthen her need for answers. Now her hunt for a killer is carrying her from Washington to Rome to the hidden chamber of a legendary tomb—on the trail of a fabled treasure of the Knights Templar . . . and a curse. For buried deep in the mysteries of the Freemasons and the Vatican’s Holy See is a secret that could rock the world. Suddenly an ancient map is pointing Sydney toward something…

Greetings and salutations! First of all, I want to thanks to the folks here at Fresh Fiction for having me on the blog today. Thanks so much! As some of you know, I’m the author of the Bigtime superhero paranormal romance series – Karma Girl (2007), Hot Mama (2007), and Jinx (2008). Back in February, my new Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series launched with the release of Spider’s Bite. The second book in the series, Web of Lies, comes out on May 25, and the third book, Venom, will debut on Sept. 28. One of the things that I love most about writing urban fantasy is all of the things that I get to include in a single book -action, danger, drama, magic, and some sizzling romance. Urban fantasy really is a genre where you can do whatever you want to as a writer, and the only limit placed on you is what you can come up with in your own imagination. So what exactly do my books have in them? Well, I’ve got the requisite, tough, sassy, kick-butt heroine in my main character, former assassin Gin Blanco. I’ve got the magic aspect covered with vampires, dwarves, giants, and elementals,…

Remember when you were little and you had an imaginary friend? Do you remember how old you were when your imaginary friend moved away never to return or be heard from again? Now that I’m grown why can ‘t I still have an imaginary friend to turn to when life is overwhelming? Is it because society frowns on adults being frivolous or is it because as I’ve aged my imagination has also aged and just doesn’t run to fanciful images? Thankfully because I love to read when I feel the need for an imaginary friend I can turn to authors such as Robyn Carr who created Virgin River a town where everyone feels welcome, and a seat at Jack’s Bar is always available. Or perhaps a journey to New Bern, Connecticut and the Cobbled Creek Court Quilt Shop created by Marie Bostwick. Here are women willing and able to teach me a new skill, and make me a part of the fabric of their lives. Finally what if I were wanting a friend to share a sleep over with, and share spine tingling thrills and chills. Then I might turn to the suspense that author Beverly Barton has fine tuned…

Add to Wish List May 2010 On Sale: May 11, 2010 Featuring: Dilara Kenner; Sam Watson 432 pages ISBN: 1439181799 EAN: 9781439181799 Hardcover $24.99 Thriller Arcane Buy at Amazon.com The Ark by Boyd Morrison A MODERN-DAY INTERNATIONAL THRILLER HAILED BY JAMES ROLLINS AS “ONE OF THE BEST DEBUTS I’VE READ THIS YEAR . . . HERE IS A NOVEL THAT WILL HAVE YOU HOLDING YOUR BREATH UNTIL THE LAST PAGE IS TURNED.” When brilliant archaeologist Dilara Kenner is contacted by Sam Watson, an old family friend who says that he has crucial information about her missing father, Dilara abandons her Peruvian dig and rushes to Los Angeles to meet him. But at the airport, Sam speaks instead of Noah’s Ark—the artifact her father had long been searching for—and the possible death of billions. Before Sam can explain, he collapses. With his dying breath, he urges Dilara to find Tyler Locke—a man she’s never heard of. Two days later Dilara manages to track down former combat engineer Tyler Locke on an oil rig off Newfoundland. Her helicopter transport goes down well short of the oil rig’s landing pad and Dilara and those aboard nearly drown. No sooner is Dilara safely on…

If you’ve heard the rumors I’ll have to admit some of them are true. When I meet with authors and readers we have the reputation for closing down restaurants, as in staying past normal closing hours. I’m not sure where it began but I think it’s possible it was Bellevue, Washington at the only Emerald City Writers conference I attended in the ’90s. Yup, it’s been a long long time. And not just ‘odd’ places, I’ve managed to have the people in charge turn up the music, get the pregnant hostess to ask us to vacate and more. Amazing how easy it is to get a reputation. And why you might ask? Well, it’s because when I get with readers and authors we talk and talk and talk — about books! And we don’t want to stop. So many people told me over the years they’d like to be part of this “in” crowd that it only made sense a couple of years ago to give it a whirl. Our first Readers ‘n ‘ritas. The name is simple, I like readers and I adore margaritas, so the name made sense to me — two of my favorite things. The goal…

Megan Berry, #2 February 2010 On Sale: January 21, 2010 Featuring: Megan Berry 304 pages ISBN: 1595142738 EAN: 9781595142733 Paperback $8.99 Young Adult Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com Undead Much? by Stacey Jay Q: How many guys does it take to make your boyfriend wild with jealousy? A: Only one, if he’s UNDEAD. Megan Berry had a perfectly average new-sundress-and-boy-obsessed life–until her power to settle the Undead returned. Oh, and then her best friend tried to kill her–and ruin homecoming–with a bunch of black magically raised zombies. At least she got a spot on the pom squad and a smokin’ boyfriend (Ethan). But now Megan is in deep fertilizer all over again. Why? Well, let’s see… · Feral new super-strong zombies? Check. · Cheerleader vs. pom squad turf war threatening half time as they know it? Check. · An Undead psychic hottie (Cliff) who’s predicting a zombie apocalypse–and doing his best to tempt Megan away from Ethan? Yum. I mean, Check. · Earth-shattering secrets that could land Megan in Settler prison for life? Um, IT WASN’T ME!!! Everyone thinks Megan’s at fault for the new uber-zombie uprising. Looks like she’ll need the help of both Cliff and Ethan if she’s going…