Remember the furor over the royal wedding?  Kate became a princess and William became Prince Charming.  We watched the vows with tears in our eyes and couldn’t wait for that first kiss.  Cinderella might be an ages-old fairytale but the storyline encourages dreams from the little girls who watch Disney-princess movies to the women who faithfully follow the Bachelor and the Bachelorette.  Subliminally, our curiosity in relationships and interest in public romances is all about the happily-ever-after storyline.  Can two people fall in love and commit to each other for a lifetime? My husband and I recently celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary.  I wouldn’t be able to write romances from my heart unless I believed in them.  When I was a little girl, I remember pretending a lace curtain was a bridal veil.  My girlfriends and I reenacted the marriage ceremony.  Recently by BFF’s daughter asked if she could play dress-up with her mom’s wedding gown.  Are the dreams of little girls now any different than ten or twenty or forty years ago?  Loving and being loved drive our collective consciousness.  Have you ever been in the midst of a crowd at a wedding and watched everyone grow misty-eyed?  The…

April 2010 On Sale: March 30, 2010 Featuring: Mickey Wade 224 pages ISBN: 0312363400 EAN: 9780312363406 Trade Size $13.99  Add to Wish List Thriller Crime, Mystery Buy at Amazon.com Best Original Paperback 2011 Anthony Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski Make a wrong turn in this neighborhood and you’re history Recently unemployed journalist Mickey Wade lucked into a rent-free apartment – his sick grandfather’s place. The only problem: it’s in a lousy neighborhood – the one where Mickey grew up, in fact. The one he was so desperate to escape. But now he’s back. Dead broke. And just when he thinks he’s reached rock bottom, Mickey wakes up in the past. Literally. At first he thinks it’s a dream. All of the stores he remembered from his childhood, the cars, the rumble of the elevated train. But as he digs deeper into the past, searching for answers about the grandfather he hardly knows, Mickey meets the twelve-year-old kid who lives in the apartment below. The kid who will grow up to someday murder Mickey’s father. Previous Picks

It’s nice to be here today to talk about my book and to meet your readers. I was given free rein in this blog, and so I thought I’d talk about music and how it’s a part of FITZWILLIAM DARCY ROCK STAR. FDRS is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. It’s about Fitzwilliam Darcy, virtuoso guitarist and the behind the scenes leader of the world famous rock band Slurry. The other members are Darcy’s best friend, Charles Bingley, the frontman on vocals and bass, and his cousin, Richard Fitzwilliam on drums. While Slurry is hugely successful, they’ve had trouble completing concert tours and they’re current one is about to hit the skids. Right as they’re about to begin the American leg, they’ve lost they opening act, and they’ve gained a reputation for being impossible to work with. Forced to chose a ‘B’ group, and quickly, they hire Long Borne Suffering, a girl group made up of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and Charlotte Lucas. These ladies are right on the edge of making it big, and they’re hungry for a chance, hungry enough to go on a tour with the band with the worst reputation in the…

October 2010 On Sale: September 28, 2010 Featuring: Lily Moore 353 pages ISBN: 0765326973 EAN: 9780765326973 Hardcover $24.00  Add to Wish List MysteryBuy at Amazon.com Best First Crime Novel (Anthony 2011) The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson Lily Moore, a successful travel writer, fled to Spain to get away from her troubled, drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia.  But when Claudia is found dead in a bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide, Lily must return to New York to deal with the aftermath. The situation shifts from tragic to baffling when the body at the morgue turns out to be a stranger’s. The dead woman had been using Claudia’s identity for months.  The real Claudia had vanished, reappearing briefly on the day her impostor died.  As Claudia transforms from victim to suspect in the eyes of the police, Lily becomes determined to find her before they do. Is Claudia actually missing, or is she playing an elaborate con game?  And who’s responsible for the body that was found in the bathtub?  An obsessive ex-lover?  An emotionally disturbed young man with a rich and powerful father?  Or Lily’s own former fiancé, who turns out to be more deeply involved with Claudia…

Comment to win a Latte Cup! Crime writing can be a challenge at times, but it can also be barrels of fun— double barrels. Where else can you get even with a boss who lays you off with the line: “I wanted to do this myself because it’s such good experience for me as a new executive!” (No kidding. That’s how she did it.) In one of my mysteries, I cast this sadistically perky charmer as the murderess and brought her to justice via a smack to her noggin with a thick bestseller. In another, her lifeless body was found on the floor of a women’s room. (She’d mistakenly ingested a poisoned soy muffin.) I put a version of her in my latest culinary mystery, MURDER BY MOCHA, too. But I won’t spoil the fun for you. You can guess how I cast her by reading the book yourself. (Click here to see the first chapter.) When Crime (Writing) Pays Eight years after my ignominious layoff, I am happy to report that the pen is mightier than the corporate pink slip. I am now fully self-employed writing THE COFFEEHOUSE MYSTERIES—an urban cozy series set in a landmark coffee shop that…

Some of the Fresh Fiction team attended the annual Bouchercon, held in St. Louis this past weekend (9/14-18/2011). An interesting and fun gathering of people who love mysteries and crime fiction: readers, authors, publishers and bloggers all congregated in the gateway to the west. The highlights of the con included: It’s always fun to pass Robert Crais on the escalator. Love his Elvis and Joe Pike books. Did learn that “pike” is not exactly what one would hope in Icelandic but I got a smile every time I’d see a “I Love Pike” button. Getting up early on Friday morning for a breakfast with Charlaine Harris was worth all the lost sleep. Listening to Val McDermid, I was jealous, they started her off with a bloody mary, none for us in the audience, but she knows how to capture the attention of the crowd and to entertain. The interview with lifetime honoree Sara Paretsky was enlightening. My first time to see her in person. I didn’t realize she was one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, a great organization of writers who help libraries and readers. Her backstory on V.I. Warshawski just cemented my love of the series. We…

Brought to you from Kathy Lynn Emerson (aka Kate Emerson and Kaitlyn Dunnett) When this blog was originally scheduled, I planned to talk about the next Kate Emerson historical, SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT: AT THE KING’S PLEASURE, which first had a release date of September 20th , then August 23rd. And now? December 27th! The novel is written and edited and has a gorgeous cover. It will be in stores eventually, but when my editor phoned to explain about the delay (actually a good thing in terms of marketing), I was disappointed, as I know readers are at having to wait those extra months. SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT THE PLEASURE PALACE #1 BETWEEN TWO QUEENS #2 BY ROYAL DECREE #3 AT THE KING’S PLEASURE #4 In a writing career that stretches back  more years than I like to count, this is far from being the worst setback I’ve ever experienced. That “honor” goes to something that happened in 1988, when I had three young adult novels already written and edited and scheduled for Silhouette’s Keepsake line. One even had a cover. Then Silhouette decided to discontinue the line, and none of them saw the light of day, at…

Hi everyone! Thank you for joining me today for my guest blog! I am so excited to be here on Fresh Fiction to talk about my work. My debut novel THE RAKE AND THE RECLUSE is a bit different from the usual romance. I know everyone like to think that about their book, and I like to believe there is something very different about my story, but I am talking about something else all together. THE RAKE AND THE RECLUSE is an illustrated novel. There are over one hundred photographs embedded within the story. The idea came with the advent of digital readers. I wanted to embrace new media and as a professional photographer I believed the obvious way to enhance my novel for digital media was to illustrate it. A bit about my hero. Gideon is the Duke of Roxleigh, he lives in the far north of England in 1880, and would happily stay there far from society and the pains of London living, but as one of the most powerful peers of the realm his duty calls. He is determined to satisfy the Queen by finding an acceptable wife and doing all the things a Queen requires of…

Ever read a romance that stopped you dead (hit you deep in the gut) because the moment was just too much? What was it that did this? Here’s a list of my fave show stoppers and what really happens when you try this at home. 1.       A lick behind the knee. Come on, seriously who does that? So… since I’m ever curious and always open to research in the name of romance, er…. Romance in the name of research… whatever. I’m always open to new things. I asked my partner in crime to take a lick. Now, you may think this is going somewhere naughty, but I promise it’s not. In earnest, the hubs proceeded to shove me into the nearest bedroom—thank goodness it was ours—and then took the opportunity to flip me backwards on the bed, hike my leg in the air and flatten his tongue against the back of my leg. Now, I’ll tell you ladies and gents don’t ask your hubs to help with research unless you give him a script and the set up. Believe me the knee lick in the book did things to my libido that poor hubs will never accomplish with the skills…

I’ve never been one to play the field. Really, I’m very faithful and loyal by nature, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that starting a second cozy mystery series wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. The idea for it had been percolating in my mind for a while, and I was looking forward to having my way with it. But actually embarking on another writing relationship felt a bit like cheating on the one I was already involved in. Right from the start there were problems. I had trouble naming my main character. I don’t know about other authors, but I can’t move forward until I have a satisfactory name for my lead. “Rory…Rory McCain” a little voice in my head kept whispering. “I can’t call all my protagonists ‘Rory’,” I replied, getting a little testy with myself. “Besides, Rory already has a great gig of her own.” I went through all the baby name lists until I was bleary-eyed. I’d had less trouble naming my two kids and four dogs. Nothing seemed right or suitable for a strong, young woman who’d weathered a difficult childhood. A cutesy name would never do. After a ridiculous amount of…