I love it when readers tell me their bags are packed and they’re ready to move to Blue Plum, Tennessee. “When are you leaving?” I ask. “I’ll go with you.” Too bad Blue Plum, as a whole, exists only in my Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Note the “as a whole” in that sentence, though. Parts of Blue Plum really do exist, and you can go visit. A real road trip will involve some hopping around, because everything isn’t one place. But for now we can take an armchair tour, catch the highlights, and you can make plans for a great vacation. Come on, then, let’s go visiting. First stop is Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest town. Jonesborough is up in the northeastern corner of the state, and it’s as cute as a bug’s ear. The town’s historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes wonderful examples of Queen Anne, Federal, and Victorian architecture. My family and I lived outside Jonesborough for almost twenty years. Next stop is the Weaver’s Cat, the shop owned by Kath Rutledge and haunted by Geneva the ghost. I put the Weaver’s Cat in the oldest brick building in Jonesborough—Sisters’ Row, a Philadelphia-style row…

I’m delighted to be at Fresh Fiction today and share an excerpt from my debut historical romance: THE RAKE’S HANDBOOK: Including Field Guide. It’s the first book in The Rake’s Handbook series about the men who wrote and published the handbook. After a friend challenged me to write a novel, the question I faced was what type of book should I write: mystery, romance, history, something with aliens or tentacles? When I decided to write a historical romance, a friend helped me get an idea of the breath of the genre by suggesting several famous romances. One of those books was FREDERICA by Georgette Heyer. I love that book. I laughed and giggled and laughed. Right then I decided to try and write books as entertaining and charming as FREDERICA. The love story is the most important ingredient in a romance, but I hope laughter will play a major role in all of my books too. Do any of your favorite romances make you laugh, chuckle, or giggle? Excerpt THE RAKE’S HANDBOOK: Including Field Guide “You really are a rake,” she whispered, the sight and feel of their joined hands warming her cheeks. “A proper gentleman would never hold a lady…

Jade/Kathy is locked in her writing cave, so #Squidge and Cinnamon have decided to fill in for her today on the blog with their autumn likes/dislikes. Meow! I’m Cinnamon and I keep Jade/Kathy as my human pet. She is very good scratching under my chin–though not for long enough–and can usually be annoyed enough to feed me really good food. This makes her an acceptable human pet and therefore I have decided to help her out with this blog. Things I like about autumn. A. Mousies! Mousies in the morning, mousies in the afternoon, mousies all day long running everywhere! B. Plentiful mousies mean I get to eat one, gift one to my human pets, and play with all the rest! C. My human wears thicker clothing so when I want her attention, I have to really push my claws into her leg. But she’s much more willing to let me snooze on her lap. Apparently in summer I make her sweat. D. It’s not hot anymore. Chasing mousies in a fur coat in summer is really not as fun as it sounds. Answer: Mousies! Hello! I’m #Squidge. I have no idea why Cinnamon thought it was fun to be…

I love to read cookbooks. Does that sound weird? When it comes to exotic or excessively complicated dishes, it’s much easier to read about then than to actually make them. Since I write historical romances, I like to look through old cookbooks to get an idea of what my characters might have been eating. There are quite a few Victorian cookbooks around, so I can get a good notion of what Lady Elinor and her family might eat. Pretty elaborate meals, it seems, judging by the menus proposed in various books, with their Removes and Entrées and Entremets. I’ve finally figured out what those terms mean. A Remove is a course that is taken off the table and replaced by another. The Roasts, for example, replace the Fish course. Much to my surprise, I was told that earlier, in the 18th century, it wasn’t just the dishes that were removed. It was also the tablecloth, uncovering a clean one underneath. This would happen several times in the course of a meal, until finally the dessert might be served on the bare wood of the table. I had always thought of people living in the 18th century as rather elegant, with…

It is my very great pleasure to introduce you to Phillippa, the Most Honorable, the Dowager Marchioness of Somerset. She is the velvet-fisted power behind the marquessate in A RAKE BY ANY OTHER NAME. Her spine is still ramrod straight despite the weight of years she bears. Like most people who have lived a long productive life, Lady Somerset has an opinion on just about everything. And she feels everyone is entitled to HER opinion! In A RAKE BY ANY OTHER NAME, I head each chapter with some of Lady Somerset’s pithy observations. Here are a few: On lying… “Where one stands on a matter depends upon where one sits. When someone else is holding court on one’s settee, spreading delicious falsehoods, one is tempted to brand them a liar. When one finds oneself on the same settee, practicing deception, one considers it being economical with the truth.” On secrets… “Secrets are the most delicious morsels, but only when one is gobbling them up. Keeping them down often gives one the most frightful indigestion.” On outspoken ladies… “When an old woman says what’s on her mind, she’s considered outrageous yet charming. When a young woman voices her opinions, she’s counted…

As everyone who read Book 1 in the X-OPS Series (HER PERFECT MATE) will remember, Clayne Buchanan, the wolf shifter with the bad attitude, can be a bit rough-around-the-edges. But as I was getting ready to tell his story in HER LONE WOLF, I discovered that Clayne actually has a sensitive side. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you. I thought I’d pegged him perfectly as the perpetual bad boy who never let anyone get close, and never cared about making friends. But it turns out that I was wrong. I started getting my first indications that maybe I’d gotten him wrong when I sat down with him over dinner (at PF Chang’s, of course!) so we could start outlining his story. Before we even got started, he told me he was a bit concerned that people might have gotten the wrong idea about him in the first book. He even asked if it was possible to have the publisher tweak a few scenes in HER PERFECT MATE to let his nicer side show. I was shocked. Why hadn’t he said something earlier? Of course, it was too late to tweak the book because it was already in bookstores. When…

You know how when you start something new, a job or a hobby, suddenly, everywhere you look, you’re reminded of it? The world hasn’t changed, but your perception of it has. Things your gaze would’ve skipped over in the past command your attention now. Like if you start scrapbooking for the first time in your life, and you begin to notice scrapbooking supplies in every store on the planet. (Seriously, what’s up with that?) That’s what’s happening to me right now. I’ve started a new series—the Fixer-Upper Mysteries—and now reminders are everywhere! Shannon Hammer owns Hammer Construction, specializing in renovating Victorian homes in her hometown, Lighthouse Cove, California. One assumes, despite their phallic shape, that lighthouses are incapable of reproducing themselves, and yet everywhere I look these days, I see lighthouses. In ornaments, paintings, real life… Shannon has a dog and a cat. The dog is a Westie, surely one of the cutest breeds on earth. Before I wrote A HIGH-END FINISH, maybe I caught one of those Little Caesar commercials every now and then, but now, it’s a full-on Westie takeover. Knitted into sweaters, woven into purses. And, of course, actual Westies smiling up at me from all sides….

Sure, we all say we root for the protagonists of books, movies, and TV shows, but let’s be honest: we want to see them put through their paces.  Ideally, horribly tough paces, and ideally, while we are eating chocolate in bed. It’s true that the ideas for my debut historical mystery, SNOW WHITE RED-HANDED, started out as a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too mash-up.  I wanted it all: a heroine who could’ve had a bit part in Little Women AND a castle in the forest.  A cozy whodunit AND intrigue about Snow White and her woodland cottage. But when I sat down to actually write, I had way too much fun putting my heroine in problematic situations.  It’s not very nice of me.  Sigh.  Anyway, the uncharitable checklist for my heroine, Ophelia Flax, looked something like this: 5 Ways A Practical American Girl Could Get Into Trouble in the Black Forest 1. Give her regrettably large feet that no fairy tale princess would ever have, and blisters from the stolen boots she’s wearing. 2. Have her con her way into a maid’s job, and the employer get bumped off soon after.   Will not look good in future letters of reference. 3. Make her realize…

We are thrilled to share THREE CHRISTMASES is available as a pre-order on Amazon. As a pre-order promotion, digital copies purchased on all platforms will be $0.99 (from $3.99 full price) and signed. About THREE CHRISTMASES: As the holiday season approaches in this fourth book in the No Weddings Series, Cade Michaelson strives to be better at balancing work and love, and Hannah Martin’s growing ability to trust is put to the test. Lust and friendship brought us together, but with the increasing demands of my two businesses, Hannah’s thriving bakery, and our successful event-planning company, stability becomes my focus. Then a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity takes me to the West Coast, and everything goes into a tailspin. Laughter, love, and excitement fill our lives, but Cade refuses to settle into the wonderful bliss we’ve found—he wants spectacular fireworks and an unshakable foundation. Driven like no one I’ve ever met, Cade insists a dream job across the country will be better for our future together, but I worry about whether we can survive the present apart. When intimate time diminishes…and lives get more hectic… Will a little bit of faith be all that it takes? Or will the sacrifice to get there…

As of today, Private Investigator Franki Amato is back on the case! This time she’s investigating the murder of a gorgeous young cosmetics CEO at a haunted plantation home outside of New Orleans (she’s also investigating her banker beau Bradley’s sexy new secretary, but that’s another story). I got the idea for PROSECCO PINK last summer while I was writing LIMONCELLO YELLOW, the first book in the Franki Amato Mysteries. I wanted to go to NOLA to do some research, and my husband and I had friends visiting from Rome, so we decided to split their trip between our home in Austin and The Big Easy. Because Italians are fascinated by the Old South, we took them to a sugar cane plantation: Oak Alley, a.k.a. “the Grande Dame of the Great River Road.” If you’ve never been to Oak Alley, it’s magnificent! Twenty-eight Doric columns surround the three-story Greek Revival house, and twenty-eight 300-year-old oak trees line the walkway to the grand entrance. The downside is that the plantation is located on the Mississippi River, so it’s as hot and humid as Hades. In fact, as I lounged on the veranda sipping my mint julep (two parts bourbon and one part…