Question: What is the hardest part of learning to ride a bike? Answer: The pavement. Evie Bloomfield here, all the way from Chicago to the happy land of Mackinac Island, the setting for GEARED FOR THE GRAVE. There are no cars, no motor anything on the island. Fact is, if you want to get somewhere it’s by horse or foot or bike. See that Chicago reference above? I’m a city girl and that means I have zip history with horses and with bikes. I got the foot part down from running after trains and buses but even an eight mile island it a lot to take in on foot. I could jump on a horse-taxi here on the island of course but that’s expensive so that brings us to the bike mode of transportation. And there’s another reason I should learn to ride a bike…I work at a bike shop. Rudy’s Rides. So how do you learn to ride a bike? I asked Rudy the guy who owns the shop and this is his advice. (warning: Rudy is a little crusty around the edges so if you are easily offended you might want to stop here.) Rudy said learning to…

Just off the coast of Cornwall lies the most gorgeous, welcoming holiday destination you’ve probably never heard of: the Isles of Scilly, a place of puffins and palm trees, flower fields and harbor seals. The North Atlantic Current bathes the islands in such warmth that it rarely snows there. Designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the islands are famous for flowers, bird watching, stargazing, and hospitality. What better place to fall in love? Not that Michelle Cole was looking for love when she went there. Her trip to the island of St. Mary’s was mostly a favor to her best friend, who’d just inherited a bed and breakfast called Valhalla’s Rest. As a former B and B owner, Michelle went there to survey the property and the island, to see if Vicky should keep the property or sell it. Really, it was supposed to be a quiet two-week vacation… Until ex-Royal Marine Ray Powell showed up on her doorstep, battered and bruised from a rescue mission in the desert, seeking a refuge from the stresses of his job as a military security consultant. Valhalla’s Rest had been his haven since childhood, the place where he could go to…

It’s hard to believe that MURDER, SERVED SIMPLY is my eighth book featuring Amish characters. Throughout those eight novels, I’ve stuck my Amish characters in many funny and even dangerous situations and have loved every minute of it. When I write about the Amish I focus on the interaction between the Amish and English in Ohio where I live. In some counties in Ohio, including Holmes County where the Amish Quilt Shop Mystery Series is set, the Amish and English interact every day. No English (non-Amish) person living in those counties thinks much about passing an Amish person on the street. The Amish are just neighbors. Yes, they dress different, but they are a part of everyday rural Ohio life. Some of my novels focus on how Amish people leave their communities to become English but still interact with their Amish families. Some relationships are broken when this happens, and most relationships between former Amish and their Amish families remain tense. Because I have written on this topic a lot, I thought what if an Amish man left his community but remained Amish in his own way? What if he went rogue? I suspect that there must be a rogue…

SUSPICION AT SEVEN is the latest in my Lois Meade Mystery series, and involves another murder hunt alongside Detective Inspector Hunter Cowgill. The inspiration for this story came to me one day when I was lunching in a restaurant in a converted water mill. I remembered as a child seeing the mill and all its workings and work people were covered with a layer of white. It looked then as if a gigantic flour sprinkler had dusted it ready for the oven! During lunch, I watched the huge millwheel, glassed in for safety, an attraction for customers, going heavily round and round, dripping slimy green weed ….. A plot, surely? One for Lois Meade, who has become friendly with Aurora Black, an attractive baker from her shop opposite the mill, and it is on a pleasant summer day that the pair decide on lunch after a walk with Jemima, Lois`s small terrier, across the water meadows. Aurora is not entirely happily married to her husband Donald, since he has a wandering eye, and a mistress who helps him with his pyramid jewellery selling and other less innocent occupations. Aurora is also part of the business, and they have one precious…

For the last three years, I’ve been writing about navy SEALs, and I’ve been reading about them for a lot longer than that. Biographies, true accounts of their missions, and novels. I’m not picky about format, I’m just fascinated by these men who serve America with such excellence. Not only are SEALs great warriors, they also make excellent romance heroes. Here are five reasons I love writing them. 1. Determination. In order to become a SEAL, they have to survive the most grueling training known to mankind. I’m not talking about just an unpleasant experience. This training is designed to push every limit—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. The ones who make it, the men who call themselves SEALs, have mastered every challenge thrown at them and never given up. That’s months of jumping into the freezing Pacific Ocean, rolling around in the sand, and then running miles. That’s carrying boats over their heads and running endlessly across the sand. That’s jumping in deep pools, hands and feet bound. It’s training designed to weed out the weak. SEALs are anything but weak. So when they face a hard times, when relationships are tough, they don’t give up. They know how to fight…