When I started telling people that my second Spice Shop mystery was on the way, a surprising number asked how I could write about Seattle when I live in Montana. (Oddly, I don’t remember hearing that question when the first book came out.) Newer friends, obviously, and a reporter or two, who didn’t know I went to college in Seattle, moved back after law school, and practiced there for eight years. Or that Mr. Right and I make regular pilgrimages for research. By which I mean “eat.” So I started ticking off my favorite things in the Emerald City. Tomorrow’s list might be entirely different—cities are always in flux, and so is what we love about them. The gum wall. Okay, I’m joking. I hate the gum wall. It’s gross. For those who don’t know this disgusting feature—a travel company dubbed it the second germiest tourist attraction in the world, after Ireland’s Blarney Stone—a decade or two ago, people waiting outside the Market Theater starting sticking their gum on the wall when they went inside for a show. Really? They meant to come back for it? I saw many a movie in that theater and it never would have occurred…

Fresh Pick for Sunday, January 10th, 2016 is SHOPAHOLIC TO THE RESCUE by Sophie Kinsella #SundayEasy settle in with a favorite character About SHOPAHOLIC TO THE RESCUE #1 New York Times bestselling author Sophie Kinsella returns with another laugh-out-loud Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) adventure: a hilarious road trip through the American West to Las Vegas. Becky is on a major rescue mission! Her father has vanished from Los Angeles on a mysterious quest with her best friend’s husband. Becky’s mum is hysterical; her best friend, Suze, is desperate. Worse, Becky must tolerate an enemy along for the ride, who she’s convinced is up to no good. Determined to get to the bottom of why her dad has disappeared, help Suze, contain Alicia, and reunite her fractured family, Becky knows she must marshal all her trademark ingenuity. The result: her most outrageous and daring plan yet! But just when her family needs her more than ever, can Becky pull it off? Buy SHOPAHOLIC TO THE RESCUE: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR About Sophie Kinsella Sophie Kinsella…

Fresh Pick for Saturday, January 9th, 2016 is MISS RUFFLES INHERITS EVERYTHING by Nancy Martin #DidYouMiss A delightful start to a new series! About MISS RUFFLES INHERITS EVERYTHING Rich and flamboyant Honeybelle Hensley, the most colorful character in Mule Stop, Texas, dies a suspicious death and enrages the whole town by leaving her worldly fortune to the most undeserving recipient-her dog. The incorrigible Miss Ruffles is a Texas Cattle Cur, not a cuddly lapdog, and when Honeybelle was alive, Miss Ruffles liked nothing better than digging up Honeybelle’s famous rose garden after breakfast, chasing off the UPS man before lunch and terrorizing the many gentleman callers who came knocking at cocktail hour. But now Miss Ruffles is in danger, and it’s up to Sunny McKillip, the unwilling dogsitter, to keep her safe. Sunny is new to Texas, and sometimes she feels as if she’s fallen into an alien world. If it isn’t the pistol- packing football fans and the sweet-talking, yet ruthless ladies of the garden club who confound her, it’s the rowdy rodeo hounds and the tobacco-spitting curmudgeon at Critter Control who have her buffaloed. With a killer on the loose and a cowboy lawyer keeping a suspicious eye…

From Chelem Beach, near a small fishing village on the Mexico Gulf coast. I’ve taken my coffee down to the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, where at the tip of the wooden breakwater an ancient pelican meditates. Miles out, gliding along the horizon white chips betray fishermen’s boats quietly waiting for their catch. I have come to the beach to await my Muse. A fickle lover. Our perspective shifts as we grow older, and sometimes we see our lives from a far distance—a mountain top, say, or further still, from the cusp of the moon or a star. And we are astonished by the long journey filled with unexpected and exhilarating moments as well as anguish. From among the galaxies, we humans appear infinitesimal specks on an insignificant, 4.5 billion years old rock. Our planet circles not the greatest of suns. And our galaxy is merely one of the 100 million galaxies in the group of galaxies in which we live, and our group is only one of 100 million groups of galaxies. It all began 13.8 billion years ago; scientists tell us, with the burst of a singularity, a tiny infinitely heavy something. Time came from that moment,…

Even before I started writing A WEEKEND OF MISBEHAVING, I was always drawn to the nanny/boss trope. Okay. I admit it. I watched one too many episodes of The Nanny growing up. Then, of course, there are fabulous classics like The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins—despite the nanny not snatching the guy on the latter, she was still the focal point of the movie/Broadway musical. Recently, hot celebrities like Ben Affleck and Gavin Rossdale were rumored to have cheated on their respective wives because of a hot affair with their nannies. Those marriages ended up in divorce. Coincidence? Maybe. The fact is, whether they are perceived in the media as the life-saving creatures who can bring warmth and assistance to a busy family, or the sexy females with a hidden agenda (hello, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle!) nannies are interesting characters to write. Why? Because they are living and/or working for a different family. This family has rules, baggage, and a past. The nanny is able to watch them, and learn from them, teach them, and at the same time question her own ideas and values. It’s really a fascinating interaction. Here’s a teaser from A WEEKEND OF…

Bestselling author Irene Hannon has written more than 50 romantic suspense and contemporary romance/women’s fiction novels. She is a seven-time finalist and three-time winner of the RITA Award and a member of Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Hannon launched her Men of Valor series in April of 2015 with BURIED SECRETS, which New York Journal of Books called “one of those addictive books that, once started, compels you to shut out the world till you reach the very last page.” In January 2016, she will release the anticipated second book of the series, THIN ICE. In THIN ICE, she pulls her readers back into the lives of the high-octane McGregor brothers. As a former Delta Force operator and newly appointed FBI special agent, Lance McGregor is called to reopen a case when Christy Reed receives a letter in her dead sister’s handwriting. But he comes up with more questions than answers. Is Christy a pawn in a twisted cat-and-mouse game—or the target of a sinister plot? As he digs deeper, one thing becomes clear: someone in the shadows has a deadly agenda. You started off writing in the romance genre. What prompted you to transition into suspense? To…

Tune to the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel on Sunday, January 10th, 2016 to watch THREE Hannah Swensen movies, back-to-back! Sunday January 10th, 2016 from 5 PM to 7 PM EST Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery then . . . from 7 PM to 9 PM EST Murder She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery then . . . the icing on the cake . . from 9 PM to 11 PM EST The World Broadcast Premier of Murder She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery Come spend the night with Hannah, solving mysteries and munching cookies. Jo says, “Ladies, start your ovens!” For more about Jo Fluke and Hannah Swensen visit her Website

My first book sale was practically a fluke. I’d spent years writing two manuscripts that I loved with a passion. I found an agent. I had interested publishers. And while I waited for editors to make their final decision, I noticed a new publisher was looking for Christian romance stories set in small towns with cute names. To submit, all I had to do was write three chapters and a synopsis. I did it in a day, sent it to my agent, and forgot about it. My agent called with good news. I was so excited. Except the good news wasn’t about the manuscripts I’d spent years on. It was for a book I hadn’t even written yet. A sale was a sale. I’d take it. I pulled out my synopsis to remind myself what I’d be writing about. Ha! It included a chubby, unicycle-riding twelve-year-old named after Superman’s father. Writing that story was going to be fun. Except before I finished writing the book, my husband of ten years left me. And I had to write a romance novel while my own marriage fell apart. I never wanted to write romance again. And besides the Costco book-signing in 2010…

And How My Story Extended Hers Lately, I’ve been having some challenging conversations with a friend concerning the ongoing inspiration I find in what my parents told me (many years ago now) about their own lives—particularly their lives before my existence. “You have your own experiences, your own perspective, not to mention your own vivid imagination,” my friend says. “Why do you feel the need to carry the burden of your parents’ stories? Are you setting aside your own material, better, more immediate material, trying to keep them alive?” Her questions have left me shaken. They’ve made me reflect again on that frequent question: where do your ideas come from as a writer? And, yes, for me, some of those ideas have been influenced by the stories my parents told me, and the stories my parents didn’t tell me—the ones I only learned after my mother’s passing (she died when I was fourteen years old, and was a notably reserved woman before that time). The ones I only learned from others who knew her, in so many ways, better than I ever got the chance. My dad, the verbose one in our little family of three, was a fabulous storyteller—a…

Fresh Pick for Friday, January 8th, 2016 is THE FORGOTTEN RECIPE by Amy Clipston #InspirationalFriday a new year rediscover the past About THE FORGOTTEN RECIPE After losing her fiancé in a tragic accident, Veronica Fisher finds solace in the old recipes stored in her mother’s hope chest—and in a special visitor who comes to her bake stand to purchase her old- fashioned raspberry pies. Veronica Fisher knows how lucky she is to be marrying her best friend. Seth Lapp is kind, hardworking, and handsome—but most importantly, he loves Veronica. When an accident on the job steals Seth away from her, a heartbroken Veronica is certain she will never love—or be loved—again. Yet when she discovers a batch of forgotten recipes and opens a bake stand to sell her Mammi’s raspberry pies, Veronica picks up a regular customer who gives her heart pause. Jason Huyard was with Seth when he lost his life—a memory that haunts him still. So when he seeks out the grieving fiancée to convey his condolences, the last thing he expects—or wants—is to fall in love. Nonetheless, Jason soon finds himself visiting Veronica’s bake stand every week . . . and it’s for more than the raspberry…