After publishing seven novels, you’d think my eighth release day, this time for VIOLET GRENADE, would go differently. I’m a seasoned vet, after all. I keep my expectations manageable, I drink my coffee black and get a damn fine massage and don’t worry about Amazon rankings. And I do not—I repeat—I do not obsess about my reviews. Just kidding. I have done—and will do—all those things. In fact, here are 8 things all authors do on release day (on every release day)— Secretly hope our books will be bestsellers. Even if we are self-publishing our first book, have the world’s worst cover and blurb, and have told exactly no one about our novel, we secretly pray the book will instantly hit the New York Times bestseller list. Because magic exists, right? Refresh Amazon a thousand times. Because rankings totally tell the whole story, right? Wrong. We all know that’s wrong. And yet… Celebrate hitting a subcategory Amazon list. OMG! I’m a bestseller for Fiction > YA > Romance > Family > Horse Heads > Yellow Monkey Feces > Anti-Bestsellers. This means I’m winning! Try to play it cool. Make plans to not worry about your sales, or reviews, by penciling…

NIGHTSHADE FOR WARNING is the second in the Enchanted Garden Mystery series featuring aromatherapist and perfumer Elliana Allbright. After divorcing her philandering husband, she opened her dream business, Scents & Nonsense, in her hometown of Poppyville, California. Her almost supernatural sense of smell combined with her ability to intuitively know what fragrances will help her friends and customers overcome difficulty or simply bring them pleasure has made her business take off like a rocket. The Enchanted Garden behind her shop is chock-full of rambling plants, bird houses and windchimes, winding paths, tumbling terrace beds, and myriad herbs and flowers from which she distills the concentrated scents that are the hallmark of her unique perfumes. For this, she uses the ancient copper alembic her gamma left her along with an illustrated garden journal Ellie has come to realize contains more than a little magic. The garden is open to her customers and friends to sit, sip tea, and nibble on the cookies that her best friend, Astrid Moneypenny, bakes up every morning. Miniature garden tableaus, gnome doors and fairy gardens are tucked into crevices and nooks all over the space. Dash the corgi and Nabokov the Russian Blue shop cat provide…

One of my favorite authors is sitting down in the Cozy Corner this week. Darcie Wilde’s tales of regency England enthrall readers with layers of romantic intrigue both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Her May release, A PURELY PRIVATE MATTER, takes us on a journey that weaves Rosalind Thorne’s past with her future, while she unravels the secrets behind the mysterious death of a famous actor. A literal heartthrob, Fletcher Cavendish has made his way to fame while laughing at the haute ton who adore him. When he turns up dead, London is in mourning and demanding justice be served, but the man in charge of the investigation isn’t so much interested in justice, as protecting one of the main suspects in the case. A PURELY PRIVATE MATTER by Darcie Wilde Rosalind Thorne The Rosalind Thorne Mysteries—inspired by the novels of Jane Austen—continue as the audacious Rosalind strives to aid those in need while navigating the halls of high society… Rosalind Thorne has slowly but assuredly gained a reputation as “a useful woman”—by helping respectable women out of some less-than-respectable predicaments. Her latest endeavor is a tragedy waiting to happen. Desperate Margaretta Seymore is with child—and her husband is receiving poisoned pen…

“How on earth do you come up with your stories?” That’s the question I get asked more often than anything else. Actually, at one point in my career, I wasn’t really sure how I did it, I just sat my butt down in front of the computer and the story seemed to flow…no, that’s actually a big fat lie. The story only flows when the story knows where to go. But as to the mechanics of how I do it for each and every mystery I write, I start with a question: What do I want to say in this book? Now, don’t get me wrong, I know what I write and I know it’s not a philosophical tome or the great American novel, it’s entertainment pure and simple. I write genre fiction and I love what I do…but I’ll admit I’m a tad opinionated and I have a lot to say. When I sat down to write MRS. JEFFRIES RIGHTS A WRONG, I knew I wanted to craft a story that examined hubris and arrogance; you know, that guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth who then brags to anyone who’ll stand still for ten seconds that…