Welcome to the Fresh Fiction Valentine’s Day Recipe Roundup! Every day this week, some of our favorite authors will be on the blog chatting about their new books, their main characters, and a recipe for a meal or treat those characters would enjoy this festive week. Today, we have mystery authors from Midnight Ink. Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for more fun! JD Allen, SKIN GAME The Sin City Investigations books launched in 2018 with 19 Souls, February 8th, Skin released. Private investigator Jim Bean has worked hard to create his new identity in Las Vegas. Now his life’s on cruise control, destination nowhere. He’s got clients enough to pay his bills, a cat, and a stash of Scotch. But life’s not as static as he’d like. His tragic past collides with a dangerous present when ex-fiancé Erica Floyd walks into his investigation. She’s looking for her missing sister. Bean can’t refuse her and the clues lead him to human traffickers and one of Vegas’ biggest hotel moguls. He’s got to face ghosts of his past, his anger of the present, and a brand new enemy to save four women from a fate worse than death. Jim’s not a fancy…

I write, among other things, contemporary romance. Real people, in real situations, finding love in this crazy world. The fact that we do find one another, and that we manage to have meaningful relationships for however long the relationship lasts, is amazing. Do I believe in soul mates? Yes. I have witnessed two people coming together despite the odds and loving one another. It’s a beautiful thing. I’ve also seen heartbreak, I’ve felt heartbreak…but I’ve also felt love—the fit of your other half. That joy is what keeps me writing romance in all forms. It is a celebration of connection. Backstory for In the Dog House: Emma, orphaned as a young teen when her agoraphobic mother died, goes to live with her great aunt and finds Jackson, who lost both parents in a car accident. This creates the dynamic of two teenagers finding love in sorrow and healing through first romantic love. Jackson is bound by misguided duty and leaves Emma after graduation to fulfill a promise to his dead father, and previous generations of Hardy men. Emma is brokenhearted by Jackson choosing to leave her when he was the first to show her romantic love. I think that forgiving…