1–What is the title of your latest release? AN HONORABLE DECEPTION 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When Lord Yates Fairfax, an earl and also the head of a mysterious P.I. firm called The Imposters, is hired to find a compelling young lady’s missing childhood nanny, he soon stumbles into dangerous secrets that prove the nobility can be far from noble. Together with his new client and the woman he does not love anymore—who dubbed herself an interim Imposter—they must unravel these twisted secrets…and sort out how to right the wrongs being perpetrated by their peers. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Most of the book is set along the beautiful, rugged coast of Northumberland, England’s northernmost region. I love exploring England’s diverse, beautiful landscapes in my stories, and there’s something about the raging North Sea that always captures my heart! 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Oh, absolutely! And you can bet I’d stick around long enough to watch my earl and his sister perform on the trapeze, meet the retired circus animals who call their estate home, and be entertained by their wit and humor! 5–What…

As a woman with more than a few strands of gray in my hair, I fit in well with the other poll workers on election day. But as I walked home late that night, I escaped the tension and stress of the election season in a thriller that was demanding my full attention. Aren’t we lucky to have books? I’m partial to audiobooks which allow me to both immerse myself in a great story AND walk in the dark without falling on my face. The story that held my attention that night was Dean Koontz’s FEAR NOTHING. Not a new book, and definitely not a romance (though there is a nice love story), it’s the tale of a newly orphaned young man who lives with the disease xeroderma pigmentosum, making exposure to light dangerous and potentially fatal. All is not right in his quiet California town, however, and Chris becomes aware of nefarious ongoings when he sees his father’s body being mysteriously snatched and spirited away en route from the hospital to the funeral home. Somehow, it’s always invigorating to escape real world worries by sinking into scary literary scenarios! He’s a bit of an old-fashioned taste, but Dean Koontz…

1–What is the title of your latest release? GUILT AND GINATAAN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When the body of a local politician’s wife is found inside a corn maze and signs point to her best friend as the main suspect in the murder, a small-town cafe owner turned amateur sleuth must utilize her skills to prove her best friend’s innocence. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I thought, “What’s more Midwestern than corn? And what’s more seemingly wholesome than a corn festival?” So of course, that naturally led to me dropping a dead body in a corn maze during the Shady Palms Corn Festival. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely. She’d keep me well-fed with all her tasty dessert experiments. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Loyal, nosy, work-in-progress 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That a person’s eyes have to be open to use the facial recognition option to unlock a phone 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I write and then edit the first act until I feel like I have a…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Sara Ackerman! Writes: I write books with aloha––and yes, that means they are all set in Hawai’i! My previous six novels are historical, but my upcoming novel, THE MAUI EFFECT is a contemporary about a conservation biologist on Maui who breaks her number one dating rule when she falls for a big wave surfer from the Mainland. I like to think of it as an Endless Summer for modern times. All of my books are a blend of adventure, intrigue, love, and friendship, and shine a light on little known stories and pieces of history. (Meanings of aloha – love, affection, compassion, kindness, grace, a greeting) About: Crazy about the wilderness and our beautiful ocean, I love nothing more than to kick off my shoes and spend the morning underwater, following fish around the reef and looking for pufferfish or spotted eagle rays. In the evenings, I rarely miss a sunset, and you can loosen me up by pouring me an ice-cold craft beer…

From A LEGEND IN THE BAKING by Jamie Wesley. Copyright © 2024 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Chapter Three August Hodges blew out a breath as soon as the door shut behind Sloane. Maybe his heart rate could return to normal now. Maybe. He gripped the counter and let out another breath. His day wasn’t going bad—at least it hadn’t been until he noticed the small leak in the pipe under the sink. He had no reason to complain. His careers—as the starting fullback for the San Diego Knights and one of the co-owners of the cupcake shop—were going well. And even a minor leak wasn’t that big of a problem. He’d fixed similar issues with no problems since he was a kid. But this little fucker wanted to be stubborn. No matter how much he cursed and yanked, a bit of water trickled out. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, but he needed a new repair clamp. It didn’t matter that he’d replaced it last month. To make matters worse, just when he’d thought he’d asserted his dominance over the inanimate object, he’d heard it. It being the magical voice. The voice…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE MASQUERADING TWIN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? You’ve been on the run for years after killing your twin sister in a police raid gone wrong. Your past just returned, and it seems to be wearing the same face as yours. That’s impossible, right? 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Since THE MASQUERADING TWIN is the fifth book in the series, it was inevitable that it would take place in Minnesota. This book visits several towns along the Mississippi River. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes! Selina is mysterious but also kind, easy to talk to, determined, and likes to have fun with her friends. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Determined, intelligent, exhausted. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned a lot about the hierarchy of the mafia and just how wrong authors get it when writing books about them. I also learned just how difficult it is to bury your past and become someone else without the help of witness protection. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you…

Hello fans of mystery, murder and mayhem! Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Leslie Langtry, and I’ll be your host here at Fresh Fiction, every week for Mondays are Murder! To get the ball rolling for something like this, I’d usually do an ice breaker like, “Ideas on how to kill with vegetables,” or “How would you introduce a blue ringed octopus to a victim who wasn’t in Australia and make it look like an accident?” Unfortunately, we can’t really do that here, so you’ll just have to settle for a plain old intro. About me, I’m a USA Today best selling author and was first published in 2007 when my first book, ‘SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY, (a dark comedy about a family of assassins) came out. I wrote four books for that publisher before striking out on my own for a time in 2011, and landing with another publisher in 2014 with my next (and longest series) the Merry Wrath Cozy Comedies – first book – MERIT BADGE MURDER (a comedy about an ex-CIA agent turned small town Girl Scout leader). There are currently 34 books in the Merry Wrath series because 1) they’re fun to…

1–What is the title of your latest release? OLD-FASHIONED HOLIDAY HOMICIDE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Three sisters who run a B&B struggle to keep a murder investigation from landing one of them in jail or ruining their guests’ unrealistic expectations for a perfect family holiday. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? It was part and parcel of the original premise, a B&B in bourbon country. Kentucky seems to be under-represented in the cozy world, and it’s a beautiful place, with so much to offer. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Probably not with Jess, because she’s a little too much like me in some ways (lawyer, oldest sibling, bossy), so we’d probably clash, but it would be great fun to try to keep up with CJ, the youngest, who’s as adventurous as I am cautious. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Jess is smart, organized, and bossy. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? During background research to start the series, I learned a lot about bourbon and the aging barrels. I’m not a drinker, so even the basics were new to me,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? WE THREE QUEENS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Royal tensions surround Lady Georgie in real life as well as in a movie being shot at her house. There are too many would-be queens! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? This is book 18 in my Royal Spyness series. The drama takes place at the estate where Lady Georgie now lives and had to tie in with the abdication of King Edward VIII. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Oh, absolutely. She’s delightful. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Smart, brave, naïve. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? The naivete of Mrs. Simpson and King Edward who believed they could bypass parliament and convince the British people to let them marry, when there was no way the country would accept a divorced American woman as queen. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Every day I go through what I wrote the day before and polish it before I move on. Then I go through a do a complete edit,…

Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.