Excerpt from SEARCH AND DETECT by Terri Reed A bomber with an agenda…and a K-9 team determined to catch him. Chase gathered her hands in his. His were warm and comforting against the flood of ice in her veins. She curled her fingers over his. Wanting, no needing, his strength and steady presence, even though relying on him wasn’t a smart move. “I’d been so gullible. I mean, I suspected at times that he might be…” She swallowed back the recriminations that laid shame and blame on her doorstep. She would not own his bad behavior. His betrayal. “He told me I was being paranoid.” “Are you okay?” Chase’s soft voice grabbed her focus. The concern and compassion on his face made her want to fling herself into his arms. She squeezed his fingers. “I will be. It’s a lot to process.” She needed time on her own to sort through the quagmire of her emotions. She couldn’t do that with Chase so close and the temptation to lean on him for comfort and support so strong. She tugged her hands from his and stood. She had to get out of there. She needed to go someplace where she could…

Katie Mettner writes award-winning romance and romantic suspense, including the Harlequin Intrigue Secure One Series. Her newest release in the series, THE SILENT SETUP, features Eric Newman, a disabled veteran who quickly realizes that sometimes being the boss isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! Katie Mettner lives in a little house in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. She loves her husband, three kids, and a miniature dachshund named Lilibet. When she isn’t telling romantic, suspenseful stories from behind her keyboard, she enjoys sitting on the shore of Lake Superior, baking for the family, and curling up with a shiny new book she’s been waiting for. She loves to decorate her prosthetic leg with the latest fashion, drinks Dr. Pepper like it’s going out of style, and prefers to read on her Kindle app so she always has a book with her. Even while asleep, she’s in pursuit of her next big idea. My ideal reader match for my latest book, The Silent Setup, must love: What to expect if we’re compatible: If we’re compatible, you’ll find yourself heading to Harlequin.com to buy all the other books in the Secure One series so you can know everything there is to know about Mina and…

Fever Ray – “Keep the Streets Empty for Me” “We were hungry before we were born,” – this line from Fever Ray’s haunting and atmospheric song sums up the hand life dealt the DeLuna and Torres siblings. The children of each family were never given a chance to know anything other than the violent and dangerous narco life they were born into.   Marissa Nadler – “Interlocking” “Tried to live without you…saw our small lives interlocking…I’ve been tethered to this town,” – Andres was Sofia’s first love and first love can be all encompassing and all consuming. So when Andres left town Sofia felt abandoned, left alone to make peace with a life that didn’t have Andres in it. However when she’s called back home, and Andres happens to be home too, she feels as if no time has passed and she’s forced to confront the feelings that she thought she’d buried. Andres and Sofia come to find that their lives have always, and will always, be interlocking. CHVRCHES – “The Mother We Share” “Never took your side, never cursed your name,”- This song, for me, speaks to Diego and Sofia’s tumultuous sibling dynamic. The two share a memory of…

Most likely to be her own worst enemy? Restaurant owner Delilah O’Leary’s perfectionism and relentless work ethic make her a force in the kitchen, but a bit of a disaster when it comes to her personal life. Oddly enough, getting dragged into murder investigations has been a kind of therapy for her. Her need for control and her obsession with details—while tough on relationships—make her personality perfect for cracking tough cases. Most likely to be an agent of chaos? Butterball the cat! This chonky orange mischief-maker is a staple in every book. Whether he’s knocking over crucial evidence in SIX FEET DEEP DISH or unexpectedly leading the way to a clue in ASHES TO ASHES, CRUST TO CRUST, Butterball’s accidental heroism is legendary. Just don’t be fooled—his real priorities are snacks and snuggles, solving murders is just a side gig. Most likely to find the truth at any cost? Detective Calvin Capone, Delilah’s complicated love interest. In SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PIZZA, he convinces her to team up with him to uncover the killer, even when it may spell trouble to those nearest and dearest to her. Capone carries the baggage of being a direct descendant of a man whose name…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? It’s a soulful holiday romantic comedy with a bit of a satirical twist. Similar to the movie “The Holiday,” the premise is two desperate women (of completely different ethnicities and backgrounds in this book) swap homes over the Holiday and learn an important lesson about where they truly belong.  3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I picked two settings that had distinct character.  I’m from Michigan, so Chicago was familiar but also a city I wanted to learn more about in writing it. And I live in Los Angeles, so Malibu is close enough to know, but so insular that it’s also a completely unfamiliar world that I thought would be perfect for this book.  Both settings play an important role in the story, so each city needed to feel like you were actually there.  It was a lot of fun bringing to life the ocean breezes of Malibu and the intense winter cold of Chicago within the pages. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I absolutely would hang out…

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.

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE TRIP 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Four friends take the vacation of a lifetime to Thailand, only to discover someone has been following them…It’s a thriller dealing with themes of class, friendship, status, domestic abuse and con artists. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wrote a lot of THE TRIP in the covid lockdown, and at the time I was desperate to be out of my apartment and somewhere exciting! I did a lot of research into Bangkok and Koh Samet, and ended up taking a vacation there this year, after the book was finished – I prayed I had got the details right! I loved it there – it’s a real sensory experience, and I hope I did it justice. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? My novel has four protagonists – Holly, Saskia, Theo and Lucas, and the book flits between them. I enjoyed writing Saskia the most; I’m not sure I’d hang out with her, she has a pretty troubled past, but I might hang out with Lucas. He’s overall the nicest of the…

Who’s most likely to be impulsive? Answer: Willa. My cheesemonger protagonist doesn’t stop until she solves the case, even if it means jumping into some precarious situations. Who’s most likely to break a serious mood with a joke? Answer: Baz. The local handyman and Willa’s next-door neighbor quickly becomes like a brother to her—sometimes annoying but always able to make her smile. Who’s most likely to be the first to want to investigate? Answer: Archie. Willa’s cheesemonger-in-training also has a penchant for investigating. In CASE OF THE BLEUS, he suggests naming their Scooby Doo-like sleuthing group, hence Team Cheese was born. Who’s most likely to be overlooked and underestimated? Answer: Mrs. Schultz. Willa’s Curds & Whey crew member and friend, she’s smack dab in her sixties and knows this often allows her to go unnoticed—all the better to eavesdrop, like she did in CHEDDAR OFF DEAD. As a retired drama teacher, she’s also quite good at putting on a performance, as she did when they needed a diversion in CASE OF THE BLEUS. Who would suspect a nice older lady of faking a sprained ankle? Who’s most likely to want Willa to stop sleuthing? Answer: Detective Heath doesn’t like when…

My name is Theodora Wainsworth. Everyone calls me Teddy because in Texas no one is called Theodora. I say Texas, but I grew up in Bird Isle, an island village off the Texas Gulf. We call the Gulf the third coast which is practically a state of its own. We are famous for Whooping Cranes, deep sea fishing, kite surfing and hurricanes. Every year thousands of visitors come to our town to enjoy the miles of beaches, the warm water, the gentle waves.  The sand sculpture competition is held annually. I’ve never entered the contest, but my friends have. I have this thing about sandcastles—most of the time they’re ruined by the tide. That’s why I wish I’d had a chance to tell my mother that the saying on the beach is “tide and chance happens to us all”, not “time and chance.” She might get a kick out of the quip.  Back to business, Bird Isle hosts a Whooping Crane festival in February each year. The last wild flock of the endangered Whooping Cranes migrate to their wintering grounds to enjoy the company of Winter Texans aka Snowbirds who flock to the Gulf each year as well. The birds—Avian…

For the “scary” month of October, we look at several novels set in the growing-anxiety era of the 1930’s, where even the members of the upper class British society portrayed in these stories sense that a fractured world and a fragile peace are threatened—and worry how that will affect the rest of their lives. We begin with fictionalized accounts of real people in Emily Hourican’s AN INVITATION TO THE KENNEDYS.  The story is told in alternating viewpoints between Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy, daughter of the new US ambassador to England, and Honor and Lady Brigid Guinness, scions of a socially prominent family.  “Kick” is delighted to be in England; with the older brothers on whom Joseph Kennedy normally focuses back in the US, she dreams of winning her exacting father’s attention and approval. Her social success pleases him, marked by her invitation to a select house party at Kelveden Hall, where she becomes friends with Lady Brigid, the niece of their host “Chips” Channon and his wife, Brigid’s sister Honor. Chip has great plans of matching his niece with fellow guest Prince Frederick of Prussia, heir to the German emperor, whom he thinks might make a bargain with Hitler to share…