Alyssa Maxwell’s first Gilded Newport Mystery, MURDER AT THE BREAKERS, will be premiering on the Hallmark Movies & Mystery Channel on Friday, February 2, 2024. We interviewed the author to give readers new to the series a flavor of what this series is like, as well as giving current fans some insight into what makes these mysteries so special.   FF: What appeals to you about the period you set your Gilded Newport series in? Alyssa: There’s a lot of material in this period for a writer to work with! It was a time of great contrasts and hypocrisy. There were the unimaginably wealthy and the unimaginably poor, and greed, inequality, and unfairness were rampant. But it was also a time of great innovation, ingenuity, and craftsmanship. This is particularly evident in Newport’s Gilded Age mansions, where modern methods of building and technology are combined with meticulous artistry to create what are, essentially, lasting monuments to that time in our history. We see this in clothing, too, in particular with House of Worth gowns, each of which was a unique work of art created for the wearer. Technology was modernizing at lightning speed, and social roles were changing, including those…

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 Susan C. Shea! Hi readers! THE KING’S JAR is the second of three traditional mysteries with a dose of humor that feature Dani O’Rourke. She’s a modern, successful career woman. She’s like a lot of her real-life peers in many ways. She’s in her mid-thirties, is moving past a painful divorce, fretting about her weight, and pouring herself into a hard but occasionally glamorous job as a fundraiser for the Devor Museum in San Francisco. As the story begins, she’s organizing a gala event that will take place in New York City’s most elegant private club. The event will honor the uber-wealthy and socially prominent San Francisco couple who are donating a priceless African artifact to the Devor. Panic ensues when the “king’s jar” is stolen shortly before the event. Cancel the event? Hardly! Dani and her museum colleagues have to find it fast, which becomes problematic when the professor who had custody of it is found dead and the police suspect he was…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a writer, it’s that you never know where your next story will come from. In May 2018, the day after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, I attended the opening of an art show in London. The central painting was a portrait of WW2 veteran, RAF Squadron Leader George “Johnny” Johnson MBE DFM, one of the famous “Dambusters”.  Johnny himself was there to see his portrait unveiled.  Afterwards, I had the opportunity to chat to him and he whispered something so cheeky that it made me laugh out loud.  It also made me see him, then a 97-year-old, as the young man he must have been.  In that moment, the idea for my dual timeline novel THE EXCITEMENTS was born as I realized what fun it could be to explore how a character might evolve over the whole of a very long life. At around the same time, I was commissioned to write the memoirs of female WW2 veterans Patricia and Jean Owtram, two sisters who served in the Women’s Royal Navy and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry respectively. Working with the sisters during the early months of 2020, right…

Gamble’s Risk, Book 5, Riot MC Biloxi Series by Karen Renee City of Ruin, Book 2, Witch Walker Series by Charissa Weaks Lost In Kakadu by Kendall Talbot Wistful in Wyoming, Book 2, Antelope Rock Series by Samantha Cole Where Love Grows, Book 3, The Orchard House Bed and Breakfast Series by Heidi Chiavaroli Saving Teddy, Book 3, Oakside Military Heroes Series by Kaci Rose Polar Opposites, Book 1, The Barvale Clan Tales by C.D. Gorri Wayward Son, Book 4, Forever Marked: The Second Generation of the Marked Men Series by Jay Crownover The Shroud Key by Vincent Zandri The Housemaid by Sarah A. Denzil My Paper Heart: The Complete Series by Magan Vernon Inheritance – Victoria, Book 1, The Avalonian Royals Omnibus Sets by E.V. Darcy Southern Bound, Book 1, Max Porter Series by Stuart Jaffe The 5-Time Rejected Gamma & the Lycan King, Book 1, Coalescence of the Five Series by Stina’s Pen Midnight Creed, Book 8, Ryder Creed Series by Alex Kava Unlikely Omega, Book 1, Hunted Fae Series by Mona Black Get In My Swamp: An Ogre Love Story, Book 1, Get In My Swamp Series by G.M. Fairy The Holiday Dilemma, Book 2, Willow Valley…

1–What is the title of your latest release? GOTHIKANA   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? None for GOTHIKANA. I self-published the title a while ago and Bramble acquired it. For my next however, there’s an elevator pitch. I’ll share it when the time comes.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Verenmore came to me as it was. This story couldn’t have taken place anywhere else, because the location is a character too. The woods, the mountains, the lake, the castle, everything is pivotal to the atmosphere.   4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? ABSOLUTELY! Corvina has some things very similar to myself, so I feel like we’d connect beautifully.   5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Unique, mystical, quiet.   6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That sometimes we don’t always find the answers we want in life and learning to live with that is okay. This book was my journey of accepting that in a way.   7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? The latter. I’m like a horse with blinders when I’m writing…

1–What is the title of your latest release? OF LOVE AND TREASON 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Rome, AD 270. When the Roman emperor bans marriage, Valentine continues marrying couples in secret. His defiance makes him a hero . . . and the most wanted man in the empire. Compelled by his faith, he believes he has nothing to lose, until a chance encounter with the daughter of a Roman jailor changes everything. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Of Love and Treason is a retelling of the legends of Saint Valentine, and since his story takes place in late-third-century Rome, it was an easy decision. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? For sure. I have two main characters, Iris and Valentine, and they’re both witty and charming. 5—What are three words to describe your protagonists? Iris: creative, hopeful, determined. Valentine: compassionate, courageous, and late for everything. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Since my female main character, Iris, is a baker, I learned a lot about Roman-style baking and baked goods. I tried a few recipes and learned that I am still bad at baking bread. 7–Do…

1–What is the title of your latest release? PICASSO’S LOVERS   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? You know Pablo Picasso.  Now meet his muses.  Picasso’s Lovers is a tangled and vivid portrait of the woman caught in Picasso’s charismatic orbit through the affairs, the scandals, and the art.  Only this time, they hold the brush.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The characters made this decision, not me!  I wanted to tell the story of a young but already successful Pablo Picasso meeting the beautiful socialite Sara Murphy, their initial meetings in Paris in 1922 and 23, and then the summer they and their families spent at Antibes, in the south of France. The narrative is based on true events, and I ran it with from there, imagining all the “what ifs”. To tell this story I had to take a close look at the nature of Sara’s marriage to the very handsome Gerald, and at Picasso’s discontent with his own marriage. Mix passion, love (not always the same thing!) with sun and sand and fabulous food. Voila.  The sun bursts in gold on your eyelids.   4–Would you hang…

I don’t know any author who doesn’t fantasize about their book becoming a movie. The more delusional among us dream of being asked to write the script – “Only you can bring it to life onscreen!” – having a director’s chair with our name on it, gossiping in our trailer with makeup and wardrobe. And of course, we’ll have final word on casting and become best friends with the star. I’ve cast every mystery I’ve written, and The Wharton Plot is no exception. John Lithgow for Henry James was obvious. For Edith Wharton, I dithered over Olivia Colman vs. Laura Linney. But there is only one actor I feel is crucial to the success of the film. Derek. Like other megastars – Cher, Prince, Diana – Derek goes by a single name. Also, he is a dog. Better known to the world as Tricki Woo, the pampered Pekingese on All Creatures Great and Small. In 1911, Edith Wharton was considering a number of changes in her life. Among them: what kind of dog she favored. For many years, she was a devout Chihuahua lover. But around this time, she made a radical shift to pekes. I have been wanting to…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE BREAKUP TOUR 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The Breakup Tour is the story of a world-famous pop star who embarks on a nationwide tour of her latest album with the ex-boyfriend who inspired her hit breakup song. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? From the beginning, we knew this book was going to be about a music tour. We’ve written two romances that take place in single settings, so for this one, we were eager to tell a sweeping story across multiple cities. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Hang out with a world-famous pop star? Um, absolutely. Riley Wynn is exactly the kind of artist we admire, someone who writes highly personal music that connects with so many people. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Relentless, talented, brave. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Writing songs is incredibly hard! We included original lyrics in this book, and we have renewed respect for every musician. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Because of our co-author relationship, there…

1–What is the title of your latest release? RADIANT HEAT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? After a woman narrowly survives a massive wildfire, she discovers the body of a stranger in her driveway. The dead woman has her name and address but they’ve never met before. Using the tropes and tricks of a classic thriller, Radiant Heat delves into the epidemic of violence against women in Australia, and the ways grief, place and circumstance inform and shape us all. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The setting is a character in this book, so I had a very clear idea of that even before I knew what I was doing in a lot of other respects. Set in a part of Australia that has been devastated by bushfire, but also a region I got to know while working as a journalist in Melbourne, I could never have set it anywhere else. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? For sure! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Stubborn, Strong, Self-destructive 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That no matter how much you think you know…