From THE FATAL FOLIO: The Cambridge Bookshop Series by Elizabeth Penney. Copyright © 2023 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.   Soon after, we stepped outside, Kieran’s flashlight the only source of light. Trees whipped in the wind and clouds scudded across the sky, hiding then revealing the moon. Behind us, the walls and towers of Hazelhurst House loomed forbidding and dark, crenellations etched against the sky. “Good grief,” I said as we strolled across the garden bridge. “I feel like we’re in a Gothic novel.” “We are.” He leaned close, speaking in a deep, sonorous voice. “I am luring you to the graveyard, my pretty. I need your, ‘blood, your precious blood.’” I laughed with delighted glee. “Love that quote from Nosferatu.” “It’s a classic, for sure.” We stepped off the bridge and started to cross the garden, footsteps crunching on gravel. Topiaries and trees made odd shapes in the dark and unseen things rustled in the undergrowth. I wondered if Selwyn Scott had wandered these paths at night, drawing inspiration from the surroundings. The author didn’t have to travel to find a mysterious, brooding landscape and ancient manor. It was all right here….

What is the title of your latest release? THE SWEETHEART CRUSH   What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? He made her the villain of his novel…and she’s about to read all about it. Two former best friends-turned-enemies reunite and sparks fly!   How did you decide where your book was going to take place? A few years ago, while driving through Indiana, I saw a sign for a “Blossom Glen” housing community and laughed, thinking that was an awesome name for a romantic small town! I had never done a family of sisters and that was really fun too.   Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? I love Viv because she is real – she has had failures and is working to turn them around into successes, and is finding herself along the way.   What are three words that describe your hero? Brooding but sweet and funny.   What’s something you learned while writing this book? Where the state/county/local fair treat of elephant ears came from.   Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Edit, edit, edit everywhere all the time.   What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE LAST CLOSE CALL 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When a homicide cop persuades a talented genealogist to help him track down a serial killer, she becomes entangled in a web of deadly secrets. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Texas is the backdrop for many of my books because there are so many interesting places to set a thriller. My hometown of Austin—a bustling city in the heart of the Texas Hill Country—offers so much contrast and so many possibilities for dramatic scenes. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I would love to go get a margarita with Rowan and hear all about the crazy cases she has worked with the many homicide detectives who have hit her up for help over the years. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Rowan is resourceful, determined, and empathetic. When she hits a wall, she finds a creative way to go around it, and she never gives up on a case until she gets answers. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned all about the fascinating…

Book Title: IRIS KELLY DOESN’T DATE Character Name: Iris Kelly   How would you describe your family or your childhood? Loud. I’m the middle kid of three, and let’s just say my brother Aiden and my sister Emma probably spit up diamonds when they were babies. They’ve always had it together, had a plan, while I’m the kid who cussed out my high assistant principal about the patriarchal dress code. I tried to be well-behaved, I did, but I’ve just never been good at keeping my mouth shut, and, well, seems like well-behaved people never really get to have much fun. And I do like fun. My parents loved me—still do—but they’re not sure what to do with me. Never have been, and you know, that’s okay. I know what to do with me.   What was your greatest talent? Oh wow, I’ve got so many. I can draw pretty well. Owned a paper shop for a while and designed planners, some of them custom made for clients. Had to close that down though, and now I write romance. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. But I’m pretty decent at it…until I ran up against some writer’s block, but it’ll be…

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 Diane Kelly!   Writes: Cozy mysteries featuring curious, perceptive, and resourceful women and their furry, four-footed sidekicks. Plotlines feature unusual methods of murder and intriguing clues, and often involve some fascinating forensics. Handsome heroes play secondary roles, and there’s lots of humor, too. In SNOW PLACE FOR MURDER, an avalanche of trouble befalls recently divorced lodgekeeper Misty Murphy when a guest is found dead and buried in the snow outside her Mountaintop Lodge in North Carolina’s beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Solving a murder is a slippery slope but, with the help of her hunky handyman, she’s determined to find out who put her guest on ice.   About: “Mom” to two adorable yet demanding dogs and five frisky felines, I can most often be found in a lounge chair on my deck, sunning my legs while concocting humorous whodunnits on my laptop. When not writing, I enjoy hiking the wooded trails near my home in central North Carolina, or in the mountains in the…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE LAST APPLICANT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? It’s an emotional thrill ride about two women whose lives take a dangerous turn in the high-stakes arena of private school admissions. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? For this particular book, it was a no-brainer. Once I got going with the concept, I knew it had to be set in Manhattan. Not every book idea serves you an obvious and perfect setting, but this one did. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I’d hang out with either or both of them, and I’d probably see a lot more of myself in them than I should admit here. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Audrey: gives-no-fucks, driven, wounded. Sarah: desperate, loyal, surprising. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That I am in love with italics and em-dashes, and it will be my life-long struggle to curb my usage of them. In all seriousness: I learned that my storytelling skills were at least somewhat translatable from writing young adult to adult, and that I could stretch myself more…

Though I’d read many of Agatha Christie’s mysteries decades ago, I began rereading them when Covid disrupted our lives. Murder was more comforting than the world around us. After deciding to focus my 9th mystery on an amateur production of Christie’s play, THE MOUSETRAP, I delved into Christie’s life and career and educated myself about play production. Below I describe five books I used as resources, all of them fascinating reads. But first, a little about my book, A PARFAIT CRIME, and its relation to Christie’s play. THE MOUSETRAP, the longest running stage production in the world, opened in 1952 in London and is still drawing audiences. It’s also a staple of community theaters, like the one in A PARFAIT CRIME. I’ve seen the play twice and remember its scary moments and its stunning ending. To avoid spoiling that experience for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, I reveal the minimum about the plot and nothing about Christie’s culprit in the scenes where my characters rehearse. ​​The book begins as café manager Val joins her grandfather in rehearsals, replacing cast member Jane, who died in an arson fire. Sweet Jane was known for the parfaits she served. After skeletal remains are found…

1–What is the title of your latest release? SANCTUARY MOTEL, first in a new series from Level Best Books 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Mess Hopkins, proprietor of the seen-better-days Fairfax Manor Inn, never met a person in need who couldn’t use a helping hand—his helping hand. So he’s thrown open the doors of the motel to the homeless, victims of abuse, or anyone else who could benefit from a comfy bed with clean sheets and a roof overhead. When a mother and her teenage boy seek refuge from an abusive husband, Mess takes them in. Shortly after arriving, the mom goes missing and some very bad people come sniffing around, searching for money they claim belongs to them. Mess tries to pump the boy for helpful information, but he’s in full uncooperative teen mode—grunts, shrugs, and monosyllabic answers. It’s not long before the boy vanishes too. Abducted? Run away? Something worse? And who took the missing money? Mess, friend Vell Jackson, and local news reporter Lia Katsaros take to the streets to locate the missing mother and son—and the elusive, abusive husband—before the kneecapping loan sharks find them first. 3–How did you decide where your book…

Kate Carlisle is the New York Times bestselling author of two ongoing series: the Bibliophile Mysteries featuring San Francisco bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright, whose rare book restoration skills uncover old secrets, treachery and murder; and the Fixer-Upper Mysteries (as seen on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries), featuring Shannon Hammer, a home contractor who discovers not only skeletons in her neighbors’ closets, but murder victims, too. Her latest Bibliophile Mystery is THE TWELVE BOOKS OF CHRISTMAS.   There are a lot of fabulous Christmas mystery books on the shelves. One of the things we love about Christmas books of any genre is the familiarity of the traditions. Reading about a familiar tradition is like hearing a beloved song—it immerses us immediately in the feeling of a happy memory. When I sat down to write THE TWELVE BOOKS OF CHRISTMAS, I made sure to include lots of the cozy holiday traditions that readers expect and want. I mean, just look at the cover! This scene comes straight from the book and is wonderfully drenched in all things Christmas. But the readers who pick up my books also crave knowledge—they want to be entertained, yes, but they also want to learn something. And they’re voracious….

Gilded Curses, Book 9, The Shadow Realms Series by Brenda K. Davies Too Good to Be True by Kristen Ashley Spymaster, Book 18, Dragon Knights Series by Bianca D’Arc Zombie Fallout 21: The Burden of Time by Mark Tufo Reborn by Seth Haddon Grump Next Door, Book 9, Love Next Door Series by Sam Crescent Devil In Boots by Stacey Marie Brown Ouch! My Vampire Doms Built a Scary Dungeon, Book 3, My Vampire Doms Series by Calista Jayne Wicked and Wild by Evangeline Anderson Splintered Vows, Book 1, Desecrated Love Trilogy by Jade Marshall and Sofia Aves   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…