With Paris Fashion Week beginning September 24, lovers of style and all things French turn their eyes to the City of Lights. In addition to producing iconic clothing, France’s twists, turns and sometime abrupt societal changes—from monarchy to revolution to empire–have long inspired historical novelists. Moving chronologically, we start with MADAME TUSSAUD: A NOVEL by best-selling author Michelle Moran. Trained by a Swiss doctor she calls her uncle, Marie Grosholtz becomes a skilled artist in the sculpting of wax and an astute businesswoman who helps run the family firm, Salon de Cire, which displays wax portraits and tableaux of the foremost personalities in France. Although her family’s home is a meeting place for budding revolutionaries like Desmoulins, Marat and Robespierre, when the royal family, impressed by her artistry, invites her to become a tutor to Princess Elizabeth, she cannot refuse. But as she gets to know her student, the king, and the queen better, she finds herself balancing a fine line between sympathy for her royal employers and the increasingly strident demands of the reformers. And when reform becomes the madness of the Reign of Terror, she must put pragmatism before loyalty and do what is necessary to insure that…

Fresh Fiction My first short story won a very prestigious award setting my entire writing career into motion. It was called “The Magic Rabbit” and I won second place in my elementary school short story contest at the brilliant age of seven. Just listen to this prose: Once in a very far away land there lived a boy named Charlie and he had a brother named David. David had a rabbit named Dayton. Oh, that. Is. Good. I also feel I should point out at this time that Charlie and David are never mentioned again. In a very Avant Garde George R. R. Martin style, I kill off the protagonist and his sidekick in the first paragraph. I think my teachers could see that I had a gift for writing even then. This is also when I established myself as a writer who shuns most forms of punctuation. My agent will attest that I have kept that style true to this day. Most of the story is about a rabbit and a mouse who go on a “grand adventchure” in search of snacks. When they finally find carrots and radishes they celebrate with “a snack of reward.” I will point…

Must-Haves for Writing a Book by Allison B. Hanson An idea. Prepare for all the ways the ideas will come to you so you’re prepared. Ideas never come when you’re ready for them. Four o’clock in the morning ideas: Keep a tablet next to bed so you can jot down these gems. Note: the recording device on your phone might also work if you are especially good at translating Drunken Wookie. Shower ideas: Keep a washable marker in the shower. Note: do not use red. When the water makes it bleed down the shower it might scare other family members. At work ideas: Send the idea to yourself in the form of an email while also trying to pay attention to the meeting. Note: do not offer anything in the meeting, just nod and hope for the best. Dinner with friends ideas: Make sure to keep your voice low in the restaurant so other diners do not think you are really planning a murder in the next booth. Snacks. Nutritional snacks: to fuel you when you’re deep into an idea and don’t have time for actual meals. Candy: just because. You should never pass up a chance to eat candy….

Some characters haunt you long after the book is done. That’s what fans of our Haunted Bookshop Mysteries told us after we stopped writing them. For nearly ten years their emails, notes, and posts implored us to revive the series. With this month’s publication of The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller, we finally did. We even dedicated the book to our readers, who wouldn’t rest until we brought Jack back. And who is Jack? THE HARDBOILED GHOST A tough PI from the mean streets of New York, Jack Shepard lived on the seamier side of life. His death (in 1949) was no picnic, either, leaving him with a hardened outlook, especially when it comes to judging people and their motives. Despite his troubled spirit, Jack has a wicked sense of humor, and he can’t help cracking wise about the absurdities of modern life—from bottled water and “smart” phones to television cop shows. THE PRIM BOOKSELLER A young widow with a little boy, Penelope Thornton-McClure once believed in spirits, until a succession of tragic losses took her faith away. Slowly, Jack Shepard is restoring that faith, and though Pen bristles at his retro male attitude, she’s encouraged by the strangest irony…

How many of you have thought of setting as a character?   As readers, don’t we all love to be taken away and sucked into the world we are reading about?   A great example of getting sucked into the world you are reading about is Julie Ann Walker’s Black Knights Inc. series. While I have never been to Chicago or been immersed in the biker culture, I could vividly picture it. She deftly draws you into the world until you can not only see it, you can hear and smell it as well. It’s like you’re in Chicago. Of course, I’d heard about settings being their own character, but it never really sank in until I was writing Dark Water. Not only did the lush beauty surrounding the Louisiana bayou firmly claim its place in the story, but New Orleans tagged in and brought its own personality to the page.   My ideas come to me randomly and in a different way every time I begin a new story. It can be plot, character… Etc. Well, you get the idea. With Dark Water it was my heroine, Evangeline’s Cajun grandmother, Maw Maw, who came to me first, and the…

WRITES: I write psychological thrillers that include romance (is romantic psychological thrillers a thing? If it is, that’s what I’m writing) plus a dash of paranormal. Basically what I love to explore is the idea of “things are not as they seem.” Is it a haunting? Or is there something else going on? Or … could it be both? My latest book IT BEGAN WITH A LIE is a perfect example of a few of my fave things coming together as it includes a haunted house (that may not be haunted) in a creepy “Twins Peak” like town with a love triangle just to spice things up. ABOUT AUTHOR: I taught myself to read at 3 years old because I wanted to write stories so badly. I’m a voracious reader of all types of genres (which is likely why I love nothing more then genre bending in my own books). I grew up in Wisconsin (and, so far, all of my books have take place there) but now live in the mountains of Arizona (and one day I hope to have a book take place here) with my hubby of twenty-plus years (!) and southern squirrel hunter, Cassie. WHAT I’M…

I’ve heard several readers of modern romances say that they don’t like to read historicals because they’re just not as hot and steamy as modern romances. Not true! In fact, Regency era romances are brimming with opportunities for sizzle, if you know where to look. No underwear = quick trysts. That’s right. People during this time period did not wear knickers, and a man who claimed to wear “small clothes” would be laughed at for being effeminate. There was simply no need for underwear when a woman wore multiple layers that went all the way down to her ankles and when men’s shirts had enough fabric to keep anything from being seen once it was tucked into their pantaloons or breeches. No underwear also made it much easier for women to use chamber pots…and much easier for both sexes for intimate encounters, when they don’t have to remove their clothes (considering how long it took to get dressed during this time, this is a huge bonus). While “drawers” for women emerged around this time, very few women actually wore them, and they were still open in the crotch. Carriage sex. With small compartments, pitch black darkness inside at night, and…

We’ve all been told never to judge a book by its cover, but the truth is, that’s exactly what we do, especially when we’re shopping at an online site. Graphic designers work hard to create covers that, even in a size no larger than your fingernail, grab your eyes and don’t let go. So what happens when, seduced by that gorgeous cover, we buy the book only to discover that the story inside doesn’t deliver on the implicit promise of that cover? The author described the hero as an adorable beta male, but the alpha guy on the cover would make the head of a werewolf pack slink away in fear. The story was erotic paranormal, but the cover was a cutesy cartoon. The heroine of the story was a fiery redhead, but the cover model was a die-away blonde. The cover depicted smoldering lust between the H/H, but the story was cozy small-town love. The story featured characters with diverse backgrounds, but the cover models were all Caucasians. The book was part of a series, but the cover looks nothing like the other books in the series. Mismatches of this sort can create all kinds of issues for not…

Fake relationships: Fake fiances, marriages of convenience – however you work it, I love me some fake relationships. I’ve written quite a few MOCs because I write historicals, but I read a lot of contemporary fake fiancé books and I can never get enough of them. It reminds me of that scene in Leap Year where they’re at that farmhouse and the family makes them kiss – totally cliched, but it works! Best friends to lovers: Admittedly I’ve never written one of these myself, but I read a bunch of them. I’ve always been a sucker for this trope. Frankly I think it stems from the fact that my sister married her best friend when I was like 13 so right at that ripe age for falling in love with falling in love. You get my gist. But it’s just the best for people who already love each other to realize that love can now involve sexy times. Nerds in love: OMG! I’m not sure this is an actual trope, but we’re going to call it one for my purposes. I don’t care if it’s the hero or the heroine that’s the nerd, there’s just something about the awkward sexiness…

A RING TO TAKE HIS REVENGE started out as a very different story. One that didn’t quite work the first time round. But with my editor’s careful guidance I found my way towards the right story for Antonio and Emma. Of all the changes that I made, Emma was the one who took me by surprise the most. In her, I found a survivor. Someone who had battled to be where she is when she meets Antonio. After a double mastectomy at the age of 17, she is on the road to reaching her living list goals, but Antonio is about to make her realise that she isn’t done fighting yet, because now she must reach for what she wants for herself. Cancer is something that affects so many of us, whether personally or through family members, friends, or loved ones. And it’s different for every single person. I would not claim to have represented everyone’s struggle with it, nor do I believe that there is a right or wrong way to take that fight to where it needs to go. You do what you have to do. My mother was sixty when she was diagnosed and it rocked us….