LADY ARMSTRONG’S SCANDALOUS AWAKENING is set in the Victorian era. What appeals to you about that time period as a setting? Is that your favorite period to set a story in? The Victorian period was a time of huge change in every way. The Industrial Revolution was really taking hold, railways and telegrams transformed communication and travel, and there was a move away from the countryside to city living. What fascinates me are the contrasts that all this change emphasized – between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, and in particular, in the position of women, who were being forced by a society which was in many ways liberating men, into a much more domestic and constrained role. Ideals of femininity were disseminated through photography, and image took on a new importance. Women who did not conform had to be real rebels, incredibly strong and radical thinkers, and it’s coming up with this type of woman as a heroine that really appeals to me. As to whether this is my favorite period to write about – I’d say yes, at the moment, because it’s the period I’ve been immersed in for the last couple of years,…

Fresh Fiction: If you could only recommend one of your books to romance readers who are unfamiliar with your work, which would you recommend? And why? Mary Jo Putney: Hmm, tough question!  Maybe LOVING A LOST LORD. It’s the first book in my Lost Lords series, and it sets up the framework for the rest of the series. The heroes of all seven books attended the Westerfield Academy for boys of “good birth and bad behavior.”  The founder, Lady Agnes Westerfield, helps boys who are having trouble fitting into the niches they were born to.  She teaches them how to be themselves without losing their souls. The hero of this first book, Adam Lawford, the Duke of Ashton, is half Hindu and has to deal with resentment and prejudice.  Then a steamboat explosion leaves him half drowned and amnesiac in northern England, where he is found by a desperate young woman who needs a pretend husband for protection…. FF: Scotland is the setting for your regency romance ONCE A LAIRD. What do you like about this setting? And what is so captivating about a hot Scottish hero? MJP: This story was inspired by a wonderful visit to Orkney, one of the island groups north of mainland Scotland.  Both…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THOROUGHLY CAPTIVATED 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Two damaged people, one purpose. A man and a woman with scars from their past find love and a future together… 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Aldbey Park (the estate home and stables of our heroine in the first book, Lady Amelia Darley) is actually a true place. It is where the first Darley Arabian came to England and was bred with the heavier coach-horse type breeds to create the “thoroughly bred horse” now known as the Thoroughbred. (Hence the titles of this series.) This book is Miss Lula Darley’s story and is inspired by my life on a horse farm as a single mom, caring for horses, teaching, and training them. In my research, I found that though women could not be actual doctors or veterinarians, they could study and take the exams. However, they could not be officially recognized as such. During the many wars that England was involved in during the Regency, women were left quite often to their own devices. Medical practitioners, including veterinary practitioners, were needed on the battlefields, leaving…

1–What is the title of your latest release? FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? What if a rock star moved in next door? 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I binged several seasons of “Virgin River” and fell in love with the fell of its Northern California small town. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Yes. She has a good heart and a solid sense of humor. I value those in people. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Grumpy, hot, and talented. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That you can get garlic fries in Northern California. I really want some. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I go. I don’t feel like I can build onto a story if I don’t have a strong foundation. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? I have a thing for onion rings at the moment. As you can tell from the book! 9–Describe your writing space/office! I have an office at home. It’s a mess right now. But it has furniture made from…

In HEART OF A TIGER, a child is in danger. What made you use this element in your story? Was that meant to increase the tension and engage the reader even more? The child in the story is because of the Earl of Soothcoor. He has been a “cast member” in three previous stories. I’ve become quite fond of him. He’s 40ish, never married, plain looking, and secretly heavy into philanthropy. I decided he was in a rut and needed something to push him out of his comfort zone. The child is his heir through his brother and his Indian wife.   I like a mystery series with a couple who solves mysteries together. Was it always the plan to have a mystery series with a married couple? Or did things change as you began writing the first book? Things changed after I wrote the first book, THE WAYLAID HEART. Readers requested I have them in a series. So, I did! I adore them. They are a loving couple, opposites that complement each other.   I love historical romances and historical mysteries, but I always wonder one thing. How much research went into a book like this? Are you a…

Kalliope Ballas is a fashion designer with a prissy calico cat, who falls and hits her head, then wakes up able to read minds but only through the power of touch. A nightmare for a germaphobe. Messy Detective Nikos Stevens lives next door with his slobbery saint Bernard. Think Monk meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Nik is half Greek and Kalli is adopted by a Greek family. For the meddling mamas, that’s Greek enough. That got me thinking about big crazy families. I’m not Greek, but I am fascinated by their history, tradition, and culture. In my research, I found ten Greek traditions. Epiphany – Catching the cross On January 6th the Greek people celebrate Jesus Christ and his baptism. The priest throws a special cross into a blessed body of water, and the people jump in to find it. The person who finds the cross and gives it back to the priest is blessed for the entire year. Ragkoutsaria On the days after the Epiphany, people wear scary masks to exorcise evil spirits from the city. People passing by give them coins as payment for getting rid of the evil spirits. The whole city then gathers to eat,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE DETECTIVE, which is the seventh book in my action-packed romantic suspense series, Norcross Security. 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? She’s a woman on the run from a stalker and desperate to avoid her hot, nosy detective neighbor. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? My Norcross Security series is set in San Francisco. I knew it would revolve around ex-military heroes now working in private security in a city. I wanted a vibrant city to be the backdrop and San Francisco was perfect. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Yes! Although my heroine, Savannah, is an artist and I can barely draw a stick figure. I save my creativity for writing. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Tough, rugged, protective 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Like I mentioned, I’m not an artist, so I had to do a bit of research for the art side of things for the heroine in The Detective. I learned a lot about painting with a palette knife to add texture to a painting. I doubt I’ll ever do…

For readers who may be new to your Daniel Pitt series, how would you describe Daniel?   I would describe Daniel as coming from a happy childhood, but with a father who succeeded to a degree that obliges Daniel to strive constantly to be not only professionally successful, but to live up to the same moral standards… and incidentally a mother who is brave and individual, which means that Daniel himself can be happy only with a brave and individual kind of woman.   What made you decide to have a barrister as your main character in this series? I wanted him to detect, with urgency, high stakes to win or lose, but not to be another policeman, and I love courtroom scenes.  A barrister gives me the chance to have lots of them, quite legitimately.   How much research goes into your books? Are any of the characters in THREE DEBTS PAID inspired by actual people in history? The amount of research varies from book to book. A lot of it is constant throughout the series. Most of the change comes from being a slightly different time. Different things are happening. No. Real people now, possibly.   The early 1900s is…

She’s trying to rectify the past. He’s trying to forge a new future… I never expected to write Alaska Mountain Rescue. But when I was halfway through the first book in my K-9 Alaska series, K-9 Defense, a secondary character leapt up and demanded her own book. Alanna Morgan was kidnapped when she was five years old. She spent fourteen years with her kidnappers, who raised her (and her “siblings,” who were also kidnapped) as their own children. At nineteen, Alanna slipped a note to a store owner and changed the rest of her life. Her “parents” were arrested, and she was returned to a family she barely knew anymore. Five years later, when her “mother” Darcy Altier escaped from prison and grabbed another child, Alanna decides to return to Desparre, Alaska, to help police find her. It’s a hard journey back to Desparre. It’s where she spent her childhood, so in some ways, nowhere else feels like home to Alanna. But it’s also tainted by the knowledge that this remote town had been used to hide her from her real family for fourteen years. Returning to Desparre is her chance to redeem herself for not turning in her “parents”…

In your “Travel P.I.” mystery series, your female protagonist Angel Doyle is described as a “semi-reformed thief and accidental P.I.” What made you decide to create that type of character? In my two previous cozy mystery series, my sleuths are from fairly conventional backgrounds. In the Movie Club Mysteries, Maggie is an ex-cop who moves to Ireland and sets up her own P.I. agency. Dee in the Time-Slip Mysteries is a journalist and amateur sleuth. I wanted Angel’s story arc to be different. She comes from a family of career criminals and wants a fresh start on the right side of the law. Yet there’s no denying that specific skills she’s picked up over the years come in handy for her detective work. At the start of KNIFED IN NICE, Angel is on the cusp of significant life changes, and the story pushes her in another direction. She had no ambition to become a detective, but she’s thrust into a situation where she must figure out what’s going on or risk being killed. She’s also a loner, and the story forces her to work with a partner to solve the mystery. What all my sleuths have in common is a…