A Day in the Life of Sarah Brandt Malloy… Malloy and I have been back from our honeymoon for several weeks now, and we’re both very grateful that my nursemaid, Maeve, and Malloy’s friend from the New York City Police Department, Gino Donatelli, started a detective agency while we were away. Without it, Malloy would’ve been bored to death, since he’d had to resign from the Police Department. Their first really interesting case after officially setting up an office turned out to be one they needed my help on, too. Thank heaven, because quite frankly, I was feeling a little bored myself. A young woman who was teaching at the Normal School had been murdered. The Normal School is a college for women that trains them to become teachers, and it should be the safest place in the world. Abigail Northrup’s parents had thought so when they agreed to let her work there, especially when she moved in with two of the other female professors. Malloy asked for my help because he thought I’d know more about college than he did because I was raised in a wealthy family. The truth is that the girls I’d grown up with hadn’t…

Instead of writing a blog about my new book SEAMS LIKE MURDER, the 10th in the Crochet series, I thought I’d offer you a chance to play something Molly Pink and her best friend Dinah Lyons call the Sherlock Holmes game. What it amounts to is listening, observing and then deducing the facts. The names have been removed to protect the innocent and to make it less confusing. Recently, I helped give a surprise party for a friend’s birthday. My job was to be the greeter and deal with the gifts. Guest 1 was the first to arrive and she handed me a rectangular package wrapped in silver paper with a silver bow. I put it on the dining room table and told her everyone was to hide in the den. Guest 2 came in with guest 3. The first one had a yellow shopping bag with orange tissue paper poking out of the top and placed it on the table and guest 3 added a small box in turquoise wrapping paper. “I hope she likes this shade,” guest 4 said as I took her gift. “I know she likes the color.” The array of packages grew as guest 5…

No, this is not about the presidential primary campaigns. I just realized that, with CATCH AS CAT CAN, I’ve devoted more than a third of a million words to the adventures of Sunny and Shadow, and that it might be interesting to discuss some of the most important of those words – the names of the characters. The first to get christened were Sunny and Shadow – for some reason the title of the series was one of the first inspirations to come from brainstorming a cat mystery. A neighbor had a cat named Shadow, although I honestly don’t recall hearing the name before I worked up the series. Shadow didn’t need a last name, but Sunny did. I’d been asked to set the series in Maine, but the names famously associated with the state – Gorgas, Muskie – didn’t match well with Sunny. The best was Pepperell, which always makes me think of towels. Casting my net farther around New England’s past, I got lucky in nearby Vermont, who had a native son make it to the White House – Calvin Coolidge. Sunny Coolidge sounded good to me. Problem almost solved, except I didn’t want Sunny to be a…

Hello, my name is Darcie Wilde, and I write mysteries. Specifically, mysteries set during the English Regency. I got my introduction to the Regency the way most people do; via the work and world of Jane Austen. From the Incomparable Jane, I discovered the warm, witty, wonderful works of the great Georgette Heyer. Between the two of them, they kindled a fascination in me for all things Regency — the dances! The genteel manners, the snobbery, and the witty banter! And, oh! Those clothes! I mean, what’s not to love? It’s a lush, intricate and magnificent time period. But the more I read about the history, the more I came to realize it was a deeply complicated time as well. Not only was Napoleon running roughshod across the Continent, at home, the royal family which was still very much the heart and center of government, was falling apart in all sorts of interesting ways. The banks and the stock market were careening along full tilt in the modern boom-and-bust cycle. Drinking and gambling were epidemic among the upper classes. The middling and lower classes were agitating for better and fairer living conditions, and a debt of as little as five…

Introducing the third book in the Jana Lane, former child actress mystery series… SATIN DOLL Murder, corruption, and scandals rock Washington, D.C…. America’s most famous ex-child star, Jana Lane, is playing a US Senator in a 1983 film. Just as she and her family arrive in DC, two Washington power players are murdered, and Jana is caught in the web of intrigue and political scandal. Jana falls under the spell of the breathtakingly handsome detective assigned to the case, ex-professional football player and food aficionado, Chris Bove. Will Jana and Bove uncover the murderer’s identity and shocking secrets before Jana and her family become the Capitol’s next victims? Praise for PORCELAIN DOLL, a Jana Lane mystery: “Porcelain Doll is Joe Cosentino at his finest. We are drawn back to the fashions and attitudes of the 1980’s in a character-driven story full of intrigue and passion.” Kirsty Vizard, Divine Magazine “Beautifully written and intensely detailed, Porcelain Doll is one not to be missed. Flirtatiously decadent with a strong moral undertone, set in a decade of extraordinary social change this is a story of its period that is as poignant today as it was then. Joe Cosentino controlled the emotions that the…

For some of us, thrifting is a way of life. Walking into a thrift store is a new adventure each and every time, because inventory is always changing. You never know what you’re going to find hidden among the racks and shelves, and there are so many different reasons for hunting through a store that I thought I’d list a few. Savings. Depending on the store and how they price things, you can find incredible savings on clothing and home goods. Name brands are mixed in with unknown labels. In some households, shopping at the thrift store is necessary because of their budget, and trust me, been there, done that. Why spend $20 on one shirt at the mall, when you could get four like-new shirts for the same money at a thrift store? Or $80 on a service-for-eight dish set at Macy’s, when there’s a gorgeous pattern sitting on that shelf for $25? Costuming. Back when the Lord of the Rings trilogy first released, some friends and I wanted to cosplay a few of the characters. So where do you go to find cheap materials to manipulate into Middle Earth costumes? The thrift store. The costumes never did get…

About OUT RIDER With her return to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, New York Times bestselling author Lindsay McKenna shows how love can find a way out of the darkness… A fresh start—that’s all Devorah McGuire wants. As a former Marine and current Ranger with the US Forest Service, she’s grown accustomed to keeping others safe. But when the unthinkable happens, she can only hope that a transfer to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will allow her to put the past behind her for good. Dev’s mentor at Grand Tetons National Park is fellow canine handler and horseman Sloan Rankin. He shows Dev the spectacular trails, never knowing the terror that stalks her every move. Despite her lingering fear, Dev feels an attraction for Sloan as wild as their surroundings. With Sloan, Dev can envision a new life—a real home. Unless a vengeful man fresh out of prison succeeds in finishing what he started… Buy OUT RIDER: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

The first time I ever traveled to America, I thought, “They speak English, I speak English, this will be easy, right?” Not so, as I discovered the first time I ordered an entrée expecting a small starter and found myself staring down an ENORMOUS plate of food! As my debut romantic comedy, CLOSE TO YOU, is set in my native New Zealand, I thought I’d take the opportunity to enlighten you on some “Kiwi” phrases that have my American friends confused, bemused, or just downright amused! “Bit of a dag”: A person who is quite funny or a bit of a prankster e.g. “My Uncle Phil is a bit of a dag.” “Box of budgies”: happy, very cheerful e.g. “I saw Gran today. She was a box of budgies.” “Bludge/bludger”: Someone who is constantly sponging off others and never picks up their share of the tab, buys their round, does their part etc. e.g. “Don’t expect Sophie to pay you back. She’s a total bludger.” “Chocka”: Something that is full to overflowing e.g. “Mate, I can’t fit anymore drinks in the fridge, she’s chocka.” “Hard yakka”: hard work, usually associated with some kind of manual labour e.g. “Finally built that…

In the book I’m finishing now, BAND OF BACHELORS: ALEX, my heroine is a very different kind of lady. She’s a tall, strikingly beautiful and in-your-face-kind of gal, who plays beach volleyball and can spike a ball within the 5’ line so hard it will break a person’s nose if they don’t dig it properly. She likes to lead when she dances slow, and she’s used to having guys dump her after a few dates, which is fine with her, because she’s easily bored. Her name is Sydney. She’s the perfect match-up for my adrenaline-junkie Navy SEAL, Alex Kowicki, who skydives to ease his nerves and prides himself on his self-control. He’s had a string of blind dates, arranged by his bachelor friends, all with disastrous results. Trained to protect women and children and the innocent, he isn’t quite sure how to react when Sydney sets her sights on him. Sydney always gets what she wants. Alex will get way more than he bargained for, until it’s too late for either of them. Love finds a way, but what a journey! BAND OF BACHELORS: ALEX goes on sale June 14th. Pre-order it now: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks…

Blake spotted her the moment she returned. Hell, every man in the room had either craned his neck or swiveled his head. As she walked up the aisle, she looked familiar but he couldn’t place her. Now, away from the other women, he figured it out. Black Opal was a beauty. Dressed in lavender or her usual black, it didn’t matter. He’d often wondered if her off-stage persona was anything like the on-stage one. Over the top in everything: her hair, too black to be natural and too long to be real, would fall to her ass. He’d seen her dance, seen her use that mane as a cloak, teasing the audience with silky sweeps over creamy white skin, revealing only hints of what lay beneath. The old cliché fit. The woman put the tease in striptease. He’d been in the club a couple of times under the guise of private investigator. When clients wanted to be entertained in Vegas, it usually involved a show, a stage and beautiful women, clothes optional. He had nothing against women seductively taking their clothes off, but he preferred them to do it in the privacy of his bedroom, for him alone. He’d spent…