I write the Ellie Stone mysteries, a series featuring a young newspaper reporter set in the early 1960s. In the seventh installment, TURN TO STONE (January 21, 2020), Ellie is in Florence, Italy for an academic symposium honoring her late father. But just as she arrives on the banks of the Arno, she learns that her host, Professor Alberto Bondinelli, has been fished out of the river, quite dead. Then a suspected rubella outbreak leaves ten of the symposium participants quarantined in villa outside the city with little to do but tell stories to entertain themselves. Making the best of their confinement, the men and women spin tales and gorge themselves on fine Tuscan food and wine. And as they do, long-buried secrets about Bondinelli and his checkered past rise to the surface, and Ellie must figure out if one or more of her companions is capable of murder. It was great fun—challenging, too—researching and writing about one of my favorite places on earth, Florence. There’s so much history and art to be found, literally, on almost every corner. Ellie, of course, has visited Florence before. In 1946, shortly after the end of the war, she accompanied her father on…

When I was pregnant with my daughter about fourteen (fourteen?!?) years ago, I read everything I could get my hands on about how to be the best parent and how to raise a loving, healthy child. One piece of advice I came across over and over again was this: if you read to your child every day–before they can read themselves before they can even tell you they’re enjoying the story before they’re even born–you will instill a love of reading in your child that will last a lifetime. Parents, I’m here to tell you, it’s all lies. As a toddler, sure, my daughter loved having me sit in her room reading story after story to her at bedtime. We’d snuggle as we made our way through three, four, ten books at a time. Winnie the Pooh, the Berenstain Bears, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. I would use different voices and she’d laugh along, scolding me if I used the wrong voice or slipped out of character. Finally, I would tell her, “That’s enough for tonight. It’s time to go to sleep.” And I would tuck her in, kiss her goodnight, and tiptoe out of her room with…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Witness Protection Widow 2–What is it about? Allison James witnessed a murder. The only way for her to stay alive and ensure the killer is brought to justice is to go into hiding with the Witness Protection Program until the trial. Ali didn’t expect the man sent to protect her to be the same one who once broke her heart. 3–What word best describes your heroine(s)? Brave. 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  His determination not to let Ali down again. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Colt Tanner and Branch Holloway 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? My family and I lived near Winchester for fifteen years. We love the area and still have many friends there. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? I typically create a loose, very vague outline but I allow the story to go where the characters take it as I’m writing. 8–What is an ideal writing day for you? Rise early. Drink lots of coffee. Work uninterrupted for several hours. 9–Do you listen to music while…

CHAPTER 3 Mamba Kisiwa na Simu ya Dharura—Crocodile Island and an Emergency Call The day’s shooting went well, starting with a morning call at eight. Pero had hired a fishing boat with Honda outboards, and they embarked from the hotel dock and headed two hours up the lake to Crocodile Island. The water was calm in the early morning, crystal clear, birds dipping beaks on the wing to drink. As they approached Crocodile Island, looking down off to the side, Mary spotted a small herd of hippos. Heep filmed them, lowering the waterproof camera as the blue-black, corpulent giants danced along the shallow bottom near the shore of the island. The morning’s planned shoot was filming the crocodile sand nests, the enormous females waiting just offshore, slowly treading water with powerful tails. Mary donned her wet suit, powered up her video camera, and went snorkeling in four to ten feet of water. Heep and the crew remained in shallow water and used the main underwater camera, filming her filming the crocs. The crew soon found themselves standing in five feet of water, as close to fifteen-foot crocs as anyone sane would ever want to be. While Susanna had adjusted her…

1–What’s the name of your latest release? My new release is called HEADLINERS, and it’s the fifth book in my London Celebrities series. 2–What is it about? Rival TV presenters Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have been trading barbs on their respective shows for years, but the competition between them soured into full antipathy after Nick broke Sabrina’s family scandal on his show. With both their careers potentially on the rocks, their only chance to salvage their jobs is to (reluctantly) agree to co-host the network’s struggling live morning show. They have a limited deadline to lift the ratings, but have to contend with an unknown person on set who’s determined to see them fail. In order to make things work, they’re going to have to put the past behind them and pull together as a team. But when it becomes clear that the chemistry between them is not solely antagonistic, the road to true love is as rocky as the path to higher ratings. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Determined. Sabrina has a strong work ethic and she’s determined to make the best of things, and to not let her personal problems with Nick jeopardise her career any…

1–Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey: Okay, this movie absolutely had to be #1. It came out when I was 11-years-old, and it still stands as my favorite animal movie ever made. As a kid, I loved the movie because I thought Chance, the naughty and juvenile American Bulldog was hilarious. As an adult, I appreciate the way the character of Chance was portrayed—as a smart, goofy, lovable guy who needed to learn how to trust, and that they chose to make Chance an American Bulldog, which put the breed in a positive light. But the real kicker in this movie is the ending, when Shadow, the elderly Golden Retriever comes up over that hill, and his human, Billy, runs to him as Shadow says, “Oh, Peter! I worried about you so!” Oh my gosh, I cry every single time. Old dogs are the best, man. They’re the best. 2–All Dogs Go to Heaven: I’d just turned 8 when this movie came out in 1989, and my parents took me to the movie theater to see it for my birthday. This movie is actually pretty dark for a kid’s show, though. Dead dogs, orphaned girls, murderous casino owners, and the threat…

First of all, let me thank Fresh Fiction for a great review and for inviting me to visit with you. And second, I want to thank READERS for making the first Cleo Mack Mystery a USA Today Best Seller! Murder at Harbor Village tells how Cleo moved to Fairhope and fell into a new job managing a retirement community. The second book, Murder at Royale Court, centers on a murder that occurs during an antique automobile show. And now, the third book in the series—Murder at the Arts & Crafts Festival—shows Cleo with a big circle of friends who help with the sleuthing when Twinkle Thaw, the famous portrait artist, crashes her sister’s dinner party, comes between an old sweetheart and his wife, takes over a local art gallery, and dies. The series is set in Fairhope, a quaint, bayside community in coastal Alabama. Unlike the murders, the arts & crafts festival actually occurs every spring. I love attending it for many reasons, some of which I’m listing below, along with a few photos from recent festivals. The main thing we expect to find at art festivals is art—paintings, drawings, photographs, and other things that hang on the wall. Art…

The traditional character associated with the month of January was Janus, the Roman god portrayed as two heads looking in opposite directions, one forward and one back.  Often the New Year is a time of appraisal of what has worked—or not worked—in the year gone by as we set new goals for the year ahead. The theme of past events reinterpreted in the light of the present is a trope popularized by novelist Kate Morton and other best-selling authors.  So for this month that traditionally draws upon the past to make reflections about present and future, we’ll look at several works of historical fiction that pinball back and forth between the current day and significant events in the past. Perhaps because the dangers and privations of war create drama and reorder all of life’s priorities, the “then” portion of all these stories takes place in either the World War I or II era. We begin with LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb.  The novel is written as a series of letters, beginning in October 1914 and continuing throughout the war, between Evie Elliott, her brother Will, and his best friend Thomas Harding, interspersed with chapters featuring…

We asked the authors of the 425 Madison Ave series about their favorite parts of the 425 Madison world. Join the group during each release about the best parts of the series! A special message from Allie York, author of Just A Little More. The first release of the second season of 425 Madison Ave series: I am so excited to be the first book in the second season of the 425 Madison Series! Season one was the most amazing project I have ever been part of. In Just A Little More you meet Pipper and Derek, characters introduced in my first book in the series, Just Swipe Right. Piper and Derek are in for a wild ride on their way to happily ever after. Now on to my favorites about the 425 Madison world. My favorite local hang nightspot in the 425 Madison world: Monterrey’s, the bar down the street from 425 Madison. They have live music, a bar, and food. It’s where all of 425 Madison goes to unwind after work! My favorite 425 Madison neighbor is: Crazy Sara Beaumont (I mean, who doesn’t love her?) She’s ballsy and sexy. Sara knows exactly what she wants, which is…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-ReaderMatch” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Susan May Warren! Writes: Susan loves to get people in trouble, and then rescue them! With sexy, strong and honorable heroes (and brave, smart and beautiful heroines!). She writes in a sub-genre of Romantic Suspense she titles Epic Romantic Adventure, and her gig is Search and Rescue teams. Because we all secretly want to be rescued…(or maybe do the rescuing, right?) In The Way of the Brave, three amazing women decide to climb Denali, in Alaska. But when a gale force wind causes an avalanche, they find themselves blown into trouble—the kind of trouble that needs, ahem, rescuers. Enter the Global Search and Rescue team of Jones, Inc, three former military heroes who will do anything to bring the lost home… Even when they find themselves in trouble, too. So, really, who is rescuing whom? About: Susan May Warren is the kind of person that says, yes, let’s go jump out of a plane—wanna join me? It’ll be fun! A skier, a…