I loved writing COLD PRESSED MURDER, the second book in Berkely Prime Crime’s OLIVE GROVE MYSTERY series, following ONE FOOT IN THE GROVE. One of the elements I’m most excited about in this second cozy mystery is the recipe section at the end of the book. Each recipe featuring olive oil is taken directly from the pages of the story. And one of my all-time, most favorite recipes was developed just for this story! Precious Darling’s Famous Cold-Pressed Olive Oil Peach Cake is to die for. It’s dense, super-moist and sweet—but not too sweet. And it’s deliciously satisfying, especially when topped with fresh fruit. Happily, when I developed and tested the recipe, it was during peach season here in Virginia. So once I nailed the recipe down, I baked one final version, sliced myself a fat piece of warm cake, and slathered that puppy with fresh peaches and freshly prepared whipped cream. Not normally a cake person, I was on cloud nine devouring the fruits of my labors! Moreover, the cake tasted absolutely scrumptious the next morning when I had a piece for breakfast, topped with a medley of fresh fruit and yogurt. Needless to say, my olive oil cake…

The heroine of my Profiler series, Evelyn Baine, is kind of a badass. Not in the walks-with-swagger, carries-a-big-gun and takes-no-prisoners kind of way you might expect, but in a quiet, ultra-observant way. The FBI authorizes her to carry a badge and a gun on her hip, but she rarely uses them. Most of the time, it’s her intellect that has law enforcement officers across the country asking for her help. She’s a profiler for the Bureau’s elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, which means that instead of leading an investigation and chasing suspects, she travels to a much scarier place: into their minds. It’s her job to figure out not just what kind of person committed the crime she’s been called to profile, but also how police can find him and what he’ll do next. Throughout the course of my Profiler series, Evelyn’s ability to predict the next moves of serial killers, child abductors, terrorists and kidnappers has put her into their paths. Along the way, I’ve gotten to show some of her physical strength, too, but also how she outwits criminals into underestimating her. Regardless of her tiny, 5’2” frame, she’s still got FBI tactical training and more than her fair…

Ask me how much fun it is to kill people and to eat fab food! But believe me, it is not for the feint of heart. We can all handle the murder part because what’s a cozy mystery without some (off screen) bloodshed? But writing a culinary mystery adds another ingredient – food stress. Believe me. It’s great fun plotting a new book. By the time I started this second one in the Dinner Club Mysteries, ROUX THE DAY, the characters were my old friends. The task is finding ways to make sure readers feel that way too, while knowing these characters must face challenges that will in some way change them or the way they look at the world. Without losing the friendship of readers. The setting, Half Moon Bay, a quaint village-like community in Burlington, VT remains the same for each book. Although this time the body is found at a fundraising Casino Boat event, miles from shore, cruising on Champlain Lake. The victim is TV personality Miranda Myers and her co-emcee, Connor Mac, shares a past and an argument with her. Now he’s disappeared and tops the suspect list, with J.J. a close second. It’s up to…

“Don’t even think about it,” Julian warned as he leaned back on the plush seat of their limousine. “Think about what?” Kristin asked angrily. “If you jump from a moving vehicle, you’ll more than likely end up breaking your neck, and that would be a shame. You’d miss Vegas and the wedding.” It irritated her that he not only had known exactly what she was contemplating, but had quickly come to the same conclusion as her. There was no way she was taking a swan dive from a moving vehicle. She’d been so shocked by his outrageous behavior that she hadn’t been able to speak until now, even though they’d been riding for several minutes. How he’d gotten the fancy limo down a closed street, she didn’t know. But Kristin was fairly certain it had a lot to do with the chief of police being Julian’s cousin, Dante. The old chief had retired just a few months ago, and Dante Sinclair had taken the promotion when it was offered to him. Kristin shot Julian a furious glare. Even though it was already getting dark, the vehicle had lights in the passenger area. As far as Kristin could tell, the fancy…

In my book, OPERATION PROM DATE, Kate is a huge fangirl and often talks about all the fictional couples she ships (the couples who she really, REALLY wants to be in a relationship, in case you’re new to the term shipping. It baffles my husband when my daughter and I start having conversations about our fandoms). Kate and I have that in common. Whether it’s Olicity on Arrow, Stydia on Teen Wolf, or Captain Swan on Once Upon a Time, Kate gets rather involved with what’s going on with her favorite couples. (I’ve also been known to scream “KISS ALREADY” at my TV shows and books. You know, like a calm, normal person. LOL) Cooper, the guy who’s made a deal to help Kate land her crush in time for prom (AKA “Operation Prom Date”) doesn’t know what half of her fangirl jargon means, but he loves how passionate she is about it. He loves having her as his temporary rowing partner as part of their deal, too, because it means lots of time with just him and Kate in his rowboat on the lake. What he doesn’t love is how jealous he is when all of his help starts…

Writing fiction fell upon me through my own devices of dreams and things. After some research online where I found the affair of my 19th century, barely out of her teen years debutante, I thought, I must write this story of love, disappointment and murder. I know, I said to myself, I’ll write a book. After all, I had written a chapter for a history book and been wooed by a publisher. I wrote up school catalogs, wrote course curriculum, wrote up interior design and architectural history lectures, proposals for jobs, poetry and love letters. Surely writing a book would be a piece . . . Gail . . . Read more here INDIGO SKY by Gail Ingis In a whirlwind romance, a lovely New York socialite marries a fêted, debonair author. But beneath the charm is a cheating husband addicted to hasheesh. Her dream marriage turns sour and the simplicity of her life runs amok when a handsome stranger, her husband’s business partner, threatens her staunch loyalty to her wayward husband. When she faces the ugly truth about her marriage, her need to finalize her divorce sends her on mad chase across the wilds of nineteenth century America with…

For a lot of people, magic equals witches. While that might be a common assumption, magic and magical beings encompass more than just the witchy world. There are a phenomenal assortment of magical romances featuring complex witch and warlock characters, but there also a lot of extraordinary romances with many other varieties of magic users and abusers. Magic takes many forms and I love the variety that so many authors offer. The first books I read featuring witches and spellcasting were actually cozy mysteries – the Bewitching series by Madelyn Alt and the Ophelia and Abby series by Shirley Damsgaard. These mysteries intrigued me because the female characters were realistic, everyday people with run-of-the-mill jobs like that of shopkeeper and librarian, but they experienced the thrills and chills that magic brings. Since I’m a romance fan, I naturally started looking for some of the same fun witchy stories but with a bit more romance in the mix. Linda Wisdom’s Hex series is just as entertaining and lighthearted as her colorful covers would suggest. In addition to the tightknit coven of witches, Wisdom throws in all kinds of were-creatures, vampires, and finally – the devilishly mischievous, but fiercely loyal, magical bunny…

Thank you for having me over at Fresh Fiction. I’m so pleased to be here. You do such a great job of getting the word out there on new authors, new releases, and great books! My latest release, IN HER DREAMS has a perfect release day – March 7th which is also my birthday! I couldn’t think of a better book to celebrate my special day. IN HER DREAMS was one of my favorite stories to write. The two main characters were good people, caught in a bad situation. Warren appeared in In His Dreams, as the young Vampire possessed by an ancient serial killer/psycho! Emerald was the witch that helped save him. Writing in the paranormal genre, and in a series, gives me a lot of opportunities to tie one story with the next. All of my books are stand alone stories, but I often let the tension, and characters, flow from one book to the next. Warren is tough, but troubled. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t do helpless victim well. Not that he was, but with a Vampire possessing and using your body to do murder and worse, it had to feel that way. In walks…

Thank you to Sara and the whole crew at Fresh Fiction for inviting me back again. I love visiting with all y’all and I’ve got a brand new book on the market, TALK COWBOY TO ME. My first cowboy books featured the Luckadeau cousins who originated down in the Louisiana area then migrated up to Texas. I remember well when the editor called me and told me that she not only wanted to buy my submission, LUCKY IN LOVE, but wanted to make it a series. I said, “But all of Beau’s brothers are married.” To which she replied, “He’s got lots of cousins, doesn’t he?” That started me on a cowboy journey that I’m still enjoying today. Beau, Griffin and Slade Luckadeau were indeed cousins. After the Lucky Series, I wrote the Honky Tonk Series and although those four books were set in an old Honky Tonk in Mingus, Texas, the heroes were still Texans. And then there was the Spikes & Spurs and the Burnt Boot series featuring the O’Donnells. So what could I say when Adele O’Donnell and Remington Luckadeau showed up on my porch with a story to tell. Oh my goodness! Getting to work with…

In every field, someone has to be the first. Often, we know their names. The first President of the United States, the first man on the moon, the first African-American to play major league baseball. But often, their names aren’t known – either because we don’t know who was the first to break a particular barrier, or because the story just hasn’t been told often enough. The first female detective in the United States was named Kate Warne, and I wrote GIRL IN DISGUISE to tell her story. When I first heard of Kate a few years ago, I was floored. This woman was such a pioneer. She was a female detective in the 1850s, when it was completely unheard-of, and she was so good at it that she was assigned by Allan Pinkerton to run her own division. She helped save Abraham Lincoln’s life as he made his way to his inauguration. She was an undercover spy for the Union during the Civil War. And yet, if you asked 10 people on the street who Kate Warne was, you’d be lucky to find one who knows. It’s true, there are some good reasons why her name isn’t known. The…