For most readers, the term “cozy mystery”—the light-hearted side of the genre—evokes a rural image. That’s certainly true of my Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in Jewel Bay, Montana—a lakeside resort community on the road to Glacier National Park that calls itself “the food lovers’ village.” Fictional, like many cozy towns, but pieced together from towns and villages across the continent. In my new Spice Shop Mysteries, debuting this week with ASSAULT AND PEPPER, I decided to explore the urban cozy. To me, the core of a cozy mystery is the community. Murder disrupts the social order of the community. The amateur sleuth investigates because she has a personal stake in the crime and in making sure the right people are brought to justice. She may think law enforcement officers are on the wrong track, or her role in village life may give her insight and information they lack. The professionals’ job is to restore the external order by making an arrest and prosecuting. Hers is to restore internal order within the community. The sleuth often runs a key local business—she may be the librarian or bookseller, the baker or café owner. She may be a native or a newcomer….

Isabella St. Vincent and Lord Randall are the warring heroine and hero of WICKED, MY LOVE. Their story chronicles a wild road trip as the two try to catch an errant bank partner who has sold them false stock. Years ago, the essence of Isabella and Randall characters existed in a very different story that never got off the ground. Isabella was still an orphaned, rather awkward, young woman with a strong mind. Randall was a society golden boy and political orator. Their chemistry lit up the page. Unfortunately the plot of the original story was as tangled and dense as kudzu. So after months of consideration, I decided to drop the story. For the next few years, the characters existed in my mind, story-less and yearning for their happy ending. I felt that as their creator, I had let them down. So when I had a chance to pitch some stories ideas to my editor, I wrote a quick blurb about a smart, but socially awkward female banker and an emotionally adept and handsome political orator. Then I made them both shareholders in the bank. Instead of having the two bump heads over their differences, as I had in…

There are unique challenges faced by our Armed Forces that I have done my best as a civilian to understand. And the results of years of research were not what I would expect. For whatever reason an individual joins the military—and the reasons are as manifold as the number of individuals who serve—those who make it a career begin to form a commonality of why they continue. From the outside I had thought that the bravery to enter battle must be among the most difficult of steps. But it was not. Nor was that bravery subsumed by “It’s an order, so the choice is out of our hands.” The constant theme I’ve heard as I’ve talked to soldiers or read their memoirs is that the task itself is outside of “them.” The task comes from the command structure and, after a sort of pro forma-required grumbling, is accepted as what must come next. What sends the soldier, especially the career soldier, ahead into danger time and time again is that is what the team is doing. “Mark, Connie, and Tim are going. Why would I think of staying behind?” The military team supersedes “family.” It becomes far closer than family….

TAKING FIRE and ON FIRE feature a story of US Navy SEAL, Mike Tarik, who is an American citizen, but 1/2 Saudi and 1/2 American, through his mother. His father is a world renown cardiac surgeon. Dr. Bedir Tarik met his wife, Annie, over in Saudi Arabia where she was an American school teacher. Bedir, who is Sufi, believes firmly that love is the only way to peace and harmony in the world. He falls in love with Annie, and they marry in Riyadh. Later, she gets pregnant with Mike and he is born in San Diego, California. Bedir takes his young son over to Saudi Arabia for three weeks every year. He has a charity in Riyadh, and he and Mike take a pickup and distribute clothes, food and money to the poor at the fringes of that city, as well as to many others. He teaches his son generosity, giving back and being grateful for what he has. Mike grows up wanting to become a Navy SEAL. Bedir has already shown him his family’s lineage and tells his warrior son that he has the genes of his warrior great-grandfather. Mike’s view on it is that he wants to…

This is a story of US Navy SEAL, Mike Tarik, who is an American citizen, but 1/2 Saudi and 1/2 American, through his mother.  His father is a world renown cardiac surgeon.  Dr. Bedir Tarik met his wife, Annie, over in Saudi Arabia where she was an American school teacher.  Bedir, who is Sufi, believes firmly that love is the only way to peace and harmony in the world.  He falls in love with Annie, and they marry in Riyadh.  Later, she gets pregnant with Mike and he is born in San Diego, California. Bedir takes his young son over to Saudi Arabia for three weeks every year.  He has a charity in Riyadh, and he and Mike take a pickup and distribute clothes, food and money to the poor at the fringes of that city, as well as to  many others.  He teaches his son generosity, giving back and being grateful for what he has. Mike grows up wanting to become a Navy SEAL.  Bedir has already shown him his family’s lineage and tells his warrior son that he has the genes of his warrior great-grandfather.  Mike’s view on it is that he wants to help the poor and…

As a lover of time travel romance, it’s only natural I think for an author to be interested in history. If I had my time again with my schooling, I would’ve become an archaeologist and spent the rest of my life quite happily digging up the past. History has always fascinated me, what they wore, what they ate, their customs and lifestyle is something you can get caught up in quite easily while doing research for books. To image going back in time, even for a day, and seeing how others lived would be an awesome dream come true. Unless you landed in the middle of Waterloo or the battle of Hastings, then that would be bad. And if you’ve read my latest release, A STOLEN SEASON you’ll see that my heroine Sarah is in fact, a time travelling archaeologist. Pretty cool in my book. No pun intended. In my life I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world a couple of times, visiting cities that are older than my own land, Australia. Walking through the streets of Rome, seeing the Colosseum and imagining well built, musclier sweaty gladiators, made for quite a fun day, not that my husband…

Full disclosure: I actually like winter. But I live in West Virginia, so my definition of “winter” may be slightly skewed. I haven’t had the chance to burn any hot chocolate calories by shoveling snow, at least not yet. (I may have just jinxed myself – April snowstorm, here we come!) It’s not that I’ve never lived through a *real* winter. I grew up in the Northeast, and I went to grad school in the Midwest – trust me, I’ve had winter. But I’m not going to lie, having some geographical distance from the real white stuff is affecting my memory. Falling snow is so romantic if you know you don’t have to get up early to shovel out your car. Admit it, there are nice parts to a blizzard. Hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. Curling up in front of a roaring fire. Snuggling under a pile of blankets with a handsome guy… Sorry, where was I? Right. Blizzards. The best remedy for the Blizzard Blues is something hot and sweet, like Gavin Fraser, the hero of my novella, SNOWED IN. When he meets Maureen O’Connell, she’s kind of a mess. But he’s a gentleman, and when they’re stranded…

THE IMMORTAL WHO LOVED ME (Argeneau Vampire book #21) brings new life to the series with its heroine’s unique job: she owns a kitchen goods store. This was largely inspired by Lynsay’s own kitchen renovation, which was underway while she wrote. In celebration of the book’s recent release–and the completion of her new kitchen, as you can see in the photographs–Lynsay has shared some of her favorite recipes for you to prepare in your own kitchen. And one more delicious detail from the Argeneau Vampire series: one of the main side-effects of being a vampire who’s just found his or her lifemate is a sudden craving for good food (not blood!). And lots of it. So whether you are cooking for yourself or a lovestruck vampire, these recipes should keep you satisfied. Ants Climbing A Tree -6 dried shiitake mushrooms -250g pkt bean thread vermicelli noodles -2 tablespoons peanut oil -2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger -2 garlic cloves, crushed -2 small fresh red chillies, thinly sliced -5 green onion, ends trimmed, thinly sliced -400g pork mince -2 tablespoons soy sauce -2 tablespoons hoisin sauce -1 tablespoon water -2 teaspoons cornflour -150g firm tofu, cut into 2cm pieces 1. Step…

My name is Danielle. I write both Young Adult and New Adult fiction for Entangled Publishing and HarperCollins as D.R. Graham. People ask me all the time where I get my ideas for the novels I write. Those who know me assume because I am a child and family therapist that I must draw all my ideas from counseling sessions. I guess that’s partially true when it comes to character traits, but my stories don’t actually come to me as ideas based on other people’s lives. They start as intense feelings or random images that I find fascinating. ONE PERCENTER, which is the first book in the Noir et Bleu Motorcycle Club series, was inspired by a funeral of a high ranking member of an outlaw motorcycle club. I watched as the crowd exited the church into a parking lot full of police officers, and I was struck by the image of the little kids holding hands with their rough looking biker dads. It moved me to tell the story of what it is like to grow up loving people the rest of the world is terrified of. The first book I ever published, titled HIT THAT AND YOU’RE DEAD,…

I am so excited to introduce readers to my new series – The Montana Men. When I think of the rough, rugged land in Montana, I think of the even tougher guys who live and work there. After all, there’s something about a cowboy. Their strength of character. That rock solid guy who knows who he is and what he wants. Under all that grit lies a man who’s got down-home charm and manners any mama would approve of. Their loyalty runs bone-deep, as deep as their love for home and family. Cowboys are wild at heart. They work hard and play harder, that wild streak taking them from the ranch to the rodeo circuit where there’s no fear or hesitation to get on a giant bull or ride a bucking bronco around an arena, chasing the thrill of the ride. Let’s not forget how damn good they look in those tight jeans. Or even better, sitting atop a horse. All it takes is one cocky half grin and a sexy as hell narrowed gaze from under their cowboy hat and any woman would melt in their strong arms. Oh yeah! With such an iconic image and the beautiful Montana…