A few words on Food and Mystery from Laura Childs, author of GOSSAMER GHOST, a Scrapbooking Mystery set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Have you ever visited New Orleans? I sure hope you have, because the entire Big Easy is a food lover’s paradise. You’ve got your jambalaya and gumbo, in varieties that include andouille sausage, crayfish, chicken, turtle, and, well . . . you name it, you’re sure to find it in New Orleans. Enjoy mud bugs? That’s crawfish, of course, so delightful and juicy. And there are oyster bars galore where you can grab a bottle of hot sauce (Liquid Storm or Saucy Wench, anyone?) and slurp tasty, sweet mollusks to your heart’s content. For upscale dining Galatoire’s in the French Quarter is a must. If you have your own waiter (the regulars do) you’ll doubly enjoy your crabmeat maison, poisson meuniere amandine, and filet béarnaise. Or head over to Brennan’s for flaming bananas foster, the Café du Monde for sinful beignets, Antoine’s for sizzling hot oysters Rockefeller, or Emeril’s or Commander’s Palace for anything. (Yes, it’s all quite fantastic.) Pop in to any number of music or jazz festivals and enjoy the street food –…

I began at my local military recruiting center when researching Navy SEALs for my novel BRIDGING TWO HEARTS. I picked up a red phone at the locked door and announced my name and reason for visiting (I obviously was not an enlistment candidate). A camera swiveled in my direction and the door buzzed to let me in. Once inside I explained to a female Navy chief that as a “retired” Navy wife, I had spent twenty years without a need to know things I didn’t need to know, therefore, I didn’t have a problem with not needing to know important details about SEAL operations. She smiled. As did every military person I explained this to over the next months. Unfortunately, she could not give me any SEAL details. Instead, she picked up a hot pink post-it note and wrote a name and a phone number. I should call “Steve” for information. When “Steve” answered the phone, I heard the click of pool balls in the background along with what sounded like a sip from a glass. I explained who I was–that I was writing a story about Navy SEALs and I just needed background information about the domestic side of SEAL life. I’ve read enough…

In the book JEAN SASSON: A NEW ORIENTALIST, Indian academic Vijay Mehta refers to you as the “voice of the Middle East women”. What does it mean to you to be recognized as an advocate for our sisters in the Middle East? JEAN:  I am proud to be acknowledged as a voice of the Middle East women.  I feel it is one of the two greatest achievements of my life; the other being responsible for the freedom of the many confined and mistreated animals I have rescued. I have been emotionally, and even physically, involved in assisting girls and women in need for more than 30 years.  For me, one of the most depressing aspects of this entire journey has been to meet girls and women who had nowhere to turn, and to see the utter misery reflected in their sad eyes.  So many told me that they felt helpless and hopeless that anyone would, or could, help them.  There is no more unbearable feeling than to know a vulnerable human being is being beaten, or raped, and to struggle unsuccessfully against the culture that is keeping females in all ages in such tragic situations. So, the fact that the…

SOUL PAINTER began with a single vision: a woman, alone in the mist. The color grey filled my senses, and I put pen to paper to write that first scene. I had no idea where she lived, what she was like, or what the main conflict in the novel would be. What I did know was that there was a woman in the foggy recesses of my imagination, and she wanted out. The first few pages rested for a couple of months while the rest of the story took shape in my mind. I felt I needed to plan, so I feasted on a constant diet of “what-if.” Eventually, the thinking time paid off. The other characters took shape: a dedicated priest who was still a man, women trapped by life’s unexpected turns, and the embodiment of evil. But the woman in the fog remained a mystery. My main character was just beyond my grasp. Until I picked up the pen again. That’s when I realized Miriam was not who she seemed. I knew she was a woman hiding. I knew she was alone. I knew she was brave in the face of extreme danger but trembled when strangers stood…

Rhonda Helms and I have challenged each other to a swoon off, pitting the heroes of our September release New Adult books against each other. There will be three events (Who is sexier?, Who has the best pick up/first conversation with the heroine?, and Who does the best grovel?). We will write about our heroes and post snippets from our books. Then there will be voting! Stop by the three blogs to vote and post a comment to participate in our giveaway. Who has the best pickup line/ first conversation? PHIN (From HER BEST SHOT) When Layla, my heroine, first meets Phin, it’s in a bar while he is playing pool. She watched him play a few games and take money from his opponents. She’s intrigued by him, and yes, attracted to him, but she’s caught a little off guard when he approaches her because she thought no one noticed her come into the bar. He pointed his pool cue at her. “Are you going to sit there staring all night, or are you going to play?” “Me? I’m not stupid enough to play pool with a hustler. My day’s been crappy enough. I don’t need to lose anything else.”…

I often get asked where my ideas come from. A lot of the time I actually don’t know as I can’t pinpoint what exactly triggered it, or what made me chose that direction. Loosely, a conversation with my kids about what mazes could be made out of triggered the Court of Annwyn series. Yeah…not exactly an obvious connection to an entire alternate world ruled by fairies. But I already had in my mind the character of Caspian (THE OUTCAST PRINCE), who was psychometric. Taryn (LORD OF THE HUNT) who needed something from the fairy Court came as I went through the maze. So an idea for a story usually starts with a character. They wander in to my mind and away I go. Sometimes that character is inspired by a picture, other times a news article, most often I have no idea…I think I have a green room in my mind where characters sit around and chat just waiting for the right moment to make their entrance. For the Annwyn series it was the maze that opened the door. Once I have one character I have to go looking for the other (in takes two to make a romance). I…

Peanut butter cups usually come in pairs. Why? Who knows but when you open that package, you can’t eat just one. You have to finish both. At least I do. That other one would be left lonely, after all. Does this have anything at all to do with writing the Indecent serials? Maybe not. But let’s think about it for a minute. In AN INDECENT PROPOSITION, Jules is offered half a million dollars to spend the night with a man she’s never met. Only, that one man becomes two when she realizes there’s someone watching from the shadows. He’s scarred and bitter and completely infatuated with her, though he doesn’t believe she could ever want him because of his appearance. His best friend will do anything to bring him out of seclusion and when they both fall for this one girl, well, she’s one very lucky lady. In AN INDECENT AFFAIR, Kat was an awkward teen with emotional issues who’s grown into a beautiful woman who doesn’t quite know what to do with her life. Then best friends Tristan and Adam enter her life at a party and sweep her away from the man her mother wants her to marry….

After 40 + books as a published author I can tell you that I have researched a many and varied range of topics. Most of them interesting, gritty, hard hitting things. Just off the top of my head I can list a bunch of them – how to separate conjoined twins joined at the head, heritage listings, shipwrecks, horrifying disfiguring diseases, autopsy procedures, prosthetics, football stuff (shudder), box jellyfish stings, earthquakes, eye conditions, the sex life of goldfish, loft conversions and canal boats. And that’s without me even going through my back list and checking. I tell you, if my computer ever gets confiscated and they look at my Google history…. They’re going to take me away and medicate me. And whilst the research I do is often very fascinating, I still consider it a necessary evil. I’m not in love with it like a lot of other authors are. And then along came NO MORE MR. NICE GUY and lo and behold, with Josie putting a page from the Kama Sutra down as #1 on her drunken sex list, I found myself having to research illustrated sex guides. No, it’s okay, don’t feel bad for me. I put on my…

How lucky the parents of the Regency period were! Weddings back then were not the productions they are today, and as a parent who has gone through three weddings for her three children, I’m jealous. Now that my Brides of Wishmore series—THE BRIDE SAYS NO, THE BRIDE SAYS MAYBE, and the just released THE GROOM SAYS YES—are on the shelves, I confess I didn’t even focus on fancy marriage ceremonies because the Regency wedding was so low key. Since in so many other respects the Regency was a brilliant, over the top age, this seems a bit odd to me. The wedding ceremony was strictly for family members. Or even just the couple and witnesses. Brides would wear their best but the wedding dress, as we know it, is a Victorian creation. Sometimes, the bride and groom would walk right out the door and take up the reins of their life with little fanfare. What is the same? A ring to seal one’s vows has been around since ancient times although usually it was a gift from the groom to his bride. The vows themselves, taken from the Book of Common Prayer, are almost identical to the formal vows couples…

Once in a while in my career of forty books, there comes a story I know I have to write. It waits like an impatient child in the back of my mind for its time to shine. A PLACE CALLED HARMONY was one of those stories. As I moved through the Harmony series, getting to know the people of Harmony, Texas, better with each book I knew that someday I’d tell the beginning of their town. From the day I started writing, the characters came through clear. I had to find men strong enough to influence the generations of Mathesons, Trumans and McAllens. Many times during the writing of this story I felt all three men standing behind me telling me their lives. All three men were prepared for the challenge of building a town but unprepared for the depth of love they found as they build their families. I loved writing these men and I hope the readers will follow me into this historical romance. I felt close to all of them, because my great-grandparents settled this same country over a hundred years ago. My grandmother was even born in a covered wagon. Patrick McAllen, young and full of…