H is for Happy Holidays!A is for Aloha Lagoon, the resort setting.W is for wedding – Kiki and Dex are tying the knot.A is for Akamai – everyone’s favorite auntie!I is for the island of Kauai, where our story takes place.I is for icky behavior by the uninvited guests.A is for Amazon gray parrot, Paulie, who is always making quips.N is for Nelly, our heroine and sleuth. H is for Hawaiian Islands.O is for the octopuses that the girls show Kiki’s mother.L is for the leis Auntie Akamai is making for the wedding.I is for I doD is for Dex, Kiki’s fiancé.A is for illegal activities of the Stronzos, friends of Kiki’s parents.Y is for yellow rubber duckies, a surprising defense. H is for homicide, of course.O is for Order Sepiida, otherwise known as cuttlefish, Nelly’s favorite sea creatures. Their names are Donatello, Jaques, Ophelia, and Hecate.M is for Calypso, the mimic octopus.I is for Jack, Nelly’s golf pro love interest.C is for golf club, the murder weapon.I is for instructor. Professor “Goldie” Goldman is Nelly’s PhD coordinator and instructor.D is for Doyle, the hero cat.E is for Enteroctopus dofleini, the Great Pacific octopus named Octavia. HAWAIIAN HOLIDAY HOMICIDE by Rosalie Spielman…

What is the title of your latest release?SECRET NIGHTS AND NORTHERN LIGHTS What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A travel writer finally gets her shot to cover an international assignment in Iceland, only to find out the freelance photographer accompanying her is the guy who broke her heart in high school. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I was lucky enough to travel to Iceland and take the exact road trip that the characters take in the book. I instantly fell in love with the country and knew it was the perfect place for an angsty second-chance romance. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?I’m very similar to my protagonist in a lot of ways so I would hope so, although we both have a lot of anxiety and overthink everything so perhaps we would stress each other out more. What are three words that describe your protagonist?People-pleaser, anxious, well-intentioned. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I did so much research about Iceland both before and after my trip that I feel like I could be a travel agent and plan itineraries for others now. Do you edit as you…

It’s Halloween week! Bring on the thrills, the chills…and all that delicious Halloween candy. I love the days leading up to Halloween. There seems to be magic that hangs in the air.  I catch myself looking over my shoulder. Checking the dark shadows extra hard. Because, you know, anything can happen at Halloween… Last month, I chatted here about spooky reads.  I mentioned fabulous books filled with shifters and vamps…and all those things that go bump in the night. Well, it’s not just the paranormal creatures that can be scary. For this post, I thought I’d talk about a different kind of monster. The human variety.  You know…the kind you find in romantic suspenses—the twisted villains. The bad guys who send our main characters on dangerous hunts. The evil ones who make our hearts race. Toni Anderson is great at crafting killers.  Her romantic suspense, A COLD DARK PLACE, takes readers straight into the path of a serial killer.  Danger from the past just won’t stay buried, and the tough female FBI heroine in A COLD DARK PLACE has to put her life on the line as she fights for justice. New York Times best-selling author Karen Rose always delivers…

If you like your crime fiction hard-boiled and Texas tough, pick up one of my gritty and relentless Ed Earl Burch thrillers. They’re classic stories of revenge and redemption, featuring a battered but dogged Dallas PI who is nobody’s hero, but nobody’s fool. I’ve always thought of hard-boiled detective fiction as an American art form. At their finest, these crime stories are far more than a lone figure trying to crack a case – they’re commentaries on politics, culture, music, the uneasy relationship between men and women and the bottomless depravity and cruelty of human nature. They also create a sense of time and place so keen it becomes a character unto itself, one that adds depth and complexity to the story and the people living therein. Think Philip Marlowe prowling the streets of Los Angeles and how much the city defines him. Now try to picture Marlowe any place other than L.A. Too many authors fail to provide this essential, opting for a one-dimensional backdrop as lifeless as a canvas flat in an off-Broadway play, missing an opportunity to show who their characters are as they master or struggle against that place. Another vital element of the hard-boiled school:…

What is the title of your latest release?MADE YOU LOOK What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?MADE YOU LOOK is a thriller about a Catskills retreat that turns deadly for a group of influencers when a snowstorm cuts them off from their greatest resource—their followers—just as a killer strikes. It’s a fun, twisty read filled with secrets, scandals, and morally gray characters. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?In a very full-circle moment, my fictional retreat was inspired by a real-life location that I discovered in an influencer’s sponsored post! The location has gorgeous cabins with huge windows, but while anyone can see in, at night, you can’t see out. That experience of being viewed by an unknown audience reminded me a lot of how social media works, and I knew I wanted to include the cabins in this story. The fictional retreat is also very isolated, which is great for relaxation, but not so great when something goes wrong and there’s no one around to help. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?My characters are much too cool for me, and I’m also out of their age bracket, so hanging…

What is the title of your latest release?THE BOTANIST’S ASSISTANT What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A murder in the science lab shatters a woman’s quiet and ordered life, forcing the socially awkward but tenacious research assistant to find the killer herself. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I love the Central California coast with its grasslands, oak woodlands and rocky shores so, like a good packrat, I stole bits and pieces to create my imaginary landscape. My protagonist, Margaret Finch’s, hillside cottage came right out of a hike where I discovered the ruins of an old homesteader’s cabin in the woods. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?Margaret has studied plants for so long that she sees them as friends, so I guess I would have to get in line behind the roses and lavender to hang out with her, but I would. I just love scientists. What are three words that describe your protagonist?Tenacious, honest and loyal. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned that plants have developed amazing defense systems in order to survive. For instance, a certain tomato plant, when attacked by chomping caterpillars, will…

If you’re a TV cozy mystery binger like me, you’ve probably watched a series based on a book series, and thought, I wonder if the book is better? Should I have read it first? In this case, it’s the other way around. Death In Paradise is one of my favorite cozy British mystery series. I’ve been watching it since it first came out, in 2011. It’s a lot of fun to see the fish-out-of-water English detective trying to navigate the sunny island of Saint Marie. And there are books featuring the first season’s detective, Richard Poole. But…instead of the show being based on the books, it’s the other way around. In 2022, Robert Thorogood, the showrunner for the series, wrote a book based on the TV series, and it’s very good! There are four books in the series, and I hope he’ll write more. If you’re a fan of Death in Paradise, you’ll love these! DI Richard Poole has been seconded from London to the beautiful Caribbean Island of Saint Marie. More comfortable in woolen suits than short-sleeved shirts, he’s struggling to adapt to his new home. But this paradise is about to get deadly. When self-appointed guru Aslan Kennedy…

With equal parts humor, heart, and Southern sass, Grace Helena Walz’s GOOD HAIR DAYS is a love letter to sisterhood, resilience, and the power of community. Set in the small town of Whitetail, this charming novel invites readers inside June’s Beauty Shop, where laughter, tears, and gossip flow as freely as the sweet tea. In this week’s Jen’s Jewels, Grace shares the inspiration behind her unforgettable characters, the magic of small-town life, and how she strikes the perfect balance between heartache and hope. Jen: GOOD HAIR DAYS captures the humor, heart, and chaos of Southern family life so beautifully. What first inspired you to write this story, and did the idea of the family salon come first, or the women who run it?Grace: The idea of the family salon actually came first. I was sitting in the hair chair at a place run by two friends, and they spoke so much like sisters that I got to thinking how fun it would be to write about two sisters and a family run beauty shop. I knew fairly quickly that I wanted Georgia to embody many of the typical older sister traits. She’s responsible and serves the role of “fixer” in…

Disclaimer: Since I was the one who organized this series, I picked the primary trope of each book. So if it sounds like I picked a lot of my favorites, that’s why. TROPE: Grumpy sunshineI particularly love the grumpy sunshine trope because I love two moments in particular: the moment she makes him smile, and the moment she gets him to crack. That austere shell needs to be poked and prodded, needled with a smile, until finally he snaps. And grabs her. And takes her. And…well, you’ll need to read the book for all that.Curves for the Grumpy Duke by Eliana Piers TROPE: Reformed RakeThere’s something about that man who can charm all the women but then falls for one. The one.What’s different about her? Why does he fall so hard? I mean, he’s been with a LOT of women, and no one thinks he’s slowing down. Least of all, himself. I have written a TON of reformed rakes. To name a few:● The Rake and the Writer● The One With the Redeemed Duke● The Duke’s Goddess Honestly, if brother’s best friend or friends to lovers weren’t my go-to tropes, reformed rakes probably would be. Sometimes the rake can pinpoint…

What is the title of your latest release?THE SECOND STORY BOOKSHOP What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A woman inherits her grandma’s charming small-town bookshop. But the gift comes with some unexpected problems—including the man who broke her heart years ago. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I wanted to set the story in a quaint southern lake town. While researching, I discovered the town of Davidson, North Carolina on Lake Norman. When my husband and I visited, we fell in love with the touristy little town—and with Main Street Books, the friendly neighborhood bookstore. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely! We’d chat books and family over coffee and croissants at my local bakery, and I’d definitely tell her Gray Briggs deserves a second chance. What are three words that describe your hero?Steadfast, stoic, swoonworthy What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned a lot about the ins and outs of running a bookstore. The manager of Main Street Books was kind enough to sit down with me and answer all my burning questions. I couldn’t have written The Second Story Bookshop without her help! Do you edit as…