Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Catherine Bruns | A Meal Fit for a Cozy Mystery Fan
Author Guest / July 29, 2019

Tessa Esposito, the protagonist featured in Penne Dreadful (on sale July 30th), lives in the charming town of Harvest Park, located in Upstate New York. A talented chef, Tessa would feed the entire world if possible. As with most cozy mysteries, Harvest Park has a gossip grapevine the size of Italy and she soon finds herself in the center of it. Cooking helps Tessa to deal with the stress in her life, which is currently at an all-time high. Fortunately, her close-knit Italian family is supportive and always there to lend a hand. They are passionate about most things in life, with food at the top of the list. The beginning of the story finds Tessa dealing with a personal tragedy—specifically, her husband Dylan’s recent death. Her grief quickly turns to anger when she discovers it was no accident—finding he was murdered instead. Who would do such a thing? Was Dylan in some type of trouble? And why didn’t he tell Tessa about it? The questions pile up as she struggles to understand. Tessa uses the other love of her life—cooking—to uncover Dylan’s killer. Her quest leads her to accept a job working “undercover” at a local pizza parlor called…

Summer Devon | Give Me the Dessert Tray…
Uncategorized / January 9, 2009

I love anthologies. They’re like getting small portions of several desserts. You don’t have to choose between the mousse, the chocolate dipped strawberry or the truffle cake—you can have them all. Plus you get a real taste of what you’re reading. Novellas are actual portions–not the single bite of a short story. I love writing novellas, too, and that shows up in the number of anthologies that contain Summer Devon stories. The first collection is Taming Him (Ellora’s Cave/Simon and Schuster) Other authors: Michelle Pillow, Kimberly Dean. Summer’s story is “Perfection”: A laboratory experiment gone awry cranks Bryan’s pheromones into overdrive and he’s irresistible to women. Escaping droves of desperate women is only one of his worries. Thugs from the lab are after him, eager to recapture the million-dollar essence he exudes. His only hope is to find the “perfect” woman. Sleeping with her will turn off his pheromone factory. Finding her is another matter. Most of the anthologies I’m in have themes, such as dragons. I Dream of Dragons, Volume 1(Samhain Publishing) Other authors: Marie Harte, Bianca D’Arc. The Summer Devon story is “Knight’s Challenge”: Sarkany has collected a fine hoard, including much of a small New England city….