Everybody Loved Roger Harden

Everybody loved Roger Harden, or so they all thought until he winds up dead. In true Agathie Christie fashion, this mystery leaves ten strangers stranded on an island. One by one the bodies pile up and it's up to Julie West and the handsome Reverend James Burton to solve the mystery. The greatest mystery winds up being the type of man Roger Harden was. A great read.

www.heartsongmysteries.com

Another Interview

My second interview is posted at http://ribbit-ribbit.blogspot.com/ Stop by and check it out!

Recipe for Murder

Everyone always said Pricilla was a "killer" cook, but this is the first time that something she cooked actually seemed to kill someone. All Pricilla wanted to do was help her son feed his guests at his hunting lodge. Then one of the guests ends up dead. The only thing left to do is clear her salmon-filled tartlets of all blame. Pricilla finds herself smack in the middle of a murder investigation while trying to matchmake her son and the daughter of Pricilla's good friend, Max.

Recipe for Murder is a frolicking fun read with a quirky, loveable, sixty-something heroine. I can't wait for the next Pricilla Crumb mystery.

Fudge-Laced Felonies Cover

Ain't it beautiful? I'm so happy. The book goes to the printers on April 21.

Trouble Up Finny's Nose

Finny's Nose is a mountain overlooking the quaint town of Finny. Ruth Budge, resident bird lady and saver of all things fowl finds her world turned upside down when she finds a romance novel her late husband was writing. After heading to town to clear her mind, she discovers a body in the town fountain.

Trouble up Finny's Nose takes the reader into the world of art, sculpture, and secrets. Soon Ruth finds herself biting off more than her, or her bird friends, can chew. And if things in her life weren't topsy-turvy enough, she's beginning to experience feelings for Monk, the town caterer. And at her age!

Dana Mentink has crafted another fun read for Heartsong Presents/Mysteries. Join the club. http://www.heartsongmysteries.com/

Murder in the Milkcase

You'd think going to the grocery store would be a normal, mundane, everyday type of thing. But not to Trish Cunningham. Imagine her surprise when she reaches for the milk and discovers a dead body. And her husband wonders why her stomach is upset? Not only does Trish have a misbehaving teenage step-daughter, now she's a suspect for murder!

Her handsome husband, Max, begs her to leave things alone, then hires a snooty lawyer when Trish doesn't listen. She tries, but can't help herself from getting into trouble.

This is the first Heartsong Presents Mystery I've read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait to read the others. From page one, Candice Speare takes the reader on an enjoyable ride where the characters become your friends.

Come join the fun and enter this great bookclub!

http://www.heartsongmysteries.com/

First Online Interview

My first interview for Fudge-Laced Felonies is posted for the April issue of Stepping Stones for Writers.
Check it out! http://www.freewebs.com/steppingstonesforwriters/

Fudge-Laced Felonies

Got my galleys today. Very exciting. Now, I've got to read the book, again, to do a final check for errors. I can't wait to hold this baby in my hands.

Now, if I could only get people to visit my blog!

A Matter of Wife and Death

Pastors’ wives are real people. Real women dealing with temptation, self-esteem, child-rearing, child-bearing, and rocky marriages. Often these women feel alone, unworthy of the path God has called them to. In A Matter of Wife & Death, (Secrets from Lulu’s Café Series), Ginger Kolbaba & Christy Scannell craft a story of five such women, sisters in Christ and fellow pastors’ wives of Red River.

On a retreat for the wives, a bickering session rises up and one of the women end up dead, another accused, and the others left questioning their friendship and right and wrong. The reader is taken in small part on a mystery. On a larger scale, the reader is taken along as these women discover what is really important in their walk as the wives of pastors, and the mothers of preachers kids.

As we read of their struggles, we realize how normal these women are who are often placed on pedestals. We laugh with them, cry with them, and pray with them. We rejoice as they triumph.

I thought at first I’d have trouble keeping up with and associating with five main characters, but as I read, I had no trouble at all and joined in with the women’s friendship group. Good job.

Delia Latham's Goldeneyes Release

There's a lot of buzz about Delia Latham's new release Goldeneyes. Now available in stores.

Delia Latham is a former newspaper Staff Writer and a frequent contributor to her hometown’s regional publication, Bakersfield Magazine. She also writes greeting card verse, short stories, articles, and songs. Her editing and proofing skills have been utilized by numerous authors, including Dr. Chuck Wall, founder of the Random Acts of Kindness movement.
A debut novel, Almost Like a Song, was released in June 2006; Goldeneyes will be released in March 2008 by Vintage Romance Publishing. Delia’s work is included in an upcoming short story anthology, The Shortstack: 20 Stories to Fill You Up.
The author lives in Bakersfield, California with her husband, Johnny, a Pentecostal minister. Her four adult children and four “beautiful, absolutely perfect” grandchildren daily light up her life. She loves to hear from her readers. Contact her through her website (http://www.delialatham.com/) or her blog (http://themelodywithin.blogspot.com/.)

Q. Who is Delia Latham?
A: I’m a Christian wife, married to a Pentecostal minister. My husband is the assistant pastor at our church, and I’m involved in the music ministry. I play piano and sing. I have four grown children and four beautiful, absolutely perfect granchildren – no, really, they are! We all live in Bakersfield, California. I was born here and have resided in or around this desert town my entire life.

Q: What books are on your nightstand right now?
A: Too many. I write reviews, so there’s always plenty of reading material in my room. Right now, I’m looking at Rainbow’s End by Irene Hannon, Veil of Fire by Marlo Schalesky, Abandoned Identity by Tamara Tilley – that’s just a few of the unread books. I just finished Loving Liza Jane by Sharlene MacLaren and – a little detour from the usual – The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz.

Q: Your novel, Goldeneyes, is scheduled for release in March. What is it about?
A: It’s an historical romance about a depression-era man who does something horrible to satisy his alcohol addiction, and the ripple effect his action causes in the lives of two families over twenty years later.

Q: What inspired you to write Goldeneyes?
A: I grew up in Weedpatch, the little farming community where Part One of Goldeneyes is set. I’ve always wanted to write something using that location as a backdrop. This story has been brewing in my mind for several years, but it was hard for me to get past the reality of Weedpatch in my own life and get on with turning it into a fictional tale. I prayed a lot! Once God gave me the go-ahead, He also gave me the inspiration, and I’m very pleased with the completed product.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Ahhh … the question every writer gets asked most often - and for me, quite possibly the hardest, because I’m not always sure. Sometimes I get ideas from little snippets of history; a few of my stories are major exaggerations of tiny occurrences in my own life or the lives of people I know; and sometimes I sit down to write with absolutely no idea what I’m going to write about. Oddly enough, those are the times I usually wind up being happiest with the results, maybe because I’m most open for God to take my writing wherever He wants to.

Q: So you don’t always plot or outline your book before you write?
A: How’d you guess? No, I write like I do most other things in my life – totally off the cuff. I’m what the writing community refers to as a SOTP: Seat-of-the-pants writer.

Q: Which authors have most influenced your own writing?
A: Too many to possibly mention here! As a child, I devoured just about every book I could get my hands on: Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, the Bobbsey Twins – even the Hardy Boys; I wasn’t gender specific as to reading material. As I got older, I graduated to romance and found Grace Livingston Hill, Barbara Cartland, Emilie Loring, and oh, yes – I discovered Harlequin Romance (oh, my!). Now some of my favorite writers are Joy Fielding, Lori Wick, Lori Copeland … the list goes on for miles. My favorite book of all time is Swan Song, by Robert McCammon – rather surprising for an inspirational author, I know, but it’s a beautifully written epic account of good vs. evil. Unforgettable!

Q: What other projects are you currently working on?
A: My current work-in-progress is surprising me by actually creating a connection between my debut novel and Goldeneyes, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I’ve also just completed something completely new - at least for me. While it’s still Christian romance, it will fit more easily into the Chick Lit genre, bringing in a touch more humor and lightheartedness than is in my other works.

Delia Latham Blog Tour

Come back on March 20th and spend some time in author, Delia Latham's blog tour. Here are the next scheduled stops.

24. Mar. 19 – Bonnie Winters - http://360.yahoo.com/indianabon
25. Mar. 20 – Cynthia Hickey – http://www.cynthiahickey.blogspot.com
26. Mar. 24 – Pamela James - www.pammer.blogspot.com
27. Mar. 24 – 28 – Tracy Ruckman – www.pixnpens.blogspot.com
28. Mar. 25 – Christa Allen - http://cballan.wordpress.com/
29. Mar. 27 – Melissa Meeks - http://forstrose.blogspot.com/
30. Mar. 31 – Gina Conroy – http://portraitofawriter.ginaconroy.com
31. April 20 – Marian Merritt – http://www.marianmerritt.com
32. April 27 – Margaret Daley – www.margaretdaley.blogspot.com
33. Throughout February and March – David G. Boggs – http://www.freewebs.com/davidgboggs/delialathamsnewbook.htm
www.davidgboggs.blogspot.com

Murder, Mayhem & a fine man

Claudia Mair Burney has written the ultimate fun book! Lovers of any genre will laugh out loud during the antics of just turned forty, Bell and her blossoming romance with too handsome to walk the streets, Jazz Brown. The tension and interaction between the characters while working to solve the mystery of what appears to be a cult suicide will have the reader flipping the pages fast enough to cause heavy winds.

I had to force myself to slow down so I wouldn't miss anything. Murder, Mayhem and A Fine Man is a must read for readers of any genre. It contains it all: chick lit, suspense, and romance.

When I'm dead?

Spoke with a daughter I haven't spoken with in a long time, and told her about my two book contracts with Barbour's Heartsong Presents/Mysteries. Her response: "Wow, that's great. You'll be one of those people that when you die, they make a movie about your book."

Isn't that hilarious? Why do I have to wait until I die? Summer Meadows would make a great TV series main character. Anyone listening? I want Mandy Moore to play her.

Leaving November by Deborah Raney

Moving back home is never as easy as it seems. Vienne Kenney thought she had her life planned out. Leave her po-dunk small town life behind her, pass her bar exam, and give everyone back home something to talk about.

She gives them something to talk about, all right. A failed bar exam, and turning her mother’s café into a high faluting coffee shop. One where the overall wearing, manure boot wearing townies are not welcome. And there’s Jackson. The man she had a crush on in high school. But Jackson, too, isn’t what she had planned for her life.

In Leaving November, Deborah Raney shows the reader how what we have planned for our life, may not be God’s plan, and how His plan is the best in the end. Come along for a fun, sweet, thought provoking ride.

Tag, You're It!

Margo Carmichael tagged me. I have to turn to the nearest book at hand, turn to page 123, go to the fifth sentence, and post the next three. Then tag five more people. I'm tagging the Crit-Kritters!

Here's my selection!

An irresistible impulse can be carried out directly or indirectly. Murder while under duress: occurs when someone feels that legitimate threats of death or physical harm have been made against himself or members of his famil, such as the case in which a child has been abducted and the kidnappers tell the father he must kill someone in exchange for the release of the child. This type of murder can be direct or indirect.

Come on, guys, I write mysteries. This is from a police procedural book.

Candy-Coated Secrets

Got my contract today for book two! Yahoo!!

Candy-Coated Secrets

Yippee! I got the contract for book two in the Summer Meadows Series, Candy-Coated Secrets. Thinks are moving along very quickly. I'm still excitedly awaiting cover art for Fudge-Laced Felonies. Once I do, I'll post it here.

The new series I'm working on is moving along at a nice pace. I'm enjoying the personalities of the characters and finding new, interesting, ways to "kill" people.

Happy Writing and God Bless!

Coming Up Empty

What to write, what to write?

Life has a way of keeping a person too busy to do much else but survive. Our teenage son seems to take up most of the time we have, with one escapade or another. Hopefully, he'll grow up soon and turn into the Godly man we hope and pray he does.

I've been reading quite a few good books lately. Found a new favorite suspense author. Allison Brennan. Scarey! A bit graphic, so if you're squeamish...

Still eagerly awaiting my first look at the cover of Fudge-Laced Felonies. Y'all will be the second to get a glimpse, after my husband of course.

I'm working on a new series, Tales from Timbuktu. Takes place in a fictional town in Arkansas. Working title is Hiding Behind Forgetfulness. I'm also working on Deceitful Promise which is a Romantic suspense. Busy! Busy!

Reluctant Smuggler

The Reluctant Smuggler, the third installment in Jill Elizabeth Nelson’s To Catch A Thief series, takes the reader from the snow covered landscape of Boston to the tropical jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, to archaeological digs.

While trying to find flaws in the Mexican museum’s security system, Desiree Jacobs finds herself chased and the false artifact she carries stolen. Back in Boston, her fiancée, FBI agent Tony Lucano is almost killed during a raid and lies in a coma. Page turning thrills and suspense tie these two incidents together and threaten to jeopardize Desi’s and Tony’s upcoming wedding.
In The Reluctant Smuggler, Jill Elizabeth Nelson digs deeper in Desi’s and Tony’s love for each other, the dangers of crime-solving and protecting precious antiquities, and shows us the strength of true-love. The Reluctant Smuggler was my favorite of the three books in the To Catch a Thief Series. Full of romance, danger, suspense and God’s sovereignty. I’m looking forward to more adventures written by Jill Elizabeth Nelson.

Favorite

A critique partner asked me which of the three Summer Meadows books was my favorite. Here's my response:

Wow! I guess I'd have to say my favorite was the second one, Candy-Coated Secrets. It takes place at a county fair and Summer ends up being befriended by a nasty-tempered elephant named Ginger. It's silly, twisted, and fun. Of course, the first one, Fudge-Laced Felonies will always hold a special place in my heart because it's the one that got me the contract.