A VISIT TO PINEY BLUFFS, TN WITH TRIXIE STILLETTO'S P.I. ALLY CALHOUN

A southern girl, Trixie Stilletto traveled north when she found the love of her life, and they enjoyed more than 20 years together working as journalists. Now she's back home in Tennessee writing stories that range from short, hot romances with a kiss of humor to southern-flavored mysteries. Today Trixie lives seven miles from the neighborhood where she grew up with three adored pets and a host of characters waiting for her to tell their stories. Learn more about Trixie and her books at her website. 

An Interview with Ally Calhoun from Trixie Stilletto’s Tempest

When I first got the idea for Ally and Tempest. I did a short interview with her to learn what motivated her to pack up and leave her Boston home for a place in Tennessee she’d never seen or visited. This is the result.

You left a thriving business and life in Boston to come to Piney Bluffs, Tenn. Why?

“Weather is a big draw. Can anyone say nor’easters? My husband always talked about his childhood here, and he said he wanted to have a place in the mountains. After he passed, I found he still owned the family land and property. It seemed only fitting when I needed a change after his death, to come and take a look. I’d never been here – we were so busy getting and keeping the Agency going ….”

Sorry for your loss. He was very young …

“Yes. It wasn’t a good thing. I wish we’d never taken on that job, but there are no do-overs.”

That last job. Can you talk about it?

“I don’t want to. That wasn’t what I agreed to when you said we have to do this.”

But you uprooted your life, sold the PI business you loved and created with him. All to move down to Tennessee, a place you’d never visited, never wanted to, because of how that last job ended. Don’t you think you need to talk about it?

“Now isn’t a good time.”

Ok. I’ll let it go. But you know you’re going to have to address it at some point. What are you going to do now that you’re here? This place is a mess.

 “Only one thing came to my mind the day I first saw it. Wow. Not in a good way. I honestly didn’t know how I was going to be able to stay here.”

I can imagine. This property has belonged to the Calhoun family for two hundred years. The first settlers to come across the mountain settled here.

“Yes. I discovered that. Along with several unopened letters from the Tennessee historical society requesting that Mike either restore it or sign it over to them.”

Is that your current plan? To restore it and open it as an historical site?

“Uh, no. I just want to make it safe enough I don’t think the fire department and building inspector are going to come in and make me move.”

Who’s doing the work?

“Right now, me. I spend a lot of time Googling things. I’m a pretty quick study. That’s a good thing.”

That’s a surprise. I figured someone with your background, would hire everything done.  Contractors, subs and designers. Have you done renovations before? I believe you had a maintenance-free condo in Boston.

“Never. Being a private investigator is mostly about research. I also think it will be helpful in my new career.”

That’s right.  Your plan is to be a writer. What are you writing? Is anything published?

“Nothing published. Just polishing my first story. It’s a thriller. I’ve always been good with my hands, too. Lots of time when I was deployed, things would break or just not work like they were supposed to. I learned to adapt and overcome.”

Isn’t it one thing to jury-rig a piece of equipment for a relatively short op in the desert where you have a team to help you vs. trying to rehab a house that’s falling down around your ears?

“Maybe. But it doesn’t feel right hiring out this stuff. Mike would have fixed it himself.”

You’re not Mike. Besides, isn’t this more a money thing?

“Have you been talking to my accountant?”

More he’s been talking to me. How can you be broke? I thought your PI business was doing well?

“I did, too. Mike handled all that ….”

Tempest

Widowed ex-private eye Allison Calhoun has left behind the career of heart and her native Boston for the sleepy Tennessee town of Piney Bluffs. All she wants to do is heal and write the great American novel. Only Piney Bluffs is a hotbed of decades-long secrets and lies, all seething just under the surface of the humid summer.

Enter C.J. Lanahan. Once the best friend of Ally's husband and always a thorn in her side, journalist C.J. pushes all of Ally's buttons and not all in a good way. On top of that, his newspaper and editorials seem to be stirring up a hornets nest folks 'round here want left alone. When C.J. is a murder suspect and then almost kills, himself, things go from hot to deadly quicker than a heat-driven storm in this Tennessee valley.

Can Ally and C.J. live long enough to expose the truth, or will the long-held secrets stay buried forever?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR BETHANY BLAKE BAKES MUDCAKES

Bethany Blake lives in a small, quaint town in Pennsylvania with her husband and three daughters. When she's not writing or riding horses, she's wrangling a menagerie of furry family members that includes a nervous pit bull, a fearsome feline, a blind goldfish, and an attack cardinal named Robert. Like Daphne Templeton, the heroine of her Lucky Paws Mysteries, Bethany holds a Ph.D. and operates a pet sitting business called Barkley's Premium Pet Care. Learn more about Bethany and her books at her website. 

Daphne Templeton, the amateur sleuth in my Lucky Paws Pet Sitting Mystery series, has a soft spot for misfits and mongrels. In the first book, Death by Chocolate Lab, Daphne’s fostering a one-ear Chihuahua with a severe overbite and a dubious pedigree, and she’s totally smitten.

Today, in that same spirit, I present you with “mupcakes.”

“What’s that?” you ask – perhaps also thinking, “That does NOT sound tasty!”

But trust me, once you’ve had a mupcake – a hybrid cupcake/muffin – you will rush to adopt this recipe as your own.

I found the base recipe, for blueberry muffins, ages ago on the Internet. The origins are long lost, although I often make the blueberry version. However, a few months ago I had a craving for chocolate and strawberries. Since strawberries aren’t exactly in season in Pennsylvania, I dug into my freezer and tried to come up with a creative way to use last year’s leftovers. My solution: add chocolate and strawberries to the muffin recipe. The result was something sweeter than a regular muffin, but not exactly a cupcake. A new name was needed. Not that there was much time for naming. My kids ate the whole batch in about an hour!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry “Mupcakes”

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups AP flour

1/2 cup milk

2 cups strawberries

1 (heaping) cup chocolate chips.

Heat your oven to 375 degrees and grease 18 regular-sized muffin cups - or 36 mini-muffin cups. (These make super cute minis!) You can also use cupcake liners.

Using a hand mixer, mix the butter until it's creamy. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, baking powder and salt. Then get a spoon and fold in half the milk and half the flour. Repeat.

Chop the berries and drain if they're soggy. Add about a tablespoon of flour and toss to coat. This will keep them from sinking when they bake.

Carefully fold in the berries and chocolate chips, being as gentle as possible.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes, until they're golden, then try to resist the temptation to eat them before they cool. The strawberry flavor intensifies when they reach room temperature. The perfect moment is when the chips are still gooey, but the berries aren't hot.

Death by Chocolate Lab

Pet sitter Daphne Templeton has a soft spot for every stray and misfit who wanders into the quaint, lakeside village of Sylvan Creek. But even Daphne doesn’t like arrogant, womanizing Steve Beamus, the controversial owner of Blue Ribbon K-9 Academy. When Steve turns up dead during a dog agility trial, Daphne can think of a long list of people with motives for homicide, and so can the police. Unfortunately, at the top of the list is Daphne’s sister, Piper—Steve’s latest wronged girlfriend.
Certain that Piper is innocent, in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary, Daphne sets out to clear her sister’s name—and find Axis, Steve’s prize-winning chocolate Labrador, who went missing the night of Steve’s death.

Aided by Socrates, her taciturn basset hound, and a hyperactive one-eared Chihuahua named Artie, Daphne quickly runs afoul of Detective Jonathan Black, a handsome and enigmatic newcomer to town, who has no appreciation for Daphne’s unorthodox sleuthing.
Can a free-spirited pet sitter, armed only with a Ph.D. in Philosophy and her two incompatible dogs, find the real killer before she becomes the next victim?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--TAKING PHOTOS DOWN THE SHORE

Summer is around the corner. Many of you will be heading down the shore (as we say in New Jersey) in a few months and will be capturing your time in the sun and on the sand in photos. Today Isabella Foreman returns with some tips for taking beach pictures. Although she writes from the perspective of a professional photographer at a commercial shoot, many of her tips can be applied to any amateur photographer wishing for the best possible results during a day down the shore with family or friends.

Beach Photography

As a photographer, no matter whether you have a ton of experience, or you just started exploring the world of professional photography, you should be aware of the fact that each setting is different and that it requires special preparations if you want your photo shoot session to be successful.

When it comes to shooting outdoors, I’m sure you’re familiar with the fact that it can be quite unpredictable. Although spontaneity can have a very positive effect on a photographer’s work, it’s not what you’d call a reliable partner. Sure, you should always leave some room for improvisation, but it’s necessary to prepare yourself properly and avoid possible delays.

Therefore, if you’re planning on doing a beach photo shoot session in the future, there’s a list of things you should have in mind. Having all of this covered will enable you to take quality photos and not waste any time whatsoever.

Find the Right Locations

When scheduling this kind of shooting, it’s quite important that you plan in advance and give yourself enough time to get every detail done before you begin the actual photo session. One of the items that should be on top of your priority list is scouting.

For your shooting to go well, it’s important to have an experienced model with you, but that’s not all – you should take a nice long walk on that particular location you’ve chosen and do some sightseeing. If you do determine the precise locations on which you want to take your photos and do a test shooting by yourself, it will be a lot easier for you to be efficient during the actual shot.

Create a Checklist

If you have never done an outdoor shoot, you should know that the biggest problem you could possibly have during one is forgetting a piece of your equipment, and especially so if you’re traveling a long way in order to reach your destination because there’s no turning back.

So – thorough packing is in order. My sincere suggestion is to create a list of items you’ll need and also those that might be handy at some points and start packing. Naturally, you should start with your camera and make sure to bring all the lenses (100mm to 150mm) you plan on using during the shooting. Also, the obvious thing that is often forgotten – extra batteries; so, make sure they are fully charged and ready for your session.

When shooting outdoors, having a tripod or monopod with you can be quite useful – considering the constant changes that you can’t really control, some stability will definitely come in handy.

Mind the Lighting

Speaking of unpredictable conditions – in order to be satisfied with your session, it’s quite necessary that the weather conditions work to your favor. Therefore, make sure to check the forecast and even consult your local weather station directly so that there are no surprises.

As a photographer, you’re probably already aware of this fact, but I’d like to mention it either way. There’s this period of time during sunrises and sunsets when the lighting is magical and when you should invest your effort into taking quality shots.

Create a Comfort Zone

Other than your professional equipment, you should also make sure that you pack your beach items. Every photographer who ever worked with a model in a bikini knows that it’s quite necessary for her to feel maximally comfortable, so having a couple of towels with you is a must.

Other than that, make sure that you and the whole team working on your session are properly hydrated at all times, so make sure to bring enough water and refreshing snacks. Naturally, applying a proper SPF goes without saying – you wouldn’t want to deal with unpleasant sunburns while you’re working.

Include Accessories

Each look you have planned out for your model needs to be put together to the very last detail before you start shooting. It’s always smart to bring additional pieces with you and do some improvising, but the main part needs to be planned out properly.

Other than changing bikinis, it’s quite important for your model to accessorize properly, which is something that usually requires some time, so don’t leave it for the last moment. Another thing to have in mind is shoes – whether your model will wear them or not depends on your location and the whole theme of your setting actually, but you should definitely consider this idea.

Wrap It Up with Editing

Your job isn’t finished when the photo session is over – there’s still a lot of sorting out that needs to be done and you already know that it takes time to clean out your shots and get rid of misfires. Other than that, quality photo editing is a completely separate project – fashion photography is a very demanding branch and it’s quite important that you develop a keen eye for detail so that you can emphasize the right accents on your images.

This is a solid base you can work with. As you might have noticed, it’s all a matter of good preparation – if you surround yourself with everything you could possibly need, you can deal with any kind of problem that comes your way.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR BRENDA B. TAYLOR

Today historical romance author Brenda B. Taylor sits down with us for an interview. Learn more about Brenda and her books at her website.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

Having a great imagination and enjoying reading, I began to write my own stories in the third grade. I wrote a story about a horse similar to Black Beauty.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

I worked in the Texas Public Schools as a teacher and school administrator for many years. I harbored a desire to write fiction, but had little time to pursue a writing career. After retiring, I studied the craft of writing fiction and began filling books with stories.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

Because of getting a late start in writing, I didn’t have enough time left to go the traditional publishing route. I took several online courses in self-publishing and went the indie route.

Where do you write?

I write in a special place overlooking bird feeders, blooming flowers, and trees of several varieties.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

Silence is golden for my writing time. Sometimes I may listen to soft music, but most often I write in a quiet environment.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

I became interested in genealogical research after retirement and began researching my family ancestry. The lives of my ancestors grabbed my interest and curiosity. I researched and traveled to their homes and wrote about those in post-Civil War Missouri and Scotland. Historical romance is my favorite genre to read, so I crafted romances into the plots of the stories.

Describe your process for naming your character?

I chose names that best fit the character’s personal traits and time. The names in the post-Civil War series were not difficult, I chose those I felt best fit the character, but the Scots’ names required research.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Both series are set in the actual locations where my ancestors lived.

Ocean or mountains?

I love both ocean and mountains, but the mountains hold me captive. I enjoy their majesty and beauty. My husband and I spent summers in the Rockies and Grand Tetons—climbing, hiking and camping. We can always find a new adventure on mountain slopes.

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

After being born, raised, and now living in the country, I am definitely a country girl. City traffic gives me the hives.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Continue writing books in the two series—Wades of Crawford County and Highland Treasures. I have a lot of time and research invested in both series, so I’ll continue with writing in them.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

I have one regret in my second career as a writer and publisher—wish I had started sooner.

A Highland Ruby

She must choose between a life of adventure with the man she loves or a settled, secure life with her betrothed. Flora Vass forced Gavin Munro out of her heart and mind until he returned to Scotland after an adventurous five years in the New World. Gavin leaves no doubt he returned to make the bonnie Flora his own and intends to fight for her. Flora's betrothed, Iain MacKay, and Gavin's brother, Chief Andrew Munro, have other plans. Andrew needs her to marry the MacKay and bring peace between the two clans. Iain MacKay desires an heir. War with England looms on the horizon, forcing Flora to make crucial decisions.

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#TRAVEL TO #NANTUCKET WITH GUEST AUTHOR MARTHA REED

Nantucket Harbor

Martha Reed is an award-winning, independently published crime and mystery fiction author who loves travel, big jewelry, and simply great coffee. She delights in the never-ending antics of her family, fans, and friends, whom she lovingly calls The Mutinous Crew. Learn more about Martha and her books at her website. 

Nantucket Daydreams

I fell in love with Nantucket the minute I laid eyes on it. I’d heard of the island, of course, 30 miles off the Massachusetts coast when I was a student at Boston University, but it took me seeing Nantucket rise up from the bottle green ocean like a distant purple horizon, and then watch it resolve into a harbor town of trim shingled homes and classic church steeples to completely capture my heart. As the ferry rounded Brant Point I heard a soft voice in my head sigh, and say: ‘home.’

I live in Pittsburgh now, but I do try to go back for a visit every couple of years. Nantucket is such a wondrous destination that I never have any trouble finding a friend or two to travel with me. The last time I visited, I took three girlfriends from work, and it took some convincing, because instead of flying directly to Nantucket, I insisted that we fly from Pittsburgh to Boston, rent a car, drive down Cape Cod to Hyannis, and then catch the ferry, adding hours to our trip.

There was a bit of muttering and a whiff of mutiny over this decision from the Mutinous Crew, but in the end, I believed I carried the point.

Nantucket needs to be seen from the water for first-timers. Nowadays, high-speed hydrofoil ferries and short-hop airline options are available, but I’m still convinced that taking a slow ferry over is the only way to go. There is something essentially liberating about leaving your worries behind on the dock that helps you relax, and you need to experience the watery 30-mile distance from the mainland shore to Nantucket’s harbor side to truly appreciate how special - and how isolated - the island really is.

Herman Melville wrote this in Moby Dick:

Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there, away off-shore … a mere hillock, an elbow of sand … made an utter island of by the ocean, that to their very chairs and tables small clams will be found adhering, as to the back of sea turtles …”

Nantucket is many things: it’s a county, an island, and a town. It’s a walker’s paradise filled with cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks lined with gracious 18th century homes. The town offers a plethora of terrific restaurants and specialty shops, charming and comfortable B&Bs, and multiple bookstores and museums. There are beaches everywhere, and the center of the island is crisscrossed with miles of sandy trails, scenic vistas, and easy rental bike paths.

If you need a break from modern life (and who doesn’t?), you won’t find a better escape than by planning a long 3-day weekend visit to the Far-Away Isle. My advice? Go off-season in May or October, when the weather is fine, the rolling moors are filled with color, and the rates are more reasonable. Be sure to buy a ticket on a slow ferry going over. Life is short. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

No Rest for the Wicked, Book Three in the Nantucket Mystery series

When state archaeologists uncover a suspicious steamer trunk in Nantucket’s landfill, the contents reactive intense interest in the Baby Alice Spenser kidnapping of 1921. As Detective John Jarad pursues the Baby Alice investigation, myriad family scandals emerge from the Spenser’s privileged and Gatsby-esque past. Modern day events flare white-hot when a copycat criminal snatches a second child.

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AUTHOR MEREDITH BOND TACKLES BAD BOSSES AND BASIPHOBIA (FEAR OF FALLING)

Meredith Bond's books straddle that beautiful line between historical romance and fantasy. An award-winning author, she writes traditional Regency romances, medieval Arthurian romances, and Regency romances with a touch of magic. Learn more about Meredith and her books at her website. 

You think your boss is bad?

All my life I have wanted nothing more than to serve The People. Politics has been my passion—from the time I ran for class president in elementary school right on through to when I was president of the student government at my university. Getting a permanent job on the Hill was a dream come true.

I’d worked for Congressman Tom Whitmeyer from the time I was in high school. I began as an unpaid intern and then continued straight through college. When he offered me a full-time, permanent job after I graduated, I was thrilled. The man was my teacher, my mentor. I admired everything about him from his politics to his lovely wife, who I met when they came over to my parents’ house one Labor Day for a barbecue.

I honestly thought I had the greatest mentor and a dream job that would take me exactly where I wanted to go in life.

Boy, was I wrong!

People, don’t get fooled. Don’t get lulled into believing that your boss admires and respects you as much as you do him or her. Don’t fall into the trap I fell into. You are nothing to your boss but a means to an end. A boss will use you for all you’re worth.

I found this out on the day I was betrayed.

I should have gotten out right then and there. I should have said no, but he had me and he knew it.

Just as I have always wanted to be in politics, I have always been afraid of falling. High places aren’t really a problem—I can fly in a plane and even look out a small window from the top of a skyscraper. No, I’m afraid of large windows. Windows that open. Balconies. Anywhere there is the slightest possibility of falling.

On one beautiful spring day, at the height of cherry blossom season in DC, my boss walked me into an 18^th-floor apartment that had one wall that was all windows. It was mine, he said. Yes, he was offering me this amazing apartment to rent and even offered to pay half!

To anyone else this would have been a dream come true. But there were two small catches:

1) I couldn’t even walk into the place without being terrified of falling out of those windows (or over the balcony just outside of them).

2) It wasn’t just going to be my apartment. It was also going to be his pied-a-terre!

Yes, the one catch that he brushed off as if it was nothing was the fact that I would have to get out at a moment’s notice for the night while he used the place to meet his mistress.

Everything I’d ever thought of my boss—wonderful man, strong upstanding servant of The People, yadda, yadda, yadda—was gone. Flown right out of those enormous windows, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I told him I couldn’t do it.

He threatened to destroy my career in politics forever if I didn’t.

I did it.

What else could I do?

The story does have a happy ending, but it has nothing to do with my boss.

It was only his insistence that I take this apartment that led to me meeting David—a lawyer with the public defender’s office and hypnotist for fun (and the man with whom I will be spending the rest of my very happy life, although getting to that point wasn’t exactly easy or painless, I can assure you!).

It was only because of my boss’s insistence that I allowed myself to be hypnotized and learned that I’d lived another life—and that David had been a part of it.

So, while my story has a good outcome, I warn you not to count on that.

Admire your boss. Respect him or her. But be wary and be sure to protect yourself. Be ready to run—or quit—at the first unreasonable demand. And most of all—be strong!

I wasn’t, and I nearly paid the ultimate price for my weakness.

Falling 

In another time…

Boundless blue skies. Oblivion. The pull of the sky through the wall of windows in Erin Freyn’s new apartment is as enticing as it is disturbing. It seems to call her to step out, to let go, to surrender herself into its terrifying embrace. But when she turns to a hypnotist for help, she never dreams it will uncover long-hidden secrets – of ageless magic and forbidden romance.

In another place…

David Elder is trying to live up to the memory of his brother, who died while working with inner-city kids.   He couldn’t save his brother, but perhaps with his magic he can save others. When he hypnotizes Erin to seek a cure for her fears, they discover instead an ancient connection. In a past life, he was a medieval knight and her illicit lover… before things went very wrong.

Today…

Fate has given them a second chance. Will they take it and finally find happiness, or will they be doomed to replay history yet again?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--IT'S PEEP TIME!

It’s that time of year again. Time for April showers, spring flowers, and…Peeps! Those ubiquitous yellow marshmallow chicks that are as much a part of Easter baskets as chocolate bunnies and plastic grass. Today we’re sharing some fun Peepalicious facts about Peeps.

Peeps have been around for over 60 years. They’re “hatched” in only one place on earth, at Just Born, Inc., a candy company located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

It originally took twenty-seven hours from start to finish to make Peeps because they were made by hand with pastry tubes and needed hours to cool before they could be packaged. Now, thanks to automation, Peeps can be made in about six minutes.

The factory produces about five and a half million Peeps a day in a variety of colors, flavors, and shapes, but the original yellow chicks are the most popular. In the course of a year Just Born produces enough Peeps to circle the earth twice. During Easter alone, one and a half billion Peeps are consumed, making them far more popular than any other Easter candy. (You’d think this would make Peeps the company’s bestselling candy, but you’d be wrong. That honor goes to Mike and Ike.)

We all know that on New Year’s Eve New York drops a huge Waterford crystal ball to herald in the New Year, but did you know that in Bethlehem they drop a giant Peep? It’s the traditional yellow chick, and it flashes different colors at midnight.

Not everyone eats Peeps. They’ve become the medium of choice for many artists who use them to create dioramas, sculptures, and paintings.

How many Peeps does it take to…

You’d need a line of 43,000 Peep bunnies in a straight line to span the Golden Gate Bridge. It would take 1,464 Peeps bunnies stacked on top of each other to equal the height of the Statue of Liberty, 2,664 Peeps bunnies stacked on top of each other to equal the height of the Washington Monument, and 4,840 Peep chicks stacked one on top of each other to reach the top of Seattle’s Space Needle.