BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--INTERVIEW WITH RETIRED L.A.P.D. OFFICER AND AUTHOR KATHY BENNETT

Award-winning author Kathy Bennett is no stranger to murder and mayhem. She served twenty-nine years with the Los Angeles Police Department - eight as a civilian employee and twenty-one years as a sworn police officer. Law enforcement personnel laud her authentic stories of crime and suspense for “getting it right.” Kathy has performed many interrogations. Today she subjects herself to one of ours. Learn more about Kathy and her books at her website and blog.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

Sometime in the early 1990's. I was in a bad marriage and began reading a lot of romance novels. Like many people, I thought to myself, I could write a book like this.

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

After retiring from a career as a police officer for the LAPD, I published my first book, A Dozen Deadly Roses in June of 2011.

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

I've self-published all three of my books. With that said, I had a team of people behind me, helping me to produce the best books I could deliver.

Where do you write?

Most of the time I write in my home office. Occasionally, I'll write on my laptop while sitting in my recliner or lying in bed.

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

I prefer to have it quiet while I write. I have noise-cancelling headphones for when the dogs bark or a teenager in the neighborhood wants everyone to listen to the horrible music blasting from their vehicle.

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

I would say that all of my books have bits and pieces of real events and people in them. However, I take the best tidbits and patchwork them into my books, creating a literary Frankenstein. No one would ever recognize themselves in my books, and as for events, most of the time they're disguised as well.

Describe your process for naming your character?

I love naming characters. So much about a person can be visualized with the right name. There's a big mental image difference between Lance Steel and Larry Limply. I choose names very carefully, often using a computer name generator. I can go through hundreds of names to find the perfect combination.

Real settings or fictional towns?

I like writing real settings. I think readers get a kick out of 'seeing' places they know in books. I also think knowing the locations, or at least the area, can draw a reader into a book more easily.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

One of the characters who appears in several of my books, a detective named Darius Cutter, likes to woo women with music sung by Barry White.

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I don't have any :-) , but my family would tell you something different. My quirkiest quirk…I often 'talk' for our animals, saying what I think they'd say in a voice that I think they'd use - if our 'four-legged kids' could talk.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. I've read the book over twenty times. I'm sure I'm not alone in re-reading the story of Scarlett and Rhett. If their epic tale captivated me so much, I'm sure it's influenced many others as well. I'd love to have that kind of impact.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

I was speaking in front of a group of about two hundred people – many of them my peers. I was supposed to talk about my latest book. The only problem was, I couldn't remember a thing about the book, my characters, or what the story was about. It was a true case of going brain dead. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me.

Even worse, it was the first day of the event. All weekend I imagined people were pointing and whispering, "That's the poor girl who can't speak publicly and doesn't have a clue what her books are about."

I was imagining that, right?

By the way, I can speak very well in public and have done so before and since that unfortunate incident. And I do know what my books are about.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

I've mellowed over the years. Now, the thing that gets me most upset is people not taking responsibility for their actions.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Food, fresh water, and fire. I'm very good at entertaining myself.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

For a very brief period of time I was a waitress at a Bob's Big Boy restaurant. I didn't like being a server and was lousy at it. I'm sorry to those of you who had me bringing you your food. I really was doing my best.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

There are too many to select just one.

What’s your favorite movie?

It depends upon my mood. When I'm looking for a laugh, Airplane, Elf or Meet the Parents are good choices.

What’s your favorite TV show?

Hmm…right now, probably Gold Rush. I keep telling my husband, if I were younger, I'd go up to Alaska and hunt for gold. I'm rooting for Parker to hit it big.

Who’s your favorite actor?

Not sure if these folks count as my favorite, but they're the most versatile…Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

What’s your favorite song?

Wow, my brain almost exploded trying to come up with just one. There are SO many songs I love. I can't make a choice. I can say it would probably be a soft pop star from the seventies or a true western singer from the 1950's or 1960's…or earlier.

What’s your favorite food?

I'm so tempted to say donuts because, after all, I was a cop, and I do love a good donut. However, I'd have to go with pizza – preferably plain cheese…oh, wait! Mexican food is also one of my favorites. I think it's the Margaritas that I like best!

Ocean or mountains?

Mountains all the way. Although I've always been afraid of driving my car off the side of a mountain. I suspect I saw that happen in a movie when I was a little girl and it stuck with me.

City girl or country girl?

I think I'm a mixture of both…but I probably lean more toward a country girl.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Writing more books, my husband's retirement, a new grandchild…what more could I ask for?

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

When writing my books I work very hard to keep the reader guessing. Never assume that a beloved character is automatically 'safe.' I write about the police, crime, life and death. And just like real life, the situations aren't always pretty or predictable, but my stories are authentic and, I hope, entertaining.

A Deadly Justice

A brutal murder. A rash of sophisticated burglaries. A serial rapist.

Little does veteran LAPD Detective Maddie Divine and her new partner, Jade Donovan, realize that a single thread tie the crimes together. But as their investigation digs deeper and the cases begin to unravel, they threaten to expose one of Maddie’s darkest secrets and force her to confront a truth she’s tried desperately to bury.

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TRAVEL WITH SERENA--AUTHOR ROMY GEMMELL ON SCOTLAND

Edinburgh Castle

Award-winning author Romy Gemmell writes short stories and novels for both adults (as Romy Gemmell) and tweens (as Ros Gemmell.) Today she joins us to talk about Scotland and how she used the setting in her latest Regency novel. Romy short story, Highland Hogmanay, is featured in the FREE Holiday Anthology from Exquisite Quills. Learn more about Romy/Ros and her books at her website and blog.

Scotland as a Setting

Having lived in Scotland all my life, I decided it makes sense to use aspects of the country as the setting for some of my fiction. My home is on the beautiful west coast, half an hour from the great city of Glasgow and about twenty minutes across the river to stunning Loch Lomond. It’s a great location as we have the River Clyde on one side and the hills and countryside on the other.

Snowy Loch

In my new Regency-era novel, Midwinter Masquerade, I wanted to take the story away from the usual Regency London setting, so it begins in Edinburgh, our capital city. Apart from the impressive castle that sits atop a rocky incline, my favourite part of the city is the Royal Mile, the ancient cobbled road leading from the castle down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Although now lined with a variety of tourist shops and cafés, the old tenements and historical buildings remind us of its past, the dark, narrow alleyways hinting at skulduggery and dark deeds.

Since this is a winter themed novel, however, the story then moves to the Scottish countryside during the lead-up to the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. From the lowlands to the highlands, our hills and mountains, rivers and glens are the picture of romance, even without men in kilts, although most young men still wear the kilt to weddings and end of school parties!

Part of the Royal Mile

The countryside around the lowlands is filled with rolling green hills and forests of fir trees and my hero’s country estate is in such a setting. Our winters often begin in October or November, which should be autumn months, but it’s no exaggeration to say we can experience all four seasons in one day here. Once the clocks turn back an hour on the last weekend in October, darkness descends by around 4pm in many places, especially on the very rainy days, which we’re famous for in the beautiful, green west coast.

Since autumn and winter are my favourite times of year, it was fun setting Midwinter Masquerade within the cold, frosty scenery and there’s a skating scene on the frozen loch, an activity that still takes place on a small loch in the countryside near me. But my favourite part of the story is the Masquerade Ball on the winter solstice, a magical time of year when the sun changes direction. And it also heralds a change of direction for my heroine before winter is over.

Midwinter Masquerade

In Edinburgh, December 1816, young widow Lady Lenora Fitzallan accepts an invitation to the country estate of Edward Montgomery, the man she once thought to marry seventeen years previously. Accompanied by her godmother, Lady Pettigrew, Lenora forms a friendship with Edward’s young niece and ward, Annabelle, who has a propensity for getting into scrapes and falling in love with the wrong man.

In the days leading up to the Masquerade Ball on the Winter Solstice, unexpected guests arrive and family secrets are revealed. Once the past is revealed and the real villain unmasked, Lenora must decide where and with whom her future now lies.

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HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE--BIOFEEDBACK PRACTITIONER AND AUTHOR NANCY TESLER

Does art imitate life? When Nancy Tesler, a biofeedback practitioner, found herself suddenly single and with an overwhelming urge to commit murder, she did so on paper, creating the Other Deadly Things mystery series. Her first romantic suspense, Ablaze is due to be published after the holidays. To learn more about Nancy and her books, visit her website. 

Got Stress?

The coming holidays are a time of celebration for many, but for some all that good cheer and fa-la-la-ing shoots their stress level into the stratosphere.  It’s a well-known fact that stress can kill you. It can lead to a multitude of unpleasant conditions, just a few of which are high blood pressure, ulcers, heart attack and stroke, any one of which, if untreated, will kill you. Left unmentioned on the above list, however, is another possible result of high stress…

Murder.

In Pink Balloons and Other Deadly Things, Book One of my five-book series, Carrie Carlin, biofeedback practitioner extraordinaire, tries to make her clients healthier and happier by teaching them how to control their internal “fight-or-flight” response to pain and stress through a variety of relaxation techniques, a kind of “heal thyself” alternative when conventional medicine isn’t working. Hanging on Carrie’s office door is a sign with a Deepak Chopra quote, “In order to change the printout of the body, you must learn to rewrite the software of the mind.”

Carrie is intuitive, and she is empathetic. She can reduce a cooperative client’s blood pressure with thirty minutes of deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation exercises. She can often warm a migraine sufferer’s hands with guided imagery exercises thereby reducing pain by decreasing blood flow to the head. She can reduce a teenager’s anxiety by teaching her to visualize a bully sailing away in a boat out of her life forever. And she helps her overeaters deal with their addiction through brain wave training. 

But when on Christmas eve, the day after her fortieth birthday, her husband of eighteen years takes off with his young, drop-dead gorgeous marketing director, all of Carrie’s training deserts her. She can’t eat. She can’t sleep. And when the bimbo ends up conked over the head and tossed into the family’s half-filled swimming pool on the very afternoon Carrie has been spying on her, Carrie’s own fight-or-flight response goes into orbit as she finds herself topping Detective Ted Brodsky’s suspect list. Her personal mantra—“I’m ca-a-lm, I’m ca-alm, this is not a life-threatening situation,” doesn’t work. Diaphragmatic breathing doesn’t work, self-hypnosis doesn’t work, positive affirmations, self-talk, envisioning Brodsky on a boat sailing out of her life forever, nothing works. And what is she to do with those feelings of guilt for having wished the vixen dead too many times to count? Maybe find the real murderer herself?

As a former biofeedback practitioner and divorcée, I can empathize with Carrie. Like her, I admit to having had homicidal thoughts about sirens and their songs but there the similarity ends.  I’m squeamish. When I was five, I ran screaming from the theater when the witch in Snow White poisoned the apple.  I would never, as Carrie does, walk into situations where even a cop would fear to tread without backup as she does in the chase scene on the Tappan Zee bridge in Shooting Stars and Other Deadly Things, or let myself be used as bait in a sting operation as she does in Book Five, Slippery Slopes and Other Deadly Things. Like Thurber’s Walter Mitty, however, I enjoy a rich fantasy life.  Thus the series, the first of which was unquestionably inspired by my own experience. 

Is Carrie me then, I’ve been asked? No. Carrie is younger, much braver and far more daring than I am. I plunge her into predicaments from which I would run like hell.  But this is fiction and while I try to keep my characters and the circumstances in which I place them as realistic as possible, I do take dramatic license. Without that stretch there would be no story. As one very perceptive (in my humble opinion) reviewer put it, “Quite rightly, Nancy has included a few of those clichés that almost define the female detective genre - exotically named cats, a friendly dog, and love interest involving a cop. But into the familiar format she injects powerfully felt emotion and characters who are true to life.”

So what we have in Carrie is a stress therapist so stressed out she can barely practice what she preaches. In my case, true to life indeed until I followed Chopra’s advice and “rewrote the software of my mind.” Not so for our Carrie. My job as an author is to keep her anything but “ca-alm” as I put her in one life-threatening situation after another.  

Pink Balloons and Other Deadly Things

Carrie Carlin is trying to juggle single life in the suburbs, two pre-teen-age children and a career as a biofeedback practitioner. Through it all she has to keep her cool while her estranged husband flaunts his gorgeous, twentyish fiancée all over town. When the bimbo turns up dead, murdered, Carrie, the jealous wife becomes the prime suspect. Now the suburban mom/turned sleuth is finding out shocking secrets about her ex, her friends, and even her clients, as a killer visualizes her…

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COOKING WITH CLORIS--SPONGE CAKE WITH GUEST AUTHOR TJ BROWN

Today we’re joined by TJ Brown, the author of the Summerset Abbey series. TJ also writes young adult novels as Teri Brown. You can read more about her at her website. 

Even though she was the governess’s daughter, Prudence Tate was raised to be a free thinking independent woman by her guardian, Sir Philip Buxton, a man far ahead of the Edwardian time period in which they lived. When Sir Buxton dies, Prudence is compelled to move with his daughters to Summerset Abbey, where she is relegated to the servant’s quarters. One marriage and one book later, Prudence is a Camden Town housewife, completely unprepared for the cooking and cleaning involved in her new role.

Fortunately, Prudence gets cooking lessons from a friend and is soon learning to cook basic English dishes such as bangers and mash and Kippers. She tries her hand (more or less successfully) at traditional English treats from the era. Sponge cake was an English favorite and often served with afternoon tea.

When I decided to tackle a sponge cake, I wanted one fit for a queen. The first one didn’t cut it and instead turned out flat and rather eggy. After reading the reviews (which I SHOULD have done first,) I learned there had been a typo and it should have read 3 eggs and not 8! Big difference. Big, big difference.

This recipe turned out like a dream, light and airy. I spread strawberry jam between the two layers and topped it off with homemade whipped cream and though I admit to preferring my cake with coffee over tea, I have to say it was delicious.

Sponge Cake with Jam and Whipped Cream

4 eggs, room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk (whole or 2 %)
1/4 cup butter (salted or unsalted, whatever you have on hand)
2 cups pastry flour, (though all-purpose flour can be substituted)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup of good quality jam. (I prefer homemade strawberry.)

Preheat oven to 325

This recipe works best with a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment. Beat eggs for five minutes. Add one cup of sugar. Mix until just combined then add the 3/4 cups of sugar and continue mixing for another 4-5 minutes until light and pale yellow.  Add vanilla and stir on low.

Sift together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the egg mixture until combined.

Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan on low heat until the butter is melted. Don’t allow mixture to get too hot.  Mix into the batter until combined. Pour the batter into two greased and floured 8" round cake pans.

Bake until the cake is light golden brown and the middle springs back when touched.  Remove from oven and place pans on wire racks for ten minutes. Turn out onto the cooling racks and cool completely.  Stand in pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire cooling racks and cool completely.

Add about a cup of jam to the top of one of the cakes and place the other on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with freshly whipped cream.

Summerset Abbey

Reminiscent of Downton Abbey, this first novel in a new series follows two sisters and their maid as they are suddenly separated by the rigid class divisions within a sprawling aristocratic estate and thrust into an uncertain world on the brink of WWI...

Rowena and Victoria, daughters to the second son of the Earl of Summerset, have always treated their governess’s daughter, Prudence, like a sister. But when their father dies and they move in with their uncle’s family in a much more traditional household, Prudence is relegated to the maids’ quarters, much to the girls’ shock and dismay. The impending war offers each girl hope for a more modern future, but the ever-present specter of class expectations makes it difficult for Prudence to maintain a foot in both worlds.

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HUMMINGBIRD PLACE

Join author Lois Winston/Emma Carlyle at Hummingbird Place  on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 7pm EST. 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ROSEANN DeFRANCO

RoseAnn DeFranco writes contemporary romantic comedy.  Learn more about her and her books at her website and blog.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I always had a desire to express myself, which started through my love of music. Previously I pursued a life in the theatre as a singer and actress with a focus on singing, mainly in musicals. When I left the bright lights and big city behind, I needed another outlet for the creative gene and writing romance became the natural medium.

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

I’ve been writing in earnest off and on for about seven years and actively submitting to agents and editors for about four.

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

This Brothers of Audubon Springs three book series is being traditionally published with a small press, The Wild Rose Press. I have plans to self-publish a young adult fantasy series. My goal is to have it out no later than the summer of 2014. So, the goal is to become a hybrid author.

Where do you write?

I do most of my writing at home in my office while my family sleeps. I also take to Panera once in a while when I’m in the mood for a writing sprint day.

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

Given my background, you’d think I need music to write, but silence is golden. All the years of studying and performing music, I find my subconscious analyzing the music and getting lost in the story of the song. I do find a great source of inspiration from music. My main characters usually have their own theme song, and my couples usually have a song as well.

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

My plots are not drawn from my life or the world around me at all. I do bring character traits from people I know or public figures. There is a larger cast of characters in the Brothers of Audubon Springs series, which is the Iuliano family. Bits and pieces of the family are representative of my larger extended Italian family. I live a bit vicariously through my characters. For example, in Return to Audubon Springs, Emma is a multi-published children’s fantasy author and her star is on the rise.  

Describe your process for naming your character?

I love naming characters. When I first started writing, I couldn’t move forward until I had the perfect name. I would think about my character’s traits and then research words that embodied them using baby naming websites to find a name that translated into that trait. In Return to Audubon Springs the hero Rafe’s full name is Rafaello which means God has healed, and boy does this couple have a lot of healing to do!

Real settings or fictional towns?

The town of Audubon Springs is important in this Brothers of Audubon Springs series, which is why it’s part of the name of the first book. The town is based on a real Jersey Shore town, but I fictionalized it to suit the needs of the books.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

Emma is clumsy, but only around Rafe.

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I’m clumsy all the time.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Oh WOW…Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I’m a big Austen fan and Elizabeth Bennett is one of my favorite heroines. The love story is timeless which is what I’d love to achieve in my writing one day.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

College. I went to school for Musical Theatre and Vocal Performance. While I recognize the contributions my theatre background has made to my writing style and process, I wish I’d gone with something a bit more practical to pay the bills! Then there was that one time a college writing professor encouraged me to change my major to Writing. Yes, do-over, please!

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

When someone is trying to carry on a conversation with me but they are in a different room.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

My husband, my daughter, my mother. Is that allowed? Guess I’m no longer stranded!

If not…chapstick, water, copy of Pride and Prejudice.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Flipping burgers at a fast food chain. Not only was I miserable, but I wasn’t even good at it. They moved me to the registers where I proved to be even worse.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

The Hunger Games. Perfect Hero’s Journey.

What’s your favorite movie?

I’m getting stuck on this. I don’t get out much!

What’s your favorite TV show?

Once Upon a Time. I watch this show with my daughter. It’s a great show and guaranteed mother/daughter bonding time.

Who’s your favorite actor?

Robert Downey, Jr.

What’s your favorite song?

Hard one for me. It’s constantly changing. Right now it’s “Roar” by Katy Perry because it is the theme song for the heroine in my current WIP.

What’s your favorite food?

Anything ITALIAN, but I could eat eggplant every day and twice on Sunday.

Ocean or mountains?

Definitely Ocean! I love the water and have an unhealthy fear of bears.

City girl or country girl?

Can I be both? I don’t do well in nature, but the rush of the city is too much for me. Can I go with what’s behind door number three and say I’m a Jersey Shore girl?

What’s on the horizon for you?

Two more books in the Brothers of Audubon Springs are under contract and I’m currently writing a holiday novella to wrap up the series. I plan to work toward self-publication of my young adult fantasy novel, Forbidden Signs.

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

While romantic comedies, the important thing about this book series is the prevailing theme of home and family. I’ve discovered this is the theme of all my writing, regardless of the genre or story. Return to Audubon Springs is a romance. It’s hot, it’s funny, but at its core, my characters are searching for a place to call home.

Return to Audubon Springs

When Emma Grant returns to her family's Audubon Springs beach house to fulfill the stipulations of her father's will, she has every intention of forcing her former lover out of the house for good. She's never fit into her wealthy family and would prefer avoiding her past, but with her brother threatening to reveal her young daughter, she has no choice.

Rafe Iuliano has other plans. The wealthy Grants tried to bribe him out of Emma's life years ago, but he's determined to prove once and for all that a master carpenter is worthy of Emma and the house.

Their ridiculous and steamy battle for the house reignites the love and passion that bloomed between them years ago. But when Rafe discovers she's kept their daughter a secret for two years, can he overcome anger and pride to claim his family and the love of his life, or will the deception drive a final wedge between them?

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TRAVEL WITH SERENA--GUEST AUTHOR KARA ASHLEY DEY

Joining us today is author Kara Ashley Dey, a writer who likes fantasy, speculative and paranormal fiction with romantic elements. She also enjoys interviewing multi-talented artists and writers to find out what makes them tick. As Ashley say,s “Sharing experiences is a really great way to learn about the world and ourselves. Plus, I'm a firm believer in rejoicing in other people's successes; it's free and it feels great.” Learn more about Ashley and her books at her Kara Ashley Dey website where she posts artist interviews, her Dey for Love website for romance reviews and news, and her blog where she posts the latest reviews in games, movies and books.

Today Kara joins us to talk about Barcelona, the setting for Vampire’s Fortune, Fortune Teller’s Curse.  

Gothic Streets

The first time visiting Barcelona I knew the ancient city was perfect for a modern vampire story and an old tale about the Catalonian Nosferatu. One can't help but feel this paradoxical tug of war between the weathered, sensual earthiness of the past and the sleek, jet-setting gleam of the present. I became spellbound by the gothic district, a medieval part of town characterized by mossy pocked stone and dark mischievous corners.

That first autumn, I convinced my husband to cut our vacation in Madrid short so that we could return to old Catalonia's capital and walk down La Rambla, eat tapas, and follow the cobblestone road to its end. There on the beach we ate paella and watched the sun setting behind the rippling sea.

Upon returning home, I investigated Barcelona's history, the Crown of Aragon and the Inquisition, which inevitably visited all of Europe. There were several waves of persecution and inquisitions against gypsies, Jews, women in general and bohemian travelers. It's a history of religious and political intrigue, influence and corruption: the perfect setting for a paranormal story immersed in blood and vengeance.

 

When we returned to Barcelona, I went with keen eyes and a new purpose--to hear the whispers of the dead. To imagine the drama that played upon these streets. It was intense. But of course, we did take a fun break in Ibiza and danced all night to Tiesto at the largest discotheque in the world, Prestige. In fact, every moment of research was really a thrill for me. 

Years later, we've established our favorite haunts in the city. We re-explore fortresses and old moats now green and yellow with beautiful hedges and flowers. We check on the progress of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia.

We search for ghosts in the gothic quarter (no ghosts this time, but a shy man blessed with a lovely tenor voice sang in the echoing darkness). And we seek out the same tapas place (simply called "Tapas Tapas") not so much for its ambiance but for its beer selection and the most amazing papas fritas covered in spicy mayonnaise. Yummy. The best. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Cannot wait to return!

It is with great pleasure that I am releasing the first book in Ulysses Anthony and Fiona Autumn's adventures together. This book takes place in Texas and has many exciting scenes in ancient Barcelona, as Fiona uses her psychic power to solve some pretty cold cases--as in, centuries old!

available Dec. 1st

Vampire's Fortune, Fortune Teller's Curse

When money strapped psychic Fiona Autumn encounters the rich and powerful Ulysses Anthony, his high-class charm (not to mention his accompanying envelope stuffed with cold hard cash) persuades Fiona to read an ancient dagger in his possession. Unfortunately, breaking the dagger’s seal awakens magic-wielding creatures hell-bent on revenge. Trapped in a dangerous partnership, Fiona realizes she has just unleashed an ancient rage that threatens all she holds dear--including her own life.

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