STOPPED COLD by Gail Pallotta Has Emotion, Excitement, Action

What I love about this story is it’s reminiscent of a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys type mystery, but updated….very now.

So Let’s find out what it’s all about…

Margaret McWhorter enjoys a laid-back Freshman year in high school flirting with Jimmy Willmore, swimming and hanging out with friends—until that day. Her brother, Sean, suffers a stroke from taking a steroid. Now he’s lying unconscious in a hospital. Margaret’s angry at her dad for pushing Sean to be a great quarterback, but a fire of hatred burns inside her to make the criminals pay. Looking for justice, she takes Jimmy and her best friend, Emily, through a twisted, drug-filled sub-culture. A clue sends them deep into the woods behind the school where they overhear drug dealers discuss Sean. Time and time again they walk a treacherous path and come face to face with danger. Even the cop on the case can’t stop them from investigating. All the while Margaret really wants to cure Sean, heal the hate inside, and open her heart to love.

This novel fascinates me and I couldn’t help but ask Gail a few questions…

Nike: What motivated you to write about illegal drug use?

Gail: When I thought of all the problems teens face today, illegal drugs struck me as being one of the biggest. I also wanted to write a mystery and to have the main characters participate in sports. One of the reasons teens give for taking steroids is to make them bigger and stronger to enhance athletic performance. That gives them an advantage they can use to win or be the best.

Nike: Is the story based on a true life experience?

Gail: The sports part is. We’re a sports oriented family. The steroid part isn’t. The theme of the book—we don’t have to be number one for God to love us rattled around in my head for a long time. When I was in college a girl there tried to commit suicide because her grades weren’t as good as she or someone thought they should be. The pain she must have felt gnawed at me. Sadly, later I saw several more lives destroyed over situations in which people couldn’t achieve number one status, or could no longer be the best. After I married, had a child and began to work closely with children, I saw a big difference in those who believed they should do their best as opposed to those who were driven to be better than everyone else. The premise of having to be number one and steroid use fit well into a book involving sports and mystery.

Purchase Links:

Amazon. http://tiny.cc/lxssww

Smashwords. http://tiny.cc/pyssww

Front Porch Romance. http://tiny.cc/rzssww

All Romance Books. http://tiny.cc/40ssww

Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, Mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. She’s been a Sunday school teacher, a swim-team coordinator and an after-school literary instructor. A former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, she won Clash of the Titles in 2010. Some of her published articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums. Readers can find her on the internet on the staff of Clash of the Titles, http://www.clashofthetitles.blogspot.com and at her blog, http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com. Her Web Site is http://www.gailpallotta.com

The Map Quilt by Lisa J Lickel ~ Intrigue and History

THE MAP QUILT is a the second book in the Buried Treasure Mysteries series, a sequel to THE GOLD STANDARD. You don’t have to read the first novel, as this story is a stand alone…but if you’d like to, that would also be nice.

So, let’s find out what THE MAP QUILT is all about…

 

Just how high a price does a family secret command?

Death in rural Wisconsin is only the beginning to new chaos in Robertsville. What do a stolen piece of revolutionary agricultural equipment, a long-buried skeleton in the yard, and an old quilt with secrets have in common? Hart and Judy Wingate, who met in THE GOLD STANDARD, are back to solve the mystery of THE MAP QUILT. Hart’s new battery design could forever change the farm implement industry. But after the death of Hart’s most confrontational colleague in a fire that destroys Hart’s workshop, the battery is missing.

Throw in a guest speaker invited to Judy’s elementary classroom who insists she owns the land under Hart’s chief competitor’s corporate headquarters, and a police chief who’s making eyes at Hart’s widowed mother, it’s no wonder Hart is under a ton of pressure to make sure his adventurous pregnant wife stays safe while trying to preserve his company and his reputation.

 

I’ve gotten to know Lisa simply through slogging it out in the trenches in the Christian fiction publishing industry, and also through her participation as a judge in past years for the Grace Awards. Lisa is not a judge this year, but THE MAP QUILT is a finalist in the Grace Awards 2012 Mystery/Romantic Suspense/Thriller category.

Nike: What motivated you to write THE MAP QUILT, the second in your acclaimed Buried Treasure cozy series? Do you tend to be a plotter or a pantster?

Lisa: Hi, Nike, thanks for having me a guest today. THE MAP QUILT, as you said, is the second book in a series. I was prompted to write the book by a number of elements, which just came together for me. We had purchased a farm in western central Wisconsin, where I first learned the story of the black farmers settlement and of Alga Shivers, who built the round barns. I’m a life-long quilter and historian, and stories of the Underground Railroad put the final tie in the batting, so to speak. For mysteries, a writer needs to be pretty careful to plot. I prefer to have an idea of where I’m going, at least chapter goals, and need to have a lot of research for planting the clues.

Nike: Why write a cozy and not a more gritty style mystery?

Lisa: The cozy, which I’d never heard of before, was because of Barbour Publishing’s Heartsong Presents: Mysteries book club, and that was the style I had to adhere to for the club. I have written a slightly more gritty mystery, but still comic romance, MEOW MAYHEM, which came out in January. I’m a bit of an opportunist in that these were works for hire. There were supposed to be four books in the series, but I’m not sure if I’ll get to number four or not. The third book in the series, THE NEWSPAPER CODE, releases next month, and as you say, I love to write gritty. But these books were fun too.

Nike: Some readers just have to start off with book one of a series, so tell us a bit about THE LAST BEQUEST, first in the Buried Treasure series.

Lisa: THE LAST BEQUEST, or THE GOLD STANDARD, as some may find in dollar stores now across America with other books from the former mystery book club, is where we meet Judy Winters, an orphaned young lady just out on her own after being raised by her maiden aunt. Aunt Louise went home to the farm to take care of the place when her own father died, and when Louise met a very untimely death, Judy inherited the farm. Judy didn’t believe her aunt’s death was natural, or even accidental. As a public school teacher working on her masters degree, she was able to stay on the farm for the summer and investigate her aunt’s death. She meets the boy next door who helped Louise with chores, and whom she hopes very much had nothing to do with Louise’s death. There’s a bit of a take-off of Cinderella in there, as Judy keeps losing shoes. I wish I’d made more of an issue of following fairy tales with the others, though THE NEWSPAPER CODE is a bit of an Ugly Duckling theme.

Nike: You also write romance and women’s fiction. Do you find it easy or difficult to span genres?

Lisa: I should, but I don’t. There must be something wrong with me, I think, when I can write sweet, funny, quirky septuagenarian and an evil prison guard involved in murder in the same week. I still wish I was better at compartmentalizing in real life. Anyway, one of my favorite books is just out now, HEALING GRACE. It’s about a woman with the spiritual gift of healing; Grace ran away from God, only to discover He’s led her exactly in the direction He wanted to go to give her a second chance.

 

You can read more about THE MAP QUILT and a chapter at: (book page) http://www.lisalickel.com/2012/02/map-quilt.html

Lisa Lickel lives with her husband in an old house built by a Great Lakes ship captain, collects dragons and enjoys travel. Her published novels include the Buried Treasure cozy mystery series, Meow Mayhem, the award-winning romance Meander Scar, the linked novella anthology A Summer in Oakville with best-selling author Shellie Neumeier, and the paranormal romance Healing Grace. She is a freelance feature writer for local news, writes short stories, magazine articles and radio theater. She is the editor in chief of Creative Wisconsin magazine and loves to encourage new authors. Lisa also is an avid book reviewer, a freelance editor, a writing mentor, a hostess at Clash of the Titles.com, and enjoys blogging at theBarnDoor.net and AuthorCulture.blogspot.com. Find her at LisaLickel.com.

 

Purchase Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/KFRxrk

Mysteries at Easter, Not Necessarily the Easter Mystery

While the crime fiction genre (murder mysteries, thrillers, romantic thrillers, police procedurals, suspense novels) can be seen as dark, it also has a “light” side. The good guys often at peril to their own lives fight against evil and for justice. It’s my contention that the “who dun it” originated in the Christian west. The history of the murder mystery is that of solving a moral dilemma (a deadly crime). The main characters may have to sacrifice and endure great punishment to bring the guilty party to justice. Yet they persevere and do what is right.

Acts 2:29-32 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence  about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with  us to this day.  Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn  with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he  foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not  abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.  This Jesus God  raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

I’d like to wish everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ a blessed Easter. I’d like to wish my Jewish brothers and sisters a happy, healthy Passover.

In that spirit, let’s take a look at a couple of Easter season murder mysteries…

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD by Debbie Viguie

Abingdon Press

Cindy’s church is getting ready to celebrate Easter, and Jeremiah’s Temple is preparing for Passover when Cindy literally stumbles over the body of an unknown man lying dead in the sanctuary. The church was locked, and a bloody cross necklace on the floor seems to be the only clue. The killer is likely a member of the congregation, but there are hints that similar deaths have happened in the past. Are Cindy and Jeremiah dealing with a serial killer? They have to unravel the clues before Easter Sunday arrives and more people die.

 Cindy and Jeremiah come from two different worlds, even though they work right next door to each other. Cindy is a strong Christian who lives a normal but somewhat dull life, working as a church secretary. Jeremiah is a Reformed rabbi with a mysterious past full of danger and excitement. But one eventful Easter/Passover week, the two find themselves working together to solve a murder and stop a serial killer from striking again. Solving the mystery should put an end to their alliance, but the church secretary and the rabbi quickly find themselves enmeshed in another mystery. Soon the two form a friendly alliance and friendship, exploring personal history and faith and growing closer with each passing adventure. Despite their differences Cindy and Jeremiah find a lot of common ground.

Amazon. http://tiny.cc/e3b8sw

Barnes and Noble. http://tiny.cc/w4b8sw

 

MIDNIGHT AT THE CAMPOSAMTO, a Taos Festival Mystery by Marie Privette Ulmer

Poisoned Pen Press

The first novel in a series planned to follow the sacred and secular calendar through its annual cycle opens on Good Friday as The Brotherhood of Our Lord Jesus, the centuries-old lay society known as the penitentes, march singing their ancient, primitive hymns towards their vigil at the morada, the prayer hall in Talpa. One hermano, one brother, has been singled out to die, the assassin striking him down in the graveyard, the camposanto, and tumbling him into the darkened room to lie all night with his unsuspecting comrades. The next morning, one is charged with the act.

This outrage arouses the widowed Christina Garcia y Grant, an attorney who gave up her practice in favor of innkeeping and writing, to defend the accused. Her team is composed of her mentor, La Dona Abogado – Miss Doris Jordan — a sturdy senior advocate, Ignacio Baca, an opera-and-sweet-loving public defender, and Mac McCloud, a doctor vacationing at Christy’s La Casa vie) a B&B. This motley crew suspects that Hermandad Pat Salazaar has been set up. Sorting through Satanism, witchcraft, and modern day science, their widening investigation covers Taos, Los Alamos, and Santa Fe. Seldom has so lyrical a voice described the beauties of Northern New Mexico and the very special culture of its Hispanic and Anglo people.

Amazon. http://tiny.cc/1vc8sw

Barnes and Noble. http://tiny.cc/uxc8sw

Jordyn Redwood talks about POISON ~ oh, btw, that’s the title of her novel

With Jordyn Redwood you never know. POISON! She could be talking medically about an antidote, or about a how-to method. That makes me a tad nervous. Wouldn’t want to be hanging around with Jordyn if there’s any arsenic in the garage. Just kidding.

Seriously though, POISON is Jordyn’s soon to be released novel and it sounds exciting. Let’s find out what the stir is about…

Five years ago, Keelyn Blake’s armed, mentally ill stepfather took her family hostage in their house in rural Colorado. She and her half-sister Raven made it out alive, but others did not. Authorities blamed the father’s frequent hallucinations about a being named Lucent, but in the end, even the best of the FBI’s hostage negotiators failed to overcome the man’s delusions and end the standoff peacefully.

Now, Lucent is back, and he’s no hallucination. In fact, he is a very real person with dangerous motives. He has kidnapped Raven’s daughter, and–Keelyn worries–maybe has hurt Raven as well. Though she is estranged from her sister, Keelyn feels the immediate need to find Raven and save what family she has left. But when others who were involved in that fateful day start dying, some by mysterious circumstances, Keelyn wonders if she can emerge unscathed a second time.

Nike: POISON sounds like a thriller-diller. Medicine is your world, but this novel also has a heavy psychological bent. How did you weave the two aspects together, medicine and the psychological?

Jordyn:  I think medicine and the psychological do go hand in hand. For instance, are repressed memories a true medical condition and can brain washing occur? The brain is an organ and so psychological issues can be viewed as being medical in nature as well. I am fascinated by the brain and how it functions. How memories are created. POISON delves into some of these psychological/medical issues.

Nike: You write a medical blog. Tell us a bit about that.

Jordyn: When I began to think about entering the blogosphere my first thought was– what can I contribute? There were plenty of people blogging really well about writing and faith. What I found myself naturally doing was answering writer’s medical questions and thus– my blog was born and continues to be its mission– to help authors write medically accurate fiction.

Jordyn Redwood is a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. She hosts Redwood’s Medical Edge, a blog devoted to helping contemporary and historical authors write medically accurate fiction. Her debut novel, Proof, garnered a starred review from Library Journal and has been endorsed by the likes of Dr. Richard Mabry, Lynette Eason, and Mike Dellosso to name a few. The second book in the Bloodline Trilogy, Poison, releases Feb, 2013. You can connect with Jordyn via her website at www.jordynredwood.net.

Purchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle.  http://tiny.cc/6tkrrw

Barnes and Noble/Nook.  http://tiny.cc/61krrw

Dark Days of Promise by Shaunna Gonzales ~ fits in multiple genres

This is a crime fiction blog and I could’ve been in a quandary, but I wasn’t. Should I showcase this novel here or was another blog I’m involved with more appropriate? As you read the interview questions you’ll see DARK DAYS OF PROMISE can fit in the romantic suspense and/or the inspirational romantic suspense category. It can also fit in one or two other categories as well.

So, let’s see what this novel is about…

Thirty-four year old Vicki Laramie must learn to trust before she can love, but she might die trying.

While Vicki’s children grapple with the death of their father — a man whom she’s successfully fabricated as loving, a lie her rebellious teenager recognizes — she must find a way to support her family and find a role model for her boys. She never intends to fall for Staff Sergeant Chase, her best friend’s son, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She’d much rather choose a safer man to love, but her children have a voice in the decision she makes. With two deaths to deal with, a suitor after her money, a rebellious son, and Sergeant Chase’s repeated attacks, she can only hope to survive the danger she faces. If she doesn’t, her children will be left without either parent.

Excerpt

Was he telling me the truth? I wasn’t sure. The reality of whether or not I’d survive the night and claim I’d made the right choice to accept a ride from such a dangerous man was, as of yet, to be determined. A fierce battle raged within me. Although grateful for the ride, and the warmth of his Jeep, a cold shudder of terror slithered up my spine every time he glanced my direction. The locked door added to my apprehension. Cold overwhelmed me again.

He exercised a considerable amount of care in adjusting the army blanket higher across my chest with one hand. His warm hand brushed against my skin. I flinched, wanting to scream, but managed to keep it in check, in all honesty because I couldn’t … The phantom pressure of his hands lingered at my throat.

It seemed incomprehensible. I’d once thought him in need of my comfort, only to have him turn on me, becoming a killer. Never, if I lived forever, would I forget the coldness in his eyes at the moment I knew I’d die. The memory of his eyes, the cold purposeful reflection of them, caused me to shudder. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. Would his seeming gentleness be absent, replaced instead by the killer I knew existed behind the veil of concern for my well-being? Though good-looking, he’d proved beyond dangerous — he’d proven deadly. He’d held my life in his hands. The option of my continued breathing his choice and his alone. I wasn’t at all sure by what fate I continued to breathe and feared it had been a calculated move on his part to heighten my terror. He’d measured me well if such were his intentions.

It required a firm determination on my part to remain calm. In the subconscious recesses of my mind, I considered myself his prisoner. Distrust replaced my calm acceptance of his explanation of finding me with emphatic surety. I tried in vain to calm my instincts to run should the opportunity present itself.

Interview Questions:

Nike:  It seems DARK DAYS OF PROMISE can span several genres. Would you call it women’s fiction, or romantic suspense, or a little of each.

Shaunna:  It is interesting that you should ask this question. I have submitted this piece in more than one competition both as women’s fiction and romantic suspense. I steered away from women’s fiction and to Romance due to the ending — which I wasn’t sure would be the way it is right up until submitting to the publisher. But, the publisher loved it as a Romantic Suspense so that is what it is. Actually, Desert Breeze Publishing has it as an Inspirational Romantic Suspense. Certainly the issues dealt with could be firmly seated in all of the above categories and I think that was the underlying idea as I don’t consider myself a romantic and I definitely have strong opinions about the typical romance novel.

Nike:  What made you want to tackle Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a theme in this novel?

Shaunna:  Honestly? I fell into it, or rather Kelly flipped me! I wrote a scene, and the reader will know which one by my “Flip”, then I had to figure out why he would do such a thing. Every reaction must have a motivation, even if the motivation is not thoroughly explored on the written page. My search for the answer led me, in a roundabout way, to some new friends, veterans in my church group. That was an adventure in and of itself.

Think of a hubby that doesn’t like my talking to men without him at my side (he is slightly jealous of my occasional flirting… he has a right.) I convinced him to step away so the guys would open up and let me in their very tight circle. What I didn’t know at the very beginning was that the one vet was single and that the blond sitting across the room throwing deadly darts at me was his fiancé! Okay, zoom to the present. We are all married to our respective spouses, including me to my wonderful, though protective hubby, and we are all friends occasionally enjoying social gatherings in one another’s homes.

Okay, back to the question. What I learned from these wonderful guys is that every one of them suffers from Post Traumatic Stress in one way or another. I also realized that those of us on the outside go through our daily lives blissfully unaware in most cases. The realization that dropped me like a rock is when one of them smiled, well it wasn’t really a smile but if I were a guy he would have punched my shoulder and added this, “Yeah, you got it. You deal with it too.” Gulp! I experience and deal with Post Traumatic Stress in a very civilian way. 1) I don’t (didn’t) know I dealt with it, 2) My PTSD is very mild, and 3) I go to great lengths to hide it as well as hide from the triggers (unless asked these kinds of questions.)

Nike:  Oh, Shaunna I’m thrilled by your transparency about your own struggle with PTSD . Also, your church experience sounds so much like what I’ve encountered. I do think women should be able to come off as feminine, if that’s what their personality type is. But then do expect the daggers flying from across the sanctuary. Ahem…back to the novel. What would you like your readers to take away with them?

Shaunna:  I’ve been asked this before and at the time had a very eloquent answer. Awareness. PTSD sufferers are not crazy. It is real and in some cases debilitating. An individual doesn’t have to be a war veteran to suffer from it. I have been told of cases where an infant is born with PTSD due to the violence witnessed from inside the womb.

Author Bio

Shaunna currently resides with her family in Western Washington. Once told by her doctors that she would never leave her wheelchair — due to her Multiple sclerosis. It remains unable to climb the stairs so she leaves it in the garage — to collect dust mites. A storyteller in her youth, she endeavored to extend her love of stories to the written word and in 2005 began to write her first novel. Though that manuscript will remain buried, she has continued to learn and is excited to share her latest work. She has lived in many states among people of varying backgrounds. Recently she met a small group of veterans and in doing so became intrigued with the effects of PTSD on their lives and that of their families. She continues to interview veterans with PTSD. You can visit her blog at shaunnagonzales.blogspot.com

 

Purchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle. http://tiny.cc/p123qw

Barnes and Noble/Nook. http://tiny.cc/e323qw

Desert Breeze Publishing Store. http://tiny.cc/9423qw