Category: Uncategorized

Introducing The Ranger’s Dog Tags

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It’s on its way—the sixth and final book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries—The Ranger’s Dog Tags. Coming April 22nd.

Eli Hennessey has vanished.

His house in Oak Grove is in flames, his cell phone is out of commission, and friends in Florida can’t find him. It’s up to Harmony Duprie to track down her missing lover before her life shatters and his ends.

Harmony’s first discovery: Eli tricked her into signing paperwork putting her in charge of his company. Had he planned his disappearance?

The answers won’t be found in Oak Grove. Harmony hightails it to Florida in search of Eli and the truth.



Watch this space for the upcoming cover reveal.

While you’re waiting, here’s a short excerpt.

I didn’t anticipate being greeted by a brick wall of a man with deep brown skin when I opened the door. And if I wasn’t mistaken, that was a gun in a holster under his left arm. And a police badge attached to his belt.“Miss Harmony Duprie?” he asked with a voice as mellow as a ray of springtime sunshine.
“Do you sing?” I blurted. It was the first thing that came to mind.
A slow smile spread across his face. “Not in public, ma’am. You are Harmony Duprie, right?”
“Yes. And you are, Detective …?” I let my voice trail off.
The smile got bigger. “Horace. Detective Timothy Horace. Orlando Police Department.”
I stepped aside to give him room to get by. He needed a lot of room. “You’re out of your jurisdiction, aren’t you, Detective?”
“We have a mutual aid agreement with the locals.” I didn’t think his smile could get any bigger, but it did. “Although it’s pretty one-sided.”
I could imagine. “I’d offer you something to drink, but I’m not set up for guests.”
“No worries, Miss Duprie, I won’t be staying long.”
“Are you the official welcoming committee? Or the bearer of bad news? What do you know about Eli? Was he in that car they found this afternoon? Is he all right?” The words poured out of me, along with my fears.

 

Finally! Road Trip! #OpenBook Blog Hop

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March 15, 2021

You’re going on a road trip: where are you headed? With who? What are your snacks? Music? Plans?

It’s been too long. And we all know why. Weekend road trips were one of the things we enjoyed previously. Just short trips to explore close to home. But it looks like things will loosen up soon and we maybe able to consider a quick trip soon.

Where to go? There are so many places we’d like to visit that this post could get far too long. So, I’ll try to contain myself.

For a warm-up trip, we’ll head up to Walden, Co. We haven’t been there since the shutdown and the last year’s forest fires. I need to see what survived and what didn’t, since so many of my favorite landscapes were in the path of destruction. Plus, I wonder how many of the small business in town have stayed open. (At least one of them has changed hands.) Follow that with a trip to Estes Park. Problem with that is our favorite place to stay was sold and is under new ownership, and we’re looking for a new base camp.

If we’re heading into the mountains, John Denver is going to be on my playlist, along with classic rock. Did you expect anything different? And munchies? I should be good and take dates and raisins. HA! More like peanut butter cups and some form of chocolate.

Now, let’s say we’ve got unlimited time. I’ll need a minimum of three or four weeks for this trip. First stop is to visit my mother in Pennsylvania. It’s been a couple of years since my last in-person visit. Then we’ll travel down to Florida to visit my daughter and her family. A trip that long will allow for a variety of music and unhealthy eating. (The entire trip will be 3000+ miles.)

Now, how about a fantasy trip? Head south, take I-70 west over the Rockies, figure out a route to get to HWY 101 just north of San Francisco, follow 101 north to Washington state, and come back through Montana. Take all the side trips we want, stop wherever we want., stay in one spot as long as we want. I can see the trip taking several months. We’d explore mountains reaching for the sky, redwoods that bridge the gap between the ground and the clouds, rocks tumbling into the ocean, sandy beaches that glisten in the sun. That’ll take several months. I can dream, right?

Let’s find out where everyone is dreaming of traveling to my following the links below. And, until next time, please stay safe.

March 15, 2021

You’re going on a road trip: where are you headed? With who? What are your snacks? Music? Plans?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Introducing: The Ranger’s Dog Tags

  By Uncategorized

Eli Hennessey has vanished.

His house in Oak Grove is in flames, his cell phone is out of commission, and friends in Florida can’t find him. It’s up to Harmony Duprie to track down her missing lover before her life shatters and his ends.

Harmony’s first discovery: Eli tricked her into signing paperwork putting her in charge of his company. Had he planned his disappearance?

The answers won’t be found in Oak Grove. Harmony hightails it to Florida in search of Eli and the truth.

 

I’m still trying to figure out the actual release date, but I couldn’t wait to share this with you!

Someone to Lean On #OpenBook Blog Hop

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Feb 1, 2021

Do your family and friends support your career as a writer?

This is a tough question to answer because the answer depends upon how I’m feeling at the moment. I’ll give it a shot.

First, the good stuff.

I have one talented sister who is a graphic artist. She’s responsible for making my covers come to life. She’s also been known to gently laugh at my feeble attempts to put together memes for advertising and lead me in a better direction. I appreciate her efforts and tell her so as often as I can. Thanks, K.M.!

Another sister is a faithful reader of this blog. She may not comment, but I’m thinking of her as I write each entry, trying to see it through her eyes. (She was an English major and worked as a technical writer. I’m looking for errors she might point out.)

I have a sister-in-law who is a big fan of The Harmony Duprie books, and I appreciate her quiet support. My mother doesn’t always understand some of the crazier things I include in my books, (the Free Wolves books aren’t her cup of tea) but she reads them, anyway. And comes up with amusing comments. “Joe and Luke (from the Harmony Duprie Mysteries) are “interesting,” aren’t they?”

Then there are my coworkers. They put up with me, and several buy my books even if they aren’t my target audience. One guy admits he’ll never read them, but has bought a paperback copy of each of my books as a way of supporting my efforts. My boss buys copies too, and even cracks them open in his spare time. And then there’s Jenny, who has done photo shoots for me when I needed new author photos. I appreciate it, Jenny, even if you’ve moved away and deserted me.

With all that support, some of you are probably asking how I can have anything to complain about.

Here’s the thing: I come from a large family. And my hubby is from a large family. (Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten to mention him. I’m saving the best for last.) If all of my extended family members bought my books on the day of release, I’d have a top 100 book each time. (Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but only slightly. The families are that big if you include cousins and nieces and nephews.) Most of them are vaguely aware that I am a writer, but I suspect they’ve never picked up a copy of one of my books unless they wandered across one at my mother’s house.

I will accept the blame for that. I moved far away from the rest of my family when I was 18 , and most of them have only met me once or twice. Or not at all, when you count in the spouses and great-nephews and great-nieces. (Geesh, I feel old now.) It’s not like they actually know me.

Not everyone is as lucky as me, so I’ll gladly take what I can get. The complaints stem from that fragile writer’s ego at work. I want everyone to love my stories as much as I do!

Back to the best stuff. My dear hubby. I can’t say he loves the hours and hours that I spend writing, because it takes time away from him, but he doesn’t complain about them either. (Well, not as much as he could!) He tries to understand how important writing is to me, and encourages me to keep at it, even when I’m feeling discouraged. I’m glad he’s stuck around all these years, I like having him around.

Now that I write it all, I feel lucky compared to some other writers I know. I wonder how the other authors on this hop fare? Let’s go find out by following the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe!

Feb 1, 2021

Do your family and friends support your career as a writer?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

ChatAndSpin Radio Interview

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My thanks go to Ron and Ian from ChatandSpin Radio for the great interview. If you missed it, I’ll be posting a link to the interview late  tomorrow (Saturday, Oct 3)  or Sunday.  In the meantime, you can take a listen to their station at ChatandSpinRadio.com. A great mix of 80’s music and a variety of guests. You can also follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chatandspin.

logo

And here’s the link https://chatandspinradio.com/listen-again/. I’m at about the 1:55 mark for the second half of Friday’s program. Take a listen. 

Her Ladyship’s Ring #MFRWorg Book Hooks

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Welcome to another edition of Marketing From Romance Writer’s Book Hooks, a chance for authors to highlight one of their books. I haven’t done this for a while, and I hope you enjoy it. This is a blog hop, so when you finish reading my post, and after you but the book, 🙂  check out some of the offerings from other authors (links at the bottom of the page)

From Her Ladyship’s Ring, Book 2 of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries (Amateur sleuth, almost-cozy mystery. Now on sale for 99¢) 

Amazingly enough, no one extra showed up. So the four of us sat around my table and acted like we were old friends and nothing was wrong. Except I caught Freddie scrutinizing Jake when he thought Jake wasn’t watching. And Jake took every opportunity possible to touch me, and each time he did he let his fingers linger a moment too long. Sarah was the only one who didn’t feel the tension. Either that or she was a better actress than I’d realized.

“Did you hear about the snow sculpture contest in the park?” she asked.

“No,” I said. How did I miss that? “Who’s sponsoring it?”

“Oh, it’s unofficial.” She put more grated cheese on top of her spaghetti and passed the container to Freddie. “Started with some little kids building old-fashioned snowmen, and then a bunch of high schoolers got involved. Pretty soon parents got into the spirit of things as well. Now there are dragons and castles and all sorts of creations scattered on the shore of the lake. Makes me hope the cold weather sticks around so they last longer.”

“You and I should go see them tomorrow,” Jake said smoothly, touching my forearm.

I would have loved to go, but not with Jake. “I really need to go to the library tomorrow,” I said. “If I get too far behind, I’ll never catch up. I have a deadline coming up in a day or two.” I hadn’t even checked my email to see if I had any new requests.

Sarah sighed. “It’s not like you have to punch a time card. Sometimes you take yourself too seriously.”

We’d had this discussion before, and I had no desire to rehash it now.

But Sarah was on a roll. “You loosened up for a while, now you’re slipping back into your old habits.” She winked at Jake. “You were good for her, except for that whole drug and attacking the police stuff.”

Was she flirting with Jake in front of Freddie? She’d hardly touched her wine, so she couldn’t be drunk. Unless she’d been drinking before she and Freddie got to my place.

I glanced at Freddie. His expression was more puzzlement than anything else. He caught me looking, and barely shook his head. He didn’t know what she was up to either.

Jake, on the other hand, winked back at her. “I’ll try to change that.”

“Yeah, the whole long-distance relationship thing she’s got with Eli isn’t working out if you ask me.”

“Sarah!” I hissed.

Jake leaned towards her, ignoring me. “What makes you say that?”

“Do you know they haven’t had sex yet?” She giggled. “At least the last time we talked about it. But it might have changed when he was here a couple of weeks ago.”

My face burned as she reached for her wine.

Book Blurb

Harmony Duprie is back, and so is trouble in Oak Grove.

When a man is murdered in the back yard of the old Victorian house she is remodeling, Harmony is determined to locate his next-of-kin so he can be put to rest properly. But with her ex-boyfriend Jake out of prison, back in town and one of the suspects in the murder, she takes on the challenge of solving the crime.

With Eli, her current love interest, in Florida and Jake close by, old emotions come back to haunt her. Can Harmony clear Jake’s name and solve the mystery of her own heart?

You can buy Her Ladyship’s Ring at these retailers:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1121692446?ean=2940151639064

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id982884469

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/her-ladyship-s-ring

series: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072F4WBWH/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

Pilgrimage #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book, Uncategorized

June 8, 2020

Have you ever gone on a literary pilgrimage? If so, where and why?

Once upon a time, on a back highway in Florida, I saw a sign marking the road to Zora Neale Hurston’s home. I would have liked to take the road less traveled, but I had places to be and people to talk to. And although I took that road once or twice more, I never to make it to the house. In fact, I don’t which of the various houses she lived in the road led to.

Although I didn’t think of it as a pilgrimage at the time, I got to see the Mark Twain house in Hartford. Connecticut. I was visiting family who lives nearby, (Hi, Mary!) and we took a trip there for something to do. Back then, the home was still under restoration and a tenant lived on part of the third floor.

But the house was gorgeous. Beautiful dark woods  throughout the interior. Marvelous staircases. Intricate ceilings.Wonderful details throughout the house. Truthfully, I don’t remember much about the exterior because I was so in awe of the inside.

If I was going to go on a literary pilgrimage, where would I go? I’m thinking Ireland. I’ve always figured that my Irish heritage is where I got my creative side. I’d love to wander the moors and hills of the countryside, explore castle and church ruins, and maybe talk to a fairy or an elf. See what came of it as far as inspiration for my stories.

If you were going on a literary pilgrimage, where would you go? You can share your stories in the comments. In the meantime, I’m going to check out where the others on this list have gone. Maybe I’ll get some ideas.

June 8, 2020

Have you ever gone on a literary pilgrimage? If so, where and why?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

The Samurai’s Inro and a New Excerpt

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It’s almost Launch Day! So here’s another excerpt for you.

 

I followed my morning routine—coffee, shower, sit on the steps and read the paper—but the simple joy had disappeared. The biker was gone, but he wasn’t the problem. No, I still hadn’t heard from Eli. No requests for reports or research, not even a text to say hi. I missed him.

But he was more than my lover, he was my boss. Even if I didn’t have a new assignment from him, I still had research to do. The topic was up to me. I could do it anywhere with an internet signal, but I chose to stick with my routine and go to the library. If the biker showed up, I’d know and could keep an eye on him while he kept an eye on me.

With no excuse to build a wall of books, I took a chair in the periodicals area. With the setup of the room, I’d be able to watch anyone coming or going from it. There’d be no sneaking up on me.

At least, that was true as far as the public knew. There was a secret way in and out. Out mostly, because it was hard to slide the last set of shelves from the backside to get in. But I wouldn’t have to worry about getting stuck with no escape route.

Late morning, tired of lists and analysis of security vulnerabilities, I strolled through the stacks of the second floor to stretch my legs and give my eyes a break. I leaned against the balcony railing to survey the reading room below and gaze through the windows on the far wall.

That’s when I spotted him—or not. It was hard to tell from the angle. Plus, he didn’t look like a biker anymore. He’d adopted the persona of a frazzled businessman. White short-sleeved shirt, black pants, he looked like he came from the fifties. The beard was gone, too. I couldn’t get a good look at his face, but the hint of a tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his shirt gave him away.

From the second floor, there wasn’t a good place to study him further without exposing my presence. If I stood on the steps, I’d have a better chance, but they squeaked. If he looked up at just the right moment, he’d see me. I suppose it didn’t matter; he knew I was in the library. So, how to mess with him?

 

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.  The Samurai’s Inro, coming June 1st.

 

The Samurai’s Inro

  By Uncategorized

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.

 

Don’t forget! The Samurai’s Inro, the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, will be available June 1st.

Here’s a quick excerpt just for you:

I cradled the pot with what remained of my mother’s African violet in my lap. They plucked every flower and bud and pulled off half the leaves. The plant would live—I’d make sure of it—but it would take a lot of effort.

Pages from my books lay scattered around. All my first editions survived, they’d only destroyed the more current ones. The latest Jack Reacher book. A biography of Queen Elizabeth. The popular-for-the-moment romance, The Pirate’s Nanny. At least I’d finished reading them.

They used a permanent marker to draw mustaches and beards on the framed picture of me and Eli kept on the end table, a middle school type of prank. Thank heavens the original was digital.

I sat in a kitchen chair and rocked, plotting my revenge. A stream of religious missionaries sent to their door. Dead fish mailed regularly. Confetti bombs. Putting a potato in their exhaust. Nothing legal seemed adequate.

It wasn’t a case of a mysterious suitor, of that I was convinced. It felt darker, bordering on evil. Like the culprit was taunting me. Someone who knew me. Someone I thought was a friend. How else would they understand where to draw the line in the damage they’d done?

But I couldn’t explain this to Freddie without sounding crazy. Either Joe or Luke had called him. The three of them were working on straightening out the furniture in the front room while pretending not to keep an eye on me. They had a right to be concerned. That didn’t make it any less irritating.

What I needed to do was jump in and start cleaning. What I wanted to do was grab my laptop and create a spreadsheet of potential suspects. The police were still questioning neighbors and so far, no one had any helpful information. Freddie, although he hadn’t been assigned to the investigation, was following it and keeping me updated.

The short mental list taking form made me hurt as I added each entry. Gary from the pawnshop. Luke or Joe. Big Daddy Al from the Pink Flamingo. That was, assuming they could hotwire cars, something we’d never talked about. And I bet every one of them had an unshakeable alibi.

Jake.

Eli.

Stay tuned for buy links and more information.