#HarmonyDuprie - P.J. MacLayne

Art Imitates Life #OpenBook Blog Hop

By P.J. MacLayne July 26, 2020 July 26, 2020 Open Book

July 27, 2020

What elements from your life are woven into your latest book?

Spoiler alerts ahead!

Harmony Duprie isn’t me. The more of her stories I write, the more that becomes clear. But there are pieces of my life in her character.

Let’s start with a few things about her that are totally not me.

I didn’t want to go anywhere that required getting on a plane. Flying freaked me out.
I’d never had a bad experience on a plane—at least not that I can remember. But there’s something about hurtling through the sky at thirty thousand feet trapped in a tin can without a parachute that bothered me. If Eli lived on the West Coast, our relationship would have been doomed before it started. At least his place in Florida was within driving distance of Oak Grove.
from The Baron’s Cufflinks

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I have no fear of flying. I used to travel for a job. I once made three trips from Florida to California in the same month. (A different place each time.)

But there are other parts of my life that Harmony echoes. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a librarian. I actually got to be a librarian for a while. But life happened to both of us, and she became an internet researcher while my life headed a very different direction.

The apartment that Harmony lives in? It’s modeled after the apartment on the third floor of a house an aunt and uncle owned. I never got to go there because they had the same renter the whole time I was growing up. So I created Harmony’s setup based on my interpretation of what it might have looked like. In fact, visiting Oak Grove is like visiting the town I grew up in.

Then there’s Harmony’s take on Florida.

Scotty handed my phone back. “We’ve been keeping an eye on the weather. If we don’t get out of here in the next few days, we’ll be stuck when the next system moves in. And our job here is done.”

“Besides,” Lando said. “I’m tired of the cold and snow. I’m ready to get back to sunshine and sandy beaches.”

“And tourists and mosquitos,” I joked, hiding my dismay.

“You can come play tourist any time. If Eli is gone, I’ll kick out my roommate and you can stay with me. I’ll take you to all the fun places he won’t. Like coleslaw wrestling.”

“Are you kidding me? Coleslaw wrestling?”

“Yeah. Women in skimpy bikinis fighting in a kid’s swimming pool filled with coleslaw. I bet you could beat any of ’em.”

He was right. Eli would never take me there.
from The Contessa’s Brooch

Harmony picks on Florida often. Like me. As I say, I lived there too long. Throw in hurricanes and humidity, and you have all the major reasons I don’t live there anymore.

Here’s the big spoiler alert. If you don’t want to read it, scroll to the bottom.

In the next Harmony mystery, I take her out of Oak Grove and plunk her down in the middle of Florida. Where she has to deal with all the above…maybe. I haven’t decided about the hurricane yet.

I felt like the Bandit in the Cannonball Run, except I headed south instead of West. I made the drive to Florida in eleven hours when it should have taken fourteen spread over two days. Partly because I started while it was still dark and missed rush hour traffic through Pittsburgh. Partly because I stuck as much as possible to the interstates and didn’t do any sightseeing along country roads going through West Virginia. Partly because I didn’t run afoul of any officers of the law.

Dolores helped, sensing my urgency. Each time I pressed the gas pedal, she responded with a growl of joy. And I swear she used less fuel than normal, because I didn’t have to make as many stops as expected to refill her tank.
Coming soon, The Ranger’s Dogtags

And that’s another way Harmony and I are different. I would never speed. Never.

There’s plenty more ways Harmony has borrowed from my life, but that’s enough for now. Let’s head over and see what parts of their own lives the other authors on this hop incorporate into their stories. Just follow the links below. (And don’t forget to leave a comment, if you are so inclined.)

Until next time, stay safe!

July 27, 2020

What elements from your life are woven into your latest book?

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.

Stuck in the Corner #OpenBook Blog Hop

By P.J. MacLayne July 12, 2020 July 12, 2020 Open Book

July 13, 2020

Have you ever let a story write you into a surprise corner? Do you backtrack or shift gears?

Have any of you ever seen the old movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? It’s a comedy from 1963 about a bunch of strangers trying to get their hands on a large stack of cash. I started writing a scene once that had all the elements to become a miniature version of that. Not in a comedic sense, but the same kind of general chaos. It included Harmony, my main character, throwing her stiletto heels at a car. And the FBI, Sheriff’s Department, and Highway Patrol all showing up to the scene. Along with three bad guys and one person of questionable intent. With Eli, Harmony’s boyfriend, along for the fun. And another car with potential bad guys—or were they just curious bystanders?

It was a fun scene to write. But it came too soon in the story. The rest of the book couldn’t match it. It had to go.

Well, not entirely. I cut it way back. The original is too long to include here, as it was an entire chapter and more. The final version only included Harmony, Eli, three bad guys, and the one person of questionable intent. Harmony still got to throw her stiletto heel at a bad guy. It promptly got lost in a drainage ditch. (If anyone is interested, the revised scene is part of The Baron’s Cufflinks.)

That’s not the first time my characters have steered me in a different direction than I planned to go. When I wrote Wolves’ Knight, I had a love interest all planned out for Tasha. Big, burly, good looking, the perfect match. I even wrote the beginnings of a love scene. That’s when Tasha rebelled.

See, she didn’t want to be with this guy and made it clear to me. It took her a little longer to reveal who she wanted to end up with. Then let me figure out how to make it happen. I got lucky. I only had to go back and add a few minimal sentences to set up for the revelation later in the book. Looking back, I realized what a wise decision that was on Tasha’s part.

I’m a pantser. For those of you who don’t know, that means I don’t plot out my stories before I start writing. I know the beginning, and have a good idea of the end, but the middle has to be discovered. As a result, sometimes I end up where I don’t need to be. Last week, I ripped out two days’ worth of writing because it was leading nowhere in the story line.

To answer the question—yes, I’ve written myself into a corner, probably in every story I’ve written. I’ve both backtracked and shifted gears, depending upon what the book needed. Sometimes both. But that’s okay, because those corners often contain the essence of where the book really needs to go. I just have to dig it out from all the unnecessary words.

Now I’m off to discover the hidden corners of the other authors on this hop. Join me by following the links below.

Until next time, stay safe, everyone.

July 13, 2020

Have you ever let a story write you into a surprise corner? Do you backtrack or shift gears?

Breaking the Rules #OpenBook Blog Hop

By P.J. MacLayne July 5, 2020 July 5, 2020 Open Book

July 6, 2020

What generic ‘rules’ did you abide by when you started writing that have gone out the window?

It’s easier to talk about the rules I broke on purpose when I first started writing than the ones I stuck to because I ‘had’ to. I’ve always been a bit of a rebel and my books reflect that.

For example, my first cover didn’t have a picture of a man’s naked chest. None of my covers have. In my opinion, they are overdone and boring. I also made my main character a woman instead of a man. In a paranormal, wolf-shifter story with a strong romantic element, that’s not playing by the ‘rules.’ I can’t claim it as a true romance because it contains no sex scenes.

In the second and third books of the series, I put the female main characters on the covers, instead of the male leads. They deserve the recognition.

Then you have my other series, The Harmony Duprie Mysteries. It’s pretty standard when you have a female sleuth, her love interest is in law enforcement. I played with that in the first book, The Marquesa’s Necklace.

“I appreciate your concern, Detective.” And I did. “But I have a life to live.” I stood and picked up my beer. He stood too, and moved close to me. One arm snaked around my waist and he pulled me close. I looked up at him, tried to decide if I would let him kiss me, and if that’s what I wanted.

Spoiler alert: I broke the rules.

What else have I done ‘wrong?’ How about the fact I don’t have a murder in each of my mysteries? No one dies in most of them. I’m writing about a small town and there are lots of other mysteries to solve besides people getting killed by the bad guy of the moment.

I dug up a list of rules for writers, and shook my head at many of them. It was suggested for beginning writers to avoid the use of words more than five letters long. Now think about how many times I broke that rule in the last sentence.

The same list said to turn off the internet when you write, to write everyday and the same time every day. While I understand the concepts behind those ideas, I beg to disagree. If I’m writing and need to research a point, it would drive me up a wall to have to wait to hop on the internet to get the information I need. I want it now, so I can continue in my story and not have to retrace my steps. And while writing everyday is fine, in practice it isn’t always practical and leads to guilt. We can all use less guilt. And writing at the same time every day? Another good idea that doesn’t always translate to real life.

Rules exist for a reason. Most of them aren’t totally arbitrary. Like the use of periods and commas. (Although I’d debate the rules about commas.) They help to make it easier for others to understand what we are saying. But there are times when ignoring or bending the rules is what it takes to express yourself as an author and give your characters life. Sometimes they should be treated as guidelines instead of absolutes. That’s a good thing when used with caution.

So, what rules do you think deserve to be broken?

Don’t forget to check out what the other authors have to say about this week’s topic by following the links below.

Until next time, stay safe.

July 6, 2020

What generic ‘rules’ did you abide by when you started writing that have gone out the window?

It’s All in the Name

By P.J. MacLayne June 28, 2020 June 28, 2020 Open Book

June 29, 2020

Do you write under a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, would you ever consider it?

I decided not to use my legal name for my writing back in the Dark Ages, when my focus was poetry. There were a number of reasons’ the main one being that my name was rather boring. I needed a hippie name. And so, I became Bobbi Jo Aspen, in part a tribute to the trees that give the Rocky Mountains their fall colors. I actually had a few poems published under that name, but I doubt there’s any evidence of that left except for my copies of the magazines that are stored somewhere.

At some point the Bobbi Jo name just didn’t “fit” me anymore, and I needed a new one. For more than one reason. Security had become a concern. I wanted something that sounded more mature. I’d also become aware that writers with male names tended to be taken more seriously than those with female names. So, I became P.J. MacLayne.

Security is still a concern, but in a different way. We all know there’s no hiding from the gigantic database better known as the internet. Still, it doesn’t hurt to throw in a roadblock or two for someone with ill intent trying to find you.

And frankly, it’s a liberating feeling to pick your own name. I wouldn’t ever want to change my legal name, but having a different name for my writing works for me. It allows me to express a different side of my personality while still keeping the one I show in real life.

It’s like Harmony Duprie, my amateur sleuth. She’s been known to change her appearance and go “undercover” to do research. She explained it well.

The Chief and Freddie still looked puzzled, but Drew’s face cleared and he laughed. “That was you? How many personalities do you have?”

“Only one.” I tapped my forehead. “Everything else is just a big kid’s version of dress-up.” Born out of desperation, not fun or playtime.

“Seems like a safe way to do it,” Drew said. “I’m having trouble switching between two.”

“This isn’t a game,” Chief Sorenson snapped. “Let’s get back on track here.”

From The Samurai’s Inro

That’s how I feel when I’m writing.

Now, I know of people who use a different pseudonym for every different genre they write. I’ve chosen not to do that. My mysteries, urban fantasy, and poetry all under the same name. I could understand it if I were writing erotica, but when I start my gritty female Private Investigator series, it will still be written under the P.J. MacLayne moniker.

If you’re a writer, I’d like to hear what you think about using a pseudonym. And if you’re a reader, does it make a difference to you if an author writes under a pen name? Tell us about it in the comments.

Until next time, stay safe.

June 29, 2020

Do you write under a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, would you ever consider it?

Not Your Usual Hero #OpenBook Blog Hop

By P.J. MacLayne June 21, 2020 June 21, 2020 Open Book

June 22, 2020

What are your favorite kind of characters to create? To read?

My door was securely locked with the rubber bumpers slid under it as far as they would go, the curtains closed, and my lights dimmed to make it seem I’d gone to bed.

I was about to break a rule, and I wanted no interruptions. Or witnesses. The plot was unethical at best and illegal at its worst. I planned to use my access to the Oak Grove Police Department’s records for personal gain.

From The Samurai’s Inro. Book 5 of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries

I fell in love with Harmony while I was writing her first book. She was a quiet, reserved person with an inner strength she didn’t know she had until she was forced to draw on it. It’s been fun watching her grow through the series, as she’s become more comfortable allowing that strength to shine.

I launched myself down the hallway. I’d be able to only take on one person, and my target was obvious. With a satisfying smack, I rammed into Annabelle’s back. The gun hit the tile floor with a loud clunk. She fell to her knees. Not good enough.

Jake should be able to handle Brent. I concentrated on Annabelle. An awkward and ill-timed kick landed between her shoulders. Although her hands hit the ground, she still wasn’t where I wanted her.

In the moment I got distracted checking for Jake, she recovered and rose to a standing position. She threw a hasty punch. It landed solidly on my shoulder. I staggered backward.

I’d been hit before. In practice. With gloves.

From The Baron’s Cufflinks, Book 3 of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries

I’ve always written Harmony as a someone who works within the law. Mostly. She’s been known to push the edges of legality. Never quite crossing over, but coming close. Except for in my current work-in-progress, The Ranger’s Dogtags. She’s pushing the line until it breaks.

And that’s how I like to write my characters. As works in progress. Constantly being challenged, constantly having to adjust.

And while that’s tough on Harmony, who loves routine, some of my other characters take to it easier. For example, there’s Lori Grenville, my main character in Wolves’ Gambit, from The Free Wolves adventures. She moves from one pack of wolf shifters to another, changing her name and her appearance, on a mission to help female shifters break free from traditional pack structure.

When the fangs dropped and claws sprouted, she forced herself to stay calm and made a show of adjusting her backpack. These men were the elite, and they only needed a moment to regain control of their emotions. When they were ready to talk, she would be as well.

“So, what kind of shifter are you?” Turtle asked.

“Wolf.”

“No, really.”

“Wolf.” Lori shrugged. “Even in wolf form, I’m small, but that’s the way it is.”

“Then why can’t we smell or hear you?’

She moved away the mental blocks that kept her secure. “Try now.”

Four voices flooded her brain and she held up her hands. “One at a time, guys!”

“How do you do that?” asked Turtle.

“Training. And it’s not perfect. A strong alpha can break through. Carlson can. But there’s no time for twenty questions. We need to get going.”

“Will you be able to keep up with us?”

Lori grinned. “You forget, I’m leading the way. You have to keep up with me.”

From Wolves’ Gambit, The Free Wolves Adventures

As much as I love writing strong women characters, I like to read them, too. And I want that strength to carry through the book. I once read a romance by a major woman author who, throughout the whole book, emphasized how the lead female character prepared to face the villain. But in the end, when the two were face-to-face, the major male character rushed in to save her.

Truthfully, it made me angry. After all the buildup, the ending was a disappointment. That book has been given away. No matter how well-written, it didn’t deserve a spot on my bookshelf. I don’t want my leading ladies to depend upon a prince to save them. I want them to rescue the prince sometimes.

What are your favorite kind of characters? Let’s talk about it in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the other writers on this hop. You can see what they have to say by following the links below.

Until the next time we get together, stay safe.

June 22, 2020

What are your favorite kind of characters to create? To read?

Would You Believe? #OpenBook Blog Hop

By P.J. MacLayne June 14, 2020 June 14, 2020 Open Book

June 15, 2020

What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had? Have you included it in one of your books?

I’ve done some unusual things in my life. Some people might classify them as crazy. Like getting on a Greyhound bus to travel halfway across the country to go to a college I’d found in a book. (This was back in the days before the internet. All correspondence to/from the college was done by snail mail. ) Or dangling off a cliff for a basic mountain climbing course four months after breaking my collarbone in a bicycling accident. Or the time we (hubby and me) went camping in a wilderness area with our six-day old baby. (It was a wonderful experience!)

How about changing careers when I was over 40? Moving ourselves cross-country from Oregon to Florida? Or the decision to self-publish a novel when I was umpteen years old?

Go ahead. Pick one. None of them are in any of my books.

Not specifically, anyway. That doesn’t mean the life’s lessons I learned along the way haven’t influenced my stories. Harmony from my mystery series is never going to go mountain climbing, but my once-upon-a-time desire to be a librarian influenced her career. And the hills I went hiking and camping in provide a backdrop for two of my Free Wolves books.

It could happen in a future book. Maybe I’ll get one of my characters lost in the Rocky Mountains and they have to use their mountain climbing and wilderness skills to find their way back to civilization. (Did I mention the week-long survival training class I took in high school?) Or I can force Harmony to move from her beloved Oak Grove. How would she handle it?

Speaking of Harmony and her adventures, I received the first batch of paperbacks of The Samurai’s Inro, her newest story. Cross your fingers that the event I want to sell them at happens!

If you don’t want to wait that long, and want to purchase a copy now, you can find more information HERE

If you want to check out the unusual experiences of the other authors, you can follow the links below. And, as always, please sta safe until we ‘meet” again.

June 15, 2020

What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had? Have you included it in one of your books?

Her Ladyship’s Ring #MFRWorg Book Hooks

By P.J. MacLayne June 9, 2020 June 10, 2020 Uncategorized

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

Spiderweb #OpenBook Blog Hop

By P.J. MacLayne June 1, 2020 June 1, 2020 Open Book

June 1, 2020

Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” That’s how I feel about my writing.

Because I didn’t plan it. When I wrote Wolves’ Pawn, it was a one and done. It was fun, and then it was time to try something else. If you’ve been following me for a long time, you know the next book I wrote was supposed to be a different kind of paranormal romance, one featuring a librarian and a ghost. It didn’t turn out like that, because the characters objected. Instead, it became an almost-cozy mystery titled “The Marquesa’s Necklace.”

But I didn’t abandon the original theme. There might be a ghost in there somewhere. As well as a reference to Wolves’ Pawn. You’ll have to read carefully to find it.

And I fell in love with Harmony, my main character, before I finished writing Necklace, and knew there would be more books in the series. In fact, the fifth book, The Samurai’s Inro, is being released today. And each story has a reference to either the ghost or what became the Free Wolves series, or both. And yes, the first book became a series because the characters demanded it.

For the most part, the Free Wolves books stand on their own. There are overlapping characters, but the books can be read in any order. That was done on purpose. Someday, I might write more in that series. There are a couple of ideas floating around in my head.

The mysteries are different. Although each book is a separate mystery, with no cliffhangers, there’s a strong underlying story arch, and I suggest they be read in order. (Especially books 1 & 2. The other books are more solo stories)

Here’s a teaser from The Samurai’s Inro to give you a hint about the paranormal reference:

I’m in the planning stage for another series. I have to finish the Harmony series first, but I can see the possibility of including references to Harmony in the new books, just for the fun of it. It may be a couple of years before you see the first of those books. I’ve got to finish The Ranger’s Dog Tags.before I start those.

If I can carry it off, it will be quite the spiderweb I weave. It sounds like fun to try!

Since this post is appearing on release day, I can’t pass up the opportunity for promotion. Head over HERE for more information on the Samurai’s Inro and where you can get a copy.

And I’ll be checking out everyone else’s posts during the day, to keep me from staring at my sales figures. You can join me by following the links below.

In the meantime, stay safe out there!

June 1, 2020

Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

The Samurai’s Inro and a New Excerpt

By P.J. MacLayne May 29, 2020 May 29, 2020 Uncategorized

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 Cover Reveal

By P.J. MacLayne May 16, 2020 May 16, 2020 Uncategorized

Here it is! The Cover for “The Samurai’s Inro,” the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Coming June 1, 2020

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.

Harmony Duprie has it made. Or so she thinks.

New job.

New routine.

A quiet life in the quiet little town of Oak Grove.

Oh, and Eli.

But trouble has a long memory and it’s playing a deadly game.

Friends’ cars stolen.

Her apartment ransacked.

The duplicate of a stolen Japanese antique carved box left behind.

Trouble follows wherever she goes, including the parking lot of the police station. Not even the want-to-be bodyguard brought in by Police Chief Sorenson can end the harassment. All her research leads to dead ends.

Can Harmony identify the face of trouble before she loses and the winner takes her life as the final prize?

Let the games begin.

Thanks to K.M Guth for another great cover design.

Scroll down for a bonus.

Watch this space for buy links, coming soon.

Bonus! Just for you, a quick excerpt.

“Not unless Marly comes with me. You coming, Marly?” Kody asked. His angry eyes locked on mine.

“No. I’ve told you no before and I’m telling you again. No.”

I read his intentions and was prepared when he reached for her shoulder. With a quick thrust, I knocked his hand away. “She said no.”

If he had known what was good for him, he would have backed down. He wasn’t that smart. He swung at me. In a classic move, I grabbed his arm and used his own power to toss him to the floor. “Not cool,” I said.

He should’ve stayed down but wasn’t that smart. He wobbled as he half-rose and lunged at me. I moved aside and kicked him in the rear as he sailed by. The alcohol didn’t do him any favors.

“Enough is enough. Give it up. Go home.” I wondered how everyone else was reacting and if I’d need to defend myself from any of his friends, but didn’t dare take my eyes off him. I backed up until I bumped into the bar.

It took him longer to get up the second time. For a minute, I thought he’d finally gotten smart and was giving up. I was wrong.

Tag: #HarmonyDuprie