Guest post – The Book Diva's Reads

Guest Post: Kelly Oliver – COVERT IN CAIRO

Greetings, my bookish peeps. I often find it amazing that we can travel the world and even back in time simply by opening a book. As readers, we can borrow a book from our local library system or purchase a book from our local indie bookseller and travel the globe. Readers reap the benefit of untold numbers of hours of research done by the writer. I, for one, am incredibly grateful that writers are so diligent in their research and incorporate the knowledge they’ve gained via this research into their writings. One such writer is Kelly Oliver. Ms. Oliver is the author of the recently released, Covert in Cairo, and she joins us today to discuss the research she made into early twentieth-century Cairo. Thank you, Ms. Oliver, for joining us today. I can’t wait to learn more about your research and writing.

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Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane’s latest adventure, Covert in Cairo, takes them to… you guessed it. Cairo! This is the only place Fiona has been that I haven’t. I’m so jealous. But I sent to her Cairo at the end of the pandemic, and I had to settle for a trip to Cairo in my imagination.

As a result, I did a ton of research for the book. And I had so much fun learning about the history of Cairo and the place of Egypt in the First World War. I especially enjoyed reading about the grand hotels of Cairo.

In Covert in Cairo, Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane stay in Shepheard’s Hotel. I first heard of Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo in the novels of Elizabeth Peters. Her Amelia Peabody Mysteries are set in Egypt, and they were a huge influence on Fiona Figg. I absolutely love Amelia Peabody, especially as read in the audiobook by the incredible voice artist Barbara Rosenblatt.

I’m thrilled that in a month, at Malice Domestic, I get to dress up at Amelia Peabody as part of the celebration of Elizabeth Peter’s mysteries. I have my pith helmet and my red parasol with matching outfit. I’m just waiting for the lace-up boots to arrive. It’s going to be so much fun.

Amelia always spoke so fondly of her times at Shepheard’s.

Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo was built in 1841 by Englishman Samuel Shepheard. By the end of the 19th Century, it was known throughout the world as one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, and the first to have private bathrooms in each of its guestrooms. Its corridors were large enough to turn a four-horse carriage. And it was famous for its open-air terrace.

It was said, if you sat there long enough, you’d see the entire world pass by.

With lush gardens, a private zoo, grand granite pillars, magnificent stained-glass windows, and was adorned with colorful tapestries and Persian carpets, it was one of the finest hotels in the world. Weekly balls with evening gowns and dress uniforms were a must for ex-pats.

The hotel had many famous guests, including Theodore Roosevelt, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Gertrude Bell, Winston Churchill, and the Prince of Wales, among many others. Lawrence of Arabia and Gertrude Bell have supporting roles in Covert in Cairo.

I read fantastic stories of the Prince of Wales hitting golf balls in the garden, to Winston Churchill forgetting his hat and claiming it a decade later with the same claim ticket.

I also enjoyed researching the food of Egypt. Wherever she travels—at the encouragement of her more worldly friend Clifford—Fiona tries the local cuisine. In this department, I’m a lot more adventurous than Fiona.

Still, Fiona likes to eat. I mean, who doesn’t, right? And good food is a staple of cozy mysteries. I love to include recipes in my newsletter for the food Fiona tries on her various missions.

In Cairo, she was especially taken with the pudding course or dessert. And her sidekick, Kitty Lane is famous for her sweet tooth. Kitty’s favorites are Konafa, a warm dessert made of vermicelli-like strands of dough and either custard or warm milk and nuts, and Om Ali or fragrant Egyptian Bread Pudding, a simple pudding made from special bread, milk, and butter, possibly topped with rose petals and pistachios.

Not as adventurous as Kitty, Fiona’s perennial favorite snack is a few slices of toast served with a whole pot of marmalade and a strong cup of tea.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry! Time for a snack. ♦

Covert in Cairo

by Kelly Oliver

April 24 – May 19, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

1917 Cairo.

Ancient mummies aren’t the only bodies buried in the tombs of Cairo.

The notorious Fredrick Fredricks has lured Fiona to Egypt with a cryptic threat on the Suez Canal.

But when a cheeky French archeologist is murdered, and an undercover British agent goes missing, the threat moves closer to home.

Is the notorious Fredrick Fredricks behind the murders? Or is the plot even more sinister?

Competing excavators, jealous husbands, secret lovers, and belligerent spies are the leading suspects.

As they dig deeper, soon Fiona and Kitty are up to their donkeys in dead bodies.

If they can’t unwind the clues and catch the killer, they might end up sharing a sarcophagus with Nefertiti.

With humor as dry as the Arabian desert, and pacing as fast as a spitting camel, Fiona and Kitty are back in another sparkling adventure, this time in WW1 Egypt.

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: April 2023
Number of Pages: 300
ISBN: 9781804831700 (Paperback)
ASIN: B0BMF2YYQM (Kindle edition)
ASIN: B0BXYT5XKB (Audible audiobook)
Series: A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery, 2 (These are Stand-Alone Mysteries)
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Audible Audiobook | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

PRAISE FOR FIONA FIGG:

“Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and Maisie Dobbs.”
BookTrib

“Tantalizing and riveting with a good dose of humor while keeping the heartbreaking reality of war in the mix.”
The Los Angeles Post

“A clever mix of humor and espionage that will keep you turning the pages and laughing all the way!”
Dianne Freeman, author the Countess of Harleigh mysteries.

“A perfect blend of wit, fun, and intrigue.”
Debra Goldstein, Author of the Sarah Blair Cozy Mysteries

“The perfect wartime spy: Fiona Figg. Smart, sneaky, and full of surprises… A fun whodunit that will keep you turning the pages!”
Cathi Stoler, author of The Murder On The Rocks Mysteries

“Fun, easy-to-read, witty mystery that had me happily turning the pages.”
Melissa’s Bookshelf

“Humor, action, and intrigue. I found myself thoroughly entertained.”
Urban Book Reviews

Covert in Cairo Trailer:

Author Bio:

Kelly Oliver is the award-winning and bestselling author of three mystery series: the seven-book suspense series, The Jessica James Mysteries; the three-book middle-grade kids’ series, Pet Detective Mysteries; and the four-book historical cozy series, The Fiona Figg Mysteries, inspired by those trips to the Green Hills Library.

Currently, Kelly is the Vice President of Sisters in Crime.

When she’s not writing novels, Kelly is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

To learn more about Kelly and her books, go to:
www.kellyoliverbooks.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @KellyOliverBook
Instagram – @kellyoliverbook
Twitter – @kellyoliverbook
Facebook – @kellyoliverauthor

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Guest Post: Kerry Peresta – THE TORCHING

Greetings, my bookish peeps. Have you ever given thought to the power of words? Words can make us sad or glad. Words can unite or divide us. Words can incite or excite us. As Margaret Atwood said, “A word after a word after a word is power.” As a lifelong reader, I’m utterly fascinated by words and the fact that most authors may use the same words but combine them in such a manner that they’ve created something wholly new and entertaining. I’m pleased to welcome back Kerry Peresta, author of The Torching. Ms. Peresta will be sharing with us what she has learned during her journey as a wordsmith. Thank you, Ms. Peresta, for taking the time to join us today, I’m looking forward to learning more about your career as a writer.

The Books are Finished, But the Excavation Continues
by Kerry Peresta

I’m blessed, after fourteen years of hard work and persistence, to finally blurt out the words ‘I’m a novelist’, when someone asks me what I do. There was a time, due to insecurity or a false sense of humility, when I could barely say these words.

I’ve been amazed to discover that much of the job of writing (oh yes, definitely an hours-a-day job if one is serious about it!) concerns inner dialogue. Wrestling with lack of confidence. Honing an ability to resist plummeting into the pit of despair when a three-star review occurs. Learning to rip off the cloak of offense when an editor critiques with nary a word of praise.

I’ve been a writer for thirteen years but didn’t break into a decent contract and hand-held into writing a series until 2019. I’d written magazine articles, blog posts, a humor column, advertising copy, blah, blah…everything but books. I certainly wasn’t afraid to attack the process of writing a book…I’d written my first novel in 2010 and it released in 2013. However…it was such a train wreck that I wrung my hands and backed away from the process. I’d jumped the gun. My manuscript was nowhere near ready for publication, so I decided to consider the whole thing a learning experience. Actually, the journey of becoming a novelist is just that…a learning experience. I’ve learned more than I ever thought possible, and grown as a human as well as a writer! Many of the skills a novelist learns bleed over into life. For instance:

1. Enhanced Communication Skills

How many of us stutter and stammer and dig our toes into the ground when we meet a new person? Do you, like me, experience an instant urge to run in the other direction, lest the new person discovers how freaking unstable and weird we are? Well. I’ve found that working on a novel enhances my communication skills like crazy. The dialogue between my characters definitely works out some of the kinks in my psyche that I didn’t discover until I put the words down on the page! Sometimes I have to lift my hands from the keyboard, put them in my lap, and stare at what I’ve dialogued between characters. I spend a few minutes internalizing what just happened. Often, it’s a searing look at my own issues and insecurities. The excavation process of my soul occurs, revealing long-buried data in need of dusting off and examination. Perhaps tossing aside. This process has both solidified and emboldened me as a human.

2. Increased Agility of Mind

The words! The words!

I’m such a lover of words. Writing a novel forces me to leave the thesaurus open and discover new, more delicious words each time I sit down at my desk. I become so bored with writing ‘she smiled’ or ‘he grinned’ or ‘he furrowed his brow’, etc. There are only so many ways to depict these things, but I’m forever searching. Also, many times there is one lovely, perfect, word to replace the four or five useless ones I’ve written. With each book, I strive to keep the reader from becoming bored with repetitive, unnecessary words. My protagonist in the Olivia Callahan Suspense series sustained injuries from an assault that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. She lost her memory and most of her past life. With each book, I must reiterate to a new reader a bit of backstory so they understand the trajectory of the story and why. I’ve come up with many creative and concise ways to implicate what’s happened to her, which has been a thoughtful, nail-biting, experience. Again, I do not want to commit the cardinal sin of boring a reader! The end result of all this mind-bending, wordplay is that my brain is as healthy as a horse.

3. Disaster Avoidance

I’m a suspense author. If pigeonholed further, psychological suspense, because I love the arc of a character and how they evolve under the direst of circumstances. What has this process reaped in me? A clearer and more sober view of how my actions and thoughts dictate an end result. With others, or with myself. An author cannot help but put themselves in the place of their protagonist. We experience the danger and gasps of shock along with them, and our hasty, pecking, fingers pound out the tension, frustration, and despair with heart-wrenching clarity. All this desperate desire to put realism and authenticity on the page results in a taut look at ourselves. At least it does in me. What if I had truly been in that situation? How would I have responded? Would I have made different choices?

(Goodness. I hope so! My characters make terrible choices.)

The list of life lessons as a novelist is endless and ongoing. I’m grateful and humbled by what my characters have taught me, and that my readers respond with such emotion to them. The absolute best feeling as an author is when my hands take over my brain instead of the other way around. That’s when I know I’m on to something. The words almost write themselves, and I think…maybe I am a novelist, after all. ♦

The Torching

by Kerry Peresta

May 8 – June 2, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Mysterious fires. A haunting past. A secret file.

Three years ago, Olivia Callahan endured an assault that resulted in a devastating brain injury. She survived, but she couldn’t remember anything about her life or who she was. Now, she’s determined to build a bridge between the past she lost and the life she must reclaim.

When Olivia crosses paths with PI Tom Stark, she is drawn to the investigative field, and becomes his intern. She finds a heavily redacted, forty-five-year-old file locked in his desk drawer that mentions her mother as a young woman. Why had her mentor hidden the file from her, and why had he never mentioned a case involving her mother?

As Olivia moves forward with her fledgling career, a string of mysterious fires moves through the community, puzzling the Baltimore Arson Investigative Unit. One of the fires strikes Olivia’s beloved farmhouse in rural Maryland. Now, in addition to uncovering the secrets bound within the redacted file, she becomes convinced that the fires happening around the area are disturbing calling cards…and they’re meant for her.

Book Details:

Genre: Traditional Mystery or Suspense
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: March 2023
Number of Pages: 323
ISBN: 9781685123239 (Paperback)
ISBN: 9781685123246 (eBook)
ASIN: B0BX8GZDXN (Kindle edition)
Series: The Olivia Callahan Suspense series, 3 | Each is a Stand Alone Novel
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Barnes and Noble | B&N eBook | Kobo eBook | Goodreads

The Torching Trailer:

Author Bio:

Kerry Peresta is the author of the Olivia Callahan Suspense series. The Torching, book three, was released in March 2023, and books four and five in 2024 and 2025. Her standalone suspense thriller, Back Before Dawn, releases in May 2023. Additional writing credits include a popular newspaper and e-zine humor column, “The Lighter Side,” (2009—2011); the short story “The Day the Migraine Died,” published in Rock, Roll, and Ruin: A Triangle Sisters in Crime Anthology, articles published in Local Life Magazine, The Bluffton Breeze, Lady Lowcountry, and Island Events Magazine. She is past chapter president of the Maryland Writers’ Association and a current member and presenter of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, Hilton Head Island Writers’ Network, South Carolina Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Kerry is the mother of four adult children, and spent thirty years in advertising as an account manager, creative director, copywriter, and editor. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her working out, riding her bike or kayaking, enjoying the beaches of Hilton Head Island, or cuddling her two cats, Agnes and Felix. She and her husband moved to Hilton Head Island in 2015.

Catch Up With Kerry Peresta:
www.KerryPeresta.net
Goodreads
BookBub – @kerryperesta
Instagram – @kerryperesta
Twitter – @kerryperesta
Facebook – @klperesta

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Guest Post: Corey Fayman – GILLESPIE FIELD GROOVE

Greetings, book people. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and found some time to read. I did a bit of armchair travel to Ireland over the weekend. I don’t hyperfocus on the setting when I’m reading, but it does play a large part in providing a little something extra to the story. It doesn’t seem to matter if the setting is a realistic or fictional location, the descriptions of the area help me picture everything in my mind. Please help me welcome Corey Fayman as our guest today and he’ll be discussing the important role his hometown plays in his Rolly Waters mystery series, including the latest release Gillespie Field Groove. Thank you, Mr. Hayman, for taking the time to join us and sharing your thoughts on your hometown. The blog is now all yours.

Hometown San Diego
Corey Lynn Fayman

From Sherlock Holmes’ London to Harry Bosch’s Los Angeles, fictional detectives have been closely identified with the city they work in. When I started writing the Rolly Waters mystery series, I decided right away that I wanted to set the books in San Diego. While crime authors such as Don Winslow, T. Jeff Parker, and Alan Russell have located some of their novels in San Diego, there wasn’t a regular series that featured the area. The writing team of Robert Wade and Bill Miller wrote a series of hardboiled San Diego novels in the 1940s and 1950s and a 1970s TV detective series called Harry O was filmed in San Diego, but I wanted to write something more contemporary. It’s my town, after all.

When I was growing up, there were three things San Diego was known for—its beaches, the U.S. Navy, and our zoo. While these are still notable parts of the city’s personality and economy, the area has grown more diverse, both culturally and economically. The population has tripled since I was born. It all adds up to a richer and more complex backdrop for a detective novel. I wanted to capture aspects of San Diego that tourists rarely experience, what it’s like to live here.

There’s the sunshine and mild weather of course, but early summer brings weeks of cool fog on the coast. In late summer and fall the dry Santa Ana winds sweep in, giving rise to destructive wildfires. Rain is scarce, but when it arrives the mostly dormant San Diego River floods Mission Valley, cutting off roads, hotels, and shopping centers.

But it’s the little things I really like to write about. A worn-out Blues club downtown called Patrick’s Pub that has survived the Gaslamp District’s transition from seedy sailor hangout to conventioneer’s playground. Or the La Posta taco stand in Hillcrest where I had my first carne asada burrito—a dingy little place, not unlike the hundreds, if not thousands, of other great taco shops in San Diego. Both Patrick’s and La Posta are regular hangouts for my guitar-playing detective Rolly Waters (although he’s currently trying to cut back on his burrito consumption).

With each book, I get a chance to feature new and offbeat places in San Diego County. Black’s Beach Shuffle focused on the high-tech corridors and affluent beach towns of North County. Border Field Blues addressed the complicated past and present of Border Field Park, a neglected state park just across the border from the Tijuana Bull Ring. Desert City Diva takes the reader to our eastern mountains where a funky roadside attraction, Desert Tower, provides views of the Borrego desert and a menagerie of animals carved into the rocks. Ballast Point Breakdown gets close to home with San Diego Bay and the Navy’s Marine Mammal program as the center of action. And in my latest effort, Gillespie Field Groove, events take place in and around a small municipal airport in El Cajon.

Petco Park, Driscoll Wharf, Mitch’s Seafood, Winston’s nightclub, Imperial Beach, the Star of India, Allied Gardens, Ballast Point, Rolando, the Casbah, Lake Wohlford, Market Street, the Belly Up Tavern. The names are real and as evocative as any I could make up. All part of my books. And my hometown. ♦

Gillespie Field Groove

by Corey Fayman

May 8 – June 2, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

An obscure rock’n’roll roadie dies under mysterious circumstances. A prized Jimi Hendrix guitar has gone missing. Can Rolly Waters save his new client from the ruthless collectors looking for it?

When nurse and fledgling pilot Lucinda Rhodes hires guitar-playing private detective Rolly Waters to track down a Stratocaster guitar owned by her deceased father, Rolly is thrilled to take on her case, especially when he learns the guitar’s original owner may have been Jimi Hendrix. But Gerry Rhodes’s reckless personal history leads to more questions than Rolly and Lucinda have bargained for, as an aging rock’n’roll impresario, his trophy wife, a Russian gangster, and the FBI get involved. When a forty-year-old shooting accident reveals a surprising connection to a pop star’s hit record, Rolly sees darker forces at work. And his and Lucinda’s lives hang in the balance.

Book Details:

Genre: Private Detective Mystery, Cozy Mystery
Published by: Konstellation Press
Publication Date: March 2023
Number of Pages: 276
ISBN10: 0998748285
ISBN13: 9780998748283
Series: A Rolly Waters Mystery, 5th
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Praise for Gillespie Field Groove:

“Gillespie Field Groove hits all the right notes. Music fans and general mystery readers alike will enjoy this story’s irresistible beat.”
~ blueinkreview.com

“Exciting, compelling, suspenseful, and reflective of the realities of the music industry and San Diego culture, Gillespie Field Groove is a thrilling mystery novel in which a man seeks to right the wrongs committed by greedy executives.”
~ forewordreviews.com

“GILLESPIE FIELD GROOVE is a gripping mystery and a captivating ride through rock and roll history and San Diego’s music scene. It’s so authentic you can practically hear the fuzz and crunch of Jimi’s Stratocaster coming off the page.”
~ Matthew Quirk, New York Times bestselling author of RED WARNING and THE NIGHT AGENT (now a Netflix series)

“Rolly Waters is back with a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller custom-made for music lovers. Hired to hunt down a missing Fender Strat that may have belonged to Jimi Hendrix, Waters uncovers a series of intertwined mysteries with more twists than a crate full of guitar cables. Gillespie Field Groove is an uptempo page-turner that shines a spotlight on the music industry’s darkest corners.”
~ S.W. Lauden, author of BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION and THAT’LL BE THE DAY: A POWER POP HEIST

“Carefully crafted characters. Twists and revelations. Music and murder. A PI who plays guitar or a guitar player who dallies in detecting? Even Rolly Waters isn’t sure. Whichever it is, Corey Lynn Fayman’s latest gives you a real insight into what it means to be both. Like Don Quixote wielding a guitar instead of a sword. Awesome.”
~ Pamela Cowan, author of COLD KILL

“GILLESPIE FIELD GROOVE is like an easter egg hunt filled with suspense and intrigue that also gives readers a straightforward look into the life of a working musician. I love this series.”
~ Marc Intravaia, guitarist, RICHIE FURAY BAND; BACK TO THE GARDEN

Author Bio:

Corey Lynn Fayman has worked as a musician, sound technician, and interactive designer. He holds a B.A. in English, with a specialization in creative writing and poetry from UCLA, and an M.A. in Educational Technology from San Diego State University. Fayman spent five years as a sound technician and designer at the nationally lauded Old Globe Theatre, where he received several nominations and a Drama-Logue Award for his theatrical sound design. He’s worked as an interactive designer for organizations both corporate and sundry and has taught technology and design courses at various colleges and universities. He lives in San Diego, California, and is the author of four Rolly Waters mystery series, including Black’s Beach Shuffle, Border Field Blues, and Desert City Diva (2015 Indiefab Book of the Year bronze award). The fourth in the series, Ballast Point Breakdown, was honored with the best-in-show Geisel Award at the 2021 San Diego Book Awards.

Catch Up With Corey Fayman:
www.CoreyLynnFayman.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @clfayman
Twitter – @CLFayman
Facebook – @CoreyLynnFayman

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Guest Post: Tj O’Connor – THE HEMINGWAY DECEPTION

Good day, book people. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week and were able to squeeze some reading time into your busy Spring schedules. It never ceases to amaze me that many authors will reveal that their characters seemed to take over the story and it, therefore, went a different way than expected. I’m not quite sure I understand that concept, but then I’ve never been in that creative situation. All I know is that I’m grateful to authors for their stories and characters however the story makes it to the page. Today’s guest, Tj O’Connor, is the author of The Hemingway Deception. He’ll be discussing with us how his characters pushed him. Thank you, Mr. O’Connor, for sharing with us today. The blog is all yours.

My Characters Made Me Do It!
by Tj O’Connor

Since my first novel was published—and I dare say for all my written novels before that—I have always told the stories of leading men in mysteries and thrillers. Oh, not that I have a “guy-thing” or anything. No, it’s because, well, I’m a guy and that’s my writing perspective. My novels have always had critical female characters in lead roles. In my Oliver Tucker paranormal series, The Dead Detective Casefiles (previously, the ridiculous monikered Gumshoe Ghost novels), Tuck told his stories right alongside Angel, his brilliant and adventurous wife. In New Sins for Old Scores, Trick McCall and Richard Jax were aided by Dr. Alexandra “Alex” Vouros. Then, in The Consultant, there was the tenacious Noor Mallory and FBI Agent Victoria Bacarro. While my writing tended to center on the male leads, the strong, smart, and skilled female characters were integral to the plots and the lead characters themselves. This was not for some misogynistic purpose. It was simply my comfort zone as an adventurer, consultant, and guy.

When I began plotting out my latest thriller, The Hemingway Deception, my literary agent, the incomparable Kimberley Cameron, suggested I headline a strong female lead. She was comfortable that given my history of strong female characters in all my books, I could do it justice. I was skeptical at first. How was I going to put myself in the thoughts and actions of a swashbuckling gal fighting bad guys and besting the traditional male roles? Strange as it sounds, I wasn’t sure I could do it.

So, first, I reread all my novels and focused in on the key leading female roles. Then, I binge-watched some excellent television series where the gals ruled the screen. Shows like Fringe, The Americans, Covert Affairs, Homeland, and others. I reached two critical conclusions doing this: first, just write the damn character and quit fretting about it—who cares if it’s a guy or a gal chasing the bad guys. And two, in those scenes where a female perspective or reaction might be important, write it the best I can and get my beta readers to tell me if I missed the mark.

In most cases, writing the scenes where I felt a female perspective was important, I reversed the roles, asking myself, “What would I do here? How is that different if it’s Ana Karras?” In most cases, I found that since I didn’t write sex or deep love emotions into the characters, the differences were small and manageable as a guy. Then, after getting those scenes on paper, I turned to two of my beta readers and challenged them to find my “mis-guided-guy” faults. Surprisingly, there were almost none.

Poof, I wrote on and finished The Hemingway Deception with two strong, independent female leads—Ana Karras and Cat Reyes—who kicked butt, outfoxed, and outthought their adversaries. Ana is hiding among the millions in Manhattan, recovering from near-death at the hands of Cuban Intelligence. When she begins an ill-fated quest to find her missionary parents lost somewhere in Latin America, she’s haunted by her past and coerced into a new mission—to capture Catalina “Cat” Reyes, a rogue Cuban assassin bound for Washington. Cat’s mission could well start another Caribbean crisis. To avert a Cuban-American war, Ana must do the unthinkable—she must once again become Ana Montilla, the notorious FARC guerrilla. As Ana struggles to keep from devolving permanently into Ana Montilla, Cat must overcome past failures and reclaim her skills as Cuba’s top assassin—or die. Ana and Cat are on a collision course. Their paths are not separate, but one. Their pasts inexplicably linked. Their futures reliant on each other. Still, it’s the secrets kept from them that will be the end game. Two deadly women. One treacherous mission. But why do Washington and Havana want them both dead? The answer is simple—Hemingway.

Ana and Cat taught me valuable lessons both about writing and the portrayal of female characters. The biggest one was to simply write a good character. Although I’m not a murderer, psychopath, or assassin, I still understand what they are and can plot through how they think and act and respond. It’s no different than with my female leads. I base characters in part on real people I’ve known in my adventures as an anti-terrorism consultant. And while I don’t know or pretend to understand all the nuances from a female perspective, I do have a wife, two daughters, five granddaughters, a best friend and editor, and many gal-pals all nearby. What better research help could I ask for? When in doubt, I simply asked for help. Most of the time, I wasn’t all that far off—like in how Ana and Cat would respond to threats to their children and what would it take to make them go on a dangerous rollercoaster mission and leave those children behind. I knew I’d spent years leaving home for a day or so on a mission or assignment only to return weeks or months later. I knew the emptiness in my gut when I knew I’d be going for weeks away from home and what it would mean for my kids (especially when they were young). I transposed those feelings over Ana and Cat and added in the terror factor and, viola, I had their reactions down.

Of course, I wouldn’t want to try and write any love scenes or deep romance among the characters. I have absolutely no doubt that I’d screw that up. So, I keep the relationships at a place where I cannot foul up the characters or have Ana bungle her feelings from my guy-perspective. You know, the safe zone. Luckily, it worked for me. Oh, and with a lot of research from my beta team and gal-pals.

In the end, the challenge given me by Kimberley Cameron wasn’t as daunting as I’d feared. I actually think I easily pulled off the lady-lead well. But, then, you be the judge. Join Ana and Cat as they careen toward each other in The Hemingway Deception. Let me know if these two kindred spirits got the job done despite my “guy-brain.”

I look forward to hearing from you either way! ♦

The Hemingway Deception

by Tj O’Connor

May 1 – 26, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Ana Karras is running from her past.
Catalina Reyes is running toward hers.
Two deadly women—one treacherous mission.
A Cuba-America war is at stake.
Why does everyone want them both dead?
The answer is simple . . . Hemingway.

Ana Karras is hiding among the millions in Manhattan, recovering from near-death at the hands of Cuban Intelligence. When she begins an ill-fated quest to find her missionary parents lost somewhere in Latin America, she’s haunted by her past and coerced into a new mission—to capture Catalina “Cat” Reyes, a rogue Cuban assassin bound for Washington. Cat’s mission could well start another Caribbean crisis. To avert a Cuban-American war, Ana must do the unthinkable—she must once again become Ana Montilla, the notorious FARC guerrilla. As Ana struggles to keep from devolving permanently into Ana Montilla, Cat must overcome past failures and reclaim her skills as Cuba’s top assassin—or die. Ana and Cat are on a collision course. Their paths are not separate, but one. Their pasts inexplicably linked. Their futures reliant on each other. Still, it’s the secrets kept from them that will be the end game. Two deadly women. One treacherous mission. What is Operation Perro? Why does everyone want Ana Karras and Cat Reyes dead?

The answer is Hemingway.

Book Details:

Genre: Thriller
Published by: Suspense Books
Publication Date: March 2023
Number of Pages: 370
ISBN: 9798218103323 (Paperback)
ASIN: B0BLP84N1Q (Kindle edition)
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | | Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Praise for The Hemingway Deception:

“A riveting ‘ripped from the headlines’ international thriller: Two women fighting for what they believe; a horrifying assassination plot; deadly enemies, including some in our own government; and a mysterious operative named Hemingway who must be found. O’Connor, a real life anti-terrorism expert, takes us on a roller coaster ride of action, intrigue, betrayal and stunning twists. Read it!”
~ R.G. Belsky, Award-Winning Author of the Clare Carlson Series

“Great characters, non-stop action, a twisted plot, and exotic locations-The Hemingway Deception is exactly what an international thriller should be. Couldn’t put it down.”
~ DP Lyle, Award-Winning Author of the Jake Longly and Cain/Harper Thriller Series

“A rollercoaster ride of international intrigue, governmental deception and the meaning of family. Tj O’Connor’s real-life knowledge of geopolitical affairs shines through on every quick-turning page. Bravo!”
~ Matt Coyle, Author of the Bestselling Rick Cahill Crime Series

“There are no wimps in this fast-paced thriller, male or female. The relentless action will have you flying through the pages, eager to know what happens next.”
~ Terry Shames, Author of the Award-Winning Samuel Craddock Series

“Tj O’Connor does it again in The Hemingway Deception. His action-packed writing is founded in real-world experience with anti-terrorism and threat analysis consulting. This time, he adds kick-ass women to the mix, building in multiple layers of complexity often overlooked in thrillers.”
~ Dawn Brotherton, Author of the Jackie Austin Mysteries and Eastover Treasures

Author Bio:

Tj O’Connor is the author of The Hemingway Deception, Dying with a Secret, (pending publication), The Consultant, and four paranormal murder mysteries.

Tj is an international security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism, investigations, and threat analysis—life experiences that drive his novels. With his former life as a government agent and years as a consultant, he has lived and worked around the world in places like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and throughout the Americas—among others. Tj is a Harley Davidson pilot, a man-about-dogs, and a lover of adventure, cooking, and good spirits (both kinds). He was raised in New York’s Hudson Valley and lives with his wife and Labrador companions in Virginia where they raised five children who are supplying a growing tribe of grands!

Catch Up With TJ O’Connor:
www.TjOConnor.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @tj37
Twitter – @Tjoconnorauthor
Instagram – @tjoconnorauthor
Facebook – @TjOConnor.Author
YouTube – @tjoconnorauthor3905

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Guest Post: Colin Holmes – THUNDER ROAD

Good day, my bookish divas and divos. I’m currently wondering what in the world happened to Spring here in West Virginia. Temperatures fell into the mid-40s yesterday and there were actual snow flurries when I went out of town for a medical appointment. One of the good things about these cooler temps is that I don’t feel guilty curling up in my reading chair with my favorite blanket, a pot of tea, and a few good books. What can I say, I’m a book diva! And as a book diva, I enjoy learning as much as possible about the characters within the stories I’m reading, the settings, and especially why the author chose that time period, setting, etc. The more I learn about these things, the more pleasure I seem to derive from reading the story. As a result of this reading quirk, I’m pleased to welcome Colin Holmes, author of the historical noir, Thunder Road. Mr. Holmes will be introducing us to the main character of this book and I’m looking forward to meeting him. Thank you, Mr. Holmes, for joining us today. The blog is now all yours.

Meet Jefferson Sharp
by Colin Holmes

One of the things every novelist must know is the fictional background of our main characters. You have to know what makes them tick, to learn how they’ll react. So, here’s a little biography on the protagonist of Thunder Road as we meet the detective just west of Fort Worth in the Summer of 1947.

Jefferson Sharp was a child through the roaring ’20s and went through the Depression as a teenager. His dad held a job as a meat cutter at the giant Swift packing plant in Fort Worth, and his mother was a housewife. Sharp graduated from Paschal High School, where he played football and baseball with his childhood friend and neighbor Dave Latham. Dave’s little sister Veronica, younger by four years, was a frequent pest. Sharp was a “C” student not because he lacked the aptitude but because school bored him to death.

While job scarcity was real in the Depression, his father’s steady employment enabled Sharp to go as far with his true love—baseball—as he could. He played for a summer with the Brooklyn Dodgers’ AA farm team, the Fort Worth Cats, but he couldn’t hit a curveball and was told he didn’t have a future in the game.

With no real plan beyond baseball, he worked odd jobs. For a short time, he was a mechanic in his grandfather’s automobile garage. He worked as a pen rider, moving livestock through the enormous Fort Worth stockyards, but he found the romantic ideal of the cowboy was mostly dust, sweat, and manure. He made a friend of a Brand Inspector from the Stockman’s Association who encouraged him to apply to the police department as a first step to becoming a Stockman’s Ranger. He also introduced Sharp to the poker room at the 2222 Club and three years later, to Evelyn Lavelle at a party after the finals of the October 1940 Fort Worth Fat Stock Show Rodeo. They were married in June of 1941.

Police work appealed to Sharp’s curious nature. He was a diligent cop and a quick study, walking the Hell’s Half Acre beat with his partner William “Frenchy” Arquette. He learned how to deal with inquisitive newspaper reporters from old-hand reporter Leo Fuller of the Fort Worth Examiner.

Proving his mettle in the city’s red-light district and the saloons that catered to the cattle drive cowboys of the turn of the century, Sharp made Detective just as most of the illicit activities were moving north of the city limits along Thunder Road.

For a few months, life was great. Sharp had a detective’s badge, a new wife, and a small house on the west side of town. And then came December 7th.

Sharp enlisted on December 15th, after a week of arguing with Evelyn and her family about it. He did his boot camp in San Antonio, where, because of his police experience, he was made a sergeant, then to avenge the Japanese attack on Hawaii, he and his platoon were sent across the Atlantic to Tunisia and North Africa. Sharp fought across North Africa, then the Italian Campaign, and would have gone to Normandy but was still in the hospital recovering from battle wounds. He received the Purple Heart on three separate occasions, a Bronze Star, a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant, and just before the end of the war, another promotion to Captain. “Primarily,” he said, “for not getting all his men killed.

Sharp returned from the war to find jobs scarce. Evelyn was distant. She’d become involved with Elmer “Smitty” Smithson, a Ranger whose flat feet kept him out of the war. She was horrified when her father E.G. Lavelle, the Director of the Fort Worth and Western Stockman’s Association, gave her husband a job working with the Association and her boyfriend to ensure she’d be taken care of. Fortunately for Evelyn, most of the job had Sharp on the road doing long stakeout work at ranches rather than at home. And that is where we find Jefferson Sharp as Thunder Road opens around his cold morning campsite. ♦

Thunder Road

by Colin Holmes

May 1 – 26, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

In this gamble, more than a few poker chips are at stake.

When an Army Air Force Major vanishes from his Top Secret job at the Fort Worth airbase in the summer of 1947, down-on-his-luck former Ranger Jefferson Sharp is hired to find him, because the Major owes a sizable gambling debt to a local mobster. The search takes Sharp from the hideaway poker rooms of Fort Worth’s Thunder Road, to the barren ranch lands of New Mexico, to secret facilities under construction in the Nevada desert.

Lethal operatives and an opaque military bureaucracy stand in his way, but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect dots. And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world—literally so.

Book Details:

Genre: Noir Mystery
Published by: CamCat Books
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 9780744304978 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 9780744304961 (Paperback)
ISBN: 9780744304947 (eBook)
ISBN: 9780744304855 (Digital Audiobook)
ASIN: B09QRN82F2 (Audible audiobook)
ASIN: B09RJLQS2S (Kindle edition)
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Audible Audiobook | Barnes and Noble | B&N eBook | B&N Audiobook | Goodreads | CamCat Books | Kobo Audiobook | Kobo eBook

Praise for Thunder Road:

“This genre-defying and enormously entertaining romp is Mickey Spillane meets Whitley Strieber meets Woody Allen. I can’t remember when I’ve had so much plain old fun reading a book and just didn’t want it to end.”br>~ Historical Novel Society, Editor’s Choice

“Sparkling 1940’s dialogue, wry humor, an unpredictable yet coherent storyline, and a breezy style all his own, make Colin Holmes’ somewhat spooky novel, Thunder Road, a winner. I’ll be on the lookout for his next novel.”
~ Rob Leininger, author of Killing Suki Flood and the Mortimer Angel “Gumshoe” series

“[In this] intriguing debut . . . clear crisp prose . . . morphs from a western into a detective story with an overlay of conspiracy theories.”
~ Publishers Weekly

“. . . one of the best mysteries I’ve ever read. The plot, characterization, timing, setting, dialogue, and tension was spot on. Love the noir feel of the past. Have to admit the ending twist caught me by surprise. Well done..”
~ Larry Enmon, author of Class III Threat, City of Fear, and The Burial Place

Author Bio:

Before the pandemic, Colin Holmes toiled in a beige cubical as a mid-level marketing and advertising manager for an international electronics firm. A recovering advertising creative director, he spent far too long at ad agencies and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, Holmes has written newspaper classifieds, TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles, and tweets. His ads have sold cowboy boots and cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste site clean-up services. He’s encountered fascinating characters at every turn.

Now he writes novels, short stories, and screenplays in an effort to stay out of the way and not drive his far too-patient wife completely crazy. He is an honors graduate of the UCLA Writers Program, a former board member of the DFW Writers Workshop, and serves on the steering committee of the DFW Writers Conference. He’s a fan of baseball, barbeque, fine automobiles, and unpretentious scotch.

Catch Up With Colin Holmes:
ByColinHolmes.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @bycolinholmes
Instagram – @bycolinholmes
Twitter – @bycolinholmes
Facebook – @colin.holmes.1213

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Guest Post: Charles Salzberg – MAN ON THE RUN

Happy Friday, my bookish peeps. Every day there seems to be a news story about a new strain of Covid-19 making an appearance somewhere in the world. I’m hoping and praying that none of these new strains are as deadly as the first. Unlike many people, I actually enjoyed the “shutdown.” I stayed home and read books, lots and lots of books. The solitude was a delight for this introvert. I know, many of you had to deal with new work dynamics, not to mention childcare and education dynamics. We all learned how to cope with this new “normal.” I’m honored to welcome back Charles Salzberg, author of Man On the Run. Mr. Salzberg will be sharing the impact of the pandemic on his writing. Thank you, Mr. Salzberg, for returning to visit with us, the blog is now all yours.

How the Pandemic Played an Important Role in My Latest Novel
by Charles Salzberg

The Covid pandemic upended many lives but for someone like me who’s spent most of his adult life as a freelance writer, it was a piece of cake. After all, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that sheltering in place is something I’ve been rehearsing for all my life.

Staying home was no longer simply a suggestion. Now it was a sign of doing our patriotic duty, making sure our fellow citizens remain safe and Covid-free.

But after a while, even for me, a self-proclaimed expert at finding plenty to do within the confines of my apartment, it became a little challenging in terms of filling the time. I mean, how many Zoom lunches, or Zoom catch-ups, can one person abide?

Of course, there were the usual activities: Reading. Surfing the web. Hop-scotching between one streaming service to another, starting with A for Apple and going through P for Peacock and S for Starz, the opportunities were mind-shattering. Even doing some writing (although, to be honest, I don’t think I got any more writing done being home all day than I did pre-pandemic).

But occasionally, even the eyes need a rest and I yearned for something a little more relaxing. Something where I could lie back, close my eyes, and just…listen. And that’s how I discovered podcasts.

It wasn’t like I’d never listened to a podcast before. Like most of the country, I was hooked by Serial, the New York Times deep-dive by Sarah Koenig into the Adnan Syed murder case. And I’d been a guest on a couple of podcasts which I certainly didn’t listen to (nor, I’m guessing, were there many others who bothered to tune in). But as a steady diet? No way.

But Covid changed all that. I started hunting down true crime podcasts and was shocked to find there was a seemingly never-ending supply. I’d listen to one, which would inevitably lead to another and another and…well, you get the idea. Eventually, I was led to non-crime podcasts that offer a host of interesting topics. The search for Richard Simmons, Y2K, (Dan Taberski), Pod Save America, January 6th, the first 1993 bombing of the World Trade Building, the list is endless. And the thing of it is, much of the original reporting is first-rate.

I’m never surprised at the bottomless well of cases to talk about, injustices to uncover, mysteries to solve, but what did surprise me was the professionalism of the podcasts and the podcasters. It’s a legitimate form of journalism and, as a former magazine journalist, I was impressed, no make that extremely impressed, by the sheer, dogged, investigative work that goes into these podcasts.

And here’s how the pandemic eventually had an effect on what I was going to write next.

As soon as I finish a novel, I don’t like to put too much daylight between that ending and a new beginning. I’d finished Canary in the Coal Mine and was waiting for my next project to knock on my door. For some reason, my mind kept drifting back to the novel before Canary, Second Story Man, featuring the master burglar Francis Hoyt. Spoiler alert: at the end of that novel, Hoyt manages to elude the authorities and enters a new life as a man on the run. I had no intention of writing another book with Hoyt as the main character, but for some reason, he just wouldn’t relax his grip on me. I kept wondering, what happens to him now? Where does he go? What does he do with himself?

The only way to find out was to start to write about him, which is exactly what I did. I moved him out to the West Coast, and I even figured out what his next “job” would be, but I knew that wasn’t enough. I needed something else. And that’s where what I did during the pandemic came in handy. What if, I asked myself (the question every writer winds up asking), there’s this true crime podcaster and she decides the next subject she’s going to tackle is the legendary burglar, Francis Hoyt? And what if Hoyt found out someone was investigating his life and would then air it for all the world to hear? What would he do about it?

Thus was born Dakota Richards, a former newspaper crime reporter turned podcaster. But I knew virtually nothing about the ins and outs of the profession and so I reached out to the reporter/producer for one of my favorites, Murder in Oregon, Lauren Bright Pacheco. Unsurprisingly, (journalists are usually very helpful, especially to other writers) Lauren immediately returned my email and agreed to answer a whole bunch of questions about the profession. What kind of equipment do you use? How many people are involved in the production of a podcast and what do they do?

And so, with the help of Lauren, I hope I was able to create a compelling character and an impressive figure for Hoyt to spar with. And if I have been successful, I owe a lot of that success to Covid-19. ♦

Man on the Run

by Charles Salzberg

April 17 – May 12, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Master burglar Francis Hoyt is on the run.

After walking away from his arraignment in a Connecticut courtroom, he’s now a fugitive who has to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. And so, he heads west, to Los Angeles, where he meets Dakota, a young true crime podcaster who happens to be doing a series on Hoyt. At the same time, he’s approached by a mysterious attorney who makes Hoyt an offer he can’t refuse: break into a “mob bank” and liberate the contents.

Book Details:

Genre: Crime
Published by: Down & Out Books
Publication Date: April 17, 2023
Number of Pages: 340
ISBN: 9781643963075 (Paperback)
ASIN: B0BXFPFYMB (Kindle edition)
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Down & Out Books

Praise for Man on the Run:

“The stakes couldn’t be higher as the cat and mouse game moves to the Left Coast in Salzberg’s compelling Man on the Run. A superb mix of action, suspense, psychopathology.”

“One part heist movie, one part psychological thriller, three parts great character and blend. Salzberg’s superb Man on the Run will keep your head spinning from the first page to the last.”
~ Reed Farrel Coleman

“Man on the Run grips you from the opening page and doesn’t let go. The plot will leave you breathless with anticipation as a master burglar and a crime podcaster try to outwit and outmaneuver each other before an outrageous heist. There’s nothing better than smart characters, with smart dialogue, going head to head. You won’t want to miss a twist or turn.”
~ Michael Wiley, Shamus Award-winning writer of the Sam Kelson mysteries

“Francis Hoyt, Charles Salzberg’s brilliant burglar anti-hero from SECOND STORY MAN, is back on the prowl in Man on the Run. Old-school crime meets the podcast age as Hoyt tangles with a true-crime reporter as well as fellow felons and the law. Like his hero, Salzberg is a total pro who always brings it home.”
~ Wallace Stroby, author of HEAVEN’S A LIE

“Charles Salzberg is a genius at not only crafting a helluva page-turner of a heist novel, but he also manages to make the reader care about Francis Hoyt, master burglar and pathological narcissist. Hoyt is the man on the run, and the story of how he eludes the law, the mob, and a retired cop who has become his personal nemesis packs a solid punch and leaves you rooting for the guy who’d steal your family jewels without breaking a sweat.”
~ James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle WWII mystery series

“When it comes to Charles Salzberg’s work, you can expect a hard-edged story, crisp dialogue, and memorable characters. This is certainly true — and then some! – in his latest, Man on the Run. Featuring master burglar Francis Hoyt, a tough and intelligent criminal who can’t seem to turn down tempting criminal scores despite the inherent danger, Man on the Run features a true-crime podcast host, a criminal fence, and an investigator hot on the trail of Francis Hoyt as his most challenging and dangerous burglary comes into play. Very much recommended.”
~ Brendan DuBois, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author

“It’s a battle of wits and nerves as a cop, a robber, and a journalist dance around each other weaving a tapestry of deceit and suspense. Salzberg’s dialogue flows like water until it finds truth in this most entertaining read.”
~ Matt Goldman, New York Times bestselling author

“Smart, sly and compelling, with a fascinating main character – the very definition of intelligent suspense.”
~ Lee Child

Author Bio:

Charles Salzberg, a former magazine journalist (New York magazine, Esquire, Redbook, New York Times, and others) and nonfiction book writer (From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, an oral history of the NBA, and Soupy Sez; My Zany Life and Times with Soupy Sales), has been nominated twice for the Shamus Award for Swann’s Last Song and Second Story Man, which also won the Beverly Hills Book Award. His novel Devil in the Hole was named one of the Best Crime Novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine. He is the author of Canary in the Coal Mine and his short stories have appeared in Mystery Tribune, Down to the River, Lawyers, and Guns and Money. He’s been a Visiting Professor Magazine at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and he teaches writing in New York City for the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. He’s also on the Board of PrisonWrites and is a former Board Member of MWA-NY.

Catch Up With Charles:
www.CharlesSalzberg.com
Goodreads
BookBub
Instagram – @charlessalzberg
Twitter – @CharlesSalzberg
Facebook – @charles.salzberg.3
YouTube – @CharlesSalzberg

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Guest Post: Susan Ouellette – THE WAYWARD TARGET

Good day, my bookish peeps. I’ve attended a host of different author talks over the past decade, some in person and others virtual. The one question that seems to keep coming up is “where did you get your inspiration for…?” One of my favorite romance authors read a small article from a historical newspaper and then crafted an amazing historical trilogy based on one line from that article. Some authors find their inspiration comes from something they read in a newspaper or magazine. Others may see or read something that strikes their fancy while traveling. Inspiration seems to hit differently for each author, and as a reader, I find it absolutely fascinating that creativity works this way. I’m honored to welcome back Susan Ouellette, author of The Wayward Target, part of the “The Wayward Spy” series. Ms. Ouellette will be discussing her inspiration with us today. Thank you, Ms. Ouellette, for taking the time to come back for another visit. I can’t wait to learn more about your inspiration for this series. I’ll now turn the blog over to you.

One Author’s Inspiration
by Susan Ouellette

One of the most common questions readers ask is what inspired me to write espionage thrillers. It all began with Nancy Drew. Nancy, as every fan knows, was an amateur sleuth, not a spy, but she started me down a path that led to The Wayward Spy series. As a child, I devoured every Nancy Drew book on the library shelf. I wanted to be her, to encounter danger and emerge safe (and victorious) on the other side of a solved mystery. The desire to live the sleuth life led me to the only thing I could think to do—watch my quiet suburban neighborhood for crimes and suspicious characters. I went so far as to keep a notebook filled with observations about the neighbors’ comings and goings. Alas, the closest thing to a crime I encountered was the time someone cut the stems of all the flowers in my neighbor’s well-manicured yard. (The crime remains unsolved to this day.)

After burning through the Nancy Drew series, I moved on to Agatha Christie books. With their international flair, her novels introduced me to a broader world of intrigue. My sophomore year of high school, I read George Orwell’s 1984, an allegory for life in the Soviet Union. And just like that, my passion for books full of intrigue, mystery, and danger coalesced around something new—Cold War spy thrillers. I started with Tom Clancy’s classic, The Hunt for Red October, and never looked back. Forsythe, Follett, Le Carre, Ludlum—you name it, I read it. But as much as I loved these books, I wanted more. I wanted in. I wanted to be part of the spy world depicted in my favorite novels. But I wasn’t sure how to go about getting there.

In college, I took every Russia- and Soviet Union-related class that I could. Hidden away in the dusty, hushed stacks of the campus library, I spent my spare time researching the KGB and the CIA. One day, I happened upon an ad in the employment section of the newspaper (back when there was such a thing). A federal government job fair? Would the CIA be there? Several weeks later, I had my answer and an application for the Agency’s college internship program in hand. The whole process took nine months and included a thorough background investigation, an even more thorough polygraph examination that stretched over two days, and a chat with a CIA “shrink” who told me the polygraph was tripping me up because of my “Catholic guilt.” At last, one June morning, I received a phone call informing me I was to report to CIA headquarters in two weeks.

I was a bundle of nerves that first day on the job. After a lengthy (and somewhat tedious) orientation session, I found myself in an office staring at a file labeled “Top Secret.” I’d finally made it—I was Nancy Drew! Well, not exactly Nancy, but I couldn’t have been more excited if I were. I spent three years at the CIA as a college intern and a graduate fellow learning more about the former Soviet Union than I could have in any classroom. As much as I loved my time at the Agency, I leapt at the chance to work as a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

I thought working for the CIA was cool (and it was) but working for the committee that oversees the entire intelligence community was beyond cool. Our office was tucked in a windowless space in the U.S. Capitol building’s attic. The atmosphere was a mélange of intrigue, secrecy, political power, and American history. I traveled, met CIA station chiefs, attended briefings from top government officials, and led an investigation into an intelligence matter I probably shouldn’t discuss. It wasn’t all excitement, of course. The most mundane part of the job was wading through stacks of intelligence agencies’ budget requests so I could recommend funding cuts or increases to congressional leadership. It was during those moments, with massive dollar amounts blurring on the pages before my eyes, that my mind wandered. I imagined the life of a fictional character with a background like mine who found herself embroiled in a dangerous political scandal. And that is how Maggie Jenkins, the protagonist in The Wayward Target, was born—in a windowless, soundproof, vaulted office in the Capitol building’s attic. It was a long journey from Nancy Drew to Maggie Jenkins, but I wouldn’t change a single step along the way. ♦

The Wayward Target

by Susan Ouellette

April 17 – May 12, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

When a price is placed on her head, Maggie must face the terroristic mastermind to save her lover’s life without betraying her most loyal friend.

Evil Triumphs Only if Good Women Do Nothing

A year after hunting down the terrorist who killed her fiancé, CIA analyst Maggie Jenkins finds herself with a price on her head. In retaliation for chasing and killing an elite member of a terrorist cell, Maggie now is on the hitlist of the mastermind behind numerous terrorist attacks.

With Maggie’s movements severely restricted by the presence of a round-the-clock security detail, it’s up to her boss, Warner Thompson, and CIA officer Roger Patterson to find and eliminate the terrorist who stalks her. But when a shadowy Russian operative surfaces and presents Maggie with intel that might lead her to the man who orchestrated her fiancé’s death, she can no longer watch from the sidelines. Is she willing to risk her growing relationship with Roger, Warner’s career, and her own life to finally get justice and bring down a major terrorist cell?

Book Details:

Genre: Espionage Thriller
Published by: CamCat Publishing
Publication Date: April 2023
Number of Pages: 368
ISBN13: 9780744308723 (Hardcover)
ISBN10: 0744308720
ISBN: 9780744308761 (eBook)
ISBN: 9780744308778 (Digital Audiobook)
ASIN: B0BW2KVJMT (Audible Audiobook)
ASIN: B09XY44NWK (Kindle edition)
Series: The Wayward Series, Book 3 | Each is a Stand-Alone
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Audible Audiobook | Barnes & Noble | B&N eBook | B&N Audiobook | Kobo Audiobook | Kobo eBook | Goodreads | CamCat Books

Author Bio:

Susan Ouellette was born and raised in the suburbs of Boston, where she studied international relations and Russian language and culture at both Harvard University and Boston University. As the Soviet Union teetered on the edge of collapse, she worked as an intelligence analyst at the CIA, where she earned a commendation for her work done during the failed 1991 Soviet coup. Subsequently, Susan worked on Capitol Hill as a professional staff member for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).

It was there in the Capitol Building, during quiet moments, that Susan conceived of Maggie Jenkins, an intrepid female character thrust into a dangerous situation borne of tragedy. Next came the threads of a plot, and from that blossomed her first espionage thriller, The Wayward Spy.

Susan lives on a farm outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband, three boys, cats, chickens, turkeys, and too many honeybees to count. In her spare time, she loves to read, root for Boston sports teams, and spend time staring out at the ocean on the North Carolina coast.

Catch Up With Susan:
www.SusanOuellette.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @susanobooks1
Instagram – @susanobooks
Twitter – @smobooks
Facebook – @SusanOuelletteAuthor
YouTube – @susanouellette-author6477

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Guest Post: I.M. Foster – MURDER ON OAK STREET

MURDER ON OAK STREET by I.M. Foster book cover featuring a greenish-gray Victorian home with trees in the background and a dark, cloudy sky above

Good day, my bookish peeps. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and for those of you celebrating religious holidays, I pray you had a great holiday. I’m a somewhat persnickety reader when it comes to fiction. When I’m reading historical fiction, I expect that the historical tidbits offered by the author will be true (unless the author is using an alternative historical setting). If a story is set in the Victorian Era, then I fully expect the British monarch to be Queen Victoria, not Queen Dougless. As I’ve stated in the past, I can suspend belief with the best of them but there are certain facts that I find hard to overlook in my fiction reading. Today’s guest, I.M. Foster, author of the historical read Murder on Oak Street, will be sharing with us how she straddles the fine line between history and mystery. I hope you’ll enjoy her thoughts on this subject, follow the blog tour to learn more about this book and its author, and don’t forget to enter the tour-wide giveaway. Thank you, Ms. Foster, for joining us today. I’ll now turn the blog over to you.

Walking a Fine Line Between History and Mystery
by I.M. Foster

I’ve always been a historian, so most of what I write has some historical aspect to it, whether mystery, romance or even paranormal. What I discovered early on was that writing any sub-category of the historical genre is like writing two genres at the same time, even if the historical aspect is in the background.

I knew as I started writing Murder on Oak Street, that I would have to do a lot of research if I wanted to set my novel on turn-of-the-century Long Island. But then, both the librarian and the historian in me love research so that was in no way a deterrent. I chose the south shore, rather than the more infamous Gold Coast of the north shore because I was looking for someplace not so well known. And yet, I wanted a location that served as a resort area, where the victim and suspect pool could be easily expanded beyond the local residents. I found that in the village of Patchogue. Now, that phase one was complete, it was time to move on to phase two of my research, really getting to know what Patchogue was like in 1904.

I was relatively well acquainted with the village in 2020, but what was it like over a hundred years before? With a loose idea of the plot in hand, I began my research, using local newspapers, records, and photographs. I called on local town historians and local historical librarians, picking their brains for insight into the period. The Patchogue-Medford Library, as it is now known, has a fantastic local history department, so I was able to find everything from a 1904 directory to pictures of what Patchogue’s streets and buildings looked like at the time. The library was even kind enough to allow me to feature some of the pictures on my website, which is a tremendous visual aid for my readers. And being able to add the names of actual locations that existed at the time, helped enhance the historical flavor of the mystery.

Having gained a clear picture of the village, I broadened my research and dug into the history of the time period as a whole, so that I could incorporate that into the characters and events. Things like fingerprints were extremely new and not being used on a regular basis, but electricity and telephones were becoming more common, as was the automobile. The hotel where Daniel stays in Patchogue even had steam heating in its rooms, quite a luxury at the time.

Once I had a feel for the time period and village in 1904, I began to write, weaving in little bits of history here and there, while still keeping the focus on the mystery aspect of the book, I also wanted to integrate a bit of romance, a character to interact with the hero, Daniel O’Halleran, on both an intellectual and an emotional level. Thus I created Kathleen Brissedon, the local librarian, which in turn gave me the opportunity to include a bit more history, about the library itself this time. What I ended up with, I hope, is a period mystery that will transport you to 1904 Long Island and introduce you to characters that might have very well existed at the time. Hop on the Long Island railroad with Daniel and see if you can solve this first South Shore Mystery… ♦

Murder on Oak Street

by I. M. Foster

April 10 – May 5, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

New York, 1904. After two years as a coroner’s physician for the city of New York, Daniel O’Halleran is more frustrated than ever. What’s the point when the authorities consistently brush aside his findings for the sake of expediency? So when his fiancée leaves him standing at the altar on their wedding day, he takes it as a sign that it’s time to move on and eagerly accepts an offer to assist the local coroner in the small Long Island village of Patchogue.

Though the coroner advises him life on Long Island is far more subdued than that of the city, Daniel hasn’t been there a month when the pretty librarian, Kathleen Brissedon, asks him to look into a two-year-old murder case that took place in the city. Oddly enough, the case she’s referring to was the first one he ever worked on, and the verdict never sat right with him.

Eager for the chance to investigate it anew, Daniel agrees to look into it in his spare time, but when a fresh murder occurs in his own backyard, he can’t shake his gut feeling that the two cases are somehow connected. Can he discover the link before another life is taken, or will murder shake the peaceful South Shore village once again?

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Indie
Publication Date: October 2022
Number of Pages: 503
ISBN: 9781733337571 (Paperback)
ASIN: B0BFMT4WL2 (Kindle edition)
Series: A South Shore Mystery, Book 1
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Goodreads

Author Bio:

I. M. Foster is the pen name author Inez Foster uses to write her South Shore Mystery series, set on Edwardian Long Island. Inez also writes historical romances under the pseudonym Andrea Matthews, and has so far published two series in that genre: the Thunder on the Moor series, a time-travel romance set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Borders, and the Cross of Ciaran series, which follows the adventures of a fifth century Celt who finds himself in love with a twentieth-century archaeologist.

Inez is a historian and librarian, who love to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogically speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. Inez is a member of the Long Island Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society.

Find Out More & Get Social With I. M. Foster:

IMFosterMysteries.com – for her mysteries
www.andrea-matthews.com – for her romances
Goodreads
BookBub – @imfostermysteries
Instagram – @imfosterauthor
Twitter – @IMFosterMystery
Facebook – @IMFosterMysteries

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Guest Post: Jim Nesbitt – THE DEAD CERTAIN DOUBT

Good day, book people, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day for those of you celebrating. I’ll be celebrating by reading, what can I say, I’m a self-professed book diva! Although I love reading, I am not an expert in differentiating between all of the different genres and subgenres in fiction. I’m still learning about the fundamental differences between mysteries, suspense, police procedurals, cozies, noir, hard-boiled fiction, and more. I’m pleased to welcome today’s guest, Jim Nesbitt, author of the Ed Earl Burch novels, including the latest addition, The Dead Certain Doubt. Mr. Nesbitt will be sharing his thoughts on hard-boiled detective fiction with us today. I’m eager to learn more about this crime fiction genre. So sit back, grab your favorite beverage of choice, and let’s learn a bit more about hard-boiled fiction. Thank you, Mr. Nesbitt, for joining us today. The blog is now all yours.

Banner with Guest Post in a script font under a line and with a stack of books over the word "guest"

I’ve always thought of hard-boiled detective fiction as an American art form.

At their finest, these crime stories are far more than a lone figure trying to unravel a mystery — they’re commentaries on politics, culture, music, the uneasy relationship between men and women, and the bottomless depravity and cruelty of human nature.

All within service of the story, of course. But done right, these aren’t mere asides. They’re markers that reveal a character’s likes, dislikes, obsessions, and motivations, adding depth to the portrait started by dialogue and action with other characters.

The best of the breed also creates a keen sense of time and place. Too many authors pay little attention to setting, either waxing poetic about landscape with no real purpose in mind or spinning one-dimensional descriptions that have all the depth of a scenery flat at the local playhouse. The best spins a setting so vivid and real that it becomes a character unto itself that shapes the human characters as they move across and react to it. Again, adding more depth.

Sometimes, a writer draws such an enduring image of place that they become indelibly linked to it. Think Raymond Chandler and Los Angeles. Or John D. MacDonald and small-town Florida, a grifter’s paradise.

As a journalist, I spent a lot of time chasing stories on the Texas-Mexico border and fell in love with the harsh, stark, and craggy beauty of West Texas, its desert flatlands and its colliding mountains. It is a land that can be both grim and awe-inspiring. I found it to be the perfect setting for the violent tales of revenge and redemption I was trying to tell in my Ed Earl Burch hard-boiled crime thrillers.

Here’s a short example from my third Ed Earl novel, The Best Lousy Choice:

He almost died in this stark and primal country and he still had
those demons lurking in their rocky holes. But as he drove north, he was a hunter unafraid, a cop working his bloody trade and drawn to the grim beauty of these unforgiving mountains and the way they clashed and collided — the Rockies slicing in from the northwest, vestiges of the Ozarks creeping in from the northeast and the Sierra del Carmens knifing out of the southwest and Mexico.

It was as if the gods, ancient, angry and always thirsty for blood, had ripped open the flesh of the earth and exposed its bones. It was savage country, inhabited by spirits more terrible than the demons of his nightmares.

It was a place where those demons couldn’t hide. If they arose, they’d be out and exposed in the burning sun where Burch could see them — in the blinding light, their hold on him broken by the harsh glare of the land itself. If he lived here, he wouldn’t need the whiskey salvation and the half-a-Percodan sacrament.

At the center of these books is a lone wolf who relies on brains, brawn, and a threadbare code in grim pursuit of answers that may not lead to anything resembling justice. That’s the kind of story I set out to tell in my hard-boiled crime thrillers. And the type of character I created in Ed Earl Burch.

I wanted Burch to be deeply flawed — tough, profane, reckless, and just smart enough, but angst-driven and battered by life. A guy who sometimes forgets the code he lives by until the chips are down. He isn’t super sharp like Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe — he’s dogged rather than brilliant. And he isn’t super cool like Frank Bullitt. He’s Columbo without the caricature — and he makes people pay for underestimating him.

I’ll let you judge whether I hit the mark in my latest book, The Dead Certain Doubt. Thanks for taking a quick hop around my block and letting me yack a bit about why I write hard-boiled crime thrillers that feature an ornery good ol’ boy who is, in the words of one reviewer, “nobody’s hero, nobody’s fool.” ♦

The Dead Certain Doubt: An Ed Earl Burch Novel

by Jim Nesbitt

March 13 – April 7, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Revenge, Guilt, Redemption & Gunsmoke

When Doubt Is Your Only Friend

Ed Earl Burch, a cashiered Dallas murder cop, is a private detective facing the relentless onslaught of age, bad choices, guilt and regret. Smart, tough, profane and reckless, he’s a survivor who relies on his own guts and savvy and expects no help or salvation from anybody.

But he’s also a man who longs for the sense of higher calling he felt when he carried a homicide detective’s gold shield. He seeks redemption and a chance to make amends to a dying old woman he abandoned decades ago when she needed him most.

When he sees her again, she has the same request — save her granddaughter from the vicious outlaws on her trail and bring her home for a final goodbye. Easier said than done because the granddaughter is a hardened hustler and gunrunner, hellbent on avenging a lover who got chopped up and stuffed into a barbecue smoker by cartel gunsels and a rival smuggler.

To fulfill the old woman’s last request, Burch heads back to the borderlands of West Texas on a mercy mission that plunges him into a violent world of smugglers, cartel killers, crooked lawmen, Bible-thumping hucksters, anti-government extremists and an old nemesis who wants to see him dead.

The odds are long and Burch has his doubts — about himself, the granddaughter, old friends and the elusive nature of grace from guilt. Truth be told, doubt is the only thing he’s dead certain of.

Grace Or A Desert Grave?

Book Details:

Genre: Hard-Boiled Crime Thriller
Published by: Spotted Mule Press
Publication Date: February 28, 2023
Number of Pages: 306
ISBN: 9780998329451 (Paperback)
ASIN: B0BX4NBF4J (Kindle edition)
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Barnes and Noble | BookDepository.com

Praise for The Dead Certain Doubt:

“Gritty and tough with enough despicable West Texas hombres to fill a tour bus.”
—Bruce Robert Coffin, award-winning author of the Detective Byron mysteries

“Rough days and harsh nights seem like paradise before it’s all over….”
—Rod Davis, author of the Southern noir novels, South, America and East of Texas, West of Hell

“A no-holds-barred mission of revenge, redemption and righting wrong from the past….”
—R.G. Belsky, author of the Clare Carlson mysteries

“The pace is swift, the action is raw and the characters are intense and visual.”
—Carmen Amato, author of the Emilia Cruz and Galliano Club mystery series

“Ed Earl Burch will guide you through the last arroyo with wit, truly memorable dialogue and locations you’d like to visit…with a gun.”
—John William Davis, author of Rainy Street Stories and Around the Corner

“The Dead Certain Doubt is a thrilling, lightning-paced, ferocious crime novel. Highly recommended!”
—Rich Zahradnik, author of The Bone Records and Lights Out Summer, winner of the 2018 Shamus Award for Best Paperback Private Eye Novel

Author Bio:

Jim Nesbitt is the award-winning author of four hard-boiled Texas crime thrillers that feature battered but relentless Dallas PI Ed Earl Burch — The Last Second Chance, a Silver Falchion finalist; The Right Wrong Number, an Underground Book Reviews “Top Pick”; and, his latest, The Best Lousy Choice, winner of the best crime fiction category of the 2020 Independent Press Book Awards, the 2020 Silver Falchion award for best action and adventure novel from the Killer Nashville crime fiction conference and bronze medal winner in the best mystery/thriller e-book category of the 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards. His latest book is The Dead Certain Doubt, which was released in early March. Nesbitt was a journalist for more than 30 years, serving as a reporter, editor, and roving national correspondent for newspapers and wire services in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C. He chased hurricanes, earthquakes, plane wrecks, presidential candidates, wildfires, rodeo cowboys, migrant field hands, neo-Nazis, and nuns with an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the voice of the people who give life to a story. His stories have appeared in newspapers across the country and in magazines such as Cigar Aficionado and American Cowboy. He is a lapsed horseman, pilot, hunter, and saloon sport with a keen appreciation for old guns, vintage cars and trucks, good cigars, aged whiskey, and a well-told story. Nesbitt regularly reviews crime fiction and history on his blog, The Spotted Mule, and his author website, as well as on Facebook, Amazon, and Goodreads. He now lives in Athens, Alabama.

To learn more, visit him at:
JimNesbittBooks.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @edearl56
Facebook – @edearlburchbooks

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Guest Post: Richard Podkowski – THE WALK-ON

Greetings, my bookish peeps. I’ve previously stated that I thoroughly enjoy reading books set in cities and towns I’m familiar with from past visits. It doesn’t seem to matter that those visits might have been 40 or even 50 years ago, there’s usually enough memory left for a sense of “I know that place” or “I’ve been there.” Today’s guest, Richard Podkowski, author of The Walk-On, revisits Chicago and shares his ties to the Windy City. I hope you’ll enjoy what he has to say and add The Walk-On to your ever-increasing TBR list. Thank you, Mr. Podkowski, for joining us today and sharing your Chicago story. The blog is now all yours.

The Walk-On — a true Chicago story
by Richard Podkowski

In The Walk-On, Mike “the Steelman” Stalowski is a blue-collar kid who grew up in the shadows of the Chicago steel mills, where hard-working immigrants poured molten steel 24/7 while smokestacks belched black smoke until they were shuttered in the mid-70s. The word steel in Polish is “stal” which is the root of the Steelman’s surname. Technically, my interpretation means he’s made of steel.

Chicago, one of the most diverse cities in the world, has many nicknames including Chi-town, City of Big Shoulders, Windy City, Second City, and oddly for most, the Third Coast. Although if you’ve ever been on the lakefront, you understand.

Many people have heard of the South, North, and West Sides. No East Side as you’d be in Lake Michigan. The city has over 200 distinct neighborhoods. You’ll find the Steelman in Hegewisch, Lincoln Park, Little Italy, Wrigleyville, and the Gold Coast. The long-standing North Side / South Side rivalry is real. One of my characters from the South Side mocks a friend from the North Side for not venturing farther south than Roosevelt Road. Technically, the dividing line is Madison Street. Ironically, both live in the western suburbs, which is another rivalry.

The South Side is known for being more blue-collar, and it definitely has some of the city’s most poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Conversely, the white-collar North Side includes the bustling downtown area, with its well-known skyscrapers, lakefront recreation and residential high-rises, mansions, upscale eateries and shopping options, and numerous cultural destinations.

I am proud to have grown up on the South Side. We were certainly blue-collar, poor actually, and I lived in a tiny cottage bungalow. Like Stalowski, my parents were Polish immigrants who came to Chicago seeking a better life. My dad toiled in the South Side stockyards until he became a printer. My mother worked on a Westinghouse Corporation factory assembly line, alongside other Polish and Hispanic women. She didn’t speak good English, and she didn’t speak bad Spanish. They got along just fine.

I didn’t visit downtown until I was in 1st or 2nd grade and never dreamed I would one day attend Loyola University on the North Side lakefront. In all fairness, I confess that after becoming empty-nesters, my wife and I lived in East Lakeview and loved it. We walked everywhere: grocery store, gym, church, Wrigley Field, live theater, restaurants, Lincoln Park, and even to the glitzy Magnificent Mile on North Michigan Avenue. Can’t do that in the towns of area codes 708, 630, or 847.

The baseball rivalry is real too. The Cubs are the North Side heroes. The White Sox are their South Side rivals. Fortunately, the whole city roots for the Bulls, Blackhawks, and Chicago Bears. In The Walk-On, the city cheers for the fictional NFL Chicago Storm. As the book begins, Mike “the Steelman” Stalowski, notorious hometown hero hailing from the South Side, has been a fan favorite for years.

I hope you’ll enjoy Mike’s escapades around Chicago — my beloved hometown.♦

The Walk-On by Richard Podkowski
ISBN: 9798885280334 (Paperback)
ISBN: 9798215806234 (eBook)
ASIN: B0BTF6C5PX (Kindle edition)
Page Count: 315
Release Date: February 23, 2023
Publisher: Acorn Publishing LLC.
Genre: Fiction | Sports Fiction

In the twilight of his NFL career as a middle linebacker for the Chicago Storm, Mike “the Steelman” Stalowski masks his physical pain and mental anguish with alcohol and painkillers. The fan favorite has a rebel image and a notorious reputation, and he plays a violent gridiron game fueled by inner rage.

While estranged from his wife and living in the fishbowl environment of professional sports, he unexpectedly meets the fresh-out-of-college Kim Richardson. She sees through Mike’s star persona to who he really is—a kind guy from the Southeast Side of Chicago who has never forgotten his humble blue-collar roots. The lives of the star-crossed, seemingly mismatched couple collide during a whirlwind romance that culminates in a tragic series of events.

The Walk-On is a timeless tale of love and loss that explores the consequences of personal decisions and the rewards of faith, redemption, and hope.

Meet the Author

Author – Richard Podkowski

Richard Podkowski, a native of Chicago’s South Side, began writing fiction while studying criminal justice at Loyola University Chicago. As a United States Secret Service special agent, Richard protected U.S. presidents and foreign dignitaries and investigated major domestic and international financial crimes until he retired in 2003.

Richard’s projects include a Christmas romantic comedy screenplay and a crime story, both currently in the works. In his free time, Richard enjoys riding his road bike, working out, and making Christmas ornaments. He currently resides with his wife in Los Angeles.

Connect with the author via Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Website

Giveaway

This is a giveaway for one (1) signed print copy of The Walk-On by Richard Podkowski + a small box of Frango Mints, courtesy of Wendy Koenig via Author Marketing Experts. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada only. All entries by non-US/Canadian residents will be voided. To enter use the Rafflecopter link below or click here.

This giveaway begins at 12:01 AM ET on 03/15/2023 and ends at 11:59 PM ET on 03/21/2023. The winner will be announced by 10:00 AM ET on 03/22/2023. Void where prohibited.

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Covert in Cairo

by Kelly Oliver

April 24 – May 19, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Book Details:

PRAISE FOR FIONA FIGG:

Covert in Cairo Trailer:

Author Bio:

To learn more about Kelly and her books, go to:www.kellyoliverbooks.comGoodreadsBookBub – @KellyOliverBookInstagram – @kellyoliverbookTwitter – @kellyoliverbookFacebook – @kellyoliverauthor

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The Books are Finished, But the Excavation Continuesby Kerry Peresta

The Torching

by Kerry Peresta

May 8 – June 2, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Mysterious fires. A haunting past. A secret file.

Book Details:

The Torching Trailer:

Author Bio:

Catch Up With Kerry Peresta:www.KerryPeresta.netGoodreadsBookBub – @kerryperestaInstagram – @kerryperestaTwitter – @kerryperestaFacebook – @klperesta

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Hometown San DiegoCorey Lynn Fayman

Gillespie Field Groove

by Corey Fayman

May 8 – June 2, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

An obscure rock’n’roll roadie dies under mysterious circumstances. A prized Jimi Hendrix guitar has gone missing. Can Rolly Waters save his new client from the ruthless collectors looking for it?

Book Details:

Praise for Gillespie Field Groove:

Author Bio:

Catch Up With Corey Fayman:www.CoreyLynnFayman.comGoodreadsBookBub – @clfaymanTwitter – @CLFaymanFacebook – @CoreyLynnFayman

Tour Participants:

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My Characters Made Me Do It!by Tj O’Connor

The Hemingway Deception

by Tj O’Connor

May 1 – 26, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Ana Karras is running from her past.Catalina Reyes is running toward hers.Two deadly women—one treacherous mission.A Cuba-America war is at stake.Why does everyone want them both dead?The answer is simple . . . Hemingway.

Book Details:

Praise for The Hemingway Deception:

Author Bio:

Catch Up With TJ O’Connor:www.TjOConnor.comGoodreadsBookBub – @tj37Twitter – @TjoconnorauthorInstagram – @tjoconnorauthorFacebook – @TjOConnor.AuthorYouTube – @tjoconnorauthor3905

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Meet Jefferson Sharpby Colin Holmes

Thunder Road

by Colin Holmes

May 1 – 26, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

In this gamble, more than a few poker chips are at stake.

Book Details:

Praise for Thunder Road:

Author Bio:

Catch Up With Colin Holmes:ByColinHolmes.comGoodreadsBookBub – @bycolinholmesInstagram – @bycolinholmesTwitter – @bycolinholmesFacebook – @colin.holmes.1213

Tour Participants:

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How the Pandemic Played an Important Role in My Latest Novelby Charles Salzberg

Man on the Run

by Charles Salzberg

April 17 – May 12, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Master burglar Francis Hoyt is on the run.

Book Details:

Praise for Man on the Run:

Author Bio:

Catch Up With Charles:www.CharlesSalzberg.comGoodreadsBookBubInstagram – @charlessalzbergTwitter – @CharlesSalzbergFacebook – @charles.salzberg.3YouTube – @CharlesSalzberg

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One Author’s Inspirationby Susan Ouellette

The Wayward Target

by Susan Ouellette

April 17 – May 12, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

When a price is placed on her head, Maggie must face the terroristic mastermind to save her lover’s life without betraying her most loyal friend.

Evil Triumphs Only if Good Women Do Nothing

Book Details:

Author Bio:

To learn more about Kelly and her books, go to:
www.kellyoliverbooks.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @KellyOliverBook
Instagram – @kellyoliverbook
Twitter – @kellyoliverbook
Facebook – @kellyoliverauthor

The Books are Finished, But the Excavation Continues
by Kerry Peresta

Catch Up With Kerry Peresta:
www.KerryPeresta.net
Goodreads
BookBub – @kerryperesta
Instagram – @kerryperesta
Twitter – @kerryperesta
Facebook – @klperesta

Hometown San Diego
Corey Lynn Fayman

Catch Up With Corey Fayman:
www.CoreyLynnFayman.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @clfayman
Twitter – @CLFayman
Facebook – @CoreyLynnFayman

My Characters Made Me Do It!
by Tj O’Connor

Ana Karras is running from her past.
Catalina Reyes is running toward hers.
Two deadly women—one treacherous mission.
A Cuba-America war is at stake.
Why does everyone want them both dead?
The answer is simple . . . Hemingway.

Catch Up With TJ O’Connor:
www.TjOConnor.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @tj37
Twitter – @Tjoconnorauthor
Instagram – @tjoconnorauthor
Facebook – @TjOConnor.Author
YouTube – @tjoconnorauthor3905

Meet Jefferson Sharp
by Colin Holmes

Catch Up With Colin Holmes:
ByColinHolmes.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @bycolinholmes
Instagram – @bycolinholmes
Twitter – @bycolinholmes
Facebook – @colin.holmes.1213

How the Pandemic Played an Important Role in My Latest Novel
by Charles Salzberg

Catch Up With Charles:
www.CharlesSalzberg.com
Goodreads
BookBub
Instagram – @charlessalzberg
Twitter – @CharlesSalzberg
Facebook – @charles.salzberg.3
YouTube – @CharlesSalzberg

One Author’s Inspiration
by Susan Ouellette

Catch Up With Susan:
www.SusanOuellette.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @susanobooks1
Instagram – @susanobooks
Twitter – @smobooks
Facebook – @SusanOuelletteAuthor
YouTube – @susanouellette-author6477

Walking a Fine Line Between History and Mystery
by I.M. Foster

To learn more, visit him at:
JimNesbittBooks.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @edearl56
Facebook – @edearlburchbooks

The Walk-On — a true Chicago story
by Richard Podkowski