Ghost Moon by Rebecca York

GHOST MOON is the seventh book in a werewolf series I never planned.

When I wrote my first Moon book, KILLING MOON, I simply wanted to write a werewolf story, and I thought of the idea of a werewolf detective who uses his wolf senses to solve crimes. Then Berkley asked me for more werewolf books–and I was off and running.

By the time I got to the third book, I realized I needed to add another major theme that would expand the series. So I began writing about heroines who had psychic powers.

I used that in several books. Still, I felt that I needed a bigger canvas, so I introduced an alternate universe, parallel to our own. Only something happened there so that a lot of people suddenly acquired psychic powers, completely disrupting civilization. I’ve had characters from that world come into this one. And I’ve had characters from our world go there.

In GHOST MOON, I’m using that new setting to its full advantage, but I’m also looking for traits that will make each of my werewolf heroes unique and will create conflict between the hero and the heroine. Which is how I came up with the basic idea for the story. Caleb Marshall is the ghost of a werewolf killed 75 years ago by his cousin. And he wants to avenge his own death–which puts him in conflict with the Marshall werewolves my readers know and, hopefully, love. The heroine, Quinn, who comes from my alternate universe, is friends with the Marshalls, so she’s immediately afraid that Caleb will go after them. With my usual twisted glee, I set up a situation where she and Caleb are forced to work with them to defeat a terrorist plot.

As I planned the book, I didn’t want to back myself into a corner with a ghost hero. So I needed a way for Caleb to acquire a body. That’s part of the terrorist plot. But I don’t want to give away any more of the story by telling you more about it. Except to say that I had one more horrible idea. What if the body Caleb acquired couldn’t change to wolf form? What would that do to him?

Rebecca York

There's a Storm on the way in GONE WITH THE WITCH, May 6, 2008

“Psychic witches with attitude SPELL identical-triplet trouble in spikes!”
In a nutshell this is the story of my Triplet Witch Trilogy:

SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, Harmony’s story, in stores now.
GONE WITH THE WITCH, Storm’s story, due in stores TODAY!
NEVER BEEN WITCHED, coming in February, 2009.

But Today’s blog is about Storm, the Goth rebel with attitude. Storm Cartwright grew up knowing she was the straw that broke the camel's back, that it was her arrival that sent their mother running from the hospital before their father ever came to pick them upl.

Each of the triplets has a psychic gift. Harmony sees the past. Destiny sees the future, but Storm sees the present. What good is that? Everybody sees the present, don't they?

Storm thinks so until Aiden McCloud arrives on the scene:

In his presence she hears a baby crying. Abducting him is the only way to follow the sound and find the child. Her scheme includes his luxury motor coach, seduction . . . and four pairs of fuzzy purple handcuffs.

Neither Aiden nor Storm knows who they really are and it takes a wacky road trip and discoveries of all sorts, including secrets, secrets, secrets, for Storm to spot the real Aiden inside the hermit wanderer, and for Aiden to peel away Storm’s tough outer layers to find the jewel hidden deep inside.

I had a blast writing their story. I fell in love with all of them. GONE WITH THE WITCH is like nothing I've ever written, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it.

So don’t forget: handcuffs and secrets, psychics and sex, the sound of crying babies, dragons and tabloids . . . a bad boy and a bad girl, and all the trouble they can get into.

GONE WITH THE WITCH . . . on sale TODAY.

ps: It’s already hit some bestseller lists!
Click below for:
An excerpt!

The Story of the story
"OMG, what a fantastically fun story! GONE WITH THE WITCH has it all; sensuously personable characters, breath-taking romance and a story line that is amusing and totally unique. Talented Annette Blair continues her triplet witch books with Storm’s story, my favorite of the triplets. GONE WITH THE WITCH, don’t you love that title, is a stand alone book but I bet you won’t be able to resist buying just this one book by Annette Blair; she is addictive! Sultry." Sensual & Erotic Ecataromance

"A spellbinding story that totally knocked my socks off! Once again I find myself in awe over the author's ability to make the characters so memorable...will leave you with a big smile on your face. Author Annette Blair writes priceless romance adventures." Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

"GONE WITH THE WITCH is sensual, close to being erotic...a touching emotional tale. I’ve read all the ‘witchy’ tales from Ms. Blair...I recommend them all for your reading pleasure." Carol Carter, Romance Reviews Today

"Great fun! Wonderful characters, a riveting storyline and a sensuous undercurrent...phenomenal... Storm is a hoot! She had me rolling in laughter through the entire story. She’s wild and carefree while Aiden has his own surefire beliefs about everything. The romance that blooms between these two...will have reader’s hearts melting. The adventure Aiden and Storm embark on to find this crying baby will have you riveted to the pages... Annette Blair always has fun with her witch characters...very evident in this story. If you’ve never read her before, please do! I guarantee you’ll be a die-hard fan in no time." ~Amanda Haffery, Romance Junkies

"Annette Blair’s second contribution to her Triplet trilogy should come with oven mitts as it is hot, hot, hot. The ending is just wonderful, with fantastic characters and a strong narrative. If the reader likes her romantic comedies just shy of being classified as erotica, this is definitely the book for you! Believe me when I say, this is one road trip you do not want to miss!" Betty Cox, Reader to Reader

"An emotionally charged story...GONE WITH THE WITCH starts out as somewhat light, bawdy, entertaining fun, which is what I thoroughly enjoy in all of Ms. Blair's books. She can be hysterically outrageous, and I can count on several laugh-out-loud moments. This story tugged at the heart as I was drawn into a tale of two people who've lived on the surface of life, afraid to seek greater depth to their existence for fear of being hurt yet again. Storm and Aiden are made for one another, and their discovery of this fact makes a truly satisfying story. This book is a definite addition to my keeper shelf." Paula Myers, Fresh Fiction

"Again there is plenty of magic and spell casting, as well as lots of hot, sexy situations. There are a number of familiar characters mentioned and some charming new ones, and both main characters develop wonderfully over the course of the story." Susan Mobley, Romantic Times

"Whimsical, witty, and wonderful,
Blair's Witches are a magical bunch that are sure to enchant readers everywhere."
~Madelyn Alt, Author of HEX MARKS THE SPOT

Don’t forget: First in the trilogy: SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, available now.

HAPPY READING!
Annette
www.annetteblair.com
www.myspace.com/annetteblair

H A U N T E D

Haunted Bookshop Mystery #4: The Ghost and the Femme Fatale

(Alice Kimberly)

"...That booming, masculine voice in my head was either the ghost of P. I. Jack Shepard or a delusion of my half-demented mind. Which was true? Take your pick."

Such are the words of Penelope—single mom, bookstore owner, and star of my nationally best-selling paranormal series The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries. The Ghost and the Femme Fatale is the latest release with more titles on the way in 2009 and 2010.

There were A LOT of ideas and influences behind the opening of my haunted bookshop, starting with the classic "What if" game. "What would happen," I asked myself, "if a street-hardened detective like Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe found himself forced to coexist with a younger version of Agatha Christie's feisty amateur sleuth Miss Marple? And what if that hard-boiled private eye was (you guessed it) a ghost?"

At the start of my series, young widow Penelope McClure moves herself and her seven-year-old son back to her little Rhode Island hometown. Using her late husband's insurance money, Pen breathes new life back into her elderly aunt Sadie's nearly dead bookshop. As she remodels the store's interior, however, Pen brings something else back to life, as well: the spirit of Jack Shepard, a private investigator from New York City who was gunned down on the premises in the 1940s.

City-hardened Jack is less than thrilled to find his spirit marooned in some kind of backwater purgatory. Spending eternity in a bookstore in the godforsaken sticks was not the sort of afterlife he'd imagined. When he encounters auburn-haired Penelope, however, he's a little less cranky (Jack always was a sucker for a redhead). Then Pen gets mixed up in murder, and she realizes that the ghost of a professional P. I. is a pretty handy haunter—even if his off-color wisecracks and arrogant attitude are a real pain in the neck.

As fans of this series can tell you, a major inspiration for me in developing these paranormal mysteries was the novel The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. (As a tribute to Mrs. Muir's late author, Josephine Leslie, who wrote under the pen name R. A. Dick, I always quote a line from her novel at the beginning of my own books.)

Published in Britain in 1945, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir became a bestseller, and it's not hard to see why. This was right after World War II, when far too many women in their prime had become instant widows. Any new widow, still haunted by the memory of her young, vital husband, would have found a great deal of comfort in Josephine Leslie's novel, which tells the story of a young widow who finds companionship with the ghost of a virile sea captain. The tale is chockfull of metaphor and meaning, too—the ghost represents everything from hidden female desires and longings to the latent power of a woman's creativity. (Captain Gregg effectively becomes Mrs. Muir's muse, dictating his adventures as she writes them into a book.)

In my own stories, there are metaphors at work, as well. Sure, my bookshop is inhabited by a real ghost, but it's also haunted by something else: the power of one woman's imagination. Is Jack a real ghost? Or is he a very helpful part of Penelope's own repressed spirit? For me, Jack Shepard is very real indeed. Like Mrs. Muir's salty Captain Gregg, Jack even has his own personal journey: The big city private eye realizes that his purgatory of an afterlife isn't so terrible after all, because he's found a worthy woman to protect and cherish.

Yes, this is a love story as much as a story of haunting and mystery. And even though it features a dead man, it's very much a story about how to live because this is a love story for me, too—the love of a sixty-year-old book and movie (a love that I will continue to have until the day I die). And that's really the very best idea behind my Haunted Bookshop series: When you find a book to love, or a fantastic fictional character that inhabits its pages, you may end up being haunted (happily) for the rest of your days.

To learn more about my Haunted Bookshop Mysteries or the Coffeehouse Mysteries that I write under the pen name Cleo Coyle, visit the Haunted Bookshop page on my virtual coffeehouse website at: http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/ I also have a message board, a newsletter, and a monthly giveaway of free coffee to my newsletter subscribers. Cheers!

Alice Kimberly

Pelham Fell Here: A P.I. Gets a Little Help from His Friends

Pelham Fell Here is the first book in the P.I. Frank Johnson series (The Dirt-Brown Derby, The Blue Cheer, Troglodytes are the other titles). Pelham tells how Frank comes to decide to work as a private investigator. After Frank finds his cousin and best friend Cody Chapman murdered, he wants to get to the bottom of what happened. Easier said than done, Frank finds.

The further Frank digs into Cody’s life, the more betrayal and chaos he finds. Before long, Frank tangles with a cult of bad guys Cody knew who only understands the bloody way to settle any conflicts.

However, I quickly realized Frank couldn’t do it all as the lonewolf detective. He has to call on his friends for their assistance. Dreema Atkins who works at the Virginia Forensics lab offers her expertise on running the science on the clues Frank discovers. I wanted Frank to enjoy some romance, and Dreema fit that bill quite nicely.

Chet Peyton, fearless but young, helps Frank until reinforcements arrive on the scene to lend a hand. I knew Frank,outnumbered and outgunned, needed a loyal, impact partner to stand with him against such heavy odds. Enter Gerald, bounty hunter extraordinaire. Gerald is a force who levels the playing field for Frank to catch an even break in this murder case.

Law enforcement takes a dim view of Frank’s stirring up loud trouble and arrests him as Cody’s killer. Then I created the rich, smart, and larger-than-life defense attorney Bob Gatlin top lead Frank’s case in the courtroom. Gatlin also happens to also need a P.I. to do some investigative work for him, so Frank gains an employer as well as a lawyer in his corner.

I’m glad I gave Frank all his pals in Pelham Fell Here because it allowed me to create a more interesting mix. So, if you’d like to read a story about a P.I. with a lot of different friends, Frank’s tale in his hometown of Pelham should be just the one for you.

Ed Lynskey

Cleo Coyle’s Brewing Up Murder and Banana Muffins (Recipe Included!)

My newest Coffeehouse Mystery, French Pressed, just hit every major mass market mystery bestseller list in the country: Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Bookscan (yeah, baby!). If you haven’t yet met my heroine, Clare Cosi, single-mom, barista, and amateur sleuth, then allow me to introduce you...

Clare is the manager of the historic Village Blend coffeehouse in Greenwich Village , New York (where I live and work, too, which is how the idea for this series began). Clare’s daughter, Joy, is in culinary school nearby. Her hunky ex-husband, Matt, is her shop’s globetrotting coffee buyer, and her love interest, Mike Quinn, is the hot NYPD homicide detective who craves Clare as much as her lattes. Together with a colorful group of younger baristas, Clare runs her shop and always finds herself running into mayhem and murder.

I'm a coffee geek, so I not only love to drink coffee, I love to talk about it with pros in the trade and research and sample exotic kinds from around the world. It's during my research into the coffee and culinary worlds that ideas for Coffeehouse Mystery stories often emerge. If you'd like to read more about French Pressed or the other books in my series, just go to my website, where all the books are described. In the meantime, here's the bonus muffin recipe form my latest newsletter. (FYI: All of my Coffeehouse Mysteries include recipes and coffee-making tips.)

Cleo Coyle's Banana-Walnut Muffins with Sweet Crunchy Tops

These easy-to-make muffins pair very well with my Coffee Pick of the Month: Kenya coffee. To read more about one of the world's finest coffees and the country it comes from, drop by the “virtual” coffeehouse at my website: http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/, where I discuss and give away my favorite coffee finds every month.

Makes 12 muffins

1-1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup oil
3 bananas (well ripened)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2-1/4 cups flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. Dump into a bowl: the sugar, oil, 2 of the ripe bananas (just slice into bowl), eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat the assembled ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth, about two minutes. Now add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda to batter. Mix with electric mixer until batter is smooth (don't over mix). Use a large spatula or spoon to fold in chopped nuts and the final ripe banana, which should be mashed up roughly with a fork before adding.

Fill your muffin tins with batter. You can either fill them 3/4 full OR you can fill them all the way to the top (that's what I do). Note, however, that I spray the tops of my muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray. That way, when my muffins bake over the top of my pan, giving me lovely big muffin tops, they won't stick to the top of the pan. Now let the muffin batter sit in the pan, allowing flavors to penetrate while you make the sweet, crunchy topping.

Sweet Crunchy Topping

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons flour
*1 cup Brownulated light brown sugar (I use Domino Brownulated.)

Melt in a saucepan 4 tablespoons butter (I just use salted butter because that’s what I always have on hand). Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped walnuts, flour, and Brownulated light brown sugar. The crunchy topping will be lumpy and that's fine. Spoon topping over the muffin batter in your pans (see photo). Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 35 minutes. Ovens vary so make a note of what works for you. Bake until a knife inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

(* NOTE: Do not substitute dark brown sugar in this recipe. The Brownulated sugar has less moisture and will give you the perfect crumbly texture, nice and light, letting the muffins rise.)


http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/
where coffee and crime are always brewing...

Sign up for my free newsletter (at my website) and you're automatically entered for my monthly free coffee drawings!

Cheers,
Cleo Coyle

Nicole Byrd Entices....

Writing Enticing the Earl was both a delight and a bit sad. Sad because it’s the final book in the Applegate Sisters/Sinclair Saga, and it would be the last glimpse at some very beloved characters. These books started several years ago with Lord Gabriel Sinclair and his family feud with his brother John, the marquis of Gillingham. They weren’t meant to become a series, but they offered too many possibilities and the characters were so strong, ideas just kept bubbling up. So the stories kept spinning, most recently with Gabriel’s half sisters, the five Applegate siblings, as irrepressible and unpredictable a set of young ladies as any handsome young man would care to meet. The family secret Gabriel had been searching for was finally revealed in the first Applegate Sisters book, Seducing Sir Oliver.

Their adventures have taken the sisters into a second-rate London theater, up a tree to avoid escaped African cats, on the run from a half-crazed assassin, and most important, into the arms of a wonderful series of beguiling and sexy heros. So I couldn’t wait to see what would befall the final Applegate sister, the middle child, Lauryn, now a young widow, who’d always been proper and sweet, taking care of her extended family and doing all that was proper. Until now.

When her grief-stricken father-in-law gambles away his estate and all his valuables, Lauryn Applegate sees only one daring step to take--offer herself as courtesan to the winner, the handsome and notorious earl of Sutton. She can retrieve the land, and, in the–ah–process, she can trample on every rule. This good girl is ready to be bad!

Read an excerpt at my website, http://www.nicolebyrd.com/ Hope you enjoy her adventures–
Nicole

Enticing the Earl
Berkley, April '08
http://www.nicolebyrd.com/

La Vida Vampire - Nancy Haddock

Moving from Dallas to St. Augustine, Florida was the culmination of a thirteen-year goal. Little did I know that moving would help fulfill another long-held goal – selling my first book.

It all started with a peanut butter commercial. That’s right, a commercial was the seed for La Vida Vampire. The commercial doesn’t run often now, but it featured two little girls having a sleepover. For one child, it appears to be her first time to spend the night away from home, so her hostess suggests things they can do. Part of the line the hostess says goes something like, “We can play Crazy Eights, or we can watch this Princess Vampire video.”

Say what? Princess Vampire? Little kids, maybe all of age six, are watching something called Princess Vampire?

Okay, so I figured that’s not what the little actress said, but it’s what I heard. Every time I thought about it, I laughed, and I couldn’t get the idea it out of my head.

The next step was to flesh out the main character and her history, and decide what kind of job and interests she might have. Here is where having moved provided further inspiration.

St. Augustine has a long, rich history, more ghosts than you can swing an EMF meter at, and the beach. Ah, yes, ghosts and the beach! In a flash, Cesca became the oldest living citizen of the city, a ghost tour guide, and a part day-walker who learns to surf. And the surfing was only one of her surprises for me.

Am I alert for the next bit of inspiration for Cesca’s series? Oh, yes! After all, my favorite T-shirt reads, WARNING: What you do may appear in my next book!

And my next favorite reads: Write with Passion, Touch Hearts, Scorch Dinner.

The last is never a problem!

La Vida Vampire is the first in a new series from Berkley, being released on April 1, 2008 – no fooling! To read an excerpt of LA VIDA VAMPIRE and play the “Where’s Cesca?” contest, please vist http://www.nancyhaddock.com/

Nancy

For Kicks

NOTE FROM IDEA BOUTIQUE : "So sorry this post is tardy. The fault lies with Idea Boutique as well as the flu, and NOT with Jenna.

Enjoy!

I’ll admit it, I have residual retail angst. Managing a department store is a hard job, but it does give you tons of material if you decided to quit and write romance novels instead – which I can personally recommend!

In For Kicks, I sent my heroine off on a cross country trip to train employees about a new product. You know those hand held scanners you see everywhere in department stores now? When those came out lots of retail managers were sent on similar whirlwind trips to ensure the staff knew how to use them. Unfortunately, no former soccer stud ever decided to book me into a hotel suite…but that is what fiction is for!

In the story I took the idea of the trip, mixed it with a girl driven to be the youngest store manager in the history of her company, and tripped her up with a hot former soccer stud determined to make sure she stop and watch the sun set, with him. Opposite personalities, a common goal, and shifting priorities all mix together to make their lives implode.

I found some fun ways to keep the characters talking and engaged – tarot, reflexology, goldfish, Derby pie, childhood memories…and phone sex. Talk about writing for kicks!

Read an excerpt of FOR KICKS here

Jenna Bayey-Burke
http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/

Her Cinderella Complex - Jenna Bayley Burke

The title came first. I have always had an addiction to romance novels, and anything with Cinderella in the title simply does it for me. The title popped into my head, I wron it down, and so began the story of a runaway bride who gets to have her honeymoon anyway.

I refused to plot this story, so when it started I wasn’t sure where it would end. In fact, where the book starts now is two chapters later than it did when I drafted it, but that is for the best. The story begins with Heather coming to work for Curtis, and really sets the tone for the successful boss and his fiesty assistant.

The story was fun to tell, especially peeling back the characters layer by layer. Does it make me a bad person that I enjoyed the emotional agony I put them through? Nah.

I worked everything I love about romance novels into this book – office romance, marriage of convenience, a private island, romantic situations, the quirky heroine, and a swimming pool scene I still get excited about. When I saw that my references to Great Expectations made it past my editor I was in heaven!

Not since the first book have I enjoyed writing so much. Writing Her Cinderella Complex was fun from beginning to end!

Read an excerpt of HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX here:
http://samhainpublishing.com/excerpt/her-cinderella-complex

Jenna Bayey-Burke
http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/

Veronica Wolff ~ Master of the Highlands

I was a burnt-out and unfulfilled dot-com drone when I began Master of the Highlands. I’m a history buff who has always fantasized about what it would be to travel back in time, experience that world around me, meet those people. Writing time-travel fiction based on real historical figures and events was the closest I could come to escaping my world and being back there myself.

I knew I wanted to write a story set in the Scottish Highlands. I’m a big fan of Scottish history, where such high stakes bred so many stories of great courage and sacrifice. (Okay, and those kilts aren’t so bad either.)

I’d targeted roughly the seventeenth-century as my preferred era. Any later and the Jacobite rebellion would be unavoidable, and Diana Gabaldon has already delved into that so thoroughly and successfully. Much earlier than the 1600s, and I’d predate the technological and cultural developments that most interested me.

I began to research, devouring anything and everything I could find online, and I kept running across Ewen’s name. He never bowed to Cromwell’s redcoat forces. He was a swordsman without equal, who never sustained a wound in his ninety years of life. He’s credited with killing the last wolf in Scotland. Gracious, loyal, wise, tall, noble, imposing, and fearsome are among the many grand words that have been used to describe him. He’s referred to as “Ulysses of the Highlands.” Sir Walter Scott immortalized him in “The Lady of the Lake,” basing a critical fight scene on one of Ewen’s most famous, most brutal battles (which I also recreate!)

Ewen Cameron’s reputation in the history of the Highlands is nothing short of mythic, and yet, I wondered, where were all the movies about him? All the books? And so, as a hero for my first book, Ewen was a no-brainer.Narrowing the timeframe down wasn’t too difficult. The story behind his Battle of Achdalieu held great appeal. Ewen was so young then, leading his men to fight, facing down Cromwell’s forces, defending Cameron lands. The stories of his feats in battle were so outrageously heroic—and his own personal tragedy so shattering—that this 1654 battle quickly became my focal point.

Lily, my heroine, came readily from there, though you’ll forgive this first-time author some overlap (yes, the heroine also happens to be, you guessed it, a disenchanted dot-commer…) Now if only I could figure out how to get my own self back there for real!

Please visit my web site where you can read more about the real history behind Ewen’s story, see photos of Cameron country, and enter a contest to win a gorgeous 10 X 15 photograph from artist Rebecca Cusworth. http://veronicawolff.com/

Veronica