Review~~Loretta Chase’s Vixen in Velvet

REVIEW!  reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing(5 out of 5 quills)  Vixen in Velvet  (The Dressmakers)

One thing about Loretta Chase; she NEVER disappoints. Her historic romances are more than the words imply. She is witty and her humor is so subtle….you must pay attention or you’ll miss the nuances.

“Have you any idea what my wife and her sisters have been through these last months, while you and Swanton idled abroad?” Clevedon said.  “While your cousin was in Venice murdering the English language–“
“I shouldn’t call it murder, ” Lisburne said.  “Flesh wounds, no more.  You give him too much credit.  And it was in Florence that he composed his latest batch of verse.”

Her characters are rich and full.  And they appear in other books which makes a reader want to come back for more.  She takes you to London, in the 1800’s; the sounds, the smells, the sights.  With every book, she teaches the reader about what it was like then to be a woman, sometimes a woman without a livelihood or means to support herself.  I always learn something from her fiction…this time, dressmaking and fabrics of that time. Continue reading “Review~~Loretta Chase’s Vixen in Velvet”

Blog Hop! The Writer’s Process

bloggersHi Everyone!  This is a wonderful traveling Blog every Monday where authors answer four questions and thenbunny pass it off to other authors to share their views on the writing process.

I want to thank Katie Beitz, a teacher from Australia and author of ‘The Shadow Miner’ http://katiebeitz.weebly.com/  for inviting me to participate!

Q. What am I working on?

I have several projects going at the time of this writing.  I’m finishing up with the graphic designer on my newest effort: “The Creative Writer’s Journal and Handbook” and it will be released soon.   With all my work, I revise, rewrite, edit and then rewrite more.

I’m also about half finished with Book 5 in The World of Murder series.  “The Taste of Murder” takes place in the Food Network world of television and cooking shows. Detectives O’Roarke and Garcia have a cold case dumped on their desk. Despite their objections that they ‘don’t do cold cases’ their Commander tells them that they do now since the new Mayor has specifically asked for them. Three years earlier a relative of the mayor’s was murdered and the case was never solved.

On the back burner is my historic novel, “Song of the Yukon” which has been side-tracked by the murder mystery series. Continue reading “Blog Hop! The Writer’s Process”

Winners Announced Later Today!

fiction, women, flappers, prohibition, San Francisco, roaring twentiesThe Winners of the Weekend Book Give-away will be announced later today.  If you are a winner, drop us a message and tell us whether  you want a signed paperback or an audio version of your book.  For a paperback, we will need your mailing address.

CONGRATULATIONS to OUR WINNERS!  Like my page so you don’t miss future drawings!

After reading Wild Violets, I would really appreciate your writing a short review on www.amazon.com.  It helps the book’s rankings.  Thank you for all the ‘likes’ and ‘follows’!

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!

In addition to my twice weekly blog I also feature an interview with another author once a month. So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!    Dean Koontz is my June author.

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

FREE BOOK Give-a-way!! This weekend!

fiction, women, flappers, prohibition, San Francisco, roaring twentiesIt’s easy to win a copy of my novel, “WILD VIOLETS” this weekend.   Just  1) LIKE my page at www.facebook.com/writeratplay  2)  start FOLLOWING me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/writeratplay4.  and 3) SHARE this Post.      Tweet me or ‘message’ me with your entry.

The (5) prize books are available, to the winners,  in audio or a signed paperback.  Winners will be selected randomly.

 “Wild Violets”   It’s the roaring twenties in San Francisco, a decade famous for hot jazz and bath tub gin. 

After  documenting my mother’s colorful childhood in the primordial forests of Washington State, I went on to write about Violet as a grown woman with children of her own.  She has left her small home town in the Pacific Northwest to pursue a successful basketball career and with her earnings, she bought a bar and grill.   She is a ‘flapper’ in every sense of the word; working all day and playing all night.  While her teenage daughter raises her seven year old son, Violet is out on the town with her latest man de’jour. Dressed in her signature red dress, she is the toast of the town and owner of a speakeasy where she hosts the cream of San Francisco’s society, city politicians, bishops, and Hollywood celebrities.

But there is an underbelly of corruption, grifters, the mob, excess, and neglect in Violet’s life.  Her two children are an afterthought and she chooses her men over their well being time and time again.  Their childhood needs are always trumped by her self-indulgent desires.   The two children are possessions that she can put down or pick up again on a whim, showing them off to her current beau or friends and then forgotten.  And when they get in her way, she gets rid of them.
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Wild Violets- Prologue   Sample AUDIO
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!

In addition to my twice weekly blog I also feature an interview with another author once a month. So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!    Dean Koontz is my June author.

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

Interview with Loretta Chase, best selling author (part 2)

Q.  When did you begin to write seriously? LC & Puccini May 2011

A.  As soon as I learned to write.  As a small child, I used to tell stories.  Some people called these lies.  Truth—lies—all the same to me.  But I remember I couldn’t wait to learn to read & write.  As soon as I had the alphabet and some vocabulary under my belt—Look!  See!  Go!—I was writing.  It did not stop.  Journals, letters, poetry, and interminable Great American Novel.  But the GAN never got finished, probably because I did not know how to write a story.  I didn’t get my head wrapped around story structure until I started writing scripts for corporate video.  One of my producers(the man I eventually married) got me to admit I wanted to become a novelist (like Charles Dickens!).  As part of his cunning Get Rich Slow Scheme, he persuaded or tricked or taunted me—I’m still not quite sure what happened—to work up the nerve to write a book for publication.

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. Contrary to all the laws of publishing, the first novel I wrote from beginning to end was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to.  Un-agented.  Over the transom.  Those were the days. Continue reading “Interview with Loretta Chase, best selling author (part 2)”

Take a Peek Into a Killer’s Mind…If You Dare!

When I wrote the chapters using the serial killer’s voice, I was slightly creeped out by the character that I had created.  But when my narrator, Daniel Dorse created the killer in the audio version of Book 4, The Angel of Murder, I was REALLY creeped out.  It seemed a perfect time to share an excerpt of the audio book with my readers, followers, and fellow writers.  Cover.Angel - Copy

If you want to hear more click here for another excerpt.

The World of Murder is available in paperback, e-books and Audio.
www.audible.com, www.amazon.com, and iTunes.com

Audio SAMPLE, click here  angel2

‘The World of Murder’ books are available in paperback, e-books and audio.
Narration by: Daniel Dorse, www.acx.com (the voice of Jack O’Roarke)

EXCERPT © from book:

O’Roarke and Garcia sat in the conference room where they had organized their murder board.  They were very uneasy about the ritualistic way in which Brittany James had been laid out and knew that this was just the beginning.  They hoped and prayed that they were wrong. Continue reading “Take a Peek Into a Killer’s Mind…If You Dare!”

‘The Angel of Murder’, Now In Audio!

Cover.Angel - CopyJust released! Book 4 in the World of Murder series is in AUDIO now!

Murder cops, O’Roarke and Garcia have a serial killer on their hands in Book 4 of The World of Murder series. The bodies of children, dressed for communion, are turning up in all five boroughs of New York City and there are no suspects. To complicate their investigation, a private detective has been hired by one of the families to find one of the missing girls. In spite of all their efforts, O’Roarke and Garcia watch as their case goes cold. Who is this monster and when will he strike again?

Available at:  www.audible.com, www.amazon.com, and iTunes.com  AUDIO SAMPLE:angel

Audible.com is offering it FREE now with a free trial membership!

REVIEW:  ……‘what really makes this book interesting is that the author lets us see into the mind of the killer without giving away the identity. All the while you are wondering how the perpetrator can get away with it, you are seeing the world as the murderer sees it.  It’s chilling, and insightful, and a nice addition to the police work and the side stories.

Oh, and there’s a new character, a PI, that I hope we’ll see more of, either in future World of Murder books or in his own series. A good read.’

‘The World of Murder’ books are available in paperback, e-books and audio.
Narration by: Daniel Dorse, www.acx.com (the voice of Jack O’Roarke)

 

 

 

Writers Must be Multi-Taskers!

Like so many other prolific writers (that I’ve interviewed) we are multi-taskers. And if we aren’t naturally, we learn pretty quick that we Cover.Angel - Copyshould be. As I finished writing the last few pages of ‘The Angel of Murder’, the story line for the next book was rattling around in my head. I edited book 4 one last time and published it. I then immediately sent it to my narrator/producer to begin the audio-book. This also requires my time as I listen to and edit each chapter.

‘Sugarek had barely released her newest book in the World of Murder series entitled ‘The Angel of Murder’ when she was already deeply into the plot of her next one. A famous chef-judge on a successful cooking show has been murdered. Detectives O’Roarke and Garcia have a cold case dumped on them in spite of O’Roarke’s vehement insistence, “We don’t do cold cases!”

Follow the two murder cops behind the scenes and onto the TV set of a wildly popular cooking competition where the suspects are plentiful and the case is three years cold.’
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!

In addition to my twice weekly blog I also feature an interview with another author once a month. So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!   

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

Interview with Lee Goldberg, best selling author (Part two)

Lee with Janet Evanovich
Lee with Janet Evanovich

Lee Goldberg: ‘ I am an ex-Navy SEAL, freelance Sexual Surrogate and a professional Pierce Brosnan impersonator.  Okay, that’s not true. But I want this biography to be really exciting, so pay attention. If things bog down, I’ve been instructed to add a car chase or some explicit sex.Here’s the real story. I writes books and television shows. My mother wanted me to be a doctor, and my grandfather wanted me to go into the family furniture business. Instead, I put himself through UCLA as a freelance journalist.’

The Interview with Lee  (part 2)

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?

A. That’s such a broad question, it would take a book to answer it. But in simple terms for me, it looks like a 400 page manuscript printed out on my desk…and lots of empty diet coke cans in my recycle bin. Continue reading “Interview with Lee Goldberg, best selling author (Part two)”

‘The Angel of Murder’, Newest Book in the mystery series Available now!

Cover.Angel - CopyBook 4 in this chilling, surprising mystery series is now available on the author’s web site and at www.amazon.com.

Murder cops, O’Roarke and Garcia have a serial killer on their hands in Book 4 of The World of Murder series.  The bodies of children, dressed for communion, are turning up in all five boroughs of New York City and there are no suspects.  To complicate their investigation,  a private detective has been hired by one of the families to find one of the missing girls.  In spite of all their efforts, O’Roarke and Garcia watch as their case goes cold.   Who is this monster and when will he strike again?

  REVIEW: ‘As with previous investigations in ‘The World of Murder’ titles, readers are also in the dark about the perp’s identity, and are given just as many clues as the detectives on who the murderer could be. This approach in “The Act of Murder” keeps readers interested, capturing attention first through probing the emotionally charged personality of an abusive director and then by offering a series of clues that embrace the essence of a murder mystery puzzle along with insights into motivations on all sides.

Of course crack detectives O’Rourke and Garcia would be chosen to oversee such a high-profile case. As chapters progress, murder mystery fans are drawn into an ever-complex, changing story that holds not just too many perps, but many twists and turns of plot. The story marches deftly to a gripping, unpredictable courtroom conclusion, involving murder mystery fans every step of the way and creating directions that change at a moment’s notice in a winning recommendation for even the most seasoned murder mystery fan.’ ~~ Midwest Book Review
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