I’ve confessed this to only a couple of people, but I’m now making it public: I failed a lie detector lie detector (polygraph) test.
This happened in the early ’80s, when I was young and naïve—long before I began writing crime fiction. Back then, I believed lie detector tests were infallible. When I failed, I didn’t just feel embarrassed—I questioned my own sanity. Was I a chronic liar and didn’t know it?
Years later, as a mystery writer, I know better.
It started when a friend asked me to bartend Sunday nights at a pricey hotel in downtown Austin. Someone had quit without notice, and he was in a bind. I’d bartended in college, so I agreed to help.
There was just one catch: new employees had to take a lie detector test.
No problem, I thought. It might even be interesting.
It was—but not in the way I expected.
I was sent to a private company across town. My internal alarms went off the moment I saw the man who would administer the test. “Creepy” is putting it mildly. He had greasy, dyed-black hair, dirt under his fingernails, and a stained dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down, exposing a thicket of chest hair. Cheap rings crowded his fingers.
At the time, I didn’t yet have the instincts of a crime writer—but I had enough sense to feel uneasy.
When he took my hand to attach the sensors, I shivered.
The questions began.
Had I ever stolen from an employer? No.
Had I ever been convicted of a crime? No.
Had I ever taken illegal drugs? No.
Then he lingered on the drug question, circling back again and again, rephrasing it each time. Today, I’d recognize that tactic immediately—pressure the subject, unsettle them, look for physiological spikes. But at the time, I was simply confused.
Finally, he asked if I was currently using drugs. I said I’d recently taken antibiotics and occasionally used Motrin.
He moved on, then returned to the same line of questioning.
If I were writing this scene today, I’d have my detective note the repetition, the shifting language, the way the examiner controlled the rhythm of the interrogation. I’d build tension there—because that’s where it lives.
But back then, I was just irritated—and certain of one thing: I had told the truth.
The following Sunday, as I was getting ready for work, my friend called.
I had failed the test.
If this were fiction, that would be the inciting incident—the moment everything tilts. The innocent protagonist accused. The system revealed as flawed. The first crack in what’s supposed to be objective truth.
My friend told me not to worry, said I could come to work anyway, maybe even retake it later.
I told him not to bother. I wasn’t coming back.
Years later, after writing crime novels and researching investigative techniques, I learned what I wish I’d known then: lie detector tests don’t always detect lies. They detect stress.
And stress can come from many places:
- Anxiety
- Fatigue or illness
- Medication
- Confusing or manipulative questioning
- Even the examiner’s own bias
In other words, the very conditions designed to “find the truth” can distort it.
That realization changed the way I think about interrogation scenes. In fiction, a lie detector can be a powerful tool—but not because it reveals truth. Because it reveals vulnerability. Because it can be wrong.
And wrong can be dangerous.
I recently discovered that lie detector tests were actively used in courtrooms in the 1950s—the world of my Sydney Lockhart mysteries. Which raises a delicious possibility.
What happens when Sydney—sharp, observant, and far less naïve than I was—is strapped into that chair? When she knows the machine is flawed, but the people watching believe it isn’t?
That’s not just a test.
That’s a setup.
And in crime fiction, setups are where the real story begins. I can’t wait to put Sydney in this uncomfortable situation and then watch her wiggle out of it. She’d do a much better job than her creator.
Have you ever been falsely accused?
Writing Fun and Games by Saralyn Richard
/in Author Life, Detective Parrott Mystery Series/by Saralyn RichardI’ve traveled to two graduations in the past few weeks, and it’s been loads of heart-warming fun—but tiring! I wonder how I traveled for work 50 weeks of the year and still managed a home life, a social life, exercise, etc. Now when I’m out of town, I can’t wait to get back to my manuscript.
I’m often asked what my writing space looks like.
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
This is a little like my office. Except I work on a large desktop computer. Sunlight pours in from a window to my right. I don’t drink coffee, but right now I have a large mug of raspberry-lime sparkling water next to me. My desk is messier than this one. I’m surrounded by books and other reference materials, sticky notes, calendar, to-do lists, notes I’ve taken from webinars or critique group sessions, and one or another of my dogs.
The most important feature of my writing office is quiet. For me, writing fiction requires me to disconnect with the real surroundings of the room I’m in and to enter the zone of the chapter I’m working on at the time. I cease to be Saralyn Richard and become someone else who is so close to the characters and setting of my manuscript that I can breathe in its smells and textures and sounds. I have to be there if I’m going to put readers there.
Going to “the zone” was particularly wonderful during Covid lockdown, when I wrote BAD BLOOD SISTERS in nine months, my shortest time for any book. I wrote night and day, because I wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything else, but also because I was so involved with Quinn’s story that I literally couldn’t put it down.
I feel the same way about the book I’m finishing right now. (Actually, I’m that involved with each of my books when I’m writing them.) You may know, this one’s about Galveston in 1905, and, although it’s fiction, some of the characters are real people, including my grandparents. I become emotional when I think of how I’ve reconnected with them and with my hometown that I love, but I also love the story’s topics and themes. There are so many parallels with things that occur in today’s world. It’s been fun to add the historical dimension to mystery writing.
Meanwhile, are you a fan of the New York Times puzzles? My husband and I do them every day, and one of our favorites is Connections. If you’re not familiar with it, the game gives you 16 words, and you figure out which four have a connection that the others don’t have.
For example, in a recent puzzle, the 16 words were:
PUBLIC WRITER SALT PEPPER
OIL VINEGAR KITCHEN TEMPERA
PANACHE GOUACHE RUN TOWN
BEASTIE VERVE ACRYLIC GUSTO
The answers were:
TEMPERA GOUACHE ACRYLIC OIL (PAINTING MEDIA)
GUSTO PANACHE VERVE VINEGAR (ESPRIT)
KITCHEN PEPPER TOWN WRITER (GHOST ___)
BEASTIE PUBLIC RUN SALT (STARTS OF CLASSIC HIP-HOP GROUPS)
If you didn’t get them all right, neither did I, but it was fun trying.
So, here are 16 words that have connections in the Detective Parrott series. Can you get them all?
MANSION NYPD MOTIVE POWER BAR
SUSPECT CHILI HORSES CORONER
HOAGIE CHIEF FORENSICS BLACK COFFEE
ROCKS SUSPECT BARN RED HERRING
Answers are at the bottom of the newsletter. Don’t peek! Did you get them?
If you aren’t already following me on book sites or social media, here are the links where I’m hanging out. I’d love to add you to my friends and followers.
https://twitter.com/SaralynRichard
https://www.facebook.com/saralyn.richard
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saralyn-richard-b06b6355/
https://www.instagram.com/naughty_nana_sheepdog/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7338961.Saralyn_Richard
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/saralyn-richard
Or signup for my monthly newsletter at https://saralynrichard.com.
Also, if you want to spice up your summer reading, enter the Stiletto Gang Summer Bonanza Giveaway. Sign up at http://thestilettogang.com.
Solution:
HOAGIE CHILI BLACK COFFEE POWER BAR (PARROTT’S FAVE FOODS)
RED HERRING SUSPECT CLUE MOTIVE (TROPES OF A MYSTERY NOVEL)
CORONER CHIEF FORENSICS NYPD (PARROTT WORKS WITH THEM)
BARN ROCKS HORSES MANSIONS (FEATURES OF BRANDYWINE VALLEY)
Happy June, happy reading, and happy puzzle-solving!
Lessons from Older Movies
/in Uncategorized/by Paula Bensonby Paula Gail Benson
During this summer, I’ve taken some time to indulge in the joy of watching older, black and white films. I remember when I was growing up, a channel ran Bette Davis movies every Saturday afternoon. I learned to love her in Now, Voyager, Watch on the Rhine, The Little Foxes, Jezebel, The Corn is Green, and, my personal favorite, All This and Heaven, Too, before I ever heard about What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? or Death on the Nile.
Hepburn’s character in The Sea of Grass became estranged from her husband and had an affair with another man, leading to a child being born. During the birth, the Hepburn character in distress revealed the child’s true father. In a more modern film, I could imagine seeing the childbirth scene, but in this 1947 version, the doctor consoled Tracy’s character afterward. Tracy’s character insisted on raising the child and banishing the mother, which led to unfortunate results.
According to Wikipedia, Elia Kazan, who directed the film, initially was excited by the prospect, but became disappointed when he learned they would not shoot on location but use stock footage of the grassy plains. Clearly, a viewer can tell the actors were standing in front of a taped image.
Life was going well. A young girl fell in love with him. They planned to be married.
But, what had happened to the Greer Garson character?
Then, during a scene at his office, she appeared. She had been working as his secretary, never telling him about their past together. Never telling him their son had died.
Hearing wedding music from his ceremony with the entertainer stopped the marriage to the young girl taking place. Then, he offered to marry his secretary in name only.
Oh, the twists and turns! How could they ever truly get back together?
Greer Garson said it was her favorite film. I enjoyed seeing how it all flowed together.
Are you a watcher of older movies? What have you learned from them?
Guest Post: Susan Van Kirk on The Powerful Gift of Words
/in Guest, Guest Blogger, Judy Penz Sheluk, memories, New Release/by Judy Penz ShelukVisiting us today is bestselling author Susan Van Kirk. Susan and I were first introduced to one another by Lourdes Venard of Comma Sense Editing. This would have been in 2013, maybe 2014. Both Susan and I had written first manuscripts and we were filled with dreams of eventual publication for our cozy masterpieces. The dream came true for both of us, though we’ve both had a few bumps along the way (getting “orphaned” when our publishers closed shop being one of them). Knowing there was someone there to understand what we were going through, from those early edits on, knowing we could vent (and it would stay between us)…that’s powerful stuff.
But here’s the thing. Susan is also a former educator and she’s just released Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life). Take it away, Susan:
Sometimes gifts are returned to you in unique ways, often using words as their vehicle of choice. The universe has a way of doing this when you least expect it.
Since my first book came out sixteen years ago, I’ve written ten mysteries. However, my first book was a memoir about my forty-four years in classrooms. I recently revised it and launched it into the reading world again. Called Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life), it consists of fifteen true stories written as creative nonfiction.
Before becoming an author, I was a single parent of three and a public school teacher. When my last child was a summer away from starting college, I went back to school for a master’s degree at the University of Illinois. I moved there for three summers, sublet an apartment, and finished my degree at age fifty. It was the first thing I’d done for myself since I’d married almost thirty years earlier and eventually divorced.
I took a course called Reflective Teaching, a course meant to help educators consider deeply the answer to this question: How did their beliefs and values influence their teaching? On one of my papers, my professor wrote a note saying, “Your writing has a wonderful voice, and your stories are incredible. Have you ever thought about writing a book?”
Well, no, Professor, I hadn’t, but her words stuck in my brain, and several years later I wrote my memoir. Her remark had given me a gift, one I’ve enjoyed over these sixteen years.
After the memoir came out, I received a letter from a former student who’d read it. In part, it said this:
I tell this story not to brag, but to illustrate that the universe sometimes does work in unique ways, and words are the powerful tools it uses.
About the book
When Susan Van Kirk drove into little Monmouth, Illinois, in 1968—straight out of college, with her teaching degree in hand—she thought she was ready to teach English and speech to high school students. She didn’t realize she would both teach and be taught by a town, a school, and the students who entered her life. A veteran of forty-four years of public high school and college teaching, Van Kirk will take you on a passionate and unforgettable journey through one teaching life. Meet her students and experience the events that molded a rookie teacher into a veteran. This montage of stories covers the years 1968 to 2008; they describe her early fears about classroom discipline, plots to overthrow “the rookie,” handling drug overdoses, the devastating first student death, and a challenge to a major Kurt Vonnegut book in her classroom.
Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life) is a second edition, and Van Kirk has added a new introduction plus updated material about where the students from the stories are now. These fifteen stories are incredible, inspiring, and filled with what makes us human. Find the book.
Susan Van Kirk
About Susan Van Kirk
Susan Van Kirk is the author of six Endurance Mysteries beginning with Three May Keep a Secret. Her standalone mystery, A Death at Tippitt Pond, was followed by the Art Center Mysteries: Death in a Pale Hue, Death in a Bygone Hue, and Death in a Ghostly Hue from Level Best Books. The third book of the trilogy was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Paranormal Mystery of 2025. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and is past president of the Guppy Chapter of SinC. Find her at susanvankirk.com.
I Failed a Lie Detector Test
/in crafting mystery, Historical Mystery, How to Write, Ideas, Inspiration, Mystery, polygraph, Suspense, Uncategorized, women sleuths, writing life/by Kathleen KaskaI’ve confessed this to only a couple of people, but I’m now making it public: I failed a lie detector lie detector (polygraph) test.
This happened in the early ’80s, when I was young and naïve—long before I began writing crime fiction. Back then, I believed lie detector tests were infallible. When I failed, I didn’t just feel embarrassed—I questioned my own sanity. Was I a chronic liar and didn’t know it?
Years later, as a mystery writer, I know better.
It started when a friend asked me to bartend Sunday nights at a pricey hotel in downtown Austin. Someone had quit without notice, and he was in a bind. I’d bartended in college, so I agreed to help.
There was just one catch: new employees had to take a lie detector test.
No problem, I thought. It might even be interesting.
It was—but not in the way I expected.
I was sent to a private company across town. My internal alarms went off the moment I saw the man who would administer the test. “Creepy” is putting it mildly. He had greasy, dyed-black hair, dirt under his fingernails, and a stained dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down, exposing a thicket of chest hair. Cheap rings crowded his fingers.
At the time, I didn’t yet have the instincts of a crime writer—but I had enough sense to feel uneasy.
When he took my hand to attach the sensors, I shivered.
The questions began.
Had I ever stolen from an employer? No.
Had I ever been convicted of a crime? No.
Had I ever taken illegal drugs? No.
Then he lingered on the drug question, circling back again and again, rephrasing it each time. Today, I’d recognize that tactic immediately—pressure the subject, unsettle them, look for physiological spikes. But at the time, I was simply confused.
Finally, he asked if I was currently using drugs. I said I’d recently taken antibiotics and occasionally used Motrin.
He moved on, then returned to the same line of questioning.
If I were writing this scene today, I’d have my detective note the repetition, the shifting language, the way the examiner controlled the rhythm of the interrogation. I’d build tension there—because that’s where it lives.
But back then, I was just irritated—and certain of one thing: I had told the truth.
The following Sunday, as I was getting ready for work, my friend called.
I had failed the test.
If this were fiction, that would be the inciting incident—the moment everything tilts. The innocent protagonist accused. The system revealed as flawed. The first crack in what’s supposed to be objective truth.
My friend told me not to worry, said I could come to work anyway, maybe even retake it later.
I told him not to bother. I wasn’t coming back.
Years later, after writing crime novels and researching investigative techniques, I learned what I wish I’d known then: lie detector tests don’t always detect lies. They detect stress.
And stress can come from many places:
In other words, the very conditions designed to “find the truth” can distort it.
That realization changed the way I think about interrogation scenes. In fiction, a lie detector can be a powerful tool—but not because it reveals truth. Because it reveals vulnerability. Because it can be wrong.
And wrong can be dangerous.
I recently discovered that lie detector tests were actively used in courtrooms in the 1950s—the world of my Sydney Lockhart mysteries. Which raises a delicious possibility.
What happens when Sydney—sharp, observant, and far less naïve than I was—is strapped into that chair? When she knows the machine is flawed, but the people watching believe it isn’t?
That’s not just a test.
That’s a setup.
And in crime fiction, setups are where the real story begins. I can’t wait to put Sydney in this uncomfortable situation and then watch her wiggle out of it. She’d do a much better job than her creator.
Have you ever been falsely accused?
Side Track to Success
/in Author Life/by Bethany MainesCountdown!
I’m on the countdown to book 2 – Forged in Flame – of my contracted 4 from Varus Publishing. And if that seems fast to you, well, I agree. But it is what I signed up for. But the publishing schedule for four books in one year does mean that while one is getting published, I’m working at least one book in advance. And that also means that my side projects have become sidetracked.
Main Track
I’m contracted with Varus Publishing for a four-book paranormal romance series – Heart’s Curse, Forged in Flame, Curse Locked, and Fated Fortune – under my pen name Sirena Corbeau. Each book is a stand-alone, binge-worthy romance, sparked by the meddling of Dante Montanari, a 400-year-old dragon shifter. So, I’ve been busily bringing characters together, setting a few things on fire, and putting a very neat happily ever after on each of my stories. Because if there isn’t a happily ever after, then what are we even here for? I’m now THISSSSSSS close to wrapping up book four which means I’ll get a little bit of a reprieve to work on a few of the side projects.
My first side track was, is, and always will be, art. As a graphic designer, I have always done other art, but for the first time in over ten years, I recently submitted some paintings to an art show and got in! Yay! But uh… crap… that’s time and attention going down that track.
Like a lot of my bright ideas, I see an opportunity, throw something at it, and only later realize that if I get said opportunity, I will have to do the work. And then invariably my friends ask what I thought would happen, and I always say the same thing – I wasn’t supposed to actually get it!
However, if I have learned anything from life is that people who attempt something are the people who get things. In fact, attempting things is almost a “life hack.” Are you mostly qualified for a job you want? Put that resume in. Have you been practicing that one hobby for years? Submit to that contest. Turns out that sometimes you get the things you try for.
I’m looking forward to this summer when I’ll get a chance to do more painting and hopefully submit to a few more art shows.
Side Track 2
Mysteries! Yes, I know I always say there is mystery in every genre (and if there’s not, there should be), but I’m now at the point where I have ideas for an actual mystery novel, and at least one short story, and I would like to write them. But how can I kill people off if I’m too busy making love connections? And then there’s the fact, that I’m currently Treasurer of the Mystery Writer’s of America Northwest Chapter. Surely, I should be writing at least one mystery. That seems like practically part of the job description. So yes, I’m looking forward to taking a brief pause on the paranormal to create a some dead bodies, see my Noir at the Bar friends, and solve a few mysteries.
Your Side Track
What about you? What project is dangling tantalizingly out of reach for you? Can you move it to the main track? Or do you have to clear some road blocks to get to it?
Ava Flynn grew up unaware of her dragon heritage, raised by her human mother and stepfather. That changes when Dante Montanari’s nephew, billionaire dragon Dalton Rosetti, arrives—and sparks ignite. Their one night of passion leaves Ava with a secret baby and a future she must face alone. But when deadly enemies close in, Ava and her child are thrust back into Dalton’s world. To survive, she must decide: can she trust a bond forged in flame?
Release Date: June 30
PREORDER FORGED IN FLAME – CLICK HERE
**
Spamalot (Not the Musical)
/in author promotion, Gay Yellen, Give Away, Lois Winston, Mystery Series, Romantic Suspense, Samantha Newman Romantic Mystery series, writing life/by Gay YellenI’m thinking about venturing into a career as a stand-up comic.
I already have a enough material for a routine full of laugh-out-loud absurdity, delivered to me in the form of dozens of spam emails that arrive in my inbox every month, specifically, the ones that offer me fame and fortune as a best-selling author. All for a handsome fee, of course.
I could riff on every one of their offers, like the one from “Elena” that promises Category optimization | Review velocity strategy | Long-term discoverability.” Wow, she’s really got her corp-speak language down!
*Chloe” tells me that my readers are in the “wellness and niche communities,” whatever that means. “Lewis,” from the Author Credibility Society, says he’s “creating meaningful conversations in my field.” And “Tim,” from The Philosophical Zurich Club, “an international literary community,” is deeply moved by my writing.
Their real names should be something like A.I. Scam or Chat-Gee P. Tee.
Next comes one of my favorites so far, from “Samuel, a literary advisor at QuantumCreative.digital.”
Hi Gay,
I came across your Facebook author page and I have to say — a feature in D Magazine, an author interview, a series with a title as sharp as Sorry Knot Sorry — this is an author with genuine credibility and a clear voice. The work you have done to build visibility in the Dallas literary community is evident and impressive.”
I agree that my esteemed colleague, Lois Winston (the actual author of a book with that clever title), has genuine, award-winning credibility. However, I am the one who earned that national literary award for a series of articles I did for D Magazine in Dallas, back when I was its managing editor.
And, speaking of free books…
This June is the time for the Stiletto Gang Annual Summer Book Bonanza, when lucky readers can win free e-books from our participating authors. First Prize winner receives one book from each of us. Two runners-up will get 3 books by the Stiletto authors of their choosing. Just sign up on our homepage, and in July, you could be a winner!
In the meantime, if you know any of the aforesaid e-scammers personally, please kick ’em un the shins for me.
Thanks!
Read more about this award-winning author at GayYellen.com…
Believe in your Story and Never Give Up
/in Author Life, Best-seller, Donnell Ann Bell, Give Away, Inspiration, Publishing, Suspense, writing life/by Donnell Ann BellBy Donnell Ann Bell
I do not consider myself a vain person. Uncertainty follows me on a daily basis. And like most authors insecurity has me on speed dial. But if I write something that corresponds with the vision in my head, then I develop a strong belief in my project. It doesn’t happen with every manuscript. I have a drawerful of attempted projects that haven’t quite measured up.
My debut book, however, the unpublished title Walk Away Joe, earned me a Golden Heart nod and agent representation. Afterward, I set to work on book two. Based on the plot, the title Deadly Recall came to me almost immediately. The story was a romantic suspense spinning off from my elementary Catholic school days and my court reporting legal experience.
The characters in Deadly Recall came to me equally fast. I was so confident in that book, I almost ignored the advice offered by Donald Maass, renowned literary agent and author of Writing the Breakout Novel. I attended a seminar in which Maass warned writers that if they knew who the killer was throughout the book, the reader would too.
After I finished the novel, I entered writing contests but didn’t send it to my agent just yet. She hadn’t sold Walk Away Joe, and if Deadly Recall did well, I hoped to convince her I wasn’t a “one-book wonder.” Deadly Recall won several contests, one of which included agents and editors as the final round judges. I confess my head was the size of a pinata when one contest coordinator wrote, “This is so good. Can’t wait to see it in print.”
I was still flying high until weeks later I opened my entry to learn I’d received an honorable mention. Obviously, my writing peer judges liked the story, New York professionals, not so much. Needless to say, I was disheartened. Still, I believed in that book. So, when a well-known editor from a respected house announced she was accepting on-line pitches, I participated. Her response to my pitch? “Nice idea. But Catholic stories don’t sell. Put it under your bed and never get it out again.”
I don’t have to tell you that left a mark! At the same time, I was smarting from that rejection, my agent wrote me about Deadly Recall. She said she’d shared the book with her team, and they all agreed with her that it “wasn’t my best work.” At that, I sent her a 30-day termination notice and cancelled our agency agreement.
Along with the Deadly Recall rejections I was receiving, I was still hopeful for Walk Away Joe. At a writer’s conference, I pitched the book to an acquiring editor of a major house, and she asked me to send it. I sent it, knowing I was engaging in a proverbial longshot as New York publishers rarely, if ever, accepted unagented submissions.
About this time, RWA’s 2010 Golden Heart calls went out, and I was both happy and stunned to learn that Deadly Recall was a finalist in the organization’s largest and most respected contest. This was my second Golden Heart final, so some (not all) of my confidence was restored as I felt it gave me some street creds.
A short time later, I queried BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books about Walk Away Joe and Vice President Deborah Smith wrote me back saying, “Send it. Send
Deadly Recall while you’re at it.” I’ll never forget when BelleBooks sent me an offer letter for both books. I had huge respect for Debra Dixon and Deborah Smith, both legends in publishing, and decided to accept. As a courtesy I wrote the New York editor with whom I’d submitted Walk Away Joe. All my rejection bruises seemed to fade when she wrote back, “Congratulations. This is our loss. I love Melanie and Joe.” FYI, Melanie and Joe are characters from the WAJ manuscript that BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books subsequently renamed The Past Came Hunting.
In the early days of my publishing career, Amazon, had a marketing tool called Deal of the Day on Kindle. Both The Past Came Hunting and Deadly Recall hit the top ten of the overall paid deals. I was on my way to Santa Fe when Deborah Smith messaged me to tell me Deadly Recall had hit #1 in the overall paid category! For a brief time, my book was listed alongside John Grisham and Clive Custler. Typically, I couldn’t get a signal to capture a screen shot but did manage one a couple days later in which the book still held the #1 spot in three genre categories.
I tell you this long drawn-out story to remind you that while others may not believe in your work, if you’re passionate about it, never give up. Deadly Recall remains my bestselling book. Imagine if I had done what that editor suggested and put it under my bed. Deadly Recall is one of the books in The Stiletto Gang’s Summer Bonanza. The log line is: A terrifying memory is locked deep inside her. A Killer wants to keep it that way. https://donnellannbell.net/books/romantic-suspense-thrillers/deadly-recall/ Now that you know its history, I hope you’ll give it a try. And remember this business is subjective. Whatever you’re passionate about, it’s important to believe! Happy Reading!
Coffee Shops & Books plus a #giveaway for June
/in Cozy Mysteries, The Stiletto Gang/by Mary Lee Ashfordby Mary Lee Ashford
It was a busy Saturday morning. They made biscuits. I brought books.
Different waves of people came throughout the morning. Some people with their kids. Some with their pets. One guy carried a beyond adorable miniature dachshund in a sling, talking to it as he stood in line.
A lady with two young boys had her hands full as she waited to give her order. One of them leaned against her legs while the other twirled her long skirt like a maypole – wrapping himself up and then unfurling himself to scare his brother. I had two boys and I’ve been there.
“Lady,” I thought to myself. “You’re going to need a really big coffee.”
The downtown Farmer’s Market was going on so some came with flowers and vegetables tucked in bags. People with their pets and produce. Families meeting up over coffee. Friends on a Saturday outing.
There was also a 5K going on (my husband was running that) and we weren’t far from the finish line so that brought another wave of people.
A lady stopped by to look at my books and we talked scone recipes and travels. A few readers of my series stopped by to ask when the next book will be out. Sign up for my newsletter, if you’d like to be notified when that happens.
Of course, I also had to have a Honey Bee Latte, which is my favorite from their coffee menu.
All in all, it was a wonderful time and a great kick off to June and summer events. Which speaking of…
Did we mention that The Stiletto Gang is doing a Summer Book Bonanza Giveaway?
Details are below:
Grand Prize Winner receives… 9 E-BOOKS
Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston
The Second Shot by Bethany Maines
Murder in the One Percent by Saralyn Richard
The Body Business by Gay Yellen
Skeletons in the Attic by Judy Penz Sheluk
House of Rose by T.K. Thorne
Night of the Living Bread by Mary Lee Ashford
Deadly Recall by Donnell Ann Bell
With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying by Debra H. Goldstein
Two runners up will receive 3 e-books and may select from the list above.
Clicking Our Heels – Cheesecake, Ice Cream, Pizza, or Anything Chocolate?
/in Clicking Our Heels/by DebraClicking Our Heels – Cheesecake, Ice Cream, Pizza, or Anything Chocolate?
Kathleen Kaska – Cheesecake.
Judy Penz Sheluk – Check, check, check. But if I absolutely have to choose – cheese pizza, no other toppings.
Lois Winston – How about spinach/mushroom thin crust pizza with chocolate cheesecake a la mode for dessert? And don’t forget the whipped cream (on the dessert, not the pizza!)
Mary Lee Ashford – Anything chocolate definitely! Dark chocolate preferably, but pretty much any kind of chocolate works for me. And with strawberry, blueberry, or cherry flavors…perfect. Or wait, maybe with nuts. Okay, clearly anything chocolate.
Donalee Moulton – I’m not sure humans were meant to make decisions like this. If pushed to the edge of a cliff, however, I would pick … Chocolate.
Debra H. Goldstein – Dark Chocolate is my first food group, but cheese pizza and coffee ice cream aren’t far behind.
Gay Yellen – Pizza.
Donnell Ann Bell – I can resist cheesecake. I also worked at Baskin Robbins in high school, which curbed my cravings for ice cream. That leaves me with pizza and chocolate, two items at which I fail miserably 🙂
Bethany Maines – Ooh, that is a tough call. I would probably pick in the following order: chocolate, pizza, ice cream, and very far behind all of those is cheesecake which is one of my least favorite desserts.
Saralyn Richard – I’ve known and loved them all, but they are not currently my friends.
T.K. Thorne – I don’t know what inference anyone will draw from this, but I prefer pie to cake. That said, cheesecake is as close to cream pie as you can get and still call it “cake.”
Skeletons in the Attic #giveaway
/in Give Away, Judy Penz Sheluk/by Judy Penz ShelukIt’s June and that means it’s time for another Stiletto Gang multi-author e-book #giveaway. That might sound simple on the surface, but most (if not all) of us have authored multiple books. Deciding which book to giveaway is step 1 in the process. Step 2 is a bit of shameless self promotion for the promotion (details at the end of the post) and the book selected.
For this year’s #giveaway, I decided to offer my bestselling “cold case cozy,” Skeletons in the Attic, book 1 in my Marketville Mystery Series.
Here’s the official retail blurb:
Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know he had. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.
Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who hopes to expose the Barnstable family secrets herself. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?
So, where’s Marketville?
The idea…
The idea for Skeletons in the Attic came to me while I waited with my husband, Mike, in our lawyer’s office. We were there to update our wills, and his goldendoodle kept us company while our lawyer was detained at court. The opening scenes of the book are culled directly from that experience. (Let that be your takeaway from this: everything that happens in a writer’s life may end up in one of their stories.) Anyway, here’s the opening paragraph:
What about the skeletons?
I thought you’d never ask! Turns out, there really was a skeleton in the attic, and Callie was the one to find it (along with a few other old family skeletal secrets). And as soon as Callie found that skeleton, I knew I had my book title.
What if I don’t win the #giveaway?
Well, that would be disappointing, but the good news is that Skeletons in the Attic is available in trade paperback, e-book AND on Audible. So really, there are no losers here… and if you’re a reader who is willing to take a gamble, the first 3 Marketville e-books are available in a box set for just $9.99.
About me
The Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five multi-nominated Superior Shores Anthologies. Find me on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, and on www.judypenzsheluk.com.
And now, the #giveaway deets: