The Next Book

Summertime sucks the creativity out of me. I guess I should qualify that statement by adding Arizona summertime. The heat makes it hard for me to think. With the advent of the monsoons spiking the humidity, I'm darn near comatose.

But...the book must go on. Luckily, I have a co-author partner in the midwest who keeps me barreling ahead. When Joyce sends me a chapter, I can't ignore my duty. Truth is, the writing keeps me sane. I can block out the misery of summer when I am fully ensconsed in the lovely, cooler town of Wyatt, Arizona. Not to say I'm not having to scrape up my Muse from a melted puddle on the floor from time to time.

This fourth book in the Chocolate Martini Sisters Mystery books will be Puppies, Yoga, and Murder. We've got puppy snatchers, yoga classes, and of course murder for sisters Em and Nic to handle. Here's a peek. These are the first few sentences of the latest mystery adventure:

Nic glanced at the time in the corner of her computer screen. “Where on earth did this day go?” Springing from her desk chair, she hit send on the travel article she’d written. Then froze. Should she have proofed it one more time? “Gah, don’t be neurotic.”

That doesn't give you much hint into the mayhem and murder to come. Okay, one more peek:

Emma shirked back from the bushes and halted her quizzical aunt’s advance with a raised hand. “Stop.” A shiver raced up her spine. A dead body. Ugh.

That's all the hints I can give. Besides, I'm up for writing chapter five, and I need to get back to it before Joyce catches me.

Although we live nearly 2,000 miles apart, we’re good friends and avid writing partners. We met when we both lived in Minnesota. This writing partnership now spans the Midwest to the West.

The Chocolate Martini Sisters Mystery Series was born in an historical bar in a real-life western town in Arizona. With nothing but a title and a vague storyline, I wanted to venture into the cozy mystery world. I approached Joyce with my idea. That’s all it took. She was off and running. She is my synopsis hero. I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I enjoy writing them with my partner in murder and mayhem.

Life's Adventures

Adventure I Could Do Without (part 2) 

To pick up where we left off, after a week, we returned to the RV to gather some needed items. We hadn't packed for more than a couple of days. Seeing, or rather smelling, it was still extremely smokey, we got in and out as quickly as possible. How would we ever get that smell out of there? Add to that problem, our awning was ripped at both ends. We decided to file a claim with our insurance company. We'd never had to in spite of a fire evacuation and two floods in prior years.

Back in Prescott, I started making phone calls. We were assigned an agent. I sent the required via email. She wanted the story and photos. A day or so passed, and we were assigned another agent because the first one didn't handle this type of claim. I sent photos again. But it's not possible to send photos of a smell! Anyway, were were told it would take a few days to go through the system and an adjuster would contact us. When he finally did, FDW jetted off to Tonto to meet him. And it was a joke. He didn't need to have the awning out...he could see it was damaged. He forgot his telecoping stick to take a photo of the roof in case we had fire damage from flying embers. And he was afraid of heights. So he went up a couple of rungs on the ladder, stuck the camera in the air, and took ONE photo from one end. The RV is 42' long with two air conditioners on top. His phone must have some lens on it to get the whole roof. When he came inside, he commented, "Yeah, it stinks." He also told FDW, he wasn't an adjuster, just a photographer.

A few more days, and we got an email that they weren't able to confirm damage. The awning is old so the wind probably didn't do the damage. Denied claim. In order to assess the inside and roof, we needed to take it to Mesa for a tear down. That's an hour and a half away and our rig is set up to travel. We received this on the day we were making the trip to Tonto again to water plants and get more odds and ends like food I was sure was going to go bad.

My anger spiked. No one else on the ranch had to take their unit in. The adjusters came to them and were already settling with what needed to be done. I wrote a couple of scathing emails...for all the good it did.

As it turned out, on this trip we were pleasantly surprised to find the smokey stink practically gone. We'd
left windows open and fans running. The trees were finally not burning. The awning works, even if it looks like trash. FDW wanted to fight, but I couldn't see the sense. The awning is old and even if the wind did some damage, that isn't worth the process of fighting the claim. Life's too short for battles of this kind that I'd get an enormous headache from and probably lose.

So, we spent a couple of more days in Prescott, dreading returning to the cleanup. Ashes were everywhere. We needed to arrange for a total wash and wax of the outside. We needed to find someone to replace the awning. I stripped the inside of all textiles and washed them. It's liveable. The mess outside is still not cleaned up. Too hot! The trees have been cut to the ground, but they haven't finished the removal or leveling of land.

So ends this adventure in living. Hey! Never a dull moment.

A heartwarming side note: FDW's boat covered was ripped to shreds by the tree encounter and the wind. When we came back, we found a brand new boat cover on FDW's boat as well as a motor cover. Our neighbors, the ones whose RV FDW kept the water hose on until the Fire Department arrived, had purchased and brought up and covered it. FDW was moved to tears. They're such good people!

Life's Adventures

Adventure I Could Do Without (part one)

The day had been quiet. We were looking forward to driving to Prescott the next morning, Friday, to spend a couple of days with my sister and her husband in celebration of our wedding anniversary...fifty-six years. Friday night we were going to a concert "Beyond the British Invasion" and Saturday out for dinner adding another couple to our celebration. 

I was partially packed. FDW was cooking chicken on the outside burner for a batch of dogfood to take with us. Suddenly, the wind howled. I peeked out the door to see trees bending and clouds overhead. I quickly brought in the awning, with effort, but not before the gusts pulled the corners loose from the metal.

A crack of thunder sounded like it hit right on top of us. FDW charged to his boat to secure it. I looked out the back window to see smoke, but I couldn't tell from where. Then the hundred-plus year old cotton wood split in half, falling over the boat and FDW.

My heart left my chest. I have hardly any memory of ending up next to the tree screaming for my husband. He emerged, dazed. Behind him fire forked from the bottom half of the tree. My memory of the next few minutes are as hazy as the smoke that covered the sky. He came inside. I called 911. I turned around, and he'd disappeared. I found him outside with the hose, spraying down our neighbor's RV that was only feet from the burning tree. They were not there but down in Phoenix. He wouldn't stop until the fire department arrived and made him leave.

Luckily, the boat took the brunt of the tree. His shoulder and back were scraped and bloody and in the next few days, his chest displayed an impressive bruise. When I finally got him to the doctor, he had no permanent damage. 

Our RV took on smoke. We could hardly breathe. Two massive cottonwood trees were burning very close to our unit. Our neighbor rushed up and moved his RV. The fire authorities felt our unit was not in danger from the fire but the smoke was awful. We couldn't stay. We quickly packed the rest of our things and headed to Prescott, tired and stinky.

I contacted the RV Ranch owner the next day. The trees were still burning. The fire department personnel were fighting the fire round the clock. We settled in and enjoyed a weekend of celebrating, trying to ignore what was happening two hours away.

What was supposed to be a two night stay dragged on another week. We made a trip back for more clothes and items. The inside of the RV was so smokey we were in and out as quickly as possible. The trees were still smoldering. We had no choice but to return to Prescott. And call our insurance company.

To be continued...

Come Tour with the Chocolate Martini Sisters

Another virtual tour this month for Cornbread, Ribs, and Murder. Visit all the stops and enter to win a $20 gift certificate. 

The third book in this amateur sleuths, cozy mystery series will have you chuckling and on the edge of your seat as the sisters solve the murder.

June 4: The Avid Reader
June 4: InkSpired: Musings on All Things Literary
June 11: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
June 11: Gina Rae Mitchell
June 18: Literary Gold
June 18: Sandra's Book Club
June 25: Readers Roost
June 25: Iron Canuck Reviews & More

Nicole Earp and Emma Banefield are celebrating another birthday at the Dulce Inn with the added fun of a rib cookoff in the park. Not only are chocolate martinis in their plans, Nic has her heart set on winning the cornbread contest. But as the excitement bakes, someone is stirring up trouble for the inn and its employees. 

Strange occurrences at the Dulce are on the rise. Slashed tires, menacing phone calls, and unsavory characters add a vibe that threatens the sisters’ anticipated fun-filled stay. When the hot-headed hotel owner is caught wielding a bloody letter opener over a dead coworker, the sisters are embroiled in a caper to help the one person who finds their sleuthing as welcomed as a rattlesnake in her bed. But is she innocent? 

The Chocolate Martini Sisters are primed to find out. First, they’ll have to eliminate a host of suspects that includes a dishonest restaurant owner, a jilted girlfriend, an ex-wife, the barkeeper, and a masseuse with a crush. If they can stay off the radar of the surly chief homicide detective long enough, they can put out the fire…unless the killer burns them first.

FIND ALL OF THE CHOCOLATE MARTINI SISTERS MYSTERIES HERE: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQ9T7ZBX

Reading and Reviews (Brown and Joynt-Lang)

I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. From time to time, I'll share my reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day. 

I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. Besides Romantic Suspense and mystery, I read crime and law novels, once in a while a true story, WWII historicals, romance, and mainstream character driven books.

Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap by Teri M. Brown is the story of three generations of women, of faith versus science, of tradition and change. Mother, daughter, granddaughter. 

My Review:

Maggie is a granny woman, a skilled midwife. But Maggie has spent her life learning and practicing healing beyond childbirth. Her knowledge of herbs is almost secondary to her gift of healing through faith and mental attitude. Her daughter Carrie Ann rejected Maggie’s style of healing, believing her ideas were crazy and more like magic. When Carrie Ann left to pursue a medical education, with Maggie’s blessing, she also left her daughter Josie Mae behind for Maggie to raise on her farm in Green Mountain Gap holler. Carrie Ann returned to practice medicine but in the near town of Burnsville. Josie Mae matures, caught between her mother’s and her grandmother’s worlds. 

This is the point where the story begins for the reader. The time frame for Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is 1892-1894 with an epilogue set in 1926. The setting is North Carolina hill country and on the Cherokee nation. The dynamics between the three women is a remarkable story. The characterizations are deep and develop to the very end. The events are heart tugging and page turning. 

Ms. Brown weaves her story of folklore and science using knowledge of herbs and history. I didn’t question it, and it wasn’t overwhelming. I’ve read books that seem more like the author trying to prove her knowledge and spotlight her research. Ms. Brown’s style is flawless in this respect.

Evocative and thought-provoking. Daughters of Green Mountain Gap exposes the inexplicable complexities of the relationships between the generations of the three women. I highly recommend this book.

AMAZON BUY LINK

Escaping Circumstances (Out of the Darkness, book 2) by Gloria Joynt-Lang 

Eliot “Scorp” Traversini is no stranger to pain. Quinn loves her new apartment building but not Scorp, her neighbor. As Scorp and Quinn bond over his sister, they spark a passion they never expected. But dark secrets and unrelenting fears threaten their newfound romance.

My Review:

If you’re a lover of romance novels, this book has several tropes to wet your appetite. Opposites attract qualifies for Scorp and Quinn. Elliot, known as Scorp, is a tattooed monster of a man, all handsome, yet looking like the bad boy. Quinn is the artistic type with a more timid personality. Quinn can’t help but run into the man who lives across the hall…forced proximity. She doesn’t like him, but something draws her to him. When she finds out he’s raising his kid sister, cracks in her resolve grow wide. 

So what’s going on with these two that they can’t just charge in and get to know each other—secrets. They both have pasts, and those pasts aren’t pretty.   

Quinn isn’t totally wrong evaluating her neighbor as a bad boy. He’s self-destructive in an effort to forget and deal with a past that has left deep scars. But his heart of gold and the gentle nature masked by his macho good looks can’t hide from her for long. He’s taken in his little sister to protect her from a similar fate. 

The heroine and hero in this story have a lot of depth. What bothered me is having the full scope of their pasts purposely hidden until late in the book. Perhaps Ms. Joynt-Lang’s purpose was to build intrigue or conflict, but I think the characters would’ve been fuller and the story smoother if we’d known the why of their actions sooner. 

Romance lovers will be immersed in the blossoming love between Scorp and Quinn with their ups and downs, and in the middle of all the conflict is a sweet little girl.

AMAZON BUY LINKL

Life's Adventures

Although summer doesn't officially start for another three weeks, here in Tonto Basin, Arizona, it's started for me. True, we haven't hit triple digits yet, but it's only days away. I've opened the calendar, and I'm making plans to be away from here as much as possible.

I should get FDW to take me to the lake this week before it's too awfully hot. I prefer Apache Lake, and I don't really care about fishing anymore. A couple of hours sightseeing and eating a packed lunch will do me just fine. Should we take Amigo? That's an adventure I can do without. The dog refuses to stay on the boat and whines incessantly if he can't be in the water.

The first week of June, we'll be dog sitting for the kids which means Phoenix. No cooler, but their place is bigger with a super AC so we can spread

out and chill. Plus, I won't be tempted to clean or do any of those other things that drag my efforts away from writing. Book four in the Chocolate Martini Sisters Mysteries is begging to be written. I've got a book of Christmas short stories on the burner too.

The third week of June we'll head to cooler Prescott and stay in "the cabin" at my sister's. Her hubs did a fantastic job of building a little getaway on their property, and sis put her usual artsy touches to it. This will be the first of many stays this summer. It's bare bones but we have full run

of the main house too. It's our anniversary so we'll be taking in a concert and dinner in quaint Prescott.

July is still sketchy. I have book events, doc appointments, and trips penciled in, but I'll wait to see what adventures we can ink.

August is birthday month...I will soon be making plenty of plans to get out of the heat and celebrate me!

What are your summer adventure plans? Or do you live in one of those places where summer at home is an adventure?

Reading and Reviews (Cockrell and Imbalzano)

I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. From time to time, I'll share my reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day. 

I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. Besides Romantic Suspense and mystery, I read crime and law novels, once in a while a true story, WWII historicals, romance, and mainstream character driven books.

Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author. 

The Downtrodden (The Brown Rain Series, book 2) by Connie Cockrell 

After their near-miss with the Children of God, Alyssa and Kyra are hesitant to trust strangers again. The world after the mysterious brown rain isn’t what they had been expecting, but they cannot go back. Hunger and thirst drive them onward, and duty takes them into the embrace of another survivor community.

Will they find a more open welcome this time around? Or is the depravity of man more universal than Alyssa and Kyra can comprehend?

My Review:

I read the second book in this series by Ms. Cockrell as a bookclub choice. Although I don't normally read Sci-Fi, I'm glad I got to be entertained by this story. On one hand, it's bleak and sad, but on the other it kept me glued to the pages...there was hope. The characters are vivid, which is always a plus for me. This future world is totally believable. There is definitely a moral to be learned. There is definitely an underlying lesson. I am going to have to read book one. You don't have to read book one to enjoy book two.

https://www.amazon.com/Snapshot-Murder-Izzy-Munro-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CFKB7V5Y/ 

 

Island Detour (Sunrise Island Series book 1) by Maria Imbalzano

Falsely accused of wrongdoing at a Princeton Prep school, Sophie Kearns accepts a temporary teaching position at an environmental school in the Florida Keys to wait out her suspension. The time away is meant to be an anxiety-free escape, but her clashes with the hot but arrogant marine biology teacher, Max Heaton, are anything but tranquil.

Max is determined to start an environmental research institute at the school, but he suspects the gorgeous new Lit teacher, who lacks even the most basic outdoor skills, is there to hinder that dream. Yet something about her tames the demons from his past, and he can no longer ignore the fire she’s lit inside him.

 My Review:

Sophie Kearns is falsely accused of wrongdoing at the prep school where she teaches, just as she’s about to rise to an elevated position and reach her dream. She escapes to an environmental school in Florida owned by an old friend who offers her a temporary position while she awaits the verdict. She’s totally out of her element, and one of the biology teachers, Max, finds every excuse to clash with her over her ineptness at the outdoor activities. He mistakenly concludes she’s there to hinder his goals at the school, and he’d like to drive her away. 

Physically, Max and Sophie are attracted to each other from day one. But Max is arrogant and a hot head focused only on his aspirations. Sophie is uptight and not suited for the layback atmosphere and outdoorsy routine at the school. Plus, Max has a huge trust problem. 

As Sophie falls in love with a style of life she didn’t know she even liked, she also falls for Max. Max of course falls for her too, but he can’t get over his fear that there is something she isn’t disclosing. They come together, and they fall apart. Several times. When Sophie finally comes to the realization she can never be a prep school teacher again, she has to make a decision what path to follow. Max wants her to stay and work with him on his dreams, but he’s afraid of holding her back and won’t tell her. 

The biggest problem for both of them is their reluctance to communicate openly, to make assumptions without full disclosures, and to run from what will make them really happy. Will they finally admit their true feelings? Will the pathways open for Max to complete his dreams? Will Sophie turn her back on a way of life for which she yearns? 

If you’re up for a lot of angst and some well done love scenes, this book is for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Laylah-Abrams-ebook/dp/B0CK8T9ZWR/