Monday, March 14, 2016

#99c #AmazonKindle A Special for Book One in the Series

MUSE MONDAY
This is just too good of a deal, and I had to spread the word once again before it's over. There are only a couple of more weeks to get in on the sale.

The Art of Love and Murder is the first book in the series and the eBook version is an Amazon Encore exclusive. Amazon dropped the price yesterday from $3.99 to $.99. This is a limited time offer so if you haven't read it, what a great time to add it to your reader. This is the story of Lacy Dahl who is searching out information on her birth parents. What she finds is secrets, threats, and murder that will have you turning the pages.

Amazon Buy Link


Blurb:

Lacy Dahl never questioned her past until the deaths of her adoptive parents and her husband. A husband who wasn't what he seemed. Her research uncovers secrets about the mother she never knew; secrets that dispute the identity of her father and threaten her life.

Sheriff Chance Meadowlark is still haunted by the murder of his wife and the revenge he unleashed in the name of justice. When he meets Lacy he is determined not to become involved, but their pasts may make that impossible. As they move closer to the truth, saving Lacy may be his only salvation.

Lacy begins to think the present is more important than her past...until Chance's connection to her mother and a murder spin her deeper into danger and further from love. Will the truth destroy Lacy and Chance or will it be the answer that frees them?


Each book in the series can stand on its own and if you read out of sequence, you won't be lost. BUT books one and three are more closely tied together. Lacy is searching for more about her father. In A Legacy of Love and Murder, she and her daughter August travel to Austria to do just that. This is August's book and not only does she meet an Austrian James Bond, but she's tangling with Neo-Nazis. It's dangerous and could be the death of both her and her mother.

Blurb:

In Austria to meet her great-grandfather and explore his castle estate filled with priceless art, August Myer arrives to find he’s died suspiciously. As one of the heirs, her life is in danger, turning this fairytale Alpine adventure into a nightmare of unexplained accidents, neo-Nazi threats, and murder.

Inspector Tobias Wolf splits his time between his profession and fighting the spread of neo-Nazism. But when the beautiful, intriguing American crosses his path during a murder investigation, ensuring her safety challenges his priorities…and his heart.

When August learns the handsome inspector’s involvement with a major female Nazi is more than he’s admitted, and the death of her great-grandfather is somehow connected, she takes the investigation into her own hands. The outcome could be the death of both of them.

A Legacy of Love and Murder releases worldwide on March 30th. You can order the paperback version right now, but if you're an eBook reader you can pre-order and receive your book on or before March 30.

Paperback Buy Link
Pre-order eBook from Amazon



That's the big news. But don't forget about book two, Southwest of Love and Murder. Phoebe is Lacy's best friend and a murder-mystery writer. Someone is bringing her books to life!

Amazon Buy Link

Blurb:


Mystery writer, Phoebe Anderson, owes her success to killing her first husband on paper seventeen years earlier. Now, someone has actually done it. When she decides to take a few days away on the ranch of her best friend’s brother-in-law, she doesn’t expect romance to find her...or murder to follow her.

Mason Meadowlark is happy with his wild cowboy ways, avoiding love since the death of his baby and the end of his marriage twenty years ago. When Phoebe shows up, he fights to control his emotions, but soon wonders if she just might be worth the risk of opening his heart again.

With an obsessed fan close on her heels, Phoebe is thrown into her own murder mystery…and the next target on his list is Mason.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

KEEP ON TRIPPIN' AND KRAUT

TRIPPIN' THURSDAY

In everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose...in our latest season, with only a vague plan and a touch of creativity, we're off on another adventure. Half of this twosome is retired; my half will probably never know what that means. I promise to share.

Germany trippin' days
When I renamed Thursday to Trippin’ Thursday, I thought I might get at least one funny comment from some reader. After all, trippin’ used to have quite a connotation. But then you’d have to be a child of the sixties like me to remember. We spent some of those years in Germany. I fell in love with the country and German food. I've come up with a recipe for pork and sauerkraut that is close to what we had in Southern Bavaria. If you don't like Americanized canned kraut, give my recipe a try. It's a world apart. Recipe is at the end of the post.

So back to trippin'...Nowadays, my trippin’ has a different connotation.
Trippin' on Daddy's bday cake
I make several trips around the RV park every day trying to walk off those pounds I seemed to have picked up when I wasn't looking. Hubby and I try to take a trip now and then. A few times a month, I venture out on trips to Prescott, Phoenix, and Paulden.

Trippin' back in time
It’s been four weeks since I’ve posted to Trippin’ Thursday. It's been a good month...or like we might have said way back when...it's been a trip, man. We've had birthday parties which are always a trip. We took a trip to the old west at Rawhide.

The latest book I'm writing is a trip, too. Until now, only unlikable
Trippin' on the Rawhide train
characters have met their demise. Or characters we haven't met are murdered before the book begins. In the book
I am writing, book four in the series, I murder off a character that I like. That was hard. What a trip!


A Legacy of Love and Murder, book three, is out there for pre-order. It will be released worldwide on March 30. This book takes us to Austria. Now that's a trip. And the recipe below, although German, could be considered a bit Austrian. The German and Austrian cultures and cuisine are similar.

Trippin' in the woods in Tonto Basin
Enjoy the recipe. And Keep On Trippin'!   









TRIPPIN' KRAUT
Ingredients:
One head fresh cabbage
2-4 pork ribs (these are the thick ones with some fat on them, although you could use a rack of spareribs)
Cummin
Celery Seed
Dill Weed
White Vinegar

I use a pressure cooker. I think you could use a slow cooker too.
Directions:
Slice up cabbage and fill cooker 2/3 full. Mix 1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup water. (If you use a whole head of cabbage you might add another 1/3 cup water if the head is big. But liquid does not  have to cover it.) Pour nearly all of the vinegar/water mixture over cabbage. Liberally sprinkle with cummin and dill weed. Be much less liberal with celery seed. Pour the rest of the liquid over it to carefully wash some of the seasoning down into the cabbage but not all of it. Place pork on top. I cook in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. If you use a slow cooker, I would guess 6 hours on high, but you'll know your cooker better than I do. Sorry I don't measure seasonings. I just douse with quite bit. Enjoy!     

Monday, March 7, 2016

Stormy Weather and Tempestuous Lives by Dara Franklyn



MUSE MONDAY
Please welcome Dara to Muse Monday!
 
Visiting family in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy finished its destructive path in 2012, I still saw the devastation that remained.  Live wires were dangling in the road a month after the storm!

The memory of what I saw stuck with me.  And, that became the backdrop for the creation of Celia. What would it be like for people living at the Jersey shore whose livelihood relied on tourists visiting their charming seaside town?

While writing Celia, I found Sandy colored the experience, heightening the jeopardy and characters’ lives.

In 2015, Celia was published. Shortly afterward while I was attending a conference in New York City, I met a woman who had survived Sandy, but was still dealing with the aftermath. Government agencies were not supportive of the people who had lost their homes and livelihoods.
 
The most recent “Storm of the Century” to land in New Jersey hit in January, 2016.  Blizzards, record snowfall and road closings ensued. 

Some people cannot catch a break!
 
Book Blurb: Celia
Living at the Jersey Shore and running her family’s gift shop, Celia Costa spends her time creating pottery.  She’s a romantic who has given up on love.  Then Max, a photographer and location scout for an upscale magazine, arrives and everything changes.  Can their new relationship survive the hurricane that destroys the Jersey Shore?

Excerpt: Celia
Reaching for his card, Celia dialed his number.  Suddenly, as the phone rang, her palms were clammy, her mouth parched, and her pulse broke new speed records.
On the third ring, his warm, mellow voice answered.
“Hello, this is Max, how can I help you?” Max answered in a rehearsed voice.
“Hi, Max. This is Celia, you know Celia from Sea Drift,” Celia said, her voice strained.
Max’s response came through very clearly, changing tone… “Hello, Celia. Of course I know who you are. I’m so happy to hear from you. What can I do for you?” He paused on “for you” in a way that made Celia’s knees turn to jelly.
What could he do for her?

Be sure to look for my next book, Angie's Secret, to be published by the end of April.  The protagonist is Angie Costa, Celia's mom, who has her own adventure and relationship.
 
Buy link: Celia
Available only on my website: DaraFranklyn.com
With a Secure link, available in print or pdf.


Saturday, March 5, 2016

#99c #AmazonKindle #FridayFiction A Special for Series Book One

Happy Saturday. I don't normally post on Saturday, but with an upcoming series book to be released and one of the series on sale, I had to spread the good news.

The Art of Love and Murder is the first book in the series and the eBook version is an Amazon Encore exclusive. Amazon dropped the price yesterday from $3.99 to $.99. This is a limited time offer so if you haven't read it, what a great time to add it to your reader. This is the story of Lacy Dahl who is searching out information on her birth parents. What she finds is secrets, threats, and murder that will have you turning the pages.

Amazon Buy Link

Each book in the series can stand on its own and if you read out of sequence, you won't be lost. BUT books one and three are more closely tied together. Lacy is searching for more about her father. In A Legacy of Love and Murder, she and her daughter August travel to Austria to do just that. This is August's book and not only does she meet an Austrian James Bond, but she's tangling with Neo-Nazis. It's dangerous and could be the death of both her and her mother.


A Legacy of Love and Murder releases worldwide on March 30th. You can order the paperback version right now, but if you're an eBook reader that date will be your first chance.

Paperback Buy Link



That's the big news. But don't forget about book two, Southwest of Love and Murder. Phoebe is Lacy's best friend and a murder-mystery writer. Someone is bringing her books to life!

Amazon Buy Link