Three New Books
Something for every reader + bonus epilogue
One of the questions I get all the time is “how do you write so fast?”
My answer is two-fold. First, I retired from teaching in 2022. Now, writing fiction is my full-time job, and I spend most of the day working at my kitchen table, interrupted only to feed and walk the dogs or help my husband when he needs something.
Second, I’m writing in genre, either mystery or romance, so before I even begin to write, I have a structure in front of me. In mystery, there is a crime, an investigation, and a resolution. In romance, the characters meet, fall in love, overcome difficulties, and end up together.
Brandon Sanderson condenses this into three parts: promise, progress, and payoff.
My ideas fall logically into genre these days. A good example is how I began work on my newest Ormond Yard Victorian MM romance.
I began by looking at the third book, Saving the Boxer. Was there a character there who deserved his own happy ending? I considered the barrister, Richard Pemberton, and the apprentice clerk, Luke O’Shea. Then I remembered a very minor character named Israel Kupersmit, who only appears in the book fleetingly.
He intrigued me, though. How did an Orthodox Jew end up handing out flyers for a gay brothel on the street? What was his story?
I paired him with Reed Lydney, who has lost his job with the Foreign Office after an indiscretion with another man. I really wanted to lean in on the romance in this book, though there is a strong element of intrigue as well.
Claude.ai was able to short-cut my research by providing me with background on what was called “The Great Game,” about a rivalry between Britain and Russia for control of the middle and far east.
The Lord’s Gambit was a lot of fun to write, because I felt like Claude was a partner on my shoulder, helping me out whenever I got stuck. The words flowed quickly, and I hope readers will appreciate that—getting more books faster! This one is on pre-order for a March 10 release.
To celebrate, I’m attaching a bonus epilogue to Saving the Boxer, book three in the series. After leaving the boxing ring in disgrace, can Ezra Curiel return to his former glory?
Marketing is a key issue for all authors, and as independent authors we have to get creative. There are three major fan conventions for readers of crime fiction: Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic, and Bouchercon. In the past, Joanna Campbell Slan and I have both advertised in the conference programs. This year we decided to take a different tack. Joanna suggested we each write a novella about a death at a dog park, then package them together as an e-book and print book. We’re giving away copies at each of those three conferences, for about the same price as an ad for each of us.
Death at the Dog Park is on pre-order now, for a March 13 release, tied to the start of Left Coast Crime. In my novella, Dog of Punishment, After Melissa Kawamoto is found dead at the local dog park, Steve and Rochester must untangle a web of professional rivalries, stolen patents, and bitter grudges to catch a killer who turned a revolutionary training method into a deadly weapon.
Because I had some time while waiting for comments from my editor on my next two books, I wrote a contemporary MF romance around the trope of enemies to lovers. It was a lot of fun to dive into my own real estate background, and remember all the Harlequin romances I borrowed from my mother when I was a teenager.
Blueprint for Passion sizzles with forbidden attraction, forced proximity, and the undeniable heat of Miami nights. This steamy enemies-to-lovers romance proves that sometimes the best foundations are built on opposites attracting. If you’re a fan of my romances, I hope you’ll give this one a try. It’s only on Amazon, and free in Kindle Unlimited.
I want to end by saying how meaningful it is when I hear from readers who have enjoyed my books. In Dog Grant Me, I wrote about how many Eastern European Jews ended up in the Caribbean because they weren’t allowed into the United States. In my author’s note, I mentioned the doomed voyage of the St. Louis, when a ship carrying 937 passengers, almost all of them Jewish refugees, was refused entry anywhere in the New World.
The boat was forced to return to Europe, and ultimately, 254 St. Louis passengers were killed in the Holocaust.
A reader emailed me that this note had a special meaning to him. As a child, he was brought to the harbor and shown the boat offshore, waiting for the chance to dock. Once he understood what he had seen, the memory haunted him. He was glad that I had brought that voyage to the attention of my readers.
Wow! How much more can you expect?
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