Mystery/Suspense

The Characters in the F.I.G. Mysteries by Barbara Casey – Guest Blog and Giveaway

July 29, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

THE CHARACTERS IN THE F.I.G. MYSTERIES

Once in a while when you are writing a story, you will create a character that, from that moment on, just won’t leave you alone. I can honestly say that the three F.I.G.s—Dara, Mackenzie, and Jennifer—in my series, The F.I.G. Mysteries, are like that. Getting to know them has been a journey in itself. Each girl is so unusual, being a genius, an orphan, and with special talents. That in itself is interesting, but it goes much deeper. Each of these girls, in spite of her abilities, feels flawed. Together, they give each other the support and permission they need to be different. That frequently gets them into trouble as they constantly look for ways in which to express themselves creatively and to over-compensate for being different. When a new, bright, young teacher gets hired by the headmaster at Wood Rose Orphanage to “look after” them and “keep them on a short leash,” they immediately sense that she is one of them and there is nothing that is impossible for them to achieve.

Like her three charges, teacher/mentor Carolina Lovel is also an orphan, although she didn’t find out until her 18th birthday. Also like Dara, Mackenzie, and Jennifer, she holds a secret deep within her soul. This secret allows her to be able to cope with not knowing who her biological parents are and why they gave her away. When she decides to share her secret with the F.I.G.s, it builds the trust and love they already have for one another to a level that can never be destroyed. It takes them on a journey that includes gypsies, the most mysterious manuscript in the world—the Voynich Manuscript, to a secret sub-culture beneath Grand Central Terminal in New York City, an ancient pig dragon in China, and into a horrible war from the past. The things Carolina and the three F.I.G.s discover helps them to understand who they are and why. It helps them to cope in a less-than-understanding world.

I will continue this series because I’m not sure the characters are finished with me. I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking, wondering, what would the F.I.G.s do if…

THE F.I.G. MYSTERIES

Dara Roux, abandoned when she was 7 years old by her mother. Exceptionally gifted in foreign languages. Orphan.

Mackenzie Yarborough, no record of her parents or where she was born. Exceptionally gifted in math and problem-solving. Orphan.

Jennifer Torres, both parents killed in an automobile accident when she was 16. Exceptionally gifted in music and art. Orphan.

THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES: Book 1

Known as the F.I.G.s (Females of Intellectual Genius), three high-spirited 17 year olds with intelligent quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Carolina’s purpose in planning the trip is to remove her unusually gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can’t cause any more problems (“expressions of creativity”) for the headmaster, faculty, and other students – which they do with regularity. Carolina also wants to visit the Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, was first discovered and attempt to find out how it is related to a paper written in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she was adopted.

THE WISH RIDER: Book 2

When Carolina and the F.I.G.s return to Wood Rose, Dara decides that she wants to try to locate her birth mother when she learns that she might be living in New York City. Carolina, Mackenzie, and Jennifer accompany her and their search leads them to a secret dangerous shadow world hidden deep beneath Grand Central, constructed in what Mackinzie identifies as chevroned magic squares—N X N matrixes in which every row, column, and diagonal add up to the same number—and cloaked in the discordant B flat minor key music that only Jennifer can hear.

THE CLOCK FLOWER: Book 3

The three FIGs—Females of Intellectual Genius—graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women after returning from New York City where Dara learned why her mother abandoned her all those years ago, and they are now attending universities where they can further their special talents. This means they will be separated from each other and from Carolina, their much-loved mentor and teacher who is “one of them,” for the first time in their young lives. They vow to try living apart for one semester, in the so-called real world that doesn’t include the orphanage; but if things don’t work out, they will come up with another plan—a plan where they can be together once again. Dara is invited through Yale University to take part in an exciting archeological project in China. Jennifer, once again visualizing black and white images and the unusual sounds of another cadence that seem to be connected to Mackenzie, is engrossed in creating her next symphony at Juilliard. Mackenzie, because of her genius at problem-solving, is personally chosen by a US Senator to get involved in a mysterious, secret research project involving immortality that is being conducted in a small village in China—not too far from where Dara is involved with the archeological site. Once there, however, she finds herself facing a terrifying death from the blood-dripping teeth of an ancient evil dragon. Her best friends, the FIGs and Carolina, rely on their own unique genius and special talents to save her as she discovers the truth of her birth parents.

THE NIGHTJAR’S PROMISE: Book 4

Jennifer Torres, one of the three FIGs (Females of Intellectual Genius) who is a genius in both music and art, is the last to leave the closed rehearsal for her upcoming performance over Thanksgiving break at Carnegie Hall when she hears something in the darkened Hall. Recognizing the tilt of the woman’s head and the slight limp of the man as they hurry out an exit door, she realizes it is her parents who were supposedly killed in a terrible car accident when she was 15 years old. Devastated and feeling betrayed, she sends a text to Carolina and the other two FIGs—THURGOOD. It is the code word they all agreed to use if ever one of them got into trouble or something happened that was too difficult to handle. They would all meet back at Carolina’s bungalow at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women to figure it out. As soon as they receive the text, because of their genius, Dara starts thinking of words in ancient Hebrew, German, and Yiddish, while Mackenzie’s visions of unique math formulae keep bringing up the date October 11, 1943. And as Carolina waits for the FIGs to return to Wood Rose, she hears warnings from Lyuba, her gypsy mother, to watch for the nightjar, the ancient name for the whip-poor-will.

In their search for “The Nightjar’s Promise” and the truth surrounding it, Carolina and the FIGs come face to face with evil that threatens to destroy not only their genius, but their very lives.

Enjoy an Excerpt from The Cadence of Gypsies

“Ouch! You’re standing on my fingers!” This from the petite girl with a long, blond ponytail, wearing a nightgown, most of which was pulled up between her legs and tied into a knot at her waist to keep it from getting tangled on the limb where she was perched. Somewhere above her the sound of a saw and splintering wood filled the darkness followed by a stream of profanity repeated in several foreign languages for emphasis.

“It doesn’t look right. It’s supposed to have a rim and a dent.” Clinging to a 12-foot ladder as she pointed the flashlight first this way and then that, the heavy-set girl wearing a nightshirt buttoned at the neck offered this with a slight lisp.

The girl with the blond ponytail giggled.

“What do you mean—dent?! Let me see that picture.” The tall black girl completely hidden aimed her flashlight toward the magazine that was being thrust upwards through the thick branches in her direction.

“And the top is supposed to be rounded—like a button mushroom,” the girl in the nightshirt added, the word “mushroom” sounding more like “muthroom.”

“That’s because it’s circumcised,” supplied the girl with the ponytail, from which she removed a small twig and a handful of leaves.

“Shekoo, baboo!” More profanity. “Okay. I know what to do.” The tall black girl disappeared back into the upper-most branches of the tall plant that was more tree than bush. After several additional minutes, the sawing, crunching, and clipping sounds finally gave way to the more gentle sounds of tiny snips. And then, silence.

“That’s it; everybody down.”

The petite girl, with the magazine that had been overlooked in the last confiscation and now wedged firmly under her armpit, started the perilous descent first since she was nearest to the ground, followed by the tall girl. The girl in the nightshirt eased her way down the ladder juggling pruning shears, a hand saw, and scissors. Once on the ground, the three girls stood back to admire their work.

“That is one honkin’ Peni erecti,” said the tall girl causing a fresh explosion of giggles. “Let’s get out of here.” After quickly rolling down the legs of her pajama bottoms, the tall girl grabbed one end of the ladder and, along with her two friends, lugged it and the other tools back to the shed that housed lawn maintenance equipment. Task accomplished, they returned to their rooms, and to their individual beds, careful not to disturb the other dorm residents, the floor monitors, their suitemates and, most importantly, their slumbering dorm mother, Ms. Larkins. Within minutes, they fell into a deep, peaceful sleep—the sleep of innocent angels.

It would soon be light; and Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women would start another day.

About the Author Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history. In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service. In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.

Ms. Casey has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Two of her nonfiction books have been optioned for major films, one of which is under contract.

Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies. Ms. Casey’s essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).

Ms. Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she served as guest author and panelist. She has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. In 2018 Ms. Casey received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest Georgia with three cats who adopted her, Homer, Reese and Earl Gray – Reese’s best friend.

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The Foundation of Median Gray by Bill Mesce, Jr. – Guest Blog and Giveaway

July 21, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Bill Mesce, Jr. will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The Foundation of Median Gray

A number of elements came together to make Median Gray happen, but the basic foundation came from my own experiences as a twenty-something suburban Jersey kid working in New York City for the first time in an era when the city was more than a little crazy, quite a bit scary, and for all that, exciting…but maybe exciting like a walk through a spookhouse is exciting.

I started working in New York in 1980 and the city had yet to begin its turnaround. This was still the New York I remembered from movies like Midnight Cowboy, The Taking of Pelham 123, The French Connection. In my early years in the city, the 42nd Street and Times Square area seemed like the porn capital of the world. There’s an incident in Median Gray involving a cab on fire in Times Square that’s exactly as how I saw it. In fact, many of the incidents that don’t involve the main plot I took from things I or friends of mine witnessed.

In that period, I was hit by a taxi, saw a series of manhole covers a block from where I worked explode because of a gas leak, caught someone in the act of trying to pick my pocket, missed a bank robbery on the same block as the Empire State Building by ten minutes or so… The list goes on, but it gives you some idea of what the city was like back then.

When I first started dabbling with the novel in the late 1980s, it was sort of a response to what I was seeing. Over the years as I worked through rewrites, it became something else; kind of a nostalgia piece, a way of capturing and reliving those head-spinningly bizarre days. It’s a cliché to say this, but I wanted that New York to be an active character in the story, not just background.

I’ve always been a fan of police stories: dramas, procedurals, mysteries, the whole gamut. Maybe that’s why I’ve also been long fascinated by the police and police work, particularly on the mindset and the psychological wear and tear of being a cop. I’ve read a lot of books about being a cop, I’ve known – and even been related to – a number of police officers. I wanted to try to get that worldview right, even though this is a much more dynamic story than most real-life cops ever experience.

In doing that, I also wanted to puncture that myth of the rogue cop, the Dirty Harry-like rule breaker who cuts through the b.s. to take down bad guys everybody knows are bad guys but who manage to hide behind legal technicalities. That always grated on me a bit as it occurred to me: what if Dirty Harry or the Lethal Weapon cops or any of the popular mavericks weren’t the dead shots they’re always portrayed to be (most cops are not exceptional marksman; Chicago cop Dennis Farina, who went from being a consultant on crime movies like Thief to acting in movies and on TV used to joke he was such a bad shot his colleagues called him “The Great Wounder”). Pop culture maverick cops are unerring in their suspicions, and never miss their targets when they pull the trigger; there’s never any collateral damage to innocent bystanders.

In a busy metropolitan area like New York, well, to be blunt, it just ain’t gonna happen that way, and I wanted to capture just how dangerously messy that kind of citizen wish fulfillment could be.

The last major component was, believe it or not, the 1970s sitcom Barney Miller which was set in a fictional lower Manhattan police precinct. I had remembered a trivia question back during those days that there had been a survey of police officers about which cop show then on TV they felt most accurately reflected the day-to-day sense of what it was like to be a police officer. Their Number One choice was Barney Miller (picked over, if I remember correctly, Police Story and either Baretta or Kojak). Miller, officers felt, captured the camaraderie, the humor (sometimes dark), and the craziness that was routine. That cued me to what the tone of the novel needed to be.

I’ve never written a book that was sparked by one thing. Usually, elements percolate in my head, collide, and when they adhere to each other, at a certain point there’s a conceptual critical mass and then it’s time to sit at the keyboard. That’s what happened with Median Gray.

New York City, Summer 1963

Rookie beat cop Jack Meara is bleeding out on the dirty floor of a tenement hallway – next to the body of another cop. The eyes of the shooter burned into his memory. Meara watches and waits to see the shooter brought to justice, but, instead, “Tony Boy” Maiella climbs up the Mob ranks, slipping off indictments as easily as his designer overcoat. But on the eve of his retirement, Meara decides on one last kamikaze-like try to even the scales of justice.

New York City, 1983

Rookie detective Ronnie Valerio finds himself unknowingly pulled into the wake of Meara’s quest. A go-go palace bartender is being stalked, a body turns up in a neighborhood dumpster, machine guns blaze in the night, a New York bookie turns up dead in the Jersey Pinelands and the only thing they all have in common is, in one way or another, they all tie back to Jack Meara.

How far does a cop go to even a score? How far does a brother cop go to shield him? Is justice worth any price when the line between right and wrong blurs?

Enjoy an Excerpt

He hears a shout upstairs, something panicky about cops out front, feet stumbling down the stairs. He gets up, turns as a figure hurtles around the second-floor landing and down the upper stairs of the first flight. He barely gets his gun up, hasn’t even said anything when they collide, entangle, and there’s one, brief, brilliant second of mental clarity – when he’s swamped by just what an unbelievably fucking bad idea it was to come down that hall – and then that clarity collapses into panic as he and the figure grapple and try to untangle themselves, and then he feels himself losing his balance, falling backward, he reaches a foot back but there’s nothing there and now he’s on his back, his breath punched out of him as he skids down the stairs to the hallway floor.

He’s still got his pistol in his hand but he’s dazed, he can’t get enough breath to move, and he looks up, sees the guy he just wrangled with standing on the landing over McInerney, silhouetted against the soot-streaked window, sees the guy’s right arm coming up and he knows what that means, he fucking knows, and he feels everything from the pit of his stomach down to his groin turn to cold mush, he’s trying to draw in some air, enough to get his own piece up –

There’s a flash. Quick, bright, like lightning. In that flash, dark eyes look down on him, cold fucking hard eyes.

And with the flash…

There’s a POP – a small noise, like a single clap of hands, but in the confines of the hall it sets his ears ringing…

About the Author:Bill Mesce, Jr. Is an award-winning author and playwright as well as a screenwriter. He is an adjunct instructor at several colleges in his native New Jersey.

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Mimi Takes Europe by Elizabeth Cooke – Spotlight and Giveaway

July 14, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Elizabeth Cooke will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

In this latest cozy mystery, Mimi, and her co-anchor, Nicole Marcel, on the Interview TV Show, TONIGHT, is at her peak of popularity in Paris. Charles Bleisante, who owns the TV Station, proposes a TV interview tour for the pair of certain cities on the continent.

The two, with Nicole’s lover, Detective Giscard Morency, are off, first to Barcelona, later to London. The interviews center on food: the cooking of a paella, in Spain; the braising of a Christmas goose in London, delicious episodes that attract a wide audience. However, certain nefarious incidents occur, in which Mimi is canine sleuth.

CNN–New York requests the co-anchors come to Manhattan for more interviews. There, Mimi helps solve a grisly murder that takes place in one of the highest billionaire luxury buildings in the world.

The resolution of this crime is revealed in Book Five of The Mimi Series: “MIMI TAKES MANHATTAN.”

Enjoy an Excerpt

Detective Giscard Morency grew concerned. As lover of Nicole Marcel, he began to have a dull sense of dread toward one Charles Bleisante. He realized the extent of the entrepreneur’s interest in Nicole. It was not only professional. Oh no. It was much more personal.

Giscard knew the man had lustful feelings for his woman. He could understand it well, but it surely made him deeply anxious about the proposed TV Tour of Europe that Bleisante was proposing for Nicole.

The two – with Mimi – would be out of Paris – in grand hotels – at dinners – on planes shooting through the skies – in exotic places – in bedrooms?

Giscard determined to interrupt this pilgrimage. He would find a way. Perhaps, on the journey, Mimi with her petit nez noir, (little black nose,) would find a new felon for him to track. Obviously, Mimi and Giscard were linked together on several nefarious cases. It would not be at all untenable for the detective to enter the picture if a proper case should appear. It was not much to hope for, but hope he did!

“I’m not going to let you go off with him… alone,” he declared to Nicole.

“Oh, please,” was her reply. “I know him. He’s harmless.”

“Well, I know him too,” was Giscard’s strong rebuttal. “I know men…it’s in his eyes. He lusts for you.” Giscard made up his mind there and then to go wherever she went, whether Nicole approved of it or not!

About the Author: Elizabeth Cooke, born and bred in New York City, graduate of Vassar College and The Sorbonne, is the author of several books about Paris, where she lived in the 1950s.

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Nuclear Power Nuclear Game by Helen Huang – Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

July 13, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Helen Huang will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The year is 1950. Zoe and John, two young nuclear scientists from Berkeley, seem to have the perfect life, with promising careers and marriage plans. But their innocence is soon shattered when the Chinese Communist Party seizes power. Choosing to postpone the wedding and return back to her home country, Zoe finds herself locked in a political cage and separated from John indefinitely.

Caught in a complex web of revolutionary propaganda and forced to participate in dangerous research, Zoe must confront the looming question of where her true loyalties lie: with her country or with John back in America?

Set during China’s march towards nuclear power amidst the political turmoil of the Cold War, Nuclear Power Nuclear Game spans multiple decades and countries across the globe to tell the story of two nuclear scientists’ fight for world peace and a love torn apart by conflicting ideologies.

Enjoy an Exclusive Excerpt

Zoe finished her glass in one gulp. She was not good with alcohol, especially champagne. However, the fire working its way from her throat to her belly seemed to give her courage. “If I tell you something now, you must promise not to be angry with me,” she said, running her delicate fingers through his hair.

“Go on.” He smiled, thinking she was playing one of her naughty games. Her sweet but coy disposition was one of the things he loved about her.

“Last week I got another letter from my father,” said Zoe, her eyes slowly probing his face. “He said that since the Communist Party took over and established the People’s Republic of China last October, conditions have improved dramatically. The new government gives poor people jobs and houses and is cleaning up the brothels and opium dens. They have even promised a transparent and democratic political system made up of diverse voices. At Beijing University, Father says that everyone in the mathematics department is enthusiastic about building a new, modern China.” She hesitated and then plunged on. “He wants me to come home to be part of the change, so I—” She stopped suddenly as John’s lips compressed into a thin, tight line and the joy drained from his eyes. But he was enough of a gentleman to let her finish. Her last words came out in a rush. “I’ve decided to go back to China as soon as possible.”

John turned away from her, his gaze drifting aimlessly across the cloudless blue sky. For the first time, Zoe noticed the crowds. It looked like half the population of San Francisco was in the park enjoying the first warm day of 1950, oblivious to her misery.

“What about us?” When John finally broke the silence, his voice sounded flat and emotionless.

“I love you no matter where I am. You know that.” She kissed his cheek. “It’s just temporary. You can join me in China soon, if things go well; otherwise, I’ll come back here.”

“But you love San Francisco! You said you wanted to stay here.”

“I do! I love it almost as much as I love China. I’ve found peace and happiness here. With you.”

“Then stay here with me,” John said, his voice tight with pain and passion. His fingers clutched at the grass, shredding the budding shoots.

“I can’t.” Her voice throbbed with anguish and she dropped her eyes, looking down at her hands clenched in her lap, unable to meet his gaze.

John cupped her chin in his hand and raised her eyes to his. For a long time, they stared at each other without speaking, neither wanting to continue the conversation. Finally, he dropped his hand and turned away, watching a cargo ship on the horizon head toward the open sea as he searched for the words that would change her mind. He was familiar with her stubborn and independent spirit. Once she made up her mind, wild horses wouldn’t change it.

About the Author: Born and raised in Shanghai, Helen Huang now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Nuclear Power Nuclear Game is her first novel, inspired by her own experience living under the Communist regime and working at a nuclear institute in China.

To be a novelist was Helen’s childhood dream. She started writing Nuclear Power Nuclear Game when she was a housewife looking after her four daughters. It took her sixteen years to write, as she raised her children and grew her house design and construction business. Helen hopes to finish a sequel to Nuclear Power Nuclear Game next year.

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Unbound by Kirsten Weiss – Spotlight and Giveaway

June 29, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kirsten Weiss will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Three Witches and a Metaphysical Detective…

Riga just wants to mentor three young witches and go home. Doyle witch Jayce wouldn’t take help if it landed on her. But when a man is murdered in front of their eyes, these two must learn to work together. Because a dead man is the least of their worries… Jayce Bonheim loves magic and Doyle, California. But she and her small town have been paying a deadly price for the fairy gate she and her sisters can’t close. Now, a society of dark magicians has returned to town, a deadly winged monster has come through the gate, and an old friend has been murdered. And the new mentor who’s supposed to help Jayce and her sisters seems to have an agenda of her own…

It was supposed to be a simple training gig for Riga Hayworth, not a murder investigation. Still reeling from a tragic mistake in her past, she’s determined to stay retired. But the murder and the town’s magic seem tied together. Can Riga resist the lure of an investigation?

A thrilling and funny paranormal mystery, packed with magic, mystery, and murder. Perfect for fans of Mercy Thompson, Supernatural, and Charlaine Harris. Buy Unbound and start reading this page-turning witch mystery.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Dear Ms. Hayworth:

Where to begin? I suppose I must begin with my hometown, Doyle, which is located on a fairy gate. A fairy queen came through that gate in the 1800s, decided she liked the look of the place, and stayed. It did not go well.

In all honesty, I’m not sure if that’s the beginning of the tale either. It’s only as far as our records go. At any rate, the fairy queen tormented the town until the Bonheim sisters, triplets and witches, booted her out. However, when they returned the queen to her land, they were unable to completely shut the door behind her.

That’s when we learned the queen’s presence in our world had had its benefits. It seems she prevented other creatures from Fairy from invading our world. Now that the queen is gone, they’re returning.

The Bonheims have done a yeoman’s job dealing with these incursions. But the open gate has attracted the attention of dark magicians, including, most recently, a black lodge.

You’ve been recommended as someone with deep experience in dealing with both black lodges and solo practitioners of the dark arts. I propose to engage you to mentor the Bonheim sisters in magical self-defense. Enclosed is a retainer, in the hope that you will accept the commission.

(Please note there are two Doyles, so be sure to come to the correct Doyle, located between Angels Camp and Bear Valley. Please note there are also two Bear Valleys. The one nearest to Angels Camp is the correct one).

Sincerely,

Helena Steinberg

About the Author:Kirsten Weiss has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer re-runs and drinking red wine. The latter gives her heartburn, but she drinks it anyway.

Now based in Colorado Springs, CO, she writes genre-blending cozy mystery, supernatural and steampunk suspense, mixing her experiences and imagination to create vivid worlds of fun and enchantment.

If you like funny cozy mysteries, check out her Pie Town – http://www.kirstenweiss.com/pie-town-mysteries, Tea and Tarot -https://www.kirstenweiss.com/tea-and-tarot-mysteries, Paranormal Museum- http://www.kirstenweiss.com/the-perfectly-proper-paranormal-mus-1 and Wits’ End – http://www.kirstenweiss.com/doyle-cozy-mystery-series books. If you’re looking for some magic with your mystery, give the Witches of Doyle – http://www.kirstenweiss.com/doyle-witch-cozy-mysteries, Riga Hayworth – http://www.kirstenweiss.com/riga-hayworth-paranormal-mysteries and Rocky Bridges – http://www.kirstenweiss.com/rocky-bridges-mysteries books a try. And if you like steampunk, the Sensibility Grey – http://www.kirstenweiss.com/sensibility-grey-steampunk-suspense series might be for you.

Kirsten sends out original short stories of mystery and magic to her mailing list. If you’d like to get them delivered straight to your inbox, make sure to sign up for her newsletter at her website.

Book Series

Sensibility Grey Steampunk Suspense

Tea and Tarot cozy mysteries
Pie Town cozy mysteries

Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum cozy mysteries

Doyle Witch

Doyle Cozy

Riga Hayworth

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Critical Hit by W.M. Akers – Spotlight and Giveaway

June 24, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. W.M. Akers will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Check out the Kickstarter Campaign for this project.

How do you win a game that’s trying to kill you?

A twenty-nine year-old clerk at a games store in the Appalachian hamlet of Jett Creek, Tennessee, Callie Myles lives for the weekly RPG sessions run by her beloved brother and gamesmaster, LB. Under his watchful eye, she and her friends wage war, harness magic, and battle evil. When the dice are rolling, they are heroes, and all of Callie’s anxieties slip away. The fun stops the night LB burns to death in a bizarre fire.

Asked by her friends to keep the weekly game alive, Callie does her best to set her grief aside. She puts on the monocle LB wore during sessions and finds herself sucked into a life-sized recreation of her brother’s game. Inhabiting the body of her beloved character, the legendary Arabeth, she thinks she has found the ultimate escape. Her paradise is spoiled when she discovers that something inside the game killed LB—and one of her fellow players was in on it.

To save herself, to avenge her brother, Callie Myles must pull on her armor and beat LB’s game from the inside out. If she gets killed along the way, well, at least she’s having a great time.

A fast-paced hybrid of mystery and adventure, CRITICAL HIT captures the breakneck joy of tabletop gaming, where life and death depend on the whims of a plastic die. It will be on Kickstarter from May 25 to June 25, and available on DriveThruFiction and Amazon after that.

Enjoy an Excerpt

I left my friends behind. They were far below me now—thief, gladiator, bard, and mage—waiting on the frozen mud of the Blackbriar courtyard, waiting for the gate to break, for an army of thousands to pour through the door. I’d been with them, but I broke and ran—not from cowardice, but because I had a better idea.

Thud.

Wood splintered.

Thud.

Steel buckled.

Thud.

The doors exploded off their hinges. The Horde was inside.

I sprinted up icy steps, never doubting this was the only way. Far below, the Heroes were surrounded. For the first time in their lives, they looked small. I could not hear the battle. Up that high, there was no sound but the roar of the wind and, far above me, the creaking of bone.

I threw my bow over my shoulder and planted a foot on the lip of the wall. A snowflake caught on my numb lips. It tasted pure.

With a deep breath, I hurled myself into space.

The Hordesmen looked up. In their white armor, they were hard to distinguish from the ice on the ground. The ground that was, I realized, rushing up to meet me very, very fast.

If this doesn’t work, I thought, I’m going to look like such an asshole.

And then a shadow swept out of the darkness: a massive, keening, riderless bird.

I crashed into its side.

My fingers clawed desperately at its bloody feathers. The great beast rolled, and the ground surged to meet me, and I was more certain than ever that death was coming tonight. I hung on tight, and when the roll stopped, I thudded into the leather seat on its back and did not let go.

“Thank you,” I said, and the griffon screamed loud enough to knock a platoon of Hordesmen to the ground. I tugged on the reins. With a beat of its massive wings, it flung us into the clouds.

My breathing was steady. My hands didn’t shake. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Blackbriar Keep, shrunk to the size of a child’s toy. I wondered if any of my friends were still alive.

Didn’t matter. The griffon crashed into the slushy, frozen clouds, which soaked me from head to toe. The sky went black. There was no sound but the occasional thump of the griffon’s wings. And then we exploded above the clouds, where the Duke was losing the battle for the sky.

Of the hundred griffon-riders he had launched so optimistically before the assault began, only a handful were still in the air. In the light of a cold blue moon, they wheeled around their target: a hundred-yard long flying Horror made of sinew and bone. It snapped at the griffons and batted them aside with indifferent swipes of its barbed tail. The lances of the griffon riders clattered harmlessly off the beast, coming nowhere near their true target: the Queen of Skulls.

She was a smudge of green between the beast’s shoulder blades, a warrior whose armies had broken a continent and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocents. Only Blackbriar stood between her and Winterwind, and Blackbriar would fall unless she died. The griffon riders were never going to hit her. No one could make that shot.

No one but me.

For I was Arabeth of the Golden Mail. Arabeth the dead-eyed, Arabeth the level 12 marksman. Arabeth the best goddamned shot on the Plateau. I nocked an arrow, slowed my heartbeat, and lined up the shot that would end the war.

About the Author:

W.M. Akers is a novelist, playwright, and game designer. He is the author of the mystery novels Westside and Westside Lights; the creator of the bestselling games Deadball: Baseball With Dice and Comrades: A Revolutionary RPG; and the curator of the history newsletter Strange Times. Born in Nashville, he spent a lucky thirteen years in New York before moving to Philadelphia in 2019. Learn more about his work at his website.

Website | Newsletter | Twitter | Patreon | Facebook

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mystery/Suspense Tagged With: Giveaway, Goddess Fish Promotions, Virtual Book Tour, W.M. Akers

Mind Over Murder by Kathy DiSanto – Spotlight and Giveaway

June 23, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kathy DiSanto will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

She’s been gifted with The Sight, but she didn’t see this coming ….

When happy, upstanding citizens of New Frisco start to murder complete strangers, then die by suicide an hour or so later, crime reporter A. J. Gregson is determined to find out why.

Teaming up once again with CIIS Special Agent Jack Eagan—a man who’s rapidly becoming more than just another need-to-know fed—A. J. and a handful of others find themselves racing against the clock to stop the bloodshed.

Who or what is compelling these people? And who will be the next to die?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Apparently unaware of our presence, the unblinking intruder plunged a ten-inch sashimi knife hilt-deep into his left breast and ripped the blade across to his sternum. Blood jetted, hot and coppery, spraying the counters, the floor, and those of us unlucky enough to be standing nearest his left side … Then he toppled face first to the floor.

About the Author:

Award-winning novelist Kathy DiSanto writes in several genres: sweet romance, paranormal, dystopian science fiction, and urban fantasy.

Her love of words—bamboozle, finagle, sprocket, flabbergast—inspired her to study German in college, because gaining access to a host of words in another language was a fascinating prospect. How does one resist expressions like Kummerspeck and Freundschaftsbezeugung, for example? As she’s fond of saying, “That would take a better woman than I. (Or a better woman than me, if we’re sticking with the colloquial and conversational.)” In addition to sating her verbal appetite with marvelously multisyllabic, tongue-twisting words, studying the German language challenged her inner Grammar Stickler in strange and mysterious ways. Thus, she considers her choice of an otherwise questionable major a win-win.

Her career as an author officially began in 1997, when she published two books with Bantam’s Loveswept line. Her books to date include:

For Love or Money (Golden State Hearts Book 1)
Hunter’s Shadow (Golden State Hearts Book 2)
Amanda’s Eyes (A.J. Gregson series, Book 1)
The Alpha Genesis Option

In addition to writing highly regarded fiction, she worked for many years as a communications specialist for Texas A&M University. Since retiring, she has done freelance writing. All told, throughout her career and after, she’s written several hundred feature articles for magazines, the web, blogs, and newsletters.

The mother of two talented professional musicians—and G-Mom to the cutest little boy EVER—Kathy is also a dedicated rescue dog mama, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and a late-blooming home improvement fanatic. She enjoys writing, reading, going to the gym, walking the dogs, and dancing like nobody is watching anywhere her sons are playing.

Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Goodreads

Buy the book at Amazon.

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An Interview with Nicky Abbondanza by Joe Cosentino – Guest Blog and Giveaway

June 7, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews Leave a Comment

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Joe Cosentino who is celebrating the recent release of Drama Pan, the 12th Nicky and Noah mystery/comedy/romance novel. Post a comment about why you love a gay cozy mystery. The one that tinkers our bell the most will win a complimentary audiobook of Drama Queen, the first Nicky and Noah mystery novel, by Joe Cosentino, performed by Michael Gilboe.

Enjoy an Interview with Nicky Abbondanza

Nicky, you’re like Peter Pan, the guy who never grew up!

Noah says I grow “up” in bed each night. (smile)

Congratulations on the release of the twelfth novel in your award-winning and popular Nicky and Noah gay cozy comedy mystery series.

Thank you. I bought Noah a dozen roses to celebrate.

Since the readers can’t see you, tell them what you look like.

Noah says I’m totally hot. Now you know why I love him so much. I’m tall with dark hair and long sideburns Noah loves to kiss, a cleft chin, Roman nose, emerald eyes, and a hunky body thanks to the gym on campus I call the torture chamber.

And?

Noah says I have a huge heart. Among other huge organs, which is just fine with Noah.

Tell us about Drama Pan, the twelfth novel in your popular, award-winning series.

It’s all about me (smile). In Drama Pan my merry theatrical crew at Treemeadow College create our own musical version of Peter Pan entitled, Every Fairy Needs a Big Hook! Enter the belligerent Couture family of avant-garde technical designers as guest artists. In no time the Coutures are hung out to dry by a mass murderer. For the twelfth time we thick as thieves thespians (Try saying that three times fast while eating peanut butter) use our drama skills, including playing outrageous characters, to catch the killer before they get thrown to the crocodiles.

As usual, calamity ensues.

Of course! I do triple duty as director, Mr. Darling, and Captain Hook. (See, it’s all about me. smile) Noah gets the title role of Peter Pan. He slept with the director. (smile) Our witty and wild best friends Martin Anderson, Theatre Department Chair, and his husband Ruben camp it up as a tiger of a Tiger Lily and swarmy Smee the pirate respectively. Our stagestruck son Taavi tries to steal the show as Michael Darling, and Martin and Ruben’s cocky son holds his own as John Darling. Martin’s sassy secretary Shayla plays Mrs. Darling, and longsuffering detective Manuello hits the ground as Nana and the Crocodile. I have my hook full as technical dress rehearsals for the show get off to a start more rocky than Captain Hook’s boat, and Taavi and Ty fall unrequitedly in love with the same person.

Who are the new characters in book twelve?

Graduate assistant and technical director Jax Jun insists the play violates his “religious freedom.” Santino Thirio, senior theatre major and stage manager, pumps his muscles while pumping others to invest in his dream to become a producer. Twink Tripp Taleb, the sophomore theatre major playing Tinker Bell, has his fairy dust aimed at Santino. Oscar Romero, tall and brawny sophomore theatre major with the loud singing voice playing the Merman, has his fins in the water over Tripp. All of the actors are exasperated over the avant-garde technical aspects of the show, none more than Tiara Moore, junior theatre major playing Wendy.

Who was your favorite new character?

Oscar Romero, the student who plays the Merman, wearing a g-string and fins. He has a song in the show called “What’s Between My Legs.” His affection for the student playing Tinker Bell is really sweet.

Which new character do you like the least?

All of the Coutures! The family of technical designers are egotistical (I wouldn’t know about that. smile), arrogant, predatory, and opportunistic. It’s great fun to watch them get the hook.

Which new character was the sexiest?

Dark-eyed muscleman Santino Thirio, our student stage manager who knows how to work a lighting board—and work everyone around him.

What makes the Nicky and Noah mystery series so special?

Me! I’m a legend in my own mind. Actually, it’s a gay cozy mystery comedy series, meaning the setting is warm and cozy, the clues and murders (and laughs) come fast and furious, and there are enough plot twists and turns and a surprise ending to keep the pages turning “faster than a Super PAC buying a conservative politician.” At the center is the touching relationship between Noah and me. You watch us go from courting to marrying to adopting a child, all the while head over heels in love with each other. Reviewers called the series “hysterically funny farce,” “Murder She Wrote meets Hart to Hart meets The Hardy Boys,” and “captivating whodunits.” One reviewer wrote they are the funniest books she’s ever read! Another said Joe is “a master storyteller.” Who am I to argue? Even though I tell Joe everything to write.

How are the novels cozy?

Many of them take place in Vermont, a cozy state with green pastures, white church steeples, glowing lakes, and friendly and accepting people. Fictitious Treemeadow College (named after its gay founders, couple Tree and Meadow) is the perfect setting for a cozy mystery with its white Edwardian buildings, low white stone fences, lake and mountain views, and cherry wood offices with tall leather chairs and fireplaces.

Why do you think there aren’t many other gay cozy mystery series out there?

Most MM novels are erotica, young adult, dark thrillers, or supernatural. While that’s fine, I think we’re missing a whole spectrum of fiction. In the case of the Nicky and Noah mysteries, they include romance, humor, mystery, adventure, and quaint and loveable characters in uncanny situations. The settings are warm and cozy with lots of hot cocoa by the fireplace. The clues and red herrings are there for the perfect whodunit. So are the plot twists and turns and a surprise ending to keep the pages turning over “like an anti-gay politician in the back of a pick-up truck.” No matter what is thrown in my path, I always end up on top, which is just fine with Noah.

For anyone unfortunate enough not to have read them, tell us a bit about the first eleven novels in the series.

I’ll let Joe do that. He needs to be good for something. Take it away, Joe.

Joe: In Drama Queen (Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for Favorite LGBT Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Novel of the Year) Nicky directs the school play at Treemeadow College—which is named after its gay founders, Tree and Meadow. Theatre professors drops like stage curtains, and Nicky and Noah have to use their theatre skills, including impersonating other people, to figure out whodunit. In Drama Muscle (Rainbow Award Honorable Mention) Nicky and Noah don their gay Holmes and Watson personas again to find out why bodybuilding students and professors in Nicky’s bodybuilding competition at Treemeadow are dropping faster than barbells. In Drama Cruise it is summer on a ten-day cruise from San Francisco to Alaska and back. Nicky and Noah must figure out why college theatre professors are dropping like life rafts as Nicky directs a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard ship starring Noah and other college theatre professors from across the US. Complicating matters are their both sets of wacky parents who want to embark on all the activities on and off the boat with the handsome couple. In Drama Luau, Nicky is directing the luau show at the Maui Mist Resort and he and Noah need to figure out why muscular Hawaiian hula dancers are dropping like grass skirts. Their department head/best friend and his husband, Martin and Ruben, are along for the bumpy tropical ride. In Drama Detective (Rainbow Award Honorable Mention), Nicky is directing and ultimately co-starring with his husband Noah as Holmes and Watson in a new musical Sherlock Holmes play at Treemeadow College prior to Broadway. Martin and Ruben, their sassy office assistant Shayla, Nicky’s brother Tony, and Nicky and Noah’s son Taavi are also in the cast. Of course dead bodies begin falling over like hammy actors at a curtain call. Once again Nicky and Noah use their drama skills to figure out who is lowering the street lamps on the actors before the handsome couple get half-baked on Baker Street. In Drama Fraternity, Nicky is directing Tight End Scream Queen, a slasher movie filmed at Treemeadow College’s football fraternity house, co-starring Noah, Taavi, and Martin. Rounding out the cast are members of Treemeadow’s Christian football players’ fraternity along with two hunky screen stars. When the jammer, wide receiver, and more begin fading out with their scenes, Nicky and Noah once again need to use their drama skills to figure out who is sending young hunky actors to the cutting room floor before Nicky and Noah hit the final reel. In Drama Castle (Rainbow Award Honorable Mention), Nicky is directing a historical film co-starring Noah and Taavi at Conall Castle in Scotland: When the Wind Blows Up Your Kilt It’s Time for A Scotch. Adding to the cast are members of the mysterious Conall family who own the castle. When hunky men in kilts topple off the drawbridge and into the mote, it’s up to Nicky and Noah to use their acting skills to figure out whodunit before Nicky and Noah land in the dungeon. In Drama Dance (Rainbow Award Honorable Mention), during rehearsals of The Nutcracker ballet at Treemeadow, muscular dance students and faculty cause more things to rise than the Christmas tree. When cast members drop faster than Christmas balls, Nicky and Noah once again use their drama skills, including impersonating other people, to figure out who is trying to crack the Nutcracker’s nuts, trap the Mouse King, and be cavalier with the Cavalier before Nicky and Noah end up in the Christmas pudding. In Drama Faerie, Nicky and friends are doing a musical production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Treemeadow’s new Globe Theatre. With an all-male, skimpily dressed cast and a love potion gone wild, romance is in the starry night air. When hunky students and faculty in the production drop faster than their tunics and tights, Nicky and Noah use their drama skills to figure out who is taking swordplay to the extreme before Nicky and Noah end up foiled in the forest. In Drama Runway Nicky directs a runway show for the Fashion Department. When sexy male models drop faster than their leather chaps, Nicky and Noah use their drama skills to figure out who is taking the term “a cut male model” literally before Nicky and Noah end up steamed in the wardrobe steamer. In Drama Christmas Nicky, Noah, and crew don their gay apparel in a musical version of Scrooge’s A Christmas Carol, entitled Call Me Carol! More than stockings are hung when hunky chorus members drop like snowflakes. Once again, our favorite thespians use their drama skills to catch the killer and make the yuletide gay before their Christmas balls get cracked.

Joe is a college theatre professor/department chair like Martin Anderson in your series. Has that influenced your series, Nicky?

As a past professional actor and current college theatre professor/department chair, Joe knows first-hand the wild and wacky antics, sweet romance, and captivating mystery in the worlds of theatre and academia. The Nicky and Noah mysteries are full of them! He never seems to run out of wild characters to write about. His faculty colleagues and students kid him that if any of them tick me off, he’ll kill them in his next book. And he probably will. The little guy is fearless!

What do you like about the regular characters in the series?

I like my never give up attitude and sense of humor in the face of adversity. I’m genuinely concerned for others, and I’ll do anything to solve a murder mystery. I’m also a one-man man, and I’m proud to admit that man is Noah Oliver. Noah is blond, blue-eyed, lean, handsome, smart, and devoted. He makes the perfect Watson to my Holmes. (I always thought Holmes and Watson were a gay couple.) Noah also has a large heart and soft spot (no pun intended) for others. Finally, like me, Noah is gifted at improvisation, and creates wild and wonderful characters for our role plays to catch the murderer. I think it’s terrific how Martin and Ruben throw riotous zingers at each other, but they’re so much in love. You don’t see a lot of older gay characters in books nowadays. Of course Martin’s administrative assistant, Shayla, thrives on her one-upmanship with Martin, and he thrives right back.

How about your and Noah’s parents?

They’re hilarious. I love Noah’s mother’s fixation with taking pictures of everything, and his father’s fascination with seeing movies. I also love how Noah’s father is an amateur sleuth like me. As they say, men marry their fathers. My parents’ goal to feed everyone and protect their children is heartwarming. My mom’s gambling addiction is also a riot. Both sets of parents fully embrace their sons and their sons’ family, which is refreshing.

I’m sure Joe has been told that the books would make a terrific TV series.

Many many times. Rather than Logo showing reruns of Golden Girls around the clock, and Bravo airing so called reality shows, I would love to see them do The Nicky and Noah Mysteries. Come on, TV producers, make your offers! Joe has written a teleplay of the first novel and treatments for the remaining novels!

How would you cast the TV series?

Here’s my wish list: Matt Bomer as me, Neil Patrick Harris as Noah, Rosie O’Donnell and Bruce Willis as Noah’s parents, Valerie Bertinelli and Jay Leno as my parents, Joe as Martin Anderson (nepotism!), Nathan Lane as Martin’s husband Ruben, Wanda Sykes as Martin’s office assistant Shayla, and Joe Manganiello as my brother Tony.

Tell us about Joe’s other mystery series, the Jana Lane mysteries published by The Wild Rose Press.

Noah and I aren’t in them. So take it away, Joe.

Joe: I created a heroine who was the biggest child star ever until she was attacked on the studio lot at eighteen years old. In Paper Doll Jana at thirty-eight lives with her family in a mansion in picturesque Hudson Valley, New York. Her flashbacks from the past become murder attempts in her future. Forced to summon up the lost courage she had as a child, Jana ventures back to Hollywood, which helps her uncover a web of secrets about everyone she loves. In Porcelain Doll Jana makes a comeback film and uncovers who is being murdered on the set and why. In Satin Doll Jana and family head to Washington, DC, where Jana plays a US senator in a new film, and becomes embroiled in a murder and corruption at the senate chamber. In China Doll Jana heads to New York City to star in a Broadway play, faced with murder on stage and off. In Rag Doll Jana stars in a television mystery series and life imitates art. Since the novels take place in the 1980’s, Jana’s agent and best friend are gay, and Jana is somewhat of a gay activist, the AIDS epidemic is a large part of the novels.

And how about Joe’s New Jersey beach series?

Noah and I aren’t in those either. So you’re on again, Joe.

Joe: A reviewer compared them to Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books. I was incredibly humbled and flattered. I love those books, and they are incredibly cinematic (hint-producers)! They are: Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back, Cozzi Cove: Moving Forward, Cozzi Cove: Stepping Out, Cozzi Cove: New Beginnings, and Cozzi Cove: Happy Endings. The series (NineStar Press) is about handsome Cal Cozzi’s gay beach resort on a gorgeous cove. I spent my summers as a kid on the Jersey Shore, so it’s a special place for me. The first novel was a Favorite Book of the Month on The TBR Pile site and won a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention. I love the intertwining stories of Cal and his family and the guests as Cozzi Cove, each so full of surprises. Cozzi Cove is a place where nothing is what it seems, anything can happen, and romance is everywhere. Some reviewers have called it a gay Fantasy Island.

What’s next for Joe?

It depends on what Noah and I tell him.

How can your readers get their hands on Drama Pan, and how can they contact you?

The purchase links are below, as are Joe’s contact links, including his web site. I love to hear from readers via Joe! He tells Noah and me everything you say about us!

Thank you, Nicky, for interviewing today.

My pleasure. I know you’ll laugh, cry, feel romantic, and love delving into this crackling new mystery with more plot twists and turns than a congressional hearing to impeach a treasonous ex-president. I’m more excited than a Republican governor taking Democrats off the voter rolls to share this twelfth novel in the series with you. So take your seats and throw the fairy dust. The stage lights are coming up in Never Land on a lad who won’t grow up without Viagra, a pirate with a huge hook, a twink called Tink, a Lily who’s a tiger, a Merman perplexed at what’s between his legs, and murder!

It’s spring break at Treemeadow College, and Theatre professors and spouses Nicky Abbondanza and Noah Oliver, their best friends Martin and Ruben, and their sons Taavi and Ty are sprinkling on the fairy dust in an original musical extravaganza of Peter Pan entitled Every Fairy Needs a Big Hook! Pirates shout more than “Yo, ho!” when a family of visiting technical designers, the Coutures, drop like yesterday’s fashions. Once again, our favorite thespians will need to use their drama skills to catch the killer before they get the hook. You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino’s fast-paced, side-splittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat entertaining twelfth novel in this delightful series. So take your seats and believe in fairies. The stage lights are coming up in Never Land on a lad who won’t grow up without Viagra, a pirate with quite the hook, a twink called Tink, a Lily who’s a tiger, a Merman surprised at what’s between his legs, and murder!

Praise for the Nicky and Noah mysteries:

“Joe Cosentino has a unique and fabulous gift. His writing is flawless, and his plot-lines will have you guessing until the very last page, which makes his books a joy to read. His books are worth their weight in gold, and if you haven’t discovered them yet you are in for a rare treat.” Divine Magazine

“a combination of Laurel and Hardy mixed with Hitchcock and Murder She Wrote…
Loaded with puns and one-liners…Right to the end, you are kept guessing, and the conclusion still has a surprise in store for you.” “the best modern Sherlock and Watson in books today…I highly recommend this book and the entire series, it’s a pure pleasure, full of fun and love, written with talent and brio…fabulous…brilliant” Optimumm Book Reviews

“adventure, mystery, and romance with every page….Funny, clever, and sweet….I can’t find anything not to love about this series….This read had me laughing and falling in love….Nicky and Noah are my favorite gay couple.” Urban Book Reviews

“Every entry of the Nicky and Noah mystery series is rife with intrigue, calamity, and hilarity…Cosentino keeps us guessing – and laughing – until the end, as well as leaving us breathlessly anticipating the next Nicky and Noah thriller.” Edge Media Network

“This is one hilarious series with a heart and it just keeps getting better. I highly recommend them all, and please read them in the order they were written for full blown laugh out loud reading pleasure!” Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Enjoy an Excerpt

The Darling’s white nursery was lit only by the three lamps, one at each bedside. Wendy, Michael, and John knelt at their beds singing their nightly prayer with Big Ben and the London Bridge watching over them outside the nursery window. Suddenly, the three children were hung from the ceiling like bandits in the old West.

“Stop!” Remember me? It’s Nicky Abbondanza, PhD, Professor of Play Directing at Treemeadow College and Vermont’s theatre armchair Sherlock Holmes. My last name means ‘an abundance,’ which is certainly true in my case. An expression in my Kansas hometown is ‘hung like an Abbondanza,” given the fact that I have a nearly foot long penis—flaccid—which it has been constantly during tech week. For any of you who aren’t insane enough to direct a play, tech week is the time when the technical elements are added to a production, and any director worth his weight in Playbills yearns for a straitjacket and a long commitment to a mental institution harboring no thespians, which of course doesn’t exist. So here I sit front row center in the college’s ruby (like the color of my eyes) theatre with electronic tablet in hand contemplating how to begin my suicide note.

Why am I in the college’s theatre during spring break week—a time when students are generally away getting STDs and unwanted pregnancies? My younger brother Tony arranged for the award-winning Couture family of technical theatre designers to be visiting artists at Treemeadow for the Theatre Department’s spring extravaganza. So my best friend, Theatre Department Head/Professor of Theatre Management Martin Anderson, went right to work writing an original musical production of Peter Pan called Every Fairy Needs a Big Hook! After rehearsing much of spring semester, we finally hit tech week before opening night.

Outside our Edwardian-style campus, trees are budding over the low white stone wall and walkways surrounding the campus. A rainbow array (no pun intended) of flowers peeks out from behind the university’s white stone entrance, where the bronze statues of Harold Tree and Jacob Meadow, the gay couple who founded the university, have again become a resting spot—and relieving spot—for multicolored birds of many species. The calm, cool spring air ripples in the surrounding lake and brush over the bordering majestic mountains. However, inside the theatre, we are feeling anything but calm or cool.

“Why are the children dangling from the ceiling like track lighting?”

That was the renowned Jules Couture, avant-garde set designer, taking center stage. Jules, in his fifties, small, wiry, with an enormous nose to match his huge ears, looks like an aardvark in heat.

“Because your flying apparatus is even more temperamental than you are, Jules.” Jax Jun, theatre graduate assistant and technical and musical director for our show, locked eyes with Jules. In their techie black turtlenecks and chinos, the two men looked like beatnik renegades from a 1950’s funeral.

Jules ran a shaky hand through his dark hair and narrowed his gray eyes. “There is nothing wrong with my flying equipment.”

“Except that it ejaculates prematurely.”

No pun intended.

Jules groaned. “My family and I cannot work like this, Nicky.”

I can relate.

Jax’s exotic jade eyes widened. “None of us would have to ‘work like this’ if I were designing the show.”

Jules snickered like a Republican president pardoning his cohorts in crime. “The Coutures have designed shows to rave reviews from our native France to Italy to London and throughout the US on our way to Broadway.”

“Your avant-garde style may work in some venues, but it’s out of place in this show and at our university,” replied the graduate assistant.

“How so?”

Jax scratched at his thin dark locks. “A set that looks like a teeth-whitening commercial, turning Never Land into outer space, and the revealing Merman and Tinker Bell costumes are against my religious freedom!”

I cleared my throat, which unfortunately didn’t clear my head. “Can we discuss this another time, gentlemen, since the children have hit the roof—literally?”

About the Author Joe Cosentino was voted Favorite MM Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Author of the Year by the readers of Divine Magazine for Drama Queen, the first Nicky and Noah mystery novel. He is also the author of the remaining Nicky and Noah mysteries: Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, Drama Castle, Drama Dance, Drama Faerie, Drama Runway, Drama Christmas, Drama Pan; the Player Piano Mysteries: The Player and The Player’s Encore; the Jana Lane Mysteries: Paper Doll, Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, Rag Doll; the Cozzi Cove series: Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back, Moving Forward, Stepping Out, New Beginnings, Happy Endings; the In My Heart Anthology: An Infatuation & A Shooting Star; the Tales from Fairyland Anthology: The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland and Holiday Tales from Fairyland; the Bobby and Paolo Holiday Stories Anthology: A Home for the Holidays, The Perfect Gift, The First Noel; and the Found At Last Anthology: Finding Giorgio and Finding Armando. His books have won numerous Book of the Month awards and Rainbow Award Honorable Mentions. As an actor, Joe appeared in principal roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Jason Robards, and Holland Taylor. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Goddard College, Master’s degree from SUNY New Paltz, and is currently a happily married college theatre professor/department chair residing in New York State.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mystery/Suspense Tagged With: Giveaway, GLBT, Joe Cosentino

Fostered Identity by Maggie Thom – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 21, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Maggie Thom will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Her teenage sister has run away. It’s her fault. And on her watch.

Shyla thought she was doing the right thing by helping her teenage sister get a little freedom. She never expected she’d bolt on her. Desperate to keep their mom from discovering she has a missing daughter, Shyla sets out to find her wayward sister.

A fluke encounter gives Shyla a clue. Only she gets a lot more than she bargained for. She finds her sister, but she gets pulled into doing a heist. An impossible heist. And not just any heist but that of stealing her mom’s million-dollar jewelry. Ones that recently arrived, with no explanation.

Damien is a good guy running from an awful past. When his brother ends up in the hospital, Damien is determined to stop the one man who has and is destroying their lives—their father. Damien will break all of his promises, even steal, if it will end their father’s control.

Shyla and Damien find themselves thrown together, not trusting each other but not having any choice. They will have to work together if Damien is going to stop his father once and for all. And if Shyla is going to protect her family. An impossible crime that will bring them surprises they didn’t see coming.

Can they catch a thief by being a thief?

Book 1
The Twisted Deception Series

Emerald grew up in a foster family. It wasn’t an ordinary foster family. She was the first of eight girls to move in. The jewels that she was given to play with as a teenager, that she was told were baubles, are now resurfacing thirty-five years later. They are worth millions. And it appears worth stealing. Who is sending them out? And who wants them back at all costs?

“…fast-paced and kept me guessing. I like a mystery enveloped with family secrets and jewel thieves. I want more, and I want to know the secrets. I will be excited to read the second novel…” Author Christine H-Jackson

Enjoy an Excerpt

“You want to talk about Hannah?”

“Where is she?”

“Sleeping in.”

“Are you going to tell her?”

“No.”

“Mom, come on. That’s not fair to her. She has a right to know.”

“Why are you butting in? We’ve had this conversation before.”

“Not like this. And that was a few years ago. It’s time to tell her.”

“What would you like me to tell her? I adopted you when you weren’t even two. I have no real history on you.” She looked down at the table, rubbing her thumb up and down the side of the mug. “I think you were in the same shitty system that I was as a kid. I don’t know where your mother is, just like I don’t know where mine is. You came to me with a birth certificate that said your mother was Mary Smith. Could you get a more common name?”

Her eyes lifted and her gaze bore into Shyla as she continued. “You were born at home by a midwife. The midwife is dead and after searching four hundred and fifty Mary Smiths, I have no idea who birthed you.” She gave her that look of I’ve tried to do something, but I’ve found nothing. “I can’t do that to her.”

Shyla frowned as she thought about what she’d just been told. Most of it she’d never heard before. “That sounds fishy. I mean about Mary Smith.” What she really wanted to say was why have you never told me or Kal, any of this before?

About the Author:

Take the adventure beyond your fingertips.

Multi-Award-Winning Author, Maggie Thom has written all types of stories but finally settled on her love of puzzles, mysteries, and rollercoaster rides and now writes suspense/thrillers/mysteries that keep you guessing and take you on one heck of an adventure.

She is the author of 8 suspense/thriller/mysteries. The award-winning Caspian Wine Series – Captured Lies, Deceitful Truths, and Split Seconds – and her other individual novels Tainted Waters, Deadly Ties, and Fractured Lines. And now a new series – The Twisted Deception Series – Fostered Identity, Book 1. On her website, you can find her free novel – Blurred Lines.

Her motto: Read to escape … Escape to read …

“Maggie Thom… proves her strength as a master of words, plots and finely chiseled characters… she weaves a brilliant cloth of the many colors of deceit.” Dii – TomeTender

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What Would I Tell a New Author? by Janice Tremayne – Guest Blog and Giveaway

May 19, 2021 By Long and Short Reviews 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Janice Tremayne will be awarding 1 of 5 digital copies of the book via BookFunnel to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What Would I Tell a New Author?

When I first started writing my first book, I didn’t know anything. I thought if I completed a writing course, wrote a good story with an exciting plot, I would be on my way to writing success. Because everyone is just waiting for the release of your book. Right? Until reality set in. Seven books later, I realized how naïve I was, and I learned some hard lessons along the way. So, If I went back in time, what would I do differently?

No matter how educated you are and a literary expert you claim to be, if the premise of your story does not connect immediately with the reader, you’re going to struggle to sell books. That one sentence that describes the storyline is the emotional attachment the reader will have to your precious work—the wow factor. If your writing is stilted with terrible dialogue and your character development is insufficient—you’re going to get negative feedback and question yourself as a writer. And believe me, there are horrible reviewers out there that will have no problem giving you a one-star result—some of them get a kick out of it!

This is what I learned in no particular order:

1. You need a great book cover to connect with your genre and your reader, and this is not an activity where you should save money.

2. You need a good editor to clean up your work. Hopefully, you can establish a good relationship so they can understand you and your writing objectives.

3. Develop an author mailing list of fans that are interested in your work straight away. You will learn that they are your number one marketing initiative.

4. Don’t spend too much money on marketing your first book. Wait until you have written at least your third book before you start spending more significant amounts on promoting.

5. Complete a book marketing course like Mark Dawson’s Self-Publishing 101. You need these tools to assist you in growing your brand and build your audience if you are an indie author.

6. Don’t quit your day job unless you are financially secure.

7. Keep persevering with your writing style and set a routine. You will get better with each book as your writing style becomes more polished and engaging—it’s an evolution.

8. Decide what you will be—an indie author with complete control of the process or a traditional author seeking a literary agent. They are two different frames of mind and thinking. You need to understand where you want to be.

9. Don’t believe all the hype you hear. You need to become good at sifting through all the noise and pluck out the relevant aspects for your publishing career.

Of all the actions I mentioned above, I wish I developed a process for collecting reader emails for my mailing list as soon as I launched my first book. I wasted money on marketing with no offer to my readers—no follow book in the series—wasted opportunities to collate hundreds of reader email addresses. It was one big mistake after another as I continually squandered opportunities.

Accept you’re learning about yourself too. It wasn’t until the second book that I started to understand which genre I really wanted to write. It was the process of trial and error about understanding myself better. I can assure you that if you’re not passionate about the genre you write, it will show in your literary work. Readers can be very astute.

I hope this doesn’t sound too dreary because I want to help you avoid the pitfalls that I went through. And one important thing—writing gives you something other professions don’t. When I returned home after a hard day’s work in the office, nobody cared, and I never received any gratitude. It was a grinding corporate environment full of people only looking after themselves. But when I started writing and receiving emails from fans worldwide on how much they liked my writing, I was overjoyed. Did I have that much of an impact on this person’s life that they felt compelled to write me an email? In all my years of corporate life, nobody ever sent me such a note. And not because I was terrible at my job—far from it. It was just the culture. That’s the beauty of writing—because if you do it well, you touch people’s hearts and emotions.

A demon hell-bent on playing psychological games to torment its victims. A guilt-edged past comes to the fore to be relived again. Can Bolder overcome his mental suffering and destroy the voracious demon?

In the Australian ghost town of Ravenswood in North Queensland, a gruesome suicide occurs after the famous annual Halloween ball. Bolder is called in by Detective Wellock to help track the evil incarnate responsible.

However, has Zack Bolder met his match? Can a trained parapsychologist by the Church withstand the guilt-edged torments of the demon? This poltergeist dangles psychology as its weapon by tempering that frail part of the mind to those that get in its way. Bolder is taken back to relive dark secrets—ridden and guilt-edged.

Can Bolder overcome this tempest of the mind and save the town before more people take their lives?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Bolder handed him the book of prayers and marked out the section containing the love of worship. “We plan to compel the negative energy to leave her body and direct it to another place—to cross over to the other side. We are lightworkers, remember? Not exorcists.”

“I can at least bless her with holy ointment … can’t I?”

Bolder nodded and said, “Well, why don’t you start with that first?”

Father Brennan walked toward Kelly as the old rustic timber floors creaked underneath. He opened his small container with holy ointment and brushed his index finger across it. Then he gently marked her forehead with the sign of the cross.

“In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit … amen.”

Kelly jolted as though something had bitten her and her body trembled for a few seconds. She was still sleeping but aware of what was going on around her.

“What was that?” said Bolder.

“What was what?”

“You mean you didn’t see it? The dark shadow that was standing beside her.”

“I didn’t see it … but I felt something gripping my hand.” Father Brennan was perplexed.

An ominous image of a woman in a faint white dress glided across the bed—motionless and stoic but holding her stomach with both hands in hurtful prose. Within seconds it was gone with barely enough time for Bolder to capture a glimpse of it.

“I sense something else in the room,” Bolder said.

A pulsating wave of energy screeched from within, penetrating the bodies of Father Brennan and Bolder. They shook from the sensation—there was no movement or breeze, and the windows to Kelly’s room shut. But it still required they hold their balance as the snappy spiritedness vibrated their eardrums with a ringing noise.

“Whatever is in here is not going to give up with prayers of love,” said Father Brennan. He was ready to launch into a full-blown exorcism.

About the Author: Janice Tremayne is an Amazon bestselling and award-winning ghost and supernatural writer. Janice is a finalist in the Readers’ Favorite 2020 International Book Awards in fiction-supernatural and was awarded the distinguished favorite prize for paranormal horror at the New York City Big Book Awards 2020.

She is an emerging Australian author who lives with her family in Melbourne. Her recent publications, Haunting in Hartley and Bolder Blindsided, reached number one in the Amazon kindle ranking for Occult Supernatural, Ghosts and Haunted Houses categories hot new releases and bestseller. Janice is well-versed in her cultural superstitions and how they influence daily life and customs. She has developed a passion and style for writing ghost and supernatural novels for new adult readers.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mystery/Suspense Tagged With: Giveaway, Goddess Fish Promotions, Janice Tremayne, Virtual Book Tour

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