Today is my turn on the Book ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE ASH LAKE MURDERS (Detective Alice Rossi Book #1) by Helen H. Durrant.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review and the author’s bio and socila media links. Enjoy!
***
Book Blurb
MEET DETECTIVE ALICE ROSSI IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES.
A female serial killer with a deadly agenda. The detective who must stop her. Luxury holiday lodges in the stunning Peak District. The game begins . . .
Callum is lured to an isolated boathouse by an attractive older woman. When she gets him alone, she knocks him out with a single blow. As he wakes up, her voice comes out of the darkness, “You’re a sprat to catch a mackerel.”
Surrounded by hills and lakes, Still Waters is home to a close-knit community of wealthy retirees. It’s an unlikely setting for violence. The police don’t take Callum’s disappearance seriously: he’s 24-years-old, after all. But Callum’s mother, a Still Waters resident, knows that something is very wrong.
Then a body is discovered floating in the lake. Head bashed in. But it’s not Callum.
And someone tweets:Come out to play one last time, Alice. Still Waters run deep. #MadHatter.
That’s when DCI Alice Rossi is called in. She’s back.
IT’S A CAT-AND-MOUSE GAME BETWEEN AN OBSESSED KILLER AND A DETERMINED DETECTIVE IN THIS GRIPPING MYSTERY FULL OF STUNNING TWISTS.
###
THE DETECTIVE DCI Alice Rossi of Greater Manchester’s Serious Crime Squad has served with the police for the past twenty-nine years. Since the death of her husband, Paul, six years ago, she has lived alone in a large, three-storey Edwardian terrace on the outskirts of Manchester. Her grown-up son lives in Edinburgh with his family. Alice is about to retire — but she’s not looking forward to it. Since her husband died, work has been her mainstay, not because she misses Paul — he was a bad man — but because it keeps her dark thoughts at bay.
DETECTIVE RACHEL KING Book 1: NEXT VICTIM Book 2: TWO VICTIMS Book 3: WRONG VICTIM Book 4: FORGOTTEN VICTIM Book 5: LAST VICTIM
THE CALLADINE & BAYLISS MYSTERY SERIES Book 1: DEAD WRONG Book 2: DEAD SILENT Book 3: DEAD LIST Book 4: DEAD LOST Book 5: DEAD & BURIED Book 6: DEAD NASTY Book 7: DEAD JEALOUS Book 8: DEAD BAD Book 9: DEAD GUILTY Book 10: DEAD WICKED Book 11: DEAD SORRY
THE DCI GRECO BOOKS Book 1: DARK MURDER Book 2: DARK HOUSES Book 3: DARK TRADE Book 4: DARK ANGEL
MATT BRINDLE Book 1: HIS THIRD VICTIM Book 2: THE OTHER VICTIM
DETECTIVES LENNOX & WILDE Book 1: THE GUILTY MAN Book 2: THE FACELESS MAN
***
My Book Review
RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars
THE ASH LAKE MURDERS (Detective Alice Rossi Book #1) by Helen H. Durrant is the first book in a new British police procedural mystery series featuring a more mature female lead character, DCI Alice Rossi.
A serial murderer known as the Mad Hatter has once again returned to taunt DCI Alice Rossi. Over the last six years, when a tweet is sent with the killer’s hashtag dead bodies begin to appear. This time the murders occur in a luxury holiday resort in the Peak District were Alice lost her husband to a climbing accident.
Once again, the obsessed killer has Alice in her sites, and she is determined to end the game this time with Alice’s death.
I am always excited to read Ms. Durrant’s books, but this story was a letdown for me. The police procedural plot kept me turning the pages more from wanting to know the killer’s motive than who she was because her identity was easily deduced early on in the book. I was expecting a plot twist that would shock me as Ms. Durant is very good at surprising me, but it did not happen. The surprise twist was just not believable. Alice’s experience and expertise are set up for use in future books in this series and I will be interested in reading more.
A good, quick read with an interesting protagonist, but not my favorite from this author.
***
Author Bio
OVER 1 MILLION BOOKS SOLD!
Helen is one of the ‘baby boomer’ generation and began writing when she retired from her job at a local college. Born in Edinburgh to an English father and Scottish mother the family settled in a Pennine village between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is an environment which has shaped her stories. Writing is a second career and, despite having a bus pass, keeps her busy, and tuned in.
Helen’s children are all grown-up and she has five grandchildren.
THE LAST AGENT (Charles Jenkins Book #2) by Robert Dugoni is the second book in this action-packed, edge-of-your-seat trilogy featuring a retired CIA agent. I feel these books are best read in order.
In the first book Charles Jenkins survived an operation gone wrong in Russia only to return to be tried for treason. After being exonerated, he learns that the woman who helped him escape Russia and gave her life for his, may be alive and being tortured in the notorious Lefortovo Prison.
To find out if Paulina Ponomayova is still alive and imprisoned, Charles must return to Russia and once again deal with former FSB officer, Viktor Fedorov. From the moment the Russian government finds out Charles is back in Russia, they assign an assassin to take care of the problem. The chase is on to find Paulina and get her out of Russia all while not knowing who they can really trust.
This book moves at the speed of light from one twist to another. The author’s writing makes you feel as though you are right there in the middle of the action with all the main characters. Charles is a fully fleshed, idealistic protagonist and that makes Efimov a perfect foil. An intriguing plot, twist and turns that do not stop and a surprise revelation make this a wonderful spy espionage read.
I am looking forward to the next book and to finding out more about the Seven Sisters. This is a trilogy that will keep you turning the pages.
***
About the Author
Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 8 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.
Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.
Zig and Nola are back in this follow-up to The Escape Artist.
Archie Mint has a secret that he is hiding from his friends and family. To the public, he looks like the perfect husband and father to his son and daughter and is known for his distinguished for his Military Career.
When Archie is shot in his own home things take a huge turn and we suddenly this man has been hiding military secrets nobody could have imagined.
Mortician Zig uncovers some things that were not meant to be found. He goes to the secret unit and uncovers things along with artist, Nola (who saved his life in the first book).
Following her trail, he finds a hidden military base that dates back to the cold war. He learns about a group of military people willing to hide things about the security and safety of the United States.
Zig is not sure who he can trust as many suspects seem to turn up dead. Will he and Nola be able to find and secure our safety of us?
Yes, we all know that Nola is in fact the actual lightning rod. You will not be able to put it down once you start. Surprises till the last page.
***
Elise’s Thoughts
The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer mixes a suspenseful plot with unique characters. What starts off as a thriller whodunit, quickly transitions into a conspiracy theory. Meltzer’s been writing for 25 years but his books keep getting better and better. This story has a game of cat and mouse, danger at every turn, and deep US government secrets.
The book opens with a car theft that quickly turns into a murder after Colonel Archie Mint is killed outside his suburban Pennsylvania home in a supposed home robbery. Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, a mortician who formerly worked at Dover Air Force Base, is called in to conceal Mint’s injuries for the sake of his family. But at the viewing, things happen that make him suspect that not everything is as it should be. When Zig spots Nola Brown at Mint’s funeral he becomes more suspicious. As a former military artist, Nola was called upon not only to paint historic events, but to spot critical things that others missed. Now, for unknown reasons, she’s hunting the people who killed Mint. During the investigation, it is discovered that Mint was connected to a hidden military facility known as Grandma’s Pantry, one of many US government top-secret warehouses across the country dealing with repercussions of a biological attack.
There is also the mystery of Rodney, Nola’s twin brother, who is looking for her. Although volatile, he wants to find her before some would-be-assassins known as the Reds. Joining up with Zig is the only way he will find Nola, so he is also pulled into the investigation.
This story has it all, more plot twists, conspiracies, and action. Meltzer also writes children’s books that will include superheroes Superman and Batman. But in The Lightning Rod, he has created his own superheroes that don’t have any super qualities but have super investigative skills that make for a super story.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What gave you the vision to write this story?
Brad Meltzer: This idea started with my own fears. I hand my car keys to a valet. They take the car, hit the GPS button, and go to my house. This is a robbery. This is my fear every time I park my car. The story evolves from there, when it is not a robbery at all, but a trap. I really wanted to base the story on the characters, Nola, and Zig, who I am bringing back from the previous book, The Escape Artist. I have more to say about them including having Nola’s greatest secret come out.
EC: What is the theme of this book?
BM: It is a story about dysfunctional families. Some of the new families we form can also be dysfunctional. Zig is someone who will never have what he wants most in the world, to have his daughter back. Nola will never have her father, which is what she wants most. Neither will have what they want, but instead have each other. Now each must build something in that space.
EC: This is your twenty-fifth year as a writer?
BM: Yes. Every day I think how I write things differently today. When I was twenty-five, I used to write about those characters of that age. When I got married, I started to write about married people. When I had children, I stared to write kids’ books. Now I am writing about someone who loves their daughter. All I do as a writer is follow my own life and tell my own story. The reality is I never want to know the ending. The best way to ruin a good story is to know the ending.
EC: Do your characters take a journey with you?
BM: I do not know if I am a better writer, but I am a more honest one. After I buried my parents, one of my heroes is a mortician. I cannot be more obsessed with death. I used to hide myself and hide from myself, and this book is about how the best secrets are ones that people hide from themselves.
EC: How would you describe Nola?
BM: Nola’s profession is based on a real job in the military. Since WWI the army has a painter on staff who paints disasters when they happen, from Normandy to 9/11. I love the idea that she is a strong thrill-seeking insane woman who races into disasters with paint brushes to tell a story. She likes to fight back, does not play well with others, has a nobility about her, and fights for injustice. The psychological report on her is that she has RAD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, where she is incapable of attachments or loving relationships. The readers should challenge whether this evaluation is correct. She can handle murder and violence, but not kindness and personal tragedy. This does not mean she can make a little progress.
EC: Nola is a lightning rod?
BM: There is a quote in the book that describes her as a gun and people must be careful around her because she will go off. Just as with a lightning rod, trouble does find her like a black cat. I love that about her, and it makes it interesting.
EC: Zig and Nola have different views?
BM: She believes that to make sense of the world it should be grabbed by the throat and forced to make sense. Zig believes if there is more kindness and generosity in the world it will be a better place. They’re both completely right and both completely wrong. It takes both things working together to make any real difference. Zig’s idea is completely naïve, but it is worth fighting for. Nola’s idea is completely brutal, but it is worth fighting for. This is me, writing the two sides of myself, both the hopeful and cynical side of myself. Just like myself the characters need to do that job.
EC: What about Nola’s brother Rodney?
BM: He is a walking question mark. He was a bad kid but is he a bad adult? Is he a villain or not? For the first time I wanted to delve into the bad guy aspect. He is weird, socially awkward, with non-existent social skills, detailed, and on his own plane. He has no filters, ferocious, and at times violent. The key part of him is that there is good Rodney and bad Rodney.
EC: Rodney represents those who might consider themselves good but do bad things?
BM: Sometimes people are in-between, not totally good, or bad. I put in this book quote, “We all have a person we were and a person we are. It’s never a straight line between the two – and its certainly never a predictable one.” Every character in this book is designed around this quote and the quote in the beginning of the book by Carl Jung, “In each of us there is another, whom we do not know”.
EC: What about the biological weapons? You must have a crystal ball considering we learned about the US labs in the Ukraine?
BM: The book has these secret warehouses across the country that deal with bioterrorist attacks. The US can bring these antidotes within hours to our doorstep. The warehouses are hidden across the country, so nobody knows where they are. I want to go inside them. I did not make up what is inside them. Grandma’s Pantry was one of those that has a national stockpile that would prepare us in case there’s a bio-terror attack, whether it’s smallpox or anthrax or anything else.”
EC: Next book?
BM: It will be a Nola, Zig, and Rodney book. It takes me a while to write, a couple of years at a minimum for sure. I will be writing children’s books, I Am IM Pei, I Am Dolly Parton, coming out in June. Coming out in September I Am Superman, and I Am Batman. In January of 2023 will be a non- fiction book about a secret plot to kill Winston Churchill, Stalin, and FDR, a triple assassination. It is titled, The Nazi Conspiracy.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
KILLING MIND (D.I. Kim Stone Book #12) by Angela Marsons is another great addition the D.I. Kim Stone crime thriller/British police procedural series. While each of these books can stand alone on the crime thriller plot, the main characters continually evolve and develop. This is just one of those series that is best read in order.
Kim and Bryant get called out to check an apparent suicide. While everyone agrees at first, something about the scene just does not sit right with Kim. After checking the crime scene photos, it is discovered to be a murder. This murder and the discovery of a body in a local lake leads Kim and her team to Unity Farm, which is a cult, which at first Kim does not believe or understand. Kim sends Tiffany “Tink” in undercover and they discover the truly manipulative power of the cult.
While they are working the Unity Farm case, Bryant is also entangled in a past case from when he was just an officer guarding a crime scene. A murderer is paroled and all those entangled in the old case are once again fearful of another murder.
The main characters all feel like friends now and the crime plots are always intriguing and realistic. Ms. Marson has a way of keeping everything fresh and interesting even in this twelfth book. I was extremely impressed with the research information on cults throughout the story and the demonstration of the manipulation used in the dialogue of the cult members.
I really am not able to come up with much new to tell everyone how much I love these books! This is an excellent series that I recommend to all.
***
Author Bio
Angela is the author of the Kim Stone Crime series. She discovered a love of writing at Primary School when a short piece on the rocks and the sea gained her the only merit point she ever got. Angela wrote the stories that burned inside and then stored them safely in a desk drawer. After much urging from her partner she began to enter short story competitions in Writer’s News resulting in a win and three short listed entries.
She used the Amazon KDP program to publish two of her earlier works before concentrating on her true passion – Crime.
Angela is now signed to write a total of 16 Kim Stone books for http://bookouture.com and has secured a print deal with Bonnier Zaffre Publishing.
Today I am excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blog Tour for THE SUMMER GEAWAY by Susan Mallery.
Below you will find an author Q&A, an about the book section, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
***
Author Q&A
Q: Tell us about your latest book, who is the main character(s) and what can we expect when we pick it up?
A: The Summer Getaway, which will be out on March 15, is the story of Robyn Caldwell, a mom who has one too many things on her plate—her daughter’s wedding demands, her son’s refusal to grow up, her best friend’s self-destructive behavior, and her ex-husband’s wildly inappropriate new girlfriend: their daughter’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. She’s been focusing on everyone else’s problems so much that she forgot to make a plan for her own future.
She needs a minute. So Robyn hops on a plane to visit her beloved great-aunt Lillian in sunny Santa Barbara, to give herself time and space to figure out what she wants the rest of her life to look like. But she’s the heart of her family, and those family ties draw everyone she loves to follow her across the country, one by one.
I adore Robyn, a smart, nurturing mom who has given so much that she forgot about herself. I think a lot of us women are like that, and I think readers will be thrilled to go along on Robyn’s journey of self-discovery.
Q: Where do you get your ideas for your books, characters, series?
A: Ideas come from everywhere – conversations, articles. Songs are a great source of inspiration for me. I’m convinced that there’s a book in every country music song, but you might be surprised at the idea that comes from a song. For me, it’s not about the lyrics or the story of the song, as much as it is about the emotions.
So yes, ideas are everywhere, but the idea is merely a spark. The tough part is fanning that spark into flames, into a full-length women’s fiction novel. I’ve had a lot of ideas that weren’t good enough to sustain a book. I either have to reassign it as a subplot, or let it go. (That is so hard sometimes!)
The spark that led to The Summer Getaway is something no one would ever, ever guess. I had an idea to write a story about a woman who has fallen in love with an oil painting and goes in search of the artist, sure that they will share a deep connection. Instead, she discovers that the painting means nothing to him. He paints the same scene over and over again because it sells.
But there’s no artist in The Summer Getaway. No contemporary oil painting. While brainstorming the book, the idea morphed beyond recognition from that initial spark. Inspiration is a funny, ineffable thing. You don’t know where it will lead. All you can do is loosen the reins on your mind and let it run.
I couldn’t be happier with the end result. The Summer Getaway is a heartfelt, emotion-filled story of one woman’s triumph over self-doubt. Robyn is nurturing and fiercely loyal, and I love her.
I might still write about that artist. . .
Q: Do you interconnect series and locations or is it one and done with series?
A: Sometimes series are connected to other series, sometimes not. The Summer Getaway is a standalone novel, not part of a series. But when it comes to series, the Fool’s Gold series segued into the Happily Inc series. The Blackberry Island series segued into the Mischief Bay series—and then I returned to Blackberry Island with Sisters by Choice. A teenager in the Bakery Sisters series ended up as the hero of one of the Fool’s Gold books, Finding Perfect. (That was a reader’s suggestion, by the way.)
Q: How do you keep track of your characters when a series is longer…do you keep what I have heard referred to as a “Bible”?
A: I do have a series bible that my assistant creates. The Fool’s Gold bible is about 300 pages long. Every character is in it, with whatever specific details have appeared on the page—age, height, hair and eye color, where they went to college, what kind of car they drive. . . And because animals are so important in my books, even the animals are included in the bible.
Q: Did you love books as a child, what age did you begin to read and devour books, and what is the first book that you remember that made a difference in your writing (as a child or later)?
A: Oh yes, I was a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. Every Saturday, my dad took me to the library, and the rule was that I was allowed to check out as many books as I could carry. We would go home, and I’d read them all that day, and then spend the week re-reading the ones I loved. When a librarian told me how many more books I could carry if I used a tote bag, she changed my life!
I didn’t start writing until I was in college (studying accounting). In addition to my full courseload, I took an evening class titled How to Write a Romance Novel. By week six of the eight-week course, I knew I wanted to write books.
My goal, still, is to make each book better than the last, so I continue to study the craft of writing. I don’t remember the first book that made a difference in my writing, so I’ll tell you about a book that did so more recently—Save the Cat! It’s a book on screenwriting. Although I don’t have aspirations of writing screenplays, I like to study screenwriting because I find the story structure helpful. Save the Cat! talked about the importance of high stakes in a way that made me think differently when plotting my books. In my books, the stakes aren’t actual life and death, but they’re deeply emotional stories, and the stakes need to feel like emotional life and death to the characters and to the reader.
Q: Can you remember one or more early books that influenced you? What were they? Did you remain interested in the same type of stories over the decades or did your interests change?
A: When I was a teenager, I discovered my best friend’s mom’s stash of romance novels. She let me borrow them whenever I wanted. I still remember the feeling that came over me when reading that first one—that moment of catching my breath when the hero’s and heroine’s eyes met in the mirror—and that early reading experience continues to influence me today.
Q: Do you read the same genre you write or branch out to relax?
A: I still love reading women’s fiction and romance. I like stories that bring me deep inside characters’ heads and hearts, and I love happy endings.
Q: Is writing easy or difficult…or should I ask what parts are easy and what parts are difficult?
A: The beginning of a book usually goes relatively slowly for me as I get to know the characters. But once I’m in the groove, the actual writing goes pretty fast and smoothly for me. I do a lot of plot work before I ever sit down to write, and that works for me.
The more challenging part for me, after all these books, is to come up with ideas that I haven’t already written about, but that still give readers the experience they want from one of my stories. Variety makes it more interesting and fun for me, too.
***
About the Book
Already a worldwide success in mass market and trade paperback formats, Susan Mallery’s newest hardcover is an emotional, witty, and heartfelt story about a woman who takes a trip to California to figure out her life and get a break from her family…only to be reminded that life–and your children–follow you wherever you go. With a powerful mother/daughter relationship at its core, fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Susan Wiggs, Mary Alice Monroe, and Nancy Thayer will love this book.
Robyn Caldwell’s family is driving her crazy. There’s Harlow, her daughter, who’s engaged to a man she’s only known a short time and is rapidly turning into bridezilla. And her son, Austin, who would rather work with his dad’s family charter boating business than go to college. Her friend, Mindy, who’s playing with fire by contemplating an affair with her tennis instructor. And let’s not forget her ex-husband whose bad behavior has just crossed the line yet again.
Robin needs some time to catch her breath and figure out what her next step should be. So when her beloved aunt Lillian asks her to come to Santa Barbara for an overdue visit, Robyn jumps at the chance. Her aunt Lillian is working on settling her affairs and a distant relative is staying with her that stands to inherit the house. Trouble is the last thing Robyn needs, but she refuses to let her aunt be taken advantage of.
While staying in her aunt’s beautiful, quirky mansion and spending time in the Santa Barbara sunshine with the woman who’s like a mother to her, Robyn will see herself—and the people she loves most—with a bit more clarity. And it will push her to take chances she hadn’t dreamed of before.
But life has a funny way of following you wherever you go. What began as an escape soon becomes an unforgettable adventure…and Robyn is ready to dive in, feet first.
THE SUMMER GETAWAY by Susan Mallery is a women’s fiction story full of family drama, but also humor, familial love, and romance. The story is centered around the life changing decisions a divorced mother contemplates with her entire family in flux. This is a standalone read.
Robyn Caldwell has always put her family first Now with her daughter making untenable demands for her wedding, a son who refuses to consider college, a friend on the brink of blowing up her marriage and a relationship she discovers is not what she assumed, she runs away across country to her great aunt’s home on the opposite coast.
One by one, everyone she was escaping appear in her great aunt’s home. With her great aunt Lillian’s counsel and the steadfastness of a new male friend, Robyn can have everything she wants if she is willing to believe in herself.
I loved getting to know all the characters in this story. Lillian is the kind, loving and wise elder we all wish for in our lives. Robyn is like so many other women who put their families first until an event or situation makes them look at what they want for themselves. The contrast between the three men, past and present in Robyn’s life could not be more different and at times entertaining. Robyn’s son and daughter added to the drama with their growing pains but were also the cause of some of the most tender and realistic exchanges. There are many complicated problems happening all at once which felt believable, but it also made for a lot of character hopping, and I felt sometimes this fragmented the flow of the story.
This is a very enjoyable women’s fiction family drama with a good balance of angst vs. happiness.
***
Excerpt
ONE
“I’m going to sleep with Dimitri.”
Robyn Caldwell picked up her glass of white wine and briefly thought about swallowing the entire contents in one gulp. Mindy’s statement was certainly gulp-worthy. But she knew pacing herself through lunch was the responsible thing to do. A lesson her friend had yet to learn.
“You are not,” Robyn murmured, because shrieking wasn’t attractive. Especially at “the club,” where their friends and frenemies were also enjoying Thursday’s lobster salad. The dining room was filled with forty or so women, all dressed in Florida chic—diamonds sparkling, gold or platinum charm bracelets clinking, necklaces resting on tanned and toned skin.
“I might,” Mindy Krause said, picking up her champagne. “He’s gorgeous.”
“Of course. He’s a thirty-year-old tennis pro. What else would he be?”
Mindy, a petite brunette who was six months from turning forty, sighed. “I need a Dimitri in my life.”
“You have a great husband. Payne loves you and the kids, and never has eyes for another woman. Why would you screw that up?”
“Payne would never know.”
“There aren’t any secrets in this town. Not in our social circle.”
Something Robyn had learned the hard way herself. She’d been blissfully unaware of her ex-husband’s affairs until a “friend” had oh-so-sweetly informed her.
“Maybe just some kissing,” Mindy mused. “I want a little Dimitri action. The fantasies make me happy, so imagine what the real thing would do.”
“The fantasies are safe. The real thing could destroy everything you have. Knowing you’ve cheated would devastate Payne.”
Mindy’s mouth formed a pout. “I never see him anymore. All he does is work.”
Robyn stared at her friend-slash-boss. “You two talked about how that promotion would be more work for him but that it would be worth it. You wanted this for him.”
“I didn’t know how much he’d be gone.”
The unreasonable statement grated nearly as much as Mindy’s whine. “This isn’t a good look for you,” Robyn murmured. “You’re changing the rules without telling your husband. That never ends well.”
Mindy dismissed the warning with a quick shake of her head. “I’m not worried. Besides, if he does find out, I can just move in with you.” She laughed. “You’ll soon have that big house all to yourself.”
“You have four kids,” Robyn pointed out. “If things go south in your marriage, I’d rather have Payne move in.”
“Well, that would get people talking.” Mindy held up her empty glass to the server. “More, please.”
The server obliged.
Mindy took another sip. “My sister called, swears she found a Thomas Pister chest in a tiny shop in Wales. It’s dirt cheap, so I’m afraid it’s a fake. She’s looking for someone to prove authenticity. Wouldn’t that be a find?”
“It would. I’d love to see it.”
Thomas Pister had built beautiful chests and cabinets in the late 1600s and early 1700s. His intricate designs with stunning inlays sold quickly and for huge amounts. Depending on the condition and the materials, a good-sized chest of drawers could go for sixty or eighty thousand dollars.
SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship and romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and readers seem to agree—forty million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.
Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the two Ragdoll cats and adorable poodle who think of her as Mom.
Lana’s War and A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel are heartfelt reads. The stories take place during World War II, the former in France and the latter in Italy. Both books are filled with danger and romance.
Lana’s War begins with a tragedy. In Paris 1943 Lana Antanova is about to tell her husband, Frederick they are going to have a baby when she sees him brutally shot dead by a Gestapo agent. To make matters worse, she loses the child. Knowing she can no longer sit idly by she accepts an offer to join the resistance. As the daughter of a Russian countess, Lana has the perfect background to infiltrate the émigré community of Russian aristocrats in the French Riviera, and socialize with German officers, including the man who killed her husband. Her cover story, being the mistress of Guy Pascal, a wealthy Swiss industrialist and fellow resistance member, allows her to move smoothly throughout the area. Together they gather information on upcoming raids and help members of the Jewish community escape. She has grown attached to a young Jewish girl, Odette, who ends up losing her parents. Both Lana and Guy go to great lengths to protect Odette and protect each other.
A Girl During the War also has a young heroine risking her life to save others as well as valuable paintings. Taking place in Italy 1943, Marina Tozzi comes home to find her father brutally killed by the Nazis. Fearful of the consequences, Marina flees to Villa I Tatti, the Florence villa of her father’s American friend Bernard Berenson and his partner Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who once curated J.P. Morgan’s library. Marina, an art expert, uses her expertise to save valuable pieces and uses her contacts to save a Jewish family. A neighbor, Carlos Adamo, uses his charm to sweep Marina off her feet. But after he disappears at the war ends, she must make a new life without him, traveling to Argentina to help an organization return paintings to their rightful owners.
Both books allow readers to take a journey with these heroic women. The tales of survival and second chances will have people feeling the same emotions as the characters: anxiety, fear, and even sometimes joy.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: You write World War II books?
Anita Abriel:The Light After the War, which came out two years ago, is the one readers connected with. It is my mother’s story. It is a moving book because my mother escaped from a train heading toward Auschwitz with her seventeen-year-old friend. They ended up in Maples, tried to get to Ellis Island but were rejected, from there went to Venezuela, and ended up in Australia where I was born. It is all based on fact. This is when I started to write historical fiction. My second book is Lana’s War and then in March my third book came out, A Girl During the War.
EC: In these three books there is always something about the Jewish peril during the war?
AA: I write these because of my background. I am Jewish. My parents who survived the Holocaust are Jewish. My father’s parents died in a concentration camp. I grew up in Sydney Australia. My mother was a little afraid because of everything that happened to her. My father escaped by fighting in the Red Army. He was extremely Jewish.
EC: The idea for Lana’s War?
AA: I wanted to write another story set during the Holocaust. My mother always talked about the French Riviera. As I was looking online, I saw a plaque in front of a hotel in Nice France saying, “this is where the Gestapo had its headquarters.” For a long time, this was a safe place for Jews until the Nazis occupied it in the last years of the war. Then they were sent to concentration camps. Gestapo Agent Alois Brunner is a real person.
EC: How would you describe Lana?
AA: She is very brave, caring, and gave up a soft life in Paris to join the resistance to put herself in great danger. It is unfathomable about what she went through. While she was grieving, at the same time, she was fearless.
EC: Lana’s first husband, Frederick. Can you describe him?
AA: Frederick is very straight-forward, honest, courageous, and wanted to get involved.
EC: How would you describe the resistance member, Guy?
AA: Guy wanted revenge, very noble, courageous, and sophisticated. His relationship with her was complicated. Lana was not very fond of his manners. He was very authoritarian, bossy, opinionated, and initially did not give her any respect.
EC: How would you describe Lana’s relationship with Frederick versus Guy?
AA: With Guy she was more of an equal. She also wanted revenge. They were very focused on their mission. Their relationship was complicated. Frederick always tried to protect her until he was killed. He was Lana’s first great love, very sweet and innocent, a gentleman.
EC: The role of Odette?
AA: She was a twelve-year-old who represented all those children that were incredibly harmed and scarred by the war. As a child, Odette wanted to return to normalcy, instead of having to hide all the time. She saw her father killed by the Nazis and then she was told about the Nazis killing her mother. Odette had a quote in the book, “If all the Jews ran away the Germans would succeed, what Hitler tried to accomplish. I am French. This is where I belong.” She said this because she wanted to hang on to her identity and not lose it. Very common among the children was that they were wiser than their years and had to grow up too fast.
EC: You also refer to real-life figures such as Coco Chanel?
AA: Some people felt she had to work with the Nazis, while others felt she could have left. Now people think she was a collaborator.
EC: A Girl During the War changes the setting from France to Italy?
AA: A lot of this book is true. I stumbled on the story because I really love Florence Italy. The Ponte Vecchio was the only bridge that was not blown up during the war because it was saved by the German council. I wondered why he did it. I found out information about certain characters such as Ludwig who was a head art historian in Italy. During my research I found out about the Villa I Tatti, where scholars now go to learn about Renaissance art. Bernard and Belle da Costa are also real people and were lovers.
EC: How would you describe Marina?
AA: She is the heroine of the story. Younger and less sophisticated than Lana. She was very protected and attached to her father who was killed by the Nazis. She travels and stays with Bernard. This book is her journey in the middle of a war. I think she probably had PTSD because she found her father’s body and knew had she arrived home a few minutes earlier she could have also been killed. She is also serious, lonely, angry, guarded, and trying to make sense of the war.
EC: How would you describe Carlos versus Luc?
AA: I do not like Carlos. He is despicable. He knows he is good looking and does not love anyone like he loves himself. He is self-centered. He has a magnetic personality and confidant. Luc is the direct opposite, a sweet and a caring person. After the war he tried to return the art to their rightful owners.
EC: Relationship?
AA: Carlos, her lover, is attractive, interesting, and edgy. He does not give her what she needs, to fill her emptiness.
EC: In both books you have children angry at the situation they are placed in?
AA: In this one it is Eli and in the other one is Odette. I cannot imagine how they can be anything other than angry. Eli is a good-looking young Italian male who had a promising life. Instead, he sees death and is held prisoner having to hide in a barn. His little sister cannot even go outside.
EC: In both books’ art plays a role?
AA: I had a quote in this book, “Art is not always about the painting itself, it’s about the joy of sharing important pieces with others.” Art lasts centuries and brings people together. Everybody has their own opinions and ideas. It takes on a life of its own. Therefore, it is horrible to think of what was lost or could have been lost during the war. Bernard and Marina in both books risked their lives because they saw the value of art.
EC: What was real and what was made up?
AA: There were some real artists, such as Giorgione. But I did make up that famous picture by Verrocchio who was a real artist. There are very few of his paintings left. As far as copies I made it up, but I am sure it happened.
EC: What about your next books?
AA: My next book will be historical fiction, out next year sometime. I am not ready to talk about it yet. I also write Christmas books under the name Anita Hughes, with the latest coming out in September, titled Christmas at The Ranch. It is about a heroine who rarely leaves her neighborhood, but her editor has her go to Jackson Hole Wyoming.
THANK YOU!!
***
Elise’s Author Interview
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
