Rodeo roper Ryan Oakley may hate Christmas, but he still needs a miracle. Unfortunately, the only person who sells top-notch competition horses is Jo Pierce, his former high school nemesis. Now Ryan’s making the single mom a bargain: he’ll set her up with his twin brother, her longtime crush. It’s the perfect holiday plan…until the no-nonsense working cowgirl ends up lassoing his heart instead.
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Elise’s Thoughts
A Cowboy Christmas Carol by Melinda Curtis recalls the story of Scrooge, A Christmas Carol. In this case it is one of twin brothers, Ryan, wants nothing to do with the holiday. If readers want a story that will put a smile on their faces, they will want to read this because the banter between the characters is off the charts.
Ryan and Tate Oakley are twin brothers who are part of the rodeo circuit. They always come close to winning but never can achieve the big prize. Ryan feels it is because they need better horses. He decides to buy a pair of the best roping horses from the woman who was his nemesis in high school. Jo Pierce was expelled from school after an epic prank on Ryan and now she is a horse breeder and trainer while single parenting her twin sons. Because she has a huge pending balloon mortgage hanging over her head, she reluctantly names a price. As the two continue to negotiate and work to come up with a solution to both their problems, they learn the reasons for their animosity of the past.
Readers will enjoy taking a journey with the hero and heroine as their feelings begin to change, realizing that they both must let go of the past to find a future. This is a wonderful, sweet romance with delightful characters and a hilarious horse.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Melinda Curtis: I changed it to be a Christmas book. I watched on Apple TV, Spirited, played by Will Farrell. I love a Christmas Carol and played on it. I thought what is better than a grumpy cowboy who does not like Christmas. I gave him an emotional wound that happened at Christmas.
EC: How would you describe the twin brothers, Ryan versus Tate?
MC: Ryan is more protective, while Tate goes through life letting things slide off his back. Ryan sees it as Tate not taking life seriously or applying himself. Ryan cares more about Tate. Ryan is trying to have he and his brother move forward and create a good life for both.
EC: Describing Ryan?
MC: He is guarded, standoffish, cold, an introvert, and a planner. He is also stubborn and grumpy. He is referred to as ‘the not nice Oakley.’
EC: How would you describe Jo?
MC: Rough and tumble. She is also direct, prickly, obstinate, and can be grumpy. She has a father who tries to break her spirit but remains confident. Unlike Ryan, she loves Christmas. She does not want to break the bonds of family even if it is at the expense of the livelihood of her ranch.
EC: What about the relationship?
MC: She and Ryan bond because both came from divorced parents. In high school he was seen as not being very nice and she was seen as being a stubborn tomboy. The high school pranks they played on each other got out of hand, which affected their relationship. She now thinks of him as pushy. She has a crush on his twin brother Tate.
EC: The role of the twin boys?
MC: Max and Dean are the twin boys of Jo. I wanted to write them as a mirror of Ryan and Tate. One is more introverted and one out to have fun. It shows how Ryan and Tate would have turned out had they had a loving household to grow up in. Max and Tate are the extroverts who the girls gravitate too, while Ryan and Dean are the introverts and responsible.
EC: You also have a horse, Tiger, in the story?
MC: Horses are like dogs in they have different personalities. They can be troublemakers. I wanted an unusual looking horse. I modeled him after my daughter’s dog. He just wants to be with people, plays rough, and is an escape artist. Tiger was considered the companion horse, the family horse, and the ‘heart horse.’ There is a phrase in the horse community; this is my heart horse. The one I will remember always after they are gone.
EC: Next books?
MC: The next book in this series will be Tate’s book, titled, A Cowboy for the Twins, coming out March of next year. Readers will learn a lot more why he does not have a care. More of the Harmony Valley books coming up. This year I had a lot of releases.
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.
January 1855 Willa Noble knew it was bad luck when it was pouring rain on the day of her ever-important job interview at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. When she arrived late, disheveled with her skirts sodden and filthy, she’d lost all hope of being hired for the position. As the housekeeper politely told her they’d be in touch, Willa started toward the door of the stately home only to be called back by the soft but strong voice of Emily Dickinson. What begins as tenuous employment turns to friendship as the reclusive poet takes Willa under her wing.
Tragedy soon strikes and Willa’s beloved brother, Henry, is killed in a tragic accident at the town stables. With no other family and nowhere else to turn, Willa tells Emily about her brother’s death and why she believes it was no accident. Willa is convinced it was murder. Henry had been very secretive of late, only hinting to Willa that he’d found a way to earn money to take care of them both. Viewing it first as a puzzle to piece together, Emily offers to help, only to realize that she and Willa are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse that reveals corruption in Amherst that is generations deep. Some very high-powered people will stop at nothing to keep their profitable secrets even if that means forever silencing Willa and her new mistress….
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I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died – Book #2
August 1856. The Dickinson family is comfortably settled in their homestead on Main Street. Emily’s brother, Austin Dickinson, and his new wife are delighted when famous thinker and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson comes to Amherst to speak at a local literary society and decides he and his young secretary, Luther Howard, will stay with the newlyweds. Emily has been a longtime admirer of Emerson’s writing and is thrilled at the chance to meet her idol. She is determined to impress him with her quick wit, and if she can gather the courage, a poem. Willa Noble, the second maid in the Dickinson home and Emily’s friend, encourages her to speak to the famous but stern man. But his secretary, Luther, intrigues Willa more because of his clear fondness for the Dickinson sisters.
Willa does not know if Luther truly cares for one of the Dickinson girls or if he just sees marrying one of them as a way to raise himself up in society. After a few days in his company, Willa starts to believe it’s the latter. Miss Lavinia, Emily’s sister, appears to be enchanted by Luther; a fact that bothers Emily greatly. However, Emily’s fears are squashed when Luther turns up dead in the Dickinson’s garden. It seems that he was poisoned. Emerson, aghast at the death of his secretary, demands answers. Emily and Willa set out to find them in order to save the Dickinson family reputation and stop a cold-blooded fiend from killing again.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Amanda Flower has her venturing into historical mysteries. These books have a unique portrayal of the famous American writer Emily Dickinson. Emily along with her maid, Willa, become sleuths and help to solve murders. But a bonus is having readers getting glimpses of how Emily thinks and what the culture of mid-19th century was like.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea to use Emily Dickinson?
Amanda Flower: Each book’s title will be the first line from one of her famous poems. In the first book, the poem was about a carriage ride with a horse. In this novel, a horse is very central to the story. The second book has flies surrounding the found body, which is related to the poem I used. I pay tribute to the poems, but do not follow it verbatim. Her poems are imagery and vague with multiple meanings. She never wrote clearly.
EC: Why Emily Dickinson?
AF: Her poems are mysterious. I have been a huge Emily Dickinson fan since I was 15 years old. I wanted to write a historical novel with another version, so I decided to write a mystery with her. Last year it won the Agatha for best historical mystery and a final for one of the Edgar Awards. The real characters beside Emily were the maid Margaret O’ Brian. I added a maid assistant, Willa to tell the story in the same manner that Sherlock Holmes had Watson. I also chose that period of her life, in 1855, where Emily and her sister came to Washington because her father was a member of the House of Representatives. This time was about six years before she went into hiding for the rest of her life as a recluse. She did not get any acclaims for her writing when she was alive.
EC: Why the reference to slavery?
AF: In the 1850s America was in turmoil over slavery. I knew I had to include this issue, or it would be a disservice. It divided everyone. The Underground Railroad went through many small towns close to where I live in Ohio. One of my jobs was leading Underground Railroad tours through the town that I worked in. I spoke about the people who lived there and those who tried to escape.
EC: How would you describe Emily’s personality in your book?
AF: This is my best interpretation of the real Emily. She likes to investigate, a good judge of character, ignores societal class, and is loyal. She is also bold, caring, curious, confident, and blunt. She was probably her father’s favorite because he gave her special treatment. She enjoyed wandering around and instead of not telling her to stop bought her a dog for protection. The dog is real and so his name Carlo, a character in Jane Eyre. He lived for seventeen years, which is unusual for a pure bred, Newfoundland. One of the theories is that Emily became a recluse after he passed away. Her dad would buy contemporary fiction books and leave them around the house for her to just happen to find. The family gave her room to be different, a genius aspect.
EC: How would you describe the real maid, Margaret?
AF: Kind, protective, tough, and can be hard-nosed. I made her gruff with Willa.
EC: How would you describe Willa?
AF: Nervous for her brother’s safety, compassionate, strong, determined, loyal, and broken. In the first book she is more timid. She is determined to find out what happened to her brother, Henry. As the series goes on, she is very protective and loyal to Emily. She understands more social standing than Emily. Willa is very aware of the class distinction and sees the servants as being invisible. Emily tries to treat her as an equal.
EC: What is the difference between the sisters, Vinnie, and Emily?
AF: Vinnie acts like an older sister even though Emily is the older sister. At the end of their life, she took care of Emily. Vinnie is more into societal norms. She carries the weight on her shoulders. Vinnie is a cat person, while Emily is a dog person who hated cats. The cats probably annoyed her dog. Emily did write about disliking cats.
EC: What about Henry?
AF: Henry is an idealist. He wanted to take from the rich and give to the poor. He had a happy and carefree personality. He knew Willa’s upmost goal was to protect him. He is also kind, with a nose for trouble, and caring.
EC: The second book in the series, I Heard a Fly Buzz When I died, highlights Ralph Waldo Emerson-why?
AF: Through my research I found he stayed with Emily’s brother at their estate. Plus, I really like his works and wanted to include him in the series. He was the peak of American literature during that time. He encouraged young authors to write in an ‘American voice.’ After a lifetime of acclaim, he felt pretty good about himself. He is very aloof and is distant from others.
EC: Why the plagiarism angle?
AF: It was harder back then to prove. Many authors self-published back then and it was hard to prove that someone else wrote it so it would have been easy to plagiarize. It is still a problem today. Writers would think about this problem. Although they do have a certain way of phrasing. Emerson had a very strong voice, very authoritative and confident. He wrote essays and non-fiction. The victim in the story was a social climber who tried to put his name on other’s works.
EC: Louisa May Alcott and Emily contrasted each other as writers?
AF: I put her in the story because she was about the same age as Emily and lived nearby. It was possible they could have met although no evidence. I also wanted to contrast her with Emily. Some authors like Emily did it for the sake of art and her own personal thoughts, while others like Alcott did it for the sake of supporting her family and was driven. Emily feared fame and did not try to get published more. Personally, I write for both reasons. I put in the author’s notes how ‘Emily wrote for the expression of art; Louisa wrote for the money.’
EC: Louisa May Alcott was also in the story-what was her voice?
AF: She is very confident, opinionated, with fun banter. Anyone who read Little Women would recognize these qualities in her main character, Jo. She is blunt, straight forward, and wrote for the money because she is super pragmatic. Growing up her family did not have money because her dad believed in living simply. She broke barriers by being a female who used her own name and became popular. When she started writing she used pen names. But with Little Women she wrote under her own name and this book changed the life of herself and her family.
EC: Next books?
AF: The third one in the series might be the last one. It is titled I Died for Beauty and will come out in early 2025. The plot setting has the 1857 blizzard with a deep freeze in New England. A young Irish couple die in a fire at their house. Emily and Willa try to figure out what really happened.
The next book coming out in February is titled Crime and Cherry Pits, a cozy. In March my first Katherine Wright mystery will be released titled To Slip the Bonds of Earth about a murder.
The Candy Shop mystery will be out in October next year. The Matchmaker mystery comes out the following year. Each main character will have a book coming out every other year.
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.
To save her missing sister They’ll confront a nightmare past…
A mysterious family tree. A man thought long dead. Dahlia Easton has few solid clues to find her sister, missing for a year. But she’s in danger the moment she reaches Wyoming’s backcountry. To protect her, cold case investigator Grant Hudson must confront his town’s unresolved nightmares—even as an unspeakable threat from the past is fast closing in to silence him and Dahlia for good…
Discover more action-packed stories in the Hudson Sibling Solutions series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order:
Book 1: Cold Case Kidnapping Book 2: Cold Case Identity Book 3: Cold Case Family Feud
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
COLD CASE KIDNAPPING (Hudson Sibling Solutions Book #1) by Nicole Helm is the start of a new cowboy romantic suspense series featuring the Hudson family of siblings based in Wyoming on their ancestral ranch. The five siblings each specialize in a different aspect of HSS (Hudson Sibling Solutions) that specializes in solving sold cases.
Dahlia Easton is searching for her sister Rose who disappeared a year ago in Texas, but she believes through her research was transported to Wyoming. She hires HSS to help her find answers.
Grant Hudson, the second eldest Hudson sibling, served as a Marine and has now returned to help on the family ranch and work cold cases for the family business. Grant is assigned Dahlia case and soon discovers it has ties to the town’s past, a cult everyone thought destroyed years ago.
As they work together to discover what happened to Rose, they find themselves at the center of a deadly threat from the past.
I really enjoyed this story and introduction to the Hudson siblings. Dahlia is a mix of vulnerability, strength, and determination that makes her an appealing heroine and Grant is a protector who feels responsible for everyone who needs to learn to believe in the strength and abilities of not just Dahlia, but his siblings as well. There is more suspense in this story with the romance being a slow burn, but it also felt as though it progressed at a believable pace. There are no sex scenes in this story. I am excited with the set up of this series as the siblings each having their own strengths and I already find them interesting.
I recommend this first in a new series. fast paced, and engaging cowboy romantic suspense. I am looking forward to reading all the siblings’ individual stories.
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About the Author
Nicole Helm is the national bestselling author of fast-paced romantic suspense for Harlequin Intrigue and down-to-earth contemporary romance. Her Intrigues routinely land on the Publishers Weekly Bestseller list, and she’s received starred PW reviews for her contemporary romances. All of her books are known for their down-to-earth characters, emotional depth, and happily ever afters.
In her spare time, Nicole loves losing herself in genealogy research, watching Cardinals baseball, and hiking with her family. She lives in Missouri with her husband and two sons.
When Cara Roberts’ family plans an extra special Christmas to support her after her broken engagement, she wants nothing to do with the holiday. After learning her brother and his wife can’t use the cottage vacation they purchased, she impulsively escapes to an English cottage in the bucolic village of Bakewell, despite having no idea where Bakewell is.
Lord Alec Sherbourne of Langley Park is no fan of Christmas, but following in his parents’ footsteps, he annually donates his impressive 19th century country home to be decorated and opened on December weekends as a community fundraiser. This year, Christmas is complicated by the arrival of a pretty American woman who booked a cottage on his estate—only the cottage is occupied. Forced to take her under his vast roof, he’s dismayed when a storm and frozen pipes keep her with him longer than he’d anticipated. Even more worrisome, her presence is making it feel like Christmas for the first time in forever.
As these two holiday housemates become friends, is there something more in the Christmas air?
ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS (Love at Langley Park Book #1) by Jane Porter is an enchanting and heartwarming holiday contemporary romance featuring a hero and heroine finding love over the Christmas holiday. This is the first book in the Love at Langley Park series, and it has everything I want and hope for in a holiday romance read.
Cara Roberts broke up with her fiancée and is looking for a change of scenery over the holidays. Her brother gives her an English cottage vacation at Langley Park won in a school raffle. After a sixteen-hour trip from Seattle, Cara discovers a problem with overbooking and she is given a room in the main house with the handsome, but grumpy lord of the manor.
Lord Alec Sherbourne returns to Langley Park every Christmas holiday out of duty, but not with much holiday cheer after the death of his wife eight years ago. When burst pipes and a snowstorm have Cara staying in the manor with Alec and his elderly relatives over the holiday, he discovers this American is making Langley Park feel like Christmas for the first time.
This is a wonderful holiday romance. Cara is a sunny, optimistic person who loves people. Alec is a reserved English aristocrat who believes his responsibility is to his family estate and heritage above all else. When these two are forced together over the holiday, what should not work, does. I love Cara and the fact that she is always willing to tell the truth and have difficult discussions, even when it hurts her, but she does not stay down. She is able to open Alec’s closed off heart. This is a cozy romance with no sex scenes, just kisses, and yet it is one of the most romantic love stories I have recently read. Ms. Porter’s romances always give me realistic characters, dialogue, and emotional HEAs.
I highly recommend this delightful holiday contemporary romance! I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
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About the Author
USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 75+ romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear. In 2021 two of Jane’s Taming of the Sheenan romances were turned into original movies for the Great American Family Network. Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEATH AT THE DOG SHOW (The Charity Shop Detective Agency Book #3) by Peter Boland on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Dog-lovers, please note none of our furry friends die in this book.
It’s the day of the Christchurch Dog Show. The whole town is aquiver with excitement. The ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency are hoping to make lots of new furry friends.
After a very dramatic Best Biscuit Catcher competition, Fiona, Sue and Daisy, from the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop, come across a shocking scene. The dog show’s vet is performing CPR on a woman. The ladies rush over, but it’s too late.
Back at the shop, the ladies are shocked to learn that the poor woman was murdered. Someone injected Sylvia Steadman with something very nasty indeed. Then our silver sleuths uncover that Sylvia was the owner of ex-Crufts-winner Charlie. She must have had lots of very jealous competitors . . .
There’s barely time for elevenses. The charity shop detectives must roll up their sleeves — they have a killer to catch.
THE CHARITY SHOP DETECTIVES
Level-headed Fiona has found a quiet sanctuary volunteering at the local charity shop, Dogs Need Nice Homes. A charity shop that raises money for dogs in need of nice homes. And she’s found firm friendship with the strong-willed Partial Sue (she’s ever so partial to a cup of tea) and the kindly and surprisingly tech-savvy Daisy. Together, these ladies, with Simon Le Bon, Fiona’s scruffy-haired terrier cross, investigate murders as the Charity Shop Detective Agency.
THE SETTING
The lovely coastal town of Southbourne is, on paper, little more than a small suburb hemmed in by Bournemouth to the west and Christchurch to the north. But it’s home to the prettiest avenues lined with gorgeous Georgian homes which lead to a grass-topped cliff standing guard over a sweeping bay of blond sand, soft as Demerara sugar. Some say it’s also home to the best charity shops in the country. The ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency maintain that Dogs Need Nice Homes — though musty and more than a little cramped — is certainly number one. Well, they definitely solve the most crimes at least!
DEATH AT THE DOG SHOW (The Charity Shop Detective Agency Book #3) by Peter Boland is an entertaining cozy mystery once again featuring the three indomitable ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency. This cozy mystery can easily be read as a standalone.
Fiona, Partial Sue, and Daisy have a booth at the Christchurch Dog Show for their charity shop, Dogs That Need Nice Homes. The ladies notice a crowd gathering and witness the show’s veterinarian performing CPR on a woman. The ladies discover the dead woman who is attending is the owner of a former Crufts champion. After a visit from their detective friends, the ladies learn the death is a murder by injection and not natural as they first believed.
The ladies put on their detective hats and get to work sorting all the possible suspects and motives.
I liked the previous books in this series, but this is definitely my favorite. I enjoy the quirky individuality of Fiona, Partial Sue and Daisy and the backgrounds that each brings to the investigations. The plot is full of red herrings and twists that lead the ladies to several secondary crimes, but they doggedly (ha-ha) get back on track until they solve the main murder case and have the perpetrators apprehended. I was surprised in the end and satisfied with the conclusion. Being a huge dog lover, the bonus for me in this story is all the added canine characters. Overall, these cozy mysteries have endearing main characters and are intricately plotted amateur sleuth investigations.
I recommend this addition to the series for a delightful cozy mystery read.
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Author Bio
After studying to be an architect, Pete realised he wasn’t very good at it. He liked designing buildings, he just couldn’t make them stand up — a big handicap in an industry that’s partial to keeping things upright. So he became an advertising copywriter, the highlight of which was creating an ad featuring Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. He then tried his hand at writing his own stories and quickly realised there’s no magic formula. You just have to put one word in front of the other (and keep doing that for about six months). It also helps if you can resist the lure of surfing and drinking beer in a garden chair.
Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.
But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.
Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.
As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen has her venturing out from a traditional mystery to a spy thriller. In this story she expertly mixes spy drama with romance while adding some humor. Not only is this a riveting tale but the main character is very engaging as she tackles the ghosts of her past.
Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement. Her final assignment left her very disillusioned. Out of the blue, she finds a young woman calling herself Bianca at her home looking for Diana Ward, another old CIA colleague of Maggie’s. Diana had a talent for making enemies, and Maggie blames her for the debacle in Malta that tore her life apart.
When Bianca’s body is dumped in her driveway and someone takes a few shots at her from across a field, Maggie connects the dots to the tragic case that led her to retire from the CIA. She enlists the help of her baby boomer drinking buddies, four ex-agents with a full assortment of tradecraft skills. The Martini Club, as the retired spies are called, realize that someone is seeking revenge on Maggie. They work together to identify and locate those people and are forced to revisit her role in a mission designed to flush out a Russian informant. It was the mission, Operation Cyrano, that changed Maggie’s life and the last one before she resigned. The story bounces between 18 years ago, 16 years ago, and the present, with locations across the globe.
The Martini Club also must match wits with Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau who is investigating the murder and shooting. Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information and wonders how they seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn. She realizes there is more to this bunch than meets the eye and is frustrated at being outmaneuvered by them at every turn.
Readers will not want to put the book down as they search for answers along with Maggie and her retired CIA buddies. The book is refreshing and an entertaining departure from spy thrillers because the protagonists are senior citizens. The story is amusing, suspenseful, and at times intense.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for The Spy Coast?
Tess Gerritsen: I moved here thirty-three years ago and found out that the town has many retired spies. My husband, who is a medical doctor, had patients who used to work for the government but could not talk about what they did. We found out they were retired CIA including two who lived on my street.
EC: Did you think of the movie “Red?”
TG: I thought a lot of the Helen Mirren character. I did not want to deal with assassinations. What I wanted to write about is the tragedy of the last operation that has haunted the main
character, a spy, Maggie Bird. Maggie is made up. Yet, all the spies in the Martini Club are like those retired spies who live in Maine. They are smart and very educated.
EC: The setting in Maine-why?
TG: It is a beautiful setting. This location has many safe houses. We have an International Conference in this little town of 5,000 people. They bring in every year leaders, politicians, and foreign policy experts from around the world. They come and speak here every winter. The town has residents with a lot of international experience.
EC: How would you describe the two spies, Diana Ward versus Maggie Bird?
TG: Diana is a bit of a sociopath. She does what needs to be done and does not care about the consequences or morality. She is the equivalent of the assassins in so many spy novels. She is very efficient. Diana is not someone who could be trusted, not loyal, and self-centered. Everything is all about her. She might be a good spy but is a bad person. On the other hand, Maggie is a spy with a conscience. She is in it to help her country. She was forced to cross a line she did not want to cross. It moved into her personal life, which had everything fall apart for her. Maggie is loyal, calm, friendly, accomplished with a strong sense of morality.
EC: How would you compare the two teenage girls, Callie versus Bella?
TG: Callie is the ultimate innocent. She is a farm girl who is hungry for a mother. She likes to lean on Maggie. Callie is a very vulnerable character. Bella starts off as a vulnerable character but ends up as a nightmare in training. She is being groomed for a bad role because her father is a powerful Russian oligarch, Phillip Hardwicke. Her father sees her as a tool. Her mother is much more of a traditional mom who cares about her daughter. Yet, her mother is disappointed Bella is not more like her. Bella is disrespected by both parents.
EC: Why make Danny, Maggie’s husband, a doctor?
TG: I started off making him a professional chef. But I needed someone who had close contact with the bad guy. It did not feel right so I made him a doctor who would know Phillip’s most intimate secrets. He traveled with him. I gave Hardwicke a lifelong history of seizures.
EC: How would you describe Hardwicke?
TG: He wants power, money, and prestige. He likes to get his way and does not care who gets hurt. He is a control freak, obsessive, intense, cruel, and very smart.
EC: How would you describe the spies in The Martini Club reacting with the police chief Jo Thibodeau?
TG: They simultaneously are cooperative but also antagonistic. At the beginning Jo does not know who these people are, but later realize they are retired spooks. As time goes on in this book and the next, she realizes they are a big help to her.
EC: Did you get any movie deals?
TG: It has been optioned by Amazon for a television series. This is one of the reasons I went with this publisher. They attached a TV deal. There is already a screenwriter, and they are talking about who will play Maggie Bird.
EC: Next book?
TG: I am working on the sequel now. The second book will take place entirely in the town of Purity Maine. It will be titled The Summer Guests and is scheduled for the spring of 2025. It will still have the five retirees and the police chief. The plot has a family visiting in the summer whose teenage girl disappears, plus there is a cold case mystery. The sequel will be more of a classic mystery. If I do a third book that is when I will probably go back to the international setting again.
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.
