I’m pleased to welcome author Marianne Plunkert for today’s Book in the Spotlight. Her historical romance novel, What Might Have Been, looks like a perfect pick to kick off your spring reading.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: What Might Have Been
Author: Marianne Plunkert
Genre: Historical Romance
BLURB:
Melissa Sullivan, desperate to escape a lecherous uncle, stows away in a wagon bound for the Colorado Territory that is owned by a high-handed lieutenant in the Union army who is escaping his own demon. While he believes he has the right to make decisions for her, she is determined to become self-sufficient like her new friend Mavis, an Irish lass with a soft heart, a hard exterior, and a weak acquaintance with the truth. A love/hate relationship, based on a series of misunderstandings and misconceptions, ensues. Upon reaching Denver, Melissa meets a handsome mine owner and accepts his offer to teach at the mining camp’s school. Afterwards, she wonders if the price she is paying is worth it.
AUTHOR BIO:
After spending 25 years in academia, teaching finance and authoring finance textbooks as an independent contractor for major publishing companies, Marianne retired early to devote more time to her lifelong dream: writing a novel and having it published. What Might Have Been,her debut novel, was inspired by the rich history of the Denver, Colorado, area she discovered while living there. She currently resides in western North Carolina and enjoys hearing from her readers.
I’m thrilled to welcome back author Susie Black with a spotlight on her latest cozy mystery release, The Case of the Croaked Coach.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: The Case of the Croaked Coach
Author: Susie Black
Genre: Cozy Mystery
BLURB:
There wasn’t an honest bone in Buzz Bixby’s body. The Encino High School’s head football coach was an equal-opportunity scoundrel. Bixby cheated and lied his way to the top and screwed anyone and everyone in his wake. So, the question wasn’t who wanted the coach dead. The question was, who didn’t? Student reporter Hannah White’s interview with the coach is a nonstarter when she discovers varsity football hero Dean Snyder standing over Bixby’s battered corpse holding a bloody trophy. Despite how guilty Dean looks, Hannah is convinced he’s innocent. When Snyder is arrested for Bixby’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to flesh out the real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a slinky, and nothing turns out how Hannah thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.
AUTHOR BIO:
Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, multi-award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. She has published seven books in four years and book eight is slated for release in May 2025.
She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and is the mother of one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.
I’m happy to welcome back authors Joyce Proell and Brenda Whiteside with a spotlight on their latest cozy mystery Cornbread, Ribs, and Murder. Look no further for your next cozy series.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: Cornbread, Ribs, and Murder (A Chocolate Martini Sisters Mystery book 3)
Author: Joyce Proell and Brenda Whiteside
Genre: Cozy Mystery
BLURB:
It’s a rib cookoff…with a recipe for murder.
Nicole Earp and Emma Banefield are celebrating another birthday at the Dulce Inn with the added fun of a rib cookoff in the park. Not only are chocolate martinis in their plans, Nic has her heart set on winning the cornbread contest. But as the excitement bakes, someone is stirring up trouble for the inn and its employees.
Strange occurrences at the Dulce are on the rise. Slashed tires, menacing phone calls, and unsavory characters add a vibe that threatens the sisters’ anticipated fun-filled stay. When the hot-headed hotel owner is caught wielding a bloody letter opener over a dead coworker, the sisters are embroiled in a caper to help the one person who finds their sleuthing as welcomed as a rattlesnake in her bed. But is she innocent?
The Chocolate Martini Sisters are primed to find out. First, they’ll have to eliminate a host of suspects that includes a dishonest restaurant owner, a jilted girlfriend, an ex-wife, the barkeeper, and a masseuse with a crush. If they can stay off the radar of the surly chief homicide detective long enough, they can put out the fire…unless the killer burns them first.
The third book in this amateur sleuths, cozy mystery series will have you chuckling and on the edge of your seat as the sisters solve the murder.
AUTHOR BIOs:
After hearing countless stories as a mental health professional, Joyce Proell retired to create her own tales. As an award-winning author, she writes historical romance and cozy mystery where all endings are guaranteed happy. She shares her home on the prairie with a husband and a little dog with a big personality. When she isn’t reading or writing, she likes to swim and finds baking almost as relaxing as a day at the spa.
Brenda Whiteside is the award-winning author of romantic suspense, romance, and cozy mystery. She writes children’s books under the pen name, Brenda Sue. After living in six states and two countries—so far—she and her husband have settled in Central Arizona. They admit to being gypsies at heart and won’t discount the possibility of another move. They share their home with a rescue dog named Amigo. While FDW fishes, Brenda writes.
I’m pleased to welcome author Elaine Violette for today’s Book in the Spotlight. Her novel, Blessings and the Thief, is a historical romance novel perfect to top off your holiday reading pile. A Christmas party set in a restored castle, romance, and a touch of mystery? Check, check, and check.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: Blessings and the Thief
Author: Elaine Violette
Genre: Historical Romance
BLURB:
Damien Reeves grudgingly agrees to host his ailing Uncle Lionel’s Christmas party at the Blackmoor Inn, a restored castle famous for absurd ghost lore. When he learns of petty thefts that have occurred among his uncle’s elderly friends, he hopes discovering the culprit might keep him from reliving his own tragic holiday memories. When a beautiful young woman arrives, a more enticing challenge appears.
Tessia Bennington is relieved to spend the holidays at the reputed haunted inn with her aunt and uncle after the man she’d expected to marry begged off. She enjoys the frolicking escapades of the aged partiers while ignoring the handsome host’s flirtations. What she can’t ignore is a ghostly presence seeking her help.
Neither Tess nor Damien could have imagined the bizarre events and this most unusual holiday. Will they part with special memories or shed their defenses and find happiness in each other?
AUTHOR BIO:
Elaine writes British and American Historical Romances and has seven published novels to her credit. Part of the fun of writing historical romance fiction, she says, is doing research into the past and creating characters that live and love in these sometimes glorious and sometimes harrowing times. A veteran English teacher, Elaine holds a BS in English Education from the University of CT and an MS in Educational Leadership from Central CT State University. She presently teaches public speaking part time at a local community college. Residing on the Connecticut shoreline with her golfing husband, Drew, she delights in being a wife, mother, and grandmother. Other favorite activities apart from reading and writing are nature walks, kayaking, and baking yummy desserts.
Author Birdie Song is joining us today for an interview. Her latest novel, The Guy from the Wedding, offers readers a romance set in Australia. I enjoyed learning how this author allowed the characters to take her story in a new direction.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: The Guy from the Wedding
Author: Birdie Song
Genre: Sweet romance, small town romance, Australian romance, multicultural romance
BLURB:
Wedding bells are ringing … but not for them.
Katrina Lee just can’t catch a break. She’s single, failing to mingle, and spending precious weekends surrounded by blissfully happy newlyweds-to-be. It’s just an occupational hazard of working for The Wedding Elves. Another hazard? Her sister’s new business partner, whose first job as co-owner seems to be putting her off guys for good.
Liam Donovan left Melbourne, determined to start a new life in Perth. He never dreamed this would mean working with the sour-faced woman he met at an old friend’s wedding, let alone falling for her. Now he’s caught between the man-in-charge he wants to be and the pathetic loser he swore to leave behind.
The Guy from the Wedding is a sweet enemies-to-lovers workplace romance, set in the world of Somerville Downs.
INTERVIEW:
Welcome! It is my pleasure to feature your novel.
What was the inspiration behind your latest release?
The Guy from the Wedding started as a web serial on my blog back in 2021. I got as far as the main characters meeting at a wedding, definitely not getting along, and then … I blanked. The story sat virtually untouched for a couple of years.
One advice fiction writers get is to “spend time” with their characters, often through drafting, but sometimes by meditating on them, having imaginary conversations with them, just to get a feel for what they’re like as people. So for a long time, I’d draft and imagine, and even took one of them out for coffee (just me hacking away at my laptop in a local café lol) to try and understand their stories.
Eventually, I found the problem. I was too focused on writing a lighthearted enemies-to-lovers romcom, when this book actually wanted to explore how we inadvertently hurt the ones we love when we don’t fully process the hurt done to us. The couple in this book very much want to reinvent themselves in the wake of toxic relationships, but they’ll need to confront their own shortcomings and insecurities before they’re worthy of love.
Have you ever traveled when researching information for a book?
I have! For this book in particular, I left my writing cave to visit two places: a mini-golf course and a heritage hotel in the south-west rural region of my state. Although some places get named in the book, these two didn’t, but anyone who’s been to these places around Perth and Western Australia will probably recognise the locations and inspiration in this book.
I enjoy travelling, but writing books set in my home city means I can’t skip town very often. There are three more books to go in the Somerville Downs series, and I’m thinking maybe my next one should be set somewhere else in the world I’d like to research in person.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finishing The Guy from the Wedding has been my personal mountain so far. Putting myself in my characters’ shoes so I could write them – not gonna lie, that was hard. Painful at times (even though this book doesn’t delve into anything dark on the page), because of the messy human emotions involved.
I hope this means I’ve produced something readers can feel and love. Life has a way of blunting our emotions sometimes, making it seem unsafe to have feelings. Maybe that’s why we turn to romance, so we can feel our feelings and know it’ll be all right in the end.
Besides that, this book is the longest story I’ve ever written, and I had to hold a lot in my head at once. It’s only a short novel, but I usually prefer to write (and read) novellas. Romance, to me, is a chocolate bon bon, not a three tier Queen Sylvia mudcake!
What does literary success mean to you?
To earn a liveable income through work that brings joy to both myself and other people. I don’t need to make millions, just enough to live comfortably and support my family and community. That’s how I’d define success in general, not just literary success.
What project are you currently working on?
At the moment, I’m taking a break to spend time with family and friends over the holidays. Oh, and to catch up on life admin. When I’m waist-deep in work, my home gets progressively more cluttered and untidy with every passing day. So, I owe it to my very supportive family to do my share of chores.
In the new year, I plan to start on book 6 in the Somerville Downs series, The Guy from the Bakery.
AUTHOR BIO:
Birdie Song is an Asian-Australian writer from Perth, Western Australia on Whadjuk-Noongar country. She pens sweet stories featuring hopeful characters and optimistic endings (spoiler alert!). She believes love is more important than labels, integrity is a person’s most attractive quality, and that no one should be judged for putting pineapple on a pizza. When not writing, she tends to a veggie garden and reads a variety of books, hoping to one day understand the meaning of life.
Jill Piscitello 