BLOOD'S ECHO Is a 2018 Mariposa Award Finalist!

A huge congratulations go to Isabella Maldonado and her book Blood's Echo, which is a finalist for the 2018 Mariposa Award for Best First Novel!

The Mariposa Awards (Spanish for "butterfly") are part of the International Latino Book Awards, celebrating literary achievements and books by and about Latinos. They are produced by Latino Literacy Now, a nonprofit organization co-founded in 1997 by Edward James Olmos and Kirk Whisler. A full list of finalists is available here.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on September 8, 2018, in Los Angeles.

eBook Deals: Grab the First Three Books in the Rex Graves Mystery Series by C.S. Challinor

Everyone loves a deal! for a limited time, grab the first three ebooks of the Rex Graves Mystery Series by C.S. Challinor while they're on sale!

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Cherry Pies and Millennial Slang: A Guest Post from CHERRY PIES & DEADLY LIES Author Darci Hannah

We welcome Darci Hannah, author of the new Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies (the first book in the Very Cherry Mystery Series), to Midnight Ink's blog today! Here she shares some insight into her new protagonist, millennial slang, and cherry pies.

Screaming goats, cherry pies, a spectacular lakeside setting, and a confounding murder… what's not to love about that?

For an author there's nothing quite as thrilling as the launch of a new novel, and I'm doubly thrilled because this month my very first cozy mystery, Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies, will be released from Midnight Ink. Not only is this my first mystery, but it's also the first time I've written a novel set in the present. I've always loved creating entertaining characters, but I'm particularly fond of Whitney Bloom. She's a clever, tech-savvy twenty-eight-year old millennial with a lively personality and a tendency towards the overzealous. Of course, she's got some issues as well, like her predilection for sketchy reality TV, trying to keep a roof over her head, and trying not to think about her hunky ex-boyfriend, Tate Vander Hagen, a man who runs the marina in Cherry Cove and sails a boat named The Lusty Dutchman.

Why a millennial protagonist, you ask? The short answer is that I'm surrounded by millennials. I have three amazing sons in their early twenties, and two beautiful nieces of the same age who visit often. I love the millennial spirit, their energy, their fearlessness, their belief that they can do anything and their breezy acceptance of mind-boggling technology. I'm also enchanted by phrases like, "Hey, bro, how's that workin' out for you?" Or, the ever popular, "Dude, like, I don't even know how to answer that?" Although proper English is always encouraged in our house, I have found myself on the receiving end of a "Dude" more than once. Every time it happens my husband just shakes his head and says, "You do realize that you've just 'duded' your mother, right?"

Whitney, to my knowledge, has never been "duded," but she has had her share of embarrassments, the biggest of which was producing a questionable commercial while working at one of Chicago's largest advertising agencies. When we first meet Whitney she's desperately trying to get her old job back, but, um, that's not about to happen. Let's just say that her overzealous nature had gotten the better of her on that one. But she's hopeful, and resourceful, and doing whatever it takes to avoid returning home to her family's cherry orchard in Cherry Cove, Wisconsin. Fate, however, has other plans for Whitney. And when a dead body turns up in the cherry orchard during the ever-popular Cherry Blossom Festival, Whitney has no choice but to return home and face all her demons, including a former high school nemesis, her hunky ex-boyfriend, a dead body, Sasquatch, and a crazy murderer.

CAUTION: Reading this novel may cause unexplained cravings for cherry pie!

I've added the above warning as a service to those of you who may have a predisposed weakness for cherry pie, like I do. Even if cherry pie isn't quite your thing, reading about Whitney and her delectable cherry treats might change that. Don't worry if you don't happen to have a cherry pie on hand. You can always make your own using one of the delicious recipes in the back of this book. In fact, I highly recommend that you do. Invite some friends. And don't forget the scoop of vanilla ice cream!

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Crime with a Slice of Cherry Pie

Cherry enthusiast Whitney Bloom is furiously baking her way into the heart of Chicago with her fabulous cherry pies when she receives a desperate call from her mother. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival has just kicked off at the Cherry Orchard Inn in Door County, Wisconsin, and the manager of the Bloom family orchard has been found dead beneath the cherry blossoms. Worse yet, all evidence points to Whitney's father as the killer. After she races home to help, things really land in the pits for Whitney when she discovers that Jack MacLaren, her old high school nemesis, is Cherry Cove's only police officer. Putting her cherry-tastic treats on hold, Whitney matches wits against Jack. But will she have what it takes to clear her father's name and sift out the real Cherry Cove killer?


Praise for Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies:
"The first in an amusing new series features a fearless, reckless sleuth who unravels a complicated mystery while juggling her sex life and her future plans."
—Kirkus Reviews

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Darci Hannah (Howell, MI) is the author of two previous works of historical fiction, The Exile of Sara Stevenson and The Angel of Blythe Hall (Ballantine). When she isn't whipping up tasty treats in her kitchen, she's hard at work writing. Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies is her first mystery.

Getting Out There

By Linda O. Johnston

As I've been blogging about recently, Pick and Chews, my fourth Barkery & Biscuits Mystery from Midnight Ink, has been published and is now available.

And now I want the world to know about it!

At the moment, I'm on a Great Escapes Virtual Blog Tour.  Pick and Chews was available early in May, but I didn't start the tour until a few days ago because of some travel and other plans.  The blog tour is enjoyable.  I've provided guest posts and guest interviews, both by me and by some of my characters including protagonist Carrie Kennersly and her dog Biscuit.  Sometimes the blogs are spotlights on my new book, and sometimes they contain reviews.  There's also a book giveaway to a lucky reader who posts a comment on one of the subject blogs.

I blog otherwise about the new book, and I hope blogging is productive since I do quite a bit of it--and not just here on Under Cover of Midnight.  I've a weekly post at Killer Hobbies, and a monthly post at Killer Characters and A Slice of Orange, plus I do other guest posts now and then.

And of course I mention it a lot in my various promotional posts at Writerspace, a fun online promotional community that I belong to.

Plus, I visit my local bookstores and leave Pick and Chews bookmarks whether or not there are copies available in the store.  That sometimes encourages the stores to order copies so I can sign them next time I come in.  Of course if they already have copies I sign them then.

And I participate in whatever events I can, local to L.A. or otherwise, to talk on panels or otherwise about me, my writing... and my latest work.

So... does the world now know about Pick and Chews?  It should!

Traveling the World: A Guest Post from BEYOND THE PALE author Clare O'Donohue

We welcome Clare O'Donohue, author of the new Beyond the Pale (the first book in the World of Spies Mystery Series), to Midnight Ink's blog today! Here she shares some insight into traveling the world for her new series.

The World of Spies series started with self-interest. I love to travel, and a few years ago I noticed that I've seen most of the United States, some of Europe, and one lone country in Asia (Malaysia). Not bad, but tick-tock. Time was flying by and I wanted to see the world. But between work, family, writing books, etc., etc… it was something that stayed under the heading of "Someday."

Unless… well, unless I decided to write a series that took place around the world. Then, I'd have a solid reason to move travel from someday to now. I'd have to do research. I'd have to venture out, see for myself, experience things out of my comfort zone, and generally have a great deal of fun. Not for myself, though. Nope. For my characters.

So, I set about coming up with a mystery series that would require such amazing research. At first, I planned a story about a single woman who inherited a large fortune and set off to travel, encountering romance and murder at every stop. But it didn't quite fit. I mean, would she have a different romance in each book? A man who followed her from book one onward? And how would the country play a role? Would it be a character, too?

That's when I decided to make my main characters a married couple. A long-married couple. I'd done the beginning of a romance in my Someday Quilts Mysteries, and the end of a romance in Kate Conway Mysteries. I'd never done the middle bit, where you love each other but geez, he can be annoying. The bit that most of us spend our lives in. That felt right. That would mean they knew each other well enough to speak the language long-term couples speak, they would trust each other, and argue with each other. What fun!

I made them college professors (he teaches World Literature but also has a PhD in Art History, she teaches International Studies). They would know a lot about the places they visited, the history, art, politics. Even while they played tourist, they would be smart tourists, which would help make the country a character. I loved that.

But what are they doing going around the world? That stumped me a for a long time. The idea sat in my head for several years as I wrote other books and moved international travel up the list of must-do activities. I took two trips to Ireland, the site of my first book in the series, Beyond the Pale, and got ideas about where I would send my two heroes (now named Hollis, aka Holly, and Finn Larsson). And one day walking through a winding street in rainy Galway, I had another idea. What if Hollis and Finn were helping a secret government agency bring down an international ring of dangerous thieves? What if they were trying to be good guys in a world where good guys and bad guys were on both sides of the legal line? What if they found themselves, quite accidentally, to be spies?

And that's when this series was really born. I knew I had characters I could write authentically about, and mysteries that would be firmly set in each location, but with an over-arching story that would carry through the whole series. I knew it could be exciting, romantic, and hopefully, thrilling.

And, I knew it would mean I could do a lot more traveling for all the books yet to come.

***

For college professors Hollis and Finn Larsson, a simple undercover errand becomes a deadly jaunt across Ireland in this edge-of-your-seat suspense novel from bestselling author Clare O’Donohue

It's an easy, twenty-minute job. At least, that's the pitch from Interpol to professors Hollis and Finn Larsson. Going undercover to procure a priceless rare book manuscript means an all-expenses paid trip abroad. A little danger thrown into the mix may even spice up their marriage.

Soon after landing in the Emerald Isle, they realize the job is anything but easy. Their contact is a no-show and they're left with fifty thousand euros, a death threat, and some serious questions. Ducking and dodging their way across Ireland, Hollis and Finn must hunt down the priceless manuscript and a missing agent while trying to stay one step ahead of a dangerous and unknown enemy.


Praise for Beyond the Pale:
"Plenty of thrills and hints at an exciting future for the reluctantly daring duo."
—Kirkus Reviews

"O’Donohue (the Someday Quilts series) supplies plenty of fun spy business, but the believability and chemistry of Hollis and Finn as a couple, as shown in their witty dialogue, is the main appeal."
—Publishers Weekly

"O'Donohue knows her Irish literature and countryside, and weaves them beautifully into an action-filled story."
—Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski series

"Clare O'Donohue may have invented a new category of crime fiction—the amateur spy novel—and I'm a big fan. At turns funny, real, and nail-biting, Beyond the Pale is a terrific read."
— Lori Rader-Day, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award-Winning author of The Black Hour, Little Pretty Things, and The Day I Died

"Excitement definitely comes into Hollis's life. But instead of something that could inject life into her marriage, she may just be facing someone who will end her and her husband's lives once and for all.This is Book 1 in the new World of Spies mystery series, and the author has created the perfect roller-coaster ride."
—Suspense Magazine

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Clare O'Donohue is the author of the Kate Conway Mysteries and the Someday Quilts Mysteries. She was a producer for the HGTV show Simply Quilts, and has worked on shows for the History Channel, truTV, Food Network, A&E, Discovery, and TLC. Visit her online at www.ClareODonohue.com.

Congratulations to our 2018 Anthony Award Nominees

Congratulations to our Midnight Ink authors and titles nominated for 2018 Anthony Awards! Our nominees are:

Uncorking a Lie by Nadine Nettmann Best Paperback Original	Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett Best First Novel

Jess Lourey, author of the Murder-by-Month mystery series and the forthcoming Mercy's Chase, was also nominated for the Best Critical/Non-Fiction Book for her Re-Write Your Life (Conari).

The Anthony Awards are among the most prestigious awards in crime fiction. Winners will be announced at this year's Bouchercon Convention.

You can view the full list of 2018 nominees here.

A Launch Party Delight

Edith Maxwell here, writing from north of Boston where it's finally spring.

Turning the Tide, my third Quaker Midwife Mystery, came out a month ago. It's a long process from when I start to write a book to when it hits bookstore shelves and readers' hands, and I'm so glad this book has finally seen the light of day.

I always like to find new ways to celebrate a book birthday, so this year I threw a party in a local brewery. Brewery Silvaticus opened in my town last fall, and is in a historic brick factory building. I thought the setting was perfect for an 1880s historical novel, exactly the period when the building was fully operational making world-renowned carriages. The owner said Wednesday night is usually their slowest, so we scheduled the event for the Wednesday after the book released.

I invited everyone I  knew, and made sure the word spread around Amesbury, my town in the northeast corner of Massachusetts. A local independent bookstore agreed to sell books. I ordered a cake, and both the brewery and I hoped for a good turnout.

And it was a huge success! See for yourself.

First, the cake. The black color is actually green.

The bookseller, who brought all three released books in the series.

Some of the crowd, which was sizable!

Me introducing the book and doing a short reading.

People bought their own drinks, we schmoozed and ate cake, and I signed books. Lots and lots of books! What could be better?

Readers: Whose book launches have you attended? What was the most unusual setting?