#SaturdaySpotlight is on Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Game Town

Hello from Meade, OK!

I've been here all week for a writing retreat and am happy to report I've actually made progress on one of my WIPs. Hopefully I'll get it finished and have more news to report later in the year on it.

Meanwhile, please welcome Janet Elizabeth Lynn back to our blog with a new release!

 Skylar Drake and his partner are hired as bodyguards for two young starlets. They deliver the actresses home after the Oscar Awards ceremony, but stumble onto the murder of Silver Brovor-Smith, the mother of one of their charges, actress Holly Becker.  Drake wonders why the FBI is on the scene when it looks like a simple case of murder.

Drake is now embroiled in the murder investigation of Silver Brovor-Smith. Suspicion shifts between her husband Peter Smith, and Silver’s three older brothers.

At every turn Drake and Dolan are lied to or misled. Kidnapping and mysterious deaths follow them as they weave their way through the maze of Hollywood’s movie and TV backroom deals. The FBI shows up to make sure Drake and Dolan keep the high-profile people involved from becoming front page news.

 Drake meets and falls in love with Miss Anne the perfect woman to help him move on with his life. But is she a suspect? Then there is Holly’s friend, the sexy, young starlet Theresa Lee who has her own plans for him.

The letters P-E-G-O seem to appear everywhere, and Drake wonders if they have anything to do with Silver’s murder or her husband’s kidnapping.

Follow the detective to Hollywood parties where the forbidden is accepted and the games played are for keeps.

Excerpt: Two o'clock in the morning. I'd just left the Emmy Awards ceremony at the NBC Television Studio in Burbank. All of Hollywood and its finest had shown up tonight to honor the best of television for 1956. The winners and losers were either at a party celebrating or hiding somewhere licking their wounds. I'd just left the event driving south on Cahuenga toward Hancock Park. My partner, Casey Dolan was in the passenger seat. It was pouring rain when we left Burbank. It seemed to be lessening as we headed away from the valley.

We'd been hired by Epic Studios to escort a couple of their up and coming starlets to and from the event. In truth, we were their bodyguards. The motion picture and TV studios weren't taking chances with their human investments.

The two young ladies in the back seat were passed out cold. I suspected they'd had a little too much Champagne before and during the ceremony.

I drove through the Wilshire Boulevard entry gate and onto Fremont Place, one of the most exclusive and expensive neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Ahead we spotted a lot of activity on the street. Dolan sat up and stared at the mess ahead, “What the Hell?”

Several police cruisers and what looked like government cars were lined up in front of a house with their spotlights trained on it. As we got closer, I saw the address. 859 in brass letters, attached to the beam above the front door – the address where I was to deliver the girls.

Oh boy, sounds like another great Skylar Drake Mystery! Pick up a copy at Amazon in Print or for Kindle.

Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn write individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1956-57.  Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.

The next Skylar Drake Mystery, GAME TOWN,  the fifth and final book in the series, will be available April 15, 2019 and yes...we are still married!

Find out  more about Janet and Will at the following locations...

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477 

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4

Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/

e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com

website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

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Contact info for Will:

Twitter:  @Will_Zeilinger

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/wzeilinger

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/

website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Check out Janet & Will's previous Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll check back weekly for more Saturday Spotlights and coming soon, Wednesday Words with Friends!

Until next time, take care and God Bless.

PamT

#SaturdaySpotlight is on Janet Lynn & Slick Deal!

Good Morning!

I hope you enjoyed my vacation memories this week. I'll share more soon. We're leaving Maine today, will spend the night in MA and tomorrow on to NY where I'll get to visit with a long-time friend whom I haven't seen in 7 years! Anyway, enough about me....

Today's guest is no stranger to our blog. Janet has shared Treasures and Thoughts and been in our Spotlight on a pretty regular basis but today we get a sneak peek into her and co-writing husband's newest release, Slick Deal!

Take it away Janet....

On the eve of the New Year, 1956, oil tycoon, Oliver Wright dies suspiciously at a swanky Hollywood New Years Eve party. Some think it was suicide.

His death is soon followed by threats against the rest of his family.
Private Investigator Skylar Drake and his partner Casey Dolan are hired by an L.A. gangster to protect the family and solve Oliver’s mysterious death.

Clues lead them to Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, a Hollywood movie star playground.

A high profile scandal, mysterious women, treason and more deaths complicate matters, putting Drake and his partner in danger.
Twenty-three miles may not seem far away but false identity and corruption on this island could squash their efforts to answer the question—How in the world can a dead man commit suicide?

Excerpt: Almost midnight. I was working security for the New Year’s Eve bash at the posh Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with my partner Casey Dolan. The rented tuxedos we were wearing made us look like we belonged with the rich crowd down on the ballroom floor, but we were working. This was one of the most exclusive parties in the city. I’d been here before and I’ve never known any other hotel with the kind of history this place had. Our job tonight was to keep an eye out for trouble...and I suppose this was a much better way to greet the new year than sitting at home in front of the television with a bottle of whiskey. As a matter of principle, I didn’t take security work. But Dolan thought D&D Investigations would benefit from this job by keeping the lights on and paying our secretary. He was right.

I scanned the crowd and checked my watch—a minute before midnight. The noise level in the room escalated with anticipation. I spotted Dolan at his post under an archway on the other side of the room and smiled. He nodded. From my spot on the catwalk above the ballroom floor I watched as they counted down the last seconds—five, four, three, two…  Just as the clock on stage struck midnight, the room exploded with shouts, horns, balloons, and a snowstorm of confetti. The band played “Auld Lang Syne” while a banner unfurled above the bandstand that proclaimed: HAPPY NEW YEAR 1956.

It seemed as though everyone in the world was dancing, hugging, and kissing. My mind disappeared into the past. I remembered my late wife, Claire, and how we celebrated every New Year together. Even when she was big with our daughter, Ellie, Claire was stunning. I pulled out my wallet and gazed at her photo. I miss you honey, so very much.

A man’s voice boomed over the P.A., “Is there a doctor in the house?” My dream with Claire evaporated. I looked down at the stage where a man had grabbed the microphone from the band leader’s hands and shouted, “We need help in the main lobby.”

I motioned for Dolan to stay put while I ducked behind the heavy drapes and crossed the hall to the lobby mezzanine. Fourteen steps would take me down to the lobby floor. I think I only used five. My hand automatically went to my holster, just in case.  Pushing through the crowd, I found a portly man on his back in a pool of blood on the terracotta-tiled floor. A tuxedo-clad man loosened the tie of the victim but I knew he was gone. I'd seen that vacant look in his eyes a hundred times back when I worked LAPD homicide.

Somewhere in the crowd I heard “Make way please, we're nurses.” A couple of women in evening gowns appeared. I held the curious crowd back while the women knelt on the bloody floor and checked for a pulse. One shook her head and placed a lacy handkerchief over the dead man's face.

Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn write individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories.

Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.

Links for Janet:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4

Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/

e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com

website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

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Contact info for Will:

Twitter:  @Will_Zeilinger

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/wzeilinger

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/

website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Slick Deal can be purchased at Amazon.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and will check back weekly for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight!

Until next time, take care and God Bless.
PamT

#TuesdayTreasures with Janet Lynn!

Good Morning Friends!

I pray your Memorial Day weekend was blessed, happy and safe.

Today's guest has visited before and shared Thoughts, Treasures and our Spotlight so we'll just jump right in and welcome Janet Lynn back to our blog! Take it away Janet.....

The Drive-Ins

My husband, Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series, a hardboiled detective series that takes the reader to 1950s Los Angeles and other areas of the west. SLICK DEAL begins in L.A. with clues that lead to Avalon, on Catalina Island.
Partnering has been a wonderful way to work. Each of us are independently published authors  and now co-write.

As we research each book in the 1950s, memories of the era come flooding back. Unfortunately,  drive-in theatres are a thing of the past. I was the oldest of five children and going to walk-in theatre movies would have been expensive  for a young family. So many families opted for drive-ins.  I remember getting there early so we could  play on the swings provided for the young ones before the movie started. I also remember the gravel platforms we drove and parked on.
And one cannot think of drive-ins without the window speaker that hooked onto the driver's window so all in the car could hear. Finding one that didn't crackle was a feat in itself. The snack shops were full of goodies, I saw my first Coke in a huge paper cup there and the biggest box of Jordan Almonds I had ever seen. It rivaled some of the biggest boxes of theatre candy today.

I think I was nine or ten years old when my family went to see the movie Lady and the Tramp at a drive-in. We were close to the screen and the characters were bigger than life to me. The Bella Notte (spaghetti scene) so impressed me. It seems like yesterday I was sitting in the car, looking at the screen, enthralled with the two dogs eating a spaghetti dinner with a Concertina playing.
Those drive-ins, a thing of the past, will always be associated with growing up in the fifties, an American treasure that is just a memory now.

For a waltz down memory lane go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzEOQLOAWw

What a cute post, Janet! Thanks for sharing.

Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn write individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories.

Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.

The latest Skylar Drake Mystery, fourth in the series, SLICK DEAL was released April 16, 2018 and yes...we are still married!

Links for Janet:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4

Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/

e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com

website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

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Contact info for Will:

Twitter:  @Will_Zeilinger

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/wzeilinger

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/

website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Slick Deal can be purchased at Amazon.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll drop by weekly for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.
PamT

#ThursdayThoughts Guest post by Janet Lynn

Good Morning!

Janet Lynn has visited us before, several times. She has shared treasures and thoughts in been in our spotlight on more than one occasion. It's been more than a year since her last visit so please welcome her back with some thoughts and a brand new book!

My husband, Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series, a hard-boiled  series that takes the reader to 1950s Los Angeles and other areas of the west. Our new book, SLICK DEAL, begins News Year's Eve 1956 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, The first murder and clues lead to Avalon, The Island of  Santa Catalina.
To research 1956 Catalina, we spent a week on the island. At the public library we spent hours with old newspapers. Then on to the new Catalina museum, the historic Casino interviewing people and got a real good feel for the town at that time. We of course, as in all murder mysteries, had dead bodies we had to put somewhere. Several people recommended the pet cemetery, some mentioned the Chimes Tower and a couple of more places. So we rented a golf cart (there is a fourteen year waiting list to bring cars on the island) and spent three hours looking at the places they recommended.
The pet cemetery was first on our list. It's a sweet and somewhat eerie unofficial pet cemetery just outside of town (it's not on the maps). Little tombstones mourn and celebrate dogs, cats, birds etc. Some grave markers are simple, some quite elaborate, while others are touching (some are funny). The little cemetery starts at the road and goes back into the woods.

As we walked through the cemetery, I couldn't help but think back of my dog Randi. My mother walked to work every day and one day Randi, about one year old, followed her home and never left. She was a Golden Receiver possibly mixed with Collie. That's what at the Vet said. She became such an integral part of our lives it's hard to imagine what life would have been without her. We had Randi until she died at twelve. Though she has been gone over fifty years ago, her memories and thoughts, still remain. I still think about her from time to time especially when I see a dog that looks like Randi walking on a leash with an owner. This walk through the cemetery brought back feelings and thoughts of love, funny moments, and lots of hugs she received from the whole family.

How interesting, Janet! I know what you mean about missing a beloved pet. My German Shepherd crossed the rainbow bridge in January.

Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn write individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories.

Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.

The latest Skylar Drake Mystery, fourth in the series, SLICK DEAL was released April 16, 2018 and yes...we are still married!

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4

Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/

e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com

website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact info for Will:

Twitter:  @Will_Zeilinger

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/wzeilinger

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/

website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Thanks Janet! We look forward to a sneak peek into Slick Deal soon! Meanwhile, folks, you can pick up a copy at Amazon. 

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll check back each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight. 

Until next time, take care and God bless.

PamT

#TuesdayTreasures with Jacqueline Seewald!

Good Morning Friends!

Today's guest has shared treasures before and been in our spotlight as well, so please welcome back one of my long-time author friends, Jacqueline Seewald!

Time for Thanksgiving by Jacqueline Seewald

Pam has asked me to write about something I treasure. As we once again approach our national Thanksgiving holiday, this seems particularly appropriate.

First and foremost, I treasure my husband, my children and my grandchildren. I treasure good health. I also treasure the fact that I am now able to be a full-time writer.

My husband, Monte, encouraged me to write something that would be meaningful and significant. I thought long and hard about how to fulfill that suggestion.

On November 8th, my novella THE BURNING was published by Annurlunda Enterprises. The Burning is based on a play I wrote which won the Playhouse 22 Playwrights Award (in the late 1980’s) and was performed on stage. I decided to approach the story in another genre.

THE BURNING is faction, part fact, but also fiction, about what happens to a family in Pennsylvania as the result of a coal fire burning under the town. Members of the Ferris family face his or her personal hell, barely coming through it alive, forced to acknowledge painful truths and deal with issues of faith. It’s based on real events that occurred in Centralia. Unfortunately, such problems continue to plague coal-mining communities in different places. And there are no easy answers.

Here is a brief excerpt from the novella:


Chapter Four


George drove home on autopilot, detached, barely aware of his surroundings. The talk with Baines kept turning over in his head. He’d worked so hard for so many years to provide a good life for his family. Was that going to end now? The whole thing seemed crazy. Could some underground fire wreck his life and that of his family? He shook his head, refusing to accept this as inevitable.

The living room of George Ferris’s house usually offered a refuge, but he didn’t want to walk inside yet. Instead he stood in the front hallway praying for composure while silently lurking. He could see Amy was sitting on the sofa attentively reading a book, feet tucked under her.

Every so often, she coughed. Liz came into the room. She was dressed in brown slacks and a casual cream-colored blouse. He admired how beautiful his wife was. With her natural good looks, she wore very little make-up and didn’t need it. George was reminded of how much he loved her. Liz was the real deal. What would this news do to her? She deserved so much better in life. For a few minutes, he watched Liz straightening up the room, but then she stopped to listen to Amy’s recurring cough.
THE BURNING is now available both in print and as an e-book. You can check out the details from the publisher at: 

http://annorlundaenterprises.com/books/the-burning/
or:
https://www.amazon.com/Burning-J-P-Seewald/dp/1944354263 
or:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-burning/id1295182706?ls=1&mt=11
or:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-burning-j-p-seewald/1127102724?ean=9781944354268 
or:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-burning-38
or:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/753033

Your thoughts and comments most welcome!

Multiple award-winning author, Jacqueline Seewald, has taught creative, expository and technical writing at Rutgers University as well as high school English. She also worked as both an academic librarian and an educational media specialist. Seventeen of her books of fiction have been published to critical praise including books for adults, teens and children. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous anthologies such as: THE WRITER, L.A. TIMES, READER’S DIGEST, PEDESTAL, SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAGAZINE, OVER MY DEAD BODY!, GUMSHOE REVIEW, THE MYSTERY MEGAPACK, LIBRARY JOURNAL, and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. One of her inspirational poems took first place in the Reader’s Digest 2015 Poetry Contest. She’s also an amateur landscape artist and loves blue grass music.

Her author’s blog can be found at: http://jacquelineseewald.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll check back each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.
PamT

PS: Don't forget, the Kindle Fire Rafflecopter Giveaway ends on 11/29 so enter today! Also, Mistletoe, Snow and Suspense is available for a limited time and only 99cents so get your copy today!

#TuesdayTreasure: Guest post by Diane Burton!

Good Morning and Welcome to the first Tuesday Treasure of 2016!

Today we welcome Diane Burton back to our blog to share with us something she treasures....

What I Treasure

When Pam asked me to write about something I treasure, the first thing that popped in my head was my family, especially my three grandchildren. As I write in the dedications to my books, they always make me smile. Holding a baby is a great de-stressor. For the past three weeks, I’ve been getting in a lot of holding with the eight-month-old and losing a lot of stress. When her mama brings her downstairs and she sees me, her eyes light up and she grins broadly. Then she holds her arms out to me. That just makes my heart swell. In a little over two weeks, we’ll have to leave, so I’m treasuring every moment.

But when we leave this little one, we have two older grandkids waiting for us—especially, to celebrate Christmas with them. The almost-six-year-old always races across the room to greet me with such enthusiasm I have to make sure I’m holding on to something, or I’ll get bowled over. Meanwhile, the eight-year-old patiently waits her turn. Since she’s getting so tall, I don’t have to bend over too far for her hugs and kisses.

One thing I enjoy sharing with the grandchildren is my love of reading and writing. With the baby, we’re still at the reading stage. Holding her in the rocker and reading Dr. Seuss reminds me of times when the older grandchildren and my own kids were young. While I love reading to the older ones, they enjoy writing their own stories with the help of myStoryMaker from The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, a fun interactive computer program. They tell the story and I type—a good division of labor. After they finish the story, we always print it out so they can show their parents. We play card games with them, too, like my grandmother did with me and my siblings. No matter what we do, it’s time well spent. Time when I put aside my own writing, household chores, reading or television shows and just enjoy being together.

Without our children and their spouses, I wouldn’t have my three treasures. More importantly, the love of my life for the past forty-three years made all this possible. That’s why I say my family is my dearest treasure.

My latest release is a cozy mystery featuring a female private investigator. The Case of the Fabulous Fiancé is the second Alex O’Hara novel.

Blurb

She’s at it again. Alex O’Hara just can’t say no to a new investigation. What do a 45-year-old boyfriend, a deadbeat dad, and a teenage runaway have in common? All new cases. With phone and internet problems, no receptionist, and her own boyfriend in the wind, Alex has no idea how she’ll manage. But the question for the past three months is why did Nick disappear. Is this the end of O’Hara & Palzetti?

Excerpt

I picked up the pen before looking at Nora Finley. Even though I was in the middle of a major case, I never turned down a prospective client. At least, not right away. I’d hear her out and then decide.

“What can I do for you?”

Her expression completely changed. The high-powered exec disappeared. In its place, caution and . . . vulnerability. “Ellen VanderVeen said I could trust you.”

I smiled. Ellen and I had been friends since college. That girl had more fashion sense in her baby finger than I did in my entire body.

“Yes, I know Ellen.”

“She said you helped her investigate her fiancé.”

I nodded.

She hesitated and appeared to rethink what she was doing in a private investigator’s office. Quickly, she came to a conclusion. “I’d like you to do the same.”

“You want me to vet your fiancé?”

“He’s not my fiancé. Yet.”

She didn’t explain any further, so I asked, “Why? Do you suspect something?”

“No. Oh, goodness, no.” She pursed her lips before continuing. “My father left me a prosperous financial firm plus a sizeable inheritance. I am not saying that to brag but to explain my concerns. In my younger days, I was, uhm, taken advantage of. I need to be sure this man truly loves me—me, not my money.”

Although nobody would ever mistake me for an heiress, I understood her caution.

“I am almost forty years old,” she said. “I want to have children before I’m too old.”

Again, I understood. I’d recently passed a landmark birthday. The big Three-Oh. Rather than worry about kids, though, I devoted myself to my business. After a rocky start, I was on a pretty even keel. Plenty of work. Not enough time. But I did have plenty of time before settling down with kids. And a husband, of course. I’m kind of old-fashioned like that. I’d thought Nick might— Don’t go there.

“Ma’am, if you’d called for an appointment, I could have saved you a trip. I do not have time to devote to your case.”

A crestfallen Nora Finley stared at me, her mouth slightly open. I guess nobody ever turned her down. While hers might be interesting, I didn’t have a good feeling about this case. A client might want the lowdown on a prospective mate—as I’d discovered before—but they often resented the bearer of bad news. Of course, the client could be grateful if the news was good, like my friend Ellen.

“I will double your usual retainer.”

“It isn’t a matter of money—” Although money never hurt. “—I’m in the middle of a large case that is taking up all of my time.”

“How soon will you finish?” No longer disappointed, she looked calculating.

God save me from rich people who think everyone should drop what they’re doing to attend to them.

“Three weeks, minimum.”

“Good. I will be out of the country for the next four weeks. You may finish your present case then check into Clyde Wilson.”

Well, shit. I mean, shoot. I was trying to break my bad habit of swearing. I had misgivings about this woman. Demanding, she was going to be difficult to work with. She exuded the power that came from old money. Power that expected everyone to drop everything and do her bidding.

But then I’d had difficult clients before and managed them. I could probably wrap up the fraud investigation in a couple of weeks. I’d given myself a cushion when I’d told her three.

Were my misgivings about her enough to turn down double my retainer?

I drew the pad closer to me. “Tell me about this man. Clyde Wilson?”

That better not be a smug look on her face.

The Case of the Fabulous Fiancé: An Alex O’Hara Novel is available at:

Amazon, 

Smashwords

Kobo

iTunes

B&N 

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched and Outer Rim series, she is the author of One Red Shoe, a romantic suspense, and The Alex O’Hara PI mysteries. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and three grandchildren.

          For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com

Connect with Diane Burton online

Blog:  http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dmburton72

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

Goodreads: Diane Burton Author

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/

Sign up for Diane’s new release alert: http://eepurl.com/bdHtYf

#SaturdaySpotlight: Brave, Strong and True by Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas

Good Morning and Welcome to the very first edition of Saturday Spotlight, 2016!

I pray your holiday celebrations were safe and that you are BLESSED in the year to come.

Today I'm happy to bring your attention to a previously unknown (to me) author and book.....

Right now, we are losing more veterans to suicide than to combat.

Charleston, SC – November 2015 – New release, Brave, Strong, True: The Modern Warrior's Battle for Balance (Innovo Publishing Group) by author Kate Hendricks-Thomas. “I’m a pretty decisive person with limited ability to ask for help and zero trouble-taking risks; there was a time I could have become one of those [suicide] statistics,” says Thomas, also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in 2005.

When the country called, our military men and women answered. Brave, Strong, and True challenges us as citizens to do more than say, "Thank you for your service," offering us the chance to understand and connect with our nation's veterans by becoming part of the reintegration solution. Right now, what we hear repeatedly about veterans' mental health isn't always positive and is often far from accurate. Personalizing the issues and advocating for specific, proven protocols, a Marine-turned-PhD calls for a radical shift in the way we talk about health for our military. To promote real wellness, healing, and connection for those who served requires a focus on the resilient leadership potential present in our nation's veteran community. Resilience can be trained and cultivated in all of us, and this book will show you how.

Brave, Strong, True: The Modern Warrior's Battle for Balance is a practical call to health for America’s modern military warriors and those who support them. With a unique blend of personal narratives and current research, author Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas explores this question: what if we could train America’s service members to succeed in mental battles as we do in physical ones? This book unpacks the possibility of mental fitness training programs that shift the paradigm from treatment to resilience.

In an accessible, inspiring, and powerful way, Dr. Kate outlines strategies - including social support, self-care, and spiritual practice - for readers to meet the challenge of living purposeful lives. Her research provides a wealth of knowledge and practical guidance for veterans, their family members, military commands, mental health professionals, and everyday citizens who can identify with the title “warrior.”

"Combining the latest research on military mental health with deft, authentic storytelling, Kate Hendricks Thomas invites us to think critically about how we typically discuss healing for veterans. Quite simply, faith matters. With a perspective informed by her own combat experiences, she makes a powerful case for the relationship between religion and health. She has written a call to action that is both smart and brave."

 —Harold G. Koenig, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences & Associate Professor of Medicine and Director, of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center

Innovo Publishing LLC (November 2, 2015)

Paperback: 170 pages; Language: English

ISBN-10: 1613143095    ISBN-13: 978-1613143094

Seems like a timely message and wonderful gift for those we know who may be suffering as many of our soldiers do.

This information is provided to us by Prime Star Publicity.

Hope you enjoyed it!

See you next week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and of course, Saturday Spotlight!

Until then...take care and God Bless.

PamT

#ThursdayThoughts: Guest Post by Janet Lynn!

Happy New Year!

I know it's only New Year's Eve, but I pray you are Blessed and Prosperous in 2016.

Today we welcome back to our blog, author Janet Lynn. You'll remember her from her Saturday Spotlight and Tuesday Treasure posts earlier this month, so without much further ado, let's see what she's thinking about....

Since the internet did not reveal much about Molokai'i in 1955, we took a trip to the Hawaiian Islands to research our novel, STRANGE MARKINGS.  The island is accessible by small planes like our Cessna 2088B which sat 9 people plus the two man crew. The turboprop plane hit air pockets and bounced around until we landed at a remote airport with a small terminal. Talk about Indiana Jones! We picked our luggage up off the tarmac and walked over to the car rental building. The small terminal seemed remote enough until we drove to Kaunakakai the largest town on the island with a population of 3,425.

Our rented waterfront Condo was beautiful and modern with full facilities. The three days of research on the island took us to uninhabited hills, tropical forests and abandoned shacks. Candid interviews with the locals revealed the island has not changed much since the 50's. In fact there was still no AC on the island except for the medical center, post office  and the library. This made our job easier to set our characters in a place where time stood still.

In other words, we walked the places our characters would have walked and saw the things they would've seen in 1955. This time capsule was amazingly surreal. So, when we wrote the novel, all I had to do was close my eyes to sense, smell and feel Molokai'i in 1955. 

The Pacific breezes blow many things in from the ocean, this time its power, greed, and murder. At the dawn of the television age in 1955, Skylar Drake is called to identify the remains of a fellow movie stuntman found buried in a shallow grave. While there, he is shown mysterious wounds and strange tattoos on two additional bodies.


A wealthy Bel Air matron sends her enticing niece to enlist Drake’s help in locating a missing nephew. The search takes him back to pre-statehood Hawaii where he stopped off on his way to the hell of the Korean War. Unexplained deaths, politics and superstitious locals turn the tropical paradise into a nightmare where nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted.

Strange Markings can be purchased at Amazon

JANET ELIZABETH LYNN and Will Zeilinger are a husband and wife and authors in their own right. Janet has eight novels, Will has four novels. They decided to get together to write noir mysteries set in 1955. STRANGE MARKINGS is the second. The Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries series. They each bring separate talents to the writing team. Getting together to research, interview, and appearances, they complement each other. Traveling the world has given much insight, a long list of friends and a large basket of hotel shampoo and conditioner.

Contact info for Janet:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4

Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/

e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com

website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact info for Will:

Twitter:  @Will_Zeilinger

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/wzeilinger

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/

website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoyed Janet's visit again today! Saturday we'll begin 2016 with a brand new (to us) author and book. Hope to see you then!

Until next time...take care and God Bless.

PamT

#TuesdayTreasure: Guest post by Janet Elizabeth Lynn!

Good Morning!

Ready or not, Christmas is only a couple of days away so it is with great pleasure I bring you today's Treasure....a special post by returning guest Janet Elizabeth Lynn.

My husband, Will, and I joined forces to write a 1955 Noir series, The Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries.

            Married for 43 years, I wasn't sure if we could make it work since our writing styles were so different. I presented the idea to him and he loved it.        STRANGE MARKINGS, our second book in the series is now available, and we are starting our third DESERT ICE.

            I think we work well together because we understand that this venture is not a battle of egos, wills, or talent but a goal of telling a great story. And we each bring special talents, foresight and memories that make the stories work.

            I will always treasure the time we spend, researching, meetings, editing and sleepless nights working on the book. Then finally holding the book in our hands and high fiving each other. Partnering is a great idea - I'm glad I invented it!!

Wow...43 years together is certainly something to treasure! Congratulations on you and Will's success in marriage and writing.

JANET ELIZABETH LYNN and Will Zeilinger are a husband and wife and authors in their own right. Janet has eight novels, Will has four novels. They decided to get together to write noir mysteries set in 1955. STRANGE MARKINGS is the second. The Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries series. They each bring separate talents to the writing team. Getting together to research, interview, and appearances, they complement each other. Traveling the world has given much insight, a long list of friends and a large basket of hotel shampoo and conditioner.

Contact info for Janet:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4

Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/

e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com

website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact info for Will:

Twitter:  @Will_Zeilinger

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/wzeilinger

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/

website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Here's a peek at Janet and Will's latest book, Strange Markings which can be purchased at Amazon....

The Pacific breezes blow many things in from the ocean, this time its power, greed, and murder. At the dawn of the television age in 1955, Skylar Drake is called to identify the remains of a fellow movie stuntman found buried in a shallow grave. While there, he is shown mysterious wounds and strange tattoos on two additional bodies.

A wealthy Bel Air matron sends her enticing niece to enlist Drake’s help in locating a missing nephew. The search takes him back to pre-statehood Hawaii where he stopped off on his way to the hell of the Korean War. Unexplained deaths, politics and superstitious locals turn the tropical paradise into a nightmare where nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted. 

Hope you enjoyed today's Treasure! I have a very special post for you Thursday but Janet will be back on the 30th for Thursday Thoughts. Hope to see you then!

Until later...take care, God Bless and remember.... Jesus is the reason for EVERY season.

Something to think about....

"Inspirational with an Edge!" ™