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Showing posts with label kensington books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kensington books. Show all posts

Saturday, April 9, 2022

#SaturdaySpotlight is on @KalbMarple Kathleen Marple Kalb!

Good Morning Friends,

Well it's turned cold again but that's not unexpected (although not welcomed by me LOL!). I've always said no matter how warm it may get, there's a cool/cold snap around Easter. Let's see how long this one will last.

Our guest today has visited as herself and her alias, Nikki Knight. On Kathleen's last visit she shared with us book 2 of her Ella Shane Mystery series. Today we'll get a look at books 1 & 3.

Welcome, Kathleen!

First up is A Fatal Finale, book 1....

On the cusp of the twentieth century, Manhattan is a lively metropolis buzzing with talent. But after a young soprano meets an untimely end on stage, can one go-getting leading lady hit the right notes in a case of murder?
 
New York City, 1899. When it comes to show business, Gilded Age opera singer Ella Shane wears the pants. The unconventional diva breaks the mold by assuming “trouser roles”—male characters played by women—and captivating audiences far and wide with her travelling theatre company. But Ella’s flair for the dramatic takes a terrifying turn when an overacting Juliet to her Romeo drinks real poison during the final act of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
 
Weeks after the woman’s death is ruled a tragic accident, a mysterious English duke arrives in Greenwich Village on a mission. He’s certain someone is getting away with murder, and the refined aristocrat won’t travel back across the Atlantic until Ella helps him expose the truth.
 
As Ella finds herself caught between her craft and a growing infatuation with her dashing new acquaintance, she’s determined to decode the dark secrets surrounding her co-star’s fatale finale—before the lights go dark and the culprit appears for an encore . . .

Book 2 A Fatal First Night can be seen HERE. Now for a peek at Book 3, A Fatal Overature

During the first winter of the twentieth century, Gilded Age trouser diva Ella Shane refuses to dim the lights on her dazzling show business career for marriage—even to a dashing British duke. But the versatile mezzo-soprano may have to put it all on the line once murder takes centerstage . . .
 
New York City, 1900. Renowned opera singer and theatre company owner Ella may have both much to gain and much to lose by getting engaged to her courtly long-distance love, Gil Saint Auburn. But there’s little time for romance or resolutions with Gil’s aristocratic mother and aunts visiting Greenwich Village—especially when the ladies discover a dead man in the bathtub of their hotel suite.
 
The victim’s disturbing background and subsequent demise at the elegant Waverly Place Hotel leave the group puzzled beyond the obvious certainty of an unnatural death. Adding to the confusion and mounting fear, danger explodes through Ella’s close-knit circle after a friend makes a stunning confession and Gil becomes a fresh target for violence.
 
Now, with a London tour run fast approaching, prenuptial worries weighing heavily on her heart, and an intricate Joan of Arc aria to rehearse, can Ella decide what she’s willing to sacrifice before confronting a relentless criminal bent on watching her entire life go up in smoke?

Kathleen Marple Kalb grew up in front of a microphone, and a keyboard. She’s now a weekend morning anchor at 1010 WINS New York, capping a career begun as a teenage DJ in Brookville, Pennsylvania. She worked her way up through newsrooms in Pittsburgh, Vermont and Connecticut, developing her skills and a deep and abiding distaste for snowstorms. While she wrote her first (thankfully unpublished) historical novel at age sixteen, fiction was firmly in the past until her son started kindergarten and she tried again. She, her husband the Professor, and their son the Imp, live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

Find and Connect with her at the following Locations:




Check out Kathleen's alter Ego, Nikki Knight HERE.

Get your copy of Kathleen's Ella Shane Mystery books at Amazon and other online & brick and mortar books are sold.

Thanks for stopping by to support Kathleen/Nikki, Friends! Hope to see you next week for Wednesday Words with Friends and another Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time take care and God bless.

PamT

Saturday, May 29, 2021

#SaturdaySpotlight is on Kathleen Marple Kalb & A Fatal First Night!

Good Morning!

Before we welcome today's guest I'd like to take a moment and THANK YOU!, ALL for your continued support. I'm forever amazed and humbled that you take a few moments out of your day to support my guests and wish you the best of luck and God's blessings in everything you do!

Kathleen is new to our blog and I'm so excited to meet her and introduce you to her! Take it away Kathleen....

Kathleen Marple Kalb grew up in front of a microphone, and a keyboard. She’s now a weekend morning anchor at 1010 WINS New York, capping a career begun as a teenage DJ in Brookville, Pennsylvania. She worked her way up through newsrooms in Pittsburgh, Vermont and Connecticut, developing her skills and a deep and abiding distaste for snowstorms. While she wrote her first (thankfully unpublished) historical novel at age sixteen, fiction was firmly in the past until her son started kindergarten and she tried again. She, her husband the Professor, and their son the Imp, live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

Find and Connect with her at the following Locations:

Wonderful to meet you Kathleen! Please tell us about your book... A Fatal First Night....


A FATAL FIRST NIGHT opens with a murder in Richard III’s dressing room after the premiere of the Ella Shane Opera Company’s new production, The Princes in the Tower, featuring the trouser diva and her favorite singing partner as the evil king’s young victims.  Though their colleague seems guilty, Ella and friends aren’t too sure about that. Meanwhile, newspaper reporter Hetty MacNaughten has finally escaped hats to cover a sensational murder trial. Before it’s over, the cast will have to sort out several interlocking mysteries, welcome an unexpected visitor…and find another Richard III. Will everyone survive to the final curtain? 

Excerpt

Ella already has enough on her hands with the new show, the backstage killing, and the murder trial her friend is covering -- when her British beau, Gilbert Saint Aubyn, Duke of Leith, appears unexpectedly at her home. They reunite with a fencing match, and over the swords, the topic very quickly turns to an unexpected embrace in their last misadventure:

“I am still, however, considering the appropriate response to that assault upon my honor, Miss Shane.”

“Really.” I almost missed the parry again at his direct reference to my pulling him into a kiss after I swung to safety. I still don’t know what came over me, other than playing the swashbuckling hero in the moment. Which, I guess, would make him the fair maiden. “Well, it was a truly terrible offense, Your Grace.” 

“Indeed. So awful an insult I haven’t been able to forget it.”

His voice was light and teasing, but his eyes burned into mine. The kiss, my first and only, had been entirely inappropriate and wrong, of course. But amazing.

“Ah.” I smiled a little and backed him off. “Well, I suppose I shall have to pay the price for my rash actions.”

“You could be facing a life sentence.”

“I’m not sure I want clemency.” Parry.

“What do you want, Shane?” Attack.

“What do you?”

I could have launched one more attack and cornered him, and he knew it. But the duel was now beside the point.

“Draw?” I offered.

“Someday, I will prevail.”

“Perhaps.”

We bowed and stood there for a long moment, eyes locked. My braid had come loose during the match, and he reached over and gently touched the falling curls, carefully pushing back a stray bit. His thumb rested on my cheekbone, the warmth of his skin soaking into mine, the electricity between us practically a wall of crackling blue fire…

Get A Fatal First Night through Kensington Books.

Sounds like an exciting tale, Kathleen! We certainly appreciate you sharing in the spotlight today and wish you good luck and God's blessings with your writing.

Hope you enjoyed the post, friends and that you'll check back weekly for another edition of Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.
PamT

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

#TuesdayTreasure: Guest Post by Patricia Preston

Good Morning from sunny Panama City Beach, Florida!

We are here for my granddaughter's Platinum Dance National Competition. She won Gold in Solo yesterday and had Duet tomorrow then Team on Thursday.

Patricia Preston visited with us a little over a year ago, but today, she speaks of treasuring those long, summer days....

I truly treasure long summer days. I am day person and I love that we have longer days in the summer. It seems like I have more time in the summer, although I know I don’t. But I get much more done in the summer, especially when it doesn’t get dark until eight. I treasure going outside just before dark while it is warm and watching the lightning bugs in the woods behind my house.

Plus I love wearing shorts and sandals. I also treat myself to ice cream in summer. Besides shorts, sandals, and ice cream, I also usually have a yard sale. Over the years, I have had several yard sales. Most of the the time, the sales involved me and some friends or relatives who got together to have one. Despite the work involved, I always had a lot of fun when I had one and they inspired me to write a short funny story about a yard sale. Some of the things that happened in the story and some of the characters are actually based on the yard sales that I had and the people who showed up. If you’ve ever had a yard sale, I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the Early Birds, Tightwads, and Packrats featured in the short story.

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

Thanks Patricia! I believe most of us agree long, summer days are certainly something to treasure. I know I MUCH prefer summer to winter!


Patricia Preston is a Southern writer who spends more time than she should in her writing cave. Must haves are a glass of iced sweet tea and music ranging from the Piano Guys to Two Steps from Hell, depending on what she’s writing. She writes fast-paced, funny, feel-good reads. Her other interests include photography, bargain hunting, movies. She’s a fangirl of Supernatural and the Walking Dead. She is repped by the Seymour Agency and currently working on a contemporary romance series for Kensington.

Available titles include Amazon best sellers, “The Yard Sale” and “Laid to Rest,” as well as historical romances: To Save a Lady and Almost an Outlaw. Coming in September and available for pre-order is the first book in the Love Heals All series from Kensington Books, One Week in Your Arms. Also available for pre-order is the second book in the series, Everything His Heart Desires.

Author Links:


Hope you enjoyed today's treasure! Stay tuned weekly for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

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