Death Below Stairs is a historical mystery and it is set during the reign of Queen Victoria (after Albert died). It is the first in a new series.

Here’s the blurb:

Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered.

Intent on discovering who killed the helpless kitchen maid, Kat turns to the ever-capable Daniel McAdam, who is certainly much more than the charming delivery man he pretends to be. Along with the assistance of Lord Rankin’s unconventional sister-in-law and a mathematical genius, Kat and Daniel discover that the household murder was the barest tip of a plot rife with danger and treason—one that’s a threat to Queen Victoria herself.

Review:

The main protagonist is Kat Holloway, a cook in Lord Rankin’s employ. Kat is new to the job, and she takes her work seriously. Her assistant is found dead—murdered—in the pantry, and Kat feels responsible for the girl. Everyone thinks the murder is a robbery gone wrong, but Kat thinks differently and starts to investigate. Along the way, she recruits people to help her learn who murdered Sinead—-her friend the mysterious Daniel, another friend of Daniel’s who is a whiz with math and accounts, and the eccentric Lady Cynthia who prefers to dress as a man.

Kat is a professional when it comes to her cooking and this book is full of interesting cooking details plus mentions of what the family ate for dinner. I enjoyed these fascinating snippets just as much as the mystery part of the plot.

The characters are fascinating since they run the gamut of social ladder, yet they pull together to solve the mystery of Sinead’s murder. Kat has strength and integrity while Daniel is a man of mystery. He loves and cares for his teenage son and it’s obvious he has a thing for Kat. The romantic thread between the two is subtle, but it’s there and made me happy.

The characters pull this story along and kept the plot moving at a steady pace until the climax when we discover why the murder happened and who did it. The plot kept me guessing and the way it intersected with the politics and problems of the time made this an entertaining read. If you enjoy historical mysteries with well-rounded characters and a fast-moving plot, you’ll enjoy Death Below Stairs as much as I did.

Scandal Above Stairs, book two in the series released recently, and I enjoyed that one just as much.

For a quick introduction to Kat and Daniel you can also check out A Soupcon of Poison, which is a short story.

A Soupcon of Poison – Amazon
Death Below Stairs – Amazon
Scandal Above Stairs – Amazon

Do you enjoy reading dragon romances?

Check out the Feel the Burn sale for all your dragon romance needs.

Grab a copy of Blue Moon Dragon, the first book in my Dragon Investigators series as part of the promotion.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway while you’re visiting the Feel the Burn promo page.

Woohoo! I’m excited to announce a new release in the House of the Cat series. Enticed & Seduced is Kaya’s story, and it’s available now.

Here’s the blurb:

Some days, getting out of bed is a mistake…

Kaya Ignatius loves her job, working as part of the Indefatigable crew. But this isn’t a normal morning. Gryffnn Drake, a hunky dragon shifter, has a problem with another clan and wants her to act as his betrothed. It’s a chance to smash a dry spell and help the man who has become a good friend. After all, what’s not to like about steamy sexual encounters?

But everything after that is downhill.

She’s slimed by a stinky plant, her brother arrives with bad news and dumps a huge, scary responsibility in her lap. Suddenly, her life is full of drama and nasty surprises.

Gryffnn has always lusted after Kaya, but she only saw his older brother. Now things have changed, and he has a plan to capture the sassy Kaya and woo her to his way of thinking. A move by an opposition clan forces him to escalate his romantic plan. Things proceed well until the past struts in to say hello and creates havoc with his love life and his dragon clan.

Never mind bed, Gryffnn and Kaya are too busy putting out dangerous fires and trying to stay alive to worry about the future…

I’m doing things differently with this release. You can either pre-order Enticed & Seduced from Amazon for $3.99 (release date 19 July 2018) or you can buy the book directly from me at a new release price of $2.50. (available until release date)

The steps to buy the discounted book:
1. Purchase here https://payhip.com/b/bhe8
2. Scroll down past the cover and click Buy Now
3. A checkout window will come up. Click Continue to Paypal
4. If you wish to pay via Paypal enter your password details and complete the payment.
5. If you wish to use a credit card click on Pay with Credit or Debit card (below the Paypal password box)
6. You will be directed back to Payhip once you’ve paid for the book. If you wish, you can download the book here OR
7. Five minutes after your payment goes through, you will receive an email from Bookfunnel and you can download the book to your device from here.

I highly recommend using Bookfunnel since they offer help if you have trouble downloading a book or if you lose your book for some reason, you can contact them for a replacement.

Note: If you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, Enticed & Seduced will go into KU after release day.

It’s so exciting to finally have another release in my House of the Cat series. BETRAYED & SEDUCED is out today.
I also have an associated giveaway, and the prize is a package of New Zealand goodies.

Grab your copy of Betrayed & Seduced

Enter the Betrayed & Seduced Release Giveaway

When we visited Key West, I noticed the Ernest Hemingway House Museum and suggested to my long-suffering husband that this could be our bit of “culture” for the day. Although I know of Hemingway, I’ve never read his books (I know. Big gasp.) but, other writers interest me and seeing their offices is always fascinating.

Ernest lived and wrote at his Key West house for around ten years. He purchased the property in 1931 after he and his wife fell in love with the area.

The house, as it stands now, is full of furniture collected by the Hemingway’s during their time in Europe plus paintings and copies of his book. Descendants of Hemingway’s cats also have free run of the property. It’s said he acquired his original six-toed tom cat from a sea captain after he took a liking to the cat.

He built a swimming pool at a cost of around $20000. Very expensive at the time and the only one in the area.

There is a writing studio out the back of the house, which I adored. I wanted to move in and start writing straightaway.

Hemingway divorced his wife Pauline in 1940 and moved to Cuba with his third wife, returning now and then to Key West until his death by suicide in 1961. He was very productive during his time in Key West writing books such as A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Death in the Afternoon, The Green Hills of Africa, To Have and Have Not and Islands in the Stream.

Source: https://www.hemingwayhome.com/

Me outside the Hemingway Museum.

The front view of the house.

And me again!

A painting of Hemingway.

Some of Hemingway’s books.

This is the main bedroom with one of the descendants of Hemingway’s cat.

These are the stairs that lead up to Hemingway’s writing studio.

Hemingway wrote in this office. It was bright and light and airy, and I coveted his office. I’m certain I could write great masterpieces in this office. :-)

One-click all the latest books.

Find your new favorite author.

Then enter for a chance to win a Kindle or one of two $25 Amazon Gift Cards.

Enter here:

http://lovekissedbookbargains.com/2018/03/23/march-new-release-giveaway/

During our visit to Churchill, we spent a morning at Wapusk Adventures, the largest dog sled kennels in Canada.

The owners are passionate about their dogs and sledding, and I found the owner’s talk both interesting and inspiring. After learning about the dogs and the sport of sledding, we got to meet the dogs and do a mile circuit with a team of sled dogs. Fun times. After our sled ride, I had to purchase a T-shirt to add to my collection. I am now the proud owner of an Ididamile T-shirt.

If you’re ever up in Churchill I recommend a visit to Wapusk Adventures.

Some of the local signage…

The dogs knew that some of them were about to go for a run. They barked and jumped around trying to grab attention. It was the doggie version of pick me! Pick me!

Me with one of the locals.

I didn’t get picked. I think I’ll have a snooze.

This is hubby and I during our sled ride. So much fun!

Fiona’s Mates is out today!

Here’s the blurb:

A woman striving for adventure meets five shifter brothers…

When Fiona catches her husband cheating, she puts a full stop on their marriage. No longer prepared to take his abusive behavior, she kicks him out the door, determined to embrace change. A vacation is the perfect way to attack her courageous new life.

Stig is the youngest of five polar bear shifters, and his scheme to start an ice trucking business puts him and his brothers on an untraditional path. With everyone in Churchill against them—humans and shifters plus their matriarch—it’s a challenge to get their ice trucks on the road.

Fiona meets the sexy Stig and his gorgeous brother in Gillam. With their bulging muscles and stunning Nordic looks, something about the smiling duo imbues trust. Then, she meets their three older brothers, each charming and handsome, and her libido swings into overdrive. A dilemma since they’re openly interested in her, and choosing one? Impossible.

The Swenson brothers adore Fiona, and she brings out the best in them. Now that her vacation is ending, she’s discussing a return to Florida, but that might not be the worse of the trouble when menace stalks into Churchill and threatens to end their reverse harem forever…

Purchase your copy today

And don’t forget to check out the previous blog posts about the facts and research behind the book. I had a ball writing this story. I hope you enjoy it!

The locals in Churchill do their best to deter polar bears from wandering into town. Conservation officers patrol during the season and attempt to scare bears away from the Churchill township if they get too close. They use noise to scare them such as fire crackers and air horns and as a last resort set traps.

Once a bear is trapped, the conservation officers take them back to the polar bear holding facility, also known as polar bear jail. Here they stay until the end of the season when they are relocated. During their incarceration, the bears are not fed. Originally, the bears were fed, but this seemed to draw more bears to town, so the decision was made to follow nature and only give the bears water.

This was our guard at the the parking lot where we transferred from the tundra buggy to the bus.

These are the traps used to catch bears that come too close to town. Once the bear walks inside the trap, the door comes down behind it.

Hubby and I posing outside the polar bear jail. The public are not allowed inside to ensure as little contact with the bears as possible. They want the bears to remain wary of humans and stay away.

This is the mural painted on the side of the polar bear jail. Cool, isn’t it?

A final photo of a polar bear. This one stayed far away from the traps!

In October 2017, hubby and I visited the small town of Churchill in Canada to see polar bears. The remote town and its relationship with the polar bears fascinated me. When I learned that the town was only accessible by plane, due to the storm damage of the railway, ideas for stories flew through my mind.

Our trip ended in Fort Lauderdale in Florida and we went sightseeing via water taxis when we were there. That destination also made an impression on me, and got tossed into my story idea pot.

My paranormal romance Fiona’s Mates is the result of my visit to Churchill, the polar bears and hearing about the ice road. I also added in Fort Lauderdale, since the journey on the water taxis was so much fun.

Here is the blurb for Fiona’s Mates:

A woman seeking change meets five sexy brothers…

When Fiona catches her callous, chauvinistic husband with another woman, she puts a full stop on their marriage. No longer prepared to put up with his abusive behavior, she kicks him out the door, determined to start afresh. A vacation is the perfect way to attack her adventurous new life.

Stig is the youngest of five polar bear shifters, and his scheme to start an ice trucking business puts him and his brothers on an untraditional path. With everyone in Churchill against them—humans and shifters plus their matriarch—it’s a challenge to get their ice trucks on the road.

Fiona meets the sexy Stig and his gorgeous brother in Gillam. With their bulging muscles and stunning Nordic looks, something about the smiling duo imbues trust. Then, she meets their three older brothers, each charming and handsome, and her libido is in overdrive. She has a dilemma since they’re openly interested in her, and it is impossible to choose one.

Now that Fiona’s vacation is ending, she’s talking about returning to Florida, but that might not be the worse of the trouble when danger stalks into Churchill and threatens to end their reverse harem forever…

Coming 22 March at Amazon.