Weekend Links, Book Pre-order, and Giveaways, Oh My!

 Happy October, everyone!  I was just looking at my posts, and I haven't been here since--August??  How did that happen?  September just seemed to fly by here, and now we are in my favorite time of year, spooky season.  We just went up to the mountains to look at the aspens changing color (New Mexico is glorious this time of year), and it was stunning. 

It's also a good time of year to get cozy, wrap up in a fuzzy blanket, make some tea, and start writing.  I've just started the 5th Flora Flowerdew mystery, and book 4, The Peril in the Piazza, will be out November 10!  You can pre-order here... 

A witty, atmospheric Victorian cozy mystery featuring an intrepid lady sleuth, her devoted duke, and a psychic Pomeranian, as a patriarch's murder pulls them into the candlelit secrets—and ghosts—of Venice.

When the formidable patriarch of the Barbaro family is found murdered in his palazzo, suspicion settles on his grown children, each nursing a grievance hidden beneath the family's polished façade. But there's another suspect Flora Flowerdew can't dismiss: Rose, her old friend and the dead man's beautiful young second wife, who claims innocence yet is plainly hiding something.

Flora doesn't investigate alone. Benedict, the Duke of Everton, is never far—his growing place in her heart nearly as unsettling as the case—nor is Chou Chou, her uncannily psychic Pomeranian, who seems to know far more about the sinister palazzo than any dog should.

As they follow the trail through shadowed canals and the misty labyrinth of Venice, they unearth a darker history the Barbaros have buried deep—one someone, or something, is determined to drag into the light. Then the ghosts begin to appear.

I just finished a giveaway to newsletter subscribers with a "Regency" theme!  Watch for a "Victorian" theme prize next month to celebrate the return of Flora.  You can always subscribe here (current subscribers are already entered!)

And...my Secretary to the Socialite was a New Mexico Book Awards Finalist in Historical Fiction!!!  Yay!

And here are a few fun reads for this Sunday.  See you soon!

A hobbit-themed airbnb on a llama farm!  Near me!  I must go to there...

Regency-inspired runway looks (between this and "literary girl core" I am finally trendy)

And how to style the Regency-core trend

Queen Elizabeth I owned thousands of dresses, only one scrap remains

The Duchess of Windsor's jewels

The right way to eat steak frites

Weekend Links

 Happy August, everyone!  How is it already August??  It seems like summer just started, but also (with how hot and dry it is here) like it's been going on forever.  Bring on spooky season!

My next book (and last Harlequin Historical title) will be out on the 26th, so be sure and pre-order!  I'm very excited about The Dollar Princess Dilemma, and loved spending time with these characters in a very different kind of summer, among the cottages of Gilded Age Newport.  Look for more info here in the weeks to come...

In the meantime, I am working on a new story (the next Flora Flowerdew mystery!), and reading Love and Other Monsters about the famous summer at Villa Diodati.  What are you reading today??  

And here's a few fun links to keep us distracted for a minute...

"Everything you need to know about the movie Wicker"  (this film looks INSANE and I am HERE for it)

Outlander costumes are up for auction

Dancing can help stave off dementia (glad I signed up for an adult ballet class next month!)

Another auction!  Debo Mitford's amazing aquamarine brooch

Historic garden revealed at Hardwick Hall

Why doing nothing is so good for you

5 cursed pieces of jewelry

Weekend Links

 

Happy Sunday, everyone!  It's been a while since I popped in here (this hot summer is making me lazy!  Plus I started a new day job, working for the Museum Foundation, and am dabbling in a new mystery series...)  I hope you're all staying cool and reading great books, watching great movie, chilling at the pool.

And here are a few more things to read that caught my fancy this month!  (Plus, don't forget to pre-order The Dollar Princess Dilemma, out August 26!!!)

11 Audrey Hepburn movies to watch before the biopics

5 cursed pieces of royal jewelry (I love a cursed jewel!)

Jane Austen died July 18, 1817 (sob)

And Anne of Cleves died July 16, 1557 (the luckiest of Henry's wives!  She lived a prosperous, fairly independent life and died of natural causes in her own bed)

The eternal appeal of a Jane Austen adaptation

Why we can't quit Mr. Darcy

We all need a "book-cation"

Fun Weekend Links and Upcoming Book!

 

Hello everyone!  It's been ages since I popped in here, but I have been busy finishing a new Flora Flowerdew mystery, starting a new job (buyer for museum shops!), and getting ready for my last Harlequin Historical release, The Dollar Princess Dilemma.  It's a bittersweet moment, but I love this story so much--Gilded Age Newport!  Dukes and heiresses!  Yachts and beaches and mansions!  I hope you enjoy it, too.  (it will be out August 26, more info coming soon...)

In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying your summer, and here's a few things to read:

Robert Thurman, Buddhist scholar, dies at 84 (I heard him speak once, he was wonderful, riveting and funny and wise)

Frida Kahlo at Home

Royal Ascot Milliners Share Their Secrets

Rare first edition of Wuthering Heights goes up for auction

Another Poirot

Best indie bookstores in America

9 famous brides who didn't wear white (I wore pink!)

Book on Sale

  Book on sale today!!!  Only 1.49 if, like me, you're longing to escape to Paris.  I loved writing this book so much, it has Paris, music, the 1920s, walks on the Seine, romantic weekends in the countryside, and a glimpse of the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein....

Catching up

 I just realized it's been almost a month since I posted anything here!  So this is just a quick update on what I'm doing.  (Managing--life stuff mostly, amid watching British murder mysteries for an escape...)

First, what am I writing?  I am finishing up the next Flora Flowerdew Mystery set in one of my favorite places, Venice!  Gondola rides with Flora and her "dukie," haunted old palazzos, dysfunctional old families with a side of murder.  It's been a lot of fun, if a bit of slow going thanks to the aforesaid life things, but I see the finish line on the horizon at last!  

Second, I will be at this book event here in Santa Fe on May 30!  If you're nearby, be sure and visit me there and pick up a signed book (Flora or another series, whatever you like...)  There is a deal on eventbrite today for 2 for 1 tickets...

And that's it for now! Stay tuned this weekend for some fun links

Weekend Links and Cocktails

 It's almost St. Patrick's Day!!  That means a Lunasa concert and soda bread at my house, and I think I might try this cocktail receipt while I'm at it, courtesy of Highclere Castle Gin (I admit I was pulled into trying it by "Downton" but it is really delicious gin...)

And there's a few things to read as well!  Slainte!

Extant Tudor homes that reveal how people lived...

The Cluny Museum is having an exhibit on...unicorns!  (I so wish I could see this!  The Cluny is one of my very favorite museums in Paris)

The Smithsonian magazine talks about Tudor miniature portraits

A look back at Best Actress Oscar winners' gowns over the years

Speaking of Oscars--why Sinners should win Best Picture

8 "badass" librarians!

The needlework of Mary Queen of Scots

What Bridgerton got wrong about corsets (a lot!)

Mary Oliver on creativity and time

Elizabethan posy rings

The Lucky Recipe

  1 oz   Highclere Castle Gin

  1/2 oz Midori  

1/2 oz  Fresh Lime Juice

 1/2 oz  Simple Syrup

Champagne / Garnish:  Mint Sprig

Directions:

1.   Combine gin, Midori, lime juice in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled.

2.  Strain into a Champagne flute and top with Champagne. 

3.  Garnish with a mint sprig.