I was honored last night to be interviewed by podcaster and writer Anton Crucis about my Kindle Vella story THE JANE AUSTEN MURDERS.
You can view the entire interview here : Youtube
P.S. it’s about 15 minutes, so not too long!!
And I really have to stop talking with my hands!
Check out my other Vella stories, here: VELLA
Filed under kindle vella
My good friend, writer LOUISE STEVENS has a new addition to her PORT SUNSET Mysteries out today, and as she has ever since the first one was released, she’s visiting me and allowing me to tell you all about it! I love a good tradition, lol.
This series is sosososo good!!! Let’s get a peek at the newest addition….
It’s Valentine’s Day in Port Sunset and romance, fun, and murder are in the air. Yep, murder. I’m Millie Wentworth the assistant General Manager of the Gulf Palms Resort. And since our sleepy beach town comes with a body count to rival any big city, I’m an amateur sleuth on the side.
The hotel is hosting a Masquerade Ball and half the attendees are dressed as Cupid. When someone is shot through the heart with a bow and arrow there is no shortage of suspects since Cupids are everywhere. And the victim was so awful lots of people had reason to do her in…seriously…LOTS. Including me.
As usual Detective Green’s laser focus is aimed at the wrong suspects. When my fun-loving grandmother Lulu, Spud the corgi, and I discover another body we need to find the real murderer pronto. Can we catch the killer Cupid before they strike again?
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I pulled out my phone and then tossed my purse into the back seat of Scott’s car. I planted my butt on the passenger seat and then swung my tail in behind me. I sighed dramatically. “I cannot wait to get out of this costume.”
The only thing keeping me from yanking the blue wig off my head was knowing what my pinned-up hair looked like underneath it. No need to send Scott running into the night from the horror of the sight.
Scott glanced my way before he drove away from the valet stand. “How many messages did you have from Lulu?”
“A lot. Let me just let her know we’re on our way home and I’ll talk to her in the morning.” I tapped on my phone as I spoke.
When I hit send, I lowered my phone and stared out the windshield in front of me. The roads were empty at this time of night.
After a couple of blocks of silence, Scott cleared his throat and said, “I’m going to hate myself for asking, but do you have any idea about who might’ve killed this woman?”
I flicked a long, flowing lock of aqua hair over my shoulder to see him better in the orange glow of the streetlights. “Why are you going to hate yourself for asking?”
“Because every other time you’ve investigated a murder, you’ve almost been killed, and I don’t want to lose you. And if I ask, it’s like I’m yielding to the inevitable … and it’s sleuthing time.”
“Without Tyler on the case, you might not have to worry too much.”
“It actually makes me more worried. I think Tyler getting your findings to Detective Green is the only reason the right people are in jail for three murders. If Tyler is excluded from the case, I’m afraid Green might arrest the wrong person,” Scott said as he stopped at a red light.
There were no cars in sight in any direction, but we sat at the light like good, little citizens until it turned green.
“I don’t want that to happen, maybe Jennifer can help me feed information to Green. He worships her. Heck, she was even able to get him to dress like Juan Peron tonight. She could get him to do anything,” I said.
One corner of Scott’s mouth tilted up. “You do realize you just proved my point.”
I scrunched up my forehead. “What point?”
“You’re incapable of letting a murderer go free due to Green’s incompetence. You’re already trying to think of ways to get the results of your investigation to him. Face it, Millie, it’s sleuthing time, and you’re all in.”
(My review of this great story!: CCC
Louise Stevens is the author of the Port Sunset Mysteries series. A lover of mysteries since her discovery of Nancy Drew many years ago, she is thrilled to be writing cozy mysteries now. She lives in Maryland with her husband, who also loves a good mystery, in a house packed with books.
Louise Stevens is the pen name of contemporary romance author Donna Simonetta.
Connect with Louise here:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071660405154
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Louise-Stevens/author/B09HHR74VQ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21848293.Louise_Stevens
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15422407.Donna_Simonetta
BookBub:
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/louise-stevens
Find all the Port Sunshine Mysteries here: Lousie Stevens Mysteries
1
Penthouse, Pools, & Poison (Port Sunset Mysteries Book 1)
When the obnoxious guest in the penthouse is poisoned beside his private pool, my daily planner is turned upside down. I’m Millie Wentworth, Assistant General Manager of the swanky Gulf Palms Resort and Spa and solving the murder shouldn’t be my job, but the only food found near the body is a charcuterie board sent to the victim by yours truly.
The Port Sunset Police are looking my way until a shocking revelation shifts their attention to a friend. Suddenly, cracking the case moves to the top of my to-do list and it’s up to me to find the real killer and clear my friend’s name.
Uncovering the truth should be a breeze with me, my pink-haired grandmother, her rescue corgi, and her crew of fun-loving septuagenarian beach bunnies on the case. What could possibly go wrong?
****COZY MYSTERY OF THE YEAR FINALIST, N.N. Light’s Annual Book Awards****
“Get ready to curl up with your next favorite book!” USA Today Best-selling Author Claire Marti
“…one of the best cozy mysteries I’ve ever read.” N.N. Light’s Book Heaven
“…you won’t want this rollicking romp to end.” 5-Star Amazon Review
2
Diamonds, Dunes, & Death (Port Sunset Mysteries Book 2)
I’m Millie Wentworth and I never thought I’d be involved in another murder, but here I am smack dab in the middle of a crime wave at the swanky resort where I’m Assistant General Manager. It started with a major diamond heist and ended with a dead body on the beach.
When one of my grandmother Lulu’s group of fun-loving septuagenarian friends is a prime suspect it’s time for Lulu’s Crew, Spud the corgi, and me, to get sleuthing and uncover the real criminals.
And because dodging mobsters, international jewel thieves, and solving crimes isn’t stressful enough, my hypercritical parents are in town too. My mother doesn’t approve of Lulu and me in the best of times, and these are decidedly not the best of times. Plus she’s already planning my imaginary wedding to my kinda-sorta boyfriend Scott.
All I need to do is catch a murderer plus a jewel thief and survive my parents’ visit. No problem, right?
3
Sunshine, Selfies, & Smugglers (Port Sunset Mysteries Book 3)
Solving mysteries with my fun-loving grandmother Lulu, her friends, and Spud the corgi is my side hustle. By day I’m Millie Wentworth the assistant general manager of the swanky Gulf Palms Resort, so you wouldn’t think sleuthing would be in my skill set. But lately it has been, and since summer is our busy season in Port Sunset I’d hoped it would be murder-free. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently so, because when social influencer Merry Marissa’s yacht cruises into town, we’re suddenly up to our necks in smuggling, stalkers, and slaughter. I have more suspects than the Tipsy Turtle has mai tais. And I’m without my sleuthing team, because Lulu’s Crew are busy going viral to raise money for animal charities.
Can I unravel the mystery and find the killer before Lulu’s Crew and I become the next victims?
Filed under Writing
Yesterday I sat down with the wonderful Cathy Mesaric-Bartlett for this wonderful interview for the S.A.W Book Club on facebook. SAW stands for SHARING AUTHORS WORDS and it’s an open group, so if you lovelovelove books, you may want to join it! Here’s the interview;
Filed under author promotion
Okay, so in book 5 of the MacQuire Women series, PASSION’S PALETTE, we’re back to that action sentence again. And I did what all the experts tell you to NEVER do in a first line – I had my heroine waking up to greet the day.
Le sigh….I’m better now, I swear. LOL
Filed under #firstlinefriday
I love when my author friends come to visit me. Today, I’ve got multi-published, best-selling author, Liz Flaherty, joining me and she’s telling me all about a re-release of one of her backlist books. She’s updated the story a bit to modernize it just hair and I’m excited to share it with you.
Here’s Liz…
I’ve been married for a long time. I’ve fallen in love over and over during the 51-plus years of our marriage. Always with the same guy and often with a different one who looks like him but…really, did he just say that? We’ve stayed married, never living apart or even doing any bedroom-door-slamming or sleeping on the couch. I’ve never either asked or ordered him to leave and he’s never driven away with any intent of not returning.
It has not always been nearly as easy as that sounds.
In A Soft Place to Fall, Early and Nash were married for a long time, too. She got pregnant while she was still in high school and they got married when she was 16 and he was 18. They both worked nearly all the time and got Nash through medical school and raised four children. Thirty years after they got married, they’re living in a pretty gated community in Lexington, Kentucky, enjoying grandbabies and freedom from debt and…
And maybe not enjoying anything at all. At least, Nash isn’t.
Divorced and in search of herself, Early moves back to the Ridge in rural Kentucky. She takes care of Nash’s father after he has heart surgery, of her mother when she breaks her ankle, and…finally…of herself, too. As she builds a quilt shop named A Soft Place to Fall, she also creates a life for herself.
But then there’s Nash.
A Soft Place to Fall was first released in 2013. Nine years later, with a few changes, it still feels relevant. I hope you find it so, too.
Early McGrath doesn’t want freedom from her thirty-year marriage to Nash, but when it’s forced upon her, she does the only thing she knows to do – she goes home to the Ridge to reinvent herself.
Only what is someone who’s spent her life taking care of other people supposed to do when no one needs her anymore? Even as the threads of her life unravel, she finds new ones – reconnecting with the church of her childhood, building the quilt shop that has been a long-time dream, and forging a new friendship with her former husband.
The definition of freedom changes when it’s combined with faith, and through it all perhaps Early and Nash can find a Soft Place to Fall.
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/3yexr8jz
D2D: https://books2read.com/u/bW57yx
USA Today bestselling author Liz Flaherty started writing in the fourth grade when her Aunt Gladys allowed her to use her portable Royal typewriter. The truth was that her aunt would have let her do anything to get her out of her hair, but the typewriter and the stories it could produce caught on, and Liz never again had a day without a what if… in it.
She and Duane, her husband of at least forever, live in a farmhouse in central Indiana, sharing grown children, spoiled cats, and their grandkids, the Magnificent Seven. (Don’t get her started on them—you’ll be here all day.) To find out more about her, stop by http://lizflaherty.net/ or any of the other places she hangs around by visiting linktr.ee/LizFlaherty
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Filed under Uncategorized, Writing
So excited to announce I’ll be at the TOADSTOOL Bookshop in Keene next Sunday, 12.4. from 2-4 pm signing books and talking about all things Christmas romance related.
I would love to see you!!! If you’re out holiday shopping, stop by, sit for a while and chat and, of course (LOL) buy a book for yourself or someone on your holiday romance reading list.
here are the deets:
Sunday, December 4th at 2pm
Peggy Jaeger
She will be at the Toadstool presenting her Christmas titles along with her 2022 book releases!
I’m a #contemporaryromance writer who writes #RomComs about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If I can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, I’ve done my job as a writer!
#Family and #food play huge roles in my stories because I believe there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, I bring all topics of daily life into my stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents I longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through my books, I’ve created the families I wanted as that lonely child.
As a lifelong diarist, I caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit me at peggyjaeger.com where I’m blogging about life, writing, and stuff that makes me go “What??!” daily.
I’m a social media junkie! You can visit me at all these sites any day and I’ll probably be there.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger
Pinterest :https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger
Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/PeggyJaeger.Author/?ref=bookmarks
You Tube : https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=peggy+jaeger
Event date:
Sunday, December 4, 2022 – 2:00pm
Event address:
12 Emerald Street
Keene, NH 03431
Filed under author promotion
Tomorrow I’m off to Staten Island, NY – my old hometown – for the #TNTNYC2022 event. It’s my first time at this event and from what I’ve been reading and viewing online and on FB, it’s a raucous, fun, and busy few days.
After doing so many booksignings and author events over the years, I’ve seen a lot of varying behaviors from authors that sometimes make me cringe, sometimes make me smile, and sometimes allows me to learn from.
Case in point. This is an event where the author is promoting herself and her books. In layman’s terms – sales! You want people to discover you as an author and, hopefully, buy your book, love it, tell all their friends to get it too, and then preorder all your upcoming ones and read all your backlist ones.
That’s the goal.
To do that the author has to be engaging, willing to step out of her comfort zone to meet new people, and basically, put herself “out there.”
SInce writing is, for the most part, a solitary endeavor, many authors are not really “people” people. I’ve frequently seen authors at signings sit behind their tables, looking down at their phones, or gazing about at the other tables, readers, etc, never making eye contact or even smiling at people walking by their own table. They look uncomfortable, anxious, and – in my opinion – rude. Like they don’t have the wherewithal to be there, be present, and engage.
How do you expect to sell books? Granted, some writers are bestselling authors and people already know their name and come to these kinds of events simply to meet them and get a signed copy of the lastest book. Yippie for them.
I’m not that author.
Seven years in and I’m still building my brand, my writing reputation, and my readership, so I have to do whatever it takes for that to happen.
That includes being the first to talk to someone passing by my table, saying good morning, or how are you doing? What do you like to read? Nine times out of ten the person doesn’t read what I write, but at least I’ve made the effort to find out about her. Maybe her mom reads my kinds of books and that sparks the idea to buy one for her as a present.
Since Covid hit people have tended to hermit themselves – understandable, right? Prior to the pandemic I spent all my days home alone writing, never seeing people on a daily or even weekly basis, and working at my craft. I was one of those writers who had no difficulty with being quarantined, LOL, since I was a hermit anyway. I wrote a lot. A LOT. But when the restrictions were lifted I needed to sell those books and events like TNTNYC are the perfect venue to do so.
So I stepped out of my house, put on my big-girl author panties and engaged with people I don’t know inorder to sell my books.
Is it hard? Hell yeah. I’d rather be home in my jammies with my glasses on and no makeup on my face, then dressed and putting the PEGGY on for the public. But I do it, despite the nerves bounding inside me.
I am not a natural born salesperson. I would never have been hired by a circus to be the barker, the out-front man to lure people in. What I do have a gift for is making people laugh, so I use that wierd sense of humor to pull people in, make them feel comfortable talking to me about any topic, and then hoping they will want to read one of my books after that.
If you are a reader/book buyer at these kinds of events you are looking for several things:
~new authors to read/meet/and get to know
~Swag/freebies/candy (!)
~books
~fun
You are not looking for sullen or sad looking authors to talk to or try to bring out of their shell.
On the other hand, readers also don’t want an author to hound them. I never outright say BUY MY BOOK! As I’ve said, I’ll ask what they read, then either say, I write that or I don’t. And then I take it a step further and ask if they know anyone who reads the kinds of books I write – steamy romcoms, romantic suspense, smalltown, friends to lovers, and sometimes sweet romances. That’s a big list. And usually they discover that they do, indeed, read something like I write.
It’s all in the pitch, the sale, and the engagement.
Oh, and the visuals. This is my standup banner that I bring with me. Vibrant color and my brand. It’s an eyecatcher to be sure.
Another thing I find absolutley rude/annoying/irritating is authors who sit behind their table and never come out from behind it.
I rarely ever sit down. When I do it’s usually inroder to autograph a book because doing so standing is hard for me. I am always, always, standing. Either in front of my table, next to my banner, or behind it.
Was does sitting behavior annoy me so much? For one thing because the author is putting a physical barrier between them and the person stopping by their table. For another, it’s simply rude to have people talk “down” to you. Stand up! Put yourself on equal footing with the reader.
When someone comes to your house to visit do you stay seated in a chair, let them make their own way into the house and then never rise to greet them? If you do, I’m never coming to visit you.
It’s the same at booksignings. Get up. Stand up. Shake someone’s hand, or accept a hug. Let them take a picture with you. Be nice and open not rude and closed off.
I feel like I’ve been lecturing, and maybe I have. BUt sometimes it pays to say the things that people (Authors) don’t want to hear.
So, lecture over. I am going to pack all my stuff – books, swag, preorders, and that banner!
See you at #TNTNYC2022. I’ll be the curly haired, bottle blonde standing and talking in front of her table with the big, loud, Pink banner!!!
~ Peg
Filed under Writing
TEMPTED and TANTALIZING is a great name for a romance conference/group, isn’t it?? LOL
I’ll be attending the TNTNYC event this year as an attending author and I’m stoked because it takes place in my old stomping ground of Staten Island, NY. I grew up in SI. From the time I was 8 until I got married at 27 I lived in the borough, went to the local middle and high schools and worked at Staten Island University Hospital as a nurse. Although, back in the day it was just called SI Hospital.
I can’t wait to see the old burg again!!
I’ll be signing books at the official book signing on Saturday, October 15 and attending the cocktail reception afterward. Tickets to the event for readers are still available here: TNTNYC
Look at this fabulous list of attending authors, many of them friends of mine!!!
Here’s the form: PREORDERS FOR TNTNYC
Filed under author promotion
There’s a chance to win a free Ecopy of my newest release THE SHERIFF & THE PSYCHIC so please enter the contest! It ends in 2 days so there’s still a little time.
Come and find out all about my characters for the book and what made this such a different kind of story for me to write.
Here are the links:
read the interview: RomanceDevoured
enter the contest: ENTER To WIn
buy the book ( I had to put this one in, LOL!): THE SHERIFF & THE PSYCHIC
or read it in Kindle Unlimited
And BTW, I’ve been racking up some nice 5 star reviews, too, for the first week which you can read here: Goodreads
Happy reading, Kids, and enjoy the interview. ~ Peg
Filed under Romance Books
I hate asking ( well, maybe not so much! hee hee) But I could use your help. AS the title suggests, the book is up until tomorrow for voting, so if you have a moment and the inclination to do so, here’s the link: VOTE
THANKS, OODLES!!!! Peg
Filed under Writing
Peggy Jaeger, Author 