The Highs and Lows and Pina coladas of 2022, by Diane Scott Lewis

 

To purchase my novels, please click HERE

The year started out terrible with the loss of fellow BWL author, Kathy Pym. We were cyber friends for several years. I miss her gallows humor and good advice, her kindness, and for being the person I could talk to about anything. I was blessed to have her for my friend.

Shortly after that, still in January, I had to go for cataract surgery. My husband had to drive for nearly two hours to the doctor's surgery center, in the middle of nowhere. Now my right eye doesn't read as close-up as it used to. I need reading glasses. But as my oldest granddaughter sagely said. "Because you're a grandma."

Fast-forward to June, we drove to Nashville for a Nea Makri Greece reunion. My husband was stationed there from 1971-75; me from 1974-75. We married there in May of 1975. How young we look!

The heat in Nashville was sweltering, and we were camping. You couldn't even sit outside, the internet went bonkers, and sight-seeing was debatable. One of our RV connections melted. We bought portable, hand-held coolers for next time. We're prepared! 

Rafina, Greece harbor, just below Nea Makri

And it was great to meet up with former shipmates, or basemates. We even went to an air-conditioned winery with one lady and had a ball.

The following month, we had a small family reunion at hubby's niece's camp in Gettysburg. Again, the heat was sweltering. But we enjoyed the company. And hubs made his famous pina coladas. Yum.

In August, my oldest friend, we met at six and eight, came to visit for two weeks. An excuse to make hubs take us somewhere! A book festival, a wine concert, the Flight 93 memorial, beer tasting, wine tasting. We visited Old Economy Village near Pittsburgh, a village founded on strict and celibate behavior, waiting for the Rapture. No wonder they died out.

That's the tour guide with my husband.

 I loved to have Candy with me. My bestie forever.

The year started badly, but ended up much better. Of course in the world around me there were wars, and the turmoil of my own divisive country. I hope we can come together and heal most of the wounds. Happy 2023.

Diane lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty dachshund.

To find out more about her books: DianeScottLewis 

Literary vs Popular Fiction: How big is the difference really? By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

Visit B.C. Deeks' BWL Author Page for Book and Purchase Information

 

http://bookswelove.net/deeks-bc/

The prestigious ScotiaBank Giller Prize was announced in November, thus prompting my usual frustration with the bias that exists between literary fiction and what is most often referred to as popular or commercial fiction. What’s the difference you may ask? Well, the biggest difference in my humble opinion is in recognition, and maybe even respect.

The differences were never clear cut and are becoming less so with the emerging publishing landscape. Literary stories with crossover appeal have publishers, agents and even some readers referring to ‘upmarket fiction’ to further classify such novels although you won’t find that category on a bookshelf or on Amazon.

At first blush, one could say that popular fiction is written more to please the audience while literary fiction aims to reflect on the human condition. Genre fiction, it is argued, is more formulaic, but this is a response to its need to meet reader expectations. A ‘romance’ story must have a ‘happily ever after’ or it simply is not a romance. Yet within that expectation is an endless variety of paths with an even greater number of deviations. Our readers love to be surprised and delighted before they reach the anticipated ending. And didn’t Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice end with a Happily Ever After?

Within the ongoing debate between popular versus literary fiction, most people argue four key points: theme/ scope, plot driven versus character driven, time/reputation, standard of writing. I would argue there’s also a fifth factor: money! Modern Literary Fiction holds only 16% of the market, whereas the top five most profitable categories on Amazon.com are:

• Romance/Erotica ($1.44 billion).
• Crime/Mystery ($728.2 million).
• Religious/Inspirational ($720 million).
• Science Fiction/Fantasy ($590.2 million).
• Horror ($79.6 million).

I think we can all agree that popular fiction leans towards more adventurous or sensational subject matter and they traditionally fall into convenient categories such as crime fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy. In the new digital publishing age, those well-defined and predictable lines are breaking down and the blending of genres is commonplace. I write paranormal mysteries with romantic elements. Paranormal romance is one of the most popular subgenres. A renowned Canadian astronaut wrote an outstanding science fiction murder mystery! 

What about the question of literary books having a deep theme that popular fiction lacks? In my current series, Beyond the Magic, three supernatural siblings lost their mother in childbirth and have a father who is too ambitious and career driven to focus on raising them. Together they must face life altering threats to their world and unravel an ancient prophecy. I would argue that is an overarching theme of the power of family ties that bind. Perhaps in literary fiction the emphasis on the theme is more overt than in popular fiction, but that depends on the author.

Some people say that literary fiction is more character driven while genre fiction is focused on plot, yet I, like most of the authors I know, spend considerable upfront time creating character profiles with associated emotional arcs that I carefully weave through my plot outline. Some author friends say it is a character who appeared to them first, anxious to tell their story.

Historically speaking, there are works of popular fiction that, solely through the passage time, have become elevated by those in authority to the status of literary classics, such as the works of Lucy Maude Montgomery or Daphne DuMaurier. And, alternatively, literary works have gained popular or commercial attention decades after publication, like Margaret Attwood’s, A Handmaid’s Tale.

The final and often snide criticism about popular fiction refers to its standard of writing. While my back instantly goes up at such comments, my objective self will admit there is a sliver of truth in this one factor. Not about standard from a quality perspective, but in level of writing. This again points back to the audience. Popular fiction authors want to reach as many readers as we can, so we write to the reading level of the majority of the population. We choose the best possible words to communicate the emotion, setting, and action required to move our story forward, draw our reader into our imaginary world and let them leave it feeling entertained. Most typically, literary fiction is profoundly philosophical about human nature and the meaning of life. Its audience does not expect it to conform to any scope and genre conventions, or language accessibility.

As the publishing world evolves, the boundaries between literary and popular fiction will continue to blur, although I don’t believe the two will ever completely merge. That fundamental difference in audience expectation will remain wedged between them for a long time to come.

My books may not be a good fit for the Giller Prize, but I am proud to write heartwarming stories of mystery and magic that readers from their teens to their nineties can enjoy. My neighbor recently sat beside her aging mother’s sick bed and swept her away by reading my latest book, Witch Unbound, to her. I hear she thoroughly enjoyed it! I am honored that I could do that for her as a writer.

The Cinderella Princess. Anne Stuart Future Queen of England Part One by Rosemary Morris

 

To learn more about Rosemary and her work please click on the cover.

At heart I am a historian. Before I begin writing a #classi#historical#omance I research the background. I hope you will enjoy this month’s insider blog based on my notes.

When Anne, Stuart was born on the 6^th February1665 neither her uncle, the second King Charles, nor her father, James, heir to the throne, imagined she would become Queen. The king’s seven illegitimate children proved his virility. There was every reason to believe he and his queen Henrietta Maria who he married three years ago, would not have legitimate heirs If they did not, James and Anne, the Duke and Duchess of York’s son would succeed. Unfortunately, he only lived for six months.

Infant mortality was high. Fortunately, Anne and her older sister, Mary, survived the Great Plague, which broke out in the year of the Cinderella’s birth. The little princesses grew up in their nursery but their brother James, a younger brother and two little sisters died. One can imagine the effects of these deaths on a small girl suffering from poor health, whose weak eyes watered constantly.

With the consent of Anne’s uncle, the king, her parents sent the four-year-old to her grandmother, widow of the executed first Charles, who now lived in France, to have her eyes treated.

A portrait of the Anne as a small girl painted by an unknown artist at the French Court depicts a plump, adorable little girl, dressed in brocade and playing with a King Charles spaniel. Yet her eyes, set in an oval face with a mouth shaped in a perfect cupid’s bow, are wary.

 

* * *

 

Rosemary Morris’ #classic#historical#romance novels set in Queen Anne Stuart’s reign – 1702 -1714

 

Far Beyond Rubies.

Tangled Love

The Captain and The Countess

The Viscount and The Orphan

 

With firmly closed bedroom doors, the reader can relish the details of emerging romances.

 

* * *

 

 

To purchase my novels choose an online click onto the book cover to choose an online bookstore at https:bwlpublishing.ca/morris-rosemary.

 

To read the first three chapters please visit my website. www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

Hold the Advice or Live by it? By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

Visit B.C. Deeks' BWL Author Page for Book and Purchase Information

http://bookswelove.net/deeks-bc/

It’s taken me 64 years to learn not to teach others what it took me 64 years to learn myself. People must discover things themselves or it just doesn’t stick. That’s not to say I haven’t heard some really good advice that I wish I had known, or even listened to, over the years. For example. I wish I had known, Skip all the heartbreak and drama of teenage dating and just read a book until you’re 25 – Wish I'd had that nugget of wisdom at 15.

Ironically, now I collect advice sayings like tree ornaments and I even try to follow the sage wisdom to lead a more mindful life. Another one that I wish I had known way back is, Find your passion-Then figure out how to make money at it. I’ve known since I was twelve that I wanted to be an author, but my career took a very different direction.

I was a young woman in the ‘yuppy’ generation. We energetically threw ourselves at that glass ceiling determined to be the first to shatter it. I’ll admit I experienced some exciting adventures. In the early 1980s, I sat at a table with the CIA on one side and the KGB on the other! They didn’t speak to each other, but I spoke to both of them separately. Fascinating times. I also got lost in the warehouse district of Paris at midnight on another occasion and was rescued by a mysterious French businessman. He drove me back to my hotel and wished me fond memories of the city before disappearing again into the night. I’m not making this stuff up, but it sure does find its way into my writing.

It wasn’t easy being a single woman working in male dominated industries and traveling internationally. Computer security was an emerging field, and I was dealing with hackers, terrorists, and an emerging Dark Web. I was also rising into management, and sometimes encountered men who didn’t like a woman directing their work. Fortunately, there were also men along my journey who gave me a solid hand up. I’ll share another piece of advice I live by: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

And I did eventually get back to my dream of writing and pour all those experiences into my writing.

Maybe I should have listened to some of the advice I was given when I was younger. I wish I had believed then that I would survive the tough times and grow from my experiences. My mother’s favorite advice to me was, And this too shall pass. She was a wise woman.

Do you have advice you live by? Or wish you had listened to when you were younger?

Transitions by Nancy M Bell

 

To learn more about Nancy's work click on the cover.

The shoulder seasons of the year, spring and fall. Times of transition. Now in the autumn of the year the trees burn gold against the blaze of Alberta blue sky, the fields glow buckskin under the skies dotted with round bales where summer is wrapped up for winter feed. The nights draw in as the light slowly but surely loses its battle with the dark. The moon flares silver in the sable sky while the constellations march across the heavens. Orion leads his hounds and the Pleiades dance to song of star fire. 

Here on the Canadian prairies the sweep of night is wide and deep, often the moon lingers in the morning sky, a white wisp against the strengthening blue, while the sun breaks free of the eastern horizon to flood the landscape with pure gold light, pushing back the last vestiges of the night.

Our lives follow the seasons in a much slower manner. Childhood and spring, youth and prime of life and summer, the slow mellow aging and autumn and then the final dark of the final transition and winter. Leaving this turn of the wheel to walk the starlit skies, the winter skies, the summer stars, our feet sure on the path of the Milky Way. Perhaps that is fanciful, but I truly feel the rhythms and the stages and rightness of it. Everything in its time. In my case, maiden, mother, crone, all in their own time and with their own lessons. Part of a chain that reaches into the far distant past and into the future.

Children carrying the blood of our past and our heritage just as I do and the ones who came before me.

Transitions, always changing, always moving. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow...but always moving. Carrying us with them.

Until next month, stay well,stay happy.    

If there’s MAGIC, is it still a MYSTERY? By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

From the time I read my first Nancy Drew Mystery, I was hooked on the puzzles that are at the root of every mystery book. From Nancy, I moved on to my brothers’ stack of The Hardy Boys, dived into my best friend’s collection of Agatha Christies, and the rest is history. Now I’m a career author, and my stories always have a mystery at their core, but I don’t stop there. 

Mysteries form the PLOT, but what about CHARACTER and SETTING. There’s nothing that says I can’t add more layers to my story through the other elements while staying true to the bones of a good mystery. Why can’t I let my imagination run wild and weave in magical spells, alternate universes, and portal magic? …As long as I still follow the rules of a good mystery!

Mysteries are stories that have, as their base, a crime (most likely a murder) and someone who strives to solve the crime or catch the killer.  I’m not the only author running amok with the genre fiction. Today's mystery and suspense writer can go literally in any direction, genre, and sub-genre.  Romance, Science Fiction, Paranormal, and Mainstream novels routinely tap into the elements of mystery fiction. This has opened the doors to some new and exciting direction like the cozy paranormal mystery series from authors like Mary Stanton or Heather Blackwell. That doesn’t mean that you can throw out the traditional bones of a mystery. The tried-and-true formula still applies along with many of the other fundamentals we’ve relied on for decades.

Mysteries must meet the expectations of its audience, but are its components really so different from other genres?

· Strong Mystery PLOT

· Depth of CHARACTERS

· Multiple sources of CONFLICT

· Strategic Placement of CLUES

·Creative use of RED HERRINGS

With the exception of the last two, not so much.

The mystery form is not as rigid as in the past, although you need to observe some accepted boundaries or readers tend to get upset with you. The crime must be serious enough for the reader to want it solved, and there must be a penalty for NOT solving the murder. There must be detection--a crime cannot solve itself. You must play fair with the reader. Every clue discovered by the detective/sleuth must be available to the reader somewhere in the book and clues and red herrings must eventually lead to solving the crime. If it is a whodunnit there must be several suspects and the murderer must be among them. If is a whydunnit, you will know the murderer and the question becomes which of the motives is the reason the crime was committed.

In my paranormal mystery, WITCH UNBOUND, two murders bring Marcus Egan, a magically powerful Guardian Warlock to the mortal realm. The daughter of the murder victims, Avalon Gwynn, is an untrained hereditary witch who is a danger to herself, and both the mortal and supernatural realms, without his help. Together they battle dark forces while trying to find her parents’ murderer. It’s a traditional whodunnit wrapped in magic and romance that I hope readers will enjoy.

I write heartwarming stories of mystery and magic. WITCH UNBOUND is the first book in my paranormal mystery series Beyond the Magic and is available OCTOBER 1. To learn more about my Beyond the Magic series or my author life, please find me on my website at www.bcdeeks.com or on Facebook.

About Elizabeth II -- Reminiscence

 

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 Inevitable that several of us BWL authors will write about the death of Queen Elizabeth, so here's my contribution. I still can't quite believe she is gone, even after ten days of a most Royal sendoff. She's been The Queen for most of my life. I do remember George VI's death, however, as this was also big news at our house. My parents discussed how brave the king had been, during the war, staying in London with his people, throughout the nightly bombing. 

On the great stage of today's (apparently) endless train of planetary disasters, her death doesn't mean much beyond the UK and the remaining commonwealth nations, but how well I remember Elizabeth's coronation, which took place when I was eight. With an Anglophile Mom, I couldn't help hearing--and viewing (for a new wonder, a television had just arrived in our home) an English Coronation, full of glittering regalia and history. 

(Free Image from Pixabay)

The idea of showing this rite to the public had been much debated beforehand--such a break with tradition! Those grainy black-and-white images of a beautiful young Queen inside her fairy-tale golden carriage, riding through gray, battered, postwar London, now all decked out beautifully for the celebration. The procession to the Abbey was followed by film of the mystery taking place inside. This was ground-breaking, this showing of so much of an ancient ritual to the public, but it proved to be a huge hit with the viewing public all over the world.  From now on, television would give those who liked to "royal watch" a whole new tool with which to engage. 

Anticipating the event, The New York Times was suddenly full of articles on the British royal family and also on English history, a news glut on a single subject, from the time of the death of King George VI onward to the crowning of the new, young queen.   From this time, I'd date my ever-increasing, ever-expanding, sixty year passion for learning about human history. 

https://www.amazon.com/Roan-Rose-Juliet-Waldron/dp/149224158X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2R221JXX8BYFN&keywords=Roan+Rose+Waldron&qid=1664379252&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjg0IiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=roan+rose+waldron%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1

Certainly, at first, this history was of the WASP kind, as that was the brand on offer at my house. I had a scrapbook filled with articles clipped from Newsweek, the NYT, Look, and whatever magazine resources we had that dealt with current events. I was not a tidy kid, so this was a messy affair of white paste and missing bits of text, but I was thoroughly engaged while making it. 

When Mom took me to England after her divorce, I ended up in a country boarding school in Penzance. Here, I found myself regularly singing "God Save the Queen." My 5th form classmates were rather surprised to learn I already knew the words, but, with a Mom like mine, this had been inevitable. I had been taught that "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" so I adapted as fast as I could in all ways. 

I'd had no idea that a person could live on cabbage and potatoes and slices of brown bread and a single pat of butter, but that was what was on offer in boarding school, so I wolfed it down like everyone else. Post-war, even in the early sixties, things were tight and war-time frugality was still the order of the day. In winter, the school was kept at 45 F., and so our wool and flannel clothing was a necessity, not an affectation. We shared a once a week bath--3 girls bathed and washed their hair in the same tub. Therefore, the water was super hot to start, but I was often allowed that first bath by default, because no one else wanted to brave the temperature.

In London, while sightseeing, I saw huge open swathes of emptiness and broken bricks in some places, in others, like around St. Paul's Cathedral, there was an expansive green void on every side, where that huge ediface stood, white and shining, perfectly alone, a miracle of survival during the Blitz. 

.  

When Mom and I transferred ourselves to Barbardos, in what was then the British West Indies, we sang "God Save The Queen" there too. Barbados was part of the old British Commonwealth, and called Elizabeth II "Queen of Barbados," but I understand that this "Island in the Sun" has become a republic (as of November, 2021), and replaced the British Crowned head with a President, while remaining as part of the Commonwealth of Nations. English rule, begun in Barbados in 1627, has ended at last,  and with it, the days of Bajan schoolgirls singing "God Save the Queen."  

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--Juliet Waldron

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Animal Friends in Life and Literature By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

Growing up my favorite fluffy toy was a purple bunny, but we only had stray cats as pets. I was well into adulthood before I realized how much I love animals of all sizes.

It wasn't until I transitioned to a writing career that our lifestyle could provide a stable home for a pet. We went to visit a breeder, and instantly fell in love with a 12-week-old Bichon Shih Tzu named Kipper (aka my little dead fish). We later adopted a 3 1/2-year-old Bichon rescue named Benny, who quickly became known as The Knickernapper. Benny and Kipper have since passed away two years apart, both having reached the ripe old age of 14.

When I began writing books, my love of animals seeped into that aspect of my life as well. Buddy, a stray dog, showed up during a raging blizzard to be rescued by the heroine, Police Officer Joey Frost, in Chapter 1 of The Holly & The Ivy in the Frost Family & Friends series. This loveable canine brings moments of tears and joy to the holiday tale that can only come from the relationship between people and their pets.

I can't imagine my upcoming series Beyond the Magic without Busby—the mysterious, but loyal and loveable canine Familiar. In my fictional world, an animal Familiar spontaneously appears to a witch who needs help or protection and is believed to be sent by a more powerful witch or spirit. Busby is the Familiar for my heroine, Avalon [Avy] Gwynn, a young woman whose parents have been murdered and who doesn't know she's an extraordinary hereditary witch. Busby is one of the main story characters and shows up even before my hero, a powerful warlock (Marcus Egan). I modeled Busby's behavior on Kipper and Benny, but he developed his own personality. He and Marcus have a funny dynamic to their relationship that I had nothing to do with; they just acted that way whenever they were together in Witch Unbound. I can't say more without spoiling it for readers, though. Keep an eye out for Beyond the Magic books beginning in October 2022.

When my hubby and I moved to Canada's cowboy country, Alberta, in 1997 we spent many weekends learning to ride and exploring the backcountry of the Rocky Mountains on horseback. These mountain-bred horses allowed me to see area that I never could have accessed on my own. There was one instance when we needed to descend a steep shale slope. Our guide told us we had two options; slide down on our behinds or stay on our mounts but let them have their head (meaning let go of the reins, lean back on their rump, and trust them to take you down safely). Most of the group opted for the bum option. Not me! I decided the horse was much more sure-footed than I, so I lay back across Ginger's rump and closed my eyes. It was like floating on a cloud. The guide told me later that Ginger was nicknamed 'The Babysitter' because she was so conscious of her charges that she never let one fall off her back. Who knows, maybe my next Familiar will be a horse!

I've also worked for my local municipal department that oversees the city zoo, and that allowed me special access to the exotic animals on occasion. I've hand fed elephants, petted camels, snuggled jaguar cubs and had a sleepover with the hippos - no cuddling with those guys let me tell you. We don’t have a pet at home right now, but I am registered as a foster parent for dogs with the #CalgaryHumaneSociety.

I believe that illustrating the special relationship between humans and animals in my stories adds a significant dimension that is just as important as the interactions between the rest of the characters.

I write heartwarming stories of mystery and magic. To learn more about my upcoming Beyond the Magic series or my author life, please find me on my website at www.bcdeeks.com or on Facebook.

NEW RELEASE - What About Me? / by Barbara Baker

 

What About Me is a sequel to Summer of Lies and follows Jillian as she starts grade 10 in Banff a month after the semester begins. Being the new kid is always hard. Being the new kid in a small town, at a small school where everyone knows her business is the worst.

She loves her Opa but moving from Toronto to help Aunt Steph take care of him was not Jillian’s idea. As she navigates unfamiliar hallways and attempts to fit into her new surroundings, Jillian makes choices which impact her relationships and a potential boyfriend. Will the last choice she makes be the right one?

*****

If you’re familiar with Banff, you may recognize the sites Jillian sees. If you’ve hiked in the area, you may have walked the trails she takes. And, if you went to high school there, the formaldehyde smell will lead you right to the biology room.

Whether or not you’ve been to Banff, enjoy the landscapes through Jillian’s eyes.

*****

Banff attracts tourists from all over the world. They browse through the shops, take selfies with the dramatic Rocky Mountain backdrop or simply stroll the streets and take in the sites.

Since COVID, only pedestrian traffic is allowed on Banff Avenue during the summer holiday season. People amble about without dodging cars.

If crowds and shopping are not your thing, go a few streets west and access the wide walking trail which parallels the Bow River. Stroll out to Vermillion Lakes for post card views of Mt. Rundle.

Or go in the opposite direction and view the Bow Falls.

Elk, deer, or coyotes  may keep you company along the way but do not approach them. They’re wild animals. Attempting to get a selfie with an elk could be detrimental. To the elk. If it charges or hurts you, the elk will pay the price. It will be removed. Not you. Admire them from a distance.

If you want a great x-country bike ride, head past the Banff Springs Hotel and follow the Spray Lakes trail – the same road Jillian mountain biked. 

Within minutes, you’ll leave the busyness of town behind. The trail follows the Spray River and winds through the forest valley, flanked by mountain ranges on both sides. But DON’T forget your pepper spray in case you encounter a bear. The canister won’t do any good if you leave it in the car. Jillian is reminded often to be sure she has hers with her.

A couple days after the release of What About Me? I got a picture and text from a reader who went to one of the spots Jillian visits. 

Then another picture came. It makes my day to see people enjoying my story. Thanks to all you readers out there. You’re the reason I keep on writing.

I hope you enjoy What About Me? and if you’re thinking of visiting Banff and want suggestions, follow me on Facebook  Barbara Wackerle Baker | Facebook, Instagram Barbara Wackerle Baker (@bbaker.write) or send me a note bbaker.write@gmail.com.

What About Me?: Sequel to Summer of Lies : Baker, Barbara: Amazon.ca: Books

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Big News in the Sugarwood Mysteries Series by Diane Bator

 

Sugarwood Mysteries has 

a NEW LOOK and a NEW BOOK!!

Audra Clemmings loves Halloween. At least until she sees the display of voodoo dolls in the shop next door that resembles nearly everyone in Sugarwood, Ontario--including her.

Then there's the matter of the dead cowboy on the bench in front of her shop Stitch'n'Time...

A few great reviews:

"After reading the first book in the Sugarwood Mysteries, I became hooked on the characters, genre, and author. Ms. Bator penned a goodie in this murder mystery. Characters Audra Clemmings and Merilee Rutherford (best friends) hang in there together, always having each other’s backs through some terrorizing moments. Between the two of these women, figuring out the ‘who done it’ kept them guessing while wrapping the reader around their conjectures and info gathering. I enjoyed these women, completely enamored in their thought process. I adore cozy mysteries, and Ms. Bator just became one of my favorite authors of this genre." - Susan

"This is not your Wild West Cowboy story. No, this is contemporary and takes place in a small town. Yes, one of the shopkeepers in the charming downtown area is on the trail to find out whodunit. Lots of humor and speculation on who killed the cowboy and why, so I was not sure who the murderer was until the end of the book. Ms. Bator's description of the locations and the quirky fun characters engage readers in this well-written cozy mystery. Yes, I recommend the book to cozy mystery lovers." - Janet Glaser

"All the characters were well-crafted. One of my favorites is Miss Lavinia. She describes them so vividly it's as if you actually know them, great job.
Clemmings definitely has her hands full. However, in the end, she prevails. If you enjoy reading a really good cozy mystery then this is the book for you.
It has surprises, it's captivating, and keeps you wondering until the very end." - Digiecard

BWL Publishing Website:  http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/

AND THE NEW BOOK...

Christmas blooms in Sugarwood in the form of a brightly lit tree in town square, colourful ornaments, and a snowstorm. It’s just Audra Clemmings’ luck that she literally stumbles over the local butcher in Miss Lavinia’s shop. Then a witch doctor arrives in town. Can Audra solve the mystery before the killer turns their sights on her?

Here's a little snippet!

 As I grabbed my red parka from the closet, I smiled. The colour never failed to give me a lift, so I paired it with my favourite red hat and black gloves. I left Drake home to babysit Rex who, as predicted, fell asleep on the bed and still hadn’t returned to the couch. I was at the deli before I realized I could’ve taken the key and the car and then he’d be stuck there. Darn it! I was such a creature of habit.

At nine o’clock on the dot, I set a large black coffee on Officer Grant’s desk and asked, “Did you find out who owns that token?”

He scratched the stubble on his chin as he reached for the cup.

I moved it out of his reach. “Not so fast. I want answers.”

“And I want coffee,” he said, meeting my gaze. “If you think we’re at an impasse, keep in mind I’m the one with the gun and the handcuffs.”

“Good thing I’m not wearing my pajamas then.” The words sounded better in my head than they did aloud.

A nearby officer smirked.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Jacobs,” Officer Grant snapped. “Last time I arrested her, she was wearing her pajamas out in public.”

Handing him the coffee before he bit anyone, I decided to consider it my good deed for the day. I sat across from him and asked, “So?”

He sipped the coffee. “Needs cream.”

“You’re welcome.” 

Dead Man's Doll Coming October 2022 

from BWL Publishing: http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/

To request additional review copies or an interview with Diane Bator, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925.    

We look forward to the coverage!

The Fall of the House of York

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"Juliet Waldron's grasp of time and period history is superb and detailed. Her characters were well developed and sympathetic."

"One of the better Richard III books..."

Crest and Motto of Richard III

On a sunny late summer morning in August, 1485, near Leicester, two armies faced one another. The King of England, Richard III, arose at dawn. Tradition, and Shakespeare, claim that he had had a bad night, although this can never be known now, 537 years later.  The King often traveled with his own bed. One night earlier, he had slept in his royal bed, for he had brought it along with his baggage train from Nottingham Castle. Perhaps too large and bulky to be used in a battlefield tent, the royal bed had been left behind at an Inn in Leicester.  Richard was known as a man who "slept ill in strange beds" and so preferred to maintain regularity in his sleeping arrangements.

Chaplains probably said Mass for the King on that fatal morning, as this too was standard practice on Medieval Battlefields, before he broke his fast with watered wine and bread. His esquires would have begun to armor him. His open crown, set with jewels, was set upon his helm, and then, mounted upon his favorite white charger, Whyte Syrie,* he began to direct the disposition of his army. 

According to John Ashdown-Hill, Historian and member of the Royal Historical Society: ..."When John de Vere, one of Henry Tudors most experienced commanders, saw the royal army advancing to oppose them, he swiftly ordered his men to hold back and maintain close contact with their standard bearers. In consequence the rebel advance ...ground to a halt..." This manuever drew the rebel forces into close formation, with the French mercenary pikemen held in reserve. Ashdown-Hill speculates on why, at this point, the sight of his hated distant cousin sent him charging to destruction. 

"Perhaps out of bravado, or from a sense of noblesse oblige, or possibly because he was suffering from a fever and not in full possession of his faculties, Richard called his men around him and then set off with them at a gallop to settle Henry's fate once and for all." 

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 Ashdown-Hill (The Last Days of Richard III) speculates on why, at this point, the sight of his cousin sent the king charging to destruction. (Certainly, Richard did not know what Henry looked like, but he would have seen his standard and known he surely stood nearby.) 

"Perhaps out of bravado, or from a sense of noblesse oblige, or possibly because he was suffering from a fever and not in full possession of his facaulties, Richard called his men around him and then set off with them at a gallop to settle Henry's fate once and for all."  

It was a risky move. In chess, this would be the same as sending one's king across the board to directly attack the rival king. 

Richard's legendary charge came near to succeeding. Richard himself slew Tudor's imposing standard bearer, William Brandon, but this is the moment when the wily foreign mercenaries Henry had brought with him drew together in a phalanx, protecting Henry and keeping him out of harm's way. Richard's cavalry hurled themselves into the pike wall so created. Many, including Richard, were unhorsed. At the same time, the remainder of the King's cavalry came crashing in behind. The  Yorkist army was now in dissarray.   

John de Vere and Lord Stanley, both still hanging back--de Vere because he was an experienced soldier, Stanley, waiting to see which way the battle would go--now seized their opportunity. Stanley's men fell upon the milling mass of the royal cavalry. They caught the King on foot and he was soon overwhelmed and slain by a pack of enemy soldiers. 

Richard's bravery has never been questioned, even by the Tudor chroniclers. 

"King Richard was slain, fighting manfully in the midst of his enemies." - The Croyland Chronicle.

When Richard fell, de Vere wheeled and attacked the Duke of Norfolk. During the initial clash, Norfolk lost his helmet and caught an arrow in the eye. The Yorkist side had now lost both captains. The leaderless army began to collapse. 

Michael Jones, whose 2016 military history, Bosworth, 1485, believes that Richard's charge, while a throw of the dice, was in fact "the final act of Richard's ritual affirmation of himself as rightful king." Ashdown-Hill says that Richard "acted in full accord with the late medieval literary tradition."  

After his accession, Henry Tudor would soon confirm this first impression, as the kind of man who preferred judicial murder to a face-to-face duel. While there would soon be a host of Yorkist family members executed on various trumped up charges by him, there is no record of Henry VII even lifting his sword at the battle which would establish his famous dynasty. 

What can I make of my own long fascination with this still controversial character, this long dead English King? In many ways, Richard was the last of his kind. His brief reign marked the end of the  Plantagenet Kings, and from this time forward, historians habitually date the beginning of modern times. Richard's pagentory charge was a medieval aristocrat's decision to play the role of king--a leader of his men--in the most heroic fashion possible. 

Henry was indeed a modern man, cut from different cloth, a man who had far less right to the throne than most of the people he exececuted, a man who had been poor and on the run, but who now intended to become rich by taking everything he could take from anyone who opposed him. The personal tale of Henry VII is a classic picture of a paranoid miser. This fruits of this monarch's gold hunger would--as is so often the case--be blown by his equally paranoid and indulged, vainglorious son, Henry VIII.  

I read the Daughter of Time (by popular mystery writer Josephine Tey) when I was eleven. Richard's story as she told it--here was a man "framed" by his enemies and maligned forever after--became an overriding obsession. I can still pick up my tattered Penguin paperback and find the bedraggled white rose I dried between the pages, oh, so many years ago! Today I can still remember all the kids at summer camp whose ears I talked off on a subject most of them had never heard of. Tilting at windmills in my own nerd way, I guess. 

Now, of course, I look at history--especially the kind of western history which I was taught in school--in a very different. In the great scheme of things, the innocence or guilt of an otherwise obscure English king doesn't matter much, but to this day it remains a heck of a great story. 

Roan Rose is my proud contribution to the Richardian genre. Here we hear the tale of the servant Rose, one who was privy to so much, yet still survived to tell it. 

Dear Rose! She is one of my favorite creations. I hope readers love her as much as I do.

~~Juliet Waldron  

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