Accidental Deaths by J. S. Marlo

  

Wounded Hearts

"Love & Sacrifice #2"

is now available  

click here 

 

 

  

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

I write murder/mystery/romance novels. As such, someone will be injured or die by the end of the book, and my perpetrators will go to great length to deflect or cover their crime.

In average, 15,000 people die every year following an accident in Canada. Accidents are the 1st leading cause of death in people under the age of 45, and the 4th overall in all age groups after Cancer, Heart Diseases, and Covid-19. Interestingly, if we separate the statistics by gender, accidents are the 3rd leading cause of death in men but the 5th in women.

Since accidents are relatively common, one way to cover a murder is to make it look like an accident. Here are the six major causes of accidental deaths:

- Motor Vehicle Accidents (1st cause in both men & women): one of my perpetrators tampered with a car...

- Fall (2nd in both men & women): it's fairly easy to push someone down the stairs, but the problem is when the victim survives the fall and can identify the perpetrator...

- Drowning (3rd in men, 6th in women): forcing someone to drown without leaving signs of struggle behind is not as easy as it looks...

- Fire (4th in men, 3rd women): fire tends to destroy everything, except what started the fire...

- Suffocation (5th in men, 4th women): pillows come to mind here...

- Poisoning (6th in men, 5th women): the perpetrators in historical novels could get away with poisoning their victims, but nowadays only a handful of substances will not show up during an autopsy, and these few undetectable substances aren't readily available.

My perpetrators won't stop trying to hide their crimes, but they won't get away with it LOL

Enjoy the small blessings that life brings every day & stay safe!

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

Wounded Hearts by J. S. Marlo

Wounded Hearts

"Love & Sacrifice #2"

is now available  

click here 

 

 

  

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

I am delighted to present my newest novel: Wounded Hearts

Faced with the impossible choice of hurting the man she loves, or leaving him forever, Rowan Kendrick flees Iceland for Prince Edward Island, Canada. Heartbroken, and unable to forget him, she finds refuge at The Buccaneer, a bed & breakfast recently willed to her by an estranged aunt.

Haunted by a fatal shooting, Avery Stone seeks his escape in Buccaneer's attic room. Despite himself, he is drawn into the peculiar circumstances behind the previous owner's death and the strange bones exhumed by Rowan. His dislike for the doctor befriending her turns to mistrust as matters unravel.

Rowan struggles to cope with difficult guests, the puzzling Mr. Stone, and her increasingly complicated family secrets. When she unearths a murderer, is she doomed to death like her aunt? Or will the men in her life, including the love she left behind, set aside their own troubles and band together to help her?

Storylines don't usually just pop into my head. In most cases, something in real life sparks an idea, and that idea develops into a storyline.

This is the story behind Wounded Hearts:

Years ago, Hubby and I went on a two-week vacation on Magdalen Islands, a small archipelago in the gulf of St. Lawrence on the Atlantic Coast. We stayed in a Bed & Breakfast on one of the smaller islands. The hosts/owners were as charming as the old school building they had transformed in a Bed & Breakfast.

When they learned I was a writer, they suggested I set my next story in a Bed & Breakfast on the Atlantic Coast. I couldn't resist their wonderful idea. This is the reason Rowan inherits a Bed & Breakfast on Prince Edward Island.

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

Seasoned Hearts by J. S. Marlo

 

 

Seasoned Hearts

"Love & Sacrifice #1"

is now available  

click here

 

 

 

The Red Quilt

"a sweet & uplifting holiday story"

click here

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

As I mentioned last month in my blog, I was busy rewriting a novel from a decade ago, but as the weeks & months went by, it turned into more than a rewrite.

The motivation of my protagonists and antagonists changed, and so did their backgrounds.

I eliminated characters and introduced new ones. 

I eliminated events and plots, and created new storylines. 

 

And while the premise of the story remained the same, the new novel shared limited resemblance with the old one.

 

So this month, it is my pleasure to present you this new, wonderful, and inspiring novel: Seasoned Hearts

Explosion, arson, and murder play an integral and entertaining role in Actor Blythe Huxley’s life, but when his wife is shot, the tragedy becomes real and the decisions heartbreaking.

Love, sacrifice, and duty aren’t empty words that Riley Kendrick writes in her television scripts. They are the threads weaving her life together—a life marked by the loss of her husband in the line of duty, the hardship of raising two children alone, and the strength to move on.

As Riley offers a friendly ear to the actor’s difficulties, an arsonist strikes close to home, casting a shadow on her husband’s death and forcing her to revisit her past. Meanwhile, another bullet flies in proximity of the television studio, entangling her life with Blythe’s tragedy.

Can she and Blythe stop the arsonist threatening her family and the killer set on destroying his life before they each lose another loved one and have their hearts shattered beyond hope of repair?

 

A friend asked me why I chose 'Seasoned' Hearts as my title.

Seasoned means experienced, but it also means flavoured or spiced. My protagonists, Blythe and Riley, are in their forties. They have
been around the block a few times. They experienced great joy, great sorrow, and most things in between. They also tasted life to the fullest, bitter and sweet. It seemed like a fitting title.

  Seasoned Hearts is the first instalment of my new series: Love & Sacrifice

 

 

It will be followed by Wounded Hearts (Fall 2022), Rebelled Hearts (Spring 2023), and Dedicated Hearts (Fall 2023).

Each book is a stand-alone, but some characters will appear in more than one book.

 

Seasoned Hearts is available in print and ebooks. For a list of retailers, click here

Stay warm & stay safe!

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

Writing What You No? by Vanessa C. Hawkins

 

 Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

Is it the ninth again? A month goes by fast when you're doing jack! Well... maybe not Jack but certainly his young brother Zilch. As I scratch my head wondering what to write about, I suddenly remember that I have published another book! 

Well, maybe not JUST published, but it came out a few months ago. Unlike Ballroom Riot--which has damsels and dragons and romance and as many F Bombs as a small army barracks--my other book, A Child to Cry Over, is about a young, eight year old girl who is convicted of the murder of a two year old boy. 

Yeah... it's a bit heavy!  

Ballroom Riot= Light as a lady's fart
A Child to Cry Over= Heavy as the solid stuff!

I wrote it a little while ago actually. Before I had my daughter and when I was a callous young woman with no heart or soul and who had tons of time to sleep or brush their hair and could go to the bathroom by herself without a tiny human having to attend every single time. 

Every. Single. Time.

But regardless of whether I could write such a book now that I am a mother, I did write this one, and I set it right dab in the middle of my hometown in rural New Brunswick, Canada. Which had... more than it's fair share of unsexy results. 

See, my little pee-brained, not-yet-famous-but-maybe-one-day author voice told me it was a good idea to write what you know. Write a book about a little girl who grows up in rural NB and jot down all her observations about the place in which she lives. The local people will love it! Until some aspects don't paint the town in a great light... then watch out.

Let me tell you, I got my fair share of critics! As well as some great accolades, mind you, but some people were under the impression I was bashing my home town! Nooooooo! Not at all...

Okay maybe some, but not really. If I didn't love Not Here, New Brunswick, I certainly wouldn't be living there, right? Right. 

Honestly though, it's a nice place.

But despite my sentiments, I did get some flack. I also got a lot of local interviews and newspaper articles so... I mean, no regrets! Writing what you know works! But it also meant that people knew who I was. I got private FB messages, texts, calls! so people could tell me what they thought. Which IS pretty cool but also hella awkward depending on the situation. And it's not to say I never got those kinds of things from family and friends before... but its just... now I got it from people I didn't know... 

 

You read my book and live close to me and want
to talk about it?! Oh. God. No.

Which was an experience to say the least... And Mostly good. 

Mostly...

But it has certainly opened my eyes in regards to writing in a real setting. You're not going to please everyone, so please yourself I guess. Which is funny considering my next book is an erotica.

My puns are funny to me at least...

Wait, what was the point of this blog post? Oh yeah. Writers beware! Oo~ooh! Writing about your hometown and not having the good sense to change any or most of the names in that hometown may be baa~ad! Oo~ooh! And if you do it anyway? Be prepared for lots of messages and  .....*&(#%@( . Oo~oh! 

Or not. I mean, maybe no one wants to read your drivel anyway. 

I want to read your stuff George! Don't cry... 
You just need to write it before the sun explodes.

Crazy Writers are Attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days

Ever wonder how a writer gets all those words? Writers go to great lengths to get words on the page. NaNoWriMo is one of the most intense events in the writing world.

ON the first of November, as we do each year, thousands of writers around the world launched into the challenge of 50,00 words in one month, this month. (Why November? why not a month with 31 days?)

The rule is that you start on page one to write a book. Book pages must not have been written prior to November 1. However, my process prior to writing is an allowed activity. I start before I start by thinking about the book - a lot. ( Start before you start... how to launch into a new book. )

I have character sketches, I have a rough statement of the story, and limited, sketchy notes for the first eight scenes. My murderer has lived in my head for about fifteen years, so I know them quite well.

 

Last year I wrote the first draft of Mrs. Morrison Meets Murder, intended to be book #1 in my new series.  Throughout the year since, I realized that it wasn't Mrs. M's first murder event. That book will be renamed and moved to book #2 in the series.

And this year, I aim to do a rough draft of what will be book #1 in the Mrs. Mary Morrison and Murder series with a 60-something protagonist. I have potential scenes in my head. I have a rough character sketch of Mary, and a list of potential complications - one lines only.

And so the (new) story launching Mrs. Mary Morrison into the lists of boomer-aged sleuths began on November 1, 2020