I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Kevin R. Doyle. Today, Kevin shares his new release, Private License.

Blurb

All Lorie Jones wants is a little help with her divorce. Some extra information, a bit of ammunition to take into court against her no-good husband. And when she hires the biggest and best investigation firm Kansas City has to offer, that’s exactly what she gets. But after their operative wraps up Lori’s case, he decides he doesn’t want to move on, and Lori soon realizes that she’s got an even bigger problem than she had before, one that threatens her privacy, and maybe even her life.

It’s up to Sam Quinton, one-man detective agency, to take on the largest firm in the business, and as Sam digs into the background of Lori’s harasser, he soon finds something bigger, and much more dangerous, than one overzealous guy who just can’t let go.

Excerpt

Lorie hadn’t reported the latest invasion of her home. Maybe she was tired of running to the police and getting nothing accomplished, but when I considered the last intrusion and threatening note had happened before Karyn Roberts had suggested coming to me, my stomach fluttered a bit.

“Not exactly the kind of stuff you go to local cops for,” I said. “No offense.”

Sloan grunted. “None taken, mainly because you’re right. And actually, she didn’t initially bother us with the first two incidents.”

I nodded. “It was the third went over the top for her.”

“Yeah.” Sloan closed the file. “Which kind of fits because messing around with someone’s home is cop business. The rest of it lies with the post office and the banking people.”

“So what did you do?”

“About what?” Sloan looked up at me.

I sighed and managed to keep myself from shaking my head. And here we’d been getting along so well. “Did you look into her allegations?”

“These would be the allegations that a respected employee of a respected firm in the city was screwing around with her mind and emotions.”

“No,” I said, dropping my voice an octave or so. “Those would be the allegations a licensed private investigator, an ex-cop at that, was harassing and intimidating his own client.”

“You implying somehow we slow walked this because the guy she mentioned used to be a cop?”

Author Bio and Links

A retired high-school teacher and former college instructor, Kevin R. Doyle is the author of four novels in the Sam Quinton mystery series, all published by Camel Press. He’s also written four crime thrillers, including And the Devil Walks Away and The Anchor, and one horror novel, The Litter, along with numerous short horror stories published in small magazines over the years. The first Quinton book, Squatter’s Rights, was nominated for the 2021 Shamus award for Best First PI Novel, and the fifth in the series, Private License, will be out in August of 2024.

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Giveaway

Kevin R. Doyle will award a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Kevin on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome author Rachelle Paige Campbell. Today, Rachelle shares her new release, Catch a Cowboy

Blurb

Kincaid Ranch’s lead cowboy, Ted Stirling, isn’t looking for romance or entanglements. He settled in Herd, Montana over a decade ago after a devastating loss. He’s seeking comfort and friendship. Nothing more. If he was going to try for love again, he would pick someone sweet and sunny, exactly like kindergarten teacher, Stephanie Patricks. But she’s too young for him.

Stephanie has nursed a crush on quiet, handsome Ted for years. Unfortunately, every time she’s around him, she gets tongue-tied. She only seems to be able to find her words when she’s working with her students. When Ted’s sister unexpectedly arrives in town with his five-year-old niece in tow, he needs help, and Stephanie is just the woman to provide it.

A sudden emergency puts into sharp focus exactly how fragile life is, and Ted needs to decide whether to open his heart again, or let love slip away forever.

Excerpt

Stephanie glanced at the bag in her hands and back up to the cabin’s door. Nibbling her lip, she couldn’t decide if self-confidence or self-sabotage had spurred her to drive to Ted’s house after dark. Whatever motivated her, she was here, readying herself to knock with the lamest excuse possible.

She fisted her hand and raised it to the door, knocking quickly before dropping the heavy appendage to her side to grip the tote bag again. Like a flimsy canvas sack containing an assortment of Maddy’s things—mostly socks and sweatshirts she’d slipped off during the school day—from her car would provide her with protection from embarrassment. She couldn’t stop thinking about the stolen moments they’d spent together. Each had been spontaneous and natural. Tonight, she was forcing an encounter.

The door opened.

“Stephanie? Hi,” he murmured, slipping outside. “I thought I heard a knock at the door but wasn’t sure. What’s up?”

She thrust the bag forward, hitting him square in the chest. “I’ve been collecting Maddy’s lost clothing. I realized just how much I had and figured you’d probably need it. You know. To do her laundry?” Stephanie’s voice was squeaky and awkward. Her skin flushed.

“Oh, right.” He held the bag to his chest. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

She took a deep breath. She was glad he hadn’t asked why she didn’t just give the items to him tomorrow or let Maddy bring them inside. She’d wanted to see him. But now, once again, her small talk vanished.

Buy/Read Links

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Author Bio and Links

Rachelle Paige Campbell writes contemporary romance novels filled with heart and hope. She believes love and laughter can change lives, and every story needs a happily ever after.

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Giveaway

Rachelle Paige Campbell will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Find out more here.

Follow Rachelle on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome best-selling author Karen Hulene Bartell. Today, Karen shares her new release, Fox Tale.

Blurb

Heights terrify Ava. When a stranger saves her from plunging down a mountain, he diverts her fears with tales of Japanese kitsune—shapeshifting foxes—and she begins a journey into the supernatural.

She’s attracted to Chase, both physically and metaphysically, yet primal instincts urge caution when shadows suggest more than meets the eye.

She’s torn between Chase and Rafe, her ex, when a chance reunion reignites their passion, but she struggles to overcome two years of bitter resentment. Did Rafe jilt her, or were they pawns of a larger conspiracy? Are the ancient legends true of kitsunes twisting time and events?

Excerpt

“Ava, are you all right?”

“Yes…” His anxious eyes cleared my mind like fog lights cutting through mist. “I am all right…no thanks to you.”

“I deserve that.” His chin dropped on his chest.

“That and so much more.” This time, anger rose in my throat like acid reflux.

After the breakup, I couldn’t mention the bastard’s name for a year. Always questioning what I’d done wrong, I finally realized his leaving was his flaw–not mine. Then I fantasized telling him off, rehearsing what I’d say and how I’d say it…

But now, face to face, the bluster left me.

Worry lines radiated from his glistening eyes.

Mute testament to what? Grief? Remorse? Like drops of water eroding stone, what thoughts etched those furrows? His face was haggard. His looks have changed, but has he?

“Your behavior two years ago was unconscionable.” I pressed five, and the elevator doors started to close. “I shouldn’t have come.”

He intercepted, and the doors reopened. “Please stay…”

I took a deep breath, debating. Then rather than hold up the car again, I stepped into the vestibule.

“Can you forgive me?” A deep V showed between his red-rimmed eyes.

“No. Standing me up on my birthday was bad enough, but eloping…That was unforgiveable–and crocodile tears won’t help.”

“Yet here you are…” A light flickered in his moist eyes.

“I know.” I glared at my nemesis in a silent standoff, annoyed as I stifled a sigh. “What I don’t know is why.”

Author Bio and Links

Author of the Trans-Pecos and Sacred Emblem series, Karen is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, wife, and all-around pilgrim of life, who writes multicultural, offbeat love stories. Born to rolling-stone parents who moved often, Bartell found her earliest playmates as fictional friends in books. Paperbacks became her portable pals. Ghost stories kept her up at night—reading feverishly. The paranormal was her passion. Novels offered an imaginative escape. An only child, she began writing her first novel at the age of nine, learning the joy of creating her own happy endings. Professor emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin, Karen resides in the Texas Piney Woods with her husband Peter and her “mews”—three rescued cats and a rescued *Cat*ahoula Leopard dog.

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Giveaway

A randomly drawn winner will be awarded a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble Gift Card. Find out more here.

Follow Karen on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Marcia Rosen. Today, Marcia shares her recent release, My Gangster Father and Me!

Blurb

Happy Fathers Day.

Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has. My father was a gangster. Really!

This is my story about my relationship with my father and how his profession affected me and my life, “He called me Sugar Plum. Both a blessing and a burden, I learned interesting lessons from my father: about generosity and determination, taking risks, and certainly finding the willingness to live life as an adventure.”

Excerpt

You can command respect by your actions and deeds. You most certainly can’t demand love. I’m pretty sure my father never really felt loved by his family or by my mother, except perhaps briefly when they were dating and first married.

My father showed me by example the importance of helping someone who is homeless and hungry. He often bought a meal for those in need. I watched him do those things. One time, I was walking with him on Main Street in downtown Buffalo, past the five and dime store. A man, who looked like he was around fifty, asked for money. My father said, “Let’s go inside and I’ll buy you something to eat.” I can still picture us going inside to buy him a meal.

I grew up learning to be tolerant, yet at times he was intolerant. He taught me to believe in the necessity of fairness and justice, yet he himself did not always demonstrate those traits. He taught me to respect others, yet from my point of view he showed a lack of respect for some people. I believe he was a racist and told him so. His own history figured largely in his feelings and way of thinking.

My father’s attitude towards Black people had its source when he was in his early twenties. He and my grandfather had a small, thriving business providing farm-grown produce to some of the larger grocery chains in the city. Several times a week, leaving well before dawn, they would drive outside of the city to buy fruits and vegetables, often returning after dark.

Tired and in need of some rest, a young Black man who worked for them took over the driving. He too must have been tired and fell asleep at the wheel. There was a serious accident killing my grandfather and sending my father to the hospital for several months. He was lucky to have survived, as was the driver. My dad was not told about his father until the doctors were sure about his recovery. He spent the rest of his life taking a small white pill each day to stop him from shaking; he had nerve damage from the accident. He rarely spoke about it. Yet it affected his entire life.

We strongly disagreed about his being a racist. He would always say, “I’m not racist.” I think he was. When I became very friendly with the daughter of a Black family who moved in next door to us, we moved. As a teenager, when my African American boss drove me home from work one day, my father had a fit. “What if someone sees you? What will they think?” It was the 1950s and people thought all sorts of illogical and irrational things.

There was more of this type of attitude and comments from both my father and mother. I was not at all happy with them, and they were not too pleased with me. This was a frequent topic of controversy between us.

For me, like many others in this country, I cried tears of hope on November 4, 2008, when it was announced an African American was elected President of the United States of America. Tears were on my cheeks, as they were on thousands of others: leaders and everyday Americans, white and Black. We voted and sent an important message. Not everyone heard it, but on that day reasonable voices prevailed.

Author Bio and Links

Marcia Rosen is an award-winning author of twelve books including nine mysteries, the most recent is An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me Mystery: Murder at the Zoo. She is also the author of The Senior Sleuths, the Dying to Be Beautiful Mystery Series, and The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (Menus by her son Jory Rosen). She wrote The Woman’s Business Therapist and My Memoir Workbook and has given Memoir Writing presentations and classes for close to twenty years. Her Memoir Blog can be found on her website. For twenty-five years she was owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency.

Marcia has frequently been a featured speaker at organization meetings, bookstores, libraries, and Zoom Programs presenting talks on Encouraging the Writer Within You, Marketing for Authors, Writing Mysteries…Not A Mystery and A Memoir Detective…Writing Your Life Story. She has also helped numerous writers develop and market their books.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Southwest Writers, New Mexico Book Association, Public Safety Writer’s Association, International Memoir Writer’s Association, Women’s National book Association and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors—for which she is also a board member.

Website

Giveaway

Marcia Rosen will award a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Marcia on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.