Wednesday 10 September 2014

Romance in September: The Troublesome Apprentice by Liza O'Connor


While investigating the death of a friend and client, Maddy Hamilton, Xavier Thorn (reputed to be the greatest sleuth in England) is greatly impressed with Maddy’s nephew, Victor, and offers him a job as his secretary. Aware of Xavier’s history of firing secretaries, Victor garners a promise that for three months he cannot be fired. Vic then proceeds, in Xavier’s view, to be cheeky and impertinent at every turn.
Xavier endures the impudent pup because Victor is most skilled in extracting the truth from clients and intuiting facts with little evidence to assist. As they solve a string of cases, Xavier discovers a few more important details about his troublesome apprentice, such as her true gender, and the realization that she has awakened his long dormant heart.


EXCERPT
Vic knelt down to reduce her height and reached to the sill of the fireplace. “What if he knocked over the vase when searching the sill, then feared the item might have been in the vase and had fallen into the embers?”
“A reasonable possibility. Do you think he recovered what he sought in the ashes?”
“No, for he continues his search. You can see soot on the coffee table and side table drawers.” Vic pulled them open to study the contents. Dark smudges marred the napkins and doilies in the top one. The other, however, was completely empty. “How odd.”
“What did the bottom one have in it?”
“Buttons.”
“As in buttons for dresses?”
“Rather too bold for a dress, although some had been snipped from coats. Aunt Maddy collected fanciful buttons.” Vic stared at Xavier’s suit. “The ones on your vest would have caught her eye. I used to tease her she was part crow, for they are reputed to have a weakness for gewgaws.”
Pain filled her heart. She’d never tease Aunt Maddy about anything ever again. She paused and choked back the tears threatening to fall.
“Were they valuable?” Xavier’s voice lost its bark.
“Some had jewels embedded, but nothing one would kill for.” Vic shook her head. “I don’t think he came for Maddy’s collection, I think he simply couldn’t resist it once discovered.”
“I agree. How did you reach your conclusion?”
“Because he now searches the desk. If he had come for the buttons, he would have left directly.”
“And how did you determine he searched the desk last?”
“The footprints show he went first to the fireplace, and from there we can follow a trail of soot until we reach the small side table. It is here the soot stops. Perhaps he took out his handkerchief, wiped his hands, before bundling the buttons in the cloth. With his hands now clean, he ran them through his hair, either because he has a nervous tick or perhaps a stray lock had fallen into his eyes. Intending to search elsewhere, he walked to the door and tried to open it. In doing so, he left an oily residue from his hand. Finding the library door locked, he returned to the desk and, using the letter opener, pried free the center drawer.” Vic opened the desk drawer and frowned at the chaos. “He certainly searched in here. Aunt Maddy kept a very tidy desk.”
“Can you tell if anything is missing?”
“Not in this state. I would have to put everything back in place first.”
“Do it,” Xavier said. “So far all we know about the object the man sought is it isn’t paper. Had it been, he would have gone to the desk first.”
“Nor is it something he expected Aunt Maddy to value greatly, or why would she leave it on the fire sill or in a table drawer?”
Xavier stared at her.
“What?”
“Nothing. Continue on with your work.”
As Vic put all the objects of the drawer back into their proper places, she discovered one thing: Xavier Thorn had absolutely no patience.
“How long could this possibly take?”
“There are hundreds of items,” Vic explained.
Xavier exhaled in frustration. “It is good I sent home my driver. He would have died from pneumonia by now. By the way, your butler has obligated you to provide me with a carriage home.”
Vic smiled at his declaration.
“I trust your smile is one of compliance. Are you not done yet?”
“I will tell you when I’m done,” Vic snapped. “And why are you suddenly so impatient?”

Find The Troublesome Apprentice on Amazon

About the Author
I’m tired of telling my proper bio. So you get the improper bio. Liza O’Connor was raised by feral cats, which explains a great deal, such as why she has no manners, is always getting in trouble, and doesn’t behave like a proper author and give you a proper bio.She is highly unpredictable, both in real life and her stories, and presently is writing humorous romances. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.
Mostly humorous books by Liza:
Saving Casey – Old woman reincarnates into troubled teen’s body. (Half funny/half traumatizing)
Ghost LoverTwo British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. There’s a ghost cat too. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)
A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)
Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.
Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.
Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.
Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT 
Investigate these sites:

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Series Review: The Cat Who Series by Lilian Jackson Braun

This is the first of the promised amateur sleuth series reviews I mentioned in August. I deferred the posts until the Follow Me Tour was over.

If you are a mystery fan and cat (or animal) lover this series will grab your attention straight away.
The sleuth of the series is a Siamese cat called Kao K'o Kung (Koko for short). He meets his human assistant James Qwilleran in the first book when he is left homeless after his first owner is murdered.
Of course a male needs companionship, and Yum Yum is the perfect female to fit into his domain. They have Qwill well trained when it comes to their choices in food, nothing so ordinary as canned tuna, thank you very much!
These three characters, Qwill, Koko and Yum Yum, will steal your heart and before you know it you will be as addicted as I am. Fortunately, there are many still for me to read. Ms Braun wrote 30 books in the series before she passed away in 2011.
I read the books in order, and find that it is best to do that. The mystery in each book stands on its own, but the backstory is better understood if you read them in order. Aside from the mystery to be solved in each book, you follow the path of James Qwilleran (Qwill to his friends), a middle aged, recovering alcoholic newspaper reporter, who also wants to write a novel. His return to the world of newspaper ink, also brings some really weird, funny and interesting people crossing his path to give added colour to the stories.
Life events, interesting women (read sometime girlfriends), cats with attitude and murders make for an entertaining series with the three companions as they dig up (or dig out) clues to find the murderers.
If you love character driven stories, old fashioned murder mysteries, and cats that have their own personalities, this series is definitely for you.

Friday 5 September 2014

Follow Me Tour: The last of Botswana

Hippo not happy with us being so close
With almost 4000 photographs under my belt for this trip, it will take several weeks, if not months, to work through them all.
It was an amazing experience to take these photographs from a boat on the Chobe river, or a Unimog driving overland in the Chobe Nature Reserve on the northern most area of Botswana.

I have added more of the photographs to Pinterest if you want to have a look. As I work through to 4000, more will be added to my Botswana board. My perfect picture turned out to be not so perfect after all.
The composition is very good, but the photograph is not perfectly sharp so there is not much that I can do with it in terms of printing and framing it for an exhibition we will be having later this year. But such is life :)
I am thinking of painting it in oil, then at least the effort will not have been wasted.
Then again, my husband thinks it can be fixed since the photograph is good enough. I am so happy now!
He just made my day, and via Skype too!
Oh, if you want to see what the hubbub was about - here is the link :)

Water monitor basking in the early morning sun



Wednesday 3 September 2014

Issuu Sept/Oct Edition


In this issue, cover author New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Dianne Duvall shares with us about her Immortal Guardian’s paranormal romance series. Join us as we chat with Dianne about her work, then take a sneak peek at Night Unbound, the latest in her popular series.

Many more wonderful authors including A.L. Jackson, Quinn Loftis, Mary Manners and more.


Don't miss these entertaining columns -> Our New Column Debut
Bestseller’s Secret
FROM DYSLEXIC TO BESTSELLER...

Chic Trends in Romance
SEXY GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT

The Hot Hunks of History
DARK DUKES OF HISTORY

The Heat Diva
HOT SUMMER WRAP UP

Ali B. and the Forty Spaceships
TO READ, PERCHANCE TO DREAM...

The Scrying Eye
GHOSTS OF THE PAST... DEMONS OF THE PRESENT

Forever Young
THE RETRO SCREAM: HORROR NOVELS THAT NEVER GET OLD

BTS Goes Hollywood

ALEX BLEDSOE

Theme reveal: My A-to-Z blog challenge 2024

  It's been a while since I have taken part in the blog challenge. The problem is always coming up with new ideas so it isn't boring...