CHICAGO–Award nominations are coming in for noted historic fiction author Tasha Alexander’s TEARS OF PEARL (St. Martin’s Minotaur). The novel, part of the author’s award-winning Lady Emily series, was recently announced as a finalist for the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery. The book has also been nominated for the Best Historical Mystery Category for the prestigious RT Book Review Annual Career Achievement and Reviewers Choice Awards.

TEARS OF PEARL was released in September and is the fourth book in Alexander’s series. It was her first entry with St. Martin’s Minotaur after writing the first three books for Harper Morrow. Alexander also wrote the companion book the Cate Blanchett’s movie ELIZABETH THE GOLDEN AGE in 2007.

“As an author, doing what I love, it is so special and humbling to have my work nominated for the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery and RT Book Review awards,” said Tasha Alexander. “Both groups are so highly regarded in our business and are committed to the art of the written word.”

The Bruce Alexander Award honors the best historical (events prior to 1950) mystery published during the previous year. The winner will be announced at the Left Coast Crime Conference.  Tasha’s series is set in Victorian England period.

RT Book Review gave TEARS OF PEARL an outstanding 4½-star rating and said of Lady Emily, “Her voice and accurate historical details will keep the reader enthralled.”

Alexander, a Chicago resident and a graduate of Notre Dame, is awaiting publication of the next Lady Emily installment from Minotaur, DANGEROUS TO KNOW, scheduled for fall release.

RT award winners will be announced April 29 at an awards ceremony in Columbus, Ohio and in the June edition of RT Book Review.

Also visit www.tashaalexander.com

Media contact: Tom Robinson www.authorandbookmedia.com 615-794-2998 tcr811@aol.com

 (March 2010 release from Penguin Berkley Prime Crime)

Q—Aren’t you introducing us to some family members in PLASTER AND POISON?

A—I am, as a matter of fact! For the past two books, FATAL FIXER-UPPER and SPACKLED AND SPOOKED, Avery, the main character, has been talking to her mother Rosemary on the phone. Rosemary is in California. Her husband Noel Carrick is a TV producer out there, and in PLASTER AND POISON, the two of them come to Waterfield to see Avery and to check out Avery’s boyfriend Derek. Who has his own family playing a part in the story as well: Derek’s father, Dr. Benjamin Ellis, is also remarried, and his wife Cora came with two daughters attached. Both of them, Alice and Beatrice, come to Waterfield for Thanksgiving;  Beatrice with a couple of suitcases in the car. She has just left her husband, Steve, who is a lawyer in Boston, and she becomes an integral part of the plot. A long-dead Ellis also figures into the World War One history mystery in PLASTER AND POISON.

Q—Which new character was the most fun for you to create and why?

A—I really had fun with the history mystery in this one; so much so that my editor told me I had to tone it down because it was threatening to take over the plot. So the historical characters are both near and dear to my heart. Rosemary is a fun character to write, as well. So many people had asked me if she would ever be in any of the books, because they liked her so much when Avery spoke to her on the phone, and it was nice to be able to introduce her here.

Q—This is your third book in a series and you’ve signed to write two more books. What’s your advice on keeping a series fresh and entertaining? 

I prefer reading series to reading stand-alone books, and I think the reason for that is the same as for most of the other people who feel the way I do: we like hanging out with characters who have essentially become like old friends. It’s human nature, once we care about them, to want to know more, to want to see what happens next. The trick is to keep the characters growing and developing, not getting stale, but at the same time keeping them true to themselves, to what readers love about them.

Basically, Avery and Derek’s relationship is the backbone of the series. There are also a few secondary relationships that are developing over time. The mysteries are superimposed over the relationships, and they change in every book. In chapter 1 of each book, Derek and Avery take on a new project, the renovation of another house. Because the job is different in each book, and because the setting is different, each house is in a different spot surrounded by different neighbors, it isn’t hard to keep things interesting. I always have an influx of new characters I can use, while at the same time I get to add in whoever I need from the secondary characters already established in the previous books. The houses are always different, and I try to vary the plots as much as I can from book to book, while staying true to the characters and basic premise established in the first and second books.

Q—How long did it take you to write PLASTER AND POISON?

A—Publishing a book is a long process, and writing the book is only a small part of it. I’m on a six-month contract. It takes me roughly three months to write a first draft of the book. After that, I spend a couple of weeks going over it before sending it to my agent. Then I wait a few weeks to a month until she’s had a chance to read it, and then I work in her suggestions. After that it goes to my editor, who has suggestions for rewrites, as well. After I do those, there are copy edits and line edits to get through. While all this is going on, the designers and marketing department at the publishing house work on the cover, the layout, and the promo. The whole process usually takes close to a year and a half, from the time I write the first words to when I have a book in my hand.

Q—Can you talk about the renovation tips included in the back of the book?

A—Each book has a set of renovation tips in the back, for how to do some of the crafts and projects that Avery tackles in the course of the story. In FATAL FIXER-UPPER, it was kitchen projects and in SPACKLED AND SPOOKED, bathroom. In this third book, the main focus is on the bedroom that B&B owner Kate McGillicutty and police chief Wayne Rasmussen will move into once they’re married and Derek and Avery have finished renovating the carriage house on Kate’s property and have turned it into a romantic retreat for two. Avery is turning the bedroom—the whole house, really—into a pseudo-Parisian apartment, with a padded and upholstered wall behind the bed, skylights that look like balcony doors in the ceiling upstairs, and dripping chandeliers everywhere. The tips include upholstering a wall, turning a basic Shaker-style headboard into a romantic Gustavian-inspired bed, and how to make Avery’s paper-flowers, pictured on the cover of the book.

Media Contact: Tom Robinson www.authorandbookmedia.com  615-794-2998 tcr811@aol.com

D-I-Y AUTHOR JENNIE BENTLEY’S THIRD BOOK OF COZY MYSTERY SERIES SET FOR MARCH RELEASE BY BERKLEY PRIME CRIME

Author Jennie Bentley, the fast-rising voice of Do-It-Yourself cozy mysteries, brings readers back to Waterfield, Maine. This time it’s for a third adventure with home renovater Avery Baker and her handyman-boyfriend Derek in PLASTER AND POISON, a March release from Penguin Berkley Prime Crime.

Local bed and breakfast owner Kate McGillicutty and Waterfield Police Chief Wayne Rasmussen are finally tying the knot. They’ve asked Avery and her boyfriend, Derek, to renovate an old carriage house behind the B&B. It’s a daunting task, but Avery plans on remaking the relic into a romantic Parisian-style retreat.

But the course of true love–and home repair–rarely runs smooth. As proven when Avery stumbles across a lifeless body in the carriage house. And now, Avery’s to-do list reads: find wallpaper…lay insulation…solve murder!

PLASTER AND POISON follows the widely acclaimed success of FATAL FIXER-UPPER and SPACKLED AND SPOOKED.

With the latest book Bentley weaves solid “supporting character” development into the storyline. And as with the previous two books readers will find handy renovating tips at the conclusion.

“I’m very pleased with how the storyline developed in this book,” said Bentley. “It’s a book about family. Readers will find out more about some of the supporting characters that have been on the periphery for a while. They will get to meet Avery’s mom, Rosemary, and her stepfather, Noel, who is a television producer in California, when Rosemary and Noel come to Waterfield to see Avery and inspect Derek.

“Readers will also get to know more about Derek’s family,” Bentley added. “One of Derek’s stepsisters is Beatrice, and she has a big part in the plot of PLASTER AND POISON. I’m having fun with the characters. That’s important as you continue a series.”

Fans of Avery and Derek can expect at least two more books after PLASTER and POISON, as Bentley has been signed to extend the series to a fourth and fifth novel.

“There’s still so much good material, plots and twists to write for this series,” Bentley said. “Avery and Derek have become like my friends because we’ve all been together awhile. PLASTER AND POISON will also provide groundwork for the fourth book in the series.”

When Bentley isn’t busy writing D-I-Y cozy mysteries, she and her husband spend their time renovating their latest home. They are working on their ninth house in Middle Tennessee in as many years.

Visit www.jenniebentley.com

Red-hot mystery author Laura Caldwell, who released not one, not two, but three books this summer—to ignite the popular Izzy McNeil trilogy—announced that she has signed with MIRA books to write four more Izzy McNeil novels.  In June, Caldwell published Red Hot Lies, the story of a sassy, red headed Chicago attorney whose fiance disappears on the same day her client is killed.  The book was followed by Red Blooded Murder (July) and Red, White & Dead (August), all of which feature Izzy McNeil against the backdrop of Caldwell’s buzzing hometown Chicago.

The books are scheduled to hit stores after the release of Unlikely (tentative title), Caldwell’s non-fiction book with Free Press (a Simon & Schuster imprint) about a murder trial she handled which changed her life.  That book is set for September 2010.

“I’m thrilled to write four more books in the Izzy McNeil series,” said Caldwell.  “Never before have I felt there was still so much material to cover in the life of this character and those of the people around her.  And the fact that so many readers are writing to share what they liked (and what they didn’t; It’s okay, I can handle it) makes it even more exciting. Some readers have made the most incredible suggestions that never would have occurred to me.  I have a feeling there will be many readers acknowledged in these books.”

While Caldwell has 10 books published, the popular summer mystery trilogy was her first series.

It seems people want more D-I-Y cozy mysteries and noted Berkely Prime Crime author Jennie Bentley will continue to write them.

Bentley has agreed to write two more mysteries in the popular Avery Baker D-I-Y series for Prime Crime, bringing the total number of books in the Waterfield, Maine-based adventures to five.

Bentley debuted Avery Baker last year with the widely popular Fatal Fixer-Upper and the sequel—Spackled and Spooked—has been well received since its August release. Spackled and Spooked made Barnes & Noble’s Top 6 paperback ranking for the first week, the IMBA top ten the first month and for three weeks was first or second on the Davis-Kidd Bookstore list. Davis-Kidd is one of the south’s leading independent stores.The third book, Plaster and Poison, is scheduled for release March, 2010.

“I’m thrilled to be able to continue the journey with Avery and handyman Derek, and look forward to many more adventures with the fine people of historic and fictional Waterfield, Maine,” said Bentley. “Since there’s a population of just under 10,000 to utilize, I can keep going with the decrepit houses and dead bodies for quite a few books yet.”

By Gail Konop Baker

I want to be brave. I want to be big. I want to be gracious and cool.
I want to be the Audrey Hepburn of breast cancer.

From Chapter Three

October 2009

Inspirational memoir available in trade paperback

On Valentine’s Day 2006, Gail Konop Baker found herself sitting topless in the oncologist’s office. Married to a doctor and a health and fitness devotee, Konop Baker assumed she would know when her body rebelled against her. And that, almost by virtue of her medical marriage, everything would turn out all right. While her cancer turned out to be highly treatable, she wasnít prepared for what happened to her during and after the experience. Emotionally, she became a changed woman, and chronicles the ups and downs of this transformation in CANCER IS A BITCH: Or, I’d Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis (Da Capo Lifelong Books; October 1, 2009; re-released in trade paperback $14.95, ISBN 978-0-7382-1370-5).

Konop Baker offers the reader a window on her most intimate thoughts and fears, and writes without shame about the self-pity she felt when first diagnosed, the anger she felt toward her husband, the despair that wracked her when she thought about her children without a mother. And then, she becomes determined to fight. She researches carcinogens, becomes an organic food evangelist, steps her running and yoga up a few notches in the hopes that extreme health will ward off the disease. Throughout, she wonders when her lifeóafter years as a wife and motherófinally gets to be about her hopes, her dreams, her desires?

As I sit on the examining table in the internist’s office for my pre-op physical a day or two later, I think about Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, how it was praised for its lack of self-pity as I silently chant poor me poor me poor me, she writes. I am an armchair nutritionist, a person others consult for health and anti-aging tips, a lifelong subscriber to Prevention. I feel that I’m slipping away as I wonder how I could suffer a condition more serious than my chain-smoking nitrate-loving fruit-phobic non-exercising mother-in-law ever experienced.

There are more tests, talk of surgery, friends who die, and friends who have affairs for her. There is bickering and fighting and making up with her husband, her sex life comes and goes, and getting her first child off to college turns out to be an easier task than she thought. Konop Baker’s kaleidoscopic view of a real life, lived through a real scare, will ring true to any woman who’s ever been party to an uphill battle.

CANCER IS A BITCH is a rollicking, life-affirming read, by a true heroine for our times.

# # #

About the Author: Gail Konop Baker is an award-winning author,short story writer, poet, inspirational speaker, lecturer and health and patient advocate. Her work has been published in LiteraryMama.com, Talking River Review, The Potomac, Mota, The Danforth Review, Madison Magazine, Yankee Pot Roast, Wisconsin Trails, Xanadu, Womansong, Pudding Magazine, Glass Review, Health Magazine and an anthology funded by the Ohio Arts Council. Her LiteraryMama column “Bare-breasted Mama” made its debut in October of 2006. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her family.

CANCER IS A BITCH:
Or, I’d Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis
By Gail Konop Baker
Da Capo Lifelong Books
Re-release date: October 1, 2009
New to trade paperback $14.95
ISBN 978-0-7382-1370-5

The third book in CJ Lyons’s fast-paced and thrilling medical drama series, following the lives (and loves) of four women in Pittsburgh’s Angels of Mercy ER, as a killer stalks the halls of the hospital…
Living with lies means sleeping with fear…
Angels of Mercy ER charge nurse Nora Halloran has a secret. A secret she thinks is the reason why her ex- boyfriend, Seth Cochran, cheated on her and broke her heart.
Three years earlier, Nora was the victim of a brutal, degrading assault that she never reported. Determined to put it behind her, she buried the truth and pretended it never happened, preferring to deal with her fears and anxieties alone rather than reveal=2 0her weaknesses. After all, forcing back emotions and taking control are what Nora does best. But it all comes crashing down when her attacker strikes again, this time killing his victim-a coworker at the hospital and a woman whom Nora knew all too well as her replacement in Seth’s bed.
With the help of her friends and co-workers-Lydia Fiore, an ER Attending doctor with a secret from her own past to uncover; Gina Freeman, the once-cocky resident who’s suffering from PTSD after a shooting, and suddenly questioning all of her life choices; and Amanda Mason, the med student caught between her career and her conscience-Nora must face her greatest fears, reveal all her lies, and unmask her deepest secrets if she is to redeem herself, save the man she loves, and stop a monster before he kills again…
CJ Lyons is the national bestselling author of Lifelines. She writes for Penguin Jove Mass Market Paperback.

Tasha Alexander’s TEARS OF PEARL (Sept. release, Minotaur)

The Award-Winning Lady Emily Series Continues

Looking forward to the joys of connubial bliss, newlyweds Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves set out toward Constantinople for an exotic honeymoon. But on their first night in the city, a harem girl is found murdered—strangled in the courtyard of the Sultan’s lavish Topkapi Palace. Sir Richard St. Clare, an Englishman who works at the embassy in Constantinople, is present at the murder site and recognizes the girl as his own daughter who was kidnapped twenty years earlier. Emily and Colin pr omise the heartbroken father they’ll find her killer.

          As a woman, Emily is given access to the forbidden world of the harem and quickly discovers that it’s mysterious, sheltered walls offer no protection from a ruthless murderer. Soon, the Valide (mother to the Sultan) is found strangled with a silken bowstring and the head Eunuch, a scheming and powerful harem guard, is brutally killed. 

         Emily finds herself drawn into the dark intrigues of the Seraglio, among them trying to help a harem girl escape – a crime punishable by death.  But the kille r strikes again, kidnapping a concubine and threatening to kill her unless Emily agrees to meet him in secret.  She cannot wait for Colin or the authorities to save her and agrees to a rendezvous in the shadowy Basilica Cistern, a cavernous, echoing underground reservoir from which a victim’s screams would never be heard. In a heart-stopping finale, Emily must rely on her own sharp wits if she is to stop a killer bent on taking revenge no matter how many innocent lives he leaves in his wake.