Daniella Bernett has A MIND TO MURDER!

RHYS BOWEN: I don't know about the rest of you but I am fed up with being stuck at home. I'm itching to travel, especially to get back to my roots and the British Isles. With all the smoke and heat in California I was sighing when I saw Daniella's pictures of Scotland and the Lake District. Oh, to be there now.

So thank you, Daniella, for this brief escape:

 Daniella Bernett:

 

I would like to thank Rhys Bowen for inviting me back to Jungle Reds. It’s so pleasant to stop by for a chat about mysteries in their various guises. The Reds have always been warm and welcoming. I only wish we could linger over a pot of tea and a plate of scones. Oh, the stories we could tell.

 

Perhaps one day we will have the time, but for now I’m delighted to let everyone know that OLD SINS NEVER DIE, the sixth book in my mystery series featuring journalist Emmeline Kirby and jewel thief/insurance investigator Gregory Longdon, will be released on September 19 by Black Opal Books. It’s a contemporary story that will take readers on a journey of deception and treason from London to the Lake District and up to picturesque Scotland.

Before I go any further, I think it is only fair to make a confession. I’m guilty. My crime? I have a mind to murder. My life of crime was launched when I was at a tender age. It started with a love affair with reading, which blossomed into a passion for the written word. This literary seduction led me to become a mystery author. Why this genre in particular? I was enchanted with the idea of creating a puzzle that teases a reader’s intellect and provides an escape. I wonder if Agatha Christie (my hero) felt the same way, when she was spinning her delicious webs of deadly intrigue.

 

It’s human nature to yearn for an escape from the humdrum pattern that our everyday lives can fall into at some stage. A change of scene does wonders for the soul. One can always travel to new places within the pages of a novel. Setting plays a prominent role in this story, as it does in all my books. I consider it an important character all its own. However, while one part of my mind is captivated with the beauty of an area, the other half is seized by a malicious glee because I have discovered the perfect backdrop for a murder. I’m of the opinion that danger lurks in beauty.

 

This is precisely what I found when I visited Grasmere in England’s beguiling Lake District. I never wanted to leave this serene and verdant haven of streams, woods and hills. So, I returned with Emmeline and Gregory. In theory, a sightseeing tour of Lake Windermere is supposed to be an enjoyable way to soak up the scenery. But Emmeline and Gregory overhear a man attempting to hire an international assassin. (I did warn you my mind has lethal tendencies.) They race back to London to warn the authorities. There’s a bit of a problem, though. They have no idea who the wretched victim will be. If that weren’t bad enough, Emmeline pursues a story about shipping magnate Noel Rallis, who is on trial for murder. As Emmeline digs into his illicit business dealings, she learns that he is involved with Lord Desmond Starrett in an unholy scheme called Poseidon. It’s never good when blackmail forms the basis of a relationship. Revenge also leads to all sorts of unpleasantness. Prima ballerina Anastasia Tarasova, Rallis’s spurned lover, threatens to reveal his dirty secrets, as well as the identity of a mole in MI5. Sadly, she forfeits her life before a whisper passes her lips.

 

The chase for the ugly truth drags Emmeline and Gregory up to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. The town, built as a fishing port in the late 18^th century, utterly bewitched me. Wooded hills fold the bay into its embrace and brightly painted buildings with shops line the main street. It took only one glimpse of the sleepy harbor for the adrenaline to sluice through my veins. For in my mind, it was no longer a sparkling summer day but gloomy November. An inconsolable midnight sky drenched Emmeline and Gregory with its chilly tears, as a biting wind carried their Zodiac toward the perils awaiting on shore and the lifeless body of a man lay at their feet.

 

Meanwhile, I have always loved the sea. There is something hypnotic and soothing about the velvet hiss of the undulating waves. That’s why I was mesmerized when I laid eyes on the nearby uninhabited Isle of Staffa. The island’s hexagonal columns of basalt rock stand sentinel over a watery underworld that remains an enigma to mere mortals. My writer’s insatiable curiosity was aroused, as our boat passed the yawning mouth of Fingal’s Cave. I heeded its siren call and featured Staffa because instinct told me that if one dared to trespass the cave’s hushed and murky blackness, fatal consequences were sure to follow.

 

In a sane and ordered world, murder is an egregious transgression. But in a mystery, murder takes pride of place. And as I’ve explained, dear reader, you can be certain that I will always find a place for murder.

 

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If Old Sins Never Die piques your interest, don’t miss Lead Me Into Danger, Deadly Legacy, From Beyond The Grave, A Checkered Past and When Blood Runs Cold, the other books in my series, where Emmeline and Gregory put their lives at risk when they’re thrust into imbroglios involving government intrigue, stolen diamonds, looted art and blackmail.  

 

 

Daniella Bernett is a member of the Mystery Writers of America NY Chapter and the International Thriller Writers. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Journalism from St. John’s University. Lead Me Into Danger, Deadly Legacy, From Beyond The Grave, A Checkered Past and When Blood Runs Cold are the books in the Emmeline Kirby-Gregory Longdon mystery series. She also is the author of two poetry collections, Timeless Allure and Silken Reflections. In her professional life, she is the research manager for a nationally prominent engineering, architectural and construction management firm. Daniella is currently working on Emmeline and Gregory’s next adventure. Visit www.daniellabernett.com or follow her on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008802318282 or on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4450173.Daniella_Bernett.