The Attraction Distraction releases TODAY! by Jenn McKinlay

 

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Jenn McKinlay: I'm very excited to have the second e-novella in the Museum of Literature series out today ($2.99). These have been such fun stories to write because I can do whatever I want with them.

Here's the thing about writing long running series like the Cupcake Bakery, Library Lovers, and London Hat Shop mysteries, every now and then I get a bit of series fatigue. Sometimes I feel as if I've just turned in a cupcake mystery and then another one is coming out. The worlds are established and the characters are familiar friends and there is a lot of comfort in that. It's truly like visiting old friends every time I write another one, but I can't exactly whisk the bakers or the milliners or the crafternooners off for a holiday on a Greek island in the Aegean sea, now can I? Well, I could but it would be weird. 

Enter the e-novellas. The first one Royal Valentine was a nod to my love of all things Jane Austen with a trip to Bath and a visit to the Jane Austen Centre there. So fun! And The Attraction Distraction came from my life long love of Greek myths and my worship of Madeline Miller's books The Song of Achilles and Circe (HIGHLY recommend)! After reading her books, I just desperately wanted to go to Greece and revisit the Trojan War, Achilles, Helen, and all of that Homeric tale telling. So I did.

Because the novellas are based on a fictional Museum of Literature, I get to dive deeper into different parts of literature that I love. It's such a treat to be able to revisit the books I love and make them a stepping off place for some grand adventures because I don't know about you, but after two years of being stuck in my own zip code, I want some adventure!

While I know that some readers love a good cry with their rom-coms--

 the old laugh, cry, laugh again thing-- I much prefer putting my characters in jeopardy. Give me a life or death thrill ride over crying in your Ben & Jerry's every time! This is why Romancing the Stone and now The Lost City are two of my favorite romcom films. I want travel, adventure, laughs, and a brush with death - is that asking too much?

How about you, Reds and Readers? Do you like your romcom with a side of sad 😩 or a side of yikes 😲? No judgment! LOL. 

Available wherever ebooks and audio books are sold!

From the New York Times bestselling author of Royal Valentine, a second novella in the Museum of Literature romcom series, in which the only thing standing between a single-minded Classics scholar and the literary discovery of a lifetime is her heart.

There is nothing Sarah Novak loves more than a literary adventure. When the director of the Museum of Literature sends Sarah to an uninhabited island in the Aegean Sea to look for a rare artifact from Ancient Greece, Sarah, an expert on the Classics, is all in.

One problem. Nine other scholars are also on the hunt for the artifact, one of whom is Irishman Liam Maguire, Sarah's ex and the man she beat out for the curator position at the museum seven years ago. Liam wants to form an alliance, but Sarah refuses. He broke her heart once before; she's not giving him the chance to do it again.

When a series of mysterious "accidents" befall the scholars one by one, Sarah is forced to rethink her position on her sworn enemy, particularly when Liam saves her life. She agrees to team up with the swoony Irishman, knowing full well that finding the treasure will likely cost her heart.

Royal Valentine is out today!

BUY NOW!

Jenn McKinlay: Well, this is thrilling! My first novella is out today. It's an ebook romcom set on Museum Mile in New York City in a fictional Museum of Literature. It features a Jane Austen exhibit and a surprise trip to Bath all set around Valentine's Day -- what's not to love? 

     I talked a little bit about how this novella came to be on my last What We're Writing post, you can read the explanation and snippet here: https://www.jungleredwriters.com/2021/11/what-were-writing-spite-by-jenn-mckinlay.html but the short version is that I wrote this ebook out of spite because while the audio book publisher who was looking for original content loved the ideas, they didn't love my existing audio book sales numbers. Huh. Well, I decided I would write the novellas anyway and see what happened. 

     What unexpectedly occurred was that I discovered I really liked having what I have come to think of as a research and development arm in my writing life. The novellas give me a chance to try out new plot lines, points of view, tropes, and other assorted writing mechanics that a publisher might not be on board with in the proposal stage. It is frightening, exhilarating, and challenging, and I love it. In fact, I have an idea that was germinated in this very book that I think might develop into my best series to date which never would have happened if I hadn't decided to play around with novella writing. So, I guess rejection really can pay some dividends.

     Speaking of dividends, I have an update. The audio rights for the novellas (there will be three this year) went to AUCTION! Four audio publishers were in the fray and by the end of it, we had an amazing deal! Needless to say, I am THRILLED since the whole point of writing these novellas (aside from being obsessed with the ideas) was to prove that first publisher wrong. Yeah, I know they couldn't care less but it was important to me. 

    So, here are some thank yous for the people who helped facilitate my bullheadedness. First, to author Jennifer Ashley for sharing her amazing copyeditor and fellow mystery author Traci Hall with me. Traci certainly put the manuscript under a microscope for which I am ever grateful. Additional thanks to author Lori Wilde, who recommended Llewellen Designs for the cover art. They crushed it! And lastly, my agent Christina Hogrebe and her team, particularly Hannah Rody-Wright, at JRA, for gamely taking on the selling of the audio rights. Let me tell you, I feel pretty darn lucky to have so much talent at my disposal.

Royal Valentine should be available wherever ebooks are sold, but Kindle might be the lone holdout on making it accessible. Amazon being Amazon, they like to keep self-pubbed authors exclusive but this was never about money for me so I decided to distribute it wide. Be sure to check out the alternative vendors like Nook, Kobo, etc., and HAPPY READING!

Here's a longer description of the novella for those who are interested: 

Molly Graham doesn't believe in love at first sight or fairy tales. She's been burned too many times before. When her best friend, Brianna Cho, challenges her to aim high and go for men who are out of her league, Molly can't imagine a worse way to spend Valentine's Day. When she stumbles across a very handsome British professor, Albert George, seeking refuge in her office during the Museum of Literature's Valentine's Day gala for the opening of their Austen exhibit, Molly can't help but be drawn to the fellow introverted academic. Together they ghost out of the event and embark upon a month long love affair. Molly is rethinking her stance on happily ever afters and plans to tell Al how she feels, but he disappears. Afraid something bad has happened, Molly searches for him only to discover there is no Albert George affiliated with the university. She's been played for a fool!

Molly is devastated. As registrar for the Museum of Literature, she is tasked with a trip to England to return the Jane Austen exhibition materials on loan from the Whitmore Estate in Bath. It's the only thing she has to look forward to and even this dream trip is a struggle. When she and Brianna arrive at Whitmore Manor, they are introduced to Earl Whitmore and his grandson Lord Insley, or as Molly knows him Albert George. She is shocked and dismayed to discover she has fallen in love with a viscount in line to be an earl. James Albert George Insley Whitmore, called Jamie by his friends and family, arranged for Molly to bring the materials back. He had to leave her unexpectedly, but he hasn't been able to forget her and he wants to win her back. Molly isn't having it. She refuses to be taken in twice. Jamie will have to channel his inner Fitzwilliam Darcy to prove to her that love conquers all and win her heart for good. 

Now what about you, Reds and Readers, have you ever surprised yourself by trying something new? What was it? And how did it go?

     

 

The Westminster Intrigue--Tracy Grant

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We are inclined to think that our own era had the most scandalous scandals, the most outrageous behavior, but Tracy Grant, who writes wonderful Regency mystery/suspense novels, has a story for us today that could compete with any reality TV sensation. (Although of course if you watched any of Bridgerton, you have an idea what those lads and lasses could get up to!) Here's Tracy to tell us more!

TRACY GRANT: When I finish writing a book, I always find it interesting to look back at the influences that have shaped it. I write historical mysteries, so historical events always shape my books, and favorite classics such as Jane Austen and Shakespeare often influence me, but the influence of both were particularly strong in The Westminster Intrigue, my latest historical mystery about married ex-spies Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch. The Westminster Intrigue released in May, but the inspiration goes back to the summer after I graduated from college, when my mom, Joan Grant, and I sought refuge from a heat wave in Ashland, Oregon, in the Southern Oregon University library. We were already co-writing our second Regency-set book, and when we stumbled on the divorce trial of George IV (the former prince regent) and his estranged wife Queen Caroline in a collection of Regency letters we were browsing, we knew it had to be the focus of a book. We started plotting our third book, Frivolous Pretence, that night.

 Years later when I began my historical mystery series about Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch (who spied for opposite sides in the Napoleonic wars), I knew at least one of the Rannochs' investigations would take place against the background of the royal divorce trial. But first Mélanie and Malcolm had to navigate the intrigues of the Congress of Vienna, the Battle of Waterloo, and post-Waterloo Paris and London (with a side trip to Italy). I didn't get to the royal divorce trial until their latest adventure (by which time my own daughter was nine and writing her own stories). It was exciting to revisit the historical events I had explored with my mom decades ago.

George and Caroline's marriage was a disaster from the first (from the moment they met it seems). Their one child, Princess Charlotte (who died tragically in childbirth in 1817), was born almost exactly nine months after the wedding night. The royal couple soon separated. George returned to Maria Fitzherbert (whom he had married years before, secretly and without royal consent, which made the marriage legally invalid) and then took other mistresses. Caroline would later quip that she had once committed adultery, but it was "with the husband of Mrs. Fitzherbert." Eventually Caroline went to live in Italy. George sent commissioners to gather evidence against her. When he became king on the death of his father, George III, in late January of 1820, he was determined to divorce his wife and prevent her from being crowned queen. The divorce trial took the form of a "bill of pains and penalties" in the House of Lords (if it had passed it would have gone to the House of Commons) charging Caroline with "a most unbecoming and disgusting intimacy" with her courier, Bartolomeo Bergami (also called Pergami).

The trial was the talk of London, with the Whigs backing the queen and the Tories, the governing party, supporting the king. The evidence was decidedly bawdy—dirty linen literally being aired in public, with testimony about bedsheets and debates about if Caroline and Bergami had been seen lying down or sitting up (leading one of the characters in The Westminster Intrigue to say one can do quite as much in either position). Public opinion was on the queen's side, with petitions from groups all over the country, demonstrations in the streets, and insults hurled at peers as they drove to Parliament. Emily Cowper, sister of William Lamb (later Lord Melbourne) said in one letter that she regretted having a crown on the crest on her carriage. Reactionaries like my fictional Hubert Mallinson feared popular revolt. Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch, needless to say, are firmly on the queen's side. Malcolm, as an MP, is in the midst of the political turmoil, as is my ongoing character Julien St. Juste (now Mallinson), who is now in the House of Lords.

The Westminster Intrigue also features my first opera singer character, Danielle Darnault, whose missing memoirs are potential blackmail fodder that could be used to influence the trial. Danielle's memoirs were inspired by the real-life memoirs of Harriette Wilson, who attempted (later in the 1820s) to blackmail a number of her lovers by offering to keep them out of her memoirs if they paid enough. Her lovers included the Duke of Wellington and Radical politician Henry Brougham who served as Queen Caroline's attorney-general. Both Brougham and Wellington are entangled with Danielle Darnault in The Westminster Intrigue.

While Danielle's memoirs were inspired by Harriette Wilson, Danielle's career and wonderful vocal range were inspired by the real-life Angelica Catalani, who sang Susanna in the English premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in 1812. I love opera (my nonwriting job is at the Merola Opera Program) and have had several scenes set at the opera in my books, but this is the first time I've written an opera singer.

Captain James Blayney, whose murder is the focus of the investigation in The Westminster Intrigue, is attempting to sell Danielle Daranult's memoirs, making a number of key figures at Queen Caroline's trial (both real and fictional) suspects. Jamie Blayney's character fell into place for me when I thought of him as similar to George Wickham in Pride and Prejudice, with his relationship with Lord Pendarves, one of the suspects, having echoes of Wickham's relationship with Darcy. Jamie Blayney's entanglements with Pendarves's sisters owe something to Wickham and Georgiana Darcy but also more than a bit to Edmund's sex and power games with Goneril and Regan in King Lear (at which point I decided Jamie needed a brother, so we have an Edgar parallel too).

 By the end of The Westminster Intrigue, we are just at the point where Henry Brougham (who has spent the book dealing with the threat of Danielle Darnault's memoirs) is about to begin his defense of Queen Caroline. So there is plenty of fodder for Malcolm and Mélanie's next adventure…

 Authors, what historical events or literary influences have shaped your writing? In the case of literary influences, are you aware of them as you plot or only in retrospect? Readers, what historical events have you particularly loved to see dramatized? What events (from historical to present day) would you like to see the focus of a mystery? What parallels to literary classics do you see in your favorite mysteries?

DEBS: Funny story: my first ever attempt at a novel, co-written with a neighbor when I was in college, was a Regency romance. We didn't get very far--we had a plot but our writing styles did not mesh! And I'm sure it wouldn't have been nearly as good as Tracy's books! 

More about The Westminster Intrigue: Autumn 1820. From Mayfair to Covent Garden to Seven Dials, London is in an uproar over George IV’s (the former prince regent) attempts to divorce his wife Queen Caroline. And nowhere is the crisis more intense than in Westminster where the royal divorce is playing out in the House of Lords.

In this tense atmosphere, former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch go on an undercover mission in a brothel that leads to a brawl–and the murder of the man they were tracking. The victim, Captain James Blayney, was selling the memoirs of a notorious courtesan, whose lovers may include Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duke of Wellington, and key noblemen involved in the royal divorce trial. The missing memoirs may also hold crucial information about the Elsinore League, the powerful organization the Rannochs have been battling for years.

As revelations mount, Malcolm and Mélanie uncover the secrets of some of the most powerful people in Europe. The future of the British monarchy hangs in the balance. But as the Rannochs unravel the clues in the memoirs, they realize that the consequences for the royal family may be nothing compared to the consequences for their own…

Teresa (Tracy) Grant studied British history at Stanford University and received the Firestone Award for Excellence in Research for her honors thesis on shifting conceptions of honor in late fifteenth century England. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her young daughter and three cats. In addition to writing, Tracy works for the Merola Opera Program, a professional training program for opera singers, pianists, and stage directors. Her real life heroine is her daughter Mélanie, who is very cooperative about Mummy’s writing. Tracy is currently at work on her next book chronicling the adventures of Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch.

DEBS: What is it that is so fascinating about Regency England? In my case, I know my interest was fueled by reading Georgette Heyer novels when I was in my late teens and early twenties. What about you, REDS and readers? Jane Austen? Georgette Heyer? (Or Bridgerton!) 

 

The Good Ones! Release Day for Jenn!

JENN McKINLAY: It's always so exciting when a new book is released! The Good Ones launches a brand new romantic comedy series for me, which is set (oh, my heart) in a romance bookstore  tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina. I've always wanted to own a bookstore - more in theory than reality - so this was perfect for me. It has everything I love in it, books, kittens, books, cowboys, books, comedy, books...well, you get the idea. I've been very fortunate to garner some amazing reviews and even a starred review from Booklist for which I am very grateful.

And now, just because I can, I thought I'd share an excerpt with you, because it's my book birthday and why the heck not?

Excerpt: The Good Ones

When Jake took off his cowboy hat and pulled her close, Claire wrapped her arms around him and the two became one. When they kissed she knew they were making each other a promise for today, tomorrow, and forever. Clare sighed. For the first time in her life, she knew that no matter what happened this man, who was her partner and her best friend, would be by her side. For all time.

     Maisy Kelly closed the book and pressed it to her chest and sighed. Jake Sinclair, the perfect man, why did he reside only in the pages of a book? It wasn’t fair. She was twenty-nine and none of the men she’d ever dated had been even remotely as caring or charming as Jake Sinclair.

     Knock knock knock.

     Maisy blinked. Someone was at the door. No, no, no. She had a book hangover and she didn’t want to deal with the world right now. 

     Knock knock knock. 

    They weren’t going away.Maisy rose from where she’d been seated on the bottom step of the stairs. In theory, she was supposed to be cleaning out her Great Aunt Eloise’s house, in reality she was binge reading Auntie El’s hoarder’s trove of romance novels. It wasn’t making the task, which was heartbreaking to begin with, any easier.

     Knock knock knock.

     “All right, all right,” Maisy grumbled. “I’m coming.”

     She strode to the door and yanked it open. Probably, if she had bothered to glance through the peep hole she would have been prepared, but she hadn’t and she wasn’t.

     Standing on her front step, looking impossibly handsome and imposing, was a cowboy. Maisy glanced down at her book. On the cover was the artist’s rendering of Jake Sinclair, in jeans and a white shirt, leaning against a split rail fence, with a brown cowboy hat tipped carelessly over his brow. Maisy could practically hear the cows mooing in the background. 

     She glanced back up. Jeans, white shirt, and a cowboy hat. This guy had it all going on, except where the artist had left Jake’s face in shadow and not clearly defined, this guy was a full on 3D HD of hotness, with full lips, faint stubble on his chin, and quite possibly the bluest eyes Maisy had ever seen this side of the sky. She had a sudden urge to poke him with her pointer finger to see if he was real.

     “Mornin’, Miss,” the man drawled, drawled!

    Miss? Huh, she hadn’t been called “Miss” since she’d started teaching at Fairdale University. Why would he…she glanced down.

     She was wearing her favorite floral Converse All-stars, ripped up denim shorts, and her old Fairdale University sweatshirt, the one with the sleeves that hung down past her hands, oh, and she had on no makeup and her hair was held back by an enormous pink headband. She probably looked like one of her college students, possibly a freshman.

     In that brief shining moment, she was certain if it was possible to die of embarrassment, she would expire in three…two…one. She gave it a second. Nope, still standing. Damn it.

     “Listen, I’m sorry, sir, but whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested—,” she began but he cut her off.

     “Oh, I’m not selling anything,” he said. He looked confused. “This is three-twenty-three Willow Lane, right?”

     “Yes, it is. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back--,” she let her voice trail off, hoping he’d get the hint. He didn’t.
     “I have an appointment with a Ms. Kelly about turning this place into a bookstore,” he said. “Or Mrs. Kelly, I’m not sure.”

     Maisy knew she didn’t have any appointments today. That was why she’d indulged herself in a good long reading sesh. This guy was probably a hustler, trying to con her to buy some property insurance or new windows. Ever since she’d inherited this monster of a house from Auntie El she’d had all sorts of scammers climbing out of the cracks in the sidewalk, trying to get her to refinance or buy a security system. It was exhausting.

     The man met her squinty stare with one of his own. He shrinkled up one eye and mimicked her look of disbelief right down to the small lip curl. The nerve! Then she saw the twinkle in his one open eye, and Maisy couldn’t hold it. She burst out laughing. 

     He grinned at her and her ire diminished as she noted the cowboy had a sense of humor. Okay, she decided to give him a break and at least take his name and number. 

     “I’m sorry,” she said. “What was your appointment with Ms. Kelly about?”

     “It’s about the house, actually,” he said. “My name’s Ryder Copeland. I’m a restoration architect, and you are?”

     “Ryder Copeland?” Maisy’s eyes went wide. “But our appointment isn’t until tomorrow, you know, Tuesday.”

     “Today is Tuesday,” he said. 

     “No, it isn’t,” she said. “It’s Monday.”

     “Sorry, it really is Tuesday. Wait,” he said. “Our appointment? You’re Maisy Kelly?”     

JENN: I have to say that one of the best parts about writing this series has been being able to share all of the authors and books in the romance game - yes, starting with Jane Austen - that I have loved over the years. 

                      

So, Reds and Readers, have you ever wanted to own a bookstore? If so, what type? 

What makes a perfect opening line? Jenn McKinlay

Opening lines -- I collect opening lines like a kid collects sea shells on the beach. Or, in the case of my nephew, a smelly dead crawfish that managed to stink up our vacation home until we tracked it to the pocket of his bathing suit where the stench almost knocked us out, but I digress.

Novel openings. What makes a good one? What magical combination of ingredients spellbinds the reader into continuing with a story? I have no idea. When it comes to opening lines, I am a fraud, a cheat, and a swindler. Why? Because my opening lines are almost always dialogue.

Truthfully, I never set out to start my books this way, but I am a horrible eavesdropper and I find it virtually impossible not to listen to other peoples' conversations, especially if they are being dramatic, funny, or tearful. Because, of course, I have to know why they are crying, maybe I can help! A friend of mine from college called this “dipping”. When we’d go to Conn Hall for dinner, I’d lean back to better hear the conversation behind me and she’d say, “Jenn, are you dipping again?” 

I’d shush her, giving her the double raised eyebrows look, and report back on the break up, argument, declaration of love, or what have you that was happening. Pro tip: If you don’t want people to overhear you, save the personal convos for when you're alone and not in a dining hall that seats three hundred people or at an intimate restaurant where the next table is mere inches away.

When I began writing, it was just natural to begin the story in the midst of a conversation, hopefully luring the reader into “dipping” just like I do. Yes, I still do it when a particularly interesting conversation unfolds around me. Bad manners, I know. Still I can't help it. For me, I find dialogue between characters to be the best way to set the tone of the book and it keeps me from info dumping a lot of background on the reader by weaving it into the conversation and hopefully scoring a few laughs along the way.

So, how about you, Reds? What are your tips and tricks for writing your opening lines? And what are some of your favorites?

Welcome to Windy Corner. A visit from Katherine Bolger Hyde

RHYS BOWEN: One of the things I love about being part of Jungle Reds is meeting new writers or coming across new-to-me writers. Today I'm happy to introduce Katherine Bolger Hyde, whom I met earlier this year and now has a brand new first novel to tell us about. It's all yours Katherine.. 

KATHERINE: What’s your favorite place—real or fantasy—to read? The beach? A cozy chair by the fire with a cat on your lap? A well-stocked home library redolent of polished wood and old leather bindings?

I love the sound of all the above. But I don’t often get to enjoy those environments for my own reading. That’s one reason I chose to give my protagonist-sleuth, literature professor Emily Cavanaugh, regular access to all three.

Early in the pages of Arsenic with Austen, Emily inherits property in Stony Beach, a fictional small town on the Oregon coast. 

As a devotee of the traditional English country house mystery, I wanted my heroine to have a country house of her own, so I included one as part of her legacy from her great aunt Beatrice. A mansion on the scale of the typical English manor house would not be credible in a town like Stony Beach, so I scaled it down to a nice seven-bedroom Victorian with a tower overlooking the sea. In consideration of the climate of the Oregon Coast and with a tip of the hat to E. M. Forster, I named the house Windy Corner, after the Honeychurch home in A Room with a View.

Poring over floor plans is a favorite pastime of mine, and I wanted to have a vivid picture of the interior of the home in my own mind in order to be able to paint it for the reader. So I bought several books of authentic turn-of-the-century house plans and paged through them until I found a house with an exterior and a floor plan that matched almost exactly what I had imagined for Windy Corner.

Of course, this floor plan had to have a library. The room at the heart of the house, marked as the “Sitting Room” in the plan above, was the perfect candidate with its semicircular bay window looking out over the ocean. It’s a room filled with books that were not merely collected but loved. (Atmosphere of old bindings: check.)

Here Emily sits reading or knitting with her cats, Kitty, Levin, and Bustopher Jones, curled up nearby. (Cozy chair by the fire with cat: check.) Here she is visited by friends and foes alike; here much of the drama of her new life as an heiress and reluctant sleuth unfolds.

One tiny section of the library is represented on the cover of Arsenic with Austen (along with a cat that must be an intruder, since it doesn’t resemble any of Emily’s three).

The library of Windy Corner is a welcoming room where a fire is nearly always burning and high tea is nearly always being served. Emily and I do most cordially hope you will join us there.

The magic door to the Windy Corner library may be found at kbhyde.com.

Katherine Bolger Hyde has lived her life surrounded by books, from teaching herself to read at age four to majoring in Russian literature to making her career as an editor. She lives in California with her husband and varying numbers of offspring and cats. Arsenic with Austen is her first novel.

When literature professor Emily Cavanaugh inherits a fortune from her great aunt, she expects her life to change. She doesn’t expect to embark on a murder investigation, confront the man who broke her heart 35 years before, and nearly lose her own life. Emily travels to the sleepy coastal village of Stony Beach, Oregon, to claim her inheritance, where she hears hints that her aunt may have been murdered. Soon another murder confirms these suspicions. While she and Sheriff Luke Richards, her once-and-possibly-future love, reenact the plot of Persuasion, Emily uses her knowledge of Jane Austen's characters to analyze the suspects and bring the killer to justice.