Story Ideas by Kat Martin
June 24, 2021 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Guest Posts tagged as Best Selling author, Kat Martin, new release, romance, romantic suspense, The Perfect Murder
Story Ideas
People often ask how I come up with ideas for my novels. Sometimes it just seems to pop into my head. In my latest release, THE PERFECT MURDER, once I had told Chase and Brandon Garrett’s story, there was no doubt I would be writing Reese’s story.
Much of the story was determined by the previous novels, THE CONSPIRACY, and THE ULIMATE BETRAYAL. Reese, the middle brother, is CEO of Garrett Resources, a billion-dollar oil and gas corporation owned by the Garrett family. I knew him well by the time I started his story, the last book in the Maximum Security Series.
In THE PERFECT MURDER, Reese is a man with a past who is determined to retain his hard-earned reputation by avoiding an affair with the beautiful woman who works for him, a valued and trusted employee.
When McKenzie Haines is accused of murder, Reese is forced to make a choice—one that could destroy his career or get him killed. It’s a fast-paced, high-stakes action adventure as well as a love story between two smart, determined people who refuse to give up no matter the odds.
I hope you’ll watch for THE PERFECT MURDER and that you enjoy.
Till next time, happy reading and all best wishes,
Kat
New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin, a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, currently resides in Missoula, Montana with Western-author husband, L. J. Martin. More than seventeen million copies of Kat’s books are in print, and she has been published in twenty foreign countries. Fifteen of her recent novels have taken top-ten spots on the New York Times Bestseller List, and her novel, BEYOND REASON, was recently optioned for a feature film. Kat’s latest novel, THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL, a Romantic Thriller, was released in paperback December 29th. The final 2 books in her Maximum Security series will be release in June, COME MIDNIGHT, a short story on June 1st, and THE PERFECT MURDER, a novel in hardcover on June 22nd.
Excerpt
The Perfect Murder
Chapter One
Galveston, Texas
Last Day of July
Seconds after the chopper lifted off the pad, Reese felt the odd vibration. Along with the pilot and co-pilot and five members of the crew, the Eurocopter EC135 was headed for the Poseidon offshore drilling platform.
For a moment, the ride leveled out and Reese relaxed against his seat. As CEO of Garrett Resources, the billion-dollar oil and gas company he owned with his brothers, he was always searching for the right investment to expand company holdings, the reason he was flying out to the platform.
For months he’d been working with Sea Titan Drilling, the owner of the offshore rig, to complete the five-hundred-million-dollar purchase, an extremely good value when the average price of a similar rig was around six-fifty.
The vibration returned and with it came a grinding noise that put Reese on alert. The men in the cabin began to glance back and forth and shift nervously in their seats. A sharp jolt, then the chopper seemed to fall out of the sky. It climbed again, began to dip and sway, dropped then climbed as the pilot fought for control.
The pilot’s deep voice rumbled through the headset. “We’ve got a problem. I don’t want you to panic, but we need to find a place to set down.”
There was definitely a problem, Reese thought, as the vibration continued to worsen. The chopper was out of control and the whole cabin was shaking as if it would break apart any minute. His pulse was hammering, his adrenalin pumping.
Along with the men in the crew who rode back and forth from the rig every few weeks, he stared out the window toward the ground. They were no longer above the heliport. Clearly the pilot was looking for an open space big enough to handle the thirty-six-foot blade span. All Reese could see were the rooftops of warehouses and metal commercial buildings.
The chopper kept shaking. The crew was grim-faced but resigned. The pilot did something to take the pitch out of the rotors and the chopper started falling.
“No need to worry,” the pilot said. “We’ll auto-rotate down. I’ve done it a dozen times.”
Auto rotate down. Reese knew the concept, the technique helicopter pilots used to land when the engine failed. The trick was to find a safe place to hit the ground.
Both engines went silent. The blades were flat now, the wind whistling through them, tying his stomach into a knot.
“Brace for impact,” the pilot said. Below them, Reese spotted an open flat slab of asphalt in the yard of a small trucking firm–the only possible landing site anywhere around. Trouble was it didn’t look wide enough to handle the blades.
At the last second, the pilot flared the helicopter in an effort to slow the descent, then the ground rushed up and the chopper hit with a jolt that wracked Reese’s whole body.
For an instant, he thought they were going to make it. Then one of the spinning rotor blades hit the corner of a building and tore free. The Plexiglas bubble shattered as the long metal blades exploded into a hundred deadly pieces, careening like knives through the air, slicing into buildings and the cabin of the helicopter.
Reese didn’t feel the impact. One moment he was conscious, then the world suddenly went black.
The Perfect Murder
Book 4 in the Maximum Security Series
Other Books in the Maximum Security Series
(Click on the cover for more information. Hover on the cover for buy links.)
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Jina Bacarr June Featured Author
June 21, 2021 by Jina Bacarr in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as Boldwood Books, Featured Author of the Month, historical romance, Jina Bacarr, The Resistance Girl
About Jina Bacarr
I discovered early on that I inherited the gift of the gab from my large Irish family when I penned a story about a princess who ran away to Paris with her pet turtle Lulu. I was twelve.
I grew up listening to their wild, outlandish tales and it was those early years of storytelling that led to my love of history and traveling.
I enjoy writing to classical music with a hot cup of java by my side. I adore dark chocolate truffles, vintage anything, the smell of bread baking and rainy days in museums. I’ve always loved walking through history—from Pompeii to Verdun to Old Paris. The voices of the past speak to me through carriages with cracked leather seats, stiff ivory-colored crinolines, and worn satin slippers. I’ve always wondered what it was like to walk in those slippers when they were new.
You can follow Jina on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Goodreads
Bookbub
Jina also has a column here on the 11th of every month: Jina’s Book Chat.
A Few of Jina’s Books
Jina Bacarr June Featured Author
June 17, 2021 by Jina Bacarr in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as Boldwood Books, Featured Author of the Month, historical romance, Jina Bacarr, The Resistance Girl
About Jina Bacarr
I discovered early on that I inherited the gift of the gab from my large Irish family when I penned a story about a princess who ran away to Paris with her pet turtle Lulu. I was twelve. I grew up listening to their wild, outlandish tales and it was those early years of storytelling that led to my love of history and traveling. I enjoy writing to classical music with a hot cup of java by my side. I adore dark chocolate truffles, vintage anything, the smell of bread baking and rainy days in museums. I’ve always loved walking through history—from Pompeii to Verdun to Old Paris. The voices of the past speak to me through carriages with cracked leather seats, stiff ivory-colored crinolines, and worn satin slippers. I’ve always wondered what it was like to walk in those slippers when they were new.
You can follow Jina on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Goodreads
Bookbub
Jina also has a column here on the 11th of every month: Jina’s Book Chat.
A Few of Jina’s Books
Death Opens a Window Book Tour & Guest Post
June 16, 2021 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Guest Posts, Rabt Book Tours tagged as Award Winning Author, crime fiction, Death Opens A Window, Mikel J Wilson, Mourning Dove Mysteries, mystery, RABTBookTours
Mourning Dove Mysteries, Book 2
Mystery, Crime Fiction, LGBTQ
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Date Published: Oct 19, 2019
Purchase Links
BEST eBOOK SUSPENSE/THRILLER – New Apple Book Awards
BEST COVER OVERALL – New Apple Book Awards
The Mourning Dove Mysteries series includes:
3. A LIGHT TO KILL BY (coming August 3–preorder available)
Emory Rome is back in DEATH OPENS A WINDOW, Book 2 of the Mourning Dove Mysteries and the follow-up to the international bestseller MURDER ON THE LAKE OF FIRE.
As he struggles with the consequences of his last case, Emory must unravel the inexplicable death of a federal employee in a Knoxville high-rise. But while the reticent investigator is mired in a deep pool of suspects – from an old mountain witch to the powerful Tennessee Valley Authority – he misses a greater danger creeping from the shadows. The man in the ski mask returns to reveal himself, and the shocking crime of someone close is unearthed.
About the Author
Award-winning mystery author Mikel J. Wilson draws on his Southern roots for the international bestselling Mourning Dove Mysteries, a series of novels featuring bizarre murders in the Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee. Wilson adheres to a “no guns or knives” policy for the instigating murders in the series.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Mikel J. Wilson
- I was a licensed skydiver. I went to skydiving school in California City and would jump out of an Otter or Cessna over the Mojave Desert, which was especially stunning from 12,000 feet. I stopped jumping when I moved to San Diego.
- I insert subtle cameos into my books of characters from other, unrelated books I’ve written. For example, I have August Briar from Sedona: The Lost Vortex talking on the phone to Jeff Woodard from my Mourning Dove Mysteries series, and I have the other end of the conversation in Murder on the Lake of Fire, which came out six years later.
- I appeared as an extra on Will & Grace during the first season – in the “Alley Cats” episode, bowling beside the two leads.
- I’m a Southerner who has never drank even a sip of tea – sweet or unsweetened. I gave this same quirk to Emory Rome in my Mourning Dove Mysteries series.
- I spent two weeks alone camping and hiking in Sedona, seeking redirection for my life, and I came back with the inspiration for my first published book, Sedona: The Lost Vortex, which reinvigorated my passion for writing.
- When I was 19, I hopped on a Greyhound bus from Nashville to Los Angeles with $100 in my pocket and without knowing anyone there. I ended up homeless on the streets of Hollywood for a couple of months, but I persevered and have lived in Southern California ever since.
- In my 20s, I was a bartender at Studio One, which, at the time, was the largest LGBTQ+ nightclub in Los Angeles.
- I took Latin in high school and was president of the Latin Club, so I was especially thrilled to have a book-signing event in Rome for the launch of Murder on the Lake of Fire’s Italian version, Omicidio sul Lago di Fuoco.
- I proposed to my husband at Machu Picchu, finding out afterwards the particular spot is called the Palace of the Princess.
- I’m a UFO buff, and I was a huge fan of Chariots of the Gods when I was a kid. I finally met author Erich von Däniken at a “Contact in the Desert” event in 2019 and got a picture with him, which was majorly exciting for me.
Excerpt
Death Opens a Window
Mikel J. Wilson
At thirty-two stories, the Godfrey Tower jutted from the Knoxville skyline like a shark fin in the Tennessee River. Unseen through the frameless exterior walls of silvery, reflective glass, a young woman on the twenty-ninth floor sat with a phone held to her ear, pretending to be on a business call as she stared out the floor-to-ceiling window behind her desk. While her colleagues busied themselves on phones or computers at the dozens of cubicles throughout the large, open office space, Angie was not contributing to the organization’s productivity.
If she had looked down and across the street, the attractive brunette would’ve seen the unremarkable roof of the area’s next-tallest building fourteen floors below her. Instead she focused on the unobstructed view of downtown and the hazy, snow-peaked mountains beyond. She imagined herself hiking below the snowline with her new lumbersexual boyfriend and lying with him on a blanket before a tantric campfire. Angie could almost hear the crackling wood, until she realized the sound was coming from behind her.
She turned her chair around to see her boss tapping her desk with his pen. The hoary goat of a man stared her down, his pinched eyes straining to scold her through spotted glasses. “You’re having a rather one-sided conversation.”
Angie held up a silencing finger to her boss and made up something to say to her imaginary caller. “Thank you so much for your feedback, Mr. Watkins. We always appreciate hearing about good customer service, and I’ll be sure to pass along your kudos. Okay. Take care now.” She hung up the phone and greeted her boss with a smile. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t hear what you said.” She mimed a talking mouth with her hand. “He was talking my ear off.”
Mr. Ramsey, however, did not return her smile. In fact, a look of horror sprinted across his face as something behind her snatched his attention. Before Angie could turn around to see what it was, she heard a great shattering, followed by the pelting of glass on her back and right cheek.
A dark-haired man in a brown suit flew through the window headfirst and thudded faceup onto the floor beside her. The impact against the man’s back shoved the air from his lungs. He gurgled as he struggled to regain his breath – although no one could hear it over the screams of Angie and several of her co-workers. Shards of glass protruded from his head and neck, one at the base of an erratic fountain of blood that sprang from his carotid artery.
Angie, now shocked into silence, tore her eyes from the dying man and toward the broken window through which she had daydreamed just a moment earlier. Oblivious to the blood trickling from the small cuts on her own face, she took a step toward the large hole the man’s body had punched into the glass wall. She poked her head outside and looked all around.
Her boss grabbed her and pulled her away from the precarious opening. “Angie, what are you doing? It’s not safe!”
The young woman turned a confused face to him. “Where did he come from?”
Alaska Inferno Book Blitz
June 14, 2021 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Rabt Book Tours tagged as #AlaskaInferno, #LoloPaige, #TheBlazingHeartsWildfireSeiries, @RABTBookTours, Kindle Unlimited
Alaska Inferno
Blazing Hearts Wildfire Series, Book Two
Romantic Suspense
Published: May 2021
Publisher: Avoca Press
Purchase Links
About the Book
Romance, fire, and arson – another deadly mix. You’ll love this second chance, action-packed, smoking hot adventure!
Can a series of wildfires lead to true love under a midnight sun?
Jon Silva is back as a wildland fire investigator, along with his well-earned reputation as a crack firefighter and notorious serial dater. But things have changed in Jon’s world. Now, there are only two women in his life—the one he wants, and the one who wants him—at any cost.
Liz Harrington returns to Alaska’s Aurora Crew, fighting wildfire to earn seed money for her new business. She resisted her attraction to Jon last fire season, but this year she’s not sure she can quell the smoldering passion that ignites whenever they’re together. Though it’s tough, she won’t let her heart be another casualty of the infamous Wildland Wolf.
Someone is setting fires on the Kenai Peninsula. When Jon is summoned to investigate and Liz dispatched to fight the blazes, more than the wildlands are heating up. What Jon discovers blows his world apart. And while Liz fights the most catastrophic fire in Alaska’s history, everything she’s worked for may soon go up in flames.
As Liz and Jon race against time to find the arsonist before their beloved Alaska turns to ash, they must find a way to overcome the lethal forces determined to keep them apart. Fire is unpredictable, and so is love – but will their second chance at romance be extinguished before it’s even lit?
Other Books in the Blazing Hearts Wildfire Series:
Alaska Spark
Blazing Hearts Wildfire Series, Book One
Romantic Suspense
Published: May 2020
Purchase Link
About the Book
Romance, sabotage, and fire can be a deadly mix!
Can a chance encounter on a wildfire lead to true love under the midnight sun?
Tara Waters loves being a wildland firefighter and the adrenaline rush of fighting wildfires is her calling. She must be on her game to join an elite hotshot crew in Montana. But when Tara is sent to fight fires in Alaska, her dream falls out of reach.
Sexy Alaskan smokejumper, Ryan O’Connor takes Tara under his wing and counsels her when she fails to save someone on a wildfire. She owes him one, but not her heart just because of his irresistible charm and good looks. Ryan has his own story with plenty of demons in his past. And Tara may be the spark his life needs.
But when a mysterious adversary sabotages Tara on the fire line, she discovers a threat more dangerous than fire—a threat that can destroy everything she’s worked for and second chance for love that could be extinguished before it ignites.
About the Author
LoLo Paige is an award-winning author whose works include novels, short fiction and nonfiction. Her romance books have finaled in several Romance Writers of America (RWA) contests, and her debut novel, Alaska Spark was awarded a 2020 Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion award and was a finalist in the 2021 Eric Hoffer and Next Generation Independent Publishing awards.
Alaska Spark ranked No. 1 on the Amazon Bestseller List for romantic suspense in all markets, including the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The book also ranked in the top 25 in the UK. Alaska Spark has been featured in Publishers Weekly Booklife Magazine, and her nonfiction story about escaping a runaway wildfire won a 2016 Alaska Press Club award. She’s a member of the Alaska Writers Guild, Romance Writers of America, and Romance Writers of Australia.
She divides her time between Alaska and Arizona with her husband and golden retriever, enjoying summers at their Kachemak Bay cabin across from Homer and fishing for halibut and salmon…and writing!
Contact Links
The Blazing Hearts Wildlife Series
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