Evelyn Cullet

Today I’m excited to welcome back my author friend, Cleo Lampos, and introduce you to her co-author, Gail Kittleson.

What do fiction writers do when the FACTS behind their stories overwhelm them? They decide to write a non-fiction book. Maybe even two of them!

That’s what Cleo Lampos and Gail Kittleson did last spring. The result, two short books delving into two facets of the World War II era—Food and Holidays—released on October 5.

For 26 years, Cleo Lampos used storytelling, biography and history to reach her classrooms of students in the public schools.  Currently, she employs the same techniques to mesmerize senior citizens in community college extension classes.

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Master’s Degree in Special Education from St. Xavier University-Chicago, Lampos has written seven books and numerous magazine articles. She lives in the Chicago area where she quilts, joins her husband in urban gardening, and enjoys her eleven grandchildren.

Visit Cleo online at: Cleo Lampos.com

FB: Author Cleo Lampos

Cleo’s an expert researcher, and Gail’s love for this era has grown into an addiction. There’s so much to explore, and the real-life characters are so intriguing. These men and women from the 1940’s faced impossible challenges with tenacity, courage, and a faith that puts mine to shame.

We have so much to learn from these make-do folks, called from their farms and factories and homes to make a difference. Banding together, they certainly did—their ingenuity and creativity astound me!

For example, did you ever hear of potatoes being used as weapons? Well, the Navy found a way! Spuds proved to be instrumental in the war effort on several levels.

The fortitude of the people on the home front is astounding. Their resourcefulness in creating food from their Victory Gardens, bringing the spirit of Christmas to their children with few resources, and the sacrifice of basic needs for the boys overseas is inspiring.

With grainy photographs and heart wrenching snapshots, these two non-fiction books will bring WWII to life in a way that will make the reader agree: they were the Greatest generation.

Words have always been comfort food for Gail Kittleson. After instructing expository writing and English as a Second Language, she began writing seriously. Intrigued by the World War II ear, Gail creates women’s historical fiction from her northern Iowa home and also facilitates writing workshops/retreats.

She and her husband, a retired Army Chaplain, enjoy their grandchildren and in the winter, Arizona’s Mogollon Rim Country.  You can count on Gail’s heroines to ask honest questions, act with integrity, grow in faith and face hardships with spunk.

Visit Gail on line at http://www.gailkittleson.com/

@gailkittlesonauthor (Instagram)

Excerpt from the Christmas book

That Homesick Feeling

“Home for the traditions. Instilled in each person are the customs of their family, community and religion. The familiarity of performing the same ceremonies each year brings security. The lighting of the Christmas tree, ice skating at the pond on Christmas Day, exchanging gifts, baking special cookies, candlelight, or bringing in pine laden branches to decorate.

As the soldiers lay on their cots or kept their heads down in a foxhole, these traditions waved over them with eye watering memories.

Home for the sounds of Christmas. Fortunately, the Armed Forces Radio Services with Bing Crosby produced programs and music for the troops. Songs like White Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Happy Holidays brought the nostalgia of home to the front, producing a melancholy sing-along for many.

The music of the season also varied with the home town of the military personnel. Those from the big cities missed hearing the orchestras play Handel’s Messiah. Small town soldiers longed for the school pageant with young siblings dressed in bathrobes singing Away in a Manger.  From the Appalachian Mountains, the strum of a dulcimer bringing I Wonder as I Wander to life would have brought peace to a sailor. Many missed carolers in the streets, singing hymns from door to door.

Home for the church services and family. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning were times when the family dressed up and attended church together to ponder the meaning of the season.

For those entrenched overseas in the war, there would be no Christmas truce like there had been during the First World War. Especially in 1944, American soldiers hunkered in and celebrated the best they could during the Battle of the Bulge and the Siege of Bastogne.

For American soldiers within Bastogne, Christmas services were held by the Army Chaplain. For the soldiers on the battlefield outside the city limits, their hearts became the sanctuary for worship and remembrance of the birth of the Prince of Peace. Even in the midst of shelling, they took time for personal reflection on the meaning of the day.

Belgian families took in some troops.  “We were out in the outskirts of Bastogne, we found this farmhouse…Inside was a man and woman, and a little boy and a little girl…the wife, she gave us some soup and black bread. We stayed there all night in this farmhouse. The war was going on fiercely outside, (but) the farmhouse never got hit. We were there Christmas Eve. We sang Christmas songs with this Belgian family: Jingle Bells and Silent Night. The words were different, but the music was the same.”1

In the simplicity of sharing, the true spirit of Christmas filled these soldiers with comfort and hope.

On December 24, 1942, Rev. Fred Gehring, a Catholic priest from Brooklyn, New York joined Barney Ross, a Jewish boxer from Chicago to bring hope and build morale. Amid the foxholes of Guadalcanal, Gehring and Ross held a midnight Mass service for their fellow soldiers in B Company, 1^st Battalion, 8^th Marine Regiment. Ross learned to play Christmas carols on a violin, and Gehring tickled the ivory on an organ. Men from so many different stations and backgrounds sang in unison, making this a Christmas Eve to remember because the birth of Jesus brings the promise of an eternal home after this earthly home has ended.2

Meanwhile, the most frequently sung tune during the war only intensified the lonely, empty feeling of being separated from all that had been familiar. As Bing Cosby crooned, tears fell on the home front as well as overseas.

A Short Review

These are two wonderful books that I think everyone will love, especially of you’re into nostalgia. But even if you’re not, reading about what it was like for the solders to scrounge for food, and how moms fed their families at home on what little they could get to eat was fascinating. Food was not only important to the solders and the moms at home, but the nurses overseas who had to feed themselves and the wounded as well.

The Holiday Scrapbook captures what it was like not only for the solders, but also families on the home front at Christmastime in 1942. I can’t begin to get into all the marvelous information that’s packed into these two small books, you’ll just have to read it all for yourself. And the pictures are absolute gems.

These slim volumes complement each other and are loaded with recipes from that era. So get your copies today. I think they would make excellent Christmas gifts.

I’m pleased to welcome back another of my favorite authors, Nancy Boyarsky.

Nancy Boyarsky is the bestselling author of the award-winning Nicole Graves Mysteries, of which The Entitled is the fifth in the series. The entitled is on Apple Books list of most anticipated fall books of 2020. Nancy’s first mystery, The Swap, won a gold medal in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards.

Before turning to mysteries, Nancy coauthored Backroom Politics, a New York Times notable book, with her husband, Bill Boyarsky. She has written several textbooks on the justice system as well as articles for publications including the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, and McCall’s. She also contributed to political anthologies, including In the Running, about women’s political campaigns. In addition to her writing career, she was communications director for political affairs for ARCO.

Nancy’s latest mystery is: The Entitled

P.I. Nicole Graves’ latest assignment sends her overseas to retrieve Abigail Fletcher, a 17-year-old in a study abroad program at the prestigious King’s College in London. The assignment sounds simple enough. But Abigail’s return is put on indefinite hold when she’s charged with the murder of her boyfriend, a former student at King’s. Nicole believes Abigail has been framed, but the victim’s tight-knit circle of friends and relatives are most unwilling to talk to an American detective. Further complicating the case, is Abigail’s defiant and uncooperative attitude. As evidence stacks up against her, Nicole discovers that she herself has become the next target. Nicole’s first solo case abroad as a private detective has just turned a lot more deadly than she ever anticipated.

Here’s a short excerpt:

The Abigail who emerged looked different from the cool, self-confident young woman who’d walked into the pub the night before. Her left eye was swollen shut and beginning to turn purple. Even more horrifying, dull red stains were splattered down the front of her white coat, unmistakably half-dried blood. Her face was dirty and streaked with tears. Her hair stuck out on one side and was flat on the other. No wonder the desk clerk hesitated to send her up.

“Oh, my God,” Nicole said. “What happened? Who did this to you?”

Abigail gulped and tried to speak, but no words came out. Instead she put her hands over her face and began to sob.

My✰✰✰✰✰ Review

In this, the 5th Nicole Graves mystery, Nicole once again finds herself in London, but this time her job is to accompany a rich teenager back to the states. An easy assignment for this P.I. That is, until things turn deadly and her charge is arrested for murder. Nicole immediately puts her investigative skills to work to find the real killer. But the killer doesn’t want to be found, and Nicole’s life is soon in danger. Realizing she can’t do it alone, Nicole locates her former boyfriend and enlists his help. Needless to say, as a team, they do a bang-up job.

If you’re looking for a mystery to hold your interest, with great characters, descriptive settings, and an intriguing storyline to keep you turning the pages, this book is for you. I really enjoyed reading this novel, as I did all the Nicole Graves mysteries.

Author’s Website: https://www.facebook.com/nancyboyarskyauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9020987.Nancy_Boyarsky

Website: https://www.nicolegravesmysteries.com/the-entitled

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084S1PFR6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i2

B&N: https://https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-entitled-nancy-boyarsky/1136434135?ean=9781611533248

Apple: https://https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-entitled/id1517154065

Kobo:https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-entitled-2

Nancy and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

I’m pleased to welcome back another of my favorite authors, Marja McGraw.

Marja McGraw has worked in both civil and criminal law, state transportation, and for a city building department.  She has lived and worked in California, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska, Arizona, and Washington.

She wrote a weekly column for a small town newspaper in Northern Nevada, and conducted a Writers’ Support Group in Northern Arizona. A past member of Sisters in Crime (SinC), she was the Editor for the SinC-Internet Newsletter for a year and a half.

Marja writes two mystery series, The Sandi Webster Mysteries and The Bogey Man Mysteries, which are light reading with a touch of humor. She also occasionally writes stories that aren’t part of a series.

Marja says that each of her mysteries contains a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!

She now lives in Washington, where life is good.

The Silver Dollar Connection

From his hospital bed, an older, very cranky Private Investigator asks Sandi Webster to take over a case for him. He’s so pleased with the results that he calls on her to handle another case.

He’s received information that his estranged son may be in danger, which leads Sandi to a rickety old cabin in the mountains, a few antisocial veterans, and some greedy interlopers who arrive on the scene unannounced.

Rocky, the very cranky P.I., has what turns out to be a deadly secret.

Here’s a short, but interesting, sample from the novel:

“Are you lost?” he asked, his deep voice not sounding at all like Rocky’s. He walked toward me and stopped just in front of me.

“No, sir. I’m looking for someone. Can you help me?”

He stood with his feet apart and his arms folded across his chest, and looked down his nose at me. Yes, he was quite tall, like Rocky.

“Depends. Who’re you looking for?”

“Brian Rhoades,” I replied.

He took a step back. “Who are you?”

“My name is Sandi Webster-Goldberg and I’m a private investigator. Your father sent me.”

He stared at me, his eyes squinted against the sun behind me.

I waited, but he didn’t speak for the longest time.

Here’s my ✰✰✰✰✰ review

P.I. Sandi Webster-Goldberg is off on another assignment. This time to search for an old friend’s son. Not only does she take her P.I. husband, Pete, along, she takes her entire family. Or rather, her family members invite themselves along.

There’s never a dull moment with Sandi’s Mom, Frank, Aunt Martha, and Griz along for company, not to mention her two dogs. They not only find who they’re looking for, they find a lot more then they ever imagined, including murder. So get your copy today and read about the delicious bacon, peanut butter, and tomato sandwich.

“Trust me, it’s good,” said Sandi Webster Goldberg.

I enjoyed reading every page of this latest book in the delightful Sandi Webster Cozy Mystery Series, and I hope there will be many more books to come.

Marja’s blog can be read at http://marjamcgraw.blogspot.com/

Books available at: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=marja+mcgraw&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marja.mcgraw

Twitter: @McMarja

Marja and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

I’ve been having problems with my website/blog for the longest time, but I’m happy to announce that it’s back up and working, so I can once again host authors and their new, or in some cases, not so new, novels. But in any case, they’re all great reads.

This week, I’m excited to host one of my favorite authors, Patricia Gligor.

Patricia Gligor is a Cincinnati native. She enjoys reading mystery/suspense novels, touring and photographing old houses and traveling. She has worked as an administrative assistant, the sole proprietor of a resume writing service and the manager of a sporting goods department but her passion has always been writing fiction.

Ms. Gligor has written the five-book Malone mystery series: Mixed Messages, Unfinished Business, Desperate Deeds, Mistaken Identity and Marnie Malone. The first three books in her Small Town mystery series are:  Secrets in Storyville, Murder at Maple Ridge and Out of the Woods.

Out of the Woods

Kate Morgan, a single mother raising her eleven-year-old daughter, Mandy, in Storyville, Ohio, feels like she’s finally getting her life together, both professionally and personally. Her first mystery novel is about to be published and she and Chad Hollingsworth are engaged to be married. She’s looking forward to a bright future. Until the past comes back to haunt her.

Eleven years ago, a string of home invasions took place in Kate’s hometown, threatening the safety and security of the elderly residents. The burglaries stopped abruptly – until now.

And, eleven years ago, Bobby Benton, Mandy’s father, left town, never returning – until now. The police consider Bobby a person of interest in the crimes and, for the sake of her daughter, Kate is determined to figure out the identity of the perpetrator in order to clear his name. However, she quickly discovers that’s easier said than done.

Here is a short excerpt from,  Out of the Woods:

Something tickled the back of my brain but, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Talk about frustrating! Was it something I’d heard, seen or read? Whatever it was, I knew it was related to the break-ins and that it was important. For all I knew, it could even be the key to solving the crimes. Maybe if I stopped thinking about it, it would come to me.

Here’s my ✰✰✰✰✰ review:

Kate Morgan is living a quiet life in Storyville with her parents, and her daughter Mandy when Mandy’s father decides he wants to get to know his daughter after eleven years of no contact. He’s moving back to town, having previously abandoned Kate and Mandy. This might pose a problem because Kate is now engaged to Chad Hollingsworth, and she’s not quite sure how she feels about Bobby, Mandy’s dad. But Mandy is super-excited to be with her father at last. Meanwhile, homes are being broken into, and Bobby appears to be the culprit.

Take an in-depth look into the lives of small town people, their feelings, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness, with a mystery, and a spry granny thrown in for good measure. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading this novel as much as I did. It’s storytelling at its best.

Link to my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/patricia.gligor

Link to my Twitter page:

https://twitter.com/PatriciaGligor

Link to my blog:

https://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com

Amazon link for Out of the Woods:

https://tinyurl.com/ybgn8myf

Patricia and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

I’m pleased to end the year with one of my favorite authors, Marja, McGraw.

Marja McGraw has worked in both civil and criminal law, state transportation, and for a city building department.  She has lived and worked in California, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska, Arizona, and Washington.

She wrote a weekly column for a small town newspaper in Northern Nevada, and conducted a Writers’ Support Group in Northern Arizona. A past member of Sisters in Crime (SinC), she was the Editor for the SinC-Internet Newsletter for a year and a half.

Marja writes two mystery series, The Sandi Webster Mysteries and The Bogey Man Mysteries, which are light reading with a touch of humor. She says that each of her mysteries contains a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!

She now lives in Washington, where life is good.

Marja’s latest Sandi Webster mystery is, No One Will Find Me.

Sandi and Pete take a vacation along with friends Felicity and Stanley, to visit her parents at their Bed and Breakfast in Arizona. What could possibly go wrong?

Sandi’s stepfather, Frank, takes the four out ATVing to a seldom traveled part of the desert, and a missive left by Jennifer Crisp over fifty years earlier is found on the underside of a rock outcropping.

That short note grabs hold of Sandi’s curious and stubborn side and leads to the discovery of bodies buried in the desert dating back to the 1960s era. The desert is, unfortunately, a good place to hide bodies, and Sandi searches for both Jennifer and a possible serial killer.

Will her relatives help or hinder her search?

Here’s a short excerpt from, No One Will Find Me:

(Somewhere out in the desert, something is found on the underside of an outcropping.) Someone had written a note using a pencil. I read it twice, not believing what I was seeing. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, there was a story – a mystery of sorts.

“It’s July 28, 1964. No one will find me. He drove me out here and left me. Someone needs to know I was here. Remember my name, Jennifer Crisp. He…”

The “e” in “he” had a tail on it. I had a feeling the pencil lead had broken and she never finished her note.

Here’s my ✰✰✰✰✰ review of, No One Will Find Me:

No matter where P.I. Sandi Webster-Goldberg goes, she manages to find a mystery. Even when she’s on vacation with her husband, Pete—which is where she is in this novel, visiting her Mother and Step-father at their B & B in Arizona. This time, she discovers the disappearance of a women circa 1964, in the desert. And that’s all it takes for her to dig her heels in and solve the case, which she does very nicely in cozy mystery style, with the help of her husband, her mom, her aunt, her two friends/business associates, and her dogs. This is a “can’t put the book down” story that keeps you guessing until the very end. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading it. Another wonderful mystery from the pen of author, Marja McGraw.

Evelyn, Thank  you so much for having me as a guest!

Website: Under construction

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/marja.mcgraw

Twitter: @McMarja

Blog: On hiatus, but hopefully back soon (http://marjamcgraw.blogspot.com/)

Book available at: https://www.amazon.com/No-One-Will-Find-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B082493YXM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=marja+mcgraw&qid=1577301639&s=books&sr=1-2

It’s been my pleasure, Marja. I hope to have you as a guest on my blog, often.

Marja and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Today I’m happy to host another of my favorite mystery authors,

F. M. Meredith.

Marilyn Meredith, who writes the RBPD mystery series as F.M. Meredith, is the author of over 40 published books. She once lived in a small beach town much like Rocky Bluff and has many relatives and friends in law enforcement.

Bones in the Attic

The discovery of a skeleton, a welfare check on a senior citizen, and a wildfire challenge the Rocky Bluff P.D in book 15 of the Series

Here’s a short excerpt:

The moment Detective Doug Milligan heard his teenaged daughter’s excited voice, he knew his quiet Saturday at home with his wife and stepson had ended. “Calm down, Beth, and tell me exactly what happened.”

Here’s My ✰✰✰✰✰Review

Detective Doug Milligan’s daughter, along with her high school art group, just started to decorate an old abandoned house for Halloween, when one of the students finds a large chest in the attic with a skeleton inside. In this continuing glimpse into the lives of the Rocky Bluff Police force, this is just the first incident in a hectic week. A missing neighbor, thieves disguised as police officers, and a wild fire threatening to wipe out the town, not only keep these law enforcement individuals hustling, they also keep the reader turning pages. This is a fast-paced police procedural that kept me up well into the night. Needless to say, I enjoyed reading this novel and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

While this is the newest in a long series, it can also be read as a standalone.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: https://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.meredith

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marilynmeredith/

And she’s a regular on these blogs:

2^nd and 4^th Tuesday: https://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/

4^th Monday of the month: https://ladiesofmystery.com/

Marilyn and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Today, I’m hosting one of my favorite authors, Marilyn Meredith.

Marilyn has had so many books published, she’s lost track of the count, but it’s getting near 40. She lives in a community similar to the fictional mountain town of Bear Creek, the big difference being that Bear Creek is a thousand feet higher in the mountains.

She is a member of Mystery Writers of American, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, and is a board member of Public Safety Writers of America.

Deputy Tempe Crabtree and the Spirit World

First, I want to thank Evelyn for hosting me today. Though we’ve never met in person, I consider her to be my friend.

Many of the mysteries in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series center around or have mention of ghosts or spiritual entities.  It wasn’t something I planned; it evolved naturally through the many books in the series.

You may have wondered if I’ve encountered ghosts in my own life, and the answer is “no.” I will admit to an interest or to be honest, a fascination with ghostly tales and haunted houses.

The first spirit appeared in the 4^th mystery, Intervention, in the form of a great blue heron.

When Tempe called back the dead in Calling the Dead, to find out the truth about a murder and a suicide, she opened herself up to the spirit world.  In other books, spirits have appeared to Tempe, most notable in Spirit Shapes, which not only had ghosts, but evil spirits and even angels.

And of course, a title like River Spirits, lets the reader know that there are spirit that come from unusual places.

Not as it Seems features spirits of early Californian natives from the Chumash and the Salinans.

In A Cold Death Tempe encounters the ghost of a young girl who helps unravel the murder of one of the guests in the snow-bound lodge.

In Tempe’s latest quest, Spirit Wind, there’s a haunted house, a ghost, and a spirit voice in the wind.  

Ghosts and spirits from the past have made appearances in other Tempe Crabtree mysteries, but because I’m a “pantser” which means I write from the seat-of-my-pants, rather than outline, I’m usually quite surprised when I realize that something supernatural wants to be on the scene.

I’m not sure what that means except that I’m always happy to include these other worldly beings when they are nudging me to jump into whatever story I happen to be working on. I think they add interesting elements to the plots and I’m certainly not going to ignore them. And I must admit, I’ve had fun writing about them

Do you enjoy mysteries with a touch of the supernatural?

Marilyn

Spirit Wind

A call from a ghost hunter changes Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s vacation plans. Instead of going to the coast, she and her husband are headed to Tehachapi to investigate a haunted house and are confronted by voices on the wind, a murder, and someone out to get them.

My ✰✰✰✰✰ Review

While I’ve never been to Tehachapi, I feel as though I was there while reading Marilyn Meredith’s latest Tempe Crabtree novel: A mix of murder and the Native American spirit world, wrapped up in an engaging mystery. Loved the characters and the setting. The intriguing plot kept me turning pages well into the night. I’ve read many of Marilyn’s Rocky Bluff mysteries, and have even had my namesake in one of them, Murder in the Worst Degree, but Spirit Wind is my first Tempe Crabtree mystery. Now I’m sorry I hadn’t read more of them. I have to admit, I did like the supernatural touch. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading this wonderful novel as much as I did.

Website URL: http://fictionforyou.com

Blog URL: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Facebook URL: Marilyn Meredith

Twitter: @marilynmeredith

Buy links for Seldom Traveled:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Seldom-Traveled-Tempe-Crabtree-Mystery/dp/1594264333/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474237735&sr=8-2&keywords=seldom+traveled+meredith

Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seldom-traveled-marilyn-meredith/1124443124?ean=2940156979882

Marilyn and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.