If you hopped here from the Summer Treats Blog Hop, never fear - the hop post is just below this one, with your chance to win a Kindle Fire, as well as an ecopy of CRAZY ABOUT YOU. Check out this new read first, and then enter to win! See? Keeping you out of the heat that much longer!
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Thank you Katie, for having me, Tristram and Milo
at your wonderful blog. I’d like to talk about my new mystery romance, Artful
Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders—suspense, murder & hot romance all in
one easy swallow!
Murder, misdirection, mistrust, and misfits
in Old Town Alexandria.
Wild Rose Press,
7/20/2016; Imprint Crimson Rose
Theme(s):
Mystery/Cozy Mystery
Contemporary romantic Suspense, M/F, 2 flames
Contemporary romantic Suspense, M/F, 2 flames
Ebook, 66,830
words; Print 268 p.
About the Book:
It’s just before Christmas, and Milo Everhart has two needlepoint stockings, a cross-stitch purse, and three canvases to finish for her clients. Waiting out the rain in a pub, she is captivated by the handsome man next to her, but blocking the road to romance are two mysterious corpses who turn up in the tower of her Torpedo Factory Art Center. As if that weren’t enough, a second crisis erupts—a proposal to gut her beloved Art Center.Tristram Brodie, hard-driving corporate lawyer and former Marine, is focused on his plan to convert the Torpedo Factory into a box store. He is drawn to the beautiful woman sitting next to him, but their mutual attraction will be frustrated by both the murders and his intentions. As they edge closer to love, they must find a way to overcome both their differences and the still-fresh memory of her late husband.
Milo, heroine of Artful Dodging, lost her Marine pilot
husband in a freak accident on an aircraft carrier a year earlier. She is not
prepared to fall in love and worries that if she does, her memories of Michael,
her dead husband, will evaporate. The guilt interferes with her growing
attachment to Tristram. As she begins to fall, he confesses something that
makes accepting new romance even harder.
Excerpt (G):
Confession
A luxurious shower later, she dressed and followed the aroma of maple
syrup and melted butter down the stairs. Tristram had coffee and juice ready
and plopped two large pancakes on her plate. She savored a few quiet, cozy
minutes before the silence grew slightly uncomfortable. Milo knew Tristram
expected an explanation for her erratic behavior. She tried a couple of
different openings in her head but nothing sounded right.
“Tristram?”
“Yes, love?”
“The other night when you left in a huff?”
“Y…es.” He opened his mouth and closed it. She knew he struggled with the
desire to correct her and loved him for not indulging it.
“It had nothing to do with the box store or Doyle or the Factory. I…I let
you think that.”
“I see.” He took a sip of coffee. “Then what is it?”
“I…um…I think I may have mentioned I’m a widow?”
Milo had never seen a jaw drop quite that dramatically. “A widow? No. In fact, you haven’t told me
anything about your past.”
“I…guess it didn’t come up.” She gazed pleadingly at him. “Michael—my
husband—died a year ago. He was a Marine…” Tristram blinked. “A Marine pilot.
Assigned to an aircraft carrier. On a routine training flight, his…his plane
flipped on landing. He…died instantly.”
Tristram said nothing but pulled a can of dog food out and began to fill
a dish. Facing away from her he mumbled, “I’m sorry, Milo.”
She moved to him and put a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t
tell you sooner. It hasn’t been an easy year. It…it…seemed too soon for another
relationship. I thought…my feelings were…wicked.” When he swung around, Milo
saw with surprise that his eyes were wet with unspilled tears. “What is it?”
“You should have told me. I feel like a heel. I shouldn’t have pressed
you. It’s just—”
“Just what?”
He pushed his plate aside, sat down, and put his head in his hands. His
voice came low and muffled. “Milo, I wanted you from the first moment I saw
you. You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, and I couldn’t wait to
make love to you. You were right, you know—I purposely didn’t mention my client
because I knew you’d hate me for it. And I didn’t ask you any questions because
I didn’t want to hear anything that would keep us from being together. If I
could pretend you were unattached—implausible though it seemed for a woman as
perfect as you—I could pursue you without guilt. I couldn’t bear the idea that
you were unavailable. Not after I’d been alone so long.”
Most of his words filled her with comfort, as though she’d heard them
before in a dream. He is my savior. But
before she could draw him into her arms, his last sentence penetrated and she
stopped.
“What do you mean, alone so long?”
He raised his eyes to hers, his face sheathed in sadness. “I lost my wife
five years ago. We’d only been married three months. She was a Foreign Service
specialist based in Saõ Paulo. I’d just been posted to the Marine Corps liaison
office in the Senate, and she’d wangled a transfer to Washington, but had to
return to Brazil for some final paperwork. Her plane crashed on the way there.
A hundred and eighty-seven people died.”
The homey little kitchen scene collapsed like a flimsy stage set. She
knew it was irrational, but instead of feeling sympathy for his pain, his story
rekindled all her grief over Michael. Her eyes blurred as she went back in time
to the day she’d kissed him goodbye for the last time. They’d laughed through
the tears, promising each other special gifts and favors when he came back on
leave. She’d waved him off wearing nothing but a crimson bow in her hair, Michael
grinning in that lopsided, endearing way he had. When she went back upstairs, a
Hershey kiss lay on the night table, a token of his love. She’d scarfed it
down, thinking she had no reason to save it. He’ll give me many more. After Colonel Murray left that awful day,
she had walked in a trance to the candy store on Fairfax Street, where she
bought a five-pound box of Hershey kisses. She put them in a crystal bowl on
his side of the four-poster, and there they lay still.
Too many deaths. Too many lost loves.
She backed out into the living room, grabbed her purse and coat, and made a
run for it. She heard him call but knew he wouldn’t come after her. We both need to sort this out. Alone.
She made it home without incident. The desk clerk called to her as she
passed, but she waved him off. What I
need is a long bath. And a hot cry.
Buy Links:
TWRP: http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4420-artful-dodging-the-torpedo-factory-murders.html
Barnes and
Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/artful-dodging-ms-spencer/1113648470?ean=2940158248047
AllRomanceEBooks:
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-artfuldodgingthetorpedofactorymurders-2048814-149.html
About the Author:
Although M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five of the
seven continents, the last thirty years were spent mostly in Washington, D.C.
as a librarian, Congressional staff assistant, speechwriter, editor,
birdwatcher, kayaker, policy wonk, non-profit director, and parent. After life
as a perpetual student, she worked for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of
the Interior, in several library systems, both public and academic, and at the
Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
Ms. Spencer has published ten romantic suspense and murder
mystery novels. She has two fabulous grown children and an incredible
granddaughter. She divides her time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and a
tiny village in Maine.
Other Books by M. S. Spencer:
Coming 2016:
Lapses of Memory
Contacts:
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/msspencerauthor
Linked in: www.linkedin.com/in/msspencerauthor
About.me: http://about.me/msspencerauthor
My
Pinterest Page:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/msspencerauthor/
My calendar of events can be found here:
Author Pages
The Wild Rose Press:
Amazon Author
Page:
Very emotional excerpt. Well done. Good luck with your release!
ReplyDeleteThanks Charlotte--it was hard to write! Don't worry--there's lots of humor & intrigue elsewhere in the story. :) M. S.
DeleteAnd thank you Katie for having us here today. We hope all your readers enjoy! M. S.
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome, and looking forward to reading this novel!
DeleteExcellent excerpt! Best wishes on your new release.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Tena!
DeleteWonderful excerpt! A lot of emotion!! all the best!
ReplyDeleteChiming in because I totally agree - so much emotion!
DeleteThanks guys. The bit about the Hershey kisses always makes me cry :) M. S.
ReplyDelete