New Release -- The Vampire Affair by Livia J. Washburn

The world knew Michael Brandt as a playboy tycoon. The underworld knew him as a fierce vampire hunter. Armed with a wooden stake and superior strength, Michael targeted the most powerful overlords in a clandestine do-or-die operation…and then tabloid reporter Jessie Morgan uncovered his secret.

Only once before had Michael allowed a woman into his secret lair. Now he'd fight heaven and hell to keep Jessie from the same fate. But he couldn't fight the attraction that drew him to her like a bloodlust. An attraction that might prove deadly…or worse. For Michael was going up against the most powerful of the undead—and that vampire had his fangs bared for Jessie.

The tabloid reporter finds a bigger story than she ever imagined…the sexy playboy tycoon is a vampire hunter!

EXCERPT

     “Don’t you smell that garlic?”

     Now that he mentioned it, she did. In fact, the scent was pretty strong. She hadn’t noticed it before because she had been concentrating on getting in to see Brandt.

     Jessie didn’t have time to worry about smells. She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and took out the camera. She planned to get a shot of Brandt as soon as he opened the door, then maybe aim past him to catch the other two men in her lens, if luck was with her.

     Unfortunately, just as the door started to swing open, Ted gasped and disappeared from beside her. She had the vague impression, seen from the corner of her eye, that he had been jerked violently backward like a puppet on a string.

     She was about to turn to see what had happened to him when a bar of iron slammed across her throat, cutting off her air and making it impossible for her to speak or even breathe. Fear and surprise exploded in her brain, and for a second she couldn’t think. Then she realized that it wasn’t a bar of iron choking her, it was somebody’s arm. Her feet scrabbled on the flagstone walk as her attacker dragged her backward.

    

New Release — Death Bakes a Pecan Pie (Fresh Baked Mystery Book 14) by Livia J. Washburn

It’s time for the Harvest Festival again, and Phyllis is determined to bake a killer pecan pie. 

Hollywood comes to Weatherford, Texas, as a movie company arrives to shoot scenes for a film based on the novel by Phyllis Newsom’s friend Eve. But movie fantasy turns to deadly reality as a murder recreated for film turns out to be the genuine article, and once more Phyllis has to track down a cunning killer to see that justice is done.

DEATH BAKES A PECAN PIE is the fourteenth novel in the critically acclaimed and best-selling Fresh Baked Mystery series. Phyllis and her friends tackle another complex case with all the humor, camaraderie, good-hearted warmth, and delicious recipes that have made readers around the world fall in love with this series.

Recipes included!

EXCERPT

     The second assistant director slated the shot. Everyone had fallen silent now, so the sharp noise of the clapper coming down on the slate could be heard throughout the park. Phyllis heard Thorpe call, “Action.”

     Melissa and Julie walked toward the bales. Phyllis could hear them saying their lines to each other, although she couldn’t make out all the words. Honestly, she didn’t remember what she and Carolyn had said on that day. They had been talking about the festival, she recalled, but Eve had made up their dialogue when writing the book and then that dialogue had been adapted further in the script by Jason and Deanne Wilkes, so it wasn’t exactly like it had been in real life.

     There were other differences as well, Phyllis realized. She frowned and said, “The scarecrow was standing up when it happened, with a pole through his clothes to keep him upright. That’s the way you wrote it in the book, Eve.”

     “Yes, but it’s easier to film with him sitting down,” Eve said. “That’s what Jason and Deanne told me. They change a lot of things in a movie because it’s easier.”

     “I suppose,” Phyllis said. She knew logically that it didn’t matter. The scene would still be very dramatic.

     Down in the dogtrot, Melissa and Julie turned to the scarecrow, and Melissa reached out to adjust the way the prop was sitting. Phyllis leaned forward, knowing this was when “Peggy Nelson” would discover the scarecrow was really a corpse.

     Suddenly, Melissa leaped backward. A scream ripped from her mouth.

     “Goodness!” Carolyn exclaimed. “She’s really putting a lot into it.”

     Phyllis caught her breath as Melissa continued to scream. She backpedaled away from the scarecrow so fast she stumbled, lost her balance, and sat down hard on the ground.

     And all the time she was still screaming . . .

      

New Release for Friday 13th -- BAKER'S DEADLY DOZEN (A Fresh Baked Mystery Book 13) by Livia J. Washburn

Going back to school can be a killer!

Phyllis Newsom and Sam Fletcher come out of retirement to take substitute teacher jobs as a favor for some friends, but they soon realize that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That means getting up early, dealing with students and other teachers, and helping out with extracurricular activities. The problem is, for Phyllis, stumbling over dead bodies is an extracurricular activity!

When murder strikes at the school’s Friday the Thirteenth dance, it’s unlucky not only for the victim but also for the student who’s the prime suspect. Sam’s granddaughter has a crush on the boy and can’t believe he’s a killer. Neither can Phyllis. The police are convinced, though, so the only way Phyllis can help him is to uncover the true identity of the killer stalking the halls of the high school before it’s too late!

EXCERPT:

     The light downstairs went out before they reached the stairwell. Phyllis frowned. If Mr. McCracken was down there cleaning he should have been moving around enough to keep the light on. Unless he was inside one of the classrooms, then the light might have gone off, she reasoned.

     Then it came on again.

      Something about the way things were happening made a chill run down her back. She was at the top of the stairs now, so she stopped and called, “Mr. McCracken?”

     A strange sound came from below. It might have been a human groan. Ronnie exclaimed, “What was that?”

     The lights went off again.

     “Ronnie,” Phyllis said, “I’m starting to get the feeling that something is wrong. Go back to the cafeteria and find your grandfather.”

     “What are you going to do?” Ronnie gestured toward the stairs. “Go down there and see what it is we heard? It might be a . . . a monster!”

     “You don’t believe in monsters.”

     “Right now, I don’t disbelieve in them.”

     

New Release -- The Great Chili Kill-Off by Livia J. Washburn

The chili in Texas is red-hot . . . and so is murder!

Phyllis, Sam, Carolyn, and Eve head for West Texas to compete in a Fourth of July chili cookoff. Thousands of people have descended on a sleepy little ghost town, turning it into a boomtown for chili mavens, gamblers, musicians, and media. Raucous excitement fills the air, but so does chili when a sabotaged propane cooker explodes, killing the much-hated current champion. The victim leaves behind a tangled trail of sleeping with other men’s wives, cheating at cards – and maybe at chili cooking – and deadly anger.  With Sam a possible suspect in the murder, emotions run hot as a bowl of Texas red as Phyllis has to untangle these threads in order to put her finger on the killer!

Livia J. Washburn's beloved Fresh Baked Mystery series is back with another novel full of tasty recipes, dastardly doings, and brilliant sleuthing by Phyllis Newsom and her friends. THE GREAT CHILI KILL-OFF is a delicious dish of murder and detection.

EXCERPT:

     “Are you sure this is the right way?” Carolyn asked. “This road doesn’t look like it leads anywhere.”

     “Isn’t this the way a lot of horror movies start out?” Eve added.

     “This is the way the GPS said to go,” Sam told them.

     “Yes,” Carolyn replied, “but you said you didn’t trust the thing!”

     Sam smiled and said, “Don’t worry, we’re headin’ the right way. I studied the map real good before we ever started. At least this road’s paved . . . sort of. There are plenty out here that aren’t.”

     The smaller road wound through low, rocky hills. In places the route was cut through bluffs and ridges, so that rough walls loomed on both sides of the vehicle. They rattled over a couple of old plank bridges spanning deep, dry washes. Phyllis thought the landscape looked a lot like that in the Western movies Sam loved so much.

     The sun was still hanging just above the mountains to the west when the pickup went through a saddle in some rolling hills and the road dropped down a long slope into a broad valley.

     “There it is,” Sam said. “Cactus Bluff.”

     “Oh, my,” Phyllis said.

     

New Release -- BLACK AND BLUEBERRY DIE by Livia J. Washburn -- Giveaway!

A Fresh Baked Mystery

In the latest from the nationally bestselling author of The Candy Cane Cupcake Killer, Phyllis Newsom returns with a blackberry and blueberry pie recipe that’s to die for…

It’s late summer in Weatherford, Texas and Mike Newsom’s childhood friend is sweltering in prison for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, murdering his wife. So instead of asking his mother to please stop investigating a murder, as he usually does, he asks her and Sam to please help his friend.

Danny Jackson, found guilty of beating his wife Roxanne to death at the ritzy hair salon where she works, was sentenced to prison for 30 years. His pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears, so it’s up to Phyllis to find what actually happened. She finds there are a lot of secrets and lies being told, and Roxanne was in the middle of them all.

Though Phyllis doesn’t want to get mixed up in another murder investigation, her son rarely asks for favors, and certainly not favors like this.  She has to untangle the lies and comb out the facts to find what happened that dark night.

Includes recipes!

EXCERPT

Mike nodded. “Final game of the season my senior year. We were playing Stephenville, and whoever won would be district champs. The score was tied late in the game, and we had the ball on our own nineteen yard line. It was third and eleven, and we couldn’t try to throw for a first down because our quarterback had a rubber band for an arm. So he hands the ball to me on a sweep, and Danny, who’s playing right tackle, makes the best block you’ll ever see in your life. Takes out their defensive end and two linebackers. I got outside, juked the defensive back who came up, and realized that not only was I going to get the first down, if I could get past the safety I had a clear shot down the sideline.” Mike shrugged. “So I ran over him and was off to the races.”

“I remember that game,” Phyllis said. “It was one of the most exciting things I ever saw.”

“But you were on your nineteen, you said...” Sam commented.

“Yeah, the DB I put a move on finally caught up to me and brought me down at the Stephenville one. Our quarterback snuck in on the next play, and that was the game. But I never would have gone for eighty and basically won the game if it hadn’t been for Danny’s block.”

“I understood a little of that,” Carolyn said. “You’re saying you owed this man a debt.”

“A big one. Because that was the night I finally got up the courage to ask Sarah to go out with me, and...well...”

“And now you’re married and have a beautiful son and of course you feel grateful to Danny for whatever small part he might have played in you and Sarah getting together,” Phyllis said. “But still, he killed his wife.”

“That’s just it, Mom,” Mike said. “I’m not convinced he did.”

Do you have that moment when someone did something that changed your life? Mine would probably be my brother Bruce sleeping late on a day he was supposed to ride to college with James Reasoner. If Bruce had been timely, I never would have gotten to know James, who became my husband 40 years ago.  Leave a comment for a change to win a free ebook of Black and Blueberry Die.

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The Backstory of BLACK AND BLUEBERRY DIE by Livia J. Washburn -- and Giveaway!

 When I finished writing and turned in the 10^th Fresh Baked Mystery, The Candy Cane Cupcake Killer, I thought it was going to be the final visit with Phyllis Newsom and her friends. I was taking care of my father, and that was becoming a full time job. It was also the last book under contract and the publisher wasn't getting in any hurry to offer me a new contract. The books were still selling well, but there had been changes in the company and they were cutting back on their mysteries. So after much inner turmoil, I decided to end the series.

My father passed away August 17^th, 2015. He left me the responsibility of being his executor, which was a new and complicated job. His house needed work, and Dad was a pack-rat, so there was a lot to go through. He had built their bathroom cabinets when he was almost eighty, and they were a bit of a mess. Rather than buy new materials, he used old homemade cabinets and re-cut them, added bolts to make the doors stay closed, and he wasn’t worried if they were the same size or how they looked as long as they functioned. My parents helped us build our first home when we got married. They knew we wanted to write, and the pay was undependable, so we never had to worry about a mortgage, we did it all ourselves. This meant I knew which side of the saw to use. I tore all of the doors out and gave the cabinets a new face. Did you know you can buy cabinet doors on Amazon in many sizes? I covered the facing with plywood to provide a smooth surface, adding boards behind to make the openings the same size, and painted it all. I enjoyed using the skills Daddy taught me.

While this was going on I had time to publish other authors’ books and make covers for them, but little time to write. After the full 10 yard, roll-off dumpster left Dad’s place, I started wanting to write again. Fans had written asking when the next Fresh Baked book was coming. Since I no longer had a contract with the previous publisher, I could write it when I had time and publish it through Fire Star Press, which is run by my business partner and friend Cheryl Pierson and myself. I had what I thought was a good title, so I designed the cover first to see if I could capture the feel of the series. Once I had the cover, it was time to get to work. But what would I write about?

 I decided to have the victim work in a beauty shop. My mother and father had a beauty shop, Paul’s Beauty Shop, attached to our house. They were both licensed hair stylists. Daddy was a handsome ex-Marine, and Momma was a beautiful long-legged bleached blonde accountant. She started out a brown-haired beauty, but Daddy loved her as a blonde, so he bleached her hair. I will admit she did look good as a blonde. They built the shop and took classes when I was two. I heard the story many times about how I took a few years off Momma’s life by popping up on the roof when they were shingling it. I liked to climb, and there was a ladder…enough said. One of Momma’s clients was the elementary school principal. She talked Momma into going back to college and getting a teaching degree. She also helped get her hired as a first grade teacher when she graduated. Momma was the reason I had the idea of this series in the first place. She was a retired teacher at the time and devoting many hours to volunteering. Sadly she developed dementia and couldn’t read the first book when it was published. I couldn’t really share with her how much she influenced me with a love of reading, and how to cook, and the value of education. I helped Daddy take care of her for 10 years. Dementia sure does rob a family. Daddy was having trouble with it himself at the end. The man who taught me how to build a house could no longer take care of himself. It was heartbreaking. They were my heroes.

Family is the reason the series was created and family helps in all ways to this day. My husband James is with me from the beginning with plot suggestions, editing, and he is my main taste tester. (Unless it’s a dog biscuit. I have plenty of four-legged taste testers for those.) Shayna, my oldest daughter, a high school chemistry teacher, takes care of the home and our 5 dogs when we run off to write in a quiet cabin. Joanna, our youngest, is a third grade elementary teacher and gives the books their final edit. She has been doing this since book one.

So Black and Blueberry Die allowed me to revisit wonderful memories of growing up in a beauty shop with some fun twists of fiction. In conjunction with the big Third Birthday Bash celebrating Fire Star Press, Prairie Rose Publication, and the other imprints Cheryl and I publish, I will be giving away 2 early ebooks. The book doesn’t come out until September 2^nd, which would have been Daddy’s 89^th birthday. It will be released in trade paperback and ebook only. There will not be a mass market paperback edition. 

 

Thank you all for helping me celebrate my latest book and our big Publishing Birthday Bash.  The winners of the ebooks of Black and Blueberry Die will be announced Friday, September 19^th. For a chance to win, just mention what your favorite food is to take to parties. I like to bring homemade rolls. They can be as difficult or easy as you want. A warm roll with a little butter is hard to beat.

#NewRelease -- NAUGHTY OR MICE by Livia J. Washburn -- #Giveaway

Who doesn't love Christmas?  Christmas can be hard if you lose a loved one and it's difficult to recapture that wonderful holiday spirit.

I came up with the title "Naughty or Mice" before the story itself, and it was so cute I had to think of something to go with it.  When I thought about mice, of course I thought about classroom varmints. When our daughter Joanna was in fourth grade, she was always bringing home the class's fuzzy guinea pig.  Schmoopy had to stay closed in her room or in my husband James's office since we had cats.  I always worried something would happen.

In this story, a little girl brings home her class's pair of pet mice to take care of them over the Christmas break...and something happens.

BLURB
Dan Callahan's daughter was supposed to take care of her fourth grade class's pet mice over the Christmas vacation—or so she claimed. Melissa Logan, the little girl's teacher, wondered why she had gotten close with the handsome single dad, only to have him back off unexpectedly. But when the mice went missing, the truth about everything came out, and the search for the elusive creatures led not only to unexpected secrets from the past but also to the answers that two lonely people had been seeking without even knowing it.

NAUGHTY OR MICE is a heartwarming Christmas novelette from award-winning author Livia J. Washburn. Funny, poignant, and romantic, it's a charming "tail" you won't soon forget.

EXCERPT

"Roxie? Where'd you go?"

"I'm up here!" she called from the upstairs hall. "I thought I heard something!"

He started to tell her that the mice couldn't have gone upstairs, but then he thought, why not? Mice could climb. Those stairs would have been a pretty formidable ascent for them, but if they had gotten out of their cage soon after Roxie left them in the utility room, they would have had plenty of time to reach the second floor.

Then Roxie let out a little shriek and cried, "There's a mouse hole!"

They hadn't had time to chew a hole in the wall, Dan thought. Had they? Surely not. But honestly, he didn't know how long it would take a mouse to chew through the wood, and there were two of them, so they could take turns or maybe even work at the job at the same time, if they were smart enough. Who knew with mice?

It was worth taking a look, he decided. He started up the stairs and called to Roxie, "All right, I'm coming."

He hoped it was just an old hole he had overlooked. If Brewster and Chuck were in the walls, that wouldn't be good. He might not ever be able to find them.

Be sure and leave a comment for a chance to win a free ecopy of Naughty or Mice!

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#NewRelease -- Misadventures of a Tongue-Tied Witch by Livia J. Washburn --#99Cents

Boxed Set: Witch Got Your Tongue & Peck of Pickled Warlocks

Aren McAllister is a beautiful but shy and withdrawn young woman who has battled a stuttering problem her entire life. But then, seemingly by accident, she discovers that she wields an incredible power: she is actually a witch and can cast potent spells . . . but only by singing them.

This discovery throws Aren into a dangerous power struggle between different factions in the society of witches who live among humans unknown by them. And for the first time she encounters a romance that may change her life as much or more than the powers she never knew she had.
She has been lied to her whole life. Her father is trapped in a hostile world, and it's her fault. Her former lover is a warlock who can't be trusted. Her only hope to put things right is a thousand-year-old talisman that once belonged to a handsome warrior who was also the most powerful warlock in all the land . . .

WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE is the first novel in the Tongue Tied Witch series by best-selling novelist Livia J. Washburn. Aren McAllister, the Tongue-Tied Witch, is back in A PECK OF PICKLED WARLOCKS. In this sequel to the critically acclaimed WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE, Aren searches for a way to rescue her father from the other-worldly realm of the witches' council. From the sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast to the bright lights of Las Vegas to the dangerous depths of an abandoned silver mine, Aren's quest is filled with adventure, romance, and humor.

EXCERPT

     I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.  Then I had to tug up the neckline of the costume to make sure my boobs didn’t pop out, being careful I didn’t pull so much my panties showed.  I’d been doing that all day.  Even though it was Halloween, I couldn’t believe that on my very first day on this job I’d been sent out dressed like a sexy witch in this skimpy costume.

     It was gold with a black spider web design and had a tight orange corset with little black paw prints, cut low in front, and the fluttery skirt was so short the hemline was practically up to my butt.  I wore fishnet stockings and high heels with it (although I had a pair of comfortable shoes in my car for driving between jobs). A tall, pointed, cliché witch hat that matched the corset sat on my head.  I guess I looked okay.  My boss at the agency seemed to think so.  I’ve never been one for wearing racy outfits.

     I reached out and pressed the doorbell of the suburban house.  It was late afternoon, almost evening.  Kids would start trick-or-treating soon.  Meanwhile, I had a treat – or was it a trick? – of my own to deliver to the guy who lived here.

The door swung open, and the man who answered my ring stood there with his eyes widening at the sight of the sexy witch on his doorstep.  He was in his mid-thirties and looked like a high school athlete gone slightly to seed.  He had come in from work and shed his coat, but he still wore his tie.  It was loosened and his collar was unbuttoned, but he hadn’t gotten rid of it entirely yet.  He had a drink in his left hand.

     “Are you R-Ronnie Holt?” I asked.

     “Yeahhhh,” he said, sounding like he didn’t know what to make of me.

     I put what I hoped was a seductive smile on my face and said, “I’ve g-got something for you.”

     Stop right there.  I know what you’re thinking.  I wasn’t a hooker, no matter how I was dressed.  I wasn’t a process server, either, which is probably what the less dirty-minded of you were thinking.

#NewRelease--NINE DEADLY LIVES An Anthology of Feline Fiction--#Giveaway!

From magic to murder, from felines to faeries, the authors of NINE DEADLY LIVES spin thirteen tales featuring those sometimes aloof and occasionally dangerous but always adorable creatures we know and love as cats! Whether it's mystery, fantasy, historical, or romance, these cat tales provide plenty of entertainment and thrills!

As a Hollywood stuntwoman, Beth Hallam follows in her famous dad’s footsteps. But can she measure up as a private eye, as well? In Livia J. Washburn’s SECOND NATURE, Beth must solve her first attempted murder case—on a cat!

Can Dominique dare to hope she—the girl everyone shunned—could win the love of sexy Bran MacKenzie, the most popular guy in town?  In Deborah Macgillivray’s SHOES, SHADES, AND FAERYDUST, it might happen! Take red shoes, a pair of sunglasses, and sprinkle liberally with golden faerydust, and you have a magic spell in the making…

Lovey Villines’s cat, Mr. Fred, is the only witness to her possible murder. Brady Rowe, a veteran police officer, searches for a key that will open MR. FRED’S TREASURE BOX and possibly clear everything up. But what will become of Mr. Fred in Cheryl Pierson’s tale of squabbling siblings and “treasure” to be had?

When cat lady Lynley Cannon discovers a stray kitten trapped in a gym bag, she finds herself pursued through Portland’s warehouse district by gun-wielding thugs.  Lynley is not about to give up the kit to those crazies, so the race is on. Will Lynley survive? Come find out in Mollie Hunt’s CAT’S CRADLE!

In Isabella Norse’s THE NERD IN SHINING ARMOR, working girl Abby needs a hero. Ryan, her neighbor, needs an assistant. Can a battle-scarred tabby with a penchant for quoting from Star Wars bring them together?

Rochelle Spencer’s tale, THE CAT ON COOGAN’S BLUFF, involves a cranky detective who uncovers secrets about baseball, Harlem, and cats. The clues are scarce, and hinge on Harlem’s mysterious residents, a blue-eyed Persian, and an old love gone bad. 

In MISSING LYNX, Clay More pens a story of supernatural tragedy that seems to never end. It is 1926, and the world mourns silent movie heart-throb Rudolph Valentino who has tragically died at the age of thirty-one. But Rudolph’s death is only the first in a series of tragedies in this supernatural feline murder mystery tale from the silent movie era.

C. A. Jamison’s story, DREAM WEAVER, has California newcomer Mary Price being given the impossible task of reading three romance novels in three days. Mary is in disbelief when her newly-adopted cat has her dreaming the outcomes of the stories. The handsome blue-eyed stranger is the hero in each novel, and Mary has no idea she is falling in love with her new boss.

In Mariah Lynne’s CLAWS FOR JUSTICE, two spunky shelter cats, Shurlock and Wattson, learn their time at the shelter is up. The furry duo finds a clever way to escape their fate, only to find their caretaker, Robby, dead. They now must make it their mission to find Robby’s killer and bring him to justice before they get caught again.

WHO LET THE CATS OUT? That’s the question in this story by Faye Rapoport DesPres. When a mysterious fire tears through the main house of the Jane S. Dooley Cat Shelter, Adalyn, the shelter’s director, vows to keep the shelter open. Now, Adalyn has two mysteries on her hands: Who set the fire, and who let the cats out?  

In Brandy Herr’s tale, after Larry's wife walks out on him, the sudden arrival of a mysterious calico cat appears to be just what he needs to lift his spirits.  But appearances can be deceiving. Will THE CALICO be a blessing... or a curse?

Angela Crider Neary pens a supernatural story about an enchanting cat named ANGEL, a series of suspicious fires, and a Colorado sheriff who finds himself wondering if cats really do have nine lives—and trying to figure out who the next victim will be.

Bill Crider’s THE EASTER CAT—When Hollywood private-eye Bill Ferrel gave a ride to the Easter Bunny, he thought he was just doing a friend a favor.  How was he to know he’d wind up chasing a cat through the jungle and trying to prevent a murder?

Be sure to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a free ecopy of NINE DEADLY LIVES!

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