A Peek Inside the Sam Series... Love at First Sight

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Release week is nearly upon us, so it's time to share some of my thoughts about writing the Samantha Owens series, and about the newest book EDGE OF BLACK. This is the first installment.

But first - here's a special Sneak Peek inside the book. Just click on the BROWSE button below to read the first chapter! And then, you know, feel free to meander further down to that pretty little three letter word..... ; )

Sneak Peek!
 

Starting a new series is scary. But it’s an exhilarating kind of scary, like riding a roller coaster in the dark. You know you’re going to be thrown about, you just can’t see what turn is coming next.

Dr. Samantha Owens played a role in my Nashville-based Taylor Jackson series. As Taylor’s best friend, she was the cast of characters’ lodestone, the moral compass of the books. Sam could always see the shades of gray Taylor missed. So when it was time to take her out for a spin in her own book, I figured it would be easy. She was already a real person in my mind, fully formed.

Best laid plans. When I started to write her, she became an enigma. Her voice wasn’t the same when she was the one calling the shots. It took weeks for her to start speaking to me in a language I could understand. The language of loss.

At the beginning of the first book in the series, A DEEPER DARKNESS, she’s broken, practically disabled by the deaths of her family, and barely has the will to live. By the end of the book she’s crossed a threshold into a new world, one that includes the love of a man named Xander, a former Army Ranger who has had his share of trauma and heartache and is slowing trying to mend himself in the Maryland woods.

Love at first sight. People scoff, but it happens. It happened to me, (twenty years and counting) and it happens to Sam. Something about Xander draws her in, literally starts her heart beating again. Even though he’s a murder suspect, she’s intrigued. Careless, even.

And Alexander Whitfield is such a classic hero: so self-contained he’s simmering, really. Simmering for her.

They belonged together, that was clear to me from the moment Xander entered the scene. I had to do a bit of editorial scrambling when I realized it, too, because I wasn’t planning to hook Sam up with a man so soon.
But what could be better for a series than two broken souls joining to make a whole?

With that intensity comes a multitude of opportunities, the first of which you’ll see in EDGE OF BLACK. Sam and Xander have a bright future together, if they can learn to work together instead of striking off alone. And I think they’ll find a way to make it work.

EDGE OF BLACK is on sale November 13, 2012, and is available for Pre-Order Now

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound

A DEEPER DARKNESS Nominated for RT's Reviewers' Choice Award

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What a great honor! I am so excited, and look at the company I'm keeping! Thanks Romantic Times! There's something rather amazing being nominated along side the women you read, respect and in several cases, get into trouble with late at night after award ceremonies. Needless to say, I am so thrilled to nominated with these awesome ladies. Read their books and enjoy!

All the books nominated for Suspense / Thriller Novel

       

Hurricane Sandy Causing Website Problems

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Hi folks:

It looks like my website may be going down indefinitely due to the hurricane damage in New York, where my host is located. My apologies, and we will be back up and running as quickly as possible. 

My deepest prayers and good thoughts to all affected by the storm. It's heartbreaking to see the damage and know so many of you are hurting. We've been there and it's no fun.

If you can, please consider a donation to either the Red Cross or the Episcopal Relief & Development Fund, or whatever charity you like.

From my friend and fellow scribe Jeff Abbott:

Episcopal Relief & Development has a hurricane fund set up for relief efforts for those impacted by Sandy. You can donate to assist in the US, the Caribbean, or both. Charity Navigator rates ER&D as a four-star charity.

And from friend and fellow scribe Jeanne Veillette Bowerman:

A simple way to help is to text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to Sandy relief efforts.

Blessings to you all.

XO,

JT

Signed Copies of EDGE OF BLACK 25% off at Mysteries & More

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This is the Mysteries & More newsletter - and my plug to help support your local indie stores! (I will sign copies on November 17, and am happy to personalize them. Signed books make great holiday gifts, you know? Also, for more signing dates, click here.)

Fellow Mystery Lovers,

On November 17th, we welcome back our good friend and bestselling local mystery author J.T. Ellison who will launch, discuss, and sign her new thriller, Edge of Black from 2 - 4 PM.

In this second book in the series, Dr. Samantha Owens is starting over: new city, new job, new man, new life. She's trying to put some distance between herself and the devastating loss of her husband and children-but old hurts leave scars.  Before she's even unpacked her office at Georgetown University's forensic pathology department, she's called to consult on a case that's rocked the capital and the country. An unknown pathogen released into the Washington Metro has caused nationwide panic and three people have died – just three.  Amid the media frenzy and Homeland Security alarm bells, Sam painstakingly dissects the lives of those three victims and makes an unsettling conclusion. This is no textbook terrorist causing mayhem with broad strokes, but an artist wielding a much finer, more pointed instrument of destruction. An assassin, whose motive is deeply personal and far from understandable.  Xander Whitfield, a former Army Ranger and Sam's new boyfriend, knows about seeing the world in shades of gray, about feeling compelled to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Only his disturbing kinship with a killer can lead Sam to the truth...and once more into the line of fire. 

You may reserve a copy of this book before November 10th at 25% off of the list price by email or by calling us at 615-837-3300.

Light refreshments will be served and everyone is invited to attend.

Thanks for your support!

Mary & Greg

How Much Can You Squeeze Into A Week?

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Some smatterings today, my friends, in place of the usual links. 

    I hope everyone met Arwen on Facebook Tuesday. Arwen is my new right hand, and she's been helping me manage my crazy life since August. She is a doll, and we have entirely too much in common, which means our work calls nearly always digress into long, detailed discussions of movies and books and television shows and everything else under the sun. Which means I couldn't be working with a better person, and I am so, so grateful to have her. So everyone leave a comment for Arwen today, say hi, tell her who you are, so she can get to know you!
    For my name day, October 13, my mother and father always buy me a little gift. This is what I got this year, and I love it - it couldn't be a better match for my lair. It came from The Lamp Store, and the owners, Marty and Laura, are HUGE readers, and now reading my Taylor series, for which I am very grateful. Isn't it gorgeous??? (And check out Skeletor - he's solar activated and dances! Thanks, Mom!)
    Deadline writing is hard. Some days are brilliant, and the words fly from your fingers, and the word counts rack up. Then you sit down the next day with all that story brewing and nothing comes out. And you don't have the luxury of nothing coming out. So you beat yourself up and eat some chocolate and read your RSS feeds looking for a kernel of inspiration and stand on the front step and stare at the sun, and go back upstairs and try again, and it's like air leaking from a balloon overnight to get the damn words down, but a few come and they suck so you give up and save everything and shut down for the day and at ten, when you're going to bed, exhausted, the flood-gates decide to open. At least, that's what it's like for me. Good days and bad. Creativity is weird.  
    I had to trade my beloved iPad in for a new one. The pressure point where I keep my thumb cracked, and splintered, and though I taped it down, it continued to grow, until I had a long strip of packing tape along the edge. Of course my Apple Care had just expired. And I really didn't want to spend $600 on a new iPad (the 3 & 4 are thicker and heavier and hotter than the 2, which is perfect, in my opinion) nor am I interested in the Mini, which I can't imagine being a big enough screen to write on, so I went to the Apple store and walked out with a new iPad 2 for $250. Seems like a bargain, considering I'd have paid $300 in Apple Care by now, and it's a brand new unit, not a refurb. I should get a few years out of it at least, and my thumb isn't being cut by the shattered glass. Win, win.
    Plus, I had a very cool conversation with my Genius at the Genius Bar, Nick, who was covered in seriously gorgeous tattoos and proposed to his fiancée at Harry Potter world in Flrida (too cool, dude). He was very fun and we ended up talking Potter and Plato's Cave and quantum physics. So all in all, an hour well spent.  
    But then I had to change my case for the iPad so I won't have my thumb in a sensitive pressure spot, and you know, it takes hours to comb the reviews to see what would be best. Finally deicded on a Snugg case, so we'll see how that works. That, and we're finally getting the kitchen finished up, and we're trying to get a couple of barstools, and black wood and gray seats in a 26" counter stool aren't easy to find. We may have a solution, so stay tuned. 
    On a very sad note: Jessica Ridgeway. Sometimes a case grabs you in the gut and doesn't let go, and this is one of them. Everything about it freaked me out. And the profiles were off. Way off. Except that they knew for sure it was someone close to the neighborhood that would be setting off alarm bells. I was right assuming he was too small to take down a grown woman so he went after a child, and that he belonged in the neighborhood and had a reason to be there and not be noticed, but a kid? A 17-year-old kid? Blew me away, and I lost several prime writing hours to the coverage, because I was just flabbergasted. 17. Such a shame, and so many prayers to her family and friends. And thank goodness he's off the street, and bravo to his mom for turning him in. I bet she wrestles with that decision for a very long time, but it was the right thing to do. And you know, the right things are always the hardest.

OK. Thanks for tuning in. I hope the rest of your Sunday is blessed. Go read a book. As my sister from another mother loves to say, It's Good For You!