Discovering Characters is like investigating a house we want to buy.No, I’m serious. Characters have an exterior façade that we comment upon as we drive past. Through the windows we catch glimpses of interior lives.As writers, we want to capture individual characters and save them from the cookie-cutter boxy stereotypes. We delve into their interior rooms for glimpses of weighty baggage. Finding their backstory is a search through attics and cellar...

Puzzling crimes and dangerous intrigue confront Isabella as she sails from England to India.. ~ . ~ . ~ .“Amber Dreams”Blackmail threatens a young bride. Can Isabella recover a stolen diary before the bride loses all hope?. ~ . ~ . ~ .“Purple Poison”Poison pen letters filled with vicious invective attack the passengers on the ship Nomadic. Will Isabella discover the culprit before tragedy occurs?. ~ . ~ . ~ .“Black He...

Christmas is for miracles, merriment, and murder.An English country Christmas in 1919 should be a joyful celebration. Isabella Newcombe, however, discovers only petty sniping and bitterness when she and her friends (Cecilia Arkwright and the brothers Madoc and Gawen Tarrant) are invited to Emberley.Sir Reginald and the Malvaise family filled the grand house with friends, acquaintances, and business associates. With money tight, Isabella and her fri...

Three twisty mysteries are collected in A Trio of Hazards. Set in Regency England, these novels present people from the many spheres of life clashing against each other—and against murderers!Complex Schemes, Dangerous Pasts :: The Hazard of SecretsClarey Parton crosses the Atlantic to steal an inheritance. She hopes that no one discovers the rightful heir lies in a cold grave.Jem Baxter returns to the England he fled three ...

What do writers want from plot?What do writers need from plot?Are those questions the same? Not really. As wordsmiths, we writers know that ***want***and need are two different words.· The want is a circumstance that we writers can control. We want plot specifics to help us craft story and exceed reader expectations.· The need...

Arson uncovers a baffling murder from the past. Can love survive when past troubles rise up like a many-headed monster?When Agatha's lover abandoned her years ago, she poured herself into her family's property, Helmes Farm. The estate, though, is in financial trouble after mismanagement by three successive stewards. She needs someone honest to help.Jess Carter evaded arrest for smuggling. The smuggler's fence offers him a job at Helmes Farm. Yet Jess discov...

A baffling murder interrupts a charming romance in The Danger of Secrets.Maddy Whittaker pursues a flirtation with Gordon, Lord Musgrove, as a pleasant distraction from daily concerns. Then she encounters secrets of family, secrets of the heart, and secrets of blood and pain, all served up for Valentine's Day at a country manor in Regency England.Too bad for Maddy and Gordon that secrets can kill.More than charm will be needed for Maddy to ...

Every writer has a secret monster: Writer’s Block.Some writers have driven this monster into a corner where it lurks, the great unmentioned unmentionable waiting to pounce. Others chant the mantra “Writer’s Block Doesn’t Exist” in the vain hopes that daily repetition can avoid it. Still others thwart it with superstitious behavior—new notebooks and pens for new projects, story idea spinners to select common tropes, and an in-depth notebook that becomes thicker and ...

Miscellany: separate writings on varied subjects collected in one volume.What makes this miscellany of writer guidance so messy?A scattering into the many areas of writing, original sketch to final draft, revision to publicationWriting professionally, both process and attitudeWays to maintain productivity and keep the writing freshTools that writers find helpfulReferences to help writers grow

The Key with Hearts ~ Regency England. Suspense. Murder. Two hearts at odds.Married for money, not for love.A convenient marriage inconveniently causes murder.Six months ago, Liza Corbett married Greville Myers. Her money saved his estate. His nobility raised her station. The couple have achieved an uneasy relationship, tepid and uncomfortable.Then Liza is nearly killed in a failed attempt at murder. Who wants her d...

Has the love of her life enticed her straight into death?Stranded on Crete, Isabella Newcombe finesses a refuge with English archaeologists resuming their dig after WWI. Her sketches fortuitously land her a job illustrating the dig for Prof. Gawen Tarrant. His magnetic brother Madoc charms her with his interest.The dig seethes with undercurrents, revealed when a worker is murdered. The archaeologists dismiss his death as a village vendetta. Then th...

The Great War's is over; peace reigns. Yet Isabella Newcombe encounters murder.Digging into DeathBudding artist Isabella Newcombe finds herself stranded at an archaeological dig. Madoc Tarrant convinces his brother Prof. Gawen Tarrant to hire Isabella as the dig's illustrator.Romance is inevitable. Murder is not.With everyone under suspicion, who can Isabella trust? One of the professors? A student? Gawen Tarrant, n...