Mystery + Romance by Paty Jager

When I started out writing the Shandra Higheagle Mysteries I knew my amateur sleuth would need a sidekick who was in law enforcement. What I didn't know was how soon the sparks would fly between them! 

The first book the reader gets a pretty good idea that the two will be working closely together and there is a romantic connection. 

That is part of what has made writing this series so much fun. Coming up with unique murders and twisty endings, but also building the connection between not only Shandra and Ryan but several of their friends who are secondary characters.

And because life moves forward for all of us, I also have the lives of my characters move forward. In the course of my, so far, 15 book series, Ryan and Shandra and four of their friends have married. One couple has had a child and another couple has a child on the way. 

In Capricious Demise, Shandra has a dream about a boy and a girl. Because her deceased grandmother appears in the dream, she fears something has happened to the children or their parents. Every time a murder happens that involves someone Shandra knows, her grandmother shows up in dreams, giving clues to the murders. The grandmother shows Shandra where to find the children. 

In this book Shandra and Ryan take another step in their relationship.

Capricious Demise

Book 15

Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series

Vengeance…Envy…Murder

Shandra Higheagle’s deceased Grandmother enters Shandra’s dream, showing her two lost children. Her grandmother never comes to her dreams unless there is a murder to solve. But whose? The children? Or someone related to them?

Ryan is called out to a suicide, that isn’t. While contacting next of kin, he finds the victim’s husband also murdered and their two children missing.

Using her dreams, Shandra helps locate the missing twins whom they take into their home as foster children. The hunt for the reason the parents were murdered becomes urgent when the children reveal they may have seen the killer.

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/b6ZJOA

So far readers are loving this latest book. If you'd like to start the series, book one, Double Duplicity is FREE at all ebook vendors.  

"Little Women" (Movie) Opened in the UK Last Week! #books and #movies

Welcome to SMART GIRLS READ ROMANCE again. We're happy you dropped in!If you're as excited as me to see the new film LITTLE WOMEN, here are some interesting facts about the new film and, of course, Alcott's book.

The story behind Little Women all begins with Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, the home of the book’s author, Louis May Alcott. 

The new film, Little Women, opened in the UK today. It’s not surprising the director of the movie, Greta Gerwig, brought the cast and crew to Orchard House before filming. She wanted the women in the film to realize how Louis and her family really lived. 

Here are the actors in the new film:

Saoirse Ronan plays Josephine "Jo" March (Alcott’s alter-ego)

Emma Watson is Meg (based on Louisa’s real-life sister Anna)

Florence Pugh is Amy (youngest sister May)

Eliza Scanlen is Beth (namesake of Elizabeth).

Marmee is played by Laura Dern

Meryl Streep is the formidable Aunt March 

Good things to know beforehand if you ever plan to visit Orchard House, although the house has a tour guide and will provide you with lots of information.

* The Alcotts’ home has been preserved largely as they left it, down to Louisa’s needlework kit with her name embroidered on it.

* The kitchen still has the soapstone sink and a bread board that artist May used to practice pyrography – burning pictures into wood.

* May’s paintings and drawings also adorn the dining room, parlor, Louisa’s room and her own bedroom. In the family’s study there’s a portrait of May, who spent her last years in Europe.

* The girls’ father Amos was an idealist teacher who championed vegetarianism, social justice and women’s rights but whose financial mistakes kept the family in poverty.

* The house was already 200 years old when he bought it in 1857 and named it after an orchard of 40 apple trees within the grounds.

* His wife Abigail, or “Abba”, always stood by him, despite his inability to support her and their daughters. Being without him would be like “living without breath”, she wrote in her journal.

* Louisa managed to make money by selling stories before eventually writing Little Women and its sequels, Little Men and Jo’s Boys. When her health began to deteriorate, she took safe harbor in Switzerland. She died at age 55.

* The sisters also used the dining room as a stage, performing home-made plays for friends and neighbors who gathered in an adjoining parlor. Below is a picture of Louisa's bedroom. 

For those who will never get the chance to visit Louis May Alcott’s home, you can find the book HERE  where Alcott dispenses immense knowledge about their lives and Orchard House. 

 

If you’re not a fan of Coming-of-Age stories (the official genre of Little Women), I have a book from the same era (set in the United States) on special this month.

 SOJOURN WITH A STRANGER

A dark, Gothic romance

"This story has everything & then some–romance, birth, death, voodoo, adventure, psychic ability. I could not put it down! Not once!"⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Sojourn With A Stranger is absolutely wonderful! I was captivated from beginning to end. The characters blend together effortlessly while keeping up the normal love hate relationship they seem to share.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Diablo excels at creating characters with depth and charisma and then placing them in unusual, sometimes uncomfortable, situations. The story is outstanding, the characters are delightful and the hot intimate scenes are tastefully described in such a way that is sure to set fire to your heart.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Raine Brinsley is penniless after her are parents drowned at sea. She's sent by the local minister to Stafford House to apply for a job as a servant. Despite the alarm bells going off in her head, she accepts the offer of employment. She has one goal in mind, to return to her beloved grandfather in Maine. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

About Sojourn With A Stranger:

Lord of the Manor, Derek Stafford, has his own dilemmas to worry about. His wife committed suicide some time ago after several babies were stillborn. Derek and his brother, Lyman, race to produce the first male heir of Stafford House. The winner will receive not only the title to the eloquent manor but also an enormous sum of money from their wealthy father.
Derek decides the beautiful Raine will make the perfect surrogate. If only he can convince the young woman that signing a contract to bear his son will serve both their needs: She can return to her grandfather and he'll inherit a life of wealth and luxury.
But dark stirrings are afoot at Stafford House. A ghost haunts the halls of the manor and the spirit is intent on exposing her killer to Raine. Steeped in murderous plots, Derek and Raine face insurmountable odds of achieving their dreams.
And fight the insatiable hunger between them.

DOWNLOAD HERE FOR 99 PENNIES 

The Best #Movie Lines Evah! #authors #readers

Welcome to Smart Girls Read Romance. We're happy you stopped by today. 
 
Several things make a movie great; cinematography, characters and memorable lines said at just the right time. These lines tend to stick with us for years after the movie is first released.

• "I'll be back." ~ Terminator
• "As you wish." ~ Princess Bride
• "Here's looking at you kid." ~ Casablanca
• "I'll have what she's having." ~ When Harry Met Sally
• "Show me the money." ~ Jerry Maguire

But what makes a movie line great? Researchers from Cornell University have done a study to see what makes a good line go from normal to having the qualification of Best Movie Line Ever. They created a quiz that they had used to see what other people remember or consider memorable lines. You can take it here and see what you get. I took the test and got 9 out of 12 which is the score the average person achieved. We'd love to hear how many of you were able to recognize, leave a comment below.

NOTABLE POINT: The more general the quote, the easier it is to remember. It called for the phrases to have a generality that enabled it to be used in a situation outside the movie set. There were three qualities that the researchers noted as a common ground for all quotes.

1. Use of personal pronouns in a quote.
2. The quote used “a” and “an” instead of a definite article like “the”.
3. The ability to avoid past tense.

via GIPHY


The above three qualities give the quote a generality that was needed to embed the quote in your mind.

Is it the same with book lines?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling left us with: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie gave us: “All children, except one, grow up.”

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien caught us with: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

Do you have a favorite book line or movie line you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it in the comments below. Maybe you'll even find one in my new book I Spy a Demon that's part of A Darker Shade of Evil anthology releasing on September 24th.

About I Spy A Demon:

When twins Cecily and Calder Sizemore’s parents are killed in a car accident they are taken in by Gus and Mae Frost. Raised like family by the Frosts, Cecily’s feelings for their son, Marcel, evolve into anything but sisterly as the years pass.  

Cecily always knew something was amiss in the Frost household. Little things belied the calm, peaceful ambiance Mae did her best to portray. Calder tried to warn her things were not as they appeared, but she didn’t want to believe him. But when Calder begs her to leave Des Moines, start a new life away from the secrets, away from the Frosts and away from Marcel, she follows his advice and shatters her heart in the process.

Now she’s been called home for her beloved brother's funeral. There's more to the story than meets the eye. Discrepancies in how Calder died lead her to believe it wasn’t a car accident. And she's not returning to Minnesota until she uncovers the truth. 

She’ll have to face Marcel again—the boy who stole her heart when she was eight, the man whose very presence turns her blood to liquid fire, and the man who walks the earth as if he owns every piece of it. He’s always played his cards close to his chest, but this time, he’s underestimated her dogged tenacity. She’ll find out what really happened to Calder, even if it’s her last act in life. 

PREORDER A DARKER SHADE OF EVIL NOW AND RECEIVE 13 FREE BOOKS! Send your proof purchase to Muffy muffy@muffywilson.com and she'll send you the page link to download 13 FREE BOOKS!

 PRE-ORDER HERE TODAY