Valentine's Giveaways!

Happy Valentine's!!!  I hope tomorrow's a lovely day for you.  And in case your SO (significant other) didn't get you anything…I have a gift and a chance at a free book.

You can enter a drawing for a three free Kindle copies of my Maid in LA Mystery series' first book, Steamed, by going to https://www.facebook.com/RMSwriters and liking the page, then liking my post about the contest.  I'm giving away the copies to celebrate not only Valentine's, but the release of the 4th book in the series, Swept Up.  

And free for the taking:

You can pick up a copy of my Valentine's short story, Nothing But Heart, for free for Kindle today!  The Nothing But… short story trilogy is part of my award winning, Everything But… world.  The books and the shorts all feature my Hungarian grandmother, Nana Vancy.  In the first three books, she tries to break a curse she accidentally put on her own family.  In the next three books, she's broken the curse and she's bored, so she tries her hand at matchmaking.  It the three short stories, she's given up matchmaking people and is matchmaking dogs to their forever homes…and accidentally helping a three couples find love while she's at it!

Nana Vancy has become a reader favorite.  The books were originally hardbacks, but last year, they were released as Kindle eBooks, and it's been so much fun to see a whole new set of readers join in Nana Vancy's adventures.  I'm thrilled she's got a cameo in a whole new series this fall, starting with the October release of Christmas in Cupid Falls.

I know it's not flowers or candy, but I hope my 'gifts' give you a bit of enjoyment on Valentine's!

It's been a busy couple weeks here for me.  I always say that Valentine's is a romance writer's Christmas!  Even if the holiday is 'made up' as I've heard some complain, there's something nice about a day that's designed to celebrate love!

Wishing you the best!  ~Holly

A New Kind of Mystery—Fluffy

After more than fifty romances, I'm writing a new series...a mystery series.  I went to a conference yesterday and a group of us were talking about it. Let's face it, my writing is on the sweeter side of things.  Some of my romance is drama, some just sweet romance and some falls on the comedy side of things.  My mysteries fall in that sweet-comedy category.  The Pennwriters decided my funny, sweet mysteries weren't exactly cozy mysteries...they were fluffy.  Yes, I write Fluffy Mysteries.  I'm starting a new trend!

It was a fun day. I mean, any time you get a bunch of writers together there tends to be a lot of fun!  And I found out I write a whole new type of mystery!

So, Holly, what makes a Fluffy Mystery, you ask?

They center around Quincy Mac.  She's the single mother of three who went to Hollywood with stars in her eyes and instead of stardom, she became maid.  In STEAMED; A MAID IN LA MYSTERY she accidentally cleaned...a murder scene.  She needs to find out who dunnit so she doesn't end up in jail for a crime she didn't commit...only cleaned. 

The second book, DUSTED: A MAID IN LA MYSTERY came out in September.  Quincy Mac is at it again.  This time she's got to find out who's been replacing her clients' works of art with forgeries in order to save her business...and she has to survive wearing a pumpkin orange dress to Tiny's wedding!

SPRUCED UP: A Maid in LA Christmas Novella will be out in November.  Quincy's heading home to Erie, PA for Christmas...and her mom has an early present for her.  A third mystery!

I love writing Quincy.  I can identify with her.  She has three boys who eat all the food and rarely pick up after themselves.  She has to deal with a very different family (not that I'm saying my family is different...uh, I might not be saying that but that doesn't mean they're normal!).  She's a good friend.  She's independent and successful.  She has a good sense of humor about life.  I think she's a perfect first heroine for the Fluffy Mystery genre.

So, with Quincy, I've got those Fluffy Mysteries off to a three book start.  They are so much fun to write.  I hope readers enjoy reading them as much!

Oh, I still write heavier books.  My December release, A Valley Ridge Christmas, deals with the topic of homelessness.  And while I think it's a very feel-good story, but it's probably not overly fluffy.  

Happy Columbus Day here in the US and Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends!

Holly

Dialogue

I'll confess, I'm a dialogue fan. I think that may be one of the reasons I love Joss Whedon's _______ (fill in the blank, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Avengers, Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog...) is that each of his characters' dialogue sounds like that character.  It would be hard to interchange a Buffy line with a Spike.  From catty to sweet, from snarky to  funny...he's got it all.  As a writer, one of my favorite parts of writing is the dialogue and the bonus is that I get to add the little internal bits, which I think can really enhance the flow.  

Take this scene from Steamed: A Maid in LA Mystery.  Poor Quincy's just

accidentally cleaned a murder scene and is about to be questioned by the cops...actually by one specific cop:

<<“What’s your name?” I asked. “I don’t like referring to you as Detective Parker. It reminds me that you want to send me up the river. Or is it down the river?”

“I don’t want to send you in any direction on any river. To be perfectly honest, I want to finish this interview, clear you, then get as far away from you as I can.”

“Yeah, men tend to have that reaction to me.” He hadn’t told me his name, and I wasn’t about to ask again.

I had my pride.

We drove a few minutes in silence.

I jumped when he said, “It’s Caleb. You can call me Cal.”

“Cal. That’s nice,” I said.

It was a good solid name. The name of someone you could count on.

“You can call me Quincy,” I added.

“I’d planned to.”

That was sort of rude, but I didn’t comment on his lack of manners. Instead, I asked the question that had been burning away at my brain. “Hey, Cal, do you know if California has the death penalty?”

“What?” he asked. He took his eyes off the road and glanced at me.

“Watch the road,” I scolded. I didn’t need a traffic accident on top of everything else that had happened today.

“I mean,” I said, when he’d turned his attention back to the road, “I just want to know if you convict me for murdering Mr. Banning, am I facing life in prison, or death row? I already know that if I go to jail I’ll end up tattooed like Uncle Bill. I’m thinking a unicorn...a permanent statement of my innocence. But I’m not sure a unicorn tattoo would age well. What do you think?”

“Listen, lady—”

“Quincy. You were going to call me Quincy, remember?”

“You are not going to jail, Quincy. You are not going on death row. And you are not getting a tattoo, unicorn or a skull and cross-bones. You’re going for pasta. My buddy makes the best in LA. You look like crap. I’m going to feed you and then you’re going to tell me everything you can remember about Banning’s place. Then I’m taking you home and hopefully that will be the last you hear from me.”

“But about the death penalty?” I pressed.

“Just sit there and be quiet will you?”

“First you want me to talk, then you want me to shut up. You need to make up your mind.”

He didn’t respond to that. He just made this strangled, growling sound.

“Do men have PMS? If so, I think you’ve got it. I recognize the symptoms. Short tempered, surly. You have those two nailed.”>>

I haven't written anything in first person for a long time, but I love the intimacy of it. I love that in addition to the dialogue, she adds her own point of view to each conversation.  Quincy has really become a three-dimensional person.  Someone I can imagine having coffee with!

So do you have any writers, tv, movie or books, whose dialogue really works for you?  

Holly

Steamed: A Maid in LA Mystery

Steamed: A Maid in LA Mystery

I've written more than 50 romances for Harlequin, Avalon and now Montlake Romance.  I've written straight up comedies, light humor and heavy emotional stories.  And this month, I've written something that's not quite any of those things.

Steamed isn't really a romance.  It isn't really a mystery.  It's Quincy Mac's story.  Who is Quincy?  She's a mother first and foremost.  She came to LA from Erie, PA (where else? LOL) with dreams of fortune and fame.  Instead she got married and had three sons, all one year apart.  Then she got divorced and she started a cleaning service with her best friend, Tiny.  Yes, being a maid might not be as glamorous as an award winning actress, but Quincy's built a wonderful life.  

Until... (Come on, you know there had to be an until!)
 the day she accidentally cleans a murder scene and a particularly hunky cop questions her.  Now, most people, even if they accidentally cleaned not only the murder scene, but the murder weapon, would sit back and let the cops figure out who the real murderer is.  But not Quincy. You see, she has an uncle who was wrongly accused of a crime and he spent two years in jail before the cops figured out he was innocent.

Quincy can't go to jail.  She has three boys to raise. She's going to be maid-of-honor in her best friend's wedding. And she's absolutely sure she's not someone who's meant to have a tattoo.  

So, she's on the scene.

I'm fortunate...I tend to sell a book, then write it.  But Quincy's story I wrote just for me, because the idea nagged at me.  I wrote her story on weekends around other contract and I'm thrilled to finally send her out in the world.  And I'm thrilled that the first reviews have been so good.  I hope you'll check out her story!  It's available on Amazon right now, and will hopefully be out sometime soon on other eBook platforms!

Holly