I have a new favorite book that I have to tell you about. You learn about it on my abbreviated review at Goodreads, shown below, or you can go directly to SUSPENSE SISTERS and read the whole thing. I have to say, there were some SERIOUS surprises and delights in this book.
Oh, and double-delight! The Suspense Sisters are giving away a $100 Starbucks gift card. Today’s the last day to enter, so don’t miss out!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars (I would give it six if I could!) The newest suspense by Patricia Bradley left me breathless! She is a master of twists and turns, and she keeps the tension at the perfect balance between breath-holding gasps and sighs of relief.
Detective Alex Stone works undercover to trap a serial killer in Chattanooga, but the set-up turns into an unexpected tragedy. She returns to the small town where she grew up to heal and to help her grandfather, the county sheriff, while he recuperates from an unexpected health scare.
Strangely enough, the serial killer seems to move with her. Or is there a copycat? This plot is sheer poetry. I’m not going to say I was entirely surprised, but there were some elements of the ending that I did not see coming – to my sheer delight!
You can find more of my review on the Suspense Sisters blog and be sure to enter our great $100 Starbucks giveaway there!
Suffice it to say, Patricia Bradley has quickly become a favorite of mine, and this story is a sheer delight.
On a Monday night, the interior of the Majestic Theatre was brightly lit, as though a grand event were about to happen. The behind-the-scenes tour had been the perfect chance for me to get to the bottom of this.
But as I stood there with a bottle of water, listening to the tour guide go through the history and architecture of the place, I was swept away into the romance of long ago. Had my parents or grandparents gone on dates here back when Elm Street was the “Broadway of the Southwest?” Had they walked down the grand marble staircase or traced their fingers along the gold leaf bits implanted in the wall?
So many famous people had passed through these doors like Bob Hope and John Wayne. Duke Ellington had his band here, playing. And with the renovations, so many remarkable actors and singers performed where once had been a cinema screen.
The romance of it all washed over me. But what was I doing here? This was ridiculous. People don’t just hop in their vans and drive a half hour to see a building on a whim. Well, most people don’t. But I have to confess, the message that came with my grocery delivery had me totally intrigued!
I happened to see the gal walk up to the door from my office window. And to be honest, I tend to watch for her since we’ve gotten groceries that belonged to someone else several times. That’s what I thought this was, too. Mistaken location syndrome. And, trying to be a good neighbor, I rushed to the front door to redirect the delivery girl to the correct house.
“Are you Marji?” She stumbled over the name a little. I hear that a lot. Folks don’t know whether to treat the j as a j or an h sound.
“I didn’t order any groceries.” I put my hands out.
“Oh, no. Thees for next door.” She nodded toward the wagon full of grocery bags. “Thees for you.” She handed me a note.
A note that had me dashing to my car and racing a half-hour drive through rush hour to get here. And what did I expect to find anyway?
It had struck me that maybe sweet hubby had planned a surprise for me, but it wasn’t my birthday. It was close to Mother’s Day, but this didn’t seem his speed. Besides, I’m not sure my farm boy had ever been to The Majestic Theatre.
I pulled out the note again as the tour guide went through his discussion of the Corinthian columns and Roman balustrades. It was in print in dark letters, like a Sharpie. The address of the theatre and the words, “What’s behind the curtain?”
Finally, the guide led us through the house and down to the stage area. A thick burgundy curtain closed off the stage to the rest of the house. He began sharing some of the anecdotes that went on backstage with several famous people, but I was only half listening.
I drifted upstage center where the curtains pulled together. With every step, I felt more foolish. I was going to peek behind the curtain and find nothing but dust and darkness. Maybe pieces of the set they would be using for the concert next weekend.
I kept my eyes on the tour guide. He wasn’t paying any attention to me. Slipping the curtain aside, I stepped through the gap and paused to let my eyes grow used to the darkness.
As I grew used to the shadows, I noticed a man near the tormentors watching me. But there wasn’t anything else. Not grand balloon-filled “Surprise” or even twinkle lights.
“You Marji?” The man sounded like a bear with indigestion.
“Yes, sir. Were you expecting me?” That was more than a little odd.
He shrugged and held out a large envelope. “Guess this is yours.”
I took it. Sure enough, my name was on it. I stepped back into the stage lights and found my tour guide frowning at me.
“You will please refrain from wandering off.” He’d used a kind voice, but a thundercloud had taken over his face.
“Sorry.” I hated being a problem child, but at least I’d found what was behind the curtain. I strolled out to the lobby where there was more light and threw away the empty water bottle. Then I settled into opening my package.
Inside the envelope was a simple card with the words “GOOD JOB” printed on it in neat letters. Next to it was a pre-addressed and pre-stamped sealed envelope to Tabitha Bouldin. Wait a minute. She was one of the Ever After Mysteries authors.
Maybe there was more to this than I originally thought.
***
Read all of the posts from our little blog hop mystery, celebrating the release of A VANISHING ACT, the latest Ever After Mystery!
Edwina Kiernan: May 2 Denise Lauren Barela: May 3 Rebekah Jones: May 4 Marji Laine Clubine: May 5 Tabitha Bouldin: May 6 Chautona Havig: May 7
We’re doing a special giveaway to celebrate the release of this book.
On screen they’re a darling duo, but it’s a whole different story backstage.
Hollywood legend Kent Selwood isn’t happy sharing the limelight with rising star Stella Sanders. Tired of her diva drama, Kent makes it clear—he wants Stella gone.
Seamstress Bonnie Roseland is practically invisible to everyone at the studio, except for slick actor, Jerry Jackson — the one man she wishes would leave her alone. Her deep-rooted faith helps her see beyond the glitz and glamor to the broken realities and dysfunctional atmosphere at the studio. She sometimes wonders if God has a purpose for her there or if she should just move on.
When the studio receives blackmail letters, Kent’s attitude makes him the prime suspect, and he’s swiftly banished from the lot, despite insisting that he’s been framed. Only Bonnie believes him — and she’s confident she knows who the real culprit is.
But when a ransom note arrives after Stella goes missing and evidence is discovered that clearly implicates Kent, will Bonnie help him uncover the truth in time to save his career… and Stella’s life?
The authors of the Ever After Mysteries are celebrating today’s release of my newest book! Enjoy a little mystery this week and be sure to get your copy of A TROLL FALLS on Amazon at this link!
“I just found it on the porch,” I told my daughter as we put up the groceries.
“Well, it’s a lovely rose.” My daughter collected the bags and put them in our storage bin.
“Not such a lovely message, though.” I tugged the ribbon that held the card in place and pulled it through the hole in the card, untangling it from the leaves of the flower. Leaving the flower on the counter, I squatted and dug through the lower cabinet to find the heart-shaped bud vase that had belonged to my mother. “And it was rather strange to just find it laying on the doorstep.”
“No one rang the bell,” my daughter said. “The dogs would have thrown a fit, and I never left my office. I would have heard it too.”
“Strange.” I shut the cabinet and paused. “You didn’t leave it there did you?”
She halted and tilted her head. “Really, Mom? If I’m going to spend the big bucks to get flowers for you, then I’m sure as heck gonna take credit for them.”
I chuckled. “True enough.” I filled the vase and picked up the bud. “Ouch.”
I dropped it immediately and stuck my finger in my mouth. One of the ugly thorns that covered the stem caught my finger just above the knuckle.
“You’re bleeding.” She trotted to the bathroom and came back with an antiseptic and a bandage. “Who leaves so many thorns on a flower, especially when it’s a gift?”
I stuck my finger under the faucet. “Someone who uses a rose to camouflage a threat.”
“You think it’s a threat?” She dabbed my finger with a kitchen towel and then sprayed it with an antiseptic.
“I do.” I flinched as the burn connected with my exposed nerve endings. “What else could it be?” I smoothed the bandage around my finger.
“Maybe we’re missing something.” She collected the trash and tossed it in the wastebasket. “Maybe one of the other authors like Chautana Having wanted to congratulate you about your coming release.”
“That could be.” I slipped an oven mitt on my injured hand and snipped several of the thorns and most of the leaves from the stem before dropping it into the vase. “I should give Chautona a call just to see. If she did send the flower, then I want to thank her.”
“Even with the thorns?” My daughter laughed, picked up her coffee, and went back to her office.
I reached for the card that had come with it. I should probably just toss it in the trash and not think about it again, but the message bugged me. How else could it be taken except as a threat? Surely, Chautona wouldn’t have been threatening me, though.
What type of wicked troll would send a note like this?
Your day has come.
I hope you enjoyed the first part of our little mystery. You’ll find the next part of the story at Chautona Havig’s blog at this link tomorrow: https://chautona.com/a-troll-falls-release
Now I’m no expert, and my blue jeans and tee shirt testify to that fact. (And it’s a toss-up whether I’m wearing the blue tee shirt that says, “Grandma, established 2022,” the red one that says, “I’m a mystery writer. I know 101 ways how to hide a body,” or the long-sleeved black one from “Canceling Christmas,” the musical that I was in last December.)
My characters in A TROLL FALLS, though, know a thing or two about the fashion of the late 1940s. After all, even though they were merely workers in the house, they were treated as part of the family by some very high-standing citizens of Dallas. I showed you the Dior dress that I chose for Ruby to wear on her date at the Adolphus hotel earlier. You can see that post HERE, and it is quite a dress!
Ruby has another date, though, on Elm Street that is shown in THIS POST. She attends a movie premiere of Red River, starring John Wayne, and the block party that the city of Dallas sponsored on that evening (August 26, 1948). At this date, she wore a beautiful sundress. Unfortunately, it wasn’t sunny.
Nope, not a bit. Just as the party was stirring up, a thunderstorm soaked everything and everyone from the haybales to the square dancers and the trick ropers.
And Ruby might have been soaked as well, except she wore one of those plastic raincoats – the kind that were translucent. At least, her dress was seen, right?
As I was researching for this book, I even picked out pajamas for my characters. They are rather prone to wander around and investigate in the middle of the night, so they had to have pajamas. I was surprised to find that the pajama top that I chose is actually a normal daytime top nowadays. Go figure. LOL!
But I have to admit, I wish that the housecoats of 1948 were still popular. These are not mere robes. These are thick and quilted dresses that ushered in the 1950s poofy skirts. I love the ones that I chose for my characters. I would guess the shoulder pads and hemline came straight out of the 1980s, right?
Which do you like best? Which would you wear?
There is something to be said for vintage clothing. I don’t have the figure or the guts to wear clothes from the 1940s, but it sure is pretty!
And in celebration of the release tomorrow, I’m doing a Facebook Takeover at THIS LINK. I’ll be there all day, giving away prizes and sharing more about my story and the Dallas history that sparked my imagination. I hope you will join me!
Oh, and when you purchase your book, don’t forget to send your receipt to ATROLLFALLS@gmail.com along with your US shipping address, and I’ll send you a special gift with your purchase!
Sometimes authors are inspired by actual events. Sometimes people inspire characters for them. For me, it’s always been places.
My daughters can testify of my habit, while we traveled or walked around, of finding great places to hide a body. I even have a tee shirt to that effect. I particularly remember scaring a grocery clerk with a discussion of how dumping the body in a ditch would be too obvious. My daughter spotted her nervous expression. “My mom’s an author.”
“Oh, I hoped it was something like that.” That discussion will be forever impaled on my memory.
As will the time when I spotted the soles of cowboy boots sticking out of a clothing donation box. Seriously? That barely even took any imagination at all. The body dump practically wrote itself. And I expect to use it someday. But no, it wasn’t a body. Yes, I checked. Well, one of my girls checked. Hey, I was driving!
So settings inspire me. The postcard that I found of Broadway of the Southwest inspired my first book A GIANT MURDER. And images of the Adolphus Hotel bridged both that book, set in 1926 and my newest book A TROLL FALLS, set in 1948.
This story’s mystery just fell together when I learned some tidbits about the house that inspired the Halling Estate in A TROLL FALLS. The inspiration for the estate is the DeGolyer House at the Dallas Arboretum that looks out onto White Rock Lake. I was there with a group of recent high school graduates. My twins and their friends had honored me by letting me come and bring my camera. While they wandered all over the gardens, I engaged a worker there at the house and learned a lot more than I expected.
First, I learned about the tragic story of Mr. DeGolyer who committed suicide when he learned of a terminal health issue. He died in his library and that room was one of a kind. Mr. DeGolyer had collected rare books all his life. Most of them are now part of the collection at Southern Methodist University.
The second thing I learned, I can’t really share because it reveals too much about my story. In this case, there is a little curiosity about that building that I played up and developed into the mystery. Yeah, it made for a super-simple story, but a nice juicy little mystery.
I hope you get a kick out of it!
By the way, today is the last day to enter my Goodreads giveaway. You can get a free copy of A TROLL FALLS. Use THIS LINK to enter the sweepstakes. If you do decide to purchase a copy, send your Amazon receipt to ATROLLFALLS@gmail.com along with your shipping address. You get a FREE GIFT WITH PURCHASE in your mailbox!
This isn’t your typical benign musical. But then again, most of the original fairy tales are a little on the gruesome side. And even the Disney versions involve murder, intrigue, and good vs. evil. So my little murder mystery actually fits in perfectly!
My new book that releases next week is A TROLL FALLS. It’s based on a little-known fairy tale called “Snow White and Rose Red.” Now, this Snow White is NOT the original Disney Queen. Snow and Rose are sisters who live with their widowed mother.
In my story, their names are DEFINITELY changed. Rose isn’t an oddity, but Snow? I’m sure there are several named Snow nowadays, but it is a little on the rare side. So my characters are named Opal and Ruby. I’ve known women with those names. In fact, my great aunt (Mawmaw Bobbie’s closest sibling) was named Opal.
Besides the family connection, though, the fact that my characters are named after gemstones is no coincidence. See, at the end of the original fairy tale, a mean troll spreads his treasure of gold and jewels in the sunshine to dry them after he cleaned them. My troll in this story doesn’t actually have gold and jewels, so Ruby and Opal serve a dual purpose by being the jewels in the story as well as the main characters.
Another main character in the fairy tale is a ferocious bear. He shows up in my book as Eric Bjorn, because Bjorn is Swedish for bear. Yep, that wasn’t a coincidence either. In the fairy tale, the bear is a poor victim. Not so much in A TROLL FALLS. In fact . . . wait. I don’t want to give too much away!
Did you know with fiction, the author has to keep a certain camera lens while telling the story? In most fiction, a character tells the story. You, as the reader, slip into the skin of the character and experience everything from that point of view. In A TROLL FALLS, Opal serves as the main character, so most of the scenes have a focus from her. Not only what she sees and hears, but her thoughts (internal monologue) tell a lot of the story. And her thoughts are influenced by her values and background.
I know that’s sort of technical, but in A TROLL FALLS, both Opal and her sister Ruby tell the story. And you’ll notice a difference between their perspectives. Opal is very shy and a rule follower. Ruby is a little more on the spunky side and willing to push the envelope. In truth, Ruby has a way of finding herself in all sorts of uncomfortable situations, but Opal is the one who . . . oh, wait. I’m doing it again.
Suffice it to say, this is Opal’s story, despite Ruby’s outgoing personality. But don’t worry. With Ruby’s outgoing personality, she can’t stay in the back seat for long. She has her own story coming next year. A WOLF’S EXTERMINATION is a play on “Little Red Riding Hood.” The perfect story for Ruby!
Get your own copy of A TROLL FALLS from Amazon by clicking the book cover here!
Oh, and send your Amazon receipt to ATROLLFALLS@gmail.com along with your shipping address and get a free gift with your purchase sent to you!
Tombstone: Judge JH STEVENSON; Born 1803, Died 1886.
I barely missed being a 5th generation native Texan. I know that sounds small, but it really is a big thing. At least to me. My third-great-grandfather, Judge James Hall Stevens moved from North Carolina to Coryell County, Texas after doing a judgeship stint in Arkansas. His son, John Allen Stevenson was born in Coryell county as was his grandson, my great-grandfather, Robert Lysander Stevenson.
Mawmaw Bobbie, reportedly at age 23 (1939) on the streets of downtown Dallas.
Robert Lysander’s final child, my grandmother Bobbie Zefflah Stevenson (yes, Zefflah. I think Great-Grandmother chose a Z name for this, her eighth child in eighteen years! LOL!) was born just south of Dallas and she moved in with her next older sister and brother-in-law during the early 1930s. My mom was born downtown as were all four of my kids.
So the fact that my mom and dad went over the border (into Louisiana) just before my brother was born and left just after I was born is downright devastating.
Okay, that’s probably a stronger word than is necessary. But I remember my mom had a bumper sticker on my car that said, “Native Texan.” Isn’t that a silly thing to want?
Papa Loyd as a station captain – my aunt thinks this was in the mid-1940s. He was in his early thirties.
I do love doing research into the early days of Dallas, though. My new book, A TROLL FALLS, is set in Dallas in 1948. About that time, my grandfather, “Red” Morin, was a fire captain at one of the Dallas stations. Declared 4F during the war due to hearing loss (just like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life), Papa Loyd was an air raid warden when he wasn’t at the firehouse. He and my grandmother lived in Oak Cliff, just southwest of downtown Dallas. So as I worked through this book, it was really personal to me.
I’ll share a little more with you soon, but you can preorder your own copy of A TROLL FALLS at THIS LINK. See what makes this book so special and enjoy a special free gift with purchase! Just email your name and shipping address to ATROLLFALLS@gmail.com.
They must have gone together at some point! See in the 1940s, when my book A TROLL FALLS is set, Dallas had the most amazing downtown. Elm Street was still considered the Broadway of the Southwest. And then there was the Century Ballroom at the Adolphus Hotel.
The Ice Skating shows began in 1943 and ran until 1965. This article actually has a film clip from many of the shows at the Adolphus itself.
When the ice show ended, a dance floor skimmed into place over the ice and Herman Waldman and his Orchestra continued to play long into the night. This was the date that my character, Ruby Stedman, had with her new beau. Ruby, with her perfect complexion and elegantly coifed brunette hair must have looked amazing in the Dior creation that Mrs. Halling let her borrow. Even if it was a couple of seasons old.
Ruby might have been a looker in the 1940s, but the young woman, an orphan by all accounts, merely served as a companion for an elderly woman in return for her room and board. How amazing it would have felt for her to wear such a dress and join the society of Dallas with a handsome, debonair man at her side.
Well . . . now that I think about it, amazing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. In fact . . . let’s just say that Ruby has a habit of finding herself in trouble. She gives her older sister Opal all sorts of reasons to worry and pray!
Find out more about Ruby and her date in A TROLL FALLS!
It’s been a minute! Actually, it’s been closer to a year and seven months since my last release. And it was a year and eight months for the release before that one. Blows my mind how time flies!
But I do have a new book that I’m so excited about. I enjoyed releasing A GIANT MURDER as part of the historical “Ever After” mystery series. That one was set in Dallas in the 1920s, and I had a blast doing research on my grandparents and great-grandparents and their lives in my hometown.
Well, I got to revisit Dallas history again with this new book, A TROLL FALLS.
— White Rock Lake Conservancy (@whiterockdallas) April 1, 2018
White Rock Lake is the backdrop for this story. My mom swam there before they closed it to swimming in the early 1950s. I used to take my kids there as a homeschooling field trip, and I still visit the beautiful Dallas Arboretum near the shores of the lake. It has the most magnificent view of downtown which is six miles away.
One of the main structures of the Dallas Arboretum is the DeGolyer House, built in the mid-1930s. It looks like a Spanish Hacienda and I had fun “borrowing” it to create the Halling Estate in my book. The house I created might be fiction, but the vistas and the sprawling lawns and gardens are very real! This is actually a postcard with the image of the DeGolyer house on it from the 1940s.
Stick around for more details about 1940s Dallas and information about A TROLL FALLS!
This time The Visitor has arrived at a LAKE which is really nice, but not so great!
Check the clue below to see if you can figure out where The Visitor is this time! Send your guess to the email given and be sure to include your shipping address in case you win! One correct entry will be randomly selected for this week’s winner!
Marji Laine 