Today it is my pleasure to present to you P.J. MacLayne and her latest book, The Baron’s Cufflinks. Come learn a bit about P.J. and step inside her latest work, which she describes as a “cozy mystery (with a touch of romance)”
Discover P.J.
Where is your favorite place to write? There’s a lake halfway between Walden and Cowdrey, Colorado. I don’t expect anyone has heard of them. They’re in the high plains between several mountain ranges, north of the Rocky Mountain National Park. There’s a ranch across from the small public area on one side of the lake, and nothing between the lake and the mountains but cows and prairie. On a good day you can see the mountains reflected in the lake and listed to the yellow-headed blackbirds that nest in the bushes along the shoreline. Normally, there might be only two or three other vehicles there, people out in canoes fishing. What a great place to write.
What inspires me as an author? I like watching people. In stores, in restaurants, where I work. I like overhearing bits and pieces of their conversations and filling in the blanks. Despite all the flaws we have as humans, I still think most of us are basically good. I try to make the characters in my books reflect that.
Why do you write romance and what is your genre of romance? Romance is what we are looking for. We may define it in different ways, but I believe each of us is looking for our happily ever after. It’s comforting to read romance and hope for our own if we haven’t found it already.
My line is that I write action with a touch of romance. But the underlying romance, in both my urban fantasies and my mysteries, is what ties the stories together.
What are you working own next and when can we expect to see it? I’ve got two projects. One is a short story for a compilation with nine other authors. The other is the next book in my Free Wolves series, Wolves’ Gambit. They should both be available around Christmas.
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The Baron’s Cufflinks
The Baron’s Cufflinks is the third book in the Oak Grove Mysteries, and Harmony Duprie is up to her usual antics.
Description:
What starts as Girl’s Night Out ends in murder, and Harmony Duprie is a suspect.
She’s innocent, of course, but with no alibi, the sheriff’s department won’t remove her from the list of suspects. It doesn’t help when a waitress from the bar gets beaten up and the only clue is a slip of paper with Harmony’s name on it. Throw in a rookie deputy dead set on building his reputation and Harmony must tread carefully.
But caution isn’t Harmony’s middle name and she plunges head first into danger to defend her honor.
What she finds is a web of half-truths and suspicions implicating several law enforcement agencies, with Jake, her ex-lover, stuck in the middle of it all.
Can Harmony rescue Jake and find the real culprit before she becomes the next victim?
Excerpt from The Baron’s Cufflinks
It didn’t take long for a warm body to slide into the barstool next to me. The middle-aged man with a bad comb-over hairdo and bulging stomach wasn’t my type at all. But Tiffini would talk to him.
“How’s it going, Sugar?” he said. “Buy you a drink?” He’d already had several drinks based on the smell of liquor on his breath.
I smiled and waved my beer bottle in front of his face. “Thanks! How about the next round?”
He waved to get the bartender’s attention and pointed to me. “Another of those for the lady.”
I wouldn’t be drinking it, but I didn’t stop him.
“What’s your name, Sugar?” he asked.
God help me, I giggled. “Sugar will do fine for now. What’s your name?”
“Dave.” He took a swig of whatever poison he was drinking. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”
He looked like a Dave. His wife—yes, he was wearing a wedding ring—probably called him David when she was mad at him. “I’m new in town,” I said. And giggled again. “Thought I’d get out and make some friends.”
Dave grinned widely. At least he had a full set of teeth. “Why don’t you come over and join me and my buds?”
I glanced over towards the table he indicated. The three men looked like clones of Dave. None of them appeared to be dangerous. It would likely be a waste of my time, but I picked up my beer and slid off the barstool. “Sure.”
He grabbed my second beer and his own drink and we made our way across the room. One of them grabbed an empty chair from a nearby table. “Sugar, meet the guys. That’s Bill, Harry, and Lamar.”
They could have been Mo, Larry, and Curly for all I cared, but I grinned as I settled into one of the empty chairs. “Nice to meet you.”
“Sugar’s new around here,” Dave announced. “So, I volunteered us to make her feel welcome.”
I fluttered my fake eyelashes and giggled. “Sure is nice of y’all to let me join you.”
I did my best impression of Tiffini flirting with all four of the men and discovered, to my surprise, they were actually fun to talk to. I think they were surprised at my knowledge of Steeler’s football, and that made Tiffini more of a friend than a target. The chair they’d given me had a view of the front door, and as was my habit, I’d been keeping an eye on it. It had opened and closed many times, but this time was different.
Buy Links:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-baron-s-cufflinks
Books2read Universal https://www.books2read.com/u/b5OVGp
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072P6CD3D
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1232223538
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-barons-cufflinks-pj-maclayne/1126317718?ean=2940157511692
P.J.’s Bio
Born and raised among the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania, P.J. MacLayne still finds inspiration for her books in that landscape. She is a computer geek by day and a writer by night who currently lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. When she’s not in front of a computer screen, she might be found exploring the back roads of the nearby national forests and parks. In addition to the Oak Grove Mysteries, she is also the author of The Free Wolves series.
P.J. MacLayne can be reached on:
Great post! Thank you so much for hosting me!
my pleasure PJ, come back again anytime!