Alexandria James was born in California, but raised all over the US due to being a child of the military. She loves to laugh, sing and write– when not spending precious time with her family. Alexandria lives in South Florida with her husband and two sons.
The man standing at the funeral in bubble-gum pink hair is P.J. Crowe. His career as a detective is in tatters – he’s facing dismissal, vilified by the press and his wife’s about to leave. Lying low in a small seaside town he spots a ‘Help Wanted’ ad in the kitchen of a local café. It offers him an escape from the public and his spiralling mental health – and it’s where Thea Farrell worked – until she was found dead at sea.
And herein lies the problem: Thea was an Olympic medallist, silver for swimming and Crowe’s burned-out synapses are starting to join the dots – it wasn’t his case, but his cop’s senses tell him that Thea wasn’t the drowning kind.
And the suspect may well be in the congregation.
A KIND OF DROWNING is a big departure for me both in subject and style. I put the main character, P. J. Crowe in a small seaside town, off the beaten track in the midst of a mental and professional crisis. He is isolated in a small town where a tragedy occurs, and despite everything he’s going through he’s not convinced it’s an accident.
For the technical aspects, I contacted Sue Procter at ThinkForensic in the UK. I sketched out my ‘crime / tragedy’ and within weeks, she was back with the science of what I was looking for. I built an entire chapter around this and sent it back for approval. A few tweaks and several rewrites later, Sue validated it. I now had a ‘hub’ around which the story would revolve.
I had my protagonist, I had my ‘incident’ (or supposed crime with the technical nous behind it), I had my location. Now I could tap into the key Lockdown themes of this Covid-19 Crisis: Isolation, mental health, and survival.
A KIND OF DROWNING is a noir novel – a Chandleresque, Ken Bruen, Hammett, and Spillane dark in its concept. I wanted the characters to grow through dialogue rather than actions and I wanted to stay clear of the technical and procedural jargon and let the story evolve through Crowe’s eyes.
I think its my best novel to date; a culmination of 14 years of writing that has finally come together in this book.
But I will let the reader decide on that.
A KIND OF DROWNING will be released in early May on Amazon & Kobo platforms
Sample chapter
“Where to, Boss?”
It was Crowe’s kind of ride, neither he nor the taxi driver spoke. The sporadic bursts from the Satnav punctuated the silence. Dublin’s suburbs gave way to the northbound motorway.
But long distances abhor a vacuum,
“I know you,” she said.
Crowe flicked his eyes across the laminated ID – the driver’s name was Abosede Akande O’Hare. He spied the small camera on the mirror behind a thick-beaded wooden rosary hanging from the mirror.
“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure,” he replied.
“You look done in,” she said.
He drew his hand across the week long stubble then pulled it away; he studied it. The knuckles still had faint traces of bruising. He covered them with his other hand. Sometimes the tremors arrived unannounced. The scratches had healed in coarse diagonal lines. A faint indentation on his finger hinted where a wedding band used to be.
Crowe had gone twenty-four hours without sleep. He had the kind of sour hangover that felt like a vice squeezing in on either side of his skull.
The white lines of the road were hypnotic. A passing truck flicked its lights like a flashgun sending lightening forks across his prefrontal cortex.
A lot could change in a fortnight, he thought.
“You police?” asked Abosede.
“No,” Crowe replied.
Abosede made a clicking sound with her tongue, rolling the words “PJ, PJ, PJ..” like a rolodex.
She turned her flawless profile scanning him up and down. She saw a man in an unwashed fleece; a man whose entire existence was stuffed into pockets and bags.
“You look like police,” she murmured.
“It’s Gardai in this country,”
“Gardee. Guarding what?” she snorted.
Guarding what indeed, he thought.
“I’m paying you only to drive,” said Crowe.
The clicking continued, she mumbled something under her breath. It sounded like “Stronger air freshener,”
He couldn’t be sure.
The cab smelled exotic. A gold watch glowed on her ebony skin; its glass was covered in a faint meshwork of cracks.
“Not paying me enough,” she said.
Crowe slunk further into his seat.
Twelve junctions later, the northbound motorway siphoned off to a dual carriageway that dog-legged onto a secondary road. The silence stretched out to forever. The first signposts for his destination appeared.
“Well, don’t expect any sunshine in Roscarrig, man. The forecast for the summer is terrible,” said Abosede.
“Suits me, I’ve been told to rest,” said Crowe.
“You cannot rest in Dublin?”
“No-one seems to think so,” he paused, pressing his forehead against the window. The faint vibrations of the road coursed through his temples, “I thought I’d get away,”
“Why? The city is where the money is, the money is boss; it crisp, it nice,”
He closed his eyes,
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” he said.
“I do know you. Brutality, man. Brutality,” said Abosede.
Like her photo, her braids were piled gloriously high on her head.
“Roscarrig, thanks. No more talk or I will definitely kill you,” he replied.
Crowe’s gaze fell onto the glove compartment, an adhesive 3-D Jesus doled out a plastic benediction. Abosede glanced sideways at him,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,” she intoned,
“I never trust anyone who’s read just one book,” said Crowe.
The silence descended between them like a pall.
Dilapidated lines of greenhouses amid large tracts of grass, yellow gorse and seas of ragwort sailed past,
“Jacobaea Vulgaris,” he muttered.
He thought about Googling the word ragwort, but like his watch, the blood stained mobile phone was sealed tight and locked away in an evidence bag.
He folded his arms.
Abosede’s tongue started clicking again.
Two bedraggled roundabouts later, they passed a peeling, dirty reflective welcome sign that requested everyone to please drive slowly. The Satnav announced that they had reached their destination. They were on the narrow main street of Roscarrig town.
It was a town dismal and forgotten; out of time and out of luck, thought Crowe. The ragged end of nowhere.
My Peaceful Place. A coloring book for wives and brides with sage advice and fun ideas for couples. We all need a peaceful place at one time or another. A place to be alone and ponder our thoughts. Whether you are married or getting married, some days are just more stressful than others. We, as women, need time to think. To reflect. To regroup. Tuck this book into your purse and pull it out at the moments you need just a few minutes to yourself. Revel in the designs as you add color to them using your favorite medium. Read the sage advice from someone who has been happily married for 38 years – and counting! Then read the fun ideas for couples and let your mind wander as you plan how it will work for you. Weddings are beautiful and so is marriage. My Peaceful Place seeks to help you when you need to be refreshed and inspired.
Sue Young is a creative at heart. She founded her wedding invitation business in 2011 and eventually branched out into favors, signage, dessert buffets, and Day Of Wedding Coordination. She has helped numerous brides navigate the planning of their wedding. Her most notable client was partnering with The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. She has now “retired” and lives with her husband in Sequim, Washington where she helps care for her aging in-laws. Believing that everyone has a gift and not being able to sit still, Sue has recently started her business, A Sweet Haven, where she helps others find their gift, hone it, and share their gift with others. Here she inspires, encourages, and teaches other women to be creative in their daily lives.
My Peaceful Place Coloring Book came about as a way of calming brides as they were planning for their wedding. She recently expanded this book to include wives with ideas for dates with their spouse as well as sage marriage advice that she has used in her 38 happy years of marriage (and counting!)
Traci Simmons has been fired from another job and must decide if it’s time to give up her home and start fresh in another town. But, when her elderly neighbor dies mysteriously, she is pulled into leading a crusade to save the neighbor’s urban farm and find the killer. Through her new and unexpected relationship with these invisible people, Traci faces her own insecurities to learn what home really means.
This is a continuation of the story of Traci Simmons. Her relationship with Officer Randall Wells unfolds and they embark on a new life together. As things get serious, someone from their past designs a scheme to ruin both of their lives. The suspense heats up as Randall becomes a target of the evil Charlotte Carter and it almost destroys his career. And, if that were not bad enough, his love and loyalty to Traci is put to the ultimate test.
With Traci in his corner, Milo has surmounted every challenge to become a rising star in Faucier County. His journey to success engenders hope to thousands of young people throughout the community. But when a cold case is reopened, it shatters everything he believes about himself and threatens to dismantle his relationships and his new life.
Barbara Howard is a “not-so-cozy” mystery and YA author of a dozen books, including her most recent trilogy, Finding Home Mystery Series; Final Harvest, Charlotte’s Revenge, and Milo’s Journey. Stories with drama without the trauma, crime without the grime. She is a first generation tech geek turned master gardener with a passion for fresh air, vegan cuisine, and tracing her roots. A big city girl with a small town heart, she returned to her family home in the Midwest after an extensive career as a Department of Defense Project Manager at the Pentagon and spends most of her time treasure hunting, spoiling her fur-babies, growing veggies and raising chickens.
She has also published a collection of books on food-related topics, food safety, and heirloom recipe cookbooks under the pen name, Arlene Lee.
Memberships/Affiliations: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC)
When magic is unleashed, will what they learn bring them closer together or push them apart?
Prim and proper Trinity Shilo is the assistant manager for Salem’s Wildlife Sanctuary. She hasn’t had much luck in the boyfriend department, but the new employee Paul is different. Deep and brooding she sees something special hidden below the surface. Besides she has secrets of her own.
Paul Thorp is a wounded Special Forces veteran now working in security and computer support. He’s fought hard to keep his demons in check and for the first time feels he is ready for a real relationship.
When a fire breaks out at Puffin Cove Rescue they are called in to help with the recovery and ice cream social fundraiser. Sometimes things are not what they seem, and neither are people. When magic is unleashed will what they learn bring them closer together or push them apart?
With the majestic Rocky Mountains just outside the window, I sit at my computer with vampires,demons, witches, faeries, and a variety of paranormal creatures gathered around telling me their stories! That makes me an author of paranormal romance novels and cozy mysteries with magic spark. The everyday world is mundane, but sprinkle a little magic and you have fantastic!
Colorado is home. I share my life with a wonderful husband of many moons, our brilliant Chow Chow, a terribly spoiled companion parrot, and a forty-year-old box turtle. We enjoy hiking, biking, and camping, also love water sports including kayaking and whitewater rafting, especially on the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge.
Another passion of mine is reading a good novel. You can find me any winter evening curled up in front of a crackling fire with a good book, a mug of hot chocolate, and a big bowl of popcorn. While growing up, if I didn’t like the ending of a book, I’d rewrite it, which led to writing my own books.
Reluctantly, I discovered that in real life it’s tough to rewrite an ending.
It’s the fall of 1998, and librarian Samantha Stewart is looking for a new job. After seeing an ad for a high-paying position at a company called Virtual Software that entails research and travel, Sam investigates the company and learns that its president has gone missing, and that it’s currently being run by the vice-president Greg Parsons.
Before Sam makes it to the interview, she’s visited by a strange woman who introduces herself as Jane Oldsfield: a time traveler whose mission Greg Parsons is trying to prevent.
Sam ignores the woman and goes on the job interview anyway. Soon, she finds herself involved not only with Greg Parsons, but also Philip Montmart, a chain-smoking detective with a vendetta for his wife’s killer, and the time-traveling Oldsfield and her feline accomplice.
Witnessing world events that have yet to happen in her lifetime, including 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, Y2K hysteria and the COVID pandemic, can Samantha figure out Oldsfield’s plans?
Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a reference librarian at a public library on Long Island. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters-in-Crime, and the Cat Writer’s Association. She has a BA in English and an MLS in Library Science from Long Island University. Her seven published novels include the 4 books of her Cobble Cove cozy mystery series: A Stone’s Throw, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Written in Stone, and Love on the Rocks, her paranormal romance, Cloudy Rainbow, her mystery thriller Reason to Die, and her latest psychological mystery, Sea Scope. She also published a romantic comedy novella featuring a jewel heist caper, When Jack Trumps Ac. Debbie has also written articles and short stories for several anthologies of various genres. She is currently querying agents to represent the first book of a new cozy mystery series. She lives on Long Island with her husband, daughter, and three cats.
What would you sacrifice to protect someone you love?
In 1965 April Toulane’s life is turned upside down on her fifth birthday when her mother marries a man she’s known for only two weeks. The life she’d known is forever changed with the addition of a stepfather and a five-year-old stepbrother who terrorizes her on a daily basis. After a family tragedy the young siblings are thrust into the Hollywood spotlight, surrounded by people whose very foundation is based on secrets and lies. Struggling to grow up and find their way in a world where child stars are forever manipulated and exploited, the siblings form an unbreakable bond vowing to always protect each other when the adults entrusted to take care of them fail at every turn. “Tell Me You Love Me” is the story of April and Auggie Fairbanks, the most sought after faces in show business throughout the sixties and seventies, maneuvering their way through the lies and corruption to learn the truth about their parents and searching for the love and acceptance they so desperately crave.
Kathleen has been a freelance writer since 1999 and now writes full time. Her work has appeared in Doll World Magazine, Apolloslyre.com, The Lake County Journals, Trails.com; USA Today (travel), Livestrong.com (lifestyle), Essortment, eHow, Answerbag, Examiner.com, Suite101 and YahooVoices. She is the author of the award-winning novel Whispers On A String, the Head Case Rock Novel Series (Head Case, Whiplash and Haven) and Tell Me You Love Me. She also has short stories published in the Secrets: Fact or Fiction I & II anthologies.
Welcome to Willow Creek Ranch. Owner and proprietor Katherine Ryan has everything she wants in life-almost. The single mom of two works hard to provide for her children on their Wyoming ranch. She values coffee, books, and her children above all others (not necessarily in that order). Her passion for healing, though, has led her down the path of rehabilitating racehorses and developing a therapeutic riding program for kids. The persistent thorn in her side, however, is that for the last five years her ex-husband, Ethan, has still worked and lived on the property with her.
With a sister who’s a famous Hollywood actress and a business deal that pulls her down to LA, she’s talked into a party where she runs into a man she’s known for most of her life, but has been relegated to a memory. Fate has some strange cards to play after Katherine returns to Wyoming and life on the ranch.
Caroline Smith graduated cum laude from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Publishing and Printing Arts and is currently pursuing a master’s of fine arts in creative writing at Queens University in North Carolina. She is an author coach and publishing director/executive editor-in-chief of NOW Publishing based in Tampa, Florida. In 2014, she won an IBPA Gold Ben Franklin Award with one of her authors for excellence in editorial and design.
After over a decade in publishing, Caroline has started her own writing journey with several titles in the fiction and non-fiction space. To assist her authors around the globe, she started a podcast called “Inspiration to Publication.” She currently resides in the mountains of North Georgia on a small farm with her three wild and wonderful children. Find out more on her website: editorcaroline.com
A road that changes length, direction, and destination.
A young man, lost in the forest and dying, hears the cry of a raven.
Set in a dystopic near future, Raven Woman’s Tavern is the story of a collection of survivalists who are squatting in the remains of a dead timber town in the Northwest. The residents—most of them old, sick, and in need—help each other by means legal and extralegal under the watchful eye of Rachel, the tavern keeper. When the peace of the community is disturbed by the sudden visit of four members of the local militia, the survivalists are frightened; not all of them are law-abiding and some are not citizens.
But, as Crazy Mary said to Charlie the Poet, “You don’t piss Rachel off. She’s got her ways.”
Laura started off life as an artist. Even in early elementary school she could draw with near-photo realism. She liked to tell herself stories while driving, or doing boring tasks such as housework, but never thought of herself as a writer.
That is, until she got involved in the rescue of an abused dog. Her first book, a collection of short stories entitled The Dog Thief, made the Kirkus Review list of one hundred best indy publications and set her on a course of writing.
With one exception, her subsequent novels are in the genre of fantasy, though four have themes relating to current events, and three are also dystopias. Wild Hare, the story of a half/man-half/nature spirit and his feud with the local civic powers also made the Kirkus Review “best of” list.
The exception, I Once Was Lost But Now Am Found, is the nonfiction account of the largest dog rescue in the US to succeed without help of local authorities.
Laura is a retired teacher and lives on an island in Puget Sound with her husband; her one-eyed cat; and her elderly, disabled and chronically grumpy shih tzu. She is volunteers at a rescue for unadoptable cats.
Shadow’s Dissident Children of Chaos Series by Ariel Paiement Genre: YA Fantasy Adventure
A powerful cabal rounding up those with extraordinary abilities. A girl with an ability only the elite should possess. They want to shape her into the ultimate weapon, but she just wants her life back.
Gwenabhir is a simple farm girl with an ability she doesn’t understand. She’s been told to hide it her whole life so the nobility won’t execute her for having the ability. But she never imagined someone more dangerous than the nobility might come after her because of it.
When Oblivion, a secret organization bent on plunging the universe into chaos, kidnaps her, she is thrown into a world rife with secrets, lies, and darkness. Her only goal is to escape before they can break her and force her into the role they have planned for her. When her refusal to cooperate lands her with a new trainer, she sets out to turn him to her side.
Can she survive and escape? Who will she tell when she does, and where will she find the allies she so desperately needs?
Shadow’s Dissident is the thrilling first book of two by Ariel Paiement in the Children of Chaos collection. Fans of romance, intrigue, and secret organizations will love Ariel Paiement’s riveting fantasy adventure.
Buy Shadow’s Dissident today to reveal the world of secrets and magic lurking in the darkness.
Ariel Paiement is a speculative fiction author. She writes a variety of fiction pieces and other works. As a reader, she enjoys lots of styles and genres, though fantasy and science fiction are her favorites. Her favorite pastime is indulging in wild flights of imagination for new fiction pieces and other works. If asked what she spends most of her time doing, she’d tell you that she spends most of it working either and writing. Life gets to be hectic, but she enjoys her part-time teaching and editing work as well as writing whenever she has a spare moment. She is the author of several short fiction pieces and other works, including On The Narrow Way and Rith’s Disciple (both of which are published in Port and Key’s anthologies), In Darkness Lost, and the first of the Legends of Alcardia series. Her newest novel, On Twilight’s Wings, is a YA fantasy novel and the first in a YA Christian fantasy series with the second one, On Anarchy’s Wings, releasing in the beginning of 2021. In July of 2020, another short story, Leap of Faith, will be out. This short story will be available in the anthology Glimpses of Time and Magic. You can find Ariel on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest as well as via email at arielpaiement@gmail.com. She’s pretty open to connecting with readers and other writers too! Reach out if you want to chat. Just be sure you introduce yourself. She deletes requests that seem weird or creepy. Saying something more than just hi would be nice.
