Today’s the big day! My mystery Fair Winds & Foul
Play: An Amity Landing Mystery releases to great fanfare. You can read all
about it at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven:
https://substack.com/@nnlightsbookheaven/p-218047830
Today’s the big day! My mystery Fair Winds & Foul
Play: An Amity Landing Mystery releases to great fanfare. You can read all
about it at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven:
https://substack.com/@nnlightsbookheaven/p-218047830
Get Ready! Fair
Winds and Foul Play: an Amity Landing Mystery is on its way. Releasing September
30 of this year, it’s a story of murder and romance in small town Maine.
Here’s the blurb:
What do a government official, a loony environmentalist, and a batty old
lady have in common?
Zoe’s run-in with
the newcomer in Albion Cottage is hardly promising, but his gunmetal gray eyes
and air of mystery stick with her. Why is he hiding? Who is he? His prickly
attitude grates on the neighborly—well, to be honest, nosey—folks of the
village of Amity Landing, but when he confesses to Zoe that he is the witness
to a gruesome murder, she jumps at the chance to help the handsome stranger.
Two more corpses
make their appearance in quick succession, but their connection to the first
body is murky at best. Is it simply a series of unfortunate incidents? Has
Amity Landing become a hotbed of homicide, or is there a pattern to the
madness? Do more have to die before Zoe and the stranger can fit the puzzle
pieces together?
PREORDER HERE:
Please welcome Teresa Crowe, author of the new dark cozy mystery, The Salt Widow, the first of five in the Salt Widow Mysteries set on the Chesapeake Bay. It releases officially today, August 31. Teresa, could you tell us about the story?
Truth is a tide. You can’t keep it from coming in.
When Janessa “Nessa” Douglas inherits her
grandmother’s house in Mystic Beach on the Chesapeake Bay, she intends to sell
it and never look back. The locals still whisper about her grandmother,
Elspeth, who wrote strange fairy tales about women who kept dangerous secrets.
When a college intern named Ivy Camden vanishes while
studying those same folktales, Nessa’s plans are pulled out to sea. Ivy’s
research hints that Elspeth’s most infamous story, The Salt Widow, was
not born of myth but of murder.
With help from her childhood friend, Nessa begins to
unravel the buried history of the town: drowned girls, a power family’s
cover-up, and a legacy of silence stretching back more than a century. The
deeper she digs, the more she realizes her grandmother’s stories weren’t
warnings. They were confessions.
As storms roll in from the bay and old sins rise with
the tide, Nessa must decide whether to flee from her family’s darkness or
finish what the Salt Widow started.
The
Salt Widow
Teresa
Crowe Books, August 31, 2026
Genres: Dark Cozy Mystery, Thriller,
Paranormal Mystery
Keywords: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Amateur Sleuth,
Small Town, Seaside, Superstitions, Secrets, Cold Case, Family Trauma, Crimes
against women, Mythology, Legacy Family
Amazon Sales Link: https://a.co/d/01qDrNeZ
The Salt Widow Mysteries are a planned five-book series featuring the seaside, superstition, and small town secrets unraveled by amateur sleuth Nessa Douglas.
Order of books to be released:
1.
The Salt Widow
2.
The Salt Widow’s Key
3.
The Salt Widow’s Curse
4.
The Salt Widow’s Tide
5.
The Salt Widow’s Watch
www.facebook.com/teresacrowebooks
I’m Teresa
Crowe, a mystery writer, social work professor, and longtime believer that
stories help us understand what people hide, what they survive, and what they
carry with them. I live near the Maryland Atlantic coast, where the water,
weather, small towns, and shifting tides constantly find their way into my
fiction. I’m drawn to places that feel beautiful and unsettling at the same
time, like boardwalks after dark, quiet marinas, old houses, isolated
shorelines, and small communities where everyone knows more than they say. When
I’m not writing or teaching, I’m usually reading, boating, spending time on the
beach, or hanging out with my husband and our dogs. My background in social
work shapes how I think about people, but my mysteries come from a lifelong
curiosity about secrets, motives, and the stories beneath the surface. I write
coastal mysteries with psychological depth, atmospheric settings, and buried
truths that refuse to stay buried.
Now available for preorder ~ Fair Winds and Foul Play: an Amity Landing Mystery!
What do a government official, a loony environmentalist, and a batty old
lady have in common?
Zoe’s run-in with the newcomer in
Albion Cottage is hardly promising, but his gunmetal gray eyes and air of
mystery stick with her. Why is he hiding? Who is he? His prickly attitude
grates on the neighborly—well, to be honest, nosey—folks of the village of
Amity Landing, but when he confesses to Zoe that he is the witness to a
gruesome murder, she jumps at the chance to help the handsome stranger.
Two more corpses make their
appearance in quick succession, but their connection to the first body is murky
at best. Is it simply a series of unfortunate incidents? Has Amity Landing
become a hotbed of homicide or is there a pattern to the madness? Do more have
to die before Zoe and the stranger can fit the puzzle pieces together?
You can preorder Fair Winds here:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fair-Winds-Foul-Play-Landing-ebook/dp/B0GX35YY4X
Barnes&Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fair-winds-and-foul-play-m-s-spencer/1150931840
The Wild Rose Press:
https://shop.app/products/9410606498010/fair-winds-and-foul-play-an-amity-landing-mystery
Get Ready! Fair Winds and
Foul Play: an Amity Landing Mystery is on its way. Releasing September
30 of this year, it’s a story of murder and romance in small town Maine.
Here’s the blurb:
What do a government official, a loony environmentalist, and a batty old
lady have in common?
Zoe’s run-in with
the newcomer in Albion Cottage is hardly promising, but his gunmetal gray eyes
and air of mystery stick with her. Why is he hiding? Who is he? His prickly
attitude grates on the neighborly—well, to be honest, nosey—folks of the
village of Amity Landing, but when he confesses to Zoe that he is the witness
to a gruesome murder, she jumps at the chance to help the handsome stranger.
Two more corpses
make their appearance in quick succession, but their connection to the first
body is murky at best. Is it simply a series of unfortunate incidents? Has
Amity Landing become a hotbed of homicide, or is there a pattern to the
madness? Do more have to die before Zoe and the stranger can fit the puzzle
pieces together?
Coming Soon!
Fair Winds & Foul Play: an Amity Landing Mystery
Fair Winds and Foul Play is off to be galley proofed. It won't be long now! Save this space.The Blurb:
What do a government official, a loony environmentalist, and
a batty old lady have in common?
Zoe’s run-in with the newcomer in Albion Cottage is hardly
promising, but his gunmetal gray eyes and air of mystery stick with her. Why is
he hiding? Who is he? His prickly attitude grates on the neighborly—well, to be
honest, nosey—folks of the village of Amity Landing, but when he confesses to
Zoe that he is the witness to a gruesome murder, she jumps at the chance to
help the handsome stranger.
Two more corpses make their appearance in quick succession,
but their connection to the first body is murky at best. Is it simply a series
of unfortunate incidents? Has Amity Landing become a hotbed of homicide? Or is
there a pattern to the madness? Do more have to die before Zoe and the stranger
can fit the puzzle pieces together?
Please welcome the wonderful author Amber Daulton. She’s here to talk about her latest sizzling romance Dark Hearts Aflame.
Tell us about the inspiration for your new series, Amber.
Thank you so much!
Bristol Rieger is one of my
favorite heroes that I’ve ever written. Rather, he’s not a hero, but an
anti-hero. I’ve always had a thing for the bad guys! Anyway, he was so awesome
as a secondary character in the Arresting Onyx series that I wanted to give him
his own book. After all the trauma I put him through, he deserved a bit of
happiness. So I wrote this book, under a different title, fully expecting it to
be the final book in the series. Only it didn’t fit well within the guidelines
that I’d established for my Arresting Onyx world.
What was I to do? That
question plagued me for months. Seriously. Months!
After some tears and an
extremely long conversation with my supportive husband, I finally decided to
listen to the niggling voice in the back of my mind and remove the book from
the series. I knew deep down that I had to create a spin-off, but I resisted
because of the extra work it would entail. Once I finally accepted what my head
already knew, I reworked the story, re-titled it, and set it as book one in my
new dark romance spin-off, the Lozano Cartel.
Book two, Lost in His
Spiderwebs, is already under way. I’ve very proud of these books, and I hope
you enjoy Dark Hearts Aflame
as much as I do.
What’s the story?
Blurb:
A drug lord on the run. A
cartel princess in hiding. All it takes is a spark to set their world ablaze.
Bristol Rieger left his
criminal life behind for a fresh start in Mexico. Flying under the radar of the
government and the cartels alike, his best-laid plans go awry when a woman from
his narco days discovers his whereabouts. Carmen Lozano, however, is no longer
the innocent girl he remembers.
Carmen escaped the chains of
her tiara and her abusive marriage to join a group of resistance fighters. The
last thing she expected was the now-retired capo setting out to seduce her with
his wicked touch. Embracing the blood on his hands is easy, but his secrets
wear on her patience.
When their enemies close in,
Bristol will have to summon his inner monster to protect her. But can that
monster be tamed again?
– Book one is an
Interracial (Hispanic woman/white man) dark romance novel in the Lozano Cartel
series. All the books can be read as a standalone, but are part of an
interconnected series.
Excerpt:
He strode down the hall, his
leather huaraches thudding on the white-and-blue mosaic tile. A flickering
embossed ceiling light cast shadows across the smooth orange walls despite the
explosion of sunlight pouring through the lobby windows. Taking a deep breath,
he entered the laundry room and closed the door behind him with a soft snick.
The racket from the heavy-duty washers and dryers along the back wall pierced
his ears, the machines shaking like they had palsy. The stench of bleach stung
his nostrils.
Carmen likely didn’t hear him
come in. She faced away from him and dumped a basket of white towels onto a
metal workstation. Then she stored the basket with several others on the bottom
shelf of a shelving unit that spanned the length of the right side wall.
Folded towels, bed linens,
colorful blankets and quilts, toiletries, and cleaning supplies stocked the
upper shelves.
Most women couldn’t pull off
her ugly gray blouse and ill-fitted black slacks with any sense of style, but
somehow, she made it work. She should throw out her dour low-heeled black shoes
for a pair of stilettos. The high heels would do wonders for her long legs. Her
golden-brown ponytail swayed as she moved, begging him to pull it.
As he studied her now from
behind, she could be anyone. Just another woman working a dead-end job to
survive. Had his mind played tricks on him? Did he see Carmen in the woman’s
face because he wanted to believe she was alive and well somewhere in the world?
Heat slicked sweat on his
nape, despite the air chugging from the floor vents and the industrial-sized
floor fan oscillating in the corner. Opposite the workstation and storage
space, a kitchenette resembling the one in his hotel room lined the wall. However,
the old whirring refrigerator needed replacing, and the cabinets required a
fresh coat of paint.
He tsked. Back in the States,
his employees never had to work in such a hot, dingy environment or relax in a
shitty break room. Nor did the housekeeping staff at Sky Resorts Hotel, his
family’s legitimate hotel chain that his relatives now managed. But that ship
had long sailed.
Bristol bypassed a cart
stocked with toiletries and two empty wheeled canvas hampers in the middle of
the workroom. Itching to grab her close and demand to know her interest in him,
he would rather not scare her. He coughed to gain her attention.
She sloppily folded a face
towel, then grabbed a washcloth, her hands visibly shaking.
“May I have some towels?”
Bristol asked in Spanish.
The maid ducked her gaze,
grabbed a few recently folded items, pulled two bath towels from the shelf, and
closed the distance between them. Without glancing up, she thrust everything
into his outstretched arms, the scent of bleach and lavender clinging to the
fabric. She pivoted and returned to her workstation.
He sighed hard, rolling his
eyes. “Are you Carmen Lozano Sanchez?” His voice sharpened as her full given
name ripped off his tongue. He couldn’t stomach tacking on her husband’s
surname.
Her hands stilled, and a towel
slid from her grasp. She shook her head and grabbed the fabric. “No hablo
Inglés.”
“Given the way you stopped
dead, you speak English and understood my question just fine.” He set the soft,
fragrant towels aside and stomped toward her. “You’re Carmen, I know—”
She flipped around with a
small dagger in her hand and glared at him. The overhead light glinted on the
blade. Shoulders hunched, she braced her feet in a wide stance.
He stepped back, hands up to
placate her.
Anger and fear blazed in her
hazel eyes, the specks of emerald turning molten in her brown irises. He wasn’t
mistaken. This fiery woman was Carmen Lozano, cartel princess.
Title: Dark Hearts Aflame
Series: Lozano Cartel (book 1)
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Publisher: Daulton Publishing
Cover Designer: Satin Rose Designs
ASIN:
B0D18CB8CF
Genre: Dark Romance
Length: 90k
Heat Rating: 5 Flames
Download Links:
Download Direct from Author (Receive a $2 Discount): https://books.amberdaulton.com/darkheartsaflamedirect
Universal: https://books2read.com/darkheartsaflame
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4hGWOog
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-hearts-aflame-amber-daulton/1144724204
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-hearts-aflame
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=vtfwEAAAQBAJ
Apple/iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/dark-hearts-aflame/id6544805264
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1509101
Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211106548-dark-hearts-aflame-lozano-cartel-book-1
Check it out on BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/dark-hearts-aflame-lozano-cartel-book-1-an-on-the-run-dark-cartel-romantic-suspense-by-amber-daulton
Amber Daulton is the author
of the Lozano Cartel, the Arresting Onyx, and the Ramseys in Time series, as
well as several standalone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton
Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in
ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.
She lives in North Carolina
with her husband and demanding cats.
Social Media Links
Follow Me: https://linktr.ee/AmberDaulton
Check out my website (Daulton
Publishing): https://amberdaulton.com
Please welcome C. D.
Bennett and her new romantic suspense, No Good Dead.
Hello readers, I am thrilled that M.S. Spencer invited me to her blog today. I appreciate the opportunity to connect with all of you and introduce you to my upcoming release No Good Deed, a book that, in a small way, took shape from personal experiences. This novel takes place on a family ranch in the rugged mountains of Colorado, a beautiful state filled with breathtaking views and people that share a deep-rooted love of the outdoors. It also happens to be where I spent a lot of my childhood. I got to play among the aspen trees and have ridden through those mountains on horseback. I still miss it. Since I can't hop on a plane every time I get nostalgic. What better way is there to revisit my old stomping grounds than to write about it?
I also included a main character that previously
worked as an EMT (just like I did). It is how I put myself through college.
Everyone says to write what you know, right? Needless to say, my heroine can
handle a crisis. It's a good thing too, because Kiya James couldn't have known
that saving the life of a stranger would make her the target of a dangerous
unknown adversary. When she joins forces with the victim and his family, she
finds herself thrust into a world filled with endless greed and relentless danger.
It also opens the door to new love and found family.
I would love to hear your thoughts on No Good Deed!
Blurb:
No Good Deed…goes unpunished.
Kiya James’s relocation to idyllic Riverton,
Colorado is disrupted when she discovers a critically wounded man lying in a
field near her home. Little does she know that her selfless act to save the
man’s life would thrust her into a world of corruption, greed, and danger. As
the only witness to the initial attack, and shaken by an attempt on her own
life, Kiya is offered refuge with the victim’s family. Together, they struggle
to uncover the circumstances that would trigger an unknown assailant to unleash
a string of deadly attacks in an otherwise quiet rural ranching community.
Jake McCleary’s world could have been destroyed
with a single bullet if it hadn’t been for the quick actions of a stranger.
Now, in a desperate attempt to protect her and his entire family, Jake must
fight to defend his home, livelihood, and the woman who is rapidly capturing
his heart, against the vicious actions of a criminal who will stop at
absolutely nothing to get what he wants. But will they find the answers they
need in time, or will they lose everything to the conceit of a madman? And will
the bond between his wounded brother and the woman that saved him prove to be
too big of an obstacle for Jake to overcome in the pursuit for Kiya’s love?
Introduction to the excerpt:
In this excerpt, Jake and Kiya have been spending
time together while trying to uncover information about an attack on Jake’s
brother, Dylan. Jake starts to realize that his feelings for Kiya aren’t as
simple as he thought, but he would never hurt his brother by coming between the
two of them.
Excerpt: Troubling realization
Outside, the air had turned chilly causing Kiya to shiver slightly when the wind blew across the yard. Jake immediately wrapped his jacket around her shoulders. He had snagged it from a peg hanging inside the door as they were leaving. “What are you doing running around out here without a jacket?”
“Thanks, I didn’t need one on my way over, and I
wasn’t expecting it to get so cold. The temperature changes fast around here,”
she said as she snuggled farther into the jacket.
They made the short walk to the cabin in relative
silence, but as they entered the glow given off by the light near the front
door, Kiya stopped and turned toward Jake. “Thank you for inviting me tonight.
It was great getting to see Dylan that way. Even if he still tires easily.”
“It’s surprising how effortless it is for you to
tune in to how he’s feeling. You noticed his change in energy quicker than any
of the rest of us.”
Jake’s words were spoken lightly, but his eyes
appeared guarded. Kiya shrugged. “I know what to look for, that’s all.”
“I suppose that could be it,” he allowed.
The wind picked up again causing Kiya’s hair to
flutter across her cheeks. Without thinking, Jake reached over and smoothed the
silky strands away from her face, but the mental image of his brother’s
interaction with her earlier in the evening had him pulling his hand back and
shoving it into his pocket. He had been unprepared for his reaction to their
almost instant and very obvious bond. He was struggling with the fact that he
didn’t like it.
No Good Deed
The Wild Rose Press, June 26, 2024
Romantic Suspense
308 pages
Buy Links:
About the Author:
I am an avid reader and nature lover who enjoys adventurous outdoor activities when I'm not busy writing romantic suspense novels. Horseback riding, hiking, kayaking/paddleboarding, and swimming are some of my favorite pastimes. I have even "taken the plunge" with skydiving and scuba diving. I live in rural northwest Pennsylvania with my family and a menagerie of animal companions. I am currently working on my third book.
Contacts:
His darkest secret is exposed. Will he find love and redemption in the arms of the woman who could destroy him?
Blurb
A hacker, a federal agent, and a crime boss. The time has come to fight.
Computer technician Alan Harding is no saint, but his squeaky-clean image is unshakable in the eyes of his family and especially his young son. After he agrees to assist a drug lord-turned-snitch and hack into a criminal database, he’s faced with an impossible challenge—keeping his hands and heart away from his sexy-as-sin bodyguard, DEA Special Agent Hannah Adler.
Hannah would rather go hand-to-hand with an assailant than go undercover as Alan’s girlfriend, but she’s determined to keep him safe and his illegal activities on the down-low. The handsome man and his adorable child, however, are more than she bargained for.
Once their enemies learn the truth and retaliate by kidnapping Alan’s son, they’ll have to race against the clock to save the boy and bring a dangerous empire to its knees.
Arresting Alan
Excerpt: The bad guy and even badder guys
Alan and Hannah have spent all day working on their assignment and then overhear something they shouldn’t have. Tension mounts as they demand answers from a dangerous drug lord.
Voices carried from down the dimly lit corridor.
As they neared the armory,
the rough voices grew louder. The sound of metal clanked in his ears. His gut
clenched. He grasped Hannah’s hand to keep her at his side in case she tried to
jump in front of him with some harebrained notion that he needed protection.
Harsh white light shone from the open doorway. His pulse thrummed faster as he
paused at the threshold.
Five bulky men in SWAT
gear pulled a few semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles from a
corrugated-metal cabinet.
“It’s about time Thorn
fucks with the Jestons.” One thug jammed a clip into a gleaming black gun. “I
never liked their store—too damn expensive.”
“Got that right.” A
dark-haired man stuffed on a ski cap.
Hannah stiffened and
whispered to Alan, “What’s going on?”
He stepped back and pulled
her with him before anyone could bitch at them for intruding. Chills raked his
skin. “I don’t know, but it’s not our business.”
“Like hell, it’s not.
They’re prepping for war. I can’t let this go.”
Neither could he since
those assholes were going after the Jestons. He tightened his grip on Hannah
and stomped back the way they came. The two dead-eyed guards in the vestibule
outside Bristol’s office sneered as he stopped in front of them.
Hannah tugged her hand
free and spread her feet in a battle stance.
“I need to speak with
Thorn. Tell him I’m here.” Alan waited for a guard to open the doors or phone
the man, but they continued to skewer him with their beady glares. The
high-tech camera in the corner with the blinking LED light inside the globe fed
the footage to Bristol’s computer—a system Alan had designed for each camera in
the compound. “Damn it, I have no beef with you, but I’m getting into that
room. Move, or I’ll make you.”
The blond bastard smirked.
All right, then. Alan
fisted his hands. There was no time like the present to test out his boxing
skills.
The barrier swung open
from the inside, and the guards stepped away.
Bristol blocked the
entryway with his broad shoulders, six-foot-five height, and his fuck-off
scowl. Deep creases bracketed his cold brown eyes like craters.
Unfazed, Alan gazed past
him to the four angry lieutenants near the desk. The heat of their stares
burned as hot as the noonday sun.
He focused on the captain.
“Why are your henchmen dressed for war?”
“You’re supposed to be
gone by now. We’ll speak tomorrow.”
Alan pushed past him to
enter the room with Hannah at his heels. “Now, in private.”
Bristol’s eyes bugged out.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” He grabbed Alan by his coat’s lapel and
dragged him closer until barely an inch separated them.
Check it out
on BookBub - https://bit.ly/ArrestingAlanBookbub
Universal link - https://books2read.com/arrestingalan
Amazon - https://amzn.to/3CQFCuh
Apple/iBooks - https://apple.co/3PE4vAA
Barnes and Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/arresting-alan-amber-daulton/1143584871?ean=2940160981956
Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/arresting-alan
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=d2vCEAAAQBAJ
About the
Author 
Amber Daulton
Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic suspense series Arresting Onyx and several stand-alone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.
She
lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats.
Social Media Links
Universal link – https://linktr.ee/AmberDaulton
Exclusive Newsletter (free
ebook to new subscribers) – https://amberdaulton.com/newsletter-signup/
Fun for one and all—LASR is celebrating its 16th anniversary with books of all
kinds and loads of prizes. Today my latest cozy mystery The Wishing Tree: Love, Lies, and Spies on
Chincoteague Island
is spotlighted. Read all about it, answer a question and enter to win!
Who’s stealing documents from the top secret facility? The handsome stranger who's tapped into her heart could be a spy, or even a murderer.
Here's the link:
I'm interviewed in the Big Thrill August issue! I talk about my new release The Wishing Tree: Love, Lies, and Spies on Chincoteague Island and more.
Come
by Beyond Romance for a new excerpt and a bit about the “naughty triumvirate”—a
trio of erotica writers from the 18th century.
https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2023/07/his-every-word-may-be-lie-cozymystery.html
![]() |
| The Naughty Triumvirate |
Check out the wonderful Marketing for Romance Writers Magazine, July issue:
Wonderful articles for writers (not just romance writers)
and announcements of new releases. The
Wishing Tree: Love, Lies, and Spies on Chincoteague Island—to be released
July 17—is the featured spotlight in Suspense on p. 22.
Happy reading!