Saturday, February 5, 2022

Zelda poem for Romantics

 A friend from college wrote me today about my poetry--poetry from those halcyon college years. I thought I'd check my page here for poems and found this one. I think it's the kind that those of you who have loved and lost or even loved and stayed, might read and like.

The Empty Wind

Listen, hear that?
What, Zelda?
The wind. It's sighing.
I cock an ear.
Sounds more like whistling.

No. It's the sad wind, the forlorn wind
The wind of dying dreams.
It sighs for never loves.

What rubbish. What are 'never loves' anyway?

You don't know? They're the people who
Long to love and never find it who
Pray for love, wish on stars for love, look into each face that passes
Thinking, "He's the one."
The one who wakes up each morning believing that today will be the day when
He'll meet her
Their eyes will lock and he will whisper, "She's the one."
They never give up.

Well, that's just stupid. At some point isn't it better to move on?
Fashion your own life?
Make your own way?

Zelda stubbed her cigar out. "Tell me something.
What's the first thing you think about when you wake?

Breakfast.
Liar.
Okay, the weather.

Tommy brings a fresh drink to Zelda. She tosses it in my lap.
Used to this treatment, I mop it up and order another.
A pregnant silence ensues.  I know
From experience
That Zelda cannot stand pregnant silences. I wait.
"Liar." She spits it out unwillingly.
"Yes. I think of him."
She leans forward, cheeks tense,
Chin wobbly.
"Him? Who?"

"Him who isn't afraid. Him whose eyes light up when challenged.
Who has a story to match every story, but remembers
All mine. The man with a mind that never sleeps
Except with me.

Zelda sips her martini.
The wind whips the curtains into dust devils.
Far out in the bay a water spout rises, rips the clouds apart,
and falls back exhausted into the deep.

Finally she says
Never love.
I know, Zelda. I know.

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Hidden Gem: the Secret of St. Augustine Can be Preordered Now!

 


My latest creation, Hidden Gem: the Secret of St. Augustine, is now available for pre-order! It will be released April 4, 2022 from the fabulous Wild Rose Press. To get you salivating, here’s the cover from Tina Stout (who won #5 In the Critters Readers Poll for Mrs. Spinney’s Secret):

Hidden Gem is a cozy mystery with quirky characters and historic sites and romance set in the oldest city in North America, St. Augustine. This is the story:

Barnaby and Philo’s story begins with very bad chili and a dead body.

Barnaby is in St. Augustine, Florida, to teach a college seminar, and plans to use The Secret—a treasure hunt book—as a framework for his class. He enlists Philo Brice, owner of an antique map store, to aid him in seeking clues in the historic sites of the ancient city.

Together they face murderers, thieves, thugs, and fanatics, heightening their already strong attraction to each other. Can they solve the puzzle and unearth the treasure before the villains do? Philo and Barnaby pursue several twisting paths and false leads before arriving at a startling conclusion.

Here's the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Gem-Secret-St-Augustine-ebook/dp/B09QJHCB4V

And the Barnes and Noble link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hidden-gem-m-s-spencer/1140893266

Monday, January 17, 2022

Annual Critters Readers Poll out--and Great News!

 WINNER!

The 2021 annual Critters Workshop Readers Poll is out, and I am honored:

M. S. Spencer (that’s me) is #3 in Authors


And Mrs. Spinney’s Secret is #3 in Mystery!



Congratulations to my fabulous publisher The Wild Rose Press, on being voted #1 publisher.


And to my fantastic editor Eilidh MacKenzie in Editors

And my lovely artist Tina Lynn Stout for her cover for Mrs. Spinney’s Secret (#5)





Here are the links:

https://critters.org/predpoll/

https://www.critters.org/predpoll/final_tally_novelmys.ht

https://www.critters.org/predpoll/final_tally_author.ht

 

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Mrs. Spinney's Secret featured at NN Light's Best Books '21

 


Come join me at N. N. Light’s Best Bookish Event of 2021, where Mrs. Spinney’s Secret is featured. Enjoy a delightful excerpt about bad lobsters, and enter to win an Amazon gift card.



Here’s the link:

https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/post/mrs-spinney-s-secret-bb21

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

A mystery for Christmas Reading: Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders



Milo Everhart and her artist friends fight City Hall when it threatens to sell their beloved Torpedo Factory Art Center to a big box store magnate. Things get complicated when their greatest adversary turns out to be the man Milo loves, and even more complicated when too many murder victims turn up.

Old Town Alexandria at Christmas

Blurb:

It’s just before Christmas, and Milo Everhart has two needlepoint stockings, a cross-stitch purse, and three canvases to finish for her clients. Waiting out the rain in a pub, she is captivated by the handsome man next to her, but blocking the road to romance are two mysterious corpses who turn up in the tower of her Torpedo Factory Art Center. As if that weren’t enough, a second crisis erupts—a proposal to gut her beloved Art Center. 

Tristram Brodie, hard-driving corporate lawyer and former Marine, is focused on his plan to convert the Torpedo Factory into a box store. He is drawn to the beautiful woman sitting next to him, but their mutual attraction will be frustrated by both the murders and his intentions. As they edge closer to love, they must find a way to overcome both their differences and the still-fresh memory of her late husband. 

 

Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders

Wild Rose Press, 7/20/2016; Imprint Crimson Rose 

Theme(s): Mystery/Cozy Mystery 
Contemporary romantic Suspense, M/F, 2 flames

Ebook, 66,830 words; Print 268 p 

 

Excerpt (G): The Body

 

“Hello! Hello? 911?”

“Please state the nature of your emergency.”

“A body. There’s a b…b…body.” The word came out as a gurgle.

“Yes, ma’am. Now tell me where you are.”

Milo looked wildly around the darkened corridor. “Second floor. No lights.”

“Ma’am? Second floor of what?”

“Oh, er, the Torpedo Factory. I ran downstairs. I…”

“The Torpedo Factory? You mean the building at 105 North Union Street?”

Milo almost snapped, “How many torpedo factories do you know?” but thought better of it. “Yes.”

“All right, ma’am. Now, you say you’ve found a body? Is it dead?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it’s dead. Dead. A dead body. In the office.”

“The office?”

“The tower. Look, can you send the police? I’m all alone in the building. Except for the body, of course. I mean, it’s pitch black in here. Please?” She knew she sounded less than rational, but weren’t 911 operators trained to weed out the gibberish and cut to the chase?

“I’ve already sent out a call. The police should be arriving any minute. Now, will they be able to enter the building?”

“Oh! Er. I don’t know. Archie’s already locked up.”

“Archie?”

“The super. He’s long gone, though.”

“Can you get to a door to let them in?”

Milo’s shoes must have found bubble gum on the floor all by themselves, since they appeared to be stuck. “I…uh…I can’t get to the doors.” Nothing but silence on the other end. She must think I’m lazy. Or a coward. I’ll bet she knows how to wait people out, to force them to do her bidding. “I’m not lazy, miss. I’m just…I’m wondering. What if the murderer is hiding somewhere, still in the building?”

“Murderer? You think the victim was murdered?”

Every CSI show she’d ever watched, plus a couple of X Files, fast-forwarded through her brain. Somewhere in the reruns she found the answer. “I don’t know. That’s for the experts to decide.” Thank you, Gil Grissom.

“Okay, ma’am. Listen to me carefully. If the building is locked, the police will have to break the door down, but first they’ll have to go to a judge and get a search warrant. So you see, the quickest way they can help you is if you let them in. Now, do you think you can go down the stairs to the door?”

Milo drew in a long, ragged breath, holding it until her head began to spin. As she let it out, she managed, “Yes. I’m on the landing. Can you stay on the line with me in case I’m attacked?”

“I sure will.”

Milo felt her way with one hand toward the middle stairwell. “I’m on the stairs now. Now I’m walking down the stairs.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The central staircase of the factory only had a single metal railing and thus was exposed to the entire main hall. If anyone still lurked in the building he could easily see (and hear) her. She stopped halfway down and looked across the main lobby to the front entrance, a set of doublewide, glass-paned sliding doors. “There are flashing lights and sirens coming from Union Street.”

“Yes, ma’am. That would be the police.”

Well, duh.

 

Artful Dodging is available in ebook and print. Find it here:

Books2Read    Bookbub    Goodreads

Amazon    ITunes    Barnes & Noble

KOBO    Google Play    Walmart

Indigo    Overdrive