Message of the Pendant by Thomas Thorpe #Historical #Mystery #Thriller

The room was not completely dark. High above the floor, five window slits provided flickering bursts of light whenever distant lightning struck. Beneath dark wooden beams, flashes created menacing shadows that quickly disappeared until the next glimmer.

Huddled in a corner with her sister, Emily, the wait became excruciating for Elizabeth. Where was the stalker now?

A large stone fireplace under an antlered head of a stag stood at the far side of the room. She decided to edge over to the hearth and look for a tool or piece of wood which could be used against the blackguard.

On hands and knees, she carefully advanced along the room’s perimeter trying not to make any noise. Fifteen feet, ten feet, five.., she felt the bricks. She reached out for a poker, but had to settle for a two-foot log, three inches in diameter. Clutching her prize, she turned to start back. A new creak punctured the air in the middle of the room.

She froze.

Several English chairs and Queen Anne upholstered seats rested between game tables, turned at various angles to her sight. The sound had come from there. She stared at the outlines.

Lightning flashed again. To her terror, a dark figure rose behinda seat turned away from the chimney. Light disappeared before she could see anything more.

Elizabeth’s mind raced, wondering if she had been heard.

Another flash. The figure had moved toward Emily’s corner.

“Emily! Emily!” she screamed. “Wake up. Someone’s coming toward you!”

She could hear Emily stirring, muttering words that made it clear she did not understanding their plight.  She had to help her sister! Her legs felt weak and a rush of panic welled up inside her. She could not move.

Glint came again. The figure had stopped.

William Darmon and wife Elizabeth were powerful figures who in 1818 set society’s pace from expansive grounds known as Mayfair Hall. When a family member is murdered, a mysterious pendant is found containing a long lost request by Napoleon Bonaparte for an American mission to burn down Parliament buildings. The couple sets out on an action filled pursuit of the killer. While interviewing Henry Clay in post-war Maryland about the failed mission, they uncover evidence of a conspiracy to free the Emperor from exile. The Darmons infiltrate the cadre, but a shipwreck off the coast of Scotland, a firestorm at the Darmon’s Manor and a harrowing assault on the Island of St. Helena loom before the mystery can be unraveled.

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Genre – Mystery, Historical, Thriller

Rating – PG

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Website www.darmonmysteries.com

Robin Hawdon Shares His Favourite Things in Life & More @AuthorDebate #Historical #Detective

What’s your favorite meal? 

All – I love good food.

What color represents your personality the most? 

Oh please.....!

What movie do you love to watch? 

Good ones.

How do you feel about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter? Are they a good thing? 

Actually I wonder – they have distorted the world so much.

If you could do any job in the world what would you do?

This one.

What’s the reason for your life? Have you figured out your reason for being here yet? 

To progress the world, however slightly. It’s what we’re all here for.

How do you feel about self-publishing?

Ambivalent.

Do you find the time to read? 

Not enough.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?

Bernard Shaw – “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.  The unreasonable man attempts to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

How long have you been writing? 

Forty years.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it?

Revise, revise, revise.

What is your greatest strength as a writer? 

Revise, revise, revise.

Who is your publisher? 

SBPRA

Why did you choose to write this particular book?

 It says things I REALLY want to say.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? 

Getting the complex strands right.

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

Revise, revise, revise.

The questions are always with us. Does God really exist? Are science and religion incompatible bedfellows? Charles Darwin shook philosophy to its foundations with his theory of evolution, yet strangely, he himself refrained from commenting in depth about the religious implications for fear of adding to the furor.

But suppose that he did in fact write down his conclusions as a secret addendum to his seminal work, Origin of Species. And suppose his beloved wife, Emma, who kept her own secret journal, was the only other person to know of this hidden postscript.

The novel Survival of the Fittest is the modern day story of the search for these two hugely significant works. An eccentric and endearing London antiquarian book dealer is hired by an equally eccentric American billionaire to track down the documents for his world famous collection of original manuscripts.

The complex investigation ranges across England, from historic towns and stately piles to prisons and Darwin homes, and involves a series of encounters ranging from the criminal to the romantic and the revelatory. Along the way, it explores the spiritual struggle within the extraordinary Darwin household, and the effects of that same struggle on the creators of the atom bomb and on modern terrorists.

Do we want to know the answer, or will it stir up a hornet's nest?

This dramatic investigation of man's spiritual dilemma occupies the spaces between authors Dan Brown and Richard Dawkins.

About the Author:

Robin Hawdon is one of Britain's most prolific playwrights. His plays have been seen in over forty countries. At any one moment there may be over a dozen productions running across the USA, Europe, and elsewhere. This is his third novel.

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Genre – Detective, philosophy, religion, historical

Rating – G

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Connect with Robin Hawdon on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.charlesdarwinblog.com

10 Things You Didn’t Know About #Author Lauren Linwood @LaurenLinwood #Historical #Romance

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Lauren Linwood

It’s easier to get to know authors now than in the pre-Internet days. Most authors aim to have a media presence, and readers can find out lots about them via these sources. I share random things on my Write Up My Alley blog (http://laurenlinwood.wordpress.com), and I also have an author Facebook page (http://facebook.com/laurenlinwood) and even tweet (http://twitter.com/LaurenLinwood).

But here are some tidbits about me that you may not have seen before:

1. When I was four, I broke my collarbone while climbing a chinaberry tree. I slipped and hit the picnic table beneath the tree, rolled and hit the bench, then finally came to halt when I plopped face down on the ground. I didn’t get to wear a cast with this type of injury, and I was jealous of people who sported arm & leg casts because people could sign these. Looking back, I’m feeling lucky that I never broke either an arm or a leg!
2. My favorite album is Hootie & the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View. Not a bad song on it.
3. Every Christmas Eve after church, we sit down to a breakfast supper, which includes this crazy-good sausage/egg/cheese/mushroom casserole, and then we open presents and watch a couple of Christmas movies such as Home Alone, Elf, or Love, Actually. And yes, the next morning we find that Santa has come. He’s really gotten into the gift card spirit the last few years, so stocking time is memorable.
4. My birthday is on Halloween, which was terrific as a kid because I got to go trick-or-treating and score tons of candy while dressed up (usually as a vampire).
5. I thought I was going to be a journalist after I was editor-in-chief of my junior high and high school newspapers. Instead, I became a history teacher (pretty convenient since I write historical romance novels and love to research).
6. My mom wanted me to wear her wedding gown when I got married. The only glitch? She was 92 pounds on her wedding day, and the last time I fit into her gown was in 8^th grade! Getting married at 13 just didn’t seem like an option—even if it was a cool dress.
7. My favorite band is The Eagles. I love their harmonies, especially on Seven Bridges Road. And I would end every school year driving out of the teacher parking lot for the summer blaring Already Gone, sing at the top of my lungs.
8. Even though I don’t believe in reincarnation, I felt right at home when I visited London. I’m worse than horrible with directions, yet I seemed to know which way to turn and where things were located, almost as if I’d lived there before. Eerie, I know.
9. I’ve never played Words with Friends. I think I would like it too much to start playing. I can see it taking over my life like that scary-creepy vine from The Ruins.
10. I sing the same song in the shower every time my editor buys a book from me. And I sound fabulous while doing it! Well, definitely not fabulous, but I’m home alone when I do it and enjoy belting it out.

So there you have it—random Lauren Linwood in a nutshell!

Lily Frontiere returns from a costly European trip to find her mother has accumulated large gambling debts. Things grow worse as her mother’s health deteriorates and she can no longer run Lucky Lil’s, the most famous whorehouse in San Francisco. Though Lilian shielded her only child from house life by sending her away to boarding school, Lily takes over and poses as Madam Lil. Her intelligence and astonishing resemblance to her mother help, but she’s entering a world she knows little about. Lily tries to extract the house from impending financial ruin until a handsome stranger turns up with the deed to Lucky Lil’s in hand.

Gambler Jed Stone journeys to California to track down Simon Morgan, the man responsible for his best friend’s death. Arrested for robbery and murder upon arrival, he is shocked to see his face on a wanted poster. Jed escapes before his hanging, unaware that the man guilty of those crimes is the twin brother he never knew existed. In a case of mistaken identity, Jed acquires Lucky Lil’s in a rigged card game his twin is meant to win.

Jed asks Madam Lil to stay on as he learns the business. Lily clashes with the new owner over ways to make the establishment profitable, yet she is attracted to the charming risk taker at the same time. Jed is fooled by Lily’s charade until he stumbles upon the real Madam Lil and learns the truth behind Lily’s deception. His admiration for Lily blossoms into love.

But Simon Morgan seeks both Lily’s hand and ownership of Lucky Lil’s—and he will go to any means to possess both. Will Jed foil his nemesis while bringing his outlaw brother to justice?

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Genre - Western Historical Romance

Rating – PG

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Connect with Lauren Linwood on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.laurenlinwood.com/