Second Sunday Books

"After 25 years as an author and reader, it’s rare for me to start a novel and finish it in one sitting. But I did with HARD TIMES by Les Edgerton. Set during the recent past in the deep South, the novel tells the dark story of Amelia Critchin, a principled and faith-filled woman who accepts responsibility for marrying the wrong man and is punished severely for doing so..."

Author Judith Starkston's 3rd historical fiction novel was released a  week after BEND. OF KINGS AND GRIFFINS is a mashup of historical and  fantasy and is delightful! (The cover is gorgeous as you'll see). She  and I shared a conversation about writing historical, why we do it, and what's  the hardest part. Enjoy!

Shattering  Glass is the first in a series of remarkable anthologies published by  Nasty Woman Press, a unique non-profit publisher founded to help fund  other organizations threatened by the rise of autocracy and the ongoing  war against civil and human rights in the United States. A scintillating  mixture of top-flight fiction from bestselling authors in multiple  genres, fascinating articles, and thought-provoking essays,  conversations and interviews, Shattering Glass takes as its theme the  empowerment of women, with all profits from the book donated to Planned  Parenthood.

We are the Creative Resistance.

In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of  three hours in the City of Light—abruptly leaving, never to return. To  this day, no one knows why.

When two brave women flee from the Communist Red Scare, they soon discover that no future is free from the past.

Amid the glitz and glamour of 1950s New York, Phoebe Adler pursues her  dream of screenwriting. A dream that turns into a living nightmare when  she is blacklisted—caught in the Red Menace that is shattering the lives  of suspected Communists. Desperate to work, she escapes to London,  determined to keep her dream alive and clear her good name.

There, Phoebe befriends fellow  American exile Hannah Wolfson, who has defied the odds to build a  career as a successful television producer in England. Hannah is a woman  who has it all, and is now gambling everything in a very dangerous  game—the game of hiring blacklisted writers.

Neither woman suspects that danger still looms . . . and their fight is only just beginning.

AUTHORS:

Sarah-Jane Stratford is an author and essayist whose work has appeared in Marie-Claire, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Review of Books, Bitch, Bustle, Slate, Salon, BOMB, and Guernica, among others. She lives in London. Visit her online at: sarahjanestratford.com;

Second Sunday Books host LIbby Hellmann welcomes USA Today best-selling author Pamela Fagan Hutchins who is also a colleague in the network; she host Wine Women & Writing. I am a wannabe barrel racer afraid of going fast, an eater of ribeye, a rescuer of dogs, a fangirl podcaster, and the author of USA Today bestselling mysteries.

{By the way, to get a free starter library, exclusives, first looks, and special deals with my newsletter, go to bit.ly/PamelaNL.}

You can read my series in any order or as standalones, but they’re a lot of fun if you do them like this:

My hunky husband and I ride our beloved draft cross horses way up in the frozen north of Snowheresville, WY and deep in the heart of Nowheresville, TX. When I’m not writing or riding, I’m passionate about hiking, always with a couple of rescue dogs (and an occasional goat and donkey), bear spray, a mountain lion knife, and my Judge. NO ANIMALS HAVE BEEN HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS LIFE ADVENTURE (but don’t sneak up on me).

I’ve made some lists and won some awards, yada yada. 2018 USA Today Bestseller. 2018 #1 Amazon Bestseller. 2018 Top 50 Amazon Author (Romantic Mystery, Romantic Suspense). The 2017 Silver Falchion for Best Adult Mystery WINNER (Fighting for Anna), the 2016 and 2015 WINNERS for USA Best Books Fiction: Cross Genre (Hell to Pay, Heaven to Betsy), and others. With downloads of nearly 2,000,000, readers seem to enjoy them—I think they have exceptionally good taste. {insert goofy grin here} Lots of them follow my podcast Wine Women & Writing, too, where I fangirl my favorite authors and interview them for your listening pleasure. Subscribe free at bit.ly/PamelaWWWR <–case sensitive.

If after all that you still want to learn more about my books, my podcast, or me, then God Bless Ya. There are many ways: This website and its blog. The aforementioned newsletter. Email me: Pamela at PamelaFaganHutchins dot com.

SEcond Sunday BooksLibby HellmannPamela Fagan Hutchinsauthorinterviewpodcastthrillersromancemysteriesbooksbook loverswritingwriters

 Missouri native Allen Eskens' "stunning small-town mystery" (New York Times Book Review) is "a coming-of-age book to rival some of the best, such as Ordinary Grace." (Library Journal, starred review)

A LIBRARY JOURNAL Mystery Pick of the Month

In  a small Southern town where loyalty to family and to "your people"  carries the weight of a sacred oath, defying those unspoken rules can be  a deadly proposition.

After fifteen years  of growing up in the Ozark hills with his widowed mother, high-school  freshman Boady Sanden is beyond ready to move on. He dreams of glass  towers and cityscapes, driven by his desire to be anywhere other than  Jessup, Missouri. The new kid at St. Ignatius High School, if he isn't  being pushed around, he is being completely ignored. Even his beloved  woods, his playground as a child and his sanctuary as he grew older,  seem to be closing in on him, suffocating him.

Then  Thomas Elgin moves in across the road, and Boady's life begins to twist  and turn. Coming to know the Elgins -- a black family settling into a  community where notions of "us" and "them" carry the weight of history  -- forces Boady to rethink his understanding of the world he's taken for  granted. Secrets hidden in plain sight begin to unfold: the mother who  wraps herself in the loss of her husband, the neighbor who carries the  wounds of a mysterious past that he holds close, the quiet boss who is  fighting his own hidden battle.

But the biggest  secret of all is the disappearance of Lida Poe, the African-American  woman who keeps the books at the local plastics factory. Word has it  that Ms. Poe left town, along with a hundred thousand dollars of company  money. Although Boady has never met the missing woman, he discovers  that the threads of her life are woven into the deepest fabric of his  world.

As the mystery of her fate plays out,  Boady begins to see the stark lines of race and class that both bind and  divide this small town -- and he will be forced to choose sides.

Second Sunday Crime author and host Libby Fischer Hellmann  welcomes international best-selling author of the Charlie Fox series,  ZOE SHARP.

ABOUT ZOE:   Sharp wrote her first novel when she  was fifteen, but success came in 2001 with the publication of KILLER  INSTINCT—the first book to feature her ex-Special Forces turned  bodyguard heroine, Charlotte 'Charlie' Fox.

Sharp has also written several standalones, including collaborations  with highly regarded espionage thriller author, John Lawton. Her short  stories have been published in anthologies and magazines, and have been  shortlisted for the Short Story Dagger by the UK Crime Writers'  Association. Her other writing has won or been nominated for numerous  awards on both sides of the Atlantic.

ABOUT THE BOOK:  Charlie Fox has quit her job in  close protection, been turned out of her apartment, and is apparently  out of options. Kincaid offers her a job looking after Helena. The  rumours about Kincaid’s business empire say he’s gone over to the dark  side, but Charlie is in no position to be fussy. And protecting people  against those who want to do them harm is what she’s good at. But when  the threats against the Kincaids escalate, and then follow the couple  over to Europe, Charlie’s really going to have to up her game. It’s time  to take the fight to the enemy. Charlie’s at her best putting an end to  trouble. Now she must learn to strike first. And hope that the Kincaids  don’t discover the secret she’s been keeping from them, right from the  start.Listen on your favorite app.

Learn more about Libby at at https://www.libbyhellmann.com/

Author Susan Miura successfully combines mystery, romance, and Christian Fiction in a delightful, award-winning novel, SHARDS OF LIGHT. 

Ice crystalizes around Shilo’s heart, threatening to plunge her into darkness as she’s gripped by evil. And it is only Week Two of her summer-long exile to Sicily. But Shilo will face the evil, and the torment of missing Kenji, because the reason she crossed an ocean is worth that and more. Nonna Marie, her great-grandmother. The one who set their family tree on fire. Years ago, she received The Gift – a miraculous, divine power to heal. The same power bestowed upon Shilo just before her seventeenth birthday. Becoming a Healer has already led to danger and heartache, but it is nothing compared to what lies ahead. High on Mt. Etna, in a centuries-old convent, Shilo will discover the horrors of human trafficking, heroic feats propelled by courage and faith, and the unbearable pain of another loss.

Me Too Short Stories: An Anthology