Mary Lydon Simonsen's Blog: What readers are saying about The Second Date, page 8

Mr. Darcy's Bite - $6.00 on Amazon

Mr. Darcy's Bite is now available in paperback for $6.00 and qualifies for Amazon's super saving shipping discount. This is cheaper than the e-book price! These promotions come and go without warning, so now is the time to buy Mr. Darcy's Bite--just in time for Halloween.
Available from Amazon

Winner of A Killing In Kensington

The winner of an e-book of A Killing in Kensington is Lynn Bischoff. Thank you to everyone who joined me in my launch and for entering the giveaway. Happy reading! 

Launch and Giveaway of A Killing in Kensington

Today, I am launching A Killing in Kensington , the second mystery in the Patrick Shea series. Here is the blurb from Amazon:
Detective Sergeant Patrick Shea of London's Metropolitan Police and his new partner, Detective Chief Inspector Tommy Boyle, have been handed a high-profile murder case. In the penthouse of Kensington Tower, playboy Clifton Trentmore lay dead with his head bashed in, and the investigation reveals a man who was loathed by both sexes. With too few clues and too many suspects, Shea and Boyle must determine who hated Trentmore enough to kill him. But as Patrick digs deeper, he finds his suspects have secrets of their own.If you enjoy Law and Order UK, you will enjoy A Killing in Kensington.

To celebrate the launch, I am giving away two e-books, either Kindle or Nook. All you have to do is leave a comment and an e-mail address where I can contact you by Sunday, October 14. Winners will be announced on October 15.

To whet your appetite, her is an excerpt from Chapter 2:
Patrick studied the profile of the prostrate Trentmore. The dead man was in his early to mid fifties, tall, lean, with a full head of dyed blond hair and sagging jowls. When struck, he had been holding a whiskey glass that went flying through space, emptying its content onto the wood floor. A formal dinner jacket, hung over the back of the couch, indicated that the victim had been out at some time during the evening. After removing his shoes and opening his tie, he had poured himself a drink in preparation for settling in for the evening, but that was when the killer had come calling.“Who found the body?” Patrick asked a detective constable standing behind him.“Diane Namur, the chief financial officer of Trentmore World Imports,” Detective Constable Jane Millard said, handing Patrick Miss Namur’s business card.“Where is Miss Namur?” Patrick asked, looking around the flat.Wearing an uncomfortable look, DC Millard explained that because Miss Namur had been sick in the loo, she had been allowed to leave after agreeing to an interview the next day.“Miss Namur couldn’t stop crying, sobbing actually, very near hysterical,” the constable explained. “She kept saying ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no,’ over and over, and then she got sick. It seems she had stepped in the victim’s blood. We believe those are her shoeprints in the blood trail.”“Did you get the shoes?”“Yes, and they’ve been bagged and tagged by SOCO. Before leaving, she told us how she found the body, but anything else…,” she said, shaking her head. “It just wasn’t possible. But we were able to get hold of Trentmore’s driver, Charles Wyatt. I spoke with him thirty minutes ago, and he’s on his way here.”“Thank you, DC Millard,” Patrick said, smiling. He wanted to reassure her that her decision to allow Miss Namur to leave had been the right one. Vomiting witnesses were rarely helpful. “We’ll contact Miss Namur in the morning.”Patrick and Tommy climbed the interior staircase to the seventh floor. Apparently, Clifton Trentmore did not have guests because the entire floor was given over to his study, master bedroom, master bath, and a cedar-lined wardrobe that was a room in itself.Patrick noted that the square footage of the seventh floor was bigger than the two-story Shea family home in Kilburn, and the bathroom was something you would expect to see in a mansion on the Riviera owned by an Arab emir. In addition to a marble bathtub big enough for a family picnic, there was a shower with three showerheads: one above, one chest level, and one taking direct aim at the genitals.“I guess Trentmore liked a clean pecker,” Patrick said while looking at the shower and bidet.Their next stop was the cedar-lined cupboard. “Do you believe this?” Tommy said, inhaling the fragrant wood. “As big as this is, I’ve actually seen bigger master suites. When I was a young whipper-snapper, way back in the eighties, I was the uniform logging in the coppers working a murder at a mansion near Kensington Park. The couple’s clothes cupboard was bigger than some haberdasheries I’ve been in.”Opening the drawers, the detectives found everything as neat as a pin—nothing tossed about. A jewel case containing a half dozen watches, including a Girard-Perregaux and Piaget, was untouched.“There’s a lot of money lying right there in that case,” Patrick said, admiring the elegant timepieces. “Obviously, robbery is not the motive here.”In the bedroom was a chest of drawers lined with pictures of the victim taken at exotic locales. Not one of them had another person in the photo. Apparently, Trentmore was an admirer of his own good looks. Both agreed the victim looked like Bill Nighy if the actor were twenty pounds heavier.The only thing that had been marked on the upper floor was a dirty facial tissue crammed between the headboard and the mattress of a king-sized bed. Pointing to the tissue, Patrick thought how nice it would be if the killer’s DNA was on the soiled tissue. Nah, too easy.The two men returned to the sixth-floor foyer, and after shedding their bunny suits, decided their next step would be to find out who else was in the building at the time of Trentmore’s murder.“While SOCO does its work,” Tommy said, “why don’t we find out what the other residents of the building have to say about our dead guy?”

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A Killing in Kensington is available in e-book format only.

Launch of A Killing in Kensington

Today, I am launching A Killing in Kensington , the second mystery in the Patrick Shea series. Here is the blurb from Amazon:
Detective Sergeant Patrick Shea of London's Metropolitan Police and his new partner, Detective Chief Inspector Tommy Boyle, have been handed a high-profile murder case. In the penthouse of Kensington Tower, playboy Clifton Trentmore lay dead with his head bashed in, and the investigation reveals a man who was loathed by both sexes. With too few clues and too many suspects, Shea and Boyle must determine who hated Trentmore enough to kill him. But as Patrick digs deeper, he finds his suspects have secrets of their own.If you enjoy Law and Order UK, you will enjoy A Killing in Kensington.

To celebrate the launch, I am giving away two e-books, either Kindle or Nook. All you have to do is leave a comment and an e-mail address where I can contact you by Sunday, October 14. Winners will be announced on October 15.

To whet your appetite, her is an excerpt from Chapter 2:
Patrick studied the profile of the prostrate Trentmore. The dead man was in his early to mid fifties, tall, lean, with a full head of dyed blond hair and sagging jowls. When struck, he had been holding a whiskey glass that went flying through space, emptying its content onto the wood floor. A formal dinner jacket, hung over the back of the couch, indicated that the victim had been out at some time during the evening. After removing his shoes and opening his tie, he had poured himself a drink in preparation for settling in for the evening, but that was when the killer had come calling.

“Who found the body?” Patrick asked a detective constable standing behind him.

“Diane Namur, the chief financial officer of Trentmore World Imports,” Detective Constable Jane Millard said, handing Patrick Miss Namur’s business card.

“Where is Miss Namur?” Patrick asked, looking around the flat.

Wearing an uncomfortable look, DC Millard explained that because Miss Namur had been sick in the loo, she had been allowed to leave after agreeing to an interview the next day.

“Miss Namur couldn’t stop crying, sobbing actually, very near hysterical,” the constable explained. “She kept saying ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no,’ over and over, and then she got sick. It seems she had stepped in the victim’s blood. We believe those are her shoeprints in the blood trail.”

“Did you get the shoes?”

“Yes, and they’ve been bagged and tagged by SOCO. Before leaving, she told us how she found the body, but anything else…,” she said, shaking her head. “It just wasn’t possible. But we were able to get hold of Trentmore’s driver, Charles Wyatt. I spoke with him thirty minutes ago, and he’s on his way here.”

Thank you, DC Millard,” Patrick said, smiling. He wanted to reassure her that her decision to allow Miss Namur to leave had been the right one. Vomiting witnesses were rarely helpful. “We’ll contact Miss Namur in the morning.”

Patrick and Tommy climbed the interior staircase to the seventh floor. Apparently, Clifton Trentmore did not have guests because the entire floor was given over to his study, master bedroom, master bath, and a cedar-lined wardrobe that was a room in itself.

Patrick noted that the square footage of the seventh floor was bigger than the two-story Shea family home in Kilburn, and the bathroom was something you would expect to see in a mansion on the Riviera owned by an Arab emir. In addition to a marble bathtub big enough for a family picnic, there was a shower with three showerheads: one above, one chest level, and one taking direct aim at the genitals.

“I guess Trentmore liked a clean pecker,” Patrick said while looking at the shower and bidet.

Their next stop was the cedar-lined cupboard. “Do you believe this?” Tommy said, inhaling the fragrant wood. “As big as this is, I’ve actually seen bigger master suites. When I was a young whipper-snapper, way back in the eighties, I was the uniform logging in the coppers working a murder at a mansion near Kensington Park. The couple’s clothes cupboard was bigger than some haberdasheries I’ve been in.”

Opening the drawers, the detectives found everything as neat as a pin—nothing tossed about. A jewel case containing a half dozen watches, including a Girard-Perregaux and Piaget, was untouched.

“There’s a lot of money lying right there in that case,” Patrick said, admiring the elegant timepieces. “Obviously, robbery is not the motive here.”

In the bedroom was a chest of drawers lined with pictures of the victim taken at exotic locales. Not one of them had another person in the photo. Apparently, Trentmore was an admirer of his own good looks. Both agreed the victim looked like Bill Nighy if the actor were twenty pounds heavier.

The only thing that had been marked on the upper floor was a dirty facial tissue crammed between the headboard and the mattress of a king-sized bed. Pointing to the tissue, Patrick thought how nice it would be if the killer’s DNA was on the soiled tissue. Nah, too easy.

The two men returned to the sixth-floor foyer, and after shedding their bunny suits, decided their next step would be to find out who else was in the building at the time of Trentmore’s murder.

“While SOCO does its work,” Tommy said, “why don’t we find out what the other residents of the building have to say about our dead guy?”

Three's A Crowd Available for Free Download

On 10/8 and 10/9, 2012, Three's A Crowd will be available for free download on Amazon kindle. This is your last chance to get the book free.

http://www.amazon.com/Threes-Crowd-Pa...

Last Chance for Free E-book

On October 8 and October 9, Three's A Crowd , my British mystery, will be available on Kindle for free download. Otherwise, it is a whopping .99. This novella is an introduction to my character, Patrick Shea, a police detective who wants to be on a murder investigation team at Scotland Yard. Here's the blurb from Amazon:

In Three’s A Crowd, we are introduced to Patrick Shea, a young detective sergeant with the Hampden Criminal Investigation Department, whose career is being fast-tracked by the Metropolitan Police in London. With an eye to an appointment with a murder investigation team at New Scotland Yard, Shea is doing everything by the book. Unfortunately, his love life is a bit of a mess and gets messier when he learns his former lover, Annie Jameson, has been assaulted on someone else’s patch. Will Shea’s involvement in the under-the-radar investigation of his ex-girlfriend put his career in jeopardy and possibly her life as well?
If you are a fan of the television series Law & Order UK, you will enjoy Three’s A Crowd. This novella is the first in the Patrick Shea Mystery Series.

Included is Chapter 1 of the second Patrick Shea mystery, A Killing in Kensington.


On Wednesday, I will launch the second Patrick Shea mystery series on this blog.

Amazon Review for Darcy Goes to War

One of the advantages of being a writer of Austen re-imaginings is that you get to meet so many wonderful people from all around the world. The review below was written by a young lady who lives in the UK. I have greatly enjoyed getting to know her. It is especially gratifying because my friend is British, and this novel is a tribute to her countrymen.
I loved this book. It was well written as you would expect from the genius that is Mary Lydon Simonsen.


I loved the detail in the book and the locations used. I would have loved to see Elizabeth see Pemberley for the first time and meet Georgiana. The other sisters were well developed and it was good to see another side of them. Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship was beautifully developed and the real danger that the bomber pilots faced really came across as well as the hardships faced by the women left behind. The little trips they made really made me want to find the love that they share. I would love to see a sequel to it.

Mary Lydon Simonsen is one of my favourite authors and will remain so for many years to come. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a twist on that classic story. (5 Stars)

Meet the Greatest Generation - My Family

During World War II, everyone pitched in. If you were a farmer, you worked longer and harder to grow more food for civilians and the military. If you were a miner, you dug more coal. If you were a little kid, you collected rubber and metal and saved aluminum gum wrappers. Women moved in droves to Washington to work as clerk typists, including my Mom, for the princely sum of $1,440 per year.  But if you were a male between the ages of 18 and 35, there's a good chance you were in uniform. From left to right: Uncle Joe, Aunt Mim, Uncle Tom, Aunt Ann, and friend.

Uncle Joe was on Omaha Beach on D-Day and Uncle Tom was on the USS Pompoon that was sunk off of Cuba. He survived, but most of his shipmates didn't. Aunt Mim and Aunt Ann worked as clerks in Washington. After the war, Mim went to work for the State Department in Berlin where she met her husband who had fought in a tank in the Battle of the Bulge. My father's cousin, Patrick Faherty, died when his ship was sunk off the Carolinas. Unfortunately, there is no picture of him. These are just a few of the dozens of pictures I have of my family's contribution to the war effort.
Uncle John (fifth from left) on Omaha Beach
D-Day +1

Uncle Joe (top left) with his crew on a B-17 bomber Mom getting ready to leave Minooka, PA for
a job in Baltimore with defense contractor, Bendix
When she married my dad, she moved to D.C. Aunt Mim in Berlin




Uncle Bobby - Army Air Corps

Paperback of Darcy Goes to War Now Available

The paperback for Darcy Goes to War is now available at Amazon for $8.95. It takes awhile for a paperback title to connect to the e-book page, so if you are interested in buying the paperback, you may want to use this link.

Lancaster Bomber - Darcy Goes to War

In Darcy Goes to War , Fitzwilliam Darcy is the pilot of a Lancaster, the premier bomber of the Royal Air Force. There is an interesting article with pictures on World War II Today which commemorates events that happened 70 years ago today during the Second World War. Darcy is a fictional character. This is the story of the real heroes who flew these missions.
Below is a photograph of a Lancaster bomber.