M.S. Spencer's Blog, page 3
December 28, 2024
In the Crosshairs Makes Short List at Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Awards!
"The Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Light-Hearted and Cozy Mysteries. The M&M Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions."
In the Crosshairs: the Body on Leffis Key has moved forward from the 2024 M&M Long List to the 2024 M&M Book Awards SHORT LIST. It is now in competition for 2024 M&M Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC25."
December 26, 2024
Some Zelda Poems for Your Reading Pleasure
AD PRINCESS
Commercials—
Zelda was in one once
She played the sofa
No lines
But it was considered definitive
For a sofa portrayal.
She rested on her laurels.
FLEDGLING
The trapeze
Was high overhead
Zelda looked at me
Challenging.
I took the rope
In both hands
Ready to fly.
Zelda?
Why me?
You, who carried me over so many cliffs
Joyously
Beckoning
Why do you sit on the ground?
Why do you make me fly for you?
Because it’s time.
THE DOLDRUMS
If only
Sohere we are at the end
Again.
Uphillso much of the time
Iremember so joyously the downhill slides
Whooshing,arms upraised, feet in the air, mouth wide
Squealing
Knowingyou’ll be safe but loving the instant where
You’renot sure
Lovingthe moment at the top of the cliff
Whenthe world is spread out like peanut butter on toast
Foryou and only you
Totaste
Andnow
We’vecome to the bottom
Theend
Cloudsand light and rainbows and lightning
Havemoved out of the area.
Sailsluff; wind dies; the doldrums.
It isover.
Ifonly.
December 17, 2024
In the Crosshairs at N N Light's Best Books of 2024
I’m so excited to be a part of N. N. Light’sBook Heaven Best Books of ‘24 Bookish Event. Come by on Thursday, December 19to read about my latest mystery Inthe Crosshairs: the Body on Leffis Key.Check out all the books released in 2024 and enter the giveaway to win a $25Amazon gift card: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/best-books-bookish-event
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750300
August 31, 2024
Interviewed by the fabulous Uvi!
The fabulous Uvi Poznansky has interviewed me on her blog.She has some unusual and interesting questions about my favorite part ofwriting a book and why I love chapter quotes. See it here, and please comment! #Uviart#MSSpencerInterviews #wrpbks #cozymystery #DCthrillers #thrillers #newrelease https://uviart.blogspot.com/p/interviews.html
August 22, 2024
In the Crosshairs at Long & Short Reviews Anniversary Bash!
Long & Short Reviews are holding their 17thanniversary party this week! Lots of authors; lots of prizes—including at leastTWO $100 Amazon/BN gift cards. Today my latest mystery In the Crosshairs: the Body onLeffis Key is featured. All you have to do is read about my book, answer aquestion on Rafflecopter, and Eureka! You’re entered to win.
http://www.longandshortreviews.com/guest-blogs/lasr-anniversary-scavenger-hunt-in-the-crosshairs-the-body-on-leffis-key-by-m-s-spencer/August 12, 2024
Mrs. Spinney’s Secret at NN Light’s Mystery Bookish Event
What do youdo when Hollywood takes over your tiny Maine village to make a movie? My latestMaine cozy mystery Mrs.Spinney’s Secret is featured at N. N. Light’s Mystery & SuspenseBookish Event today.
Our heroeats a bad lobster—was it poison or oversight?
Find ithere: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/post/mrs-spinney-s-secret-msbe
Enter to wina gift card! Here's the rafflecopter link: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750281
August 9, 2024
In the Crosshairs: the Body on Leffis Key at N N Light’s Mystery Event
A birder finds a corpse andbecomes entangled with a secretive former Senate aide, global investors,Chinese operatives, radical environmentalists, all searching for a mysteriousbriefcase.
Come onecome all down to N. N. Light’s Book Heaven. She’s holding a Mystery andSuspense Bookish Event featuring my very own new cozy mystery In the Crosshairs: the Body onLeffis Key! You’ll be introduced to Carson’s culinary skills and Palmer’sability to be distracted. And you can enter to win a fabulous gift card toboot!
Here's thelink:
https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/post/in-the-crosshairs-the-body-on-leffis-key-msbe
Here's the rafflecopter link: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750281
August 7, 2024
Hidden Gem at NN Light’s Mystery & Suspense Event
Quirkyromance, a murderous stalker, a mysterious map, cruciverbalists, andtreasure—all in the oldest city in North America—what more could you ask for?Come on downto N. N. Light’s fabulous Mystery & Suspense Bookish Event today, where I’mshowcasing Hidden Gem: the Secret of St. Augustine.In the excerpt we’ll meet the incorrigible, eccentric Barnaby who can eat icecream while contemplating murder. While you’re there, enter to win a fabulous prize!
https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/post/hidden-gem-msbe-1
Here's the rafflecopter link: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750281
July 12, 2024
Jennifer Ivy Walker & Her New Romantic Suspense Novel
Please welcome Jennifer Ivy Walker and her latest release, steamy historicalromantic suspense, The Witch of the Breton Woods.
TheWitch of the Breton Woods is a romantic suspense featuring a reclusivehealer and member of the clandestine French Resistance who has been ostracizedby local villagers and labeled as a witch. She lives alone in a secludedcottage in Brittany during the Nazi Occupation of France during WWII. When shefinds a critically injured American paratrooper whose plane was shot down byGerman anti-aircraft artillery, she is determined to hide him from the Gestapoand la Milice--the local paramilitary organization that collaborateswith the Nazis--who are relentlessly hunting him.Blurb
Traumatized byhorrors witnessed during the Nazi invasion of France, a young woman retreats tothe dense Breton woods where she becomes a member of the clandestine FrenchResistance. When she finds a critically injured American paratrooper whoseplane was shot down, she shelters the wounded soldier in her secluded cottage,determined to heal him despite the enormous risk.
Ostracized byvillagers who have labeled her a witch, she is betrayed by an informant whoreports to the Butcher—the monstrous leader of the local paramilitaryorganization that collaborates with the Germans. As the enemy closes in, shemust elude the Gestapo while helping the Resistance reunite the American withhis regiment and join the Allied Forces in the Battle of Brittany.
Can true lovetriumph against all odds under the oppressive Third Reich?
Excerpt: TheWounded Soldier
Low, agonized moaninginterrupted Yvette’s nightmarish reverie.
That’s a man’svoice. And it’s coming from over there. She followed the deep groans through a copse of trees to find anAmerican soldier impossibly tangled in a nylon parachute. Suspended from a highbranch of a massive oak tree, he was dangling upside down, hanging by anobviously broken leg. A sharp bone protruded from the torn, blood-soaked pantsof his khaki uniform, and dried blood—which must have leaked from under hishelmet—covered half of his contorted face. His pitiful wails pierced her heart.
I can’t lower himto the ground by myself. He’s twice my weight. And if I cut the ropes, he’llplummet headfirst. He already has a head injury, judging from the gore all overhis forehead. Please, God, let him hang on until I get back.
“I’ll go get help. Ipromise to come back soon.” She called up to him, hopeful that he could hearher. And that he understood French.
The Wild Rose Press, July 10, 2024
Romantic Suspense/ Historical Romance
163 pp.
Heat Rating: Steamy
Buy links
About the Author
Jennifer Ivy Walkerhas an MA in French literature and is a former high school teacher andprofessor of French at a state college in Florida. Her novels encompass a love for Frenchlanguage, literature, history, and culture, incorporating her lifelong study,summers abroad, and many trips to France.
Social media contacts
https://jenniferivywalker.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferIvyWalker/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferivywalkerauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bohemienneivy
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bohemienneivy/the-witch-of-the-breton-woods/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209456185-the-witch-of-the-breton-woods
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-witch-of-the-breton-woods-by-jennifer-ivy-walker
July 6, 2024
Leffis Key In the Crosshairs--My New Mystery
Someone is killing people with a crossbow, but whatconnects the murders is a mystery, and only a birder and the aide to a deadSenator can find the answers.
Longboat Key, onthe Gulf Coast of Florida is one of the barrier islands that protects Sarasotafrom the bad moods of the Gulf of Mexico. This is what it’s like to live on the Gulf Coast of Florida:by day the sky is the deep blue of Paul Newman’s eyes; at close of day it’sflooded with a full palette of reds, oranges, pinks and purples. Put it thisway: I have a lot of pictures of my children—I have even more pictures ofsunsets in Sarasota!
In the Crosshairs: the Body on Leffis Key, takes place on a small keyadjacent to Longboat. A strip of low dune and mangrove swamp, it’s home to theMarine Rescue Facility and a nature walk. Our heroine Palmer is on that walklooking for birds when she finds something a lot less desirable—which, to hersurprise, eventually leads to something a lot more desirable.
End of boardwalk where Palmer finds corpse
Blurb
Palmer Lind, recovering from the sudden death of herhusband, embarks on a bird-watching trek to the Gulf Coast of Florida. One hotday on Leffis Key she comes upon—not the life bird she was hoping for—but afloating corpse. The handsome beach bum who appears on the scene at the sametime seems to have even more secrets than the dead man.
His story begins to unravel as the pair search for answersto a growing pile of dead bodies. Spies, radical environmentalists, and wealthybusinessmen circle around each other in a complex dance. Which one is lying?What do a seemingly random group of individuals have in common, other thanbeing targeted by a crossbow?
Buy Links:
