Sandra Orchard's Blog, page 9
May 11, 2017
I Would Appreciate Your Vote
I just learned that Another Day Another Dali is one of the choices in Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Readers’ Choice Awards.
I would love your vote!
You can vote here: http://killernashville.com/silver-falchion-readers-choice-awards/
Another Day Another Dali is listed alphabetically (across columns, depending on your device) in the mystery category.
Thanks so much for your support!
If you’d like to read their review, it’s here: http://killernashville.com/past-book-reviews/
And if you’re wondering…Over Maya Dead Body, the final Serena Jones Mystery, releases July 4th!
April 1, 2017
Introducing Justice Delayed by Patricia Bradley
Looking for a new romantic suspense series to read? Or a book to discuss in your book club?
Justice Delayed might be just what you’re looking for.
Back Cover Blurb:
In one week, the wrong man will be executed for murder.
Let the chase for the real killer begin.
Eighteen years ago, TV crime reporter Andi Hollister’s sister was murdered. The convicted killer sits behind bars, his execution date looming. But when a letter surfaces stating that the condemned didn’t do the crime, Detective Will Kincaide of the Memphis Cold Case Unit will stop at nothing to help Andi get to the bottom of it. After all, this case is personal: the man who confessed to the crime is Will’s cousin. Andi and Will must find the real killer before the wrong person is executed. But what can happen in only a week? Uncovering police corruption, running for your life, and, perhaps, falling in love?
My Review:
I really enjoyed Bradley’s last series and this introduction to the new “Memphis Cold Case” series is equally promising. Bradley incorporated more investigators/sleuths in the case than we typically get to see. Some even enjoyed scenes from their own point of view. It made for an interesting multi-faceted book, although occasionally it meant the reader was hearing similar information two or three times and I found myself flipping back to find out who already knew something and who didn’t. On the flipside, I am now really interested in all of these characters and hopeful that future books in the series will spotlight each in turn.
Bradley does a great job of showing the reactions of family members coming to terms with learning the man they’ve believed guilty of their loved one’s murder for the past eighteen years may be innocent, as well as facing truths about her they couldn’t believe. While I didn’t love the heroine Andi, I did find her actions believable given that she was under the influence of too many painkillers. It is a good wakeup call to how easily and quickly addiction can happen. By the end Andi does start to see the folly of her choices and I like that Bradley doesn’t make Andi “all better” unrealistically quickly to tie the ending in a neat bow. Hopefully we’ll glimpse Andi’s continued growth in future books, especially with the positive influence of Will, who I really like.
This would make a good book club book as it presents several issues worthy of discussion. The book itself doesn’t delve deeply into the spiritual side of them, but it offers a great springboard from which to launch the discussion
My Questions for Patricia:
What inspired you to give your heroine a growing pain med addiction?
A good friend has just gone through drug rehab after a thirty-five-year addiction. It started when she was twenty and was prescribed hydrocodone after having her wisdom teeth extracted. I wanted to show just how easy and quick it is to become addicted
I didn’t have to do a lot of research since I had lived through the addiction and rehab with my friend. But there is a lot of information on the web about drug addiction. It is an insidious disease that destroys families.
What’s next in the series? Will we see these characters again?
Andi will be back in book 4 and more of her journey will be discussed then.
The second Cold Case Novel is set at the Pink Palace in Memphis and opens with the heroine, Kelsey Allen breaking into a building. The hero is Brad Hollister. Here’s the blurb:
In an effort to get her security consulting business off the ground, Kelsey Allen has been spending a lot of time up in the air, rappelling down buildings and climbing through windows to show business owners their vulnerabilities to thieves. When she is hired to pose as a conservator at the Pink Palace Museum in order to test their security weaknesses after some artifacts go missing, she’s ecstatic. But when her investigative focus turns from theft to murder, Kelsey knows she’s out of her league–and possibly in the cross hairs. When blast-from-the-past Detective Brad Hollister is called in to investigate, Kelsey may find that he’s the biggest security threat yet . . . to her heart.

Winner of the 2016 Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy. Her books include the romantic suspense Logan Point Series and sweet romances with Harlequin Heartwarming. Justice Delayed, a Memphis Cold Case Novel, released in January.
Patricia loves connecting with readers on her blog every Tuesday where she has a Mystery Question for them to solve: www.patriciabradleyauthor.com/blog
Twitter: @ptbradley1
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ptbradley/
March 23, 2017
Where You Can Find Me in April & A Giveaway
Wondering where we can meet?
I post retreats, conferences, and book signings I’ll be attending on my “News” page and you can always find the link for it in the menu bar below the sites banner.
Speaking Engagements
In April, I’m excited to be speaking at two women’s retreat days.
On April 8th, I’ll be at a Niagara-Hamilton Baptist Women’s Event – “Finding and Sharing God in Unexpected Places” @ Harmony Baptist Church, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
On April 22nd, I’ll be the Keynote Speaker at a Women’s “Creativity for the Soul” Retreat @ Wesley United Church, in Welland, Ontario, Canada
More details for those who wish to attend are on my News page.
If you’d like to have me speak at your event, you can find details of the talks I offer here.
Newsletter Subscribers: Please be advised that the speaking engagement advertised for March 30th in my last newsletter was rescheduled to earlier.
Giveaway
(For US residents; ends March 25th)
To enter: click on the image to visit the SKGFun blog that is hosting this giveaway.
February 23, 2017
99¢ Sale on A Fool and His Monet
If you haven’t started reading my Serena Jones Mysteries yet, here is your chance to for less than a buck!
Serena Jones has a passion for recovering lost and stolen art–one that’s surpassed only by her zeal to uncover the truth about the art thief who murdered her grandfather. She’s joined the FBI Art Crime Team with the secret hope that one of her cases will lead to his killer. Now, despite her mother’s pleas to do something safer–like get married–Serena’s learning how to go undercover to catch thieves and black market traders.
When a local museum discovers an irreplaceable Monet missing, Jones leaps into action. The clues point in different directions, and her boss orders her to cease investigating her most promising suspect. But determined to solve the case and perhaps discover another clue in her grandfather’s murder, she pushes ahead, regardless of the danger.
Here’s what others are saying about A Fool and His Monet:
“an enthralling whodunit, replete with action, suspense, danger and a lot of humor. And there’s a hint of a real romance developing. Serena is a terrific lead series character.” ~Mysterious Reviews
“This intriguing look into the world of art theft from the perspective of an FBI agent, will keep readers guessing the twists and turns as to the identify and motive of the thief.” ~ RT Book Reviews
“Orchard debuts a lighthearted mystery series. Her quirky characters are laugh-out-loud funny and reminiscent of the protagonists in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum stories. Readers looking for a humorous mystery with a dash of romance may find it here.” ~ Library Journal Review
But don’t wait. The 99¢ sale ends Feb 28th
Find it at your favourite Ebook retailer for all popular Ereaders:
Laugh out loud and…develop your vocabulary!
And if you love the book, you can revisit the characters in:
February 12, 2017
A Romance for Your Valentine’s Day and Other Fun Stuff
Happy Valentine’s Day!
…a little early
December 15, 2016
The Power of Remembering
We authors like to use symbols to enrich our stories. They work so well because we can all relate to having a memento or song or special place that instantly transports us to another time.
The Christmas ornaments I place on our tree do that for me. My mom started my collection by gifting me a special ornament every year until she died. So…as I put those ornaments on the tree, I remember her and my dad and the many happy Christmases we once shared.


October 18, 2016
Begin Reading Another Day Another Dali…
It’s official…Another Day Another Dali, the second book in my Serena Jones Mysteries is now available.
Here is an excerpt from the opening chapter to whet your appetite:
I tore my gaze from the porch that wrapped around the drug dealer’s house and cringed at the number on my phone’s call display.
Mom said there’d be days like this.
Tanner, still decked out in his SWAT gear, peered over my shoulder as the phone vibrated insistently in my hand. “Good thing you’re a field-hardened FBI agent, so you don’t let little old ladies scare the pants off you.”
I sent him a silencing glare. Ignoring his grin, I turned away from the rest of the team traipsing in and out of the building, and clicked Connect. “Hi, Nana,” I said, injecting fake cheerfulness into my voice. “What’s up?”
“I need you to come see me.”
“You nee—are you okay?” My heart stuttered. If anything happened to Nana . . .
“Of course I’m okay. Stop stammering, girl.”
Tanner, still hovering close enough to hear her strident tones, snickered.
I placed a muffling hand over the phone.
“Excuse me, sir,” I said sweetly. “Don’t you have a forgery to bubble-wrap?”
“Forgery?” His stunned look was so comical I forgave myself for rushing to a verdict before my usual careful perusal. Not that I was in any serious doubt about this particular painting.
“Really?” he said, broad shoulders slumping. When I arrived on scene, he boasted they’d turned up art so hot it was still smoking.
“Yup. Fake.” I, too, felt a pang of genuine regret that the “Renoir” hanging in the drug dealer’s den wasn’t the one on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.
But I’d left Nana hanging.
Straightening my shoulders, I put the phone back to my ear. “Sorry, Nana. Um, I have to be at the youth drop-in center by seven to teach the art class, so . . .” I glanced at my watch and cast about for a workable solution, but there just wasn’t enough time. “I’m afraid—”
“Never mind,” she interrupted. “Obviously, you’re at work.” Where you shouldn’t be taking personal calls, her tone implied. “Call me when you get home.”
“Okay,” I said to dead air.
Annoyed at myself for the guilty feeling I couldn’t stop from churning my stomach, I turned to study the front of the house once more. Something was niggling at my brain.
“Um . . . Tanner,” I said, hesitating.
“Yeah?”
“There’s something . . .” I squinted against the dropping September sun, mentally reviewing the interior.
He grinned. “Stop stammering, girl. Spit it out.”
“Ha, ha.” Wait . . . “Oh, that’s got to be it!” I stuffed my phone in my pocket and headed back inside.
Tanner followed me. “What’s it?”
I stopped at the door to the den and glanced at the window three feet from the side wall.
“Serena? What’s going on?” Tanner pressed, trailing me to the next doorway, this one into a bedroom.
“The window is three feet from the wall, just like in the other room.”
“So?”
“Where’s the attic hatch?”
“Mason checked the attic.”
“Humor me.”
“Don’t I always?” Tanner said. “I’m a funny guy.”
“Uh-huh.” He actually had the quickest wit of any guy I knew, even if he did run to cheesy puns sometimes.
Not that I’d admit that to him.
“Over here.” He steered me toward a stepladder set up near the back door. “But there’s nothing up there but insulation and mice.”
“Mice, huh? Are you trying to scare me out of looking?” I started climbing, and Tanner moved in to hold the ladder steady.
I pushed open the hatch and stuck my head into the attic.
“See?” Tanner said.
“Yes, I do.” I stepped down a couple of ladder rungs and flashed him a grin. “A false wall six to eight feet in from the back of the house.”
Tanner squeezed past me and beamed his flashlight around the vacant space. “Unbelievable. Mason should’ve caught that.”
“The wall’s covered in cobwebs and dust. It wouldn’t have registered unless you were looking for it.”
Tanner muttered something I couldn’t make out, but having been on the receiving end of his displeasure during my FBI training—granted, always earned—I didn’t envy poor Mason.
Tanner hoisted himself into the attic, then balance-beamed his way across a joist to the wall and examined every inch of it. “I don’t see any way to access what’s behind it.” He shone the light over the attic’s insulation-covered floor and then the shoe impressions he’d left in the dust on the joist. “It doesn’t look like anyone else has been up here recently. There must be another ceiling access panel.” He climbed back down, eyeing me with interest. “How’d you know to look for a secret room?”
I shrugged evasively.
Tanner followed me back to the room where the fake Renoir had been found and swept his flashlight beam over every inch of the ceiling. “There’s no other way up there that I can see.”
I maneuvered around the agent photographing evidence. The wall between this room and the next was decorated in wood panels and elaborate moldings that looked uncomfortably familiar. I ran my fingers along the moldings.
Tanner studied me. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for a secret panel.”
“Uh-huh. And you seem to know exactly what you’re doing here, Nancy Drew, because . . . ?”
I expelled a breath. “There was one at my grandfather’s house, okay?”
“Your grandfather? The one who was murdered?”
“Yes.” I blew away a strand of long, blond hair that had escaped my ponytail. “Maybe you could be helpful instead of giving me the third degree?”
“Sorry.” Tanner beamed his flashlight over the section of paneling I was running my hands over.
My fingertips made contact with the pressure sensor I’d been seeking and my breath caught. “Tanner, I’ve found—”
“Wait!”
Primed to open it, I tossed a frown over my shoulder. “Are you really going to pull the SWAT-clears-every-room-first rule on this one?”
“No, I thought I’d rock-paper-scissors you for the privilege.” He motioned me to get out of his way.
My finger still on the sensor, I sidestepped two feet so he’d have a clear view as I pulled back the panel. “You ready? I’ll slide it open and you can call the all-clear.” I slid it three-quarters of an inch and froze. “Uh-oh.”
Tanner cursed. “Please tell me you’re messing with me.”
I gulped. “You don’t hear that ticking?”
He crouched down and shone his flashlight through the gap I’d opened. “Blast, Serena, don’t move a muscle.”
Yeah, got that.
“Blast!”
“Tanner, could you stop using that word?”
Hooked?
October 15, 2016
Interview with Counterpoint’s Hero Raymond Alexander
Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a character interview, so I’m excited to have Raymond Alexander with us today from my friend Marji Laine’s new novel Counterpoint. Ray is a former missionary and life-long resident of Heath’s Point, Texas. (You can check out his pic on the book cover below
October 2, 2016
Goodreads Giveaway for Another Day Another Dali
Yes, I’m back! And ecstatic to have all my grandsons safely at home in time to celebrate my youngest daughter’s wedding next weekend.
July 16, 2016
CAN Scavenger Hunt – Stop # 4
I’m participating in the CAN (Christian Authors Network) Scavenger Hunt this week and I am stop #4. If you would like to participate in the whole thing for the chance to win a box load of boxes, please start here:
http://christianauthorsnetwork.com/can-scavenger-hunt-2016/
I’m delighted to have author Davalyn Spencer visiting with me today, or rather…Josiah Hacker, the hero of her novella “The Wrangler’s Woman“ in the Barbour collection The Cowboy’s Bride.
1) Josiah, what made you choose Ford Junction as your home? Can you tell us a little about the place?
Hanacker Land and Cattle Company spreads across Texas Creek and the stage road that runs from Ford Junction to Westcliffe, Colorado. We’re about five miles south of the junction where the Denver and Rio Grande stops on its way to Leadville. I run cows and horses and cut hay on this place that my grandad homesteaded. It’s all I’ve ever known.
2) How did you meet Corra Jameson? What did you think about her the first time you met?
I first saw Corra standing at the boarding house holding back her niece while me and my young’uns trailed our longhorns down Main Street. Not a weak one, I could tell by the way she held my eye as I rode by. Never dreamed that I’d be hiring her as a lady-trainer for my Jess.
3) What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Well, I know good stock when I see it. Have a way with horses, too. Weakness? I guess that’d be how sorely I miss Maisie and what a poor job I’ve done of raisin’ Jess up to be just like her brother.
4) What do you value above all else?
My family.
5) Have you heard what my blog’s phrase is for the CAN Scavenger Hunt?
“Yep, I heard tell it was ‘Christian Authors.’”
6) What do you admire about Corra?
The way she took Jess’s training in hand without Jess knowing it. Gentle like, the way I treat my horses. And the way she reads from the Good Book each evening, like she knows the stories inside and out without even looking at the words on the page. And the way she makes me feel, like I found something I didn’t know was missin’.
7) Why could you never see yourself ending up with Corra?
Don’t know that she’d have someone like me who knows nothing but cattle and good horses.
8) What’s your greatest fear?
Losing my girl, Jess, to that ol’ bat Beatrice, Maisie’s sister. She’s threatened to take Jess from me if she isn’t a proper lady, like a girl should be, by summer’s end.
9) What is the one thing you would never do?
Let Beatrice take my baby girl.
10) What do you hope people will learn from your experience?
That the Good Lord has a way of workin’ things out, even if His ways are a might different than ours.
To collect the next part of the scavenger hunt’s phrase, visit Davalynn’s blog. Or if I’m you’re last stop on the hunt and you’re ready to enter the contest, click here to send in your entry: http://christianauthorsnetwork.com/newreleases/
But before you do, let me tell you a bit about Davalynn too.