Patricia Rice's Blog, page 4

Discounts and Newsletters!

Quick note���my June newsletter will have a 40% off coupon for three of my bestselling titles. If you haven���t signed up for it yet, do so now! https://www.subscribepage.com/ricewebsite

I only send newsletters once a month to offer news of specials and discounts, as well as bits of historical trivia and whatever pops into my head���which is currently empty, as you���ll know if you read my Word Wench blog!

Hope you���ve started your summer reading list…

It Could Be Worse

I don���t know about where you are, but here in sunny California, the winter has been worse than it���s ever been���and to compound the misery, natural gas prices are through the roof. I can���t huddle in front of my gas fire, and I���ve had to set the furnace to awful cold.

But any time I start feeling sorry for myself, I remember there are others worse off than I am. I think of the horrors Ukrainian families must be suffering through in a freezing dark winter with bombs raining on their homes and schools. So like the curse jar where we have to drop a quarter in every time we use a bad word, I send money to a good cause every time I feel sorry for myself. Here���s a link to a reliable source of organizations to contribute to if you want to join in: https://www.charitynavigator.org/

And here’s a reminder that THE PRISM EFFECT, the sixth book in the Psychic Solutions Mysteries will be out March 21st! You won’t want to miss Evie’s wedding…

Socializing

Do you have any idea how difficult it is for an introverted, stay-at-home writer to make friends? So finding my tribe has always been essential. But moving here to Southern California where distance is measured in traffic, I was daunted. I knew there were authors in the area, but we just never got organized. I figured everyone else was busy and well.��.��. Introverts. But I���m happy to say a more energetic author moved to the area and quickly organized us, and I now have writers to talk to again!

All this to say.��.��. socializing is an extremely important part of our lives. Our brains atrophy if we become isolated. So I hope all of you have a tribe to take you in, and if you don���t, that you find a way to make one. Sometimes, just the escape of chatting with friends on a computer helps. Give a hug to a friend today!

Wicked Wyckerly Free!

Booklist Top Ten Romance * Nominated for the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA�� award!

As has become a spring tradition, Bookbub is showcasing the first novel in my Rebellious Sons series (the first book is actually a novella���Incomparable Lord Meath), WICKED WYCKERLY, will be free on February 7th. It should be discounted to 99c or free everywhere for about a week after that. Don���t hold me to it. Retailers do fun things with prices.��.��.

For those of you who might not be familiar with Wyckerly, it���s a Rita-nominated humorous historical romance.��.��.

John Fitzhugh Wyckerly has been the spare heir all his life, supporting himself with gambling and charm. The news that he���s inherited the bankrupt title of Earl of Danecroft shatters his indolent world.

Holiday Crush

Book cover for Christmas Enchantment

Why are all our big holidays crushed together in such a short time?

It seems I���ve only put away the Halloween spiders and was hunting for turkeys and wondering whose oven I can borrow because everything bakes at different temperatures. And wow, now I���m supposed to find Christmas gifts? And put up wreaths? It���s 80 out there, folks! Did someone speed up time while I wasn���t looking? Are you feeling like the year is whizzing by?

I need to find a way to slow down. Watching Christmas movies might do it, except I���d probably fall asleep. I guess that���s called slowing down.��.��.

Hope you and yours had a lovely turkey day, for those giving thanks, and that you���re more prepared than I am for the upcoming holidays!

However you celebrate, may it be with joy and the people you love.

Busting Out of Ruts

You heard it here first���I���m struggling with what to write next. I���m not a writer who can write endlessly in one series. I���m restless and need new challenges. I thoroughly enjoyed writing the Psychic Solutions Mysteries (Book #5 is almost ready for pre-order and #6 is in edits) and thus, I have debated doing a historical mystery. Only, I���m a bit burned out on plotting clues and red herrings and murders for a while.

So I thought it might be a relief to go back to a nice historical romance, maybe one without the Malcolm and Ives because if I write about England, those families are all over my landscape. I���m not sure I want to remember all their backgrounds!

Now I���m toying with a Gothic manor and a large family of females and. . . there���s no plot and no romance. Yet. My vacation in Egypt may have cleared my head, and I think I’m ready to bust out of this rut and forge ahead. Stay tuned!

Rainbow Recipe…

…the fifth book in the Psychic Solutions Mystery series is up for pre-order!

I���m trying to release the Psychic Solutions books in time for the various holidays they���re celebrating and this is my Halloween edition. Just think, witches and ghosts and Halloween. . . Every day is Halloween in Afterthought!

In the spooky town of Afterthought, Halloween is no time to die.��.��.

Psychic caterer Priscilla Malcolm watches in disbelief as a glamorous�� boutique owner drops dead at her Halloween party. Pris isn���t about to�� blame her appetizers, even if she knows the death isn���t natural. But when the victim���s ghost attaches to her ghost-busting cousin, Evie, she has no choice except to find out what happened.

While Evie���s Sensible Solutions team investigates�� motives for possible murder, Pris seeks the source of the boutique���s fame in Italy��� coincidentally, the home of her nemesis, Dante Ives. Pris���s telepathic skills are limited, but while she searches for a heartless killer, she will need to call on every gift she possesses to deal with the handsome archeologist and the adorable twins his enigmatic ex dumped on him.

Knowing his past is the reason Evie is haunted now, Dante must join eccentric Pris and the anarchic Solutions team to solve the murder before Evie becomes the next victim.

Pre-order now!

Family Genius Mysteries

new cover

Have you seen the new covers on my Family Genius Mysteries yet? I took off down an unbeaten path for this series about an eccentric, intelligent, world-traveling family coming home to roost. Take a look if you have a chance: FAMILY GENIUS MYSTERIES

May Gray, June Gloom

new cover

Make no mistake about it, I have SAD���seasonal affective disorder. It���s one of the many reasons we now live in California. What we didn���t prepare for in our move was the fog on the coast in May and June. Yes, I know it���s natural air conditioning and the reason our house doesn���t have a/c. I���m allergic to the mold and mildew in mechanical air conditioners, so this is all good. But it���s gray out there.��.��. And my brain has shut down until the sun comes back out.

As a result, I���m dusting off my old Family Genius mysteries and looking for new covers. Editing is easier than creativity when my Muse sulks. We���ve decided to go with cartoon-style covers so we can get more mystery elements into them. What do you think of this one?

 

Travel Research

We’re just back from what was meant to be a research trip after years of quarantine. I was eager to see Charleston, Savannah, and the islands again. The history and charm. . . Well, we did renew our acquaintance with Savannah, but a storm blew through, we were on a ship, and Charleston was a hasty trip inland on a bus to see a few houses and the Citadel military academy. OK, interesting, but not what I had in mind.

Since I spent nearly a month traveling, my progress on the Psychic Solutions series has suffered. I did finish revising The Rainbow Recipe, the fourth book. It doesn’t have a cover yet, but it’s ready for one. My biggest obstacle is that I have no TITLES for the next two books. I’ve hobbled myself again by creating titles with limited word choices—a color related to astrology or the tarot plus a noun meaning “solution”! What was I thinking? The Scarlet Reaction? The Purple Procedure?