A Wicked Welcome to Janet Raye Stevens! **plus a giveaway**

by Julie, enjoying the new year in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Janet Raye Stevens to the blog today! We’ve known each other for a number of years through Sisters in Crime New England and Crime Bake, and I’m thrilled that we can all help her celebrate her 2021 publishing debut(s)!

Playing Favorites

After many years of fits and starts, I published three books in 2021. They’re all wonderful books, and I know, like a doting mother, an author isn’t supposed to have a favorite among her book children, but since I’m with friends, I’ll confess—I like my most recently released book, A Moment After Dark, the best. An historical suspense with a paranormal twist, set in the week leading up to Pearl Harbor and the US entry into World War II, the story has spies and intrigue, a ruthless villain, a tough guy hero with a tender heart, and a resourceful heroine with the ability to see the future. The book was so much fun to write, how could I resist playing favorites?  

The book is also my favorite because it’s a mash-up of my life-long interests in both the paranormal and WWII history.

Blame it on my childhood. I grew up in a public housing project, populated for the most part by WWII veterans. Practically every dad, and some of the moms, had served in the war in some capacity. As a kid, I heard their stories and became steeped in the history of that singular moment in time. I also loved supernatural TV shows like The Twilight Zone and especially the spooky and soapy daytime drama, Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966-71). I’d run home from school every afternoon and plop myself in front of the TV, eager for the show to begin. How I loved the gothic settings, the suspense-filled plots, and the seaside town of Collinsport, Maine, populated by ghosts, werewolves, witches, and one compelling vampire, my first TV boyfriend, Barnabas Collins (played by the badly coiffed and unlikely sex symbol, Jonathan Frid).

When I began writing fiction years later, it made sense my childhood memories, my life-long interests in history and things that go bump in the night, and a little bit of Barnabas Collins would show up in my stories, particularly in the genre blending A Moment After Dark.

Readers: Did you have a favorite, never-miss show like Dark Shadows when you were a kid? Tell us all about it! I’ll send one commenter, chosen at random, a copy of A Moment After Dark. 

About A Moment After Dark:

She sees the future with a touch. A powerful gift in a time of war.

The enemy wants her. The Allies need her.

When Addie Brandt touches someone, she sees their future, and it’s rarely good. Mocked and teased her whole life, Addie hides from the world in her family’s funeral home. But when her second sight shows her a horrific vision of an attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval base, the gruesome images are too intense to ignore, and she tries to raise the alarm. Will anyone listen?

Federal agent Jack Dunstan needs a miracle. He’s still reeling from the betrayal that nearly decimated his team of agents with paranormal powers, a vengeful Nazi spy with a terrifying ability of his own is out to destroy him, and he knows it’s only a matter of time before America is drawn into war. Hearing rumors of Addie’s vision, he seeks her out, hoping she could be the miracle he’s looking for.

Addie’s not sure she trusts Jack Dunstan. He’s rude, cocky, and insists on calling her curse of second sight a “gift.” But if she wants to save lives and prevent a terrible disaster, she has to put aside her fears and embrace her ability. With the US on the brink of war and an enemy agent hunting her for her power, Addie must learn to trust Dunstan—and herself—to stop an attack that could change the course of history.

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Moment-After-Dark-Paranormal-Suspense-ebook/dp/B09MDQL14Z/ref

Other Booksellers: https://books2read.com/u/bOJBkN

Bio:

Meet award-winning author Janet Raye Stevens, mom, reader, tea-drinker (okay, tea guzzler), and weaver of adventurous, suspenseful, and stealthily romantic tales. A Derringer Award nominee and winner of RWA’s Golden Heart® and Daphne du Maurier awards, Janet lives in Massachusetts with her handsome better half and their equally impressive children.

Website: https://janetrayestevens.com/