Meet Laura Freeman and Read About Her Medical Crime Thriller RAINING TEARS

Laura is a fellow Wild Rose Press author. I enjoy hosting all authors, so if you'd like to be my guest, please contact me!

About Laura

Laura was a reporter for sixteen years for local newspapers and the Gannett media company in Northeast Ohio. She won the Press Club of Cleveland’s Ohio Excellence in Journalism award twice and the Ohio Newspaper Association award several times. Her historical romance novels include “Impending Love and War,” “Impending Love and Death,” Impending Love and Lies,” Impending Love and Capture,” “Impending Love and Madness,” “Impending Love and Promise,” holiday novella “Tackling Molasses Crinkles,” and crime mystery “Raining Tears.” She is working on a romance mystery “Tangling a Web of Deceit.”

About RAINING TEARS

I wrote RAINING TEARS after attending a Citizen’s Police Academy where we learned different aspects of police work from officers in several local communities. My brother was also a police officer and detective who served as my technical advisor. Although my historical romance novels have two points of view, the hero and heroine, this was the first time I had four points of view, including the villain. Claire was fun to write because she didn’t have to be likeable and could do and say outrageous things. I wanted to allow the reader to understand her reasons and excuses for what she did. I also worked at the local hospital as a secretary and computer operator and drew from those experiences.

During a rainstorm, Claire Batton robs elderly Edith Merryweather at the bus stop for pain medicine and money. She encounters Jack Lawson in a dark alley returning from the drug store. After a rain-filled gutter falls and hits the gun from her hand, Jack picks it up as the police arrive. Claire falls to the ground and begs for her life to make herself look like the victim. When Jack turns around with the gun in his hand and a shot is fired, police officer Beth Moreno shoots him dead.

After giving a false driver’s license belonging to co-worker Abby Keller to the police, Claire sneaks away to the hospital where she is a nurse working third shift.

Detective Sydney Harrison responds to the call about the shooting. She interviews the other officers and suspects the mystery woman in the alley isn’t Abby Keller. Sydney realizes Jack Lawson was a victim after checking the drug store and calling on his wife, Vivien Lawson.

Sydney interviews Abby Keller at the hospital who had her purse stolen from her locker and was missing a bottle of pain pills. Claire hides her injury while she watches them talk. Sydney wants to know if anyone came in with an arm injury, unknowingly tipping Claire off.

The police chief has a press conference about the shooting. When Vivien learns her husband was shot by the police, she’s angry and threatens to go to a lawyer and sue the city. She wants justice.

To cover the injury to her arm the night of the shooting, Claire stages a fall at a convenience store before going to the ER at a neighboring hospital for x-rays.

Vivien stirs up the public against Beth who is dealing with her own demons. Claire worries Beth will recognize her when she comes to the hospital. She attempts to harm Beth but escapes until a final confrontation.

Excerpt

Claire was wasting time robbing a stranger. She needed to get out of the alley now. She waved the gun sideways to send the man on his way. “Forget it.”

He held out his wallet, waiting for her to claim it. A loud crack made her look above at the overhang of the building. The rusty gutter, filled with rainwater, broke away from its neighboring section and crashed onto Claire’s outstretched arm and hand holding the gun.

The weight of the water inside the aluminum frame was like a brick being slammed down on her forearm. She screamed and dropped the gun. A spasm shook her arm, and a sharp stabbing pain shot through the muscles up into her shoulder and down to her fingertips.

The gun lay on the wet pavement between them. The man gazed into her eyes for the briefest moment before he leapt. Claire dove onto her knees to reach her revolver, but the man snatched it in his left hand and stood over her. He pointed the barrel down at her head as she knelt on the wet pavement. 

“I think I’ll keep my money.” He still had his wallet in his right hand and gripped the gun awkwardly in his left. 

She looked up at him towering over her and debated whether to challenge his possession of her weapon. “Do you even know how to use that?”

Purchase RAINING TEARS on Amazon or your favorite book vendor.

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My Fascination With Lincoln Leads to My Novel A NECESSARY END

 

Hello, readers. One hundred fifty-eight years ago today, President Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theater, in the back of the head by a deranged coward, John Wilkes Booth. I’ve been a Lincoln buff since childhood, and in 2006, I decided to combine my love of Lincoln and the paranormal. I began researching A NECESSARY END, my paranormal twist on Booth's insane plot to assassinate President Lincoln. It contains no fictional characters.  

Abraham Lincoln has fascinated me since I was eight years old. I don’t know what got me started, but it might’ve been a book which I still have titled The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1, written in 1895. When I was in 3^rd grade, in the mid-60s (which shows how long I’ve been a Lincoln nut), my teacher asked us to bring a book to school from home, for a show & tell. My mother suggested I bring this Lincoln book, which even in 1966 was in bad shape—yellowed, stiffened strips of Scotch tape barely held the covers to the spine. With the wisdom of an 8-year-old that sadly, all of us outgrow, I demurred, saying, “This old book? She’ll think we’re poor!” My mother corrected me: “No, she’ll think we’re rich. Books like this are rare.” Then she proceeded to tape it up some more. Those 47-year-old Scotch tape fragments adhere to the book’s spine and pages to this day. My teacher, Miss Cohen, was duly impressed. I treasure that book to this day, and it’s one of many on my “Lincoln shelf” which holds books about our murdered president, his wife Mary, his assassin John Wilkes Booth and his family, the “Mad Booths of Maryland” and the conspirators who faced the gallows or years of hard labor because Booth, their charismatic leader, sucked these poor impressionable souls into his insane plot. 

After writing 8 historicals set in England and New York City, I wanted to indulge my passion for Lincoln-lore. I began researching in depth about Lincoln’s life, his presidency, his role in the Civil War, and Booth’s plans to first kidnap him, and then to assassinate him. 

This is a short list of the many books I read for research: 

The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Jim Bishop. (I read this in one sitting—I am not exaggerating. I could NOT put it down)

 The Unlocked Book by Asia Booth Clarke. Asia is John Wilkes Booth’s sister. She and her husband were arrested after the assassination. 

The Mad Booths of Maryland by Stanley Kimmel. A fascinating insight into what made the Booth family tick—John Wilkes’s parents, Junius and Mary Ann, had ten children, and Junius had another wife and child in England, where they originally came from. 

A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Louis Weichmann. Louis lived in Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse, where Booth and the other conspirators met to hatch their heinous plot. Louis was not charged as a conspirator, but Mrs. Surratt and the 3 other conspirators were. They were all hanged in July 1865. 

A NECESSARY END combines two genres I’m passionate about—history and paranormal. I joined The Surratt Society, based in Maryland, and attended their conferences and tours. Through the Surratt Society I met several Lincoln/Booth/Civil War experts. One lady I’ll never forget meeting is Marjorie “Peg” Page, who claimed to be John Wilkes Booth’s great granddaughter. My trips to Lincoln's home and tomb in Springfield, Illinois, Gettysburg, Ford’s Theater, and the house he died in, Petersen House, brought me close to Mr. Lincoln’s spirit. My travels also acquainted me with Booth’s brother Edwin, the most famous actor of his time, and his unconventional family.  A recording of Edwin’s voice reciting Shakespeare on one of Edison’s wax cylinders still exists at  http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/browse?browseId=248018

Tragically, we’ll never hear Abraham Lincoln’s voice. But his spirit lives on. In my book, which is fiction--but we all know that novels are fictionalized truths--I gave Booth what was coming to him. He got his justice in real life, but in A NECESSARY END, he also got the paranormal twist he deserves. 

And I enjoyed sticking it to him! 

I paralleled the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar in this story because in the play, Caesar was known as a tyrant to the Senators, who feared losing their power, as Booth feared losing the Confederacy. Booth always considered Lincoln the tyrant, hence his proclamation ‘sic simper tyrannis’ (be it ever to tyrants) when he jumped to the stage after shooting Lincoln. 

Caesar’s Senators, Brutus and Cassius among them, conspired to stab Caesar to death on an appointed day. Booth recruited a group of like-minded disciples to aid him in his insane plot, at first to kidnap Lincoln, then to kill him. 

By day, Booth was a Confederate spy and courier, taking dangerous missions so that his beloved South could fight the North in the war that tore the nation in two. But in this story, an even darker secret plagues him–he believes he’s the reincarnation of Brutus, the man who slew the tyrant Caesar, and Booth’s destiny in this life is to murder the tyrant who’s ravaged the South—Abraham Lincoln. In obeying the spirit of Brutus, Booth devises a plot to assassinate the tyrant. 

I wrote it as a paranormal instead of a straight historical novel because spirituality was extremely popular in 1865 and all throughout Victorian times. Mary Lincoln was a staunch spiritualist. So stricken with grief after the deaths of her boys Willie and Eddie, she hired mediums such as Nettie Maynard to visit the White House and hold séances in attempts to contact her boys from beyond the grave. 

The extent of séances, table-tapping, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, and otherworldly activities in this era fit perfectly with the story I wanted to tell. We could never enter Booth’s head, but his insane behavior begs the question: was he truly haunted by a spirit who drove him to his heinous act that changed history forever?

Or was he simply insane? 

Excerpt: 

“And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus!" Booth declared to the proud reflections in his three facing mirrors.

          The center mirror clouded over. Puzzled, he leaned into it to peer closer. His  reflection faded as if the mirror were clear glass, and another human form took shape, becoming sharper as the mist faded. He was astonished to be looking into the face of a man whose eyes bored into his, pinning him with an unnerving stare. Booth took a step back, glancing to the left, then to the right, but his own reflections were moving right along with him. He focused once more on the stranger in the center, the Roman nose giving the weathered features distinction. He’d seen this face before, but where?

          The head nodded and the hint of a pleased smile curled the thin lips. Without so much as a word, the figure faded into the mirror’s eternal depths, and Booth was once again looking at his own astonished face.

          “Damn you! Who are you?” He pounded the mirror and it wavered, his image jerking back and forth with the moving glass.

          Exasperated, he turned away.

          “I’ll find out who you are if I die doing it.” He twirled around to face the mirror, seeing only his three perplexed reflections.

Visit my Website

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Meet Rachel Brimble and Read About Her Newest Victorian Romance, VICTORIA AND VIOLET (The Royal Maids Book One)

Rachel is a fellow Wild Rose Press author, and she hosted me on her blog the other day. I'm reciprocating, as I enjoy hosting authors of any genre. Meet Rachel, her heroine Violet Parker, her hero James Greene, and the overwhelming odds they overcame to fall in love!

About Rachel

Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Her latest novel, Victoria & Violet was released 17^th October 2022.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world. 

About Victoria & Violet

It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…

When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she

cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her

overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent.

Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her

mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen's chief political adviser,

 Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and

James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through

their service, their paths cross and their lives merge--as do their feelings. Only

Victoria's court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals,

and conspiracies...

Five Reasons You Should Read Victoria & Violet 

Victoria & Violet is my 28^th novel and the first book I have written that includes real people and real events – to do this was a long-held ambition of mine that has finally come to fruition, and I loved writing every word. Now I pray readers will take it into their hearts just as deeply as I have…

Reasons to read:

1)      If you are a fan of British period dramas, then this is the book for you! I am period drama obsessed, and they inevitably influence my writing. As you follow Victoria, Violet and hero James on their journey and burgeoning relationships, you will find yourself embroiled in ample story threads that lead to satisfying doses drama, intrigue & romance!

2)      If you love British royal history (especially Queen Victoria, of course!) – I have included many real events that occurred in the early reign of Queen Victoria and take you right into her heart and mind as they are unfolding. The book is told from her housemaid’s point of view, so I hope it feels like a new and unique incite into events that you have heard about, but maybe did not know too much.

3)      Violet Parker – Violet is without doubt one of my favorite heroines ever. When the book opens, she is in an unbearable situation under the control of her mother and Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent. However, despite her nervousness and fear, the reader quickly gets a sense of Violet’s steeliness, too. Writing her character growth was a joy and I came to admire her so very much.

4)      The settings – another reason I loved writing this book was the chance to re-create Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in 1839. I have been lucky enough to visit both of these royal palaces over the last few years, and it wasn’t hard to imagine what might or might not have changed over the last 180 years or so. My imagination went into overdrive, and it was wonderful…

5)      James Greene – if I’m honest James was a little bit of an enigma to me when I was writing the first draft of this book. He was there, I could see him, hear his voice and see certain cheeky mannerisms, but I couldn’t quite get into his heart. That all changed when I took him back to his family home in Oxfordshire. When he is at Cassington Park, James cannot hide his vulnerabilities and flaws – that was when I fell in love with him and I hope readers do, too…

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Abraham Lincoln's Birthday and my Civil War Romance A NECESSARY END

  

Hello, readers. I'd like to honor President Lincoln's birthday with a blog post about 

A NECESSARY END, my paranormal twist on Booth's insane plot to assassinate President Lincoln.  I’ve been a Lincoln buff since childhood, and decided to combine my love of Lincoln and the paranormal. 

Abraham Lincoln has fascinated me since I was eight years old. I don’t know what got me started, but it might’ve been a book which I still have titled The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1, written in 1895. When I was in 3^rd grade, in the mid-60s (which shows how long I’ve been a Lincoln nut), my teacher asked us to bring a book to school from home, for a show & tell. My mother suggested I bring this Lincoln book, which even in 1966 was in bad shape—yellowed, stiffened strips of Scotch tape barely held the covers to the spine. With the wisdom of an 8-year-old that sadly, all of us outgrow, I demurred, saying, “This old book? She’ll think we’re poor!” My mother corrected me: “No, she’ll think we’re rich. Books like this are rare.” Then she proceeded to tape it up some more. Those 47-year-old Scotch tape fragments adhere to the book’s spine and pages to this day. My teacher, Miss Cohen, was duly impressed. I treasure that book to this day, and it’s one of many on my “Lincoln shelf” which holds books about our murdered president, his wife Mary, his assassin John Wilkes Booth and his family, the “Mad Booths of Maryland” and the conspirators who faced the gallows or years of hard labor because Booth, their charismatic leader, sucked these poor impressionable souls into his insane plot. 

After writing 8 historicals set in England and New York City, I wanted to indulge my passion for Lincoln-lore. I began researching in depth about Lincoln’s life, his presidency, his role in the Civil War, and Booth’s plans to first kidnap him, and then to assassinate him. 

This is a short list of the many books I read for research: 

The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Jim Bishop. (I read this in one sitting—I am not exaggerating. I could NOT put it down)

 The Unlocked Book by Asia Booth Clarke. Asia is John Wilkes Booth’s sister. She and her husband were arrested after the assassination. 

The Mad Booths of Maryland by Stanley Kimmel. A fascinating insight into what made the Booth family tick—John Wilkes’s parents, Junius and Mary Ann, had ten children, and Junius had another wife and child in England, where they originally came from. 

A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Louis Weichmann. Louis lived in Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse, where Booth and the other conspirators met to hatch their heinous plot. Louis was not charged as a conspirator, but Mrs. Surratt and the 3 other conspirators were. They were all hanged in July 1865. 

A NECESSARY END combines two genres I’m passionate about—history and paranormal. I joined The Surratt Society, based in Maryland, and attended their conferences and tours. Through the Surratt Society I met several Lincoln/Booth/Civil War experts. One lady I’ll never forget meeting is Marjorie “Peg” Page, who claimed to be John Wilkes Booth’s great granddaughter. My trips to Lincoln's home and tomb in Springfield, Illinois, Gettysburg, Ford’s Theater, and the house he died in, Petersen House, brought me close to Mr. Lincoln’s spirit. My travels also acquainted me with Booth’s brother Edwin, the most famous actor of his time, and his unconventional family.  A recording of Edwin’s voice reciting Shakespeare on one of Edison’s wax cylinders still exists at  http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/browse?browseId=248018

Tragically, we’ll never hear Abraham Lincoln’s voice. But his spirit lives on. In my book, which is fiction--but we all know that novels are fictionalized truths--I gave Booth what was coming to him. He got his justice in real life, but in A NECESSARY END, he also got the paranormal twist he deserves. 

And I enjoyed sticking it to him! 

I paralleled the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar in this story because in the play, Caesar was known as a tyrant to the Senators, who feared losing their power, as Booth feared losing the Confederacy. Booth always considered Lincoln the tyrant, hence his proclamation ‘sic simper tyrannis’ (be it ever to tyrants) when he jumped to the stage after shooting Lincoln. 

Caesar’s Senators, Brutus and Cassius among them, conspired to stab Caesar to death on an appointed day. Booth recruited a group of like-minded disciples to aid him in his insane plot, at first to kidnap Lincoln, then to kill him. 

By day, Booth was a Confederate spy and courier, taking dangerous missions so that his beloved South could fight the North in the war that tore the nation in two. But in this story, an even darker secret plagues him–he believes he’s the reincarnation of Brutus, the man who slew the tyrant Caesar, and Booth’s destiny in this life is to murder the tyrant who’s ravaged the South—Abraham Lincoln. In obeying the spirit of Brutus, Booth devises a plot to assassinate the tyrant. 

I wrote it as a paranormal instead of a straight historical novel because spirituality was extremely popular in 1865 and all throughout Victorian times. Mary Lincoln was a staunch spiritualist. So stricken with grief after the deaths of her boys Willie and Eddie, she hired mediums such as Nettie Maynard to visit the White House and hold séances in attempts to contact her boys from beyond the grave. 

The extent of séances, table-tapping, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, and otherworldly activities in this era fit perfectly with the story I wanted to tell. We could never enter Booth’s head, but his insane behavior begs the question: was he truly haunted by a spirit who drove him to his heinous act that changed history forever?

Or was he simply insane? 

Excerpt: 

“And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus!" Booth declared to the proud reflections in his three facing mirrors.

          The center mirror clouded over. Puzzled, he leaned into it to peer closer. His  reflection faded as if the mirror were clear glass, and another human form took shape, becoming sharper as the mist faded. He was astonished to be looking into the face of a man whose eyes bored into his, pinning him with an unnerving stare. Booth took a step back, glancing to the left, then to the right, but his own reflections were moving right along with him. He focused once more on the stranger in the center, the Roman nose giving the weathered features distinction. He’d seen this face before, but where?

          The head nodded and the hint of a pleased smile curled the thin lips. Without so much as a word, the figure faded into the mirror’s eternal depths, and Booth was once again looking at his own astonished face.

          “Damn you! Who are you?” He pounded the mirror and it wavered, his image jerking back and forth with the moving glass.

          Exasperated, he turned away.

          “I’ll find out who you are if I die doing it.” He twirled around to face the mirror, seeing only his three perplexed reflections.

Visit my Website

Purchase A NECESSARY END

 

 

 

 

Meet SciFi Author Elaine Isaak and Read About Her New (Released Tuesday) YA Title A WRECK OF DRAGONS

 

Meet Elaine

Elaine writes knowledge inspired adventure fiction including The Dark Apostle series about medieval surgery as by E. C. Ambrose, and the Bone Guard archaeological thrillers as by E. Chris Ambrose. She's a frequent workshop instructor and former adventure guide who makes wearable art in her free time. Another recent adventure is interactive superhero novel Skystrike: Wings of Justice, for Choice of Games.

About A WRECK OF DRAGONS in Elaine's Words

I am thrilled to announce the launch of A Wreck of Dragons! This young adult science fiction novel could be described as "Pacific Rim" meets "How to Train your Dragon."  Author Julie E. Czerneda, called it, "A stellar work of science fiction!"  And fellow New Hampshire SF author R.W.W. Greene said it was "a gut punch to the mecha v. kaiju genre."

We’re not animals working on instinct; we’re not machines, just running programs. We choose. That, more than anything else, is what makes us human. I’m trying real hard to make the right choice.

With his giant robot, Norgay, orphaned teen Johari leads a team of scouts to find a new planet for mankind.  The next prospect has it all:  a great climate, nearly perfect air, and no signs of civilization.  As the team dives in for their inspection, Johari's best friend risks exposure to the alien world to claim biological samples that might be the salvation of their own species. Then the sample he shatters draws the wrath of angry, flying reptiles, and his own robot companion sacrifices itself to shield the fragile humans.

Johari races to save his friend and raise one of their precious bots from beneath an alien sea—only to find he's being hunted by dragons.  As he's cast into a world of doubts, Johari suspects that these monsters are more than they seem.  Will he claim a new world for mankind—and allow them to destroy their own humanity?

Johari stared down the barrel of the gun, standing between humanity and their future. All he had to do was die.

Read an excerpt and find links to all the formats on the publisher's website, WaterDragon Publishing. (Yes, it did seem like a perfect fit for this book!)

Purchase A WRECK OF DRAGONS

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Meet Joan Koster, Another Author Who Writes About Women In History Who Made A Difference

I contacted Joan when I saw her website featuring the strong women she writes about--I also write biographical novels about women in history who made a noise in the world, but we haven't written about the same women--yet.

I'm happy to have Joan as my guest. Read about her and her book about Anna Dickinson, THAT DICKINSON GIRL.

About Joan

When she is not writing in her studio by the sea, Joan Koster lives in an 1860s farmhouse stacked to the ceiling with books. In a life full of adventures, she has scaled mountains, chased sheep, and been abandoned on an island for longer than she wants to remember.

An ethnographer, educator, artist, and award-winning author who loves mentoring writers, Joan blends her love of history and romance into historical novels about women who shouldn’t be forgotten and into romantic thrillers under the pen name, Zara West. She is the author of the award-winning romantic suspense series The Skin Quartet and the top-selling Write for Success series.

Joan blogs at JoanKoster.com, Women Words and Wisdom, American Civil War Voice, Zara West Romance, and Zara West’s Journal. She teaches numerous online writing courses.

That Dickinson Girl, longlisted in the Mslexia Novel Competition, finaled for the Historical Fiction Company Award, and finished second in the Romance for the Ages Contest.

Connect With Joan

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Who Was Anna Dickinson?

In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932) was the most photographed woman in America. Her name a household word. Her image printed on teabag labels. 

She stood nose to nose with the great men and women of her time and argued them down. She was the first woman to give a political address to Congress. A diminutive bundle of unflagging energy, with a passion for justice, she had the showmanship of Lady Gaga and the political astuteness of Rachel Maddow. 

Known as America’s Joan of Arc, Anna Dickinson was sixteen years old when she stepped onto the world’s stage in 1860, rising to speak at a public debate on women’s rights and driving a man from the hall with the power of her words alone. 

Scooped up by the abolitionists of the day and hired by the Republican party to campaign for them, the young girl found herself catapulted to the height of fame and fortune by the age of twenty-one.  Click here to read more about her.

About THAT DICKINSON GIRL

Eighteen-year-old Anna Dickinson is nothing like the women around her, and she knows it. Gifted with a powerful voice, a razor-sharp wit, and unbounded energy, the diminutive curlyhead sets out to surpass the men of her day as she speaks out against slavery and for women’s rights. There are only two things that can bring her downfall—the entangling love she has for her devoted companion, Julia, and an assassin’s bullet.

Forced to accompany the fiery young orator on her speaking tour of New England, Julia Pennington fights her growing attraction to Anna while protecting her from the onslaught of the press. When a traitor sets out to assassinate Anna, Julia must risk her life to save the woman she loves.

Loosely based on the life of forgotten orator, feminist, and fighter for justice, Anna Dickinson, THAT DICKINSON GIRL is the story of one woman’s rise to fame and fortune at the expense of love during the political and social turmoil of the American Civil War. 

Excerpt

Everyone loved her. Anna bowed low as two thousand admirers roared their approval, the sound filling the hall at Cooper Institute. 

All of New York City had gathered to hear her and pay the twenty-five-cent admission. She looked out at her paying admirers. One thousand dollars. For one speech. Unheard-of income for a woman. And tomorrow, she’d speak again to the thousands who’d not been able to squeeze inside tonight. 

She was going to be the richest woman in America. The most famous. Her name splashed across the headlines in every newspaper. And she deserved it. How could she not when Julia loved her, and her heroine, Susan Anthony, and her friend, Elizabeth Cady, sat in the first row, cheering her on? She had spoken for them and for women everywhere. 

Imitating a homing pigeon, she swept past the smiling faces of the mayor of New York, George Opdyke, and Charles Gould, Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley, Theodore Tilton, and the other dignitaries, and headed toward the two women who stood with their hands outstretched in womanly welcome. 

“Friend Anthony, I’m so glad you came.” Anna held out her hand. 

“My dear, dear Anna.” Anthony ignored the proffered hand and drew her face-first against her bosom. Anthony’s other hand crushed her curls. 

Anna struggled to pull back, to gain a breath. Beneath her cheek, the grand lady’s chest vibrated with continued praise, the words no more than the cooing of a dove. She felt like a prodigal entrapped in the mothering she had left home to escape. 

Just when she thought she would have to extract herself with unmannerly force, Anthony released her, and she fell back on tottering feet, the taste of black dye on her lips, her cheeks burning. 

Stanton’s plump face peeked over Anthony’s shoulder. “A brilliant political speech on behalf of the Union, my heart. So young. So wise. What a credit to womanhood. The first of our new true women who will challenge men in their own domain. I’m so glad I was able to hear you again. You certainly have all those generals well-pegged.” 

She patted Anna on the arm. “I wish I could talk politics with you all night, but I regret I must run back to the children before they run the nurse ragged. However, Susan’s promised to take you in hand. She’s going to talk you into attending our National Convention in May. So off with you, my girl.” She flicked her hand toward the newsmen streaming up the aisle toward her. “Go speak to your admiring press. Susan will await you at the side door.” 

Anthony laid a hand on her arm. “Watch your words with those vultures. One misstep, and they will chew you up and spit you out.” 

Anna nodded. “I don’t answer questions, merely smile and tell them to come to my next speech if they want to learn more. It doesn’t please them, but no matter what I say, they go back and write whatever idiocy pops into their heads, anyway.” 

“Smart girl. Slip away as soon as you can. We’ll dine at Delmonico’s.” 

With a last touch to her arm, Anthony whirled with the grace of a hawk in flight and escaped unnoticed as the men of the press, in their wrinkled black suits, crowded round their celebrated victim. 

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Christmas and New Year's Eve in THE END OF CAMELOT

 

THE END OF CAMELOT CHRISTMAS

THE END OF CAMELOT is Book Three of the New York Saga. Vikki McGlory Ward is the granddaughter of Vita Caputo McGlory, the heroine of FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET, set in New York City’s Lower East Side in 1894. Book Two, BOOTLEG BROADWAY, features Billy McGlory, the gifted musician who couldn’t stay out of trouble. He married his pregnant girlfriend Pru in 1933 and became Vikki’s father when he was 25. Vikki is 30 years old in FROM HERE TO CAMELOT and is desperate to find out who murdered her husband Jack Ward, on the same day, November 22, 1963, and in the same city, Dallas, Texas, as President Kennedy was assassinated. Jack went to Dallas to prevent the assassination and never came home.

The next Christmas, Vikki was growing fond of her bodyguard, Aldobrandi Po. Her godfather Rosario celebrated a traditional Italian Christmas at his Palm Beach estate:

Vikki’s siblings, Thomas and Theresa, came down, and, combined with Rosario’s family, they had the traditional Italian Christmas. On Christmas Eve, after the feast of fried eel dredged in flour and fried in olive oil, baccala and male crabs, baked mussels in tomato sauce—and stuffed with scrambled eggs, parsley, garlic, and Romano cheese—and a pincushion fish her godfather Rosario called “la ritz” in dialect, they gathered around the tree to open their presents. Rosario gave her a mahogany jewelry box with a blue Tiffany’s box in each drawer. Opening each box, she gasped in wonder at a sapphire pendant, topaz bracelet, ruby necklace, emerald choker, three-strand pearl necklace, and a diamond tiara.

She smiled over the tiara. Where would she ever wear something like that? Jackie Kennedy had never even worn one. Or had she?

Her father’s gift to her was much more practical: a shiny new .25 caliber Bauer automatic pistol fitted into a box designed to look like Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. “Thanks, Dad. I was going to buy another piece.” She had to admit, it felt custom made to fit her hand.

NEW YEAR’S EVE

An Excerpt:

“It’s New Year’s Eve, we’re two people intensely attracted to each other, and the moment was perfect. Can you deny that?” Al asked her.

She didn’t know what she had the strength to deny at this point. With her knees still wobbling, she looked away and focused on the huge gravy pot simmering over a low flame. Not the only thing simmering around here, she realized, forcing her breath to even out.

“No, but I don’t know if you’re aware of my situation. I’m a widow. A recent widow. I shouldn’t be doing this. It’s forbidden,” she echoed the nuns. “It’s very disrespectful to my husband’s memory, and I’m ashamed of myself.”

“Your godfather told me you’re a widow. I’m very sorry.” His timing for the condolence could’ve been better. But what else could he have said? “Are you really ashamed of yourself? Do you think you’re being so disrespectful?”

“Of course,” she shot back. “He’s not gone two months yet.”

“Don’t, Vikki.” He traced his finger along her jawline. She tingled all over. “You have to forgive yourself. You’re human. We all are.”

“This must never happen again.” But did she really mean that? God, it had been so long since she’d been kissed that way.

THE END OF CAMELOT: NEW YEAR 1964

Vikki glanced at the clock. Ten minutes till midnight. She ducked into the ladies’ room to touch up her lipstick and perfume. When she came out, Al walked directly towards her, arms extended. Without a word they glided onto the dance floor together. Her father started playing his promised “Stardust” and she closed her eyes, breathing in Al’s mingled scents of cologne and creme de menthe. The crowd started counting off the seconds, and at the bursts of “Happy New Year!” the band broke into “Auld Lang Syne.” She swept her glasses off, Al lowered his lips to hers, and everything converged into a blur. Her arms wound around him. She wept, for her loss, for fear of the future, of the unknown, of this man whose mouth claimed hers.

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A Review From Locks, Hooks and Books: 

The End of Camelot is a fabulous read. It takes place back in time when President Kennedy was tragically assassinated. The main character, Vikki, is dealing with her own tragedy when her husband is also assassinated. She is determined to connect the two murders and find out the truth of what happened. I enjoyed the mystery and suspense. It kept me intrigued throughout. I never knew what was going to happen next. I recommend it to other readers, especially the fabulous performance of Nina Price in the audio version. She does a great job!