A Very Nice Review of Wedding Cake Killer

A suspense-filled story, WEDDING CAKE KILLER, the seventh book in award winning author Livia Washburn’s FRESH BAKED MYSTERY series, is a clever, intriguing, contemporary cozy mystery that brings the characters to life right before your eyes.   To read more go to Romance Junkie Reviews.

Wedding Cake Killer Now Available

Wedding bells will be ringing in Weatherford, Texas, this Christmas when Phyllis Newsom opens up her home for her best friend’s wedding. And although the bride is wearing white, no one suspects that she’ll soon be wearing black… 

After all the planning—and the cake tasting—the big day has arrived. Eve Turner, one of Phyllis’s boarders—and her best friend—is moving out and getting married to the affable Roy Porter. While she’s sad to see Eve go, Phyllis is more than happy to host the event in her house and to bake the bride and groom a delicious three-tiered coconut wedding cake. Even though a snowstorm in the forecast seems like a recipe for disaster, the day runs as smoothly as butter cream.

But the marriage doesn’t last long past the honeymoon. When Roy’s found dead at a Weatherford bed-and-breakfast, Eve’s the top suspect. Now Phyllis must find out who iced Roy before her friend finds herself behind bars… 


    

Halloween Treat

Today through November 2nd WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE  is free on Kindle and PECK OF PICKLED WARLOCKS is now only $2.99.


Aren McAllister is a beautiful but shy and withdrawn young woman who has battled a stuttering problem her entire life. But then, seemingly by accident, she discovers that she wields an incredible power: she is actually a witch and can cast potent spells . . . but only by singing them.

This discovery throws Aren into a dangerous power struggle between different factions in the society of witches who live among humans unknown by them. And for the first time she encounters a romance that may change her life as much or more than the powers she never knew she had.

WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE is the first novel in the Tongue Tied Witch series.

                                        

Banned From Amazon for Life

Every month we find on our Amazon sales where several ebooks have been returned.  Amazon allows returns within 7 days.  I used this once when I bought a book accidently hitting the mouse on my computer on the one click buy button.  I have not been able to find where Amazon limits returns.  So when we saw several returns of our ebooks, we both wondered if people buy ebooks, read them, then return them.  I am sure some have, but I was curious what would keep readers from doing this all of the time.  A little Googling gave me the answer.  If Amazon thinks you’ve returned too many of your purchases, you will get a letter like the following.

Greetings from Amazon.com.

A careful review of your account indicates that you have required refunds on a large majority of your orders for a variety of reasons.

In the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. The rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary, however, and cannot continue. Effective immediately, your Amazon.com account is closed and you are no longer able to shop in our store.

Please know that any accounts related to yours have also been closed. If you were to open a new account, the same will result and it will also be closed. In the event that you attempt to do so, we will not accept the return of any additional orders, nor will we issue further refunds in connection with any future orders. We appreciate your cooperation in refraining from using our web site.

Going forward, all inquiries must be directed to (deleted email address).

Please do not contact regular Customer Service again, as they will no longer be able to assist you.

Best regards,

Account Specialist

Amazon.com

It’s a little frightening that they can close your account with no warning so that you can’t access your Kindle books, you would lose all money on gift cards, and to be banned from Amazon for life.  Yikes!  This would be well deserved to the people who abuse the return policy and basically steal, but a policy like this could harm innocent people, too.  A little warning might be nice.  So here’s a fair warning to all the people who return ebooks after they read them.  You can be BANNED FROM AMAZON FOR LIFE!

The Gingerbread Bump-off Review

A nice review of The Gingerbread Bump-off here  (Columbus Books Examiner).

The trade paperback is cheaper than the mass market paperback will be right now at Amazon.  Mass market paperback will be coming out on November 6th.

Trade Paperback                  Mass Market Paperback
               

New Book Available

It's been a busy week! Not only did I publish James's new book FORT WORTH NIGHTS, I wrapped up A PECK OF PICKLED WARLOCKS, the second book in my Tongue-Tied Witch series, and now it's on sale as well for both the Kindle and the Nook. This 61,000 word novel wraps up all the plotlines from the first book in the series and is full of action, humor, and romance in a fast-paced story that takes the reader from the picturesque Gulf Coast of Texas to the glittering lights of Las Vegas.

Socrates' Book Reviews: For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls by Livia J. Washburn

Socrates' Book Reviews: For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls by Livia J. Washburn

“For Whom the Funeral Bell Tolls” is a quick read with a crazy cast of characters. Delilah is a strong, feisty heroine and the setting of Key West is perfect....
       Ebook                                Trade Paperback
                   

Fresh Fiction: Review

Fresh Fiction: Review: For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls by Livia J. Washburn  Delilah must deal with difficult clients and dead bodies http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=33377 via @FreshFiction

FOR WHOM THE FUNERAL BELL TOLLS was an enjoyable read with some very intriguing moments...

What Did You Say?

Earlier my daughter said she was going to cut her nails on the porch.  Now my hearing isn't awful, but it's certainly not what it used to be.  I heard that she was going to go cut her nails with a fork.  I honestly sat there pondering how in the world she was going to do that, when I realized she'd gone out on the porch.  Then did the mental smack of the head.


I'm presently working on one of our older westerns.  I scanned it last week and I'm formatting and editing it for the Kindle. So my brain is in western mode.


Hearing her wrong got me to thinking. I know . . . not always a good thing.  But, I can't help but wonder how many of the battles, gunfights, brawls, etc. from history, were caused by a good ol' misunderstanding.  Someone just hearing something a little wrong.  Of course this lead to me thinking about a new character to come to Wind River, a town we wrote a 6 book series about.  This summer might be a good time to revisit Wind River, if we can just find the time.

A Nice Review

There's a very nice review of For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls here.

Also available for the Nook , and trade paperback

Western Fictioneers 2011 Peacemaker Award. Nominees

Western Fictioneers (WF) is proud to announce the nominees for the 2011 Peacemaker Award.

Winners will be announced on the Western Fictioneers (WF) web site (http://www.westernfictioneers.com/) on June 1, 2012.

Entries were accepted in both print and electronic forms with a 2011 copyright date.  The Peacemaker Awards are given out annually.  Submissions for the 2012 awards will be open in July, 2012. Submission guidelines will be posted on the WF web site. The following list of nominees is in no particular order.

Best Western Short Story:

***There were  two ties in this category, which is why there are seven nominees instead of the required five.

“Planting Season” by Johnny D Boggs (Cactus Country Anthology, Volume I – High Hill Press)

“The Way of the West” by Larry J. Martin (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

“Blackwell’s Run” (Western Trail Blazer) by Troy D. Smith

“The Sin of Eli” by Troy D. Smith (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

“Panhandle Freight” by LJ Washburn (The Traditional West anthology, WF)    

“The Death of Delgado” by Rod Miller (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

“Stay of Execution” by Lucia St. Clair Robson (Cactus Country Anthology, Volume I – High Hill Press)

Best Western Novel:

The Sonora Noose by Jackson Lowry (Berkley)

Redemption, Kansas by James Reasoner (Berkley)

Blood Trails by Lyle Brandt (Berkley)

The Assassination of Governor Boggs by Rod Miller (Bonneville Books)

Between Hell and Texas by Dusty Richards (Kensington Pinnacle imprint)

Best Western First Novel:

Unbridled by Tammy Hinton (Roots and Branches Publishing)

The Black Hills by Rod Thompson (Berkley)

Dismal River by Wayne Dundee (Oak Tree Press)

Blessings, Bullets And Bad Bad Men by B.A. Kelly (Oak Tree Press)

The Guerrilla Man by Steven Clark (Solstice Publishing)

Western Fictioneers (WF) was formed in 2010 by Western writers Robert J. Randisi, James Reasoner, Frank Roderus, and other professional Western writers with the mission of preserving, honoring, and promoting the Traditional Western in the 21^st Century. Western Fictioneers (WF) is the only professional writers organization composed entirely of authors who have written Western fiction, the classic American genre. A writer or publisher does not have to be a member to be nominated, or win, the Peacemaker Award.

Contact: Larry D. Sweazy, WF Awards Chair, larrysweazy@prodigy.net

Growing Up Watching Westerns

I’m sure some of you have wondered how I got into western writing.  I grew up watching Gunsmoke, Paladin, Bonanza, etc.  My dad loved westerns.  Top this with the fact I enjoy reading about history.  I didn’t mind having to read the history textbooks in school, in fact I may have been the only kid that read the whole books.  Now that math textbook was a different matter.

My first toe into western writing came with writing Hallam.  The first Lucas Hallam story which was published as a mystery, but it had western touches.  Lucas was a riding extra/PI in the first stories which were set during the 1920’s in Hollywood.  That story is available as an ebook on Amazon and Barnes and Noble along with 3 other stories I had saved on a usb drive I carried with me the day our house burned down.  This past week I have been collecting our missing stories.  The ones published in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and various anthologies.  I’m hoping I can scan them and make them available by this fall.  There are many Hallam stories and he is my favorite ol’ cowboy, but my favorite town would have to be Wind River.  James and I worked on this series together.  We had all six books plotted before the first book had even sold.  The publisher insisted on one name for the author on the paperbacks, so we decided to use James’.  When we republished them as ebooks, we used both of our names.  We were told that they wouldn’t sell with two names.  This time, the publisher was wrong.  They are selling very nicely with both our names.  While Wind River seems like a just a western, we planned a long running mystery to be solved in book six.  If you’ve read the books, you know how much fun we had writing them.  If you’ve only read a book or two, we wrote it where you would never know you missed anything.  But if you read all 6, you'll see what I mean.  Lately I’ve been trying to decide if we should revisit Wind River.  I wonder if there are six more books in the town . . .  The first book is still only 99 cents for the Kindle and Nook.

A Little Irony

Since I finished For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls, it was time to return my research books on the Florida Keys to the Fort Worth Library.  One book didn't make to to the library.  We started out with seven books, but only arrived with six.  The book we couldn't find was A Hidden Florida Keys & Everglades.  And hidden it was.  We looked all around the seat, no book. We thought it must have fallen out at one of the places we stopped earlier.  Retracing and asking brought no results.  That sucker was hidden very well.  It wasn't until I was sitting in my chair at home that I remembered a click in the seat earlier.  A flashlight revealed the little trade paperback had slid between the drawer under the passenger seat and the seat.  I was only able to see it with a flashlight.  Fingers wouldn't reach.  It required a small grabber slid between the drawer and seat and lots of maneuvering to get it out.  Mystery solved.  A Hidden Florida Keys & Everglades was no longer hidden.  Now we'll have to return to the Fort Worth Library sooner than planned, but that's nothing to complain about, more book looking.

For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls is now available in trade paperback and ebook on Amazon.

and for the Nook

Last Day

Today is the last day to get the HALLAM Collection Free on Amazon.  Link is in the post below.

Free this Weekend on Amazon

HALLAM COLLECTION includes: 


"Hallam", is the first appearance of Lucas Hallam, a cowboy who has outlived the days of the old west to become a gun-toting private eye and stuntman in the early days of motion pictures in California. Originally published in The Eye's Have It, 1984.


In "The Blue Burro", Hallam's search for a kidnapping victim leads him to a shady bordertown nightclub and plunges him into a deadly tangle of international intrigue with high stakes. Originally published in LONE STAR LAW in 2005.


"Ladysmith", an adventure from Hallam's days as a Pinkerton agent that was originally published in GUNS OF THE WEST in 2002, finds him delivering a legacy for an old friend who has passed away, a chore that has him riding right into unexpected danger.


"Hollywood Flesh", published in The Book of all Flesh 2001.  It's a good thing Lucas Hallam is a hard-headed old cowboy and doesn't believe in such nonsense as Zombies, or this case might give him nightmares.


34,000 words.

Two More L.J. Washburn Westerns Now Available

On Amazon
 
 On Barnes and Noble for the Nook EPITAPH coming soon
 
Epitaph is the first appearance of Hank Littleton, Buffalo Newcomb, and his possum Stink.  Buffalo and Stink reappear in Riders of the Monte.  Hank Littleton shows back up in Bandera Pass.
                               Not sure why Barnes and Noble has the old cover for the link. If you follow the link on the cover, it shows the new cover on the Nook page.


The three western novels were originally published as M. Evans hardbacks in the late 80's and early 90's.

Now Available!

For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls (Delilah Dickinson Literary Tour Mysteries) by Livia J. Washburn

Also available for the Nook here, and trade paperback here

Coming Soon: The 4th Literary Tour Mystery!

My fourth Delilah Dickinson Literary Tour Mystery, FOR WHOM THE FUNERAL BELL TOLLS, will be released next week. This one finds Delilah taking a tour group to Key West to visit Ernest Hemingway's home there. Of course, things don't go exactly as planned, and when someone winds up dead, Delilah has to turn detective again. Delilah is great fun to write, and I had a really good time with this one.

"Hallam", a 10,000 word story is the first appearance of Lucas Hallam, a cowboy who has outlived the days of the old west to become a gun-toting private eye and stuntman in the early days of motion pictures in California. Originally published in The Eye's Have It, 1984.


"Hollywood Flesh", a 7000 word story was published in The Book of all Flesh 2001. It's a good thing Lucas Hallam is a hard-headed old cowboy and doesn't believe in such nonsense as Zombies, or this case might give him nightmares.


Available free today only for the Kindle.

Review Blues

I received a one star review on the first novel of my urban fantasy series, Witch Got Your Tongue, because the reviewer thought it had a cliff hanger ending.  The person even admitted it was a pretty good story but still gave it only one star.  This is a series, and some things were resolved, but I did leave it open for many more books in the future.  Is that no longer allowed in series?  The only real thing left unresolved was something that will be an ongoing battle for the main character.  I let the reviews about it not being a novel but a novella roll off my shoulders.  Well, other than griping to James.  It is 45,000 words.  That is not a novella.  It's a short novel, and I was very clear about that in the description by posting the number of pages in the trade paperback.  Now I get complaints that it's a half novel that doesn't end.  I really want to know if this is something that actually bothers readers, or if it just makes you want to read the next book.

Also, any readers willing to review the book, either on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or on a blog, send me your email address  with the type of file you would need, and I'll send you a Kindle file, Word file, or PDF. livia@flash.net .

Big Earl Will Ride Again

Finally put the last of the Christmas decorations in storage yesterday.  I had them boxed up for a while now, but a cold slowed down the process of getting them put away.  That's always the sad part of the holidays.  It means they are officially over.  I had a lot of fun buying presents this year.  My husband James is always the hardest to buy for, and I even surprised him this year.  He loves to read, especially older books.  Right before our last anniversary I bought him a collection of pulps.  He wouldn't buy them, so I bought them telling him I'd have presents for life.  A box of these pulps was what he expected to receive, but he hasn't cleared a spot upstairs to put more shelves, so I went a completely different direction.  I bought him a costume.  I found a place to buy old west clothing and bought him a vest, shirt, and pants.  Then I hit Ebay and found a hat to go with the outfit and even some spiffy boots.  I'm sure you're all wondering why would this make a good Christmas present.  It goes back to writing.  Many years ago James came up with a series featuring Judge Big Earl Stark.  Pocket books decided to use an old west photo of James for the cover of the first book.  James is planning on writing a new Big Earl novel this summer.  It's going to need a cover.  A new Big Earl photo will work great for the cover of the new book, so with the costume, Big Earl will ride again.  Fun stuff.  His birthday is early in June and probably before he'll have time to write the book . . . I wonder if I should get him a horse . . .