Tuesday Ebook Spotlight: Spindler's Lightkeepers series, Mooney's Go-Cup bundle both free first week of February

Best-selling author Erica Spindler has a new book coming out Tuesday, Feb. 13 - take about a great Mardi Gras gift! The book's titled “The Fallen Five” and is the third installment in Spindler's Lightkeepers paranormal thriller series. 

But here’s the good news. On Monday, Feb. 5, the first book in the series, “The Final Seven,” will be FREE as a download for one day only. 

Set in New Orleans, these fast-paced thrillers are stories of the ultimate battle of good against evil and ultimately, the redeeming power of love. The series was born of Spindler's lifelong fascination with angels, demons, and the end of days. The books explore the many faces evil takes and the dual nature in us all.

Here’s the book description of “The Final Seven”:

The last thing New Orleans detective Micki Dee Dare needs is a smart-mouthed, super-intuitive new partner cramping her legendary, take-no-prisoners style. But she soon learns there’s way more to Zach “Hollywood” Harris, fresh out of an experimental FBI program than meets the eye. His uncanny sensory abilities begin to reveal to Mick the presence of a powerful evil she can barely fathom. As co-eds keep disappearing, leaving a trail of strange symbolism behind, one thing becomes clear: Mick and Zach’s search for the perp is drawing them closer and closer to a terrifying, incomprehensible darkness that might just consume them all.

Who thought you could create a cozy mystery series around New Orleans Go Cups, those plastic creations that allow us to bring drinks on the streets. New Orleans native Colleen Mooney has published several with this theme and on Feb. 3 and 4 her bundle featuring “Rescue by a Kiss” and “Dead and Breakfast,” books one and two in the series, will be FREE on Amazon. Click here to get a copy.

Here are the book descriptions:

“Rescued by a Kiss”

Brandy Alexander’s the real deal — yes, that’s her real name and she’s not even a stripper, although her best friend Julia is. Brandy still lives with her parents in the Irish Channel of New Orleans and she’s semi, kind-of engaged to the boy next door. Then a suave Svengali in one of the gentlemen’s walking clubs mesmerizes her into a big fat Mardi Gras smooch.

“The kiss was long, slow, hot—unlike any kiss I’d ever had in my life.” 

She decides to meet Mr. Good Kiss after the parade, but arrives just in time to see him shot. Fortunately, not shot dead. Before he passes out, he pulls her close and whispers, “Save Isabella.”

The Svengali kisser, (aka Mr. Possibly Right), has enemies, of course, and he and Brandy get kidnapped, but the real adventure here is swanning around town with Brandy and her crazy krewe—much of it canine and seriously cute.

“Dead and Breakfast”

A bed and breakfast located next door to a cemetery turns into a grisly scene the day it opens. Brandy is called by her BFF Julia to come over at once for Julia has found a dead man in a guest room of her newly opened BnB. Brandy discovers that Julia has had a romantic encounter with the guest who just checked in and who is now dead, having been bludgeoned to death.

At the issue is Brandy’s ex-boyfriend Dante, now a homicide detective, who still has feelings for her, and a handyman Brandy meets in jail to help her at the guesthouse. As the investigation into the death seems cut and dry, Brandy, Dante and her current boyfriend discover what really happened at the guesthouse that night, and something the handyman/maid/cook says makes Brandy realize there’s no such thing as coincidence.

By accident, circumstance and coincidence the missing pieces come together as Brandy tries to get help for Julia from both men she has strong feelings for and, at the same time, keep them apart.

There’s no place like New Orleans to have a good crime.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Monroe's Cahill heading to Britain to speak on suffrage

Scottish-born and educated Bernadette Cahill, formerly of the Monroe Public Radio show “Memories,” is returning home to Britain to help commemorate the hundred years since British women won the right to vote. She will speak Saturday at a commemorative conference in Cambridge University and on Feb. 6 in a town that headquartered a suffragette campaign in Scotland for years, exactly 100 years to the day that the parliamentary bill which recognized the principle of votes for women became law. Then on Feb. 8 Cahill will speak in the Smith Museum and Art Gallery in Stirling, close to where the massive sword of “Braveheart” (William Wallace) is kept. 

British women won equal voting rights with men in 1928, after a struggle of 61 years. American women won the right to vote with ratification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920, after a struggle of 72 years.

Cahill is married to Monroe native Ronald E. Davis, director of Vicksburg Municipal Airport. She is the author of “Alice Paul, the National Woman’s Party and the Right to Vote: The First Civil Rights Struggle of the 20th Century” and “Arkansas Women and the Right to Vote: The Little Rock Campaigns.” She is currently completing her third history of women’s struggle to win the right to vote in the United States, focusing on American women’s campaigns for female suffrage 150 years ago during Reconstruction. Her original research into women’s work for the right to vote 100 years ago in Vicksburg is not yet published.

LSU Press
Using the concept of dance as a lens for examining Carnival balls, Jennifer Atkins writes about the historical rituals of Mardi Gras and offers readers insight on unique traditions not seen by the public in “New Orleans Carnival Balls: The Secret Side of Mardi Gras, 1870-1920.” Atkins is a professor at Florida State’s School of Dance. Atkins signs “New Orleans Carnival Balls” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Garden District Book Shop of New Orleans.

LSU Press has published “Speaking French in Louisiana, 1720-1955: Linguistic Practices of the Catholic Church” by Sylvie DuBois, the Gabrielle Muir Professor of French Studies at LSU, director of the LSU Center for French and Francophone Studies and author of three books; Malcolm Richardson, Dr. J. F. Taylor Professor of English at LSU and author of “Middle Class Writing in Late Medieval London,” among other works; and Emilie Gagnet Leumas, director of Archives and Records for the Archdiocese of New Orleans and author of “Managing Diocesan Archives and Records: A Guide for Bishops, Chancellors and Archivists and Roots of Faith: History of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.”

UNO Lab Prize

The University of New Orleans Publishing Lab is looking to publish a novel or short story collection in a contest open to all authors, regardless of publishing history. Manuscripts are accepted from now until Aug. 15 with an $18 submission fee. The selected manuscript will be promoted by UNO’s Publishing Lab, an institute that seeks to bring innovative publicity and broad distribution to authors. For more information, visit www.unopress.org/lab.

Free ebooks

Good news for e-readers this week. Best-selling New Orleans author Erica Spindler offers “The Final Seven,” the first book in her “Lightkeepers” paranormal thriller series, as a free download on Monday. The one-day-only sale gives readers an introduction to her series before the third “Lightkeepers” book arrives on Feb. 13. A bundle of books one and two of Colleen Mooney’s “Go Cup Chronicles” series is also free to download Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4. Mooney is a native of New Orleans and the organizer of the city’s Sisters in Crime chapter.

Festival of Words

The Festival of Words hosts an evening of history and an open mic beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Chicory’s Coffee & Café in Grand Coteau. Maureen J. Chicoine will discuss her ongoing research of enslaved persons who lived and worked at the Sacred Heart Convent in Grand Coteau from 1821-1865, and their descendants. The Society of the Sacred Heart, a religious community of women, has a long history in Grand Coteau since they founded the Convent of the Sacred Heart in 1821. Their school for girls has been in continuous operation since then and now partners with Berchmans Academy to serve boys. From 1821 until 1865 the Convent, like many Catholic institutions in the South, was a slave owner. As part of the bicentennial celebration of the arrival of the Society of the Sacred Heart in North America the Society formed a committee to study the history of enslaved people in the Southern houses with the greatest number at the Convent in Grand Coteau and St. Michael’s school in Convent, Louisiana. Wednesday’s oral history presentation will be videotaped and placed in the Cajun and Creole Archives at the Center for Louisiana Studies collection. For more information, call Patrice Melnick at (337) 254-9695 or email festivalwords@gmail.com.

Book events

Mia Borders discusses and signs her book, “Hey! So I'm A Baby,” with original artwork by Nancy Wolfe Kimberly, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at Garden District Book Shop of New Orleans. Also at the store this week is Mark C. Stevens signing “Cooking With Spices: 100 Recipes for Blends, Marinades, and Sauces” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jennifer Atkins signing “New Orleans Carnival Balls: The Secret Side of Mardi Gras, 1870-1920” at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Howard Philips Smith signing “Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans” at 6 p.m. Thursday.

 

Alex PoeticSoul Johnson

Megan Holt, chief executive officer for Words & Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans, and executive director for One Book One New Orleans, will make a presentation about the Spanish classic Don Quixote, at 7 p.m. Monday at the East Bank Regional Library, Metairie. This seminar is the first session in a series in which participants read Don Quixote throughout 2018 and discuss it one Monday per month.

Spoken word artist, author and poetry educator Alex “PoeticSoul” Johnson will offer a workshop on the art of self-expression for ages 9 and up at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the East Regional Library of Lafayette.

Al Kennedy, author of “Chief of Chiefs, Robert Nathaniel Lee and the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, 1915-2001,” will discuss his book at 7 p.m. Thursday at the East Bank Regional Library, Metairie. Lee, known as Chief Robbe, was the first and only person to be named “chief of chiefs” by the Mardi Gras Indians Council.

Chere Coen is the author of several Louisiana non-fiction books and the “Viola Valentine” Louisiana paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Tuesday Ebook Spotlight: Donna Hill, Karen Yochim

Essence bestselling author Donna Hill began her career in 1987 with short stories and her first novel was published in 1990. She now has more than 70 published titles to her credit, and three of her novels have been adapted for television. Donna has been featured in Essence, the New York Daily News, USA TODAY, Black Enterprise and other publications.

Even though Donna lives in Brooklyn, her latest book, “Surrender to Me,” is part of The Larsons of Louisiana series.

Here’s the book’s description:

Rafe Lawson is driven by two things: his music and living a life away from the influence of his powerful senator father. The woman he meets at a high-profile family celebration won't change his playboy ways. Still, Rafe is intrigued by the stunning Secret Service agent who never mixes business and pleasure. He has no choice but to jet to DC and use his legendary Lawson power of seduction to win over Avery Richards.

The first female in her family to rise up the ranks of high-level government security, Avery is comfortable flying halfway across the world at a moment's notice. But her desire for the sax-playing heir to a political dynasty creates more tension than being on presidential detail. Their fathers are enemies who share a long, bitter history. When Avery falls for Rafe, her loyalty to her family is tested and Rafe's contentious feud with his father could cost them everything. They must now decide what's most important—the life they've always lived or the one they can possibly make together.

Karen Yochim of Arnaudville has written several Cajun crime novels, all of which are available as ebooks on Amazon.com. Her latest is book seven in the St. Beatrice Parish crime series titled “The Devil Takes Care of Its Own.”

Here’s the book’s description:

Retired St. Beatrice Sheriff Kermit Felton is on a mission to find the man who shot Isaiah, his aging commercial fisherman friend. Infuriated, Kermit relocates two hours up river to a fish camp near where the shooting occurred in order to set a trap for the unknown shooter. In an interwoven story, a beautiful rebellious rancher from southwest Texas affects the final outcome of Kermit's quest for revenge.

Louisiana Book News is written by Chere Dastugue Coen, award-winning author of several non-fiction books about Louisiana. She also writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her novel series all begin with a book that's available as a FREE download. 

'The Hate U Give' a must read

Here’s some good news for 2018. Angie Thomas’ acclaimed young adult novel “The Hate U Give” (National Book Award longlist) is being made into a movie and filming has wrapped so it won’t be long now. Don’t wait until the story hits theaters. Read the book now. I had heard so many wonderful things about this book but, being a Louisiana book reviewer and Thomas hails from Mississippi, I had other books ahead of it on the to-be-read pile. For my December birthday, however, I made time for myself and bought the book. As I was checking out, the woman behind the counter spotted the novel and raved.

Yes, it’s that good.

Thomas places the volatile issue of police brutality in the African American communities in the point of view of Starr Carter, a 16-year-old girl who lives in a black neighborhood but attends Williamson, an upscale, predominantly white school. Her life’s an uneasy balance, where she volleys between two personalities depending on the location.

“Williamson Starr doesn’t use slang — if a rapper would say it, she doesn’t say it, even if her white friends do,” Thomas writes. “Slang makes them cool. Slang makes her ‘hood.’ Williamson Starr holds her tongue when people piss her off so nobody will think she’s the ‘angry black girl.’ Williamson Starr is approachable. No stank-eyes, side-eyes, none of that. Williamson Starr is nonconfrontational. Basically, Williamson Starr doesn’t give anyone a reason to call her ghetto.

“I can’t stand myself for doing it, but I do it anyway.”

One night, while driving home from a party with an old friend, the police stop their car and an altercation ensues while Starr is the witness. What happens next will turn Starr’s world upside down and force her to choose between what is safe and what is right.

Thomas’ book is not just an examination of injustice, one to argue over who’s right and who’s wrong. “The Hate U Gives” takes you inside the story, and for that perspective makes it a must-read book.

New releases

Arsene Lacarriere Latour was an impressive man of the 19^th century — an architect, military engineer, soldier and historian — but for the most part has remained unknown. Latour came to Louisiana by way of St. Domingue (now Haiti) and served alongside Gen. Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. He later wrote the first history of that famous battle and surveyed the Spanish southwest with Jean Lafitte. Author Jean Garrigoux relates Latour’s story in a new book out by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. “A Visionary Adventurer: Arsene Lacarriere Latour 1778-1837: The Unusual Travels of a Frenchman in the Americas” uses information gleaned from international archives, plus Latour’s own words, to form a compelling biography.

Book events Jan. 21-28

Author Remy Wilkins discusses his new book, “Stray,” and will speak about his writing at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Main Library in Monroe.

To commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 96-year-old French Jewish spy Marthe Cohn will speak and sign copies of her book, “Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany,” at 5 p.m. Thursday at the World War II National Museum of New Orleans. When the Nazis crossed the border and invaded France in 1940, Cohn and her family fled. She joined the French Army as part of the intelligence service and set out on missions behind enemy lines. Posing as a young German nurse desperate to find her fiancé, Cohn successfully retrieved critical information about German troop movements and reported it to the Allies.

John Magill, a retired curator at The Historic New Orleans Collection, discusses his book, “The Incomparable Magazine Street,” at 7 p.m. Thursday at the East Bank Regional Library, Metairie. Also at the library is Sydney P. Bellard, who will discuss his book, “A Cajun in France: Journeys to Assimilation,” at 7 p.m. Thursday. Bellard’s talk and book signing occur as part of the monthly meeting of the Jefferson Parish Historical Society.

Lafayette Reads Together will host a Photo Scavenger Hunt for ages 12-18 at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Main Library in Lafayette.

Chere Coen is the author of several Louisiana non-fiction books and the “Viola Valentine” Louisiana paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Tuesday Ebook Spotlight: 'Trace of a Ghost,' the latest in the Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series

Publishing a book is akin to having a baby. It's a long process that comes with many pains and worries but in the end what a joy!

Today, I'm birthing my own ebook spotlight, the third book in my Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series.

Well, sort of. The book is available as a pre-order. (publication date Valentine's Day) but until then it's only 99 cents! Get it now for after Valentine's Day the price returns to normal.

"Trace of a Ghost" has travel writer and ghost sleuth Viola Valentine treking down the historic Natchez Trace of Mississippi. Traveling with her is an adventurous heiress who’s been dead since 1860 and a living fellow travel writer who’s not what he seems. In the end, it’s a showdown between good and evil, and a bargain made with the devil at the crossroads may be Viola’s final undoing.

You might wonder where I get all these ideas. I'm a travel writer myself and this past year took my own trip down the Natchez Trace, ending at the historic town of Natchez, one of my most favorite places. Viola's story also includes a stop in Florence and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, close to the northernmost point of the Trace in Mississippi. Viola flies into this magical town and then joins fellow travel writers as they head south to Natchez. I've been to Florence and Muscle Shoals twice writing stories (the magazine kind) and absolutely loved it as well.

So, yes, art does imitate life.

Want to buy the book? Click here for Kindle and here for Kobo.

Want to see where I got the inspiration for the book? Check out my Pinterest board here.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.