Saturday's Blurbs feature Books by Kris Bock #MFRWAuthor #Mysteries #Romantic Suspense #Cat #cafe #Southwest

 

Something Shady at Sunshine Haven – The Accidental Detective Book 1

 

War correspondent Kate Tessler has followed the most dangerous news stories around the world. But can she survive going home?

 

Injured in a bombing, Kate returns to her hometown in Arizona to recover. For the first time in her life, she's starting to feel her age (49), even though she's living like a teenager again: staying with her father, trying to understand why her sister resents her so much, and running into people who still think of her as Kitty.

 

Seeing her mother in an Alzheimer's unit is the hardest part – until an old friend asks her to investigate suspicious deaths at that nursing home. Is a self-appointed "Angel of Mercy" killing patients to end their suffering? Are family members hastening their inheritance? Is an employee extorting money and removing the witnesses? Kate uses her journalism skills to track clues, but the puzzle pieces simply won't fit.

 

If Kate can't uncover the truth, her mother could be next on the killer's list.

 

Amazon Kindle

B&N Nook

Apple Books

Kobo

Google Play

Amazon Kindle UK

 

Get a free Accidental Detective short story and bonus material when you sign up for my newsletter. This collection includes a ten-page mystery short story set in the world of “The Accidental Detective” series, information about the series, and the first chapter of book 1. After that are three fun, short stories originally written for children.

 

 

Desert Gold: A Southwest Adventure Romance

 

A legendary treasure hunt in the dramatic – and deadly – New Mexico desert....

 

The lost Victorio Peak treasure is the stuff of legends—a heretic Spanish priest’s gold mine, made richer by the spoils of bandits and an Apache raider.

 

When Erin, a quiet history professor, uncovers a clue that may pinpoint the lost treasure cave, she prepares for adventure. But when a hit and run driver nearly kills her, she realizes she’s not the only one after the treasure. And is Drew, the handsome helicopter pilot who found her bleeding in a ditch, really a hero, or one of the enemy?

 

Just how far will Erin go to find the treasure and discover what she’s really made of?

 

“The story has it all—action, romance, danger, intrigue, lost treasure, not to mention a sizzling relationship....”

 

This is book 1 in the Southwest Romantic Suspense series, followed by Valley of Gems and Silver Canyon. Each novel stands alone and is complete, with no cliffhangers. This series mixes action and adventure with light romance in the Southwest. This series was originally published as The Mad Monk’s Treasure, The Dead Man’s Treasure, and The Skeleton Canyon Treasure.

 

See the Treasure Hunting Romantic Suspense series page on Amazon.

 

 

Coffee and Crushes at the Cat Café: a Furrever Friends Sweet Romance

 

What do you do when you meet the guy of your dreams? Set him up with your sister, of course.

 

Kari doesn't have time for love when she's opening her new cat café. She’s busy hiring employees, fighting with the health inspector – oh, and welcoming 16 shelter cats. She's doing this for the cats, the community, and her family. The café will give her sister, Marley, a job worthy of her baking skills.

 

Then a tattooed military vet wanders in claiming he’s a master baker. Surely Marley will fall for a guy this sweet, this sexy, this tasty.

 

Colin has other ideas. It's Kari who makes him want to turn up the heat. But he's spent the last two years recovering from physical and psychological wounds. Is he really ready for a relationship? He's not even sure he should commit to Samson, the sweet Siamese cat who steals his heart.

 

The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the workers and customers at a small-town cat café, and the adorable cats and kittens looking for their forever homes. Each book is a complete story with a happy ending for one couple. These sweet romances will leave you with the warm, cozy feeling of cuddling a purring cat. Get Lions and Love at the Cat Café, a sweet romance novella, free when you sign up for the Kris Bock email newsletter.

 

Visit the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series page on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

 

Friday Kris Bock is visiting and talking about Panster or Plotter #MFRWAuthor #mysteries #Panster #Plotter #cats

 

1. Are you a panster or a plotter or perhaps a bit of both?

 

I started out as a panster. Then I got better at structure and became more of a plotter. Now it depends. For mysteries, I like to have more of a plot ahead of time, to make sure the pieces fit together and there’s enough action.

 

However, romance is more character driven, so I only need enough internal and external conflict to keep the characters apart. As long as I know what they want and need, and why they can’t easily get it, I can start writing and see what happens.

 

2. Which comes first - characters or plot for you?

 

For the Accidental Detective mystery series, I started with a character who is trying to reinvent her life as she turns 50. She spent 30 years as a war correspondent, so she’s pretty fearless, but that doesn’t always help her with the challenges of aging. She’s dealing with elderly parents who have health problems, a resentful sister, her own lack of retirement planning, and a body that doesn’t recover as quickly as it used to. These challenges provide humor as she narrates her attempts to solve local mysteries and build a new life.

 

For my cat café sweet romance novels, the idea of a cat café – where people could hang out with adoptable cats in a café setting – inspired the series. The characters are the people who work at the café or visit it regularly (plus plenty of cats).

 

For some of my other novels, plot came first. My romantic mystery, What We Found, was inspired by finding the body of a murder victim while hiking in the woods. True story! (Learn more here.)

 

3. What are you working on now? Is this a book in a current series or something totally new?

 

The Accidental Detective series launches this month with Something Shady at Sunshine: War correspondent Kate Tessler has followed the most dangerous news stories around the world. But can she survive going home?

 

The first four books are complete. I hope to return to the series, but at the moment I’m writing about cowboy billionaires – specifically, a ranch family that finds out winning the lottery causes as many problems as it solves. The first book in that series will be out in the fall.

 

4. Do you have some kind of object or place that figures in most of your books? I use gems a lot, hospitals and caves.

 

Many of my novels include real places in the Southwestern United States, although I might fictionalize the names. For example, The Accidental Detective series is set in a fictional town with the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

 

Whispers in the Dark follows a young archaeologist who stumbles into danger as mysteries unfold among ancient Southwest ruins. That was inspired by a trip to Hovenweep National Monument some years ago. I loved that setting and had to use it in a book!

 

In my treasure hunting adventure, Desert Gold, the heroine and her best friend hunt for the lost Victorio Peak treasure, a real Southwest legend. I drew on personal experiences hiking in the desert for Erin and Camie’s adventures – though fortunately I’ve never stumbled on a rattlesnake nest or gotten caught in a flash flood!

 

I blogged about my Southwest inspiration more here.

 

5. Do you write every day or just when the spirit hits?

 

I am a full-time writer, working from home. I usually spend an hour or two catching up on e-mail and other tasks. Then, ideally, I work on one of my own projects for a couple of hours, unless I have too many other deadlines. In the afternoon, I may tackle research, nonfiction books or articles, critiques, or marketing and publicity. A lot of my income comes from educational publishing for young people, which I do under the names Chris Eboch and MM Eboch. I generally don’t work on novels on the weekends, though I may do other business-related activities.

 

6. Where can we find you?

 

I live in New Mexico with my husband and our ferrets. My home office window looks out on nature, complete with distracting wildlife such as roadrunners, quail, hummingbirds, and foxes.

 

Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter 

Kris Bock website

Kris Bock Blog: The Southwest Armchair Traveler

Kris Bock’s Amazon US page

Kris Bock’s Amazon UK page

Universal Amazon link

Kris Bock on BookBub

Kris Bock on GoodReads

Kris Bock on Facebook

Kris Bock on Twitter

Kris Bock on Pinterest

Kris Bock on Instagram

 

Get a free Accidental Detective short story and bonus material when you sign up for my newsletter. This collection includes a ten-page mystery short story set in the world of “The Accidental Detective” series, information about the series, and the first chapter of book 1. After that are three fun, short stories originally written for children.

 

7. Who are your favorite authors? What about a book you’ve enjoyed?

 

I like romance, romantic suspense, and mystery, but nothing too gruesome. I don’t need dead bodies strewn on every page. Sometimes historical romance is a comfort read. Maybe because I don’t write it, I can turn off the editorial brain and just be a reader. KJ Charles is a favorite author!

 

Saturday's Blurbs feature Books by KrisBock #MFRWAuthor #Cats #Romance #Suspense

 

Coffee and Crushes at the Cat Café: a Furrever Friends Sweet Romance Book 1 – free at all US retailers

 

What do you do when you meet the guy of your dreams? Set him up with your sister, of course.

 

Kari doesn't have time for love when she's opening her new cat café. She’s busy hiring employees, fighting with the health inspector – oh, and welcoming 16 shelter cats. She's doing this for the cats, the community, and her family. The café will give her sister, Marley, a job worthy of her baking skills.

 

Then a tattooed military vet wanders in claiming he’s a master baker. Surely Marley will fall for a guy this sweet, this sexy, this tasty.

 

Colin has other ideas. It's Kari who makes him want to turn up the heat. But he's spent the last two years recovering from physical and psychological wounds. Is he really ready for a relationship? He's not even sure he should commit to Samson, the sweet Siamese cat who steals his heart.

 

The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the workers and customers at a small-town cat café, and the adorable cats and kittens looking for their forever homes. Each book is a complete story with a happy ending for one couple (and maybe more than one rescued cat).

 

Visit the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series page on Amazon US or Amazon UK. (For other countries click here.)

 

 

Lions and Love at the Cat Café is a free sweet romance novella (35 pages).

 

In college, Cheyenne and Nash were inseparable. Then she followed her dream, heading to Asia to work on big cat conservation. Nash stayed behind, protecting his secret: a phobia of all cats.

 

Fifteen years later, Cheyenne comes home. Can Nash convince her to stay and give him another chance?

 

Lions and Love at the Cat Café is available in PDF, MOBI, and ePub. Get it free when you sign up for the Kris Bock email newsletter.

 

 

Desert Gold: A Southwest Adventure Romance

 

The lost Victorio Peak treasure is the stuff of legends—a heretic Spanish priest’s gold mine, made richer by the spoils of bandits and an Apache raider.

 

When Erin, a quiet history professor, uncovers a clue that may pinpoint the lost treasure cave, she prepares for adventure. But when a hit and run driver nearly kills her, she realizes she’s not the only one after the treasure. And is Drew, the handsome helicopter pilot who found her bleeding in a ditch, really a hero, or one of the enemy?

 

Just how far will Erin go to find the treasure and discover what she’s really made of?

 

“The story has it all—action, romance, danger, intrigue, lost treasure, not to mention a sizzling relationship....”

 

See the Treasure Hunting Romantic Suspense series page on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

 

This is book 1 in the Southwest Romantic Suspense series, followed by Valley of Gems and Silver Canyon. Each novel stands alone and is complete, with no cliffhangers. This series mixes action and adventure with light romance in the Southwest.

 

Friday Kris Bock is visiting and talking about Who She Was Before #MFRWAuthor #Romantic suspense #Sweet romance #Mysteries

 

What Were You Before
 
Day 1
1. What were you before you became an author? Did this influence your choices as a writer?

I first studied photography, but I quickly learned I didn’t want to be a professional photographer and switched to writing. I wrote my first novel, The Well of Sacrifice, shortly after finishing grad school, while I was looking for work as a magazine editor. I loved books such as Julie of the Wolves and Island of the Blue Dolphins growing up and wanted to do a similar young adventure story. The novel is set in Mayan times, inspired by a summer I spent traveling through Mexico and Central America.

 

Astonishingly, I sold the book! This gave me the mistaken impression that having a writing career wasn't so hard. I had some bumps along the way, but I've managed to make a career of writing by doing a lot of work in educational publishing.

 

Around 2008, I was feeling restless and wanted a change. I had mostly been reading adult romantic suspense novels, so I started writing those under the name Kris Bock. Later I switched to contemporary sweet romance, and I have a mystery series launching next year.

 

2. Are you genre specific or general? I don’t mean major genres but subdivisions or romance, mystery or paranormal.

I write fiction and nonfiction for children and adults – literally a little bit of everything. Sweet contemporary romance, romantic suspense, mystery, fantasy, historical fiction, ghost stories, biography, nonfiction about science and history… I’ve even been paid for poems and very short play scripts. I have over 80 published books across genres and age ranges, plus I’ve written for magazines. The variety keeps me interested!

 

3. What is your latest release?

Cupcakes and Confessions at The Cat Café is book 6 in the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series. It’s a sweet contemporary romance with mature characters.

 

A chance meeting changes three lives …

 

Two years ago, computer genius Sean Gorsuch had a health crisis and sold the tech company he built. Now he works at a cat café, dishing out hot drinks and sweet treats to customers, and lavishing attention on cats. At fifty-two and never married, he might be a little lonely, but how can he find someone who gets his quirky way of seeing the world?

 

Twenty-three years ago, Fiona Jones gave up her baby for adoption when her teen fiancé abandoned her. Since then, she has spent most of her life alone. A chance meeting with Sean on a plane leads to a startling revelation: his coworker, Holly, looks like a younger version of Fiona. Could Fiona have a second chance with her daughter, now grown up?

 

Sean helps steady Fiona through the emotional roller coaster of getting to know Holly. Fiona’s life is too complicated for romance, and Sean doesn’t want to get between mother and daughter. Still, something sparks between them. Should they stay just friends or risk their hearts?

 

The Furrever Friends Cat Café helps people find furry forever friends – and just might lead to romantic true love too. If you enjoy friends to lovers and mature romance, check out Cupcakes and Confessions at the Cat Café. You’ll also find rescue cats with plenty of personality and their own ideas about what love is.

 

4. What are you working on now?

I’m writing a series with my brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama (yes, the movie starring Reese Witherspoon). Our new young adult comedy series features “Felony Melanie,” Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. It’s a lot of fun to work with a writing partner, especially one I’ve known my whole life.

 

Book 1 involved a beauty pageant with a mystery and book 2 had Melanie desperate to participate in the local demolition derby. We are now writing book 3, which involves a high school prank war. Readers called the first two books “Laugh out loud funny,” so I guess the fun we have writing it is coming through.

 

Find the first two books at Amazon US or other e-book retailers. You can check out the series for free if you sign up for our Rom-Com newsletter and get Felony Melanie Destroys the Moonshiner’s Cabin. These first two chapters from the novel Felony Melanie in Pageant Pandemonium stand alone as a short story. In the future, you’ll get fun content about upcoming Felony Melanie novels and other romantic comedy news and links.

 

5. Do your reading choices influence your choice of a writing career?

Actually, I’ve been reading a lot of historical romance lately, sometimes with mystery or paranormal twists. I don’t have any interest in writing it, and I think that lets me enjoy it as a reader instead of analyzing it as a writer. Meanwhile, I still get immersed in the emotions and plot rhythms, which helps me keep in tune with what makes a good story.

 
6. Where can we find you?

I’m everywhere! Well, actually, I’m in a small town in New Mexico, but you can find me everywhere online.

 

Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter 

Kris Bock website

Kris Bock Blog: The Southwest Armchair Traveler

Visit Kris Bock’s Amazon US page or Amazon UK page. (For other countries click here.)

Kris Bock on BookBub

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Kris Bock on Twitter

Kris Bock on Pinterest

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Kris writes for children under the name Chris Eboch. Her novels for ages nine and up include mystery, suspense, historical fiction, and historical fantasy. Learn more at https://chriseboch.com/ or her Amazon page