WRITING CHRISTMAS

HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON

There’s something about murder and Christmas that just seems to work for me. Even though they have a short shelf life, Christmas romantic suspense stories are my cup of eggnog.

I’ve actually written FOUR Intrigues set at Christmas.

In my last blog, I wrote about killing Santa Claus in HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON, published last month in Entangled Publishing’s new Dead Sexy romantic suspense line.

What you might not know is that HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON actually is an updated and editorially revised version of CRIMSON HOLIDAY, which I wrote for Harlequin Intrigue in the late 80s.

Then, when Intrigue wanted to celebrate its 10th anniversary several years later, the powers that be decided not only to reprint some of its most loved books in a leather bound edition, but to offer readers connected books to each of the ones included in the collection.

And so I wrote CRIMSON NIGHTMARE, using many of the fun characters from CRIMSON HOLIDAY. My heroine, Pippa McNabb is the younger sister of Rand McNabb, who was my hero in the original story. I revised and updated CRIMSON NIGHTMARE for Dead Sexy, as well.

NIGHTMARE IN CRIMSON is now available in digital formats:

Another year, another Christmas party...another dead Santa! Run down by eight tiny reindeer and a sleigh, was he killed by accident—or was it murder?

NIGHTMARE IN CRIMSON

At last season’s party, it was Pippa McNabb’s faithless Santa-clad husband who died—so after another St. Nick ends up dead, she’s at the top of the police suspect list. When hunky sleigh-driver Sky Thornton offers his help to find the real culprit, she accepts, and soon finds herself snuggled up with him before a holiday fire—and falling hard for the blue-eyed stranger. But how does he know so much about her...?

Suddenly she isn’t certain if her mysterious new lover is attempting to help her clear her name, trying to frame her for a murder he might have committed...or working to win her heart forever.

Writing romantic suspense doesn’t get much more fun (at least not for me) than that.
                       
The most challenging part of writing the second story was to make it different from the first. Both CRIMSON stories are set at Christmas, both at the same department store, both with a dead Santa as the central mystery. The first thing I had to do was figure out a death that would be different, interesting and leave the authorities confused about whether the hero, the heroine, or someone else did the deed. The fun for me was in having Pippa and Sky suspect one another even as they are attracted to each other. And in having Pippa discover Sky’s true involvement AFTER she falls for him. I hope that’s fun for readers, too.


In RED CARPET CHRISTMAS, a 2005 Intrigue -- the final book of the Club Undercover series -- my hero Gideon put his former lover Simone’s father behind bars for killing his own father. Now she needs his help... to clear her of a murder she didn’t commit.





And in CHRISTMAS DELIVERY, a 2010 Intrigue, part of a Holiday Mystery at Jenkins Cove series with Rebecca York and Ann Voss Peterson, my hero Simon returns from the dead after 13 years and is hell-bent on revenge. Only a Christmas miracle could reunite him with Lexie, the girl he’d once loved... and the daughter he didn’t know he had.


Take the time to enjoy a holiday read this coming week.

Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night :)

Patricia Rosemoor has written more than 90 novels for 8 publishers and has more than 7 million books in print. She writes “dangerous love,” casting her lovers against a backdrop of mystery and suspense.

                           

HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON

As a child, I lived in the far reaches of the city, then in the suburbs of Chicago. I didn’t know much about the downtown area, nearly twenty miles away by electric train, except that I always looked forward to my infrequent trips there. My mom treated me every holiday, taking me downtown to see the Christmas windows of the department stores. My favorites were always the windows of the iconic Marshall Field’s (now Macys) on State Street.

That’s why I used Marshall Fields as the model for Westbrook, the main setting for HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON (originally an Intrigue, CRIMSON HOLIDAY) and NIGHTMARE IN CRIMSON (originally an Intrigue, CRIMSON NIGHTMARE), the related holiday romantic suspense novels from Entangled Publishing for their Dead Sexy line. Both books have been updated and revised to add more deadly detail :)

About HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON:
Westbrook Department Store's Christmas party wasn't that wild--until, that is, Santa ended up dead. Now window designer Shelby Corbin is the prime suspect in his murder, and the holidays are anything but festive. If Shelby doesn't figure out who killed Santa, she'll be ringing in the new year behind bars.

Westbrook's impossibly sexy co-owner and CEO Rand McNabb's romantic attentions both thrill and frighten Shelby. But is he really helping her search for the truth about that fatal night? Or does Rand have a deadlier motive for courting the only possible witness to the crime...?

In thinking about a holiday romantic mystery, I knew I wanted to use a department store like the one I loved as a child. I wanted to involve the Christmas windows. And I wanted the murder victim to be Santa Claus. No, wait! Not the real Santa. The department store one. Rather the one dressed as Santa for the annual Christmas party. Okay, so I have a bizarre sense of humor.

Part of me is in my heroine Shelby. The Yay! It’s Christmas! part. From the time I moved out on my own until we learned my late husband was ill, I had an annual Christmas tree-trimming party. I made dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies and gave most of them away I collected a new special Christmas ornament every year, just as Shelby does, so I could experience my holiday history every time I looked at the tree.

Because I always loved Christmas, I enjoyed creating this intricately plotted romantic mystery. A fun task, and a fun story, one I hope will make readers smile.

What would make a great romantic suspense for you? Comment for a chance to win a digital copy of one of my Intrigue backlist books.



  

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!
I can't help it! It's Christmas Eve and it's warm (ick!) but that's okay, and I've cooked a lot of candy and my nieces are cooking Christmas dinner and I didn't have to buy Christmas presents for anyone but the little kids and........

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to me!

This year I found Grownup coloring books for the 6 year olds... okay not for them. For me. I bought 4 and there are only 2 six-year-olds. I've almost finished coloring the fairy tale one. I'm giving The Night Before Christmas to one of the girls, even though I really really wanted to keep it.

The place that has the coloring books also has paper dolls. Did I mention I'm a nut about paper? It's called Dover Publications, and I could live there!

Dover Sampler Homepage

If you like coloring, cutting, folding, stacking, tearing, touching, or drawing on paper, this is the place for you. The two coloring books were part of my Christmas gift to myself, but I'm thinking I need a birthday gift (December 30,) and a New Years gift and a Valentine's gift. I am rediscovering my love of coloring books this year.

I hope each and every one of you rediscover something that you love to do this Christmas. Any special rediscovered loves (of any kind) you want to share?

Mallory Kane

Vegging on the Internet? Add a starch...

Hi Everyone,

My name is Kay Thomas and I’m a new author with Intrigue. My debut novel is being released next month and I’m very excited to be here. I hope everyone’s December is going well and that in the crazy, frenetic pace of the season you are able to slow down and relax a bit. In the interest of giving you a little break, I thought I’d introduce you to my favorite online game. I like it because it’s one with a worthy purpose and actually donates food to others as you play. It’s called Free Rice.

You may have seen this on the news a while back. It's a vocabulary game developed by an engineer helping his son study for the SAT. The UN receives donations of rice from site sponsors to feed the hungry for every word you define correctly. (20 grains of rice for every right answer) So…grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up and come play Free Rice with me. Let’s feed the world while improving our vocabulary.

Just click here:

http://www.freerice.com/

Yes, it’s addictive. But you’re doing something positive with your down time, plus you’re improving your mind and….your heart! You can link to the Free Rice game on your website, blog, myspace or facebook page, too. Get other folks playing as well. The more people who play, the more rice that’s donated and the more people who are fed.

So come play and let’s see how much rice we can donate by the end of the month. It’s more challenging than it looks! You can set various options at the site that keep you building on the work you’ve done before. It also will pronounce the words for you. Very cool for a girl originally from Mississippi.

And for the rest of December, I thought we could have a little friendly competition. If you like, put your Free Rice total in your comments each day between now and the end of the month. (ex. FR 300) Let’s see how much rice we can donate in our…um…down time on the Internet. I’m blogging here on the 29th – so be sure to comment that day for another chance at a copy of BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF & post your final Free Rice totals.

Now for today I’m giving away the first copy of my debut release, BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF. Just tell me about your favorite guilty pleasure while you surf the Internet…Is it browsing eBay, playing on Facebook, spider solitaire? What do you do on the Internet when you need a break from work? Comeon, tell. No one else has to know…just us!

Tonight, I’ll randomly pick from the comments and post the winner.

Happy defining and Merry Christmas, y’all!

P.S. In the interest of giving you one more place to unwind from all the holiday busyness—We’re having a party! Tomorrow evening, December 11th, several Intrigue Authors are chatting live at eHarlequin.com’s Open House Holiday Chat from 9-10 pm EST. I’ve never been before, but I hear it is one wild time with door prizes and giveaways. So if you’re out and about Thursday night, drop by and say hello. We’re gonna have a blast. The address is:

http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/cafe-social/chat-room-0

posted by
Kay Thomas (FR 300)
http://www.kaythomas.net/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

In all my years as an author--and I just finished #36, so I've been doing this for a while--I've never written a Christmas story before. But I finally got that opportunity with this month's release, Kansas City Christmas. It's the fourth and final book in my bestselling Precinct: Brotherhood of the Badge miniseries for Harlequin Intrigue. I've always wanted to do a story set in Kansas City at Christmas time because it's such a beautiful city at that time of year--let me tell you, the folks down on the Plaza have known for decades about how to decorate up a fancy party for the holidays.

I'm sharing some pictures from the Plaza area, just south of downtown Kansas City. The J.C. Nichols Plaza was one of the very first shopping "mall" districts in the U.S., if not the first. It is designed with striking Mediterranean style architecture, and bears a resemblance to Paris, France with its many public fountains, bridges, walkways, sculptures and works of art. You'll find many nationallly and internationally famous stores there, as well as some classy boutiques and specialty shops. Plus, it's a mecca for entertainment, playing home to theaters and a wide variety of restaurants from top notch elegance to eat with your fingers casual dining--including, imho, the best barbecue place on the planet!

While it's truly a beautiful city any time of the year, come the holidays, Kansas City does it up right. With well over a million lights, the Plaza is lit up every year on Thanksgiving evening, giving the place an ethereal holidy glow. Every rooftop and and building is lit up with a string of lights (that stay up year round--whew! maintenance is time-consuming enough--can you imagine that project of taking down and putting up that many lights every year?). The lights then are on every night throughout the holidays. Stores stay open late and, of course, you can enjoy the nightlife of entertainment, or take carriage rides (they even have a Cinderella pumpkin carriage for the most romantic of you). You can enjoy it simply by bundling up and walking the wide sidewalks and checking out the amazing store window displays, then step inside for a hot toddy or cup of cocoa. Yum.

So, like I said, Kansas City Christmas is my first Christmas themed novel of romantic suspense. And, because the Plaza and the lights are so much a part of what I associate with the season, I made a point of having my characters, Det. Edward Rochester Kincaid and M.E. Dr. Holly Masterson, stop down on the Plaza. Edward has a real thing against Christmas because of traumatic events in his life--he's a dark and tortured hero if you like the type. Holly, on the other hand, sees Christmas as a way to celebrate life and honor her family (she's endured some trauma, too). This isn't just a story about finally catching the bad guys and healing a wounded family, it's about discovering the power of love and the strength it sometimes takes to love again.

In my family, besides the Plaza, Christmas decorations are a big deal. My mother has a Santa Claus room, decorated for Christmas year round with just about every type of Santa and Christmas ornament--including some rare antiques and handmade ones from kids and grandkids. My hubby has a Star Trek tree. As long as we've been married, his November birthday has been easy to buy for--he wants whatever Star Trek ornament Hallmark is releasing that year. Now we've gotten so many space ships and Tribbles and captains, that we had to get him a tree of his own. Growing up, too, I was allergic to pines and other Christmas trees, so my dad built a Scandinavian cross-bar tree with hooks for all the ornaments. My mom and brothers and I decorated it with paint and ribbon, and over the years it has truly become a work of art. It stays up in the Santa Claus room year-round, too. It'd be sort of like taking down all those Plaza lights if we tried to change it.

So what do holiday decorations mean to you? Autumn colors at Thanksgiving? Lights at Hanukkah? Colorful presents under the tree? A special collection of ornaments? A neighborhood competition to see who can use the most wattage and electricity? A special town or neighborhood?

I hope you enjoy Kansas City Christmas and the rest of my Brotherhood of the Badge books from Harlequin. And I hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday season, decorated just the way you like it!

Julie Miller
www.juliemiller.org