Whom Evil Touches

Hello!

It's a Welcome Wednesday author interview over on my main blog today and the writer being interviewed is the lovely D.E. Royce,  author of the murder mystery- Whom Evil Touches. I was fortunate enough to get to know D.E. a few months ago and was able to sample the novel prior to it's launch in June 2014. I thoroughly enjoyed the plotline and the varied and very interesting set of characters.
Here's my 5* review of the novel but carry on reading because you'll also be able to read short snippets from the book. 

I found this a very intriguing and enjoyable novel-one which I wanted to read on without interruptions. There’s excellently written narrative, great dialogue between the many different characters involved, it has a complicated plot that kept me guessing till the end, with plenty of tension to grip the reader in its clutches. I found myself asking questions at different times during the reading as in “Who is the murderer?” and “Can there be more than one murderer?”  I made a guess quite early on about which character had done such dire deeds - a guess which turned out to be accurate. However, by the time I was around half way through the story, I doubted my choice, and favoured another, this situation having been engendered through D.E. Royce’s skilful weaving in of other possible candidates as the murderer. There are a number of plot twists which are beautifully crafted, the entangled interactions between characters driving along the pace of the story. It’s easy to empathise with Will Kennedy and to want a good resolution for him by the end of the novel. His wife, Judy, on the other hand, is not really a character who appeals. Freddy Nunn is a very complex character with a lot of hang-ups – not too likeable either. Other characters are also well portrayed with all their little foibles on show, the writing of all this very well crafted. There are many misdeeds to resolve over the course of this entertaining novel. 

I recommend it for lovers of the murder mystery genre, and to those who enjoy a great story. 

Follow D.E.Royce via her WEBSITE

Buy from AMAZON

D.E. Royce was born and raised around the bay area of Quincy, Massachusetts. After graduating from nursing school she married, raised two children, and devoted her time to family and learning the art of landscape and still life painting. After earning a BA in Communications she began writing short stories and spent the remainder of her nursing career as a clinical liaison and composing health care related documents.

D.E.Royce

“I was one of those children who loved to draw and write. For most of my life, I’ve held some type of tool in my hands related to creativity, including cooking utensils, gardening tools, pencils, paper, books and paint brushes. Living around Quincy Bay and the marshlands is inspiring and I’ve spent many happy hours sketching and landscape painting there. In fact, it was the marshlands that provided the inspiration for Whom Evil Touches.” 

Ms. Royce continues to live in Massachusetts, exhibits her paintings in several galleries and is working on her second novel.

Blurb:

Murder. Deceit. Lies.
Judy Lydon Kennedy led two lives. One her husband Will knew about, the other protected by her constant gamesmanship and smoldering anger. But when the police discover bits and pieces of her body, it's her husband the detectives finger as the prime suspect until they begin to dig deeper into her hidden life.
It turns out that Judy had a very special relationship with a fellow employee at the bank - a female who just happened to dump her shortly before Judy's disappearance and grisly return. Now the investigators must sort through those connected with Judy: a misguided, pathological liar who was in love with her, the bi-sexual lover at the bank, and the blackmailed bank president who had every reason to shut Judy up for good.
As the secrets of Judy's twisted life begin to emerge, a series of revelations bring with them a K-9 handler and his detection dog to shed light on who murdered Judy - and why. And for Will, it will bring a long lost flame to his side - and just maybe free his spirit once and for all.

A sensitive and thought provoking, first rate murder mystery filled with surprising twists and inventive turns. Whom Evil Touches is a top-notch page turner of whodunit that will keep you guessing until the final, shocking, revelation.

Excerpts from Whom Evil Touches…               

Will Kennedy had not always been at peace with himself, the law, or cops who enforced its boundaries on his long-past adolescent behavior. Once he grew up and finally ceased-fire on himself and a society he once so bitterly loathed, he realized that he had learned from it in more ways than one. Will knew that the headache he had now was just a sample of the one he would have after filing the missing persons report for his wife. His past would raise a red flag and the cops would be swarming around him like hornets.

Ginger checked in the mirror the look of her naked body, admired what she saw, but resisted the urge to fondle herself. There was no time; the detectives were due any minute. So she adjusted her bra and celebrated her appeal with a sip of scotch. Ginger was in the mood for sex, not discussion, and the more the merrier. She hoped that luck was on her side and that the detectives were nothing more than a couple of sex starved civil servants.

Detective Swenson gazed at Ginger and spoke up. “You know that Judy is missing, and we have reason to believe she’s dead.”

Ginger finished her wine and let out a laugh. “Boo-hoo. Any more questions?”

Freddy Nunn lifted his binoculars, fine-tuned the focus and scanned the neighborhood. Maureen Feeney was on vacation, so he ignored her bedroom.”

Ted slammed the notebook on the table. Freddy jumped. “I asked you a question, Freddy now what about it? Were you rolling around in the sack with Judy Kennedy?” He leaned towards Freddy and whispered. “It’s so easy to find things out. Forensic investigations are today’s way to go. A little DNA leaked on a sheet, a search warrant. Do you watch CSI or Law and Order?”

Freddy pulled off his ranger hat, blotted the sweat from his forehead and wiped the tears from his eyes. “It was supposed to be so wonderful. Judy was going to divorce Will and marry me.”

Attorney Charles Sudanski glanced away from his notes. “I know your marriage was on the rocks for a long time, Will, but was it that bad? I’m not sensing much grief.”

Kennedy ran his fingers through his hair, suspecting what Sudanski was thinking: would a jury understand? “Charlie,” he said firmly. “I’m not going to act like some grieving husband that I’m not. I’m sorry for the way she lived and sorry for the way she died. But I’m not sorry she’s out of my life. You’re going to have to find a way around it!”

Alfred Locke’s lips tightened. “Yes, I’m afraid Judy was having an affair.”

Detective Swenson’s eyes widened with interest. “Is he here? We need to talk with him.”

Locke leaned his head to one side, methodically massaging his right temple. “You’ll be speaking with a she not a he. Her name is Ginger Stoolman and she took the day off.”

Freddy Nunn anxiously approached the letter. It quivered in his trembling hands as he fumbled for the light switch. He sank into a chair and began to read. A prickly chill spread throughout his body. Freddy gawked at the words, read them aloud, to himself, and aloud again. While his teeth chattered, his body shook and quaked until, suddenly, it stopped. Nunn felt nothing. No words crossed his mind and he moved no muscles. Quite and alone he sat in the gathering dusk – his thoughts as bitter as a winter’s wind – his soul as cold as ice.

 Best wishes to D.E. and thank you for featuring here today.

 Slainthe!

Seumas Gallacher makes it sound so easy!

I recently read this great little book which makes plunging into the world of self publishing not seem such a daunting prospect. If, and when, I venture forth with any of my work I know I'll be able to get even more guidance from my new friend, Seumas Gallacher. This is what I felt after reading his latest book which is designed to help the 'newbie' make those first steps. 

Even though I haven’t yet gone down the self publishing route, I still need as many tips as possible for marketing my ‘small publisher’ published books. I found this a great little guide especially with regard to some of the social media sites, like Twitter, which I don't use properly. 

I don’t use TweetDeck either but will now have a go and see if I can make better inroads into doing my own 'non-spamming' marketing. (I fail to see how that can be achieved without spreading the word as I do already but look forward to enlightenment) With a little guidance from Seumas I might also manage to use Goodreads and LinkedIn better than I currently do. I'm 'on' all of these sites but interaction is limited to the amount of time I have which is generally zilch! I think Seumas' tips might help me focus a little better, though.

I don’t have a business background so the general business plan techniques look very useful. I want to succeed with my writing, and have been serious about it since shortly before my first novel was published, but I did not regard it as a 'business'. Seumas' guide makes it quite clear that success requires that attitude and appropriate strategies to be used- whether or not heaps of money transpires as a result. I want my books to be read by more of the reading public so my business profile needs to be sharpened.

This is a little book I’m sure I’ll be popping back to in the future, since it's set down succinctly and  is very well written and edited.

Thank you, Seumas- all for the price of a coffee in my local cafe! 

Slainthe! 

I loved, loved, loved, this book! - The Beltane Choice

Happy Sunday to you! 

A new review on Amazon.com 

5.0 out of 5 stars Celtic Wow!, February 7, 2014

By 

Colfel - See all my reviews

I loved, loved, loved this book! The time period was new to me but the author brought out details of life, rituals, customs and war. The love story involved only heightened my love for this book. I was spellbound with the story and couldn't put it down. The characters were well developed and I either loved or hated them
as it was meant to be. I would highly recommend this book!



Slainthe!

***** for TOPAZ EYES

I'm delighted to announce that TOPAZ EYES  has just received another 5 * review on Amazon and Goodreads. 


"This is a skilfully paced and plotted novel, in which the various story-lines only come together at the very end"

5.0 out of 5 stars Topaz Eyes 29 Oct 2013

By Dr. Mark A. Patton

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

 

When Keira Drummond, an Edinburgh-based translator, receives an invitation to a gallery opening in Heidelberg, she sees it as an opportunity to revisit a city she worked in and loved some years previously. The invitation, however, turns out to be a pretext for an unexpected gathering, at which a plan is hatched to re-unite some family jewels long-since dispersed, for an exhibition. The plan has been drawn up by Jensen Amsel, a wealthy collector, and also present are Zaan de Raad, an antique dealer, and Teun Zeger. The three men are distant cousins. Keira, though connected to the family, is not related to them by blood, and knows none of them. Fascinated by the prospects, she becomes deeply involved in a quest that takes her to Minnesota, New York, Vienna and back to Heidelberg. It soon becomes apparent, however, that others are on the trail of the jewels and, sensing that she is being followed, Keira does not know who she can and cannot trust. This is a skilfully paced and plotted novel, in which the various story-lines only come together at the very end.

A new 5* review for The Beltane Choice on Amazon, US and UK, Goodreads and Librarything.

 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge by the cover - a 'belter' of a novel. 9 Oct 2013

By P. Elliott

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Nara is hunting wild boar when she is captured by a warrior, Lorcan, from a rival clan. With her as his prisoner, they travel back to his home but on the journey find themselves fighting mutual attraction. But when Lorcan makes the unexpected discovery that his beautiful captive is a virgin, the only explanation he can come up with is that Nara is more important than she pretends.
Nara is a princess and as such, untouched by the warriors of her own tribe. She has had a vision that the man she chooses to mate with on the festival of Beltane, will father a son who will be a great leader. When she is abducted by the virile Lorcan, she begins to suspect that he is the man predicted by her dream. But when Nara arrives at his fort, she is too important a bargaining chip to choose her own husband. It seems she must marry in order to unite two warring clans and her father will chose her mate...and it isn't Lorcan.
This book is a hidden gem. I say that because the innocuous brown cover gives no hint of the lush treasure within. The push and pull of attraction, the raw urgency of lust and the eventual soul-deep love between Lorcan and Nara is beautifully written. The characters have a satisfying depth and develop over the course of the book. I especially loved how Nara starts out as a fierce hunter, who would rather die than submit to an enemy, but is later shown to have emotional vulnerability in a very touching way. Lorcan also, goes from being a lusty warrior, to a man tortured by the conflicting demands of love and tribal honour.
The story never flags for a second and I heartily recommend it. Thoroughly engrossing. 

 

 

I'm delighted with this fabulous review and thank P. Elliot very much for reading and reviewing my work. You've made my day!

Slainthe!

NEVERMORE A Tale of Love, Loss and Edgar Allan Poe

My thoughts on...

NEVERMORE A Tale of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe by David Niall Wilson

A DARK FANTASY 

The setting for this haunting tale is perfect, the author plunging the reader immediately into the mystery of The Great Dismal Swamp. Instant clues place the tale back in time: the inn, no doubt, with almost as many stories to tell as Edgar himself. From the outset we learn something of what Lenore’s purpose is but perhaps not quite Edgar Poe’s. As Lenore has the compulsion to draw, and Edgar has the impetus to write, the reader like me is hooked on finding exactly what the main characters hope to achieve during their short visit to the creepy area. In parts it is a tale about each of those above mentioned characters but the sub-plots are complex too, and the interaction of all the characters is quite absorbing. The plot is as tortuous as the trees that are in the swamp, some parts of it, I feel, left to conjecture since the ‘loss’ referred to in the title is quite dramatic! The language flows beautifully, harking back to olden times. It is a dark tale which left me a bit staggered at the end- but I don’t do spoilers- read this really good tale for yourself!  

I gave this book 5 stars.*****

Nevermore - A Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe on Amazon | Audible.com | Barnes & Noble | Crossroad Press

NOTE: While David is on tour with this book (22nd July thru 2nd September) the ebook is $2.99 on Amazon. 

5* review for THE BELTANE CHOICE newly posted on Goodreads

Newly posted 5* review to Goodreads (27th Feb) by Lisl for THE BELTANE CHOICE. My thanks to Lisl for taking the time to post such an excellent opinion of my historical novel.


In ancient Britain bitter weather, harsh conditions and tribal inter-fighting conspired with other elements to make life difficult and cumbersome. Beltane, therefore, was a welcome diversion, certainly for many reasons, amongst them the community-wide celebration of oncoming summer and the freedoms it ushered in. Occurring in May, modern peoples could relate to the anticipation and joy of the season, replete with symbols of new life, light and plenty. Lovers united, the sun waxed its power and people prepared animals and household goods for the time when winter would once more secure its chilly embrace. It is in expectation of this time in A.D. 71 that Nancy Jardine sets her account of Nara of the Selgovae, whose first words in the book are uttered to a wild boar: “You have my spear and my sword, but you will not have my life.” Nara’s declamation immediately tells of her strength as well as humor, despite being wracked with frustration at her predicament—namely being stuck in a tree, shortly to be felled by a boar she had the misfortune to encounter.

As The Beltane Choice opens Nara playfully foresees reality when a handsome stranger rescues her, resulting in immediate mutual attraction, despite her own inexperience with the opposite sex. Nara, however, is reticent about divulging her own information apart from her general identity, and the would-be lovers discover they come from enemy tribes. Believing he may have a worthy bargaining tool in Nara, Lorcan of Garrigill takes the girl as his prisoner; over the course of several days the two head for the Garrigill stronghold, where he plans to develop his strategy for repelling the approaching Roman army. During this time the pair slowly begin to learn about one another and both are beset by conflicting and confusing sentiments. It is a journey rife with displays of anger and emotional outbursts on the parts of Lorcan as well as Nara.

Here Jardine expertly establishes in her narrative the method of cross perspectives, a potentially tricky technique given the confusion that so often results in the attempt to streamline characters’ perceptions into dialogue and passages. No such difficulty here, partly because of the protagonists’ opposing viewpoints, but also owing to the smooth flow of their dialogue. The author masterfully handles the speech with language that feels genuine without being foreign. Months are measured in moons, age in winters. She also maintains a masterful balance between a reader- and writer-friendly storyline, utilizing such words as bannock and bratt, terms that may be unfamiliar but which populate sentences that draw us into the world they inhabit. Within this journey the reader so often instinctively comprehends, frequently without the registration that this was ever lacking in the first place.

As inhabitants of this world, that is the 21st century, it would be difficult not to be aware of the divide between representations of men and women in an earlier era, and those of our own time. Men who treat women with respect often are believed to have only recently popped into existence; before their arrival, males of the world were cruel or indifferent, without exception imposing their will onto the females of their societies.

Unfortunately, in many or even most instances, this was indeed true. However, history does tell of not a few women who broke from their received roles and the men who valued their subsequent contributions. While these men and women may be statistical anomalies, historically speaking, they are not unusual. Therefore, to happen upon men in The Beltane Choice who show consideration towards women strengthens the story, especially given Jardine’s treatment of them. They are in fact products of their time, but the author is clever enough to recognize that an insightful man intuits value where he sees it. None of the characters pretend to pander to our sensibilities: Lorcan’s father is an irascible old man, short and stinging with his words, but an able leader who is dismayed and disgusted when he learns of another chief’s horrific treatment of his own daughter. Tully is wise enough to know the worth of a gifted woman, even if her own father did not.

But Jardine also keeps it authentic: as in real life, it takes all kinds, and readers come across able and productive men, as well as those who simply take from life without thought to the consequences, for themselves or others. In Garrigill Nara the Selgovae is attacked by two who resent her presence—perhaps also her beauty—and are later punished for the deed. While an important episode that highlights the suspicion of and willingness to harm anything foreign, the episode and its aftermath remain undeveloped, which is unfortunate owing to the import of recognizing such episodes that mar or weaken unity against common enemies. Nara’s beauty, recognized by all, exists on multiple levels, and despite her sometimes-poor choices with regard to action or response, she is shown to be keen and level headed, thoughtful and deliberate.

Such is her way in how she considers the upcoming Beltane festival and the choice she will have to make regarding a lover. Will she have a choice? What of the Roman army marching on the settlement where she is held captive? And her native estate? How does all this impact the array of emotions she feels in response to Lorcan, her captor? He is absolutely smitten with her, though he, too, experiences conflict within and without. He is dedicated to his father and the safety of their tribe, but wants to have Nara as well. He realizes his plan has gone awry and he, too, considers the future with apprehension.

Nancy Jardine has woven a tale as complex as the Celtic knot that graces the book’s cover. Winding and illusory, readers may see one circumstance, but events intercede to disabuse us of any notion that this is a simple story. The endless and unified nature of the cover illustration reflects the events occurring in the lives of those in The Beltane Choice, individually and as humans who experience these occasions across time. And, like the winding knot that appears as sheer simplicity but is much more beneath, the smooth passage from Nara’s entrapment by the boar to her ultimate choice, the author utilizes language in a way both straightforward and elegant.

I would be remiss to omit any sort of detail about the sexual tension that runs through the entire book and moments in which Nara and Lorcan’s indecisive attractions teeter on a precipice. The suggestive nature of the wording is very much like the Celtic knot as discussed above: on one level very evocative and at times openly sensual. But to leave it at that would be less than honest, because it is also lovely and metered, occasionally blatant, as reflected in the pair’s actual experiences. More suitable to the abilities of a mature reader—one who can rise above mere titillation—it is the poetry of two bodies, articulated perhaps as those of the era, with their sexual sensibilities, may have expressed it. It is also crucial to note that Nara and Lorcan both see it as much more than a mere physical act—though they are honest with themselves (and us) and do not deny this aspect—incorporating into their possible union the future at the heart of the Beltane choice—and The Beltane Choice.

Topaz Eyes 5* reviews!

I'm delighted to have just received two fantastic 5* reviews for Topaz Eyes. 

Posted on amazon UK

5* By Jane l Bwye

“This is a stunning read, which absorbed my attention from the beginning. The characters of Keira and Teun are drawn with great intensity of feeling as they pursue clues in the hunt for the Tiru Salana jewels.
Their quest takes them from Heidelburg to the USA, then back to Vienna, Amsterdam and finally to Edinburgh. The ambience of each is portrayed in loving detail, so you feel as if you are actually there.
They are stalked by hired gunmen and wonder if their own relatives are traitors. And their love blossoms into pleasurable maturity.
Even the plot is skilfully contrived without being too arduous to follow. I could not put it down, and cannot fault it.” 

Thank you so much JLBwye for taking time to write such a nice review. 

5* By Sandra Queen 


Loved this book. Had enough intrigue to capture the reader's imagination.
Was loath to put it down when interrupted. Great read!

Thank you, too, Sandra Queen. I'm delighted you enjoyed it. 

Reviews can be seen here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Topaz-Eyes-ebook/dp/B00AHIKEEC/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1_4W66