New Writer! New Book!

Good morning, and Happy November!

I have a special treat for you today that combines a new book and a pen drawing.

We have a guest post today by a wonderful author and my friend, Debbie Burke.

Debbie Burke is a crime novelist who writes Montana thrillers infused with psychological suspense. Her quirky characters, witty dialogue, and breakneck plot twists are hallmarks of the Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with Passion series.

Debbie has visited before on a blog post on my website. Since 80% of you prefer the newsletter format over the blogsite format, we’ll stick to the newsletter. And, I’ve asked Debbie to tell us about her new book, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.

I finished reading her new book about three weeks ago, and was extremely impressed. I love the way Debbie weaves together an exciting plot with character relationships and entanglement, all while helping the reader to visualize the story world with rich descriptions, which she knows well, because she lives in it.

I’ll get out of the way and let you read what Debbie has to say.

Debbie Burke

Thanks for inviting me today, Steve!

I LOVE Steve’s beautiful legacy wood pens and give them as gifts often. His imagination and creativity amaze me.

When I told him about my new mystery/thriller Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, set at a cherry orchard on Flathead Lake in Montana, he immediately mentioned he had cherry wood in his lumber stash. All the way from Montana, I could hear the creative wheels turning in his brilliant brain.

He fashioned a stunning pen with a finish that matches the color of ripe Flathead cherries, which are the sweetest, juiciest cherries in the universe.

The inspiration for this mystery came on a summer day when I was driving along Flathead Lake to buy cherries and saw the burned ruins of a house beside an orchard. I learned from locals that the fire happened the previous winter, but the desolate, deserted remains stood untouched for months. Why? The image haunted me.

At the same time, I was researching World War II internment camps. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered people of Japanese descent, even if they were American citizens, be rounded up and imprisoned. One such camp was located in Missoula, MT, 120 miles from my home.

A fictional character began to take shape in my mind of a man who had been born inside a camp. From the time he was a baby, his parents instilled in him the importance of owning his own land where he could put down roots forever. After years of hard work, he achieved his dream…but then someone decided to destroy it.

Here’s a short summary of Fruit of the Poisonous Tree:

Jerome Kobayashi planted every cherry tree in his Flathead Lake orchard with his own hands. His wife’s ashes are buried there. His roots go deep in the land. For years, he’s turned down all offers to buy it.

But now someone won’t take no for an answer.

When Mr. K’s house is destroyed by arson, a body burned beyond recognition is found in the basement. Suspicion falls on Mr. K, who has secrets tracing back centuries to Japanese legend and lore.

His granddaughter begs for help from intrepid investigator Tawny Lindholm and her charismatic lawyer-husband Tillman Rosenbaum.

The truth is tangled in roots deeper and more twisted than the cherry tree.

Steve, thank you for creating the lovely Flathead Cherry Pen to celebrate my new book, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree!

Website: DebbieBurkeWriter.com

Email: debbieburkewriter@gmail.com

Sales link for Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Sales link for the Tawny Lindholm Thriller Series (9 books)

Thanks, Debbie! And thanks for that wonderful introduction to your book.

I really enjoyed the book. I hope all you readers out there will check it out, too.

Now, for your chance to win one of Debbie’s Flathead Cherry Pens. Read carefully; there are three chances to win.

1. Email me at HooleySteve@Hotmail.com or reply to this newsletter at SteveHooley@SteveHooleyWriter.com. That will get your name in the drawing once.
2. Get your name in the drawing two additional times by going to Debbie’s website at DebbieBurkeWriter.com and signing up for her newsletter. She will let me know who has signed up.
3. Everyone is eligible, even previous winners. If you’ve already signed up for Debbie’s newsletter, email her and she’ll get your name into the drawing again two additional times.
4. I’ll give people a week to sign up for the drawing, then use a random number generator to select the winner. I’ll announce the winner in December’s newsletter.

By the way, last month’s winner was Janet L. Congratulations, Janet!

Thanks again, Debbie, for telling us about Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.

See you all in December! Hint: We’ll hear from another guest author, Deb Gorman.

Steve Hooley