FEATURED AUTHOR: LINDA LAPPIN

I’m delighted to welcome Linda Lappin as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour held January 24th – 26th, 2024. She is the author of the Historical Mystery / Art History Mystery, Signatures in Stone: A Bomarzo Mystery (2nd edition), released by Pleasure Boat Studio on November 30, 2023 (290 pages).

Below are highlights of Signatures in Stone: A Bomarzo Mystery Doctor,  Linda Lappin’s author bio, and a snippet from her book.

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/12/blog-tour-signatures-in-stone-by-linda-lappin.html

HIGHLIGHTS: SIGNATURES IN STONE

 

Signatures in Stone: A Bomarzo Mystery

by Linda Lappin

Blurb:

Captivating critics and readers, SIGNATURES IN STONE, was the OVERALL WINNER in the DAPHNE DU MAURIER AWARDS for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense Writing - best mystery of 2013

Rome, Italy - November 2023 - Pleasure Boat Studio is thrilled to announce the release of the second edition of Linda Lappin's celebrated novel, SIGNATURES IN STONE: A BOMARZO MYSTERY. This captivating suspense tale takes readers on a thrilling journey through the enigmatic Monster Park of Bomarzo, also known as the Sacred Wood, an extraordinary Baroque sculpture garden in Italy. With the 500th anniversary of the park's creation, this edition is accompanied by a magnificent new cover and a series of Tarot card illustrations by Santa Fe artist Carolyn Florek.

In SIGNATURES IN STONE, readers are transported to the atmospheric setting of the Monster Park of Bomarzo, a sixteenth-century garden adorned with mythical creatures believed to represent a terrifying journey into the realm of nightmares. Against this backdrop, four travelers find themselves intertwined in a fate-driven Italian holiday. Daphne, a British writer of occult mysteries, her down-on-his-luck aristocratic publisher Nigel, the aspiring artist and American gigolo Clive, and the art historian Professor Finestone, all converge in a dilapidated villa near the park. They are attended by rustic servants who harbor secrets of their own.

Professor Finestone has made a groundbreaking discovery, revealing that the garden was designed by one of Italy's greatest artists as a transformative experience that delves into the shadow side of life. Over the centuries, the park's meanders continue to influence the minds and destinies of those who venture within. As the group explores their heart's desires amidst the haunting sculptures, they become entangled in a web of intrigue and danger. When Daphne, renowned for writing cozy murder tales, becomes the prime suspect in a shocking homicide, she must confront her own darkness and rely on her sleuthing skills to uncover the terrifying truth.

Linda Lappin's gripping tale presents an intriguing exploration of gardens in Renaissance Italy, where they were regarded as tools for altering consciousness and changing destiny. The Monster Park of Bomarzo becomes the backdrop for a "Gothic-in-Wonderland" phantasmagoria, immersing readers in a suspenseful and thrilling journey.

New Edition of Linda Lappin's Award-Winning SIGNATURES IN STONE: A BOMARZO MYSTERY Commemorates the 500th Anniversary of the Monster Park.

Praise:

“Layers of mystery are woven into Linda Lappin's beautifully written and atmospheric historical novel set in Bomarzo, Italy's enigmatic park of stone monsters.”~ Gigi Pandian, author of The Accidental Alchemist.

“Deftly mixing fascinating art history and murder with an exotic atmospheric setting (the Bomarzo garden actually exists), dramatic historical period (1928 fascist Italy), and fully fleshed characters, Lappin (The Etruscan) has written a hallucinatory gothic mystery in which no one is as they appear. Daphne is a most memorable, if a bit unreliable, narrator. Readers looking for an intelligent summer mystery will find much to savor here.” ~ Wilda Williams, Library Journal

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mYDWvd

AUTHOR BIO: LINDA LAPPIN

 

Linda Lappin, poet, translator, novelist, and travel writer is the prize-winning author of four novels: The Etruscan (Wynkin deWorde, 2004); Katherine’s Wish (Wordcraft, 2008), dealing with the last five years of Katherine Mansfield’s life; Signatures in Stone: A Bomarzo Mystery (Pleasureboat Studio, 2013,2023), overall winner of the Daphne Du Maurier award for the best mystery novel of 2013; and Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne (Serving House Books, 2020), 2021 Daphne Du Maurier award finalist and shortlisted for the 2021 Montaigne Medal for Books of Distinction.

She is also the author of The Soul of Place: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci, (Travelers Tales, 2015), winner of a Nautilus Award in the category of creativity in 2015.

A former Fulbright scholar to Italy, she has lived mainly in Rome for over thirty years. She is at work on a second Daphne Dublanc mystery novel, Melusine, set in Bolsena. The second edition of Signatures in Stone (2023) has been issued to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Monster Park.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.lindalappin.net

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindaLappin1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaLappinAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linda_lappin_author/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@linda_lappin_author

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lindalappin.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/linda-lappin

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/lindalappin

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1157178.Linda_Lappin

SNIPPET: SIGNATURES IN STONE

 

Behind me, the moonlit villa seemed dwarfed by the shadowy mass of the ridge overhanging it, where the old stone houses and towers of the town clung to the edge like moldering teeth set in a jawbone. The gate to the park was locked, of course, and tall walls of shaggy yew hedges obscured the view within. I peered in through the iron bars, but all I could see was a gray sphinx crouching at the head of a path vanishing amid the thick vegetation where boulders were visible beyond.

The statues in the park portrayed a series of monstrous, imaginary creatures—denizens of a pagan hell, or, perhaps, allegories of the seven cardinal sins. The place was known to local legend as “the Monster Park.” That’s all I knew about our destination, which had been explained during our journey down from Paris. As an author of mystery stories, I confess I found it all quite appealing.

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FEATURED AUTHOR: ELIZABETH HUTCHISON BERNARD

I'm delighted to welcome Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held January 15th – 19th, 2024. She is the author of the Historical Mystery Suspense, The Beauty Doctor, the 2nd edition released by Black Rose Writing on January 4th, 2024 (327 pages).

Below are highlights of The Beauty Doctor,  Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard's author bio, and an excerpt from his book.

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/12/blog-tour-the-beauty-doctor-by-elizabeth-hutchison-bernard.html

HIGHLIGHTS: THE BEAUTY DOCTOR

 

THE BEAUTY DOCTOR: A NOVEL

By Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard

Audiobook narrator: Lisa Bozek

Blurb:

A Bone-Chilling Mystery-Suspense-Thriller Set in the Edwardian Era

Finalist, Eric Hoffer Book Award

"Beauty is power," Dr. Rome told her. "And with enough power, one can achieve anything."

Straightening noses, trimming eyelids, lifting jowls . . . In the year 1907, his revolutionary beauty surgery is considered daring, perhaps dangerous. Still, women want what Dr. Rome promises. Neither is his young assistant Abigail Platford immune to Dr. Rome's persuasive charm.

Abigail once dreamed of becoming a doctor, though of a much different sort. That dream ended with her father's tragic death from a medical error for which she holds herself responsible. Dr. Rome, who proudly displays his medical degree from Johns Hopkins, seems to believe in her. If he were willing to act as her mentor, might there still be a chance to realize her dream of someday becoming a doctor serving New York City's poor?

But something feels terribly wrong, as though an insidious evil is closing in. Broken promises, lies, and intrigues abound. The powerful are threatening to destroy the weak, and a doctor's sacred duty hangs in the balance. Abigail no longer knows who to believe; but with Dr. Rome now her mentor and her lover, she desperately wants to trust him.

Even when she discovers that one of their patients has mysteriously disappeared.

From bestselling author Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard, a suspenseful work of historical fiction grounded in the social and moral issues of the Edwardian era in America. Second Edition with Author's Preface.

Buy Links:

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/316BAr

BOOK TRAILER: THE BEAUTY DOCTOR

 

AUTHOR BIO: ELIZABETH HUTCHISON BERNARD

 

Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard is the author of bestselling historical novels. Her 2023 release, Sisters of Castle Leod, is an Amazon Kindle #1 Bestseller (Historical Biographical Fiction, Historical Literary Fiction), winner of the 2023 Maxy Award for Historical and Adventure Fiction, and an Editors’ Choice of the Historical Novel Society. Her biographical novel Temptation Rag (2018) was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “resonant novel . . . about the birth and demise of ragtime . . . in which romance and creative passions abound.” Elizabeth’s 2017 historical mystery-suspense-thriller, The Beauty Doctor, was a finalist for the prestigious Eric Hoffer Book Award. The book’s re-release (Jan. 4, 2024) features a stunning new cover and an Author Preface with insights into social and moral issues of the Edwardian era that frame this shocking fictional story set in the early days of cosmetic surgery. Before becoming a full-time author, Elizabeth was executive editor of an international aesthetic surgery journal, and senior consultant to the National Cosmetic Network in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University’s plastic surgery educational program. Learn more about Elizabeth and her books at www.EHBernard.com.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.ehbernard.com

Twitter: https://www.X.com/EHBernardAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EHBernardAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EHBernardAuthor

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Elizabeth-Hutchison-Bernard/author/B072N681MZ

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16953486.Elizabeth_Hutchison_Bernard

EXCERPT: THE BEAUTY DOCTOR

 

Chapter Four

She contemplated, not for the first time, why a handsome professional man like Franklin Rome was unmarried. Recalling what he’d insinuated about Arthur, and how he claimed to have a pretty good eye for that kind of thing, she allowed herself a moment to consider whether Dr. Rome might himself have a hidden predilection. But no, that was impossible. She remembered the little flutter in her stomach that night at the banquet when he first smiled at her and then later, again, when he leaned close, saying she intrigued him. She couldn’t deny he was immensely attractive.

Unsettled by the direction of her thoughts, she reminded herself that Dr. Rome was her employer and a person from whom she might learn a great deal. Yes, he was a beauty doctor. But his credentials were impressive. That very afternoon she had helped him hang half a dozen framed diplomas on the wall of his private office, tangible proof of his training and competence. Even her father hadn’t so many certificates. Yet as Mr. Chapman had rather indelicately questioned the other night, why would a doctor waste the efforts of all that training on something as inconsequential as beauty surgery?

Certainly, it might be the money. Her father would have been lucky to make a hundred dollars in six months’ time. Most of his patients were poor; he not only treated them without thought of remuneration but often was forced to pay for the medicines they needed from his own pocket. Then she remembered how, at the Hennessys’ banquet, Dr. Rome had referred to the work of a doctor as the medical arts. That was it, of course! He did, in fact, strike her as the artistic type; more than once, she had admired the gracefulness of his long fingers, imagining them holding a blade—cutting and shaping human flesh, much like a sculptor molds clay. If Dr. Rome was a physician with the soul of an artist, it was understandable why he might become a beauty doctor.

She thought again of Isabelle Hadley and how her first success as Dr. Rome’s foil had given her an unexpected sense of pride. Already, she was embracing her new role with more enthusiasm than she’d anticipated. Why shouldn’t she? It was surely better than the awful dispiritedness that had plagued her since her father’s death. Besides, she enjoyed the sense of collegiality she shared with Dr. Rome. Yes, she was only an office girl, but he occasionally spoke to her about medicine and surgery and how far it all had come in recent years. She remembered how effusive he had become last week when the autoclave was delivered to the office. He’d explained in great detail about the steam sterilizer. It was one of the most important inventions of the late nineteenth century, he’d said. Many problems could be avoided by sterilizing instruments before they were used in patients. When he’d unpacked it from the crate, he’d told her how—

She threw off the comforter, every nerve in her body alert. The delivery! How could she have forgotten to tell Dr. Rome about the man who had stopped by the office after he’d left for the day?

Hastily, she lit the lamp, jumped out of bed, and began dressing, all the while replaying the conversation in her mind from late that afternoon. It had been awkward and very strange. She was locking up around five o’clock when a squat, unkempt little man appeared on the doorstep. Right away, she noticed his nose, which was large and misshapen, with a red, bulbous tip. Assuming he was a prospective patient, she gave him a card and instructed him to call the office in the morning for an appointment. With obvious impatience, he crumpled the card in his hand.

“You can’t get in touch with him?”

“Well, I might—”

“Yes or no.”

She didn’t answer, put off by his rudeness. Who was he to speak to her in such a manner?

“Just tell him Shark said to look for a delivery tonight, same time as before,” he said without waiting. “Got it?”

“What kind of delivery?”

“He’ll know. Tell him midnight, just like he wanted.”

“Midnight? Why, that’s ridiculous! Nobody makes deliveries at that hour.”

“Look, lady, I ain’t got time for parlor games. I make a lot o’ deliveries. The day ain’t long enough for all of ‘em, so I work late. The doc says he don’t mind. Just tell him, all right? And make sure you don’t forget.”

Pulling on her boots, she pictured again his dissipated look, the malicious twist to his lips, the wrinkled gray sack suit, and the shabby bowler perched precariously on his wide head. A shiver of revulsion ran through her. A rendezvous with such a fellow, alone and in the dark of night, was the last thing she wanted, but now there was no choice. She would conduct whatever brief transaction might be necessary and leave the delivery for Dr. Rome to find in the morning. He would never have to know how irresponsible she’d been in failing to inform him.

She went to the door and stepped outside. The stars, covered by a haze of clouds, provided only scant light, but the glimmer of electric street lamps made up for any deficit. She climbed the half dozen stairs from her room and then the short flight to the office entrance, unlocked the door, and entered. Inside was pitch-black. She felt her way to the desk and lit the lamp. Her eyes scanned the dim interior. The room in which she had grown accustomed to spending her days seemed somehow foreign at night, its sense of comfort reliant on sunlight streaming through the tall windows that now were shrouded in velvet drapery. She looked toward the dark hallway leading to the operating room and Dr. Rome’s private office and felt a vague apprehension, as if something sinister lurked beyond her small circle of light.

 

 

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FEATURED AUTHOR: R.w. Meek

Welcome R.w. Meek as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held January 8th – 12th, 2024. He is the author of the Literary Historical Fiction, The Dream Collector (Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud), released by Historium Books on December 19th, 2023 (723 pages).

Below are highlights of The Dream Collector (Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud), R.w. Meek’s author bio, and an excerpt from his book.

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/12/blog-tour-the-dream-collector-by-rw-meek.html

HIGHLIGHTS: THE DREAM COLLECTOR

 

The Dream Collector 

(Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud)

By R.w. Meek

Blurb:

The Dream Collector immerses the reader into the exciting milieu of late 19th Century Paris when art and medicine were in the throes of revolution, art turning to Impressionism, medicine turning to psychology. In 1885, Julie Forette, a self-educated woman from Marseilles, finds employment at the infamous Salpêtrière, hospital and asylum to over five thousand disabled, demented and abandoned women, a walled city ruled by the famed neurologist and arrogant director, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. 

Julie Forette forms a friendship with the young, visiting intern Sigmund Freud who introduces her to the altering-conscious power of cocaine. Together they pursue the hidden potential of hypnotism and dream interpretation. After Freud receives the baffling case of the star hysteric, Sabrine Weiss, he is encouraged by Julie to experiment with different modes of treatment, including “talking sessions.” Their urgent quest is to find a cure for Sabrine, Princess of the Hysterics, before Dr. Charcot resorts to the radical removal of her ovaries. 

In Paris, Julie finds a passion for the new art emerging, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and forms friendships with the major artists of the period, including Pissarro, Monet, and Degas. Julie becomes intimately involved with the reclusive Cezanne only to be seduced by the “Peruvian Savage” Paul Gauguin.  Julie is the eponymous ‘Dream Collector’ collecting the one unforgettable, soul-defining dream of the major historical figures of the period.

Praise for The Dream Collector:

"Meek never fails to stun and impress with his evocation of scenes and events, of sights and dialogue, and of peoples' reactions to them." ~ HFC Reviews

"Tribute must be paid to the obvious and clear literary skills of the author R.w. Meek and to his ability to invoke historic personages and the Belle Époque he so evidently adores."~ Julian de la Motte, award-winning author of Senlac

Buy Link:

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jE52j

AUTHOR BIO: R.w. Meek

 

R.w. Meek has a Master’s degree in Art History from the American University in Washington, D.C., his areas of expertise are Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, with a particular interest in Vincent van Gogh.  He has interned and conducted tours at the National Museum of American and the National Gallery of Art. In 2022 and 2023 five of his chapter excerpts from his soon to be published novel, The Dream Collector, were either finalists or published in various literary journals. The author has also won the Palm Beach Book Festival Competition for “Best Writer in Palm Beach," his manuscript judged by a panel of NYT Best Selling authors. The Dream Collector also received gold and silver medals in the Historical Fiction Company literary contest and earned runner-up for the “Best Historical Fiction Novel’ of 2022.

The author was born in Baltimore, adventured in Europe for many years, and recently moved from Delray Beach, Florida to Santa Clarita, California. His wife is a psychologist, sculptress, playwright, and stand-up storyteller. His daughter Nora is a storyboard artist in the animation world and resides in Hollywood, California. His favorite writers are Dostoevsky, John Fowles, and Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.ronmeekauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010220437381

EXCERPT: THE DREAM COLLECTOR

 

 

Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund

“Alone with Sabrine”

“Do you have a special fear?” Sigmund decided to ask her.

            “I have no fears, so it’s my duty to take them away from others.”

            She stepped out of his rim of light, skipping away. He could not shake the thought that she was behaving like a mischievous schoolgirl. As best he could, he followed her with the one trembling, tallow candle.

            “I want to dance!” she announced loudly. 

            And so she did, making gentle turns and playful leaps, delighting in being the center of attention. Sigmund had never found the temerity to engage in dancing, but he easily guessed its pleasure as he followed her with the candlelight. Keeping her mask in place, she performed pirouettes and self-assured spins before concluding with a charming bow.  

            She dropped the mask—Sabrine and no other! The candle’s flame flickered in the green of her eyes. “On special occasions the young doctors allow us to have costumed balls,” she said. “The hypnotized are not supposed to remember them, but we do.”

             Pounding at the library door prompted her to quickly whisper: “Shall we meet again to share more secrets?” 

            The commotion outside grew louder: “Someone has locked it from the inside! Find another key, another key!”  

            As the door flew open, Sigmund eagerly conceded to her, “We can meet again, Mademoiselle, if you like.”

 

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