A Visit from J.Q. Rose and Lauren Staab

Hi Roseanne. Hello Readers.

I’m sorry I can’t be with you at the blog today because I need to run out to buy Halloween candy for about the fourth time this year. Somehow, no matter where I hide the candy, it disappears before

Halloween.

I’ll be in a mess of pumpkin guts and seeds today as I carve those jack-o-lanterns for Saturday night. Fortunately Lauren Staab, the main character in my new mystery/romance, Deadly Undertaking, volunteered to take my place.  Books We Love just released the e-book this month. I’m so excited to have Lauren introduce the story to you on Roseanne’s blog and kick-off the book launch. Thanks so much, Roseanne.

No trick here, but certainly a treat for me to have Roseanne visiting my blog today. Because Roseanne is working on her Halloween costume, her character, Beatrice Lulu, from her new e-book. All’s Well That Ends Well, jumped at the opportunity to get her nose into my blog. You’re invited to come on over to the J.Q. Rose blog after visiting here. Thank you.

Link to J.Q. Rose blog http://www.jqrose.com/2015/10/meet-roseanne-dowells-character.html

Now, here’s Lauren’s story:

No waaaay. No way did I ever imagine I would be suspected of killing a man. And in my own home

town of Mayfield, Michigan! Everybody knows me in my small town where I grew up. Everybody knows my family too because my dad’s the funeral director in town. Well, yes there’s Swartz Funeral Home, but they don’t do good work. My dad’s reputation is flawless, known for his integrity, caring, and putting out bodies that look better dead than they did alive.

Oh, excuse me, I should introduce myself. My name is Lauren Staab. My dad is Jensen Staab, owner of the Staab and Blood Funeral Home. He’s the one who found the dead man in our garage. He was lying sprawled out between the funeral coach and our black SUV we use for delivering flowers to the cemetery. Dad yelled at me to call 9-1-1. I wish I’d just called the number and never raced out to the garage to see the crime scene. I can’t erase the grisly view from my brain.

When I called 9-1-1 and told the operator the emergency was at Staab and Blood Funeral Home, she accused me of making a prank call after I said, “There’s a dead body in our garage.”

That was only the beginning of the most horrific time in my life, but also the most wonderful time in my life. At the same time my father, brother, and I were suspects in the murder, I re-connected with Gary Applegate. Gary was always there for me when I was in high school helping me with my trigonometry homework. He had just returned to Mayfield, too and joined the police department. I thought we could team up to find the killer, but he’d have none of that. We did get together for other reasons though, and that led to another kind of partnership, for life.

Henry, the shadow man, who regularly visited me, whether I wanted him to or not, knew all along that Gary and I were meant for each other. I hate to admit he was right. I mean, really, would you take love advice from a ghost?

# # #

Back of the Book: Deadly Undertaking by J.Q. Rose

Lauren Staab knew there would be dead bodies around when she returned home. After all, her family is in the funeral business, Staab and Blood Funeral Home. Still, finding an extra body on the floor of the garage between the hearse and the flower car shocked her. Lauren’s plan to return to her hometown to help care for her mother and keep the books for the funeral home suddenly turns upside down in a struggle to prove she and her family are not guilty of murdering the man. But will the real killer return for her, her dad, her brother? Her mother’s secrets, a killer, a handsome policeman, and a shadow man muddle up her intention to have a simple life. Welcome home, Lauren!

Buy Links

Books We Love Bookstore http://store.payloadz.com/go/?id=2395820

Books We Love has a BOGO special going on right now for a a limited time. Buy one book, and get another one of the same price or less for FREE.

Amazon http://amzn.to/1Lu6GxI

About J.Q.

After writing feature articles in magazines, newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world of fiction. Her published mysteries are Sunshine Boulevard, Coda to Murder, and Deadly Undertaking. Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things that keep her out of trouble. She and her husband, Gardener Ted spend winters in Florida and summers up north camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.

Connect with J.Q. Rose online at:

J.Q. Rose blog http://www.jqrose.com/

Facebook http://facebook.com/jqroseauthor

Google+ google.com/+JQRose

J. Q.  Rose Amazon Author Page http://tinyurl.com/aeuv4m4

Pinterest http://pinterest.com/janetglaser/

Inside Books We Love: HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT THE LATEST BOOKS WE LOVE NEW ...

Inside Books We Love: HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT THE LATEST BOOKS WE LOVE NEW ...: HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT THE LATEST BOOKS WE LOVE NEW RELEASES.  VISIT HTTP://BOOKSWELOVE.NET  AND CLICK THE NEW RELEASES LINK.  EACH OF THESE N...

Available Now - Book 2 in the Family Affair Series

I’m Beatrice Lulu Eberhardt. Some of you know me from my niece Callie Johnson. Callie’s the new Chief of Police of our little town and I first appeared in her book, All in the Family.

Callie doesn’t know it, but she’s my favorite. I annoyed her  sometimes because I tried to fix her up with a nice young man, well several nice young men. I didn’t want her ending up an old maid like I almost was. If Ed hadn’t come along – well I shudder to think what my life would have been like. Callie didn’t much care for any of the men I introduced her to. Praise God, she finally met a nice young man on her own.

But that’s neither here nor there. This story isn’t about Callie. It’s about me. That’s

right, me and pretty much no one else. I’m a bit of a sleuth. Some call me nosy or a busy body, but honestly, I’m only trying to help. I don’t mean to interfere.

It all started when Ed and I bought a cabin. It’s a beautiful place with its own lake. Ed loves to fish. We thought it would be fun to have a place just for us, away from everyone. You may not remember I’m from a large, crazy family. Crazy in a fun-loving way, of course. So Ed and I wanted a place to relax, not that it’s turned out that way. We’re seldom alone. Guess it’s because we genuinely like people. So now days when we go up there, someone always comes along. Usually Ethel and her husband, Greg. Ethel’s my sister, by the way. I have two other sisters, also – Charlotte, we call her Lottie,  and Lillian. Lillian is Callie’s mother, and we have a brother, Clyde, but we don’t see him as often.

Anyway, we bought the cabin and Ed and I went up there to clean it up. No one had been in it for years. Cobwebs filled more than the corners I’ll tell you that. It was going to take days, if not weeks, to clean it. But Ed promised we could fix it up and Ed never breaks a promise. That’s one of the things I love about him.

So there we were looking around, deciding what to do, and Ed decided to build a fire to take the chill and damp out of the air. The place smelled musty, the way empty houses smell after being locked up for a long time.

Well there I was, thinking about where to start when I heard a strange clattering noise. I thought Ed fell or something. I turned around and lying on the fireplace hearth was an arm – well what was left of the arm, bones and tattered flannel from a shirt, I assume. Although I’ve been told never to assume anything.

If you want to know what happens next you’ll have to read about it in All’s Well That Ends Well soon to be released from Books We Love.

If you haven’t read All in the Family – Book 1 of the Family Affair series, you can find it and all my books at Books We Love. Just click on the book and it’ll take you to the buy page. They're also available from Amazon and other markets. 

Meet Harlee from Lost in his Eyes by Ginger Simpson.

Hi, I’m Harlee Williams, the heroine in Ginger Simpson’s, Lost in His Eyes, just released by Books We Love.  I’m about to marry Logan Carruthers, the man
who rescued me from the darned ol’ well I fell into at the beginning of the story.

I’d like to invite you to share a tidbit to see if this
story is something that tickles your fancy:

  She positioned herself firmly against the wall, bending her knees and planting her feet against the opposite wall. Drowning wasn’t a preference and there was enough water if she passed out or fell over while sleeping. With any luck, she’d just nod off and wake up in the beautiful garden Ma read about in the Bible one Sunday. 

 The pictures the hallowed words painted colored Harlee’s mind, and her muscles relaxed. Her head lulled to her shoulder. If her time had come, she was ready. Anything had to be
better than the wet, damp hell that claimed her. Her eyes closed, then squinted
tighter against a light much brighter than she’d ever seen. Was it the door to
heaven?

The bucket banged her atop her head. “Ouch!” The pain brought back her voice.

“Holy Shit ” A deep voice sounded above. Surely, God didn’t curse. Then who?

Harlee tried to adjust to the daylight filtering down the well by holding a shielding hand to her forehead. She looked up, but the dank and dark prison had stolen her vision as well as her voice. Weakness robbed her of the ability to stand. Despite being able to focus on the owner of the voice, she continued to peer up and pray. Finally, she managed to see her rescuer’s outline.

He learned farther over the opening. “Are you alive?” 

Seemed like a silly question since dead people didn’t speak, but she stifled her sarcasm, not wishing to risk her rescue. “I-I think so.” Harlee barely had the strength to respond, but at the idea of being set free, she found the ability to speak…or croak.

“Hold on, Let me see if I can find something to help get you
out.”

Out? The word sounded more beautiful than any other she’d ever heard, but when he disappeared from her site, panic seized her heart. Was she hallucinating?

The blue sky loomed overhead and the smell of freshness drifted down to replace the wet, musty smell she’d endured for so long. She released a pent-up breath when a fuzzy silhouette reappeared.

“This place is deserted, but I did manage to find a good, hearty rope. The one attached to this old bucket is so rotten, it wouldn’t hold up a feather. Do you think you could manage to tie this one around your waist and climb out while I pull?”

Tying something around her waist wasn’t the problem. Her legs had grown weak and she doubted she could stand. Still, the idea of living appealed more than dying. “I-I can try.” She braced herself with the sides of the well and forced herself to her feet. Her head spun and she feared she might faint. The rope unfurled as he released it. His comment about the place being deserted didn’t make sense, but then nothing did at the moment.

With shriveled and weak hands, Harlee secured the braided horsehair around her waist, and gripped the lifeline with all the strength she mustered. “Okay, I’m ready, I think,” she called up to her rescuer.

“I’ll pull and you use your feet to walk up the wall.”

“I’m not sure I can. I have no feeling in my feet.

“Well, if I have to come down there and get you, there’ll be no one here to pull us both out. You’ve got to try.”

“I’ll try my hardest.” She made a first step and a second. Water dripped from her

body and splattered into what remained in the well. Her limbs trembled and the
coarseness of the rope nipped through the thin material of her dress and chafed
her skin. On her third step, her left leg gave out and she slammed against the
wall, knocking the air from her lungs and scraping her cheek against the rough
stones. The stranger slackened the rope, allowing her to collapse back into the
water. Harlee massaged her burning face and even in the dim light saw blood on
her fingers. She used the wet hem of her dress to soothe the burning and dab
the wound.

“Are you all right?” His deep voice resonated and brought her to her senses.

Wouldn’t anyone who’d been trapped in a well for days be just fine? She took a deep breath and resisted asking him if he was serious.

“Did you hurt yourself?” He yelled louder.

“Yes. My cheek is bleeding and my hands are raw, but I’m ready to try again.” Determination drove her.

“Okay, I’m going to start pulling again, so stand up and
hold on tight.”

Her mind whirred with questions she hoped to ask. Harlee struggled to her feet and took a firm grip on her lifeline. “I’m ready; pull. ” Despite the pain, she concentrated on each step, unwilling to waiver until she reached freedom. Her palms burned and the top of the wellappeared miles away. Still, she made sure she kept one foot anchoring her in

place before she moved the other. Many times she wanted to surrender, but
looking up into the blurred face of her hero gave her the strength she needed
to continue.

After what seemed forever, sunlight warmed Harlee’s face and a breeze caressed her soggy skin. The stranger grasped her beneath her arms and hauled her over the well’s edge. Her feet touched the ground, but overcome by weakness, she sagged against her hero. He swept her into his arms as if she was nothing more than a feather and cradled her like a mother would her babe.
“There, there, you’re going to be fine now.”

Somehow, she believed his soothing words...especially because of the sincerity shining in his sky blue eyes.

If you like what you read, you can find all my books availabe on my Amazon page.  Check them out.