Ugh, the thousandth hot flash of the day. Well, as my friend Hannah says, “There’s nothing sexier than a sweaty upper lip!” I try to keep that thought in mind as a mantra to help me keep the hot flashes in perspective. Humor is an essential element in any day for me. When my perimenopause symptoms first started years ago, moodiness was one of the biggest challenges. I didn’t recognize myself some days. It was humor that saved me then, too. I nicknamed my moody personality Grumpy Gal, or G.G. to my friends. It gave me a much-needed shift in perspective as well as a way to warn my friends about what kind of day I was having!

There was nothing funny about the premonitions when they started happening in the midst of hot flashes. I mean, who would’ve immediately thought, “Oh, these weird visions I’m having while sweat is dripping down my back and my face is flushing are premonitions”? Then, as the things I saw in the visions began to happen in my day-to-day life, the truth gradually dawned on me. When I finally talked with my mystical neighbor Lucia about the premonitions, she grinned and said I was having flashes of insight.

Right now, maintaining a sense of humor is more difficult than usual. My friend Jane’s antique store in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia was broken into. Past Present Antiques is her baby. Since I only live a few blocks away from the store, when the security company notified her of the alarm, she called me to see if I could go and talk to the police until she arrived. The police were efficient but there didn’t seem to be much in the way of clues. The detective assigned to the case was Gomez. I was intrigued by her combination of business-like manner and kindness.

Jane is one of my circle of friends, who are without a doubt the best friends in the world. We have a dinner party each month we call our “Monthly.” Tonight, I’m hosting the gathering. We rotate hosting duties, so we are each motivated to thoroughly clean our houses at least twice a year. We share everything that happens in our lives. We’ve walked with each other through divorces, affairs, raising children, the loss of my beloved husband Nate, and now, the “joys” of menopause.

Well, we share almost everything. I’ve been hesitant to share the premonitions with them. I kind of accidentally shared a vision with my friend Sophie recently when I helped her find her lost phone. I’d hoped she’d forgotten about it, but it turned out she hadn’t.

When we gathered the other night in support of Jane at a local brewery, Sophie suggested I use my skills as a “psychic detective” to figure out who broke into the store and what they were after. With all their eyes on me, I felt a different kind of heat rising. I wasn’t sure I could access my powers of premonition on demand, but my friends mean the world to me, so now I’m trying to learn to trust and understand my visions to help catch a thief.

This Jersey girl never imagined this would be my life, but as Nate’s death taught me, life doesn’t always turn out the way you envision. For once, I’m hoping that’s true, because just last week I had my first vision about myself. I was on a bridge over rushing water. I was leaning dangerously far over the railing, reaching for something, leaning too far. Then falling, falling, falling.

Flashes of Insight, A Liv Wilde Mystery Book #1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: February 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Mood swings and insomnia are one thing, hot flash-induced psychic visions are quite another. When Olivia Wilde realizes the visions she’s been experiencing in the midst of hot flashes are actually premonitions, she has to learn to understand and trust what she sees in order to help a friend, preserve a piece of history, and save a life.

Deftly weaving together elements of history, mystery, menopause, humor, some Jersey girl attitude, a bit of salty language, and a healthy dose of female friendship, Flashes of Insight marks the start of a new “Jersey Cozy“* series sure to deliver laughter, intelligence, and lots of heart.

When Liv’s friend Jane’s antique store is robbed, Liv finds herself in the midst of a quest to find a secret cache of letters written by President James Monroe and his wife Elizabeth, which historians thought Monroe destroyed long ago. With the encouragement of her “Monthly” dinner party girlfriends, Liv begins to learn how to harness her newfound abilities, along with her smarts, to help uncover who is behind the break-in. It’s a quest that nearly costs two lives, including Liv’s, and teaches her the often-hidden price of small-town life and generational family secrets.

*Cozy Mystery reader beware! The author and protagonist both hail from New Jersey, so there is some profanity not usually found in traditional cozy mysteries. You have been forewarned!

Meet the author
Lynda Allen began her career in video post-production and documentary filmmaking before focusing her knack for storytelling on writing. She is the author of four poetry collections, Rest in the Knowing, Illumine, Wild Divinity, and Grace Reflected, as well as The Rules of Creation (nonfiction). Flashes of Insight is the first book in her Liv Wilde mystery series. She proudly infuses her fiction with her Jersey Girl sensibilities and aims to create stories imbued with heart and humor. You can sign up for Lynda’s newsletter at lyndaallenwrites.com.