When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a movie star like Loretta Young, Ava Gardner, and Rita Hayworth. Oh, sure—my girlfriends were into Star Wars, styling their hair to look like cinnamon buns and ogling Han Solo, but not me. I wanted to wear silk gowns, fur coats, dance the night away on moonlight nights on ocean liners while drinking champagne (even if I didn’t know what that meant), and having fun, Fun, FUN – and kissing lots of boys. I liked to kiss boys. . .a lot.

Of course, my family wasn’t able to provide for a lifestyle filled with glamorous days and even more heavenly nights, so I guess it wasn’t surprising that I fell for any guy with a fancy line and a promise of better things to come. I made some bad choices, hung with the wrong people, and got arrested a lot of times. I ended up spending something like ten years in the slammer. Not all at once, you understand, but a few months here, a year or so there.

I had a lot of times on my hands while in stir and I used it to my advantage. I took secretarial classes (just watch me take shorthand at lightning speed. . .not that anybody uses it anymore), and I read. The library was kinda crappy—at least most of the girls thought so. Really old stuff—like the Maltese Falcon, anything and everything by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and on and on. I loved it. Those vintage mysteries reminded me of the wonderful old movies I loved as a kid.

So is it any wonder I ended up working in a vintage mystery bookstore. Of course, there were a couple of stumbling blocks along the way. Like, I kind of antagonized the owner of the store until she couldn’t stand the sight of me. But cooler heads prevailed, and her sister kinda sorta made her give me a chance, and that was the first time in my life I didn’t blow it.

And now I feel like I’m living the life of a movie star. I got me a fella, and a diamond ring, and he’s gonna make an honest woman of me. And I’m even getting a wedding shower. Can ya beat that?

My name is Pixie Poe (I’m a direct descendent of Edgar Allen Poe, you know) and I’m the luckiest girl in the world! Hope you’ll read all about my latest adventures in A Just Clause.

You can read more about Pixie in A Just Clause, the 11th book in the “Booktown” mystery series.

Just when things are getting back to normal in Booktown, Tricia and Angelica have their lives turned upside down by a shocking visitor from their past in this latest entry in Lorna Barrett’s New York Times bestselling series.

Tricia Miles, mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth, is in for a surprise when her ne’er-do-well father, John, comes to town—and promptly becomes a prime suspect in the murder of a woman with her own scandalous past. Even Tricia’s faith in the old man is shaken when the Stoneham police break the news that her father is a known con man who has done jail time.

But what about bestselling thriller author Steven Richardson? Is it a coincidence that he arrived for a book signing just before the crime or that the victim was found with a signed copy of his latest bestseller?

From merlot to murder, Tricia is determined to clear the family name before another body shows up and ruins Stoneham’s first—and highly anticipated—wine and jazz festival.

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About the author
The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what put Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett on the New York Times Bestseller list, but it’s her talent — whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett — that keeps her there. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square and Lotus bay Mystery series, and the Tales of Telenia adventure-fantasy saga, and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s).

Visit Lorraine at lorrainebartlett.com, or lornabarrett.com, or on Facebook, on Cozy Chicks, or on her Amazon Author Page

All comments are welcomed.

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