Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Claws of the Cat and the Brilliant Author Behind it!


Happy Book Birthday,

Susan Spann!




Miss Susan Spann is a dear, sweet friend of mine. She is also part of my amazing critique group, the SFWG, and today is her Book Birthday. I'm greedily reading The Claws of the Cat currently and I must say, Susan has done such a wonderful job of making 16th Century Japan come alive with elegant detail. I absolutely adore the character's, Hiro and Father Mateo, and I can't wait to see how she wraps this whodunit up. 

BLURB:
May 1564: When a samurai is brutally murdered in a Kyoto teahouse, master ninja Hiro has no desire to get involved. But the beautiful entertainer accused of the crime enlists the help of Father Mateo, the Portuguese Jesuit Hiro is sworn to protect, leaving the master shinobi with just three days to find the killer in order to save the girl and the priest from execution.

The investigation plunges Hiro and Father Mateo into the dangerous waters of Kyoto’s floating world, where they learn that everyone from the elusive teahouse owner to the dead man’s dishonored brother has a motive to keep the samurai’s death a mystery. A rare murder weapon favored by ninja assassins, a female samurai warrior, and a hidden affair leave Hiro with too many suspects and far too little time. Worse, the ninja’s investigation uncovers a host of secrets that threaten not only Father Mateo and the teahouse, but the very future of Japan.

Debut author Susan Spann delivers a riveting mystery filled with rich period detail and a fine sense of Japanese culture. Claws of the Cat boasts a detective like no other and a world never seen before in crime fiction.

WHERE TO BUY:
http://us.macmillan.com/clawsofthecat/SusanSpann
http://www.amazon.com/Claws-Cat-Shinobi-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/1250027020
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/claws-of-the-cat-susan-spann/1113012097?ean=9781250027023

REVIEWS:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16045114-claws-of-the-cat

BIO
Susan Spann is a transactional attorney and former law school professor whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. She has a deep interest in Asian culture and has studied Mandarin and Japanese. Her hobbies include Asian cooking, fencing, knife and shuriken throwing, traditional archery, martial arts, rock climbing, and horseback riding. She keeps a marine aquarium where she raises seahorses and rare corals. She lives in northern California with her family.




BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2013
ISBN: 1250027020, 9781250027023
288 pages
Mystery & Detective & Historical



Friday, July 12, 2013

Cover Reveal BECOMING JOSEPHINE by Heather Webb




  BECOMING JOSEPHINE
by Heather Webb





BECOMING JOSEPHINE is Heather Webb’s debut historical about Napoleon’s empress, a woman in search of eternal love and stability, and ultimately her search for self. It releases December 31, 2013 from Plume/Penguin. Stop by her blog BetweentheSheets  and leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble or a $20 gift card to Amazon. Pre-order her novel (present a receipt) and win a Josephine hand mirror with a velvet bag.

PRE-ORDER 


ABOUT THE BOOK 
Rose Tascher sails from her Martinique plantation to Paris to trade her Creole black magic culture for love and adventure. She arrives exultant to follow her dreams of attending Court with Alexandre, her elegant aristocrat and soldier husband. But Alexandre dashes her hopes and abandons her amid the tumult of the French Revolution. 

Through her savoir faire, Rose secures her footing in high society, reveling in handsome men and glitzy balls—until the heads of her friends begin to roll. 

After narrowly escaping death in the blood-drenched cells of Les Carmes prison, she reinvents herself as Josephine, a socialite of status and power. Yet her youth is fading, and Josephine must choose between a precarious independence and the love of an awkward suitor. Little does she know, he would become the most powerful man of his century- Napoleon Bonaparte. 

BECOMING JOSEPHINE is a novel of one woman’s journey to find eternal love and stability, and ultimately to find herself.

ADVANCE PRAISE
Becoming Josephine has already been featured in a Wall Street Journal piece on the popularity of historical fiction featuring the wives of famous men.

“Heather Webb’s epic novel captivates from its opening in a turbulent plantation society in the Caribbean, to the dramatic rise of one of France’s most fascinating women: Josephine Bonaparte. Perfectly balancing history and story, character and setting, detail and pathos, Becoming Josephine marks a debut as bewitching as its protagonist." –Erika Robuck, author of Hemingway's Girl

“With vivid characters and rich historical detail, Heather Webb has portrayed in Josephine a true heroine of great heart, admirable strength, and inspiring courage whose quest is that of women everywhere: to find, and claim, oneself.”  --Sherry Jones, bestselling author of The Jewel of the Medina

“Josephine's warmth and complexity comes to vibrant life in this fascinating novel rich with vivid historical detail."—Teresa Grant, Author of THE PARIS AFFAIR

"Vivid and passionate, Becoming Josephine captures the fiery spirit of the woman who stole Napoleon’s heart and enchanted an empire. –Susan Spann, author of The Shinobi Mysteries

“A fast-paced, riveting journey, Becoming Josephine captures the volatile mood of one of the most intense periods of history—libertine France, Caribbean slave revolts, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars—from the point of a view of one of its key witnesses, Josephine Bonaparte.” –Dana Gynther, author of Crossing on the Paris

“Spellbinding . . . Heather Webb’s novel takes us behind the mask of the Josephine we thought we knew.” –Christy English, author of How to Tame a Willful Wife and To Be Queen

“Enchanting prose takes the reader on an unforgettable journey . . . Captivating young Rose springs from the lush beauty of her family's sugar plantation in Martinique to shine in the eighteenth century elegance of Parisian salon society. When France is torn by revolution, not even the blood-bathed terror of imprisonment can break her spirit.” –Marci Jefferson, author of Girl on the Gold Coin, Thomas Dunne Books, 2014


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Coming Soon

Here's what's coming up...

 

Friday, July 12th, 2013

Cover Reveal 

The cover for my novel BECOMING JOSEPHINE will be revealed NEXT FRIDAY, JULY 12th!!!! I’m SO excited to share it. Stop by here at Between the Sheets and leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble or a $20 gift card to Amazon. Pre-order my novel (present a receipt) and win a Josephine hand mirror with a velvet bag. Meanwhile, check out this Josephine Barbie! I TOTALLY WANT ONE! - See more at: http://www.heatherwebb.net/blog/#sthash.NBW1jpKu.dpuf

 BECOMING JOSEPHINE by Heather Webb

Stop by Ms. Webb's blog

Between the Sheets 

and enter her fabulous contest! 

 

Thursday, July 16, 2013

Book Birthday

CLAWS OF THE CAT  by Susan Spann

Stop by Ms. Spann's blog

Enter the World of Shinobi... 

to find book signings in your area! 


The cover for my novel BECOMING JOSEPHINE will be revealed NEXT FRIDAY, JULY 12th!!!! I’m SO excited to share it. Stop by here at Between the Sheets and leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble or a $20 gift card to Amazon. Pre-order my novel (present a receipt) and win a Josephine hand mirror with a velvet bag. Meanwhile, check out this Josephine Barbie! I TOTALLY WANT ONE! - See more at: http://www.heatherwebb.net/blog/#sthash.NBW1jpKu.dpuf