Happy Summer!

Happy summer! We’re in summer mode here on our hilltop. We’re just back from a couple of weeks in beautiful Scotland and long, long June days. We were joined by Joe’s brother and sister and their spouses for a fun get-together. Memorable walks, dinners, laughs and sightseeing. The weather was sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny (Scotland, right?) but we loved every minute. Below are photos of Isle of Skye.

I found time to start my summer reading. I read Jane Harper’s The Dry, a gripping novel set in Australia. Grabbing your e-reader for summer travel? Several of my boo… Read More

Beautiful Maine

Last weekend I scooted over to Portland for the Maine Writers’ Retreat, an annual gathering of about 40 writers at all stages of their careers. Great fun! I’ve spent a lot of time in Maine, especially along the coast (“down east” of Acadia) but also inland, with friends who have a “camp” on Rangely Lake. Maine has served as a setting for a number of my romantic suspense novels:

On Fire

The Harbor

The Widow

Rival’s Break (releases August 27)

Southern Maine is FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan’s home base in the Sharpe & Donovan series, which launched in 2011 with Saint’s Ga… Read More

Loving winter, dreaming of spring

We’re deep into our Vermont winter, with snow and a frigid temperatures in the forecast. I do love New England winters (except when they drag into April!), but I find myself dreaming of spring at the moment. I spent most of the day writing by the woodstove and now I’m thinking about what I want to plant this spring, and where we want to go.

Joe and I love to travel in early spring. It’s an amazing time to take long walks on Irish lanes, with lambs prancing through grassy fields and colorful wildflowers popping up everywhere. The photo with me in my orange Irish raincoat was taken on a … Read More

Happy 2019

Happy New Year! The first week of 2019 is in the books and I hope yours was a great one, and the rest of 2019 is filled with what makes you happy. Fun, family, friends, adventures, creative pursuits, hikes in the Irish hills…I’m in!

Right now I’m in “monk mode,” as Greg McKeown puts it in his brilliant book Essentialism. This means I’m on a tight deadline. I’m running a bit behind given our multi-day power outage and then a nasty post-Christmas stomach virus, but all is well on our hilltop in Vermont.

This photo’s a favorite from 2018, from a tr… Read More

The latest from my hilltop in Vermont

Only a week ago I was on my way to Rutland, Vermont, for a wonderful signing and talk for Impostor’s Lure at Phoenix Books, a fabulous independent bookstore. I love this store! Rutland is a small city about an hour west of me, with a great downtown. I don’t get there often enough.

The night before, I was in North Reading, Massachusetts, at a historic library for a fun chat another “full house” of readers. As in Billerica on the 21st, everyone in North Reading and Rutland was so welcoming, gracious and generous. And they all asked great questions! 

The heat and humid… Read More

On the road!

Made it to Boston yesterday despite a flat tire. Well, not on the highway. In the driveway as I was getting myself together to leave. Fortunately Joe tackled it. It wasn’t straightforward because the wheel was bent (hence the flat tire), but it got done. Nice drive south on a beautiful day. I took myself to lunch to celebrate Impostor’s Lure hitting stores. Maybe not glamorous but quite pleasant! I found a nice throw at West Elm, too. Then a pleasant walk along the Charles River to take a moment to be grateful for this day. (Photo above is from my walk.)

The highlight of the day, though, w… Read More

Countdown to IMPOSTOR’S LURE! And again with wild blueberries…

I’ve been writing, running, contemplating making pesto with our bumper crop of basil…and getting ready for Impostor’s Lure to hit stores on Tuesday, August 21. That’s just one week from today! I’m excited for readers to get a chance to read this latest suspense novel featuring FBI agent Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan. This was a tough book to write but also a rewarding one.

Can’t wait to head out on the road to chat with readers at three events next week. Join us if you’re in the area! Click on the links for details:

Talk and Book Signing
7 PM
Billerica P… Read More

Creating Finian Bracken

Irish priest and whiskey man Finian Bracken appears in every book in my Sharpe & Donovan series, starting with Saint’s Gate. He has a tragic past: he lost his wife and two young daughters in a sailing accident just as the distillery he started with his twin brother, Declan, was taking off. Finian ends up in a struggling fishing village on the southern Maine coast, befriending FBI agents, lobstermen, grandmothers, innkeepers and one particular English art thief.

Finian came together for me as a character one rainy afternoon when I was tucked in an Irish hideaway for a writing retrea… Read More

Images of Scotland

Among the recurring characters in my Sharpe & Donovan suspense series is Oliver York, an English mythologist, martial arts expert, “gentleman” farmer and serial art thief. By the start of Thief’s Mark, now out in paperback, he’s working with MI5. As a boy, he witnessed his parents’ murder and then was whisked off to Scotland by their killers. He escaped, but so did they. Now he’s about to find out the truth about that awful night. 

Scotland is one of the most beautiful places Joe and I have visited, and we are looking forward to a return trip. It̵… Read More

Deal alert for THE WHISPER

The Whisper is on sale in eBook for just $.99! It’s the fourth and final book in my Ireland series, but can you guess which character plays a role in my Sharpe & Donovan series? Answer below!

Here’s a bit about the story:

Ancient rituals, modern-day murder—the killing has only just begun.

Archaeologist Sophie Malone is still haunted a year after she was left for dead inside a remote Irish cave. Now she’s convinced that her night of terror is linked to recent violence in Boston. Did the killer under arrest steal the ancient Celtic treasure from the cave that night? Or is another kil… Read More