Author: Jan Sikes

Jan Sikes writes compelling award-winning stories from the heart. She has been called a wordsmith by her peers, is an active blogger, grandmother, a fan of Texas music, and resides in North Texas.
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It’s a Mad Mad Murder – #BookBlitz @LoneStarLit

IT’S A MAD, MAD MURDER
A Maddie Montgomery Mystery
by
CINDY VINCENT

Cozy Culinary Mystery / Women Sleuths / Amateur Sleuths
Publisher: Whodunit Press
Date of Publication: November 15, 2021
Number of Pages: 303 pages
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Things are a little too hot to handle for famous culinary-mystery author, Maddie Montgomery, in her normally quiet neighborhood set in the Houston suburb of Abbott Cove. Especially after her neighbor, Randall Rathburn, has a heart attack and rams his vintage car into a light pole. Though his death is ruled an accident, another of Maddie’s neighbors insists that Randall was murdered, and he implores her to investigate. But Maddie isn’t on board with the half-baked idea, not until she attends the over-the-top funeral where she develops some suspicions of her own. That’s when she decides to take the leap from crime writing to crime solving. After all, she doesn’t exactly want a killer running around her cul-de-sac . . .
But the murder of her neighbor isn’t the only mystery she’s got cooking. When her publisher goes belly-up and her agent happily dumps her in favor of younger, dystopian authors, Maddie boils over into a full-blown career crisis. And while she tries to simmer down, her new role as amateur sleuth only stirs the pot even more. Then from car chases to stakeouts, and from a neighbor who owns a suspicious amount of spy gadgetry to a widow who seems a little too merry, Maddie’s first case has her head spinning like the beaters on her handheld mixer. And soon Maddie finds that solving a crime in “real life” is a lot more difficult . . . and a lot more dangerous . . .
CLICK TO PURCHASE!
│ Amazon│
Cindy Vincent is the award-winning author of the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Capers, and the Tracy Truworth, Apprentice P.I., 1940s Homefront Mysteries. She is also the creator of the Mysteries by Vincent murder mystery party games and the Daisy Diamond Detective Series games for girls. She lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and an assortment of fantastic felines. Cindy is a self-professed “Christmas-a-holic,” and she starts the planning for her ever-expanding, “extreme” Christmas lights display sometime in the early spring.
◆FACEBOOK ◆ AMAZON ◆ GOODREADS ◆
————————————–
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
THREE WINNERS!
1ST PRIZE:
Signed copy of It’s a Mad, Mad Murder, a sweetheart-neckline apron, a set of multicolored, Farberware measuring cups, and a set of stainless steel, oblong measuring spoons.
2ND & 3RD PRIZES:
Signed copies of It’s a Mad, Mad Murder and novella, Yes, Carol…It’s Christmas!, which features a heroine trying to get back home to Texas
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 5/26/2022)

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#MotivationMonday #Meditation #RuneReading #DragonoracleCard

Happy Monday! I don't know about the weather where everyone is, but here in Texas, it's triple digits this week. Very early for those kinds of temps. Here's today's inspiring quote. I love it! inspiringquotes.com Today's meditation is effective and short. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/OccjH_2ddQc I found myself drawn back to the Runes for this week's reading. …

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Outlaw West of the Pecos – #NewRelease from Preston Lewis @LoneStarLit

OUTLAW WEST OF THE PECOS
An H.H. Lomax Western, Book 7
by
PRESTON LEWIS
Western / Humor / Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing

Date of Publication: January 4, 2022
Number of Pages: 228 pages 
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Accused of cheating at cards on a Southern Pacific passenger train in far West Texas, H.H. Lomax is kicked off the train and finds himself at the mercy of the unpredictable justice of Judge Roy Bean, who calls himself “Law West of the Pecos.” After being fined of all his money, married, and divorced by the judge in a matter of minutes, Lomax discovers an unlikely connection to him.

Against a backdrop of a pending world heavyweight championship bout, Lomax heads to El Paso to interest someone in writing and publishing Bean’s biography. He winds up in an El Paso boarding house across the hall from Texas killer John Wesley Hardin. They despise each other, but Hardin fears Lomax’s straight-arrow Texas Ranger brother and treads lightly around Lomax. Because of Hardin’s crooked connections in El Paso, Lomax gets caught between him and corrupt constable John Selman.

El Paso is becoming the focal point of efforts to host a championship prizefight that everyone from the Presidents of the United States and Mexico to the governors of Texas, New Mexico Territory and Chihuahua have vowed to stop. Calling on his connections to his Ranger brother, El Paso officials and the promoter of the boxing match, Lomax uses his Judge Roy Bean friendship to pull off the oddest prizefight in heavyweight history.

Outlaw West of the Pecos stands as an entertaining mix of historical and hysterical fiction.
CLICK TO PURCHASE!
│Amazon│
Preston Lewis is the Spur Award-winning author of 40 westerns, historical novels, juvenile books and memoirs. He has received national awards for his novels, articles, short stories, and humor.
In 2021 he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for his literary accomplishments. Lewis is past president of Western Writers of America and the West Texas Historical Association.
His historical novel Blood of Texas on the Texas Revolution earned a Spur Award as did his True West article on the Battle of Yellow House Canyon. He developed the Memoirs of H.H. Lomax series, which includes two Spur finalists and a Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award for western humor for his novel Bluster’s Last Stand on the battle of Little Big Horn. His comic western The Fleecing of Fort Griffin and two of his YA novels have won Elmer Kelton Awards for best creative work on West Texas from the West Texas Historical Association.
He began his writing career working for Texas daily newspapers in Abilene, Waco, Orange and Lubbock before going into university administration. During his 35-year career in higher education, he directed communications and marketing offices at Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and Angelo State University.
Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor University and master’s degrees from Ohio State in journalism and Angelo State in history. He lives in San Angelo with his wife, Harriet.
◆  WEBSITE  ◆  FACEBOOK  ◆  AMAZON  ◆ GOODREADS◆

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THREE WINNERS
receive autographed copies of
Outlaw West of the Pecos!
(U.S. only; ends midnight, CDT, 5/13/22.)
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#MondayMotivation #Meditation #TarotReading #DragonOracle Card

Happy Monday! I'm glad to be back with my regular post. Courtesy Inspiring Quotes https://youtu.be/goqqLfrXzhI Interesting Tarot cards this week. Photo by Jan Sikes The Ace of Swords represents new ideas. It is a sign of encouragement. It says your mind is in 'expansion mode.’ You are open to embracing new ideas, craving stimulation, and …

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#NewRelease! Turn To Me – Becky Wade @beckywadewriter @lonestarlit

It is my pleasure to introduce this fellow Texan author to you. I have not yet read this book, but it’s on my list for sure! Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter!

TURN TO ME
A Misty River Romance
by
BECKY WADE
 
Contemporary Romance / Christian Fiction / Clean & Wholesome
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Date of Publication: May 3, 2022
Number of Pages: 416 pages 
 
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His promise will cost him far more than he imagined.
 
Guilt has defined Luke Dempsey’s life, but it was self-destructiveness that landed him in prison. When his friend and fellow inmate lay dying shortly before Luke’s release, the older man revealed he left a string of clues for his daughter, Finley, that will lead her to the treasure he’s hidden. Worried that she won’t be the only one pursuing the treasure, he gains Luke’s promise to protect her until the end of her search.
 
Spunky and idealistic, Finley Sutherland is the owner of an animal rescue center and a defender of lost causes. She accepts Luke’s help on the treasure hunt while secretly planning to help him in return–by coaxing him to embrace the forgiveness he’s long denied himself.
 
As they draw closer to the final clue, their reasons for resisting each other begin to crumble, and Luke realizes his promise will push him to the limit in more ways than one. He’ll do his best to shield Finley from unseen threats, but who’s going to shield him from losing his heart?
 
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Becky Wade is the 2018 Christy Award Book of the Year winner for True to You. She is a native of California who attended Baylor University, met and married a Texan, and moved to Dallas. She published historical romances for the general market, then put her career on hold for several years to care for her children. When God called her back to writing, Becky knew He meant for her to turn her attention to Christian fiction. Her humorous, heart-pounding contemporary romance novels have won three Christy Awards, the Carol Award, the INSPY Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award for Romance. Becky lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and three children.
 
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR:

◆  WEBSITE  ◆  FACEBOOK  ◆ BECKY’S
CHEER SQUAD ◆

◆ TWITTER ◆ AMAZON  ◆  GOODREADS ◆

◆BOOKBUB◆ INSTAGRAM ◆PINTEREST◆

 
CONNECT WITH BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS
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 TWO WINNERS! 
AUTOGRAPHED COPIES OF TURN TO ME!
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 5/12/2022.)

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April #BookReviews @linneatanner @teagangeneviene @RobertaEaton17 @harmony_kent @ColleenChesebro @Marjorie_Mallon @mhurdle112

Most of my book reviews for April have either been for Lone Star Literary Blog Tours or NetGalley, and already posted, but I do have three more to add. Courtesy Pixabay PURCHASE LINK MY REVIEW: This is a well-written short story incorporating ancient Roman history with fiction. The author did a great job of writing …

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