Books Are Magic: Guest Post & Giveaway: Romantic Road by Blair McDowell

Author: Blair McDowell

Title: Romantic Road

Release Date: January 28th, 2015

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | AllRomance

When Lacy Telchev buries her husband she finds herself in treacherous waters. Igor, much older than Lacy, had secrets. Suddenly Lacy is being chased across Europe by men who believe she can lead them to those secrets. Evading her pursuers with the aid of a chance acquaintance, the handsome and mysterious Max Petersen, Lacy travels across Germany, Austria and Hungary, to a shattering discovery in Budapest.

Along the way, she meets three women from Igor’s past. As Igor’s story unfolds through them, Lacy is less and less certain who her husband really was. Who can Lacy trust? Will she survive to find out?

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EXCERPT

“Where is it? Just tell us where it is and you won’t get hurt.” The taller man loomed over her, his face expressionless, a mask.

“Where is what? What are you talking about? Who are you?” Lacy began to be annoyed. That was better than being scared. “Can I see your badges again?”

The second man stared hard at her though dead-looking flat grey eyes. “Mrs. Telchev,” he said, his voice low and menacing, “we mean you no harm. But you must tell us where he hid his manuscript.”

They knew her name? Icy tentacles of fear slipping down Lacy’s back. She shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

At that moment the red and white lights of a state police vehicle rounded the curve coming toward them. Seeing the blocked road it stopped. Two uniformed officers got out and approached the two parked cars.

“You’re blocking the road. What’s the trouble here?”

The taller man spoke. “No trouble, Officer. Sorry about the way we’re parked. I’ll move the car immediately. The lady was pulled over here and we just stopped to see if she needed help.”

He flipped open his wallet and showed the officers the same ID he’d shown Lacy.

It seemed to mean something to the policemen.

Lacy opened her mouth to say something and then thought better of it. What could she tell the police? These men wanted a manuscript from her but she didn’t know where it was? Or what it was about? Or even if it existed. That it involved her dead husband? No. She wouldn’t say anything. Not until she knew more.

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MY WRITING SPACE

- GUEST POST BY BLAIR McDOWELL

My writing space is wherever I find myself at the moment, and my writing tools are a little notebook I’m never without and my Panasonic Toughbook computer. The computer of choice for police work, a Toughbook is essential for me since I’m on and off planes, trains and automobiles frequently. It’s a strong, hearty beast that withstands manhandling. It has a few dents, but it soldiers on.

My little black notebook is almost as important as my computer. I jot down bits of conversation I overhear, unusual accents, a description of the Italian gentleman at the table next to mine gesticulating wildly with one hand while talking volubly into his cell phone held in the other. I make notes about historic sites, art that captivates me, a flower market in Paris, children playing in a square in Venice, a couple kissing in a doorway, anything that captures my attention. It’s all fodder for my books.

I lead a wanderer’s life; winter in the Caribbean, spring and summer on the west coast of Canada, fall in Europe.

My husband had the good sense to build a little house on a tiny Caribbean island back when land was cheap, before the Caribbean became a “destination”. My office is the veranda. I sit at a table with a view of the sea before me, the chatter of sugar birds in my ears. Writing on a remote, untouristic island in the Caribbean may sound romantic, but it has its frustrations. Internet access is scanty at best, and the lure of the sea is undeniable. I’d rather be swimming.

As spring approaches, I head back north to British Columbia’s west coast, to a spectacular setting between mountains and sea. There, with a friend, I run a Bed & Breakfast. Chatting with guests from far and wide, as we dish up Eggs Benny and pancakes, is a rich source for stirring the imagination.

In Canada, my office is in my bedroom. For the sake of my back, I sit in a recliner and use a lapboard. When I lift my eyes from my work, I see deer grazing their way across our yard or a cruise ship on its way to Alaska. I’ve never been able to write facing a blank wall. I need a distant vista when I look up from my keyboard. It helps me to think, to stop floundering as the next scene takes shape in my cluttered head.

Come October, my friend and I head off to spend the money we made on our B&B. Greece and Italy are our favorite haunts. We stay in small family run hotels and B&B’s. My third writing space is wherever I can find a spot in our often miniscule room to put my computer. If there isn’t any, I retreat to the closest taverna or bistro or trattoria. I keep detailed notes of our day to day adventures, usually as blogs on my website, wwwblairmcdowell.com. The information in these almost always finds its way into my books, at some point. Such was the case with Romantic Road. My notes on the inns where we stayed, the people we met, the meals we ate and the countryside we drove through on the Romantische Strasse all helped bring Romantic Road to life.

AUTHOR BIO

Blair McDowell wrote her first short story when she was eleven and has never ceased writing since, although only recently has she been able to return to her first love, writing fiction. During her early years, she taught in universities in the United States, Canada and Australia, and wrote several highly successful books in her field.

Her research has taken her to many interesting places. She has lived in Europe, Australia, the United States and the Caribbean and Canada, and spent considerable time in still other places, Iceland, the Far East, and the Torres Strait Islands off the coast of New Guinea. Now she travels for pleasure. Portugal, Greece and Italy are favorite haunts.

Her books are set in places she knows and loves and are peopled with characters drawn from her experiences of those places. The Memory of Roses takes readers to the Greek Island of Corfu, where a young woman finds her future while searching for her father's past. In Delighting in Your Company, the reader is transported to a small island in the Caribbean, with a heroine who finds herself in the unenviable position of falling in love with a ghost. The setting for Sonata is the city of Vancouver, with its vibrant multicultural population and its rich musical life, and the heroine is a musician who finds herself in unexpected danger.

In her most recent release, Romantic Road, Lacy Telchev, is pursued along Germany’s famous Romantische Strausse as she follows clues left by her late husband in order to solve a mystery that she doesn’t understand, while being chased by dangerous and cunning adversaries.

She hopes her readers will enjoy reading these books as much as she enjoyed writing them.

Blair is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of America (Greater Vancouver Chapter), the Romance Writers of America (Women's Fiction), and The Writers’ Union of Canada.