Paint, Parks, and the FBI? with Guest Sandra Orchard #Giveaway

What better way to write a fun adventure than to have one of your own?!

A Fool and His Monet is about a plucky, claustrophobic, FBI agent, headquartered in St. Louis, who investigates art crime, so of course…I needed to tour her place of work and meet her colleagues.

Yes, I convinced the FBI’s powers that be that I am really a writer and not a threat to national security, being from Canada and all, and they graciously invited me to visit. Of course…I wasn’t allowed to bring in any audio or visual recording devices, so…this is the closest pic I have and you’ll just have to take my word for it that they let me inside.

Next I needed to scout out the museum where the crime would occur. I rechristened it Forest Park Museum so as not to sully its good name.

And what’s a trip to Forest Park without a tour through the free zoo? Or the free museum? Or the myriad of other fabulous sites to be seen? My heroine is bound to encounter them in one adventure or another eventually.

Then I needed to figure out where my heroine would live. Where her parents lived. Where the bad guys might live. Where future books’ art crime victims might live. Thankfully, my good friend and her sister-in-law were more than happy to drive me around the city and make recommendations.

Lastly, I had to go up the arch in a teeny weeny compartment that would send the most stoic claustrophobic into a full blown panic attack, because really what kind of heroine would Serena be if she couldn’t face her worst fears?

It’s a good thing she has her painting to help her relax, because after the days I put her through she’d be a basket case otherwise. At times like those, she’s fond of quoting Pablo Picasso—the purpose of art is washing the dust of daily lives off our souls.

The same could be said of a good novel. So if you’re looking for a laugh-out-loud whodunit with a dash of romance, check out A Fool and His Monet.

Your Turn: Leave a comment for Sandra about what you like to do to relax for a chance to win your choice of an acrylic or watercolor art kit.

Blurb for A Fool and His Monet:

Serena Jones has a passion for recovering lost and stolen art and—one that's surpassed only by her zeal to uncover the truth about the art thief who murdered her grandfather. She's joined the FBI Art Crime Team with the secret hope that one of her cases will lead to his killer. Now, despite her mother's pleas to do something safer and—like get married and—Serena's learning how to go undercover to catch thieves and black market traders.

When a local museum discovers an irreplaceable Monet missing, Jones leaps into action. The clues point in different directions, and her boss orders her to cease investigating her most promising suspect. But determined to solve the case and perhaps discover another clue in her grandfather's murder, she pushes ahead, regardless of the danger.

With spunk, humor, and plenty of heart-stopping moments, Sandra Orchard gives readers an exciting string of cases to crack and a character they'll love to watch solve them.

Sandra Orchard—winner of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence—leaps off the garden trails of her herbal-researcher-turned-amateur-sleuth (Port Aster Secrets series), to the museum corridors of her plucky FBI art crime agent Serena Jones, in A Fool and His Monet. When not plotting crimes, Sandra plays make-believe with her grandchildren or hikes with her hubby along the escarpment, near their home in Niagara, Canada. www.sandraorchard.com.

Interview with Sandra Orchard about Writing and Her Newest Book, Blind Trust...And the winner is Melanie Backus!!

by Patricia Bradley

I read Sandra Orchard's first book, a Love Inspired title - Deep Cover, in 2011 and I fell in love with her writing. I have every book she's written since then, and if you leave a comment you will be entered to win a copy of her latest, Blind Trust. Later this year we are going to be roommates in North Carolina at the Writer's Police Academy. Can't wait to see what stories come out of that! 

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m a happily married to a man who is very supportive of my writing, although he hasn’t actually read more than a few paragraphs of it. <Grin> I’m the mother of three wonderful children that I thoroughly enjoyed homeschooling on our little hobby farm. My two youngest still live at home and my youngest daughter is a freelance writer and aspiring novelist so we have a lot of fun commiserating together when plots don’t work and celebrating when they do. My eldest daughter is married and I’ve now become one of those grandmothers. You know the kind I mean. The ones who have a gazillion pictures and shamelessly dote on them every chance they get.

 

I’ve been writing full-time since signing my first contract in 2010 and am currently drafting my tenth contracted novel. I write for Revell and Love Inspired Suspense, and do a bit of freelance content editing and speaking/teaching. I also do bookkeeping (since I did major in Math at university). And when it can’t be avoided any longer, I clean the house. Before I took up writing, most of my spare time was spent renovating our old farmhouse, so I’ve always had a good excuse for dust bunnies.  <Wink>

What is your story about?

This is the second book in a three-part series, and although each book has a standalone mystery, the romance and a suspense arcs the three books, so I highly recommend reading them in order to avoid spoilers. In this novel, herbal researcher, Kate Adams returns, and caught inadvertently passing counterfeit money while buying groceries for her elderly neighbor, she lands in the middle of another one of Detective Tom Parker’s investigations. Determined to prove her neighbor’s innocence, Kate stumbles into a pit of intrigue that is far deeper than a two-bit counterfeit operation–and that strikes too close to home for comfort. As family secrets come to light, her world–and her budding romance with Tom–begin to crumble. To Kate, it’s clear that she won’t be safe until she uncovers all of Port Aster’s secrets. But is it too late for her and Tom?

Here’s what Booklist had to say in their review:

“Orchard infuses romance with suspense and keeps the excitement coming page after page.  Readers will love the ever-deepening mystery as Kate extends her investigation and finds herself and her long-dead father tangled up in an international corporate conspiracy.”

Do you have a favorite scene in the book? If so, can you tell us a bit about it?

Yes, The opening scene. This is the second book in my Port Aster Secrets series and hero and heroine haven’t seen each other for a while. It was fun to write this “reunion” in which she’s been caught counterfeiting and he’s the officer called in. His reaction: “If you wanted to see me, you could have just called.”

Since the store security guard who made the call doesn’t know their history and believes she is a thief, I had a lot of fun with the subtext of their conversation throughout the scene.

Where did you get the inspiration for your story?

There is a lot of stuff happening in the story. One reviewer counted at least 4. But the opening mystery was inspired by a counterfeit $5 bill that turned up in the offering at my neighbor’s Ladies’ Missionary Meeting.

What are you working on now?

I’m finishing the edits on the final installment in the Port Aster Secrets series, Desperate Measures, which promises to finally uncover everyone’s secrets. I’m also writing my next Love Inspired Suspense, a paramedic story featuring the cousin of the heroes in Perilous Waters (April 2014) and Identity Withheld (Nov 2014).

Where can readers connect with you?

I’m active on Facebook at: http://www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard and would love it if you’d “like” my page!

And although I’m taking a break for the summer, I blog on Mondays at http://www.SandraOrchard.com/blog and a bit of nosing around on the site will provide lots of things of interest to both readers and writers, including bonus features for all of my novels.

Readers are also invited to subscribe to my newsletter at: http://bit.ly/OrchardNews for news of new releases, giveaways and subscriber exclusive short stories.

Where can readers buy your book?

You can ask for it at your favorite bookstore or find it online at all the major stores. At the moment it is on sale for an especially low price in E-format. The best prices I’ve found are at Amazon and CBD.com (for Epub format which works on Nook and Kobo).

Last but not least, apart from writing, what is your favorite creative outlet?

Since taking up writing, most of my former creative outlets, which included every kind of craft you could imagine from knitting and sewing to cross-stich and jewelry making and painting, have sat untouched. So probably my most creative outlet is keeping my young grandchildren entertained.  You knew I had to come back to them, didn’t you? <grin>

 Leave a comment to be entered for a copy of Sandra's Latest book, Blind Trust. Must have a US or Canada address and at least 18 years old. Winner will be announced Sunday morning, July 20, 2014.