Anne Greene's "Texas Christmas Mystery"

TITLE:  A TEXAS CHRISTMAS MYSTERY

PUBLISHER: PelicanBookGroup.com.

COVER BLURB: A lady Coastguardsman searches for a killer. An oil rig troubleshooter accused of murder races to clear his name. The murderer strives to silence them both.

Sparks fly as Amber Meredith seeks to arrest Derrick Darbonne. She needs to solve her first case. But the handsome Cajun suspect makes her heart race and her toes tingle.

Derrick worked all his life for his high-paying, adventurous job. When his past threatens his future, will he endanger the woman he loves?

HOW DID THIS STORY COME TO YOU:
I was visiting the historic town of Galveston, Texas with its sea port and off-shore oil rigs and lovely streets of Victorian homes and fell in love with the place. The off-shore oil rig I toured intrigued me, and the old homes had to house lots of mysteries. Throw a romantic Cajun in the mix with the Coast Guard and a story bubbled to the surface. The concept wouldn’t let me go until I wrote it.

TELL US ABOUT THE JOURNEY TO GETTING THIS BOOK PUBLISHED:
This journey was short and sweet. Pelican Book Groups, and my publisher there loved my first award-winning book, Masquerade Marriage, so when they wanted a Christmas story, they eagerly accepted A Texas Christmas Mystery. This book released December 2011 in a Christmas Extravaganza.

TELL ME THREE THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WOULD SURPRISE YOUR READERS.
I’m a world traveler and have lived in and visited twenty-five foreign countries with three additional ones coming this spring. I paint. You can see some of my pictures on my website. And, I sing in two choirs, but writing is my passion.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW AND WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU?
I’m working on the second book in my Scottish historical romance series with the working title Marriage By Arrangement. I’m about half finished with the first draft. I then want to finish my WWII book about women pilots and want to write a Regency romance. I have so many ideas and books I want to write that’s I find it difficult to decide which to work on next.

PARTING COMMENTS: I love visiting with fans. And I excited to choose a winner and send an ebook of A Texas Christmas Mystery. I’ve had really good feedback on this book and know if a fan likes romance and mystery, she will love this book. Also I enjoy having people visit me at my website http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com. Everyone can purchase my books at http://www.pelicanbookgrou.com. Or any on-line bookstore such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Ada Brownell's "Swallowed by LIFE"

LOVE IS DYNAMITE!

By Ada Brownell

I grew up observing love demonstrated among family. One of the most amazing was a relative who was a new Christian, and she showed love to her husband beyond what I, even as a child, thought was necessary.

Her husband, with training in the finer etiquettes of his heritage, expected men to be served before women.

My aunt, who I know had some fire somewhere in her bones, acted as if she were made to serve her husband, and she did it with joy. We were guests at their home after church one Sunday and boys near my age were allowed to eat with the men, while I remember thinking I would starve before girls and women were served.

I don’t think my aunt was so subservient before she became a Christian, but she did what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7, 13:14: “And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.” As the years passed, my uncle accepted the Lord and treated his wife with kindness and respect. Not many years before he died, he sang his wife’s praises and wasn’t afraid to tell others about what a great woman she was. No longer did the men eat alone, but sat at the table enjoying the chatter of ladies.

My idea when he was such a pompous husband would be to “throw the bum out.” But God has better ways.

I’ve thought of Jesus when John the Baptist was beheaded. John was a relative and close friend. He baptized Jesus. Now the earthlings Jesus had come to save not only killed John, but brought his head on a platter.

No wonder when the disciples brought the news, Jesus immediately jumped on a ship and went to a desert place. He knew humankind could be cruel, but I imagine it was different when he took on human flesh to be one of us.

I’d have said, “Father, they’re too wicked. Let’s forget the whole redemption plan.”

Instead, when Jesus saw a crowd followed him to the desert, He had compassion on them and healed the sick. That evening he fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish. When the disciples departed in a boat the night, a storm blew in. Jesus walked on water, calmed the seas, and even invited Peter to step out onto the liquid.

What love is that?

The type He asks us to work for.

How can I be a more loving person? It’s explained in 1 Corinthians 13-3-5NLT: “If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way.”

“Let the faith and love of Christ Jesus be your model” from 2 Timothy 1:13 CEV.

When we study the Word we learn love is as powerful as dynamite and will take us through life more easily, just as dynamite can open a highway tunnel through a mountain.

Love is important to our happiness, both the love we receive and the love we give. God loves us no matter what, and some people love us because God put it in their hearts. But to be a complete, we must return that love and put love into action.

The greatest love of all is God’s love for us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
© Ada Brownell Feb. 13, 2012

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Eternal life is at the heart of my book, Swallowed by LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal.

From the back of the book: Do you know you are more than a physical body? An award-winning medical and religion writer, Ada Brownell—through her research after the death of her daughter—shows why we have hope of eternal life, not only from a Christian point of view, but because of physical evidence.

The paperback book is available at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/  and http://www.amazon.com/  or from ada@adabrownell.com  The e-book should be out shortly on Amazon.

BIO :Of her 17 years as a journalist, the author spent seven on the medical beat at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado, reporting on discoveries about the human genome, neurology, mental illness, cancer, disease prevention, treatments, medications and more.

As a free lance writer she has sold 275 articles and stories to 45 religion magazines. She also is author of a book, Confessions of a Pentecostal, published by the Assemblies of God (1978) and her writing is included in “Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers” and “Cup of Comfort for Christians” (Adams Media 2008 and 2006); “What I Learned from God While Cooking,” (edited by Cristine Bolley; Barbour Publishing, 2006); and “50 Tough Questions”, (Pentecostal Evangel Books, 2002).