Author Spotlight - Excerpt from White Roses

Thanks so much for supporting Michelle this week. Leave a comment on the excerpt post today, Sat., and Sun., and Monday I'll pick a winner to receive Michelle's promotional giveaway which includes: A travel mug package, with white rose lollipops, and a Tabor Heights keychain and pen and notepad.

Enjoy today's excerpt!
Smiles
Moderator Steph

********


"Ah, I don't think a funeral is the place to bring a date."

"Not a date." Curt glanced sideways at her. "If you and I go as representatives of the paper, doing a story on people's reactions to the White Rose, then nobody will think twice if you ask more questions later."

"Don't you hate having to always be thinking ahead?"

"You get used to it. And you've been doing a lot of thinking ahead yourself. Kind of unavoidable, from where we're both sitting." He picked up his slice of pizza and just looked at it. "Sometimes, I can't stop thinking about it."

"Curt... are you blaming yourself? For what happened to Angel, I mean," she hurried to add, when he turned sharply to look at her.

"Why? There was nothing I could have done."

"You found her. You were still trying to get her interested in you when a lot of those other boys were saying some pretty nasty things about her, from sour grapes."

"Did you ever think that difference makes me a likely suspect?"

Toni gasped and jerked away, but Curt dropped his pizza and grabbed hold of her hand, keeping her close. Idly, she noticed that he smeared pizza sauce on the cuff of her sweatshirt.

"You did think it might be me, didn't you?" he pressed.

"Not... not consciously. I had a dream the other night. While I was waiting for the chief to think over Angela's proposition. I barely even remembered it when I woke up, but you were in it and you were yelling at Angel and trying to blame so many people. And I thought, it's always the people who make the most noise who end up being the guilty ones. You know what I mean?"

"The more noise they make, the more dirt they can toss onto other people, the less they think anybody will blame them." He nodded. "But that was just your dream, right?"

"Just my dream. And I know you couldn't be to blame."

"How do you know?" He stared into her eyes, until finally she had to look away without being able to come up with an answer. "A good reporter follows his gut instinct when he's tracking down a story. Doesn't mean he should rely on his gut when his life is at stake." He finally let go of her wrist. "But thanks for your vote of confidence."

Author Spotlight - Next Year for the Tabor Heights Series

"White Roses" is the 10th Tabor Heights novel. There are only two more books left to be released in Year One. So what's going to happen in Year Two?

Well, some of the people we've met in Year One will be getting married. That's a given.

And people you've met -- or are still going to meet -- in Year One will have stories of their own.

The next book, "The Mission," is due out in March of 2012. You'll get to know Claire and Tommy Donnelly a little bit better. Brother and sister, Claire and Tommy work at the Mission, which is run by Tabor Christian Church. Tommy is in a wheelchair. You'll learn what happened to put him in a wheelchair when he was a child, and how it shattered their family, and how Claire and Tommy are still putting the pieces back together years later. "The Mission" is Claire's romance story -- so in Year Two, Tommy get's his story, called "Wheels." All I'm going to tell you about that story is that Tommy is running Handicap Awareness Day, and quite a few unexpected things happen to him and a lady reporter who spends the day with him, in a wheelchair, to see how the "other half" lives.

Then there's "The Teddy Bear Dancer," which is the story of Vic Thomas, proprietor of the Gold Tone Gym, and his business partner, Rene Ackley. You met Rene in "Common Grounds." She's the roommate of Hannah Blake. The past has a way of catching up with us all, and while Vic is dealing with suddenly acting as a guardian for a 12-year-old girl, Rene realizes she has to go back to the town and the church that betrayed her and her father, and face the pain before she and Vic can try for a future together.

There will be 2 collections of short stories in Year Two, both dealing with students at Butler-Williams University. Look for more details on my web site, some time down the road.