Today, It’s my pleasure to have Romantic Suspense author, Diane Burton, on my blog! Diane is one of my wonderful “Author Helping Author” friends and this isn’t the first time she’s been a guest on Under A Paper Moon! Diane is here to tell us about her new release, Numbers Never Lie! Welcome Diane!

Darcy, thanks so much for having me here today. I’m thrilled to share with you and your readers my new release, Numbers Never Lie, a romantic suspense. This book was over fifteen years in the making. I was almost done then had to set it aside because Life intruded. This winter, I delved into it and discovered I wasn’t as far along as I thought. LOL

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

Tell us a bit about your new release?

Numbers Never Lie was over fifteen years in the making. I was almost done then had to set it aside because Life intruded. This winter, I delved into it and discovered I wasn’t as far along as I thought. LOL Even worse, the manuscript was spread across several old floppy disks. Thank goodness, Hubs had an external floppy drive reader. Though it required a lot of work recovering the many files, it was worth the effort. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed Maggie, Drew, and Jack’s story.

Dang girl! Floppy disks – hadn’t heard that word in a while. LOL That is old school. So glad you had the tenacity to stay with it and recover those files!

Before you gasp and think I’ve written a M/F/M managestory, I’d better tell you Maggie and Jack are siblings and Drew is Jack’s best friend. Though stunned by Jack’s accident, too many inconsistences worry Maggie, and she drags a reluctant Drew into her investigation.

What’s a typical working day like for you?

As soon as I get up, I grab a cup of coffee (thank goodness for my Keurig) and open my laptop. I wish I could say I don’t open email or play a game (or 2) but open my work-in-progress first. Some days my eyes don’t function that quickly, I play a game to wake them up. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.) I’ll write until lunch, take a break, then either get back to writing or read/respond to email, read blog posts, and work on promotion.

My day is similar. During my lunch break I watch an episode of Stargate SG 1. Love, love, Richard Dean Anderson! *sigh*

So tell me, if a book were being written about your life, what would the title be?

That’s hard. If you’d ask me to name a song, I’d say Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.” How about My Life is an Open Book? Oops, that’s a song title, too. Seriously, if anyone reads my blogs—and I’ve written a ton of them since 2011, both on my own blog and on others’ plus Facebook—it wouldn’t be hard to piece together my life. In my forty-six-year marriage, with two kids and 5 grandkids, I’ve experienced highs and lows, like most people. Fortunately, the highs way outnumber the lows.

Wow, forty-six years! That’s amazing!

If you could have any meal delivered to your door right now, what would it be?

Ooh. P.F. Chang’s. I’d start with the signature lettuce wraps and dim sum; Oolong Chilean seabass with lobster and shrimp fried rice, and a side of crispy green beans. For dessert, banana spring rolls. Mmm, now I’m hungry. Because all of that is way too much food for me to eat alone, Hubs would have to help me. The best part is my son is a culinary partner with Chang’s, and he would ask me what I was in the mood for and cook that meal accordingly. I am so lucky.

Thanks, Darcy. Those were great questions.

So happy to host you and your new release, Diane!

NUMBERS NEVER LIE

A Romantic Suspense

By Diane Burton

Romantic Suspense

Length: approx. 80,000 words

Available at Amazon http://a.co/gUmO9wZ

Free with Kindle Unlimited

Blurb:

A shocking secret brings danger to Jack Sinclair and his sister Maggie.

Numbers Never Lie - 750 Cover As kids, they were the fearless threesome. As adults, Jack’s an accountant; Drew, a lawyer; Maggie, a teacher and camping troop leader. Upon returning from a weekend camping trip, Maggie receives horrifying news. She refuses to believe her brother Jack’s fatal car crash was an accident. If the police won’t investigate, she’ll do it herself. Convincing Drew Campbell to help is her only recourse.

Drew Campbell was too busy to return his best friend’s phone call. Too busy to attend a camping meeting important to his teen daughter. Too busy to stay in touch with Jack. Logic and reason indicate Jack’s accident was just that–an accident caused by fatigue and fog. Prodded by guilt, he’ll help Maggie even if he thinks she’s wrong.

A break-in at Jack’s condo convinces Maggie she’s right. Then her home is searched. What did Jack dothat puts Maggie in danger?

Excerpt

The garage door rose. All by itself.

Maggie Sinclair’s heart shot into high gear as she set down the camping equipment next to her SUV. She wasn’t anywhere near the button next to the door to the house. And the remote was right where it belonged, clipped to the Suburban’s visor. Shehadn’t opened the door.

Someone had keyed in the code.

As the door lifted, a pair of athletic shoes and legs encased in wrinkled khakis came into view. Only one other person knew the code to her garage. The numb-nut scaring her half to death had better be him.

In case it wasn’t, Maggie moved quietly to the rack on the wall where the garden tools hung. As the figure outside bent in half and ducked under the door, Maggie raised the shovel, ala Detroit Tiger Miguel Cabrera, fully prepared to whack the intruder. When he straightened, his look of surprise almost matched hers.

“Jack Sinclair,” she yelled. “What are you doing sneaking up on me?”

“Whoa!” Her brother recovered fast, right after dropping a plastic case on the dusty garage floor. A CD spilled out. “What are you doing here?”

She lowered the shovel. “Gee, I don’t know. Ya think maybe because I live here?”

Jack picked up the CD and case. “Are you sick? It’s Friday. And only—” He checked his watch. “—one o’clock. Why aren’t you in school?”

About to lambaste him for scaring her, she gave him a long look. Shadows rimmed his eyes, and his mouth had creases she hadn’t noticed the last time she saw him, a couple of weeks ago. Her neatnik brother never looked disheveled, yet there he was in wrinkled slacks and part of his sport shirt hanging out.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “You look tired.”

Actually, he looked like his shoulders carried the weight of the world, as their mom used to say. “With Ben out, I had to take over his clients on top of my own. You never said why you’re home in the middle of the afternoon.”

“School is out for the summer.” She returned the shovel to the rack, securing it properly while cringing at the screech. “And you never said why you’re sneaking into my garage?”

He gave her a cocky grin. The creases along his mouth and across his forehead eased. “Can’t I visit my kid sister?”

“When you thought I wasn’t going to be home? Try again, Ace.”

Jack cuffed her around the neck. “Okay, you got me. I wanted to try out a new CD on your system.”

She ducked out from under his arm then hip bumped him. “The truth comes out.”

His combination Christmas and birthday gift to her a couple of years ago was a sophisticated sound system. After he set it up, he’d left detailed—printed, no less—instructions for its use. That was Jack. Always covering the bases. Heaven forbid, he left anything to chance. Even his sister’s entertainment center.

While she pulled the fixings for lunch out of the fridge, Jack went into the living room. When the music didn’t come on right away, she called out, “Forgotten how it works?” She couldn’t resist a smirk. “Why don’t you read the instructions?”

“Nobody likes a smart-ass,” he called back.

Because he seemed so tired, she was surprised by the music. Head-banging rock would not have been her first choice.

“Could you maybe turn it down?” she yelled to be heard over the music. “The neighbor kids will get the wrong idea about their English teacher.”

Jack lowered the volume. When he came out into the kitchen, he grabbed her around the waist and spun her away from the counter. “Maybe those teenage delinquents you insist on trying to educate will think you’re a normal person.”

While he whirled her around the small kitchen, Maggie laughed. “Normal? Instead of the Wicked Witch of the West?” She gave an evil laugh. “‘I’ll get you my pretty.’”

“’And your little dog, too,’” Jack quipped. “You gotta work on that image, Mags.”

“Hey, it works for me.”

Numbers Never Lie is available at Amazon.

About the Author:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into joy dent, darcy flynn, darcyflynnromances.com writing romantic fiction. Besides writing science fiction romance, she writes romantic suspense, and cozy mysteries. Diane and her husband live in West Michigan. They have two children and five grandchildren.

For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com

Connect with Diane Burton online

Blog: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmburton72

Facebook: http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

Goodreads: Diane Burton Author

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/

If that doesn’t work, here’s the link to Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/16cf1daf21/?

ONE RED SHOE Worldwide Release Tour

I’m thrilled to have, dear friend and fellow Author Diane Burton as my guest today. She’s here to tell us about her Romantic Suspense, One Red Shoe. Take it away Diane!

Reinventing One’s Self

Jane Pauley was on the Today Show last week. While getting my coffee and trying to pry open my eyelids, something she said caught my attention. The words “reinventing herself.” Whoa. I can identify with that.

I always wanted to be a teacher. When we were little, my younger sister and I played “school” and I was the teacher—that’s when we weren’t playing “church” and I was the priest. But I digress. Being the oldest of seven, I was a natural teacher. I helped Mom with the little ones and gradually taught them new skills. Eventually, I went to college and became a real teacher. When my own children came along, I was a stay-at-home mom who taught her own kids. (Not home schooling, though.) I did some substitute teaching when they were in school, but never went back full time.

When my husband was downsized in the late 1980s, I looked for work. Going back into the classroom meant going back to school for an advanced degree and recertifying. I didn’t want to be a substitute again. So I looked for something I could do. I was pretty good with computers, word processing, some data inputting, very little but some spreadsheet experience. What job did I get? Inventory clerk for a flute store. All because I happened to see a little sign on the counter when I went in to buy reeds for my son’s saxophone. I was the only non-musician in a company that not only sold flute music in the local store but worldwide through their catalog. Lest you think I was a complete dunce regarding music, I have to say my dad was an opera and classical music buff. I grew up listening to the Metropolitan Opera on radio every Saturday afternoon. Frankly, I wanted to listen to Tiger Baseball. But that’s another story.

They say when a door closes another opens. Or are you supposed to open a window? Maybe I’m mixing metaphors. At any rate, whenever I’ve needed a job, I’ve taken existing skills (like word processing, data entry, and spreadsheets) and found a position where I could use them. My last was with an oil and gas exploration company where I discovered the cure for insomnia, reading oil and gas leases.

In my romantic suspense One Red Shoe my heroine is an elementary teacher (well, they say write what you know. LOL) and she’s stuck in a rut. When she was orphaned at thirteen, her older brothers came home to take care of her. As she approaches the big THREE-O, they still treat her like she’s a kid. She yearns for adventure and she finds it in writing mystery stories. Not content to live vicariously through her own heroine, she’s about to set off on her own adventure. She gets more than she bargained for.

Blurb for One Red Shoe:

Wannabe writer rescues wounded spy while risking her heart.

Daria Mason’s life is too predictable. Nothing ever happens in her small Iowa town where everybody knows everybody else. But when she travels to New York City looking for a little excitement, she never expects to bring home a wounded spy.

From the moment agent Sam Jozwiak steals intel vital to US security from a Russian Mafia kingpin, Murphy’s Law takes over. No matter how he covers his tracks, the kingpin’s assassins find him. What’s worse than getting shot in the butt? Accepting help from an Iowa tourist.

Sam and Daria flee cross country with the assassins right behind them. Sharing danger and excitement—and a few kisses—with Sam soon has Daria convinced he’s the man for her. He thinks she’ll be better off once he’s out of her life for good. With their lives on the line, can she convince him they belong together?

Excerpt from One Red Shoe:

Daria started running up the stairs to the fifth floor, hoping she would get to the restroom in time. As a teacher who couldn’t leave second-graders alone, she’d trained herself to hold it until scheduled breaks. But she should never have waited this long. Despite the cramping in her legs, she put on a burst of speed. As she passed the door to the fourth floor, she realized the stairs had gotten darker. She looked up to see if a light was out. On the half-way landing stood a man…pointing a gun at her.

She nearly wet her pants.

“What are you doing here?” the man demanded as he whisked his gun out of sight.

Daria froze. She clutched the rail with one hand, her bag of books with the other. She suddenly understood the line from Romancing the Stone because, just like Joan Wilder, Daria was paralyzed from the neck up. The rest of her wasn’t moving, either.

“Where are you going?” He had a faint accent. British, maybe. His eyes flickered with impatience. Hard glacial blue eyes. His voice, cultured with a hint of menace, frightened her more.

His shoes were level with her eyes. Shiny brown Florsheims. His jeans were new with distinct creases from being folded. They brushed the tops of his polished dress shoes.

Brown Shoes came down three steps and halted. He reached inside his black light-weight jacket and Daria prayed it wasn’t for a gun. That made no sense. Why didn’t he use the one he’d tucked behind his back? He pulled out a leather folder and flipped it open. A gold badge. He was the police. Daria sagged in relief.

With a quick motion, Brown Shoes flipped the folder closed and stuffed it back in his pocket. “What is your business?” He tapped his brown shoe impatiently.

Her throat began to close in fear from his anger.

One Red Shoe is available at:

The Wild Rose Press: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1082

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00FDXRHZA

And wherever ebooks are sold.

About the author:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched series, she is the author of The Pilot, the first book in a series about strong women on the frontier of space. One Red Shoe is her first romantic suspense. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.