We all know, of course, that genealogists make the best detectives! And we know who the best fictional genealogist is, don’t we? Here is the complete set of my Briggie and Alex books for you to choose a gift for that special someone (your mother-in-law?) for Christmas. They are all available on Kindle as well.
I also have some exciting news and a contest!
Exciting News!
I have a new suspense novel, Foggy With a Chance of Murder, coming out in the spring, featuring a new sleuth, Chloe Greene, who looks like a sprite, writes suspense novels set in foreign places, and packs heat which she doesn’t hesitate to use when required. Her mother is a Texas lady with an attitude. Add a terrorist cell, an old love and a new one (who someone is trying to kill), and you have a dangerous recipe!
More exciting news!
At this moment, I am plotting with my cohorts a new Alex and Briggie Christmas novel for ’11!
A nice interview: http://www.astorybookworld.blogspot.com/
Contest!
If you subscribe to this blog today, and leave me a comment telling me so, you will be able to enter the drawing for one of two copies of Hidden Branch, the fifth A & B adventure or a $20.00 gift certificate for Deseret Book. If you win, You will get it in time for Christmas. But you must act now!
Reminders of why you love Briggie:
Cankered Roots: 
A split second later she heard the front door. Whirling, Alex ran into the entryway and stared out into the night. It was easy to see Briggie in the moonlight, her white Royals nightie, giving her the appearance of an overweight fairy as she sprinted across the lawn to her Bronco. Another shape, this one rotund and not quite as fast, was lumbering down the driveway from the back of the house.
Briggie emerged, backside first, from the Bronco, her thirty-aught-six rifle in her hand. Meanwhile, the rotund shape had made it into the street and was hustling across to what looked like an aged Pinto.
Her partner[Briggie] took aim, “Hands up!” she cried.
Ignoring her, the intruder opened the car door . . .
“Hey!” she yelled, running across the lawn. The car started.
Alex heard a shot. There was a burst of fire by the back tire. Another shot. “Darn,” she exclaimed as the Pinto disappeared around the corner.
Of Deadly Descent
[Briggie upon being introduced to antique wonders of Oxford, England]
“Well, Stewart [Alex’s dead first husband]what do you think?” she asked aloud. “Is heaven as magnificent as Oxford?”
Of course, there was no one beside her in the bus but Briggie. Clutching her duffle with unusual ferocity, Alex’s white-haired friend looked at her in reproach: “in heaven they drive on the right side of the road.”
The picture of comic terror, her white, wiry hair on end from a night passed on a train, Briggie suddenly relaxed her hold on her bag to pat Alex’s knee. “When I picture Stewart in the spirit world, I see him pacing.”
“Look around you, Briggs! Have you ever seen any place like it?”
Gold flags glinted from the four corners of Magdalene Tower. Though the November trees were bare, the landscape was far from stark with the college walls glowing their warm honey color in the morning light.
The bus swerved to avoid a bicyclist.
“No.” Briggie answered shortly, renewing a death grip on her belongings.
Tangled Roots
[Briggie introducing Alex’s mother to what it means to be a genealogist]
“Oh my goodness,” her mother said. “This is getting dangerous. Do you think we should go ahead with it?”
“It’s our business,” Briggie told her briskly. “If it’s an inheritance deal, then something’s up with this genogram. You say Gladys has the family Bible?” she asked Alex.
“Yes.”
“Maybe that will give us some kind of lead,” Briggie said, squinting to peer through the falling snow. “Boy, this is getting interesting.”
Later:
Suddenly, behind her [Alex] she heard a commotion. Everyone looked up.
The little maid was screeching as Charles and Briggie rounded the corner into the corridor. Briggie took one look at the scene before her and raised her deer rifle, squinting into its sight. “Hands up!” she commanded. “Unless you want your ugly head stuffed and mounted on my living room wall.”
Poisoned Pedigree
[Alex, as she races to rescue Briggie from almost certain death]
How in the world could she bear losing Briggie? Alex thought of her staunch freind, who had rescued her from her bottomless grief and abandonment in Scotland. Stewart’s Scottish relatives had been so stoic and phlegmatic that Alex couldn’t pour out her grief to them. The cold village kirk had offered no comfort. There hadn’t been a body to mourn, or even a memorial service. After she lost the baby, Alex had begun to waste away, not caring whether she lived or died. One day Briggie had appeared at her bedside, and in her gruff American accent had told her she was related to Stewart. Briggie invited her to get out of bed and try to help her prove it. Since the, she had issued one challenge after another. Come home to the States where you belong. Come live with me in my house, and we’ll start a genealogy business together. Go to my friend, Dr. Brace, and get some help for your depression. Listen to the missionaries–they have a message that will give meaning to your life. Go see your parents and make peace with them . . .
Hidden Branch
[Alex is just coming to from another head injury on the floor of a fugitive's house, when she gets a frantic call on her cell phone]
Briggie’s voice said, “Alex, Leon and I are both in jail in Santa Ana. Can you come and tell these stupid cops that I didn’t steal those coins and that I didn’t steal those coins and that [ can't be a spoiler here] . . .”
“How did you wind up in jail this time?” Alex asked, exasperated.
“Leon was chasing me in his car, and I ran a couple of lights. We were both doing about sixty in a twenty-five zone. We both got stopped. I thought it was my lucky day. I told them about Leon, but as soon as they called in, the cops fount out about my arrest the other night. Leon was claiming I had stolen the coins. But since I claimed he was a murderer and the FBI was after him, the cops decided to take both of us in.”
“Well, at least you’re safe in jail. . . “
That’s all from Briggie and Alex until next Christmas, which gives you plenty of time to catch up on anything you’ve missed (put it on your Amazon wish list), or introduce the indefatigable Briggie to your friends and relatives! (Click on book cover to order from Amazon)
Contest ends December 6.
