Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm Launches

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

Attention fans of All Creatures Great and Small, cozy mysteries, or anything British…

Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm is for you! 

I was honoured to be invited by Guideposts to contribute two stories to Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm, a fifteen-book, multi-author series, set in God’s Own County–Yorkshire, UK. 

About Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm

This exciting series from Guideposts is set in the charming, history-filled region of Yorkshire, England. Often called “God’s Own County” by the locals, you’ll fall in love with the area right along with newly transplanted Harriet Bailey. As she explores the rolling hills, marvels at the gardens that surround each cottage, and wanders through the ruins of old stone castles, she finds herself hoping she made the right decision when she moved here to take over her late grandfather’s veterinary practice. 

With lots of Extras to Enjoy 

Besides a fabulous mystery, many with historical elements, each story will also feature a yummy recipe for popular British dishes. This is where I have to retract Serena Jones’s statement in A Fool and His Monet: British cuisine. World renowned since … never. 

Although in Serena’s defense, (and for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s really time you read her art crime mysteries), she was referencing Bubble and Squeak at the time. She was being facetious when she mused that rechristening leftovers with a cutesy name made them so much tastier. Especially when in Mom’s kitchen, Brussels Sprouts were inevitably involved in insidious ways.  

But I digress! 

Each book also features fun facts about people, places, or things in Britain, related to the story. 

In addition to those included in the book, I’ll soon be adding bonus features to my website for Into Thin Air, too. 

Book Cover for Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air, is my first contribution to the Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm. Read more about it here: https://sandraorchard.com/books/into-thin-air/

Into Thin Air includes a kidnapping and an art theft (channeling Serena Jones again here 🙂 ) and lots of lovable characters of both the human and animal varieties. 😉 

Can’t wait to start reading Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm? 

You can purchase books individually, or you can subscribe to the series and enjoy extra savings and two free gifts. You’ll find all the details at Shop Guideposts.

Shopping Tip: if you find other books you like, and spend more than $45, use coupon code FREESHIP45 to enjoy free shipping. 

 

Inspirational Romantic Suspense Giveaways & Promos

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

For the first 25 days of June 2022,

I’m celebrating the publication of my 25th novel with freebies, giveaways and special promotions.  

This is day one–time to reintroduce my debut novel–the award-winning, inspirational romantic suspense, Deep Cover, from Love Inspired Suspense, released September 2011.

inspirational romantic suspense by Sandra Orchard

Back Cover Blurb for Deep Cover by Sandra Orchard:

Maintaining his cover cost undercover cop Rick Gray the woman he loved. Sweet Ginny Bryson never really knew Rick–he never gave her the chance. Not then, and not now, when he’s back with a new alias to gather evidence against Ginny’s uncle. The man’s crimes led to Rick’s partner’s death, and Rick wants justice to be served. But his investigation is stirring up trouble, and Ginny is in the middle of it. Someone wants Ginny to pay the price for what her uncle has done. But how can Rick protect her without blowing his cover, jeopardizing his assignment…and risking both their lives?

Special Promotion from Love Inspired Suspense

For two weeks only, my eighth novel, the multi-award-winning, inspirational romantic suspense, Identity Withheld is only $1.99 at Love Inspired’s main retailers and Harlequin.com. There’s never been a more economical time to add it to your E-library! 

Congrats to Lisa J–the recipient of book one of my 25-book giveaway.

We’ll randomly select recipients from newsletter subscribers, Facebook followers, blog visitors and rafflecopter entrants. 

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway 

Boughs of Folly -a cozy mystery - #1 in Jingle Bells Mysteries
Click the image or link to enter the rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win 1 of 10 copies of my 25th novel, Boughs of Folly. Draw to be held Jun 19

If you haven’t already…

Tell me in the comments which of my novels you’d most like to add to your collection. You can find the complete list here: https://sandraorchard.com/my-books/

Then come back each day through to the 25th for more news. Or subscribe to the blog feed in the side bar. 

Thanks so much for sharing this celebration with me! 

You can also visit me today at Susan Mathis’s blog. 

 

Cozy Mystery & Romantic Suspense Giveaway – Sandra Orchard

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

My newest cozy mystery and 25th novel, 

Boughs of Folly, releases June 25th, and 

To celebrate, I’m giving away 25 books! 

Recipients will be randomly selected from newsletter subscribers, Facebook followers, blog visitors and rafflecopter entrants. 

 

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway 

Boughs of Folly -a cozy mystery - #1 in Jingle Bells Mysteries
Click the image or link to enter the rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win 1 of 10 copies of the cozy mystery, Boughs of Folly, from Annie’s Fiction. Draw to be held Jun 19

Don’t miss the free book offers too:

Beginning June 1st, I’ll highlight one novel each day in the order of publication, and announce various publisher price promotions, including freebies, so you can economically add even more books to your library. If you enjoy, Christian Fiction–romantic suspense from Love Inspired Suspense or mysteries from Revell Publishing, or if you’re looking for a lighter, clean read–cozy mysteries and romantic suspense from Annie’s Fiction, you’ll find them here. 

In the meantime:

Take a moment to tell me in the comments below which of my novels you’d most like to add to your collection. You can find the complete list here: https://sandraorchard.com/my-books/

Then come back each day from June 1st to 25th for more news. Or subscribe to the blog feed in the side bar. 

Thanks so much for sharing this celebration with me! 

You can also visit me today at Fiction Finder, where I have a new author interview posted: https://www.fictionfinder.com/author_interview/read/interview_with_sandra_orchard3

Hidden Threats and a Twelve-Book Giveaway!

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

Have you checked out Annie’s Sweet Intrigue book club that I introduced with the release of Dangerous at Heart

Well…if you’re not already a subscriber, here’s your chance to win the complete set of twelve books, including my latest contribution, Hidden Threats. 

Cover for Hidden Threats

This romantic suspense is set on Martha’s Vineyard. I had such fun researching my Serena Jones mystery, Over Maya Dead Body, on the island that I couldn’t resist making a second trip . I have such fond memories of plotting it out–setting by setting–with my resident friend. 

Twelve Book Giveaway of  the Complete Sweet Intrigue Set: 

Image of Sweet Intrigue Set

This picture is courtesy of Virginia Smith, author of three of the books in the multi-author series and the host of the giveaway. 

Please visit her giveaway page here: https://virginiasmith.org/your-chance-to-win-twelve-books/ and follow the instructions for your chance to win all twelve books!  

The winning name will be drawn on Sunday May 15th, 2022.

If you’ve already enjoyed reading the Sweet Intrigue series, you’ll be excited to learn another is in the works! 

More Giveaways to Come

Although I blog infrequently these days, please stay tuned, because at the end of May I’ll be announcing the celebration of the release of my 25th novel. I plan to giveaway 25 books to celebrate!

Oh, and Newsletter subscribers and Facebook Followers will have extra chances to win. Just saying.  😉 

Don’t Miss the Announcements

If you subscribe to my newsletter, be sure to check your junk mail or bulk mail or spam mail or promotions folders for my emails and then add my address to your contacts. I’ve heard from many of my subscribers with gmail accounts that they don’t receive my emails and it’s because they haven’t been delivered to the main inbox.

Within 24 hours of receiving a subscription request, I send a personal email (not an automated email) with links to a mini-novella I’ve written exclusively for my subscribers. If you don’t see that email from me after you subscribe, it’s being diverted to one of those other boxes. If you still can’t find it, contact me through my contact page. 

Have a fabulous day!

 

 

 

Settling Auld Scores by Sandra Orchard

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

I’m pleased to announce that my next instalment in the Scottish Bakehouse Mysteries has shipped to subscribers from Annie’s Fiction. 

Aye, I’ve had a right braw (wonderful) time contributing to this series. Admittedly, at first I dinnae ken (didn’t know) if I’d feel at home in auld Loch Mallaig. But once I had a right old blether with the bonnie lads and lassies in town, I could hear the Scottish accent in every line. But don’t worry, only the odd Scottish word made it into the book. After all, I wouldn’t want my readers to think my heid’s full o’ mince. (every word that comes out of my mouth is non-sensical) 😀 

About Settling Auld Scores by Sandra Orchard

As Bread on Arrival’s head baker, Laura Donovan is used to scoring touchdowns in the kitchen, especially when she teams up with her best friends and business partners, Molly Ferris and Carol MacCallan. However, when it comes to parenting, unmarried Laura is a true rookie. While her brother and his wife are out of the country, Laura has agreed to host her teenage nephew, Henry, an up-and-coming football star now playing for the Loch Mallaig High Loons. Laura suddenly finds herself on defense as the safety of Henry and his teammates is tested by a persistent prankster, and Laura worries that her nephew is the main target.

From vindictive rival coaches and jilted former players to lovelorn teens intent on revenge, Laura’s roster of suspects seems endless. And as the pranks become more dangerous at every turn, Laura fears that a truly deadly incident could be next. She must take the offensive prankster out of the game before the clock runs out—or else someone could face sudden death.

Click to learn more about the Scottish Bakehouse Mysteries Bookclub from Annie’s Fiction. 

More Scottish Bakehouse Mysteries by Sandra Orchard

 

Check out this New Romantic Suspense Book Club

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

2021 marks the beginning of a new series from Annie’s Fiction

The series is called Sweet Intrigue and features standalone romantic suspense. I’m super-excited to be amongst the many authors writing for this 12-book club.  

When you subscribe to the club, you’ll receive one hardcover book every four weeks (or an Ebook if you prefer), starting with Betrayal of Trust by DeAnna Julie Dodson.

About Betrayal of Trust:

Grieving widow Julianne Montgomery is starting over in the Midwest town where she grew up. Still reeling from the recent death of her husband, nothing could’ve prepared her for the shock of seeing him show up at her door late one night, very much alive, injured, and insistent that she’s in danger.

Are you intrigued? 

My first contribution to the series is Dangerous at Heart . I don’t have the cover art or official book blurb to share with you yet, but those details will be coming soon. The book releases April 16th, 2021

About Dangerous at Heart by Sandra Orchard: 

After the police pin the fatal hit-and-run of their town’s beloved doctor on a dead man, witness Laura Brennan teams up with the doc’s nephew, Garrett Simons, to find the real killer. But when Laura asks her cousin, an aide to the state senator, to use her political pull to help them, her cousin disappears. What they discover in their search for her cousin, and for the truth, is a web of lies, corruption and coverups, surrounding the state’s largest manufacturer and perhaps the senator herself. But can they ferret out the facts and figure out who can be trusted to bring the perpetrators to justice, before they’re silenced too.

If stay-at-home orders have you down,

this might be just the series you need to get your blood pumping. Best of all, it will be delivered right to your mailbox, or inbox. 🙂 You can also cancel at anytime. 

Go to Annie’s Fiction for all the details about how to join the club.

In the Mood for more Art Crime? Book Sale

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

Hey, everyone. Sorry I’ve been quiet here for so long. The past six weeks have been a blur. I had a fabulous time at my first Bouchercon Mystery Conference. It was especially fun to meet Maureen Jennings, the author of the original Murdoch Mysteries, and to hear how they evolved into a popular TV series. 

Then my grandson had another surgery on his whole leg to straighten it, so I’ve been spending a lot more time with him and his siblings, helping out, since they also have a new little baby in the family, and it will be a few more weeks yet, before he’s mobile again. He is progressing fabulously, though, and we so appreciate the prayers of the many who have been remembering him. 

Now . . . to the book sale news. 

If you’ve only recently discovered my novels, you may not realize that before Serena Jones and the Port Aster Secrets series, I wrote several romantic suspense novels. 

One of them, Perilous Waters, is about another member of the FBI Art Crime Team, Sam Steele, and he’s chasing down the bad guys aboard an Alaskan cruise.  

Cover for Perilous Waters

May I just inject here how much fun I had researching this novel!  😉 

The great news is that right now, Perilous Waters is on sale for 99¢ on all the Ebook platforms. 

Sooo, if you’ve enjoyed following Serena Jones’s cases, now is a great time to pick up Perilous Water, because I’m not sure how long the sale will last. 

Click on the book’s cover above to go to the book’s page on my site, where you’ll find links to iBooks, Kobo, kindle etc. through the “buying options” button. And after you read the book, check out it’s bonus features here. 

Celebration Sale!

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

We’re celebrating the healthy birth of our newest grandchild with a month-long book sale! 

My publisher has slashed the E-book prices

in all formats on my

Serena Jones Mysteries

For those wishing to download Kobo or iBook versions, be aware that their prices haven’t yet changed, but they should soon! Click the image above to go to kindle versions. Click the book images in the side bar, for full descriptions. 

If you’ve finished the series…

Please join our chat (without spoiler worries) in our private Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1680399125601702/

A Weekend Writing Adventure

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

This past Saturday, I had a blast leading a workshop at a retreat for Hospice Niagara Volunteers.

Hospice Niagara is a fabulous organization that provides compassionate care, hope, and encouragement to residents of Niagara with life-limiting progressive illnesses, as well as support to their caregivers, families and those who grieve their deaths.

Of the more than 350 volunteers with Hospice Niagara, 80 attended the retreat. And as the comedian who opened the event for us noted, with the majority of those volunteers being women, it’s a great place for retired single men to meet women…ur, volunteer. 😀

The theme for the retreat was about Inner Growth – stretching oneself to try and learn about new things. So…with the help of my daughter…

writers workshop b

I took my group of about twenty participants on a whirlwind tour of my journey from know-nothing newbie to published author, (which as it turned out, inspired some of the memoir writers in the group to do some revising to incorporate more fiction techniques into their writing). Then I coaxed everyone (well…almost everyone) into unleashing their imaginations as we brainstormed the plot and characters for a collaborative mystery story.

We had a riot, exploring motives and methods for…ur…killing off someone at the retreat–fictionally, of course.

We tallied an impressive list of suspects among the attendees. My secret suspicions that one person in our midst was CIA turned out to be not far off, as he later admitted to me that he was a former federal investigator.

Guess whose number I now have on speed dial? 😉

As part of my demonstration of how writers use seemingly incidental events as red herrings or secret reveals, my daughter wowed the participants with her acting talents

We also talked about how eccentric characters add so much to the texture of a story and searched the room for a few.

Finger Knitting

Enter Barb, our finger knitting lady–a topic for a whole other blog!

We also decided Barb would make a wonderful sleuth, since she loves to read mysteries, especially yours truly’s. How can I not admire her taste? 😆

As a bonus, I’m writing the story we brainstormed and sending it to the participants and my newsletter subscribers (click here to not miss it).

The faint of heart will be happy to learn that to keep the story short, our sleuth needed to solve the mystery at the event, so I opted to not allow our would-be murderer to actually succeed. That way the paramedics can truck off the victim to the hospital, as of yet unaware of the cause for his near-death condition, so we can dispense with the police getting in our sleuth’s way with all their rules and regulations.  😎

You can learn more about my talks and workshops on my Invite Sandra Orchard to Speak at your Event page.

Here’s a clip from this past weekend’s event (right click to open in a new window to allow time to load

Your Turn: What kind of topics would you like to hear an author talk about?

What’s Scribd and Why Should you Care?

Posted on: by Sandra Orchard

If you enjoy reading books on an Ereader, tablet, or other electronic device, and you read more than a couple of books a month, then you need to check out Scribd.

Scribd has been called Netflix for books. For one low monthly fee, you can download and read as many books as you want.

Screenshot 2014-10-17 22.48.58

The number of Christian fiction and non-fiction titles in Scribd’s library is growing daily.

Harlequin has begun adding their family of Love Inspired titles to the subscription service. So far, all the books in my Undercover Cops series are there, as are my Port Aster Secrets books from Revell Publishing.

And the best part is, thanks to Harlequin’s special promotion…

You can try Scribd for free for three months by clicking here

You can download up to 20 books at a time to read offline, as well as, organize all your chosen titles onto personal library shelves while online.

Scribd describes itself as “your personal digital library, where you have unlimited access to the world’s largest collection of e-books and written works.” With their premium subscription service you’ll have access to over half a million books from nearly a thousand publishers, from New York Times bestsellers to literary classics.

They also store an eclectic collection of user-uploaded written works, from landmark court filings to academic papers from scholars around the world.

You have nothing to lose by trying it. If you decide it’s not for you, just be sure to cancel before your free trial period ends and you won’t be charged a penny. But be sure to read all my books first.  😉

Find all Sandra Orchard’s titles on Scribd here.

I’m guessing that if you choose to “follow” me on at my profile on Scribd, you’ll receive notices when new books are added.

If you still have questions, check out Scribd’s frequently asked questions page here. I’m still learning my way around the place myself, working on “claiming” my author profile so I can add a photo etc.  😀

BTW, you won’t find any erotic fiction (at least not at this time) available in the subscription service–reassuring if the kids start browsing.

Stack of BooksYour Turn: What do you think of this concept? Do you plan to try it?

 

The service has been around since 2007, but I imagine with Harlequin now on board the number of users is bound to boom, at least for the next three months. However, I would very much hate to see it further undermine the viability of our local bookstores.

 

Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net