I am excited to have two of my books, DEATH CROSSES THE FINISH LINE and TEARS IN THE WIND published by SoulMate Publishing. Both books are available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, and SoulMate Publishing. DEATH CROSSES THE FINISH LINE is a new and exciting genre for me. It's also new in the fact that I am writing it under the pen name of D.M. Woods. I'm saving DeAnn Smallwood for my historical romances. This is my first venture into the thriller/suspense category. It is book one of three in my 'Death' series: DEATH IS A HABIT and DEATH WALKS C DOCK. DEATH IS A HABIT is now being edited and almost ready to go. DEATH WALKS C DOCK is in progress. All books feature Detective Tom Watts and Carrie Preston. DEATH WALKS C DOCK introduces another homicide detective: Sharyn Shelton. Sharyn is a leggy blonde with a razor sharp mind and wit to match. DEATH CROSSES THE FINISH LINE is a fast moving thriller bringing wit, intelligence and allure to a plot edged black by recent murders and the certain threat of more to come. Carrie is a motivational speaker who wakes past midnight to the ringing telephone. She knows the voice on the other end: Homicide Detective Tom Watts who begins his familiar plea, asking for her help in solving recent murders that appear to be connected. Carrie has a puzzling and mysterioius gift for "seeing what isn't there". She often senses motive, desire, and direction of a perpetrator. She speaks on everyone having this sixth sense if only they will take time to listen to their inner self. Tom recognizes her worth and makes her a part of the investigation team, following a horrendous trail that takes them into health clubs-always the sites of brutal and gruesome deaths, always of women. In a parallel line, the growing tennsion between Tom and Carrie increases and builds. While focused on the matter at hand, both he and Carrie skirt and avoid the electricity that runs between them.
TEARS IN THE WIND is a contemporary romance, transporting you to the beautiful Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. Matt Forister has made his mark carving a ranch out of the rugged Wyoming mountains. He is a loner, suspicious and untrusting of love, fearing he is courted for his wealth. Leanna has just turned her back on the fresh grave of her husband and leaves Colorado in search of a new life. She packs the bittersweet memories of her married life, a small ranch she's been forced off, and carries the secret of her husband's death. Matt is everything Leanna has come to fear and loathe. He is wealthy and good-looking and owns one of the biggest ranches in the area. Leanna immediately despises this man; yet, at the same time, she feels an overwhelming attraction to him. Their early meetings end explosively. Matt is puzzled, angered, and mesmerized by Leanna. He is drawn to her stunning beauty, he is attracted to her spirit. Thoughts of Leanna run like electricity through him. The volatile mix of restraint and passion guides both Matt and Leanna through the chapters that follow. Leanna comes to appreciate and trust the hardworking rancher, the passionate and caring man, who has never known the true love of a woman. Still, something keeps Leanna from letting go and embracing a life so completely wondrous and rich to her. She is still tortured by something. Leanna returns to Colorado and faces the heartbreak and rush of memories. It is then that she can face Matt, open her heart and tell him her reasons for her deep sense of shame and fear. They face one another, open and unafraid, clear about their desires and love.
Then back to my historical romances. They are available in hardback, paperback, and ebook from Amazon, and Kindle. MONTANA STAR Aries Burnett, an American woman born and raised in Philadelphia in 1895, faces a significant prospect and change in her life: she is invited to be bride to a rancher in the wilds of Montana. Aries has spent her life at the side of her father, a renowned medical doctor; she has acquired, over the years, a doctor's knowledge and skill. Because she is a woman during the 1800's Aries is more feared and cast out than respected. With her father's death, all the promise of someday becoming a doctor has gone to the grave with him. Left penniless, in desperation she answers an advertisement listed by Ben McCabe, Big Hole Valley Ranch, Montana. When she arrives in Montana, without a clue of what being a wife and homemaker entails, she discovers that Ben is a young boy, not truly looking for a wife. He placed the ad so that his older brother, Jarrett, might take the opportunity to marry. Jarrett is unaware of Ben's plan.
SAPPHIRE BLUE Meghan O'Reiley is the most mysterious and sought-after citizen in Pig Eye Gulch. Yet no one befriends or even fully trust the beautiful young woman. They seek her out in times of trouble--to heal their sick children or soothe their own ailments--but she is otherwise regarded with superstition and unease. When Conner Hendrickson needs help for his sweet baby daughter Bonnie, Meghan's formerly solitary life is suddenly full of spark and zest. She's wary of getting too close as she knows that a life with Conner cannot be hers. He comes from a life of privilege, having grown up in London's high society. Conner is the owner of the Yogo Sapphire mine and employs most of the citizens of Pig Eye Gulch, and Meghan knows that his aspirations will take him far beyond her rough-hewn Montana mining town. But try as she might, Meghan's love for both Conner and Bonnie deepens each day as she nears the precipice of losing them both.
It's here-out February 2013 available at Amazon.com UNCONQUERABLE CALLIE
UNCONQUERABLE CALLIE: Callie, a proud woman in the late 1800's is a liar and a darned good one, a master of the dubious art. She is also a dreamer. Her greatest hope is to reach a new life in South Pass City, Wyoming, where she can open a bakery and live an independent life. To be successful, she will need her greatest gifts of deception to date. As a woman alone, she has to prove to Seth McCallister, the wagon master that she has the wherewithal ( a wagon and a set of oxen), the stamina, and a mystical fiance who waits at the end of the line. McCallister is uneasy, but also mystified by the audacity and determination of the young woman. He allows her to join the train west. UNCONQUERABLE CALLIE covers the trail of Seth McCallister's wagon train starting out in Independence Missouri, across the endless expanse of daily hardships and obstacles-from snake bites, bear attacks, treacherous river crossings, and parching sun. Seth's deep distrust and concern for the woman traveling alone opens first to admiration then friendship then love that he is forced to hold at bay. What he doesn't realize is that there is no fiance. Callie has fallen in love with Seth but feels certain that once he realizes her deceptions, he'll turn away, ashamed of his love and trust in her. Callie leaves the train in South Pass. In the months that ensue, Seth cannot forget Callie Collins. And he finds out the truth about her, too--including the lies she told to reach her destination. This is an exciting book full of the rigors of life on a wagon train, the hardships of the Oregon Trail, and finding love.
Due out April, 2013
WYOMING HEATHER: He rode alone, coming back after five years to an empty cabin, a run-down ranch, and a grave on a hill. A former Texas Ranger burnt out on life and afraid to love. Whip had spent five years hunting the man that took his wife's life and left him to die. Heather is a spirited, independent woman living alone on a ranch left to her by her parents. A woman doing a man's work, running a ranch that everyone said couldn't be done, not in this untamed, vastly unsettled land, in the mid 1800's. The ranch was her life. It had everything she needed except water. But she'd managed to overcome even that. She stole it from a neighboring abandoned ranch watched over by a lonely cabin and a grave. Whip and Heather meet in an explosive moment on the banks of the Powder River reacting to one another like fire and wind. But, underlying the tangles over property rights, there's a chemistry between the two. Both are lonely, both are drawn to one another, and both fight the attraction-Whip, because of memories he's not ready to put to rest, and Heather, because of her stubborn resolve to succeed as a woman rancher. But fate heeds no one or no thing. Fate shows a strong, willful woman, full of love and compassion, just what she's been missing in her life. And it shows a calloused Texas Ranger that Heather and love does flourish on the Wyoming plains. This book is full of twists and turns, surprising developments, and unforgettable characters. Work in Progress... DEATH IS A HABIT and DEATH WALKS C DOCK under my pen name of D.M. Woods. ONE SHINGLE TO HANG by DeAnn Smallwood...and so many others just waiting to be written in the Historical Romance genre and the Thriller/Suspense
