Book Giveaway: Sleepless in Las Vegas

Goodreads Contest Now Closed

Thank you to the 691 readers who entered the contest!  Twelve winners' copies are being mailed November 27.

My December release, Sleepless in Las Vegas, is the second book in the private-eye-romance series, and is available in print and e-versions.  To order your copy, click here.

Chatting About Crime

Today my husband and I were guests of Alice de Sturler on #crimechat. Alice is a former human rights defender, educator and owner of the Defrosting Cold Cases blog. Below is an excerpt from Alice's recap on the chat, with a link to the full article at the end.

Sorry about the mishmash of green and white backgrounds -- had a little trouble cutting and pasting.

Recap #CrimeChat Oct 25, 2013

Recap #CrimeChat Oct 25, 2013 with Shaun Kaufman &Colleen Collins a.k.a. the Writing PIs. It is always a pleasure to talk to these two. There are always new stories, new books they are working on, and they have a great sense of humour.

While Shaun was driving home from court, Colleen and I started off with a post I found really informative. It is about the difference between private investigators and bounty hunters. Many confuse the two. Both track people, conduct interviews, and have contact with suspects. However, they are governed by different sets of regulations.

Colleen told us that she got great reactions to her latest book “Secrets of a real life female private eye” including the comments that some younger readers did not know Emma Peel. I can still laugh about the differences in generations. As soon as that changes, I will alert you!

Shaun arrived and we spoke about the difficulties a criminal defense lawyer faces. Shaun described how law school taught him about procedure but absolutely nothing about criminal defense. He owes that to Walter Gerash.

We touched on the “chess coach case” which sadly involved child abuse. I asked them how they handle cases like this. How do you shake those images after cataloging the evidence and DNA test results? How do you move on from that? They both said that the only way to do that is to remain steadfast in the believe that the defense is about defending the system of checks & balances and not the deed.

End of excerpt.  To read the full recap, click here. 

Who Is Emma Peel? 

As Alice mentioned in her above recap, there are those in the younger generation who have no idea who Emma Peel is. No idea?  Sadly, it's true. It's also a reminder that yes, we baby boomers are getting older.

Uma Thurman recreated the role of Emma Peel in the 1998 movie The Avengers, which earned a rousing 1 star from Rotten Tomatoes.   Well, really, could any actress other than Diana Rigg be Mrs. Peel?  Yes, yes, fellow baby boomers, I know there were other actresses who tried.  Honor Blackman, who preceded Diana Rigg in the series and later played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, and Linda Thorson who came after Diana Rigg.  But let's get real.  Diana Rigg was the Emma Peel.

Here's an article on the 50th anniversary of The Avengers TV series, written by a fellow baby boomer: Classic 1960s Brit TV series "The Avengers" turns 50

Before I sign off today's post, I'll leave the recipe for the Emma Peel Cocktail.

Emma Peel Cocktail

Sweet and tart with a kick, like its namesake, this drink is a mix of fruits and champagne.

The Emma Peel

1 measure cherry brandy
1  measure pineapple juice
Top it off with champagne