On today's episode Kate Quinn returns to talk about her new book The Rose Code. “The reigning queen of historical fiction” --  Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue  The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over. 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. 1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter--the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger--and their true enemy--closer... Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” and “The Rose Code.” All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in San Diego with three rescue dogs. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQvoN0i26po

Today’s author interview guest is Trudi Trueit, author of Explorer Academy: The Star Dunes (Book 4). Cruz, Sailor, Emmett, and the gang are on their way to Africa when Nebula misses their intended target and someone close to Cruz ends up on the brink of death. Secrets creep out from the shadows and leave Cruz with more questions than answers in this fourth title in the hit series. A major discovery forces the Explorer Academy into the limelight in The Star Dunes, but Cruz has much more on his mind than 15 minutes of fame. A new face on board the ship brings Cruz’s worlds colliding, just as a major close call tears them apart. En route to Africa, Team Cousteau is now down a major player, and Cruz can’t help but be preoccupied by the hole in his life. The discovery of his mom’s next clue leads him to the most exotic location yet–a vast desert–with no other information to lead the way, while an unlikely ally helps Cruz pursue another piece of the puzzle. Just as things seem like they might turn out alright, Dr. Fanchon Quills has a technological breakthrough which gives Cruz a glimpse into the past and reveals more about his future than he may really want to know. Trudi Trueit imagined a career as a novelist ever since writing, her first play in the fourth grade. A former TV news reporter and weather forecaster, Trudi has published more than 100 fiction and nonfiction books for young readers. Trudi’s middle grade fiction books include the Explorer Academy series for National Geographic (2018 to present), as well as My Top Secret Dares & Don’ts, The Sister Solution, Stealing Popular, and the Secrets of a Lab Rat series (Aladdin). Trudi’s numerous nonfiction titles cover such diverse topics as history, weather, wildlife, earth science, writing, education, and health. Recent releases include Detecting Avalanches & Detecting Volcanic Eruptions (FOCUS Readers); Giant Pandas, Grizzly Bears, and Polar Bears from the Wild Bears series (Amicus). Born and raised in the Seattle area, Trudi has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. She currently lives in Everett, WA with her husband, Bill, a high school teacher. She loves photography, art, and serving the whims of her three cats. Trudi’s Links: Website: www.truditrueit.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/truditrueit Twitter: @truditrueit National Geographic: www.exploreracademy.com Simon & Schuster: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Trudi-Trueit/46458015 http://pages.simonandschuster.com/aladdinmix ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Lq8kBoN5c

Today's author interview guest is Tom Abrahams, author of The Bar at the End of the World (The Watchers Book 1). A starving city. A renegade bootlegger. A battle for the future of mankind. Zeke is a bad guy. He didn’t choose to be. It’s just who he is. It’s who he has to be to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where trust is as scarce as water. He's got nobody. No family. No friends. And he left behind the woman he loved for her own good. But it's time to change. After a brush with death far out in the wasteland, he decides he's done risking his life to help his greedy bosses control who gets to drink water and when. Now, he's stranded in a bar in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the perfect kind of ruffians who can help him go back and make things right. Armed with renewed purpose and a one-of-a-kind muscle car, Zeke hunts for redemption, seeks retribution and, maybe, just maybe, he can get his girl back while he’s at it. Take a ride across the wasteland in Tom Abrahams' newest post-apocalyptic, dystopian series, but with a fantasy twist. It will leave you wondering just what it means to be human. It's perfect for fans of A.G. Riddle, Hugh Howey, and Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Tom Abrahams is an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award winning television journalist and member of International Thriller Writers. He is also a Kindle Unlimited All-Star, an Audible 5 Star Favorite, and author of more than two dozen novels. He writes in several genres including dystopian, sci-fi techno-thriller, post-apocalyptic, and political thrillers. His stories combine the realistic with the fantastic and have sold copies all over the world. The dramatic rights for his "A Dark World" trilogy are optioned for television and film. He's married with two children and lives in Southeast Texas. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J0xGPhnFXg

#authorinterview #books #writingadvice Today’s author interview guest is Robert Crais, author of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series, who joins me to talk about his new thriller A Dangerous Man. A brilliant new crime novel from the beloved, bestselling, and award-winning master of the genre–and Joe Pike’s most perilous case to date. Joe Pike didn’t expect to rescue a woman that day. He went to the bank same as anyone goes to the bank, and returned to his Jeep. So when Isabel Roland, the lonely young teller who helped him, steps out of the bank on her way to lunch, Joe is on hand when two men abduct her. Joe chases them down, and the two men are arrested. But instead of putting the drama to bed, the arrests are only the beginning of the trouble for Joe and Izzy. After posting bail, the two abductors are murdered and Izzy disappears. Pike calls on his friend, Elvis Cole, to help learn the truth. What Elvis uncovers is a twisted family story that involves corporate whistleblowing, huge amounts of cash, the Witness Relocation Program, and a long line of lies. But what of all that did Izzy know? Is she a perpetrator or a victim? And how far will Joe go to find out? Robert Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. A native of Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and police officers. He purchased a secondhand paperback of Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister when he was fifteen, which inspired his lifelong love of writing, Los Angeles, and the literature of crime fiction. Other literary influences include Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker, and John Steinbeck. After years of amateur film-making and writing short fiction, he journeyed to Hollywood in 1976 where he quickly found work writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice, as well as numerous series pilots and Movies-of-the-Week for the major networks. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues, but is most proud of his 4-hour NBC miniseries, Cross of Fire, which the New York Times declared: “A searing and powerful documentation of the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to national prominence in the 20s.” In the mid-eighties, feeling constrained by the collaborative working requirements of Hollywood, Crais resigned from a lucrative position as a contract writer and television producer in order to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. His first efforts proved unsuccessful, but upon the death of his father in 1985, Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGBYmqvARio