Tell me a little about yourself and your writing career?
Well, “I” am actually two people: Patti and Rana. They’re both creative women. Patti is a classical pianist as well as a writer, and Rana is an amateur photographer who has had a couple of shows of her work. They’ve both been writing since they were children. Rana took a detour through academia and did her time in the trenches as a university history professor. She and Patti began to write together five years ago and frankly, they have so many interests in so many genres they’re exhausting me! Right now these two crazy woman are managing five series and getting ready to launch a sixth. (I secretly think the two of them may talk too much, but let’s just keep that little observation between us.)
Tell us about Descendants of the Rose?
Descendants of the Rose started on a dare. Patti, who is the editor of the duo, told Rana that the last few characters she’d sketched out for them were “one dimensional.” She plopped a scene from another author in front of her and said, “Write something as eye catching as this!” Rana wrote the first scene of the Selby book, which is, frankly, pretty raw. (And it’s come down several notches in editing.) Anyway, Patti read it and loved the character, so from that single scene a world and a supporting cast developed. This is really the “seed” novel for a story arc that will take several books to complete. Be prepared to learn a lot more about everyone in book two, which is currently in development.
Describe your character Selby in less than 140 characters.
Thelma meets Louise with tequila, an attitude chaser, and a whole lot of stuff that goes bump in the night.
Why should we pick up your book?
It’s different. There a hint of Sam Spade noir chatter sprinkled with Buffy-esque Scooby gang patter, but the themes are darker and more complex. I didn’t want to write just a vampire book or just a werewolf book. In the opening scene, Selby is not at her best. She’s wracked by grief and close to really not caring if she makes it or not. This story forces her to grow. Some early readers have made the mistake of thinking the Dex storyline has been “resolved.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. You’re going to meet some interesting characters. There is a mystery that gets solved, but there are also a lot of questions still to be explored. The second book, Lost in Room 636 is based on an actual unsolved case and it will serve as a canvas to delve much more deeply into the “family” that book one builds. This is a series about the “human” journey, whether the being in question is alive, dead, or a smoke demon with a heart of gold.
Selby Jensen’s business card reads “Private Investigator,” but to say the least, that downplays her real occupation. Let’s hear it in her own words:
“You want to know what I do for a living? I rip souls out. Cut heads off. Put silver bullets where silver bullets need putting. You think there aren’t any monsters? . . . I have some disturbing news for you. You might want to sit down. Monsters walk among us. I’m looking for one in particular. In the meantime? I’m keeping the rest of them from eating people like you.”
In this debut novel of her new paranormal mystery series, Juliette Harper, author of The Lockwood Legacy books and The Study Club Mysteries creates a cast of characters, most of whom have one thing in common; they don’t have a pulse. The dead are doing just fine by Selby, who is determined never to lose someone she loves again, but then a force of love more powerful than her grief changes that plan.
Join Selby Jensen as she and her team track down a shadowy figure tied to a murder at a girls’ school. What none of them realize, however, is that in solving this case, they will enter a longer battle against a larger evil.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. Descendants of the Rose is the first installment of Harper’s debut Selby Jensen Paranormal Mystery series.
Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan, worked as a journalist and university history instructor before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 2002.
Juliette Harper is also the author of The Lockwood Legacy, a nine-book chronicle of the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father’s suicide. Three of the novels are currently available: Langston’s Daughters, Baxter’s Draw, and Alice’s Portrait. The fourth book, Mandy’s Father, will appear in Fall 2015.
And don’t miss her hilariously funny “cozy” Study Club Mysteries, a light-hearted spinoff of The Lockwood Legacy. The books, set in the 1960s, take on the often absurd eccentricities of small town life with good-natured, droll humor. The first book, You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet, will be available shortly, with the second, You Can’t Put a Corpse in a Parade, coming in Summer 2015.
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I love the Lockwood Legacy books and I'm excited to give this new series a try. 6 series is a lot to keep track of but I can't wait to read them!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting a tour stop!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book, so I've added it to my list of books to read.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like an intriguing plot! Great giveaway :)
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