WHISPERING HOPE - Peggy Blann Phifer - One Free Book

BIO: Author Peggy Blann Phifer, a retired executive assistant after twenty-one years in the Electrical Wholesale Industry, lives in the ‘boonies’ of NW Wisconsin. A late bloomer, Peg didn’t start taking writing seriously until age fifty.

Her debut novel, To See the Sun, a contemporary romantic suspense, released in January 2012. A second novel, Somehow, Christmas Will Come, contemporary women’s fiction with a touch of romance and mystery, released in November 2014, revised and re-released in late 2015. A new work titled Whispering Hope, an historical romantic suspense, set during the years of Prohibition, released in early May, 2018. Her work has also appeared in numerous anthologies over the past five years.

Peg is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. When she’s not writing, Peg enjoys reading, blogging, and sharing her home with her daughter, son-in-law, and a Border Collie mix dog named Rocky.

Welcome back, Peg. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I mostly write what I like to read, which is Romantic Suspense, something gripping and gritty, without the nasty graphic stuff the world seems to expect. Although I love reading political thrillers, I’d never attempt to write one.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

I have to say the day I met my second husband. After some tumultuous years gone before, he became my rock, my best friend. He was called Home six years ago after 26 years of marriage. Too soon. I still miss him more than I can say.

How has being published changed your life?

Immeasurably. The marketing and self-promotion is hard. I’ve never been one to ‘put myself out there’ and I find that the most difficult part. Getting on blogs like yours really helps, and I’ve been fortunate there. I need more sales and reviews, of course, so there’s that. But I’m getting there.

What are you reading right now?

The Widow’s Plight by Mary Davis. Great read so far.

What is your current work in progress?

I am under contract with Forget Me Not Romances for a series of contemporary novellas called Sweetwater River – which I classify as women’s fiction.

What would be your dream vacation?

Oh, my … that’s a hard one to answer. I think, at the top of the list, would be to go to Scotland, England, and Ireland … back to my ancestor’s roots, so to speak. Next on the list would be to visit the Holy Land, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

Mostly places I’m familiar with. My first two books are set in Las Vegas, where I lived for 33 years. My current release, though historical, is set in NW Wisconsin, where I now live. However, my novella series is a bit of a departure, being set in North Central Arkansas. Go figure.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

Up until a few months ago, I would have said Billy Graham. But I think right now I’d love to spend an evening with author James Scott Bell. I love his writing, and his sense of humor. What fun that would be. I actually met him in person back in 2004 at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in Estes Park, Colorado. He’s a delightful person.

Yes, he is, and I love his books. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

I love handcrafts of all kinds, needlepoint, and crochet, although arthritic fingers (and poor vision) have made it too difficult for me these days.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Procrastination! Self-discipline. My two big bugaboos. Overcoming it? Practice more BICHOK … Behind in Chair, Hands on Keyboard.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

If you’re truly bitten by the writing bug, if you feel “called” to write, don’t delay. If you’ve got a story to tell, just start writing. You have permission to write a terrible first rough draft. Just get those words down.

Tell us about the featured book.

Back cover blurb: 1930 Chicago is no place for a Wisconsin country girl.

Virginia Hopewell visits her cousin in Chicago and gets caught up in a deadly gangster shooting at a speakeasy, barely escaping with her life.  After learning of the tragic death of her father, brother, and sister-in-law, Ginny returns to Wisconsin and convinces her mother to reopen the resort her father had closed after losing everything in the stock market crash in 1929.

Ransom Blake, an agent with the Chicago Bureau of Prohibition, had been at the same speakeasy acting on a tip about the shooting. Rance is charged with finding the gangster responsible. He and his team are sent to Wisconsin where the man was reported being seen, and to investigate how illegal liquor from Canada is making its way to Chicago.

With the opening of Whispering Hope Resort, Rance registers as a guest and comes face to face with the lovely redhead he’d briefly encountered at the speakeasy during the shooting.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Virginia Hopewell’s head pounded as she pressed against the wall inside the Blue Rooster. The floor vibrated beneath her feet as bodies bounced in rhythm to the small band’s jazzy rendition of “Button Up Your Overcoat.”

Good choice. Ginny shivered as a blast of cold air accompanied another couple entering the already overcrowded Chicago speakeasy. The music and laughter all but drowned out the voice of the wraith with kohl-lined eyes and red painted lips behind the microphone.

Ginny closed her eyes as the pressure in her head increased. Why had she allowed her cousin to talk her into this? The city lifestyle was no place for a country girl.

But she knew why. One simply didn’t say “no” to Susan Duquesne. Besides, after a week in Chicago at Susan’s invitation, it had sounded like fun to spend a night out on the town before she had to head back to the dismal situation at home. So much had changed after that horrible October day last year.

She watched the young singer struggling through the last few bars, barely keeping up with the band. As the song ended, the poor thing cast fearful eyes at the scowling, burly man behind the bar. A stab of sympathy gripped Ginny. It had not been a good performance. Would the girl lose her job?

A tipsy young man with Brilliantined hair lurched into Ginny. She staggered backward as he drunkenly flung his arm over her shoulder. “Hey, doll, where ya been all my life?” He hiccupped. “Don’cha know I’m a sucker for redheads?”

Repelled by the slurred words and alcohol-laden breath, she shoved at him and twisted her body away. Unbalanced, he crashed into the wall and collapsed in a heap at her feet.

Her hands shook as she glanced around, but no one seemed to notice—or care—what happened. She stepped around the prone form and tugged the fluffy boa across the front of her borrowed dress in a futile attempt at modesty. The ridiculous mass of white feathers accomplished nothing except to make her sneeze. The low neckline of the shimmering emerald-green dress left her feeling exposed, naked ... and completely out of place.

Being jostled by dancing, smoking merrymakers, pawed by an inebriated youth who had no business being here, and abandoned by her cousin, who was nowhere to be seen, did not define Ginny’s idea of a good time. Even her blind-date escort, Sam—or was it Stan?—had disappeared. Ooh, cousin, just wait till I get my hands on you!

Intent on finding Susan, Ginny edged her way through the crowd. An abrupt silence descended. Music and laughter ceased. Her gaze flew across the room to the entrance, where a group of men in black suits and overcoats entered the speakeasy.

A thick blue haze from countless cigars and cigarettes swirled overhead like an undulating web, disturbed by the inrush of cold air from the opened door. The men moved further into the barroom, forming a circle around a short, heavyset man with a stubby cigar clenched between his teeth.

“Is that Capone?” a man murmured behind Ginny.

“Nah, Big Al is still in the pen in Penn-sylvania.” Several low, nervous chuckles acknowledged the pun.

Not amused, Ginny’s nerves tightened. If it wasn’t Al Capone, who was it?

I’m eager to read the rest. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Blog/website: http://whispersinpurple.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pegphifer

Twitter: www.twitter.com/pegphifer @pegphifer

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/pegphifer

Google+: http://plus.google.com/+AuthorPeggyBlannPhifer/posts

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/pbphifer

Email: pbphifer@centurylink.net

Buy links for Whispering Hope -

Paperback: https://amzn.to/2s1OMiI

Kindle eBook: https://amzn.to/2safmqy

Thank you, Peggy, for sharing this new book with me and my readers. I know most of them will be as eager as I am to read it.

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

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TO SEE THE SUN - Peggy Blann Phifer - Free Book

Peggy Blann Phifer is an author and columnist, book reviewer,  and author interviewer, whose work has appeared on various Web sites and writer periodicals both in print and online. She is also an avid reader who loves to escape by diving between the covers of a good book. Peg enjoys handcrafts of all kinds and her home shows off some of her work, though most end up as gifts for friends and family. A retired executive assistant, Peg now makes her home in southern Nevada with husband Jim.

To See the Sun is her debut novel.

Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

Not a lot of “me” as much as my experiences. My main female character, Erin, is nothing like me. And, thinking about it, there’s very little of me in any of the other characters, either. Maybe that’s weird, I don’t know. Maybe a little wishful thinking, huh? Like, I wish I WAS more like Erin. Or Magie, or Racine.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

Maybe not quirky, more like hare-brained. As a young mother living on Milwaukee’s southeast side, my dad was sick and Mom had to work. My husband had just gone through the same thing, so I knew how miserable Daddy was. I didn’t want to leave him alone. So, I bundled up my two-year-old son and my two-month-old daughter, took a city bus to the stop where I could catch a commuter bus out to New Berlin, where my parents lived. It was early February, as I recall. The crazy thing is that I had to leave the commuter bus and walk over a mile to the house, carrying the baby and holding tight to my son’s hand all the way. I used to walk that mile both ways every day to work before I got married, in high heels, so I didn’t think much about it until I began that long walk that day. Daddy was glad to see me but I got a royal scolding from him, as well as my husband. The children suffered no ill effects and I never once regretted doing what I did. But I never tried it again!

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

When I was a little girl I suffered from severe childhood asthma and there was little they could do about it in those days. I was limited to low-to-no strenuous activity, usually kept inside, often in bed. During the school year, if I had an attack, my teachers would send my schoolwork home with my sister, along with a selection of books from the school library. I devoured everything. And soon found myself re-writing some of them. It took most of my life until I was 40 to realize what I should have known back then. I was a writer.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

Oh, my. It covers a broad area. Everything from the classics to Exodus (one of my all-time favorites.) I read, and still have, all the early James Bond books. I’ve read War and Peace—twice. I even indulged in the bodice-rippers for a few rebellious years. My current “passion” is suspense/thrillers, because that’s what I’m writing. Love James Scott Bell and Brandilyn Collins, Ronie Kendig and Steven James, to name a few. But my writing is not as much “thriller” as it is romantic suspense.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

Honestly? Not very well. There are days I’d give anything to run outside and scream my head off. Or run away and hide. It seems every time I want to close myself off and do a good, long stint of writing, life happens. Or, more to the point, one husband, one dog, and seven cats. They don’t get it that, like Garbo, I just want to be alone.

Just before Christmas, I saw a Tweet from James Scott Bell with a picture of a door hanging “writer at work” made by his daughter using “ransom note” style, i.e. letters cut from newspapers and magazines. I thought, hey, I can do that. So I made one and have it hanging on my door. I have yet to use it. Something tells me it’s not going to stop the interruptions. But I’m going to give it a try one of those “I wanna scream” days.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

I really don’t have a method. Maybe I’ll come across a name in something I’ve read, or heard a name that found its way into my head. Or I’ll see a picture in a magazine or online and a name pops into my head for her or him. That’s how I finally named Erin. In the book’s early form, I named her character Tori, short for Victoria. But it wasn’t working. Every time I wrote her name I cringed. Just didn’t sound right for the character I was building. Then one day I was thumbing through a women’s clothing catalog—Chadwick’s, I think—and this same young woman kept appearing in different garments and poses. She fit my mental picture of my heroine to a T. Unruly, tousled silver/blond hair with an impish grin in a pixie face. One pose shows her in a pensive mood. As soon as I saw that, the name Erin wrote itself above her head. Whimsical? I guess. But once I had the right name, she started talking to me. The same thing happened with all the other characters. My mind “saw” them and their name followed. Maybe I’m just wired wrong.

We’re all wired differently, but none of them are wrong. What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Besides just getting my book published? Sticking it out to the end, I guess, despite all the rejections, contest losses with hard critiques, a disastrous one-on-one meeting with an editor at a conference where my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t say a thing. I finally just stuffed my one-sheet in front of her. Humiliating.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

That should be a given. A cat. I envy the way they stretch. I love their aloofness, their “I can’t be bothered right now” attitude. They don’t need the “Writer at Work” sign.

What is your favorite food?

Mexican.

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

See #5 and #7. LOL Actually my nemesis is time management. It is, and always has been, the most difficult thing for me. I was once told, through a time-management class presented by my employer, that I have a tendency to let the Urgent crowd out the Important. I’ve found that to be true. On the plus side, I’m tenacious. If I want to accomplish something, I will. Sooner or later.

Tell us about the featured book.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Pregnant and widowed hadn’t been part of her “happily ever after” dream. And now, someone was trying to kill her . . . 

Erin Macintyre never expected to be a widow and a new mother in the same year, anymore than she expected mysterious notes, threatening phone calls, and a strange homeless man who seems to know all about her. The thought of raising a child without a father is daunting enough—worse when you have no idea who might want to harm you. Put an old flame into the mix, and her life begins a tailspin into a world she never knew existed.

When P.I. Clay Buchanan, stumbles upon Erin at her husband's gravesite, he’s totally unprepared for her advanced pregnancy. Her venomous reaction at seeing him, however, was predictable. But Clay can’t let her distrust, or his guilt, get in the way—not when he has evidence that proves Erin’s life is in danger.

With few options left, Erin begrudgingly accepts Clay’s help . . . and it just might be her undoing.

Sounds like the kind of romantic suspense story I like to read. Please give us the first page of the book.

Chapter One:

Friday, March 26, late afternoon

What a fantastic day. A bid won. A contract signed. The job of a lifetime that would put Stuart and Macintyre at the top of the construction heap, not just in Las Vegas, but all of southern Nevada.

Whistling, Justin Macintyre pressed the keyless remote of his Cadillac Escalade, tossed his briefcase across the console to the passenger seat and slid behind the wheel.

To top it all off, after seven long years, he and his wife, Erin, were going to have a baby. A baby! He laughed aloud at the overwhelming joy of it.

"Hey, world, I'm going to be a daddy!"

He shifted the SUV into gear and pulled out of the Mt. Charleston Lodge area onto Kyle Canyon Road and headed down the mountain to the Las Vegas Valley below. Despite the successful day, Justin couldn't banish his worry over a recent discovery of some irregularities in the company's finances. Nothing concrete, and his Uncle Sebastian, S and M's CFO, assured him everything was fine. Nevertheless, Justin's uneasiness had prompted him to send what little proof he had to his long-time friend, Clay Buchanan, a private investigator in Texas.

Preoccupied with his thoughts, he vaguely registered the yellow and black blind curve warning sign. Too late he saw the stalled car across the center line. No time to stop! He spun the wheel to the right.

I'm going too fast! God, help me . . .!

###

Seconds passed and silence settled once more over the mountainside. A shadow emerged from behind a Joshua tree and stepped to the edge of the ravine. After a moment, the form walked to the car in the road and drove away.

###

Erin Macintyre stretched her arms along the balcony's balustrade of her twenty-seventh-floor condo above the streets of Las Vegas. Beyond that, the lower edge of the setting sun kissed the still snowy peaks of the Spring Mountain Range and Mt. Charleston.

Justin would be home soon.

"Erin, where's the zester?"

Erin returned to the kitchen. "In the utility drawer."

"Which is the utility drawer?" Magie Gifford, Erin's dearest friend, pulled out drawer after drawer.

Erin giggled and reached across Magie's arm and slid out the utility drawer.

"You changed it." Magie snatched the zester and bumped the drawer shut with her hip. "That's not where it was last time."

Erin wrapped her arms around her friend and hugged. "No, Mags, I didn't change anything." She waited a beat. "Can I interest you in a memory enhancement program?"

"Very funny." Magie pushed Erin aside and proceeded to rub a lemon across the gadget and then whisked the zest into a frothy mixture of olive oil, Italian herbs, and balsamic vinegar. "Okay, just drizzle this over the salad and stick it in the fridge."

That done, Erin checked on the lasagna in the oven. The garlic toast waited on the foil-lined cookie sheet ready to pop under the broiler. Everything was ready.

Erin glanced at the kitchen clock. "He's late."

"Posh. You should know by now how those meetings can drag on."

"Yeah, I know. It's just—"

"Get over here, Erin. He'll be here when he gets here."

Erin joined her friend in the breakfast nook off the kitchen and adjacent to the balcony. She scooped up a dozing Siamese cat from her chair and sat, settling him back on her lap.

"You spoil that critter." Magie brushed off the chair cushion before sitting.

"Yeah, I do. But you love him, too. I saw you sneaking him some treats earlier." Erin smiled. "Not to mention the romp you had with him in the living room when you got here."

"Busted. But he's so much fun, aren't you, Kazimir?"

At the sound of his name, the cat uncoiled, left Erin's lap and jumped onto Magie's. She snorted. "So much for protecting my black slacks."

"Thanks for coming over to help with this meal. I wanted it to be special and I never know when the nausea will hit." She raised an eyebrow. "But you will leave as soon as Justin gets here."

"You think he'll get that bid?"

Erin tapped her heart and nodded. "I know he will."

The first five descending notes of Welcome to My World sang out in the condo's foyer. Justin! No, he wouldn't ring the doorbell. Puzzled, she stepped across the tiled floor and rose on tiptoes to peer through the peephole. She gasped and jumped back.

The doorbell chimed again.

Fingers trembling, Erin released the security lock and opened the door to two uniformed police officers.

"Mrs. Macintyre?"

Erin nodded as Magie moved to her side.

"What is it, officers?"

"I'm afraid there's been an accident, Mrs. Macintyre. Your husband . . ."

Yep. You’ve got me hooked. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Website: http://peggyblannphifer.com

Blog: http://www.whispersinpurple.com

Twitter: twitter/com/pegphifer

Facebook: facebook.com/pegphifer

Thanks, Peg, for dropping by today.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.

To See the Sun: Desert Faith Series Book One - paperback
To See the Sun (Desert Faith Series) - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com