THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS WISH—a conversation with Chance and Marcie

In honor of the season, I'd like to introduce you to Chance Fowler and Marcie Roper from The Millionaire's Christmas Wish (available from Harlequin in ebook) and tell you a bit about their Christmas story.

Good morning Chance and Marcie.  I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.

Chance:  Thank you, Shawna.  It was nice of you to invite us.  So…what would you like to know?

My first question is for whichever of you wants to answer it.  How did the two of you meet?

Chance:  (Winks at Marcie) Do you want to take that one?

Marcie:  My pleasure.  I was minding my own business, doing a little window shopping on my way back to my car from the book store, when he came along and accosted me in broad daylight.  He grabbed me against my will then proceeded to kiss me.  I was truly shocked and also a little frightened.  I had no idea who he was or why he had forced himself on me.

Chance:  Wait a minute…in my defense that wasn't quite the way it happened.

Marcie:  (grins) My way sounds more mysterious…and more interesting.

Did he literally grab you on the street, a total stranger, and kiss you for no reason?

Marcie:  Oh, yes…that's exactly what he did.

Chance:  Well…not really…not like that.

Ah, ha!  What's the true story?

Chance:  I was being followed by another one of those tabloid photographers who were always trying to get candid pictures of me that they can exploit, things taken out of context and blown up into something they aren't.

As sole heir to the Fowler Industries fortune, an eligible bachelor leading a very high profile life including yacht racing and making the rounds of the club scene always with a beautiful woman on your arm, I can see where there would be an interest in your activities.

Chance:  Since I was on my way to one of my special projects, I had to lose the guy following me.  I was looking for a place to duck away from him…hide in plain sight, so to speak.  As soon as I rounded a corner and was out of his sight for a few seconds, I turned my reversible jacket inside out to a different color, but there wasn't any place for me to hide.  I spotted her standing in front of the store window. My intention was to put my arm around her shoulder so it would look like we were a couple window shopping together, but for some strange reason she objected.  So I did what I had to do.  The photographer ran on down the street without paying any attention to a couple kissing in front of a store window.  I tried to apologize, explain to her, but she ran off without giving me an opportunity.

Marcie:  It was later that I discovered who he was…Take-A-Chance Fowler, as the media referred to him.  Major playboy, always being photographed with different women, yacht racing, seen at all the trendy clubs.  In other words, a spoiled rich guy living off the family wealth who had never done an honest day's work in his life.

Chance:  Definitely not a very flattering assessment of someone she didn't even know.  I was determined to set her straight and change that erroneous assumption.

Take-A-Chance?  Where did that come from?

Chance:  One of those stupid tags the press pinned on me.  "Always willing to take a chance on some wild stunt."

Marcie:  I can't begin to tell you how embarrassed I was when he told me Chance was his legal first name, not some cute little nickname.  It was his mother's maiden name.  And the more I found out about the real person behind all those tabloid headlines, the more impressed I was and the more I liked him.

You mentioned your special projects.  What did you mean by that?

Chance:  I have several projects I finance and am actively, hands-on involved with, things I don't want the media to know about.  Among other things, one of the projects is a job training program for disadvantaged youth. I don't want the other people involved to find their pictures and names splashed all over the front page of some tabloid newspaper.

What type of projects?

Chance:  (flashes a sly grin) You can find out all about them in the book.

Marcie, did you encounter any unusual problems when you began dating someone of Chance's…uh…notoriety?

Marcie:  (furrows her brow in a moment of concentration) Well, there were some uncomfortable moments with his family, such as the Christmas dinner at his father's house—

Chance:  (laughs) Merely uncomfortable?  That's an understatement!

Is there more to the family story than you're saying?

Marcie:  You mean other than his father being responsible for driving a wedge between us that nearly destroyed our relationship?

Chance:  My family is synonymous with the word dysfunctional.  They're the personification of that old joke…look up the word dysfunctional in the dictionary and you find their picture.  You'll find out all about them when you read the book.

I'd ask you to explain, but I already know what you're going to say.

Marcie:  (laughs) You have to read the book!

Thank you, Marcie and Chance.

Blurb:

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS…

When millionaire Chance Fowler first kissed the pretty stranger in his arms, he'd only meant to dodge the photographer who'd tailed him. Then she ran off—but he couldn't forget her tempting taste on his lips. So he sought out the tantalizing woman who'd ignited his long-dormant desire….

Lovely Marcie Roper was the first woman to close her eyes to Chance's fortune. And though she'd captivated the jaded tycoon, Marcie yearned for what his wealth couldn't buy—a man who would say "I do" and mean it forever. Could Marcie convince Chance that love—for the right woman—would last a lifetime?

Publisher Excerpt:

She was certainly different from the type of women he usually encountered. Her eyes sparked with the fire of emotion and her stance declared a very appealing independence. Yes, indeed. Marcie Roper was quite different—a breath of fresh air. He recalled the way she felt in his arms, the taste of her delicious mouth. He fought the almost overwhelming desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her again.

He watched her walk away from him—for the second time since he first encountered her. She had turned out to be a very intriguing woman. He already knew about the golden flecks in her hazel eyes, her soft pliable lips, her addictive taste and how good she felt in his arms. And now he knew she was certainly a challenge—and Chance had never been one to back down from a challenge.

****

Harlequin has reissued 18 of 21 of my backlist print titles in ebook including THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS WISH.

THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS WISH, a Harlequin Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued by Harlequin in ebook and available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com.  Also available from Amazon for Kindle, Barnes & Noble for Nook, and other online vendors.  Additional information and excerpts available on my website  www.shawnadelacorte.com  Information and excerpts from my other books also available on my website.

Are You A Right-Brain Or Left-Brain Thinker?

The two sides of the human brain have distinct abilities unique to either the right side or left side.  An individual's strengths and weaknesses are often based on which side of the brain is dominant.  It's always been presented to me as left-brained being the logical, methodical, and pragmatic side and right-brained is the creative side.  There have been books written on this phenomenon.

At least that's the way I've always understood left vs. right brain.

The first thought is that writers must be right-brained since writing is a creative effort.  And many writers are also involved in other creative endeavors such as various forms of art and music.  But it seems to me that's only partly true.

As a writer and photographer, I certainly deal with my right brain creative side.  But as a writer, I also need my left brain methodical, logical, pragmatic side as part of my creative effort.  I would consider doing research as being methodical left-brained.  And then there's the switch over from right brain creative to left brain logical when writers go into edit mode, assuming you're writing to have your effort end up as a published novel. And that edit mode is necessary in order to take a creative effort and hone it into a marketable manuscript.  And the many facets of self-promotion for our books is certainly methodical and logical.

I recently came across a ten question quiz to test whether someone is a right brain thinker or a left brain thinker.  Not sure I agree with all the conclusions, but I found it interesting.

Are you ready?

1)  Are you better at math and science than art and literature?

If your answer is YES:  People who are left-brained thinkers (logic) are often better at math and science over art and literature.

If your answer is NO:  People who are right-brained thinkers (creative) are usually better at art and literature than math and science.

2)  Do you love playing sports outdoors over reading indoors?

If your answer is YES:  Right-brain thinkers (creative) enjoy the great outdoors and athletics.

If your answer is NO:  People who are left-brained (logic) usually prefer staying indoors and reading.

3)  Do you prefer verbal communication over physical communication?

If your answer is YES:  Left-brain thinkers (logic) love to work things out by talking.

If your answer is NO:  Right-brain thinkers (creative) believe actions speak louder than words.

4)  Would you rather draw pictures freehand instead of putting together a model airplane?

If your answer is YES:  Those who are right-brained (creative) are not fans of tremendous structure and prefer having some creativity at work.

If your answer is NO:  Those who are left-brained (logic) are in need of structure and prefer having specific guidelines at work.

5)  Do you like being in groups more than being alone? (this goes along with question #2)

If your answer is YES:  Group oriented people are usually right-brained (creative).

If your answer is NO:  Loners are usually left-brained (logic).

6)  When given instructions, are lots of pictures easier to understand than text?

If your answer is YES:  Right-brained (creative) people love picture explanations.

If your answer is NO:  Left-brained (logic) people much prefer text explanations.

7)  Have you noticed that you're better at providing the details and necessary information for a project than coming up with the initial idea?

If your answer is YES:  Left-brained (logic) are more into processing information and details than being involved in the creative process.

If your answer is NO:  Right-brained (creative) are more interested in the initial creative process rather than the information gathering.

8)  Do you need a quiet environment when you are working?

If your answer is YES:  Left-brain (logic) people usually need quiet environments.

If your answer is NO:  Right-brain (creative) people don't mind a bustling background as they work.

9)  Would you enjoy helping someone solve a relationship problem more than a math problem?

If your answer is YES:  Solving relationship problems is a natural for right-brain thinkers (creative).

If your answer is NO:  Solving math and technical problems is right up the alley of the left-brained (logic).

10)  If you were a writer, would you prefer to write non-fiction books instead of fiction?

If your answer is YES:  The left-brained (logic) are obsessed with details and truth.

If your answer is NO:  The right-brained (creative) are more imaginative.

I have a writer friend who claims that she's totally and completely right-brained creative. What she says might be true in that she has a terrible time getting into a self-editing mode and most of her writing projects are unfinished. She will have a first draft but can't seem to get it into a final mode where she can submit it to a publisher. 

Thanksgiving Myths and Facts

This year, the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. falls on Thursday, November 23, 2023.

We all know the often told story of how the Pilgrims left England seeking religious freedom and finally settled in the New World, supposedly stepping off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock in what is now the state of Massachusetts.  And how in 1621 they invited the local natives to share a feast with them in order to give thanks for a successful harvest and surviving their first year.

From those humble beginnings have come many facts and just as many myths about the Pilgrims and our Thanksgiving holiday.

I have some Mayflower myths to share with you, followed by some Thanksgiving facts.

Myth:  The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 and the Pilgrims celebrated it every year after that.

Fact:  The first feast wasn't repeated, so it wasn't the beginning of a tradition.  In fact, it wouldn't have been called Thanksgiving because to the Pilgrims a thanksgiving was a religious holiday when they would fast rather than feast. That feast in 1621 was a secular celebration and would not have been considered a thanksgiving in their minds.

Myth:  The original Thanksgiving feast took place on the fourth Thursday of November.

Fact:  The original feast in 1621 occurred sometime between September 21 and November 11 and was a three day celebration based on the English harvest festivals.  In 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the official date for Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November, a decision fraught with controversy.  The date wasn't approved by Congress until 1941.

Myth:  The Pilgrims wore only black and white clothing with buckles on their hats, garments, and shoes as shown in numerous paintings.

Fact:  Buckles did not come into fashion until later in the 17^th century.  Black and white were commonly worn only on Sunday and formal occasions.

Here's a list of trivia that could be called Thanksgiving-by-the-numbers.

3,000—the number of calories eaten during an average Thanksgiving meal.

12,000,000—the number of whole turkeys Butterball sells for Thanksgiving.

2,000 - 3,000—the number of people used to guide the balloons during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

214—the average number of miles driven for the family get together at Thanksgiving.

1939—the date the Great Thanksgiving Day calendar controversy began (when FDR declared the fourth Thursday of November to be the official date of Thanksgiving).

40,000,000—the number of green bean casseroles made for Thanksgiving dinner.

72,000,000—the number of cans of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce sold for Thanksgiving dinner.

Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving—Canada vs. U.S.

Even though Canada was first to celebrate Thanksgiving, decades before the Pilgrims arrived in what is now the United States, the holiday in the U.S. and its northern neighbor have much in common.

For those of us in the United States, imagine the Thanksgiving holiday a month and a half earlier. There's plenty of pumpkin pie but not a Pilgrim in sight. For 40 million Canadians, that's reality for the second Monday in October. Many of the trappings of Canadian Thanksgiving are similar to those of its U.S. counterpart, but the Canadian tradition belongs to the 16^th century, more than four decades before the historic 17^th century gathering in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621which is the genesis of the American Thanksgiving holiday.

The original Canadian Thanksgiving feast in 1578 consisted of biscuits, salt beef, and mushy peas. That's when Sir Martin Frobisher sailed from England in search of the Northwest Passage. After his crew arrived in what is now Nunavut (created April 1, 1999, formerly part of the Northwest Territories), Frobisher's men took part in a Church of England service of thanksgiving.

Both Native Americans and Indigenous Canadians had long celebrated the fall harvest. European settlers attempted to follow suit as they settled on the Canadian mainland. Early attempts at French settlement along Canada's Atlantic coast had been disastrous, and ended in 1604 with a scurvy epidemic that took place after French settlers ignored warnings that winter ice would trap them on Île-Ste.-Croix, an island in the Bay of Fundy. They ended up isolated on the island for months. Half of the group died of scurvy before being rescued by Indigenous Canadians.

Those who survived moved to Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia, where Samuel de Champlain mandated a series of feasts designed to keep the settlers' spirits up. The feasts kicked off in 1616 with a Thanksgiving-like November event that included the Mi'kmaq people.

As in the U.S., Canada observed occasional Thanksgivings to celebrate important events such as the end of the War of 1812. And like the U.S., Canada's first thanksgivings tended to be religious events. The two countries also celebrated similarly thanks to pro-British Loyalists who moved to Canada during and after the Revolutionary War. New England staples like turkey and pumpkin were introduced to the Canadian celebration.

Thanksgiving became a national celebration in Canada starting in 1859, again beating the United States to the holiday. Abraham Lincoln set the precedent for the annual holiday in the U.S. after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, when he set the date at the last Thursday of November.

Unlike American Thanksgiving, Canada's national Thanksgiving date took decades to become standardized and annual. In 1957, Canada's parliament set the date as the second Monday in October. By then, the United States was officially celebrating their Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November thus making it a four-day holiday weekend for many people.

Though plenty of Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving, it's not a public holiday in three of the country's provinces: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. In Quebec, which has strong Catholic roots, the holiday has historically been downplayed. And Canadian Thanksgiving isn't the major travel and shopping event it has become in the United States. The holiday may have come earlier to Canada, but its southern cousin is much more invested in celebrating it.

My apologies to our Canadian neighbors if I've inadvertently gotten some of this information wrong. 

8 People Who Mysteriously Disappeared

People go missing every single day, but some are more well-known than others. Some are even well-known because of their disappearance. They could be victims of crime, involved in an accident, or they possibly could have taken off on their own. Despite efforts to find these missing people, some were never found, leaving a mystery surrounding their last days and final disappearance. Some vanishings have been subject to massive search parties, media sensationalism, wild speculation, dead ends, wrong turns, false accusations, and a few have even turned into television shows or miniseries. Here, in no particular order, are 8 people who mysteriously disappeared.

1)  DB Cooper

A number of movies, TV show plots, songs, and books have been based on the legend of this man. On Thanksgiving Eve, 1971, DB purchased a ticket under an alias, Dan Cooper, and then proceeded to skyjack Flight 305 of the Northwest Orient Airlines (later changed to Northwest Airlines, now part of Delta Airlines) which was bound for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Right after the flight took off, Cooper told a flight attendant that he had explosives in his possession and demanded $200,000 and four parachutes in addition to a refueling truck when they landed at SEA-TAC.

Authorities paid the ransom and gave Cooper the parachutes. After refueling began, he said he wanted the plane to take him to Mexico City. About thirty minutes into the flight, he parachuted from the plane at an altitude of 10,000 feet near Mount St. Helens in Washington state.

Not only was he never found, his real identity remains a mystery. It's not even known whether he survived the jump. In July 2016, a two-part special was aired on the History Channel about DB Cooper, where they named Robert Rackstraw as the man behind the mystery. The FBI declared in the same month that they were no longer pursuing him. Rackstraw, a 72 old year man living on a boat in San Diego Bay claims he considered filing a defamation suit against the television channel, but it has never been filed. Whether or not he is DB Cooper remains a mystery.

2)  Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart is probably the most famous missing person in history. As both a pilot and a passenger, her flying exploits made her well-known. In addition to her aviation popularity, she was also a teacher, author, fashion designer, magazine editor, and cigarette spokesperson. In 1937, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan embarked on a trip around the world. On July 2, Earhart sent a radio message asking for help saying they were dangerously low on fuel over the Pacific Ocean. The US Coast Guard sent a cutter, the Itasca, but they were unable to locate the plane. The cutter sent up smoke signals, hoping the pair would see them, but it was no use. Neither the plane nor the two people were found. Earhart's husband funded a private search, but it failed to produce any results. In 1939, Earhart was declared dead in absentia.

There have been numerous theories as to what happened and the resulting searches became the most intensive and expensive in American history at the time. The most common belief is that her plane ran out of fuel and she had no choice but to ditch in the Pacific ocean and subsequently sinking. Even after the intensive searches at the time, in 2012 researchers spent another $2.2 million dollars trying to prove Earhart had crashed on a tiny island. Nothing was ever proven.

3)  Jimmy Hoffa

Jimmy Hoffa was president of the Teamsters Union for over ten years. He was corrupt, involved in organized crime, and went to prison in 1967 while remaining president of the Teamsters. However, he resigned his post in 1971 in order to gain release as well as a pardon from then President Nixon. Hoffa was last seen outside a Detroit restaurant where he supposedly met with two organized crime bosses. After his disappearance, he was declared dead in 1982. The circumstances which surrounded his disappearance and subsequent apparent death are still a mystery to this day.

It's believed that he was killed by mobsters the day he disappeared, although a body was never found. There were many stories circulating about his disappearance. According to one mob source, Hoffa was put in a shallow grave on a vacant lot about twenty miles from where he was last seen. The source claims this was supposed to have been a temporary location, but Hoffa's body was never moved. Another often repeated theory says he was buried in what is now the end zone of the NY Giants football stadium.

4)  Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson was a famous English explorer for which towns, bridges, rivers, bays, and straits have been named, even though it seems he must not have been a very nice fellow to work for. While exploring, his crew (who was starving, half-frozen, and homesick) became so restless they mutinied due to being unwilling to continue the search after being trapped for several months in ice. The crew put Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other crewmen who were loyal to Hudson in a small boat and set adrift. They were never seen again after the ship left them behind.

The remaining crewmen who made it back to England were arrested and charged with the murder of Hudson. They escaped without being punished due to lack of details surrounding their captain's death. However, it's generally believed that he and the eight others who were marooned with him died while aboard the open boat, a scenario which was immortalized by the painter John Collier.

5)  Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr Alston was the eldest child of Thomas Jefferson's Vice President, Aaron Burr. In addition, she was also married to the South Carolina's Governor at the time, Joseph Alston. Aaron Burr was disgraced after being formally accused of committing treason. Five years after the fall of her father, she lost her son. She went into such deep mourning that it affected her health. The only bright spot for her was that her father was to be allowed to return to the US after being exiled to Europe.

In 1812, Alston boarded the Patriot, a schooner with an intended destination of New York. She was to be reunited with her father on that New Year's Eve. She traveled alone due to her husband, who had only recently been sworn in, being unable to accompany her due to his duties as governor. The schooner never made it to its destination. Some believe the vessel capsized or sank due to a major storm which had been documented to be in the area at the time. Others believed it was captured by pirates. Whatever happened to it, neither the vessel nor its passengers were ever seen again.

6)  Heinrich Muller

Heinrich Muller is considered to be among some of the most disgraceful people of the twentieth century, if not of all time. He joined Nazi Germany's state police, the Gestapo, in 1933. He quickly moved up the ranks to chief and in 1939, he formally joined the Nazi Party. Part of Muller's acts included helping to advance false information used in the justification of invading Poland as well as helping to carry out the Holocaust.

Muller was last observed on May 1, 1945, which was a day before Hitler took his own life. No one knows what happened to him, but most believe he died around that time. Hitler's pilot, Hans Baur, claimed Muller had said that he knew the Russian's methods and that he had no intention of allowing them to take him prisoner. From that day on, there hasn't been any sign of him. He is the highest ranking member of the Nazi party who wasn't known to be captured or killed, his whereabouts remaining a mystery.

7)  Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller was the best-selling recording artist from the late 1930s to the early 1940s, making him one of the most iconic big band leaders ever. Miller volunteered to join the US Navy after the US entered World War II, but he was turned down. He then tried to volunteer for the army and, eventually, was accepted into the Air Force. On December 1944, Miller and two others were to fly to Paris, France in order to make arrangements for his band to play concerts for US troops.

His plane disappeared while flying somewhere over the English Channel. Neither Miller, the other two occupants, nor the plane were ever found. In 2014, the Chicago Tribune reported that the most likely cause of their disappearance was a plane crash caused by a faulty carburetor. The carburetor in question was said to have been defective when used during cold weather and had a history of icing up and causing crashes.

8)  Frank Morris

Of the 36 inmates who had tried escaping Alcatraz over the 29 years it was in operation as a federal penitentiary, 5 are still listed as missing, but presumed to have drowned although no bodies were ever found. Of the others, 23 were captured, 6 shot/killed, and 2 drowned. Of the 5  missing, Frank Morris is the most famous.

Morris grew up an orphan, spending most of his formative years in foster care. At 13, he was convicted of his first crime. He continued to break the law and was arrested for many crimes by the time he reached his late teens, such as armed robbery and narcotics possession. Morris was considered extremely intelligent at the time, ranking in the top two percent of the general population with an IQ of 133. He served time in several prisons and was eventually sent to Alcatraz in 1960.

Morris and 3 other inmates planned their escape, but only Morris and 2 brothers, John and Clarence Anglin, were able to carry out their plans. Prison officials believe the 3 drowned, but evidence over the years points to their survival. In fact, a letter was sent in 2013 to the San Francisco Police Department, claiming the writer was John Anglin. He went on to claim that he, his brother, and Morris had all escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962, albeit barely. He said he was 83 years old and had cancer. He went on to explain that Morris had died in 2008 and that his brother had died in 2011. However, the letter couldn't be verified, but it's been proven that an escape could have succeeded at the time.

THE SEDGWICK CURSE—A conversation with Taylor and Donovan

With Halloween upon us, I thought it would be appropriate to add a character chat with Taylor MacKenzie and Lord Donovan Sedgwick to my Halloween blog series. Taylor and Donovan are the main characters in my Harlequin Intrigue mystery/romantic suspense novel THE SEDGWICK CURSE, one of my 18 Harlequin ebook reissues from my 21 book Harlequin backlist of print titles.

Good morning and thanks to both of you for joining us today. I think my first question is for you, Lord Sedgwick.

Donovan:  Please, call me Donovan. (pauses) I still haven't been able to completely reconcile being the owner of the title, especially considering the circumstances that passed it on to me from my father.

It's a title that's been in your family for a long time, isn't it? Along with the large estate located in the Cotswolds area of England?

Donovan:  A very long time…for centuries to be exact, starting in the late 1600s after the monarchy was restored to the throne with Charles II. (brightens as he grasps Taylor's hand)  But on the other side, if my family history hadn't taken a strange twist along the way, I never would have met this lovely lady and would have always felt as if something very important was missing from my life.

So, Taylor…your family history and Donovan's family history were somehow connected? You're from the United States and had never been to England prior to your initial meeting with Donovan, is that correct?

Taylor:  Yes, it was over a century ago that the connection between our families resulted in the curse placed on the Sedgwick family. In my correspondence with Donovan's father, I misled him about the purpose of my trip to England. The reality of my trip was to trace the origins of the crime that had resulted in the brutal death of my great grandmother and great grandfather who were tenant farmers on the Sedgwick estate. My grandmother was an infant at the time and was whisked away to safety by some of the villagers and eventually arrived in America by way of Canada.

Donovan…you didn't have any idea who Taylor was when she showed up at your front door one night?

Donovan:  (chuckles) The name Taylor misled me. I assumed my father had been corresponding with a man who wanted to research the annual festival we hold on the estate grounds for a book he was writing on British country festivals. Our particular festival has been an annual event for over 250 years. My father had invited the writer to stay at the house while doing research.

And Taylor was that 'man?'

Donovan:  (sly grin) She didn't fool me for a moment. I knew as soon as I opened the door that it wasn't a man standing there! (turns serious) But her timing was terrible. My father had…uh, he had died a couple of months earlier. It was the night before her arrival that the century old curse seemed to come to fruition with the evil of the past turned loose on the present, followed by a string of grisly murders…

(Donovan's voice trailed off and Taylor picked up the conversation).

Taylor:  I had never been as frightened in my life as I was shortly after I arrived at the Sedgwick estate that night. I felt as if I was being stalked by some evil presence. Sometimes it seemed so close that I could literally reach out and actually touch it. Or worse yet, that it could touch me.

Was there someone…or something…actually stalking you? Was any of it real or merely the result of the centuries-old gothic atmosphere of the older sections of the house?

Taylor:  Oh, it was real…very real. And so was the resulting danger.

Donovan:  There was much more going on than just the sense of a malevolent presence playing havoc with everyone and everything. There was an entirely separate agenda happening at the same time involving blackmail, deceit, and extortion. All-in-all, a very messy quagmire of conflicting facts and feelings.

That sounds like quite a tangled web. Obviously whatever happened was finally put to rest for good and the two of you are now married and still living in the manor house at the estate.  How did all of that come about?

Donovan:  (Taylor started to speak, but Donovan got the words out first) For the answer to that one, you'll need—

Ah…I know what's coming next. You're going to tell me I have to read the book.

Donovan:  Exactly!

Romantic Times review/4 out of 5:

Shawna Delacorte pens a fun read with lots of spooky ambience and a daring twosome.

CataRomance review/4 stars out of 5:

THE SEDGWICK CURSE by Shawna Delacorte is a spine tingler from the very beginning.  I spent a nail biting evening racing through the pages to a wonderfully, satisfying, aha ending.  Lovers of romantic intrigue and suspense will be totally captivated by THE SEDGWICK CURSE.

Rendezvous review:

Every emotion is felt by the reader in this dramatic story which mesmerizes the reader as it builds to one shattering revelation after another. A cast of secondary characters add spice to the story.

Blurb:

THE CHILLING TRUTH

To learn the truth behind her great-grandmother's past—and the curse that still surrounded both her family and the old woman's tiny country village—Taylor MacKenzie made her way to England. But from the moment she arrived at her ancestors' manor house, an eerie chill echoed the evil of the past and a shadowy figure seemed to follow her every move.

Donovan Sedgwick, the new lord of the manor, had eyes that pierced Taylor's soul and held her in an otherworldly thrall. But he seemed ravaged by demons of his own—demons that only her kisses were able to calm.

Publisher's Excerpt:

She whirled around, her gaze staring into the darkness of the garden. Someone was watching her, staring from the safety of some hidden place. She gasped for air as if all the oxygen had been taken away from her.

"Who's there? Who…?" The words came out as a whisper then they died in her mouth. Her heart pounded in her chest and the sound roared in her ears. A wall of fear surrounded her. She forced her feet to move, to carry her toward the house and hopefully safety. Her plodding steps turned into a run as she headed for the light at the kitchen door.

"Where have you been?" The words came at her from the darkness. A jolt of adrenaline raced through her body before she identified the voice as Donovan's. Then he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her toward him….

THE SEDGWICK CURSE, a Harlequin Intrigue mystery/romantic suspense by Shawna Delacorte is available in ebook at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com.  Also available from Amazon and other online vendors.  Excerpts and full reviews are available on my website along with information about my other Harlequin ebook reissues.  www.shawnadelacorte.com 

Halloween's Ancient Origins

Halloween is almost here. Since late August the stores have been filled with candy packaged in special Halloween wrapping, spooky witch and ghost decorations, pumpkins waiting to be carved into Jack O' Lanterns, and costumes for both children and adults. These have now been picked over with what remains having been put on sale at drastically reduced prices. Retailers have already moved on to Christmas and it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

I've collected several bits and pieces about ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night that I'd like to share with you—starting with the ancient origins of the Halloween holiday then a bit of Jack O' Lantern trivia.

The roots of Halloween date back 2000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in, rhymes with cow). The Celts lived in what is now Ireland, United Kingdom, and northern France. They celebrated their new year on November 1, the day marking the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark winter. They believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead wasn't clearly defined. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, a time when they believed the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

To commemorate the event, the Druids (Celtic priests) built large sacred bonfires where the people made sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the winter.

By 43A.D., the Romans had conquered most of the Celtic territory. During the next four hundred years, the Roman festivals of Feralia and Pomona were combined with the traditional celebration of Samhain. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV declared November 1 to be All Saints' Day. Today it's believed that the pope was trying to replace the Celtic festival with a church sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-Hallows. So, the night before it, the night of Samhain, was called All-Hallows Eve.

In 1000A.D., the church declared November 2 as All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes.  Together the three celebrations—the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls'—were called Hallowmas and eventually Halloween.

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic, and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. They set places at the table and left treats on doorsteps for these friendly spirits.  They also lit candles to help their loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts are commonly depicted as much scarier and our emphasis on customs and superstitions more horror related.

And speaking of superstitions…have you ever wondered about where these strange beliefs came from? British author Harry Oliver wrote a book titled Black Cats and Four-Leaf Clovers where he explored the origins of superstitions and old wives' tales from around the world.  Here are a few of his observations.

Black Cats Bring Bad Luck:  black cats have been linked to black magic and the ancient concept of witchcraft through the centuries which is why many people think they're unlucky.  If a cat crosses your path, it's considered unlucky. However, if a cat walks toward you, it's a good omen.

Carrots Are Good For Your Eyesight:  although studies have shown that the vitamin A in carrots is good for your eyes, the vegetable isn't enough to create 20/20 vision. Many believe that it was a smart attempt by parents to get their children to eat their vegetables. There is another belief that it started during World War II. It was rumored that British pilots were eating huge amounts of carrots so they could see from high altitudes and in the dark. The rumor was created to keep the public from discovering that radar had been invented and was being used against the enemy.

Wear Your Underwear Inside Out:  when you're having a bad day, superstition says that if you turn your underwear inside out things will get better. No one is sure where this one came from, but it sounds like the result of a wild college fraternity party.

And then there's the Jack O' Lantern. Making a Jack O' Lantern for Halloween is a centuries old practice that originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed Stingy Jack. He played tricks on the Devil and made Satan promise not to take his soul when he died. When the time came, God refused to allow him into heaven because he was an unsavory character. The Devil wouldn't allow him into hell because Jack had made him promise. With nowhere to go, Jack put a burning coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as Jack Of The Lantern which morphed into Jack O' Lantern.

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions by carving scary faces into turnips and potatoes, and in England they used large beets. Immigrants from these countries brought the tradition with them to the United States where they soon found that pumpkins made the perfect Jack O' Lantern.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Halloween celebrations were put on hold. But now the festivities and celebrations are going ahead full force. Everyone stay safe this Halloween.