Book Three of The Chapman Files, released today!

The Third Secret, Book Three of The Chapman Files, MIRA Books, enters the world today!  A stand alone thriller featuring expert witness psychologist, Kelly Chapman, The Third Secret is my editor’s favorite of all four stories.  It’s not nice to pick favorites – like it’s not nice for a parent to favor one child over another.  And so I guess maybe to say this book is a favorite isn’t quite accurate.  The Third Secret just seemed to gel with her personal reading preferences more.  For a chance to Win A Copy Of The Third Secret, leave a comment here today!


I was invited to tell you all about the series here today.  I’ve never been that good about talking up my own stuff.  Kind of like telling all the mothers at the park that your kid is the cutest, most talented one there.  I could no more do that, then shoot not be bothered by hitting a bird with my windshield.  (My kid really was the cutest most talented one there, of course, but I didn’t tell anybody!)


And so, instead of me stopping in to tell you how great I think my book is and why you’ll like it, I’m just going to tell you what others are saying about it:  


Romantic Times Magazine
It's back to small-town life and the files of psychologist Kelly Chapman as Quinn introduces another criss-crossing plot and a shadowy world where nothing is as it seems. All the evidence is unfurled in that twisting line Quinn lays down so well. Readers will be turning the pages far into the night to get to the climax.


Rick Thomas stole evidence from a government facility and served three years in a federal prison. Now he's free and holding down a job, until he gets charged with a murder and winds up back in a cell.


As a rule, attorney Erin Morgan doesn't defend bad guys, but her instincts tell her that Rick isn't guilty and the charges won't stick. When evidence turns up that proves Rick is lying about something, Erin's not sure if she's working with the devil or falling hard for a dangerous man. (MIRA, Nov., 400 pp., $7.99)  


The Reading Frenzy
Ms Quinn kept me enthralled throughout this whole novel, I couldn’t turn pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. I loved that she included some of Kelly Chapman’s personal challenges that we learned of in the last novel as well as introducing us to our new protagonists for her third in the series. Her plot was inventive and realistic enough to entice even the staunchest crime drama fan and yet gives us a romantic suspense to keep all those fans well satisfied as well. She accomplishes this with a dialogue that enhances all the characters portrayed in the novel. Her characters are exceptionally skilled in who they depict and they are all very important to the story, you will especially hate the villain when he/she is revealed and love all the kind hearted souls who litter the rest of the pages. Her hero Rick and heroine Erin are a couple that her readers will feel compassion for while we’ll also wonder if there will ever be hope for them. The romance is fraught with second guesses, danger and peril in between moments of tenderness and longings. The love scenes are tame by today’s standards but even die hard hot romance fans like me won’t feel let down by them because it just leaves our imaginations to fill in the blanks.


This is an automatic must read for all fans of dramatic romantic suspense, fans of crime drama and mystery fans as well. Those of you who enjoy Carla Neggers, J T Ellison or Brenda Novak will love Tara Taylor Quinn. This novel stands very well alone but I would suggest reading the whole series to get all the details you’d miss otherwise.


Romance Reviews Today
Another fascinating story from the Chapman Files, THE THIRD SECRET is well written with a lot of suspense and a fresh plot.  

What a frightening tale!  The story is sure to keep readers interested...THE THIRD SECRET is an excellent romantic suspense from the pen of Tara Taylor Quinn. Marilyn Heyman


Genre Go Round
The third Chapman Files thriller (see The 1st Wife and the 2nd Lie) is a fabulous tale with two prime subplots. Action packed, readers will want to know what the three secrets that Rock conceals are. Whereas the Thomas-Morgan arc is a fast-paced romantic suspense, the Chapman-Maggie segue is a poignant human interest drama; they blend smoothly together. With a strong cast, Tara Taylor Quinn writes a terrific Rust Belt thriller. Harriet Klausner


The Chapman Files:  The First Wife, Harlequin Superromance,  September 2010; The Second Lie, MIRA Books, October, 2010; The Third Secret, MIRA Books, November, 2010; The Fourth Victim, MIRA Books, December, 2010.


This post is brought to you as part of The Chapman Files International Blog Tour. Over the next three months, as we celebrate The Chapman Files, expert witness psychologist Kelly Chapman and I are going to be asking for help. If you can, join us in our fight against Domestic Abuse. If you’d like to help, go to www.tarataylorquinn.com and click donate.  Or just comment here to show your support.


There’s an item from our new book, The Second Lie, hidden on the tour with us. Guess the item to enter the drawing to win it! Today’s clue: People Take Them Camping.  Send all guesses to staff@tarataylorquinn.com. To see previous clues visit blog sites listed at www.tarataylorquinn.com. Guess as many times as you’d like!


Don’t miss The Chapman File tour party on December 4th at www.eharlequin.com! We’re giving away a KOBO e-reader and many other cool prizes! All you have to do to be entered to win is leave comments on the tour!  


E-books of all of The Chapman File Stories are available for pre-order at amzn.to/bmJzp4.    
Next tour stop: Monday, November 1,  2010. Lesa Book Critiques http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com.  We hope to see you there! The more blogs you visit with us, the more chances you have to win! Every time you comment your name is dropped in the bag for the prize drawings.    


For weekly blog tour dates, visit www.tarataylorquinn.com. Or to have the weekly schedule sent directly to your email, send request to staff@tarataylorquinn.com. 

100 Must Read Thrillers

Thrillers:  100 Must Reads
Edited by:  David Morrell & Hank Wagner

Who better to judge the best thrillers of all time,
then thriller writers?  This compilation explores the masters of word and language.  Ancient epics like Beowulf are examined in the microcosm of modern thrillers and how these early wordsmiths are stilling teaching writers. 

Littered with wonderful anecdotes from classics like Shelley’s Frankstein, Stoker’s Dracula, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth today’s best writers give insight into the genres sometimes dark, macabre past.  Many early writers, and a few modern ones had their own demon’s that tortured their souls and those demons manifested themselves in the tomes they created. 

A thoughtful voyage into the characters we’ve come to love and hate.   Thrillers have given us bigger-then-life heroes, that faced insurmountable odds with tough resilience, brains, and determination, and so many of these fictional heroes have become icons.  From spies, assassins, and cold war operatives to odd-ball screw-up’s with a penchant for always being in the wrong place at the wrong time thriller readers, and writers will find familiar favorites and new discoveries.

Today’s masters of the thriller genre give their insights, praise their mentors, and share their inspirations.

These are the books that scared us, convinced us humanity was saved or condemned, gave us insight into the dark places of the human mind, cast light on the human condition, and redeemed us, these are thrillers.

Learn More

Silent Screams - Guest Blog by C. E. Lawrence

Hi Everyone!

The experience of writing this novel about a serial killer was interesting, because I wrote most of it in a secluded cabin in the woods of Ulster County. My “security” consisted of a feeble hook and eye lock that a five year old could pry off with a screwdriver. My Home Protection System was a fat, indolent tabby cat who was more interested in chasing chipmunks and coming home smelling of skunk than warning me of intruders.

My beloved cabin is part of Byrdcliffe Art Colony in the Catskill Mountains, where I slaved over a hot manuscript for two summers, researching by day and writing by candlelight. I put in requests to the Woodstock Library for every book they had on serial killers, forensics, and other sordid topics. This was during the Bush administration, so I’m surprised they didn’t flag my library card – I kept expecting a Lincoln town car to pull into my driveway with two Men in Black wearing Ray Bans and ear pieces. I imagined being whisked away by the FBI or the NSA to languish in an Egyptian prison, where I would finally give up the names of my “handlers” – Pia and her colleagues at the Woodstock Library, where they don’t charge late fees, because, according to Pia, “We tried it once, but it was too much trouble.”

Such is the spirit of Ulster County at its best, and such were my summers, where recreation was playing an old upright piano (formerly owned by The Band), in between to-the-death matches of killer ping pong in the barn with fellow writers Randy Burgess and Katherine Burger, and composer/actor Anthony Moore. The closest I came that summer to real danger was the hike I took in the Catskills with Byrdcliffe colleague Alexandra Anderson and painter friend Lucy Nurkse. We entered the woods at about ten in the morning, thinking we’d be out by tea time. Our Three Hour Tour turned into a Death March that had us staggering out around sunset, covered with mosquito bites and poison ivy, down to our last bottle Evian. I’m not sure which of us was Ginger and which was Marianne, but I’m pretty sure I was Gilligan. We’re still not sure why our copious maps led us astray, but I learned something that day:
The woods takes no prisoners.

So I came back to my cabin, settled in with a bottle of ibuprofen and a cup of coffee from Monkey Joe in Kingston, and worked on my manuscript. I had a first draft by the end of the second summer there, and the rest, as they say, is silence – as in Silent Screams.

I wrote the sequel at Hawthornden Castle, an international retreat for writers in Scotland where I was a Fellow (I love saying that) last January. The castle was a medieval structure which provided shelter to William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, during their rebellions against the British crown. I hiked through the glens to Wallace’s Cave, where he allegedly camped while in hiding from the English. The castle was later owned by poet Lord William Drummond, and now is a retreat for writers owned by the heir to the Heinz corporation. So every packet of ketchup sold by McDonalds helps support working writers.

In Scotland, I learned to eat haggis (notice I didn’t say “liked”), took long hot baths in a tub the size of the East River, and was taken very good care of by the wonderful Scottish staff. They kept tea out for us at all times, which was good, since the Scots apparently don’t believe in central heating – and Scotland in January will freeze your tatties off.

Words can hardly do justice to a landscape that, even in January, brought tears to my eyes almost daily. The glens are as romantic and craggy as I had hoped they would be, and the Scottish people were as friendly as their landscape was rugged. My fellow writers included two wonderful British poets and a lovely Russian writer who spoke no English. We communicated through a computer translator program, which was rather like being on a bad episode of Star Trek.

Ah, Scotland! Ah, Ulster! I long to return to you soon . . .

Silent Screams will also be available soon on CD through Audible Books, as will the sequel, Silent Victim, due out in December of 2010. Both books have also recently been sold to Piper Verlag in Germany.

Visit C. E. Lawrence’s website:
http://celawrence.com/