Brown and de Luca Return

And there are two series now!

There are two Brown and de Luca series now.

Part 1

The Brown and de Luca Novels

1. Sleep With the Lights On

2. Dream of Danger (ultra-short online read)

3. Wake to Darkness

4. Dream of Danger

5. Innocent Prey

Brown and de Luca

Part 2

Brown and de Luca Return

1. Cry Wolf

2. Girl Blue

3. Gingerbread Man (Crossover Novel)

4. The Mermaid Murder

Brown and de Luca Return

The Mermaid Murder

Hey, I’m Rachel de Luca, a self-help guru with a potty mouth and a penchant for crime-solving. My partner, soon to be husband if I can get over my paralyzing fear, is Mason Brown, a detective with the Binghamton PD.

Ten years ago, professional mermaid Eva Quaid disappeared without a trace from The Sapphire Club in Saratoga Springs NY. Now, my niece Misty is working at the same club, doing the same job. Coincidentally, (not) Misty’s college roommate is in the thick of her self-produced true crime podcast about the same cold case. Misty has kept every bit of this from our way-too-close-for-privacy family.

None of this would be a big deal, except that I’ve been having nightmares. It's my wedding day, and I look from my adoring groom to my twin nieces, face down in the shallows of the reservoir behind the altar.

I dreamt, too, of a dying mermaid who’s been trying to get my attention ever since.

When my sister Sandra says she’s worried about twin daughters, Mason and I agree to do a little snooping—only to find Misty has been keeping some big secrets, and is not where she’s supposed to be. Nobody knows where she is.

I’m pretty sure that Misty’s gone off the grid with her podcasting partner Zig to surveil their favorite suspects in the ten-year-old case of the missing mermaid.

I’m even more sure the mermaid is dead, and that her killer is determined to keep their oldest, deadliest secret, even if it means taking another young woman’s life.

I have to find my beloved niece before my visions come true—the way they always do.

---

THE TEXAS BRAND

A Brand New Generation

Do you remember this classic cover? This was the original cover for The Baddest Virgin in Texas. It's the story of baby sister Jessi Brand falling in love with ranch foreman Lash Monroe in spite of her her five big brothers' objections and interference.

This week, I've begun weaving the story of the daughter of Jessi Brand Monroe, Maria-Michelle. She has her mother's fiery hair and feisty attitude times ten, and I think you're going to love her.

Working title is The Runaway Bride. I'll have to get a little further in the story before I can give you a release date, but it is going strong, so stay tuned.

I don't know what I'll call the new series. The Texas Brands: something. I'm mulling on that. Suggestions are welcome.

I'm pretty sure this is not the story that will be my annual serial. More on that soon.

---

If you get the newsletter, you might be aware that we had a traumatic holiday season during which I very nearly lost a daughter.

But I didn't. Our family experienced the kind of holiday miracle I've spent so many years writing about.

She is home now and she's going to be fine.

I haven't done my usual year-end review, or New Year's Eve ritual of letting the old year go. It was too busy and frantic as the year wound down. And now that things are better, it feels I'm already speeding forward into the new projects and dreams of 2024. I didn't take that down-time in between as I usually do. And I'm not sure how that will go. Is it better, maybe, to just keep moving forward, without too much time spent on mulling what has gone by? Is a year-end review even necessary?

In 2023, I released a Wings in the Night book every other Tuesday (except one) until sometime in June. I released Fatal Phantasm, a new book in The Fatal Series in February--that was the Tuesday without a Wings release. And I wrote Young Rhiannon in the Temple of Isis, Rhiannon's origin story, and released it in June. And then I started work on The Mermaid Murder, which will be my first new release of 2024. I think that's all, but it's rather a blur.

I also lost 40 pounds from March 1 to December 31st, 2023, got off all my prescriptions and over the counter meds and into the best health of my life just by changing my diet. If you want to read more about that, you can visit the website I also started in '23, EatLikeYouGiveaShit.com.

In 2023, I earned a certificate in plant-based nutrition from eCornell, and I then I enrolled in Finger Lakes Community College to begin working toward a degree in nutrition. When I saw how much just changing what I ate impacted my health, I was honestly angry that no doctor had told me this in my entire life. So I want to help other people learn this crucial information.

I closed my Bliss Blog Magic shop at the end of the year and moved the blog itself over to Substack to try a new business model for that end of things, with two levels of subscriptions, one of which is paid.

My husband's business, CNY Water Gardens, really picked up steam during the spring, summer, and fall of 2023. Lots more people have little pockets of paradise in their back yards in our neck of the woods.

So it's been a big year for us. A busy one, too.

I'd like 2024 to be a little bit slower. And since I don't have a 25-book series to re-release, it almost has to be. I'd like to end it with one new Brand Book released, and another one written. And I want to write another Fatal book this year too.

I'd like to help a few more people one-on-one, as they shift into a whole food plant-based diet and reclaim their health. So I'm mulling on ways to do that. I've already helped a handful of close friends, and it is incredibly rewarding.

That's a lot of goals for the year, given that I'll be taking classes full time. I did say I wanted things a little slower, didn't I?

One thing's for sure, I am re-devoting myself to my meditation practice. Daily meditation solves a plethora of issues and I tend to let it slide when life gets busy. Or maybe life gets busy when I let it slide...?

Happy 2024!