NOW AVAILABLE!!! A Dangerous Madness by Michelle Diener - win the series!!

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It's RELEASE DAY for Michelle Diener's third book in her Regency London Series, 
A Dangerous Madness!

A Dangerous Madness

by Michelle Diener

Adult Historical

May 19th 2014

The Duke of Wittaker has been living a lie...

He’s been spying on the dissolute, discontented noblemen of the ton, pretending to share their views. Now he’s ready to step out of the shadows and start living a real life...but when the prime minister of England is assassinated, he's asked to go back to being the rake-hell duke everyone believes he still is to find out more.

Miss Phoebe Hillier has been living a lie, too...

All her life she's played by society's rules, hiding her fierce intelligence and love of life behind a docile and decorous mask. All it's gotten her is jilted by her betrothed, a man she thought a fool, though a harmless one. But when she discovers her former fiancé was involved in the plot against the prime minister, and that he's been murdered, she realizes he wasn't so harmless after all.

And now the killers have set their sights on her...

The only man who can help her is the Duke of Wittaker--a man she knows she shouldn't trust. And she soon realizes he's hiding behind a mask as careful as her own. As the clock ticks down to the assassin's trial, the pair scramble to uncover the real conspiracy behind the prime minister's death. And as the pressure and the danger mounts, Phoebe and Wittaker shed their disguises, layer by layer, to discover something more precious than either imagined–something that could last forever. Unless the conspirators desperate to hide their tracks get to them first.

Amazon * Kindle * iTunes * Kobo

SPECIAL OFFER

It just so happens that In Defense of the Queen, one of my Tudor-set historicals, is on special offer at the moment on Amazon, down to $0.99 from $4.99. The offer ends on May 24th, so if you like historicals with twists, turns and a lot of suspense, be sure to grab a copy.

Connections

I am so excited that my historical novel, A Dangerous Madness, releases today. A Dangerous Madness is set during the Regency period in London, and the plot revolves around the assassination of the British prime minister, Spencer Perceval.

A Dangerous Madness stands alone, but it is also connected to two other of my historical novels, The Emperor's Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies. The fun part of connecting the novels for me was to revisit characters I love from the previous two books (which are also connected to each other) but introducing those characters so that a reader of A Dangerous Madness doesn't have to have read the other two books to understand them. The characters have to stand alone, as much as the books do. But for those readers who have read either one or both of the previous books, they'll see those characters again, and learn a little about what has happened to them since the last book.

I've had so many readers contact me and comment on how much they enjoyed catching a glimpse of one or other of their favorite characters, which I really love. And quite a few people who read Banquet of Lies went back to read The Emperor's Conspiracy, and told me they found it equally satisfying, so readers don't have to read the books in any particular order.

In this way, connected books are more versatile than a series, because most people are hesitant to read a series out of order, and I totally understand that. I also love that so many people wrote to me after Banquet of Lies, asking if the Duke of Wittaker would get his own story. It was very satisfying to tell them I had started working on it straight after I finished Banquet of Lies. :)

From the beginning of Banquet of Lies, the Duke of Wittaker is mentioned by various characters again and again, although readers only 'meet' him near the very end. But when he did arrive on the scene, he made a real impact. I wrote and rewrote the scenes with him in them, because he really shone as a character and I wanted to do him justice. I loved that readers felt the same way, and those who read Banquet of Lies and have been waiting for their Duke of Wittaker fix, I hope they enjoy A Dangerous Madness as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Michelle Diener writes historical fiction. Her Susanna Horenbout & John Parker series, set in the court of Henry VIII, includes In a Treacherous Court, Keeper of the King's Secrets and In Defense of the Queen.

Michelle's other historical novels include Daughter of the Sky, The Emperor's Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies (loosely connected to The Emperor's Conspiracy).

Michelle's first fantasy novel, Mistress of the Wind, is set for a December 23, 2013, release.

Michelle was born in London, grew up in South Africa and currently lives in Australia with her husband and two children.

Goodreads * Amazon * Website * Twitter * Facebook

Blitz-Wide Giveaways:

Grand Prize: Print copies of The Emperor's Conspiracy, Banquet of Lies, and A Dangerous Madness
5 Print or Kindle copies (winner's choice) of A Dangerous Madness
Both giveaway are open internationally.
May 19th - 26th
See Rafflecopter for restrictions.

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Banquet of Lies by Michelle Diener #NewRelease 5 Star Review!

Banquet of Lies
by Michelle Diener
Paperback, 352 pages
Published October 22, 2013 by Gallery Books
Copy: Rec'd early eCopy from Edelweiss

A Secret Treaty and a Secret Life

LONDON, 1812: Giselle Barrington is living a double life, juggling the duties of chef with those of spy catcher. She must identify her father’s savage killer before the shadowy man finds her and uncovers the explosive political document her father entrusted to her safekeeping.

Posing as a French cook in the home of Lord Aldridge, Giselle is surrounded by unlikely allies and vicious enemies. In the streets where she once walked freely among polite society, she now hides in plain sight, learning the hard lessons of class distinction and negotiating the delicate balance between servant and master.

Lord Aldridge’s insatiable curiosity about his mysterious new chef blurs the line between civic duty and outright desire. Carefully watching Giselle’s every move, he undertakes a mission to figure out who she really is—and, in the process, plunges her straight into the heart of danger when her only hope for survival is to remain invisible.

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble 

My Review:

This story has everything I love about Diener's writing - complicated, muliti-layered plot, intelligent, well-developed characters, & slowly crescendo-ing romance. In addition, there is a truck-load of French Cuisine. Lol. And I am now in love with French Cuisine!

Giselle is spunky. Her up-bringing is perfect to give her confidence in herself and life-or-death suspicious of everyone else. The opening scene is shocking, heart-breaking... and the book grabs hold tightly, refusing to be put down afterwards and Giselle is the amazing center of the story.

She hides from would-be killers by taking employment as a French cook, having learned from the best cooks in her travels. And this is where she meets Lord Aldridge - a society contemporary of hers who happens to be one of the search party looking for her.


Lol.


The set-up is asking for trouble... confrontations... awkward moments... and lots and lots of deliciousness as secrets push their way out.

Banquet of Lies is a book that needs to be on the shelf, a keeper to re-read on winter nights and while planning weekly menus. I must add a warning, however, that reading this story will inspire French Cuisine and there might be extra baking and coffee in the near-future.

There is an adult scene (or two) and I feel I should warn those looking forward to it to, um, smell the roses along the journey. The tension is increasing rather rapidly, at that point, and I couldn't help wanting to hurry on to resolution, but Diener allows for intelligent reading and doesn't return to repeat things covered earlier in the story.


My Rating: an enthusiastic 5 Stars. 

Find recipes for the famous Reine Claude Jam and Brioche at Diener's Recipe page!!



Michelle Diener writes historical fiction. Her Susanna Horenbout & John Parker series, set in the court of Henry VIII, includes In a Treacherous Court and Keeper of the King’s Secrets, with In Defense of the Queen set for an August 1st, 2013 release.

Michelle’s other historical novels include Daughter of the Sky,The Emperor’s Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies (loosely connected to The Emperor’s Conspiracy), which will release on October 22nd, 2013.

Michelle also contributed a short paranormal story to the ENTANGLED Anthology entitled BREAKING OUT. All the proceeds of the sale of ENTANGLED go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Michelle was born in London, grew up in South Africa and currently lives in Australia with her husband and two children.

When she’s not writing, or driving her kids from activity to activity, you can find her blogging at Magical Musings, or online at Twitter and Facebook.

Website * Goodreads 

* I have to ask where the idea for the book came from? Why French cuisine?

I studied French at university and have a Masters degree in Translation. I love France, I've been there a number of times, and even lived with my French lecturer's family for a month just outside Paris. I had Reine Claude jam and brioche for breakfast almost every morning while I lived there. As anyone who reads the book can tell, that's stayed with me :). I love cooking and baking and other than reading, making something in the kitchen is my favorite hobby. A number of my friends have asked me through the years when I was going to write a book that had some cooking in it, as it is such a big part of my normal life. Banquet of Lies is that book. 

Oh, no way... I'm so jealous! Lol. It sounds so great in the book!!

* And I also have to ask about the cover.  :-D  My goodness!  

I'm so glad you like it! To begin with, we played around with a reverse of The Emperor's Conspiracy cover, to make the thread between the two books more apparent, but we couldn't get anything that really popped and worked as well as The Emperor's Conspiracy cover, so we went with something totally different instead, and I love what the art department at Simon & Schuster came up with.

* What kind of research did you do for the cooking? What comes from experience?

The recipes themselves are all from experience. I have made each dish, and readers can find the recipes on my website (http://www.michellediener.com/books/banquet-of-lies/recipes-from-banquet-of-lies/). But what did take research was the conditions in the kitchen, the layout and what equipment would have been available. I read up a lot about Antonin Carême  who was the first real celebrity chef, and worked for the Prince Regent around the time Banquet of Lies is set. I based the Duke of Wittaker's chef, Georges Bisset, partly on Carême, and studied his menus and his methods. British chef Heston Blumenthal has also 'walked' a little in Carême's footsteps, recreating some of his more outrageous recipes, and I give a link to his recreation of Carême's Cock's Testicles recipe on YouTube at the back of the book. Those who've read the book will recognise it as the inspiration for a threat Georges makes to Jonathan when he realizes Jonathan is romantically interested in Gigi.

Oh... wow. I'm so in over my head, but lovin' it!

* Which dish or scene is your favorite?

I love courgette and almond soup. So do my whole family. There is just something wonderful, almost mousse-like, about it. 

As for my favorite scene, that has to been the one after Gigi has escaped from the ball and Jonathan is waiting for her outside his house. I love the way they interact there. It is almost as delicious as Gigi's cooking.

Yes!!!  :-D  I love that one, too.

* Do you have a recipe from the book you can share?

I have them all! :) Readers can go here for a full list of all the recipes in the book: http://www.michellediener.com/books/banquet-of-lies/recipes-from-banquet-of-lies/

* What are you writing now?  :-D

I'm writing the book that comes after Banquet of Lies. The Duke of Wittaker just leapt off the page for me from the moment I started writing about him in Banquet of Lies, and so he's getting a turn next. 

How exciting!!  I had no idea you made these dishes when I was reading them... they sound so exquisite in the book, but you have RECIPES!!!  :-D  Yay!  And there's more story in this world!  DOUBLE-YAY!!! Thank you for the interview, Michelle, and please keep writing!!

I became an enthusiastic fan of Michelle Diener's books when I read The Emperor's Conspiracy... click on the covers to go to my posts on Colorimetry:

    

I'll spill a little secret, too... Prism Book Tours will be sharing a hot-off-the-press fantasy retelling by Michelle Diener after Christmas. Sign up to receive the email notification here!!