Cindy Blackburn - Five Spot is featured in the HBS Author's Spotlight Showcase

The Showcase is a special feature of the Author's Spotlight. It is designed to highlight Spotlight author's NEW releases and their soon to be released novels.

The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Cindy Blackburn's New Book: Five Spot

Cindy Blackburn is the author of Cue Ball Mysteries, the Cassie Baxter Mysteries and some truly awful poetry.

Five Spot

Cue Ball Mysteries

Author: Cindy Blackburn


AVAILABLE
Amazon


At long last! Jessie Hewitt is about to take her rightful spot in the Hall of Fame. No, not the one for pool sharks. This is the Romance Writers Hall of Fame. Jessie's so excited she's even convinced über-hunky cop Wilson Rye to tag along for the induction festivities. But things don't go exactly as planned. How could a conference called Happily Ever After take such a wrong turn? Take a guess.

Chapter ONE

“We’ll raffle off a man!” Louise shouted into the phone.

“As in a human being?” I asked from my end of the line. “Are you crazy?”

The answer to that question, by the way, is a resounding yes. My literary agent Louise Urko, a.k.a. Geez Louise, is certifiable.

“A man-prize!” she was saying. “Such a fantastical idea! Fantastical, fantastical, fantastica—”

I looked at my cats. “Certifiably cuckoo.” “I heard that, Jessica. But you know I had to come up with the most fantastical prize ever in the entire history of the Happily Ever After conference!”

“Oh?”

“Oh, yes! Adelé Nightingale is about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Finally! This year’s Happily Ever After absolutely must be the most memorable ever. You and Adelé deserve nothing less!”

In case you’re confused—Geez Louise has a way of doing that—I am Adelé Nightingale. But I’m also Jessica Hewitt. Adelé is my pen name, I write historical romances for a living, and I was indeed about to take my place in the hallowed ranks of the Romance Writers Hall of Fame.

“A man-prize is so much better than Tori Fister’s idea!” Louise was still speaking in high-definition exclamation points. “She suggested the raffle winner receive a free massage! A massage? Can you imagine anything more ho hum-hum drum?”

Tori, in case you’re still confused, is Geez Louise’s archrival. The two of them are the hottest literary agents in the romance world. I’m a fan of Geez Louise, which of course speaks volumes as to my own grasp on sanity.

“I had to think of something better than a massage!” she continued. “So come Monday some lucky winner will be swept off her feet for a fun-filled frolicsome date with her Paramour for a Day! Will that be fantastical or what!?”

“Or what,” I answered firmly and reminded my agent very few men attend the annual Happily Ever After conference. “Who do you plan to recruit for this stunt?”

Louise skipped a beat. “I don’t suppose Roberto would work,” she said, and I agreed he would not.

Roberto Santiago, my publisher at Perpetual Pleasures Press, is a regular at Happily Ever After. But Roberto is over seventy and a bit past Paramour for a Day standards. Gavin McClure also attends every year, and Gavin is a handsome young guy. But Gavin was bound to be as busy as I over the weekend, since he, too, was about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Gavin, for his work in the LGBT category. Which brings up another point. “Gavin’s cute,” I said. “But I doubt the winner, who’s bound to be a heterosexual female, would consider him the best paramour.”

“That rules out Mykal also,” Louise agreed. Mykal is Gavin’s significant other. “So,” she sang. “There really is only one choice.”

I closed my eyes and prayed for strength. “No.”

“But he’s not gay. And he’s such a hunk! He’s the perfect paramour! Perfect, perfect, perfe—”

“He’s also my husband,” I said, and could almost hear Louise roll her eyes up in Manhattan from my chair in Clarence, North Carolina. “Husband,” I repeated. “You do remember our wedding a mere three months ago?”

“Oh, Jessica! I’m not suggesting anything sordid. Everyone knows Wilson Rye is madly in love with you. Beautiful, talented, menopausal you!”

I thanked her for reminding me and went in search of an Advil while Louise continued on her merry, insane way.

“It’s just for one teeny tiny-itsy bitsy date,” she said as I swallowed a pill. “And he’ll be perfect! Everyone’s dying to meet him. You two will be the hottest thing at this conference!”

“Oh, please,” I said. “We’re middle-aged fuddy duddies.”

“Fuddy duddies do not drive golden chariots.”

“Excuse me?”

“Adelé Nightingale’s brand new golden chariot!” she said. “Absolutely perfect for Wilson’s Paramour for a Day performance!”

I scowled at the cats. “Are you talking about my Porsche?”

“It is gold, isn’t it? And with your ‘Adelé’ license plates? It’s like you bought it specifically with our raffle in mind!”

“Louise! My car may be new, but Wilson certainly isn’t. He’s way too old for this nonsense.”

“Nonsense! He’s perfect!”

Perfect? Hardly. But Wilson is handsome. For a guy pushing fifty, that is. I scowled some more and desperately tried to think of an alternative.

“How about Roger Hollingsworth?” I suggested, and Louise snorted.

“And you claim I’m cuckoo?”

Okay, so she had a point. Roger is married to Faith Hollingsworth, another of my fellow Hall of Fame inductees. Presumably Roger’s heterosexual, and he’s about ten years younger than Wilson. However.

“Roger’s a fuddy duddy,” I said.

“He put the fuddy into duddy! He’s some sort of boring businessman, for Pete’s sake!”

“There’s nothing wrong with businessmen,” I insisted and tried to think fast. “Businessmen are clever and intelligent, and, umm, reliable! Some women like that kind of thing.”

“And some women are cuckoo! Everyone knows business is boring. Boring!” she sang.

“You’re a businesswoman,” I argued, but Louise was too busy repeating her one-word song to hear me.

“Businessmen are completely and totally un-sexy,” she said. “Remember your ex-husband?”

I winced at the cats. “Must I?”

“No! Think about your new husband instead, Jessica! Wilson Rye the homicide guy! The sexy cop!” Louise claimed she swooned every time she pictured him. “You know and I know he’ll make a perfectly fantastical paramour!”

“You know and I know he’ll be perfectly appalled by this plan.”

“Hogwash! He’ll be flattered. So, what do you say?”

I know Louise, and thus I knew resistance was futile. I said yes and hung up. Which is when I noticed all three cats glaring at me.

From my own cat Snowflake, I was accustomed to such disapproval. But from Bernice and Wally, who had been Wilson’s before our marriage? Clearly they’d been taking lessons from Snowflake.

“Wilson will be flattered,” I tried, and six feline eyes glared some more.

I sighed dramatically. “He’s going to kill me.”

No one argued. Bernice yawned.

Author Genre: Mystery

Website: Cindy Blackburn - The Cue Ball Mysteries
Author's Blog: Cindy Blackburn
Twitter: @cbmysteries
E-Mail: cindyblackburn@cbmysteries.com
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Author Description: Cindy Blackburn is living the dream! She spends her days sitting around in her pajamas, thinking up unlikely plot twists and ironing out the quirks and kinks of lovable characters. In other words, Cindy's a writer.

When she's not typing on her laptop or feeding her fat cat Betty, Cindy enjoys taking long walks with her cute hubby John. A native Vermonter who hates snow, Cindy divides her time between the south and the north. Most of the year you'll find her in South Carolina. But come summer she'll be on the porch of her lakeside shack in Vermont. Yep, it's a place very similar to Lake Elizabeth.

Cindy's favorite travel destinations are all in Europe, her favorite TV show is The Big Bang Theory, her favorite movie is Moonstruck, and her favorite color is orange. Cindy dislikes vacuuming, traffic, and lima beans.





Author's Book List
Unbelievable - Humorous and Romantic Cozy (Cassie Baxter Mysteries Book 1
Small sleuth, tiny town, unfailing fun.

Welcome to Lake Elizabeth, Vermont, where the water is blue, the mountains are green, and Cassie Baxter is going nuts. Who wouldn’t go nuts in a town this size? What possessed Cassie to move in with her father? And why do they have to live next door to a mad scientist? A sexy mad scientist. Does such a thing even exist? And speaking of existing, what happened to the dead redhead? You know, the one Cassie found, and then lost? What’s up with that? Cassie Baxter intends to find out. Read Unbelievable and you will, too.

The Cassie Baxter Mysteries: They’re not Cue Balls, but they are screw balls.


Order the Book From:
Amazon



Four Play - A Humorous and Romantic Cozy (Book 4 The Cue Ball Mysteries Series
Bad news comes in . . . fours? For romance author and former pool shark Jessie Hewitt it does. She hasn't written a decent sex scene in months, she hasn't shot a decent game of eight ball all year, and don't even ask about her supposed love life. And just when Jessie thinks things can't get any worse, a body lands on her car. Uber-hunky and altogether infuriating cop Wilson Rye suggests she concentrate on solving her other problems and leave the murder investigation to the experts. But does Jessie agree? Take a guess.


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Amazon
Barnes and Noble



Three Odd Balls - A Humorous and Romantic Cozy (Book 3 The Cue Ball Mysteries Series
A romantic vacation for...five? This wasn't exactly what Jessie and Wilson had in mind when they planned their trip to the tropics. But when Jessie's delightfully spry mother, Wilson's surfer dude son, and Jessie's rabidly hyperactive New York agent decide to tag along the fun begins. What kind of trouble can these three oddest of odd balls possibly get into? Take a guess.


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Amazon
Barnes and Noble



Double Shot - A Humorous and Romantic Cozy (Book 2 The Cue Ball Mysteries Series
Jessie Hewitt thought her pool-hustling days were long gone. But when uber-hunky cop Wilson Rye asks her to go undercover to catch a killer, she jumps at the chance to return to a sleazy poolroom. Jessie is confident she can handle a double homicide, but the doubly-annoying Wilson Rye is another matter altogether. What's he doing flirting with a woman half his age? Will Jessie have what it takes to deal with Tiffany La-Dee-Doo-Da Sass and solve the murders? Take a guess.


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Amazon
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Playing with Poison - Book 1 The Cue Ball Mysteries Series
Pool shark Jessie Hewitt usually knows where the balls will fall and how the game will end. But when a body lands on her couch, and the cute cop in her kitchen accuses her of murder, even Jessie isn't sure what will happen next. Playing With Poison is a cozy mystery with a lot of humor, a little romance, and far too much champagne.


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Amazon
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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
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eBook Author’s Corner
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Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.

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