The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Faith Mortimer's New Book: A Very Distant Affair.
Bestselling novelist Faith Mortimer is the author of the Affair Series, The Crossing Series, A Dark Minds Psychological Thrillers and the The Diana Rivers Mysteries.
A Very Distant Affair
A Very Affair Book 4
Author: Faith Mortimer
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Cheryl Taylor, a landscape artist appears to have it all. Apart from fame and fortune, her attentive husband Daniel is brilliant at managing her business matters. Cheryl has allowed him full rule of her affairs from the day they were married…but twenty years later, she wonders whether she shouldn’t be quite so naive. Daniel is controlling and as she learns from one friend during an intimate conversation. “Diamonds aren’t a girl’s best friend you know. They are a man’s best friend. They’re great at getting men off the hook, and keeping their women quiet.”
Feeling uncomfortable and troubled over her friend’s warning, Cheryl decides there is more to life than being successful and at the beck and call of a manipulative husband. She sets out to find what she really wants from life, and to her horror, discovers one earth-shattering secret after the next.
Her life in turmoil she visits Australia, where on a previous trip, she found contentment from an unexpected quarter. Michel, a widower, owns a winery and boutique hotel in New South Wales, and is as different from Daniel as chalk is to cheese.
Cheryl is drawn to this gentle Australian of French descent and feels her new-found strong will wavering. She returns to London to offer Daniel an ultimatum, only to discover the final shock which threatens all their lives.
Excerpt from A Very Distant Affair
Prologue
Guilty. There…she said it. Guilty for living, when he was dead and buried, and guilty because…because she couldn’t admit to anyone how she truly felt.
Cheryl stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. Despite her long red hair, or maybe because of it, black suited her. The sombre tone of her dress contrasted with her blue eyes and almost-translucent pale skin. She raised her eyebrows as she opened her eyes wide. As a mature woman, she ought to have known better, but really, she felt exhausted after the last few months, and she quoted Rhett Butler’s well-known phrase to herself, ‘Quite frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ But even that was a lie, because deep down, she did.
She grabbed the last of Daniel’s best shirts and stuffed them into a sturdy carrier bag. The local charity shop would do well out of her this week. Half of them had only been worn once or twice, and they were all designer labelled. He always bought far too many new garments at once. She felt something firmer than cloth beneath her hand and, poking her long fingers into the breast pocket of a dark-blue polo shirt, grasped something which turned out to be a photograph folded in half.
Cheryl stared at the much creased snapshot, recalling the day it had been taken. She saw a sky so blue it made her eyes ache; tall eucalyptus trees were etched into the background, and she and Daniel stood in front. Happy days, in some ways. Her first trip to Australia had been bittersweet. She remembered how she wanted everything to be so perfect, filled with hope, and that the holiday would help get their marriage back on track. God only knew how much it needed something back then.
Daniel Taylor, the man she married years ago and had now lost. After his death, she didn’t go to pieces or let everything slip through her fingers. She had others to consider. The burden had been immense as she overcame dark thoughts and fought to get everything back on an even keel. That was the key. Time healed, and she smiled and nodded at everyone who told her so.
They said she was traumatised by Daniel’s death and had been left bewildered and numb. Well, that was partly true, but as for her true feelings and what had happened, some things were best left unsaid.
She blinked, as tears pricked at her eyelashes. She loved him once. She thought back to those dreadful weeks: him dying a little bit more each day. She hated watching his face grow so pale and thin on the pillow. His words—those alarming words, desperate and pleading—had shocked her to the core.
She had whispered her promise never to leave him…and she didn’t. She stayed to the end, watching him sleep until his chest no longer rose and fell with each sighing breath. When it finally happened, she thought the world had stopped. Everything was so still. So still that she imagined she could hear the house breathing.
Finally, she had kissed his cheek, tucked his hands under the cotton covers and stood up to move away. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her mind numb with pain and wracked with guilt. “Rest in peace.”
Chapter One: The Present
Inside the restaurant, there was a sudden portentous silence. The waiter paused before whisking Cheryl’s dessert plate away and glanced towards the tall window overlooking the London square. Other chic diners turned their heads and listened.
Outside, the night sky exploded. Everyone in the restaurant glanced at their fellow diners as they heard the rockets swish overhead, followed by spectators’ frantic shrieks, culminating in a frenzied peal of church bells. Daniel looked across the festive table into his wife’s sapphire-blue eyes, double-fringed with thick black lashes. He gave a perfunctory smile while sliding a small box across the table towards her. “Happy New Year, darling.”
Surprised, Cheryl paused as she lifted her champagne glass for a toast and widened her eyes in question. Their dining companions, Ollie and Cordelia, seated between Cheryl and Daniel, stopped conversation mid-sentence as they watched her.
“Oh! For me?” Prettily startled, Cheryl smiled at her husband. Daniel had already been generous that Christmas, and Cheryl could only wonder what the pair of emerald earrings signified. “Daniel, they’re beautiful. I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you is enough, my darling. I thought you could wear them when we visit the Thorns next month. You know how well-turned-out Felicity always is. She’ll be green with envy.”
Cordelia laughed, her green eyes dancing with more than a little malice. “I can’t wait to see her face. Daniel, you’re so lavish with your presents. Cheryl’s in danger of becoming as spoilt as Felicity.”
Cheryl blinked at her words. If she could have named one woman who was over-indulged, it was Cordelia. Unlike the other three seated at the table, she came from old money and had spent a lifetime of idleness apart from sitting on the boards of a handful of charities. She had spent the evening flirting with Daniel while Cheryl watched surreptitiously as she shook her flaxen curls over Daniel’s shoulder, twirling her empty wine glass between her well-manicured hands. Daniel responded with old-fashioned charm as benefitted the wife of a good and wealthy client. Cheryl couldn’t really complain. She was used to women flirting with her handsome husband. All too often they were fascinated by his grey eyes, set in a lean, sharply featured face. Daniel carried himself as taut as a greyhound, and they were attracted by his good looks and a sensitivity that nestled at the core of his don’t-mess-with-me macho charm.
Cheryl was a landscape painter, Daniel her agent. He discovered her when she was bouncing along the bottom of the art world, barely keeping her head above water. Once he recognised Cheryl’s full potential in what had become a buoyant art market, he declared he would make her a household name—but only if she let him have complete control. Cheryl, already suffering rejection in the art world, where the parameters were firmly set, and struggling to make ends meet, had no choice but to go along with his plans. And to be fair, true to his word, Daniel soon succeeded in establishing Cheryl as an up-and coming artist, whose pieces were now highly desirable and fetched good prices. As an agent, Daniel was wealthy, knew the risks to take, which paintings to put up as collateral and which would sell well. He knew his market and his clients.
Ollie was one of those clients. Well-heeled, he specialised in designing and building shopping malls and had met Daniel at a party in London. Ollie invested in other property, race horses and art. He knew the property market and horse flesh but little of art and entrusted Daniel to find him those canvases which would turn into blue-chip art. The arrangement worked well. Daniel sought pieces he knew Ollie liked, thereby placing Ollie in the European art world and earning Daniel a handsome commission.
Cheryl laughed good-naturedly and switched her gaze to the dark good looks of the wide-shouldered ex-rugby player. Ollie cossetted his wife far too much and openly admitted it. Cheryl knew he had been watching Cordelia like a hawk throughout the evening; he was no fool. Although beaming at Cordelia’s flirtation benevolently, Ollie was competitive and known to flatten anyone who got in his way. Cheryl was sure Daniel was aware of this and, treasuring Ollie’s patronage, would have done nothing to seriously jeopardise their business relationship.
Daniel had explained to Cheryl more than once how he saw Cordelia and Ollie as the über-successful couple. “There’s no point in standing still in life. You go up or you slide down. And you and I, my darling, are going up. With your talent and my knowledge of the art world, the world’s our oyster. Your paintings sell before the canvas is even dry. What can go wrong if you follow my advice?”
At times like these, Cheryl wanted to voice her own opinions and reservations, but when she saw Daniel’s face, she knew he would brush aside her unease. Daniel excelled at control, and whenever she questioned any of his decisions, he reminded her of the promise she had made him all those years ago. All the same, Cheryl always maintained happiness had a price, and on most occasions, it was always high. Things were going fairly well in the Taylor household at this stage, but ever the pessimist, Cheryl wondered what might be around the corner.
Author Genre: Crime, Suspense, Romance & Action
Website: Faith Mortimer-author of crime, suspense, romance & action
Twitter: @FaithMortimer
E-Mail: faith@vouni.sent
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Amazon Author Profile
Author Description: Amazon Top #14 author rank for mystery, #27 mystery, thriller & suspense, #55 literature & fiction #5 bestselling author on Nook Books. Faith's books have made the Kindle Top 100 Paid List numerous times.
Faith is a British author dividing her time between Hampshire, UK & Cyprus. Since 2005 she turned her hobby of writing into a career. During childhood, she dreamed of writing novels which readers would love, & spent many hours writing short stories which she read to her sisters. Born in Manchester & educated in Singapore, Malaya & Hampshire, England.
*Please note: all books are written in British English. Spellings and grammatical conventions are conversant with the UK and appropriate for the setting.
Top selling novels include the Diana Rivers Mystery Suspense Series: The Assassins' Village (#1 Harpers Collins/Authonomy), Children of the Plantation, The Surgeon's Blade, Camera Action Murder, Childhunt! & A Deadly Learning. A Brutal Trade
The Green Room, On Devil's Brae & Behind a Twisted Smile (Dark Minds Psychological Thriller series)
Faith also write Romance: A Very French Affair (#1 in France), A Very English Affair, The Seeds of Times, Harvest, On Christmas Hill & Not Just For Christmas. (The Affair Series)
Author's Book List
Behind A Twisted Smile
- Dark Minds Psychological Thriller Book 2What do you do when an ex-lover won’t take “no” for an answer? Moya thinks Martyn will eventually take the hint – but the rejected lover has no such intention.
Three weeks later, Moya meets her older sister Evie at a picnic, and learns that she has recently met the man of her dreams. Only problem is – He’s Moya’s spurned ex.
Almost at once, Moya finds herself in a long and terrifying ordeal; she has to deal with an adversary who loves playing sinister mind games, all under the guise of his twisted smile.
As the months slip away, the mental battles with Martyn move insidiously towards physical conflict. A conflict where only one person will step away…. Alive!…
Author note. Based on a true life scenario back in the 70's. Forensics were simpler then so the up to date version had to be modified.
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ON DEVIL'S BRAE
- A Dark Minds Psychological Thriller Book 1Cassandra Potter; is hiding from the memories of two recent and traumatic deaths. But one day she makes the mistake of walking alone on Devil’s Brae. A mountain in the stark wild of the Scottish Highlands.
The beautiful country seems empty, stretching for miles in every direction, but it is then she sees him. A dark brooding figure, standing motionless, watching as Cassandra climbs the brae.
That first time Cassandra ignores the watcher, until the next time and it is then she first realizes her mistake. Someone wishes her gone from the village – at all costs.
No one believes her story—not the police, not the neighbours, and especially not her friends. When she suspects someone is lying to her, Cassandra is forced to retrace her past, following in her own footsteps to find the truth and stay alive. But who is following Cassandra? Is murder in their uppermost thoughts?
On Devil's Brae…You never know who's out there.
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Not Just For Christmas
- Affair Series Book 4Chloe Prendergast, shares an exciting secret with Benedict Endsleigh, her charming fiancé. But Ben isn’t as thrilled as he might be, especially when ex-wife Annabelle drops her bombshell.
Within days, Chloe’s life is turned upside down and she runs to her brother Cameron for help. Staying in the stunning Cotswold Hills of England, things are going well until Chloe runs into brusque, rude hotel and landowner, Scott Tilney.
When Chloe falls ill, it is the handsome Lord Tilney who comes to her aid. Against her better judgement she finds she is attracted to this puzzling man who seems wedded to the past, as she is to hers.
As everyone prepares for the Christmas holiday extravaganza, Chloe dreams of becoming a Christmas bride. But which path will true love take? She knows that love is - Not Just for Christmas.
A beautiful Christmas novel about the magic of Christmas memories, the strength of family and falling in love when you least expect it.
After all, Christmas holidays are the season for love and second chances.
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On Christmas Hill
- Affair Series Book 2Catherine is a single mum, struggling to bring up her five year old daughter, she has little time for romance, and when she learns she has lost her job and her flat is deemed inhabitable, she wonders just what else life is about to fling at her.
Where or to whom can she turn to for help? Kismet in the shape of handsome, bachelor, Jack Darcy aka Father Christmas is at hand. But can she trust the handsome stranger who seems to know a lot about her private life, and why does he introduce her to his favourite place up on Christmas Hill?
When Catherine finds a forty year old letter hidden in a village post office and seeks to reunite the letter with the addressee, little does she know what part she will play in the affair or how circumstances change her very existence. Her own ideas of weddings and being a bride seem remote. When will she find that perfect love which so far has eluded her?
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A Very English Affair
Danielle Collingdale is moderately successful in business but hapless in love. Danielle’s world takes an unexpected upturn when handsome and wealthy Christian Douglas enters her ordinary life and sweeps her off her feet into a passionate affair. Within days, their involvement develops from an ardent romance into genuine love. But the lovers seem fated…because while planning their new life together, a catastrophe threatens their devotion, putting their relationship to the ultimate test.
Will this shocking and tearful discovery tear them apart or can they find the strength to overcome their ordeal and live a joyful life?
NB. A box of Kleenex is essential when reading this novel.
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A Very French Affair
- Affair Series Book 1We've all seen those three little words...je t'aime ...but will this be the case for Margaret?
When Margaret discovers her fiancé is cheating on her, she leaves England in search of a new life and a new dream. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Margaret is determined to put romance out of her life and avoid forming personal ties. On the beautiful French south coast, Margaret lands herself with a plum job and is happy to forget her worthless old flame. Things are looking up, until a series of events draw her into meeting handsome Frenchman Jean-Paul. Despite her reservations, Margaret begins to let down her guard with inevitable consequence.
Margaret falls deeply in love, but struggles with her conscious after discovering Jean-Paul is married. Despite his declaration of a loveless marriage, should Margaret continue with her new affair? Her old life haunts and scares her…Should she choose a secure, safe life, immersed in her work, or one filled with passion and excitement with the sexy Frenchman? In her darkest hours, can she trust him with her heart?... Has she found a safe haven?
Or is she poised on the brink of the abyss…
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A Brutal Trade
- The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 7Even on a small island the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever…
It began like any normal day in Cyprus…except it wasn’t…the body of a woman brutally murdered and discovered in a shallow grave changes all that.
It is only days later when amateur sleuth, Diana Rivers and old flame, Chief Superintendent Adam Lovell discover a second female victim…only this time the discovery is even more chilling and shocks the island inhabitants.
Joining forces with local policeman, Sergeant Yiannis Loukiades, the three embark on a journey which takes them on the fringes of humanity. Disturbing secrets are unearthed. They are on the hunt for killers who will stop at nothing in their hunt for one vital woman.
As the bodies mount up, the detectives ask themselves one question. What is the reason for the women’s’ deaths and their horrific mutilations?
With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Diana finds herself exposed to great danger…in the sights of a lethal individual who’ll put a stop to her meddling. Each move could be deadly… vicious in its outcome…can the team bring a halt to this brutal trade?
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A Deadly Learning
- The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 6When author and private investigator, Diana Rivers travels to Portugal for a holiday, murder is the last thing on her mind.
On the first day of her visit, nothing bodes well at the International College of Portugal when a woman’s body is found interred behind a wall during renovation work. The striped plastic tape around the crime-scene portrays a sense of nail-biting unease. Diana sets out to discover who the victim is - and that's when a second woman's body is found…only this time it's a student from the college.
Diana upsets a whole hornets nest when she stumbles upon students practicing sexual rituals in the sand dunes, the makings of a drug factory and money laundering..and that's not including a rash of killings. Her plans for a quiet break go out of the window.
But as usual…Diana is in her element.
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CHILDHUNT
- The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 5Two weeks before Christmas. The villagers of Agios Mamas, in Cyprus, are preparing for the season’s festivities with plenty of parties. Without warning terror strikes the heart of the village.
Over the past six years, many children have disappeared...without trace, leaving behind bemused and shocked parents. This winter two more small children disappear...abducted from their home...
Diana knows the family of four, and acting swiftly, puts together a party of local runners and walkers to comb the surrounding countryside for the missing youngsters. Additional help comes from old flame, Adam Lovell and his gypsy girl-friend, Clare. They know they have to act quickly...The first hour is called "The golden hour" and the longer a child is missing, the less chance there is of them being recovered unharmed.
As Diana becomes more involved in the desperate search, she puts both her life and Clare's in danger as the noose is drawn tighter around one house near their normally sleepy little village.
Has someone been stalking the family; waiting for the right moment to strike?
And why this family? Will local author and amateur sleuth, Diana Rivers, her posse of friends and CID Police Chief Inspector, Adam Lovell find the children before it's too late...?
Join Diana and her friends as they try to unravel the twists and turns in this horrific nightmare.
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Camera...Action...Murder!
- The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 4Diana Rivers hadn’t intended to visit England that summer but the invitation to take part in a film-shoot seemed too exciting an opportunity to miss. She looked forward to renewing old friendships and meeting a handful of well-known film stars.
The only possible fly in the ointment, was the venue. Years before, Diana had suffered a terrifying experience in Cheltenham, England – an encounter which she thought she’d resolved. Reassuring her partner, Steve that all was well and the dreadful episode was behind them, they went ahead.
Little did Diana know that the filming was only a minor part of the show about to be enacted. Once again, Diana is drawn into events which threaten to spiral out of control. When a beautiful young actress is accidentally killed, Diana’s reaction is to turn to more sinister thoughts. Was it an accident or was it…murder?
A second body leaves everyone reeling and this time there is no doubt. A callous and vicious murderer is at large. Diana is fast embroiled in discovering the hard facts, not knowing that she is placing herself in great danger. Watch out Diana! You could be next…
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The Surgeon's Blade
- The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 3Nursing sister, Libby Hunter wakes up in hospital with amnesia after a traumatic sailing accident. The stranger she finds sitting by her bedside claims to be her fiancé. The trouble is... she cannot remember him...
Returning home, Libby finds herself in great danger when her house is broken into. Who is the intruder and what does he want? Is this connected to a series of attacks on nurses in London and Southampton? Is Libby the latest targeted victim?
Distressed, Libby turns to helicopter pilot, Robert for help and understanding...but is he as respectable and kind as he appears to be? Is her so-called fiancé, Nigel trustworthy?
The night time intrusion into Libby's house sets in motion a downwards spiral of cataclysmic and terrifying events, culminating in sleuth, Diana Rivers stepping in to help solve the case in this chilling mystery.
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Children of the Plantation
- The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 2After discovering the truth surrounding the bloody murders in, "The Assassins' Village" feisty sleuth and heroine, Diana Rivers and her partner Steve, decide they deserve a holiday.
Relaxing at their luxurious palm fringed plantation hotel in lush, tropical Malaysia; things don't quite work out as they imagined. Diana is approached by the hotel owner, the enigmatic Miss Chalcot, well-bred, imperious and secretive, to take a look through some old family documents.
Miss Chalcot possesses a burning ambition to put right a dreadful wrong that occurred over sixty years ago - and Diana is given free rein to pursue the mysterious past of the family and discover what lies behind the dark stories.
Diana enters into a world of the 1950's and 1960's, where lies, deceit, illicit love, jealousies and...perhaps murder all feature. What really happened all those years ago? Who were Paul, Hermione and the beautiful but selfish Lady Eleanor? Who was responsible for events that shocked the whole family and plunged it into despair? And what is the real story behind the façade?
As Diana gets closer to the answer she realises she is herself in danger…
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Harvest
- The Crossing Book 2HARVEST - continues Richard and Billy's stories which begun in The Seeds of Time. Billy returns home and marries his love, while Richard has to make a decision between the two beautiful women in his life. Richard discovers he is torn between love and duty.
In Sorrel he finds what he believes is his soul-mate, whereas sexy Miranda keeps Richard guessing. When Richard discovers an old war-torn photograph of a woman and two children he is shaken to the core. What was it his father did & never divulged to his wife and family? Harvest is a world where tragedy rests alongside joy. Harvest deals with harsh, cruel, and often despicable conditions – at the same time describing the indestructibility of love in past and present lives. This is a story of deep romance, bravery, survival, heartbreak and happiness, all poignantly and convincingly conveyed. Richard's compelling desire to finally lay his father’s dark secrets to rest brings warmth and understanding into the two intertwined stories. All perfectly blended with non-stop action, intriguing locations, and appealing characters.
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The Seeds of Time
- The Crossing Book 1Englishman, Richard Barker, has everything he needs - a beautiful yacht, plenty of money and an exciting occupation.
When disaster strikes he is shattered, and struggles to come to terms with his feelings of guilt and grief.
At his darkest hour, help arrives from two unexpected and completely opposite sources. Into his life walk beautiful, serene Sorrel and the tempestuous and wilful Miranda.
While Richard is battling with his raw and confused emotional state, he discovers secrets about his dead father’s past life during the Second World War. It is this intriguing news which helps bring Richard to his senses.
But is it enough for Richard to find inner peace and love?
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Thank you so much James for posting A Very Distant Affair on HBS Author's Spotlight - the post looks great and I do appreciate it - thanks x
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