Although she has lived or traveled in every
continent except Antarctica and Australia (bucket list), M. S. Spencer has
spent the last thirty years mostly in Washington, D.C. as a librarian,
Congressional staff assistant, speechwriter, editor, birdwatcher, kayaker,
policy wonk, non-profit director and parent. Blessed with two fabulous grown
children and an adorable grandchild, she has published ten romantic
suspense/mystery novels. She now divides her time between the Florida Gulf
coast and a tiny hamlet in Maine.
Thanks so
much for having me today. I’d like to talk about my cozy mystery/romantic
suspense, The
Mason’s Mark: Love and Death in the Tower and let your readers in on a
brand new excerpt.
Old Town Alexandria, founded 1749, is a thriving Colonial-era city, complete
with cobblestones and Federal-style row houses. Laid out in a well-ordered grid,
King Street runs in a straight line from the Potomac River to the George
Washington National Masonic Memorial, where most of the action in The Mason’s
Mark takes place. To its south lie Prince and Duke Streets and to the north
Cameron, Queen, and then Princess. The mystery of how Cameron had come to
insert itself between a King and his Queen is unclear.
Alexandria is very much a southern
city—with all the charm and dilatoriness of that wonderful region and a perfect
venue for the intrepid duo Claire calls the Marples.
Complicating the affairs of both our hero
and heroine, but also of the villains, are two unlikely characters. Letitia
Canfield, Claire’s mother, meets Andromeda Miller Bliss, Gideon’s mother, in
Paris and they immediately hit it off. Being naturally inquisitive and terrible
snobs, they take charge of both their victims’ love lives and the mystery.
In both the best
and worst first day at work ever, docent Claire Wilding meets the man of her
dreams, but her carefully rehearsed guided tour of the George Washington
National Masonic Memorial collapses when she discovers a body and
is drawn into
a dark world of black ops and Italian renegade masons, of secret cabals and
hidden treasure.
Also cloaked in
mystery is handsome Gideon Bliss, a George Washington expert who haunts the
Memorial, his manner evasive. What is his secret? Claire fears she'll fall in
love with him only to learn he's a thief or even a murderer. Juggling two
eccentric mothers, an inquisitive sister, and an increasingly smitten
detective, Claire must find answers to a complex web of intrigue, including who
to trust and who to love.
The
Mason's Mark: Love and Death in the Tower (an Old Town Romance)
In this excerpt we find Letitia eating
raspberries with her daughter (our heroine) Claire, and revealing the results
of she and her friend Andromeda’s sleuthing.
Excerpt (G): Raspberries and Revelations
The
small box of scarlet berries took up most of one shelf in the mini
refrigerator. When Claire returned with a bowl and napkins, Letitia took up
arms again. “Andy believes—and I agree—that if we keep up the pressure on
Dorcas she’ll have to cave. What woman wants a mother-in-law who hounds her
constantly?”
Claire
took a raspberry and nibbled on it. The tart sweetness burst on her tongue.
“What do you think she wants anyway?”
“Dorcas?
I’m not sure. After all, her lover has apparently been in touch with her.”
Claire
stared open-mouthed at her mother. “How did you know?”
Letitia’s
half-smile would have put Mona Lisa out of sorts. “You are always staggered by
my powers of observation, aren’t you, my dear? I know because I saw him.”
“That
day we were in Vermilion?”
“Of
course.” The old lady ate another berry. “Andy says he’s the man she left
Gideon for.”
“Andy?”
“Andromeda.
We’ve been indulging in a little sleuthing since our luncheon.”
Nuts. Just what we need—two Miss
Marples on the case.
“They
met in Argentina.”
“Argentina?”
“Dorcas
comes from a distinguished and well-to-do Spanish family. They own a large
ranch in the pampas a few hundred miles from Buenos Aires and breed racehorses.
Andy says she spends several months a year there.”
The
words of Lieutenant Angle came back to Claire. “Everyone assumed that the lodge
dissolved after Perón fell, but it didn’t. Scordato kept it going with help
from a mysterious reserve of funds.” They’d theorized that Scordato had used
the money from the sale of Perón’s hands, but could those funds have come from
Dorcas instead? Could she be mixed up with P2? Could her lover have drawn her
into the gang? Or the other way around? White
said the BSO had lost touch with their man Peel. She conjured up the exquisite,
shatterproof face of Gideon’s wife. The
face that launched a thousand ships. Yes, she could see Dorcas as the ring
leader. Claire decided to pump her
mother for as much information as possible.
“How
did Mrs. Bliss know what Dorcas’ lover looked like?”
Letitia
stopped with the raspberry halfway to her lips. “What? Oh, you seemed lost in
reverie for a minute there—I do hope you weren’t daydreaming about Gideon.”
“No,
Mother. You were saying?”
She
popped the raspberry in her mouth and, with a reproving look, went on. “When
Andromeda first arrived in Paris, she went to the embassy for help in locating
her daughter-in-law. She says the ambassador was most kind and offered the
services of his first secretary.”
Claire
kept the facetious remark to herself. Her mother’s obvious gratification at the
deferential treatment of her friend couldn’t have been more endearing.
Letitia
continued, “As she was leaving the secretary’s office, she saw Dorcas in the
hall. He was with her.”
Let’s just see how much our lady
sleuths know. “Did she learn his name? His
profession?”
“He
goes by Simon Peel, but we think that’s an alias. He’s definitely too bland to
be anything other than a spy. And anyway, Dorcas wouldn’t find him attractive
otherwise.”
“He
couldn’t be a reclusive billionaire?” Or
a P2 confederate?
“Dorcas
wouldn’t care about money. She’s extremely wealthy in her own right. No,
according to Andy, she craves danger and sex, preferably in combination.”
“Er…are
you talking about dominance? Sado-masochism?”
Letitia’s
faded blue eyes opened wide, feigning shock. “My heavens, Claire. You certainly
didn’t learn about such things from your parents!” She plucked the last
raspberry from the bowl and swallowed it. “However, Andromeda confided to me
that she suspected Dorcas’s…inclinations…lay along those lines. If our current
theory is correct, a spy with latent violent tendencies would be just her cup
of tea.” As if to underscore her point Letitia held out her glass. “Speaking
of…”
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Blurb for A Foundation of Fear:
