Leeds UK Author Event - 3 March 2018!

Hello, daahhlings. It's been a long, long while. But guess what?

It's Flapper Friday!

And I've got a ✨FREE✨ ticket to the Leeds book-signing event burning a hole in my fishnets!

For a chance to win, dears, simply comment at my author page on Facebook with your favorite 1920s slang term. To be eligible, please ONLY share your comment on my post here: goo.gl/grptvh.

I'm leaving the contest open through tomorrow (Saturday, the 6th) and will select one winner at random. In the meantime, you can find more event details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leeds-uk-author-event-2018-tickets-32387845919 (hosted by Hourglass Booksigning Events). In addition to the daytime signing with me and loads of other authors, there will be a Flappers & Gangsters-themed after-party at the same location!

So, if you're in the UK this spring, I hope you can make it to the signing and/or party! Meeting in Leeds would be the bee's knees!

NEW RELEASE! Coattails and Cocktails, by Rumer Haven

COATTAILS AND COCKTAILS

by Rumer Haven

Genre: Historical Mystery, Romantic Suspense
Publisher:  Fallen Monkey Press
Cover Designer:  RoseWolf Design

Release Date: September 14, 2017

A body clearly shaken, but not stirring…

Summer, 1929. Murder isn’t on the menu when Chicago tycoon Ransom Warne hosts a dinner party at his country estate. But someone’s a victim—and everyone’s a suspect—when drinks and desires lead to disaster.

Hollywood starlet Lottie Landry has returned home to celebrate her engagement. She’s famous for her on- and off-screen romance with co-star Noble, but, privately, she’s having second thoughts. As her former guardian, Ransom doesn’t approve of the match. Yet his own affections raise questions when his wife, Edith, suspects him of having an affair—just as Noble suspects Lottie. Stirred into the mix are Lottie’s friends Helen and Rex, a young journalist and football hero who can feel tension building in the Warne mansion like a shaken champagne bottle.

And once the cork pops, a body drops.

Coattails and Cocktails is where Agatha Christie meets The Great Gatsby, a whodunit spiked with new love and old baggage, public faces and private vices. Filled to the brim with romance and mystery, it’s sure to intoxicate.

Cover Reveal: COATTAILS AND COCKTAILS, by Rumer Haven

Very excited to share this with you, Flappers!

COATTAILS AND COCKTAILS

by Rumer Haven

Historical / Romantic Mystery

Releasing September 14, 2017

SUMMARY

A body clearly shaken, but not stirring…

Summer, 1929. Murder isn’t on the menu when Chicago tycoon Ransom Warne hosts a dinner party at his country estate. But someone’s a victim—and everyone’s a suspect—when drinks and desires lead to disaster.

Hollywood starlet Lottie Landry has returned home to celebrate her engagement. She’s famous for her on- and off-screen romance with co-star Noble, but, privately, she’s having second thoughts. As her former guardian, Ransom doesn’t approve of the match. Yet his own affections raise questions when his wife, Edith, suspects him of having an affair—just as Noble suspects Lottie. Stirred into the mix are Lottie’s friends Helen and Rex, a young journalist and football hero who can feel tension building in the Warne mansion like a shaken champagne bottle.

And once the cork pops, a body drops.

Coattails and Cocktails is where Agatha Christie meets The Great Gatsby, a whodunit spiked with new love and old baggage, public faces and private vices. Filled to the brim with romance and mystery, it’s sure to intoxicate.

~*~  Add it on Goodreads!  ~*~

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35911613-coattails-and-cocktails

  ~*~  Find me on Amazon!  ~*~
http://viewauthor.at/RumerHaven

(Seven for a) Secret Santa SALE!

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Should old acquaintance be forgot? 

I should say not!
 

Now through New Year's, 

Seven for a Secret is ON SALE for $0.99!

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Find your preferred retailer here:   

http://books.simonandschuster.com/…/Rumer-Hav…/9781623421106

And while the paperback isn't also on sale,  

let's not forget what a lovely stocking stuffer it makes...

Just sayin'. ;)

~*~  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  ~*~

Friday FACT or FICTION?

TRUE or FALSE:

In Seven for a Secret, the Hughes mansion is based on a real Chicago property.

First of all, have you seen the BOOK TRAILER yet? If not, curl up with some popcorn here before scrolling down to today's answer...

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Answer: TRUE!

The novel's fictional mansion where Lon Ashby and Eva Hughes meet on the staircase in 1925 was directly inspired by the Francis J. Dewes house in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Located only a block away from the Hampden Court apartment building that likewise inspired the story's Camden Court, this Chicago landmark dates back to 1896. Like the fictional Warren Hughes, Francis Dewes was a wealthy brewer and had his home designed in a German-inspired, lavishly ornamented neo-Baroque style.

"But before Lon could turn around, the great gray Hughes mansion loomed ahead, with some Choice Society stragglers milling around its steps and shimmering like fireflies in the dark. The music of a piano and string quartet floated on the air to greet him as ladies’ giggles popped like bubbles above the notes."

While I lived in a Hampden Court studio apartment just up the road, I walked by the Dewes mansion almost every day--and salivated over it almost every time. I was just like Kate, gawking at the exterior architecture and peeking through windows without shame. Back then, the home was commercially owned, and you'd often see a wedding reception filling its gated garden. Today, this city mansion is once again a private residence (lucky bastards). It is truly one of Chicago's hidden gems, transporting you to the past (and across the ocean) for a moment; so if you ever find yourself on the city's north side, I highly recommend strolling on over to 503 W. Wrightwood (on the corner of Wrightwood Ave. and Hampden Ct.). It's near Lincoln Park Zoo and Lake Michigan, which makes for a lovely day excursion.

But though you can't tour the inside of the house anymore, don't be dismayed. YoChicago provides a wonderful three-part video tour on YouTube. Below is Part 2, which shows you the entertaining spaces where the fictional Hugheses threw their glittering parties, including the one where Lon meets Eva. I took some liberties, of course, but the key features are all there--such as the staircase...

His gaze trailed up the fall of green to see an alabaster elbow peeking through the swirling black and gold-gilded iron. Then, on approaching the landing, he saw a shoulder, a protruding clavicle...a jaw...and a face, turned away from him. [...] Lon stepped onto the landing and walked to the next flight of steps where the woman sat.

Happy Book Birthday, SEVEN FOR A SECRET!

Hard to believe that a year ago today, my first book baby was born. Hip-hip-hurray and high-fives and huzzahs all around to  

SEVEN FOR A SECRET!

Gobs of gratitude to my readers and followers for making this past year the cat's meow.

And many thanks to author/editor Sarah Allan for hosting me at her blog today for a delightful lil' interview:

sarahallanauthor.blogspot.com

Cheers, you fabulous flappers, you!

Calling All Flappers! Today, We DANCE!

I feel like I'm late to my own party for first posting this now, but the buildup to release day (a.k.a., TODAY!) has been such a weird and wonderful experience to savor. I'm so grateful to everyone who's been participating in the SEVEN FOR A SECRET promos and offering me support in general. I've been contacted by a lot of friends who have already downloaded their copy and started reading, so at this point, I'm just trying not to soil my knickers awaiting their reaction and the book reviews of kind strangers giving it a chance.

You can read the summary at my website or Goodreads. I suppose at this point, I should also divulge the deetz of where you can find this little sucker:

In the meantime, I'm having a ball over at the SEVEN FOR A SECRET Facebook party! So join me and other authors over there to answer some trivia and become eligible to WIN giveaways galore! The event runs until 6pm EST today.

And you still have six days to enter the SEVEN FOR A SWEEPSTAKES giveaway for a chance to win a free ebook, Origami Owl® key charm like the key to Olive's secret, and an Anna Chocola® cloche hat so you can step out Eva style.

All right then, it's been fun beating my gums here, but I'd better ankle and get back to the FB party!

SEVEN FOR A SECRET Teaser #2

AVAILABLE AUGUST 12, 2014

Omnific Publishing

Goodreads 

A to Z: Hats Off and Bottoms Up!

Sound the kaZoos! This is it! The moment has arrived! The day the A to Z Challenge says,

"Z END"

Bravo to all of you A to Z participants, whose brainpower collided to generate a glorious buZZ of energy throughout cyberspace. This month was the cat's meow, so let's make whoopee, maybe even organize a rub where we can dance the Charleston and celebrate our achievement! If you missed out on any of it, don't be a wurp and just sit there like a flat tire left holding the bag (you look like a bug-eyed Betty when you frown) or recline like some high hat dewdropper, acting all upstage and giving A to Z the icy mitt. I'm sure you have your excuses, but tell it to Sweeney and then ankle on over to our blogs anyway so you can know your onions. Vamps, doll up with your munitions, and smoke-eaters, bring a pack to share. Come one, come all--everyone and everything is jake at A to Z!

But you'll have to drink more than noodle juice to achieve today's final installment of 1920s slang. Pick up your panther piss or other giggle water of choice and gulp down that quilt in hearty quantity to go from an edge to positively ossified.

~*~  ZOZZLED  ~*~

Meaning: Drunk

"Ladies, I don't know about you, but it's a hot day, these are cool bottles, and after twenty-six days of the A to Z Challenge, I'm getting good and zozzled."

And to the story that inspired my A to Z theme this year, cheers, SEVEN FOR A SECRET! I wish you well, my debut book baby, as you prepare to enter the world this summer. I promise I wasn't zozzled when you were conceived...well, not the entire time.

A to Z: Hardy-Har-Har

 
It's no joke--the A to Z Challenge is almost ov-ah! Getting a little slap-happy here toward the end, but cheers to all of you whose A to Z posts have cracked me up through the month. What a lovely community of bloggers, where there's no brewhaha, only bwahaha...

Laughter is the best medicine, so they say, so let's administer this next healthy dose of 1920s slang:

~*~  YOU SLAY ME!  ~*~

Meaning: That's funny!

"Sir, what day is it?"
"Thursday."
"So am I. Let's go have another beer."
"Ha! Fella, you slay me!"

A to Z: Charleston, Charleston...

Well, huzzah and hurrah for the X-citing final week of 2014's April A to Z Blog Challenge! What an X-cellent achievement for all the A to Z participants this year, who've X-celled in X-pressing their X-pertise for nearly the full X-tent of the alphabet so far.

And I bet I'm not the only one having to make an X-ception for today's letter, which is a tricky little sucker to find an X-ample of for this blog X-cercise.

Let me X-plain: I couldn't find an X word anywhere in the 1920s slang l-X-icon. So while I can't provide an X-act fit, to suit my purposes today, "X" stands for:

~*~  CRISS-CROSS  ~*~

As in, the knee-knocking Charleston dance.

Josephine Baker shows us how it's done.

A to Z: Cocktails and Cockteases

My blog is batting its eyelashes at you today, beckoning you to come hither for today's A to Z Challenge.

Tempted?

Then sway your hips on over here like the sultry little hussy you are, and we'll roll more tantalizing Twenties slang off the tips of our velvety tongues.

Ba-boom chicka...

~*~  VAMP  ~*~

Meaning: An aggressive flirt, seductress.

Silent on screen,
this vamp had va-voom.

A to Z: The Indiscreet Elite

Condescending to join me again for the A to Z Challenge? Thank you, daaahhlings, for not turning your sophisticated noses up at my vulgar language.

The spirit of this month's theme stems from my debut novel, SEVEN FOR A SECRET, due for release by Omnific Publishing this summer. It's a half-contemporary, half-historical romance in which a Jazz Age tragedy haunts a modern woman's love life. So to shape you into the right attitude for the haughty high hats and floozy flappers of Al Capone's Chicago, let's recommence our elocution lessons with some new 1920s vocabulary, dears...

~*~  UPSTAGE  ~*~

Meaning: Snobby, arrogant.

"Everything jake? Wanna come back inside?"
"Aw, those women are so upstage, I'll never live down this run in my stocking."

A to Z: Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight?

Feeling fancy of foot? Well, put on yer dancin' shoes for the A to Z Challenge! Whether you do the Collegiate Shag or Varsity Drag, those spectators you're wearing are not for spectating today.

My personal favorite move? Knocking your knees while criss-crossing your arms over them.

Charleston, Charleston

Made in Carolina...

So peel yourselves away from the sidelines, my little wallflowers (and see if you can't get in a good neck when the chaperone's not looking).

~*~  RUB  ~*~

Meaning: A dance party for high school or college students.

"Say, Mary, this rub ain't such a flat tire after all."

A to Z: The Whiskey with Whiskers

The manufacture and sale of alcohol might've been outlawed under Prohibition, but drinking it sure wasn't. While you could procure proper liquor through illegal channels, another option lay closer to home--as in right in the bathtub, if not by other moonshine means that gave you a real (boot)leg up on the law.

Forget the cat's meow; today's slang put the ROAR in "Roaring Twenties." And it's what my character Lon Ashby guzzles from a hollowed-out cane in SEVEN FOR A SECRET, learning the hard way that this kitten's got claws!

~*~  PANTHER PISS  ~*~

Also, PANTHER SWEAT
Meaning: Homemade whiskey.

"And now a splash of fusel oil to give our panther piss a good kick."

A to Z: Whatever Wets Your Whistle

Bring out the biscuits, cream, and fine bone china...the scones, the silver, and a saucer of slang.

It's A-to-Z time, darlings!
Do you take your cup-o-Twenties terminology with one lump or two?

Now let's raise our postures and pinkies and stir up some fun. For whilst the ladies of Downton sip sweetly as Grantham walks his pooch, the flappers of Downtown spike this drink with two-parts hip-flask hooch.

~*~  NOODLE JUICE  ~*~

Meaning: Tea.

"I'm ready to chase this noodle juice with something stronger."

A to Z: Bringing out the Big Guns

If you stepped out a moment to powder your nose, don't muss yourself over what you may have missed. You can brush up on the A to Zs of 1920s slang from here: Talk the Talk for Walking the Walk.

Or simply gloss over that and pick up from here, the heavy artillery packed with some of the flapper's most powerful ammo...

~*~  MUNITIONS  ~*~

Meaning: Face powder & rouge.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Bring out the munitions, darling."

A to Z: Don't Scrape Your Nose on the Way Out

Hm? You're here for what? Oh, yes...well. I suppose I could condescend to continue with the April A to Z Challenge. I can't be bothered to explain the whole drab affair to you again, however, and the help has the day off, otherwise I'd ring them, so please redirect your inquiry here: A-Z, and all that jA-Zz

I really do think it's marvelous you came to my blog, though, darling. I apologize that I'm not dressed up for the occasion; I only wear this old thing when I don't care what I look like. And the language of commoners isn't quite the worthy spectacle, is it? So let's just be done with this next linguistic lesson in 1920s slang, as featured in my upcoming novel Seven for a Secret--which I'd love for you read, if it's not too high-brow for your tastes, of course... ;)

~*~  HIGH HAT  ~*~

Meaning: Snob

"Boy, would I like to give those high hats a real spit-shine!"

A to Z: From Bathtub to Bottle, this Brew's for You!

Welcome back *hiccup* to my contri--*hic*--bution to the April 2014 *hiccup* A to Z Challenge. If you're new to the challenge or *hiccup* my blog, here's a brief explanation of what I--*hic*--I'm aiming for here: A-Z, and all that jA-Zz

Pardon the hiccups; perhaps I over-imbibed. Or maybe I just need to wash 'em down with more smooth 1920s slang. Bottom's up!

~*~  GIGGLE WATER  ~*~

Meaning: Booze, hooch

"This date's a flat tire.
Nothing like giggle water
to give me an edge."

A to Z: The Young and the Yawning

*yawn*
Hm? What? Oh sorry, I must have zoned out for a second there on this dull and dreary day. But that's not the right attitude, is it? We must have zest for life! Live like there's no tomorrow! That's the fun of a flapper, after all, so let's dance!

If you're scratching your head in a daze because you missed my original post about the A to Z Challenge, don't feel deflated. You can find it here:  A-Z, and all that jA-Zz

Meanwhile, the Devil is finding work for idle hands to do, so let's keep ourselves occupied brushing up on our 1920s slang:

~*~  FLAT TIRE  ~*~

Meaning: A bore

"Boy, this road trip sure became
a real flat tire once we got
that...flat tire."