Catanetworks Award for 'A Secret Treasure'

I'm delighted to say that Ecataromance, the electronic publishing arm of Catanetworks, have given A Secret Treasure one of their Reviewers' Choice Awards for 2008. I'm really pleased with this, because A Secret Treasure is one of my quieter, sweeter stories. Details are here.

New review for 'A Secret Treasure'

I've popped in to post another good review for my A Secret Treasure from Natalie S. at Wild on Books. Natalie gave it four bookmarks and ended:

"A Secret Treasure catches the reader's eyes with its expertly written plot abounding with secrets and suspense. I loved watching Julio and Eve fall in love and the fact that they loved each other so desperately was just icing on the cake. Lindsay Townsend continues to release novels that are emotionally gripping. While A Secret Treasure is not as explicit sexually as some of her other novels, I hardly noticed. I was too involved with the story and Julio’s dreaminess!"

Thanks, Natalie!

~Lindsay Townsend

New review of 'A Secret Treasure'

Another good review of my romantic suspense story A Secret Treasure, this time from Snapdragon at The Long and the Short of It, who gave it a 'four book' write-up:

"Suspenseful from its opening lines, Townsend’s A Secret Treasure takes us on a journey through historic Italy and into a story that charms with its joys, terrifies with its suspense, and more than intrigues with very unusual and interesting setting.
Young Eve, a transplanted English girl, is desperate to discover the whereabouts of her brother – desperate enough to seek help from the authorities.

The Blackshirts run the charming Greek Island of Rhodes, during the thirties, but of course, but resistance is common. Many hate the fascists – and Eve is among them. To Eve’s horror, the one kind, sympathetic man who claims to be interested in helping her, is one of Them! In some ways, Julio Falcone, a carabiniero might not be considered one of them, but since he is introduced by corrupt Luigi Grasso, it doesn’t look good. Pretty and petite Eve seems to have caught his eye – but does she even want his interest?

Eve is far from sweet and timid. She is the child of scholars, with an interest in archeology, and can be both clever and confrontational. The reader will find themselves admiring her. Surprisingly, Falcone seems more forthcoming than expected… and intrigue builds around his efforts to unearth clues about Eve’s brother David’s disappearance. One worry becomes quite another, as unexpected twists develop. Poor Eve may yet regret involving the authorities!

The wonderful flavor of old Italy or, more correctly, Greece permeates this work, from cobblestone streets to the overhanging balconies. The jetty out over the sea seems fitting, and then we contemplate a simple dinner of fresh vegetables and fish. The time and place are well-established, descriptions delightful.

Local politics, gain and greed, and abuse of authority also are rife; perhaps revealing more about humanity than love stories usually attempt, and adding a great sense of depth (and contributing to the sense of foreboding). In all, the background details and sub-stories are immensely well-done and add quite an unexpected dimension to A Secret Treasure.

A few predictable occurrences hold this back from absolutely top notch, although it’s a more than worthwhile read as is. Especially wonderful, the main characters dilemmas – large and small – will keep you reading."

http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com

Doing the research...

For me, research for writing is not so much a labor of love as a break in the flow of my story-telling. For Flavia's Secret I was researching ancient Rome, ancient Romano-British food, society, class, fashion, the city of Roman Bath and the baths themselves - I did the same kind of research on ancient Egypt for my forthcoming Blue Gold, too, beginning first with a visit to the children's library for lots of clear explanations and lovely picture-books).

Pictures and personal observation are what I find most useful in all my research. When I'm researching for a book, days are taken up with observation - noting people's gestures, the sounds and rhythms of their speech, the pervading scent of a place, the number of steps to a particular church. My husband is a keen photographer and takes pictures not only for himself but also for me: strange shots of dustbins and public telephones and kiosks and then, teasingly, candid pictures of myself, sunhat jammed over my eyes, head down as I take copious notes.

We repeated this in Rhodes as I researched the Dodecanese islands for A Secret Treasure. The heroine of A Secret Treasure is an intelligent, sensitive young woman and keen cook in a high-pressure situation so I approached my research through Eve's eyes, noting how stark the contrast between shade and sun at midday, between the bustle and crowds of Rhodes Old Town and the pine-fretted quiet of Ancient Kamiros, where fragile orchids grow along the edges of the paths, learning how delicious grilled meat can taste, liberally sprinkled with fresh lemon juice and rigani, or how thorny and close-packed Greek heathland is.

Back home, the temptation is to use every scrap of my notes and then my writer's day is one of choice, because to put everything in would be fatal. My fiction is suspenseful, romantic, active: to stem the flow with a stodge of travelogue material would be a huge mistake - which isn't to say I don't commit such blunders! Usually then I spend a significant proportion of the next day taking out what I put in - a task which often inspires me to try even harder as I aim to get the most out of what I really love doing: writing.

(The Roman bikini picture is from the Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily (source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).)

Lindsay Townsend

Five Fallen Angels for 'A Secret Treasure'

I've just spotted this review of A Secret Treasure by Kimber at Fallen Angel Reviews - five angels, no less!

"This is no armchair tourist account of Rhodes", she says. "It is clear Lindsay Townsend knows the island. She weaves her knowledge of history and setting into A Secret Treasure. Both Julio and Eve are unique, well crafted characters. Their courtship is natural and charming. The bad guy is deliciously bad. It is fortunate that A Secret Treasure is only 102 pages long as you’ll want to read it all in one sitting."

The full review is here.

'A Secret Treasure' out now

The Bookstrand edition of my Greek island novella A Secret Treasure is available now, for only $3.99 to download. It's a light romantic suspense set in the 1930s, when Rhodes was under Italian occupation. My story involves an English girl, an Italian policeman, a Greek butcher, an ancient statuette, a motorbike and a Turkish bath. More details are here.

There's a five-star review already, from Donna at Ecataromance! Read it here.