Win a $25 GC: She Knew Too Much

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Victoria Weisfeld will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The view inside your writing space.

Right at hand are several too-messy piles of paper. In theory, there are separate piles for potential blog posts, book promotion, genealogy information, new projects, and “miscellaneous.” (I worked with someone for a time who had only two piles: “general” and “other.”) While these piles may have started out neat, they’re hopelessly scrambled now. I also have two bookcases nearby. One has books on craft, reference books, usage guides, and books about book promotion. The other surrounds my computer screen and contains supplies and folders I use often.

On my left is a very nice lamp with a microsun bulb that mimics sunlight and a window. I use the lamp with the special bulb to block out the actual sunlight during the morning hours. In a few weeks, the sun will be higher in the sky and the lamp can return to its principal function.

On top of the bookcase in front of me is my printer, a supply of paper and a copy of the proofing version of my new book, She Knew Too Much. Did I mention the two cats? William and Charles are inevitably close by. I see the wisdom of Stephen King’s advice for buckling down to write: “Throw the cat out!” Easier said than done.

The view outside your window.

My second-floor office window has a view of a copper beech (planted in homage to the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”) that hides our neighbors’ house most of the year. In the fall, a hot pink crepe myrtle blooms right outside. There’s a window on the other side of the office where I can see our small back yard, where deer stroll through. This morning a fox was digging out there in the snow. This is suburbia.

I hope your readers take the opportunity to read She Knew Too Much. I think they will find it a fast-moving story with touches of romance, humor, and a big dose of humanity. I welcome their responses. Thank you for inviting me to share these few words about the setting, inside and outside, where this story grew.

Travel writer Genie Clarke arrives in Rome seeking inspiration, but her trip turns deadly when she overhears two mafia operatives discussing a secret "Project." Before she can escape, she's attacked and left for dead. Awakening in a hospital-alive but hunted-Genie finds the police unwilling to believe her. Only Detective Leo Angelini takes her seriously, uncovering ties between her assault, a murdered woman, and a powerful criminal network.

With the threat escalating, Leo moves Genie into hiding, where she becomes both key witness and prime target. Cut off from safety and unsure who to trust, Genie must outthink the conspirators determined to silence her.

From Rome's bright piazzas to its shadowed alleys, she faces a terrifying fight for survival-and an unexpected connection with the detective risking everything to protect her. She Knew Too Much is a lean, suspenseful psychological thriller about fear, courage, and the price of knowing too much.

Read an Excerpt

I crossed the one-way traffic to reach the Piazza del Popolo’s spacious central rectangle. People ambled toward one or another of the half-dozen streets that converged on the Piazza or to the steps leading up to the Villa Borghese Gardens, where I’d spent the afternoon. I was aiming for the Via del Babuino, street of the Baboon, which got its name from a particularly hideous sculpture. In a few blocks, that street ended at the Piazza di Spagna and the always-crowded Spanish Steps, a half block from my hotel.

On the far side, I again negotiated the circling rush of traffic and chanced a look behind. What the hell? The spiky-haired blond had crossed the first stream of traffic. Now he jostled through the crowd, coming straight my way. He was tracking me, and he didn’t care if I knew it. I was in trouble. And, if I didn’t want to believe my eyes, the hair on the back of my neck confirmed it. I picked up my pace, walking as fast as I could in my flimsy sandals.

Dozens of times I’d traveled the few blocks connecting the two piazzas. Now this familiar street radiated hostility, and the stones of the Sunday-shuttered buildings reflected no warmth. Surely something, some business, would be open. I sped past my favorite stationery store, the gallery whose owner I’d interviewed. Shut tight as oysters.

Why hadn’t I asked someone near the piazza for help? Could I have made myself understood? Would they have agreed to get involved? I shook my head in frustration.

About the Author Vicki Weisfeld is a Midwesterner (Go Blue!) transplanted to New Jersey. Her short stories have appeared in leading mystery magazines, including Ellery Queen, Sherlock Holmes, and Black Cat. Find her work also in a variety of anthologies: Busted: Arresting Stories from the Beat, Seascapes: Best New England Crime Stories, Murder Among Friends, Passport to Murder, The Best Laid Plans, Quoth the Raven, and Sherlock Holmes in the Realms of Edgar Allan Poe. She's a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, which awarded "Breadcrumbs" a best short story Derringer in 2017, and the Public Safety Writers Association, which gave a similar award to "Who They Are Now" in 2020. She's a reviewer of New Jersey theater for TheFrontRowCenter.com and crime/mystery/thriller fiction for the UK website, crimefictionlover.com.

Website: http://www.vweisfeld.com">http://www.vweisfeld.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Victoria-Weisfeld/author/B07J1X2B48
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6815763.Victoria_Weisfeld

Purchase: https://www.amazon.com/She-Knew-Much-Victoria-Weisfeld/dp/B0G56LHLLS/