CAROL KILGORE—CRIME WITH A KISS

 ICED COFFEE FOR A HOT DAY

My guest is romantic suspense author, Carol Kilgore. Carol hails originally from Texas, seems overly fond of Tiki Huts, has a great sense of humor, and a heart the size of Texas. I first met her as a fellow blogger and I've enjoyed reading her blog and getting to know her. This is not her first visit to Over Coffee. You may remember reading a story she wrote, SECRETS OF CHRISTMAS, as part of my Holiday Shorts I do each  December. 

It's my pleasure to have Carol back with us and this time with her debut, In Name Only.  

Thank you, Sia, for hosting me today. I'm very happy to be here and to share some things about me and about my debut novel, IN NAME ONLY.

My personal style is eclectic. I like to mix it up. If I wore a uniform, I would most likely pair it with frilly and/or colorful undies. I would know.

Bear with me. You'll see where this is going.

If our home came close to having a design style, it would be something like eclectic coastal contemporary, even though we no longer live at the coast. We have art and accessories from other places we've lived—like the New Mexico mountains and New York City—and a few family pieces mingled with an overall contemporary look.

It's the same with my blog, Under the Tiki Hut. It's all about the beach, which I love. I'm a Native Texan and write stories set in Texas, so the beach I most often see in my mind is a Texas beach, where tiki huts are also called palapas. But that doesn't mean you see my beach. I try to maintain a Tiki Hut feel for any beach anywhere. From Fiji to Oregon to Maine to the Irish Coast and back again.

So it follows that this eclectic mix extends into my writing as well. I mix a cup of this, a dash of that, a spoonful of the other into a blend I call Crime Fiction with a Kiss. Always at least one crime; always a love story.

Besides being eclectic, I'm also a little OCD about research. Not only do I love the process, I want to make sure all the facts in my fiction are correct. I don't claim to be perfect—no doubt readers will find things I got wrong. And there may be other things that slip past.

Here are a few of the many things I researched for IN NAME ONLY:

Local Trees. In Chapter One of IN NAME ONLY, Summer leans against a palm tree. The palm started out as a mesquite tree (pronounced mess-KEET) and would have remained a mesquite except for one tiny problem—I learned mesquites have long thorns. Ouch!

• Shark Fishing.  A lot of guys in South Texas fish for shark from the Padre Island National Seashore beach. You can watch a short video at Texas Shark Fishing to see the last part of the process of bringing the shark to shore. It's a catch and release video of a 12-foot tiger shark. It may take the fisherman hours to reach this point. Look at the size of the man and look at all his gear. I spent the better part of a couple of days researching equipment for this sport, which ended up having only a few mentions in the story. But it was fun to learn!

• Firefighters. Lots of information on firefighters is available on the web. I spent many days reading. I also talked one-to-one with some real firefighters with the Corpus Christi Fire Department who told me how they do things there.

• The Federal Witness Security Program. Not much out there, and nobody was talking. Which would make me pretty darn happy if I were in the program. So I felt free to draw upon my imagination.

• Padre Island. And of course, I spent time on Padre figuring out where everything in the story would physically be located. You'll need to make your own visit to the Island to find out which locations are real and which are specially created for IN NAME ONLY.

If you happen to see Summer Newcombe while you're there, say hi for me!

BUY: AMAZON

IN NAME ONLY


No home. No family. No place to hide. For Summer Newcombe, that's only the beginning.

The night Summer escapes from a burning Padre Island eatery and discovers the arsonist is stalking her, is the same night she meets Fire Captain Gabriel Duran. As much as she's attracted to Gabe, five years in the Federal Witness Security Program because of her father’s testimony against a mob boss have taught her the importance of being alone and invisible.

No matter how much she yearns for a real home, Summer relinquished that option the night she killed the man who murdered her father. But Gabe breaks down her guard and places both of them in danger. Summer has vowed never to kill again, but she's frantic she'll cost Gabe his life unless she stops running and fights for the future she wants with the man she loves.

~*~*~*~

Carol Kilgore is a Texas native who has lived in locations across the U.S. as the wife of a Coast Guard officer. Back under the hot Texas sun in San Antonio, Carol writes a blend of mystery, suspense, and romance she calls Crime Fiction with a Kiss. She and her husband share their home and patio with two active herding dogs, and every so often the dogs let them sit on the sofa.

Learn more about Carol and follow her here:
Blog: http://www.underthetikihut.blogspot.com

Website: http://www.carolkilgore.net
Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads: 

MONDAY MUSINGS—Tiger's Eye

As a kid, I always had a absorption for eyes—the sheen of them, the size and shape, and what they tell you about the creature they’re attached to. I drew them constantly. All sizes and shapes. I go back and look at some of my school notebooks and there are all sorts of eye pictures in the margins—human and animal. I still catch myself drawing them.

A curious young Bengal tiger, taken by Swamidu

The big cat’s eyes have a particular allure for me. Which probably explains my fascination for the gem called Tiger-Eye. The luster and shades of colors they come in is amazing.

Polished Tiger-eye gemstones in various colors.

Tiger-eye is in the quartz family. What makes them different from many quartz gemstones is they’re metamorphic—meaning they start out as one thing and through great heat and pressure become something different, something beautiful. They tend to be golden in color—all shades of amber and brown because of the iron oxide. As you can see from the picture, some do come in blue, green, and some rare reds (and they can be dyed other colors and there are simulated tiger-eye gems, too).

Tigers eye is one of the most popular chatoyant gemstone. In gemology, chatoyancy, or chatoyance is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones and the amount of color or luster depends upon the angle of light when being cut and shaped. Aquamarines, tourmalines, moonstone, and some beryl quartz are chatoyant gemstones.

Polished Tiger-eye gem-easy to
see the reason for the name. 

The word Chatoyant comes from the French word, chatoyer and means to shimmer like a cat's eyes. Chat is French for Cat.


Most Tiger-eye gems are found in South Africa but are also found in places like Australia and the US. 

One Tiger Eye meaning assures the correct use of power, courage, grace and the ability to see clearly without illusion. It was a stone carried by soldiers to enable them to see clearly in the heat of battle. Shamans and healers carry tiger-eye for grounding in metaphysical work and healing. 

In business, the Tiger-eye is supposed to draw the qualities of the tiger into the wearer—patience, focus, and determination. Tiger-eye is a popular gem for men’s jewelry and there are those in business who carry the gem as a talisman for clear thinking and insight in to the situations. 

Another Tiger Eye meaning was to restore peace and harmony to the wearer.

I don’t wear the Tiger’s Eye for it’s supposed mystical properties or what it represents. I wear it because it’s a beautiful gemstone when cut and polished properly, and placed in the right setting. Like a pendant. :-)