Danita Minnis

Patricia V. Davis is giving away $25 Amazon/BN gift card.

Author Interview: Patricia V. Davis

1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book?

I didn’t choose the genre—it chose me, as did the story. Some while ago, I stayed aboard the RMS Queen Mary, the ship where the novel is set. It used to be a grand ocean liner, and now it serves as a floating hotel and museum, permanently docked in Long Beach, California. It’s glamorous, has an astounding history, and is also believed to be haunted. But I didn’t know any of that when I stayed overnight. I had an experience that…let’s say, was unique. And that experience, as well as the beauty and history of the ship, inspired the novels


2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a first born, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world?  I’m the first-born. I didn’t like that at all growing up. I didn’t want to be ‘in charge’ of my younger siblings. They never listened to me. Why should they have? I wasn’t their parent. They gave me lots of crap when I was left alone with them to take care of them, and then when our mother got home, I got more crap because they didn’t do what she told me they needed to do before she got back. Did that shape my world view? I don’t know.  I only gave birth to one child, so maybe.


3. Where is your favorite place to write?  I can write anywhere, but I write best when I’m alone in the house with no one to distract me. I can write for hours on end, survive on turmeric tea, toast and cheese, broccoli, berries, dark chocolate, and the occasional shot of white rum. I don’t have to get up and cook. I don’t have to talk to anyone. I don’t have to comb my hair unless I want to. And if I am on a roll, I might stay in my pajamas for three days straight. 


4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains? After more than a decade of this, I’ve learned not to be so sensitive. If my editor is good, and it’s suggested that I cut or change something, ninety-nine percent of the time I do. There’s no heartbreak in it for me. The goal is to write your best story, not get your ego stroked, and a good editor makes a good story better. 


5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?  I don’t have one favorite, so I can’t answer the question properly. If I could ask a question of some of my favorites, it might be, “Can I come to your house?”

6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows Hmm. I’m pretty much an open book. Let’s see…okay, here’s one: My big toes on both feet are double-jointed. I can bend them completely sideways. It looks really weird. 


7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company. What three items are in your survival pack?  A giant tube of sunscreen, a can of mosquito repellant, a Jedi lightsaber.


8. If you could have one super power in your existence, what would it be? Fun. It’s one that one of my characters in Spells and Oregano has—to speak every language in existence. It’s not enough that I already talk too much in English. 


9. Favorite snack? Lindt’s Extra Dark Chocolate Truffles.


10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit? I don’t know how to get where I’m going, but I would floor it, anyway. 

The Secret Spice Café Trilogy

by Patricia V. Davis

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GENRE: magical realism, women’s paranormal fiction, mystery

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BLURB:

Book One: Cooking For Ghosts

Do hearts broken long ago forever leave a tangible trace?

A Vegas cocktail waitress. An Indian herbalist. A British chemistry professor. An Italian-American widow. Four unique women with one thing in common: each is haunted by a tragedy from her past.

Cynthia, Rohini, Jane, and Angela meet on a food blogging site and bond over recipes. They decide on impulse to open The Secret Spice, an elegant café on the magnificent ocean liner, the RMS Queen Mary, currently a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. Rich in history and tales of supernatural occurrences, the ship hides her own dark secrets.

The women are surrounded by ghosts long before they step aboard, but once they do, nothing is quite what it seems. Not the people they meet, not their brooding chef’s mystic recipes, and not the Queen Mary herself. Yet the spirits they encounter help them discover that there’s always a chance to live, as long as one is alive.

An Official Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection, and read by Ann Marie Gideon, COOKING FOR GHOSTS is an unforgettable tale of love, redemption, and divine female power.

Book Two: Spells and Oregano

 A mother desperate to save her twin sons, a war veteran in torment, a beautiful young psychic with a terrible secret, a powerful magician with a shattered soul, and a Queen steeped in history and glory. These extraordinary beings cross paths and set off a remarkable chain of events in Spells and Oregano: Book II in The Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy.

Overcome by despair after a trauma when she was sixteen, Sarita Taylor has spent the past ten years isolated and lonely aboard her beloved RMS Queen Mary. Fearful of outsiders, she dedicates her time to managing The Secret Spice Café, now an award-winning restaurant. Until Luca Miceli, a man with a dark past, steps on board.

Patricia V. Davis deftly spins past and present, mystery and magic, into a potent story of passionate longing and family tragedy all at once. Spells and Oregano is a compelling tale of atonement, devotion, and undying love, set aboard one of the world’s most magnificent, haunted ships.

Don’t miss Cooking for Ghosts: Book I in The Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy. The Secret Spice Trilogy is an Official Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection

Book Three: Demons: Well Seasoned

Dare to Believe in Your Power…

A long-lost grandmother. A stay-at-home mom. A comic book fan. A five-year-old girl with a star-shaped birthmark. And nine more.

The cast is bigger, the stakes are higher. When Sarita’s grandmother, a Vodou priestess, foresees a terrible evil, Cynthia, Jane, Angela, and Rohini reunite on a heart-rending mission to save all that’s precious to them, including the iconic ship, the RMS Queen Mary. They cannot do it alone–the priestess tells them there must be thirteen on the night of the thirteenth moon. in this life-or-death pursuit. Yet, can she be trusted?

Spiced with history and the supernatural, Demons, Well-Seasoned takes us from 1930s Glasgow, to New Orleans and Harlem in the 1950s, to present day southern California, and back again, on a metaphysical voyage that is both exhilarating and poignant. But before you embark upon this final sail with the denizens of The Secret Spice, be warned: expect to lose sleep, and keep tissues at hand. These valiant characters might just stay with you long after their story comes to a close.

Don’t miss Cooking for Ghosts, and Spells & Oregano, Books I and II in The Secret Spice Café Trilogy. The Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy is an Official Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection.

Excerpt: Cooking for Ghosts:

Unconcerned with what her business partners were up to, Rohini was giggling with excitement. Hugging herself, she whirled in circles, then flung her arms up over her head and collapsed back in dizzy elation onto the enormous bed in the glorious stateroom. Everything was glorious. She was here. This was her room. The Secret Spice was, in part, her restaurant.

 Hers.

And when she’d first seen the Queen from the back seat of Cynthia’s preposterous little car, she knew she was headed to exactly where she should be. She couldn’t stop smiling, until, abruptly, a lump formed in her throat and her eyes misted with tears.

“I made it, Zahir,” she whispered. “I made it.”

She sobered as she thought of him, of all he’d done for her, and all that she might still need to do on her own.

But that wasn’t for today. Today was for celebration and thankfulness. Getting up from the bed, she opened her case, pulled out all the little plastic sacks of spices and herbs she’d packed, and sighed with relief. Not a one had opened or torn. Even so, she could smell their pungent bouquet right through the protective wrappings. Rauvolfia, Serpentina, Jaiphal, Javitri, Khus Khus, Ashwagandha and more — why did cinnamon always smell the strongest? There were dozens of varieties that she’d stuffed inside shirt sleeves and trouser legs and white cotton gym socks, just like a drug dealer might hide a stash. The TSA had missed them completely. They’d even affixed a sticker to the top of her bag: “Checked by Homeland Security.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

PATRICIA V. DAVIS’s debut novel series, THE SECRET SPICE CAFE, is comprised of three books: COOKING FOR GHOSTS (2016) SPELLS AND OREGANO (2017) and DEMONS, WELL-SEASONED. (2019) The audio books will be released in 2020 by Tantor Media, and narrated by Ann Marie Gideon. Patricia lives with her husband, who is both a poker player and a rice farmer, so she divides her time between southern Nevada and northern California. Say hello to Patricia at her author website: www.TheSecretSpice.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/authorpatriciavdavis/

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/patriciaVdavis

TikTok:        @patriciavdavis

Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_V._Davis

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