Hot Off The Press
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Hot Off The Press 〰️
UPCOMING NEW COZY MYSTERY SERIES
PAST AUTHOR TAKEOVER EVENTS & INTERVIEWS
Dec 8, 2022
Reading Cabin
7:00pm EST
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BLOG/PODCAST INTERVIEWS
PRESS
Dream it.
I dreamt about a spirit guide for Rosa. This is what designed by Molly Burton.'
He is exactly what I envisioned. Raul, Rosa’s spirit guide is funny, quirky, flamboyant, exaggerated in his mannerism, and just plain lovable.
Raul is always making Rosa laugh. However, he is loyal and protective.
Can you imagine having a spirit guide?
Inspiration
Imagine it.
It all begins with an idea and then I let my characters speak to me.
Yes, you heard me correctly. My characters speak to me. I may have the right intentions when I start my outline. However, soon they have a mind of their own and eventually make the story, their story.
In Book 1 you are introduced to all of the great characters - Rosa, Raul, Nana, Moro, Francesca, Tomas, Alexandra, Maruchi, Ellie, Caridad, and the rest of the Colten Island inhabitants and friends.
Grow it.
Book 1 is now complete and available for purchase.
Next, is Book 2 due out soon.
In this installment of Rosa, The Cuban Psychic Mysteries Rosa is off for a one-year internship at The House of Mather in Paris.
Here, she will be able to create a new fashion line and learn from the very best.
However, the moment she steps foot in Paris she finds a body.
All is not what it’s cracked up to be in Book 2. Stay tuned for more to come.
PRESS
“It all begins with an idea. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Here are some accolades I would like to share with you my readers.”
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers
The blog of Anastasia Pollack, crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth
Click on the title to access the full article.
Today we sit down for a chat with Rosa de los Reyes from author Ileana Muñoz Renfroe’s Rosa the Cuban Psychic Mysteries.
What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
Well, let me tell you it was much safer than it is now. Before I would travel all the time with my spirit guide Raul, spend time creating new couture fashion designs, and occasionally helping my abuela Nana read tarot cards to visitors who came to Colten Island.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
That I can read minds. Although, sometimes it can get a little messy.
What do you like least about yourself?
That I can’t help sticking my nose where danger lurks.
Includes Mami’s Picadillo Family Recipe Provided by Roberto Celeiro.
The Reading Room
Ileana Munoz-Renfroe
In Recognition of
PARTICIPATION IN PROMOTING THE BEST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE TO THE COMMUNITY AND TO THE CAUSE OF
“THE LOVE OF BOOKS”
Dear Ileana Munoz-Renfroe,
It has been a pleasure to have you present in The Reading Room, a community where like-minded friends gather for the love of books, book reviews, author interviews and much more. Your participation promotes the best experience possible for all of us. We hope you will continue to participate in our conversation.
You have been awarded the Solomon Knight Medallion as a token of recognition.
Thank you,
The Reading Room
In Conversation with Ileana Munoz-Renfroe
Click on the title to access the full review.
You enter a softly lit room; the walls are lined with books on their deep rich mahogany shelves and there are still a few empty seats. There is a low murmur of amiable voices and immediately you sense you are among friends. You sink down into the arms of a luxuriously padded wing back chair savouring the feel of its buttery soft leather as all your cares drift away.
A hush falls over the room as a well modulated baritone voice begins, “Welcome to the Reading Room, my friends. We’re glad you could join our conversation. We have the great pleasure to introduce, cozy mystery author, Ileana Munoz-Renfroe. Author of, A Fashionable Fate. We look forward to getting to know Ileana just a little bit better.”
James: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Ileana: I have always wanted to write. The older I got the more stories swirled around in my head until eventually I sat down one day in a café in Paris and the story of Rosa The Cuban Psychic went from something in my imagination to reality.
James: That sounds like such a charmingly romantic anecdote of a writer’s journey to evolution to realization. Do you want each book to stand on its own or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Ileana: For Rosa The Cuban Psychic Mysteries the series will be a standalone. However, from this series I started a spin-off “Las Cubanitas” which includes Rosa and her very best friends on their travel adventures. These will be connected as all of the women – Rosa, Alexandra, Ellie, Maruchi and Caridad will also be part of the current series.
James: Very ambitious. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Ileana: I enjoy travelling more than anything. Besides that, one of my favourite things to do is enjoy a peaty single malt whisky, cooking, and dancing salsa.
A Fashionable Fate
Book 1 of Rosa The Cuban Psychic Mysteries
Excerpt from A Fashionable Fate
Rosa stood poised at the edge of the pool when the vision hit her like lightning. A lifeless body. Threatening words, uttered in anger. Her mother crumpled over on the floor, unconscious. Suddenly, the images were gone. Rosa was a confident swimmer, but those visions sapped her courage. The surface of the water glimmered. She shook her head. This wasn’t her first vision, not by a long shot, and, sadly, she knew it would come true.
For now, she just had to focus on her swim. The laps had a way of calming her nerves and helping her put everything into perspective. She had a lot on her mind, without even including the startling images that had just flashed before her. An hour later, she felt invigorated. Smiling, she dried off, slipped on her dress, and started the walk back to her cottage on Colten Island.
The pool was a pleasant stroll from where she lived. Colten Island was located just north of Key West and accessible only by ferry. Today, there were a little under two hundred people who lived there. Only homeowners, staff, and shop owners could come and go as they pleased. All others were allowed on the island by invitation only, making this exclusive location a reasonably safe place to live. They had a resident sheriff of sorts. He had been a police officer in one of the larger towns in northern Florida, who decided living a quiet life on Colten Island was preferable to moving anywhere else in the country. So, Sheriff Storm, tall and handsome, presided and watched over the Island on a full-time basis.
A wealthy American family with a passion for history purchased the island in the early 1900s. On one of their travels, they discovered an abandoned abbey and decided to acquire it and have it transported to the island and rebuilt. The Coltens restored it to its original glory, and for many years, the Abbey hosted the most elaborate parties of its time. Even then, there were rumors it was haunted, adding mystery to the island.
It did not take long for the ghosts attached to the Abbey to reveal themselves to Rosa and her spirit guide Raul. Although they offered the ghosts the opportunity to move on, they chose to stay. They said that they had grown fond of the townspeople and enjoyed watching over them. On days that Rosa couldn’t find Raul, she knew he was hanging out with the Abbey ghosts.
I'm so excited to release the first Author Chat of Season 5 with premier Cozy Author Ileana Munoz-Renfroe. We're chatting about her debut book A Fashionable Fate, writing and all things cozy. It was so much fun to have Ileana on the show and I can't wait to have her on again. You can follow her on twitter at @Ileanarenfroe and on her website at www.imrenfroe.com
If you'd like to help keep our show commercial-free and growing then please become a member of The Cozy Sleuth Patreon Page. www.Patreon.com/TheCozySleuth. There you can become A Guiding Clue, A Clever Sidekick, A Small Town Sleuth or a Sherlock Holmes. or for a one time donation you can become a member of my Ko-fi Klatch at Ko-fi.com/thecozysleuth
As always you can find us on twitter @TheCozySleuth or if you're an author and wat to be on the show reach out to me at www.thecozysleuth.com/contact
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The cookbook is a combination of family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation.
Two of the recipes from this book are included in A Fashionable Fate
A treat you might enjoy is that some of the recipes are in Spanish and some in English all very special to me. Growing up in a Cuban household meant food was very important to us. I learned to cook from my mother, father and uncle.
I hope you will enjoy these recipes as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you.
Welcome to debut author Ileana Renfroe who also hosts a fun Facebook page called Cozy Mystery Village that supports fellow cozy authors and readers! I was so lucky to get to beta read this book and adore the characters and the great setting fo Colten Island. In case you haven't already guessed, I loved A Fashionable Fate, which is Book 1 in her new Rosa The Cuban Psychic Mystery series!
Who doesn't love a fashion-designing psychic with a handsome guide and a Nana who reads tarot cards? This book sets up a fun new series filled with many twists and turns - and some great recipes in the back! It's a quick, entertaining read and I'm already awaiting Book 2!