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About Louise Titchener
After grading 10 thousand freshman compositions, Louise, a former English teacher, decided to try the chancy life of a writer. And she's still at it!
Her latest novel, Murder Mountain, is the fifth in her historical mystery series (Oliver Redcastle Mysteries) featuring Oliver Redcastle. Oliver is a former Pinkerton operative and Union army sharpshooter.
The first two Redcastle mysteries are set in Baltimore where Louise lived with her philosophy professor husband for 24 years. The third is set on the Lake Erie Island of Put-in-Bay. The fourth, Trouble in Tampa, is set in Florida where Louise now lives. The fifth book in the series, Murder Mountain, was released in 2020. In addition to her Redcastle Mysteries, Louise is the author of the Toni Credella Baltimore Mystery series. If you enjoy a feisty female sleuth, give Toni a try. Louise also writes romantic suspense and has several great reads in that genre. Check out www.titchenersite.wordpress.com, and http://www.histrymysteries.com
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Blog postMy last three Oliver Redcastle Historical Mysteries feature characters from the United Kingdom—some rich, some poor, all of them fascinating (I think). This British connection wasn’t intentional. That is, Oliver is American, and the books are about America in Post-Civil War late 19th century.
But, as I’m increasingly discovering, you can’t write about that breathtaking piece of American history without talking about people and events in England. For example, Oliver was a teenage Union2 months ago Read more -
Blog post
Sometimes I swear the universe conspires with storytellers. I know that sounds crazy, but just wait. I’m currently working on my fifth Oliver Redcastle mystery. It’s set in New Mexico in 1886. Of course I’m researching the area in that time period. It’s amazing how much I didn’t know and how much I’m learning about American history during the expansion of the west.
Of course, I know my protagonist, Oliver (ex-Union army sharpshooter, ex-Pinkerton detective). I know his2 years ago Read more -
Blog postMore Reflections on Revising Romance
In my last blog, I talked about going back time to re-write a series of romance novels that I authored years ago. It was a trip down memory lane. It was also a shock to realize how much has changed since those books were written. And it’s not just that cell phones have radically transformed our lifestyles and forced me to re-think plot points.
The romantic suspense trilogy I’ve just finished revising (High Stak2 years ago Read more -
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Blog postAfter years of struggle with plot, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all about people. I know, I know. That sounds simpleminded. But it’s not so simple. Stories that interest human readers spring from two elements: events and personalities. We humans spend our years coping with events and their consequences. Our lives are a series of challenges. Some are small. Some are big and terrifying. How we cope and why different people cope in such different ways—or have a meltdown and don’t cope a2 years ago Read more
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Blog postWhat is creativity? The ancient Greeks believed that artists channeled their music, dance, poetry etc. from the gods. Sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes it feels more like going fishing in an empty pool.
I don’t know the process that musicians, dancers and poets go through to do their work. I do know that writing a novel, at least in the beginning, can be a struggle. Facing that blank first page is daunting.
As I picture the vacant computer screen after I’ve optimistically2 years ago Read more -
Blog postI am in the process of plotting my fifth Oliver Redcastle historical mystery. This means I’m setting off on an adventure into an unknown land. Where will I go with Oliver? What will happen to us? What will we discover? How will it all end?
I start knowing a few things. I know my protagonist, Oliver Redcastle—ex union army sharpshooter, ex Pinkerton investigator. He is a conflicted man struggling to survive the 1880’s in a troubled America. I know what his situation was when I left him2 years ago Read more -
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Blog postHow long is my chapter?
By Louise Titchener
Chapters of twenty to thirty pages used to be the adult fiction norm. When I started attempting to write novels, I crafted long chapters—and proud of it.
Guess what—nowadays I’m cutting those long chapters by half, thirds, and sometimes even by quarters.
What changed? I think technology transformed reading habits. When I was learning to write, transitions were a big deal. Writers were advised never to c2 years ago Read more -
Blog post
By Louise Titchener
No matter what the genre, a bit of sexual tension can perk up your storytelling. Years ago I wrote romance novels. This is what that experience taught me. Love is a lot more interesting when it’s all about the conflict.
Readers are surprised when I tell them that a romance is a love story. But not all love stories are romances. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a love story. The conflict in that classic play is not between the2 years ago Read more -
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Blog postTo Prologue or not to Prologue
By Louise Titchener
Writing first chapters makes me think of wallpapering a room. If you don’t get that initial strip of gingham checks on right, every new addition will be askew. The finished project will be totally off kilter. I have a novel I’ve been revising for years. The first chapter never quite worked but instead of fixing it I kept on writing. What was wrong about the first chapter bled into the second and things just got worse and worse2 years ago Read more -
Blog post
Louise Titchener
Is your protagonist a surly recluse, a man or woman of few words, a guy with a drinking problem and an attitude? That describes a lot of lead characters in mystery novels. Still, like the rest of us, your antisocial hero /heroine needs somebody to talk to.
Invariably students in my novel writing courses wanted to open their first chapters with detailed biographys and lengthy physical descriptions of their protagonist. It’s temptin3 years ago Read more -
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Finding a cheap apartment in this city can be murder. Dyslexic decorator, Toni Credella, accidentally shot her abusive cop husband. Broke and wracked with guilt, she needs new digs. When she finds a place in a great neighborhood that's a steal, she grabs it. Just one catch. A young woman had been murdered there only three months earlier.
Before Toni can unpack, she’s caught up in the puzzle of her predecessor's life and death. Her lawyer friend, Randall, warns her to get out of that fatal apartment. But Toni has learned enough about its last victim to want retribution for her. Finding justice for victims of senseless brutality becomes a mission for Toni.
As she investigates the murder-with the help of an attractive police detective, Gus O'Dell, she discovers that no one is above suspicion. Toni realizes that if she can't identify the killer soon, she'll be the next to die. Complex, witty Toni takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of suspense that doesn't end until the last page. Pick up this book and you won’t want to put it down.
It's 1882 and once again Oliver Redcastle is about to dive into mayhem. He's no stranger to bloodshed. Memories of the men he has killed, first as a Pinkerton Detective, then as a Union Army sharpshooter haunt his days -- and his nights. He dreams of putting his past behind him and, upon learning that he has unexpectedly inherited a house in Baltimore, vows to start a new life for himself and his daughter.
Barely settled into his new home, Oliver makes the acquaintance of John D. Rockefeller. Oliver's hopes for a peaceful life are shattered when Rockefeller offers him a job investigating a railway explosion and makes it clear that Oliver had better take the case -- or else. With little choice, Oliver accepts the assignment and is plunged into trouble once again.
A whirlwind of mystery follows as Oliver digs deeper into the city's past and an old Civil War encampment reveals old betrayals, triggers death and breeds a fresh murder plot. Can Oliver foil the killer's plans and prevent his future from becoming as bloody as his past? Pick up Gunshy to find out!
OLIVER REDCASTLE TO THE RESCUE. Medical mischief is afoot in 19th Century Baltimore! Ex-Pinkerton and ex-Union sharpshooter Oliver Redcastle is hired to find a kidnapped boy.
His search takes him to the mean streets of Baltimore in 1884 where gangs of homeless children roam like feral cats. and the dangerous harbor where many unwary immigrants are sacrificed in the "Oyster Wars."
To save a child Oliver must confront grave-robbers, mediums, unscrupulous physicians, a mad scientist, and the "ghost of an old love." Before his mission is complete, he even has to out-shoot Annie Oakley! Mark Twain becomes a friend and ally.
Will that and Oliver’s own courage and ingenuity be enough to win the day? Readers will be enthralled and educated by this tale of life in 19th century Baltimore. Open its thrilling pages today.
1885 FLORIDA: WILD PIGS AND WILDER PEOPLE! Winner of the Silver Palm for the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Award, Trouble in Tampa is a thrilling look at the Wild South of Florida in 1885. An easy assignment for sharpshooter and ex-Pinkerton investigator, Oliver Redcastle, turns deadly.
A wealthy Baltimore art collector sends an employee to Florida. When that man goes missing, the rich man hires Oliver to find him. Reluctantly, Oliver boards Henry Plant's newly constructed train to Florida. At the end of the line, he gets off in Tampa to find a swamp load of trouble.
He's betrayed by an old acquaintance, and by not one, but two passionate women.
Oliver is railroaded into one of old Florida's infamous turpentine camps. There he must use his sharpshooting skill to escape certain death. But that means a harrowing trek through miles of dangerous animals, dangerous people, and shocking intrigues. In Key West he meets female Pinkerton operative, Hannah Kinchman. She got him into trouble in Tampa. But Oliver has a soft spot for Hannah.
Together they fight their way through kidnapping, treasure hunts, intrigue, and the beautiful but treacherous Florida Everglades. Will Oliver overcome the many hurdles blocking his way home? It won't be easy! But it will be easy for readers to find out. FOR A GREAT READ, Get this book!
PASSIONATE LOVERS AND DEADLY ENEMIES. It’s a scorching July in the summer of 1884. William Pinkerton has sent Oliver Redcastle to the Midwestern island paradise of Put-in-Bay. The assignment seems simple: capture a tight-rope-walking train robber. But two beautiful women, a dangerous cult, and reminders of Oliver's Civil War past complicate the mission.
Old hatred and loves are suddenly restored. The sharpshooting detective must fight his way free of a tangled web of personal and professional hazards. In the process, he meets John Brown Jr., Jay Cooke, Ulysses S. Grant, and some of the other power-brokers that made the Midwest a center of industry and political clout in this fascinating period of American history. Don't miss this one!
HEIRESS TO DANGER. When elderly communications magnate, Owen Byrnside, learns that twenty-six years earlier his deceased son fathered a daughter, he yearns to locate his heir.
It won't be easy. The night the girl's mother abandoned the baby at a foundling home, two other infants suffered the same fate. It doesn't take long for Byrnside’s lawyer to track down the first orphan, Kate Humphrey. Contacting her is another story.
Beautiful, redheaded Kate is a struggling jazz pianist performing in London. When her gig goes sour, Kate takes on a job shepherding a pair of fractious youngsters to join their father in Italy. Little does she know their dad is a gangster. But handsome steeplechase jockey, Nick Coni, knows. He’s coping with death threats from the man and stalks Kate to find out the actual nature of her connection.
Kate mixes it up with hired assassins while falling in love with Nick. Will she turn out to be Owen Byrnside’s lost granddaughter? This is the first thrilling novel in a three-book series. High Stakes delivers excitement and passionate romance. Get started on the The Byrnside Inheritance today!
THEY WERE DEADLY BEAUTIFUL. 1886 New Mexico and troubles swarm. Sharpshooter and ex-Pinkerton detective, Oliver Redcastle, opts for the quiet life. Hoping to leave his violent past behind and provide his asthmatic young daughter a healthy environment, he settles on a sheep ranch with a mountain view.
As capricious as she is gorgeous, Marietta Dumont, his fickle lady love and the mother of his daughter, joins him vowing to make a go of it. Wrong! A brutal winter, a vicious viscount, and two beautiful kidnapped twins make her long for the glamorous life she led on the stage.
But Marietta’s discontent is just the beginning of Oliver’s ordeals. After that, it’s trouble all the way. Murder sets him on a deadly quest for a killer as lethal a sharpshooter as he. What he finds is much worse. Read Murder Mountain to learn just how much worse!
A FLEDGLING GODDESS MUST STEAL BACK HER POWER FROM A RUTHLESS KING. During her first testing at the sacred pool of her ancestors, Reawen learns she must steal back the green stone that confirms her mystical power. The stone was stolen from her mother by Brone, the country’s king.
Cheated of her birthright as Domis of the Peninsula's Waters, Reawen sets off to track Brone, the ruthless, golden-haired ruler who wears the stolen sacred stones of the four Domi. But Brone wields their power at a terrible price. He has many enemies who seek to destroy him and gain the stones for themselves. The beautiful young water goddess finds herself embroiled in a struggle for conquest between wizards and princes. Read Reawen’s story and join her adventure!
A driven scientist, a pitiless Voodoo priest, and a woman confounding time, lock in a deadly duel of deceit and betrayal. Beautiful antiques dealer, Ariane Bragonier, is a woman with a secret. She lives for two things: love...and revenge. And Ariane has lived a long time—three hundred years and counting.
In search of justice for her brutally murdered grandson, Ariane revisits her past life on the sultry streets of New Orleans.
Over the centuries of her long life, Ariane has dodged witch-burning, kidnappers and pirates, thieves and murders. She has survived the devastation of endless wars and the bitter loss of those she cherished.
Now, to solve a murder, she revisits the place where long ago she found brief happiness. Will she escape the relentless pursuit of a lover determined to ferret out her astounding secret? Will she evade the machinations of a necromancer as handsome as he is lethal?
As danger weaves a poisonous web around Ariane, she fights to lay her past to rest and find her way into an even more challenging future. Join her thrilling adventure.
TONI CREDELLA TAKES ON MURDER. Since the tragic day when she shot her abusive cop husband in self-defense, dyslexic Toni Credella has been barely scratching out a living. To make ends meet Toni plays bodyguard to a beautiful opera singer with underworld connections and a violent boyfriend.
When that boyfriend threatens Toni, she knows she's in trouble again. Add a murdered activist socialite, a contract killer, a disappearing uncle, and a suspicious homicide detective to the evil mix and Toni realizes that if she's going to stay alive in mysterious Baltimore she has to make sense of this mess before it messes her up for good. Join Toni’s adventure!
Murder on her mind. Sally Dunphy has had a rough eighteen months. Then she hears her ex-fiance has taken a dive off a bridge. Convinced that Joe, who had everything going for him, would never kill himself over her, as his note implied, Sally demands some answers.
To find them she teams up with rugged Duke Spikowski, a police detective and old friend. Duke has always been like a brother to her. Until lately. As they spend time together Duke seems to want to change their relationship. Increasingly attracted to him, Sally begins to want that, too.
But she has questions about Duke’s motives. Who really killed her fiancé? All Sally’s questions get answered in one terrifying night in the Baltimore Aquarium. Treat yourself to this great read!
HOME SWEET DANGER. Toni wants a decent home of her own. She knocks herself out renovating a derelict townhouse in Baltimore.
Instead of a sanctuary to call her own, she gets "Metal Men," a drive-by shooting, a puzzling death by fire, a mysterious faucet, two hunky men vying for her favor and more flack from her hyper-critical family.
Is Toni up to the challenge? You needed to ask? Readers of this electrifying series will fall in love with Toni all over again!
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