Updates on Murder Mysteries

I'm still at work on my third murder mystery, The Serial Killer Beside Me. I'm over 47K words, and on page 122. Still work to do, as I'm heading for the exciting climax of this one.

Meanwhile, cool news: my second book is almost out, but even cooler are the covers of these.

Below is the second book, due out probably this week. I'll post when it is out.

Party To A Murder can be found here. 

(I could use more reviews!)

If you like small town YA mysteries, this is for you! Join amateur sleuth Lainey Quilholt in her first adventure as an amateur sleuth as she figures out two murders--one an unsolved drowning, another a grisly stabbing of a high school student. With a pinch of romance, and something that won't give you nightmares, this might be the type of book to curl up with before bedtime! Check out the review below!

Review by Eve Gaal:

4.0 out of 5 starsClassic Who-Done-It

April 28, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I enjoy reading mysteries but usually avoid anything involving blood or murder, because having a vivid 

imagination, they tend to keep me up at night or give me nightmares. The same goes for television shows and movies, even though I’m well aware they use ketchup or fake blood. Strangely, I have what might seem like an unhealthy aversion to vampire stories and I’m glad Bell, who usually writes about erotic bats and such, decided

 to change courses for this book. In fact, I really liked Party to a Murder. This mystery novel has two murders. One is a drowning and the other a stabbing. The plot weaves artistically through the Mississippi valley small

 town, where an amateur sleuth called Lainey decides to help Sheriff Weeks solve the horrific crimes. The characterization is excellent and there were plenty of plot twists, even a tornado, to keep me interested until

 the end. I could clearly imagine Lainey’s aunt and uncle and her friends, Brett, Wendy, Nadine, Lawson and 

A.J. Like a great mystery, every one is a possible suspect and as the story unfolds small clues help define

the psychological implications inherit in who, what, where and why. And, in case you’re anything like me, it

isn’t too gory. The only reason it kept me awake at night was simply because I kept reading and reading and reading to find out what happens next. If you like Agatha Christie and appreciated Nancy Drew, then you want

 to read Party to a Murder. 

Trill 5 Star Reviews

I guess I have a collection of good reviews. Not all my reviews are in this category, but it's encouraging. Encouraging me to continue to get the series done, for sure.

I have the top 5-star reviews below:

#1

5.0 out of 5 starsGolly

ByValerie Ranneon August 27, 2016

Read the first of the series, fell in love with the characters and bought the second. Read through that in two days, and have just purchased the third of the series. These are excellent, I will be purchasing all of the books in the series. I thoroughly enjoy the characters and their interactions, the settings are imaginative and her writing is quite enjoyable. The language can be a bit coarse on occasion, and the sexual content is vivid. All in all, an entertaining series.

#2

5.0 out of 5 starsThe Hits Keep Coming!!

ByMikeon August 30, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition

This is Donna again. Another page turner with Trill. Lorelei's writing makes me feel like I'm right there. Sabrina isn't boring at all. She's constantly getting hit with something. If it isn't a possessive vampire, it's demons that want to kill her, and now her best friend was bit and is a vampire. Love the pace of the story. Next is Nocturne. Can't wait to get started.

#3

Series get better each novel

ByLarry Paulon March 23, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

Excellent take on vampires and the Sybil idea is intriguing, I am looking forward to the next installment as Sabrina comes into her own

#4

Trill (Sabrina Strong Series Book 2)

ByCarol Crafton March 9, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

Wow!!! I thought the first book in the series was good but I think this one topped it.
You know a good author when you can imagine yourself in the book and this author has it in spades! The characters really come alive for you.
I hope to read lots more from this author and would highly recommend this series to others. I plan on reading everything I can get my hands on, too.

#5

Sabrina's world just gets more and more exciting!!!

ByShirl Bon June 3, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Wonderful follow up to the 1st in the series (Vampire Ascending) - I feel like I have not lost my place in the story at all!! So many wonderful characters, twists and turns - (and easy to keep straight on all of them!!) -Sabrina learns more about herself and her role in the Vampires world - and shifters and... (that would be telling... lol) - Cannot say enough about this series - off to #3 - then #4.. not surfacing for air until I am done!!!

#6

5.0 out of 5 starsWild Ride

ByCateyeson July 14, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

Holy Moly there's a lot of action, betrayals, hidden agendas, claims and power trips happening in this book... gotta love it. Excellently crafted story with fascinating characters. Great second book with answers and more unanswered.

MUST READ

This is review from Donna (my super fan) for Ascension

You can see she is very enthusiastic over my writing.

Mike reviewed Ascension (Sabrina Strong Series Book 1)  A MUST READ!!! August 29, 2018 I'm using my husband's acct. because I don't have one yet. My name is Donna. If you love vampire books, this is a MUST read. I couldn't wait to get them. I read the first 2 in 4 days. Just couldn't put it down. Lorelei's writing keeps you on edge & guessing. I love the story line. Keeps me wondering what's next. I've never been so excited about a series. I wish the 8 book series could be made into a movie or dvd for each...Read More

Customer Reviews... Good, Bad, and Best!

I always cringe when I see a new review has come up on my books. I'm never sure what they will say. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, and some make me see blood.

The following reviews are for my first Sabrina Strong book Ascension.

The latest one went thus:

Topic/story was great. However, grammar and spelling drove me crazy. Too many gaps in the story line. Erratic starting and stopping of chapters. Towards the end there was a very large gap in the story. I realize the first book was free. However, I'm not sure if I am captivated to find out more about the story line.
Best of luck in your continued adventures.

This one gave me two stars. I must say I'm not sure what she means by gaps in the story line, or "Erratic starting and stopping of chapters". The start of a chapter is when a new scene beings and the end of it is either the end of a scene, or when the writer wishes to stop in the middle of something, and make you want to read on. Apparently, since this person did read on, that trick did it's job. It's not something I made up. If she ever reads other authors she should note this happens quite a lot. Patricia Cornwell will stop in the middle of things, end the chapter and start right where she stopped. It is a writer's perogative, I would think, how they want to do this, but in many writing suggestions by seasoned writers, what I do is what I've learned from those seasoned writers.

Let's take another one. This was one of my better ones. These are both taken from Amazon.

I LOVED this book. The intrigue really had me wondering what was going to happen next. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. If it is half as good as this one is, I am in for a real treat.
I would recommend this series for anyone loving this genre.

The above was a 5-star review. This woman did read all five books, and gave reviews on all of them. I was hoping to hear from her again. In fact she asked me to let her know when the 6th one came out. Unfortunately I don't know what happened to her. Her facebook entries ended sometime earlier in the year. I have no idea what might have happened to her.

Some of my best reviews come from facebook, in fact. People who are real fans will find me or my books and leave some sort of review.

This one was left for me yesterday, and believe me it takes the bite out of the first one I shared with you.

Absolutley LOVE your books ...can.t wait for #7 of sabrinas!!

I like these because I can thank the person directly on facebook. I find that interacting with fans is the best way to keep them interested. 

Even though my publisher has stated that reviews sell your books, I think word of mouth is better than a hand full of reviews. I can't make someone leave a review, and really paying for a review is just like bribing someone to say something nice. I find that somehow dishonest. I know other authors do this, and lovely that they've got money to burn on such things. (I don't make that much as a writer and even if I did I wouldn't pay for a damned review!) People make a review either because they want to, or have the inclination of leaving reviews of books they have read. If you check the names of those people who leave the review, you'll see what I mean. You can go and read all of their reviews and see if they are stingingly honest with all their reviews, never give more than 3 stars, or if they enjoy books of a certain genre and make nice reviews on most or all.

Here is one that I got at my Author Page on Facebook:

This morning I sent this out to one of the 'reading groups' I belong to;

Hey everyone;
I just last night ( ok- 1am!) finished the Sabrina Strong series by Lorelei Bell. Al 5 of them - started them on the 26th and could not stop! Most unique vampire series I have come across in MANY years- you do need to read them in order though - there must be a 6th and more coming & I just cannot wait!!!

Happy Memorial Day, All !!

As you can see, many of my fans are here and interacting with me there. Which is good. I know that people buy my books because there are sales all the time. A "free" ebook will boost sales on the rest of the books, which is what an author of a series hopes for.

Well, I'll end this rambling for now. Just wanted to share this with everyone. Hoping for more reviews on my books @ Amazon, though. I like to see them. Just don't like those 1- or 2-star ones.

Just One More Thing...

Or maybe a few...

Party to a Murder

is 

FREE

for another 2 days.

I'm not a big fan of putting up anything I've worked on for free. Not a novel. Not my art. But perhaps getting attention is what this is all about. 

Another thing (see? told you), I need reviews on it. So, if you are reading this, and plan on buying(well, getting it for free) and reading it. Please give it a review. It's the least you could do, since you got it for free. 

All you have to do to leave a review is go back to the link above and scroll down to where they have  "Customers Reviews" 

If you've purchased it there at Amazon you should be able to leave a review. All I ask is...

JUST DON'T MURDER IT!

Just a Couple of Things

The Sabrina Strong series has had a boost--well, maybe a kick--in the pants. On the 15th, Ascension went up for grabs for free. I was a bit dubious about this. But the book has been out there a while, and maybe it was time.

I can say it got up there in the ranks--not #1, but hey, it had a long way to climb! It was withing the striking reach of n a couple of areas, like in psychics it went to #23, and in vampires #48 the first day and the second day it went to #3 and #9 respectively.

It took a few days, but sales in the other books of series began to sell. I even got my first sales in Denmark!

Because of the sales I was waiting for some good reviews. Well I got them, and here they are:

 Tricky woman!, February 21, 2017

By 

Theresa Kelso

This review is from: Nocturne (Sabrina Strong Series Book 3) (Kindle Edition)

Ms. Bell is a tricky woman! Great book in this series, I always love to see women kick but and take names! Ha ha and Sabrina is good at it, sort of. She needs to be more conscious of her efforts, but I see that she is still getting up to speed. This read was so good I found myself putting off bedtime to keep reading. A very high complement from me.

 Book 4, February 23, 2017

By 

Theresa Kelso

This review is from: Caprice (Sabrina Strong Series Book 4) (Kindle Edition)

Caprice is a perfect name for this book! I am glad Sabrina is getting some of her own in this story, I get really bored with the"stupid" damsel in distress scenario. Fun read.

Yes, this reader GETS ME! She realizes I had a mission with the third book as well as the fourth! 

THANK YOU MS. KELSO!

Also this week Ascension's Italian Edition just came out.

Is a Bad Review Better Than None?

Unfortunately, this review was the very first for my Sabrina Strong book #4, Caprice. Yup. E.Foley ("lizard 1969") hits again. And it's like a train wreck. But I'm not here to whine. Nope. I'm gonna answer this "review" right here.

Maybe people would think me nuts for posting this and answering it here. I mean, do any of you other writers get a bad review and just want to strangle that person for posting it? Or better yet, answer it? See, I can't answer her at the review site (you need to have bought something on Amazon. I haven't, so...)

She gave "Caprice" 2 stars. But I'm peeved because she's into the series, I know, because she has bought each book in turn and put her review up right away. She sort of reminds me of Charley Harper's mother who can't say "Atta boy." No nice thing to say. Ever.

Here's her first line:

"I hate being the first one to rate this and it not being more than two stars."

No. I quite think you wanted to be the very first one to plunge the dagger (or stake?) into it, my dear.

"The story was convoluted; was confusing with too many POVs; was too long and filled with errors (needed editing for length, clarity and grammar); and was without a satisfying ending."

Well that was a mouthful. She could have ended the tirade right there, but I'm afraid it gets worse.

Let's get down to it it. Too many POV's? Has she never read other authors who write with more than three or four POVs? I mean, I've read Mary Higgins Clark, Tammi Hoag, and others who use as many as five or six POVs. I changed my writing style from strictly first person to first person and third in order to bring the story together. I felt the story needed more depth at this point. I wanted to get into the heads of all my main characters in this book, to let the reader know what each and every one of them were doing. Also, because if I didn't, the story would have been about 100 pages. Personally, I like a long read. I love the adventure, and if the MC is fun to read, I definitely want to be entertained by her and her friends. I've read long books like JK Rowling's Goblet of Fire, which is 735 pages long. I loved it. Or Kim Harrison's novels which go on for at least 400 pages. The length of Caprice was as long as I needed it to be. Sure. Editing would have been nice. I have no editor to correct things for me. I'm what you'd call a "starving artist". Prey for wolves to pounce upon when they see weak writing, or problems in grammar. Whatever.

What about "A satisfying ending" ? We'll get to that part later on in this post.

Here's the middle part...

As the Sibyl, Sabrina now has a bounty on her head and all sorts of supernatural creatures want to mate with her. So far, it's Vasyl, Dante, Tremayne, Bill, Hobart (although we see very little of him in this book), and a new Ware named Chris (who sounds like a hottie). And I'm sure I'm missing something.

It's pretty clear that NO ONE IS WHO THEY SEEM and I walked away from the book feeling sad for our Sibyl who is pretty much alone. Vasyl may love her, but I don't think he gets her. Dante's dead/undead, Tremayne is essentially a rapist/opportunist, Bill, who I thought was evil the whole time, may not really be and in the end can never be with her. [attempting to avoid spoilers here] And poor Chris keeps sniffing around, but he's far back in line.

Obviously, she's into the series. She's worried about "our sibyl", ("sad", even) who keeps on getting men in her life who either use or leave her one way or another. And, ha-ha-ha! I've done my job. Bill is someone I painted to be evil--I kept him as a person who seemed shady, and in the periphery on purpose. Getting into his head, and watching what he is doing, understanding the reason he's doing it, all coming together. I have my reasons, like all authors do, to write this the way I did. 

"And if it's the last in the series (which is not clear), we're left hanging with questions: Will she fulfill the prophecy? Will her eggs really work for the Nephilim? What's going on with Tremayne (will he live or die, and if he lives, will he regain control of his business and NAVA)? WHO WILL SABRINA END UP WITH?"

A-hah! Yes, my dear, that is the big question! Who will Sabrina end up with? Well, I'll answer your first question first. The series has at least 4 more books coming (8 in total to date). The next book (#5) will answer nearly all the rest of those question you have. (See? I know you really are hooked on this series, even though you have a bunch of problems with my grammar and spelling-which is why you gave this such a poor rating, isn't it? Not that the story was so awful, or you couldn't give a rat's ass what happened to Sabrina.) Who Sabrina ends up with... The answer is in #8. And I'm not telling.

E.Foley's last bit really needled me. She had to poke fun at the fact that I made a mistake with some large bills (as in $$) in a briefcase. I thought I had changed that, but apparently I didn't. Oops. Forgot. Thanks for letting me know. I hope my publisher can go in and change that.

Her last question about the title "And what's with the title? The title did not jibe with the story." Really? Do you know what Caprice really means? 
CAPRICE: A sudden, impulsive change in thinking or acting; 2 a capricious quality.

It's exactly what it did. It goes off tangent. Making crazy turns, and you didn't get it (like Vasyl doesn't get Sabrina). But that's okay.

Because I knew that the book was going to go off like a whirling dervish--I didn't want to call it that, of course. I took the chance in calling it Caprice, and since I was going with musical titles, this fit perfectly. Yes. There's a reason for the things I do. It's not up to me to explain, nor will I apologize for your confusion. That's really par for the course.

Oh. And as to the satisfying ending (spoiler here), Sabrina does kill the bad guy, and has a chat with her neighbor who was Bill's grandmother, about his death. That's a satisfying ending, I do believe. What did you want? Her to walk off into the sunset with Vasyl? Or someone else?
Well, that's my answer to this bad review. 

Speaking of reviews... Good news! Tonight, I suddenly found that all of the reviews that Amazon took away from Ascension, are back. Wow. Thank you whoever! I now have 10 reviews--as it should be on my first book! Yay! There are now 4 5-star reviews on it, now. 

Lest We forget my Other Book

Spell of the Black Unicorn

The tendency is to think I only wrote the Sabrina Strong series, when long before I wrote that one, I wrote my crazy story about a oxymoron witch from another planet who has to hide from a desperate dark wizard who wants to steal a stone that she is keeper of. In order to avoid him at all costs, she opts to come to Earth.

In a way, this is something of a mixed genre. Here you have Zofia Trickenbod who is a witch (paranormal), who is not from our world, but from another (science fiction). She has left her world believing her husband (sorcerer), is dead. In the beginning of the story, she opens the door to her husband, and soon learns he isn't dead, but... uh... well he's undead. Yup. He's a vampire.

There were two things that inspired me to write this adult mish-mash of sci-fi and paranormal genres. It was the TV show Bewitched, which I grew up watching, and then the Harry Potter series which I could not get enough of. The magic, pace and excitement of the Rowling's series had me prowling the bookstores for something more... well adult to read. Which I couldn't find at the time. So, I wrote it. 

It has plenty of action, lots of kookie characters (including an invisible servant who is both cantankerous and ill tempered at times). Oh, sure, there is a black unicorn who loves to munch on Zofia's flowerbeds. Meanwhile Zofia is miffed about how her husband didn't send her a note of some sort telling her he was still around--she went years thinking he was dead, the least he could have done was let her know, for crying out loud. Before she got involved with the handsome cop of the small burg she lives in. But when Dorian (husband), becomes the prime suspect of a murder, and arrested, she's bound and determined to spring him out, and try and turn him back into a sorcerer, all while trying to figure out where Blood (the evil sorcerer) is before he can make her life more difficult, and expose the fact she's a sorceress.

I have three very nice reviews there at Amazon. It would be nice to have more. Hopefully Amazon doesn't whack those few I do have off the board. Well, I can only do so much. When this book first came out, I had a wonderful book signing at Borders. A lot of people bought the book that way. Thus, you can't get a review from people who bought elsewhere on Amazon, I don't think. But, if you do happen to buy on Amazon, and you loved it, do give it a review. I would appreciate it.

And, by the way, it will go on sale starting Monday, the 30th, for .99 again.

Have a great weekend!

AMAZON HITS the DELETE BUTTON on my REVIEWS!

Well, color me P.O.ed!

All but one or two of my 4- and 5-star reviews have disappeared from Ascension! Some were beautifully written, and I don't know if I'll never get them back! (see reviews on the amazon page--there's only 3 and there should be 9)

I had 9 reviews now it says I only have 3. I've heard of this sort of thing happening to other authors. 

My publisher and I are going to try and ask about them, see if this was some sort of error (of course) on their part.

My hope is that they return them. There was no reason they should have taken them off to begin with!

Now for the part where I ask/beg for those of you have ever bought and read my first book (formerly Vampire Ascending, or the other books in the series), from Amazon and loved it, but never made any review, I ask that you so kindly leave some sort of review and rating. The more ratings/reviews helps drive sales.

Here are the other book's links:
Vampire's Trill (now just Trill)
Vampire Nocturne (Nocturne)
Vampire Caprice

Now, as some of you may know, I've gone with a new publisher. He's working really hard for promotions, and I'm giving you one sneaky bit of information...
Ascension and Trill will both be on sale in April. Come back then for details, so that I can give you guys the details and links again.

Thank you! 
Cross your fingers I get those reviews back--somehow.

Another 5-STAR Review of Vampire's Trill

The second book in the Sabrina Strong series has receved a very nice 5-star review from Lena Winfrey Sender. You can go and read that here.

And if you want to read the ebooks Vampire Ascending, being the first ebook in series it's regular price is only $1.99, and you can buy that here.

Vampire's Trill is second in series, and Lena's review is as if she knows the whole series objective, or the story inside and out, I must say. You can purchase the second ebook here for $2.99.

Now, just in case people are without an e-reader, I will be making all four books available at Smashwords soon, where you can get yourself a pdf version, or have another e-reading device.

Sorry this is so short, just have too much outdoor work to get caught up on, but I"ll let everyone know when the Smashword versions will be up and available. Until then, enjoy the nice fall weather (hopefully).

Wicked Wednesday

The weather is trying to turn around and give us hope here in northern Illinois. I think the state should be renamed to Annoying, actually. I'd like to move away someday, but that might be a while off.

But good news reached me today. Two of the four ladies who played the little game to win a copy of Vampire Nocturne just receved them today. Dora DeGostino, and Nina D'Arcangela--both in New York State--notified me that their copies came. Dora stated on Twitter that she got her "Easter present! Vampire Nocturne (3rd install Sabrina Strong series) is now in my hot little hands. luv the cover!"

For Dora, this is the second book she's won. She's a great fan who has written great reviews on all my books. Funnily enough, she claims she is not a fan of vampire fiction. I get that from other people too. You need not really like vampire fiction to enjoy my books.

Vampire Nocturne is nearly a stand-alone book, in that many of the main characters who Sabrina will be interacting with are in another world. Plus it is a steampunk, or has steampunk themes, since this world she goes to is in the Victorian era.

I'm looking forward to some reactions/reviews on this book.

Meanwhile, I'm puzzled about one silly thing. And it is silly of me to even worry about it. You see I've been pinning up my business cards up in a local grocery store for the past few years. It usually will remain pinned up for weeks. Eventually someone takes it. My new ones are sort of cool. It says "Got Vampire" in a creepy font, and I've got all my info down below on eye-catching neon orange. If the card is gone, then I know someone might really be interested in the books--I hope. But lately, I think the last 4 weeks, I've put my card up and almost the next day it's gone. I'd put up another and in a day or two it would be gone again. Last week I put up two--together--and they were there for a few days. I came back to work and saw both cards were gone over the weekend. So I put up another card. This morning it was gone.

The reason I'm wondering about this is because people can be nasty and take something down they think is--oh, let's just say against their moral judgement? Having said that and with Easter coming up, I've decided to not re-pin my card again for a while. I'm hoping whoever it is taking my cards and probably throwing them away will quit coming in and taking them. I'm certain that there aren't that many people grabbing my card because they're going to buy my books. I really have never seen my cards just fly off the bulletin board like this before.

Well, before I leave I wanted to direct some of you to my Sabrina Strong Fan facebook page. If you are not already a "fan" or a member of this, you may request I add you. I would love to see some new "blood", if you will.

If you ARE a member I would love to hear from you more often. As a matter of fact I've got a little questionnair up. The question is how many books do you read in a year? I'll leave this up for about a week and see what sort of responses I get. I'll then post a new question. I'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy. it's just a simple question.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.