Dru’s Book Musings has a fun feature today. If you are wondering what Jordan Mayfair is doing between books, check it out:
https://drusbookmusing.com/jordan-mayfair
Author
Dru’s Book Musings has a fun feature today. If you are wondering what Jordan Mayfair is doing between books, check it out:
https://drusbookmusing.com/jordan-mayfair
PRODIGAL comes out in November, but here is the cover! For more about PRODIGAL, check out the site on Amazon, where the book is available for pre-order (if you’d like to be the first to get yours!)
If you missed the hardback, Treachery in Tuscany is now in mass market paperback – and check out the price! If you can’t travel to Italy, be an armchair traveler and follow Jordan Mayfair as she solves another mystery, this time in a convent.
https://www.harlequin.com/search.html?w=Phyllis+Gobbell
Excited to see a reprint of Will Maguire’s review of Notorious in Nashville, first published in Well Read Magazine! Thank you, Maggie Ball and Mandy Haynes, editors of these literary magazines, and thank you, Will Maguire. https://compulsivereader.com/2024/02/03/a-review-of-notorious-in-nashville-by-phyllis-gobbel/
Thanks to the staff at Chauvet for such a warm welcome at the Art Crawl Saturday night! Around 400 visitors came to the gallery to enjoy the art exhibition. I met some readers and got some great exposure for Notorious in Nashville. It was a big night, lots of fun!
Everybody who knows Nashville and country music knows the Bluebird Cafe, so that’s where I wanted to start. Here is the opening scene:
Chapter 1
A hush hovered over the room.
Her voice. What was it about that voice? The way it came from something deep inside. Longing. Regret. Old pain for what was lost. Etched in a fresh face. How could a twenty-five-year-old possibly know all of it? But you believed she did when you heard her sing.
I’ve never been a fan of country music. Never followed country music, except for summer visits with my grandparents in south Georgia, when the radio was always tuned to the big clear channel, WSM, out of Nashville. Hearing a classic like Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You can still take me back to that simpler, sweeter time.
After those long ago summers, I didn’t pay much attention to country music.
But Willow Goodheart’s voice grabbed me, pulled me into what she was feeling, made me hold my breath.
The first chill of fall in the air
The smell of wood smoke in your hair . . .
The lyrics, unpretentious but elegant, and the hymn-like melody with a hint of blues. Her quiet rhythmic picking on the acoustic guitar. All of it. And the voice.
Not like any country song I’d ever heard.
Your heart’s first small crack
The part that you never get back . . .
The haunting verse climbed into the chorus that rang with raw honesty, with the resonance of an old soul.
There are things that will vanish,
But they don’t fade away.
Then, as Willow held the audience under her spell, another voice boomed from behind us. “That’s my song, Missy!”
A disheveled man, weathered face, wiry beard, staggered from the bar at the opposite end of the room from the stage. “Mine! You stole my song!” He lurched forward, heading toward the stage, stumbling into a table of four women. Their drinks spilled. The women shrieked.
“It’s mine!” he kept yelling.
Willow went silent in the middle of a line. The stillness in the room turned into a roar of disgruntled chatter. Several men, including Kyle, my daughter’s significant other, jumped up, but before they could rush to rescue the women, a linebacker-type from the bar swung a huge arm around the man’s skinny neck. And then, grasping his scrawny arm and gray scraggly ponytail, swept him out the door.
“Stupid drunk,” Kyle said, under his breath. He sat down and reached for his beer.
“Who is that?” Holly whispered.
“He’s Notorious.” Kyle took a long pull from the bottle.
My long-time friend Fran Mires invited me to her Book Club in Old Hickory. What a fabulous night! It began with a feast of Southern food to celebrate my book, Notorious in Nashville. All the members had read the book and it was so satisfying to hear their take on it! Thank you, lovely ladies!
Many thanks to everyone at The Wayne County Museum for such a delightful book event on Saturday, December 2. It was an opportunity to talk about my new mystery, Notorious in Nashville, as well as my other books, and I was able to visit with many friends and meet some new ones. All of it took place in the building that was once a feed store, owned by my great uncles, now a museum. Later, I watched the Christmas parade that brought back many memories. A day I will not forget!
I am so grateful to be included in Well Read Magazine’s November Issue. Thank you, Mandy Haynes!
If you check out the link below, it will take you to Will Maguire’s book review and interview with me about my new mystery, Notorious in Nashville. Below, you’ll find the magazine itself where you can access pages 96-103 for the complete book review and interview!
Book Review: https://issuu.com/articles/39214755
I am so excited to be back in my hometown for a book event, Dec. 2! In conjunction with the Christmas parade, the Wayne County Museum is hosting the fundrasier, a free event with 10% of the proceeds from book sales going to the museum. I will be at the museum from 1-5, doing a reading at 2:00.
The home of the Wayne County Museum was once the building that housed a feed store, owned by my great uncles, Dodge and Walter Merriman. It will be a privilege to visit, and to take in the Christmas parade in the evening.
I look forward to seeing many friends from Wayne County at this very special event!