Tis the Season…for Romantic Suspense!
Guest Post by Jacki Delecki
What does Christmas have to do with espionage and political intrigue? For a romantic suspense author, everything—including a heartwarming holiday like Christmas—holds the potential to become part of the story.
For A Christmas Code, Book 2 of the Regency romantic suspense series, the Code Breakers, I combined elements from the winter holiday season to craft a story that features an attempted poisoning set against the elegant backdrop of the Regency Ton. In this story, the hero Ash is poisoned by a dose of ground up holly berries meant for the Prince Regent.
A popular accent used in Christmas decorations, holly is an evergreen shrub that can grow to be a tree, and there are more than 400 different varieties of the plant. The fruit and leaves contain a mix of caffeine-like alkaloid theobromine, caffeine and glycosides (theobromine is also found in chocolate and cocoa).
People and pets avoid the prickly leaves, but children may be attracted to the bright red berries. As few as 20 can be lethal if consumed, and eating just three berries can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. More severe symptoms include drowsiness, slowed breathing and heart rate, coma and death.
Ash catches a lucky break, because, while holly berries are toxic, people rarely die from ingesting this type of poison. Nowadays modern medicine can treat individuals who consume holly berries, but that wasn’t always the case.
I recently released the audiobook version of A Christmas Code, which is narrated by the talented Pearl Hewitt, who also narrated two other books in this series: A Code of Love and A Code of the Heart. You can listen to an audio sample here: http://bit.ly/1ToZIx9
Comment on this blog for a chance to win your choice of a digital or audiobook version of A Christmas Code.
Jacki Delecki is a bestselling romantic suspense writer. Delecki’s Grayce Walters Series, which chronicles the adventures of a Seattle animal acupuncturist, was an editor’s selection by USA Today. Delecki’s Romantic Regency The Code Breaker Series hit number one on Amazon.
Both acclaimed series are available for purchase at http://www.JackiDelecki.com.
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Sounds like a good read.
Thank you Collette for hosting A Christmas Code on your great site. Happy New Year to you and all your readers.
Jacki
Great post Jackie! I’m amazed that there are people today who don’t know that holly berries are toxic.
Love the covers of this series!
Happy,New Year!
I love the covers of Delecki’s books! Beautiful!
Best,
Tema Merback
Writing as Belle Ami
The One (The Only One) #1
The One & More (The Only One) #2
Coming 2016 – One More Time is Not Enough (The Only One) #3
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Sounds really good. Love the covers. Thank you for sharing 🙂
sounds like a great story
denise
Hi Kim, Happy New Year! Thanks for the support.
Jacki
Hi Glenda, Happy New Year to you too! Hope 2016 is a great one! Not sure how many people aren’t aware of Holly poisoning. It seems you’d know if you’re a parent or a pet owner.
Hi Tema, I also love my covers. And wish I could take credit, but the amazing Kim Killion is the shining star. Happy New Year!
Hi Lori, glad you like the cover. Thanks for commenting. Hope 2016 is a wonderful year for you! All my best.
Jacki
Happy New Year, Denise! A Christmas Code is a fun read! Hope you’ll enjoy.