Thursday, December 6, 2012

FINAL DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

I'd like to congratulate the eight winners in my DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL GIVEAWAY.

$25 AMAZON GIFT CARD WINNERS!

Week One:  Victoria Zumbrum, Glen Rock, PA
Week Two:  Tara Woods, Anniston, AL
Week Three:  David Heath, Taylorsville, KY
Week Four:  Beckey White, York Haven, PA
Week Five:  Heidi Whitman, Clinton Township, MI
Week Six:  Carolyn Sisco, Lawton, OK
Week Seven:  Alex Gomez, Reno, NV

$100 AMAZON GIFT CARD, GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

Leanne Johnson:  Questa, NM

Thanks again to the hundreds of readers who entered the Giveaway. Please visit my website frequently (www.ShirleyTallman.com) to learn about future contests and giveaways!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

CONGRATULATIONS Week Three Winner!

Hi all,

I want to congratulate David Heath of Taylorsville, Kentucky, for winning week three's $25 Amazon gift card in the DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL GIVEAWAY!

Tomorrow (Sunday, November11th) week four's winner will be chosen -- usually at the end of the day. So those of you who haven't already entered, you still have 24 hours to visit my website at: www.ShirleyTallman.com to sign up. Five more weekly winners are still to be awarded: each will receive a $25 Amazon gift certificate. At the end of November, one lucky winner will receive a $100 Amazon gift card, so take a minute to visit my website and enter. It's free, easy, and you need only sign up once to be eligible for all the prizes!

Now to more mundane matters. My husband Bob and I packed our bags last Thursday, loaded up the car with cat Sasha, and dog Beau, and headed to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where we own a cabin. A storm front was coming in and a neighbor called us to say our cabin's heater was out, and feared our pipes might freeze due to expected low temperatures. I'm happy to say that we made it just in time to beat the storm -- in fact, it followed us into the Sierras. Today, Saturday, the temp is in the low teens, but the heater is now fixed, and we're finally able to poke our heads out from the electric blankets where we were hiding until the repairman could come out.

On that happy note, I turned on my computer only to discover that it had crashed!! Now most of you know that I'm not the most savvy of computer users, but after about four hours of fiddling, tearing at my hair, and uttering some distinctly unladylike words, I finally managed to at least get online. Now how am I able to do that, when my hard drive is down and according to Disk Utilities, cannot be repaired? I just don't understand this. Do any of you have a clue? (I own a MacBook Pro laptop computer, if that makes any difference). I guess I shouldn't really be complaining, though, since I can at least catch up on my email, etc. You don't realize how important that is until you're off-line for a few days!

Okay, I'm through grousing. The Oregon Ducks are playing Cal tonight at Berkeley, and I want to catch a quick bite to eat before it begins. (Our beloved Ducks are currently ranked #3 in the country. But Alabama lost today, so who knows where we'll be ranked tomorrow.) Thank God our TV is working!

Hope you all have a great Sunday, and GO DUCKS!!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL IN AUDIO FORMAT

I just posted this on my Facebook page, but wanted to make sure that all of you heard the good news: Blackstone Audio has just purchased the audio rights to DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL!

So many of you have written asking when you'd be able to listen to Sarah's latest adventure. It makes me very happy to announce that the book will soon be available on CD, as well as downloadable MP3 formats. (I'll post on Facebook when the audio versions will be ready to purchase). 

My husband and I love to listen to audio books when we travel by car. We also listen on our iPods and iPads when we go by train or plane. It makes the time go by so much faster. I'm crossing my fingers that Carrington MacDuffie will perform the reading for Blackstone, since she did so well for the last two books in the series.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have bought DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL. Because of you, sales of the fifth book in the Sarah Woolson mystery series  have been going exceedingly well. You guys are great!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

TWO NEW GREAT REVIEWS FOR DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL!

Hi everyone!

 Two new reviews were posted today for my new Sarah Woolson mystery, DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL. (Actually, one was an interview/review from The Big Thrill, but both were great!)

You can read the first one, from RomanceJunkies.com, at:


The second one, from The Big Thrill, can be found at:


http://www.thebigthrill.org/2012/11/death-on-telegraph-hill-by-shirley-tallman/

The nice thing about the Big Thrill interview by Mike Stewart, is that it answers a lot of questions readers are constantly asking me about how I came up with the idea to write the Sarah Woolson series, why I chose San Francisco as their locale, and what caused me to place the stories in the 1800s. He also wondered why I made Sarah an attorney, and discussed the role romance plays in her life. (Keep in mind how difficult it would have been for a woman -- especially one from a good family -- to have a career in the late 19th-century). 

All in all, they're both fun reviews and I think you'll enjoy them!



 

UPDATE ON DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL GIVEAWAY!!

I'd like to congratulate VICTORIA ZUMBRUM of Glen Rock, PA, and TARA WOODS of Anniston, AL, for being the first two winners in the DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL GIVEAWAY! As week one and week two winners, they each received a $25 Amazon gift certificate. Happy shopping ladies!!

The Giveaway will run for five more weeks -- each week a $25 Amazon gift card will be awarded, followed at the end of November by a $100 grand prize gift certificate. Just  visit my website at www.ShirleyTallman.com, click on the Contest Page link at the top of the Welcome Page, and sign up for the Giveaway. You need enter only once to win.






Thursday, October 25, 2012

DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL is in bookstores!!

Hi Everyone,

I've been down with a nasty bug so I'm a bit late with this, but as they say better late than never.

Book #5 in my Sarah Woolson Historical Mystery Series, DEATH ON TELEGRAPH HILL, was released last week and is garnering great reviews, including a Publisher's Weekly starred review!

This means even more to me than usual, because I wrote this book while caring for our eldest daughter Karen, who was in the final stages of her long, valiant 10-year fight against breast cancer. The miracle is how I managed to write the book at all under the circumstances, but Karen kept encouraging me and that's what kept me going. I'm sad to say that our beautiful daughter slipped away from us just days before Christmas last December, but as I said in TELEGRAPH HILL's dedication: She will be with us forever in our hearts. I'm so grateful that she's finally at peace and free of the pain she uncomplainingly suffered for so long.

Okay, sad news aside, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your great outpouring of congratulations for the new book! I also want to wish everyone who joined my TELEGRAPH HILL GIVEAWAY the best of luck. The contest (a $25 Amazon gift card given out every week until the end of November, followed by a $100 Amazon gift card grand prize) has proven to be very popular. The first $25 certificate went out to Victoria Zumbrum of Glen Rock, PA, last Sunday. The second gift card will be awarded this coming Sunday. Just visit the Contest Page on my website to sign up for the giveaway. You need enter only once to win any of the prizes!

For those of you who've been asking me about the next book in the Sarah Woolson series, I'm happy to report that #6, tentatively titled: A KILLING IN CHINATOWN, is in the works. For all of you Li Ying lovers, yes he'll be back in this exciting whodunit, loaded with lots of fun twists and turns.

Last but not least, I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!! You guys are the best!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you moms out there.

I was sitting here working on my new book which is due in to my publisher on July 1st (yes, this year I even have to work on Mother's Day), and I started thinking of the fun I had raising my brood of lively kids -- some pain and aggravation, too, of course, but in hindsight, lots of fun. Those days and years passed by so quickly, it hardly seems possible that they're all grown up now with children of their own.

Perhaps the greatest compliment anyone can give a mom, is to observe the great job her own daughters are doing as moms. It lets you know that you must have done something right, in amongst all the trials and errors. I think the most important, basic ingredient for success in the job is love. And despite the many mistakes I'm sure I made, my kids received lots of love. Now they're passing it on to their own children, and in the most beautiful and imaginative ways.

So to my own daughters, and to all of you moms out there, I wish you the very happiest of Mother's Days!! Sit back, enjoy, and receive all the love you so richly deserve. As far as I'm concerned, there's not a more important job in the world than being a mother!!