Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. This week, both books are going to Washington state. Barbara W. from Auburn, WA will receive Death by Iced Coffee. Murder with Earl Grey Tea goes to Wendy A. from Ferndale, WA. The books are going out in the mail this morning.

As I get closer to moving date, you might see books that have just been released in the giveaways. There are so many books I can’t take with me! This week, I’m giving away two books with ties to the past, beginning with Bruce Borgos’ debut, The Bitter Past. Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Born and raised there, he left to join the Army, where he worked in Intelligence, deep in the shadows in far off places. Now he’s back home, doing the same lawman’s job his father once did, before his father started to develop dementia. All is relatively quiet in this corner of the world, until an old, retired FBI agent is found killed. He was brutally tortured before he was killed and clues at the scene point to a mystery dating back to the early days of the nuclear age. If that wasn’t strange enough, a current FBI agent shows up to help Beck’s investigation. In a case that unfolds in the past (the 1950s) and the present, it seems that a Russian spy infiltrated the nuclear testing site and now someone is looking for that long-ago, all-but forgotten person, who holds the key to what happened then and to the deadly goings on now.

Maybe you prefer a book in which the protagonist really has traveled into the past, Kelley Armstrong’s The Poisoner’s Ring. Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell—even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body—and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. Dr. Duncan Gray moonlights as a medical examiner, and their latest case hits close to home. Men are dropping dead from a powerful poison, and all signs point to the grieving widows… the latest of which is Gray’s oldest sister.
Poison is said to be a woman’s weapon, though Mallory has to wonder if it’s as simple as that. But she must tread carefully. Every move the household makes is being watched, and who knows where the investigation will lead.

Which book would you like to win? You can enter to win both, but I need separate entries. Email me at Lesa.Holstine@gmail.com. Your subject line should read either “Win The Bitter Past” or “Win The Poisoner’s Ring.” Please include your name and mailing address. The giveaway will end Thursday, July 20 at 5 PM CT. Entries from the U.S. only, please.