to the web site of

Alice Duncan

Not to mention Anne Robins, Emma Craig, and Rachel Wilson

Hey! Check it out! You can read an interview with moi on the Sisters in Crime Internet Chapter's website:

 http://www.sinc-ic.org/profile.shtml

I'm Alice Duncan, Anne Robins, Emma Craig, Rachel Wilson and even Jon Sharpe a couple of times. Alice, Anne, Emma, and Rachel all write historical novels. Jon writes Westerns. Back when I was young and didn't know any better, I wanted to write the Great American Novel. After life kicked me around for a few decades I realized that, not only do I not want to WRITE the Great American Novel, I don't even want to READ it. What I crave from my reading material is to be taken away from life's toils for a couple of hours. Entertainment is what I aim to provide with my novels -- and I consider it a most worthwhile goal.

Click here for my book-doctoring service. I accept PayPal.

Click here for Writers Online Workshops (WOW) offered by Writer's Digest.

Click here for New Mexico Dachshund Rescue.

Dai, Emily, Andrew and Kasumi came to visit! In Roswell, of all unlikely places. I had a wonderful time. After they left Roswell, they continued on to Pasadena, where Dai has tons of relatives. Well, maybe not tons ...

It's Kasumi! She has blue eyes! Blue eyes are not unusual, of course, except that Dai is half Japanese. However, both sides of the family have blue eyes (including moi) so I guess she just got lucky		Andrew absolutely adores his little sister. When I walked outside with Kasumi, he stood at the screen door and fretted until I brought her back!
And then, two weeks later, Robin and Apu came to visit! I haven't experienced this much excitement in years. In actual fact, I'm still trying to get over it. All I've wanted to do since Robin and Apu left is sit on the couch surrounded by wiener dogs and stare into space. I hope I get over it soon.
Here are Robin, Dandy, Skipper, Apu and me taking a walk in the park		And here's Apu in the Four Corners, with a butt in four states! More photos on my Photos Page.

Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to folks with more money than sense, can scarcely believe that her best client wants her to get her spiritual control, Rolly, to appear at a séance in a speakeasy. Bad enough that Daisy made up Rolly when she was ten, but now Rolly has to perform at for a bunch of murdering gangsters? 

When the place is raided, Daisy’s troubles multiply. 

Add to the mix Daisy’s nemesis (and her husband’s best friend) Detective Sam Rotondo; Vicenzo Maggiori, leader of the bootlegging racket in the area; and Flossie Mosser, befuddled floozy; and you have a rollicking adventure that Daisy isn’t sure she’s going to survive.

Morgan Leshay, a super nice author friend,  has very kindly created desktop wallpaper for HIGH SPIRITS! If you're interested in getting a really neat wallpaper for your desktop, email me at aduncan@zianet.com, and I'll send you the zip file. How cool is that???

Read an Excerpt from HIGH SPIRITS

See Pasadena during Daisy's day! Click Here!

The reviews are good so far (thank God)!

"Alice Duncan is one of the finest authors in the business today, and her alter ego, Daisy, is one of the best heroines.    In High Spirits, Daisy’s husband, Billy, an invalid from WWI is becoming more reliant on narcotics for his pain, which causes both Daisy and the reader heartbreaking concern. Sam Rotondo is still coming by often to play cards with Billy, and is a true friend. Other familiar faces are present and accounted for, adding to the enjoyment of this story. Hopefully, Daisy’s next adventure will be coming out soon." Betty Cox from Reader to Reader

"HIGH SPIRITS is a fun romp through post-World War I America, with an engaging, spunky heroine who isn't afraid to say what she thinks, or step in to right a few wrongs. Once you get to know Daisy and her family of characters, you'll be rooting for her with every turn of a page. Picture Meg Ryan as Daisy, amidst the backdrop of speakeasies, tommy guns and bathtub gin, and you'll have some idea how much fun this story is. Don't wait another minute to pick up your copy!" Elizabeth Delisi, author of Holiday Hearts

SIERRA RANSOM, by Emma Craig (of all people!) will come out in April of 2009. I'm very happy about this, since I thought Emma was swimming belly-up in the goldfish bowl of publishing. Wonders never cease!

A rough California gold camp seems an unlikely place for two lonely people running from their pasts to meet. But when Sam Ransom first sees Zenobia Gray taking after a huge, bearded miner with a ladle, then delivery a baby and comforting a bereaved man, he decides that, while she might be a fussy prude, she’s worth emulating.

When Zenobia Gray first sets eyes on Sam Ransom, she’s sure he’s absolutely not the man for her, even though he’s of great assistance.

They’re both right … and they’re both wrong … and they’re going to discover more in each other than they bargained for, along with something else … enduring love.

Read an Excerpt from SIERRA RANSOM

Hey, Five Star finally bought the second in my series of historical cozy mysteries set in 1926 Los Angeles! ANGEL'S FLIGHT is the follow-up to LOST AMONG THE ANGELS, and it will be published in July 2009. I'm happy about it. By the way, in the series, Mercy Allcutt, Our Heroine, has to take Angel's Flight to work every day. And I, in a past life, had to take Angel's Flight to work every day. Okay, so I'm old, and Angel's Flight was torn down ages ago. It's the truth, and I remember the little railway fondly.

It’s a warm August morning in 1926 Los Angeles, California. Mercedes Louise Allcutt (Mercy to her friends) is thrilled to be going to her job as secretary to private investigator Ernie Templeton—until she opens the door and discovers her mother on the doorstep. Known to her friends as Honoria and her daughters as The Wrath of God, Mrs. Allcutt is the very last person on earth whom Mercy wants to see, barring a couple of cold-blooded murderers she’s met in the past few weeks.

But that’s only the beginning of Mercy’s latest adventure. Add a couple of phony spiritualists, a Hollywoodland gossip columnist who gets bumped off during a séance, a semi-famous starlet, and several other colorful characters, and Mercy manages to find herself in very deep waters indeed.

Read an excerpt from ANGEL'S FLIGHT

I decided to look for some pictures of Angel's Flight and vicinity in the old days, and here they are!

This is what the area looked like when Mercy came to the City of Angels.

This is a little before Mercy's day, but you can see L.A. as it kind of was in 1926

This is Angel's Flight crossing Clay Street, again more or less in Mercy's day.

And this is a view of the San Carlos Hotel (defunct now) across the street from Pershing Square, which was a very interesting place until it was paved over. Sigh.

Enter my monthly contest! Send me an e-mail at aduncan@zianet.com, giving me your name and home address, and I'll toss your name into Daisy's (my winner-picking wiener) special contest doggie dish! She'll choose winners at the end of the month. Please enter only one time per month. 

See What's up for Grabs in July