Today is character guest post day! We have Nikki Durrance of Kathy Holmes' new book, Deja Vu at the Blue Diamond Saloon, with us today. Welcome, Nikki!
The Art of
People-Watching
When you feel like somebody is watching, it’s good to be
able to watch them back. I’ve honed my people-watching skills starting with
that night at the Petrossian Bar at Bellagio in Las Vegas.
There I was perched on my author’s shoulder, sipping my mini Martini while she
sipped hers, and I began to notice a suspicious blind man at the bar. I
whispered the details in my author’s ear and now I’m starring in Déjà vu
at the Blue Diamond Saloon.
But back to the Petrossian Bar for a peek into that scene:
A man held his cigarette between his forefinger and middle
finger with his elbow bent, sending the smoke vertically into the air vent in
the ceiling. Like a man who had been practicing the art of smoking his entire
life, he moved with panache and ease. The cocktail waitress placed his cup and
container of steamy liquid in front of him, and he expertly placed his tea bag
and poured the liquid into the cup. He glanced at the ceiling and danced to the
drumming of the piano, beating out the rhythm with his head.
A tall woman with coppery-colored hair trailing down to her
waist, wearing a shimmering silver dress reserved for special occasions,
approached him and asked him to dance. He stood up, took her arm, and twirled
her in a circle, and then with his hand on her waist, the two glided onto the
dance floor, never revealing that they were blind.
But something wasn’t quite right with that scenario, and it
was more than the fact that two blind people were behaving as if they were
sighted. And then I realized what I had seen. Surreptitiously, he had slipped
something in her handbag that matched the dress and had attached to the back of
the dress so that it looked like a flap or back pocket. But as the song ended,
the two parted, and she swung the now visible bag over to her front side, and
she left without seemingly saying a word to him. The cocktail waitress
approached our table and placed a drink in front of me and said, “A French
Martini—from the gentleman over there.” She pointed to where the blind man sat
but he was no longer there.
It’s got your imagination going wild, doesn’t it?
Inside the book
Title: Deja Vu at the Blue Diamond Saloon
Author: Kathy Holmes
Publisher: Screamie Birds Studios
Pages: 249
Genre: Psychological Suspense
Author: Kathy Holmes
Publisher: Screamie Birds Studios
Pages: 249
Genre: Psychological Suspense
After a whirlwind courtship followed by a proposal, Nikki panics and jumps on the nearest cruise ship to Mexico. Realizing she must face her fears rather than run from them, she returns home and accepts Mike’s proposal. Life picks up even more speed with Mike’s plans and Nikki panics once again, imagining that everything Mike does mirrors her ex-husband Jeff. Attempting to sort out what’s real and what’s not, Nikki begins to question everything, including her sanity when everything with Mike feels like déjà vu.
Amazon → https://amzn.to/32vYGZV
Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/33yNop4
meet the author
Kathy Holmes grew up in Southern California near Disneyland and the beach with a book in one hand and a transistor radio in the other. She began writing stories about family and wrote her first song with a childhood friend. They called themselves the “Screamie Birds.”
Books have always spurred her love for travel, especially to places she’s read about, and location is often a character in her books.
After an exciting career in Silicon Valley, she is now combining her love for both books and music at Screamie Birds Studios. You can find out more about her books and music at http://www.kathyholmes.net.