Kindle Daily Deal, Paris, and... Surgery?!

It's been a wild few weeks

Dear Friends,

I hope you’re having a great holiday season. Things around here have been a little crazy since October. Before I get into that, let me share some book news: my bestselling standalone Her Last Breath is a Kindle Daily Deal TODAY! If you’re reading this newsletter, odds are that you’ve already read this book, but in case you haven’t, you can snap it up for $2.49 if you move fast. Or, in the holiday spirit, send it to a friend!

My first four novels are also on sale right now, and that deal will be available throughout December. The three novels of the Lily Moore series — The Damage Done, The Next One to Fall, and Evil in All Its Disguises — are available on Kindle for $2.99 each. My standalone Blood Always Tells is also priced at $2.99 (that last one is crime fiction for fans of Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism. Trust me on this).

In other news… well, it’s been a mix. When I visited Scotland a few years back, one of the local legends I heard was about an 18th-century rogue (possibly a retired pirate?) with a fierce reputation, though he was apparently a romantic at heart. As the story went, he was approached by a young man who was desperate to impress a local beauty. The young swain didn’t want to duel, but he asked the rogue if he could draw a drop of blood from him to impress his lady friend.

The rogue found this charming. He drew his own sword and made a teensy cut in his hand, just enough to draw blood.

Then he went on to die a few weeks later of a bacterial infection from that same cut.

This story has been on my mind lately because I got an infection in my hand while traveling in Paris, and it took a nasty turn. I promise, no swords were involved — the culprits were likely super-dry airplane air and my overuse of hand sanitizer. In any case, I ended up needing surgery. Since then, I’ve been on three different antibiotics. All this over a cut that is invisible to the human eye!

Infection aside, I was incredibly lucky to spend a week in Paris. I ate far too many delicious pastries (the gluten-free patisseries in Paris are next level, and I wrote about two of my favorites on the Gluten-Free Guidebook). I also spent a lot of time studying glorious art and architecture, and taking notes for... well, it’s too early to say.

I did the standard touristy things — strolling along the Seine and seeing the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay — but some of the best moments were a little off the beaten path. One of my favorite exhibits was at the Petit Palais, a museum Rick Steves writes off as second-rate. (I’m normally a Steves fan, but he’s dead wrong on this front.) Its permanent collection includes several paintings by the incredible Gustave Doré (a prolific illustrator but not a prolific painter) and a room devoted to the pre-Raphaelites. The “We Are Here” exhibit of street art, featuring artists such as Stuart Fairey and INTI, was stunning.

Wherever you are, I’m wishing you and yours a beautiful holiday season,

Hilary

PS Bonus video of my favorite INTI painting at the Petit Palais, because… WOW.