Special Guest Linda Bennett Pennell

I met Linda a year and a half ago, at the RWA conference in San Antonio. We were Soul Mate authors, and connected immediately. We attended a workshop on starting a group blog, which resonated with us. History Imagined is now celebrating its one-year anniversary. Caroline Warfield, our other partner on the group blog, was a guest here a month ago. Now it's Linda's turn. Please help me welcome her as she discusses her newest book, A Wild Rose Press release entitled Casablanca: Appointment At Dawn.

Tell me about your new release. 

Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn is set in 1943 during the weeks leading up to the First Allied Conference in Casablanca. It was at the conference that Roosevelt persuaded his Allied partners to set the policy of unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. During World War II, communications from both sides were intercepted and read. Even something as important as this conference could not be kept totally secret. The Germans knew that the conference was taking place, but the translator of the intercepted message made one critical error. He translated Casablanca, Spanish for white house, as White House, Washington, D.C. Imagine what might have happened if the error had been caught in time or had not been made in the first place! 

When I first decided to write a novel set in WWII, I began a love story between a ninety-day-wonder, as Army Air Corps pilots-in-training were known, and an army nurse. It was set in Hialeah, Florida at the now defunct training facility there. The story just wasn’t working for me. Another author, who had been a WWII pilot and with whom I was communicating, happened to mention a friend who had been stationed at Casablanca. The movie is one of my favs, so the leap in location was not difficult. My hero evolved into an OSS officer, while my nurse got transferred to the 8th Evacuation Hospital. Romance set among spies, double agents, and secret coded messages makes for much more exciting reading, no? 

Like so many authors of historical fiction, I like to play “what if” with events and facts. In writing Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn, that’s exactly what I did. By the way, I considered calling the book Unconditional Surrender. Might have made a nice double entendre, don’t you think? 

What one thing do you hope readers enjoy in the particular offering?

The setting is certainly exotic, but I hope that readers feel the excitement and danger of falling love during wartime against all common sense. I hope readers find Kurt and Sarah as irresistible and these lovers find one another. 

What do you have planned next? 

 My work-in-progress is set in Miami and Havana. It is told in dual historical and contemporary timelines, featuring Professor Liz Reams from Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel. This time, she is chasing information about the notorious Meyer Lansky, the "Mob’s Accountant" and a founding member of Murder Incorporated. It is romantic suspense. 

Blurb:

Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn

By Linda Bennett Pennell

Will seven days be enough time to save the Allied war effort and the girl he loves?

Casablanca, 1943: a viper’s nest of double agents and spies where OSS Officer Kurt Heinz finds his skill in covert operations pushed to the limit. Allied success in North Africa and the fate of the First Allied Conference—perhaps the outcome of the war—hang on Kurt’s next mission. The nature of his work makes relationships impossible. Nonetheless, he is increasingly torn between duty and the beautiful girl who desperately needs his protection and help.

Sarah Barrett, U.S. Army R.N., is finished with wartime romance. Determined to protect her recently broken heart, she throws all of her time and energy into caring for her patients, but when she is given a coded message by a mysterious dying civilian, she is sucked into a vortex of danger and intrigue that threatens her very survival. The one person who can help Sarah is Kurt, a man with too many secrets to be trusted.  

Buy links Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn:

http://amzn.com/B0121Q6S88  

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/casablanca-linda-bennett-pennell/1122378249?ean=2940150767867

Excerpt:

“I’m Heinz. What do you want?”

“Oh. It’s you.”

“Yeah?”

“From the restaurant on New Year’s Eve.”

Kurt was silent for a moment, then it came back to

him. “I remember. Sarah, right? You’re the girl who refused to dance

with me.”

A red flush crawled from her throat onto the apples

of her cheeks. “Yes. I’m sorry if I was rude.”

“I’ve been cut dead before. I got over it.”

The girl’s eyes glittered. “I’m sure you did. Are

you going to keep me standing here on the doorstep for

everyone to see?”

“Why? I’m not expecting company. Would it be a

problem?”

“It certainly might if the people who tore my

apartment apart followed me here.”

Kurt looked into her eyes with complete attention

for the first time since opening the door. Whatever had

happened to this girl, she looked terrified and angry.

Not a particularly good combination for the covert

activities he and Phelps were up to.

Kurt made a quick decision. He stepped back and

pulled the door wide while raising his voice. “You

better come inside and tell me why you think what

happened to your apartment has anything to do with

me.”

When they stepped into the living area, Phelps had

disappeared. Kurt gestured toward the sofa and the girl

sat down.

Propping himself on the sofa’s arm, he looked

down into her frightened eyes.

“Now tell me how I can help you, Miss, uh…”

“Barrett, Sarah. US Army. RN.”

“Well, Nurse Barrett, what can I do for you?”

The girl stuck her hand in her coat pocket and

whipped out a scrap of paper that she waved in his face.

“By telling me what’s on this paper and why it’s so

important that somebody took a knife to my furniture.”

BIO and Social Media:

I have been in love with the past for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history, whether shabby or majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose it comes from being part of a large extended family that spanned several generations. Long summer afternoons on my grandmother's porch or winter evenings gathered around her fireplace were filled with stories both entertaining and poignant. Of course being set in the American South, those stories were also peopled by some very interesting characters, some of whom have found their way into my work.

As for my venture in writing, it has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says to her or himself, "Let's pretend." 

I reside in the Houston area with one sweet husband and one adorable German Shorthaired Pointer who is quite certain she’s a little girl.

Favorite quote regarding my professional passion:  "History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up." Voltaire  

Books:

Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel from Soul Mate Publishing

Confederado do Norte from Soul Mate Publishing

When War Came Home from Real Cypress Press (my books only)

Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn from The Wild Rose Press

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaBennettPennell

Website:  http://www.lindapennell.com/

Twitter:  @LindaPennell

Buy link for Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel:  http://amzn.to/16qq3k5

Buy link for Confederado do Norte:  http://amzn.com/B00LMN5OMI

Buy ink for When War Came Home: http://amzn.com/B010RXNZRO

Buy link for Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn: http://amzn.com/B0121Q6S88