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Dear Reader,
Author Ingrid Thoft's interest in the PI life and her desire to create a believable PI character led her to the certificate program in private investigation at the University of Washington. Loyalty is Ingrid's first novel, and she is today's guest columnist. Please welcome her to the book club. When you send an email you'll also be entered in the giveaway. Ms. Thoft has five Advanced Reading Copies of her upcoming thriller, Loyalty for readers. Be the first to read her book. Email: [email protected]
Welcome author Ingrid Thoft...
Loyalty takes many forms--from the military directive to "leave no man behind" to Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man." But loyalty also plays a role in our everyday lives, our routines and habits. Only after many years of grocery shopping for my own family did I question my choice to always buy thin spaghetti. Every shopping trip I bypassed the regular, more substantial spaghetti for its thinner cousin. Did I really prefer the delicate strands? No, it turns out. I'm a woman who likes my spaghetti to have a bit more heft, but I'd been raised in a household where thin spaghetti was the norm--the only explanation for my loyalty to one kind over the other.
Blind loyalty to a cause, a person, a preference may not be wise, but loyalty can also equal tradition and creates ties that bind across families and cultures. An apple pie in the Thoft household--most likely any Thoft household across the globe--won't feature a thick syrup and a top crust. It will be Scandinavian in its process and presentation, a recipe and an allegiance that connects me with my family, both near and far. Sticking to a family recipe or pasta preference is harmless, but it can be illuminating to look at your life and think about the allegiances that you maintain, if only because that's the way it's always been.
Some loyalties are practically encoded into our DNA. A few years ago, my husband and I were on the island of Oahu, waiting in a long line for an overdue lunch. A young man stepped in front of us, seemingly oblivious to the hungry diners around him. When he realized his mistake and turned to apologize to us, I saw the bright red "B" emblazoned on his baseball cap. He was sorry; I told him it was no big deal. After all, he wasn't a Yankees' fan! I don't even watch baseball, but 5,000 miles from my birthplace, I shared a point of intersection--a sense of team loyalty--with this young man. It prompted me to view his behavior as mere cluelessness, not rudeness, a context I was happy to accept in light of our shared Red Sox.
My publisher is offering five ARCs of my upcoming thriller, LOYALTY, for giveaway. Please email me at [email protected] and tell me about the loyalties and allegiances in your life that you've questioned and changed. What loyalties are encoded in your DNA? Don't forget to include your US mailing address!
--Ingrid Thoft
Email: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE PURPLE CLOUD by M. P. Shiel. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May2013Classics
AUTHORBUZZ: SUNDAY GIRL (Fantasy) by Kalliope Lee
Full moon night in Seoul. Victim of a brutal crime, beautiful, mentally troubled Jang-Mee dissociates from her body and becomes a channel for an ancestral ghost who hints at historical secrets. Seeking the ghost again, Jang-Mee becomes addicted to dangerous situations that bring her to the edge.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SUNDAY GIRL to read more and to email author Kalliope Lee, you'll get a reply.
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