Spotlight & Giveaway: Maid of Dishonor by Nancy Robards Thompson

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Nancy Robards Thompson to HJ!

Hi Nancy and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Maid of Dishonor!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

When the inaugural event at Gracewood Hall – the exclusive but highly anticipated wedding of
an A-List social media influencer – is preempted by murder, mother-daughter amateur sleuths
Maddie and Jenna Bell set out to discover who killed the maid of honor and dispel the growing
rumors that Gracewood Hall is cursed.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

 This line happens as Maddie and Jenna are setting up the “murder board” (a board that lists the
suspects and their motives and opportunities). I think it shows Gigi’s optimistic nature. Gigi’s eyes sparkle. “Is this how you plot those mystery books you write?” “I wish this was a story plot,” Mom answers.

What inspired this book?

The history of the Biltmore estate inspired Gracewood Hall, the storied mansion in the book.
Maddie Bell’s corgi, Agatha Christie (Aggie), is inspired by my corgi Luna. Hemlock’s downtown shopping district was inspired by Park Avenue in Winter Park, Florida. Hemlock as a whole was inspired by Brevard, North Carolina. The overall concept of mother-daughter amateur sleuths was inspired by my love of the Gilmore Girls television series.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

MAID OF DISHONOR has three protagonists:

Madeline (Maddie) Bell owns Blissful Beginnings Bridal Boutique. In addition to running her
business, about a decade ago, she made the decision to move from reading cozy mysteries to
writing them. That’s when her Aubrey Christensen Mysteries were born. Her love of solving
mysteries isn’t simply confined to the page, and she is often compelled to get involved in solving
the crimes that happen in her hometown, Hemlock, North Carolina. Maddie is in her mid-forties.
She’s a widow – her late husband Frank was a Navy pilot who died in the line of duty. Now she
is engaged to Hemlock’s chief of police, Jackson Bradley. Originally, Jack served as her expert
source for her mysteries, but over time the two fell in love.

Jenna Bell is Maddie’s daughter. She owns Champagne Wedding and Event Designs. Now in
her mid-twenties, Jenna moved back to Hemlock a year after graduating from college to open her
event planning business and work in tandem with her mother in the bridal business.

Gloria “Gigi” Phillips is Maddie’s mother and Jenna’s grandmother. During the first three
Wedding Bell books, Gigi lived in California (and was not in the books), but after the death of
her fourth husband, she decided to move back to Hemlock, NC, to be closer to Maddie and
Jenna. For the record, all of Gigi’s husbands died of natural causes. There’s nothing sinister afoot
where she’s concerned. Despite outliving four husbands, Gigi is still in love with the idea of
love. Now, living in Hemlock, this hopeless romantic, has joined her daughter and granddaughter
in the wedding business. Since Maddie owns the bridal boutique and Jenna plans the weddings…
the only thing missing in their bridal trifecta is a fabulous venue with a storied history. Gigi uses
the money from the sale of her Malibu beachfront home to buy and renovate Gracewood Hall, a
local mansion with a reputation for being cursed. The curse rumors don’t bother Gigi because
she believes love can conquer all.

As you wrote your protagonists was there anything about them that surprised you? How
did you “get to know” your main characters?
Yes! In this book, what surprised me was that Maddie started to develop cold feet about marrying
Jackson.

I have given a lot of thought to all the characters in the book. Since this is the fourth book in the
series, I’ve had some time to develop the characters. Often when I’m creating a new character, I
will start with a visual image – often a celebrity lookalike (in Gigi’s case, I pictured Betty White)
and then figure out who they are – what are their likes and dislikes, how would they react in
everyday situations, etc. Once I have the basics down, the characters come to life.

What was your favorite scene to write?

As I mentioned earlier, in this book, Maddie is engaged to Jackson Bradley, Hemlock’s chief of
police, and in MAID OF DISHONOR she’s getting cold feet about going through with the
wedding. At the same time, Jenna is anticipating that her boyfriend, Ian, is ready to take their
relationship to the next level, but she is taken aback when he delivers some unexpected news (it’s
not a breakup as much as a setback, but I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to
spoil it).

What I love about this scene is that it shows the closeness of the three generations of women.
Here’s a short snippet:

“Oh, dear. I’m sorry, lovey.” Gigi pulls me into a hug. When she lets loose, she says, “I hate it when my girls are sad. I know you two are close, but it’s rather uncanny that you would coordinate your man trouble schedule. I think this calls for something drastic. While you were in Asheville today, I replenished our stash of Ben & Jerry’s. Maybe I was having a premonition? Cherry Garcia, anyone?”

Gigi doesn’t even bother with bowls. She comes back with three pints and three spoons and
distributes them.

What was the most difficult scene to write?

The most difficult scene to write was one where Maddie and Jenna pay a visit to a private
investigator who had been hired to trail Kate Asher (Jenna’s college friend and the victim who
had been hired to be the maid-of honor in influencer London Brinks’s wedding). At this point in
the story, he is one of their chief suspects and I needed to make sure they didn’t seem foolish for
potentially putting themselves in danger.

At first, they pretend like they’ve come to his office to hire him, but soon he catches on and calls
their bluff. Here’s part of that scene (it’s in Jenna’s point of view):

“You wanna cut to the chase and tell me why you’re really here, ladies?” (Paulson says)
When I don’t answer, he asks, “London Brinks wouldn’t happen to be a friend of yours, would
she?”

“How do you know London?” Mom asks.
Paulson clicks the pen he used to write down his exorbitant fees. “Isn’t it her life’s mission to
make sure everyone knows her? Look, the police have already been here. I told them everything
I know. Why are you here?”
I raise my chin and look him in the eyes. “Kate was my friend. It seems like the police aren’t
doing enough to find her killer.”
Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click.
“So, y’all are in the investigative business looking into your friend’s death?” he asks.
“You might say that.” I sound much braver than I feel.
Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click.
“Yeah, I also might say that you’re poking your nose into murder. Most murderers don’t like it
when someone does that. If they’ve killed once, they don’t have much to lose by killing again.”
Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click.
Goose bumps break out all over my body. Did Paulson kill Kate? Maybe he and Tilly were in it
together.

He tosses the pen onto the desk with a flick of his wrist. “Look, I’m just sayin’ this isn’t a good
hobby for a couple of nice ladies like you and your friend London. That Who Killed Kate stunt of
hers has gone viral. Even the press is picking it up. You might want to tell her she’d better watch
herself.”
“Are you threatening her?” Mom asks.
“On the contrary, I am warning her.”

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

I’d written dozens of romances and women’s fiction novels before deciding to write a cozy
mystery series. So the genre was a departure for me, but in many ways mystery fits my voice
better. I have such fun writing mysteries. It’s like solving a puzzle.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

In the Wedding Bell Mysteries, “family” is front and center. I hope readers will enjoy the close
relationship Maddie, Jenna, and Gigi enjoy. They always look out for each other. There’s also a
deep sense of justice in the series. The books aren’t just about the murder, but more about
righting a wrong and bringing the perpetrator to justice.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Right now, I’m working on a book in Harlequin’s Fortune’s of Texas series. It will be out in
October 2025. I’m also in the process of updating and re-releasing almost two dozen books in
my backlist. The first one THE LOST PRINCESS OF ST. MICHEL – An Enchanting Royal
Romance (St. Michel Series Book 1) is up for pre-order now and will be available on October 3,
2024.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An ebook copy of Maid of Dishonor + one additional Tule ebook of the winner’s choice

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Excerpt from Maid of Dishonor:

“The shriek reverberates through the corridors of Gracewood Hall like a banshee portending death. I drop the ringbearer’s pillow, which I’m sewing, and sprint toward the caterwauling.
“Why are you not wearing the nail polish I asked you to get, Betsy?” Bride-to-be and social media influencer London Brinks screams at her maid of honor.
Betsy stares at her glossy, deep green nails for a moment before she opens her mouth to answer, but London steamrolls over her.
“Did I or did I not explicitly tell you to buy Les Mains Hermes nail enamel in Vert Egyptien?”
London’s Southern accent murders the French words and Betsy smirks at her defiantly.
My daughter Jenna stands between them, arms bent at the elbows, palms out, like a boxing referee keeping the fighters apart. She glances at me as I skid to a stop in the doorway.
“London,” Jenna says. “Even if it’s not Hermes, the nail polish Betsy is wearing will look lovely with her dress.”
That is if one likes the color green.
London’s face turns a cartoonish shade of deep red. I’m starting to worry that her head might explode when my mother, Gloria Phillips—everyone calls her[…]”

Excerpt From
Maid of Dishonor
Nancy Robards Thompson
This material may be protected by copyright.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Instead of walking down the aisle, the bride is suspected of murder….

Maddie Bell’s life and career have hit peak stride. She’s sold her cozy mystery series and is contracted for two more books; she’s engaged to Hemlock’s chief of police; and her mother has purchased and restored the beautiful historic mansion, Gracewood Hall, in their hometown of Hemlock, North Carolina. Three generations—Gigi, Maddie, and Jenna–are now happily engaged in the wedding and special event business.

But their highly scrutinized inaugural event—the wedding of an A-List social media influencer—becomes a murder scene before the rehearsal dinner. Kate Archer, the professional bridesmaid Jenna hired, is found bludgeoned by a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, not only threatening their new business, but also sending Jenna into a tailspin of guilt. She knew Kate from college and had begged her to fill in as the maid of honor.

Even as the police warn Maddie not to interfere with the investigation, mother and daughter set out to discover who killed Kate and dispel the growing rumors that Gracewood Hall is cursed.

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Meet the Author:

Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling Author Nancy Robards Thompson has worked as a newspaper reporter, television show stand-in, production and casting assistant for movies, and in fashion and public relations. She started writing fiction seriously in 1997. Five years and four completed manuscripts later, she won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart award for unpublished writers and sold her first book the following year. Since then, Nancy has sold more than 50 books and found her calling doing what she loves most – writing mysteries, romance, and women’s fiction full-time.
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