A Vegas cocktail waitress. An Indian herbalist. A British chemistry professor. An Italian-American widow. Four unique women with one thing in common: each is haunted by a tragedy from her past.
Cynthia, Rohini, Jane, and Angela meet on a food blogging site and bond over recipes. They decide on impulse to open The Secret Spice, an elegant café on the magnificent ocean liner, the RMS Queen Mary, currently a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. Rich in history and tales of supernatural occurrences, the ship hides her own dark secrets.
The women are surrounded by ghosts long before they step aboard, but once they do, nothing is quite what it seems. Not the people they meet, not their brooding chef's mystic recipes, and not the Queen Mary herself. Yet the spirits they encounter help them discover that there's always a chance to live, as long as one is alive.
A mother desperate to save her twin sons, a war veteran in torment, a beautiful young psychic with a terrible secret, a powerful magician with a shattered soul, and a Queen steeped in history and glory. These extraordinary beings cross paths and set off a remarkable chain of events.
Overcome by despair after a trauma when she was sixteen, Sarita Taylor has spent the past ten years isolated and lonely aboard her beloved RMS Queen Mary. Fearful of outsiders, she dedicates her time to managing The Secret Spice Café, now an award-winning restaurant. Until Luca Miceli, a man with a dark past, steps on board.
Patricia V. Davis deftly spins past and present, mystery and magic, into a potent story of passionate longing and family tragedy all at once. Spells and Oregano is a compelling tale of atonement, devotion, and undying love, set aboard one of the world's most magnificent, haunted ships.
Dare to Believe in Your Power...
A long-lost grandmother. A stay-at-home mom. A comic book fan. A five-year-old girl with a star-shaped birthmark. And nine more.
The cast is bigger, the stakes are higher. When Sarita's grandmother, a Vodou priestess, foresees a terrible evil, Cynthia, Jane, Angela, and Rohini reunite on a heart-rending mission to save all that's precious to them, including the iconic ship, the RMS Queen Mary. They cannot do it alone--the priestess tells them there must be thirteen on the night of the thirteenth moon. in this life-or-death pursuit. Yet, can she be trusted?
Spiced with history and the supernatural, Demons, Well-Seasoned takes us from 1930s Glasgow to New Orleans and Harlem in the 1950s, to present-day southern California, and back again, on a metaphysical voyage that is both exhilarating and poignant. But before you embark upon this final sail with the denizens of The Secret Spice, be warned: expect to lose sleep, and keep tissues at hand. These valiant characters might just stay with you long after their story comes to a close.
Who doesn’t like a delicious new recipe? And if those recipes are part and parcel of a novel, all the better!
The Secret Spice Café is a fictitious restaurant that’s housed aboard a real-life ship, the RMS Queen Mary. I visited this ship, which is now a hotel, museum, and fabulous eating/reception spot in Long Beach, California, for the first time in 2007, and was immediately struck by its beauty and history. But after a strange incident, for which I still have no explanation (and which you can hear me talk about here), I was more than intrigued. I was inspired to write three novels set aboard, and those three novels are all about four women who meet on a food blogging site, bond over recipes and decide on impulse to open a restaurant together when space becomes available to rent aboard the ship.
The women have only been communicating online, and they’re all from different spots on the planet: In New York, Angela, the pastry chef, in Newcastle, England, Jane, the chemistry professor, in India, Rohini, the herbalist, and in Las Vegas, Cynthia, the cocktail waitress. They have different backgrounds, too, and thus, cook different foods. Oh—did I mention they each carry around a secret which they do not share with the others? When they climb aboard the ship, meeting each other in person for the first time, they carry lots of baggage with them, of the spiritual kind.
Figurative ghosts. And they are about to encounter some genuine ghosts who meddle in their lives, including one very bossy one in their kitchen.
So, dealing with a new career, a new group of business partners who all have their individual quirks and foibles, a haunted ship, several secrets, one or two mysteries, and a Queen in the kitchen. Add to all that a delicious dish invented by their sexy new chef that may (or may not) have some … hmm … shall we say… ‘unique’ properties, and you have a recipe for lots of mayhem and fun.
The dish is called Shrimp Rohini, and whether or not it’s magickal, it is certainly delicious. The recipe was created by author and real-life chef, Carmen Shenk. Here is the link to her wonderful dish. https://carmenshenk.com/2016/09/20/shrimp-rohini/
~Try an Excerpt!~Unconcerned with what her business partners were up to, Rohini was giggling with excitement. Hugging herself, she whirled in circles, then flung her arms up over her head and collapsed back in dizzy elation onto the enormous bed in the glorious stateroom. Everything was glorious. She was here. This was her room. The Secret Spice was, in part, her restaurant.
Hers.
And when she’d first seen the Queen from the back seat of Cynthia’s preposterous little car, she knew she was headed to exactly where she should be. She couldn’t stop smiling, until, abruptly, a lump formed in her throat and her eyes misted with tears.
“I made it, Zahir,” she whispered. “I made it.”
She sobered as she thought of him, of all he’d done for her, and all that she might still need to do on her own.
But that wasn’t for today. Today was for celebration and thankfulness. Getting up from the bed, she opened her case, pulled out all the little plastic sacks of spices and herbs she’d packed, and sighed with relief. Not a one had opened or torn. Even so, she could smell their pungent bouquet right through the protective wrappings. Rauvolfia, Serpentina, Jaiphal, Javitri, Khus Khus, Ashwagandha and more — why did cinnamon always smell the strongest? There were dozens of varieties that she’d stuffed inside shirt sleeves and trouser legs and white cotton gym socks, just like a drug dealer might hide a stash. The TSA had missed them completely. They’d even affixed a sticker to the top of her bag: “Checked by Homeland Security.”
PATRICIA V. DAVIS's debut novel series, THE SECRET SPICE CAFE, is comprised of three books: COOKING FOR GHOSTS (2016) SPELLS AND OREGANO (2017) and DEMONS, WELL-SEASONED. (2019) The audio books will be released in 2020 by Tantor Media, and narrated by Ann Marie Gideon. Patricia lives with her husband, who is both a poker player and a rice farmer, so she divides her time between southern Nevada and northern California.
I love all of the covers.
ReplyDeleteThank you, kindly! I love them too. The interiors are also special, with graphic designs taken from the ship, the Queen Mary.
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking time to share your book with us and it's always a pleasure in our family to learn about a new one.
ReplyDeleteA lovely thing to hear, that you are a family of readers!
DeleteDo you have any ideas for a follow up book?
ReplyDeleteHi, Bernie, this series is complete, but I'm working on another standalone novel. Thanks for asking!
DeleteThanks for sharing the great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for everyone's interest in my novels, and an ex-special thanks to Andra Lyn and Goddess Fish for posting and promoting!
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