Hi. I’m Marilyn Baron. I’m a public relations consultant and I write in a number of genres—from women’s fiction to historical romantic thrillers and romantic suspense to paranormal/fantasy and cozy mysteries. But no matter the genre, you can count on romance and a happy ending. My books come in all sizes, from short stories and anthologies to full-length novels. From eBooks to print and audio. I’ve even written a musical with my sister, Sharon Goldman, about Alzheimer’s, called Memory Lane, which was presented as a concert/ reading by Essential Theatre in Atlanta in 2019.
I’ve received writing awards in Single Title, Suspense Romance, Novel with Strong Romantic Elements and Paranormal/Fantasy Romance. I was also The Finalist in the 2017 Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) in the Romance Category for my novel, "Stumble Stones", and The Finalist for the 2018 GAYA Awards in the Romance category for my novel, "The Alibi." And I was a finalist in the 2023 Orange County Romance Writers Book Buyers Best contest in the Romantic Suspense Category for “The Case of the Missing Botticelli.”
I’m a member of Georgia Romance Writers and Atlanta Writers Club. I was past chair and am now a current member of the Roswell Reads steering committee (a one-city, one read program that has featured such authors as Rick Bragg, Ann Patchett, Delia Owens, Laura Morelli, Geraldine Brooks, William Kent Krueger and Charles Frazier) and serve on the Atlanta Authors Series Committee, which gives local authors the opportunity to share what they have written with library patrons. I’m a reviewer for The Book Review Crew, part of Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. I love to travel and often set books in places I’ve visited.
A Miami native, I graduated from The University of Florida with a degree in Journalism. I studied art history in Florence, Italy, for six months in my senior year. I love writing about stolen art and have set many of my book in Italy (Florence, Rome, Venice and Lake Como).
If you haven’t read any of my books, I hope you’ll give them a try. Where would you like to go? Bermuda? Austria? Berlin? Italy? Florida? North Carolina? Australia? Greece? Maine? Or to a cruise ship?
My latest novel, "The Case of the Forgotten Fragonard,” Book 3 in the Massimo Domingo Mystery series, was released March 22, 2023, by The Wild Rose Press. My short story, “Blame it on the Moon,” released by The Wild Rose Press on June 21, 2023, is my 30th work of fiction.
To find out more about what I write, visit my website at: https://www.marilynbaron.com/
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Title Under the Moon Gate
Author Marilyn Baron
Genre Historical Romantic Thriller
Publisher The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Book Blurb
Dashing sea captain Nathaniel Morgan sails into the life of prim and proper Bermuda heiress Patience Whitestone and threatens to expose her family secrets--ruinous secrets she wasn't aware of. The two are immediately at odds when Nathaniel moors his vessel in front of her estate and refuses to leave until he finds the cache of Swiss gold he's convinced was buried somewhere on the property during World War II. Can Patience save herself and her family's reputation when she finds herself reluctantly drawn to this determined "pirate"? Or will someone from the past make good on his threat to destroy them both? Their fate is inextricably linked to Nazi plots and to the beautiful moon gates of Bermuda in this compelling tale of love and intrigue.
Excerpt
Patience yanked open the thick Bermuda cedar door, ready to brush off the unwanted visitor. Instead, she experienced a shock of recognition when she stared at the man standing before her.
Taking a step back, she examined him cautiously. With long black hair pulled back by a stark white tie, stunning blue eyes, and a fabulous face that managed to look both sensitive and sensuous, he could easily pass for a dangerous pirate. Perhaps she was daydreaming or hallucinating. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night—or any night in the past month—and she had been reading a romance with a lusty pirate hero on the cover. Probably she still had
pirates on the brain.
Although the man at her door was in desperate need of a shave, he intrigued her. Her “pirate” was a tall, imposing presence in tight-fitting but ragged khakis, with muscles bulging out of a snug, sweatstained white T-shirt. Good Lord! was the first coherent thought that pierced her brain. She might have said it out loud had she been capable of speech. Her grandmother had said someone would come for her, but certainly she didn’t mean so soon and definitely not this brash pirate person. And what was he doing at her door, unannounced and unwelcome, on a Sunday afternoon, disturbing her peace and leaving her speechless? One look at this man and she was about to toss all thoughts of proper behavior out the window.
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Author Biography
Marilyn Baron writes in a variety of genres from women’s fiction to historical romantic thrillers and romantic suspense to paranormal/fantasy and cozy mysteries. She’s received writing awards in Single Title, Romantic Suspense, Novel with Strong Romantic Elements and Paranormal/Fantasy Romance. She was also The Finalist in the 2017 Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) in the Romance Category for her novel, Stumble Stones, and The Finalist for the 2018 GAYA Awards in the Romance category for her novel, The Alibi. And she was a finalist in the 2023 Orange County Romance Writers Book Buyers Best contest in the Romantic Suspense Category for her novel, “The Case of the Missing Botticelli.” Her latest, and 30th work of fiction, is a short story, Blame it on the Moon. A public relations consultant in Atlanta, Marilyn is past co-chair and current member of Roswell Reads (a one-city, one-read program) and serves on the Atlanta Authors Series Committee. To find out more about what Marilyn writes, visit her website at: www.marilynbaron.com/.
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Title Stumble Stones
Author Marilyn Baron
Genre Historical Romantic Thriller
Publisher The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Book Blurb
Hallelujah Weiss, writer for the steamy sudser As the Planet Spins, gets a second chance at love when she flees to Italy to get over her recent divorce, courtesy of her cheating ex-husband’s credit card. A woman scorned, Hallelujah has sworn off men and is determined to reinvent herself. The new Hallelujah is eager to live life on the edge, more like Polly, a character she writes and idolizes. Lonely Berlin hedge fund manager Alexander Stone, a number cruncher who puts his faith in numerical data, still believes in destiny, despite the fact his fiancée just dumped him. Always a man with a plan, Alexander did not plan on Hallelujah. After a chance encounter on a flight to Rome, the unlikely pair faces danger when they team up to return to their rightful owner a stash of WW II vintage jewels. The hidden diamonds hold the key to an unsolved mystery and a promise of love.
Excerpt
Life was better in Business Class, especially when your cheating ex-husband was paying for it. Hallelujah couldn’t wait until Lloyd got the bill—for the airline ticket, the set of top-of-the-line TUMI luggage, the fashionable, Italian-worthy wardrobe, a
two-week stay at a first-class hotel in Florence, an expensive day of pampering at the hotel spa, dinner in the city’s finest restaurant, and front row seats to the Il Volo concert. It’s not like Lloyd Evans couldn’t afford it. It would hardly make a dent in the bastard’s bank account.
Her short-term plan was to spend as much of Lloyd’s money as she could before his skanky secretary/fiancée Olivia Brewster got her greedy little hands on it. Polly would be proud of me. But she wasn’t Polly. Polly lived life on the wild side, and she had a vindictive streak. Hallie Evans was practical. She believed in playing it safe and paying her own way. But she deserved this final fling. She had scraped together the last of her savings, and she would use those funds when Lloyd’s credit card was tapped
out. Then she would go back to the single life and the single paycheck and try not to dwell on how much her ex had hurt and humiliated her. But right now, Polly
was in the pilot’s seat. And, from now on, Hallie was determined to live life on the edge, just like Polly.
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Title Sixth Sense
Author Marilyn Baron
Genre Romantic Suspense
Publisher The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Book Blurb
Reluctant psychic Katherine Crystal, dubbed "Crystal Ball Kate," is thrust into the national spotlight when she accurately predicts the death of a movie actor's young son in a private plane crash. Besieged by requests to use her powers to help others, she realizes why her parents had warned her never to let anyone know of her visions.
By-the-book Atlanta police detective Jack Hale harbors a deep-seated distrust of psychics and ignores Katherine's warnings when she calls to report her premonition. Jack is forced to partner with Kate, who uses her eerie sensitivity to evil to help him catch a serial killer in Sydney, Australia, but that's only the beginning of the story. Jack and Kate are drawn into the investigation of a mystery surrounding Kate's birth and find murder and romance among a secret society of psychics in the quaint seaside spiritualist community of Casa Spirito, Florida.
Excerpt
“The plane is going to crash!” a woman shouted. “You need to do something.”
Jack jolted forward, ready for action. A plane crash! Then his police training kicked in. Stay calm in a disaster.
“Could I get your name, please?” He reached across the desk and picked up a pad of yellow sticky notes.
“It’s Katherine Crystal. But my name isn’t important. Vince Rivers and his son are on a plane, and it’s going down.”
This call was getting stranger by the minute.
“The movie star Vince Rivers? Are they on a commercial airliner?”
“It’s his private plane. Vince Rivers is the pilot.”
“When is this crash going to happen? And where?”
“I don’t know when it’s going to crash, but soon, and somewhere in Georgia.”
“Can you be more specific about the location?”
Dead silence.
“Let me get this straight,” Jack stated. “You can’t predict when or where this crash will happen.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“How what works? Do you have inside information about this incident? Is the crash weather-related? Is it terrorism? On what facts are you basing this call?”
“I saw it in a vision.”
“I see.” Jack exhaled, rolled his shoulders, laid down his pen, and flexed his right hand. Another lunatic. Predictable. Atlanta was full of them, and Jack was already drowning in a reservoir of bad feelings about so-called psychics.
“Now you listen to me, Miss Crystal. I know your type. I’ve dealt with psycho-broads like you before.”
“I’m not a psycho.”
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BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/sixth-sense-a-psychic-crystal-mystery-book-1-by-marilyn-baron
Title The Case of the Missing Botticelli
Author Marilyn Baron
Genre Cozy Mystery
Publisher The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Book Blurb
In this cozy mystery, American art history major Hadley Evans joins an art detective agency in Florence, Italy, working for Massimo Domingo, once a major player, now the Inspector Clouseau of the art world.
Determined to save the flailing agency and prove her worth, Hadley and her sexy carabiniere boyfriend, Luca Ferrari, take on a mysterious client behind her boss's back. While hot on the trail of a missing masterpiece, they discover a hidden cache of stolen Nazi art in a Venetian villa and encounter a dangerous enemy with a link to an evil past.
Excerpt
Hadley wrote down the phone number and her jaw went slack when she heard and inscribed the rest of the message. “Tell him it’s about a missing Botticelli. It’s urgent.”
A shot of adrenaline coursed through Hadley’s veins. Sandro Botticelli. Her favorite artist in the whole world. Creator of the Italian masterpiece, Nascita di Venere, The Birth of Venus, the ancient Goddess of Love, dated circa 1484. She wasn’t aware a Botticelli painting was missing.
“Is there any additional information you can give me? The name of the painting? The provenance? Capito. I understand the need for utmost secrecy. We can set up a meeting and I’ll make sure Signore Domingo will be there.”
She jotted down some more notes. “Piazzale Michelangelo? At sunset?”
Hadley tilted her head and chewed on her bottom lip. That was a strange destination for a business meeting. Although it offered the most scenic view of the city, perched atop a hillside overlooking Florence, meeting at a park after dark was reminiscent of a murder scene in a film noir. Where the heroine, Hadley, would later be found, dead, her virtue compromised and her throat slit.
Was the female caller from a museum? A high-end gallery? An auction house? Was she an art or antiquities dealer or a wealthy private individual or was she representing a government agency? And, if so, which government? Enemy or ally? She would soon find out.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-case-of-the-missing-botticelli-marilyn-baron/1140380667?ean=9781509239702
Title The Saffron Conspiracy
Author Marilyn Baron
Genre Historical Romantic Thriller
Publisher The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb
Botanist Andreas Bauer, passionate about saffron, plans to reintroduce organic farming of the world's most expensive spice to a region of Austria now known for its wine. Meeting resistance from vintners, he does research in a local abbey and discovers a dark secret regarding a king's ransom gone astray hundreds of years before.
Heiress Savannah Sutherland is on her way to learn the wine business from her uncle, who owns one of the largest vineyards in the area. She has no idea she is expected to marry the heir of a neighboring estate to expand her uncle's empire. Sparks fly when Andreas sets eyes on Savannah, and he knows they're destined to be together. But their growing attraction is threatened by her uncle and by whoever orders a deadly attack on Andreas. Dark family secrets and a dangerous, centuries-old conspiracy cast deathly shadows over the love Andreas and Savannah share.
Excerpt
Andreas didn’t know what possessed him to look up from his copy of the Austrian daily, Neue Kronen Zeitung, and turn his head to glance through the dust motes of the smudged train window into the eerie morning light at the Bahnhof of St. Valentin. He was on his way from Melk Abbey to Dürnstein, a small town on the Danube River in the Wachau region of Lower Austria, a trip he’d made countless times, when he saw what he later referred to as “a vision.”
At that moment, bathed in filtered sunshine, the beautiful woman lit up the shadowed station like the subject in a Vermeer painting in which the artist had captured the light and her profile to perfection. Andreas did not have the soul of an artist. He tended to view the world in botanical terms. He compared his reaction to the way he felt when he saw his first tulip at the Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam—in full bloom, decked out in a myriad of colors, dripping with dew, bathed in sunshine. Now he knew how the frenetic buyers felt during the Tulip Craze in seventeenth-century Holland: He had to possess her. The breath caught in his throat. In that moment he knew his life was changed forever.
He certainly wasn’t in the habit of acting on whims, and he wasn’t given to spontaneity or flights of fancy. He didn’t believe in fate, and he didn’t have time for something as foolish and intangible as romance.
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