Secrets and Lies

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My name is Miriam Leonard. 

At least that’s what I’ve told people for years, and I’ve worked very hard at keeping my origins a secret.  That’s why when my past, in the form of Eamon MacDougal, came looking for me, I was terrified they would try to pull me back in or, worse yet, harm my daughter.  “They” being the clan of travelers into which I was born.  

My birth name was Morag and my family was an extended clan of travelers, gypsies if you will.  My father was the leader of our group and he ruled with an iron hand.  In retrospect, I realize he wasn’t evil, he was just a man stuck in another century, speaking a dialect of Scottish Gaelic and constantly leading us back and forth over the borders of the United States and Canada.  Every few years, we’d return to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, that’s where our roots lay, but truly we had no real home. 

When I was very young I fell in love.  My father however had other ideas.  When I learned I could not marry the love of my life, but would be forced to marry a man my father had chosen, I was devastated.  What choice did I have?  My lover and I made a plan to run away, but the Fates intervened.  The man I had given my heart to never arrived.  I found myself alone, starving and cold in the woods while I waited for someone who would never come. 

It’s a wonder I survived.  It was only thanks to the kindness of the man who later became my husband that I was able to craft a life, a life that appears normal to everyone, but one which I know is a lie.  

When I discovered that the clan had arrived in Snowflake, Vermont, I was so frightened.  Frightened that all my secrets would be aired in the light of day, that I would be under threat, that “they” would exact punishment.  

The most frightening thought of all was that they might try to harm my beautiful daughter, the person I love more than anyone in the entire world. 

Have you ever had to hide?  Ever had to assume another identity?  Or been terrified that your past would be found out and your present be endangered?  

You can read all about my secrets in A Roux of Revenge, the third book in the Soup Lovers' Mystery Series.  I hope you will . . . and then perhaps you can understand why I did what I did.  

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Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of the Soup Lovers' Mystery Series from Berkley Prime Crime.  A Spoonful of Murder, A Broth of Betrayal and A Roux of Revenge are set in the imaginary village of Snowflake, Vermont.  The fourth book in the series, Ladle to the Grave, will be released in April 2015. You can visit Connie at her website and blog, Facebook and Twitter @SnowflakeVT