Hi! I’m Selina Kray, and this is the third stop on the blog tour celebrating the release of Stoker & Bash: The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree. A huge thanks to everyone at Love Bytes for hosting me today!

One of the questions writers of M/M often get is, “Why do you write about men?” In the year of the Women’s Movement, where it is more important than ever that creators who identify as women/queer/non-binary are given the chance to tell the stories that move and inspire them, I took a moment to ask myself the same question.

Why do I, as a writer, gravitate towards male/male romance? Am I guilty of populating my romances with too many male secondary characters? How can I write the stories I have inside me of me while showcasing a cast of diverse, complicated women?

My answers was to write a mystery where the major subplot involves two women and all the suspects are women. (Hiero and Tim are still doing their courtship dance, never fear.)

When I was first plotting the Stoker & Bash series, I had the idea that one of the ways I could give each instalment a strong emotional element was to spotlight one of the members of the Berkeley Square family. A reader favorite from the first book was Callie, Hiero’s ward and the real detective on their team, so it was a natural fit for her to be the spotlight character in The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.
I paired her not with her love interest, Han, but with a new character, Shahida Kala, who serves as a companion to Callie’s infirm mother. Callie holds, let’s just say, a wee bit of resentment towards Shahida for how close she’s become to her charge. Forced together when Stoker & Bash need someone to join the all-lady ranks of the Daughters of Eden, Callie and Shahida go undercover to hunt down a murderer. That is, if they don’t kill each other first.

Callie and Shahida are only two of the many, many women with righteous, mysterious, or nefarious motives in Stoker & Bash: The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree. I hope I’ve done them all justice.

 

When will She open Rebecca Northcote’s box?

Finding lost poodles and retrieving stolen baubles is not how DI Tim Stoker envisioned his partnership with his lover, Hieronymus Bash. So when the police commissioner’s son goes missing, he’s determined to help, no matter what secrets he has to keep, or from whom.


When a family member is kidnapped, Hiero moves heaven and earth to rescue them. Even if that means infiltrating the Daughters of Eden, a cult of wealthy widows devoted to the teachings of Rebecca Northcote and the mysterious contents of her box. The Daughters’ goodwill toward London’s fallen women has given them a saintly reputation, but Hiero has a nose for sniffing out a fraud. He will need to draw on some divine inspiration to rattle the pious Daughters.

Like weeds gnarling the roots of Eden’s fabled tree, Tim and Hiero’s cases intertwine. Serpents, secrets, and echoes from Hiero’s past lurk behind every branch. Giving in to temptation could bind them closer together—or sever their partnership forever. 

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