Favorite Movie and Book: Author M S Spencer-It's Romantic! It's Hilarious

 About Your Favorite Movie: 

Ninotchka (1939). From IMDb: “A stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.”

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Greta Garbo & Melvyn Douglas, it’s the only movie in which Garbo laughs. It’s romantic, but also hilarious. Filmed before WWII broke out, the Communists were still a fairly unknown quantity, and the greatest conflict was between the White Russians (pro-Tsar and mostly aristocrats) and the Red Russians. 

It portrays the new USSR accurately (censorship, fear, oppression) versus the free Europe but in such a lighthearted, human way that it manages to be heartwarming. It’s also close to my heart because at the end of the movie the comic relief trio of Russian envoys open a restaurant in Istanbul—a restaurant that still existed in the 1970s when I went there!

 

About the Book: 

Barnaby and Philo’s story begins with very bad chili and a dead body.

Barnaby is in St. Augustine, Florida, to teach a college seminar, and plans to use The Secret—a treasure hunt book—as a framework for his class. He enlists Philo Brice, owner of an antique map store, to aid him in seeking clues in the historic sites of the ancient city.

Together they face murderers, thieves, thugs, and fanatics, heightening their already strong attraction to each other. Can they solve the puzzle and unearth the treasure before the villains do? Philo and Barnaby pursue several twisting paths and false leads before arriving at a startling conclusion.

About the Author:

Librarian, anthropologist, Congressional aide, speechwriter—M. S. Spencer has traveled the

globe. She has published fifteen romantic suspense or murder mystery novels, with two more on the way. She has two fabulous grown children and an incredible granddaughter. She divides her time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and a tiny village in Maine.

Answer these questions:

Red, White or Blue? : All three (they go together so well!)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter? Spring in Florida; Fall in Maine

Cake or Pie? Me-oh-my, pie!

Coffee, Tea, or Champagne? Champagne for breakfast, lunch & dinner

Country music or Michael Buble? Country all the way; not sure who Buble is.

Pencil or Pen? Pen, even for crosswords. 

Find Hidden Gem: the Secret of St. Augustine at: books2read

Find M. S. Spencer at: Website