Twelve Pairs of Gloves

by Diana Mccollum

As I was perusing information on Leap Year, I came across some really interesting tidbits of information about this extra calendar day.

Leap Day is in February because February used to be the last month of the year.

According to an old 5th century Irish legend, St. Bridget petitioned St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men every four years. Thus balancing the traditional roles of men and women much like Leap Day balances the traditional calendar year.

In America we have Sadie Hawkins day dances where the girl asks the guy to be her date, and it is generally celebrated in Leap Year. 

In Scotland it is considered bad luck to be born on Leap Day. 1288 Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose to men during Leap Year. Any man who declined had to pay a fine, which could be anything from a kiss to a new silk dress. 

In Denmark the old Leap Year tradition goes, if the woman proposes and the gent declines he owes her twelve pairs of gloves. One pair for each month to hide the fact she is not wearing an engagement ring.

Greece considers it unlucky to marry in a Leap Year, and especially on Leap Day.

The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies is an organization for persons born on Leap Day. 

According to the Guinness Book of Records, there is a family who produced three consecutive generations born on February 29 and there are different records of children in the same families all born on February 29th..

As a writer, I can see many, many story ideas embedded in these fun facts. I personally don’t know anyone born on February 29th. I have a friend whose husband and their first daughter were both born on Valentine's Day.

Do you know anyone with a birthday on February 29th?  Or a family whose birthdays fall on the same day?

Diamonds 'Til Death Do Us Part

by Madelle Morgan

When diamond smuggling leads to murder in the Land of the Midnight Sun, diamonds aren’t geologist Petra Paris’ best friend. Is her life worth a fortune in diamonds?

My romantic thriller Diamond Hunter is set in the subarctic Canadian tundra in July. People’s image of the Arctic is of an icy winter wasteland. However, the short summer is spectacular. The “Barren lands” of central Northwest Territories aren’t that barren. They team with wildlife. There are no trees, but brush and tiny flowers covering the rocky terrain create a tapestry of color.

The diamond mine workers in my novel go fishing in their free time. Since the summer sun never sets, that could be at midnight.

Finding the Diamonds

The subarctic is vast, covering more territory than many European countries. Finding rock containing diamonds can be a geologist’s life work. Many try but very few strike it rich.

When a geologist discovers garnets, she gets excited. That’s because diamonds may be close by. Garnets and diamonds are both formed by heat and pressure deep in the earth, and then pushed in molten rock (kimberlite) through a fissure to the surface.

Mining the Diamonds

Canada's diamond mines. Image source.

Canadian diamond mines are either surface mines, underground, or a combination. Diamond Hunter is set at an open-pit mine.

Massive trucks haul tons of broken rock to a processing plant. In the novel I describe how rough diamonds are separated from crushed rock and stored on site before being shipped out. Then a highly skilled diamond cutter cautiously cuts 57 facets and polishes a diamond to round, light-reflecting brilliance—a process that can take two weeks.

Canada’s diamond mines produce some of the highest quality, environmentally-friendly diamonds in the world. Many engaged couples choose a Canadian diamond over “blood diamonds” aka “conflict diamonds” produced in Africa.

Look for a Canadian diamond that is laser-engraved and comes with a certificate of origin.

Diamond Hunter, the Novel

Colorado geologist Petra Paris must clear her father of fraud charges by collecting fresh rock samples at an open-pit diamond mine in Canada’s far north.

Then someone tries to frame her with stolen uncut diamonds. Petra needs protection.

Local pilot Seth Cooper, an undercover cop with the RCMP Diamond Protection Unit, needs access to the mine complex. They strike a deal to have Seth pose as her boyfriend so he can overnight on site.

In their bedroom under the midnight sun, Petra fights magnetic desire to sample her bodyguard’s rock-hard body. The prospect of intimacy hot enough to heat up the Arctic is a deadly distraction. She needs to focus on her mission. Besides, Seth is commitment-phobic; his job put his ex-wife in danger.

With cops closing in, escape blocked and millions in stolen diamonds at stake, desperate smugglers ramp up to murder. The isolated mine site becomes a death trap. Seth must expose the villains before Petra becomes the next victim.

Available exclusively on Amazon. Free read in Kindle Unlimited.

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