Vino 100, Santa Clarita's wine specialty store, promises to make the wine buying experience as enjoyable as the drinking.

Standing by that promise, co-owners Shari Frazier and Lil Lepore have invited local author Pam Ripling, writing as Anne Carter, to discuss and sign her new romantic mystery, "Piont Surrender" (Echelon Press, 288 pp., $12.99) from 7-9 p.m. on Nov. 14 at Highridge Crossing Center, 28112 Newhall Ranch Road in Valencia.

For more informaiton, call (661) 294-6886.

As part of Vino 100's monthly "Women On Wine (W.O.W.)", a girls' night out to take a break from their hectic schedules, Ripling will endeavor to explain why everyone needs both romance-and wine-in their lives!

Admission is $20 and includeswine, appetizers and fun. Reservations with credit card required.

Inspired by real-life Heceta Head in Oregon, "Point Surrender," complete with its resident ghosts and mysterious past, has emerged from Ripling's imagination and landed somewhere between San Francisco and Monterey, Calif.

Ripling won a coveted Golden Wings Award for her romantic suspense "A Hero's Promise" (Wings ePress, 4/2003).

"Point Surrender's synopsis: "Point Surrender's last keeper has been dead for more than 25 years. Will the journal he kept reveal why he died in the aged, decaying tower, and what happened to his missing family? Amy Winslow is bound and determined to find out; there are those who would just as soon she didn't."

The Romance Studio says "... an enjoyable and suspenseful read. Everyone has secrets ... Great pacing ... and a well-developed plot make this a great story for any romance reader who believes-just a little bit-in ghosts."

"...truly a wonderful read," writes Coffee Time Romance. "...ghosts...mystery...a truly heart-touching story-the suspense kept me hooked to the very last page."

Pam Ripling is the author of five published novels and a variety of fictional shorts. She is a contributing writer for the Valley Business News, and resides in Valencia, where she is also a PTA board member and married mother of three.

She is currently working on another paranormal romantic suspense and a young adult mystery. Visit Pam Ripling/Anne Carter and read excerpts at her Web site www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.