I kill people for fun. In books.
When Professor Molly attends Mahina State University’s exclusive donor dinner, she doesn’t expect to share a table with the insufferable Stephen Park. Turns out it’s one thing to invite your toxic ex-boyfriend to drop dead…it’s quite another when he takes you up on it.
Get The Perfect Body for 99 cents today.
It might be a murder from decades ago, but it still has its claws in the present…and someone seems determined to drag Anna into it.
It’s way too soon to be returning to a haunted mansion, and Anna’s favorite cowboy ghost does his best to talk her out of it. But the opportunity to pick from the beautiful antiques left to her in a Crocker resident’s will is just too tempting for Anna and Pratt to pass up. So they’re going in…
They’re prepared to deal with a few cold spots. Maybe the occasional flickering light. But what Anna and the boys weren’t counting on was bumping up against the ghost of Josiah Bumgartner, a contemporary of Joss’ from the 1800s. And when Josiah claims the old woman who lived in the house hid his bones around the place, Anna agrees to help him find them. But something much darker is at work there. And, unfortunately for our happy little gang of antique hunters…Anna seems to have unwittingly stepped right into the middle of it.
Joss, welcome to Island Confidential. Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Howdy, darlin’! I’m Joss from the Yesterday’s paranormal historical mysteries. I died in the 1800s and got stuck in the building where Anna Yesterday has her store, Yesterday’s Antiques. I’m a ghost. Not one o’ them wrathy varmints. I’m Anna’s guardian spirit. It’s my job ta protect Miss Anna. It’s unsettlin’ how hard that is to do!
Of all the characters in the book, living or dead, which is the one you get along with the best?
Miss Anna of course. She’s a right pretty gal and sweet as penny candy. But she’s just too trustin’ you ask me. She gives that varmint Pratt too much room to maneuver and it’s all I can do ta keep her safe from his o’re friendly ways.
It sounds like you really admire Miss Anna. Is there anyone you don’t hold in such high esteem?
I mentioned the Puke right?
Who?
That’s what I call a varmint from Missoura. Him and me are like oil and water…and he’s the oil. Black and odiferous. It’s unfortunate Miss Anna cottons to the varmint.
Ah. You’re talking about Pratt.
I’m doin’ my best ta open her eyes but I ain’t had much success so far.
No, it doesn’t sound like you have. So just between you and me: What do you really think of your author?
Miss Sam’s a hoot. She’s always puttin’ us in impossible spots and then sittin’ back ta watch us wriggle out of ’em. But the worst o’ all was when Sam stuck me in that savagerous critter and left me there for half a book. I’m still pickin’ fur from my teeth and I ain’t happy about it.
That sounds like quite an adventure! What’s next for you?
After that last time in the haunted mansion, I told Miss Anna she needed ta take some time to get her chirk back. But then that old lady died and left her a house full o’ antiques. Now if ya don’t know nothin’ else about Miss Anna, know this. That gal’s got a hankerin’ for antiques. She can’t say no to t’em. So back we go to another mansion filled with spirits. Some of the critters ain’t happy we’re there. I reckon that’s because o’ the murder that happened there all those years ago. Then there’s Josiah Bumgartner, a hoister from back in my day. I’m tellin’ ya, nothin’ good’s gonna come from him bein’ involved. I’m gonna have my hands full keeping Miss Anna safe on this one.
Let’s face it, nobody really cares that Sam Cheever is a USA Today Bestselling Author. Nobody cares that she’s written a whole ton of fun and snappy books. Let’s face it, the most interesting thing about Sam is the fact that she’s a dogaholic. Yeah, there’s no Dogaholic’s Anonymous chapter that can help her. Believe me, she’s looked. So Sam deals with her problem the best way she knows how. She digs into the mountains of personal experiences (mostly involving dog poo) to write GREAT dog characters.
Oh, and there are some people in her books too. She’s also pretty good at those.
Want to ask Sam about her dogs…erm…books? You can connect with her at one of the following places. Just don’t ask her why she has 15 dogs. Nobody in the whole wide world can answer that.
NEWSLETTER: Join Sam’s Monthly newsletter and get a FREE book! You can also keep up with her appearances, enjoy monthly contests, and get previews of her upcoming work! http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html
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ONLINE HOT SPOTS: To find out more about Sam and her work, please pay her a visit at any one of the following online hot spots: Her blog: http://www.samcheever.com/blog; Twitter: http://twitter.com/samcheever; and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor. She looks forward to chatting with you! She has a technique for scooping poop that she knows you’re just DYING to learn about.
Author Links:
Newsletter: http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html Subscribe to Sam’s newsletter and win a free copy of the fun mystery novella from Sam’s popular Silver Hills Cozy Mysteries
Text News Alerts: https://mobile-text-alerts.com/samnews
Website: http://www.SamCheever.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/samcheever
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcheever
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sam-cheever
Purchase Links
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G2S75ZK
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yesterdays-tears-sam-cheever/1129207019?ean=2940161816547
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/yesterdays-tears/id1420209232?mt=11
kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/yesterday-s-tears-2
Featured image: 19th Century autograph book from the Indiana University Archives
November 1936. Mayor La Guardia’s political future buckles under a missing persons case in New York City. Simultaneously, Lane unravels devastating secrets in the outskirts of Detroit. As two crimes converge, judging friends from enemies can be a dangerous game . . .
Finally summoning the courage to face the past, Lane Sanders breaks away from her busy job at City Hall to confront childhood nightmares in Rochester, Michigan. An unknown assailant left Lane with scattered memories after viciously murdering her parents. However, one memory of a dazzling solid gold pawn piece remains—and with it lies a startling connection between the midwestern tragedy and a current mystery haunting the Big Apple.
Hold your flying horses!
Barnabas Tew and Wilfred Colby are back, and, once again, they’re in a bit of a pickle.
Barnabas and Wilfred, two earnest but bumbling Victorian detectives, travel through the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology, trying to stave off the impending end of the world – an event which the locals call Ragnarok. This time, however, the intrepid twosome has some help: a brave Viking seer named Brynhild and her flying horse.
Can the two plucky detectives and the fearsome Brynhild outwit those who would bring about Ragnarok? Will they survive the harsh conditions and terrifying creatures of the Norse afterlife?
Will they save the world…again?
Character interview
Today we sit down with Barnabas, the eponymous character in the best-selling Barnabas Tew series. The second book, “Barnabas Tew and the Case of the Nine Worlds” has just been released, so Barnabas is very excited to answer our questions and tell us a little something about the book!
Mr. Tew, welcome to Island Confidential. Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Well, I suppose you’re all very much aware of my detective skills; not to brag, of course, but I did save the world more than once, you know. But you said something people wouldn’t guess? In that case I’d have to say that I am an absolutely abominable croquet player. There, I admitted it. Indeed, I can scarcely hit the ball without digging up the lawn in the process. And what is the point, just whacking balls about on the grass? It is utter silliness, and I am glad to be bad at it.
Which character do you get along with the best?
Wilfred, of course. He is the best assistant a detective could hope to have. Indeed, I think I may not have saved the world nearly so well without his help.
Is there anyone you have a conflict with?
Brynhild and I had quite a few arguments, but I am really quite fond of her. Sometimes you don’t really know what you think until you start to argue with someone. It really clarifies your thinking.
Just between you and me: What do you really think of your author?
I do wish she’d be a bit more predictable, to tell you the truth. I never know where I’m going to end up. I mean, to be snatched out of London and dropped into first Ancient Egypt, and now this terribly uncivilized Viking place? Absurd.
What’s next for you?
I suppose you’ll have to ask Ms. Noonan about that. She never tells me anything.
Columbkill Noonan has an M.S. in Biology (she has, in turn, been a field biologist, an environmental compliance inspector, and a lecturer of Anatomy and Physiology).
When she’s not teaching or writing, she can usually be found riding her rescue horse, Mittens, practicing yoga (on the ground, in an aerial silk, on a SUP board, and sometimes even on Mittens), or spending far too much time at the local organic, vegan market.
What do Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism look like? Now we know, thanks to Science.
Composite photos of individuals high in narcissism were in fact judged as narcissistic. Same with psychopathy and Machiavellianism.
“The results indicated that unacquainted observers reliably detected the dark triad composite… not only is the dark triad a set of psycho-social characteristics — it may also be a set of physical — morphological characteristics.”
Here are the photos.
I tried these on my students and they were indeed able to tell who was what, especially the female psychopath.
What do you think your face says to the world?
Me, I think I’d rather not know. I just keep smiling and hope no one notices anything bad.
By the way, the “narcissist” in the featured photo is the composite on your right.
An earlier version was published on Jane Reads
In Dorothy St. James’s third delectable Southern Chocolate Shop mystery, a new batch of chocolate and troubles of the heart cause a string of disasters for the Chocolate Box’s new owner, Charity Penn.
The vintage seaside town of Camellia Beach, South Carolina seems like the perfect place for romance with its quiet beach and its decadent chocolate shop that serves the world’s richest dark chocolates. The Chocolate Box’s owner, Charity Penn, falls even further under the island’s moonlit spell as she joins Althea Bays and the rest of the turtle watch team to witness a new generation of baby sea turtles hatch and make their way into the wide ocean.
Before the babies arrive, gunshots ring out in the night. Cassidy Jones, the local Casanova, is found dead in the sand with his lover Jody Dalton—the same woman who has vowed to destroy the Chocolate Box—holding the gun. It’s an obvious crime of passion, or so everyone believes. But when Jody’s young son pleads with Penn to bring his mother back to him, she can’t say no. She dives headfirst into a chocolate swirl of truth and lies, and must pick through an assortment of likely (and sometimes unsavory) suspects before it’s too late for Penn and for those she loves in Dorothy St. James’s third rich installment of the Southern Chocolate Shop mysteries, In Cold Chocolate.
Dorothy, welcome to Island Confidential! Can you tell us about the protagonist of In Cold Chocolate?
Charity Penn (just Penn to her friends) is chocoholic living her dream. She owns a chocolate shop on the small beach-side community of Camellia Beach in South Carolina. She’s a little nutty. She owns a small Papillon dog (Stella) who will occasionally bite her and anyone else. Because of her rocky past, she is slow to trust others. But she’s generous and always willing to lend a helping hand.
Are you and Penn anything alike?
Probably the only thing I have in common with Penn is that we both have trouble in the kitchen. I don’t know what it is. I try to follow a recipe, but things seem to go wrong on their own.
How would you feel about meeting her in real life?
I think that’d be awesome. I hope we’d get along. Maybe become best friends even. I’d love to get some free chocolates from her shop.
Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
My characters change quite a bit from book to book. Charity Penn most of all. She starts out in book one quite broken and lost. In every book she learns more about her purpose in life and gains more confidence. Like in real life, our experiences change us.
Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
Well, yeah! Hasn’t everyone? There’s one person in my life that really gets under my skin. I decided not to kill her, but translate her crazy and hurtful actions into the actions of a character in my books. I’m not going to kill her. No, that’s too good for her. I’m going to keep her alive and torture her a bit instead. (Rubs hands together with maniacal glee.)
Well now I have to try to figure out who that is! And speaking of using real life in fiction, do you take liberties with your setting, or is it fairly realistic?
My Southern Chocolate Shop Mysteries are set on a fictional island, Camellia Beach. The place is loosely based on the real town of Folly Beach, which is located near Charleston, SC. I chose to set the book in a fictional town so I could turn back time and depict the town as it had existed before it turned so touristy. I lived on Folly Beach for 20 years and love its quirky, artsy ways. I always knew I wanted to set a series there.
What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
The best advice I’ve ever gotten as an author is to write. If you write one page every day, by the end of the year, you’ll have finished a book. Everyone can write at least one page. The worst advice I’d ever heard was that an author needed to buy this or that advertising campaign in order to guarantee success. Yes, some ads are worth the price. But there are plenty of pathways to success. And since every book is different, no one can guarantee what it takes to get your book noticed. Just keep talking with people and your passion. The readers will eventually find you.
A lover of puzzles and perhaps a bit too nosey about other people’s lives, Dorothy St. James is a former Folly Beach beach bum. She now lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina with her husband, precocious daughter, slightly (OK, terribly) needy dogs, and the friendliest cat you’d ever meet. She has degrees in Wildlife Biology and Public Administration and as an urban planner, worked for many years telling the stories of small southern towns.
Author of a dozen novels, Dorothy enjoys writing both cozy mysteries and romance. Her works have been nominated for many awards including: the Southern Independent Bookseller’s Alliance Southern Book Prize, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, Reviewers
International Organization Award, National Reader’s Choice Award, CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Award, and The Romance Reviews Today Perfect 10! Award. Reviewers have called her work: “amazing”, “perfect”, “filled with emotion”, and “lined with danger.”
Author Links
Website: www.dorothystjames.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dorothystjames
Twitter: www.twitter.com/dorothymcfalls
Purchase Links
Indie Bound Amazon Kobo Google Play Barnes & Noble BookBub
Another Washington Whodunit from Colleen Shogan, author of the wonderful Calamity at the Continental Club!
It’s the height of campaign season, and instead of relishing newlywed bliss with her husband Doug Hollingsworth, Capitol Hill staffer Kit Marshall is busy with a tough reelection fight for her boss, member of Congress Maeve Dixon. Before Maeve and her staff–Kit included–leave Washington, D.C. to campaign full time in North Carolina, they have one last fundraising engagement.
On the iconic rooftop of a restaurant overlooking the Capitol and the Washington monument, Kit and her best pal Meg do their best to woo wealthy lobbyists for sizable campaign donations. Everyone’s enjoying the evening soiree… until a powerful K Street tycoon mysteriously tumbles off the rooftop.
Even with claims the fall must be suicide, Detective Maggie Glass and Kit aren’t so easily convinced foul play isn’t at work. While balancing Doug’s mid-life career crisis, Kit must spring into action to discover who killed the notorious Van Parker before Dixon’s candidacy sputters, even if it means investigating Meg’s handsome new beau, the victim’s conniving widow, and a bicycle advocate hell-bent on settling a long-standing grudge. When threatening note is left on Kit’s car, warning her to back off the investigation, she knows she’s closing in on the true story of what happened.
About the Author
Colleen Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American politics at Yale, George Mason, Georgetown, and Penn. She previously worked in the United States Senate and for the Congressional Research Service. She’s currently a senior executive at the Library of Congress, working on great outreach initiatives such as the National Book Festival. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Rob Raffety and their beagle mutt, Conan.
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Featured photo: Detail from a cover of The Wasp, 1891, by Charles W. Saalburg.
For fans of Betty Hechtman and Maggie Sefton, the latest craft frenzy is Holly Quinn’s Handcrafted series debut.
Sammy Kane just moved back to her hometown to run a craft store. But when the owner of a nearby yarn shop is murdered, Sammy will needle little help finding the killer.
Continue reading “A Crafter Knits a Clue: A Handcrafted Mystery by Holly Quinn”
Distillery owner Abigail Logan discovers that high spirits are no match for a cold-blooded killer as the Whisky Business Mystery series puts a fatal twist on stiff competition.
It’s been a year since globe-trotting photojournalist Abi Logan inherited Abbey Glen, a whisky distillery in the heart of the Scottish countryside. To her surprise, the village of Balfour already feels like home, and her new business partner, Grant MacEwan, continues to be too charming to resist. But Abi has a history of relationship disasters, so she struggles to avoid an ill-fated romance with Grant. Steering clear is hard enough on a day-to-day basis, but when the two head off to a whisky industry competition together, Abi panics. Five-star resort, four glorious days of nonstop whisky tasting, and a fatally attractive Scotsman—what could possibly go wrong?
The night before the award presentations, with foreign and domestic whisky makers at one anothers’ throats, two judges are found dead under mysterious circumstances. What started with three dream-come-true nominations for Abby Glen’s whisky soon turns into a nightmare for Abi. With a killer on the loose, she must call on her investigative skills to stop another murder—before she gets taken out of the running herself.
Melinda Mullet was born in Dallas and attended school in Texas, Washington D.C., England, and Austria. She spent many years as a practicing attorney before pursuing a career as a writer. Author of the Whisky Business Mystery series, Mullet is a passionate supporter of childhood literacy. She works with numerous domestic and international charities striving to promote functional literacy for all children. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her family.
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