Character Interview and #Giveaway: Wedding Planner Kelsey McKenna from Terror in Taffeta

>>>Enter to win a hardcover copy of Terror in Taffeta<<<

Wedding planner Kelsey McKenna is just a few hours away from wrapping up her latest job: a destination wedding in the charming, colonial Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. The reception is all set up, the tequila donkey is waiting outside, and the bride and groom are standing on the altar, pledging their eternal love. But just as the priest is about to pronounce them husband and wife, one of the bridesmaids upstages the couple by collapsing into a floral arrangement, a definite wedding “don’t.” Kelsey soon discovers that the girl hasn’t just fainted–she’s dead.Losing a bridesmaid is bad enough, but when the bride’s sister is arrested for murder, the demanding mother of the bride insists that Kelsey fix the matter at once. And although Kelsey is pretty sure investigating a murder isn’t in her contract, crossing the well-connected Mrs. Abernathy could be a career-killer. Before she can leave Mexico and get back to planning weddings, Kelsey must deal with stubborn detectives, a rekindled romance, and late-night death threats in this smart, funny cozy mystery debut.
Terror in Taffeta Book cover


Q: Kelsey, thanks for stopping by Island Confidential. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
A: First of all, there’s the whole marriage thing. Everyone assumes that since I’m a wedding planner, I secretly want to get married. But really, that’s like saying you secretly want to be an elephant because you work at the zoo. No, I chose wedding planning as my career because I’m organized and resourceful and I love a good party. Plus, it is pretty fun getting to be there on one of the biggest days of people’s lives.
I really do love my job, and I love traveling to different places. Take San Miguel de Allende, for example. It’s a really magical place, with cobblestone streets and a three-hundred-year-old gothic church sitting on the town plaza. A lot of artists live there, and most people who go there end up falling in love with it. If I ever do get married, I could see doing it in San Miguel. Or in a Tuscan villa. Or on a private beach on some faraway island… Actually, the expectations would be so high that I’d probably just elope.
Q: Who’s the character you get along with the best?
A: Brody Marx. He’s an amazing wedding photographer, so I always recommend him to my clients—which works out pretty well because I love it when he gets to come along with me on a wedding. There’s nothing romantic between us, because I’m not his type. In fact, I’m off by a whole Y chromosome. But he’s a good guy to have on your side when you’re trying to juggle wedding planning and fighting crime. I always have to bite my tongue in front of clients, but when it’s just the two of us, I can say whatever I’m thinking and he doesn’t judge. Well, maybe a little. But we have fun.
Q: Which other character do you have a conflict with?
A: I had a hard time with the mother of the bride, Mrs. Abernathy. I can get along with anyone, and I’m used to demanding clients, but she must have thought I had magical powers, because she fully expected me to fix everything that went wrong, even though I’m pretty sure investigating a murder wasn’t part of my contract. I did it though, because I hate saying no to my clients. After all, my whole business is built on referrals, so I do whatever it takes to make them happy. That’s something I should probably work on.
Q: Just between you and me: What do you really think of your author,  Marla Cooper?
A: We have a lot of fun together! She and I share a similar sense of humor, and she loves it when Brody and I get going. I catch her eavesdropping on us all the time and sometimes we say things that make her laugh out loud. She also doesn’t mind when I’m cranky from having to bite my tongue around my clients all day long. Sassy chicks unite!
Q: What’s next for you?
A: I’m planning a wedding in the California wine country. It’s a little awkward, because my clients were using a rival wedding planner, then they fired her and hired me. I’m sure it’ll all be fine, though. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
 
 
 
 


 
About The Author  

 
As a freelance writer, MARLA COOPER has written all sorts of things, from advertising copy to travel guidebooks to the occasional haiku. But it was while ghostwriting a nonfiction guide to destination weddings that she found inspiration for her current series starring destination wedding planner Kelsey McKenna. Originally hailing from Texas, Marla lives inOakland, California, with her husband and her polydactyl tuxedo cat.
Author Links:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter
 
Purchase Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Kobo  


 

KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

Mystery Spotlight: Address to Die For

>> Enter to win an e-copy of Address to Die For <<<

For professional organizer Maggie McDonald, moving her family into a new home should be the perfect organizational challenge. But murder was definitely not on the to-do list . . .

 
Maggie McDonald has a penchant for order that isn’t confined to her clients’ closets, kitchens, and sock drawers. As she lays out her plan to transfer her family to the hundred-year-old house her husband, Max, has inherited in the hills above Silicon Valley, she has every expectation for their new life to fall neatly into place. But as the family bounces up the driveway of their new home, she’s shocked to discover the house’s dilapidated condition. When her husband finds the caretaker face-down in their new basement, it’s the detectives who end up moving in. What a mess! While the investigation unravels and the family camps out in a barn, a killer remains at large—exactly the sort of loose end Maggie can’t help but clean up .


About the Author


 

Mary Feliz has lived in five states and two countries but calls Silicon Valley home. Traveling to other areas of the United States, she’s frequently reminded that what seems normal in the high-tech heartland can seem decidedly odd to the rest of the country.

A big fan of irony, serendipity, diversity, and quirky intelligence tempered with gentle humor, she strives to bring these elements into her writing, although her characters tend to take these elements to a whole new level.

She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the Authors Guild where she feels at home among those plot to kill. She’s also a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers who seem less blood-thirsty and more interested in the skeletons in the closet.

Visit Mary online at MaryFeliz.com, or follow her on Twitter @MaryFelizAuthor.

Buy Links

 
Amazon | B&N

 


KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

Character Interview: Francine from Murder Under the Covered Bridge

>>>Enter to win a print copy of Murder under the Covered Bridge<<<

Working on a television taping to promote the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival, the ladies decide to use their access to the Roseville Bridge to cross an item off Charlotte’s bucket list: #39) Be a Sexy Calendar Girl.

But the photo shoot is interrupted by gunshots and Francine’s cousin William stumbling down the riverbank followed by a man with a gun. William sustains life-threatening injuries, but is it homicide?
Francine and Charlotte go into detective mode to uncover the secret William knew about the shooter. Their success, however, depends on surviving two arson events, a séance, a shortage of Mary Ruth’s wildly popular corn fritter donuts, memory-challenged nursing home residents, and a killer who refuses to go up in flames.
 


Q: Aloha, and welcome to Island Confidential. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself–maybe something they might not guess?
A: I’m Francine McNamara. I’m 71 years old, and I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime. Certainly my thirty years as a nurse have contributed to that, but ever since Charlotte (my best friend) persuaded each member of our bridge club to come up with a list of sixty bucket list items we’d like to accomplish before we die, life has gotten very interesting. We can’t seem to shake the press from our attempts. It doesn’t help, either, that one of our own members, Joy McQueen, is now a correspondent with Good Morning America reporting on senior activities. Her publicist always wants us in the news. Even given this, it would be a lot easier if didn’t seem to be stumbling over dead bodies at an alarming rate. Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote has nothing on us, that’s for sure!
But you asked for information about me, didn’t you? Well, I’ve got a husband. We’ve been married for forty-five years now. His name is Jonathan, and he’s a hunk. Even in his seventies, I still find him to be a handsome man. We have three adult sons, Craig, Adam, and Chad. They’re all married and I couldn’t be happier with my daughters-in-law. Okay, that’s not quite true, but I’ve learned over the years not to squabble with the mothers of my grandchildren. And I’d love to tell you about my grandchildren, but I understand you don’t have that long.
So, you asked for some things readers might not know about me. I like puzzles a lot. I don’t talk about it much, but there’s something comforting to me about doing Sudoku. Numbers have always made a lot of sense to me. When I manage to get the lines and boxes of numbers 1-9 together, and they harmoniously live each in their own place, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I always note that my friend Charlotte likes crossword puzzles and reading mysteries and that’s why she wants to solve them, but I’m probably not far behind her.
Q: Who’s the character you get along with the best? Why?
A: I’d like to say that I get along best with Charlotte, but the truth is that while she’s my best friend and I wouldn’t trade our relationship for anything else, I probably get along with Mary Ruth the best. Mary Ruth is a caterer and I love making (and eating) good food. I frequently help her, either in the kitchen or acting as one of her servers, and I enjoy doing that a lot. It’s a good thing I exercise every day and still have a good metabolism, or I’d be gaining weight!
Q:  Anyone you don’t get along with so well? 
A: Well, Charlotte and I are best friends, as I said, but we frequently disagree over the nature of these investigations we keep finding ourselves in. Really, I’m just trying to keep her out of trouble. She’s terribly impulsive, and I have to control that or she’d find herself in over her head. Of course, she’d probably say I’m not free-thinking enough and that I constrain her ability to get things done. Maybe we’re just a good balance for each other.
Q:  Just between you and me: What do you really think of your author?
A: Liz is such a dear. I’d love to have her for a granddaughter! Tony’s a good guy, but he doesn’t know enough about women. It’s a good thing Liz is around to tell him that a woman would never think a certain way. Tony also works too hard to make us look good. He wants everyone to love us, and really, we’re just human. We have as many uncharitable thoughts as the next person, but he’s always trying to hide those kind of things from you readers. Sometimes we just have to insist he let us think the thoughts that we have.
Q: What’s next for you?
A: As you might know if you’ve been reading our adventures, Jonathan and I are working on building a vacation/retreat home for ourselves on the 300 acres I inherited in Parke County, Indiana. There are secrets out there I’m sure we’ve yet to discover. I’m intrigued by the thought that my ancestor Doc Wheat may have located a second spring whose waters are an essential ingredient to the special cures he left us formulas for. I must locate that spring …


 
Murder on the Bucket List Tony & Liz
About The Authors 
Elizabeth Perona is the father/daughter writing team of Tony Perona and Liz Dombrosky. Tony is the author of the Nick Bertetto mystery series, the standalone thriller The Final Mayan Prophecy (with Paul Skorich), and co-editor and contributor to the anthologies Racing Can Be Murder and Hoosier Hoops & Hijinks. Tony is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served the organization as a member of the Board of Directors and as Treasurer. He is also a member of Sisters-in-Crime.
Liz Dombrosky graduated from Ball State University in the Honors College with a degree in teaching. She is currently a stay-at-home mom. Murder on the Bucket List is her first novel.
Author Links

Purchase Links:
B&N / Amazon



 

KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

New Bakery Cozy: Bring Your Own Baker

Anna just wants to earn enough money on the side to buy into the bakery, Callie’s Cakes, where she works together with her best nerd pal, Callie. The last thing she expects to see when she walks into Arthur’s apartment to do some moonlighting is a blood bath.

 
Callie’s ready to jump into the investigation of Arthur’s murder, and she’s bringing another bakery worker, Kristie, into their hijinks whether Kristie wants to or not. But things aren’t as they seem. There are gang affiliations, illegal gambling dens, and ladies of the night to wade through. Will Anna and Callie discover who murdered Arthur, or will Callie’s detective boyfriend and Anna’s self-appointed protector put a stop to such aspirations?
Come join us at Callie’s Cakes, where murder investigations are on the menu, but make sure to bring your own baker, because Anna’s a bit preoccupied at the moment.


About the Author


I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on from my mom’s Harlequin romances to Nancy Drew to Little Women. When I wasn’t flipping pages in a library book, I was penning horrendous poems, writing songs no one should ever sing, or drafting stories which have thankfully been destroyed. College and a stint in the U.S. Army came along, robbing me of free time to write and read, although I did manage every once in a while to sneak a book into my rucksack between rolled up socks, MRIs, t-shirts, and cold weather gear. A few years into my legal career, I was exhausted, fed up, and just plain done. I quit my job and sat down to write a manuscript, which I promptly hid in the attic after returning to the law. Another job change, this time from lawyer to B&B owner and I was again fed up and ready to scream I quit, which is incredibly difficult when you own the business. Thus, I shut the B&B during the week and in the off-season and started writing. Several books later I find myself in Istanbul writing full-time.


Author Links
Website: http://www.dehaggerty.com
Blog: http://www.dehaggerty.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dehaggerty
Twitter: https://twitter.com/denaehaggerty
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DEHaggerty/posts
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/denahaggerty/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7210211.D_E_Haggerty
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1TRXQ0R
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/636073
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bring-your-own-baker-de-haggerty/1123795411?ean=2940153018690
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/bring-your-own-baker

 


KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

Character Interview: Maggie Dove

Susan Breen introduces a charming new series heroine in this poignant and absorbing cozy mystery with a bite.

When Sunday School teacher Maggie Dove finds her hateful next-door neighbor Marcus Bender lying dead under her beloved oak tree—the one he demanded she cut down—she figures the man dropped dead of a mean heart. But Marcus was murdered, and the prime suspect is a young man Maggie loves like a son. Peter Nelson was the worst of Maggie’s Sunday School students; he was also her late daughter’s fiancé, and he’s been a devoted friend to Maggie in the years since her daughter’s death.
Maggie can’t lose Peter, too. So she sets out to find the real murderer. To do that, she must move past the grief that has immobilized her all these years. She must probe the hidden corners of her little village on the Hudson River. And, when another death strikes even closer to home, Maggie must find the courage to defend the people and the town she loves—even if it kills her.
 


Q: Aloha Maggie, thanks for stopping by the blog. Why don’t you tell our readers a little bit about yourself–maybe something they might not guess?
            My name is Maggie Dove. I’m a 62-year-old Sunday School teacher, and the worst trouble I ever got into was when I accidentally set off the church fire alarm while baking pretzels with my class. So you wouldn’t think I’d be investigating a murder, but someone I love was accused of the crime and I knew I couldn’t just stand by. I live in a pretty, old house in a small village on the Hudson River. There’s a small hiding place in the house that my abolitionist ancestors used to hide runaway slaves escaping to Canada. I drive a bright red Audi TT, which is a little florid, but I used to be a mystery writer and my detective drove that type of car. I love it.  My husband was a professor of Russian, so although I’m not an expert, my house is full of books and maps about Russia, and it looks like one of the people in my village works for the CIA.
Q: Who’s the character you get along with the best? 
There are many people I love in my small village of Darby-on-Hudson. In fact, that’s what made my murder investigation so difficult. The more questions I asked, the more I came to realize that the murderer must be someone I love. If I were to pick one person I’m especially fond of, I’d say it’s 6-year-old Edgar Blake, who is the worst of my Sunday School students. Edgar’s a handful, but he has a warm heart, and I feel like I connect with him. Maybe because I’ve always followed the rules, I’m intrigued by people who don’t. Some of my favorite people are the kind who get into a lot of trouble.
Q:  Which other character do you have a conflict with? 
The character who I have the worst conflict with is my neighbor, Marcus Bender. We had a huge argument over the oak tree on my front lawn. You wouldn’t think anyone would have a quarrel with a tree, but Bender did. He wanted me to cut it down because he said it blocked his view of the Hudson River. I love that tree. My father planted it when I was a girl, my late daughter played on it. Its gentle branches have brought me a great deal of comfort and joy. Bender offered me money to buy a new one, and put it somewhere else. I turned him down. Then one morning I went outside and smelled lye in the tree’s dirt. My neighbor was poisoning my tree. I was furious, pounded on his door, told him to stay off my lawn or I’d kill him. The next morning, I found his corpse under that tree.
Q:  Just between you and me: What do you really think of your author?
I love my author, Susan Breen. Or as I think of her, the Boss. She knows lots of fun jokes. She and I share a love of bread pudding. My only quarrel with her is that she’s awfully bossy. She insists I get up and do things when I’d be happiest sitting by the Hudson River, looking at the boats go by.
Q: What’s next for you?
I enjoyed this adventure so much, even though at times my life was in jeopardy, that I decided, with some friends, to set up a detective agency. Of course, it takes a lot of skill and training to be a detective, so right now I’m involved in studying to get my detective license.


 
About The Author  

 
Susan Breen is the author of The Fiction Class, her debut novel that won the Washington Irving Book Award. Her stories and articles have appeared in many magazines, among them The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Compose, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer. She teaches at Gotham Writers in Manhattan; is on the faculty of the New York Pitch Conference, South Carolina Writers Workshop, and the Women’s National Book Association; and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters-in-Crime. Breen lives in a small village on the Hudson River with her husband, two dogs, and one cat. Her three children are flourishing elsewhere.

Webpage | Amazon Barnes & Noble

 
 


 

KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

#Giveaway and Interview: Gayle Leeson, author of The Calamity Cafe (new Southern culinary cozy series)

>>> Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card! <<<
The Calamity Cafe is the first book in a new cozy mystery series featuring Southern cooking

Aspiring chef and small-town Virginia native Amy Flowers is ready to open her own café offering old-fashioned Southern food. But her dream may go up in smoke when someone kills the competition…
Tired of waiting tables at Lou’s Joint, Amy Flowers doesn’t just quit—she offers to buy the place from her bully of a boss, so she can finally open the café of her dreams. Amy can’t wait to serve the kind of Southern, down-home treats and dishes that her grandmother always loved to the kooky cast of regulars at the restaurant. She knows her comfort food will be the talk of the sweet, small town of Winter Garden, Virginia.
At first Lou Lou refuses to sell, but when she seems ready to make a deal, she tells Amy to come see her.  Showing up at the eatery ready to negotiate, Amy is shocked to find her former employer murdered. As the prime suspect, Amy will have to clear her name by serving up the real killer—and with Lou Lou’s stack of enemies, that’s a tall order.
Includes delicious Southern recipes!


 
 
Q: Thanks for stopping by Island Confidential, Gayle. Can you tell us a little bit about your protagonist, Any?
A:  Amy Flowers is a young woman who has a serious goal but who doesn’t forget to have plenty of fun. She makes time for her friends and family while hoping to realize her goal of opening her own café.
Q: How much of you is in Amy?  How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A:  I’m sure there’s a little Amy in me, especially where she was so devoted to her grandmother who is deceased when we meet Amy. And, like Amy, I have a tendency to want to adopt and/or feed animals and people (especially children). Whenever my children were growing up, I was known for my cookies and cupcakes. Even when my son was in high school, I’d have to make and send chocolate chip cookies to his friends.
I’d love Amy if I met her in real life. I think we’d be good friends, but I’d have to avoid seeing her too often because if I didn’t, she’d feed me until I was as big as a house!
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
A:  They do. That’s something I’ve really enjoyed with other series I’ve written (the embroidery series written under the name Amanda Lee, in particular) and that I’m looking forward to exploring in the Down South Café series. I like that each individual book can be read as a standalone but that readers who start at the beginning and continue through the series can enjoy the nuances of watching the characters grow and develop.
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean? 
A:  Oh, my goodness, I have done it! In my cake decorating mystery Battered to Death (written as Gayle Trent), I killed a man who’d been mean to my son. The man was such a jerk, and I took great joy in beating him over the head with a cake stand and then drowning him in cake batter!
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A:  Both. Winter Garden is a fictional town in Virginia, but it’s close to real-life towns: Glade Spring, Meadowview, Abingdon, Bristol. In fact, at my website, I’m including photograph slideshows from various regions. I only have three so far, but I’ll continue to add to it.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: Maybe Emily Osmet as Amy and Robbie Amell as Ryan. They’d be so cute together. Now you’ve got me excited about this movie! Who can we call to make it happen?
Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A:  Worst advice: “You have to move to New York or Los Angeles to make it as a writer.”
Best advice: Never give up!
 
 


 
About The Author  

 
Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. I also write as Amanda Lee. As Gayle Trent, I write the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series and the Myrtle Crumb Mystery series. As Amanda Lee, I write the Embroidery Mystery series. I live in Virginia with my family, which includes her own “Angus” who is not an Irish wolfhound but a Great Pyrenees who provides plenty of inspiration for the character of Mr. O’Ruff. I’m having a blast writing this new series!
Author Links:
Webpage – http://www.gayleleeson.com
Gayle Trent Webpage – http://www.gayletrent.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/GayleTrentandAmandaLee/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/GayleTrent
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/426208.Gayle_Trent
Purchase Links
Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Books-a-Million – Kobo  


 

KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

#Giveaway and Guest Post: Annette Dashofy, author of With a Vengeance

>>Enter to win a signed copy of With a Vengeance<<<

Paramedic Zoe Chambers and the rest of rural Monongahela County’s EMS and fire personnel are used to wading into the middle of trouble to rescue the sick and the injured.
But when someone with an ax to grind seeks retribution by staging accident scenes and gunning down the first responders, Zoe finds herself forced to not only treat her own brethren of the front lines, but also, in her role as deputy coroner, seek out whoever is killing her friends. At the same time, Vance Township Police Chief Pete Adams races to track down a gun, a mysterious all-terrain vehicle, and the sniper before Zoe goes back on duty, placing herself—and Pete—firmly in the gunman’s crosshairs.


 

 


When I started writing the Zoe Chambers mystery series a few years back, one of the first things I decided on—besides the main characters of Zoe and Pete—was the location. I knew I wanted to set the series here in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, but I opted against using the real towns and municipalities.
My reasons for setting the stories locally were numerous. I know the area. No need to travel for research. No need to learn about quirky customs or manners. I grew up around them! And although we’re in the middle of farm country, crime exists. I liked the idea of writing about small town crime being as deadly as anything you’ll find in the city. I can write about corrupt politicians. I can also write about a body discovered in a bin of potatoes in a farmer’s root cellar.
My reasons for creating a fictionalized version of my corner of the world are less numerous. One: I wanted to be able to move things around and merge three different townships into one. If I had done this using the correct names for places, my readers who live around here would have nailed me to the wall. As is, they take great pleasure in announcing that they recognize that store or that road! Two: I’m not a police officer, but I write police procedure. While I try to stay accurate, if I do get something wrong, I can always say, “That’s how it’s done in Monongahela County!”
One thing that’s very real is the Kroll farmhouse, where Zoe lives in the first three books. It’s the house in which I grew up. My grandparents’ house. While the real structure was razed years ago, having Zoe live there has allowed me to keep my memories alive. Having said that, let me tell you I had not intended for Bridges Burned to end the way it did. Sometimes we authors write the stories. Sometimes they take over and write themselves. Such was the case, and I wasn’t at all happy about it. However, I’ve gone through the seven stages of grief and have moved on.
Zoe’s still working on it.
In With a Vengeance I bring back a number of locations that have shown up or been talked about in earlier books. The reclaimed strip minds known as the Cuts are real. I’ve always thought there was something vaguely sinister about them. A great place for a murder! Same with the State Game Lands. Easy access, and yet desolate. It’s one of my favorite places to drop a body.
Fictionally, of course.
Locations aren’t the only reason I chose to write about this area. The people are as varied as the topography. In With a Vengeance, the characters range from attorneys to mechanics to farmers to survivalists. Hunting is big business around here, so even knowing the murder weapon is a specific kind of deer rifle doesn’t narrow down the list of suspects.
 
Finally, I admit I’m obsessed with setting. I love reading books that take me someplace I’ve never been—or take me someplace I know quite well. I hope my readers have the same experience with my series, whether they’re experiencing Pennsylvania for the first time, or whether they think of Pete and Zoe as their neighbors.


About The Author  

Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE, published by Henery Press, was afinalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and for the David Award for Best Mystery of 2014. LOST LEGACY, was released in September 2014 followed in April 2015 by BRIDGES BURNED, which has been nominated for the Agatha for Best Contemporary Novel. WITH A VENGEANCE, the fourth in the series, will be available May 3.
Keep up with Annette

Blog  | Facebook  | Website | Twitter | Henery Press | Amazon | B&N | Kobo

 


PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

#Giveaway and Interview: Ellie Campbell, author of Meddling with Murder

>>We’re giving away THREE e-copies! To enter to win, leave a comment with the title and author of one of your favorite English cozies. <<<

Crouch End Confidential, the agency started by housewife and mother, Cathy O’Farrell, is failing badly. Hardly surprising when Cathy’s too soft-hearted to charge their only clients, little old ladies seeking lost pets and a school kid searching for his stolen bike.A new case involving a teenager in possession of an unexplained Glock pistol promises to change all that. Quickly Cathy’s in over her head, posing as a mathematics tutor, a subject in which she’s truly clueless. There’s also the tricky situation of best friend and new mother Rosa hiring her to investigate her fiancé, Alec, plus the mysterious sabotage of Cathy’s friends’ cycle shop and a gang of yobbos dealing drugs at her children’s primary school.
Worst of all, an ill-fated trip to rural Norfolk has Cathy’s husband, Declan, intent on buying a post office and transplanting the family to safer climes, threatening to tear Cathy permanently from her beloved North London home.
dfw-ec-mwm-cover-mid
Pretty soon Cathy’s risking her friendships, her marriage and even her life untangling all these messes. But that’s what you get for meddling in murder.


 Q: Aloha, and thanks for stopping by. Tell us a little about your protagonist Cathy O’Farrell.
A: Cathy is a rather disorganized, impulsive, housewife and mother-of-two who has decided to start up a confidential problem-solving agency which isn’t going so well as most of her clients are little old ladies seeking lost pets and she’s too soft-hearted to charge them. She’s full of enthusiasm, very loyal to her female friends, but rather scatty and her logical deductive skills are a long way from Sherlock Holmes.
Q: How much of you is in Cathy? How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A: Cathy is a bit of a screwball, and I think both of us can go down that route occasionally. She’s very sociable and she hates hurting people or confrontations, also true of us. I think she’s better at keeping secrets, though – she’s always getting herself in situations where she has to hide unpleasant facts from family and friends, hard for her because she’s a born gossip. She’s also messy and not much of a cook – ah, well, nobody’s perfect.
I think we’d really like her in real life. She’s the sort of friend that everyone wants, that doesn’t always have her act together, looks past the disorder in your house and loves to chat over a cup of tea and a glass of wine. She’s a gossip but not in a hurtful way, it’s more that she’s fascinated by people and their stories. And she has great female friends, The Wednesday Once Weeklies who she meets – you’ve guessed it – every Wednesday night.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
Cathy certainly has. In Looking For La La she was quite discontented with her role as a stay-at-home housewife yet dreading returning to the workforce. She felt unimportant, unnoticed, and unappreciated by her workaholic husband and even dangerously tempted by the flattering attentions of a young handsome admirer. Her drinking was out of control too. In the next two novels, she’s a lot more sure of herself and her marriage. In To Catch A Creeper she’s on a rollercoaster of starting and losing an incredible job. And by Meddling With Murder, I think she’s a lot more confident and optimistic. There are still ups and downs and emotional crises but there’s a sense that she’s always got a plan, however kooky. Her husband Declan has changed too, from being a workaholic and rather controlling to taking a lower paid job as a postman and seeking quality of life above all else. And best friend Rosa has gone from carefree single girl to Cathy’s colleague and mentor to new mother with post-partum depression. So, yes, quite a lot of changes.
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
Yes. Especially people we don’t like. Cheaper than therapy and less chance of criminal prosecution. In our youth, if we had a romantic disaster, we’d often base a short story on it and give the guy in question his come-uppance, at least in print. We figured that if we were going to obsess over them anyway, we might as well get some benefit out of it.
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A: The Crouch End Confidential series is based in Crouch End, very much its own cool little “village” in North London and we try to stay true to its particular vibe. It’s the same with our other books. We might change a place name or invent a castle but we use our knowledge of location to flesh out the details.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: Cathy would be played by Emma Stone – who not only is a great actress, but she’s never too perfect.

Cathy’s husband, Declan, would be Damian Lewis – Brody from Homeland. He has blue eyes and gingery hair, so it fits, plus he’s a bit of alright – and we may get to meet him on the set.

Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
Best advice – don’t talk about your brilliant novel ideas. The act of airing them seems to take away the sense of excitement and you’ll be bored with it by the time you get to your computer. Or, before you even get to that stage, your friends will kill them – it only takes a luke-warm reaction or a baffled response to make you think again.
Worst advice – everyone has a story in them. That may be true but unless you’re a secret agent or have lived an extraordinary life, few people are interested in reading a thinly-veiled rehash of your autobiography. It’s a logical place for new writers to start but most fiction is larger than life and we’ve learned that unless you want to lose friends and readers, we’ve found it essential to put that creative imagination to work.


Ellie Campbell Author 500
Ellie Campbell is a pseudonym for sister writing team, Pam Burks and Lorraine Campbell.   Running wild as tomboys in Scotland, playing imagination games, they couldn’t dream that one day they’d co-author novels despite an ocean between them. From boring clerical jobs in London to a varied life of backpacking and adventure travel, both started almost accidentally as short story writers, Lorraine when working in publishing, Pam as a fun hobby while an at-home mother of three.
By the time each had 70 short stories published internationally, Pam was settled in Surrey, England, and Lorraine had finally taken root in Boulder, Colorado. Long telephone chats about life and fiction led to their current collaboration.  They have produced five acclaimed novels – How To Survive Your Sisters, When Good Friends Go Bad, Looking For La La, To Catch A Creeper, and Million Dollar Question.  They write contemporary women’s fiction laced with humour, romance, and mystery.
When not hunched over computers, Lorraine, a certified ROTH ‘horse whisperer’, can usually be found messing about with her four rescue horses and Pam on a fund raising bike ride, madly cycling over mountains to Paris, Barcelona or Gibraltar on the back of her husband’s bone-shaking tandem.
Catch up with Ellie Campbell:
Webpage: http://chicklitsisters.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecampbellbooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllieCampbellbooks
Google+ : https://plus.google.com/+EllieCampbellbooks/posts
 Pinteresthttp://www.pinterest.com/ecampbellbooks
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ellie-Campbell/e/B0034OURJ8
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1710882.Ellie_Campbell
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliecampbellbooks
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/settings/authors#authors-search   Ellie Campbell


KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

#Giveaway: Murder Dancing by Lesley Cookman

>>>win a Kindle copy of Murder dancing by leaving a comment: what is your favorite murder-solving literary duo?<<<

Murder Dancing

Max Tobin brings his all-male dance company to Steeple Martin, with his new ballet Pendle, based on the infamous Pendle Witch Trials, due to be performed at the Oast Theatre. There have been unpleasant incidents during rehearsals in London, and Max asks Libby Sarjeant and her friend Fran Wolfe to look into them. To everyone’s surprise, the seriousness of the incidents escalates until, inevitably, someone is murdered.
While the police look into the murder, Libby and Fran wonder why someone seemed so set against the ballet. Were occult forces at work, or was there a more worldly, personal motive?



 


Today Leslie joins us with a guest post on cosy (known in these parts as cozy) mysteries. 
First, thank you for hosting me on your blog – I’m delighted to be here.
When I first started writing Murder Mysteries, they weren’t called “cosies” in the UK. Eventually, with the rise of Amazon and the appearance of ebooks, the term came into general use as all books had to be categorised, and my books were never going to bear comparison with any of the grittier stuff.
Luckily, there proved to be a market for this type of story, and particularly the series crime novels. I followed in the great tradition of the Golden Age mysteries, and having read several US published authors, decided that it was a model I could adopt. When my publisher bought the first book – unfinished – she asked if it could be a series, and I delightedly agreed.
So far, there are sixteen full-length novels in the Libby Sarjeant series, one Christmas long/short story and a short story in an anthology. It appears, from the responses I receive from readers, that the main appeal of the books is the characters. One of the most frequent sentences I read is “It’s like visiting old friends.” That delights me, obviously, and I sometimes wonder if I could forget the murders altogether, and just send my little group of main characters off on non-criminal exploits, but one of my most popular characters is my police officer, Ian Connell. When he first appeared, in Book 2 of the series, I never realised how essential he would become. In fact he gets an awful lot of fan mail, mostly asking me not to marry him off!
I think this is the appeal of the series mystery. Each little world is lovingly created and peopled, and as long as the main characters are sympathetic, readers are willing to suspend disbelief. After all, how many murders can one civilian stumble across in their lifetime?
What is more difficult, in my opinion, are the further constrictions placed on the author by setting the stories in a very specific environment. I’m thinking particularly about, for instance, Quilting Mysteries, Crafting Mysteries, Coffee Shop Mysteries and others of their ilk. That seems awfully difficult to me. I have enough trouble finding legitimate situations for my eponymous sleuth to barge into, without tying her to a particular trade or hobby. She does run a local theatre, and once or twice, murders have been loosely connected to that, but mostly I just try and find something new for her to investigate. Occasionally, I send her and her friends off on holiday somewhere, but have to bring them back half way through the book. And I always get comments on the next book saying how nice it is to be back in Steeple Martin, Libby’s home village.
For, of course, in the best English tradition, Libby lives in a typical English village in my home county of Kent. There is also the local seaside town of Nethergate, and several other villages dotted between, which over the years have housed murderers, victims, and scenes of crime. So, if you’d like to see what goes on in the British countryside, do pay Libby a visit. We’d love to see you.
About The Author  

A former actor, model and freelance journalist, Lesley Cookman lives on the Kent coast in the UK, has four musicians as children, two small grandchildren and two cats, Lady Godiva and Gloria. All 14 of her Libby Sarjeant books have reached number one in their genre charts on Amazon UK.
Keep up with Lesley
Webpage
Blog
Facebook 
Twitter

All books available here


KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List

A Daughter's Doubt: Interview and Giveaway with author Richard Audrey

Mary MacDougall’s first case of 1902 seems simple enough.
Just before the 19-year-old heiress leaves for a summer holiday on Mackinac Island with her Aunt Christena, she’s hired to stop in a little town along the way and make inquiries. Did Agnes Olcott really die there of cholera? Or were there darker doings in Dillmont?
Mary’s mentor, Detective Sauer, thinks it’s merely a case of bad luck for the dead woman. But Mrs. Olcott’s daughter suspects her detested stepfather played a hand in her mother’s untimely death.
With the reluctant help of her aunt and her dear friend Edmond Roy, the young detective struggles to reveal the true fate of Agnes Olcott. As she digs ever deeper, the enemy Mary provokes could spell disaster for herself and the people she loves. But in the end, it’s the only way to banish a daughter’s doubt.

 


>>>Win two Mary MacDougall mysteries in print!<<<

Q: Aloha Richard, and welcome back to Island Confidential! Tell us about your protagonist, Mary MacDougall. 
A: In this story, set in 1902, Mary MacDougall has just turned 19. She’s the whip-smart daughter of a mining millionaire and can have nearly anything she wants. But what she desires above all is to become a consulting detective. She’s already proven herself in two earlier cases and in this story takes on her first paying assignment. Is it an improbable dream for a young lady in her position? Absolutely. But rebels and mavericks existed then as now, and Mary is one of them.
Q: How much of you is in Mary? How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A: I have almost nothing in common with 19-year-old heiresses of 1902. And I suppose I would find Mary a bit intimidating if I were to meet her. When I first came up with the idea of Mary some years ago, I imagined her as a mashup of Lucy Honeychurch (E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View) and Sherlock Holmes. That early version of Mary was cold and calculating and not very likeable. So this time around, I softened her edges, gave her imperfections, and provided her with a love interest who will baffle, confuse, and delight her.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
A: Mary definitely matures. After all, she starts sleuthing just a month after she graduates from high school. In fact, there’s a bit of Nancy Drew about her in the first two novellas. In this third story, a novel, she faces some harsh realities and pays the price for her mistakes. In other words, Mary is beginning to grow up.
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
A: Not anyone I know. But I’ve created dislikable characters that are based on former acquaintances. That’s as close as I’ve come to committing literary revenge.
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A: I’ve tried to make the Midwestern settings that Mary operates in as true as possible to what things were like in 1901 and 1902. My goal is to create characters and plots that engage readers and draw them into the stories, with just enough historical flavor to make it seem real. I don’t try to provide the exhaustive period details that one might find in a straight historical novel. Think watercolor brush strokes vs. photographic specificity.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: For Mary, I’d cast Emma Watson. For Mary’s Aunt Christena, Cate Blanchett. For Edmond Roy, Josh Hartnett. For Mary’s father, Russell Crowe. For Detective Sauer, Tim DeKay.
Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A: The worst advice was to spend a lot of time on promotion and getting reviews and such. The best advice is to write as many good books as you can. Building your series up to at least five or six titles is the most important thing.



Richard Audry is the pen name of D. R. Martin. As Richard Audry, he is the author of the King Harald Canine Cozy mystery series and the Mary MacDougall historical mystery series. Under his own name he has written the Johnny Graphic middle-grade ghost adventure series, the Marta Hjelm mystery, Smoking Ruin, and two books of literary commentary: Travis McGee & Me; and Four Science Fiction Masters.
Visit D. R. MARTIN & RICHARD AUDRY BOOKS
LIKE Richard Audry on Facebook
Buy A Daughter’s Doubt at Amazon 


KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List