Interview: Amy Reade, author of Big Island mystery House of the Hanging Jade

A dark presence had invaded the Jorgensens’ house. On a spectacular bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, something evil is watching and waiting . . .

Tired of the cold winters in Washington, D.C. and disturbed by her increasingly obsessive boyfriend, Kailani Kanaka savors her move back to her native Big Island of Hawaii. She also finds a new job as personal chef for the Jorgensen family. The gentle caress of the Hawaiian trade winds, the soft sigh of the swaying palm trees, and the stunning blue waters of the Pacific lull her into a sense of calm at the House of Hanging Jade–an idyll that quickly fades as it becomes apparent that dark secrets lurk within her new home. Furtive whispers in the night, a terrifying shark attack, and the discovery of a dead body leave Kailani shaken and afraid. But it’s the unexpected appearance of her ex-boyfriend, tracking her every move and demanding she return to him, that has her fearing for her life . . .


Q: Amy, thanks for stopping by Island Confidential today. I think this is my first author interview with someone who’s written a Native Hawaiian protagonist. Can you tell us something about her? 
A: My protagonist is Kailani Kanaka, a sous chef originally from the Island of Hawaii, commonly called the Big Island. As the story opens Kailani is working in Washington, DC, but she decides she’s had enough of the winter weather and decides to return to the tropics.
Q: How much of you is in Kailani? How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A: The part of me that is most recognizable in Kailani is my love of cooking and of the Big Island. She tries always to have the spirit of aloha, but there are circumstances in the book which make her angry and afraid. That aloha spirit wanes during those scenes, but she strives for overall balance and peace. I think we’re alike in that way, too.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve, or do they stay pretty much the same?
A: House of the Hanging Jade, like my first two novels, is a standalone book. Kailani and the other characters evolve over the span of the book. She emerges from her difficulties and challenges as a stronger woman, one who is well aware of the consequences of her decisions.
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
A: Great question! The answer is, quite simply, “most definitely.” You can read about it in one of my upcoming books! Of course, I can’t tell you which book and I can’t say who the person is or what that person did to make me mad enough to kill him (or her?) in the pages of a fictional story, but let’s just say I’m looking forward to writing it.
Q: When you wrote the Big Island setting, how true to life did you try to make it? (I’m particularly interested because I write a Big Island-ish setting, but I add many fanciful embellishments.)
A: My setting is as true to life as I could make it. Even the house in the book is based on one I toured on the Big Island a few years ago. The only things I made up were a few stores and a farm stand. And who knows? Those places might actually exist.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: What I love about this question is the phrasing: “When the movie… is made,” not if! Here are my casting choices:
Kailani: Tao Okamoto, a Japanese actress who appeared with Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine.”
Lars Jorgensen: Owen Wilson, because he’s got the look and the persona I imagine for Lars.
Barbie Merriweather-Jorgensen: Gillian Anderson, because she is intriguing and has played roles with just the right attitude necessary for the character.

Gillian_Anderson_2013_(cropped)
source: Wikipedia

Liko: Jason Momoa, a Hawaiian actor with the perfect physical qualities, with the exception of his height. Liko isn’t quite as tall as Momoa.
Jason_momoa
source: Wikipedia

Marcus: Asa Butterfield, because he’s tall and thin, with the appropriate manifestation of seriousness.
Justine: Mackenzie Foy, about 5 years ago, because she was adorable. Not that she isn’t still adorable, but she’s really too old to play Justine now.
Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A: The best advice I ever received was to start promoting a book the day you decide to write it, not the day you decide to publish it. The worst advice I ever received was to put my children in my books (note: this advice came from my children).


 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy M. Reade grew up in northern New York. After graduating from college and law school, she practiced law in New York City before moving to southern New Jersey, where she lives now with her husband, three children, dog, two cats, and a fish. She writes full time and is the author of Secrets of Hallstead House, a novel of romantic suspense set in the Thousand Islands region of New York, and The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor, a novel in the same genre set outside Charleston, South Carolina. Her third novel, House of Hanging Jade, is set in Hawaii. She is currently working on the first book of a series set in the United Kingdom (expected release date in early 2017). She loves cooking, reading, and traveling.

Keep up with Amy:

Website: www.amymreade.com
Blog: www.amreade.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/amreadeauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/readeandwrite
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/amreade
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/amyreade
Buy: Amazon  |  B&N 


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#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.
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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


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#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
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For Dead Men Only

Hailed as “an intriguing mixture of mystery, romance, and history” by Lois Duncan, the Alexandra Gladstone series from award-winning author Paula Paul continues as an ominous horseman heralds the emergence of a secret society, hidden riches—and a string of chilling murders.

The Temple of the Ninth Daughter sits on a hill at the edge of Newton-upon-Sea, an aura of mystery lingering over its tall, gray silhouette. Villagers whisper about the treasure housed inside, protected by local Freemasons who are bound by clandestine oaths.Dr. Alexandra Gladstone has no time for such nonsense. Between the patients in her surgery and the rounds she makes with her faithful dog, Zack, her days are busy enough. But Alexandra has no logical explanation when the Freemasons start dying, one by one, with no sign of foul play other than smears of blood on their Masonic aprons. And what to make of reports that a Knight Templar rides through the village before each passing?
After the constable disappears in the midst of the crisis, Alexandra reaches out to her dashing, diligent friend, Nicholas Forsythe, Lord Dunsford, for assistance. Is someone after the treasure, or might a more sinister game be afoot? In order to solve this puzzle, Alexandra must somehow catch a killer who shows no remorse—and leaves no witnesses.


Q: Aloha Paula, and thanks for stopping by! Can you tell us a little bit about your protagonist, Alexandra Gladstone? 
A: Alexandra Gladstone is a woman in her early thirties in Essex, England, during the 1880s. She is a doctor of medicine, although, being a woman, she is not allowed to use the term “physician.” Her mother died when she was a child, and she was raised by her father, a physician in the small village of Newton-Upon-Sea and by her father’s housekeeper. Her father taught her much of what she knows about medicine, especially about surgical procedures. Although, she attended a medical school in London, women were denied opportunities to attend certain classes, including those about surgical procedures, because it was considered improper for women to view naked bodies in general and nude male bodies in particular. Alexandra took over her father’s practice when he died, and she has met with some resistance by the villagers because of her gender. In spite of that, she has gained enough of the villagers’ respect to maintain a busy and successful practice.
Of course, she must solve crimes in this series, and she uses her intellect as well as her medical knowledge, along with female instinct to help her. Alexandra has never been married, although she has had a lover in the past. No one except her maid, Nancy, knows all the details. Readers learn a little about that in the third book of the series, Half a Mind to Murder, and will continue to learn more as the series progresses. A woman in her early thirties who is still unmarried was, in the 1880s, considered a spinster, although men are clearly attracted to her, especially the Earl of Dunsford who frequently helps her solve crimes.
Q: How much of you is in Alexandra? How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A: There is always a little of me in every character I create, even the villains. In the case of Alexandra, I think the part of her that has to struggle against gender prejudice shows more of me than any of her other characteristics. I am old enough to have experienced a sizeable amount of that in my college days and in my early career as a journalist. Sometimes Alexandra’s self-confidence fails her, and that is a trait with which I identify. If I were to meet her, I believe we would like each other, although we would each be shy and reserved.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
A: My characters absolutely evolve and change throughout the series. To me, having characters who don’t change in a story is like having a story without a plot. In a series, I believe the change has to come about slower than it might in a stand-alone book, nevertheless, they change. Nicholas (the Earl of Dunsford) becomes more mature, Alexandra becomes more self-confident, and Nancy, Alexandra’s maid, matures and, though she is street-smart, she becomes wise in new ways.
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life—on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
A: I haven’t consciously thought of doing that. I always want people who annoy me or offend me to have to suffer long lives and learn hard lessons. However, having said that, most of the people who die in the pages of my books, while they may not be exact replicas of people I know, have some characteristic I abhor in real people.
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A: The village of Newton-Upon-Sea in the Gladstone series is of my own creation. However, I have done a great deal of research on what a village in Essex in the 1880s would be like. While I have visited England several times, I’ve never been in a village that is exactly like Newton-Upon-Sea.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: From the first time I saw Mary Elizabeth Winstead playing Mary Phinney on Mercy Street. I thought she would be right for the role of Alexandra Gladstone.

In my fondest dreams Lily James would be Nancy. She was Natasha on War and Peace, Ella on Cinderella, and Lady Rose on Downton Abbey. She is incredibly versatile, and I think could pull off the cunning personality of Nancy.

Maybe Richard Madden for Nicholas. He has the right look, but there is a comic side to Nicholas that could be difficult for some actors.
Richard Madden
Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A: The worst advice is “write what you know.” Wait! Let me explain that. Of course a writer can write effectively about situations or problems and settings with which they are familiar; however, there is much more to it than that. Everything I write involves learning something I didn’t know. One example is in the book Half a Mind to Murder in which one of the themes is the use of vaccinations. While I am in favor of their use, I wanted to learn reasons why some people are not now and were not in the 1880s in favor of their use. Another example is a book I wrote called Forgetting Tommie that is set in modern times in the part of Texas where I grew up. I thought that book would require virtually no research because I know the people and setting so well. I found that was not true. I knew about my relationship with the people and place, but I had to consider how others felt, and that required research into elements of life that had touched other people but not me.
The best advice I have received came in the form of a paperweight given to me by my daughter. It reads: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” That makes me want to keep writing and attempting to get better. It also implies that one must practice and learn from mistakes.


About The Author  
Award-winning novelist Paula Paul was born on her grandparents’ cotton farm near Shallowater, Texas, and graduated from a country high school near Maple, Texas. She earned a BA in journalism and has worked as a reporter for newspapers in both Texas and New Mexico. She’s been the recipient of state and national awards for her work as a journalist as well as a novelist. Her previous novels featuring Dr. Alexandra Gladstone, including Symptoms of Death, have appeared on bookstore and online bestseller lists. She is also the author of the Mystery by Design series, which she wrote as Paula Carter. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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We have a winner!

Congratulations to the winner of the Rafflecopter giveaway. Rebecca S. has won two hardcover Molly Barda mysteries: The Case of the Defunct Adjunct and The Musubi Murder.
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The Cursed Canoe by Frankie Bow

The Cursed Canoe

by Frankie Bow

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Spotlight and #Giveaway: Pushed to the Limit, an Emma Cassidy mystery

Faye Seymour has long reigned as Greenville’s gossip queen, but recently she’s been at her worst, spreading rumors like wild fire and putting a lot of noses out of joint. Event planner Emma Cassidy has already lost an important client to Faye’s loose tongue, and she can ill afford to lose any business. When Emma discovers Faye lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs, the feisty old lady declares she was pushed—and that Emma is the culprit!—before passing out.


As Faye recovers, Emma reluctantly delves into the busybody’s life of meddling and scuttlebutt. She has to clear her name before Faye falsely accuses her again, and besides, there’s a capricious parrot relying on her now.What scandalous secrets has Faye unearthed? How many lives has she ruined or threatened to ruin? Plenty of people have a reason to hate her, but one in particular is driven to commit a brutal murder. Can Emma follow the clues to unmask the killer, or will she fall victim herself?The Emma Cassidy Mystery series:Book 1: Throw a Monkey Wrench
Book 2: Pushed to the Limit
Book 3: Murder Most Likely (coming in 2016)

About The Author  
Karen Chester is a mystery author who grew up watching Murder, She Wrote and reading Agatha Christie. She spends her days thinking up dastardly methods of murder and cunning red herrings.

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Character Interview: forensic anthropologist Mimi Charles

“I can’t truthfully say I’m filled with delight when another writer of anthropological mysteries shows up to join the competition, but I have to say that Bones of Paradise is one terrific debut. A spunky, intelligent protagonist, a gorgeous setting (Hawaii) well described, a clever plot, and foul play notwithstanding, a sunny, funny, upbeat novel. Looking forward to seeing more of Mimi Charles.”
Aaron Elkins, Edgar Award-winning author of the Gideon Oliver series

Even in paradise, people do die. And it’s the job of Mimi Charles, Forensic Anthropologist, to analyze the bodies that aren’t found right away – skeletons, mostly. Mimi and her colleagues at the Medical Examiner’s office are a tightly-knit team that relishes solving the puzzles presented by each case. But outside of the office, their lives in the sweet little town of Hilo, Hawaii, flow in a gentle island rhythm. None of them is prepared for the disappearance of one of their own, right from the building where they work (or the parking lot outside, anyway). Soon a series of notes begins to arrive, supposedly from the missing person. Even though the FBI shows up to join the local police in the search for clues, Mimi and her friends can’t resist doing a little “digging” of their own. Suddenly, there’s a very pesky TV reporter calling Mimi at home and peeking out at her from behind potted plants. And then John, the Death Investigator who works with Mimi, begins to act strangely. Despite the distractions, Mimi begins to piece together odd, seemingly unrelated bits of information in the race to find her missing friend, and she most sincerely hopes that she’s not too late…


Q: Dr. Charles, thanks for coming by Island Confidential. Tell us a little bit about yourself—what is something readers might not already know?
A: I’m a forensic anthropologist today but that’s not what I started out to become. When I went to college, I wanted to work with the great apes. I wanted to join in on the experiments using sign language to communicate with them. And I did get to work with gorillas – at the zoo, my job was to enrich their lives as much as possible within their caged existence. And I did learn sign language. But I never got to work on those signing experiments, like I’d dreamt of doing. And then, through a series of accidents, I got recruited into forensics and went off in a completely different direction. I still miss the gorillas, though.
Q: Who’s the character in Bones of Paradise you get along with the best?
A: That person has to be Becky. She’s the wife of the Chief Medical Examiner (who is also my close friend). She and I have been through life-altering experiences together and survived them. However, I hope that I get along well with all my friends.
Q: Which character do you not get along with so well?
A: Marcus Ortiz is a weasel. He is not my friend so I don’t care about getting along with him. In fact, I doubt that he has any friends. Probably his mother doesn’t even like him – if he has a mother and didn’t just ooze out of a cesspool somewhere. He is a television reporter who is relentlessly invasive. I think I recently found a way to get rid of him…maybe. I slowed him down for a while, anyway.
Q: Just between you and me: What do you really think of your author, Jane Hoff?
A: Well, I like her. And I appreciate that she’s kept some of my secrets. So far, anyway. She can be chatty, though, so she may wind up spilling some beans in the future and we’ll just have to see how I feel about her then. Basically, though, she and I share a lot in common and I think she captures me pretty well. There’s always room for improvement – I’m probably a little more fabulous than she lets on.
Q: Who plays you in the movie?

A: I have to admit that I’ve thought about this before. I asked some of my friends about this question, too. Cyd thinks Julianne Moore would be a good choice. John just stared at me for a while and then shook his head. Lehua suggested Nicole Kidman, but I think she’s too glamorous to play me. I sort of like the idea of dyeing Kristen Wiig’s hair red and letting her loose with my character.
Wiig
Q: What’s next for you?
A: The forensics cases just keep coming in to the Medical Examiner’s Office, so there’s no shortage of stories to tell but, lately, there’s been one case that’s really puzzling me. An old tree fell over on Banyan Drive, here in Hilo, and there was a skull in the root ball. I found the rest of the body, too. I’ve seen bodies under trees before, so that’s nothing new. The thing is, those trees were all planted by famous people visiting Hilo in the past. The more I find out about the trees, the more I want to know whose body it was and how it came to be there…and whether one of those famous people “planted” it.


 

Author 2ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jane Lasswell Hoff was born in Hollywood, California, and lived most of her childhood in southern California. She went to the University of Hawaii for her undergraduate studies and, there, she fell in love with the Hawaiian Islands. She is a professional forensic anthropologist, a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a lecturer in anthropology. As a forensic anthropologist, she has worked for tribal groups, the U. S. government and in the states of Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Washington and Utah. She was married to Charles Hoff but is now widowed and lives and works in Hilo, Hawaii.

Keep up with Jane:

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#Giveaway and interview: Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner?

>>>Enter to win a copy of the e-book by leaving a comment: Aside from Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner, what is your favorite paranormal mystery?<<<

Cam Shaw is hoping that her life will be ghost-free from now on. But that hope dies with the appearance of Mac “the Faker” Green, a wise-cracking ghost from Vegas who has followed her grandmother home. And during the opening night of Blithe Spirit, someone has sent Susan Ingram to her ghostly afterlife. What does her death have to do with the death of her mother-in-law fifty years ago? Who is trying to wipe out the Ingram family one person at a time? And when will that Vegas ghost stop sticking his nose into Cam’s business?

Who-invited-the-ghost-Teresa-Watson


 
 
Q: Thanks for stopping by Island Confidential, Teresa. Can you tell us a little bit about your protagonist, Cam?
A:  Cam Shaw is a ghostwriter who suddenly found herself able to see and talk to ghosts. You can imagine how unnerving something like that would be. Her first encounter with a ghost was Stanley Ashton in the first Ghostwriter book, and it didn’t leave her with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Her parents live in the same town; her father, Jim, a retired Methodist minister, and her mother, Charlotte, running a coffeehouse that is located downtown. She sometimes finds herself running interference between her mother and her grandmother, Grandma Alma, is a bit of a wild child at times. Overall, Cam loves her life. Being able to communicate with ghosts, well, let’s just say it’s definitely turned her life a bit upside down and sent her in a direction she didn’t expect.
Q: How much of you is in Can Shaw?  How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A:  Way too much of me is like Cam! I love Dr Pepper, I do have penguin lounging pants, I love to read, I’m a writer (not a ghostwriter like Cam, though), and I have a close relationship with my family. Cam’s parents in the story are based on my own, and Grandma Alma is based on my grandmother, although she was never as wild as Grandma Alma is in the books.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
A:  This is only the second book in the series, but yes, I think they do. Randy, Cam’s best friend, is starting a new relationship, and Grandma Alma has a relationship. Even Cam has changed, because of this new ghostly ability, as well as her relationship with Mike. She’s learning that she can depend on her family and friends when the chips are down. I think the person who is going to evolve the most is Mike. As a police chief, he’s always been a by-the-book, follow the rules kind of guy. Now, he finds himself dating someone who can talk to ghosts, and it kind of unnerves him that she’s able to provide information that can help him close his cases, but he can’t tell anyone how he got that information. That’s not an easy thing to do for someone who has to be able to provide evidence to solve his cases. He can’t go to a judge and say, “A ghost told me that so and so killed him.” They’d lock him up in the funny farm!
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean? 
A:  You mean you’ve seen my hit list? (laughs) Actually, there are a couple of people that have irritated the bejesus out of me, and I will admit to wondering how to turn them into my next victim. I’ve actually had a couple of people ask me to “kill” them in my books. No, really!
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A:  Very realistic! Waxahachie is the setting for this series, and it is a real place (I live here!). In this book, I do my best to describe the Waxahachie Community Theatre, which was built in the early 1900s, and is located near the entrance of Getzendaner Park. One of my editors sent me a message one night: “Waxahachie has a lake?!” Yes, we really do! It’s called Lake Waxahachie.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A:  Oh gosh, what a question! Let me think…Emma Stone as Cam (she’s a redhead like Cam & I); maybe Channing Tatum as Mike; Doris Roberts as Grandma Alma; Len Cariou as Jim; Polly Draper as Charlotte; Ryan Reynolds as Randy. Now I’m going to be thinking about this the rest of the day, so this lineup is subject to change!
Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A:  I’m not sure if this is the worst advice, but it was the worst thing that was ever said to me. A publisher liked the first book I ever wrote, but he wanted me to make it longer (it’s only 84 pages). He said no one would go for a novella from a no-name writer. I thought about it, and declined, because I felt it would ruin the story. Now that goes hand in hand with the best advice, which I got from my father. He told me to remember why I wrote the stories I wrote, why I wrote them the way I wrote them. “Do you write for money, or do you write to tell a story?” he asked me. I said to write a story. “Then be true to yourself, and write them the way you want to. That’s the most important thing.”
 


 
About The Author  

 
I’m the daughter of a semi-retired Methodist minister, and have spent most of my life living in Texas and New Mexico (no, I am not a native Texan; I was born in the state of Washington). I graduated from West Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in 2000. I taught school for a couple of years before realizing that I really wanted to spend my time writing.
I’m a daughter, mother, wife, sister. Currently, I live in North Texas with my husband (still getting used to being an empty nester!). I love sports, and spend my free time harassing my husband about his Cowboys losing to my Redskins (and Steelers). Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner? is my tenth book (second book for the Ghostwriter series). I also write the Lizzie Crenshaw Mysteries (next book for this series is Death Drives a Zamboni).
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Help me choose a cover for the next Molly Barda mystery, The Black Thumb.

The Black Thumb

When Professor Molly Barda witnesses a gruesome incident at the Pua Kala Gardening Club, she has no intention of playing amateur detective. But when she’s pulled into the murder investigation, she begins to uncover the tragic truth behind a century-old haunting. The Black Thumb is an exploration of love, gardening, death, house-hunting, mistaken identity, rebound relationships, well-meaning parents, Albanian food, and ghosts.


 The Black Thumb is Book #3 of the Molly Barda Mysteries. Which cover do you prefer?


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No joke: We have a guest post from Cathy Ace today!

APRIL FOOL? NOT MY FRIEND!

Knowing I’m going to be visiting this site on April 1st has made me think of retirement. You might wonder why this would be the case…a good friend of mine thought it would be the best possible day to retire, so today she’ll turn up at her office for the last time, and celebrate the end of her working life with friends and family at a big party this evening. It’s the sort of pattern many of us have grown up expecting: I have vivid memories of the first day of my own father’s retirement – my sister, mother and I all enjoyed breakfast with him at the Savoy in London – a perfect way to start life as a retired person.

It’s made me wonder if I’ll ever “retire” from writing – and, if I do, how I would mark that decision. Writing is, as all writers would acknowledge, a solitary job. I am sitting here right now at my desk with my keyboard in front of me and my two chocolate Labradors at my side. They wouldn’t notice if I didn’t write any more – well, they might get a few more walks with “mum”, but that would be the only change in their daily lives. So there’d be no one to party with, no one to pat me on the back and thank me for a job well done, and my books would still be out there – with (hopefully) new readers discovering them all the time, regardless of whether I am still writing them or not.

The other thing about “retiring” from writing is that it’s hard to do. I often wonder if I only exist insofar as I write. Certainly my characters only exist because I keep inventing their daily lives, but me? Of course I could work harder in the garden, enjoy more time with my spouse (so long as he’s retired too, of course) or develop a hobby or two – but why? It might be that writing is a solitary job, but I’m doing it at home without the necessity for a commute, and I can work it around other responsibilities and duties. So why stop? Nope – I have to admit, I don’t see “retirement” on my horizon – but I am looking forward to celebrating the end of an illustrious career with a good friend tonight. April Fool’s Day? Not her – she’s made a decision to take a huge step, and I’ll be wishing her well as she takes it. Do you hope your favorite writers never retire.



Cathy Ace’s latest Cait Morgan mystery is The Corpse with the Garnet Face.
Cait’s husband Bud gets word that his elderly uncle has died–which wouldn’t be so unusual, except that Bud had always believed his mother was an only child. Cait and Bud travel to Amsterdam to settle Uncle Jonas’s affairs. Naturally, Jonas’s existence is only the first of many secrets remaining to be discovered.
Amsterdam comes alive on the pages of The Corpse with the Garnet Face, a bustling, colorful tourist destination that for Bud and Cait is layered with mystery, past loss, and present danger. Cait is an entertaining first-person narrator, stubborn and opinionated but likably self-aware. Bud is an amiable foil for her strong personality. The Corpse with the Garnet Face is one of those wonderful “just one more chapter before I go to sleep” books–it pulled me in and kept me hooked until the end.


 
About The Author  
Cathy Ace
Originally from Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace writes the Cait Morgan Mysteries. Her series has found her criminal psychologist, foodie sleuth stumbling upon Corpses with a Silver Tongue, a Golden Nose, an Emerald Thumb, Platinum Hair, Sapphire Eyes and, now, a Diamond Hand during her globetrotting. The winner of The Bony Blithe Award for Best Light Mystery in 2015, when not helping Cait solve traditional, closed-circle mysteries, Cathy’s a keen gardener, ably assisted by her green-pawed chocolate Labradors.
Keep up with Cathy


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