From the Big Island to Kauai, the far side of Maui to the bustling streets of Honolulu, experience paradise in all its glory…and darkness. This collection of ten stories brings out the beauty of the islands, the passion of the tropics, and, yes, murder. Join ten writers who love the islands and want you to savor the tropics while benefiting literacy in Hawaii. Join Terry Ambrose, JoAnn Bassett, Gail Baugniet, Frankie Bow, Lorna Collins (editor), Kay Hadashi, Laurie Hanan, Jill Marie Landis, AJ Llewellyn, Toby Neal, and CW Schutter for Paradise, Passion, Murder.Available now for Kindle, and coming soon to Audible! Cover design by pen2ink.com
In this anthology:
Murder on the Road to Hana | Terry Ambrose
Lei Lady Lei | JoAnn Bassett
Crime of Dispassion |Gail M. Baugniet
Trust Fall |Frankie Bow
Thoroughly Dead | Kay Hadashi
Alewa Park: A Louise Golden Mystery |Laurie Hanan
Curse of the Lost Tiki | Jill Marie Landis
Ke Ahi Pio’ole | AJ Llewellyn
Clipped Wings | Toby Neal
Danny’s Tale The Untold Story | CW Schutter
When a newspaperman is murdered in the Amish community of Stone Mill, Pennsylvania, Rachel Mast digs up the dirt to find out who wanted to bury the lead…
Although she left her Old Order Amish ways in her youth, Rachel discovered corporate life in the English world to be complicated and unfulfilling. Having returned to Stone Mill, she’s happy to be running her own B&B. But she’s also learning—in more ways than one—that the past is not always so easily left behind.
After local newspaperman Bill Billingsly is found gagged and tied to his front porch, left to freeze overnight in a snowstorm, Detective Evan Parks—Rachel’s beau—uncovers a file of scandalous information Billingsly intended to publish, including a record of Rachel pleading no contest to charges of corporate misconduct. Though Evan is certain of her innocence, it’s up to Rachel to find the real killer. A closer examination of the victim’s unpublished report leads Rachel to believe the Amish community is far from sinless. But if she’s not careful her obituary might be the next to appear in print…
About The Author Emma Miller is the author of Redeeming Grace and Anna’s Gift. She lives with her family in Kent County, Delaware
When newly-widowed Lorraine McDuffy gets a call in the middle of the night, it’s not the ghost of her dead husband on the line, but the trembling voice of an old flame, Frank Rizzo, a local butcher. He’s found the battered body of rent-gouging Brooklynlandlord, Viktor Charnov. Felled by blunt trauma to the back of his head, the victim lies in the fetal position in the back of Frank’s shop, a pork chop clenched between his teeth.
Q: Susan Russo Anderson joins me today to talk about her latest Lorraine McDuffy mystery, Death of a Brooklyn Landlord. Aside from murder, what is the book about?
A: Hello Frankie. Thanks for having me, and thanks for such thoughtful questions. Being the first Lorraine McDuffy mystery, Death of a Brooklyn Landlord introduces us to Lorraine at a time when she is grieving for her husband’s death—his death was sudden and happened a year before the story starts. But she is also in the midst of resisting a new romance with an old flame. And she is heavy into the guilt of it. So it is about Lorraine’s reluctant romance and how grief and guilt, inseparable, change us. Lorraine is a baby boomer, so the book is also about the struggle we boomers have against becoming dispensable. Q: What kinds of research have you done for this series?
A: I am always refreshing my knowledge of Brooklyn although my husband and I lived there for fourteen years. But Brooklyn changes so I try to visit every six months or so and I find that while many of its neighborhoods have changed, its core remains the same and when I walk the streets, I rediscover the part of me that still lives there. Beyond refreshing my intimate knowledge of place, I of course researched death by blunt trauma which is how the victim in this book has died. Q: Your biography states that like Faulkner’s Dilsey, you’ve “seen the best and the worst, the first and the last.” Tell us about something you saw or experienced when you when you were researching or writing this series.
A: Like so many of you, I have experienced the sudden death of someone close to me. Before that, I was at the World Trade Center in 1993 when it was bombed, and I was there again on September 11. As I write this, I can still smell the acrid smoke, see the flames, hear the cries for help, feel the ground shake beneath my feet. We all have these moments: one second, life is fine; the next, it’s a searing rubble. Unforgettable. And I think it’s that sudden catastrophic change that reverberates and colors the way I experience everything and that caused me to begin writing mysteries. Because, in the end, mysteries explore the sudden alteration of life and the new world that is its aftermath. Q: Do you have any personal experience with landlords like the one in this book?
A: Yes, and I’m sure I’m not alone! In one of our apartments, it was hard to get anything fixed: leaky faucets, running toilets, cracking plaster—these were the norm. But in retrospect, our landlady was not as bad as Viktor Charnov. However, one episode in Death of a Brooklyn Landlord is taken from life: the hall ceiling fell in one of our apartments. I wasn’t home at the time, but my husband was taking a shower when he heard the jarring crash. When he phoned the landlady to tell her, she accused Larry of knocking it down. Q: Writing can be very solitary. How do you balance the need for solitude with the need to get out and be with people?
A: When I began writing mysteries, I was working in a large office in Manhattan. There were over two thousand of us spread over several floors, and I interacted a lot with people, but I wrote in between—on the train to and from work, while doing chores on the weekend. And I’ve always had a large group of friends. Now I live with my family and I take lunch and dinner with others, but my mornings are devoted to writing and research. And lots of times when I need to figure something out, I walk, usually six miles a day. Q: What’s one great piece of advice for any aspiring writers reading this? Anything you wish you’d known earlier in your career?
A: I have times when I don’t write and at first that lack of getting words on paper scared me. I thought I’d never pick up a pen, but soon I let my subconscious do the work. When I gave myself space, the ideas and the words began to flow again. So this goal of writing so many words a day is fine for some writers, but it’s not for me. My process is eclectic. Some days I write, some days I don’t. And contrary to popular advice, I edit scenes as I write them, reworking plot, revising. But in the end, I produce full-length novels, at least two a year. What I’m trying to say, is if you’re meant to write, you will, and you’ll find your own process, so relax. Q: What’s next?
A: A first for me: I’m plotting three books at once, each one in a different series—the fifth book in the Fina Fitzgibbons series, the second book in Lorraine McDuffy series, and a brand new YA mystery, the first book in the Brandy Liam series—she’s the main character in Missing Brandy. Now I’m not a compulsive plotter; I know beginning, middle, end, create other pivotal scenes; and along with the plotting, I develop characters who then plot the rest for me as I write and revise. But developing three stories all at once—this is a first for me and I’m loving it. Q: I hope you’ll come back to tell us a little more about these books when they’re available.
A: Once again, thanks so much for having me, Frankie, and a big thanks to all of you for reading.
About The Author –
Susan Russo Anderson is a writer, a mother, a member of Sisters in Crime, a graduate of Marquette University. She’s taught language arts and creative writing, worked for a publisher, an airline, an opera company. Like Faulkner’s Dilsey, she’s seen the best and the worst, the first and the last. Through it all, and to understand it somewhat, she writes.
TOO QUIET IN BROOKLYN, the first in the Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mystery series published December 2013. The second book in the series, MISSING BRANDY, published September 2014, and WHISKEY’S GONE completes a trilogy. Fina’s fourth book, THE BROOKLYN DROP, published August 2015. Author Links
They’re ready to hit the slopes when things go downhill…
Sean and Sara were supposed to have a relaxing vacation in Vail, but it all goes up in a puff of powder when there’s a suspicious death on the mountain. And the deceased is not just anyone; it’s Adrian Blackwell, a two-time Olympic skiing gold medalist.
Rumor has it that Adrian died in a skiing accident, but he was too skilled for Sara to accept it as fact. Though she’s convinced Adrian was murdered and she’s itching to find the killer, she doesn’t want to disappoint Sean by ruining his ski trip.
Sean has never had the ability to say no to Sara before, but this time he comes close. It takes a call from their PI firm back in Albany to change his mind. A job’s come in to investigate Adrian’s death, and his agent is the one footing the bill, leaving Sean with more questions than answers.
Yet one major problem remains: their New York State PI licenses hold no legal authority in Colorado. But they still can’t help but look into Adrian’s death on the sly. This case will definitely involve some underhanded tactics, all while trying to dodge the local police during the course of the investigation.
. About The Author
CAROLYN ARNOLD is the international bestselling and award-winning author of the Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher, and McKinley Mystery series. She is the only author with POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Carolyn was born in a small town, but that never kept her from dreaming big. On par with her large dreams is her overactive imagination that conjures up killers and cases to solve. She currently lives outside Toronto with her husband and two beagles, Max and Chelsea. She is also a member of Crime Writers of Canada.
For more information and a FREE book offer, visit her website:
www.carolynarnold.net Links
To win a print copy of Sweet Pepper Hero, comment on this post and tell us about a mystery that you’d recommend (preferably one that readers of this blog might not know). J.J. Cook is giving away one book per blog, so your chances of winning are pretty good! Contest is U.S. only.
Old rivalries heat up in the fourth Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade mystery from the national bestselling author of In Hot Water.
Fire chief Stella Griffin has been put in charge of judging the annual recipe contest, but Eric—her resident ghost and true culinary genius—has vanished. Before she can track down his latest haunt, she’s called in to investigate a local moonshine distillery that was set ablaze, making her realize there’s more than pies and cakes cooking in Sweet Pepper.
As rumors of a revived whiskey war ignite, Stella turns to the town’s elders to help her find answers. The past might have some clues as to what has sparked the present fires. But when following a lead lands her in buried rubble, Stella realizes she must extinguish this case fast or she might be going down in flames. About The Author J. J. Cook is a pseudonym for a married couple who writes mysteries, mostly set in the South, with a touch of paranormal and romance. Links
“A smart caper with a heroine to match.” –Kirkus Reviews
Corrie Locke belongs behind a desk, not behind a Glock. She should be taking VIP calls, not nosing around a questionable suicide. Instead, she’s hot on the trail of a murderer. Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters Genre: Romantic Suspense Paperback: 408 pages The Wild Rose Press, Inc (September 30, 2015) ISBN-13: 978-1509202409 ASIN: B014BVSWTE
Q: Lida joins me today to talk about her debut romantic suspense novel, Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters. Can you tell us a little more about the book?
A: Aloha Frankie! Thanks so much for hosting me today. My book is about a newly minted lawyer who lands a dream job in a Hollywood movie studio, only to be blackmailed into investigating the suspicious death of a co-worker.
Q: What kind of research did you do for your setting?
A: Very little. I set the book where I lived and knew well, in Southern California. I did revisit some of the places mentioned in the book to be certain I’d gathered all the details needed. For instance,
when my heroine, Corrie Locke visits a jewelry store in Newport Beach, she hides out in some bushes near the store. I traveled to where the store is supposed to be to figure out the best hiding place, and inserted Corrie behind some banana trees. Also
in a subplot, Corrie investigates a kidnapping of a lucky charm in Bel Air. I happened to walk the street where the action takes place. It’s near the Playboy Mansion, and I got to view the street on a Sunday morning, after a big party at the Mansion. That was used
to describe what my heroine saw. Q: Tell me about something unexpected that happened when you when you were writing this book.
A: I completed it! No one was more surprised than I was when it was finally finished. The whole way I wondered and fretted whether I could type “The End” with some degree of confidence. It happened! Yes!
Q: Like your heroine, you worked as an entertainment attorney. Is there anything from real life that made it into the book?
A: Yes. There is an f-bomb tirade that occurs on my heroine’s second day at work. That happened to me. I picked up the phone, as Corrie did, and someone unleashed a slew of expletives. Someone I didn’t know, a talent agent of a client, and had had no interaction with, but who needed to express himself. It unnerved me. I was able to calm him down…as did Corrie. Q: Lawyers have to read and write a lot. Did you find that any skills or habits from your legal career transferring to your fiction writing?
A: Absolutely. The words we pick are important. One word or a sentence could shift a viewpoint. The right word or sentence, that is, and I tried really hard to make sure the words and sentences I used fit well. It’s a learning process. I’m still learning. Q: What’s one great piece of advice for any aspiring writers reading this?
A: Never ever, ever, ever give up. The only magic behind success in any endeavor is persistence. If you find the writing is not flowing, put it aside. Come back when you’re good and ready.
Q: What do you read for pleasure?
A: I really enjoy the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and love the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.
Q: What’s next?
A: I’m working on Book Two in the Corrie Locke series. Corrie’s best friend/possible love interest is implicated in a homicide, and it’s up to her to save him.
About The Author
Like her heroine, Corrie Locke, Lida Sideris worked as an entertainment attorney for a film studio. Unlike her heroine, she did not get blackmailed into investigating the suspicious death of a co-worker. Lida resides in the northern tip of Southern California with her family, their rescue shepherds, and a flock of uppity chickens. She was one of two national recipients of the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of America scholarship for mystery writing.
Laura Pauling writes about spies, murder and mystery. She’s the author of the young adult Circle of Spies Series, the Prom Impossible Series, the time travel mysteries, Heist and A Royal Heist, and the Holly Hart Cozy Mystery Series: Footprints in the Frosting and Deadly Independence with more coming.
She lives the cover of a suburban mom/author perfectly, from the minivan to the home-baked snickerdoodles, while hiding her secret missions and covert operations. But shh. Don’t tell anyone. And she may or may not actually bake cookies. You decide.
Laura Pauling
Laura stopped by to chat about cheesecake, love, and other mysteries.
cheesecake, love, & other mysteries
I wanted to write a cozy mystery. That much I knew. All I needed was inspiration in the form of an amateur sleuth. As I waited for the creative winds to blow my way, I happened to chat with a friend.
I found my inspiration.
My friend was branching out and starting her own business–selling cheesecakes! I loved it. I loved that with an already established career, kids, a husband, and two dogs, she was getting creative with her life. Pursuing a dream. Putting in the hard work and long hours it takes to launch a business. Making herself vulnerable.
Love, love, loved it. And I found my amateur sleuth. The facts that my sleuth, Holly Hart, bakes cheesecake and has red hair are the only similarities between her and the real-life inspiration.
How could I not be inspired? How could anyone not be inspired? If only in that it proves that we can do anything we put our mind to. It’s never to late to start a business or write that novel or attempt to combine what we love with what we do, whether it be for money or love.
After I found my sleuth, I dove into writing the mysteries. I have four written and two already published. Footprints in the Frosting came out in May, and Deadly Independence went live early June. If you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll receive a free mystery, Murder with a Slice of Cheesecake, which will release in July.
If you could branch out and try something new or follow a dream, what would it be?
Visit Laura at http://laurapauling.com to sign up for her newsletter and receive a free Holly Hart cozy mystery novella.
In high school, Joanne Guidoccio dabbled in poetry, but it would be over three decades before she entertained the idea of writing as a career. In 2008, she took an early retirement from teaching and decided to launch a second career that would tap into her creative side and utilize her well-honed organizational skills. Before long, Joanne was a working writer; her articles and book reviews were published in newspapers, magazines, and online. Eventually she progressed to fiction, where she finds that reinvention is a recurring theme in her novels and short stories.
Author Joanne Guidoccio
Today, Joanne came by to chat about having the right kind of skin. Rhino skin.
Writers especially will appreciate this:
It behooves you to develop a thicker skin.
Toastmaster Rosalind Scantlebury did not mince words at a recent Table Topics Contest. Responding to the prompt—Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me—she focused on an individual’s responsibility not to take things so personally. She peppered her impromptu talk with provocative comments, among them, “What other people think of you is none of your business.”
Definitely inspiring, especially for writers.
Thirty-one years of teaching adolescents thickened my skin considerably, but I faced different challenges when I embarked on a writing career. I had to learn how to deal effectively with critiques and rejection letters from agents and publishers and, most important of all, acquire that coveted rhino skin.
These are some of the strategies in my toolbox:
Get the Back Story
Whenever I attend readings, I pay special attention to the author’s back story. I like hearing the details about his or her writing journey and the challenges encountered along the way. Occasionally, I pick up valuable nuggets of advice that help me along my own journey. For example, Guelph writer Nicholas Ruddock (The Parabolist) established his platform by entering and placing in short story contests. When New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny couldn’t find a Canadian or American agent, she crossed the pond and approached a British agent.
Read Bad Reviews
If I have enjoyed reading a book, I look up the one-star reviews on Amazon. That’s right, I gravitate toward the negative. While shaking my head at the nitpicking and negative comments, I realize that no author is immune from criticism. Not even authors of best-selling novels can please everyone.
Eliminate the Negative
Some writers file and keep all their rejection letters. I suspect they refer to these letters often and get discouraged all over again. It is important to keep accurate records, but it is not necessary to keep these negative reminders around for future reference. After reading a rejection letter, I update the information on a spreadsheet and delete the file.
Throw More Irons Into the Fire
We’ve all heard the advice. Send out the manuscript and then immediately start on another one. Easier said than done. After writing 70K words and looking at multiple drafts of that manuscript, the thought of starting all over again can be daunting. Instead, I like to work on shorter pieces: book reviews, short stories, articles, more blog posts. Entering contests and taking online writing courses also keep my skills sharp. It is important not to sit around waiting for a response. Some action—any action—is needed.
Get Support
I belong to Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, Guppies, and Romance Writers of America. I also participate in discussion boards for The Wild Rose Press and Soul Mate Publishing Authors. I try to attend writing workshops, panels and readings offered within a fifty-mile radius. While interacting with these authors, I get valuable advice and feedback about my work. I appreciate all the help I have received, especially from good friend and fellow writer Patricia Anderson. I had only request: “Let it rip!” And she did, but in a constructive way.
From Toronto based freelancer Ian Harvey… “Rejections are part of the game, but this is the only game in which rejection doesn’t mean no. It means not now, or not for me, or not for me right now. It doesn’t mean no forever.”
Get Joanne’s latest, A Season for Killing Blondes.
Historian by training, globe-trotting university project manager by necessity, and fiction writer by the skin of her teeth, Mindy Quigley has had a colorful career.
She has won a number of awards for her short stories, including the 2013 Bloody Scotland prize. Her non-fiction writing includes an academic article co-authored with the researcher who created Dolly the Sheep. More recently, she was project manager of the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, a research clinic founded in Scotland by the author J.K. Rowling. Her work as the coordinator of a pastoral services program at the Duke University Medical Center provided the inspiration for her bestselling Reverend Lindsay Harding mystery series.
Author Mindy Quigley
Mindy’s stopped by to talk about how she uses the Cocktail Party Test to guide her writing.
Intrigued? I thought so! Read on:
The Worst Possible Cocktail Party
My husband, Paul, dreads cocktail parties. He’s a mild-mannered, polite British man—a combination of traits that seems to make him easy prey for cocktail-party nutcases. You know the type. The high-strung lady who asks rhetorical questions only to give herself the opportunity to launch into what seem to be well-rehearsed, and incredibly inane, monologues. “Do you like cats? Well, I love them. When I was growing up, we had a cat named Feather who would pee on anything plastic…”
Another type of nutcase who often ends up cornering Paul, usually next to the alcohol table, are those with nutcasia temporaria (a short-term case of the disease). People who’ve recently been divorced or endured a breakup fall into this category. British men like Paul aren’t known for their ability to share their inner lives, nor are they equipped with the skills to deal with people who spew out their tales of failed romance in large, undigested chunks. When confronted with this type of nutcase, Paul often ends up staring uncomfortably into the middle distance, as if trying to endure a particularly thorough dental cleaning.
The worst offenders are the nutcases who take advantage of Paul’s soft-spokenness and good manners to “enlighten” him with their views on politics or religion. “America isn’t what it used to be. I mean look at the state of the economy/the environment/local schools/boy bands.
Those Democrats/Republicans/Hippies/Rednecks/guys from One Direction have flushed this country down the toilet.”
I cast my readers in the role of Paul at that cocktail party and myself as a stranger, approaching him near the snack table. With each chapter, I ask myself, am I being a cocktail party nutcase? Here’s what I mean. Say I’ve written a bit of dialogue that’s outrageously clever, full of nimble-minded wordplay and athletic leaps of language. I’ve peppered each sentence with ten-dollar words and Oscar Wilde-esque wit. But when I examine this brilliant bit of dialogue using the cocktail party nutcase test, I may realize that, it is a clear example of the high-strung woman cornering the unsuspecting partygoer. The dialogue probably doesn’t sound very natural, and all those big words probably impose too much unnecessary work on my readers. I’m just talking to hear the sound of my own voice.
Because my books all incorporate true historical elements, I must be careful to avoid nutcasia temporaria, too. In my case, this might manifest itself in my desire to tell my readers every detail of the blow-by-blow, honest-to-gosh true background historical events. After all, I put a lot of research into understanding those events and I want my book learnin’ to show! But the truth is, just like the gory details of some stranger’s marital breakup, the research a writer puts into her books should blend subtly into the background. If I am disgorging chunks of my research like a drunken frat boy in a Wendy’s parking lot, I’m probably suffering from nutcasia temporaria.
The last one, which is probably even more prevalent at family Thanksgiving dinners than at cocktail parties, is the know-it-all jerk, trying to ram his beliefs down your throat. Since my books have a liberal, female hospital chaplain as the main character, this can be an especially delicate dance. I’ve got to be careful to include enough informative little tidbits about her beliefs to reveal her character, but avoid any kind of posturing, proselytizing, or punditry. I want my characters’ views to feel like a finely woven part of who they are, sitting respectfully in the background of their personalities, never demanding center stage. Unless my character is a know-it-all jerk at a cocktail party. Then it’s kosher.
So that’s the cocktail party test. If I can read what I’ve written and think, yeah, Paul would like this cocktail party, I know I’ve succeeded!
Mindy lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, with her Civil War history professor husband, their daughter, and their miniature Schnauzer. You can follow her at
Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters
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