#MidweekMystery: Brewed Awakening (A Coffeehouse Mystery) by Cleo Coyle and Bookmarked for Murder by V.M. Burns

Amateur sleuth Samantha Washington’s shopping trip to Chicago takes a deadly detour when a man is murdered on her bus . . .

Bookmarked for Murder (Mystery Bookshop) by V.M. Burns
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After some post-Christmas retail therapy in the Windy City, mystery bookshop owner and historical whodunit novelist Sam Washington is returning home to North Harbor, Michigan, on a chartered bus. With Nana Jo and her gal pals Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae from Shady Acres Retirement Village along for the ride, it’s a lively trip. But one passenger is not so lively—a gentleman Irma befriended is found dead in his seat after an unscheduled stop. The ladies immediately shift gears to find out who punched his ticket, while Sam slips into the driver’s seat to make sure Nana Jo and her crew steer clear of fatal conclusions . . .

When coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi awakens on a bench in Washington Square Park, she has no idea she’s been missing for the past week.

Brewed Awakening: A Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
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Now that she’s back, everyone is overjoyed, including a handsome NYPD detective who claims to be her fiancé. But to Mike Quinn’s crushing distress, Clare doesn’t remember him, or much of anything about the last decade of her life.

Clare’s missing memory is tied to a crime she witnessed. A kidnapping was captured on camera, and the authorities grow suspicious. Is Clare really a victim? Or merely acting like one?

V.M. Burns

Mystery Bookshop Mysteries

V.M. Burns was born in Northwestern Indiana and spent many years in Southwestern Michigan on the Lake Michigan shoreline. She is a lover of dogs, British historic cozies, and scones with clotted cream. After many years in the Midwest, she went in search of milder winters and currently lives in Eastern Tennessee with her poodles. Her debut novel, The Plot is Murder was nominated for a 2017 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Valerie is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and a lifetime member of  Sisters in Crime. Readers can learn more by visiting her website at vmburns.com
Author Links:
Website:  http://www.vmburns.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/
Twitter:  @vmburns
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Cleo Coyle

Coffeehouse Mysteries

CLEO COYLE is the pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini.  CLEO COYLE grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After earning scholarships to study writing at Carnegie Mellon and American Universities, she began her career as a cub reporter for The New York Times. Now an author of popular fiction and New York Times bestselling media tie-in writer, Cleo lives and works in New York City, where she collaborates with her husband (also a bestselling author) to pen the Coffeehouse Mysteries for Penguin. When not haunting coffeehouses, hunting ghosts, or rescuing stray cats, Cleo and Marc are bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for NBC, Lucasfilm, Disney, Fox, Imagine, and MGM.
Visit Cleo online: www.coffeehousemystery.com
Friend Cleo on Facebook:www.Facebook.com/CleoCoyle
Follow Cleo on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/cleocoyle/
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Cleo Coyle’s Nutella Fudge Recipe

To download this recipe in a free PDF that you can print, save, or share, click here.  

Makes one 8×8 pan of fudge 

5 minutes to prepare + 3 hours to chill

Ingredients:

1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 (12 ounce) package good quality semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup Nutella (or your favorite) chocolate-hazelnut spread (room temperature)

Step 1 – Crisscross the bottom of an 8 x 8 square pan with two sheets of parchment paper, allowing the paper to extend over the sides, like handles. You’ll use these paper handles to lift the finished block of fudge from the pan. 

Step 2 – Place the milk, pieces of butter, and chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring between sessions, until the mixture is melted and smooth. Be patient with this process, taking care not to burn the chocolate. Once the mixture is melted, add the salt, vanilla, and Nutella. Stir from the bottom, lifting and folding to blend everything well. Pour the mixture into your lined pan, and use a rubber spatula to level the top. 
Step 3 – Chill the pan until the block of fudge is firm. This will take about 3 hours. Remove, cut into small squares, and serve in mini cupcake liners. Match the design of the paper liners to reflect whatever you’re celebrating, and this recipe will work for almost any holiday or party that comes along. Store fudge inside an airtight container and keep in your refrigerator.

#FridayFreebie Discover New Mystery

46 full-length mysteries and two bonus previews. Discover new talent in a wide variety of mystery genres!


Cozies, thrillers, time travel, romantic suspense…enjoy your favorite mystery genre or try something new.

#SampleSunday Dreamed It: A New Dreamwalker Mystery from Maggie Toussaint

Justice for the dead and solace for the living is Baxley Powell’s creed, but she faces uncharted territory in this sixth book of the Dreamwalker Mystery Series. The Suitcase Killer has struck again, only this big city menace is now a problem for Baxley’s hometown. As that investigation heats up, a local woman is reported missing. The sheriff orders Baxley to work the missing person’s case.

Listening to the dead is familiar ground for Baxley but finding a missing young lady isn’t in her skill set. Besides, her dreams rarely follow a timeline. With the clock ticking, can this crime consultant discover a way to reach the living?

Her main source of help in the afterlife, a mentor named Rose, is unavailable. Instead, Baxley must rely on her wits and her Native American boyfriend, Deputy Sam Mayes, to find leads. Each shared dreamwalk and energy transfer binds them closer together, creating another issue. Mayes wants to marry Baxley but it isn’t that easy. They’re hampered by their community roles in opposite ends of the state.

Baxley juggles the pressure of two high-profile cases, a determined suitor, and expanding her limits. One thing is certain. Without her extrasensory sleuthing, the missing woman will die.

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Excerpt: Dreamed It by Maggie Toussaint

A sudden jolt propelled me to consciousness. I gazed upon a vast darkness and wheezed air into my lungs. Time passed as I steadied my breathing and slowed my racing heart. Flat on my back, I took stock of my situation. Numb limbs indicated an extended dreamwalk, but I had no memory of any such excursion.

I’d spent a quiet Sunday evening at home with my daughter and Sam Mayes, my Native American boyfriend, who was down from North Georgia for the weekend. I’d gone to sleep in my own bed and awakened here, wherever here was.

Was I alone?

I called upon my flagging energy to do a life signs scan. Using my extra senses, I virtually ranged out from my prone position. Mayes was to my immediate left, and from his low energy levels, as wiped out as I was. He was a dreamwalker, same as me. And from the cold energy pressing against my leg, my ghost dog watched over us. He’d bark on the spirit plane if someone or something approached, though my scan assured me we were alone.

The void in my memory worried me. My debilitated condition pointed to an extrasensory event, but danged if I remembered contacting a spirit on the Other Side. Strange, because I remembered every other dreamwalk I’d ever made. Why not this one?

So much for me being an expert on the paranormal.

Just when I thought I had the hang of my unusual profession of communicating with the dead, it socked me in the teeth. Crossing over to the spirit realm was something I did often, but the veil between the living and the dead nearly won this time.

This had been no ordinary dreamwalk. Instead of it being a spirit-only event, somehow our bodies had also undergone the shift. That defied the laws of physics, but here we were, body and spirit. Impossible and yet my reality.

Tears misted my eyes, and I blinked to sharpen my vision. A woodsy aroma filled my nose, so we were outdoors. The darkness suggested it was night. My thoughts drifted into a self-healing meditative trance focusing on the breath. Gradually, clarity returned.

As numbness yielded to tingling nerves, sensation seeped into my rigid body. Fatigue rolled in next, and with it, the riptide of bone-deep exhaustion. Despite my weariness, I took heart. This reaction was normal after an extended dreamwalk.

Oliver lapped happily at my face, his whip-thin tail wagging his entire ghostly form. Good dog, Oliver, I managed as I joined him on the spirit plane. While here in spirit only, I still maintained awareness of my physical surroundings.

My ghost dog materialized as a misty image of a jet black Great Dane, his body aquiver with happiness. Earlier this summer I rescued Oliver from virtual chains and too-tight collar at a haunted house. No amount of urging had prompted him to the afterlife, and his essence attached to mine. At this bereft moment, I was delighted by his presence.

Oliver showed us the way home through the drift, I realized. It wasn’t the first time he’d rescued me, and I owed him so much already.

Despite my dry-as-cotton mouth, I cooed over him while I tried to pinpoint my location. Stars twinkled overhead, framed by tall oaks and pines. Not my treetops, not my yard.

I heard a moan to my left. Felt the urgency as Mayes whispered my name. “Baxley.” With a final rub of the ears for Oliver, I integrated fully into the physical plane.

Mayes whispered again, his tone deeper and freighted with authority. “Bax. You okay?”

“Yeah.” I managed. “What happened to us?”

“Got no clue.”

Sam Mayes had become a fixture in my life, though I’d only known him for three months. I wished I was in his protective arms right this very second.

“I feel like I got run over by a truck,” I said. “Last thing I remember is getting ready for bed.”

“That’s right.” His voice roughened. “I shared your toothpaste before we crawled under the covers.”

My face heated as memories surfaced. “I remember the before-sleep part fine, but between there and here is a big, fat zero. Except for Oliver. He guided us home through the drift.” I tried to sit, but my limbs weren’t fully responsive yet. I remained prone.

“I have the same mental gap. I believe we were taken, body and spirit, from your house.”

Hearing the words made it real. The impossible had happened. Nothing else explained our physical displacement, the prolonged recovery time, and the shared memory gaps.

My teeth ground together as I made another connection. “Unless some other entity kidnapped us, my money’s on Rose. Her abilities go beyond the possible. I’ve never met another spirit entity as powerful.”

Allegedly, my otherworld mentor, Rose, worked undercover in the spirit realm, but she claimed to be an angel. Seeing her dark, powerful wings had made a believer out of me. That physical manifestation, her ability to do impossible feats, and her total hold on me proved she was more than a powerful spirit. She’d banished demons, fetched folks from beyond the point of no return, wrestled with selkies, quelled spirit rebellions, and more.

Trouble was, Rose kept changing the rules of our association. By sheer willpower, I managed to draw one hand close enough to study in the starlight. From the faint glow of my watch, it was three a.m. The rose tattoo on my hand was still there. Rose put three tattoos on my body to indicate the hours of my indenture to her. Rats. If she’d gone to the trouble of kidnapping us and erasing our memories, her prominent brand indicated I still owed her the hours of my life I’d willingly exchanged during life-or-death situations of loved ones.

That’s right. Rose charged for her supernatural favors, and I’d begged for her help three times. Each time the terms had been the same. A favor in exchange for an hour of my life. I’d agreed due to the dire nature of the situations, but darn-it-all if I wanted Rose to collect. With her rule-bending nature, I could turn into a mass murderer or worse on either side of the veil.

“I keep reminding you, Rose is not your friend,” Mayes said.


Southern author Maggie Toussaint evolved into a mystery author after getting her feet damp in romantic suspense and dystopian fiction, with twenty fiction novels and two nonfiction novels to her credit. Her work won two Silver Falchions, the Readers’ Choice, and the EPIC Awards. She’s a past president of Southeast chapter of Mystery Writers of America and an officer of Lowcountry Sisters In Crime. She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows. Visit her at https://maggietoussaint.com/

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The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller: A new Haunted Bookshop Mystery by Cleo Coyle

Get ready for a thrilling new installment in the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, where a big bestseller leads to small town trouble.
Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure didn’t believe in ghosts, until she was haunted by the hard-boiled spirit of 1940s private investigator Jack Shepard. Now Jack is back on the job, and Pen is eternally grateful…
GHOST-AND-THE-BOGUS-BEST-SELLER

Yesterday's Tears, a paranormal cozy from Sam Cheever (plus Kindle Paperwhite giveaway)!

It might be a murder from decades ago, but it still has its claws in the present…and someone seems determined to drag Anna into it.

It’s way too soon to be returning to a haunted mansion, and Anna’s favorite cowboy ghost does his best to talk her out of it. But the opportunity to pick from the beautiful antiques left to her in a Crocker resident’s will is just too tempting for Anna and Pratt to pass up. So they’re going in…

They’re prepared to deal with a few cold spots. Maybe the occasional flickering light. But what Anna and the boys weren’t counting on was bumping up against the ghost of Josiah Bumgartner, a contemporary of Joss’ from the 1800s. And when Josiah claims the old woman who lived in the house hid his bones around the place, Anna agrees to help him find them. But something much darker is at work there. And, unfortunately for our happy little gang of antique hunters…Anna seems to have unwittingly stepped right into the middle of it.

Character Interview

Joss, welcome to Island Confidential. Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Howdy, darlin’! I’m Joss from the Yesterday’s paranormal historical mysteries. I died in the 1800s and got stuck in the building where Anna Yesterday has her store, Yesterday’s Antiques. I’m a ghost. Not one o’ them wrathy varmints. I’m Anna’s guardian spirit. It’s my job ta protect Miss Anna. It’s unsettlin’ how hard that is to do!
Of all the characters in the book, living or dead, which is the one you get along with the best?
Miss Anna of course. She’s a right pretty gal and sweet as penny candy. But she’s just too trustin’ you ask me. She gives that varmint Pratt too much room to maneuver and it’s all I can do ta keep her safe from his o’re friendly ways.
It sounds like you really admire Miss Anna. Is there anyone you don’t hold in such high esteem?
I mentioned the Puke right?
Who?
That’s what I call a varmint from Missoura. Him and me are like oil and water…and he’s the oil. Black and odiferous. It’s unfortunate Miss Anna cottons to the varmint.
Ah. You’re talking about Pratt.
I’m doin’ my best ta open her eyes but I ain’t had much success so far.
No, it doesn’t sound like you have. So just between you and me: What do you really think of your author?
Miss Sam’s a hoot. She’s always puttin’ us in impossible spots and then sittin’ back ta watch us wriggle out of ’em. But the worst o’ all was when Sam stuck me in that savagerous critter and left me there for half a book. I’m still pickin’ fur from my teeth and I ain’t happy about it.
That sounds like quite an adventure! What’s next for you?
After that last time in the haunted mansion, I told Miss Anna she needed ta take some time to get her chirk back. But then that old lady died and left her a house full o’ antiques. Now if ya don’t know nothin’ else about Miss Anna, know this. That gal’s got a hankerin’ for antiques. She can’t say no to t’em. So back we go to another mansion filled with spirits. Some of the critters ain’t happy we’re there. I reckon that’s because o’ the murder that happened there all those years ago. Then there’s Josiah Bumgartner, a hoister from back in my day. I’m tellin’ ya, nothin’ good’s gonna come from him bein’ involved. I’m gonna have my hands full keeping Miss Anna safe on this one.

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About the Author

Let’s face it, nobody really cares that Sam Cheever is a USA Today Bestselling Author. Nobody cares that she’s written a whole ton of fun and snappy books. Let’s face it, the most interesting thing about Sam is the fact that she’s a dogaholic. Yeah, there’s no Dogaholic’s Anonymous chapter that can help her. Believe me, she’s looked. So Sam deals with her problem the best way she knows how. She digs into the mountains of personal experiences (mostly involving dog poo) to write GREAT dog characters.

Oh, and there are some people in her books too. She’s also pretty good at those.

Want to ask Sam about her dogs…erm…books? You can connect with her at one of the following places. Just don’t ask her why she has 15 dogs. Nobody in the whole wide world can answer that.

NEWSLETTER: Join Sam’s Monthly newsletter and get a FREE book! You can also keep up with her appearances, enjoy monthly contests, and get previews of her upcoming work! http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html

TEXT NEWS ALERTS: Or if you’d rather not receive a monthly newsletter, you can sign up for text alerts and just receive a brief text when Sam’s launching a new release or appearing somewhere fun. Just text SAMNEWS to 781-728-9542 to be added!

ONLINE HOT SPOTS: To find out more about Sam and her work, please pay her a visit at any one of the following online hot spots: Her blog: http://www.samcheever.com/blog; Twitter: http://twitter.com/samcheever; and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor. She looks forward to chatting with you! She has a technique for scooping poop that she knows you’re just DYING to learn about.

Author Links:

Newsletter: http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html Subscribe to Sam’s newsletter and win a free copy of the fun mystery novella from Sam’s popular Silver Hills Cozy Mysteries
Text News Alerts: https://mobile-text-alerts.com/samnews
Website: http://www.SamCheever.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/samcheever   
Facebook:
 https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcheever
Bookbub: 
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sam-cheever

Purchase Links

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G2S75ZK

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yesterdays-tears-sam-cheever/1129207019?ean=2940161816547

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/yesterdays-tears/id1420209232?mt=11

kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/yesterday-s-tears-2

Featured image: 19th Century autograph book from the Indiana University Archives

Confound It: A New Dreamwalker Mystery from Maggie Toussaint

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Enter to Win a Print Copy


While hosting out-of-town guests at her Georgia home, Dreamwalker Baxley Powell is called upon to help investigate a suspicious fire.

One of her guests, close friend and fellow dreamwalker Deputy Sam Mayes, accompanies her to the scene.
A meth cook is dead, and when Baxley visits her beyond the Veil of Life, she determines that the woman was murdered. Baxley pities Mandy Patterson, a single mother with aspirations for her teenage son Doodle. Unconcerned about the death of a criminal, the authorities pursue the drug-supply chain angle. Baxley worries about Doodle and vows to find out who killed his mother.
As the case grows more baffling, Baxley struggles against her attraction to Sam. Although her husband is missing and declared dead, she does not feel free to love again until she is sure of his fate.
Two suspects have the strongest motive, but Baxley has reason to believe they are pawns in a deeper game. And unless she can stop them, the world will never be the same.


About The Author  

Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes mystery, suspense, and dystopian fiction. Her work won the Silver Falchion Award for best mystery, the Readers’ Choice Award, and the EPIC Award. She’s published seventeen novels as well as several short stories and novellas. The next book in her paranormal mystery series, Dadgummit, releases August 2017. Maggie serves on the national board for Mystery Writers of America, is President of Southeast Mystery Writers of America, and is Co-VP of Low Country Sisters In Crime. Visit her at www.maggietoussaint.com.

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New Jade Blackwell Mystery: Murder over Medium by Gilian Baker

Former English professor turned blogger, Jade Blackwell, is enjoying her predictable routine when trouble comes knocking in the form of an old friend and colleague. Unbeknownst to Jade, Gwendolyn Hexby is no longer the successful academic she once knew and trusted—she is now following a new calling as a psychic medium, a contentious career that flies in the face of the logic and deductive reasoning Jade values.
At first, Jade welcomes the visit, but things soon turn bizarre as Gwendolyn brings only disorder danger and disruption. When a murder is prophesied, and a beloved pillar of the Aspen Falls’ community winds up dead, Gwendolyn becomes Sheriff Ross Lawson’s prime suspect.
To get Gwendolyn out of hot water, and more importantly, out of her house, Jade attempts to prove her friend’s innocence. Jade believes she’s finally discovered the truth, but is soon brought back to reality when she learns all is not as it seems in the realm of the metaphysical. Not even murder.
Return to the Jade Blackwell Cozy Mystery Series in Murder Over Medium, as Jade jumps into the fray of a territory not governed by logic or reason—in either this world or the next.


Interview

Gilian, thanks for stopping by Island Confidential. Can you tell us a little bit about your protagonist?
Jade Blackwell is a former English professor who got out of academia while she was still (mostly) sane. She’s now an online entrepreneur—a blogger and ghostwriter. She uses her natural inquisitiveness, analytical skills, and finely-tuned B.S. meter (from years of teaching college students) to solve murderers in the village of Aspen Falls, Wyoming. Born and raised in Aspen Falls, she married her high school sweetheart, Christian. They are happily married and have a daughter, Penelope (Ellie) who is away at college. She’s a sassy homebody who lives in her head.
She loves murder mysteries, especially Agatha Christie. Hercules Poirot is her mentor, and she describes herself as a much younger, better-looking Miss. Marple. She loves her cats, Tommy and Tuppence, but hates cleaning up hairballs.
How alike are you and Jade? 
As with many first-time authors, Jade is much like me in the first book Blogging is Murder. But as I continue to get to know her and as I develop as a writer, she is becoming her own distinct personality. So, while we do have a great deal in common, such as our former profession and a dislike for cooking, she is her own woman.
How would you feel about Jade if you met her in real life?
We’d have a blast hanging out together! We could talk literary theory, slow cooker recipes, and of course, murder.
Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
My protagonist does for sure. Jade is currently considering a new business challenge as she’s grown bored with blogging and ghostwriting. Now, she just needs to decide what challenge to take on, which she will do in the next book.
As an example, in the latest book, Murder Over Medium, we see Jade struggling to come to terms with the many changes in her friend and former colleague, Gwendolyn Hexby. Jade still finds solace in logic and data, but Gwendolyn has moved from the world of academia to superstition as a psychic medium. Very slowly throughout the book, we watch Jade soften to the belief in a mystical energy source to some extent. At the end of each book, she’s learned a valuable lesson that she takes with her into her next adventure.
Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean? 
I haven’t killed off a particular person, but many years ago, when I was a potter, I realized what a great murder weapon a clay cutting tool would make. It’s perfect for garroting someone. It even has handles on the ends so you can pull it tight without cutting yourself—much better than piano wire. I must admit it was jolly great fun to put that idea to good use in Book 2, A Time to Kiln.
How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
I spent a lot of time determining the setting. The village of Aspen Falls, Wyoming is fictitious, but its situation in a real location. Since Jade was a college professor just a few years ago, the location needed to be near a university. Not too many in Wyoming, so that really narrowed the field. It needed to be near a mountain range too because I wanted that kind of feel to the setting. So, it ended up being around an hour from Laramie, WY.
Many people have asked me why Wyoming of all places. All I can say is that I tried to move Aspen Falls to Colorado at one point, but Jade wouldn’t have it. I thought since Colorado is so much more populated, it would be easier to write about. Nope. I’d try to write, but Jade wouldn’t show up. I only got a serious case of writer’s block. But as soon as I gave up and went back to Wyoming, all was well again.
When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
This is the hardest question you’ve asked. I’m not familiar with American actors since I only stream British TV. And a few of these choices would take a miracle to accomplish, but here goes:
An older Honeysuckle Weeks as Jade Blackwell

 
Michelle Dockery as Gabrielle Langdon and Joanne Froggatt as Deputy Crystal Metcalf

 
 
 
A living Geraldine McEwan as Phyllis Buckley

 
A younger Michael Kitchen as Christian Blackwell

 
Emma Watson as Penelope (Ellie) Blackwell

What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard?
Worst advice: Don’t bother. You can’t make a living as a writer.
Best advice: If you’ve got stories in you, write. Just start and learn as you go. Be the best you can be, and keep getting better as you learn the craft. The rest will take care of itself if you write great stories.


About the Author


 
Gilian Baker is a former English professor who has gone on to forge a life outside of academia by adding blogger, ghostwriter and cozy mystery author to her C.V. She currently uses her geeky superpowers only for good to entertain murder mystery readers the world over. When she’s not plotting murder for her Jade Blackwell cozy mystery series, you can find her puttering in her vegetable garden, knitting in front of the fire, snuggling with her husband watching British TV or discussing literary theory with her daughter.
Gilian lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with her family and their three pampered felines. In her next life, she fervently hopes to come back as a cat, though she understands that would be going down the karmic ladder.
Webpage – http://gilianbaker.com/blogging-murder-first-chapter/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/GilianBakerAuthor/
Amazon –  http://amazon.com/author/gilian-baker
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16252646.Gilian_Baker


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#Death at First Sight- Character Interview

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that something’s not right on Bay Island…
death-at-first-sight
Since she left her psychiatric practice in New York City to open up a psychic shop in her hometown on Bay Island, Cass Donovan has given her fair share of readings to conflicted customers. But what she sees in Ellie Callahan’s future doesn’t bode well.
When Ellie’s mother, Marge, publicly confronts Cass about the reading, the embarrassment makes her want to curl up and die. And when she later stumbles across Marge’s body—and is a suspect in her murder—Cass is suddenly the star of Bay Island’s rumor mill.
Cass is determined to prove her innocence and save Ellie from meeting the fate in her unfortunate vision. But even with the help of her friends Bee and Stephanie, Cass will have to channel some serious sleuthing instincts to find the real killer…


Q: Cass, thanks for stopping by Island Confidential! Tell our readers a little bit about yourself–maybe something we might not guess? 
A: My name is Cass Donovan, and I own a small psychic shop on Bay Island, a small island nestled between the north and south shores of Long Island, New York. Since I own a psychic shop, readers might not guess that I’m not actually psychic. At least, I never thought I was, though a few recent incidents have me questioning that assessment. Typically, I use my intuition, as well as years of psychiatric training, to dissect the small tells people don’t even realize they give away on a regular basis. Those gestures and subtle nuances usually give me enough information to come up with a fairly accurate “reading.”
Q: Who’s the character you get along with the best?
A: I’d probably have to say I get along best with my friend, Stephanie. We were childhood friends growing up on Bay Island, then fell out of touch for seventeen years when I went away to college and didn’t return. When I finally came back to Bay Island, our friendship picked up as if no time had passed at all. Of course, her husband, Tank, is a bit of a problem, only because he thinks I’m a bad influence and a magnet for trouble. I’m not sure where he got that idea from. Okay, maybe I have some idea…
Q:  Which other character do you have a conflict with?
A: My biggest conflict is with Marge Hawkins. I don’t have anything against her, really, except that she’s giving my friend, Bee, a hard time, but she has no use for me. She doesn’t believe in what I do and wants me to stay away from her daughter, Ellie. But Ellie and I are friends, and I would never offer her bad advice. And she trusts me, coming to me often for readings. One day, after she finds out I did a reading for Ellie, she calls me out in the middle of the deli. In case you don’t know, the deli is pretty much gossip central, so a public confrontation there spreads throughout the island like wildfire.
Q:  Just between you and me: What do you really think of your author, Lena Gregory?
A: Well, don’t ever tell her I said so, but she’s kind of stubborn. Sometimes, I try to tell her how to tell my story, and she insists on writing it her own way. Usually, I just shut up and let her do her thing, fully content she’ll back up and do it the way I told her to. She’d save herself a lot of time and frustration if she just did it my way in the first place.
Q: What’s next for you?
A: Winters on Bay Island don’t bring much business, so I’m working on a way to generate some extra income for the season. I don’t want to give away the surprise, but let’s just say it involves a séance and a haunted house.


About the Author

lena-gregory-portrait
Lena lives in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island with her husband and three children.
When she was growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons on the beach, in the yard, anywhere she could find to curl up with a good book. She loves reading as much now as she did then, but she now enjoys the added pleasure of creating her own stories.

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