Today Jodi Linton is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about, Raiders of the Campsite, her latest novel in the Southwest Exposure mystery series.

Welcome, Jodi. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too. Raiders of the Campsite is book three in my Southwest Exposure Mystery Series. The series is set in the fictionalized town of Bushwhack, New Mexico and follow our sleuth, Andie Sullivan, who owns an outdoor tour company with her brother.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from? Raiders of the Ark. Lol. I’m an eighties baby, and I grew up watching Indiana Jones movies with my brothers. I’d also just recently gone camping with my family, which during the camping trip I fell and busted up my knee. Go figure. So, I thought it would be fun to write a mystery set during a camping trip with buried treasure.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it? I’d say the theme of the story is you don’t have to be blood to be family. I’m adopted, a daughter of divorce family and through the years I have had to discover what true family means to me. In Raiders of the Campsite, Andie puts herself on the line to protect her friend and bring her friend justice. I wanted to show this side of her, because I know family is what or who you make it. After this past year, I really evaluated who I considered my family and what family actually meant to me. And I concluded to me…my family is the people who are there for me and want the best for me, no matter the cost. They are the people I’ll give my everything to, blood, sweat and tears and they don’t tear me down. Nor do I them. My hope is that after reading Raiders of the Campsite, you’ll come away with a sense of family, connection between the characters. And most of all have a smile on your face.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them? My characters just really come to me. Sometimes they have little instances of me, my kids, my husband in them. But other times, I’ll just think I want this one to be quirky or this character to be grumpy and it’ll go from there. At the moment, I’d say my favorite character to write is Zac Mars. I’m having fun with his arc.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about? We travel to New Mexico at least two to three times a year. When there I’m always mentally thinking that place would make a good spot for the series or that scenic view is awesome.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel? Travel to the location.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book? Just have fun while reading, and enjoy a good escape with Andie even if you aren’t a camper.

Thank you for answering my questions, Jodi, and good luck with Raiders of the Campsite, the latest book in the Southwest Exposure mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Jodi by visiting her website and her Facebook, Bookbub, and Goodreads pages, and her Facebook Readers Group.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon  B&N    Kobo     iBooks

About Jodi Linton: Jodi is an author of several romance novels and cozy mysteries. She pens funny, romantic, whodunnits during her days in between being a carpool mom. She lives in Texas with her husband, with who she runs the family day business with and two kids. When she isn’t writing her next page turner, she likes to delve into her hobby of finding all the cool, new makeup products to buy.