Delaney Morran is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Eyes on the Road, the latest novel in the Tow Truck murder mystery series.

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

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

My name is Delaney Morran. In the Tow Truck Mystery Series, I receive a surprise inheritance—the keys to a tow truck—from my absent father. Despite the fact I hadn’t even changed a tire in all of my twenty-eight years, I decide to give this rough and dangerous business a chance. Hauling cars for suspicious characters provides plenty of opportunities to discover dead bodies. I have to assume a ton of bravado and toughen up my image as the high-heeled tow truck driver so I can help the handsome cowboy sheriff, Ephraim Lopez, find the killers in my otherwise safe mountain town.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

I make my own decisions and control the story of my life. I’m nothing like the writer! She’s twice my age, but since she acts half her age, I guess it comes out even.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I became known as the high-heeled tow truck driver when I showed up at my first job in my spiked-heeled stilettos. So I’d forgotten to pack my boots in the truck, stop rolling your eyes. Haven’t you ever forgotten anything? Like, every freaking day? And I have a good reason to be stressed since I’m the only female car hauler in this small town. A stubborn redhead, short but with a big personality, I didn’t know much about hauling cars at first, but my hunky mentor, Tanner Utley, showed me the business. Now I can identify cars on the road, operate my amazing self-loader truck, and deal with angry customers. Maybe I’m not the best car hauler around here, but I’m not too bad at digging for clues. And maybe my quest for truth has something to do with my dad’s unsolved death, too.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

You would think my closest friend, Kristen Guttenberg, would be by my side, but it’s not Kristen. It’s her cousin, Axle, an immature teen who works as an auto mechanic. Of course I have to rib him about his name. He has not yet come into his own, and he’s on the verge of either taking the right path or the wrong path. I call him my lil’ cuz’ and we play off each other, like the brother I never had, and in spite of him being a teenage mess, he’s a dependable guy I can count on.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Spruce Ridge, Colorado started out as a mining village, then became a tourist destination, a last stop on I-70 before the divide and ski resorts. Then it transformed once more, this time to a desirable second-home location for the rich and famous. One can encounter people such as Ephraim wearing cowboy boots, a throwback to the city’s western beginnings, as well as out-of-towners, outdoorsy types, celebrity icons…and folks like me, a car hauler who wears high heels. See, I fit right in.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

When I was seven my parents divorced, and I never saw Del Morran again. Not only is my dad’s fatal car accident a mystery, but why he left me his tow truck is mind boggling, too. The man who fathered me had given me his name, his Irish red hair, and his self-loader, but no fond memories. I don’t have cool pictures of him teaching me how to ride a bike or drive a car or shoot baskets or any special moments like I imagine every kid had but me. His death robbed me of the chance to know him, and I’m sad for what might have been. That little-girl-lost still hopes to get to know her father, except now it’s too late. So, I’m left with trying to make his business a success, trying being the operative word here. I’ve retained the business name, “Del’s Towing,” and I tell everyone it’s for continuity and name recognition, but the truth is, I like it when customers call me “Del.” Like my dad.

Thank you for answering my questions, Delaney, and good luck to you and your author, Karen C. Whalen, with Eyes on the Road, the latest book in the Tow Truck murder mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Delaney and her author, Karen C. Whalen by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

 Amazon    B&N

About Karen C. Whalen: Karen is the author of two mystery series for The Wild Rose Press: the Dinner Club Mysteries featuring Jane Marsh, an empty nester who hosts a gourmet dinner club, and the Tow Truck Mysteries starring Delaney Morran, a super feminine shoe-a-holic who drives a tow truck. Both are cozy mysteries about strong friendships and family ties set in Colorado. The first book in the Dinner Club series tied for First Place in the Suspense Novel category of the 2017 IDA Contest sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America. Whalen worked for many years as a paralegal at a law firm in Denver, Colorado and was a columnist and regular contributor to The National Paralegal Reporter magazine. Whalen loves to host dinner parties, entertain friends, ride bicycles, hike in the mountains, walk on the beach, and read cozy murder mysteries.