Dawna Carpenter is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Hammers and Homicide, the first novel in the Hometown Hardware mystery series.

Welcome, Dawna. 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.

Hello there! I’m Dawna Carpenter, the owner and operator of Carpenter’s Corner Hardware and Building Supply in Pine Bluff, Oregon. My late husband was a building contractor and helped me out in the store when he could. Now that he’s gone, I’m on my own here, although I’ve hired a man with a carpentry background to help me out.

My daughter, April, has recently moved back to town and taken over the design side of my business. I love having her here, even though it means I have to hide my crazy from her. Okay, maybe not so much crazy, just the little fact that I sense my late husband is still hanging around the family home. So what if I have long, drawn out conversations with him? I can’t be the first person to talk to their deceased loved ones.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense. You asked about the novel I live inside, and, like usual, I got off track a little bit. Hammers and Homicide starts off innocently enough with a bigwig land developer in town to buy up our local landmark, the Emery Theater, and turn it into some kind of swanky hotel. He’s already found his way to the bad side of several locals, and to top it off, he winds up dead in the bathroom of my hardware store. To make matters worse, one of my good friends is arrested for the crime. I don’t believe for a minute that Bill did it, so what could I do? I jumped in feet first to find the real killer, and dragged April along to help me snoop…I mean, investigate.

This is the first book in the series, but I think I have more murders to solve, don’t you?

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

She thinks she does, but I’m a pretty strong-willed woman. Nobody pulls my strings. Hahaha. Just kidding. My writer and I get along great, for the most part. Every once in a while, we’ll butt heads, but we talk it out and usually come up with a solution both of us can live with.

How did you evolve as the main character?

My writer tells me that her grandmother was the inspiration for my character, but I quickly emerged as my own person. Her grandmother owned a hardware store in a small town very much like Pine Bluff, and even her house and mine are weirdly alike. We’re both not great cooks but apparently that’s mostly what we have in common. I wish we could’ve met. I think I would’ve liked her.

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

Oh, yeah. Scads of them. I love Pine Bluff and a big part of that is because of the kind people who live here.

Like I mentioned, my daughter April lives here and helps me solve the mystery. She’s a spitfire, if I do say so myself. We tease each other mercilessly and have a fun relationship. Then there’s my best friend Evonne. We’ve known each other since second grade. She’s my ride-or-die friend. Everyone needs one. Our town police chief is J.T. Dallas. He’s a couple of years older than April and I think sparks are finally flying between the two of them. J.T.’s not a bumbling country cop. He’s smart as a whip and highly capable. There are bunches more people I could rattle on about, but I don’t want to bore you to death on our first chat.

Hey, I’ll tell you what. Pick up the book and you can meet them all for yourself!

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

Pine Bluff? It’s a small town sitting in a picturesque valley in the Blue Mountains of Northeastern Oregon. I love it here and can’t imagine living anywhere else. The mountains are craggy, beautiful, and remote. We’re kind of tucked up in this corner of the world all by ourselves, and we like it that way.

My hardware store sits on the last block of Main Street with an upscale western clothing and makeup store, Lipstick and Lace, in the same grey stone building. Even though the town is small, we boast some great shops and eating establishments. The Stage Stop Café makes the most delicious homemade pies, Literally carries the latest books, Rocking M Coffee Company can’t be beat, and we have a fantastic grocery store, just to name a few.

The Elk River runs along the edge of town, providing nice fishing holes and places to swim in the summer. Our mountains are amazing for hiking and spotting wildlife. The outdoor recreation around here is second to none.  

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

It’s set in the warmth of summer, so now seems like the perfect time to curl up on the couch and pretend you’re in a warmer season than the one dumping that snow in your yard. The other characters and I will be here, waiting to meet you!

Thank you for answering my questions, Dawna, and good luck to you and your author, Paula Charles, with Hammers and Homicide, the first book in the Hometown Hardware mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Dawna and her author, Paula Charles by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads and Instagram pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org

About Paula Charles: When Paula Charles isn’t writing under the towering trees of the Pacific Northwest, she can be found in the garden with her hands in the dirt or sitting on her front porch with a good book and a glass of iced tea. She has a love for small towns, ghost stories, and pie. Paula lives on a small farm in Southwestern Washington with her patient husband and a handful of furry and feathered critters. Paula also writes cozy mysteries under the pen name of Janna Rollins.