Dot Morgan is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Crying in the Chapel, the latest novel in the Swinging Sixties mystery series.

Welcome, Dot. 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 Dot Morgan, and I live inside the novel series, The Swinging Sixties. This is my life in Camden, Texas from 1962 to 1966. Crying in the Chapel is in 1966. I live in a small town outside of Dallas where I work as a secretary. I’m pretty good at it, too, but I have had a rocky work history. I have an eye for detail, which can be extremely helpful if someone has met an untimely death. I often team up with my cousin Ellie, who runs Bluebonnet’s Dress Shop, Mary Oliva, a policewoman who struggles to get her theories noticed at the police department, and Ben, my boyfriend who works as a reporter for the local newspaper. 

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too? Teresa controls most of what I do, but my cousin Ellie has gotten by her a few times. She tends to get some wild ideas like joining the Peace Corps and breaking all the traditional rules of courting after her boyfriend, Al, moves a little too slow. We love Ellie for that! 

How did you evolve as the main character?  I started out in secretarial school with a teacher who wanted to see me fail. It took me some time to figure out it was her problem, not mine. Then I worked for a series of bosses. Some were nice while others were obnoxious, and one wanted to chase me around my desk. You just never know. I’ve learned to depend on my friends and family and that I’m very good at focusing on little things. This is not good for someone planning to get away with murder.  

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them? The other characters are there for me whether I’m confronting a murderer or falling in love. I’m partial to Ben, who I get to marry in Crying in the Chapel. I love him because he knows the real me. I’m not just a secretary, but a secretary who can outthink a killer. 

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story? In Crying in the Chapel, I spend most of my time at a small community church. There is a bell that rings throughout the town, stained glass windows, pews that need dusting and hymnals that need straightening. Lucky for us we have Earl, a volunteer who takes care of all these things. Earl is a lovely man, even though he does have a penchant for listening in on other people’s conversations and then trying to interfere.  

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book? Crying in the Chapel is the fifth book in the series, but you can read it as a standalone. The sixth book, Paperback Writer, will be out in 2027. 

The Swinging Sixties Mystery Series 

1. The Twist and Shout Murder 
2. If I Had a Hammer 
3. Listen, Do You Want to Know a Secret? 
4. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction 
5. Crying in the Chapel 

Thank you for answering my questions, Dot, and good luck to you and your author, Teresa Trent, with Crying in the Chapel, the latest book in the Swinging Sixties mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Dot and her author, Teresa Trent by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub, and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter/X and Threads.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon    Barnes and Noble      Kobo      Bookshop.org      Bookbub

About Teresa Trent: Teresa has been writing and publishing mysteries since 2011 starting with the Pecan Bayou Mystery Series and followed by the Piney Woods Mystery Series. She presently writes the Swinging Sixties Mystery Series and the Henry Park Paranormal Series. When Teresa isn’t writing novels and short stories, she spends her time creating narrated excerpts on her podcast, Books to the Ceiling, where she gets to use all that community theater experience from her teens and twenties along with a little audio editing she learned from her daughter. Teresa is a former English teacher, but also spent many years teaching music to preschoolers, working with children of all abilities. Teresa makes her home in Texas with her husband and son.