A Murder Most Fowl

Posted on September 1, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Seth Lloyd, from A Murder Most Fowl, a Food Truck mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us a bit about surviving his sister and a reality show.

Welcome, Seth. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

People often ask me how I ended up on a reality cooking show while working at one of Clementine’s only law offices and preparing for the bar exam. The answer? I didn’t. Not exactly.

My sister, Beth, tricked me. She got me to sign a consent form while I was absorbed in a basketball game. I trusted her—after all, she’s my twin—but I didn’t notice the fine print until it was too late. And now? I’m reluctantly joining her on The Food Truck Showdown.

I’m Seth. Pragmatic. Tall, organized (mostly) twin. A law student who prefers spreadsheets to frying oil, hiking trails to dodging fried chicken grease. Beth, on the other hand, is a foot shorter, strawberry-blond, freckled whirlwind of chaos. She loves to remind me that she’s the older twin, but thanks to her leap year birthday, she’s legally seven years younger. That’s my trump card, which I play liberally when she tries to pull the “older sister” line.

Working on the truck with Beth is… an exercise in patience, improvisation, and occasionally wondering how we’re still allowed to operate in Clementine. She’s all energy and ideas, throwing together sauces nobody asked for, inventing marketing stunts on the fly, and somehow managing to make a disaster look like a culinary masterpiece. I, on the other hand, am the spreadsheet twin: planning prep schedules, inventory, and backup fryer oil like a defensive lineman guarding a touchdown.

Some days feel like I’m babysitting a hurricane in an apron. Yesterday, Beth decided our wings needed a “special dance move” before going in the fryer—don’t ask—and I spent twenty minutes convincing a producer that tossing poultry in rhythm isn’t actually required. But then, she nailed it. The wings were crispy, the sauce was perfect, and a customer gave her a high-five so enthusiastic it made the chaos worth it.

We’re total opposites, but somehow it works. Mostly because I keep us from getting shut down by the health inspector, and manage to smile through her half-baked ideas. Our differences go beyond looks or truck operations. Her idea of cardio is walking from the kitchen to the couch while doing arm curls with pints of mint chip ice cream. Mine is an actual hike through the hills outside Clementine… preferably with no grease stains on my backpack. I like to relax with a comedy or by reviewing case studies. She falls asleep to true-crime documentaries and quotes her favorite true-crime podcast like it’s scripture.

Even with our differences, there’s a rhythm to it: Beth runs the show, I manage the logistics, and together we’re surviving the chaos of long filming days, surprise murder questions, and reality TV producers who think “timing” is just a suggestion. And while I complain (a lot), I know I wouldn’t trade it for all the perfectly organized case files in the world.

Supporting Beth has always been my job. And I love it. I just wish “support” didn’t include bailing her out of jail while dressed as a giant chicken or keeping her from being charged with a murder she didn’t commit. I’ve helped her more times than I can count, and now I can only hope she’ll remember that when she eventually learns the biggest secret I’m keeping from her.

Beth and I have a no-lying-to-each-other rule. Normally, that would make things straightforward. But this? This is outside my control. If she finds out what I’ve been doing behind her back… well, let’s just say she’s capable of actual murder. For now, my cards stay close to my chest. I pray that when she learns the truth, she forgives me. Or at least doesn’t assault me with a spatula. In the meantime, my focus is getting us through the next food truck challenge and keeping Beth out of county lockup… again.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Seth, and good luck to you and your author Camela Dutra with A Murder Most Fowl, the first book in the Food Truck mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Seth Lloyd and his author, Camela Dutra by visiting the author’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Readers can also follow her on Threads and Twitter/X.

The book is available online at the following retailers: 

Amazon    Barnes & Noble      Bookshop.org    Penguin Random House

About Camela Dutra: Hailing from the Bay Area of California, Carmela Dutra cherishes her family, rainy days, and making others laugh. After years of working on her award-winning indie children’s picture books, she transitioned into crafting cozy mysteries filled with emotion, humor and heart.

When she’s not penning her latest tale, Carmela enjoys sketching, sipping copious amounts of coffee, and over-cuddling her allergy-inducing cats and dog. She shares her life with her best friend and husband, raising two dinosaur-obsessed sons. A lover of alternative rock, Carmela often writes to its rhythm and finds comfort in rewatching The Big Bang Theory and M*A*S*H.

Posted in September 2025 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mrs Christie at the Mystery Guild Library

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Amanda Chapman, author of Mrs Christie at the Mystery Guild Library, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to introduce us to Nicola Van Dyne and her cousin Nic

Welcome, Amanda. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

As book conservator for Manhattan’s Mystery Guild Library, Tory Van Dyne prides herself on living a safe, sane, sensible life. So she’s not exactly pleased when she discovers a woman in the library’s Christie Room who calmly introduces herself as Agatha Christie (which Tory totally does not believe), politely requests a cocktail, and announces she’s there to help solve a murder—that has not yet happened.

But happen it does. And soon Tory and the woman claiming to be her very much deceased literary idol begin to unravel the twists and turns of a murderer’s devious mind, aided by an unlikely band of fellow sleuths—including her socialite/actor cousin Nicola, a snarky librarian, an NYPD detective with terrible taste in suits, and an eleven-year-old Irish computer whiz.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Tory’s cousin Nic, popularly known as one of the three Belles of Broadway. Actually, let’s let Tory do the honors: 

“And then there was my younger cousin Nic, whose “reality mirrors fiction” debut as Christine in Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera was theater lore. Here was a girl stepping in at the last minute to replace the lead in a play about a girl stepping in at the last minute to replace the lead in a play. And the crowd had loved it. From the moment Nic began to sing her little heart out with a ringing “Think of Me,” the audience was hers. And for the next two years, she was theirs. Nic absolutely blossomed in the limelight, whether onstage or off.

Onstage was better, of course, but off was fun, too. As a card-carrying member of New York’s charity gala brigade, Nic was a photographer’s dream, and her wide, delighted smile and outré fashions often spiced up the staid society columns of Town & Country and Avenue Magazine. Besides being, in Nic’s view, “super fun,” this ubiquity on the red carpet ensured that she remained in the public eye when she was “resting between roles.” And if there was no red carpet available, she thought nothing of shimmying out of the latest Alexander McQueen confection to frolic with her two best friends in Central Park’s Three Dancing Maidens fountain wearing only her teeny, tiny silk La Perlas. A photo of which escapade, when posted online by the New York Post, absolutely blew up the internet.”

It is Nic who is the true Van Dyne in the way that Tory can’t be:

“I had always been an observer of life rather than a participant. In fifth grade, while Nic was rehearsing her starring role as Maria in the Spence School production of The Sound of Music, I was diligently scribbling away at my book report on Murder on the Orient Express. In high school, while Nic devoured Teen Vogue’s advice on “50 Ways to Rock Your Own Look,” I was researching my senior paper on “Costume as Character in Golden Age Mysteries.”

            Nic lived her life out loud. I lived mine at a whisper.”

Well, not for long Tory Van Dyne. Because that night — that rainy Sunday night in late September when a woman wearing well-polished brogues, sensible tweeds, five strands of big, fat pearlsanda hat like a deflated soufflé introduced herself as Agatha Christie —  Nic arrived with a little problem:

“In front of me, huddled under the Ionic-columned portico to avoid the rain, was my cousin Nic. That day, she was all Cool Cinderella in a blue satin Fendi jacket, white Rag & Bone jeans and red Doc Martens. She’d accessorized her look with a pair of chandelier earrings made of some hippie-looking red beads that matched the boots perfectly. She’d clearly rushed out without an umbrella, but even dripping wet, she looked great.”

     “I have a problem,” Nic said.

Before I asked what the problem might be—because with Nic there is always a problem—I felt obliged to point out the perils of going out on a rainy evening without an umbrella. “You know, Nic, you’ve pretty much ruined that Fendi jacket.”

“Oh, Tory,” Nic wailed, “Who cares about a stupid jacket?” Well, you would usually. “This is an emergency.”

Even then, I wasn’t particularly worried. All of Nic’s little problems tended to be emergencies.

I glanced back at the staircase, nervous about leaving my visitor alone for too long. “Can it wait?” I asked. “I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“No, it can’t wait,” Nic keened. “Oh, Tory, somebody’s poisoned Bertram!”

It is only much later, looking back to that fateful night, that Tory wonders if she “somehow knew then that my safe, sane, sensible life was as dead as a body with a knife in its back in one of Dame Agatha’s own mysteries.”

Thank you for sharing this with us, Amanda, and good luck with Mrs Christie at the Mystery Guild Library. Readers can learn more about Amanda Chapman by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Instagram and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

PenguinRandomHouse  – Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org – Kobo

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About Amanda Chapman (aka Amy Pershing): She is a lifelong mystery lover and wordsmith. Under the name Amy Pershing, she is also the author of the Cape Cod Foodie mysteries. An enthusiastic fan of traditional mysteries and of New York City, she found herself wondering, “What if someone recreated Agatha Christie’s personal library -– even to the furnishings and architecture — in New York City? What would happen in that space?” And thus MRS. CHRISTIE AT THE MYSTERY GUILD LIBRARY — the first in a new series — was born.

Posted in Archives, August 2025 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pleats and Poison

Posted on August 27, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Claudia Grant is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Pleats and Poison, the latest novel in the Craft and Ghost Cozy Mystery series (A Dress Designer Cozy Mystery).

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

Claudia, can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Of course! I’m Claudia Grant, owner of Grants Gowns in the charming small town of Drakes Bay, Maine. I inherited the dress shop from my late Uncle Herman, whose ghost, by the way, is my constant companion. My specialty is designing wedding gowns, but to keep Lola, my inherited kitty, in tuna, I also design and sell sundresses and suits, and collaborate with Beth Stewart, owner of Knit or Purl, of handcraft hats, mittens and sweaters. People come to buy clothes, but sometimes they end up inadvertently sharing secrets—and in a small town like ours, secrets don’t stay hidden for long. Especially when my resident ghost decides to chime in with his opinion.

What does a typical day look like for you?
I usually start my mornings with coffee—lots of it—and enjoy the view of the Atlantic Ocean from my deck.  After that, I open the dress shop, sew and focus on new designs and sew not on murder. At least I try. Somehow, I get pulled into a mystery—whether it’s getting caught holding a gun over a dead body, a stolen box of buttons, or a new ghost confused about how she became one, it’s all in a day’s work for me.

By evening, I’m either solving crimes with the help of my new BFF Beth—or chatting with my Uncle Herman as he continues to mentor me. Shh, I think that’s why he hasn’t crossed over yet. He’s worried about leaving the business before I’m capable of running it to his standards. But I don’t mind I enjoy his company. And somewhere in the middle of life I’m on the cusp of a new romance, but we’re taking our time. After all, how could I explain talking to thin air?

Do you like the way Lucinda recounts your adventures?
Ha! Let’s just say she has a habit of putting me in some tricky situations. I mean, not everyone in Drakes Bay should get caught up in a crime, right? However, she’s doing a great job of pulling my new friends into tricky situations. Thankfully, she’s given me a sharp wit, a supportive circle of friends, and a knack for noticing details. So yes, I suppose I’ll keep her.

Any pointers you’d like to give Lucinda?
Yes. Less danger, more time to relax and hang out with my new friends. Also, maybe a little more time for my budding romance wouldn’t hurt. I keep dropping hints, but she’s stubborn. Readers—help me out here!

Facts about Claudia:

Occupation: Owner of Grants Gowns, where murder and fashion are always in style

Pet Sidekick: Lola, the Himalayan cat I inherited from Uncle Herman along with the business and building overlooking the ocean

Human Sidekick: Beth Stewart, owner of Knit or Purl, and my partner in sleuthing, we call ourselves the Sofa Sleuths.

Secret Talent: I talk to ghosts—and they’re not shy about offering “help” on my investigations.

Unexpected Hobby: Solving murders in my adopted home town (I swear I don’t go looking for them… they just find me).

Fuel of Choice: Endless cups of coffee—and the occasional lemon treat to keep her spirits up.

Thank you for answering my questions, Claudia, and good luck to you and your author, Lucinda Race, with Pleats and Poison, the latest book in the Craft and Ghost Cozy Mystery series (A Dress Designer Cozy Mystery).

Readers can learn more about Claudia and her author, Lucinda Race by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest pages. You can also follow her on BlueSky.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon     Kobo    Barnes & Noble Smashwords     Google Play    Goodreads    BookBub

About Lucinda Race: Award-winning and best-selling author Lucinda Race is a lifelong fan of fiction who fell in love with cozy mysteries and romance novels as a young girl. While her childhood friends dreamed of becoming doctors and engineers, Lucinda was already dreaming of crafting captivating novels filled with heart, hope, and happily ever afters.

Though her writing journey began with nonfiction, her passion for storytelling never wavered. She returned to her true calling—creating the beloved McKenna Family Romance series and the Paranormal Cozy Nook Bookstore Series—writing the kinds of stories she loves to read. Whether she’s weaving a heartwarming romance or a cozy mystery, her fingers practically fly across the keyboard.

Lucinda lives in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts with her little dog— a shih tzu mix rescue—who is always by her side. When she’s not immersed in writing mystery, suspense, or romance, she’s curled up with a book, devouring everything she can get her hands on.

Posted in Archives, August 2025 | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Dish Best Served Dead

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Tiffany Austin is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about A Dish Best Served Dead, the latest novel in the Tiffany Austin Food Blogger mystery series.

Welcome, Tiffany. 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. 

A DISH BEST SERVED DEAD is the third in the Tiffany Austin Food Blogger series.  Tiffany is an ex-chef who moved back to her hometown of Branson Georgia after a breakup and took a job as a food blogger on a magazine.  She just can’t seem to NOT get involved in a good mystery!

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

Oh, I definitely get a say. Lots of times my ‘voice’ takes over and supplants what the writer originally had in mind.

How did you evolve as the main character?  I started out that way LOL.

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

I’m partial to my BFF, Hilary, who helps me quite a lot and, of course, with my current flame, Detective Phil Bartell.

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

It’s a food convention called “Foodie Fest” and for an ex-chef, it’s an exciting place, all these different food samples to taste!  Too bad a murder had to ruin it!

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

I think readers will enjoy the food descriptions and watching me piece the clues together!

Thank you for answering my questions, Tiffany, and good luck to you and your author, T. C. Lotempio, with A Dish Best Served Dead, the latest book in the Tiffany Austin Food Blogger mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Tiffany and her author, T. C. Lotempio by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter/X.

The novel is available online at  Amazon

About T. C. Lotempio: T.C. LoTempio is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of the Nick and Nora Mysteries, the Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries, and the Cat Rescue Mysteries. Born in New York City, she now resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her two cats, Maxx and Rocco. Rocco prides himself on being the inspiration for her Nick and Nora series! 

Posted in August 2025 | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Turning Toward Eden

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Cate Touryan, author of Turning Toward Eden is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Turning Toward Eden is a seaside mystery laced with Cold War intrigue. Set in a 1971 California coastal town, it’s a standalone story where rumors shroud the truth like fog across the shore. The crimes are petty at first—a stolen rope, egged cars, hacked flower beds—but soon escalate to bloodshed on the beach. Suspicions fall on an elusive Soviet girl and her uncle, rumored to be Bolshevik spies. When whispers turn toward fourteen-year-old Eden Lewis—newly uprooted from Texas and stuck caring for her disabled brother after her father walks out—she’s forced into a reckless search for the truth. Eden resolves to unmask the mysterious girl behind the mayhem, even if it means risking her brother’s life.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

The elusive Soviet character took shape during my high school years in the ’70s, inspired by a shunned, solitary classmate with a Slavic surname. Garbed in theatrical clothes with flowers woven in her hair, she became fodder for outlandish imaginings, including “what if she’s a Soviet spy?”

As do most adolescents, we distrusted “the other,” and had the Cold War tensions not heightened suspicion, our own prejudices would have. She has lingered in my memory since.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

I wanted to tell a coming-of-age story where the internal mystery that adolescents try to solve—“Who am I? Where do I belong? What matters most? Is there a God and does he care about me?”—paralleled an external mystery, one that would draw my main character, Eden, out of herself and toward the elusive answers.

Laden with several meanings, the title Turning Toward Eden hints at Eden’s spiritual arc as she sets out to discover who is behind the crimes.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favorite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

Eden’s severely disabled brother, ten-year-old Dex, was inspired by my own brother, and I’ve dedicated the novel to him as well as to my father—who is nothing like the father in the book. My father devoted himself to my brother’s care until my aging father could no longer tend to boy growing taller than him. All my characters reflect aspects of people I’ve known. Reverend Travers is the best and worst of the various pastors of my youth. When I lived in Avila Beach, a crusty old fisherman used to tell me tales. He became Jake. Eden reflects the once-adolescent in all of us, with a good dose of one daughter’s spunk and another daughter’s introspection and maybe not a little bit of my own youthful chafing.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

In my early twenties, I lived for a year in “Harford Beach,” a fictionalized Avila Beach on California’s central coast. For ten years before that, I lived only minutes away, so all I needed to do was plumb my memories. I still live within ten miles of the coast, so while writing the book, I made frequent trips to Avila, breathing in the smells, imbibing the colors and textures, and then imbuing my descriptions with a retro vibe.

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

What I couldn’t remember, I researched in local histories of Avila Beach, and what I couldn’t find in books or online, I gleaned from family and friends—first-hand witnesses of the era and locale.

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

It’s a genre-buster, or maybe better, a genre-fusion novel—a coming-of-age, historical mystery, a YA-adult crossover, faith informed, but not faith marketed, a touch literary and gilded in Southern gothic. As one reviewer wrote, Turning Toward Eden is “as delightfully enigmatic to classify as Raven [the Soviet girl] is to know.”

A novel that doesn’t fit neatly into a category is often a mystery in itself. I would love to hear from your readers how they might solve that mystery!

Thank you so much for this opportunity to share Eden—and myself—to your lovely readers.

Thank you for answering my questions, Cate, and good luck with Turning Toward Eden.

Readers can learn more about Cate Touryan by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter/X.

The novel is available online at Amazon 

About Cate Touryan: Cate writes fiction and creative nonfiction that reach for the story beyond the story and the beginning beyond “The End.” Her complex, realistic narratives often touch on themes of faith. While she avoids gratuitous violence and profanity, keeping any romance clean, she does not shy away from portraying the grit and beauty of real life, instead writing the truest story she can, infused with heart and humor. Her fiction will delight young adults and adults still young.

Cate invites you to journey with her into lives both real and imagined, wherein might lie glimpses of your own story beyond the story and an ending redeemed.

Posted in Archives, August 2025, July 2025 | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Death at Rock Bottom

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Petra Cloch is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Death at Rock Bottom, the latest novel in the Reluctantly Psychic murder mystery series.

Welcome, Petra. 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.

I’m in The Reluctant Psychic series, which pretty much tells you about me. I have psychometry, which means I can pick up an object and read emotions left behind by other people. I don’t want to, but I can’t control it.

I started a new job in a small New Mexico town, curating the geology wing of a weird private museum. My predecessor there died under circumstances no one else found suspicious, but I picked up a rock in his office and had a vision of violence. That experience was detailed in A Stone Cold Murder.

You’d think dealing with one violent death would be enough for a lifetime, but no. Supposedly Frank Underwood died of natural causes while hiking in the desert, but since this is a murder mystery series, you know that can’t be true. Then his wife showed up claiming Frank had found something incredible in the desert, but nobody knows what it was or where it is now. Oh, and he was rambling about aliens? I might mind my own business, but my new friend Liberty wants to find out what happened to her late friend, and I owe her, so I got dragged into a new problem. You can read about it in Death at Rock Bottom.

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

She shoves me into situations or throws problems at me, and I have to deal with them. How is that fair?

How did you evolve as the main character?

Most of the people I was close to when younger betrayed me, so I’ve been closed off to friendship for the last 15 years. But now my new colleagues are dragging me out to lunch and inviting me to a book club, where I’m meeting more interesting women. They seem to like me? Or at least they’re ready to like me, if I don’t screw it up.

That doesn’t mean I’m ready to let everyone know I have a psychic power, but it turns out friendship is nice. I learned the term “found family” from one of the book club books. (We do actually read some, not just drink wine, eat great snacks, and occasionally solve murders.) It’s possible I’m finding a family here. That’s both terrifying and wonderful.

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

When I investigated my first murder in Bonneville, I wound up telling a new friend and colleague about my psychic power. That wasn’t too incredibly difficult, for a couple of reasons. First, Liberty sees auras, so she probably wouldn’t think I was insane or lying about having psychometry. Second, I needed her help right away, so I didn’t have time to overthink and second-guess the decision to tell her. And it was actually okay!

But it’s been getting harder to keep my secret from my other new friends. I don’t have much practice being an adult friend, but I’m pretty sure a good one doesn’t keep secrets like that. It would be different if I never used my psychic power, but I can’t help it. If I touch something, I generally get information from it, and that seems like unfair insight into people. It’s hard to hang out with people and never touch anything of theirs. Imagine going to someone’s house and refusing to sit in a chair or touch a glass.

So my choice is to take a big risk and let people see the real me, or avoid human contact forever. Honestly, I’m not sure which sounds worse. 

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

Bonneville is a small town, around 2,000 people, in southeastern New Mexico. It has desert, grasslands, and mountains nearby. I could do without the summer heat, but otherwise it’s great. I work at the Banditt Museum, a quirky private museum run by Peyton Banditt, who seems to think he’ll secure his place in history by turning this little tourist attraction into a respected museum. My comfort zone would involve fewer strangers coming through every day, but mainly I’m happy to be employed. There aren’t a lot of jobs for someone who doesn’t like talking to people or handling objects.

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

I don’t really like to talk about myself, so I’ll let some readers of A Stone Cold Murder add their comments.

“Petra is such a compelling lead. Her psychometry isn’t just a plot device—it’s a curse that’s shaped her entire life… And her journey from isolation to finally letting people in? Perfection.”

“…what truly resonated with me was Petra’s emotional journey. Her anxiety about being discovered, her cautious approach to forming friendships, and her affection for her pets (the cats! the ferrets! my heart!) made her character incredibly relatable. I found myself laughing, gasping, and perhaps shedding a tear or two.”

“The prose is sharp, the mystery is addictive, and Petra’s journey is one I won’t forget. If you love atmospheric thrillers with a deeply human core, you need this book.”

In the Reluctant Psychic Mystery series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries at the museum of oddities where she works.

A Stone Cold Murder (A Reluctant Psychic Murder Mystery book 1): Petra Cloch starts working at a quirky private museum in smalltown New Mexico. When she picks up a rock in her new office, she feels flashes of rage, fear and death. Everyone says her predecessor died in a car crash, but what if he was murdered? If he died because of the job, she could be next.


Death at Rock Bottom (A Reluctant Psychic Murder Mystery book 2): Petra gets drawn into another mystery after the death of a retired petroleum engineer and rockhound who died while hiking. Frank acted odd in his last weeks, whispering about aliens. Was he showing the first signs of dementia, or were more sinister forces at work? Petra’s book club becomes a crime-fighting club, but Petra must use her psychic gift and her brains to fight through the clues along with her newfound family.

Thank you for answering my questions, Petra, and good luck to you and your author, Kris Bock, with Death at Rock Bottom, the latest book in the Reluctantly Psychic murder mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Petra and her author, Kris Bock by visiting the author’s website and her Goodreads, Bookbub, Mastodon and BlueSky pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Publisher – Amazon – B&N – Apple – Kobo – Google Play – GoodReads

About Kris Bock: Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with Southwestern landscapes. In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. This humorous series starts with Something Shady at Sunshine Haven, which made Barnes & Noble’s list of “Handpicked Favorites You’ll Love!” Kris’s romantic suspense novels include stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue. Readers have called these novels “Smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel.”

Learn more about Kris’s books or sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter and get an Accidental Detective short story and other freebies. Then every two weeks, you’ll get fun content about pets, announcements of new books, sales, and more. As for Kris’s romance stories, the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series stars the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. In the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series, a Texas ranching family wins a fortune in the lottery, which causes as many problems as it solves.

Posted in Archives, August 2025, July 2025 | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder

Posted on July 31, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Maeve Gardner is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us a little about A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder.

Welcome, Maeve. 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.

The story I live inside is my life, and sometimes as they say, life comes at you fast. I thought I’d done well ditching my cheating ex, Gavin. Cut him out of my life and moved on board my boat, the Writer’s Revenge. It was a fresh start for me and my canine companion Captain Jack. Until the Captain managed to unearth a load of cash hidden in a dock bumper next to our home. I reported it to the police but by the time they arrived it had gone missing. Just my luck. I thought they might not believe me when I said something was amiss. But when they found Gavin’s dead body floating face down in the water next to my boat, they seemed convinced. Unfortunately, they were also keen to believe that I had something to do with his presence there. Was it because I ghostwrite mysteries for a living? They were sure I’d gone from penning murders to perpetrating them. It took a long time to sort this out. May I say I almost died. Makes me hope that there isn’t any more adventure in my life for a while, but somehow, I have a sneaky suspicion that we didn’t get to the bottom of everything this time around.

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

Well, as a writer myself I like to think I have the presence of mind to have some input here and there. She can try to tell my story, but sometimes I am faced with a situation that sends me careening off in a wild direction and the author person is forced to just follow along.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I’ve always been known as a hard worker. Keep your head down and plow ahead. Do the right thing, but finding myself a suspect in a murder inquiry made me sit up and take notice. When no one believes you and you are forced to fight for yourself you discover reserves of strength you didn’t know you had. Who’d have thought that all my years of writing about PI Simon Hill would give me some insights into my own situation. Questions to ask and mistakes to avoid. But I would never have made it without my friends, old and new.

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

I have two friends who’ve been by my side for years and a new friend who lives off my forward bow. India is my best mate. She runs a floating bookshop and is loyal and no nonsense. The things she’s done over the past few weeks to support me I never would have believed. She’s the best. India lives in a tiny flat behind our favorite riverside pub, the Anchor. The Anchor’s landlord Paul is my other close mate. Paul would’ve made a great 80‘s rock and roller––a brooding lead guitar––taut and muscular with heaps of barely contained energy, like a coiled spring waiting for release. His hair’s close cropped, the vestiges of a stint in the navy from what I’ve been able to gather, but I know little else about his past. He’s our mystery man.

What I do know is he’s the perfect publican––serious minded, softly spoken and a good listener. The kind of man that never needs to shout but is always heard.  If you’re in trouble, Paul’s your man. Deeply dependable. Solid.

And our new friend is Ash. Ash is a video gamer and a computer whiz. A hacker according to some, a gifted security analyst according to others. Either way he’s given his all for my cause and I can’t thank him enough.

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

I absolutely adore my home. I live on a narrow boat along the Regent’s Canal in London. The Writer’s Revenge is a narrow-beamed canalboat––five times as long as she is wide––painted a pale yellow with vibrant royal-blue trim along the roof line. We live full time on the canal behind Regent’s Park.

The canals have been a part of London’s history since the early 19th century. Canal boats were used to transport goods from the docks in London to the four corners of the country. They were towed upriver by horses and raised and lowered as necessary through an elaborate series of locks. The system was the lifeblood of British commerce until the advent of the railway and from that time on the canals fell into disrepair––neglected and largely unused. 

But in the late 1970’s renewed interest in the canals spurred a renaissance for the old waterways. Regent’s Canal is now one of the most popular of the waterside neighborhoods. Cyclists use the towpaths to commute and a flotilla of residential longboats bob nose to tail along the sides of the canal like brightly painted circus caravans. It’s a magical place, when you aren’t being accused of murder that is.

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

My story is debuting in the world on July 29th. If you are kind enough to read about my adventures in a Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder and you want to know more about life on the canals, and me and the Captain, you can find the author person at the social media sites below.

Thank you for answering my questions, Maeve, and good luck to you and your author, Melinda Mullet, with A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder.

Readers can learn more about Maeve and her author, Melinda Mullet by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Penguin Random House – Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org – Books-A-Million

About Melinda Mullet: Melinda Mullet is a dual US/UK national. Formerly a lawyer specializing in communications, media, and entertainment law she is now enjoying a second career as a mystery writer.

Melinda is the author of the Whisky Business Mysteries, a six-part series of traditional mysteries set in and around a boutique single malt whisky distillery in Scotland. And coming in July 2025, the first of a new traditional series, A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder, set on a houseboat along the Regent’s Canal in London.

Melinda is a travel junkie and a life-long advocate for children’s literacy causes both domestic and international. When she is not in the UK, she lives just outside of Washington, DC, with her whisky-collecting husband and two wild Covid canines named Bailey and Captain Jack.

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The Spirit of Vanderlaan

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Susan Harris Howell, author of The Spirit of Vanderlaan, a Samantha Hayes mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to share how her writing process has evolved.

Welcome, Susan. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

In a recent interview for a writer’s blog, the host asked if my writing process had evolved over time.

Goodness, yes, it’s evolved. And as much as I’d like to say my process is now state-of-the-art, the evolution continues.

When I first began writing articles for magazines and blogs, an idea would inspire me and I’d think about it for the longest before drafting it and editing it to a fare-thee-well. While my success rate was high for getting those articles published, I remember being glad that it wasn’t my “day job” because the process took forever.

And when I began writing The Spirit of Vanderlaan, much of it was the same. An idea came to me and after an eternity of planning and writing on weekends and summer breaks, it came out in print.

I was a novelist!

I was tired. But I was a novelist.

Then when I began writing Vanderlaan’s sequel, The Hayes Spirit, I quickly realized my process needed refining. Of course, I was nearing retirement from college teaching and would have more time to write; that alone promised a speedier process for the second book in the Samantha Hayes series.

But I had also learned a great deal while writing the first novel that made me rethink my process for the second. When I wrote Vanderlaan I had no idea how to write fiction and was flying by the seat of my pants. In fact, the writing community often uses the word “pantser” to describe someone who writes with less planning – sometimes without an outline or even knowing how the story will unfold and conclude.

And with Vanderlaan, I was the epitome of a pantser. At the outset, I only knew that my story would center on a psychology professor and a core group of students who lived in rooms the professor had lived in herself as a student. The characters would be intrigued by this coincidence and…

And… that’s as far as I got.

Beyond that I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t have a plot in mind so of course I didn’t know how this story would unfold, much less end!

But undeterred, I sat down one day and began writing a scene based on an activity I often used on the first day of class to break the ice. Then I wrote another chapter to fill out some of the characters, and another based on some amusing interactions I’d had with my students. I was enjoying myself and the chapters were good. I just didn’t know where they were going.

At some point, however, I found a wealth of information in books, conferences, and critique partners. I learned about pacing, plot structure, and character arcs that helped me create a story from those fun chapters that were piling up. Of course, I still didn’t know how the story would end, as I was indeed “making it up as I went along.”

I’ve since learned that this is often the way pantsers work and is a preferred style for many. Nonetheless, I wondered if being more of a planner might have its advantages.

I decided to give it a try. So using everything I’d learned in book one about plotting and character development, I outlined the sequel from start to finish.

I can already see that I like this method better. (For those of you who know I’m a planner in every other area of my life, this will come as no surprise.)

Now, as I’m writing, I know the journey and obstacles that Samantha and her entourage of students will encounter in The Hayes Spirit. And although it might change, I have an ending in mind. I’m confident that the plot is solid. I always know what scene to write next. And I’ll not be searching for an ending in the eleventh hour.

So in answer to that interviewer’s question: yes, my writing process has evolved. I began with a limited skillset that expanded as I learned more about the craft. I then modified it according to my own personal preferences. I also look forward to all I will learn in the future. I guess you could say that while Samantha’s character arc is growing and evolving, so is Susan’s. We’re both learning as we go.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Susan, and good luck with The Spirit of Vanderlaan, the first book in the Samantha Hayes mystery series. Readers can learn more about Susan Harris Howell by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub, Instagram and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

Amazon   B&N

About Susan Harris Howell: Susan is a psychologist, speaker, and author of The Spirit of Vanderlaan, her debut novel released in December of 2024. The book is a fun, cozy, ghost story featuring a professor, Samantha Hayes, and her lively band of students who get caught up in solving a campus mystery. This book draws on her teaching career of over thirty years to capture the camaraderie and warmth between a professor and the assortment of personalities which inhabit her office.

She has also published extensively on equality between women and men. Her first book, Buried Talents, explores the subtle ways women are discouraged from entering male-dominated occupations. Buried Talents was named a winner in InterVarsity Press’s 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards.

She and her husband have two grown children, a daughter-in-law, one adorable grandson, and an incorrigible beagle named Doc. While Doc doesn’t understand a word she says, he fully supports her speaking and writing endeavors.

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Puzzles and Premieres

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Valeria, from Puzzles and Premieres, a Magical Mystery Book Club mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to talk about the film festival she attended with her book club while they were trying to solve a murder.

Welcome, Valeria. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

Hi, I’m Valeria! I’m a member of the most fascinating book club ever. In this group, we don’t just read the books, we are whooshed into them and become the amateur sleuths! Puzzles and Premieres was my favorite book ever. We traveled to a ski town that hosted a famous film festival.

The setting was amazing! The town was surrounded by snowcapped mountains, ski resorts, and lush forests. The downtown area featured many wonderful movie theaters, and oh, my gosh! At night it was lit up with the lighted marquees and strings of twinkle lights that made it truly magical.

We got to see premieres of movies that weren’t shown anywhere else. We saw famous movie stars, directors, and producers. We had a marvelous ride on a horse drawn sleigh ride on paths that took us past glorious scenery. There was even a gondola that rode all the way up to the top of the mountain.

The restaurants and shops in the town were fantastic! Vintage clothing stores, fancy restaurants, and shops with all kinds of hats, jewelry and trinkets. Shopping was great fun.

Even though we were there to solve a murder mystery, the setting is what did it for me. I’d never been to a film festival and have always dreamed about what a life in the spotlight would be like. It was really an exciting and wonderful experience.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Valeria, and good luck with Puzzles and Premieres, the latest book in the Magical Mystery Book Club mystery series. Readers can learn more about Elizabeth Pantley by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub, Instagram and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at Amazon

About Elizabeth Pantley: Elizabeth writes well-loved cozy mysteries in two series: The Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic book series and the Magical Mystery Book Club series.

Elizabeth lives in the Pacific Northwest and Arizona, two very different places. Both are rich, gorgeous, natural places, and inspire the settings in many of her books.

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Icing on the Murder

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Valerie Burns, author of Icing on the Murder, a Baker Street mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to explore with us whether it is possible to push the boundaries of cozies without sacrificing the essence of what makes a cozy mystery, “cozy”.

Welcome, Valerie. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

There are a specific set of rules that cozy mysteries must adhere to in order to fall into that subgenre of mystery. Cozy mysteries almost always feature an amateur sleuth, usually female, they are set in small towns and are sometimes referred to as “clean mysteries.” The clean label was adopted because cozies don’t have gratuitous violence, no explicit sex and no bad language (well, not much). Sure, cozies usually have a murder that needs to be solved, but rarely will the reader see the brutal reality of the crime. The heart of the cozy mystery is in following the clues to figure out Whodunit. Nevertheless, the common belief is that writers should always push the boundaries to take their writing to the next level. Is it possible to push the boundaries of cozies without sacrificing the essence of what makes a cozy mystery, “cozy?”

Pushing the envelope or the boundaries for a cozy mystery doesn’t have to mean pushing readers to accept more sex, violence and bad language. Pushing the envelope of a cozy could be as simple as moving the setting outside of the traditional, small town into a more urban environment or including people of different races, ages, cultures and backgrounds. My Baker Street Mystery series feature a Black female, Madison Montgomery. PUSH. Maddy is a fashionist and social media influencer. PUSH. She inherits a bakery, which isn’t a stretch. There are tons of culinary cozy mysteries. However, Maddy can’t cook. PUSH. To keep her inheritance, Maddy needs to run the bakery, live in the house, and keep the 250 lb English mastiff that she inherits. PUSH. PUSH. PUSH. Maddy’s use of social media and her love of fashion differentiate her from the elderly ladies who sip tea in a classic cozy mystery. However, Maddy and her group of friends prove that they are just as adept at following the clues as any elderly spinster. Icing on the Murder is the 4th book in the Baker Street Mystery series.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Valerie, and good luck with Icing on the Murder, the latest book in the Baker Street mystery series. Readers can learn more about Valerie Burns by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub Instagram and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

 Amazon – Apple – Books A Million – Barnes & Noble – Bookshop. Org – Google Play – Hudson Booksellers – KOBO – Target – Walmart 

About Valerie Burns: Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha and Edgar Award-nominated author. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. As Kallie E. Benjamin, Valerie writes the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. She is an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, and a mentor in the Pocket MFA program. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles. 

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