Today Sarah E. Glenn, one of the duo who co-wrote Murder at the Million Dollar Pier with Gwen Mayo, is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about this latest novel in the Three Snowbirds mystery series.
Welcome, Sarah. 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.
SEG: Murder at the Million Dollar Pier is the second book in the Three Snowbirds series. It’s set at the height of the land boom in 1920s Florida, and our intrepid trio are among the early snowbirds who decided to winter in the Sunshine State. During their travels, they encounter opportunists, gangsters, and dead bodies.
In this book, the snowbirds arrive in Saint Petersburg and lodge at the newly-opened Vinoy. Their first night in the dining room, Snowbird Teddy Lawless comes face-to-face with Ansel Stevens, her ex-fiancée and the man who ruined her reputation and estranged her from her family. She was not prepared to be civil, then or during a second encounter at the Coliseum. When Ansel subsequently dies of poisoning, retired nurse Teddy quickly becomes the prime suspect. Cornelia and Professor Pettijohn must battle Ansel’s allies and his family to find the murderer.
Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?
SEG: In the first book, Teddy Lawless tells us that she ran away from finishing school. Since she went from being a debutante to a nurse in the Army before she met Cornelia, I knew there had to be a good story there.
Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?
SEG: We like to take the reader into the time and place of our stories. We try to recreate the feel of the location and the times, but we also touch on the good and bad aspects of that time. Florida was a land of great opportunity, but not for everyone. There were also winners and losers in each venture.
How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?
SEG: Cornelia and Teddy were inspired by Sarah’s great-great-aunt, who served as an Army nurse during the Great War (as WWI was known at the time). She served in France and was injured by poison gas. After she returned to the States, she travelled widely and hosted events in support of the veterans. Cornelia inherited her stubborn personality and a love of birdwatching. Teddy inherited the injury and social acumen, although she has put the latter to uses Aunt Dess would not have approved of.
Professor Pettijohn, engineer and inventor, was created by Gwen in her Nessa Donnelly series, and I fell in love with him. I poached the character for the Snowbirds series because he’s that much fun.
How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?
SEG: We visit the places we write about. Gwen and I have been to the Vinoy Hotel many times, we found what remained of The Gangplank (Saint Petersburg’s first nightclub), and we even drove to Sarasota to see the locations of Professor Pettijohn’s search for a witness. Gwen brings the sensory qualities and gritty details to our story, while I’ll tell you what was playing at the speakeasy, what people were eating, and explore the local attractions.
What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?
SEG: Gwen and I each bring our talents to the table. She steeps herself in books and historical photo collections for the locations, social history, and people, while I use Newspapers.com, various music sites, and old advertisements to give me a feel for what our heroes see and hear during their travels. I keep a calendar for the plotline and pair it with the information I gather. For example, our snowbirds compete for space with a throng of visitors from Maine because the governor and his entourage visited Saint Petersburg the same week our trio arrived. Why not play with it?
Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book?
SEG: This book can be read as a standalone, but the first book in the series is Murder on the Mullet Express. The title was inspired by a real train that ran between Ocala and Homosassa for several decades.
Unlike the ‘big city’ setting of the Saint Petersburg novel, the setting is rural. The West Coast Development Company plans to build an ideal community in Homosassa, and Professor Pettijohn tells his niece Cornelia that he wants a warm winter home. He’s lying. Before the book is over, the local sheriff and mobsters from Tampa both take an unhealthy interest in him.
We’re currently working on book three, Ybor City Blues. It reintroduces us to some of the characters from the first novel, and our characters meet Charlie Wall, Tampa’s “Dean of the Underworld.” I hope this will whet your appetite!
Thank you for hosting me!
You’re welcome, Sarah. Thanks for answering my questions, and good luck with Murder at the Million Dollar Pier, the latest book in the Three Snowbirds Mystery series.
Readers can learn more about Sarah and Gwen, and their writing by visiting their Sarah’s and Gwen’s websites. You can also follow Sarah on Twitter.
The novel is available at the following online retailers
Amazon Paperback – Amazon Kindle – B&N
About Sarah E. Glenn: Sarah loves mystery and horror stories, often with a sidecar of humor. Several have appeared in mystery and paranormal anthologies, including G.W. Thomas’ Ghostbreakers series, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, and Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology. She belongs to Sisters in Crime, SinC Guppies, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
Her great-great aunt served as a nurse in WWI, and was injured by poison gas during the fighting. After being mustered out, she traveled widely. A hundred years later, ‘Aunt Dess’ would inspire Sarah to write stories she would likely not have approved of.
A Solicitous Wife by Madeleine McDonald, No One Knew by Larry Farmer, Pinochle by Brenda Whiteside, The Tuesday Night Meeting by Peggy Jaeger, 911, What’s Your Emergency? by D. V. Stone, Tall Tales by Laura Strickland, Fare Gain by Alexandra Christle, The Note by Stephen B. King, 
Che Gelida Manina by M. S. Spencer, 
The Pilot’s Son by CJ Zahner, 
I always develop my stories to music. When I re-read through certain scenes I have written, I can actually hear my “soundtrack” playing in the background. Along the same lines, when I hear certain songs, I’m immediately transported into the middle of one of my books, right inside the scene as if I were actually there. When I begin plotting a novel, I like to put on some music and relax, letting my mind wander. The music has to fit the mood of the story, and sometimes if I find the perfect song, I wear out the replay button.
About Caroline Fardig: Caroline is the USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Fardig’s BAD MEDICINE was named one of the “Best Books of 2015” by Suspense Magazine. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat.
months before the Iowa Presidential Caucus. I have stories that take the four women central to the story through an entire year in the tourist community of Lake Livonia, and beyond. So I hope this will be the first of a series.
About Rae Katherine Eighmey: She is an award-winning author and cook with blue ribbons from both the Iowa and Minnesota State Fair cooking contests. She is the author of a dozen books about food and history including Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen and Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin.
LC: A FIELD GUIDE TO HOMICIDE is book #6 of the Cat Latimer series. Cat runs a writers retreat in a mountain small college town in Colorado. Each book has four new writers, a student from Covington College, and of course, the crazy regulars. For this book, Seth (the Cat’s love interest and the town handyman) is taking the writing group on their own hike of the Colorado mountains, complete with a field guide to find local plants and animals. The one thing that wasn’t listed in the guide was the dead body. Then they find out it’s one of Seth’s army buddies. One that was thought to have died in Germany many years ago.
About Lynn Cahoon: Lynn is the award-winning author of several New York Times and USA Today bestselling cozy mystery series. The Tourist Trap series is set in central coastal California with six-holiday novellas releasing in 2018–2019. She also pens the Cat Latimer series available in mass market paperback. Her newest series, the Farm to Fork mystery series, debuted in 2018. She lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies. Readers can sign up for her newsletter at 
As a consultant I was certified in Myers-Briggs and used the assessment to look at teamwork and help resolve conflicts in the workplace. I renewed my interest in the personality inventory when, as a writer of humorous mysteries, I was trying to better understand how readers relate to humor. Although I didn’t come up with anything concrete to help me finetune my writing, I did find it helpful to better understand how personalities drive humor preferences. For one thing, it made me more accepting of criticism. What one person might label as hilarious, another might find trite. Not only can this be explained by the quality of the writing, but sometimes by the reader/writer relationship to humor.
About Charlotte Stuart: In a world filled with uncertainty and too little chocolate, Charlotte Stuart, PhD, has taught college courses in communication, gone commercial fishing in Alaska, and was the VP of HR and Training for a large credit union. Her current passion is for writing lighthearted mysteries with a pinch of adventure and a dollop of humor. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching herons, eagles, seals and other sea life from her Vashon Island home office.
VG: BOUND FOR MURDER is the fourth book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series. This book focuses on the discovery of human bones on a farm that was once a 1960s commune. This older murder is tied to more current deaths, as my protagonist discovers that it wasn’t all peace and love among the “flower children” who lived in and around her home town.
About Victoria Gilbert: She was raised in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, turned her early obsession with reading into a dual career as an author and librarian. Victoria has worked as a reference librarian, research librarian, and library director. When not writing or reading, she likes to spend her time watching films, gardening, or traveling. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers and lives in North Carolina. This is her fourth Blue Ridge Library mystery.
EP: HEMS AND HOMICIDE is the first in the Apron Shop Series, set in small town Blueberry Cove, Maine. Iris Buckley, a former fabric designer, is the main character in the series. After getting downsized from a catalog company, Iris returns home and starts selling vintage aprons and linens online. Her widowed grandmother, Anne Buckley, convinces Iris to open a shop on Main Street called Ruffles & Bows. Anne is also her business partner. The shop cat is an orange tabby named Quincy.
About Elizabeth Penney: She is an author, entrepreneur, and local food advocate living in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In addition to writing full-time, she operates a small farm. Elements that often appear in her novels include vintage summer cottages, past/present mysteries, and the arts. She is represented by the fabulous Elizabeth Bewley at Sterling Lord Literistic.
HW: Delanie, a private investigator, has three major cases/clients in this mystery. She had sleuthed at a local drag show in book one, and the owner calls her to help find out who is stealing from the talent in book three. My author friends (Fiona Quinn, Tina Glasneck, and Rosemary Shomaker) went with me to Godfrey’s in Richmond, VA for research. The talent there was very helpful and had lots of story ideas when they found out we were writers.
About Heather Weidner: Glitter, Glam, and Contraband is Heather Weidner’s third novel in the Delanie Fitzgerald series. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, and Deadly Southern Charm. Her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series. She is a member of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers. Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers. Heather earned her BA in English from Virginia Wesleyan University and her MA in American literature from the University of Richmond. Through the years, she has been a technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager.
LL: Death in the Family is not part of a series in the usual way of thinking; however, as the first novel I wrote but the second one published, it has some characters in common with I Detest All My Sins, the first book published. The main character in I Detest has only a supporting role in Death; another is a secondary character in both books. Plot, theme and writing style differs. Finally, the ending of Death in the Family is ambiguous enough to support a sequel but is not my work in progress. Readers have said they would look forward to a sequel to Death in the Family. Confused? I don’t blame you!
About Lanny Larcinese: Lanny Larcinese ‘s short work has appeared in magazines and has won a handful of local prizes. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s a native mid-westerner transplanted to the City of Brotherly Love where he has been writing fiction for seven years. When not writing, he lets his daughter, Amanda, charm him out of his socks, and works at impressing Jackie, his long-time companion who keeps him honest and laughing—in addition to being his first-line writing critic. He also spends more time than he should on Facebook but feels suitably guilty for it.
dianneascroft.com 