Three Widows and a Corpse

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

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Today Debra Sennefelder is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Three Widows and a Corpse, her latest novel in the Food Blogger mystery series.

Welcome, Debra. 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.

DS: THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE is the third book in my Food Blogger Mystery series. The series features food blogger, Hope Early who has recently returned to her hometown of Jefferson, CT. After a divorce, quitting her magazine job and losing a reality baking competition show, Hope decided to turn her part-time gig of blogging into her full-time job. In this book, Hope has jumped into organizing the town’s scavenger hunt which turns deadly when the body of disgraced real estate developer, Lionel Whitcomb, is found by three women who each claim to be married to him.

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

THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSEDS: When I was submitting the first book in the series, THE UNINVITED CORPSE, to editors, I had to include summaries for the next two books in the series. While I had a completed draft of the second book, I needed an idea for the third book. The idea of three women claiming to be married to the same man popped into my head and then I got the idea for a scavenger hunt. I wrote up a fast paragraph and then about a year later I was writing the story.

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

DS: The question I always seem to be incorporating into my books is, how well do we really know people, is a big part of this book. There are three women who thought they knew their husband, yet it turns out they didn’t.

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

DS: I create characters based around the plot of each book. Since I write series, there are a handful of characters that are regulars, they’ll come back book after book. I’ve created them to round out Hope’s life. I try not to have favorites, but of course Hope is definitely a favorite because she’s the main character and I spend a lot of time with her.

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

DS: By using the characters, adding in little details of Jefferson’s history and taking them along with Hope on her day-to-day life. One of the most beautiful buildings on Main Street is the Victorian house that is the Merrifield Inn. There’s the historic Jefferson Library and the collection of quaint shops including Hope’s favorite coffee shop, The Coffee Clique.

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

DS: For THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking for ideas about scavenger hunts. I probably only used about one percent of what I found. But it was a lot of fun researching.

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

DS: I’d like readers to know that my hope is when they sit down to read THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE that they have a joyful experience and are entertained.

Thanks for answering my questions, Debra, and good luck with Three Widows and a Corpse, the latest book in the Food Blogger Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Debra and her writing by visiting her website and her Facebook and Instagram pages.

The novel is available at online retailers through the following link:

http://bit.ly/2lFkcvL

CroppedHeadShotAbout Debra Sennefelder: Debra is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series, and is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person.

Born and raised in New York City, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in pre-hospital care, retail and publishing. Her writing companions are her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih-Tzus, Susie and Billy. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Women’s Fiction Writers Association and Romance Writers of America.

Posted in November 2019, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Why Should You Beware the East Wind?

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

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Today Barbara Barrrett is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Beware the a Wind, her latest novel in the Mah Jongg mystery series.

Welcome, Barbara. 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.

BB: Beware the East Wind is the fourth book in the Mah Jongg Mystery series about four retired women friends—Sydney Bonner, Marianne Putnam, Katrina “Kat” Faulkner and Micki Demetrius—who met while playing Mah Jongg in the small community of Serendipity Springs in central Florida. Though they don’t set out to investigate homicides, after being asked by a friend to investigate her husband’s murder in the first book, others start looking to them to help investigate subsequent homicides and questionable accidents. This series features four protagonists; one takes the lead in each book. Two are married, one is divorced and the fourth, who has been single all her life while she tended to her ailing mother, now finds herself the object of the sheriff’s romantic attention. Even in the midst of their investigations, life goes on in their community in such activities as a women’s club, a social group for those over 50, real estate transactions, numerous stops at the local coffeehouse and various shopping trips. Sydney’s husband, Trip, and Marianne’s, Beau, are golf buddies who spend many a day on the course. When not there, Trip is busy seeking to build a new post retirement life, and Beau is often prevailed upon to join in Trip’s latest activity. Worried about the danger involved in investigating murders, they also worm their way into their wives’ sleuthing activities. Kat has lived a frugal life until winning big in a lottery shortly after her mother’s death; suddenly, Kat has money and doesn’t know how to spend it. But her divorced friend and freelance writer, Micki, does, even if it’s to guide Kat through a makeover and wardrobe change for her lounge act.

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

eastwind-700BB: The initial idea for Beware the East Wind started when my Sisters in Crime chapter in Iowa invited a hypnotist to be their guest speaker. She became interested in hypnotism in her middle years, and after taking several courses and receiving certification, leveraged her new interest into entertaining at various functions like high school graduation parties. She later expanded into offering personal counselling services featuring hypno-therapy. The idea stuck around in the back of my brain until this year when I needed a victim for this fourth book. Let me be clear, the victim in this book is purely fictional; nothing about her is based on the real-life hypnotist that was our speaker.

Each title in this series features a Mah Jongg term. The first three titles are based on the suits of tiles used in the game, Craks, Bams and Dots. This fourth book comes from the Wind tiles. Once I decided on the hypnotism angle, I needed to find a way to tie it in with “Wind.” That wasn’t difficult, since the series is set in central Florida, what more dramatic wind is there than the one that causes the hurricane. Central Florida is somewhat less vulnerable to these storms but not impervious to the possibility. Ironically, no sooner was the book published than hurricane season was upon us and a mandatory evacuation order was issued for the parts of the Atlantic coast.

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

BB: Starting with the four friends and their significant others, community and friendship underlie each of the stories in this series. This was a deliberate decision so I could portray one of the positive aspects of retirement. Serendipity Springs is a relatively new intergenerational residential development. Most of the residents have come from other parts of the country and have chosen to live there because of the climate. To adapt, they’ve had to find new connections and relationships, just as has been my experience in making Florida my home half the year. By no means is retirement rosy for everyone, and I will deal with that aspect in future stories.

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

BB: My four protagonists were created using the DISC Inventory. It is a tool that helps people analyse their personalities according to four distinct categories: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. The personality of each character is based on one of these descriptors. I’ve taken this tool a few times in my employment history. It tends to be a fairly accurate measure, although it varies depending on whatever is happening in your life at the time, because that affects your answers to the numerous questions. I pegged Sydney as the main dominant character. She takes the lead role in the first two books. Micki is Influential; she’s the lead in the third book, Connect the Dots. In this fourth book, Marianne, the Steady one, is in charge. Kat takes over in Book 5, currently in development. As much as I would like to see myself as a Dominant personality, I keep coming out as a mix of Compliance and Steady, so I tend to see myself the most in Marianne and Kat, but I have the most fun writing Syd and Micki, because they go places in their brains and actions where I don’t always go or feel I can go.

With the ongoing secondary characters and characters that appear only in one book I can delve into other personality characteristics than those exhibited by my four protagonists.

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

BB: This series is not about my community, but it is inspired by it. I use local setting, traditions, activities and climate to bring life to Serendipity Springs. For instance, I try to describe the type of homes and parts of town found here. My covers immediately set the tone with the green foliage and flowers in the background. I also include different activities that occur within the community like the follies that Trip plans as a fundraiser in Book 1 or the class Marianne takes in writing one-act plays in Book 3. Many of these, including the weekly Mah Jongg game, take place in the community center. The coffee shop, yet to be named, has appeared in each book so far because the women hold their war councils there as they discuss their investigations. As far as the climate is concerned, I don’t dwell on the heat, humidity or sudden rain showers much, although I probably will in the future, but this fourth book reflects the impending threat of the approaching hurricane, and I play up the dark skies and wind.

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

BB: I like to start with personal contacts, if such exist. For instance, in Book 2, Bamboozled, the victim is the local distributor of essential oils. I interviewed a fellow Mah Jongg player who also sells these oils to learn more about the business. I already mentioned the presentation of the hypnotist, but she also provided source materials, which I turned to for more authenticity in this book. One of the suspects in this book owns a cleaning service. Since we don’t use one, I depended on friends’ experiences. I, do, fall back on my own experience when I can, like Beau’s examination by an orthopaedic surgeon for his knee problem in this book. When personal contacts, friends and my own knowledge aren’t enough, I’m on the internet doing research, like I did with dog grooming services, which are also included in Book 4.

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

BB: Although the murder occurs early in the story, like they all do, I took my time getting the investigation off the ground because the two husbands attempted to discourage their wives from getting involved. Their reticence has been building since the first case, where neither knew what was going on until the end. In Book 2, when they became more involved, Trip tried to take over, although he should have known better with his wife being such a strong personality. I wanted their hesitancy to come to the fore in this book and sort of be dealt with. Their feelings about their wives’ life of amateur sleuthing will continue to pop up different ways in subsequent stories and will be addressed according to the circumstances of a particular case.

The local sheriff, Rick Formero, takes a shine to Kat in Book 1. That relationship grows and bumps into various roadblocks in the next books. Although I also write contemporary romance novels, this love story takes a back seat to solving the murders, but it’s here to add depth to Kat’s character. Rick’s feelings about Kat and her friends’ investigations also have an arc, although basically he’d prefer these untrained civilians not mess with his cases. Still, he can’t deny how well they do at solving crimes. How he handles that realization will evolve. I’m barely into writing Book 5, but my plans at this point are to involve him in a way in which he hasn’t previously participated.

Micki, the single divorcee, is the only one at this point who doesn’t have a man in her life. She says she likes it that way after a ten-year difficult marriage to a gambler. Time will tell.

If you’re read this far, I hope you’ll check into the Mah Jongg Mystery series. You don’t need to know anything about the game to enjoy and understand it.

Thanks for answering my questions, Barbara, and good luck with Beware the East Wind, the latest book in the Mah Jongg Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Barbara and her writing by visiting her website and her Facebook, Goodreads and Pinterest pages. You can also subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon   B&N

IMG_0004About Barbara Barrett: She started reading mysteries when she was pregnant with her first child to keep her mind off things like her changing body and food cravings. When she’d devoured as many Agatha Christies as she could find, she branched out to English village cozies and Ellery Queen. Later, to avoid a midlife crisis, she began writing fiction at night when she wasn’t at her day job as a human resources analyst for Iowa State Government. After releasing eleven full-length romance novels and one novella, she returned to the cozy mystery genre, using one of her retirement pastimes, the game of mah jongg, as her inspiration. Not only has it been a great social outlet, it has also helped keep her mind active when not writing. Anticipating the day when she would write her first mystery, she has been a member of the Mystery/Romantic Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America for over a decade. She credits them with helping her hone her craft. Barbara is married to the man she met her senior year of college. They have two grown children and eight grandchildren.

Posted in Archives, October 2019, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Drop by the Lighthouse Library

Posted on October 17, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

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Today Eva Gates, author of Read and Buried, a Lighthouse Library mystery, is joining us at Ascroft, eh? to share her thoughts on real vs fictional settings for stories.

Welcome Eva. Without any further delay, I’ll turn the floor over to you:

Real vs. Fictional Settings: My version of Hogwarts

Generally speaking, a novel can be set in one of two places: a real place or a fictional place. (Or some combination of both).

Read and Buried (1)There are a lot of good reasons to create a fictional setting for a book: No one can point out all your mistakes; if something doesn’t work for you, you can just make it up; avoids all that pesky research.

On the other hand, setting a book in a real place, adds an element of realism. People can go to the location of scenes in your book, or remember having been there. That helps to bring a book and its characters vividly to life.

My Sherlock Holmes Bookshop (written under the name of Vicki Delany) series is set in a fictional version of a real town in a real place. My town of West London is in Cape Cod, pretty much where Chatham is actually located. The Year Round Christmas mysteries (also by Vicki Delany) have a more vague setting – somewhere on the Southern Shores of Lake Ontario – and the town of Rudolph isn’t intended to represent anywhere.

But it’s different for the Lighthouse Library series written under the name of Eva Gates.  Not only have I set the books in a real place – the Outer Banks – but in a very specific real place – The Bodie Island Lighthouse.

I took the framework of that real, and marvellous, lighthouse, which is essentially just a small outer building attached to a 210 foot tall tower with a spiral iron staircase inside and a big lamp on the top, and built a whole new world inside it. A library, complete with back staircases, offices, staff break room, broom closet, meeting room, rare books room, shelves overflowing with books.  I even gave it a small apartment for my character, Lucy Richardson, to live in.

I think of it as my version of the Tardis or Hermione Granger’s beaded handbag. Far larger on the inside that it appears from the outside.

But having done that, I wanted to be true to the marvellous setting of the lighthouse, and kept the outside of the building and its surroundings (minus the souvenir shop and tourist center!) intact.

As for the Outer Banks and the town of Nag’s Head, I’ve worked hard to make everything as realistic as possible. I’ve visited a couple of times, taking lots of pictures and careful notes. Back at home, Google Earth is an invaluable resource for checking the layout of streets, the location of public buildings and things like that.  In the books I mention some real places, such as Owen’s Restaurant, the restaurant at the Nags Head Fishing Pier, the police station/town hall complex, and have people living on real streets.  But I don’t describe real houses, or give street addresses. In the second book in the series, Booked for Trouble when Lucy’s mother stays at a hotel, the hotel is totally fictitious.  After all there are shenanigans galore going on at that hotel, and I don’t want anyone to think I know something I don’t!

It’s been a lot of fun taking real places and using them as scenes for my stories. I hope that Read and Buried will give you a feeling for the Outer Banks and a glimpse into its history. Who knows, maybe you’ll want to visit someday (if you haven’t already) and think of Lucy Richardson climbing the spiral iron stairs to her lighthouse aerie after a day in the library when you visit the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

Thanks for introducing yourself and your series to us, Eva.

Readers can learn more about Eva Gates and the Lighthouse Library mysteries by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter (@vickidelany @evagatesauthor).

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon    B&N    Kobo

Made with Repix (http://repix.it)About Eva Gates/Vicki Delany: Vicky is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than thirty books:  clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea By The Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Year Round Christmas mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series and, as Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library books for Crooked Lane. Vicki is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It crime writing festival. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.

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A Colour Coordinated Mystery

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

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Today I’d like to welcome Traci Andrighetti to Ascroft, eh? I’ve invited Traci to visit to tell my readers a little about Galliano Gold, the latest book in her Franki Amato Mysteries series.

Welcome Traci. I’ll turn the floor over to you:

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000031_00001]Every time I write a new Franki Amato mystery, I have a mental checklist that I follow. First, I pick an Italian liqueur or a wine for the title with a matching color. There has to be either a rhyme, as with Limoncello Yellow, the first book in the series, or alliteration, like the other books to date: Prosecco Pink, Amaretto Amber, Campari Crimson, and most recently, Galliano Gold.

Next, because Franki Amato works as a private investigator at her best friend Veronica’s New Orleans-based company, Private Chicks, I decide which aspect of the city to feature in the story. To date I’ve done a boutique, a plantation, a strip club, a creepy cemetery, and now in Galliano Gold, a steamboat on the Mississippi River.

After that I figure out how the alcohol and the color figure into the murder, which is always the hardest part. Then I pick a drink and sometimes a dessert that feature the liqueur or wine from the title, and I mention them in the story and include the recipes as an extra for readers.

I also come up with ways to celebrate New Orleans—while having fun at Franki’s expense. For Galliano Gold, I wanted the old steamboat to be haunted, and the old captain needed to be a Mark Twain fanatic. And based on a reader’s suggestion, I included aspects of an ill-fated trip I took to NOLA last year—like a French Quarter flood I got caught in.

Then I pick interesting and amusing people from the city to include in the mystery. My favorite in Galliano Gold is the Dancing Hand Grenade, the mascot for the drink in the green plastic hand grenade-shaped cup you’ll see people carrying on Bourbon Street. And I’ve also thrown in one of my favorite Mardi Gras krewes, the Merry Antoinettes, whose motto is “Let them throw cake” (and they do). And of course I invented a few krewes of my own.

Crawdad wigLastly, I try to include an unusual item from the city. Thanks to the suggestion of my audiobook narrator, the multi-talented and multi-voiced Madeline Mrozek, I had Franki go undercover wearing a crawdad boil-themed wig from Fifi Mahony’s in Galliano Gold. If you have never heard of Fifi Mahony’s, I urge you to check out their Facebook page, because nothing showcases the weird, wild, and wonderful aspects of New Orleans like a Fifi Mahony’s wig.

But my favorite aspect of planning a Franki book is figuring out how her meddlesome Sicilian nonna is going to try to get her married—either to her boyfriend Bradley Hartmann or to one of many “nice Sicilian boys” Nonna knows through her network of friends.

If you’ve read a Franki Amato mystery, visited New Orleans, or know something about the city, please share below. Your comments mean a lot, and they often inspire me in my writing. And grazie mille to Ascroft, eh? for having me on the blog. It has been a pleasure!

Thanks for introducing yourself and the series to us, Traci. Readers can learn more about Traci by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads and BookBub pages. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available online at Amazon.

Traci Andrighetti-11bAbout Traci Andrighetti: Traci is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Franki Amato Mysteries and the Danger Cove Hair Salon Mysteries. In her previous life, she was an award-winning literary translator and a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics. But then she got wise and ditched that academic stuff for a life of crime–writing, that is. Her latest capers are teaching mystery writing for Savvy Authors and taking aspiring and established authors on intensive writing retreats to Italy with LemonLit.

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Meet Maddie Wilcox

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

Today Maddie Wilcox from Death of the City Marshall, an Old Los Angeles mystery, is joining us at Ascroft, eh?

Welcome Maddie.

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 Maddie Wilcox. I am in my 80s, but the time about which I write is actually the 1870s, when I was only about 30 years old. The stories I told (and continue to tell) are my memoirs, which I begin with the curious events that are related in Death of the Zanjero and Death of the City Marshal. I will also relate the terrifying events of October 1871, when rioters lynched eighteen Chinese men and the terrible deeds that followed at a future time.

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

I have no idea what this means. These are my stories. The person penning them is only incidental.

How did you evolve as the main character?

The same way most of us do, I would hope. Alas, introspection is not as common as one would like to think. I simply try to be a better person from day to day, even now, in my old age.

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

These being my memoirs, I was writing about myself as a much younger woman, and most of the people I knew then are, sadly, gone and much missed. My dear, dear friends, Regina and Angelina, who were so helpful to me when I stumbled into chasing a killer. Then there was Mr. Lomax, who was not only a very calming presence, but a truly good man. And then there was my household, Sebastiano, Olivia, Enrique, Magdalena, and Juanita, and all the others. They became my family and, indeed, as I come into my dotage, their children show me the most tender concern and care for me as if for their own parents.

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

Los Angeles in the 1870s was a truly dismal place. No culture to speak of, and much pretension to such by the ladies of the pueblo. There was no orchestra of trained and able musicians. No plays. No opera. The streets were dusty. Because so many of the men there were transients, it was incredibly violent. I hated being there, but after my husband, Albert Wilcox, dragged me there in 1860, bought our vineyard and then died, I really had little choice but to stay. I suppose I could have left some years later, but as it turned out, the place really did become my home and the people you asked about earlier had become my family. By the time I had sufficient means to where I chose, the city had become somewhat more civilized and I had little inclination to find new friends elsewhere.

Anne Louise BannonIs there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

These are my memoirs, so while I’m writing them as an old woman, when you encounter me, I am barely 30 years old.

Thanks for introducing yourself and the series to us, Maddie.

Readers can learn more about Maddie and her author, Anne Louise Bannon by visiting the author’s website and Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available online on Amazon.

 

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Belinda Blake has dropped by for a chat

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

Today Belinda Blake, the main character in Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, is joining us at Ascroft, eh? to tell us a bit about this latest novel in the Exotic Pet-Sitter Mysteries series. Welcome, Belinda. 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.

BB: My latest mystery is Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. It’s book 2 in the Exotic Pet-Sitter series, because I happen to be an exotic pet-sitter. 🙂 In this book, I’m working at a wolf preserve in Greenwich, Connecticut, and let’s just say things get a bit hairy!

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

BB: My author, Heather Day Gilbert, writes a long synopsis in which she plans out the entire book…but I always like to throw a curveball her way. She gets to know me better with each book, and she actually seems to have a lot of fun stepping into my world!

How did you evolve as the main character?

BB: I was dreamed up from characters my author’s dad created when he entertained his kids with stories on long trips. Both me and my sister, Katrina, as well as our dog, Blitz (from childhood) were story characters. So my author kind of caught up with me, all these years later, and realized I’d turned into an amateur sleuth…so of course she had to write my stories.

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

BB: My sister, Katrina, is a psychologist and although she can read me like a book, I’m always calling on her for advice. My mom and dad are so supportive, and their neighbor Jonas is quite an enigmatic farmer. I also enjoy my home in Greenwich, Connecticut, where my wealthy neighbor, Stone Carrington the fifth, is very friendly.

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

BB: In this one, I land a job working at a wolf preserve on the outskirts of Greenwich, Connecticut. I quickly find out it’s not going to be a walk in the park, but I have to stick with it because I need the income and because I want to continue to be hired by the Greenwich elite, where I’ve been growing my exotic pet-sitting business.

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

BB: I’m kind of a risk-taker (just ask my sister), but this job is definitely not for the faint-hearted. I’ve learned a bit more about the murderer psyche this time around, but somehow I’m not entirely sure this murderer will be easy to peg…

Thanks for introducing yourself and the latest novel in the series to us, Belinda.

Readers can learn more about Belinda and also Heather Day Gilbert, the author of the series, by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter (@heatherdgilbert).

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Kindle    Nook     Kobo      AppleBooks     Google Play

About Heather Day Gilbert: An ECPA Christy award finalist and Grace award winner, Heather is the author of the bestselling Exotic Pet-Sitter mystery series. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren’t afraid to protect those they love. Like her amateur sleuth Belinda Blake, Heather plays video games, although so far she hasn’t done any exotic pet-sitting or hunted any murderers.

Posted in Archives, October 2019 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Step into Old Los Angeles with Anne Louise Bannon

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

Today Anne Louise Bannon is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Death of the City Marshall, her latest novel in the Old Los Angeles mystery series.

Welcome, Anne. 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.

DCMeBookCoverALB: Death of the City Marshal is the second in my Old Los Angeles series, featuring doctor and winemaker Maddie Wilcox in 1870. Maddie is a widow who was brought to Los Angeles by her husband, who bought a vineyard, then died. She spent a lot of time hiding that she holds a medical degree, but that got revealed in the first book, Death of the Zanjero, which is about the politics of water in a very arid climate.

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

ALB: Death of the City Marshal is based on an actual event in Los Angeles City. Marshal William Warren, an exceptional hot head in a town full of them, was shot by his deputy Joseph Dye in a dispute over the bounty on a prostitute. I found out about the event while doing the research for Zanjero and knew I had to play with it. While in real life, Warren died of his wound, I did massage the event a little so that Warren died by other means.

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

ALB: The weird thing about themes is that, for me, they happen. When I try to focus in on one during the writing, it almost always fails. So, in City Marshal, I wasn’t planning on anything, but the theme of finding your home kept coming up. There’s a critical scene with the bad guy who doesn’t want to kill Maddie, but can’t let her get him kicked out of the only home he’s really known.

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

ALB: My characters start by talking to me in my head (it’s very noisy in there). In fact, I had a problem with one in another series that I couldn’t figure out why he was just so flat and blah, and it turned out I’d decided to make him a certain way. I ended up turning everything around in that story because I had an invented person instead of one who talked to me.

Do I have favorites? Well, yeah. Maddie Wilcox and her friend Regina Medina. I love the women of Maddie’s household, Magdalena, Olivia, Juantia, and Maria. Then there are the crew from my 1920s series featuring Freddie Little and Kathy Briscow (that starts with Fascinating Rhythm). In addition to Freddie and Kathy, I’ve totally fallen in love with Freddie’s mother, Gloria, and his younger sister, Honoria. And Kathy’s family is a hoot, too.

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

ALB: I don’t tend to be a very visual person, so I really focus on getting the sound and the feel of the narration right. Maddie, for example, might sound a lot like Louisa May Alcott, because I knew Alcott and Maddie were from the same place and had similar experiences. I’m also getting better at writing the visuals. One thing that helps in the Old Los Angeles series is that Maddie is a clothes horse. She loves dresses of all kinds and describes everyone’s, but especially her own.

Another thing that helps me is maps and floorplans. If I can see where things are, then I can describe them a little better.

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

Anne Louise BannonALB: Being married to an archivist really helps. But even beside that, I read a lot of periodicals from the time period, novels from the time. The tourist literature is a tremendous help, since that records the sort of things most people didn’t bother writing down. I mean, if you know how to make wine, you’re not going to write about it in your diary. On the other hand, if you’re a tourist, you’re going to write about what you saw those people do in that strange place.

Research is pretty much a constant. You never know when a question is going to pop up, and I really hate writing around things.

Thanks for answering my questions, Anne, and good luck with Death of the City Marshall, the latest book in the Old Los Angeles Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Anne and her writing by visiting her website and her Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available online on Amazon.

Posted in Archives, October 2019, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Meet the Haunted House Ghost

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

Today James J. Cudney is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Haunted House Ghost, his latest novel in the Braxton Campus mystery series.

Welcome, James. 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.

JJC: Haunted House Ghost is the fifth novel in the Braxton Campus Mysteries series. The protagonist is Kellan Ayrwick, a ~30ish single father who moves home to Pennsylvania after a disastrous end to his marriage. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but the first few books detail specifically what happened between him and his wife, and it’s definitely not what normally happens in a cozy mystery series. Kellan worked as a director in Hollywood and took a role as a professor at Braxton College, but he’s also solved a few murders. It’s put him in the line of fire with the county sheriff, April Montague, and set up tons of banter and chemistry. Throw in his boss, Dr. Myriam Castle, an acerbic and indomitable Shakespeare lover, and his eccentric but demanding grandmother, Nana D, you’ve got a trio of women to keep Kellan in line. While the series follows all the cozy guidelines (no foul language, graphic violence, or sexual content), it is not your typical lighter cozy with romance, recipes, or pets as the focus (all of which I LOVE). There is a dog. Kellan loves to eat. And he does date a little. It’s just not at all the primary focus of the story or the theme that connects the series. There are lots of characters with many subplots, and I’ve turned the genre upside down with how Kellan goes about his day – he’s highly intelligent but often pushed around by the women in his life. He’s incredibly fun to write for, but I have to be careful not to make him too sarcastic or too wimpy, as I want him to come across as the kinda guy everyone would want to know or date.

Haunted House Ghost is a Halloween story filled with all the things we love about the autumn season. At the end of the last book, Kellan was motivated to find a new place to live, based on the cliffhanger Nana D dropped on him. He’s bought The Old Grey Place from the county judge, but apparently it’s haunted. Someone has been stalking Kellan, and the contractor renovating the home has seen a ghost. When a skeleton is found during the new library construction, everyone assumes it’s Judge Grey’s first wife, the missing Prudence Grey. Once Kellan asks questions and is attacked by the supposed ghost, everything begins to explode. Another body shows up. Multiple people look guilty based on their actions from fifty years ago, and a psychic causes total chaos during the Fall Festival. Not only does the book focus on the murders and the haunted house, the side stories are getting even more feverish. Kellan and April begin to explore their relationship. A local Catholic priest is acting strange. The Grey family causes trouble all around town. Kellan’s siblings are driving him batty. Throw in several scenes with bonfires, spooky corn mazes, horse drawn carriage hayrides, and goofy trick-o’-treating, and this is the perfect October read.

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

JJC: Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I wanted to publish a book that brought out the best of the fall season. What would be better than a haunted house and a ghost? Each book in the series has explored one of the major families in Wharton County. The focus of this one is the Grey family, headed by Hiram, the local judge. We’ve met a few of his grandchildren in previous books, but now we meet the man himself. He and Nana D have a bit of history, so it was fun to explore the dynamics of a 50-year-old mystery in which tons of the county’s important and beloved citizens are accused of something horrible.

I am not a fantasy or science-fiction reader by nature. Yet, I love a bit of paranormal without getting too over-the-top. It needs to be funny and/or real, like some of the series with ghosts or skeletons that I’ve read and enjoyed. I wanted to provide elements of spookiness (séance, ghosts, paranormal visions, premonitions) without getting too far out of the realistic realm. By throwing in all the awesome parts of the autumn season, I could create a really immersive experience where you are slightly scared by the story but only in terms of ‘oh no, not my favorite character’ as opposed to a true horror or thriller (which I will write one day).

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

JJC: Not in this book, for the first time. Usually, there is a strong theme in past books, e.g. sorority shenanigans in Mistaken Identity Crisis, drugs in Broken Heart Attack, cutthroat baseball scouts in Academic Curveball. This is all about enjoying the season and thinking about pumpkin spice lattes and apple pie. You know how much Kellan loves his desserts.

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

JJC: Character creation is the best part of being a writer. At the conclusion of this 5th book, I have 125 characters that have appeared in the series. While that is a huge amount, some are only here for a few pages in every book, others are prominent in a single book then disappear. To me, it’s about creating a universe where readers wish they could live. I adore college campuses. I love family drama and dynamics. I think cozy little towns are the best places to live. Murders happen all over the place, and to both good and bad people. I want everyone to feel real, sometimes over-the-top, but always reachable. My characters should resemble the friends, neighbors, family, and acquaintances in our lives.

Sometimes, if somebody angers me in real life, I base a character on them. Or, if someone has been wonderful to me, I’ll throw a nod in his or her direction. Many of the last names are from my own family tree too. It’s fun to share this closeness with the world I’ve made up. Kellan, of course, is my favorite character, but I’m sure you want to know who else, not just the protagonist. My obvious favorite to write for is Nana D. She can say anything and get away with it. My other favorite, though not a major character in the series, is Sam Taft. He doesn’t appear until the 2nd book, and he’s conspicuously absent in the 5th book (for a reason), but he’s someone who feels entirely too pure and innocent not to love. I suspect he’s hiding a secret we haven’t learned yet, but he just hasn’t told it to me. Soon… soon, I’ll get to share more about him.

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

JJC: Braxton is based on the concept of the school I graduated from, Moravian College. No murders ever happened there, that I’m aware of… The specific layout of each campus is very different. The key thing that drives the setting for my town is the cable car that transports students and staff from North to South Campus. It’s one mile long and has a cozy street of shopping, bars, and history. That’s really Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Moravian resides. I started with that image, then rolled in the larger town and county. Wharton County is made-up, but it’s pieces of all different towns in Pennsylvania. Much of my family moved there in the last decade, so I’ve been all over the state. I created a fictional place with a national forest, river, lake, mountains, farmland, 4 towns (Braxton, Woodland [from my other book, Father Figure], Millner Place, and Lakeview), in the northcentral region close to the NY border. All my experiences created the concepts, but then I picture the things I want to be part of the story. Crilly Lake for summer fun, mountains for hiking, a river for a cruise and fishing, farmland for a connection to nature and organic life. In the college, it’s all about the major buildings you need, places where people have been and like going – the library, the academic hall, the sports complex, the theater, etc.

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

JJC: I’m not a huge fan of researching information for a book. I only half believe that statement, I say with a devious laugh. Truthfully, I like creating and inventing rather than reusing something. Of course, everything is a version of something else, but when you deal with real-life details, you have to nail everything perfectly—there’s little room for nuance or open-minded changes. I love books based on reality, historical fiction that requires immense detail, but I’m not that kind of writer. I don’t do well with a structure I can’t alter, in terms of creativity. I’d rather not make a mistake, so I stick to my own world of imagination. I would love to write a book based on research in the future though… I’m just not there yet.

That said… each book contains several things I do have to research. Things like medical conditions, police procedures, college policies, etc. For example, I wasn’t sure of the college baseball season for the first book, Academic Curveball. I knew the professional league season, but not the college one. I did all the research to pick the late February / early March start timeline for a first college game. I checked various colleges in PA to ensure they had outdoor baseball fields, even in the cold of winter. Even then, a reader pointed out that it didn’t feel realistic. Someone will always have a difference of opinion, even if there are facts to support what your research shows. I try to not offend anyone in my writing, but I also want to be as realistic as possible… of course no small town has as many murders as a cozy one does, but still… everything else must feel as real as possible.

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

JJC: Yes! If you love cozies, you will hopefully love this series. It follows all the rules but pushes the limits in terms of the audience. The amateur sleuth is a man, and he is single and has a six-year-old daughter. He’s going to date women, and he’s going to have urges and desires, but I try to show those personality traits and actions without making him weak or too seductive. He’s young but an old soul. He’s not your typical kind of nosy… and his job has trained him to ask questions. The series lets readers navigate the mystery, but it’s also about showcasing the life of a fun place and family in a typical American small town. Humor is a big part of my writing, but not the over-the-top kind… more subtle and endearing. I like to create scenes and concepts, describe with lots of details, then let the reader interpret it based on how they want to envision things. I’ve tried to put my personality into the book… not that everyone will understand it or like it… but I want there to be a balance of everything we love about reading and all those things that make us want to explore the world around us.

Thanks for answering my questions, James, and good luck with Haunted House Ghost, the latest book in the Braxton Campus Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about James and his writing by visiting his website and his Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest and Ingragram pages. You can also follow him on Twitter.

The novel is available online at Amazon.

About James J. Cudney: James is his given name; most call him Jay. He grew up on Long Island and currently lives in New York City, but he’s traveled all across the US (and various parts of the world). After college, he spent 15 years working in technology and business operations in the sports, entertainment and media industries. Although he enjoyed my job, he left in 2016 to focus on his passion: telling stories and connecting people through words. His debut novel is ‘Watching Glass Shatter,’ a contemporary fiction family drama with elements of mystery, suspense, humor and romance. Outside of writing he is an avid genealogist (discovered 2K family members going back about 250 years) and cooks (I find it so hard to follow a recipe.

Posted in October 2019 | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sink your teeth into this mystery

Posted on September 29, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

Today Debra H. Goldstein is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Two Bites Too Many, her latest novel in the Sarah Blair mystery series.

Welcome, Debra. 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.

DHG: Two Bites Too Many is the second book in Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. In the first book, One Taste Too Many, which was released in January 2019, we met Sarah, for whom cooking from scratch is a fate worse than murder. Married at 18, divorced by 28, the only thing she got out of her divorce was her Siamese cat, RahRah. She’s the polar opposite of her twin sister, Emily, an accomplished chef. Of course, when Emily is accused of killing the rat who was Sarah’s ex-husband, with a taste of her award-winning rhubarb pie, Sarah must clear Emily’s name while trying to avoid stepping into a kitchen.

In Two Bites Too Many, things are finally looking up for Sarah. She’s settled into a carriage house with RahRah, has managed to hang on to her law firm receptionist job and – if befriending flea-bitten strays at the local animal shelter counts – lead a thriving social life. For once, she even seems to have it together more than Emily, whose efforts to open a gourmet restaurant have literally hit a dead end when the president of the town bank and city council is murdered. Unfortunately, all eyes are on the one person who was found at the scene with blood on her hands – the twins’ sharp-tongued mother, Maybelle. Determined to get her mom off the hook, Sarah must collect the ingredients of the deadly crime to bring the true culprit to justice before another victim lands on the chopping block.

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

DHG: After my first two books (Maze in Blue and Should Have Played Poker) were each orphaned, I knew I wanted to write a cozy mystery. The problem was that I don’t like cooking and I’m horrible at crafts –the traditional topics for cozy mysteries. Before I gave up in total despair, I realized there had to be other people like me – talented in other areas, but who love reading cozies. Consequently, Two Bites Too Many brings together my fear of being in the kitchen with my interest in economic development, city politics, and animal rescues.

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

DHG: In Two Bites Too Many, the strength and love of family ties, no matter what other things are happening in one’s life, comes through. Sarah has a comfort zone she has worked hard to achieve, but the desire to protect her mother and sister motivates her to step outside that zone in ways she never dreamed possible. I think my fiction mimics real life in that no matter what is going on in our lives, we do whatever is necessary for those we love.

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

DHG: My characters spring from my mind, but often steal traits from real life people. Sarah and Emily are my favourite human characters for two reasons:  they are twins, but opposites not only in appearance, but in their reaction to kitchens. I am the mother of boy-girl twins whose appearance and behaviour are like night and day. Even though, Sarah and Emily are girl-girl twins, I incorporated my children’s differences as a tribute to them and because it is what I know.

I’ve already mentioned that cooking from scratch scares me to death. The irony is that my younger sister is an excellent cook. When we were children, she shadowed my mother in the kitchen every evening as my mother prepared dinner. I flopped on the couch and watched Perry Mason re-runs. During the first commercial I emptied the dishwasher, the second commercial was when I set the table, my father came home during the third commercial, so I said “Hi,” and right after the final scene, our family had dinner. I couldn’t resist giving our cooking traits to Sarah and Emily, but that’s as far as my “borrowing” goes.

RahRah and Fluffy, who are on the cover of Two Bites Too Many are my favourite animal characters. RahRah memorializes a friend’s Siamese cat and my friend’s devotion to her pet. Fluffy is a conglomerate of dogs our family has owned. I’m partial to both because they bring out the best in all of us.

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

DHG: I try to incorporate specific references or oddities from real life settings to bring my fictional ones to life. For example, my Wheaton, Alabama deliberately features a glorious white steepled church, a river walk, and alabaster marble buildings. At one time, all of these existed in Wetumpka, Alabama – until two deadly tornadoes went through the town. I’m especially pleased the church is part of my Sarah Blair series because that beautiful structure was one of the buildings destroyed by one of the tornadoes.

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

DHG: Many people think writing a culinary related novel is easy – everyone knows how to cook and can write “what they know.” That isn’t the case for me. Instead, I had to read articles and recipes; interview waiters, restaurant managers, and restaurant owners; take behind the scenes restaurant tours; and, experiment with making the recipes contained in my books. To nail the behaviour of the animals in Two Bites Too Many, I drew on my personal experience with dogs, but spent hours interviewing cat owners, googling different types of cats, and reading articles about cat behaviour. For the next book in the series, Three Treats Too Many, which will be published in 2020, I shadowed a veterinarian for a day and spent countless hours reading about motorcycles and interviewing a motorcycle enthusiast.

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

DHG: The character of Sarah Blair is meant to be a no frills, down to life, not always secure, person. RahRah is a cool, collected, female who is alpha in her relationship with Fluffy and Sarah. Two Bites Too Many has two purposes: subliminally make you think about important topics while enjoying each page of a plotted whodunit. Fun is what you should experience reading Two Bites Too Many.

Thanks for answering my questions, Debra, and good luck with Two Bites Too Many, the latest book in the Sarah Blair Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Debra and her writing by visiting her website and her Facebook, Goodreads and LinkedIn pages. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon  B&N  Kobo  Google Play 

About Debra H. Goldstein: Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Two Bites Too Many, as well as One Taste Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and IPPY Award-winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra serves on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is president of the Southeast Chapter of MWA and past president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter.

Posted in Archives, September 2019 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Peek Into The Glass House

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Dianne Ascroft

Today Nancy Lynn Jarvis is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about The Glass House, her latest novel in the PIP Inc Mystery series.

Welcome, Nancy. 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.

NLJ: The Glass House is the first in a planned series of PIP Inc. Mysteries. My good friend, Pat, like Pat Pirard in The Glass House, was the Santa Cruz County Law Librarian and is now a private investigator. I stole her identity―with modifications― for the book(s.) The real Pat wasn’t downsized, is happily married, does have a cat, but has informed me in clear language that if she ever had a dog, it would definitely not be a Dalmatian, especially not one named Dot.

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

NLJ: When I’m not writing, I host Airbnb. I have a guest from Long Island who is a glass artist. She flies to California every few months to take glass fabrication classes taught at a local glass studio. She does take pictures of what she’s making in class, but I never get to see the finished product because it’s always carefully packaged for her flight home. Recently she took a poppy making class and was so enthusiastic about what the class creations that she wanted me to see her finished creation. She suggested that I should slip into the studio while the class was having lunch in the owner’s house and sneak a peek. I did, but I felt so guilty for breaking and entering that after I satisfied my curiosity, I went to the owner’s house and confessed what I had done. Instead of calling out police with handcuffs, the owners invited me to join the class for lunch.

The class instructor sidled over when my Airbnb guest was introducing me to her classmates as a mystery writer and said, “I know a great way to kill someone in a glass studio.” It turns out he did, so I asked if I could kill him. He said, yes, so he became the murder victim, killed by his own hand as it were.

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

NLJ: The theme of the story is about love: the good, the bad, and the ugly. But if you’ve read this far, you’ve may have picked up on another “theme” in my writing. Everyone I come in contact with is fair game to become a character in one of my stories. I do change them up a bit to protect the innocent.

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

NLJ: Almost all my characters start out as someone I know and I begin writing using the real name of the person whose identity I’m borrowing. Within a few pages, they’ve undergone a name change which frees them up to become the characters I want to create rather than their namesakes, who would never do what I want them to do in my books. The only exceptions are Pat, whose name I kept because PIP stands for Private Investigator Pat, and Dave in another series because his character is so like the real Dave. I did change his last name, though, and he insists he’s nothing like my character.

The Glass House, is only one of the books I’ve written. I have a seven-book series of Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries, a one-off called “Mags and the AARP Gang”, and even a little inside baseball book called, “The Truth About Hosting Airbnb.”

One of my favourite characters is Dave from the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series because I get to write “Davisims” for him, and I think Syda, Pat’s best friend from this series will become another favourite.  But usually my favourites are older characters: Mrs. Rosemont from “The Death Contingency,” Olive from “The Widow’s Walk League,” and my all-time favourites, Mags and Melvin from “Mags and the AARP Gang.”

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

NLJ: I’m a very visual writer so I set my books in and around where I live. I can take a look at the places I’m creating and then put their descriptions down on paper. Not too sexy, but it works for me.

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

NLJ: I’m amazed at how much research I need to do for contemporary mysteries. Even brief details need to be right if my books are going to be credible, so I’ve looked up everything from how redwood trees water themselves in the absence of rain to the evolution of cat litter for my books. I’ve also looked up how to kill someone in a very public place without being caught.

Some of the most interesting research I’ve done is about how bodies might decompose over time. I was thrilled when I attended a forensic anthropologist’s lecture and discovered that my descriptions were exactly right in “Backyard Bones”, and “Buying Murder.”

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

NLJ: The Glass House is a bit of a collaboration between the real Pat and me. I was a real estate agent for many years so my real estate mysteries ring true, but I know nothing about being a private investigator, even an amateur one. I’m frequently asking Pat, “How would you find out about…’” and her answers will keep the PIP Inc. series realistic, too.

Thanks for answering my questions, Nancy, and good luck with The Glass House, the latest book in the PIP Inc Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Nancy and her writing by visiting her website and her Facebook and Goodreads pages.

The novel is available online at Amazon.

About Nancy Lynn Jarvis: Nancy was a Santa Cruz, California, Realtor® for more than twenty years before she fell in love with writing and let her license lapse. After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz at UCSC. Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years, a philosophy she applies to her writing, as well. She has written seven Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries; a stand-alone novel “Mags and the AARP Gang” about a group of octogenarian bank robbers; edited “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes” and a short story anthology, “Santa Cruz Weird;” and even done a little insider’s book, “The Truth About Hosting Airbnb” about her first year as a host. “The Glass House” is the first book in a planned series of PIP Inc. Mysteries. Now she’s trying to figure out when to work on another series she’d love to do called “Geezers with Tools” about two older handymen who will solve mysteries in the course of doing their work, and setting up writer retreats at her house.

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