Today I’ve invited Kathleen Valenti to Ascroft, eh? as part of her Great Escapes virtual book tour to tell us about her new mystery, As Directed.
Welcome Kathleen. 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.
KV: AS DIRECTED is the third book in the Maggie O’Malley Mystery Series.
In it, former pharmaceutical researcher Maggie O’Malley is rebuilding her life, trading test tubes for pill bottles as she embarks on a new career at the corner drugstore. But as she spreads her wings, things begin to go terribly wrong. A customer falls ill in the store. Followed by another. And then more. The spectre of poisoning arises, conjuring old grudges, past sins, buried secrets and new suspicions from which no one is immune. As Maggie and her best friend Constantine begin to investigate, they discover that some of the deadliest doses come from the most unexpected places.
The series features books in the “traditional” mystery style with a medical angle. The books offer up suspense, intrigue and plenty of witty dialogue.
Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?
KV: The book’s central mystery surrounds customers becoming ill at the pharmacy at which Maggie works. The idea is based both around the Tylenol murders of the 1980s and Maggie’s new role as a pharmacy tech. Add in the fact that Maggie is recovering from a head injury and isn’t quite herself, and there are questions aplenty!
Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?
KV: At its heart, AS DIRECTED is about trust. This trust applies not only to the faith we put in others, but also the belief we have in ourselves.
This theme was important to Maggie’s growth as a character. She begins the series as a twenty-something on the brink of a new career. By the time the events in AS DIRECTED get under way, her world has crumbled, her confidence has eroded, and her trust in others (and herself) has diminished. Like us all, Maggie grows and changes in the crucible of life.
How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?
KV: In many ways, my characters come to me fully formed. They’re like the people in our lives: wonderful, flawed, heroic and broken. Although Maggie is the series’ eponymous protagonist, my favorite character is Constantine. I love him for his goofiness, his loyalty, and his ability to lighten the mood.
How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?
KV: The places that I write about in this series are fictional, but I infuse a lot of detail into the story so that they truly come to life. That means describing in broad brushstrokes as well as finer details to make these locations seem as real as your own hometown.
What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?
KV: Because I write medical-ish mysteries, I do a TON of research. Most of it begins online, but I’m fortunate enough to have friends who are pharmacists, physicians, and in pharmaceutical development to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book?
KV: This is a book I’m particularly proud of. I love its combination of action, suspense, and humor and was delighted to receive this lovely quote from Liv Constantine, international best-seller of The Last Mrs. Parrish:
“A chilling game of cat and mouse that moves with lightning speed and stunning twists. Lies, secrets and evil spin a deadly web in this gripping tale of malice and deceit.”
Thanks Kathleen for dropping by today. Good luck with your latest book in the Maggie O’Malley Mystery Series.
Readers can learn more about Kathleen by visiting her website, as well as her Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter pages.
The book is available at the following online retailers:
Amazon Barnes & Noble iTunes Kobo
About Kathleen Valenti: Kathleen is the author of the Maggie O’Malley Mystery Series, which includes her Agatha- and Lefty-nominated debut novel, Protocol. When Kathleen isn’t writing page-turning mysteries that combine humor and suspense, she works as a nationally award-winning advertising copywriter. She lives in Oregon with her family where she pretends to enjoy running.
KBH: Cyanide with Christie is the third book in the Crime with the Classics series. The protagonist, Emily Cavanaugh, is a retired literature professor who solves crimes by relating them to her favorite classic novels. Each book focuses on a different classic author.
About Katherine Bolger Hyde: Katherine was born almost in New York City in 1956 and has lived all over the US, but currently makes her home in the redwood country of California with her husband, youngest child, and two obstreperous cats. She decided at age eleven to become a writer, her initial idols being Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott. In college she majored in Russian literature and expanded her favorites to include Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Austen, Dickens, and many more.Katherine writes the Crime with the Classics traditional mystery series for adults as well as fantasy and picture books for children. When not writing, reading, or editing (her day job), she can usually be found singing, dancing, knitting, or drawing plans for her dream house.
Moss Hill is not your typical town. An island off the western shores of the United Kingdom, right near the Great Blasket, it’s a stunning sight when it’s visible and has easy access from Ireland when it’s accessible by ferry boat. The island is covered in mist, but it all becomes clear the closer you are to it. You’ve also probably never heard of us because the islands around us are either abandoned or too small to hold a community like ours.
If you want to see the whole town in one glance, the view is breathtaking from the top of Mount Aisling. Just don’t go into Mount Vale. The hiking trails there are a bit dangerous, and visitors often lose their way on the treacherous trails. It’s best to avoid that mountain, but you can still appreciate the view. The sight of it is otherworldly even from a distance. 
About Astoria Wright: Astoria is the author of The Faerie Apothecary Mysteries, including the bestselling prequel novella Chaos in the Countryside. Intrigued by myths and inspired by cozy mystery writers before her, Astoria tries to combine two worlds with human and faerie neighbors trying to solve puzzling crimes on the fictional island of Moss Hill. She’s also a poet, which shows in the Moss Hill poetry anthology “written” by the characters in the series. Her goal is to bring Moss Hill to life in her stories, because who doesn’t wish we lived in a town with magical faeries as neighbors?
If you’ve read the first book in the series, A Timeless Celebration, you’ll know that the series is set in Fenwater, a small town in rural Ontario that has a strong connection with its Scottish heritage. Since things Scottish will frequently play a part in the stories in the series, I thought it would be apt to take a couple minutes today to mark Burns Night, an occasion that is celebrated in Scotland and in Scottish communities worldwide. Burns Night is a night to honour the Scottish national poet, Robert Burns, and to celebrate all things Scottish – sort of like St Patrick’s Day without the green beer if you have Scottish ancestry. If you haven’t encountered Burns Night before and you’d like to learn more about it, you’ll find a 
Lois Stone, the main character in the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series, has Scottish ancestry that she doesn’t really want to talk about and she plays the bagpipes. So, although I haven’t asked her, I’m sure she’s at a Burns Night celebration today. Maybe she’s even the piper who is piping in the haggis. She’ll be wearing tartan and surrounded by friends and neighbours as they toast the haggis and Burns’ memory. I think she deserves an evening to enjoy herself after the turbulent introduction she had to Fenwater last year in A Timeless Celebration. When the second book in the series is released later this year, we’ll drop in on her again and find out how she’s settling into her new home.
The day after tomorrow is Christmas Day. For most of us, when we think of Christmas, lots of familiar images flood our minds: the crunch of boots on snow, festooned Christmas trees, a roaring fire in the hearth, the scent of pine drifting through the house, dancing lights strung around windows, the tangy scent of cinnamon and cloves, the sweet scent of buttered popcorn, colourful ornaments glinting on the tree, the smell of turkey roasting in the oven, Christmas songs playing in every shop you enter. The list could go on and on.
Many of the images I mentioned have traditions associated with them: some families cut down their own Christmas tree, decorations are often hung on a certain date, children string popcorn onto threads to create garlands to decorate the tree, turkey is served for Christmas lunch. Some traditions are part of the celebrations of whole communities and countries, and others are ones that have become tradition to a family because they have done it like that for years.
During my teens, a winter tradition for our youth group was Hayride Saturday in Ontario’s farmland. When we arrived at the farm, less than an hour’s drive outside Toronto, we city kids thought we were miles from civilisation. Wrapped up in coats, hats and mittens we bundled onto a large, flatbed wagon piled high with hay. We wriggled into the hay for warmth, the girls covertly trying to edge in beside the boys we fancied. The wagon would lurch off down the country road, pulled by a pair of shaggy draught horses, as we squealed and clutched the edges of the creaking vehicle. Invariably the boys would roughhouse, pushing and shoving each other, until at least one of them tumbled off. We’d shout encouragement as the man overboard ran to catch up with the wagon. The horses lumbered along the frosty road at an easy pace so there was never any danger that he would be left behind.
By the time we arrived back at the farmyard, we were hoarse from shouting and laughing, and shivering with cold, our noses glowing like Rudolph’s. Laughing, we’d hop off the wagon and troop into the barn where refreshments were laid out on a long wooden table. A hotdog stopped my stomach rumbling, but a cup of steaming apple cider was the real treat. I would wrap my chilled hands around the cup and inhale the scents of cinnamon, orange rinds and cloves before I took my first sip. Nothing could beat its sweet, tangy taste. Armed with my liquid hand warmer, I’d wander outside to huddle at the bonfire that was lit as darkness fell. Sitting on a bale of hay with sparks from the fire popping and floating past me, blowing wood smoke through my hair, I thought that this was country life. Nowadays I’m more familiar with real country life. I pitch in when we make hay on our farm each summer, gathering the bales together to be lifted and brought into the byre, and feed cattle in winter, lifting sections of hay and throwing them into the feeder while dodging the animals’ swinging heads.
Then a few days before that holiday ended, I got a pleasant surprise when I discovered that you can now buy cartons of apple cider. All you need to add to the mixture is hot water. It isn’t quite the same as fresh cider but it’s the next best thing. So, before I left Toronto, I trooped off to the supermarket to buy a carton and packed as many of the individual sachets as I could into my backpack. Fortunately I wasn’t searched at the airport. If I had been, would they have believed that the white powdered substance I was carrying was nothing more sinister than cider mixtures?
On December 8 I was invited to guest post at StoreyBook Reviews about where the idea came from for A Timeless Celebration. I’ll give you a clue: it’s partly related to the Titanic. 
On December 15 I shared in a guest post with Terry Ambrose at Mysteries With Character why Fenwick is the perfect town for my cozy mysteries. 
My novel, War King, is the third novel in my series about the Norse king Hakon Haraldsson, or “Hakon the Good” as he is also known in history.
About Eric Schumacher: Eric was born in Los Angeles in 1968 and currently resides in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife, two children and dog. He is the author of two historical fiction novels, God’s Hammer and its sequel, Raven’s Feast. Both tell the story of the first Christian king of Viking Norway, Hakon Haraldsson, and his struggles to gain and hold the High Seat of his realm.
WHJ: Antiques and Alibis is the first book in a brand-new humorous crime series set in Scotland. It is not a series, or indeed a book which takes itself seriously. The book description will give you a flavour of the general tone of the book and the series.
About Wendy H. Jones: Wendy is an award-winning Scottish Crime Writer who lives and sets her books in Dundee, Scotland. She is also an International Public Speaker talking about writing and marketing. Killer’s Crew, the first book in her DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries was the Winner of the Books Go Social Book of the Year 2017. The Dagger’s Curse, the first book in her Young Adult mystery series, was a finalist in the Woman Alive Magazine Readers Choice Award 2017. She has signed a publishing contract with Malcolm Down and Sarah Grace Publishing for the first book in a children’s picture book series, based on a true story about a little Buffalo in Scotland. The first, Bertie’s Great Escape will be released late October 2018. When she’s not writing, Wendy spends her time travelling the world. She is also President of the Scottish Association of Writers and co-founder of Crime at the Castle, a Scottish literary festival held at Glamis Castle Scotland.
SS: Although TRIAL ON MOUNT KOYA is the sixth Hiro Hattori mystery, it’s designed to stand alone, so readers don’t have to be familiar with Hiro and Father Mateo’s previous adventures to enjoy this book.
About Susan Spann: Susan is the award-winning author of the Hiro Hattori mystery novels, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo. She began reading precociously and voraciously from her preschool days in Santa Monica, California, and as a child read everything from National Geographic to Agatha Christie.
KC: Thank you, Dianne, for inviting me. LAST DANCE IN KABUL is set in 1841 Afghanistan. When his superiors ignore his warnings of an impending Afghan insurrection, Reeve Waterton vows never to return to Kabul. But then the ex-army captain rescues strong-willed Sarah Kane from an ambush, and his plans for civilian life and self-preservation unravel around him. At first Reeve dislikes Sarah as much as she loathes him. It’s only after Reeve’s closest friend is brutally murdered and the Afghan tribes explode in revolt that he and Sarah discover their desperate need for each other.
About Ken Czech: Dr. Ken Czech is a retired history professor and an internationally recognized authority on the historical literature of exploration and sport. His passion, however, has turned to writing fiction. He and his wife Mary live in Central Minnesota on an abandoned granite quarry.
dianneascroft.com 