Cozy Mystery
Release Date – August 5, 2016
Synopsis
Lily Gayle Lambert is a professional seamstress specializing in period dresses for convention attendees and re-enactment groups along with being an amateur genealogist. And a big pain in the butt to the county sheriff…who just happens to be her cousin.
Quicker than she can stitch together the threads of a genealogy project she’s just signed on to research, Lily Gayle finds herself embroiled in investigating the Halloween night murder of a stranger who suffers from ‘wolfman syndrome’. Before she can even get going good on the first murder a member of a prominent family turns up dead too.
Escaping from a trailer in the woods owned by two good ole boys suspected of being involved and a confrontation with the eldest son of the town’s wealthiest family have Lily Gayle hot on the trail of the killer.
With the help of her lifelong best friend, Dixie, Lily Gayle must find the link between the two and solve the mystery before her investigation makes her the next target.
Guest Post
Today I welcome author Susan Boles to StoreyBook Reviews. Today she is sharing her thoughts on her new book, Death of a Wolfman, and the small town setting – you know, the pros and cons of it all! Welcome Susan!
DEATH OF A WOLFMAN is set in a non-existent small town in north Mississippi. But I had a lot of personal experience to draw on when creating the town.
I grew up in McNairy County, Tennessee. A place where my family has lived since 1826. And, after all these years, I can assure you that everyone knows everyone…right back to your grandparents, and maybe further.
This can be both a blessing and a curse.
If you’re seen somewhere you aren’t supposed to be, that person will not hesitate to call your Mama. The repercussions are two-fold. First, you lied to your Mama about where you were going. Second, you embarrassed your Mama and the whole family with your actions. This happens all the way into adulthood, even when you are no longer living at home. Because, of course, if a phone call was made, you can be sure you weren’t spotted at the local Wal-Mart. Quite possibly your car was spotted at the local roadhouse — where you parked around back to avoid this very problem.
In DEATH OF A WOLFMAN, Lily Gayle spots her lifelong best friend, Dixie, sneaking a cigarette out behind her beauty shop. Yep. There are eyes everywhere in a small town. I also have the character of Miss Edna. She sits on her porch with her ‘bird watching’ binoculars taking in everything going on in town.
I’ve talked about some of the bad aspects of living in a small town, so now I’m going to touch on the good ones. I always knew where my roots were. And I had the privilege of growing up surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great aunts, great uncles….well, you get the picture.
And, everyone else in the surrounding area knew my whole family, too. Heck, I even had some of the same teachers in school who taught my mother. And two who had gone to school with her. If I got a flat tire or my car slid off the road (things that actually happened to me) all I had to do was walk up to the closest house and knock on the door, knowing I would be welcomed and helped without question.
When life kicked her down, Lily Gayle returned to the town where she grew up (and couldn’t wait to leave after high school) because she knew that if you’re from a small town, you are one of their own, good, bad or indifferent. Always and forever. I love the Bon Jovi song, Who Says You Can’t Go Home?
“Who says you can’t go home?
There’s only one place they call me one of their own”
About the Author
Susan calls McNairy County, TN her home ground even though she has moved away. It was here, at Bethel Springs Junior High School that she began her writing career with two friends. They formed their own little writers group that was so secret they were the only ones who knew it existed. She still has some of the stories they wrote carefully preserved in a loose leaf binder and tucked away for safety.
She has worked in retail management, briefly for the Census Bureau and for many years in the investment/insurance industry in the regulatory compliance arena. All of which are left brain activities. So she exercises her right brain activity with reading and writing…just to keep both sides even.
Reading has been a passion since she was very young. As a toddler, her mother read to her from her ‘baby books’ and her Mother tells a story about her holding one of them upsidedown and ‘reading’ by repeating the story verbatim from memory.
Death of a Wolfman is the first in the Lily Gayle Lambert mystery series. Her previously published romantic suspene novel, Fated Love, is a contemporary paranormal romantic suspense (with a twist of paranormal) set in Memphis, TN. Her first novel, Kate’s Pride, is a historical women’s fiction set in West Tennessee in the aftermath of the Civil War. The novel is loosely based on her own Great Grandmother and published under the pen name Renee Russell.
Life got in the way of writing for many years but now she’s come back to her early love.
Stay in touch for upcoming releases!
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Giveaway
Check out these other blogs on the tour
August 17 – Community Bookstop – REVIEW
August 17 – The Girl with Book Lungs – SPOTLIGHT
August 18 – Cozy Up With Kathy – INTERVIEW
August 19 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST
August 20 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST
August 21 – Book Babble – REVIEW
August 22 – LibriAmoriMiei – REVIEW
August 22 – Island Confidential – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
August 23 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW
Thank you so much for hosting me on my virtual tour!