A Murderous Misconception (Victoria Square Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Publisher: Polaris Press (May 8, 2020)

 

Synopsis

 

Katie Bonner loses her lunch—literally—when her social media account serves up a shocking announcement. Her boyfriend Andy’s assistant manager, Erikka, is pregnant, and apparently with his child. And when Erikka turns up dead, the Sheriff turns up the heat on Katie and Andy, certain that one of them is to blame. But Erikka wasn’t pregnant after all. Was Erikka’s misconception the only way she could conceive of stealing Andy from Katie?

When Katie finds planted evidence, it’s her friend and former detective, Ray, who insists on concealing it. Is it his growing affection for her that causes him to act against his training and code of ethics, or could he be responsible for Erikka’s death? Katie is afraid to find out.

 

 

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About the Authors

 

Lorraine Bartlett

 

The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what put Lorraine Bartlett‘s pen name Lorna Barrett on the New York Times Bestseller list, but it’s her talent — whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett — that keeps her there. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square Mystery series and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s).

 

Gayle Leeson

 

Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. Gayle has also written as Amanda Lee. She is currently writing the Kinsey Falls chick-lit/women’s fiction series, the Down South Cafe cozy mystery series, and the Ghostly Fashionista cozy mystery series. Her book KILLER WEDDING CAKE won the Bronze Medal in the 20th Anniversary IPPY Awards. Gayle lives in Southwest Virginia with her family and enjoys hearing from readers.

 

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Mousse and Murder (An Alaskan Diner Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Berkley (May 5, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages

Synopsis

 

A young chef might bite off more than she can chew when she returns to her Alaskan hometown to take over her parents’ diner in this charming first installment in a new cozy mystery series set in an Alaskan tourist town.

When Chef Charlie Cooke is offered the chance to leave San Francisco and return home to Elkview, Alaska, to take over her mother’s diner, she doesn’t even consider saying no. After all–her love life has recently become a Love Life Crumble, and a chance to reconnect with her roots may be just what she needs.

Determined to bring fresh life and flavors to the Bear Claw Diner, Charlie starts planning changes to the menu, which has grown stale over the years. But her plans are fried when her head cook Oliver turns up dead after a bitter and public fight over Charlie’s ideas–leaving Charlie as the only suspect in the case.

With her career, freedom, and life all on thin ice, Charlie must find out who the real killer is, before it’s too late.

 

 

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Review

I think this is going to be a fun series.  I don’t think that I have read a series set in Alaska, so I enjoyed learning a little more about the state and the landscape.  I have visited Alaska but it has been at least a decade.  The rural setting, the diner, and this picturesque town invite the reader and wishing that it was a real place to visit.  I’m sure there are several small towns like this one in Alaska, just not quite.

The cast of characters is small but complements the story.  Not all characters are given in depth lives in the story, but there is potential for them to become more a part of the cast in future books.  It is a shame that Oliver is killed right off the bat because I felt like there was more to his life that we could have learned about him and his past to understand why he was killed.  When the truth is revealed at the end about the “why” I felt like there should have been a little bit more.  I did figure out the killer only because almost all of the other characters had been eliminated.  Charlie seems to spend a lot of time away from the diner investigating Oliver’s murder, leaving her staff to manage the diner.  I did chuckle at the Trooper swearing in Charlie and friends as deputies.  It didn’t mean a hill of beans but, as Graham said, it made you feel better about nosing around in potentially unsafe places.

If you like cats then you will like Benny.  I was intrigued by this device that would feed him but also had a camera and other electronic toys for Charlie to play with him from the diner.  It was a good way to keep Benny entertained, and perhaps even Charlie and her co-workers.  Benny also saves the day in the end but you’ll have to read the book to find out how.

The story is not fast paced but will get you to where you need to go in due time.

We enjoyed this book and give it 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Camille Minichino is turning every aspect of her life into a mystery series. A retired physicist, she’s the author of 28 mystery novels in 5 series, with different pen names. Her next book is “Mousse and Murder,” May 2020, by Elizabeth Logan. She’s also written many short stories and articles. She teaches science at Golden Gate U. in San Francisco and writing workshops around the SF Bay Area.

 

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Nearly Departed (An Eve Appel Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Publisher: Epicenter Press (January 14, 2020)
Print Length: 180 pages

Synopsis

 

Tired of sitting surveillance on insurance fraud, apprentice PI Eve Appel Egret gets her first big case, one where the outcome is important and personal. Eve’s best friend Madeleine has few relatives, so her Uncle Shamus is special, but someone is determined to kill him and has tried several times. Eve is certain she can identify who is after him, but this time she may have taken on more than even our self-confident Eve can handle. Coping with a growing toddler and a teenager, devoting time to the consignment shop and finding someone who can go undercover in a sexual harassment case all vie for Eve’s attention. Eve knows she cannot fail Madeleine. This is more than her favorite uncle’s life. His death would mean devastating loss for Madeleine and call into question Eve’s commitment as a friend and her ability as a PI.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Today we have Madeleine from Nearly Departed joining us with some few insights.  Welcome Madeleine!

 

My name is Madeleine Boudreau Wilson, and I’m Eve Apple Egret’s best friend and business partner. The two of us own a consignment shop in a rural Florida community. We’ve been BFFs since sixth grade. Since everyone says we are such different people, you may wonder how we established this relationship and why it has survived for so long.

It’s never easy being a new kid in town, and if you’re the smallest kid in the class and you have carroty red hair like I had, you get picked on. My nickname, and not one of my own choosing, was “Shrimp” not only because of my size, but because one of the bullies thought I looked red like a prawn when cooked. Eve came to my rescue and taught me how to handle bullies. She told me to punch them in the gut, which I did, but since I was so short, my blow landed somewhere south of the gut area and in another more delicate spot. That lucky punch made the bullies back off. I returned Eve’s favor by telling all the girls in the class that Eve’s spikey hairdo had b been specially created for her by a famous New York salon operator. Every sixth-grade school was so jealous they tried to imitate Eve’s do with a similar one of their own. It never worked for them because only Eve Apple can pull off that look.

Eve’s advice in sixth grade is only one evidence of Eve’s take action approach to life. Me? I’m more laid back. Our different approaches to dealing with others provided the opportunity for each of us to learn from the other, although I think Eve never holds back when she feels strongly about something.

Here in rural Florida two Yankee gals charting a course this conservative southern town is not easy. Once people get to know Eve, they respect her, even like her despite her in your face approach to living. I think I’ve helped make her acceptance here easier because I have a way about me with others. I’m too tiny to be a threat, and my ladylike charm allows me to fit in well. Eve’s manner can offend easily, but I’m there to smooth things over. Don’t get me wrong. Beyond that rough exterior Eve is a thoughtful, kind and loyal person. Like me, Eve believes friends and family are everything. We’re always there for each other.

When Eve enters a room, everyone knows she’s there. When I enter a room, unless I trip over someone or drop something or crash into somebody (despite my ladylike appearance and manner, I’m clumsy), I’m ignored. In fact, I’m so awkward that there are stores in this town who would prefer I not shop in them for fear I’ll destroy their merchandise… or their customers. I ran through a lot of would-be boyfriends until I met my husband, David. Before him, a second date with a guy was rare because I’d managed to step on their feet on the dance floor or knock their drinks out of their hand. One fellow suffered a mild concussion when I accidentally hit him on the head with my purse as we both leaned over at the same time to retrieve his dropped car keys. I backed into a retaining gate at the annual rodeo, popped the latch and freed a herd of bulls, horses and steers. I’ve never been back. I think the rodeo’s sponsors are happy I stay away.

Another reason that Eve and I are such good friends is that I’m patient. She’s not. I put up with a lot from that gal. She likes to plunge headfirst into situations no one with any sense would tackle. She smart, clever and has a nose for sniffing out crime. When she gets an idea into her head, she pursues it, usually by herself although lately because she now has a family of her own to think about, she’s being more cautious. I’ve never been able to talk her into taking baby steps, but then, with her six-foot height, baby steps aren’t part of her DNA. There are times I envy her adventures in crime, but I have twin children, a boy and a girl, to think about. The boy is like his father, smart, handsome and the best child. The girl, who I named after Eve, turned out just like her. Evie is tall and was a handful from the time she was born. How did I get a child so unlike me and my husband and so like my friend? Did I offend someone, and Evie is my punishment for some social faux pas?

Eve mentioned once that we should get into the private detecting business together, pointing out how well we have done with the consignment shop. I have no interest in chasing down murderers, kidnapers and other criminals. I have my hands full just trying to raise my twins. I look ahead to their teenage years and shudder to think that my daughter could follow in Eve’s footsteps. Not that Eve was boy crazy. She was simply competitive with the boys. If driving cars fast was what guys did, then so did Eve. Daring Eve to do something wild meant she would. She was raised by her grandmother who must be some kind of saint to have put up with all Eve’s shenanigans, but I suspect her grandmother was not unlike Eve when she was an adolescent. Some families have renegade genes. I think Eve’s does. Eve now has a daughter of her own, more rambunctious than my daughter and destined to take after her mother. Her daughter will be payback for Eve’s past high-spirited youth. As mothers, we’re both in for some trying years ahead with our kids.

 

About the Author

 

Cows, Lesley learned as a child growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her when she went to the field to herd them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t her career path, she took a job as a stripper, book cover stripper for a publishing company, that is. Now after many years as a college professor and university administrator, she has returned to the world of books and uses her country roots and her training to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the face of murder. “A good chuckle,” says Lesley,” keeps us emotionally well-oiled long into our old age.”

 

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Seas the Day (A Seafood Capers Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Henery Press (April 21, 2020)
Hardcover: 282 pages

 

Synopsis

Caterer River Holloway cooks like a dream and is known on Shell Island as a “finder” of things. Which is why a desperate mother begs River to track down her grown son, Chili Bolz, who’s vanished.

Deputy Lance Hamlyn can’t find the missing man, so he teams up with River. The missing person case boils over into something frightening when Chili’s mother falls victim to a brutal assault. Worse, her dying words incriminate River’s friends in both kidnapping and, now, murder. River soon finds herself caught in an unsavory recipe for disaster.

Despite catering events and the return of her absentee boyfriend, River finds the number of suspects growing longer than her food shopping list. Along the way she befriends a black cat who becomes her crime-solving partner. River must locate Chili and discover who killed his mother before her own goose is quite literally cooked.

Maggie Toussaint serves up a fun and captivating read in Seas the Day, the first in her Seafood Capers series.

 

 

 

 

 

Review

 

Wonderful start to a new series.

River is one tough, smart, and dedicated woman. She believes in supporting friends and family no matter what and has a kind heart as we learn during a discussion with Pete about what she would do if she had a million dollars. It is obvious how much she values friendships when she starts looking for Chili, a pseudo big brother at the behest of his mother, Estelle. What River doesn’t realize is that she will be put into some precarious positions in her search.

There is an interesting mix of characters, some are from River’s past since this is a small island, and some are new to the island. While the “bad guy” character becomes obvious due to the character’s words and actions, the culprit could have been anyone and I had a few characters in mind to pin the deed upon. Not all characters are as they seem and there are a few surprises when it comes to her family friends – Estelle, Chili, and Kale. (I did chuckle at their names, how did they get named after foods?!)

River and Pete have an interesting relationship and I feel like there is so much we don’t know and at times I wondered if this might be a spinoff book where these characters were introduced somewhere else. Hopefully, future books will share more of their history so we can better understand them.

There are some recipes at the end of the book that sounds delicious and this comes from someone that doesn’t eat seafood! But I bet I could make some substitutions and have a delicious meal.

We give this 4 paws up.

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes cozy and paranormal mysteries, romantic suspense, and dystopian fiction, with twenty fiction novels published. A three-time finalist for Georgia Author of the Year, she’s won three Silver Falchions, the Readers’ Choice, and the EPIC Awards. She’s past president of Mystery Writers of America-Southeast chapter and an officer of LowCountry Sisters In Crime. She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows.

 

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18 CALIBER, Maizie Albright Star Detective Mystery
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Past Perfect Press (April 14, 2020)
Print Length: 395 pages

 

 

Synopsis

 

LUCKY IN LOVE AND LUCKY TO BE ALIVE. UNTIL NOW.

Maizie’s mixing with international stars, spies, and her mother’s dark past in her sixth case in The Wall Street Journal bestselling series.

“Hollywood glitz meets backwoods grit in this fast-paced ride on D-list celeb Maizie Albright’s waning star. Sassy, Sexy, and Fun.” — Phoebe Fox, author of the Breakup Doctor series.

#WannabeDetectiving While ex-celebrity Maizie Albright’s dreams of becoming a for-real private investigator have not exactly been dashed, they have been slightly thwarted. Her ex-manager and still-mother, Vicki Albright, has taken the helm of Nash Security Services while rebuilding her entertainment management company. Sometimes with the same clients. Like Chinese action star, Lili Liang, who’s making the film Unlucky 18 in Georgia.

Thus far, Lili’s living up to her movie title. Her kung fu coach is missing. Her boyfriend’s disappeared. And her director, who gambled on her with the part, might be gambling with her life.

Maizie’s luck is also running out. Maizie and Nash find themselves struggling to balance a new partnership and new relationship between missing persons’ cases, wild goose chases, and tracking a bullet into dangerous places. Sometimes it’s enough to make a girl NOT want to put a ring on it. When it comes to facing an 18-caliber killer, what will Maizie put up as the target? Her heart or her life?

 

 

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Books in the Maizie Albright Star Detective series

15 MINUTES – Free on Amazon during the Pandemic

16 MILLIMETERS

NC-17

A VIEW TO A CHILL

17.5 CARTRIDGES IN A PEAR TREE

18 CALIBER

 

Other Series by Larissa Reinhart

 

A Cherry Tucker Mystery

Finley Goodhart Crime Capers

 

 

About the Author

 

A Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Larissa writes the Cherry Tucker Mystery, Maizie Albright Star Detective, and Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series as well as romantic comedies and women’s fiction. She loves to tell funny stories about Southern women looking for love (and sometimes dead bodies) in all the wrong places. You might have seen Larissa and family with their little dog, Biscuit, on HGTV’s House Hunters International “Living for the Weekend in Nagoya” episode, but they’re back in Georgia now.

 

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Staging Wars (A Laura Bishop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Henery Press (April 28, 2020)
Hardcover: 254 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Laura Bishop’s new home staging business is growing in popularity, though not with her nemesis. Laura has long suspected established interior designer Monica Heller of sabotaging her fledgling company—and having an affair with her late husband.

When the ultra-chic Monica is caught at the scene of a murder, Laura is plenty happy to imagine her languishing in a prison cell with bedsheets far from her normal 600-thread Egyptian cotton. But her delight is short-lived.

 

When Laura’s friends land on the police’s radar, Laura must overcome her dislike of Monica to help solve the crime. Not an easy task since Laura and Monica have been at war since the second grade.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

 

Finding Pleasure

 

By Grace Topping

 

For a number of years, my family and I lived in a 1950s home with a bathroom with pink fixtures and black tile. Not a terrible combination and something we could live with, except for the garish plastic toilet seat that didn’t match the rest of the pink. So you might imagine how pleased I was after an extensive search to find a good quality toilet seat in the right shade of pink. To say it made me happy is an understatement.

So what’s so exciting about finding a pink toilet seat? What it says about me is that I can still find pleasure in little or simple things.

You might ask what that has to do with writing mysteries? On April 28, my second mystery, STAGING Wars will be released. I started the first one ten years ago, so to finally reach this point is quite thrilling. In an ideal world, it will become an instant best seller, selected by Oprah for her book club, made into a Hallmark TV movie, or optioned for Hollywood by Reece Witherspoon.

It would be great if even one of those things happened. But being realistic, I doubt my cozy mystery is going to hit the big time. It will give me pleasure hearing that people enjoyed my book, read reviews that say some good things about it (and learn from the things readers didn’t like), and be invited as a guest to some book clubs. In comparison to having my book made into a Hallmark TV movie or adapted by Hollywood, having someone say they loved my book might be a little thing. But it will give me immense pleasure. And sometimes that’s enough.

But if you hear Reece Witherspoon is looking for me, please give her my contact information.

 

 

About the Author

Grace Topping is a recovering technical writer and IT project manager, accustomed to writing lean, boring documents. Let loose to write fiction, she is now creating murder mysteries and killing off characters who remind her of some of the people she dealt with during her career. Fictional revenge is sweet. She’s using her experience helping friends stage their homes for sale as inspiration for her Laura Bishop mystery series. The series is about a woman starting a new career midlife as a home stager. The first book in the series, Staging is Murder, is a 2019 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. Grace is the former vice president of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a member of the SINC Guppies and Mystery Writers of America. She lives with her husband in Northern Virginia.

 

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Old Friends and New, Another Murder (Sheridan Hendley Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Independently published (December 12, 2019)
Paperback: 206 pages

Synopsis

 

A touch of nostalgia, a murder, and good friends.

When a former colleague is implicated in his neighbor’s demise, Sheridan Hendley returns to Cold Creek to prove his innocence. Annoying as Max can be, she can’t imagine the quirky professor is capable of murder. Unfortunately, not everyone shares her opinion. Of course, it doesn’t help that Max threatened his neighbor in a public place soon before the man was murdered. Or that the victim’s drug shipments had a habit of turning up on Max’s doorstep.

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Christa Nardi is an accomplished writer and an avid reader. Her favorite authors have shifted from Carolyn Keene and Earl Stanley Gardner to more contemporary mystery crime authors over time, but she still loves a good mystery. Christa has authored the Cold Creek Cozy Mystery Series, the spinoff Sheridan Hendley Mystery Series, and the Stacie Maroni Mystery Series.  She co-authors the Hannah and Tamar Mystery Series. When not reading or writing, Christa enjoys travel with her husband and playing with three dogs and three grand-daughters.

 

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Asbury High and the Thief’s Gamble: (Asbury High YA Cozy Mystery Series)
Young Adult Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Purple Milk Publishing (February 1, 2020)
Paperback: 260 pages

Synopsis

 

Asbury, although a haven to shoobies (tourists) in the summer, is a divided coastal town. With the rich half living in the East, and the rest living in the West, most friendships stay within their boundaries. Luckily for a spunky-smart tomboy, a clever billionaire athlete, a gossipy-in-the-know cheerleader, and a wrong side of the tracks technological genius, boundaries are a foreign concept. In fact, Maddie, Cornelious, Carly and Pilot have been Asbury’s strongest quartet for years, despite their vast differences.

 

Nevertheless, after a few weeks of starting high school, the foursome’s friendship is tested.

 

After a string of burglaries in East Asbury, the gang decides to solve the crime as a reason to make time for each other. The further they investigate, the more they find themselves constantly side-stepping tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum-like policemen, outsmarting local bully JB and his gang of misfits, and dealing with Cornelious’ billionaire father and Governor—who has disapproved of his son’s choice of friends for years. In addition to these obstacles, the foursome must also adapt to their evolving friendship with each other and their peers.

 

With upperclassmen, teachers, and teammates vying for their attention, the gang must work even harder to root out the red-herrings from the true thief. Aided by Carly’s gossip, Maddie’s boldness, Cornelious’ quick-wit, and Pilot’s knack for technology, the gang soon discovers its edge over the local police department.

 

 

 

 

Guest Post

 

Maddie Petrozza joins us today to share her thoughts about this book and series.

 

Who is your favorite fictional character and how do you think you’re alike?

My favorite fictional character would have to be Neptune’s finest Private Eye, Veronica Mars. She is just too cool. And she doesn’t care what anyone has to say or thinks about her…mostly because she knows how awesome she is. I wish I could apply for my private investigator’s license, but it might be for the best that I don’t actually. Sometimes it’s nice to fly under the radar, and—on the rare occasions that my friends and I get caught— we can just act like we didn’t know any better.

Honestly, I like to think we have quite a few similarities. I may be more athletic than she is, and she may already have her private investigator’s license… but we both love mysteries. And the feeling must be mutual because mysteries sure do have a way of popping up in both of our lives. Which leads to another similarity, I guess. We may not necessarily go looking for crimes (despite what Carly might tell you), but once involved we’re like an opera singer at a karaoke party—we can’t be stopped, and most people won’t even try to anyway.

The last thing we definitely have in common is our 100% faithfulness to our closest friends. Veronica is so successful because she knows she can’t solve crimes all on her own, and although she had to find out the hard way which friends weren’t real, once she realized who her true friends were, they were unstoppable. Just like me and my gang!

 

About the Author

 

 

For as long as she could remember, Kelly Brady Channick loved making up stories and leaving her listeners/readers on the edge of their seats.

Perhaps that’s why she always managed to talk herself out of trouble…

After graduating from NJ’s own Ocean City High School, Kelly accepted a basketball scholarship to Holy Family University, in Philadelphia. As a lifelong athlete, Kelly understands the importance of teamwork and overcoming adversity, something she hopes translates into her books.

Before writing page-turners, she taught first, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade — like a dessert menu, she simply had to test them all out. But her favorite job is the one she’s now doing full time: writing. Kelly loves to craft whodunit mysteries, leading readers through various twists and turns filled with red-herrings, hidden clues, and more peculiar characters than a reality show.

Kelly lives in South Jersey with her handsome husband, energetic baby boy, two cookie-stealing dogs, and an awfully smart cat.

 

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All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (April 7, 2020)
Hardcover: 304 pages

 

Synopsis

For fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal, All We Buried disturbs the long-sleeping secrets of a small Washington State mountain town.

Interim sheriff Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers has always had one repeat nightmare: a shadowy figure throwing a suspicious object into her hometown lake in Collier, Washington. For the longest time, she chalked it up to an overactive imagination as a kid. Then the report arrives. In the woods of the Cascade mountain range, right in her jurisdiction, a body floats to the surface of Lake Collier. When the body is extricated and revealed, no one can identify Jane Doe. But someone must know the woman, so why aren’t they coming forward?

Bet has been sitting as the interim sheriff of this tiny town in the ill-fitting shoes of her late father and predecessor. With the nightmare on her heels, Bet decided to build a life for herself in Los Angeles, but now it’s time to confront the tragic history of Collier. The more she learns, the more Bet realizes she doesn’t know the townspeople of Collier as well as she thought, and nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Small Towns Murders and Real Places in Fiction by Elena Taylor

 

As a mystery writer, I have a certain sensitivity to killing characters off. Murder mysteries, even ones without graphic violence, still need a victim. If you’re dealing with a murder in a small town, the considerations for killing those characters off are a little different than if you set your story in a place like Los Angeles or Chicago.

Two aspects to think about are where the murders take place and how often characters are killed through acts of violence during any given year.

In 2019, Chicago had 490 homicides and over 2,000 shootings. Compare that to the town of North Bend, Washington, where I live, which had a total of . . . well . . . zero.

If I locate my novels in Washington D.C.—160 homicides in 2019—and I have a victim of a violent crime, no one will find that “unusual.”

If I kill someone in Bellingham, Washington, however, where my first series takes place, that’s the average number of homicides in an entire year.

The “Jessica Fletcher Effect” is a term coined from the long-running TV series, Murder She Wrote, set in the tiny town of Cabot Cove, Maine.

An estimated 300 homicides occurred in Cabot Cove during the years of Jessica Fletcher’s amateur sleuthing, making it the murder capital of the United States. Yet not one of the residents of Cabot Cove appeared bothered enough to lock their doors at night.

Even with that remarkable suspension of disbelief, Hollywood finally sent Jessica off to New York City and other locations to continue to investigate homicides in other places rather than wipe out the entire community of Cabot Cove for the sake of her shenanigans.

Sending characters out of town is only one choice an author like me writing about small towns can make. We can also choose to have books in a series spread out over time. So rather than occurring just months apart, which a busy police detective in Los Angeles could certainly pull off without raising an eyebrow, the events in the books can be separated by years.

Cold cases also work well, as a sleuth can uncover crimes committed in the past.

The location of a crime is another issue for a writer to keep in mind.

If I describe a street corner in Houston, Texas, unless I give the names of the streets, no one is likely to recognize the intersection.

Not so in a small town.

If I describe a single building in Bellingham, Washington, someone is likely to know exactly where I’m talking about, even without specific street names.

When I’ve located my books in real places, I don’t have my characters commit crimes in a location that exists in the real world. I either modify a location, such as an intersection that doesn’t exist because the two roads are actually parallel, or I change the details, such as names or addresses or descriptions.

I do this such that someone familiar with the area may recognize something about where I set a murder, but they can also tell it’s not a place that exists in the real world.

While clues and character interactions are located in places a reader could visit, the crime scenes are less easy to identify.

For my latest book, All We Buried, my town is fictional. There are some advantages to that, as I don’t have to worry about putting something violent at a location that might bother a reader who knows the area. There’s a freedom to creating whatever kind of town I want.

Because the stores, restaurants, and every building in my fictional valley are made up, I can choose to have crimes take place in as public a location as I want.

That leads me back to how many homicides I want to have in my town of Collier, population roughly 1000 hardy souls.

One a year is plausible. Two or three in a year is possible, especially if they are related homicides. A spree killing, for example. Or a situation of a murder/suicide.

More than that, however, and I’m likely to run afoul of the Jessica Fletcher Effect.

So, as I work on the next novel in the series, I’m taking that into consideration.

One of my favorite authors, Louise Penny, sets her mysteries in the tiny town of Three Pines, Ontario, Canada.

The sixteenth book of her Detective Gamache series launches in September, and I recently saw a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the cover.

A line on her website states, “You can probably tell by the cover where it’s set.”

I’m wondering if Louise Penny has started to wonder about the Jessica Fletcher Effect too.

If she is, I’m in terrific company.

 

 

About the Author

 

Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, written under the name Elena Hartwell, introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime-fighting duo. With All We Buried, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers a much more serious and atmospheric novel. Located in her beloved Washington State, Elena uses her connection to the environment to produce a forbidding story of small-town secrets and things that won’t stay buried. Elena is also a senior editor with Allegory Editing, a developmental editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish manuscripts, short stories, and plays. If you’d like to work with Elena, visit www.allegoryediting.com.When she’s not writing or coaching writing, her favorite place to be is at the farm with her horses, Jasper and Radar, or at her home, on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in North Bend, Washington, with her husband, their dog, Polar, and their cats, Coal Train and Cocoa. Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

 

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Giveaway

 

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This Magick Marmot (An Abracadabra Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Publisher: Lyrical Press (April 7, 2020)
Paperback: Pages: 200

Synopsis

 

A fatal case of school spirit . . .

Kailyn Wilde, owner of the Abracadabra potion shop, feels some dread anticipating her ten-year high school reunion at the new hotel in New Camel—but it turns out even worse than she feared. Running into her very first boyfriend is pleasant enough. Chatting with Ashley—who still can’t let go of a tragedy that happened on prom night—is a bit more uncomfortable. But the worst part comes when one of Kailyn’s oldest friends is found dead in the ladies’ room.

Soon this upstate New York town is in an uproar. And with some help from time-traveling wizard Merlin—who has adopted an unusual and alluring creature as his familiar—it’s up to Kailyn to identify the alumnus most likely to commit murder . . .

 

 

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Review

 

I really enjoy this series especially Merlin.  He is a crackup and the shenanigans he gets into are priceless plus his interactions with Aunt Tilly are a hoot.  This man does love his desserts.

When I first picked up the book, I was a bit puzzled about the title because I had no clue what a marmot could possibly be and of course I didn’t go look it up ahead of time.  A marmot is a rodent, similar to a squirrel is my best explanation and Merlin has decided this is what is going to be his familiar…that is after a rocky start with other possibilities.

Kailyn has a rocky road with this murder.  She has to remember the passing of her childhood friend, Scott, in a tragic accident in high school and then at the 10 year class reunion, another friend is found dead.  This sets Kailyn off on the road to discover who might have killer her friend and what was the secret behind Scott’s death.  I honestly had no clue how this story was going to play out.  There are many potential suspects but none of them seemed to be the right fit.  When the truth is revealed, I was quite surprised and didn’t expect it to turn out the way that it did.

Travis is still around and in a relationship with Kailyn and it is a good thing he knows and understands her magick abilities.  They make a good team when investigating, but since Travis is a journalist, his investigative skills are quite different from Kailyn’s.  But it all works out in the end.

If you like magick and laughter, pick up this series and enjoy!  We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

About the Author

 

Sharon Pape describes her writing career as having two stages. Back in the dark ages, before computers were in every household, she had three paranormal books published. The first one was condensed by Redbook Magazine, the first paperback original they had ever condensed. Around the same time, Redbook published her first short story.

Then life brought her an unexpected challenge that went by the name of breast cancer. When her treatment was over, she became a volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s Reach to Recovery Program and went on to be the program’s coordinator for Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. Several years later, with the help of her surgical oncologist and two other survivors, she started her own not-for-profit organization to provide information and peer support to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

Once the organization was running smoothly and didn’t require as much of her time, she returned to her first love – writing. During this second stage of her career, she’s been writing cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist and a splash of humor.

 

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Giveaway

 

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