Three Strikes, You’re Dead (Eddie Shoes Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Camel Press (April 1, 2018)
Paperback: 288 pages

Synopsis

Private investigator Eddie Shoes heads to a resort outside Leavenworth, Washington, for a mother-daughter getaway weekend. Eddie’s mother Chava wants to celebrate her new job at a casino by footing the bill for the two of them, and who is Eddie to say no?

On the first morning, Eddie goes on an easy solo hike, and a few hours later, stumbles upon a makeshift campsite and a gravely injured man. A forest fire breaks out and she struggles to save him before the flames overcome them both. Before succumbing to his injuries, the man hands her a valuable rosary. He tells her his daughter is missing and begs for her help. Is Eddie now working for a dead man?

Barely escaping the fire, Eddie wakes in the hospital to find both her parents have arrived on the scene. Will Eddie’s card-counting mother and mob-connected father help or hinder the investigation? The police search in vain for a body. How will Eddie find the missing girl with only Eddie’s memory of the man’s face and a photo of his daughter to go on?

Guest Post

If I weren’t a writer, I’d have a hundred dogs

By Elena Hartwell

Writing is hard. It’s hard to finish a manuscript. It’s hard to rewrite. It’s hard to submit and get rejected. Once the book is finally out, it’s hard to market. Bad reviews are painful. Then you have to start all over writing another one.

Sometimes I fantasize about what I would do if I weren’t an author.

I’d probably have a hundred dogs. I’m not sure how that would earn me a living, but that’s probably what I would do.

About the only thing I love more than writing is animals. My animals, your animals, animals that need homes, animals that run free. It doesn’t matter what the context, I’ve never met an animal I didn’t like, and that includes dogs who have bitten me and horses that have bucked me off onto the ground. It’s never personal.

I think what I love about the animal kingdom is the lack of duplicity. A dog doesn’t lie. They show you when they are scared or angry or hungry. When I’ve been bitten by a dog, the motivation behind it was clear. The times I’ve been bucked off, in retrospect, I could see why it happened. There’s not a lot of gray with an animal. They want to bite you or they don’t. They want to buck you off or they don’t. All you have to do is correctly read the signs and react accordingly.

My dog, Polar, has a vast array of sounds and behaviors. I can tell the difference between “I have to pee” and “I want a cookie.” He’s never deceitful. He really does have to pee. He really does want a cookie. I might, on occasion, misunderstand what he’s saying, but the fault is mine, not his. He always speaks the truth, and when in doubt, he’s asking for a cookie.

The publishing world has none of that simplicity. There are so many reasons our work succeeds or doesn’t. Why an agent says yes or no. Why a reader or a reviewer likes our work or doesn’t. We can do everything right and still get rejected.

And yet, I can’t imagine not being a writer. No matter how challenging the career, it’s the only thing I want to do.

Besides hang out with animals.

Another thing I love about animals is their built-in lie detectors. The late great horse trainer Ray Hunt said, “A horse knows … The horse knows if you know. He also knows when you don’t know.” You cannot lie to a horse and get away with it. If you are uncertain, your horse will be uncertain. If you’re confident, your horse is confident. And they know the difference. They force you to be honest with yourself in a way people can’t do.

Interacting with people has none of the clarity of interacting with animals. That’s part of what makes people so tricky to write. Complex characters can’t act with the simplicity of the animal world. People lie and manipulate and omit. They tell us what we want to hear, because they think it’s helpful. They tell us what we don’t, because they want something from us. That’s what makes great fiction.

One of my favorite parts of being a writer is uncovering human motivations. When we’re out in public, my husband is used to me turning to him and saying “what do you think is going on over there?” Followed by my in-depth analysis of the body language and actions of some poor couple who doesn’t know they are under my microscope. It doesn’t matter if I’m right or not, what matters is the exploration of the human condition. My writer’s mind is always trying to figure out why people do what they do. What they want. Why they want it.

I’m endlessly fascinated by human interactions, even when it’s exhausting.

The difference with my animals is striking. Whether I’m just hanging out with my dog or working with my horses, I know the behavior is honest. If my dog is talking, it’s because he’s trying to tell me something. He’s being forthright. He’s saying exactly what’s on his mind.

With people, there are often murky undertows. Subtext. That underlying information we’re sending out through what we say versus what we do.

That’s what I try to imbue my characters with, all those fascinating grey areas we live in all the time. The unsureness of a need. The hidden agenda. The misunderstood fears, which drive behavior.

It’s great on paper. It’s a lot of work in real life.

I often write animals into my novels. I like the contrast between the animal world and the human one. I think most people relate to the animal world. Whether it’s because they have loved a pet or marveled at the beauty of a wild animal or encountered the spirit of a horse, almost all of us have experienced the connection between their world and ours.

If I weren’t a writer, I’d have a hundred dogs. I’d have a lot more horses too, and maybe a few goats, and a cow. I would definitely have a cow. A brown Swiss with soft, dark eyes. But for now, I love being a writer. I’ll settle for the animals I have and the ones I put into my novels. I’ll take a break and groom my horses, standing in the sun, enjoying no thoughts beyond a yummy snack and getting that itchy spot scratched.

Then I’ll come back to my computer and start up again, finding those gray areas, figuring out what my characters want, and what they need. Creating a complex web of human interactions, and the occasional animal, to remind us how simple life can be.

About the Author

After twenty years in the theater, Elena Hartwell turned her dramatic skills to fiction. Her first novel, One Dead, Two to Go introduces Eddie Shoes, private eye. Called “the most fun detective since Richard Castle stumbled into the 12th precinct,” by author Peter Clines, I’DTale Magazine stated, “this quirky combination of a mother-daughter reunion turned crime-fighting duo will captivate readers.”

In addition to her work as a novelist, Elena teaches playwriting at Bellevue College and tours the country to lead writing workshops.

When she’s not writing or teaching, 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 trio of cats, Jackson, Coal Train, and Luna, aka, “the other cat upstairs.” Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, an M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

Webpage * Facebook * Twitter * Blog * GoodReads * Pinterest

Check out the other blogs on this tour – some have a Giveaway!

April 1 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! – REVIEW, GIVEAWAY

April 1 – Island Confidential – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 2 – Babs Book Bistro – CHARACTER GUEST POST, GIVEAWAY

April 3 – Socrates’ Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST

April 4 – Books Direct – GUEST POST, GIVEAWAY

April 5 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – INTERVIEW

April 6 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT

April 6 – Ruff Drafts – GUEST POST

April 7 – A Blue Million Books – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 8 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 9 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 10 – FUONLYKNEW – REVIEW, GIVEAWAY

April 11 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW, INTERVIEW

April 12 – Texas Book-aholic – REVIEW

April 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

April 13 – Maureen’s Musings – REVIEW

April 14 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW, INTERVIEW