A Literal Mess (An Allie Cobb Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Lyrical Underground (January 8, 2019)
Print Length: 196 pages

Synopsis

The first book in a new series featuring Allie Cobb brings the New York literary agent back to her Hoosier home town where a mysterious death keeps everyone on spoiler alert . . .

Allie Cobb left home for the literary circles of Manhattan to make her name out from under the shadow of her legendary father. Now his death brings her and her rescue cat Ursula back to the southern Indiana town of Rushing Creek, population: 3,216. But a tragic new chapter hits the presses when the body of her father’s hard-drinking, #1 bestselling client is found under the historic town bridge. The local police suspect foul play and their prime candidate for murder is the author’s daughter—Allie’s longtime friend.

Determined to clear her bestie, Allie goes into fact-checking amateur detective mode while trying to ignore the usual rumormongers. Those with means, motive, and opportunity include the vic’s ex-wife, his rejected girlfriend, the mayor, and a rival agent trying to mooch clients. With a rugged genealogist distracting her and the imminent Fall Festival about to send tourists descending on their once-peaceful hamlet, Allie needs to stay alive long enough to get a read on a killer ready to close the book on a new victim: Allie . . .

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Guest Post

Today I welcome author J.C. Kenney to StoreyBook Reviews.  I love his mother’s response to why she read mysteries.  It also gave me a little bit of a chuckle because I’m Catholic too!

It All Started With a Question

Hi, folks! Thanks for stopping by. I hope your 2019 is off to a great start. With the release of A Literal Mess, my year has started out like a lion, that’s for sure.

As I celebrate the arrival of my debut cozy mystery, I’m trying to enjoy every moment. Making sure I don’t get caught up in what’s next (like the next book in the Allie Cobb Mysteries series) but appreciate the what’s happening now.

While I do that, I’d be remiss not to reflect on my journey that brought me to this day, chatting with you all as a published cozy mystery author. You see, I’ve often been asked how I got my start as a cozy author. Did I always want to write mysteries? Where did this ride start?

To answer that question, we need to go back in time over forty years, to the days of my youth. I grew up in a traditional Irish-Catholic household, the youngest of eight children. Both of my parents were voracious readers. I remember Mom regularly returning home after a visit to the library with dozens of books for her and Dad to read.

While I was insanely jealous of the massive haul (I was only allowed to check out seven at a time), I also noticed something that made me curious. My dear mother, who went to church twice a week and taught Sunday school, liked crime fiction. The books she read were by authors like Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Lilian Jackson Braun.

Dame Agatha

 My young mind couldn’t understand how my mom, who was a model Catholic, liked murder mysteries. I mean, murder was the worst criminal act possible, right?

Ngaio Marsh

One day, this conundrum became too much to ignore, so I asked her why she read these awful books where people were killed.

Her answer left me stunned. She told me it wasn’t about the murder. It was about the puzzle. At first, I didn’t understand. Then, when she explained, the clouds parted. What appealed to her wasn’t the crime, it was the act of putting together the clues, the pieces of the puzzle, in the pursuit of justice.

It was all about catching the bad guy.

As the years passed, that exchange stuck with me and I became a fan of cozy mysteries, myself. The first cozy I read was And Then There Were None. I was fifteen years old and I loved it. Here’s the cover of the edition I read.

From there, I followed the adventures of Holmes and Watson, went along for the ride on the Oriental Express with Poirot, and fell love with Koko and Yum-Yum as they helped Qwilleran ensure justice prevails.

Interestingly enough, when I started writing, the stories I came up with weren’t mysteries. They were in a completely different genre, although those stories often included a mystery subplot. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago, when my agent challenged me to write a mystery, that I gave it a try.

Moments after accepting the challenge, I panicked. There was simply no way I could write a whodunit. I wasn’t smart enough. I wasn’t creative enough. Then, Mom’s words came back to me.

It’s not about the crime. It’s about the puzzle.

With that in mind, I got to work. Clues, along with suspects and red herrings, became my puzzle pieces. Before long, I had a full-fledged story worked out. And, as they say, the rest is history.

So, it’s not wrong to say I got my start writing cozy mysteries only a couple of years ago. It’s also not wrong to say I those cozy mystery seeds were planted over forty years ago. When it all started with a question.

How about you, folks? How did you get your start in the cozy mystery world? Do you have a favorite cozy author? I’d love to hear about it and thanks again for visiting!

About the Author

J.C. Kenney grew up in a household filled with books by legends Agatha Christie and Lilian Jackson Braun, among many others, so it was no surprise when he found himself writing mystery stories. When he’s not writing, you can find him following IndyCar racing or listening to music. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife, two sons, and a cat who is the inspiration for Ursula in the Allie Cobb Mysteries.

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