Folley at the Fair (An Annie Oakley Mystery) by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 + yrs), 322 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Bosque Publishing
Release date: June 2020
Synopsis
She never misses a target. But unless she can solve this murder, she’ll become one… Chicago World’s Fair, 1893. “Little Sure Shot” Annie Oakley is exhausted from her work with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. But when a fellow performer scuffles with a man who threatens her harm, she has to keep her eyes peeled. And when the heckler is found dead under the Ferris Wheel, Annie won’t rest until she proves her defender is innocent. Before she can rustle up any clues, an old friend asks Annie to protect her young daughter. And as more bodies turn up around the grounds, she’s going to need all her sharpshooting skills just to stay alive. Can Annie live up to her reputation and put a bullseye on the killer? Folly at the Fair is the third book in the Annie Oakley Mystery historical fiction series. If you like strong heroines, Wild West adventures, and suspenseful twists and turns, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s fast-paced whodunit.
Interview with Kari
Today we welcome Kari to StoreyBook Reviews and sharing her thoughts about writing and what it means to her.
Talk about when you realized you wanted to be an author. Life-long dream or happened late on?
I think I’ve known I wanted to be an author before I really knew what that meant. When I was about eight years old I asked for a typewriter for Christmas. I got one of those plastic Smith-Coronas—it was turquoise with white keys—and I banged on that thing for years, writing stories, poetry, rants, etc. I also had a diary from when I was about the same age and would spend hours writing in it. When I was about twelve or thirteen years old I read Gone with the Wind and was so blown away by it, it was then I decided how wonderful it would be to be an author. In college I majored in English literature with an emphasis in creative writing and started writing more in-depth stories and even a novel when I got out of school, but it was terrible! When my daughter was just 9 months old, my husband—good soul that he is, encouraged me to go to the Santa Barbara Writers Conference (we were living in Ventura, CA at the time) and that’s when I really got serious about becoming a novelist.
Talk about being a healthy writer. How do you deal with long hours of sitting? Do you write standing up? Exercise?
I tried writing with a stand-up desk but found it distracting for some reason. When I am working I make sure to take lots of breaks. The longest I allow myself to sit is for about two hours. Then I get up, make some tea, or get a snack. Sometimes, I go out to visit my horses in the field, or just walk around outside. My breaks vary from 15-30 minutes, and then I get back to work. I will also move from my desk to the sofa just to give my body a break. I exercise regularly and my routines include riding my horses three to four times a week, walking four to five times a week, and doing Pilates two to three times a week. Exercise is crucial for me—I need to get out of my head and do something physical or I go a little nuts!
Share the best book marketing advice you ever received.
When I was newly published, and really for the first two years after being published, I felt I had to do anything and everything right away to get my name out there and to get my books discovered. As I was lamenting this to a friend of mine, who is also a writer, and telling her I was fast approaching burn-out, she reminded me that this career endeavor is a marathon not a sprint. It’s a long-game. There is plenty of time to market yourself and it doesn’t all have to be surrounding the launch. So, breathe and relax. There is plenty of time.
Talk about what you want to achieve as an author.
What is really important to me is connecting with other people through my books. Whether that connection serves to entertain, inspire, or educate, it’s all good to me. One of my favorite things to hear is when someone has read my books and it has inspired them to look into the history of that time period or that character to find out as much as they can about it or them. It’s great to have that particular interest in common with someone. I’d love to continue writing novels as long as I am able. I have so many different ideas, and writing novels allows me to transport to a different time period or reality, and it takes me out of myself. I plan to keep writing and being open to people and opportunities that come my way!
Tell readers how they can help support you as a writer.
Reviews, reviews, reviews! Also, reach out and drop me a line. I love hearing from readers and being able to connect with them. A great way to do this is through my website and subscribing to my newsletter.
Do you believe you write the kind of book you’d want to read?
Absolutely. I believe that if a writer is not completely invested and interested in what they are writing no one else will be. Writing a novel is hard enough! If there wasn’t enjoyment in the challenge and process I don’t think it would be worth doing, at least for me.
What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Be kind to yourself (it’s harder than it sounds!) Write what you want to write. Don’t write to what is selling at the moment because it changes all the time. If you have a story in you don’t let the current market dictate how you tell that story. It is yours and yours alone.
About the Author
When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels. Empowered women in history, horses, unconventional characters, and real-life historical events fill the pages of Kari Bovée’s articles and historical mystery musings and manuscripts.
An award-winning author, Bovée was honored with the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards Hillerman Award for Southwestern Fiction for her novel Girl with a Gun. The novel also received First Place in the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards in the Mystery/Crime category, and is a Finalist in the 2019 International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards and the International Chanticleer Goethe Awards, as well as the Next Generation Indie Awards. Her novel Grace in the Wings is a Finalist for the 2019 International Chanticleer Chatelaine Awards and the International Chanticleer Goethe Awards. Her novel Peccadillo at the Palace is a Finalist in the 2019 International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards and the 2019 International Goethe Awards, as well as a Finalist in the 2019 Best Book Awards Historical Fiction category.
Bovée has worked as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 Company, has written non-fiction for magazines and newsletters, and has worked in the education field as a teacher and educational consultant. She and her husband, Kevin, spend their time between their horse property in the beautiful Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, and their condo on the sunny shores of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
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Giveaway
Signed copy of FOLLY AT THE FAIR, SWAG (mousepad, pen, tote, bookmark), plus $100 Amazon Gift Card (USA only) (one winner)
(ends Aug 18)
