Where There’s Smoke, There’s Arson
(The Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives)
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Independently Published (February 19, 2021)
Number of Pages – 100

Synopsis

Bernadette didn’t smoke. The fire couldn’t have been an accident!

Oh boy, the gray-haired knitters are at it again. Of course, they are. It’s been way too long since they ‘solved’ a mystery. But the investigator determined the fire at the craft store was caused by an unattended lit cigarette. Arson isn’t even a remote possibility. Except the owner Bernadette didn’t smoke and now she’s dead.

When Bernadette’s granddaughter asks me to look into the matter, the knitters practically cheer. They are on the case!

But is there even a case? Or are we seeing murder and arson where there’s merely smoke?

Amazon

Hold the Coffee
(The Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Independently Published (March 19, 2021)
Number of Pages – 100

Synopsis

Oopsie. The Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives accused the wrong person of murder.

Poor Milly is furious after being hauled into the police station to be interrogated. She is not letting those knitters get away with pointing their fingers at her! Absolutely not. Instead, she insists they solve the murder and clear her name.

Naturally, the knitters jump at the chance to solve another mystery. They don’t care if the victim was hated by one and all. They’ll find the murderer!

Can the Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives wade through the suspects to find the actual killer?

Amazon

Guest Post

When in doubt – start with the murder.

I was recently asked to give a lecture at the French school to a class of middle graders about writing mysteries. I’m not sure I’m the right person to give a lecture on the topic, but I was flattered and said yes anyway. I spent quite a bit of time researching and writing a lecture. I’ve given talks to readers before, but those are always about me and my writing – not about writing itself. As you can imagine, I found it a little daunting to face a room full of non-native English speakers and talk about writing.

In the end, I put together a lecture about the eight elements necessary to write a mystery. I was actually quite proud of myself as I feel like I just throw things together when I write. The students were allowed to ask question after the lecture and oh boy did they have a lot of questions. Almost all of the questions came back to two issues: How do you start your story? And how do you end your story?

The answer to those questions is – for me at least – the same. You start and end with the murder itself. If you don’t know where to start, figure out the who, what, where, why of the murder and work backwards. If you don’t know how to end, start at the end with the revelation of the who, what, where, and why of the murder.

As I begin writing book six in the Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives series, I was reminded of this advice as I was a little stuck. Okay, I was more than a little stuck. I usually have a notebook full of ideas for a story before I even start writing, but I had bupkis. What did I do? I actually followed my advice and started with the murder. Once I had the murder figured out, the rest started to fall in place.

When in doubt – start with the murder.

About the Author

I grew up reading everything I could get my grubby hands on, from my mom’s Harlequin romances to Nancy Drew, to Little Women. When I wasn’t flipping pages in a library book, I was penning horrendous poems, writing songs no one should ever sing, or drafting stories which have thankfully been destroyed. College and a stint in the U.S. Army came along, robbing me of free time to write and read, although on the odd occasion I did manage to sneak a book into my rucksack between rolled up socks, MRIs, t-shirts, and cold weather gear. After surviving the army experience, I went back to school and got my law degree. I jumped ship and joined the hubby in the Netherlands before the graduation ceremony could even begin. A few years into my legal career, I was exhausted, fed up, and just plain done. I quit my job and sat down to write a manuscript, which I promptly hid in the attic before returning to the law. But practicing law really wasn’t my thing, so I quit (again!) and went off to Germany to start a B&B. Turns out running a B&B wasn’t my thing either. I polished off that manuscript languishing in the attic before following the husband to Istanbul where I decided to give the whole writer-thing a go. But ten years was too many to stay away from my adopted home. I packed up again and moved to The Hague where, in between tennis matches and failing to save the world, I’m currently working on my next book. I hope I’ll always be working on my next book.

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