Laughing Can Kill You: A Hazel Rose Book Group Mystery 
Edgy Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Virginia
Olive Lane Press (December 6, 2021)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

Synopsis

He who laughs last, laughs longest.

Unless he’s dead.

When romance author Hazel Rose is dropped by her publisher, she sees herself heading down a path strewn with has-been authors. While disappointed, Hazel won’t give up without a fight—she signs up for a mystery-writing class, thinking that crime fiction will jumpstart her career.

But what’s a mystery-writing class without a mystery? So when Randy Zimmerman, an obnoxious classmate given to laughing at others’ expense, is murdered, Hazel tackles the case. Solving a real-life murder will surely lend authenticity to her creative writing.

She recruits her book group pals to help with the investigation. Trouble is, there are more suspects than they bargained for—even Hazel herself, who endured Randy’s thumbs-way-down review of her writing, had a motive.

A second body drives the stakes higher, and Hazel doubles her efforts to find who’s behind the murders, unearthing secrets that a killer would go to any lengths to keep hidden.

Will Hazel succeed? Or will this be “The End” for her?

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Guest Post

I love what Maggie is sharing with us today!  Our book club sometimes needs to shake things up and I’m going to suggest some of these ideas.

Want to Start a Theme Mystery Book Group? Here’s How

by Maggie King

I hated that book! Sound familiar? Someone in your book group hated the assigned book and doesn’t think it’s even worthy of discussion. There are thousands of book groups (clubs, if you will) in the United States alone and the majority read the same title each month before gathering to discuss it. But a group can fall into a rut and struggle to come up with choices that enthuse its members.

There’s another option: the theme book group.

In such a group, the members pick a theme, read a book of their choice based on the theme, and meet to talk about what they read. This format allows more flexibility of choice and all but eliminates the “I Hated That Book” syndrome that plagues many groups.

If your group favors in-depth book discussions, the theme approach may not be for you. However, you may consider trying it on occasion, like during the holiday season or the summer. Sometimes the theme itself will kick off a spirited dialogue. Whatever you decide, the main objective is to read and share your love of books.

In the Murder on Tour group featured in the first Hazel Rose Book Group mystery, Murder at the Book Group, the members read mysteries set in geographical locations. In the opening chapter, the group talks about the books they read with Florida settings. Titles include The Paperboy by Pete Dexter and The Deep Blue Good-By by John MacDonald.

In the second Hazel Rose mystery, Murder at the Moonshine Inn, the group travels back in time to the ancient world via Silver Pigs by Lindsay Davis and Germanicus Mosaic by Rosemary Rowe. Martin Lorin’s Genesis One: Abel is Missing sparks an animated back and forth on the age-old question: why did Cain kill Abel?

In Laughing Can Kill You, my recently-released Hazel Rose mystery, the book group is on hiatus. Two members are actually globetrotting, as opposed to vicariously traveling with the group. The other members are taking a mystery writing class. Once they reconvene, plans are to read mysteries set in countries the wandering pair visits.

Why did I choose a theme group for Murder at the Book Group? In 1993 I went to my first mystery book group in Santa Clarita, California. My instructions were to read a mystery set in New York City and I chose one from Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series. That first night launched my love of mysteries and eventually lead me to writing my own. Themes included main characters with professions in journalism, business, law enforcement, and academia. We chose stories set in specific regions, small towns, large cities, you name it. We changed the theme, or themes, annually.

The members not only discussed the books they’d read for that month, but they recommended others as well. I left each meeting with a lengthy TBR list. I attended that group for three years until I relocated to Virginia. While I modeled the Murder on Tour group after the Santa Clarita one, it bears no resemblance—no one was murdered!

Ready to try a theme group? The ideas I’m presenting are for mysteries, but you can adapt the suggestions to your chosen genre. For mysteries, you can go super cozy to the darkest hard-boiled. You can pick a theme for a year, or however long you choose. Get creative!

• Read your way around the world with a different country or a different type of setting (city, beach, country, etc.). That’s what Hazel Rose’s Murder on Tour group does.
• Read books set in your state. Hazel Rose and her group spent one year reading the works of Virginia mystery authors and several met with them, either in person or via Zoom.
• Read historical mysteries set in a certain century or decade. Anne Perry sets her various series in the Victorian, World War I, and Interwar periods, giving you lots of choices.
• Pick titles from book award lists (Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, Macavity, etc.)
• Read all women writers or all men writers.
• Pick a different prolific author each month and have each member choose a title from their bibliography.
• Read mysteries with fictional characters as sleuths, such as Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen series.
• Read authors of the Golden Age: Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Dorothy L. Sayers, Josephine Tey, to name a few.
• Consider scientific occupations: Alan Bradley (aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce); Randy Wayne White (marine biologist Doc Ford).
• Choose from a list of African-American authors: Frankie Y. Bailey, Kellye Garrett, and V.M. Burns will get you started.
• Celebrate holidays around the year with books that take place during a particular holiday (this could be a tough one for certain holidays, but this is where your creativity kicks in)
• Read books about books: Kate Carlisle, Carolyn G. Hart, and Walter Mosley focus on this theme.

Selected resources for finding themes

Stop, You’re Killing Me! (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com): This online database includes indexes for locations, jobs, diversity, and historical periods

Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com): the social media cataloging site for readers has its own theme group. They also have a list of suggested themes. I love their idea of reading books with blue covers!

By a Woman’s Hand: A Guide to Mystery Fiction by Women by Jean Swanson and Dean James: this is a favorite resource of mine. It hasn’t been updated since its publication in 1996 but many of the authors listed are still writing.

Go the traditional route: ask your local librarian!

Ready to try a theme group? Let me know what you think of the format. Happy reading!

About the Author

Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in various anthologies, including the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Murder by the Glass, and Death by Cupcake.

She is a member of James River Writers, International Thriller Writers, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a founding member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia, where she manages the chapter’s Instagram account.

Maggie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Business Administration and has worked as a software developer and a retail sales manager. She has called New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California home. These days she lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and two indulged cats. When Maggie isn’t writing she enjoys reading, walking, cooking, traveling, movies, British TV shows, and the theatre.

Website/Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Instagram

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