Death on a Deadline (A Homefront News Mystery)
Historical Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Pennsylvania
Crooked Lane Books (November 8, 2022)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

Synopsis

Editor-in-chief Irene Ingram pencils in her newest mystery in Joyce St. Anthony’s second captivating Homefront News mystery, perfect for fans of Anne Perry and Rhys Bowen.

As World War II rages in Europe and the Pacific, the small town of Progress is doing its part for the soldiers in the field with a war bond drive at the annual county fair. Town gossip Ava Dempsey rumors that Clark Gable will be among the participating stars. Instead of Gable, the headliner is Freddie Harrison, a B-movie star. When Freddie turns up dead in the dunk tank, Irene Ingram, editor-in-chief of The Progress Herald, starts chasing the real headline.

There are plenty of suspects and little evidence. Ava’s sister Angel, who was married to the dead actor, is the most obvious. The couple had argued about his affair with the young starlet Belinda Fox, and Angel was the last person to see Freddie alive.

Irene discovers there’s more than one person who might have wanted Freddie dead. As Irene draws on her well-honed reporter’s instincts to find the killer—nothing is what it seems in Progress, and now her own deadline could be right around the corner.

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Guest Post

I’m always at a loss about what to write when I have to come up with a guest post. Do I write about the book? The characters? The research? Myself? The writing process? Since I’m unable to narrow it down, I’m afraid you’re going to be stuck with all of the above.

Death on a Deadline is the second book (and I hope not the final one—I’m waiting to hear) in the Homefront News Mysteries. It features intrepid reporter and editor in chief, Irene Ingram. The book is set in June and July of 1942. When we visited with Irene last she had just solved the murder of one of her reporters, which was connected with some things going on at the local factory.

As Death on a Deadline begins, Irene is involved in planning the upcoming county fair. Town gossip Ava Dempsey swears that Clark Gable will be one of the stars headlining the war bond drive at the fair. It turns out that instead of Gable, they’re stuck with B-movie actor Freddie Harrison. Freddie happens to be married to Ava’s actress sister Angel. Freddie’s been doing the horizontal tango with Belinda Fox, who is also on the tour. When Freddie ends up dead in the dunk tank at the fair, well—you’ll have to read it to find out what happens.

The research for this one wasn’t quite as intense as what I did for Front Page Murder. I still researched the war and what happened on each particular day to correspond with the days in the book. It was just after the Battle of Midway, so the death of one of the boys in town is part of the plot. Just like the research I did for Front Page Murder, there were a few things that surprised me. In real life, there was a Nazi plot called Operation Pastorius. The goal of the men who landed was to blow up certain landmarks, one of which was the famous Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, PA. I already knew about Operation Pastorius, but what I didn’t know was that after these spies were arrested, the FBI rounded up two hundred and fifty enemy aliens in Altoona! Two. Hundred. Fifty. Now if you’re familiar at all with Altoona, it’s not that big. It simply amazed me. And if you’re anything like me, you’re going to sign off now to check Google. See you later.

For those who have stuck around, you should know that Joyce St. Anthony is my pseudonym. I wrote a previous series under my own name—Joyce Tremel. That series was the Brewing Trouble Mysteries (To Brew or Not to Brew, Tangled Up in Brew, and A Room With a Brew). If you haven’t already, I hope you check them out. They were all nominated for the RT Reviewers Choice Award for Best Amateur Sleuth and books two and three won the award. While I’m waiting to hear if the Homefront News series will continue, I’m writing the first book in the Cider House Mysteries, tentatively titled Deadly To the Core. It features a young widow who inherits her uncle’s fruit orchard and opens a cider house. Of course she has to investigate a murder, too. It should be out in a year or so.

That’s it for now. I hope you’ll pick up the books and let me know what you think. Happy reading!

About the Author

Joyce St. Anthony was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. In addition to the Homefront News Mysteries, she is the author of the Brewing Trouble Mysteries and the upcoming Cider House Mysteries, written under her own name, Joyce Tremel. She lives in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania with her husband.

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