The Wilderness Trap (Southwest Exposure Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – Bushwhack, New Mexico
Independently Published (February 28, 2024)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 164 pages

Synopsis

Explore nature, where the outdoors are wild, the tourists are clueless, and murder is the new adventure.

Andie Sullivan never thought her old nemesis would be running the elementary school career day. She was supposed to be discussing the wonders of nature, but when questions arise about her crime-solving side gig, some of the locals aren’t impressed.

But when career day turns into an actual murder, Andie finds herself on the case. And to make matters worse, the victim is her old nemesis. With the help of her hunky boyfriend, Sheriff Zac Mars, Andie dives into the investigation, determined to find the killer before they strike again.

Can she juggle her thriving outdoor business, her budding relationship with Zac, and find an elusive killer? Or will her pursuit of the truth lead her straight into the crosshairs of a ruthless killer.

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Guest Post

Finding the New Me in a New State

For the first time in forty years, I’m carrying a driver’s license different from the state I was born in. Somedays, I stare at my driver’s license, weirded out that I moved across state lines, away from family, and pulled my teens from a school they loved to drop them into a strange new school environment, which, by the way, has turned out to be wonderful for them. Honesty, the move has been a lifesaver for our little family. But before I get ahead of myself, let me put the brakes on this story and time travel back a little over a year ago.

A little over a year ago, I was struggling to complete a little-known book now titled The Wilderness Trap. At the time, the manuscript had gone through several titles and even had a few covers. But I just couldn’t seem to make the words flow. Granted, I’ve been working on the manuscript for the better part of two years. Yup. You heard that right. The last time I published a book in the Southwest Exposure Series was in 2021. Honestly, since I started my publishing journey in 2013, I have never gone longer than eight months between publishing books. Life sometimes gets in the way. And life can be a crazy disaster on its best of days. But let’s get back to 2023 and how I found myself living in a new state with a new job and a new book released.

In 2023, I hated my day job (yes, authors have day jobs), and I felt like I was wasting my degrees and aging. Gah, the horror. My husband was ready for a change, but we owned a family business, and uprooting is hard enough without having a business to sale. After many conversations, we put the business up for sale. And three months later, we put our house up for sale. And then we did a really, crazy thing…we bought a house in a town before we had the job offers. If you’d asked me a decade ago if I’d buy a house in a state I swore I’d never move to and settle in a city I was clueless about, I’d laughed. Call it: intuition. Call it: craziness. But whatever that feeling was, it turned out to be right because the jobs came through right after we put a down payment on the house, and then the city, our city, has been very kind to us. My teens adore their schools. They’re part of an amazing art and sports program. And… guess what? I found a day job I love. And one I’m good at. I teach writing class to fourth graders. Yup. I’m teaching future authors how to fall in love with storytelling. And my husband…he’s excelling in his job and starting an MBA program soon.

Guess what I’m trying to say, is taking risks can be good sometimes. Stepping outside your comfort zone can open your eyes to new adventures you could never imagine. I don’t know where the next few years will lead me, but I do know they’ll include many new books and many more school years teaching writing to elementary students. And in a nutshell, Andie Sullivan, the main character in the Southwest Exposure Mysteries, embodies the notion that it’s okay to occasionally take a risky adventure. So, my challenge for you is, as you read The Wilderness Trap, try to think about that adventure you’ve been putting off because you thought it was too risky and remember why it grabbed your attention in the first place.

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Jodi Linton pens funny romances, whodunnits, and thrillers. She is the author of the Southwest Exposure Cozy Mystery Series, The Deputy Laney Briggs Series, and several standalone romances. She lives in the city with her husband and two teens. When she isn’t writing her next page-turner, she teaches and hikes.

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