In the Key of Dead: A Miami Music Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Florida
Cozy Cat Press (July 17, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 206 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Killer songs and a killer voice land Vy in yet another melodic murder mystery. Interlude Records has signed Vy to a long-anticipated record deal after years of rejections, but she never thought that murder would be part of the deal. Now, Vy finds herself, yet again, at the center of a murder investigation that may change the course of her music career.

It seems that someone doesn’t want Vy to record her album, and is doing everything to sabotage the release date, including murdering a key member of the production team. So Vy and her sister, Alexia, are back at it again—detecting in their own way. This time they’re using their quick-witted banter, and super sleuthing skills to ensure that Vy’s record makes it to the Billboard Top 100 list before the murderer makes it to the Miami Beach Police Department’s most wanted list.

They say the music industry is cutthroat, but Vy has never taken that statement literally. Could this be the strum of Vy’s guitar playing her last note IN THE KEY OF DEAD?

 

 

 

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Guest Post

 

I am named after my beautiful mother. I am the youngest of six. I was born into art. My mother is an amazing artist, composer, and musician. I remember sitting on the couch watching my mom’s fingers move graciously throughout the piano keys. It was mesmerizing for me. My mom taught me to play the piano when I was 12 years old. From then on, my love for music began, but my love was not for the piano, my love was simply listening to the music.

I am a storyteller in my song-writing. I am inspired by musicians like Rob Thomas, Pink and Jewel. I had a few lessons on my first, used and worn-out classical guitar, and started combining my own original poetry with some basic guitar melodies. That was the result of my debut album, “Train Ride.” As an independent artist, I have released an EP called “Little Box of Secrets.” My latest self-produced singles, Savannah and Bulletproof Queen, takes one on a journey from one extreme to the other.

Although the journey has been challenging, I am not ready to stop showing the people the world through my eyes. My lyrics portray the different journeys my life has taken me through; heartache, hardships, falling in love, and happiness. I want the people to feel what I felt, to see what I have seen, and to know what I have learned. I want my music to be the window to my soul for the world to peek in. It is more than just listening to the songs; it is breathing in the words. But my journey did not stop there.

I then decided to take my musical experiences and put it on paper. I published my first novel, through Cozy Cat Press, The Last Note: A Miami Music Mystery. Thanks to the success of my debut novel, I have once again, brought my characters back to life, in the sequel, In the Key of Dead: A Miami Music Mystery. I have currently started the third novel to the series. The novels appeal not only to those readers who love a good murder mystery coupled with humor, but ones who wish to become familiar with the world of a musical talent trying her best to come up through the ranks of bars to superstardom.

The process of arriving to where I am today, may sound smooth and straight-forward, but it was anything but. Musically, it has not been easy. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way. I was signed to an independent record label. I was naive back then, and I trusted too much. When I released my first CD, Train Ride, it was through the record label. I couldn’t really call it my baby, although the lyrics and the music were my stories, my journeys. I had no say when it came to producing it.

Throughout the five years that I was signed to that label, it became a battle that facilitated my loss in my positive energy. And after the contract expired, I had lost faith in myself. Luckily, I have my family, especially my mother and father (an angel now). They encouraged me to not give up on my dreams. To keep writing, to keep singing, to keep believing in myself. And although it was a struggle, because, in the end, I was the one who had to choose to get back up, I did get back up.

Then, I was able to record my EP record, Little Box of Secrets, and that was my baby. But my artistic journey does not stop there. I decided to push myself, a bit further and I choose to write a novel, a murder mystery novel, to be exact. Once completed and edited, I proposed my first novel to the writing world. One that I was very new to. I know the music world like the back of my hand, but when it came to publishers, and a writer, and all the elements in between, that was a completely different league. I received so many rejection letters that I was on the verge of not sending out any more query letters.

Then I attended a book signing for one of my favorite authors. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for her, I was the only person that attended the signing. I was able to sit with her for an hour and talk about my novel and the hardships. She said to me, “give yourself a deadline of a year before you resort to self-publishing. Do not give up just yet.”

So, when I left that signing, I calendared a year from that date. In six months, my novel was picked up by Cozy Cat Press. Since then, it has been an amazing ride, of learning, self-discovery, and excitement. I can’t wait to complete book three of the series. And I am happy to say that I have also started writing a psychological thriller. I wanted to experiment outside the cozy genre into more of an intense genre. I love challenging myself, and I love to step out of my comfort zone. To me, that’s living! As Tom Hank’s character said in A Legue of Their Own, “If it were easy, everybody would do it. Hard is what makes it great.”

 

 

About the Author

 

The Miami Music Mystery series’ main backdrop, the amazing city of Miami, Florida, is beloved and well-known to me. I was born and raised in Miami, and like the novel’s main character Vy, I am a singer/songwriter, Grammy-considered, independent artist. All things relating to music or literature are my passion.

Many years ago, I became an avid reader of cozy mysteries. The storylines were intriguing, engaging, and funny at the same time. I was so inspired by the authors, that I then decided to take my musical experiences, and put it on paper. I published my first novel, The Last Note, a Miami Music Mystery. Now, I have brought my characters back to life, in the sequel, In the Key of Dead, a Miami Music Mystery. The phobias, the dream sequences, and the quirkiness of the main characters, are all based on facts. I hope that I was able to, once again, show the readers of my novels, the love I have for Miami, the Cuban culture, my family, and music.

 

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Synopsis

 

An astounding true story of a young woman driven by her desire to escape chauvinism blazes a whirlwind path full of mystical encounters and unexpected adventures. From love to lawsuits, her business and personal life intertwine, bringing her to untold heights. Uncanny predictions at a chance encounter with a Fulbright Scholar from India follow her throughout life, as if written on the wall and fated to happen.

Chauvinism from her youth make her determined to explore opportunities. She breaks through a glass ceiling of seventy men, enjoys traveling for a year, and returns to found an innovative startup in New York City. Whether skiing the powdery snow in Aspen, or waking up on a beach in Mexico to men with machine guns, each adventure brings challenges and insights to add to an ever-broadening awareness. A lucky break merges with swirling thoughts to ignite a new business. Running a successful startup attracts ADWEEK Magazine of New York. She places first on their list of “The Dynamic Dozen.” It should have been smooth sailing, but sharks were circling. A court battle followed.

Entertaining and inspirational stories are told from pivotal times in history. Readers gain skills about life and business. The narrative will make you laugh at humanity, provoke anger at infuriating situations and leave you inspired to reach goals. Stimulating questions are raised, which will generate a deeper introspection.

 

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Never Say Never

 

 

Have you said, “That will never happen to me” but wish it would? Although seeming impractical or impossible at the time, daydreams and wishes are goals that can make you recognize opportunities. They can lodge in the back of your mind, setting the stage for unexpected events. I’ve learned to never say never.

As a child, I wanted explanations about life, but my mother was big on platitudes. When I complained she said, ‘It’s never so bad it couldn’t be worse.” When I was sad she said, “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.” And when I contemplated life, “There will always be people better off and worse off than you, so learn to be happy with who you are.”

It was good advice, but I wanted a deeper explanation. I joked that someday I would find out more and maybe write a book about life and love. It was just an idyllic daydream that seemed impossible. I studied commercial art, that led to working in an advertising agency and running my own business. I never dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur or an author.

 

 

Many years passed. At a women’s gathering group in my middle age, one woman would tell the story of her life after a potluck dinner. I couldn’t put my complex life into a short twenty-minute talk, but it prompted me to journal. It was fascinating as I saw the picture come together. My life was a remarkable adventure that I didn’t want to forget, so I saved it for my older years.

Over ten years later, I reread the journal. For the first time, I realized my life told the story of the woman’s movement and much more. It had the makings of a book with my thoughts about life and love, but now told through the eyes of women in business and a mystical experience.

After an online course in writing, a lot of work, manuscript readers, and an editor, the book was finished. I’m happy to say it has been getting great reviews. My impossible dream has come true. Never say never. It begins with a daydream. Thoughts lead to opportunity, and you never know what may happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Watch the Trailer here if you cannot view it above

 

 

About the Author

 

Marilyn Howard broke through the glass ceiling at Grey Advertising of New York to become their first female art director while in her early twenties. In 1970, she founded an innovative startup. Creative Freelancers Inc. became the first agency to connect businesses with freelance artists and writers, and operated for over 25 years in the center of Manhattan. ADWEEK Magazine of New York featured her in “The Dynamic Dozen,” those women under forty they identified as most likely to succeed. In 1997, her company became the first agency on the Internet. The author holds a B.F.A. from Syracuse University.

 

 

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Cat House (Crazy Cat Lady Mystery)
Cozy Cat Mystery
10th in Series
Setting – Portland, Oregon
Independently Published (October 29, 2023)
Number of Pages: 255

 

Synopsis

 

This Halloween, the cats are hiding, and the monsters don’t wear costumes.

Young men from the Portland-Seattle area are going missing. It’s just another sad headline to Lynley Cannon—until she starts her new cat sitting job for an enigmatic neighbor Darla, that is.

An off-limits room, a suspicious phone message involving drugs, and the sudden appearance of a missing man’s cat peaks Lynley’s interest, but how far can she go before her cat-like curiosity turns deadly?

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Featuring Lynley Cannon, hero of the Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mysteries

 

by Mollie Hunt

 

 

My name is Lynley Cannon and I have nine cats. No, I’m not a hoarder. I just can’t pass up a cat in need, and as long as I can care for all of them and give them an environment of plenty, it can’t be considered hoarding.

I know a lot about cats, though I am always learning more. Did you know that petting a cat can lower your blood pressure, or that many cat (and animal) advocates, including myself, have chosen to live a vegan lifestyle? How about the fact that cats don’t taste sweets or see the color red? It’s said their little vocal cords can produce up to one hundred different sounds. “Meow” to that! In ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods, and as you may have heard on the internet, they have never forgotten it.

I’m what people call a cat person, and sometimes, a crazy cat lady, but I’m not quite crazy yet, I swear. I do find myself in a lot of mischief, however. It’s not my fault. I’m curious as any one of my cats, and that curiosity has consequences.

For example, I recently decided to take a job cat sitting for a woman in my neighborhood. In all my sixty-some years, I’d never thought about working as a cat sitter before, but there was something about the flyer on the cat shelter bulletin board that caught my eye. Whether it was the photo of her extensive clowder posed on a white sofa or the picture of her house which I recognized from my walks around the block, I’m not certain. All I can say is her plea made me curious, and before I knew it, I was embroiled in something that went far beyond sitting with cats.

Last summer I took on another job I’d never done before as a live-in foster mom to a diva cat who happened to be the only occupant of one of Portland’s most prestigious mansions. Winter Orange, Winnie for short, was a ward of Friends of Felines cat shelter where I volunteer. Her person had died, though it quickly came to light the man had been murdered. And there I was, stuck in the middle of deception and intrigue trying to take care of a cat!

There have been other incidences as well where my curiosity brought me trouble and even danger.

I got sealed in a subterranean tunnel with a handsome feline archaeologist who couldn’t find a way out.

I helped solve a locked room mystery and clear a cat of the murder rap, but only after I was almost killed myself.

I infiltrated a group of vigilante cosplayers to discover who did away with their leader Captain Cat. The situation turned out to be more deadly than I could ever have expected.

And the list goes on.

My teenage granddaughter Seleia presses me to be more careful. Sometimes I think she wants me to stay at home watching television and sipping chamomile tea like other women my age. Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.

I don’t intend to get myself into any more tomfoolery, however, and I have a plan to keep busy with a new and harmless hobby. My best friend and shelter buddy Frannie DeSoto has become a member of a quilting club, and she wants me to join too. I’m not much of a seamstress, but she promises I’ll figure it out as I go. The group specializes in cat-themed designs, so it sounds like it’s right up my alley. And what possible trouble, beyond poking myself with a needle, could I get into making quilts?

 

To read more of Lynley’s adventures, check out the Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery Series. Books need not be read in order—just pick a topic that appeals to you and go!

 

 

About the Author

 

Cat Writer Mollie Hunt is the award-winning author of two cozy series: the Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries featuring a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip, and the Tenth Life Paranormal Mysteries involving a ghost cat. Her Cat Seasons Sci-Fantasy Tetralogy presents extraordinary cats saving the world. She recently released a COVID memoir, which she calls “a tale of a plague and politics, of depression and inspiration, and an ode to the very real and healing presence of cats.” In her spare time, she pens a bit of cat poetry as well.

Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, the Cat Writers’ Association, Willamette Writers, and the Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA). She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and a varying number of cats. Like her cat lady character, she is a grateful shelter volunteer.

 

 

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Synopsis

 

One phone call was all it took to upend my entire life in completely unexpected ways.

Whoever said that you can’t go home again was a lair. After the senior year from hell, I had spent a decade trying to avoid Beacon Hill and its residents. My luck came to a sudden end after daddy had an incident with a rotted floor. In and out, I promised myself. I was just there to help my parents for a week or two tops.

Things in Beacon Hill hadn’t changed much since I’d been home last. Mama still worked at the hub of gossip known as Trixie’s, Mrs. Thomas still made the best chicken salad in all of Georgia, and my sister was still the devil in a pushup bra. And of course, the St. James family was still local royalty. Our very own version of the Kennedys.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that, not only is my sister back in town after a failed modeling career, she’s also engaged to Macon St. James. The golden boy of Beacon Hill, and the star of every single one of my teenage fantasies.

The biggest surprise of all was Holden St. James. I thought he would be one of the villains in this story, but I was learning that I had been wrong about a lot of things. And Holden just might be worth coming home for….

 

 

 

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Excerpt

 

Once he was all settled, I got into the front seat and took a fortifying drink of my coffee.

“Okay, big guy, let’s set some ground rules for this drive.” I met his narrowed gaze in the mirror and smiled widely. “I don’t want to hear one single word about where my hands are on the wheel, the speed limit, the space between cars, or motion sickness. Got it?”

“Sutton Louise Buchanan, I was there for the day you took your first breath and I can — ”

“Good enough.” I turned the engine on and put the truck in reverse. “Why are you working on a Saturday anyway?”

“I want to make sure my crew stays on schedule while I’m laid up.” Daddy leaned forward and reached between the seats to grab his coffee. “It’s a real big job so I don’t want to fall behind right out of the gate if it can be helped.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. Where are we headed?” I came to a stop at the sign just at the end of our street.

“To the old Bradford place.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise as I turned the truck in the right direction, memory taking over. The old farmhouse had originally been built in the mid-1800s and had been renovated sporadically until the owners abandoned it in the 1980s. It was a beautiful old house — or it had been — with big porches and a sunroom that had been added on at some point. Something about that house had always called to me. I’d daydreamed about being the one to finally breathe life back into it, restore it to its former glory. Of course, all that was before Sissy had made staying here seem impossible.
There were always lots of rumors circulating about why the Bradfords had abruptly moved away after living and farming on the land for centuries, but no one really knew the reason. Beacon Hill loved its gossip. A local favorite was that one of the Mr. Bradfords had killed his entire family, and their ghosts haunted the house. Every Halloween, high schoolers would break in and try to spend the night inside. I had never been invited.

“Someone finally bought that old place?”

“Sure did, and it’s a total gut job. There were structural issues.” Daddy sounded practically gleeful at the prospect. I pictured dollar signs floating around his head like little cartoon hearts.

“I’m really happy to see that house get the love it deserves, but whoever bought it either has too much money or is an idiot.”

Daddy was silent, his fingers playing a rhythm on his Thermos.

“Well, I’d say it’s probably the former.” Daddy paused. “I don’t think anyone can call Holden St. James an idiot.”

“What?” I screeched, whipping my head around to look at him and jerking the steering wheel in the process, causing us to briefly veer off the road and onto the shoulder.

“Eyes on the road, Sutton!” Daddy yelled, bracing himself. “Jesus remember me, how many times can a man almost die in one week?”

Car in the proper lane, I took a deep breath.

“Did you just say Holden St. James bought the old Bradford place?”

“If I answer that question, are you going to be able to maintain control of the vehicle?”

I rolled my eyes, but kept them facing forward — both for safety and so Daddy wouldn’t see it.

“You’re getting dramatic in your old age. I was just surprised. It doesn’t seem like someplace Holden St. James would be interested in living. I pictured him in a sterile, ultra-modern penthouse where every single piece of furniture makes a statement and is uncomfortable.”

“Think highly of the boy, do you?” Daddy drawled, his voice thick with sarcasm.

I shrugged, reaching for my coffee. Daddy cleared his throat pointedly, and I immediately returned my hand to the wheel.

“I’d be a better driver if I was fully caffeinated,” I mumbled. “Oh! I bet he’s going to flip it. That makes sense. The property value on that place will probably be insane once you’re done with the renovation, especially with all the land it sits on.”

 

 

Guest Post

 

Picture it. The year is 1994, and this family does not have cable television. There is one computer, three kids, and two adults. The math ain’t mathing. Your fifth-grade self is busy writing the next great American novel on the top of the swing set with nothing but some notebook paper tied together with string and a number 2 pencil. Not even the mechanical kind, because your mom thinks they’re bad for the environment. Don’t even get her started on gel pens. The story is about a group of female pirates. Reruns of Baywatch have just hit one of the local stations, so it’s obviously a romance. The story is never finished, because your sisters need you to compete in the balance beam event to secure a gold medal for team USA in the Olympics. We won gold.

Picture it. The year is 2004 and you have your favorite English teacher, Cheryl Huffer, for the second time. She hands you back an assignment with “I am so jealous of all the papers your college professors will get to read” in bold black ink at the top of the page. You think to yourself “I wish I could do this for the rest of my life.” Spoiler Alert. You’re about to make some big decisions about your future that will absolutely not work out. Also, your migraine disease is about to go from episodic to chronic and intractable. Best wishes.

Picture It. The year is 2014 and you’re a lawyer now. Feels like it kind of came out of left field, huh? Yeah, you’re not really sure how you got here either. The good news is that you met your future husband while you were in law school. The bad news is that being a lawyer is slowly crushing your soul, and you now have chronic migraine and chronic anxiety. #thriving. You spend a lot of time laying in a quiet, dark room making up stories in your head to pass the time. Your future husband says that you should start writing these stories down. A few weeks later, you jot down a scene about a lawyer who realizes she hates being a lawyer while your boss does push-ups in front of your desk. Again. You write almost 1000 words about how awful being a lawyer is, turns out you are very passionate about this subject. The lawyer you work for does 100 push-ups. It’s a new record.

Picture It. The year is 2023, and you’re sitting on a couch in a hotel room. Your husband has a lot of trade shows to attend this year, so you’ve been tagging along since you can write from anywhere. You’re spending the morning trying to organize all the book signing events you want to attend in 2024 as an author. There are three messages from readers asking when the next book in the Beacon Hill series will be released. Oh, and is Gabe from Everything Girl ever going to get his own book?! You’ve cried zero times today. It’s a new record.

If you made it to the end of this post and are wondering what the point is, I’m guessing that you’re not alone. The point is that life is crazy and will take you places that you wouldn’t even dare to imagine. So, keep daring; keep imagining; keep dreaming, and your own happily ever after might just surprise you!

 

About the Author

 

Emily Mayer is a part-time lawyer, full time storyteller, and an aspiring writer. She lives in Central Ohio with the two loves of her life; her husband and her dog. If she isn’t working, you can usually find her somewhere with a book in her hand.

 

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In the Wick of Time (Magic Candle Shop Mystery)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Savannah, Georgia
Crooked Lane Books (October 17, 2023)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Tabby Winslow will help her twin sister Sage with anything and everything—and that includes putting out the flames of suspicion when Sage’s boss is found murdered in this magical mystery, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Sofie Kelly.

December in Savannah, Georgia, is a sight to behold. With all the festivities—including the traditional riverfront luminary display during the boat parade—twin sisters Tabby and Sage Winslow are busier than ever setting up for the big celebration. But that isn’t the only thing on the sisters’ minds. Both Sage and her fellow employee Mary Nicole are vying for the sought-after assistant manager job at the plant nursery. But when Loren Lee, their boss, is found dead, and Sage becomes the police’s favorite suspect, both Winslow girls know that they’ll need more than a flicker of magic and their sisterhood to solve the murder and clear Sage’s name.

Soon, Tabby realizes that this is just one of the many problems they have. If being a suspect for murder wasn’t enough, there are more magical problems that they have to fix: Sage’s boyfriend is having a paranormal experience of his own he can’t control, there’s an energy vampire searching for his supposedly lost cousin, her cat suddenly dislikes her, and oh—every time Tabby hiccups, she turns completely invisible. The suspect list grows with each day and it seems everyone has a reason or a connection to Loren Lee.

Tabby and Sage are burning the candle at both ends—but will it be enough to keep their friends safe and find this killer? Or will they be burned by their efforts?

 

 

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Guest Post

 

 

Stillrooms and Apothecary Shops

 

By Valona Jones

 

 

In every book of A Magic Candle Shop Mystery Series, I share a bit about the room behind the candle shop . It’s where the magic happens, literally. Tabby Winslow is the family’s resident candle and soap maker, and she instills her good energy in the products she creates.

The label for candles and soaps with heavy-duty energy infusions is “aromatherapy.” Technically, all of the shop’s candles fit the description of aromatherapy since they are created using essential oils and natural ingredients, but most of the shop’s candles are diffused with the ambient current Tabby radiates. The aromatherapy ones get a walloping dose of goodness.

Through time, candles have earned the reputation of creating a calm and relaxing atmosphere. Some essential oils used in candlemaking, such as eucalyptus, lemon grass, patchouli, and lavender, to name a few, have therapeutic qualities and are known to relieve stress and anxiety. The candles and soaps Tabby makes continue her family traditions.

Tabby is very protective of her workspace. She won’t let just anybody in there, and especially not cops. When the wrong person enters her stillroom, she must smudge it with sage sticks to get rid of bad vibes.

Historically, a stillroom was one part science lab, one part infirmary, one part kitchen, and another part work room. It has typically been a female’s domain, but in contemporary times gender lines are blurred. Items created in a stillroom include medicines, cosmetics, household products, and homebrewed ale. Even further back in time, a stillroom wasn’t attached to the main house. It was an out-building.

The Book and Candle Shop caters to customers who prefer products made with natural bases and herbal products. If you added crystals to the inventory, the shop would be considered a metaphysical shop, but there are no crystals. Thus, the Winslows hold fast to the claim that this proves they aren’t witches.

Tabby’s stillroom is painted in a robin egg blue color. The dark counters contrast with the radiant windows across the alley side of the building. Above the industrial sink drying herbs hang n clumps. Electric green ferns line the windowsill, and the room itself radiates good energy.

As an author, I made these choices to give my amateur sleuth, Tabby, a respite from the world, a safe haven where she can let her hair down and create at will. She’s already conditioned not to be forthcoming in public because she’s got a boatload of family secrets to hide. The stillroom isn’t just the hub of the shop, it’s the lifeblood of her family. It’s the key to their success, especially those old recipe crafting books that go back generations.

Here’s something few people know. With its painted concrete floor, the stillroom is essentially a slab atop one of the three mass graves from Savannah’s three epidemics of Yellow Fever. So many people died each day that they couldn’t dig graves fast enough. (Note that the mass graves and Yellow Fever epidemics really happened, but the location of a mass grave under the candle shop is artistic license.)

The upshot of the shop being perched atop a mass grave is the constant emission of energy that revitalizes all but one of the Winslows every night. The character with the recharging issue is Sage. No wonder she’s often grumpy and a bit spiteful. Poor thing! As the family’s resident herbalist and plant grinder, she quickly becomes the target of a homicide investigation in this book.

 

 

About the Author

 

Valona Jones, also known as Maggie Toussaint, writes paranormal cozy mysteries set in coastal Georgia. A former scientist, she’s drawn to the study of personal energy. She sharpened her people-watching skills as a lifelong introvert and had a bank vault of personal observations when she began to write fiction. Her newest release is In The Wick of Time, book 2 in the A Magic Candle Shop Mystery, preceded by Snuffed Out, which released Jan. 2023. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime with more than twenty-five published works of fiction. She lives in coastal Georgia, where she’s seen time and tide wait for no one.

 

 

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A Parfait Crime (A Five-Ingredient Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
9th in Series
Setting – Chesapeake Bay
Kensington Cozies (October 24, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages

 

Synopsis

 

A granddaughter-grandfather sleuthing duo take on a perplexing new case in the latest culinary cozy mystery, sure to appeal to fans of Diane Mott, Joanne Fluke, and Katherine Hall Page.

At the site of a fatal blaze, Val’s boyfriend, a firefighter trainee, is shocked to learn the victim is known to him, a woman named Jane who belonged to the local Agatha Christie book club—and was rehearsing alongside Val’s grandfather for an upcoming Christie play being staged for charity. Just as shocking are the skeletal remains of a man found in the freezer. Who is he and who put him on ice?

After Val is chosen to replace Jane in the play, the cast gathers at their house to get to work—and enjoy Grandad’s five-ingredient parfaits—but all anyone can focus on is the bizarre real-life mystery. When it’s revealed that Jane’s death was due to something other than smoke inhalation, Val and Grandad try to retrace her final days. As they dig into her past life, their inquiry leads them to a fancy new spa in town—where they discover that Jane wasn’t the only one who had a skeleton in the cooler . . .

Includes delicious five-ingredient recipes!

 

 

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Staging an Agatha Christie Play Can Be Murder

My Five-Ingredient Mysteries feature café manager Val solving murders in a Chesapeake Bay town with her livewire grandfather, the Codger Cook. Each book has five suspects, five clues, and Granddad’s five-ingredient recipes. The 9th book in my series, A PARFAIT CRIME, has just come out.

My latest book is focused on a community theater production of Agatha Christie’s THE MOUSETRAP. ​​Val joins her grandfather in play rehearsals, replacing cast member Jane, who died in an arson fire. Sweet Jane was known for her parfaits. After skeletal remains are found in her storeroom freezer, Val and Granddad must solve a crime with as many layers as a parfait and with echoes of the crimes in THE MOUSETRAP. When their search for a killer takes them to an upscale spa, they learn that Jane wasn’t the only one hiding her past.

To follow the mystery in my book, you don’t need to be familiar with THE MOUSETRAP.  You’ll learn a little about it, but my book doesn’t contain any spoilers about the play. You’ll have to see or read it to find out who the murderer is at a snowbound guesthouse.

I saw THE MOUSETRAP performed twice many years ago. To prepare for writing about it in my book, I delved into its script. My research also included reading Agatha Christie’s autobiography and Julius Green’s CURTAIN UP – AGATHA CHRISTIE: A LIFE IN THE THEATRE.

 

 

Here are five fun facts that I discovered about Christie as a playwright.

1. Agatha Christie is the bestselling fiction writer of all time, but that’s not the only record she holds. Her play, THE MOUSETRAP, is the longest running stage production in the world. It opened in London in 1952 and is still drawing crowds.
2. Early in her career Christie allowed other writers to adapt her books for the stage. She disliked their plays, believing they stuck too closely to the novel’s plot. So she decided to write her own dramatic adaptations. When she adapted the books in which Hercule Poirot solves the mystery, she removed him from the play because he used up too much stage oxygen.
3. Her most successful plays were based on stories that Poirot wasn’t in: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, THE MOUSETRAP, and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (her personal favorite).
4. Christie once wrote, “I find that writing plays is much more fun than writing books.” With plays she didn’t need to write long descriptions of places and people. Nevertheless, she wrote 74 novels, 66 of which are mysteries.
5. On the day she died, London’s West End theaters dimmed their lights for one hour.

When Christie licensed THE MOUSETRAP for production, she specified that no film version could be made of it until the play’s London run was over. Don’t bet on a movie of it anytime soon. There are no restrictions on performing the play in school, community, and repertory theaters. If you’re lucky, you can see a local theater production of it. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll see it in London.

 

 

About the Author

 

Maya (Mary Ann) Corrigan writes the Five-Ingredient Mysteries featuring café manager  Val and her live-wire grandfather solving murders in a Chesapeake Bay town. Each book has five suspects, five clues, and Granddad’s five-ingredient recipes. In the 9th book of the series, A Parfait Crime, Val and Granddad rehearse an Agatha Christie play with a cast that includes murder suspects. A Virginia resident, Maya has taught college courses in writing, detective fiction, and literature.  When not reading and writing, she enjoys theater, travel, trivia, cooking, and crosswords. Visit her website for book news, easy recipes, and mystery history and trivia.

 

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Her Secret Protector (SOS Agency)
Romantic Suspense
4th in Series
Setting – Florida
Harlequin Romantic Suspense (October 24, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

 

Synopsis

 

To find her attacker

…he must stay in the shadows.

Assigned to protect sea turtle biologist Peyton Bradley from a dangerous stalker, former SEAL Gray Wallace is determined to save his headstrong charg­e—even if she doesn’t want to be saved. Their attraction is powerful. But damning rumors around the handsome bodyguard’s past get him fired. Only when Peyton is kidnapped and loses her memory does Gray reveal his startling—possibly deadly—secret.

From Harlequin Romantic Suspense: Danger. Passion. Drama.

Feel the excitement in these uplifting romances, part of the SOS Agency series:

Book 1: Navy SEAL Seduction
Book 2: Shielded by the Cowboy SEAL
Book 3: Navy SEAL Protector
Book 4: Her Secret Protector

 

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Why I have no time for the stalker threatening me

 

By Peyton Bradley, sea turtle biologist and heroine of HER SECRET PROTECTOR

 

 

Have you ever sat on a beach, hugging your knees and stared into the waves, marveling at the wonders of the ocean?

Have you ever thought about what would happen if the entire ocean’s ecosystem would suddenly collapse? I have.

I live in Florida in an exclusive beachfront community, but what matters most to me is saving our planet. The one small way I can contribute is by saving sea turtles. Loggerheads nest on my family’s private beach in South Florida. I grew up watching them, and my grandmother taught me to protect turtles, to guard the nests, and prevent people from stealing the eggs.

Sea turtles have fascinated me my entire life. It’s why I became a sea turtle biologist. I’m good at my job, and I wanted my career to make a difference for my generation and preserve these beautiful creatures for the next generation.

But right now, there’s a guy out there who keeps threatening me. He leaves me menacing love notes on my car windshield and elsewhere. My parents, who perfected the art of helicopter parenting, wanted to whisk me away to their summer home up north. I told them no, because summer in Florida, with all of its sticky heat and threat of storms, is prime nesting season for sea turtles.

I have to be here to ensure that the turtle who gets tangled in a fishing net will receive the help she needs to heal and live. Or to count the nests or any of the other many duties I have and love in my profession.

I don’t have time for a nutjob, even though this guy is escalating and scares me. He’s threatened to kill me. But how can I leave my job when I know there’s a problem with this nesting season and the count is low? At the start of the season, there were too many false crawls on the beach, where many female loggerheads came in the past to lay eggs. A false crawl is where a sea turtle will come ashore and then turn around.

Loggerheads will lay about one hundred eggs per nest. They incubate about seventy days, and after that, we’ll dig up the nest until finding the egg chamber so we can count empty eggshells and unhatched eggs. I’m determined to find out why a prime section of my family’s beach that had dozens of nests in the past is suddenly turning up with unhatched eggs or false crawls.

Yet I am scared of this guy. I can’t go anywhere without looking over my shoulder, wondering if he is watching. When I get scared, I try to center myself by reciting the scientific names of sea turtles.

Dermochelys coriacea, the mighty and endangered leatherback. Lepidochelys kempii, the most endangered of all sea turtles, known as the Kemp’s ridley, whose breeding grounds are mainly one strip of beach in Mexico. Caretta caretta, the loggerhead turtle, more commonly seen in the United States. Most of the nests on the stretch of sand in Florida and my home of Sea Grape Beach are loggerheads.

To keep me safe, Dad hired Gray Wallace, an executive protection agent who’s supposed to be the best in his field. He’s a former Navy SEAL and doesn’t mess around.

Gray seems to understand me at times better than my parents. He’s as passionate about the ocean and preserving the turtles as much as I am.

My parents may treat me as a child, but Gray does not. Better yet, he has told me that what is happening is NOT my fault. He insists on this. He told me too many women blame themselves for being stalked and worse, don’t tell anyone until it’s too late.

Gray has experience in dealing with stalkers, and at times, he seems to hide a dark secret. But he is firm in his duty of being my bodyguard. Sometimes, I drive him crazy because I want to try to ditch him in order to do my job. I guess it’s my way of trying to exert control over a situation that makes me feel helpless.

Gray told me that he will do anything and everything to keep me safe. So help me, I think I am falling in love with him. He’s the type of man who takes his job as seriously as I take mine.

I’m entrusting my life to him and hopeful he can catch this maniac who wants me dead. In the meantime, I’ll keep doing what I must to save sea turtles and, hopefully, our planet’s oceans.

I hope you will join me on this quest to save our planet. The next time you find yourself at a beach, before you leave, please make sure to pick up the trash and deposit it into a garbage can. The sea turtles need your help to keep surviving and thriving.

Thanks.

 

 

About the Author

 

Bonnie Vanak is a multi-published author of paranormal and historical romance novels. After a career in journalism, she became a writer for an international charity, traveling to poor countries like Haiti to write about issues affecting the poor. When the strain of her job demanded a diversion, she turned to her childhood dream of writing books. Bonnie lives in Florida with her husband and rescue dogs.

 

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Eat, Pray, Hex (Crescent Moon Mysteries)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Florida
Independently Published (October 13, 2023)
Number of Pages: 246

 

Synopsis

 

Step into the mysterious world of weird Florida, where surprises and spirits are as common as sun and sand…

Amelia Matthews never anticipated inheriting a hotel in a small southern town, but life’s twists and turns have led her to the Sunshine State. Under the hotel’s quirky, rundown façade lie haunting secrets—an unsolved murder and a restless spirit who keeps turning off the air conditioner. In the summer. In Florida.

From the moment Amelia reluctantly walks through the door of the Crescent Moon Inn, she embarks on an unwelcome spectral adventure. Her companions on this eerie journey include the sassy feline Freddie Purrcury, the overly enthusiastic and hilarious Liz with her New Age bookstore, and the charmingly handsome local historian, Oliver.

Then Amelia discovers her hidden psychic abilities. As spooky happenings escalate, she can’t help but wish for a few minutes of peace. And maybe a margarita.

She faces a decision: sell the inn and run, or embrace her new destiny as a paranormal sleuth. In this spine-tingling cozy mystery, Amelia Matthews unravels the secrets of the inn’s haunted past while navigating psychic powers, an ornery cat, and a quirky crew of new friends. If she doesn’t solve the mystery, she just might become the inn’s next ghostly inhabitant…

Join Amelia in a captivating, laugh-out-loud adventure as she embarks on a quest to uncover the truth, and you’ll find yourself immersed in a world where the line between the ordinary and the supernatural blurs.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Some of the readers of my Coffee Lover’s Mystery series may know that those books are contemporary mysteries set in present-day Florida, a landscape of sun, sand, and suspicious murders (while enjoying tasty coffee).

I’d never thought about writing a paranormal mystery, until recently.

In November of 2022, I took a flight to visit my parents in California. They live near Sacramento, the state’s capital. We decided to take a day trip to a little gold rush town named Folsom — yes, that Folsom, of Johnny Cash fame! In 1968, Cash performed his famous song “Folsom Prison Blues” in the actual Folsom Prison. The air seemed to thrum with the rhythms of his guitar.

 

 

Fun fact: When someone asked Cash why the song’s main character was serving time in California’s Folsom Prison after shooting a man in Reno, Nevada, he responded, “That’s called poetic license.” Imagine that, bending the borders of two states for the sake of a catchy tune!

The town itself is a slice of the Old West, adorable, with a historic and walkable downtown. The buildings looked like they came straight out of a John Steinbeck novel. We stopped into several fun stores that ranged from kitschy to antique, and then found a Mexican restaurant that filled the air with the aroma of sizzling fajitas and fresh cilantro. I regret not buying a cute blanket that was as colorful as a cozy mystery book cover.

Then, being the Lush family—pun fully intended—we had to check out the town’s best-known attraction: a tavern located in an old hotel.

 

 

 

The Folsom Hotel was built in 1885, and the inside is a wonderfully preserved time capsule. Its decor was like a mix of frontier ruggedness and Victorian elegance. While it’s no longer a hotel, there is a wonderful lounge area. My parents and I slid onto the barstools, as hard and unyielding as the alibis in my mysteries, and took it all in.

The place was delightfully spooky, dimly lit and with nooks and crannies that seemed to hold a hundred years of dust and secrets. We learned a little bit from our bartender.

 

 

Turns out, the place is haunted! Employees report seeing — and feeling — spirits as they move through the place, ghostly faces have appeared in photos, staring from the backgrounds like unsolved clues, and the electricity often flickers, as if trying to signal SOS.

WILD.

I was captivated. As a kid growing up in California, I’d learned a lot about the Old West and ghost towns. This experience was like stepping into one of those dusty, sunlit memories, complete with the chills of the unknown.

We wandered around with our drinks, the intoxicating combination of booze and history making us giddy. The original tin roof was still overhead, looking like a crinkled page from an old book, and the wood paneling was so weathered and burnished that I felt like it could walk up to the saloon and tell stories just by exhaling its antique scent.

 

 

As I wandered, my mind bubbling, an idea for a story came to me. It was so vivid, it practically wrote itself in my imagination. I quickly pushed it aside because of other projects, but when I got home, my curiosity got the better of me. I couldn’t let go. I started to do a little research, diving into digital archives like a detective in a dusty library.

I found this gem from the blog Walkies Through History: “Formerly the New Western Hotel, it was owned by German immigrant Charles Zimmerman…” The tragedy of Samuel Levitz and that eerily everlasting mirror sent my imagination into overdrive. EEK! That sounded like a cozy mystery waiting to happen!

In the months after our trip to the Folsom Hotel, that mysterious aura lngered. I kept revisiting the photos I took, each one feeling like a scene from the movie in my mind. Setting a book in California would be a departure for me, but then again, so was writing about ghosts.

This summer, I attended a cozy mystery author conference in Minnesota, which turned out to be a writer’s haven. The experience was as rejuvenating as an iced coffee on a hot Floridian day. And there, amidst fellow writers, the inspiration crystalized. When I arrived back in Florida, my fingers flew across the keyboard.

EAT, PRAY, HEX was born.

Instead of setting the book in California, I used Cassadaga, Florida as my muse—known as the Psychic Capital of the World. It’s a place where mediums, psychics, and paranormal enthusiasts converge about an hour from Disney. The words flowed

For the first time in my career, it felt like this was the story I was destined to write. And it all started with a serendipitous family trip, a haunted hotel, and a twist of that mysterious thing we writers call “inspiration.”

 

 

About the Author

 

Tara Lush is a Florida-based author and journalist. She’s an RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow, and the winner of the George C. Polk Award for environmental journalism.

She was a reporter with The Associated Press in Florida, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters, and politics. She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations under the name Tamara Lush.

Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, iPhones, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf Coast with her husband and two dogs.

Her debut mystery series is published by Crooked Lane Books.

 

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Synopsis

 

Nominated for The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Book Award, Alle C. Hall’s debut literary novel, As Far As You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, is a-girl-and-her-backpack story with a #MeToo influence:

Carlie is not merely traveling. A child sexual abuse survivor, as a teen, she steals ten thousand dollars from her parents and runs away to Asia. There, the Lonely Planet path of hookups, heat, alcohol, and drugs takes on a terrifying reality. Landing in Tokyo in the late 1980s, Carlie falls in with an international crew of tai chi-practicing backpackers. With their help, Carlie has the chance at a journey she didn’t plan for: one to find the self-respect ripped from her as a child and the healthy sexuality she desires.

 

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Coping: addiction & obsessive-compulsive behavior, depression & anxiety

 

I feel honored that Leslie has entrusted me to write about this difficult topic. The great news is that once a person understands that her, his, or their coping skills are a result of unresolved trauma, the concept of healing becomes truly possible.

First, a somewhat clinical and probably depressing explanation:

Providing someone survives the initial trauma, which is not a given, the immediate (often long-lasting) consequences are: depression and/or anxiety, physical pain, and addiction/compulsive and obsessive behaviors. These sequela (states of disease that result from an initial incident or disorder) can rotate as if on a Lazy Susan: clear the physical pain, and your sex addiction goes through the roof. Get some recovery in AA, and a largely unresolvable depression or anxiety floods you.

Point of fact: if I hadn’t gotten treatment for childhood trauma, I would have been tagged with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and spent my life pursuing medication that wouldn’t work for me because I am not bipolar. I am a trauma survivor.

The long-term consequences of untreated trauma—and therefore, untreated addiction, depression and/or anxiety, and physical pain—are straightforward and terrifying: death, incarceration, or hospitalization.

When people learn that I survived sexual trauma and that this trauma that defined my childhood, they usually ask, “How did you get through it?”

They mean the trauma.

I hear, “All those years following it.”

There is a reason the diagnosis is post-traumatic stress disorder. Until the healing begins, every element of your life is defined not only by what happened but also by what didn’t: no one taught you how to love or be loved. No one even taught you how to like, as in “friends.” Your best friends always seem to be better friends with someone else. How can you be a good friend—a good lover, partner, parent—when you have no idea how to share healthfully of yourself, how to trust, how to be dependable or self-effacing or straightforward or sometimes, just silent?

I found the “normal” human abilities that I was never taught in much the way that my main character does in my debut novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back.

• Carlie bumbles through as many addictions as I could throw at her: alcoholism, smoking, sex and love, and food. Ö
• Kind people introduce her to Tai Chi. Ö
• Thing improve. Ö

In my experience, spirituality is a critical element when addressing the sequela of abuse. Certainly, we often need psychiatric medication. We definitely need therapy and support groups. However, that element that makes recovery last, Joy, traces directly to my spiritual growth.

Tai chi became the bedrock of my spirituality.

Tai chi offers me a spirituality with legs. I don’t think about my spiritual growth; I do it. I set up a practice that brings me to face myself every day. Tai chi is a Taoist practice. In Taoism, there is no difference between the body and the mind. Damage one, damage the other. Luckily, as you heal one, you heal the other.

 

Thank you, Alle, for writing a beautiful entry to share with us today. I hope it strikes a chord with many.

 

 

About the Author

 

Nominated for The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Book Award and—tis just in—winner of The PenCraft Book Award for Fiction – Adventure, Alle C. Hall’s debut literary novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back was winning prizes before its publication, including the National League of American Pen Women’s Mary Kennedy Eastham Prize. Her short stories and essays appear in journals, including Dale Peck’s Evergreen Review, Tupelo Quarterly, New World Writing, Litro, Creative Nonfiction, and Another Chicago. She has written for The Seattle Times and Seattle Weekly and was a contributing writer at The Stranger. She is the former senior nonfiction editor at jmww journal and the former associate editor of Vestal Review. Hall lived in Asia, traveled there extensively, speaks what she calls “clunky” Japanese, and has a tai chi practice of 35 years running.

 

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Synopsis

 

Stanhope Ellis finds himself absorbing the stories of quirky characters who have one thing in common: closeness to death. As he struggles with whether he’s Death Man or a cosmic witness, he meets a wise nurse, Gayathri Das, who helps him navigate the emotional minefield. But will she die, like the others? The unforgettable characters, including several dogs, will captivate you from the first page.

 

 

 

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Guest Post

 

When I was learning animal communication around 2017, a young man asked for help with Sherloc, his old prize-winning hunting dog. The kid was new to the area, looking for work, and didn’t have time to properly care for the animal. Sherloc was 14 — a total sweetheart. But his hips were shot, and he really couldn’t walk anymore. He scooted here and there, happy and slobbery as a dog could be.

Finally, a neighborhood acquaintance modified an old thrift-shop baby buggy, and this transformed Sherloc’s life. We covered lots of territory around the neighborhood, sometimes at high rates of speed. The old guy loved it, even when dropping off to sleep. It occurred to me that this activity might make a good meet cute, as the act of helping an animal reveals character and attracts those who are similarly inclined. So Sherloc inspired Juniper, an old sighthound in MORTAL WEATHER who sports around similarly, facilitating the love and eventual marriage of Gemma and her Tom.

Juniper loved to go fast, her feathers flying. She had beautiful feathers. And things picked up for Tom and me, too. We talked about everything on those walks. Tom told me that Juniper never liked other women coming around. She’d always pretend to be sick when a woman talked to him. But she liked me right away. We were girlfriends.

I guess it all works because we live for moments like that — zooming along, even when we can’t do it entirely on our own anymore, taking everything in, bringing others together. The caring elevates all:

Tom was never once embarrassed about nursing that dog out in public. Everything Tom and I did had to do with Juniper. She was the everyday something we shared.

 

 

About the Author

 

Among other things, Kevin Patrick McCarthy has been a geothermal geologist, a technical writer, a critic, and a screenwriter. His humor, essays, poetry, and fiction have been widely recognized. “Enough Sky,” the epigraph for Mortal Weather, was Commended by The Poetry Society (UK) in 2014. He is a fourth-generation Coloradoan who now lives in the Pacific with his wife Tricia, and their dog, Nani.

 

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Win signed hard-copy of K.P. McCarthy’s MORTAL WEATHER, plus a MORTAL WEATHER mug!

One winner, USA only, ends Oct 23

 

 

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