1–What is the title of your latest release? MURDER AT THE PUMPKIN PAGEANT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Running a bakery in a hunted lighthouse, Lindsey Bakewell loves fall baking but dreads Halloween, and this year the Halloween antics are ramping up. Someone keeps hanging hideous dummies from her tree, kids keep trying to break into the lighthouse to see her resident ghost, and her best friend, Kennedy, surprises her by announcing a livestream ghost host hunt on Halloween night. Just when Lindsey believes she’s successfully made it through Halloween, the ghost hunt takes a deadly turn, and a body is discovered. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant is the 4th in my Beacon Bakeshop mystery series. In the first book my protagonist, Lindsey Bakewell, is a Wall Street investment banker who desperately needs a change of pace. She ends up purchasing a lighthouse in Michigan on the internet and decides to move there and open her dream bakery. That’s basically the gist of the series. When I was trying to come up with this series, I knew that I wanted to set it in a…
We Need More Olivia Blacke Books! Cozy mystery author Olivia Blacke sits down and discusses writing, books, music, fairs, sisters, coffee, tea, hockey, and cows at the Cozy Corner. I love coming across a podcast featuring an author I haven’t read. I love it even more when that author is funny, interesting and a genuinely nice person. That’s what I discovered one afternoon, and when I read her book, I loved today’s author even more. But the true test came when I reached out to Olivia Blacke and found out she is the exactly the kind of author you want to meet at a book signing. She’s down to earth, relatable, and thoroughly entertaining. Just read on and find out! Kym: Hi Olivia! Congrats on July 25th release of your second Record Shop Mystery, A FATAL GROOVE. Can you tell our readers a bit about your three sisters, Juni, Tansy and Maggie who run this fantastic record shop with a coffee shop in its midst called Sip &Spin Records which is located in the outskirts of Austin, Texas. What makes these three work so great together and do you have siblings you’ve worked with before? Olivia: Juni, the main…
Book Title: ALL THAT GLITTERS ISN’T OLD Character Name: Whitney Dagner How would you describe your family or your childhood? Oh, my family. Well, we’re an odd assortment of totally dependable and completely not around. I kind of had my parents when I was older, but they chose to leave me and my brother with my grandparents when we were still pretty young. We don’t talk about that very much. What was your greatest talent? My greatest talent I think has been adaptability. I see the situation and do my best to be whatever is necessary to survive and preferably thrive. Significant other? Now that would be Felix on most days. He and I got a rocky start but we’re working on things. My can, Whiskers, would say it was definitely her. We’ll let her think that so there are no issues! Biggest challenge in relationships? Trusting people to stay. Whew, you are asking the hard questions, aren’t you? Where do you live? The beautiful and often visited Catalina Island off the coast of California. Do you have any enemies? I wouldn’t call them enemies, but after three murder mysteries I can definitely say…
1–What is the title of your latest release? BETWEEN A WOK AND A DEAD PLACE: A Spice Shop mystery 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, joins in a Lunar New Year celebration and a body is discovered in a long-closed residential hotel, she’s forced to investigate—before someone else’s fortunes take an unlucky change. 3–This is the latest entry in a series set in Seattle. Does it get harder or easier to write a series set in the same city? Why? I’ve loved Seattle since I was a college student there and writing about the city never gets old! Plus it’s an excuse to keep up with the city, since cities are always changing, and to make regular research trips. And by research, you know I mean eat! 4–Last year we asked if you would hang out with your protagonist in real life. This year we’ll ask which of your secondary characters in Pepper’s life would you like to hang out with the most? That’s easy! Sandra Piniella, the Spice Shop’s assistant manager, because she’s closely based on a real-life friend of mine,…
1–What is the title of your latest release? PEG AND ROSE STIR UP TROUBLE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Murder She Wrote meets The Odd Couple. After decades of animosity, sisters-in-law Peg Turnbull and Rose Donovan, have finally become tenuous friends. Then Rose signs Peg up for a dating app where Peg is matched with a man who appears to be the man of her dreams. When he’s murdered, the two women need to work together to solve the crime. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? My Senior Sleuth series is a spin-off of my long running Melanie Travis mystery series, so I already knew that the setting would be the same: Fairfield County, Connecticut. 4–Would you hang out with your sleuth in real life? Absolutely! I wish knew both these women. 5–What are three words that describe your sleuth? Peg: strong, opinionated, fearless Rose: capable, compassionate, agreeable 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? This series is the first time I’ve written a book with two main characters, both of whom needed equal attention. I really enjoyed exploring the dynamic between these two, very different, women because that was…
1–What is the title of your latest release? SCAREDY CAT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Sarah Grayson owns a re-purpose store. Her grandmother’s friends run a detective agency, Charlotte’s Angels, out of her sunporch and Sarah keeps getting pulled into their investigations. After back-to-back cases she’s heading off to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon on a house tour with her friend Michelle. Sarah’s eager to get inside some of the most beautiful old houses in town. She’s thinking about vintage chairs and antique sideboards. She isn’t expecting to find a dead body at Gladstone House, the second stop on the tour. Suddenly the Angels have a case and Sarah finds herself trying to figure out who murdered a ghost hunter and whether or not the stories about Gladstone House being haunted might actually be true! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? This book is part of a series. They’re all set in North Harbor, Maine. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I’m not sure. Dead bodies seem to keep turning up around her! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Stubborn. Funny. Perceptive. 6–What’s something you…
Book Title: MURDER AT THE MINE Character Name: Lily Cranston How would you describe your family or your childhood? I had a wonderful childhood. The middle child of three girls, I grew up on a dairy farm in northern California. The three of us are like poster children for the birth order philosophy– perfectionist/independent/charmer. Mom and dad were the best, but sadly they both died while on a skiing vacation in Colorado over a decade ago. My younger sister and I take care of the family farm, minus the cattle. Our older sister is married to the town sheriff. Significant other? If my older sister, Pat, had her way, the county crime scene investigator would be my significant other. I’m not opposed to the idea, only our past history is a bit complicated. Biggest challenge in relationships I don’t do confrontations well. It’s something I’m learning to deal with. Where do you live? In the historical western community called Grady, California. We’re known for our ghost town and mine. It’s named after Thomas Grady, the man who first discovered gold in what is now a popular tourist destination. Do you have any enemies? Wow, none…
Every author has people tied to the roots of their writing career. Melissa Bourbon Ramirez is one of those people for me – and how lucky can one be! Not only was she in my first critique group, she introduced me to Fresh Fiction and the Cozy Corner! She also happens to be an incredible author who has a new release June 1st – every mystery lovers lucky day. So I asked her to join us to give us the latest scoop! Kym: Hi Melissa, welcome back to the Cozy Corner! Melissa: Thank you! It’s always fun to be back and talking about cozies. Kym: I’m so excited about your return to Bliss, Texas with your 7th Harlow Cassidy Magical Dressmaking Mystery! Can you tell us a little bit about your June release? Melissa: I am SO excited to be back in Bliss, too. It’s been a while, and I really love Harlow Cassidy. She’s so fun to write, and I love her community. If you’re new to the series, Harlow is a custom dressmaker who leaves New York to return to Bliss, Texas after her great-grandmother, Loretta Mae, dies. Only Meemaw isn’t actually gone. Her ghostly ways…
1–What is the title of your latest release? Thank you so much for hosting me on Fresh Fiction. My latest release is HARD DOUGH HOMICIDE. It’s the second book in my Spice Isle Bakery Mystery culinary cozy mystery series, which I write as Olivia Matthews 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Here it goes: When her mother’s former boss is poisoned at an event catered by their family-owned bakery, a baker leads an investigation to uncover who had the ingredients for murder and the appetite to frame her mother. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Great question! Like me, my protagonists are West Indian Americans, so it seemed perfect to set them in the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. That’s where I grew up. 4–Would you hang out with your sleuth in real life? Absolutely! Especially if she brought me pastries from her bakery. Ha! 5–What are three words that describe your sleuth? Only three? OK. Loyal. Smart. And, although she’d disagree with me, brave. The reason she’d disagree is that she views herself as a scaredy cat, but it takes courage to face your fears….
“It’s a sordid life, but I’m used to it.” —Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye I opened my eyes to find myself standing in front of a rain-streaked apartment window… “Welcome to my world, baby.” When I turned around, I was facing him, though facing was far from accurate. The tall private detective with the acre of shoulders was standing so close that my nose was practically hitting his chest. His bare chest. “You okay, doll? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Jack was teasing, of course, but I didn’t laugh. After the intimacy of hearing his voice in my head for so long, actually seeing this towering, vital man in his prime—which he’d been before his premature death—always gave me somewhat of a shock. To top it off, in all the times he’d taken me back to his past, I’d never before confronted Jack in this state of undress. Embarrassed, I stepped back, touched my suddenly hot cheeks, and realized my hands were wearing white cotton gloves. Glancing down, I saw my nightgown was gone, replaced by a blouse with red polka dots, and a pencil skirt that fell below my knees. My legs were encased in stockings,…