Time to start fresh. A brand-new year of possibilities. That got me thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Some people are for them. Some people are against them. Where do you stand on the matter? I, for one, am for them. I like to reflect on the past year both personally and professionally. I like to think about goals I set the previous year and see if I met them. If I didn’t, then I reflect on why not and what I need to do to differently? Life is complex. It can get busy and crazy and a jumbled mess if we let it. Happiness is about balance, or so I’m learning 😉 I’m finding the older I get, the more balance I need to be happy. The older we get, the wiser we get. As cliched as it sounds, it’s true! I no longer need all the things I once thought I did to be happy and fulfilled. It’s taken me years to realize my success isn’t based on the accomplishments of anyone else. It’s based on my own goals and working hard to meet them. 2020 hit hard for us all. I never in my wildest dreams imagined we…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Kari Lee Townsend! Writes: National Bestselling Author Kari Lee Townsend writes fun paranormal cozy mysteries. She also writes romantic comedies, emotional women’s fiction, and dark women’s fiction as Kari Lee Harmon. Her newest book MURDER IN THE MEDITATION is book 8 in Sunny Meadows Mystery series and comes out December 28th! Her books always have a bit of humor, a bit of romance, and depending on the genre, a bit of mystery or emotion. WWW.KARILEETOWNSEND.COM About: If you’re looking for an author who will lead you through a maze of clues with twists and turns you won’t see coming and a satisfying ending that will leave you wanting more, then I’m the author for you. I love to go on adventures, play with my two big fluffy Samoyeds, drink a great glass of wine, pretend I’m a professional photographer, and curl up with a good book. I used to love a hot bubble bath, but now I’m all about a hot tub. I love spending time with my…

Jennifer Vido: What is the premise behind the Goddess of Greene St. Mystery series? Kate Collins: After a tough divorce, Chicago investigative reporter Athena Spencer returns to her roots in the tourist town of Sequoia, Michigan, to live with her big, noisy Greek family in the rambling family home. Named after the fabled goddess of war and wisdom, Athena takes a job at the family’s garden center on Greene Street, where she encounters a mysterious stranger who entangles her in a murder mystery. Her love of investigating catapults her into danger, and her success at capturing a killer earns her the title of Goddess of Greene Street. The stories have mystery, mayhem, romance, and lots of fun thanks to Athena’s crazy Greek family. Let’s talk about your latest installment, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE GREEKTOWN. Please share with us the inspiration behind this new caper. The murder mystery in this book centers around a photographer who shows up at the town’s art festival on Lake Michigan to take photos for the local newspaper and is found dead on the dunes with his camera missing. My inspiration for this plot came after I attended a fund-raising art fair crowded with shoppers. I…

D is for Deputy Donut, both the cat and the shop. E is for Emily and the exciting Brent Fyne. C is for coffee, crime, and that cop. K is for mistletoe—you know what I mean. (And did I mention the handsome Detective Brent Fyne?) * T is for tourists stranded in town. H is for houseguests, feeling quite down. E is for events and entertaining all ‘round. * D is for donuts, detectives, delight. O is for observing, overhearing, and “Oooohs!” N is for nosing around in the night. U is for understanding the most subtle clues. T is for treats. (That includes mistletoe.) S is for sleuthing, skiing, and snow. Exclusive Excerpt from DECK THE DONUTS Chapter 6 I turned on the bedside lamp. Dep stood with her nose against my closed bedroom door. Her tail twitched back and forth, and the fur along her spine stood up in a way that made my own hackles rise. It was one thirty in the morning. Who had closed the front door? Had Paige left, or had someone arrived? I always locked the door, but maybe seeing Dep on Paige’s lap after I came in from parking the car had…

Jen: THE ATTIC ON QUEEN STREET is the seventh and final book in the Tradd Street series. How did you arrive at the premise? Karen: The best part of a series is that it’s basically one long book with multiple plot lines that get resolved throughout the series.  Since I knew THE ATTIC ON QUEEN STREET would be the last, I knew that for the first time that loose ends weren’t a possibility.  Every single unanswered question, mystery, plot, character arc had to come to a complete resolution.  And, of course, the conclusion of the major cliffhanger at the end of the previous book, THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET.  This gave me the main guide I needed for this book’s premise.  The second, but equally important guide, was the spin-off series that will follow the Tradd Street Series.  Nola Trenholm will be the main protagonist, as will a new character, Beau Ryan, who is introduced in The Attic on Queen Street.  Beau is from New Orleans which is where the new series will be set, and there is a lot of mystery surrounding him and his family.  This is why at the end of the book, Nola is headed…

“Quick, hide me!” Suz said as she ran into the large white tent. Kari Stuart looked up from where she was positioning a freestanding wall featuring pictures of animals currently up for adoption at the Serenity Sanctuary, almost dropping the display on her foot. Kari wasn’t sure which amazed her more–that her best friend, who was six feet tall with spiky lavender hair, thought she could actually hide behind five-foot-five, brown-haired Kari, or that there was something Suz would feel the need to hide from at all. They’d been friends since grade school and as far as Kari knew, Suz wasn’t afraid of anything. “Is there a demon chasing you?’ Kari asked, shifting one side of the hinged board so the whole thing was more stable. They were on the park-like grounds of the two year state college in Perryville, not far from their home town of Lakeview, for the annual Tri-county Kennel Club Show. Suz was a member of the local kennel club, one of three clubs putting on the event, and she’d been roped into taking on the coordinator role when someone else backed out at the last minute. In turn, she’d persuaded (okay, bribed) Kari into helping,…

“Sacked?” Witherspoon repeated. “And your family has no idea you no longer have a job?” Percy nodded. “That’s correct. I wouldn’t have said anything about the matter except you’re going to speak to my former employer. I know this makes me look very bad, but I assure you, I’ve nothing to do with my stepmother’s murder. I simply don’t like working. Well, that wasn’t the exact situation. It was more a case that my employer didn’t appreciate the hours I wanted to keep. Apparently, they expect you to be there from early in the morning until half past five or even six o’clock in the evening.” Surprised, Witherspoon simply stared at the man. It took him a good thirty seconds to recover and ask another question. “When were you sacked?” “At the end of September.” “You’ve been pretending to have a job since the end of September?” Witherspoon pressed. He wanted to understand, to ask how on earth anyone could possibly keep up such a tiring charade? But other than satisfying his own curiosity, the man’s employment situation probably had very little to do with Mrs. Andover’s murder. On the other hand, from what he’d learned of the dead woman,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? AN EGGNOG TO DIE FOR 2–What is it about? Well, as you can probably tell from the title, it’s a holiday book about eggnog … and murder. Just kidding. It’s a bit more complicated than that. An Eggnog to Die For is the second of the Cape Cod Foodie mysteries, which feature Samantha Barnes, a disgraced but resilient ex-chef and now the local paper’s “Cape Cod Foodie.” In this book, Christmas is coming to Cape Cod, but when Sam finds a very dead Santa in a very hip restaurant, it’s up to her to sift out suspects who have been naughty vs. nice…. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  The setting is the captivating small town of Fair Harbor on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the weeks before Christmas.  I love the Cape, which even in winter has the power to thrill your heart. Here’s how Sam describes it:  “In the winter sun a thin frosting of snow still sparkled on the green branches of the pines, and the blue waters of Crystal Bay peeked tantalizingly through the leafless oaks. Once again, the magic of this great curve of sand and…

There are those people in life who amaze you with how many hats they wear on any given day, and then they put another one on like it’s no big deal. Like an additional hat doesn’t put any pressure on their brain or weigh their head down and make it feel like it’s going to fall off their shoulders. On top of that, they do it with style and grace—ease—that makes you wish you could complete just one of their tasks and make it look that effortless.  Abby L. Vandiver, aka Abby Collette, is one of those people, and of course, she took on this interview while juggling two releases in November! Whew, I don’t know about you, but I find her energy exciting. (And exhausting if I think about it too much!) She’s also generous with her time and her expertise—how can you not fall in love with a talent like that! Kym: Welcome to the Cozy Corner, Abby! Abby: Thank you for inviting me. Happy to be here. I want to congratulate you on your new Ice Cream Parlor Mystery series! What made this series special for you as an author? Thank you! This series was special because it…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Auralee! Please tell us a little about yourself and your new book, IN THE COMPANY OF WITCHES.   Auralee: Thank you so much for having me!! So, what can I tell you about myself? I’m a happily married mom of three who plays way too much soccer for her age, and I absolutely love autumn. The more pumpkin spice, the better! As for my new book, IN THE COMPANY OF WITCHES tells the story of a grieving young witch trying to solve the murder of a guest at her family’s B&B without the help of her powers. The story has lots of quirky relatives, spells gone wrong, and a crow named Dog. Witches are having a bit of a pop culture moment right now. What drew you to having a witch as your main character? Do you think her supernatural abilities help or hinder her amateur sleuthing?   Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a witch. I blame the Brothers Grimm, and the fact that I grew up in a stone cottage that backed onto a forest. I can’t tell you how many days I spent playing by the creek in my…