Interview with Cozy Author, Rose Kerr

By Lynn McPherson

I met Rose Kerr earlier this year at Malice Domestic. We had a few good chats over some delicious cake and I'm delighted to have her here today to talk about her great new book, Death on the Set. It's the first book in the Brenna Flynn Mystery Series, recently published by Touchpoint Press.

Rose, can you tell us about your debut novel, Death on the Set?

Brenna Flynn is my protagonist in Death on the Set. Brenna's had some bad luck. Her husband was killed in a highway accident, and then she loses her job as a high school guidance counselor due to budget cuts.

She returns home to Bayview City and works with a temp agency to find work until she can get work as a high school guidance counselor. 

Brenna interviews for the job of a production assistant for a cooking reality show and aces the interview. On the second day at work, she finds a body. The police think she may have something to do with the murder and she's their prime suspect.

Determined to prove her innocence, Brenna uses the skills she's honed as a high school guidance counselor to learn about the victim and members of the cast and crew. The stakes are raised with threatening notes, poisonings, and blackmail.

Can Brenna uncover who the killer is before someone else dies?

The story is so much fun. Where do you get your book ideas?

I had a lot of fun writing this book! For Death on the Set, my son and I were watching a cooking reality show and the head chef (who shall remain nameless) was especially nasty to the contestants. I looked at my son and said, one day someone is going to kill him. My son said, Mom, there's your story. It took a while to get that story out, but it was fun writing it. The other two books in the series came from ideas that had been in my mind for some time.

Why did you choose a former guidance counselor as your protagonist?

I've worked with guidance counselors in the past. Some skills they have seemed natural for my amateur sleuth to have. The skills Brenna uses include research, understanding how people think, observant, active listening, drawing people out, critical thinking, problem solving, gathering information, making informed decisions, Brenna genuinely likes people and wants to help them where possible.

How important is setting in your books?

Bayview City is a fictional town on the shores of Lake Superior. My husband and I raised our family in a small town in Northern Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior. We had beautiful parks close to our town and took advantage of Lake Superior's coastline. The lake was a factor in our lives because of how often the weather changed. We had some storms that came up quickly. The lake is vast, majestic, and constantly changing. I've used some parts of the town we lived in and parts of larger towns and cities in my books. It's a setting I'm familiar and very comfortable with.

What's your writing process? Do you have an extensive outline? Are you a pantser?

I do a lot of preparation for my books; I outline thoroughly. In my series, my main character, Brenna Flynn, takes on temp jobs. It's important for me to understand the responsibilities  she has for each position. The recurring characters each support Brenna differently. New to the series characters need to be developed. I like to know who is the victim, who the killer is, and why they're the victim and the killer. I've tried pantsing and it just didn't work for me. I admire anyone who is a pantser! One thing I've started doing with book three is ending my writing session with a brief note reminding me of the next scene. It's been helpful to keep me on track.

Did you always want to be a writer? Why crime?

I wanted to write, but wasn't sure what to write. I tried my hand at writing romance, but it didn't stick. I found writing murder mysteries much more fun!

Who are your favorite cozy authors?

I have several authors that I reach for frequently: Connie Berry, Lynn Cahoon, Kate Carlisle, and Vicki Delany. I'm always looking for new cozy authors to read.

What's next for Brenna Flynn?

Book two, tentatively title Death in Academia, is with my editor. I'm writing book three, working title, Death at the Festival. I don't think Brenna is going to find work as a guidance counselor for some time!

Rose Kerr lived most of her adult life in small towns. She and her husband raised their family in a small town in Northern Ontario, on the shores of Lake Superior. Rose is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Guppy Online Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and Crime Writers of Canada. For more info visit www.rosekerr.com

Facebook: https://https://www.facebook.com/RoseKerrAuthor

Instagram: @r.m.kerr

Twitter: @rkerrwriter

Pinterest: @rosekerrauthor

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/rosekerr

Close-up on Gay Yellen

By Kathryn Lane

Texas author Gay Yellen came to writing with an extraordinary background. She began working life as a stage and TV actor, then moved behind the camera at The American Film Institute (AFI) as Assistant to the Director of Production. She moved on to become a magazine editor and national journalism award winner. As contributing book editor for Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), an international thriller, she was convinced writing was in her blood. Her award-winning Samantha Newman Series of romantic mystery novels includes The Body Business and The Body Next Door. Book 3 in the series arrives this summer.   

1.   KL: Early in your career, Gay, you traded your Screen Actors Guild membership in Hollywood to work on the other side of the camera at The American Film Institute (AFI). Part of the AFI mission is to ‘celebrate excellence in the art form’. Your simple yet elegant book cover designs reflect the beauty of simplicity you must have learned at AFI. Is this assumption correct?

GY: I’m glad you like the covers, Kathryn! As Assistant to the Director of Production at AFI, I was involved in almost every facet of filmmaking, from casting to location scouting, to procuring costumes and props from the major studios, acquiring locations for the shoot, organizing transportation to the set, arranging catering services, scheduling, and post-production services, too. That said, it was my magazine career that taught me the importance of a cover. As a managing editor, one of my most critical responsibilities was to oversee the cover design, which can make or break the success of newsstand sales. The same could be said of a book cover, too.

2.   KL: Did AFI influence you as a writer? One of their stated values is ‘A Belief in the Power of Storytelling to Change the World’.

GY: Such a good question, Kathryn! While story can be important in filmmaking, it was my theater background that helped me understand what a good story is made of. Plot structure is important, and character motivation is paramount. As an actor, I learned that our everyday human struggles are universal. Reading stories with characters who are both very different and very much like us can put us in touch with that universality and make us more empathetic. I suppose in that way, storytelling in any form does have the power to change the world.   

3.   KL: In the Samantha Newman Series, set in Houston and the Texas Hill Country, you cleverly use a few Spanish phrases. What prompted you to do this?

GY: Wow, I didn’t realize I had any Spanish words in my books! I may have used a Spanish word or two because in Texas, where I live, people of Spanish heritage are a large segment of the population, and their diverse cultures are integral to the fabric of life here. A Texan saying adios instead of goodbye can be quite natural, even for an English speaker like me.

 4.   KL: In The Body Next Door, the widow of a murdered neighbor is hiding in Samantha’s apartment. I love that plot, but I’d also like to see Sam and Carter stay together. Any chance of that in book three?

GY: I love this question, because it speaks to one of my favorite things about being an author. When Samantha and Carter meet in The Body Business, I wasn’t planning to write a series, and thus, had no plan for their future. While the publisher wanted me to extend that book into a series, it was my readers’ interest and enthusiasm that encouraged me to continue their relationship. Carter is a man of mystery in more ways than one, so he is definitely in Book 3. And Samantha is as headstrong as ever.

5.   KL: You’re launching your third Samantha Newman novel this summer. Can you give us a preview?

GY: As readers may remember, Samantha has trouble staying employed, due to circumstances beyond her control.  As Book 3 opens, she’s starting a new career at a local TV station. But things are not going well with the man who is supposed to be teaching her the ins and outs of investigative journalism. And because Sam’s life never runs in a straight line, complications ensue, with humor and suspense in equal measure. Here are the working titles: The Body in the News, The News Body, The Body Reports, The Body Breaks the News… I’m still taking suggestions, so to anyone who offers a better one, a free copy of the book is yours if I use it.

6.     KL: Besides an historical novel you’ve done research for, have you thought of doing a memoir of your days as an actress? Or autofiction based on your Hollywood experiences?

GY: Actually, the first novel I ever attempted to write was on that subject. Two chapters in, it felt like I was telling the same tired Hollywood show biz tale that had been told too many times already. While I did reach the upper membership echelon in the Screen Actors Guild before I quit, the high points were outstripped by too many frustrating disappointments. However, a few memories have become hilarious in retrospect. Perhaps one will inspire a short story someday.

Thanks, Gay, for sharing your fascinating life with us! I can't wait to read Samantha #3!

***

Places to find Gay Yellen and her Samantha Newman Series:

WEBSITE: https://gayyellen.com/

 AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q8P1RNP?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/gay-yellen

Grateful for Audiobooks!

By Lynn McPherson

My first audiobook is finally out in the world! I'm so excited to share with readers that they can now listen to the first Izzy Walsh Mystery, The Girls' Weekend Murder. As an author, it is an absolute delight to hear your words read aloud by a professional narrator--even more exciting than I'd imagined.

The timing couldn't be better either with Thanksgiving two days away. I have so much to be grateful for, my audiobook is only adding to the lengthy list.

I hope everyone is able to spend time with loved ones, enjoy a wonderful meal, and have a relaxing holiday weekend.

Here is a little about my first audiobook, described as a mixture of  Murder, She Wrote and I Love Lucy...

An oceanfront estate in the beautiful New England town of Twin Oaks is the ideal setting for Isabelle Walsh and her close-knit group of friends to celebrate their annual girls’ weekend in 1953.

While off to a promising start, the weekend quickly goes awry as murder interrupts the fun and the hostess is accused of the shocking crime. Izzy quickly realizes it is up to her to save her innocent friend and bring the murderer to light.

Keen intuition and quick wit are Izzy’s only tools. She must use them to find the dark truth before the killer brings her investigation to a dead stop…

Happy Thanksgiving Readers!!!

Lynn McPherson has worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, ran a small business, and taught English across the globe. She has travelled the world solo where her daring spirit has led her to jump out of airplanes, dive with sharks, and learn she would never master a surfboard. She now channels her lifelong love of adventure and history into her writing, where she is free to go anywhere, anytime. Her cozy series has three books out: The Girls' Weekend Murder and The Girls Whispered Murder, and The Girls Dressed For Murder.  

[Lynn's Author Site] - [Buy Lynn's Book]

The Hardest Hit Release!

 by Bethany Maines

The Hardest Hit, book 3 of the Deveraux Legacy Series will be released next Monday! I'm over the moon excited about this.  I've been working on this series for three years, and with one book left, I'm ecstatic with the reception the series has received (award-winning audio book, 5 star reviews).  

SIDE NOTE: Preorder and get the preorder sales price of .99 cents - price goes up 24 hours after the release! https://books2read.com/hardest-hit/

However, I'm often hesitant to talk about the ideas that generated the Deveraux Legacy Series because they are distinctly un-romantic and NOT what sells a book. A little over three years ago I started with a simple question - how could romance writers stick with the traditional "alpha male" hero in an era of #metoo? What people get up to between the covers of romance novels isn't intended to be real life, but at some point I can't divorce the reality of what a billionaire can do on a private island to young women (Jeffery Epstein) and then engage with that as a romantic fantasy about a woman forced to work as a prostitute and kept as prisoner on an island (a book series that kept popping up in my social media feed).  And the idea that an abusive, emotionally distant man was the hero of anything was very problematic to me. But as someone who reads and enjoys romance novels, I'm supposed to be able to reconcile this. As a feminist, I honestly wasn't sure I could. 

Which is about when I thought, "Maybe I should stick to straight mysteries." The bad guys are bad and the good guys solve crime. Sure, there's plenty of room for moral ambiguity and gray areas and complete characters, but end of the day... The bad guys get caught and the good guys triumph. Morally speaking, I don't have to feel conflicted about reading or writing those kind of books.  

But I like romance! And I like those tough guys that take charge, make wise-cracks and would go through hell and high-water for their fair-maiden. So how do you take a guy that's maybe done some questionable things and make him a hero?  It was that question that lead me to write the Deveraux Legacy Series.  Which, rest assured, is not to say that my heroes are sleazebags.  They're funny, brave, damaged, and well-meaning individuals who are trying the best they can.  And maybe they don't quite fit into the "dark romance" section of the romance world, but they do fit into the "I can read this and not feel weird" section of the library. So I hope that my readers will also enjoy some "alpha" heroes and their feminist as hell heroines as they battle bad guys and find love and hopefully more than a few laughs.

About the Book: 

Evan Deveraux has faced down his demons, but can he face his own family?

The one thing that kept troubled Wall Street wizard Evan Deveraux from giving into his own depression was the love of his family. But as Evan digs deeper into his family’s past he discovers a secret that shakes his faith in the Deveraux family. Now the only person Evan trusts is the brilliant and adorable Dr. Olivia West. But Evan’s abusive past and dark family history are on a collision course with the present and even as Evan fights to keep Olivia safe from the mercenaries targeting his family, Evan and Olivia find their relationship in cross-hairs of both their families. Evan is going to need the help of all of his cousins to make his happily ever after come true.

Release Date: 10/18/21

Pre-Order Link: https://books2read.com/hardest-hit/

Chapter 1 sneak peek: https://bethanymaines.com/deveraux-chapter-1/

Buy the Series (all vendors): 

https://books2read.com/Lost-Heir (prequel novella)

https://books2read.com/The-Second-Shot (Book 1)

·       https://books2read.com/Cinderella-Secret (Book 2) 

Win a paperback copy:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/332708-the-hardest-hit
Giveaway closes October 25th!

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Recipes to Die For

 By Mary Lee Ashford

What is it with food in mysteries? Or I should say, "What is it with culinary mysteries?" as that's the proper term for the sub-genre. 

As a long time reader of culinary mysteries, from Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen books to Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear catering stories there's a wide variety. Some of the main character's are great cooks like Hannah (current book Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder) and some are not. Such as our own Debra Goldstein's Sarah Blair. Check out Debra's latest Four Cuts Too Many!  

In my Sugar and Spice series, it's sidekick Dixie that's the blue-ribbon baker while my main character, Sugar's expertise is on the business side of things as assembler of their community cookbooks. Though she likes to think she's an expert taster as well. 

In my opinion the brilliant thing about food in mysteries is that food brings people together. We talk over coffee and pie, and gather around family dinner or community events. This creates all kinds of opportunities for sharing information (which can include a clue) or overhearing private exchanges (which can often point to a suspect). 

Food can also sometimes lead to conflict. Is there a secret family recipe? Is there an element of competition? In Game of Scones, the first book in the Sugar and Spice series, there's a disagreement over who makes the best scones. And wouldn't you know, there's room for only one recipe in the town's centennial celebration community cookbook. You can see where this is going, right? I won't give too much away but very soon someone is missing and someone is dead. 

One of the fun things about culinary mysteries, at least for the author is the chance to try out new recipes. Game of Scones found me trying all kinds of different scone recipes. And with Risky Biscuits, you guessed it...  tons of biscuit recipes. Who knew there were so many? I have a  good friend who is an actual, honest-to-goodness blue-ribbon baker and I called upon her skills to perfect the biscuits and gravy recipe featured in the back of that book. Then came Quiche of Death which meant the testing various types of quiche. Check out my Pinterest boards for the books to find some of the recipes that were part of the research. 

About those recipes often featured in the back of the books. What are your thoughts on them? Do you check them out? Have you ever tried out a new recipe you found in the back of a culinary mystery? Did you find a new favorite? If so, please share! 

Currently Kensington Books is featuring Game of Scones for only $1.99 in all ebook platforms so if you have not yet read the first in the series, here's your chance to take advantage of this great deal.  If you've already read the book, thank-you! If you've left a review, double thanks! I

To celebrate the deal, I'll be doing a giveaway of a Game of Scones tshirt  Just leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing! I'll draw a winner by midnight Friday and announce the winner on Saturday. Good luck! 

Mary Lee Ashford is a lifelong bibliophile, and avid reader, and supporter of public libraries.

In addition to writing the Sugar and Spice series for

Kensington Books, she also writes as half of the writing team of Sparkle Abbey, author of the national bestselling Pampered Pets mystery series from Bell Bridge Books.

Prior to publishing Mary Lee won first place in the Daphne du Maurier contest, sponsored by the Kiss of Death chapter of RWA, and was a finalist in Murder in the Grove’s mystery contest, as well as Killer Nashville’s Claymore Dagger contest.

She is the founding president of Sisters in Crime – Iowa and a past board member of the Mystery Writers of America Midwest chapter, as well as a member of Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, Kiss of Death the RWA Mystery Suspense chapter, Sisters in Crime, and the SinC internet group Guppies. She loves encouraging other writers and is a frequent presenter for writers’ groups.

Mary Lee has a passionate interest in creativity and teaches a university level course in Creative Management to MPA candidates, as well as presenting workshops and blogging about creativity.

She currently resides in the midwest with her husband, Tim and cat, Zoey. Her delights are reading and enjoying time her two sons and their lovely wives as well as her crazy awesome grandchildren.

Follow her on Facebook for morning coffee posts and Recipes to Die For: 

Mary Lee Ashford

Recipes to Die For 

The Characters Who Break Our Hearts

by Barbara Kyle

A recent fascinating post by Lois Winston on this blog asked: “Are there characters that you wish the author would kill off? Or characters you wish an author hadn’t killed off?”

 

I thought I’d dig deeper into Lois’s topic with another question: What character’s death broke your heart?

 

I once asked that of my Facebook friends and the replies were extraordinary. People recall with vivid clarity how a fictional death left them feeling bereft.

 

Beth March in Little Women. Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. Ned Stark in A Game of Thrones. Charlotte, the valiant spider in Charlotte's Web.

 

 

Pic: "Sydney Carton" painting by Ralph Bruce

Characters' deaths that broke my heart include Mariko in James Clavell's Shogun, Robbie and Cecilia in Ian McEwan's Atonement and Gus in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.

 

                                  Pic: Yoko Shimada as "Mariko" in the 1980 TV series "Shogun."

 

That affecting experience as a reader applies with equal force to an author. Every time I've killed a beloved character in one of my books, I wept. The poet Robert Frost said it eloquently: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." I must be shaken by a character's death myself if I am to render it faithfully to my readers.
  
Three kinds of characters' deaths shatter us the most:
 
1. The Innocent Friend

The most dangerous relationship a character can have is being the best friend of the hero. If the hero has been reluctant to accept his destiny, or his responsibilities, the death of his friend is often the turning point that galvanizes him to take the next steps and the necessary risks. By his friend's death the hero is changed, made stronger, grows up.
 
2. The Victim of a Wicked World
 
When we shudder at Fantine's death in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables we shudder at the hellish poverty that killed her. In Atonement Robbie and Cecelia lose their lives pitifully in the gruesome grind of war. In A Game of Thrones Ned Stark is executed in a naked political power grab.
 
3. The Self-Sacrificing Hero
 
When Mariko, the courageous noblewomen in Shogun, goes to Osaka Castle to obtain the release of innocent hostages, she knows she is going to her death. She sacrifices her life to save Lord Toranaga from his enemies, and restore peace.
 
In A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton takes his awe-inspiring walk to the guillotine with selfless resolve, sacrificing his life so that Lucie, the woman he loves, can be reunited with her husband.
 
These are deaths of valor – to me the most poignant of all – in which the character accepts death as the price of saving someone they love. That's powerful stuff. What reader is not moved to ask in admiration: Could I do the same?

 

And, speaking of killing . . . 

 

I hope you’ll enjoy my new video: “What Makes a Killer Mystery?” in which I outline the essential elements of the genre and show interviews with five acclaimed mystery writers, including Denise Mina and John LeCarré (below).  Watch the video here.

 

 

___________________________________________________________

 

Barbara Kyle is the author of the bestselling Thornleigh Saga series of historical novels and of acclaimed thrillers. Her latest novel of suspense is The Man from Spirit Creek. Over half a million copies of her books have been sold. Barbara has taught hundreds of writers in her online Masterclasses and many have become award-winning authors. Visit Barbara at https://www.barbarakyle.com/ 

 
 

We Have an Author Down!

 by The Stiletto Gang

Our beloved gang member C.P. Perkins is under the weather and unable to come to the computer today.  We wish her the speediest of recoveries.  For the curing of sickly authors, the Stiletto Gang recommends picking up one of their books and/or leaving a review on your favorite site.  And of course, today we're recommending Cathy's latest release.

The Body in Beaver Pond

Even an event planner doesn’t plan on murder!

Keri Isles desperately needs to sell the Christmas Tree farm her cheating, jerk of an ex-husband convinced his buddy, the judge, to saddle her with in the divorce settlement. Stuck in the Cascade Mountains, she’s lost her Seattle-based event planner job and local job prospects are as scarce as internet service. When she finds the arrogant professor in charge of the nearby archeology dig floating face-down in her beaver pond, unloading the property becomes secondary to staying out of prison.

A savvy—and scheming—attorney may be able to keep her head above water, but the personal price of his retainer may be too high. It’s up to Keri to use her mad networking skills and deploy a team of archaeology students, a bad boy photographer, and assorted eccentric neighbors to find the killer and clear her name.

Buy Now: Amazon

My Lifelong Passion for Horseracing

Hi everyone, today I'm pleased to give up my blog date to introduce you to a special friend of mine. Annette Dashofy and I have been online critique partners, beta readers and personal friends since I'm thinking 2003. She's an amazing human being who likes horses, cats, and squirrels -- sometimes I fear more than she likes people. Seriously, she's a great human, which is why I'm giving her the floor to talk about her lifelong passion for horseracing and a great novel I highly recommend. Please welcome Annette Dashofy.   ~Donnell Ann Bell 

Author Annette Dashofy

When you ask a group of mystery authors who they read when they were kids, the majority will offer answers like Nancy Drew or Encyclopedia Brown. While I may have read a few of the Nancy Drews, my passion rested elsewhere. I read every book Walter Farley wrote. Multiple times. I loved both The Black Stallion and The Island Stallion series.  

Yes, there was a movie. [https://youtu.be/kGp9u56FJKs]

The books are better although the movie was quite good.

Farley’s books played a huge role in my passion for horses. Long before I owned a real one, I had a barn full of pretend ones. 

The horses were pretend. The barn was real, but the only livestock it housed was cattle.

I “rode” my pretend horses, being the rider from the waist up and the horse from the waist down. I galloped around the farm and sometimes around imaginary racetracks. I had an equally horse-crazy, Walter Farley-reading friend who shared my rider/horse fantasies. We’d hold “match races” for our horses. Mine usually lost.  

My love of horseracing may have started with and been fueled by Alec and The Black from the Farley books, but the real thing quickly drew me in. Back then, the only races broadcast on television were the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. 

The first winner I remember was a Venezuelan longshot by the name of Canonero II who came from behind to win the Derby in 1971. Experts deemed the victory a fluke. He proved them wrong by also winning the Preakness. Bitten by the Triple Crown bug at the age of 11, my heart broke when he came up short, finishing fourth in the Belmont. 

Two years later, a horse by the name of Secretariat won all three Triple Crown races, the first to do so in twenty-five years. My love of the sport was solidified. Watching the videos of Secretariat, especially his Belmont win, still takes my breath away. 

Okay, we sold him when he was a yearling, so I never got to ride him, but he was black and he was male, so that counts.

Fast forward again to 2021. Medina Spirit, a moderate longshot, won the Kentucky Derby on May 1. The second leg of the Triple Crown is this Saturday, May 15. Will Medina Spirit claim the second leg as well? If so, horseracing fans worldwide, myself included, will be in a frenzy leading into the first Saturday in June.

And I have the book I started in 2005 finally coming out tomorrow. The fact that the cover is reminiscent of several of Farley’s books is total coincidence. The fact that I’m releasing it in the middle of the Triple Crown races is not.

Death by Equine is set in the world of Thoroughbred racing, although far from Churchill Downs, Pimlico, or Belmont.

About Death by Equine:  Veterinarian Jessie Cameron agrees to fill in for her mentor, Doc Lewis, at Riverview Racetrack so he can take a long-overdue vacation. When he’s tragically killed by one of his equine patients the night before he’s supposed to leave, Jessie quickly suspects the death is anything but accidental. Her search for the truth is thwarted by everyone from well-meaning friends to the police, including her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Undaunted, she discovers layers of illegal activities and deceit being perpetrated by the man she thought of as a father figure, creating a growing list of suspects with reason to want Doc dead. Too late, she realizes that her dogged quest for the truth has put her in the crosshairs of a devious killer desperate to silence her. Permanently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YH164YW

About the Author:  Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the multi–Agatha Award nominated Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. Her latest release, a standalone, is Death by Equine, about a veterinarian at a second-rate thoroughbred racetrack seeking the truth about her mentor’s mysterious death. She and her husband live on ten acres of what was her grandfather’s dairy farm in southwestern Pennsylvania with their very spoiled cat, Kensi. https://www.annettedashofy.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Behind

 by Bethany Maines

 

As I write this, I am very far behind on writing my fourth book in the San Juan Island Mystery series. I have a title, a nice first chapter, and half an outline.  Which is at least half a draft short of where I wanted to be at this time.  And in other news, there’s a pandemic and my child just started back to school, but for some reason school doesn’t start until 9:45.  Why this is I have yet to determine, but it delays the start of my work day by a significant chunk of time.  I would love to say that those two events are causally related, but they’re really more corollaries. They are linked and related through the reality in which we wade, but, as much as I would like to, I can’t actually say that my school districts scattershot, indecipherable response to the pandemic is actually to blame for not sticking to my schedule.  I may be able to blame the pandemic itself, which has sent me head long into escapist fun writing and sees me closing in on finishing a trilogy of paranormal romances, but I think, in the interests of truthfulness, that’s as far as I can pass the blame.

Me trying to escape the pandemic through writing.

But as school starts back up there is a lot of twittering about the kids being behind. Or not being behind. Or being able to catch up no problem!  To which I say… yeeeeeah?  Maybe.  The truth is that private schools have been in person and in session for much of this time.  So if you could afford private school, which generally means that your kid (who was already looking at better outcomes than a public school kid) is, in fact, ahead.  Yes, the public school kids will bounce back and they’re already in similar boats to each other, but let’s just say that some kids have better rowers on their team than others.  Yes, everything will work out in the end, but the rah-rah “no one is behind” cheer strikes me as particularly delusional when I can point to a whole contingent of children who are receiving a better education due to finances. The pandemic has distinctly widened the gulf between the haves and have-nots. 

But back to me.  Am I behind?  My deadlines are relatively self-imposed.  I can flex them.  Is it sooooo bad to be running late?  Maybe if I type for two days straight I can catch up?  If I can learn anything from the school debacle, it’s that no, probably sprinting to catch up is not the way.  Writing consistently is probably a better way to get quality work.  But having already not done that, it’s probably best to go the public school route and tell myself that I’m not behind and that everything will work out in the end.

***

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, The Deveraux Legacy Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Release Day!

by Bethany Maines

My latest book baby has been released into the wild. The Cinderella Secret, book 2 of The Deveraux Legacy series, is a romantic suspense with plenty of action, feminist flare and a hero and heroine who had to learn to literally take their masks off to find true love. And my darling book baby is already racking up some stellar reviews!

5.0 out of 5 stars Aiden and Ella kick ass together!

Fast paced, super enjoyable romantic thriller. I love these characters!

5.0 out of 5 stars I NEED the next book

I fell in love with these characters while reading the first book. Now I get to come back and fall in love with them all over again. One of the things I liked best about this book was that we got to peel back even more layers of the masks these Deveraux youngsters shield themselves with.

5.0 out of 5 stars  Don't miss a word!

I am so enjoying this series as the author’s style of writing makes you not want to miss even one word. The humorous and sarcastic interaction between this blended family highlights their closeness.

The Cinderella Secret is book 2 of the Deveraux Legacy series and I have loved every second with my characters.  I'm so excited to see that readers are too! This romantic thriller balances humor, mystery and romance into one action-packed package. 

Want to read now? Buy it here>>https://books2read.com/Cinderella-Secret

Want to learn more about the series?  Read more here>> https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.