Sunday, September 7, 2014

Mystery of the Month: Murder in RV Paradise

From the author:
My Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series came about after I had written what I hoped was a humorous mystery novel originally titled Shirl Lock & Holmes. My protagonists, Shirley Lock and Dora Holmes are two 59-year old widows living in a retirement village in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Shirl is a private investigator’s widow and Dora a mystery novel buff who decide to put their investigative knowledge to work when their friends begin dropping dead alphabetically. I had lived in the valley for a dozen years and experienced the dense tule fog, thinking what a great place for a serial killer to hide after he kills his victims. There’s nothing humorous about that but I inserted some quirky characters into the plot to make it more interesting. The first book in the series was then published.

When my publisher died and the business closed, I changed the names of my characters to Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty and sold the series to another company.  Dana and Sarah had both aged to 60 and the plots took on social issues for them to deal with as well as the murders. In A Village Shattered the two women discover the identity of the serial killer when the newbie sheriff bungles the murder case. In Diary of Murder, they prove that Dana’s womanizing brother-in-law is responsible for her sister’s death and the amateur sleuths are nearly killed by his involvement in a drug ring. In Murder on the Interstate they unwittingly get involved in homegrown terrorist activities while vacationing in their motorhome in Arizona. 

After they move into Dana’s sister’s mansion in Wyoming, an old man comes to their rescue on Gray Wolf Mountain when someone shoots at their car, causing it to overturn. They soon learn that someone is killing wolves as well as humans and the old man is attempting to save the animals. Dana and Sarah not only help the man but aid in the capture of the killer.

My latest book in the series is Murder in RV Paradise. My senior sleuths are vacationing in an exclusive RV report in Texas where they find the body of a woman in one of the lakes. They soon learn that the victim had a shady past and that any one of hundreds of resort residents may have killed her. Narrowing down the suspects is a problem and they discover secrets that no one wants revealed. A little romance makes the plot more interesting as both women not only solve the crime but capture their soul mates as well.

Buy link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=murder+in+rv+paradise
 
Jean Henry Mead has published 20 books, half of them novels. She not only writes the Logan & Cafferty series, but the Hamilton Kids’ mysteries, Wyoming historicals and nonfiction books. She began her writing career as a news reporter in California, and later worked for Wyoming’s statewide newspaper. Mead also freelanced for the Denver Post’s Empire Magazine and has been published domestically as well as abroad. Among her other positions, she served as a magazine, news and small press editor.

Comment for a chance to win "Murder in RV Paradise."