Sunday, February 24, 2013

Mystery of the Month by Marja McGraw



This is the third in the Bogey Man Mysteries (and my personal favorite), featuring Chris and Pamela Cross, along with their son Mikey and two Yellow Labs, Sherlock and Watson.



Marguerite Turnbal was a bestselling gothic mystery writer in the 1950s. A little on the eccentric side, she had her home renovated, adding secret compartments. In her later years she told her twin daughters, Coral and Carol, that there was a treasure to be found, and she gave them only one clue to its whereabouts. 

Over twenty years after Marguerite’s death a young woman is murdered in the old empty house. Chris Cross’s parents have come for a visit. His mother, Judith, and his son, Mikey, want to solve their own mystery in true Cross family tradition. Judith, also a little eccentric, breaks into the house after seeing strange lights and finds the body – not quite the mystery she was hoping to find. The Bogey Man and his family are soon gumshoeing their way through life again, looking for a murderer and hidden treasure.

Buy links:



Bio:

Marja McGraw is originally from Southern California, where she worked in both criminal and civil law enforcement for several years.

Relocating to Northern Nevada, she worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation.  Marja also lived in Oregon where she worked for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and owned her own business, a Tea Room/Antique store. After a brief stop in Wasilla, Alaska, she returned to Nevada. She’s also worked for a library and a city building department.

Marja wrote a weekly column for a small newspaper in No. Nevada and she was the editor for the Sisters in Crime Internet Newsletter for a year and a half. She’s appeared on television in Nevada, and she’s also been a guest on various radio and Internet radio shows.

She writes the Sandi Webster Mysteries and the Bogey Man Mysteries, and says that each of her mysteries contains “a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!

She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, where life is good.
Website : http://www.marjamcgraw.com/ and Blog: http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/

A bonus! Ms. McGraw has just released another mystery! It's available on Kindle at the link below and will soon be available in paperback. You won't want to miss this one!



Sunday, February 17, 2013

Getting to know W.S. Gager



I’d like to welcome mystery author, W.S. Gager. Wendy’s most recent addition to her Mitch Malone Mystery Series, A Case of Volatile Deeds, will be released this month. 

Patricia: Wendy, I’ve read the first three novels in your series and I’m looking forward to reading the fourth. But, tell us, what are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing?
Wendy: I love photography and scrap-booking.  I’ve always like to take photos and last Christmas I received a new camera and I’m still learning all the unique features of it. We are renting a home on a lake temporarily and I have been taking the same view in all different weather and am excited to put them together and see what they look like. I have summer, fall, rainy and winter. Now I just need to wait for spring’s new green. The home faces southeast and there are some awesome sunrises.
Patricia: What’s your favorite color? Why?
Wendy: Purple. I have always liked purple. When I was in the fifth grade I was able to shop for my own school clothes. I picked out a pair of purple jeans and a matching print shirt. They were my favorites and I couldn’t wait for the start of school. It was like ninety degrees that day but I wore my long purple pants because I couldn’t wait.  I roasted but I looked good!
Patricia: How would you describe yourself, personality wise?
Wendy: I am an eternal optimist and adventurous. There are always second chances and if things don’t work out right, it is because something better will be coming along. My dad still rolls his eyes when he remembers the people I brought home in high school. It was the late seventies and my friends were some pretty scruffy characters. He was sure I would end up dead in a ditch dead from one of my adventures.
Patricia: Do you like to travel? If so, what are some of your favorite places to go and/or what was your favorite vacation?
Wendy: I love to travel and have been able to go to some wonderful places. Two years after I received my bachelor’s degree I was in a job and going nowhere. I got a second job, moved in with a friend to save every dime and then quit. I went to Europe for the summer with my roommate from college. We went to England, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and France on the dollar a day plan. A dark, warm beer counted as a meal on so many of those days. I fell in love with Paris and the southwestern Irish coast. Paris was eclectic and romantic and years of history to peak my imagination. Ireland was so many shades of green and the friendliest of all people. Each was so beautiful. I’m saving my pennies to visit our exchange student from last year in Germany so she can show us the sights. We also traveled to Ecuador for a week to visit another exchange student and that trip was incredible. This wild part of the world is so very different from everything I was used to.
Patricia: How would you complete this sentence? If I won a million dollars, I would
Wendy: write mystery books every morning and then sightsee the rest of the day in different parts of the world. (I would pay people to clean and to promote my books.) I would be poor again very quickly but it would be a grand time for as long as it lasted.

Bio:  In the past three years I have moved three times and have one more coming up in the next couple of months. In between unpacking and repacking, I write the award winning Mitch Malone Mystery Series. During the last move this summer, I was a finalist in the 2012 Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense for A CASE OF HOMETOWN BLUES. I figure the next move will be during the launch of A CASE OF VOLATILE DEEDS in February. Prior to writing mystery books and teaching college English classes, I was a reporter for a newspaper for a dozen years. My crime beat reporter Mitch gets to really say some of the things I wish I could have. For more information, on me or Mitch, check out my revamped website or blog: http://wsgager.com, http://wsgager.blogspot.com

Buy Links

A Case of Infatuation: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Infatuation-W-S-Gager/dp/1892343584


A Case of Accidental Intersection: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Accidental-Intersection-W-Gager/dp/1892343703/ref=la_B003U5OADU_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356107704&sr=1-2 


Blurb: A CASE OF VOLATILE DEEDS: Mitch finally got a date on a weekend instead of chasing crime, but an explosion in a high rise office building makes him stand up his date as he goes running for an exclusive.  When he investigates he learns his date is the only casualty in a botched attempt to steal from the real estate office where she works. The clues lead to city hall politics Mitch has always avoided. When city employees are killed, Mitch must unravel the local politics or a cute dog with a knack for finding dead bodies will be sniffing out his corpse--the next casualty of murder and governmental corruption.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

The Mystery of Love




Lawrence, one of the characters in my Malone mystery series, is a true romantic. He’s sixty-two years old and, so far, he’s been unlucky in love. But, despite some misguided attempts, he’s determined to find the woman of his dreams. Will Lawrence find love?

From Mixed Messages:

Then Ann saw it: a white envelope with her name and address typed on it. As usual, it had no stamp and no return address. She opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out the sheet of white paper. She sighed. Another love poem from Lawrence, she thought. She quickly unfolded the paper and read the short poem.
“I see in your face
such beauty, such grace.
My heart wants you so.
I need you to know.”

From Unfinished Business:

Lawrence untied the ribbon and read a couple of the letters. The ink was so faint that he had to strain to read them. In the letters, his great-grandmother wrote about her daily life and what was going on in the lives of their children and the people they knew but, as he read the last paragraph of the second letter, a tear formed in the corner of his eye. 

“It will not be Christmas this year without you, my love. As I prepare dinner for our children and try to achieve some festivity for their sakes, in my heart, I see you on the battlefield, serving our great cause. You are so brave! I pray for your safe return and that we will spend our next Christmas together. I miss you and love you with every fiber of my being. With all my love, Frieda.”

His eyes were getting heavy; it was time to go to bed. He gently placed the uniform, saber and stack of letters back in the trunk and closed the lid. Oh, what I wouldn’t give, he thought, to have a woman who loved me “with every fiber of my being.” Maybe I will; maybe Angie and I will get together and fall in love.

Happy Valentine’s Day!