Mystery Author of the Month, Kaye George

Patricia: Kaye, I’m pleased to have you with us today. Let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?

Kaye: I grew up in northern Illinois, but have lived in many parts of the US since leaving college. Unfortunately, I had a very happy childhood, so don’t have early-life trauma to blame for my turning to fiction for self-expression. We had a wonderful library that I visited often. My mother was also an avid reader and I think coming from a reading family helped give me the urge to write. I’ve made up stories my whole life. I remember narrating my crayon drawings. Later, when I was in elementary school, I drew comic strips and wrote two “novels” in 5th or 6th grade. They probably were about 10 pages long. I guess I was born wanting to write. My mother often said she wanted to write a book, so I’m kind of living her dream.

Patricia: Where do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?

Kaye: I tend to use places I used to live for my settings. I think the distance helps distill the setting for me. If I wrote about where I’m living now, there would be too many details to get in the way. At the moment, I’m living in a very small town outside Waco, TX. My first series published used the Wichita Falls, TX, area, where I lived 9-11 years ago. The book coming out in April will be set back in Illinois where I grew up, and the series debuting with Berkley Prime Crime in 2014 will be set in Minneapolis, where I lived in the early 1980s.

Patricia: What inspired you to write your most recent novel?

Kaye: EINE KLEINE MURDER, published this month by Barking Rain Press, was started a few years ago. I recently picked it up again and, after dusting it off and rewriting, turned into an amateur sleuth mystery featuring a classical musician. That character is close to my heart because I was “writing what I know” with Cressa Carraway. I used my own mother’s summer cabin for the setting, and my own love of classical music for the sleuth character. I’m a classically trained violinist and have done a bit of arranging and composing. I would love to have been a conductor, so my ambition for Cressa, after she finishes writing her composition and solving the mystery of her grandmother’s death, is that of being a symphony conductor. If this gets off the ground, I intend to take Cressa to lots of places with her conducting career, maybe even to Europe.

Patricia: When did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer?

Kaye: As I’ve said above, I’ve never not wanted to write. I knew, as soon as I learned to read, that words could be written and that I needed to write them.

Patricia: Name three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them your favorites?

Kaye: I’ll have to go with my childhood and early adult favorites. If I expanded to present-day writers I could never limit them to three! Rex Stout, Dick Francis, and Agatha Christie. They’re my favorites simply because they’re the first mystery writers I read. I’ve never been bored or dissatisfied by a single book from any of these three.

BIO: Kaye George is a short story writer and novelist who has been nominated for Agatha awards twice. She is the author of three mystery series, the Imogene Duckworthy humorous Texas series, the Cressa Carraway musical mystery series, and the FAT CAT cozy series with Berkley Prime Crime (the last will debut in 2014). She reviews for "Suspense Magazine", writes for several newsletters and blogs, and gives workshops on short story writing and promotion. Kaye lives in Texas, near Waco.
  

Purchase info:
CHOKE
Available at:
(http://www.amazon.com/Choke-Imogene-Duckworthy-Kaye-George/dp/1477571507/)
as well as Ingram.

SMOKE
Available at:
(http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-An-Imogene-Duckworthy-Mystery/dp/1478146494/)
as well as Ingram.

BROKE
Available at:
(http://www.amazon.com/Broke-Imogene-Duckworthy-Mystery-Volume/dp/1480032328/)
as well as Ingram.
 

FAT CAT cozy series from Berkley Prime Crime, coming 2014 http://kayegeorge.com/


This just in! Kaye's most recent novel is available for purchase at the following links:

http://www.amazon.com/Kleine-Murder-Carraway-Musical-Mystery/dp/1935460641/

http://www.barkingrainpress.org/products/eine-kleine-murder/

Mystery of the Month by Sunny Frazier

            

Set in the Central Valley of California, author Sunny Frazier once again explores the rich agricultural region, rural law enforcement and crimes shrouded by Tule fog in WHERE ANGELS FEAR, the sequel to FOOLS RUSH IN. 

Amateur astrologer Christy Bristol finds herself on the fringes of Kearny society and a members-only sex club as she reluctantly takes on a missing person case. Prominent business man Avery Anders has disappeared and his wife cannot go to the authorities. When the man's horoscope reveals an affair and mortal danger, she enlists Christy to do an investigation. 

Christy's day job with the local sheriff's department is on the line as her investigation crosses paths with several homicide cases and surly Detective Kerwin. Could the cases be connected?

Aided by best friend Lennie Watkins, the women find themselves on a treacherous trail that leads to the Veterans Hospital, a sex-specialty clothing store, mansions of the rich, and even touches on the Viet Nam War. With only a prescription bottle and matchbook as clues, the young woman must face the Knights of Sensani and her own sexual limitations. 

Christy Bristol must go WHERE ANGELS FEAR to tread. 
 

Sunny Frazier is a Navy veteran, former newspaper reporter and a confidential secretary for an undercover narcotics team with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.. After 17 years in law enforcement, she began writing the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries. Based in the San Joaquin Valley of California, the novels are inspired by real cases and 40 years of casting horoscopes.

She is also acquisitions editor for Oak Tree Press.

http://www.sunnyfrazier.com  

The first novel in the Christy Bristol mystery series:  

Look for A SNITCH IN TIME, the third novel in the Christy Bristol mystery series. Coming soon!

  

Dangerous Impulses

My blog is one of the stops on the tour for F.M. Meredith’s Dangerous Impulses, the most recent novel in her Rocky Bluff PD series which, by the way, I highly recommend. 
Although each of her novels is a standalone, for those of you who prefer to read a series from the beginning, I've asked Marilyn to list her books in the order in which they were published. 

The Rocky Bluff P.D. Series from the Beginning

 

Final Respects   The horrendous murder of Officer Milligan’s babysitter begins a series of events that could lead to the destruction of the entire Rocky Bluff P.D. and many innocent citizens.

Bad Tidings  Two murders bring chaos to the beach community of Rocky Bluff and keep Lt. Gilbreath busy as he faces his own crisis.

Fringe Benefits  Officer Cal Sylvester pursues the wife of his rookie partner, Gordon Butler, but what will Cal do about his own wife? 

Smell of Death  Officer Stacey Milligan helps Detective Doug Milligan with the case of a missing child, strange burglaries and the inexplicable murders of mother and child and she finds herself breaking her long standing rule to never date anyone working for RBPD.

No Sanctuary Two churches, two ministers, two wives one murder.

 An Axe to Grind  An imaginative stalker’s decapitation sends Detectives Milligan and Marshall on an investigation into the stalker’s family and his victim and her family. Doug heads out on his own to corner the murderer and disappears.

Angel Lost  Stacey Wilbur is caught up in her wedding plans, Abel Navarro’s mother is suffering from Alzheimers, the new transfer from LAPD has a secret, the appearance of an angel on a plate glass window cause all sorts of problems for the RBPD.

No Bells Officer Gordon Butler has finally found the love he’s sought for a long time, but there’s one big problem, she’s the major suspect in a murder case. 

Now a bit about the latest in the series: Dangerous Impulses:
An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.

Buy link: http://tinyurl.com/byxomtk

Each book in the series is written as a stand-alone. Whatever crimes the detectives and officers are facing will be solved. The characters’ lives are ongoing. 

Contest:

The person who comments on the most blog posts on this tour may have a character named after him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel or choose a book from the previous titles in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series in either paper or for Kindle.

F.M. is also known as Marilyn Meredith, the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. She first became interested in writing about law enforcement when she lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families. The interest was fanned when her daughter married a police officer and the tradition has continued with a grandson and grandson-in-law who are deputies. She’s also serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and has many friends in different law enforcement fields. For twenty plus years, she and her husband lived in a small beach community located in Southern California much like the fictional Rocky Bluff. She is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Epic, and Mystery Writers of America.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

And I’m on Facebook and Twitter as MarilynMeredith

Tomorrow you can find me at http://lynncahoon.wordpress.com/

Getting to know Mystery Author, Holli Castillo

I'm pleased to have Holli Castillo, author of Gumbo Justice and Jambalaya Justice, with us today. I've read both of her novels and included them on my "Best Of" list on Shelfari. Let's get to know her.
Patricia: Holli, what are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing?

Holli: When I’m not reading or writing, I like watching TV or movies. I love just about any series with prosecutors and cops, mysteries of any kind, and sci-fi. In movies, I enjoy an occasional romantic comedy, but my first choice is a good action thriller. Ordinarily I’m begging for time to read and write because I have two daughters and a husband who demand most of my time, as well as a house full of pets.  So the question may be a little backwards for me, because when I’m not fulfilling my obligations, I love to read or write. There’s seldom time for anything else.

Patricia: What’s your favorite color? Why? 
Holli: Red. It just feels like me. I love red clothes and red rooms and red furniture.  Some people think it’s an angry color, but I think of it more as exciting, full of life, and only slightly volatile.

Patricia: How would you describe yourself, personality wise?

Holli: I think I’m painfully shy, but no one else seems to agree.  I’m also a big worrier, which nobody believes because I tend to be very direct with people.  They don’t understand that the whole reason I am so direct and occasionally confrontational is because if I think someone is angry with me or has a problem with me, I have to get it out I the open or else I will worry myself sick over it. I am also somewhat of a typical Sagittarius, always with a bright new idea but have trouble on the follow-through.  I try to plan things out because if not I don’t get much accomplished, but I often end up flying by the seat of my pants anyway.  My current mantra is lead, follow, or get out my way.

Patricia: Do you like to travel? If so, what are some of your favorite places to go and/or what was your favorite vacation? 
Holli: My whole family loves to travel.  We love Vegas, especially my daughters (11 and 13.) They have loved it since they were little.  All that bling I guess. We also love the beach, although I don’t love actually going out on it. I burn easily and don’t like to sweat or dig sand out of body parts, but I do love to watch and listen to the gulf and the ocean. I prefer to the beach at night.  It always seems so mysterious walking along the water’s edge in the moonlight. I think my favorite beaches are the ones on the gulf coast of Florida.  One of my other favorite places to visit is San Antonio, Texas. I loved their Riverwalk. One of my favorite vacations was when my father flew to Charlottesville, Virginia, with me so I could interview for graduate school at the University of Virginia. I wanted to enter their directing program, but didn’t make it in. It was still a great vacation, because it was the first time I had ever flown, and my father and I walked all around the University area, the shops and the restaurants, and had a great time. He never took vacations because he owned a business and refused to take off of work. My mother would take us to the beach every summer and he would bow out, afraid the business would fold if he was gone for a week.  While this wasn’t strictly a vacation, it was one of the few times I can remember that he took off of work to travel. He’s dead now, but I will always remember that trip even though I didn’t get into the graduate school.

Patricia: How would you complete this sentence? If I won a million dollars, I would  ------

Holli: pay off all my bills and pay One Direction to play a show for my daughters and their friends.  Either that or produce one of my own screenplays.  It would have to be a low budget one, though, because a million dollars doesn’t go far in the film industry.  

Holli Castillo was born and raised in New Orleans. She is a former prosecutor and current appellate public defender.  Her first novel, Gumbo Justice, was delayed when she was in a near-fatal head-on collision with a drunk driver right as the novel was scheduled for release. While on her back recovering for seven months, she wrote an award-winning screenplay and worked on her second novel, Jambalaya Justice, which was published in 2011. She is nearing completion of the third installment in the Crescent City Mystery Series, Chocolate City Justice, which is scheduled for release summer, 2013.  She lives in metropolitan New Orleans with her husband—who is the model for the character Big Who in the series--her two children, two dogs, guinea pigs, and deaf cat, who is featured in Jambalaya Justice.

Gumbo Justice and Jambalaya Justice available in paper and Kindle at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_at_ep_srch?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Holli%20Castillo&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank

Also available in paper and Nook at Barnes and Noble http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=book&SZE=10&ATH=Holli%20Castillo&SRT=S

Or get a signed copy of either or both from my website at http://gumbojustice.net/pages/buy-the-novels.php