Getting to know Staci McLaughlin

 

I’d like to welcome mystery author Staci McLaughlin.
Now, let’s get to know her.

Patricia: What are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing?

Staci: I love to take walks. There’s a park in town with acres of open space and lots of trails. The kids and I sometimes see deer, rabbits, and even the occasional coyote or Great Blue Heron. Now that school is out, we’ve also been doing a lot of science experiments. We’ve managed to lift an ice cube using only salt and a piece of string, plus suck an egg into a bottle with a lit match. When I have time, I also enjoy cooking and trying new recipes. I only wish I could remember to mark the recipes that the whole family enjoys so I can make those dishes again. Instead, six months down the road, we’ll remember a great meal we ate, and I’ll have no idea what magazine or book it came from.

Patricia: What’s your favorite color? Why?

Staci: It’s hard to choose. Sometimes my favorite changes. I love different shades of blue, especially a deep sky blue or royal blue, but sometimes I’ll see a gorgeous shade of green in a leaf or a really vivid red dress, and decide that’s my favorite color for the day. But if I could only pick one, I guess I would stay with blue. I love to lay on the grass on a cloudless summer day and stare up at the vast blue sky.

Patricia: How would you describe yourself, personality wise?

Staci: I’m definitely a half-glass-full kind of person. I like to believe that most situations will turn out all right in the end. Sometimes, that doesn’t happen, but being optimistic is a much better way to spend my time than fearing the worst. I also try not to get annoyed with the little things, like being stuck in traffic. I remind myself that there are bigger problems in the world, which helps put pesky annoyances in perspective.

Patricia: Do you like to travel? If so, what are some of your favorite places to go and/or what was your favorite vacation?

Staci: I do like to travel, although I don’t always travel far. I prefer driving to flying, so a lot of our trips are to Southern California or Nevada. One of my favorite vacations was a trip to Ohio several years ago. My husband and I both love roller coasters, so we went to Cedar Point, which has some fantastic coasters. While we were there, we boated out to an island in Lake Erie and toured it in a golf cart. We also visited a wild safari park and hiked into an underground cave, fun things like that. When the kids are older, I’d like to visit Washington D.C., Mount Rushmore, the Alamo, and other historical places.

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

Staci: I’m a bit of a saver, so I’d put a large portion in a college account for the kids. I’d also take the whole family—grandma, grandpa, aunts, and uncles—on a big group vacation, maybe a cruise. I went on a Caribbean cruise for my honeymoon, and I’d love to take another one. It’s a great way to see faraway places and try different foods and new activities. I’d also like to donate money to a few of the local charities, especially the food bank and organizations that help underprivileged children.

Author Bio: Staci McLaughlin is the author of the Blossom Valley Mysteries. Going Organic Can Kill You is the first in the series, followed by All Natural Murder. When she’s not writing, she is a maid, short-order cook, and band-aid supplier for her two young sons.  They live in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two cats, one fish, and a sea monkey.

Links:

Going Organic Can Kill You: http://www.amazon.com/Going-Organic-Blossom-Valley-Mysteries/dp/0758275005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372776503&sr=8-1&keywords=going+organic+can+kill+you

All Natural Murder: http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Murder-Blossom-Valley-Mysteries/dp/0758275013/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0

Haunted Lighthouses

Lighthouses have guided countless sailors safely to shore on moonless, starless nights. I love the history, mystery and romance of lighthouses and their keepers, told in the stories, which have been passed down through the years. Legends claim that these four lighthouses are haunted.

The Pensacola Light is located in Pensacola, Florida and is surrounded by huge, old live oak trees laden with Spanish moss, which give it an eerie feel. According to the legends, Jeremiah was the first keeper of the light station, which was built in 1826. He and his wife, Michaela, moved in and Michaela, who loved the lighthouse, maintained it in impeccable condition. In 1840, Jeremiah died and some believe that his wife stabbed him. Upon her husband’s death, Michaela became the new keeper and she served in that capacity until her death in 1855.

The original lighthouse was evidently poorly instructed and a new one took its place in 1859. According to legend, Michaela, already deceased, was unhappy about that and one of the workmen rebuilding the tower reported having a water hose yanked from his grip. Years later, mysterious stains, which looked suspiciously like blood and couldn’t be scrubbed away, appeared on the floor of the rebuilt lighthouse. Visitors have reported hearing their name called and feeling someone breathing down their neck – when there was no one else there.

The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse is located on the shore of Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Grand River in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. It was originally constructed in 1825 and was rebuilt in 1871. Captain Joseph Babcock was the first keeper of the reconstructed lighthouse and he raised his family there. Mrs. Babcock, who kept many cats as her pets, fell ill and was bed-ridden while living there.

To this day, many claim to have seen the ghost of a gray cat, who appears in a puff of smoke, running about upstairs. A mummified cat was found by a worker years after Mrs. Babcock’s death and it is still displayed in a glass case at the Fairport Harbor Museum.            

The St. Simons Lighthouse is located on the southern tip of St. Simons Island, Georgia. In 1880, an argument between the lighthouse keeper, Frederick Osborne, and his assistant, John Stevens, ended with a fatal gunshot. Although John continued to tend the lighthouse after Frederick’s death and was never charged with his murder, it’s rumored that he often heard the sound of Frederick’s footsteps in the vacant tower. Over the years, many others have claimed to hear the footfalls.

The White River Light Station is located in Whitehall, Michigan in a scenic setting. The lighthouse’s first keeper, Captain William Robinson, served for forty-seven years and, at age eighty-seven just before he was going to be forced to retire and to vacate the premises, he died in his sleep. Some attribute the mysterious sounds of a cane thumping and someone pacing upstairs to be him and the museum’s curator reports that, if she leaves a dust rag near a certain display case, she returns to find the rag moved and the case dusted. Is the Captain’s wife, Sarah, still helping her elderly husband care for his beloved lighthouse?

Mystery Author of the Month, D.J. Swykert

Patricia: David, where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?

David: I grew up in Detroit, and continued to live in the Detroit area until the 90’s. I use Detroit as the setting for my mystery novels as it is the large urban area I am most familiar with, and with its reputation for crime, I felt it would be of interest to a broad range of mystery and crime genre readers.

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

David: I live in downtown Covington, Kentucky, near the Ohio River. I can hear the fireworks from The Grand Old American Ballpark when the Reds hit a homerun. I haven’t written a novel using this area, but I’m not through writing novels, yet. It’s more because I’m relatively new to the area than any lack of ideas about using Covington or Cincinnati, both are beautiful cities, I love the architecture and history of both.

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

David: I have a novel due out this summer, The Pool Boy’s Beatitude, from Rebel e Publishing out of Detroit. It’s not a mystery, but a large section of the book takes place in jail. I’d describe the story, though, as a quirky love story. It’s more literary than my mystery genre stories I’ve written. It made the semifinal list in the Faulkner Competition last summer. The story is somewhat autobiographical in the sense it’s based on personal experiences, but it is fiction.  

The Death of Anyone is my most recent mystery genre story. The idea for this story came back in 2006 while I was still working as a 911 operator. I learned from a CSI investigator about a DNA search technique called Familial DNA. When the crime scene DNA doesn’t find any match in the database, they search for DNA that is similar, and then investigate suspects related to this person. I thought it would make an interesting plot for a story and wrote The Death of Anyone, where Bonnie Benham, a Detroit Homicide Detective implores the D.A. to authorize it’s use in the hunt for a killer of young girls. I had just finished the first draft in 2010 when LAPD caught The Grim Sleeper using a Familial DNA search. They came up with the DNA of his son, and when they investigated members of his family, found out his father was the killer. Lonnie David Franklin, the Grim Sleeper, will be the first person in the U.S. ever to be tried in court based on the use of Familial DNA. All of the aspects of this case are explored in The Death of Anyone.

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

David: When I had to get a real job. I’m kidding, but it’s not a joke that I preferred writing to the employment I’ve had, which has varied. I would say, though, besides writing, working as a 911 operator was the best job I’ve ever had.

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

David: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And the reason is easy. If anyone gave the idea for CSI to its creator Anthony Zuiker it had to be Sherlock Holmes, the original crime scene investigator, using science to catch criminals.

Agatha Christie. I loved her use of red herrings, laying out false clues to mislead you as to who the real perpetrator was.

Walter Mosely. I just like his writing style and private investigator Easy Rawlins. I have an underground character, Raymond Little, who similarly operates outside the system in search of justice. He appears in all three of the mysteries I’ve written. 

You can find both of my mystery novels, The Death of Anyone and Children of the Enemy on Amazon.com. The Death of Anyone can also be purchased from the publisher’s website,

Christmas in July

“Christmas in July” is a term we’ve all heard. From what I’ve read, it started in 1933 in Brevard, North Carolina at a girls’ summer camp. Someone got the idea and it spread. In Australia and New Zealand, people celebrate “an improvised yuletide holiday” in July because, for them, it’s the winter season. Now, retailers use the term as an advertising ploy to entice customers to spend more money.

In the spirit of the "season," I’m offering a paper copy of Unfinished Business, the second novel in my Malone mystery series, to someone who leaves a comment on this post.

The Westwood Strangler is dead. Or so everyone believes.

Ann Kern is busy preparing for her favorite holiday. She’s especially looking forward to her sister’s annual Christmas visit. But, several things threaten to ruin her festive mood.

The National Weather Service issues a severe winter storm warning for the Cincinnati area, predicting blizzard conditions, and Ann worries that her sister and her new boyfriend won’t be able to make the drive from South Carolina. 

Then, a woman is found strangled in Ann’s neighborhood and everyone, including the police, assumes it’s the work of a copycat killer. However, when two more women are murdered in their homes, the police announce their conviction that the Westwood Strangler is responsible.

When Ann hears the news, the sense of safety and security she’s worked so hard to recapture since her attack on Halloween night, shatters. If the intruder who died in her apartment wasn’t the Westwood Strangler, who is? And, who will be the next victim? 

Buy link:

http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Business-Malone-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00A8HNFH0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375015385&sr=1-2

Happy Reading!  

I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment this week.
I put all the names in a hat and the winner of a signed copy of "Unfinished Business" is Sharon Love Cook. Congratulations, Sharon. I'll be contacting you for your mailing address.  
Unfortunately, there could only be one winner. To those of you who would like to read my book, I hope you'll click on the buy link above to order a copy in paper or Kindle format.