Mystery Author of the Month: Lucy Arlington

Join literary agent, Lila Wilkins, as she rides her yellow scooter through the enchanting hamlet of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina, where she spends her days discovering new writing talent and solving crimes…

PLAYED BY THE BOOK (Available for Pre-order Now! Release date: 2/3/2015) http://tinyurl.com/plrfd8d

The New York Times bestselling Novel Idea Mysteries make their return with Lila Wilkins, literary agent and “murder magnet,” planning a book signing garden party. But things aren’t coming up roses when she has to weed out a dangerous killer…

The owner of the Novel Idea Literary Agency is thrilled when former local boy and popular television show host Damian York returns to Inspiration Valley, North Carolina, to launch his new gardening book. But Lila is less than excited about the hubbub when she sees her mounting to-do list. Between planning York’s gala and sprucing up her yard for another event, she’s spread too thin—especially after she finds a skull buried in her flowerbeds.

As Lila’s macabre discovery leads to other secrets hidden in Inspiration Valley’s past, a member of the local garden club is found slumped over her prize roses—murdered. Now it’s up to Lila to dig through old mysteries and new clues to unearth a murderer before someone else is found pushing up daisies…

Lucy Arlington is the pen name of Susan Furlong.

Lucy Arlington was originally conceived by the writing team of Ellery Adams and Sylvia May. Together, they wrote the first three books in the New York Times bestselling Novel Idea series: Buried in a Book; Every Trick in the Book; and Books, Cooks, and Crooks. Susan has taken over the series with the fourth installment, Played by the Book.

For the past twenty years, Susan has worked as a translator, an academic writer and a ghost writer. Four years ago, she entered into fiction writing with the publication of her first short story. Since then, she has published two novels and several additional short stories, including numerous mysteries with Woman’s World Magazine. In addition to writing as Lucy Arlington, Susan is the author of the upcoming mystery series, The Georgia Peach Mysteries—a cozy mystery about an ex-humanitarian aid worker who returns to middle Georgia to help run her family peach farm. The first book in this series, Peaches and Scream, will release in July of 2015.

To learn more about Lucy Arlington’s books visit: www.lucyarlington.com

To learn more about Susan, please visit her website at www.susanfurlong.com

Or click on one of the following links:

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Furlong/e/B005R29JZS

Twitter: https://twitter.com/foulplayauthor

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SusanFurlongAuthor

Pre-order Played by the Book: http://tinyurl.com/plrfd8d

Comment below to win a prize package including: a signed copy of the Lucy Arlington novel, Played by the Book, a scooter coin purse with a purse charm, and a scooter charm bookmark. 

To leave a comment: Please sign in, type your comment and then "publish." Blogger is being a bit difficult these days. I apologize for the inconvenience. If you still have trouble posting a comment, please email me at pgligor@zoomtown.com. Thank you for your patience.

Mystery of the Month: A Deadly Christmas Carol

A Deadly Christmas Carol by Sharon Love Cook:

When sultry Dionne Dunbar is run down in the street one winter's night, Granite Cove Gazette reporter Rose McNichols is the only witness. Amid Christmas preparations in the New England fishing village, Rose alone is determined to discover Dionne's secrets. Who wanted the woman dead? Was it a member of her mediums circle… or one of her black book clients?

Granite Cove: 

Come for the chowder, stay for the murder . . .

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I8BS9OW

Sharon Love Cook

I am what you might call a late bloomer. I got my BS at age fifty (the oldest campus newspaper editor in the college's history) and later got an MFA in writing. On the other hand, I started writing "professionally" at seventeen, a correspondent for the local newspaper's (Gloucester Daily Times) summer supplement. I also provided cartoons. Matter of fact, I illustrated the covers of my Granite Cove Mysteries, A Nose for Hanky Panky and A Deadly Christmas Carol. Last but not least, I am VP of Friends of Beverly Animals.

A little discourse about ADD:

As an ADD  adult, I have trouble keeping up with media basics. I took a course in Twitter and after opening an account, I posted once (something about Camp David, I recall) and abandoned it. I also had a gorgeous website that utilized my illustrations, created and hosted by a savvy webmaster. Someone told me I should do it myself, posting to my website, and that Wordpress was "easy." I fell for it and said goodbye to the webmaster (mistress) and went it alone. It's been over a year and I still continue to post yet nothing appears. The site is virtually frozen. I've abandoned it too, hoping it'll somehow be rescued. I also had a blog named after a character in my mysteries: Auntie Pearl. I stopped posting regularly and abandoned that--yet hope to resurrect it. 

I once confessed these failings to a woman who coaches artists, writers, etc. She said my biggest problem was time management. I think she's right. I was recently working on this post for Pat because the deadline loomed. My chair was uncomfortable and so I grabbed a pillow from the bed. I noticed the stuffing coming out of the pillow and so I went in search of needle and thread. I thought there was some matching pink thread in a tote bag downstairs and started looking through the collection of totes. I found some old black and white photos in one, pictures I'd thought were lost. I sat and looked at them. I knew my niece would love to see those photos and so I began writing her a note . . .

Needless to say, when I returned to my assignment, it was so late the computer had shut itself down in disgust. Thus I envy those who can focus and follow through. I thank Pat for her faith in me that I would get this post completed. Mercifully, I did, although I probably left things out. 'Twas ever thus . . . 

Author of the Granite Cove Mysteries, including A Nose for Hanky Panky, and the just-released: A Deadly Christmas Carol, available at bookstores and online. Visit my website: www.sharonlovecook.com

Sharon will select one person who leaves a comment to win a copy of A Deadly Christmas Carol.

New Release: The Clock Strikes Midnight

The Clock Strikes Midnight is a race against time in a quest for revenge and atonement. This is a story about hate, love, betrayal and forgiveness.

If you found out you had only 3 months to live, what would you do? That’s the question Janie Knox faces in this fast-paced mystery full of uncertainty and tension that will surprise you until the very last page.

 

Hiding behind the façade of a normal life, Janie keeps her family secrets tucked inside a broken heart. Everything changes on the day she learns she’s going to die. With the clock ticking and her time running out, she rushes to finish what she couldn’t do when she was 17—destroy her mother’s killer. But she can’t do it alone.

Janie returns to her childhood home to elicit help from her sister. She faces more than she bargained for when she discovers her sister’s life in shambles. Meanwhile her mother’s convicted killer, her stepfather, recently released from prison, blackmails the sisters and plots to extract millions from the state in retribution. New revelations challenge Janie’s resolve, but she refuses to allow either time or her enemies to stop her from uncovering the truth she’s held captive for over 20 years.

Buy link:

http://www.amazon.com/Clock-Strikes-Midnight-Joan-Curtis-ebook/dp/B00NUGACKO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1412178637&sr=1-1&keywords=the+clock+strikes+midnight

Joan Curtis

Joan is an award-winning writer who has published 5 books and numerous stories. In her newest mystery/suspense novel, The Clock Strikes Midnight, scheduled for release by MuseItUp Publishing on 11/25/2014.

Joan has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember.  She reads all kinds of books, including women’s fiction, mysteries, biography, and memoir.  Her passion as a reader lies closer to literary writing with a commercial bent. She writes books she would love to read.

“I write about characters who remind me of myself at times and my sister at times, but never fully so. My stories are told from a woman’s point of view. Characters drive my writing and my reading.”

Having grown up in the South with a mother from Westchester County New York, Joan has a unique take on blending the southern traditions with the eye of a northerner.  She spent most of her childhood in North Carolina and now resides in Georgia.

Joan is offering a copy of "The Clock Strikes Midnight" to one lucky person who leaves a comment on her post.

Mystery Series Vs. Stand Alone Novels

Jacqueline Seewald 

This week, we have author Jacqueline Seewald with us talking about the advantages and the disadvantages of writing a mystery series versus stand alone novels.

The Mystery Series:

Readers enjoy a consistency of setting in a series. They like knowing what to expect. The setting should be one the author is familiar with, whether it be a city he/she has lived in, a rural community, an exotic place visited, or an historic location that has been researched in detail. This lends authenticity to the novel. For instance, in THE BAD WIFE, 4^th novel in the Kim Reynolds mystery series, the novel is set in Central N.J. where I lived for forty years. Each novel in the series has a different setting, whether it be the university or an apartment complex, but the town itself is the same.

Readers also like a consistency in the main characters. In THE BAD WIFE, Kim Reynolds and homicide detective Mike Gardner return to solve another set of murders. They are joined by woman of color, police detective Bert St. Croix. The three main characters are very different in personality and background but each lends something unique to the novels.

In mysteries, people are not as they would appear and so there is an element of disillusionment. I believe that plot is a crucial factor in the mystery novel or any series. In the Kim Reynolds series, there are connected murders that need to be solved. The main characters can become personally involved as in THE BAD WIFE when the woman Mike believed he’d been divorced from returns to wreak havoc in the lives of Mike and Kim. When Mike is accused of murder, Kim and Bert work together to save him and find the real killer.

In regard to characterization, the protagonists are like real people with their lives changing and their characters developing. Ideally, in a mystery series the main characters in the novels are not static but yet remain true to their essential natures. There are more series mysteries today than ever.

The Stand Alone Mystery:

The big advantage of the stand alone mystery is that it’s original and unique, a one of a kind book. Many are in the romantic suspense genre. By this I mean that the romance is so important that it may overshadow the mystery. However, my novel DEATH LEGACY is actually a romantic mystery. By this I mean that there is a strong romance between the two main characters, Michelle Hallam who runs an unusual “consulting firm” and Daniel Reiner, a NYC psychiatrist who joins forces with his mystery woman to solve a murder case involving international espionage; however, the mystery itself is of equal significance. This is also a suspense thriller since the lives of the main characters/sleuths are in constant jeopardy.

As a reader, which type of mystery do you prefer? Why?

*****

A multiple award-winning author, Jacqueline has taught creative, expository and technical writing at Rutgers University as well as high school English. She also worked as both an academic librarian and an educational media specialist. Fifteen of her books of fiction have been published to critical praise including: THE INFERNO COLLECTION, THE DROWNING POOL, THE TRUTH SLEUTH, DEATH LEGACY and THE THIRD EYE. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous anthologies such as THE WRITER, L.A. TIMES, PEDESTAL, SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAGAZINE, OVER MY DEAD BODY!, GUMSHOE REVIEW, THE MYSTERY MEGAPACK, LIBRARY JOURNAL, and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

*****

The 4^th novel in the Kim Reynolds mystery series, THE BAD WIFE, was published by Perfect Crime Books and is currently available both in print and as an e-book from Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J6PCKVW
  

Jacqueline Seewald’s novel DEATH LEGACY, critically acclaimed by BOOKLIST and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY among others, is still available in print from Five Star/Gale/Cengage in hardcover and Thorndike Press hardcover large print. The Harlequin Worldwide Mystery paperback edition is sold out and is no longer available.

However, a new e-book edition of DEATH LEGACY has just been published by The Novel Fox. You can check it out on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OGTMGLM

Also available from Kobo, Apple, or Google.

This romantic mystery suspense thriller received excellent reviews in hardcover edition from Publishers Weekly and Booklist among others. The Harlequin Worldwide Mystery paperback edition sold out in just a few months. To read a free partial of the novel, go to:
http://www.thenovelfox.com/death-legacy

Jacqueline is giving away a paper copy of Death Legacy to one lucky person (US readers only) who leaves a comment.

And the winner is Kim Herron! Congratulations!