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Tuesday, September 8, 2020

AN INTERVIEW WITH JENNA QUINN, MYSTERY AUTHOR LAURA GAIL BLACK'S NEW AMATEUR SLEUTH

Today we sit down for a chat with Jenna Quinn from author Laura Gail Black’s Antique Bookshop Mysteries.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
Not so great. I’d had some legal trouble—for which I was acquitted—but it cost me my job, my home, and my fiancĂ©. I was hiding out at a cheap motel, avoiding the press, when my uncle emailed me offering me a place to stay and a job until I got back on my feet. 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself? 
My resilience. Despite all that has happened to me, I remain willing to see the good in people, and I remain hopeful about the future.  

What do you like least about yourself? 
Sometimes I am too trusting. Because I remain so willing to see the good in others, at times I miss the signs that someone is up to no good. 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? Difficult, yes. Stressful, yes. But strange? I can’t think of anything I’d classify as “strange” at this time. 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
I did originally. She was creating situations and a character that didn’t fit with who I am. Once, I even refused to talk to her for several months, because she wouldn’t pay attention to me when I tried to tell her that her ideas didn’t fit. However, once she finally listened to me, we got along much better, and I’m happy with my story as she has recounted it.

What is your greatest fear? 
Being accused of a crime I did not commit. After spending three months in jail before I was acquitted, prior to coming to Hokes Folly, I am terrified of it ever happening again.

What makes you happy? 
Feeling like I have a place to belong. I have been amazed at the open trust and friendship extended by my neighbor, Rita Wallace, Police Detective Keith Logan, and my employee, Mason Craig, who have stood by me, with me, and for me through the ordeal of my uncle’s murder and the subsequent events leading to the true identity of his killer.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why? 
I would love to have reconnected with my uncle when he was still alive, rebuilding the relationship when it was possible. Instead, I was always too busy to come visit…until it was too late. 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why? Detective Frank Sutter. He’s arrogant, stubborn, and determined to pin a crime on me that I didn’t commit. He refuses to listen to reason and refuses to look at evidence I uncovered, with the help of new friends, which might point to the real killer.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why? 
Rita Wallace. She seems to really have her stuff together. She has a career she loves, she has an amazing workplace, and she knows who she is in life and where she wants to be.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog? 
She can be found at her website where you can also find links to her other social media. 

What's next for you? 
I’m deeply entrenched in another murder at this point. A man was murdered right after the grand re-opening event at my bookstore! I feel responsible, and Detective Frank Sutter again refuses to listen to logic, so I need to find out what really happened. 

For Whom the Book Tolls
An Antique Bookshop Mystery, Book 1

Trouble follows Jenna Quinn wherever she goes. Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle’s gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, NC. In exchange, she’ll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore. But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle’s body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore. 

Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns she’s inherited almost everything her uncle owned: the store and apartment as well as his not-so-meager savings and the payout from a life insurance policy…which adds up to more than a million dollars. This is all news to Jenna—bad news, once the police get word of her windfall. An ill wind, indeed, as a second murder cements Jenna’s status as the prime suspect in both deaths.

Jenna can hit the road again, taking her chances that she can elude trouble along the way. Or she can stick it out in Hokes Folly, take over the bookstore, and try to sleuth out her uncle’s killer. On the one hand, she’s made some wonderful new friends, and she feels she can thrive in the genial small-town environment. On the other hand, trouble knows her address—and so does the killer, who is determined to write the final page of Jenna’s story.

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