BOOK CLUB FRIDAY-- 4 AUTHORS + 4 SLEUTHS = 1 UNIQUE SERIES

Take four bestselling humorous mystery authors, stick them together on a Zoom call, and the results are a new series with a unique twist. Read on to learn about the results. 

I’m Arlene McFarlane, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Valentine Beaumont mysteries. As ideas often go, 4 Sleuths & A Bachelorette came to me on an early morning walk, when I usually plot my books. This particular morning, my mind took a detour from my series to ask this question: What if four heroines joined together in solving a mystery? Not just any heroines or any mystery. But four diverse protagonists, each with their own series, teaming up to make a hilarious, entertaining whodunit, much like a superhero movie that includes crossovers between characters and stories.

 

The next task was to find three authors with great comedic voices, their own cozy series, and an array of eager fans. I didn’t need to look far. Leslie Langtry, Diana Orgain, and Traci Andrighetti were witty authors whom I already respected and admired. They were excited about this prospect and agreed that our first-person narratives and our heroines’ special skill sets would blend well together in forming an unstoppable crime-fighting force.

 

Traci Andrighetti, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Franki Amato mysteries, taking over! During a lot of hilarious—and sometimes harrowing—Zoom calls, we plotted 4 Sleuths & A Bachelorette together but wrote our chapters individually, borrowing each other’s characters. 

 

The entire process was so much fun that we decided to make it a series: the Killer Foursome mysteries. Since the first book takes place in Niagara Falls, a neutral location for our 4 sleuths, the next four books (notice a number pattern here?) will be set in the hometowns of our heroines. Next up is 4 Sleuths & A Burlesque Dancer in New Orleans, Louisiana, PI Franki Amato’s stomping (and parading) grounds.

 

One of the funniest things about this project—besides the books, obviously—is that the first initials of our last names (Langtry, McFarlane, Andrighetti, Orgain) spell LMAO! The acronym was too good not to use, so we created a publishing company called LMAO Press. :D

 

We hope you enjoy the series as much as we enjoy writing it!

 

Four Sleuths and a Bachelorette

A Killer Foursome Mystery, Book 1

 

Tonight is Babette Lang’s bachelorette party. Problem is, there’s no bachelorette, only an unusual group of disgruntled guests—a wannabe hand-model bartender, a chain-smoking talent agent, the bride-to-be’s cheapskate boss, plus the sloshed fiancé and his furious sisters.

 

It’s not a party until there’s a body!

 

When one of the guests drops dead, four women with a tendency for trouble join forces to catch a killer.

 

Valentine Beaumont ~ Boston sleuth and gutsy beautician

Kate Connolly ~ San Francisco part-time crime-solver and sleep-deprived new mom

Merry Wrath ~ Iowa ex-CIA operative turned Girl Scout leader

Franki Amato ~ New Orleans PI and victim of a serial-matchmaking Sicilian nonna

 

Will these sleuths untangle this double mystery and save the party? Or is it already too late?

 

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#TRAVEL TO #IOWA WITH GUEST AUTHOR LESLIE LANGTRY

DeWitt, Iowa from the author's childhood

Leslie Langtry is the bestselling author of The Bombay Family of Assassins Series and Merry Wrath Mysteries. She lives in the Midwest (sadly, not in her beloved Iowa) with her family and a lot of animals. Learn more about Leslie and her books at her website. 

Hello! I’m Leslie Langtry and I write two comic mystery series: The Bombay Family of Assassins Series and the Merry Wrath Mysteries. Both series take place in the Midwest, but the Merry Wrath Mysteries are specific to small-town Iowa.

My hometown was DeWitt, Iowa – a town of about 5,000 people. It was a brilliant place to grow up. As kids, in the summer we’d get on our bikes in the morning and show up in time for supper at night (I can’t remember how, but someone always fed us lunch somewhere along the line). Everyone mostly knew everyone else. If a kid fell off a bike, people would come out of their houses to patch them up. We didn’t need to carry our swim passes for the pool, because the teenagers behind the counter knew everyone. Of course, if you did something wrong, word got back to your house before you did. It was like that game – telephone – and more often than not, when the news of your picking Mrs. Smith’s prize petunias turned into attacking her with a chainsaw. But that’s just part of the fun.

I set my series in the fictional small town of Who’s There, Iowa.  The idea for the name came from two things: the town of What Cheer, Iowa and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico – where the towns named themselves after a game show. Who’s There is a bigger town than DeWitt – more like 20K. You can know every street and corner and still be a little anonymous. And that’s what my character, Merry Wrath, wants after her forced retirement from the CIA.

I have to admit, I miss it. Iowa is a gorgeous state with rolling hills and a huge sky where you can see for miles. There are green corn fields, lazy summer days, quiet snowy nights, and tuna noodle casserole. Lots of tuna noodle casserole. And Rice Krispy bars. How could I forget to mention the Rice Krispy bars? I wanted Merry Wrath to have all of that as a backdrop. Now she just has to keep her Girl Scout troop in line…

Marshmallow S’mores Murder, A Merry rath Mystery

What could be better for former CIA agent turned Girl Scout leader Merry Wrath than taking twelve little girls to Washington, DC for a bit of summer fun? Almost anything. Unfortunately, between her girls terrorizing the Secret Service and "accidentally" destroying the hotel pool, Merry has her hands full with this troop. And when her former handler, Riley, is kidnapped, Merry has to turn to an old friend from her spy days and her parents, Senator and Mrs. Czrgy, to help her wrangle the troop and rescue the man she once briefly called her boyfriend. 

Armed only with a perpetually AWOL parent, stalked by a runaway King Vulture, and plagued by a mysterious death from her past, Merry's mayhem weaves a wacky trail from moonshiners in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the bowels of the Japanese Embassy, to the ductwork of the International Spy Museum. With things heating up with current boyfriend, Detective Rex Ferguson, can Merry decipher clues from her past to find ex-boyfriend Riley and finally solve the murder of Yakuza boss, Midori Ito, before the target on her back is filled with lead? 

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BOOKS 4 REALITY TV FANS

Do you love to read? Do you enjoy watching reality TV shows, or any kind of television show? Then you won't want to miss the Books For Reality TV Fans list of 15 novels that explore the world of television behind the scenes. These books represent a variety of genres including mystery, suspense, romance, young adult, and middle grade books, and they explore dance shows, a soap opera, a morning show, dating shows, a food show, adventure shows, and lots more.  

The list is hosted by Sink or Swim author Stacy Juba on her One Stop Reading Blog and you can find it here.

Death by Killer Mop Doll, the second book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by Lois Winston, is included on the list.

Overdue bills and constant mother vs. mother-in-law battles at home are bad enough. But crafts editor Anastasia Pollack's stress level is maxed out when she and her fellow American Woman editors get roped into unpaid gigs for a revamped morning TV show. Before the glue is dry on Anastasia's mop dolls, morning TV turns crime drama when the studio is trashed and the producer is murdered. Former co-hosts Vince and Monica—sleazy D-list celebrities—stand out among a lengthy lineup of suspects, all furious over the show's new format. And Anastasia has no clue her snooping has landed her directly in the killer's unforgiving spotlight.

The full list of authors is:

Stacy Juba

Gemma Halliday

Amanda Brice

Leslie Langtry

Chanta Rand

Karl Fields

Christi Barth

Kimberly Kinkaid

Lois Winston

Elaine Raco Chase

Liz Talley

We may also be expanding the list of books and authors in the future. In the meantime, with summer reruns just around the corner, we hope you'll check out our books for some fun entertainment.  Stacy will be featuring spotlights of each book, as well as hosting interviews with contestants from hit shows such as Survivor, Big Brother, Top Chef, Bachelor Pad, So You Think You Can Dance, and lots more. Some of the authors will also be chatting about books and reality shows on various blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Do you know a reader who loves reality TV? Do you know someone who needs to get AWAY from the television and pick up a book? Then please help us to spread the word. 

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA - GUEST AUTHOR AND CRAFTER LESLIE LANGTRY

Author Leslie Langtry loves crafts!  She knits, crochets, and does paper crafting, among other things.  She makes someone in each of her books a crafter. Even the men knit.  One of her characters actually wields circular knitting needles as a weapon.  That's fun. 'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy is free right now on Amazon, Smashwords and the iBookstore and .99 cents at Barnes and Noble.  Learn more about Leslie and her books at her website. www.leslielangtry.com. -- AP

My First Ukulele!

That’s right, at the age of 45, I finally learn to play an instrument and I picked…no, not the bassoon – but it was close – a ukulele!  I was in choir all through school (second alto – thank you very much) but never played an instrument.  Now, I have two teenaged kids who each play two different instruments, my husband played drums in school, and even the cats walk across the piano keyboard now and then.  So, I decided that since my one regret was not playing an instrument, that I’d play the ukulele.  That, and it’s the ultimate, portable instrument – perfect for a zombie apocalypse.  If a ZA happens, we will NOT be taking my son’s piano with us.

I signed up for a class and took lessons.  Here is a picture of me at my recital. 

As a crafter, I know, I should’ve made the skirt myself.  In fact, I’m looking for information to make my own lei and skirt.  Of course, that’s the fun of starting something new – finding some DIY project related to whatever my newest infatuation (that’s the word my husband uses) is.  That got me a’googlin’. 

First of all, I’m a knitter and crocheter.  So the first thing I looked for was a case pattern.  I do a lot of felting, and I didn’t want just the usual, black, nylon gig bag.  Here’s what I’ve found so far.

 I’m thinking the third one, probably in different oranges in what I can only imagine a sunset in Hawaii looks like (hint to husband). That got me thinking of other accessories.  Since I can felt, I can make felt picks – which is, apparently the kind you use on ukes.

I could make thousands of these.  I just don’t have thousands of ukuleles.  But I could make some.  

There’s the tissue box ukulele or the uke made from an Altoids tin.  I’ve never really eaten enough Altoids to empty a large tin.  But in the case of a zombie apocalypse, where I was separated from my beloved pineapple ukulele, I could eat a bunch of mints or use a bunch of tissues and make my instrument (and have minty fresh breath).

Now, I can hold up my ukulele AND I can unravel the thing and within hours (have you seen me trying to get knots out of yarn?) and use it as a rope in the aforementioned zombie apocalypse.

Now, I’m off to find some orange yarn and bug my husband to take me to Hawaii before the zombie apocalypse hits.  Oh, and I need to practice a couple of songs.

What’s your latest crafting obsession? 

Thanks for joining us today, Leslie! I hope you get to Hawaii before the zombies invade. AP 

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- GUEST KNITTER AND AUTHOR LESLIE LANGTRY

Author Leslie Langtry stops by today as our guest crafter. Leslie is a dedicated knitter and the author of hilarious, romantic, mysterious mysteries about a family of assassins. She assures me, though, that she personally has never assassinated anyone, either professionally or for recreation, with her circular needles. Read more about Leslie at her website. -- AP  

I Knit - Ergo My Characters Knit

I love to knit.  My grandmother knitted and crocheted and taught me how to make a chain when I was little.  Of course, she didn't teach me what to do with it or when to stop, so by the time I finished, my crochet chain circled the house half a dozen times.

Five years ago, I decided to teach myself to knit.  I bought the book, STITCH N BITCH by my new idol - Debbie Stoller, some yarn and needles and spent the Thanksgiving break making my first swatch.  For the next two years - I knitted rectangles.  I've since come a long way adding purses, a gargoyle ski mask for fellow writer Jana DeLeon, and a huge praying mantis.

 Since I knit, which means all the cool kids knit, I decided that my characters must knit too.  In my Greatest Hits Series, about the Bombay Family of Assassins, characters in three of my books are knitters and actively knitting.  Even the dude.  He's a master at it.

In 'SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY, for example, soccer mom/assassin Gin Bombay knits a lot.  She tells a sneering teenager in a doctor's waiting room (he teases her for knitting, "My grandma knits!  What are you knitting, Grandma?")  "I'm knitting a cock ring.  Your grandma ever knit that?"  In one of my favorite scenes ever, she strangles a bad guy with circular knitting needles and sadly observes that now she has to destroy the scarf she was knitting on it so there wouldn't be any DNA evidence.

Leslie's gargoyle ski mask for author Jana DeLeon

Cy Bombay - Carney with a Ph.D. in philosophy (and resembles Daniel Craig) is a master knitter in I SHOT YOU BABE.  On a trip to Mongolia, he's excited to get some lush fibers to knit and felt a bag for his cousin Missi.  This mirrors life as I spend hours at my favorite yarn shop, stroking the buffalo yarn and wishing I could afford it.  To their credit - the Yarn Shoppe has never asked me to leave - no matter how weird this looks. 

Praying Mantis

Perhaps my favorite inclusion of my favorite hobby is in the third book, STAND BY YOUR HITMAN.  Missi Bombay - the family's assassin and inventor is a contestant on a cheap, Canadian knock off of Survivor.  For one of the challenges, the teams are presented with two telephone poles, sharpened to points on top, and colored rope.  Missi figures out that she and her teammate have to manipulate the huge poles to knit the rope into a swatch that misspells a clue.  That was the hardest scene I've ever written about knitting.  It's hard enough to explain to knitters what to do, but to explain how to hold two telephone poles and a huge rope and make them knit?  I'm still not sure I nailed it.

I will always knit.  So will my characters...or else.

Thanks for stopping by, Leslie! And by the way, readers, the next book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by Lois Winston and starring yours truly is Death By Killer Mop Doll. Check out the deadly object on the cover in the sidebar. And don't forget to post a comment to be entered in the drawing for a book from out Book Club Friday guest author this week. -- AP