AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY AUTHOR ANNE LOVETT'S DAISY HARRISON

Today we sit down for a chat with Daisy Harrison from author Anne Lovett’s Snakes and Lovers.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings? 

I was having a great time in my job serving cocktails at a beach bar and getting a tan during the day. I was through with responsibility after practically killing myself at work and trying to make the best of two bad marriages. 

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself? 

Loyalty

 

What do you like least about yourself? 

A habit of choosing the wrong men.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? 

Well, it’s when she made my best friend disappear and leave me with her python and her young son. That was horrible for an author to do! 

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about? 

I really gave her a hard time when she made me travel to New Orleans with the creep who broke my heart in high school! 

 

What is your greatest fear? 

It’s not snakes. Really. It’s getting my heart broken again. Or my mom and dad getting a divorce. They’re the only steady thing in my life. And then Dad had his midlife crisis…

 

What makes you happy?  

When the story started out, it was having no responsibilities. But in the end, it was a little different… 

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why? 

I would have taken better care of my van, then it wouldn’t have broken down and we might have gotten to New Orleans sooner. Then maybe those bad things wouldn’t have happened. 

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

It has to be that nasty jewel thief who ruined my friend’s life. What she saw in him I don’t know. They never should have let him out of jail.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Maybe it’s my mom, Moo. She rolls with the punches and can conduct seances. And is really good with kids. And making cookies.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. 

People think writing is her second career, but she’s always done it on the sly. Imagine living only in Georgia, but that’s where all the books are set. In fact, my mom’s house is like the one she grew up next door to. I wish she would write more mystery and less history, but she says she likes both and one on the drawing board combines them both. She ought to write one about trains because her guy is a model railroader. She likes to go for walks, take photos, and dig in the garden. I hope she doesn’t find a corpse down there. Readers can find her at her website.

 

What's next for you? 

I’d really like to go to India, but I don’t think I can convince Anne to write it. She’s too busy with this new mystery about a woman with husband problems and a quirky retired detective, and they team up to solve a murder. And Anne might make it into a series? Phooey. It’s coming out this summer. I think.

 

Snakes and Lovers

She’s done with commitment. Until a whole pile of complications coils its way around her life.

 

Daytona Beach, 2005. After two failed marriages, Daisy Harrison enjoys a carefree existence. Deciding that love is for losers, the thirty-something serves cocktails by night and soaks up the sun by day. But when her best friend vanishes without a trace, Daisy’s left to care for her young son… and a five-foot python.

 

Vowing to find the missing snake-dancer and reunite the family, Daisy heads off on a crazy quest across the country in her less-than-reliable purple van. But as the wheels fall off her search and she discovers the boy’s mother has slithered into danger, she’s horrified when the only person who can help is the guy who broke her heart.

 

Can Daisy follow a serpentine path out of trouble and into happiness?

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AUTHOR JACQUELINE VICK'S LATEST MYSTERY, CHEATER BISCOTTI & BOOK GIVEAWAY

Jacqueline Vick writes mysteries that include farcical situations and satirical humor and characters who are reluctant to accept their greatest (and often embarrassing) gifts. She is the author of The Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic Mysteries about a woman who has faked her psychic abilities for years, then discovers animals can communicate with her. When she isn’t writing, Jacqueline enjoys acting as the neighborhood dog sitter and testing new recipes on her long-suffering husband. Learn more about Jacqueline and her books at her website.

Happy Christmas! I can see you roll your eyes as you tell me Christmas is over, but the Christmas Season lasts until January 6, The Epiphany. You know that song “The Twelve Days of Christmas?” Day One is Christmas Day! So, we’re just getting started. 

 

I sense your frustration. (Breathe deeply. It’s going to be okay.) You’ve baked and decorated and crafted your hearts out—some of you starting in July—and here I am telling you there’s more. But really, except for a few Epiphany cakes and Wise Men crafts, expectations are low for the rest of the season. 

 

Now, I want you to go back to that horrified feeling when I first broke the news. That’s how my protagonist, Frankie Chandler, feels all the time. She’s surrounded by cozy mysteries filled with clever crafts and delicious recipes, yet Frankie—how shall I put it—is cozy impaired. 

 

I have a feeling that Anastasia Pollack could whip up a Christmas tree from leftover egg cartons. In my short story, The Kitty Christmas Caper, Frankie decorated her Charlie Brown-style Christmas tree with holiday-themed socks. The kind you wear on your feet. She’s hopeless. 

 

And she’s notoriously inept in the kitchen, too. Joanne Fluke books, with their incredible indexes of recipes, give Frankie the willies. (I love them.) Even non-baking protagonists in cozies have some savvy, like Ellen Byron’s Ricki James-Diaz who loves vintage cookbooks. (And the author includes recipes in the back of the books.) 

 

Frankie doesn’t fall far from the writer. While I don’t consider myself a complete failure in the kitchen, I have had a few botched batches in my time, starting in my childhood. I think I set my goals too high. 

 

There was the time I wanted to make divinity fudge. My parents warned me it was difficult, at least for an eleven-year-old. I can’t quite describe the outcome, but my parents made me eat it. No wasting food in our house. The green brownies were more palatable. Green brownies are what you get when you accidentally substitute green food coloring for vanilla. I ate those, too. 

 

Does Frankie’s lack of culinary smarts and crafting prowess make her feel like an outcast in the cozy world? A bit. But she’s trying. Her sister-in-law June is helping her in the kitchen, and now that she’s a married woman, Frankie just might try her hand at decorating her neglected home. (The happy couple haven’t decided where they will live, but let’s face it. Frankie is going to win that argument because placing the neat Detective Bowers in Frankie’s mess of a home is funnier.)

 

So, how does Frankie cope? Short cuts. Like making biscotti cookies with cake mix. I’ve included the recipe in case you’re now scrambling to prepare goodies for the Twelfth Day of Christmas. 

 

I’m curious. Would readers enjoy seeing recipes for Frankie’s shortcuts in the back of the books? Let me know in the comments. Everyone who comments on this post by Sunday, January 1, 11:59 PM PST will have their names entered into a hat. The winner chosen will receive their choice of an ebook or paperback copy of A Scape Goat for Murder. The winner will be announced Monday, January 2, in the comment section of this blog!

 

As for Frankie’s efforts at crafts, I think she’ll leave that to Anastasia. 

 

Frankie Chandler’s Cheater McCheaterpants Biscotti

 

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (Any flavor will do. Frankie played it safe with vanilla.)

1 cup of melted butter

2 eggs, beaten

1-1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of any accents like chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

 

Mix all ingredients. Shape into two logs 1/2” tall. (don’t make them too wide as they will spread out.) Place logs on the paper. Bake for 35 minutes. 

 

Remove from the oven. Cut diagonally about every ½ inch. (I highly recommend an electric knife with a serrated edge for this task.) 

 

Lay out the cookies on the parchment paper. Bake for ten minutes more. 

 

Turn off the oven and leave the cookies inside for another half hour. These are biscotti. If you forget them and they get extra crunch, well, they’re biscotti! If you don’t want them crunchy, take them out now.

 

At this point, you can melt any kind of chocolate and dip the edges of the cookies to make them pretty. 

 

A Scape Goat for Murder

A Frankie chandler Pet Psychic Mystery, Book 6

 

A gourmand goat. A mysterious woman. A phone call that will change Frankie’s life.

 

Frankie Chandler’s upcoming nuptials suffer a devastating setback when her fiancé, Detective Martin Bowers, is injured on the job. How badly injured? The doctors are mum on his condition, and his colleagues are just as evasive, telling her they don’t know what he was doing on the lonely hillside where he fell.

 

Convinced that the key to Bowers’ recovery lies in finding out what happened, the pet psychic’s only hope for clarity is a gourmand goat who demands payment in pastries before he’ll reveal his secrets. When he does, his responses are confusing…and terrifying.

 

Then Bowers’ very mysterious, possibly dangerous, and definitely skeptical sister, Edith, arrives, and every step forward becomes a battle. As the dysfunctional duo maneuver through suspects, witnesses, and the occasional corpse, the pet psychic decides to go it alone, because Frankie is determined her groom will make it to the church on time…if the killer doesn’t get her first.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--HEATHER WEIDNER SHARES TREATS FOR YOUR FAVORITE CANINE

Mystery author Heather Weidner has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She writes the Delanie Fitzgerald series, and her short stories have appeaedr in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, and Deadly Southern Charm. Her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series. Learn more about Heather and her books at her website/blog  and at the Mutt Mysteries website. Today Heather’s sleuth Cassidy Green, owner of the Amelia speedway in “The Fast in the Furriest” from To Fetch a Scoundrel, is here to share a recipe for the treats she makes for her Rottweiler Oliver.

Oliver’s Favorite Dog Treats

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup milk

1 large egg

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1/3 cup oats (quick or rolled)

2–3 strips cooked bacon, chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the peanut butter, milk, and egg with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add the flour and baking powder. Make sure it is mixed thoroughly. Add the oats and bacon. 

Roll out the mix onto a floured surface and cut into shapes using cookie cutters or a knife. Arrange on the baking sheets. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until very lightly. Remove from the oven and flip the treats to bake the other side for 10-12 more minutes.

Allow to cool completely before serving to your pup. Cover and store leftovers at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. 

To Fetch a Scoundrel

Mutt Mysteries, Book 2

The mystery-solving mutts are back! To Fetch a Scoundrel, the second in the Mutt Mysteries collection, features four tail-wagging novellas. Each story puts pups’ noses to the ground, as scandals are unleashed and killers are collared. Once you’ve finished reading these tall “tails,” you’ll no longer wonder “Who let the dogs out?” You’ll just be glad somebody did! Stories include:

“The Fast and the Furriest” by Heather Weidner

Isn’t there enough action under the lights at the Amelia Race Track without the drama of a love triangle? An altercation leads to murder, and owner Cassidy Green and her Rottweiler Oliver have to uncover clues and find the killer before the bad publicity destroys her business.

“Pawsitively Scandalous” by Jayne Ormerod

What’s with the crime wave in the Grant’s Garden neighborhood? First a respectable member is arrested for crimes unknown, and then another neighbor dies under mysterious circumstances. Pilar Pruitt and her black lab/mix Natti are on the case, and the secrets they uncover are paws-itively scandalous!

“Ruff Goodbye” by Rosemary Shomaker

Does everyone bar owner Len Hayes knows have a secret? Yes, and secrets unravel after a funeral home visitation for Len’s late friend Curt. Miniature poodle Cloud signals danger. A certain black Lab may safeguard the truth. Will canine intervention ensure no one pays the ultimate price?

“A Doggone Scandal” by Teresa Inge

Catt Ramsey, owner of the Woof-Pack Dog Walkers, is back on the case when she receives a mysterious note in her pet supply order. Convinced the sender’s motive is scandalous, Catt packs up her SUV and heads to the Outer Banks with her sister Em, family friend Jonathan Ray, and pups Cagney and Lacey to solve the mystery.

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AUTHOR ROSEMARY SHOMAKER ON GIVING BACK THROUGH CONTRIBUTING TO THE MUTT MYSTERIES ANTHOLOGIES

Mystery, women’s fiction, and paranormal short story author Rosemary Shomaker writes about the unexpected in everyday life and collects story ideas from the grocery store, estate sales, vacant lots, and well, everywhere. Stay tuned as she takes her first steps toward longer fiction. Learn more about Rosemary and her writing at the Mutt Mysteries website and on Goodreads. 

Fortunate Bedfellows with Like-Minded Animal Lovers

Mutt Mysteries authors are dog lovers who connect with animal welfare partners and donate a portion of profits to pet charities. Lacy Kuller, executive director of the Chesapeake Humane Society, wrote the foreword to the first Mutt Mysteries book, To Fetch a Thief. The Mutt Mysteries authors continue the trend, spotlighting animal welfare, with the surprise providers of To Fetch a Scoundrel’s foreword.

Verlander. That name, recognizable to baseball fans, is not usually associated with mystery fiction. Curious to know the link? The Mutt Mysteries authors reveal the celebrity partners who supplied the foreword to To Fetch a Scoundrel: Kathy and Richard Verlander, parents of Major League Baseball players Justin and Ben Verlander.  

Here’s a bit first on the fine athletes with one hundred kilowatt smiles, before you hear the rest of the story. Ben Verlander played for the Detroit Tigers farm system. Two-time Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander began his career in Major League Baseball in Detroit and now pitches for the Houston Astros. Kathy and Richard raised their sons in Central Virginia, home to Mutt Mysteries authors Rosemary Shomaker and Heather Weidner.

When another local author shared a school appearance with Kathy and Richard Verlander and circulated the event on social media, Rosemary took note. She learned that Kathy and Richard are authors in their own right. Their Rocks Across the Pond (2012) details their family’s baseball journey, and their family usually included more than one canine member! 

Kathy and Richard’s The Shelter Gang and Their Secret Adventure (2018) is a delightful children’s book about rescued pets that sneak away from the shelter to play baseball as they await adoption by their forever families. The shelter “gang” includes quite a cast of canine characters. The book’s messages of the value of teamwork and respect for individual differences are true to the Verlander family ethos.

The Mutt Mysteries authors approached the Verlanders and asked them to write the foreword to the new book. Kathy and Richard agreed, and a new partnership was forged. Kathy and Richard share that when children learning about their Shelter Gang book ask if dogs and cats can really play baseball, they reply, “In our imagination they can.” In the foreword to the Mutt Mysteries collection, Kathy and Richard write, “We have now learned from To Fetch a Scoundrel, it seems they are also pretty darn good detectives!”

Goochland Pet Lovers benefits from the Verlander’s efforts, as both Kathy and Richard serve on its Board of Directors. Goochland’s new animal shelter, a public/private partnership between Goochland Pet Lovers and Goochland County, will open in 2020.

For the Mutt Mysteries authors and their partners, all animals matter. Sure, the novellas highlight dogs, but cats, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and horses have also touched their lives, and upcoming stories and blog posts may expand on those connections. 

This post mentions specifically the Chesapeake Humane Society and Goochland Pet Lovers, but many worthy animal welfare charities abound. Animal rescue and adoption groups, societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, animal leagues, and governmental animal control offices, involve good-hearted employees and volunteers. 

Investigate opportunities to volunteer with animal welfare organizations in your local area. Make donations and support community outreach events from pet adoptions and fostering, to dog 5K fun runs and pet parades. Readers can join with like-minded pet lovers and ally with fortunate bedfellows to improve the lives of our animal friends.

To Fetch a Scoundrel

Mutt Mysteries, Book 2

The mystery-solving mutts are back! To Fetch a Scoundrel, the second in the Mutt Mysteries collection, features four tail-wagging novellas. Each story puts pups’ noses to the ground, as scandals are unleashed and killers are collared. Once you’ve finished reading these tall “tails,” you’ll no longer wonder “Who let the dogs out?” You’ll just be glad somebody did! Stories include:

“The Fast and the Furriest” by Heather Weidner

Isn’t there enough action under the lights at the Amelia Race Track without the drama of a love triangle? An altercation leads to murder, and owner Cassidy Green and her Rottweiler Oliver have to uncover clues and find the killer before the bad publicity destroys her business.

“Pawsitively Scandalous” by Jayne Ormerod

What’s with the crime wave in the Grant’s Garden neighborhood? First a respectable member is arrested for crimes unknown, and then another neighbor dies under mysterious circumstances. Pilar Pruitt and her black lab/mix Natti are on the case, and the secrets they uncover are paws-itively scandalous!

“Ruff Goodbye” by Rosemary Shomaker

Does everyone bar owner Len Hayes knows have a secret? Yes, and secrets unravel after a funeral home visitation for Len’s late friend Curt. Miniature poodle Cloud signals danger. A certain black Lab may safeguard the truth. Will canine intervention ensure no one pays the ultimate price?

“A Doggone Scandal” by Teresa Inge

Catt Ramsey, owner of the Woof-Pack Dog Walkers, is back on the case when she receives a mysterious note in her pet supply order. Convinced the sender’s motive is scandalous, Catt packs up her SUV and heads to the Outer Banks with her sister Em, family friend Jonathan Ray, and pups Cagney and Lacey to solve the mystery.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook