AN INTERVIEW WITH COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR S. A. KAZLO

Today we sit down for a chat with cozy mystery author S.A. Kazlo. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels? 

Many years ago, at least twenty, I started to write for children, back when an author submitted work via snail mail. I was published in a few children's magazines but had no luck with my novels. After a few years, my interest turned to reading cozy mysteries. They were fun and quirky, so I tried my hand writing them.

 

How long did it take to realize your dream of publication? 

It took about 5 years to write my first cozy, Kibbles and Death. Then I got lucky. I submitted it to Gemma Halliday Publishing and within three weeks I had an offer from her. I was really fortunate. Gemma is what is called a boutique publisher. She specializes in cozy mysteries. I'm lucky to be counted amongst her many authors.

 

Where do you write? 

In a small bedroom at a small desk. The operative word here is small, but it works for me.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind? 

For me silence is golden. My characters are creating enough noise in my head when I sit down to write.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular? 

I'm fortunate in that my hubby is a retired Pennsylvania State Policeman and I often pick his brain about the cases he handled over his 26-year law enforcement career. I often incorporate people I know in my characters. I'll ask them if they want to be a victim or murderer. They've always said murderer. Go figure.

 

Describe your process of naming your character. 

I derive a number of my characters names from people I know. If I go to a function and there is a program, I may lift one or two from it, just changing it a bit to keep me from getting into trouble.

 

Real settings of fictional? 

The settings of my cozies are based on real towns in upstate New York. They are so unique that I couldn't improve on them if I tried.

 

What is the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has? 

Well, I guess it isn't so quirky in today's world anymore, but my eightyish character Gladys O'Malley dyes her hair to match the change of seasons or various holidays or events—red for Valentine's Day, orange for autumn, and so on.

 

What is your quirkiest quirk? 

Oh, my I am very dull. I can't say I have a quirky bone in my body. I was raised back in the day when kids towed the line and didn't dare step out of it.

 

If you could have written any book which one would it be? 

Hmmm, good question? I really love Catherine Bruns Cookies and Chance series. Talk about quirky characters! The books may be murder mysteries, but you laugh out loud reading them.

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What's yours? 

My do-over would probably have started writing cozy mysteries, but then I did learn a lot writing my children's stories. I grew from all of it.

 

What's your biggest peeve? 

I guess my biggest peeve is lack of manners. It only takes a second for a person to be polite and kind, and it doesn't cost a thing.

 

You're stranded on a desert island. What are three must- haves? 

My family, dachshunds, and chocolate. With those three, I have it all.

 

What was the worst job you've ever had? 

Locker room attendant at a swim club when I was sixteen. Being stuck in the locker room when everyone was outside enjoying the sun and swimming was not my idea of a fun way to spend a summer.

 

What's your all-time favorite literary character? Why? 

I can't say I have one all time favorite. I love it when I fall in love with a series and its characters. I can't get enough of them and am anxious for their next book to come out. Like yours, Lois.

 

Ocean or mountains? 

I guess I'd better say mountains since I live at the base of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. They're beautiful every season of the year.

 

City girl or country? 

Country, definitely. Don't care for the hustle and bustle of city life. In fact, I love it when all the "downstaters" who flock up to this area in the summer go back home. Yeah, I know, I'm being a curmudgeon. 

 

What's on the horizon for you? 

Hopefully, to continue enjoying writing my Samantha Davies Mystery series and having my readers enjoy them.

 

Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself and your books? 

Right now, I'm busy working on book 6, Mistletoe, Mutts and Murder, in my Samantha Davies Mystery series. I hope to have it released around November of 2024. Sam's parents are coming to visit from sunny Florida for Christmas. Unfortunately, murder follows them north.

 

Chilled to the Dog Bone

A Samantha Davies Mystery, Book 5

 

It's Saint Patrick's Day weekend in upstate New York, and Samantha Davies is excited about the annual outdoor games put on by the local fire company...that is until the grumpy rival fire chief is found dead on the ice! To make matters worse, Sam's fingerprints are all over the evidence at the murder scene. Can Sam find the killer and clear her name before the Luck of the Irish runs out for her?

 

Buy Link

MYSTERY AUTHOR LARK O. JENSEN AKA LINDA O. JOHNSTON SETS HER NEW SERIES IN ALASKA

Today we welcome author Lark O. Jensen, AKA Linda O. Johnston. Although she writes across several genres, the one constant in her books is that they all somehow involve animals. Read more about Lark/Linda and her books at her website. 

Alaska Untamed Mysteries and More

(Including Animals Both Wild and Domestic)

 

I love animals. And I definitely love to write about them.

 

That’s why I was inspired by my most recent Alaska cruise, which has been a while ago now, to write the Alaska Untamed Mysteries.

 

Nearly all the books I write contain dogs, and the books in this series are no exception. Stacie Calder, the protagonist, is a skilled naturalist who gives tours from boats near Juneau, and she has her dog Sasha along. The name Sasha means defender, and now and then Stacie, who didn’t set out to solve murders but nevertheless does, needs her husky to defend her.

 

But Stacie’s real intent is to point out the wonderful Alaskan wildlife, including mama seals and their babies, bears, moose, wolves and more. That was what inspired me, too, to write about them--a tour off a boat into the fjord area near Juneau. I really enjoyed it. And, being me, that meant I had to write about it.

 

This series is the first time I’ve taken a pseudonym:  Lark O. Jensen. But it’s far from the first time I’ve included one or more dogs in my series. My mystery series include the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries, the Pet Rescue Mysteries, the Barkery and Biscuits Mysteries, and the Superstition Mysteries. All the protagonists have dogs, and depending on what the series is about, the stories include a lot more animals, mostly dogs but sometimes other pets like cats.

 

And then there are my current romantic suspense books including my own series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense: The Shelter of Secrets series. Yes, animals who need new homes are taken into a very special shelter--that also takes in people in trouble who need protection, although the world isn’t supposed to know that aspect of the shelter. Dogs are definitely there, as well as other animals.

 

Why do I love to write about animals, primarily dogs? Maybe I’m obsessed. I’ve loved animals since I was a child and have been owned by Cavalier King Charles Spaniels for many years. And I certainly love to read other writers’ stories that contain dogs.

 

So… bark and woof and arf. And growl and howl in my Alaska Untamed Mysteries too. Animals speak to me a lot, and I hope my readers enjoy them too.

 

Bear Witness

An Alaska Untamed Mystery, Book 1

 

No nine-to-five cubicle career will suit Stacie Calder—the naturalist much prefers working in the great outdoors. Specifically, the spacious and spectacular Alaskan wilderness, whose rugged charms she shares with sightseers on the top deck of the tour boat where she works. But one May afternoon, Stacie’s passengers see more than glittering glaciers, frolicking harbor seals, climbing bears and soaring seabirds…they also witness a man lying dead in the frigid Alaskan waters. And it seems likely that someone gave him a fatal push.

 

Stacie didn’t know the unfortunate victim, but he sure wanted to know a lot about her. He spent most of his final afternoon bombarding her with questions quite awkward to answer. And when he wasn’t in her hair, he was arguing incessantly with the boat’s beleaguered crew. Which makes for a suspect list about as long as the passenger manifest. Furthermore, as police helicopters relentlessly circle her boat in search of any clues, Stacie is shaken to find herself on that suspect list.

 

Before the tour boat reaches shore Stacie—accompanied by her beautiful blue-eyed husky, Sasha—must deduce just who sent the testy tourist tumbling into the turgid waters and have the authorities take custody. Because if she can’t, then the killer might aim a fatal ice-cold stare at Stacie.

 

Buy Links

hardcover

ebook

audiobook

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR JENNIFER HAWKINS BAKES UP SHORTBREAD AND A TALKING CORGI

Jennifer Hawkins is the author of the Chatty Corgi mystery series.  She lives, writes, and bakes in the great state of Michigan. She can be found at @allmycozies on both Twitter and Instagram.

Jennifer Bakes and Writes

When people ask me “where do you get your ideas from?” usually I tell them everywhere. Inspiration can come from anyplace.  As a writer, you learn to keep your eyes and your mind open.

 

Occasionally, inspiration comes from an editor calling on the phone, saying “We’d like to do a story about…” and “Would you be interested?”

 

That’s how I ended up writing a cozy mystery about Emma who left her life in London’s financial industry to open a cake shop in Cornwall. Oh, and did I mention her best friend is her talking corgi, Oliver? 

 

It might not have been my own idea, but I have an absolute ball writing the Chatty Corgi books. First, who doesn’t love a corgi?  Secondly, I have always loved to cook and bake. I’ve baked my own cakes and breads since I was little. For me, making a new recipe — whether it’s simple or complex — is a process of discovery. I always learn something new, even if I’ve made it a hundred times.

 

It’s kind of like writing, in that way. No matter what it is, I’m always exploring something new — whether it’s a dead body in a prize-winning rose garden, or how to get the character of the talking dog just right.

 

That’s probably why I like this shortbread recipe so much. It’s a really basic cookie and delicious as it is. But there’s also a dozen things you can add — citrus zest, ginger, candy chips, nuts — the list goes on. You really can make it different every time.  Just make sure whatever you add doesn’t add moisture to the mix.  

 

Shortbread Cookie

 

Ingredients:

2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour

2/3 cup/150 grams granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt (I use kosher)

2 sticks/1 cup/226 grams cold unsalted butter

 

Optional: 1 tsp. lemon or orange zest, chopped toasted almonds or pecans, candied ginger, dried cranberries, etc.

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Cut up the butter into small cubes and put it back in the fridge while you get the rest of your ingredients together. As with biscuits and pie crust, shortbread works best when the butter’s really cold.

 

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor, pulse a few times to mix.

 

Add cubed butter to food processor, pulse in 10 second bursts until the mixture is sandy and holds together when you squeeze a lump in your hand. It’s going to look dryer than the usual cookie dough, but that’s okay.It’s supposed to.

 

Turn mixture into baking pan and press down with your fingers into a smooth, solid layer of dough.

 

Use a fork to prick the surface of the dough all over. This is called “docking” and it will release the steam from the inside and keep the dough from puffing up.

 

Bake at 325 F for 45 - 50 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the shortbread out of the pan. While the shortbread is still warm, cut into preferred shape.  

 

To Fetch a Felon

A Chatty Corgi Mystery, Book 1

 

Emma Reed and her beloved Corgi move from London to Cornwall with the dream of opening a tea shop—but first they’ll have to collar a criminal in the first book in a charming new series.

 

Emma leaves London and her life in high finance behind her and moves to an idyllic village in Cornwall, with its cobblestone streets and twisting byways. She plans to open a village tea shop and bake the recipes handed down to her from her beloved grandmother, and of course there’ll be plenty of space for her talking corgi, Oliver, to explore. Yes...talking. Emma has always been able to understand Oliver, even though no one else can.

 

As soon as Emma arrives in the village she discovers that the curmudgeonly owner of the building she wants to rent for her shop hates dogs and gets off on the wrong foot with Oliver. Although some might turn tail and run, Emma is determined to win her over. But when she delivers some of her homemade scones as a peace offering, she finds the woman dead. Together, Emma and Oliver will need to unleash their detective skills to catch a killer.

 

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

audiobook 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AN INTERVIEW WITH COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR JACKIE LAYTON

Today we sit down for a chat with cozy mystery author Jackie Layton. Learn more about Jackie and her books at her website.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels? 

I always dreamed of writing, but it didn’t seem possible or practical. When my youngest son was about to graduate from high school, it occurred to me if I didn’t try writing, I’d regret it. 

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication? 

It took about ten years. That probably seems like a long time, but at the beginning of my journey, I was working full time and had family commitments. It took a lot of juggling, and my family was supportive, and at last the dream came true.

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author? 

I’m traditionally published. 

 

Where do you write? 

A few years ago, we moved to South Carolina. We converted a porch to an office for me. Like I said earlier, my husband has always been supportive of my dreams. 

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind? 

I have a playlist with Michael Buble, Brett Eldredge, Craig Morgan, The Fifth Dimension, John Legend, Trisha Yearwood, Reba, Stevie Wonder, Thomas Rhett, and many more. 

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

The setting, Heyward Beach, is a combination of my favorite beaches. In Caught and Collared, the victim is a podcaster. I couple years ago, I began listening to crime podcasts and I began to wonder…what if? 

 

Describe your process for naming your character? 

I look up names that are age appropriate, and I try to choose names that are popular in the region. In South Carolina, it’s popular to be called by your first and middle name. My main character is Andi Grace, and her sister is Lacey Jane.

 

Real settings or fictional towns? 

Fictional. 

 

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has? 

Marc Williams was raised in foster care. The best family he had was an older couple. Marc’s in his early thirties, but some of his expressions sound like a much older man. 

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk? 

I became a sports fan when I had sons. Now that we’re empty nesters, I still watch ballgames on TV and cheer and clap. I attended the University of Georgia, so in football season I ALWAYS cheer for the Georgia Bulldogs. I was raised in Kentucky, and my husband and oldest son graduated from the University of Kentucky, so I cheer for the Kentucky Wildcats during basketball season.

 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why? 

Truth Be Told by Hank Phillippi Ryan is a fabulous story with twists and turns. 

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours? 

I wish I’d been brave enough sooner and tried my hand at writing.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve? 

Poor customer service.

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves? 

I assume there’s no wifi. I’d want my Bible, my journal, and I guess I’d need a pen. 

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held? 

One summer I was a candy striper and worked in the hospital’s physical therapy department. Burn patients had treatment in whirlpool baths. Afterward, I had to clean the tubs and all the dead skin was on it. 

 

What’s the best book you’ve ever read? Ever? 

As a child I read The Best-Loved Doll. It was the first love story I ever read. I begged my mother to check it out of the library every chance we had. She finally found and bought a copy for me.

 

Ocean or mountains? 

Ocean! I live five minutes from the nearest beach.

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy? 

City girl.

 

What’s on the horizon for you? 

I’m contracted to write two more books in A Low Country Dog Walker Mystery Series. I also have contracts for a series set in Texas and one set in Georgia. 

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books? 

I try to bravely face challenges, and I want the heroines in my stories to be brave and kind. As a pharmacist, I connect with people in my community. One of the best things about writing is connecting with readers all over the world. 

 

Thanks for having me on your blog today. It’s been fun connecting with you and your readers. 

 

Caught and Collared

A Low Country Dog Walker Mystery, Book 4

 

When a scavenger hunt turns up a dead body, dog walker Andi Grace Scott will have to make a dogged effort to collar the culprit . . .

 

Setting out for a day of fun on her town’s first-ever scavenger hunt, Low Country dog walker Andi Grace Scott is dismayed to find an unattended dog wandering the streets—but that’s nothing compared to the shock she gets when she finds a dead man floating in the swimming pool of the dog’s owner. What’s more, she’d seen the very same man having a very public altercation with his wife just the night before. Despite being warned off the case by the local sheriff, Andi Grace can’t help nosing around to find out who’s behind the foul deed.

 

It turns out the victim was a well-known radio personality who focused on cold-case investigations and was rumored to be breaking a huge story on his next show. As Andi Grace digs deeper to learn who may have wanted him dead, she’s faced with a suspect list that includes a cold-hearted widow who stands to inherit a bundle, a local country star with family demons to hide, and any number of unknown criminals who may have been the focus of the victim’s big reveal. Whether the motive was love gone bad, a career under duress, or a killer’s deadly secret, Andi Grace knows she’ll have to act fast before she becomes the next cold case herself .

 

Buy Links 

paperback 

ebook 

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR JACKIE LAYTON'S DOG WALKER SLEUTH ANDIE GRACE SCOTT

Today we sit down for a chat with Andie Grace Scott from Jackie Layton’s A Low Country Dog Walker Mystery Series.

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

I walked dogs and spent time with my family and friends.

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

I don’t back down from a challenge.

What do you like least about yourself? 

I talk too much, and once I get going it’s sometimes hard to stop.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? Can you believe she made me inherit a plantation? I’m a beach girl. I had to go through old, dirty barns and sheds to track down clues. 

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

Once Jackie tried to lead me toward the wrong suspect. I had to convince her a different person was the killer.

What is your greatest fear? 

I’ve faced so much death in my life, my biggest fear has been fully committing to a romantic relationship. But I’m in love with a local man now, and I’m trying to be brave and not give in to this fear. 

What makes you happy? 

Family, dogs, coffee and chocolate.

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

I wouldn’t have so many people die, but then I’d be a boring dog walker. 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why? Regina really bugs me. She used to date my mentor, Peter Roth, and she’s from Charleston. She’s so uppity, and I just can’t connect with her. Maybe I should try harder. 

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

Juliet is my best friend, but if I had to choose, Hannah Cummings would be the answer. She’s running for State Representative in order to make a difference in our world. Two of her major goals are to stop human trafficking in South Carolina and to help our youth have a bright future.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog? 

Find Jackie's website and blog here.

Jackie Layton is an author and pharmacist. She spent most of her life in Kentucky, but she lives on the coast of South Carolina now. Some days she can even hear the waves from her home. Jackie is married to the love of her life, and he’s her biggest encourager. She loves her family and vacation days are used to visit family in Kentucky and Texas. 

What's next for you? 

I’m going to have one more mystery to solve and it’ll involve cats! There will be a few life-changing surprises for me and my family in the third book. I hope readers will like the choices I make in Bag of Bones.

Dog-Gone Dead

A Low Country Dog Walker Mystery, Book 2

Who’d have thought mulch could cause such a stink?

Low Country dog walker Andi Grace Scott is happy to get mulch from one of her brother’s landscaping jobs—until she discovers the dead body buried beneath the bark.

Worse, her brother’s landscaping tools were used to commit the murder. Once the police arrest her brother and seem happy to have “caught their man,” Andi Grace has no choice but to track down the real killer. She’ll risk everything to prove her brother’s innocence. Even if it means turning over every rock in town.

Buy Links

paperback

ebook 

CELEBRATE NATIONAL PET DAY WITH AUTHOR TERESA INGE & MUTT MYSTERIES

Teresa Inge grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries. Combining her love of reading mysteries and writing professional articles led to writing short fiction and novellas. Today, she juggles assisting two busy executives and is the president of the Sisters in Crime, Mystery by the Sea chapter. Teresa is the author of the Virginia is for Mysteries Series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, and Mutt Mysteries Series. Learn more about her and her books at her website/blog.  

National Pet Day

With National Pet Day approaching on April 11, now is a great time to recognize and show appreciation for the happiness pets have brought to our lives by pampering them! Since pampering our pets has become an essential part of being a great pet parent, when we return unconditional love back to our pets, we create a happy and loving family for them. Check out the various ways below to take care of and pamper your pets.

Pampering 101

Give your pet a treat

Just like humans, animals love treats. One reason is because they taste different, but it also shows our affection and gratitude to them. But don’t over-do-it since it will no longer seem special and pets could gain weight.

Show some love

Get down on the floor and give them a belly rub. Or sit on the couch or outside patio to give them a good brushing. Pets love our attention and interaction more than we realize.

Buy or make a special gift for pets

Because gifts are fun to receive, pets love getting them from their family. Giving toys to our pets can help build skills, fight boredom, and prevent destructive behavior. They also keep good company for our pets while we’re away.

Walk the dog

Benefits of walking a dog will give your pet mental stimulation, exercise, training, elimination, socialization, and bonding for you both.

Nutrition

Since nutrition is the foundation of health and fuel for our pet’s maintenance and energy, giving them proper nutrients will build bones, joints, and muscles and help with the aging process for a longer life.

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 

AUTHOR INSPIRATION WITH MYSTERY WRITER NEIL S. PLAKCY

The author and his father from back in the day

Neil S. Plakcy is the author of more than thirty mystery and romance novels, but more importantly (at least to them), he is Papa Neil to two rambunctious golden retrievers who inspire the antics of crime-sniffing golden Rochester – though so far the only dead bodies they have discovered are an unfortunate squirrel and a slow-moving raccoon. Today he discusses how his father inspired some of writing. Learn more about Neil and his books at his website. 

Steve’s Father… and Mine

A lot of the characteristics of Steve Levitan’s father come from my own. As I did, Steve grew up Jewish in the suburbs across the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey. His father, like mine, was an engineer and a handyman, with a full shop in the basement.

I moved to Florida in 1986, and my parents decided to follow me soon after. If you’ve ready any of the books, you’ll know that Steve’s parents were pack rats – as were mine.

One of the first things my father agreed to give up when my parents began talking about moving was his collection of metal sheets and tubes. He used to bring home scraps from the Boeing Vertol aircraft plant where he worked in Philadelphia, and he also bought supplies for projects that never materialized.

For example, when our house was built, my father planned to install a full bathroom in the basement, so he’d put aside copper pipe for it. Twenty-eight years after we moved in, the bathroom was still a fantasy, but the copper pipe was a reality.

After four trips to the scrap yard, we had sold 125 pounds of lead, two hundred pounds of aluminum, and smaller amounts of brass, copper and mysterious alloys which I had never heard of but which were apparently used in aircraft manufacture, and were highly prized by the scrap man.

We spent many of my childhood Sundays at the flea market in Lambertville, where Steve and Lili go in one of the books. It’s still going strong, years later. My father would walk up to a table of random tools and pick one up. “What does this do?” he’d ask.

Usually the person behind the table would say, “Damned if I know.”

My father would usually then say, “How much?” and if the price was right, he’d take it. As he got older, he suffered from peripheral neuropathy, and couldn’t work with his hands as he had. By the time we held the first of our yard sales, selling off whatever my parents didn’t want to take to Florida, there was a thin coating of dust on his workbench.

We had a chance to chat with a lot of customers as they browsed, and many of them were as curious as my father. It made me laugh when he had to admit that he’d never figured out what most of those unfamiliar tools were. 

One of our customers was an insurance agent with an office on Main Street in Yardley, who gave us a down payment on the circular saw.

 His son was working on becoming an eagle scout, and had to build a project that necessitated the saw.  They couldn't take it away, though, because the car was already loaded for a hiking trip they were taking the next morning, a practice hike in the Appalachians in preparation for a ten-day hike in New Mexico with the Boy Scouts later in the summer.

While the agent and his son were in the cellar examining the saw, I asked my father if he'd have gone hiking with me in the Appalachians when I was a teenager, back before he had both his hips replaced and his arthritis set in. He said, ''Don't be ridiculous," and began to look for the instruction manual for the saw.

That was my dad, and it gives me a lot of pleasure to bring his personality in when I describe Steve’s.

Dog’s Green Earth

A Golden Retriever Mystery

When his golden retriever Rochester discovers a body during one of their nightly walks, reformed computer hacker Steve Levitan must look to his neighbors for suspects. Could a killer be lurking along the oak-lined streets?

Steve inherited his townhome from his father, and it’s more than just a house to him—it’s the place where he recovered from the loss of two miscarried babies, the pain of losing his parents and the misery of his brief incarceration. Now that he has a new sweetheart, and a loving dog, protecting his home is even more important.

Could someone in the homeowner’s association be sabotaging efforts to keep River Bend a well-maintained place to live? It’s up to Steve and Rochester to dig up the clues to bring a murderer to justice, and protect the place they call home.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

#MYSTERY AUTHOR C.A. NEWSOME TURNS REAL-LIFE INTO FICTION

C. A. Newsome is an author and artist living in Cincinnati with a one-eyed, zombie swamp monster named Gypsy Foo la Beenz. They can be found most mornings at the Mount Airy Dog Park, digging up clues to Carol’s next mystery. Learn more about C.A. and her books at her website.

Northside, where I live, has more dogs than children. The real-life dogs around me are central to my stories: dogs who vomit on the rug, commit more escapes than Houdini, and eat furniture instead of waiting politely at home for an invitation to run on the beach we don’t have.

My plots are born of the odd juxtapositions of life in my mid-gentrification, artsy-urban neighborhood: funky events, a rotating slate of shoestring storefronts, eccentric characters, historic architecture, and more urban forest than anywhere outside of Central Park. I start with two or three evocative and unrelated ideas, massage them with a sense of the absurd, then subject the result with repeated applications of “what if.”

Two, maybe three years before I ever considered that I could or even wanted to write a novel (which is a story in of itself and explains the selection of my first murder victim), I was sitting at a picnic table at the Mount Airy Dog Park with my crew of morning regulars. The dog park is on a ridge overlooking the parking lot, and we keep our eyes on the lot to get advance warning of incoming dogs that might not be friendly. Non-dog people also use the lot for drug deals, work breaks (authorized or not), and to conduct illicit affairs.

Determining the purpose of each unknown vehicle entering the lot became a habit, then a game. I said to my oldest dog park friend, “Someone needs to write a mystery series about dog parkers who solve crimes because they watch everyone around them.”

The idea lingered until I caught up with it. Then it unfolded: how people who go to dog parks develop relationships with people they know nothing about, how the schedule you keep with your dog will toss you in with people you might have little in common with, how easy it would be to become friends with someone dangerous and not know it.

Midway through this process, a woman committed suicide in her van in the parking lot. My friends found her the next morning instead of me since I was running late. I arrived to find the park blocked off with barricades and yellow tape. The park buzzed with speculation for weeks, and A Shot in the Bark was born.

A Shot in the Bark

A Lia Anderson Dog Park Mystery, Book 1

A grieving artist, a smitten detective, a devious killer: You never know who you'll meet at the dog park.

When the apparent suicide of Lia’s deadbeat boyfriend draws the attention of Detective Peter Dourson, he decides to adopt the dead man’s dog to infiltrate the tight group he’s certain conceals Luthor Morrissey’s killer. As his investigation uncovers secrets, a grieving Lia fights her growing attraction to the laid-back detective. Meanwhile, Luthor's killer lurks, desperate to stay ahead of the investigation—no matter who has to die…

Buy Links

paperback

ebook (currently free at all etailers)