WEIRD NEIGHBORS MAKE FOR GREAT CHARACTERS

Artwork from Depositphotos and Pixabay

My author, Lois Winston, has recently penned the next book in the series she writes about me. Sorry, Knot Sorry is the thirteenth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Thirteen novels and three novellas, and that woman hasn’t let up with the murder and mayhem.

The other day, I asked her to explain why me? Why not pick on someone else for a change? She shrugged and said, “Sorry, not sorry.” Or perhaps she was trying to be funny. Lois has a thing for puns.

 

She also has a thing for weird, interesting people and often puts them in her books. Look no further than the communist mother-in-law she saddled me with, based on her own communist mother-in-law. Other characters have been inspired by various people she’s either known or observed, but usually they’re a composite of several people molded into one character.

 

Now that the latest book is finished and up for preorder, Lois is looking ahead to the next book in the series. In one of the previous books, the house across the street from me was torn down and replaced with a McMansion. That plot thread began in A Stitch to Die For, the fifth book in the series, and has been mentioned in various other books, most recently in Sorry, Knot Sorry. However, I have yet to meet my new neighbors.

 

Recently, I’ve noticed Lois is thinking quite a bit about the neighbors who used to live in the actual teardown across from where she lived. Since I know what goes on in her brain, I now know the full story.

 

Years ago, when Lois and her husband purchased their home in New Jersey, she suspected an elderly, infirmed couple on a limited income lived in the dilapidated house across the street. Much to her surprise, she discovered the owners were a couple in their late thirties or early forties.

 

She began to refer to them as the Stoop Sitters because they’d camp out on the top step of their landing for hours at a time, either together or individually. Just sitting and smoking and often drinking beer, but never conversing with each other. Often the husband would remove his shirt and lie back on the concrete porch, his massive stomach pointing heavenward. He’d remain that way for hours, apparently napping.

 

When Mr. Stoop Sitter wasn’t sprawled bare-chested on the landing, he’d spend hours mowing his lawn. Except, the “lawn” was a barren patch of packed dirt and weeds. Yet, he’d constantly walk behind his mower, trimming the nonexistent grass of his extremely small front yard. Back and forth over the same square footage until the mower ran out of gas. The next day, after refilling the mower, the scene would repeat. This went on every day except during rainstorms or winter snows.

 

Lois assures me she’s no voyeur. She worked from home in an office at the front of her house, her desk positioned in front of the window. It was impossible not to notice the Stoop Sitters.

 

One day, her concentration was broken by a cat fight. Not a cat fight between two cats, though, but between two women. And it was over a man. Mrs. Stoop Sitter was accusing the other woman of trying to steal her husband.

 

The scene was right out of a reality TV show, minus the camera crew. Eventually, Mrs. Stoop Sitter hurled one last warning, stormed up the steps and entered her house, slamming the door behind her. The other woman turned around and walked down the street. 

 

Lois assures me Mr. Stoop Sitter was no one’s idea of a catch, but the scene outside her window proved otherwise. Obviously, there’s someone for everyone.

 

Eventually, the Stoop Sitters sold their house to a developer who tore it down and built a McMansion on the postage-size plot of land. I have a feeling Lois is mulling over introducing Mr. and Mrs. Stoop Sitter to the world in her next book. Will I wind up investigating their deaths? Or perhaps the death of Mr. Stoop Sitter’s girlfriend? There are lots of ideas churning around in my author’s brain. I guess I’ll have to see what she comes up with this time. All I know for sure is I’ll be involved, whether I like it or not.

 

Have you ever come across people you think would make great characters in a mystery? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of one of the first nine Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries currently available.

 

Sorry, Knot Sorry

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13

 

Magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack may finally be able to pay off the remaining debt she found herself saddled with when her duplicitous first husband dropped dead in a Las Vegas casino. But as Anastasia has discovered, nothing in her life is ever straightforward. Strings are always attached. Thanks to the success of an unauthorized true crime podcast, a television production company wants to option her life—warts and all—as a reluctant amateur sleuth. 

 

Is such exposure worth a clean financial slate? Anastasia isn’t sure, but at the same time, rumors are flying about layoffs at the office. Whether she wants national exposure or not, Anastasia may be forced to sign on the dotted line to keep from standing in the unemployment line. But the dead bodies keep coming, and they’re not in the script.

 

Craft tips included.

 

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AN INTERVIEW AND A CORNBREAD RECIPE FROM MYSTERY AUTHOR M.R. DIMOND'S VETERINARIAN SLEUTH JOHNNY KY LY

Photo:  Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 jeffreyw

Today we sit down for a chat with John “Johnny” Ky Ly, DVM from the Black Orchid Enterprises Mystery Series by M. R. Dimond.

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

Directionless. After melting down during my zoo vet residency, I went to live in an ashram in West Texas. There my grandmother found me and asked if I’d like to take over Gregg House, her mansion in Beauchamp, Texas. 

 

The author became interested in me around the same time, especially after I asked my college roommates JD Thompson and Dianne Cortez to join me in Beauchamp. We live upstairs in the mansion and have offices for a cat vet, lawyer, and accountant on the first floor.

 

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

I take care of cats. Other animals too, like the time a golf course called me in my capacity as assistant animal control officer to remove a snake from their ball dispenser. Not only that, but the snake had swallowed a golf ball, thinking it was an egg. I surgically removed the golf ball and rehomed the snake after it recovered. I can feel compassion and take action, too, which is useful, at least for the cats and snakes.

 

What do you like least about yourself?

Years ago, I would have said my brain, the brain I’ve learned to call neurodivergent. I’ve now learned it has advantages, and I’ve learned how to optimize its function and choose the best environment for me to flourish. 

 

Do I have to think of something else I don’t like about myself? My therapist says I shouldn’t dwell on things like that.

 

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

There have been so many! There’s the time she had me remove a wild boar from downtown Beauchamp, though wild boars are normal in Texas. Bobcats are, too, but not usually in the pizza parlor. 

 

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

Mostly I just smile and pretend to agree with her, though if I’ve got a serious complaint, I ask JD to negotiate with her. He’s the lawyer, after all. I do wish she’d pay more attention to the science of detection and cat care and less to people’s emotions, but JD assures me that isn’t going to happen.

 

What is your greatest fear?

Sometimes when I was a child, school and life became too much for me. My parents would send me to my grandparents’ house in Beauchamp, where I’d go with my grandfather to his restaurant during the day. Now I live in Beauchamp, but life could still become too much, and with my grandfather dead and the restaurant sold, where would I go then?

 

I’m also afraid that the author and my friends, not to mention my grandmother, are going to throw an enormous bar mitzvah for me after I complete my conversion to Judaism, even though I informed them that spending all the money you have on a party attended by everyone you’ve ever met is not part of the spiritual process. Grandmother said I was wrong. I said that first I have to read the Torah in Hebrew, read the whole Talmud in any translation, and many, many other writings too. I’m not sure how long I can make those excuses hold.

 

What makes you happy?

Seeing my patients recover after I’ve treated them, especially if they have a loving home to return to. 

 

Being useful in the community as assistant justice of the peace and assistant animal control officer. 

 

Cooking for my friends, seeing them enjoy the meal, especially if they have special dietary needs, like Chantal Gaumont, our band leader, who is diabetic. She gets tired of finding that lettuce leaves (no dressing) are all she can eat at a dinner or restaurant.

I always keep something in the freezer for her, like sweet potato brownies, pumpkin waffle mix, or bread. In her treatment program, she counts carbohydrates, so breads can be a challenge. I’ve found alternative flours like coconut flour, but corn bread seemed impossible. What tastes like corn besides corn?

 

That turned out to be the key question. I’ve discovered two low-carbohydrate foods that taste like corn: corn flavoring and the baby corn used in Asian food.

 

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

I wish my grandfather would have lived long enough to see me here, in his house, serving his community. He died during my zoo vet residency, and I’ve never stopped missing him. 

 

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

Let’s face it: people in general are too much for me. When I first lived with many roommates in college, I took the apartment over the garage, while the rest had bedrooms in the main house. I don’t have a separate apartment in Gregg House, but its 4000 sq. ft. let me avoid people when I need to.

 

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

You know what? I think I’d rather be myself. I used to want to be JD, the blond, six-foot-three All-American hero. But I’ve known JD ten years and I’ve spent the same ten years getting to know myself, and now I’m happy in my own skin. Usually.

 

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

You can find more about M.R. Dimond and her books at her website. The blog is called Thoughts—you can click the Thoughts tab or the slider of the young Regency woman writing—but she hardly ever writes anything. She leaves that to her characters. I’ve recently written about keeping your cat safe during the holidays, Valentine’s Day (which is not my jam at all), and the Vietnamese Year of the Cat.

 

What's next for you?

I hope it’s not a bar mitzvah. My own plans are to continue my forensic training so that I can be more useful as an assistant justice of the peace, though the sheriff thinks I’m far too useful as it is. He says I wreck his budget every time I ask for an investigation, but I notice that the county hasn’t gone bankrupt yet, and getting to the truth has to be the most important thing.

 

Johnny’s Semi-Keto Cornbread (a work in progress)

(serves 12)

 

Note: This recipe still has real corn meal, but I keep trying to reduce the amount. I still haven’t found the perfect ratio of corn meal, corn flavor, and baby corn to imitate corn bread’s texture and taste. Chantal assures me that she’d rather have a whole piece of my ersatz corn bread than a teaspoon of any other kind. We’ve found it works well in cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving too.

 

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1Tablespoon onion powder or 1/4-cup diced onions (optional)

1 teaspoon Kosher salt 

Corn flavoring according to product instructions or to taste

1/4-cup sifted coconut flour

1/2-teaspoon baking powder

1/4-cup coarse-grained corn meal

1/3-cup chopped baby corn

3/4-cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

 

For a sweeter cornbread, eliminate the onions and cheese and add 1/2-cup of your favorite sweetener and at least 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon.

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

 

Mix eggs, oil, onion powder (optional), and salt. If you’re making the sweet version, add the sweetener and eliminate the onion powder.

 

Blend coconut flour, baking powder, and corn meal. If you’re making the sweet version, add the cinnamon.

 

Grease an 8x8x2 pan and place it into the oven.

 

Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

 

Fold in corn, diced onions (optional), and cheese (optional).

 

Pour into the hot baking dish. Heating it ahead of time makes a nice crust when you pour the batter into the pan.

 

Bake 18-20 minutes, until you can insert a knife and pull it out clean. Cool on a rack. 

 

The Sphynx Who Stole Christmas

A Black Orchid Enterprises Mystery, Book 2

 

Johnny Ly, Dianne Cortez, and JD Thompson are trying to celebrate their first year in business in a small Central Texas town. The weather outside is frightful, and indoors isn't looking too good either, not when a crazed hairless cat invades their Christmas party and leaves a trail of destruction in his wake.

 

The murder in the backyard doesn't help, but Johnny and Dianne are more worried about the cat. After the police reduce the suspect list from the entire town of Beauchamp, Texas, to just the Black Orchids' friends and family, Attorney JD Thompson springs into action to clear them all, preferably before Monday night's concert. Life's hard for a veterinarian, accountant, lawyer, and ABBA tribute band.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR DK COUTANT ON GRANDMOTHERS, KNITTING, AND NEEDLEPOINT

Grandmother's Green Sweater

DK Coutant was a Cross-Cultural Psychologist at the University of Hawaii at Hilo studying people and their cultural differences. But after many happy years, she wanted a challenge and made the move out of academics to write mysteries and forecast geopolitical events. Evil Alice and the Borzoi is her first published work of fiction. Learn more about DK at her website. 

My protagonist, Cleo Cooper hasn’t discovered the joy of fiber crafts yet. She is more of an outdoorsy type. So today, I’m going to grab the spotlight and write about my love of fiber crafts.

 

My grandmother taught me to knit when I was a little girl. She was a dedicated knitter, and I still wear sweaters she made for me. But back then, I only knitted when I visited her, to bond with her. When she died while I was in graduate school, I put my knitting away for twenty years.  

Scarf

But once my career was established and our kids left for college, I picked knitting up again. I’d forgotten most of what my grandmother had taught me, but thanks to Google, I managed long rectangles of beautiful wool yarn, otherwise known as scarves. I lived in Hawaii at the time, so unfortunately, we didn’t have much use for wool scarves. After a couple for me and my husband, I sent them off to our kids. Only one of our  daughters lived in cold weather, and our family soon hit scarf-fatigue. But I found I was semi-addicted to the scarf-knitting. I would get restless watching TV and needed something to do with my hands while I relaxed in the evening. 

Luckily a couple of the girls got married. Yay! Husbands I could foist a scarf upon!

 

Then babies, more Yays! I could knit my rectangles and crochet them together along the sides and… Voila! Baby blankets. That was fun and kept me busy for months instead of weeks.

 

The first 3 grandchildren were boys, and wow, I quickly learned those adorable little urchins could be destructive!

As much as I loved my knitting, it seemed wasteful to use all that beautiful yarn for projects that were no longer useful to me or the people I loved. Fortunately, one day I visited a friend with a lovely needlepoint cushion. I asked her about it, and she said her grandmother had made it. That brought back memories of my grandmother. I didn’t think she would mind if I moved from knitting to a different fiber craft. A little more Google-sleuthing and I found wonderful kits with all the yarn and color-coded backing I’d need to complete a project. They were not cheap, but when I compared them to what I used to spend on my luxurious yarn, it wasn’t THAT much more expensive. 

Well, yes, actually it was.

 

For a week I dithered over whether to spend the money on a needlepoint project. Fortunately (for my crafting project), that same week, I had a mishap on a ski slope and (unfortunately for my ankle), broke a bone. It wasn’t a bad break, but I was told to stay off it for a few months. That night I bought two needlepoint projects. It was a great investment. With all that time on my hands and frustrated with not being able to walk, I slowly but surely put together a lovely needlepoint that could be turned into a pillow. 

 

Work in Progress

To my delight, needlepoint takes me MUCH longer than knitting, so the floral needle point kept me busy while my broken ankle healed and for almost a year after that. I found a lovely person who would turn it into a pillow for me (Contact me at my website if you want her name) So when I calculated the extra expense for needle point supplies and pillow- assembly- assistance, and divided it by the long, long, loooong time it keeps be busy, and contentedly occupied, it is a bargain.

 

So I now have a completed pillow to commemorate my broken ankle, and I am still working on the pillow I started at the beginning of Covid (so I guess on the third year now?)

These pillows may make an appearance in a future Cleo Cooper mystery, so keep your eyes out for it!

 

Evil Alice and the Borzoi

A Cleo Cooper Mystery, Book 1

 

Evil Alice and the Borzoi is a not-too-dark, but not-too-light mystery set in Hawaii. Cleo Cooper, a cross-cultural psychology professor, is living the dream on the Big Island of Hawaii. With ocean-dipping weekends, she enjoys her dog, her job, and her boyfriend Ben - until the day she’s on a research vessel and a dead body is caught in the dragline. The police determine it is murder and set their sights on a gentle former student, Kai. It doesn’t take much urging from Kai’s auntie for Cleo to investigate.  But Ben grows distant, and Cleo’s dog grows ill. A couple of accidental deaths later and someone makes an attempt on her life. What happened to Cleo’s life in paradise? Can she discover the true killer? Can she stop the killer before the killer stops her?

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AN INTERVIEW WITH SAM DAVIES FROM AUTHOR S.A. KAZLO'S SAMANTHA DAVIES MYSTERIES

Today we sit down for a chat with Samantha (Sam) Davies of the Samantha Davies Mysteries by author S.A. Kazlo. 

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

Pretty ordinary. I co-own a funeral parlor with my ex., The Do Drop Inn Funeral Parlor, and am an aspiring author of a children's book featuring my dachshund, Porkchop. So, my days were spent either writing or helping manage the funeral parlor.

 

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

Probably my loyalty to my family and friends. Unfortunately, it does get me in trouble at times. Like when they are being accused of murder.

 

What do you like least about yourself? 

Trying to please everyone. I have to know when to say "no" and that I can't make everyone happy.

 

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

My author keeps having me find dead bodies. Geez, how many dead bodies do most people stumble over? I'm guessing zero, zilch.

 

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

Usually, we get along pretty well, but there are times when she really bugs me. Like the time she had me and my cousin, who is quite the stunner, dress in disguise to get some dirt on a person we thought might be a murderer. Candie and I saw ourselves as a modern-day Cagney and Lacey, but my author decided to call me Myrtle. Myrtle—really?

 

What is your greatest fear? 

That's my problem. I should have a little more fear and then maybe I wouldn't walk into situations where I encounter murderers. My greatest fear though would be having anyone harm one of my loved ones.

 

What makes you happy? 

Spending time with my male main squeezes—my boyfriend, Detective Hank Johnson, and my pup, Porkchop. Also, my life is never dull when I'm hanging with my Southern Belle cousin, Candie Parker.

 

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

Probably like a lot of women, I'd have opened my eyes sooner to the philandering ways of my ex.  I would have grown a backbone sooner and not let him put me down like he did for so many years. At least I finally wised up and scooped Porkchop up and left without a backward glance.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why? Sergeant Joe Peters of the Wings Falls Police Department. He's always trying to put me on the top of his suspect lists when there is a murder in town. We've been at odds since kindergarten. It wasn't my fault that one day at recess he peed in the sandbox. So, I told the teacher, big deal. Who wants to play in pee-soaked sand? Unfortunately, kids have a long memory and have called him "Sandy" ever since.

 

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

My cousin, Candie. I love Candie's outgoing and sometimes outrageous personality. She loves bling, having never found a rhinestone she doesn't love. She embraces life with both hands and loves the wild ride it gives her. 

 

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

Like me, my author, Syrl Kazlo, writing as S.A. Kazlo lives in upstate New York. She lives with her husband and two lively dachshunds, near the Adirondack mountains. She's a retired schoolteacher and when not writing my tales, loves to hook, rug hook that is. Her website and blog can be found at www.sakazlo.com

 

What's next for you? 

My dear author has me at the Taste of Wings Falls Fair, that is taking place in my hometown of Wings Falls. A barbeque cookoff is being held at the Fair. Unfortunately, someone has tainted the offerings of one of my good friends and the owner of Sweetie Pie's Café, Franny Goodway. But that is the least of Franny's problems when she is accused of murdering the local bank's loan officer who Franny is trying to obtain a loan from. 

 

A Wedding Gone to the Dogs

A Samantha Davies Mystery, Book 3

 

Life for children's book author Samantha Davies seems to finally be going smoothly. She has a new boyfriend, the love of her faithful dachshund and star of her books, Porkchop, and wedding bells are even ringing for Sam's Southern Belle cousin, Candie Parker. After eleven engagements Candie has finally found Mr. Right in Mark Hogan, who is currently running for reelection as the Mayor of Wings Falls in small-town Upstate New York.

 

But when Candie hires Ex-Fiancé #1, Tommy, to repair her century-old purple Victorian home, disaster strikes. Instead of the perfect place for Candie and Mark to start their life as husband and wife, Candie finds Tommy dead—murdered with his own nail gun! Things only get worse when a few old racy pictures of Candie from when she and the victim were engaged surface, providing the police with the perfect motive for Candie to kill her ex.

 

With the police on the wrong trail, Sam isn't about to sit on the sidelines in this murder investigation—much to the dismay of Sam's boyfriend, Detective Hank Johnson. But it's up to Sam to make sure her cousin doesn't spend her honeymoon in the Wings Falls' poky. Will Sam find out who the murderer is so Porkchop can walk down the aisle as Candie's ringbearer? Or will the killer be saying "I do" to another victim... this time closer to home?

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--A DOGGIE BISCUIT RECIPE FROM MYSTERY AUTHOR C.B. WILSON

C.B. Wilson’s love of writing began after she read her first Nancy Drew book and reworked the ending. Her fascination with dogs and their passionate owners inspired Barkview, California, the dog-friendliest city in America. Learn more about C.B. and her books at her website. 

Every Dog Has Its Day

In a town where designated leash lanes lead to hound playgrounds and every resident owns a BFF (that’s a Best Furry Friend), a talented, dog-loving chef should’ve fit right in. Not so much, it turned out. Who knew even our seaside Mayberry viewed competition as grounds for a dogfight?

 

My name is Cat Wright, Cat to my friends. Since I’d caused the uproar by creating and producing the cable sensation Fido’s Food Fest, I decided to face the problem head on. What better way to determine Barkview’s best barkery than to host a treat bake-off judged by five of the town’s most impartial tasters on live TV? Did I mention the judges are dogs? Who else can fairly rate canine confections?

 

I invited the four barkery owners to present their treats. The rules were simple. The entries needed to be prepared in our test kitchen. Each judge would simultaneously receive a sample bowl containing the four treats. The first treat consumed received a point. The most points won. Five dogs tasting four treats. Easy.

 

I mean, what could go wrong? Dogs love treats. They’d do their part, right? Although competition day dawned perfect, I alternated between lip chewing and coffee guzzling as I sat in the glass phonebooth we fondly called a studio control room. One hand hovered mid-center on the Star Trek-inspired panel, ready to go to commercial, and the other held my go-to caramel cappuccino.

 

Everything followed script until…the dog tasting segment. Watch out Hollywood, the ensuing slap-stick comedy routine needed no further choreographing. Gem, the German Shepherd with control issues, herded her fellow tasters into a pack. Misha-the- Fashionista Yorkie took issue with Gem’s nose nudge on her blingalicious vest and bumped Fifi the French Poodle, whose beret fell into her bowl, covering her yummies. Refusing to be left out, Fifi nosed her way into the bowl of Renny, the reigning Cavalier King Charles. No one separates Renny from her food, and the dog-eat-dog growl caused Hawn, the can’t-we-all-get-along Golden Retriever, to go into a record-setting flyball retreat, but not before stepping on her bowl’s edge and launching it at Misha!

 

Never great in a crisis, I just stood there frozen, watching the Yorkie stare at a canineoli, pupscream cone, muttball, and Bayle’s Biscuit, arching for a direct hit. To make matters worse, Chef Bayle, the Bichon Frise star of Fido’s Food Fest who’d been overseeing the chaos from the counter, barked and in a blur of white fluff, sprung toward Misha.

  

Could this get any worse? I spewed my coffee all over the control panel, which suddenly lit up like a Vegas slot machine. The go-to-commercial switch stuck. Furrballs! America now watched without edit!

 

My career crashed around me. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look. Sudden applause made me peek as Chef Bayle saved the day. Or, rather, his treat obsession did. In a single midair gulp, the dog swallowed all four of the treats and managed to avoid Misha.

 

A four-way tie! Yeah! I joined the clapping. Man, I love live TV.

 

Although Bayle shared the best barkery designation with his competitors, his favorite treat is Bayle’s Biscuits. He hopes your BFFs love it as much as he does.

 

Bichoned to Death

A Barkview Mystery, Book 2

What was once a simple rivalry turns into a deadly dog fight. 

 

The award-winning, dog-loving chef should’ve been a perfect fit in the dog friendliest city in America, but no one is following the script. When murder strikes on the set of her hit cable show, Fido’s Food Fest, executive producer Cat Wright wonders if this is a competition gone wrong or something more?

 

With her star chef under arrest and her Bichon Frise a target, Cat realizes that far more than gold-ribbon dog treats are at stake.

 

Can Cat dig up enough evidence to bury the killer before he strikes again? 

 

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#COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR SUE PEPPER ON SETTING HER SERIES IN JACKSON HOLE, WY

Sue Pepper writes cozy mysteries set in the Pacific Northwest where she lives with her two kids, fuzzy yellow dog, and real-life action hero husband. A former resident of Jackson Hole, WY pushed out by the billionaire-caused housing crisis, she enjoys writing revenge and redemption for the fictional residents of her Jackson Hole Moose's Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery series. Learn more about Sue and her books at her website. 

How My Years in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Influenced My Books

My family lived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for three wonderful years. Calling the famed tourist destination on the outskirts of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks home had its difficulties. The cost of living was astronomical and trying to park downtown during tourist season was impossible, but the nearby natural wonders and vibrant, close-knit year-round community made it worth it. 

 

We left because stable housing was financially unattainable, which is why most people have a difficult time staying there. While we’re now happy in the Pacific Northwest, we miss Jackson dearly. When I started brainstorming my new mystery series, I immediately knew I wanted to reconnect with Jackson Hole by making it the setting. The current housing crisis is at the center of each of my mysteries, and the tension between second and third homeowners, the strained local workforce, millions of tourists a year, wildlife, conservationists, and developers provide lots of inspiration for plot.

 

Jackson is beautiful in all seasons­–the brief, shining summer, the brief, colorful fall, the long cold and snowy winter, and the muddy, rainy spring. My goal for the series is to write a book in each month of the year, connecting it to what it’s like to live in Jackson as a local year-round. The first book, Mountain Town Murder, happens in October and culminates on Halloween. 

 

I set Hot Springs Murder, the second in the series, in January when Jackson Hole transforms into a snowy wonderland. Yearly accumulating more than 400 inches of snow, Jackson is a destination for downhill skiing, snowmobiling, fat biking and cross-country skiing. Town square transforms into a winter wonderland with an ice-skating rink and warming shelter, while tiny lights are strung in the signature antler arches and the trees, lighting up the long nights. 

 

The hot springs in my book are fictional but are based on Granite Hot Springs south of Jackson in Hoback Canyon. In the summer, you can drive up the forested road to visit them, and even camp nearby. In the winter, the hot springs are a snowmobile, cross-country ski, fat bike, or dog sled away. The natural 112-degree spring water is perfect for soaking after a day on the slopes at one of the three nearby ski resorts, including Snow King Mountain, which overlooks the town of Jackson. 

 

My series protagonist, Sadie Moose, owns the fictional local landmark Moose’s Bakery just off the Jackson town square. I based her bakery on three of my favorite local coffee shops, all places I’ve sat with my laptop as I dreamt up this career I’m currently enjoying. Moose’s has the vibes of Cowboy Coffee Co., location of Persephone Bakery, and knotty pine cabin look of Jackson Hole Roasters. All three are excellent and worth a stop if you’re ever in town.

 

Having the license as an author to take inspiration from multiple places, move things around to fit my narrative, and make things exactly how I want them to be is so much fun. The opportunity to show an unseen side of an often-visited place through my work is very satisfying. More reasons I love writing! 

 

Hot Springs Murder

A Jackson Hole Moose’s Bakery Not So Cozy, Book 2

 

Things are heating up...

 

Sadie Moose is enjoying a romantic evening in a snowy moonlit hot spring with her new boyfriend when a dead body floating in the pool interrupts their steamy interlude.

 

Yes. Another dead body. But she is absolutely not getting involved this time. She has enough to do with a business expansion underway, her new renters, and her new relationship.

 

Except the chief suspect is the troubled grandson of one of the regulars at her bakery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She promises she’ll ask some questions to keep him out of jail. And then her new barista is a neighbor of the deceased, and she’s having a hard time sleeping thinking someone in her tight-knit neighborhood is a murderer. So Sadie asks a few more questions.

 

Soon, she’s embroiled in the investigation, with danger lurking around every snowy corner. With help from her sexy boyfriend, rowdy bakery crew, a maybe-mob-princess, and her trusty canine companion, Tyrone, Sadie must clear the mist surrounding this mystery, before the killer boils her, too.

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR ALLIE PLEITER'S NEW KNITTING SHOP MYSTERY SERIES

Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and nonfiction. The bestselling author of over fifty books, Allie has enjoyed a twenty-year career with over 1.5 million books sold.  Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

The great thing about books is that we get to step into other people’s lives. The really wonderful ones let us slip into a life we’ve always dreamed of living. Being the passionate knitter that I am, I have always day-dreamed about what it would be like to own my own shop, surrounded all day by color and texture and yarn and other people who knit and crochet. 

 

So it should come as no surprise that when the opportunity to write a mystery came to me, I chose to write a series set in a yarn shop. With a pie shop across the street. Bliss!

 

Whether or not you’re the crafty type, cozy mysteries seem to tic all the boxes for us. On the one hand, we get the warm emotional fuzzies of a quirky and close-knit community, a cast of characters we’d love to have as friends (plus one or two we’re glad we don’t), a touch of romance, and a dash of adventure. On the other hand, we get the satisfying intellectual puzzle of deducing the killer right alongside the sleuth. Who doesn’t love the victory of “I knew it” or the shock of “I never saw that coming”?

 

One of the great pleasures of writing On Skein of Death was getting to dream up a knitted dog sweater and then commission the pattern. Just like watching my words come to life in a book, I got to watch my idea come to life under the design talents of Starla Williams. I’m so very happy that the full pattern is included in the back of every book. And you audiobook listeners have access to a downloadable PDF, too. The thought of so many pups keeping warm in Perle’s Norwegian Dog Sweater just makes me grin ear to ear. I’ve included a shot of my own four-legged darling, Paisley, in the version I knit up especially for her.

 

Best of all, this is only my first visit to Libby Beckett’s Y.A.R.N. shop and the fictional town of Collinstown, MD. On Skein of Death launches the Riverbank Knitting Mysteries series, so there will be a whole lot more yarn, friendship, pie, cute dogs…and mystery to come. Who could ask for more?

 

On Skein of Death

A Riverbank Knitting Mystery, Book 1

 

For Libby Beckett, opening her charming yarn shop, and introducing customers to the joys of knitting and crochet, is the work she was meant to do. Until the yarn she loves is used for murder....

Libby has come home to Collinstown, Maryland, to live her dream and open her own yarn shop, aptly named Y.A.R.N., along the Chester River. To Libby, Y.A.R.N. stands for "You're Absolutely Ready Now". But the acronym changes whenever inspiration strikes, and customers add to the list of suggestions that fill the blackboard wall in a shop stuffed with color, fiber, and comfort. 

Libby is thrilled when she lands famous Norwegian knitting celebrity Perle Langager for a series of events at Y.A.R.N. Libby's English bulldog, Hank, has been modeling one of Perle's doggie sweaters, and customers just can't wait to see Perle in action. The mayor of Collinstown even decrees a Collinstown Yarn Day to celebrate. But once Perle arrives in town, she seems distracted and on edge. And when she's found strangled with a skein of red yarn, Libby knows she has to solve a knotty mystery before her new life unravels.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AUTHOR PEGGY EHRHART WHIPS UP A NEW MYSTERY AND STRAWBERRY JELL-O PIE

Peggy Ehrhart is a former English professor with a doctorate in Medieval Literature. She currently writes the Knit & Nibble mystery series about amateur sleuth, Pamela Paterson, founder of the Knit & Nibble knitting club. Peggy herself is a devoted crafter, dating from her membership in 4-H as a child in southern California.Learn more about Peggy and her books at her website. 

Knit and Nibble member Roland DeCamp prides himself on rising to the occasion with a dessert goody to serve at break time when the Knit and Nibble knitting group meets at his house. He’s not an experienced cook, however, and so I enjoy finding recipes for him that don’t tax his cooking skills. 

 

In Knitty Gritty Murder Roland serves a fresh strawberry pie featuring a sweet glaze made with strawberry Jell-O. It’s a great summer recipe, best when strawberries are local and at their peak. Since Knitty Gritty Murder takes place in May and was released in April, I thought Strawberry Jell-O Pie would be a perfect choice for Roland’s cooking project in that book. 

It's also one of the first desserts I learned to to make, taught to me long ago by my best friend in high school. After I'd gone away to college, I wanted to make it for a boyfriend, and I wrote to her, asking for the recipe. She mailed it to me on a postcard that I still keep in my recipe file.

Coincidentally I recently revisited a fascinating cookbook that surveys the favorite dishes of U.S. presidents all the way back to Washington. Molded gelatin creations were a feature of elegant dining for centuries, but in earlier times they were much more labor-intensive than the recipes we can create now with a box of Jell-O. 

 

A recipe for “Wine Jelly” from Jefferson’s era starts with instructions to boil four calves feet! This step provided the collagen that created the gelling effect. Another source of collagen was isinglass, made from dried fish bladders. A modern food writer has noted that these early gelatin desserts had to be quite aggressively flavored to cover up the lingering hint of beef or fish, and that they probably tasted less thrilling than they looked.

 

Jell-O, the convenient product in the little box, was trademarked in 1897, but it really came into its own in the 1940s and 1950s. My husband recalls with great fondness the Jell-O desserts and salads that were a feature of church suppers when he was a child.

 

I hadn’t made my friend’s Strawberry Jell-O Pie for ages, so I checked online to make sure Jell-O hadn’t been modified in the intervening decades to the point that my old recipe wouldn’t turn out right. But the versions I found online were essentially the same as the one on my recipe card—though you might note that I made a few tweaks in the recipe I give below. Touchingly, several people commenting on the online recipes observed that the results were just like what they remembered from their youth. 

 

Strawberries, however, have gotten much bigger.

Roland’s pie is not difficult or time-consuming, especially if you use a premade pie crust and Cool Whip or aerosol whipped cream rather than whipping your own. But the pie crust needs to cool before filling, and the completed pie needs to chill for a few hours. So plan to start 4 hours or so before you want to serve the pie.

 

Roland’s Strawberry Jell-O Pie

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1-3/4 cups water

1 3-oz. box strawberry Jell-O

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups strawberries, sliced vertically into quarters (1 pint)

1 10” baked pie crust

Whipping cream

 

Fill the pie crust with the sliced strawberries. I like to arrange them so most of the red sides are facing up. 

 

Combine the cornstarch, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil and simmer, stirring frequently, until it thickens and becomes less cloudy. This will take about 5 minutes. 

 

Stir in the Jell-O and the vanilla until the Jell-O dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the contents cool for half an hour. Pour the mixture over the strawberries and chill the pie until the Jell-O mixture sets, about 2 hours. Top each slice with a dollop of whipped cream sweetened to taste. 

You can buy ready-made but unbaked pie crusts in the refrigerator section of your supermarket. The packaging usually explains how to bake them unfilled. Or you can make your own. 

 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup sifted flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. shortening

1/6 cup cold water—approximately

 

Sift the flour and salt together. Cut in the shortening using two knives, your fingers, or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Sprinkle the water over the mixture while tossing with a fork until the dough clings together. 

 

Flour your hands and gather the dough into a ball. Transfer it to a floured surface, sprinkle more flour on it, and press it into a disk. Using a floured rolling pin roll it into a circle a few inches larger than your pie pan. Turn the dough over a few times as you roll and sprinkle more flour on it and on your rolling surface. Fit the dough into your pie pan—it’s easier to do this if you fold it into quarters and then unfold it in the pan. Crimp the edges and prick it all over the sides and bottom with a fork. 

 

Bake it 15 to 20 minutes at 450 degrees. Check on it after 15 minutes.  

Knitty Gritty Murder

A Knit & Nibble Mystery, Book 7

 

Pamela Paterson and the Knit and Nibble ladies have plenty of talents that don’t revolve around yarn. But their penchant for patterns has led to a dangerous hobby they just can’t quit—unraveling murders.

 

Most times of the year, the tight-knit community gardens in quaint Arborville, New Jersey, overflow with seasonal vegetables and herbs. But who planted the dead body? Farm-to-table enthusiast Jenny Miller had a cookbook in the works when she was suddenly found strangled by a circular knitting needle in her own plot. Now, the pressure is on Pamela and her neighbor Bettina as they weave together clues in search of the person who kept Jenny’s renowned heirloom plants—and budding career—from growing. With suspects and victims cropping up like weeds, it’ll take a whole lot more than green thumbs and creative minds this spring to entangle the crafty culprit . . .

 

Knitting tips and delicious recipe included!

 

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