Author: patyjag

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 50 + novels, novellas, and short stories of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Guest Blogger ~ Terri Maue

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

Knife Edge is a traditional murder mystery. The entire story is told from the point of view of the amateur sleuth protagonist, Zee Morani. I knew very little about Zee when I wrote the first draft of Knife Edge about ten years ago. Basically, I knew I wanted her to be a writer, but she needed to have more freedom than a reporter with regular hours or an assigned beat. And because I also wanted her to comment current events, I ruled out making her a book author. So, Zee became a successful columnist.

As I worked my way through early drafts, I learned a lot about Zee. In her job, she was free to pursue whatever interested her, as long as she could turn it into a column on deadline. I decided Zee should use satire in her column, which allowed me to indulge my own penchant for pointing out social, cultural, and bureaucratic idiocy, incompetency, and callousness.

It was fun to sprinkle column topics throughout the story. They provided a bit of comic relief from the escalating tension of the mystery, and I enjoyed researching topics that piqued my interest or aroused my ire. Showing Zee at work also helped me clarify how she could use her particular skills to solve the murder: her skepticism, her attention to detail, and her ability to put information together in different ways—what she called seeing the world sideways.

Also, giving Zee a human-interest focus for her column meant she would not be at home in the world of crime and criminals. I certainly was not. Drawing on my own naivete (as in what might I do next?), I put her into dangerous, and sometimes humorous, situations.

I entered a new stage of relationship with Zee after Knife Edge was accepted by Camel Press. One of the early tasks my editor gave me was to write a history of Zee’s parents. Using Zee’s age at the time of the story, I backtracked to discover that her parents came of age in the 1960s.

That decade exerted a great influence on my own maturation. Coupled with research into that tumultuous time, my experience helped shape Zee’s moral compass. She is driven by a deep need to see justice done. This drive impels her to use her column to defend the ordinary human being who struggles against the mindless workings of a machine-like organization. It also gets her involved in the murder.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in Zee’s character tuned out to be the extent to which her persona was influenced by my two previous careers. I didn’t realize this until after the book was completed.

I spent twelve years in public relations before I quit, unable to continue to spin facts to create a misleading picture. I actually looked in the mirror one day and realized that if I didn’t leave, I would get to the point where I no longer recognized the truth. Though I did not see it at the time, I made Zee a satirist specifically so she could point out the ways in which people use language to distort and misdirect, to adhere to the letter of the law while violating the spirit.

My PR experience also provided the seed for Zee’s dream to write what she considers serious journalism, which she viewed as using her talent for greater good. After my PR disillusionment, I switched careers and became a university professor. I spent 18 years teaching students how to use language ethically and responsibly and showing them how unscrupulous writers and speakers deceive their audiences.

Writers are always encouraged to write what they know. My experience with Zee would seem to indicate that I’m not always aware of what I know, at least not consciously. But then, discovering what lies beneath the surface is a big part of the fun of writing—and life—for me.

KNIFE EDGE

An unwitting columnist. A shocking murder. A devious killer.

Is Zee Morani tracking clues or playing a role orchestrated by a murderer?

When Zee Morani discovers the bloodied corpse of a disgraced medical researcher, the accused killer begs her for help. But Zee is not a cop. She’s not even a PI. She’s a regionally syndicated satirical columnist who dreams of breaking into serious journalism.

Zee believes the suspect is guilty. After all, he staggered into her as he fled the scene of the crime. But she’s made a career of challenging bureaucracy. The drive to defend the underdog, or at least give him a fair chance, pulses in her veins. Unfortunately, everything she learns only strengthens the police case.

Even as the facts pile up against him, Zee’s instincts argue for his innocence. Her friend Fontina’s finely tuned intuition concurs. But while Fontina supports Zee’s investigation, Rico, a seasoned crime reporter, balks at her interference in the case. Despite their recent breakup, he wants to protect Zee from the world of violence he knows all too well. He also wants to win back her heart. Tempting as that is, Zee resists him, her heart shackled by the pain of past betrayals. They agree to work together as professional colleagues and friends, but it’s an uneasy alliance. 

As Zee digs deeper into the researcher’s murder, her involvement makes her a target. Her inexperience tempts her to back away from investigating, but her commitment to truth won’t let her quit. When Rico suffers a vicious attack, her fury burns the last vestiges of hesitation. Gritting her teeth, she tackles a nasty thug, a suspicious police lieutenant, and in the end, the barrel of a gun—all to unmask a stone-hearted killer. 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Knife-Edge-Terri-Maue/dp/1684922003

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knife-edge-terri-maue/1143420718?ean=9781684922000

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=Terri+Maue

Target: https://www.target.com/p/knife-edge-by-terri-maue-paperback/-/A-89152528#lnk=sametab

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Knife-Edge-Paperback-9781684922000/2756992774?from=/search

Terri Maue is a retired professor emeritus from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. After she retired, she decided to pursue a life-long dream to write a mystery novel. The result is Knife Edge: A Zee & Rico Mystery. In addition to offering a challenging puzzle, it reflects several of Terri’s interests:

  • martial arts—she holds a first-degree black belt in TaeKwon Do;
  • spirituality—she has studied many forms of religion, including Christianity, Wicca, Buddhism, and Native American and African practices;
  • the intuitive arts—she reads Tarot cards and has taught dream interpretation.

Terri is a member of Henderson Writers Group, Sin City Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Mystery Writers of America. She is working on the second book in the Zee & Rico series. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Eddie, her personal photographer and husband of 55 years.

You can visit Terri’s website at https://www.terrimaue.com, find her on Facebook at Terri Maue Author, find her on Instagram @terrimaueauthor, and write to her at terri@terrimaue.com

Guest Blogger ~ Keith Yocum

~ patyjag ~ 3 Comments

This is how I came up with the mystery premise in “A Whisper Came,” book 1 in the Cape Cod Mystery series.

There is something about the ocean that lends itself to mystery. Whether it’s the isolation of deserted beaches or the strange sound of the wind whistling through tall sea grasses, the area lends itself to a sense of uncertainty and mystery.

I live in Chatham, Massachusetts, at the elbow of Cape Cod. It has the distinction of being surrounded on three sides by salt water: Nantucket Sound, Pleasant Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded in 1664 and incorporated in 1712. For American towns, this is old.

Along with the passing centuries has come a litany of shipwrecks off Cape Cod—estimated at 3,500—and, of course, legends. Dotting the cape are 14 lighthouses, though many are not operational.

In 2019, I toured the decommissioned lighthouse on Monomoy Island off Chatham. I had driven my boat past the lighthouse many times over the years but never set foot on the island. The Monomoy lighthouse and keeper’s house are used by the US Wildlife Service to study migratory seabird and resident seal populations.

During the tour, I was surprised by the utter isolation of the lighthouse. It took us nearly a half-hour to walk across the deserted island to reach the lighthouse and keeper’s house. We were allowed to climb to the top of the lighthouse, but there was nothing to see but sand, scrub brush, and the ocean. It was beautiful but oddly intimidating because of its isolation.

During the visit, our Wildlife Service guide chuckled when he mentioned that some researchers at the keeper’s house felt the building was haunted.

For a mystery writer, there’s nothing more intriguing than a hint of spectral disturbances in this setting. After returning to the mainland, I researched the history of this area of Monomoy Island and found unsubstantiated rumors of murders that occurred near the lighthouse in the 1860s. Several legends about ghosts on the island also provided a perfect plot twist.

As a former journalist, I decided to write a modern story involving a young reporter named Stacie Davis sent to Chatham to cover the story of an unidentified woman’s body found floating off the island of Monomoy. The fact that the woman’s body wore clothing from another era added just the right amount of intrigue.

Stacie, the lead character in “Whisper,” is a young reporter at the low end of her newspaper’s totem pole. As a general-assignment reporter, she is given a variety of stories that test her mettle. She’s not happy to be sent on the 90-mile drive to Chatham from Boston, but she’s also keen to prove she can handle any story.

I work closely with my wife, Denise, when revising a manuscript. Perhaps it’s her training as a psychologist, but she was instrumental in bringing authenticity and toughness to Stacie’s character. We have worked together on ten novels, and I always take her advice on improving character development, plot pacing, and romance (of course).

The reception for “A Whisper Came” was much stronger than I anticipated. Our local bookstore here in Chatham sells quite a few paperbacks, and I’ve just finished “Dead In The Water,” book 2 in the Cape Cod Mystery series with intrepid reporter Stacie Davis.  

I can’t wait to see what trouble Stacie will get into in book 3. She’s one tough cookie.

A Whisper Came

Stacie, a young, ambitious reporter, is sent to Chatham on Cape Cod to follow up on the body of an unidentified woman found floating nearby. Over the centuries, Cape Cod has been the site of thousands of shipwrecks, leaving the sandy shore littered with debris, legends, and ghost stories. Stacie’s editors encourage her to dig into the mix of Chatham’s quirky residents and to write about the mysteries surrounding the old Monomoy Point Lighthouse. On a lark, she makes a nighttime visit to the lighthouse with a young charter boat captain and, in the process, stumbles tragically into a dark mystery that forces her to question her sanity and the truth buried in a legend. 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093TJR9QC

B/N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-whisper-came-keith-yocum/1139508965

Ibooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1570048192

Google iPlay: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=uvNWEAAAQBAJ&pli=1

Keith Yocum is a former journalist and business executive who has worked for publications including The Boston Globe and The New England Journal of Medicine. He lives on Cape Cod and is the author of ten novels. He welcomes feedback at http://www.keithyocum.com.

https://www.facebook.com/yocum.keith/

    Feng Shui and Me

    ~ patyjag ~ 9 Comments

    Did you know that today is International Feng Shui Day? According to The Spruce.com, Feng shui is the practice of arranging pieces in living spaces to create balance with the natural world. The goal is to harness energy forces and establish harmony between an individual and their environment.

    Years, okay, two decades ago, I took an online class on how to Feng shui your workspace hoping to help give me harmony to become a published writer. And it work!

    Well, I don’t know if it was the Feng shui or being at the right place at the right time or knowing the right person at the right time. Whichever of the three it was, I became a published author with a just starting small press who has grown immensely over the years. I put out 10 books with them before taking the Indie route in 2012.

    I kept my desk top and writing space Feng shui just as I’d learned to place items from the class the whole time we lived in Central Oregon. Then we moved to SE Oregon, and I worked in a ten by twenty cabin for 8 months while we built the house we live in now. Nothing was Feng shui but I kept writing books and publishing them.

    We built the new house with one room set up for my office and my husband’s desk. (we have matching desks- but he only uses his to hold stuff) At first I placed the desk under a window so I could look out when I needed thinking time while writing. But that put my back to the door. And the one thing I learned during the Feng shui class that stuck with me was to always be facing the door as that is where opportunity walks through. Keep books to your back for knowledge. Those are the only two things I remember from the workshop.

    When I was feeling like my writing had stalled and wasn’t feeling as optimistic about my future, I changed my desk. It now sits with one end under the window but it faces the doorway. I don’t have book cases at my back but I have them on both sides of me some just an arm’s reach away.

    My husband says my desk takes up too much room this way, but I say I’m open to the opportunities that are coming my way. What they are, I don’t know but I’m ready to embrace them when they do show up!

    I have joined a Facebook group that is actively helping me promote my audiobooks. Since it is a whole different group of people than those who read print or ebooks. The owner of the group puts together Indie Author Deals once a month. I’m hoping that one of these days I can use links to my audiobooks on my website. For now I have links to multiple audiobook vendors. Right now there is a sale going on and you can get the first audio 3 book box set from my Shandra Higheagle Mystery series for $0.99 at: IndieAudiobookDeals.com

    Being part of this group is one of those opportunities that I found while trying to find someone to help me promote by audiobooks. Feng shui or just luck? I think a little of both!

    I’m also excited that through this blog, I’ve met some amazing mystery, suspense, thriller writers and I will get to meet 6 of them in person at the Left Coast Crime conference I’m attending this week in Bellevue, WA. Several of the Ladies of Mystery bloggers and I will be riding from the airport together and then having brunch together the following morning. I’m excited to meet them in person and make even more connections to them and with others throughout the conference.

    One of my favorite sayings is: Life is never boring, embrace it!

    Guest Blogger ~ Ron Roman

    ~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

    How Of Ashes and Dust Came To Be Written

        The timeline for the composition of Of Ashes and Dust dates to when I was teaching college courses to the US military on Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Indian Ocean; a beautiful spot if there ever was one. That was a halcyon interlude in my life; there was plenty of time to linger on the beach every morning, since I taught evening classes, pondering the story arc, which appeared seamlessly out of nowhere in my mind. Perhaps it was the charming and calming atmosphere of the place that so easily birthed in my mind’s eye this novel’s initial events. Everything just fell into place; it wasn’t until later, when I left the island after about five months, that difficulties arose in the narrative flow and at almost every juncture in it. Episodes of doubt and stagnation occurred almost consistently, the bane of any writer. The following are appetizers, some profound, others perhaps not that deep, for readers to nibble ….  

        Envisioning the plot came easier to me than the development of the three main characters. I knew I wanted to write an alternate-history apocalyptic doomsday thriller set in rural New England around the time of the Millennium. Something about the rounded-off number 2000 buried itself in my head. I wasn’t the only one. Older readers may recall the expression “Y2K” for Year 2000, a neologism that soon fell into disuse and ultimately oblivion when civilization didn’t collapse after all. To be sure, just before the Millennium there were calls from hotheads to bring the world as we knew it down.  “Let’s get it on now!” and “Why wait!” went the refrain.  There was even an exchange of high-ranking officers between the Pentagon and the Kremlin; each had their man in the bowels of the other’s secret war room to disable any accidental computerized nuclear launch. (It was feared that computer systems, even sophisticated nuclear-weaponized ones, could go haywire after midnight of the last day of the Millennium for not having been programmed to function after the 20th century; that planes might fall out of the sky in mid-flight, etc.). The worst thing to happen was that a guy in Ohio, or so I believe it was, got an astronomical fine for a public library book believed overdue by a century. Yet even he survived. In Of Ashes and Dust, except for the protagonist, tortured Vietnam War veteran Professor Will Watson and his Japanese-born paramour Kimiko Tanimoto, along with another local couple, nobody else is initially that lucky. Nobody.

        Speaking of Watson and Tanimoto, their names and character development came easily. Watson was a compilation of several military vets I’ve come to know; Tanimoto was the compilation of several, if not many, Oriental women I’ve come to know equally well. (Use of the term “Oriental,” which some may consider outdated, is deliberate. No time for elaboration here).  “Tanimoto” was the name of a soldier in my own Army unit; it stuck to me long after my discharge from the way it rolled off the tongue. Mine, at least. Also, the name of the third major character, Watson’s friend, confidant and fellow Vietnam War vet Mark Mercotti, was named after a college football player I used to work out with in the local YMCA. Development of his character, however, was more diffuse, having been derived from many guys I’ve gotten to know down the years.

        As for the origins of the rest of the story and its explosive ending, buy and read the text. No explanation forthcoming here, dear reader. So, shake a leg, get the book, and bear witness to the kaleidoscopic patterns of unholy madness in Of Ashes and Dust. It’s the ultimate “alternate truth.”*  

    Of Ashes and Dust

    At the turn of the Millennium, a trio of tormented souls grapple with their existence in a humble town in New Hampshire while the world spirals into anarchy. Unbeknownst to one another, they hold dark secrets that would eventially ignite a conflict.

    Their tale traces back to two covert operations from the Vietnam War era–a revelation about UFOs from the U.S. Air Force and the clandestine Project Sixty-Seven.

    At the heart of the story is Professor Will Watson–a war-ravaged Vietnam veteran, a fervent activist of the New Hampshire Liberty Militia, and a man haunted by specters of his past. As the world edges toward Armageddon, he seeks solace in the arms of his Japanese graduate student assistant, Kimiko Tanimoto. Amidst escalating pursuit by the State Police and FBI, Watson is confronted with the harsh realities of his traumatic past and the imminent downfall of a world crumbling around him.

    The ebook is currently on sale for only $0.99!

    Buy link: https://a.co/d/8V9oYe2

    Associate Professor of English, ESL, and Humanities Ron Roman taught with the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC- Asia) since 1996.  He retired from full-time employ and later as adjunct during the COVID-19 crisis (2020).  His hobbies include jogging, hiking, camping, weightlifting, roller-coasters–and his beloved 1968 Rambler American antique auto for which he received Third Prize in the Hemmings (Motor News) National Antique Auto Show in Bennington, Vermont shortly before returning overseas.  (The Rambler has undergone a complete restoration.) 

    He has written extensive travel, academic, and political articles for regional, national, and international publications. He studied writing (both fiction and creative) for his third graduate degree (Humanities) from Wesleyan University/Connecticut.  Currently he resides in South Korea with his wife where he works on US military installations assisting US military retirees and dependents.  He continues to write and has acted in numerous Korean TV dramas and motion pictures like Operation Chromite portraying Admiral Forrest Sherman opposite Liam Neeson as General Douglas MacArthur.  His alternate-history apocalyptic doomsday thriller Of Ashes and Dust was a 22 November 2022 release by Histria Books.

    www.writerronroman.com

    Guest Blogger ~ J.T. Kelly

    ~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

    I began my writing career after retiring at the age of 70. At the end of my first novel, protagonists Jack and Sara McCabe are thrilled to learn they’re going to have a baby. Fast forward four years later to my seventh novel. That child has grown to be twenty-year-old Amos, who has just graduated from college with a degree in anthropology and archeology.

    Amos survived and even thrived in the sixth book, Missing Memories. So I wanted to explore an opportunity for him to spread his wings in another thrilling adventure.

     During research for book seven, I learned that archeologists actually found the bones of nine Neanderthals in a cave south of Rome, Italy. They also uncovered the remains of prehistoric predators, including the giant hyenas. Scientists decided the hyenas killed the Neanderthals and brought them to the cave for a feast.

    Having lived in the area for a year, I decided this would be a fascinating opportunity for young McCabe. In the story, he’s invited to be part of the cave dig site.

    Needing to find out as much as I could about the Neanderthals, I spent days poring over research about their lives 50,000 years ago. They faced a variety of challenges from nature, including freezing temperatures and volcanic eruptions. And from fierce beasts and humans. While humans interbred with Neanderthals, they also took them for their slaves.

    The Neanderthals were skilled as hunters, both on land and in the sea, and were adept at making fire, carving wood and stone, making jewelry and weapons. But they were no match for the humans.

    What would it be like for a modern day human to inexplicably enter the bizarre world of the Neanderthals? What could he teach them to help them improve their lives? Or would the experience be too threatening to even survive? That’s why I decided to write Ominous Odyssey. The story evolved during the writing process. It was an emotional experience for me but I was thrilled with the result.

    Here’s part of a recap on the back cover of the novel:

    Ominous Odyssey is a thriller and a love story. It takes place four years after teenager Amos McCabe escaped from kidnappers. Now, with a degree in archeology and anthropology, he receives an invitation to work at a dig site in Italy south of Rome. Archeologists discovered the bones of nine Neanderthals. The young man can’t wait to learn more of the secrets of these prehistoric people.

    The lead archeologist informs Amos there are tunnels they hadn’t yet explored. His curiosity gets the better of him. The adventurer brings his headlamp and investigates before anyone arrives for work. When the young man reaches the end of a tunnel, something terrifying happens.

    He discovers he’s been transported to an alternate universe of 50,000 years ago. The explorer soon realizes there’s no way to escape. What will become of McCabe? Has his exuberance gotten the better of him? Join Amos for an adventure of a lifetime.

    buy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYGD3XZT.

    I was thrilled to see this book review in Amazon Italy: “What’s unique about this international thriller is its ability to explore the unknown. The story is intense and full of suspense, with an ending that is incredible. Ominous Odyssey is not just an adventure novel, it’s an intriguing journey that provokes reflection on what it means to be human, and how we can influence the world around us.”

    My works include Fair Ways and Foul Plays, Deadly Defiance, Suite Suspicion, Formula for a Felony, Diamond Destiny, Missing Memories, and Ominous Odyssey. Prior to my writing efforts, I honed my creative skills as an advertising and communications professional.

    Readers find that I reference Lake Maxinkuckee near Culver, Indiana, liberally in my novels. It was a summer vacation place that holds many fond memories from as far back as I can remember. The action or crime begins in this small community and explodes in a variety of European locales.

    An avid reader, I’ve enjoyed numerous authors in the mystery, thriller, and suspense categories. As a result, I hope you’ll experience the degree of fast-paced excitement that rivals many of the most popular in these genres.

    To learn more about me and to send a message, visit my website at www.kellyfairways.us. There are reviews and recaps of each book along with links to purchase them on Amazon and to provide 5-star reviews. The website also provides links to social media pages.