Guest Blogger – Lois Winston

July 25, 2015July 20, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 10 Comments

Jim Phelps, Bill Cosby, and Atticus Finch

I’ve been thinking a lot about heroes lately, both real and fictional. I need heroes. The world needs heroes. Heroes help us make sense of the senseless and give us hope because they’re willing to take a stand to do what’s right in order to make the world a better place for all of us.

However, lately some of my heroes have been letting me down. It started with the reboot of Mission Impossible back in 1996. Anyone who remembers the television show from 1966-1973 knows that Jim Phelps was one of the good guys, a man who risked his life for the greater good of mankind. Then the first movie comes along and turns Jim into a bad guy. After that I never watched another movie in the franchise. No way could I accept Jim Phelps as a villain.

In 1984 The Cosby Show debuted, and Bill Cosby became America’s dad. My kids grew up watching that show. Bill Cosby lived part-time a few blocks from us. We admired the man not only for the character he portrayed on TV but for the real person and the good he did. I want to believe he’s innocent of the charges made against him, but the overwhelming evidence and his own words given in a deposition seem to prove otherwise. America’s dad has been shown to have a dark side. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement; I’m outraged.

And now it turns out that Atticus Finch is a racist. I won’t be reading Go Set a Watchman because I don’t want my image of that just and honorable man from To Kill a Mockingbird tainted by this older, hateful version of the character. I’m not the only one. Social media is aghast and atwitter over this unexpected and unwelcome reinvention of one of America’s fictional heroes.

So I began to wonder, do authors make a solemn pact with their readers, and what happens when they break that agreement? In many instances, they disappoint their fans. Readers expect a certain experience when they pick up a book from an author they’ve come to enjoy, especially when the book is part of a series. Authors who have killed off beloved characters or in some other way disappointed their readership have experienced unwelcome vocal backlash.

The fifth novel in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series is now available. I haven’t turned Anastasia into a villain, nor have I bumped off any beloved characters in the book. However, I have introduced a plot twist that I hope readers will enjoy. I want to live up to my readers’ expectations. I never want to disappoint them, and I hope I haven’t with this new installment.

A Stitch to Die For

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 5

The adventures of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack continue in A Stitch to Die For, the 5th book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Lois Winston.

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another—but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.

Buy Links

Paperback http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1940795303/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1940795303&linkCode=as2&tag=loiswins-20&linkId=LBEMP6U7TVMCBQMT

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010M9U5Q2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B010M9U5Q2&linkCode=as2&tag=loiswins-20&linkId=ZRX4XIA2N5VX6ARK

Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-stitch-to-die-for-lois-winston/1122259040?ean=2940150965928

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-stitch-to-die-for/id1014678389?mt=11

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/a-stitch-to-die-for

Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Lois_Winston_A_Stitch_to_Die_For?id=XZEbCgAAQBAJ&hl=en

(Other books in the series include Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, Death by Killer Mop Doll, Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, and three mini-mysteries: Crewel Intentions, Mosaic Mayhem, and Patchwork Peril.)

Bio: USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and non-fiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Tsu at www.tsu.co/loiswinston, on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/anasleuth, and onTwitter @anasleuth. Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.MyAuthorBiz.com/ENewsletter.php?acct=LW2467152513

Review – Lost Cause by JL Simpson

July 13, 2015July 9, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

I’ve slowly started integrating my fellow Ladies of Mystery authors into my “to be read” pile. To let everyone know I won’t give a 5 star review unless I loved the book and if a book doesn’t work for me, I’ll not review unless I liked it enough for a 4 or 5. And again this is my opinion.

I am a picky reader. The characters have to grab me right away and I have to become engaged in the story in the first chapter or I stop reading. I don’t have excess time to read. I have to love a book enough to make time to read. While eating lunch, while cooking dinner, while my husband is watching some TV show I could care less about. I spend most of my day helping on our 280 acres and writing.

Lost Cause by J.L. Simpson

Daisy Dunlop thinks “heir hunting” is a perfect career. Too bad she has to work with her husband’s best mate, Irish PI Solomon Liffey. They’ve barely spoken since he took her husband Paul’s request to keep her safe far too literally and handcuffed her to the kitchen sink.

Solomon has no interest in babysitting a new partner, especially this one. The woman’s a bleedin’ liability. She has no concept of danger and could flirt for England at the next Olympics. As if that isn’t bad enough, she has a habit of sticking her nose where it’s not wanted, including into Solomon’s very private life.

Determined to keep Daisy safely out of his way, Solomon sets her the task of finding a missing lord. Her investigations land her in the middle of his case. Bullets fly, bombs explode, and the body count rises. When Solomon goes missing, the tables are turned. Now it’s his life that is in Daisy’s hands, and she has two missing men to find before it’s too late.

MY REVIEW – 5 Stars

I loved this book. I made time to read it. Every time I stopped reading I had a huge smile on my face. This book is cheeky, funny, and a well written intrigue.

Daisy Dunlop is a wonderful character. She lights up the page and has a vivid vocabulary. Her love hate relationship with Solomon is witty and well-played. The two make a raucous duo uncovering the mystery and uncovering the secrets in Solomon’s life. What I also liked is while Daisy is working with this woman-killer PI she never once forgets how lucky she is to have a loving husband. The scenes between Daisy and her husband are hot and loving.

The secondary characters were rounded, moved the story along, and well depicted.

If you are looking for a humorous whodunit, this is the book for you!

BONUS! This book is free right now! Amazon

www.patyjager.net

Writing into the Sunset

Guest Blogger- Joanne Guidoccio

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 13 Comments

On the Road to Reinvention by Joanne

Move over chick. It’s time for this hen to strut her stuff. (LuAnn Schindler)

Seven years ago, a hen strut wasn’t even on my radar. I had just retired from a 31-year teaching career and was still experimenting with a new and (sometimes unsettling) stage of life. Sleeping in each morning. Leisurely breakfasts. New hobbies. Volunteering.

Three months into retirement, I realized that I needed more than this patchwork quilt of activities. Everything came to a head at a luncheon. After a pleasant meal with stimulating conversation, I watched as over two hundred retired professional women swooned over the entertainment: an Elvis impersonator. They stood and hollered, waving dinner napkins and program. They coveted the flimsy polyester scarves he was draping around the necks of selected women. I took that luncheon as a sign from the universe. It was time to go down another road.

After some reflection, I decided to resurrect a writing dream from my high school years. Within days of making this decision, I received a call from an editor who offered to publish one of my travel articles. Excited, I started my wordsmith business and ordered my first set of business cards.

That first article was only beginner’s luck.

It took twenty-one months to get another one published. In the meantime, I attended creative writing workshops, took online courses, and continued to send out queries. Slowly, a writing practice emerged and articles, book reviews and short stories started appearing in newspapers, magazines and online. This was gratifying, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my creative bent. I wanted more.

“More” translated into a novel. In my case, two novels: A Season for Killing Blondes and Between Land and Sea. The murder mystery failed to launch. Agents and editors were amused by the premise—A brunette lottery winner never has an alibi when dead blondes turn up in dumpsters near her favorite haunts—but they passed on the novel. Between Land and Sea, a fantasy about a middle-aged mermaid, didn’t fare much better.

Frustrated, I sought the advice of a visiting author. He met with me after reading the first 25 pages of my novel. He got right down to business.

“You’ve got an interesting premise here. Excellent plot development. And I like what you’ve done with the female characters, but—”

“Go on, I can take it.”

He sighed and shook his head. “The “b” word. It’s all over these pages.”

I couldn’t remember using any inappropriate language, let alone the “b” word. What on earth was he talking about?

“Boomers,” he whispered. “All the characters are over 50. You need youngins.”

“What do you mean by youngins?”

“Characters in their twenties and early thirties. That’s what selling now.”

I thanked him for his time but decided not to follow his advice. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the anti-boomer talk. At every creative writing workshop and seminar during that spring, I encountered more of the “youth” talk, most of it spoken in hushed tones.

“It’s okay to have an older woman as a sleuth but make sure you surround her with younger characters.”

“Don’t mention anything about boomers in your query letter.”

“Don’t even think about using retirement homes or nursing homes in your novel.”

I persisted, determined more than ever to feature boomer women and their older sisters as protagonists in my novels. I would love to say that the universe saw fit to reward my efforts, but that was not the case. Instead, more rejection letters followed.

In 2012, the winds of change started blowing.

The term “boomer lit” was bandied about on social media, and groups formed on Twitter and Facebook. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Intouchables and Quartet attracted record crowds and Downton Abbey became a worldwide sensation.

People were taking a closer look at heavyweights like Maggie Smith, Dame Judy Dench, Bill Nighy and Francois Cluzet. The younger supporting casts added color, but for the most part were forgettable and expendable. I don’t think anyone can imagine Downton Abbey without the Dowager Countess.

Those favorable boomer winds also blew in my direction. On January 31, 2013, senior editor Debby Gilbert of Soul Mate Publishing offered me a contract for Between Land and Sea. The novel was released in mid September 2013.

Feeling validated, I revisited A Season for Killing Blondes and reworked several plot issues and characters. After one round of editors, the cozy mystery found a home. On August 16, 2014, editor Johanna Melaragno of The Wild Rose Press offered me a contract.

Blurb- A Season for Killing Blondes

Three ASeasonforKillingBlondes_w9101_750 (2) thousand euros worth of pastries. Can you believe it?

When I agreed to import the pastries, I had no idea I would be subsidizing the failing Italian economy and helping Silvio Berlusconi stay in power for a few weeks longer. Left to my own devices, I would have gone down the street to Regency Bakery, picked up some pastries and just walked them over. But my mother and Aunt Amelia were adamant. The open house for my new career counseling office needed a proper launch, one that could only be achieved with pastries from a Sicilian bakery.

To be fair, both of them were horrified when they saw that final four-figure amount on the invoice and swore me to secrecy. While conspicuous consumption is valued in the Italian community, being taken for a ride is not, and we would never hear the end of it from Uncle Paolo who is still complaining about the ten cents he has to pay for a shopping bag at No Frills.

I watched my mother rearrange the amaretto cookies, stuffed figs, biscotti, and other delicacies that had arrived yesterday. She and Aunt Amelia had brought in their best silver trays and carts and spent hours—according to Uncle Paolo—creating a colorful Italian corner.

“Everything is perfect. Maybe too perfect.” My mother made the sign of the cross and mumbled a Hail Mary.

“Relax, Ma. I’ve got everything under control. Nothing bad will happen.”

“Things have been going too well, Gilda. The lottery win. Your new career. This beautiful office. I’ve had one of my dreams, and you know what that means.”

Buy Links

Amazon (Canada) – http://is.gd/t0g1KZ

Amazon (United States) – http://is.gd/jADjPp

Amazon (United Kingdom) – http://is.gd/8mknFJ

Amazon (Australia) – http://is.gd/r843iX

Kobo – http://is.gd/BpO9gY

Bio

In high school, Joanne dabbled in poetry, but it would be over three decades before she entertained the idea of writing as a career. She listened to her practical Italian side and earned degrees in mathematics and education. She experienced many fulfilling moments as she watched her students develop an appreciation (and sometimes, love) of mathematics. Later, she obtained a post-graduate diploma as a career development practitioner and put that skill set to use in the co-operative education classroom. She welcomed this opportunity to help her students experience personal growth and acquire career direction through their placements.

In 2008, she took advantage of early retirement and decided to launch a second career that would tap into her creative side and utilize her well-honed organizational skills. Slowly, a writing practice emerged. Her articles and book reviews were published in newspapers, magazines, and online. When she tried her hand at fiction, she made reinvention a recurring theme in her novels and short stories. A member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, and Romance Writers of America, Joanne writes paranormal romance, cozy mysteries, and inspirational literature from her home base of Guelph, Ontario.

Where to find Joanne…

Website: http://joanneguidoccio.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joanneguidoccio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjoanneguidoccio

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanneguidoccio

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jguidoccio/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7277706.Joanne_Guidoccio

Guest Author Marianne Jones

June 27, 2015June 4, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 1 Comment

Sisters in Crime (or The Birth of a Murder Mystery)

I blame my sister. For years she has been a huge mystery fan, especially of Agatha Christie and the various British detective series’ on television. I had been pursuing the literary life since childhood, and had published a mixed bag of poetry, dramas, short fiction, newspaper and magazine articles, and children’s books. Yet I had never considered attempting a murder mystery.

And then my sister Karen said to me one day, “You should write a murder mystery set in Thunder Bay.”

Thunder Bay, Ontario, our home town, is a small city in the center of Canada, nestled at the head of Lake Superior. It’s set in the midst of some of the loveliest natural beauty you’ll ever see, but because it is geographically isolated, most people are unaware of it. Those that are aware tend to ignore it. Karen thought that made it the ideal location for a good whodunit.

At first I dismissed the idea. But Karen is nothing if not persistent. Finally, I relented enough to say, “If you come up with an idea, I’ll write it.”

Of course, you know what happened. She called my bluff. She gave me a story idea loosely based on a disastrous women’s retreat she had attended. As she described the unfortunate event, I began to visualize my protagonists, middle-aged church ladies Margaret and Louise in the middle of it. At that point I was hooked, and The Serenity Stone Murder was conceived.

Sometimes I hit a snag with the story, and would call on Karen and her daughter Kirsti for advice. Over nachos and ciders at our favourite Thunder Bay restaurant, (appropriately called The Madhouse), the three of us partners in crime plotted together.

It was especially fun to write about Thunder Bay and the surrounding area, with its familiar landmarks. The fictional town of Jackpine, where my intrepid heroines reside, was modelled on any number of the small towns in Northwestern Ontario. Having lived in one of those small towns for five years, I knew well the winter longings of their residents to come to the “big city” of Thunder Bay for shopping and entertainment.

Writing Cover The Serenity Stone Murder has been a fun ride. Happily, Stacey Voss, editor and owner of Split Tree Publishing, thought it was a great read as well. And readers from as far away as Kenya and New Zealand, have been enjoying it as well! So now there is no stopping Margaret and Louise. They’re already embarking on their next adventure—in the Thunder Bay region, of course!

The Serenity Stone Murder

What are two nice middle-aged church ladies doing at a New Age goddess conference? And what does it have to do with the mysterious death of Thunder Bay’s casino manager? Will Mary Carlisle, organist at St. Stephen’s Church, capture the heart of Thomas Greenfield, church gardener?

Find out the answers to these, and other burning questions in The Serenity Stone Murder, a kinder, gentler murder mystery set in Thunder Bay, Ontario, home of the Sleeping Giant, the Hoito Restaurant, and the world-famous Persion cinnamon bun. For those who like their mysteries served up with a side dish of humour.

Buy links: http://www.amazon.com/Serenity-Stone-Murder-Marianne-Jones-ebook/dp/B00ODELIZA

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-serenity-stone-murder-marianne-jones/1120454547?ean=9780981251684

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/the-serenity-stone-murder/id928612148?mt=11

https://store.kobobooks.com/ebook/the-serenity-stone-murder

Writer Bio

Marianne Jones is a retired teacher from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Canadian Living, The Globe and Mail, and numerous literary and denominational publications. Her books include The Land of Mogan, a children’s fantasy novel, Here, on the Ground, an award-winning collection of poetry, Great- Grandma’s Gifts, a picture book for preschool and early elementary, and The Serenity Stone Murder, a cozy mystery set in Thunder Bay.

Marianne has been named International Poet Laureate by Utmost Christian Writers. Her poetry has won numerous awards, and some of them are permanently installed at Prince Arthur’s Landing at Marina Park in Thunder Bay.

Social media links:

Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/MarianneJonesAuthor

Twitter https://www.twitter.com/MarianneJones@Mariann36863659

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/mariannejones

Google+ https://mail.google.com/jonesmarianne2@gmail.com

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/marianne jones

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/jonesmarianne

Website https://www.mariannejones.ca

Location, Location, Location by Carole Sojka

June 18, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

Readers often ask me if I’ve ever lived in Florida, and when I say I haven’t, they ask, logically, I suppose, “Then why are your mysteries set there?” But I’m afraid I don’t really know the answer. Because I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer who doesn’t outline and who lets the characters dictate the course of the story, Florida as a setting just kind of happened.

My friend of longest duration−−we met as babies−−lives in the area where A REASON TO KILL is set, and I’ve visited her often over the years. On my trips we went to the usual tourist sites, and I found attractions that found their way into my imagination and then into my books.

My original idea for the story centered around the houses of refuge built by the U.S. government in the late nineteenth century. The barrier islands along the Florida coast were the scene of many shipwrecks from the years when the Spaniards sailed ships back to Europe loaded with treasure until today. These islands had no fresh water, no food, no inhabitants, and until recently, no means of communication with the outside world. Surviving a shipwreck didn’t mean the sailors would live. Stranded, they died of thirst and starvation before they could be rescued.

Starting in 1876, the U.S. government built ten houses of refuge along the barrier islands to provide shelter, food and water to men shipwrecked and stranded on these islands until they could be rescued. The Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge is the last remaining one, and my first idea for a novel was centered on the wife of a keeper of the house, a lonely woman isolated with her husband, who falls in love with a shipwrecked sailor.

That idea didn’t make it past a few draft chapters, but still I liked the house of refuge setting. Mara, my alcoholic character and the one suspected of murder in A REASON TO KILL, was my original protagonist, and she was closely tied to the Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge. But I felt more comfortable with a police detective who had the authority to ask questions and demand answers rather than an amateur sleuth, so I created Andi Battaglia, the detective in the Burgess Beach Police Department. I kept Mara and her problem with alcohol in the story, but she became a more minor character. Thus are settings and stories born.

Besides the houses of refuge, I also was interested in the groups who observed and protected the endangered loggerhead turtles as they came ashore along the coast to lay their eggs. This became the setting for the poisoning of Max Denman in A REASON TO KILL.

Once I set the first book in Burgess Beach, my pseudonym for the real town of Jensen Beach, when I wrote the second book, SO MANY REASONS TO DIE, of course it was also set in Florida. This time my range expanded south to Miami and South Beach and north to Fort Pierce. The area, by the way, was christened the Treasure Coast because of the 1961 discovery of treasure from, among other shipwrecks, the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet, lost in a hurricane near the Sebastian Inlet.

Perhaps Andi and Greg will leave Burgess Beach in the third book—now in progress—but I can’t tell you that yet because I’m only the writer. It’s up to the characters to decide.

A REASON TO KI Cover__8x5 LL is the first in the series. When nine strangers convene on a Florida beach to observe and protect the endangered loggerhead turtles nesting there, one dies of poison and another turns up dead soon after. It’s up to Andi Battaglia, a rookie detective in the Burgess Beach Police Department, to find out who among the remaining wildlife supporters has a reason to kill.

When in SO MANY REASONS TO DIE, Andi’s police partner, Greg Lamont, walks onto the murder scene of his ex-lover, he and Andi find themselves tangling with dangerous drug dealers amid the sizzling nightclubs of Miami’s South Beach.

See you all next month.