Category: Guest Blogger

Guest Blogger~Margaret Fenton

~ patyjag ~ 3 Comments

Hello to all you wonderful readers!  My name is Margaret Fenton and I write the Little mysteries, LITTLE LAMB LOST, LITTLE GIRL GONE, and LITTLE WHITE LIES published by Aaakenbaaken and Kent.  They feature child welfare social worker Claire Conover.  Claire works for the fictional Jefferson County Department of Human Services in Birmingham, Alabama.  In real life several years ago, I was the mental health consultant for the Jefferson County Department of Human Resources and was surrounded by child welfare workers as my department helped to keep their clients out of foster care.  So most of my knowledge for the books came from my living it. Sort of.

          I read primarily cozy mysteries, and have for years. One of my all-time favorite writers was Anne George, who wrote the Southern Sisters series set here in Birmingham. I got to know Anne a bit before she passed away in 2001.  We were on our way to a Sisters in Crime meeting one evening and I admitted I had some interest in writing a cozy. I had a basic idea but it wasn’t going anywhere. She said “I would think that as a social worker, you come into contact with all sorts of evil people.  You could have a protagonist who is a social worker and that could be the reason she gets involved.”

          Bingo.  Thanks Anne. I went home and wrote the rough draft of LITTLE LAMB LOST. Claire gets to work one day and one of her little clients is dead from an overdose.  The police assume it’s the mother and arrest her, but Claire knows differently. There’s some romance, too, when Claire meets Grant Summerville and they begin dating.

In the second book, LITTLE GIRL GONE, Claire takes custody of a 13-year-old found sleeping behind a local Piggly Wiggly.  I would describe my books as amateur sleuth rather than cozy, but they are on the lighter side. Yes, Claire works with abused and neglected children, but all the violence is very off-screen. 

          In the third book, LITTLE WHITE LIES, a mayoral candidate’s office is bombed.  A staff member’s body is found in the rubble, and his daughter is left at a daycare overnight.  Claire takes custody of little Maddie and it turns out her deceased father was living under an assumed name.  I wanted to put a bombing in this book.  My beloved Birmingham was known as Bombingham during the Civil Rights struggle in last century, and racism is something we still continue to confront and work on here. Claire gets a foster child in this book, too, an amazing young lady named LaReesa we meet in the second book.  This puts all sorts of stress on Claire’s relationship with her boyfriend, Grant. Plus, there’s her forbidden attraction to reporter Kirk Mahoney. 

I’m working on the fourth installment, called LITTLE BOY BLUE.  I don’t want to give too much away, but you’ll get to find out what happens when you threaten someone Claire loves. Stay tuned!

A tense, taut and timely tale featuring Birmingham, Alabama child welfare social worker protagonist Claire Conover, Little White Lies is a gripping tale about secrets, revenge, temptation and the big cost of those little white lies. 

About Little White Lies:  When the office of black mayoral candidate Dr. Marcus Freedman is bombed, Claire Conover is drawn into another mystery. While Marcus is found safe, his campaign manager Jason O’Dell is found dead in the rubble. Claire’s office gets a call about Jason’s daughter Maddie who was left at her daycare, who becomes Claire’s latest charge as she investigates what happened. 

But what—or who—is behind this attack? Turns out there are more questions than answers when it is revealed that Jason O’Dell is living under an assumed name—and he’s actually Jason Alsbrook, the son of a prominent local mine owner James Alsbrook.  James Alsbrook and his mining company have an unseemly notoriety for having the most mining accidents and deaths in Alabama. Not surprisingly, there are many people who would wish harm to him and to his family. But who would’ve acted on that hatred?

As she works to keep little Maddie safe and find out who would’ve harmed Jason—and why—Claire uncovers a complex web of deception, secrets, and lies.  As she struggles to piece together this dangerous puzzle, Claire weathers the storms in her personal life as the addition of a foster child, and a burgeoning friendship with reporter Kirk Mahoney, threaten to rip apart everything Claire holds dear.  In the end, will those little white lies  come with a big cost?  Expect the unexpected in this mesmerizing Claire Conover mystery.

Brimming with tension and a pulse-quickening plot that races from page one, Little White Lies is a clever, confident and captivating read. Margaret Fenton delivers an unforgettable novel resplendent with seamless plotting, compelling characters, and a storyline to die for. A standout novel in Fenton’s critically acclaimed Claire Conover series, Little White Lies is not to be missed.

BUY LINKS
Little White Lies – By Margaret Fenton (paperback) : Target

Little White Lies book (thriftbooks.com)

Little White Lies (Paperback) – Walmart.com

Margaret Fenton writes the Little mystery series featuring child welfare social worker Claire Conover.  She spent nearly ten years as a child and family therapist for her county’s child welfare department before focusing on writing. Her work tends to reflect her interest in social causes and mental health, especially where kids are concerned. Her favorite mystery writers are too numerous to mention, but she tends to gravitate toward amateur sleuth and historical mysteries. She has been a planning coordinator of Murder in the Magic City in Birmingham, Alabama since its inception in February 2003 (mmcmysteryconference.com). Margaret lives in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover with her husband, a retired software developer, three adorable Papillon dogs, and lots and lots of books. Her website is margaretfenton.com and she loves to hear from readers.

Guest Blogger ~ DK Coutant

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

The lure of traditional mysteries…

I believe we are what we read, (not only what we eat). I write mysteries, but growing up I read mysteries…Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, and don’t tell my younger brother, but I borrowed his Hardy Boys. Years later, I became a psychology professor and taught at a University. I found I scored high on Need for Cognition. That’s a psychological dimension which indicates a tendency to enjoy thinking. I like to solve problems, solve puzzles, and it probably also explains my addiction to Duolingo. My guess is that most people who enjoy mysteries also have a high need for cognition. They like to think. If you want to find out how you score I’ve put a self-test at the end with a scoring key.

That same need to think, lead me into geopolitical forecasting. I like to untangle and make sense of disparate information. I’m not an expert on most of the topics I’m asked to forecast. I have dive into each new subject matter and narrow down the information to the essentials of a specific question I’m asked to forecast. (Do you want to give forecasting a try? Links here)

https://www.gjopen.com/

https://www.infer-pub.com/frequently-asked-questions#whatisinfer

The process of writing mysteries also relies on my desire to ruminate over ideas. I’ve got to devise a murder that will have breadcrumbs leading to the killer, but also diverse, and intriguing red herrings that might distract my readers down alternative paths.

To narrow down to my sub-genre, traditional mysteries, I don’t write super-bloody, violent books. I know some people love them and they are very popular. But in my geopolitical forecasting I track bloody conflicts and death rates. When I write I want to leave that behind. Sure, there has to be a death in a murder mystery, but, while not strict cozies, my mysteries are on the lighter side. For the reader like me, who believes there is enough violence and darkness in their world and looks for something complex, but fun, and not too pollyannish. I use my craft, to find happy endings…  and a balance in life. I enjoy my rainy days as much as my sunny ones.

Items That Compose the Need for Cognition Scale–6 (NCS-6)

1. I would prefer complex to simple problems.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

2. I like to have the responsibility of handling a situation that requires a lot of thinking.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

3. Thinking is not my idea of fun. (R)

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

4. I would rather do something that requires little thought than something that is sure to challenge my thinking abilities. (R)

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

5. I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

6. I would prefer a task that is intellectual, difficult, and important to one that is somewhat important but does not require much thought.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

To score yourself start with questions 3 and 4. They are reverse scored, so if you answered 1 change it to a 5, 2 changes to 4, 3 stays the same, 4 to 2 and 5 to 1.

After you have done that add up your score. A higher score demonstrates a high need for cognition, a lower score indicates an individual not as motivated to think and problem-solve.

(for more information on Need for Cognition:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7545655/

Paradise is shaken when the body of a young woman is dragged onto a university research vessel during a class outing in Hilo Bay. Cleo Cooper is shaken when she finds her favorite student is on the hook for the murder. Danger lurks on land and sea as Cleo and her friends are enticed to search for the true killer. Between paddling, swimming, and arguing with her boyfriend, Cleo discovers everything is not what it seems on the Big Island of Hawaii. But will she find the truth before she becomes the next victim?

Buy links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88564113-evil-alice-and-the-borzoi

https://www.bookbub.com/books/evil-alice-and-the-borzoi-a-cleo-cooper-mystery-book-1-by-dk-coutant

https://bookshop.org/p/books/evil-alice-and-the-borzoi-dk-coutant/19649122

https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Alice-Borzoi-Cooper-Mystery/dp/150924591X

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/evil-alice-and-the-borzoi-dk-coutant/1142929587

DK Coutant graduated from Davidson College with a Psychology degree, and applied her behavioral training at Sea World, training dolphins and whales. Realizing that scrubbing fish buckets might get old, she went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in Psychology. Her academic career began at the University of Southern Maine before DK made the jump to the University of Hawaii at Hilo rising to Department Chair of the Psychology Department. After many happy years in Hawaii, DK made the move out of academics to become a professional geopolitical forecaster for GJP, Inc ( https://goodjudgment.com/Inc ) and INFER  ( https://www.infer-pub.com/). Evil Alice and the Borzoi is her first work of fiction published by The Wild Rose Press.

Social Media Links:

Twitter: @dkcoutant

Instagram: @DKCandDog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087049617707

Mastodon: https://lor.sh/@dkcoutant

Guest Blogger ~ Deni Starr

~ patyjag

My interest in mysteries may stem from my sister’s attempt on my life when I was young, re-enacted in this photo by my father some time later. Knowing my father, he probably did ten takes of this before he got one he was satisfied with.

            I have a series put out by Silverleaf Publishing which has co-protagonists Sean O’Conner a retired boxer and his friend- then business partner then wife, Cindy Matasar, FBI trained private investigator. By book five, “Down for the Count” they are engaged and running their own private investigative service, Sean providing the money and muscle, Cindy the expertise.

            The plot for “Down for the Count” originated because I was watching a documentary, “Spotlight” about how the Boston Globe exposed child abuse by local Catholic priests and I thought this subject would be a good back story for a mystery, so I did an intensive amount of research on the history of the problem and the legal proceedings in America. I was surprised to learn that celibacy has nothing to do with it. That had been my original assumption.

            In my book, I tried to very hard to be fair, and being a former public defender who believes in presumption of innocence, the priest in my book (spoiler alert) proves to not be guilty of abusing a boy. I tried to balance that out with real victims so as to not give the impression that its common for children to lie about having been victimized, and include both unfair prejudices against priests and some documented bigotry on the part of priests, hoping to cover all the angles. Several of the books I read were by priests who want the church to fix this problem, as well as one book by a woman who was abused as a child, became a nun, and now leads a SNAP (victims of priests) support group. I also added current events since during the time that I wrote this book, there were a number of articles about a formal Seattle archbishop being accused, and a meeting of the American Bishops on this subject and some of the changes they made to address it. There was also a spate of articles regarding a dispute between a cardinal and Pope Francis because the cardinal in question felt the problem would be solved if Pope Francis would kick out all the gay priests, and there were claims that suspected offenders were being moved around so claims against them could be ignored. It was a change for me to see current newspaper articles on my subject since my former subjects have been World War I, World War II, and Victorian England. I did the research of World War II for book four of the series, “Saved by the Bell” because the villain (and I have no idea why I did this) belonged to the Arrow Cross after the Nazi’s invaded Hungary, so I checked out that history and learned about the Gold Train- a train loaded with loot stolen from Jewish Hungarians that the SS tried to sneak out of Hungary when it looked like the Russians were going to win. That train was captured by Allies and the goods redistributed, but there is also believed to have been a similar attempt made in Poland with the “Ghost Train” which so far, no one has found, which I’m thinking of using as a subject for another book.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT

Very reluctantly, retired boxer Sean O’Conner and former public defender investigator Cindy Matasar now running their own investigation firm, agree to look into charges of sexual abuse on behalf of a priest accused of molesting a little boy. Sean hates the idea, but his brother, Father John, knows Father Damien and is confident there is something wrong with the allegations. Sean has his fingers crossed that it’s a simple case of mistaken identity. No such luck

            Sean and Cindy set about interviewing men who had been in the Catholic Youth Boxing Program as boys, and other priests who coached in the program, or who will vouch for Father Damien. Just when they think they’ve locked in evidence to exonerate the ninety-year-old defendant, they receive a mysteries missive that heads them in the other direction and just when they think they got that sorted out, Father Damien is found dead in what Sean thinks a clear-cut case of suicide, an admission of guilt, but which the Church insists was an accident.

            Dogging their footsteps and filing professional complaints against them, are the investigators who are in-house with the law firm hired by the Church’s insurance company who are investigating the rest of the allegations against all the other named priests. They are supposed to be on the same team, but professional jealous is causing more than just friction. When Sean figures out that Father Damien’s death was neither suicide nor accident but murder, his rivals take credit for the discovery, leading to yet more complications and additional deaths.

            Now Sean and Cindy are in a race against time to find out who is responsible before the killer discovers that they are the one’s finding all the clues, and gets to them first.  

Buy link:

https://a.co/d/gS0tum3

Deni Starr, a native Portlander and fourth generation Oregonian, a fact she intends to mention prominently should she ever run for office, started devoting her time to writing novels after out-growing the practice of law. She has five novels published by Silverleaf Publishing featuring her ex-professional boxer, Sean O’Conner and his professional investigator friend, Cindy Matasar who investigate boxing themed mysteries set in contemporary Portland. They are “Below the Belt” “Sucker-Punched”, “Throwing in the Towel.”, “Saved by the Bell”, and “Down for the The Count”. She also has “Murder by the Sea” by Launchpoint Press

            The author attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and graduated with Honors and Special Distinction majoring in English with an emphasis on creative writing and journalism. The Author then attended Willamette Law School in Salem, Oregon, and practiced law while also obtaining her black belt in Wu Ying Tao karate. Her law practice emphasized representing women victims of gender crimes, appellate law, and indigent criminal defense. She also has a background in private investigation.

            She lives in Portland with her two dogs, Ekaterina Vitalia Dementiava, and Alexandretta Elena Dementiava, and her two cats, Mad Max and Mocha.

Denistarrmysteries.com

Deni Starr Author- FB

Guest Blogger ~ Karen Randau

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

Where Ideas Are Born

People often ask where I get the ideas for my books. Like most authors, I get flashes of genius from a variety of sources: news stories, dreams, walking down the street, people watching, or just standing in the shower. The idea for the Peach Blossom Romantic Suspense series struck when my sister and I visited the small town of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, which is where the Cherokee Nation is headquartered.

Family lore says we descend from Cherokee ancestors, and that trip to Tahlequah started an effort to find those ancestors, especially after we saw the statue of an ancient Cherokee chief with the same last name as some of our relatives. We found our Cherokee ancestors, but we were disappointed to discover we can’t be members of the Cherokee Nation.

The reason is that in the 1800s, Native Americans who could live as white people, did. That’s what our ancestors did. They aren’t listed on what’s called the Final Dawes Roll, which is a registry of Native Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes in the east and resettled to what is now Oklahoma and parts of the neighboring states. That area was called Indian Country. You may recognize that name from old western movies.

But back to Tahlequah and where I got the idea for the Peach Blossom Romantic Suspense series.

Tahlequah’s prominent sidewalk documents the history of the Cherokee Nation. Walking that sidewalk made me want to write a book set in the area.

My fictional town of Peach Blossom is near Tahlequah. Each novel in the Peach Blossom Romantic Suspense series can be read as a standalone book, but you’ll get more backstory on the town and the characters by reading them in order.

The first book, Into the Fog (available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook), contains references to the Cherokee Nation culture and art. The most recent book, From Chaos, features the victim in book 1, Kelsey White. Her love interest, Gregorio Moreno, is the best friend of the co-protagonist in book 1.

Kelsey fled her ex-husband’s family in Boston with too many dangerous secrets to risk sharing. Gregorio shields his broken heart with an adrenaline-filled lifestyle and one-night stands. For the eight months of their platonic friendship, Gregorio’s reputation has caused Kelsey to keep him at arm’s length. She’ll only see him in groups.

He finally talks her into a solo date without all their friends to chaperone, and, wouldn’t you know it, they witness an execution-style murder. The killers see them, and they’re now on the run. To survive, they must face their fears, flaws, secrets, and the lies they tell themselves.

The idea for From Chaos hit me when I was writing Into the Fog and wanted to tell Kelsey’s full story and not let her remain a victim.

Stay tuned for the third book in the series, Deadly Christmas Secret, which should be released, you guessed it, around Christmas time. The idea for that story happened when I saw a news report about a car crashing into someone’s house.

I just learned Into the Fog  made the finals in the Selah 2023 awards under romantic suspense. And the audiobook is now available. https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Into-the-Fog/dp/B0BXML32RJ/r

From Chaos

Book 2 in the Peach Blossom Romantic Suspense Series

After Kelsey White is forced to flee from her ex-husband’s family with soul-crushing secrets she can’t risk revealing, she hides in the small farming community of Peach Blossom, Oklahoma, but she finds herself in a situation more dangerous than ever before. Gregorio Moreno uses extreme sports and shallow relationships to shield his heart from the pain of his wife disappearing with no explanation. His only contact with her in two years are the divorce papers he received shortly after she left. The second Greg meets Kelsey, he knows she’s the blonde of his dreams.

But for eight months of a platonic friendship, the mysterious Kelsey only agrees to see Greg in groups. He finally convinces to join him for a solo dinner date, and their lives are turned upside down by witnessing a murder. The killers are now stalking them, seeming to anticipating Kelsey and Greg’s every move. With no one else to turn to, Kelsey and Greg must outwit their pursuers or risk becoming victims themselves.

Follow the riveting story of two friends with very different backgrounds whose traumas convince them they aren’t good enough for a second chance at love. But will the murderers let them have their happily ever after they crave?

Get From Chaos today to discover if Kelsey and Greg escape their chaos!

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTK977YS

Karen Randau is an award-winning and chart-topping author of fast-paced, clean mystery and suspense books, all with at least a dash of romance. After a childhood of moving too many times for her to pinpoint where she grew up, she planted roots in the mountains of Arizona, where constant exposure to nature means creative ideas abound.

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/klrandau

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/klrandau

Website: https://www.karenrandau.com

Guest Blogger ~ June Trop

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

Ancient Roman Forensics

As the author of the Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series set in first-century CE Roman-occupied Alexandria, I regularly research the investigative techniques used in Roman times. In writing my latest book, The Deadliest Deceptions, a collection of short mysteries ranging from cozy to noir, I found myself focusing on Roman forensics. No, the Romans didn’t know about fingerprints and DNA, but in time, their courts accepted evidence based on blood spatters, dental characteristics, and pattern recognition.

Perhaps the most famous case based on blood spatters was “The Wall of Handprints”, in which a blind son was accused of killing his father for his inheritance. The prosecution argued that the father was asleep with his wife, his son’s stepmother, when his son stabbed him to death. Furthermore, the father died instantly without having awakened his wife, and the son left a trail of intermittent handprints and blood spatters on the wall from their room back to his own.

On the other hand, the defense attorney claimed that it was the stepmother who killed her husband. Upset that she would lose the inheritance, she framed her stepson. The lawyer successfully argued that the son, being blind, would not have left intermittent prints. Rather he would have dragged his hand along the wall. So, despite their lack of knowledge about the components of blood, the Romans used its prints and spatters to reconstruct the crime.

Julia Agrippina, a.k.a. Agrippina the Younger, used dental characteristics to confirm that Lollia Paulina was dead. Having ordered Paulina’s suicide, Agrippina confirmed her rival’s death by asking for Paulina’s head and inspecting the teeth herself. She must have been satisfied because she did not have anyone else killed for five more years.

Pattern recognition marks convinced the Roman emperor Tiberius that his praetor’s wife died by murder rather than suicide. He saw drag marks and other signs of a struggle to contradict the husband’s claim that his wife had jumped out the window while he was sound asleep. Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate, but alas, the praetor opened his veins instead.

        Roman forensics may date back two thousand years, but even modern evidence from blood spatters, dental characteristics, and pattern recognition can be wrongfully interpreted. Just not in my stories. You can depend on Miriam bat Isaac and her assistants to look at wounds, loss of body heat, skeletal proportions, blood spatters, foot prints, and disturbed foliage to assess a crime correctly.

THE DEADLIEST DECEPTIONS

Enter the world of first-century CE Roman Alexandria and participate in the perilous adventures of Miriam bat Isaac, budding alchemist and sleuth extraordinaire. Join her and her deputy Phoebe as they struggle to solve nine of their most baffling cases beginning with the locked-room murder of a sailor in which Miriam is baffled by not just who killed the sailor but how he could have died and how the killer could have entered and escaped from the room.

But be careful as you accompany them into the city’s malignant underbelly. Whether or not you can help them solve the crimes, your blood will flow faster as you escape to that world of adventure we all long for.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon for Kindle    https://www.amazon.com/Deadliest-Deceptions-Collection-Miriam-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0BT3W7V1B

Amazon for Paperback   https://www.amazon.com/Deadliest-Deceptions-Collection-Mysteries-Mystery/dp/1685122752

June Trop and her twin sister Gail wrote their first story, “The Steam Shavel [sic],” when they were six years old growing up in rural New Jersey. They sold it to their brother Everett for two cents.

“I don’t remember how I spent my share,” June says. “You could buy a fistful of candy for a penny in those days, but ever since then, I wanted to be a writer.”

As an award-winning middle school science teacher, June used storytelling to capture her students’ imagination and interest in scientific concepts. Years later as a professor of teacher education, she focused her research on the practical knowledge teachers construct and communicate through storytelling. Her first book, From Lesson Plans to Power Struggles (Corwin Press, 2009), is based on the stories new teachers told about their first classroom experiences.

Now associate professor emerita at the State University of New York, she devotes her time to writing The Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series. Her heroine is based on the personage of Maria Hebrea, the legendary founder of Western alchemy, who developed the concepts and apparatus alchemists and chemists would use for 1500 years.

As an award-winning middle school science teacher, June Trop used storytelling to capture her students’ imagination and interest in scientific concepts. Years later as a professor of teacher education, she focused her research on the practical knowledge teachers construct and communicate through storytelling. Her first book, From Lesson Plans to Power Struggles (Corwin Press, 2009), is based on the stories new teachers told about their first classroom experiences.

Now associate professor emerita at the State University of New York, she devotes her time to writing The Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series. Her heroine is based on the personage of Maria Hebrea, the legendary founder of Western alchemy, who developed the concepts and apparatus alchemists and chemists would use for 1500 years.

June, an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, lives with her husband Paul Zuckerman, where she is breathlessly recording her plucky heroine’s next life-or-death exploit.

Facebook    https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044318365389

Website       https://www.junetrop.com/