Category: Guest Blogger

Guest Blogger ~ Jennifer Worrell

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Atmosphere is the most delicious aspect of any book. I connect strongly with stories that envelop me into its world and make me feel like I’m living it along with the character.  I like to unsettle readers and immerse them in the same way, so they feel there’s no escape until they reach the last page. 

I wanted to write a modern noir inspired by the black and white movies and dark fiction of the 40s and 50s, The danger lurking in the quiet corners, the unspoken emotions, the dialogue delivered in short patter, hits all the right buttons for me.  So I was pleased as punch that someone called it “Midwest noir” in a review. 

My protagonist, Val, came from my enjoyment of reading characters that are a little off-center.  People who are not so nice, with twisted thoughts and less-than-savory motivations, yet not quite villains.  Characters who are less than successful, especially when they don’t realize how much.  They feel more like real people than we’d maybe care to admit. 

His love interest, Sandra, as well as his agent, Graham, are both antagonists as well as the story’s brighter characters.  Though I consider Sundown pretty dark, they counteract the shadows with a little lightheartedness.  Sandra’s dry wit was fun to write, and Graham is the type of friend anyone would be grateful to have in their corner.

The idea for the plot came from asking “what if” to things I was seeing on the news at the time.  Val (a much more successful author than I am) decides to write a dystopian conspiracy thriller about the crime rate in his city, with a nameless society covertly ending the lives of its residents when they no longer serve a purpose.  Being an older gent himself—Val’s personal “last chapter” looming closer than he’d like to admit—this concept feels urgent and chilling.  Unfortunately for him—and quite a few other people—the idea isn’t new.  It isn’t fiction.  And the members of this society are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep Val’s book from hitting shelves and revealing their secrets.

One of my favorite subgenres to read is the fugitive story.  Although Edge of Sundown doesn’t qualify in the traditional sense, a few of the final chapters have that feel, and they contain some of my favorite scenes.

I’m pleased to announce there’s a promotion going on until November 15.  Click here for a chance to win a $260 Amazon gift card.  Later this month, Edge of Sundown will be discounted to celebrate my publisher’s tenth anniversary.  Subscribe to my newsletter for an update.

Val Haverford’s sci-fi and western novels made him a household name. But that was then. A decade of creative stagnation and fading health has left him in the literary wilderness. Attempting to end his dry spell and secure his legacy, Val pens a dystopian conspiracy theory set in a tangential universe where alien invaders eliminate ‘undesirables’ perceived as drains on society. But as he digs deeper into violence plaguing his adopted home of Chicago, he discovers unsettling similarities between his work in progress and a life he thought he left behind. Soon he finds his fictional extremists are not only real—they’re intent on making sure his book never sees the light of day. As he pieces together haunting truths about his city and his motives, Val realizes his last chance to revive his career and reconcile the past could get him—and the people he loves—killed. Will he make the right choice? Or will it be too late? Edge of Sundown is a provocative story that shows how the desperation of lost opportunity can lead to drastic and unexpected consequences.

If Jennifer were to make a deal with the Devil, she’d ask to live—in good health—just until she’s finished reading all the books. She figures that’s pretty square. In case other bibliophiles attempt the same scheme, she’s working hard to get all her ideas on paper. She writes multi-genre fiction and is currently working on a sci-fi novel and a handful of picture books that may or may not be suitable for children. Edge of Sundown is her first novel. Her short fiction and essays appear in Write City Magazine, Writing Disorder, Raconteur, Little Old Lady Comedy and Beneath Strange Stars.

Socials: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Website

Buy link: mybook.to/edgeofsundown

Guest Blogger ~ Lorie Lewis Ham

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Why I Write Mysteries

I have been writing in some form for most of my life—poems, songs, short stories, articles, and of course, mystery novels. It was in my mid-teens that I discovered mysteries, thanks to my younger brother who introduced me to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. From that moment on, I was hooked—not only as a reader, but I knew that was what I wanted to write.

In my early twenties, I took a creative writing class and my teacher kept trying to get me to write Christian romances. I think she saw me as an innocent Christian girl so she felt that was what I should write—but how wrong she was (a story for another time LOL). Not only was I not a fan of romances, but every time I tried to write one to appease her, I ended up killing someone. I think it is important to be a fan of the genre that you write or else you can’t really do it justice.

The reason I write mysteries is the same as the reason I read mysteries. I love the puzzle of them—I love crafting one as a writer and as a reader, I love trying to figure it out. There is also satisfaction in seeing criminals brought to justice—of getting a satisfying conclusion that too often doesn’t happen in real life. In the real world things may be a mess and sometimes there is very little we can do about it—but in a mystery suddenly we have control—we can provide order and justice. Or as a reader, we get to experience it. I believe that is partially why mysteries have been so popular during the pandemic. I get a thrill out of putting together all of the clues and leading my main character, and the reader, to the solution. There is nothing quite like how it feels when it all comes together.

Personally, I also feel that mysteries give you the chance to delve deeper into your characters than you might in a romance because you are seeing more than the good side they may present to win the one they love—you see that no one is black and white. Not even our heroes are all black and white in a mystery—look at Sherlock Holmes—it is the “grayness” of his character that makes him so appealing. To find out what makes an ordinary person commit a crime fascinates me. What in their life, their journey, and their personality led them to this dark place? While I’m sure you can do this in any genre, in a mystery you almost have to.

I guess the bottom line is that a mystery can have everything-romance, murder, even at times fantasy or science fiction, but at its heart, it has to have a puzzle and a search for justice. This is what I love to read and to write.

One of Us

At thirty-five, children’s book author Roxi Carlucci finds herself starting over again after her publisher drops her book series. With no income, she has to pack up her life on the California Coast, along with her pet rat, Merlin, and move in with her cousin, P.I. Stephen Carlucci, who lives in Fresno, California. The one redeeming factor is that Stephen lives in the Tower District—the cultural oasis of Fresno. 

Stephen talks Roxi into helping out with a community theatre production, which is also a
fundraiser for a local animal rescue. Then someone is murdered during a rehearsal in the locked theatre, and now she and Stephen are hired to find the killer. The killer has to be one of Roxi’s new acquaintances since the theatre was locked at the time of the murder, but no one seems to have a motive. How can they solve a murder without a motive? Could the local gossip website hold any clues? Can they stop the killer before they strike again?

My new mystery One of Us is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, and Kobo.

Lorie Lewis Ham lives in Reedley, California and has been writing ever since she was a child, and publishing since she was 13. For the past 11 years, Lorie has been the editor-in-chief and publisher of Kings River Life Magazine, and she produces Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast where you can now hear an excerpt of her new book One of Us. You can learn more about Lorie and the new book on her website mysteryrat.com, where you can also sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her on Twitter @mysteryrat and Facebook.

Guest Blogger ~ Pamela Cowan

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When I start a new mystery as a reader, it’s like starting a puzzle. I watch breathlessly as a character I’ve become invested in finds clues, solves riddles, and eventually sees justice delivered.

As a writer I find that it’s fun to develop that character, as well as setting and plot and it’s challenging to plant information that the reader can use to solve the puzzle. I just want to be sure the reader doesn’t discover that solution until the last page!

When I wrote my first mystery, SOMETHING IN THE DARK, I wanted to keep that element of surprise. I didn’t want my readers to know who the killer was until I told them, but before I could create a nice, twisty ending, I had to find a compelling place to start.

They say most first novels are somewhat autobiographical in nature and I certainly wouldn’t argue with that.  The idea for SOMETHING IN THE DARK came directly from my childhood.

When I was young, eight or nine, my family lived in military housing on an army base in Germany. There was a laundry room in the basement of our apartment building. While the mothers did laundry the children played in the hallway. The hallway was long and narrow, perfect for races, and had white and dark gray floor tiles, perfect for hopscotch.  For races we’d usually start near the laundry room and end at the big hole-in-the-wall.

The hole was the entrance to an old cold war shelter. Its thick metal door had been wired open so that no one could get in, shut the door, and accidentally be locked inside. Beyond the door, a narrow band of light from the hallway fluorescents showed a strip of dirt floor. Beyond that, nothing but impenetrable darkness. No doubt our older and braver siblings would have explored that shadow-filled space. My friends and I preferred to stick with the familiar well-lit corridor.

As an adult who loved to read mystery and suspense thrillers, the memory of the scary atmosphere of that shelter came back to me. I wondered what it would have been like as a child to have entered that room only to have the door slam shut behind me, to be trapped in that room in the dark? Below is an excerpt from the book.

              ‘After a while, not knowing what else to do, she knocked on the door again, first rapping with her knuckles, then with her balled fists, and finally with the palms of her hands. Smack, smack, went her hands. Just like patty cake. Slap, slap, slap.’ 

After this sort of trauma, I suspected that even as an adult she would hate the sense of being closed in, that she’d avoid crowded rooms, airplanes, or elevators, and prefer the outdoors. Maybe finding herself in the dark would trigger a panic attack so severe she’d lose consciousness.

I decided she’d own a lawn maintenance company and work outdoors. She’d also own a small plant nursery. (With lots of delicious buildings in which she could be trapped.) She would have a supportive brother, a close friend, and a handsome therapist. Because, why not?

Wouldn’t it be strange and horrible though, if every time her phobia triggered an attack and she blacked out, that she’d come to, only to find someone close to her had been murdered?

All that remained to finish outlining my plot was to decide who was responsible for the murders and how Austin could keep the body count from rising. Was a serial killer playing games with her? Was something evil inside her, driving her to kill? Or had something in that bomb shelter come back with her—something she’d met in the dark?

Once I knew the answer, all I needed was one final element. A few days later I picked up a novel by a favorite writer of mine. It started out with a man standing under a group of pine trees in the snow, waiting. I realized that the element of setting, the Pacific Northwest, and the sense of hushed waiting that a fresh snowfall can give you was just the mood I needed. I sat down and six hours later had the basic outline, and first few chapters, of SOMETHING IN THE DARK.

Although I’ve published eight more novels and numerous short stories since then, and even though SOMETHING IN THE DARK has all the flaws and failings of a first book, it is still one of my favorites. 

If you’d like to read SOMETHING IN THE DARK free or check out my other novels, please visit my website at, http://www.pamelacowan.com where you can sign up for my monthly newsletter and subscriber drawing.

I also have a Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/pamelacowanwriter where I post new releases, reviews, and slightly dark but almost always hilarious humor.

Something in the Dark

Austin Ward thinks she’s learned to live with her fear of the dark. She’s put the past behind her and there’s even a new man in her life.

But when people she cares about are brutally murdered Austin realizes she can no longer pretend. To find the truth behind the deaths she must face and overcome her fear.

But who is the killer? Is it someone out to get her? Has a serial killer come to her small Pacific Northwest town? Or, has something sinister followed her from childhood, something she met once before…in the dark?

This is Eulalona County, where the trees whisper and the deep lakes hide secrets you don’t want to know. 

Pamela Cowan is an award-winning, Pacific Northwest author best known for her psychological thrillers. Cowan is the author of the Storm Series which includes Storm Justice, Storm Vengeance and Storm Retribution, books which follow Probation Officer Storm McKenzie on her single-minded quest for justice. She is also the author of two stand-alone novels based in fictional Eulalona County, Oregon, Something In The Dark and Cold Kill. She recently published Fire And Lies, the first in the new El & Em Detective Series

Guest Blogger ~ Sharon L. Dean

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(Re)appearing Ladies

It’s Halloween. What better time to write about ghosts, real and imagined. I spent my academic career writing about the nineteenth-century novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson. Woolson had her own family ghost story to tell about the haunting of the bedroom where her sister Emma died. A scholar I know claims she felt Woolson’s presence when she visited the apartment where Woolson leapt or fell to her death in Venice.

 I  felt no such presence there, but like so many scholars I know, once Woolson gets hold of us, we can’t let her go. She materialized for me in my second novel, Death of the Keynote Speaker, where I imagined her as a fictionalized Abigail Brewster in a setting on one of the Isles of Shoals off the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine. Woolson never visited those islands, but I drew on real life historical figures for an appearance in that novel: Celia Thaxter, who held a literary salon on Appledore Island; Karen and  Anethe Christensen who were murdered on Smuttynose Island in 1873; and abortionist Madame Restell, who was known as “The Wickedest Woman in New York.”

            After I published Death of the Keynote Speaker, I wasn’t finished with my ghosts. My newest novel, The Wicked Bible, reimagines Abigail Brewster and Madame Restell. How could I not reprise “The Wickedest Woman in New York” in a novel titled after an actual 1631 Bible dubbed “The Wicked Bible?”

            I’m not done with reappearances. The novel I’m working on now reprised a character I named Connie in Leaving Freedom. Woolson left her childhood home in Cleveland to accompany her mother to Florida and the beginnings of a writing career. My Connie also leaves her hometown in Freedom, Massachusetts, to care for her mother in Florida where she also finds success as a writer. My novel in progress is bringing Connie, now eighty years old, back to Freedom. It’s tentatively titled Finding Freedom. I don’t know yet what Connie will find, but I know that the ghost of Constance Fenimore Woolson has given me plenty of inspiration. I wonder what ghosts live for you, whether they be haunting or inspirational?

After a winter when she solved the cold case of a high school friend found dead in a barn, Deborah Strong needs a distraction. She joins a conference, “Libraries: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?” that will be useful for her work as a librarian in the small town of Shelby. The setting at a picturesque college in New Hampshire should also be healing.

Deborah’s project for the week plunges her into a mystery that would delight most researchers. What are the connections between a Bible dubbed “The Wicked Bible,” a woman called “The Wickedest Woman in New York,” a book written by a nineteenth-century author, and a letter penned to the author? As she slowly unravels the connections, Deborah confronts an event from her own past and anticipates a future that could be as brilliant as New Hampshire’s September foliage.

Buy links: Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Bible-Deborah-Strong-Mystery/dp/1645992810

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/new/59432097-the-wicked-bible

Sharon L. Dean grew up in Massachusetts where she was immersed in the literature of New England. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of New Hampshire, a state she lived and taught in before moving to Oregon. Although she has given up writing scholarly books that require footnotes, she incorporates much of her academic research as background in her mysteries. She is the author of three Susan Warner mysteries and of a literary novel titled Leaving Freedom. Her new seriesfeatures librarian and reluctant sleuth Deborah Strong. In The Barn, Deborah solves a thirty-year-old cold case. The Wicked Bible, scheduled for an October 2021 release by Encircle Publications,brings Deborah to a college campus and a search for who stole a Bible and a letter from the library’s archives. The third in the series, Calderwood Cove, forthcoming in 2022, will bring her to the coast of Maine and a murder. She continues to write and research in the landscape she’s discovering the Northwest.

Social Media:

Website: https://sharonldean.com/ Publisher: https://encirclepub.com/

Guest Blogger~ Sally Carpenter

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Christmas can be murder

By Sally Carpenter

Only ten weeks until Christmas!

In my mind, it’s never too early to break out the holly and tune up the carols. I’m a Christmas junkie. I cry when I pack away the decorations each year and count down the days when I can put them up again. I’ve toyed with the idea of leaving them up year-round. That would save me the bother of hauling them out of storage each year and unpacking.

Readers of cozy mysteries love Christmas. I’m not sure why, but there’s something about the holiday season that brings out the larceny. Maybe it’s the juxtaposing of a cheery time of goodwill against murder, or the thought of strangling that annoying neighbor with a strand of colored lights. Most cozy series have at least one Christmas-themed mystery. I finally wrote my contribution to the genre: The Notorious Noel Caper.

As you can tell by the title, it’s part of my Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol series—book five, in fact. I’m astounded that I’ve made it this far in my writing. I have two cozies in my other series—the Psychedelic Spy—for a total of seven books. Many authors have a greater backlist, but I’ll celebrate my output. My first novel was published ten years ago (2011), so that’s almost one book a year. Not bad for a part-time author holding down a day job. Also, many writers stop after one or two books, so I’m thrilled with my longevity.

My Christmas mystery has a twist—it’s set in Southern California, where snow is something you won’t see unless you watch a Hallmark movie or drive (with chains on the tires) up the mountains to the ski resorts. In SoCal, Christmas means sand at the beach, and “cold” weather is 55 degrees. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who have commented about the thick, quilted coat I brought with me when I moved from the Midwest. A “winter coat” here is really a hoodie zipped up.

My book is the only Christmas cozy ever written with surfing Santas. When I was writing the third draft, I saw a newspaper article about the real surfing Santas. That sounded so cool I added them in the story. Every year some surfers dress up in red-and-white wetsuits, put on fake beards and Santa hats, and surf off the coast. No agenda except to put a smile on faces as people watch them shoot the waves. My book cover has a surfing Santa. In chapter 15, Sandy is involved in a surfing Santa event and, like everything Sandy does, ends in near disaster.

The story is set at the Santa’s Magic theme park, based off a poplar (and fictious) movie franchise. SoCal is home to a number of theme parks. Santa’s Magic was inspired by the real-life Santa Claus Land (now called Holiday World), which opened in Santa Claus, Indiana, in 1946, making it the world’s oldest theme park (Disneyland debuted in 1955). My Psychedelic Spy series also has a Christmas theme park, but I made sure the two parks had different rides and attractions.

Sandy is the emcee of the Miss North Pole pageant, inspired by the fact that teen idol Donny Osmond has been involved with both the Miss Universe and Miss USA events. But things get sticky when Sandy’s girlfriend, Cinnamon, is jealous of him spending time around the beautiful contestants. Sandy and Cinnamon are sorting out their relationship that’s been growing over four books.

And the mystery? Well, this time I have three bodies. I had asked members of a cozy readers Facebook group how they felt about multiple murders in a book. Their answers scared me. One said, “The more the merrier!” Since cozy murders take place off the page, three bodies are not as ruthless as it sounds. All of the bodies turn up at the Santa’s Magic park, substituting ho-ho-homicide for holiday cheer.

Christmas cozies remind us of the darkness that lurks in human hearts. In scripture, after the joyful nativity the Holy Family fled into another country to escape an evil ruler who then killed hundreds of babies. Christmas Day may mean sorrow to families who can’t afford gifts or those who face empty dinner table chairs that once held loved ones who have passed away. For some, Christmas may be just another day of living in a sidewalk tent. But cozies also bring us a happy ending: the crook is caught and community order is restored. And what will happened between Sandy and Cinnamon? That too may be a happy ending as well.  

It’s Christmastime in Tinsel Town, and there’s plenty of ho-ho-homicide at the soon-to-open Santa’s Magic theme park, where bodies are dropping like snowflakes. Former pop star Sandy Fairfax has a killer job—he’s the emcee for the televised Miss North Pole beauty contest–er, scholarship pageant. But will the beautiful contestants make his girlfriend jealous? Or will she join him in his sleuthing? The deadly Christmas season begins at a celebrity bowling tournament when a pinsetter plops down a body instead of the pins. Throw in surfing Santas, a seductive executive’s wife, a sleazy tabloid editor, an egotistical movie rival and a gift-wrapped death trap, and it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Print link:   https://www.amazon.com/Notorious-Noel-Caper-Fairfax-Mystery/dp/1952579317

ebook link:  https://www.amazon.com/Notorious-Caper-Sandy-Fairfax-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B09CN1W7V1

As my Christmas gift to readers, I’m giving away a free story to those who sign up for my mailing list. Sandy Fairfax starred in a hit 1970s TV show, Buddy Brave Boy Sleuth. You can get a free Buddy Brave adventure, “The Medieval Malice Caper,” at http://sandyfairfaxauthor.com; scroll to the bottom of the page for the button.

Sally Carpenter is a native Hoosier who now lives in Southern California. Besides writing seven cozies, all published by Cozy Cat Press, she has stories in three anthologies and penned chapter three of the group mystery Chasing the Codex. She works at a community newspaper where she also writes the Roots of Faith column. This year she welcomed a new rescue cat into her home.   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sally.carpenter.54