Category: Location

Guest Blogger ~ M.E. Proctor

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

Pretty as a Picture and Far from Innocent

By M.E. Proctor

Catch Me on a Blue Day, Book 2 of the Declan Shaw mystery series, takes place in Old Mapleton, a postcard-perfect town on the Connecticut coast.

It comes with Queen Anne cottages, a yacht club, a bakery-chocolatier, an art gallery, several cafés, including one next to the marina that serves delicious crab cakes and lobster rolls. The police station is in the Tudor style, and its dark beams and stained glass windows give it the appearance of a tavern, or an inn—Ye Olde Copper’s Nest, Declan Shaw muses when he first sets eyes on it. The old Customs House, restored, is a private residence on a point next to the commercial fishing harbor. The camp of a lesser robber baron is now a B&B, and art afficionados can visit an artist colony on the outskirts of town, by appointment.

Families flock to the beaches from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Dogs are not allowed on the beach. Other things are not allowed. The list is long; it includes ‘horsing around’.

Doesn’t it look like the perfect setting for a cozy mystery?

Before you settle down in a comfortable armchair with grandma’s Delft teapot in easy reach (I just read that Delft is fashionable again), I must warn you: I don’t write cozies.

Bad people do nasty things no matter the landscape. There are homicidal maniacs in Neverland. And all the notices painstakingly posted by the city council won’t stop mischief. Violence is even uglier in an ideal setting because nobody expects it.

But you, readers of Ladies of Mystery, have consumed metric tons of crime fiction and you’re already making guesses about what comes next.

  1. Small towns have secrets, buried deep.
  2. The detective has a good shovel.
  3. A love interest delivers inside information.   

I’ll try to stay away from big spoilers, I don’t want to ruin the fun, but I’ll knock down a few hypotheses.

Old Mapleton, CT, has a dirty past. Not in a Stephen King kind of way—it isn’t built on a burial ground, and it doesn’t suffer from recurring murder sprees—but it went through a traumatic episode of collective hysteria. A horrible murder happened there thirty years ago. A little girl, Ella, was killed. The town tore itself apart in a frenzy of suspicion, denunciations, anonymous letters, and recanted confessions, with the media stoking the fire. To this day, the case is still open. Lives were destroyed, and long-time residents remember. None of this is secret. Ella and Old Mapleton made headlines far and wide.

The detective, Declan Shaw, doesn’t come to town to poke in the trash of the past. An old friend, Carlton Marsh, asked him to help with research for his book. Marsh was a war correspondent and he’s gathering his articles on the Salvadoran civil war of the 1980s. Declan is recovering from a severe leg injury and intends to take it easy. Learning, upon arrival, that Marsh committed suicide throws him off kilter. Nothing in his last conversation with the reporter indicated that he was in any kind of trouble. The Old Mapleton chief of police agrees … even if he’s not eager to have a PI sniffing around. No fisticuffs and roughing up, the two men get along. In the claustrophobic town, they’re both outsiders. The chief calls himself ‘the token punk’, he doesn’t belong to the local elite and has a lot more in common with the rough trade on the wrong side of the tracks.

The love interest. Ha! The title of this post applies to her as much as it applies to the town. Isabel is in her late twenties, smart, pretty, not too hindered by morality, and bored out of her skull. When Declan walks into the art gallery she manages, her first thought is that maybe her summer isn’t a complete waste of time. This would be a meet cute if the lust thermometer wasn’t stuck in the high nineties. I had a lot of fun writing Isabel’s point of view. Let’s say that she has very, very, little self-control … and no, she doesn’t know anything about the cold case, or Marsh’s suicide, which will not keep her out of trouble.

I like complex narratives. How does a little’s girl death in New England connect to political upheaval in Central America? Carlton Marsh knew but he’s no longer around to make Declan wise. The path to the truth will be sinuous and dark. Through the woods where Ella was found, many years ago.

—-

Catch Me on a Blue Day

A Declan Shaw Mystery

“For Ella and all the innocents slain by soulless men.”

It’s the dedication of the book on the Salvadoran civil war retired reporter Carlton Marsh was writing before he committed suicide.

A shocking death. Marsh had asked Declan Shaw to come to Old Mapleton, Connecticut to help him with research. He looked forward to Declan’s visit: “See you at cocktail time, a fine whiskey’s waiting.” They talked on the phone a few hours before the man put a bullet in his brains.

Now Declan stands in the office of the local police chief. The cop would prefer to see him fly back to Houston. He’s never dealt with a private detective, but everybody knows they are trouble. If only there weren’t so many unanswered questions around Marsh’s death … the haunting first three chapters of his book, and that dedication to Ella, a girl whose murder thirty years ago brought the town to its knees.

In Catch Me on a Blue Day, Declan is far from his regular Texas stomping grounds. He’s off balance in more ways than one, and the crimes he uncovers are of a magnitude he could not foresee.

Between the sins of an old New England town and the violence of 1980s El Salvador. And the links between the two.

Buy Links:

Catch Me on a Blue day is available in eBook and paperback

On Amazon at

https://www.amazon.com/Catch-Blue-Declan-Shaw-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0FR3DWYGD/

From reviews:
“In Catch Me on a Blue Day, she combines the strengths of the best of the best mystery writers, writers like Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, and Janet Evanovich, to create a mystery novel that will have you saying, where has this terrific mystery writer been all my life?” —John Guzlowski, author of Suitcase Charlie, a Hank and Marvin mystery

M.E. Proctor was born in Brussels and lives in Texas. She’s the author of the Declan Shaw detective mysteries. The first book, Love You Till Tuesday, came out from Shotgun Honey. Catch Me on a Blue Day is the next installment in the series. She’s the author of a short story collection, Family and Other Ailments, and the co-author of a retro-noir novella, Bop City Swing. Her fiction has appeared in Vautrin, Tough, Rock and a Hard Place, Bristol Noir, Mystery Tribune, Reckon Review, and Black Cat Weekly among others. She’s a Shamus and Derringer short story nominee.

Social Links

Author Website: www.shawmystery.com

On Substack: https://meproctor.substack.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martine.proctor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MEProctor3

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/meproctor.bsky.social

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

Guest Blogger ~ Laury A. Egan

~ patyjag

Our guest Laury A. Egan answered interview questions.

1. Why you write the genre you do?

Good question! Though my dominant genre is psychological suspense/crime fiction, I also have written and published literary titles, comedy, romance, and a few children’s stories. In other words, I write the book that comes to me rather than focus on specific genres. Psychological suspense is indeed a favorite, however, and was originally inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s books in which she usually features a sociopath and does so with gleeful enthusiasm. (It is my suspicion that she herself fell into this sociopathic category). I also find that “bad guys” make for fascinating studies and Fair Haven has its share and some “bad girls” as well.

2. How did you came up with the mystery/murder/premise in the book you are promoting?

Actually, this was my first novel, one I began when I bought my first computer in the mid-80s. I made some headway then, but life got in the way as it often does (actually a new romantic relationship and a house move), and I delayed work for a few years. When the relationship flamed out in spectacular fashion, I moved nearer my parents on the coast of New Jersey, and though still working full time as a book designer and photographer, I picked up Fair Haven and finished a first draft. But once again life intruded so the manuscript was shelved into the closet. Finally, I began another novel, Jenny Kidd, inspired by Highsmith and set in Venice, and thus began a series of new books until my new and delightful publisher, Andrew May of Spectrum Books in London, began accepting my manuscripts at a furious pace, publishing four books in thirteen months. Once he cleared my desk and closets, I looked around and saw Fair Haven, but oh, my, it was a mess! Plot errors, amateur formatting, and tons of mistakes. It took me forever to whip this complicated, yet intriguing, novel into shape…which hopefully I did!  

3. How you came up with the main character in your book or series?

The cast of Fair Haven is generously large, but probably the most significant character is the forensic photographer, Chris Clarke, a handsome woman who is involved with Kate, a primary suspect in the murder. Because of my own background as a professional photographer, it was an easy task to handle the details of Chris’ work. She also lives by the river in the neighboring town of Fair Haven, and owns a sailboat, which I also did in my younger days. Chris has an obstreperous beagle who rules the house—Cagney is modeled on my own dog. He often steals the show in the novel, so hound and dog lovers should enjoy his escapades.

4. Any interesting research you did for the book?

Originally, I thought the local police force would oversee the murder investigation, which was one of the huge errors I committed during the first stages of writing. In fact, though they do some coordination, interviews, etc., the Monmouth County’s Major Crimes Bureau and the prosecutor’s office are in charge of everything, including gathering forensic evidence. I interviewed a former Fair Haven policeman as well as a retired director of the county’s Economic Crime Unit, both of whom set me straight on a number of misconceptions. In addition, after a few glasses of wine, a friend, a financial analyst, grinned and answered my question about how a broker would commit fraud, cheerfully providing details about the Cayman Islands, offshore accounts, and the like.

5. A post on your process of writing a mystery book.

As mentioned above, this book took a long and arduous journey from its inception to its submission to my publisher. Quite honestly, I never thought the manuscript was good enough to publish, but there was something charming about the plot and its characters that kept drawing me in. I also loved the irony of a murder in the quiet, serene village of Fair Haven. After hundreds of hours of revision, I hope this murder mystery will be an enjoyable read, one that harkens to some British series such as Midsomer Murders in that the residents of small towns are the focus even more than the crime. Despite this, have fun figuring out “who done it!”

Fair Haven: A picturesque riverside town. A safe, friendly place. And then, one summer afternoon in 1994, Sally Ann Shaffer is electrocuted in her hot tub. Who did it? One of her many lovers? Her husband? A thief? A jealous colleague at her tennis club? The town is suddenly embroiled in suspicion, interpersonal conflict, blackmail, fraud, and murder. 

“When is a murder mystery more than a who-done-it? Answer: When it is written by Laury Egan. This wonderful mystery kept me en-tranced, as her characters drug me around the town of Fair Haven and through their inter-woven lives. In an ever more complex web of intrigue, jealousy, hatred and lust the plot was revealed. Though its difficult to write a review of a murder mystery without giving away too much, I couldn’t figure it out, even with some well-placed clues, until the end and then I was amazed by the reveal. You will be too.”

—CA Farlow, author of The Paris Contagion

Amazon: https://geni.us/fairhaven Published by Enigma Books, an imprint of Spectrum Books, London

Laury A. Egan is the author of fifteen novels, a story collection (with a new collection, Contrary: Stories and a Play, due May 2025), and four volumes of poetry. Her psychological suspense/crime fiction novels are: Jack & I, The Psychologist’s Shadow, Doublecrossed, The Ungodly Hour, A Bittersweet Tale, and Jenny Kidd (a revised edition will be released October 18, 2025). Ninety of her stories and poems have appeared in literary journals and anthologies. She is a reviewer for The New York Journal of Books, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, and a 2024 recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award in prose. Website: www.lauryaegan.com

LauryA.Egan@EganLaury

https://www.facebook.com/laury.egan/

https://www.instagram.com/laurya.egan/

https://bsky.app/profile/lauryaegan.bsky.social

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Laury+A.+Egan

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4090464.Laury_A_Egan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laury-a-egan-09096b3/ http://www.lauryaeganblog.wordpress.com/

Pesky little thing called research.

~ patyjag ~ 8 Comments

When I learned about an event that is held every year in the area where I set my Gabriel Hawke novels, I decided I would write a book around that event. How hard could it be to have my character, who is a Fish and Wildlife State Trooper, become involved with finding a person or a killer during a sled dog race competition?

Well… Let me tell you, now that I’ve been digging into the logistics, the multitude of volunteers, the less than 60 hours for the total of the 200 mile race, and that doesn’t even count the weather conditions, I’m starting to wonder if this was a good idea.

Map of the race

I’ve had my first interview with a person who has volunteered for this event for 20 years. She gave me some good insight into logistics and more people I will need to interview. This book won’t be ready to write for at least two more weeks as I talk to the head of technology, mushers, the race marshal, and judge.

What had started out as a “fun idea” has now blossomed into much more of a project. I can’t even start my suspect chart or decide how someone would be murdered or missing without doing all the research. There are so many uncertainties that I can’t even begin to fathom what the motive would be.

This is so out of the norm for what I normally do when writing a book in this series. By the time I’m ready to start writing the book, I have mulled over every aspect of the death, did the bit of research I needed and am ready to roll.

Now I sit, watching one more video, reading one more blog, and waiting to interview people so I can start this book. The next book my fans are waiting for me to publish. But as I dabble in the research, waiting to do the interviews, I may have to start working on the next Cuddle Farm Mystery book or even the next Spotted Pony Casino Mystery book, because my hands and imagination can’t sit idle for that long.

Depositphoto

I’ve already learned a lot that I didn’t know. Especially, about the dogs. A good mushing dog isn’t big and thick. It’s long and lean, like a marathon runner. They have high energy and stamina. The Alaskan Husky is nothing like the Siberian Husky. The Alaskan has been bred through the centuries to be fast and tough. They have a multitude of breeds in them that make them the marathoners that they are.

Now I need to learn more about the tracking of the participants during the race, the area where they sleep, and why someone, in a sport where you are dependent on one another to survive, would kill.

Guest Blogger ~ C.B. Wilson

~ patyjag ~ 1 Comment

The Land of Aloha

By C.B. Wilson

Aloha! From savoring high tea at the Moana Surf to relaxing on Turtle Beach near Haleiwa, Hawaii has always been my happy place. In fact, I am lucky to admit that my family lives on Oahu and I do get to “go home to Hawaii” for the holidays.

The island’s concept of Ohana (meaning family) inspired my newest novel, Puppied to Death. In this ninth installment of the Barkview Mysteries, protagonist Cat Wright Hawl travels from Barkview, America’s dog-friendliest city, to Hawaii. There, she must protect her half-sister from a murderer while reconciling with her late father’s absence and navigating her complex relationship with her mother. Oh, and as the title suggests, there are puppies!

No Hawaiian adventure is complete without immersing oneself in the island’s distinctive culture. When the mystery’s clues revolve around a traditional Chinese Mahjong game, Cat finds herself depending on the dubious detective abilities of the Miss Marple Mahjong Mamas and their distinctive perspective on Chinese immigration. (Take a peek at the below clue. Can you solve the puzzle?)

Yes, I do play Mahjong. Creating the clues required a deep dive into Mahjong’s history and the true meaning of the tiles. I have a new appreciation for winds and dragons.

When I wrote Puppied to Death, I wanted the story to be more than a fun visit to Hawaii. My consultations with Chinatown’s TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioners gave me a wonderful insight into the value of lā’au lapa’au (herbal remedies) that I use today. A word of advice when meeting the practitioner for the first time: don’t ask them what Hawaiian plants can kill someone. I swear a Chinatown police officer followed me the entire day.

I also spent time at the Hamilton Library located at the University of Hawaii Manoa. The information in the China Collection is fantastic. It has inspired me to write another Chinese history-based novel. (More to come on that.) While digging through immigration documents and diaries, I learned that the challenges faced by early 20th-century female immigrants parallelled many struggles of contemporary women raising children, genuinely adding a timelessness to Cat’s underlying problem and the conflict between her and the all-knowing Chinese matriarch in the story. 

When a tea sommelier is found murdered, an ancient Chinese secret dating back to the Qiang Dynasty falls under threat, and a French Bulldog, a Beagle, and a cat hold the answer to the mystery; only one intrepid sleuth has the ability to cut through the confusion and capture the true culprit.

I hope you enjoy your island journey. For those returning, prepare for a nostalgic trip to your beloved landmarks across Waikiki, Chinatown, and the North Shore. For first-time visitors, a heartfelt Aloha e komo mai—welcome to paradise.

A Murder, an Ancient Secret, and a Puppy You Can’t Help but Love

A desperate call from her sister sends investigative reporter Cat Hawl on a rescue mission to Hawaii. But when she arrives, it’s more than she bargained for. Not only is a tea sommelier found dead, but a mischievous puppy has turned the crime scene into a dog’s breakfast. And to top it off, Cat’s sister, Lani, has gone missing. Is she a witness or on the run?

Join Cat on her quirky, whirlwind adventure, where a trail of tea leaves leads her through a mystery that’s as puzzling as a puppy’s antics. Cozy mystery lovers will find themselves charmed and intrigued at every twist and turn!

Universal link: https://mybook.to/PuppiedtoDeath

Award-winning author C.B. Wilson’s love of writing was spurred by an early childhood encounter with a Nancy Drew book where she wrote what she felt was a better ending.

An animal lover, the Barkview Mysteries combine C. B.’s love of mysteries and dogs. The current 10 book series follows Cat Wright, a feline-loving, former investigative reporter’s, journey to find the right dog for her. C.B.’s motivation to grow this popular series is a result of her belief that every animal deserves a forever home. You will likely find adoptable dogs at her appearances.

Join C.B. in Barkview and help Cat decide if there is a perfect dog for our resident cat lover. 

Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/cbwilsonauthor

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/137800079

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/c-b-wilson

Instagram: www.instagram.com@cbwilsonauthor

Linktree. https://linktr.ee/cbwilsonauthor

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1HfOVqN7aBccTW70_wlL0w

tikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@author.cb.wilson

Guest Blogger ~ Helen Hynson Vettori

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

  Helen Hynson Vettori wrote the sci-fi political thriller, Black Swan Impact, because of her utter dismay regarding the U.S. Federal Government’s response to SARS COVID-19. When COVID-19 emerged, she had already retired from the Department of Homeland Security workforce. During her years of service, she helped plan and prepare for biological threats, to include pandemics. She rose to a position as an emergency management fellow and even won an award for outstanding emergency management achievements related to her efforts for planning and preparing for biothreats. As the COVID outbreak gripped the world, she became increasingly appalled by official actions or lack thereof compounded by confusing messaging.
     During lockdown family phone calls or Zoom meetings, Vettori would ask questions like, “How can this be?” or “Why aren’t they using the pandemic plan with the strategies and messaging that have been in place for years?” In response, her sister turned those questions toward an idea. She challenged Vettori by saying it sounded like she had a story bottled up inside. That observant sister was right. Vettori wrote the first draft of Black Swan Impact, first titled Black Swan Catastrophe, in two weeks. Then both her brother and her sister helped the author to focus on certain aspects of the plot and characters, expanding and enhancing them until Vettori ultimately brought the sci-fi political novel to fruition.
     One can argue that Black Swan Impact is fiction and improbable. Yet there are truths woven throughout the novel, including the fact that some people will or won’t follow orders and strategies, particularly when they are politically motivated and garbled in messaging. The truths embedded in Vettori’s novel stem from her vocational subject matter expertise and life experiences. Helen Vettori NEMAA, NSFP-EM appeared in her signature block when she was a member of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) workforce. The professional acronyms signified her subject matter expertise in emergency management. She earned noted knowledge and skills over the course of years through education, valuable mentoring from those immersed in the field, applied applications, and leadership initiatives. She even received affirmation of her contributions by being awarded employee of the year award in 2013. However, her career in DHS as an emergency manager did not solely influence her as she wrote Black Swan Impact. Indeed, there were other elements that enabled her to create a plausible world facing an unimaginable threat from a novel, virulent pathogen. Her eclectic background afforded her unique, first-hand knowledge that she wove into the plot. Those other career paths were serving the National Capital Region as an EMT paramedic by joining the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, acting as a senior medical intelligence analyst at the Protective Medicine Branch, earning a master’s degree in strategic intelligence, and becoming a staff member of Counter Narcotics and Terrorism Operational Medical Support.
     When it was time for her to retire from the federal government, she devoted her full attention to endeavors like travel until the 2020 pandemic lockdown barred that. Like everyone, she fell captive to the situation. Her frustrations regarding the muddled response led her to write, which became cathartic. Vettori credits that process for her to be able to move away from anguish and disbelief by channeling those emotions into the sci-fi political thriller, Black Swan Impact. They allowed her to craft a plot laced with credibility and striking scenes garnered from some of her amazing life journeys. Further, she hopes the story will enable readers to learn from the dystopian tale. “If readers think COVID ruined 2020,” she said, “then they can leap to 2113, to see how PYV more than challenges humanity in my sci-fi political thriller Black Swan Impact. Then readers can take away the implied warnings and combine them with our memories of COVID pandemic issues to help us to avoid repeating mistakes during future crises.”

BLACK SWAN IMPACT

In 2113, people inhabiting the Earth believe that peace and prosperity will forevermore be their way of life on the third planet in the Sol System and elsewhere as they move further into space. That optimism bursts, when Dr. Syia Case, Director of Epidemiology from the National Institutes of Health and wife to the White House Chief of Staff, raises the alarm that Earth is facing an emerging pandemic crisis the likes of which had not been seen before. Initially, President Daniel Piper looks to Dr. Case as his favored subject matter expert to assist him and the White House Crisis Action Team plan and prepare for and respond to the novel pathogen. However, when Piper steers the United States toward questionable courses, Dr. Case and the strident voices on the task force find there is more than a virulent virus to fight.

 Austin Macauley Publishers – https://www.austinmacauley.com/us/book/black-swan-impact 

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Black-Impact-Helen-Hynson-Vettori/dp/B0CVLHG3TY

Barnes And Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-swan-impact-helen-hynson-vettori/1144944171?ean=9798889100911 

A seventh generation Washingtonian Helen Hynson Vettori served the National Capital Region first by joining the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad as an EMT/Paramedic. Then she taught at a private school in Rockville, Maryland until 2001. Post 9/11, she joined the Department of Homeland Security workforce as the Senior Medical Intelligence Analyst at the Protective Medicine Branch. When that branch was defunded, she transferred to a new position at the National Incident Response Unit. There she performed all aspects of emergency management duties but specialized in planning and preparing for biological incidents to include pandemics. After retiring from the federal government, she followed passions like reading, traveling, and painting. Currently, she lives in Leesburg, VA with her husband. Vettori and her husband have two grown children both of whom are married and one grandchild. 

https://helenhvettori.substack.com

Instagram (@HelenHVettori), and Facebook (@ Black Swan Impact)

Painting by the author and photographed by Megan Genova