Spotlight: Nightmare on the Bike Trail

I couldn't do a review this time because of my travel schedule, but I can say that I read and reviewed the first in this series, The Killer Outdoors, and found it a fun premise.

 
Nightmare On The Bike Trail (A Southwest Exposure Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Independently Published (November 9, 2021)
~180 Pages
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08L2JFWDW

 

Welcome to Bushwhack, New Mexico: home to tourists, the great outdoors, and murder…

Andie Sullivan, adventure guide in the mountain community of Bushwhack, NM, is gearing up for the annual bicycle race hosted by her tour company. When a ghost from her and sheriff Zac Mars’ past registers to participate—her suspicions are raised.

And then a gun goes off deep in the wooded forest along the trail, leaving her and Zac to fight for their future by revisiting past grievances. With lives at stake and secrets opening old wounds, Andie must piece together the clues to solve a decade old case she thought was closed.

But time isn’t on her side and sometimes even the best sleuth can miss a piece to the puzzle. Especially a cold case clouded with jealously and pain. Will she spot the clue this time or is it too late to make amends?

 

About the Author

Jodi Linton is an author of several romance novels and cozy mysteries. She pens funny, romantic, whodunnits during her days in between being a carpool mom. She lives in Texas with her husband, with who she runs the family day business with and two kids. When she isn’t writing her next page turner, she likes to delve into her hobby of finding all the cool, new makeup products to buy.

Author Links

• BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jodi-linton
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jodi-Linton/e/B00IWG4KCI/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55141578-raiders-of-the-campsite
• Website: jodilinton.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JodiLintonBooks
• Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/s2j2k6
• Facebook reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/JodiBookCorner

Purchase Link: Amazon  B&N    Kobo     iBooks

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

November 10 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

November 11 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

November 12 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

November 13 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

November 14 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW

November 15 – Nellie’s Book Nook – REVIEW

November 16 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 17 – Novels Alive – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 17 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

November 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

November 19 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

November 20 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 21 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 22 – The Ninja Librarian – SPOTLIGHT

November 23 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT  

 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021

 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.

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Cozy Mystery Review: The Fog Ladies: In the Soup

 

The Fog Ladies: In the Soup (A San Francisco Cozy Murder Mystery) by Susan McCormick

About The Fog Ladies: In the Soup

 

The Fog Ladies: In the Soup (A San Francisco Cozy Murder Mystery)  

Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series 
Setting — San Francisco
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Rose Press (October 4, 2021)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509237984 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509237982
Digital Print Length ‏ : ‎ 230 pages ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09C91H76Z

The Fog Ladies are back, in the third installment of this endearing cozy murder mystery series.

"There was a man in the soup." When the Fog Ladies volunteer at a San Francisco soup kitchen, these spunky elderly friends plus one overworked young doctor-in-training envision washing and chopping and serving. Not murder. Now the soup kitchen is doomed, and the mysteries have just begun. Was the death rooted in a long-ago grudge? Can they save the soup kitchen? Will they find the killer? Could the Fog Ladies, too, end up "in the soup"?

 My Review:
I'm grateful to Great Escapes tours for the chance to discover this series. Although I jumped in at book 3, I didn't feel like I was missing anything; there was enough backstory provided where needed to keep me from getting lost.

I enjoyed the story very much, in a quiet way. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat mystery, but rather a pleasant and comfortable stroll with some friends. It did take me a while to get straight and keep straight the multiple main characters, an inevitable result, I think, of having a true group protagonist. The author handles it well, though, and the Fog Ladies have very distinct personalities once you get to know them!

The mystery itself is well constructed, with a plausible outcome. I liked the way the mystery interacted with the subplots as well. Overall, a good entry in the cozy mystery category!

About Susan McCormick

Susan McCormick is a writer and doctor who lives in Seattle. She graduated from Smith College and George Washington University School of Medicine, with additional medical training in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, where she lived in an elegant apartment building much like the one in the book. Susan served as a doctor in the U.S. Army for nine years before moving to the Pacific Northwest and civilian practice as a gastroenterologist. In addition to the Fog Ladies series, she also wrote Granny Can’t Remember Me, a lighthearted picture book about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and The Antidote, a timely middle grade medical fantasy released May 2021. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two sons. She loves giant dogs and has loved an English Mastiff, Earl, and two Newfoundlands, Edward and Albert.

Social media links - Website - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - GoodReads - BookBub

 

And now--an interview with author Susan McCormick!

When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer, or did you stumble into it later in life?

I have loved mysteries my whole life. When I was young, I wanted to be a ballerina, a doctor, and a writer. All together, all at once. My ballet days ended before they began at age four when my first performance’s curtsy took out the backdrop and crashed it to the floor. So all that was left was being a doctor and a writer. The latter took me a while. Being a doctor was a straight shot, four years of medical school, three years of residency, then fellowship, then a stint in the Army because they paid for medical school, and here I am. Being a writer took longer, though I've been plotting my stories since those ballerina days, with my first “book,” Death in the Cemetery, at age nine.

 

 

What are your books about and who is the audience?

My Fog Ladies series features spunky senior sleuths plus an overtired, overstressed young doctor-in-training, living in an elegant apartment building in San Francisco and solving murders. Cozy lovers of all ages will appreciate the humor and poignancy of the stories, and the whodunnit aspect to the murders.

 

 

 

What is the strangest job you’ve ever held?

My first job was as the Easter Bunny at a large shopping mall in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was fourteen and made minimum wage to give out chocolate eggs to happy children. I wish I could still do that! In college, I was a first mate on a sport fishing boat on Cape Cod. We took out groups of six for an exciting day of fishing. So many things went wrong that this will go down as my worst job ever. At least I didn’t fillet my finger into the ocean like another mate.

 

 

There's a story there! And being the Easter Bunny sounds both wonderful and awful. That leads me to my next question: What is the best thing about being a writer?

All those odd tidbits that percolate in my mind have a place to rest. As a mystery lover and writer, I am attuned to crime and murder possibilities in everyday life. The car share driver overly interested in how long I’ll be traveling? I see a set up for burglary. A cutthroat music competition that comes every four years with only one scholarship awarded? I see a mom who will do anything to help her child succeed. An arguing couple in a National Park? I see a husband who might lean too close to the edge and “fall off.” I am kind, sedate, and boring in my real life, but my imagination is full of mystery, and that is the best thing about being a writer.

 

 

 

My little personality test: If there’s a spider in the corner of the room, do you a) panic, b) have to drop everything until it is removed, or c) hope it’s planning to eat the more annoying bugs that get in?

I love spiders. One thing I think is true is that you cannot relocate an indoor spider to the outdoors or it will die. I leave all spiders alone. They are my friends.

 

 

I didn't know that about indoor spiders. I'm still not that willing to house so many of them, so they're going out. 

Now for my writer questions. Do you draft your books longhand or compose at the keyboard?

I compose at the keyboard, merrily typing whatever flies into my brain for the first draft, and then fix annoying plot points when I revise. But I keep paper around at all times for that perfect bit of dialogue that pops into my head at odd hours, and have scraps everywhere with a line or two or witticism or a new plot twist, etc.

 

 

Sounds a lot like my approach. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for one of your books?

Even though I am a doctor, I research every single medical tidbit I put in my books. Medicine changes rapidly, and I certainly don’t want an error. Many writers have likely researched how to determine the time of death, and I did as well. But what made this interesting for me was that I had some sound background knowledge. When I started medical school, I wanted to be a forensic pathologist, a coroner. When I did my rotation at the DC morgue, though, a crack cocaine epidemic was sweeping the city, and many bodies were victims of this, with bullet hole after bullet hole. I changed my mind about forensics as a career. But I loved the forensics book, and consult that aged tome frequently, and then verify current methods also. I was surprised to see that the time of death calculation has not changed much in all those years.

 

 

 

Do you use a detailed outline before you start writing, or... ?

I have progressed from being a complete “pantser” to a firm plotter with an outline. My first book poured out over many months from a story that had been building in me for years. When the very enjoyable process of writing the first draft was finished, I found there were far too few suspects. Then the grueling process started of adding in new people and turning perfectly lovely characters into suspects. Clues and red herrings had to be placed retroactively, and the story had to be re-worked many times to account for this pantser approach.

Still, without a set outline, wonderful magic happened, and characters’ lives unfolded without any planning. They did things spontaneously and surprisingly, which is how teen mother Chantrelle ends up feeding chips and Pepsi to Baby Owen, much to the horror of the Fog Ladies. Enid Carmichael discovers Starbucks lattes. She loves the bitterness, the froth. I wrote that. Then she craved more, and the next thing I knew, she was stealing Starbucks coupons from her neighbors’ newspapers to feed her addiction. She did that. Not me. As the author, I follow everywhere my characters lead me, and the story is better for it.

But, having learned the hard way with the first book, I had a rough, rough outline for the second. Still, I didn’t pay close enough attention, and in the first draft, Sarah’s friend Helen had a 16-month pregnancy. More rewriting! Now, with my third book, my outline was longer, my suspects were in place, and the clues and red herrings were lined up ahead of time. Even so, a pile of black rags in the corner unexpectedly became a dog, who ends up playing a large role in the story. The part of the brain that conceives of these twists and turns is the part of the brain that makes writing a joy.

 

 

 

I can related to that evolution from pantser to plotter, too! Still plenty of room for the characters to speak up, but less mess.
      Finally, is there anything else you would like your readers to know about you?

I love giant dogs, the slobbery the better, and have made a dog the hero in this book.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I look forward to seeing more of the Fog Ladies!

 

Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

  TOUR PARTICIPANTS  

October 4 – Nellie's Book Nook – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 4 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
October 5 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST
October 5 – Maureen’s Musings - SPOTLIGHT
October 6 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
October 6 – I Read What You Write - REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 7 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 7 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT
October 8 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
October 8 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
October 9 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
October 9 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
October 10 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
October 11 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
October 11 – Here's How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT
October 12 – The Ninja Librarian - REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 12 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – Dear Reader – SPOTLIGHT 

 Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!  

FTC Disclosure: I was given an electronic review copy of  The Fog Ladies: In the Soupas part of a Great Escapes free blog tour, in exchange for my honest review, not for a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

Cozy Review: The Influencer, by Frankie Bow

 

The Influencer (Professor Molly Mysteries) by Frankie Bow

About The Influencer

The Influencer (Professor Molly Mysteries) 
Cozy Mystery 10th in Series  

Publisher: Hawaiian Heritage Press (March 17, 2021)
Print length : 205 pages 

Digital ASIN: B08QW3QL54 

In Which Professor Molly Learns There Is, In Fact, Such a Thing as Bad Publicity

It's spring break. Donnie's taken the baby to visit relatives on the mainland, and Professor Molly finally has time to catch up on the assessment paperwork she owes the Student Retention Office.

Molly's new renter is a social media star seeking privacy in remote Mahina. The arrangement seems to be working out--until her celebrity renter disappears. Molly and her best friend Emma dutifully call in the Mahina PD and try to stay out of the way. But when fame creates its own reality distortion field, everyone has an angle and nothing is as it seems.

 My Review:

Frankie Bow knows how to spin a story, and her writing is top-notch. If I felt a little out of touch at the start due to jumping from the 3rd in the series to the 10th (what? Molly's married with a baby? Huh?), characters and circumstances were sufficiently developed in this book to keep me from getting wholly lost. It does make for a little more challenging beginning for someone jumping in, but I think that Bow strikes a pretty good balance between maintaining the independence of this book and alluding to the backstory from the other nine books.

 

The story has a generous touch of humor, with a hint of the absurd (or am I just hoping that social media influencers aren't that... tacky?). My favorite line may have been, "Wouldn't a beef jerky stick with  a soul be even worse?" I'll leave you to imagine the context, though I am definitely adding "soulless beef jerky stick" to my repertoire of insults.

 

I did have my usual slow start, in part because of my sense that I was missing something (I'll recommend reading the series in order, which is how this slightly obsessive reader usually does things). Mostly, my slow start was due to my limited attention span; once I settled down to a good session of reading the way I used to, the story pulled me in and went fast--perfect reading for a rainy day. The mystery itself ended up being a mix of things I saw coming and things I never saw coming, a mostly satisfying blend that perhaps tended a little too much toward the "I thought so" end of things.

My Recommendation:

This is a really enjoyable series by a very competent writer. I enjoy the Hawaiian setting and, even more, the academic setting, coming from an academic background myself. I recommend it for those who like light, fun, but still smart mysteries, with a bonus if you like Hawaii.

 

About Frankie Bow

Like Professor Molly, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it canbe entertaining. In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

 

We are pleased to have Frankie Bow drop by for a little interview today.

First question's easy: What are your books about?

I set out to write what I wanted to read more of: wry academic murder mysteries. Some examples: Mary Angela, Kelly Brakenhoff, Sarah Caudwell, Amanda Cross, Cynthia Kuhn, Kathleen Reardon. Although it’s not strictly a murder mystery, I loved Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher. Public higher education is expected to be a lot of things to a lot of people, and we have to keep a straight face while dealing with some absurd contradictions.

“Our position is, yes, Mister Yamada, your wonderful idea for a Golf Course Management major is going through, and before you know it, we’ll be putting out graduates who are ready and willing to work at your resort. And also, no, Senator Kamoku, of course we’re not considering offering a major in golf as a taxpayer-subsidized sop to our most powerful trustee. The very idea.”

What do you do when your legislators and your donors have different ideas about what you should be doing, and you’re financially dependent on both of them?

 

Who is the audience?

The Professor Molly Mysteries are categorized as cozies, and they technically are: amateur sleuth, small town with colorful characters, no sex or violence onstage. Because of the campus setting, many of the readers who enjoy the books are current or retired educators. But readers who want a story where justice is done and cheaters never prosper should look elsewhere.

 

What is the best thing about being a mystery writer?

After a frustrating day at work, I can come home, sit down at my computer, and ask myself, “Okay, who needs to die?”

 

I will admit to taking some pleasure in killing off characters in my own work! 

Personality-test time: If there’s a spider in the corner of the room, do you a) panic, b) have to drop everything until it is removed, or c) hope it’s planning to eat the more annoying bugs that get in?

Definitely c. I am pro-spider. Here in Hawaii, we have no cold season to cause a bug die-off. You’ll find all kinds of creeping, whirring, clacking things in your house. As scary-looking as cane spiders are (for example), they eat our giant flying cockroaches. I’m rooting for the spider every time.

 

Ugh. Giant flying cockroaches. Yeah, I’ll root for the spiders, too!

Final question: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for one of your books?

Setting up my own online essay mill! This is where students pay to have their homework done for them. It’s a huge problem with online learning or really with any assignment that isn’t done right there in the classroom. Because each job is written to order, a plagiarism-checker won’t flag it. There’s a subplot in The Influencer involving an essay mill. I researched available domain names and found that OutsourceMyHomework.com was available. I bought the domain name and set up the site! (Go on, try it!)

 

I checked it out! Beautiful. Since I was an academic in a former life, I share Molly’s agony over chasing plagiarists. I hope she always wins over the Student Retention Office as well as over the devious (or lazy) students!

Author Links
Webpage  Blog Facebook Twitter Goodreads Bookbub

Purchase Links: Amazon B&N Rakuten/Kobo Angus & Robertson Apple

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR PARTICIPANTS
March 17 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
March 17 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – SPOTLIGHT
March 18 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 18 – Novels Alive – SPOTLIGHT
March 19 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
March 20 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT. RECIPE
March 20 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
March 21 – Cassidy's Bookshelves – REVIEW March 22 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT March 22 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 23 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
March 24 – Baroness' Book Trove - CHARACTER INTERVIEW
March 25 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
March 26 – Laura's Interests – REVIEW
March 26 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews - SPOTLIGHT

FTC Disclosure: I was given an electronic review copy of The Influencer as part of a Great Escapes free blog tour, in exchange for my honest review, not for a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Cozy Review: Spring Upon a Crime

 

Spring Upon a Crime (A Seattle Wilderness Mystery) by ML Erdahl

About Spring Upon A Crime

 

Spring Upon a Crime (A Seattle Wilderness Mystery)  

Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series  

Publisher: Wild Rose Press (January 13, 2021)  

Paperback: 294 pages  

ISBN-10: 1509234608  

ISBN-13: 978-1509234608  

Digital ASIN: B08P87F6J1 

Wilderness guide Crystal Rainey leads a group of college students to a private campground amidst the awe-inspiring Olympic Rain Forest. The excursion is ruined when the charming hostess Roxie is discovered standing over the land owner's body, murder weapon in hand.

Enlisted to investigate the crime to absolve her friend, Crystal descends on the quiet city of Forks to find loggers, developers, and eco-protesters circling the property, intent on either exploiting or protecting the bastion of old-growth forest. The list of suspects is intimidating. Can Crystal find answers in a community determined to keep her in the dark?

 

My Review:

I have to say it: this book was totally worth it just for the scene where the main character and her side-kick interview a buck-naked eco-warrior on a tree platform. Still, that's not the only reason to read it. The characters are engaging and the rain forest lovingly depicted. I enjoyed scenes both in the forest and in Seattle, with an extra bonus for places I know and could recognize.

That said, I wasn't 100% happy with the book. Some aspects of the story failed to carry conviction, and I was impatient with those moments that struck me as "off" as I always am. Still, those were not plot-busting issues, and in the end the story pulled me in so that I had to read through to the end in a rush. I enjoyed the touches of humor and about the right amount of tension and excitement. The clues to the killer were there, and I suspected who it was, but certainly didn't tumble to the complexity of the motivations.

The writing is solid and well-edited.

My Recommendation:
A feel-good easy read, this can be enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts and city-slickers alike.

 

 Now, an interview with Author ML Erdahl! (We were down for a character interview, but I sent the wrong questions, so enjoy meeting the author!).

Thanks for coming by for an interview, ML! Let’s start at the beginning: when did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer, or did you stumble into it later in life? 

In sixth grade I had a three page assignment to create my own Greek myth, and I turned in twelve pages worth of writing.  I think I knew then that I wanted to be a writer. Over the years, I dabbled with short stories for myself and my friends, and began at least four novels that never got past twenty pages.  However, it wasn’t until my early forties that I began to take it seriously.  I joined a writing association, read books on the craft, and began to write in earnest. The rest is history.

 

What are your books about and who is the audience?

My books are cozy mysteries featuring Crystal Rainey, an office worker who jumps off the corporate hamster wheel to pursue her dream job of being a wilderness guide. As luck would have it, she constantly stumbles upon dead bodies, and is invariably roped into solving the murder.

Cozy mysteries are a genre founded by Agatha Christie. They are typically murder mysteries, but the blood and gore happen off-stage. Likewise, the language is relatively clean and the sexy stuff goes on behind the scenes as well. That said, it’s a fun adventure for the reader, since they are meant to solve the crime along with the amateur sleuth who tackles murder case after murder case. If properly written, they are heart-warming, funny, and have what we in the biz call an HEA ending (Happily Ever After.)

 

Now we can get into the fun stuff: What is the strangest job you’ve ever held?

To pay for college, I worked summers in a salmon cannery in the remote Alaskan village of South Nak Nek, where the population of bears outnumbered humans. Trident Seafoods flew us in on tiny six-seater planes to a desolate dirt landing strip and dropped us off in the wilderness, until a van showed up to shuttle us to our bunkhouse.

In consisted of sixteen to twenty hour work days, seven days a week for months. It was terrible and exhausting work, but let me graduate college with no debt. Not surprisingly, this job started my coffee addiction that continues to this day.

 

That’s hard work, for sure. I knew a few people who did that back in the day, but I wasn’t brave enough! After experiences like that, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I love where I live in the Pacific Northwest, but I’m going to cheat, and say I want to buy a van and be on the move constantly. Every few weeks or months, I want to pull up stakes and move on to a new adventure.

 

Not a bad ambition, but there are drawbacks. For me, it would be the loss of my garden. Do you garden? And do you focus on vegetables or flowers?

I have both flowers and fruit. Vegetables are too much work, and I always seem to lose them to either insects or the rabbits that sneak under my fence at night. However, I have a raised bed for strawberries, several blueberry bushes, and two dwarf cherry trees that gave me enough of a harvest to have home-grown fruit until the middle of winter.

 

If there’s a spider in the corner of the room, do you a) panic, b) have to drop everything until it is removed, or c) hope it’s planning to eat the more annoying bugs that get in?

When a spider is discovered in my house, my wife panics and yells for me to come “Right Now!” The dogs and cat run around in a frenzy at the noise, and I sprint as fast as I can to gently and humanely escort the spider out of the house and admonish it to please stay outside or get better at hiding.

 

Very good advice for the spider!

On to writing technique: Do you draft your books longhand or compose at the keyboard?

I find that my creative juices flow much better when I write longhand. When finished, I turn over my pages (with gosh-awful handwriting) to my patient and talented-typist wife, who enters the first-draft into the computer.

 

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for one of your books?

Oh my gosh, so much murder related material. Like all mystery writers, if someone I know turns up suspiciously dead, I’m headed to the slammer for sure.

 

We mystery writers all worry about the FBI showing up at our doors!

More technique: Do you use a detailed outline before you start writing, or... ?

I am what is classified as a “plantser.” I sketch out a minimalist outline (minimalist sounds so much nicer than half-assed, don’t you think?), and begin writing. Midway through, I pause and revise my outline, because my story invariably veers off in an unexpected direction. I find that if I let that happen organically, the story will write itself much better than if I force it down my pre-determined path.

 

Good advice about the mid-way pause and revision of the outline! I’ve become pretty big on the outline, but still end up needing changes, so agree it’s a good idea to let the story develop and adjust the outline to go on from there.

 

Thanks again for coming by and sharing a bit about yourself with my readers!

  

About ML Erdahl

Award-winning author ML Erdahl lives amidst the trees of the Pacific Northwest, where he pens humorous cozy mystery novels set in the wilderness he has spent his lifetime exploring. The only thing slowing him down is when his adorable rescue dogs, Skip and Daisy, demand to be pet and cuddled on his lap while he types. When he's not working away in front of a computer, you can find him gardening, hiking, or grumbling to his wife, Emily, about the perpetual Northwest winter rain that prevents him from going outside.

Author Links 
Website Facebook Instagram Twitter Goodreads Bookbub  

Purchase Links
Amazon Barnes and Noble Apple Books Kobo Google Play

Book 1 in this Series



a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR PARTICIPANTS
February 22 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
February 22 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW
February 22 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST
February 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 23 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 23 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
February 23 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
February 24 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST
February 24 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW
February 24 – Laura's Interests – REVIEW
February 24 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
February 25 – Literary Gold – REVIEW
February 25 – Mysteries with Character – REVIEW
February 25 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 26 – I Read What You Write - SPOTLIGHT
February 26 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
February 26 – Here's How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT
February 27 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, GUEST POST
February 27 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST
February 27 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
February 28 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 28 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT  
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today! 

Cozy Mystery Author Interview: Bogged Down

Bogged Down: A Vashon Island Mystery by Charlotte Stuart

Bogged Down: A Vashon Island Mystery  

Cozy Mystery 1st in Series  

Publisher: Taylor and Seale Publishing (August 5, 2020) 

Paperback: 244 pages  

ISBN-10: 1950613445  

ISBN-13: 978-1950613441  

Digital ASIN : B08FBZMRYL 

 Publisher's Blurb:

An ancient bog hidden away in a forest is the perfect backdrop for murder…

BOGGED DOWN is a mystery set on Vashon Island, a place that has been described as Mayberry-meets-Burning Man. Its motto: Keep Vashon Weird.

Lavender (Lew) Lewis moved there because it is only a twenty-minute ferry ride from Seattle, yet light years away in tempo and character. She grew up on a commune in Alaska, joined the army at 17, does woods parkour for exercise and HR investigations to earn a living. Life in her waterfront cabin with her two food-obsessed cats is predictable and relatively stress free. Until she leads a tour group into an ancient bog on the island and discovers a body.

  This is where I meant to have a review. Unfortunately, as I read, I quickly encountered a scene where the police bring the news to the new widow, and I was unable to read on. I hope someday to be able to finish the book, but not this month, not this year. My apologies to the author, who is guilty only of writing an all-too-evocative scene.

However--read on to learn more about the author, and enjoy my interview with Charlotte Stuart!

 

About Charlotte Stuart

In a world filled with uncertainty and too little chocolate, Charlotte Stuart has a passion for writing lighthearted mysteries with a pinch of adventure and a dollop of humor. She began her career in academia, spent nine years commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, was a partner in a consulting group, and a VP for a credit union. Currently, she is the VP for Puget Sound Sisters in Crime and lives and writes on Vashon Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. She spends time each day entertained by herons, seals, eagles, and other wildlife.

 

Now for my interview with Charlotte Stuart, who was kind enough to answer my sometimes goofy questions!

1. First things first: I need to introduce myself. See, I’m a 3rd-generation graduate of Vashon High, so I was really excited to see you are an Islander and set your mystery there! I don’t live on the Island now, and I know things are a bit different than I remember, so… tell me first how long you’ve lived on Vashon, and what brought you there?

My husband and I lived on boats for quite few years and missed being close to the water after we became landlubbers. We were lucky enough to buy an older cabin on Vashon waterfront in 2012 before prices started going up. We spent four years remodeling the cabin before moving to the island full time. Each morning I look my office window at the water and see “my” heron fishing for breakfast and feel fortunate to live here.

2. You are braver than I, to set your mystery in your own town. I made my own version of Vashon a little to the north. How do your neighbors feel about you planting bodies in the bog?

I really wanted to portray the beauty of the island and the uniqueness of the culture. However, I didn’t want to have anyone traipsing around our fragile bog, so I made up a location for it. No one has complained yet, but who knows? My biggest concern is that readers might expect everything to be accurate, whereas I’ve employed a mix of fact and fiction when describing the island. Elizabeth George actually identifies specific streets, buildings and even residential homes in her books. But then, she’s a big name so people are probably flattered rather than annoyed.

Now a bit about your writing.
3. Are you a plotter or a pantser? And what do you think are the strengths and/or pitfalls of your approach?

I start with an idea. In Bogged Down, I wanted to have someone find a body in the bog. Then I make a list of characters I want to include, focusing on the protagonist. In this instance, the character’s background and profession ended up driving some of the action. At the point where I have my characters in mind, I become a plotter, a flexible plotter. The plot morphs as I work on an outline and then the rough draft and another rough draft and another less rough draft, etc. In Bogged Down, even the gender of the murderer changed in a late draft. Then it’s more writing with an eye on details and trying to eliminate repetitions and typos. But even when I think I’m done, the editor often comes up with something more to change or add. So far I’ve never disagreed with her suggestions.

The main strength of my approach is that I enjoy my process. I like living in the mind of a competent and upbeat protagonist who is capable of doing things I can only fantasize about. I’ve listened to many successful authors talk about their approach to writing. And I know some just sit down at their computer and start writing. Others do exhaustive outlines. Or draw everything up on a whiteboard. If I knew exactly where I wanted to end up, that might make my writing and story better, but I don’t seem to function that way.

4. We all have to write in our own way, and find what works for us!
What’s the most interesting/weird/disturbing thing you’ve had to research for your mysteries? In other words, what’s going to bring the FBI to your door (if they can scrounge up the ferry fare)?

If you are a published mystery writer, then purchasing books on topics related to murder might not seem too suspicious. But in the years before publication, I always wondered if a few red flags were going off somewhere on some invasive system dedicated to seeking out dangerous people. Books about forensics, blood splatter, lock picking, how to change your identity and Seal sniper training for example. Then there are the online searches about guns and survivalists and floaters to name but a few. I also assume that somewhere in an airless room filled with computers and storage units, there’s a tally of how many times I’ve browsed the Paladin Press website. And I admit to having potentially lethal tansy ragwort in my yard. If not the FBI, then the noxious weed police might come calling.

5. That tansy could get nasty, along with the Scotch broom!
Do you draft your books longhand, at the computer, or…?

Longhand? What’s that? Actually, I frequently start the draft in my head in the middle of the night. But all serious outlining and writing is done with my closest friend, my Lenovo computer.

Finally, the fun personal questions:
6. I remember the spiders Vashon harbors in the wood piles, so my standard personality question is a bit tougher than in some places! If there’s a spider in the corner of the room (or the woodbox), do you a) panic, b) have to drop everything until it is removed, or c) hope it’s planning to eat the more annoying bugs that get in?

When I lived in Seattle we had tall ceilings and white walls. Occasionally, a large, fuzzy-legged black spider would make an appearance, silhouetted against the stark whiteness, freezing in place when it sensed someone looking at it. We haven’t encountered any of these Halloween props on the island, but we do get the occasional bathtub spider. Since they can’t get out on their own, there are only two options: elimination or draping a towel over the edge so they can get traction and climb out without assistance. I would rather not think about where they go after they escape.

7. Do you garden? If so, what do you grow: flowers or veggies? Or, this being Vashon, moss?

We have a vegetable garden, but I only like to participate in the harvest, not in the planting or tending. Our property has some lovely vegetation, but it’s starting to look like a scene from The Secret Garden. At least our front yard stays green all year round, although from weeds, moss and clover, not grass. I’ve been thinking about hiring someone with a pair of large clippers and a weed whacker. Maybe in the spring--.

And finally…
Is there anything else you would like your readers to know about you?

Several readers have asked why I’ve started three different series before any one was well-established. The answer is simple – I was trying to attract an agent and a publisher, and when I didn’t immediately have luck with one approach, I moved on to another. Then they all found publishing homes within a year. That was exciting, but also a marketing challenge. Especially since I had no social media presence and not a clue about how to promote a book. It’s been a busy year and a steep learning curve. But I’m not complaining; well, maybe a little, but I don’t expect any sympathy.

Thanks for stopping by and answering my questions, and I apologize again for not being able to review the book. It's no reflection on your writing or the story, only my personal life!

Author Links Website - www.charlottestuart.com  

Twitter - https://twitter.com/quirkymysteries  

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.stuart.mysterywriter  

GoodReads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19305587.Charlotte_Stuart  

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/clzstuart/?hl=en  

Purchase Links- Amazon - B&N - Vashon Bookshop - IndieBound  

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
November 4 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
November 4 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, GUEST POST
November 5 – The Ninja Librarian – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
November 6 – Christy's Cozy Corners - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY
November 6 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 7 – Literary Gold – EXCERPT
November 8 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 9 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT
November 10 – Ascroft, eh? - CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 11 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST November 12 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
November 13 – Thoughts in Progress – EXCERPT
November 14 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST
November 15 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 16 – My Reading Journeys- REVIEW
November 17 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT  

 

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