It's a Mystery Podcast

Always expect the unexpected. Alas, technology has got the best of me recently. I had several interviews recorded with future guests of It's a Mystery podcast, and then the external drive where I had them stored crapped out. So the show is taking an unplanned hiatus. I've got a tech guy seeing if he can retrieve the files off the hard drive. And I will keep you posted about what's happening. In the meantime, please check out these lovely mystery writers that I had the pleasure of connecting with recently. Lynda McDaniel writes lovely mysteries set in the Appalachian mountains that are as much about friendship as they are about the mystery. Check out her work at LyndaMcDanielBooks.com. There's a free novella available there and her first in series, A Life for a Life, is free in ebook format wherever you buy books online. Chris Racknor, a fellow Canadian with a PhD in physics (I don't meet those every day), who writes about disgraced professor Shawn Ronin and mysteries solved around academia. Learn more about him and his books at ChrisRacknor.com. Linda Norlander writes about northern Minnesota. Her sleuth is a native New Yorker who has escaped the city for a quieter life in the woods, only to become the prime suspect in a murder. Learn more about the two books in this series at LindaNorlander.com

We begin in Costa Rica. Author Amy Waeschle's protagonist Dr. Cassidy Kincaid is a volcano seismologist. I had to ask Amy what that is exactly. Turns out it's the perfect profession for an amateur sleuth as it takes her all over the world, where she encounters mysteries of all kinds. Dr. Cassidy is a surfer, visiting Costa Rica in the excerpt Amy reads. And, from the Small World department, Amy herself learned to surf where I live, on the on the west coast of Vancouver Island. She's even written a memoir about her surfing adventures. If you enjoy Amy's reading from Rescuing Reeve you can get the full book for free at her website. This week's mystery author Amy Waeschle is a bestselling mystery writer who fell in love with mysteries while reading late at night under her covers. Agatha Christie, Trixie Belden, and Ridley Pearson were her favorites growing up. She learned to surf just before her 30th birthday, and the challenging experience inspired her to write her first book, a memoir about surfing and traveling called Chasing Waves. After that, Amy was hooked on storytelling, and wanted to combine her love for adventure with fiction, and has been writing adrenaline-spiked mysteries and heartfelt dramas ever since. To learn more about Amy and all her books visit AmyWaeschle.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the excerpt below. Remember you can also listen on Apple Podcasts,Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Rescuing Reeve After a sunset surf session at another remote wave, Cassidy slipped to the bow of the Trinity with her stack of documents, hoping to pick up where she left off, but found fellow surfer Benita leaning back against the railing, playing Reeve’s ukulele and singing softly.  She must have seen the look on Cassidy’s face because she stopped mid-strum. “Is this yours? I found it on my bunk.” “Uh, no, I mean, yes, it’s mine.” Benita gave her a shrewd look.  “You can play it. I don’t mind, I was just surprised, is all.” “This is actually a really nice one. Do you play?” “No,” Cassidy said, settling in on her cushion. She realized that her answers were not making much sense.  “My son learned in school. He got really into it.” She looked up. “Do you have kids?” she asked.  Cassidy tried not to download all the reasons why she did not. “No,” she said. She remembered that she hadn’t answered Benita’s question the day before about her marital status.  Benita shrugged. “It’s the kind of thing that happens if you ever do. Your kid gets into something, and then suddenly you’re into it too.” “It’s my stepbrother’s,” Cassidy said.  Benita fingered a few more keys and strummed. “The one you’re looking for,” she said. It was a statement, not a question, and Cassidy remembered that Benita was a lawyer. A good one, too, she guessed.  Cassidy looked out at the blue horizon. The sun would be setting soon, and the soft glow on the water looked like a sheen of pearl luminescence. From inside the boat, she caught the occasional whiff of baking bread. “Yes,” she said.  Benita gave her a look. “Are you guys close?”  “Not really,” Cassidy replied, “but there isn’t really anyone else who can look for him.” She looked out again, this time at the distant charcoal-and-brown mountains shrouded in wispy clouds. “He was working for Bruce on one of these trips. He went ashore in San Juan and never came back.” Benita’s eyes narrowed, and Cassidy could tell her mind was working. “What did the police say?” “I talked to the police in Tamarindo and Santa Cruz, but they said there wasn’t much they could do because he disappeared in Nicaragua. I don’t know if anyone’s talked to the police in San Juan. My stepsister tried calling, but she doesn’t speak Spanish. She has been talking to someone at the U.S. Embassy, but I don’t think anyone’s taking her seriously.” “Do you have an idea of what happened?”

Mysteries and mysticism. Sarah Doucette Jean-Louis is a former therapist turned detective. And she's got a body on her doorstep. After author Myra Jolivet reads to us from The Holiday Murder Melange, we talk about the influence of Creole culture in Sarah's life, what Pushed Times Chewing Pepper means (that's the title of the first full length novel in this series), and the courage and tenacity it takes to be a writer. This week's mystery author At six years old Myra was a poet and playwright, holding SRO productions in her Berkeley, California backyard. That led to a 20+ year career in TV news, politics and corporate communications. When her children went off to college she gathered the nerve to begin a series of cozy, paranormal murder mysteries, the Sarah Doucette Jean-Louis mysteries. Sarah’s life is a blend of Myra’s own California and Louisiana Creole cultures that have helped her create a world of mysticism, murder and humor. To learn more about Myra and all her books visit MyraJolivet.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the excerpt below. Remember you can also listen on Apple Podcasts,Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Except from The Holiday Murder Melange Sarah Doucette Jean-Louis removed freshly baked kale chips from her oven and uncorked a bottle of Luc Pirlet Cabernet, as velvety as her new purple Chesterfield sofa. She had planned to sit, sip and read. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in the San Francisco Bay Area, but two interruptions pissed all over her one-person peaceful Saturday afternoon. The first was a call from her mother, a mini-Lena Horne look-alike powerhouse of a woman who stood four feet, ten inches. Every greeting from her sounded like an order.  “Good afternoon, Ma-ma.”  “Good afternoon, Sarah. I hope you’re well. I want to run something past you.”  “I get to have an opinion?”  “Don’t sass. I think that this year you should host the family holiday dinner.”  Sarah wanted to quiet the inner child begging for family validation, but couldn’t. “Oh, Ma-ma. Me? I’ve wanted to host since I was a kid. Wow, I get to pick the menu and set a gorgeous table, and . . .”  Ma-ma cut her off. “That’s right. You’re good at all of that.” “Yes, but why me this time? I know it’s usually the married-with-children and I’m neither.” Creole holiday meals are major events and to be chosen to host is a woman’s rite of passage, like a Creole bat mitzvah. Men are never chosen to host in the culture; they’re served. Sarah had a love-hate relationship with Creole tradition. “Sarah, you’re such a great cook. I just thought it was time.” Sarah remembered something.  “Wait a minute. Isn’t Lizette’s kitchen being remodeled?”  Her sister, with her slender caramel-colored face, was called the beautiful one. She and her husband, Tom, had the favored home for holiday gatherings. “Well, yes. The work isn’t going so well. It won’t be ready in time.” “Ah, and we all know that Lyle’s wife is a terrible cook. Her food tastes like feet.”  Sarah’s brother was a shorter version of their father with chocolate skin, a round face and a thin mustache. He and his wife Tracy had the least favored home for meals. One year they all were left with a touch of diarrhea. “Well, ok. You weren’t first choice. I just tend to think of my married kids for this.”  “No problem. I’ll make it festive.”  Fifty-plus years in California had only separated Sarah’s mother from her Louisiana Creole accent, not from the cultural biases. Sarah considered herself the misfit daughter born to transplants, Bernice and the late Charles Jean-Louis. She was a curvy size eight with brown locks, brown eyes and brown skin—a near monochrome. She had career success but lacked the MRS status symbol Creoles revered.  “Don’t forget to run the menu past me.” “Of course.” “How’s my favorite attorney?” “Manuel is wonderful.”

Trouble is in Carrie McFarland's future. Carrie McFarland, the protagonist of Carolyn Marie Wilkins' book, Death at a Séance, isn't looking for trouble, but she finds it at her new job in 1920 Indiana. Carolyn is a woman with a wide range of interests, passions, and professions. She has been a Jazz Ambassador for the United States (I had to ask her what that is and she answers in the interview portion of the show), a music professor, a Reiki healer, a writer, and a medium, among other things. The dialogue and character voices that Carolyn performs while she reads her excerpt are amazing and she pointed out that this is due to her musical background. She has an ear for voices. This week's mystery author Carolyn Marie Wilkins is an author, a musician and a psychic medium.  She is the author of three mystery novels:  Death at a Séance, Melody for Murder and Mojo for Murder. She has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony and represented her country as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department.  In addition, Carolyn maintains an active private practice as a psychic medium and Reiki healer.  To learn more about Carolyn and all her books visit CarolynWilkins.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the excerpt below. Remember you can also listen on Apple Podcasts,Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Death at a Séance The offices of Gaylord Wilson Entertainment were located on the third floor of a seedy walkup in the heart of Claxton’s red-light district. It was just before noon, and the streets were still quiet. No doubt the ladies of the evening were still recuperating from the previous night’s endeavors. This was my first time away from Aronsville since leaving Blockport. Claxton wasn’t much bigger, but it did feel more alive. The few people out on the streets at this early hour bustled with a sense of greater self-importance. The buildings were taller; the traffic more intense, the sense of danger somehow heightened. Maybe this impression was colored by the fact that I was about to meet the partner of the man who may have murdered Miss Parker. Whatever the reason, my heart was pounding a mile a minute as I knocked on the Gaylord Wilson’s office door. “Don’t just stand there,” a gruff voice of indeterminate sex barked in response. “Come in. It’s unlocked.” The small reception area had a large black desk facing the door. Once inside, I could see that the voice I’d heard belonged to a colossus of a woman wearing what appeared to be full stage makeup – enormous circles had been painted around her eyes, and her lips were smeared with a shade of crimson that reminded me of an animal having just ripped apart a bloody carcass. Completing the ensemble was a foot-high pile of platinum blonde hair that could only have come from a bottle. “Good morning,” I said. Slowly, the gigantic woman raised her head and studied me, her beady kohl-enhanced eyes inspecting me from top to bottom. “If you’re looking for work on the cleaning crew, we’re not hiring,” she said, and returned to the work on her desk. So much for my plan to find work with Wilson’s company as a maid. My only choice was to bluff my way into being hired as a performer. “How dare you,” I said in my most regal voice. “I am no mere cleaning woman. My name is Bright Feather. I am a psychic and I have come to perform in your show.” The woman’s face brightened. “An Injun? Why didn’t you say so in the first place. What did you say your name was?” “Bright Feather,” I said. “I can talk to the dead, tell the fortunes of the living and cross between the two worlds at will.” The look on the receptionist’s face told me she had heard this kind of show-business puffery many times before. “We’ve already got a mental act on this revue, honey. Name’s Miss Cora. Reads minds, sees the future – all that stuff. We don’t need another one.”

Magical Venice ...and murder. Jane Thornley was one of my very first guests. She joined me on episode 14 to talk about her Crime By Design books. Today she is back to discuss The Carpet Cipher, the first book in the Agency of Ancient Lost and Found mysteries. Jane has always done a lot of traveling, which is reflected in all her books and that's true as well of the excerpt she reads to us. We begin in Venice, pre-Covid-19, and you can almost smell the damp and decay as Jane's protagonist, Phoebe McCabe makes her way through the city. I've never been to Italy, but am as desperate as ever to visit the floating city after hearing Jane read. This week's mystery author Jane Thornley has been creating stories forever, or at least, as far back as she can remember. Once a superintendent of schools, once a travel host, once a professional librarian, once and still a knitwear designer, now she remains passionate about travel, history and art. Though she's published many books, her new Agency of the Ancient Lost & Found series remains the most popular. To learn more about Jane and all her books visit JaneThornley.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the excerpt below. Remember you can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Carpet Cipher Venice, February 2019 How long had it been since she had last ventured into the Venetian streets at night—five years, ten? Too long ago, in any event, and to do so tonight of all nights, when the carnival finale was in full swing and the revelry would reach a raucous pitch, seemed foolish even for her. How she detested the noise, the crowds, even the fierce and gilded costumes that would press against her in the dark like fevered dreams. To stay home by the fire with a book and a glass of wine seemed far preferable. Still, it must be done. After tonight she would lay one matter to rest and possibly see the conclusion of another, much older mystery. She opened the front door, hesitating briefly before leaving the safety of her palazzo and plunging into the throng, her velvet coat wrapped tightly around her to ward away the spring chill. As expected, the young people were outdoing each other with fantastic finery. Gone were the days when only the time traveler mode of long gowns and medieval costumes ruled, though plenty of those still roamed the streets. Now creative interlopers had arrived with glittery fairy wings, and was that a chicken? Yes, a chicken, complete with an enormous egg tucked under one false wing! She stifled a laugh.  Her own mask, on the other hand, was demure by comparison, a lovely sun/moon creation she had had especially made for another carnival long ago when she had been a young woman, her whole life stretching ahead. Then, the duality of light and dark had been no more than a playful game. As on that evening, she also wore the cape worked in deep blue velvet stenciled in gold stars with Mariano Fortuny’s distinctive flair. Now, that subtle silken loveliness seemed to sink like a poor cousin against the surrounding sequins and gaudy trappings.  Never mind, she told herself, the man she was to meet would appreciate it for what it was: a testament to artisan beauty in a world that had long lost sight of what does not scream for attention. That she would reunite with the one with whom she had first worn the ensemble was a fitting end to their long torturous relationship. Though they had not seen one another for many decades, she prayed that he had finally forgiven her long enough to help her now. He of all people would know the significance of what she had discovered. But first, she must resolve the other matter. There was to be no meeting at her family’s weaving studio, on that point she was firm. The call had come just moments before she left the villa and her first response had been to refuse the request, but then she reconsidered.

The stage is set...for murder. Today's guest has been on the show before, way back in 2017. John Gaspard writes the Eli Marks mysteries, but today he's here to talk about his new series the Como Lake Players mysteries. In the interview, John explains why he's writing under the pseudonym Bobbie Raymond, what called him to write these books, and why he chose community theatre for his setting. (Hint: he's got experience with theatre and film.) John himself has a podcast where he talks to magicians about their work and also reads a chapter from an Eli Marks book. You can find that here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author John is author of the Eli Marks mystery series as well as four other stand-alone novels, The Greyhound of the Baskervilles, The Sword & Mr. Stone, A Christmas Carl, and The Ripperologists. He also writes the Como Lake Players mystery series, under the pen name Bobbie Raymond. In real life, John's not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less - that's no small trick. He's also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, they've made more than the films.  John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies. To learn more about Bobbie Raymond / John Gaspard and all his books visit AlbertsBridgeBooks.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Acting Can Be Murder Chapter One “How embarrassing would it be if we got lost down here? I mean, here I am in charge of the theater and then I go and get us lost while giving a tour. Nutty, right?”  Leah turned to see how her witticism had landed, recognizing immediately that the wisecrack had fallen on the far side of flat. The young man stared back at her blankly, and on that unlined, expressionless face she read nothing but judgment. And not positive judgment. This was a decidedly negative   assessment concerning her, her abilities as a tour guide and was probably inspiring a rising conviction that she was unqualified on all levels. In short, the tour was not going well. And they were only five minutes into it. Leah wished, not for the first time, that she had dragged Betsy along. The long-time administrative assistant had been a godsend on the last two theater tours Leah had spearheaded. And now she was questioning her decision to handle this one on her own. However, as the recently-hired Executive Director of the Como Lake Players, Leah felt the time had come to dispense with the handholding and conduct an actual tour on her own. The interview portion with this candidate had gone fine, although she sensed that he was underwhelmed with the prospect of directing at the theater and was just going through the motions. To be fair, she was a little underwhelmed with him as well. The appointment of a director for the last show of the season—a production of The Importance of Being Earnest—wasn’t exactly near the top of her ever-expanding To-Do list, but it had felt like something she could knock off quickly to give herself an easy—and early–win. This was the third interview she had conducted to fill the position. The first one had been with a cheerful, middle-aged woman named Nancy, who had a long list of children’s theater credits on her resume. Leah had barely needed to ask even one question, as the woman had started talking as soon as she walked in the do...

A stranger rides into town... In the tradition oIn the tradition of the classic lone private investigators who right wrongs wherever they go, Mike Donohue is writing the Max Strong series.f the classic lone private investigators who right wrongs wherever they go, Mike Donohue is writing the Max Strong series. Mike reads to us from book 5 in the series, Burn the Night, and we talk about the research he does in the various locations Max goes to and why he finds himself circling back to Max's origins in the next book in the series that he's writing now. If you love Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, or the Spenser series from the late-great Robert B. Parker, you're going to love Max Strong. A reviewer described Max as 'the guy who doesn't have to help, but needs to' and I think that's the perfect summation of this type of hero. Mike has generously offered It's a Mystery podcast listeners a free audio called How to Buy a Shovel. It's a stand-alone short mystery story. Click here to get your copy. If you're looking for new books and authors I've got a treat for you. There are over 70 mystery novels available for you to try - for free! - when you go to:alexandraamor.com/march21 (This offer expires March 31, 2021 so head over there today to take advantage.) Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Mike Donohue writes crime fiction and suspense novels. His latest release, Burn the Night, is the fifth book in the popular Max Strong thriller series.  Born in New Jersey but raised in New England, Mike now lives outside Boston with his wife, two kids, and Dashiell Hammett. Dash is the family dog. When he’s not writing, Mike enjoys triathlons, making pizza, and reading. To learn more about Mike and all his books visit MikeDonohueBooks.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Burn the Night Max had merged onto the highway, headed back downtown, when he realized what had happened. He sighed, checked his mirrors, and got off at the next exit. He’d dropped the three women off at an old Victorian in Manayunk. It was clear the three were drunk when he picked them up outside the bar, but only one of the three seemed very drunk. The fare from Center City was high enough that Max thought it was worth the risk that he’d be cleaning up vomit before he made the address. All three also seemed very young and it was getting late. He let them in the car. The drunkest girl had been predictably obnoxious and, given the increasingly sour faces of her friends as the trip progressed, Max guessed she was getting on their nerves, too. But, by the time he pulled up outside the slightly dilapidated, pink and white gingerbread on Carson, she’d kept down whatever she ate and drank that night. If it came up again, it would soon be someone else’s problem. He’d stayed and watched as her friends supported the woman up the steep set of stairs onto the house’s sagging front porch and navigated her inside. It was only now, approaching the city again from the northwest on 76E, with the green expanse of treetops from Fairmont Park to his right, that he realized she hadn’t kept it all in. She’d urinated all over the back seat. Max could almost see the statue of old Billy Penn shaking his head from atop City Hall at Max’s naivete. It explained the friends’ demeanors. With the drunk girl sandwiched in the middle, it must have gotten on both of them. At least he had their address, their actual address,

Nicole Porter has a lot of explaining to do. In SJ Varengo's Cleanup Crew series, Nicole Porter ostensibly runs a company that cleans up crime scenes. The catch is that usually she and her coworkers are the ones who have caused the bloody messes in the first place. In this episode, Scott reads to us from The Beauty of Bucharest, book 1 in the series, which finds Nicole in the titular city with her new husband, Dan ...and her assassin colleagues who are on the job and ready for work. Scott and I also talk about his most recent book, Jelly Jars, which is something of a departure for him. As a general rule, this podcast is focused on my guests' mystery novels (obvs) but when Scott mentioned Jelly Jars in the interview I was intrigued, so I followed that thread and really enjoyed hearing about how this story came about and what it means to Scott. If you're looking for new books and authors I've got a treat for you. There are over 70 mystery novels available for you to try - for free! - when you go to:alexandraamor.com/march21 (This offer expires March 31, 2021 so head over there today to take advantage.) Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author S.J. Varengo is a married father of two adult children, living in Upstate New York. He is the author of The Cleanup Crew series, as well as his latest novel, Jelly Jars, a literary love story. In addition, he is the co-author of the SpyCo Thriller Series and is working with Crag A. Hart on the best-selling Shelby Alexander series.  Hart and Varengo are also partners in Northern Lake Audio, producers of audiobooks, and they co-host the popular literary-themed podcast, Good Sentences. Most recently they’ve launched a new website, e2books.com, to showcase their new work as well as their back catalog. To learn more about Scott and all his books visit e2books.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Beauty of Bucharest Taken from Chapter 4 – Arrival in Romania Nicole left Dan sleeping, his post-coital go-to move, and dressed quietly. She slipped out of the room with a level of stealth that would have caught him by surprise, as she normally made a show of being a little clumsy and a lot noisy at home. She thought about the vast amount of things that Dan was going to find surprising in the days... in the years ahead. Stopping at the desk, she asked directions to the bar, named simply The Pub, and calculated that at just a little over a half-mile away, she could make it to her meeting in time if she walked briskly, an activity she found invigorating anyway, not that she wasn’t already quite energized from the lovemaking. For her, sex was a stimulant. It sharpened her senses and made her eager, either for more sex or for some other equally exhilarating activity. As she stepped quickly along Bulevardul Regina Elisabeta, she pulled out her phone and wrote a quick text to Viktor, the local Crew handler, who would fill her in on all the pertinent details before bringing her to a place where she could gather up some firepower. When Nicole had first begun working for the Clean Up Crew, the protocol was to bring any weapons you’d be using with you, but the world’s social climate had changed considerably since then, and boarding airplanes with a gun (or more often than not, several guns), even in checked luggage, was no longer considered a worthwhile operational risk. Besides, the organization had grown to a size that allowed for a ...

Celebrating the Golden Age of detective fiction. If you love the Golden Age of detective fiction (and who doesn't?) you're going to be happy to meet Olive Belgrave, the high society lady detective. This cozy mystery series from Sara Rosett is set in one of my favorite periods in history - between the two world wars. Olive is a young well-bred woman in search of an occupation, not an easy thing for those of the female persuasion to find in 1923. In this episode Sara reads to us from Murder at Archly Manor to whet your appetite. And then I ask Sara to give us a synopsis of her three other cozy mystery series. They include: The Murder on Location seriesThe On the Run International mysteries; andThe Ellie Avery series. So as the title of this episode suggests, Sara has a cozy series for every taste and you can learn more about all of them at her website (link below). If you're looking for new books and authors I've got a treat for you. There are over 70 mystery novels available for you to try - for free! - when you go to:alexandraamor.com/march21 (This offer expires March 31, 2021 so head over there today to take advantage.) Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett writes lighthearted mysteries for readers who enjoy atmospheric settings, fun characters, and puzzling whodunits. She is the author of the High Society Lady Detective historical mystery series as well as three contemporary cozy mystery series.Sara loves escaping into Golden Age mysteries, watching Jane Austen adaptations, and getting new stamps in her passport.  To learn more about Sara and all her books visit SaraRosett.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Murder at Archly Manor London, Summer 1923 One might suppose a well-bred young woman with a good education wouldn’t have any difficulties finding employment. At least, that’s what I’d supposed, but I discovered those assumptions were wrong—quite wrong. On an overcast morning in late July, I had stepped off the train from my little village of Nether Woodsmoor into the bustle and busyness of London, confident that within a few days I would be one of that fascinating breed, the working girl, striding off to put in a day’s work, knowing a paycheck was not long off.  My view of the situation had been quickly brought into line. It had been a rather abrupt descent from the heights of my expectations to the depths of reality. I had become familiar with the shallow veneer of apology that accompanied the words, “Sorry, but we don’t have anything for you.”  But today would be different. I was seated on the other side of the desk from a newspaper editor as he looked over my article. His closed office door barely muted the clacking typewriters and the loud conversations from the newsroom. I realized I was twisting my handbag in my lap, causing the decorative beads to strain against the threads that held them in place. I released my grip and pressed my gloved hands against the folds of my skirt.  Mr. Clark, editor of The Express, hadn’t even bothered to perch his pince-nez on his nose to read the sample article I’d labored over the night before. Holding his glasses in the air a few inches in front of his eyes, he skimmed down my handwritten story that described the Duchess of Seton’s ball. The fact that his lips didn’t twitch meant he didn’t even get to the incident involving Barbara Clairmore’s sash,

Meet a P.I. whose past is catching up to him. Brand new to Delia C. Pitts' Ross Agency mystery series is Murder My Past, which she reads to us on this episode. Delia's private investigator, SJ Rook, is catching up with his ex-wife, which can only lead to one thing: murder. Harlem features largely in this series and as Delia mentions in our interview it's the perfect place to set a mystery series. A multi-cultural neighborhood that has seen lots of change over the years, and one that holds plenty of secrets. You'll also hear Delia and I discuss the Crime Writers of Color website. On the books page you'll find new featured authors and new releases each week. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Delia C. Pitts is the author of the Ross Agency Mysteries, a contemporary noir private eye series. She is a former university administrator and U.S. diplomat. After working as a journalist, she earned a Ph.D in history from the University of Chicago. The fifth novel in her series, Murder My Past, was published February 16, 2021. In addition to her mysteries, Delia has published short stories in several anthologies and in the Chicago Quarterly Review. She and her husband live in central New Jersey, too far from their twin sons in Texas. To learn more about Delia and all her books visit DeliaPitts.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Murder My Past “So, you clocked this Chuy. Three punches to the belly. He went down like a sack of onions, as I recall.” “You recall correctly.” I tipped my glass at her. “Hard to forget that fight. You were scary furious. Chuy was bigger than you. On the varsity wrestling team too. But you were mad as hornets in heat. Took him out quick and good.” “You were impressed?” “I was.” Annie squeezed her lids, then shook her head. “Day one of fall semester, I saw you in biology. I sat next to you at the lab bench.” “On purpose?” “Of course, SJ!” Laughter floated from her lips, tinkling and bright. “How do you think we ended up as lab partners?” “You didn’t mind the anger?” She twisted her lips to the side. “No. Not at first. I thought I could handle it. I was crushing hard on you.” She ducked her head, then picked at a salt crystal on the stem of her giant glass. “And I was so damn teen stupid.” I puffed until bourbon rippled over the ice like uneasy memories. The present was safer ground, I could regain my balance there. “Annie, I read you’re heading a multi-million-dollar operation. How do you do it? You look fresh as a baby in a cradle.” Laid on thick, south Texas cornpone slathered over the compliments. “You ought to bottle that care-free potion and sell it to these New York City women. Stress and distress are the name of the game. Up here, if you’re not anxious, you’re not really trying. That’s how they see it.” She detected the BS. “Aw, poor thing! New York City ladies not treating you nice like you’re used to?” She tossed her head until the brown column of her neck shimmied with laughter. “I’m doing all right in that department. Don’t worry your pretty little head.” Bravado rang stupid, but I tried it anyway. Thoughts of Brina jittered through my mind: her smiling face, her warm eyes, the intensity of her focus as we unraveled a puzzle together. Annie’s brow lifted, satisfaction tilting her full lips. “You got yourself a fancy New York City girl, do you, SJ? Tell me about her.” I hadn’t meant to mention Brina,

Welcome to an alternative Los Angeles. The femme fatale is an archetype in literature, especially in crime novels. Think of Cora in The Postman Always Rings Twice or Phyllis in Double Indemnity. (Both those novels were written by James M. Cain. He seems to have had a thing for femme fatales.) These are women who are seductive and usually beautiful who lure men into compromising or dangerous situations. SG (Sandra) Wong has taken this classic noir mystery trope and turned it on its head, which I just love. Lola Starke is the femme fatale in Sandra's historical crime novels, and she's also the private investigator. Sandra reads to us from book 2 in the series (there are 3 books so far), called In for a Pound which finds Lola Starke and her friend Ria on the scene when a murder takes place. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author SG (Sandra) Wong writes fiction across genres, has garnered some crime fiction awards nominations, speaks on writing and publishing topics, and volunteers for important community causes such as Sisters in Crime, which she serves as National President. Her Lola Starke novels and Crescent City short stories are set in a 1930s-era, fictionalized “Chinese Los Angeles,” with ghosts and magic, in an alternate history in which China established a city-state colony at the start of the Gold Rush. Sandra's next book is coming in 2022 from HarperCollins Canada and is a stand-alone suspense novel. To learn more about SG Wong and all her books visit SGWong.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from In for a Pound “Why, hello stranger.” Ria looked up at Lola, gave a lazy smile. She patted the shoulder of the man in whose lap she sat. “This is my new friend Charlie. Charlie, meet my best friend, Lola Starke.” She switched to a stage whisper. “I bet she’s here to take me home.” “I’m here to take you home,” Lola said, deadpan.  Charlie smiled and nodded. He had a dimple in his right cheek and a jaw shadowed with dark stubble. “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Starke.” His gaze measured her from head to toe—and back again. There might have been an awkward pause then, but the trumpet player chose that moment to blow for all he was worth. Lola turned to face the stage. The club patrons were out of their seats, clapping, jumping, and shouting encouragement. Ria bumped Lola’s right hip as she straightened up. Lola threw her a sidelong glance. Ria winked. The trumpet player reached his apogee, his body a taut arc, his eyes squeezed shut. The cheering grew. Tables were bumped. Glassware tumbled with clinks and crashes. The crystal chandeliers rattled and Lola felt pressure building in her eardrums.  Just as she started to cover her ears, the trumpeter’s high note cut out and the rest of the band slammed to a halt. The calls of the crowd became a wave of sound and energy, cresting as the band members collapsed into their chairs, and breaking into laughter as the bandleader swept a spotted kerchief across his forehead and fell onto his seat at the edge of the stage. Lola turned to Ria. They grinned at each other like fools. Ria whirled around to face Charlie, kissed him soundly on the lips, and pushed away, laughing. She grabbed Lola’s hand and led the way around smashed glass, tipsy people, giggling cigarette girls, and potted palms. Lola glanced back to see Charlie wave languidly at her, dimples deepening and eyes glinting. 

Small town, big mystery. Gloria Ferris writes in several genres, but today we're talking about her Cornwall and Redfern mysteries, specifically book #3 in the series, Skull Garden. Small towns in Ontario are some of my favorite places in the world. I grew up visiting my paternal grandparents outside Gravenhurst, and now have an uncle who lives in the exact area near Lake Huron that Gloria is writing about in these books. So it was very easy for me to picture the landscape and architecture as Gloria read from her book, which was a delight. In the introduction, I also mention a class I took recently on using the Enneagram to create characters. I loved the class and it made me reflect that there is always something new to learn about writing, which I love. Sometimes it can be intimidating, but mostly I love learning and hopefully improving my craft. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Gloria Ferris is a former procedure writer at a nuclear power plant, an exciting job to be sure, but it afforded little opportunity for plot and character development. So, she turned to fiction writing and is now the award-winning author of the humorous Cornwall & Redfern mysteries; a co-written Suspense series; and a YA urban fantasy series. Occasionally, she writes a short story just for the heck of it. Gloria lives in southwestern Ontario and is a member of the International Thriller Writers and the Alliance of Independent Authors. To learn more about Gloria and all her books visit GloriaFerris.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Skull Garden CHAPTER ONE  I eased the Savage to the edge of the pavement and cut the engine. Chesley swung a lanky leg over my head and hopped off the back seat. While he checked his teeth for bugs, I spread a hand-drawn map across the seat. “It should be around here somewhere,” I told him.  Consulting the compass duct-taped to my dash, I faced north and pointed to a gentle incline covered with a century’s worth of pine growth. “It might be on the other side of that hill.” Hunting for a graveyard abandoned over a hundred years ago is no easy task, especially if the township records suck. Chesley hung my spare helmet over a handlebar and tucked his chin-length hair behind his ears. “The cemetery could be inside the thicket. The undergrowth’s had plenty of time to cover the gravesites.” The June afternoon heated up, and I stripped off my helmet and jacket. “I hope not. I want to take photos of any inscriptions, count up the headstones, and call it done.” “How did Glory talk you into this? Seems odd she’d care about old burials.” “She thinks she's my boss. She assumed I’d do it on a volunteer basis.” I snorted. “As if. So, she offered me minimum wage. I refused, but made a fatal mistake. I said I’d need the rate the town was giving summer students. After an epic tantrum, she gave in and pointed me towards the municipal archives for maps.” We crossed the road and ploughed through an expanse of waist-high grass. If the cemetery was inside the gloomy stand of trees, Chesley might come in handy, to serve as bear bait. I shoved him into the lead. As interim mayor of Lockport, a town of 7,000 hardy souls on the shores of Lake Huron in Ontario, Glory Yates was on a crazy power trip. Who cared if there were burial grounds being overtaken by time in the wilds of the township? Dust to dust, right? Apparently not. She wanted them located, inventoried,

Every goodhearted detective needs a loathsome nemesis. Mike Faricy is a prolific author and has several mystery series on the go. Today we focus on his Dev Haskell series with book #27, Alley Katz. Readers describe Dev as a 'likeable rogue' and I think that's the perfect description. In our interview I mention to Mike that Dev made me think of a cross between Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr and Robert B. Parker's Spenser. And I love how deliciously nasty Dev's nemesis/employer, Tubby Gustafson, is. If you like what you hear when Mike reads to us, there are two Dev Haskell novellas available at Mike's website for free, Twinkletoes and Dollhouse. You can sign up to receive those books here. In case you missed it, I shared the first part of one of my monthly short stories yesterday here on the blog. You can read that here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Mike Faricy was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. He developed his love for books from his parents reading to him at an early age. He currently has written seventy-five books in four crime fiction series; The Dev Haskell series, the Corridor Man series, the Hotshot series, and the Jack Dillon Dublin Tales series. Mike is the winner of the 2019 Crime Master’s of America Poison Cup Award and the winner of the 2020 Crime Master's of America Poison Cup Award for the Best Selling series. Mike lives in St. Paul, Minnesota and Dublin, Ireland, which makes me the most boring guy in two towns. To learn more about Mike and all his books visit MikeFaricyBooks.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Alley Katz I hurried out of Annette’s house and sped toward Tubby’s palace. Every time the wheels turned, I seemed to dread the meeting just a little bit more. The drive went all too quickly, and before I knew it, I was climbing out of my car and pressing the button on the intercom at Tubby’s front gate. “Well, Haskell, back for more. Good luck with that,” the voice answered, laughed, and the gate suddenly began to open. Apparently, everyone had been alerted to my pending arrival. They’d probably set up some way to tape my beheading and use it as a warning to anyone who even thought of crossing Tubby in the future. I drove up the circular drive to the parking area. The usual two thugs were leaning against the house. By the time I parked, placed my pistol in the glove compartment, and climbed out, one of them was standing at the rear of my car. “You must be a glutton for punishment, Haskell. Suit yourself. Assume the position,” he said. I leaned over the trunk, and he patted me down, twice. “Okay, you’re good to go,” he said. I walked over to the front door, where his partner patted me down. “Lucky you. You get to go inside,” he said and laughed. He opened the door, and I stepped inside. Squiggy was reading a comic book. Probably the same one he was reading the last time I was here. He looked at me, shook his head, and pushed his bifocals on the bridge of his nose.“You know, Haskell, I’d normally tell you this is your lucky day, but you know better than that. Follow me,” he said and set off across the entryway. He was knocking on Tubby’s office door a moment later. “It’s about damn time. Send him in here,” Tubby growled as Squiggy opened the door. “Good luck,” Squiggy half-whispered as I hurried past and headed into Tubby’s office. I’d seen Tubby in this situation before, his massage hour.

A perfect blend of knitting and cozy mysteries. Reagan Davis writes cozy mysteries set in small town Ontario. Her protagonist, Megan, owns a knitting shop; the perfect job for an amateur sleuth ;-) In the introduction I mention speaking (via zoom) with a university psychology class last week about my memoir about ten years I spent in a cult in the 1990s. The students were super engaged and thoughtful and it was a joy to chat with them and answer questions. I'm always thrilled to help educate anyone about how cults work and how even smart, self-aware people can get sucked into them. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Reagan Davis doesn’t really exist.  She is a pen name for the real author who lives in the suburbs of Toronto with her husband, two kids, and a menagerie of pets.  When she’s not planning the perfect murder, she enjoys knitting, reading, eating too much chocolate, and drinking too much Diet Coke.  The author is an established knitwear designer who regularly publishes individual patterns and is a contributor to many knitting books and magazines.  To learn more about Reagan and all her books visit ReaganDavis.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Twisted Stitches Monday July 6th “Megan!” The disembodied voice comes from nowhere. Just loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to recognize. There’s nobody around. This is the third time in fourteen hours the voice has called my name. Am I hearing things? Is this a neurological symptom? The disembodied voice comes from nowhere. Just loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to recognize. There’s nobody around. This is the third time in fourteen hours the voice has called my name. Am I hearing things? Is this a neurological symptom? The voice called out to me when I walked Sophie last night, again this morning during our morning walk, and just now, while I load groceries into my trunk at the Shop’n’Save in Harmony Hills. I make a mental note to search the internet when I get home, in case this is a symptom of a stroke, or a brain tumour, or something. Returning the empty cart to the cart corral, I see Mr. and Mrs. Willows across the parking lot. They’re getting into their older, oversize, white pickup truck that Mrs. Willows affectionately refers to as “The Beater.” They see me too. We smile at each other and exchange waves. Could one of them have called out to me? Like me, Mr. and Mrs. Willows live in Harmony Lake. They have a farm on the outskirts of town.  It’s not uncommon to run into other Harmony Lake residents in Harmony Hills. Harmony Lake is a small town with limited amenities. Most of us who live there make regular trips to Harmony Hills to visit the big box stores, medical facilities, and other businesses and services we don’t have on the other side of the Harmony Hills mountains. Standing in an asphalt parking lot with no shade, at noon on a July day, with the heat from the hot pavement radiating up my sundress, makes a hot summer day feel downright scorching. I start the engine, turn the stereo down and the air conditioning up. A few uncooperative curls insist on hanging rebelliously around my face as I twist my hair into a bun and secure it with the hair elastic I wear on my wrist.  I pull down the sun visor and open the mirror. With my sunglasses resting on top of my head, I check the mirror and wipe a smudge of mascara from below my left eye. I squint into the bright,

Step aside Stephanie Plum! In Jinx Ballou, Dharma Kelleher has created a tough, complex character who is a former police officer, a comic book nerd, and a Wonder Woman cosplayer. Jinx also happens to be transgender. Dharma herself is trans and in our interview she talks about writing the books she wants to read, something I can totally relate to because I do the same thing. Dharma wanted to read about complex characters with rich lives in a way that wasn't focused on their gender identity or their transition. Those kinds of books are amazing and have undoubtedly supported and assisted many people, and now there's room in the publishing space for the type of book Dharma wants to read and write. Thank goodness for that! In the introduction I also mention that I recently found out that my memoir, Cult, A Love Story, is being used as one of the textbooks in a psychology of cults class at a university in Iowa. Exciting! Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Dharma Kelleher writes gritty crime thrillers including the Jinx Ballou Bounty Hunter series and the Shea Stevens Outlaw Biker series. Dharma is one of the only openly transgender authors in the crime fiction genre. Her action-driven thrillers explore the complexities of social and criminal justice in a world where the legal system favors the privileged.  She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the International Thriller Writers, and the Alliance of Independent Authors. She lives in Arizona with her wife Eileen and a black cat named Mouse To learn more about Dharma and all her books visit DharmaKelleher.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Chaser CHAPTER 1 A blond woman opened the door, her swollen left eye shining with the rich color and texture of an overripe eggplant. Dried blood trailed from her twisted nose, over her split lip, and onto her faded Disney Cinderella T-shirt. Purple, green, and yellow bruises on her arms and legs documented a history of abuse.  “Jesus Christ! That looks like it hurts.” I stood on her doorstep in Phoenix’s Sunnyslope neighborhood, sweat beading on my skin in the late-afternoon heat. “Freddie do that to you?” “What do you want?” Her fat lip and broken nose made it sound more like “Wuh you wuhn?” She glared at me from her open doorway, resting a hand on her hip.  “You’re Vanessa Nealey, right?” “Who wants to know?”  “Gee, I figured the words Bail Enforcement Agent printed in big yellow letters on my Kevlar vest would’ve given it away.” I handed her my business card with a sardonic grin. “Jinx Ballou, friendly neighborhood bounty hunter. Your boyfriend, Freddie Colton, missed his court date. Big Bobby Mills at Liberty Bail Bonds hired me to pick him up. Is he here?” Vanessa crumpled the business card and tossed it at my feet. “Go to hell, lady.” She started to shut the door, but I caught it with the toe of my boot. “Listen up, princess! You put your home up as collateral. If Prince Charming doesn’t come along with me, your bond is forfeit. Know what that means? It means no happily ever after. Liberty Bail Bonds will take your house, and you’ll be on the street. Is Freddie really worth all that?” She held my gaze for several seconds before her expression softened. “He ain’t here.”  “You sure about that?” Vanessa stepped aside. “You wanna look around? Be my guest.”  I was tempted to take her up on her offer, just in case she was bluffing. Technically,

Another Vancouver private investigator series! Perry (PA) Wilson writes about a Vancouver private investigator named Charity Deacon. I said to Perry at the beginning of our interview that I feel like Charity and my own heroine Freddie Lark are PI sisters; they're both in Vancouver and they're both independent women living the lives that suit them, not to mention solving crime. Perry writes in several genres so if you enjoy reading outside the mystery genre I highly recommend you check out her other books. She is also in the process of narrating her books for audiobook. It's a laborious process but she's making progress and you can buy those audiobooks, including the one for Dreams, directly from her on her website. Selling ebooks and audiobooks (not paperbacks) directly to the reader is one way independent authors like Perry are able to earn a living from their writing. When you buy directly from an author's website, she doesn't have to share the royalties for her books with the online vendor. Last week on the podcast intro I mentioned a survey I had going about audiobooks. It was Perry who inspired that survey. She gave me some tips about the equipment she was using and after we stopped recording the podcast interview we talked about audiobooks and selling direct. The survey results looked like this: 37% of people surveyed read between 1 and 5 audiobooks a week; and58% of respondents DO prefer it when a narrator does character voices I wanted to know how audiobook readers feel about narrators doing character voices because I'm debating about narrating my own novels, but I'm not sure I could do different voices for each character. But now I have some information about readers' preferences and that's good to have. I don't have the bandwidth right now to add narrating to my plate, but maybe one day I will be able to pick up that project. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author PA (Perry) Wilson lives in New Westminster BC and writes while looking out over a busy arm of the Fraser river.  Nothing like watching a tugboat pull a barge to inspire you. She worked in project management for several years after a long stretch at a local credit union. Always a writer, she found National Novel Writing Month in 2008 and hasn't looked back since. She writes mystery fiction with a thriller vibe and a few other genres which she admits are just mystery books with an other world backdrop.  To learn more about Perry and all her books visit PAWilson.ca Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Dreams Chapter 1 “Hey, Charity, are you around?” Val’s voice floated up to the patio. I’d given up trying to make her knock on the door like a normal person and handed her a key. That way I didn’t waste energy wondering how she broke in. It’s not like she was disturbing anything private in my life anyway. “Grab a coke and come up,” I said. The great thing about a tiny home is you don’t need to yell. Or maybe it’s just my neighborhood, where yelling gets you the wrong kind of attention. I heard the fridge slam and then Val appeared in the door to the patio, Rory right behind her. They stepped out and grabbed a plastic chair each. I put the printout from my only actually active case face down on the table and dropped my phone on it as a paperweight. “What are you doing?” Val asked. She’d learned to preface her requests for favors with what appeared to be concern for other people.

Murder with a touch of the absurd. When Rich Leder finished reading his excerpt from his new book, Cooking for Cannibals, I realized his writing reminded me of Elmore Leonard's. As the title of this podcast episode implies, Rich's writing has a touch of the comedic, but not in a har-har way. It's more like a dash of salt added to a very spicy dish. In the interview we talk about writing screenplays in Hollywood, writing 'high concept' books, and his other mystery series, the crime caper Kate McCall books. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Rich Leder has been a working writer for more than three decades. His credits include 19 produced movies—television films for CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark and feature films for Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Longridge Productions, and Left Bank Films—and six novels for Laugh Riot Press.  Learn more about Rich Leder and all this books at RichLeder.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Cooking for Cannibals Chapter One: A MODERN MARVEL OF MEDICINAL MANUFACTURING It was an unprecedented feat of pharmaceutical engineering with a kiss from Mother Nature and a whisper from God.  Carrie could tell without technical measure, with her naked eye, with the touch of her hand, that the rats were younger this week than last, younger today than yesterday.  There was indisputable clinical corroboration to authenticate and validate her professional observations.  The most rigorous laboratory methodologies had been employed.  The results had been questioned and challenged time and again.  Every test, trial, study, and calculation confirmed the conclusion.  The aging process in all nine rats had been definitively and profoundly reversed.   The drug worked. Carrie stood hidden in a dark corner of Lab No. 3 holding a rolling pin.  Her knuckles were white from choking the handle.  Her heart was beating like the bass drum she’d played for a short time in the New Brunswick High marching band back in New Jersey when she was fourteen (an unpleasant memory even now), all those years and three thousand miles ago.  If she didn’t keep her mouth closed, she thought, her heart would pound its way up her throat and shoot across the lab floor.  In all her thirty-five years, she’d never hit anyone on the head with a rolling pin.  Never broken the law.  Not a speeding ticket.  Not a gum wrapper on the ground.  Panic was a reasonable reaction given the circumstances.  Shortness of breath, rapid pulse, and excessive perspiration were expected outcomes.  Amplified adrenaline wreaking emotional chaos and intellectual havoc was a predictable and projected response.  But Jesus Christ, she hadn’t planned on being such a nervy mess.    To steady herself, she focused on her alibi.  Technically, she wasn’t here.  Her car was parked in a lot on the other side of the San Fernando Valley.  Witnesses had seen her with a beer in the Foxfire Room in Valley Village.  There was a bartender who would confirm it.  She’d used a colleague’s card to scan her way back into the lab.  If anyone was here with Old Tom, the security guard who worked Wednesday nights after hours, it was Stuart Langston, Alsiko’s biostatistician, the smarmy math creep no one liked. To calm herself, she focused on the courage it took to do what she was doing, how far she’d come in her own personal development to be brave enough to commit this kind of compassionate crime when her career and lif...

All she did was take in a parcel for a neighbour. Sebastian Fitzek is one of Europe’s most successful authors of psychological thrillers and I was thrilled to talk to him about his brand new book, The Package. In the interview, Sebastian shares how the idea for the book grew out of the every-day occurrence of a package delivery to his quiet street in Berlin. Interestingly, Sebastian has also created several board games. We talk about how these games came to life and how he collaborated with others to make them a reality. In the introduction I mention that I'm reading Cynthia Harrod-Eagle's most recent Bill Slider police procedural, Cruel as the Grave. If you've been reading the blog for a while you know how much I love these books. ;-) Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Sebastian Fitzek is one of Europe’s most successful authors of psychological thrillers. His books have sold 12 million copies, been translated into more than twenty-four languages and are the basis for international cinema and theatre adaptations. He was the first German author to be awarded the European Prize for Criminal Literature. He lives with his family in Berlin. Learn more about Sebastian and all his books at SebastianFitzek.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Package Chapter Two Taking hold of her wheelie case, Emma hesitated before entering room 1904, for the simple reason that she could barely see a thing. The little illumination that did penetrate the darkness came from the countless lights of the city, nineteen floors beneath her. The Le Zen on Tauentzienstrasse was Berlin’s newest five-star chrome-and-glass palace, with over three hundred rooms. Taller and more luxurious than any other hotel in the capital. And – in Emma’s eyes, at least – decorated with relatively little taste. That, at any rate, was her first impression once she’d found the main switch by the door and the overhead light clicked on. The interior design looked as if a trainee had been instructed to exploit every possible Far Eastern cliché when selecting the furnishings. In the hallway, which was separated from the neighbouring bedroom by a thin, sliding door covered in tissue paper, stood a Chinese wedding chest. A bamboo rug extended from the door to a low futon bed. The lamps beside the floor sofa looked like the colourful lanterns that the toddlers carried on St Martin’s Day in the parade organised by the Heerstrasse Estate kindergarten. Surprisingly stylish, on the other hand, was a huge black-and-white photograph of Ai Weiwei that stretched from floor to ceiling between the sofa and fitted wardrobe. Emma had recently visited an exhibition by this exceptional Chinese artist. She looked away from the man with the tousled beard, hung her coat in the wardrobe and took her phone from her handbag. Voicemail. She’d already tried calling him once, but Philipp hadn’t answered. He never did when on duty.  With a sigh she moved over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, slipped off her peep toes, without which she shrunk to the average height of a fourteen-year-old, and gazed down at the Kurfürstendamm. She stroked her belly, which still showed nothing, although it was a bit too early for that yet. But she was comforted by the idea that something was growing inside her, which was far more important than any seminar or professional recognition. It had taken a while before the second line on the pregnancy test...

Who better to solve mysteries than a research librarian? Hester Thursby is a research librarian at Harvard with a non-husband and a niece in tow who has a side-hustle as a people-finder. Watch Her is the third book in this acclaimed series. Author Edwin Hill reads to us from the beginning of the book and in the interview we discuss why he chose to write about a female protagonist, Hester's interesting approach to her relationship with her parter Morgan, and why Edwin made the choice to have the additional complication in Hester's life of the responsibility for Morgan's niece. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Edwin Hill is the Edgar- and Agatha-award nominated author of Little Comfort, The Missing Ones, and Watch Her. Edwin earned an MFA from Emerson College and served as the vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin's, a division of Macmillan Learning for many years before turning to writing full time. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and his favorite reviewer, their lab Edith Ann, who likes his first drafts enough to eat them. (You can follow Edith Ann on Instagram here.) Author photo copyright Thomas Bollinger Learn more about Edwin and all his books at Edwin-Hill.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Watch Her HESTER rain splattered the windshield and heat pouredfrom the vents as Hester Thursby’s non-husband, Morgan, tried to parallel park their truck on an industrial street in Jamaica Plain. A week into spring, and winter still had a hold on Boston. “Success,” he said, after the third attempt, cutting the engine and leaning across the cab to kiss Hester on the cheek. Tonight, he’d tamed his red hair and changed out of the scrubs he wore at the veterinary hospital and into a navy blue suit that fit perfectly, a suit that made its way out of his closet about once a year. “Hello, Mrs.,” he said, kissing her again. “Yuck! Quit kissing.” Hester’s five-year-old niece, Kate, glared at them from the rear cab. These days, the girl seemed to drink in everything and anything that happened around her and didn’t think twice about voicing her opinions. It was a good quality to have, though sometimes Hester had to remind herself to encourage it. Kate would finish kindergarten in a few months, and Hester knew she’d blink and soon enough the girl would be heading to college. She tried to make every moment with her niece special, even the ones that gave her a glimpse of the teenage years. “How’s this?” Morgan asked, kissing Hester with exaggerated smacks. He rolled over the seat and into the back, and kissed Kate, too, who shrieked and shoved him away. “Uncle Morgan, you are disgusting!” “Guilty as charged,” Morgan said. “And saying no is your prerogative,” Hester said. “It is!” Morgan said, having the good sense not to go in for a final smooch. “What’s prerogative?” Kate asked. “Your privilege. Your right. You’re in control of your body,” Hester said, quickly adding, “except when it comes to eating vegetables.” “None of us has a choice when it comes to vegetables,” Morgan said. “It’s pouring out,” Hester said. “We’ll have to run between the raindrops.” “You can’t run between raindrops,” Kate said. “And I can’t fool you with anything these days,” Hester said. She opened the door to the truck and leapt to the asphalt below while yanking the hood up on her blue raincoat.

Canada is a biiiiig country! Jay Forman's amateur sleuth, travel writer Lee Smith, has got innumerable places to visit...and lots of crime to solve. If you're missing the ability to travel in this our covid year then Jay and Lee can definitely help you out with some virtual travels. In the second book in the series, No Return, Lee visits a fly-in Ojibway community in Northern Ontario to investigate the shooting death of a mining prospector. Other books in the series explore the Muskoka region of Ontario (one I'm familiar with from childhood visits to my grandparents), Newfoundland, and, coming in 2021, the west coast of Vancouver Island (where I happen to live). Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Jay Forman was once a relatively sane television producer. Since walking away from the cameras she’s been crazy busy adding mother and author to her list of credits. Combining her love of mysteries with her own calamitous travel experiences, she’s now locked her focus on sending Canadian travel writer Lee Smith and Jack Hughes (Lee’s best friend with many benefits, not least of which is that he’s a billionaire philanthropist) to wherever bodies are found. To learn more about Jay and all her books visit JayForman.ca Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from No Return CHAPTER ONE Sara knew something was wrong when all the kids went quiet.  A raven’s long black wings swept through the air low over her head. His caw sounded like the alarm on her bedside clock radio and it alerted the rest of his conspiracy. Six of the big birds swooped down and began circling above the six little heads of her stationary students at the shore.  Mary’s tiny hand squeezed Sara’s hard. “What is it?” she asked in barely more than a whisper. “Maybe they’ve found some rubies?” Sara forced herself to sound cheerful, even though she knew darn well that the kids couldn’t have found rubies. River had shown his classmates garnets, not rubies, but his grand tale of finding precious gems had worked the kids into a frenzy. She’d hoped that adding a side-trip on the mainland would be a good way to start teaching them about the wealth of minerals beneath their native lands. She’d also hoped that spending some time running up and down the shore, looking under rocks and hunting for treasure, would help bring Mary a little bit out of her silent shell. “Let’s go see what they’ve found.”  Sara took one step forward and the loud crack of the dried branch her hiking boot landed on reverberated in the silent forest. Even the river was quiet. Mary’s bright green frog-faced rubber boots shuffled through some brittle yellowed leaves that crinkled. They both stopped dead when the class parted to let Sara see what they’d found. When she’d been living in Toronto, the only time Sara had seen violent death was when she drove by raccoon or squirrel or skunk roadkill. In the years since she’d moved up here she’d learned how to quell her queasiness whenever someone came back to the reserve from a hunt. She’d even agreed to try her hand at partridge plucking when she and the kids got over to the petawanagang fall gathering camp. But seeing an animal, big or small, moose or beaver, get skinned was still too much for her stomach and as she looked at the carcass lying on the rocky shore she felt herself starting to hyperventilate. Her short bursts of breath instantly condensed into puffy little white clouds when they hit the col...

The jungles and lava fields of Hawai'i hold secrets. If you've ever been to Hawai'i, it's likely that murder was the last thing on your mind. Not so for Robert McCaw's detective Koa Kane. As Robert shares in our interview, he had a home on Hawai'i and became fascinated with its culture, language, and history. To me, the islands seem the perfect place to set a series of mysteries; the sometimes flouted expectations that visitors have of paradise, the mix of cultures, not to mention the colonialism, all seem like they would contribute to the stark reality behind the tourist-facing facade. Death of a Messenger is the third book in the Detective Koa Kane series, though each can be read as a stand-alone. The others are Off the Grid and Fire and Vengeance. A fourth book, Treachery Times Two, will be published in January 2022. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Robert B. McCaw grew up in a military family traveling the world. After graduating from Georgetown University, he served as a lieutenant in the US Army before earning his JD degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. For a number of years, Bob maintained a home on the Big Island of Hawai'i, studying its history, culture, and peoples. Archaeology and astronomy are among his many interests. In researching his books, he talked story with Hawai'i County cops and walked the streets where his stories take place. He and his wife live in New York City. To learn more about Robert McCaw and all his books visit RobertBMcCaw.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Death of a Messenger Hawai‘i County Chief Detective Koa Kāne strapped in, and the US Army UH-72A Lakota helicopter lifted off the Hilo tarmac. An anonymous 911 call to the Hawai‘i County Emergency Command Center had reported a corpse at Pōhakuloa, the Army’s remote live-fire training area, or PTA. Sergeant Basa had alerted Koa, and was now sitting next to him as the chopper headed for the Army reservation in the Humu‘ula Saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, two of the five volcanoes that form the Big Island of Hawai‘i.  The chopper turned west and climbed toward the saddle. Koa barely noticed, though. The mad dash to catch the chopper had aggravated the pinched nerve in his neck, and he sat stiffly erect to avoid further jolts of pain.  As they passed over an ambulance heading up the Saddle Road, Sergeant Basa leaned over, shouting above the roar of the engines, “That’s the county physician and the crime scene techs down there. I told them to get their butts up to Pōhakuloa.”  Koa spotted flashing lights in the distance and felt a spark of excitement. A crime scene did that to him. He counted ten vehicles: military police jeeps, EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) vehicles, a tracked ambulance, and a fire truck. As the helicopter approached, Koa saw that the vehicles were spread out along a barely visible jeep trail that meandered east of a sizable cinder cone. Yellow tape marked a path cleared by EOD personnel. Several men stood near an oval pit at the end of the tape.  As the chopper settled between two MP vehicles, a military policeman dressed in camo with a silver first lieutenant’s bar broke away from the cluster near the pit and hurried toward the chopper. Jerry Zeigler’s ferret-like face and crooked nose identified him as the commander of the military police detachment at Pōhakuloa. “Hello, Jerry.” Koa shook hands with the twenty-five-year-old ...

Historical mysteries in an ancient time. Regency and WWII historical mysteries are the ones I tend to notice most often. Sarah Woodbury offers us an alternative in her Gareth and Gwen series set in Medieval Wales. Sarah has had a big job on her hands in this series, weaving together history, mystery, a sprinkling of the Welsh language, and romance. But she clearly loves doing it because there are presently 13 books in the series. In the interview, one of the things we touch on is Sarah's YouTube channel where she has lots of videos about Wales and history. You can see that here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author With over a million books sold to date, Sarah Woodbury is the author of more than forty novels, all set in medieval Wales. Although an anthropologist by training, and then a full-time homeschooling mom for twenty years, she began writing fiction when the stories in her head overflowed and demanded that she let them out. While her ancestry is Welsh, she only visited Wales for the first time at university.  She has been in love with the country, language, and people ever since. She even convinced her husband to give all four of their children Welsh names. She makes her home in Oregon. To learn more about Sarah and all her books visit SarahWoodbury.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Good Knight “Look at you, girl.”  Gwen’s father, Meilyr, made a tsk of disgust under his breath and brought his borrowed horse closer to her side of the path. He’d been out of sorts since early morning when he’d found his horse lame and King Anarawd and his company of soldiers had left the castle without them, refusing to wait for Meilyr to find a replacement mount. Anarawd’s men-at-arms would have provided Meilyr with the fine escort he coveted.  “You’ll have no cause for complaint once we reach Owain Gwynedd’s court.” A breeze wafted over Gwen’s face, and she closed her eyes, letting her pony find his own way for a moment. “I won’t embarrass you at the wedding.”  “If you cared more for your appearance, you would have been married yourself years ago and given me grandchildren long since.” Gwen opened her eyes, her forehead wrinkling in annoyance. “And whose fault is it that I’m unmarried?” Her fingers flexed about the reins, but she forced herself to relax. Her present appearance was her own doing, even if her father found it intolerable. In her bag, she had fine clothes and ribbons to weave through her hair, but saw no point in sullying any of them on the long journey to Aber Castle.  King Owain Gwynedd’s daughter was due to marry King Anarawd in three days’ time. Owain Gwynedd had invited Gwen, her father, and her almost twelve-year old brother, Gwalchmai, to furnish the entertainment for the event, provided King Owain and her father could bridge the six years of animosity and silence that separated them. Meilyr had sung for King Owain’s father, Gruffydd; he’d practically raised King Owain’s son, Hywel. But six years was six years. No wonder her father’s temper was short. Even so, she couldn’t let her father’s comments go. Responsibility for the fact that she had no husband rested firmly on his shoulders. “Who refused the contract?” “Rhys was a rapscallion and a laze-about,” Meilyr said. And you weren’t about to give up your housekeeper, maidservant, cook, and child-minder to just anyone, were you? But instead of speaking,

Do you yearn for a life of freedom? Minnie Crockwell is a free spirit. She travels the USA in her RV, with a very polite ghost named Ben in tow, exploring the country and, of course, solving crime. The life of a digital nomad has occasionally called to me, but I think I'm better off hearing about others' adventures. To me it seems that the Will Travel for Trouble mysteries are the perfect confluence of living an adventurous life vicariously through literature. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Minnie Crockwell has traveled and lived in too many styles of RVs to remember. Without a land yacht at present, she lives in a sticks and bricks home in Virginia and wonders what her next RV purchase will be. She’s shopping! Minnie also writes time travel romance novels as Bess McBride. Learn more about Minnie/Bess and all her books at BessMcBride.com. Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Trouble at Happy Trails I pulled into the campground slowly, never quite sure what dangers lurked in the form of poles, signs, small children, errant tree limbs and one-way roads. I paused for a moment and surveyed what would be my new domain for the next week or so. The office was clearly visible several hundred feet away, and marked helpfully with a sign which read "Office." Always a good start to a campground stay! While no longer a complete novice driver of a 37-foot recreational vehicle, I didn't allow myself to relax my vigilance either. I drew my eyebrows and surveyed the approach to the office. A hard sharp 30-degree angle turn came between me, my rig and the office. I pulled the wheel hard to the right, made the turn and rolled to a stop in front of the small one-story, nondescript beige building. Turning off the engine and setting the brake, I made my way to the door on the passenger side of the RV and clambered down the steps with a groan. Driving for 8 hours straight from the Oregon coast with only two rest stops was not the ideal RV traveling day, but I had been determined to reach my reserved spot at the Happy Trails RV Park in Spokane, Washington, before darkness set in. Maneuvering into a site, hauling out hoses and cords, and finding the appropriate hookups (and determining whether they were working or not) was not one of my favorite parts of living on the road in a tin can (albeit an expensive tin can). But one grew used to it, along with the perks of electricity and running water. It was not something I wanted to do in the dark...ever. I approached the office and jumped back as a middle-aged man, dressed in a snug T-shirt and form-fitting jeans, burst out of the office. “We’ll see about that,” he said. He saw me, muttered a “scuse me” and hurried off in the general direction of the RVs peacefully parked in uniform rows on a diagonal slant. “Hmmm,” I muttered under my breath. That wasn’t promising. Would I have trouble at this park? I pushed open the door with some hesitation. Was the staff member inside just as angry as the man who had left? What was that all about? A short, plump woman stood behind the counter with her back to the door. From the looks of her shaking, hunched shoulders, she appeared to be crying. Apparently, she hadn’t heard me open the door. I cleared my throat loudly. In the past three months of traveling full time in my RV I can’t say that I had come across this situation before—a blubbering campground office attendant. Certainly,

Sometimes when bad things happen it's for the best. I'm not talking about murder! For the fictional character Chelsea Thomas being left at the alter spins her life in a direction that she likely didn't anticipate. I haven't had a husband and wife co-writing team on the podcast before so I was very excited to talk to one half of the team, Chelsea, who shares a name with her protagonist. Chelsea and her husband Matthew have co-authored ten Apple Orchard mysteries, with #11, Dropping Like Pies, arriving February 23, 2021. If you're looking for sweet (see what I did there?), fun, light mysteries to chase away the winter blues, look no further. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Chelsea Thomas is the married writing team of Chelsea and Matthew Thomas. Chelsea and Matthew met at Duke University and they currently live in the Hudson Valley, NY. You’ll love Chelsea’s mysteries because everyone loves  cozies with delicious food and smart female sleuths. To learn more about Chelsea and all her books visit ChelseaThomasAuthor.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Apple Die Left at the altar. What a cliché. I hadn’t thought my fiancé, Mike, capable of such an unoriginal break-up. But there we were, at the altar, and he kept checking the exits like he was about to rob a bank. “Are you OK?” I whispered as the priest said some stuff in Latin. Mike wiped sweat off his forehead. “I’m fine.” “You’re sweating a lot.” “I said I’m fine.” Before I could get further confirmation, the priest joined Mike’s sweaty hands with my hands, and he proceeded with the vows. “Do you, Chelsea Rae Thomas, take Michael Martin Gherkin as your husband, until death do you part?” “I do.” Easy answer, or so I thought. The priest turned to Mike. “And do you, Michael, take Chelsea as your lawfully wedded wife?” Mike swallowed so loud it echoed in the pulpit. Then, after a long moment, he said, “Uh, I think I forgot something in the hotel.” And he turned. And he walked back down the aisle. Hushed whispers erupted among the guests as Mike took step after plodding step toward the exit. But the whispers became full-blown conversation as Mike broke into a trot and darted out the door. Every eyeball in the pews watched as Mike left, and once he vanished from sight, all those eyeballs swung to me. What will Chelsea do now? I’ll tell you what I did. I stood there, shocked, as excuses whirled through my mind like snowflakes in a blizzard. He forgot the ring, I thought. Or he absent-mindedly neglected to wear underwear. He’d done that before. Or he needed to go to the bathroom. Really, really bad. Also not uncommon for him. After about fifteen seconds of pin-drop silence, the priest cleared his throat, and I snapped back to reality. “Uh…” I fiddled with my necklace. “It's possible he really forgot something.” “That's possible. Yes.” The priest covered his microphone and leaned toward me. “Why don’t you try calling him?” “My eyes welled with tears. “I’m wearing a wedding dress. I don’t have my phone.” The priest nodded and stepped back to his place at the altar. “Would anyone here today be so kind as to call the groom?” Yet another hushed whisper whooshed through the crowd. You want us to call him?! The priest continued, “Normally I frown on cell phone usage in the church. But we have another wedding in a half an hour, and it would be good to know when Michael might be ba...

If you're yearning to travel, the Beatrice Stubbs series will satisfy. Jill Marsh's Detective Inspector Beatrice Stubbs is fighting battles with crime, as well as with her own mind. Beatrice has bipolar disorder and that has an effect on her work. Jill shares in our interview that she wanted Beatrice to be a real person with real-life problems and challenges, not a superhero character. When Jill's readers asked for the background on Beatrice and her mental illness Jill obliged by writing the free prequel to the series, Black Dogs, Yellow Butterflies, which you can get here. Jill also mentions that the European locations of the Beatrice Stubbs mysteries provide a special challenge as every country and police force has their own procedures. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Jill Marsh grew up in Wales, Africa and the Middle East, where her curiosity for culture took root and triggered an urge to write. After graduating in English Literature and Theatre Studies, she worked as an actor, teacher, writer, director, editor, journalist and cultural trainer all over Europe. Now in Switzerland, she writes crime and literary fiction to entertain readers with enthralling stories and endearing characters. Her Beatrice Stubbs crime series topped the Amazon best sellers in “International Mystery & Crime” in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. To learn more about JJ Marsh and all her books visit JJMarshauthor.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Woman in the Frame It was a strange sensation to put on shoes after two days of going barefoot. She decided against applying make-up because it reminded her of the usual dreary routine at home. Instead, she slicked Vaseline over her eyebrows and on her lips. Her husband was a big fan of the natural look. Facing herself in the mirror, she could see why. Her skin glowed, her eyes shone and her hair seemed grateful for a rest from daily blow dries. Tanya put on a petrol-coloured cotton maxi dress and added the silver earrings Gabriel had bought her that morning in Port de Sóller. She was ready to meet their hosts and prepared to be on her best behaviour. With a last spray of scent, she wandered out onto the veranda where the man of her dreams was waiting, one ankle crossed over his knee, gazing out at the extraordinary view of sandstone buildings descending in circles down the hill. On the table sat two glasses of Aperol spritz, the orangey liquid the colour of a Caribbean sunset. On hearing her footsteps, he looked over his shoulder with a smile. Her heart swelled and she wondered if she would ever get used to living with a man overjoyed by her mere existence. “You look lovely,” he said. “Then again, you always do.” “Thanks. I didn’t want to overdo it, you know. I packed a proper evening dress and high heels, but it feels inappropriate for a casual dinner with bohemian artists. The thing is, I’m a tiny bit nervous. Maybe a drink would help. When do we have to leave?” He passed her aperitif across the table and reached out to take her hand. “When we’re ready. It’s around a twenty-minute walk to their place, I reckon. They said to turn up any time after eight. Relax, it’ll be just like having dinner with my mum. They’re a pair of arty old hippies, so absolutely no reason to be nervous.” She sank into the chair and picked up a glass, asking herself what she had done to deserve such luck.

Cozy mysteries with a witchy twist. Melanie Snow is the pen name for established and prolific non-fiction author Wendy van de Poll. In this episode of the podcast, Wendy wears her fiction author hat and reads to us from the first book in the Spellwood Witches series, Witch's Tail. In the introduction I share that writing the December short story for my patrons has been a bit like driving on square wheels...and that I'm okay with that. Sometimes creativity is smooth and easy, sometimes it takes more effort and a little more coaxing to get a story onto the page. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Melanie Snow is the pen name for Wendy Van de Poll, a bestselling author, pet loss grief coach, and animal medium. She is the author of The Spellwood Witches, a paranormal cozy mystery series. Her books weave together positive magic, snarky forest faeries, and insightful animals with fun and eclectic humor. She has been followed by wild wolves in minus sixty degrees, hissed at by a mama bobcat, and played ball with a wild owl—among other animal encounters. To learn more about Melanie and all her books visit WendyvandePoll/melaniesnow Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Witch's Tail Prologue Lativia Spellwood sat on her ghostly throne of branches on the summit of Mount Katribus, with many other ghosts swarming around her reminiscing about life and drinking wine. The ghosts of Witchland residents always came to this clearing after they died to stay near Lativia for guidance and to wait until they were ready to pass on to the afterlife. Lativia had been dead for hundreds of years but had still not passed on, for her work overlooking Witchland and its forest was not yet done. One day, it would be, and she was beginning to welcome that time, or she was growing very tired. A tiny troop of Leekin faeries moved about the arms and legs of Lativia’s throne, placing flowers into the holes between the woven boughs. They did that every day, as a way to honor her as Queen of the Forest. Lativia sipped from a goblet of ghost wine, enjoying the blue fire as it spread down her throat, engulfing her in tingly warmth. Being a ghost was always cold; the magic wine was one of the few momentary sources of warmth that she could cherish. “What else do you need, my queen?” chirped one of the Leekins, buzzing on tiny brown wings before her nose. Lativia smiled. “I think it’s time I checked on Sarah, don’t you agree?” The Leekin nodded excitedly and flew off into the woods. A huge bunch of Leekins soon returned, flying in formation to carry the weight of a glowing crystal ball. They lowered it to Lativia’s lap, where it sank through the spectral outlines of her legs. Lativia could pass through things, and things could pass through her, for her physical body was long gone and all that remained was her powerful soul. Lativia smiled even more broadly and began to draw her transparent ghostly hands over the ball, summoning the blood bond she shared with her descendent, Sarah Spellwood. Gradually, the fog inside the ball began to clear and an image of Sarah’s frizzy explosion of red curls filled it. Lativia drew back a few feet with her mind and saw Sarah was at a coffee shop ordering a vegan sandwich. Sarah’s love and respect for animals always made Lativia proud. She noticed there was a conspicuous pale and indented band of skin on Sarah’s ring finger where her huge diamond wedding ring had once...

I love a good whydunnit! Greg Hickey's novel, Parabellum, is structured differently from the average mystery novel. This book starts with a horrific, terrifying event and then jumps back in time by a year. It follows four individuals, the ex-athlete, the programmer, the veteran, and the student, and examines their lives and what may have cause any one of them to take their pain out on the group of innocent people from the event at the start of the book. After Greg reads Chapter 1 of the book to us, I ask him about this structure and what inspired him to write the book this way. We also talk about the themes in the book, including the responsibility of society to take care of its members. Also in our interview, Greg mentions the free novella available at his website called The Theory of Anything. You can learn more about the book and get your free copy here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Greg Hickey is a former international professional baseball player and current forensic scientist, endurance athlete and author. He is the author of three novels, including the recently published crime novel Parabellum. His debut novel, Our Dried Voices, was a finalist for Foreword Reviews' INDIES Science Fiction Book of the Year Award. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Lindsay. Learn more about Greg and all his books at GregHickeyWrites.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Parabellum The ex-college athlete remembered her first concussion the way she remembered her first so-called memory of getting stuck in the unsodded mud patch between her family’s new home and the neighbor’s when she was one and a half. It was not a truly a memory, she knew, so much as an amalgamation of other memory fragments and the accounts of others and conjured imaginings all wrapped around a kernel of true recollection, like how your cells begin to die the minute you are born and are constantly shed away or eaten by your own macrophages and replaced by others, so that in the course of a lifetime you are a completely different physical entity from the one you were at the start. Except for your brain. Neurons don’t get replaced. They hang on as long as they can, and when enough of them die, so do you. So that’s you, in the you-est sense. Your brain and its memories are the canvas of you-ness upon which you shellac fresh coats of cells and ideas to maintain an appearance of life and identity. She was nine, playing in the fifth soccer game of her life and tracking the ball as it arced through the crisp blue autumn sky, one of the miraculous times a stubby little leg had lifted the ball more than a foot off the ground. She was chasing the ball, and a girl on the opposing team was running to meet it. When she woke up, she was staring again into the clear sky, and her father later told her she had bumped heads with the other young girl and had been knocked unconscious. Her parents took her to the hospital for routine tests. After the doctor told her she had only suffered a mild concussion and, aside from a slight headache and some sleepiness that could last a few days, she would be fine, her mother handed her a silver chain with a star-shaped pendant. Years later, after the most recent in her long line of head traumas, her mother had fingered the star as it rested below her collar bones and said, “Remember, no matter what happens, you won’t always be a soccer player, but you can always be a star.”

Matty Dalrymple is my first three-peat guest! Author Matty Dalrymple and her protagonist, Ann Kinnear, share a love of aviation. Matty herself learned how to fly, though she had to give it up for reasons she explains in the interview portion of the show. In The Falcon and the Owl, Ann Kinner is taking flying lessons and trying to protect her privacy from the attention of a documentary filmmaker when she gets tangled up in a mystery at her local airstrip. As Matty and I discuss in the interview, there are three full-length Ann Kinnear novels, and also six short stories. Learn more about all the books and stories in this series here. If you'd like to hear my interview with Matty about the first Ann Kinnear book, you'll find that here. And for more on Matty's other series featuring Lizzy Ballard you can hear our interview here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers Rock Paper Scissors, Snakes and Ladders, and The Iron Ring; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels The Sense of Death, The Sense of Reckoning, and The Falcon and the Owl; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts, including Close These Eyes and Write in Water.  Matty lives with her husband and three dogs in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and enjoys vacationing on Mount Desert Island, Maine, and Sedona, Arizona, and these locations provide the settings for her work.  Learn more about Matty and all her books at mattydalrymple.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Falcon and the Owl Bryan Calvert straightened from his work, then leaned backwards to ease the kink in his back. The tundra tires on his Cessna 180 had been overdue for replacement and blowing a tire during a landing at the Clinton County field he used as a landing strip would be a rotten way to start his weekend at the cabin.  He glanced at his watch: nine forty-five.  “Eight hours bottle to throttle,” he said, and tipped back the last two inches of his second bottle of beer. That put him right for a six o’clock departure the next morning. He had worked the last of the wing jack legs out of its base when he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching fast, then a spray of gravel hitting the side of the hangar as the vehicle came to a halt. He hefted the heavy metal jack leg in his hand and walked quickly to the hangar’s window. There wasn’t much violent crime in Avondale Township, Pennsylvania, but there was a first time for everything. He looked out the window and saw Hal Burridge climbing unsteadily out of his Honda Ridgeline pickup. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath and laid the jack leg on the workbench next to the collection of other tools and equipment he had been using: tire talc, air chuck, pry bar, ratchet wrench. The hangar door banged open and Hal staggered in. Bryan was struck by the change the last year had wrought in Hal. He had always been thin, but now he was gaunt, his skin stretched too tight over his cheekbones but beginning to hang loose at his neck. When Bryan had first met Hal, he would have guessed his age a decade too low. Now he looked far older than his fifty years. “What the hell?” Bryan said, exasperated. “If you’re going to drive drunk, at least drive slow.” “What do you care?” Hal’s words were slurred. He put a hand out and steadied himself on the doorframe. Bryan tried to swallow down his frustration. “Come on, Hal,

Thrillers in the sky! I have a friend whose cousin worked as the Canadian version of an air Marshall. I've always wondered what that kind of work would be like. He spends his working hours on flights (or did, before covid). I've never met him but I'd love to ask him what it's like being on high alert much of the time but, hopefully, never having to actually deal with armed terrorists. Joseph Reid's Seth Walker series comes as close as possible to me being able to ask those questions. The author himself has spent thousands of hours in the air and in airports, which inspired this thriller series. In the interview we touch on the fascinating world of airports, which are like cities unto themselves, and also talk about what inspires Joseph to keep writing. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author The son of a navy helicopter pilot, Joseph Reid chased great white sharks as a marine biologist before becoming a patent lawyer who litigates multimillion-dollar cases for high-tech companies. He has flown millions of miles on commercial aircraft and has spent countless hours in airports around the world. Joseph is the author of the Amazon Charts bestselling Seth Walker series, which includes Takeoff, False Horizon, and the upcoming Departure. A graduate of Duke University and the University of Notre Dame, he lives in San Diego with his wife and children. Learn more about Joseph Reid and all his books at JosephReidBooks.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Departure Thursday, February 23 More often than you’d think, the troublemakers sit in first class. Not the upgraders. They’re so thankful for a golden ticket to the promised land, they stay on best behavior in hopes of proving they belong in the club full-time. Most of them are business types who simply want to eat their free meal and finish their work. No, it’s the ones who pay full freight. They think that entitles them to be all kinds of demanding. Whether it’s some rich-bitch type complaining about the white-wine selection or a slick lawyer with sterling-silver cuff links who wants to talk on his cell through takeoff—something about the extra-wide seats seems to deprive people of their senses. Watching stuff like that go down, I always feel for the flight attendants. FAA regs force them to handle everything from nausea to a terrorist takeover, while passengers expect them to be attractive, attentive handservants. For their trouble, they pull down maybe twenty bucks an hour, and that’s only for “flight time,” door-close to door-open. Despite my sympathy, though, I keep my mouth shut. An air marshal’s job is to blend in, not stick out. And while the crazy woman who’d exposed my identity and almost killed me a few months back had ended my run as a rank-and-file air marshal, it was hard to turn the training off. Even in my new, tongue-twisting role as Tactical Law Enforcement Liaison and Principal Investigator, I tried to keep a low profile. That morning’s flight was an exception. We were a predawn departure from DFW, the plane only about half-full. I felt exhausted, but not from the early hour. The past four days with my godkids in Fort Worth had been fun. Thanks to an unexpected heat wave, I’d spent a bunch of time horsing around in the pool, flipping them over my head, and launching them into the air to have them splash down a moment later. All that action had left my muscles slightly sore,

I love a mystery set in a land I've long been wanting to visit. Alexia Gordon's five-book series of mysteries is set in Ireland. Gethsemane Brown is a violinist living far from her Virginia home in a cliffside cottage in Southern Ireland...with a ghost named Eamon. If you like It's a Mystery podcast, you'll enjoy Alexia's show The Cozy Corner, which broadcasts every other Wednesday. Alexia interviews authors who write along the crime fiction spectrum from traditional to cozy to the edge of cozy.  Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Alexia Gordon is a physician by day and an award-winning, own voices crime fiction writer by night. She’s the author of five novels in the Gethsemane Brown mystery series. Her latest, Execution in E was published in March 2020. Alexia is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. Learn more about Alexia Gordon and all her books at AlexiaGordon.net. Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Interview with Alexia Gordon Transcript coming soon!

Like so many authors, Mark Edward Langley was inspired by many of the great mystery authors of the past. Mark began writing seriously when he retired and now has many book ideas waiting to be written. He is inspired by the Four Corners area of Arizona, a place familiar to Tony and Anne Hillerman fans. In our interview Mark shares the story of driving through this landscape and recording what he saw into a tape recorder so that he would have that information available to him when he wrote. We mention an interview with Mark's at the International Thriller Writers site and you can read that here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraam This week's mystery author Mark Edward Langley was instilled with a love for the American West by his father at a young age. After revisiting it throughout adulthood, his connection to the land and its people became more irrevocable. After spending almost thirty years working in business, he retired at the end of 2016 and began to focus on writing his first Arthur Nakai Novel, Path of the Dead, which was released August of 2018. Mark's latest novel in the series, Death Waits in the Dark, was released on August 4, 2020. Mark has already written book three of the series, When Silence Screams, and is currently working on book four, Midnight Harvest. Mark and his wife, Barbara, live in Indiana and spend their time between there and Santa Fe, New Mexico. To learn more about Mark and all his books visit MarkEdwardLangley.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Death Waits in the Dark The drive to Flat Iron Rock from Farmington took less than twenty minutes; enough time for Arthur to let the desperation he had heard in Margaret Tabaaha’s voice sink in.  The thought that she had just lost both of her sons simultaneously was too much for him to comprehend. And he could hear that fact tearing away at her soul every time he replayed their conversation in his mind.  As he passed the bulky profile of the Northern Edge Navajo Casino on his left, he could see the image of Flat Iron Rock rising tall against the backdrop of a clear blue sky. It made him wonder who would have had a reason, or thought had a reason, to kill Tsela and Tahoma Tabaaha.  He had known the boys from the day they were born, and in the ways of the Bilagáana he would have been referred to as their godfather. His gut churned compulsively as he drove, while his heart ached a pain that he could only imagine was a thousand times worse for his first love.  He was there when their father had been killed in Iraq and felt an obligation due to take part in the 17-year old brothers lives like a father and be there for them whenever they needed it.  And they were good boys too whose maternal clan had been the same as their name— Tábąąhá, the Waters Edge People clan and their paternal clan was the Two Who Came to the Water clan. He remembered that their maternal grandmother had been born for the Towering House clan (one of the original four clans and Arthurs own) and that their paternal grandfather had been born for the Meadow People clan. Arthur couldn’t understand it. They boys had been brought in a loving family who had taught them to live in the teachings of the Blessing way and the Protection Way. But in today’s world, it is not what you teach your own children, but what others teach theirs that has life-changing effects.  They teens would have had to have been targeted by someone,

Small towns feature their own kind of danger. Judy Toews and I both live in small towns in British Columbia and she has set her Stella Mosconi books in the town where she lives, Nelson. As she points out in the interview, after she reads from Lucky Jack Road, it's intriguing to set a murder mystery in a small town because most people know one another. And Judy wanted readers to feel like the murders in her books were situations that could actually happen. In the introduction to the show I mention that if you'd like to know what Nelson looks like you could check out the Steve Martin movie Roxanne. It's a very funny movie, and very sweet as well, and it was filmed entirely in Nelson so you'll get a good understanding of the landscape and architecture in this small Canadian town. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author JG Toews is a health professional turned crime writer. She lives in Nelson, BC, an artsy mountain town that inspires the setting for her Stella Mosconi mysteries. Give Out Creek (Mosaic Press) was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Unhanged Award and the 2019 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel. Book two, Lucky Jack Road, was released in September 2020. To learn more about Judy and her books visit her website at JGToews.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Lucky Jack Road ONE He scooped her up in his arms and threatened to toss her in the pond, laughing when she shrieked and clutched at him, turning her head to avoid his big open mouth. She clawed at his face. He dropped her. Touched his cheek and stared dumbly at the trace of blood on his fingers. Coughing and spluttering, she scrambled up and out of the pond, water streaming from her clothes. “Bad girl,” he said, catching up, slamming her against the big shade tree, his hand on her throat nearly crushing her windpipe. She tried to yell but choked on the words. Kneed him and he howled and let go.  She ran for her bike. “What the fuck?” he called after her, as if the whole thing had been nothing, a minor misunderstanding. She pushed off, careened down the hill and across town barely touching the brakes until she reached her street, her house. Her mother was on her knees in the garden. “What happened to you?” “Nothing. Rode through a couple puddles.” “Look at you – you’re a mess. Where’s your helmet? I’m not buying you another one.” “That’s okay,” she said, leaning on the handlebar to catch her breath. “I know where it is.”  TWO Twenty-two years later. . . Stella grabbed her bicycle and raced to the courthouse to get the story when the verdict in the logging standoff came in. Media types from as far away as Vancouver jockeyed for position as protesters waved anti-logging placards at passing cars. No sooner had she parked the bike and pulled out her camera than – bam – the big wooden doors swung open and men in suits stepped out, flanking the defendant. He bellowed to his supporters, raised his arms in a V for victory. Stella nailed the shot, then jumped into the fray to catch quotes from the lawyers. Minutes later, she was back on the bike, pumping up Stanley Street standing up. Wheeling a sharp right onto Nelson's main drag, she cursed under her breath. Jack Ballard, the last guy she wanted to see, was sitting outside the Dominion Café. He’d tipped back on his chair to lift his tanned, chiseled face to the sun, black curls grazing the collar of a scarlet bike shirt open to the waist....

Culinary cozies with a touch of the islands. Catherine Bruns writes in several different series of her own and has also contributed to a multi-author series set in Hawai'i. As with so many authors, including yours truly, Catherine works full-time and squeezes her writing around the edges of that full day. For the second time in two weeks I'm introduced to a food dish I'd never heard of: Loco Moco. The dish originated in Hilo and consists of rice, a hamburger patty, a fried egg and gravy. Have you ever had it? Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author Catherine Bruns is the USA Today bestselling author of the Cookies & Chance mysteries. She lives in New York with her very patient husband, three sons, and several spoiled pets. She also writes the Italian Chef mysteries, Cindy York real estate and Carrie Jorgenson (Aloha Lagoon) culinary series. Her book, For Sale by Killer, won the 2019 Daphne du Maurier award for Mainstream Mystery/Suspense. To learn more about Catherine and all her books visit CatherineBruns.net Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from It Cannoli Be Murder Willow’s sapphire eyes went wide with shock. “You. You’re Gabby’s cousin from the book signing. Tessa something. The one who made the cannoli. What are you doing in our pantry? Where’s Marta?” I spoke slowly and methodically, hoping that panic wasn’t evident in my voice. “Oh, hi, Willow. I was hoping to see your mother. Marta’s upstairs vacuuming.” I didn’t mention Gabby and prayed Marta wouldn’t reappear and mention her either. “How’d your father’s signing go today?” “It was canceled. Daddy had to go to New York City to meet with his agent and a film producer. They’re turning his new book into a movie.” Her jaw tightened. “But I still don’t know why you’re in our kitchen.” “I couldn’t help checking out your mother’s impressive ingredients. I’m in awe of her talent.” My lies were going to catch up with me soon. “Are you here alone?” “Of course.” If Gabby was found, things would get worse. I hoped she’d overhear our exchange and head for the car. “Your mother keeps a well-stocked pantry.” “That’s right. Mother said you were a chef.” Willow gave a smug smile. “She must have been jealous of you. She can barely manage to turn on an oven without help.” I was surprised to hear her admit it. “You’re not a fan of her show?” Willow shrugged. “It’s all right. Mother gets paid a ridiculous amount of money for doing nothing. She hates to cook. You know how some mothers bake cookies with their kids?” “Yes.” How I yearned to do that someday. “Not my mother,” she said in annoyance. “I made cookies with Marta instead. She’s the one who has taken care of me since I was a baby. Mother was always too busy trying to be in the limelight. The high society princess. Wife of a famous author. No time to be a parent. Honestly, I’m not quite sure why she even bothered to have me.” “Why are you telling me this?” It seemed weird that she’d share all of this intimate information with a stranger. It also sounded like she resented Sylvia. “Why not? It makes no difference if you or the entire world knows. I’m sick and tired of being their puppet. As soon as I turn twenty-one and get my trust fund, I’m out of here. They’re both so self-centered they couldn’t care less what happens to me.” “I’m sure that’s not true.” I wondered if she knew about Daphne’s baby and decided to fan the flame a bit.

Would you trade Hawai'i for Nebraska? Kelly Brakenhoff's amateur sleuth, Cassandra Sato, is ambitious: she wants to be a university president one day. So leaving Hawai'i and landing in Nebraska makes sense to her because it will further her career. Kelly reads to us from the first book in the Cassandra Sato series, Death by Dissertation, and we talk about how creating a character who is a fish out of water can lend itself to interesting plot points and situations. In the interview, I ask Kelly about her picture book for children called Never Mind. She shares what motivated her to write that book and the important issue the next book in the series addresses. (Hint: it has to do with farts.) :-) Below is the video she mentions where she reads Never Mind and Amy Willman does the signs for it. https://youtu.be/Qnl9qq99dZc This week's mystery author Kelly Brakenhoff writes the Cassandra Sato Mystery series including Death by Dissertation, a 2020 RONE Award Mystery Finalist, and Dead Week, "a diverting whodunit," (Publishers Weekly). Kelly is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. She also writes a popular children's picture book series featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. To learn more about Kelly and all her books visit KellyBrackenhoff.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Death by Dissertation Cassandra Sato cradled her palms around her warm Morton College travel mug, hoping the coffee inside would calm the churning in her stomach. Half anticipation, half impatience at wasting her time, uncertainty was the last thing she needed her boss to see at the start of their probationary coaching meeting. She fixed a serene expression on her face, pretending to admire the view from his picture window, while reviewing her mental list of the issues he might raise. As the youngest person to earn a doctorate in education from the University of Hawai’i at age 28, she had years of practice appearing more mature and confident than she felt. Still, feeling confident in the tropical sunshine of Manoa was much easier than squirming on an antique wooden armchair in Carson, Nebraska—population 8,300—in an office that best resembled a British men’s club. After two months as Student Affairs administrator, the honeymoon period was wearing off. Ten more probation meetings to go until her contract became permanent. She blew out a sigh. No big deal. She’d only relocated thousands of miles for this job. The office door swung open and her boss eased in, a large ceramic platter in his arms. Cassandra stood respectfully. “Good afternoon, Dr. Nielson.” She made to help him with the dish, but he waved her off, placing it on his desk. A moist, yeasty smell of freshly baked bread tinged with something sour drew her eyes to the pile of baked golden-brown dough rounds. Nielson raised his bushy gray eyebrows and nodded, his eager expression one she would call pride. “My wife home-baked some bierocks. Please, help yourself.” Nebraskans enjoyed sharing homemade food and excess produce just like her co-workers back home, although sampling new dishes at work was often dicey. The snacks resembled manapua, but she doubted his wife made them from scratch. Although he graciously offered her a napkin, his toothy smile hinted at a dare. “Do Hawaiians eat bierocks, too?” She swallowed the automatic I’m-not-Hawaiian reply that popped into her head. It was too complicated to correct him—again. Native Hawaiian meant a Polynesian descendant, not simply any Hawai’i state resident. Anyone familiar with the islands would never confuse the two. Grinding her back teeth together, she pasted a smile onto her face. “Thank you, Dr.

Debra Goldstein is a judge AND she's been on the TV show Jeopardy! How's that for a line item on a CV? My guest today reads from her brand new book, Three Treats Too Many, and we talk about her long-held desire to write, how publishing proved easy in the beginning and then got a little harder, and what it's like to blank out when trying to answer the final question on Jeopardy. In the introduction I mention staying up far too late watching the Disney Plus behind-the-scenes documentary about making the animated film Frozen 2 and how I am a sucker for any kind of show or book about what goes on during the making of a creative project. This week's mystery author Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington Books' Sarah Blair mystery series, including recently published Three Treats Too Many, 2020's Silver Falchion finalist Two Bites Too Many and January 2019's Woman's World book of the week, One Taste Too Many. Debra's short stories have been named as Agatha, Anthony and Derringer finalists. Debra serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is the President of SEMWA and is past president of SinC's Guppy chapter. To learn more about Debra and all her books visit DebraHGoldstein.com. Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Three Treats Too Many Sarah Blair took a deep breath before entering the main dining room of Jane’s Place. Attending the grand opening of her greatest nemesis’s restaurant was the last thing she wanted to do, but she had no choice. Sarah was there to check out the competition. Her misery was only made worse because the opening of Southwind, the white tablecloth restaurant across the street that she partially owned, was mired in a red-tape delay by Wheaton’s building inspector.  Looking around Jane’s Place, Sarah didn’t see either of her Southwind partners, but she immediately spotted the bottle-tinted flaming red hair of Jane’s Place’s namesake. Sarah turned in the opposite direction.  Peering at the buffet tasting table, Sarah was pleased there were enough other people crammed into the dining room that Sarah could avoid Jane, her late ex-husband’s bimbo, for most, if not all, of the time needed to survey the restaurant. … Skipping an offered glass of pinot grigio that might have helped make the next hour bearable, Sarah got into the long line of people waiting for a chance to sample Jane’s Alabama farm-to-table food and her specially advertised vegan dishes….. “Hate to interrupt your checked-out moment, but you need to move up,” a voice behind Sarah said.  Flustered at being caught daydreaming, Sarah muttered, “Sorry.” She glanced over her shoulder while she closed the gap in the line.  Her friend, Jacob Hightower, grinned at her with a smile that not only sat on his lips but reached his blue eyes…. [c}onsidering your history with Jane, this is the last place I expected to see you.” Shoving her hands into her pockets, Sarah whispered a sheepish confession. “Call it self-protection. Emily, Marcus, and I came to try out our competitor’s food. We’ve heard some of Jane’s menu items are out of this world.” “Jane’s food is no different than ever. Fine, but nothing special. It’s Riley’s dishes which are delicious.” “That’s what I heard, but vegan dishes?” … She took a clear plastic plate from the pile at the end of the table and handed one to Jacob. As she served herself, she realized another reason the line was moving so slowly. Riley Miller stood at the midpoint of the long buffet table explaining to each group of guests what they were about to taste. Sarah couldn’t help but stare at her. Riley’s ease and sense of assurance reminded her of how Emily worked crowds when she did food demonstrations.

This is a first for It's a Mystery podcast! Award-winning mystery author Kellye Garrett reads to us from a work-in-progress, which is a first for this show. When the publisher of her first two mysteries shuttered their doors, Kellye pivoted and began working on this domestic thriller. You'll hear her read from that book and then we discuss her two Detective By Day books and how they are still impacting readers, the #ownvoices movement, and how writing for the TV show Cold Case helped Kellye when it came to writing fiction. This week's mystery author Kellye Garrett’s Hollywood Homicide, about a semi-famous, mega-broke black actress, won the Anthony, Agatha and Lefty for best first novel. It’s also one of BookBub’s “Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.” The second, Hollywood Ending, was featured on the TODAY show’s Best Summer Reads of 2019 and was nominated for both Anthony and Lefty awards. She serves on Sisters in Crime’s national board and is a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color. To learn more about Kellye and her books visit KellyeGarrett.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Interview transcript with Kellye Garrett Alexandra: Kellye Garrett's mystery, Hollywood Homicide, about a semi-famous mega broke Black actress won the Anthony, Agatha and Lefty for best first novel. It's also one of BookBub's top 100 crime novels of all time. The second in the series, Hollywood ending was featured on Today Show's best summer reads of 2019 and was nominated for both the Anthony and lefty awards. Kelly serves on Sisters In Crime's national board, and is cofounder of Crime Writers of Color. Welcome to the show. Kellye. Kellye: Thank you so much for having me, Alexandra. Alexandra: Oh, it's my pleasure. So you're going to read to us today. This is kind of unusual and I'm so excited. You're going to read to us from a work in progress. Do you want to set it up for us? Kellye: Sure. It's a bit more serious than my other books, but it's a stand alone. It's like a Lori Raider day or a Megan Miranda type book. Still very much about a woman, first person narrative, looking into a mystery. Alexandra: As we mentioned in your bio, you've got two books in the Detective by Day series. Tell us why you've switched to do this book about different characters. Kellye: For two reasons. First, my publisher closed, Midnight Ink, before my third book came out. And they still have the rights for the first two. So, for right now I can't write any more of those books. And although I've always loved cozies, I started reading a lot more domestic suspense, domestic thriller type books, like I was saying, Megan Miranda, Lloyd Raider Day. I really fell in love with the genre. But one thing I realized that there aren't really any Black women in those books. And I think there's certain reasons why. And so I wanted to write a book like that, but how Black woman would have it happen to her. Alexandra: That brings me to my next question then. Tell us about the hashtag #ownvoices movement. I don't know anything about it. I did a little bit of research when I was preparing for our interview. Why don't you tell us about it? Kellye: Sure. A few years ago, maybe like five or six, there was a big push, especially in for stories of more diverse, main characters. And, what happened is a lot of straight CIS white people started writing books with more diverse, main characters, which is a great, nothing wrong with that. But what happens is that they would sell the book, their book and then went to an actual person who was of that group tried to sell it they were told we already have a book like that. So the idea of #ownvoices - people of their own culture, writing about their culture - grew out of that.

Attention dog lovers who also love mysteries. (Or mystery lovers who also love dogs.) A few years ago, a dear friend read my romantic mystery and said she liked it, although she got tired of hearing about the dog in the story, which made me laugh. I LOVE DOGS! In fact, I've even got a series of children's middle grade novels where the main character is a dog. So it should be fairly obvious that I'm crazy for dogs and they're going to crop up in my writing. ;-) ACF Bookens and I are cut from the same cloth that way. She loves dogs too, has one of her own, and in the excerpt from Publishable by Death, the first book in the St. Marin's cozy series that she reads to us, there are no less than four dogs mentioned. A writer after my own heart. In the intro I also mention another podcast you might like called Mysteryrat's Maze. Episodes consist of mystery short stories, and first chapters of mystery novels, read by local actors. To listen to the episodes, and subscribe to the podcast, you can go to mysteryratsmaze.podbean.com, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more.  This week's mystery author ACF Bookens lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her dog Meander (the fictional Mayhem's inspiration) and her young son. She loves books almost more than people, and when she's not chasing a toddler or writing, she appreciates a good cross-stitch pattern and a British murder mystery on TV. To learn more about ACF Bookens and all her books, visit her website. Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Publishable by Death It was a brisk March morning as I walked away from the cove toward Main Street in St. Marin’s, Maryland. In the shadow of the buildings, I was just beginning to see the tops of daffodils poking up their heads, but today, I tugged the hood of my long sweater up higher on my head and pulled the collar of my peacoat closed. Short hair was perfect for the warmer days – and for owning my ever-graying locks – but in these cold months, I sometimes missed my long ponytail. Spring was coming, but it didn’t feel much like it today. We’d had ice overnight, and while the temperature had gone above freezing already, the roads were still wet and ice clung to the edge of puddles. Still, I practically skipped down the sidewalk, even though skipping isn’t always that flattering on a slightly plump forty-four-year-old. I didn’t care. This was going to be the first weekend my new bookstore was open. I slid my key into the lock on the front door of the old gas station and put a little muscle into turning it in the glass-fronted door. As I swung it open, I took a minute to enjoy the little bell above my head as it chimed. That bell had been hanging over that door as long as anyone in town could remember, so every long-time resident of St. Marin’s told me when they stopped by to say hi and take a gander at the newest shop in their – I mean, our quaint town. I loved that bell, not just because it was part of the charm of this building, but because I looked forward to hearing it when it meant people were visiting my bookshop. I had just come back to St. Marin’s the previous October. I visited when I was a kid on a summer trip from our family home over near Baltimore, and I’d never forgotten the charm and friendliness of this waterside community. I hadn’t had much time to socialize since coming back though. I’d hit the ground running because I wanted the shop open as soon as possible. I needed the income to help build my book inventory, but also to be able to help pay the mortgage. My best friend Mart – an expert on wineries – was helping cover the bills for our house since she had a good paying job at a local up-and-coming winery nearby and was consulting all over the East Coast.

100 podcast episodes. Nearly 100 amazing mystery authors. Welcome to episode 100 of It's a Mystery Podcast. I'm thrilled that we've made it to this milestone. :-) To celebrate, this week I'm reading from one of my own books, Horse With No Name, a historical mystery set in 1890 in British Columbia. In the intro I discuss what it is about this era that draws me to write about it and where the idea for amateur sleuth and schooleacher Julia Thom came from. It is a thrill and an honour for me each week to host this show and I plan to continue for a long as I can. I have loved meeting all the authors who have been on the show and it is my distinct pleasure to introduce you to some books you might not have otherwise heard of. I personally am so grateful to every author who takes the risk of putting their heart and ideas on the page and sharing those things with the world. Here's to another 100 episodes! This week's mystery author Alexandra Amor writes mystery novels about love, friendship and the search for truth. At the moment, she is working on the next book in her Freddie Lark mystery series. Alexandra began her writing career with an Amazon best-selling, award-winning memoir about ten years she spent in a cult in the 1990s. She has written four animal adventures for middle-grade readers, set on a fictional island in the Salish Sea, several historical mysteries set in 1890 in frontier British Columbia, and a cozy romantic mystery. To learn more about Alexandra and all her books, visit AlexandraAmor.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Chapter One from Horse With No Name Millie Jones’ hand was like a vice around Constable Jack Merrick’s wrist. Julia understood how he felt; her own wrist was being crushed by Millie’s other claw. The schoolhouse where Julia worked was doubling as a dance hall this evening because it was the only building in town that could hold most of the inhabitants at once. This was Julia's first dance in Horse since she'd arrived six weeks earlier. She was having a lively chat with one of her student's parents when the mayor's wife, Millicent Jones, dragged Constable Jack Merrick over. “Come on now, you two,” Millie said. “Don’t be shy. Have a dance with each other. That’s why we’re here.” Merrick looked at Julia with a mixture of terror and mortification in his eyes. She had never seen the big policeman look afraid of anything, and here he was being reduced to a quivering mess by the suggestion of a dance. “I’m a terrible dancer,” he said to Julia, almost pleading. Julia didn’t get a chance to let him off the hook.  “Nonsense!” Millie shrilled, “It’s a wee country dance. You’ll have no trouble, Constable.” Though Millie never lifted a hand unless she had to, she seemed to have the strength of three men; she managed to pull Julia and Merrick together by their arms and push them toward the dance floor. As they reached the floor Merrick self-consciously wiped his palms on his trousers and then held them out to Julia. His expression was pained. “I apologize in advance,” he said, “I wasn’t being modest before. I really am an awful dancer.” “I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Julia smiled at him reassuringly and took his hands. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. His movements were stiff and awkward, and he obviously wasn't familiar with the waltz. She could hear him counting under his breath, which made her want to laugh. They moved around the floor, occasionally bumping into other couples. Merrick apologized each time, and then returned his gaze to watching his feet. Julia had never seen him blush before; now, his face was red like a fresh tomato. She felt sorry for him. They made it through, and with only minor damage to Julia's toes.

The brand new Sean Stranahan mystery is here! I have been a fan of Keith McCafferty's since his first book, The Royal Wulff Murders (each mystery in the series is named after a fly fishing tie), so it is a huge thrill for me to have him on the show. We had a great chat about Montana, six-toed cats, mountain lions, book research and more. If you haven't read Keith's Sean Stranahan books, you're in for a treat! The Bangtail Ghost is book eight in the series and is released on 18 August 2020. The books are all beautifully written, with rich, compelling characters, interesting settings and mysteries. In the interview, Keith and I mention his son Tom who is a painter and who inspired Sean Stranahan's work as an artist. You can see Tom's incredible paintings here on his website and also here at the Cole Gallery in Seattle. This week's mystery author Keith McCafferty is the Survival and Outdoor Skills editor of Field & Stream and the author of eight novels in the Sean Stranahan mystery series, published by Viking/Penguin Books. He is the recipient of the Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award and the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Novel, among many other awards. Two of his novels were chosen as Best Reads by Oprah Winfrey's "O" magazine.   Keith is a two-time National Magazine Award finalist and the recipient of the Robert Traver Award for angling literature. For years he made a living with his flyrod, writing stories for Field & Stream. A wild bird rescue volunteer, Keith lives with his wife and family, and various feathered friends, in Montana. To learn more about Keith and all his books visit KeithMcCafferty.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Keith McCafferty interview transcript Alexandra Amor: The previous book, A Death in Eden, was inspired by controversy about copper mining. Keith McCafferty: The Black Copper mine proposed for the summit for the SmithGroup. Yeah.  Alexandra Amor: So what inspired this one, The Bangtail Ghost? Keith McCafferty: I think it's the power of nature and man's reaction when he realizes that he isn't the apex predator. Starting with my first book, I always tried to paint a smaller human scale story against a larger backdrop issue, whether it's wolf reintroduction, whether it's Ernest Hemingway, who casts a large shadow and who plays a big role in Coldhearted River. But I'm not wedded to that. I'd probably won more awards for Crazy Mountain Kiss than any of my books. And yet that's just a human story. It has no larger story. I've always been fascinated with cats all my life. And even to the point of traveling to India a few years ago to see tigers in an area where I'd wanted to go since I was a little boy. And so I wanted to put a big pussycat into one of my books. I've also had the good fortune or misfortune of running into seven mountain lions. And one of them, two of them actually stood me off for quite a while one night growling at me. And I could have read you the very first chapter of the book, which is literally what happened to me, except it happens to Sean Stranahan. So I've always felt that the big cats have sought me out. I've had very few run ins with grizzly bears, even though I spent a lot of time, it feels like, in bear country, but I seem to run into the big pussycats wherever I go. Alexandra Amor: Wow. That is lucky isn't it? Because they're quite secretive, aren't they? Keith McCafferty: They're the ghost cat. I was fortunate that the man who is really the most important researcher of mountain lions, Jim Williams, who studied mountain lions from Glacier Park all the way down through and Chile and Argentina reads my books. And so I was able to run, you know, quite a bit of stuff past him.

Oh how I love a rag-tag bunch of characters! In this episode Catriona McPherson reads to us from Scot on the Rocks, the third book in her Last Ditch mysteries. She and I share a love of stories with a rag-tag bunch of characters. (Examples that spring to mind for me are the TV shows Firefly and Parks and Recreation, and the movie Saving Grace, to name a few.) This is not something you find every day in mystery novels because sleuths tend to work alone or with one partner and the characters change with each book because the mystery changes. But Catriona explains how, in the case of these books, the characters moved in and stayed, much to her delight. This Week's Mystery Author Catriona McPherson is the national best-selling and multiple award-winning author of 27 novels. She writes a historical detective series in the tradition of the British Golden Age, contemporary standalone psychological thrillers, and has recently begun as series of comic mysteries about a fish-out-of-water Scot in California “fighting crime and kale”. In an amazing case of life imitating art, Catriona is Scottish but immigrated to northern California in 2010. To learn more about Catriona McPherson and all her books visit CatrionaMcPherson.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Scot on the Rocks “It’s the most lud-i-crous taaaaiiiiime of the year!” I sang to myself as I traipsed through the streets of downtown Cuento en route to the Yummy Parlor Szechuan Restaurant and Takeaway. When I was a kid, back in Dundee – or Dundee, Scotland, as they call it here – St Valentine’s Day meant a card if someone fancied you, knew your address, and had a stamp; a bunch of flowers if you had a boyfriend who hadn’t worked off whatever he did at the New Year’s Eve Party; or a white furry teddy bear with a red satin chest if you were really slow on the uptake and the kind of sickening Christmas present you get from someone who’d buy a teddy bear for Valentine’s Day hadn’t made you dump him in time. Maybe some wives put love notes in the lunch boxes of some husbands. Maybe some husbands put chocolates on the pillows of some wives. My dad bought my mum a card once. She opened it at the breakfast bar, frowned, said “For crying out loud, Keith” and ripped the front off to use for a shopping list.  She would keel over in her tartan slippers and hit the ground stone dead if she could see Cuento tonight. Every shop window had a mammoth eruption of bright red and bright pink – two colours that newsflash do not go – and it didn’t matter whether the eruption was balloons, ribbons, fabric, flowers, table linen, stuffed animals, stationery, garden tools (because of course the hardware store had got in on the act) or iced cakes, the result looked like a giant shiny haemorrhoid. A new kind of giant haemorrhoid that could also give you a migraine if you looked at it too long. The bars and restaurants were worse than the shops. Every table on every covered patio and in every show-off window was set for two, with a cheap red candle already dripping wax onto a fake red rose and two deluded numpties gawping at each other across a hiked-up plate of dodgy oysters while a server twisted the cork out of a hiked-up bottle of domestic fizz.  Some of the girl numpties were ripping open tiny pink and red packages and popping the velvet lid inside with the practised flick of a gel tip. To be fair, these scenes could be quite entertaining. I stopped at La Cucaracha and pretended to look at the menu purely to watch one of them play out. The gift in question was silver earrings and either the male numpty who had bought them or a sociopath in the jewelry shop had been dumb enough to put them in a very small, square, white-and-gold for God’s sake box that looked,

Amateur sleuth Kendra Clayton has enough on her plate without adding murder to the mix. Author and librarian Angela Henry introduces us to her Kendra Clayton series, reading from the first book in the series, The Company You Keep. If you'd like to try more of Angela's work, she's bundled together excerpts from the first three books in this series and you can sign up to receive them here. In the introduction, I go a little inside baseball about book covers, how impressed I am with Angela's (and the fact that she designs them herself!) and the multiple jobs a book cover has to do to attract a reader's attention. In the interview portion of the show, Angela and I talk about how important it is for young readers to see representation of themselves in literature, including Black authors like Angela and characters like Kendra. This week's mystery author Angela Henry is a librarian and the author of six mysteries featuring amateur sleuth, Kendra Clayton, as well as the Xavier Knight Urban fantasy series, and the thriller The Paris Secret. She also writes middle grade fantasy adventure under the pen name Angie Kelly.  When she's not working or writing, she loves to travel, is connoisseur of B horror movies, and a functioning anime addict. She lives in Ohio and is currently hard at work trying to meet her next deadline. To learn more about Angela and all her books visit AngelaHenry.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Company You Keep I drove back to Archer Street. My mind was racing. Could Jordan really be dead? Then it dawned on me: Bernie hadn't said anything about Vanessa. Was she dead as well?  By now the rain had stopped and the streets were enveloped in fog. I turned onto Archer Street. Was the fog heavier on this street than any of the others I'd driven down? Given the circumstances, I was probably just being paranoid. I mentally kicked myself for watching so many scary movies. I made my way slowly down the street. When I came upon Bernie's car, I pulled up alongside and looked in. Bernie was sitting behind the wheel with her head in her hands. Her head jerked up when I honked my horn. I parked in front of her and got out. "Thank God!" she said as she jumped out of her car and ran up to me. We both stood staring at the house for what seemed like a long time. "Did you call nine-one-one?" I asked finally. "Yes. They should be here any minute now." "Bernie, did you see Vanessa in the house?" She looked for a second like she didn't know who I was talking about. Then the realization of what I'd just asked hit her.  "Oh, my God! I forgot all about her! She could be in there too!" "That is her car in the driveway, isn't it?" I asked, pointing to the red Mustang.  "Yes," she said, looking confused. "That's her car. But I don't know if she's in there, Kendra. I didn't see her!" "It's okay. Try and relax. I'm going inside to check and see if she's in there." Bernie's look of horror wasn't lost on me. I wished I felt as confident as I had just sounded about walking into what could quite possibly be a murder scene.    "Vanessa could be in there hurt or unconscious. I have to go check to make sure." I wondered who I was trying harder to convince, Bernie or myself.    "Kendra, this is a job for the police. If she's in there, a few more minutes aren't going to make much difference." "If she is in there and she's hurt, I'm not going to have it on my conscience if she dies when there was something we could have been doing until help arrived," I said impatiently. Bernie gave me a look that told me I was on my own and went back to sit in her car. I walked around to the back of the house. I figured the door must still be open.

If you're a fan of Grantchester, I think you'll enjoy meeting Father Tom. JR Mathis' character, Father Tom Greer, is living with the fallout from a painful past. In The Penitent Priest, the father will be thrown back into the events that lead him to becoming a priest and with have to confront some painful truths. In the introduction I mention that I've had an abundance of mystery novels to read lately, including Elly Griffiths brand new Ruth Galloway mystery, The Lantern Men, and also book four in Jo Bannister's Best and Ash series, Other Countries. This week's mystery author James Mathis writes The Father Tom Mysteries as J. R. Mathis. A fifth-generation Florida man, he has lived in Maryland for the past 21 years. He currently works for the Federal Government. When not writing, James spends time with his wife and Alpha reader Susan and his grandchildren. He enjoys reading mysteries and books on writing, auto racing, and  baking. To learn more about JR Mathis and his books visit JRMathisMysteries.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Penitent Priest “I can’t believe this,” Nate said as he looked through the emails. “This is great! You see this, Father?” When I called Nate and told him I’d do an interview, he was happy. When I told him about what I had found and Helen’s response, he was practically speechless. Meeting him at The Perfect Cup the next day and showing him copies of the emails, he was jumping up and down in his chair like a little boy on Christmas morning. “Don’t you see, now this has everything. It’s not just a cold case of a senseless murder,” Nate went on, holding up the emails. “This is a cold case of a planned murder. She was stalked, and whoever was stalking her killed her--”  “Now really we don’t know that,” I interrupted. “--and we have the police doing nothing when new evidence is shown to them.” He inhaled and exhaled. “Now we have a story.” “I thought you had a story before?” “We did,” he answered. “It’s a better story now. And you’ll do an interview on camera?” “Yes,” I said, “but who’s we?” “We,” Rodriguez repeated. “My partner and I.” “What partner?” “My partner in the film,” he replied. “Oh, did I forget to mention her? She’s meeting us--oh, here she is now.” Nate stood and waved at someone. I turned around to see who. She was young, blond, and pretty. And earnest. Very earnest. I recognized her from one of the local stations in Baltimore. She did those human-interest stories that really interested nobody. She leaned into Nate and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Father Tom Greer,” Nate said, “Meet Katherine Shepp.” She smiled and extended her thin, well-manicured hand. “So nice to meet you, Father,” she said, her voice as silky as her hair. I took her hand, she covered mine with her other hand. She looked into my eyes. “I’m really looking forward to working with you,” she purred. I settled down to my usual coffee with cream and sugars as she sipped on her decaf soy latte. Nate was there until his uncle came over to remind him that his break was over. After he excused himself, Shepp said, “I’m glad you’ve agreed to help me with the story.” Me? “Yes, I decided that Joan’s story needed to be told.”  She smiled, showing perfectly white teeth behind her expertly colored lips. There was no lipstick on her cup. It was either very good lipstick, or she had had her lips tattooed. “When Nate told me about the story of your wife’s murder, I was just so, so...moved, I guess is the word I’m looking for. And then when he told me you came back, and you were now a priest, well, that’s just wonderful.” “I guess an unsolved murder is a bit of a change from doggy beauty pagents.” She guffawed. “Yeah, that.

Solving crime is never easy...even when you're a ghost. I found the premise for Dick Wybrow's Painter Mann series to be utterly unique and intriguing. Painter is recently deceased and stuck in the InBetween, helping those with unexplained deaths solve the riddle of how they were murdered so they can move on to other realms. In this podcast episode, Dick reads to us from the first book in the series, The InBetween, and in the interview we discuss building the world he's created for his sleuth, letting the characters tell him what's next, and how Dick himself doesn't necessarily believe in ghosts. This week's mystery author Dick Wybrow is a Canadian author. His novels are mainly set in the United States, where he grew up. A former stand-up comedian, Wybrow is a humor writer who crafts thrillers that incorporate elements of suspense, horror, mystery, science fiction and fantasy. His stuff has been heard on the radio by millions, seen on the TV in 213 countries. To learn more about Dick and his books visit DickWybrow.wixsite.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The InBetween [Language warning: There are a few naughty words in the excerpt Dick reads.] The living don’t realize how easy they’ve got it. These days, you can’t get lost anymore, what with GPS telling you where to go. And even if that didn’t work, your map software is likely on your phone. You can just call someone and tell them you got your dumb ass lost. Hell, you might even come up on that person’s phone as My Dumb Ass Friend Who Calls Me When He’s Lost (mobile). The dead don’t have the luxury. It’s not like you’ve got a compass to tell you you’re going north. You can see on the big rest stop map that you’ve got to take County Road 34 to 63, which’ll take you to Interstate 70, then onto 35, but you’d be surprised how fast all them numbers jumble up in your head because you can’t carry a notebook and a pen to write shit down. Now, there is a bit of a fallback you can half rely on if you get lost: if you just keep going, eventually, you’ll find yourself back home. We are the energy beings of the ether, so we are drawn back to the familiar. It’s almost like a faint scent that you can’t name. Something vaguely familiar; you just can’t put your finger on it. After reassuring Bernard the mailman I would loop back to Madison and help him out, it took me less than a half hour to hit Chicago. Now, that city is goddamn chock full of spooks, but thankfully most had been around long enough to know to keep out of each other’s way. If there was any spook Blind Spot in Chicago, I’d never stumbled into it. I never thought Minneapolis would be more dangerous than Chicago. Never sounded terribly dangerous. The city’s name always sounded a bit like what you might name a lapdog that pisses itself when the doorbell rings. I skated 90 heading into Chicago, and my eyes fell closed. My arms spread wide as I flew past car after truck after motorcycle. I cracked my eyes open just slightly and caught sight of the big city’s lights. I’m a bit of a romantic, sure, but I’m not quite sure why a light-dappled city skyline does it for me. Using the sounds of the vehicles around me as a guide, I let my eyes fall closed again and cast my arms even wider as I picked up speed, trusting that faint pull home would guide me where I needed to go. Soon, I would bank north and head up the Great Lake, where I could go almost as fast as I wanted, then make the turn west and be back home in no time. Taking a deep breath—or really, more like what I remembered a deep breath felt like—I was almost in a Zen-like trance, pleasantly in tune with the ghost world that blanketed the real one. I should have known better.

In this Kansas City flower shop, normal is highly overrated. CL (Clara) Bauer writes about a subject close to her own heart; her protagonist Lily Schmidt owns a flower shop in Kansas City that specializes in weddings, just as Clara's own family business does. But there the overlap ends. In book one, The Poppy Drop, Lily accidentally ends up with drugs in her hydrangeas and the mystery-filled shenanigans take off from there. This week, Clara has a giveaway offer for It's a Mystery Podcast listeners. If you haven't read any of the books in this series, message Clara on Facebook and let her know you heard the show and she'll send you a personally signed copy of one of the Lily List books. If you have read all the books in the series, you can also message her with the correct answer to the following question and she'll send you a different mystery-related prize: What is Lily's favourite cookie? This week's mystery author C.L. (Clara) Bauer is the author of The Lily List Mysteries through Corrugated Sky Publishing. She’s lived in Kansas City, Missouri all her life which is the location of her first two books. With a background in journalism (including sports reporting), she’s happy to be writing again as a newer published author and enjoys the cozy mystery format. Her current series features comic wedding stories she’s acquired over the years from her family’s flower business. To learn more about CL Bauer and all her books visit CLBauer.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from The Sweet Pea Secret “Exactly why did you fire your church wedding coordinator?” Lily was driving Dan and herself to meet Dev at the townhouse. Dev and the realtor were making one last walk through. Besides, Lily had forgotten to hand over her set of keys for the new owners. She seemed to be forgetting a lot of little things lately. Jack called it “baby brain” and claimed that his wife had the same ailment when she was pregnant with both boys. He is such a nice man. Anytime Lily needed Jack to go to the doctor’s office, he was there. He was probably the greatest living father-in-law on the face of the earth. Anytime she needed her latest food fetish, he was in the car and down to Ben’s, her favorite ice cream drive-thru. Currently, her favorite flavor was peanut butter ribbonfudge with a hint of potato chips. She added the chips as a crunchy accent. “Do you want the priestly answer, or the real one?” “Humor me, give me both.” Dan laughed. As the passenger, Dan was enjoying the scenery of historic Alexandria. Lily had really caught onto the frantic driving skills needed to survive the beltway. “As the pastor of my church, there does come those times when I feel that a volunteer has done so much for the church that they deserve a break, perhaps an opportunity to turn in some other direction to serve the Lord.” “That sounded really good. Now, spill. What’s the real reason?” “She was a pain in my backside,” Dan admitted. “She actually told one couple that I didn’t know what I was doing. Last week, she allowed a photographer to sit on the edge of the altar to get a photo. What’s worse is it was during the blasted ceremony!” Lily giggled. The priest was really worked up by this woman. Lily had met her once when Dev and she had arrived to pick Dan up after a wedding. She wasn’t exactly the friendliest coordinator ever, but Lily was used to tolerating Gretchen. Ah, Gretchen! I need to call her, then I can listen for forty minutes to every juicy piece of gossip in Kansas City. She’ll make me forget all the gas I’ve been having. It’s probably the celery’s fault. That’s what eating healthy gets you! “You are sure Devlin is going to be fine with you helping me out on the weddings I have scheduled until I get someone el...

What if the mystery you had to solve was your own past? Heather Slawecki's Elements trilogy dives into her protagonist's mysterious past. Jenny O'Rourke has been haunted by memories of her brother's murder and as the story begins, she's ready to find the truth, even if it means breaking the one rule she's been obeying for 20 years: Never go home. In our interview, Heather mentions her blog where she shares interesting factual and historical stories about Bucks County, the location for her trilogy. This week's mystery author Heather Slawecki has a degree in English Literature and began her writing career as a feature writer for the Bucks County Courier Times. It wasn’t long before she fell in love with the fast-paced world of advertising and has worked as a senior copywriter for ad agencies in Philadelphia area for over twenty-five years. She launched her debut mystery trilogy series on March 3, 2020. She's already been featured as a top author in Kirkus Magazine for Element of Secrecy and has earned five-star reviews from Indies Today as well as Readers'Favorite. To learn more about Heather and all her books visit HeatherSlawecki.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Element of Secrecy Chapter 1: Escape I heard them in the barn. They still don’t know it, but I heard them. As a naïve 10-year-old little girl, it was so disturbing that I wet my pants.  My father, Sean O’Rourke, was once a well-respected and distinguished Manhattan attorney, a good dad, a dedicated husband, and a great provider. But that night I learned he had a dark side.  As I huddled in the corner of a stall, hoping desperately not to be discovered, I heard his gruff voice in the loft above me. Amid the chatter of strange voices, I heard him discuss plans to kill an enemy. At the end of the meeting, if that’s what it was, he recited a Bible verse before all the voices joined together in a chant. I couldn’t understand a lick of it, but I heard enough to be afraid. I wanted out of the stall and back into the comfort of my canopy bed. ASAP.  It turns out, that was just a sneak preview of things to come. It’s time to shed some light on his dark secrets.  * * * It’s been a mentally exhausting day, one that has taken months of patience, plotting, and scheming to finally arrive. Getting caught could result in months, if not years, of seclusion or some other form of punishment.  I finally have somewhat of a life, so I’m really rolling the danger dice here. But it has to be done. My past has haunted me long enough, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to get answers is to break the rules.  I’m absolutely forbidden to be sitting here in front of my childhood home. But here I am with two important mysteries to solve and a plethora of minor league ones. First, who killed my brother? And why? Second, who—and what—the hell is my father? I’ve narrowed it down to three possibilities: A secret agent of some sort, an organized crime leader, or a cult member. I’d love to rule out that last option, but I can’t. It’s bewildering to ponder, but I can’t rule out the possibility that my own father is part of a cult. One without a name, as far as I know.  Aside from getting here alive, I don’t have a solid plan. Probably because I didn’t really expect to pull this off.  Before I cause an accident, I back up the Ford Escape, which I chose symbolically for its name, and park in the familiar spot across from the house. It’s as inconspicuous as I’m going to get in a clearing before an old wooden one-way bridge.  I give myself a mental pep talk as I step out. It’s an oppressively hot and humid day, and I was already sweating with the air cranked. I wipe my face with the bottom of my tank top and throw my long hair in a ...

Take a transatlantic voyage with Jazz Age sleuth Ginger Gold and enter to win a copy of the Murder on the SS Rosa audiobook. Audiobook Giveaway! Lee is generously offering It's a Mystery podcast listeners a chance to win one of 10 copies of the audiobook for Murder on the SS Rosa. Go to this page to submit your entry. Giveaway ends on July 4, 2020. This week's mystery author Lee Strauss is a USA TODAY bestselling author of The Ginger Gold Mystery series and The Rosa Reed Mystery series, as well as some young adult and sweet romance. She loves to drink caffè lattes and red wines in exotic places, and eat dark chocolate anywhere. To learn more about Lee and all her books visit LeeStraussBooks.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Murder on the SS Rosa In the dismal autumn of 1918 Ginger Gold had vowed she’d never go back to Europe. Yet here she was, five years later in 1923, aboard the SS Rosa as it traversed the Atlantic from Boston to Liverpool. “Isn’t a dinner invitation from the captain reserved for very important persons?” Haley Higgins asked. Ginger propped a hand on her tiny waist and feigned insult. “Are you suggesting that I’m not a very important person?” “I’d never suggest such a thing,” Haley said lightly. “Only that I’m not aware of your connection to him.” “Oh, yes. Father used to travel to England once or twice a year for business, and they had made an acquaintance. Of course, this was some years ago, before Father fell ill. Captain Walsh recognised my name on the passenger list. It was nice of him to extend an invitation, was it not?” Haley nodded. “I expect it to be quite entertaining.” Ginger chose a billowy, violet dropped-waist frock with a hem that ended near her ankles, nude stockings with seams that ran up the back of her slender legs, and black designer T-strap heels. She clipped on dangling earrings and patted the ends of her bobbed red hair with the palms of her gloved hands. She made a show of presenting herself. “How do I look?” “Gorgeous, as always,” Haley said. Long since dressed, she waited patiently in a rose-coloured upholstered chair. She was the sensible type, having only packed a few tweed and linen suits. She wasn’t much for “presentation.” It made getting ready quick and painless.  Curled up on the silky pink quilted cover on Ginger’s bed was a small, short-haired black and white dog. Ginger scrubbed him behind his pointed ears and kissed his forehead. “You’re such a good boy, Boss.” The Boston terrier’s stub of a tail wagged in agreement. Ginger finished her ensemble by draping a creamy silk shawl over her shoulders. “Shall we?” Ginger said, motioning to the door. Boss stood and stretched his hind legs.  “Oh, sorry, Bossy. Not you this time.”  The dog let out a snort of disappointment, then circled his pillow before settling and swiftly fell back to sleep. “I love the sea! Don’t you?” Ginger said as she and Haley walked along an exterior corridor of the ship. She extended her youthful arms and inhaled exuberantly. “It’s one of the reasons I love Boston. So invigorating. Makes one feel alive!” “Oh, honey, listen to you!” Haley said with amusement. “Your latent Britishness is becoming more pronounced the closer we get to England.” “Makes one feel alive,” she added, mimicking Ginger’s sudden use of an English accent. Though Ginger considered herself a Bostonian through and through, she embraced her English heritage. After all, Massachusetts was part of New England. “You’re jolly well right, old thing,” Ginger admitted with an exaggerated English accent. She laughed heartily, bringing a smile to Haley’s normally stoic expression. “You sounded like your father just now,” Haley said.

Meet globetrotting psychologist and sleuth Cait Morgan. Cathy Ace had the great good fortune to travel the world during her corporate career. Which is lucky for us because her Cait Morgan mysteries are each set in a different location that Cathy has lived in or spent time in. The Corpse with the Crystal Skull is set in Jamaica and as we're all mostly confined to barracks these days, it's great to hear about sunny places far away, and vacationing with friends. In my interview with Cathy she mentions two mystery sites that she blogs for. 7CriminalMinds.blogspot.com features authors, including Cathy and two previous It's a Mystery podcast guests (Frank Zafiro and Terry Shames), answering questions about crime fiction, writing, publishing, and life. And KillerCharacters.com has a focus on cozy mysteries with a different author writing a post each day. Cathy posts on the 22nd of each month. This week's mystery author Cathy Ace’s Welsh-Canadian criminal psychologist sleuth Cait Morgan has encountered traditional, closed-circle puzzle plot whodunits in eight books, with a ninth being published in June 2020. This series of books has now been optioned for television by Free@Last TV, a UK production company. The plan is to present each book as a 90 minute made-for-TV movie, the same format used for the international hit ACORN series featuring MC Beaton's Agatha Raisin, which is made my Free@Last TV. Cathy's other series of books - The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries - feature a quartet of softly-boiled female PIs who solve quintessentially British cases from their stately home-based office in rural Wales. Her standalone novel of psychological suspense, The Wrong Boy, is set in Wales, and became a #1 amazon bestseller. Shortlisted for the Bony Blithe Award three times in four years, winning in 2015, she’s also been shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story. Cathy was born and raised in Wales, though she now lives in Canada.  To learn more about Cathy and all her books visit CathyAce.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Except from The Corpse with the Crystal Skull Breakfast and a Body  The conversation around the breakfast table was understandably muted; we’d all had a late night, and I, for one, was feeling the effects of a few too many G and Ts. My darling husband, Bud, surveyed the food arranged on the mahogany sideboard with bleary eyes. His more-salt-than-pepper hair was still damp from the shower, but he was already sweating through his shirt; May in Jamaica can be exhaustingly humid.  “Anybody want another mango? Or this last piece of banana bread?” Bud’s tone lacked enthusiasm.  John Silver shook his head above his coffee cup, then scrunched his eyes, suggesting he wished he hadn’t made such a rash move. “Thanks, no,” he croaked, with a polite smile I read as a grimace.  He looked tired; wiped out, in fact. I’d first met him when he’d helped out with a family matter in Amsterdam that Bud and I had been looking into, less than a year earlier; back then he’d looked vigorous, and in his prime. Now? He’d aged. A lot. I wondered why. Maybe it was work-related; I’m still not entirely sure what he does – he somehow provides coordination between a number of secret service operations around the world…lots of opportunities there for stress, I’d have thought. He looked as though he needed the week-long break he was just beginning with us.  “Anyone fancy a Caesar?” Bud’s other ex-colleague, Jack White, forced a smile; they’d served together in the Vancouver Police Department for years, forging a friendship that had endured beyond their respective retirements. Jack glanced at his wife with a wink, rubbed a hand through his rapidly thinning hair, and groaned. 

A dog, a cat and an anglophile walk into an English pub... In her amateur sleuth, Leta Parker, Kathy Manos Penn has created a character that many of us will envy. Leta not only talks to her miniature Great Pyrenees and her cat...they talk back. But why stop there? Add Leta's friend Wendy and her mum into the mix and you've got a recipe for delightful cozy mysteries set in the Cotswolds. Like her heroine, Kathy is an Anglophile and in our interview we discuss her trips to England and how her stay in the Cotswolds inspired the Dickens & Christie mysteries. In the introduction I mention my love for books that feature animals and how much one of the creative events in The 101 Dalmatians still affects me to this day. This week's mystery author As a child, Kathy Manos Penn was a shy, introverted bookworm. She shed the shy, introverted traits but is a bookworm to this day, one who especially enjoys British mysteries. Fast forward through a corporate career and a side job as a newspaper columnist, and today you’ll find her happily retired and writing cozy animal mysteries set in—where else—England. To learn more about Kathy and all her books visit KathyManosPenn.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Bells, Tails and Murder CHAPTER ONE Early April I couldn’t believe I’d let Henry talk me into cycling up this hill yet another Saturday. Sure, I improved each time I tackled it, but I could barely keep my bicycle upright. I was in the lowest gear and still, the pedals didn’t want to go ‘round. Thank goodness it was the last leg of the day, and there’d be a cold beer at the end.  I much preferred the first part of our ride, the flat portion along the scenic Chattahoochee River, where I’d glimpse geese, fishermen, and canoes. Often, the Georgia State Rowing Club would be out in force. All would be well until we came to the dreaded stop sign, where we turned left and started uphill.   “I’ll see you at the top, but if you don’t make it by dark, I’ll send out a search party,” Henry sang out as he powered past me in his blue cycling jersey. With his slender 6’2” frame and long legs, my husband made the uphill climb look easy.  I stuck my tongue out and replied, “By dark, my foot. I’ll be there in 30 minutes, and my chicken wings and ice-cold beer better be on the table.” I sometimes thought the promised lunch at Taco Mac was the only thing that kept me coming back every Saturday.  Head down, I was praying I’d soon be at the peak where the road would level out when a car horn blew behind me accompanied by the blaring of a radio. Lord,  I thought, I hate horns, and there’s plenty of room for whoever it is to pass me on this road without scaring the heck out of me.  As the red Mercedes convertible shot past, I glanced up in time to see the blonde, pony-tailed driver bebopping to the music. The car took the curve and vanished from sight, and I pedaled on. The next sequence of sounds was one that haunted my dreams—the long blast of a car horn, the squealing of tires, and the screech of rending metal, followed by silence.  Without thinking, I threw down my bike and jogged up the hill. When I reached the top, my worst fears were confirmed. Henry lay unmoving, with  another cyclist administering CPR, a jogger checking on the driver of the Mercedes, and another frantically conversing with 911 on her cell phone.  ***  September the following year Neither my waking nor sleeping dreams ever progressed beyond this point. I came back to the present and realized I was standing on the flower-flanked path to my Cotswolds cottage, its golden stone luminescent in the sunlight. Shake it off, girl, I said to myself as I wiped tears from my eyes. This is your new life,

Meet Erin Price, baker, former foster child, and amateur sleuth. PD Workman writes in several genres, including YA, but mysteries are her focus. Today she reads to us from her cozy mystery series featuring Erin Price who has inherited her Aunt's bakery and is starting a new life in a small town. In the intro I mention that Pam has a BookBub deal today for the first three books in this series. The books are bundled together for just $0.99. If you're not a BookBub subscriber, head over to their website to learn more. This week's mystery author Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author P.D. Workman writes riveting mystery/suspense and young adult books dealing with mental illness, addiction, abuse, and other real-life issues.  Workman started publishing in 2013. She has won several literary awards from Library Services for Youth in Custody for her young adult fiction. She currently has over 50 published titles. To learn more about Pam and all her books visit PDWorkman.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Gluten-Free Murder Chapter 1 “What are you doing here?” Erin turned around and saw a looming figure in the kitchen doorway at the same time as the clipped male voice interrupted her thoughts. She just about jumped out of her skin. She put her hand on her thumping chest and breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was a uniformed police officer. But he wasn’t looking terribly welcoming, jaw tight and one hand on his sidearm. There was a German Shepherd at his side. “Oh, you scared me. I’m Erin Price,” she introduced herself, reaching out her hand and stepping toward him, “and I’m—” “I asked you what you’re doing here.” Erin stopped. He made no move to close the distance between them and shake her hand, but remained standing there in a closed, authoritative stance. His tone brooked no nonsense. Erin couldn’t imagine that she looked anything like a burglar. A little rumpled from the car, maybe, but she hadn’t been sleeping in it. Was a slim, white, young woman really the profile of a burglar in Bald Eagle Falls? “I own this shop.” He raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but he did let his hand slide away from the weapon and adopted a more casual stance. Erin allowed herself just one instant to admire his fit physique and his face. He was roguish, with what was either heavy five o’clock shadow or three days’ growth, but his face was also round, giving him an aura of boyishness and charm. “You own the shop. And you are…?” “Erin Price. Clementine’s niece.” “If you’re Clementine’s niece, why haven’t we ever seen you around here?” “It’s been years since I’ve seen her. My parents died and I lost all my family connections years ago, living in foster care. A private detective tracked me down.” He considered this and took a walk around the kitchen, looking things over. His eyes were dark and intense. “You’ll be selling the place, then? Why didn’t you just hire a real estate agent?” “No, I’m not selling,” Erin said firmly. “I’m reopening.” The eyebrows went up again. “This place has been sitting empty for ten years or more. You’re reopening Clementine’s Tea Room?” “No, I’ll be opening a specialty bakery, once I get everything whipped into shape.” She folded her arms across her chest, looking at him challengingly. “I assume you don’t have a problem with that?” “No, ma’am.” But he didn’t give any indication of leaving. Erin swept back a few tendrils of dark hair that had slipped from her braid, aware that she was probably looking travel-worn after several days in the car. She had put on mascara and dusty rose lipstick before getting on her way that morning, but she felt gritty and sweaty from travel and would have preferred a shower before having ...

Welcome to a small Texas town with no shortage of big characters. I loved the performative quality of Terry's reading in this episode. I can hear the Texas characters coming through her voice loud and clear, which made listening to her read very enjoyable. In the interview we discuss the personal inspiration for Samuel Craddock's character, as well as how the Covid-19 periods of isolation and social distancing have affected Terry's writing. This episode of It's a Mystery Podcast is sponsored by the brand new mystery novel Lark Underground. If you like your mystery novels with twists and turns and characters who spring to life you'll love this latest book from award-winning author Alexandra Amor. Reviewer Sandee said, "This story is an emotional heart-engaging roller-coaster. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. I can hardly wait for the next one." Click here to get your copy of Lark Underground today at Amazon. Available in ebook and paperback. This week's mystery author Terry Shames writes the popular Samuel Craddock series, set in small town Texas. She won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel, and the RT Reviews award for Best Contemporary Mystery, 2016.  The eighth in the series, A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary came out in 2019. MysteryPeople has twice named Terry one of the top five Texas mystery authors. Her latest short story, “Inheritance” will appear in Jewish Noir II, in  September. Terry lives in Berkeley, CA and is a member of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Mystery Writers of America. To learn more about Terry and all her books visit TerryShames.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from A Reckoning in the Back Country There are a couple of cars in Gloria Hastings’s driveway, next door to Margaret Wilkins’s place. I’d like to have a word with Gloria’s husband before I go to see Margaret. Yesterday talking to him didn’t seem so urgent, but with still no news of Wilkins, I’m increasingly concerned. I rap on the door but there’s so much racket inside the house that I doubt anybody can hear me. When there’s a lull, I knock again. The door is flung open by an unseen hand. Gloria is hurrying toward me. “Kids, settle down.” She claps her hands together and two children, a boy and a girl, careen from somewhere in the room and plop onto the sofa, making motorcycle noises. “Now stop that,” she says, looking back at them. “This man is a policeman. I’d hate to have to ask him to haul you off to jail. I don’t think they have pumpkin pie there.”  They giggle, but keep an eye on me. “Remember the wild bunch I told you about?” “So these are the culprits?” I say.        “Two of them anyway. My daughter’s kids. That’s Marcie, she’s six, and the four-year-old is Chris. Say hello, kids.” They both say hello, darting glances at each other and suppressing giggles.  “My son’s boys are out in the woods. They pretend they’re hunting squirrels, but I don’t know what they’d do if they shot one. They’re older, but I wish they wouldn’t go out there. Snakes and goodness knows what all. They’re just like their daddy. I couldn’t keep him indoors. What am I doing? These two have taken my sense. Come on in and have some coffee.” “Your husband home?” “He’s in the back bedroom. I’ll get him.”  As soon as she leaves the room, Marcie hops off the couch and stands in front of me. “Do you have a gun?”  “I own a gun, but I don’t carry it. Not too many criminals around here. Have you run into any bad guys?” She shakes her head solemnly. Her brother slides off the sofa and eases over next to her, watching me as if he’s worried I’m going to grab him. Gloria comes back out followed by a short, stocky man with ice-blue eyes and a sleepy smile.

Murder on the slopes in British Columbia! My guest today is Arthur Ellis Unhanged award nominee Kristina Stanley. Kristina has a trilogy of mystery novels set at a fictional ski resort and you'll hear Kristina share how she was inspired to write this series. The expert from Descent that Kristina reads led me to ask about the 'confidence gap' women often encounter when applying for jobs. And we also talk about Kristina's writing process and her business that helps other writers improve their work. This week's mystery author Kristina Stanley is the creator of Fictionary, a story editor, and best-selling author of the Stone Mountain Mystery Series, the stand-alone mystery Look the Other Way, and the non-fiction titles The Author's Guide to Selling Books to Non-Bookstores and Your Story Editing Journey. She is a Story Editing Advisor for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). She’s published by Imajin Books and Luzifer-Verlag (Germany). Her short stories are published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Voices from the Valleys anthology. Crime Writers of Canada nominated Descent for the Unhanged Arthur award.  To learn more about Kristina and all her books visit KristinaStanley.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Descent Chapter 1 “Any security issues with race training today?” Kalin Thompson asked Nick Jones, the director of security at Stone Mountain Resort.  Nick and his wife sat within the glow of the fireplace in the Powder Hound Restaurant. Kalin had a few moments before Ben was to meet her, and she stepped close to the crackling flames, warming her legs. Ginny smiled at Nick and caressed his arm. “Today’s our anniversary. Thirty-four years, so Nick is taking the night off.” “Congratulations.” Kalin shook his hand. Sweat covered his palm, slippery against her skin. “I’ll leave you two alone.” Nick clenched her hand, yanking her forward. “Ginny—” He released his grip and slumped sideways.  Kalin leaned across the table. Her fingers touched the fabric of his sweater, but she missed grabbing his sleeve.  His head smacked the slate tile. Kalin launched around the table and collided with Ginny at Nick’s side. She knelt beside him, checked for a pulse on his neck and found none. “Get the AED,” Kalin called to the bartender, who stared at her with unblinking eyes. With her heart rate revving, she pointed toward a set of swinging doors and hoped he couldn’t see her hand shake. “The defibrillator. It’s hanging on the kitchen wall.” She kept her eyes on him until he turned toward the equipment. A server hovered nearby. Kalin cleared her throat to steady her voice. “Call 911, then security. Wait, not security. Call ski patrol.” “How do I find ski patrol?” Kalin tossed her phone to the server. “Call 911 first. Ben’s is the last number dialed. Call him second. He’s already on his way here.” Ginny leaned over Nick, her reading glasses swinging from her neck, and shook his shoulders. “Nick. Nick. Answer me.” Kalin grabbed Ginny’s hands. “He needs CPR. Step back. Okay?” Precious seconds were lost as Ginny got herself under control. Kalin blew two breaths into Nick’s mouth, ignored the sour aroma of recently eaten garlic, and began the count of thirty compressions. While she pumped his chest, a patron gently placed a napkin on Nick’s bleeding forehead. After three rounds of compressions, sweat pooled at the bottom of her spine. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ginny crouched beside her, rocking to the beat of her chant, “No. No. No.” Tune her out. Just keep pumping. Kalin released a breath when Ben pressed his palm between her shoulder blades. She stopped pumping at the end of a compression cycle and shifted,