I'm pleased to turn over the blog to Debbie De Louise today. Debbie writes the Cobble Cove Mystery series. No Gravestone Unturned is the fifth book in the series.
Parents and Children in Cozy Mysteries
By Debbie De Louise
What do you think of cozy mysteries featuring parents and their kids? In my Cobble Cove series, Alicia and John are the parents of twins, Carol and Johnny. They meet and marry in the first book, A Stone’s Throw. As the series that now features 5 full-length mysteries and three short eBooks has evolved, the McKinney’s offspring have grown. They are five-years-old in the newly released No Gravestone Unturned.
I’ve tried to depict this family as realistic as possible against the backdrop of the mysteries that take place in the small town of Cobble Cove. Alicia, a librarian, is an older mother. She married John after her previous husband died in a mysterious accident that is featured in the first book of the series. She is overprotective of her children while John allows them more freedom and the ability to learn from their accidents, although he is far from a negligent dad.
In No Gravestone Unturned, Johnny and Carol’s Aunt Pam, John’s wealthy sister, comes to Cobble Cove to attend the funeral of her and John’s Aunt Gwendolyn. She stays with John and Alicia and brings Carol and Johnny an expensive toy that Alicia feels is inappropriate for their age. It’s an electric car that, while unable to go very fast, frightens Alicia. John assures her that he will only allow the kids to ride it under his supervision. Alicia still isn’t happy about that. When Alicia is dealing with a very important matter that is related to the solving of the book’s murder, she learns that Johnny and Carol have been in an accident. She immediately suspects that it was caused by riding the car. As it turns out, the kids simply fell while running to get into it. Even so, Alicia demands that Pam take the car back. They finally negotiate with Pam agreeing to re-box the car and store it in the garage for a few more years until the kids are older and Alicia accepting an invitation to bring Carol and Johnny to Pam’s house on Long Island for Thanksgiving to ride the ponies she keeps in a stable there.
At the end of the book, after the mystery is solved, Alicia, John, and their kids go to Pam’s house, but Alicia is still nervous about Carol and Johnny riding the ponies.
Alicia isn’t the only mother in the book who is overly cautious about her children. Ruth Carver is 90 years old and has twin daughters in their sixties who have never married. Ruth has hidden from them a secret about their father and grandfather. But, like Alicia, the basis of Ruth’s overprotectiveness reflects more on her personality and fears than on her concern for her children’s welfare. Alicia acknowledges this when she admits to Pam that she was being a “nervous Nellie” for worrying about Carol and Johnny riding a pony. Ruth, too, admits to being wrong about not telling Edith and Rose the family secret that ends up indirectly causing a murder.
It isn’t easy being a parent, and there’s often a thin line between being too overprotective and too lenient. Both forms of parenting have consequences on children but, thankfully, most of them don’t result in murder.
No Gravestone Unturned: A Cobble Cove Mystery by Debbie De Louise
About No Gravestone Unturned
Cozy Mystery 5th in Series
Solstice Publishing Paperback: 262 pages
It’s October in Cobble Cove, and Alicia is busy preparing for the library’s Halloween party when she learns that John’s aunt from Florida has died and that John’s cousins and their spouses are coming to town to bury their mother. The day after the funeral, the caretaker’s son is found dead by John’s grandfather’s gravestone, from a blow on the head. The only witness seems to be Sneaky the library cat, who, having left the library, turned up at Alicia’s door with blood and dirt on him.
As Alicia, Gilly, and Sheriff Ramsay investigate, a generation of family secrets is uncovered. Are one of the guests staying at the inn a killer? Will the humans solve the crime, and can Sneaky, Kittykai, and Salem, the inn’s guest cat, team up to help?
About Debbie De Louise
Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a reference librarian at a public library on Long Island. She is a member of Sisters-in-Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Long Island Authors Group, and the Cat Writers’ Association. She has a BA in English and an MLS in Library Science from Long Island University. Her novels include the four books of the Cobble Cove cozy mystery series: A Stone’s Throw, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Written in Stone, and Love on the Rocks. Debbie has also written a romantic comedy novella, When Jack Trumps Ace, a paranormal romance, Cloudy Rainbow, and the standalone mysteries Reason to Die and Sea Scope. Her latest book, Memory Makers, is a medical thriller. She lives on Long Island with her husband, Anthony; daughter, Holly; and three cats, Stripey, Harry, and Hermione.
Author Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.delouise.author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Deblibrarian
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2750133.Debbie_De_Louise
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2bIHdaQ
All Author: https://allauthor.com/author/debbiedelouise/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie_writer/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiedelouise/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/debbie-de-louise
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/debbiedelouise
Debbie’s Character’s Chat Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/748912598599469/
Website/Blog/Newsletter Sign-Up: https://debbiedelouise.com
Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog: https://Sneakylibrarycat.wordpress.com
Purchase Link - Amazon -
Thanks so much for hosting a spot on my book tour and for featuring my guest post.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by!
DeleteThis book looks like a great read. Would love to read and review this book in print format along with your other books. Love the book cover and excerpt.
ReplyDeleteHope I Win and Thanks.