Cozy Up With Kathy: Mrs. Odboddy's Desperate Doings

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Mrs. Odboddy's Desperate Doings - A Guest Post & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Elaine Faber back to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Elaine writes the Mrs. Odboddy Mystery series. Mrs. Odboddy's Desperate Doings is the fourth book in the series.

The Author’s Elevator Pitch
By Elaine Faber

As a published author, I plot mysteries, contrive red herrings, bring bad guys to heel and conflict star-crossed lovers. My stories unfold across ten published novels and an anthology of ‘cat stories’. The blurb on the back of my latest novel explains the story in 70 words or less. 'During WWII, this eccentric elderly lady exposes an art thief, all while she fights the war from the home front. When she isn’t knitting sox, or pursuing art thieves, she seeks a home for a hapless carnival tiger. That’s when she falls from a tree and begins to hallucinate….’

When I composed my first short story in high school, no one told me that to become a successful author, it took more than writing intriguing plots and stimulating dialogue.

More recently, I learned that one cannot attract a traditional publisher without a social media platform of 5,000+, which I don’t have, so I must consider self-publishing. But, for even a minute chance of success, one must also master the skills of a publicist, a bookkeeper, editor, a full time blogger, cover designer, and salesman. I must become an expert orator and watch for panel dates or speaking opportunities. Though not necessarily a ‘master’ at any of the above, but feeling somewhat competent in most, I attended a writing conference. Imagine my dismay to learn, there was yet another expert skill to be mastered...

I was instructed to memorize an ‘elevator pitch’ about my book, in the off chance that someday while standing in line at Starbuck or the dry cleaners, I might run into a literary agent sipping a Carmel Macchiato or a publisher picking up his dry cleaning.

The conference director explained that in such an eventuality, I must command the agent’s undivided attention with an opening hook, define my plot’s originality, create a desire to read my scintillating novel, convince him that my witty novel is on an inevitable track as a New York Best Seller. I must explain why everyone from a Texas cowboy to a Hollywood stockbroker would spend his last dollar to buy my book… all in sixty seconds or less.

Yet, impressed by the credentials of the conference speaker who gave his impressive presentation, and willing to follow any expert advice for the chance of producing that Best Seller, I diligently stood in front of a mirror and memorized my elevator pitch about Mrs. Odboddy’s Desperate Doings, determined the best places to smile, pause for special effect, or use impressive hand motions to emphasize the final sentence. .

Unfortunately, I’m convinced that should I ever be fortunate enough to find myself on that much imagined elevator with an agent or a major publisher, in spite of my good intentions and hours practicing my 60 second elevator pitch, the conversation would more likely go something like this...

“Ooh! Ooh! Wait! You’re that Zondervan guy, right? Hold on! Let me push this button and stop this thing. Let me think. Oh, I remember. I wrote a World War II humorous novel, see? You’re gonna love it. You’re not in a hurry, right? About that book I wrote… How does it go? It’s about this quirky, old lady, see? Wait. Don’t go! There’s more. She thinks that the local doctor is stealing art work, and there’s this tiger, see, a real live tiger… and, and…Nazi spies…”

****************************************************************************

Mrs. Odboddy's Desperate Doings: A WWII tale (Mrs. Odboddy Mysteries) by Elaine Faber

About Mrs. Odboddy's Desperate Doings

Mrs. Odboddy's Desperate Doings: A WWII tale (Mrs. Odboddy Mysteries)
Historical Cozy Mystery 4th in Series
Setting - California
Elk Grove Publications (April 30, 2022)
Paperback: ‎ 264 pages

After falling from a tree, Agnes’s behavior and delusions escalate from ‘merely eccentric,’ to ‘near mayhem ’ Still seeking a permanent home for a displaced carnival tiger, she goes to unthinkable extremes in an effort to prevent city hall from destroying the big cat. When Agnes witnesses a well-known citizen commit burglary, and the church’s beloved Good Shepherd painting goes missing, she becomes obsessed with exposing the art thief. But, questions arise whether the extent of her bizarre behavior is due to a ‘brain bleed’ from her head injury, or is something amiss in her medical treatment?

As WWII rages across the Pacific, dealing with victory gardens and rationing at home doesn’t stop Agnes from fighting the war from the home front. From city hall, to the hot seat at Newbury’s Police Department, and finally to a San Francisco mansion, Agnes pursues injustice to save a tiger and expose a shocking conspiracy at the highest levels of Newbury’s elite society.

Mrs. Odboddy’s Desperate Doings is a hilarious WWII mystery-adventure you’ll not soon forget.

About Elaine Faber

Elaine Faber lives in Elk Grove, CA, with her husband and two feline companions. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (SIC), Elk Grove Writer’s Guild (EGWG), and Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA). Elaine volunteers with the American Cancer Society. She has published nine cozy mystery novels, and an anthology of cat stories. Her short stories are also published in 22 independent anthologies.

Black Cat’s Legacy, Thumper meets Kimberlee and with the aid of his ancestors’ memories, helps her pursue her father’s cold case murder. http://tinyurl.com/lrvevgm Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer, Thumper (Black Cat) goes to Texas and confronts an embezzling attorney and thwarts an attempted murder plot. http://tinyurl.com/q3qrgyu Black Cat and the Accidental Angel, Black Cat and his companion are left behind following an MVA and find new adventures on an emu farm. http://tinyurl.com/y4eohe5n Black Cat and the Clue in Dewey’s Diary Kimberlee follows clues to stolen gold coins in Austria, as Black Cat faces intrigue in hometown Fern Lake. http://tinyurl.com/vgyp89s Mrs. Odboddy-Hometown Patriot, Eccentric Mrs. Odboddy is determined to expose Nazi spies and conspiracies on every hand. http://tinyurl.com/hdbvzsv Mrs. Odboddy-Undercover Courier, Mrs. Odboddy prevents Nazi spies from stealing the ‘secret documents’ she is carrying by train to President Roosevelt. http://tinyurl.com/jn5bzwb Mrs. Odboddy-And Then There was a Tiger, Falsely accused, Agnes seeks the missing war bond money and befriends a displaced carnival tiger. https://tinyurl.com/yx72fcpx Mrs. Odboddy’s Desperate Doings. Agnes exposes an art thief, and seeks a permanent home for Shere Khan, the displaced carnival tiger, she https://tinyurl.com/5xah4cnt The Spirit Woman of Lockleer Mountain. Is the woman in the woods a missing neighbor, the imaginary local Native American’s Spirit Woman? http://tinyurl.com/y7rp7f3x All Things Cat, Twenty-one short stories written about, or narrated by about cats from all walks of life. http://tinyurl.com/y9p9htak