I'm pleased to let V. M. Burns take over Cozy Up With Kathy today. V. M. writes the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. Murder on Tour is the ninth book in the series and was released today!
V. M. Burns
I must have heard that old adage, “Write what you know” hundreds of times. Fortunately, or unfortunately, what I wanted to write were murder mysteries. I’m not a member of law enforcement. Nor am I a criminal. Having never murdered anything more than a spider, I felt ill-equipped. Eventually, it dawned on me. Most crime writers have never committed murder either. Certainly, Agatha Christie never murdered anyone. Not being a member of either the law enforcement or the criminal communities would be serious deficits indeed, if I wanted to write nonfiction. However, I wanted to write fiction. So, I took that adage to write what I knew and used it as a frame or scaffolding around which I could build my fictional mysteries.
The first step was an inventory. I evaluated what I needed and what I knew. The first thing every piece of fiction needs is a setting. I grew up in Northwestern Indiana and was currently living in Southwestern Michigan. I was very familiar with the towns of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan. The towns are sister cities located on the shores of Lake Michigan. Benton Harbor is a town in economic decline. There’s high unemployment, low incomes, and many boarded-up and abandoned homes. St. Joseph shared the same Lake Michigan shoreline and was just across the bridge. However, that’s where the similarities ended. St. Joseph was an idyllic tourist town with cobblestoned streets and a thriving retail business. That dichotomy provided interest. Benton Harbor became my setting, although I changed the name to North Harbor in the books, anyone familiar with the area will recognize it.
Next, I needed a protagonist. This is where I did a bit of introspection. Samantha Washington and her late husband, Leon, both dreamed of quitting their jobs and opening a bookshop that specialized in mysteries. At the start of the series, Leon is dead and Samantha realizes that life is too short, not to follow your dreams. So, she quits her job as a high school English teacher takes a leap of faith, and opens her mystery bookshop. Samantha also dreamed of one day writing British historical cozy mysteries. These were Sam’s dreams because they are also my dreams. One day, I’d love to open a mystery bookshop. As for writing British historical cozy mysteries, I get to live out that dream through my characters. Each book in my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series features two murders. There is the murder Sam is solving in her real life. Readers also get to read the British cozy mystery she’s writing.
Once I had my location and my protagonist, I was able to build a murder mystery around those elements. Murder on Tour is the 9th book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. Samantha Washington’s first book, Murder at Wickfield Lodge, has finally been published and she is out on her first book tour. While attending the North Harbor Book Festival, she gets involved in solving a murder. It’s up to Sam to figure out Whodunit before there’s another fatality.
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Murder on Tour (Mystery Bookshop) by V.M. Burns
About Murder on Tour
Cozy Mystery 9th in Series
Setting - Michigan
Kensington Cozies (November 28, 2023)
Paperback: 256 pages
Bookstore owner and Michigander Samantha Washington is thrilled to see her debut historical mystery finally on the shelves, but a killer seems determined to steal away the spotlight . . .
While Sam wraps up her first whirlwind book tour, Nana Jo has kept Market Street Mysteries running smoothly. The last stop is a prestigious book festival in Sam’s hometown of North Harbor, Michigan. But not everyone thinks the guest of honor, bestselling author Judith Hunter, deserves stellar reviews. Sam witnesses nasty arguments between Judith and two different authors—who accuse her of plagiarism and sabotage . . .
When a publicist is poisoned during a cocktail reception, Sam wonders if the killer missed the intended target. It’s a twist that echoes the plot of Sam’s mystery, Murder at Wickfield Lodge. But fact can be stranger—and deadlier—than fiction. How much collateral damage is the killer willing to risk? With feisty Nana Jo and the girls from Shady Acres Retirement Village lending a hand, Sam tries to solve the case before the festival delivers another fatality . . .
About V.M. Burns
Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Award Finalist. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. Valerie is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Dog Writers of America, and Thriller Writers International. Valerie has a Bachelor’s Degree from Northwestern University, a Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Fine Arts from Seton Hill University. In addition to writing, Valerie works as a manager at a call center, and is also a mentor in the Writing Popular Fiction MFA Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwest Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles.
Author Links:
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16534140.V_M_Burns
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vmburnsbooks/
Website: vmburns.com
Purchase Links
Amazon Apple Books-A-Million Barnes and Noble Bookshop.org Google Play Hudson Booksellers Target KOBO Walmart
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Thank you so much for the post! I just love release day :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI have some of the books in the series. Great covers.
ReplyDelete