Spotlight - Engaged in Danger

I'd like to sine a spotlight on Engaged in Danger by Barbara Venkataraman. This book is the fourth in her Jamie Quinn Mystery series and was released this past week.

Finally, life is good for reluctant family law attorney, Jamie Quinn--her father may get his visa soon, her boyfriend is the bomb, and her law practice is growing like crazy--but when she agrees to take on a high-profile divorce case, everything falls apart. What looked like an opportunity to work with her friend Grace and make some serious bucks has turned into a deadly game, one that could destroy their friendship and tear their town apart. Why couldn't Jamie just leave well enough alone?


The author has graciously offered the first three e-books in the series to one lucky reader. To qualify, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling us if you've ever worked with a friend only to have it threaten your friendship. Leave your comment along with your e-mail address no later than 11:59 pm EDT Friday, September 18, 2015.

A Banshee Interview & Giveaway

I'm happy to welcome Joyce and Jim Lavene back to the blog. They have a new series out! Be My Banshee is the first book in their Purple Door Detective Agency and was released August 19th.

Kathy: The Purple Door Detective Agency is such a great name. I see purple as a mystical color (as well as my favorite) and a door a means of entry, an opening to a new world. Did you intend the name to have meaning? How did you come up with it?

J&JL: Thanks for having us here today!

I love purple too! I agree it is a mystical color, the color of royalty, and deep thought. I thought we should call it the Purple Door Detective Agency when I read the old story about how a purple door means a witch lives there. And since the story centers on a witch, it seemed apt!


Kathy: If you were running a paranormal detective agency (or a regular one for that matter) what type of magical beings would you prefer to hire. Are there any you would not like working in your agency?

J&JL: I think witches are smart and resourceful. They would always be an asset. Some shapeshifters would be good. Probably not demons or mermaids since they tend to be too unreliable.


Kathy: Aine is a bean sidhe. Did you do particular research on this type of fairy? Since she's looking for an O'Neill heir I would say you did!

J&JL:  Yes. We did a lot of research on the beane sidhe which is why she can change into three forms. These are the forms she’s been seen as during the last few hundred years. She would be a strong and loyal partner if you could get her involved in what you were doing. Sunshine Merryweather, our witch, manages it.


Kathy: You write multiple series simultaneously. Do you sometimes discover you've accidentally put characters in the wrong series while writing?

J&JL: No. Not ever. It’s not like Peggy Lee could be in a mystery with magic in it or we could put a mermaid into the Pumpkin Patch Mystery. It’s hard to realize unless you write how your life is impacted by these characters. And while we may write a lot of books, I also have many family members and friends that I would never confuse with any others.


Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this series?

J&JL: Sunshine was really the inspiration. We were looking for a younger witch who wasn’t afraid to use her magic, unlike the older witches in the Retired Witches Mysteries. She needed a partner in her detective agency and we found Aine, deciding she would be perfect. Jane was actually a character from a book we started writing years ago and didn’t finish. The three ladies seem to work well together.


Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Sunshine Merryweather and Aine?

J&JL: Well Aine and O’Neill have a walk-on role in our November 2015 book, The Canterville Book Shop Mysteries, although the only paranormal in that series is a ghost. We started thinking that most people wouldn’t recognize a magical creature as long as they look human, and set out to prove that theory. Sunshine and Aine will be back next year with their new mystery.


Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?

J&JL: Sure! My favorite part of any interview!

November 2015 – A Dickens of a Murder, part of the Canterville Book Shop Mysteries. Simon Canterville and Lisa Wellman try to get a book shop open in Olde Town, Portsmouth, Virginia in time for the holidays when they find a dead man on the roof of their Victorian home.

December 2015 –Murder Fir Christmas is first in the new Christmas Tree Valley Mysteries which is set in the world of the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mysteries in Sweet Pepper, Tennessee.

That book is followed by Fat Tuesday Fricassee, the third book in the Biscuit Bowl Mysteries. It’s Mardi Gras in Mobile Alabama, home of the Biscuit Bowl Food Truck, but things aren’t all fun and games as Zoey and her father are involved in a murder at a krewe party.

January 2016 – The fourth book in the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mysteries, Sweet Pepper Hero, is out with the fire brigade stamping out murders and fires caused by a whiskey war with the help of the ghost of the previous fire chief, Eric Gamlyn.

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A Trick or Deceit Interview & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Shelley Freydont back to Cozy Up With Kathy. In addition to the Gilded Age Newport Mystery series we discussed when last she visited, Shelley also writes the Celebration Bay Mystery series. Trick or Deceit is the fourth book in that series and was released September 1st.

Kathy: Trick or Deceit takes place around Halloween. Are you a fan of the holiday? Do you like to decorate for Halloween?

SF: I’m a fan of celebrating most holidays. I like the fun things at Halloween, the carnivals and jack-o-lanterns, the costume and zombie parades. Not such a fan of trick or treating which seems to encourage greed and is bad for the teeth. We never really decorate for Halloween but we carve crazy, elaborate pumpkin faces and line them up on the porch.


Kathy: It's Halloween time in Celebration Bay and there's a contest to be the town’s official Haunted House. While I'm fascinated with houses that happen to be haunted, houses created to be haunted leave me cold. Are you a fan of the Halloween haunted house? What about "real" haunted houses?

SF: I believe we should leave spirits to themselves. I wouldn’t want to live in a real haunted house. Just seems like trespassing. I enjoy a good interactive created haunted house. There’s a farm in New York state, just over the New Jersey border that gives haunted hayrides. They’re a big production, creative and scary. Those kinds are fun.


Kathy: I love the cover for Trick or Deceit. Did you have any input in its design?

SF: None whatsoever, except there was a new artist on the project and the first time the cover came back, Whiskey, the white Westie was brown. The editor was also new so she wasn’t familiar with the series. Fortunately, once the artist realized her mistake she fixed it and Whiskey was back to his usual white, lovable self. That usually doesn’t happen, thank goodness. It was just a case of several new people on the same project.


Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this story?

SF: Not really. I don’t usually have a big inspiration for any of my stories. I work from a “Firefly” method. I’ll get a bright little spark of an idea here, and another there, and then another and another, and they start to gel and I play with them, test them out, and if I’m lucky, they become the basis of a story.


Kathy: When it comes to writing I understand there are 2 general camps-plotters, who diligently plot their stories, and pansters, who fly by the seat of their pants. Are you a plotter, a panster, or do you fall somewhere in between?

SF: I’m both, definitely. I like to have the skeleton (appropriate for the season) of my story before I begin the actual chapter writing. But before that, I take time to get to know the new characters, find out what’s happening with the old characters, decide on some plot points, write down a few notes or a scene I might be able to use somewhere. For mystery, I rely heavily on plotting because to have a good mystery you must make sure that all the clues and red herrings are presented in the right place. Know who has the alibis, and have a time line that works. So I plot even more for mysteries than I do for the women’s fiction I write as Shelley Noble, but since those are more character driven I get to meander a bit before reining myself in and tightening the story up.


Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Liv Montgomery?

SF: I’m hoping she’ll have a long happy life as a fictional sleuth. But it’s too early to know about specifics.


Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?

SF: The first of my new Gilded Age Newport mystery series came out last month. A Gilded Grave. I love that era of outrageous fortunes and power struggles and had a lot of fun writing that one. I just turned in next summer’s addition, A Golden Cage. I’m also working on my next women’s fiction, currently titled Leila after one of the characters.



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Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading Perish in the Palm by Keri Lee Townsend. This book is the 4th Sunny Meadows (Fortune Teller) Mystery series and was released July 9th.

I'm glad to see that Sunny Meadows is back. Sunny is a fortune teller in Divinity, New York. She lives in an old Victorian with Morty (a more than mysterious cat), her Grandma Gert, and now her boyfriend Mitch (who still sometimes morphs into Detective Grumpy Pants). Sunny is pleased to me maid of honor at her friend Jo's wedding, even though her mother is horning in. When her mom takes one to many verbal jousts at the owner of the reception site, Sunny steps in with some entertainment in order to distract everyone. She reads Peirce's  palm, but sees some disconcerting images...and treasure. When a storm hits and the lights go out, everyone is shocked-especially when Sunny's mom is found standing over the dead body of Peirce's , knife in hand. Was it Peirce's financial activities that caused his death, or was someone just out to ruin a wedding? Whatever the case, Sunny is determined to prove her mother innocent!

An Author’s Struggle with Purpose - Guest Post & Giveaway

Julie Anne Lindsey is taking over Cozy Up With Kathy today. Julie writes The Geek Girl Mystery series. A Geek Girl's Guide to Murder is the first book in the series and was just released August 31!

An Author’s Struggle with Purpose.

Over the years, I’ve tried my hand at a number of different genres. It’s no secret it hasn’t been easy for me to find my voice as an author. In fact, I struggle most days, with whether or not this job is for me. Don’t get me wrong. I *want* this to be for me, but deciding to become an author is kind of like deciding to be an actor or recording artist. As a Midwestern mother of three, the idea even more farfetched. The industry is already flooded with outstanding talent and unbelievable competition. If that’s not enough to scare a writer away, the ever changing industry should be. Every day is a surprise. Today’s worldwide phenomenon is tomorrow’s immediate rejection. It’s basically impossible and I should totally walk away. Then again, I’m a writer, which translates roughly to my own kind of bananas and nothing dissuades me. I just try harder. I’ve said it before. I think “Writer” should be listed on the DSM-IV as a personality disorder. The drive to write is overpowering. My reasons vary, but they are always stronger than logic and tougher than the daily rejection. No matter what, I want to write.

But what do I write? Where do I fit in? Who am I in this industry?

I remember trying on my mother’s wedding gown as a child and wondering if I’d ever fill it out properly and maybe, if I was really lucky, look beautiful as she did wearing it. Writing is like that for me. How else can I ever hope to share shelf space with my favorite authors? How can I ever compare? I’ve tried writing everything from paranormal to sweet romance in the hopes of reaching someone who needs a smile. I wanted to make a difference in someone’s day. I want to give them a moment of reprieve from whatever ails them. That’s why I write cozy mysteries. Cozies are upbeat, lighthearted little puzzles packed with old friends and new laughs. Do you need a smile? Come closer.

If you’re in the mood for a pick-me-up, I hope you’ll check out A Geek Girl’s Guide to Murder. More than that, I hope it will make you smile!

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A Geek Girl’s Guide to Murder, The Geek Girl Mysteries, book 1

IT manager Mia Connors is up to her tortoiseshell glasses in technical drama when a glitch in the Horseshoe Falls email system disrupts security and sends errant messages to residents of the gated community. The snafu's timing couldn't be worse—Renaissance Faire season is in full swing and Mia's family's business relies on her presence.

Mia doesn't have time to hunt down a computer hacker. Her best friend has disappeared, and she finds another of her friends murdered—in her office. When the hunky new head of Horseshoe Falls security identifies Mia as the prime suspect, her anxiety level registers on the Richter scale.

Eager to clear her name, Mia moves into action to locate her missing buddy and find out who killed their friend. But her quick tongue gets her into trouble with more than the new head of security. When Mia begins receiving threats, the killer makes it clear that he's closer than she'd ever imagined.

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About Julie:

Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Today, she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.

Julie also writes The Patience Price Mysteries series.

Learn About Julie at:

Julieannelindsey.com

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Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading... well...I actually just finished reading this book, but I haven't started the next one yet. Move your Blooming Corpse by D.E. Ireland is the second book in the Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Mystery series and is an absolute delight! Horse racing and the wonderful characters created by George Bernard Shaw combine to make another compelling mystery. Events have not settled since the literary duo solved a murder in Wouldn't it be Deadly. Eliza and Henry have been attending horse races since Eliza's father became part of a syndicate which owns a winning thoroughbred. They've been witnessing not only wins, but demonstrations from Suffragettes. When one of the members of the syndicate is found murdered it's thought the work of a jealous husband, or a Suffragette supporter. Then another member is killed. Still the ramifications of an affair gone bad? Or is someone trying to kill all the members of the group for another purpose entirely? Although Eliza is determined not to become involved in another murder investigation, Higgins can't help but feel guilty and desire to help. When Eliza's dad becomes a target, however, Eliza gets right in the thick of things!

Spotlight - Killer Jam

Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on a recent release. Killer Jam by Karen MacInerney is the first in the Dewberry Farm Mystery series.

From the back cover:

A big crime in a small town turns Lucy's focus from life on a farm to solving a murder.

When Houston reporter Lucy Resnick cashes in her retirement to buy her grandmother's farm in Buttercup, Texas, she's looking forward to a simple life as a homesteader. But Lucy has barely finished putting up her first batch of Killer Dewberry Jam when an oil-exploration truck rolls up to the farm and announces plans to replace her broccoli patch with an oil derrick. Two days later, Nettie Kocurek, the woman who ordered the drilling, turns up dead at the Founders' Day Festival with a bratwurst skewer through her heart and one of Lucy's jam jars beside her...and the sheriff fingers Lucy as the prime suspect.

Horrified, Lucy begins to talk to Nettie's neighbors, but the more she gets to know the townspeople, the more she realizes she's not the only one who had a beef with Nettie. Can she clear her name, or will her dream life turn into a nightmare.

Recipes and homesteading tips included.