Guest Blog
by Erika Chase
What’s not to like about a cozy? They’re so…well, cozy. To me that means a traditional mystery, a puzzle, something on the lighter side, without the excess of violence, sex or language – except where appropriate. If I want any of that I can read the newspapers, watch TV news, or even, most of the mystery/crime series that are on TV.
Don’t get me wrong, I do read other types of crime books, I’m an avid newspaper reader and I do watch some psychological police dramas on TV, because they do have their place and there are times when that’s exactly what I want to see or read.
But for the most part, I want my reading time to be spent in a world where friendships are a primary focus, where there’s a hint of romance, and of course, the world is made right by the capture of the bad guys. I want to work through the crime puzzle along with the main character, be he or she an amateur sleuth or professional. I want to get to know these people as friends so that I enjoy spending time with them catching up, in each new book in the series. And, as importantly, I want justice to be carried out.
So it’s natural that I write cozy mysteries. I try to combine all those factors that I enjoy when reading a mystery in my Ashton Corners Book Club series. I belong to a book club, and although the members are very different from my fictional ones, especially the fact that we don’t solve crimes, the friendships and camaraderie are the aspects I’ve brought to the series.
Each character is unique, someone I’d like to know and learn more about, (I am learning more about them as I write each new book) and to this end, each has her or his own story and reason for belonging to the book club. Together, they compliment and contrast, they cajole and console, they are friends and they are my friends.
To me, a cozy setting means community. From the larger community of Ashton Corners, Alabama (totally fictional but somewhat based on a small town located close to me) to the smaller community of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society…this is the heart of a cozy mystery. The puzzle and the unraveling of it are layered on to present a reading experience that hopefully will delight the mystery lover.
I enjoy writing cozies and I enjoy reading them. I hope you do, too.
About the Author:
Erika writes the Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries for Penguin/Berkley Prime Crime. In a parallel life Erika Chase is also known as Linda Wiken. A former mystery bookstore owner (Prime Crime Books in Ottawa, ON, Canada), Linda is also a short story writer. She is a member of those dangerous dames, The Ladies’ Killing Circle.
Her short stories have appeared in the seven Ladies’ Killing Circle anthologies (three of which she co-edited), and in the magazines Mysterious Intent and Over My Dead Body. She has been short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award, Best Short Story, from Crime Writers of Canada.
Before life in the world of mystery, she worked as an advertising copywriter, radio producer, journalist and community education worker. Besides writing and reading mysteries, her other passion is choral singing and she is a member of two choirs.
Okay, maybe one more passion — chocolate!
She shares her house with Keesha and Mojo, her two Siamese cats. Actually, they allow her to live there.
HOT OFF THE PRESS: a new series looms! I’ll be writing the Culinary Capers Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime as the “other” me — Linda Wiken. Hopefully, the first one will be out in late 2015.
The members of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society are all chipping in as Molly Mathews, now owner of the bookstore the Book Nook, prepares the first annual Mystery Book Fair. While gossip circulates about the guest authors, club member Lizzie Turner is unpleasantly surprised to see a certain book publicist make an appearance. It seems Lizzie has a history with Ashley Dixon—a chapter of her life she’d rather leave closed.
But when someone gives Ashley a death sentence, Lizzie becomes the prime suspect in a murder mystery she can’t put down. Now Lizzie and her fellow book buffs have to read between the lines of the publicist’s past and catch the real killer before Lizzie is written off for good.
Jennifer’s Review of Book Fair & Foul
Review (4.5 Stars): Book Fair & Foul is a delightful yet complex cozy mystery that will keep you guessing. I have always been a big fan of Ms. Chase’s Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries and I think that this one is the best so far. Lizzie Turner becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her scheming college roommate during the middle of a mystery book fair that Lizzie is organizing with her good friend, Molly Mathews. Between balancing literary divas and trying to clear her name, Lizzie has got her hands full and looks to her friends to help find the real killer. Hopefully, she can find the answers quickly before Lizzie finds herself behind bars for good.
Such a great series! I love these mysteries because they are light-hearted with fun characters and are always discussing other fabulous books. Lizzie has grown into a wonderful character and I love how her relationship with Mark is getting stronger with each passing day. I could understand Lizzie’s situation with her college roommate, Ashley Dixon, because she wasn’t a nice person at all. She was mean and conniving and tried everything to agitate Lizzie while she was there in Ashton Corners. I wasn’t sorry to see her go and other characters in this story had just as much reason as Lizzie to dislike her. This is the fourth book in the series and everyone of them is more enjoyable than the next. I recommend that everyone spend a little time with these delightful characters and I can’t wait to read the next book in this endearing series.
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