Kate Carlisle on Creating Lighthouse Cove
Hello, my name is Kate Carlisle, and I have power over life and death.
Fictionally speaking.
I’ve just launched my second mystery series, The Fixer-Upper Mysteries, with A HIGH-END FINISH (available now in paperback and ebook), and I brought to life an entire town for your reading pleasure.
At first glance, Lighthouse Cove is an idyllic northern California coastal community, with a charming downtown and amazing views everywhere you look, but behind that perky façade is a growing sense of unrest. (This is a mystery series, after all.) Those with all the wealth want more of it, and they won’t let small-minded townies get in their way.
Shannon Hammer bridges the gap between have and have-not. She’s blue collar all the way, townie to her core, but she makes nice with the rich and powerful because her construction company is the go-to choice for the wealthy owners of all of the cliffside Victorian homes in need of restoration. In Lighthouse Cove, the best man for the job is a woman.
The Bibliophile Mysteries, my first mystery series, are set primarily in San Francisco, so I work within the framework of a place that really exists. With the Fixer-Upper Mysteries, though, I needed to create Lighthouse Cove from the ground up with such a sense of history and place that it would feel as real to readers as it does to me.
From A High-End Finish:
I turned up the radio to distract myself and cruised through downtown past the Town Square on my way to one of my houses a few streets north of Main Street.
The Town Square was pretty much deserted at this time of the morning. In the center of the grassy square, a large gazebo was set beneath sheltering trees. During the summer, free band concerts were held there on the weekends. Everyone in town turned out, carrying their lawn chairs and picnic hampers. The ice cream shop on the corner did a bumper business on those nights. Some of my earliest best memories had taken place right here. Fireworks. Marching bands. My mom and dad holding hands. Ice cream.
Now, though, the Square was silent. I scanned the area anyway on the off chance that I’d catch a glimpse of one of my girlfriends opening her shop, but the only place open was the diner on the corner. The other shops on the Square wouldn’t open for business for another two hours or more.
It was just as well, I realized as I drove on. I should probably avoid the area for the next few days. I knew my gossip quotient had skyrocketed since I’d stumbled over Jerry’s body on Sunday. Everyone in town would be vying to get the inside scoop from me, but I dreaded the whispers and questions that would follow. I had to endure scrutiny and doubt from the new police chief, but not from people I’d known my entire life.
I hope Lighthouse Cove will be a town you’ll enjoy visiting again and again. Grab A HIGH-END FINISH to get in on The Fixer-Upper Mysteries from the very beginning!
About the Author:
Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier Award winning author Kate Carlisle spent over twenty years working in television production as an Associate Director for game and variety shows, including The Midnight Special, Solid Gold and The Gong Show. She traveled the world as a Dating Game chaperone and performed strange acts of silliness on The Gong Show. She also studied acting and singing, toiled in vineyards, collected books, joined a commune, sold fried chicken, modeled spring fashions and worked for a cruise ship line, but it was the year she spent in law school that finally drove her to begin writing fiction. It seemed the safest way to kill off her professors. Those professors are breathing easier now that Kate spends most of her time writing near the beach in Southern California where she lives with her perfect husband.
A lifelong love of old books and an appreciation of the art of bookbinding led Kate to create the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder. Kate is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She loves to drink good wine and watch other people cook.
In the seaside town of Lighthouse Cove in northern California, everyone knows the best man for the job is actually a woman—contractor Shannon Hammer. But while Shannon can do wonders with a power drill and a little elbow grease, she’s about to discover that some problems aren’t so easily fixed….
Shannon’s home-renovation and repair business is booming, but her love life needs work. On a blind date with real estate agent Jerry Saxton, she has to whip out a pair of pliers to keep Jerry from getting too hands on. Shannon is happy to put her rotten date behind her, but when Jerry’s found dead in a run-down Victorian home that she’s been hired to restore, the town’s attractive new police chief suspects that her threats may have laid the foundation for murder. Determined to clear her name, Shannon conducts her own investigation—with the help of her four best friends, her eccentric father, a nosy neighbor or two, and a handsome crime writer who’s just moved to town. But as they get closer to prying out the murderer’s identity, Shannon is viciously attacked. Now she’ll have to nail down the truth—or end up in permanent foreclosure…
Jennifer’s Review of A High-End Finish
Review (5 Stars): I loved this book from beginning to end and enjoyed my time meeting its heroine, Shannon Hammer. Shannon owns a home-renovation business in Lighthouse Cove and is a character that you can instantly connect with. She is smart, sassy and can definitely hold her own in any situation and finds herself a suspect in a murder when a man is found dead at one of her work sites. Since she was on a disastrous date with him the night before and threatened to kill him when he got physically abusive with her, Shannon isn’t surprised that she is high on the list of suspects. But when Shannon starts to dig into the background of the murder victim, she finds that his past behavior has left quite a few people wanting him out of the picture. The more Shannon uncovers, the more her life is in jeopardy and she is one step closer to becoming this killer’s next victim.
A High-End Finish has the perfect combination of a strong heroine, quick-witted humor and a clever who-dunnit that is sure to charm mystery lovers. Kate Carlisle is a wonderfully talented mystery writer and I absolutely adore her Bibliophile mystery series. Her new series debut is definitely a winner for me and I now have another great series to look forward to spending time with.
Giveaway
I’m excited to give away a copy of A High-End Finish. This giveaway is for US Residents only. To be entered in the drawing by November 25th, please leave a comment for Kate below:
I would love to read this book—thanks for the opportunity to win a copy!
Good luck, Sheila! Thrilling news Wednesday evening… found out that A HIGH-END FINISH hit the New York Times bestsellers list at #9. This is my first time in the top 10, so exciting.
It looks great, thank you for the chance, hope to read it!
jslbrown2009(at)aol(dot)com
Good luck, Lisa!
It looks like a great read. I love these types of books. sclickner@juno.com.
Cozy mysteries are wonderful, aren’t they, Sue? Good luck in the giveaway!
Congrats on the new series. I love this kind of story. Looking forward to many more. Thanks for doing a giveaway
Thank you, Sheila! I hope readers will love the Fixer-Upper Mysteries so much that the series will continue for a long time!
A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle sounds delightful, and I am looking forward to reading this book. The cover looks lovely too. Thank you for having this contest.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
Isn’t that cover delicious, Jeanetta? My publisher’s art department does an amazing job. The cover of THIS OLD HOMICIDE is just as fabulous. I’m so lucky!
Looks like a great series would love to read
Good luck, Patricia!
I just finished a remodel, so this really peaks my interest of mystery and home renovation!
I went to three different stores the day this book came out and couldn’t find it! So, I went home and ordered it for my Kindle and I am so glad I did that. I love this book!! I’m also happy to have found it from the start of the series. Can’t wait for the next one.
Oh wow, Diane! Thank you so much for your persistence. I’m so glad you loved A HIGH-END FINISH. <3
Thank you, Jennifer and Kate. I SO want to read “A High-End Finish”.
I hope you’ll love it, Patricia! You can get a jump start by reading the excerpt on my website: http://katecarlisle.com/high-end-finish.php
I would love to read this book. Thank you for the opportunity to win it!
Good luck, LeeAnne! 🙂
A great read. Enjoyed it a lot.
Thank you, Mary! That’s so nice to hear. Spread the word! 😉
I love reading your books! When I start I can’t put the book down until I finish. Thank you for the chance to win the newest one 🙂
Thank you, Jennifer for the wonderful review of A HIGH-END FINISH! I’m so glad you enjoyed the book. I’m honored by your five-star rating.
I’m going to pop in today as I can. I’m at Bouchercon 2014-Murder at the Beach, a mystery lovers conference in Long Beach. Thank you so much for hosting me here today. I appreciate it!
I would love to read this book! I love the concept and the cover is great! Thanks for the chance!
Your books are unique and great. Thanks for this feature. Congratulations.
I would love to read this book. I’m a fixer upper person and love old houses also and the cover of this book just reaches out to me to read. I’m also a mystery nut. Love your books.
This looks AWESOME! Would love to read it!
They are always renovating old houses in the center of Olf a Town Rockville. I love the bog old Victorians that reming me of dollhouses. Actually have seen a couple of light houses transformed into large houses. This sounds like a fun book for reading and reviewing.
Shannon Hammer will get the opportunity to turn the big lighthouse in Lighthouse Cove into a home. It’s going to be fun to write!
Would love to win this book. I do want to read & what better way then to win!! Thank you for the chance and good luck to all.
Sharon Sommer, your name is so similar to Shannon Hammer, the heroine of A HIGH-END FINISH. That’s so fun!
Where did the idea for Fixer-upper mysteries come from? It’s so unique. Would love to win.
Congratulations on your thrilling news about being #9 on the New York Times bestsellers list! Thank you for the chance to enter to win a copy of A High-End Finish.
Sounds like a great beginning to a wonderful series…can’t wait to read this one.
I love your writing and always have! I love that you have started a new series and look forward to reading this book!
I loved this book! I already own a copy so I don’t really need to be entered in the drawing but if I ended up w/ another copy I know my Grandma would love it.
Sounds interesting
Bn100candg at Hotmail dot com
It sounds like a great book. I would love to read it. Thanks for having the giveaway.