Real vs. Fictional Settings: My version of Hogwarts

By Eva Gates

Generally speaking, a novel can be set in one of two places: a real place or a fictional place. (Or some combination of both).

There are a lot of good reasons to create a fictional setting for a book: No one can point out all your mistakes; if something doesn’t work for you, you can just make it up; avoids all that pesky research.

On the other hand, setting a book in a real place, adds an element of realism. People can go to the location of scenes in your book, or remember having been there. That helps to bring a book and its characters vividly to life.

My editors at Obsidian decided they want to go with the latter for the new Lighthouse Library Series. Not only have I set the books in a real place – the Outer Banks – but in a very specific real place – The Bodie Island Lighthouse.

I took the framework of that real, and marvellous, lighthouse, which is essentially just a small outer building attached to a 210 foot tall tower with a spiral iron staircase inside and a big lamp on the top, and built a whole new world inside it. A library, complete with back staircases, offices, staff break room, broom closet, meeting room, shelves overflowing with books.  I even gave it a small apartment for my character, Lucy Richardson, to live in.

I think of it as my version of Hogwarts.

But having done that, I wanted to be true to the marvellous setting of the lighthouse, and kept the outside of the building and its surroundings (minus the shop and tourist center!) intact.

As for the Outer Banks and the town of Nag’s Head, I’ve worked hard to make everything as realistic as possible. I’ve visited a couple of times, taking lots of pictures and careful notes. Back at home, Google Earth is an invaluable resource for checking the layout of streets, the location of public buildings and things like that.  In the books I mention some real places, such as Owen’s Restaurant, the restaurant at the Nags Head Fishing Pier, the police station/town hall complex, and have people living on real streets.  But I don’t describe real houses, or give street addresses. In the second book in the series, Booked for Trouble (Sept. 2015) when Lucy’s mother stays at a hotel, the hotel is totally fictitious.  After all there are shenanigans galore going on at that hotel, and I don’t want anyone to think I know something I don’t!

It’s been a lot of fun taking real places and using them as scenes for my stories. I hope that By Book or By Crook will give you a real feeling for the Outer Banks. Who knows maybe you’ll want to visit someday (if you haven’t already) and think of Lucy Richardson climbing the spiral iron stairs to her lighthouse aerie after a day in the library when you visit the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

About the Author:

For ten years Lucy has enjoyed her job poring over rare tomes of literature for the Harvard Library, but she has not enjoyed the demands of her family’s social whorl or her sort-of-engagement to the staid son of her father’s law partner. But when her ten-year relationship implodes, Lucy realizes that the plot of her life is in need of a serious rewrite.

Calling on her aunt Ellen, Lucy hopes that a little fun in the Outer Banks sun—and some confections from her cousin Josie’s bakery—will help clear her head. But her retreat quickly turns into an unexpected opportunity when Aunt Ellen gets her involved in the lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.

Lucy is thrilled to land a librarian job in her favorite place in the world. But when a priceless first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen and the chair of the library board is murdered, Lucy suddenly finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery—and she’s not so sure there’s going to be a happy ending….

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Jennifer’s Review of By Book or by Crook

Review (4 Stars): Lucy Richardson has decided to make a change in her life by accepting a position in Outer Banks at the lighthouse library after working at the Harvard library for ten years.  The lighthouse library is excited to be hosting the first edition of one of Jane Austen’s books at the library for the next three months and throws a party to celebrate.  At the party, the dead body of the library chairman is found with Lucy’s friend holding the murder weapon.  Lucy decides to get herself involved in the investigation to protect her friend and protect the reputation of the library that she has always loved.

By Book or by Crook is an entertaining mystery with a delightful heroine and a fun cast of characters.  I loved the idea of the lighthouse library and I think that this would be the perfect place for readers to go and visit.  I enjoyed meeting Lucy and thought that she was the perfect heroine for this series.  She was smart, sassy and I can’t wait to learn more about her in future books.  Great start to a series and I’m looking forward to reading what’s next for Lucy and the lighthouse library.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of By Book or by Crook. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by February 22nd, please leave me a comment below:

An Interview with Chef Art

From Fry Another Day
The Biscuit Bowl Mysteries
By J.J. Cook

This is Jason Smith from WQBT News in Atlanta. Today I’m interviewing the man behind the Biscuit Bowl Food Truck which is in the lead in this lap of the Sweet Magnolia Food Truck Race.

Q. Good morning, Chef Art. Are you enjoying the race?

A. Hello, Jason. It’s been a lot of fun so far. Crazy and wild, but fun.

Q. We’ve heard a member of your Biscuit Bowl food truck may be responsible for the murder of one of the drivers. Care to comment on that?

A. No one from the Biscuit Bowl killed anyone! That’s a ridiculous charge. But for the record, Miguel isn’t really part of the Biscuit Bowl food truck team. He’s an out-rider who is helping Zoe Chase, the driver.

Q. What made you decide to be part of the race?

A. As you know, Jason, I’ve been a famous food face in the South for as long as most people can recall. I don’t actively run a restaurant anymore, but I like to help talented newcomers – like my friend Zoe – get established. That’s why I’m her sponsor for the race, and why I’m here.

Q. You’re a man of the people, Chef Art!”

A. Yes, I am! Have you tried one of the biscuit bowls yet? They are very good. Who wouldn’t like a deep-fried biscuit filled with good things? I have one right here that’s filled with lemon pie filling. Excellent!

Q. I just ate – thanks. I’m sure it’s delicious, but . . .

A. Just eat it. You’ll love it. And quit spreading the rumor that Miguel Alexander killed anyone.

Q. I can’t – mumph – oh. It’s very good. Thanks for shoving it into my mouth, Chef Art.

A. You’re very welcome, my boy. You’re very welcome.

This is Jason Smith – with a mouthful of biscuit bowl. Back to you at the studio.

About the Author:

J.J. Cook writes award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, Joyce and Jim Lavene, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon, and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family. Visit them at their website.

With a few loyal friends in tow—including her handsome attorney, Miguel, and her cat, Crème Brûlée—Zoe drives the Biscuit Bowl to Charlotte, North Carolina, to enter a nationally televised food truck race. The contest features challenges across the Southeast, and with a fifty-thousand-dollar grand prize, competition isn’t just fierce—it’s killer.

As everyone gears up for the first challenge, another food trucker from Zoe’s hometown is found dead. The race rolls on, but when the body count rises, police begin to suspect Miguel. Now Zoe must race to catch the killer before her attorney needs an attorney.

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Jennifer’s Review of Fry Another Day

Review (4.5 Stars): Zoe gets the opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of a national food truck race where she will be competing for a big prize to help her get one step closer to opening her own restaurant.  With her team by her side, they get ready to compete when one of their competitors is found dead and Zoe’s attorney, Miguel, is blamed for the crime.  She must help find a killer before they knock off the rest of the competition and put Miguel in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.

I’m a huge fan of J.J. Cook and I absolutely loved the first book in the series, Death on Eat Street. Fry Another Day is the perfect combination of a spunky heroine, a mystery with clever plot twists and turns and yummy recipes to die for.  I loved every minute of this mystery and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book where the gang goes to Mardi Gras. I love New Orleans and I can already smell the Jambalaya that Zoe will put in her biscuit bowls.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Fry Another Day. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by February 20th, please leave me a comment below:

Author Kate Carlisle Asks,

Sunken Treasure: Finders Keepers?

Off the coast near Lighthouse Cove, California, a clipper ship went down in 1839. The Glorious Maiden transported precious cargo and wealthy passengers along the Western American coast. Rumors suggest that a Spanish princess went down with that ship and, with her, a fortune in gold and jewels.

What if, while snorkeling one day, you found a piece of jewelry that could pay off your mortgage and pay for your kids’ college education? Would you report your find, or would you quietly try to sell the piece for as much money as you could? Who would you trust?

There are approximately 65,000 shipwrecks logged into the North American Shipwrecks Database. Sixty-five-oh-oh-OH. Kind of makes a person want to take up diving.

But if you find treasure, is it yours to keep?

In 2012, a Florida salvage company had to return $500 million in sunken treasure to the government of Spain, without compensation. Just last year, courts ruled that a California couple would have to pay approximately 47% in state and federal income tax on the $10 million of gold coins they found buried in their own yard—private property—whether or not they decided to sell the coins.

The Glorious Maiden is fictional. For that matter, so is Lighthouse Cove, the setting of This Old Homicide, the second book of my Fixer-Upper Mysteries series. The series features Victorian home restoration expert Shannon Hammer, owner of Hammer Construction.

It’s a fun question to contemplate, isn’t it? What would you do if you found a treasure?

In This Old Homicide, Shannon’s neighbor, a retired navy SEAL, claimed that he found a necklace while diving near the Glorious Maiden, but Jesse has claimed a lot of things, few of them true. His tall tales kept getting taller so that, by the time he bragged about the necklace, no one believed him.

Or perhaps someone did, Shannon will think… on the day she discovers him dead.

Do you think it’s fair that if someone finds a treasure, they have to pay income taxes on it? If you found a treasure worth millions of dollars, what would you do? Would you try to hide it from the authorities? Why or why not?

About the Author:

Kate Carlisle is the author of the Fixer-Upper Mysteries, featuring Victorian restoration expert Shannon Hammer. The first book in the series, A High-End Finish, debuted at #9 on the New York Times bestsellers list. This Old Homicide, Fixer-Upper Mystery 2, is available now wherever books and ebooks are sold.

Website/Twitter/Facebook

Valentine’s Day is approaching, and while Shannon is delighted to be friends with not one but two handsome men, not everyone in town is feeling the love. After her elderly neighbor Jesse Hennessey fails to make his daily appearance at the local diner, Shannon swings by his place to check on him. Not only does she find Jesse dead—of an apparent heart attack—but she also realizes that his home has been ransacked.

Someone suggests that a thief was searching for a priceless necklace Jesse claimed to have retrieved from a sunken sailing ship, but Shannon doesn’t believe it. Everyone knows Jesse had a penchant for constructing tall tales—like the one about him having a hot new girlfriend. But his death is soon ruled a homicide, and shady suspects begin popping out of the woodwork. When another victim turns up dead, Shannon is convinced she must find the killer before someone else gets nailed….

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Jennifer’s Review of This Old Homicide

Review (4.5 Stars): This Old Homicide is a delightful mystery that is filled with humor, thrills and a sassy heroine that is sure to entertain.  In this mystery, Shannon is gearing up for Valentine’s Day with two prospective boyfriends and helping to plan to the Valentine’s Day event for Lighthouse Cove. She is asked by her father to check in on their elderly neighbor, Jesse Hennessey, when he doesn’t show up at the local diner after a few days.  Shannon finds Jesse’s body in his home and his house ransacked, which makes Jesse’s death look more than just a heart attack.  Shannon must find a killer before it is too late and another victim gets added to the killer’s list.

I adore Shannon and the lovely cast of characters in Lighthouse Cove and the Fixer-Upper mysteries are definitely in my top five favorite cozy series at the moment.  I always enjoy Ms. Carlisle’s books because they are well-written, fast-paced and readers are definitely in for a good time with each mystery.  This is the second book in the series, which is just as good as the first, A High-End Finish, and I can’t wait to read what adventure Shannon finds herself in with the next installment of this great series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of This Old Homicide. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by February 19th, please leave me a comment below:

My Ten Favorite Things about Writing LICENSE TO DILL
By Mary Ellen Hughes

Starting a new series is always exciting, but it’s also plenty of hard, intensive work. There’s so many decisions to make, such as where to set it, who your characters will be, their relationships, and so on, which is what I went through with THE PICKLED PIPER, book #1 of my Pickled and Preserved mystery series. After careful thought, I chose upstate New York as my setting and named my fictional town Cloverdale. I sent my twenty-nine year old principal character, Piper Lamb, there from Albany after she ended her going-nowhere engagement. And I put Piper’s Aunt Judy and Uncle Frank on a nearby farm, gave Piper a great assistant for her pickling shop, and introduced Piper to Will, a handsome Christmas tree farmer. So all the important decisions were made with book #1.

Book #2, LICENSE TO DILL, by comparison, turned out to be a breeze. Everything was set up and ready to go! All I needed to do was write the mystery (“all” she added, laughingly). But having already done the ground work, I could now relax and focus on the plot, which became the first of my…

Ten Favorite Things About Writing License to Dill:

1.    My characters, after a couple of weeks of rest, were super-eager for action. They practically snatched the pages from me to get back to work.

2.    Piper and her new boyfriend, Will, had progressed beyond the awkward getting-to-know-you stage and were pretty happy and comfortable with each other.

3.    Of course, I couldn’t let that continue, so I brought Piper’s ex-fiancé, Scott, back from his travels, and he decided to settle in Cloverdale. (Uh-oh.)

4.    I imported an entire soccer team of handsome young men from Italy to challenge Cloverdale’s All-Stars, which meant writing exciting soccer scenes. I now understand the game much better!

5.    The Italian team’s coach and manager occasionally spoke Italian. With the help of a Italian-born friend, I learned several useful Italian phrases and sometimes found myself writing with an Italian accent!

6.     Since a dill field figures importantly in the murder, I learned—and shared in the book—quite a bit about growing and using fresh dill. I could practically smell that wonderful weed as I typed.

7.    Since Piper makes all the pickles and preserves for her shop herself (with the help of her assistant, Amy), I kept various pickles on hand, because writing pickling scenes was sure to bring on a craving.

8.    Piper spends plenty of time with her Aunt Judy and Uncle Frank at their farm. Whenever Piper drove up, Jack, their mixed-breed dog went crazy with excitement. I, unfortunately, am allergic to dogs, but I could enjoy petting Jack vicariously through Piper—with no sneezes!

9.    While looking into the murder, Piper meets several people in the Cloverdale area with new-to-me occupations. I particularly loved writing about the chainsaw sculptor and will have to seriously consider bringing him back some day.

10.    After spending months with Piper and all the people of Cloverdale in THE PICKLED PIPER, I became pretty fond of them. (Well, most of them. There was, after all, a murderer in the mix.) But writing LICENSE TO DILL was like going to a reunion—lots of fun getting reacquainted with everyone. But I do hope they’ve forgiven me by now for what I’ve put them through…

About the Author:

Mary Ellen Hughes is the author of the Craft Corner mystery series – WREATH OF DECEPTION, STRING OF LIES, and PAPER-THIN ALIBI – as well as the Maggie Olenski mysteries – RESORT TO MURDER and A TASTE OF DEATH.

She has also authored several short stories, including THE WOMAN ON THE TRAIN, and short mysteries included in the Chesapeake Crimes and Tales from the Backlist anthologies.

A transplanted Wisconsinite, Mary Ellen now lives in Maryland where she is excited to be working on her new Pickled and Preserved mystery series beginning with THE PICKLED PIPER.

Website/Twitter/Facebook

Piper Lamb knows how to make fruits and vegetables keep for months. Unfortunately, it’s the people around her who are expiring too soon…

After her fiancé left her, Piper came to Cloverdale to rebuild her life and open up her shop, Piper’s Picklings, to sell pickles and preserves. When her ex decides to drop in for a visit—just as things are heating up between her and a local Christmas tree farmer—Piper finds herself in a jam. But there are other visitors to worry about…

An Italian soccer team is set to play the Cloverdale All-Stars in an exhibition game. Their manager, Raffaele Conti, was a bitter rival of Piper’s dill supplier, local farmer Gerald Standley. After Conti is found dead in Standley’s field, Piper must work to clear Gerald’s name and find out who relished killing Raffaele before the town is soured by another death.

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Jennifer’s Review of License To Dill

Review (4 Stars):  The thing I liked about this series was that you really felt like you were a part of this small town community while reading these mysteries.  Piper is settling into life as store owner of Piper’s Picklings when she learns that her ex is coming to town for a visit.  After being gone six months, Scott is under the impression that they can continue where they left off but Piper has moved on and is now seeing Will, the local Christmas tree farmer.  While Piper is dealing with her ex, the town is gearing up for an exhibition soccer game between the Cloverdale All-Stars and an Italian semi-professional team.  It is a bitter rivalry between the teams and soon the body of the Italian team’s manager, Raffaele Conti, is found in the field of Gerald Standley. Gerald and Raffaele knew each other from high school and it is no surprise that someone wanted the irritating Italian dead. Now, Piper must find the clues to prevent Gerald from going to jail for a crime that he didn’t commit.

License To Dill was a fun, entertaining and mouthwatering mystery that had me craving more of this sassy heroine.  I liked Piper from the very beginning and I felt bad that she kept trying to convince her ex that it was over between them to no avail.  The mystery was very fast-paced and exciting and you could definitely see why there was a long list of suspects that wanted Raffaele dead.  This is the second book in the Pickled Preserved mystery series and I can’t wait to go back to spend more time with the residents of Cloverdale, New York.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of License To Dill. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by February 18th, please leave me a comment below:

    At The Drop Of A Hat

by Jenn McKinlay

I am a hat girl and always have been.  No, sadly, not the fancy hats to which the British are partial.  I think Americans are too obsessed with their hair to ever truly embrace the hat.  Pity.  Still, I love a good hat, and I own several fuzzy winter hats, floppy sun hats, utilitarian (ie. hide the unwashed rat’s nest) baseball hats.

My fascination with headwear was definitely a driving force in writing the London hat shop mysteries and because I love research this has been one of the best parts of the whole adventure.  The history of millinery, famous milliners, the evolution of the hat, all of these things have contributed to the writing of the books.

In AT THE DROP OF THE HAT, Viv and Scarlett are asked to mend a bridal hat made by their grandmother over thirty years before in the early nineteen eighties.  It is an emotional moment for the girls to have something that their grandmother made and they are determined to fix the hat for the bride Ariana Jackson.

Of course this part of the plot led me to research hats of the eighties which naturally guided me to Princess Diana and her famous milliner John Boyd.  I read his bio, studied years and years of his hats and now follow him on social media. The man is simply a genius.
Here’s a quote from his webpage (www.johnboydhats.com) so you can see what I mean:

“Making hats isn’t just a romantic story of sitting there waiting for some great creation to come. Millinery is deception all the time. If a client’s nose isn’t straight you twist her hat brim slightly the opposite way to straighten it. If she’s got two chins, you give her a face lift by tying a veil under one of them. The wearer doesn’t deceive, I do it for them.”  –John Boyd

See?  Certified artistic genius.  And although I have a total fan girl crush on the eighty-nine year old Scotsman, John Boyd is just one of so many famous hat makers that fill the pages of fashion, art and history.  Writing this series has been a pure joy because I have learned so much and because I get to spend hours turning the pages of old fashion magazines at my library, studying the fads and fashions of days gone by.

But there’s more than hat history involved in AT THE DROP OF A HAT.  Things have been tense between Scarlett and Viv as Scarlett can’t shake the feeling that Viv is hiding something from her.  She hopes that working on Mim’s old hat together will bridge the distance between them.  Viv is delighted to take on the job of restoring Ariana’s hat. It means so much to her to refurbish one of Mim’s original designs.  Unfortunately, contacting Ariana with the estimated cost becomes difficult when she never answers her phone.

Finally, Scarlett decides to go visit the young woman at her place of work and give her the work estimate in person.  When she arrives at the solicitor’s office in Kensington, she finds Ariana in the alley, standing over the body of her dead boss who looks to have fallen to his death.  The police think the man was pushed, but Scarlett refuses to believe Ariana is the murderer.  It is now up Scarlett and Viv to find the real killer before Ariana’s future is boxed up for good.

Is Ariana a murderess?  Do Viv and Scarlett manage to refurbish Mim’s bridal hat to its original glory?  What secret is Viv keeping from Scarlett?  You’ll just have to pick up a copy of AT THE DROP OF A HAT to find out.

Happy Reading!

Jenn

About the Author:

Jenn is the New York Times bestselling author of several mystery series. She lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets and her husband’s guitars.

Website/Twitter/Facebook

MURDER CAN BE SO OLD HAT

Cousins Scarlett Parker and Vivian Tremont’s fashionable London hat shop, Mim’s Whims, is visited by a new customer bearing an old hat box. Ariana Jackson is getting married and wants to restore her mother’s bridal hat and veil for the occasion. The elegant item was made by Scarlett and Vivian’s grandmother over thirty years ago, so Viv is delighted to take the job.

When Scarlett goes to Ariana’s office to consult about the restoration cost, she finds her outside, standing over her boss’s dead body. Though Ariana claims to know nothing about his demise, the investigation unveils a motive for murder. Now, with the bride-to-be in custody and the wedding on hold, Scarlett and Viv must find the real killer before Ariana’s future is boxed up for good.

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of At The Drop Of A Hat

Review (4.5 Stars): This is the third book in the Hat Shop Mystery series and I love how Ms. McKinlay makes readers feel as though they are a part of the Notting Hill community. In this mystery, Scarlett and Viv agree to help Ariana Jackson restore her mother’s bridal hat for her upcoming wedding and when Scarlett is unable to get in touch with her, she decides to visit her at her work.  What she finds is another dead body and Ariana standing over the body with blood on her hands. With the wedding on hold and Ariana as the prime suspect, Scarlett and Viv decide to play detective again to find the real killer before Ariana goes to jail for a crime she didn’t commit.

Every time I read a mystery from this series, I am brought back to the lovely city of London and I desperately want to walk down Portobello Road just like Scarlett does.  Scarlett is still sticking with her vow of “no men” but has quite a bit of temptation in this story that tests her commitment to that vow.  I love how her character has grown from Cloche and Dagger and she is finally getting her self-confidence back and settling into her new way of life in London.  At The Drop Of A Hat was very fast-paced, entertaining and makes me want to visit this lovely community right away.  Looking forward to book number four in this enchanting mystery series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of At The Drop Of A Hat. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by February 17th, please leave me a comment below: