Ladle to the Grave

Guest Post by Connie Archer

When a local woman is poisoned at a pagan ritual in the woods, Lucky Jamieson’s grandfather, Jack, who provided the herbs for the gathering, is suspected of making a terrible mistake.  The following day, a dead man is found floating in a creek just outside of town, his face unrecognizable.  Is he a stranger or Lucky’s best friend’s estranged brother?  Lucky is certain both deaths are murder.  Can she find the connection and clear her grandfather’s name before more victims fall prey to a killer?  

I hear voices . . . voices of my characters, that is.  They’re all clamoring in my head, telling me what they think, how they feel, what they want.  I have to shake my head to remind myself they are all figments of my imagination.  Or are they?  Do we create more than we know, more than we ever imagine, when we write stories and invent characters to people those stories?

I recently received an email from a fan of the Soup Lover’s Mystery series.  She had attended an author panel and wrote a very kind note.  She remarked how much she enjoyed listening to authors talk about future plans for their characters, characters, she said, “. . . that readers think of as friends.”

Her note struck a chord.  I know when I pick up the next long-awaited book in a series, I feel the exact same way – that I’m about to embark on an exciting adventure with an old friend — [fill in the blank here] – Caitlyn Tierney or V.I Warshawski or Kinsey Millhone.  I was suddenly humbled and wondered if perhaps readers also think of the denizens of the By the Spoonful Soup Shop and the residents of Snowflake, Vermont as friends with whom they can share an adventure.

Do we, as authors, lose sight of that?  Do we become too concerned with the next story line, the next plot point, the next sale, the next review, losing touch with the fact that we are entertainers who provide escape, adventure or comfort to our readers?  After all, we most likely remember more about our favorite characters’ lives and histories than we do some of our friends and acquaintances in the real world.

Each choice an author makes will outline that fictional life path, and we, as authors, must stay true to the characters we’ve created, no matter what flaws they may possess or what crimes they become involved with.  Will Jack Jamieson, Lucky’s grandfather, survive and thrive past the ripe old age of 86?  Will Sophie and Sage create a successful future together?  Could the village’s librarian have once dispatched her husband years before?  And does Hank Northcross harbor a deep dark secret that threatens his present life?

We must cherish our characters.  If we don’t, how can we expect our readers to connect with them and love them as well, even if some of them are the ones we love to hate?

So yes, I listen to those voices.  They’re important.  Our characters take on a life of their own and authors must listen.  Are they any less real as friends because they exist only between the covers of a book?  I don’t think so.

Wait . . . they’re speaking to me again.  I need to hear what they have to say . . .

About the Author:

Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of A Spoonful of Murder and A Broth of Betrayal, the soup lover’s mystery series set in Vermont, from Berkley Prime Crime. The fourth book in the series, Ladle to the Grave, was released on March 3, 2015. Connie was born and raised in New England. She now lives on the other coast.

Website/Twitter/Facebook

By the Spoonful is Snowflake, Vermont’s most popular soup shop, but owner Lucky Jamieson doesn’t have any time to enjoy her success—she’s too busy trying to keep a lid on false accusations against her loved ones…

It’s almost May, and some of the local ladies have organized a pagan celebration in the woods to welcome spring. But the evening goes terribly wrong when one of the attendees winds up dead, apparently poisoned by an herbal concoction prepared by Lucky’s grandfather, Jack.

Lucky’s sure her grandfather could not have made such a tragic mistake. But before she can clear him of suspicion, her best friend, Sophie, is diverted from planning her wedding to By the Spoonful chef Sage DuBois when she finds a dead man floating in the creek on her property. Now it’s up to Lucky to get both Sophie and Jack out of hot water before a killer stirs up more trouble…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Ladle to the Grave

Review (4.25 Stars): This is one of my favorite series at the moment and I love spending time with Lucky and her friends in Snowflake, Vermont.  Lucky finds herself deeply involved in the wedding plans for Sophie and Sage’s upcoming nuptials as well as having her hands full with the day to day operations of her restaurant.  While Sophie and Lucky are visiting Sophie’s property, they stumble on a dead body in the creek and now Lucky has another murder on her hands.  On top of that, Jack is being accused of providing herbs that may be involved in the death of a local woman and can’t prove that the herbs he gave her weren’t poisonous. Lucky must use her sleuthing abilities to clear both their names before all their plans become permanently postponed.

Ladle to the Grave is an enchanting mystery filled with clever plot-twists, delightful characters and yummy recipes that will have you coming back for seconds.   This is the fourth book in the Soup Lover’s mystery series and I always find myself craving a hot bowl of soup after I’ve finished reading one of Ms. Archer’s mysteries.  I liked that there were two murders to solve in this book which made it interesting for me as the reader.  I adore Lucky and the characters of Snowflake, Vermont and I know that readers will as well, once you start this charming series.

Giveaway

A FIRST DATE DEATH: A Love or Money Mystery

by Diana Orgain

I am so happy to introduce A First Date with Death to you. I wrote the book because like many of you, I’m a huge fan of some reality TV programs. I especially love those shows that deal with dating or a love story. I’m riveted by the human dynamics of watching one girl/boy go after the person that is unavailable while completing shunning the contestant that proclaims ever-lasting love. And yes, I’ve been known to yell at the TV.

But, of course, I’m a mystery author at heart. So, I began to wonder what would happen if I played with that setting and placed a mystery around it?

A First Date with Death was born! What could be more fun than to mix up the venue of reality TV and a murder mystery? (Although I promise you no one was harmed during the writing of this book). But if you watch any of the commercials for the TV Shows of which I speak, you know that usually there’s a fair amount of tears.

I hope you won’t cry when you read A First Date with Death except maybe from laughter. Oh – and there is a bit of suspense, not only will you have to keep guessing “who done it” but also you’ll have to guess who wins the show!

I’d love to hear from you. You can find my website at: www.dianaorgain.com Or email me at: diana@dianaorgain.com.

About the Author:

Diana Orgain is the author of the Maternal Instincts Mysteries and coauthor of Gilt Trip with Laura Childs in the New York Times bestselling Scrapbooking Mysteries. She holds a B.A and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University with a minor in acting. Diana has acted professionally both on stage and in national commercials. She’s written several plays, which were produced at San Francisco State University, GreenHouse Productions, and PlayGround. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three children. Visit her at www.dianaorgain.com.

Reality TV meets murder in the first in a new mystery series from the author of the Maternal Instincts Mysteries and co-author the New York Times bestselling Scrapbooking Mysteries.

When brokenhearted Georgia Thornton goes looking for romance on reality TV, she has nothing to lose—apart from a good man, a cash prize, and maybe her life…

What was Georgia thinking? Sure, some cad ditched her at the altar, but can she really find love on TV? Her best friend—and producer of the reality show Love or Money—thinks so. Ten men. Ten adventure-filled dates. What can go wrong? For starters, a faulty bungee cord that hurls Georgia’s first date into a tragic spiral of the Golden Gate Bridge.

He’s replaced by Paul Sanders, Georgia’s former fiancé. But the cop isn’t looking for a TV gig. Suspecting that the lover’s leap was no accident, Paul’s going undercover. When another bachelor gets a fatal kiss-off, the reality is that someone has killer new plans for the show—and for Georgia herself. Now, under the threat of permanent cancellation, Georgia fears that the only man on the set she can trust is the one man she just can’t count on…

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Jennifer’s Review of A First Date With Death

Review (5 Stars): One of my favorite guilty pleasures has been watching Reality TV dating shows and this mystery incorporates it all.  Mystery, romance, and reality television.  Georgia has just lost her job and her fiancé so she decides to be the bachelorette on a show where contestants try to win her hand for love or money.  Georgia must figure out who is in it for love or the cold hard cash but someone is slowly knocking off her potential suitors one by one.  To make matters worse, her ex-fiancé ends up on the show posing undercover as a contestant to find the killer before they take out all the competition for good.

I loved, loved, loved A First Date With Death.  I instantly adored Georgia and understood everything that she was going through that made her agree to do a reality show.  She was sweet, funny and such a firecracker and now one of my favorite cozy heroines.  I enjoyed learning all about making a “reality TV” show and everything that we see on television isn’t real but staged for the camera.  The mystery was very interesting and engaging and I couldn’t figure out the killer at all, which is always a bonus for me.  This is a great start to a new series and I will definitely tune in for the next installment of this fun new cozy series.

Giveaway

A Cover By Any Other Season
By Laurie Cass

For an author, there are many high points on the road to a book’s publication. Getting the first solid idea for the book’s plot is a great moment. So is starting the first draft. And then there’s the giddiness of snapping out a paragraph that just sings, and there’s the satisfaction of finishing the first draft, the relief when you finalize the last round of edits, and the thrill of seeing a copy of the book in a bookstore … but before that happens, there’s an agonizing moment to endure, a moment that’s fraught with angst and tension.

Yep, I’m talking about the day you get the first glimpse of your book’s cover.

This process is different for different authors and publishers, but in my case, I don’t have much hand in the cover design. What happens for me is that my editor asks if I have any ideas for the cover and I almost always say no, because I’m busy writing the book and haven’t given Thought One to what the cover might look like. My editor says okey-dokey and a couple of months later she emails me an image and writes, “Hope you like it!”

I’ve had great good luck with all of my book covers, but the cover for BORROWED CRIME blew me away. It’s flat out gorgeous. The bookmobile is parked in a forest glade, birds are flittering about, books are displayed outside amidst wildflowers, and everything is green and growing and almost magical-looking with the way the sunlight is shimmering through all the green.

There’s only one problem; the book takes place in early winter. And while winter for some people means putting on a sweater and mowing every other week instead of every five days, it’s a little different in northern Michigan, where the bookmobile cat mystery series is set.

Up here, early winter means no green leaves, no grass, and the only flowers to be seen are in flower shops, not outside growing out of the ground. Instead, we have bare trees, cloudy skies, and snow. Wet, sloppy, drippy, snow that chills you to the bone.

As I looked at the beautiful but oh-so-very seasonally incorrect image, I suddenly understood my editor’s comment of, “Just so you know, the cover is a little warm.”

Ah. Now I get it.

My suggestion that the artist paint some snow over the top of everything wasn’t taken seriously. Neither was my other suggestion, which was to save this cover for the next book, which takes place in late spring.

So what’s an author to do?

Well, since there wasn’t much this particular author could do about the situation, I figured I might as well see the humor in the whole thing. After all, it makes for a good story, right?

And besides, it’s hard to be too upset because it really is a beautiful cover!

About the Author:

Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from college in the 80’s with a (mostly unused) degree in geology. She turned to writing in the late nineties. After a number of years in management, she felt the need to move on and took a job with fewer responsibilities. A month later, she was dead bored and began to consider writing as a way to wake up her brain. She started reading a lot of books on writing and happened across a particular sentence: “What’s it going to be, reasons or results?”

The phrase practically stuck her in the eye. She printed it out, framed it, and put it next to her computer. “Reasons or results?” At the end of her life, was she going to have a pile of reasons for not having done anything? Or was she going to sit down and write a book? Once she started looking at it that way, the decision was easy. A short 13 years later, her first book was published.

Currently, Laurie and her husband share their house with two cats, the inestimable Eddie and the adorably cute Sinii. When Laurie isn’t writing, she’s working at her day job, reading, attempting to keep the flowerbeds free of weeds, or doing some variety of skiing. She also write the PTA Mysteries under the name Laura Alden.

Website/Facebook

Librarian Minnie Hamilton spreads the joy of reading throughout Chilson, Michigan, with her bookmobile, but she doesn’t ride alone. Her rescue cat, Eddie, and a group of volunteers are always on board to deliver cheer—until one of her helpers gets checked out for good…

When Minnie loses a grant that was supposed to keep the bookmobile running, she’s worried her pet project could come to its final page. But she’s determined to keep her patrons—and Eddie’s fans—happy and well read. She just needs her boss, Stephen to see things her way, and make sure he doesn’t see Eddie. The library director doesn’t exactly know about the bookmobile’s furry co-pilot.

But when a volunteer dies on the bookmobile’s route, Minnie finds her traveling library in an even more precarious position. Although the death was originally ruled a hunting accident, a growing stack of clues is pointing towards murder. It’s up to Minnie and Eddie to find the killer, and fast—before the best chapter of her life comes to a messy close…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Borrowed Crime

Review (4 Stars): Borrowed Crime was a delightful mystery with engaging characters, clever plot twists and a purrfect sidekick.  Minnie Hamilton is having a hard time finding funds to keep her beloved bookmobile program running and she is at her wit’s end trying to find a solution. On top of that, she is desperately trying to find volunteers to assist her when the bookmobile makes their scheduled stops. When one of her new volunteers is found dead and all the evidence points to murder, Minnie must solve the clues fast before her beloved bookmobile is shut down for good.

This is a great series and I just love Minnie and her feline buddy, Eddie.  I felt bad for Minnie in the beginning of the book because she was completely stressed that she would lose her beloved bookmobile program and that her boss knew all about Eddie joining her for every trip.  The last thing she needed was for one of her volunteers to be murdered and she ends up discovering the body once again.  The mystery in Borrowed Crime was thought-provoking and had me trying to figure why the victim was killed, when the clues didn’t point to the killer right away.  I loved getting updates on my favorite supporting characters and I’m glad that Minnie’s love life was still heading in the right direction.  This is the third book in Bookmobile Cat Mystery series and I’m looking forward to reading book number four, Pouncing on Murder, when it comes out later this year.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Borrowed Crime. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by March 15th, please leave me a comment below:

How to Dress a Ghost
Guest Blog by Fran Stewart

Did you ever notice that some writers go into great detail dressing their characters in Armani and Blahnik, Hermes and Chanel? Those meticulously turned-out characters would be quite in place on a Paris runway.

But what do you do when you’re writing a 14th-century Scottish ghost? He’s not even palrt of the nobility, so a floor-length ermine cloak is off limits. I wouldn’t write one on him anyway, since I have this thing against using dead animal skins for high fashion or any other kind of fashion.

Fortunately Macbeath Donlevy Freusach Finlay Macearachar Macpheidiran of Clan Farquharson—can you see why Peggy Winn calls him Dirk?—is something of a hunk. He doesn’t need any extras. Just ignore that picture of Jamie in the Outlander. Dirk’s belted plaid (pronounced played) is what most of us would call a kilt, a real kilt, made with nine yards of tartan fabric. What man with broad shoulders and good knees wouldn’t look good in a kilt?

Of course, Dirk’s shoulders are very broad. And his knees would be the envy of everyone in the town of Hamelin, Vermont—and in your hometown, too—if only “everyone” could see them.

You see, Dirk is invisible to everyone except Peggy Winn, but I must say she appreciates his … his kilt enough for everyone.

And his shoulders? Ahh. Don’t you love to see a man in one of those poet shirts (like this one from a website called the witches spindle)? They make even a fairly skinny fellow look pretty good, and someone like Dirk look absolutely magnificent. He doesn’t get any ruffles on his shirt, but then again, he doesn’t need them. Did I mention that he’s dead, though? He’s been that way for a little under 700 years. Poor Peggy.

Add to that the fact that he’s still in love with Peigi (it means Pearl), the woman who knitted the shawl that allows Peggy Winn to see Dirk when she puts it on. I know, I know, the shawl must be 700 years old, but believe me, it makes sense in the book.

So, I’ve dressed Peggy in a Scottish arisaidh that she wears while she’s working at her store, the ScotShop, and the ancient shawl that lets Dirk “be” – somehow. Meanwhile Dirk wears his poet shirt, his kilt, a knife in his sock, a dagger, and a kilt pin made of antler and wood. With him dressed like that, you can see his … uh … attributes without any high fashion anywhere.

Happy drooling … I mean reading!

About the Author:

Fran Stewart is the author of the Biscuit McKee Mysteries – GRAY AS ASHES is the seventh book in that series – as well as a standalone mystery – A SLAYING SONG TONIGHT.  Her new ScotShop Mystery Series from Berkley Press begins with A WEE MURDER IN MY SHOP.

Fran lives quietly with various rescued cats beside a creek on the other side of Hog Mountain, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta.

She sings alto with a community chorus and volunteers at her grandchildren’s school library. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

Website/Facebook

Hamelin, Vermont, isn’t the most likely place for bagpipes and tartan, but at Peggy Winn’s ScotShop, business is booming…

While on a transatlantic hunt for some authentic wares to sell at her shop, Peggy is looking to forget her troubles by digging through the hidden treasures of the Scottish Highlands. With so many enchanting items on sale, Peggy can’t resist buying a beautiful old tartan shawl. But once she wraps it around her shoulders, she discovers that her purchase comes with a hidden fee: the specter of a fourteenth-century Scotsman.

Unsure if her Highland fling was real or a product of an overactive imagination, Peggy returns home to Vermont—only to find the dead body of her ex-boyfriend on the floor of her shop. When the police chief arrests Peggy’s cousin based on some incriminating evidence, Peggy decides to ask her haunting Scottish companion to help figure out who really committed the crime—before anyone else gets kilt…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of A Wee Murder in My Shop

Review (4.0 Stars): Peggy Winn has taken a trip to Scotland to search for treasures that she can sell at her Scottish shop back home in Vermont and forget about her lying, cheating ex-boyfriend.  On this lovely trip to the Scottish Highlands, Peggy acquires a beautiful shawl in a store that she has never seen before on her many trips to the area.  What she soon discovers, is that her lovely shawl comes with the ghost of handsome Scot.  When Peggy returns home with her new companion, she finds the body of her ex-boyfriend lying of the floor of her beloved shop and Peggy’s cousin is blamed for the crime.  Peggy must find the real killer soon before she ends up joining her new friend on the other side.

A Wee Murder in My Shop is a fun, delicious mystery that will keep you entertained for hours.  I liked Peggy from the very beginning and envied her trips to Scotland to visit the Highlands and spend time in this beautiful country.  I loved Dirk as he struggled to accept the fact that he was dead and now in the 21st century, which had some very funny moments in the book.  Ms. Stewart is a new mystery writer to me but that won’t be for long because I thoroughly enjoyed A Wee Murder in My Shop and am now a big fan of this new series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of A Wee Murder in My Shop. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by March 13th, please leave me a comment below:

Judging a book by its cover
By Leslie Budewitz

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” As a metaphor, it’s spot-on: Don’t judge the interior by the exterior; don’t assume you know a person’s nature—their heart, mind, and values—by their appearance.

When it comes to actual books, though, we do it all the time. And it’s not a bad way to make that first decision—“Is this a book I’m likely to enjoy?” Occasionally, there’s a miss—a cat prances across the cover of a book with no felines, or the cover shows a bridge that appeared in a previous draft only to be demolished by the wrecking ball of later edits.

But in the world of the light-hearted mystery, the cover works hard. It cues us in to the protagonist’s occupation and where she spends most of her time, conveys the mood of the story, and may offer clues to the central conflict. Food, pets, and even the murder weapon are common elements.

I love hearing reader compliments about my covers. While I adore them all, ASSAULT AND PEPPER may be my favorite cover yet. My publisher, Berkley Prime Crime, part of Penguin Random House, contracts with artists who have a magical ability to convey our story worlds in pictures. (Both my series are illustrated by the same artist.) Authors provide images and a description of key locations— the cover of the first book in a series usually showcases the protagonist’s shop, library, or bakery, while later covers illustrate a location that features in the story. The artist may also read a draft, or at the least, a synopsis.

The cover of ASSAULT AND PEPPER takes us inside Pepper Reece’s Seattle Spice Shop, with the Pike Place Market visible through the open door and window. Shelves brim with spice jars. Pepper’s collection of antique grinders and spice boxes can be seen on the shelves beneath the front counter, and the pseudo-samovar the staff uses to serve sample cups of tea sits on a vintage tea cart Pepper snatched up on a junking trip with her BFF, Kristen. Both the samovar and the sample cups—a few are littered on the floor—are critical to the story.

And so, of course, is Arf the dog, who comes alive on the cover. It’s been great fun to see how my artist works Mr. Sandburg, Erin Murphy’s Burmese cat, into the covers of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries. He lives at home with her, not in the shop, but there he is on the cover of DEATH AL DENTE, demonstrating both his cuteness and his influence over Erin. On the cover of CRIME RIB, he and Pepé, his dog-in-law, join Duke the Retriever, who belongs to one of the chefs competing in the steak grill-off, for a romp on the stone patio of Caldwell’s Eagle Lake Lodge. The lodge is the scene of both festivities and crime. In BUTTER OFF DEAD (coming July 2015), Mr. Sandburg takes in a movie, presiding over a concession stand brimming with the over-the-top treats typical of the Food Lovers’ books. The artist even worked in the movie posters that play a role in the story. And if you look closely, you’ll see another cat ….

My artist, Ben Perini, illustrates covers in other styles as well—he’s done covers for J.A. Jance, literary novelists, and even nonfiction. He’s also a fine artist who calls himself “a professional dreamer.” His covers are your invitation to enter the world of my dreams and play for a while.

So, welcome—come on in.

About the Author:

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries and the Food Lovers Village Mysteries, both from Berkley Prime Crime. She is the only author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction—the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel, for Death al Dente and the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction, for Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books). She lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat Ruff, a cover model and avid bird-watcher.

Website/Twitter/Facebook

From the cover of ASSAULT AND PEPPER:

Pepper Reece, owner of the Seattle Spice Shop, thinks she can handle any kind of salty customer—until a murderer ends up in the mix…

After leaving a dicey marriage and losing a beloved job in a corporate crash, Pepper Reece has found a new zest for life running a busy spice and tea shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Her aromatic creations are the talk of the town, and everyone stops by for a cup of her refreshing spice tea, even other shopkeepers and Market regulars.

But when a panhandler named Doc shows up dead on her doorstep, a Seattle Spice Shop cup in his hand, the local gossip gets too hot for Pepper to handle—especially after the police arrest Tory Finch, one of Pepper’s staffers, for murder.

Tory seems to know why she’s a suspect, but she refuses to do anything to curry favor with the cops. Convinced her reticent employee is innocent, Pepper takes it on herself to sniff out some clues. Only, if she’s not careful, Pepper’s nosy ways might make her next on the killer’s list…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Assault and Pepper

Review (4.5 Stars): Pepper Reece is the owner of the Seattle Spice Shop in the lovely Pike Place Market and life is slowly coming together for her when she discovers a body of a homeless man on the shop’s front doorstep.  Pepper recognizes the panhandler from her interaction with him the day before and believes that the man simply died from natural causes. Soon, she discovers that the police believe that the man was murdered and one of her employees has been arrested for the crime.  Pepper knows that she is innocent and decides that she needs to find some clues before an innocent woman is put away for a crime she didn’t commit.

I loved Pepper and the gang at Seattle Spice Shop.  Pike Place Market has always been one of my favorite places to visit when I’m in Seattle and Ms. Budewitz has done a wonderful job of putting you right there with Pepper and savoring the ambiance that is the Market.  I enjoyed learning about Pepper’s shop and the different spices that she had available for her customers.  These characters are an absolute delight to spend time with and Assault and Pepper has the perfect aroma of mystery that is sure to be a delicious treat to cozy readers.  Can’t wait to see what Pepper and the gang are up to in the next installment of this series.

Giveaway