Death by Accordion Giveaway

Giveaways on MapYourMystery through July 3

Here's your chance to win Death by Accordion by Cheryl Miller Thurston. Just comment on your favorite musical instrument and you could win. 

Enter on both the MapYourMystery blog or
the MapYourMystery Facebook page.

U.S. and Canada only. 

Winners will be announced on July 5.

Click here for a review of Death by Accordion.

Interview with Terrie Farley Moran

Terrie Farley Moran 

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published?
I have written three Read ’Em and Eat cozy mysteries published by Berkley. The most recent is Read to Death. I also co-write the Scrapbooking series with Laura Childs, Glitter Bomb, released in October 2018, is our third collaboration and Mumbo Gumbo Murder is due out in October 2019, for a total of seven novels. I also have had more than a dozen mystery short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine, and various anthologies.

How did you develop your characters and choose your location?
When I joined Laura Childs in writing the New Orleans Scrapbooking series we wrote Parchment and Old Lace, the 13th book of the series so needless to say, Laura Childs had a group of smashingly well-developed characters, with plenty of room for growth. And, with New Orleans as a setting, well the series location gives lots of choices for every adventure that Carmela and Ava have.

As to the Read ’Em and Eat books, I was looking for a beachy community with a Key West vibe and my daughter, who lives in Florida, suggested Fort Myers Beach. It is a gorgeous barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico with seven glorious miles of pristine beach. For my main characters, I envisioned a couple of young women, New York transplants, who wanted to build a successful business in a peaceful location and voila! the Read ‘Em and Eat Café and Bookshop was born with Brooklyn girls Sassy Cabot and Bridgy Mayfield as proprietors. Of course murder does occasionally interrupt the “peaceful” atmosphere.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? What do you not enjoy?
I love research and I could “look stuff up” for hours on end, which can put a dent in my writing time so I try to control it. The downside of having my home as my workplace, is that I always feel guilty when I am home but not actually working. I never seem to be able to say “pencils down”, go into another room and relax in front of the TV like a normal person. I always feel an internal pressure to work. Hence I spend a lot of my down time at the local library where I can read in peace without the computer screen beckoning.

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
Absolutely not. I find that people see themselves or folks they know in much of the fiction they read, so I make sure to invent my characters from whole cloth and let the reader find the similarities that are vivid in their imagination.

How do you get yourself out of a writing rut?
I am not a big believer in “ruts”. Writing is a job and publishing is a business. When I worked in the outside world I couldn’t say to my boss, “I don’t feel like working today, I think I will go to the zoo.” Nor can I say that to a manuscript waiting to be written.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character?
For the Read ’Em and Eat books I decided long ago that Aimee Teegarden who you may recall from the TV show Friday Night Lights and other ventures could play Sassy exactly. She actually reminds me of Sassy, and by now is just the right age. Blake Lively who starred in Gossip Girl as well as the movie Green Lantern would be the perfect Bridgy—she even likes to cook. And when we consider other characters, Elizabeth Perkins has such a wide range of performance skills that she could play Aunt Ophie with the grand panache the character requires.

Who is your favorite author?
It is no secret I love reading (and writing) short mystery fiction. My longtime favorite short story writer is the late Ed Hoch, who was one of the most prolific writers in my lifetime. As a Mother’s Day present, I received Challenge the Impossible, a collection of some of his previously published Dr. Sam Hawthorne stories, so I would have to say that, at this moment, Ed Hoch is my favorite writer.

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
John Adams, Dolly Madison, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Can you tell I was a Political Science major? Oh and the dinner would have to be catered because I am not at my best in the kitchen.

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
Author is actually my third career, fourth if we count Mom, my first and favorite, at least until Grandma became my title. For more than two decades I worked as an Administrative Manager for the City of New York, after which I spent six years working in a gym. Now I am a writer. Perhaps I have still another career ahead of me—you never know.



Terrie Farley Moran is a recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer awards. She is the author of the beachside Read 'Em and Eat cozy mystery series; co-author with Laura Childs of the Scrapbooking mystery series; and has published numerous short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and various anthologies.

Her web address is www.terriefarleymoran.com
You can find her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com./terriefarleymoran/ 

Murder at Matchlight Giveaway

Giveaways on MapYourMystery through July 3

Here's your chance to win Murder by Matchlight by E.R.C. Lorac. Just comment on your favorite British mystery and you could win. 

Enter on both the MapYourMystery blog or
the MapYourMystery Facebook page.

U.S. and Canada only. 

Winners will be announced on July 5.

Click here for a review of Murder at Matchlight. 

No Good Tea Goes Unpunished Giveaway

Giveaways on MapYourMystery through July 3

Here's your chance to win No Good Tea Goes Unpunished by Bree Baker. Just comment on the worst wedding food you have ever had and you could win. 

Enter on both the MapYourMystery blog or
the MapYourMystery Facebook page.

U.S. and Canada only. 

Winners will be announced on July 5.

Click here for a review of No Good Tea Goes Unpunished

The Right Sort of Man Giveaway

Giveaways on MapYourMystery through July 3

Here's your chance to win The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair. Just comment with three words to describe the right sort of man and you could win. 

Enter on both the MapYourMystery blog or
the MapYourMystery Facebook page.

U.S. and Canada only. 

Winners will be announced on July 5.

Click here for a review of The Right Sort of Man

Botched 4 Murder Giveaway

Giveaways on MapYourMystery through July 3

Here's your chance to win Botched 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton. Just comment on your favorite outdoor sport and you could win. 

Enter on both the MapYourMystery blog or
the MapYourMystery Facebook page.

U.S. and Canada only. 

Winners will be announced on July 5.

Click here for a review of Botched 4 Murder

Interview with Anne Hillerman

Why did you decide to continue your father, Tony Hillerman's series?
A variety of factors: After my father’s death in 2008 I realized that besides mourning him, I was

missing the stories he had created. My husband and I created a non-fiction book, Tony Hillerman’s Landscape with text and photos about the places in Navajo land my father loved. That came out the year after Dad’s death. When we went on tour with that book so many, many people spoke to me of their affection for his characters and expressed their longing for the stories to continue. Their passion for the series, my own sense of loss, and the fact that Dad’s voice was strongly in my memory from the re-reading all his books for Tony Hillerman’s Landscape combined to give me the courage to try my hand at a mystery.

How have you changed the series?
I elevated a minor character, Bernadette Manuelito, better known as Bernie, to the role of full-fledged crime solver. She drives the stories now, with the older detectives busy with subplots or in supporting roles.

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published?
The newest book is The Tale Teller, released in April. 2019. It is the fifth book in the mystery series. Before that, I published seven non-fiction books.

How has the character switch been received by long-time fans of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee?
To my delight, Dad’s fans welcomed Bernie. Their enthusiasm put my first novel, Spider Woman’s Daughter, on the NYT best seller list. I was humbled, amazed and delighted at the reception.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? What do you not enjoy?
I enjoy the freedom to be my own boss and the invitations I get to go to places I enjoy and talk about my work. I sometimes miss the camaraderie that comes from working in an office with other folks. And having an IT guy handy in case of disaster.

How do you get yourself out of a writing rut?
I get away from the computer, go to the gym, go for a walk, maybe drive out to re-immerse myself in the landscape I’m writing about. Sometimes I focus on research for awhile or switch from plot to subplot.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character or in this case characters?
My dream is to see Navajo actors playing Navajo people, and Navajos behind the cameras too.

Who is your favorite author?
My Dad, of course!

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
Mozart, Michelangelo, linguist, author and Navajo trader Louisa Wade Wetherill, my father’s father August Hillerman (who died when my Dad was a kid) and the Navajo healer Hosteen Klah.

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
Gosh, that’s a hard question. I’ve always loved natural science, so I might have become a biologist of some sort, maybe with a focus on endangered desert life or, because I live in the dry southwest, an advocate for beautiful xeric gardens.

Giveaways Coming

Giveaways on MapYourMystery through July 3

You could win one of these books (or a couple of other surprises).

Enter every day on both the MapYourMystery blog or
the MapYourMystery Facebook page through July 3.

U.S. and Canada only. 

Winners will be announced on July 5.

Down in Flames

Pre-order purchase link

Savannah Webb's business is growing and she is offering different glass working classes including a bead making class. In Down in Flames by Cheryl Hollon, at the first bead-making class the Rosenberg twins try to set the studio on fire even before the class begins. Savannah realizes she'll have to watch the two more carefully. (Down in Flames will be released by Kensington Publishers on June 25.)

At the next class, the students are learning how to handle the torch when suddenly there is a loud thud, squealing tires and someone screaming outside. Everyone rushes outdoors to find Nicole Borawski, the Queen's Head Pub manager, lying gravely injured in the street. Standing and screaming is Savannah's employee Jacob.

Once she blinks past the original shock, she rushes to Nicole's side and hopes for the best. Nicole is rushed to the hospital and her wife Elizabeth bursts into the waiting room in shock.

When Nicole dies on the operating table, Savannah is devastated.

Nicole had worked at her boyfriend Edward's pub for several years and was a trusted employee. When it quickly becomes clear this was no accident, but deliberate vehicular homicide, Savannah uses her consulting clout to get assigned to the investigation.

She soon learns there was more to Nicole than her job at the pub. With her estranged family in the focus, her ambitious wife and a secretive graffiti artist, there are plenty of suspects. Savannah hopes her assistant Jacob can recover his speech and memory soon enough to assist in the case.

Another stellar performance by Cheryl Hollon and Savannah Webb.




Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley

Murder Knocks Twice

In a brand new series by Susanna Calkins, the time period is the 1920s in Chicago. In Murder Knocks Twice, Gina Ricci finds herself working as a cigarette girl at a speakeasy. She has replaced a young woman who recently was murdered.

Whenever Gina tries to discover what happened to Dorrie, everyone clams up. It's a world unlike anything Gina knows. Bootleg alcohol served to customers who range from socialites to former servicemen with a hint of gangsters. Big Mike and Signora Castallazzo operate the Third Door and they run a tight ship.

Discouraged by almost everyone from asking questions, Gina thinks the photographer Marty might be able to help her. While talking to him, she discovers he is her late mother's cousin. When sweet Molly O'Brien eloped with Frankie Ricci, her family disowned her so Gina never knew that side of the family. She is excited to get to know him better, but he tells her to be careful and not to ask too many questions.

A few days later when Gina accidentally witnesses Marty being stabbed, she rushes to his side. With his dying breath he tell her to hide his camera and not to trust anyone. She takes the camera and wonders what pictures were on it that might have gotten Marty killed.

To her ultimate shock she discovers she is the heir to Marty's belongings including an apartment and a separate developing studio. This plays right into Gina's desire to learn how to develop film so she can see what incriminating evidence was on the pictures Marty took.

A fascinating look at Prohibition-era Chicago and an intriguing start to what I think will be a continuing series.