Ginger Snapped

When Piper Prescott sees realtor Shirley Randolph flirting with Police Chief Wyatt McBride, she briefly regrets her missed chance with him. But Piper is deeply involved in her mother-in-law's bridal shower so she forgets about Wyatt. In Ginger Snapped by Gail Oust soon finds herself involved in a murder investigation revolving around him.

Shirley is trying to help Mavis Gray sell her hardware store to a couple from Syracuse, New York, but the small town of Brandywine Creek doesn't seem right for them. Ever the optimist, Shirley keeps plugging away, but before long she is found dead, naked in a pond on Chief McBride's property.

At first the police think it might have been suicide, but Piper knows that cannot be the case. Shirley was vivacious and even if she killed herself, she would never have done it this way.

When no water is discovered in her lungs, the verdict changes to murder and Wyatt is suspended

from the case. It falls into the inept hands of Beau Tucker who figures if Wyatt is charged, his path to chief is wide open. Piper doesn't want that to happen, so she throws herself into the investigation.

As Piper digs deeper, her shop is burglarized. When she is nearly driven off the road one night, she knows she is close to solving the case.

One issue seemingly solving itself is her attraction to Wyatt. Much to her surprise, he reciprocates. Now all she has to do is clear his name.

The spice shop setting is the perfect place for local gossip. It seems everyone stops in at some time or other to share a tidbit of information. Piper is a smart character as well, and although her ex-husband CJ and his dizty blond wife Amber are annoying, Piper deals with them very well.

For a review of another book in the series, Cinnamon Toasted click here.

Reaching Goals

Late last year, I set my Goodreads goal for 250 books for 2017. As someone who writes book reviews nearly every day, I didn't think this goal was going to be difficult. On December 3, I reached the goal of 250 books read.

Throughout the year I have read some fantastic books The Fleur De Sel Murders, Dead of Night, Death in St. Petersburg, Murder in the Manuscript Room, A Talent for Murder, Spooky Sweet, The Book of Beloved, The Painted Queen, The Ninja Illusion, A Cajun Christmas Killing, Death on Tap, Fatal Forgeries, Murder at the Cathedral, The Lover's Portrait, Ghostly Reunion, She Stopped for Death, Earthly Remains, Lowcountry Book Club, All Signs Point to Murder, A Great Reckoning, The Deep End and many many more.

Of course there were some duds. . . those will not be named, but I would say the vast majority of the books I read were well written and well plotted. I have been a mystery fan from way back in the days of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boy, and Agatha Christie has been my favorite author for years, but I have found new favorite authors in this year's reading group.

I hope you have found some new authors through MapYourMystery blog and will continue to read and comment on the blog.

Portrait of a Dead Guy

There's not much work for a fine artist in Halo, Georgia, as Cherry Tucker has learned. Sometimes you have to take the work you can get. In Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart, Cherry is asked to paint a portrait of recently deceased Dustin Branson - in his coffin- for his stepmother.

Unfortunately his cousin Shawna fancies herself an artist and sets up to compete with Cherry. As bizarre as it seems, Cherry stations herself at the funeral home to being her sketches. Her concentration is disturbed by the appearance of Luke, the stepbrother, and her former boyfriend. He still manages to light a flame with his good looks and dimpled smile, but Cherry remembers his elusive ways.

To continue her work on the portrait, Cherry steals back into the funeral home in the middle of the night. While she is painting she notices the flap on his jacket is folded inside itself. It had not been like that before, so she decides to straighten it out. As she grasps the small bag inside the pocket someone hits her on the head and when she wakes up, the scene before her gives her chills. Her easel and paints are strewn over the floor, the coffin lies almost tipped to one side and Dustin is

dangling out of it.

This incident creates a stir in Halo as the Tucker family is notorious for the family's behavior. Cherry has been trying to overcome their reputation, but now she fears her career as an artist will suffer. Cherry decides it's time to find out who killed Dustin and why they are trying to stop her painting.

Halo is a place where everyone knows everyone's business, past and present, so Cherry begins to ask questions. When her truck and gun are stolen and another person winds up dead, Cherry is the natural suspect. Fortunately her uncle Will knows she could not have killed Creepy Pete, so she continues to investigate despite his warnings not to.

Portrait of a Dead Guy is a very quirky book with lots of goofy characters and an insight into life in rural Georgia. Cherry is smart and has talent, and hopefully she will have success in her art career.

Interview with John Gaspard

How many books have you published?

There are four books in the Eli Marks mystery series: The Ambitious Card, The Bullet Catch, The Miser’s Dream, and The Linking Rings.

I have one other stand-alone novel (“The Ripperologists”) as well as a couple books on filmmaking.
You can find details on all of them here: https://tinyurl.com/y72ceumg

How did you become interested in writing?
I started out in filmmaking and turned to writing to give myself something to shoot and edit.

What is a day in the life of an author like? Do you write a certain number of words, do you write in the morning or evening, etc?
I have no set schedule, to my shame. Most of the work actually happens in my head; sitting down to type it out is really just the last step. So I just grab whatever free time is available in an otherwise crammed day.

Do you plot the entire book first, then write or plot as you go?
I generally have a pretty solid handle on the first two-thirds of the story and a definite idea of the ending. I leave the final third a bit loose-goosey, because things inevitably change as I’m writing the first two-thirds.

Do you use real people and places as models for your books?
There are a lot of real places mixed in with the fictional locations in the Eli Marks series. The magic store, Chicago Magic, does not exist, but the movie theater on one side and Adrian’s bar on the other do exist. Other real locations (The Mall of America, the Wabasha Caves, Pepitos restaurant) make the occasional appearance, but most locations exist only in my mind. As for people, I will say that characteristics of people I know may show up from time to time in a story, but I haven’t kidnapped any real people and put them in a book.

Who is your favorite author?
I’m a big fan of Lawrence Block and his multiple series. Jasper Ffjord, Douglas Adams. On stage, there is none better than Tom Stoppard.

How do you promote your books?
Interviews like this, plus reader events, as well as Facebook ads.

What is the title of your latest book and when will it be published?
The fourth book in the Eli Marks series is The Linking Rings and it will be out on January 16, 2018.

For a review of The Ambitious Card, click here. 

The House of Memory

Raissa James is a private investigator specializing in the occult. Along with her partner Reginald Proctor, she is invited to  Montgomery, Alabama by Zelda Fitzgerald to help a friend. In The House of Memory by Carolyn Haines, Raissa sets out to help Camilla Granger.

Camilla is in a mental institution about to have a lobotomy to control her behavior. Harsh, you may think, but Camilla's mother has controlled her daughter actions throughout her life. When Camilla snaps and tries to stab her fiance David Simpson, not once but twice, her mother insists the marriage must occur.

It's only David she tries to harm, Zelda explains to Raissa. Because of her outrageous behavior Zelda has been banned from seeing Camilla, but she knows Raissa can help.

It seems the Camilla's behavior only manifests itself at Roswell, the house that David has purchased for her. As Raissa investigates the history of the house, she finds something that might help her cure Camilla. She also finds several other young women have fallen

victim to something unnatural.

When Raissa visits the formidable Bryce Hospital she hears voices asking her to help them. The doctors at the hospital insist their procedure will help Camilla, but Raissa senses something more is going on. Because Camilla refuses to leave the institution, Raissa, Reginald and David make plans to kidnap her away.

The second installment of the Pluto's Snitch Mysteries is filled with spine chilling frights and a spirit determined to have her own way and destroy everything in her path. Another excellent book by Carolyn Haines.

For a review of Book #1 in the Plut's Snitch series, The Book of Beloved, click here

The Shadow of Death

When the Sexton of Gwenafwy Abbey in Wales is found dead under a fallen shelf of the Abbey's Heavenly Gouda. Sister Agatha, a devotee of her namesake Agatha Christie, is ready to investigate. When the police view the death of Jacob Traherne as an accident in The Shadow of Death by Jane Willan, Sister Agatha is not so sure.

Among the clues: she discovers the shelving unit hit Jacob on the back of his head, the thermostat cover was removed and a hymnbook from St. Anselm Parish was also found at the scene. The local police are satisfied with their verdict of accidental death, but not Agatha.

Almost worse than a body in their aging room is the upcoming Cheese Festival. The nuns had counted on Heavenly Gouda taking the big prizes and selling well. Their Abbe, populated by small corps of aging nuns and one young postulate, needed money. They had pinned their hopes on a successful Cheese Festival.

Sister Agatha calls on her sidekick Father Selwyn to investigate. Why was Jacob in the aging room so early? Could those shelves really have pulled from the wall? Agatha uses all of her detecting skills

learned from her mystery writing course and from listening to Inspector Rupert MacFarland's Radio Wales podcast Write Now to solve the crime and save the Heavenly Gouda.

While she is investigating the crime, she discovers some disconcerting news about the land on which the Abbey is situated. It seems a developer wants to build a resort and spa and the Abbey land is just perfect. Agatha also discovers the extremely attractive and very ambitious Bishop seems to be involved in the sale. The bishop gives the Reverend Mother an option to save the Abbey - increase the number of postulates and earn more money - in the next 10 days. Totally unrealistic.

When someone sabotages the Heavenly Gouda at the Cheese Festival, Agatha is sure all hope is lost. Along with Father Selwyn and the mysterious-acting postulate Sister Gwenydd, Sister Agatha digs deeper, solves the crime and saves the day.

A fun mystery with earnest, sincere and entertaining characters living a life few of us would choose. 

A Devious Lot

Molly Appleby has promised her new husband Matt her sleuthing day are over, but before their honeymoon is completed, she is off on another mystery. In A Devious Lot by Ellery Adams and Parker Riggs, Molly and Matt's honeymoon in London has been uneventful. But a trip to the Cotswold to visit her aunt Tessa leads her unwittingly into an investigation.

As in every small village there is a certain amount of intrigue. In this one a woman named Tiffany is trying to win her boyfriend Giles back from his new love Penelope. Unfortunately his mother doesn't approve of Tiffany and is pushing strongly for the marriage to Penelope.

Tiffany, not one to take no for an answer, sets out a course of confrontation and harassment. An unwise decision as it turns out. She barges in on a tea party at Channing Hall claiming she wants to sell Giles the antique lover's eye he had given her. He tells her to have it appraised and name a price. Before she can have the lover's eye appraised, she is found dead in her cottage. Giles thinks she killed herself, but Molly finds that unlikely.

When the lover's eye turns up missing, Molly knows she has to get involved. Even the local police want her to assist because of her knowledge of antiques.

Intertwined with the main story is the original story of the lover's eye. It begins in the 1850s when star-crossed lovers are unable to marry and the lovely young woman is "traded" to a brute for assistance with the family fortune. Molly is able to trace the history of the eye to a startling conclusion.

The Ambitious Card

Magician Eli Marks is invited to a PBS live remote Halloween show in The Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul. His role is to debunk a psychic who will also be on the show. In The Ambitious Card by John Gaspard, Eli finds more than he bargained for.

The psychic named Grey will perform his act in front of a live audience and then Eli will debunk it. Eli dislikes the term debunk and he prefers to be called a skeptic. Grey performs his act doling out vague suggestions and answering questions submitted by his audience. The audience is loving it.

When Eli steps on stage, it's in front of a fairly hostile audience. He believes Grey is really an illusionist or a not too subtle magician. As he explains how Grey is able to predict the questions in the bowl, Eli explains a card trick known as One Ahead. The magician is one ahead. In Grey's case he knows the first question and when he opens the envelope, he is getting the second question.

As his last trick Eli does The Ambitious Card trick and Grey picks the King of Diamonds. It keeps

reappearing not matter how many times Eli shuffles the cards. The climax to the trick is when Eli, blindfolded, uses Grey's letter opener to trap the ambitious card on the table. Unfortunately the next day, Grey is found dead - stabbed in the eye with the letter opener and the King of Diamonds card attached.

Suddenly Eli is a suspect. His ex-wife Deidre Sutton-Hutton, assistant DA, and her husband Homicide Detective Fred Hutton want to meet with Eli to discuss the crime.They release Eli, but warn him that he is a person of interest.

When another psychic dies Eli knows he needs to solve the riddle.

An entertaining mystery with an unlikely hero.

Jennifer S. Alderson

How many books have you published? 
I have three books out, two mysteries and a travelogue. Down and Out in Kathmandu: A

Backpacker Mystery is about an American volunteer in Nepal who gets entangled with Thai diamond smugglers. The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery is an amateur sleuth ‘whodunit’ set in present-day and wartime Amsterdam. Both novels are part of the Adventures of Zelda Richardson series. The third installment, Rituals of the Dead: An Artifact Mystery, will be released in March 2018. This time Zelda’s trying to solve the mystery of a long lost anthropologist and his missing collection of artifacts. It’s set in present-day Amsterdam and Papua New Guinea in the 1960s.

My travelogue, Notes of a Naive Traveler, is a series of excerpts from a travel journal I kept while volunteering in Kathmandu and backpacking through Nepal and Thailand.

How did you become interested in writing? 
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, though in my younger years I focused on poetry and short stories, mostly mysteries. One of my favorite childhood memories is of thinking up storylines and plot twists with my father. During college I majored in journalism and worked as a columnist, investigative journalist and newspaper editor before life took me in other directions. I didn’t seriously consider writing a novel until my father died. Completing a full-length work of fiction was my way of honoring his memory. It took eight years, but I know he would be proud I finished it.

What is a day in the life of an author like? Do you write a certain number of words, do you write in the morning or evening, etc?
My writing schedule has evolved with each book. I wrote Down and Out in Kathmandu in the evenings and weekends over an eight year period. The Lover’s Portrait was written during my infant son’s nap time and ultimately took four years. Now that he is at school fulltime, I have five hours, four days a week to work. As a result, Notes of a Naive Traveler was complete within seven months and my current novel will be finished within two years.

I usually dedicate the morning to writing. After a late lunch, I spend time on marketing, update my website, and write blog posts, articles for magazines or interviews. A few evenings a week, I’ll crawl behind the computer and catch up on social media. Somehow the wash and vacuuming gets done, though don’t ask me when!

Do you plot the entire book first, then write or plot as you go? 
I’m a big believer in writing up a tight outline before beginning the first draft. It takes a lot of time to work out all of the details and twists, but I’ve found it to be a crucial step. When I have a clear idea of where the story is going, I’m more apt to jump behind the computer or pull out my notebook, than when it is still floating around in my head. Once the first draft is complete, I’ll reevaluate the characters, settings and plot twists, allowing myself to tear out or change any elements that feel unnecessary or are misleading.

Do you use real people and places as models for your books? 
I am an avid traveler and love to infuse my writing with experiences I’ve had and people I’ve met while backpacking around the world. It is important to me that the setting be described as accurately as possible. I want readers to have the feeling they have just visited the city, country or region I’m describing in my book.

None of my characters are modeled after an actual person – not even Zelda – but are conglomerates of people I’ve met on the road, at work or even a bus stop. I am fascinated by my fellow man and tend to start up conversations with pretty much everyone I meet.

Who is your favorite author? 
That is an impossible question to answer! The three authors I’ve read the most of are Philip Kerr, Donna Leon and Janet Evanovich. I’ve recently discovered Victoria Blake and enjoyed reading both Titian’s Boatman and Jumping the Cracks.

How do you promote your books? 
I promote my books on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram. A few months ago I started a Facebook group, Travel By Book, for readers and authors of travel fiction and non-fiction. It’s been a fun way to connect with new readers and find great books to read! Every few weeks I try and publish a short article on my blog providing more information about places, topics, events or people featured in one of my books. Those are always fun to write! I also reach out to book bloggers, use promotion websites and have a newsletter.

For a review of The Lover's Portrait: An Art  Mystery, click here

A Talent for Murder

In the 1920s Agatha Christie disappeared for 10 days. Throughout the remainder of her life, she said very little about that troubling time. In A Talent for Murder Andrew Wilson reimagines a scenario that might fit with the famed mystery writer's life.

On a December morning Agatha Christie is on her way back from a visit to her publisher. As she waits at the train station, she feels a slight push on her back and finds herself falling onto the tracks. Seconds later an arm grabs her and pulls her to safety.

Her "savior" Dr. Kurs is no guardian angel; he is an insidious, manipulative blackmailer and he wants her to commit a murder. Already despondent because of the affair between her husband Archie Christie and Nancy Neele, Agatha is feeling demolished and depressed about the prospect of a divorce. Since her mother's death she has been struggling with her writing. Now this strange and diabolical plan.

As in the real story Agatha drives away in her car and it, her fur coat, driver's license and a small

suitcase are found several miles from home near the Silent Pool in Newlands Corner in Surrey. In this story, Agatha meets Dr. Kurs and he tells her she is going to murder his wife Flora for him. Horrified, Agatha refuses, but then Kurs threatens to harm her daughter Rosalind and publish the story of Archie's infidelity.

Kurs has told Agatha she will staying at spa in a northern town and he drives her to the train station. He insists that she use the surname Neele, the name of Archie's mistress. Agatha balks but there is not much she can do.

Bewildered and befuddled, Agatha blindly follows Kurs and moves into the Swan Hydropathic Hotel and awaits further instructions. While the police continue to search for "the body" of Agatha Christie, Kurs explains how he wants his plan to proceed. Agatha, being the mystery writer she is, decides she might have her own script to follow.

This is an entertaining and most diabolical theory of what happened in the days of the real disappearance. If you are a fan of Agatha Christie, you need to read this book.