Lauren Carr is the author of the Mac Faraday mystery series and the owner of Acorn Book Services. Her newest book, Three Days to Forever has just been published, and she is here to brave the Dirty Dozen. Give this woman a prize! She answered all twelve questions.About the book:
With three days left to the year, Deep Creek Lake is hopping with holiday vacationers and wedding guests pouring into the Spencer Inn for Mac Faraday and Archie Monday’s huge wedding ceremony which is being touted as the social event of the year.But droopy flowers and guests who failed to RSVP are the least of Mac and Archie’s problems when a professional hit squad descends on Spencer Manor to send the groom, Joshua Thornton, the bride’s mother, and Gnarly running for their lives.
In this latest Mac Faraday Mystery from best-selling mystery author Lauren Carr, readers will embark on a rollercoaster adventure with old friends (including the Lovers in Crime team of Prosecutor Joshua Thornton and Homicide Detective Cameron Gates), but also meet new ones as Mac Faraday’s daughter Jessica Faraday and Joshua Thornton’s son Murphy Thornton join the team in the race to get the love birds to the altar!
Best-selling mystery author Lauren Carr takes fans of past Mac Faraday and Lovers in Crime mysteries down a different path in her latest whodunit. “Don’t worry,” she says. “We have plenty of dead bodies and lots of mystery—as well as intrigue, suspense, and page turning twists.”
However, Lauren does issue a warning for readers. “The key job of a fiction writer is to look at a situation, make observations about how things are and how they work, and then ask, ‘What if ...’ This is what I have done with Three Days to Forever.”
Lauren Carr’s latest mystery plunges Mac Faraday, Archie, David, Gnarly, and the gang head first into a case that brings the war on terror right into Deep Creek Lake. “Current political issues will be raised and discussed by the characters involved,” Lauren says. “It is unrealistic for them to investigate a case involving terrorism without these discussions.”
With this in mind, Lauren reminds her readers that “Three Days to Forever is fiction. It is not the author’s commentary on politics, the media, the military, or Islam. While actual current events have inspired this adventure in mystery and suspense, this fictional work is not meant to point an accusatory finger at anyone in our nation’s government.”
Fans of Lauren Carr’s mysteries, both the Mac Faraday Mysteries as well as the Lovers in Crime Mysteries, are in for an added treat with Three Days to Forever when they meet new characters, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton. Next year, Lauren will feature Joshua’s son and Mac’s daughter in their own book series, The Thorny Rose Mysteries!
In the meantime, with New Year’s Eve approaching, time running out in Three Days to Forever! Mac Faraday and Spencer’s small police force have to sort through the clues to figure out not only who has been targeted for assassination, but also who is determined to stop everything . . . FOREVER!
Lauren Carr Answers the Dirty Dozen
1. What’s one thing that drives you crazy?Letting my life get so hectic and out of control that I end up having no time to write. If I don’t have time to write, then I start to get a little nutty . . . and bad tempered. Usually, when I let that happen, it’s my fault because I can’t say no.
2. What is your guiltiest guilty pleasure?
Eating a whole bag of Hershey Kisses or Nuggets in one sitting while watching a really good mystery movie.
3. What is your most embarrassing moment?
Several years ago, when I worked for the federal government, I had an asthma attack at work. I went to the clinic, which was on site, and they gave me medication and told me to rest. Then, they left me alone in the examination room. After a long time of lying there on the gurney, I got bored, which is never a good thing for me. So, I’m looking around and I see a blood pressure monitor with the tube cut. The pump has been cut off, but it has the dial on it. So — remember I’m bored — I ask myself if I could make the dial work if I blew into the tube. No way to know that unless you try, right? So, there I am, with the tube in my mouth, blowing as hard as I can on the tube when the doctor comes in to check on his patient who had come in complaining that she couldn’t breathe because she was having an asthma attack.
Needless to say, I got sent right back to work.
4. What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?
I’m a do-it-yourselfer. Most of the appliance and computer repairs in our home, I do myself. If I don’t know how to do it, I’ll find out.
Well, last year, my fancy oven needed a new heating element. It was ten years old and I had replaced three elements already. After replacing so many, I had the process down. You turn off the circuit breakers to the oven, unplug it, pull it out from the wall, take off the back, and disconnect the wiring to the element. Then, in the front, you pull out the element, slip in the new element, reconnect the wiring, replace the back, plug it in, and then turn on the circuit breaker.
Well, the only area where I need help is pulling out the oven from the wall. That, I need my husband for. That morning, I decided ten minutes after he had left the house that I wanted to replace the element. So, I decided to take a short cut. I turned off the power, and climbed into the oven and tried to pull out the element from the front, pull out the wires, and disconnect them from inside the oven.
I believed that with the power off that I would be safe. I was wrong. There I was with my head in the oven when it blew up, blowing a hole out the back of the oven. I found out from a friend that even though the circuit breaker was off, electricity was still going through the wiring.
But hey, on the bright side — I now have a new big fancy oven!
5. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Sticking my head in an oven and blowing it up.
6. On what life choices would you like to have a re-do?
I wish I had ordered that hot fudge brownie delight that I turned down last Spring because I was on a diet. I mean, since I didn’t reach my diet goal, I could have had that mass of calories after all.
7. What makes you nervous?
Releasing a new book. It’s like sending your baby out into the big bad world and praying that everyone will love him as much as you do, which you know is not possible at all because no one can love your baby the way you do.
8. What makes you scared?
Hearing about real murder cases of young people. Being a mother, I can’t help but put myself in the parents’ shoes.
9. What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
Well, it’s not the biggest lie, but it is one that comes up.
Several years ago, a neighbor who was moving gave us a propane tank from his outdoor grill. Unfortunately, the plug was not the same as we used for our grill and it was useless. My husband tried to leave it with the garbage collectors, but they would not take it. He checked everywhere, but couldn’t get rid of it. Even the dump refused it.
After years of this thing sitting on our deck, he suggested that I take it to the local store and leave it next to the tank bin when I was exchanging our empty tank.
At that time, our son Tristan was six years old. When we arrived at the store, I took out the two tanks, ours and the useless tank, and set them next to the tank bin. When the clerk with the key came out to unlock the bin and take out a filled tank, he pointed at the useless tank and asked, “Is that your tank?”
“No,” I said.
“Yes, it is,” Tristan said loud enough for the man to hear.
“No, it’s not,” I said.
“Mom, don’t you remember taking it out of the car and putting it on the curb?” Tristan looked at me like I had lost my mind.
The man just shook his head and gave us a tank, and I drove home with a very red face.
10. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made?
Did I mention that hot fudge brownie delight that I missed out on last Spring?
11. When was the last time you did something for the first time?
A few years ago, I took up kayaking and kayaked by myself across Deep Creek Lake. It was exhilarating. Would love to do that again.
12. One of your main characters has to die. Which one would you kill off?
Oh, dear. Now that is a hard question. I think if I did have to kill someone, it would have to be Chelsea Adams, Police Chief David O’Callaghan’s girlfriend. She doesn’t play as important of a role on the team as the rest of the characters and I’ve had a few readers complain about David O’Callaghan, a hottie, being tied down with a steady girlfriend.
But I think killing her would be a little extreme. Can’t I just have her move out of Deep Creek Lake?
About the Author
In addition to her series set on Deep Creek Lake, Lauren Carr has also written the Lovers in Crime Mysteries, which features prosecutor Joshua Thornton with homicide detective Cameron Gates, who were introduced in Shades of Murder, the third book in the Mac Faraday Mysteries. They also make an appearance in The Lady Who Cried Murder.
Three Days to Forever introduces Lauren Carr’s latest series detectives, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday in the Thorny Rose Mysteries. Look for the first installment in this series in Spring 2015.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.
She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Visit Lauren Carr’s website to learn more about Lauren and her upcoming mysteries.
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