FEATURED AUTHOR: JAMES J. CUDNEY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Braxton College is throwing the Heroes & Villains Costume Extravaganza to raise money for renovations to the antiquated Memorial Library. While attending, Kellan stumbles upon a close family friend standing over a dead body that’s dressed as Dr. Evil. Did one of Maggie’s sisters kill an annoying guest at the Roarke and Daughters Inn or does the victim have a more intimate connection to someone else on campus?


As Kellan helps the school’s president, Ursula, bury a scandalous secret from her past and unearth the identity of her stalker, he unexpectedly encounters a missing member of his own family who’s reappeared after a lengthy absence. When all of the peculiar events around town trace back to the Stoddards, a new family who recently moved to Wharton County, the explosive discovery only offers more confusion. 
Between the special flower exhibit that’s made an unplanned stop on campus and strange postcards arriving each week from all around the world, Kellan can’t decide which mystery in his life should take priority. Unfortunately, the biggest one of all has yet to arrive at his doorstep. When it does, Kellan won’t know what hit him.

Book Details:


Title: Flower Power Trip


Author: James J. Cudney


Genre: Cozy / light mystery


Series: Braxton Campus Mysteries #3


Publisher: Creativia Publishing (March 30th, 2019)


Print length: 265 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

INTERVIEW WITH JAMES J. CUDNEY

A few of your favorite things: Books, school projects, holiday and birthday cards.
Things you need to throw out: Old tax returns and clothes that don’t fit
.

Things you need in order to write: Quiet, laptop, water, paper, pen.
Things that hamper your writing: Noise, stopping to eat, errands
.

Things you love about writing: The freedom to express ideas, make people smile, and feel proud of creativity.
Things you hate about writing: Making the decision on grammar rules and fictional content– some are flexible, some are not . . . just because it’s wrong doesn’t mean it’s wrong in a book if it’s intentionally done a certain way or exaggerated to make the plot more fun.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Coming up with the characters and plots
.
Hardest thing about being a writer: Knowing you can’t make everyone happy and that people won’t like something you’ve done in the book
.

Things you love about where you live: Always something to do, every option for food,
Things that make you want to move: Expensive, noisy, congested.


Things you never want to run out of: Love, friends, time.
Things you wish you’d never bought: Cell phone? Ha…


Favorite foods: Sushi, chocolate, desserts.
Things that make you want to throw up: Mushrooms, eggplant.

Favorite beverage: Coffee, seltzer, champagne
.
Something that gives you a pickle face: Grapefruit juice.

Something you’re really good at: Creating new dishes
.
Something you’re really bad at: Following recipes
.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Good coffee.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Conflict.

Things you always put in your books: Odes to friends.

Things you never put in your books: Detailed religious or political views.

Favorite books: Mystery, family drama
.
Books you would ban: None . . . unless they are intentionally hateful. I’m all for books that expose negativity, but if the book’s purpose is to degrade someone or something, it’s generally wrong (unless of course you’re trying to stop something bad from happening).

Things that make you happy: Pets, cooking, gardening, reading
.
Things that drive you crazy: Arguments, highly opinionated people who get rude about it.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Become a writer and put myself out there to be judged.

Something you chickened out from doing: Writing a movie script.




OTHER BOOKS BY JAMES J. CUDNEY

Watching Glass Shatter (October 2017)
Father Figure (April 2018)

Braxton Campus Mysteries
Academic Curveball #1 (October 2018)
Broken Heart Attack #2 (November 2018)
Flower Power Trip #3 (March 2019)
Mistaken Identity Crisis #4 (Summer 2019)




ABOUT THE AUTHOR  


Most call James J. Cudney "Jay." He grew up on Long Island and currently lives in New York City, but he's traveled all across the US (and various parts of the world). After college he spent 15 years working in technology and business operations in the sports, entertainment, and media industries. Although he enjoyed his job, he left in 2016 to focus on his passion: telling stories and connecting people through words. His debut novel is Watching Glass Shatter, a contemporary fiction family drama with elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and romance. To see samples or receive news from his current and upcoming books, please subscribe with your email address at his website.

What Jay does outside of writing: He's an avid genealogist (discovered 2K family members going back about 250 years) and cook (he finds it so hard to follow a recipe). He loves to read; between Goodreads and his blog, he has over 750 book reviews which will give you a full flavor for his voice and style. On his blog, he started the 365 Daily Challenge, where he posts a word each day that has some meaning to him, then converse with everyone about life. There is humor, tears, love, friendship, advice and bloopers. Lots of bloopers where he pokes fun at himself all the time. Even his dogs have segments where they complain about him. All these things make up who he is; none of them are very fancy or magnanimous, but they are real and show how he lives every day. 

A bit of humor: Everything doubles as something else when you live in NYC. For Jay, it's the dining room, his favorite space in the apartment, where more than just his cooking is on display! As he looks out the windows onto a 12th floor terrace, various parts of nature (trees, bushes, flowers, bugs & animals) inspire him to write. How else can you pen the best story possible without these things by your side?


Connect with James:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Instagram  |  LinkedIn  |  Pinterest

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Amazon author page

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