IT'S LIVE! LIARS & LUNATICS IN GOOSE PIMPLE JUNCTION

ABOUT THE BOOK

It's election season, and there's a new candidate in town. Virgil Pepper is determined to take the job from Goose Pimple Junction's long-time mayor. Virgil is a charming and charismatic candidate but someone who will say anything (and mean none of it) to get what he wants. Three things top his list: to become mayor, to acquire Jackson Wright's land, and to make Caledonia Culpepper one of his many conquests.

Wynona Baxter is back, and she's a new woman. Now Daisy has a new identity, new life, and new business-ironically named Killer Cupcakes. But the town soon finds out that isn't the only kind of killer in town. Book five of the Goose Pimple Junction mystery series combines political hijinks, delicious cupcakes, Goose Juice moonshine, the ups and downs of finding true love, and, of course, murder.

It is said that "It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what." Lying in politics, lying for personal and professional gain, lying about an identity . . . What are the folks of Goose Pimple Junction willing to lie for . . . and what are they willing to die for?

Book Details

Title: Liars & Lunatics in Goose Pimple Junction

Author: Amy Metz

Genre: Cozy mystery

Series: Goose Pimple Junction Mysteries, book 5

Publisher: Southern Ink Press, September 1, 2019 (paperback)
September 19, 2019 (Kindle)

Print length: 244 pages

If you frequent this blog, you know most features here help other authors promote their work. Today, in honor of the launch of the fifth book in my Goose Pimple Junction series, I'm posting an article about how I used real life in my newest book. A look at behind the scenes of Liars & Lunatics.

KARMA WRITING

“Everybody lies. The only variable is about what.” – Hugh Laurie

That quote is so spot on, I begin my fifth book, Liars & Lunatics in Goose Pimple Junction, with it. Hugh’s right. Everybody lies. It doesn’t matter what you lie about or who you lie to: big or small, lies are lies. There are varying degrees of lying, from well-meaning liars to pathological liars, and I thought it would make for an interesting story. Much as I’ve experienced in real life, the characters in Liars & Lunatics cover the spectrum.

Honest people tell white lies, usually to spare someone’s feelings, maybe to get out of an obligation, or when they don’t know the answer to something and don’t want to lose face. The faces of “honest liars” usually give them away. They can’t look you in the eye or their face just flat out says “I’m lying and I feel guilty.” Lying by omission might be considered to be an honest lie, but it’s still a lie. The thought “I didn’t lie, I just didn’t correct you with the truth” is a flawed, slippery slope.

“A liar’s worst enemy is someone with a good memory.” – Dodinsky

Some people lie out of blatant self-interest. If they tell the truth, they’ll look bad or they won’t get what they want. Politicians lie to get elected. Unscrupulous business people lie for financial gain. Kids lie to get out of being in trouble. Spouses lie in financial matters or extramarital affairs. Some lie out of a need for power. We even have a president who is a liar. Whether you like or dislike our president, everyone has to agree he’s a blatant liar. He lies even when the facts are there for everyone to see. That’s how the Washington Post keeps track of how many lies he’s told. In August, they said he had made 12,019 false or misleading claims over 928 days. Liars are young and old, rich and poor, skinny and fat. But lying is a sticky game. When do you stop lying?

“The most dangerous strangers are the ones we thought we knew well.” —unknown

A couple of years ago I became acquainted with a toxic narcissist. I say acquainted because narcissists are such excellent liars no one ever truly knows the real person. I believed everything he said until red flags popped up one after another. And then he lied about his lies, something I call “liar layers.” I know now that his lies made my reality a lie. He wasn’t who I thought he was, and our relationship wasn’t what I thought it was. I’d heard of narcissism, but at the time I didn’t know the traits of a narcissist or the depths of lying that they will go to. Like the saying goes, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Narcissists are excellent liars. But sooner or later, their lies become unearthed. 

“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.” — Dorothy Allison

I took that awful experience with a toxic narcissist and developed a story around it. In Liars &

Lunatics, Caledonia experiences much of what I went through in that short but doomed relationship. My character, Virgil, is a liar and a narcissist in both his personal and his professional life. I also incorporated my own brief experience with a divorce lawyer into book 4, Rogues & Rascals in Goose Pimple Junction. It was cathartic to kill her off, just as I killed off my real life unscrupulous publisher at the beginning of the book.

“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” —Abraham Lincoln

Just as in real life, Liars & Lunatics is full of liars. Not all in the book are narcissists, some are lunatics. Not all in the book are bad people, but Virgil is, and his words and actions lead to his ultimate demise. They say to never wrong a writer—they get their revenge on paper. If only karma took care of all liars. I’m not saying all of them have to die like Virgil, DeeDee, and my former publisher, but it would be nice if, from time to time, their pants would actually catch on fire.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Metz is the author of the Goose Pimple Junction mystery series. She is a former first grade teacher and the mother of two grown sons. When not writing, enjoying her family, or surfing Pinterest and Facebook, Amy can usually be found with a mixing spoon, camera, or book in one hand and a glass of sweet tea in the other. Amy loves unique Southern phrases, cupcakes, and a good mystery. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Connect with Amy:
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