FEATURED AUTHOR: JANET FINSILVER

ABOUT THE BOOK

Kelly Jackson, manager of the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast, is fond of the Doblinsky brothers, Ivan and Rudy, members of the Silver Sentinels, a crew of crime-solving senior citizens in their Northern California seaside hamlet. After she discovers a jewel-encrusted dagger—with what appears to be dried blood on the blade—on their fishing boat, they share their family history with Kelly, and she learns that the knife may be part of a set from their long-ago childhood in Russia. Its sudden reappearance is eerie, but the mystery grows much more serious when a body is found on the boat. The victim was a member of the community and part of the Russian Heritage Festival, and some of the organizers were clearly harboring some bitterness. But the story behind this murder seems as layered as a nesting doll—and Kelly’s feeling completely at sea . . .
 

Book Details:

Title: Murder at the Marina

Author: Janet Finsilver


Genre: Mystery


Series: Kelly Jackson mystery series, book 5


Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp. (April 2, 2019)


Page count: 200 pages


On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH JANET FINSILVER

A few of your favorite things: We have a wonderful collection of wildlife prints adorning the walls of our house. On each vacation my husband and I take we bring back something to remind us of our adventure. I brought back lovely handmade bookmarks from our most recent trip which was to Africa.
Things you need to throw out: Clothes I haven’t worn in a long time.



Things you need in order to write: I need a computer.
Things that hamper your writing: My long list of things to do! 



Things you love about writing: I love the creative flow of ideas.
Things you hate about writing: I don’t hate anything about the actual writing process. I dislike the pressure of a deadline if I’ve gotten behind on my writing goals. One year I was sick for over eight weeks. When I recovered, I had to work hard to have the book ready when it was due.


Easiest thing about being a writer: I enjoy being with my characters in Redwood Cove.
Hardest thing about being a writer: The hardest thing is blocking out the time.

Things you love about where you live: I love the access I have to wonderful trails and parks for hiking.

Things you love about where you live: I love the access I have to wonderful trails and parks for hiking.
Things that make you want to move: Traffic!

Words that describe you: I’m willing to try new things.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: I occasionally procrastinate.

Favorite foods: I love cheese and chocolate (though not together!).
Things that make you want to throw up: The smell of old fish will do it.

Favorite beverage: I enjoy strong black coffee (especially with chocolate).

Something that gives you a pickle face: Fruit that is sour when I expect it to be sweet.

Favorite smell: Jasmine flowers provide a wonderful fragrance.

Something that makes you hold your nose: That takes me back to old fish again.

Something you’re really good at: I’m very fast when it comes to typing.

Something you’re really bad at: I have trouble keeping up with all the changes in the computer world.

Something you like to do: I like to go horseback riding. I ride western style.

Something you wish you’d never done: My husband and I had an incredibly long walk from an event in Montreal back to our hotel. The distance was deceiving.

People you consider as heroes: People who go out of their way to help others.

People with a big L on their foreheads: Someone who puts other people down.

Things you always put in your books: I always have dogs with special training that contribute to our lives in different ways. A black Chihuahua named Sergeant is a hearing assistance dog and Max, a Goldendoodle trained as a diabetic alert dog, are just two of the canines populating my books.
Things you never put in your books: I never put in graphic violence. I don’t want my readers to get an unpleasant surprise when they turn the page.

Favorite places you’ve been: I loved Africa and San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico during whale season.

Places you never want to go to again: I went inside a cave once. I never want to do that again. I discovered I was very claustrophobic!

Things that make you happy: I always love playing with my dogs.

Things that drive you crazy: All the ads on the Internet that keep popping up.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I took a helicopter ride in Africa. It was amazing to see all the wildlife below me.

Something you chickened out from doing:  I was snorkeling with a group in Mexico. We had been taken a distance off shore by boat. The guides asked us if we wanted to swim back to the beach. I’m not a strong swimmer and decided not to do it. It was a good decision. Some of the people really struggled to make it.

The last thing you did for the first time: Taking a trip to Africa.

Something you’ll never do again: Drive a rental car in a bad part of town (I took a wrong turn!)                              

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Janet Finsilver is the USA Today best-selling author of the Kelly Jackson mystery series. She worked in education for many years as a teacher, a program administrator, and a workshop presenter. Janet majored in English and earned a Master’s Degree in Education. She loves animals and has two dogs—Kylie and Ellie. Janet has ridden western style since she was a child and was a member of the National Ski Patrol. One of the highlights of her life was touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. Murder at Redwood Cove, her debut mystery, was released on October 13, 2015. This was followed by Murder at the Mansion, Murder at the Fortune Teller’s Table, and Murder at the Mushroom Festival. Her fifth book, Murder at the Marina, released April 2, 2019.

Connect with Janet:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |   Kobo  |  Google Play

 

FEATURED CHARACTER: JANET FINSILVER'S KELLY JACKSON

ABOUT THE BOOK

There's a corpse among the chanterelles!

Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast manager Kelly Jackson is hosting a cooking class during the week of the Mushroom Festival to attract guests, not drama. But soon after she finishes foraging for an edible mushroom species on sacred Native American land, a local newspaper reporter gets shot dead at the same site. With suspicions spreading like fungi in the quaint Northern Californian community over the culprit's identity, Kelly and a savvy gang of sleuthing seniors known as the "Silver Sentinels" must uncover the truth about the secluded property before a tricky killer prepares another lethal surprise . . .

Book Details:

Title: Murder at the Mushroom Festival

Author’s name: Janet Finsilver

Character’s full name: Kelly Jackson

Genre: Cozy Murder Mystery

Series: Kelly Jackson Mystery, 4th in series
Publisher: Lyrical Underground (April 17, 2018)

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

ABOUT THE CHARACTER

Kelly Jackson was raised on a Wyoming cattle and horse ranch. During the summer months it operates as a dude ranch. She has two brothers and a sister. They live and work on the ranch along with her mother, father, grandfather, and her brother-in-law. Kelly decided to leave home and explore different careers. She currently works for Resorts International and was recently hired to manage Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast. She loves animals and horseback riding.

INTERVIEW WITH JANET FINSILVER'S KELLY JACKSON

Tell the truth, Kelly. What do you think of your fellow characters?
I think they are wonderful! Helen Rogers and her son Tommy live on the grounds. She bakes wonderful food for the guests’ breakfasts and assists in numerous ways. Ten-year-old Tommy is a bundle of energy. Fred, his basset hound, puts a smile on my face numerous times a day. The crime-solving group of senior citizens, the Silver Sentinels, is dedicated to helping their community. They are a very smart, savvy group. I’m enjoying getting to know Scott Thompson, a fellow Resorts International, employee, better. He’s kind, considerate, and always willing to help.

If you had a free day with no responsibilities and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do?
Go horseback riding! That question was easy!



What's the worst thing that's happened in your life?
A divorce. A difficult, painful divorce. My husband and my best friend fell in love with each other. To be betrayed by the two people I loved and cared for the most outside of my family was devastating. I learned to be careful where my heart is concerned.



I'll bet. What are you most afraid of?
Snakes. I know, I know. A Wyoming cowgirl scared of snakes. It’s true. I have a really hard time when I have to deal with them in the barn or the pasture.



What’s the best and worst traits Janet has given you?
Caring, compassion, and loyalty to my friends and family are the best traits. The worst is this darn red hair that goes completely frizzy on me in the fog or when I’m near the ocean.

Speaking of worst, what’s Janet’s worst habit?
Collecting paper. I know part of it goes with the job. She’s always cutting out articles that give her ideas for her books. BUT it does make for a messy office at times.



How do you feel about your life right now?
I LOVE my life right now as the new manager of Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast. It’s filled with wonderful people, it’s a fun job, and I live in a beautiful place.

Is there anything you would like to change?
Well, Scott Thompson, a fellow employee for Resorts International is a really nice guy. I feel an attraction to him, but my divorce hurt so much I’m not ready to trust again. I’d like to get over that.

What aspect of Janet’s writing style do you like best?
She thinks up some unique plots, often incorporating aspects of the surrounding area that are unusual. In addition, a lot of readers have commented on how her descriptions have them feeling like they are in Redwood Cove.

Describe the town.
Redwood Cove, California, is a vacation destination for many people. It’s on the northern coast with dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean. Lush redwood forests provide scenic hiking opportunities. The town has worked hard to keep its charm from the early days. There are boardwalks instead of sidewalks. Many of the buildings were built in the 1800s and have been beautifully preserved. Gourmet restaurants are in abundance.

Sounds wonderful. Describe an average day in your life.
I get up early and help Helen Rogers, the inn’s baker and assistant, prepare the breakfast baskets for the guests at the inn. She bakes amazing pastries the day before. We assemble a fruit salad in the morning and take them to the rooms. After that there are orders to fill and ongoing upkeep of the inn. It was built in the 1800s, so there’s always something that needs looking after. Being new to the area, I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the different events in the area so I can share them with my guests.

What makes you stand out from any other characters in your genre?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, I’m a Wyoming cowgirl raised on a cattle and horse ranch. My author weaves this background in throughout the books. She puts in similes and metaphors as well as references to what my life was like on the ranch . . . and why I sometimes act the way I do.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janet Finsilver is the USA TODAY best-selling author of the Kelly Jackson mystery series. She and her husband reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked in education for many years as a teacher, a program administrator, and a workshop presenter. Janet loves animals and has two dogs—Kylie and Ellie. Janet has ridden western style since she was a child and was a member of the National Ski Patrol. One of the highlights of her life was touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. Her debut mystery, Murder at Redwood Cove, released in October 2015. Murder at the Mansion and Murder at the Fortune Teller’s Table followed. Murder at the Mushroom Festival was released in April 2018.




Connect with Janet:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads 

Buy the book: 
Amazon   |  Barnes & Noble 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: JANET FINSILVER

ABOUT THE BOOK

When a local woman is desperate to find a couple she hasn’t seen since the 1960s, Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast manager, Kelly Jackson, and the crime-solving group of seniors, the Silver Sentinels, offer to help out. They realize there is more to the search than they were aware of after the woman is found dead beside the body of a Greek fortune teller and a fellow Sentinel gets attacked. As Kelly juggles work and her responsibilities at a food and wine festival in town, she and the Silver Sentinels must confront a killer obsessed with old secrets and solve a murder mystery more than fifty years in the making.




 



INTERVIEW WITH JANET FINSILVER

Janet, do you have a writing routine?

Yes. I like to get whatever business or chores I need to get accomplished out of the way in the morning. This helps clear my mind. However, a lot of thoughts come to me when I’m exercising or doing routine tasks. I make notes throughout the morning. I do a combination jog/walk a couple of times a week. I often come back with four or five pages dictated on my iPhone of ideas I want to put in the book or problems I’ve worked out. I begin writing early afternoon, sometimes before that if I have a deadline crunch. My days don’t always work out this way, but this is what I like for my writing routine.

What is your writing style?
I write what are called cozy mysteries. When I do presentations, I tell people I feel it’s something of an oxymoron. If someone asks me what I do for a living, it sounds funny to say I write a cozy murder series. Cozy and murder don’t seem to go together. I then say I write safe whodunits. By safe I mean there won’t be any graphic violence. I’ve been disappointed in some authors I’ve read who had a great plot going and then out of nowhere threw in a torture scene. That’s not what I want to read. With a cozy you also know the regular characters will be back. They might get a little bruised once in a while, but they will return. Other aspects of the cozy genre are no bad language and no explicit sex.

What books do you currently have published?
Murder at Redwood Cove
Murder at the Mansion
Murder at the Fortune Teller’s Table

Is writing your dream job?
Yes. I love entering the world of my series. It’s fun to create what happens and to describe the beautiful area of Mendocino, California, which Redwood Cove is based upon. I also get to visit the town for my research which I really enjoy.

How often do you tweet?
I try to tweet at least several times a week. Twitter was new to me until this past spring. I never thought I’d be doing a lot of tweeting. I love the pictures I’m seeing. I’m involved with a lot of animal groups because of the dogs I have in each book of my series. If I need something to smile about, all I have to do is go to my Twitter account. I also have a number of writers and writing groups I follow and who follow me.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I really like Facebook. Again, this was a big change for me. At one point a while back, one of the members of my writing group wouldn’t let me leave at the end of our meeting until I posted something because I’d never put anything on Facebook. I was nervous about putting something out there for the world to see. Now I try to post on a regular basis. I have some readers who always respond to me on my author page. It’s been fun to interact with them.

What’s your favorite beverage?
Okay. Here it is. A Starbuck’s coffee frappuccino with an extra shot of espresso. Hmmm…good! Whenever I drive to Mendocino, it’s my treat half way there. It’s about a three and a half hour drive. The first half is freeway, and the second half is a windy two lane road, so the coffee helps with that part of the drive.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico. This is one of the places where gray whales go to have their babies. I’ve touched young whales, and it was an absolutely amazing experience. I’ve been three times. Recently I attended the Mendocino Whale Festival and my husband put together a slideshow of photos from our trips. It was fun to see the photographs and bring the memories back.

Do you procrastinate?
Okay. Truth time. Yes, sometimes I procrastinate . . . but only for a while. I know I need to push the book forward. At some point I remind myself of that and get to work.

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
How quickly paper piles up in my life. I have difficulty keeping up with the magazines, catalogs, newspapers, and various other pieces of mail.

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
Let’s see. Green beans for the dogs. They needed to loose a few pounds and a friend suggested the beans to fill them up when I reduced their amount of food. They LOVE them. They’ve lost the weight, but I don’t have the heart to stop giving them the green beans. Their names are Kylie (Rhodesian ridgeback) and Ellie (coonhound/boxer mix). There’s cheese for the dogs . . . and an occasional slice for me. I cut it up into small pieces for an over-the-top treat for them. My husband has his Unsweetened Original Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almond milk and there are lots of fresh vegetables and fruit.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“To live happily is an inward power of the soul.” Marcus Aurelius

What are you working on now?
Currently I’m working on my fourth book tentatively titled Murder at the Mushroom Festival. There is a contest to see who can find the widest variety of mushrooms during a given period of time. There are two animals trained to find fungi that help the hunters—a dog named Max and a pig named Priscilla. When a person if found murdered, the type of hunt changes. Kelly Jackson and the crime-solving seniors, the Silver Sentinels, begin looking for the killer to help one of their friends who has become a suspect in the investigation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janet Finsilver is the USA TODAY best-selling author of the Kelly Jackson mystery series. She worked in education for many years as a teacher, a program administrator, and a workshop presenter. Janet majored in English and earned a Master’s Degree in Education. She loves animals and has two dogs—Kylie and Ellie. Janet has ridden western style since she was a child and was a member of the National Ski Patrol. One of the highlights of her life was touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. Murder at Redwood Cove, her debut mystery, was released on October 13, 2015. Her second book, Murder at the Mansion, became available on June 7, 2016. The third book, Murder at the Fortune Teller’s Table, was released on March 14, 2017.

Janet Finsilver and her husband reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. She enjoys cooking, and a recent attempt to reduce the number of cookbooks in the cupboard wasn’t very successful. She’s an avid reader—of course!

Connect with Janet:
Website  |  
Blog  |  Facebook  | 
 Twitter  |  Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Apple  |  Google  |   Kobo 

FEATURED AUTHOR: JANET FINSILVER

ABOUT THE BOOK

Kelly Jackson returns to California to manage Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast.
While the inn is being renovated, she is assigned the task of inventorying a historic
collection of objects from the 1800s housed at nearby Redwood Heights and to assist at
the mansion during the Whale Frolic Festival. She’s also asked to learn what she can about the disappearance of some jewelry from visitors’ rooms.

Shortly after she arrives, Kelly finds a guest stabbed in one of the rooms, the door
and windows locked from the inside. Then Gertrude “Gertie” Plumber, a member of the
Silver Sentinels, a crime-solving group of senior citizens, is attacked. The police question Gertie’s son, Stevie, who is working at the mansion with his bed-bug and termite-sniffing team of beagles, Jack and Jill, about the jewelry thefts as well as the murder. Kelly and the Silver Sentinels must work together to solve the crimes before another life is lost and Stevie is put in prison.





INTERVIEW WITH JANET FINSILVER

Janet, how did you get started writing?
I’ve loved to read my whole life. I spent summers with my grandparents who had an entire collection of Zane Grey’s books. I read them all. I don’t know if it’s a claim to fame or not, but in high school I read all of the mysteries, dog books, and westerns in the South San Francisco library. Please don’t ask about my social life at the time. I decided to see what I could create, and the Kelly Jackson mystery series was born.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
Bringing the characters to life. They become friends, and it’s fun to “visit” them as I write.

What books do you currently have published?
Murder at Redwood Cove came out October 13, 2015. Murder at the Mansion released on June 7, 2016.


What do you love about where you live?
I live in a rural setting a short distance from a thriving city. It’s the best of both worlds. I look out my window and see a small valley of trees. I can get in the car and be at an Apple store and getting help in fifteen minutes. This is great for those days when something goes wrong!

What is one of your happiest moments?
When my husband, E.J., asked me to marry him. I was sitting on the couch, he went down on one knee, and popped the question.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Nothing to do? I’ve never had that experience. It would be fun to find out what that’s like.

Have you ever killed off a character fictionally, as revenge for something someone did in real life?
No, but I’m considering doing it in the next book. I recently had a travel agent who made a mess of the ticketing for a trip. It was highly questionable several times whether or not my bags and I would be able to remain together. It definitely added stress to the journey. I relieved some of it by thinking about possibly having her be my next victim.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
Touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. There’s a tour group I go with that has camping privileges right next to the water. The whale activity never stops. You see their backs as they glide through the water. Spy-hops and majestic breaches add to the show. You go out on small boats called “pangas” twice a day.


Who is your favorite fictional character?
A favorite is hard to pick. Hercule Poirot would be one of the names at the top of my list. I love his attention to detail and how he thinks things through. I can hear David Suchet’s voice talking about “the little grey cells.”


What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
I have a black belt in Tae Kwan Do.


You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
Sautéed scallops. I have trouble getting them to brown, and I’d like to learn how. I know you need to have them as dry as possible, but I’m still not as successful as I would like to be.


How do you like your pizza?
Lots of stuff on it, especially cheese.


What’s your favorite song?
Again, a favorite is a hard choice. I think it depends on my mood and what I’m doing. Right now it’s morning and “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” from Oklahoma comes to mind.


What’s your favorite smell?
Honeysuckle.


What’s your favorite color?
Blue. All shades of blue. I have to be careful to not have all my characters wearing it.


What are your favorite foods?
Milk chocolate. Peanut butter cups with dark chocolate. Candy made with chocolate, caramel, and sea salt. Hmm . . . there seems to be a theme here.


What are you working on now?
The third book in the series is tentatively titled Murder at the Fortune Teller’s Table. Despina Manyotis, better known as “Auntie,” predicts the future by reading patterns in Turkish coffee grounds. Murder occurs and one of the members of my crime-solving group of senior citizens, the Silver Sentinels, is attacked. My protagonist works with them to solve the crimes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janet Finsilver is the USA TODAY best-selling author of the Kelly Jackson mystery series. She worked in education for many years as a teacher, a program administrator, and a workshop presenter. Janet majored in English and earned a Master’s Degree in Education. She loves animals and has two dogs—Kylie and Ellie. Janet has ridden western style since she was a child and was a member of the National Ski Patrol. One of the highlights of her life was touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. Murder at Redwood Cove, her debut mystery, was released on October 13, 2015. Her second book, Murder at the Mansion, was published June 7, 2016.



Connect with Janet:
Website  | 
 Blog  | 
 Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book: 
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  | 

a Rafflecopter giveaway