FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLIE NAGEL

ABOUT THE BOOK



In a small town like Oakwood, Ohio, everyone knows everyone else’s business—except for Charley Carpenter’s standoffish new neighbors, who tend to keep to themselves. But behind closed doors, Paxton Sharpe’s habit of screaming bloody murder at all hours of the day keeps Charley awake all night. Coupled with the stress of the increasingly delayed expansion of her shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions, the insomnia is driving Charley crazy. Her only distraction? The local paper’s irreverent new advice column, “Ask Jackie.”
 


Jackie’s biting commentary usually leaves Charley and her employees rolling on the floor, but her latest column is no laughing matter. An oddly phrased query hinting at a child in peril immediately puts Charley on high alert. After arriving home to a bloodcurdling scream next door, she follows the noise into the basement and makes a grisly discovery: the body of Judith Sharpe’s adult daughter.
 


With Detective Marcus Trenault off in Chicago, Charley decides to take matters into her own hands. Convinced that the murder is connected to the desperate plea for help in “Ask Jackie,” she embarks on a twisted investigation that has her keeping up with the Sharpes—before a killer strikes again.


Book Details:


Title: The Codebook Murders

Author: Leslie Nagel

Genre: Cozy mystery

Series: The Oakwood Book Club Mysteries, book 4

Publisher: Random House Alibi (May 21st, 2019)

Print length: E book and audio formats only, 245 pages

GUEST POST BY LESLIE NAGEL



A Day in the Life of Amateur Sleuth Charley Carpenter

Suburbia is murder, my friends.
 


I know this, and in the most intimate and shocking way possible. And yet, I simply cannot leave well enough alone. Or maybe it’s the murders that won’t leave me alone. I’m just a shopkeeper, for pity’s sake. Maybe it’s the red hair . . .
 


My name is Charlotte Carpenter, aka Charley. I am the humble owner of Old Hat Vintage Fashions, the trendiest boutique in my hometown of Oakwood, a wealthy, insular suburb of Dayton, Ohio. Not exactly your first pick as a likely locale for a series of gruesome murders, you say?
 


You’d be dead wrong.



A few months ago, I helped the police solve a baffling case involving the exclusive Agathas Book Club, of which I used to be a member—before most of the membership was knocked off, with crime scenes arranged to copy books from our murder mystery reading list. Specifically, I found myself working intimately with smoking hot Detective Marcus Trenault.

Ever since that first investigation, I’ve encountered more dead bodies than any amateur sleuth has a right to expect. I love it. And I’m good at it, too—solving puzzles, tracking down information, going where the police cannot. My secret? I listen. And I remember what I’ve heard, making connections that help me to discover the truth.

Before you ask, the fact that I’ve had a major thing for Marc since we were in high school had no influence whatsoever on my affinity for all things murder. None at all. Of course, now that we’re in a committed relationship, I’ve taken advantage of his expertise and professional contacts to solve more than one mystery.

Marc bought the house next door and is busy renovating it for us to live in—together! He is the sweetest man. He didn’t want me to have to choose between him and my father Bobby, who is confined to a wheelchair. Although our amazing live-in caregiver Lawrence loves Bobby and treats him so well, I felt guilty about leaving. In the end, my father was the one who convinced me to get out there and live my life. After all, I turn twenty-nine next week. And since I will literally be right next door, our little family circle stays intact. Morning coffee on the back deck with all three of my favorite guys—life just keeps getting better and better.

In addition to running my shop, preparing to move in with my boyfriend, and solving the occasional crime, I’ve got a new pastime: The Oakwood Mystery Book Club. Frankie Bright—we’ve been BFF’s since junior high and partners on more capers than I care to think about! Anyway, this new book club was her idea. She was in the Agathas with me when all that craziness went down last year. If it hadn’t been for her help, I might not have wriggled out of that situation in one piece.

Our new club will still focus on reading mysteries; female authors only, of course. But in addition, I somehow found myself agreeing to let the entire membership help me with my investigations. What was I thinking? As it turns out, the six of us each brings something unique to the table. And we’ve found that drawing inspiration from the books we’re reading helps us to crack cases. For example, Death on the Nile by Dame Agatha Christie centers on a deadly love triangle—but it’s not the triangle you think it is. That startling plot twist has got me wondering; could it be the key to a forty year old cold case?

Which brings me to the latest puzzle to land on my doorstep. Last week a tornado passed right over Oakwood! Everyone’s okay, but I was forced to take shelter in a creepy, dank access tunnel that runs from the stadium to the high school furnace room. While I was down there, I found a moldering backpack with a journal written entire in some sort of code. My father says it might belong to a girl named Regan. She was murdered forty years ago, and her boyfriend Carter went to prison for the crime. When another convict confessed, Carter was released. But when the convict recanted, a new pall of suspicion fell over Carter. He’s been living like a hermit in the old family house in West Oakwood ever since.

You might think that’s the end of it, but once again, you’d be dead wrong. First of all, a reporter named Berkeley’s been nosing around. He’s the one who unearthed that convict twenty years ago. He’s also been researching Regan’s murder for years, planning to write a true crime best seller. He actually swiped the journal right out of Old Hat’s back room! I’d asked a teenage pal to try to decode it; he and Marc helped me trap Berkeley and get the journal back. That reporter is a slippery one. He got me to agree to work with him on solving Regan’s case.

Here’s the thing: None of us believe Carter was guilty. And that convict? His story had more holes than Swiss cheese. So if neither one of them murdered Regan, who did? Is her killer still out there, walking the streets of Oakwood? Whatever happened to the fabulous sapphire necklace Regan stole right before she was killed? And now Berkeley’s disappeared, and someone’s been following my teenage code expert. It has to be connected, I’m certain of it.

Maybe this cold case isn’t so cold after all.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leslie Nagel is the author of the USA Today and Amazon bestselling Oakwood Mystery Series. She lives in the all too real city of Oakwood, Ohio, where murders are rare but great stories lie thick on the ground. In addition to writing about murder, she also teaches writing at a local community college. After the written word, Leslie's passions include her husband, her son and daughter, hiking, tennis and strong black coffee, not necessarily in that order.


Connect with Leslie:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Instagram

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo  |  iBooks

FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLIE NAGEL

ABOUT THE BOOK


Amateur sleuth Charley Carpenter discovers a coded journal that could crack her small town’s most infamous cold case wide open in this charming cozy mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Club Murders.
 


As the owner of Old Hat Vintage Fashions, Charley Carpenter supplies retro apparel to the residents of Oakwood, Ohio, but she’s been known to set business aside to play detective when a mystery rears its head. And there’s no bigger mystery in Oakwood than the murder of Regan Fletcher—a case that’s haunted the town for decades.
 


Regan’s boyfriend, Carter, did time for the crime—until another man’s confession freed him. But did the “real killer” really do it? Or did Carter walk away with blood on his hands? When Charley stumbles on an old journal written in code, it only complicates the case by revealing a blackmail scheme that targeted dozens of Oakwood’s citizens, giving them all a motive for murder. 
 


Now, with a spate of new suspects to pursue, plus a fresh murder and the abduction of her teenage code breaking expert, Charley must dig still deeper into the past—even as she risks being buried by her shadowy prey. Joining forces with Detective Marcus Trenault and the newly formed Oakwood Mystery Book Club, Charley turns to a classic whodunit for clues on catching a killer—before more lives are lost, and the truth dies with them.

Book Details:

Title: The Codebook Murders

Author:  Leslie Nagel

Genre:  Cozy Mystery


Series: The Oakwood Book Club Mysteries, book 4


Publisher: Random House Alibi (May 21, 2019)


Print length: 270 pages 

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH LESLIE NAGEL

Ifs


If you could talk to someone (living), who would it be and what would you ask them?
I’d love to meet Stephen King. I would ask him out for drinks, get him yakking, then convince him to adopt me and teach me his many secrets. Also, we’d have to rent a camper and drive around Maine.

If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
If I could speak with Dame Agatha Christie, I would ask her about those famous lost eleven days, from December 3-14, 1926. She went missing and never would tell where she went or what she did. Speculation about it has inspired a number of excellent books and movies. The ultimate mystery . . .

If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
Whew! I’ve already tried so many things: radio DJ, real estate sales, restaurant manager, marketing VP, wife and mother, Scout leader, special events planner, college professor. I came to writing later than most, not publishing my first book until I was in my (gulp) fifties. And yet, I could not have become the writer that I am without having traveled down all those other paths.

Every single thing I’ve done in my life informs my fiction in some way. Sometimes it’s very explicit, such as the land development and zoning information that forms the basis for The Antique House Murders. More often it’s subtler: my strong ties to family and community, the work ethic I assign to my characters, and of course, Oakwood. My mysteries are set in the small town where I’ve lived all my life. Adding in real places and people (names changed, promise!) isn’t just a blast, although it is definitely tons of fun. It also enables me to deliver an authentic feeling of place and time to my readers.

If you were on the Amazon bestseller list, what authors would you choose to be one before and one below you?
JK Rowling writes a fantastic detective series under the name Robert Galbraith. I’d be so honored to find my book listed after any one of hers. And listed after my bestseller? Tana French, writer of the incomparable Dublin Detective Squad series. That is some seriously good company for any author.


If you could choose a fictional town to live in, what would it be and from what book?
I’ve heard Hobbiton of The Shire has quite a few good pubs. I think I’d enjoy the custom of six meals a day, giving presents for any and all occasions, and naming children after plants and flowers. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien has been a treasured favorite since I first met Bilbo Baggins when I was twelve years old.


Ands

5 things you need in order to write:
    •    sticky notes in multiple colors
    •    the Internet
    •    my squashy chair cushion
and
    •    plenty of strong black coffee

5 things you love about writing: 
    •    The freedom to set my own schedule
    •    the creative outlet (difficult to obtain in most other lines of work)
    •    the opportunity to talk with readers about what they find in my stories
    •    hearing my words narrated in audiobook format

and
    •    researching obscure methods for murdering someone.
About that last one? I sincerely hope Homeland Security never has cause to poke into my search history . . .

5 favorite foods: 
   Just five? Okay . . .
    •    PIZZA is an entire food category on its own. All those toppings!
    •    I love a juicy burger with lots of extras piled on top
    •    omelets with plenty of sautéed veggies and feta cheese
    •    a stadium dog with all the trimmings—but only if I’m at an actual baseball game
and
    •    my personal creation: 5-layer lasagna
As I review this list, I’ve made an interesting personal discovery. I like COMPLICATED FOOD. Things with lots of toppings, parts, components. What’s up with that?? And what does that say about me as a mystery writer? Fact is, I love things to be complicated, especially when all the disparate elements come together into a final, delicious, solution.

5 favorite books:
    •    Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
    •    The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
    •    Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
    •    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie
and
    •    Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
This is a very diverse list, but they all have a common attribute: excellent storytelling, with tight prose and characters that stay with you.

Whats

What’s your favorite time of day?
I am a morning person. As one of four children growing up in a smallish house, finding alone time wasn’t easy. I loved the feeling of being the only person in the house, of getting the sofa to myself, of fixing breakfast without having to jockey for position. I still enjoy getting outside at dawn, when my only company are birds and squirrels—they are refreshingly nonjudgmental about morning hair.

What’s your favorite beverage?
You cannot imagine my joy at finding red wine on the list of “20 Foods to Reduce Your Cholesterol.”

What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do?
There’s always something to do, especially when you are a writer! However, on the rare occasions when my characters have fallen silent and all other obligations have been fulfilled, I love to read. I’ve been exploring previously ignored genres lately, like YA and fantasy. There is so much talent out there, and so many amazing stories waiting to be discovered.

What’s your favorite quote?
“Pressure Makes Diamonds.” Don’t know who said it, but when I first heard this back in college, I took it for a personal mantra. It applies to so many life situations, from work burnout, to new-parent anxiety, to relationship discord.

What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
Last summer I helped my daughter move to Washington State. We hiked to the top of Kamiak Butte and snapped a photo of the breathtaking view. What a strangely beautiful landscape! So many shades of green, brown and gold, a crazy-quilt of irrigated farm fields draped over the hills and valleys in every direction. This is the arid eastern half of the state, a climate so very different from my rainy home state of Ohio. That photo is a daily reminder of a special memory shared with my favorite girl, whom I miss every day.


What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food:  My son has me eating a lot of Indian food, although, unlike him, I remain firmly at the bottom of the spicy scale.
Music:  Classic rock all the way, especially Bowie, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd and the Beatles.
Movie: If you haven’t seen Captain Marvel yet, you’ve missed a fabulous piece of storytelling with a strong feminist theme. This movie breaks a number of superhero tropes, which is a tough one, considering how many of these things have come out in the last few years. Five pink stars.
Book: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It’s tough to find a truly original story; this one fills the bill. Not a traditional mystery, but a thread of whodunnit runs through this haunting and satisfying tale.
Audiobook: Just finished The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor. Creepy thriller with several twists and turns, right up until the final page. An excellent narrator makes all the difference, and Euan Morton’s nuanced reading brings all the characters vividly to life.
TV:  Elementary – this fresh take on Holmes and Watson continues to deliver good mysteries layered with believable personal development of all the major characters. I’m sorry to learn Season 7 will be the last. Thank heaven for syndication.
Netflix/Amazon Prime: The Umbrella Academy took me completely by surprise! Loved the atmospheric tension combined with a hint of the supernatural. Cannot wait for Season 2.

OTHER BOOKS BY LESLIE NAGEL

The Book Club Murders
The Antique House Murders
The Advice Column Murders

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leslie Nagel is the author of the USA Today and Amazon bestselling Oakwood Book Club Mysteries series. She lives in the all too real city of Oakwood, Ohio, where murders are rare but great stories lie thick on the ground. In addition to writing about murder, she also teaches writing at a local community college. After the written word, Leslie's passions include her husband, her son and daughter, hiking, tennis, and strong black coffee, not necessarily in that order.


Connect with Leslie:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  

Buy the book:
Amazon  |   Barnes & Noble  |  iBooks  |  Kobo 

GUEST POST BY LESLIE NAGEL

ABOUT THE BOOK

What’s the couple next door really hiding? Vintage fashionista and amateur sleuth Charley Carpenter finds out in this engrossing cozy mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Club Murders.

In a small town like Oakwood, Ohio, everyone knows everyone else’s business—except for Charley Carpenter’s standoffish new neighbors, who tend to keep to themselves. But behind closed doors, Paxton Sharpe’s habit of screaming bloody murder at all hours of the day keeps Charley awake all night. Coupled with the stress of the increasingly delayed expansion of her shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions, the insomnia is driving Charley crazy. Her only distraction? The local paper’s irreverent new advice column, “Ask Jackie.”

Jackie’s biting commentary usually leaves Charley and her employees rolling on the floor, but her latest column is no laughing matter. An oddly phrased query hinting at a child in peril immediately puts Charley on high alert. After arriving home to a bloodcurdling scream next door, she follows the noise into the basement and makes a grisly discovery: the body of Judith Sharpe’s adult daughter.

With Detective Marcus Trenault off in Chicago, Charley decides to take matters into her own hands. Convinced that the murder is connected to the desperate plea for help in “Ask Jackie,” she embarks on a twisted investigation that has her keeping up with the Sharpes—before a killer strikes again.

Book Details:

Title: The Advice Column Murders

Author: Leslie Nagel

Genre: Cozy mystery, 3rd in series

Series: The Oakwood Mystery series

Publisher: Alibi (April 3, 2018)

Print Length: 250 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

GUEST POST BY LESLIE NAGEL

Write What You Know? Yes . . . And No

Let’s talk about method acting. The core of “The Method” is emotional analogy. When you want to play a part in a convincing way, you must feel the emotions of your character. Sometimes that requires living the life of that character, literally walking a mile in her or his shoes. So, if you’re tasked with playing the part of a killer, do you go out and bump somebody off?

Thankfully, that won’t be necessary.

Instead, you try to resurrect the most homicidal feeling you’ve ever had and bring that sense of all-consuming rage to the part. It doesn’t take much – a memory of having your new car sideswiped in a parking lot could suffice, IF that memory is enough to bring your blood to the boiling point.

So how does emotional analogy apply to writing fiction?
   
“Write what you know” is both one of the best, and one of the most misunderstood, pieces of advice, ever. It encourages new writers to keep their setting and characters grounded in familiar territory, which hopefully translates into relatable, believable stories.

But it also paralyzes aspiring authors into thinking that authenticity in fiction means thinly veiled autobiography. If you’re a drunken, brawling adventurer like Hemingway, no problem. If you, like Jane Austen, are a gentlewoman living in a world obsessed with the marriageability of young women and the suitability of their admirers, you need merely to gaze out your window for inspiration.

But what about the rest of us? Do I only write books about being a part time teacher and raising a couple of kids? Of course not. How boring would that be to write, much less read? Conversely, have I ever killed a bunch of people and arranged them like scenes from favorite mystery books? I have not. But I wrote about it, and quite convincingly, according to my readers. How did I do that?

Well, has Andy Weir (The Martian) ever been stranded in space? Did Ernest Cline (Ready Player One) live in a future dominated by an immersive video game? NO, and NO. Yet both novels are authentic and convincing. How did they do that?

I don’t mean to suggest that writing about the world you know is a mistake. If you are a new writer still mastering your craft, I highly recommend it. After all, I set my Oakwood Mystery Series in my very real hometown. It’s relatively easy for me to describe the sights, smells, sounds, the people, even the weather, allowing me to focus on planting all those red herrings.

However, “write what you know” isn’t just about the five senses. It’s also about the six sense: emotions. You can write a scene about two people standing in your kitchen having an unexpected moment of romantic connection. You can describe their appearance. It’s your kitchen: you can describe the scene right down to the teacups, curtains and pot holders hanging on the wall.

But if you’ve never had a crazy crush, if you’ve never made eye contact with a sexy someone and felt the blush heat your cheeks before setting your pulse racing and your tummy fluttering, your scene will fall flat. However, if you connect emotionally with your characters, you can put your story on Pluto, and readers will buy into it one hundred percent.

I teach writing at a local college. Of the five steps of the writing process, I find prewriting is the most neglected. But prewriting is exactly how to get you where you want to go. Remember the emotional analogy of method acting?

As you prepare to write your scene:
1.    Evoke a memory that mirrors the emotions your character is feeling. (Nobody feeling anything? Reduce that exposition to one line and get to the good stuff.)
2.    When you have that memory, you need to dwell there for awhile. Think about the five senses you experienced while living it. Take your time. Then grab a pen and begin generating an emotional word bank.

Your heroine is walking down the hall toward a closed door. “She walked down the red carpeted hall toward the closed door.” Okay, despite the adjectives, I am asleep. WHY is she doing it? What is on the other side of that door?

Let’s say she’s heading in there to pick a fight. Before you write a line, you need to think of the last time you got in a good, heated shouting match. Then begin to generate emotional words for your word bank. Here are a few of mine (I fight a lot):  Stomp, Shout, Heat, Black, Fury, Slam, Idiot, Stupid, Hands Sweating, Red, Tight Throat, Silently, Scream, Rejection, Anger, Fear, Burning, Interruption, Savagely, Slash.

This process should also take a while. Start with a few, leave it, come back. Ultimately you’ll have a lot of sensory words that stem from your emotions.

Notice that I’ve got adjectives, nouns, adverbs and verbs in there. This is a BRAIN DUMP; nothing is off limits. Anything and everything that remotely comes to mind as you live that scene in your head goes into your word bank.

Stuck? Try switching places with another player in the scenario. Who is waiting behind that closed door? Watch yourself reacting through their eyes as whatever happened, happens to you.

Take a look at your list. If you’ve worked it hard, you’ll discover something interesting. While you dwelt in that emotional memory, the other five senses crept in! And that is the secret of writing what you know. Armed with a list of sensory words brimming with the feelings you want your characters to convey, you are now equipped to write a scene that will vibrate with emotional authenticity, a scene that will come alive for your reader.

I leave you to imagine your heroines, hallways and everything that lies behind that closed door. If you’re feeling it as you write, your readers will, too.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leslie Nagel is a writer and teacher of writing at a local community college. Her debut novel, The Book Club Murders, is the first in the Oakwood Mystery Series. Leslie lives in the all too real city of Oakwood, Ohio, where murders are rare but great stories lie thick on the ground. After the written word, her passions include her husband, her son, and daughter, hiking, tennis, and strong black coffee, not necessarily in that order.

Connect with Leslie:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram 


Buy the book:
Amazon  |  B&N | Kobo | Google Play

FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLIE NAGEL

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this irresistible cozy mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Club Murders, amateur sleuth Charley Carpenter fights to avenge a crime that hits far too close to home.



Mulbridge House stood, silent and decaying, deep in the woods at the heart of Oakwood, Ohio, long before the passing of Augusta Mulbridge. Yet suddenly everyone in town seems to have a stake in its fate: the greedy heirs, eager to tear it down for a tidy profit; the local preservationists, determined to maintain it as an historic site; the angry neighbors, staunchly opposed to the construction of a modern subdivision. Even Charley Carpenter is forced to admit that her beloved shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions, could use an infusion of the estate’s treasures.



The clock is ticking. The wrecking ball is ready to swing. All that stands between Mulbridge House and oblivion is one final vote. That, and murder . . .



The trouble begins when Charley walks into auctioneer Calvin Prescott’s office to find her cherished family friend crumpled on the floor. Detective Marcus Trenault quickly connects his death to a string of increasingly violent burglaries plaguing Oakwood. But when Charley uncovers a link to a massive land swindle worth millions, not to mention a drug ring operating out of the manor’s abandoned outbuildings, that theory crumbles faster than Mulbridge House. Now Charley’s racing to catch a killer before everything falls apart.

LOVE IT OR HATE IT INTERVIEW WITH LESLIE NAGEL

A few of your favorite things:  Books, my sweet old kitty, afghans, pansies, my collection of coffee mugs, friends that don’t judge.
Things you need to throw out:  Sweaters and bell bottom slacks from the Reagan administration, all those freebie glass vases from every flower arrangement I’ve ever received. Except the square one. That one can stay.


Things you need in order to write:  SILENCE. And Post-it® notes. And coffee.
Things that hamper your writing:   Social Media. Sometimes I lock my phone in my car to keep from checking every five minutes. I’m not proud of it.



Things you never want to run out of:  Post-it® notes. I practically eat them for breakfast. Some women keep lipsticks and tissues in every purse and bag; I have packs of sticky notes for jotting ideas, cool names, whatever comes to mind. I use them for every step of the writing process, particularly revising and editing. When I outline a new story, I have this ridiculous color coding system, and I post at least 50 notes across a mirror in my hall bathroom, moving them and making faces at myself until I get a framework that gets me to the keyboard.
Things you wish you’d never bought:  A Chimenea. That thing was an absolute albatross. Too heavy to move, it scarred my wood deck, and it was impossible to arrange seating without incinerating someone. I had to give it away to get rid of it.


Words that describe you:  Organized, maternal, sympathetic, creative, busy.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Obsessive, restless, talky, impatient.

Favorite foods:  Coffee (technically not a food, deal with it), chocolate, pizza. Anything with gratuitous amounts of cheese, actually.
Things that make you want to throw up:  Escargots, calves’ liver, squid, and okra. With okra it’s a texture issue. Hairy when raw, and gooey when it’s cooked. Even Southerners only eat it battered and fried within an inch of its life.

Favorite music or song:  Absolutely anything by David Bowie or Aerosmith, the earlier the better (barring that heinous song from the asteroid movie. “Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”—I’d happily miss that one.
Music that make your ears bleed:  9-Inch Nails type-stuff, and Jazz. I am simply not hip enough to figure it out.

Favorite beverage:  Coffee (You will already know this if you’ve been paying attention.)

Something that gives you a pickle face:  Moscato. It’s that fizzy white wine everyone keeps pushing at parties. Just, NO.

Something you wish you could do:  Cartwheels.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do:  Smoke. I quit many years ago, but seriously. What on earth was I thinking? Oh. Right. I WASN’T.

Things you’d walk a mile for:  My children and husband. Without shoes, over glass.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room:  “Toppers,” and other people’s travel photos after about 6-8 of them. A few is fine. Any more is delusional. No one cares what you guys had for dinner.

Things to say to an author:  “I paid full price for your last book.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I thought you’d be thinner in person.”

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living):  Michele Obama, Stephen King, Jimmy Kimmel. He is just too cute.

People you’d cancel dinner on:  Brad Pitt. No man-whores.

Favorite things to do:  Write, read anything with a happy ending, sleep late, play tennis, gab on the phone with my daughter about nothing.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing:  Ironing. Absolutely the most pointless task of all time. Also, I’d be fine without ever taking a standardized test again. Or running a school fundraiser.

Best thing you’ve ever done:  Marrying my high school sweetheart. He is an absolute champ.

Biggest mistake:  Not pursuing a career in teaching, because my father told me there was no money in it. Fortunately, the champ from the previous entry encouraged me to return to school in my forties, get my MS in Education, and switch careers to teaching college English.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Quarter mile zipline over the New River in West Virginia. My screams echo to this day.

Something you chickened out from doing: Asking Rod Stewart for his autograph. On a trip to Paris in 1983, we spotted him at a nearby table. He looked kind of contemplative but approachable, and all I had to do was walk over there and say hello. But . . . Rod Stewart, you know? By the time I got up the nerve, he’d paid his check and left. Brush with greatness: denied.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leslie Nagel is the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Club Murders, the first novel in the Oakwood Mystery series. She lives in the real city of Oakwood, Ohio, where she teaches writing at a local community college. After the written word, her passions include her husband, her son and daughter, hiking, tennis, and strong black coffee, not necessarily in that order.

Connect with Leslie:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter 
 
Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo  |  iBook 

FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLIE NAGEL

ABOUT THE BOOK

In a charming cozy mystery series debut, Leslie Nagel’s irrepressible small-town heroine finds that her fellow mystery book club members may be taking their Agatha Christie a bit too literally—and murder a bit too lightly.



Charley Carpenter has poured heart and soul into her clothing store, Old Hat Vintage Fashions. She’ll do anything to make it a success—even join the stuffy Agathas Book Club in order to cultivate customers among Oakwood, Ohio’s wealthy elite. 



Although mixing with the most influential women in town has its advantages, Charley finds the endless gossip a high price to pay. But after two women with close ties to the Agathas are brutally murdered, everyone falls under threat—and suspicion. When key evidence indicates that both murders are the work of the same hand, Charley realizes that the killer has arranged each corpse in perfect imitation of crime scenes from the Club’s murder mystery reading list. She uses her membership in the Club to convince Detective Marcus Trenault to use her as an inside informant. Not that he could stop her anyway.



Intelligent, fearless, and every bit as stubborn as Marc is, Charley soon learns the Agathas aren’t the only ones with secrets to protect. Passions explode as she and Marc must race against time to prevent another murder. And if Charley’s not careful, she may find herself becoming the killer’s next plot twist.


INTERVIEW WITH LESLIE NAGEL

Leslie, is writing your dream job?
Absolutely. I’ve wanted to write a novel since I was ten years old.


What is the worst job you’ve ever had? What did it teach you?
Ladies’ Locker room attendant. I scrubbed toilets and cleaned golf shoes at a country club one summer. I learned that people in uniforms performing mundane tasks are invisible to the wealthy. Oh, the gossip I picked up that summer.

What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
I wish I’d done my homework. I was a marketing executive for over ten years, so I understand the value of doing market research before trying to develop a product. So why didn’t I check out basic market guidelines like expected word count or genre guidelines? I have no clue. What I do know is that failing to have a plan before I began caused me countless hours of revision and restructuring before my novel was saleable.

What’s more important – characters or plot?
I write cozy mysteries, so of course plot is the most important aspect. Readers expect to trace those clues to a satisfying solution to the puzzle. If they can’t, then I haven’t kept my side of the bargain.

How often do you read?
I always have an audio book going in the car and at least two books open on my iPad. I finish a book a week on average.

How do you feel about Facebook?
In this election season, I find all the political rantings tiresome. It’s social media, people. In general, however, I like the connectivity. My high school class has a page, and seeing everyone’s kids and grandkids is a lot of fun.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without?

Lipstick.


What do you love about where you live?

I’ve sprinkled fictional dead bodies all over my hometown, but it’s actually lovely and peaceful. People look out for one another, keep an eye on their kids, care about the school, the parks, the library. Oakwood is a jewel.


What’s your favorite fast food?

Subway tuna salad with guacamole and all the veggies. And I do mean ALL.



What’s your least favorite chore?
I hate ironing. It’s so pointless. The moment you put on the shirt, it’s wrinkled.


Do you procrastinate?
Never.

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?

When people say they’ll do a thing and then fail to follow through, I’m ready to do violence. If you don’t want to participate, simply say so.


What is the most daring thing you've done?

It’s a tie between white water rafting down the New River and getting married.

Who is your favorite fictional character?
Sherlock Holmes. He’s such an ass. But as my mother says, it ain’t bragging if it’s true.



Describe yourself in 5 words.

Organized, layered, active, sympathetic, caffeinated.



I love the last one! What’s your favorite song?

"Life On Mars" by David Bowie.



Do you have a favorite book?

The entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I’ve read them all over a dozen times.



What are you working on now?

I’ve nearly finished Book Two in the Oakwood Mystery Series. It centers around a crumbling old mansion in the woods of west Oakwood, a couple of greedy heirs eager to tear it down, and the seemingly unrelated death of the auctioneer who managed the estate sale. Throw a teenage drug ring into the mix, and amateur detective Charley Carpenter will definitely have her hands full.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leslie Nagel is a writer and teacher of writing at a local community college. Her debut novel, The Book Club Murders, is the first in the Oakwood Mystery Series. Leslie lives in the all too real city of Oakwood, Ohio, where murders are rare but great stories lie thick on the ground. After the written word, her passions include her husband, her son and daughter, hiking, tennis and strong black coffee, not necessarily in that order.



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

Buy the book:
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