FEATURED AUTHOR: BARBARA BARRETT

Beware the east wind! It’s hurricane season in Florida, and everyone’s attention is focused on preparing for the latest tempest. But in Serendipity Springs, mah jongg pals Marianne, Sydney, Micki and Kat are caught in a different kind of whirlwind—a mesmerizing murder case involving a slain hypnotist/chef and the woman police suspect of doing her in, her embittered catering partner, Portia.

Tasked by Portia to help clear her name, and at the risk of infuriating Kat’s sheriff boyfriend, Marianne and her friends discover there are more than enough suspects—and secrets—to go around. Wary of getting themselves into more dangerous situations, Marianne and Syd agree to let their protective spouses join the hunt, even if their scheming husbands are really in it for the action, not bodyguard duty.

As they dig into the hypnotist’s explosive files, more and more questions arise. Was she blackmailing her clients? Did her husband knock her off to gain access to those secrets? And is Portia telling them everything she knows? The sleuths pile their own deceptions on top of the suspects’ lies as a dangerous storm gathers steam offshore. When will the east wind strike, and will the hurricane’s merciless eye reveal a killer?

Book Details:

Title: Beware the East Wind   

Author: Barbara Barret

Genre: cozy mystery (senior sleuths)


Series: Mah Jongg Mystery series, Book 4


Published: August 17, 2019


Print length: 254 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

Ifs


Q: If you could talk to someone (living), who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: If you’re familiar with the TV show, Love it or List it, you know who Hilary Farr is. On the show, she’s a bit argumentative and self-important, but a lot of that is staged. I think the rehabs she creates are the some of the best in this genre of TV show, and I’d like to learn more about her outlook on interior design and, if she’ll share, the behind-the-scenes scoop on what it’s like putting together this show.

Q: If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: I never really knew my paternal grandmother. She experienced mental problems shortly after my aunt was born and was institutionalized thereafter. Although my mom took my sister and me to visit her a few times when I was a little girl, I know very little about her. What was her early life like? Were her problems evident from a young age or did they present only later? What does she think caused them? How did she meet my grandfather? How did she feel about my father?

Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be?
 A: I’m happy with the current time period, crazy as it is. But I’m happy I lived through the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So many technological and cultural changes occurred then and I was part of them.

Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: As you may have guessed from my earlier response about Hilary Farr, I’d be an interior designer. TV rehab shows fascinate me, not that I’d like to start with some of the challenges faced on Flip or Flop, but I’d love to have unlimited resources and complete independence to do my own thing.

Q: If you were on the Amazon bestseller list, who would you choose to be one before and one after?
A: One before, Nora Roberts. One after: James Patterson. Why? Because I think I could be spotted there by potential readers who might associate me with their writing. And I would consider myself fortunate and to have arrived to be included in this company.

Q: If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
A: I just finished reading Life and Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins. Unlike some of her earlier books, which were contemporary romances, this was women’s fiction. I almost didn’t finish this book because so many of the characters were unlikable, but I kept at it and appreciated how it all came together. I’d like to sit down with her and ask her why she created such loathsome characters. One of the main characters is an eighty-five-year-old woman who is hiding her illness from her granddaughter. Higgans’ first person description of a person of this age was intense; how did she learn so much about the inconveniences of age when she is a much younger woman? How could she so aptly describe the early stages of dementia and how it affects the mind?


Ands


5 favorite possessions: 
    •    my laptop computer
    •    my TV set
    •    pictures of my children and grandchildren
    •    my wedding rings
and
    •    my car

5 things you need in order to write: 
    •    my laptop computer
    •    a TV set
    •    a comfortable chair
    •    a scenic view
and
    •    Diet Coke

5 things you love about writing: 
    •    the chance to express my thoughts
    •    the process of inventing characters and plot
    •    how it keeps my mind active
    •    the chance to explore other worlds
and
    •    the control I have over my own creations

5 favorite places you’ve been:
    •    Hawaii
    •    France
    •    Vancouver, BC, Canada
    •    Spain
and
    •    Florida

5 favorite authors:
    •    Susan Elia MacNeal
    •    Marylee Ashford
    •    Nora Roberts
    •    Susan Elizabeth Phillips  
and
    •    Agatha Christie

Whats

Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: West Side Story (Sweet Home Alabama is a close second.)

Q: What’s your all-time favorite author?
A: Agatha Christie.

Q: What’s your all-time favorite city?
A: Paris.

Q: What’s your favorite song?
A: “Happy Together.”

Q: What’s your favorite snack?
A: Pizza.

Q: What’s your favorite ice cream?
A: Maple Nut.

Q: What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do?
A: Watch TV.

Q: What’s your favorite candy bar?
A: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

Q: What’s your favorite movie snack?
A: Buttered popcorn filled with M&Ms and Diet Coke.

Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: Blue.


Q: What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
A: Three of my grandchildren.


Q: What movie genre do you prefer?
A: RomCom.

Q: What book are you currently working on?
A: Book 5 of the Mah Jongg Mystery series, working title: Flower Power.

Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Red Robin Onion Rings (frozen)
Music: Soundtrack from Hustlers
Movie: Where Are You, Bernadette?
Book: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
TV: Call the Midwife (It’s been around for some time, but I just discovered it and love it!)
Netflix/Amazon Prime: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Miscellaneous: Learning German.

OTHER BOOKS BY BARBARA BARRETT

Craks in a Marriage  
Bamboozled 
Connect the Dots
Beware the East Wind 
Don’t Toy with Me 
Change Up
Love in the Third Act 
Driven to Matrimony 
Paradise by Design
The Billionaire’s Big Birthday Bash
The Sleepover Clause 
Seduction on Wheels 
Keeping It Casual
Tough Enough to Tango 
Not Your Mama’s Mambo 



 

Barbara Barrett started reading mysteries when she was pregnant with her first child to keep her mind off things like her changing body and food cravings. When she’d devoured as many Agatha Christies as she could find, she branched out to English village cozies and Ellery Queen.

Later, to avoid a midlife crisis, she began writing fiction at night when she wasn’t at her day job in human resources for Iowa State Government. After releasing eleven full-length romance novels and one novella, she returned to the cozy mystery genre, using one of her retirement pastimes, the game of mah jongg, as her inspiration. Not only has it been a great social outlet, it has also helped keep her mind active when not writing.

Beware the East Wind, the fourth book in her “Mah Jongg Mystery” series, features four friends who play mah jongg together and share otherwise in each other’s lives. None of the four is based on an actual person. Each is an amalgamation of several mah jongg friends with a lot of Barbara’s imagination thrown in for good measure. The four will continue to appear in future books in the series.

Anticipating the day when she would write her first mystery, she has been a member of the Mystery/Romantic Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America (Kiss of Death) for over a decade. She credits them with helping her hone her craft. She is also a member of Sisters in Crime and Sinc-Iowa.

Barbara is married to the man she met her senior year of college. They have two grown children and eight grandchildren.


Connect with Barbara:
Website  |  Newsletter  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

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

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FEATURED AUTHOR: BARBARA BARRETT

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Sydney Bonner overhears a fellow mah jongg player arguing on the phone with her husband, she realizes the couple’s “perfect marriage” isn’t all it appears to be. A few days later, the husband is found dead, his head bashed in. Fearing she’ll be considered the most likely suspect, the widow prevails upon Sydney and her three friends—Marianne, Kat and Micki—to find out who really killed him.

Though none of these four fun-loving, take-charge retirees has any training as detectives, the women agree to launch a secret investigation. As they dig under the happy veneer of their community’s social life, they find more than enough suspects, from shady ladies to resentful golf buddies, to keep them looking over their shoulders.

Could the murderer be lurking among the talent in a chaotic production put on by Sydney’s husband, who will do anything to keep busy in retirement? Could the sheriff, who may have more than a professional interest in chanteuse Kat, end up pinning the crime on the women instead? Each discovery during their investigations and their weekly mah jongg game keeps them running as they close in on the killer—but the killer may also be closing in on them.

Book Details:

Title: Craks in a Marriage (Mah Jongg Mysteries)

Author: Barbara Barrett

Genre: Cozy Mystery, 1st in series
Setting: Florida

Publisher: Self Published (February 6, 2018)

Print Length: 204 pages

Touring with: Great Escapes Book Tours

GUEST POST BY BARBARA BARRETT

Retirement Pastimes

Unlike my other books, where my main characters have been in their thirties, when I started writing a cozy mystery, I wanted to write about people my own age, which I won’t reveal for purposes of ego, but since I’m retired, that gives you a general feel. Why write about what some might characterize as a bunch of “old fogies”? The short answer is that I find my peers fascinating. The longer response is in the paragraphs to follow.

A few months before I retired, I had the opportunity to consult a retirement coach, because until then, I hadn’t given much thought to what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. All I knew was that I finally had all the time in the world to write. But even the most dedicated author has to free up her brain from time to time, so once I walked out of my state agency for the last time, I surveyed all the activities available to me.

It helped to join a social group of seniors. It served as a sort of clearinghouse for information on local and regional things to do. Eating was high on my list, and they offered both monthly dinners and lunches at restaurants in the area. There was also tennis, walking groups, petanque, fishing trips, exercise class, gardening, art, etc.

One of the first things I tried was knitting. I’d learned the basics years before but was fortunate in having a friend who was an expert who could get me back on track. I started with washcloths, then branched out to scarves. Even finished two little caps for my grandchildren.

I also joined a book club. I try to stay current with the genres in which I write by reading romance novels and mysteries, but this was a chance to learn more about current literary fiction and nonfiction. Of course, it helped that we met for lunch at different restaurants around time. I already mentioned my interest in eating, didn’t I?

Then there was mah jongg. That had never occurred to me as a possible pastime when working on my retirement plan, but the chance arose, and it seemed like a great way to meet people. As it turned out, it has become a near addiction. I have learned two versions and now play twice weekly. I used this experience as the heart of my first cozy mystery series, aptly named the Mah Jongg Mystery series, which features four friends who play the game together in the fictional central Florida town of Serendipity Springs. I’ve included some of the activities cited above and others as background. For instance, a critical scene early in the book takes place at the monthly dinner of the social group, the Springers.

One of my favorite aspects of this first book is the struggle of one of the friends’ husband to adapt to his retirement. Though he won’t admit it, he misses the structure and feeling of achievement he received from his prior worklife, so he keeps finding new ways to stay occupied. In this book, he takes on a follies production spotlighting local performers. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the number of days a week he’s on the golf course.

The one thing I’ve learned about retirement pastimes is that there are as many available as we retirees can dream up. Only two things limit us: having the funds and the health to pursue them. But when you think about it, these are mostly the same pastimes of everyone. The only difference is that retirees have more time to actually enjoy them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barbara Barrett started reading mysteries when she was pregnant with her first child to keep her mind off things like her changing body and food cravings. When she’d devoured as many Agatha Christies as she could find, she branched out to English village cozies and Ellery Queen.

Later, to avoid a midlife crisis, she began writing fiction at night when she wasn’t at her day job as a human resources analyst for Iowa State Government. After releasing eleven full-length romance novels and one novella, she has returned to the cozy mystery genre, using one of her retirement pastimes, the game of mah jongg, as her inspiration. Not only has it been a great social outlet, it has also helped keep her mind active when not writing.

Craks in a Marriage, the first book in her “Mah Jongg Mystery” series, features four friends who seek the murderer of another mah jongg player’s husband before she is charged. None of the four is based on an actual person. Each is an amalgamation of several mah jongg friends with a lot of Barbara’s imagination thrown in for good measure. The four will continue to appear in future books in the series.

Anticipating the day when she would write her first mystery, she has been a member of the Mystery/Romantic Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America for over a decade. She credits them with helping her hone her craft.

Barbara is married to a man she met her senior year of college. They have two grown children and eight grandchildren.

Now retired, she is a resident of Florida, although she spends her summers in Iowa, her home state. She earned her B.A. degree in History from the University of Iowa and her Master’s Degree in History from Drake University.

When not in front of her laptop creating her next story, she plays Mah Jongg, knits, and enjoys lunches with friends.

Connect with Barbara:
Website  |  Facebook  |   Twitter   |   Pinterest  |  Goodreads   

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  B&N