FEATURED AUTHOR: SUZANNE TRAUTH

ABOUT THE BOOK

Restaurant manager Dodie O’Dell has found her niche in the cozy New Jersey town of Etonville, creating menus that make a delicious double-act with the community theater’s productions. Now she’s ready for a vacation at the Jersey Shore town she called home before a hurricane hit. Sun, salty air, and seagulls make for a nostalgic escape from regular life—until a contingent from Etonville arrives to compete in a Jersey Shore theater festival.



Roped into helping her former boss cater the event, Dodie also gets a visit from her old flame, Jackson, who’s hoping to revive his charter boat business and is looking for a place to crash. Before Dodie can tell him that ship has sailed, Jackson’s partner is found murdered on his boat. Dodie knows her ex is a mooch, but she’s sure he’s no killer. But as she follows a trail of evidence that leads into her own past, Dodie stumbles on a dangerous conspiracy theory that could bring the festival to a shocking finale…

Book Details:


Title: No More Time


Author: Suzanne Trauth


Genre: cozy mystery


Series: Dodie O’Dell Mystery Series


Published: Kensington Publishing (July 23, 2019)


Print length: 213 pages


On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours 







LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH SUZANNE TRAUTH


A few of your favorite things: comfortable clothes, Sketcher shoes, chewy brownies, walking in the park.
Things you need to throw out: old clothes, old birthday cards, drafts of already published books.


Things you need in order to write: a mug of tea, a clear mind, completed email, my favorite pen.
Things that hamper your writing: email, the Internet, my to do list.

Things you love about writing: self-expression, comic characters that make me laugh, completing a draft, proofing the galleys.
Things you hate about writing: starting, facing a blank page, getting stuck in the plot.

Easiest thing about being a writer: the second, third, and fourth hours writing; my characters.
Hardest thing about being a writer: discipline, clearing my mind, solving plot problems.


Things you love about where you live: close to NYC, close to the Jersey Shore, the cultural life—theatre, music, museums.
Things that make you want to move: traffic, construction, the tunnels into New York.


Things you never want to run out of: tea bags, bananas, my Pilot pens, energy.
Things you wish you’d never bought: shoes that are too small, leather pants.


Words that describe you: driven, sensitive, committed, good sense of humor.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: anxious, worrier, pleaser.

Favorite foods: brownies, fried halibut, Caesar salads, sweet potatoes.
Things that make you want to throw up: eggplant, liver.

Favorite music or song: 60s/70s music, Mamas and Papas.
Music that make your ears bleed: heavy metal.

Favorite beverage: tea.

Something that gives you a pickle face: beet juice.

Favorite smell: new mown grass.

Something that makes you hold your nose: garbage.

Something you’re really good at: juggling deadlines.

Something you’re really bad at: running.


Something you wish you could do: tennis.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: take on responsibility.

People you consider as heroes: my mother, Barack Obama, my sister.
People with a big L on their: people who are selfish and inconsiderate, narcissists.


Last best thing you ate: halibut sandwich.
Last thing you regret eating: corn.

Things you always put in your books: poker, theatre, food, comedy.

Things you never put in your books: overt violence, heavy swearing.

Things to say to an author: loved the book! Made me laugh (or cry).

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: made me yawn. It was too long.

Favorite places you’ve been: Barcelona, Paris, South of France, Tuscany, New Orleans.

Places you never want to go to again: Russia.

Favorite books: mysteries, thrillers, Louise Penny novels.

Books you would ban: classics with no dialogue.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Judy Dench, Louise Penny
People you’d cancel dinner on: certain work colleagues.

Favorite things to do: read, watch movies or favorite TV series, yoga.
Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: vacuuming and dusting.

Things that make you happy: sunny days, the ocean, reading favorite authors, family.

Things that drive you crazy: sitting in traffic, waiting in lines.

Best thing you’ve ever done: got married, walking 60 miles for charity.

Biggest mistake: offering to read a friend’s manuscript.

OTHER BOOKS BY SUZANNE TRAUTH

Just in Time

Running Out of Time

Time Out

Show Time

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  


Suzanne Trauth’s novels include Show Time, Time Out, Running Out of Time, Just in Time, and No More Time. Her plays include La Fonda, Françoise, Midwives, Rehearsing Desire, iDream, Katrina: the K Word, and Three Sisters Under the Hood. Her screenplays Solitaire and Boomer Broads have won awards at the Austin Film Festival, among other contests, and she wrote and directed the short film Jigsaw. She is currently a member of Writers Theatre of New Jersey Emerging Women Playwrights program. Ms. Trauth has co-authored Sonia Moore and American Acting Training and co-edited Katrina on Stage: Five Plays. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, League of Professional Theatre Women, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.


Connect with Suzanne:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |   Goodreads  


Buy the book:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway





FEATURED AUTHOR: SUZANNE TRAUTH

ABOUT THE BOOK

Business is humming at Dodie O'Dell's Windjammer Restaurant, where she offers theme menus connected to the Etonville Little Theatre’s amateur productions. This June, the theatre is collaborating with the neighboring Creston Players to stage Bye Bye Birdie under the stars—their first musical! There's a contest in the play to pick a fan to receive rock idol Conrad Birdie's last kiss before he ships off for the Army, so Dodie plans a contest to pick the food for a pre-show picnic.
 


But before the show opens, Ruby, the rehearsal accompanist, is found dead in her car. Why would anyone murder the crusty old gal who loved to sneak a smoke and a nip between wisecracks? Once again, the resourceful restaurant manager must play the part of amateur sleuth, accompanied by Police Chief Bill Thompson, who also happens to be her beau. Confronted with a chorus of suspects, she'll need to stay composed to catch the killer—or it'll be bye bye Dodie . . .

Book Details:


Title: Just in Time

Author: Suzanne Trauth

Genre: Cozy Mystery

SERIES: A Dodie O'Dell Mystery, book 4

Publisher: Kensington Publishing (September 25, 2018)

Print length: 214 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours




LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH SUZANNE TRAUTH

A few of your favorite things: Spring, sunset, the color blue, chewy brownies, popcorn.
Things you need to throw out: Food left in the refrigerator for over a week, clothes I haven’t worn in five years, scrap paper.

Things you need in order to write: A mug of tea, my laptop, notes, research, a red or green pen.
Things that hamper your writing: Checking email and Facebook, my sometimes messy desk
.

Things you love about writing: The creative process, getting lost in the characters and plot, having people say they enjoy my books, receiving the galleys to proof.
Things you hate about writing: Finishing that first draft, the first hour at my computer.


Easiest thing about being a writer: Generating ideas for new stories, plots, characters.
Hardest thing about being a writer: Maintaining discipline every day – sitting down at the computer every day.


Things you love about where you live: Northern NJ – close to NYC, close to theatre, close to the Jersey shore, close to other northeast cities.
Things that make you want to move: The traffic, cost of living, the Lincoln Tunnel into NYC, constant road construction.

Words that describe you: Driven, ambitious, empathetic, good sense of humor.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Type A, anxious, hyper-responsible.

Favorite foods: Seafood, baked potatoes, broccoli, salads, brownies.
Things that make you want to throw up: Liver, eggplant.

Favorite beverage: Tea
.
Something that gives you a pickle face: Beet juice.

Favorite smell: New mown grass.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Old garbage.

Something you’re really good at: Multi-tasking.

Something you’re really bad at: Tennis.

People you consider as heroes: My mother, Helen Mirren, Abraham Lincoln.
People with a big L on their foreheads: People who have no compassion, people who are compulsively self-absorbed.



Last best thing you ate: Quiche Florentine.

Last thing you regret eating: Mushroom soup.

Things you always put in your books: Restaurant menus and specialties, a play production.
Things you never put in your books: Graphic violence.

Things to say to an author: I love your book! It made me laugh out loud.
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I liked your last book better.

Favorite places you’ve been: South of France, Italy, Barcelona, Jersey Shore.
Places you never want to go to again: South Dakota, Russia, south island of New Zealand.

Favorite books: Mysteries (Louis Penny, Elizabeth George), literary fiction (All the Light We Cannot See; Isabel Allende)
.
Books you would ban: Some science fiction.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Barack Obama, Maggie Smith, Pope Francis, Helen Mirren.

People you’d cancel dinner on: My eighth grade teacher, colleagues from my first teaching job.

Things that make you happy: A good book, dinner with friends, a great play, my family
.
Things that drive you crazy: Getting stuck in traffic, being late, waiting in lines.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Walked 60 miles in three days for charity.
Biggest mistake: Signed up for flying lessons.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suzanne Trauth’s novels include Show Time, Time Out, Running Out of Time, and Just in Time. Her plays include La Fonda, Françoise, Midwives, Rehearsing Desire, iDream, Katrina: the K Word, and Three Sisters Under the Hood. Her screenplays Solitaire and Boomer Broads have won awards at the Austin Film Festival, among other contests, and she wrote and directed the short film Jigsaw.

She is currently a member of Writers Theatre of New Jersey Emerging Women Playwrights program. Ms. Trauth has co-authored Sonia Moore and American Acting Training and co-edited Katrina on Stage: Five Plays. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

Connect with Suzanne:
Website  |   Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads


Buy the book:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

In addition to the Rafflecopter below, Suzanne is giving away one print copy of Just In Time. For a chance to win, comment below and include your email address. The winner will be contacted.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: SUZANNE TRAUTH

ABOUT THE BOOK

The tide has turned for Dodie O'Dell since a hurricane upended her life on the Jersey Shore. Now she's further up the coast in sleepy Etonville, managing a restaurant that dishes dinners themed around the community theater's latest productions. But Dodie just never imagined she'd land the starring role in a case of bloody homicide . . .

Intrigued by rumors of vanishing box office money, Dodie has agreed to help oversee the casting of Romeo and Juliet at the modest Etonville Little Theater. If nothing else, it's a welcome escape from the thirty-something's usual going-to-bed-with-a-mystery-novel routine. But when Jerome Angleton, a well-respected member of the theater company, is inexplicably found murdered on the loading dock, deadly drama transcends the stage-and the page. As a crime wave crashes over the small town, the spotlight is on Dodie to orchestrate her own investigation behind the scenes . . . before someone has a chance at a killer encore.

INTERVIEW WITH SUZANNE TRAUTH

Suzanne, how did you get started writing?
I’ve been writing since I was in grade school, entering writing contests, writing essays. I write in several genres, so I was writing plays and screenplays before novels.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
Getting into the flow so that I’m not even aware time is passing.

Do you have a writing routine?
I try to work every day, writing new material, revising work I’ve already drafted, promoting my work.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
Sitting down at the computer, getting started!

What’s more important – characters or plot?
I start with character ideas and incorporate plot.

How often do you read?
Every day! I am always with a book . . . don’t go anywhere without reading material.

What is your writing style?
For this novel, I wrote a story that can be read quickly, a page turner. A light summer read. But I’ve also written more serious, literary work.

What books do you currently have published?
Non-fiction: Sonia Moore and American Acting Training; play anthology, ed.: Katrina on Stage: Five Plays.


Is writing your dream job?
Yes, yes, yes!


What is the worst job you’ve ever had? What did it teach you?
Selling magazine subscriptions on the phone. I got fired after one day. I learned phone work is not for me. Face-to-face is another story.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
PBS.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I love it . . . getting the word out and meeting people from my past and present.

For what would you like to be remembered?
Being generous, being creative, having a good sense of humor.

What scares you the most?
Hate.

Would you make a good character in a book?
Maybe. I’m quirky in my own way and have had some interesting backstory experiences.

What five things would you never want to live without?
Books, comfortable shoes, jeans, tea, books.

What’s one THING you never leave the house without.
My purse. It is jam-packed with stuff I probably don’t need with me all of the time.

What do you love about where you live?
New Jersey – proximity to New York City, access to the shore, a few hours by car to mountains, country.


What’s your favorite thing to do on date night?
I love dinners out; I live near a great restaurant town.

What's your favorite treat for movie night?
Popcorn and character-driven movies.

What’s your favorite beverage?
Tea . . . and seltzer

What drives you crazy?
Traffic jams!


Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.
Good at organizing people and events; bad at directions! I am directionally-challenged
.

What is one of your happiest moments?
Seeing the cover of my book Show Time.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Read and do crossword puzzles.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
The south of France.

What’s your least favorite chore?
Food shopping . . . it’s such a trek, so many people, avoiding bumping into carts, waiting in lines . . .


Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
Movie star
.

Do you procrastinate?
Sometimes I have to really talk myself into sitting down at the computer.

What’s your most visited Internet site?
Right now it’s Facebook!

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
Peanut butter, orange juice, jelly, bread, salad, frozen yogurt, frozen vegetables, condiments.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
Walked 60 miles in three days for a fundraising effort.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
Gotten on a motorcycle (and had an accident).

What would your main character say about you?
We are alike in some ways!


Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
The Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center in New York City; it has an enormous number of resources, rare books, historical material, videos of NY shows. It’s just an amazing place for research.


If you had a talk show who would your dream guests be?
Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Brad Pitt.


What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
I sometimes like to cook.



How do you like your pizza?
With mushrooms and onions

.

Describe yourself in 5 words.
Driven, fun, organized, conscientious, social
.

What’s your favorite song?
Any of the songs from the Big Chill

.

What is your favorite movie? The Big Chill.

Do you have a favorite book?
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.


If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
Things happen.


What are you working on now?
Book 3 in the Dodie O’Dell Mystery Series.





Connect with Suzanne:
Website  |  

Facebook  |  Twitter  |  
Goodreads  

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble 


 

a Rafflecopter giveaway