Sergeant Winston Windflower and his trusty crew at the Grand Bank detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have more than a few mysteries on their hands. Windflower suspects that the three cases—a homicide, a near-homicide and a fire on Coronation Street—are somehow connected, but how is proving difficult to determine, especially now that he must battle his unusually cranky mood, the never-ending winter that has gripped the coastal region of Newfoundland and his new, power-hungry boss.
In Fire, Fog and Water, award-winning author Mike Martin is true to form, retaining the light crime genre for which he is known while delving into the most perplexing social issues of our time, including mental health, addictions and workplace harassment. Windflower must not only solve the drug-and-death crimes that threaten the otherwise tranquil lives of Grand Bank’s residents, he must resolve his own internal conflicts before they consume him as surely as the blaze that engulfed the house on Coronation Street.
Q: If you could talk to someone (living), who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: I would ask Greta Thunberg how she keeps going.
Q: If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: I would ask my dead friend, Gary, what it’s like up there?
Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be?
A: I kinda like the comforts of today. But any period would be great if I were very rich.
Q: If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
A: I’m not crazy enough to think I could make a difference, but I’d still like to be alive to challenge Hitler.
Q: If you could time travel for an infinite period of time, where would you go?
A: I think I would go somewhere warm for the winter, but come back at Christmas. Hey, I could do that now.
Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: I would be a songwriter.
Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
A: I would and do work for climate action in my community.
Q: If you were on the Amazon bestseller list, who would you choose to be one before and one below you?
A: I would like to be between Louise Penny and Stephen King. I would just like to be close to them on the list.
Q: If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
A: Stephen King. We would talk about the world and how we could make it a better place.
Q: If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?
A: I would like to live with the elves in Rivendel from Lord of the Rings.
Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
A: Probably Canada, but Australia for a few days.
Ands
5 things you need in order to write:
• light • coffee • internet connection • inspiration and • determination
5 things you love about where you live:
• peaceful
• clean
• bright
• quiet
and
• has coffee
5 things you never want to run out of:
• coffee
• inspiration
• determination’
• empathy
and
• love
5 things you always put in your books:
• Sgt. Windflower
• Sheila, his wife
• Lady, his dog
• Molly his cat
and
• Amelia Louise, his daughter
5 favorite places you’ve been:
• Australia
• Zimbabwe
• Italy
• Cuba
and
• Gros Morne National Park
5 favorite authors:
• Stephen King
• Charles Dickens
• Tolkien
• Donna Leon
and
• Agatha Christie
5 people you consider as heroes:
• Nelson Mandala
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• John Lewis
• Anne Frank
and
• Greta Thunberg
Whats
Q: What’s your all-time favorite place?
A: Gros Morne National Park.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite memory?
A: Birth of my two children.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: Little Big Man.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite author?
A: Dickens.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite city?
A: New York City.
Q: What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve heard?
A: Sarah Brightman singing.
Q: What’s your favorite Internet site?
A: Google or Wikipedia, tie.
Q: What’s your favorite time of day?
A: Early morning.
Q: What’s your favorite meal?
A: Pizza.
Q: What’s your favorite vacation spot?
A: Cuba.
Q: What’s your favorite dessert?
A: Birthday cake.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do?
A: Write.
Q: What’s your favorite movie snack?
A: Really? Popcorn.
Q: What’s your favorite social media site?
A: Facebook.
Q: What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
A: Phone.
Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Pizza
Music: Arcade Fire
Movie: Men in Black International
Book: A Better Man, Louise Penny
Audiobook: The Walker on the Cape, Mike Martin
Mike Martin was born in Newfoundland, Canada. He is the author of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. Fire, Fog and Water is the 8th book in the series. A Long Ways from Home was shortlisted for the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award as the best light mystery of the year and Darkest Before the Dawn won for the 2018 Bony Blithe Award. Mike is currently Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers.
Becoming Starlight is a memoir about the process of grief and its relationship to the mysteries concerning the afterlife. This book will bring comfort to those who are feeling unrelenting sorrow over the loss of loved ones. This memoir is a story of surviving grief and mending the wounds of loss.
A: Becoming Starlight is/was truly my life and death struggle with spiritual darkness and loss of faith. Having been raised within a very loving and supportive family, I was totally unprepared for the tragedy that would find its way into my life. I had no idea how to deal with life and death issues so, when death came knocking on my door and spirited away my newborn daughter, I fell into an abyss that had no end. Her death, followed a few years later by the death of my husband, became the impetus for what became the most transformative moment of my life—the SDE (Shared Death Experience)—my night among the stars. Becoming Starlight chronicles my journey from death and despair to being held, cocooned within, and becoming one with the Presence that lives in Starlight-God Himself.
I wrote Becoming Starlight for two reasons. By way of explanation, I work with seriously ill, terminal patients and their families. The question they ask more than any other is “Should I be afraid?” I understand that question on such an intimate level because that is the very question that burned a hole in my Soul but one I didn’t have the courage to ask or, quite possibly one I didn’t want to become vulnerable to! When confronted with a life-altering diagnosis, even the strongest and most fearless among us doesn’t know how to face that worst of all trauma and the darkest of all emotion in life. The fear of abandonment by God, the fear of leaving your family, the fear of falling into nothingness, the fear of losing yourself to the darkness and to the unknown—your gut responds, your jaw drops, and the true nature of your humanity emerges: mortality and you fall. It’s a shattering loss that causes previously unknown fear and anxiety to blot out all other emotion.
I wrote Becoming Starlight for them. For years, I have told all my patients about my Starlight night (my SDE) in an effort to dispel some of the fear. When that question is asked, as it always is, I take each one of them in my arms, hold them tightly, and tell them my story of great loss and despair and the eventual renewal within God’s presence. Giving them part of my Starlight night in hopes they will understand that they are part of all creation; part of something they do not fully understand; part of something so much bigger than themselves; something they cannot see or hear or touch or even imagine; that they are part of God himself; a part of the permanence of all Creation—to dispel the fear of losing themselves to the nothingness of the darkness is something I try to bring to them as I tell them about the light of God that I was taken into. They have all asked me to “write it down, tell the story” so they could have access to my words when we weren’t together. So I did.
The second reason, and by far, the single most important reason for the existence of this book is this: the loves of my life mattered and their story was one that needed to be told.
Q: What do you hope readers will get from this book?
A: There really is only one empowering lesson in Becoming Starlight. But that lesson is multi-faceted. It involves accepting something that none of us wants to accept—that life and death go hand in hand. It involves acceptance, surrender, faith, hope, and an understanding of those things that all of us seek to understand but never fully do understand except from the standpoint of belief in the fact that we are never alone; that we are never separated from the all-loving and all-consuming mercy of the One Who formed us from His very thoughts; that we are all connected, one to the other, by the mere fact that we exist in this universe; and that, above all else, nothing you could ever do could separate you from the love of God. And while we may laugh or cry or shout or rage at the heavens, it matters not how far into the muck you have face planted. You can rise and thrive. Going “through it all” instead of “rising above it” leads you to your victory or at least to a peace that can be life affirming.
Q: How did you come up with the title of your book?
A: The title, Becoming Starlight, was then, is now, and will always be the only title ever considered for my book. Why? Because that is exactly what happened. I didn’t need to search or agonize or go looking anywhere else for the title, and I wouldn’t listen to or consider any other title that was presented to me. Why? Because, once again, I had to be true to the story. I wrote Becoming Starlight for a purpose—to tell a story of a complete fall from Grace, a total and utter loss of faith, a human condition that involved agonizing grief and despair and a need for revenge against life itself and the eventual renewal and life affirming peace that came within a Blessing from Creation Itself. As the Stars came to “collect” me at the moment of my husband’s death, I found myself in the very Presence of God, all within and of Starlight.
Q: What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
A: Writing Becoming Starlight was truly a labor of love for me. At the same time, it was one of the most tremendously difficult tasks I have ever assigned myself. When I decided to write this book, I mistakenly thought I would be able to put all emotion aside and just write. Just pick up my computer and start writing. I found out very quickly that my thought process was completely and utterly flawed. Not only did I find it almost impossible to start writing but, once I did get started, I soon found that finishing the book, in its entirety, was going to be almost as difficult. Having to recount the most horrendous events in my life, having to actually put them down on paper, having to relive each and every thought, emotion, and moment of those extremely life altering events—well, let’s just say Becoming Starlight almost didn’t “become.”
Here’s what I found . . . writing this book became my very own daily dose of therapy. In my practice, I tell all my patients to journal because there’s something about writing it down that gets it out of the soul. Issues that remain hidden away from the sunlight become dark and dank so putting it “all” out there where the light can get at it, dispels the darkness. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Sure does, but the reality is quite different. It isn’t easy to pull those memories out of spirit, those memories that are marked with “Danger: Do Not Open.” And that is exactly what I did to myself when I took on this project. I had to open up those “Danger: Do Not Open” portals, and I was even surprised at myself for being so fearful to actually get in there and rip them open. The guards at the gates of these portals are fearsome indeed and getting past them took so much strength and courage that I didn’t even know I possessed. Writing this book, telling this story meant re-living the deaths of two people I carry within my soul always, and that was one of the most difficult tasks I have ever encountered in my life.
Q: If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
A: Full to brimming and in need of emptying every day! As a psychologist, I am privy to some of the most unflattering, selfish, insane, mixed up, tangled up, and downright squirrelly conversations anyone could ever imagine—and I am supposed to straighten them all out! At least, that’s what patients think when they walk through my door. They quickly find out that the only person who can fix their issues is themselves. It takes hard work to get deep down into the recesses of the “no-go zones” of the spirit, and I am a very hard task-master. I will not take “no” for an answer when someone’s life is on the line, and I will dig and peel away at the portals of pain until they open wide and say, “enough already!” You wanna talk about swear jars? I have words that I didn’t even know existed tucked away in those jars! Words for bodily functions that, to this day, I don’t think were ever used in any other conversation anywhere else. Made up words that were, well, let’s just say my patients have great imaginations. I have learned them all and kept some for my own use.
Q: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
A: Actually both! I am introverted in situations where all I want to do is watch and listen. I am a perpetual people-watcher and listener and, as such, I stay in the background in social situations where I feel the need to “see” and “feel” the environment. I choose very carefully where and when I decide to participate in any situation and will very quickly say “No” to something I simply do not want to do. I would much rather stay home with a good book or watch chick flicks and eat Cadbury Fruit and Nut bars all night. I just seriously love my alone time.
But, at the same time, if there is something I really want to do, I will be smack dab in the middle of it all. I choose very carefully who I share my life with and those chosen to be in my inner circle are very special to me. Being with those who are real and true to themselves and to others, and to those who are never false or full of pretense—that is where you will find me laughing and playing and enjoying life to the utmost! Those closest to me are privy to “the real me” in all my incarnations.
Q: What's your favorite snack for movie night?
A: I’m such a chocoholic . . . an entire bag of the stuff doesn’t last 15 minutes with me! I’m seriously addicted. So, for movie night, it’s a line-up of Cadbury Fruit and Nut bars (yes, that’s plural), a bag of Goldenberg Peanut Chews (yummy little nuggets of heaven), some popcorn and, just for health’s cake, a monstrous glass of water filled with lemon slices.
Q: What is the most daring thing you've done?
A: Well, to tell the truth, I don’t know if this was the most daring thing I have ever done or the most stupid! We lived in Memphis, Tennessee for many years and, as almost every person knows, Elvis Presley lived in Memphis at Graceland, his home for many years. One night, many years ago, my sister-in-law and I decided we wanted to go “visit” Elvis. We actually drove to Graceland and told the guard at the gate that we “were here to see Elvis.” Naturally, he very politely told us to vacate the premises. We did, indeed, vacate the premises . . . but only the premises around the gate where he kept watch. We parked our car around the back of the house and proceeded to climb up and over the huge stone barrier that surrounded the property, then ran like crazy people up to the front of the house. We actually made it up to the front door when, what did we hear? Not the hoofs of reindeer on the roof but that of dogs barking . . . great big dogs barking loudly . . . and headed straight for us! Well, needless to say, I didn’t know I could run as fast or jump as high as I did that night, but we left Graceland intact . . . no dog bites and no police with handcuffs. Was it worth it? You bet your life it was worth it! Would I do it again? Only if the ghost of Elvis was reported as being on the premises.
Q: How long did it take you to write this book?
A: It took me three years to complete Becoming Starlight. It was a very difficult book to write. Reliving the most horrendous moments of my life, pulling them out and having to look them square in the face, that took me some time. As a matter of fact, the version that is now “the book” is actually the fourth incarnation of Becoming Starlight. The first two versions were simply nothing less than a horrific outpouring of emotion that I didn’t even know I still harbored in my soul. And the chapter about my daughter’s death took me a full six months to write. I would start and stop . . . sob . . . start and stop . . . and sob again. That one chapter is the very reason the audio of Becoming Starlight is narrated by an amazing woman named Gabrielle Du Cuir . . . I couldn’t read the chapter without my throat closing. I still can’t!
Q: How long have you been writing, and how did you start?
A: Becoming Starlight is my first published book. I’ve been writing for years but only for myself. The only other writing I’ve ever had published is an article I wrote in high school about loneliness in teenagers and an “almost published” poem that I wrote for another student who hadn’t done his homework. Imagine our surprise when the English teacher told him she wanted to send the poem to Reader’s Digest for publication in their magazine column “Up and Comers in High School” . . . try explaining to a high school English teacher that you cheated with another student. Needless to say, that poem wasn’t sent anywhere except to the principal’s office, along with the two of us!
Q: Where do you prefer to do your writing?
A: Now that seemed as if it was going to be a challenge! Everyone had their own idea of exactly how and where I needed to be and what I needed to do . . . none of them worked for me. So figuring it out for myself was something I needed to do.
Contrary to what everyone else told me, I found that I didn’t need to change my physical environment . . . instead, I embraced it. The old Lazy Boy recliner that had been my dad’s “home base” before his death became my sacred space. I felt safe and peaceful there in that chair. It became my home, my sanctuary. My body just seemed to conform to the indentations that had, for years, become its very nature, and I felt as if it “knew” me. I didn’t feel the need to have a totally private, quiet, locked away space that had no recognition of me and the joys and sorrows of my life. It was there, on my dad’s well-loved recliner that Becoming Starlight was birthed. That silly old recliner, worn and old, an extremely ugly faded-out green color is now my go-to place for writing. Matter of fact, I’m sitting in it at this moment!
Q: What’s one of your favorite quotes?
A: Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” If we all could just accept the fact that we cannot change anyone else, life would be a piece of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries on top.
How many times have you said to yourself, “He/she will change if I do this or that . . . or he/she will change if I say this or that . . . or he/she will love me enough to change once they understand.” Those rose-colored glasses everyone puts on when they don’t want to truly “see” that change is not forthcoming, they need to be cleaned with an entire bottle of Windex and some powerful wipes! Having said that, change is possible but only if the person wants it for themselves. Just because you may have an “issue” with certain behaviors doesn’t mean they have to agree with you. Remember that.
There’s no trick here. You must decide what you will accept. What behaviors, belief systems, opinions, lifestyles, etc., you are willing to accept into your life. It’s not your job to change those that you allow into your life. It’s your job to decide who you let in, just as they are! You have no right to complain about or fall victim to those you allowed in, all the while thinking, “I can change them.” Short of abuse that is well-hidden beforehand—you are responsible for “seeing” what you are being shown by everyone who crosses your path.
Q: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
A: My passions lie with my family. The two-footed kind and the four-footers. The furry ones, the feathered ones, the scaled ones, the finned ones, and everything in between. My home is a menagerie of sorts and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
We are very dedicated animal rescue enthusiasts. And this dedication is not just for what we know as “companion” animals but also for what we, as a nation, deem as “farmed” animals. Recently, we adopted a baby calf, a steer named Miles who was rescued from a slaughter truck. He was exactly one day old when he was separated from his mother and thrown into a slaughter truck. The lack of compassion and respect for the sentient beings we share our planet with is in dire need of radical change! I try every day to change the minds and hearts of those who don’t see or want to acknowledge the cruelty and abuse that exists throughout the system in play today. To be a role model for others to develop an awareness and compassion for these sentient beings by not eating them, wearing them, or using them in any capacity is something I live every day. I hope this is seen and copied by those who are willing to “see.”
When not writing or taking care of my “human” patients, you can find me with hair clipped to the top of my head, wearing rubber boots and heavy gloves to lift the bales of hay to feed my brood or providing huge bottles of milk to rescued farm babes or feeding my fish outside in the Koi pond or playing with my birds of every color and description imaginable or simply lounging somewhere on my beach. It’s all about living . . . not merely existing!
Q: How long is your to-do list?
A: Well, now that I have answered your questions, I can check off one more item! Seriously, I don’t live by a to-do list. I find those lists just too confining. There are so many wonderful things to see, places to go, events to be experienced, and people to bring love into our lives that getting bogged down to some arbitrary “to-do list” just doesn’t fit into my lifestyle. It’s more of a “don’t-do” list for me! Don’t be selfish. Don’t be prideful. Don’t be or bring harm to any living sentient being. Don’t gossip. Don’t abuse. Don’t compare. And, above all, don’t forget to love . . . and that includes loving yourself. See, now doesn’t that work better?
Dr. Sharon Prentice is a psychotherapist and spiritual counselor whose work focuses on helping patients process the grief of losing a loved one. Becoming Starlight is her memoir of healing from the devastating loss of her daughter and husband. She experienced a unique spiritual experience, known as a Shared Death Experience (SDE) which gave her a peek into foreverness and a sense of peace that was otherworldly.
When Jill hosts a talk at Coffee, Books, and More on the topic of elder abuse, all that’s really on her mind is lunch. But the topic hits close to home when she discovers Aunt Jackie has been getting mysterious calls. Jill’s certain the caller is a con artist, of course, but her feisty aunt claims to understand this, though she’s still shaken—and Harrold’s still heartbroken. Who’s behind the scam and why was her aunt targeted? When a volunteer from the Senior Project is found murdered, Jill’s detective boyfriend is on the case—and it soon becomes clear no one is safe when a caller from beyond becomes a killer in their midst.
Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: I want to do all the jobs. LOL. But my best job ever was working for a non-profit. Could I be a grant writer? Or does that break the rules?
Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
A: I’d love to do my community service in a library. Shelving books, helping others with research.
Q: If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
A: My first reaction is Stephen King to talk about my writing career and what I could do. But I would probably be smarter to talk to Robyn Carr about career. I’ll save my coffee time with Stephen to Fan girl.
Q: If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?
A: Thunder Point, Oregon. I love that town and its inhabitants.
Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
A: A little cottage within walking distance of the coast. Maybe Oregon, maybe OBX, maybe California.
Ands
5 things you love about writing:
• finding the story
• developing characters
• making familiar settings change as I want
• seeing my book on shelves
and
• people talking about my characters as friends, like I do
5 things you love about where you live:
• herons on the water
• get to see deer
• close to a lot of fun activities
• history on every corner
and
• close to a lot of NASCAR tracks
5 things you never want to run out of:
• chocolate
• potato chips
• contacts
• fish
and
• time
5 favorite foods:
• French fries
• fish
• chocolate covered pretzels
• potato soup
and
• pumpkin cheesecake
5 people you’d like to be stuck in a bookstore with:
• Stephen King
• Robyn Carr
• Neil Gaiman
• JD Robb
and
• Jim Butcher
Whats
Q: What’s your all-time favorite place?
A: OBX, North Carolina
Q: What’s your all-time favorite memory?
A: Watching the silver Christmas tree change colors.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: Sleepless in Seattle or One Magic Christmas.
Q: What’s your biggest pet peeve?
A: People not being nice.
Q: What’s the loveliest sight you’ve ever seen?
A: There’s a cove on the lake in McCall, Idaho. The water was beautiful, but the stillness of the area almost made me cry.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do?
A: Get lost in a story.
Q: What’s your favorite ice cream?
A: Vanilla.
Q: What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
A: My phone now.
Q: What book are you currently working on?
A: New series – light paranormal cozy mystery.
Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Smoked chicken pasta.
Music: Luke Bryan or Keith Urban.
Movie: I’m enjoying The Guardians of the Galaxy.
Book: Atomic Habits.
Audiobook: Jim Butcher’s Dresden series.
TV: Supernatural – so sad it’s ending.
Netflix/Amazon Prime: I really liked the chef shows.
Q: What books do you currently have published?
A: I have sixteen in the Tourist Trap series, three in Farm to Fork, soon to be six in Cat Latimer and several series under Lynn Collins – my romance pen name. You can find all my books at www.lynncahoon.com or www.lynncollinsauthor.com.
Award-winning NYT and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon, pens several cozy mystery series. The Tourist Trap series is set in central coastal California includes nine, soon to be ten, novels with six holiday novellas. She also pens the Cat Latimer series (set in Colorado) available in mass market paperback. The Farm to Fork mystery series is set in her home state of Idaho. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride. She lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and three fur babies. Sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com
Moving to a quiet English village should have been tranquil, but Claire Barclay learns that even an invitation to tea can be deadly. Who killed Mrs. Paulson, the president of the local Mystery Books Club? Was the motive for murder located in the archives of the book club? The members of the books club might have reason to want Mrs. Paulson’s out of the way. She had lived in the village all her life, been involved in many organizations and societies and knew many secrets of the villagers. Was one secret too dangerous for her to keep? She had been wealthy and left her money to a member of the club. Could the legatee have been impatient for her inheritance? Who cared enough to want her dead? Claire, an expert in solving problems in her job as a tour guide, decides to delve into the archives and into the lives of the villagers—and find out.
Q: If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: If I could talk to Max Planck who is long dead, I might be able to understand Quantum Physics. In spite of desperate attempts to read simplified books on this, the basic concepts drift past me. I have this idea that emotions can be explained by physics. It’s possible I really understand that emotions are unknowable. I still deal with them in my novels.
Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be? A: I’d like to live in the 1920s but with present day health care and, of course, plenty of money.
Q: If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
A: I would go back to moments when I did or said something that impacted my children negatively. I’d love to get a chance to get it right this time.
Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: A research scientist on how people learn.
Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
A: Playing back up violin in a travelling band.
Q: If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
A: Carola Dunn. We’d talk about Eleanor Trewynn and all the marvelous books yet to be written about her adventures.
Q: If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?
A: I’d like to live in Kerry Greenwood’s Melbourne, Australia, but only for a short time. It’s very hot there, but I’d like to explore it. Of course, if her character Corinna Chapman was showing me around, I might stay longer.
Ands
5 favorite possessions:
• my violin
• my house overlooking the ocean
• my education
• my books
and
• the odd little gifts given to me by family
5 things you need in order to write:
• a computer
• time
• solitude
• functioning wi fi
and
• coffee
5 things you love about writing:
the unexpected production
new ideas
exploring characters
enjoying characters
and
hearing others give their opinions of my books characters
5 things you love about where you live:
• the ocean and paddling on it
• the musical community which accepts me, amateur that I am
• my friends
• my neighbors
and
• the ever-blooming countryside of this beautiful Sunshine Coast
5 things you never want to run out of:
• ideas
• brain cells
• food
• friends
and
• wine
5 things you always put in your books:
• humor
• characters you’d like to get to know
• characters you’d definitely NOT like to know
• pets
and
• a new setting
5 favorite books:
• Emily of New Moon
• L.M. Montgomery, read when I was about 12
• The Revenge of Annie Charley by Allan Fry
• almost any of Dick Franics' for its fast-paced plot
and
• Hazel Holt’s series
5 favorite authors:
• Elizabeth Peters
• Sara Rosett
• Jo Dereske
• Liz Freeman
and
• Rhys Bowen
5 living people you’d like to invite to dinner:
• Jacqueline Winspear
• Carola Dunn
• Sara Rosett
• Cathy Ace
and
• Frances Brody
5 people you’d like to be stuck in a bookstore with:
• Cathy Ace because she would liven up the event
• Debby Fowler
• Sara Rosett
• Frances Brody
and
• Kerry Greenwood. Then we would have Welsh, Cornish, Texan, Yorkshire, Australian, and Canadian accents.
5 favorite things to do:
• paddle outrigger canoes on the Pacific Northwest ocean
• read
• overhear conversations in airports
• play violin in groups
and
• meet my friends
5 things that drive you crazy:
• not enough time
• machines like computers that stop working
• missing the ferry
• favorite clothes that wear out or don’t fit anymore
and
• spam
Whats
Q: What’s your all-time favorite place?
A: Cornwall.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite memory?
A: The births of my children.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite city?
A: York.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite library?
A: Gibsons Public Library.
Q: What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
A: I’m an introvert.
Q: What’s your biggest pet peeve?
A: Irritatingly incorrect grammar.
Q: What’s your favorite hobby or past-time?
A: Paddling.
Q: What’s the loveliest sight you’ve ever seen?
A: Smiles on my family.
Q: What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve heard?
A: An organ in Reykjavic Iceland played by an Italnian organist.
Q: What’s your favorite Internet site?
A: Goggle.
Q: What’s your favorite time of day?
A: Morning.
Q: What’s your favorite song?
A: The flower song from Madama Butterfly.
Q: What’s your favorite vacation spot?
A: Home.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do?
A: Write.
Q: What’s your favorite snack?
A: Chocolate.
Q: What’s your favorite beverage?
A: Wine, occasionally single malt scotch.
Q: What’s your favorite social media site?
A: Facebook.
Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: Blue.
Q: What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
A: My glasses.
Q: What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
A: A native design featuring my sister.
Q: What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
A: Listen more, talk less.
Q: What movie genre do you prefer?
A: Comedy.
Q: What smells remind you of your childhood?
A: Chocolate; turkey cooking.
Q: What book are you currently working on?
A: The third in this series, Perils in Yorkshire.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite place in your town?
A: The ocean.
Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Roast lamb, Yorkshire pudding, fresh from the garden beans and carrots, roast potatoes from the garden and pumpkin cheese cake.
Music: Brahms Horn Concerto in F.
Movie: Love the Ice Mammoth ones.
Book: Liz Freeland’s Murder in Greenwich Village.
TV: Escape to the Country.
Miscellaneous: Exercise. The comedy value of aquafit in my local pool is hard to beat, and I’m in the middle of it.
This is Emma Dakin’s first series, set in Britain the homeland of Emma’s grandparents. Emma channels her mother’s inherited English culture along with the attitudes and sayings of the modern Brits. She travels widely in England and at one point this May while travelling through the Yorkshire Moors she had all the tourists in a tour bus looking for a good place to hide a body. As Marion Crook, she has published many novels of adventure and mystery for young adult and middle grade readers as well as non-fiction for adults and young adults and non-fiction on social issues. Firmly in the cozy mystery genre now, and committed to absorbing the culture and changing world of Britain, she plans to enjoy the research and the writing of cozies.
When a superhero cosplayer falls to his death at a comic con, Lynley is left holding the bag— and a cat!
Who killed Captain Cat? His tribe wants to know.
When the Captain is murdered at Bridgetown Comic-con and philanthropist Esmae Westhouse is arrested for the crime, sixty-something cat shelter volunteer Lynley Cannon steps out of her comfort zone and dons her Star Trek uniform to expose the real killer.
A decade-spanning love triangle, a band of vigilante cosplayers, a shady pharmaceutical company, and an ancient black cat named Kitty tie into a puzzling plot that has Lynley running in all directions. The death of Captain Cat is only the beginning, and Lynley must stay one step ahead of a ruthless hit man if she is to make it out alive.
Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be?
A: This one. I’m used to it, and they all have their good and bad points. If I were a man, the options might be greater.
Q: If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
A: When I was a child, before the nightmares came.
Q: If you could time travel for an infinite period of time, where would you go?
A: Second star to the right , and on ‘til morning.
Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: If I had unlimited funds, I would love to run a cat shelter for senior and hospice kitties.
Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
A: I have been a volunteer for the Oregon Humane Society cattery for 14 years. It’s a great place to volunteer!
Q: If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
A: I’d love to meet fellow Cat Writer Association member Shirley Rousseau Murphy, author of the Joe Grey series. We’d talk about books, and cats, of course.
Q: If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be and from what book?
A: I’d love to live in Three Pines, featured in Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series. Aside from all the murders, it sounds like heaven.
Ands
5 things you need in order to write:
• quiet
• coffee
• a cat on my lap
• morning
and
• my non-internet-connected laptop
5 things you love about writing:
• changing the world
• righting wrongs
• playing in my mind palace
• painting pictures with words
and
• being whoever I want to be, and sometimes even the villain! 5 things about you or 5 words to describe you:
• honest
• introverted
• optimistic
• boring
and
• self-centered
5 things you always put in your books:
• cats
• cat tips
• the color red
• yummy food
and
• my heart and soul
Whats
Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: Conan the Barbarian, the original (Nothing against hunky Jason Momoa).
Q: What’s your all-time favorite author?
A: Louise Penny, with her Armand Gamache mysteries.
Q: What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
A: Like the hero of my Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series, I have General Anxiety Disorder. (No fun.) Also I work as an extra in TV shows. (Fun!)
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do?
A: Write.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite picture of yourself?
A: This is me with Two, for sure the best photo of me ever taken.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do?
A: Write.
Q: What’s your favorite quote?
A: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Q: What book are you currently working on?
A: The Crazy Cat Lady series is still going strong. Right now I’m working on #7, “Cat by the Sea” (A locked room. A dead man. The cat is the only witness, and he isn’t talking) and #8, “Adventure Cat.” I’m also continuing the Cat Seasons sci-fantasy tetralogy with book 2, “Cat Winter.”
Q: What books do you currently have published?
A: Cats’ Eyes, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #1:
Look what the cat dragged in! When Lynley’s old kitty Fluffo discovers a stolen uncut diamond, Lynley finds herself accused of murdering the thieves.
Copy Cats, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #2:
When Lynley exposes a breed cat counterfeiting ring, she becomes the target of a serial killer who murders with a grisly cat-like claw.
Cat’s Paw, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #3:
Two suspicious deaths at an elite art retreat send Lynley running back to Portland, but murder follows in her wake.
Cat Call, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #4:
Lynley takes over as cat handler for a TV pilot only to find the show is hexed and murder is waiting in the wings.
CAT POEMS: For the Love of Cats (2018)
Mollie Hunt celebrates love, loss, and life shared with the feline species.
Placid River Runs Deep (2016)
When Ember Mackay learns she has a life-threatening illness, she flees to the old Placid River cabin for solace, but she finds mystery instead.
Cat Summer(2019 Fire Star Press)
Sentient cats save the world from an evil older than history—twice!
Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: vegan
Music: bagpipes
Movie:The Lost Room
Book: Titus Groan, by Mervyn Peake
Audiobook: M. C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series, narrated by lovely Scotsmen.
TV: Murder She Wrote
Netflix/Amazon Prime: Longmire/Good Omens
Native Oregonian Mollie Hunt has always had an affinity for cats, so it was a short step for her to become a cat writer. Mollie Hunt writes the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series featuring Lynley Cannon, a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip, and the Cat Seasons sci-fantasy tetralogy where cats save the world. She also pens a bit of cat poetry.
Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, the Cat Writers’ Association, and NIWA. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and a varying number of cats. Like Lynley, she is a grateful shelter volunteer.
When Maddie Springer—shoe designer turned amateur sleuth—tags along with her mother to the Antiques Extravaganza road show, the last thing she expects to have to do is pull her mom off of a celebrity appraiser after he calls her prized antique hatpin a phony. But things go from harried to homicide when the same appraiser is found dead just moments later—killed by Mom’s hatpin!
Q: If you could live in any time period which would it be?
A: Has to be current! Women have had it not so hot throughout most of history, so while I'd love to visit some past time periods, I don't think I'd want to stay.
Q: If you could time travel for an infinite period of time, where would you go?
A: I've always been kind of obsessed with the Victorian era.
Q: If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
A: Movie producer... this was the career I was pursuing when life intervened and I changed course to writing books.
Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
A: Anything with kids.
Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
A: Probably right where I am! I love sunny California.
Ands
5 things you need in order to write:
• coffee
• laptop
• detailed outline
• snacks
and
• sometimes wine 5 things you love about writing:
• I get to totally make stuff up and no one gets mad
• I can (and often do) work in my pajamas I can work anywhere from Starbucks to the beach
• the research is always interesting
and
• there's always something new to explore
5 things you never want to run out of:
• coffee
• paper
• wine
• cookies
and
• books 5 things you always put in your books:
• humor
• Romance
• dead bodies
• suspense
and
• fashion
5 favorite places you’ve been:
• Lake Tahoe (I set my Tahoe Tessie books there)
• Los Angeles (where my High Heels Mysteries, Jamie Bond Mysteries, and Hollywood Headlines Mysteries are set)
• San Francisco (where my Martha Hudson Mysteries are set)
• California's wine country (where my Wine & Dine Mysteries are set)
and
• my hometown in the Silicon Valley (where my young adult series Deadly Cool Mysteries is set)
Whats
Q: What’s your all-time favorite place?
A: Disneyland.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: White Christmas.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite author?
A: Agatha Christie.
Q: What’s your biggest pet peeve?
A: Misuse of the word literally.
Q: What’s your favorite meal?
A: Anything Mexican! What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: I'm really into Chipotle's guacamole . . . on anything!
Music: My car is set to the 1940's music channel. Bob Crosby is my jam.
Book: Anything by Leslie Langtry is sure to be a funny read!
TV: just binged watched all 9 season of The Office with my kids. They loved it!
Gemma Halliday is the #1 Amazon, New York Times, and USA Today bestselling author of several cozy mystery and suspense thriller novels. Gemma’s books have received numerous awards, including a Golden Heart, two National Reader’s Choice awards, a RONE award for best mystery, and three RITA nominations. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her large, loud, and loving family.
Gemma’s path toward becoming a bestselling author was not a straight line—more like a zigzagging path filled with obstacles! Prior to putting pen to paper, she worked as a film and television actress, a teddy bear importer, a department store administrator, an architect’s assistant, a preschool teacher, a temporary tattoo artist, and a 900 number psychic. Luckily none of these panned out. Connect with Gemma: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Bookbub | Amazon
Food blogger Hope Early finds one item not on her scavenger hunt list—a dead husband . . .
Between developing her food blog, Hope at Home, and choosing low-cal recipes for a feature in Cooking Now! magazine, Hope has a full plate. Still, she’s never too busy to compete in a Jefferson, Connecticut, tradition—the town’s annual scavenger hunt.
But as she races with her team to check off the next item, Hope discovers a grisly surprise—the body of shady real estate developer Lionel Whitcomb, shot in a parking lot. His wife Elaine, who’s also in the hunt, gasps and nearly faints. But two other women on the scene cry out that their husband is dead.
It turns out this louse of a spouse was more than a little lax in legally divorcing his former wives. Did one of them put a bullet in the bigamist? Number one suspect and number three wife Elaine begs Hope to investigate. Now Hope is on a new kind of hunt—for a cold-hearted killer and triple widow-maker . . .
Name: Hope Early.
Age: mid-thirties.
Hair color: brunette.
Relationship status: dating.
Name of (romantic) partner: Ethan Cahill.
Personal style: (hippie, preppie, classic, sloppy, jeans/t-shirts . . . ) Since she spends her days recipe testing and photographing her recipes, she prefers yoga pants and hoodies.
Is this a main character or supporting character? Main character.
Personality
Is she optimistic or pessimistic? Optimistic.
Is she an introvert or extrovert? A little mix of both.
What is her strongest character trait? She’s tenacious.
What quality does she most value in a friend? Honesty.
What is her pet peeves? Not using coasters.
What is her ambitions? To grow her food blog and expand beyond to incorporate videos and cookbooks.
What past act is she most proud of? Turning her blog into a full-time job in such a crowded field.
What is her password? Ha! Like she could remember. Too many passwords.
What is her favorite food? Chocolate anything.
Is she a messy or a neat housekeeper? Neat. Borderline obsessive.
Describe her home. It’s a work in progress. When she saw first saw the house, she knew it was perfect for her. Though, the farmhouse needed a lot of work.
What does she do first thing on a weekday morning? She loves to go for a run now first thing. It helps clear her mind and she likes to listen to podcasts.
What does she do on a Sunday afternoon? She enjoys making an early supper and then curling up with Ethan and her pets, Bigelow and Princess, to watch a movie.
What does she do on a Friday night? Lately, she loves making homemade pizza and inviting her sister with her family and her friends over for dinner.
Friends and Family
Does she have a big or small family? Who does it consist of? Hope has a sister, Claire, who is married and has two children, Logan and Hannah.
Does she have any pets? Yes, two adoptive pets. Bigelow a dog she took in after his owners could no longer care for him. Princess is the fluffy white cat she rescued after a neighbor passed away.
Who are her enemies? She really doesn’t have enemies. Well, she has a childhood frenemy, Meg Griffin. Their relationship is complicated but they’re working on it.
Is she in a relationship? Yes, she’s dating Ethan Cahill.
Has she ever had her heart broken? Yes, when she divorced not too long ago.
Does she have a sidekick? Two. Her best friend, Drew Adams. He’s a reporter for a local newspaper. And Jane Merrifield, a retired author who loves a good mystery.
Work, Education and Hobbies
What is her current job? She’s a food blogger.
What does she think about her current job? Hope loves her job. From the first recipe she published, she knew she wanted to continued blogging and developing recipes. Now she’s able to it full-time and she loves the flexibility and the creativity.
What are her hobbies? She knits. She loves to garden. And thanks to her old farmhouse, she gets to indulge in numerous DIY projects.
What is her educational background? She graduated with a BA in English.
Does she have a natural talent for something? Cooking and baking.
Possessions
What is in her fridge? It’s way too packed with ingredients and results from her recipe testing to give a full accounting over everything.
What is on her bedside table? Her phone, her current read, a romance novel by Eve Kincaid, and a lamp she salvaged and had re-wired.
What is her most treasured possession? There’s a vase in her entry foyer that she loves. It was the first antique she ever purchased and she to save for months on her editorial assistant salary to buy it.
Miscellaneous
Is she comfortable with technology? Yes. As a blogger she has to keep updated on tech.
If she could call one person for help, who would it be? That depends on the kind of trouble and if she was in the mood for a lecture.
What is her greatest extravagance? Her bedding. Even though she’s on a budget, she indulged in luxurious bedding because she’s on her feet all day either working on recipes or on DIY projects around her house.
What would she do if she won the lottery? Not much would change in her day-to-day life. Though Hope would love to fund charities from animal rescue to food deliveries for seniors.
What would she ask a fortune teller? What’s the next big social media platform that will take off so she could promote her blog.
How does she respond to a threat? Hope doesn’t back down. In fact, she becomes more determined to find the truth.
Is
she confrontational? Yes, when she must be. When she’s searching for
the truth, for justice, she will be confrontational if it’s necessary.
Debra Sennefelder, the
author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique
Mystery series, is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres,
but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and
relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime
and mystery. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and
as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her
food. Yeah, she’s that person.
Born and raised in New York City, she
now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in
pre-hospital care, retail and publishing. Her writing companions are her
adorable and slightly spoiled Shih-Tzus, Susie and Billy.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime,
International Thriller Writers, Women’s Fiction Writers Association and
Romance Writers of America.
