Nixing Crime Scene Cleanup as a Career

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Donnell Ann BellBy Donnell Ann Bell

My day started out well. My alarm went off; I rose without hitting the snooze button and had an hour to get to my destination. I was organized and ahead of schedule, I even had time for a cup of coffee!

Coffee brewed; I poured it into my favorite mug (a cup given to me by my daughter years ago). In fact, the cup was so ancient, my husband had glued the handle once, and except for a tiny fissure in the porcelain, you barely noticed the flaw.

By now if you’re following this woeful tale, you can guess what happened. I hadn’t even taken a sip when I entered my bedroom and the body of the cup fell away, leaving me with nothing but the handle. There was no crack, no warning. I was surrounded by silence, a twelve-inch puddle at my feet, and coffee soaking my carpet.

Great. The clock was ticking. I had some place to be, but my carpet! I wet a towel, squeezed Dawn onto the fabric, dropped to my hands and knees and commenced scrubbing. This was going to stain. Still, it could’ve been worse. The stain, though large, was limited. I’d clean up the rest when I got home.

Can you spot the coffee cups in the picture? That’s where the cookie crumbled…I mean the coffee spattered!

A limited stain? What was I thinking? Oh, I’d done an adequate job of cleaning the mess I made on my carpet. What I hadn’t noticed was that in my rush to get out the door, the coffee wasn’t restricted to a circular spot on the floor. Suddenly, I felt like a detective entering a crime scene who discovers blood spatter. All right, the evidence caking my walls wasn’t red; it was  Seattle’s Best with a dash of creamer. But it had spattered! Everywhere I looked I saw coffee! An additional stain on the carpet, streaks on the wall and the baseboards. Droplets hurled from the cup had even made it onto the fireplace wall and the ceiling.

When my coffee cup fell from my hand, the distance to the floor was maybe three feet. There was no significant energy involved–no projectile(s), no brute force. Yet, look how far that liquid spread.

In Citizens Academies, I’ve studied pictures of blood spatter and the grotesque coverage of mattresses, headboards, additional furniture, floors and walls. So much goes into an investigation and the crime scene is just the beginning. Detectives and crime scene analysts must decipher and analyze these scenes to determine the timeline, how the suspect entered, where they stood in the attack, what type of weapon was used, e.g.(baseball bat, knife, gun, etc.) and so much more. Particularly when families demand justice, and the victim(s) aren’t alive to share.  Here’s a website I found that provides a good explanation. https://www.forensicsciencesimplified.org/blood/how.html

It’s no secret that many of the things I experience in life, I write about. I found the physics behind the dropped cup so interesting. Especially since it’s applicable to my genre of crime fiction. I know one thing is for certain after cleaning up my mess. I prefer writing about crime scenes as opposed to working them. And after the coffee incident, I’m also nixing crime scene cleanup as a career.

 

 

Does it need a trailer hitch?

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Quote from Bookshelf.com about Elevator Ride featured in the book trailer of this post.A Trailer & More

Recently, I’ve been working on some marketing items including a book trailer for Elevator Ride from my Valkyrie Brothers series. Creating a book trailer is a challenge! It’s like condensing the soul of an entire book into just a minute or less of video magic. The first hurdle? Finding the perfect way to visually represent the story, oh, and also do it in a way that I can either afford or can do myself.

We Have the Technology

Then there’s the creative juggling act. Music, voiceovers, text, and pacing all need to work together harmoniously. Too dramatic? It feels cheesy. Too subtle? It risks being forgettable. Finding that balance is like trying to walk a tightrope in gale-force winds. And don’t forget the tech side! Editing software, sourcing content, and tweaking everything to perfection can be daunting. And while I have picked up some skills editing videos, they aren’t necessarily skills I wanted to have! But I do like having the ability to put some basic things together.

What’s New

This time I worked with a new voice over talent who was looking to see if voice over was really something she could or wanted to do.  It was fun to work with someone new and help them explore their talents.  I liked what we accomplished and I hope she ends up pursuing vocal work.  Here is the result of our collaboration.

Are Trailers Worth It?

In our social media driven world, having video as part of the marketing package is increasingly important.  People and search engines react positively to video.  It can’t be the only thing in the marketing arsenal but it does mean that more marketing avenues are open to me. So while it might be hard work, it does have a positive impact.

And here’s the silver lining: when it all comes together, there’s a magical sense of accomplishment. A great book trailer isn’t just an advertisement; it’s an invitation to readers to dive into a world they didn’t know they needed.

Want to see some of my other book trailers?  Check out my book trailer page: bethanymaines.com/book-trailers/

About the Valkyrie Brothers Series

The Valkyrie Brothers trilogy is a laugh-packed series of connected romantic mysteries starring the Valkyrie Brothers–Rowan, Forest, and Ash–as they struggle to find love AND stay alive in Seattle.  LEARN MORE: https://amzn.to/3XEL9id

Learn more about other books from the Stiletto Gang: www.thestilettogang.com/books/

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

Got Your Card?

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My husband is a fan of television games. His favorite? Jeopardy! He likes to record new episodes for us to watch together whenever there’s a half-hour break in our day.

Lately, I’ve noticed that librarians are among the more successful contestants. It makes sense, I suppose, because a primary requirement for both jobs is to love the knowledge that books impart to us.

This is National Library Week in the U.S., and today is National Library Workers Day. Librarians have recently been on the defense, having to fend off a posse of self-appointed book-ban vigilantes. So, let’s all sound the clarions for librarians, those dutiful guardians of our collective cultures.

Librarians these days perform a variety of useful services that go way beyond sorting and cataloguing books. Chances are that your local library offers internet access, dvds, video games, board games, city passes, discounts to other venues, community meeting rooms, research assistance, lectures, craft lessons, Bookmobiles, and more.

And it’s all free and available to everyone.

My brother and his wife take their grandkids to the library every week for story hour and games. It’s a great way to introduce the young ones to books and the comforts a library can provide.

In our neighborhood, there’s a branch  that specializes in family history research. They’ll even help with access to certain genealogical sites and publications that may hold the key to your Great Grandpa Jedediah’s war record or criminal record, as the case may be. I’ve donated a few items to them, and there are plenty more to give, including high school and college yearbooks from the last century. I also have boxes of fiction and non-fiction books ready to drop off at our central library donation center. Even if they already have enough copies of a book, they can add them to the inventory for the next fundraising sale.

My guess is that if you’re still reading this post, you may have a few tomes crowding your shelves that you could donate, too. At any rate, in an increasingly cluttered world, getting rid of excess stuff feels like a much needed catharsis to me.

You’ve got questions? Librarians have answers. So let’s give a shout-out to libraries and their caretakers this week. And if you don’t have a library card already, why not get one?

Do you have memories of going to the library as a child?

Gay Yellen is the author of the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series including:

The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News!

 

A Puzzling Art Mystery Within an Actual Art Theft Within a Cozy Mystery Novel

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By Lois Winston

Marketing is the bane of every author’s existence. Whether the author is traditionally published or independently publishing, we’re all responsible for much of our books’ promotion these days. Currently, Guilty as Framed, the eleventh Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, is on sale through Amazon, Kobo, and Apple Books for only .99 cents.

In the retail advertising world, that’s called a “loss leader,” a product that’s sold at or below cost in the hopes that customers will make other purchases at the store while they’re there to scoop up a deal. In the book world, our hope is that readers will love the sale book enough to purchase other books by the author.

I often rely on current events and human-interest stories as inspiration for the plots and/or subplot in my books. However, in Guilty as Framed I incorporated an actual unsolved crime into the book.

I fell in love with the paintings of Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn as a teenager when I first walked through the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. From that day on, I spent many hours seated in front of my favorite of his paintings, Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer. I even wrote a paper on the painting my senior year of high school.

Because of my love of Rembrandt’s works, I was devastated when the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was burglarized in 1990. Three of the thirteen works of art stolen were by Rembrandt. These included his only seascape, “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee”, a painting that was nearly five-and-a-half-feet tall, and the postage-stamp sized etching “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” featured on the cover of Guilty as Framed.

I followed the investigation as it unfolded and have read countless articles on this still unsolved crime. I’ve also watched several documentaries about the burglary and the efforts to find both the perpetrators and the missing artworks. Thirty-five years later, it’s still considered the largest art heist in history. To this day, not only haven’t the perpetrators been caught, but none of the artworks have ever been recovered. Many of the witnesses and persons of interest have since died, some of natural causes, and at least one of not-so-natural causes.

In Guilty as Framed, I wanted to incorporate the actual museum burglary and the missing artworks into the plot of the book. This gave me quite a challenge. I had to figure out how to connect a decades-old museum heist in Boston to my humorous New Jersey-set cozy mystery series.

Writing fiction rather than true crime allowed me to invent some new characters, change the names of real persons (to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent), and weave various events from the actual crime into the plot of Guilty as Framed.

The original sale invoice

“Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” is also known as “Rembrandt ‘Aux Trois Moustaches.” For those of you who don’t speak French, that translates to “Rembrandt with Three Moustaches.” How could a man have three moustaches? One prevailing theory suggests that the second “moustache” is his beard and the third is the fur on his cap. However, I’ve never heard of a beard being called a moustache, and the cap “moustache” seems quite a stretch. Perhaps “Rembrandt with a Moustache, a Beard, and a Furry Caterpillar on his Cap” would have made more sense.

 

Rembrandt was a serious artist, though. He never displayed a sense of humor in any of his paintings or in the titles of them. It seems unlikely the three-moustache title came from him. Most likely, he titled the etching “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” a frequent title of his early self-portraits. Or he may have called the etching “Self-Portrait Wearing a Soft Cap.”

“Rembrandt ‘Aux Trois Moustaches” is a mystery within the mystery of the heist. I knew I had to explore that in my story. I began researching and discovered the tiny etching was purchased for Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1886 from the art dealer Frederick Keppel & Co., who listed the etching as such on the sales invoice. Was the three-moustache title Keppel’s idea of a joke? We’ll never know.

Finally, and most unfortunately, my research didn’t lead to the discovery of the missing artworks, which is a shame because there’s still a huge outstanding reward for information leading to their recovery.

But what does this miniature Rembrandt self-portrait have to do with my reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack? You’ll get no spoilers from me. For an answer to that mystery, you’re going to have to read Guilty as Framed. Through April 7th, you can do so for only .99 cents.

Guilty as Framed

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 11

When an elderly man shows up at the home of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, she’s drawn into the unsolved mystery of the greatest art heist in history.

Boston mob boss Cormac Murphy has recently been released from prison. He doesn’t believe Anastasia’s assertion that the man he’s looking for doesn’t live at her address and attempts to muscle his way into her home. His efforts are thwarted by Anastasia’s fiancé Zack Barnes.

A week later, a stolen SUV containing a dead body appears in Anastasia’s driveway. Anastasia believes Murphy is sending her a message. It’s only the first in a series of alarming incidents, including a mugging, a break-in, another murder, and the discovery of a cache of jewelry and an etching from the largest museum burglary in history.

But will Anastasia solve the mystery behind these shocking events before she falls victim to a couple of desperate thugs who will stop at nothing to get what they want?

Buy Links:

Amazon

Kobo

Apple Books

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mug

What to Giveaway

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Goodreads Giveaway graphic for Elevator RideIs it good to giveaway a book?

Well, as a recipient of the occasional free book, I will confirm that yes, I think it’s great when authors giveaway books.  However, many authors feel extremely leery of giving away free books. There have been many instances of winners selling books or copying content, so that fear is not unfounded.

Philosophy

However, my philosophy is that while I can’t control the actions of others, I can be a generous person. In other words, haters gonna hate and book pirates are going to book pirate, but I can still put out the kind of energy that I would like to see in the world. Besides, if the four dollars you get from selling an advance print copy of my book is what helps you make it through the day, then take the four bucks.  Piracy of ebooks bugs me far more and is an extensive topic that I won’t get into, but in general once I hand you a print copy, you are free to read it, sell it, or pop it in a little free library.  Just don’t tell me about it.  Unless you loved it.  Then absolutely tell me all about it.  I want to hear every word.

Do you want free books?

Then sign up for Goodreads, Booksweeps, or LibraryThing.  Goodreads is now owned by Amazon, so if you’re trying to boycott or you hate them for their myriad of union busting, author scamming ways (completely understandable), then try Booksweeps or LibraryThing. All three platforms consistently gives away free books in all genres and the odds are far better than the lottery. Booksweeps works directly with authors and is a great place to find your next indie read (they’re my favorite).  Library Thing is a bit clunky, but still fun and Goodreads is also strangely clunky, but somehow has all the snarky vibes of high school and a NYT review.

Elevator Ride Book

Today’s Giveaway

Today I’m sharing my giveaway of the print copies of my forthcoming novel Elevator Ride.  This one available through Goodreads.  The giveaway runs through 3/16.  Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Enter the giveaway!

ENTER HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/406074-elevator-ride

About the book:

Vivian Kaye has been tasked with serving a cease-and-desist letter to Rowan Valkyrie—the most hated tenant in Seattle’s Hoskins building—but when she ambushes the seasoned security professional in the elevator, she ignites a powder keg of tempers and attraction. PREORDER NOW

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.  And don’t forget to check out all the Stiletto Gang authors and books on our BOOK page.

Photo of Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter

Spring Into Meeting Readers

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by Sparkle Abbey

spring flowers with blue sky in background

As we dig out from winter here in the Midwest, our thoughts turn to spring. And for us spring brings not only spring flowers and much nicer weather (we hope) but also great opportunities to get out to book events.

It kicks off the season for mystery conferences, such as Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic, Sleuthfest, and more. And starts out the year’s book festivals like, DSM Book Festival, Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival, Tucson Festival of Books, the LA Times Festival of  Books. As well as many wonderful smaller festivals and events around the country as well as other parts of the world. And those are just the spring get-togethers!

There are so many wonderful book events with chances for us. as authors. to connect with each other. And to meet in person the most important book people. The people who keep us in the business of telling stories – readers.

Sadly, we can’t attend them all and so we have to choose. A choice that can be so difficult. Each one has its own flavor and unique opportunities to connect. Sometimes scheduling makes the decision for us. Other times deadlines or book release dates may be a factor. And at times, the location may impact which ones we can attend.

As we line up our 2025 spring events as well as plan out the rest of 2025, we’d love to hear from you. How do you choose which in-person book events to attend? And what things factor into those decisions?

Photo of Mary Lee Ashford and Anita CarterPlease let us know your thoughts. And, of course, we look forward to seeing you at some of the book events this year!

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.)

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website

 

Author Lois Winston on Cozy Mystery Books vs. the Mind-boggling World of Minecraft

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By Lois Winston

Image by InoxyBuild from Pixabay

There was a time when I enjoyed fantasy, science fiction, and even some horror. The summer before ninth grade, I discovered The Lord of the Rings trilogy and read all three books within a few weeks. The books of Ira Levin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Tom Tryon filled my spare time throughout high school and into college, in-between assigned literary works like Moby Dick and The Bell Jar.

I also like to think that I have a decent knowledge of current events and trends, although I have no interest in following most of those trends. I can still kill it on Jeopardy most nights, though I’ll admit, the answers aren’t coming at the same rapid speed they once did. The brain is a muscle, and with the inevitability of growing old, all muscles, no matter how much you exercise them, start slowing down with age.

But then there’s Minecraft. My eight and ten-year-old grandsons are obsessed with it. They play it as much as they’re allowed, and when they’ve used up their screen time for the day, they either read Minecraft books or talk about Minecraft incessantly.

And I just don’t get it. Not their obsession. I get obsessions. I had plenty of my own throughout childhood and even into adulthood. My obsessions haven’t ceased. I recently became obsessed with West Wing, a show I had never watched back in the day, but I spent hours binge-watching the entire seven seasons in the autumn and early winter of 2024.

What I don’t get is Minecraft. I’ve tried. I’ve watched my grandsons play and listened to their explanation of the rules. I’ve read aloud chapters in their Minecraft books. But try as I might, I can’t wrap my brain around what strikes me as very random and odd rules concerning assorted worlds, cauldrons, emeralds, ores, ender dragons, wizards, witches, elder guardians, blocky animals, trees that don’t look like trees, and mining fatigue. And those are just a few of the oddities. It’s enough to make my head spin. It really bothers me that I seem completely incapable, even after hours of tutelage, of grasping the most rudimentary aspects of Minecraft. 😵‍💫

Perhaps Minecraft makes perfect sense to the pre-pubescent brain because they’re more open to wonderous possibilities. After all, they still believe in Santa Claus. It’s probably best that I stick to my own imaginary world of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. The murder and mayhem I throw at my reluctant amateur sleuth in my cozy mystery books makes far more sense to me than the pixelated world of Minecraft ever will.

What about you? Is there something about modern culture or trends that leaves you stymied and scratching your head? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of any of the currently available Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery audiobooks.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous fish-out-of-water novel about a small-town girl going off to the big city and the mother determined to bring her home to marry the boy next door. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception.

Then Lois’s writing segued unexpectedly into the world of humorous amateur sleuth mysteries, thanks to a conversation her agent had with an editor looking for craft-themed mysteries. In her day job, Lois was an award-winning craft and needlework designer, and although she’d never written a mystery—or had even thought about writing a mystery—her agent decided she was the perfect person to pen a series for this editor.

Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes fourteen novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries and has written several standalone mystery novellas. Other publishing credits include romance, chick lit, and romantic suspense novels, a series of romance short stories, a children’s chapter book, and a nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency. Her latest release is Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery.

Learn more about Lois and her books at www.loiswinston.com where you can find links for her other social media sites and sign up for her newsletter to receive a free download of an Anastasia Pollack Mini-Mystery.

Derringer Awards

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Awards Season is Here!

No, it’s not time for the Oscar’s or anything normal people care about.  I’m talking about the extremely niche category of mystery short story awards.  The Short Fiction Mystery Society, a volunteer-lead group of short fiction writers annually hosts the Derringer Awards.  Any member is welcome to submit a short story that has been published in the previous year in four categories.  The stories are judged by volunteers from the society membership and ranked on a standardized score card.

The Rage Cage

While novels are my primary format for writing, periodically I do try to stretch my skills and do some short story writing. The format is different and it makes it much easier to try out some different genres. This year I only submitted one of my short stories – The Rage Cage.  It’s a brisk little story about re-evaluating life, questioning self-narratives, Chuck Norris, and of course… revenge.  It’s also about the manager of a Rage Cage, a business that allows you to suit up and go smash whatever you want. Mostly it was a chance to try out the Rural Noir genre and write a story about telling yourself the right kind of personal narrative.  The year that I helped judge I was impressed by both the quality and the variety of stories and I know that the story I submitted is up against some tough competition. However, judging for the Derringer’s runs from February through March, so I know I’ve got until April to find out if my story picks up a nod.

Larceny & Last Chances is a Derringer Awards Finalist!

Anthology Awards

However, in a break from previous tradition, this year the SFMS is trying a new award for anthologies and Larceny & Last Chances, the anthology containing The Rage Cage has been listed as a finalist.  With 56 anthologies nominated, getting to the finalist stage is pretty impressive, and I’m extremely happy for all of the authors and our editor, Judy Penz Sheluk (a returning Stiletto Gang member). Final awards for the anthologies will also be in announced in April, so send some thoughts and prayers our way. In the meantime, if you’re interested in checking out some award-worthy short stories check out Larceny & Last Chances!

Larceny & Last Chances: https://amzn.to/3xUNg7Z

Sometimes it’s about doing the right thing. Sometimes it’s about getting even. Sometimes it’s about taking what you think you deserve. And sometimes, it’s your last, best, chance. 

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

The Secret to Her Success

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I’m delighted to welcome a remarkably prolific author to the Gang as our guest today. Pamela Fagan Hutchins and I met early in our writing careers. Since then, she has published upwards of 30 books, mostly novels (award-winning romantic mysteries, a couple of children’s books, and some non-fiction, too). Lately, she’s been turning out some modern tales of Western adventure.

The secret to her success? To my mind, it’s that she spins new tales faster than a bullet train, and that her stories engage readers with heart and humor.

Here is her latest OMG work schedule, in her own words:

I’m lucky that I write fast, type fast, and no longer have kids at home or a job outside of writing. I also believe that writing is something you can get more efficient at over time.

After thirty-two novels and seven nonfiction books, I’ve had a lot of practice!

But I am firm about sticking to set writing hours and setting word and page count goals to keep me focused. I eliminate most distractions, and I reward myself frequently… lots of snacks!

Way back in 2020, my agent challenged me to write Big Horn, the Jenn Herrington Wyoming mystery that ultimately won me a publishing contract with Hachette UK’s Bookouture. But my editor wanted me to change it substantially or write a different book. I was happy with Big Horn just how it was. I opted to publish it myself and write a Detective Delaney Pace novel for Bookouture.

Two things happened. First, Big Horn slayed and kept slaying for two solid years. Meanwhile had to write three Delaney Pace books and one Patrick Flint family adventure mystery during the year after Big Horn came out. And move to Denmark for my husband’s work. Then Bakersfield. Then France. Have two foot surgeries. Welcome my first two grandkids.

Ya know—life stuff.

Despite Big Horn having had the best release of any book I’d ever written—better than Delaney Pace did, originally, although it’s picked up a lot of steam!—I did not get the follow-up book out for 18 months. In indie publishing terms, that’s a century. And I had a heck of a time pulling myself out of Delaney’s and Patrick’s worlds and back into Jenn’s.

But I’d already outlined five follow-up books while I was writing Big Horn. So, the book I rolled out next was Walker Prairie. It had the planned plots and subplots and the same gritty-but-kinda-cozy feel which some people love.

Between the time I outlined Walker Prairie (2021) and when I wrote it (2024), I acquired two Alaskan Malamute sled dogs, Willett and Sibley! They seemed like the perfect lighthearted addition to Jenn and Aaron’s world, so I wrote them in, and just like in real life, they proceeded to WOO and HOWL and JUMP AROUND until they’d pretty much hijacked the book. The plot remained the same, but the adventure elements surrounding the climactic scenes changed to feature two beautiful, often-naughty, and occasionally terrifying FLOOFS (my term for fluffy goofs.)

So, whether you pick up Walker Prairie because you’re dying to read about or continue with Jenn, her veterinarian husband Aaron, her legal associate Kid James, and Jeremiah Johnson (the loveable skunk), or because you love gritty-cozy romantic legal thrillers, or Wyoming mysteries, or just love books with FLOOFS, I am delighted that the wait is over and Walker Prairie is finally here.

And I love the book! You can get your copy here:

USA Today bestselling author of the Detective Delaney Pace series / Host of Crime & Wine / Silver Falchion Best Mystery Winner

Published by Bookouture/Hachette UK and SkipJack Publishing

Thanks for stopping by, Pamela!

Gay Yellen’s writing career began in magazine journalism. She served as the co-writer/editor for the international thriller, Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), a New York Times “New & Notable.” The success of that book led to her first romantic mystery, The Body Business, Book 1 of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series. The Body Next Door soon followed, and The Body in the News in 2023. The series has won multiple awards, including a Readers’ Favorite Mystery / Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem 1st Place / InD’Tale Crowned Heart for Excellence / Silver Falchion Finalist/ and an American Legacy Best Cozy Award. https//:GayYellen.com

We Heart Podcasts

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by Sparkle Abbey

Writers are curious. We’re interested in almost everything. We love to study people, places, and motives, and we’re always eager to learn something new. And in the deluge of digital media, we’ve discovered we really love podcasts.

The beauty of a podcast is that it fits seamlessly into our day. Unlike videos or reading a book, you can listen to a podcast while commuting, working out, or cooking dinner. And for people like us who are all about multitasking, a podcast on how to turn anxiety into action can transform cleaning the kitchen into an enjoyable forty-five minutes. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but you know what we mean. Podcasts make the mundane feel meaningful and fun.

Instead of scanning radio stations, we pop in our earbuds and scroll through thousands of podcasts, looking for the perfect episode to entertain, educate, or inspire us. Some days we dive into an in-depth interview with an author we admire, other times we fall down a rabbit hole of unsolved mysteries, productivity hacks, or the latest in neuroscience. Letting someone else’s words refill our creative well or teach us something new? Yes, please!

 

There’s truly a podcast for everything—writing, true crime, self-improvement, finance, comedy, sports, TV show recaps, fitness, and even bedtime stories! If you haven’t tried LeVar Burton Reads, you’re missing out.

Need to boost your creativity? Try The Creative Penn or Scriptnotes for writing advice. And if you want a good laugh, give SmartLess a try There’s a podcast for every mood, every question, and every whim of curiosity.

As writers, we’ve been known to shamelessly eavesdrop on strangers’ conversations. Podcasts are just another form of eavesdropping, except the speakers actually want to be heard. And yet, it’s not just about the content—it’s also about the voice. A voice, whether soft or loud, serious or full of laughter, brings a feeling of connection and even intimacy. Podcasts allow us to feel like we’re part of an ongoing conversation, and they’ve quickly become an essential part of our daily lives.

And in the end, don’t we all want to feel a connection to others? Isn’t that the best part of storytelling? We think so.

We can’t be the only ones who love a good podcast. What about you? Do you listen to podcasts? If so, do you have a favorite? We’d love to hear about it!

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.)

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website