It's a Mystery!

YES, I’ve been AWOL for a while!! But there’s been a good reason…

I’ve recently been spending a significant amount of time in a charming little faux-English village, drinking tea, discussing Shakespeare, getting to know the inhabitants, and dreaming up ways those people can kill one another.

After a lifetime of reading mysteries I decided it was time to try my hand at writing one. I had a few requirements, though, going into this adventure. It had to be a series so I could enjoy building my world and developing characters my readers and I would care about over time. But more importantly, the books needed to be cozy mysteries. (Cozy mystery: a mystery subgenre in which the violence takes place ‘off stage’ or is downplayed, and there is little or no sexual content. They often take place in charming, small communities.)

Now, when it comes to reading mysteries, I read all the subgenres: traditional, cozy, police procedural, psychological thriller, etc. While I don’t mind reading the more gory stuff, I know I wouldn’t enjoy writing it. Cozies fit the bill perfectly.

Once I conceived of the general premise for the series I spent a delightful afternoon building my world. If I was going to be spending a lot of time there it had to be a place I’d enjoy. As an Anglophile, the setting of my series is as English as it can be without actually being set in England. STRATFORD UPON AVONDALE is nestled into a bucolic corner of a Western state of the U.S. It’s claim to fame is its renowned Shakespeare Festival and the über-faux English look of the charming village. It is in this delightful setting that Maggie O’Flynn, ex-novice nun turned steamy romance writer tries out her burgeoning amateur sleuth skills. And she has to do so while running her shop, the Merry Wives Tea Room.

This project has been so much fun so far, that I liken it to playing with paper dolls when I try to explain it to non-writer friends. Books one and two come out in ebook form on Tuesday, April 12^th. Book three is waiting, rather impatiently, to be written. It’s been shouting at me a lot, as I’ve been busy on the final touches on one and two.

Here’s a bit more about the first two books in the STRATFORD UPON AVONDALE MYSTERY series. 

 ALAS, SHE DROWNED

Murder. Betrayal. Duplicity.

When ex-novice nun, turned steamy romance writer, Maggie O’Flynn moves to the charming village of Stratford Upon Avondale to open a tea room she expects plenty of murders, betrayal, and duplicity. On the stages of the town’s renowned Shakespeare Festival. But when a theater critic is found murdered on the town’s riverbank and the prime suspect turns out to be the sexy bookshop owner Maggie has had her eye on, she takes matters into her own hands. Will she be able to dig through the layers of betrayal and duplicity to find the true murderer before that handsome bookseller, Nate Larimer, finds himself behind bars? With the help of her loud, brash, spitfire of a friend, Gina Mattucci, Maggie plans to do just that.

With a bit of Shakespeare, copious amounts of tea, and a faux-English setting to rival anything the real England has to offer, ALAS, SHE DROWNED is the first book in THE STRATFORD UPON AVONDALE mystery series. Lovers of cozy mysteries will find a cozy home in Stratford Upon Avondale.   Available April 12th from Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1mnU2Ii

COME, BITTER POISON

 

Sexy film star. Long-held secrets. Murder by poison.

When international stage and film star Miles Elliot comes to Stratford Upon Avondale to play MacBeth, Maggie O’Flynn is thrilled. He’s been her actor crush for years. But when Miles ends up at the center of a murder investigation Maggie finds herself slipping back into the role of amateur sleuth. Before long many of her friends become suspects in not just one murder, but two. Maggie must discover who’s poisoning people associated with the Shakespeare Festival before one of her friends gets slapped with a murder charge. And she must do so while dodging paparazzi that are stalking her due to a supposed love affair she’s having with Miles Elliot.

With a bit of Shakespeare, copious amounts of tea, and a faux-English setting to rival anything the real England has to offer, COME, BITTER POISON is the second book in THE STRATFORD UPON AVONDALE mystery series. Though part of a series, COME, BITTER POISON can be read and enjoyed as a standalone. Lovers of cozy mysteries will find a cozy home in Stratford Upon Avondale.

Available April 12th from Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1mnU2Ii