Ellen Jacobson

10 Reasons(1)

Today I’m featuring an interview with cozy mystery author, Sarah Jane Weldon. Sarah is known within the cozy mystery author community as the founder of #nationalcozymysteryday which celebrates all things cozy mystery and takes place on Agatha Christie’s birthday, September 15th. She also coordinates a number of shared author promotions on BookFunnel, organizing collections of free books based around various cozy mystery themes. If you’re looking for a way to build your newsletter and network with other cozy mystery authors, Sarah’s BookFunnel promos are a great way to go about it.

Grab a beverage and a snack and sit back, and see what Sarah has to say about cozy mysteries, cookies, and penguins.

1 – What inspired you to write your books?

I was on the set of an Agatha Christie production for the BBC at the time and had recently come across NaNoWriMo and written my very first story in secret, thinking that no one would ever find it, let alone read it. It’s not going to make me rich anytime time soon, but it continues to sell a few copies each day without me doing anything with it.

It was around that time that I realised that the books I loved were called ‘cozies’ and so I started to do some investigating of my own, and thought I would try my hand at writing a story. That was ‘Dead on Doughnuts’ and I put it out under my own name, not thinking it would ever be read. Much to be horror, people started to download it and it was suddenly in the top 100 Amazon bestseller charts, at which point I realised that I needed to save up for some proper cover design and editing, so I unpublished it fast, saved up some funds by working as a cleaner in McDonald’s in between my other jobs, moved into a guesthouse room so that I could reduce my overheads and decided to become a full-time cozy mystery author. I’ve not regretted it one bit and I love being able to share my love of cozies with other readers and writers. I think I finally found my people! And my perfect job.

2 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

I love that there is never a moment to get bored or stale. I’m always learning how to improve my craft, and I have stories set in more real-life worlds, as well as fantasy worlds. One minute my amateur sleuth is a teen working in a coffee shop, the next the sleuth is a sheep or unicorn. I draw inspiration from my travels and places I visit with my work.

3 – Do you have any writing rituals?

One of the best things for me is that writing fits perfectly around my work as a professional school and cruise ship speaker and on film productions. My life is pretty chaotic, especially as I play different characters on set. I travel a lot and it’s difficult to get structure, especially living in a guesthouse or staying in different places each night. I have moments of being really busy, followed by moments of dead time when it’s quiet on set and I’m just sat around in between takes. That makes it really difficult to have rituals as I have to go with the flow. Some days we start filming at 4aam, other times it might be that we film all night. When I’m away I use that time to ‘refill the creative well’ as it were, to watch people, to see new places, and to be more social, and then once I’m home again, I tend to go back to being introverted and that’s when I like to get back to my writing. It’s a good balance in some ways. Eventually, I would love to have a forever home, with a dedicated space for doing my writing, and to start having rituals.

4 – What’s more important – character or plot?

That’s a tough call to make. As a reader myself I think I’m more drawn to the characters as I’m prone to stop reading if I don’t gel with a character. I’ve got a really terrible short term memory though, and I often fall asleep when I read, and then have to re-read that page again the following night. So I probably don’t follow and get caught up in solving the murder or dissecting the plot as much as some readers do. The same if I’m watching a film or series on the television as I’ll always forgive a poor plot if I feel a connection to the characters.

5 – What do you like best about being an author? What do you like the least

It’s funny. I was on set a few days ago and we did multiple takes of the same scene to the point where my mind had switched off and I was plotting my next murder mystery based on the characters and context around me. It was then that I realised just how much I was itching to get back to my writing, and how much the world had changed even in my lifetime. When I was a kid, saying that you wanted to become an author would have got you ridiculed. It was on a par with saying that you wanted to become an astronaut and visit the moon!

But the invention of the internet, Amazon, and self-publishing means that I now have the honour of giving talks in schools and hearing that ten and eleven-year-olds have now published books of their own and are earning a living from them. It’s completely mind-blowing!

That’s what I love the most about being an author. Being able to make a change to the lives of others -whether that’s writing a story that cheers up a reader whose had a rubbish day at work, or encouraging teens to get into self-publishing, or using the royalties from page reads and book sales to send teens on environmental and STEM expeditions around the world. Not to mention how amazing it is when you get to meet the writer of a book on set, and see how it has been adapted for TV or film. That single idea in the writer’s head has the potential to impact on so many lives, in very different ways. Just think of all the lighting guys, costume designers, and actors who have employment because that one person felt compelled to share their story.

The thing I like the least is that there are simply not enough writing hours in the day, and I want to be so much more skilled than I am! I’m a newbie so I’ve a huge amount to learn still.

6 – What’s your favorite cookie? If you don’t like cookies, what’s wrong with you? Oops, sorry, scratch that. My follow-up question was meant to be far more polite – “Why don’t you like cookies?”

Well, as a Brit I’m going to cheat a little and talk about biscuits rather than cookies, because I’m rather partial to a ginger nut. I’m an ice swimmer, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, and a member of the Explorer’s Club in New York. Through my previous career as a medic, I got to visit a lot of different places as a researcher and went on a number of expeditions to extreme locations like the Arctic, Amazon, and desert.

The gingernut is the perfect biscuit for expeditions because it’s really solid, doesn’t melt or go off, and is perfect for dunking into a cup of tea without falling apart and leaving a soggy mess at the bottom of the cup. The sugar is great for energy, and ginger is perfect for travel sickness and dodgy tummies. One of the best things about ice swimming is that I have to keep my body at a minimum of 25% fat, so I eat a lot of things that are usually considered bad for you. I eat a lot of calories each day. My next big swim is 1km in a swimming costume in Antarctica so I’ll be very thankful for all the biscuits and cakes I’ve invested in!!

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

I used to share a house with a lot of vets and we often had weird and wonderful creatures around the house, including penguins! Though never in a sombrero. I love animals and was quite involved with the local dog shelter and the zoo whilst living in Tbilisi in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia so all animals are welcome at my home. It’s the place where the stories of Noah’s Ark come from and there was a really bad flood and landslide one year, which meant that all the animals were just wondering around the city, including the lions, rhino, and bears. I was always taking in animals from the street especially when the weather was nasty. So, I reckon a penguin in a sombrero would probably ask me for a nice cold bath and a pina colada.

8 – What else would you like us to know about you?

Every Friday I share lots of free cozy mystery books on my website blog as part of Free Book Friday, so if you ever need a new book or want to try out some new authors, that’s a great place to start. I don’t think that we as readers appreciate the kindness of our cozy mystery authors enough, and I certainly have a lot more respect and gratitude towards authors now I know just what is involved in the production of a book and how many hours it takes.

Likewise, I don’t know if authors realise how much impact they have in making the world a better, more positive place through the stories they share. The cozy mystery genre is filled with so many awesome people, it’s a real honour to be a part of it and to see it become more mainstream. My dream is to be able to walk into a book shop one day and to see a dedicated cozy mystery section, just like you would with romance and sci-fi books.

Sarah’s Cozy Mysteries

Sarah has a number of fun cozy mysteries that you’ll want to check out including Baa’d to the Bone, the Coffee Shop Mysteries, as well as the soon to be released Twelve Deadly Days of Christmas series. You can find out more about her books HERE.

About Sarah

Sarah Jane Weldon is a British cozy mystery author. On an average day, you’ll find her working on the set of a new film or television series, ice swimming in a remote location, or sat in her favourite fire-side chair plotting a character’s demise.

Sarah isn’t a fan of her middle name ‘Jane’ (she prefers to be called Sarah) but readers were getting her mixed up with another person who wrote hot and steamy books, so she decided to add ‘Jane’ to help readers find her books.

Outside of her writing, Sarah is a lover of cats, and even her Italian Greyhound is more cat-like than your average dog.

Sarah is passionate about children’s literacy and regularly works with schools through Skype in the Classroom and School Speakers. She is a STEM Ambassador, and actively supports young people through the UK registered environmental and STEM education charity ‘Oceans Project’ which she founded with a small group of IDP children whilst working for the Ministry of Education and Science in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. In 2014, Microsoft Education named Sarah as a ‘woman changing the world through technology’ for International Women’s Day for her work with schools worldwide.

A large percentage of Sarah’s book royalties directly supports Oceans Project’s work with disadvantaged young people, sending them on Earthwatch expeditions worldwide where they get to work one on one with sharks, coral reefs, and in the rainforest carrying out citizen science projects with leading experts in the field. (UK readers can support Oceans Project by shopping on Amazon Smile).

Sarah’s love for the water was recently filmed for a Channel 4 documentary series looking at her DNA and family history. Check it out on YouTube.

If you love cozy mystery books, you can join Sarah’s Free Book Friday newsletter which contains plenty of free cozies to keep you out of mischief for the weekend. Sign up on her website.

Sarah is the founder of #nationalcozymysteryday which takes place on Agatha Christie’s birthday on the 15th September, and is a celebration of all things cozy mystery.

Editor’s Note: Thanks so much for the interview, Sarah! I absolutely love gingernuts. They’re something I became addicted to while living in Scotland and New Zealand. Sadly, they aren’t as easy to find now that I’m back in the States.

Cozy Mystery Publishing

Thoughts on Writing Cozy Mystery Novellas

October 21, 2019October 20, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

I recently wrote and published my first cozy mystery novella – Robbery at the Roller Derby. It’s a prequel to my Mollie McGhie Sailing Mystery series and is set about twelve years before the first book in the series – Murder at the Marina. After I had published three books in my series, I decided it was time to get more serious about marketing and promoting. One of the things I decided to focus on as part of this effort creating a reader magnet and that’s where my roller derby prequel novella came into play.

Now that Robbery at the Roller Derby has been out in the world for about a month, I thought I would share some of my thoughts about writing novellas. This isn’t meant to be advice or a prescriptive formula about how you should do things. Instead, it’s just some random stuff that popped into my head while sipping on my morning coffee.

1 – How long is a novella anyway?

I had always defined novellas quite simply – something shorter than a novel and longer than a short story. But exactly how long are novels, novellas, and short stories? This probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but not everyone agrees on a single definition. Some people say that full-length novels need to be at least 60,000 words, others put the cut-off at 40,000 words, and I’ve also seen some folks say that the magic number is 80,000.

The same confusion flows down when determining word count criteria for novellas and short stories. And to add more fun to the equation, there’s even something called a novelette (the term always makes me thing of omelettes for some reason) which is longer than a short story and shorter than a novella.

I think it comes down to genre conventions and reader expectations. In terms of novels, fantasy readers expect a big fat tome that can double as a door stop. Cozy mystery readers are happy with much shorter novels.

In the end, I went with the following definitions:

Novel – 40,000 words or more
Novella – at least 17,500 and less than 40,000 words
Novelette – at least 7,500 and less than 17,500 words
Short Story – less than 7,500 words

When it came to writing my novella, I aimed for something between 20,000 – 30,000 words. It ended up being 22k. For comparison, my full-length novels have been between 62-72k to date.

2 – Books don’t have to be long to be good.

Some of our beloved classics are novella length. Hemmingway’s Old Man and the Sea was 26k. Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was 29k. Conrad’s Into the Heart of Darkness was 38k. And Camus’ The Stranger was 36k.

Okay, there’s no way Robbery at the Roller Derby is ever going to be considered a classic, but the point is that you can tell a complete, compelling story in a shorter form. And many people like a quick read. Folks lead busy lives. Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to gobble up an entire book in one evening with a cup of cocoa and a plate of cookies.

I read something somewhere (sorry to be so vague, but I have the world’s worst memory – anyone know where I left my glasses?) that you should think about novellas not just in terms of word count but in terms of target audience. Some readers deliberately seek out shorter books, just like some people prefer box sets, and others like to read big, chunky novels.

3 – Keep it simple.

Check your complex plots and your huge cast of characters at the door. When you have a limited number of words to work with, you have to keep things focused. In my full-length cozies, I have a main plot (the mystery), a few sub-plots, and a whole bunch of characters (recurring folks who show up throughout the series and ones specific to that particular mystery).

In my prequel novella, I kept it simple. One main plot (the robbery) and a minor romantic sub-plot and a limited number of characters. I’ll tell you what, it made things so simple. So much less to keep track of and weave together.

4 – How much is your novella worth?

Pricing your books is such a thorny subject. You pour your heart and soul into something, invest your hard-earned money into covers, editing, formatting, marketing, promotions etc. Isn’t it at least worth the price of a latte?

To be honest, I don’t know the right answer to this. I price my full-length cozies based on the other comparable indie published wide cozy authors. (The “wide” point is important. Pricing strategies probably differ if you’re exclusive to Kindle Select More on the HERE.) When it came to this particular novella, I wanted to use it initially as a reader magnet, i.e., folks can get it for free if they sign up for my newsletter. But because I know that not everyone wants to get newsletters and would prefer to purchase it, I also currently offer it for 99c/99p on all retailers. My thinking was that if someone bought it, then found out later they could have had it for free, they wouldn’t be too annoyed as it cost them less than a buck.

5 – Writing novellas is fun!

I have a blast writing this prequel novella, in part due to the fact that it has a roller derby setting (way cool!) and in part due to the fact that it had a shorter word count and simpler plot. It was quite refreshing to be able to bang it out in a relatively short period of time. My full-length cozies take me forever to write.

Okay, my coffee cup is empty, so I’ll have to put an end to my random novella writing thoughts. I’d love to know what you think. Leave a comment and share your thoughts on reading and writing novellas.

Cozy Mystery Author Interview: Kelly Ethan

October 7, 2019October 6, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

This is part of my series of interviews with aspiring cozy mystery authors. I thought it would be interesting to hear from folks who are in the throes of writing their first cozy mystery and planning its publication. It takes me right back to the start of my own writer’s journey before I hit the scary “publish” button with my first cozy.

I’m delighted to be featuring Kelly Ethan today. Her first cozy mystery, The Pernicious Pixie and the Choked Word, is available for FREE when you sign up for her newsletter HERE. If you want to know more about her journey as a cozy mystery writer, grab yourself a snack and a beverage, sit back and find out what she has to say about writing, cookies, and penguins.

1 – What inspired / motivated you to write cozy mysteries?

I’m married so turning to murder mystery was natural. In all seriousness, my family moved to Tasmania in Australia and the change of scenery sparked off some ideas and soul searching. Next thing I know I have a paranormal murder mystery idea and my Point Muse cozy mystery series was born.

2 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

The twists and turns of the whodunit plot. The close relationships of the people in the story and the small town setting appeal to me. I live in a very small town and seeing that reflected in a cozy mystery feels warm and welcoming.

3 – What stage are you at in your writing and publishing journey?

I started writing paranormal romance years ago and was published with traditional style digital imprints in the United Kingdom and the Unites States. My Point muse cozy series will be my first foray into self-publishing.

4 – What are you most excited about in terms of publishing your first cozy? What are you nervous about?

I’m excited about reviews LOL. It’s a strange idea, but I want to know how much people love or hate my books 😉 I’m nervous about making a mistake in the process. With a traditional publishing model everything is done for you. But with self-publishing it stops with me.

5 – Tell us about the cozy mystery you’re currently working on. What’s your sleuth like? Where is it set? Do you have a hook?

My current story I’m working on is The Cruel Crow and the Deadly Hex. It’s set in Point muse, Maine and is book four in the Point Muse series. This story deals with secrets my heroine’s grandmother is hiding and her super secret spy past from World War Two is coming back to stalk her. Chaos and Mayhem ensue and hexes abound. My heroine is strong, stubborn and addicted to hot chocolate and sweet pastries… I’m not sure where that came from.

6 – What’s your favorite cookie? If you don’t like cookies, what’s wrong with you? Oops, sorry, scratch that. My follow-up question was meant to be far more polite – “Why don’t you like cookies?”

Isn’t not liking cookies a crime? I’m a shortbread lover although a gooey chocolate chip cookie (or biscuit for those of us down under) comes a close second. I bake and those biscuits never stay in the biscuit barrel for long. We have a biscuit fairy in the house that consumes them by the bucket load. Not me I swear…

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

Someone’s murdered the unicorn and I’m next. He’s from the Penguin Mafioso and he’s delivering me a warning to back off.

8 – What else would you like people to know about you?

I love chaos and mayhem and that shows in my writing. My stories are small town magic, mystery and mayhem with a large dose of humour through out. I’m a huge Whovian and Avengers fan and I hide my chocolate in the vegetable drawer in the fridge so my kids won’t eat it. They’d never think to look there .

About Kelly

Kelly Ethan’s world is small town magic, mystery and mayhem, with plenty of snarky laughs along the way.

With an overactive imagination and a love of all things that go bump in the night, it was natural to write cozy paranormal mysteries, but she also writes paranormal romance. No matter the genre, she loves sarcastic heroines who save the day and solve the puzzle.

With a busy and chaotic household, writing is her outlet for madness. She lives in Australia and when not writing, can be found plotting her next fictional murder or chasing after the family’s ferocious hellhound.

You can connect with Kelly on her Website | Facebook | Twitter

Thanks for the interview, Kelly! We seem to have a biscuit/cookie fairy in our house too. That’s the only explanation I can think of for why they disappear so quickly.

Cozy Mystery Publishing

Paid Email Promotions for Cozy Mysteries

September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

After I published the third book in my cozy mystery series, I decided it was time to start getting more serious about promoting and advertising my books. While I’ve been running Amazon ads for a while now (they work well for my paperback and large print editions, less so for my ebooks), participate in Kobo promotions (the results are okay, not stellar), and tried Facebook ads (dismal results), I hadn’t given much though to paid email promotions until recently.

Paid email promotions are pretty self-explanatory. You give someone money and they promote your book in their email. Of course, I’m not talking about slipping your little sister a five dollar bill and having her spam her friends’ inboxes with ‘Buy my sister’s book!’

What I’m referring to are those organizations who send out daily newsletters to avid readers highlighting free and/or bargain books. For a fee (and if you meet their selection criteria), they’ll include your book. And, in return, you (hopefully) get lots and lots of people downloading your book, loving it pieces, and rushing off to buy the rest in the series. At least, that’s the theory.

I decided to put this theory to the test. In July, I dropped the price of the first book in my series (Murder at the Marina) from $3.99 to 99c and scheduled five paid email promotions. I supplemented this with newsletter swaps with other cozy mystery authors and spread the work on social media. The experiment cost me $206. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of money. Just think of all of the Oreo cookies you could buy with that wad of cash!

So, I bet you’re dying to know whether I made my investment back. Stick around to the end and I’ll let you know.

Let’s get into some nitty-gritty about the promos I did. But a few things to note before we dive in:

I’m wide, meaning that I distribute my books on all retailers (Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and Google Play). I am not exclusive to Amazon and part of Kindle Unlimited. I was particularly interested in seeing if I could gain more traction on non-Amazon platforms through these promos.
To assess the effectiveness of each promo, I tallied up sales on the day of the promo and the day after (not everyone opens emails the day they receive them) and did some magic with my calculator to figure out cost per unit sold (cost of promo / number of sales). I was interested not just in the number of sales, but how much each sale cost me. Keep in mind you’re making peanuts for each sale at a 99c price point – between 35-45c depending on retailer.
I did apply for a BookBub, the Holy Grail of paid email promos, and was unsuccessful. No surprise there. They’re pretty hard to get.
These are just my results. Don’t take anything I say as gospel. Your mileage may vary.

Robin Reads

Robin Reads cost me $65. They only target Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This was my least effective promo and I probably wouldn’t use them again. I know other people have great success with them though.

Ereader News Today (ENT)

ENT cost me $55. They target all retailers and I did see some sales on non-Amazon storefronts. Not a lot, but some. I’m on the fence about whether I’d used them again given the cost.

Bargain Booksy

Bargain Booksy cost me $55. They target all retailers. This one was the best at getting non-Amazon sales, including quite a few Barnes & Noble sales which worked to my advantage (more on that below). I’d probably use them again.

Book Adrenaline

Book Adrenaline cost me $15. They target everyone except Google Play. This one worked well for Barnes & Noble. This was one of my effective promo (in terms of cost of sale) and I’d definitely use them again.

Fussy Librarian

Fussy Librarian cost me $16 (I believe their prices have gone up since I booked). They target all retailers. This was my most effective promo and I’d definitely use them again.

So, did you make any money?

Yes, I hear you. You want to know about the money. Should I have bought Oreo cookies instead?

The cold hard truth is that none of the promos paid for themselves based on sales the day of and sales the day after. To be honest, I didn’t expect them to. It’s all about the read-through, or so they say. When I looked at my sales numbers for July and into the first week of August to see if people went on to buy the next two books in the series (or bought the box set), I came out ahead. Barely, but I did come out ahead. But, keep in mind that I did newsletter swaps during this period, so some of my sales and read-through could be attributed to those, rather than my paid promos.

Something unexpected did happen as a result of my July promo month. Barnes & Noble contacted me and asked if I would be interested in participating in a 99c cozy mystery promo the following month. I think this only happened because I came onto their radar due to the number of sales I had on their platform that month, sales that I wouldn’t have had without the promos. I did relatively well during that cozy mystery promo in August, getting the bestseller tag on and off throughout the week which raised my visibility and in turn generated more sales.

All in all, it was a good experiment. I didn’t lost my shirt financially and my pants still fit because I didn’t eat $206 worth of Oreo cookies.

What about you? Readers – Do you subscribe to any paid email promo newsletters? Do you buy books that they advertise? Authors – Have you tried paid email promos? How did they work for you?

Aspring Cozy Mystery Author Interview, Cozy Mystery Author Interview

Aspiring Cozy Mystery Author: Lisa Leoni

September 2, 2019September 1, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

So grab yourself a beverage and a snack, settle in, and find out more about what Lisa Leoni has to say about writing, penguins, and cookies.

1 – What inspired / motivated you to write cozy mysteries?

Writing cozies is a pretty recent development for me. I’ve been writing romance since I stumbled upon my first romance novel, just out of college. Outside of loving romance, I binge all sorts of true crime and crime drama media. I remember being a kid and sneaking reads of serial killer encyclopedias in bookstores (but trying not to crack the spine!). So if I love romance and murder, wouldn’t I want to write romantic suspense? Logic would think so, but the ideas never came, and I focused on contemporary romance.

I can’t recall how I stumbled upon what a cozy was (I wish I did), but I IMMEDIATELY knew it’s what I wanted to write. Humor, murder, getting to research all sorts of different topics, and some romance. It’s the perfect combination of my interests!

2 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

They’re happy little murder stories. When I say that to people who don’t read them, I get some weird looks, believe me. But I’m sure fans of cozies understand what I mean. I’m drawn to cozies for many of the same reasons I love reading/writing romance. They’re fun, have great characters, show women kicking butt and being brilliant, and have happy endings.

There’s a cozy movie series that gets the closest I’ve encountered to having all of my favorite things in a cozy: the Mystery 101 series on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Aside from those two being two of my favorite Hallmark actors, that series involves academia (I work in higher education), criminal psychology, writing fiction, and some romance, with the crime solving.

3 – What stage are you at in your writing and publishing journey?

After trying to finish a complete first draft of a novel for more than 10 years (a lot of false starts and a lot of ideas), I visited Scotland for the first time in 2015 and found my muse. I started writing Scotland-set contemporary romance and got into Pitch Wars in 2017 as a mentee. I then signed with an agent and we’re working toward selling my debut. I’m thrilled to be represented by an agent and working toward selling my debut. I’m actively writing cozy mysteries and contemporary romance and plan to publish in both genres.

4 – What are you most excited about in terms of publishing your first cozy? What are you nervous about?

I want to know which characters the readers love and be able to share the worlds in my head with other people. These days, I’m really leaning into the common advice that an author should write the book they want to read. That’s exactly what I’m doing and I can’t wait to meet the kind of people who love these same ideas and characters as I do.

In terms of cozies, the thing I’m most nervous about is the murderer and motivation being easily figured out early in the story. As a reader, I get disappointed when I figure everything out early so I feel a lot of pressure around that as an author. Even when I figure out who the murderer is, I love to be surprised by their motivation as that’s revealed over the course of a book.

5 – Tell us about the cozy mystery you’re currently working on. What’s your sleuth like? Where is it set? Do you have a hook?

I’m working on the first in a series that’s set in a small town in western Oregon. My sleuth is fun, lovingly snarky and has a love-hate relationship with her home town. She’s found herself back in her home town for the summer and it’s the longest she’s been there for more than a weekend since she left for college many years ago. It’s fun to watch her experience the town (and it’s quirky citizens) as an adult with more life experience. I’ve also woven in some nods to Scotland, which have me super excited.

6 – What’s your favorite cookie? If you don’t like cookies, what’s wrong with you? Oops, sorry, scratch that. My follow-up question was meant to be far more polite – “Why don’t you like cookies?”

I loooove cookies! Not as much as cake, but I like cookies more than ice cream, if I had to rank them. Mmmm cookies. Now I need to go bake some, BRB! Okay, I’m back with a plate of hot butterscotch oatmeal cookies. I love to microwave them so the chips are gooey. I also love frosted sugar cookies at Christmas (specifically using the recipe from my mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook).

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

“I lost my passport coming back from Mexico. Can I use your computer to order a replacement?”

No one can escape government bureaucracy, not even penguins. He visited me because he saw my cats on Instagram and wanted to meet them.

8 – What else would you like people to know about you?

When I’m not writing, watching Hallmark movies or listening to true crime podcasts, I coach authors on social media and have my own podcast called Social Media Deconstructed. I’m also in early stages of launching a true crime podcast.

About Lisa

Lisa Leoni is a cozy mystery and contemporary romance writer who spends much of her time daydreaming about her next trip to Scotland and ways to murder people in her books. By day, she works in higher education and spends her evenings being herded by two ginger cats. She’s currently serving as president of her local Romance Writers of America chapter and was selected as a 2017 Pitch Wars mentee.

You can connect with Lisa on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Podcast | Cat Instagram

Thank you so much for participating, Lisa! I love your cat’s Instagram account – so cute 🙂 And Betty Crocker is such a great cookbook. My go-to apple crisp recipe comes from there.

Cozy Mystery Author Interview

Cozy Mystery Author Interview: Loretta & Sarah Johns

August 19, 2019June 6, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

10 Reasons

Today, I’m featuring an interview with the sister writing team of Loretta and Sarah Johns, authors of the Starlight Cozy Mystery series. I’m fascinated by writing teams, whether they be friends, spouses, or siblings. It must be neat to someone to bounce your ideas off of and share the writing journey with. And I can tell that this particular writing team has a lot of fun working together.

Grab a beverage and a snack, sit back, and read what Loretta and Sarah have to say about cozy mysteries, penguins, and cookies.

1 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

BOTH: The characters are usually witty and engaging and it reminds us of the good old days watching Father Dowling, Murder She Wrote, Magnum PI, Diagnosis Murder, and Quincy.

2 – What inspired you to write a cozy mystery series together?

LORETTA: it all started with a series we are working on, following two sisters on a road trip.

SARAH: There’s a large time difference between where we currently live, so we both had too much wine and we ended up talking about MagnumPI, helicopters, and looking at property on Zillow in Hawaii.

LORETTA: Yup, then I said, yeah, we should totally write a mystery, only with an alien and it should be funny. Then we started laughing and came up with a few plots. We also became quite serious and ended up planning a semi-retirement move to Hawaii. We were raised apart and met again as adults, then life got in the way and we ended up separated by an entire ocean for 20 years. So we’re together over the web now and working towards being together again in RL, writing books and sitting on the beach.

3 – Tell us what it’s like to work as a writing team – how do you collaborate and create your stories?

SARAH: We get on Facebook Messenger and plot while drinking while drinking coffee, tea, or wine, or in Loretta’s case, a tropical themed cocktail. Loretta then starts typing it all up, dialogue and all, then pops it into GoogleDocs. I then go on in and add or subtract stuff and clean up any mistakes I find.

4 – What’s more important – character or plot?

LORETTA: The characters spawn the plots for us. It’s not an either or. It’s here’s this person and look at the trouble they get in…

5 – What do you like best about being an author? What do you like the least?

Best

SARAH: I get to play with my sister as we craft these books. It’s very healing energy as we get to play pretend with each other and invite people into our joint world.We didn’t get to do that as children so it’s even more special now.

LORETTA: And the money goes towards reuniting us once more and continuing the grand adventure.

Least

BOTH: Edits and Amazon hanging while publishing the releases and as of late the issues with pre-order errors on their part.

BOTH: Chocolate chip and traditional Oreos

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

LORETTA: “Hi, I’ve come down for the shave ice from the stand.” We tell him he’s in the wrong reality and get back into The Dade Sisters Book 3.

SARAH: He needs to be careful. Pele’s son makes great shave ice but she’s not too happy when you use the reality jumping portals, especially if you took a rock to do it.

8 – What else would you like us to know about the two of you?

LORETTA: We both love adventure and have lived in different countries and states. I grew up an Army Brat and then served myself, then married a Brit, while Sarah finished her Master’s degree in Canada (she now works helping veterans access benefits at her day job). We also love animals and own dogs and cats.

SARAH: Yep, our two favorite titles (other than author) Mom, including Furbaby Mom,and Nana.

LORETTA: I’m Obaa-chan, not Nana. But yes. ::laughs:: I also treasure being Tia.

SARAH: And we both love sarcastic humor. Our husbands are always amazed at how much we look and act alike despite not growing up together. We even chose the same hair style and glasses right before we found each other again.

LORETTA: Yup. Watch out, Hawaii, we’re coming. Soon, my precious. ::wanders off to look at Zillow’s Big Island listings again::

Get Loretta & Sarah’s Books

Pick up your own copy of the first Starlight Cozy Mystery – A Saucerful of Death – on Amazon.

About Loretta & Sarah

Hi! I’m Loretta, a housewife with her head usually in the clouds, dreaming of romance and far away places. One day, I thought, why not write them down? So here we are. I hope you enjoy hot men, gutsy women, and happily ever afters because that’s what you’ll get from me.

Aloha! I’m Sarah, Loretta’s younger and equally as zany sister. I spend far too much time on Messenger cooking up these crazy stories with my sister, coffee in hand. Drink Kona!

Connect with Loretta & Sarah

Follow Loretta on Amazon, both of the sisters on Facebook and Twitter, and sign-up for their newsletter to find out about new releases, sales, and other stuff like that.

Thanks so much for being on the blog, ladies! I’m glad to see that you have excellent taste in cookies. You can’t go wrong with Oreos and chocolate chip. It would be a blast to catch up with the two of you one day sipping Kona coffee on a beach in Hawaii.

Aspring Cozy Mystery Author Interview, Cozy Mystery Author Interview

Cozy Mystery Author Interview: Madeline A. Nicholas

August 5, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

Cozy Mystery Author Interview with Madeline A. Nicholas

This is the part of series of interviews with writers who are new to cozy mysteries. Some of them are established authors who have published in other genres. Others are in the throes of writing their very first book and planning its publication. It takes me right back to the start of my own writer’s journey before I hit the scary “publish” button with my first cozy.

Today I have an interview with Madeline A. Nicholas who is getting ready to publish Basic Witch: An Arabella Holloway Mystery, the first book in her Serenity Springs series. It will be released on September 30th and is available for pre-order. Get your copy HERE.

So grab yourself a beverage and a snack, settle in, and find out more about what she has to say about writing, penguins, and cookies.

1 – What inspired / motivated you to write cozy mysteries?

It was kind of a natural progression, I suppose. I fell in love with the cozy genre nearly 2 decades ago with Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who series and my reading list has been filled with cozy mysteries since.

So when I decided to start a new project a cozy mystery just felt right. And it has since taken on a life of it’s own. One idea for a book became a series, with crossover series in the future. It’s a really exciting process for me, I’m having a lot of fun.

2 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

The characters. Hands down.

They usually have interesting jobs or hobbies and being immersed into their lives is very captivating. The way they all seem to stumble into bad luck (or murders) going about their daily routine is just very…. I want to say relatable, but even though I tend to have a natural attraction for mishaps and misadventures, I have never stumbled upon a body. *Knock on wood*

3 – What stage are you at in your writing and publishing journey?

I have been writing for a very long time, it started when I was a small child, and I have written everything from short stories to poetry. My professional writing career, however, is relatively new. I have had some poetry and a few short stories published in my youth.

This will be my first book that I have written to be published. I am in the final stages at this time, I’ve finally hammered down the release date and the pre-order went live this week. (My inner self is jumping up and down)

Now it’s just a matter of making sure that everything is exactly the way that I want it, and lining up all of these moving parts. There’s a lot more involved than I could ever imagine. But I am learning as I go and loving the journey.

4 – What are you most excited about in terms of publishing your first cozy? What are you nervous about?

What am I excited about? Being Published.

I think that’s the most exciting thing. Seeing the finished product. Being a published author has been a dream of mine since I was a child. One of those dreams that you tell yourself is out of reach. I’m happy to have proven myself wrong on that one.

Nervous? I’d have to say everything. (laughs) There’s always fears of rejection or inadequacy in the arts. Will they like it? Is it good enough?

And of course, I keep running into setbacks. I’ve had some personal things to affect my deadlines and my release date has been pushed back. Twice. It has definitely been a bit discouraging. So at times, I’m worrying “Will I ever get finished? Is this going to happen?”

I’ve thrown in the towel probably a hundred times since this journey began. You just have to keep picking it back up and carrying on.

5 – Tell us about the cozy mystery you’re currently working on. What’s your sleuth like? Where is it set? Do you have a hook?

Arabella, or Bella, is more of a reluctant sleuth. Her investigation begins more out of necessity than curiosity. She’s happy to let the professionals work the case, but she feels like they have dropped the ball.

She’s a young woman, mid 20s, who doesn’t know that she is a witch, or even that magic exists at the beginning of the book. So she has a hard time wrapping her head around it at first. She has always felt like something was missing or that she was different, essentially she finds herself as well as the killer.

The book is set in the fictional town of Serenity Springs. Which I modeled after the towns I grew up in/around. A rural town, slightly larger than a postage stamp, that’s kind of off off the beaten path. It looks like your normal sleepy little town, but some of the residents are not what you would expect.

6 – What’s your favorite cookie? If you don’t like cookies, what’s wrong with you? Oops, sorry, scratch that. My follow-up question was meant to be far more polite – “Why don’t you like cookies?”

There are people who don’t like cookies??!? Sounds like a horror movie.

Favorite? That’s a tough one, I would have to go with the classic chocolate chip, but then there’s peanut butter, those chocolate sandwich cookies, ooh thin mints, … I’m sorry what was the question again?

Monster cookies. Final answer. The huge things that you put everything from oatmeal and peanut butter to chocolate chips and M&Ms in. I’ve never had one, but they sound awesome. I think I might be baking later.

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

“This isn’t Los Angeles, I knew I should have taken a left at Albuquerque.” Apparently he was on his way home from vacation and got lost.

He’s probably looking for something to eat, that’s what most of my visitors stop by for.

Yes, I know this response shows my age.

8 – What else would you like people to know about you?

This reminds me of those job interview questions I always fail at because I never know what to say.

I’m your basic small town girl. I hate crowds and traffic.

I love animals. I rescue them when I can and try to find them forever homes. Sometimes that’s not possible, so I adopt them myself. Or is it they adopt me?

This is why I currently have 4 cats and feed half a dozen stray or wild animals. Cats, dogs, the occasional possum.

I once had a ‘pet’ raccoon. He would knock on the door and come in and help himself to something to eat. He eventually got comfortable enough to walk up and take food right out of my hand.

Basic Witch: An Arabella Holloway Mystery

Meet Serenity Springs, tucked away from most of the world in the mountains of Appalachia. Quiet, peaceful and nothing short of magic, it appears to be the quintessential small town. But is everything as it appears?

After a desperate late-night call from her mother, Arabella Holloway finds herself alone in the quaint yet quirky little town, surrounded by family who are total strangers. Determined to uncover the mysterious circumstances of her mother’s death, Bella finds more questions than answers. Now she must race to uncover long buried secrets before she becomes caught in another spell of murder… her own.

Grab your copy of Basic Witch on Amazon!

About the Author

Madeline A. Nicholas writes cozy mysteries as well as paranormal fantasy novels. When she is not casting spells with her books, she spends her time doing such muggle things as reading, pretending she can grow things in her garden, or being bossed around by her pets.

You can connect with Madeline on Facebook and Instagram.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Madeline. I love the fact that you’re an animal lover and feed stray and wild animals. Looking forward to checking your new series out!

Mollie McGhie Cozy Sailing Mysteries

Poisoned by the Pier Now Available & Murder at the Marina on Sale!

July 15, 2019July 15, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

Poisoned by the Pier Now Available!

Poisoned by the Pier, the third book in the Mollie McGhie Cozy Sailing Mystery series, is now available in ebook, paperback, and large print.

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google Play

When Mollie’s husband signs the two of them up for an extreme diet, she’s not amused. When someone ends up poisoned by a cake, things get even worse.

While she tries to identify the killer, Coconut Cove’s annual boating festival is in full swing. In between getting ready for her first sailing race and cheating on her diet, Mollie and her cat, Mrs. Moto, uncover clues, interview suspects, and do their best to avoid rutabagas.

Can Mollie nab the killer before someone else is poisoned?

If you like quirky characters, adorable cats, and plenty of chocolate, you’ll love this cozy mystery. Pick up a copy of Poisoned by the Pier and laugh out loud from the first page to the last.

Find out more HERE.

New to the Series?

If you’re new to the series, you might want to start with Murder at the Marina. Now is the perfect opportunity to grab a copy as the ebook is ON SALE FOR FOR 99c/99p for a limited time.

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google Play

Find out more HERE.

Get the Scoop!

Click here to sign up for my newsletter and stay in touch. You can expect updates from me once or twice a month about life aboard our sailboat, my current projects, new releases, sales and promotions, and other fun stuff.

Cozy Mystery Author Interview

Cozy Mystery Author Interview: Adriana Licio

July 1, 2019June 17, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

Today, I have an interview with Adriana Licio, an Italian author who is getting ready to launch her first cozy mystery series—The Italian Village Mysteries. One look at the cover of the prequel to the series—And Then There Were Bones—made me want to drop everything, hop on a plane, and travel to Italy. Minus any dead bodies of course. By the way, if you want your own FREE copy of Adriana’s prequel, you can find all the details below.

So grab yourself a beverage and a snack, settle in, and find out more about what she has to say about writing, penguins, and cookies.

1 – What inspired / motivated you to write cozy mysteries?

On my bookshelves, beside classics and travel literature, you’ll mostly find mysteries —Christies and cosies in particular. In fact, there are so many things in the genre that appeal to me—a good mystery with little violence, no gore, a glimpse into a community’s way of life,
quirky characters, and… gossip! I love a happy ending, and I don’t like cynicism of any kind. I adore heartwarming stories, exploring the problems we all experience in daily life with a healthy dose of humor, since I’m a firm believer in the power of a good laugh. In what other genre can you find all the above?

2 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

The community aspect – the fact that beyond the mystery, there’s a whole village or town with its army of characters. Reading a good cozy mystery, you learn about a place, its culture, habits, food, so the mystery, which has to be intriguing with a few good twists, never occurs in a vacuum.

3 – What stage are you at in your writing and publishing journey?

I’ve just launched my website, and it’s a very exciting moment since I will connect with my readers for the first time. On subscription, readers will receive a free e-copy of And Then There Were Bones, a homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and the prequel to my An Italian Village Mystery series. It’ll be the first time readers in general will get the chance to read a book of mine, which is both exciting and scary. So far, people who’ve read the book have been generous with their enthusiastic comments and encouragement, mostly asking me when the series will be out, which is a good sign.

In the autumn, my first two full-length mysteries will be available on Amazon. My editor is currently checking through book one, Murder on the Road, one more time before it goes to my proofreader. I’ve already written book two, A Fair Time for Death, and put it through its first round of editing. It’s now taking a rest, before the serious business of self-editing and professional editing starts in earnest.

4 – What are you most excited about in terms of publishing your first cozy? What are you nervous about?

The idea that people in a small town in the United States, or in remote parts of Australia or India or New Zealand might turn the pages of my books is simply exhilarating. That’s the reason why I accepted the challenge to write in English and not in Italian, my native tongue. English is a global language; it’s a doorway to the world. And we’re lucky to live in times where publishing our own work as indie authors is possible.

I love and fear technology at the same time. What if I don’t manage to upload my book to Amazon properly on launch day? I’m sweating, beating my fists frantically on my PC, then the whole thing explodes…

But hey, I’m in my bed! It was just a bad dream.

5 – Tell us about the cozy mystery you’re currently working on. What’s your sleuth like? Where is it set? Do you have a hook?

My heroine is feisty travel writer Giò Brando. At the age of 38, she comes back to her hometown in Southern Italy, devastated after breaking up with her fiancé just 30 days before their wedding was due to take place. Hoping for peace, quiet and family life, she stumbles on to… a corpse!

Apparently, a falling rock killed a woman as she parked her car. But, was this tragic accident really an accident? And was the woman, PA for a powerful local man, the intended victim?

The setting is Maratea, a quaint little village on the Mediterranean coast, which is a real place I visit every time I need peace of mind. Its spectacular wild beauty, with vertical rock walls plunging into the waters below, never fails to remind me that life is far more than the daily rush or occasional grump.

Tapping into her adventurous nature, Giò looks for clues among the gossips that abound in this quirky Italian village, her quest for the truth regularly taking her into the local cafes and bars, and her sister Agnese’s perfumery. Here, customers come and go with their unique problems and pains, some touching, others laugh-out-loud funny, knowing that Agnese will advise them on the right perfume to use at the perfect time. Not easy, maybe, but still much easier than keeping her impetuous sister Giò from nosing around and putting herself into real danger…

6 – What’s your favorite cookie? If you don’t like cookies, what’s wrong with you? Oops, sorry, scratch that. My follow-up question was meant to be far more polite – “Why don’t you like cookies?”

It’s not exactly a cookie, more of a pastry called bocconotto and it’s a specialty of Maratea. You can try them in a local shop where the fragrant treat is served hot, straight from the oven. There’s a whole range of fillings to choose from – I prefer the sour cherry version, but I’m guessing Mollie would lead you straight over to the chocolate one.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Mollie she’s referring to is the main character in my cozy mystery series and she does have a serious obsession with chocolate. I do too. I wonder where she got it from?

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

The poor wee one is wearing a sombrero to protect himself from the summer heat of Maratea. But what is he holding in his hands? It’s a Nativity scene musical box, and he’s here to remind me that I need to go to Christmas Land and finish that novel of mine.

Where had I got to in the story? Well, there’s an old Irish tune being played in an ancient Christmas crib; a lonely mother and daughter landing in Maratea; books disappearing from the local library only to reappear a few days later; and Giò trying to make sense of it all. Have you got all that? No? I’d better don my mittens and scarf, ready to follow the penguin, then.

Oh, hold on a minute, Ellen has one more question for me. Of course, I’ll answer that before I go. What did you want to ask, Ellen?

8 – What else would you like people to know about you?

I’m never too good at talking about myself, despite being a writer. Such a shame, I know. But I’d love to invite readers who like cozy mysteries in stunningly beautiful settings to come over and get to know my corner of Southern Italy through my free e-novella, And Then There Were Bones. And then let me know their frank opinion of it! It’s an exclusive gift on subscription to my newsletter – the terrific Maratea Murder Club.

[Adriana waves farewell to Ellen and her readers and follows the impatient penguin to Christmas Land. Bye-bye, summer.]

About Adriana

Adriana, who lives in Southern Italy, is the author of the upcoming series An Italian Village Mystery. She resisted writing as long as she could, but one day she found an alluring blank page and the words flowed in the weird English she’d learned in Glasgow.

She loves loads of things: traveling, reading, walking, good food, small villages, and home swapping. She runs her family perfumery, and between a dark patchouli and a musky rose, she devours cozy mysteries. Adriana finds peace for her restless, enthusiastic soul only when walking in nature with her golden retriever Frodo and her hubby Giovanni.

You can find out more about Adriana on her website: adrianalicio.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, you can download your free e-book And Then There Were Bones, chat about cozies, and receive a map of Maratea and Giò’s photo album of her favorite places by subscribing to her newsletter at: www.adrianalicio.com/murderclub

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Adriana! Your new series sounds wonderful. And I can’t wait to get to Italy soon and try one of those cookies.

Cozy Mystery Author Interview

Cozy Mystery Author Interview: V.L. McBeath

June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 Ellen Jacobson

Poisoned by the Pier Graphics(8)

Today, I have an interview with V.L. McBeath who is launching her first cozy series—Eliza Thomson Investigates. Grab a drink and a snack, sit back, and read what V.L. has to say about writing, penguins and cookies.

VL McBeath Image 1

1 – What genres have you previously published in? What inspired you to start writing cozies?

My first foray into publishing was with a historical family saga set in Victorian-era, England.

The thing was, when I started writing I had no intention of being a published author, it just sort of happened. The work was a passion project based on several years’ research into my family history. It turned out that my ancestors had quite a story to tell and I ended up writing a five-book series with a short story prequel, (The Ambition & Destiny Series).

From start to finish, the project took the best part of eight years to complete and once I’d published the final book, I was left with a feeling of ‘what now’.

Writing had become a way of life, but because I’d exhausted my family research (for the time being at least), I turned to a genre I had always loved. Murder mysteries.

Because my first series had been historical, and because I wanted to write ‘whodunit’ types stories (of a similar nature to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books) historical cozy mysteries seemed to be the way to go. The main difference though is that my amateur sleuth, Eliza Thomson, is anything but a passive little old lady. I don’t think I’m capable of writing such characters, and so Eliza is very progressive given that the books are set at the beginning of the twentieth century.

2 – What’s your favorite thing about cozy mysteries?

As I mentioned, I love whodunit types of mysteries, but I also like the more light-hearted, feel-good, nature of cozy mysteries. After writing about life in the Victorian-era with all the challenges that entailed, being able to switch gears and write something with an element of humour, as well having all the twists and turns of the plot, has been great fun.

3 – Do you have any writing rituals?

I don’t have rituals as such, but I’m not a great one for change!

When I started writing, I had a full-time, office-based job, which meant I did all my writing of an evening.

I now have more flexibility with my working hours, but I still find I am most comfortable writing in the evening (usually between about 9pm and midnight).

I go to the gym every weekday morning – because I need to do something, and then I use the afternoon to do admin / marketing or other such things. I do still work part time and so that has to fit into the afternoons as well.

4 – What’s more important – character or plot?

Character. When I wrote my first series, I was struck with how readers identified with the characters in the books and so when I came to write the Eliza Thomson Investigates series, I knew I needed Eliza to be someone readers would remember, and hopefully like.

5 – What do you like best about being an author? What do you like the least?

I love being able to go off into my own little world and back to a time when things seemed so much easier, especially given that everything seems to be in so much chaos nowadays.

I also particularly like writing murder mysteries because if anyone upsets me, I can always get my revenge by using them as the inspiration for my next plot!

What don’t I like? The hardest part is actually sitting down to write – especially when I’m stuck on a plot point. I can procrastinate for hours!

Hmm – cookies. I wouldn’t say I don’t like them, but I rarely eat them.

Maybe it’s because in the UK they don’t seem to be as prominent as in the US?

Or maybe it’s because I try to avoid buying sweet things? Eating cookies and sitting at a computer all day really would have me growing about 3 dress sizes!

Not that I’m totally angelic. Occasionally I will have one – and it will always be a white one with milk chocolate chips. Other than the double chocolate chip (which I’m less keen on) I don’t think I’ve tried any other varieties!

7 – A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why did he come visit you?

Penguin – “Have you seen the weather out there? It’s pouring down.”

Me – “I thought you liked it wet.”

Penguin – “I like water I can dive into, not when it’s falling from the sky!”

Me – “It’s a good job you have your hat, then.”

Penguin – “Are you kidding me? The water’s soaking straight through.”

Me – “What do you expect? It’s a sun hat, not a rain hat. Have you learned nothing while you’ve been in the UK?”

Penguin – “I’ve learned that I like snow better than rain. The guys are coming to pick me up shortly. We’re going back to Antarctica.”

Me – “Oh no … and at such short notice. I’ll miss you!”

Enter three more penguins.

Penguin – “You will? Do you have any more fish, then? That would delay us.”

Me – “Did you leave any in the fridge after breakfast?”

Penguin – “Leave fish? Do you know who you’re talking too!”

Me – “All right, I know, silly question. So, is that it? You’re just going to walk out of here?”

Penguin – “Well we can hardly fly, can we? Although perhaps it’s something we should work on. It would save us a fortune on air fares.”

8 – What else would you like us to know about you?

Lea, a gorgeous Burmese!

I can’t claim to be very exciting, but I’m married to Stuart and have two grown-up daughters and a lovely Burmese cat, called Lia.

I spent most of my career working for the pharmaceutical industry and still work as a consultant on an ad-hoc basis.

I’m originally from Liverpool, and so I’m a big fan of Liverpool Football Club (soccer if you’re reading this in the US).

My other passion is music. Unless I’m watching the TV (which might be for about an hour a day) or sleeping (considerably longer, although maybe not for long enough), I have the radio on ALL the time. I love rock music and can’t bear to be in a quiet room.

Get V.L. McBeath’s Books

A Deadly Tonic and Murder in Moreton—Books 1 and 2 of the Eliza Thomson Investigates series—are currently available for preorder on Amazon at the introductory price of 99c / 99p.

A Deadly Tonic will be available to buy from 22nd June, but is also available as a FREE download to anyone who joins V.L.’s mailing list.

Connect with V.L. McBeath

You can connect with V.L. at Facebook | Amazon | BookBub | Website

Thank you so much for being on the blog, V.L.! Your cat is absolutely gorgeous and your new cozy series sounds great. I love the idea of a progressive amateur sleuth in the early 20th century. I hope your penguin friend made it back to Antarctic safe and sound.