Great Escapes Book Tours

A two-time winner of the Bloody Words (Bony Blithe) Award for Canada’s best light mystery, Elizabeth J. Duncan is the author of two series of traditional mysteries: the Penny Brannigan series set in North Wales and Shakespeare in the Catskills featuring costume designer and amateur sleuth Charlotte Fairfax. Remembering the Dead is Elizabeth’s twenty Penny Brannigan mystery.

No stranger to issues

While some mystery authors cringe at the mention of serious issues, Elizabeth seems them for what they are—an opportunity to create human tension that captures the imagination. “The idea for Remembering the Dead started to come together as I learned more about the World War 1 Welsh poet Hedd Wyn, and the iconic chair that was awarded posthumously to him at the 1917 Eisteddfod, a national Welsh celebration of the creative arts. The plot is centred around a dinner held to mark the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War 1, and several conversations in the book touch on the futility of that war. So many lives lost – for what?”

In previous books, Elizabeth has tackled the subject of Lesbianism in A Brush with Death. “Although not illegal in the UK in 1960s as homosexuality was, it was something two women had to keep secret,” Elizabeth said. She also tackled arranged marriages and how they are used to acquire the right to remain in the UK (Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By), domestic abuse and counterfeiting of designer items (Slated for Death), squatters (Murder is for Keeps), and lack of understanding around transgender issues (The Marmalade Murders).

“My goal is to provide entertainment and reading pleasure,” Elizabeth said. “So, these issues are not the focus of the books, but they do provide contemporary context and contribute to the back story of a character which in a couple cases drove motive. I hope my books are a pleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon. With a cup of tea and a couple of lovely biscuits, of course!”

A love of writing this series

“I want readers to know how much I enjoy writing the Penny Brannigan mysteries, and how grateful I am to every reader,” Elizabeth said. “It takes me to Wales for five months each year, and everywhere I go I see something new, try something different, or revisit much loved places and connect with dear friends. I know there are a lot of books out there; readers have lots of choice. Thank you for choosing my book.”

Difficult research

When asked about what she’s done to research her books, Elizabeth said the biggest challenge she faced was going down a slate mine – twice – to research Slated for Death. “I don’t like enclosed spaces, I was really uncomfortable, and I was desperately wishing I’d chosen another setting, but it was too late. In the end, though, it was educational and I came away with a terrific respect for the men who spent their entire working lives down there. I was glad I did it.” 

Of course, research isn’t always about going places you don’t want to go. Sometimes, it’s all about indulging. “The most enjoyable aspect of research is eating delicious British cream teas. Got to get those scones right!”

Learn more about Elizabeth Duncan at www.elizabethjduncan.com.

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Vicki Delany has written more than thirty books and currently has four cozy mystery series: the Tea By The Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas mysteries and, as Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series.

Beginnings of Silent Night, Deadly Night

Silent Night, Deadly Night is the fourth book in the Year Round Christmas series. “It’s not intended to be at all serious or deep,” Vicki said. “It’s a fun romp through a silly little town that tries to brand itself as America’s Christmas Town. It’s about family and friends and community and loyalty. And what happens to those bonds when a murder is thrown into the mix. If there is a message to Silent Night Deadly Night, maybe it’s that our memories can be a lot rosier than our reality ever was.”

The first two books are set in the run up to Christmas, the third in July, and Vicki said she was looking for a non-Christmas setting for the fourth. “Thanksgiving seemed perfect. Thanksgiving means food, and I’m always looking for different ways to kill people, so murdering someone with food seemed like a good fit. I was tossing around some ideas with a couple of writer friends and one of them said something about a pot luck, where one dish appears on the table but no one knows who made it. And on it went from there…”

Getting personal

Vicki lives on a small property in the country. When she first moved there, she started a vegetable garden. “That turned out to be too much like hard work, so I now plant two pots with heirloom tomato seedlings on the deck. I love my writing life. I write every single day when I’m at home. I travel a lot and I’ve been to many marvelous places. Earlier this year I was in Mozambique and in the fall I’m going to Russia. I also travel just about anywhere in North America to book events and festivals etc., when I’m invited (hint hint).”

She is also the co-founder and co-organizer of Women Killing it, a crime writing festival in Picton, Ontario held every Labour Day weekend with the aim of promoting Canadian female crime writers. For more information about the festival, visit . womenkillingitauthorsfestival.wordpress.com.

The Writing Life

Vicki started her career writing standalone psychological suspense, aka domestic suspense. She also penned an eight-book police procedural series. She said, “I’m now writing cozies. That’s quite a switch. I found that after darker, grittier books, I settled easily into cozies. The darker side of life is important and it needs to be dealt with, but I’d had enough of that. To me, writing cozies is fun. I like to keep them light and I hope funny. If I’m having fun, I hope the reader is too. I’ve written thirty-five published books to date, and I’m still having fun. I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t.”

An avid traveler, Vicki has enjoyed location research for her books. “I’d never even been to the Outer Banks before I had a contract for the Lighthouse Library series (written under the pen name of Eva Gates), so off I went to have a look around. Of course I had to try all the southern food: shrimp and grits, hush puppies., North Carolina barbeque. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. For the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series it was off to Cape Cod: chowder, clams, fish pulled straight from the sea. Yum.

“I didn’t need to do any location research for the Year Round Christmas series, because it’s set in Upstate New York, near Rochester which is an area I know well. I didn’t have to do much food research either, because I am very familiar with turkey and apple pie!”

Learn more about Vicki Delany at www.vickidelany.com.

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Heather Haven has quite the writer’s resume. She’s penned fourteen novels, short stories, comedy acts, television treatments, ad copy, commercials, and plays. She has won numerous awards and is launching the Snow Lake Romantic Suspense Novel series with Christmas Trifle. She said, “I had written 13 mystery novels but was to discover this was a completely different animal. It took me 18-months to get this novel right. I missed deadline after deadline in getting it to my editor but when I did, I was proud of the achievement. Now it’s up to the reader.”

Beginnings of Christmas Trifle

Heather said Christmas Trifle was inspired by a married chef couple who lived and worked in a small coastal town in California. “They opened a successful restaurant together only to wind up divorced. She got custody of the restaurant. He retaliated by opening his own restaurant at the other end of town. It became a battle of one-upmanship for them, each trying to get the better of the other. The small town loved it. Why not? Two fine restaurants besting one another, offering deals, music and fabulous food. Ultimately, he went out of business in that location, but went further down the coast and opened another restaurant. For all I know these two lovely, talented people never spoke to each other again. But my ending is different than theirs and I’ll say no more.”

Heather also said that even though she’s half Italian, she doesn’t like to argue much. “Just talking louder doesn’t mean you’re right, but try telling my Uncle Frank that. As for issues, I deal with the intricacies of relationships, all kinds. In Christmas Trifle it’s about the relationship between a married couple, two chefs, who are madly in love with one another, but manage to get off-track. Anger, hurt and resentment replaces common sense. Both do immature, funny, yet destructive things to one another while an entire town watches in amusement and surprise. As one character says to Charly, the female protagonist, ‘Honey, you’re not watching a train wreck, you are the train wreck.’”

A core theme

“I want everyone to live a positive life. To believe in themselves and be happy or at the very least, strive for happiness. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ is our inalienable right. But getting there? Ah! There’s the rub. People are often browbeaten into thinking less of themselves or not deserving of happiness. Everyone deserves to be happy. All of my books hold tight to that theme.”

The mud bath experience

Calistoga is a small town located in Northern California’s wine country. It’s famous for its mud baths. It’s also something Heather experienced firsthand in researching one of her novels. “I had a scene in one of the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries where my protagonist has a mud bath, sharing it with her soon-to-be husband. I asked my husband to join me in one. Right here and now I want to say, mud gets into places you don’t even know you have. A shower is simply is not going to do it. They provided a fireman-like hose that can blast mud, jewelry, makeup and skin right off you. But you come out very, very clean. I would go back in a heartbeat, even though I’m still looking for one of my rings.”

Find Heather on the web at heatherhavenstories.com. 

Toni LoTiempo has had a love of mysteries that began when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age ten. Her latest Pet Shop Mystery is The Time for Murder is Meow. Here’s the story behind that new mystery.

The beginnings of The Time for Murder is Meow

“The point I tried to make in this novel is that anyone, no matter how old, can have a second shot at life,” said Toni. “My protagonist, Shell, was an actress for most of her adult life and hated it. Now, in her late thirties, she finally gets a chance to do what she really wants to do, despite opposition from her agent, mother and co-star Gary. Stick to your guns and believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything!”

Toni said the idea for this book came from a friend of hers. “She wanted me to write a book that had a one-eyed Persian cat in it! (she was very specific!) Shell went through many occupations before an editor at another publishing house requested a mystery series about a pet shop. Just as I finished the book, the editor was let go!!!!! But then my agent managed to place it elsewhere.”

On the personal side

“I am an avid mystery reader and have been reading books since age three!” Toni said. “My mother was a big mystery lover, Perry Mason in particular, and I got my love of the genre from her.”

During the writing of a book, writers frequently face personal challenges that may find their way into the book. Toni said that while she was writing The Time for Murder is Meow, her sixteen-year-old cat, Gata, took ill and passed away. “It made some of the scenes where there is interaction between Shell and the cats pretty painful to write.”

Not all author experiences are so dramatic, however. While researching material for one of Toni’s early novels, all of which were in the supernatural/horror genre, she and a friend had the opportunity to attend a horror convention. “My book was about zombies, so we dressed up as zombies ala Dawn of the Dead for a costime contest at the convention. When my friend called up for the tickets, they neglected to tell him that the costume contest had been cancelled. You should have seen the looks we got when we entered the auditorium LOL.”

Learn more about T.C. LoTiemppo at tclotiempo.net.