Great Escapes Book Tours

Elena Taylor is a former playwright and director, and the author of the Eddie Shoes mysteries under the name Elena Hartwell. All We Buried is the first book in the Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery series.

Facing challenges

“The things that matter most to me are primarily about the natural world,” Elena said. “I love animals and the beauty of our environment. Nature doesn’t have a moral compass. It has what survives and what doesn’t survive. I’m also fascinated by human behavior. The things that make us tick and why we do the things we do. My writing, especially in this book, is a lot about characters faced with challenges and how they overcome them, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. I like to think that people have more in common with each other than not.”

Elena also said that All We Buried is about exploring the human condition. “My protagonist, Elizabeth ‘Bet’ Rivers, has a vision for her future, that’s interrupted by life events. The book, in part, explores how she faces this disruption in her plans. I think we all have experienced major setbacks and unexpected pitfalls in our lives, so watching how another person faces, struggles with, and ultimately comes out on the other side of a big challenge with more self-knowledge, is something we can all relate to.”

While Elena was editing All We Buried, her life suddenly changed. “I had written this book about a daughter dealing with her father’s death, when my own father died. There have been numerous times in my writing life, when the real world has collided with a project I’m working on, but this was the most personal of those experiences. I like to think that while not every character will resonate with every reader, there are enough stories here that are universal for everyone to be represented. It’s a reminder that writers merely tap into the collective unconscious.”

Lakes, rumors, and sunken trains

“I used to live in a neighborhood called Newcastle, just south of Bellevue, Washington. There’s a lake there that I heard rumors had a train engine sitting on the bottom. I started to think about all the things that could be hidden in the depths of dark lakes. The Pacific Northwest is riddled with holes dug in the ground by miners digging for coal. Those two images, the train engine rusting on the bottom of a deep lake and the holes in the earth got me thinking about how we bury things, such as secrets . . . and dead bodies!”

Elena couldn’t exactly start checking all of the Washington lakes for sunken trains, but she has done her fair share of research. She loves interviewing people and said she likes to learn from experts about the minutiae of their vocations and avocations. Interviews, however, don’t measure up to some other experiences.

“I would probably say riding in a fire truck with a group of really good-looking fire fighters on the way to a call was my favorite bit of research. I even got to wear my own headset and was able to observe the complete event. The other event that comes to mind was a recent visit to the shooting range with Adventure Protection, a group in Western Washington, that teaches women gun safety and shooting skills. I learned more about guns, gun safety, and my own ability to hit a bulls-eye than I have gained in years of reading about weapons. Plus, they are now my go-to for random questions about guns.”

Learn more about Elena Taylor at elenataylorauthor.com.

Shelly Frome is professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor, and a writer. Miranda and the D-Day Caper is an unusual entry in the cozy mystery genre because it’s intended to be a standalone novel.

The rise of the tribe

Shelly said that Miranda and the D-Day Caper grew from a frustration with the current divisions within our society that have been driven by political factions. “We’ve gotten to the point where everything seems to be tribal nowadays. You’re either for the leader of the party, especially is he’s the president, or not. If you’re a member of congress, you go along out of fear you’ll be ostracized and lose your seat. Everything can be justified no matter how outlandish. If not justified, then deflected. There’s even a lady counselor to the current commander in chief who came up with the ultimate deflection she calls ‘alternative facts.’”

A creative writing instructor once told Shelly that the best way to write a novel was to try not to write. He said, “When you wake up in the middle of the night screaming, ‘Okay, I give, I can’t take it anymore!’ that’s when you’re ready to begin. And that’s exactly what happened to me at a certain point listening to the news about the current administration.”

So, with tribalism dominating the headlines each day, Shelly felt a nostalgic pull. “I missed the days gone by especially in the Heartland when notions like fairness, truth and decency were watchwords across the land. I began having daydreams about two cousins in a small town in Indiana-a young tomboy and her whimsical, older male cousin who used to play games, engaging in pretend reconnaissance maneuvers from WW II, sneaking up on a big Halloween do on the mansion on the hill. The dynamic of these cousins today began to intrigue me, unwittingly going up against some dire right-wing conspiracy involving congress, the odds completely against them.”

A love of storytelling

“I’m an incurable storyteller, a professor emeritus of dramatic arts, a former starving actor in New York, and I used to listen to Jean Shepherd’s anecdotes out of WOR radio from New York about his ventures. Especially the ones as a kid in his little home town in Indiana, like the tale about a Red Ryder B-B gun that was made into a beloved movie that’s shown on TV every Christmas.”

Storytellers draw on many different events in their lives. Often, they don’t even realize this is happening. For instance, one summer, Shelly was, as he put it, “traipsing through the prickers and brambles at the end of Tubby Bottom Road in northern Mississippi.” He said, “I came across broken limbs like piercing pitch folks blocking my way. I was later told I had stumbled onto Wolf Creek, close to the sight of a Civil War skirmish where a parcel of Yankee soldiers had also lost their way and were ambushed by a squad of rebel soldiers. I didn’t know it at the time, but that incident was one of the catalysts for Twilight of the Drifter.”

Learn more about Shelly Frome on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorShellyFrome.

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Julie Seedorf has worn many hats, but writing is her favorite. She’s the author of the Fuchsia, Minnesota mystery series and also writes a column for her local newspaper. In A Small Town Can be #Murder, Julie brings us more Minnesota mysteries. 

Small towns with big issues

Julie said she’s not really sure where her book ideas come from—they just come on the scene, but the goods ones demand attention. “Most of my writing comes to me in early morning after I wake up. I take some time to just dream and relax. With this book I wanted something a little more serious and less quirky than my other series and I wanted to pay homage to the closeness of small towns. And my mind never quits. On any given day I have stories whirling through my head. Many never come to fruition because I am whirling too fast.”

So what about those big issues? Julie noted that it’s unusual for a cozy mystery to address a serious issue, but for A Small Town Can Be #Murder, she decided to do things differently. “I changed it up because of a few things close to my heart such as domestic abuse and teen pregnancies back in the early 50’s. The book started with me wanting to pay homage to small towns and then my heart took me to addressing those subjects by weaving them in.”

Touching hearts and making people laugh

Like many writers, Julie finds the process of writing to be a cathartic one. Without the outlet, those who like to create can find themselves getting…well, cranky. “When I write I want to touch peoples hearts, give them a good mystery and also a few laughs. I love quirky characters and I put my heart in each book. My characters become my family. Writing also helps with anxiety and depression that I constantly have to work to overcome.”

Julie said that when writing this book, it was difficult to break with her usual pattern. She said, “I have to admit, it was a challenge to not take off and be silly and weird like I have with my other series. It was hard to create normal serious characters because the characters in all my other series are off the wall.”

And speaking of off the wall, in one of her previous books, Granny Bricks A Bandit, her protagonist heads to the Mall of America and Nickolodean Universe. Julie said, “Granny gets in trouble at the mall, so of course I had to take a trip and experience the fun. Now that sounds pretty mild but remember I am as old as dirt. Well…almost. And most of my research for my other series comes from my brain as there isn’t too much factual in them. They are meant to take people away from the real world.”

Learn more about Julie Seedorf at julieseedorf.com.

James J. Cudney lives in New York City. He spent twenty years building a technology career in the retail, sports, media, and entertainment industries. He always felt a passion for books pulling at him, however. Frozen Stiff Drink is his sixth mystery in the Braxton Campus Mysteries series.

The issues in life

“My books contain diverse characters and usually address multiple aspects of social concern. They are light mysteries, so I can’t get into dozens of details, but each plot has something people can understand and might often struggle with in reality. In the series debut, we tackled a bit about sports and grading curves. In the last book, a character spent time in an institution, and another returned from the Vietnam War. In Frozen Stiff Drink, the focus is on embezzlement and abuse of political power. Many of us see these things happening around us but can’t do much about them. So… in a way… since we all like to investigate the mystery like Kellan Ayrwick, the main character, readers get a chance to fix a problem while solving a murder.”

James also said he wanted some books in the series to focus on holidays. “I always believe a book is more immersive and entertaining when the setting or time period in its pages takes place around the time you’re reading it. The last book was published right before Halloween and focused on a mysterious ghost. Given the way it ended, I couldn’t easily slide into Christmas and publish a book that quickly, so I decided to focus on a winter theme.”

In colder climates, winter brings snow, which can bring blizzards. Jades said heI had a vision of a blizzard impacting Nana D’s farm right before spring, but realized his readers adore her character. While he couldn’t get rid of her, he could make things difficult. He began with the question of what would happen if she went missing during a snowstorm? “From there, I built a plot around some of her family’s woes and created a mystery to get revenge on a character who got away with something in a previous book. It felt like it all came together, and I am thrilled with the weather effects in Frozen Stiff Drink.”

This is (not) a man’s world

“Writing for a male lead in this subgenre is tough but so much fun,” James said. “I often worry that readers tend to prefer female authors and female characters, as this is the norm. Many male writers use pseudonyms that are female names. Most main characters are not males. When I intentionally decided to go against the norm, I knew it would be a struggle to convince readers why this works, but I was also up for the challenge.”

James believes the books are just as much about the mystery as they are readers recognizing themselves in some of the characters. “That’s why most of the main people in Kellan’s life are women – that’s how I balanced the gender situation. I include all ranges of people with different personalities, shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and needs. The Braxton Campus Mysteries try to show what it’s like for a small town to survive in today’s economic, political, and social climates. Of course, they have more murders than most other places, but… there are tons of friendships, sarcasm, wit, and humor to make the place one I hope people would love to visit.”

Talking to strangers about murder is…strange

“Deciding how a murder will happen is never easy. Imagine asking questions to people who don’t know you all that well, just to be sure you have the facts straight. In this book, someone is trapped in a snowstorm. We had no snow this season in NYC. So, when I was in Canada, I had to do my research for what it might be like. Toss in some poison and trickery, I kinda thought I was losing my mind for a few minutes with a chicken and egg scenario. Which symptom or results would come first – I couldn’t be sure. And there was no real way to test the murder weapon choice… as I’m not gonna do that for real.”

Learn more about James J. Cudney at jamesjcudney.com.