Creative Alchemy

Please help me celebrate the release of my new mystery novel, Lark Underground!

If you've read Lark Lost, the free prequel novella in the Freddie Lark mystery series, then you know that Freddie doesn't think of herself as an amateur sleuth. In the new full-length novel, Lark Underground, that becomes even clearer.

In this podcast episode author Alexandra Amor reads from the first three chapters of Lark Underground as Freddie's friend and tenant Ellie tries to persuade Freddie to help with the case of a friend's missing child. Freddie is empathetic, but also knows she's not equipped to take on such a task.

Or is she?

Lark Underground is a brand new release available now in ebook and paperback from award-winning author Alexandra Amor. Click here to get your copy.

Alexandra Amor writes mystery novels about love, friendship and the search for truth.

At the moment, she is working on the next book in her Freddie Lark mystery series.

Alexandra began her writing career with an Amazon best-selling, award-winning memoir about ten years she spent in a cult in the 1990s. She has written four animal adventures for middle-grade readers, set on a fictional island in the Salish Sea, several historical mysteries set in 1890 in frontier British Columbia, and a cozy romantic mystery.

To learn more about Alexandra and her books visit AlexandraAmor.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from Lark Underground

Chapter One

“Why are you doing this yourself?” she asked.

Mysteries tied to history and setting.

As author R. (Rich) Lawson Gamble and I discuss in this interview, the scene that he reads to us from his book The Dark Road is reminiscent of a right-of-passage ritual. Tolliver is just out of the FBI Academy and as you'll hear, somewhat out of his depth in the unforgiving Arizona landscape.

Rich's Zack Tolliver series has seven books, with an eighth to be released very shortly. The Dark Road takes us back to Tolliver's origins and we meet the man who will become his law enforcement partner and friend. In the interview you'll hear Rich explain the very personal reason why each book in the series focuses on a new location.

This week's mystery author

R Lawson Gamble, known as Rich, was born and raised in New Jersey just west of the last commuter train station to New York. Born to a family of readers and musicians, he took his degree in music and sang professionally in the Boston and Providence, R.I. area performing oratorio and opera. He later accepted the position of Music Chairperson at a private school near Boston, where he worked in various capacities, from soccer coach to Dean of Students for the next 34 years. Rich moved to California in 2009 to begin his career as a writer. He has published eleven books to date, ten works of fiction, seven of which constitute his Zack Tolliver, FBI mystery series, a children's story starring Australian animals, and a history of Los Alamos Valley, his new home, for Arcadia Press. 

To learn more about R. Lawson Gamble and his books visit RLawsonGamble.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from The Dark Road

“Sometimes it is hard to see the dark road." Ashkii Nez

Chapter One

A sudden blast of hot wind set his tie flapping and flew on to form a spiral of dust beyond him on the deserted tarmac. His ears throbbed with the drone of the Cessna 172 he had just deplaned. He stood, suitcase in hand,

Who better to be investigating death in a small village than the woman who writes the obituaries?

Clare Chase has written two cozy mystery series, as well as several other books. Today we're talking about her Eve Mallow series featuring the transplanted American writer. Clare and I discuss the inspiration for this unique character and why we think mystery novels appeal to readers.

In the introduction, I mention that It's a Mystery podcast was named one of the Top 10 Crime Fiction podcasts to follow in 2020. Very exciting!

This week's mystery author

Clare Chase writes traditional mysteries; her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Her debut novel made the shortlist for Novelicious's Undiscovered Award, and Murder on the Marshes (the first in her Tara Thorpe series) was shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award.

Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as a local Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people's books!

To learn more about Clare Chase and her books visit ClareChase.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from Mystery at Apple Tree Cottage

Prologue

Early April

Any local looking at the woodland between the village of Saxford St Peter and the heath that led down to the coast would know the season. Beneath the evergreen Scots pines, bluebells formed a glorious dark-cobalt carpet, peppered here and there by white-petalled wood anemones, their centres decorated with yellow anthers. Leaf-burst for the oaks was still a month or so off, but beneath the gnarled old trees, wood sorrel grew from the moss clinging to fallen logs and branches. Its purple-veined white flowers dangled from the slenderest of stems, marking the progress of spring. 

From a distance,

Do you know what a '26 girl' was?

Michelle Cox's Henrietta and Inspector Howard novels have been described as Downton Abbey meets the Miss Fischer mysteries. Set in Chicago and England between the two world wars, each book has a mystery to solve, but also explores the evolving relationship between feisty Henrietta Von Harmon and battle weary ex-soldier and heir to his family's fortune and title, Clive Howard.

Michelle reads from the newest book in the series, A Child Lost, and shares where the idea for the series came from, what inspires her to write about a sometimes ignored era, and just what a '26 girl' was.

This week's mystery author

Michelle Cox is the award-winning author of The Henrietta and Inspector Howard series, which is a historical mystery/romantic suspense series, set in Chicago in the 1930s.  It has been described as “Downton Abbey meets Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” and has won over 40 awards to date.  Likewise, the series has been praised by Library Journal, Kirkus, Booklist, Popsugar, Publishers Weekly, Elle, Brit and Co. and many, many more. 

Michelle lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and three children, where she is hard at work on a new novel.  Before writing took over her life, she used to enjoy gardening, baking, big band music and the odd board game.  

To learn more about Michelle Cox and her books visit MichelleCoxAuthor.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from A Child Lost

Chapter 12

“Good afternoon, sir, madame,” Billings said crisply as he opened the front doorway of Highbury to Clive and Henrietta. “I trust you’ve had a pleasant afternoon.” He gave a slight bow as he stepped aside to allow them inside. 

“Tolerable, Billings. Thank you,” Clive answered tersely, handing him his hat and coat.

The short drive home from Crow Island had been fraught with a variety of emotions—first tears on Henrietta’s part and then excitement as she began to enthusiastically chatter about Madame Pavlovsky’s “extr...

Two delightful ladies in 1930s England solve crimes in a way Miss Marple would be proud of.

Churchill and Pemberley are a perfect pair; one stout, one thin, one widowed, one single, both willing to get stuck in and look for answers when mysteries appear.

I'm sure you'll love the banter between these two delightful characters that Emily Organ has created. They are an equal match for one another and also for the other characters in their south England village. The way that Emily writes the Churchill and Pemberley relationship has me chortling regularly and I'm sure you will too as she reads from Puzzle in Poppleford Wood.

This week's mystery author

Emily Organ has been writing historical mysteries for four years, her current series include the Churchill and Pemberley cozy mystery series, which is set in a 1930s English village, and the Penny Green Victorian mystery series which is set in 19th century London.

The first book in Emily’s Churchill and Pemberley series was shortlisted for Amazon UK's Kindle Storyteller Award in 2019.

Emily lives in the south of England with her family.

Learn more about Emily and her books at EmilyOrgan.co.uk.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from Puzzle in Poppleford Wood

Chapter One

“Remind me never to visit the bank again on Compton Poppleford’s market day, Pemberley,” said Annabel Churchill as she sank down into the chair behind her desk. “It’s complete mayhem! Countless yokels have crawled in from the countryside and blocked the roads with their rickety carts and animals, all of which have seen better days. I was trapped for fifteen minutes in a crowd of noisy, gap-teethed rustics with low-set ears. Most of them were wearing smocks. Smocks, I tell you! And I even saw a man in clogs. There’s no excuse for clogs, Pembers. He’d be arrested for looking like that in Richmond-upon-Thames.”

“How fortunate for him that he doesn’t live there, then,” replied Doris Pemberley, a thin,

There's nothing better than a classic noir detective mystery!

Repeat guest Renee Pawlish joins me today to read from the first book in her Reed Ferguson noir mystery series, This Doesn't Happen in the Movies. If you love stories in the vein of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, you're going to love Renee's books.

We discuss the Reed Ferguson series and her historical mystery series featuring detective Dewey Webb, which interestingly is a spin off from the Reed books.

This week's mystery author

Although born in California, Renee Pawlish has lived in Colorado most of her life. She went to college and graduate school locally, and currently lives in her dream home in the foothills west of Denver. Renee used to be a counselor, with a focus on teen sexual abuse issues and substance abuse, but then she moved into the IT field and never looked back. 

Renee writes in several genres that include mystery, horror, action-adventure, and historical mystery.

To learn more about Renee and her books, visit her website ReneePawlish.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from This Doesn't Happen in the Movies

“I want you to find my dead husband.”

“Excuse me?” That was my first reaction.

“I want you to find my husband. He’s dead, and I need to know where he is.” She spoke in a voice one sexy note below middle C.

“Uh-huh.” That was my second reaction. Really slick.

Moments before, when I saw her standing in the outer room, waiting to come into my office, I had the feeling she’d be trouble. And now, with that intro, I knew it.

“He’s dead, and I need you to find him.” If she wasn’t tired of the repetition, I was, but I couldn’t seem to get my mouth working. She sat in the cushy black leather chair on the other side of my desk, exhaling money with every sultry breath. She had beautiful blond hair with just a hint of darker color at the roots, blue eyes like a cold mountain lake,

There's always something new to learn about the world.

Author Michael Pronko wears many hats. He's a professor. He's a music fan who writes about jazz in Japan. He's written essays and memoir about living in Tokyo. And in this episode of It's a Mystery Podcast we'll talk about his Detective Hiroshi mysteries.

As you'll hear Michael and I discuss, Detective Hiroshi could be thought of as someone who represents the flip-side of Michael's experience. Hiroshi is Japanese, but was raised in the US, and is now back in Tokyo working for the local police force. (Where Michael is an American who has long lived and worked in Tokyo.)

After Michael reads to us from The Moving Blade, the first in the Detective Hiroshi mysteries, our conversation ranges from talking about sumo wrestlers as detectives, the secretive American military presence in Japan, and why April is the start of the year in Japan.

This week's mystery author

Michael Pronko is an award-winning, Tokyo-based author of the Detective Hiroshi mystery series. His first mystery, The Last Train, was selected as the winner of the Shelf Unbound Contest for best independently published book of 2018, and his second novel, The Moving Blade, won the Independent Press Award for Crime Fiction and was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best Indie Mysteries and Thrillers of 2018. He also writes about jazz for his own website, Jazz in Japan, and teaches American literature and culture at Meiji Gakuin University.

To learn more about Michael and his books visit MichaelPronko.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from The Moving Blade

Chapter One

Hideyasu Sato rarely took jobs involving foreigners. They usually lived in tall apartment buildings, kept little cash and had bad taste in valuables. But this job was pitched as an easy in-and-out with good pay and a light load. 

Getting into the house was, as always in Tokyo, a cinch. He slid a small tension wrench into the keyhole of the kitc...

Temperance Brennan is back!

Author and screenwriter Kathy Reichs needs no introduction. She is back with her latest mystery novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. It was a thrill to interview Kathy and to hear her read from A Conspiracy of Bones.

At this challenging time, when so many of us are spending more time at home, we can be comforted in the knowledge that there are always great books to read. It's always a joy for me to bring you these interviews with mystery authors, but these days I am especially grateful for all the writers who create riveting stories for us. Long may that storytelling tradition continue!

This Week's Mystery Author

Kathy Reichs is the author of 20 novels in the bestselling Temperance Brennan series, which was the inspiration behind the long-running television series Bones. She is also co-author of the Virals young adult series with her son, Brendan Reichs.

From teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, to separating and identifying commingled body parts in her Montreal lab, Dr. Reichs has brought her own dramatic work as a forensic anthropologist to her mesmerizing thrillers. She is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern, and now divides her time between Charlotte, NC and Montreal, Quebec.

To learn more about Kathy Reichs and her books visit KathyReichs.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

A Conspiracy of Bones

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a new riveting novel featuring her vastly popular character forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who must use all her tradecraft to discover the identity of a faceless corpse, its connection to a decade-old missing child case, and why the dead man had her cell phone number.

It’s sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she’s anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her.

Deep in the heart of Texas there's a tiny canine sleuth on the case.

I loved talking to Texas cozy mystery author Cat Clayton about her mystery series featuring dog groomer Steely Lamarr and her loyal companion, a Chihuahua named Cuff. The Steely and Cuff mysteries are perfect for mystery lovers who like a dash of romance and a splash of quirkiness in their books.

Cat's interview is perfectly timed because I think we all need a dose of the comfort that comes from reading about dogs, their loving owners, and mysteries that have a tidy resolution!

In the introduction, I mention some of my favorite comforting mystery novels, podcasts, TV shows and movies with the intention of providing suggestions for comfort if you need it in these challenging times.

This week's mystery author

Cat Clayton writes from somewhere deep in the heart of Texas, crafting a literary crossroads where mystery, humor, the paranormal, and a dash of romance intersect. She adores her family, spoils her (half-dozen +1) pets, is a self-proclaimed coffee snob, and a thrift store junky. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing, and when she’s not doing either, she attempts CrossFit.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from How to Leash a Thief

I declared it pie o’clock somewhere and shoved a forkful of Very Berry Scrumptious in my mouth, as I attempted to decipher the troubled expression on my boyfriend’s face, while he spat hushed, clipped words into his cell phone. The same phone issued to him by the Buckleville Police Department. Even though I couldn’t hear anything, it didn’t take Sherlock to figure out the unidentified caller had delivered bad news. Trouble had arrived in Buckleville.

To distract my curiosity, I dug in for another bite. The yummy combination of buttery crust and the yin-yang of sweet and tart touched my soul. In my book, pie made everything better. 

I leaned in, listening to Nick’s phone call. My cheeky Chihuahua, Cuff, sat perched on my lap. His head followed my fork back and forth, bulging amber eyes begging. 

Nick backed up a few paces—enough to evade my prying ears. 

Doggonit.

Moments ago,

When you can't visit a place you love, the next best thing is writing about it.

Prolific author (with several pen names) Diana Xarissa joins me for a chat about her cozy mysteries set on the Isle of Man. Diana lived on the island at one time and uses her Aunt Bessie series as an excuse to go back and visit in her imagination.

You'll hear Diana and I touch on her many series of mysteries, and other books. This is a writer who gets her work done!

In the introduction I mention that I am thrilled to be back into podcasting. This episode is the fifth since I relaunched the show. I am loving the new format of having an author read to us for the first half of the show. And I hope you're enjoying it too. Let me know! Reviews and ratings on your favorite podcast app are always appreciated and they help the show to find new listeners who are avid mystery readers, just like you.

This week's mystery author

Diana Xarissa published her first cozy mystery in 2014.  Aunt Bessie Assumes, set on the Isle of Man, was just the first of what has become her most successful series.  The twenty-third book in the series, Aunt Bessie Wonders, was released in January.  There will be three more books in the series in 2020, culminating in the final book, Aunt Bessie Zeroes In, which will be released in October.  

In addition to the Aunt Bessie series, Diana writes the Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery novellas, which are set in the fictional village of Doveby Dale in Derbyshire.  While they are mysteries, there hasn’t been a murder in the village yet.  Diana also writes the Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy series, which features an American protagonist who happens to share her apartment with her dead aunt’s ghost.  She also writes two romance series, one set on the Isle of Man and the other set in a fictional town in the state of New York. 

To learn more about Diana Xarissa please visit DianaXarissaDunn.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

Excerpt from