She grabbed a paperweight and faced the large man, drawing back her arm. "I'm warning you. I was starting pitcher in the Girls' State Fastpitch Softball Championships." 

The man laughed, rich and throaty. "Go ahead. Throw it."

Gethsemane hurled the weight. It sailed through the man's chest, disappearing into him like a sugar cube into hot coffee...

-- Alexia Gordon, Murder in G Major

I am always thrilled to find a new series I like, and Alexia's Gordon's Gethsemane Brown Mysteries did not disappoint. Cozy with a paranormal twist (and set in Ireland, swoon!), Murder in G Major launches a wonderful new voice.

Alexia is a fan of music, whiskey and classic puzzle mysteries, and all three of those play a part in her series. Like Dr. Kwei Quartey, whom I interview here, Alexia is a medical doctor as well as a mystery writer. We also talk about fellow Henery Press writer Gigi Pandian, whose interview can be found here. Alexia credits Southern Methodist University's The Writer's Path with helping her wrangle her first novel. I also loved her sweet dedication to her parents, who, among other things, let her "have an unrestricted library card." My kinda folks!

I realize these aren't books, but Alexia gave a shout-out to two of my favorite series: Northern Exposure and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. While I loved the movie -- Rex Harrison, c'mon! -- it was the TV series that made me want to live in a cottage by the sea, ideally with a ghost in the attic. It just seemed so fun to have one around. And, if you haven't read it, both are based on a charming book by R.A. Dick, the pseudonym for Scottish writer, Josephine Leslie. Two writers she talks about are Walter Mosley and Eleanor Taylor Bland. Alexia also loves Irish music, and if you want to check out the band she mentions, they are the Dropkick Murphys. 

Check out Alexia's website and her Facebook Page for more info about her work. And if you'd rather read than listen, the transcript is below. Enjoy!

Transcript of Interview with Alexia Gordon

Laura Brennan: My guest today is Alexia Gordon, novelist and Renaissance woman. Among her many accomplishments, she’s a writer, a medical doctor, and a lover of music. It’s this last one that defines her series protagonist, Gethsemane Brown, an African American classical musician who finds herself stranded in Ireland -- and befriended by a ghost who just wants one little favor… For ...

My name is Carol Childs. I'm a reporter... And now, right in front of me was exactly what I needed, a damn good story.

-- Shadow of Doubt, Nancy Cole Silverman

Nancy Cole Silverman worked both on the air and behind the scenes in radio, covering every kind of story. That wealth of experience creates the world of Carol Childs, "the world's oldest cub reporter." Having moved from sales to the newsroom -- against the better judgment of her new boss -- Carol needs to score a headline story in Shadow of Doubt, the first book in the series. And then, early one morning, a distraught neighbor pounds on her door.

Nancy takes the headlines and shapes them into satisfying and clever mysteries, although the real pleasure is watching her protagonist, Carol, with her friends, family, and colleagues. Having worked in news myself for a spell, Nancy captures the craziness and camaraderie to a T.

Book Two of the series deals with human trafficking, and I can't let the opportunity pass to remind you of the crackerjack (although much harder-edged) P.I. novel by Desiree Zamorano that mines some of the same territory. You can check out my interview with Desiree to see if it's your cup of tea. But whatever else, don't miss Nancy's deft treatment in Beyond a Doubt. 

Nancy mentions that one of her favorite writers is Sue Grafton -- who of course is one of mine as well. But if you're a fan of older mysteries, let me recommend the novels written by Sue Grafton's father, C. W. Grafton. The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope is a terrific mystery from the 1940s and one of my all-time favorites.

In honor of Halloween, I have to link to her scary short story, The Blood Drive. Check out Nancy's website or follow her on Twitter, @NancyColeSilver

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, the transcript is below. Enjoy!

-- Laura

Transcript of Interview with Nancy Cole Silverman

Laura Brennan: Nancy Cole Silverman is an author, on-air news reporter, and radio sales and managing superstar. Like Ginger Rogers, she did all this in high heels, at a time when there were few other women in the newsroom. Nancy has channeled her vast knowledge of radio, crime, and human nature into the multilayered Carol Childs Mysteries.

Nancy, thank you for joining me.

Nancy Cole Silverman: Thank you for having me, Laura. It’s a joy to be here today.

LB: Since the local news is the background for your series, why don’t we start there? You started by taking the world by storm in local news, isn’t that right?

NCS: Well, not in Los Angeles, but yes, I started in radio way back when women’s voices were considered too light and too feminine for anything too hard. And then I kind of fought my way to stay in news and when I moved to L.A., I did both news and copywriting and ended up with a career on th...

Night in L.A. can be heavy as a medieval cloak or it can sparkle and crackle. It can burn you with its current, protect you or betray you...

-- Skin of Tattoos, Christina Hoag

Christina Hoag is a journalist, nonfiction author and novelist. Her thrillers are just that -- thrilling rides with young people on the verge of adulthood and already mired in life-and-death situations. Complex characters and interwoven relationships that form, not a net, but a sticky web that traps her protagonists as they fight to escape the consequences of their own dangerous choices. Skin of Tattoos features Mags, just released from prison and trying to escape the gang life that landed him there, while Girl on the Brink is a very different examination of violence and predation. 

Christina's nonfiction book, Peace in the Hood, was co-written with Aquil Basheer and digs deep into his program to combat gang violence. Their book is on the syllabi of several university programs, and Basheer himself has been featured in two recent documentaries: License to Operate and The Black Jacket. Plus, I promised to link to a great interview Christina recently did with a fabulous interviewer -- herself!

I gave a shout-out to my favorite Golden Age mystery writer, Ngaio Marsh. Artists in Crime is my favorite (and if you don't need to read the books in order, a great place to begin), but Colour Scheme takes place in Christina's native New Zealand. Looking for one with both New Zealand and sheep in the murder? Yup, Ngaio Marsh has that, too. Check out Died in the Wool.

Christina, meanwhile, remembers her favorite children's mystery author, and one whose books I also devoured as a kid: British author Enid Blyton. Blyton was prolific; it's hard to go wrong with any of them, but the mystery series are, in particular, The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. There are so many others, I'm not going to try to guide you through them, but I will toss you over to the Enid Blyton Society. Enjoy!

To learn more about Christina, check out her website and her Facebook page. And for a great read, turn to any of her books! 

-- Laura

"I find it puzzling, don't you? The rabbit, I mean. Very puzzling."

As a magician, I am accustomed to people asking me about rabbits...

As a writer, John Gaspard is accustomed to people asking him about magic. His wonderful Eli Marks Mystery Series features magician and reluctant amateur sleuth, Eli Marks, and his cranky Uncle Harry, also a magician and a debunker of magic scams. 

Soft-boiled, humorous, and taking place in the -- dare I say? -- enchanting world of professional magicians, this series is a treat. 

Let's do the important stuff first. Poof! -- John has pulled a free short story for you out of his hat! You can download it here, or listen to the incomparable Jim Cunningham read it here.

John also makes movies! Check out his film blog, Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts, which riffs off the name of one of his own books on movie making, Fast, Cheap and Under Control. In the interview, he recommends a book by William Bayer, Breaking Through, Selling Out, Dropping Dead and other notes on Film Making. You can keep abreast of Johns' many activities on Facebook.

John gives a shout-out to fellow Minnesota writer Judith Guest (of Ordinary People fame, but also the writer of suspense novel, The Tarnished Eye) as well as mystery writer Lawrence Block, a long-time favorite of mine as well. He also talks about the great work The Amazing Randi has done in debunking frauds. Other magicians mentioned in this conversation: Dai Vernon, Lance Burton and Eugene Burger, and of course Harry Houdini.

And I want to give a shout-out myself to Henery Press, which is doing a great job of publishing soft-boiled and cozy series, especially ones that are a little outside the lines, at a time when other publishers are ending many long-time series. They also publish Gigi Pandian's Jaya Jones series, another favorite of mine. If you missed my conversation with her, you can

The Nikki Latrelle Mystery Novels are set in the high-stakes world of horse racing -- a world Sasscer Hill knows well and captures in vivid detail.

It's impossible to talk about horse racing mysteries without giving a nod to the master, Dick Francis. But Sasscer was also influenced by Walter Farley's Black Stallion series, which she devoured as a child.

She also gives a shout out to Tami Hoag and Margaret Maron, and to Dick's son, Felix, whose new series is set in the same realm as Sasscer's soon-to-be-released Fia McKee series.

The first book in Sasscer's new series, Flamingo Road, comes out in early 2017. 

Check out Sasscer's blog for ongoing updates as well as more info on Irish Travelers, Fia McKee, and horses.  ;-) 

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, a transcript is below. Enjoy!

Transcript of Interview with Sasscer Hill

Laura Brennan: My guest today is thriller author, amateur jockey and racehorse breeder, Sasscer Hill. Her Nikki Latrelle mysteries are set in a world she knows well: behind the scenes at -- and on -- the racetrack.

Sasscer, thank you for joining me.

Sasscer Hill: I'm delighted to be here.

LB: I absolutely want to talk about writing and your books, but first, I want to talk about horses. You grew up around horses?

SH: I did. I took a lot of riding lessons as a child, but it wasn't until my father died when I was 16 and a gentleman who had a lot of champion steeplechase horses took me under his wing -- he was a family friend that my family had known. And I learned almost everything I know about horses from him. And then of course I ended up buying a broodmare and had my own race horses for 30 years. So, yeah, I know a little bit race horses and horses in general.

LB: It's just an, it's an entirely different world than anything I've experienced. How did you start riding competitively?

SH: The gentleman who took me under his wing, as I said, was a big-time steeplechase person, and so of course he was involved in the sport. And I loved it from the get-go. I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world, racing over fences. But scary, you know? And I ended up entering some amateur, little steeplechase races and it was scary as heck, but it was a real adrenaline rush. And a lot of fun. So I stuck with that and won a big race up in Potomac one year when I was 36, and that was my big day.

But it is, you connect with horses. When you're really connecting with the horse, it's like you steer him with your mind. It's incredible.

LB: Well, you give your horses, and the books, they have so much personality.

SH: Oh, they do in real life, not just in books. They have tremendous personality.

LB: So you turned to writing, with a T, and why mysteries? What linked racing with murder for you?

SH: Oh, Dick Francis, for sure. And I started out of course with Walter Farley's Black Stallion books,

I'm so pleased to chat with Jane Kelly, a wonderful writer and delightful human being -- one who just happens to thrive on mystery.

Jane's Meg Daniels Mysteries have always had a lot of heart, but as they've evolved, the series has grown richer. It has also begun to include an element of delving into the past. Missing You in Atlantic City looks into a death linked to the 1964 Democratic National Convention and the next one in the works will involve the 1968 Miss America Pageant. Jane has launched two other series, both with an element of the Kennedy era: Widow Lady, set in 1960, and Swoon '64, a Writing in Time mystery, set in the present but investigating a crime of the past.

Check out her Pinterest page for gorgeous 1960s images to set the scene.

Jane gives a shout-out to historical mystery writer Annamaria Alfieri and also to the wonderful M.Phil program she did in Dublin, Ireland, at Trinity College, which I have to link to because it sounds so awesome. I live vicariously through these interviews!

Here are the Meg Daniels Mysteries in order:

1. Killing Time in Ocean City

2. Cape Mayhem

3. Wrong Beach Island

4. Missing You in Atlantic City

Also, the bonus book, A Fear of Seaside Heights, could be considered 3A -- it falls in between Wrong Beach Island and Missing You in Atlantic City in Meg's timeline.

You can also find Jane on Facebook at her Author Page and her Meg Daniels Page. As always, if you'd rather read than listen, the transcript is below. Enjoy!

Transcript of Interview with Jane Kelly

Laura Brennan: My guest today is Jane Kelly, author of the Meg Daniels, Writing in Time, and Widow Lady mysteries. Her mysteries focus on personal stories: missing mothers, murders that haunt from childhood. But whether historical or contemporary, they all offer a terrific ride.

Jane, thank you for joining me.

Jane Kelly: Thank you for the invitation.

LB: Before we talk about your writing, I'd like to talk a little bit about you. You have a Masters in Library and Information Science and an Master of Philosophy in Popular Literature from Trinity College, Dublin -- you are the queen of books!

Today's guest is the multi-talented Ellen Byron. Her Cajun Country Mysteries are charming, funny and lightly romantic -- the perfect cozy capers to keep you turning the pages.

The series is set in Louisiana, a state Ellen loves. As this interview goes live, Louisiana faces a massive natural disaster with deadly flooding. For people who want to help, Ellen suggests the Red Cross. Here are pictures from the first week of the flood, and Charity Navigator's view of top charities working the crisis. 

Ellen's passion for Louisiana comes through in her writing and the world she creates for her heroine, Maggie. She named one of her characters after her friend Gaynell Bourgeois Moore (here she is on YouTube singing The Nascar Blues and here's her very own CD!) Ellen also talks about a Facebook page she loves, New Orleans Plantation Country, and mentions two real plantations, Houmas House Plantation and Ashland-Belle Helene. I give a shout-out to one of the TV series she worked on, Maybe It's Me, which (criminally!) is not available on DVD. Yet. I continue to hold out hope.

You can check out her plays, Graceland and Asleep on the Wind, and if, like me, you are a fan of her Cajun Country Mysteries, you can pre-order Body on the Bayou, which comes out on September 13th. The delightful first book in the series, Plantation Shudders, was nominated for an Agatha, a Daphne, and a Lefty (for best humorous mystery). 

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, here is the transcript.

Enjoy!

Transcript of Interview with Ellen Byron.

Laura Brennan: My guest today is multitalented writer Ellen Byron. Ellen has written over 200 magazine articles, her published plays include the award-winning Graceland, and her many television series include "Just Shoot Me," "Wings," and “Maybe It’s Me,” one of my all-time favorite sitcoms. Most of all, she is the author of the Cajun Country Mysteries, set in Louisiana.

 

Ellen, thank you for joining me.

Ellen Byron: Thank you for having me.

LB: You are such a prolific writer! Articles and books and plays and television -- which came first? Where did you start?

EB: I started writing plays. I actually started as an actress, quote unquote. Because it feels so silly to say that now. Got my union card doing a commercial while I was in college.

It is such a delight this week to welcome cozy author Duffy Brown. I have been reading (and loving) Duffy since her first mystery, Iced Chiffon, number one in her Consignment Shop mystery series. Endearing characters, victims who richly deserve to be killed, and Southern charm, what more could I ask for? Oh, and funny! And a heroine to root for! And romance!

OMG, they're catnip.

You can learn more about Duffy at her website. She has two ongoing series, The Consignment Shop Mysteries (set in Savannah) and the Cycle Path Mysteries (set on Mackinac Island) and you can click on these links to find the books in order.

She also gives a shout-out to two of her favorite writers, Janet Evanovich and Arthur Conan Doyle. Duffy also gives away a spoiler for her most recent book, Demise in Denim, but it is *not* a spoiler about the mystery. It has to do with heroine Reagan and the hunky lawyer, Walker Boone. Did I mention there was a little thread of romance?

I will be giving away Iced Chiffon as part of the August book giveaway, so if you're not on my mailing list, join now to be entered. Every month, I give away three books and a $10 Amazon gift card. Everyone on the mailing list on the last day of the month is automatically entered to win, so you only have to join up once.

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, here is a transcript. Enjoy!

Transcript of interview with Duffy Brown

Laura Brennan: My guest today is best-selling author Duffy Brown. I have been a fan of Duffy’s writing since her first cozy, Iced Chiffon. Both her Consignment Shop and Cycle Path mysteries are filled with humor, friendship, light romance, and victims who richly deserve what they got.

Duffy, thank you for joining me today.

Duffy Brown: It’s great being here. Thank you for asking me.

LB: So, how did you get started writing?

DB: I’ve been doing this for about twenty-five years now. I started in romance. And I think how I got started it, I was reading the romances, and I got to the point like, “This is the worst ending ever!” and I would mentally start rewriting the endings. And then eventually, I was rewriting the whole book, and I thought, maybe I should try and write my own book instead of correcting somebody else’s book. So I was kind of a closet writer to begin with, but I wrote for, actually, I wrote for nine years before getting published with Harlequin. Then I wrote for Harlequin for six years, then I transferred over to Kensington because I wanted to write the bigger books. And then from Kensington, which is kind of a hotter read, it was a Brava line -- you  know, when Fifty Shades of Grey came on the scene, it started to kick all the romance stories up a notch. And I didn’t want to go that extra steam part.

So I switched over to mystery, and now I write what I absolutely love. I probably should have been here all the time,

Author Gay Toltl Kinman is my first children's mystery writer, with ten books so far in that arena. But she is also a playwright, a teacher, and an incredibly prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction.

We talk about so many interesting things, I'll see if I can squeeze them all in the show notes. First off, here is Gay's Author Page on Amazon and here is the link to some pics of Gay on her many adventures -- including one taken in Alaska by the real Alison, the inspiration for her series. And let's not forget to link to Hearst Castle, the inspiration for her first YA novel, Wolf Castle (fka Castle Reiner). 

Gay's second mystery series for children, The Adventures of Lauren MacPhearson, is also inspired by another granddaughter. Both the real and fictional Laurens barely spoke at all, and yet both have had marvelous adventures. For more information on Elective Mutism (now called Selective Mutism), check out the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Gay worked with miniature books at the spectacular Huntington Library, and that experience was the inspiration for The Mystery of the Missing Miniature Books. If you like mysteries where you learn something new, this one fills the bill. I had never imagined there were so many rare and antique books under four inches tall. Here's a link to the Huntington's own collection, but if you want more details, check out the Miniature Book Society.

It's impossible to talk about children's mysteries without a nod to Carolyn Keene. Both Nancy Drew and The Dana Girls mysteries were written under that name. And I gave a shout-out to Shoshona Freedman.

When we talked about Gay's work as a playwright, she gave a shout-out to South Coast Rep and Cecilia Fannon. Here is a link to the video The Read, the cold reading Gay talks about, of her play on Grace Nicholson. Up next is her book on women heroines, featuring never-before-published material from letters and journals, and includes a vignette on Julia Morgan, architect of the Hearst Castle.

Which brings us back full circle to Gay's original inspiration. We did it!

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, here is a transcript.

Enjoy!

Today's interview is with the talented and gracious Emily Brightwell. With her charming Mrs. Jeffries series, Emily is the Queen of historical cozies. Check out her website to learn more. And since I will not attempt to get the order right for all her books, you can click here to get the list directly from the source!

Her most recent novel, Mrs. Jeffries Wins The Prize, is the 34th in the series, and a wonderful adventure with old friends and new ones. It also tackles the British presence in India, with an eye towards the British women who, if they were brave enough to venture there, were often rewarded by marrying up in the world. I found a fascinating article about that; apparently the women who couldn't bag a husband were sent home as "returned empties." Oh, my! 

Emily gives a shout-out to YA author Christopher Pike, who shares both her optimism and her prolific nature, having written a dizzying number of books. 

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, below is a transcript. Enjoy!

Transcript for Interview with Emily Brightwell

Laura Brennan: My guest today is the author of the charming and New York Times best-selling Victorian mysteries, known affectionately as the Mrs. Jeffries series. Combining a cozy sensibility with historical mysteries and a beloved cast of supporting characters, Emily Brightwell has created her own genre and a world readers return to with pleasure. Emily, thank you so much for joining me.

Emily Brightwell: And thank you very much for having me.

LB: Tell me a little bit about how you got started writing.

EB: I was always a secret scribbler. It was only when I was a manager, human resources manager, that I realized that I didn't want to be a secret scribbler, I wanted to be a real scribbler. So I started writing and I was pretty analytical when I looked at genre fiction, because that was what I enjoyed reading. Mysteries have always been my first love, but I also do like romances very very much. And I realize that that was probably the best way to get into publication, which is what my goal was. So I wrote for what was then the Silhouette line, but I believe now Silhouette's been taken over by Harlequin. So I wrote three of those romances, and another romance for Meteor Publishing, which then got bought out by Harlequin/Silhouette and never got published. But my very first sale was to a romance publisher in Germany, and I was paid the princely sum of $300 for it, I kid you not.

But it was a great experience, and I started writing the Mrs. Jeffries series because I heard that Berkeley at that time was looking to do a Victorian series that was a bit more cozy than, say, Anne Perry.

LB: Yes, there's nothing cozy about Anne Perry.

EB: No, there's not. And she's a brilliant writer, I was in no way disparaging that. I just happen to really enjoy what I do, which is writing cozies.

LB: Well, they are such interesting cozies, because they are set in a very different world and you have a real connection to England, I understand.

EB: Yes,