When Rory bent down to inspect the flowerbed, she caught sight of something twinkling in the dirt. She knelt down on the grass and plunged her hand into the cool earth, clearing away the soil from around the sparkling object. 

An involuntary cry of alarm sprang from her lips. Her tennis shoes slid on the damp grass as Rory leapt to her feet and gaped at the finger sticking out of the dirt. She closed her eyes and said to herself over and over again: It's not real. It's all in your mind. Once she'd convinced herself the finger was a vision caused by too many hours at the computer, she opened her eyes and stared down at the ground again.

The finger was still there.  

-- Sybil Johnson, Fatal Brushstroke

 

Such fun to chat with Sybil Johnson about her cozy series, the Aurora Anderson mysteries. Her heroine combines the logic of a computer programmer with the ability to see -- and notice details -- with an artist's eye. The warmth of her circle of family and friends -- not to mention a good-looking detective and a steady supply of mysteries to solve -- makes this series a great find for cozy fans.

Sybil gives a shout-out to one of my favorite cozy authors, Gigi Pandian, whom I interview here, and also Leigh Perry's Family Skeleton mysteries. Also, if you -- like me -- happen to be a sucker for holiday mysteries, let me send you over to Janet Rudolph's website, Mystery Fanfare, where she routinely publishes lists of mysteries involving holidays both major and obscure. 

There are three books in the Aurora Anderson Mystery series so far, and three more to come. Book Four, Designed for Haunting, will be out for Halloween, but you can preorder it now. 

Aurora Anderson books in order:

1 - Fatal Brushstroke

2 - Paint the Town Dead

3 - A Palette for Murder

4 - Designed for Haunting

You can find Sybil online at her website (her questions for book groups are here), on Twitter, and on Facebook. And you can find her blogging at the fun group site, Type M for Murder. The group includes