Author Interview with Cozy Mystery Writer S.A. Kazlo

Welcome to Matter of Inquiry!
 
This week’s guest is S.A. Kazlo, the author of the Samantha Davies cozy mystery series.
 
Good morning, Syrl! Let us begin with some information about your background.

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About the Author:

Syrl, a retired teacher, lives in upstate New York with her husband and two lively dachshunds. She writes the Samantha Davies Mystery series, featuring Samantha Davies and her loveable dachshund, Porkchop. When not writing she is busy hooking, rug hooking that is, and enjoying her family. Her newest book, number five in the series is, Chilled to the Dog Bone.

Author links:
FB- S A Kazlo
Twitter- @sakazlo
Instagram-@sakazlo
LInkedin-sakazlo
website- Home |Samantha Davies Mystery www.sakazlo.com 

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INTERVIEW:
 
JLB: What is the hardest part of writing for you?
SAK: Like a lot of authors, it is the marketing. Wouldn't it be lovely if all an author had to do was pen their fabulous works and people would flock to buy them? Guess I can always dream.
 
JLB:  Do people you know ever sneak into your writing?
SAK:  Oh, my yes. I go to the gym a few mornings a week and a gentleman I know said while I was on the recumbent bike that his wife really liked my series. I was very flattered and asked him if she'd like to be in my next novel. He beamed and said. "Yes." I asked, "As the victim or murderer?" His reply, "She's put up with me all these years, definitely the murderer." So, murderer she will be. She's not the only one who's asked to be the murderer in one of my books. You never know what someone's wildest fantasies are or maybe I should be wary of the friends I keep.
 
JLB: Do you write with or without an outline?
SAK:  My first book, Kibbles and Death, I wrote from an outline, but now my characters have taken over my imagination and won't let go so they pour forth their two cents onto my computer whether I like it or not.
 
JLB: Authors live or die by reviews, but do you read them?
SAK:  Yes, I do read reviews of my books. I am honored to have someone write a review and feel I should take the time and read them. Luckily, most of them have been particularly good and encouraging. On the few occasions some one has left one not so stellar I've learned from them, too. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
 
JLB:  What is your next book, and how soon can readers get it?
SAK: My next writing project is Mistletoe, Mutts and Murder, book 6 in my Samantha Davies Mystery series. This one is set at Christmas time. Sam's parents have flown North from sunny Florida to spend the holidays with her.  Unfortunately, murder has come to town, too. I expect it to be released in November 2024.
 
JLB:  Which of the trivia questions did you chose?
SAK: Here they are--

• A movie I'll always remember- Dirty Dancing  The dancing takes my breath away.
• Nail polish I have on—Silver Sparkly. Love the blinginess of it.
• Favorite accessory—A gold heart neckless my husband gave me when we'd been dating 6 months. That was over 50 years ago. I wear it every day.
• Favorite comfort food- For me it is dark chocolate, Every time I sit down to write I munch on a square of it and a handful of walnuts. Afterall, medicine says it's good for a person's brain. Who am I to doubt the science?
• Best time of day to write- Morning! I like to put in two hours of writing in the morning before my grandkids come over. At night I just want to veg out on the sofa with a good mystery.

 
JLB: It’s been a pleasure to talk with you, Syrl. Before we wind up this interview, we are all eager to hear about Chilled to the Dog Bone!

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Chilled to the Dog Bone (Samantha Davies Mystery #5)
Genre: cozy mystery
 
It's Saint Patrick's Day weekend in chilly upstate New York, and Samantha Davies, children's picture book author and sometime sleuth, is excited to attend the annual outdoors games put on by the local Wings Falls fire company. It will be a weekend filled with fun activities such as a skillet toss, four-wheeler race, and the ever-popular decorated wooden outhouse race across the ice. Sam is looking forward to dancing the night away with her beau, police detective Hank Johnson at the Firefighter's Ball. Sam's rug hooking group, the Loopy Ladies is sponsoring one of the outhouses and their senior member, Gladys O'Malley, will have the honor of riding on the "throne" to the finish line.

Only not all goes as planned when the neighboring fire company's chief is found in Gladys' place—frozen solid and dead as a doornail! To make matters worse, both Gladys' and Sam's fingerprints are all over the evidence at the murder scene, taking them from attendees to suspects. Now it's up to Sam to clear their names and get to the truth. The only problem is the victim had disagreements with almost everyone in town, from the Wings Falls fire chief to a sexy blonde named Sunny Foxx—with two xx's—and a slew of other suspects. Can Sam find the killer before the Luck of the Irish runs out for her? Or will she become chilled to the bone when the killer catches up to her...
 
Buy Links: 
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chilled-Bone-Samantha-Davies-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0CP8P9R37

Excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE
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"How do I look? Should I wear a crown?" Gladys O'Malley, the senior member of my rug hooking group, the Loopy Ladies, sat on her "throne" in the outhouse we were sponsoring. The outhouse race would take place on Sunday morning. This weekend, the Firemen's Convention was being held at the Civic Center in Lake George, a resort town in upstate New York. My local fire company, Wings Falls Fire Department, was the host. It was held annually as close to Saint Patrick's Day as possible. Fun and green beer abounded. All the local fire companies who attended entered a homemade outhouse, decorated by a local group, like the Loopy Ladies, who'd volunteered to sponsor this year's outhouse for our hometown fire company. We often lent our services and talents to worthy causes. This past fall, we sold small rugs we hooked to raise money for Camp Adirondack, a summer camp that invites kids from the inner city for two weeks of fun in the fresh mountain air.

I stomped my feet. Even though I wore my warmest fleece-lined boots and a pair of heavy wool socks, cold seeped through from the cement floor of my garage. A space heater blasted out warm air but barely made a dent in the freezing March air flowing into the drafty garage. I glanced at my cousin, Candie, and noticed her tugging a purple wool cap over her ears to stave off the cold air. I envied my dachshund, Porkchop, Candie's calico cat, Dixie, and the newest member of her family, Annie, a small dog of indeterminate breed, snuggled on the rug next to the fireplace in my living room.

Helen Garber poked at the bright-orange glasses sliding down her nose. "Haul your skinny old butt out of there and help us finish hanging the rugs we hooked on the wall of the outhouse, so we can get out of this blooming cold."

I rolled my eyes towards the rafters of my garage. Leave it to Helen to pick a fight with Gladys. She was the most outspoken member of the group. Her tongue knew no boundaries. She often said she "told it like it is." Not only did her tongue know no boundaries, but neither did her wardrobe choice. The louder and bolder the color, the better. Today her ample figure sported a lemon yellow jacket she paired with hot pink pull-on polyester slacks.
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I walked over to the outhouse and admired our handiwork. We had painted green shamrocks over a white background in honor of Saint Patrick's Day on the outside walls.

Candie stood next to me. "Not a bad painting job, don't y'all think?"

I smiled. My cousin had moved north over fifteen years ago from Hainted Holler, Tennessee, and you could still cut her thick southern accent with a knife.

"We Loopy Ladies are a multi-talented group. Not only can we hook with the best of them, but we wield a mean paintbrush, too." I turned to the six of us who were gathered in my garage. "Don't you agree, ladies? Our outhouse will leave the others in the dust."

Cheers erupted from my fellow hookers. There are usually twelve of us who gather every Monday morning at our friend Lucy Foster's rug hooking studio. Although our absent members were busy elsewhere, everyone had contributed a rug to decorate the outhouse.

Susan Mayfield clapped her hands to get our attention. "We'd better finish hanging our rugs. Hank, Mark, and Brian will be here shortly to lift the outhouse onto the back of Brian's truck. They need to drive it to the staging area for the race on Sunday morning."

Susan and her husband, Brian, own Momma Mia's, which I believe is the best Italian restaurant this side of the Big Apple. Brian had volunteered his truck for transporting our outhouse to the race's starting area, a park next to the Civic Center. 

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