 Welcome to Matter of Inquiry! This week's guest author is Jessica Dale, alter ego of mystery writer Kassandra Lamb. Good morning, Jessica. Before we get started on the questions, please tell us something about yourself.  BIO: Jessica Dale is the alter ego of retired psychotherapist turned mystery writer, Kassandra Lamb. She has been a human resources administrator, counselor, business owner and college professor. Now she enjoys writing romantic suspense stories with a psychological twist (and the occasional ghost). She is the author of the Unintended Consequences trilogy, the Binding Love duet, and the romantic thriller, Bartered Innocence. Tidbit not in the bio: Kassandra tries to keep me suppressed most of the time because I’m the impish part of her. I tend to say, and sometimes do, things that get us in trouble. You can connect with Jessica/Kassandra at: WEBSITE: https://kassandralamb.com/jessica-dales-books/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor~ https://www.facebook.com/JessicaDaleAuthor/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kasslamb/ BOOKBUB PROFILE: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kassandra-lamb ~ https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jessica-dale AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Kassandra-Lamb/e/B006NB5WAI/ ~ https://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Dale/author/B071HTX5S9/ INTERVIEW with Jessica Dale: JLB: Do you write full time or do you have a day job? JD: Kassandra writes full-time. She has a retirement income so she can afford to do that. Unfortunately, she only lets me out to write every once in awhile, so I write part-time. JLB: What book/author has influenced you the most? In what way? JD: I would have to say Kassandra. Before retiring, she was a psychotherapist and then taught psychology. So a lot of psychological stuff sneaks into my stories. I hate to admit it, but I think that influence from her does make my writing better. JLB: What inspired your featured book or series? JD: Kassandra woke up one morning with a complete story laid out in her head, only it wasn’t her typical mystery and it had nothing to do with either of her two mystery series. It was the story of James Fitzgerald, whose closest friends are murdered in his own house. Originally she published it as a stand-alone mystery/horror story for Halloween. Then she had another story pop into her head full-blown. It was a steamy romantic thriller. At that point she figured she needed a separate pen name for these stories that were rather different from her usual mysteries. So I was born. We added a love interest to James’s story and republished it as a romantic suspense and the first book in the Unintended Consequences trilogy. Then I started wrestling with her for writing time so I could finish the trilogy, and also a couple of other steamy thrillers my muse insisted I write. I now have six books out. JLB: What is the easiest—or the hardest—part of writing for you? JD: The easiest parts for me are the love scenes. Kassandra has romantic subplots in her mystery series, so we already knew how to write a good love/sex scene. The harder part is exploring all the intricacies of a budding relationship. I use multiple points of views, so the reader and I are inside the heads of both characters, listening in on their thoughts, feelings, and most of all their fears. The other challenge with romantic suspense is balancing the romance with the mystery. You’re supposed to give them close to equal time on the page. But you also have to maintain a suspenseful pace. These two expectations with romantic suspense are rather contradictory. It’s tough achieving both of them. JLB: Have you killed off a recurring character? If not, would you do so? JD: It’s really difficult for me (and Kassandra) to kill off one of the good guys or gals. But it’s hard to have a murder mystery without murders. Kass killed off a recurring but likeable minor character in Book 4 of her Kate Huntington series, and she got some grief from readers about it. It took her cousin months to forgive her. And I started off killing a supporting character in Backfire but couldn’t quite make myself do it. Instead, the character was seriously injured. (And I’m not telling whether they end up dying or not.) I think that’s how ghosts started sneaking into Kass’s and my writing. It was a way to keep a murdered likeable character alive, at least for a while. In the first few books of the Kate Huntington series, Kate talks to her dead husband in her head, and he talks back. Neither Kate nor the reader (nor Kass, for that matter) is ever quite sure if he’s really a ghost or just a figment of her imagination. There are two ghosts in the Unintended Consequences trilogy. One is James’s murdered friend, who mainly communicates with laughter, which sounds like wind chimes in a gentle breeze (unless she’s angry or trying to warn James or Carrie of danger; then it might sound more like wind chimes in a storm). I actually think Annaleise makes a more interesting character as a ghost than she might have if I’d let her live! JLB: How do you feel about the banning of books from libraries? What criteria would you use? JD: I don’t think any books should be banned from libraries, for the most part. Banning topics that are controversial is not protecting anyone from those controversies. Kids are dealing with them already. They’re hearing about them on TV, social media, from friends and family, or maybe even living with them themselves. Keeping them from information that might help them better understand and cope with these issues is just exacerbating whatever they may be struggling with. And since teens are already highly emotional and vulnerable to depression and suicide, this ignorance can become deadly. Okay, I’ll step down off my psychologist soapbox now and say that there is one exception—erotica. Certainly, it doesn’t belong in elementary or middle school libraries, and maybe not even in high school (I certainly don’t want my teenage grandson reading some of the stuff I’ve written...lol.) JLB: Which of the short answer questions did you pick to answer? JD:
JLB: Thanks for visiting with us today, Jessica. As we finish here, can you show us your featured series? JD: Of course, but before I go, I just want to say, thank you for making Kassandra let me out to do this interview...I may not go home right away. Maybe I’ll go find a coffee shop first. There’s a mocha latte out there with my name on it!
SERIES BLURB: One autumn afternoon changed everything! James Fitzgerald is looking forward to a relaxing weekend with friends. Instead he walks into a blood bath, and a cryptic message points to him as the killer. The Unintended Consequences Trilogy follows James and his budding romance with his neighbor, Carrie through three complete mysteries. In Payback, both James and Carrie are fighting their attraction to each other, while trying to solve the murder of James’s best friend and her husband, and stop the killer from taking more lives. In Backlash, Carrie’s teenage son tracks her down and leads her abusive estranged husband right to her, along with some other deadly baggage. In Backfire, when James and Carrie’s shy friend, Mary starts dating again after a messy divorce, she’s assaulted by a masked man who smells of her first date’s aftershave. As James tries to help her identify and find her attacker, he struggles with the legacy of the murder of his best friend—a rescuer complex that threatens to drive a permanent wedge between himself and Carrie. Links to purchase the trilogy can be found at: Payback: https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/payback/ Backlash: https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/backlash/ Backfire: https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/backfire/ EXCERPT from Backlash, Book 2 in the Unintended Consequences Romantic Suspense Trilogy CHAPTER ONE Carrie For the half-second before the dog reacted, I assumed the person ringing the doorbell was James, arriving for dinner. Then Ginger went ballistic. Heart pounding, I power-walked into the living room, trying to convince myself that Greg hadn’t found me, that it wasn’t him at the door. I really had to get a handle on my fear. This was no way to live. The doorbell rang again and Ginger raced ahead of me to sniff the crack at the bottom of the door. Another burst of ear-splitting barks bounced off the walls. Definitely not James. He only rang the bell once before using his own key. My chest so tight I could hardly breathe, I looked through the door’s peephole. My hand flew to my mouth to stifle a scream. Wait! Greg’s features, yes, and brown hair like his, but… The face was younger, with dark stubble on boyish cheeks and wide eyes staring back at me—the same sky blue as my own. I fumbled with the locks and threw the door open. “Philly!” He grinned, then ducked his head a little. “Hi, Mom.” *** James My mind was elsewhere, on the auditions I had lined up over the next week. It was always nerve-racking to be between plays. I rounded the front corner of the old farmhouse and stopped cold, trying to process the scene before me. Carrie didn’t know any local men well enough to be hugging them. Therefore, this man was from her past, which did not bode well, despite the hug. My stomach hollowed out. Was this Greg? Was she the type of woman who ran back into her ex’s arms the minute he was kind to her? I felt nauseous. Ginger shoved past Carrie’s leg and trotted over to me. I absently patted the golden retriever’s head as I watched Carrie and the man step apart. No, more a boy. My insides unknotted some, but my heart hammered harder. Not Greg, but still not good. “Look at you,” Carrie said to the boy, a big smile on her face. I stepped up onto the end of the long front porch, my footsteps dull thuds on the wooden floorboards. The kid startled and pivoted to put himself between me and Carrie, a reflexive move that should not be instinctive in a teenage boy. He was almost as tall as me, already five-ten, but slender. His blue eyes, so like Carrie’s, were wide in a boy-man face. Carrie waved for me to approach. “James, this is my son. Phillip, this is my neighbor and friend, James Fitzgerald.” The son, at this point, didn’t surprise me, but the friend did a little. We were a hell of a lot more than friends. But hey, it’s her kid. I’ll follow her lead. I stuck out my hand. “Pleased to meet you, Phillip.” I used the handshake to turn him toward the open front door and began herding them inside. “Best not to be standing around out here,” I said without thinking. Carrie’s delighted expression deflated like a popped balloon, and I felt like a heel. I could’ve let her enjoy her reunion with her son a few minutes longer before reminding her of the threat that reunion represented. Once we were all inside, Carrie laid a palm against Phillip’s cheek. “I can’t believe it. You’re shaving.” His cheeks turned pink under the smattering of dark hairs. “This started a few weeks ago…” He trailed off, his expression part pleased, part sheepish. “Hey,” I said, “you two catch up for a few minutes.” I slipped back outside, locking the door behind me. I scanned the stretches of grass on either side of the gravel lane leading down to Carrie’s and my houses. They were beginning to green up after a long winter. Then I moved my gaze to the woods up by the main road. No signs of movement and no sounds that didn’t belong. A cool breeze carried the scent of damp earth. I headed across our lawns to my own front porch. A few minutes later, carrying a small paper bag of shaving supplies, I let myself in Carrie’s door with my key. She and Phillip were sitting in the middle of the living room sofa, their heads bent together. The boy was chattering away—something about school—his voice cracking a bit. She looked so damned happy that I couldn’t help smiling, even though the implications of his presence were terrifying.  Welcome to Matter of Inquiry! Today's guest author is Winona Kent, featuring her anthology of short stories written in various genres, including mystery. Nice to have you on the blog, Winona. Before we get to the interview questions, please tell readers something about yourself.  About the Author: Winona Kent is an award-winning author who was born in London, England and grew up in Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing and received her diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School. Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter, the Managing Editor of a literary magazine and a Program Assistant at the University of British Columbia. She's currently the BC/Yukon Representative and Vice Chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and is an active member of Sisters in Crime - Canada West. She lives in New Westminster, where she is happily embracing life as a full-time author. Something not in your usual bio: “When I was 12 I ran a fan club for The Monkees 😊 And many years ago, I ran a semi-official website for the British actor Sean Bean 😊 I stopped updating it in 2012, but I kept it online because of the wealth of information that it contains. I originated the “Death by Cow” list – which details all of the ways Sean dies in his films. http://www.compleatseanbean.com “ Author Contacts: Twitter (X): @winonakent Instagram: @winonakent Facebook: @Winonakentauthor Threads: @winonakent Website: http://www.winonakent.com INTERVIEW: JLB: Do you write full-time, or do you have a “day” job? WK: I used to write and have a full-time day job. I worked from 8.30am until 4.30pm at the University of British Columbia. I had an hour-long commute in both directions. And then I’d come home and have a 2 to 3 hour nap, and I’d write from about 9pm until 1am. I also wrote on weekends and during vacations. I got 8 novels written that way, and then, in 2019, I was finally able to retire and become what I’d always longed to be—a full-time writer. The pandemic forced everyone to stay indoors—which I loved—and two more novels came out of that. But now that we’re trying to get back to the way we were, I find it really difficult organizing my writing time and my free time. A writerly friend gave me some good advice. She said, you’re used to binge writing and confining your writing to your spare time. Perhaps that’s what you need to do again! JLB: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision? WK: I have been traditionally published in the past. My first novel, Skywatcher, was a finalist in the last-ever Seal Book First Novel Award back in the 1980s. I got a very lucrative publishing deal out of that, with a huge advance. Then the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended, and the bottom fell out of the espionage market. My book was a tongue-in-cheek spy novel, and unfortunately it didn’t sell well. My agent decided to get out of the business and Seal/Bantam decided they didn’t want to extend my contract…so I published the next book (The Cilla Rose Affair) myself. It was right at the start of indie publishing, in the early 2000’s. I also self-published my next novel, Cold Play. I still sent out queries, though, and my fourth novel, Persistence of Memory, landed with a small press that looked promising. Unfortunately, they went out of business soon after they published my book. I kept writing, and querying, and my fifth novel, In Loving Memory, ended up with a New York company which also wanted to republish my four previous books. Alas, I didn’t make enough sales to justify them publishing my next book, Marianne’s Memory. So, once again, I turned to self-publishing. And then, that New York company went out of the fiction business altogether. So I negotiated my rights back for the five novels, and self-published those as well. And that’s when I decided to start writing my Jason Davey mystery series. I was already a seasoned veteran of the indie publishing scene, so I decided to just stick to self-publishing. My reasoning was that I could spend the better part of a year querying agents and publishers. But even if I did land an agent, it could take up to a further year (or more) to actually place the book with a publisher, and then a further year to two years for the publisher to bring that book out. And, as I was in my mid-60s, I just didn’t have the patience to wait. One of the huge advantages to self-publishing is that you, as the author, control everything. Which is what allowed me to bring out this new anthology of short stories very quickly, and in a way that really worked for me as an indie author. JLB: Do you write from an outline? WK: Back at the beginning of my career, I didn’t work from an outline at all. And because I was working at an unrelated job at the same time, I often found myself thrashing about, struggling, trying to keep my thoughts organized while I constantly lost track of where I was in the story, in the plot, in the entire process. After that, I spent a lot of time creating index cards that always told me where I’d been…but never where I was going. That all changed when I went to film school in 2003-4. There, I learned how to write screenplays, starting with a beat sheet, progressing to an outline, then a treatment, then finally, the full script. I realized that I could easily adapt those techniques to novel-writing, and it worked! Those skills made it easy for me to continue working and writing and, most importantly, I never again lost track of where I was going with the story. I invested in some excellent outlining software (Plottr), which adapts easily to my visual learning style and works with my individual quirks and demands. And, of course, the outline that I start out with is never, ever, what I end up with at the end of the story. There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to stick with what you’ve first created. JLB: How many drafts (revision passes) do you do on a typical book before submission to your editor/publisher? WK: Usually about six drafts. The first draft is like a scriptwriting beat sheet—everything in bulleted point form with as many notes as I can think of to enhance the story. In the second draft, I turn those bulleted points into fiction. That probably takes the longest amount of time. The third draft builds on the second draft—that’s where I think more, add more, go off on tangents, cut stuff out, maybe change the ending or alter a character’s trajectory. The fourth draft is where I get ruthless. Descriptions are finessed, or shortened or cut out altogether. I hunt for better words. Storylines are tightened. Draft five is what I always think will be the final draft, but I’m wise to that deception now, and I put the manscript away for a couple of weeks and go and do something else. Then I tackle draft six, which is the final pass. Proofreading, spellchecking, grammar checking, punctuation, and also I keep an eye out for things which poke out and really need to be smoothed down (for want of a better description). And only then is it ready to go to print. JLB: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? WK: I’m working on the fifth novel in my Jason Davey mysteries. It’s called Bad Boy and it has a rather shocking beginning—my main character witnesses a suicide which has a profound effect on him. The plot then goes on to involve a stolen package of music manuscripts composed by Sir Edward Elgar. For various reasons, this book has been fighting me all the way since its inception. But I think I’m through the worst of it now, and I’m anticipating a March 2024 release. JLB: Which of the trivia questions did you select to answers? WK: See below.
JLB: Thanks for visiting with us this week, Winona. Before we finish, show us your anthology.  TEN STORIES THAT WORRIED MY MOTHER Genre: Short Story Anthology (including mystery, time travel, espionage and mainstream fiction) A collection of ten short stories featuring four prize-winners, three mysteries, two previously unpublished works and one where the hero manages to spare-change John Lennon at the premiere of A Hard Day's Night in 1964. And yes…they really did worry Winona’s mother. "At times Winona almost flies under the radar as an unsung hero on the Canadian fiction scene… I’ll simply suggest this – find a comfy chair, sit back, relax, and take some time to go on a fast-paced and fun jaunt into Winona Kent’s imagination." - A.J. Devlin, author of the “Hammerhead” Jed crime fiction series Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/Ten-Stories Synopsis of Stories: 1. Tower of Power. One night in the life of a rock and roll radio newsman. Winona’s first published story, winner of the Flare Fiction Competition, originally published in Flare magazine in September 1982. 2. Dietrich's Ash. Inspired by an unfortunate situation that arose from a disputed property line between Winona’s house and her neighbour’s house when she was growing up in Saskatchewan. Okanagan Short Fiction Award winner. Originally published in Canadian Author & Bookman. Winter 1985 and anthologized in Pure Fiction: The Okanagan Short Story Award Winners. (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) 1986. Also broadcast on CBC Radio, Ambience. 1982 3. True Confessions. A Temp with nothing much to do, a tea lady named Mrs. Thatcher, and a rooftop garden overlooking a builder's yard. Originally published in Green's Magazine, a small Canadian literary journal, Volume XII, Number 4, Summer 1984. 4. Creatures from Greek Mythology. A student with a crush on his Social Studies teacher. A high school dance. A fine arts student who paints rainbows around her eyes. (Second Prize Winner, WQ Editors Prize). Originally published in Cross-Canada Writers Quarterly. Vol 6, No. 1, 1984. 5. The Man in the Grey Eldorado. The first draft of this was written roundabout 1977 or 1978, after Winona had spent a glorious few weeks at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts at Fort San (a former TB sanitorium). Inspired by The Man from UNCLE, this is one of only two previously unpublished stories in the collection. 6. Herd Maintenance. Winona wrote this in 1981 while she was working as a Temp at a federal government office on the Canadian prairies. This is the second unpublished story in the collection, although it did enjoy a brief life as a short, unproduced film script while she was at Vancouver Film School in 2003-4. The typewritten letters in the story are real. The names have been removed to protect the innocent. 7. Perhaps an Angel. An adventure involving the two main characters from Winona’s time travel romances, Charlie Duran and Shaun Deeley. Originally published in Carnival, a collection of short stories by Fable Press authors, in 2013. 8. Easy When You Know How. Another Charlie Duran/Shaun Deeley short story, in which Mr. Deeley manages to spare change John Lennon at the premiere of A Hard Day’s Night, and snag one of his plectrums (ie guitar picks). The story is also included at the end of Winona’s time travel romance novel, In Loving Memory. 9. Salty Dog Blues. Jason Davey, Winona’s professional musician / amateur sleuth, was originally featured in a standalone novel, Cold Play (2012), working as an entertainer on board an Alaska-bound cruise ship. In Salty Dog Blues, Winona took Jason back to that nautical setting, and gave him a very tongue-in-cheek mystery to solve. Salty Dog Blues was specifically written for and originally appeared in the short story anthology Crime Wave, published by Sisters in Crime-Canada West in November 2020. The story was a finalist in the Crime Writers of Canada's 2021 Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella. 10. Blue Devil Blues. This is a short story that was originally written for the anthology Last Shot: Four Tales of Murder, Mystery and Suspense, published in June 2021 with stories by Alice Bienia, Dwayne Clayden, Peter Kingsmill and Winona. It tells the tale of how Jason got his permanent gig at the Blue Devil jazz club in London's Soho, and also manages to include Winona’s obsession with the London Underground.  Welcome to Matter of Inquiry! This week’s guest author is mystery writer Syrl Kazlo writing as S.A. Kazlo and featuring her new release in her Samantha Davies series, Pups, Pumpkins and Murder. Before we get into the questions, Syri, please tell readers something about yourself.  Bio: Syri, a retired teacher, lives in upstate New York with her husband and two very lively dachshunds. Under the pen name, S.A. Kazlo, 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, reading and enjoying her family. Something unique about me: “I lead a pretty ordinary life. Well, back in the day when no self-respecting person was getting tattoos, I got 2. Boy, did my high school students love that. Also, I published by first book at the tender age of 74.” Contact the author: http://www.sakazlo.com twitter- @sakazlo instagram- sakazlo linkedin- sakazlo INTERVIEW: JLB: Do you write full-time? SK: I try to put in 2 hours of serious writing time most mornings. Then I switch into my granny mode and watch 2 of my grandchildren. JLB: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision? SK: I'm traditionally published by Gemma Halliday Publishing. The decision was an easy one for me. I knew nothing, nada, about publishing a book and so when I quired Gemma and she offered me a contract, I jumped at her offer. JLB: Do People you know sneak into your books as characters? SK: All the time. My supporting character Southern Belle, Candie, is a carbon copy of a writing friend of mine from Tennessee. Another friend, when asked if she wanted to be the victim or the murderer in one of my books jumped at the chance to do the wicked deed. JLB: Do you read reviews of your books? Do you respond them? Are you affected by them? SK: Yes, I do read my reviews. I appreciate the time people take to comment on my books. If where they post the comments allows me to respond, I will. After all, they thought enough to comment so I will answer them. Am I affected by them? Of course, if it is a good review, I'll do an inner happy dance. A bad review? My books may not be their cup of tea and that's okay, too. JLB: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? SK: Right now, I'm working on Chilled to the Dog Bone, book 5 in my Smantha Davies Mystery series. I'm hoping for a February 2024 release date on that. But my newest book in the series, Pups, Pumpkins and Murder, has just been released as of Sept. 19th. JLB: Which trivia questions did you select to answer? SK:
JLB: Thanks for visiting the blog, Syri. Let’s finish up by taking at look at your featured book.  Pups, Pumpkins and Murder Genre: cozy mystery. Autumn has arrived in the small town of Wings Falls in upstate New York, and children's book author Samantha Davies couldn't be happier. She's excited to attend the town's annual Taste of Wings Falls craft and food festival with her boyfriend Detective Hank Johnson. The fair features several booths, like the one Sam's rug hooking group, the Loopy Ladies, have set up as a fundraiser to send underprivileged children to summer camps, as well as home-grown vegetables, like the 2,000-pound pumpkin grown by Farmer Scooter that he's proudly displayed on the back of his truck. But maybe the biggest draws for the fair is the barbeque cook-off. Samantha is friends with the owners of the three restaurants participating, but she is betting on Franny Goodway, the owner of Sweetie Pie's Café, taking home this year's coveted first place prize. But things take a stomach-churning turn when several fair goers become ill after chowing down on Franny's pulled pork delight. Franny insists it's not her fault... but when Sam sees Franny vehemently arguing with the new loan officer at the town's bank, she knows something is wrong. Little did Sam know how wrong. That evening as Sam takes her dachshund, Porkchop, for a stroll, she finds the body of the loan officer...crushed under a 2,000 pound pumpkin and deader than the fall leaves covering the ground! Franny instantly becomes the number one suspect, and it's up to Sam to prove her friend innocent of the man's murder. Can she find a killer, and navigate her relationship with her detective boyfriend, and save Sweetie Pie's Café? Buy links- https://www.amazon.com/Pumpkins-Murder-Samantha-Davies-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0C6Z9SXJN https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1402419 Excerpt: CHAPTER 0NE Who knew a pumpkin could kill a person? I'm sure Scooter Dickenson never thought his prize winning 2,000-pound gourd would be the means of a person's death when his flatbed truck rumbled into the Wings Falls Park yesterday morning. The victim—Edgar Jensen—the new loan officer at the Wings Falls National Bank. I had never met Edgar before yesterday when I had the misfortune of making his acquaintance at the annual Taste of Wings Falls Fair. I say misfortune because from what I observed at the fair he wasn't the nicest person, arguing with a number of fair goers. But was someone mad enough at Edgar to want him dead? These questions ran through my mind as I sat with my cousin, Candie, in our regular booth in Sweetie Pie's Café after Sunday Mass at Saint Anthony's. The weekend had started off wonderfully. On Friday night, my boyfriend Hank Johnson, Candie, and her new hubby, Mark Hogan, sat in Adirondack chairs around the metal fire pit in my backyard enjoying s'mores and mugs of hot chocolate. I was mesmerized by the flames licking the oak logs in the circle of fire as they reached for the sky. The sparks reminded me of the lightning bugs that flitted around on a summer night I would try to capture when I was a child. Earlier in the afternoon I had walked my reddish-brown dachshund, Porkchop, through the maze of tents set up for the Wings Falls annual fall event—A Taste of Wings Falls. Vendors were busy preparing to sell everything from wool scarves to maple syrup. The rug hooking group I belong to, the Loopy Ladies, was prepared to sell hand-hooked items. A big draw every year for the Taste was Scooter Dickenson's award-winning pumpkin. As I walked close to the flatbed holding this year's beauty, a growl rumbled from deep within Porkchop. I looked down, and the short hairs on his back stood on end. He started to bark and pull on his leash. His behavior surprised me. If a squirrel had run across our path, I could understand his agitation, but a pumpkin? Go figure.  Welcome to Matter of Inquiry! My guest author today is mystery writer Joyce Woollcott, featuring Blood Relations, her latest DS Ryan McBride novel. Before we get to the interview, Joyce, why don’t you tell readers something about yourself?  About the Author: J. Woollcott is a Canadian author, born in Belfast, N. Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and BCAD, University of Ulster. Her first book, A Nice Place to Die won the RWA Daphne du Maurier Award, was short-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in 2021 and a Silver Falchion Award finalist at Killer Nashville 2023. Website: https://www.jwoollcott.com Twitter: @JoyceWoollcott INTERVIEW: JLB: What inspired your featured book? JW: It’s part two of my Belfast Murder Series. Number one, A Nice Place to Die had some interesting issues and characters I wanted to explore further. JLB: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision? JW: I’m traditionally published. My editor read a grant submission I made and liked my writing. She asked if she could read the whole manuscript. Turned out she was a principle at Level Best Books and eventually I was offered a contract with them. JLB: Do you write from an outline? JW: No not really, but honestly, I wish I could. JLB: What three books in your genre (other than your own) would you recommend to readers? JW: The Ruin; Dervla McTiernan, The Mountains Wild; Sarah Stewart Taylor. The Cold, Cold Ground. Adrian McKinty JLB: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? JW: I’m working on a standalone about a tough police inspector who is forced to retire when his wife is killed by a bullet meant for him. He moves to a small island of the Northern Irish coast looking for a quiet life. He doesn’t find it. Instead, he begins a new relationship and a new case. I’m thinking of calling it A Desolate Grave. So far, I don’t have a release date, I’m taking my time and enjoying the process. JLB: Which of the trivia questions did you choose to answer? JW:
 BLOOD RELATIONS Genre: Mystery Belfast, Northern Ireland: early spring 2017. Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found brutally murdered in his bed. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner Detective Sergeant Billy Lamont are called to his desolate country home to investigate. In their inquiry, they discover a man whose career with the Police Service of Northern Ireland was overshadowed by violence and corruption. Is the killer someone from Mullan’s past, or his present? And who hated the man enough to kill him twice? Is it one of Patrick Mullan’s own family, all of them hiding a history of abuse and lies? Or a vengeful crime boss and his psychopathic new employee? Or could it be a recently released prisoner desperate to protect his family and flee the country? Ryan and Billy once again face a complex investigation with wit and intelligence, all set in Belfast and the richly atmospheric countryside around it. Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Relations-Ryan-McBride-Novel-ebook/dp/B0CFJWF69D EXCERPT: MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 RYAN Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride stared into Mullan’s bedroom, the metallic smell of old blood stronger here. Prisha Hill, the supervising crime scene investigator, laid her hand on his arm. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Prisha said. “Have you?” “No,” Ryan said. “No, I haven’t.” Fifteen minutes earlier, arriving at the scene, Ryan roared past several patrol cars cluttering up the grass verge in front of Hungry Hall, a decaying country house outside Antrim. A few constables stood talking by their vehicles. He jammed on the breaks, pulled into the driveway then backed up. Saw them glance over, a bit edgy now. A stocky woman officer with short dark hair curling under her cap leaned against a car beside two male constables, both tall and pale. Ryan lowered his window, getting a whiff of country air, manure, cut grass, and peat. “Word to the wise.” He flashed his warrant card. “I’m Detective Sergeant McBride, Senior Investigating Officer.” He nodded towards the house. “That’s a crime scene. You’re supposed to be protecting it, not standing around chatting like a bunch of schoolgirls. Next time anyone tries to enter this driveway, ask for ID, unless you fully know who it is.” Their faces closed up with anger and embarrassment. Ryan held up his hand. “That’s one of ours lying dead up there, a retired senior officer. If you let Chief Inspector Girvan drive past you like I did, it won’t just be a bollocking you get; it’ll be school-safety visits. Understand me?” The woman broke from the group and walked over. “Sorry, we just assumed, you know, by the way, you hammered in. But you’re right; we should have stopped you.” She nodded over to one of the constables, shuffling his feet by the car door. “Frank there knows the son, Andrew Mullan. Went to primary school with him. He’s right and upset. We didn’t see the victim, but one of the other fellas up there did and was sick.” At the house, Ryan’s partner, DS Billy Lamont, was talking to a crime-scene tech while struggling into a white Tyvek suit and trying to tuck his messy brown curls under a hood. Billy stood a little shorter than Ryan at just under six feet. He had light grey eyes in a pale, freckled face. He lifted his hand in greeting. One of the crime-scene guys threw Ryan a suit and booties. He had his own gloves, and he hopped along, trying to tug on the booties as they headed for the front of the house. “Grim sort of a place, eh?” Billy said as they approached the door. Hungry Hall stood four square and solid enough on an acre of land; Ryan noticed the stonework, originally painted white, now had a grey, mossy tinge. A feeling of disuse, almost abandonment, lingered. The day didn’t help, either; overcast and sullen with low clouds. “Who found him?” “The cleaning lady. She’s waiting in the kitchen.” They stopped at the door and looked in. The main hall was large, gloomy, and cold. Crime-scene officers bustled about. Even so, the place felt desolate. Ryan couldn’t put his finger on it. He shivered. “Jesus, it’s freezing in here.” “That’s a desperate smell.” Billy unzipped his suit a bit and pulled his hanky out, holding it to his nose. Ryan picked up the scent of blood, along with rubbish, rotting food, and dust in the air. “How often did this cleaning lady come?” he asked Billy. Billy, his partner of over three years, was quick to pick up all kinds of information at scenes. “Not blooming often enough, you ask me.” “Hello.” A slim woman in her fifties approached them. A CSI in a blue suit, she carried a metal case and had shoved a pair of plastic glasses on top of her hood. She had dark, almost black eyes and sallow skin. In need of a bit of sun, Ryan thought. Like me. “I’m Prisha Hill,” she said, nodding behind her as she spoke. “I oversee this bunch. I was just on the phone to my boss, and he said you two were a couple of comedians. Well, I’ll tell you this for nothing. You won’t be laughing when you get upstairs.” She hesitated. “DS Calvert, the local detective sergeant here, has been called away, but he got things started before he left.”  Welcome to Matter of Inquiry! Our guest author this week is Kelly Brakenhoff, featuring her cozy mystery Death 101: Extra Credit, the fourth book in her Cassandra Sato series. Before we get into the questions, Kelly, please tell readers something about yourself.  About the Author: Kelly Brakenhoff is an author of ten books and an ASL interpreter. She divides her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and picture books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. Parents, kids, and teachers love the children's books and activity books because they teach American Sign Language using fun stories. And if you like a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have ever lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, you'll enjoy the Cassandra Sato Mystery series. The mother of four young adults and a hunting dog, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home. Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio. “I just started learning how to play pickleball. I’m not good at tennis or ping pong, so we’ll see how this goes.” Author Contacts: Email: kelly@kellybrakenhoff.com Website: https://kellybrakenhoff.com/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kellybrakenhoffauthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/inBrakenVille Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelly_inbrakenville/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kellybrakenhoff TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kellybrakauthor INTERVIEW: JLB: What inspired your featured book or series? KB: Hmm, let's see...Does being stabbed in the chest with a foil count as inspiration? Just kidding...yet, it totally does! I actually took a fencing lesson from a champion fencer who also happened to be an actor in a local Three Musketeers production. We had such a great time, and to no one’s surprise, fencing is way harder than it looks! Which is why I included it in the book - but not before experiencing it firsthand! Another inspirational experience for my book was interpreting a college course called 'Death and Dying'. It was quite interesting; undergraduates learned everything there is to know about death and dying, visited mortuaries, even planned out their own funerals! It was an enlightening experience rather than morbid, and it certainly gave me interesting ideas to include in my book! JLB: Do people you know sneak into your books as characters? KB: Absolutely! Well, not in any way they'd recognize. With every character I create, I'm definitely pulling inspiration from people I know. Of course, there's still that list (don't worry it's not written down anywhere!) of people who've ticked me off and have to pay the ultimate price, and those lucky few become villains and victims in my stories! JLB: Have you killed off a recurring character? If not, would you do so? KB: Sure did! In Dead of Winter Break and my upcoming novella, Halloween Hustle, there were two characters who had to bite the dust. It wasn't easy goodbye-ing those characters the first time, but once I got over it, it became kind of fun to decide which poor soul had to go next. Thankfully though, neither of them were particularly nice people in the first place, so I guess that made things a bit easier on me! JLB: What book or movie character would you like to be? Why? KB: I'd have to choose Claire Fraser from Outlander. She got to do so many amazing and daring things, and she also got to travel through time - which is pretty sweet. Plus, Jamie Fraser is for sure one of the greatest book/tv loves ever - swoon! JLB: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? KB: I'm excited to unleash my novella Halloween Hustle into the world on September 28th, and afterwards I'll be throwing myself into the next Cassandra Sato mystery which will involve her taking a group of students away on a Study Abroad style vacation - Hawaii, here we come! JLB: Which of the trivia questions did you select to answer? KB:
JLB: Thanks for being on the blog this week, Kelly. Before we finish, please show us your featured book.  Death 101: Extra Credit (A Cassandra Sato Mystery Book4) Genre: Cozy Mystery Failure is not an option. At Morton College, learning comes with a hefty price. The search committee tasked with hiring a new president is on the brink of chaos. A student production of The Three Musketeers devolves into a bloody sword fight. Join Cassandra Sato and the students in a Death 101 course as they put their detective skills to the test. Unraveling the tangled web of secrets and lies, they must act quickly as the college's very future hangs in the balance. Buy links: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194943755-death-101 Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/death-101-extra-credit-a-cassandra-sato-mystery-book-4-by-kelly-brakenhoff Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBNDYGVH To read an excerpt from this book, |
AuthorJ L Buck writes in the mystery genre, currenty enthralled with Regency-era England. She is multi-published in paranormal 
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