 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. Comments are closed.
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AuthorJ L Buck writes in the mystery genre, currenty enthralled with Regency-era England. She is multi-published in paranormal 
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