Plot twist!!!

Yay! This is my first post as a group member of Not Your Usual Suspects. I'm happy to be here! This invitation came at a great time! I'm a member of another blog group, Killer Characters, where my characters blog...not me! So now it's my turn to spill what's going on in my head.
This is perfect timing! I'm currently under three deadlines. The fifth Kenni Lowry Mystery Series book for Henery Press, the first Southern Baker Mystery Series book for Crooked Lane, and the third Killer Coffee Mystery series book I self publish...and boy is there a lot in my head!!!

https://murdermysterydinnercincinnati.blogspot.com/

*changing the killer at the end of the first draft that's been plotted out.

Tonya Kappes is a USA Today Bestselling author who's married (to Eddy) and has four grown children, grown is an overstatement. According to the law they are grown, but they are all in different colleges in the United States.  She's known for her super charged characters that not only spill humor all over the pages, but end up tripping over a lot of dead bodies. Be sure to check out her Front Porch Sittin' tab on her website at Tonyakappes.com for freebies and contests.

Have you checked out all my books? Here is a list and links! 

Also by Tonya Kappes

Olivia Bloom Paranormal Mystery Series

SPLITSVILLE.COM

COLOR ME LOVE (novella)

COLOR ME A CRIME

Magical Cures Mystery Series

A CHARMING CRIME

A CHARMING CURE

A CHARMING POTION (novella)

A CHARMING WISH

A CHARMING SPELL

A CHARMING MAGIC

A CHARMING SECRET

A CHARMING CHRISTMAS (novella)

A CHARMING FATALITY

A CHARMING GHOST

A CHARMING HEX

A CHARMING VOODOO

Spies and Spells Mystery Series

SPIES AND SPELLS

BETTING OFF DEAD

GET WITCH OR DIE TRYING

Grandberry Falls Series

THE LADYBUG JINX

HAPPY NEW LIFE

A SUPERSTITIOUS CHRISTMAS (novella)

NEVER TELL YOUR DREAMS

A Laurel London Mystery Series

CHECKERED CRIME

CHECKERED PAST

CHECKERED THIEF

A Divorced Diva Beading Mystery Series

A BREAD OF DOUBT SHORT STORY

STRUNG OUT TO DIE

CRIMPED TO DEATH

Bluegrass Romance Series

GROOMING MR. RIGHT

TAMING MR. RIGHT

A Ghostly Southern Mystery Series

A GHOSTLY UNDERTAKING

A GHOSTLY GRAVE

A GHOSTLY DEMISE

A GHOSTLY MURDER

A GHOSTLY REUNION

A GHOSTLY MORTALITY

A GHOSTLY SECRET

Kenni Lowry Mystery Series

FIXIN’ TO DIE

SOUTHERN FRIED

AX TO GRIND (9/2017)

SIX FEET UNDER  (4/2018)

Women’s Fiction

CARPE BREAD ’EM

Young Adult

TAG YOU'RE IT

Be sure to join me everywhere!!

I want to invite everyone to join the Cozy Krew group page. If you are not already a group member you can join at  facebook.com/groups/208579765929709

Join the Mailbox Love where I send snail mail and birthday cards! Click here or tonyakappes.com/kappes-krew-birthday-club

If you like to cook and have recipes that you'd like to share, please share them here or tonyakappes.com/recipes

Be sure to check out my web page for up to date information on all my books as well as a complete list of books in order at tonyakappes.com

Follow me on Twitter - twitter.com/tonyakappes11

Small Reader Conferences

**Giveaway over***

Y'all know I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my readers. I used to attend a lot of writer conferences but I always made sure that I hosted a reader event in the area for my local readers. 

I would rent out a cupcake shop, coffee house, library room, restaurant, bar...many places. I would send the local readers a special invitation and it was so much fun!

I was getting a lot of reader mail asking when I was coming to their area....as a mom of four boys in every sport imaginable, an amazing husband, a house to run and writing, I was spread thin. 

I'll never forget it. I was sitting in my office reading some emails and then it dawned on me:

Why don't I have my own reader event that no one else does? Why not every year in a different location? And what if it was on a train? One of the mystery dinner trains?

It was like I was plotting one of my mystery novels. I was playing the what if game and it all seemed to fit like a perfect puzzle in my head. I googled mystery dinner trains and found one about four hours from my home. I figured I'd have local readers who might travel for a girl's weekend. I called the train and rented it. I called the local hotel and blocked out some rooms....I was going crazy.

I posted a little something on my private Cozy Krew Facebook page and in thirty minutes all sixty seats on the train was booked and paid for. 

Then...I got scared.

OMG...60 readers looking at me? I can't do this alone....

So...I called my writing BFF, Duffy Brown!

(Last year's Two Dames on a Mystery Train event)

I told her what I'd done and asked her to join me. Of course she said yes! Little did we know how popular our little adventure was going to be. 

It's turned into a Two Dames on a Mystery Train Weekend and we've gotten to meet so many amazing readers across the United States. 

This year we invited a few more fun cozy mystery authors to join us in Lockport, NY at a winery!! There's a mystery train, we stop to eat and then go back to the winery for a book signing. 

The train is full, but you're more than welcome to join us for the book signing at 4 p.m. You can follow the link under the photos for more details. 

 (Please note that Kathi Daley is unable to make the event this year.)

Have you ever been to a reader only event? Leave a comment and I'll give away a fun Southern Mystery Y'all tote to one lucky comment!! 

Tonya Kappes is a USA Today Bestselling author who's married (to Eddy) and has four grown children, grown is an overstatement. According to the law they are grown, but they are all in different colleges in the United States.  She's known for her super charged characters that not only spill humor all over the pages, but end up tripping over a lot of dead bodies. Be sure to check out her Front Porch Sittin' tab on her website at Tonyakappes.com for freebies and contests.

Have you checked out all my books? Here is a list and links! 

Also by Tonya Kappes

Olivia Bloom Paranormal Mystery Series

SPLITSVILLE.COM

COLOR ME LOVE (novella)

COLOR ME A CRIME

Magical Cures Mystery Series

A CHARMING CRIME

A CHARMING CURE

A CHARMING POTION (novella)

A CHARMING WISH

A CHARMING SPELL

A CHARMING MAGIC

A CHARMING SECRET

A CHARMING CHRISTMAS (novella)

A CHARMING FATALITY

A CHARMING GHOST

A CHARMING HEX

A CHARMING VOODOO

Spies and Spells Mystery Series

SPIES AND SPELLS

BETTING OFF DEAD

GET WITCH OR DIE TRYING

Grandberry Falls Series

THE LADYBUG JINX

HAPPY NEW LIFE

A SUPERSTITIOUS CHRISTMAS (novella)

NEVER TELL YOUR DREAMS

A Laurel London Mystery Series

CHECKERED CRIME

CHECKERED PAST

CHECKERED THIEF

A Divorced Diva Beading Mystery Series

A BREAD OF DOUBT SHORT STORY

STRUNG OUT TO DIE

CRIMPED TO DEATH

Bluegrass Romance Series

GROOMING MR. RIGHT

TAMING MR. RIGHT

A Ghostly Southern Mystery Series

A GHOSTLY UNDERTAKING

A GHOSTLY GRAVE

A GHOSTLY DEMISE

A GHOSTLY MURDER

A GHOSTLY REUNION

A GHOSTLY MORTALITY

A GHOSTLY SECRET

Kenni Lowry Mystery Series

FIXIN’ TO DIE

SOUTHERN FRIED

AX TO GRIND (9/2017)

SIX FEET UNDER  (4/2018)

Women’s Fiction

CARPE BREAD ’EM

Young Adult

TAG YOU'RE IT

Be sure to join me everywhere!!

I want to invite everyone to join the Cozy Krew group page. If you are not already a group member you can join at  facebook.com/groups/208579765929709

Join the Mailbox Love where I send snail mail and birthday cards! Click here or tonyakappes.com/kappes-krew-birthday-club

If you like to cook and have recipes that you'd like to share, please share them here or tonyakappes.com/recipes

Be sure to check out my web page for up to date information on all my books as well as a complete list of books in order at tonyakappes.com

Follow me on Twitter - twitter.com/tonyakappes11

Got a Clue?

One of the reasons I LOVE to read mysteries and adventure stories is sorting through clues and figuring out the problems as the story unfolds. In mysteries, romantic suspense books and thrillers, the discovery of the clues and the resulting action and adventure are what drive the plot. I admit it -- I love the thrill of the hunt, the misdirection, red herrings, false clues, relationship drama and ,ultimately, the final twist and denouement. It's so much fun!

When I was a kid, I loved to play the board game Clue. I still do. My ten-year-old son and I play all the time. It's an activity we enjoy doing together, and I like knowing I'm stimulating my son's observation and deductive skills. Not surprisingly, Velma is our favorite character on the Scooby Doo gang. Why? Because she looks for CLUES! She thinks. She deduces. She's the brains behind the operation. Her clue assembly and observation skills leads to the resolution of the mystery. She figures out things piece-by-piece, clue-by-clue. For her, the devil is in the details. Mystery solved. Jinkies!

As a reader, I love a good conundrum, a puzzling twist, a plot that is mysterious, adventurous and interesting. I actively look for books with these elements. As a writer, I like to add those elements to my stories because I enjoy writing them as much as like reading them! And now I'm excited to announce that not only am I going to be reading and writing about clues ... I'm going to have the opportunity to actually PLAY a character in a Clue-like murder mystery. On March 17, 2018, in Cincinnati, Ohio, I've been invited to participate in...A DINNER TO DIE FOR! It's a reader event, where authors and readers all have a part to play in a dinner murder mystery. It's a Saturday of meeting mystery authors,  getting books signed, lunch, and a dinner where YOU get to follow the clues! It's all so exciting!

If you are interested in attending the event, please check out the details HERE. I would love to meet you! I will be dressed as one of the Clue characters (I'm not telling which one yet) and attendees will have roles to play...possibly even the killer! It's going to be a wonderful day of books, mysteries and lots and lots of clues! Hope to see you there!

Now, tell me, what do you like best about your mystery novels?

~Julie Moffett 

For more information on Julie's books and her humorous, geeky Lexi Carmichael mystery series, check out her website here.

Detective Fashion for Dummies

Today’s the day! FASHIONABLY LATE, my latest Ladies Smythe & Westin mystery, has hit the catwalk. My fellow Not Your Usual Suspects bloggers may not realize this, but I am now quite the fashion expert—in the realm of fictional detectives, anyway. (No snickering, please.) And I have to point out that some of our favorite sleuths are on trend and others are—how can I put this delicately?—in rather serious need of a stylist. So I’ve put together a quick run-down of a few sleuths who really stand out on the Hot list—for better or for worse.

Unlike most hardworking, real-life detectives who dress for the job, many of their book and TV counterparts spend a lot of time in the public eye, running around chasing suspects in expensive leather jackets and killer heels. And then there are others, including my odd-couple sleuths Summer Smythe, an impulsive twenty-something, and Dorothy Westin, a practical seventy-something, who might consider upping their fashion games. (Truth: the most fashionable character in FASHIONABLY LATE is a 6-year-old with a subscription to Vogue.) With that said, here we go:

Those Seventies Guys: Okay, so maybe the 70s weren’t known for fabulous male fashion. Kojak with the lollipops, Columbo with his rumpled trenchcoat, and Jim Rockford with the crazy-plaid sportcoats (you rocked anyway, Jimbo!). But the real-life Columbo cleaned up rather well for the Academy Awards with costume designer Edith Head:

(via Pinterest)

Nancy, Nancy, Nancy: Let’s get this hem straight: No one puts the teen queen detective in a fashion corner. She dressed impeccably and appropriately for every occasion, from speeding after crooks in that cute roadster to her equestrienne pursuits to being trapped in attics. But sometimes, well…her tastes ran a little on the boring side:

(via Pinterest)

Luckily, French illustrator Albert Chazelle had a different take on Nancy and her friends. Très chic, n’est-ce pas?

(via Pinterest)

Lob-stah Bibs and Liberty Scahves: Like Nancy, mystery writer and amateur sleuth extraordinaire Jessica (“J.B”) Fletcher’s style was also well-suited to every activity. Plus, she managed to look stylish and keep her cool as a female TV star in the 80s, so she gets extra points. Oh, and Angela Lansbury. Super-bonus points.

(via Pinterest)

V is for Velma, Veronica, and Va-va-voom: Velma, honey, we admired your colorfully-groovy choices in Scooby Doo. But may we suggest taking a few fashion notes from equally-unique fellow V-girl Veronica Mars?

(via Pinterest)

Nick and Nora Charles: No question, these two were always in high style, especially with cocktails in hand. Maybe substituting a few higher-energy outfits for those chic dressing gowns and smart PJ sets would be…Oh, never mind. 

(via Pinterest) 

Plain Jane: Yes, Miss Marple, we know those tweeds and Wellies are all the rage for kickin' it in St. Mary Mead. And you may give Jessica and Nancy a run for the roses in the practicality department. But with all those house parties, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to live a little:

(via Pinterest)

Summer Smythe and Dorothy Westin: This odd-couple sleuth team recently hit the holiday fashion show circuit in glitzy Milano, Florida—and picked up a few game-changing (and lifesaving) style tips. Reindeer sweaters, awkward fishtails, and merry widow ensembles aside (don’t ask), there may be hope for these two yet!

About Lisa:

Lisa Q. Mathews lives in New England but sets her series The Ladies Smythe & Westin in sunny Florida. Her closet most closely resembles Jessica Fletcher’s, with a handy yellow slicker, an all-season trench, Bean boots and plenty of scarves. Her titles include CARDIAC ARREST, PERMANENTLY BOOKED, and the very latest, FASHIONABLY LATE. 

Do you agree with our Detective Fashion Police—or have any other sleuths you’d like to nominate for a fashion intervention? (Remember, we’re talking fictional characters here, not (ahem) writers!)

Guest Author Gilian Baker: Prepare for a great day of writing

Welcome to an occasional series of guest bloggers.
Today our visitor is GILIAN BAKER.
We hope you enjoy these posts as well as our usual fare!
~~~from the Not Your Usual Suspects team~~~

Being Gilian: How I Mentally Prepare
for a Great Day of Writing

For writers, having the right mindset is a big part of the process of writing anything worth reading. I can easily stress myself out about needing to produce a magnificent chapter, especially when deadlines are looming. When I’m in that freaked out, “gotta-get-it-done” space, the Muses are nowhere to be found—just when I need them most. Today I wanted to share with you a few of the tricks I use to mentally prepare for a great day of writing—for being Gilian.

Meditate—I’ve been meditating for many years now, and I like to do it first thing in the morning. It centers me and helps me keep focused on the moment I’m living in instead of the future full of deadlines I’m worried about. Meditating in the morning sets the tone for my whole day.

Streamline my day—As I mentioned in the intro, when I’m super busy, it’s a challenge for me to get into my creative space. I personally need quiet time to ponder and sketch out ideas before, during and after writing. So, when I’m preparing for a day full of writing fiction, I clear my schedule as much as possible. Trying to squeeze it into a full day never works for me.

Write in the morning—Since I’m a morning person, I almost always write during that time. By the late afternoon, my creative spirit has dwindled, but in the morning I feel fresh and ready to create. I believe one of the most important things for writers to understand about themselves is when their creative time is and then to use it faithfully.

Journal—It’s typical for me to stop and jot down ideas that pop into my head about other scene as I write. Or if I come to a place in the story where I’m not sure what direction I should take, I’ll journal out my ideas to see which one feels right. It’s just another way I avoid forcing the words to come. When I’m writing, I always have my book journal and favorite fountain pen handy.

Reread the last chapter—Being a writer is kind of like being an actor. I find I need to get into character to write fiction. Rereading the last chapter or two often helps me prepare for the role I need to play that day.

Drink out a special mug—After I’d chosen my pen name and was elbow deep into writing Blogging is Murder, my mom bought me a mug with a big ‘G’ on it. I only drink out of it when I’m Gilian—when I’m writing a book.

Listen to different music—I personally can’t listen to music with lyrics when I work, but I do enjoy having soothing music playing in the background. I’m fond of chanting, Native American flute music and other “new age” type music. I have a special playlist that I play only when I’m being Gilian.

Use special aromatherapy scents—Our olfactory system triggers memories quickly, so I like to use a special blend of refreshing essential oils in a diffuser while I write. This prompts the memories of past successful writing sessions and keeps me creative for hours without fatigue.

Sit in my writing chair—I made room in my home office for my chair-and-a-half and ottoman. I feel more creative when I’m not sitting at my desk where “work” happens. My writing chair is positioned right across from the window, so I can look outside when I stop typing to ponder what comes next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Gilian Baker

Gilian Baker is a former writing and literature professor who finally threw in the towel and decided to just show ‘em how it’s done. She has gone on to forge a life outside of academia by adding blogger & ghostwriter to her CV. She currently uses her geeky superpowers only for good to entertain cozy mystery readers the world over. When she’s not plotting murder, you can find her puttering in her vegetable garden, knitting in front of the fire, snuggled up with her husband watching British mysteries or discussing literary theory with her daughter.

In her next life, she fervently hopes to come back as a cat, though she understands that would be going down the karmic ladder. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with her family and their three pampered felines.

Blogging is Murder Synopsis

Though she was certainly born with all the traits of a world-class private detective, blogger Jade Blackwell believed she would do nothing more than solve the murders in her latest favorite cozy mystery book.

Set in mountainous south-eastern Wyoming, Jade Blackwell lives in a log home in the quaint village of Aspen Falls with her husband, Christian and daughter Penelope (Ellie). She left her life as a tenured college English professor at the University of Wyoming four years ago, sick of the bureaucracy, mounds of essays to grade and apathetic students. She turns to blogging and ghostwriting as her new career.

Jade’s promising career as a blogger halts abruptly when she learns of a hacker who is controlling her friend and fellow blogger Liz Collin’s business remotely. When the hacker is found dead in her home, Liz is thrown in jail.

Determined to help her friend regain her life and livelihood, Jade teams up with Liz’s reluctant lawyer, Gabriel Langdon, to get Liz off the hook and out of jail. What she learns will break the case wide open, while unraveling her faith in humanity and the safety she feels living in the Rocky Mountain hamlet she calls home.

An exciting thrill ride from the first page, to the last. Read Gilian Baker’s Blogging is Murder, the first book in the Jade Blackwell cozy mystery series!

Contact Gilian Baker directly at mailto:Gilianbakerauthor@gmail.com

BLOGGING IS MURDER on Amazon

BLOGGING IS MURDER on Goodreads

GILIAN BAKER’S WEBSITE

BOOK TRAILER

FACEBOOK TWITTER

What’s So Funny About Murder???

Definitely nothing. Nothing is funny about murder, but I enjoy humor so much I need it in my stories. Especially my cozies because I need a break from the tension. I’m not a girl who listens to sad music or watches those Lifetime/Hallmark movies eager to tear up at the emotional trauma they drag you through. Not me. I prefer to laugh. I like romance and action also. This is how I ended up penning a cozy mystery. Cozies have all my favorite elements and none of the heart wrenching moments I so deftly avoid.

Another thing I love about cozy mysteries is the fact the murder is secondary to the story. Yes, it’s the catalyst, but it’s not really about the murder. It’s about the aftermath and the unraveling of a great mystery. For example: If someone from military intelligence stepped in and solved the crime, I imagine there’d be lots of blank stares and grunting, possibly even a confession. I know, I’d rather confess than face an angry soldier. This is not funny.

But what if the person digging around looking for clues is clueless? What if they don’t know what to ask or where to look? What if the only thing on their side is their lovability and desperate curiosity? I like that story much better any day. I really like it when women surprise the soldiers of the world with their audacity and persistence in the face of danger. Huzzah! Hear me *roar*

The process can be quite funny in a good cozy and I hope I’m in the right zip code on this with my story. I enjoy getting to know the sleuth as much as learning whodunit. I put myself and my girlfriends into the book, imagining us bumbling along and learning as we go. A steep learning curve is also funny to me. I am on this curve in most situations. I’m unarguably a jump in first and find out how deep and cold the water is next kind of lady. Makes life interesting. I hope my heroine makes this interesting too. More than interesting. If you join my heroine on her first adventure as an amateur sleuth, I hope you’ll laugh out loud and maybe until your cheeks hurt. 

What's your favorite aspect of a cozy mystery?

Release Day!

by Janis Patterson

I don’t care how many books you have out, release day is still a thrill. The thought that all the writing, all the revisions and editing and pre-release PR I’ve done has finally culminated with a book still sends a tingle through my heart and a giggle into my throat.

My story is going to be read. The story that has been in my mind and my computer, the story that is mine alone, is going out into the big wide world where anybody who wants can pick it up.

This is all so different from when I sold my first half-dozen books. In those antique days (pre-computer, pre-internet) everything was done on paper by snail-mail. The books themselves were paper. I still remember the excitement of receiving my author’s copies. There would be this big box that came to the front door, and once I opened it I could actually hold my new book in my hands. There were no surprises – I had seen the galleys and the cover art weeks, even months ago, but this was the first time in book form. I always felt as proud as a new parent.

It’s all different nowadays – still very good and full of satisfaction, but different. There’s no box of books to open and coo over, no knowledge that boxes of my books are in trucks going across the country en route to a legion of bookstores… there’s just an electronic file from the publisher. The cover isn’t a stiff paper work of art suitable for framing, only a spray of brilliantly colored electrons across my computer screen.

But my story is still there. The characters I have lived with for months are now on their own, ready to meet new people. Now on release day my book spreads across the world, available in places my paper books would never have reached.

And it’s still great.

On Monday, the first of October, I woke with a thrill of excitement because it was release day for BEADED TO DEATH, my new cozy mystery from Carina Press. (http://bit.ly/SjFrXM)

Written almost a year before, worked on for weeks with my editor, sighed over as we tried to get just the right cover art, it was now going to fly on its own. Lilias Ruiz and Thomas O’Connell and Annie Monroe and Toby Applegate and Patches were no longer my special, private family – they were going out to face the world on their own.

On this release day there was no skywriting, no blare of trumpets, but I knew that my story was Out There. Other people could follow the tale of Lillias’ finding a dead body in her living room, of her entanglement with an FBI agent who may or may not be rogue, and her perplexity in dealing with a 7’3” nephew who is on the run from an unwanted basketball scholarship. After all that, being accused of being a drug smuggler is just icing on the cake!

The thing about release day is that it is just part of a logical progression – write, sell, revise, edit, edit again, and release. Another thing is that it comes late. The book is finished and done with, the cover art and edits approved, and (hopefully!) you’re working on another book. Then, like a revenant from the past, it is there once more, officially leaving your life and going on to a life of its own.

I love release days. No matter how the book is delivered – electronic or paper or whatever comes next – the day your book comes out is still exciting. It is a day like no other.

  Janis Patterson is a seventh-generation Texan and a third-generation wordsmith who writes mysteries as Janis Patterson, romances and other things as Janis Susan May, children’s books as Janis Susan Patterson and scholarly works as J.S.M. Patterson.