Today is my turn on the Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE LIST (Martha Munro Crime Mystery Book #1) by Michael Leese.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
It was just an ordinary Wednesday lunchtime when Detective Martha Munro’s life changed forever.
Her sergeant is speaking, but she barely hears what he’s telling her.
Your mother has been shot dead. Your four-year-old daughter has been taken.
There are no leads. Who would want to hurt her family?
Martha realizes it’s time to ask herself some hard questions about her late father.
He led the anti-corruption squad at Scotland Yard. It’s rumoured he kept a list of everyone who worked for him, from coppers to criminals. And just being on that list was a sure-fire way to lower your life expectancy.
Her mother was killed by someone trying to get their hands on that list. Now time is running out for Martha to get her daughter back alive.
Martha is the kind of cop who always goes by the book. But family is EVERYTHING. And she will do ANYTHING to keep them safe.
THE LIST (Martha Munroe Crime Mystery Book #1) by Michael Leese is the first book in a new British crime mystery series and it is constructed like no other I have read before. I was immediately intrigued and could not put it down.
Detective Martha Munroe is informed by her sergeant that her mother has been shot dead and her four-year-old daughter kidnapped.
With the help of longtime friend of the family, Harry the Hat, Martha begins to learn more about her late father who led the anti-corruption unit at The Met and is somehow tied to the forces working to destroy her. A powerful enemy believes Martha has the list belonging to her father that names all the criminals who were working as snitches for him and all the corrupt police on the force and he is willing to do anything to get it for himself.
When Martha and Harry find the list, they must work to decode it to find out who Martha can really trust and who is trying to make sure she ends up dead.
I enjoyed the unique way this story unfolded. Who would put their detective protagonist in such a position in the first book of a series? Well, Mr. Leese did, and I found it kept me turning the pages. Martha and Harry are wonderful characters that are very likeable and fully fleshed. The other characters always had me guessing whether they were good, bad, or varying shades of gray. The plot is full of twists and surprises with an ending that leaves the door open for more. I am looking forward to following Martha in future books in this series.
I recommend this start to a new British crime mystery series!
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About the Author
Before taking up writing, Michael Leese was a national newspaper journalist for over 25 years, with the last part of his career working for the London Evening Standard. The most memorable stories he covered ranged from Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the death of Princess Diana, the 9/11 attacks and the two Gulf wars.
In the latter part of his career, Mike was a news editor. In this role he gained insights into many specialties from crime and court reporting, to political and science news and the behind the scenes working of government, the City and other institutions. Mike’s passion for news and current affairs remains very strong and influences the writing of his books.
In Chapter and Curse, Molly Kimball is used to cracking open books . . .but when a poetry reading ends in murder, she must use her skills to crack the case.
Librarian Molly Kimball and her mother, Nina, need a change. So when a letter arrives from Nina’s Aunt Violet in Cambridge, England requesting their help running the family bookshop, they jump at the chance.
Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, is one of the oldest bookshops in Cambridge, and—unfortunately—customers can tell. When Molly and Nina arrive, spring has come to Cambridge and the famed Cambridge Literary Festival is underway. Determined to bring much-needed revenue to the bookstore, Molly invites Aunt Violet’s college classmate and famed poet Persephone Brightwell to hold a poetry reading in the shop. But the event ends in disaster when a guest is found dead—with Molly’s great-aunt’s knitting needle used as the murder weapon. While trying to clear Violet and keep the struggling shop afloat, Molly sifts through secrets past and present, untangling a web of blackmail, deceit, and murder.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney brings to life a fabulous cozy mystery. This first of the series has a community readers will care about, detailed descriptions of the town, and an engaging mystery with blackmail, deceit, and murder. Beyond that the author chose the historic town of Cambridge England set in a 400-year-old bookshop.
After the death of her father Molly Kimball realizes her mother Nina needs a change of scenery. When a letter arrives from an aunt who lives in Cambridge requesting their help in running the family bookshop Nina and Molly decide to travel to Britain. Since Molly is a librarian, she comes up with ideas on how to bring in revenue to the bookstore, “Thomas Marlow-Manuscripts and Folios.” She invites her Aunt Violet’s college classmate, famed poet Persephone Brightwell to hold a reading in the shop. Unfortunately, at the end of the event another of Violet’s college roommates, Myrtle Marsh, is found dead, killed with her aunt’s knitting needle.
Molly and some new friends try to prove Aunt Violet’s innocence since she is considered a person of interest. Besides Molly and Nina, there is Sir John, a former lawyer and spy, George, landlord, and handyman, Daisy, a coffeeshop owner, and Kiernan, a bicycle shop owner who Molly begins dating.
This cozy mystery has a captivating setting, engaging characters, buried secrets, and a suspenseful mystery with many people of interest and twists and turns.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Elizabeth Penney: My mother is from England and went to nursing school there. I lived there when I was little. Just like the main character’s mom, my mother married an American and left. Because I have relatives who live there, I set it in Cambridge England in a bookstore of an old Tudor building of the 1600s.
EC: Why a bookstore in Cambridge?
EP: It has several bookstores and is a city that values them. I made sure to have the store sell antique books because the city has a lot of literary history. In the story I wrote about the “OZ” books. To be realistic I looked up what a first edition would be worth.
EC: You added flavor to the story by explaining the “English language.”
EP: Words in England have different meanings than in the US. Words such as crumpet which we call an English Muffin, fit which we refer to as attractive, skip is not a movement in England but means alley, and their 999 is our 911. My main character Molly is American, and she comes across some of these terms. It was how she was introduced to the English culture.
EC: You also explain the English culture?
EP: I spoke with online groups who live in England. This is why I put in the book how the English drink coffee. A lot of tea shops now sell coffee.
EC: How would you describe Molly?
EP: Inquisitive, outgoing, and sociable. She is also enthusiastic, smart, kind, and a people person who loves cats. Her profession is a librarian, which helps with her sleuth work. Both use research skills.
EC: How would you describe Kiernan?
EP: He will eventually be Molly’s love interest. He is from nobility but wants to be just a regular guy. He is very independent, warm, friendly, and supportive.
EC: Most of the time victims are sympathetic but not this one?
EP: She is manipulative, devious, sly, sneaky, and is blackmailing people.
EC: What role does the journal play?
EP: I joined this Cambridge group to get a feel for the culture. The journal allows me to have a past thread and to give readers a feel of what happened in the past.
EC: Next book?
EP: It is titled Treacherous Tale and will be out next September. In it Molly will visit Kiernan’s family in their manor. Instead of a journal there will be a children’s book called Strawberry Girls, which I made up. A mother wrote it for her daughters who are now young adults. It is a fairy tale and gives clues to what happened in the story. The mystery involves a man falling off the roof of their cottage and dies.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today is my turn on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions blog tour. I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for CHRISTMAS ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #6) by Stewart Giles.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
CHRISTMAS: The silly season. Or, the suicide season?
A string of suicides on the island arouses Detective Liam O’Reilly’s suspicions. He understands that the suicide rate tends to increase during the festive season, but the ways in which these people have chosen to end their lives doesn’t feel right.
As O’Reilly and his team dig deeper they soon learn there is much more to these apparent suicides than they initially thought and O’Reilly realises there is a seriously damaged mind on the loose.
Dubbed the suicide killer by the press, this madman will stop at nothing to get his depraved message across and O’Reilly is the only one who can put an end to his killing spree.
This festive season is one the Irish detective will never forget.
DS JASON SMITH SERIES Book 0.5-Phobia Book 1-Smith Book 2-Boomerang Book 3-Ladybird Book 4-Occam’s Razor Book 5-Harlequin Book 6-Selene Book 7-Horsemen Book 8-Unworthy Book 9 – Venom Book 10 – Severed Book 11 – Demons Book 12 – Deadeye Book 13 – Motive Book 14 – Australia Book 15 – Wishbone
DI O’REILLY MYSTERIES Book 1 – Blood on the Island Book 2 – Lies on the Island Book 3 – Fear on the Island Book 4 – Malice on the Island Book 5 – Revenge on the Island Book 6 – Christmas on the Island
DC HARRIET TAYLOR SERIES Book 1-The Beekeeper Book 2-The Perfect Murder Book 3-The Backpacker Trotterdown a box set of DC Harriet Taylor books 1-3
DS JASON SMITH &DC HARRIET TAYLOR SERIES Book 1 – The Enigma Book 2 – Dropzone Book 3 – The Raven Girl Trilogy: The DS Smith & Harriet Taylor box set
THE MIRANDA TRILOGY (psychological thrillers) Miranda Mistress Medusa
STANDALONE HORROR The Divide
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
CHRISTMAS ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #6) by Stewart Giles is another exciting police procedural/crime mystery featuring the crusty DI Liam O’Reilly on the Channel Island of Guernsey set during the Christmas holiday. The crime mystery in each book is unique, but these books are best read in order due to the ever-evolving main characters.
A string of suicides occur on the island right before Christmas, but when O’Reilly arrives on each scene there is something that just feels off. As O’Reilly and his team investigate, the coroner and Crime scene techs make it clear that they are looking for a killer.
Dubbed the suicide killer by the island press, O’Reilly searches for a connection between the victims which does not appear to exist until a young journalist and his twin sister seem like the perfect suspects.
Will O’Reilly and his team be able to stop the killer or killers before Christmas day?
I love the O’Reilly mysteries series! O’Reilly is a determined DI who will investigate every little piece of evidence until they all click together in his mind to solve the case. Having read all the books in this series, O’Reilly, his team at the police station, his daughter and his girlfriend have all become friends I look forward to revisiting in each book. The crime mystery plots are always intriguing with lots of red herrings and plot twists that always lead me to false conclusions. Mr. Giles is very good at twisting a mystery plot to completely change the outcome while still being believable.
I highly recommend this addition to the series!
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Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow with book 16 recently published. The first 5 books in the Detective Liam O’Reilly series are now available.
Heiress-turned-sleuth Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter step out of the elite society of Gilded Age New York as they venture into the city’s crime ridden streets and most dangerous neighborhoods to search for two missing children . . .
THE DEAD CRY JUSTICE
May 1890: As NYU Law School finally agrees to admit female law students, Judge MacKenzie’s daughter Prudence weighs her choices carefully. Chief among her concerns is how her decision would affect the Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law agency and her professional and personal relationship with the partner who is currently recuperating from a near fatal shooting.
But an even more pressing issue presents itself in the form of a street urchin, whose act of petty theft inadvertently leads Prudence to a badly beaten girl he is protecting. Fearing for the girl’s life, Prudence rushes her to the Friends Refuge for the Sick Poor, run by the compassionate Charity Sloan. When the boy and girl slip out of their care and run away, Prudence suspects they are fleeing a dangerous predator and is desperate to find them.
Aided by the photographer and social reformer Jacob Riis and the famous journalist Nellie Bly, Prudence and Geoffrey scour the tenements and brothels of Five Points. Their only clue is a mysterious doll with an odd resemblance to the missing girl. But as the destitute orphans they encounter whisper the nickname of the killer who stalks them—Il diavolo—Prudence and Geoffrey must race against time to find the missing children before their merciless enemies do.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Dead Cry Justice by Rosemary Simpson always involves a mystery, returning characters, and a social issue during the Gilded Age. This historical novel delves into a very tough and disturbing topic. But Simpson is such a gifted author and writes in a manner that does not go over the top. She realizes a line should not be crossed, leaving the subject matter up to the reader’s imagination.
The story opens with the main character, Prudence MacKenzie, heiress turned sleuth with her partner, Geoffrey Hunter, contemplating if she should accept the offer to attend NYU’s law school. It is now 1890 and women are making strides, but she is not sure how she will be accepted among the students and professors.
While weighing her decision a street urchin steals her sandwich. A chase ensues leading her to a badly beaten girl. The girl’s eyelashes and eyebrows have been replaced with tattoos, her skin is bleached artificially white, and she has been repeatedly raped. A Quaker refuge for the poor agrees to care for the boy and girl, both to traumatized to speak. Somehow, they slip out. Prudence, with the help of Geoffrey and some other contacts, are determined to find the children. They visit orphanages, brothels, a photographer, newspaper journalist, and a house of dolls. Their only clue is a mysterious porcelain doll that oddly resembles the missing girl. To their shock, they discover other young girls in the same situation. They now have a race against time to find the children and the perpetrators before it is too late.
This is an important issue to bring front and center since sex trafficking is still present today with very little coverage or outcry as it was in the 1890s. Readers will understand how Simpson brings to life the Gilded Age in New York City through detailed descriptions, real-life people such as Jay Gould, Jacob Riis, and Nellie Bly, and a riveting mystery.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Rosemary Simpson: Each one of my Gilded Age Mystery books has a social setting, murder, and the two main characters. In this book it was the social exploitation of girls and women. It was a topic that needed to be addressed. The deeper I got into my research I realized there are a lot of parallels of what is happening now. At the time of my research Jeffrey Epstein was in all the papers.
EC: What about the abuse?
RS: It was horrific back then. The girls felt homeless. It was emotional and physical. The girls were bleached, tattooed, made to take arsenic and lead, starved, drugged, and beaten. Parts of this are true today. There was a great deal of abuse. Usually, it was the women themselves who were blamed for the sexual exploitation. The clients were rarely blamed. I kept looking and looking for major outcries against this. No one wanted to admit that this horrible issue could exist. I wanted it to be believable and to be realistic in the historical context.
EC: Lead and arsenic taken?
RS: Yes. It was done for hundreds of years to whiten the skin. It was a lead paste. It also did damage to the brain and other parts of the body. The arsenic was a very small amount used in cremes.
EC: Another relevant issue today is your quote about criminals?
RS: You are referring to this one, “Criminals arrested should be detained, but walked free.” This book takes place before Theodore Roosevelt became the police commissioner. Before him, the NYC police department was tremendously corrupt. Until Roosevelt came along there were not many who wanted to clean up the corruptness. People could pay to walk away after they committed a crime. What is happening today, with criminals getting out, is a replay of what has already happened, many and many times.
EC: Some of this story reminded me of the movie, “Oliver?”
RS: There were a lot of orphanages in NYC. They meant well and many were reformers. There was something associated with being an orphan as if it were the child’s fault. In the absence of stern parental control there was organized institutional control. Children were not assumed to be innocent, but the thought pattern was they tried to get away with everything unless there was a tight hold on them. A lot of the orphanages existed because of the donations. They were very grim. As soon as the orphans got to be a certain age, they were shown the door.
EC: Role of the dolls?
RS: Young women were being traumatized and deprived of their basic humanity. They were turned into objects. The porcelain hand-painted bisque dolls are now antiques and even back then were very valuable. The best ones did come from France. They were so beautiful they were collector’s items and usually were not played with. When I was a child, about five, I got a gorgeous doll from my French aunt. It was in a huge red and gold box, wrapped in huge red ribbon. I was afraid to take it out of the box for fear I might drop it. After my aunt left, I took it out of the box. It was gorgeous.
EC: Did the All-American Doll Shop influence you?
RS: I bought some of these dolls. But the idea was to make the dolls lifelike. But I was reversing it. I was making the real girls look doll-like. I only remembered these dolls during the rewrites. In my story it was a way of depriving the exploited girls to be human. Just as today, with sex trafficking, these girls are treated as objects.
EC: Were women really admitted to law schools during the 1890s?
RS: Most of the women were working in a husband’s law firm or writing wills/trusts. They were not arguing in full court before a jury. My character Prudence wants to defend someone in a court. Society is beginning to open up to achieve some sort of equality.
EC: How would you describe the young brother Zander who tried to save his sister from exploitation?
RS: An Oliver Twist kind of character: Resilient, crafty, quick on his feet, smart, does not give up, and very loveable. He bonded with his dog Blossom. An unquestioning love and loyalty. He is also protective, caring, and kind. He realizes to save his sister he has to manipulate society.
EC: Next book?
RS: It will be out this time next year and is titled, Death at The Falls. It takes place at Niagara Falls. Prudence has passed the bar, but no one will hire her. She and her partner Geoffrey go to Niagara Falls to help her aunt’s friend who is accused of murder. The social aspect is the push pull between private exploitation of the Falls and the public effort to preserve the natural beauty of the falls.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
MURDER AT MALLOWAN HALL (Phyllida Bright Mystery Book #1) by Colleen Cambridge is a clever and entertaining start to a new historical cozy mystery series with the housekeeper as an amateur sleuth set in the fictional manor home of Agatha Christie and her second husband, Max Mallowan.
Phyllida Bright previously worked with Mrs. Christie during WW1 where she was a nurse, while Mrs. Christie worked in the pharmacy. She was hired under not completely explained and slightly mysterious circumstances. Phyllida has a close friendship with Agatha, and she rules over the household staff with a strict adherence to decorum, but also with fairness, even as she deals with a supercilious butler who is curious to know more about her background.
Phyllida has yet to meet a gentleman she admires in real life as much as Agatha’s fictional detective Hercule Poirot. When she finds a dead body of one of the current house guests on the floor in the library, she is determined to follow in her favorite detective’s footsteps and solve the case. When a member of the household staff is killed next, Phyllida knows the killer is close at hand and she must work quickly before her own story ends abruptly.
I enjoyed this cozy mystery and found it to be a charming homage to Agatha Christie’s own mysteries. Phyllida is an amateur sleuth worth following and I am especially interested in finding out why she is trying so hard to keep her birth date and past a mystery from others and why she is so accepting of mores that others, in this time period, would find appalling. I loved that Phyllida got her denouement at the end of the story just as a fictional sleuth would in a written mystery. All the secondary characters in the household and their jobs were interesting to learn about and I will be looking forward to how Phyllida and Bradford, the chauffeur get on in future books. There are plenty of red-herrings and plot twists to keep the cozy mystery reader turning the pages.
A good start to this cozy historical mystery series, loved the intrepid Phyllida, and I am looking forward to more mysteries in this series.
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Author Bio
Colleen Cambridge is the pen name of an award-winning USA Today and New York Times bestselling author.
Under several pseudonyms, she has written more than 36 books in a variety of genres and is always plotting her next murder—er, book.
Millie Fisher may be widowed, but she leads a full life in her Amish hometown of Harvest, Ohio. There’s her quilting circle, her Boer goats, her gift for matchmaking—and the occasional murder . . .
Millie is happy that her childhood friend, Uriah Schrock, has returned to Harvest after decades away. He was sweet on Millie in their school days, but she only had eyes for her future husband. Now, there’s a new spark between them, so Millie is concerned when Uriah doesn’t show up at the Harvest concert series—or for his job as the Village square’s groundskeeper. Perhaps Millie has been involved in too many murder investigations, but she has a sinking feeling. And when she and her best friend, Lois, find Uriah with the police, it seems she’s right . . .
A film crew is in Harvest to make a movie about a forty-year-old unsolved murder. A skeleton has been found at the bottom of a ravine—and Uriah is certain it’s his sister, Galilee. Right before Uriah left Ohio, she disappeared, and her harsh husband, Samuel, was found fatally stabbed with a knitting needle. The sheriff declared that Galilee killed him and ran away. Uriah never believed the theory, and he’s come back to Harvest hoping, Gott willing, Millie will help him stitch together the truth . . .
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Elise’s Thoughts
Marriage Can Be Mischief is a cozy mystery in the small town of Harvest Ohio. It features Amish quilting matchmaker crime solver Millie Fisher and her English friend Lois Henry.
This installment has Millie’s childhood friend, Uriah Schrock, returning to Harvest to find out what happened to his sister, Galilee. Forty years ago, her abusive husband Samuel was found dead, and she has disappeared. But now a film crew doing a documentary on this cold case find a human skull and bones. After a DNA test the skeleton is found to be Galilee. The Sheriff who dislikes the Amish quickly determines that there is no new evidence to reopen the case and rules that she had killed her husband. But Millie realizes things do not add up and she agrees to find out the truth.
Always present to help Millie is her best friend, Lois. They are as opposite as can be. Millie is a widow who still mourns her late husband, while Lois is a three-time divorcee. Millie is reserved and Lois is flamboyant. Lois has purple/black spiked hair and Millie dresses in her Amish clothes. Even with these differences they are inseparable except for going to Church. Both spend their spare time trying to solve the murders in Harvest. Now they are trying to clear Galilee’s name and prove that someone else committed the murder. But it could be costly since the killer will do anything to make sure Lois and Millie are stopped.
Per usual, Amanda Flower does not disappoint. She consistently has likeable characters, charming settings, and engaging mysteries with plenty of humor to go around.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Idea for this story?
Amanda Flower: There has been so many murders in Harvest. Because both series are doing well there will be more killings. I wanted a cold case. It works out for it to be in the Matchmaker series because Lois and Millie are in their sixties, which means they would have been around forty years ago as adults, when the murder took place. I also want to build a case around an Amish restaurant.
EC: Is there an Amish Corner Beach restaurant for real?
AF: No, but it was based on those Amish restaurants with big buffets. Buses come in with tourists to get big family size meals. It is like Thanksgiving every single day. There must be at least ten restaurants that all look the same and serve the same food.
EC: Why did you put in the Amish proverb at the beginning of the book?
AF: You are referring to this one, “A house is made of walls and beams; a home is made of love and dreams.” The crime that happened is really based upon spousal abuse. It is usually very hushed. I did not want to ignore it as a problem. I used this quote because the victim had a house, but it was not a real home for her since it was not a loving place. I just made the connection of the Barbra Streisand song, “A House is Not a Home.”
EC: The animal stars of this series are the goats, Phillip, and Peter. Do you have goats?
AF: No, but we do want them eventually. We are going to do chickens first. One of my neighbors told me chickens are like a gateway animal. They are more low maintenance than goats. Millie’s nephews and the goats always are a good addition to the story.
EC: Uriah and Millie are no longer an item?
AF: He is uncertain of Millie’s feelings. His mission to come back to Holmes County was to find out what happened to his sister. This has tortured him for the last forty years, not knowing what happened to her. He really cares about Millie, but his emotions are preoccupied by his missing sister. In the next book, he has returned home to Indiana. He was very dedicated to his sister, and realizes Millie is still in love with the memory of Kip, her late husband.
EC: You brought in Millie’s late husband Kip?
AF: Yes. He was steadfast and traditional Amish. They loved each other deeply. He was a kind and loving husband. She is not over him. Millie commented in this book, she does not know what he would think of her life now. She and Lois are chasing murderers and she is not leading a traditional Amish life.
EC: Abuse?
AF: Samuel, the abusing husband, and his wife, Galilee were never in love. Theirs was a marriage of convenience. Most Amish marry for love, but land and property were sometimes considered. If a man wants something monetary, they will marry for that reason. He did not love her and emotionally/physically abused her.
EC: The Bishop has so much say in someone’s marriage?
AF: Yes. This is one of the hard things for a non-Amish person to wrap their head around. He is basically the law in the district and what he decides must be followed. He is essentially chosen by G-d to lead the Church and the community. It makes it difficult for anyone to leave, because they will be excommunicated, which means they must be “shunned” by everyone including their family. In this book, I had the current Bishop remove a wife if there is even a rumor of abuse. He is compassionate and understanding to the wife’s struggles.
EC: The role of the sheriff?
AF: He is unkind and evil. He does not respect the Amish, considers them in a bad light, and has his judgement colored. He stays in this position of power because no one challenges him in an election. Sheriff Marshall has a lot of say with other law enforcement agencies in the state of Ohio. Eventually Aiden will challenge him in a future book.
EC: The role of baseball?
AF: The Amish will play baseball. Millie’s nephew, Micah, learned about baseball from an English boy who is his classmate. He taught Micah about collecting baseball cards. Micah is fascinated with this hobby because he loves playing baseball. Micah hides collecting baseball cards because there are pictures of the players on the cards. Remember the Amish do not have faces on dolls and never take photographs, or have pictures of their family, for that reason.
EC: How would you describe the victim, Galilee?
AF: Frightened. When she was working at the restaurant, she was more herself and enjoyed being away from her husband. Overall, timid and scared of her husband Samuel. She is kind and joyful at work, but at home she is closed off.
EC: Next books?
AF: The final book in the “Magical Mysteries Series” comes out in January 2022, titled Crimes and Covers. There is a murder outside a wedding tent. In February 2022 Put Out to Pasture, the farm series comes out. In March 2022 Frozen Detective will come out by Hallmark. It has a murder happening at a posh New Year’s Eve party at a ski resort. The murder weapon is a bow and arrow. Peanut Butter Panic, the “Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series” comes out in May or June 2022. It is set in Thanksgiving. The busybody, Margot, has her mother coming to Harvest with her new husband, someone very much younger than her. At dinner he drops dead from a peanut allergy. In July 2022 my first historical mystery comes out. It is set in 1855 with the sleuths Emily Dickerson and her maid. The “Amish Matchmaker Series” featuring Millie will be out this time next year. It is titled Honeymoon’s Can Be Hazardous. Lois’ ex-husband comes to Amish country with his new wife. The next day his wife dies, and Lois is the prime suspect. There will be an issue of drug trafficking.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
