(A Bread and Batter Mystery)
Publisher: InterMix (November 17, 2015)
Cozy Mystery
ASIN: B00PHV81DK
Synopsis:
As the co-owners of Bread and Batter Bakery in Destiny, New York, Molly Tyler and Olivia Williams have plenty on their plates. Molly is recently divorced and looking for a place to live, but they’re also both preparing for Destiny’s annual Apple Harvest Fair. The bakery has a booth where they’ll be selling not only delicious cupcakes and cider doughnuts, but also tote bags and t-shirts emblazoned with the bakery’s logo.
Tensions rise at the fair when local orchard owner Calista Danforth discovers organizers have assigned her usual booth to Bread and Batter. Although a heated argument ensues between her and Molly, the bakery manages to rake in lots of dough. But when Calista is found strangled to death with one of their t-shirts, Molly is named the prime suspect. Now these two friends must whip up some answers quickly before the future of their business crumbles…What I Thought:
This was a pretty fun read. I thought it went a little fast though, it would be one day then the next part of the book would be a week or two later, but that is okay. This book was filled with great characters who had great relationships, especially Molly and Olivia. Molly also has a good relationship with her ex-husband. When Molly gets in an argument with the Apple Harvest Queen and she is then found dead, Molly of course is the main suspect. This one kept me guessing and I really like that in a cozy. I look forward to more in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.
About The Author –
After having several short stories published, I decided to tackle novel writing a few years ago. My first book, The Art of Being Rebekkah, is women’s fiction. Since the genre I love is mystery, my agent suggested I write one. I’m so glad she did! I recently signed with Penguin/Intermix for my Bread and Batter cozy mystery series. The first two books, Bun For Your Life and Raisin The Dead, coming soon!I’ve live in lots of different places during my life. At the moment, I’m in a small Connecticut town with my husband. When I’m not writing, I’m either reading, spending time by the water, traveling, indulging in social media, accompanying above-mentioned husband to New York Yankees games, or doing anything that does not involve math.
Author Links
Webpage http://www.karolinebarrett.com/
Blog http://www.karolinebarrett.com/category/blog/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KarolineBarrettBooks
Twitter https://twitter.com/KarolineBarrett
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3315555.Karoline_Barrett
Purchase Links
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
KOBO
iTunes
Google Play Store
Writing
a Cozy Mystery Series
Karoline
Barrett
Melina’s
Book Blog
Hi everyone! I’m excited
to be here today to talk about writing my Bread & Batter cozy mystery
series. Thanks to Melina’s Book Blog for hosting me!
Mystery is my go-to reading
genre, especially cozy ones. As far as writing one myself, I’d thought about it
for a half-second in the past, but I doubted my ability to come up with a
suitable victim, never mind figuring out who, what, why, where, how, and when.
Then my agent gave me a gently
push in that direction, and the more I thought about it, the more the idea of
writing my own mystery series appealed to me. I chose Destiny as my setting, a
fictitious bucolic small town in upstate New York, surrounded by apple orchards
and vineyards. Why the name Destiny? New York is a big state, all my other name
choices were taken! Destiny has a nice ring to it, though, don’t you think?
I wanted my protagonist’s
name to be Molly. I wanted her to own Bread & Batter Bakery with her best
friend, Olivia. Not a lot to start with, but by the time the Destiny Apple Harvest
Fair got under way, a new detective arrived in town, and my killer struck, it
all began to make sense.
So, what do I like most about writing a mystery
series?
1. Entertaining
readers!
2. The
bad guys!
3. Plot
twists!
4. No
mourning period when a book is done, there will be another!
5. No going through character withdrawal, since they’re
coming back!
6. My
characters become like a favorite t-shirt: comforting and familiar!
7. I
know how exactly how my characters are going to react to everything. Or, do I?
Hmmmm…
8. Creating
sup-plots with secondary characters!
9. Writing
about my characters becomes second nature!
10. Humor.
I love humor in my mysteries. I’m a big fan of Ann B. Ross and Janet Evanovich.
I find both of them hilarious. I put a lot of humor into my books.
11. I
get to take Crime Scene Investigation classes, and do internet searches for
things like death by strangulation; how to poison someone with plants; ricin
poisoning; puffer fish; ovo lacto vegetarianism; autopsies; frogs; and the
Three Stooges (they don’t actually have anything to do with my book, that’s
just where I ended up on the Internet that particular day.)
12. I
talk to, and email, people about fascinating subjects like apple breeding;
Nancy Drew; land surveying; head injuries; police procedures in a small town; mounted
police department protocol; nursing stuff, and library expansions!
13. Coming
up with interesting friends for my main character!
14. Endless
plot ideas. I’ve finished books one and two in my series, started book three,
and have ideas for a few more!
15. Dogs!
16. Contests
for readers! I did my first contests recently, and was surprised at how much I
love giving stuff away.
Now for a few things, for me, aren’t so great about
writing a mystery series:
1. Amnesia
while writing subsequent books. Who has brown hair? Who has green eyes? How
many members were there on my police department again? What are the names of those
characters in the book club I want to bring back?
2. How
many different ways to kill someone can I come up with?
3. How
many people in town die before everyone packs up and hightails it out of there?
4. What
can I distract my detective with, so that Molly can step in and solve the
mystery?
Luckily, the great things about writing a series
outnumber the not-so-great things. I hope all of you enjoy reading my books as
much as I’ve enjoyed writing them!
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
