Tag: mystery

Books

Exclusive Interview: “A Study In Black Brew” Author Marie Howalt

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 27, 2025
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Author Marie Howalt has written three novels in the science fiction mystery series the Colibri Investigations, and has plans for many more.

But for the moment, Howalt is side stepping things with A Study In Black Brew (paperback, Kindle), a stand-alone side story that actually puts a sci-fi spin on Sherlock Holmes’ first case.

In the following email interview, Howalt discusses what inspired and influenced this story, as well as why they decided to rework one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous novels.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Everest Enigma” Author Jeannette de Beauvoir

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date April 30, 2025
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After writing ten books in her Provincetown Mysteries series, author Jeannette de Beauvoir is going international with a new series, the Abbie Bradford Mysteries, which she’s kicking off with The Everest Enigma (paperback, Kindle).

In the following email interview, de Beauvoir talks about what inspired and influenced both this new novel and this new series.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Two Truths And A Lie” Author Cory O’Brien

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date March 28, 2025
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You never know when inspiration may strike, or what may strike it.

Take Cory O’Brien’s new cyberpunk noir science fiction mystery novel Two Truths And A Lie (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), which, he explains in the following email interview, was inspired by a costly art project.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “:05-Seconds To Die” Author Bob Brill

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date March 25, 2025
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The city of Los Angeles is currently preparing to host the 2028 Olympics.

So what does longtime L.A. resident Bob Brill do? He writes a noir mystery novel about hackers planning to steal billions from the Olympics.

Good town spirit, Bob…

I’m kidding, of course; everyone in L.A. is trying to figure out how to rob the Olympics. Breakfast burritos ain’t free.

As for Bob, you can learn more about his novel, :05-Seconds To Die (Kindle) in the following email interview.

Just don’t get any ideas.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Murder Town” Author Shelley Burr

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 8, 2024
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It used to be that if someone was murdered in a house, no one would want to live there. And for some people, that’s still true.

But for others, being the site of a gruesome murder is a selling point. Or at least a reason to attend the open house.

It’s the decision to embrace or deny its murderous past that the town on Rainier has to grapple with in author Shelley Burr’s noir murder mystery thriller Murder Town (paperback, Kindle, audiobook). And a decision that the residents have to grapple with further when someone turns up dead.

In the following email interview, Burr discusses what inspired and influenced this murderous story.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “A Grim Reaper’s Guide To Catching A Killer” Author Maxie Dara

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date October 2, 2024
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When we think of The Grim Reaper, we usually think of a man in a hooded cloak with a scythe and no sense of humor.

But in author Maxie Dara’s novel A Grim Reaper’s Guide To Catching A Killer (paperback, Kindle, audiobook) — which she calls a “cozy mystery against a magical realism backdrop” — there’s more than one soul catcher, and one of them is named Kathy. Yeah.

In the following email interview, Dara talks about what inspired and influenced this novel, as well as the series it kicks off, the S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery Series.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Scrap” Author Calla Henkel

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date August 19, 2024
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A lot of people like making scrapbooks for other people.

But in her mystery thriller novel Scrap (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), author and artist Calla Henkel puts someone in the unique position of making a scrapbook for someone who turns up dead, and the scrapable items may be key to solving the mystery.

In the following email interview, Henkel discusses what inspired and influenced this story, including how making a scrap book for someone else in real life led to her writing this story.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Honeymoon Homicides” Author Jeannette de Beauvoir

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date June 14, 2024
2 Comments on Exclusive Interview: “The Honeymoon Homicides” Author Jeannette de Beauvoir

As someone whose friends vacation annually in Provincetown, Massachusetts, my impressions of this Cape Cod town are that it’s a rather festive and delightful place.

Which is not the impression someone would have if their friends instead read author (and Provincetown resident) Jeannette de Beauvoir’s Provincetown Mysteries novels. Not entirely, anyway.

In the following email interview, de Beauvoir talks about the tenth installment, The Honeymoon Homicides (paperback, Kindle).

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Hidden Fury” Author Bjorn Hasseler

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 21, 2024
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Like many of the authors who’ve penned installments of eSpec Book’s Systema Paradoxa series, Bjorn Hasseler chose to tell the story of a cryptid near and dear to his heart…er, home.

Though as he explains in the following email interview about his contribution, Hidden Fury (paperback, Kindle), it was also strongly influenced by something else he sees at home…on his TV.