Nancy J. Cohen's Blog: Nancy's Notes from Florida, page 73

The Edgar Awards

I had the privilege of attending the Edgar Awards for my first time. Arriving in NY, I checked into the Hyatt Grand Central where the week���s events would take place. That night was the Agents and Editors Party sponsored by Mystery Writers of America. Here I greeted Neil S. Nyren from Putnam and told him how excited we were that he���s our Publisher Guest of Honor at SleuthFest 2016. Besides myself, two members of the Florida chapter were present: Dianna Collier and Oline Cogdill. Also familiar were fellow Board of Directors members from national MWA. I went around and introduced myself to total strangers, most impressed by the guy who claimed he wrote the Richard Castle books. The Mary Higgins Clark Award was presented this evening.

��

The next night was formal dress. First there was a special reception for award nominees. It was exciting to congratulate each one and wish them luck. They were honored and excited to be there. We filtered into the ballroom, and I took a seat with other board members up front. We could see the Edgar head statues, the closest I���ll ever get to one. And I stared in awe along with everyone else as Stephen King took the podium. He won for Best Novel and told us how his book Mr. Mercedes came about. Sara Paretsky, President of MWA, was elegant and dignified in a long gown. She addressed the crowd, and most of the award presenters had a piece to say as well. The meal was delicious: wild mushroom bisque en croute; seared filet mignon with mushrooms and scalloped potatoes; and a chocolate tart for dessert.

��

��

As I exited the ballroom, I noticed hordes of people gathering around several tables in the foyer. These appeared to be stacked with books that folks were grabbing. Lo and behold, books by the nominees were available free for the taking! I came away with an armful. Fun for me is trying the YA books, but I selected a few others as well. As cozies are more my thing, I looked forward to Malice and finding some new authors there.

See all my photos here (and Like the page while there): https://www.facebook.com/NancyJCohenAuthor

Contest Alert!

Enter my May Madness contest May 7��� 21 to win a signed copy of bestselling author Joanna Campbell Slan���s historical mystery, Death of a Dowager, and a $15 FANDANGO gift card to enjoy a movie this summer. Two runners-up will each win an ebook copy of Hair Raiser (Bad Hair Day Mystery #2). http://nancyjcohen.com/fun-stuff/contest/

Enter May 4-18 to win a $25 Amazon/BN gift card from Booklover���s Bench http://bookloversbench.com/contest/ Check out our other features, including a weekly giveaway, while you���re there.

Hanging by a Hair Paperback Edition

Hanging by a Hair (Bad Hair Day Mystery #11) is now available in a mass market paperback edition from Worldwide Mystery Library.

Florida salon owner Marla Vail is happily settling into domestic life with her husband, Dalton, and her teenage stepdaughter. Too bad her dream house comes with a neighbor from hell. Alan Krabber, president of the Royal Oaks Homeowners’ Association, throws up roadblocks on everyone’s projects���except his own. But after he and Dalton argue about an illegal fence, Krabber is found hanging from his second-floor balcony.

It’s homicide masquerading as suicide���and Lieutenant Dalton Vail is the prime suspect. Between ferreting out the culprit who’s pilfering from her salon and clearing her husband’s name, Marla’s got a lot to untangle���especially after another resident is killed. But can she follow the twisty trail of blackmail, betrayal and fraud to stop a killer who’s getting in everyone’s hair?

���A pleasingly lighthearted cozy.��� ���Publisher���s Weekly

���The suspense element in this unusually funny mystery is gripping.������Phil Jason, Florida Weekly

���Clues abound, as do quirky characters, wonderfully described South Florida settings, intriguing insights into the beauty salon business and into the wild world of Florida home-owning communities, and flavorful recipes. All in all, Hanging by a Hair is entertaining, enjoyable, and informative.������ Stephanie Saxon Levine, Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore

���If you���ve ever had neighbors that lived too close for comfort, then you���ll get a laugh out of author Nancy J. Cohen���s latest release, HANGING BY A HAIR. This is a madcap murder mystery that will have you laughing and guessing until the very end.������Mason Canyon, Thoughts in Progress

Suspense Magazine ���Best of 2014��� Book

Night Owl Reviews Top Pick

Nominated for BTS Red Carpet Award

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/gv5ldn9uw7I

Pinterest Board: http://www.pinterest.com/njcohen/hanging-by-a-hair/

Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1bn0tyl

*This book would make a great gift for Mother���s Day!

BUY NOW

Mass Market Edition: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=58627

Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/1hKdOns

Amazon Print: http://amzn.to/1e0ZA2E

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/174Gcjj

International: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00JJ2XVUQ

Customer reviews are always appreciated on Amazon, BN, and Goodreads, as are shares and tweets.

Save the Date! Hanging by a Hair Paperback Edition LAUNCH PARTY

https://www.facebook.com/NewReleaseParty

Thursday, May 7, 2015, 6:30 ��� 8:00 pm EDT

 

Book Club Discussion Guide

Do you belong to a book club? Maybe you���ve always wanted to start one. But what do you discuss? Aside from determining the parameters for your group, you���ll need to figure out how analytical you care to get.

Here are some questions to jumpstart your discussion. Adapt them for your own use.

When you put the book down, were you smiling or sad? Did you feel a sense of satisfaction? If you liked the story, what elements appealed to you���The setting? The writer���s style? The fast pace? The memorable characters? Things you learned from the story? The emotional depth? The real life issues? The escapist element into another world? The happy ending? Or the ambiguous finale?

If you didn���t like the book, why not? Did the characters not engage you on an emotional level? Was the pacing plodding? Not enough action? Inaccuracies in research? Long descriptive passages that put you to sleep? A setting you found distasteful? You couldn���t relate to the characters or concept? You don���t like the genre? Your friend or book group made you read it? Would you try a book by that author again?

Why did you buy this particular book? Do you feel the expense was worthwhile? What inspires you to buy any book? Is it the author? Book cover? Endorsements? Cover copy? It���s on the Bestseller List? Recommendations by friends? Do particular story elements or tropes appeal to you? Character archetypes? How much do you read to see if the story captures your interest?

Story Elements

Characters

Do the characters seem real?

Can you identify with the hero/heroine?

If they���re not snagging your interest, why not?

Can you distinguish between different people in the story? What makes them distinctive?

Does the protagonist grow and change by the story���s end?

Are the characters memorable?

Setting

What is the novel���s setting?

Does it appeal to you? If so, why?

How does the author convey a sense of place?

Would you want to visit the location in the story?

Are there certain settings you avoid in a book?

Plot

Does the storyline develop logically?

Is the plot linear or wrought with twists and turns?

Are elements of mystery or suspense included? Are they important to you?

Is the pacing too slow, just right, or so intense you can���t put the book down?

Is there a balance between action, exposition, and dialogue?

Were you surprised or is the story predictable?

Is there a subplot? How is it related to the main plot?

Voice

Is the story in first person, third person, or multiple viewpoints? Which do you prefer?

What would you say is the protagonist���s attitude toward life?

Does a sense of humor shine through?

What makes this author���s voice unique?

Style

Is the writing didactic or breezy? Wordy or clear? Poetic or simple? Action and dialogue or lots of exposition? Do you prefer long passages or lots of white space and short chapters?

Theme

Can you identify a central theme? (i.e. sibling relationships, coming of age, father/son)

How does the theme relate to the story?

Does the theme have symbolic references?

Genre Specific Topics



Mystery: Did you suspect the killer early in the story or were you guessing until the end? Was the killer���s motive plausible? Would you want to read more about this sleuth and his world? What makes this series unique and interesting?

Suspense: Were the characters realistic, or did they put themselves in jeopardy unnecessarily? Was the villain evil enough for a sense of dread to pervade the story? Were the stakes high enough? And was the resolution convincingly satisfying?

Romance: What���s the heat level of this book? Did the relationship develop in a believable manner, or did the love scenes seem gratuitous? Did you fall in love with the hero/heroine? Did the story contain an archetype that appealed to you (i.e. marriage of convenience, fish out of water, rags to riches)? Is it considered a classic romance with a happy ending?

Sci Fi/Fantasy: What kind of world did the author create? Is it believable? Is there enough detail to make you feel you���re there? What is at stake in the story? What does the hero risk losing if he fails in his mission? Would you want to revisit this universe?

What else would you add to this list for a book club to discuss?

Here I am speaking to a book club. I’m available locally or via Skype.

<><><>

Save the Date! Hanging by a Hair Paperback Edition LAUNCH PARTY

https://www.facebook.com/NewReleaseParty

Thursday, May 7, 2015, 6:30 ��� 8:00 pm EDT

 

 

Private Investigator in Training

ONE MAN���S SHORT, SKETCHY CAREER AS A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR IN TRAINING by Tom Turner

I thought Contop Investigations was kind of an odd name for a private investigation firm when I went there for an interview thirty years ago. Turned out the head of the West Palm Beach P.I. firm had a romanticized idea of what he did for a living. What he did– Contop’s bread and butter, that is– was cheating spouse investigations. That entailed putting a GPS device on a suspect���s car and following him/ her– usually him– to a No-tell Motel, then getting out his hire-powered Nikon and snapping off a few rolls of incriminating photos. (To his credit, he never actually went so far as to shoot a couple in compromising positions.) How do I know? Because I worked there for four months. When you’re twenty-five and broke, well, your standards maybe aren’t as lofty as they might be.

Anyway, so back to the name. The head of Contop– let’s call him Art– was a prodigious reader, particularly of detective novels, and confided in me once, after about nineteen Budweiser���s, that he named his company after the Continental Operative, Dashiell Hammett’s cunning master of deceit. He told me it was between Contop or Black Dahlia Investigations, which he’d lifted from a James Elroy noir novel. My tenure at Contop was mercifully short because Art had an explosive temper and a seriously sleazy side. The latter became readily apparent in a phone call I overheard�� between Art and a prospective client: ���Yeah,��� Art said, ���it���s just me and my wingman, Tom, here at Contop. He���s specializes in background checks and technical surveillance and put in sixteen years with the FBI.��� Oh, really? So that meant I was nine when I joined up and���. ���technical surveillance?��� What���s that all about?�� But the actual reason I quit was when he told me to “put a tail” on a cheating spouse– who turned out to be the father of a girl I had, coincidentally, dated the year before. I mustered up all my courage and told Art I wasn’t going to do it. He stormed around and told me I wasn’t cut out for PI work. He was right��� thank God.

Palm Beach Nasty

New York homicide cop, Charlie Crawford, burns out, goes south and ends up in glitzy, glamorous Palm Beach. Problem is no one ever gets killed there���until one day Crawford is first on scene and finds a young guy swinging from a stately banyan tree. With that gruesome discovery, Palm Beach Nasty is off and running, with crisscrossing plots involving a billionaire with a thing for young girls, a far-reaching art scam with Crawford’s ex-girlfriend playing a starring role, and a ruthless hustler passing himself off as the long lost son of one of the richest men in town. Add to the mix a sultry real estate broker who knows where all the bodies are buried, a gorgeous forensic cop who’s got her eye on Charlie, a Mutt n’ Jeff combo of stone cold killers and you’ve got Palm Beach Nasty. Fast-paced, funny and a ton of fun��� plus everything you ever wanted to know about the most scandalous town in America.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author:

A native New Englander, Tom Turner ran a bar in Vermont after college, then moved to New York and spent time as an award-winning copywriter at several Manhattan advertising agencies. A few years later he made a radical change and ended up in Palm Beach, buying, renovating and selling houses. On the side, he wrote Palm Beach Nasty, its sequel, Palm Beach Poison, and a screenplay, Underwater, now in development with a Hollywood production company. While at a wedding, he fell for the charm of Charleston, South Carolina, and moved there. He recently completed his third novel, Killing it in Charleston.

Website: http://tomturnerwrites.com/

Blog: http://tomturnerwrites.com/blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tomturner.author?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomTurner1221

Buy the Book: http://amzn.com/1579623840

Starting a New Novel

Starting a new novel can either be an exhilarating prospect or a daunting one. No matter how many books you���ve written, this reaction still holds true. If you���re a pantser regarding plot, you might begin with a concept, a character, or a setting. You wing it from there with a general idea of where you want to go. But if you are a plotter like me, you need a roadmap. So how to begin?

Characters Come First

Get to know your main characters. Who are they? What do they want in life? Why do they want it? What stands in their path? Give them internal and external goals. Have them deal with an inner emotional struggle that inhibits them from moving forward. What caused this conflict? How does it relate to the main plot? Let���s say your heroine meets a firefighter that she really likes. But she has an insane fear of fires because her parents died in one when she was little. How can she have a relationship with a guy who���s life is always at risk? Meanwhile, the external plot involves an arsonist. For some reason, he���s targeted her. She has to rely on the hunky firefighter to keep her safe. And so on. But don���t leave the hero out, either. He should have his own reasons for not pursuing a commitment. As for the villain, give him a plausible motivation so the reader can understand his actions if not approve of them.

Determine the path of character growth so you know how things will end. How will your characters change by the end of the story? In this example, the heroine might have to overcome her fear of fires to rescue someone in a blaze���perhaps herself, or the hero who���s been disabled by the villain. She realizes her own inner strength will get her through any adversity. She���s a survivor. And so she can let down her barriers and give her heart to the man she has come to love.

It���s no different when you���re writing a series. In each book, your protagonist must change in some way or realize a truth about herself. Yet her emotional growth can involve a bigger arc that encompasses a number of books. Always solve the external conflict first in a story, and then wrap up the resolution with the insights your character has learned.

Build Your Setting

You���ve done your character development. Now where does your story take place? What is unique about this setting? How can you bring it to life for readers? This is where your world building takes place. Where does your character live? Why did she choose this place? What are its architectural and design elements? How is the setting a character in itself? Describe the sensory impressions you might note if you visited this area. How can you get its flavor across to readers? Why is this setting important to your plot?

Do Your Research

Make sure you get your facts straight about the locale and any issues involved in your story. This can be preliminary research until you begin your story. Then you���ll know what details to pursue. Is there an interesting news article that caught your fancy? Look up more information on the subject and figure out how it relates to your plot. Or perhaps your story is based on something you read or saw on television. You���ll know what avenues to explore. Just be sure you���re as authentic as possible. That goes for your protagonist���s career as well. Use metaphors and similes from her viewpoint. Get familiar with her work lingo and research her occupation.

Plot Your Story

If you like to use the storyboard method, grab a big poster and divide it into squares that represent your chapters. Brainstorm plot points and put them on sticky notes. Plaster these sticky notes around the poster approximate to their timing in the story. Or you can do a chapter by chapter outline instead. Either way, keep track of emotional as well as external plot points. Don���t worry if gaps show in your planning; they���ll fill in later if you lay the groundwork properly.

Keep in mind that each scene must have a purpose and hold tension. Each action is followed by a reaction and a decision. Start with a crisis or ���call to action��� for your character. Build the complications, layer in the secrets and suspense, determine the plot twists, and aim for an exciting resolution.

Many writers utilize the three act structure in their story plotting:

I. Inciting Incident and Introduction of Characters, Conflicts build to First Turning Point

II. Secrets, Subplots, and Complications, Rising Stakes, Second Turning Point

III: Black Moment for Sleuth, Villain Exposed, Resolution, Character Growth

Hook the Reader

How can you grab the reader at the start? Begin with action or dialogue and move the story swiftly forward. This is not the place for flashbacks or background information. Make sure your protagonist is likable to gain reader sympathy. Make the stakes personal. Consider that you only have the first few pages to make an impression. And just as importantly, end each chapter with a hook. You want to create a page-turner, so keep that tension ramped up.

Tomorrow, visit my piece on Internal Conflict at The Kill Zone.

Power Outage

Are you prepared for disaster? The other morning, we were taking our daily walk when we heard a series of explosions. Then I noticed sparks from among the trees. Getting closer to the source, we noted the disturbance came from a utility pole on our community���s main street. Upon rushing home, our fears were confirmed. The power was out.

Not to worry. We kept the blinds closed along with the refrigerator. I shut down our computers as they still were running on battery power with my backup APC unit. And it was daylight, so we could see just fine. I decided I���d read newsletters on my iPad. And so I got the reading done that I���d been postponing.

At 11am, I had a hair appointment. My husband and I were starting to get restless. He���s used to running out on errands while I get my writing done. But as we attempted to manually lift the garage door, we failed. It was incredibly heavy and required both of us to shove it upward. I wasn���t tall enough to push it over the edge. And then it came crashing down if we didn���t lower it. It wouldn���t stay in place. I got out the manual for our hurricane-proof steel door. From the instructions there, it appeared our springs were not working properly. We���d need a service call.

Fortunately, we still had landlines. Our portable phone units didn���t work, and I wanted to save my cell phone for checking email and doing posts on my social networks. So we called the garage door people. A breath of relief. They���d send someone out later that day.

More time passed. Another call to FPL said the power wouldn���t be restored until 1 pm. There was damage to the main line. Great. I cancelled my hair appointment. We couldn���t go out for a second walk in case the garage door guy called. So there we were, trapped in our house. We ate snacks from the pantry, not wishing to open the refrigerator and raise its temperature. It was relatively cool in the house, being partially cloudy outside and not the summer heat, thank goodness. It gave us the opportunity to test our flashlights and battery-run radios. We have a solar powered/hand crank device that has a searchlight, radio, and cell charger. And I have a portable cell phone charger as well.

Without a laptop, I couldn���t do any writing, but I���d already finished my task for the day before we���d gone out earlier. Finally, just around one the garage repairman came. He adjusted the springs and lubricated the joints. Lo and behold, I was able to easily lift the door myself thereafter, and it stayed open. We pulled out both of our cars. And right after the serviceman left, the power flickered on.

The outage had lasted six hours. It had made us do garage door maintenance, which we���d needed and wouldn���t have known otherwise. And it made us take stock that we really weren���t prepared for hurricane season. But at least for those storms, you have advance warning.

Your Character’s Secret Dreams

Your Character���s Secret Dreams

Character development in fiction writing always mentions goals. These can be long term or short term and are usually practical in nature. But what about your protagonist���s youthful dreams? An article in a news magazine got me started on this topic. It randomly interviewed a bunch of women about their dreams in life. This inspired me to make a listing of my own to aid in character development

Start a political career
Have a big family
Travel throughout Europe
Enter a baking competition
Become an Olympic athlete
Study to be a ballerina
Perform on Broadway
Turn party planning into a career
Visit the Egyptian pyramids
Apply to be an astronaut
Run a marathon
Ride on the Orient Express
Learn computer programming
Adopt some rescue dogs
Join the Peace Corps
Sing in public
Live in Paris for a year
Hike the Appalachian Trail
Be on a reality show
Get hired as a personal chef
Work on a cruise ship
Learn to fly an airplane
Become a volunteer firefighter
Write a novel

Marla Shore, my heroine sleuth, carries around travel brochures of Tahiti in her purse. She may never get there, but at least she has been on a Caribbean cruise.

����

What hidden dreams does your main character have?

Contest Alert! Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN gift card from Booklover���s Bench in our April contest http://bookloversbench.com/contest/ Check out the other features on our site while you���re there.

 

Vizcaya

Vizcaya was built in the early 1900���s for James Deering. The mansion, located in Miami, is Italian Renaissance style. You can tour the house and gardens and lunch in a pleasant caf�� adjacent to the gift shop.

��

We began our stroll outside to take advantage of the cooler morning air. Surrounded by a lush tropical forest, the estate borders Biscayne Bay. We passed a swimming pool on the east side that���s partially under cover. Facing the water at the back are boat landings where guests arrived by boat at the property. This was actually the main entrance back in the day. A replica of a barge sits in the water to stem the tide. Note the little tea house gazebo in the distance.

��

��

From here we entered the formal gardens via steps made from coral. Hedges, quaint grottos, and a maze of paths take you along this tranquil garden. Statuary draws attention as do fountains and secret little nooks.

��

��

��

��

We headed to the house next and were informed photos were not allowed inside. On the ground floor, we viewed the library, living room, music room, reception rooms, open-air loggia facing the water, and a formal dining room with a serving pantry at its side. Tapestries, huge paintings, and silk panels decorated the walls with lots of gold trim and marble columns. Fancy chandeliers have been converted to electricity but still maintain their historical design.

Upstairs are the bedrooms, a breakfast room, and the kitchen���which always fascinates me in these historical homes. There were bathrooms as well. We didn���t get to see the servant���s quarters because they���ve mostly been converted into offices.

After getting our exercise climbing up and down stairs, some of which were narrow spiral staircases, we aimed for the gift shop and caf��. Here we ate a substantial lunch (self-service only) and then left to return home. It was wonderful to imagine what it must have been like living in such a big house. I���d call it Downton Abbey ��� Florida style, except Mr. Deering was a bachelor and his nieces inherited his property. They donated it to Miami-Dade County, which opened the house and grounds as a museum in 1953. http://www.vizcaya.org

How to be a Great Speaker

At the March meeting of Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter, bestselling author Joanna Campbell Slan spoke for an hour on how to be a great speaker. Her talk was riveting and the perfect example of what she was saying. She should know. Joanna has been named by Sharing Ideas magazine as ���one of the top 25 motivational speakers in the world.��� Her personal essays have appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and one was made into a television program on the Pax Network. So here are her tips:

Tailor your introduction to meet the needs of the audience. What connection do you have with this group? Praise them for their work. What have they done that makes your life better? Practice out loud. It gives you muscle memory.

Before you speak, listen to group dynamics to learn what���s going on. This will also predispose people to like you. When addressing the group, ���Charm their socks off.��� When you reference people you���ve met who are in the group, you close the gap with the crowd. ���It was great to sit with Mary today.��� Listeners want a connection.

The group wants to learn about you as a person. What can they gain from hearing about your experiences?

Mention the importance of a signed book, how it might inspire a younger person to read or to write stories someday. If your readers aren���t in the audience, instill good will so the listeners want to take home a piece of you or give your book to someone who loves to read. A physical book can be kept as a souvenir or passed on.

Anything you can do wrong has already happened to someone more important. The audience is rooting for you to succeed. Nobody expects perfection, but they don���t want you to waste their time either. What can you do that benefits them? Regarding handouts, people often keep them for years.

Prepare your introduction. Prepare a testimonial that relates to your expertise. Find someone in the audience who can back up your claims. Prepare something fun, like putting sticky notes under a chair so someone wins a prize.

Catalog your personal anecdotes and practice them. You shouldn���t be the hero of your own story all the time, i.e. ���I did this and everyone loved me.���

Get the audience engaged by asking them a question. Perform an activity, like asking them to speak to a neighbor or write something down on an index card. End your talk with a call to action, i.e. sign up for your newsletter. Hand around a slip of paper and offer a freebie for people who sign up. Or do a special offer: If you buy 5 books, I���ll donate one to your library.���

Now to go practice what Joanna taught us���.

<><><>

Joanna���s first mystery novel���Paper, Scissors, Death���was an Agatha Award finalist. It features Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who lives in St. Louis. Joanna���s next series���The Jane Eyre Chronicles���began with Death of a Schoolgirl and continues with the release of Death of a Dowager. Her newest series���the Cara Mia Delgatto Mysteries���is all about second chances. Tear Down and Die and Kicked to the Curb are just the beginning. The college textbook Joanna wrote���Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience���has been praised as an invaluable resource by Benjamin Netanyahu���s speechwriter and has been endorsed by Toastmasters, International. http://www.joanna-campbell-slan.com/

Venice Book Fair

On Friday, we took a ride over to Venice, Florida in preparation for the big Book Fair the next day. This charming seaside resort is on Florida���s Gulf coast just a bit below Sarasota. After checking in at our hotel, we drove to the fishing pier for lunch at Sharkey���s. This highly popular restaurant also has an upper level, but we chose to dine downstairs with a lovely view of the beach. The New England clam chowder was thick and creamy, just the way I like it. But the coconut shrimp didn���t compare to the ones at Bahama Breeze. These tasted greasy fried and the sauce had no flavor. I recommend you avoid this dish here. The stuffed mushrooms were good. These two appetizers and the soup were enough for lunch. From here, we strolled down the fishing pier but not to the far end as storm clouds were moving in. By the time we drove to downtown, it was pouring.

��

��

��

Nonetheless, we gamely took out our umbrellas to stroll up and down the street lined with outdoor caf��s and gift shops and bordered by majestic date palms.

The deluge kept us in our hotel room for the rest of the afternoon until we met some of our gang at Left Coast Seafood, recommended by FMWA member Nancy Gazo. Nancy and her husband joined us along with Alison McMahan and her spouse. This restaurant is hugely popular and the food was worth the wait. I had grilled salmon with hush puppies and a vegetable medley. It was cooked just right.

The next morning found us all at Centennial Park for the Book Fair. While Nancy went to set up our exhibit booth, Alison and I met another FMWA member, Randy Rawls, who was our panel moderator. We were joined by thriller author Leo J. Maloney, whose experience as a black ops agent had us enthralled. Our panel went well and we proceeded outside to man the booth.

��

��

Aside from a strong breeze, it was a lovely day to be outdoors with cooler temperatures and sunshine. We represented our Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, gave out brochures, and acquainted passersby with our books. All too soon, it became time to leave. Many thanks to Nancy Gazo for organizing these events for us. See you at the next one!

��

��

��

Back home, we took advantage of the cool weather the next day to take a walk at Tree Tops Park. Little did we realize when we entered the path for the Pine Island Ridge section that we���d be in danger of getting lost! The trail wound around with no maps to tell us where we were. It seemed to go on for miles. Finally, we turned back and asked other walkers which way would take us into Tree Tops again. How scary to be lost with only a cell phone for communication with the outside world. What if there wasn���t cell service? Should we have marked the trail so we���d know the way back? I can just imagine Marla and Dalton getting lost with a killer on their tail.

��

Okay, back to reality. Murder by Manicure (Bad Hair Day Mystery #3) is now available in a Print edition as well as for Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks (See previous post for links).

Spring Into Summer Contest���March 24 to April 3

Enter to win a signed hardcover Shear Murder and $10 Starbucks gift card or one of two ebook copies of Hair Raiser http://nancyjcohen.com/fun-stuff/contest/