mystery novels

In this episode, host Samantha Cieslinski interviews Stacey Willingham, a bestselling author of suspense and psychological thrillers. They discuss Stacey's writing process, her journey to becoming a published author, and the inspiration behind her books. Stacey shares her love for the thriller genre and her fascination with the psychological aftermath of a crime. They also explore the creation of strong female characters and the importance of not always taking one's own advice. Overall, this conversation provides insights into the world of suspenseful storytelling and the challenges and triumphs of being an author. In this conversation, author Stacy Willingham discusses various aspects of her books, including the challenges of giving and taking advice, the symbolism behind the titles of her books, the exploration of motherhood and sleep deprivation in her novels, and the unique elements of her upcoming book 'Only If You're Lucky.' She also shares insights into crafting an unreliable narrator, the influence of true crime podcasts, and the themes of memory loss and self-doubt in her work. Overall, Willingham's books offer psychological depth and explore the complexities of human emotions and relationships.

Takeaways

The symbolism in book titles can be inspired by various elements within the story.
Exploring the emotional and psychological aspects of motherhood can create a terrifying narrative.
Sleep deprivation can lead to memory loss and self-doubt, adding depth to a story.
True crime podcasts can serve as a platform for storytelling and moral exploration.
Crafting an unreliable narrator can create suspense and intrigue for readers.
The upcoming book 'Only If You're Lucky' offers a unique take on the murder mystery genre.
College experiences can be formative and nostalgic, making them compelling settings for stories.
The fourth book by Stacy Willingham is currently in progress and promises to be different yet familiar to her previous works.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Stacey Willingham
01:32 Wine and Whine of the Week
06:38 Staying Active and Motivated
08:49 Struggles in Staying Healthy and Fit
11:19 University of Georgia's 40 Under 40
12:28 Favorite Restaurant in Charleston
15:21 Getting into Writing
18:35 Debut Novel and Overcoming Rejection
19:58 Love for Thriller Genre
20:47 Creating Strong Female Characters
22:47 Approach to Creating Twisty Plots
27:39 Reception of Debut Novel
28:45 Exploring Psychological Aftermath of a Crime
30:54 Impact of Trauma on Main Character
32:22 Importance of Not Taking Her Own Advice
33:28 Giving Advice vs. Taking Advice
34:08 Difficulty in Acting Rationally During Traumatic Events
34:53 The Symbolism of Lightning Bugs in 'A Flicker in the Dark'
35:22 Choosing the Title 'A Flicker in the Dark'
36:14 Changing the Title of 'All the Dangerous Things'
37:07 Exploring the Emotional and Psychological Aspect of Motherhood in 'All the Dangerous Things'
38:29 The Inspiration Behind 'All the Dangerous Things'
39:20 Crafting an Unreliable Narrator in 'All the Dangerous Things'
40:19 The Influence of Sleep Deprivation on the Narrative of 'All the Dangerous Things'
42:35 The Role of True Crime Podcasts in 'All the Dangerous Things'
46:13 Memory Loss and Self-Doubt in 'All the Dangerous Things'
48:37 Sneak Peek of 'Only If You're Lucky'
54:37 What Sets 'Only If You're Lucky' Apart
57:36 Upcoming Fourth Book

Join Cassidy and Patrick in conversation with the Honourable Michelle O’Bonsawin, the first Indigenous justice to serve on the Supreme Court of Canada and the court’s most recent appointee. Justice O’Bonsawin shares anecdotes about her career prior to the SCC, talks emerging issues in the law, and gives listeners a sense of her life outside of the courtroom. Stay tuned after the interview for a debrief with the hosts about the experience. 

A special thank you to the UVic FemLaw Club for their contributions.

If you have any feedback you would like to share with the hosts, please send us an email at appealpodcast@gmail.com.

Guests: The Honourable Michelle O’Bonsawin
Hosts: Cassidy Menard (she/her) and Patrick McDermott (he/him)
Editing: Patrick McDermott
Music: Machinery by Eddy

We respectfully acknowledge the Lekwungen peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

Listen to today's episode, "How 'Nobody Kills Uncle Buster and Gets Away with It'" with Susan Koehler" as Author and Educator (and so much more), Susan Koehler joins Dori Durbin to share how her own teaching kids to write inspired her to write middle grade kids' books including  "Nobody Killed Uncle Buster and Gets Away With It" ... how her passion has expanded her writing career and more! Susan speaks about:
 
* Susan's background
* How Susan got started... and her BOOKS
* Upcoming release of her next middle grade book "Charlie's Song"
* A reading of "Nobody Killed Uncle Buster"
* 2 Ways parents can better connect with their kids' reading
* 2 Reasons every expert should have a kids' book

Did you love this episode? Discover more here:
 https://thepowerofkidsbooks.buzzsprout.com

More about Susan Koehler
Susan Koehler is the author of two middle grade novels. Dahlia in Bloom, her first novel for young readers, was released August 2019 and was named among the "Best Books of 2019" by Kirkus Reviews.  Nobody Kills Uncle Buster and Gets Away With It, a fast-paced contemporary mystery, was released August 2021 and in 2022 was named Children's Book of the Year by the Florida Writers Association.

In addition to being an author, Susan is a veteran educator and consultant who specializes in the teaching of reading and writing. Over the course of 36 years, she taught all grades from kindergarten through middle school and served as a reading coach and an adjunct professor. She has traveled across the country providing professional development and is the author of four professional books for teachers and five nonfiction books for children. Susan was the 2004 Leon County Teacher of the Year and the 2005 recipient of Florida's Mary Brogan Award for "Excellence in Teaching."

Buy her book:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nobody+kills+uncle+buster+and+gets+away+with+it+book&crid=2Y9DHNCVGGKLZ&sprefix=%2Caps%2C146&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent

Follow Susan:
https://www.susankoehlerwrites.com
https://www.instagram.com/susankoehlerwrites/
https://www.facebook.com/SusanKoehlerWrites/

More about Dori Durbin:
Dori Durbin is a Christian wife, mom, author, illustrator, and a kids’ book coach who after experiencing a life-changing illness, quickly switched gears to follow her dream. She creates kids’ books to provide a fun and safe passageway for kids and parents to dig deeper and experience empowered lives. Dori also coaches non-fiction authors and aspiring authors to “kid-size” their content into informational and engaging kids’ books!
 
 Buy Dori's Kids' Books:
https://www.amazon.com/author/doridurbin

Follow Dori
http://instagram.com/dori_durbin
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Why are mystery novels so popular? Maybe it's because, unlike real life, they promise to explain everything! 

On today’s show, we will travel to sunny Florida to chat with the USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Dan Petrosini! 

A fan of books and films that have twists and are difficult to predict, Dan crafts his stories to prevent readers from guessing correctly. He writes every day, forcing the words out when necessary, and has written over twenty-five novels to date.

Today’s show is for you crime writers who want to up your game!

In today’s episode we discuss:

·      Dan’s favorite quote, “The price of discipline is always less than the cost of regret.”

·      Dan’s other career as a musician playing the tenor saxophone and the similarities to being a musician and an author.

·      How he gets his police facts right.

·      Dan’s successful marketing plan.

·      How he became a USA Today's Best-Selling Author.

·      The importance of series, especially a “flagship series.”

·      His experience with audiobooks. 

·      Why he is a self-published author. 

All of this and more on today’s episode of the Cops and Writers podcast.

Visit Dan at his website!
Check out Dan's Amazon Author's page!

Read "The War of Art"

Enjoy the Cops and Writer's book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

Consider buying me a coffee :-)

Only for Cops and Writers Podcast listeners! Get 50% off the audiobook version of the F.B.I. K-9 thriller, Avenging Adam by Jodi Burnett. Use code, https://jodi-burnett.com/copsandwriters/

Birthday Girl is a literary thriller set in 1990s New York where an improvised writer takes his wife out for her birthday, she gets in a stranger’s car and is never seen again.  She’s presumed dead but then twenty years later, he’s seeing her everywhere.

Today on the podcast, Victoria speaks with Niko Wolf about her latest novel, Birthday Girl, her inspiration and hopes for the novel, her reading and writing life, and lots more.

Download your copy of The BiblioLifestyle 2022 Summer Reading Guide!  I've rounded up some of the season's best books, and this year's guide has 30 new releases, organized across 8 categories.  We even have one dedicated to the minimalist reader, plus you'll find some fun recipes, things to do at home, and tips to help improve your reading life.  So download your free copy of the guide here.

Visit bibliolifestyle.com for more information and resources to help you in your reading journey.   

THE BIBLIOLIFESTYLE 2024 SPRING READING GUIDE
Spring into reading this season!  Download your free copy of The 2024 Spring Reading Guide when you visit springreadingguide.com.  This year's guide has twenty-one books organized across six categories, plus fun recipes, spring activities, lifestyle tips, and more.   So download your free copy and discover your next favorite book!

Good Rich People is a psychological thriller that follows a destitute woman who lands in the middle of a wealthy couple's twisty game, but she's not about to go down without a fight.

Today on the podcast, Victoria speaks with Eliza Jane Brazier about her latest novel, Good Rich People, her inspiration and hopes for the novel, learn more about her reading and writing life,  plus lots more.

Download your copy of The BiblioLifestyle 2022 Winter Reading Guide!  All books in the guide are organized into categories (we even have one dedicated to the minimalist reader), plus you'll find some fun recipes, things to do at home, and tips to help you improve your reading life.  So download your copy of the guide here.

Visit bibliolifestyle.com for more information and resources to help you in your reading journey.   

THE BIBLIOLIFESTYLE 2024 SPRING READING GUIDE
Spring into reading this season!  Download your free copy of The 2024 Spring Reading Guide when you visit springreadingguide.com.  This year's guide has twenty-one books organized across six categories, plus fun recipes, spring activities, lifestyle tips, and more.   So download your free copy and discover your next favorite book!

We are your hosts, Emma C. Wells & E.J. Wenstrom. (Find us on all social media—but typo productions especially loves Instagram—follow us @TypoPodcasts. If you insist on Twitter :P we are there also @TypoPodcasts. 

Today’s episode features special guest, mystery author Mia P. Manansala.

Mia’s bio and links (from her website):

Mia P. Manansala (MAH-nahn-sah-lah) (she/her) is a writer and book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture.

She is the winner of the 2018 Hugh Holton Award, the 2018 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, the 2017 William F. Deeck - Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers, and the 2016 Mystery Writers of America/Helen McCloy Scholarship. She's also a 2017 Pitch Wars alum and 2018-2020 mentor.

A lover of all things geeky, Mia spends her days procrastibaking, playing JRPGs and dating sims, reading cozy mysteries, and cuddling her dogs Gumiho, Max Power, and Bayley Banks (bonus points if you get all the references).

Her debut novel, ARSENIC AND ADOBO, came out May 4, 2021, with Berkley/Penguin Random House and is the first in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MPMtheWriter

Mia’s website: https://www.miapmanansala.com

Mia’s books are available everywhere books are sold, but why not check out our Troped Out Bookshop and order your copies today? 

Show Notes:

• Emma and EJ welcome Mia to the show, and Mia says she is glad to be a guest. She is excited to talk about leaning into the tropes of her genre—which is cozy mystery.
• EJ gets right to business and asks Mia what are the tropes of cozies that she used in her writing.
• Mia explains how the book came to her. Mia and Em were both in Pitch Wars in 2017. (If you are interested in pitch wars information, the link is included in the links section at the bottom of the show notes). 
• Mia says that her Pitch Wars mentor was author Kellye Garrett, and the two are still friends to this day. Mia and Kellye were talking back in 2017 about how cozies were leaning into rom-com tropes. They were joking and Mia said (quite truthfully) that cozies are just rom-coms with dead bodies. They laughed about it and didn’t think much else of it until one day when Mia was riding the train to work.
• On this train ride—the first line of her debut, ARSENIC AND ADOBO (available everywhere books are sold—link to our bookshop included in notes) came into her head all at once. Mia pulled out her phone and began taking notes. She said once she began writing notes—the second line popped into her head.
• Those first two lines that set things into motion???

My name is Lila Macapagal, and my life has become a rom-com cliché. 

Not many romantic comedies feature an Asian-American lead (or dead bodies, but more on that later), but all the hallmarks are there.

• ARSENIC AND ADOBO follows Lila Macapagal, a Filipino-American woman from a small, Midwestern town outside of Chicago, who has moved into the city. Once Lila finds her fiancé cheating, she returns home to help with her aunt’s restaurant. Of course, she runs into her high school sweetheart—who happens to be a vindictive restaurant critic trying to get her aunt’s restaurant closed. Then…one day he drops dead in the restaurant and Lila becomes the main suspect. She must solve the crime to clear her name.
• Mia explains that a cozy is essentially a Hallmark story with a body. No sex, graphic violence, or bad language. But plenty of fun with quirky characters, a mystery to solve, and a likable protagonist. 
• EJ asks what are the key tropes you must hit in order for a cozy mystery to be considered a cozy.
• Mia says so far, the only deal breaker is no sex on the page and no described graphic violence. She says that another is no bad language—but explains that is subjective.
• Just like there has to be an HEA or HFN in a romance—these things are necessary for a cozy.
• She says that typically you will find the main characters in cozies are women, and they often take place in a small town or an insulated community of some sort. 
• The setting is almost like a character itself.
• Most cozies have a theme. Mia says that hers are considered culinary cozies—because the stories are often centered around Lila’s aunt’s restaurant. 
• EJ says that she has noticed that many cozies—from the outside looking in—have an affection for food. That the authors will often share recipes on their pages and in their books. EJ asks, what do you (Mia) think it is about Cozies that makes a communal interest in food so common?
• Mia says that EJ used the word communal—and that community is a huge part of the Cozy genre. One of the most common ways to get people together is to break bread together. 
• Mia says that for her personally—food is her favorite thing. (MINE TOO, MIA!) Food plays a significant role in life, including culture. Mia explains that she is Filipino American, and food is one way to stay connected to her culture and to her parent’s home. That food is love.
• How food is often used to show love and connection. It can be used to show relationships and backstories in books.
• EJ says that it sounds like the core of cozy mysteries comes down to relationships—which isn’t something she realized before this conversation.
• EJ asks how the culinary aspect works in the ARSENIC AND ADOBO world.
• Mia says in her first book, the murder is of the food critic—so the main suspects are all restaurant owners that the critic harmed. The restaurants are all different from greasy spoon diner to sushi restaurant. The protagonist (Lila) interviews each one and in the process, we see how she relates to the town not only as it was when she left years ago—but now that she is back “home.” 
• Em asks Mia if she has a favorite food that is featured in ARSENIC AND ADOBO.
• Mia says that she has a lot of favorites. Mia explains how food is such an important part of Filipino culture. She tells the story of how she was on a panel with other Filipino authors who all wrote in different genres and age categories—and the title of the panel was, Kumain ka na ba? Filipino food is love, family, & home. You can view the panel here!
• Mia says that food is so important to Filipino culture that this is actually the way people greet you—by asking if you’ve eaten. 
• The character Lila might not seem like she is investigating, but through developing relationships with other characters by sharing a meal with them, she is learning everything she needs to solve the crime. Lila’s strength is really in developing relationships with people.
• Em asks Mia if the moment she had that lightning bolt of an opening line—fully formed—if she knew that the story would be a cozy mystery.

BYOB, the Bring Your Own Book Podcast, is back for Season 2 featuring your favourite bookworms Nikki, Kelly, and Tilly! Every episode we'll discuss the book we read and pair it with a drink inspired by the book.

In this episode, we’re talking about the first book in the beloved Flavia de Luce mystery series, “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” by Alan Bradley, which was first published in 2009.

The drink we’ve chosen to pair with this episode is called a Cucumber Cooler cocktail, made with gin, cucumber, lime, tonic water, mint, and sugar. Since most of the action takes place in Flavia’s family’s cucumber patch, we thought it would be fitting to make use of them!

"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley: https://tinyurl.com/bde9vkmj

----
Want to support our podcast? Please consider donating to our Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/byobpodcast

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If you are into mystery books, the paranormal, real life ghost stories, and/or tarot cards and their meanings, then this conversation with this author is worth a listen!  She recounts her "possible" ghost encounters, as the paranormal is always the bandwidth of "Did I just experience that or not?"  She also gives a great explaination of Tarot cards, their origins, and their meaning.  This was a very interesting conversation if you are into, or believe, in things that are not of this "physical" world.  Enjoy.
Kirsten's novels can be found at Amazon, Google Play, Barnes and Noble; everywhere books can be found, and she has a new book coming out very soon!

www.kirstenweiss.com

https://kenharrisfiction.com/

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Novelist Audrey Keown joins me to discuss why she chose to place a cemetery at the center of her latest mystery novel. We cover the best cemeteries in Chattanooga, TN where her novels are set (and Audrey lives!), why exploring understudied history is important, and much more!

tombwithaviewpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook: Tomb with a View Podcast
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Find Audrey and her latest mystery novel Dust to Dust here

https://stephanielavigne.com/

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Hey, Tater Tots! Do you like mystery? We dive a bit into the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie. We know the irony, and that's why we wanted to know! Also, learn about an interesting consumable item that Agatha enjoyed almost obsessively.

We love you, Tater Tots! Thanks for listening!

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