Cherry Blossom Capers

Book one State Secrets, by Lynette Sowell, finds White House chef, Tara Whitley, in the middle of FBI agent Jack Courtland’s investigation.

In book two, Dying for Love,  by Carra C. Putman, attorney Ciara Turner discovers the body of the judge she’s come to meet. Her former friend and co-worker Daniel Evans is determined to solve the murder.

Book three, Buried Deception, by Gina Conroy has Archaeology intern Samantha Steele reeling when she discovers that a historical artifact has been swapped out for a fake. Former police officer, Nick Porter, determines to find the thief and bring him to justice while at the same time trying to protect Samantha.

Book four, Coffee, Tea, and Danger, by Frances Devine, follows Susan Holland the owner of  Coffee, Tea, and Sweets. Susan inherits the mansion of her Uncle, a former ambassador, along with all the trouble that he was hiding. Someone is out to kill Susan, and contractor Vince Martini is determined to protect her.

If you’re looking for an easy summer read then grab a copy of Cherry Blossom Capers. I’m not sure which story was my favorite as they all were enjoyable, but what makes a book like this so nice is that one story can easily be read in a day beside the pool. I have to admit to being disappointed when the first one ended as it seemed a bit sudden, but then I changed my expectations, realizing these were short stories that could only be developed so far. Once I accepted that fact the novellas entertained me from beginning to end. For those of you who enjoy reading but find yourself challenged for time a book like Cherry Blossom Capers is perfect.

Milkcases, candy stores, little old ladies and murder? What could they possibly have in common? They’re all inhabitants of a street called Spyglass Lane in a town called Mystery.

I first moved to Mystery when I was about ten, and discovered a wonderful series of books about a girl name Nancy Drew. I loved the town of Mystery and as I grew older, I met many good friends. Agatha Christy, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dickson Carr and his alter ego, Carter Dixon. Sometimes I ventured to the outskirts of town and met strange, new friends such as Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt. At first I was a little unsure of whether or not they belonged in Mystery, but soon the whole town welcomed them.

One day a new street was constructed or whatever they do to make streets. The signpost said Spyglass Lane. Being of a curious nature, I checked it out and found just what I’d been looking for.

I’m Frances Devine and I’m an author who loves to write, among other genres, cozy mysteries. One day as I was having lunch at my local senior center, I had a call from my daughter. She gave me news that would change my life. A new cozy mystery line was being formed by a well known faith-based publishing house.

I was pre-published at the time, although I did have one historical romance proposal out there on a publisher’s desk. But the chance to write a mystery? I didn’t have to be told twice. I went home and wrote a chapter by chapter synopsis and three sample chapters over the weekend and sent it off, breathless with fear and hope. God is good. Soon, I received an email from the editor with an offer for a contract. This was the beginning of a couple of years of extreme joy as I wrote my three Miss Aggie mysteries with one of  the best editors in the world.

Sadly, the joy didn’t last forever. The new line couldn’t withstand the sinking economy. Although the first two books of my series, The Misadventures of Miss Aggie had made it to print, book three didn’t. At least not in its original form. Some of the authors in the line didn’t see their contracted books published at all.

But you simply can’t keep a good mystery writer down. Last year, we had the opportunity to be part of a new e-book venture sponsored by MacGregory Literary Agency, and since the rights to our cozies had reverted back to us, many of us jumped at the chance to see a new home for our mysteries. So Spyglass Lane Mysteries was formed. Our books are thriving in their new home and can be found on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble. In fact, they’ve done well enough that our fearless leaders have given the go ahead for new books.

You can find out about the books and their authors at www.spyglasslanemysteries.com with links for purchasing depending upon your type of electronic reader.

If you love mysteries with humor and romance, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I’ve read nearly all of them and intend to grab the ones I’ve missed. Fortunately for my insatiable appetite for more cozies, most of them are priced at 99 cents and occasionally a freebie is offered. My three titles are Miss Aggie’s Gone Missing, Miss Aggie Cries Murder, and Rest in Peace, Miss Aggie.

Oh yes, besides authors and readers, we also allow editors, publishers, designers and agents on Spyglass Lane. We all get along quite nicely.

Thanks, Sandra, for allowing me to talk about one of my favorite subjects.

Ooh, wonderful people to hang out with, Frances. Sounds like one town I don’t want to miss. Thank you for telling us about Spyglass Lane and your Miss Aggie mysteries.

Frances Devine, author of ten published novels and three novellas, grew up in Texas, where she wrote her first story at the age of nine. She moved to Southwest Missouri more than twenty-five years ago and fell in love with the people, the hills, the fall colors, snow, and Silver Dollar City. Frances attended Ozark Technical College and Southwest Missouri State University when she was in her fifties. She is the mother of seven adult children, has fourteen wonderful grandchildren, and is eagerly awaiting her fifth great-grandchild. Frances has always loved to read and considers herself blessed to write in one of her favorite genres, cozy mysteries, of which three have been published in both print and electronic versions.

Frances is happy to hear from her fans. Email her at: fdevine1@gmail.com  or find her on facebook at www.facebook.com/francesdevineauthor.

Who is your favorite resident of Mystery? (Besides, Frances, of course.)

If you haven’t read Cherry Blossom Capers, you’re in for a treat.

Please read this interview with two of the authors, Cara C. Putman, Gina Conroy, regarding what it was like to work together to write the four novellas State Secrets, Dying for Love, Buried Deception, and Coffee, Tea and Danger.

Leave a comment below with your email address for a chance to win a free copy. We must have 15 comments to have a contest. (US only)

Ladies, tell me how Cherry Blossom Capers was born?

Cara: Several years ago, Gina, Lynette, and I (Cara) were trying to come up with a novella idea. Then we got Gina involved and tried to think of an interesting locale that hadn’t been covered by a prior novella collection and Washington, D.C. came up. Since I had lived there, we picked my former neighborhood, and each took a different location and mystery. The key connector became this community where all of our heroines lived.

Did you know each other before writing together or did Barbour Books pick you ladies for this book?

Gina: I met Lynette Sowell about seven years ago at an ACFW conference as we stood outside agent Steve Laube’s door as newbies for an in depth critique. We bonded over our nervousness and our naïve hopefulness that Steve would recognize our brilliance and sign us on the spot. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. I met Cara when she joined the ACFW crit group I led and I got to see her grow from a new writer to someone who’s surpassed me with contracts. I didn’t know Frances until we formed this group.

What did your co-writing relationship look like?

Cara: We brainstormed extensively through email, finding our theme, location, and the fact that these would be romantic mysteries. Then we went to work on our synopsizes. After that we submitted the proposal and waited…a long time J Once we received the contract we rebrainstormed and then wrote. We read each others novellas and found a few more ways we could connect the stories like having the gals get together in each one to watch a classic movie. Small details that tied the stories even more closely together.

What were the pros and cons of writing this book together?

Gina: It was a fun and relatively painless process. We all bounced ideas off of each other and I can’t remember any real disagreements. The hardest part for me was not being under contract for other books and having all this energy and time to put towards this project, but realizing the other authors in our anthology might not be so focused on our project because they were writing other books. Still, they always took time to listen to my suggestions and answer my questions. They really were great to work with!

Did you feel like your writing styles blended together nicely or did they clash?

Cara: The styles really did blend well. Each story reflects who we are as individual writers, yet they melded together to form a cohesive collection of stories.

For the legal elements in these stories, was there a lot of research that went into them?

Cara: Because I’m an attorney, the legal elements didn’t require much research. I actually attended law school in Arlington, Va, and clerked for a federal judge in D.C. That was one reason I put my story in the legal community.

Did you learn anything from writing a co-authored book and what was it?

Gina: I really enjoyed the process of figuring out ways each of our characters could make cameo appearances in the other stories. And it’s one of the things the readers love about our stories. We had fun coming up with more ways to tie our novellas together and I think in the finally stages of edits before we submitted we added the fun connection of our characters getting together for classic movie nights.

Do you have any advice for other writers who may be asked to write a book with another author?

Gina: It’s important that you collaborate with others you respect in writing and work ethic. If something in your relationship outside of writing clashes, chances are it will clash in the writing as well and make it a miserable experience. I only know this from what I hear from anthology projects where the authors have had trouble with their partners, not from experience!

Cara: That’s great advice, Gina. It helped that I knew Gina well, and had worked with Lynette and Frances in other capacities over time. All these gals were great to work with and we had a lot of fun.

Did any of you experience writer’s block during the writing process and did the other authors offer encouragement or help of any kind?

Gina: I don’t think I experienced writer’s block, but I when I was incorporating their characters into my story I’d often ask, “What would Ciara wear? OR what little quirk did Jack have.” It think those little details helped the continuity of the characters and story.

I like the fact that the main characters were neighbors and that they helped each other out. There was a sense of community. Is there a message in this book that you want readers to grasp?

Gina: The theme of my novella, Buried Deception, is about surrendering to God and not trying to be self sufficient. Through Samantha and Nick’s story I show that we’re not meant to go through life alone and we need to ask for help. I think the fact that the four neighbors were always there for each other just strengthened the message.

Cara: Ciara has to be willing to let go of her past pains to move into a new relationship with an old flame. I think many of us can relate to having an issue that we just can’t seem to walk away from even when we want to do just that. So I hope readers will gain the courage to turn over those past areas of pain to God and walk into the future He has for them.

Thanks so much for having us, Sherri.

You ladies are totally welcome! It was my pleasure to have you on my blog. I enjoyed the book so much, I just had to share a little bit about it with my readers.

For more information on Cherry Blossom Capers, visit the blog that’s dedicated to the book.

Secondly, I am so thankful for random.org, which helps me decide who wins these fantastic books! If you haven’t used random.org, it is so easy – just plug in the number of entries (in the case of my blog, those who are confirmed subscribers receive two entries) and wah-lah, it gives me a number for the winner!

So…without further ado, the winner of Cherry Blossom Capers by Gina Conroy, Cara C. Putman, Lynette Sowell, and Frances Devine is…

Cindy Regnier! Congratulations, Cindy! Gina will be in touch with you soon.

Again, thank you to all who entered. If you haven’t had a chance to enter this week’s giveaway, you still have time to leave a comment to win Fay Lamb’s Book Because of Me at http://pennyzeller.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/interview-and-giveaway-with-author-fay-lamb/ and this Thursday, I’ll be hosting one of my favorite author friends, Shellie Neumeier. She’ll be giving away a copy of her new book The Wishing Ring, which is written especially for tweens, so be sure to sign up for a chance to win a copy for your son or daughter!