100 Things I Love

I started this as a writing prompt exercise, and it was also a good reminder of things I’m grateful for and things I appreciate. Here’s my list in alphabetical order… 

• Agatha Christie

• Amazing teachers and professors

• Amusement Parks

• ATMs

• Autmn leaves

• Baby animals

• Baggie sweaters

• Bat Man

• Beaches

• Bears

• Bluetooth

• Book bloggers

• Book fairs

• Book sales

• Book signings

• Books, books, and more books

• Bright colors

• Brunch

• Capybaras

• Cheese

• Cheeseburgers

• Cheesecake

• Chocolate

• Christmas decorations

• Comfy blue jeans

• Cool boots

• Cool pens

• Corn on the cob

• Cozy mysteries

• Dogs

• Dolly Parton

• Dr. Pepper

• Elvis

• Family and friends

• Farmer’s markets

• Fast cars

• Football season

• French Fries

• Fun stationery

• Funny videos

• Genealogy

• Genetic genealogy

• Giraffes

• GPS

• Hats

• Ice cream

• Iced tea

• Jane Goodall

• Kayaks

• Laptops

• Librarians

• Library cards

• Lucille Ball

• Museums

• Music

• My amazing and crazy dog

• My favorite NFL team

• Nancy Drew

• Online chat boxes when I need tech support

• Petting zoos

• Pizza

• Police, Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Workers

• Postcards

• Puppies

• Puzzles and brain teasers

• Racoons

• Rainbows

• Research

• Road trips

• Robin Williams

• Roller coasters

• Scooby-Doo

• Sesame Street

• Snoopy

• Snow days

• Space exploration

• Spring flowers

• Stand-up desks

• Star Wars

• Stickers

• Sticky Notes

• Sunny Days

• Sunrises

• Sunsets

• The 1980s

• The amazing mystery community

• The day gig. I love working at a place with a purpose.

• The Helpers (volunteers, bystanders, and those kind folks who care)

• The Monkees

• The Muppets

• The Outer Banks

• The Wizard of Oz

• Tigers

• Traveling

• Virginia Beach

• Weekends

• White boards

• Wooded walking paths

• Word processors

• Yard sales

What’s on your list?

Background Checks on Some of My Characters

Here are some of the backstories and fun things you may not know about my sleuths and key characters in my four series.

Delanie Fitzgerald – Delanie floundered a bit after college, and she couldn’t find a job that she liked. Much to the chagrin of her police officer father and brother, she decided to become a private investigator. She works with her partner and sometimes-computer hacker, Duncan Reynolds to keep her fledging business solvent.

Charles “Chaz” Wellington Smith, III was only supposed to appear as the sleazy strip club owner in book one, but my critique group and readers loved him as a foil for Delanie. So he appears in all the books in the series. He is gross, slimy, and has bad table manners, but he’s Delanie’s best cash-paying client. (And he’s not all bad, he cat-sits for his elderly neighbor.)

Jules Keene – She left Fern Valley to attend James Madison University, where she earned a degree in interior design. And that’s where she met her friend and computer guru, Gwen “Pixel” Pierce. After college, she moved to Washington, D. C. for a marketing job, and she married the Idiot, Rick Benson. (Rick shows up in book 6, Hazardous Links and Hijinks and needs Jules’s help to clear him from murder charges.)

Jade Hicks – Her parents died in a horrible car crash when she was in the seventh grade, and she moved to Mermaid Bay to live with her grandmother who ran the town’s Christmas Shoppe. After college and her grandmother’s passing, Jade returned to the cozy beach town to take over the shop, and she moved into her grandmother’s bungalow. Jade knew Nick in school, and they briefly dated. They reunited when they both returned to town (and he became the sheriff).

The Pearly Girls - These are some of my favorite characters to write. They are the four gals who were friends with event-planner Cassidy James’s grandmother, Evelyn Jamison. The five gals were fast friend since elementary school, and they survived the generations, marriage, and rearing kids. Some of their best memories were hanging out at Evelyn’s family’s infamous honky-tonk.

The Pearly Girls are Ruthann Charmichael (former bookkeeper), Kate Carlson (a former nurse), Aileen Roberts (former elementary school teacher), and Roxie Matthews (the cougar of the group). The four band together to help Cassidy run the event business after Evelyn passed away. Ruthanne is the nervous Nelly and goodie-two-shoes of the group, but she’s always ready for a good time. Kate is stoic and pragmatic, and she’s the voice of reason for the four. Aileen likes to tint her hair to match her favorite colors. She always wants everyone to have a good time and to enjoy the moment. Roxie is the wild one of the bunch, and she has quite the active social life. These four are fearless, and they often get themselves in sticky situations.

Love is in the Air...

Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s also my birthday week, so I celebrate a lot in February. For this week’s post, I thought I’d talk about the love interests in my series.

Delanie Fitzgerald - Sassy private investigator, Delanie Fitzgerald, is hired in Secret Lives and Private Eyes to find out if 1980s rocker, Johnny Velvet, was living incognito in rural Virginia. During her investigation, she mixes business and pleasure and becomes involved with the teen heartthrob, John Bailey/Johnny Velvet. Without any spoilers, the PI and the former rocker part ways, and he pops back into her life at the most inopportune time in Male Revues and Subterfuge when she starts seeing FBI agent, Eric Ellington.

Jules Keane - In my glamping series, Jules has known Jake Evans since she was in middle school. He worked on and off at her parent’s campground and use to tease her constantly. When he returned from several tours in the Middle East, he returned to Fern Valley and rejoined the team as the resort. Now, he’s her boyfriend and partner in his tiny house business.

I’m an 80s girl. Jules is named for the Demi Moore character in St. Elmo’s Fire, and Jake is named for the Michael Shoeffling character in Sixteen Candles.

Jade Hicks - In the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries, Jade and Sheriff Nick have been friends since middle school. They dated in high school and then went their separate ways with college and full-time jobs. Both of their returns to Mermaid Bay were timed perfectly for the pair to realize how much they meant to each other.

Cassidy Jamison - My newest series, the Pearly Girls Mysteries, launches in March. This is my Veronica Mars meets the Golden Girls stories. Cassidy inherits her grandmother’s event planning business and property in Ivy Springs, Virginia, and her grandmother’s four dear friends, Roxie, Ruthanne, Kate, and Aileen, help her with planning and decorating. The property, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has a serenity garden, glamped up former dairy barn, an amphitheater, the remains of her grandfather’s old honky-tonk, and a cave.

Cassidy spends most of her time trying to keep her business solvent, while the not-always helpful Pearly Girls try to fix her up with any eligible bachelor in the tri-county area.

20 Things about My Sleuth Jade Hicks

I’m currently working on book 5 of the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries, and I’ve been thinking a lot about my amateur sleuth, Jade Hicks, lately. Here are 20 things you may not know about her and her stories.

1. She’s a redhead.

2. She drives a lime-green Jeep Wrangler.

3. Her personalized license plates are “NO GRNCH.” Perfect for the owner of a Christmas store.

4. Mermaid Bay isn’t a real place. I created my cozy little beach town near the Historic Triangle of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown.

5. She was born in 1985 and graduated high school in 2003.

6. She graduated from James Madison University in 2007.

7. Before returning to Mermaid Bay, she worked in Richmond, VA at a marketing firm.

8. She moved back to the beach when her grandmother passed to take over the store.

9. Jade originally moved in with her grandparents when her parents were killed in a tragic car accident.

10. Jade has known Nick Driscoll since middle school.

11. Right before the pandemic, Jade made a huge investment in the store’s online store, and it paid off when the world went on lockdown.

12. Jade owns the vacant lot next to her store. She hasn’t decided quite what to do with the property.

13. There is a lovely hedge of oleanders along the back of her store and the vacant lot, and it plays a key role in Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir.

14. Jade attends her first ComicCon with her bestie Amy Pemberton in Life is But a Scream (January 2026).

15. The beach is Jade’s happy place.

16. Chloe, the Frenchie, and Neville the Devil Cat pretend to be enemies, but they really are pals and playmates.

17. Jade loves visiting Amy’s bookstore where Darcy Cat watches over the stacks. The Persian is named for Mr. Darcy.

18. Jade’s aunt, the free-spirited Lorelei Tucker, keeps a protective eye on her niece and helps her out whenever she can.

19. In A Tisket A Tasket Not Another Casket, (January 2025) Jade’s a little surprised to learn a secret about Amy’s love life. No spoilers here.

20. The titles of the books in Jade’s series are named for nursery rhymes gone bad.

When the Wildlife Wants to Move in...

Here in Central Virginia, we have had some weird weather and some interesting wildlife encounters this spring. We live in a very wooded community near the reservoir, and we’re used to a lot of our furry and feathered friends visiting. But they took it to the next level this season.

It seems they wanted to settle in, and the Pair of Jacks were not happy with all the critters.

It all started with the woodpecker who decided that the side of the house was much more appealing than any of the hundreds of trees in the yard. He started his rat-a-tat-tatting before dawn on several mornings. He did a bit of damage to the wood siding that we had to repair when another bird decided she wanted to make the hole a spot for a nest.

Then the rowdy squirrels got in on the act. They decided to try to breach the wooden vent cover to the attic. Thankfully, the wire netting held, and all they did was destroy the louvered cover.

A few days later, we woke up to a pile of half-eaten pizza crusts on the kitchen deck. The next day, a bag of stale hamburger buns was left with a pile of crumbs. A few days later, I found the remnants of a chocolate muffin and a mangled plastic container. The critters were having late-night parties on the deck, hosted by a frisky racoon who figured out how to raid our trashcan.

I’m not sure if it’s all the cooler rainy weather we’ve had this spring, or that the locals decided to take advantage of the nearby amenities. I’m hoping our fixes take care of the squatters. I’ve also had a talk with the Jack Russells about stepping up the security around here.

Murders -- Only on Paper

Someone asked me recently how many people I’ve killed off in books. I went back and checked my short stories, novellas, and novels, and I’m up to thirty-four. (Wow! Sounds like a serial killer.)

I write traditional mysteries and cozy mysteries where everyday people are the sleuths and the killers, so my characters use what’s nearby. Hardly any of the characters have military, medical, or law enforcement training. And I don’t write serial killer or predator books. So, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to stop an attacker or take out the victim. One of my sleuths (Jules in the Glamping series) detained the killer by hitting him on the head with an iron skillet.

Here are some of the ways, I’ve offed people in books besides poisoning, gunshot, and stabbing:

• Strangulation with a tie and a scarf

• Pushed off a cliff (two different stories)

• Insulin injection

• Snake bite

• Strangled with a strand of Christmas lights

• Crushed by a heavy piece of furniture

I have also had a couple of books where a caper was the featured crime, and there was no murder.

In another recent interview, someone asked if I had ever modeled the victim on a real person. I don’t usually do that. My characters have traits from several different people, and they’re not really based on a person. One time, in “Spring Cleaning,” I did kill an office worker who may or may not have been modeled on a real person who may or may not have gotten on my last nerve. The guy in the story was strangled and put in a rolling bin for documents that were sent off-site for storage. I enjoy it when friends try to convince me that they know who certain characters are based on.

I always tease with my team at work that they need to be careful, or someone will find them in a dumpster in the next book. I’ve had several people ask if I would kill off an annoying person in a book. Maybe I should run a contest and pick the best story for a character in an upcoming work. Hmmm.

The Church Hill Train Disaster and VIRGINIA IS FOR MYSTERIES 3

My story, “Derailed,” appears in the third edition of Virginia is for Mysteries. In it, sassy, private investigator, Delanie Fitzgerald, gets more than she bargains for when sleezy strip club owner and her best, cash-paying client, Chaz Smith, hires her to find out who’s blackmailing him and his buddies. She and her partner, Duncan Reynolds, have to find out what happened one summer evening twenty years ago and what it has to do with the Church Hill Tunnel cave-in. While trying to figure out the connection to the spooky, abandoned site where the train and several victims lie buried beneath a busy Richmond neighborhood, Delanie discovers the origin of Chaz’s mysterious teardrop face tattoo.

I have been fascinated with the Church Hill Disaster for years. The train and several of the crew were walled inside the tunnel when it became too dangerous to continue recovery efforts. It lies beneath the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond. Both ends of the tunnel have been sealed, and you could drive by them and not ever realize what lies within. Today, one end is in the courtyard of an upscale condominium community, and the other, several miles away, is in an overgrown, forgotten area covered in weeds, debris, and standing water.

The events of 1925 have spawned all kinds of ghost stories, legends, and theories. People who live atop the hill talk about the characteristic “Church Hill Lean” that some of the structures have because of shifts in the tunnel below, and there have been cases of building collapses through the years.

In my story, I added another body to the tragic memorial. In my fictious account, readers learn how sleezy strip club owner, Chaz Wellington Smith, III acquired his infamous, teardrop tattoo.

Virginia is for Mysteries III launches February 16, 2022. It is available for preorder in paperback, hardback, or ebook.

Behind the Scenes - The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

When we launched the Virginia is for Mysteries anthology, one of the requirements was that the stories needed to have a Virginia landmark. This was my first published short story, and I chose the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel that runs from Chic’s Beach (Virginia Beach) to Cape Henry on the Eastern Shore.

I grew up there, and it was always Chic’s Beach, though over the years, I’ve seen the spelling vary from Chick’s to Chix. As locals, this is where we went to avoid the hoards of tourists that descended on our city every summer. It’s a quiet neighborhood on the bay near the bridge. I was always fascinated with the bridge and what was on the other side of the bay. The bridge is really a series of bridges and tunnels that cross the Chesapeake Bay and spans about 23 miles. My parents’ first apartment when they were newlyweds was nearby, and my dad patrolled the bridge’s construction site as a young police recruit.

And it was the perfect setting for “Washed up.” The title takes on several meanings in this mystery, but the obvious is when a suitcase with a shriveled hand and a rusty gun wash up on the beach outside a struggling bar. The notoriety from the media exposure does wonders for the bar’s bottom line. But like in real life, not everything is as it first seems.

We live in Central Virginia now near a lake. It’s beautiful, but it’s not the beach that always holds a special place in my life. The restaurants and neighborhoods have changed through the years, but bridge tunnel is a constant. And I try to sneak in a visit every few months.

Check out “Washed up” in Virginia is for Mysteries.