(Sherlock and Me series)
Cozy mystery
Date Published: March 2019
Super sleuth Lucy James is hired to find the Colt pistol that may have belonged to Billy the Kid. Hampered by dishonest weapon experts, a pawnshop murder and unusual architecture at a downtown casino, her investigation is rocky at best. A massive snowstorm has blanketed Reno leaving Lucy to slog her way to interviews with uncooperative witnesses. Her father’s abrupt firing from his job as the host of a local children’s television show and the impending marriage between her best friend Cindy Floyd and her detective fiancé Skip Callahan grab chunks of Lucy’s fleeting attention. But she is determined to find the missing gun before the next snowstorm even though she on and off relationship with handsome professor Eric Schultz is off again. With sheer tenacity and a pair of thick snow boots, Lucy muscles through to the mystery’s resolution. It isn’t easy but the mystery and murder never are.
Interview
with Author SJ Slagle
Would you
rather be trapped alone for one month in a library with no computer or a room
with a computer and Wi-Fi only?
Trapped.
In a library. For one month. With no computer.
Sounds a bit Spartan but if I was assured of food, water
and a decent bed, I guess I could go with the scenario.
Actually, I used to go to the public library when I was a
kid to peruse the stacks for biographies. I didn’t spend the night, but I was
there for long periods of time reading in cubicles set up for researchers or at
a long table parked by a good reading lamp. That’s how I discovered Catherine
the Great of Russia, which sparked my interest in Russian history causing me to
spend more time looking for additional titles.
I remember discovering the plays of Tennessee Williams.
A Streetcar Named
Desire.
The Glass Menagerie
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Wow! These penetrating
stories of anguish dazzled me with newfound knowledge and I scoured the library
searching for more writers with profound things to say.
A seed was planted way back then about becoming an author
some day. Indeed, I’ve always written short stories and poems but I didn’t
attempt novels until much later.
So spending a month
in a library with no computer? I’d read myself silly, like I did when I was a
kid. Hopefully, electricity would be available but if the pioneers could manage
by candlelight, I could too. Reading sunup to sundown? Might get a little
boring, but think of all the new information I’d have when I write my next
book.
So sign me up with the condition of having a soft blanket
for that bed. Reading in bed is still luxurious, even now.
Lucy James is not just a character in my books—she’s a character.
What, you may ask, is the difference?
While it’s true she is the protagonist of my cozy mystery
series, Sherlock and Me, it’s also
true that Lucy is dogged in her pursuits, loyal in friendships, confused by
love, and has a raging fear of spiders.
I am a great fan of mystery writer Sue Grafton and have
read and reread her books mainly because of her quirky protagonist, Kinsey
Millhone. Kinsey is tenacious, dogged, loyal and confused as well, and her
personality made a strong impression on me. Lucy James could be her sister, but
not her clone.
Lucy and her best friend, Cindy, are patterned after my
best friend and me. Long time friends, we’ve gotten into many of the adventures
I chronicle in the series with Lucy and Cindy stumbling from the frying pan
into the fire. And since I admire the stories of Sherlock Holmes, Lucy is an
ardent admirer and uses deductive reasoning to ferret out the villain and solve
the mystery.
Unlucky in love, Lucy never expected Prince Charming to
ride up to her door on a valiant steed, so her relationship with charming
history professor, Eric Schultz, is hit and miss as well. Her longest
friendship is with her long-suffering university advisor who gave her the
houndstooth cap with flaps mirroring that worn by Lucy’s idol. She was able to
secure an internship at a detective agency and begin her PI career thanks to
the help from her advisor.
Supporting characters from the movie theater where Lucy
still works part-time give more insight into her personality. There’s Bobby the
painter, Butch with the colorful hair, Megan at the candy counter and manager,
Kevin, who gives another definition to the word scattered. They rely on Lucy’s ability to maintain a reasonable
amount of stability to the madcap environment at the movie theater.
Lucy isn’t polished and frequently makes mistakes, but she
learns from them and doesn’t make the same one twice. If you want a detective
who will see it through to the end, look no further than Lucy James, sleuth
extraordinaire.
About the Author
SJ SLAGLE started her writing career as a language arts teacher. Her initial interest was children’s stories, but she moved on to western romance, mysteries, and historical fiction. She has published 24 novels, both independent and contract. SJ contributes regularly to guest blogs and has her own blog called anauthorsworld.com in which she discusses the research involved in the books she writes. SJ has established Twitter and Facebook fan bases, a quarterly author newsletter and a website under her pseudonym: JEANNE HARRELL at jeanneharrell.com.
Her first historical fiction novel, LONDON SPIES, was awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion in 2018 and Slagle was a finalist in the 2017 UK Independent Book Awards. She was given the Silver Award with the International Independent Film Awards for her screenplay called REDEMPTION. SJ conducts writing/publishing symposiums in her local area. OSLO SPIES, her second historical fiction novel will be published in September. She lives and works in Reno, Nevada.
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1 comments:
thanks for hosting
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