Guest post
Megan was kind enough to ask me to provide a guest post today for the tour of my first cozy mystery, You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet. The entire “Study Club” mystery series involves a group of secondary characters from the third volume of The Lockwood Legacy, Alice’s Portrait, brought to life with 1960s-era psychedelic flair.
Basically, Clara Wyler, Mae Ella Gormley, Sugar Watson, and Wilma Schneider weren’t content to be cast in supporting roles. With their big Texas bouffants and deep small town roots, they wanted to step out on the stage and bring the 1960s back to life.
As some of you may know, I’m really the combined voice of two writers. My team, Rana and Patti, laughed their way through this whole book. Frankly, it’s a miracle they got any work done at all! They spent way too much time giggling over old TV commercials on YouTube, and there was an epic “discussion” over the merits of the pink Dippity-Do over the green that really should have been captured on film.
What came out of all that loving nostalgia is a book filled with good-natured irreverence, hosed down with Aqua Net hairspray, and topped off with a tidy little murder -- all under the light of an orange lava lamp in the window of Sugar’s Style and Spray, the local salon.
When any writer can work from a place of pure joy, the story flows out in an almost magical way. This one made it onto the page like a great big happy Tupperware party! There’s really nothing more required of the reader than to sit down and share the experience and have fun!
So far, my favorite review of this book began with these words: “No one is quite sure what the ladies in the Study Club study, but I'll tell you one thing: I sure want to be a member of the club.”
The dedication of the book is a Groucho Marx quote, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I want to belong to the Study Club, too. But in lieu of an invitation, I’ll just keeping throwing juicy little mysteries in front of the girls and bring you all along for the ride.
(And by the way, you really can’t get blood out of shag carpet. It’s just impossible.)
About the Book:
Wanda Jean Milton discovers her husband, local exterminator Hilton Milton, dead on her new shag carpet with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. Beside herself over how she’ll remove the stain, and grief-stricken over Hilton’s demise, Wanda Jean finds herself the prime suspect in the case. But she is also a member of “the” local Study Club, a bastion of independent Texas feminism 1960s style. Club President Clara Wyler has no intention of allowing a member to be a murder suspect during her administration. Aided by her younger sister and County Clerk, Mae Ella Gormley; Sugar Watson, the proprietress of Sugar’s Style and Spray; and Wilma Schneider, Army MASH veteran and local RN, the Club women set out to clear Wanda Jean’s name — never guessing the local dirt they’ll uncover in the process.
About the author:
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet is the first installment of Harper’s debut cozy Study Club Mysteries, an hilariously funny look at the often absurd eccentricities of small town life. The second book, to be released in coming months, is called You Can’t Put a Corpse in a Parade.
The droll series, set in the 1960s, is a lighthearted spinoff of Harper’s Lockwood Legacy a nine-book chronicle of the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father’s suicide. Three of the novels are currently available: Langston’s Daughters, Baxter’s Draw, and Alice’s Portrait. The fourth book, Mandy’s Father, will appear in Summer 2015.
And don’t miss Harper’s first foray into the world of the supernatural, Descendants of the Rose, Book 1 in the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mystery series. The second Selby Jensen book, Lost in Room 636is also scheduled for a Summer 2015 release.
Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan, worked as a journalist and university history instructor before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 2002.
The droll series, set in the 1960s, is a lighthearted spinoff of Harper’s Lockwood Legacy a nine-book chronicle of the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father’s suicide. Three of the novels are currently available: Langston’s Daughters, Baxter’s Draw, and Alice’s Portrait. The fourth book, Mandy’s Father, will appear in Summer 2015.
And don’t miss Harper’s first foray into the world of the supernatural, Descendants of the Rose, Book 1 in the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mystery series. The second Selby Jensen book, Lost in Room 636is also scheduled for a Summer 2015 release.
Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan, worked as a journalist and university history instructor before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 2002.
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I loved Langston's Daughters and the other 2 books in that series. This one sounds a little different but absolutely hilarious. I'll definitely have to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThis book is hilarious! Thank you so much for hosting a tour stop!
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