Valerie Burns Spotlight @vmburns #giveaway

It's my turn in the spotlight and I'd like to shine the light on my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series and my new release. THE NEXT DEADLY CHAPTER. This is the 10th book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. WOW! Ten books. It seems like yesterday, that I was writing the first book in this series, THE PLOT IS MURDER.

The idea came to me while I was working on my MFA from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. As a reader of cozy mysteries, I like British historical cozies. I also like my mysteries to be practical. The idea of an amateur sleuth solving crimes is a bit farfetched. So, I thought, what if the protagonist just WRITING the mystery. So, all of the murders are in the book she's writing (hence the title). However, I also wondered if that would be enough. The joy of reading a cozy is trying to solve the mystery. That's when the idea struck me, WHAT IF there were TWO mysteries in every book. WHAT IF my protagonist is not only WRITING about a murder, but WHAT IF she is also SOLVING a mystery. I LOVE cozies and I would enjoy reading that. So, I set out to write  it.

This series is set in the fictional town of North Harbor, Michigan. At the time I started writing, I was living in Benton Harbor, Michigan. If you're familiar with the area, you'll recognize a lot of similarities. I was working as a training manager for an appliance manufacturer, but like my sleuth, Samantha Washington, I dreamed of one day, quitting my day job, buying a building and running a bookshop that specialized in mysteries. I even had a building picked out in downtown St. Joseph, Michigan (South Harbor, Michigan in the series).

Things didn't work out for me to buy a building, but dealing with an unscrupulous realtor planted the seeds for my first victim. It was cathartic for me to murder the person who thwarted my dreams. Well, sort of. I dreamed of quitting my job, opening a mystery bookshop, and writing British historical cozy mysteries. In the series, my protagonist, Samantha Washington, quits her day job. She successfully buys the building and opens the mystery bookshop, and she writes British historical cozies. I may not have the bookstore, but the experience gave me the material for the book.

I'm grateful that I didn't buy a building in Michigan. I might not have had the spark that started my writing career. THE PLOT IS MURDER, was my first published book. I have five mystery series, and I'm currently writing my 25th book. Last year, I quit my day job. And, I'm enjoying life with my two poodles in North Georgia. 

Writing as V. M. Burns

Writing as Kallie E. Benjamin

Writing as Valerie Burns

On Tuesday, February 25th, THE NEXT DEADLY CHAPTER will release. I hope you will pick up a copy and see Samantha's journey from an aspiring writer, to a published author. It's been a rollercoaster ride for both her and me. 

READERS:  What is your dream job? Leave me a comment below. I'll enter your name in a drawing for a copy of THE NEXT DEADLY CHAPTER, the 10th book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series.  Please include your email address in the comments to be considered. 

THE NEXT DEADLY CHAPTER




All Sam wanted was to make a good impression on her fiancé Frank’s mother, the very proper Dr. Camilia Patterson. But when Nano Jo and the lively ladies of Shady Acres Retirement Village throw a surprise bridal shower for Sam at the Four Feathers Casino—watch out! Things spin out of control faster than a roulette wheel. Fortunately, Sam knows when to fold ’em and slips back to her room to work on her latest historical mystery set between the wars, in which a houseguest meets a grim end at an English country manor.
 
The morning after brings another rude surprise. Sam gets a frantic call from Camilia, who’s discovered a dead body in her room. Now winning over her soon-to-be mother-in-law means keeping the good doctor out of a potential scandal and attempting to discreetly solve a murder without ruffling any feathers. For that she’ll need the help of Nano Jo—not exactly the soul of discretion—Detective “Stinky” Pitt, and the ladies—because the casino killer keeps upping the ante. . .




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