Spotlight on Kallie E. Benjamin aka Valerie (V. M.) Burns #Giveaway

 Once a month at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, we each take a turn under the spotlight. Today, I'm going to introduce you to my newest (and hopefully last) personality. You've already met V. M. Burns and Valerie Burns. Now, it's time to get acquainted with Kallie E. Benjamin.

My writing career started with three series using my initials, V. M. Burns. My reasoning was simple. I wanted readers to be able to find me. ValerieBurns.com wasn't available, but Vmburns.com was. So, I wrote my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series and two other mystery series as V. M. Burns.

Dog Club Mystery (Lyrical/Kensington) by V. M. Burns

RJ Franklin Mystery (Camel Press) by V. M. Burns

In 2020, I decided to close out my Dog Club Mystery and RJ Franklin Mystery series. At the time, it looked as though Kensington wouldn't continue the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. So, I needed a new start. I wrote a proposal for a culinary cozy mystery, the Baker Street Mystery series, and my agent sent it out. Initially, it looked as though no publishers were interested. So, I wrote another proposal for the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. After five months (yes publishing is slow), my editor at Kensington called my agent and said he'd "changed his mind." I wasn't sure what that meant. I thought they'd decided to continue my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series, but NO. That wasn't it. He decided that he liked my Baker Street Mystery series after all. WHEW! I had a three-book deal and I got to continue writing. The only hiccup was that Kensington wanted me to use a new name. A new series. A new name. A fresh start. Okay, well I chose Valerie Burns (maybe not very original, but it was the best I could do at the time).

Baker Street Mystery Series (Kensington) by Valerie Burns

I had a book deal, but I had been writing three series and I knew I could do more. My new Bailey the Bloodhound proposal was still out on submission, so maybe, just maybe, I could write these two new series. That's when I got a surprise. My agent called to tell me that my editor at Kensington "changed his mind, AGAIN." My first thought was, "they don't want to do my Baker Street Mystery series?" Imagine my surprise when she said, "No. They want two more Mystery Bookshop Mystery books." Well, yippy! I love writing about Samantha, Nana Jo, and the Girls from Shady Acres Retirement Village. I was thrilled to get to keep writing about them.

Mystery Bookshop Mystery (Kensington) by V. M. Burns

I had two series and I was happy. A few months later, I got word that Berkley (a division of Penguin Random House) was interested in my Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series which was still out on submission. I had dreamed of getting a contract with a big five publisher and here was my chance. The only caveat was they wanted to differentiate this series and wanted a new pen name. 

So, I needed to come up with a new pen name. If I was going to use a different name, I wanted one that meant something (at least to me). This was the birth of Kallie E. Benjamin. Kallie was my great-grandmother's name. E. is for my mom (Elvira). Benjamin was my dad's name. My mom died in 2013 and my dad died on December 21, 2023, just three weeks after my first Kallie E. Benjamin book was released, so this series is even more special to me. I hope readers will enjoy getting acquainted with Pris and her faithful companion, Bailey. There are also lots of other family connections in this series which starts from the setting. This series is set in the fictional town of Crosbyville, Indiana which I named after one of my great-nephews, Crosby.

Bailey the Bloodhound by Kallie E. Benjamin

Different series. Different names, but it's still the same author and the same wholesome fun. Just looking at the covers, readers will notice that regardless of the pen name, there are common themes in my books. The New York Times said,  "Books, dogs and food — and a well-structured sense of fun — connect almost all of Valerie Burns’s cozy mysteries, regardless of pseudonym." (NYTIMES, December 1, 2023)

Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles.

She also serves as an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA.

READERS: I have poodles and my books all include dogs. If you like dogs, do you have a favorite breed? Let me know in the comments for a chance to win a copy of SNIFFING OUT MURDER the first book in the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery Series (US Only). Please remember to include your email address if you want to be included in the giveaway. 

SNIFFING OUT MURDER

When a murder unleashes a widespread investigation through Crosbyville, children’s book author Pris and her trusty bloodhound, Bailey, must sniff out the truth before the whole town goes to the dogs.

After deciding that life as a teacher wasn’t right for her, Priscilla found inspiration for her first children’s book in her three-year-old bloodhound’s nose for truth, and so The Adventures of Bailey the Bloodhound was born. After the book’s massively pawsitive response led Pris to move back to her hometown of Crosbyville, Indiana, to continue the series, she’s surprised by how things have changed in the town, but even more so how they haven’t.

Pris is frustrated to discover that newly elected school board trustee Whitney Kelley—a former high school mean girl—is intent on making Crosbyville more competitive by eliminating “frivolous spending” on the arts and social programs, including Pris and Bailey’s beloved pet-assisted reading program. A minor altercation between them isn’t anything unusual, but after Bailey sniffs out Whitney’s body in a bed of begonias, locals start hounding Pris and Bailey as suspects for the crime.

With Bailey’s sharp senses and Pris’s hometown know-how, can they prove to the community that they’re all barking up the wrong tree?

BUY LINK