Chazz and Rocco interview Diane A.S. Stuckart!

 Me-Ow!  Hello, Folks!  Today we are interviewing NYT Bestselling Author Diane A.S. Stuckart!

Diane has a new short story anthology out, WHO'S BEHIND THE DOOR!  

Who’s behind the door? That and other unsettling questions fuel this compilation of previously 

published short stories from NYT bestselling author Diane A.S. Stuckart (the Leonardo da Vinci 

mystery series and the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series written as Ali Brandon). Her tales of

 mystery and fantasy have been gathered for the first time into one volume, with each story 

prefaced by a brand new introduction written by the author just for this collection. The stories 

run the gamut in genre from paranormal to western to mystery  to fantasy, with settings both

 historical and contemporary. They feature characters as diverse as house flippers and kid wizards

, gunslingers and talking rats. But all have in common a problem to be solved, and a protagonist 

who must find the means, or the gumption, to uncover the solution. Stuckart has received starred 

reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for her novels. Publishers Weekly has

 called Stuckart’s short fiction "clever", while Booklist says it "definitely has bite"

Diane A.S. Stuckart aka Anna Gerard is the author of the Georgia B&B Mystery series from Crooked Lane Books. Writing as Ali Brandon, she is the New York Times bestselling author of the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series, also from Berkley. But she began her publishing career writing critically-acclaimed historical romance for Pinnacle Books and Zebra Books under the names “Alexa Smart” and “Anna Gerard”. With the advent of eBooks, Diane is thrilled to be able to bring back these timeless stories of love and adventure to a brand new readership. She is also the author of several short stories compiled into two ebooks: WEDDING BELLES and WHO'S BEHIND THE DOOR.

A native Texan with a degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, Diane now lives in South Florida, though she’s still a Westerner at heart. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and the Florida Chapter of MWA; Sisters in Crime and the Cat Writers Association.

Hello Diane and welcome!  It's been awhile!  Can you tell us a bit about  what you’ve been doing.

Hi Kitties! Well, let’s see. 2024 was not a good year for me because I
faced some major health challenges which pretty much left me unable to write
or do much of anything. But I think I’ve kicked all those problems and am
jumping back into everything writing for 2025.



Your short story anthology is very diverse.  Which of the stories was your
favorite and why?

Of course, my favorite “tail” is ONCE WE WERE WORSHIPPED. It features two
sassy and clever Edwardian-era cats who steal a cat mummy from their
archeologist caretaker. They hope to raise the mummy from the dead and learn
its magical secrets. Of course, things go very wrong. Now, our two protags
must figure out how to outsmart an ancient Egyptian feline and her small
army of stray cats. I just love talking kitties mixed with magic.

ROCCO:  I like to think we kitties are magical too!

Which of the stories did you find the most challenging to write?

I’d say it was THE FACE IN THE LEAVES, just because the story was written
in epistolary style with all the action happening via letters or journal
entries. But I think I did a pretty decent job of it.



What made you decide to self publish a story anthology versus a full length
book of fiction?

Actually, I’d published the WBTD anthology awhile back as an ebook, but I’d
had enough requests for it in paper that I figured at end of last year that
now was the time to move. I’m not that techy so it took me a bit to get the
formatting right, but I finally did. It’s great to hold an actual copy of
the book in my hand.



Your Tarot Cat series was so  much fun! Any chance of more in that series?

You bet! I’m several chapters into MAGICIAN’S QUARREL, book 2 in the
series. I hope to finish no later than June and find a publisher so it can
hit the shelves by December.



That said, we all miss Hamlet and the Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries! If the
series were ever to be reprised, where do you see it going?

As I don’t have the story rights to Hammy and the gang (a long story that
you can find on my website), I’d have reimagine the series in order to
revive it. I’ve actually done a bit of notetaking on the bookshop now being
located in St. Augustine, Florida, with Hamlet now dubbed Omelet the Cat!
But this will have to wait until I have a couple more Tarot Cat and Georgia
B&B mysteries published.

Chazz:  We all miss Hamlet!  And we wanted to see if Darla and Reese ever got together!

What do you consider more important, plot or character?

For cozy mysteries like I write? Definitely “character”. Readers will
forgive a thin plot if they already love the characters who populate that
world. But a complicated plot with no likeable characters tends to equal a
“did not finish” for them.



What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?  This
is pretty well addressed above.



Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

You can find me at www.dianestuckart.com <http://www.dianestuckart.com>
where you can also sign up for my monthly newsletter and see my upcoming
appearances virtually and in person.


ROCCO and Chazz’s Fast Five.  One sentence answers, please  :)\

*       If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you would do 

After  paying off the house I’d make donations to my two favorite local cat
rescues!!
*       What celebrity are you dying to meet (or have met)

 I’d be thrilled to meet Keanu Reeves who, by all accounts, is a hecka nice guy.
*       Saturday night:  go out or stay in Eh, stay in.
*       Holidays: Party at home, or go out for a glam dinner 

U prefer anyplace where I don’t have to cook or clean up!
*       What is something you are really bad at? 

I am baaaaad at sports (with my wonky knee I can barely even walk!).

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Diane will give away a copy of WHOS BEHIND THE DOOR to one lucky commenter!

Winner's choice of either trade paperback or  e-book (foreign entrants - e-book only).

Just leave a comment in our comments section with your email address!  the winner will be chosen by Chazz at random.  Contest closes February 13th!

SPOTLIGHT ON THE WAGTAIL MURDER CLUB

 ROCCO AND CHAZZ SPOTLIGHT 

THE WAGTAIL MURDER CLUB

Holly Miller is on her way home to Wagtail, Virginia when she spots something in the grass not far from her car. It turns out to be an adorable black Labrador in a cage with a note attached to his collar. My name is Squishy. I am a very good boy. Please take good care of me. Holly takes Squishy home to the Sugar Maple Inn, which she owns with her grandmother, who also happens to be the mayor of Wagtail. They decide to foster Squishy at the Inn. Days later, Holly is surprised to see her ex-boyfriend Ben checking in with a group of his attorney colleagues who all seem to think that he and Holly are still an item!

Aided by Squishy, Holly's rascally dog and cat find one of Ben's fellow attorneys who has died from a 

non-accidental fall. Is the fiend a resident of Wagtail or a visitor? Holly bands together with her mom, 

grandmother, and beloved elderly Inn butler, Mr. Huckle, to uncover the killer and the truth about Squishy. 

Because nothing brings a town together like murder

Review:

This is the tenth entry in another of Krista Davis' series that never seem to run out of steam!  Squishy is adorable,

and Mr. Huckle is a hoot!  Also it's good to see Holly standing up to Ben!  four and a half paws!

The Wagtail Murder Club is available today February 4.

SPOTLIGHT ON BEAST OF THE NORTH WOODS

 

BEAST OF THE NORTH WOODS

THIRD IN THE MONSTER HUNTER SERIES

AVAILABLE TODAY, JANUARY 28!

When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature in the latest puzzling entry in this USA Today bestselling series.

An ice fisherman is savagely mauled to death in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and an eyewitness claims the man was attacked by a hodag. There's just one problem with that: it's well known that the creature is not real and was created by a local hoaxer. So how could an imaginary creature be chomping on local sportsmen? 

The suggestion that a hodag killed someone isn’t well received by the townsfolk because of its beloved ties to the town and the money it generates from tourist dollars. Due to this, people begin to suspect the witness is the real killer, especially when it’s discovered he has a tangled past with the victim. 

The witness to the attack happens to be the nephew of Morgan Carter’s bookstore employee, Rita Bosworth, who convinces the professional cryptozoologist to travel to Wisconsin to prove that a hodag not only exists but killed the victim. 

Clues may be hard to come by, but one thing's for sure: something killed that man, and that something now has its eyes focused on Morgan.

Rocco and Chazz review EJ Copperman's GOOD LIEUTENANT

 Meow!  It's time for another book by our good friend E.J. Copperman! This time it's the sixth (and, sadly, final) entry in the Jersey Girl series, Good Lieutenant!

Synopsis:

LA lawyer Sandy Moss comes to falsely accused lieutenant Trench's aid in this final instalment of the critically acclaimed legal cozy mystery series.

While settling into her new home in Los Angeles together with her boyfriend and TV star Patrick McNabb, attorney Sandy Moss receives a phone call from the LA Men’s Detention Center. It’s a new client accused of murder: the near-stoic Lt. K.C. Trench!

Being good at his job but not well-liked in his department, Trench is accused of killing a fellow LA police officer whom he openly despised and threatened. With the odds against her, Sandy takes on the case of her sometime nemesis/sometime ally. She is certain that Trench can’t be the killer. It seems like someone is trying to pin the murder on him, but who and why? And what isn’t Trench telling her?

Our review:

Chazz:  This is the first Jersey Girl for me and now I have to go and read the human's others.  What great characters EJ Copperman creates!  and without a cat in the story!  I love the way Sandy plunges whole heartedly into investigating the stodgy Trench who finds it hard to crack a smile.  I must admit though that Patrick does get a bit trying at times.  The story was well written and fans of this too short lived series will not be disappointed.

ROCCO:  Like the human, I have long been a fan of EJ's.  I love the way he can effortlessly put a touch of humor in everything he writes and the Jersey Girl series is an excellent example of that.  I admit I shed a tear at the end, mostly because I know it was Sandy and Patrick's last adventure.  A definite five paws read.

This book is out today so hurry to your local store or computer and get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NIck and Nora's Tenth Anniversary

 

Ten years ago on December 2, 2014, a little cozy mystery called Meow if its Murder made its debut from Berkley Prime Crime.  The story centered around a former true crime reporter, Nora Charles, investigating a cold case about a wealthy woman's drowning.  Along the way she meets a tubby tuxedo cat she names Nick - and a new mystery solving duo was born!

I first got the idea for this series one day when I was watching THE THIN MAN on Turner.  My twenty-five pound tuxedo cat ROCCO jumped on my lap and I thought - what if Nick Charles died and came back as a cat? Hence the first incarnation of Nick and  Nora was born.

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In the first draft, Nick actually talked!  But only Nora could hear him.  When my agent submitted it, though, the powers that be at Berkley liked the story, but they didn't want the cat talking.  i imagine it was because that might have taken it out of the cozy category and made it more of a  fantasy. Anyway, I went back and rewrote the book, giving half Nick's dialogue to Nora's BFF Chantal and the other half to a completely new character, PI Ollie.  My agent resubmitted it and thankfully, Berkley bought it!  That was back in January of 2013.  Then I was informed that the book would debut in December---of the following year!

Well, that gave me time to start writing the next two books I was contracted for  :)

Nick and Nora debuted on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 and within two weeks made the national bestselling list.  Two more novels from Berkley followed:  CLAWS FOR ALARM and CRIME AND CATNIP.  Then came the Random House/Penguin merger, and alas, Nick and Nora were dropped along with many other excellent cozy mysteries.

Over the next five years we tried unsuccessfully to place Nick and Nora elsewhere.  finally another author told me about Beyond the Page.  We sent a proposal to Bill Harris who accepted it, and Nick and Nora came back to life with volume #4, HISS H FOR HOMICIDE, on February 9, 2021!

I never gave up on Nick and Nora....and thankfully neither did their fans!  

Here's a list of all the Nick and Nora's to date

#1 - Meow of its Murder - Nora Charles, an ex true crime reporter, gets involved investigating the cold case murder of a wealthy woman - with a tubby tuxedo cat named Nick as her partner.

#2  Claws for Alarm - Nora and Nick investigate when Nora's sister Lacey is accused of the murder of her art professor.

#3 Crime and Catnip - Nora and NIck deal with a missing person case and a murder

#4 - Hiss H for Homicide - Nora and Nick help clear an old friend of her  mother's of the murder of her writing partner.

#5 Murder Faux Paws - Nora and Nick investigate the shady death of a PI and end up following a trail that leads to a shady conspsiracy. 

#6 - A Purr Before Dying - Nora's catering gig for a nighttime soap opera filming in Cruz leads, inevitably, to murder.  and when Chantal's brother is accused of the crime Nick and Nora find themselves working overtime to clear him.

#7 - Bell, Book and Corpses - Vampires in Cruz? It seems that way when a body, drained of blood, turns up at the site of Cruz's Halloween gala and Nick and Nora investigate.

Beyond the Page has contracted me for four more Nick and Nora's, so that means that this duo will be sticking around till 2028 at least for adventures 8 through 11!  

Nick, Nora and I thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your support! As long as you keep reading, we'll keep writing!

T.C. 

SPOTLIGHT ON GUILT AND GINATAAN!

 This fall, readers can expect the next deliciously deadly installment in Agatha Award-winning author Mia P. Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries.

 

Lila Macapagal lives in small town Shady Palms, Illinois, where she and her best friends run the Brew-ha Cafe. They serve delicious Filipino-inspired treats, and they solve crimes on the side. In GUILT AND GINATAAN (Berkley Prime Crime Trade Original; on sale November 12, 2024), the fifth highly anticipated novel in Manansala’s series, homicide follows Lila and her pals to the annual Shady Palms Corn Festival—and Lila will have to put on her sleuthing cap to find the true killer when one of her BFFs is framed for murder. 

 

Fall festivities are in full swing in small-town Shady Palms—but with the arrival of scary season comes a new and deadly mystery for Lila to solve. During the annual Shady Palms Corn Festival, Lila and her Brew-ha Café gals Adeena and Elena set up a booth selling corn-themed treats. It’s all fun and games until the trio embark on a competition through the corn maze—and Adeena is found holding a knife beside a corpse. The body is discovered to be a local politician’s wife, and all signs—murder weapon included—point to Adeena as the culprit. But Lila knows her best friend couldn’t have done this, and it’s up to her and her crew to clear Adeena’s name and put the real murderer behind bars. 

 

Just as readers were craving more diverse voices in the mystery space, Manansala whipped up Arsenic and Adobo (2021), offering up a delectable first taste of an entirely original mystery series. Manansala’s books embrace the conventions of the cozy genre while also expanding them, introducing readers to a modern Filipina heroine who faces real, relatable issues as she solves mysteries. GUILT AND GINATAAN offers no exception.

 

GUILT AND GINATAAN is perfect for readers of Jesse Q. Sutanto and Roselle Lim, and for fans of cozy mysteries!

Rocco and Chazz spotlight MRS. ODBODDY AND THE CONNIVING CANDIDATE!

Today we are turning the spotlight on the fifth Ms. Odboddy book, Mrs. Odboddy and the Conniving

Candidate!

the Story:

As the war continues to rage in Europe, Election Day approaches in Newbury. Among other inequities,

 the Newbury City Council makes it difficult for local women to obtain business licenses even for home-bases 

businesses. Mrs. Odboddy decides to run for the vacant city council seat, but she has no idea what political 

obstacles she will face. The trouble starts, first with disasters in her home, to violence and racism against 

her friends, and then theft charges are filed against her!

To make matters worse, her granddaughter’s old boyfriend has returned to town declaring his unwanted, 

undying love. His heroic responses to multiple adverse events affecting the family make it difficult for 

Katherine to send him packing.

Agnes suspects her political opponent is behind all the trouble, including the state’s attempts to remove 

their beloved ward, Mattie. It seems that Agnes is up against a conniving opponent who will stop at nothing

to prevent her winning the election. How can she prevail against such sinister deeds? Is winning an 

election worth it when her family is at risk?

Join Agnes as she faces overwhelming odds in her efforts to bring much needed change to Newbury.

ROCCO:  Both Chazz and I thought that this was a very timely story, considering all that is going on in the world today!  Mrs. Odboddy fans will not be disappointed and new fans will love to follow along with Agnes! (and of course, there are cats Shere Kahn and Ling Ling!)

CHAZZ:  Politics is truly a dirty business and Mrs. Odboddy finds that out first hand!  Fans will cheer right along with Agnes as she attempts to get to the bottom of things and clear her name!  Agnes is a very strong character you can't help but admire and cheer for.  the only thing that would have made this book better were more of the cats, Ling-Ling and Shere Kahn.  LOL.

ROCCO:  We both agree - this book answers the question is winning an election worth it!  I thought the ending very timely and fitting indeed.   Available at Amazon and other fine retailers now in paperback and e-book format.

Sales Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Odboddy-Conniving-Candidate-shenanigans/dp/B0DJNVGB2Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23EJIWV2GDMZI&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Hn6nOmMlx2R5wzLqfE7ZOZ57ITg8Q16VfZCj3zeN4MWuDy9j48RiaLOBhJYjmTV6TtBLVCCysRg0RMaG70Y18A.mDXIlBlr6FoMud0nWOIbW2tzTgekPsnmpaalVVye7Tw&dib_tag=se&keywords=Mrs.+Odboddy&qid=1730132749&s=books&sprefix=mrs.+odboddy%2Cstripbooks%2C296&sr=1-1