Book Description:
It’s election time in Spencer, Maryland, and the race for mayor is not a
pretty one. In recent years, the small resort town has become divided
between the local year-round residents who have enjoyed their rural way
of life and the city dwellers moving into their mansions, taking over
the town council, and proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed
gate community—complete with a host of regulations for everything from
speed limits to clothes lines.
pretty one. In recent years, the small resort town has become divided
between the local year-round residents who have enjoyed their rural way
of life and the city dwellers moving into their mansions, taking over
the town council, and proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed
gate community—complete with a host of regulations for everything from
speed limits to clothes lines.
When the political parties force-feed two unsavory mayoral nominees on the
town residents, Police Chief David O’Callaghan decides to make a
statement—by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday’s German shepherd, to run as
mayor of Spencer!
town residents, Police Chief David O’Callaghan decides to make a
statement—by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday’s German shepherd, to run as
mayor of Spencer!
What starts out as a joke turns into a disaster when overnight Gnarly
becomes the front runner—at which point his political enemies take a
page straight out of Politics 101. What do you do when you’re behind in a
race? Dig up dirt on the front runner, of course.
becomes the front runner—at which point his political enemies take a
page straight out of Politics 101. What do you do when you’re behind in a
race? Dig up dirt on the front runner, of course.
Seemingly, someone is not content to rest with simply embarrassing the front
runner by publicizing his dishonorable discharge from the United States
Army, but to throw in a murder for good measure. With murder on the
ballot, Mac Faraday and the gang—including old friends from past
cases—dive in to clear Gnarly’s name, catch a killer, and save Spencer!
runner by publicizing his dishonorable discharge from the United States
Army, but to throw in a murder for good measure. With murder on the
ballot, Mac Faraday and the gang—including old friends from past
cases—dive in to clear Gnarly’s name, catch a killer, and save Spencer!
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday,
Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in
the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released
June 2016.
Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in
the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released
June 2016.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups,
and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son,
and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers
Ferry, WV.
and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son,
and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers
Ferry, WV.
Interview
- Lauren, I’m
very excited to have you here to talk about your newest book in the Mac
Faraday series: Candidate for Murder. What can you tell us about the story?
Fans of the Mac Faraday mysteries will be thrilled
with Candidate for Murder, which is
Gnarly’s book. It provides readers with Gnarly’s backstory.
It’s
election time in Spencer, Maryland, and the race for mayor is not a pretty one.
In recent years, the small resort town has become divided between the local
year-round residents who have enjoyed their rural way of life and the city
dwellers moving into their mansions, taking over the town council, and
proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed gate community—complete with a
host of regulations for everything from speed limits to clothes lines.
When
the political parties force-feed two unsavory mayoral nominees on the town
residents, Police Chief David O’Callaghan decides to make a statement—by
nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday’s German shepherd, to run as mayor of
Spencer!
What
starts out as a joke turns into a disaster when overnight Gnarly becomes the
front runner—at which point his political enemies take a page straight out of
Politics 101. What do you do when you’re behind in a race? Dig up dirt on the
front runner, of course.
Seemingly,
someone is not content to rest with simply embarrassing the front runner by
publicizing his dishonorable discharge from the United States Army, but to
throw in a murder for good measure.
With
murder on the ballot, Mac Faraday and
the gang—including old friends from past cases—dive in to clear Gnarly’s name,
catch a killer, and save Spencer!
- In Candidate for Murder, you bring
back Mac’s daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Murphy Thornton, the
detectives in the Thorny Rose mysteries to help out on the case. What was
it like having the detectives of one series cross over to another?
It
was tricky, but proved to be necessary. The Mac Faraday mysteries are set on
Deep Creek Lake. In Candidate for Murder, one of the candidates for mayor is
murdered. Since Gnarly doesn’t have an alibi, it is up to Mac to prove he’s
innocent.
However,
as circumstances will have it, Gnarly’s political opponents dig up his past and
the media claims he was a suspect in a murder that occurred when he was in the
Army.
Therefore,
we have two murder cases happening simultaneously in Candidate for Murder. While Mac works to solve the murder in Deep
Creek Lake, the Thorny Rose detectives, who have the connections necessary to
dig into Gnarly’s past, work to clear Gnarly’s name.
Candidate for
Murder
ended up being my most complicated, and fun, mysteries because suspicions and
clues take the detectives in every direction—often leading them into unexpected
places.
- I do love the setting for the Mac
Faraday books (Deep Creek Lake).
How did you come to choose this locale?
That’s
a funny story. After A Reunion to Die For was released,
my sister-in-law asked me to set a mystery in Pelican Lake, Wisconsin; the
small lakeside resort town where she and her husband have their summer home.
Well, their summer house is at the end of a piece of land called The Point, and
is actually surrounded by water on three sides. They have a quite distinctive
home. When anyone in Pelican refers to the house on the Point, everyone knows
you’re talking about Mary’s house.
I
did have an idea for another mystery and knew that I needed to create a new
character, so I wrote It’s Murder, My Son, which
introduced Mac Faraday, a homicide detective, whose wife leaves him and takes
everything. On the day his divorce becomes final, he inherits 270 million
dollars and a mansion on the Point from his birth mother, the American Queen of
Mystery Writers.
Sweet
mystery! However, my sister-in-law was horrified when I placed the murder not
only in her town, but in her HOUSE! That was too close for comfort for her. So,
for family unity, I had to find another setting.
As
luck would have it, my family started vacationing in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.
I saw instantly that it was very similar to Pelican Lake. Not only that, but a
lot of movers and shakers from Washington, D.C., vacation and have summer
places there. It creates a wonderfully inspiring mix of characters to choose
from that aren’t available in Pelican Lake. So, I plucked my Mac Faraday
mystery up from Pelican Lake and plopped him down in the fictional town of
Spencer, Maryland, on the shores of Deep Creek Lake.
- What does your writing process look
like? Do you have a special
routine?
My
writing has gotten into more of a routine, which is nice. I am glad to be at
that stage where I have found what works for me and what doesn’t. That is what
every writer needs to figure out. We’re all different. What one best-selling
author will tell you works for them, may not work for you.
I
will think on a book for weeks, or even months. Mentally, I will put it all
together while formulating characters and researching. Then, I will write out a
loose outline—I mean a very loose outline. This is mainly to work it out in my
mind because I have found that I will never refer to the outline when I’m
writing the book. After going through several drafts, I will send my book to my
perfect reader, a fellow author. We swap books for editorial reviews. One
hundred percent of the time, after she reads my book, I will end up going back
to do a rewrite based on her comments. From the rewrite, my book goes to the
editor, and into publication.
- Do you have a special space where you
love to write?
I
have a writer’s studio, but if my mind is working away first thing in the
morning, I will start writing on my laptop in a chair in the corner of our
bedroom. The next thing I know, the morning is gone, I’m still in my jammies,
and I haven’t moved from the chair. Other times, I’ll curl up in the recliner
next to the fireplace. So, to answer your question, you can find me writing
anywhere. When I get into the zone, I forget where I am.
- What can you share about your daily
life, aside from writing?
Besides
being a murder mystery writer, I am a wife and mother. My son is seventeen
years old. While I think it’s a blast being a mystery writer, he does get
embarrassed. Like while we were at the dentist and he was in the chair when I
suddenly asked, “Which of these dental instruments would be most effective for
a petite woman to use to kill a big strong guy who’s twice her size, but not
easily identifiable to the police as a murder weapon? Not the scalpel. That’s
too cliché. Can you suggest a unique murder weapon for me to use?” My husband
had to start taking Tristan to the dentist after that. But I did get an answer
to my question. The dentist even mailed the murder weapon to me a few days
later. I’m keeping it in my desk drawer to use in a later book.
- I understand that you live on a
mountaintop in West Virginia. It
sounds so lovely! Can you tell us a
little about it?
Oh,
yes, we have a beautiful home in Harpers Ferry. We honeymooned at a bed and
breakfast in Harpers Ferry twenty-seven years ago. So now we live twenty
minutes from where we honeymooned. My son uses this as an example of how we
never go anywhere.
Our
house is on top of a mountain right across the Virginia state line. The
Appalachian Trail runs across the ridge of the mountain about a mile behind our
house. From our deck, we have a view of the Shenandoah Valley to the next
mountain range. It is gorgeous and, yes, I do gaze out across the valley while
thinking up murder plots.
- What are you currently writing?
By
the end of summer, September 2016, Lovers in Crime will see the third
installment for that series, Killer in
the Band. Fans of the Lovers in Crime and the Thorny Rose Mysteries will
get to know more about Joshua Thornton Jr (J.J.), Murphy’s identical twin
brother and Joshua Thornton’s eldest son.
J.J.
has graduated at the top of his class from law school and is returning home to
spend the summer studying for the bar exam. However, to the Thornton’s shock
and dismay, J.J. decides to move in with Suellen Russell, a lovely widow twice
his age. The move brings long buried tensions between the father and son to the
surface. When a brutal killer strikes, the father and son must set all
differences aside to solve the crime before J.J. ends up in the crosshairs of a
murderer.
In
November, fans of the Thorny Rose Mysteries will see the second installment for
that series, A Fine Year for Murder.
Tour Schedule:
June 20 - Working Mommy Journal - book spotlight / giveaway
June 20 - My Journey Back - book spotlight / guest post
June 20 - Books for Books - book spotlight / guest post
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Thank you so much, Deal Sharing Aunt, for the great interview and putting the spotlight on Candidate for Murder. Here's wishing each of your followers luck in the giveaway! #Vote4Gnarly and you could win a FREE KINDLE.
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