Where There's Smoke . . . (A Haunted Paint Store Mystery) by E.J. Copperman
About Where There's Smoke . . .
Where There's Smoke . . . (A Haunted Paint Store Mystery)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Publisher : Severn House
Publication date : August 4, 2026
Setting - New Jersey
Print length : 256 pages
Hardcover ISBN-10 : 1448320445
ISBN-13 : 978-1448320448
Digital ASIN : B0H1RND6TL
Paint store owner Laura Meehan must prove her amateur sleuthing skills (again!) when her small town’s public library starts burning in this installment of the Haunted Paint Store cozy mystery series.
Don’t mess with a paint store owner’s safe haven! Laura Meehan has her hands full with her paint store, but also with another case (that she will definitely leave to the police to solve)! The Sea Breeze Public Library is burning and it’s clear from the beginning that it must be arson. Who would want to burn a library down and why? Was it a group of moms protesting what they see as inappropriate book content? Maybe it was someone who didn’t like a title they lent? Or is there something more alarming going on? As a library volunteer, Laura simply has to find out, and together with her IT-savvy husband Roy and her ex-detective father’s ghost (real or imagined still yet to be determined), she stumbles upon a lot of obstacles on her quest to find the truth—and maybe even an arsonist who might strike again! A light-hearted cozy mystery with a paranormal twist and Copperman’s signature wit, humor, and zaniness. Perfect for fans of Copperman’s Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries and Cleo Coyle’s Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, as well as funny and cozy mysteries by Janet Evanovich, Elle Cosimano, and Amanda Flower.
About E.J. Copperman
E.J. Copperman is a figment of someone’s imagination. Sometimes E.J. writes as Jeff Cohen. Where There’s Smoke is his 36th published mystery. But he says he doesn’t write mysteries; he writes comedies that have a mystery in them. It’s up to you to decide if that’s true.
INTERVIEW:
1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I never wanted to be a writer. I always was a writer. I remember writing stories when I was about eight or nine. Now, becoming a published author was another question. I was trying to be a screenwriter with various degrees of no success, and the idea for the next script wouldn’t cooperate in my head because I kept hearing it as a first-person narrative. So I wrote it as a book to fool the character in my head, always figuring it would end up a screenplay. Then I sold the book in five days (something that has never happened again). And the rest, as they say, is history, because it’s in the past. Everything in the past is history.
2. How long does it take you to write a book?
I write 1000 words a day when I’m working, no days off. Mystery novels are requested by publishers to top out at around 80,000 words. So, about 80 days for the first draft, and then a couple of weeks for editing and rewriting.
3. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
A schedule! Oh, that’s funny! I write 1000 words a day. Whenever I’m not doing something else, I do that.
4. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I always write in the same room as a beagle.
5. How do books get published?
If I knew that, I’d be much more successful.
6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
Ah, the eternal question: Where do you get your ideas? I used to get them from the Lillian Vernon catalog (if you buy two ideas you get a notion for free), but it lost the cache when it went online. Ideas just come to you, but never when you’re trying to get one. You can cobble one together if you want to, but the book’s going to be very by-the-numbers. Wait for a real one.
7. When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I wrote For Whom the Minivan Rolls in 2000, I’m pretty sure, which would put me in my early 40s. It was published two years later.
8. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I like watching baseball. I like hanging out with my family. I like playing guitar, although I’m very bad. And, what do you know, I like reading.
9. What does your family think of your writing?
I’m not fool enough to ask them that.
10. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
I honestly don’t have an answer for that.
11. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I’ve written about 40-45 books, if I count everything. Where There’s Smoke, coming out right around now, is my 36th published novel.
12. Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
I’m sorry, but I can’t make you a better writer. Only you can do that, by writing as much as you can. Like me, eventually you’ll get good at it.
13. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I don’t hear from readers as much as I’d like, but you do get the occasional email. (ejcopperman@gmail.com) They’re usually very nice, but I did once get an email from a reader who said I had written “the third worst book I’ve ever read.” And I could kick myself for not asking who had beaten me out.
14. Do you like to create books for adults?
The two meager attempt I’ve made at writing books for children or young adults have, let’s say, not run into a whole lot of enthusiasm among publishers.
15. What do you think makes a good story?
It’s all about character. You can write the cleverest, trickiest plot in history, and some people will like it, but if they don’t care one way or another about the characters, it won’t be as good as it could have been. I write Laura Meehan, in the Haunted Paint Store series, as someone who’s never entirely sure of herself in her work or in investigating crimes. She is sure of herself in her marriage, which is good for her.
16. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to drive a Good Humor ice cream truck.
17. What would you like my readers to know?
That I’m going to try to make you laugh, I’ll never upset you terribly, but I will sometimes try to trick you, I do work diligently with a reader in mind, and I’m actually a pretty nice guy.
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