Showing posts with label The Murder House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Murder House. Show all posts

Monday, June 13, 2016

A COZY MYSTERY!

Today, I'm visiting Sylvia Ney @Writing in Wonderland and talking about Parallels: Felix Was Here and my story EVER-TON!

But here today please welcome
Nancy Lynn Jarvis,
author of the 

Nancy is here to give us some insight 
into her writing madness
&
to introduce her latest Regan McHenry Mystery

You can read my review HERE!



1.             Can you tell your readers something about why you chose this particular topic to write about? What appealed to you about it? Why do you think it is different, and your approach is unique?

I recently saw a post on Facebook that read, “I am a writer. Anything you say or do may be used in a story.” That pretty much sums up how I get ideas and how I work. Take A Neighborly Killing, for example. I have a real neighbor who was the model for the dead neighbor in the story. I made some observations about him in real life and wove a story around him based on those observations. The ironic thing is that more and more of my made up story line is looking like it’s true. (Oh, gosh, I hope he doesn’t read this; if he does I’m in trouble.)

It’s not the first time I’ve made up things for use in books only to have them come true, either. I know writers do use what they see and hear that’s quite normal — but having something I made up become a headline in our local newspaper, well. I don’t think that is.

2.             How long does it take to research a topic before you write? And for this book? Did you learn something unusual during your research that you can share here?

It’s surprising how much research goes into something as straightforward as a current-day mystery. I don’t mind, though, because I love doing the research involved and always learn some new fact.  I knew bullets can be tied to a specific weapon, but because of A Neighborly Killing, I learned  that gunpowder residue can be as well.

3.             Do you use professionals to verify your facts, such as the police? Is there a good way to approach them? How valuable is their input? Or do you just wing it?

The real estate facts I use are easy since, after twenty five years as a Realtor, I’m an expert. For the rest of my research, I use a friend who is a private investigator and the internet. I’ve discovered a website where you can ask a question and police will respond, another where doctors will answer questions, and my favorite, a site where military personnel will offer opinions about the fastest and quietest way of dispatching someone while facing them or from behind. And then, there’s always Decomposition for Dummies which is like the whole series of ...for Dummies books but much more graphic.




4.             Does writing provide you a sufficient income to live on? If so, how long did it take before this happened? Is it your goal to be financially successful, or do you write and publish solely for the 'satisfaction of sharing your stories'?

What an interesting question. I could never “live” as in pay the mortgage, feed my family, and keep up with utilities and  gas for my SUV on what I make from selling books, but considering I never expected to make any money selling what I wrote, I’m doing very well! I guess my answer is it depends on my perspective. Let’s say I make enough money from book sales to do some fun things with it.

5.             What's the funniest thing that happened to you on a book tour.

I don’t know if you’ll find it funny as I do or a sad commentary on people. I had a woman pick up one of my books, read the book-back teaser, and pronounce the book as sounding quite interesting. I thought I’d made a sale. Then she asked me what The New York Times Book Review said about the book. 

I remember a funny exchange on the TV show “Castle” where he was asked that same question and said the Book Review of New York loved his book and that he had paid a considerable amount of money for that high praise. I considered answering her similarly, but instead told her that my books flew considerably under The New York Times Book Review section radar. I suggested she should read the book and tell me what she thought of it.

Her response had me rolling on the floor. “I could never decide if I like a book or not from reading it. I depend on The New York Times to tell me if I like it or not,” she said.

6.              What's the next step for you? Television, movies, a new genre? Tell us what the future holds - what can your fans expect?

I’ve started writing a new series called Geezers With Tools about two retired men who start a handyman business. One of them is a recent widower who needs a diversion and the other is a self-styled player who hopes to meet single women thru the business. They’ll solve crimes in the course of doing fix-ups.

I also got a fantastic idea for another Regan McHenry Real Estate Mystery from a friend recently so there will be a book seven.


And, fingers crossed, The Death Contingency, the first in the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series, has been optioned as has Mags and the AARP Gang, a stand-alone comedy I wrote about octogenarian bank robbers. I’m not holding my breath because optioned to produced to screened is a long and usually not completed journey, but you never know.


Waking up to gunshots and discovering the body of their neighbor just outside their bedroom door is bad enough, but when the Coroner rules the death a suicide, Realtors Regan McHenry and her husband Tom Kiley don’t believe it for a minute. Never mind what the physical evidence says; they heard their dead neighbor arguing with someone in the moments preceding his death.

What really happened has become more than just a mystery they’d like to solve because the circumstances of their dead neighbor’s past keep interfering with their present and putting them in danger.
~~~~~~~~~~

Nancy Lynn Jarvis finally acknowledged she was having too much fun writing to ever sell another house, so she let her license lapse in May of 2013, after her twenty-fifth anniversary in real estate. After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz at UCSC. She invites you to take a peek into the real estate world through the stories that form the backdrop of her Regan McHenry mysteries. Real estate details and ideas come from Nancy's own experiences.


What about you readers, ever use a real person as the 
antagonist or protagonist of your novel?
Would your profession work to create a cozy series?

Do you have a question for Nancy?






Saturday, February 22, 2014

THE MURDER HOUSE


It is my privilege today to introduce you to Nancy Lynn Jarvis the author of the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series. To celebrate her latest release, The Murder House - Nancy is guest posting today and there's a giveaway! Take it away Nancy!




Show of hands, please, how many of you believe in ghosts?
Interesting.

 I don’t, you see, except that I’ve seen one, which really plays havoc with my nay-saying. And if I’m willing to go to just one degree of separation and listen to people tell of their first-hand experiences with ghosts, oh boy. It was from this ambivalent perspective that I wrote “The Murder House,” the fifth in my Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series. 

Regan McHenry is a Realtor who winds up repeatedly playing amateur sleuth no matter how many times she swears she will never get involved in another murder. She, like me — a twenty-five year veteran of the real estate business— and many Realtors I know, has had the experience of walking into a house and having the hair stand up on the back of her neck . She knows what it’s like to be hit by a wave of cold and experience an overwhelming sensation of evil when previewing a house. 

Even so, like me, she clearly states that she doesn’t believe in ghosts, not when there might be a rational explanation for what seems like a spectral presence. Her certainty made it great fun to write a book in which Regan, convinced the only thing that might cause a house to be haunted was its past reputation, sometimes wonders if she is right.  

It was also fun to write the book because during the writing process, I began asking people if they believed in ghosts. What I discovered is that most people have a ghost story or two to tell even if they aren’t into the paranormal. And ghost sightings aren’t predictable based on the witness’s educational level, occupation, religion, culture, gender, or age. 

I was able to share my favorite ghost story in the book’s dedication, too. If you like, go to 

I used my personal ghost sighting in the book, as well. The ghost in the woods in “The Murder House” is what I saw at the Wayside Inn in Massachusetts before I knew many others had reported seeing such a ghost. In “The Murder House, “ there is a rational explanation for what people are seeing in the woods, though, and at the Wayside Inn, there isn’t.

After writing “The Murder House” and living with its alleged ghosts, did I change my mind and become a believer? As Regan says at the book’s conclusion when asked if she’s seen the ghost, “I think that’s too personal a question for you to ask.” Let’s just say that one thing is perfectly clear: I have developed a love of swapping ghost stories and would love to hear yours.

Leave me a comment with your ghost story and you'll be entered to win an eBook copy of The Murder House. The winner will be announced on February 28, 2014. You can read my review HERE!

***** ***** 


Every community has a house that people walk by hurriedly, nervously peeking at it out of the corners of their eyes. Bonny Doon is no exception. A bloody double  homicide occurred in the Murder House almost twenty years ago and the killer has eluded capture ever since. Recently the house was inherited and the new owner wants to sell. The problem is no one wants to buy a house with a reputation and reports that it’s home to ghosts. The seller thinks Realtor Regan McHenry would make a perfect listing agent ― after all, with her penchant for playing amateur sleuth, she’s no stranger to murder. This is the perfect mystery to read if you don’t believe in ghosts — and an even better mystery to read if you do.

***** *****


Nancy Lynn Jarvis was a Santa Cruz, California, Realtor for twenty-five years but was having so much fun writing that she let her license lapse in May of 2013.

After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager of Shakespeare/Santa Cruz. Nancy's work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years. Writing is her newest adventure.

She put Regan, Tom , and Dave from the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries Series on hiatus to write Mags and the AARP Gang, a comedy/adventure about a group of octogenarian would-be bank robbers, but she missed her characters, so they're back to solve another murder In the newly released "Murder House."

The next book is unclear because she has another idea for a mystery as well as an idea for another very different book.

***** *****




Don't forget - to win an eBook copy of THE MURDER HOUSE leave your ghost story in a comment.



H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y !