MEET VERA DAY, COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR

 By Patricia Bradley

Today I want to introduce Vera Day to the readers of the Suspense Sisters! We met at The Killzone Blog and have become friends over the years. I read and reviewed When Did We Lose Sylvia on my June 9th blog. Check it out here. She's giving away a digital copy of  When Did We Lose Sylvia to someone who leaves a comment so be sure to include your email address in the comment!

Vera Day is an avid reader and a joyful writer. After decades coasting along as a lukewarm Christian, and after a few more years of writing in a secular genre under a different pen name, she experienced a series of events that can only be described as epiphanic… in the God sense, not the light bulb sense, though that also applies.

Vera lives in small-town Texas with her two-legged and four-legged family members. Her neighbor is a cow, but as far as neighbors go, Daisy is a good ’un!

Vera, what genre do you predominantly write in?

I write cozy mysteries with faith elements. Some day I’d like to write a Christian literary novel.

 

My favorite kind! What has being published taught you?

Being published has taught me that no book is perfect, but mistakes and weaknesses encourage us to learn and grow and become better writers.

 

You are so right about no book being perfect--it's one reason I don't read my published books--I'd want to change them! lol What is your favorite part about writing and your least favorite.

It’s fun to live vicariously through my main character. Besides, it would not be cool to snoop on a mysterious, new neighbor in real life! My least favorite part about writing is doing third-time edits and STILL finding mistakes, argh!

 

How well I know that feeling! What have you researched that makes you think the FBI might be interested in you?

Haha! Poisons, electrocutions, side arms, antique shotguns, hypothermia, lime (for body disposal), and burner phones.

 

Those would qualify! Tell us about your current book release, When Did We Lose Sylvia?

When Did  We Lose Sylvia? (Winged Publications) is book 1 in my Tulip Texas Cozy Mystery trilogy. Southern humor, faith, and murder intersect in small-town Texas.

 

What would you like readers to know about your story/characters?

The setting for my cozy mystery trilogy is based on the small town where I live. It’s in a darling area of Eastland County, Texas. The craftsman-style houses, the wildflowers, the chickens and goats, plus friendly neighbors (and one HUGE red bull) give a sense of being grounded. There are literary-poetic folks here, humorous folks, too, and a feed-n-seed that acts as a community watering hole. My favorite house is a pink bungalow off Main Street, and you bet it makes an appearance in When Did We Lose Sylvia?

 

Your town (and Tulip Texas) sounds like a great place to live! Would you share with us what you are working on now?

I’m knee-deep in edits for Who Framed Flora? which is book 2 in my Tulip Texas cozy mystery trilogy.

 

I cannot wait until it's released! What is the most valuable piece of advice you’d like to give to unpublished authors?

Don’t publish too early. Your first book might be kinda stinky, and that’s okay. It can be your practice book, a book that will never see the light of day.

 

I have a couple of those, Vera! What’s next from you?

Who Framed Flora? (Winged Publications) is book 2 in my Tulip Texas Cozy Mystery trilogy and will be released in October 2023.

 

What Was Larry’s Alibi? (Winged Publications) is book 3 in my Tulip Texas Cozy Mystery trilogy and will be released in February 2024.

 

I love those titles and the cover of When Did  We Lose Sylvia! Here's the Cover and back cover copy:

 

Betty Bell is a famous poet, or at least a local celebrity, in the tiny town of Tulip, Texas. Gossip runs amok when a Goth teenager, Sylvia Smith, and her elderly grandfather arrive. Even worse, they’ve moved into the creepy, old Sanchez place on the outskirts of town.

Betty volunteers to teach a summer poetry class to restless Tulip teens. Soon, the kids are expressing themselves in stellar stanzas and heart-rending rhymes. But what was supposed to be a summer of ministering to the teens becomes a season of sleuthing when one of Betty’s students, the spooky Sylvia, goes missing.

When Sylvia turns up dead, suspicions point to Sylvia’s reclusive grandfather. Deputy Miller is a good man and excellent investigator, but after a second death shakes the small town, Betty is convinced the deputy is after the wrong suspect. Betty, her left-brained husband Larry, and her quirky friend Flora must use haunting haikus, couplet clues, and lots of prayer to track down the real killer.

You can buy When Did We Lose Sylvia here.

And you can connect with Vera here:
Amazon author page

Christian fiction book review blog

Twitter/X