WHAT'S HOT IN INSPIRATIONAL SUSPENSE

Hi Suspense Sisters readers, Mary Ellis here. Here's what has just released in inspirational suspense from Barbour Publishing. The Coffee Club Mysteries ~ 6 Whodunits Are Brewing in Small Town Kansas by Darlene Franklin, Cynthia Hickey, Elizabeth Ludwig, Dana Mentink, Candice Prentice and Janice Thompson.

Here's a bit about the anthology: Mysterious events are brewing in this Kansas coffee shop! Morgan finds a worker hanged. Evelyn discovers the body of a church meal organizer. Somebody's stalking Harper for her jade owl. Jeanine's charity event proceeds are missing. Jo sends a man into anaphylactic shock. And Penny finds a gun---in her beehive. Who's behind these unexplained occurrences? 448 pages, softcover from Barbour.

The Coffee Club Mysteries is available from Christianbook.com at this link:

https://www.christianbook.com/coffee-mysteries-whodunits-brewing-small-kansas/darlene-franklin/9781683228233/pd/228232?event=Fiction|1000643

Book giveaway by Cynthia Hickey

To promote the 5th book in her Nosy Neighbor mystery series, Cynthia Hickey is giving away a copy of book 1! (US entrants only)

Stormi Nelson, best-selling romance author, moved into her huge Victorian house in the private community of Oak Meadows Estates. When her agent tells her that her characters are becoming too cardboard and that she needs to get out and mingle with people, she comes up with the idea of a Neighborhood Watch Program. The only problem is … she’s the only member. On her first night of patrol, she stumbles over a dead body, meets a hunky detective, who happens to be her neighbor and clearly frustrated with her, and her mother, sister, niece and nephew arrive to shake up Stormi’s peaceful life. As she is immersed ever deeper into the mystery surrounding a neighbor’s murder, she decides to change writing tactics and write a romantic mystery based on her experiences. What follows is a frolicking good time as Stormi finds herself the nosiest neighbor of them all. Can she find the killer before she becomes the next victim?

Suspense Sisters Q&A: What was your favorite book to write and why?

All of us here at Suspense Sisters took a crack at this question: “What was your favorite book to write and why?”

Elizabeth Goddard: Treacherous Skies was my absolute favorite book to write. I had a to of fun on this adventure. I love the premise of a Learjet repo man having to grab a jet in a foreign country amidst gunfire and flying away, only to learn that the kidnapped daughter of a Columbian drug lord is on board! I took the idea from an actual Learjet repo man who started his multi-million dollar business in much the same way as my hero in this story.

Cynthia Hickey: They Call Her Mrs. Sheriff was my favorite to write because the heroine, while insecure, steps up and does what is necessary to provide for her family, despite prejudice.

E.E. Kennedy: My favorite book to write was Murder in the Past Tense. It was about summer stock musical theater, which is how I spent my summers as a teen. More of the book is taken from my own experiences than any other in the series. I also loved writing about my characters as teenagers.

Nancy Mehl: It's hard to pick a favorite book. I love each book for different reasons. And I really invest myself into each novel so picking one makes me feel as if I'm betraying the others! In my entire career, there's only one book I didn't enjoy writing. (But we won't talk about that.)

As far as just having fun, I have to mention my cozy mysteries, especially my Curl Up and Dye series. The second book, Bumping Off Binky, was a lot of fun. Writing about clowns was a hoot. I'm picking that as one of the most enjoyable books I've ever written.

Clowns, murder, and a hairdresser for funeral homes. How can you go wrong? LOL!

Dana Mentink: My favorite book to write was Jungle Fire because it's one of those edge of your seat, jungle adventure tales! Spiders and snakes and bad guys, oh my!

Camy Tang/Camille Elliot: This is hard to answer since I’m usually enamored with whatever book I’m writing at the time. However, if I think about it, probably my favorite book to write was A Dangerous Stage. I still got to write suspense, romance, and also humor, but I also tackled a really tough issue for me—talking about God to my close friends who are not Christian. Charles’s struggles in A Dangerous Stage hit home for me, and I hope his emotions come through to the reader, because they’re from my heart.

Q&A: Favorite Childhood Book

We asked each of us at Suspense Sisters about our favorite childhood books:

Camy Tang:
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey. It was the first fantasy book I'd read and it completely transported me to a different world. It's what spurred me to write my own book for the first time.



Cynthia Hickey:
My favorite book was The Black Stallion series. I love horses, always have. I even have a letter and picture from Walter Farley! In the fourth grade we were assigned to write our favorite author. Mine wrote back!


Nancy Mehl:
I've been asked this before, and it's almost impossible for me to answer. I read voraciously as a child. Too many books to pick just one. I do remember being really moved and impacted by Dickens. I think I connected with him because I'm a very character driven author. I believe I read every book he wrote before I was thirteen.


Elizabeth Goddard:
2001: A Space Odyssey. A strange book for a child, I know, but I loved it and it stayed with me for a lifetime, it seems. I had wanted to be an astronaut when I was young, and loved science fiction.


Dana Mentink:
Hands down, my favorite book was The Wizard of Oz. I was (and am!) in awe of L. Frank Baum's ability to create worlds full of incredible creatures, yet still preserve that cherished feeling of hom.






What was your favorite childhood book?

Giveaway by Cynthia Hickey

Update: Hahaha oops Cynthia gave me the wrong book to post. Here's the correct book for the giveaway!

Cynthia Hickey has a brand new book released, COLLISION COURSE! We'll be celebrating all this week, kicking off with a contest--two lucky winners will each get an ebook copy.

Here's the back cover blurb:

Lacey Baxter knows her uncle killed her aunt and she is out to prove it! When she flees her home, she almost runs over and kills DEA agent John Canyon, who is out to get justice for his brother's death, while raising his orphaned niece.

When they discover they're after the same group of men, the two band together against overwhelming odds to bring down a corrupt men set on ruling their small town.

John and Lacey are on a collision course with evil and must rely on not only each other, but on God to safe a town and bring justice.