BRAND NEW MYSTERY FROM KYLIE LOGAN ~ Win a copy of A TRAIL OF LIES

ME: Thanks for dropping by, Kylie Logan. Your new book, A Trail of Lies, sounds fascinating. Tell us all about HRD dogs. (Human Remain Detection dogs):

KL: Anyone who lives with one knows dogs are amazing. They are companions. They are confidantes. They are sometimes workers and sometimes clowns, and they can be incredibly smart . . . or not so much. They sit quietly at our sides when we read. Or they can romp like toddlers, and sometimes be just as challenging. With boundless energy and noses that can, according to scientists, detect scents 10,000 to 100,000 times better than any human nose can, dogs have become invaluable in police work, sniffing out drugs, bombs, and other contraband, and finding the lost. But it’s not only the living who sometimes need to be found.

That’s where Human Remains Detection (HRD) dogs–often called cadaver dogs--come in, dogs that are specially trained to track only the smell of human decomposition. It’s not a new concept. In fact, the first mention of a dog finding the dead was in Germany in 1809 when a court clerk, frustrated by the lack of evidence in a trial, walked his dog past the suspect’s house. The dog alerted to two bodies buried in a shed and the suspect was convicted. The modern concept of training dogs specifically to detect the scent of human death started in New York in the 1970s. Today, cadaver dogs assist first responders across the country and are handled by teams of dedicated volunteers.

What kind of breeds make good cadaver dogs? It really doesn’t matter. Breed is not nearly as important as drive, intelligence, and ability. HRD dogs are trained to pick up the scent of decomposition as it drifts in the air, so like many hunting dogs, they have to be good air sniffers. But like hounds and other tracking dogs, they also need to track scent on the ground for those times when dead cells are shed and fall to the earth. They need to be smart enough to make decisions and to work on their own, but they also need to be loyal to their handlers and to obey commands. And they need to get used to working in all weather over all terrain, both in rural and urban settings. Death in arid conditions has a different odor than death in humid places, and the dogs need to learn the differences as well as being able to distinguish the scent of death when it comes from both above and below the ground. HRD dogs have found the dead buried as much as 30 feet under ground and some are currently being used to find burials at archaeological sites, including Roman hill forts. To help in finding drowning victims, some dogs are specially trained to detect the scent as it rises into the air from under water. For the dogs, the search isn’t as much about finding dead people as it is about the reward they get for work well done. Most handlers have a special toy for the dog and when it does its job–alerts to the presence of death–the dog is allowed to play with the toy.

Handlers, too, go through grueling training that includes orienteering and first aid for both people and pups. Like their dogs, they are tested and certified, and they must be fit and willing to work outside in all kinds of weather. They also need to be ready to deal with whatever it is their dogs may find and part of their training includes how to secure a scene, how to make notes on the condition of the body and the area, and of course, how to contact the proper authorities. Dog and handler work as a team and provide invaluable assistance in important work, often giving the family of the missing answers and closure.

ME: Here's a little bit about A Trail of Lies: Jazz Ramsey is just getting used to the idea that her on-again-off-again beau, Nick, might actually be a permanent fixture, when she gets an alarming call in the middle of the night from his mother, Kim: there’s a dead man in her backyard. Kim has a long history of drinking and a vivid imagination, so when Jazz’s human remains detection dog, Wally, finds no evidence of a body, Jazz thinks she can breathe easy. But when the body of a middle-aged man, Dan Mansfield, is discovered in a nearby park, and a photo of Nick and his mom is found in his pocket, Jazz has to admit that something isn’t adding up. Kim claims not to know who Dan is, but the cops find out soon enough: he’s a recently paroled convict who served thirty years for murder. And when Jazz traces his crime back to a bar fight with an antiques dealer, she ends up with more questions than answers. Meanwhile, no one wants her poking around—not Nick’s mom, nor the Motorcycle-riding ex-con she connects to Dan, nor Nick himself, who seems worried about Jazz’s safety, but also about what she might find. But Jazz has never been one to take no for an answer, and she won’t give up now—even if it means risking her own life.

You can buy A Trail of Lies in Kindle and hardcover HERE

If you leave a comment for Kylie Logan you'll be entered in a drawing for a free hardback copy of A Trail of Lies. You MUST leave your email address in order to win. Drawing in one week. 

Happy reading, lovers of suspense and mystery ~ Mary Ellis

Use of cadaver dogs in police work ~ Win a copy of Kylie Logan's The Scent of Murder

Happy Friday, suspense lovers. Today we welcome back author Kylie Logan, who has released a brand new mystery, The Secret of Bones. Logan's series involves human remains detection dogs, (HRD) also known as cadaver dogs to help solve crimes. Kylie has gotten up-close and personal with these fascinating dogs and their handlers. I asked Kylie to tell us about cadaver dogs:
Anyone who lives with one knows dogs are amazing. They are companions. They are confidantes. They are sometimes workers and sometimes clowns, and they can be incredibly smart . . . or not so much. They sit quietly at our sides when we read. Or they can romp like toddlers, and sometimes be just as challenging. With boundless energy and noses that can, according to scientists, detect scents 10,000 to 100,000 times better than any human nose can, dogs have become invaluable in police work, sniffing out drugs, bombs, and other contraband, and finding the lost.

But it’s not only the living who sometimes need to be found. That’s where Human Remains Detection (HRD) dogs–often called cadaver dogs--come in, dogs that are specially trained to track only the smell of human decomposition. It’s not a new concept. In fact, the first mention of a dog finding the dead was in Germany in 1809 when a court clerk, frustrated by the lack of evidence in a trial, walked his dog past the suspect’s house. The dog alerted to two bodies buried in a shed and the suspect was convicted. The modern concept of training dogs specifically to detect the scent of human death started in New York in the 1970s.

Today, cadaver dogs assist first responders across the country and are handled by teams of dedicated volunteers. What kind of breeds make good cadaver dogs? It really doesn’t matter. Breed is not nearly as important as drive, intelligence, and ability. HRD dogs are trained to pick up the scent of decomposition as it drifts in the air, so like many hunting dogs, they have to be good air sniffers. But like hounds and other tracking dogs, they also need to track scent on the ground for those times when dead cells are shed and fall to the earth. They need to be smart enough to made decisions and to work on their own, but they also need to be loyal to their handlers and to obey commands. And they need to get used to working in all weather over all terrain, both in rural and urban settings. Death in arid conditions has a different odor than death in humid places, and the dogs need to learn the differences as well as being able to distinguish the scent of death when it comes from both above and below the ground. HRD dogs have found the dead buried as much as 30 feet under ground and some are currently being used to find burials at archaeological sites, including Roman hill forts. To help in finding drowning victims, some dogs are specially trained to detect the scent as it rises into the air from underwater. A few years back, a canoer disappeared in a Canadian lake. Authorities searched for the body for two weeks and found nothing. When they brought in a water-trained HRD dog, the dog located the deceased in fifteen minutes!

For the dogs, the search isn’t as much about finding dead people as it is about the reward they get for work well done. Most handlers have a special toy for the dog and when it does its job–alerts to the presence of death–the dog is allowed to play with the toy. Handlers, too, go through grueling training that includes orienteering and first aid for both people and pups. Like their dogs, they are tested and certified, and they must be fit and willing to work outside in all kinds of weather. They also need to be ready to deal with whatever it is their dogs may find and part of their training includes how to secure a scene, how to make notes on the condition of the body and the area, and of course, how to contact the proper authorities. Dog and handler work as a team and provide invaluable assistance in important work, often giving the family of the missing answers and closure.

Tell us a little about The Secret of Bones: Assembly Day at St. Catherine’s school is always one of the highlights of the year as professional women gather from all around Ohio to talk to the school girls about careers. Administrative assistant, Jazz Ramsey, is involved, too, giving the girls a taste for her passion—cadaver dog training. The girls are impressed, until a dog leads Jazz to a little-used part of the school where she knows she hasn’t hidden a bone. The discovery of a skeleton answers questions about the disappearance of Bernadette Quinn, a teacher who never returned to school after Christmas break three years earlier. But now it appears that Bernadette never left the school at all, and the place where her bones are hidden make it clear—this is murder. Bernadette’s difficult personality means there are a plethora of suspects inside the school and out, and as Jazz gets closer to the truth, she can’t help but wonder if someone is dogging her footsteps.

Here's a little about the author: Kylie Logan is the author of the Jazz Ramsey mystery series. Jazz

trains and handles cadaver dogs in her hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. The second installment in the series is “The Secrets of Bones.” It follows last year’s “The Scent of Murder.” The books are published by St. Martin Minotaur. As Kylie Logan, she’s also written light-hearted cozy mysteries including the League of Literary Ladies series, the Button Box series, and the Ethnic Eats mysteries. As Casey Daniels, she’s written the Pepper Martin books. Pepper solves mysteries for the ghosts in the cemetery where she works. Logan has been writing for nearly thirty years and in that time, has published 62 novels. In addition to mysteries, she’s written both historical and contemporary romance, books for young adults, and one children’s book. These days, she likes nothing better than concocting mystery plots filled with eccentric characters and plenty of twists. This fall, writing as Lucy Ness, she’ll premier a new series, the Haunted House Mysteries, which will be published by Penguin/Random House. The first book in that series is “Haunted Homicide” and features a hoity-toity women’s club in an aging mansion...and the ghost of a flapper in an old basement speakeasy. Logan lives near Cleveland with her husband and two dogs. Lucy is a rescue who came to the family through a prison training program. Eliot Ness is a two-year old Airedale who besides being a show dog, has never met anything–food or otherwise–that he doesn’t want to put in his mouth.

To order a copy of The Secret of Bones, please click on this link: https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Bones-Mystery-Jazz-Ramsey-ebook/dp/B07Z2LFM12/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WVR9JXMBPYUG&dchild=1&keywords=the+secret+of+bones+by+kylie+logan&qid=1591132042&sprefix=The+Secret+of+Bones%2Caps%2C282&sr=8-1


For a chance to win a print copy of The Scent of Murder, please lease Kylie a comment to be

entered in the drawing. You MUST leave your email to win. Sorry, US readers only. 

A Review of the mystery THE SCENT OF MURDER by Kylie Logan

Happy August, readers, and the weather is hot and steamy. If there's one thing we all love in summer (or spring, fall or winter!) it's a good mystery. And the book I just finished reading, The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan, fits the bill to a tee!

Here's what the story is about: The way Jazz Ramsey figures it, life is pretty good. She owns her own home in one of Cleveland's most diverse, artsy, and interesting neighborhoods. She has a job she likes and volunteer work she's passionate about--Jazz is a cadaver dog handler. Jazz is working in an abandoned building with Luther, a dog in training, when Luther signals a find. Jazz is stunned to see the body of a young woman who is dressed in black and wearing the kind of makeup and jewelry Jazz used to see on the goth kids back in high school. She's even more shocked when she realized that beneath the tattoos and the piercings and all that pale makeup is a familiar face. The murdered woman is a former student at the school where Jazz works, the lead detective assigned to the investigation is an old lover, and Jazz finds herself sucked into the case, obsessed with learning the truth.

And here's my review:  I have read and enjoyed every book this author has written, but The Scent of Murder is by far my favorite. I loved how Kylie Logan wove the details of cadaver dog training seamlessly throughout the story. Her research is spot-on, her pacing perfect, and the suspense builds to a satisfying surprise ending. But by far, Logan’s gift lies in creating realistic, multi-layered characters you’ll remember long after the book is done. Feisty Jazz Ramsey won’t rest until she finds out the truth about a young woman’s murder, a young woman you will come to care deeply about. Well done! I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Kylie Logan is the national bestselling author of the League of Literary Ladies Mysteries, the Button Box Mysteries, the Chili Book-off Mysteries, and the Ethnic Eats Mysteries. The Scent of Murder is the first of a new series.

The Scent of Murder is available in hardcover edition and in ebook, including B&N, Apple and Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Scent-Murder-Mystery-Kylie-Logan/dp/1250180619/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2C0VZ60MQDBOX&keywords=the+scent+of+murder+kylie+logan&qid=1564598859&s=gateway&sprefix=The+Scent+of+mur%2Caps%2C391&sr=8-1

WELCOME BACK TO SUSPENSE SISTERS, KYLIE LOGAN

Today Mary Ellis has the honor of welcoming Kylie Logan back to Suspense Sisters. Kylie has a new cozy mystery coming in June from Berkeley Prime Crime. ITALIAN ICED will be book three of the ETHNIC EATS MYSTERIES. Books one and two were IRISH STEWED and FRENCH FRIED. I have read the first two in the series and can't wait for her new book to release.



Here's a little bit about ITALIAN ICED: 

When Laurel Inwood features Italian cuisine on the Terminal at the Tracks menu, she knows she'll need to stock the shelves, the fridge, and the freezer with plenty of wonderful delicacies. She just never expected one of them to be her former employer, Hollywood superstar Meghan Cohan. And one day, when Laurel is at the restaurant early to get ready for the regular rush of customers, that's exactly what she finds--Meghan dead in the Terminal freezer.

What's a Hollywood A-lister doing in Hubbard, Ohio? For Laurel, that's the real question, because the first question she'd ask in any other murder investigation--who would want the victim dead?--seems pretty much a no-brainer in this case. Who would want Meghan dead?

Just about anybody who had ever met her. Hot pasta and a cold corpse make for quite a combination in the latest book in the Ethnic Eats mystery series.

I asked Kylie two questions about this series...

ME: All three books in the Ethnic Eats series are set in the same diner in Hubbard, Ohio, called Sophie's Terminal by the Tracks. It's an old train station which serves up different ethnic-themed specials in addition to their favorite standbys like fried baloney and meatballs over rice. Irish Stewed and French Fried are set during the Irish and French-themed months, respectively. Then your upcoming mystery, Italian Iced, is set during the month of Italian specials (my personal favorite cuisine!) Between the three countries, which would you like to do an in-country tour of restaurants and why?

KL: If I had to choose to tour Ireland, France, or Italy, I'd choose Ireland. Number one, I've already been to France and Italy so it would be great to go to a place I've never visited, and number 2, I hear the culinary scene is just exploding in Ireland. So it would be plenty of fun to explore the food. Also, my husband's ancestors are from Ireland, so I'd sneak in some genealogy research!

ME: And if you were to consider continuing this delightful series, which countries would you select for your next ethnic themes?

KL: Alas, the Ethnic Eats series as been cancelled by the publisher. So my answers to your second question are pie in the sky. But...if I was going to write more, I'd love to do "Polished Off," (Polish, like the country, not like the stuff you put on your fingernails). It would also be fun to do something with Mexican food and Greek, too. A world of possibilities! (How about "Thai One On")

PLEASE LEAVE KYLIE A COMMENT FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF EITHER IRISH STEWED OR FRENCH FRIED. YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN ORDER TO WIN. USA ONLY


Thanks for joining us on Suspense Sisters, Kylie Logan. Come back anytime. Italian Iced call be pre-booked from Amazon.com below.

Pre-order Price:	$7.99
Sold by:	Penguin Group (USA) LLC  Price set by seller.

Pre-order with 1-Click®

This title will be auto-delivered to your Kindle on June 26, 2018.

or

https://www.amazon.com/Italian-Iced-Ethnic-Eats-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07693J4WL/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525116028&sr=1-1&keywords=kylie+logan

INTERVIEW: Cozy Mystery Author Kylie Logan

SS (Interviewer Mary Ellis): If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say?

KL: I’m a writer with a career that allows me to kill people legally. 

SS: What do you do when you’re not writing? Any interesting hobbies?

 

KL: I don’t know how interesting they are to anyone but me, but I enjoy weaving and knitting.  I’m also a sucker for cemeteries—the older the better--and am always anxious to explore them.  I love the combination of history, art, architecture.  And of course as a writer, I look at names and dates on tombstones and on family gravestones clustered together and I always think of stories!  I’m also interested in family history and am the keeper of genealogy for both my family and my husband’s.  I volunteer at our local county archives which gives me plenty of chances to immerse myself in old pictures, records and documents.  It’s great fun! 

SS: What was your favorite book as a teen or child?

KL: Hmmm…favorite is tough because I have so many favorites!  As a child I remember reading “Island of the Blue Dolphin” and loving it.  As a teen, I started reading Dorothy Dunnett’s fabulous Lyman books as well as Mary Stewart and of course, Arthur Conan Doyle. 

SS: Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers. 

KL: Gosh, I wish there was something surprising about me!  Maybe the surprise is that there isn’t one!  I think I’m pretty normal except for my tendency to plot murder and mayhem at the oddest times like at cocktail parties and business meetings.  But then, maybe that’s not a surprise to anyone who’s attended those sorts of things. 

SS: What genre did you start out writing? Have you changed course? Why or why not? 

KL: I started my career writing historical romance.  At the time, I didn’t know a thing about markets, but I had a story in my head, and the more I learned about how to get it published, the more I realized it was what the industry called historical romance.  I love history and I really enjoy research, so this was a natural to me.  I ended up writing more than a dozen historicals as well as some contemporary romance.  I’ve also written YA and a children’s book, but my first love has always been mystery.  For many years, I talked myself out of writing mystery because I thought I wasn’t clever enough to pull off the clues and the plots twists and the red herrings.  Finally I realized that like anything else in life, you don’t know if you can do it until you try.  Thirty mysteries later, I’m still writing what I love! 

SS: What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? 

KL I don’t know if it’s the toughest criticism, but the one I heard the most back when I was writing historical romance was that my books were too plot heavy.  At the time, it stung, but eventually, that criticism helped nudge me toward writing mysteries.  Mysteries are all about plot and knowing I was a plot lover made me realize I was writing in the wrong genre. As for compliments . . . I never get tired of hearing from readers who enjoy my work.  I remember once getting an email from a reader who confessed she’d taken my book to work, and had read it at red lights during her commute!  This is not something I recommend, but it was nice to hear that I’d hooked this reader and that she couldn’t put the book down. 

SS: Any other genres you’d like to try? If yes, what and why? 

KL: I’ve always been fascinated with short stories and I’ve never written one.  I like the way short stories pack so much into so little room and how they often surprise and amaze right there at the end.  Maybe someday . . . 

 

SS: If you could go back in time and do something differently at the start of your career, what would it be?

 

KL: A million things!  Really.  But then, that’s what growing and learning is all about, isn’t it?  None of us is the person we were five or ten or twenty years ago.  We change because life teaches us lessons.  Every day, we understand our world in a different way.  I can’t even begin to list the things I’d do differently, because there are so many.  I do know that if I’d done one or two or three things in a different way, I wouldn’t be where I am now, I’d be in some other place.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  I’ll never know. 

SS: What is the most important piece of advice you’d like to give to unpublished authors? 

KL: Think about what you’re trying to accomplish.  Why do you want to write?  If you want to leave your memories for your family, that’s great, and that’s one kind of writing.  Do you want to self-publish?  That’s a whole other thing, and something I don’t know very much about.  I do know that if you’re looking to publish commercially with a traditional publisher, never forget that this is a business.  We’re not talking art here or vision or dreams though all of that certainly goes into the mix.  We’re talking business.  Publishers are businesses, they need to make money to keep their doors open.  Know your markets.  Target your writing.  Do your homework. 

SS: Tell us about yourself...

Kylie Logan is the bestselling author of the League of Literary Ladies mysteries, the Chili Cook-Off mysteries and now, the Ethnic Eats mysteries.  She is a lifelong resident of Ohio and both the League series and Ethnic Eats are set in her home state.  The newest League book (#4), "And Then There Were Nuns," was published in March.  In addition to writing cozy mysteries as Kylie, she writes the Pepper Martin paranormal mysteries as Casey Daniels.  Book #10 in that series, "Graveyard Shift" will be published this fall.  Kylie is a founding member of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Sisters in Crime, a lover of cemeteries, and can't think of a better way to make a living than killing people off--and not getting arrested for it!
 
SS: Tell us about your new mystery, Irish Stewed, about to released on May 3rd:

KL: Murder on the menu....after flopping as a personal chef to a Hollywood movie star, jobless Laurel Inwood finds herself humbled in Hubbard, Ohio, helping her aunt Sophie run her restaurant. Much to Laurel’s dismay, Sophie’s Terminal on the Tracks is not the cozy bistro her aunt would have had her believe—it’s a run-down greasy spoon in an old railroad station. To save the dingy diner, Laurel cooks up a plan to feature alternating ethnic cuisine as specials. But first there’s the problem of the body in the booth. Slumped over a table with a receipt spike in his back is Jack Lancer—”the Lance of Justice”—an investigative reporter for local TV news. Assisted by the drop-dead gorgeous owner of the neighboring Irish store—who may or may not be a suspect—Laurel sets out to track down a killer who had no reservations about impaling a newshound. But as she turns up the heat, will she end up in the soup herself?
  Irish Stewed can be pre-booked at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Stewed-Ethnic-Eats-Mystery/dp/0425274888/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460329395&sr=1-1&keywords=irish+stewed

Please leave a comment for Kylie, along with your email address, to be entered in a drawing for a print copy. US readers only, please.