Melissa Westemeier

I'm SO THRILLED to announce I've joined the team at MISS DEMEANORS: A Blog for Readers and Writers of Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction. Click through and read my first post, More Flavors in Writing!

The Wild West, gangsters, railroads, Pinkerton PIs, murder, intrigue, one bad-ass heroine, and Mark Twain are all featured in Dana Stabenow’s new book The Harvey Girl. I was astonished to learn this prolific writer’s been churning out books for ages! I’m officially a Danamaniac, listeners! Dana shares how visiting family in the Southwest inspired her new series. Fred Harvey created the prototype of franchise restaurants and women made it happen while they helped establish com

I’ve been a longtime fan of the Sparks and Bainbridge Mysteries by Allison Montclair, and I couldn’t wait to pull the author into the studio and ask questions. Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge are two of my favorite sleuths and their dialogue is the snappiest I’ve encountered in fiction. Alan Gordon shares what prompted him to begin this historical mystery series featuring two women who open a marriage agency in London after WWII. Both Iris and Gwen have suffered trauma, and A

Anthropologist and mystery fan Michelle L. Cullen draws from personal experience moving her mother into a patio home to create her amateur sleuth, Harry Lancaster. Harry’s recovery from a fractured hip is made more interesting as he spies on neighbors. Assisted by his caregiver, Emma Stockton, Harry does more than just PT when a neighbor urgently phones Harry for help and they find her dead on her kitchen floor. Michelle talks about her research for this new series, what make

Wildwood, Amy Pease’s sequel to Northwoods, gripped me from the first scene when a young woman is discovered missing. We chat about her fictional setting of Shaky Lake, which is based on Wisconsin’s Minocqua resort area. The formidable Sheriff Marge North and her son Elia again team up with Alyssa Mason, an FBI agent from Chicago to investigate why and how an undercover informant disappeared. Their search leads them to discover terrifying secrets about a local rehab clinic. L

Award-winning children’s author Ross Montgomery wrote a killer read for grownups after getting inspired by Halley’s comet trip over Cornwall in 1910. Deploying the humor and criminal elements he gleaned from watching Clue as a kid, The Murder at World’s End delivers a plot twister of a mystery when servants and family members and scientists and lunatics converge at Tithe Hall in anticipation of the apocalypse.

USA Today Bestselling author and Agatha winner Ellen Byron’s new release, Crescent City Christmas Chaos tosses carolers, holiday parties, a cookbook project, and a shady thief wearing a snowman costume into this Cajun mix. Ricki James-Diaz’s hands are full when her parents come to town, her boyfriend’s filming in a Christmas cooking show special, and of course Bon Vee is hopping with festive shoppers. It’s a perfect time for a murder investigation! Ellen dishes about her pa

Sally Smith’s newest title, A Case of Life and Limb, ticks all my boxes: a secret corner of London (that really exists!), a twisty mystery set in a real place in history, backstage theater drama, lawyers wrestling with ethical questions, complex characters, and a sassy cat. She describes her background as a barrister living in The Temple, the secluded grounds dating back to the Knights Templar and today a main legal district in London. We also talk about Gabriel’s origin stor

A ghost story in October is tempting enough, but I couldn’t wait to meet a woman whose tagline is mysterious, spooky, cozy + kooky ! Olivia Blacke’s newest Ruby and Cordelia Mystery, Death at the Door , continues Ruby’s quest to learn why Cordelia was killed but another body turns up TrendCelerate. We discuss Olivia’s passion for ghosts (including her haunted bookshelf), the crafty way she bridges the normal and supernatural in this series, and why Cordelia makes a perfect fo

Aaron Philip Clark creates a dark world for his PI Trevor Finnegan to solve crime and describes how he wrote this bulk of his latest book, The Bluest Night, over 3 days at an artist’s retreat in Ojai. Drawing from his past as a screenwriter and a LAPD recruit, this SoCal native brings amazing authenticity and detail to the page. We discuss the threats that lurk inside gated communities, strange people, and magnificent sunsets that create the backdrop for the Trevor Finnegan s

Janice Hallett masterfully creates a world using text threads, pub quiz results, and emails in her newest book, A Killer Question . I’m a...

Readers, it's a REAL TREAT to host guest G.P. Gottlieb today! You KNOW anyone writing a book using "Whipped" in their title must be good:...