Good Morning, Booklovers!
We had a taste of autumn this week, then right back to sweltering August! We’re gathering a little early today before the heat turns unbearable. Please join me in thanking this week’s guest Liz Boeger for braving the rather tropical Iowa weather.
Welcome, Liz. How do you take your coffee?
LB: Even in the heat, hot, half & half, no sugar. Life’s too short for cold coffee and skim milk.
Ally: My sentiments exactly, except I drink it black. Cold coffee just doesn’t seem right. Anyway, while I fill our mugs, please tell readers about yourself.
We had a taste of autumn this week, then right back to sweltering August! We’re gathering a little early today before the heat turns unbearable. Please join me in thanking this week’s guest Liz Boeger for braving the rather tropical Iowa weather.
Welcome, Liz. How do you take your coffee?
LB: Even in the heat, hot, half & half, no sugar. Life’s too short for cold coffee and skim milk.
Ally: My sentiments exactly, except I drink it black. Cold coffee just doesn’t seem right. Anyway, while I fill our mugs, please tell readers about yourself.
BIO:
Liz Boeger’s stint as a swimsuit model peaked in kindergarten. Her fallback career as a mystery author didn’t surface until she hit the mid-century mark. In between, she wrangled children, adults, and the occasional Florida panther as a teacher and school administrator. And that encounter with the U.S. Secret Service may show up in a plot someday.
Her multi-award nominated mystery series is inspired by her childhood nearby Rattlesnake, Florida. If you love your mysteries with a cozy edge, some Southern snark, and quirky characters you’d love to hang out with, this series is for you. Member of Sisters in Crime, SinC Guppies, and Florida Writers Association.
She’s a graduate of Tampa’s Robinson High School, The University of Tampa, and Saint Leo University. Her hobbies, other than plotting murder, include gardening, quilting, and cheering all things great about her hometown, Tampa!
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Well, my bio covers most of the unusual stuff, but I’ll add that I have bilateral hearing loss. This means both ears don’t do their job very well, and I rely on hearing aids for daily living.”
Author Contact links:
Moccasin Cove Mysteries blog
Twitter
Facebook
Liz Boeger’s stint as a swimsuit model peaked in kindergarten. Her fallback career as a mystery author didn’t surface until she hit the mid-century mark. In between, she wrangled children, adults, and the occasional Florida panther as a teacher and school administrator. And that encounter with the U.S. Secret Service may show up in a plot someday.
Her multi-award nominated mystery series is inspired by her childhood nearby Rattlesnake, Florida. If you love your mysteries with a cozy edge, some Southern snark, and quirky characters you’d love to hang out with, this series is for you. Member of Sisters in Crime, SinC Guppies, and Florida Writers Association.
She’s a graduate of Tampa’s Robinson High School, The University of Tampa, and Saint Leo University. Her hobbies, other than plotting murder, include gardening, quilting, and cheering all things great about her hometown, Tampa!
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Well, my bio covers most of the unusual stuff, but I’ll add that I have bilateral hearing loss. This means both ears don’t do their job very well, and I rely on hearing aids for daily living.”
Author Contact links:
Moccasin Cove Mysteries blog
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book?
LB: My work in education has always been about the students. But in the three decades of my career as a teacher and administrator, I’ve been touched by families, peers, and oftentimes heartbreaking moments that make it all too real. Plus, there are the friendships and lots of laughter! Gotta laugh. I’ve added the themes, emotions, and education elements from these experiences into my series, but with a spot of humor, a load of hope, and a whole new storyline.
Ally: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision?
LB: I had tried the traditional route for nine years before deciding to self-publish. I’d earned some award nominations along the way and met great folks in the writing community, both of which helped me stay encouraged. But I wasn’t getting any younger and I loved my characters too much to give up. Everything changed this past May. I am now a member of an Author Cooperative. Essentially, it is a group of established and prolific authors of mysteries and thrillers who invited me, a new and unproven writer, to join their ranks. Their guidance and motivation helped me get off the fence and put this book out into the world. You can find their great books at misterio press.
Ally: What book/author had the biggest influence on your writing?
LB: Earlene Fowler and the late Sue Grafton earn equal credit for my love of mystery series. Fowler for her cozy world-building and strong character relationships, plus the quilts. Grafton because she taught me how to write a story with a little more grit to it than the typical cozy mystery. Oh, and I love Kinsey’s little loft/studio apartment.
Ally: You’re thrown into a different time period—either past or future—what book hero would you want with you? Why?
LB: Send me to the future with Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series. She’s smart, resourceful, knows magic, and is much bossier than I am. And I’m pretty bossy, so it’ll be a little break for me. As to the future, I am a big Star Trek fan, so any of those time periods work well. Heck, let’s just make Hermione a Vulcan and I’ll be a Ferengi of DS9 fame. I’m packed, beam me up.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
LB: AppleJacked-BOOK 2 in the Moccasin Cove Mystery series will be released in early 2022, if all goes well! Ana and the folks of Moccasin Cove face difficult choices when the evil corporation that crippled the town financially is back to offer economic salvation. But are they willing to overlook a murder to help the school and regain their financial security?
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you selecct?
LB:
Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book?
LB: My work in education has always been about the students. But in the three decades of my career as a teacher and administrator, I’ve been touched by families, peers, and oftentimes heartbreaking moments that make it all too real. Plus, there are the friendships and lots of laughter! Gotta laugh. I’ve added the themes, emotions, and education elements from these experiences into my series, but with a spot of humor, a load of hope, and a whole new storyline.
Ally: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision?
LB: I had tried the traditional route for nine years before deciding to self-publish. I’d earned some award nominations along the way and met great folks in the writing community, both of which helped me stay encouraged. But I wasn’t getting any younger and I loved my characters too much to give up. Everything changed this past May. I am now a member of an Author Cooperative. Essentially, it is a group of established and prolific authors of mysteries and thrillers who invited me, a new and unproven writer, to join their ranks. Their guidance and motivation helped me get off the fence and put this book out into the world. You can find their great books at misterio press.
Ally: What book/author had the biggest influence on your writing?
LB: Earlene Fowler and the late Sue Grafton earn equal credit for my love of mystery series. Fowler for her cozy world-building and strong character relationships, plus the quilts. Grafton because she taught me how to write a story with a little more grit to it than the typical cozy mystery. Oh, and I love Kinsey’s little loft/studio apartment.
Ally: You’re thrown into a different time period—either past or future—what book hero would you want with you? Why?
LB: Send me to the future with Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series. She’s smart, resourceful, knows magic, and is much bossier than I am. And I’m pretty bossy, so it’ll be a little break for me. As to the future, I am a big Star Trek fan, so any of those time periods work well. Heck, let’s just make Hermione a Vulcan and I’ll be a Ferengi of DS9 fame. I’m packed, beam me up.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
LB: AppleJacked-BOOK 2 in the Moccasin Cove Mystery series will be released in early 2022, if all goes well! Ana and the folks of Moccasin Cove face difficult choices when the evil corporation that crippled the town financially is back to offer economic salvation. But are they willing to overlook a murder to help the school and regain their financial security?
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you selecct?
LB:
- A movie you’ll always remember: CONRACK—it influenced my decision to become a teacher.
- Your pets: Two kitties. Samantha (Sammy) and GRBRTY (Bert). Both are rescues. GRBRTY typed his own name when he walked across my keyboard when he was a kitten.
- Your hobbies? I love to do logic grid puzzles, pull the weeds in my garden, and I make mostly freestyle quilts.
- A supernatural ability you’d love to have: Flying of course. No, wait, that’s a superpower. Is that the same?
- If you had to evacuate your house (your family, pets, and laptop are already out safe), what one thing would you try to take with you? My family heirloom quilts and the scrapbooks of my son’s childhood.
ChainLinked (A Moccasin Cove Mystery, book 1)
Genre: Cozy/Traditional mystery
Principal Ana Callahan is renowned for turning around troubled schools, but she can’t fix the grief constricting her own heart. Now she must do both…while solving a murder.
Ana Callahan’s life fell apart, so she went out to save the world, one failing school at a time. Fifteen years later she’s back home in Florida, working her magic on the floundering elementary school of her childhood. But Moccasin Cove is not the sunny, middle-class beach town she left behind. With one eye on her school rescue plan and the other on her exit plan, Ana gets to work and chalks up a few small victories.
Her confidence falters when a school contractor is killed, and a friend is implicated in the murder. An ambitious journalist tries to link Ana’s tragic past to the crime, and a powerful charter school corporation seizes on the political chaos by threatening a takeover of Ana’s school.
Adding “investigate murder” to her lengthy to-do list, Ana finds herself paired with the school district’s handsome new security chief. The disturbing secrets they uncover about her friend and the killer’s twisted motives, force Ana to admit she has a lot to learn about murder.
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