A Visit From Ann Gabhart

Ann Gabhart is back! We're celebrating her latest release, Murder Comes by Mail. Ann is one of my favorite authors, and she's also one I've had the privilege of meeting in person. With over a dozen books to her credit, this talented writer is sweet and witty and knows how to keep her audiences entertained. 

Welcome back, Ann. Congratulations on your latest book, Murder Comes by Mail! This is Book 2 in The Hidden Springs Mysteries, correct? What sparked the idea for this story? 

Murder Comes by Mail is my second Hidden Springs mystery. Most of the characters from Murder at the Courthouse show up again in this story. It’s often hard to nail down exactly what sparks a story idea. Sometimes an idea might explode like a burst of fireworks in the sky. Other times it might be more like the flicker of lightning bugs at dusk. You think you have it and then it disappears to show up across the yard. The idea for this book came from thinking about what would happen if what seemed a good act turned out to have bad consequences. Then it shifted to how does a normal person respond when evil begins trailing after him. 

Sounds interesting. I’ve heard these books referred to as cozy mysteries. How do you define the difference between a cozy and a regular mystery? 

A cozy mystery is generally a more light-hearted story. That might sound strange since we are talking about murder and nothing about murder should be considered light-hearted. But in a cozy mystery, the violence of the crime nearly always takes place off the page. Bodies are found. Readers don’t “witness” firsthand the murder. Also, in most cozies, the victim of the crime is either someone the reader has not gotten to know in the story and so has no attachment to the person or the victim is someone the reader doesn’t like and isn’t particularly sorry he or she is a victim. In thrillers and other mysteries, the victims might be a more sympathetic character. The reader might be right there when the murder happens on the page. 

Also, many times a cozy will have a small town setting or an animal friend to add atmosphere and perhaps a little levity to the story. Usually the main character is a female amateur sleuth with no connection to any law enforcement agency. That’s not true with my Hidden Springs mysteries, but sometimes rules are made to be broken.

Actually, I didn’t know all these rules when I was writing my cozy mysteries. I just came up with a character and a setting. Then I let murders happen. I did throw in those cats. That plus my small town setting pushed my books into the cozy mystery genre even though Murder Comes by Mail has more suspense than most cozies. 

Cats and suspense, sounds like a good combination. I’ve also heard that there are a “bevy of quirky characters” in this book. Do you have a few favorites among this gang?  

Quirky characters always seem to show up on the streets of small towns. It’s good to sprinkle a few of them into any story set in one of those small towns like Hidden Springs. In Murder Comes by Mail we might not have as many as in the first Hidden Springs mystery, Murder at the Courthouse, but there’s still the newspaper editor Hank always on the hunt for a headline story to sell his weekly newspaper issues. We have Aunt Lindy, and while I don’t consider her exactly quirky, she definitely has a unique personality. We have Reece Sheridan, the lawyer who’d rather be fishing. In the sheriff’s office, we have Betty Jean who keeps everything under control while she dreams of finding Mr. Perfect and getting married. Lester Stucker is still around as a deputy too. He’s a little like Barney in Mayberry and takes his job as school crossing officer very seriously. 

It seems as though your characters have "character". Looking forward to reading about them. Was there any particular portion that was especially difficult to write? 

A scene in the final chapter was a little hard for me to orchestrate. There is a physical struggle between my hero and the villain. One of my editors wanted to make the movements in that struggle clearer. So I had to rewrite that a couple of times. Then a different editor asked me to somehow work more about a cat into the story. So Grimalkin, Aunt Lindy’s cat, got more play in the climactic scene. 

Now I'm really looking forward to reading this one - the action scenes in your other books are very good. And I don't recall a cat in any of them! :) What’s on the horizon for you? Will The Hidden Springs Mystery series continue? 

At least one more murder will take place in Hidden Springs for my Deputy Sheriff Michael Keane to solve. Murder Is No Accident has a release date of March 14, 2017. We have some new characters and some familiar characters from the other stories in this one. When I was searching around for inspiration for a new mystery, I remembered an old house in our town that has one of those tower rooms. As a kid, I always wanted to go up in that room. And so, I decided to make that house the central part of my new mystery with a young girl sneaking up into that tower room and being a witness to what might be an accident. Or is it murder? And of course, we have a new cat, a calico named Miss Marble. 

I’m not sure if Hidden Springs is going to be more peaceful after Michael solves this new mystery. Right now, no more mysteries are in the works as I’m going back to my historical novel roots for the story I’m currently working on. But you never know. I might head back to Hidden Springs and stir up a little more trouble. 

I did a special promotion giveaway in my newsletter and asked readers if they would like to live in a town like Hidden Springs. One reader responded that she didn’t think she would like living in Hidden Springs. The crime rate was way too high. That comment made me smile because she was absolutely right. 

Well, I never thought about it like that! Too funny. Thanks so much for joining us. Wishing you many blessings your journey! :)

Thanks for having me over on your blog, Karen. Always fun to see what your readers have to say. So let me ask them a question. Did you read mysteries like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew when you were a kid the way I did?



Ann's Bio 
 
Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of many novels, including Angel Sister, Small Town Girl, and Love Comes Home, the 2015 Selah Book of Year winner. She’s also known for her Shaker novels and Heart of Hollyhill books. Now, as A.H. Gabhart, she is writing the Hidden Springs Mysteries set in a small town much like the Kentucky town where she grew up. Ann and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren and still enjoy country life on a farm near that small town. To find out more about Ann’s books or to follow her blog, visit her website. You can also join the conversation on her Facebook page. 


A Preview of Murder Comes by Mail 

 

Deputy Sheriff Michael Keane doesn’t particularly enjoy being touted as the hero of Hidden Springs after pulling a suicidal man back from the edge of the Eagle River bridge in front of dozens of witnesses–a few of whom caught the breathtaking moments with their cameras. But the media hype doesn’t last long as a new story pushes its way into the public consciousness of Hidden Springs’ concerned citizens. 

Photos of a dead girl arrive in the mail, and Michael becomes convinced she was murdered by the man he saved. With a killer one step ahead, things in Hidden Springs begin to unravel. Now Michael must protect the people he loves–because the killer could be targeting one of them next.

Readers will love racing along with Deputy Sheriff Keane as the clock ticks in this page-turner. Available at Amazon and other retailers.

Giveaway Info

Ann is giving away a copy of Murder Comes by Mail to one of my followers in the United States. Kindly note the following:

 
1) Please comment below, and leave your email address so I can contact you.  

2) I'd appreciate you following Write Now by Google Friend Connect or Facebook (see sidebar). 

3) Giveaway ends Thursday, August 11, 2016 at midnight Eastern Time. Winner will be notified by email and have 36 hours to respond or another name will be chosen.  


I'll leave you with Ann's question: 

Did you read mysteries like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew when you were a kid the way I (Ann) did? 

Happy reading and writing,

Karen

Mystery, Murder, and Favorites with Ann Gabhart

Ann Gabhart is back! I'm excited to help celebrate her latest release, Murder at the Courthouse. She's offered a copy to one of my followers, so please check out the giveaway details below.

Here's a peek at the back cover:  

After a few years as a police officer in Chicago, Michael Keane has no trouble relaxing into the far less stressful job of deputy sheriff in his small hometown. After all, nothing ever happens in Hidden Springs, Kentucky. Nothing, that is, until a dead body is discovered on the courthouse steps. Everyone in town is a little uneasy. Still, no one is terribly worried—after all the man was a stranger—until one of their own is murdered right on Main Street. 

As Michael works to solve the case it seems that every nosy resident in town has a theory. When the sheriff insists Michael check out one of these harebrained theories, his surprising discovery sends him on a bewildering search for a mysterious killer that has him questioning everything he has ever believed about life in Hidden Springs. 

Bringing with her a knack for creating settings you want to visit and an uncanny ability to bring characters to life, A. H. Gabhart pens a whodunit that will keep readers guessing. 

Ann and I thought it would be fun to ask her main character, Michael Keane, about some of his favorite things. This is how he replied:

Favorite food/s – Cindy’s pecan pies at the Hidden Springs Grill are hard to beat. Especially if you tell her to warm it up a little and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If I ate that all the time, I’d have to work out twice as much. Then freshly caught fish from Eagle Lake fried in a skillet over an open fire when I’m camping out in rough country near the lake have to be on my favorite list. There’s just something extra good about eating fish you caught yourself while watching the sun sink down on the western horizon of the lake. 

Favorite beverage – I’m a police officer. That means coffee, black and strong, is as necessary as water. 

Favorite sport – I guess I’d have to say fishing. That counts as a sport, doesn’t it? I like getting out on the lake in my motor boat and throwing out a line. But I also have an old rowboat that I like to get in and slide out on the water. Especially early in the morning while the mist is lifting from the lake. The only noise is the dip of the paddles, the birds welcoming the sun, and sometimes a fish jumping up out of the water to try out the morning air and flopping back down with a little slap sound. 

Favorite piece of advice someone's offered over the years – Here’s something Aunt Lindy told me not too long ago after I moved back to Hidden Springs from Columbus, Ohio. “You young people are always in such a hurry you forget to notice what the good Lord is doing in your life. The Lord wants you right here in Hidden Springs.” I don’t know if I could call that my favorite piece of advice, but it is something that I have to consider. I don’t want to be in too big a hurry to notice the blessings of my days. I do feel as if I belong in Hidden Springs. That makes some problems for me since the girl I’ve loved since we were kids thinks a town like Hidden Springs is the last place she wants to be. 

Favorite quote – My Aunt Lindy shared Lamentations 3:22-23 with me years ago. It’s the verse she read over and over while I was in a coma after the terrible accident that killed my parents and almost killed me. She said she read this every morning as she prayed for me. 

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 

Hard not to have that be a favorite since I’ve always been sure it was Aunt Lindy’s love and prayers that pulled me out of the black abyss I was in and gave me a second chance at life. 

Favorite hobby – There is that fishing I’ve already mentioned. But I also like to delve into the history of the Civil War. Some of my great, ever so great uncles fought in the war. Not all on the same side. They were brothers divided by the war. Now I read Civil War histories and collect Civil War weapons. I’ve taken part in some of the Civil War re-enactments. The last one I did, I was a Union soldier like my Uncle Pascal. I was one of the soldiers who charged the enemy line and didn’t make it home. So for most of the re-enactment, I was playing dead on the field of battle.

Favorite way to relax – I guess I’d have to say being out in that rowboat with my dog, Jasper. Or sometimes just sitting on the porch of my log house as night falls with the whippoorwills calling and Jasper asleep beside me. Of course, Jasper wakes up when the coyotes start yipping and howling. 

Favorite season – I like all the seasons down on the lake, but Spring and Fall might be my favorites. Winter is good too, but if too much snow falls, it makes responding to emergency calls when I’m off duty difficult. I want to be there ASAP for the citizens of Hidden Springs and Keane County if they have a need for police protection.

Favorite thing about Hidden Springs – I like that people know one another. It’s a good thing to walk down the street and greet friends and neighbors by name. It’s like a big town family. That’s not to say we all love one another in Hidden Springs or even all get along. Many extended families have plenty of disagreements among their members at times. So do we in Hidden Springs, but in times of trouble, folks step up and help one another out.

Thanks for inviting Michael over for an interview, Karen. Now he’s going fishing! 

Thanks for stopping by and allowing Michael to share with us, Ann. :) Wishing you continued success with your books!  

    About Ann 

A.H. Gabhart is Ann H. Gabhart, bestselling author of many novels, including Love Comes Home, the 2015 Selah Book of Year winner and her popular Shaker novels. She also writes about family life, love and now mystery in small towns like the one in Kentucky where she grew up. She and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren and still enjoy country life on a farm near that small town, but she’s happy to report that nobody was ever murdered on her hometown’s courthouse steps. To find out more about Ann’s books or to read her blog, visit:

Ann's Website
Ann on Facebook
Purchase Murder at the Courthouse 

Giveaway Details

Ann is giving away one paperback copy of Murder at the Courthouse. To enter, please note the following:   

1) Open to U.S. residents only.  
2) Please leave your email address. 
3) You must be a Google Friend Connect Follower of Write Now (on sidebar). 
4) Giveaway ends Friday, October 23 at noon Eastern Daylight Time. Winner will be contacted via email and have 36 hours to respond or another name will be chosen.  

What's your favorite way to spend free time? Have any questions for Ann?

Happy reading and writing,

Karen