Expo Extras!

        

         Jordan Daily News Mysteries will be featured this weekend at the West Michigan Women's Expo in Grand Rapids. Great Lakes Authors, a group of 32 writers from various genres, will be hosting a booth for the three-day event.
           Although my books will be making an appearance, I won't be there. I'm still enjoying my winter in Florida. I know it is warming up in Michigan, but I'm not ready to leave the Sunshine State. I knew you would understand.
             I'm posting the following FAQ in case you have questions about the series. I hope you'll stop by the expo and pick up one of my mysteries as well as books by other local authors including Charles Honey, Tom Rademacher, Tricia MacDonald, Janet Vormittag and many more.

Jordan Daily News Mysteries

Does this series have recurring characters?

Yes. The mysteries are solved by the staff of a small town daily newspaper. Single-mother city editor Josie Braun leads the staff including investigative reporter Duke Dukakis, smooth talker Nick Davidson and crusader-for-the-underdog Becky Judd.

Where and when does this series take place?

The mysteries are set in the fictional Chicago suburb of Jordan in the pre-internet 1980s.

Is this stuff true crime?

No, this is fiction. The author was inspired, however, by events that happened during her newspaper career. Great News Town, for instance, is inspired by a series of murders that took place in 1983 when Sue Merrell was working for the Joliet Herald-News and One Shoe Off is inspired by the 1957 disappearance of Joliet newspaper editor Molly Zelko.

Do I need to read them in order?

No, each mystery stands alone. But as with any good series the characters and the relationships grow and change from book to book. If you start with the second book, One Shoe Off, you’ll see a city editor who is much more confident than in the first book, Great News Town, and you’ll know the status of her love interest from the first book.

I don’t like too much violence or bad language. Are these books offensive?

Great News Town is about a serial killer with 14 murders in one summer. But the thrust of the story is the lives that were lost and the community’s reaction, not the gory details. Although there are a few deaths in One Shoe Off and one in Full Moon Friday, the stories are more about the anticipation of violence than the actual events. Foul language is kept to a minimum. Part of the humor of the series is that Duke invents a new curse phrase every time he feels like using a four-letter word.

I don’t like graphic sex.

The secret to a sexy scene is in the imagination, not graphic details.

So which one should I buy?

Great News Town introduces the series and the characters with lots of murders to solve. It’s the first in the series and was an honorable mention in Writers’ Digest 2014 Self-Published book awards. One Shoe Off was a finalist in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Awards in 2013. Most readers love Zelda Machinko, an opinionated editor from the past who haunts the newsroom. Full Moon Friday is about all the things that go wrong when a full moon coincides with Friday the 13^th. It’s for anyone who’s a little superstitious. This fast-paced tale takes place in 24 hours.