The Magic of New Releases

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Hey readers! Cate here, on a super special, triple-release day. Along with my new series debut, Witch Hunt, we’re celebrating the release day for Maddie Day’s Nacho Average Murder and the wide release of Barb Ross’s Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. It’s an awesome day for the Wickeds – congrats ladies!

To celebrate, I wanted to talk about magic – my protagonist, Violet Mooney, is a witch, after all. And I got to thinking – no matter how many books we put out into the world (and we have a lot of them!) there’s always a magic about it.

For me, this book is a dream come true – I love magic, crystals, and cats, which covers about all the subject matter in the book. And I’ve always wanted to write a witchy, paranormal series. So this release is extra magical for me. To add to it, Cate finally got her new website! Which is also super magical and the fact that it got done in time is also magic…

What about you ladies? What’s magical about each of your new releases?

Edith/Maddie: As you both know, I am a native Californian. While I don’t miss the Los Angeles traffic or the smog of my childhood, I am still a westerner at heart. When I fly over the Rocky Mountains, I feel like I can finally breathe again. So setting a book in Santa Barbara was kind of magical. Hugh and I took a delightful research trip there in February of 2019. We sampled the food (and craft beer), checked out what was blooming, smelled the air. We visited all the places I mention in the book and gazed at both the wide Pacific and the Santa Inez mountains. It was magical to bring all that to life in Nacho Average Murder! I included a fortune teller on the pier (modeled on the real one), so the story also has a little of your kind of magic, Liz.

Barb: The magic of Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody is that it exists. I left my day job in late 2010. (Or rather my day job left me and the universe was sending multiple messages it was time to pack it in.) Through 2011 and into 2012 I wrote the first several drafts of Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. I got far enough that I even asked Sherry to review it. But I never got to querying agents and the opportunity to write the Maine Clambake Mysteries came along. So Jane went into the proverbial drawer. (Which is actually a file that was brought forward every time I got a new laptop.) Then, in the summer of 2017, my agent called to say I had an opportunity to write a book that would be a Barnes & Noble exclusive. I was in the middle of moving and pressed for time so I said, “If you’ll take a book I’ve already written, let’s do it.” I had been plundering the Jane manuscript to produce short stories, so I sent them a copy of story that appeared in Noir at the Salad Bar and updated the old synopsis I had never sent out. Kensington accepted the proposal. When things settled down from the move and I finally opened the old manuscript, I was appalled. I had become a much better mystery writer in the ensuing six years. (Writing does make you a better writer.) Plus, in some misbegotten revision, I had changed half the manuscript to first person. I swear it took as long to fix the book as it would have to write a new one, but in the end, Jane prevailed. The magic is that in the crazy world of writing and publishing she is here at all.

Liz: I love that story, Barb! And love that there’s some magic in yours, Edith. Congrats ladies!

Readers, what do you think of the new releases? Any of them on your TBR list? Tell us in the comments below!

Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

46 Thoughts

  1. I confess: Jane Darrowfield is buried in the ARC queue and I really AM trying to get to her! Back to the (currently) 15,180 unread emails…

  2. I got the email notice that NACHO AVERAGE MURDER is on its way to me from the bookstore! If it arrives before the holiday weekend, you know what my plans will be.

    The other two books have been added to my want list.

  4. Congratulations on the triple book release, Wickeds!

    I got a copy of Barb’s book when it was a B&N exclusive at last year’s Dallas Bouchercon Kensington giveaway. I have an ARC of Nacho Average Murder that I have started to read. And Cate’s book is on my wishlist.

  6. Three cheers on your new releases, ladies! Wishing you a magical day with lots and lots of sales!

  7. I am lucky enough to have already enjoyed Barbara and Cate’s new books. Maggie/ Edith’s should be here today, I always look forward to anything you all put out and know I have a bunch preordered for this summer still!

  13. I woke up to all three on my Nook to be read. I need to finish the one I’m on but I’ll start on these over the long weekend.

  14. Happy Release Day to all three!

    Read and LOVED “Nacho Average Murder”! Can’t wait for the opportunity to read the other two.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    1. I’m delighted to hear that, Kay! Thank you. Barb’s is great, and I know Cate’s will be too – as soon as I can get over to my local indy and pick it up.

  15. Congrats to all three of you talented ladies. I love anything by Edity/Maddie, I’m looking forward to “meeting” Cate, and busybody Jane Darrowfield has been chosen by my book club as the October read. I feel I’m a triple winner right now.

  17. I once read that Ray Bradbury had a drawer of out-takes from manuscripts, just waiting to inspire something new. Waste not, want not. As C-19 has intensified my transformation into a hermit, I am grateful for books! You do the hard work, I enjoy the rewards . . . seems fair to me. <3

  18. Congratulations on the three book releases. I am looking forward to reading Witch Hunt. I read Jane Darrowfield when it was a Barnes and Noble exclusive…I really enjoyed it. I won an ARC of Nacho Average Murder…it’s my now my favorite of the Country Store series.

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