Liz here, welcoming Amanda Flower back to the blog. We started out the month with a Valentine’s Day-themed book and now we’re closing out with one! Amanda’s here to talk about the latest book in her Amish Matchmaker series, Honeymoons Can Be Hazardous. Take it away, Amanda!
In Honeymooons Can Be Hazardous, Amish sixty-something Millie Fisher and her very non-Amish best friend Lois Henry are back for another case. This one hits close to home for Lois. After being married four times, Lois is ready to find husband number five, but she has to deal with some unfinished business when it comes to ex-husband number four, AKA Rocksino Guy, before that can happen. For good or ill, Rocksino Guy is in the Amish village of Harvest where Millie and Lois live on his honeymoon with his new much younger bride. To make matters worse, Lois is faced with her ex and his new bride on Valentine’s Day! Let’s just say, Lois doesn’t take his appearance in the village well and she tells him just what she thinks of him and his new bride. Things go from bad to worse when Millie and Lois find the bride’s body the next morning at a local resort. From the start Lois is the prime suspect, which puts Millie and Lois on the case. The deeper they dig the more they learn about corrupt and greedy side of Amish Country.
Sugarcreek, Ohio, a real village not for from my fictional Harvest, Ohio, boasts a giant cuckoo clock. It is the showpiece of the village, and due to the German Swiss heritage of the Amish in the area, cuckoo clocks are popular souvenirs. I always wanted to use this piece of local history in one my novels set in Harvest. The Harvest books include both the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries and the Amish Matchmaker Mysteries. I finally had an opportunity to use the clock in a novel in Honeymoons Can Be Hazardous. I realized that it would be an excellent murder weapon. However, the real clock in Sugarcreek is beloved, and not wanting to upset the people living in this very real town, I mention the clock but create a rival clock at a fictional resort for the crime in this novel. You can see many photos of the real clock online, but here’s a link to a favorite.
I hope you will give this latest mystery with Millie and Lois a try to find out how I combine Valentine’s Day, a shifty ex-husband, a giant cuckoo clock, and some peculiar sheep all together in this murder. I believe it’s one of the best Harvest novels to date! And never fear, between the two series there are at least five more Harvest novels to come after this book! Enjoy!
Readers, I’m curious – what do you think of cuckoo clocks? Would love to know!
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Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over forty-five mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she had been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, and Sourcebooks. In addition to being a writer, she was a librarian for fifteen years. Today, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio with their six adorable cats.
Oh, another Amanda Flower book! How exciting. I love cuckoo clocks. I gave one to my mother over 50 years ago. It eventually had it’s problems that she could never find anyone to fix, but she kept it anyway. When she died, someone (I forget who) really wanted it, so they received one broken cuckoo. Everyone was happy. We have a grandmother clock that is even a little older, but I’ve been able to find people to keep it in great running order. I don’t think I could stand both the bongs and the cuckoos in our not-so-large house. 🙂
Congrats on the new book! I’m so excited to read it. I love your books! My grandmother has a bunch of different cuckoo clocks that play music. The one I like the best is her clock that chirps a bird song each hour when the bird pops out. The clock used to scare me as little girl when the bird popped out, LOL.
Thanka for the chance!
Congratulations, Amanda! I love the idea of your more senior sleuths.
We had a cuckoo clock in the house when I was a child, and I was fascinated by it.
Congrats on the new book. I like cuckoo clocks, especially the one that play a musical song
Congratulations, Amanda. Now I want to know how the clock is used as murder weapon! I guess I’ll have to read the book.
Congrats, Amanda. I love the intricacy of cuckoo clocks, but the noise can become irritating after a while.
We LOVE them! So much so that we own several – all operating. The one we treasure the most in a very old standing mantel one that when the bird comes out his wings flap.
We would love to see the huge one in Ohio. We had planned a trip there last year, but medical issues changed our plans. It’s still on our “places to see” do list.
Can’t wait for the opportunity to read “Honeymoons Can Be Hazardous”, which sounds fabulous and is already on my TBR list.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Welcome back, Amanda and congratulations on the new book! That cuckoo clock is amazing! I love to see them but I wouldn’t want one in my house!
Congrats on the Mary Higgins Clark and Agatha nominations! What a way to kick off 2023 and on your latest release. I’m looking forward to a visit to Amish country. Thank you also for all you do for the kittens.
I’m of German extraction – among other bits for sauce and spice – cuckoo clocks are in the DNA. There’s something comforting about their regular ooking!
Cuckoo clocks are fun to watch, but I wouldn’t want to live with one! I need my sleep!
Welcome back Amanda! I’m very fond of clocks, and love the idea of using a cuckoo clock as a weapon. Congratulations!!
I love them. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.