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Looking for something mysterious and exciting?
“The Augusta McKee Mysteries” are unique in that each has music as part of the plot, but in different ways. The first book, The Case of the Slain Soprano, took place on a college campus while preparing for the performance of an operetta, The Pirates of Penzance. This is where Augusta met Cincinnati Homicide Detective Malcolm Mitchell, the other half of our sleuthing team. In the second book of the series, The Case of the Disappearing Director, the story’s setting expands to include members of a Mafia family in the nearby town of Newport, Kentucky. All this while Augusta was directing a “ghostly” opera workshop production at the other college…
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A LIFETIME IS NOT ENOUGH FOR MUSIC
The second book I wrote, Eli’s Heart, is a love story and more. Krissy Porter and Eli Levin meet as young teens when Eli, who is a piano prodigy, visits his older sister in Krissy’s town in Tennessee in the summer of 1953. They become good friends and are on the verge of romance, but their relationship is ended by Eli’s over-protective family. They find their way back to each other while college students and marry on Krissy’s twentieth birthday. The story continues as each of them builds a career in the music world. While Eli was born with an unusual gift for music, he also was born with a seriously damaged…
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Why I Write About Music
In my book Memories of Jake, I introduce the reader to the elder of two brothers who served in Vietnam. The book is the first in “The Cameron Saga” and is about how the war affected the brothers and the people they love. My character Andrew Cameron is an artist. Yet music is vital to his very existence. Andrew listens to music as he paints; it inspires him. Music provides hope, comfort, and healing throughout his life, whatever challenges he must face. Music is part of the happiness he experiences. Jake, the younger brother and protagonist of Man with No Yesterdays, suffers severe retrograde amnesia in a helicopter accident, and…
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THE BOOK THAT ALMOST WASN’T
The fifth book I wrote, Memories of Jake, dealt with two brothers who served in Vietnam in the late 1960s-early 1970s, and the impact their service had on them and their families. Andrew, the older by two years, an artist and musician, enlisted from a sense of duty after his first year of college. His rakish younger brother Jacob, an athlete and ladies’ man, enlisted immediately after high school from a desire for adventure. During Jake’s time in Vietnam, where he served as a Green Beret, a helicopter crash resulted in severe retrograde amnesia. He could remember a great deal about the world, but almost nothing of his past life…
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Interview with Kelly Jensen
The word “prolific” definitely applies to the Shaggy Dog author we’re talking with today! Kelly Jensen thus far has over twenty books released, and several more will soon be joining them if I’m not mistaken. Some are available as audiobooks as well as e-books and/or in print, and I see on her Amazon page a few have been translated into German! Impressive. Most are contemporary romance, and I’ve enjoyed reading several of them. SMJ: If I’m not mistaken, you didn’t begin your writing life as a novelist, but rather by writing non-fiction articles. What made you decide to venture into fiction? KJ: Fan-fiction, which I didn’t even know was a…
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Interview with Sahar Abdulaziz
Today we have an opportunity to speak with Shaggy Dog author Sahar Abdulaziz, who writes in a wide variety of genres. I would say from dark psychological thrillers to warm-hearted satire covers quite a range! Sahar, I’ve read many of your excellent books and enjoyed them immensely. Most recently, the third volume in your Abernathy and Crane series. SMJ: One thing I appreciate about your books in any genre is how alive your characters become to your readers. Since I mentioned the series, where did Irwin Abernathy come from? He’s truly an unforgettable character! SA: Thank you. My stories are all character-driven, for sure. If I can make them…
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Interview with MA Moore
Today we’re talking with Shaggy Dog author M.A. Moore, whose most recently released book is The Case of the Missing Monarch. SMJ: You’re a lady of many interests and many talents. I believe you started your professional life as a violinist and later became a professor of science and astronomy, is that correct? Which explains the background for the novel I just finished reading and enjoyed immensely, The Stars to Guide Them. Can you tell us a little more about your background? MAA: I actually spent the first ten years of my adult life as a professional violinist. At one time I played in three orchestras, started a Suzuki…
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Interview with Belinda M Gordon
For this third installment in our series about Shaggy Dog’s Lady Writers, we feature Belinda Gordon, the founder and director of our publishing cooperative. Belinda is a lady of many talents, and we learned more during a recent conversation with this dynamic entrepreneur. SMJ: I just read and thoroughly enjoyed your award-winning book, The Good Pharmacist’s Deadly Secrets—a Finalist in the 2020 AIN Book of the Year Award. I see it’s listed as book one in a new series, following your 4-book series “The King’s Jewel.” All of these include mythical creatures from a world very different from our own. Do you consider these works urban fantasy, and what…
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Interview with Evelyn Infante
How exciting for all of us Lady Writers at Shaggy Dog Productions to celebrate the release of Evelyn Infante’s new book, Simply Gregg, on Amazon on March 11! We sat down with Evelyn for an interview shortly before the book became available to the public and asked her to share some thoughts. SMJ: I’m excited to read your new book, Simply Gregg, which is about to be released. I know it’s a mystery. Can you tell us a little more about it? EI: Simply Gregg is not so much a mystery as it is a detective story. You know who the killer is soon after the homicide. The story…
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“Author, Author!”
Meet the Lady Writers of Shaggy Dog Productions Susan Moore Jordan After many years in the music world, as student, teacher, performer, stage musical director, I wrote my first book in 2013 at the age of 75. Once I had written it, I wanted to hold a copy in my hands and decided to publish it. I opted to “self-publish,” partly because at the time there were fewer choices than there are today. I honestly thought my book would be “one and done,” but hadn’t realized I had been bitten by the bug. From that first book came others, historical novels all set in the twentieth century, and all including…
