Get E-Mail Updates 
Hello from Susan Santangelo, and welcome to this blog hop. Don’t worry — no physical exercise is involved.
Before we get started, I want to give a big shout out/thank you to Anne Holmes and the terrific organization she heads up – the National Association of Baby Boomer Women – for letting me guest post on the NABBW blog site. I promised Anne that I’d be a very good guest – clear my place, make my bed, walk the dog etc. Not sure about taking out the garbage, though. My Beloved Husband Joe usually takes care of that.
And now, with that out of the way, on with the blog!
This weekly blog hop is a way for readers to discover new authors. A good goal for the new year. And it’s also a way for authors to discover each other. After all, most authors are voracious readers, too. But, I have to confess that, as a writer of cozy mysteries, I tend to gravitate toward authors who also write cozies. Joining this blog hop is a way for me to broaden my reading horizons, and I’m looking forward to that.
In this blog post, you’ll find information about me and my Baby Boomer mystery series: Retirement Can Be Murder, Moving Can Be Murder, and Marriage Can Be Murder.
The third book in my series, Marriage Can Be Murder, was named one of 2012’s best mysteries by Suspense magazine. (Not that I’m bragging or anything. I’m merely giving you all some helpful information.)
I’d like to thank fellow author Chester Campbell for tagging me to participate in this blog hop. Click the link to find out about Chester’s latest book, The Poksu Conspiracy, a thriller that’s bound to keep you entertained. I’m certainly planning to read it!
Now comes the part where I’m supposed to give you some information about what I’m working on now, as well as some insights into my process, from characters and inspirations to plotting and cover decisions. So, here we go.
Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and questions. Here is my Next Big Thing!
1: What is the working title of your book?
Class Reunions Can Be Murder
2: Where did the idea come from for the book?
I recently attended my high school reunion. Had a great time. And as I looked around at my classmates, I wondered what secrets they were all hiding. And if any of those secrets could lead to…murder. And I decided to write the next book in my series about a high school reunion. None of the book’s characters are based on anyone in my class. Honestly.
3: What genre does your book come under?
I guess I would characterize all my books as cozy mysteries. They’re humorous and light. Not the kind that will give anybody nightmares.
4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
My two major characters are Jim and Carol Andrews, a typical Baby Boomer couple. In my wildest fantasies, my dream cast would be Tim Allen as Jim and Jamie Lee Curtis as Carol.
5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A 40th high school reunion at a former Catholic girls’ high school, soon to become a senior living facility, yields surprising secrets, including the identity, and murder, of a soft porn book author.
6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?
We have our own publishing company here on Cape Cod, Baby Boomer Mysteries Press.
7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It’s taken me six months so far. I hope to have the book completed and published by this summer. Emphasis on the word “hope.”
8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
My books have been compared to Valerie Wolzien’s, who is one of my idols, as well as Jessica Fletcher, the sleuth Angela Lansbury played in the long-running hit television show Murder She Wrote. In fact, several national critics have suggested that my series would make a great television show. I’m still waiting for that to happen. I’ve also been told that the books are as funny as Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.
Class Reunions Can Be Murder is the latest in the continuing story of Carol and Jim Andrews. There are at least five more planned in the series, providing I live long enough to write them! Here’s a link to Book 3, Marriage Can Be Murder on Amazon. Hope you’ll check it out.
And if you do, you’ll see my muse and partner in crime, Boomer (get it?), my three-year-old very spoiled English cocker spaniel, who’s the cover model for the books.
In the series, Carol and Jim Andrews have two English cocker spaniels, Lucy and Ethel. Boomer doesn’t like posing as girls, but he works cheap. A few dog biscuits and he’s a happy guy.
9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I lived the story! Except for the soft porn and the murder, of course.
10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The subtitle for all the book titles is: “Every Wife Has A Story.” I write about situations that thousands of Boomers, especially women, identify with. At least, that’s what my readers tell me. Many women have contacted me to say that I’m writing their lives, and wonder when I’ve met their husband. Hmm. Gotta think about that one.
I’ve tagged Terri-Ann Armstrong to participate in this blog hoop next Wednesday. Terri is the author of the Menace Trilogy: Morning Menace, Medieval Menace, and Maternal Menace. The first in her new cozy series, How To Plant A Body, was published in 2012. Terri’s also the Executive Editor of Suspense Magazine. She’ll be posting on her own blog site: http://terriannarmstrong.wordpress.com/ Wow – that’s quite a mouthful! Do be sure to bookmark and add this to your calendar.
Happy Reading!
Susan
