Character Interview with Bebe Bollinger, star of “The Body In The Snow”

Character Interview with Bebe Bollinger 

Thanks for meeting with us today, Mrs Bollinger. Please tell us, how do you know Christoph Fischer, the author?

Please call me Bebe, my dear. As for Mr Fischer: I’ve never met the man. I was gobsmacked to find he wrote a book about me. What can I say? Gay men seem to love us Diva’s, and they’re such loyal fans. I must have lunch with him sometime. I’m very grateful he thought of me when writing his mystery novel. What a sweetheart.

Are you happy with the setting he placed you in?

I like Wales and the cottage he’s given me, very quaint and remote, but honestly, those neighbours? I’m not amused. What would have been wrong with having Tom Jones or Charlotte Church in the hamlet? I hope in the next book he’ll find me someone less mad and common.

I’ll make sure to suggest that to him when I interview him.

Good. And tell him there’s no need to be like my last hopeless agent and put me onto a reality TV show in the next book. I won’t have it. In the next story I want to be back on “Top of the Pops”.

Er, that show has been cancelled a few years ago.

Really? I had no idea… Well, I’d go on the Parkinson show or Oprah.

Er I don’t think the Parkinson show runs anymore either. But I get the picture. Now, what do you think attracted Fischer to your character?

My musical talent, I should hope. Maybe he would like to sing like me, maybe he’s a closet drag queen, or hopefully, he just has good taste.

How did you get involved in the detective work in the book?

When I heard of that dreadful incident and that the police seemed to be so incredibly clueless, I had to make myself available to help.

I read that you were not answering your door.

Yes, yes. That’s true but only partially. I was busy recording music in my private studio in the basement, and then I was in London at a business meeting. As soon as I could, I provided every support to the police that I could.

Someone told me that was only because your daughter is implicated in the case?

What a vicious insinuation. I refuse to comment. You should ask me questions about my musical comeback. That’s what your readers want to know about.

So what about your comeback?

It’s very early days but we’re in a really hot phase of negotiating a record deal and a duet coming out on single with a very hot star.

That wouldn’t be with Will Young?

Er… I don’t think Fischer will be so predictable. Since Will Young left Strictly Come Dancing in a huff last week, I shouldn’t put my eggs in his basket, should I? Tell that to Mr Fischer, please.

There seems to be some confusion about your age…

Would you like to some tea? Or a Gin & Tonic? I’m being a dreadful hostess.

No thank you. No back to my question…

I have some snacks. Not that I could afford to eat them. I need to watch my figure, but there’s nothing of you…

You were first credited in a newspaper clipping in 1969 as performer at the Lewisham Tea Dance. You must have been at least 18 to have been allowed to perform there, under the laws of the time.

Well, if you must know, my father accompanied me, so I was able to perform there, despite the fact that I was MUCH YOUNGER than 18. I’m not sure you got the right year anyway. Next question, and make it a good one please.

Mrs Bollinger, what do you think about Cosy Mysteries?

Darling, I love them. I only wish I had more time to read them. I will read all of Fischer’s work, though.  Tell him that, when you see him, and tell him that I would prefer it, if he wrote my biography or in a serious drama.

Get the book here: http://bookShow.me/B01LVYRI9L

Blurb:

Fading celebrity Bebe Bollinger is on the wrong side of fifty and dreaming of a return to the limelight. When a TV show offers the chance of a comeback, Bebe grabs it with both hands – not even a lazy agent, her embarrassing daughter, irritating neighbours or a catastrophic snowfall will derail her moment of glory. But when a body is found in her sleepy Welsh hamlet, scandal threatens.

Detective Sergeant Beth Cooper has a string of unsolved cases to her name. Her girlfriend left her and she’s a fish out of water in rural West Wales. Things couldn’t get much worse – until the case of the Body in The Snow lands in her lap.

Can Beth solve the case and save her career and can Bebe make her comeback? All will be revealed in this light-hearted, cosy murder mystery by best-selling and award winning historical and crime fiction novelist Christoph Fischer.

Christoph Fischer was born in Germany, near the Austrian border, as the son of a Sudeten-German father and a Bavarian mother. Not a full local in the eyes and ears of his peers he developed an ambiguous sense of belonging and moved to Hamburg in pursuit of his studies and to lead a life of literary indulgence. In 1993 he moved to the UK and now lives in Llandeilo in West Wales. He and his partner have several Labradoodles to complete their family.

Christoph worked for the British Film Institute, in Libraries, Museums and for an airline. His first historical novel, ‘The Luck of The Weissensteiners’,  was published in November 2012 and downloaded over 60,000 times on Amazon. He has released several more historical novels, including “In Search of A Revolution” and “Ludwika”. He also wrote some contemporary family dramas and thrillers, most notably “Time to Let Go” and “The Healer”.

 

 

Website: http://www.christophfischerbooks.com/

Blog: https://writerchristophfischer.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6590171.Christoph_Fischer

Amazon: http://ow.ly/BtveY

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFFBooks

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/christophffisch/

Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106213860775307052243

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=241333846

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WriterChristophFischer?ref=hl

Halloween Mystery Monday with Teresa Reasor

Christoph thank you so much for having me on your blog. And I’m obsessed with my work so I was thrilled when you invited me to join you.

Since it’s close to Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, and I get to talk about my latest release, a Kindle World Novella, Magic and Mayhem: Have Wand, Will Travel that’s an extra bonus.

I was a closet writer for years and penned nine of the worst romances ever written before I started really learning my craft. They’re still in a closet at my house. Thank goodness I never submitted any of them. 

 

I taught art at a primary school for 21 years and was an adjunct college instructor for 10 years for Eastern Kentucky University. But I never stopped writing. And now that I’m retired I get to do what I love best. Write!

I’m a New York Times and USA Today Best-selling author. I write a little of everything. Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy, Military Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, and all of my books have suspense in them.

Tell us about your Detective / main character.

 

In Have Wand, Will Travel my main character is  Zaira O’Shea. She’s both a witch and a Private Investigator. She has a reputation for always getting her man, artifact, or magical device. She’s owner of the Have Wand, Will Travel Detective Agency. The other detectives in her agency are different preternatural beings. She has a fairy, a pixie, a vampire, and herself. But I’m not ruling out other types of beings becoming investigators for her firm. I think she may need a WEREcreature of some kind to investigate Were issues.

What is more important in your books – the plot twists or the characters?

I know all my books are character driven and the plot twists come about to disrupt their lives and force them to deal with issues and grow as people or beings in the case of my latest release. To have your characters connect with the reader is the most important thing. So if you can write characters your readers can care about, they’ll be interested in what happens to them no matter if they grow fangs  (my hero is a vampire) and bite or can teleport from one place to another like Zaira my witch.

Is there such a thing as cozy in murder mystery?

Yes, I believe there is. I used to watch Murder She Wrote faithfully. I considered the series a cozy series and someone was murdered every week. The entire nature of a mystery plot is to solve the reason behind a crime while someone else is attempting to prevent you from doing so.  I think to be a cozy you must keep the violence off screen as much as possible and control how intense the conflict between characters becomes. I was able to keep the magical violence to a minimum in Have Wand, Will Travel because of the comedic nature of the story line. So I think it would be considered a cozy.

Do you include humour?

Always. Even in my more serious stories like my SEAL Team Heartbreakers Series, I use humour to lighten things when my characters and readers need a break from the more serious elements in the books.  No one is serious a hundred percent of the time any more than they’re funny.  I was able to stretch my comedic writing muscles in Have Wand, Will Travel and write funny because of the nature of the series it was meant for.

What are you working on now? 

 

I’m working on another SEAL Team Heartbreaker book titled Breaking Point.  I believe it will be a shorter book than my last. Possibly 45,000 words. And I’m working on the second book in my Paranormal Romance Series, the Superstition Series titled Deep Within The Stone.  And I’ve been asked to write another novella for the Magic and Mayhem Kindle World!! Which was very exciting. All these projects will be released next year.

What is your favorite book/author?

 

There are too many books to list. I’m an avid reader. But since we’re talking about mystery, my favorite writers for suspense are: Michael Connelly, Nelson DeMille, Sandra Brown, Lisa Unger, and Nora Roberts. I particularly like Nora’s J.D. Robb In Death Series.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I’m an artist as well as a writer. So when I’m not writing, I’m usually doing something creative. I make all my own greeting cards, paint, draw, and quill (which is rolled paper filigree). I’m told it’s a dying art, but I’ve been doing it since I was ten. I love to do multimedia art projects on canvas with paint, paper, fabric, found objects and quilling.

For more information about me or my books:

Website:  http://www.teresareasor.com

Amazon Author page: http://amzn.to/1j6OYPg

Twitter- https://twitter.com/teresareasor

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/SEAL.Crazy

Newsletter-  http://bit.ly/I7TtiC

 

The Blurb for Have Wand, Will Travel

A soul-sucking wand, a witch, a vampire and a hellhound.  ‘Nuff said.

Private detective and gifted witch Zaira O’Shea has built her reputation on her ability to always find her relic, magical device, or man. When the Witches’ Council hires her to find and return a stolen wand, she can’t refuse, and she’s eager to recover the device. Until the clues lead her to a vampire with fallen-angel good looks, and talents that don’t require a bite to lead her into temptation.

History professor and vampire Christophe Bakas has brushed off his cat burglar skills to steal a powerful wand for the Vampire Council, but only because they are holding his uncle hostage. When he meets Zaira, he hopes he’s found someone who’ll help with the rescue. But from their first teleportation he’s hooked on more than her flying skills.

The more they learn about the wand, the more Chris and Zaira believe neither council can be trusted with the dangerous device. With both councils closing in, they’re forced to go on the run. Only the vacationing Baba Yaga can make sure the wand isn’t used to destroy the careful balance between witch and vampire kind. If they can find her.

Assjacket, West Virginia here they come.

Because it is a Kindle World novella Magic and Mayhem: Have Wand, Will Travel is only available at Amazon in the US. Amazon is trying to get the books released world-wide. Hopefully it will happen soon.  

https://amzn.com/B01MF8NAD7

 

 

 

But I have something for everyone.

http://www.amazon.com/Teresa-Reasor/e/B0056ZRB7E/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teresa-Reasor/e/B0056ZRB7E/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1476909484&sr=8-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Teresa+reasor?_requestid=914319

https://itunes.apple.com/ie/author/teresa-j.-reasor/id824016149?mt=11

https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Teresa+J.+Reasor

https://store.kobobooks.com/search?Query=Teresa+Reasor

http://www.bookgorilla.com/author/B0056ZRB7E/teresa-reasor

 

 

Thank you so much for having me. Read on,

Teresa Reasor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review: All Hallows’ Eve Heist (Georgie Shaw #3) by Anna Celeste Burke #Halloween

I’m a declared fan of Anna Celeste Burke’s mysteries. They contain just the right blend of suspense and cosy. I like that Georgie is not your average detective. Mature in some ways and not in others, she provides enough vulnerability and experience to make for a protagonist that interests me.
Following on from her “Katmandu Mountain” series this one features the disruption of their date night by a armed heist. This is a fast read with good pacing and plot. The tension never lets up as Georgie and her partner in crime try to resolve the hairy situation at the Halloween celebration in Arcadia Park. With this setting the book is the perfect read for this season, but it is worth reading for its suspense and characters.
There are recipes for the season and a taste of the author’s other work. A very enjoyable and accomplished book.

Blurb:

Date night for Georgie Shaw and handsome detective Jack Wheeler goes terribly wrong. A botched heist at Marvelous Marley World has everyone scrambling as trigger-happy bad guys head for the Halloween celebration in Arcadia Park. With Hullabaloo-Boo in full swing, figuring out whodunit could take a little extra work. The Park is packed and everyone’s in costume. Will Jack and Georgie nab the faux-furred fiends before they can wreak more havoc or escape? Cozy mystery, romance, fun & recipes included!

LINKS FOR ANNA CELESTE BURKE 

TWITTER:                             https://twitter.com/aburke59

FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE:   https://www.facebook.com/annacelesteburke

WEBSITE:                              http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com/

BLOG PAGE:                         http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com/#!blog/c1dh1

GOODREADS:                       https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7553558.Anna_Celeste_Burke

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE:  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00H8J4IQS

Book Links:

Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series, Books 1-3 @ http://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Huntington-Desert-Cities-Mystery/dp/B00YIY37ZY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1448586983&sr=8-2&keywords=Jessica+Huntington

Love a Foot Above the Ground, Prequel to Jessica Huntington Series @ http://smarturl.it/loveabove

Cowabunga Christmas! Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery 1 @ http://smarturl.it/cove1

Mother’s Day Magic with Love http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Day-Magic-Angela-Ford-ebook/dp/B01AVHGNJI

Happy Homicides 2: Thirteen Cozy Mysteries (Crimes of the Heart) http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Homicides-Thirteen-Mysteries-Crimes-ebook/dp/B01B3FKGOU

Murder at Catmmando Mountain Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #1 http://smarturl.it/georgie1

About the author:

Life is an extravaganza of unpredictable dimension and proportion: figuring out how to hang tough and make the most of the wild ride is the challenge.

On my way to Oahu to join the rock musician and high school drop-out I married in Tijuana, I was nabbed by the police as a runaway. When the police let me go and the rock band broke up, my husband and I had to find another way to survive. Our next stop: Disney World where we trained to be chefs, courtesy of the Walt Disney World University.

A GED for my husband, and many more years of education eventually landed us in academia—with Ph.D.s from the University of Michigan we took professor jobs with U of M’s longstanding football rival, The Ohio State University.

Retired now from my role as a professor in social work and behavioral science, I have picked up a long-time interest in writing fiction. In my professional career I wrote and published widely as a scholar, with more than forty manuscripts of varying lengths on my vita. I also carried out hundreds of training, consulting and speaking engagements on a number of gloriously nerdy topics.

So what on earth does a research scientist have in common with a mystery writer? As avid fans of the mystery genre will tell you at the core of any good mystery is a passionate search for the truth. Discovering the truth involves finding and assembling pieces of complex puzzles in order to solve seemingly intractable problems—scientist and sleuth are cut from the same cloth!

Still married to the same sweet guy, I live with my husband in one of the seven desert resort cities in the Palm Springs area. In addition to reading and writing mysteries I enjoy painting, hiking, hanging out with my handsome husband and tending to my Siamese cats.

As my heroine, Jessica Huntington will tell you, the Sonoran Desert is a beautiful setting to ponder life’s mysteries, by the surrounding mountains and the bountiful delights of the desert resort communities.

A Dead Husband is the first of the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mysteries. Soon to be released: A Dead Sister, Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #2

Reader’s Favorite recognizes “Ludwika” in its 2016 international book award contest.

Since my plans to go to Miami for the award ceremony have fallen through, here is the press release about the award:

Reader’s Favorite recognizes “Ludwika” in its 2016 international book award contest.

The 2016 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest featured thousands of contestants from over a dozen countries.

Readers’ Favorite has become the fastest growing book review and award contest site on the Internet. They have earned the respect of renowned publishers like Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins, and have received the “Best Websites for Authors” and “Honoring Excellence” awards from the Association of Independent Authors. They are also fully accredited by the BBB (A+ rating), which is a rarity among Book Review and Book Award Contest companies.

In addition to reviewing for some of the biggest names in the literary industry, as well as the first time independent author, they host a respected award contest which features entries from new authors to NYT best-sellers, as well as celebrities like Jim Carrey and Henry Winkler.

“Readers’ Favorite is proud to announce that “Ludwika” by Christoph Fischer is a Finalist in the Fiction – Historical – Personage category in our 2016 International Book Award Contest.”

It’s World War II and Ludwika Gierz, a young Polish woman, is forced to leave her family and go to Nazi Germany to work for an SS officer. There, she must walk a tightrope, learning to live as a second-class citizen in a world where one wrong word could spell disaster and every day could be her last. Based on real events, this is a story of hope amid despair, of love amid loss . . . ultimately, it’s one woman’s story of survival.

Christoph Fischer was born in Germany, near the Austrian border, as the son of a Sudeten-German father and a Bavarian mother. Not a full local in the eyes and ears of his peers he developed an ambiguous sense of belonging and home in Bavaria. He moved to Hamburg in pursuit of his studies and to lead a life of literary indulgence. After a few years he moved on to the UK where he now lives in a small town in West Wales. He and his partner have three Labradoodles to complete their family.

Christoph worked for the British Film Institute, in Libraries, Museums and for an airline. ‘
The Luck of The Weissensteiners’ was published in November 2012, Since then he has published another 10 books.

Learn more at https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/ludwika

Christoph Fischer
Ludwika
https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/ludwika

My guest blog at Helen Hollick’s amazing blog ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.co.uk/

Here is my guest blog, published at Helen Hollick’s https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/was-surviving-wwii-luck-for-some.html

Was surviving WWII Luck for some?

“Luck” .. in “The Luck of the Weissensteiners”

my Tuesday Talk Guest, Christoph Fischer

Fiction about any war is rarely a light-hearted enterprise. Although there are many publications on the subject out there, I was amazed at the new angles and perspectives I discovered during my research for the project. Especially a war as big as World War II, with such a long duration and with so many theatres, makes it hard to think of the endless number of private misfortunes and life-altering events and new circumstances.

It is easy to forget about the smaller ‘players’ in the political arena and the people whose lives don’t fit into the broad categories of sufferers we know about. Was surviving the war really “luck” for some? For many countries in the east of Europe the ‘liberation’ by the Red Army brought neither freedom nor improvement to their lives, one might argue.

Each survivor has a tale and many of those have never been told.

As more time elapses history can be re-invented. Archives have been destroyed by bombing and by the receding German administration and troops and so many public records are missing. There is a myth about Finland claiming that it had only re-captured occupied territory and was never a proper member of the Axis powers. Slovakia, independent with Hitler’s help and an axis power, implied that it had been liberated by the Allies, not defeated, and returned to a unified state with the Czechs.

As much as we can re-construct, there will always be plenty of individual life-stories worth writing about. In the face of six million dead we stop caring about the individual. We look at the changing maps of Europe and accept them as the new world. It is hard to imagine for people in the British Isles how life changed for individuals when the new border was drawn between their homes and their family or their work.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire split in 1918 new nations were formed, separate cultures were fused together and people from the various corners of the large Empire found themselves stuck as a minority in a new and often hostile country. Enter the war and the implications for the individuals could become much more complex. In the space of a lifetime the changes could be extreme, something we probably do not appreciate enough in the UK, which has not seen war on its territory for so long. Imagine a Northern Ireland conflict, but one involving a few more languages, religions and ethnic groups.

The conflict raises the question where one’s loyalty lies? With the country, even if it is a newly created melting pot? With the ethnic group, even if it is clearly in the wrong? With your family, even if they are on different sides of the fence?

I researched the times because of my family’s origins in the area. I thought I knew most that there was to know about the Hitler period but I was very wrong. The story and the characters of my novel “The Luck of the Weissensteiners” soon took a life of their own. I wrote the book and researched the historical facts simultaneously. I was always on the same page as the characters in their lives, which made the experience exciting and tense. I could not wait to find out what happened. I lived with them through every new occurrence for the individuals and for their country. I deliberated with them through every decision that had to be made. I lived through the unpredictability and shared their amazement over life after the war, which was far from easy and fortunate for many.

The Luck of the Weissensteiners (Three Nations Trilogy Book 1)

In the sleepy town of Bratislava in 1933 a romantic girl falls for a bookseller from Berlin. Greta Weissensteiner, daughter of a Jewish weaver, slowly settles in with the Winkelmeier clan just as the developments in Germany start to make waves in Europe and re-draws the visible and invisible borders. The political climate in the multifaceted cultural jigsaw puzzle of disintegrating Czechoslovakia becomes more complex and affects relations between the couple and the families. The story follows them through the war with its predictable and also its unexpected turns and events and the equally hard times after.

But this is no ordinary romance; in fact it is not a romance at all, but a powerful, often sad, Holocaust story. What makes The Luck of the Weissensteiners so extraordinary is the chance to consider the many different people who were never in concentration camps, never in the military, yet who nonetheless had their own indelible Holocaust experiences. This is a wide-ranging, historically accurate exploration of the connections between social location, personal integrity and, as the title says, luck.

On Amazon:  http://smarturl.it/Weissensteiners

http://bookShow.me/B00AFQC4QC

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/527811

On iTunes: https://itun.es/i6LL9CF

Nook Book Link: http://ow.ly/LMhlm

On Goodreads: http://bit.ly/12Rnup8

On Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1bua395

Trailer: http://studio.stupeflix.com/v/OtmyZh4Dmc/?autoplay=1

B&N  http://ow.ly/Btvas

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Interview With Christoph Fischer

A huge thanks to Billy Ray Chitwood for this feature on me and my books

Interview With Author Christoph Fischer

MY INTERVIEW OF CHRISTOPH FISCHER

Welcome to my ‘Seat of Honor’, Christoph. Though we’ve never met, I feel as if we’ve been friends for many years. 

Your writing has reached so many of us, and, with your generous support of other authors and your active role with #ASMSG (‘Authors Social Media Support Group’), many of us know of your active and hectic life… I shall let that, your life, be my starting point:

Q – You were born in Germany near the Austrian border, a Sudeten-German, if I remember correctly. Will you sketch for us your youth and your path to writing? 

A – My father was a Sudeten-German, correct. My youth was spent in Bavaria, being bored and reading plenty. I wanted more excitement than I had. I went on to become a librarian but didn’t have ambitions to write until much later in life. Working as flight attendant on long haul flights gave me a lot of time and I started writing then, more as an experiment.

Q – My ancestral history began in a hamlet in Buckinghamshire, north of London, and I’ve only visited once – quite an experience, from both an emotional and historic perspective. Care to tell us how you like living in West Wales and how you’ve come to be there?

A – Coming from a rural background in Bavaria, middle age has brought me back to that way of life, I guess. My partner is from South Wales and the choice for the exact location was influenced by the vicinity to his ailing parents.
I love living here, the people and the landscape are amazing and I have become part of the community at lightning speed thanks to the warm nature of the Welsh people.

Q – I’m delighted to have read some of your books – The Gamblers – Ludwika: A Polish Woman’s Struggle to Survive in Nazi Germany – The Luck of the Weisensteiners.  Is there a special place where you do your writing? A best atmosphere for your writing?

A I like to be secluded in the office, quiet and out of the way, preferably during the early morning hours. If inspiration is missing, a walk with my dogs does wonders. However, once I’m in the middle of writing a new story, I could work almost anywhere, then I have total tunnel vision.

Q – In Ludwika and Weissensteiners there is a certain poignancy, both heart-warming and heart-breaking, somehow personal in your rendering. Is that something on which you can comment?

A – Thank you. While researching both books I was fascinated by the effect that the larger picture had on the individual. I wanted to show how far reaching those political events were in the lives of the ‘little people’.

 Q – A ‘must ask’ question: are there authors you feel influence your writing?

A – Lionel Shriver’s sharp wit and surgical dissection of difficult topics has inspired me, as much as Patrick Gale led the way of including gay characters casually rather than as main topic in his books. 

Q – What is your favorite music and song?

A – Cheesy European Pop; Abba and the likes. “Xanadu” is one of my favourite songs, if not the…

Q – Your favorite author and book?

A – “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts

Q – Okay, the really dumb questions: what is your favorite color?

A – Red

Q – And, while I’m at it, your favorite meal and junk food?

A – Vegan Goulash

Q – Aw, well, might as well, your favorite movie?

A – Casino Royale (Woody Allen)

Q – Okay, just one more for us who need to know, your favorite actor/actress?

A – Laura Linney and Ewan McGregor

Q – You are so busy with your writing, your support of other writers, so, of what are the leisure moments made?

A – Cycling, playing football, watching Comedy TV, socialising with friends, dog walking

Q – I’m soon to read your most recent book, 

The Body In The Snow: A Bebe Bollinger Murder Mystery (Bebe Bollinger Murder Mysteries Book 1). Tell us a bit about the book and the series.

 A – “The Body In The Snow (A Bebe Bollinger Murder Mystery)” is a cozy murder mystery set in rural Wales during a snow storm. A reluctant fading singer, desperate for a comeback, gets involved in a murder investigation in her village. This all happens during the snowstorm of a century, which traps her with odd and quirky neighbours, a murdered body and a desperate detective

Q – Working on a new writing project? Tell us about it.

A – I’m currently working on the sequel to “The Healer”, my psychological thriller about a cancer patient and a faith healer. I can’t tell you too much about it without spoiling it. It is another thriller, this time set in the Caribbean and is all about trust, truth and settling scores. Characters from “The Gamblers” will also feature in it.

Q – So many writers can’t sleep. They get out of bed and write. Are you one of these insomniacs?

A – Yes

Q – Will you describe what you consider a great day?

A – A glorious morning walk with my dogs, a productive writing session, lunch with friends, a bit of gardening and playing football in the evening.

The Final Curtain

)Interview With Author Christoph Fischer

MY INTERVIEW OF CHRISTOPH FISCHER

Welcome to my ‘Seat of Honor’, Christoph. Though we’ve never met, I feel as if we’ve been friends for many years. 

Your writing has reached so many of us, and, with your generous support of other authors and your active role with #ASMSG (‘Authors Social Media Support Group’), many of us know of your active and hectic life… I shall let that, your life, be my starting point:

Q – You were born in Germany near the Austrian border, a Sudeten-German, if I remember correctly. Will you sketch for us your youth and your path to writing? 

A – My father was a Sudeten-German, correct. My youth was spent in Bavaria, being bored and reading plenty. I wanted more excitement than I had. I went on to become a librarian but didn’t have ambitions to write until much later in…

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Halloween Promotion – The Key to Aunt Agatha’s Cellar by L.M.Beyer

Another excellent looking book – a treat for Halloween!

Ch'kara SilverWolf

Today’s scary book is The Key to Aunt Agatha’s Cellar by my friend L.M.Beyer.

Where is Agatha Shafer Thornfelder? Did she go for a walk and forget her way home? Or is she somewhere down in the cellar with the spiders, the steamer trunks, and a closet full of old clothes? No one he talks to knows where she is, and Detective Cameron Murphy can’t remember a case more puzzling than this one.

AMAZON US       AMAZON UK

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Colleen’s #BOOK #REVIEWS – “A Merry Mountain Christmas,” by Author, P. C. Zick

More romance writing from the brilliant PC Zick – this time with a Christmas and mountain theme. You don’t have to take my word for the praise. Here’s Colleen’s review.

Word Craft Poetry

• Title:  A Merry Mountain Christmas: Sweet Romance (Smoky Mountain Romance, Volume 4)
• Author: P. C. Zick
• Print Length: 102 Pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication Date: August 31, 2016
• Sold by Amazon, LLC
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1537152130
• ISBN-13: 978-1537152134
• Formats: Paperback and Kindle
• Goodreads
• Genres: Romance, Clean & Wholesome

*I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book*

“Fran is adjusting after her husband’s death when her first love comes back to town upsetting her family and leading her to inspiration. Fran first fell in love with Michael as a teenager. When he broke her heart, she married Carl and lived a happy life for more than thirty years until Carl died tragically. Just when she’s becoming fed up with the well-meaning, yet tiresome comments about Carl’s death, her first love returns, and stirs long-forgotten emotions. Rescue dogs and a love resurrected bring a sweet Christmas celebration to the…

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How did we get into this mess?

I have started a blog for my political opinions, so it doesn’t clash with my book blog. Please follow me here, if you don’t mind the occasional musing

Source: How did we get into this mess?

Character Interview with Detective Seargant Beth Cooper from my cosy mystery “The Body in the Snow”

Character Interview with Beth Cooper 

Thanks for meeting with me Detective Sergeant Beth Cooper.

My pleasure. I must apologise in advance, though. I’m a little hungover.

That’s not the first time for you, I hear. I bet you were with that singer, slurping Bloody Mary’s.

(Giggles) Sounds about right, like.

Aren’t you worried about your career?

As it so happens, I am a little. But truth be told, Warwick can stick his job if he wants.  I’m tempted to do something else with my time as it is.

And what would that be?

You’ve got to ask the author Christoph Fischer about that. He’s got a weird sense of what’s funny, if you ask me.

How so?

Have you heard of a lesbian Buddhist Detective? He’s pushing out the boat a bit, as far as I’m concerned.

Don’t you like being a lesbian Buddhist?

Nah. Well, I used to like a bevvy or two, if I’m being honest. Then Fischer gets my girlfriend to dump me and makes me find peace and serenity in chanting. You have got to be kidding, right? Now I feel constantly guilty the second I have some fun. I still like the odd drink, but it’s not the same anymore.  He’s spoiled that for me.

What can you tell us about the murder case?

The victim is a 28 year old woman named… Sorry, I forgot my notes. I can’t remember now. You must understand, I’ve closed that case quite a while ago. Can I email you the details next week, when I’m back in Cardiff?

Of course you can.  People say you were cutting a few corners in the investigation and needed to rely on Bebe Bollinger to solve it. What do you say to that?

Bebe is a clever lady and the Carmarthen police owes a lot to her initiative.

Like getting you drunk?

I’m not going to dignify that with an answer. (grins) Anyway,  I worked strictly to protocol. Next question!

Will you be leading the investigation in the next book?

I hope so. I enjoyed working with Bebe, but rumour has it that Bebe’s going to be the sole lead of the next mystery. After all, she’s in the title like. I’m not going to suck up to Fischer’s ego and ask him to make the books about me. It’s his loss if he thinks he can do better without me.  I wouldn’t mind sitting one out anyway and spending time in an Ashram in India… (stops). Oh my god, can you hear me? What has that man done with me. Please get me off that series and get me a drink.

Get the book here: http://bookShow.me/B01LVYRI9L

Blurb:

Fading celebrity Bebe Bollinger is on the wrong side of fifty and dreaming of a return to the limelight. When a TV show offers the chance of a comeback, Bebe grabs it with both hands – not even a lazy agent, her embarrassing daughter, irritating neighbours or a catastrophic snowfall will derail her moment of glory. But when a body is found in her sleepy Welsh hamlet, scandal threatens.

Detective Sergeant Beth Cooper has a string of unsolved cases to her name. Her girlfriend left her and she’s a fish out of water in rural West Wales. Things couldn’t get much worse – until the case of the Body in The Snow lands in her lap.

Can Beth solve the case and save her career and can Bebe make her comeback? All will be revealed in this light-hearted, cosy murder mystery by best-selling and award winning historical and crime fiction novelist Christoph Fischer.

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