We’ve all heard, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” and that is true; however, the cover of a book is the first thing to catch the reader’s attention. It should make a person want to open that book and read what lies beyond the intriguing picture. Because of the expertise of the publisher’s artist, I believe the three covers for the Darcy and Flora Cozy Mysteries I’ve written with co-author Barbara Burgess do just that.
The Cemetery Club was the first of the cozies, introducing Darcy Campbell and Flora Tucker. Oh, the trouble those ladies got into! And the brushes with death, the danger and intrigue! Why, it was enough to keep a person up nights. And, it did. It kept me up and, judging from what I hear, it kept a few readers from their usual eight hours of snooze time. But, more than a few surprises later, they emerged whole and in one piece. (Just between you and me, though, it took Darcy a while to get back on her feet.)
Of course, after the first mystery, we simply could not leave Darcy and Flora in Levi, Oklahoma and just go home. We wanted to know what happened next! Did Darcy remember more about her one-time love for Grant Hendley? And how about Flora? Would she forget Ben and move on with her life? Had these two ladies learned a lesson about sticking to their knitting and not getting involved in anybody else’s problems? Barbara and I had to find out, so we visited Levi once again and, true to form, this mother/daughter team had said Yes when they should have said No, and there they were in a mystery called Grave Shift.
By the time Barbara and I finished writing Grave Shift, we truly did not want to leave Flora’s warm kitchen on a cold autumn day. We liked dropping in for a cup of coffee and checking with the Campbell/Tucker team. These two had not planned to involve themselves in one more mystery because they knew they had been singularly protected to get through the first two relatively unscathed. But, Best Left Buried sort of fell into their laps. Or, to be more accurate, Darcy fell into it or an old well, or maybe she almost got herself pushed in. Anyway, they simply could not rest until they had raveled a tangled ball of yarn which involved their own family and an incident that happened during World War I. So, there was the third Darcy and Flora Cozy Mystery.
And, here they are, three covers representing three cozy mysteries that were a lot of fun to write. What an adventure! And what a privilege to have all three coming out at the same time. The exact date for that has not been set but it will be soon. Presenting these three books to the world is rather like presenting a member of my family; very dear and personal and I hope the readers like them. This is sort of a preview of coming attractions, I guess, but if readers enjoy them as much as Barbara and I enjoyed writing them, they’ll be a hit!
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