20 Things about My Sleuth Jade Hicks

I’m currently working on book 5 of the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries, and I’ve been thinking a lot about my amateur sleuth, Jade Hicks, lately. Here are 20 things you may not know about her and her stories.

1. She’s a redhead.

2. She drives a lime-green Jeep Wrangler.

3. Her personalized license plates are “NO GRNCH.” Perfect for the owner of a Christmas store.

4. Mermaid Bay isn’t a real place. I created my cozy little beach town near the Historic Triangle of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown.

5. She was born in 1985 and graduated high school in 2003.

6. She graduated from James Madison University in 2007.

7. Before returning to Mermaid Bay, she worked in Richmond, VA at a marketing firm.

8. She moved back to the beach when her grandmother passed to take over the store.

9. Jade originally moved in with her grandparents when her parents were killed in a tragic car accident.

10. Jade has known Nick Driscoll since middle school.

11. Right before the pandemic, Jade made a huge investment in the store’s online store, and it paid off when the world went on lockdown.

12. Jade owns the vacant lot next to her store. She hasn’t decided quite what to do with the property.

13. There is a lovely hedge of oleanders along the back of her store and the vacant lot, and it plays a key role in Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir.

14. Jade attends her first ComicCon with her bestie Amy Pemberton in Life is But a Scream (January 2026).

15. The beach is Jade’s happy place.

16. Chloe, the Frenchie, and Neville the Devil Cat pretend to be enemies, but they really are pals and playmates.

17. Jade loves visiting Amy’s bookstore where Darcy Cat watches over the stacks. The Persian is named for Mr. Darcy.

18. Jade’s aunt, the free-spirited Lorelei Tucker, keeps a protective eye on her niece and helps her out whenever she can.

19. In A Tisket A Tasket Not Another Casket, (January 2025) Jade’s a little surprised to learn a secret about Amy’s love life. No spoilers here.

20. The titles of the books in Jade’s series are named for nursery rhymes gone bad.

What Are You Reading This Summer?

What are you reading this summer? Here are some of the books I’ve read recently.

You can’t go wrong with anything by Diane Kelly, Maria DiRico (Ellen Byron), and Tara Lush. Read all their series. They are fabulous, and I always read their latest.

Korina Moss and Linda Reilly are my favorite cheese-themed cozy writers. What is not to love? You can never have enough cheese, and when it’s mixed with a mystery, it’s perfect. You need to check out all the books in both of their series.

Daphne Silver, Annie McEwen, T.C. Herren, and Jennie Marts were all new-to-me cozy authors. Their books are terrific, and you need to check them out.

Paula Charles’s Hammers and Homicide is a fun cozy and a great start to a new series. I also had the pleasure of reading an early version of her second in her goat yoga series as Janna Rollins. It’s a hoot.

I had the pleasure of reading an ARC for Janna Rollins for the second in her Zen Goat Mysteries. It’s a hoot. This is a must-read series.

Annie McEwen’s Resort to Murder is another great start to a new series. What a sweet, fun mystery. She has a new one out in this series, too.

I read the first two of The Turner and Mosely Files by LynDee Walker and Bruce Robert Coffin. What a fun series of mysteries full of adventure, missing treasures, and all kinds of cool technology. Escape on a book vacation with this series!

What books or authors should I add to my summer reading list?

Happy National Smile Day (And Ways to Make an Author Grin)

Happy National Smile Day. Here are some quick, free things you can do to help authors and make them smile.

• If you like a book, leave a review on one of the many sites (e.g. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BookBub, Goodreads, Audible…). It doesn’t have to be a book report. A couple of sentences will do.

• Tell your book club about the book and add it to the group’s reading list.

• Request that your library add the book to their collection.

• Post on social media that you like the book and tag the author.

Reviews and reader comments do make a difference.

Happy reading, y’all!

Meet the Fuzzy Sidekicks...

Our two crazy Jack Russell terriers (Disney and Riley) are part of our family, so it’s natural that my characters would share their stories with their fuzzy friends. Here are the furry and fluffy sidekicks in my series.

Margaret Thatcher Reynolds is Delanie Fitzgerald’s partner’s English bulldog. She has two speeds, slow/steady and napping. She’s a log with legs, but she’s a great companion. She loves treats, snacks, and rides in Duncan’s yellow Camaro. She’s also helped save the day in several of the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries.

Bijou is a feisty Jack Russell Terrier who lives and works at the Fern Valley Camping Resort in the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries. She’s the official greeter, and she loves long walks, treats, and riding in Jules’s Jeep Wrangler. Bijou is modeled on my JRT Disney.

Chloe is the white French bulldog in the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries. The butterball of a dog works at the shop and loves hanging out at the beach in her free time. Her arch-frenemy is Neville the Devil Cat.

Neville the Devil Cat was a Mermaid Bay stray who made himself at home at the Christmas Shoppe. He spends his time napping, checking out the new Christmas ornaments, and annoying Chloe. He’s a tuxedo cat who takes his job as the store’s mouser seriously.

Elvis is a Chihuahua mix in my new Pearly Girls series (March 2025). He is a fixture in the office, and he takes his jobs as ambassador and official greeter seriously. He loves long walks in the mountains and car rides. He may be tiny, but he has all the charisma of his namesake.

What Have You Been Reading Lately?

What are you reading and what’s up next for you? I’m reading Tara Lush’s A Bean to Die for, and I’m sad that this is the last in this series. I loved her new mystery, Gator Queen. Who knew alligator wrangling could be so much fun.

I also recently finished Diane Kelly’s Four-Alarm Homicide and Olivia Blacke’s Rhythm and Clues. Both cozy series are well worth the read.

There are so many books and so little time. I just love Ellen Byron/Maria DiRico and all of her series, Linda Reilly, Mindy Quigley, Tara Lush, Olivia Blacke, Diane Kelly, and Kallie E. Benjamin (V. M. Burns). You cannot go wrong with any of their books.

I really, really enjoyed Daphne Silver’s debut mystery, Crime and Parchment, and she recently won the Agatha Awar for Best First Novel at Malice Domestic. Congratulations! What a fun start to a new series set on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Lots of quirky characters and a twisty plot.

Lee Goldberg’s traditional mysteries are always a hit. If you like police procedurals and twisty mysteries, you need to read Goldberg's Eve Ronin series. Hollywood, heists, reality TV, murder, and mayhem...

T. G. Herren/Greg Herren and Jennie Marts are new-to-me authors. I enjoyed both of these cozies, and I look forward to reading more of their books.

What have you been reading lately?

Do I Have a Twin? Doppelganger?

A Millennial called me Mrs. Frizzle the other day. Okay, I didn’t get the reference, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Professor Valerie Felicity Frizzle, PhD, a former fourth grade teacher, is the central character in the Magic School Bus books and shows. And she loves creativity, learning, and field trips.

Originally created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen from Scholastic, Dr. Frizzle appears in books, video games, The Magic School Bus (1994-1997), and The Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017-2021).

I checked out the program on YouTube, and I may have my Halloween costume for this fall. Check out Mrs. Frizzle and let me know what you think.

Happy Mermaid Day!

Happy Mermaid Day! I’ve added this to the list of my holidays since I write the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.

Here’s a list of Mermaid Advice that I received from mystery author Jayne Ormerod. Enjoy your celebration!

• “Sea” life’s beauty.

• Avoid “pier” pressure.

• Take time to coast.

• Make waves.

• Be sure of yourself.

• Don’t be “shellfish.”

• Seize the day.
  

It's Read in the Bathtub Day!

Happy Read in the Bathtub Day! I have never actually done that. I’m way too concerned about getting my book or digital reader wet. But, it sounds like a fun, relaxing afternoon.

What has been on your reading list for 2024? I am working my way through all the great books that I received for Christmas. My year started out with book 3 in Mindy Quigley’s Deep Dish Mystery series. What a fun read. Who could ask for more…pizza, quirky characters, and a whole lot of mayhem and murder.

I also really enjoyed Tara Lush’s Live and Let Grind, part of her Coffee Lovers’ Mystery series. I love her zany characters, and the quaint Florida beach town where chaos seems to break out every time her amateur sleuth is around.

I’m catching up on Olivia Blacke’s the Record Shop Mysteries. What fun! Music, coffee, murder, mayhem, Texas bluebonnets, and a cow.

And I switched things up from my normal cozy reading with Nicolette Lemmon’s Write. Market. Succeed: An Author’s Marketing Playbook. This is a thorough workbook and plan for new and seasoned authors.

I highly recommend all of these, and up next for me is Lee Goldberg, Linda Reilly, Sarah Fox, and Kallie E. Benjamin.