Here are discussion questions for my mysteries. I love book clubs, and I'd love to visit virtually or in-person with your group. Drop me a note to schedule a date and time.

TWINKLE TWINKLE AU rEVOIR

1. Filming for the Love Channel’s “My Coastal Valentine” has brought Hollywood magic to quiet Mermaid Bay. Overall, do you think the town gets the marketing opportunities they were after?

2. What surprised you most about the relationships between Jade and Nick and Amy and Todd?

3. Do you think the changes that Jade, Todd, and Amy are bringing to Mermaid Bay are helping the little town? Why or why not?

4. How do the book’s fuzzy sidekicks, Chloe the French bulldog and Neville the Devil cat, help solve the mystery?

5. What is your favorite thing about Mermaid Bay? Why?

STICKS AND STONES AND A BAG OF BONES

1. The town council tries hard to maintain the historic, quaint nature of Mermaid Bay. Jade Hicks, owner of ‘Tis the Season, is often on the fence about what to do. Do you think she balances the need for preservation with her business interests?

2. There are two fuzzy sidekicks in this mystery, Chloe the French bulldog, and Neville the Devil Cat. What role do both play in the story’s mystery?

3. What surprised you most about Jade and Sheriff Nick?

4. Do you think Amy will be successful in resurrecting Emory’s business in this small community?

5. Who is your favorite character and why?

6. Do you think Mermaid Bay can survive with its focus on the past when the world is changing all around it?

DEADLINES AND VALENTINES

1. Have you ever met a celebrity at a conference, and did they look and act like you expected?

2. Who has the best motive to commit the murder and the attacks at the “Love is in the Air” festival?

3. If you stayed at the Fern Valley Luxury Resort, would you want to stay in one of the vintage trailers, a tiny house, or Jake’s new creation, the treehouse? Why?

4. How do the town folk react to Jules’s efforts to bring tourists to their little corner of the mountains?

5. What is one (or more) events at the “Love is in the Air” festival that you would want to attend?

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AND CAT FIGHTS

1. How does the wild cat fight and the murder affect the Christmas festival?

2. Pets are part of our lives, and Bijou is key to the stories. How does she help Jules solve the mystery?

3. How in the world did the big cat show end up in the Christmas festival? What do you think about all the drama they stirred up with the possible animal rights protesters and their breeding programs?

4. Jules and Jake’s romance heats up in this mystery. In your cozy mysteries, do you like a dash of romance? And would you like to see them eventually get married?

5. Jules and Jake have turned their attention to their tiny house village lately. What do you think of the castle design of his latest creation? Would you stay in a Bram Stoker-themed house?

FILM CREWS AND RENDEZVOUS

1. Jules starts asking questions about the head writer’s murder because she’s trying to protect her business. How does the death of the writer affect the show’s production?

2. Hollywood comes to town, and Fern Valley may never be the same. What role does Bijou play in this mystery?

3. Jules and Jake have been adding to their village of tiny houses. What other authors do you think they should feature in future builds?

4. The killer leaves the head writer’s body under the L. Frank Baum house. What other Wizard of Oz references did you find in the story?

5. What surprised you most about Jules and Jake? Why?

6. Who is your favorite character in this series? Why?

7. What is your favorite themed vintage trailer or tiny house? Why?

VINTAGE TRAILERS AND BLACKMAILERS

1. Does Jules’s poking around in the sheriff’s murder investigation help or hurt her as a small business owner? Why?

2. How does the friction between the folks in Fern Valley who want to bring visitors and new business to the area and those who want to preserve the serene past of the tiny town affect Jules and her business?

3. Bijou is Jules’s sidekick and constant companion. What role does the little dog play as clues to the mystery are uncovered?

4. How do the secrets that the characters protect affect their lives and the lives of those around them?

5. What did you know about glamping and tiny houses before you read the book? What did you learn from the story?

6. What surprised you most about this book? Why?

7. If you were to cast the movie for Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers, who would star in the roles and why?

8. If you were to create a playlist for the book, which songs would you include and why?

Secret Lives and Private Eyes

1. Does Delanie have an advantage or disadvantage as a female private investigator? Why?

2. What role does Duncan play as Delanie's partner and sidekick? What types of help does he provide that she can't get from other sources?

3. Margaret the Wonder Dog is Duncan's sidekick and shadow. What is Margaret's role in the mystery?

4. Do you think Duncan has a crush on Delanie? How does the introduction of Evie Hachey change this? How does Duncan's role evolve in the story? And does Evie change Delanie’s relationship with Duncan?

5. Does Delanie's relationship with Chaz evolve during the story?

6. Does Chaz have any redeeming qualities? 

7. How do the secrets that some of the characters are protecting affect their lives? And the lives of others?

8. Should some of the secrets that people are trying to hide stay hidden?

9. How does Delanie reconcile situations when she she feels she's doing the best for her client, but her actions may cross a moral or ethical line?

10. Do you think Delanie can maintain a secret (serious) relationship with John Bailey? Why?

11. Whose poster did you have on your wall as a teenager?

12. Could a famous person really give up his lifestyle and live incognito in a small, rural town in the south?

The Tulip Shirt Murders

1. Delanie often rushes into situations with the best intentions of helping her clients. How does this impulse affect her investigations and even her personal safety?

2. In the first book, Delanie tried to rid her life of Chaz (Charles Wellington Smith, III). How do their characters evolve over time? What's the relationship?

3. What role does Margaret the Wonder Dog play in the series? Is she a character in her own right?

4. Delanie is sassy and often fearless. Do you think this helps her in her job or does it cause more conflict?

5. Delanie often makes up stories and names when she is sleuthing. She justifies this as a means to get information. How does this affect others?

6. Several of the men in Delanie's life would prefer that she had another type of job. How does this feedback make her more determined to exceed in her role as a private investigator?

7. Delanie often gets herself into situations that involve interesting activities like larping and roller derby. Why does this always seem to happen to her?