Did y’all know I have a podcast?
It’s called Shootin’ The Breeze
There’s a lot of episodes you can just click play and listen.
There’s author interviews, Cozy Chats, Chapter One of me reading and just plain fun!!!
Check out the latest episode where I’m reading Chapter One of Santa Claus Surprise!
Another Southern Sayin’
#cozymystery #cozymysteries #cozymysterylover #cozymysteryreader #cozymysteryseries #cozymysterybooks #tonyakappes #southern #southernsayings
“Santa’s throne, regal and plush, stood ready for the season’s joy. But in the cheer of ‘Ho ho ho,’ could there lurk a clue that someone wanted to stay hidden? – Santa Claus Surprise
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C97NVXZV
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/47GzlOO
BookBub: https://bit.ly/3QKjHeK
Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W6MGNWD
Celebrate Good Crimes
In the heart of Holiday Junction, where festive cheer and snowflakes blanket the streets, journalist Violet Rhinehammer prepares for the most anticipated event of the year: the Mistletoe Masquerade Ball. However, the holiday mood is deeply marred when a chilling mystery comes to light. The gruesome discovery of a man, brutally murdered behind the living manger scene in Holiday Park, casts a dark shadow over the town’s festivities.
As Violet delves deeper into the case, her journalist instincts kick into overdrive, unearthing a list of suspects that could fill Santa’s naughty list twice over. With the missing Winter Crest coin entwined in the heart of this mystery and potential suspects lurking around every festive corner, Violet realizes she’s racing against the clock.
Can Violet solve the murder and recover the coin in time to save the Ball and preserve the holiday spirit? Or will this Santa Clause Surprise be the one that leaves the town with more chills than cheer?
Throwback Interview from 2016!
Guest Post: Tonya Kappes, author of GHOSTLY REUNION
The Book Diva’s Reads is pleased to host a visit today from the USA Today best-selling author Tonya Kappes. Ms. Kappes is the author of 40+ books, including the Magical Cure Mystery series, the Laurel London Mystery series, The Divorced Divas Mystery series, the Grandberry Falls series, the Kenni Lowry series, the Olivia Davis Paranormal Mystery series, the Bluegrass Romance series, and the ever-popular Ghostly Southern Mysteries series. Today Ms. Kappes will be discussing cozy mysteries (who better to discuss this topic?). Without further adieu, I give you Ms. Kappes.
Why not a cozy?
When people find out I’m a writer and ask me what genre. I respond with cozy mystery. You can probably guess the next question. Cozy? What is a cozy?
Trust me, I’ve been around long enough (26 novels) to know that cozy mystery genre doesn’t get the same hats off, Baptist nod, and thumbs up that thriller mystery or even just mystery writers get.
And if it’s not bad enough, I have to tell them that I write paranormal cozy mystery.That really gets the quizzical looks that make me feels as if I have two heads. THEN when I say it’s a witch mystery, I get the OMG, you believe in witches?
My explanation generally goes like this: Cozy mystery is kinda just that. Cozy. More along the lines of Murder She Wrote where the sleuth of my novels has a job that is in a craft or a special talent. She stumbles on a murder that is somehow tied to her life and she has to solve the murder/crime on her own.
There is no blood, guts, or gore and cozies are centered on the sleuth’s craft or gift. In my case with A Ghostly Reunion, the sleuth is an undertaker who lives in the small southern town in Kentucky.
Emma Lee Raines, my cozy sleuth, owns Eternal Slumber, the only funeral home in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky. She has an unfortunate mishap with a plastic snowman falling on her head and now she sees dead people…dead murdered people who need to find their killer to make it to the other side or Emma risks to be haunted forever.
Cozies have relatable characters set in small towns with a cozy setting. Even though romance takes a back seat in the mystery, there is still a love interest to sweet the pot.
By the time I’ve given my spiel, the person who asked me about what a cozy was, is spouting off movies or television shows that fit the cozy mystery genre.