Cozy Mysteries And Regency by Janis/Emma Lane

Meet Janis Lane and Emma Lane: Cosy Mysteries by Janis Lane and Regency by Emma lane

Personal career path:

My writing career started kind of late, No, I won’t say how late. Suffice to say I found it more accommodating to work on a computer than pound away on that fractious typewriter. I’m a big nature gal, so my first attempts were adventure novels on the wilds of Florida. I loved the avenue for research.
Next, I indulged in one of my favorite genres, Regency Romance.

Most of my historical Regencies are available on Amazon; some are presented in paperback. The latest to be released are A Regency Christmas Collection 11 and The Recalcitrant Duke under the pen name of Emma Lane.

          

 I write Cozy Mysteries as Janis Lane. Murder on Blake Hill is the latest entry in The Detective Kevin Fowler series There is also a short story connected to the series,  The Glass Cat, and another set in Hubbard, NY with cameo appearances of the detective in Whispers of Danger and Love, a romantic  mystery.

            I don’t call myself a pantster because I have usually plotted out a vague sketch of the story before I sit down to write. Sometimes, especially if it’s to be a short story or novella, all I have is an idea or a vision of a character in my mind, mostly the characters. They appear and demand to be released. I have wondered if other authors feel lonesome for their characters when the story comes to an end.

            Georgette Heyer is my favorite Regency author. I love her sense of humour. I am a reader of everything so I can’t really say what specifically influences my mystery writing. I find it fascinating that I must write the story backwards from the solution for the story to work. A small town populated by ordinary citizens would react a certain way if a murder took place—I speculate what everyone would think or do.

            https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000338539637

Nature still is a big draw for me and I am indulged by my son who owns a plant nursery. I am employed to create flower arrangements. I share pictures of nature and my flowers on line on Facebook:

Ocassionally I post on my own blog matters pertaining to gardening. Those who indulge may find the archives of interest. https://emmajlane.com/2016/05/31/author-emma-lanes-gardening-tips-annuals-and-perennials/    www.emmajlane.com

The Kevin Fowler Mysteries

The first in the Detective Kevin Fowler series of Cozy Mysteries, Murder in the Neighborhood, is a sort of Agatha Hubbard. As we enter the story, a race is already in progress to capture a serial killer before he wipes out more middle-aged women. A romance has its beginnings as we are introduced to home town princess, Beverly Hampton.   

Christy-type genre rather than say, anything by Lee Childs. We meet the detective, his colleagues, friends, and community members in the small Western New York town of

            The second in the sequence, Murder in the Junkyard, follows the introduction of more home town members and a budding romance between Kevin’s younger brother Ted and local artist Brenda. The lovely blonde Swedish type loves a spring garage sale but is often found prowling a local junkyard. When she stumbles upon the corpse of a man no one likes, she immediately seeks the expert help of Detective Fowler. The mystery grows when a large sum of money is found at the home of the victim. Another romance is kindled, but may be put on hold.

           Murder on Blake Hill, the 3^rd novel in the series and recently released, finds wedding bells finally warming up for the detective and his love, Beverly Hampton. The mysterious death of two septuagenarians and a rash of vandalism in the village are worrisome. Have the teenagers declared an uprising? Night patrols reveal a totally unexpected and shocking situation. Beverly weeps over a long-ago tragedy. The local diner is awash with the fragrance of fresh-baked, cinnamon sticky buns to the eternal gratitude of the local citizens of Hubbard, New York.

Excerpt from Murder on Blake Hill: Detective Kevin Fowler leaned over Beverly’s warm body to reach the nightstand hoping he could avoid waking her. She murmured in her sleep but only threw an arm around his waist as he checked the identity of the caller. He listened intently and knew there would be no more rest for him tonight. Actually, he realized, glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand, it was early morning and close to getting-up time.

The dead could wait, he thought, as he made a pot of coffee in the gracious old kitchen. It was a study in blue, Beverly’s favorite color. Brenda Bryant, a close friend, had worried she might choose orange for her bridesmaids’ dresses, and he knew Beverly had teased her friends by threatening to choose huge bows for their backsides. He chuckled with the memory of the horror on their pretty faces. The wedding date was fast approaching. He was amazed at all the preparations, although he ought not to be. His fiancée was the hometown princess. Personally, he didn’t care how much fuss was made as long as the deed was done and done well. They’d had their ups and downs, but now Kevin openly confessed he could not live without his Cookie. He turned from the refrigerator, where he had found a carton of half-and-half, to pet the warm arms suddenly wrapped around his waist.

“I’m sorry to wake you up, Cookie. Why don’t you go back to bed?” He turned to enfold his treasure. She whispered sleepily into his chest and nuzzled her face against him.

“What, sweetheart? I think you’re still half-asleep.” He snuggled and swayed with her in his arms content to just hold her next to his heart.

She raised her head and smiled up at him. “I said if you aren’t in a big hurry, can I ride with you? It will save me a trip as a reporter for the paper. Is it a murder again? I heard you grumbling.”

“Yes and yes. Both, but we do need to get to it. I thought I’d make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in case lunchtime in the country is a bit sparse. You want one too?” Beverly nodded as she turned away and headed for the stairs. He finished up a Thermos of coffee and two-sandwich lunch bags. Adding a couple of cookies, he folded the tops and sipped a hot cup of coffee as he waited.

Someone had shot two septuagenarians and left them lying side by side out by the old Blake Hill Cemetery. A courtesy call. He could have refused, but apparently one of the bodies had an address in the village. The State Police thought he ought to be in on the case. And so he should. He considered it an honor to serve the citizens of Hubbard, New York, and did his best to live up to their trust in him.

 Thank you for being here Janis/Emma.  Happy reading to all of you.

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