I am thrilled to welcome Peg Cochran back to Escape With Dollycas today!
Her new Farmer’s Daughter Mystery, No Farm, No Foul
Question and Answer with Peg Cochran, Cozy Mystery Author
(Post Provided by Publicist)
Before a book comes out, authors are asked to write blogs to help promote their book. We are grateful for the cozy reviewers and bloggers who help us get the word out about a new release! For this blog, I decided to do something different so I asked people who follow me on Facebook for questions they’d like answered. Here you go!
Did you grow up on a farm? If not, what inspired you to write about a farm?
I grew up in a suburb in NJ, 25 miles from NYC. That area is now densely populated, but when I was growing up, that wasn’t the case. My grandparents lived only a couple of miles away and down the street from them was a farm where they had horses, pigs and chickens. My grandparents had a huge “yard” and grew tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries and grapes for the wine my grandfather pressed himself.
About a mile or two from my house there was a small farm where they grew corn and a farm stand where you could buy the best Jersey corn ever!
The idea for the Farmer’s Daughter came from my agent and the premise intrigued me. I fleshed it out with character, a setting and a plot.
Do your characters ever influence you to take a different direction than where you intended to go? Or do you have a theme in mind and stick to the plan.
My characters usually allow me to stick to what I’ve planned. What does happen are those serendipitous brainstorms where all of a sudden a bunch of random dots become connected to each other—like where you have two unrelated characters but then you realize that character A is actually character B’s mother but neither knows it and that impacts the story and ties everything together. When that happens I jump out of my chair and run around the room pumping my fists in the air!
How much work was the research on this series? What did you do?
I love research so I don’t really consider it work. I did a lot of reading—books and on-line and I was still constantly looking things up—how much does a bag of chicken feed cost, what kind of chickens are the best for laying eggs—things like that.
How do you come up with your character?
I honestly don’t know. It’s a mysterious process and I try not to over-analyze it! I usually start with some personality characteristics and then move on to deciding what a person like that would look like.
When you are not writing, what do you like to read?
I read mysteries as well as suspense. The books on my Kindle are pretty diverse from current bestsellers to Mary Higgins Clark 
Are there certain farm animals that inspired a farm themed series?
Not really, no. But I couldn’t write a book without a couple of pets—in this case a Jenkins, a Westhighland white terrier, Bitsy, a mastiff and a calico cat named Patches!
~Peg
About The Author
Mystery writing lets Peg indulge her curiosity under the guise of “work” (aka research). As a kid, she read the entire set of children’s encyclopedias her parents gave her and has been known to read the dictionary. She put pen to paper at age seven when she wrote plays and forced her cousins to perform them at Christmas dinner. She switched to mysteries when she discovered the perfect hiding place for a body down the street from her house.
When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading, cooking, spoiling her granddaughter and checking her book’s stats on Amazon.
A former Jersey girl, Peg now resides in Michigan with her husband and Westhighland white terrier, Reg. She is the author of the Sweet Nothings Lingerie series
Written as Meg London
Just Click on Covers to order from Amazon.
No Farm, No Foul
(Farmer’s Daughter Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
New Series
Setting – Michigan
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery (September 6, 2016)
An Imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425282021
E-Book – ASIN: B0191WS1QW
First in the Farmer’s Daughter mystery series set on a picturesque farm in Michigan, where Shelby McDonald runs a popular lifestyle and cooking blog, from the national bestselling author of the Cranberry Cove Mysteries
On her blog, The Farmer’s Daughter, Shelby McDonald is growing her audience as she posts recipes, gardening tips, and her experiences raising two kids and running Love Blossom Farm in the small western Michigan town of Lovett.
Working the farm is demanding but peaceful—until that peace is shattered when the minister’s wife is murdered on Shelby’s property during a fund-raiser for a local church. But the manure really hits the fan when Shelby’s good friend veterinarian Kelly Thacker emerges as the prime suspect. Shelby decides to dig in and find the murderer by herself. As more suspects crop up, she’ll have to move fast—before someone else buys the farm. . . .
INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Shelby McDonald has a farm, ee-I-ee-I-o, 🙂 and she also has a blog, The Farmer’s Daughter, where she posts about her life along with recipes and gardening advice and tips and also about this murder investigation she finds herself in the middle of. I liked it because in a way it is like she is talking directly to us readers, but she scares me a bit because she shares way more than we bloggers are cautioned about, like her children and her suspicions regarding a murderer still on the loose. Thankfully the only murders I post about on my blog are fictional.
Shelby’s hosts a church potluck/fundraiser on her Love Blossom Farm but as things are wrapping up she finds Prudence, the minister’s wife dead. She quickly realizes there was a killer on her property and it could be someone she knows quite well. Many suspect seeds are planted in her mind by her own observations and things her friends have said. Will she by able to harvest the right one before someone else is pushing up carrots?
This is an outstanding start for this series.
Shelby comes across realistically dealing with her farm and the produce and products she sells. She is also dealing with 2 children, a adventurous boy and an about to be thirteen year old daughter whose favorite word is “fine”. I remember those days and with 2 daughters I survived that phase twice. She is super friendly to everyone and has a lot going on in her life.
The Love Blossom Farm located just outside Lovett, Michigan sounds like a place I would not only love to visit but love to live. Years ago, it was a dream to live on a farm, not with cows or pigs etc. but growing fruits and veggies and having a few chickens with plenty of wide open spaces for children to play and dogs and cats to roam, much like Shelby’s. It just never worked out for me so these fictional visits will have to do for me.
Peg Cochran also gives us a fruitful mystery where the suspects seem to be multiplying. Before she can eliminate one, something sends her mind toward a different person. There was one clue that stuck in my mind but I just couldn’t seem to make it fit until Shelby and I shared that “a-ha moment”.
This story was a delightful read. The mystery kept me guessing and the characters were fantastically written. Shelby being a blogger like me was a bonus. She recommends food and recipes and I review and recommend books that usually include food and recipes. 🙂
Thanks to the publisher I have 2 copies to give away!
Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
with a US or Canadian mailing address.
Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.
You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.
Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.
Click the Like Button at the top of this post for a Bonus Entry.
Leave a comment for Peg for 5 Bonus Entries.
Add this book to your WANT TO READ shelf on GoodReads for 3 Bonus Entries.
Pin this giveaway to Pinterest for 3 Bonus Entries.
If you publicize the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.
Contest Will End October 5, 2016 at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.
Click Here For Entry Form
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
No Farm, No Foul sounds like a really great read. I’m putting it on my TBR list! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to enter this giveaway. 🙂
I can’t wait to read this book! It sounds perfect and interesting! I love the country and reading stories in it!
Great interview & post. I have enjoyed some of this author’s other series & can’t wait to read this one
Love the play on words in the title. Ready to get this book
to read. thanks.
Although I grew up and have always lived as a city girl, my grandfather in Michigan and then uncle owned a dairy farm near Lansing, Michigan. Much to my delight, we would visit them during the summer vacation and have delightful memories. So, I would love to read this mystery.
I am looking forward to this new series by you. Thank you for the chance to win it.
Peg your one of my favorite authors and this book sounds fabulous.
The series sounds great and I love the pets! Thanks for a chance to win.
I love the Cranberry Cove books and I am sure I’ll love this one too. Thanks for the review and opportunity to win.
Can’t wait to read this! Thanks for the opportunity to meet the author!
I’ll have to check this one out. DH is from Michigan so this will be a fun read!
Interesting. Thank-you.
Sounds like a good read.
I have the Cranberry Cove series on my to-read shelf at home and this one sounds just as great!
Wonderful giveaway. What a great series this is.
I think I am in love with the title of this book. :O) Seriously, I read a lot of serious, non-fiction books so I’m always on the lookout for a good cozy mystery to lighten things up. Thanks for giving me such a huge selection from which to choose!
Hi Peg – all of your books look wonderful — I can’t believe I haven’t read any yet. I look forward to the chance to win a copy of No Farm No Foul! Thanks Peg & Dolly!
Peg this sounds so good and I have loved this cover since the first day I saw it. We live in a rural area so of course in eastern Iowa we have farms everywhere. If not for being disabled we would have a farm but growing up in a foster home i grew up on a farm and so did my husband so i have been so excited about this book. I would love to read and post a few reviews for you. Good luck with the book….and thank you for giving away 2 print books that is so nice.
What an interesting collection of story lines you have.
Most impressive.
I love Michigan-theme books, so hoping very much to win this one. Thanks for giveaway.
Sounds like a great new series! Can’t wait to read it!
I’ll be looking for this new series!
Sounds like a great new series. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
Her books are great to read.
I lived in the township when I was growing up. We had a garden but no animals. I always thought it would be interesting to live on a farm with a cow, pigs and chickens along with a garden. robeader53@yahoo.com
I’m so excited to read this series. It sounds like something I would love.
I grew up on a farm—and wanted to keep every animal as a pet. Good memories of those days. Thanks for the contest.
“No Farm, No Foul” sounds like a great start to a new series. I’m from Michigan and enjoy reading books set in my home state. I have fond memories of visiting my Uncle’s farm as a kid. Can’t wait to read.
I love her Cranberry Cove series. and love first in a series.
Thank you Lori for the fun interview with Peg! I love her Cranberry Cove series & cannot wait to read No Farm, No Foul.
E I E I ohhh Peg, I want to read this one!
This sounds interesting. I’d love to read more.
Love the Cranberry Cove series and looking forward to the Farmer’s Daughter series!!
I read Berried Secrets and loved it, so I’ll probably like this just as much.
Sounds like an exciting new series!
Everyone has said this is a great start to what hopes to be a nice long running series! I would love the chance to win. Thank you.
i follow with email.
It looks like a delightful, down-to-earth story with plenty of animals in action.
Looks great!
I am looking forward to a chance to read this series. Thank you for the chance to win and for the nice giveaway!
I loved your review, I’m looking forward to this series, thank you for the chance to win.