Tuesday Trash and Trouble: Friday Night Mystery Club Series
by Joanna Campbell Slan
It is my pleasure to welcome back Joanna Campbell Slan
to Escape With Dollycas today!
How Do You Do It?
By Joanna Campbell Slan
Recently someone asked me, “How do you do it? You sit around and dream things up? All day? What does it take to be a writer? A vivid imagination?”
“It helps to be a really good liar,” I said.
They laughed.
I am not a good liar. I lied. (Hmm. That’s confusing, isn’t it? Am I or am I not? You decide!) Well, I do “sit around and dream things up,” kinda-sorta. As I move through my day, an idea will act like a pebble in my shoe. I’ll turn it over and over in my head, asking, “What if?”
When I was writing Tuesday Trash and Trouble, my thoughts went back to Decatur, Illinois, and the years I worked as a newspaper ad rep, the mid-1980s. First I took a long distance view, like a bird soaring over the experience, getting the lay of the land. Then I zoomed in for a closer look. I remembered an incident when I made a sales call on the manager of a TSC (Tractor Supply Company) store, a man named Ross. Uninterested in the newspaper where I worked, he literally picked me up and bodily threw me out of the store. Okay, he didn’t toss me but set me down gently outside the front entrance. Once I steadied myself, I meekly walked to my car and climbed inside. But I couldn’t drive off. I’d waited and waited to talk to him. I knew I could do a good job for him. By golly, I needed the revenue and he needed my expertise. Gathering all my dignity and my resolve, I got out of the car and went straight to his office. Walking in, I told him, “I have something to offer, and you need to listen. I’m good at my job, and I can put that to work for you, if you give me a chance.”
He became one of my best customers, an ardent fan, and he even developed a bit of a crush on me.
Ross became Ross in Tuesday Trash and Trouble. I applied the “what if” question and dreamed him up in a new incarnation, Ross as a cowboy hunk. The more I worked on the book, the more the new Ross became real to me. He actually morphed into a romantic hero.
I love what I do. In reality, this book pays homage to Ross. He turned out to be a nice man with a big heart, a little rough around the edges, but a good friend. I’d almost forgotten about him. Writing is a lovely way to resurrect my past experiences, polish and serve them up to my readers. And that’s no lie.
Thank you, Joanna, for stopping by today!
Keep reading to learn more about Joanna and her new book Tuesday Trash and Trouble!
About Tuesday Trash and Trouble
Tuesday Trash and Trouble: Friday Night Mystery Club Series
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Illinois
Spot On Publishing (October 10, 2022)
Paperback : 332 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8357296788
Digital ASIN : B0B9T64ZNY
Set in 1986, Joanna Campbell Slan’s latest cozy mystery—Tuesday Trash and Trouble–features a down-on-her-luck divorcée whose passion for solving crimes lands her in the arms of a secretive cowboy–and the cross-hairs of a vengeful killer.
The year is 1986, the place is…pitiful. It’s Decatur, Illinois, known for high unemployment, striking unions, the pervasive stink of soybean processing, and seven railroad crossings at one intersection.
A wrong turn along life’s marital highway has left Catherine “Cragan” Collins stuck in Decatur. With a mountain of post-divorce bills to pay, Cragan takes a job selling high-priced newspaper advertising. If she’s lucky, her commissions will cover the cost of her grandmother’s stay in a nearby retirement home.
After the divorce, Cragan swears off men, but she’s a sucker for a guy in a nice suit. She falls hard for a man who publicly snubs her. On the rebound, she accepts an invitation from Ross Gentry, a quiet hunk who favors pearl snaps and cowboy boots. Cragan reasons that her heart is safe, because she and Ross come from two different worlds. But one night in his arms might be enough to prove her wrong.
Without warning, everything blows up in Cragan’s face. Her boss threatens to take away her accounts, a friend’s little sister is kidnapped, and an overnight guest is shot. Cragan’s best friend, Pru, is accused of attempted murder. After all, Pru’s gun was used in the crime.
Cragan calls an emergency meeting of the Friday Night Mystery Club. These mystery-loving career women are a group of smart cookies. Can their combined talents prove that Pru is innocent? And will they find an answer in time to save Cragan from the wrath of a vengeful shooter?
It takes a club to solve a mystery!
About Joanna Campbell Slan
Joanna Campbell Slan is a New York Times Bestselling, USA Today Bestselling, and Amazon Bestselling author as well as a woman prone to frequent bursts of crafting frenzy, leaving her with burns from her hot glue gun and paint on her clothes. And the mess? Let’s not even go there.
Otherwise, Joanna’s a productive author with more than 80 written projects to her credit. Her non-fiction work includes how to books, a college textbook for public speakers, and books of personal essays (think Chicken Soup for the Soul).
Currently, she writes six fiction series: The Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series (Agatha Award Finalist, contemporary, St. Louis setting, crafting), the Cara Mia Delgatto Mystery Series (contemporary, Florida setting, DIY, and recycling), the Jane Eyre Chronicles (Daphne du Maurier Award Winner, 1830s England, based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic), the Sherlock Holmes Fantasy Thrillers (late 1800s, based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s books), the Tai Chi Mystery Series (featuring a mature female amateur sleuth!) and the Friday Night Mystery Series (set in Decatur, IL in 1986 with a spunky female heroine.)
A former TV talk show host, college teacher, and public relations specialist, Joanna was one of the early Chicken Soup for the Soul contributors. She won a Silver Anvil for her work on the original FarmAid concert to benefit farmers.
In her ongoing quest never to see snow again, Joanna lives with her husband and their Havanese puppy, Jax, on an island off the coast of Florida. You can email her at jcslan@joannaslan.com or visit her website at https://linktr.ee/jcslan
Author Links
Website — Facebook — Facebook Group — Twitter — Amazon Author Page —Instagram — Goodreads — Bookbub — LinkedIn — Pinterest —
Purchase Links
Amazon
Find more books by Joanna Campbell Slan here
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You’re a new author to me. I look forward to reading your books.
This sounds like a really interesting series. Thanks for the article.
Sounds like a good book.
Tuesday Trash and Trouble sounds intriguing and I look forward to reading the book.