Special Guest – Marc Jedel – Author of Pride and Principal: A Silicon Valley Mystery #AuthorInterview / #Giveaway @MarcJedel.Author – Great Escapes Book Tour

Pride and Principal: A Silicon Valley Mystery
by Marc Jedel

I am delighted to welcome Marc Jedel back to Escape With Dollycas!

Hi Marc!

What made you want to write novels?

I wanted to write a novel forever, ever since finishing the first book I read by myself—Go Dog Go. I mean, what’s not to love about a story that has fun dialogue all about awesome party hats?

For the longest time, I couldn’t come up with a good plot. Yet my research clearly demonstrated that having a plot is critical to a successful novel. One day, I received this awesome birthday drawing from my young nieces. And my kids, or nieces, or one of our friends’ kids had done some crazy things. Probably all of the above. One thing led to another while I was brainstorming with my wife on an evening walk and the idea formed to loosely base a humorous murder mystery with a self-absorbed, fashion-backward software engineer, his sister, and his nieces on my life.

That first novel, Uncle and Ants: A Silicon Valley Mystery #1, is clearly fiction. I mean, I’m not a software engineer.

Pride and Principal is now the sixth in that popular series. My second series, the Ozarks Lake Mysteries, was loosely based on small towns and people that I had met while growing up in the South and visiting Arkansas. It now has three novels in that series. My last novel—Rivers and Creaks, the first book in the Redwoods Country Mystery series—was inspired by a family vacation to Monte Rio, in the redwoods and wine country of Northern California.

When did you first consider yourself to be an author?

I believe my entire professional life in marketing has involved writing fiction. On the job, we just called it advertising and emails. I finally buckled down and actually tried to write a novel. Lots of work, walks with my wife and dog, and many drafts eventually led to my first novel getting published. The next ones have come easier, but still involved a lot of dog walking. Because my dog doesn’t laugh at my jokes nor contribute much in the way of dialogue, he doesn’t get co-author credit. But he is quite patient with my humor—as long as I keep walking.

I feel like I earned permission to change my title from writer to author by finishing my first novel and getting it published.

Why do you write books in this genre?

I feel there’s enough serious, intense, and scary already in people’s lives so reading should be an escape to enjoy yourself. My novels are designed to be a simple pleasure. If you’re looking for deep introspection, intense psychological thrillers, or dense, wordy prose where nothing much happens, my novels aren’t the right fit for you.

I wasn’t originally planning to write cozy mysteries. However, a few years ago, I picked up my wife’s copy of a Janet Evanovich novel. She got mad when I didn’t return it until I’d finished. My wife that is, not Janet. Janet would probably be happy because I’ve purchased many of her other books and even consulted her How I Write book when I started my first book. I wouldn’t even mind if Janet decided to tell all her readers that they should try my books too (in case you’re reading this, Hi Janet!) Since then, I’ve read many other mysteries and cozy mysteries and enjoy the good light and humorous ones.

What is your favorite part of this story?

I like hanging out with Marty, the protagonist, and his friends and family even if our conversations are all imaginary. My wife will often find me laughing at my computer as I’ve invented an entire conversation between some characters. Sometimes those conversations even make it into a novel.

What did you find to be the hardest about writing this story? Why?

I always seem to spend an inordinate amount of time brainstorming ways that amateur sleuths can investigate a crime in a realistic fashion. I thought it would be fun, and more challenging, to have my  protagonists have no special ties to the police (despite his imaginary connection). I find many cozies seem especially unrealistic when the amateur sleuths have some special “in” that gives them access to all the police information about clues, police reports, etc. Avoiding this makes my stories more realistic and pushes the sleuth to solve the crime even faster because competent police officers, who don’t share confidential info with outsiders, actually make headway on cases on their own. Real police would be annoyed that amateurs are interfering. I try to have the police actually discover some confirming information by themselves—just moving at a slower pace than our heroes—that verifies the amateur’s findings. Of course, the hero doesn’t learn this until after the criminal is revealed.

Anything else you’d like to add?

My novel, Pride and Principal, is on sale during this tour. It’s available at: https://mybook.to/PrideandPrincipal. You can find all my cozy mysteries at: https://www.amazon.com/Marc-Jedel/e/B07H7MVKJL. They’re available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback editions, plus my novels are all free for Kindle Unlimited members.

Thank you, Marc, for visiting today!

Keep reading for more information about Marc and his new book, Pride and Principal.

About Pride and Principal

Pride and Principal: A Silicon Valley Mystery
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting – California
BGM Press (April 23, 2024)
Number of Pages: 230
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D1WFL2HQ

The school secretary has a sharp tongue but is she a killer? Can Marty do the math or will he get schooled by a criminal mastermind?

Marty Golden is frazzled. Struggling to juggle nieces, a rambunctious dog, a demanding job, and a serious relationship, the software engineer is never quite sure whether he’s coming or going. But when his nemesis begs for help after she’s accused of offing the school principal, the amateur sleuth agrees to hunt down the real culprit.

Confounded to discover the cantankerous woman stood to take the dead man’s position, he strives to find anyone who could benefit from discrediting the grump. And when his brilliant deductions and personal life implode, not even Marty’s groan-worthy dad-jokes can save him from an explosive threat.

Does this bumbling amateur sleuth have what it takes to capture the real killer?

Pride and Principal is the rollicking sixth book in the Silicon Valley cozy mystery series. If you like heroes in over their head, family hijinks, and plenty of wit and charm, then you’ll love Marc Jedel’s wild ride.

Try Pride and Principal to put two and two together today!

Great Escapes Praise for Pride and Principal: A Silicon Valley Mystery
by Marc Jedel

If you’re a fan of humorous cozy mystery books, you can count on Marc Jedel to entertain you! I highly recommend Pride and Principal for its wit, well-written characters, madcap mystery, and general hilarity! It’s a page-turning cozy mystery that you’ll find hard to put down!
~ Christy’s Cozy Corners

More About Marc Jedel

Marc Jedel writes humorous murder mysteries. He credits his years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley for honing his writing skills and sense of humor. While his high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, these were just called emails, ads, and marketing collateral.

For most of Marc’s life, he’s been inventing stories. It’s a skill that’s served him well as both an author and marketer. The publication of Marc’s first novel, Uncle and Ants, gave him permission to claim “author” as his job. This leads to much more interesting conversations with people than answering, “marketing.”

Like his character, Marty from the Silicon Valley Mystery series, Marc now lives in Silicon Valley, works in high-tech, and enjoys bad puns. Like his characters Jonas and Elizabeth from the Ozarks Lake Mystery series, he grew up in the South and spent plenty of time in and around Arkansas. Like his character, Andy, from the Redwoods Country Mystery series, Marc continues to grow older and would prefer not to run a bed-and-breakfast inn when he retires. Like all his protagonists, Marc too has a dog, although his is neurotic, sweet, and small, with little appreciation for Marc’s humor.

Visit his website, marcjedel.com, for free chapters of novels, special offers, and more.

Author Links
Website and Mailing List     Amazon Author Page     Facebook    BookBub    Goodreads   LinkedIn

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Escape With Dollycas.

Purchase Links
Amazon 

The Rest of the Series

TOUR PARTICIPANTS – Please visit all the stops. 
May 6 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
May 7 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
May 8 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 9 – Reading Is My SuperPower – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 10 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 11 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 12 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT
May 12 – Carla Loves To Read – REVIEW
May 13 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT
May 14 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 15 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 16 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 17 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
May 18 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 19 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

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