Special Guest – JP Bird – Author of Murder at First Sight (Suddenly Psychic) #GuestPost #Giveaway #GreatEscapesBookTour @JPBird-author

Murder at First Sight (Suddenly Psychic)
by JP Bird

I am delighted to welcome JP Bird to Escape With Dollycas today!

Pantsing my way through a series
by JP Bird

I want to be organized. I really do. I want to be a plotter, not a pantser, but I just can’t seem to find the magical equation that turns one into the other.

When writing The Suddenly Psychic Novels, I had all the plans about where I wanted my characters and story lines to go. I spent days, nay, weeks, plotting the series. I made graphs and charts. I filled Excel sheets with lists of character traits. I got a whiteboard and hung it on the wall to jot notes on. I taped pictures of people and places all over my writing space. I watched every video I could by authors who are plotters and thought, I can do that.

My character arcs were mapped out. I knew who each of them were down to their childhood hobbies. I knew their friends, their enemies, and even their favorite food. I had timelines. I had chapter outlines. I had color-coded tabs a friend gave me when I told her I was going to write a book and be organized about it, stuck all over the place. I even had a book with laminated pages I organized into sections with lead characters, secondary characters, peripheral ones and locations (this was in case I wanted to write away from my office). Each page had a picture of the character with a list of their traits and images of what I conceived locations to look like. I was organized!

I was going to be a plotter.

But, as I started Murder at First Sight, my carefully plotted out first book of the series, my characters shook their heads and laughed at me. I was desperately trying to steer them where I wanted them to go, only for a new character to emerge out of nowhere. I would stare at the words I had just typed and wonder where the heck did this person come from, and what were they doing to my story?

Sometimes it wasn’t even a new character. Sometimes an existing character would simply refuse to cooperate. A conversation I had planned to be a short segue into the next scene would pivot in a completely different direction. A family member would suddenly develop a personality so big that they demanded more page time (Laurence, with his ridiculously charming energy, deserved so much more page space than I had allotted, but how could I not? Every time he showed up, he would make me laugh.).

Instead of following my carefully designed flowcharts that led each character to their next scene, I found myself frantically trying to keep up with the changes. I ended up carrying a bag full of notebooks with me everywhere I went, each with scribbled notes about some event, scene, or phrase I thought should be included. The notes app on my phone was a kaleidoscope of hodgepodgery with titles like Add This to Chapter 7, Laurence Sayings, Story Lines to Continue. Little Easter eggs appeared throughout each book, each one demanding to become a story of its own.

Ideas could strike at any time. Chatting with my favorite cashier at the grocery store? A new subplot because she happened to mention something about her family dinner and it would take me on a path thinking about Amelia’s family. I’d race to my car to frantically write my thoughts down. And forget about trying to fall asleep. My brain would tick long after bedtime. I would try to ignore it, thinking I’d remember that genius idea, but quickly learned if I didn’t get up and write it down, it would be lost and I’d spent the next day berating myself for forgetting (in my mind) the most perfect line. All too quickly, my carefully organized system had evolved into a collection of notebooks, sticky notes, phone notes, and random scraps of paper that only I could decipher. There wasn’t a back of the envelope in the house that was safe from my pantsing self.

I threw caution to the wind, I abandoned the plans, ignored the charts, and let the characters lead. That doesn’t mean I stopped planning entirely. I still start each book with a destination in mind. I’ve simply accepted that the route between here and there is probably going to involve a few unexpected detours.

The best part is that many of those unexpected moments became some of my favorite sections of the books. Characters I never intended to create became central to the story. Storylines I had never planned turned into important plot threads. The books became so much more than what I thought they would be.

Maybe I can be a hybrid of plotter and pantser?

A plantser.

Thank you JP for visiting today!

Keep reading for more information about JP and Murder at First Sight. 

About Murder at First Sight

Murder at First Sight (A Suddenly Psychic Novel)
Cozy Psychic Mystery
1st in Series
Setting- Small fictional town of Hillside, USA
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tule Publishing
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 1, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 230 pages
Digital
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1970840766
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GN3TJMHF
Paperback Will Be Available Too

When a good deed might lead to murder…

Coerced into posing as a seer at her small town’s spring fair, barista and aspiring artist Amelia Wethers dives into the dramatic role, comforting herself that it’s only a few hours and then she can indulge in sweet and savory snacks. When the wealthy and snarky Summer Foster swans into her tent inquiring about the expected success of her swanky summer party, Amelia’s not prepared for the crystal ball to fill with smoke and reveal the shockingly violent murder of Summer’s husband.

Amelia grapples with skepticism, anger, and scorn as she tries to warn wealthy scion Phillip Foster that he’s a target for murder in a few weeks. Discovering she’s descended from a long line of psychics complicates Amelia’s investigation, especially when the town’s newest and distressingly handsome homicide detective dogs her every step and suspects her of murder.

It’s a race to the finish, and Amelia will do anything—including pre-dawn hot yoga, adopting her brother’s feral ferrets, missing dessert, setting herself up as bait and making a fool of herself—to stalk a killer.

Great Escapes Praise for Murder at First Sight (Suddenly Psychic)
by JP Bird

Murder at First Sight by JP Bird is a delightfully entertaining read filled with humor, suspense, and plenty of quirky charm. Murder, mayhem, and mischievous ferrets—what more could a cozy mystery fan want?
~The Avid Reader

MURDER AT FIRST SIGHT is a fast paced laugh out loud mystery filled with eccentric characters and hilarious situations. I loved every minute of it!
~Cozy Up With Kathy

About JP Bird

JP writes cozy mysteries with quirky characters that make her laugh when they disagree with the laid-out plans for their story and take her on a different path. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, and hates the cold weather but loves the winter months because they’re a great excuse to hibernate with a cup of tea or a glass of red wine. When she’s not writing or reading, she spends her summers in the garden and her winters plotting how to win her neighbourhood Christmas display competition. They don’t know it’s a competition, but she plays to win nonetheless.

Author Links
www.jpbird-author.com
JPBird-author (@jpbird_author) • Instagram photos and videos
Facebook

Purchase Links

Murder at First Sight (Suddenly Psychic Book 1) – Kindle edition by Bird, JP . Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Murder at First Sight by JP Bird | eBook | Barnes & Noble®

Murder at First Sight eBook by JP Bird – EPUB | Rakuten Kobo United States

Murder at First Sight by JP Bird – Books on Google Play

Murder at First Sight (Suddenly Psychic Book 1) by JP Bird | Goodreads

Coming September 2, 2026

TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 6 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 6 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
July 7 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 8 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT 
July 8 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW
July 9 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
July 10 – Twirling Book Princess – SPOTLIGHT
July 11 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
July 12 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 13 – Sarandipity’s – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
July 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 14 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
July 15 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 16 – Storybook Lady – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 17 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
July 18 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
July 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

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