Joyce Ann Brown, Author
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New Release of Anthology Includes my New Short Story

7/18/2017

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New Release!
Noir at the Salad Bar
Culinary Tales with a Bite

 
Noir at the Salad Bar, Culinary Tales with a Bite, is now available in paperback and in the Kindle store. This collection of thirty stories has something for everyone, especially those who enjoy a bit of food and drink with their murderous tales. Thanks to all of the contributing authors!

Noir at the Salad Bar, Culinary Tales with a Bite authors & stories:
  • “The Lobster Tank” by E.A. Aymar
  • “Smoked” by Michael Bracken
  • “Harvey House Homicide” by Joyce Ann Brown
  • “A Murder of Crows” by Mara Buck
  • “The Hearts of Men” by Karen Cantwell
  • “With Great Relish” by John R. Clark
  • “Buena Vista Sandwich Club” by Frank Collia
  • “Cole Slaughter” by Sheila Connolly
  • “Black Coffee in Bed” by Sharon Daynard
  • “Petunia at the Tip Top” by Jenny Drummey
  • “Consuming Passion” by Martin Edwards
  • “Sleeping Beauty” by Gerald Elias
  • “The Sandman” by John M Floyd
  • “Bases Looted” by Jason Half
  • “Candy” by Isobel Horsburgh
  • “Beef Stew” by E L Johnson
  • “The Curse of the Apertured Apiculturist” by Larry Lefkowitz
  • “A Murder in Montreux” by Michael Allan Mallory
  • “Deadly Dinner” by LD Masterson
  • “Antipastdead” by Lorraine Sharma Nelson
  • “Togas and Toques” by Alan Orloff
  • “Grab-N-Go” by A.B. Polomski
  • “Ragbones and the Case of the Christmas Goose” by Rima Perlstein Riedel
  • “Death at the Hands of Le Fée Verte” by Verena Rose
  • “Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody” by Barbara Ross
  • “Family Business” by Harriette Sackler
  • “Humble Pie” by Shawn Reilly Simmons
  • “Fed Up” by Louise Taylor
  • “Playing Games” by Elaine Togneri
“My Life in Killer Recipes” by Leslie Wheeler

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Giveaway Until May 7

4/23/2017

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Get a free booklet of three suspense stories from authors listed in the anthology, Murder, U.S.A., at: http://eepurl.com/VU-dz
 

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New Award

4/23/2017

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This month I was awarded a Books Go Social Quality Badge after Nine LiFelines was reviewed by a British book promotion organization called "Books Go Social." After a thorough review process by computer and humans, my book won a good badge.
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New Edition of Nine Lifelines

10/24/2016

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New edition of Nine Lifelines, the third book of the Psycho Cat and the Landlady Mystery series is now available at Amazon.com.
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New Free Book of Mystery Excerpts

3/2/2016

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Free book available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BQLXB48… and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-usa-kris…/1123443272… and https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/murder-u-s-a and https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1084171476 and https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/615220


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Audiobook

12/27/2015

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An Audiobook of Catastrophic Connections is in the works. What an exciting experience to hear my book being read by a talented narrator. I have to approve the pronunciations and voices of my characters. It's interesting to me that someone might pronounce a name or a word so much differently than my friends, family, and I do.
My narrator, for instance, pronounces either with a long I sound at the beginning. I pronounce it with a long e sound. Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto...

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The Holidays--Consider Books for Gifts and for Relaxation

11/11/2015

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The one thing that concerns me most about holiday giving isn't the money. It's figuring out what to give each person that will be personal and appreciated. Sometimes, in our family we've tried drawing names, giving one person a list of things we'd like, and letting that person pass our lists on to the right people.  We've tried making a rule that we could give only homemade items (baked goods, art, sewed or quilted items, etc.) One or two times, everyone brought a small gift and put it in a pile so everyone could draw lots to pick out gifts that could then be claimed by someone else while the chooser had to draw another gift.

None of the ideas lasted for more than a year or two. Even the plan to give money to charity rather than buy gifts for each other (except for young children) worked entirely. There were some who insisted on giving gifts to everyone in the family as well as to the charity. That made the folks who followed the plan feel a little awkward and curmudgeonly.

Here's an idea. Everyone could give books to each other. We know what kind of books most of our family members enjoy. But if someone receives an book, he or she could pass it on in some way. Give it to someone who would like it. Donate it to the library. Put it in a box of items going to a charity. Give it to a retirement community.

People have given my cozy mystery books as gifts in the past, and they've written to tell me the gifts were appreciated. They have also been loved by the folks in retirement communities where I've donated them.

Have a stress-free holiday season. Read a book!

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Psycho Cat announces that Beth, the landlady's niece has disappeared. Beth searches from Kansas City to the Virgin Islands for clues, encountering thieves, murderers, and threats along the way.
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Psycho Cat finds a skeleton in the attic. Beth, the landlady, seeks answers back and forth in time to solve the cold case.
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Writing and Staining?

11/6/2015

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Here are the doors I've been staining lately. Writing in the evenings and staining during the day--the cozy life of a mystery writer.

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November 06th, 2015

11/6/2015

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It's not all play and no work these days. For the past week I've been staining, finishing, and staining, and refinishing wood doors to replace some I painted several years ago. Styles change, but I should never have decided to paint woodwork in my house!!
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Happy Halloween

10/31/2015

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For Halloween fun, read my short story published at Kings River Life Magazine: http://kingsriverlife.com/10/29/a-wild-halloween/ 
Also, Furtive Investigation e-book is on sale at Amazon for $.99. The second Psycho Cat and the Landlady Mystery: Psycho Cat sniffs out a skeleton in the attic. Police are told to drop the investigation. It's up to Beth, the landlady, to figure out who killed the victim.
(Now's your chance: Goes up to $1.99 on Sunday and regular price on Thursday.)

http://www.amazon.com/FURtive-Investigation-Psycho-Landlady-Mysteries/dp/B00UEU0RP4
 
Happy Halloween
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Finding My Way

10/7/2015

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  On a beautiful early Fall hike, I sat to rest in this chair. I, in this chair, represent the amount of time I put into writing my new book that day.   
   My smile shows how much I enjoyed the adventure. How can a writer write unless she voyages into Lilliputian Land every so often?


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There are new adventures everywhere. Rock trails to climb. Trees to hug. Ideas to grab.
Awesome!
In LiFELINE, the next Psycho Cat and the Landlady Mystery, Beth, the landlady, must learn about the people and customs of other countries from people she meets in her new condo building. How do they fit into the murder mystery she is trying to solve? You'll be able to find out when the book is published early in 2016.

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New Psycho Cat & the Landlady Mystery

8/26/2015

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I've now started writing the third Psycho Cat mystery. Psycho Cat is older, as are Beth, the landlady and her ever-reluctant-to-help hubby, Arnie. There are mysteries galore in their new digs on the penthouse floor of the condo building in Brookside, a cozy neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri.

The greatest problem facing me now is a great title which uses a cat pun. A CATacylsmic winner. Contact me with ideas, and your suggestions could become the title.
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Psycho Cat's Interview

7/28/2015

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Before the nice cat Truffles passed away, he interviewed Sylvester, aka Psycho Cat, from my series. You can read the interview at on Truffles' blog.
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Recent Guest Blogging

7/7/2015

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Since Furtive Investigation has been published, I've had time to write for several blogs published by others, one of my favorite things to do. Here are a sample with the links:

  On THE MAGAZINE AT BLOGSPOT, I posted an essay about writing a cozy mystery, all of my frustrations right out there:  http://the-magazine-at.blogspot.de/2015/07/writing-cozy-mystery-by-joyce-ann-brown.html?m=0


  On Marilyn's Musings, I posted the same article: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/2015/06/writing-cozy-mystery-by-joyce-ann-brown.html 

  I wrote "What’s in a Name?" for James Callen's blog: http://www.jamesrcallan.com/blog/2015/02/27/whats-in-a-name/

  Here is the link to Novel Spaces where I posted about "Flushing Out the Self-Publishing Process": http://novelspaces.blogspot.com/2014/09/guest-author-joyce-ann-brown-flushing.html

  On Creatures 'n Crooks/Buried Under Books I posted my confessions about being a slow reader: https://cncbooksblog.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/confessions-of-a-slow-reader/

 
Psycho Cat's interview with a cat from a different series.

I also have a couple of short stories ready to be sent to contests.



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Guest Blog Post Live

2/27/2015

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Please see my recent post about choosing the names of characters. http://www.jamesrcallan.com/blog/2015/02/27/whats-in-a-name/#comment-16648 I pondered, chose, reconsidered, renamed, and then felt terrible when a couple of my original character names remained in the first copy of the published book. The comments I received on the post are insightful.
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    Author
    Joyce Ann Brown

    Joyce Ann Brown loves to travel. Some of her settings, such as the Virgin Islands, a small town in Arkansas, San Antonio, and Peru are based on places she has been.

    Beth Stockwell, the landlady sleuth in CATastrophic Connections, Furtive Investigation, Nine Lifelines, and Tailed loves to speed-walk. Read the author's blog about hiking trails in Kansas City, including the Trolley Track Trail where Beth walks.  

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