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Wednesday, June 7, 2023

It's Locked! A Cozy Mystery Celebration: Interview With Darci Hannah!


Hi, everyone! Today I'm happy to present an interview with Darci Hannah, the author of the Beacon Bakeshop Mysteries!

Would you please tell us about the Beacon Bakeshop Mysteries?

The Beacon Bakeshop mystery series revolves around my protagonist, Lindsey Bakewell. Lindsey was a former Wall Street investment banker and was very happy with her life… until the night she found her up-and-coming celebrity chef fiancé, Jeffery Plank, in a compromising position with his pastry chef, Mia Long. The engagement ended, and Lindsey went home to drown her sorrows with cupcakes, wine, and late-night internet shopping! The next morning she found out that she bought an old lighthouse in a place called Beacon Harbor, MI. (Fun fact: you really can buy a Michigan lighthouse online!). 
The lighthouse intrigues her, and soon Lindsey is ready to make the move to Beacon Harbor with her fluffy Newfoundland dog, Wellington, to open her dream bakery and start a new life in a small, picturesque vacation town. Everything is going great for Lindsey as she prepares to open the bakery. She’s making new friends. She’s met her hunky neighbor, Rory Campbell, who she takes an instant liking to. And her best friend, Kennedy Kapoor, has flown in from NYC to help promote the opening of the Beacon Bakeshop. However, on opening day, Lindsey gets a visit from her ex-fiancé and his girlfriend. They’ve come to ruin her new business. Things get pretty heated up, and soon Mia drops dead on the lawn after eating one of Lindsey’s donuts. That’s when Lindsey and her friends have no choice but to find Mia’s true killer. Oh, did I mention that the lighthouse is haunted? It is, and that just adds to the fun of this mystery series.
With every book in the Beacon Bakeshop series readers will find a fun, adventurous, and often suspenseful mystery, with plenty of intrigue, humor, and, of course, yummy recipes in the back of the book for you to try at home. 

The next book in the series is released in July! Can you tell us a little about Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant?

Can I just say how excited I am for this book to come out? I had so much fun writing a Halloween mystery, not only because I got to do a lot of fall baking for this book (think pumpkin spice everything!) but Lindsey’s lighthouse is rumored to be haunted. What a great opportunity it was for me to get to delve into the mystery of Lindsey’s haunted lighthouse! 
This mystery starts on the run-up to Halloween, where every morning Lindsey wakes up only to find life-sized ghouls hanging from her tree. Also, some intrepid teens have tried to break into her haunted lighthouse. Dreading Halloween night, Lindsey reluctantly allows her influencer and podcaster best friend, Kennedy, to host a live ghost-hunting investigation in the lighthouse, conducted by a professional team. Protective of her ghost, Lyndsey is understandably nervous about what they might uncover. However, during the investigation the team gets spooked and clamors to get out of the haunted lighthouse. As Kennedy joins the mad dash outside, she bumps into what looks like just another prankster teens’ creepy clown hanging from the tree. However, Kennedy, and everyone watching her livestream podcast, soon realize that the clown is no dummy, but a corpse. Soon Lindsey and her friends find themselves in a mad dash to solve this puzzling Halloween murder.  

Random question! What’s your favorite time of year?

Oh, wow! This is a hard one because I truly believe that every season brings a special beauty with it. I truly enjoy all four seasons… well, maybe not early spring so much. That’s the gloomiest season we have here in Michigan. However, I must confess that a perfect fall day, when the leaves are at their peak color, might be my favorite. I find it positively breathtaking. I also love fall baking. So, I guess fall is my favorite season of all! 

If you are able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?

Well, earlier this year I turned in the manuscript for my 5th Beacon Bakeshop mystery. It’s going to come out just in time for St. Patrick’s Day next year and is titled, MURDER AT THE BLARNEY BASH. I absolutely loved writing about a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Beacon Harbor, MI. All I’m going to say for now is that a new Irish imports shop and micro pub comes to town, and with it comes a bit of a leprechaun problem. That mystery will be out next January. I’m also working on an entirely new mystery series that will debut next fall. I don’t want to say too much about it yet, but I will share more once I see the cover. Getting the cover from the publisher makes it all start to feel real for me. For now, I’m just having a ball writing it. So please stay tuned. There’s lots more to come!

What are some of your favorite cozy mysteries? And what are some you’re looking forward to reading?

The first cozy mystery series that I ever read (I didn’t even know they were cozy mysteries at the time) was the Hamish Macbeth Mysteries by M. C. Beaton. This series is set in the Scottish Highlands, and at the time I was writing historical fiction set in Scotland. I fell in love with those novels, and then read the Agatha Raisin series by M. C. Beaton as well. I love ‘em and am still reading them!
I’ve been reading so many great cozy mysteries lately, by so many great authors. I love them all. It’s a very rich genre and there’s so many great series to delve into! However, I must confess that I’m a huge fan of Krista Davis’s Domestic Diva mysteries. As I write this, I’m anxiously awaiting her latest mystery, THE DIVA DELIVERS ON A PROMISE. It comes out in a few days, (May 23!), and I already have it on preorder. So, by the time you read this, I’ll be reading that!   

Thank you so much to Darci Hannah for participating in this event!


Author Bio: Darci Hannah is the internationally acclaimed author of humorous cozy mysteries and exciting historical fiction. She has the unique privilege of being a Chicagoan, a Hoosier, a summertime Wisconsinite and a Michigander. In fact, along with the black-and-white springer spaniel, Darci considers Lake Michigan to be her spirit animal, both dog breed and lake being a faithful source of inspiration in her busy life. While she attributes her remarkable patience to her thirty-two years of marriage (and counting!) to husband John, her ridiculous sense of humor is primarily the fault her three millennial sons. When Darci’s not engaged in a rollicking family adventure, walking her pups or working at the historic Howell Carnegie District Library, she’s either baking a cherry-tastic treat, drinking coffee or hard at work on her next novel. In fact, it’s a safe bet to assume she’s doing all three.

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