Axe Me No Questions

I’m excited to share a little about Axe Me No Questions by Paula Charles. I asked Paula to tell us a little about her latest book. (Release date 1/28/25–preorder available now.)

Axe Me No Questions is the second book in the Hometown Hardware Mystery series. Dawna Carpenter was originally based on my grandmother who owned and operated the hardware store in the small town where I grew up. Friends and family have told me they hear and see me in Dawna, so I guess we’re more alike than I knew!

The town of Pine Bluff is fictionalized, but when I thought about what Dawna might be getting mixed up in during the fall, I thought of the Timber Festival my hometown used to host when I was young, and decided it was the perfect event to showcase the area and get Dawna tangled up in another murder mystery.

During the Timber Festival in Pine Bluff, the main even is a lumberjack and jill contest. While I’ve attended these type of events, I’ve only ever been an onlooker, never scrambled up a pole or attempted to roll logs in the water with my fast feet. Though I’m no award-winning axe thrower, I can wield an axe with the best of them to chop firewood!

Here’s the back cover info for Axe Me No Questions.

Heads are on the chopping block as hardware store owner Dawna Carpenter finds herself on the cutting edge of a murder investigation.

In the quaint mountain town of Pine Bluff, Oregon, fall has arrived and it’s time for the annual Timber Festival, complete with Lumberjack and Lumberjill contests, and booths serving spicy chili and creamy pumpkin pies. Dawna and her daughter April have plans to watch the logging contest together. She’s looking forward to soaking in all her favorite things about the season, which includes having a conversation with her deceased husband, who she is certain is still hanging around the house.

But when Dawna falls over the body of one of the lumberjacks, with his own throwing axe imbedded in his chest, her focus turns to murder. With the town in turmoil, Dawna takes Chief Dallas’s request to keep her ears open as a full license to snoop. Who had an axe to grind with the charismatic lumberjack? Dawna had better stay sharp, or she might be the next one to get the axe.  

Thanks, Paula.

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about the second book in the Hometown Hardware Mystery series.

Here’s a link to preorder on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Axe-Me-Questions-Paula-Charles-ebook/dp/B0DF6Q2PF8?ref_=ast_author_mpb