One Rotten Apple

Today, I’m welcoming Penny Frost McGinnis to the blog. Welcome, Penny.

Hi, Jackie. You’ve been a great inspiration and encouragement to me. Thank you for having me on your blog.

I’m Penny Frost McGinnis, and I’m excited to share with you that I published my first cozy mystery. I grew to love cozies after reading Lilian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who books. The genre’s close community, quirky characters, critters, and of course crime-solving drew me in. I appreciate that the stories keep the violence off the page and an amateur sleuth solves the mystery.

As an author, I have had three romance/mystery novels published, but I had a desire to write what I loved most—the cozy mystery. Lyndie Lavender stepped onto my computer screen and took me to Seldom Seen, South Carolina, to her Aunt Cordy’s homestead. Lyndie and her family were setting up the annual Apple Fest, where Cordy invited vendors from town to celebrate her apple harvest.

Unfortunately, a character loses their life, and Lyndie, who wanted nothing more than peace and quiet, must get on board to help solve the mystery. Lyndie brings some unique skills with her after spending twenty years as a war photographer/correspondent. She’s traveled the world, seen war-torn countries, experienced the beauty of arts and crafts, visited with many people, but she wants to lie low at home instead of winding up in the middle of an investigation.

One thing I enjoyed researching for One Rotten Apple was the pets Lyndie receives as a gift. I don’t want to give too much away, but they are some of the cutest animals I’ve ever seen.

The small town of Seldom Seen has plenty of quirky characters, and it was fun to create a town I’d like to live in. Although the town isn’t just like Travelers Rest, South Carolina, I used it as a model. If you ever get down that way, Travelers Rest is a lovely place to spend the day.

I hope you’ll check out One Rotten Apple: Lyndie Lavender Cozy Mystery 1.

Thanks again, Jackie, for having me today. Happy Reading!

One Rotten Apple back cover blurb:

Small town charm, a fall festival… and one uninvited corpse.

After twenty years of photographing war zones, Lyndie Lavender longs for peace. She finds it—at least at first—when she moves to her Aunt Cordy’s homestead near the quiet town of Seldom Seen, South Carolina. The gentle rhythm of her new life is upended when Lyndie stumbles across a dead body on the opening day of her aunt’s beloved Apple Fest.

Determined to uncover who killed one of the locals—and marred her aunt’s festival—Lyndie dusts off her camera and natural curiosity. With her sister Laurel at her side and Aunt Cordy’s charming new tenant, Zach Hudson, lending a hand, Lyndie finds herself snooping, spying, and untangling secrets the town folks didn’t even know.

Finding a killer isn’t on Lyndie Lavender’s calendar. But neither is walking away.

Here’s the link.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Rotten-Apple-Lavender-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0GMTGM4PJ/m/

Thanks for joining us, Penny.

Friends, I’ve read One Rotten Apple, and it’s even more fun than a fall festival.