Lisa Ks Book Reviews

Sunday, April 16, 2017

BOOK TOUR

I'm so excited to be a stop on the

book tour for

Gayle Leeson

and her new book

SILENCE OF THE JAMS

Book 2 Down South Café Mysteries

In the latest Southern cozy from the author of The Calamity Café, small-town chef Amy Flowers can’t take her freedom for granted when she’s served up as a murder suspect...

It's Independence Day in Winter Garden, Virginia, and the residents are gearing up for their annual celebration. The Down South Café is open and flourishing, and Amy Flowers is busy making pies and cakes for the holiday. The only thorn in her side is Chamber of Commerce director George Lincoln, who is trying to buy the café so he can tear it down and build a B&B on the site.

When George collapses while eating at the Down South, everybody assumes it's a heart attack—until the autopsy declares it to be poisoning. Now, it’s up to Amy to prove her innocence before her liberty is lost.

Includes delicious Southern recipes!

An Interview With Gayle Leeson

LKBR: Thank you for being here today!

GL: Thank you for having me! This is such a wonderful blog.

LKBR: When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

GL: My mother says that when I was a toddler, I used to gather the family together and tell stories that always began with, “Once up a time…” And she says I’d get mad if they didn’t listen! So, I guess being a storyteller is something I always wanted to do.

LKBR: What was your inspiration for this series? Where did the name come from?

GL: I grew up in a tiny rural town in Southwest Virginia. It was a beautiful place, and everybody knew everybody—good, bad, or otherwise. The best tales were told by adults at kitchen tables over mugs of coffee, and the children listened with wide eyes from the other room. We heard ghost stories, love stories, and even a horror story or two. Amy, the series protagonist, named the café the Down South Café because she wanted it to be a place where people would feel at home and be embraced by warm Southern hospitality.

LKBR: Do you ever get writer’s block? If you do, how do you work through it?

GL: I do. Sometimes, I won’t know how to get from Point A in the story to Point B. When that happens, I write, “What Next?” at the top of a sheet of paper. Then I list possibilities. Nothing is too boring or too absurd. One of those possibilities will click, and I’ll know what to do.

LKBR: Do you have a favorite place to do your writing?

GL: I always write in the living room, usually with my dog at my side. He’s lying here now…a little stinky, as a matter of fact, because he wouldn’t come in out of the rain earlier. So…yep…my muse smells like wet dog. LOL!

LKBR: What is your writing schedule like? Do you write a certain number of hours a day, or go by word count?

GL: I set out to write a chapter a day. When I’m on a deadline, I force myself to stick to it. I write that chapter no matter how long it takes.

LKBR: What is the hardest part of writing? What is the easiest part?

GL: I think the hardest part is writing a synopsis before writing the book. Editors ask us to do that when we propose a new book. (Or, they ask me to, anyway.) It’s so hard because when I begin a book, I often have no idea where it might veer off to as I write. Fortunately, my editor has learned this about me and knows that my synopsis is basically just one of the scenarios that we might end up with by the time the book is done. The easiest part is reading a good review and knowing that you did your job—that your book entertained someone and made him/her happy for a little while.

LKBR: Do you have plans for a new series?

GL: I’ve got a movie memorabilia series floating around in my head where the protagonist is a shop owner who also helps with local theater productions.

LKBR: What book are you reading?

GL: I’m currently reading HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance.

LKBR: What are three things you want your readers to know about you?

GL: 1) I’m an animal lover. Our family has three cats (one rescue and two ferals who came to us as kittens) and a dog (Cooper is a Great Pyrenees I bought from someone at the side of the road).

2) I’ve got a flapper costume for the RT convention speak easy event in Atlanta in May. I’m so excited about it! Please let me know if you’re going to be there.

3) I’m an eclectic reader. I read cozies, nonfiction, thrillers, romances, and even some sci-fi.

LKBR: Thank you so much for letting us get to know you better!

GL: Thanks so much for having me on your blog!

~*~*~*~*~*~

*****!!!GIVEAWAY!!!*****

One lucky winner will win a
Signed Paperback, a Down South Café T-shirt, and Flirty Apron Oven Mitt Set!

Winners will be contacted after April 16

at the end of the tour

Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.

This giveaway is through Great Escape Book Tours, not Lisa Ks Book Reviews.

www.escapewithdollycas.com

MY REVIEW

SILENCE OF THE JAMS gave me that down home, easy living feeling, but with murder! ;-)

With the wait finally over (it felt like years) I dived into this book, and didn’t come up for air until I was finished! Page after page I was captivated by this delightful cozy. As with the first installment in this series, SILENCE OF THE JAMS was a fast moving mystery without one wasted word. (You know the kind of drag-it-out filler I’m talking about.) Seriously, there was not one slow or boring part in this entire tale.

Every scene dealing with the characters doing their normal, everyday routines, made me long to be a part of this group of people. And every scene focusing on the murder was intelligently crafted by author Gayle Leeson to keep the reader’s mind working to solve the deadly puzzle. She truly has a gift for writing a killer mystery.

Be prepared to get hungry reading this story. There are some yummy sounding foods. Thankfully, Ms. Leeson includes some of the amazing recipes from the story. I will be trying them out for sure!

I don’t care how jammed up your reading list is. You have got to add SILENCE OF THE JAMS to the top. Haven’t read book one, THE CALMITY CAFÉ? Get them both and read them back to back. You’ll be happy that you did!