I'm excited to join Berkley Mystery

in celebrating the December 5 release of 

LIVE AND LET FLY

by author

CLOVER TATE

LIVE AND LET FLY

is book 2 in the Kite Shop Mysteries

Kite shop owner Emmy Adler becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation that could send her dreams crashing to the ground…

With summer drawing to a close in Rock Point, Oregon, Emmy Adler hopes to beat the seasonal drop in business by winning the annual kite festival. What better way to garner publicity for the handmade kites sold in her shop, Strings Attached? In the days leading up to the festival, Emmy’s ambitions are soaring. Even an argument with reality TV star and contest judge Jasmine Normand can't bring her down. But when Jasmine is found dead the morning after their altercation, Emmy’s no longer flying high.

When the police open an investigation into Jasmine’s death and deem it a murder, Emmy falls under suspicion. With a national tabloid reporter convinced that she is guilty and business at her shop at a standstill, Emmy has to trade kite making for crime solving—or find all of her ambitions blown off course.

How Emmy Adler and I are alike

by Clover Tate

Readers sometimes tilt their heads at me and ask, “How much of you is Emmy Adler?”

Emmy is the heroine of my kite shop mysteries, including the second in the series, Live and Let Fly. Emmy is in her early 30s, an artist-kitemaker, and a bit confused about her romantic life. Since the series is written in Emmy’s point of view, it’s natural for readers to wonder how similar we are. Am I like her? Not a bit! And, yet, of course I am.

First for the “not a bit” part. Without getting specific, I’m, well, a bit older than Emmy. I’ve never crafted a kite. I live in a city, not a tiny beach town like Rock Point. While Emmy has Bear, an Australian Shepherd, I have two cats. Unlike Emmy, my romantic life is firmly under control.

At the same time, Emmy and I have a lot in common. First is our shared sense of humor. Emmy wouldn’t have parents who take part in a Watergate reenactment club if it didn’t crack me up. Emmy laughs at it, too, and she, like I, think it’s hilarious that the National Bloodhound reporter in Live and Let Fly is named Nicky Byrd the third, and that the murder victim, Jasmine Normand, was on a reality TV dating safari show called Bag That Babe.

Plus, Emmy and I also both like food. I didn’t intend it to happen, but when Emmy fetches a cup of coffee or a tuna melt at her best friend Avery’s café, the Brew House, we both luxuriate in its fragrance and taste. I know authors who dread that their characters have to eat from time to time, but I enjoy describing meals, from Rock Point’s Tidal Basin’s glass of pinot noir to its sautéed morel mushrooms and salmon steak.

Finally, Emmy and I both share a soft spot for misfits. While in Live and Let Fly the rest of the town dismisses cranky Marcus Salek as just another sourpuss, Emmy recognizes the hurt beneath his sarcasm. She’s also willing to understand the eloquent but clumsy Nicky Byrd as someone needing direction for his talent.

I feel that way, too. It’s the offbeat people around me who have inspired me to break off from corporate America. I can’t help but embrace dreamers and explorers, and I guess that’s why I write mysteries and why quirky folks will always earn a central place in what I write.

Really, the best people are just a hair off kilter. Emmy is, and so am I. Maybe you are, too?

More about Clover

aka Angela M. Sanders

Storytelling is a way to appreciate life.

I’m privileged to have interviewed scores of fascinating people, from a shrimp fisherman pioneering sustainable fishing to tribal officials struggling for federal recognition, and from an entrepreneur selling mass tarot card readings on the internet to a forty-foot tall talking statue of Paul Bunyan. Along the way I learned that everyone has a story if you’re willing to listen.

I give the best part of my day—that calm few hours early in the morning when the birds are waking up and my subconscious is fresh from a night with the Sandman—to writing fiction. Specifically, I write crime fiction geared to women who like down-to-earth glamour shaken with intelligence, wit, and not a lot of gore.

Contact me at angela at angelamsanders dot com. Friend me on Facebook . Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletters.

Available December 5!

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