Hello my friends! 

So many of you have been with me since the beginning, and will remember some of my "throwback" posts. But for my new readers, I like to share the old posts from time to time. 

The following post is from

September 29, 2014!

Featured is one of my favorite authors and an all around sweetheart of a lady,

Connie Archer/di Marco.

Enjoy! 

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Hello everyone! 

Today I am thrilled to be hosting one of my favorite cozy authors, and just an around awesome lady, 

Connie Archer!

Connie writes The Soup Lover's Mystery series. 

If you haven't read this series, you must add it to your reading list!

Connie has been thinking a lot lately about who she wants to kill. In her books that is! 

After you read Connie's dilemma, maybe you can help her out by leaving a comment letting her know who you think she should and shouldn't kill. 

And to thank you, Connie is giving away a copy of your choice of one of her first three 

Soup Lover's Mysteries!

You can enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

So, lets see what Connie has to say. 

    Who should I kill next?

by Connie Archer

Someone recently asked me how I’ve managed to have one or more murders in each book of the Soup Lover’s Mystery series without depleting the admittedly small population of Snowflake, Vermont.  Originally, the town census was 953 but now, unfortunately, there are only 950 souls in the village.  (Psssst . . . . don’t tell anyone, but the murder rate in this charming village is rather high.)

Winter tourists come for the ski slopes, summer visitors for the lovely scenery and the reenactment of the Battle of Bennington and, of course, the Harvest Festival in the fall.  Outsiders are safe.  Well, I mean they’re safe for me to kill, but Snowflake may not be a very safe place for them to be.  And of course if anyone comes to town for nefarious reasons, I feel I have a completely free hand in bumping them off. 

So that got me to thinking . . . what would happen if one of the village residents, one of the regulars in town, were murdered?  Would that complete demolish the boundaries of a cozy mystery?  Would readers be upset and write angry emails to me?  And if I should decide to do just that, who would I choose? 

Speaking of bumping characters off -- I’ve watched pretty much every episode of Downton Abbey.  No, I’m not a rabid fan, although I really have enjoyed the series.  A reviewer recently described Downton as a “perfect soap opera.”  That gave me pause.  A soap?  Wow!  I hadn’t quite thought of Downton Abbey as a soap, but maybe that reviewer had a point.  Maybe whatever factors caused Downton to be so popular are the same elements that make a mystery series a success. 

Let’s examine some of the things that have happened at Downton.  Bates has gone to jail -- for a good long time for the murder of his wife, leaving Anna heartbroken and terrified.  It wasn’t looking as if Bates would ever be released.  Anna’s been raped by a monstrous valet.  The younger sister who ran off with the chauffeur (sorry, can’t remember her character’s name), has died after childbirth, and then there’s Matthew.  What a shocker that was at the end of the season! 

So here’s this marvellous series that pulls every fan in every week even though terrible things are happening to the Crawley family and other residents of Downton Abbey.  Could I take a leaf from that book?  (Speaking figuratively that is.)  Could I kill off a series regular character?  Is that actually DONE in cozies???  And who would I choose? 

Jack?  Lucky’s beloved grandfather?  Well, we know Jack has had some health problems and then of course there are his flashbacks to the war.  But no!  Not Jack!  Never!  Even though he’s 85 years young.  Besides, who would tell time by the bells if anything happened to that wonderful Navy vet?

Lucky?  Nope.  Can’t do that.  After all, she’s my main protagonist.  Without her there couldn’t be a series.  She has to stick around to solve all the crimes.  Sophie?  Lucky’s best friend?  Can’t see that.  Sophie just got married.  Well, she will have been married by the end of Book 4, Ladle to the Grave, which is coming out on March 3, 2015.  No, that would be terrible. 

Sage DuBois?  The Spoonful’s chef?  Yikes!  Who would make all those fabulous soup recipes?  And surely not Horace Winthorpe!  He hasn’t finished his book on the Revolutionary War years in Vermont yet.  He has a ways to go.  And definitely not his dog Cicero.  Never Cicero! 

Perhaps a more minor character?  Flo Sullivan who sends Jack into tailspins with her flirtations?  Hmmm.  Hank or Barry, the Spoonful’s regulars?  Uh, uh.  They’re the first customers of the day.  Killing them would cause a rift in the universe that is Snowflake, Vermont. 

The more I thought about it, I realized how hard the choice would be, if not impossible.  I love them all.  I need them all.  They people the pages of each book, lending texture and color and idiosyncrasies.  I couldn’t bear to kill any of them.  Just can’t do it. 

This title will be released on March 3, 2015.

What do you think?  Should everyone in Snowflake stay in Snowflake?  The important people I mean?  Even the ones who are so annoying, like Cordelia Rank?  Personally, I think it would just be too too sad.  I want them all there the next time I sit down to plot the new crimes in the village. 

What do you think?  Could you bear to lose anyone in Snowflake?  Would you never speak or write to me again? 

Wow! Connie sure is in a predicament. 

I'm going to throw in my opinion. 

I would hate to see any of the people Connie mentioned above get murdered. But it occurs to me there are semi-regular characters that could be killed off and it would add just the right amount of angst to the story without completely breaking our hearts by losing one of our beloved regulars. 

My pick would be Sage's brother, Remy DuBois. 

What do you think? Do you think Connie can kill off a regular? 

Or should she stick with visitors to Snowflake?

I can't wait to read your suggestions for her.

You can purchase Connie Archer's Soup Lover's Mysteries at you local bookstore or any of these online book sellers.

Barnes and Noble 

Book Depository

Amazon

Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of the Soup Lover's Mystery series set in Snowflake, Vermont -- A Spoonful of Murder, A Broth of Betrayal, A Roux of Revenge, Ladle to the Grave and A Clue in the Stew. You can find excerpts from the Soup Lover's Mystery series and Connie's recipes in The Cozy Cookbook from Penguin Random House and The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. Connie was born and raised in New England and loves writing about Vermont. Today she can be found on the other coast inventing soup recipes and designing plots. You can visit her website and blog at http://www.conniearchermysteries.com and sign up for her newsletter. You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries and Twitter @SnowflakeVT.

Writing as Connie di Marco, she also writes the Zodiac Mysteries from Midnight Ink. The first book in the series, The Madness of Mercury was released on June 8, 2016. You can visit her at www.conniedimarco.com, Facebook.com/ZodiacMysteries and Twitter @askzodia.

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I hope you all enjoyed this blast from the past post as much as I did. It's fun from me to goes back an see how I did things in the beginning.

Have a beautiful, amazing, wonderful day my friends!