Serial Killer by Suzanne Rossi

Hello, everyone.

Well, it's happened again. Somehow, the end of the month has crept up on me and here I am with only two days left on my blog entry deadline. Naturally, I had no idea what to write. Then I remembered the advice of an author friend, "When in doubt, blatantly self-promote." Sounds like a plan to me.

I'm happy to say that I recently signed a contract with The Wild Rose Press for Killer Country Club, book #4 in my Snoop Group series. I'm expecting edits to come through any day now. I have to admit that when I wrote the first book, I had no plans to turn it into a series, but a friend told me she wanted more from this bunch of diverse women, especially Anne and Gil. Since I'd left the ending concerning the relationship between my hero and heroine up in the air, decided to give it a shot.

I can't quite recall how A Novel Death first grew in my mind. I played the "what if" game like I often do. What if a critique group decided to help solve the murder of one of their members? The seed germinated and took off. I gave them all motives and secrets. I also gave one of the ladies a love interest in the lead detective. The covers are all below.

So, before I knew it, I was writing book #2, Killer Conference. I used my favorite conference, Moonlight and Magnolias, as the basis for the get-together. Same for the hotel where it's held. I've been to M & M many times and decided it was the perfect setting--a large attendance, lots of editors and agents, and enough suspects to keep cops and critique groups busy for the duration of the meeting. Nothing like the heroine finding the bodies of two agents only to discover herself facing the killer to get the old heart pumping.

In book #2, I introduced a couple of characters readers would love to hate--Fran, dictatorial and just plain nasty; and Susan, paranoid, opinionated, and just plain nuts. By introducing those characters I knew immediately I had book #3 on the plotting grid. A Taste of Death practically wrote itself. I've been involved with enough RWA chapters and other writing groups to have witnessed back-stabbing and power grabs first hand. What a perfect time to put that knowledge to good use. It seemed natural to have a victim drop dead in front of dozens of witnesses during a chapter meeting luncheon. And to know it was no accident. Someone knew about her severe peanut allergy, right?

Since the relationship between my recurring hero and heroine is moving forward with each story, it wasn't long before I found myself working on book #4, Killer Country Club. This one created problems from the start. The setting of a country club brought in a ton of new characters, personalities, and a more complex plot. I can usually bang out a book in three or four months, but this one took over a year. Let's just say a lot of revisions went into it. Good thing, too, since my editor didn't have too may of her own to suggest. I don't as yet have the cover for the book, but here is the blurb.

Anne Jamieson and the Snoop Group are on the prowl to investigate a murder linked to the local country club. Anne decides to take out a trial membership to track down the killer. Then she stumbles upon a second body in the club hot tub. Before long, Anne is the target of an attempted murder. The further she and the Snoop Group delve into personalities, the closer they come to the truth. The suspect list grows along with the body count. And can Anne's fiance, Detective Gil Collins, keep her safe. Will Anne and her friends find the killer before another murder occurs?

By now I was getting tired of the Snoop Group, so decided to end the series. (Does that make me a serial killer? I know--really bad pun, but I love bad puns.) However, once again my friend said, No! I want a wedding and more bodies for the group to find. Now, I find my twisted mind working on how to get the Snoop Group along on the honeymoon. I'm happy to say I think I have the solution. I know the inciting incident, the killer, and the motive. I even have a tentative title for book #5, Honeymoon to Die For. (And no, I'm not killing off the hero or the heroine.) Unfortunately, that's all I have at the moment, but give me some time.

I guess I have succeeded indulging in blatant self-promotion enough for today. Hope you have a great 4th of July and I'll see you next month with more thoughts and comments. Aren't you all lucky? LOL.

Suzanne