Honeymoon and murder by Paty Jager

Had I known all those years ago when my brother offered my help as a prep cook at a remote horse ranch that it would spark a book over forty years later, I would have paid more attention.

My latest Shandra Higheagle release came to me when I’d decided to write another series using the area where I grew up. I wanted to introduce the new character in a Shandra book. But how did I get Ryan and Shandra to his neck of the woods?

A honeymoon! At a remote hunting lodge in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. The only way to the lodge is hiking, horse back riding, or flying.  And that is the way it was and still is for the horse ranch I worked at one weekend.

I had spent a year at college and was home working nights at the hospital as a nurse’s aide. My brother was a wrangler at the horse ranch and told the cook there that his sister would help out one weekend when her help couldn’t be there.  I thought it might be fun. However, for the flight in with the cook and supplies, I was stuck in the back with the supplies of a two-seater prop plane.  The fuel fumes and the bouncing was making me sick to my stomach. Then they said, look we’re landing…I raised up to see the side of the mountain, with a deep canyon below and trees coming at us. There was a small strip of grass or a meadow that the plane landed on.

I kneaded bread on an old wooden table like this.

Once there I discovered I was the person who was up first and went to bed last. I had to get things ready for the cook in the morning and clean up everything in the evening. The down time I had during the day, I napped when I would have rather gone on hikes. There was an outhouse and water that trickled out of a pipe that came from a stream of melted snow.

This experience has been embellished and I’ve added a few more amenities and better buildings to Charlie’s Hunting Lodge in my book, Homicide Hideaway, book 12 of the Shandra Higheagle series.

If there was ever a time to test Ryan and Shandra’s new marriage it is their time spent at the lodge.

Have you ever stayed at a remote lodge or place? Did you like it?

Homicide Hideaway

Book 12 in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series

Love… Marriage… Murder

Less than twelve hours after arriving at a remote hunting lodge for their honeymoon, Shandra Higheagle and Detective Ryan Greer find a body. Shandra’s cousin had quarreled with the man earlier, and the clues point to her as being the murderer.

Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Gabriel Hawke, arrives and immediately takes a dislike to Shandra’s cousin. But he is willing to work with Shandra and Ryan to discover the truth.

Universal Book Link: https://www.books2read.com/u/3nYweo

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 34 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her Shandra Higheagle mystery series has been a runner-up in the RONE Award Mystery category, and a finalist in the Daphne du Maurier. This is what a reviewer had to say about Homicide Hideaway: “The plot of this story really had me thinking in circles…At times the suspense had me completely on the edge and had me setting down my Kindle so I could relax but then picking it up almost immediately to find out what happens.”

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Multiple Personalities by Paty Jager

They say an author puts a lot of themselves into what they write. Some write just like they talk and others take on a whole different persona as they write.

I don't think I write like I talk. I use better grammar and larger words when I write than when I'm speaking. But I do try to put some of my witty comebacks and humor into everything I write. However, I write in three genres.

The contemporary western romance genre is fairly easy to write once I discover the characters occupations and the setting. After all, I've been living a rural, country lifestyle most of my life. I understand animals, the difficulties of living rural, and  I've been around a few cowboys in my day. When I write the contemporary books it is probably as close as reader will get to the real me.

The historical western romance genre requires a bit more research into the history of where I set my story. Which I love. US History and geography were my favorite classes in school. I like to delve into the people and places that made the U.S. what it is. My historical westerns always have bad guys and the justice is always the winner in my westerns. The heroines are sassy and bold for that time period and any man would be honored to have them for their wife, but the hero always wins their heart. These books have the part of me that thinks I could have shot a rifle and protected my cattle and family from marauding wolves or thieves. This is the part of me that thinks the challenge of living in the 1800's in the west would have been something I could have conquered.

The murder mystery genre is my way of killing off people who have caused me or my family grief over the years. this is the side of me few people see. The part of me who seethes and plots revenge or has harsh thoughts that I would never voice, but need an outlet to purge. That is why I write murder mystery books. That and I enjoy the cat and mouse chase of discovering who really did it and stringing the reader along. That is the sadistic part of me. ;)

Lucky for you I have two new releases in two different genres.  Check out Savannah, from my new Silver Dollar Series and Haunting Corpse book 9 in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series.

Escaping a past full of deceit and larceny, Savannah Gentry goes in search of her only kin, a half-brother she discovered after her father’s death. She hopes Shady Gulch in the Dakota Territory can give her a future. However, she stumbles into the arms of Reverend Larkin Webster, finds herself working in the Silver Dollar Saloon, and soon fears she’s gone from the frying pan into the fire.

After dodging death and incarceration, the Topeka Kid decides to turn his life around and takes on a new identity. Reverend Larkin Webster. It works, until he finds a temptation he can’t resist and steals the heart of Savannah Gentry. When her past collides with his, he wonders if this theft could end up with him losing everything, including his life. 

Universal buy link - https://www.books2read.com/u/b5MkNp

 

And Book 9 in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series:

A runaway bride, murder, and arson has Shandra Higheagle sleuthing again. Sorting through the debris of her best friend’s childhood, Shandra believes she must solve the murder before her friend becomes the next victim. 

Stumbling upon a dead body, Detective Ryan Greer is determined to bring the killer to justice before Shandra becomes too entangled in her friend’s dysfunctional past. He hopes he’s not too late. Her deceased grandmother has already visited her dreams, putting Shandra in the middle of his investigation and danger.

Universal buy link - https://www.books2read.com/u/3J0ZWX

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