Today,
I'm excited to feature an author whom I've only just discovered and read one of
their books recently and boy did I enjoy that hilarious cozy mystery!
So
naturally when I got a chance to interview them, I seized the chance. Allow me
to introduce *drum roll* Annabelle Hunter, author of the Lark Davies Mystery Series
and the Barrow Bay Mystery Series.
I recently read Leg Up, book 1 in the Lark Davies Mystery Series and enjoyed every bit of it! Gave it 5 stars on the spot!
From
my Book Review:
"There was a
severed leg on my porch."
That's how cozy mystery
novel Leg Up by Annabelle Hunter opens. From the first lines, we notice
that Larklyn "Lark" Davis is one of the most sarcastic characters
ever. And a hilarious one too.
There are tons of quotable
parts in the book. Even when dealing with problems, Lark's sarcasm makes way
for humor and comic relief.
Read
my full book
review for Leg Up by Annabelle Hunter.
So
back to Numbers Up, what's it about? Here's the synopsis:
Number's Up (Barrow Bay Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Independently Published
Publication date: 13 August 2019)
ASIN: B07TW8Y9HH
Jennifer
Ward’s To Do List:1) Turn in my business partner and his lying, cheating, law-breaking client to the SEC for insider trading.
2)Cooperate with the FBI. Do not kiss - scratch that. Do not yell at Special Agent Nicholas Kelly, the FBI agent leading said investigation.
3) Discover a dead body...
Jennifer Ward, MBA, CPA, and business
consultant, likes a nice, orderly lifestyle. Schedules and To Do Lists are what
gets her through the day. So when the by-the-numbers fashionista finds her
business partner was breaking the law, she turned him in to the SEC. Which
brought the FBI to her door, and her ordered world to an end.
But that was three weeks ago. Things
couldn’t possibly get worse. Right?
Until Jen discovers her business
partner dead in his hotel room. With Nic the handsome FBI agent dogging her
every step, Jen must use her skills to discover the truth. Who killed Henry?
And will she be next?
About the author:
Annabelle Hunter is a stay-at-home mom
and an avid fan of classic mystery shows and dressage. She lives in Southern
California with her husband, two children, and too many animals.
On to the exclusive INTERVIEW with
Nadaness In Motion
Q: What got you into writing cozy
mysteries? Can you name any authors and/or movies that inspired you?
Annabelle Hunter: I got into cozys as an exercise to
improve the mystery element in my writing and found that I really loved them,
more than the fantasy that I was trying to write.
Q: If you were to experiment with
genres away from cozies and mysteries, what would you try your hand at?
Annabelle Hunter: I have tried fantasy, urban fantasy
and romance but so far nothing has been as much fun to write.
Q: Your bio says you have "too
many animals," can you tell us about that? And which of them have you
included in your books (most likely with a different name)?
Annabelle Hunter: I have not included any of my
animals, although I have other horses that I’ve known that have inspired some
of the horses in my books. I have a horse, who is really a Disney Princess in
horse clothing. She’s sweet as pie and a master of the passive aggressive,
probably because she’s used her sweet, loving personality and good looks to get
away with far too much. I also have a small, black ball of fluff in the shape
of a dog. He really is just sweet and loving, and for some reason that defies
logic, loves my youngest more than she deserves.
Annabelle Hunter: Well, before staying home with my
kids, I had many jobs, a few of them working closely with all kinds of
different people, including CPA’s and accountants. I also have several close
friends who are CPA’s or work in the financial field. So Jen is kind of a
combination of my own experiences and listening to others.
Q: What was the toughest thing for
you when you started writing?
Annabelle Hunter: Tenses. I love switching tenses when
I shouldn’t. Past tense, present tense, I had (have) it all. I owe everything
to my editors, Casey and Josh, because without them, my work would be a
mess.
Q: Humor is a bit hard to manage
sometimes in a book, and yet your novella Leg Up was hilarious, are you always
this funny or did you get help writing it? (The problem is that some people
think they're funny but the truth is.. they're not, so how did you manage the
humor in the book?)
Annabelle Hunter: I have no clue! Seriously, I am the
last person that anyone would say is hilarious, but it’s different when I
write. I’m a lot funnier when I control both sides of the conversation, I
guess?
Q: Your Barrow Bay Mysteries
and your Lark Davis Mystery Series are both set in Barrow Bay, doesn't
it get confusing for you when you're working on mystery books set in the same
place and at the same time?
Annabelle Hunter: If I’m working backwards, yes.
Sometimes I have to go back in my timeline to make sure I’m not referencing
something that hasn’t occurred yet. But Number’s Up was written because I got
near the end of Stir Up and Jen demanded that I finish her story, so, not as much
as it might if they weren’t so interconnected.
Q: You're independently published,
can you tell us a bit about that? How are you going about with the cover
design, publication schedule, e-books and hard-copies...etc?
Annabelle Hunter: It was a tough decision, but in the
end, I wanted to get as many books out to the readers as possible. I have a
wonderful graphic design artist, Melody Simmons, who babysat me through the
cover design process and now seems to just read my mind. I also work a lot with
my editors. Josh Stabiles, from Scrivere Editing, has spent hours trying to get
me to understand what grammar rules are and Casey, from Heart Full of Ink,
never lets me by without pushing my novels to the next level. I can’t tell you
how lucky I am that I have found them. Seriously. If you are looking for an
editor, they are amazing.
Q: You've recently released two
books, Number's Up and Leg Up, what are you currently working on
and when can readers expect more of your work?
Annabelle Hunter: Well, I released the first two in
Lark’s series, Leg Up and Stir Up, last month, and Numbers Up
in August. We’re working on getting Load Up out to the readers in late
September or early October depending on our schedule. Load Up will be another
Lark book and I can’t wait to start telling people more about it.
Q: Last but not least, what is your best writing advice for new and/unpublished authors?
Annabelle Hunter: Find an editor you trust. Someone who pushes you to the next level. Who returns a book saying, “it’s fine, but you can do better. Try…” Can you do it by yourself? Maybe, if you have much better grammar than I do (not hard!) but a good editor will do so much more for you. Every time I hand my editors the document, I think ‘this is the best thing I have ever written’. And every time they tear it apart and it gets even better than I thought it could be.
Connect with Annabelle Hunter on social media via Facebook, Twitter: @cozycrazyfun, Instagram, and her Website.
Keep up with the rest of the blog tour including Book Reviews, more
interviews and guest posts, including character interviews and guest posts,
which means they're written from the perspective of the main character in Numbers
Up.
August 31 – Celticlady's
Reviews – SPOTLIGHT & A Wytch's Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER
INTERVIEW
September 2 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – CHARACTER GUEST POST & Nadaness
In Motion
– AUTHOR INTERVIEW
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