Perish in the Palm by Kari Lee Townsend
A Sunny Meadows Mystery #4
Sunny’s life is finally on track. Her fortune-telling business in the quaint town of Divinity, New York is running smoothly, her parents have finally stopped interfering, and her boyfriend Detective Mitch Stone has moved in with her. But then her life derails, leaving the palm of her hand empty and her dreams just out of reach. With Sunny’s mischievous cat Morty under foot and quirky Granny Gert flitting around, cohabitation with Mitch becomes nearly impossible. Then Sunny’s parents show up for her best friend’s wedding, causing all sorts of trouble. Sunny’s future is put on hold when the innkeeper’s lifeline is literally cut short at the reception, and Sunnys’ mother is named the prime suspect. Sunny must use her clairvoyant abilities to clear her mother’s name and take her life back in her own hands before the real killer gives a whole new meaning to ‘till death do us part…
Where My Ideas Come From
People always ask me where my ideas come from. I usually reply, “Where don’t they come from?” It’s true. Ideas come from pretty much everywhere. Life really is stranger than fiction. Sometimes a song will come on the radio, and it will tell such a great story and move me in some way. It’s like reading a great novel and asking, “What if?” That gets me brainstorming different ideas.
Reading the newspaper or hearing a story on the evening news also sparks ideas. I often find myself wondering what happened to those people next. While songs work well to create emotional issues and conflict for my romance and women’s fiction novels. The news often works well in providing ideas for new mysteries. Murders, suspects, clues, and red herring are not easy to come up with, especially when writing a series. There are only so many ways to investigate a murder and still sound fresh.
Real life is also believable which is key no matter what genre you’re writing in. Speaking of real life, I always use the everyday world around me to spark ideas. Something what happens to me or one of my friends or family members usually lends itself to the comic relief in my books. What can I say, I love to laugh and seem to be surrounded by unique characters who are hilarious. And if something crazy happens, it usually happens to me. Many little tidbits that are sprinkled throughout my books to add sparkle are funny little side notes from my life.
I love people watching. It’s great for gathering new descriptions for my characters from their hair color to their physical features to the way they dress really helps to create three-dimensional characters. Everyone has unique mannerisms, interests, hobbies, etc. Even dialogue is unique. I love listening to people speak. From their accents to their choice of words is so revealing. Somethings a snipped of dialogue can spark an idea. Sometime the things people say, especially gossip, can really get the juices flowing to a whole new world of possibilities.
I love going on field trips and researching settings. Or even just going on vacation and suddenly the setting around me inspires an idea. I am such a visual person. I really like to picture the setting of a book. I need to be able to “see” the scene because then I can picture all sorts of things happening there. It’s the vivid details that really make a book come alive.
Sometimes nothing inspires an idea and I have to work for it. In that case, I think about the genre I am writing in at the time. Then I think about my target market and what my agent tells me editors are looking for. The next step is scouring those publisher’s lists and writing down what they have, but more importantly what they don’t have. Finding a need but making the plot unique isn’t easy. When it happens, you have you’ve struck gold.
So if you ever see me at a conference or convention somewhere and see me studying you, watch out. You just might find something really familiar about my next book. Thanks so much for having me here today. I had a great time and hope you did too. To find out more about me and all of my books, check out my website at www.karileetownsend.com.
About the Author
National Bestselling Author, Agatha, RT Reviewers Choice & Golden Duck Award Nominee. Kari Lee Townsend lives in central New York with her very understanding husband, her three busy boys, and her oh-so-dramatic daughter. A former teacher with a masters in English education and a background in freelance editing, she is a long-time lover of reading and writing. She is best known as the author of the Fortune Teller Mystery series, but also writes romance and women’s fiction (under the name Kari lee Harmon), as well as children’s fiction about tween superheroes. These days, you’ll find her at home happily writing her next novel and still trying to find out whodunit.
Webpage : http://www.karileetownsend.com
Email: Karileetownsend@gmail.com
Street Team: Kari’s Lakeside Readers
Newsletter Link: Harmon – Townsend News
Facebook Page: karileetownsendAUTHOR
Twitter: karileetownsend
Enter for your chance to win an ebook copy of Perish in the Palm by Kari Lee Townsend! See Giveaway Tools widget for complete rules and regulations. Contest ends at 11:59PM EST on 10/03/15 & winner will be selected randomly via Giveaway Tools Widget from all eligible entries. Be sure to stop back for your daily entries. 🙂 Good luck!
Sounds like a great fun read.
I love this series and have been waiting for another installment. I’m excited to read this one. I’m sure I will love it as much as the others.
I would love to read this book for two reasons. The first being it’s a mystery and second it sounds good.
Those are great reasons, Victoria! Good luck. 🙂
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This sounds good, I haven’t read a cozy in a while.
Aww thanks guys. I love writing this series 😉
I need a new cozy! I haven’t read one in awhile. This one sounds very good.
I love cozies! And I think the premise of this series sounds interesting. Thanks so much!