Then JT McCord comes back to town as the Chief of Police. His first official act of business is to investigate how Molly's thought-to-be-vanished husband turned up as a corpse next to the septic tank in Molly's back yard, discovered there when a neighbor's marauding pig dug him up.
Molly sets out to solve that mystery with the help of Mr. Sex's Ladies (her book group), her newspaper editor, Tarot reader and some color-sorted M&Ms. While helping JT unravel the facts, Molly's resolve about keeping him at bay starts to unravel, too. If she can survive a couple of attempts on her life (and maybe arm wrestle a couple of town hussies for JT's affection) she might find the love of her life-all because of a pig and some plumbing.
Reviews for Candy, Corpses & Classified Ads
"...This is a wonderful story full of quirky characters, a fine mystery, and a great love story between two people who are old enough to know what they want..." The Romance Studio
Visit J.L. Wilson's web site
Read an excerpt from Candy, Corpses & Classified Ads
About J.L. Wilson
I was born in a small town in Iowa, and have traveled extensively, living in several different regions of the U.S. and briefly overseas. I've been writing most of my life and seriously writing, trying to be published, since 2004. In 2007 I had four books release, which made for quite a banner year for me! 2008 promises to be equally busy, with four books coming out (possibly five). So stay tuned for more from me!
Back list (Romantic Suspense/Mystery)
Your Saving Grace, Cerridwen Press
Brownies, Bodies, and Breaking the Code, in print from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, download from the Wild Rose Press
If Not For You, Cerridwen Press
Coming soon: I Know You're Out There Somewhere, Cerridwen Press
Coming soon: Autographs, Abductions, and A-List Authors, Wild Rose Press
Back list (Paranormal)
Forgiveness, Cerridwen Press
Coming soon: Endurance
Coming soon: Temperance
An Interview with J.L Wilson
By Holly Hewson, Marketing Director for The Romance StudioHH: J.L. welcome back to TRS. Please tell us about your featured book, Candy, Corpses, and Classified Ads JLW: Thanks! It's good to be back. I appreciate the chance to talk about my latest book.
Candy is about second chances in life. Molly Lawson was jilted years ago by JT McCord, when he left her for a poor little rich girl. Molly went on to marry twice but her first husband died and her second husband ran off with a hairdresser - only to turn up five years later buried under her rose bush, where he's dug up by Melvin, a neighbor's pot-bellied pig.
JT has come back to town and he's Chief of Police and his first official act is to figure out how Sam, Molly's ex-husband, has become her late husband. JT is also trying to woo Molly back. He's long divorced and has realized that the love of his life was left behind in Tangle Butte, Minnesota. Now he just has to convince Molly he's sincere.
HH: First, I have to mention that these titles are great! <g> Where did you get the idea for them? JLW: It's tricky sometimes, I'll tell you! It all happened by accident, really. I sold "Candy" under a different name to a publisher who is no longer operating. They didn't like the original title so I had to come up with something different.
At the same time I'd sold another book to Wild Rose. I wanted the two books to have a similar tie for readers - they're first-person mysteries, and they're what I call my 'sexy/cozy' mysteries (light on the gore with a touch of sensuality). The book with Wild Rose was one where a plate of brownies brought to a potluck kick off a storm of events. That title became Brownies, Bodies, and Breaking the Code, so I had to come up with a similar title for The Pig Book (as Candy is known to my friends).
So my critique buddies and I frantically kicked around ideas, eventually coming up with "Candy". The title fits perfectly because Molly sorts her M&Ms by color (claiming the colors have a psychic punch), and JT puts classified ads in the Personal section of the local newspaper to woo Molly, and Sam … well, Sam's the corpse.
Once I got in the habit, I found that it was relatively easy to come up with the titles. They all point to specific aspects of the plot and/or the method of murder. Soon to come: Autographs, Abductions and A-List Authors and Surf, Sun, and Sandy Strangulation. In the works are Ex-Wives, Extortion, and Erotic First Editions and Pornography, PhDs., and Premeditated Murder, to mention just two.
HH: Tell us about this story. Where did you get the idea to have the mystery of your heroine's first husband's death resurface? JLW: I owe this one to Maggie Toussaint, another Wild Rose author. Maggie and I are on a private Yahoo group with some other authors (started long before any of us were published). Maggie's a reporter in a small town, and she posted to the loop one day about the hubbub going on because a pig had dug up a neighbor's rose bushes and the woman was terribly upset. The police were getting involved, etc.
I started thinking … what if the pig dug up more than rose bush? I seem to get my best ideas when I daydream. I came up with the idea of a body buried near the septic tank. Then it was … "who's there and why? And who's the heroine and …"
HH: What do you like about JT McCord? JLW: JT isn't afraid to come back to Tangle Butte and admit he was wrong in front of Molly and everyone in town. Coming back means he has to face his ex-wife (Shirley) and his past, but he knows that it's worth it. He knows Molly is the one true love of his life and he's willing to do just about anything to prove that to her.
He's also got a great sense of humor and he shows he's got a soft heart when he helps Molly care for the abandoned mother cat and her kittens. He's the kind of guy every mother wants for their daughter, plus he's sexy, funny, and confident.
HH: What can you tell us about the forthcoming Autographs, Abductions, and A-List Authors? JLW: I wrote this book after a year of attending various writers' conventions. It's sort of a fantasy and a mystery, all in one. I was daydreaming one day: 'what would it be like if I hit it big with one of my books and I was up for a bunch of awards at a writing convention. How could I work that into a mystery?'
That's really all it took - my imagination was off and running! In AAALA, our heroine, Bea Emerson, is at her first writer's convention 'in stealth mode'. She writes under a pen name and has had one blockbuster book release, with more to come. No one at the conference knows who she is. She's been nominated for a bunch of awards ("best first book", "best hero", "best mystery"), but while at the convention, she witnesses a murder and gets embroiled with the detective in charge of the case, Lucas Remarchik.
Like all my books, this has a great cast of supporting characters (authors all) and it has a few plot twists to keep people guessing. And my readers can rest assured that Bea will return in another book: Surf, Sun, and Sandy Strangulation, releasing early next year with The Wild Rose Press. I have a third book planned for Bea tentatively titled Mayhem, Marriage, and Murderous Manuscripts.
HH: What's your writing schedule like these days? JLW: I work a 40/hr/week job but I'm fortunate that I can set my own hours. I get to work by 5 a.m. (yes, you read that right) and am usually gone by 3:00 p.m. That gives me time to run errands, get in some exercise, and get home so I can sit down at the computer by 6:00 at night. I usually get two hours of uninterrupted time to write, do promo work, or edit. I squeeze in 3 or 4 hours a day on the weekend and usually an hour or two at night.
I write every day, seven days a week. I may not write much, but I do work on my Work In Progress every day, even if I just add a paragraph or polish the last few pages.
Right now we're in the middle of remodeling our house, so my office is full of boxes, furniture and (on days when the construction guys are here) pets who are locked up so they don't get in the way. It's a bit cramped but it'll be nice when it's done. The noise and the chaos hasn't slowed me down yet, but I think at some point I'll need to take a break from writing and do a bunch of moving. The end result will be worth it, though, when I have a new home office.
HH: What do you do when you get stuck on a story? JLW: I don't get stuck for very long. I usually have a good idea of the book in my head, so if I'm stuck, it's just on one scene, which doesn't take long to get me unstuck. I have a lot of tricks I use: I'll go out for a walk (weather permitting). I'll go back and read the previous chapters, which usually gets my mind in the right place to proceed. Or I'll switch to another book I'm planning and do some research or draft a few scenes.
It seems like my mind is always working on my story. I'll jot ideas throughout the day and I do some of my best thinking while commuting. I keep a digital recorder in my car so I can dictate conversations, plot ideas, etc.
I've also got several other books coming out this year, so there's a chance I'll be doing edits for one of them or be thinking about a follow-on book for those releases. I can always dip into one of those plots for a brief time, which clears my mind and helps me re-focus when I get back to the 'stuck' book.
HH: Are you a plotter or a more spontaneous writer? JLW: I think I'm a combination of the two. Because I write mysteries, I need to have a good sense of plot. I keep a 'road map' of the story in my head and I know that by Chapter 6 I want to be at this spot, and by Chapter 11 I want to be at that spot, and so on. But I don't actually decide on the plot or specific scenes until I'm writing and I never know who the murderer is until I'm at least halfway through the book. Then I go back and layer in clues and motivation and hints to point the reader in the right direction.
When I was writing Candy I didn't know who the murderer was until almost Chapter 14 and I was getting a bit panicked. But then it came to me - BAM - and I knew exactly how to go back and add the necessary clues. They were really there all along, I think I knew unconsciously who did it, but I hadn't articulated it.
HH: Any vacation plans this year? JLW: I'm going to RT, which should be interesting since it's (1) my first RT Convention and (2) the first time I'll be at book signing and I'll be at TWO - the E-book Fair and the Print book signing! Woot! Should be a blast. I've got my costume all ready for the Hollywood party (and it's unique, if I do say so myself). I'm still fussing with the other costumes. I lived in Pittsburgh for almost 12 years, and have relatives and friends there, so I plan to hop on the city bus and go visiting some people.
I'm also going to WisRWA's conference in Green Bay in May. I'm going with three friends and we're carpooling so that'll be fun. I'm really looking forward to that one.
Every spring and fall a group of friends and I go to a local casino for the weekend and spend the time plotting books and gambling and getting caught up on our lives (two of the group live out of state and I only get to see them a couple of times a year). So we'll be doing that in June and November.
And every October my husband and I go Up North (to the Canadian border) and spend a week in a cabin. It's a great getaway - no TV, no radio, and we get to the cabin via boat, bringing in the food we need for a week's stay (it's off the beaten path but not primitive - it's a very nice cabin).
It's very relaxing. We spend the time getting caught up on reading, taking hikes to take pictures, and going out in the boat and relaxing on the lake. It's total relaxation and we look forward to it all year long.
Thanks for letting me chatter on! Now it's back to writing… I'm working on a follow-on book to Brilliant Disguise, a new release coming out in mid-year. Stay tuned!
HH: Thank you!
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