D Is For Kathi Daley

Kathi Daley lives in the beautiful alpine community of Lake Tahoe with her husband Ken and dog Echo. When she's not writing she enjoys hanging out on the beach with her children and grandchildren. During the summer she enjoys hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, wakeboarding, and sunset cruises on the lake. During the winter she enjoys cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and curling up by a fire with a good book.
Kathi uses her mountain home as inspiration for her books, all which include appearances by the wildlife she shares her life with.

Kathi writes the Zoe Donovan Mystery series which is set in Nevada and started in 2013. This is a cozy-lite mystery series set in the small lakeside town of Ashton Falls, a quaint village with a big heart but a tiny local budget. Each short novel focuses on a simple murder mystery against the backdrop of family holidays and quirky festivals designed to bring in the almighty tourist dollar. Zoe is a free-spirited animal lover who, along with her dog Charlie, works as an animal rehabilitation and relocation officer. If there is murder afoot you can bet that Zoe, along with friends Zak, Levi, and Ellie, will be on the case.

She also writes the Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mystery series. This is a full-length cozy mystery series set in the alpine town of Serenity, Nevada, on the idyllic north shore of Paradise Lake. Serenity is home to Maggie’s Hideaway, the lakeside resort where high school coach and teacher Tj Jensen lives with her father, grandfather and half-sisters Ashley and Gracie. Amidst the setting of snowy winters and lazy summer days, Tj is drawn into a series of murder investigations which she must solve with the help of the new deputy sheriff, Dylan Caine.

A third series written by Kathi is the Whales and Tails series. This features Caitlin Hart, who runs Coffee Cat Books with her best friend Tara, and helps her Aunt Maggie run the Harthaven Cat Sanctuary--and in her "spare time" rescues cats and tracks down killers. Set on Madrona Island, a fictional island off the coast of Washington State, fourth-generation islander Caitlin is struggling to make her way as the economy and culture of the island evolves.

Kathi has recently begun something a little different, a teen mystery series. Seacliff High features student Alyson Prescott, a sixteen-year-old girl in witness protection. Alyson and her friends tackle a variety of mysteries that come their way.

C Is For Kate Carlisle

New York Times bestselling author Kate Carlisle is a native Californian who worked in television production for many years before turning to writing. It was a lifelong fascination with the art and craft of bookbinding that led her to write the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery, and murder. Her first book, Homicide in Hardcover, debuted in February 2010, followed by If Books Could Kill, The Lies That Bind, Murder Under Cover,One Book in the Grave, Peril in Paperback, A Cookbook Conspiracy, The Book Stops Here, and Ripped from the Pages. She also wrote a Bibliophile e-novella, Pages of Sin, available in e-format only.

With the publication of A High-End Finish in November 2014, Kate launched the Fixer-Upper Mysteries featuring building contractor Shannon Hammer, who specializes in Victorian home renovation and repair. The series is set in Lighthouse Cove, a seemingly idyllic town with many dark secrets hiding under its floorboards. This Old Homicide and Crowned and Moldering continue the series.

Kate has also written romance for Harlequin Desire, beginning with The Millionaire Meets His Match, the first book of the Duke Brothers trilogy. An Innocent in Paradise was selected by Japanese readers as one of the top ten romances for the second half of 2014.

Kate is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She is the proud recipient of the Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier awards, and her first Bibliophile Mystery received a Best First Mystery nomination from RT Book Review. Kate loves to travel and read and drink good wine and watch other people cook.

B Is For Lorraine Bartlett

The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what first put Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett’s name on the New York Times Bestseller list and garnered a coveted Agatha nomination for best novel of 2009, but it’s her talent — whether writing as Lorna or L.L. Bartlett or Lorraine Bartlett — that keeps her there. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the acclaimed Victoria Square Mystery series and the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s).

Lorraine  honed her characterization and plotting skills as a frequent writer for romance magazines. Her manuscript, Murder in Morton Mills, a traditional mystery, was a finalist in the St. Martin’s/Malice Domestic contest. Her short story, Cold Case, featuring Jeff Resnick, appeared in Mystery in Mind: A Collection of Mysteries of the Paranormal, an anthology published in spring 2003. Her first novel, Murder On The Mind, written under the nameL.L. Bartlett, and featuring Jeff Resnick, was published in November 2005. A Crafty Killing is the first book in the Victoria Square Mysteries. The Walled Flower, second in the series, hit the New York Times extended bestsellers list while One Hot Murder hit the Times list at #16.

A Is For Ellery Adams

Ellery Adams writes the Books by the Bay Series which started in 2010 and is set in North Carolina. In the small coastal town of Oyster Bay, North Carolina, you'll find plenty of characters, ne'er-do-wells. Olivia Limoges has returned to the hometown she left as a young girl. She is rich, stunning, suffering from a case of writers block and still a mystery to the locals, and often keeping only the company of her loyal poodle Captain Haviland. She also owns the local five-star restaurant and has invested a lot in local properties, becoming landlord to many of the businesses around her.

Ellery also writes the Charmed Pie Shop Mystery series which started in 2010 and is set in Georgia. It features pie baker, Ella Mae LaFaye. After catching her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flaky crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them--and the public is hungry for more.

Ellery Adams has a new series-- the Book Retreat Mystery series which started in August 2014 and is set in Virginia. It features Jane Steward who manages the storybook resort of Storyton Hall that caters to book lovers who want to get away from it all. In the first book in this series Jane tries to boast her number of bookings by hosting a Murder and Mayhem week so that fans of the mystery genre can gather together for some role-playing and fantasy crime solving.

As J. B. Stanley Ellery also writes the Killer Collectible Mystery Series and the Supper Club Mystery Series. She also writes the Hope Street Church Mystery Series as Jennifer Stanley.

Ellery Adams was also 1/2 of Lucy Arlington. Lucy Arlington was originally conceived by the writing team of Ellery Adams and Sylvia May, two friends who collaborated on an idea that became A Novel Idea Mystery Series. Together, the duo penned the first three books in the series: Buried in A Book, Every Trick in the Book, and Books, Cooks, and Crooks. As time passed and their personal writing workload grew, the two decided to pass the baton to another terrific author: Susan Furlong. Susan will be writing the fourth book in the series, Played By the Book, which is scheduled to be released in February 2015.

AtoZ Challenge Theme Reveal

This is my third year to compete in the challenge, but the first time on this blog rather than on my personal blog, Snapshots Of A Life. I decided to go literary this year, and will be featuring cozy mystery writers all month. Most of them are authors I've read, but a few are new to me as well, and have caused me to add to my TBR list.

I hope you will stop by every day to see what mysteries we are discussing.