Authors To Watch: Interview with Avery Daniels Author of ARROWED: RESORT TO MURDER #authorstowatch #interview

 

Avery Daniels was born and raised in Colorado, graduated from college with a degree in business administration and has worked in fortune 500 companies and Department of Defense her entire life. Her most eventful job was apartment management for 352 units. She still resides in Colorado with two brother black cats as her spirited companions. She volunteers for a cat shelter, enjoys scrapbooking and card making, photography, and painting in watercolor and acrylic. She inherited a love for reading from her mother and grandmother and grew up talking about books at the dinner table.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website:  http://avery-daniels.com/

Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16863152.Avery_Daniels/blog

Twitter Address:  https://twitter.com/my_averydaniels

Facebook Address:  https://www.facebook.com/AveryDanielsAuthor/

Title: ARROWED: Resort to Murder #4
Author: Avery Daniels
Publisher: Blazing Sword Publishing Ltd.
Pages: 250
Genre: Cozy Mystery

BOOK BLURB:

It all began when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle.

During a heat wave at a Santa Fe resort, Julienne has the resort owner pressuring her to solve the murder.

The victim is a high-profile businessman who made enemies rather than friends, leaving Julienne with a roster of suspects. She was supposed to be training the staff and spending quality time with Mason rather than investigating a murder. The heat turns up when an old girlfriend of Mason’s checks in and is determined to get back together.

Arrowed is the fourth book in Avery Daniel’s Resort to Murder series and is a contemporary cozy mystery.  If you like Cleo Coyle, Maddy Hunter, Duffy Brown, Lynn Cahoon, and Annette Dashofy, then you’ll love this series with a strong intelligent sleuth, lavish settings, and tantalizing mysteries.

Buy this spunky clean cozy mystery and start enjoying Julienne’s adventures today!

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/39diFTN

We welcome you to My Bookish Pleasures! Can you tell us how you got started writing fiction?

When I was in my teens I wrote a short story about an injured fawn and a girl’s journey to nurse it back to health.  I did this for fun, not a school assignment or even extra credit.  I loved every minute of writing the story.  Fast forward many years I still had the bug.  I spent probably ten years or so taking classes on writing fiction, attending writer’s conferences, reading books about how to write etc.  I eventually got to the point where I just had to get down to the actual writing and the Resort to Murder series was born.  I love writing.

Describe your writing process. Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? When and where do you write?

I am a true hybrid plantser (plotter/write by the seat of your pants).  I determine the victim, killer plus weapon, and motive.  Then I figure out who my suspects are and their motives, how they will lie or deflect when questioned.  Lastly, I determine 8 significant plot points for pacing to keep the story interesting.  Then I just write and let it come together from there. Often a subplot emerges as I’m writing as well.

Can you tell us about your most recent release?

Arrowed is set in New Mexico during a heat wave.  The first night at the health and wellness resort, a man is murdered.  In his dying moments, he reaches out from the bushes and grabs Julienne’s ankle.  In his dying moments he proclaims that the curse got him.  The only curse is a local legend of a Native American who haunts the hills and exacts revenge on those who deserve it.  Julienne and the police believe a very real person committed the murder, but a couple of experiences she attempts to assign to the heat could suggest the vengeful brave’s spirit is real.  Julienne was supposed to spend her days training the staff on new software and her nights with her hunky boyfriend, but the owner of the resort pressures her to “fix” the negative media attention.  She doesn’t take much prodding to look into the varied suspects.

How did you get the idea for the book?

I started with the murder weapon, an ancient bow and arrow and developed it from there.  Each of the books in the series is named after the murder weapon.  New Mexico seemed like a great location for such a weapon.  New Mexico is one of my favorite places to go for an extended weekend since it is within driving distance.  Santa Fe is great, Taos and Albuquerque are also fun.

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?

That’s hard to pin down.  When I’m writing a character in a scene I get into them like an actor and they come alive.  I love them all, which makes it hard to include them in every single book since I have Julienne visit other resorts to provide the vicarious “living the high life” for my readers.  This book featured more of Mason’s sister, Marisa, and I really enjoyed getting to know her more.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?

Because of Covid and New Mexico restrictions, I had to rely on the internet for my location research.  I think it turned out fine with my memories of Santa Fe and the online research.

What projects are you currently working on?

I am starting a new paranormal cozy mystery series (The Accidental Vampire PI) and getting my preplanning done and hope to be in the middle of writing the first draft soon.  This will feature the most unlikely vampire whose PI boss gives up his jobs while going through a divorce and she decides to investigate to keep her paycheck.  She still has to have a place to call home even if she is newly undead.

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring fiction authors?

Learn the craft of writing for your genre and don’t be afraid to start writing.  Getting the first draft done is crucial and it will probably seem terrible, but don’t worry.  Editing is where you turn the rough diamond into a glittery gem.