Paint the Town Dead with Nancy Haddock

Hey, Get Lost in a Story Readers, I’m popping in to say hey, and to interview National Bestselling Author Nancy Haddock whose second book in her Silver Six Crafting Series will soon hit bookstores and cyberspace. Poor Nancy and her character Nixy only thought they had they hands full during Basket Case. Looks like that scenario has turned into juggling. Please welcome back Nancy Haddock to Get Lost in a Story!

Leslee Stanton Nix—aka “Nixy”—thought moving to small-town Lilyvale, Arkansas, would be about as thrilling as watching paint dry. But keeping up with her retired Aunt Sherry and her housemates—collectively known as the Silver Six—has proven to be as exciting as it is exasperating.

To kick off the grand opening of their craft shop, the Handcraft Emporium, Nixy and the Silver Six invite Doralee Gordon to teach a gourd painting class. Nixy isn’t happy when Doralee’s ex crashes the class with his new fiancée, but things really get messy when the bride-to-be later turns up dead.

Now it’s up to Nixy and the Silver Six to use their melons to find the killer—before someone else gets painted out of the picture...

Please welcome the wonderful Nancy Haddock! 




DONNELL:  Hey, Nancy, first welcome back, and I just have to ask, what the heck is gourd painting?

NANCY: First, thank you for having me, Donnell! It’s always great to be with GLIAS, never mind hanging out with one of my favorite people!

Blue Gourd

Now to your question. The gourd family includes fruits such as pumpkins, melons, and squashes. Hard-shell gourds, used for practical items such as bowls and vases, come from a different family. When gourds are properly dried, artists can paint, etch, burn, and otherwise decorated them. You can paint gourds pretty much the same way you’d paint wood using acrylic or oil paints. The gourd can be all one color, or the paint can be layered. Or an artist can start with a solid color and then decorate with additional designs – graphics, flowers, whatever. I have a half dozen very small gourds I need to clean and then paint. Soon as I get time!

Painted Gourds at Art Fair

DONNELL:  Now, I know you and your husband are originally from Tulsa, and now live in Florida, so why on earth did you set your story in Arkansas?

NANCY: Grins, Donnell! My dad and his family were originally from the Fort Smith, Arkansas area, and he, his sister, and his parents ended up in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, a small town southwest of Tulsa. I don’t remember the story of why or when they moved, but I remember visiting family and friends in AR when I was young. My folks also had a neighbor and friend who grew up in Magnolia, Arkansas. She is a gracious lady with such a pretty accent, I decided to model my fictional town after Magnolia.

Besides, every time I tried to move the story to Florida, the characters completely rebelled.  

Etched and Polished Gourd

DONNELL:  You have six elderly characters who decide to live together, while Nixy tries to rein them all in. I’m always astonished that someone outside of the group gets murdered and not someone within. I’m going to put you on the spot – Out of all of these characters, which one is your favorite, and is there one you’d like to smack?

NANCY: LOL, Donnell! I’ve seen a few cozy authors kill off a character “close” to the prime protagonist, but it doesn’t happen often. Plus, in a small town setting, it gets dicey to kill residents right and left.

Seriously, I’ve never had the urge to smack these characters. They all entertain me, although my favorite among the Silver Six is probably Fred. He came to me so clearly, and yet he continually says things that surprise me and make me laugh. My tie for favorite isn’t a Silver Sixer. She’s the next door neighbor, “Old Lady Gilroy.” I thought Bernice Gilroy would be more or less a walk-on, but she quickly established her place in the books. She’s as feisty as Fred, but an enigma to the main character, Nixy. I have a blast writing the visits between these two!

DONNELL:  Tell us about Nixy and the hunky detective Eric Shoar. Does Eric have any competition in his future? Will he leave Nixy heartbroken?

NANCY: Being that Lilyvale is a small town without a plethora of eligible men in Nixy’s age range, Eric doesn’t have competition other than Nixy’s riding herd on the Silver Six and managing the Handcraft Emporium. Eric will definitely not leave her heartbroken, and their relationship will strengthen even more in the third book. He’s an upstanding, small-town guy, and a good cop. And hey, he remembers Nixy’s favorite Dairy Queen drinks, and he dotes on her pets! Definitely a keeper!

DONNELL:  This is a craft-based series, and you provide recipes for your readers. Are you crafty, and if so, what is your favorite craft. Considering that I am the world’s worst cook, what recipe would you like me to try?

NANCY: I have been crafty in my past, but don’t indulge nearly as much as I used to. I’ve crocheted, needlepointed, arranged artificial flowers, made wreaths large and small. I’ve even painted, mostly with acrylics, although my creations are primitive at best. It’s freeing to sweep brush strokes on canvas board and know if I turn out a horror, I can always paint over it. :)

As for recipes, I gave up cooking a long while back. Hubby is the cook and baker in the family now. That said, I have made the chicken artichoke casserole recipe that appeared in Basket Case. It’s a process, but it isn’t difficult. The recipe for pear bread is in Paint the Town Dead. I haven’t made that yet, but it seems easy enough. I don’t recommend tackling the fried okra recipe unless you (1) adore fried okra and can’t get it anywhere else, or (2) you love cooking and don’t mind cleaning up the frying mess. Honest, aren’t I? 

DONNELL:  You absolutely are! When you’re not pounding away at the keyboard where will we find you?

NANCY: Sometimes you’ll find me tending my container plants. I’ve put plants in the ground, but most of them have gone nuts. A case in point is my hibiscus. That sucker is ten feet tall, minimum. So container gardening – with weeds also contained – is more my speed.

I used to walk the beach at least a few times a week, but haven’t done that in a while. Since the beach is only a three-minute walk away, and I moved here for the beach, not walking it is a crime. I want to get back to that.

Otherwise, I’m reading, reading, reading!

DONNELL:  This is your second series.  Your first was a humorous vampire series. Now you’re dealing with senior citizens. Do vampires ever try to slip into the plot? How do you keep them at bay;)

NANCY: I have no trouble keeping vampires out of the Silver Six, but ghosts want to sneak in now and again. I alluded to Nixy “seeing” her spunky ancestress in an upper story window once, but she has her hands full with the Six. She doesn’t need a ghost complicating life. (Although it would be fun to see what Fred would say about a ghost!)

I am working on a senior vampire story that might be a scream, and on several others featuring ghosts. 

NANCY, NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.  Time to ask readers a question, and here please let me know if you’d like to do a book give away.

I’m giving away signed copies of both Basket Case and Paint the Town Dead to one commenter. US only, please.

Readers, here are two questions for you: You can answer either or both! Inquiring minds want to know!

First, what art or craft do you love doing? Have you been at it long?

Second, I know of a lot of seniors who’ve long stopped worrying about what others think. They may be perfectly polite about it, but they aren’t shy about saying and doing what they want. Do you have a senior in your life who keeps you guessing, and/ or who keeps you in stitches?

About Nancy Haddock: the award-winning and national bestselling author of the Silver Six Crafting Mysteries. Basket Case debuted in 2015, and the second book in the series, Paint the Town Dead, is a Sept. 2016 release. Nancy draws on historic wealth, southern culture, and the plain old quirkiness of places and people for her books. Learn more about her and her books at www.nancyhaddock.com

Website Facebook   Twitter: @tikinancy or @nancyhaddock   Goodreads

Nancy Haddock is a Basket Case- lol - her new silver six #crafting #mystery

Getting to know...

Nancy Haddock!

is an award-winning and national bestselling author of mystery romance who now writes cozy mystery. Basket Case, the first book in the Silver Six Crafting mysteries, will be released in Sept. 2015 with Berkley Prime Crime. Her earlier books, also with Berkley, are La Vida Vampire, Last Vampire Standing, and Always The Vampire, feature Cesca, aka Gidget with fangs, and are set in Haddock’s current hometown, St. Augustine, FL. Nancy draws on historic wealth, southern culture, and the plain old quirkiness of places for her books. She lives with her husband and rescue dog Baron.

Leslee Stanton, “Nixy” Nix, expects trouble when she’s summoned to check on her basket-weaving Aunt Sherry Mae’s welfare, but finds trouble with a twist. Sherry and her five housemates are not the least bit ill or forgetful, much less senile enough to be causing explosions and fires in the rambling old farmhouse. Instead, they are battling a nasty-tempered real estate developer, a woman who wants Sherry Mae’s ancestral home and land at any cost.

Nixy plans to derail the developer, then return to her life and her art-gallery job in Houston—until the woman is found dead in the family cemetery. Now Sherry Mae is a suspect, and Nixy must stay in Lilyvale to prove her aunt’s innocence. Nixy rallies the seniors to help investigate—a move that defies handsome police detective Eric Shoar, and puts Nixy and the Six in the killer’s sights.

READ A LITTLE, BUY THE BOOK

As I climbed the front stairs, I spotted my five-foot-nothing Aunt Sherry standing behind two folding tables that blocked the front door. A coatrack held small baskets of woven hemp and willow, and larger baskets made of those and other materials were scattered on the porch floor. A long swath of blue gingham fabric lay in and around the fallen baskets, the edges fluttering as if agitated by the swirling emotions instead of the mild breeze . . .

Opposite my aunt stood the snarling star of the showdown in progress. She leaned over the folding table, her blood red

fingernails scary long and lethal-looking as she pointed at Sherry.

“You’ll come to an agreement with me, Mrs. Cutler, and you’ll do it soon or you’ll be very sorry.”

“But, Ms. Elsman,” my aunt began.

“No buts,” the Elsman woman interrupted. “I want that option on your land, and I will by God have it.”

She tucked her asymmetrically cut black hair behind an ear, lifted a stiletto-shod foot, and deliberately speared one

of the medium-sized hemp baskets lying on the porch.

Blame it on being tired and stressed, but the woman stomped on my last nerve, and my temper flared in a sonic boom of fury. “Back up and back off, lady,” I snarled.

The woman casually turned and arched a brow. “My name is Elsman. Ms. Jill Elsman, and I suggest you stay out of this.

It does not concern you.”

“Actually, it does.” The black-haired, black-eyed demon woman towered over me, but I stood straight and let her have

it. “It so happens that Mrs. Cutler, the woman you just threatened, is my dearest aunt.”

FIND BASKET CASE AT: Barnes and Noble   Amazon

QUESTIONS for NANCY

Vicki:  I’m a huge handbag girl. What is your favorite accessory? Nancy: If you know me, you know I’m nowhere near being a fashionista, but I have a thing for sunglasses and sea glass jewelry.   

Vicki: What’s your favorite movie of all time? Nancy: I have several favs. Two are What’s Up, Doc? and Father Goose. I will always adore Cary Grant! Vicki: Me, too! And What's Up Doc? is very funny.

Vicki: Is there a “Blooper” in your story (it may have been changed before printing)? Nancy: There were several. One was the number of baskets bought at the end of the book. Hopefully we did catch all the goofs!

Vicki: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book? Nancy: Leap from my chair and happy dance!

Vicki: If you were given a chance to travel to the past where would you go and specifically why? Nancy: I’d travel to the Regency period in England, see experience Regency London (as a peer, of course! J), and experience other cities and towns, i.e., Bath and rural villages. I have a real thing for that time in history.

Vicki: What will always make you smile, even on a bad day? Nancy: Hearing/ seeing a child laugh. The sound is delightfully infectious!

Vicki: What has been your most rewarding publishing moment? Nancy: The first time I received a fan letter from a woman who shared that my book helped her forget her pain, I cried. That moment meant the world because so many books have helped me get through bad times. Vicki: I know what you mean. Being lost in a book is so wonderful.  

FIND  Nancy  at:   Email   Website   Facebook   Twitter Tiki  Twitter Nancy  Goodreads

Previous GLIAS interviews: Interview

UP NEXT: Goodbye, Gourdgeous, 2^nd book in the Silver Six Crafting Mysteries, Sept. 2016 The title will likely change, but the fun continues!

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING THEIR EMAIL IN THE COMMENTS or do you have a promotion you'd like us to link to?

NANCY’S DRAWING INFO – North America Only. Two prizes. 1) Ten dollar ($10.00) gift e-card to Amazon or B&N. 2) Copy of the Basket Case ARC (hard copy version without the cover art).

IF MAILING: North America ONLY or International?? NORTH AMERICA ONLY

Note: Please leave an email address for notification. Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS? Do you have a favorite character of all time – book, TV, or movie character? Who is it, and why is this a favorite?

Nancy Haddock

NEVER THE BRIDE BUT . . .

ALWAYS THE VAMPIRE
Berkley Trade
ISBN: 9780425240885
5/3/2011
I stopped cold. Oh, no. Oh, God, no. Saber had symptoms of the sickness. Irritability in spades, plus he’d been falling asleep by midnight instead of his usual two in the morning. Come to think of it, our lovemaking had slacked off.


Conclusion? Saber was infected or feared he was, and he couldn’t bring himself to tell me.

Every muscle trembled as I pulled myself to my feet, skirted the coffee table, and walked into his arms.

“Deke,” I whispered, using the name I reserved for our most intimate moments. “Don’t worry. If you’re infected, we’ll fix it. We’ll find the Void, kill it, and cure you. I swear. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Maybe he knew I was talking a good game. Maybe he knew I wasn’t as confident as I made myself sound. Maybe that’s why he hesitated before he hugged me tighter.

"You’ll do whatever it takes?”

“Absolutely,” I said, leaning away to cup his cheek in my palm.

He gave me a slow smile.

“Good. Then let’s go see Triton.”

Triton? Oh, pelican poop.
~ ~ ~
Cesca Marinelli is the Oldest City’s only vampire, and you can bet your fangs she’ll be the best maid of honor ever for her friend Maggie’s Victorian wedding -- even if she has to wear a dress with a bustle. But when her mostly human honey, Saber, falls ill due to a magical construct called the Void, she’ll have to go beyond the call of bridesmaid duty to save Saber and the wedding party, too.

The Void is affecting every supernatural being Cesca knows, including her old shape-shifter pal, Triton. To counter the Void’s reign of terror and rescue her friends, she’ll need to activate ancient amulets and fully summon her vampire powers – two moves that may lead to her own doom.
~ ~ ~
NANCY HADDOCK is the national bestselling author of light paranormal mystery romances for Berkley. La Vida Vampire was released in 2008, Last Vampire Standing in 2009, and Always The Vampire in May 2011.

Nancy has been a Speech & Language pathologist, a high school teacher, and a volunteer in various organizations. She hails from northeast, Oklahoma, lived in the Dallas area for many years, and now makes her home near the beach in historic St. Augustine, Florida.

Nancy has been extremely generous with her time for many years with Romance Writers of America and romance writers! I’ve known and worked with Nancy for a decade (wow, it really has been that long) and I can tell you that her wonderful sense of humor shows in her writing. Romantic Times BookReveiws Magazine says:

“Haddock is making a name for herself by delivering novels that are wacky and humorous, populated with highly engaging characters.”

BITES & PIECES
ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?
NANCY: That would be daily! I read an average of 2-3 books a week, and when I’m not lost in someone else’s novel, I’m (hopefully!) lost in the adventures of my own characters.

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading?
NANCY: The Dick & Jane titles were big on my reading list early on along with Pokey Little Puppy and Nurse Nancy. (And yes, I have a copy of Nurse Nancy!) Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and lots of comic books followed, and then I read The Good Earth when I was about twelve. That book stills entrances me!

ANGI: What’s your favorite cartoon character?
NANCY: Oooh, Disney’s Chip and Dale are my favs!

ANGI: What turns you off like nothing else?
NANCY: Pretension and lying. I cannot abide either.

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?
NANCY: I read daily and I read everywhere – curled up on the couch, in waiting rooms, on the beach. I don’t walk and read much anymore, though. I run into things.

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?
NANCY: I love many, but a top pick has to be the sound of breaking waves.

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?
NANCY: Depending on my mood, both!

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?
NANCY: Ack! I don’t have just one. Three of my all-times favs are Father Goose, What’s Up, Doc?, and Dances With Wolves.

ANGI: Be honest, when reading...do you put yourself in the heroine’s role?
NANCY: Of course I project myself into the protagonist – heroine or hero! (i.e., Jim Butcher’s Dresden) For the space of each story, I get to be spunky, smart, mysterious, magical, daring – you name it. And when I read a book such as Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki or Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us, I take a different journey that’s just as exciting.

ANGI: Is writing or story-telling easier for you?
NANCY: I hope I do both as I write my books!

ANGI: What’s something you’d like to tell your fans?
NANCY: My heartfelt thanks! I’m honored by each reader, and I answer every e-mail … even if it takes a few days.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: So, Nancy, I have to admit that the Vampire way of life is hard for me to get into. I just have a hard time with the whole “undead” thing. Can you explain the appeal? And why would someone (like me) who isn’t attracted to vampires want to read your book?
NANCY’S GOTTA ANSWER: Whoa! Cesca Marinelli, here. I’m Nancy’s vampire heroine. Nancy would wax philosophical about the mysticism of immortality as the lure of vampire novels, but I have a shorter answer. For those who aren’t into dark and broody vamps, I’m not exactly undead. I have a pulse, I breathe, and I don’t even bite people. (You never know where they’ve been!) So, while I might be underdead (or would that be under alive?), my afterlife is pretty much like yours. Except, you know, for the whole solving mysteries thing. Oh, and the surfing. In short, vampires can be fun!

ANGI: I have to admit, Cesca, that you sound EXTREMELY appealing, fun, and very much alive! Can’t wait to get my “fangs” into another one of your adventures. You’ve converted me to the “underdead” appeal.

Nancy wants to know: If you could read on any beach in the world, where would that be and why is that beach your choice?

Nancy will give away a signed copy of the Always The Vampire (trade paperback) to one lucky random commenter within North America.

PLEASE NOTE: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only. If an electronic Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.

You can find Nancy in the following cyber locations:
Website: http://www.nancyhaddock.com/
Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nancy_Haddock_Books/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nancy-Haddock/86984510891
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/#!/nancyhaddock
Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/nancyhaddock

DON’T FORGET to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and come back for more great interviews this week with Karen Tabke on Friday & Ken Casper tomorrow. Join me next Wednesday as I welcome Emily March.

Commenters are eligible for Nancy's ALWAYS A VAMPIRE. Don't forget to let Nancy know which beach is your fav !!