Get Lost in a Story welcomes back Judy Alter and The Perfect Coed

Get Lost in a Story Readers, please welcome back Cozy Noir Author, Judy Alter as she introduces her newest novel The Perfect Coed!  How's that for a compelling title?

ABOUT THE PERFECT COED:   

Susan Hogan drove around Oak Grove, Texas, for two days before she realized there was a dead body in the trunk of her car. And it was another three days before she knew that someone was trying to kill her.”

Susan Hogan is smart, pretty—and prickly. There was no other word for it. She is prickly with Jake Phillips and her Aunt Jenny, the two people who love her most in the world. And she is prickly and impatient with some of her academic colleagues and the petty jealousies in the English department at Oak Grove University. When a coed’s body is found in her car and she is suspected of murder, Susan gets even more defensive.

But when someone begins to stalk and threaten her—trying to run her down, killing the plants on her deck, causing a moped wreck that breaks her ankle—prickly mixes with fear. Susan decides she has to find the killer to save her reputation—and her life. What she suspects she’s found on a quiet campus in Texas is so bizarre Jake doesn’t believe her. Until she’s almost killed.

The death of one coed unravels a tale of greed, lust, and obsession.

DONNELL:  Once again, this sounds like my kind of read.  Welcome back, Judy.  Whatcha been up to?

JUDY: The summer seemed to melt away without much writing but a lot of marketing, both for Deception in Strange Places, which came out in July and preparing to launch The Perfect Coed, my first indie book. Also I did some babysitting and more visiting with family than I get in the winter, so it was a good summer, but I’m ready to get back in a routine.

DONNELL:  The Perfect Coed.  You mention that Susan Hogan your protagonist is prickly. Now, every protagonist needs room to grow. But is she prickly in a way that readers will want to root for her? What did you have in mind when you created this character?

JUDY: I certainly hope readers will want to root for her. I think I was trying to give her an edge, to move her out of the box of the typical cozy heroine. Though, like most protagonists in cozies, she shoots herself in the foot a lot. And once it almost costs her life.

DONNELL:  I believe you’re from academia, right? TCU, my son’s alma mater. How much of your world did you incorporate into this story?

JUDY:  I’ve spent my life on academic campuses, especially TCU, so I did incorporate some of what I know. But I deliberately created a fictional university. I have many good friends at TCU and they would not be happy if some of the things in this book occurred on their campus.

DONNELL:  You mention Jake Phillips. Is he a potential love interest for Susan?  Tell us about Jake. 

JUDY: He’s more than potential. He’s definitely her love interest. He’s also chief of campus police and has only a two-year college degree in law enforcement. Susan’s snobbish department chair thinks she’s lowering herself by dating him. There’s a lot about academic snobbery and infighting in the story, so I hasten to say I didn’t see much of that at TCU. But I know it exists.

DONNELL:  What was the most fun about writing this story?  Then turn this, what was the most difficult?

JUDY: The most fun was rewriting. The story was pretty raw at first and I rewrote more times than I can say but each time I could see it taking a better shape. The hardest part was keeping Susan likeable in spite of some of the things she says and the harebrained risks she takes. I think the people who love her—Jake and her Aunt Jenny, principally—help to humanize her.

DONNELL:  What comes next for Judy Alter?

JUDY: Several early readers of The Perfect Coed mentioned wanting to know what happens next to the characters SO I’ve begun work on a sequel, after procrastinating all summer. I tell myself I can’t go to bed until I’ve written my thousand words for the day.

DONNELL:  Judy, now it’s your turn.  Time to ask readers a question.  And here you can tell if you’d like to do a book/digital give away.

JUDY'S QUESTION FOR READERS: Which Is more important to you as a reader—plot or character? And why? I’ll give away a digital book mobi or PDF, to the best answer.

Links: http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Coed-Judy-Alter/dp/0996013105/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409674248&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Perfect+Coed

Contact information

Web page: http://www.judyalter.com

Blogs: http://www.judys-stew.blogspot.com; http://potluckwithjudy.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-Alter-Author/366948676705857

Twitter: @judyalter

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5446.Judy_Alter

Thanks, Judy, for being our guest.  Best wishes on The Perfect Coed!

Donnell

Get Lost in a Mystery and Judy Alter

Get Lost in a Story Readers, Judy Alter is a member of Sisters in Crime and a subgroup of SINC called Guppies.  I'm delighted to have her on the blog today to introduce her mysteries.  Please welcome Judy Alter.

 

A Blue Plate Café Mystery, (Book One)
When twin sisters Kate and Donna inherit their grandmother’s restaurant, the Blue Plate Café in Wheeler, Texas, there’s immediate conflict. Donna wants to sell and use her money to establish a B & B; Kate wants to keep the Café. Thirty-two-year-old Kate leaves a Dallas career as a paralegal and a married lover to move back to Wheeler and run the café, while Donna plans her B & B and complicates her life by having an affair with her sole investor.

Kate soon learns that Wheeler is not the idyllic small town she thought it was fourteen years ago. The mayor, a woman, is power-mad and listens to no one, and the chief of the police department, newly come from Dallas, doesn’t understand small-town ways. Worst of all, blunt, outspoken Donna is not well liked by some town folk. The mayor of Wheeler becomes seriously ill after eating food from the café, delivered by Donna’s husband, and the death of another patron makes Kate even more suspicious of her grandmother’s sudden death.

When Donna’s investor is shot, all signs point to Donna, and she is arrested. Kate must defend her sister and solve the murders to keep her business open, but even Kate begins to wonder about the sister with whom she has a love-hate relationship. Gram guides Kate through it all, though Kate’s never quite sure she’s hearing Gram—and sometimes Gram’s guidance is really off the wall.

 And now to learn more about Judy Alter:

DONNELL:  Welcome to Get Lost in a Story, Judy!  Wow, what a blurb.  I’m hooked.  First off, is there really a Wheeler, Texas, and would you classify this as cozy, hard-boiled… other?

JUDY: Donnell, I hate to admit it but there is no Wheeler, nor is there a Blue Plate Café. But Wheeler is an amalgamation of the towns of Ben Wheeler and Edom, both located about an hour east of Dallas, on the edge of East Texas. And there is a café that I modeled this on in the town of Edom—it’s The Shed, and my family and I enjoyed many happy meals there. I don’t suppose the food is much different than that of a lot of other small-town cafés, but we went there for fun and for sentimental reasons.

I’d definitely call this a cozy—amateur female sleuth, murders offstage (except for one shooting scene). Very little violence, some discreet romance. Like many cozy heroines, Kate Chambers can’t seem to straighten out her love life. And the book does include recipes—I can’t think of a thriller with recipes!

DONNELL:  I love the idea of twin protagonists for a series.  Do you have experience with twins?  Are they identical or fraternal?

JUDY: Donna and Kate are fraternal—there’s a huge difference in their dispositions, and Kate always sees a difference in their appearance, seeing herself as less attractive and polished than Donna. But Kate is the one who went to the big city and had a career, so she’s no slouch.

DONNELL:  What is the best thing about writing a series?  Then turn this, the worst?

JUDY: The best thing, to me, is that you really get to know the characters, how they’ll react, even the way they speak. You become part of their world. The worst thing is what we all call the Jessica Fletcher syndrome—how many murders can there have been in Cabot Cove? Similarly, how many in Wheeler, Texas? I’d like to say most cozies run dry after four or five books, but there are some with much longer lists.

DONNELL:  When you’re not writing, where will we find you?

JUDY: Cooking, reading, caring for one of my grandsons—I pick him up from school every day and we do second-grade homework. I eat out with friends, I entertain—I was never so busy until I retired.

DONNELL:  (now the telling questions).  What’s the most unusual thing you have in your closet?

JUDY: Maybe the dress I wore to three of my children’s weddings. It’s sixteen years old, I haven’t worn it for fourteen years, and it probably doesn’t fit. But it was the most beautiful dress I think I ever had and I refuse to part with it.

DONNELL:  What’s in your refrigerator right now?

 

JUDY: White wine, cottage cheese, Paul Newman’s vinaigrette salad dressing. My youngest daughter used to put the dressing on cottage cheese, and when she still lived at home she said our house could run with those three items.

DONNELL:  If you could meet anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?

JUDY: Oh, gosh, that’s hard. There are authors I’d like to meet, particularly some who wrote about the American West—as I did for years—and Julia Child would be high on my list. So would Eleanor Roosevelt. But I think if I had to pick one I’d pick one of my female ancestors from Scotland—say 18^th-century Scotland at the time of the Clearances. I’m fascinated by that history and want to know more about the MacBain Clan.

Judy, now it's your turn. Time to ask readers a question.

 Judy Alter:  I’d like to direct a question to cozy fans: what’s most important to you? Characters you like and identify with or a complicated plot that keeps you guessing.

I’ll give away two e-books of the second Blue Plate Café mystery, Murder at the Tremont House, to randomly chosen readers who comment.

Thanks, Donnell. It’s been fun. I’m still puzzling over my answers to the closet and fridge questions and who I really want to meet. One choice is so hard.

Donnell ~ You did great, Judy!  Thanks for being our guest today!

Contact Links.

Social media:

Web page: http://www.judyalter.com

Blogs: http://www.judys-stew.blogspot.com; http://potluckwithjudy.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-Alter-Author/366948676705857

Twitter: @judyalter, though I’m not good about checking it

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Judy-Alter/e/B001H6NMU6/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1377217817&sr=1-2-ent

Turquoise Morning Press: http://www.turquoisemorningpressbookstore.com/search?q=Judy+Alter

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=JUdy+Alter

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Judy-Alter?keyword=Judy+Alter&store=book

Authorgraph: http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/JudyAlter