Today I’d like to introduce June Shaw, another mystery author from the Five Star/Cengage family. Since many of us exchange news and information on a Five Star Author Yahoo! Group, I get the chance to learn about new mystery releases way before they happen. Whenever possible, I recruit these authors to guest here because the writers are really nice people and the novels are consistently well-plotted.
Deadly Reunion, for instance, takes place on an Alaskan cruise where widow Cealie Gunther is attending a class reunion. I’m already hooked, and that’s even before the bodies start showing up. I’ll let June tell you a little more about why she mixes humor with murder.
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Humorous Mysteries by June Shaw, Guest Blogger
When I began writing, I wasn’t sure what type of novel I liked best.
But I didn’t start with novels. Who had time to read any of them or try to write them? Maybe lots of folks did, but not me. I’d given birth to five children in six years. They wanted me to do weird things like fix food for them and drive them places. Oh, and then they wanted clothes, too—underwear and shoes and that’s just for starters.
After a while it got too strange to have the oldest complain because he couldn’t find me in a clothing store unless he looked under the racks and recognized my shoes. Hm, of course that was after he was almost a teen. I reached a height of five feet when I was a teen, and that height was good enough—except for shopping with my oldest son.
My kids needed to go to the dentist and some of them to the orthodontist. And then there were those few doctor visits, what with the flu and broken nose (twice—same kid—oldest daughter) and that time Scott was really tired before we flew home from a trip. He was definitely one who never kept still, but on this day, he didn’t want to move and we didn’t really believe he was so exhausted. At home the next morning, he couldn’t sit up in his bed or hold a spoon. He had developed a rare and thankfully not too serious, case of scarlet fever.
And some of my kids needed trips for tubes in the ears and braces and such.
And when I have a minute or two for thoughts of what I might want to write during that time, another kid said, “Ma, I need….”
So why do I write humorous mysteries?
Okay, I NEEDED humor. Mysteries were kind of fun, too.
Romance seems to be the most popular fiction genre, and mysteries usually come next. What about combining both in the same books? I wondered, also deciding I needed that humor since I need to have fun.
It’s what I like to read, thus what I like to write. I love to laugh. So the third book in my series of humorous romantic mysteries can be ordered now. Most readers say the books are fun. Women want to be my main character. (So do I; she’s my idol; she’ll say or do anything she pleases. Love that!)
And most women want me to make sure to keep my main character’s hunky lover, Gil Thurman. (Oh, yes, I also want him!) He is the man the widowed heroine keeps trying to avoid while she tries to rediscover herself, but he opens Cajun restaurants wherever she travels—and she is so bad at avoiding tempting dishes and men.
In this book she joins high school classmates she hasn’t seen in decades for a class reunion aboard a cruise ship in Alaska. People she thought she knew well in school seem to hide secrets and lies—and since it’s a mystery, some people must die. Of course her hunky dude has to show up and cause her more strife and temptation—and there’s humor and laughter. All in all, it’s a fun sexy read placed in a whodunit.
What about you? What do you like to read the most? Romance? Mystery? Humor?
They’re all in my books Relative Danger and Killer Cousins (now available as e-books) and Deadly Reunion. I hope you will and that you’ll let me know how you like them and about other humorous romantic mysteries you enjoy!
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Thanks so much for being here today, June. I hope you’ll be back when your next Cealie Gunther mystery is published.
To learn more about June and her cozy mystery series, visit her website, June Shaw: Mystery with a Cajun flair…
I’ve been away from home, so I’m late to pick up this wonderful post, June. Your combination of romance, mystery, and humor is hard for anyone to pass up, and I don’t intend to do so. Having just returned from my first trip to Alaska (though not on a cruise ship), I find your setting particularly interesting. Though we reared just two children, I didn’t ever have to wonder what to do with my spare time. You, with five, really pushed the envelope about the number of tasks you needed to complete in any given day. No wonder you developed a sense of humor.
Thanks, Nancy. I believe we all like to laugh every chance we get.
Great post, June. I couldn’t agree more. There are a lot of depressing books out there. I like to be entertained and to laugh. Best of luck with your sales, your books sound fun. I’ll definitely check them out.
Nancy
http://chickdickmysteries.com
Thanks so much, Patricia. It was great being here!
June, thanks so much for being here today. You’re always welcome chez Stoltey. I wish you awesome sales for Deadly Reunion.
Thanks so much, Marlene! Yep, that’s what I love in a book too–romance and mystery and humor. It’s fun!
Patricia, thank you for hosting June!
June, your book sounds right up my alley! Romance and mystery and humor in the same book? Sign me up! I love the premise of Deadly Reunion, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Best of luck!
Thank you, Edna. I sure hope you enjoy my book!
Yep, Dorte, I know many many people can relate.
June. , you are an inspiration in more than five ways. Thanks for sharing your insights into your life, writing, and humor. I’ll definitely be reading Deadly Reunion before my next class reunion – 45 years. Thanks to Pat too for hosting
Haha, mysteries are definitely fun 🙂
Lovely post about being a mother & writer (something many of us can relate to, I am sure).
Absolutely! Family, freinds and faith got us through the roughest parts. And much later came laughter. That felt great.
That would be so hard. I hope you had family and friends who provided a lot of moral support.
Oh, Alex and Patricia, you do what you have to do, you know. And my husband died when our five kids were five to eleven years old. My sense of humor came much later.
I thought I had it tough with two boys. I’m not sure I would have survived five or six kids.
You have to have a sense of humor to raise five kids!
Yes, Elspeth, those kids make us need to laugh. Okay, and I had my 5 kids in 6 year. How about you?
Thanks for hosting June, Pat! This mystery sounds fun, I’ll be on the hunt for it. And June…I know what you mean about kids demanding food, rides, clothes etc. I had SIX. Needless to say, I have a dash of humour in the mysteries I write as well.
Thanks so much, Jacqueline. Yep, we need humor, especially with kids.
Good morning June and Pat,
I loved your post, June. I raised only two boys and they were a handful. Since I took an early retirement from the work force, I’ve been writing fulltime and it’s great to have the luxury of time. As for humor, I love it in mysteries. I definitely want to read Deadly Reunion. It sounds great!
Good morning Margot and June, I definitely wasn’t the early bird today, but now I’m heading off to post on Twitter and Facebook. See you a little later.
Thanks, Margot. I agree that we all need lots of humor.
Pat – Thanks for hosting June.
June – Thanks for sharing your insights. You are so right that we all need doses of humour to cope with life. That’s especially true when life seems to be going wrong. It takes a lot of skill to weave humour into a well-plotted mystery; I give you credit and I wish you much success with Deadly Reunion.